April 21st, 0100 hours, 2349 (Recorded time). The man-made Horai Island, Zheung Military Complex and Research lab, private barracks district, Chinese Federation, Planet Terra.

Maxi had just finished packing whatever he would need for his stay in the Warped-Reality chamber. But he then came across a small tape recorder that was flashing with a new recorded tape in it. Hitting the play button, he hear: "Please forgive me for being unable to say these words to your face."

It was Celeste's voice, and she sounded cold and distant. "I've decided to join and live with Mao. Mao is a powerful person with even more powerful allies that you cannot oppose. You will only be wasting your time and life if you come after me. No matter where I'll go, no matter how far you'll take me. He will always remain. That's why..."

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Maxi yelled as his blood boiled over and almost crushing the recorder.

"It would seem that man knows how to play to your emotional side." Hon Yao appeared next to him. "When the time is right. You'll need to fight fire with fire." The old man smiled like a fox. "I will teach you how "

Back to Work.

Mount Fuji, once a symbol for it's natural beauty and calm waters. Now, like the rest of Japan, it too has become a slave to the Empire. Within the depth of the mines is a place that is what you may call a "Public Secret." Everyone knows about it, but no one tells about it. Either because you could get killed or become a part of the merchandizing. You see it is a Gentle Mens club. A place were the rich Nobles and CEO's can go and jerk each other off, while their knights and any soldier can go and find a future pet. Young males and female from all over the empire are stolen or bought into slavery and brought to live the rest of their lives in hell.

As for today, a worker dressed in a denim one-piece suit, wheeled in a large wooden crate. Two soldiers stopped the worker. "What do you have here?"

"Some new merchandise from the middle east." He said, keeping his head down the entire time.

"You seem pretty small to be working here."

"My size isn't the matter, chief." The crate then exploded, sending nails and broken boards all over the place. One of them killed the soldiers while the other was captured in-between a chainsaw and a spiked metal jaw.

"You security is to easy to get through." Creed smiled before activating his autopart arm and killing the soldier.

"Gruesome." Wayra said as he rolled the top of the one piece down to his hips. On his chest was the big, black tattoo of 227.

"Doli," Creed said through an ear piece. "Are the Mechanics ready?"

"Ready as well ever be." Doli responded.

"I'll go to secure the captives." Creed said, "Just remember, Sakuradite is very unstable, kid. So watch where you shoot and what you blow up."

"Whatever." Wayra said as he ran off as well.

XxXxXxX

Down in the main ballroom, Wayra strolled in, after killing and scalping six other guards. Everyone around him was either betting their fortunes away or waiting for the meat to arrive.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste. I've been around for a long, long year. Stole many a man's soul and faith." Wayra said as several miniture doors opened on the top of his chest, arms, and back. "Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name, oh yeah. Ah, what's puzzling you. Is the nature of my game, oh yeah."

Small, bullet size shells shot from the doors. After a certain amount of distance, the bullets transformed into military size canon fodder. "I watched with glee. While your kings and queens. Fought for ten decades. For the gods they made."

A small army of knights and soldiers came to subdue Wayra, when the abs on his chest slid up and a army of action-figure size warriors charged out. In a smaller distance then the canons, the action figures transformed into full sized Mandalorian Mechanics, OTSCs, and U.R. Commandoes. "I shouted out, "Who killed the Kennedys?" When after all. It was you and me."

As the chaos of the battle around him was erupting, Wayra seemed like a little kid on Christmas. Laughing and singing the entire time. "Let me please introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste. And I laid traps for troubadours. Who get killed before they reached Bombay."

XxXxXxX

Creed was walking through the beyond dark hall ways with a metal brief case in his hand. He had no idea where he was going, just ran on pure instinct. Which, in the past, has only gotten him more lost or into trouble. Termors from the battle shook under his feet. "I guess those kids are having fun."

His foot then stepped on something hard and metal. Putting the brief case down, he pulled out a military issued flashlight. He pointed it at the ground and found a set of metal, dungen style keys. He then looked at all of the walls, and noticed that they were all wrapped in cloth. Denying any form of light to get in. Creed thought that this would be the right time to pull out his newest toy. Even in the complete darkness, he knew what he was doing. With one one huge swish of his arm, the first steel and iron door came down.

The young people behind the door huddled up in fear. Maybe because they were tramatized or it was caused by the sight of Creed. "I am Creed Barbossa of the Mandalorian Republic. Second in command of the Armor, Mechanic, and Mech armies. I've come to rescue you."

They looked at him... then they looked at his arm. It wasn't the Crocodile feature this time. It looked like a regular, muscular autopart arm and hand. But the tips of the metal fingers were diamond razor sharp. "Ah... sorry... I guess you've been through your own hell for to long."

"Sister, they really come." A young girl at the back of the pack said with complete happiness. Her sister was trying to quiet her, but it wasn't working. "It's what the guards fear the most."

"There's even a child like her as well." He kneeled to the child and gave her the set of keys. "Rip off the clothes and cover yourselves. The spread up and unlock everyone else."

They were all busy going throughout the large catacombs and freeing their imprisoned brotherens. Creed watch the numbers grow and grow as he turned on his earpiece. "Hey, Kid... better get down here... we have a whole lot of people."

XxXxXxX

Wayra and a black panther, in peoples clothing, walked down to the catacombs where Creed was waitting. "I can tell you had a ball, kid."

"As heads is tails. Just call me Lucifer. 'Cause I'm in need of some restraint."

The two then noticed the large group of people.

"Wow," Doli said as she morphed back into human form. "There are a lot of them. This prison's crammed to capacity."

"These Brit bastards must have collected slaves from all over this empire."

"We may need to rethink our strategy." Creed said. "There are far to many people to smuggle out in that tractor-trailer we... borrowed.

"You can leave that to me." Wayra smiled.

XxXxXxX

"How are our little people holding up?" Doli asked as she wrapped white gauzes around her fingers.

"Like saints." Wayra put blood on his cloths. "More then half have deciding to join the Commandoes and OTSC."

It's unfortunate, but true, that no amount of make up can copy cuts and bruises to stand up to close observation. So if you cover requires you looking like you've been beaten-you have to get beaten. It also doesn't help when the person administering the beating happens to have sible rivalry and she also happens to be the three year light weight champion in boxing.

So then Creed decided to get one punch in. "CREED!"

"What?" He said. "Just trying to be a team player."

XxXxXxX

The Britannian O.S.I troopers finally entered the destroyed club. Bodies and blood were littered all over the walls, floors, and many the various gambling tables and machines. One finally got around to Wayra, who was breathing heavily as he was covered in fake blood.

"Found a live one here."

Wayra looked past the black-op and saw entire fire teams come in and burn the bodies. Many of them beat down the doors to the panic rooms and killed the people who trying to say alive. The black-op, who was looking after Wayra, soon took out his handgun and pointed it right in Wayra's eye socket.

"Any last word?"

"Wake me when it's over."

The black-op pulled the trigger and Wayra's body went lifeless. Several hours later, among the rest of the dead bodies that were thrown out to rot or be eaten by animals, Wayra emerged from the carnage and ran off to the randevue location on the south docks in Tokyo bay.

July 31st, 0600 hours, 2352 (Recorded time). The man-made Horai Island, Zheung Military Complex and Research lab, private barracks district, Chinese Federation, Planet Terra.

Rakshata Chawla reclined in Shanks's padded chair. She considered pilfering one of the Sweet Alamo cigars from the box on his desk-see why he considered them to be such a treat. The stench wafting from the box, however, was too over whelming. How could she stand him?

The door open and Chief General of Research and Development Shanks Rall halted at the doorway. "Rak- I mean, Ma'am." he said, and stood straighter. "I wasn't informed that you would be visiting today. In fact, I had understood that you were in Beijing for another week. I would have made a date."

"I'm sure you would have." She folded her hands in her lap. "Our situation has changed. Where is our little project? Their not in the Research lab, nor locked up in any of the armories."

Shanks hesitated. "With those new suits... Vertigo can no longer train here. We had to find them... other facilities."

"I'm not sure I understand?" She raised an eyebrow.

Shanks walked over to his desk, typed in a series of codes and pulled up a video file. "For as perfect and powerful our children might be, Ma'am. There is one slight problem, however. This program is so reactive that our, well my own, pervious tests with un-experienced or in our case un-trained volunteers ended in-" He searched for the right word. "-failure." He hit PLAY on the file.

A flat video appeared on the screen. It showed a Orbital Tactical Strike Commandoes, OTSC, "HellRanger"- from the infamous 109th, being fitted with the new type of battle armor. "Power is on," someone said from offscreen. "Move your right arm, please."

The HellRanger's arm blurred forward with incredible speed. The Commando's stoic expression collasped into shock, surprise, and pain as his arm shattered. He convulsed-shuddered and screamed. As he jerked in pain Rakshata could hear the sounds of bones breaking. The man's own agony-induced spasms were killing him.

Shanks PAUSED the video, then minimized it. "Normal soldiers don't have the reaction time or strength required to drive this system, He explained. "Even Mandalorian warriors who have trained with lesser marks have been rushed to the medical bays caused by the muscle straining and tearing. I believe though, that Vertigo does. Their enhanced training should be enough to allow them to harness the armor's power."

Rakshata stood and smoothed the pleats in her lab coat and skin tight jeans. "Maybe you should explain more on that former statement, Shanks."

"I could," he replied, "but it will be easier to show you."

"Very well," She said as she twirled her tobacco pipe between her fingers, her curiosity piqued. Shanks escorted her to his personal Prowler parked outside his office. The all-terrain combat vehicle had been refitted; the heavy chain-gun on the back had been removed and replaced with an Electrical Volt "GUNGIR" Gauss Canon. Able to shoot 25x130mm hyper-velocity, high-density electrical projectiles over eight kilometers (or 26,000 feet for those who do not go by the metric system.)

Shanks drove them off the base and onto winding roads that stretched far under the island. "Horai Island is a man made island that the Eunuchs made as a last ditch safe haven. In the past three years, we found several vast empty cavities thousands of meters underground. The U.R. and U.N.F uses them for storage."

"I presume you don't have Vertigo squad in those suits taking inventory today, Shanks?"

"No, Ma'am. We just need the privacy."

Shanks drove the Prowler past a manned guardhouse and into a large into a large tunnel that steeped deeper underground. The road wound down in a spiral, deeper into solid granite. Shanks said. "Do you remember your first experiments with your prototype powered suits, the EXOSKELETONS, at the academy?"

"I can't tell if you're still on topic or reminiscing about the past." She replied. "But I'll play along. Yes, I remember how my idea was shot down. They had to scrap the idea and redesign battle armor for the invading forces and SWAT teams. The first Exoskeletons consumed a lot of energy, without your little apps attached. Either they had to be plugged into a generator or use inefficient broadcast power-neither option is practical on a battlefield."

Shanks decelerated slightly as he approached a speed bump. The Prowler's massive-bullet proof-tires thudded over the obstacle.

"They used the units that weren't scrapped," Rakshata continued, "as dock loaders to move heavy equipment." She cocked one eyebrow. "Or might they have been dumped in a place like this?"

"There are dozen of the suits here."

"You haven't replaced our suits and put your men in some of those antiques?"

"No. Their trainers are using them for their own safety," Shanks replied. "When the members of Vertigo recovered and cleaned up from their training, they were eager to get back into their routine. However, we experienced some-" He paused, search for a good word. "... difficulties."

He glanced at his passenger. His face was grim. "Their first day back, three trainers were critically injured in hand-to-hand combat exercises."

Rakshata cocked an eyebrow. "They are faster and stronger than we anticipated?"

"That," Shanks replied, "would be the understatement of the decade of the situation."

The tunnel opened into a large cavern. There were lights scattered on the walls, overhead a hundred meters up on the ceiling, and along the floor, but they did little to dissipate the overwhelming darkness. Shanks parked the Prowler next to a small, prefabricated building. He jumped out and helped Rakshata step from the vehicle. "This way, please." Shanks gestured to the room. "We'll have a better view from inside."

They entered a small building where Ookami, Keilara, the two Rall kids and several high ranking officers in different branches of the U.R. forces and they were all sitting on the couches. The building had three glass walls and several monitors marked MOTION, INFRARED, DOPPLER, and PASSIVE. Shanks pushed a button and the room climbed a track along the wall until they were twenty meters (sixty-five feet) off the ground.

Shanks keyed the microphone and spoke: "Lights!"

Flood lights snapped on and illuminated a section of the cavern the size of a football field. In the center stood a concrete bunker. Three men in Rakshata's prototype, and primitive, EXOSKELETON power armor suits stood on top. Six more stood evenly spaced out around the perimeter. On the rafters, she could see dark silhouettes of several teams of marksmen, attached to safety harness, choose their fire spots. They were equipped with M82 Assault Rifle's equipped with holographic and scope sights for better balance. A red banner had been planted in the center of the bunker.

"Capture the flag?" Rakshata asked. "Past all of that heavy armor?"

"Yes. The trainers in those EXOSKELETONS can run at thirty-two KPH, lift two tones, and have a thirty millimeter minigun mounted on a self-targeting armatures-stun rounds, of corse. They are also equipped with the latest motion sensors and IR scope. And needles to say, their armor is impervious to standard light weapons. It would take two or three platoons of conventional infantry or Knightmares higher than the seventh age to take that bunker."

Shanks spoke again in the microphone, and his voice echoed off the cavern walls: "Start the drill!"

Sixty seconds ticked by. Nothing happened. One hundred twenty. "Where are they?" Rakshata asked.

"They're here," Shanks replied. Rakshata a glimpse of motion in the dark: a shadow against shadows, a familiars silhouette.

"The young Beviin girl, right?" She whispered.

The trainers turned and fired at the shadow, but it moved with almost supernatural quickness. Even the self-targeting systems couldn't track it. They were then pelted by falling M82's and pellets. The marksmen teams were all hanging from the cieling with slight pellet wounds on their foreheads.

From above, a man free-rappelled down from the girders and gantries overhead. The newcomer landed behind one of the perimeter guards, as quiet as a cat. He punched the guard's armor twice, heavily denting the heavy plates, then dropped low and swept the legs from under him. The guard sprawled on the ground. The warrior attached his rappelling line to the trainer. A moment later the writhing guard shot upward, into darkness. Two other guards turned to attack. The warrior dodged, rolled, and melted into the shadows.

Rakshata realized the trainer's EXOSKELETON wasn't being pulled up-it was being used as a counterweight. Two more warriors, dangling from the other end of that rope, dropped unnoticed into the center of the bunker. Rakshata immediately reconized one of them, although his body was completely armor and his face was wrapped in black cloth, save his open eye slits- Naoto. Guess he has not found his helmet yet.

Naoto landed, braced, and kicked one guard. The man landed in a heap... eight meters away. Abena jumped off the bunker; she flipped end over end, evading the stun rounds that filled the air. She threw herself at the farthest guard and they skidded together into the shadows. The guard's gun strobed once, and then it was dark again.

On top of the bunker, Naoto was a blur of slashing motions. A second guard's exosuit erupted in a fountain of hydraulic fluid and then collapsed under the armor's weight. The last guard on the bunker turned to at Naoto. Rakshata gripped the edge of her chair. "He's at point blank range! Even stun rounds can kill at the distance!"

As the guard's gun fired, Naoto sidestepped. The stun rounds slashed through the air, a clean miss. Naoto grabbed the weapon's armature-twisted-and with a screech of stressed metal, wrenched it free of the EXOSKELETON. He fired directly into the man's chest and sent him tumbling off the bunker. The reaming quartet of perimeter guards turned and sprayed the area with suppression fire.

A heartbeat later, the lights went out.

Shanks cursed and keyed the mike. "Backups! Hit the backup lights now!"

A dozen amber floods flickered to life.

Not a warrior was in sight, but the nine trainers were either unconscious or lay immobile in inert battle armor. The red flag was gone.

"Show me that again," Rakshata said unbelievingly with her pipe barely hanging on in her mouth. "You recorded all that, didn't you?"

"Of corse." Shanks tapped the screen but the monitors play back-static. "Damn it! Akisu got the cameras, too," he muttered, impressed. "Every time we find a new place to hide them, that kid always disable the recording devices."

Rakshata leaned against the glass wall staring at the carnage below. "Very well, Chief General, what else do you need me to know?"

"Without the suits, Vertigo can run at bursts of up to fifty-five KPH and keep it controlled. Abena can run a little fast, I think." He explained. "They will only get quicker as they adjust to the 'alterations' we've made to their new suits. They can lift three times their own body weight-which I might add, their muscle density is unheard of considering how tone their bodies are. And they can virtually see in the dark. Aside-"

"What can you tell me about the suits?" She interjected.

"Aside from the new metal alloy we call Mandalore Steel, the armor come with more... built in abilities." Shanks pulled up files on the armor's abilities on his portable tablet computer call a TECH-PAD. "First off is their Active Camouflage: serves as radar jammer, it can also cloak the user physically until the fuel cells need to power down and recharge. Second is the suit's Armor Lock: We have used this in the past to protect warrior in case they are in a hard landing situation. The only problem we had with that was, the warrior inside would be immobile for hours. With the altercations, they can now come in and out of Armor Lock with ease and it will not take any extra energy from the already invincible shields. The Drop Shield, when we start updating all Mandalorian armor, will be given mostly to medics. It is a mobile spherical energy shield that functions similarly to a Blanket Shield that is found on our freights and battle cruisers. But it also heals the health, but unfortunately not the shields, of the warriors inside. It will deactivate if it takes too much damage. Some abilities that come more from the armor and training alone will be their reaction times, in terms of their evading abilities, and I already told about their speed without the armor, with it they can up to speeds at sixty-seven KPH. Abena is still the fastest though. The Holograms were difficult to work with, so I only made it for Captain Havox for now. It can make one, or many, holographic copies of the user and deploy them at different areas. Then comes Naoto's favorite abilities, the built in Jet-packs. Light weight, a user-operated jet engine mounted on the back for both high and low atmospheric and space flight. Only problem is, fly to long, and to high, the cells will run dry and stop to recharge... so the user will crash land."

Rakshata pondered the new data. "Even with all of that, your warriors should not be performing so well. There must be unexplained synergistic effects brought on by the combined modifications. What are their reaction times, again?"

"Even without the armor's help, almost impossible to chart. We estimate twenty milliseconds, with the armor only a fraction of that." Shanks replied. He shook his head, then added, "I believe it's significantly faster in combat situations, when their adrenaline is pumping."

"Any physiological or mental instabilities?"

"None. They work like no other team I've ever seen before. Damn near telepathic, if you ask me. They were left in these caverns three days ago, had all of their weapons, armor and gear separated and it would seem that they found it. For the most part." Shanks picked up Naoto's new helmet. "I don't know where they got black cloth or the rope for that maneuver, but I guarantee they haven't left these rooms. They improvise and improve and adapt. And," he added. "they like it. The tougher the challenge, the harder the fight, the better their morale becomes."

Rakshata watched as the first trainer stirred and struggled to get out of his inert armor. "They might of well been killed," she murmed. "Where's that man who married the which?"

"Maxi left right as soon as we opened the door." Shanks said. "Said something about going to an island. Bad time for a vacation, I think."

"The knightmares?"

"The Guren Mk-II, Lancelot and Shinkiro have all been developed to what the press is calling the thirteenth age. Unlucky for your enemies I guess. All we did was put in the Energy Wing float system, replace those clunky controls with the Second-Body controls, and gave them extra airtanks and filters in case of high atmosphere and space conflicts." He turned the mike on again. "Attention Vertigo squad. As of right now, you have the rest of the day off to prepare yourself for future conflicts. Report to the debriefing room at 1800 hours for the mission."

He didn't have to see them to know they left. All that mattered was that they got that order. "We still have one thing to go over."

Rakshata cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"This is our child Rakshata," Shanks explained. "So we need a name for it."

"I was thinking something like HODUR, after the norse god of warriors."

"It's nice," Shanks said. "I was thinking YHWH."

"The name of God. I like it."

"Then it's settled." He typed in the new name on his TECH-PAD.

XxXxXxX

July 30th, 0000 hours, 2352 (Recorded time). The island of Salaminos, South Pacific, Planet Terra.

The island of Salaminos was one part of the United Oceanic States before their take over by the Britannians. They had, and still now, had a cultured state with several universities and theaters. The coast line consists of a massive jagged rock, pitted with caves and twisting passages of the outside ring. The inside has crystal blue waters, silver sands and beautiful landscape. As for population wise, it's pretty hard to calculate it. It's a privately owned island, and there is no permanent population apart from some workers in the coconut plantations. Once the winter seasons start, all the workers go home to the other, larger, neighboring islands. The man who owns this island is named Mao. A chinese man who the Emperor favors highly, so he gave Mao the rank of Grand Duke and the five other islands including Salaminos. He is really seen by the workers, and those who claim that have seen them are usually drunk off their assess. What they do sobberly talk about is his wife, or what they consider to be his play-thing. She has an other worldly type of beauty to her with golden-green eyes and long bright green hair. Not to mention a body so fine that you swear she was a goddess sent from on high. Only problem, any people, man, woman, or child, who even looks at her... wined up missing or dead. Today will be different though... much much different.

The clock just struck 0000. A small wooden fishing boat carrying two Mannequins sailed along the clear waters of Mao's estate on patrol duty. One looked over to see if it could catch a fish for a late night snack. It reached down to grab one, but it was then dragged under. The other Mannequins soon smelled the heavenly smell of blood and thought it should see what was the cause. It looked over and saw a small red spot starting to grow and soil the water. The Mannequin then found a sharp edge sword ran through its chest. The sword was then pulled out and it then cut off the Mannequin's head. The assessign then used the boat the creep closure to the mansion. On the blacony, he could see the image of a woman in pure white evening gown.

"Celeste..." He growled. She then turned around and went back into the room.

Celeste seemed tired. She had everything that she could have wanted if she stayed on Terra, but she still felt empty inside and it was constantly jabbing at her heart. Her room had a island royalty deycore to it, which just reminded Celeste of her honeymoon. The window's had vennican blinds that covered delicate and white curtains. The floors were wooden and she had several dressers and closets filled jewels and clothes. Her hair was still wet from her late night swim and she was letting her arm air-dry so it would not tense up due to the salt. The lower part of her left breast, and stretching up, was a newly made geass symbol scare. She winced when her hand went over it as she put on a pale white kimono. She went to the balcony to look up at the stars. She then noticed something strange in the water. In the Oni-Wabanshu; you might be down, but never out. With that lethality, it was only one person.

"Maxi..." She said under her breath. The door to her room slid open and a Mannequin stood in the center of the room.

"... Mas-ter... Mao ... wants you." The Mannequin said in a other-worldly static voice.

Celeste took one last look down and saw Maxi slip back on the docks. She sighed heavily and then turned on a heel and went with the Mannequin.

Maxi stayed in the shadow and managed to become the invisible assailant in the eyes of the camera. He slipped past every electrical fence or high rate lasers. He made it through the main entrance undetected, but then found some trouble in the foyer with fifty, well armed, Mrk-CCCXXXVIII Federal droids. With one fast strike, Maxi was able to slice all the metallic skeletons down. Only problem was that which that simple kill, over one-hundred laser dots covered Maxi from the second floor.

Celeste took in the entire situation at a glance. She was standing on the threshold of a sumptuous apartment. There was a wet bar boasting shelves of amber-filled bottles. A large, round bed dominated the corner, decorated with shimmering silk sheets. Windows had on all sides had sheer white curtains- Celeste had to look away to compensate for the glare. Red carpet covered the floor. And near the balcony was a large solid mahogany desk with several luxury items on it. Like several hundred dollar pens, a hand crafted cigar humidor, and a good year bottle of champagne chilling in ice. Mao, dressed in a grey three piece suit, white button down shirt, and blue and white tie.

"Hello! C.C.!" Mao turned around with the bottle of champagne and two wine glasses. Three other Mannequins also entered the room but kept an eerie distance from the two of them. "Your white knight has given his princess a perfect castle. Aren't you happy?"

"As childish as ever, I see." Celeste said. "I told you before. You and I are..."

Mao then took out a heavy duty pair head-phones. "That's not true, you love me! See?"

The audio coming out of the head-phones were a more cheerful Celeste talking to or about Mao. "STOP IT!"

"C.C., you're the only one I want! Maxi doesn't matter! If you just sleep with me..."

"STOP IT!" Celeste slapped the head-phone out of Mao's hands. She then pulled out a small, easy to conceal, poison dart gun at Mao. "I've should have done this along time ago."

"C.C..."

Down in the Foyer, Maxi pulled his Ichiro out of the hull of a destroyed Killbot. The smell of burnt metal and oil could have been smelled outside. But Maxi could smell something else. The small of freshly spilled human blood.

Celeste fell to the ground, gripping her bloody right shoulder in pain. The geass mark appear back on her forehead as Mao stood over her with a rescently used handgun. "You couldn't shoot me, C.C.!" He clapped and laughed like a maniac. "You love me!"

"Come on, C.C." He said "It will be magical. Just the connection between you and me. We will live here. Just the two of us."

"Don't make me repeat this..." Celeste said as his shoulder was bleed on the floor. "... I only used you!"

Mao didn't care though, he just kept shooting Celeste in the shoulders, arm, and legs. "Be quiet for a second. Just stay with me. You'll be happier." Celeste's immortal body's rapid healing abilities were able to stop her bleeding, but the pain of being shot kept her on the ground. Long enough for the Mannequins to pick her up and place her on the bed. Mao then knelt neck to her on the bed, and pointed the barrel of the gun right between her eyes. "So keep still. Don't worry, when you wake up you'll be in my arms where you belong. Good night, C.C. I'll see you later."

The three knives whizzed through the air and the three Mannequins fell to the floor. Mao changed his attention for one second and a fourth knife divided the knife in half. "Hello, Mao."

It was Maxi. Even though his voice was as clear as a bell, Maxi was no where insight. Probably using some sort of communication gizmo that was out of his's radius, Mao thought. "A place where there'd be no one else's thoughts to bother you. It was easy to narrow it down. And your only guards are that of insinct driven Mannequins or out of date Killbots; it was easy to sneak on."

"Christen!" Mao snapped.

"Maxi..." Celeste said in between her gasps of pain.

"That's true! That's very true!" Mao's attitude changed so now he was laughing and clapping in a psychotic manner. "But what can you do so far away? After taking the trouble to find our little paradise, and take out some of the security, what's your grand plan? A remote control attack with some battery operated toys? Or a tongue lashing to lecture me into submission?" Maxi didn't answer. "Hey-, cat got your tongue now? If you want C.C., then you're gonna have to..."

"Mao. Do you understand what it means that Celeste is with me?" Maxi asked.

"What?"

"Celeste chose me. Not you, but me." A low blow, but in a fight everything is fair. "That's why Celeste belongs at my side."

"What... What... What... NO! NO! NO NO NO NO NO! C.C. was mine first- A long time ago! And what gives you any right to call her by her real name! You're not..."

"You have to accept it, Mao. C.C. abandoned you. You couldn't satisfy her needs!"

"Chri-STEN!" Mao then grabbed any that was not nailed down to the ground and throw them across the room. Breaking several bottles and windows as the items made contact. "COME ON OUT SO I CAN LOOK INTO YOUR MIND! I'LL READ YOUR MIND! YOU... YOU... YOU... YOU...!" After running out of things to throw and break, Mao finally calmed down and turned his attention back to Celeste. "... ... I don't care, I'll just take C.C... HA! ... HA HA HA HA!... WHERE ARE YOU?"

Maxi appeared from the cieling, upside down, and injected Mao with enough tranquilizer to knock out a bull elephant. "Here." He whispered into his ear before Mao's body fell to the floor.

Maxi did a small cartwheel before landing upright on the ground; he then wrapped Mao in iron cables just in case he came out too soon. Over the three years they have been apart, Maxi has changed. First was his mask; in the past it was a skull from a Slade-Fox with two thick black lines coming from the eyes. Now it looked like a plane white skull mask with four red lines curving down on the right side and connecting at the nose, two under it's right eye and three more on the chin. Maxi's attire changed as well, he had long ragged green hair. He was dressed in a tattered, black hooded cloak that flares out into ragged ends and a pair off blackened slacks. He was decked out with several throwing knives, his Ichiro, a couple smoke, flash, incinderary, and frag grenades and a panic button incase the mission hit the fan. Another day at the office, Celeste thought. What made her uneasy, with the determined stare she was getting.

"Hey, Celeste!" Maxi snapped as he took out the recorder. "How do you explain this?"

"Wait, that's..."

"You said I couldn't beat Mao and everyone was going to die... What a bunch of bullshit." Celeste, weakly, got up and started to grab the recorder from Maxi. "It's true he beat me once, but that's because I was tired and hungover."

"That's because I thought..."

"Quite honestly, I'm speechless." He said. "I didn't think you couldn't trust me despite being married to each other for so long and then some. I'm disappointed in you."

"... Maxi, what are you talking about?"

"What do you mean?"

Celeste turned around and mumbled: "Good, he didn't hear it..."

"Hear what?" Maxi started the recording all over again but then Celeste, face beet red, started to chase Maxi around and over the broken room. She chased him out to the balcony and was able to corner him, and through a slight grabbing at keep away, the recorder slipped out of Maxi's hands and fell into the water below. But Maxi was able to hear the last part of the recording: "No matter where I'll go, no matter how far you'll take me. He will always remain. That's why... I want you to beat him so I can be with you."

Maxi rubbed the sore part of his head as he sat on the ground. "What was that for? You made me loose the recorder. Those things aren't cheap."

"Then you should be more careful with expensive items." She looked at him with the same naive-innocent face that a love struck sixteen year old girl would make.

Maxi felt his heart hammering in a chest. For an instant he wondered if she changed at all. She got up and untied the ribbon in her hair that was keeping her hair in a pony tail. She let it loose in the doorway when she left Mao's room and headed for her room. She already tossed off her bloody kimono before Maxi realized he was been left in the blocks of a race where winning meant finishing at the same time. He did his best to catch up. Maxi tore off his coat and pulled his tight black fatigue shirt over his head, and by the time his head popped free of the collar he unknowingly followed the trail of clothes and saw his wife spread out on the bed with nothing more than her string bikini and a seductive smile on.

Maxi was instantly entranced by the back-and-forth sway of Celeste's bosom as she walked over to him. She put her hands on Maxi's shoulders and pushed him onto the bed on his back. Sitting astride his ankles, Celeste helped him with his pants. While she was doing that, Maxi was undoing the strings that kept her already revealing bikini on. Then she crept upward, planted her hands on either side of Maxi's head, and began to move. Maxi then saw blurs flashing before him, was this a drug? Or was he falling in love with his wife all over again? He cupped the weight of her in his hands and knew at once he made a tactical error. The heavy roundness of Celeste's skin started to ache that crepted up his legs and settled in the small of his back. All she had to do was squeeze, and a moment later they were both spent.

Celeste fell heavily on Maxi's chest. For some time they lay still, assessing the amalgam of their sweat. Slowly, Celeste brushed her fingers across Maxi's collarbone, up his neck, and onto his lips. There she stopped to test the beginning of a thin facial hair around his mouth and on his cheeks.

"I've been meaning to take care of that," Maxi said.

"Don't. I like it."

Maxi let his head rest into the of stuffed pillow. He could feel the motion of the calming waves relax his body. It was ideal now, the island had no idea of what happened this evening. Usually, this would be the time Maxi's mind veered into familiar rut: the dread period of second-guessing that always followed a difficult mission. But now he found it impossible to focus on the past. The civil war that had sapped much of the allies of the U.R.'s spirit was irrelevant- replaced by an external threat of unimaginable proportion.

"But this?" Celeste rubbed a fingertip against Maxi's newly furrowed brow. "Not as much."

"Oh, I will take care of that."

Maxi rose at the waist and eased Celeste onto her back. He cradled her head in one hand and steadied her hips with another. Eyes locked, they began again. This time Maxi set the pace- buried his fingers deeper in her unwashed hair. He let her neck slide freely against his palm, but he would not release her hips. And soon Celeste's face flushed and her eyes shut with a pained smile as he kissed the scar on her breast. Maxi would remember long after he had forgotten the worst of failures. Their exertion had warmed the bed, and though they knew the heat wouldn't last, neither was eager to move. When they did eventually come apart and rolled onto their sides, Celeste slid back into the bend of Maxi's waist. He grasped a blanket and cast it loosely over them. But it was too shoot short to cover their feet, and Celeste drew hers up to Maxi's knees. Then they both stared out the starry night from the open deck.

Blackness pressed in from all sides, but it was the faint streak of the meteor shower above that caught Maxi's attention. Celeste shivered. Maxi nuzzled his chin behind her ear and exhaled warmly against her neck-in though his nose and out mouth-until her shoulder stopped shaking.

"Don't let me sleep too long, my master." she said softly.

"I'll try not to." He said as Celeste grabbed his hand and wrapped it across her chest.

XxXxXxX

July 31st, 1300 hours, 2352 (Recorded time). The man-made Horai Island, Zheung Military Complex and Research lab, gymnasium pool, Chinese Federation, Planet Terra.

Naoto moved under the water like a shark. He need stealth for this training exercise. What was it? How to sneak onto an Britannian oil rig undetected? Nope. How to hijack an enemies boat, use one of them as a human-shield and kill off the rest of the crew? Very creative but still no. He emerged from the water, picking up his little Rallyn in the process and tossing her a few feet away from him. She laughed and cheered as she rose back up thanks to her swimming experience and floats.

"Again! Again!" She cheered, but Naoto sighed as he rubbed his more muscular arms. Even though he has proven that his strength and speed has improved over his training, his daughter was able to wear him out at an alarming rate. He was looked to an older man, at least by three years, but he was still Naoto to the core. He still had his two arms that had the Magi-chemy attached. The right arm was marked with the Latin words of eath and air, "TERRA" and "AER". Carried by an array incorporating twin snakes in a Caduceus pattern surrounded by reptilian scales which may represent the "Mark of Hashi" of Mando'a origin and a series of tribal arrows leading down to the wrist, representing an outward flow. This arm is designated for deconstruction and drawn in black ink. The left arm is designated for reconstruction. It is marked with the same array turned upside down to represent an inward flow and with the "Mark of Kendou" tattooed in white ink rather than the black ink of the right arm. Its inward flow completes the cyclical pulse of full transmutation and it is marked with the Latin words for Fire and Water "IGNIS" and "AQUA", completing the elemental tetrad. They then go up both sides of Naoto's arms and do a figure eight design across Naoto's collar bones and up back and transition colors.

On his right calf was the tattoo of the 31st light regiment that Naoto served in. It was nothing more than a branding scar that he made to look like a tattoo of the number "31". On he chest, over the heart, was the Skull of Mandalore insignia as well as a Japanese symbol that meant "Banzai" or "One thousand years". His last tattoo was on the right side of his body and it was the mark of Vertigo squad which was a blue, upside down V in a circle.

"I'm a little to tired, Rallyn." He said as he sat on the cement edge of the pool. He then bursted out in laughter when he saw his little daughter puff out her face when she was pouting. "Why don't you ask your auntie Kallen? She's not doing much." He looked at his little sister, who grew into a more stunning young woman, getting a back message from Lelouch. "Except getting a feel down."

He got out of the pool, leaving his Rallyn bobbing in the water. He went over to where Kallen and Lelouch were sitting like a phantom. They didn't even notice him until he whistled through his teeth for their attention. "Hey Kallen. I think Rallyn wants to play with you."

Kallen was wearing a two piece black swimsuit. A bikini bottom and a back top that wrapped across her well-grown chest. She winked at Lelouch as she got up and seductively dove into the water. Lelouch was trying to fight off his blush, while Naoto just looked annoyed.

"You really love Kallen, don't you Lelouch?" Naoto said as he sat on the long chair that Kallen was laying on.

"It was that obvious?" Lelouch gulped. "Would you believe that she came onto me?"

"I want to say no. But I wouldn't be surprised. I did a little research; turns out someone would declare their undying love for her at least once a month. I amazed that she gave you a chance."

"Thanks for having faith in me." Lelouch sulked.

"But to be serious, Kallen's happiness means a lot to me. And I know how much she means to you. So here's the deal; You break her heart, I break off your legs."

"Sounds fair...?" Lelouch said. The metal side of Naoto's face then started to buzz.

"Not again! I thought I had that removed!"

"What's wrong?" Lelouch asked.

"It's a little buzzer they installed so people know how to contact me. It gets really annoying real fast." His buzzer started to go again. It was from Keilara, no big shock, and she was saying to meet her in the debriefing room number 2-C in twenty minutes. Also to wear something nice. "I'll be back. Until then, hands off the merchandise."

July 31st, 1320 hours, 2352 (Recorded time). The man-made Horai Island, Zheung Military Complex and Research lab, Debriefing room 2-C, Chinese Federation, Planet Terra.

Naoto sat in the first row of the quiet, empty, debriefing room. He wore a navy-blue jacket with brass buttons, and the Chieftain rank insignia worn in the form of gold chevrons on the jacket sleeve. His pants were ivory white and still had cresses in the legs from being pressed from earlier. He was wondering why he was their in the first place. Military funeral for a friend of his? No, then there would be a lot more people and he would be dressed in black. Promotion? Nah, Chieftain is a pretty high rank alone. Only thing that can out rank that is a General. A medal of some sort? He already earned three purple hearts; a silver star for his work on Myrannubmas; commendation for small arms, demolition, assault, heavy weapons, leadership, and sniping experience; two bronze skulls from Odnx; and a Blaze of Glory medal from the hell on Titan. All of them glistened on his chest. He made sure to polish them to a high sheen. They all stood out against the navy-blue wool of his jacket. Occasionally Naoto would look at it, and made sure they were all still there. So what was he here for? He quickly rose to his feet when the door open, back straight at attention. He then popped one eye open to see who it was. It was First General Vince Hector, no big surprise there, probably came to rant at Naoto about how he screw up somehow, but he then he saw a elder woman walking in from behind him.

"Mom?" Naoto, without being given the order, slowly came out of his 'soldier' mode and was 'at ease' mode.

"Naoto," She said in a hush tone and a small smile came across her face. "... It's good to see-"

Naoto then tightly embrassed her, tears flowing out of his left eye. Nothing was coming from the right however.

XxXxXxX

July 31st, 1720 hours, 2352 (Recorded time). The man-made Horai Island, Zheung Military Complex and Research lab, Barracks district, Chinese Federation, Planet Terra.

Although this bunkroom had more than one hundred beds, the Black Knights and Mandalorians still clustered together. Akisu, who grew a good foot, then again he was four-ten when he entered, was playing cards and was cleaning people out of their possessions. Havox, military ready, was cleaning out his Skullsmasher, Revolvers, and shining his boots. His hair was now buzzed down to stubs from when he left the chamber. It was down to his legs. Havox slept on his shoulder, he was still the same size and the runt of the litter will always be. Abena was on the top bunk from the window sill that Havox was sitting on. She was reading and taking notes from different medical journals. Her white hair grew long enough that she could tie it into a braided ponytail that only went half way down her back. Falco was sparring with Tohdoh and helping to give combat demonstrations- although he had to slow herself down considerably to give Tohdoh a chance. Though he would never tell him that. Falco, like everyone else, has changed. His black and silver hair was short and unkempt, a long slash x-shape scar was under his left eye while two other scars went running down his right.

Several Military Police officers then entered the barracks and training room. They went to the members of Vertigo squad and told them to head for the armory to suit up and then head to the main Debriefing room. It was time to go back to work.


Today front lines are history.

Uniforms are relics.

The war rages everywhere.

Next Time: Operation: LEVERAGE

This is the time for heroes.

A time for legends.

Let's go to work.


Phew... Done... Sorry for the wait... Holidays and all. A Long chapter, I know. Good news, wrapping up soon. Like to hear what you all think and please review.