The Voice in Your Heart
Page 50: Blood Trail
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Holy shit, it's been almost 2 months. Sorry everyone, I'm back! So I had been anxious over not having been able to sign my letter of appointment, and then had to deal with house renovations (that are still going on now), and then with the job itself that started two weeks ago (I'm still training tho) and I got sick and got better today. I also drew quite a lot, struggled with artistic prowess quite a bit, but I'm bouncing back!
"Damn it!" Epsilon shouted as he slammed his fist on the wall, the loud banging sound causing Scarface, Ferham and Botos to flinch. Shadow took it one step further and covered his head with his hands.
"E-Epsilon…" Scarface stuttered out. "What…"
"We just started, yet we've already lost Jango, and now Silver Horn…" Epsilon answered, facing the wall instead of his companions, almost sobbing. "And all it took is just one bloody reploid! If only we had killed X that time…"
"Look, we got cocky…" Ferham tried to calm Epsilon down, but…
"I didn't want it to lead to this! Now two of our friends are dead!" Epsilon screamed out. "Nothing's going to bring them back…"
"I know that! You think you're the only sad one over all of this?" Ferham yelled back. "But moping around isn't gonna help anything. Either you mope and surrender before more of us die, or you fight to make sure their deaths aren't in vain." she continued.
"Ferham's right, you know. This isn't over yet." Scarface added. "It's only over if we end it. Besides, if we surrender, we're all gonna die anyway."
Epsilon heaved a long sigh before turning back to face Scarface, Ferham, Botos and Shadow. "You're right…I'm sorry. We can grieve, but it must not interfere with our cause. At least Jango and Silver Horn died free, not as a slave to the humans' whims. So, what do we have left?" he said as he wiped his tears.
"I heard everything." Dr. Psyche's voice was heard from the neighbouring room. "One moment."
Shortly afterwards, Dr. Psyche entered the same room the others are in to face them for a proper conversation.
"Oh yeah, you're supposed to recruit Gaudile for us, right? Or at least get his Force Metal Generator?" Botos mentioned.
"Yeah. He's blocked all our e-mail addresses, but I'm not giving up. So I'm going there to make sure he doesn't shove me away again." Dr. Psyche said.
Epsilon bit his lip upon hearing that.
"Hey, Dr. Psyche…be careful, alright?" he said.
Upon hearing that, Dr. Psyche tensed and looked away. "Look, I can't guarantee if X's guys aren't going to come after me or try to recruit Gaudile and crash into me on the way, but…I'll try not to die."
Epsilon hung his head for a few seconds before lifting it back up. "Just…be careful." he said.
"Hahah. Yes sir." Dr. Psyche guffawed. "Even if I die later, remember that I will die with pride. If there's anything we've learned, it's that if we are prepared to kill, we also have to be prepared to die."
"That's deep, coming from you." Scarface remarked. "Where did you get it from?"
"Life, maybe?" Dr. Psyche answered. "See you soon, guys." he said before stepping away, waving to the others as he leaves the room.
"H…hey." Shadow spoke up soon after Dr. Psyche left. "I just…came up with something. No matter how powerful X and Zero are, if we overwhelm them with sheer numbers alone, why not manufacture more Preons to just pile on them?"
"That's…a simple, but a very good idea." Ferham remarked, tilting her head. "What do you say?"
"It's worth trying." Scarface replied. "Epsilon, what about it?"
"I don't mind. After all, once you immobilize someone, they can't shoot, can they?" Epsilon answered.
Without wasting a moment, Ferham activated her communicator before putting it on loudspeaker, and starts to contact Jentra for a quick call.
"Hello, Ferham?" Jentra replied. "What is it?"
"How's Ulfat going? We need to manufacture more Preons. Shadow over here came up with the idea of surrounding X and Zero with the lot of them. Numbers, my friend. Get it?" Ferham explained.
"Ah." Jentra blurted out. "Well. We're quite busy putting out the fire burning our pants right now. Our security guards have been dropping dead one by one, and a survivor kept raving about an invisible sniper."
"What the fuck?" Ferham blurted out.
"Holy shit." Epsilon followed.
"What kind of bullshit is that?" Botos questioned.
"I…I have no words." Scarface said.
"Can you tell me more…about that invisible sniper?" Epsilon stuttered out. "It's got to be Delta," he thought.
"Hold on, let me get him." Jentra said, and put the call on hold. As the "call on hold" music plays, Epsilon, Ferham, Scarface, Botos and Shadow listened anxiously.
"C-Commander Epsilon! Finally! Someone who'd listen! Please, you've got to believe me! Everyone says I'm crazy!" the survivor raved.
"Hey, can you turn down the volume? It's my ears the communicator's connected to." Ferham complained.
"Ah…Commander Ferham, sorry. But still, you've got to listen to me, please…" the survivor pleaded.
"A-alright, alright." Epsilon said. "Don't worry, tell me everything you know. It must've been tough."
"So I was part of a large group protecting the gate, when all of a sudden we heard something break. It was the security camera. We were investigating who broke it when two of us dropped. And then, two more. I was lucky enough to not be targeted the first two times, so I was able to see where the shots were coming from.
I kept running around in circles to make it harder for the sniper to target me, but then he fired a large fucking round and utterly obliterated my one remaining comrade. That fucking round came literally out of nowhere! All of a sudden, I saw a big thing launched towards us and then, boom!
I got lucky and only my armour was damaged, but then I heard walking sounds and the next thing I know, my foot was crushed! I lost my footing, and then he started beating me up like some thug down the street!" he testified.
Epsilon tensed, and Shadow's eyes widened at the survivor's testimony.
"It's…undoubtable. It's former maverick hunter Axl." Shadow declared.
"WHAT?" the survivor yelled.
"Heeey!" Ferham cried out.
"Sorry…" the survivor apologized again. "But…seriously?"
"Seriously. I was a rookie back from before Jakob, and shortly after the crisis, there was a huge deal over he suddenly developed the ability to turn white and invisible. I got to see it for myself a few times, and no one else has got that ability except for him." Shadow explained.
"Whaaa—" the survivor was about to scream, when…
"Sssh." Mach Jentra shushed him by placing his fingers over the survivors' lips.
"Thanks, Jentra." Ferham replied.
"Anyways, can that ability be circumvented somehow? Radars, cameras, anything?" Jentra asked.
"Not as far as we know of. The Hunters tested all their detection devices on that ability, but nothing detected it." Shadow answered.
"Dear god." Jentra remarked. "I'm sorry. You weren't crazy." he apologised to the survivor.
"I told you…" he muttered.
"Either way, I'm thankful for this information. At least we know to tighten our defences." Epsilon thanked the survivor.
"Yeah…you're welcome." the survivor replied.
"Since he's a New-Gen, he's probably infiltrated this factory. I'll manufacture more Preons as per Shadow's plan, and I'll also try to take him." Jentra declared.
"Dead or alive?" Epsilon asked.
"Either way will do. We can try to recruit him, but I'm not optimistic." Jentra answered.
"I say we take him alive." Epsilon decided.
"Epsilon. What." Ferham blurted out, with a flat tone of voice.
"He's probably known that X and Zero are out to get us. Are you sane?" Botos questioned.
"Can you explain yourself?" Scarface asked.
"Do you know about the global purging of New-Gens soon after Jakob?" Epsilon answered with a question.
"Eh…" Ferham blurted out again.
"Uh, no…something like that happened?" Scarface replied.
"I've only heard of it as a passing mention…" Botos admitted.
"I do, though…" Shadow answered. "Are you saying he has a reason to hate humans because he survived that sweeping?"
"Precisely." Epsilon confirmed. "Every New-Gen created before Jakob were killed except for him, just because the humans decided to blame it on the false assumption that the DNA data of reploids gone maverick can actually infect New-Gens. Besides, he retired for a reason. We can convince him to join us, or at least get out of the way." he explained.
"Hmmm…alright. But if he refuses, I'm killing him." Jentra replied.
"I understand." Epsilon said. "I just…don't want…any more deaths."
AUTHOR'S NOTES: It's been a long time since I wrote a third-person perspective chapter for Epsilon's side. I intended to revert to Epsilon's perspective in the middle of writing, but then I realized that this shows his internal conflict better anyways.
