Heroic New Era: New Beginnings

Chapter 5: Wash Away the Anger

The group were riding in a car, as Rachel took the mission off, leaving Raiden, Sakura, Inuyasha, and Allison, as it ran down the highway to Denver, where the World Marshal HQ was located.

"-remain baffled by the statements. Police are still investigating a motive." The reporter on the screen before them stated, as part of a news report. "President Hamilton is on his way to the Middle East this morning for his scheduled visit with Pakistani President Farooq Salam. The meeting is viewed as an attempt by the US to strengthen relations amidst a surge of anti-American sentiment in the region."

As the report was winding up, Raiden, who was driving the car, received a CODEC-call, as he shifted it onto the screen, as it showed George in a large room.

"Yo, mi ninja bruddas and sistas!" George greeted them.

"George. Good to see you up and about. How are you feeling?" Raiden asked back.

"Never better, nah! No pain, no more fuh starve while dem hungish bais eat. And mi neva feel so awake, nah?" George continued.

"That's because your blood sugar levels are being maintained automatically." Sakura stated. "You're just short of having a sugar rush."

"Oh! Mi bin hear yuh go a walack dem skunt a dere base." George exclaimed.

"George!" Kiana said as she came into view in the background, as saying his name sharply reminded him to clean up his words a little bit.

"Yah! Kiana, ya give me a jump!" George exclaimed.

"Seems that you're busy for now." Allison remarked.

"I'll make sure that the children are taken care of. Right now, you're in the clear." Rachel remarked, as she leaned in to get herself in the video call.

"Oh! Something you may want to take note of." Kiana said as she soon held up a tablet, seeming to pull up some news. "Intel of ours reported a sharp drop in numbers for the Desperado soldiers. And you'll never guess what they found at the site. Bits of Dwarf Gekkos, along with Lightning scorches on the ground."

"You're kidding." Raiden said at hearing this.

"Nope! Not one bit!" Kiana smiled.

"Well, a change of heart indeed-" Sakura remarked, as she noticed that there was a police cruiser getting too close to the driver side for her liking, as she whipped her head around towards the driver of the car, as he was reaching for something. "Raiden, window down, now!"

"Huh? What for-" Raiden remarked, before he then turned around, and saw the policeman, as he slammed the window button, as Sakura went for a hidden hand-gun under the dash-board, as she shot the police-car tire, causing it to veer out of control, as the driver fired off a wild shot that flew into the air, his aim shifted by the car veering off.

"Of course they'd be after us." Raiden growled as he stepped on the throttle.

Raiden then looked at the side-mirrors, seeing that their car was being pursued by several police cruisers.

"Oh, geez, I forgot that someone might have ID'd us during the entire lab raid." Sakura groaned. "Everyone, get a gun, or something to block the bullets, I have a feeling that there's a kill order for the city police on our heads. Raiden, gun it!"

"No need for that! They can't shoot us if they can't catch us! Just buckle up and hang on!" Raiden yelled as he floored it, racing towards the World Marshal HQ, as he navigated the car through the streets, evading the police cars as well.

Boris soon called Raiden and Sakura on codec. "Raiden! Scarlet! What is this hernya!? You cannot resign!"

"Sorry, Boris, it's done. Can't have two Maverick employees involved in a corporate raid, now can we?" Raiden asked back as he continued dodging cars.

"You two could have at least talked to me!" Boris yelled.

They then surged towards a blockade, filled with men. "Well, end of the road. Fasten your seat-belts, it's going to get bumpy!" Raiden warned the group. "Hold that thought, Boris." Raiden said, putting Boris on hold.

Everyone braced for impact, as the police fired at the car, before one of them fired an RPG right into the front of the car, enough to send it flipping over the blockade, before it then landed upside-down skidding across the ground, as police cars stopped before them, and officers moved out, with guns and batons at the ready, before the group busted themselves out, kicking the doors apart. Blade Wolf and Blood Wolf soon leapt to patrol ahead.

"Military cyborg and other personnel, you are not authorized to operate in this area." The head officer stated. "You are in violation of state and federal law!"

"Hah. Better arrest us then." Inuyasha quipped, as the police officers chuckled.

"18-3-104.7, 'Threatening a Peace Officer', deadly force is authorized." The head officer said, as they all now switched to batons.

"I don't think that even qualifies near as 'deadly force'." Inuyasha remarked dryly, before the group made short work of the officers.

They soon made their way on foot towards the World Marshal HQ, fighting more officers and some mercenary soldiers, as they received a CODEC call from Boris again.

"Raiden, Scarlet, what's your status?" Boris asked them.

"Pretty shit. Not close enough to make it there on foot without getting into trouble." Sakura answered back.

"...Do you really have to do this?" Boris asked again with a sight.

"You'll only get a rhetoric question back." Sakura responded back.

"Look, we're fed up, with all of it." Raiden said to Boris. "Companies like ours- yours, bend the laws to suit business. Why not bend them to save lives?" Raiden asked.

"Raiden… Scarlet..." Boris said, trying to come up with a response but he couldn't.

"Boris, listen to us. That VR training, they'll be warped into killing machines." Raiden stated. "They'll be set on POWs, civilians… It'll be one atrocity after another."

"Like what you both went through…" Boris muttered.

"I'll put this simple, Boris. We want no more of this happening. You saw George." Sakura responded back. "We basically prevent them from becoming murderers. That's it."

"Say you succeed. Say you get all the brains back. Then what?" Boris asked.

"Well, don't we have that great cybernetic surgeon to handle all that?" Inuyasha remarked.

"And before you argue again, Boris, Doktor only needs time and a place to do all that. Say what you will, we're not backing down." Sakura answered back.

"Damn you both…" Boris growled. "You do realize Marshal has the contract for law enforcement of the entire city? They are the law in Denver."

"Explains why they tried to kill us." Allison grumbled. "I doubt that we have any choice right now."

"Well then…" Boris began, soon clearing his throat. "Officially, Maverick Incorporated condemns all of you and your actions as unlawful… and a pain in the asshole. Now, increase your codec encryptions, and don't worry about the lag."

"...Unofficially?" Inuyasha would ask.

"We'll do all we can via codec to help you all." Boris answered back. "I don't like what those mudaki are doing any better than the rest of you."

"Spasiba, tovarich. Spasiba." Raiden answered back.

The group fought their way through the building, fighting off some Gekkos that broke into the building, before they made it to the rooftops, where they determined the route with the least amount of resistance, jumping rooftop to rooftop, until they reached another rooftop, as Inuyasha used his sight to scout the area ahead

"No way ahead from here on the roofs." Inuyasha remarked. "We're going to have to head down…"

"There is a railroad system underground." Blood Wolf chimed in via codec. "The elevator ahead will take you to it."

"Well, that's one way down." Sakura remarked, as she pried the elevator doors open, as the cubicle was just in the right place for them to board atop of. "Hop on, and hope you can handle the sinking feeling."

As everyone stepped atop the elevator cubicle, Sakura severed the cables with a single well-aimed slash, as they plummeted down into the darkness of the elevator shaft, the only light being the corners grinding against the shaft, creating streams of sparks, before they landed with a resounding thud.

"...We're here. All bones accounted for, including cybernetics?" Sakura asked the group in an attempt of a joke.

"Hah. Just peachy." Inuyasha joked back before Blade Wolf called them.

"This must be the railroad." Raiden said as Wolf appeared on their codec.

"It would appear so. Likely part of Denver's old system." Blade Wolf stated. "This city was a major transport hub in the early years of freight trains. This particular line seems to have been abandoned some time ago. It was originally constructed to deliver supplies to an underground factory. But now it seems not even the electrical system is functioning."

"Yeah… it's pitch black in here." Inuyasha said.

"Considering your technological advancements, this should be no issue." Blood Wolf chimed in, before the codec call ended.

"They're not wrong." Rachel remarked through the CODEC to add her comment. "You should have a good idea of how to navigate the darkness, Inuyasha. After all, you are a Dai-Yokai."

"Yeah, I know. It's still not easy though." Inuyasha remarked, as the group slowly advanced through the area.

"Wait… he's a what now?" Raiden would ask Rachel as they began to sneak through the darkness in an attempt to avoid UGs.

There was a moment of silence, before Rachel responded back. "Let's just say that he's of a different make than you and Sakura." She answered back. "That's all I can say for now, it's harder to explain the rest of it. I'll tell you more, once we bring down the HQ."

"Hmm… This group is getting more and more interesting. We may need to have a little chat with Siege when we get a free moment…" Raiden mused towards Sakura.

"Yeah…" Sakura muttered, before the group finally made their way towards the surface.

"Raiden, Scarlet. You will exit in an evacuated commercial district." Blade Wolf informed them. "Security is heavy, but you need not-"

"We know." Sakura answered back. "There's no need to tell us."

"There are stairs nearby, as a shortcut to World Marshal HQ." Blade Wolf continued. "Do not be distracted by the advertisements. You are not here as tourists."

"Sure! I'll just pick up a couple souvenirs for Rachel and we'll be on our way." Allison sarcastically remarked.

"No time, we must hurry." Blade Wolf remarked.

"You need to understand sarcasm when you hear it." Allison said with a 'tsk'.

"Your humour is noted, but it doesn't seem appropriate at the time." Blade Wolf answered back, shutting the comms off.

The group slowly returned to the surface, as they snuck by several groups of law enforcement units, before they reached before a large plaza and stairway, where they were ambushed by Depserardo troops, accompanied by mass-produced canine robot models much like Blood Wolf and Blade Wolf.

"The stock LQ-84 Fenrir. Unable to speak, and a real dog has far greater intellect." Blood Wolf chimed in. "It disappoints us that we are built as a variant of them."

"And yet you've been made better than them." Inuyasha remarked. "I'd say that makes you above these mindless beasts."

"Hm, a fair compliment." Blood Wolf hummed, as Sakura and Raiden made short work of the canine robots. "Be warned, I detect electronic interference ahead. Be on your guard for any surprises."

"Duly noted." Sakura remarked, as they slowly made their way through the commercial district, before they heard the sound of the digital billboards being hijacked, as they showed a mix of two faces, one Spanish, and the other Chinese.

"Seriously now, you two, isn't this all a bit much?" The Spanish man remarked. "Any decent lunatic would have stopped after Mexico."

"Jetstream Sam… Fu Hua… or do I call you Reaper of Sentience?" Raiden quipped to the Chinese girl. "You seem to never decide on a name."

"Don't kid me." The now-named Fu Hua remarked. "Blood was spilt at the labs, especially by the hand of betrayal. Child soldiers fighting for the children, how fitting and ironic at the same time. Do you expect that your deeds will be rewarded?"

"It doesn't matter whether the world accepts our view or not. That is how we lived." Sakura stated with a serious tone.

"The children already had their future taken from them, at least let them be of use." Fu Hua snarled back. "You are merely gaining peace of mind in a world where none of that matters. The world turned its eyes away from all of this, and yet you decided to take it. From the unwitting citizen to the politicians, our actions have never once been rebuked. Because that is the true face of humanity, to sin against each other."

"Ah, but you are a man and a woman on a mission, aren't you? Believing that you and your little swords can fix everything. After all, violence is the answer, isn't it? Violence is always the answer." The now-named Jetstream Sam said with a heavy smirk.

"My sword is a means to an end, to protect those you'd prey on." Raiden growled back.

"You say that, and yet you forget. What if those cyborgs you're fighting, not all of them are kids? Some of them aren't. Some are adults. They made their choice, signing the dotted line, but do you ever think about them? Do you ever think about what they need to survive?" Sam stated before Inuyasha chuckled, which brought everyone's attention to him as he sheathed his sword. "...What's so funny?"

"...I like how you try to twist things here. Sure. These people had lives like that. Sure, they had families. Wounds. Scars. But you're implying the fact we view ourselves as some Messiah of sorts, Killing people like those being our means of peace. Sorry to inform you, buddy but…" Inuyasha said, his chuckling turning to laughter as his demon powers began to activate upon cyborgs rolling in, his helmet activating as his claws did as well. "But I don't really give a shit about that." Inuyasha said, catching everyone off guard. "If they really are innocent… then maybe… JUST MAYBE THEY SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT TWICE ABOUT THINGS!" Inuyasha roared, as Sam began playing the voice clips to try and deter the Dai-Yokai, but it was useless, as with no remorse, no second thought, Inuyasha tore apart all the charging adults, not even batting an eye.

"So the conundrum has been solved in your stead." Fu Hua remarked. "...You, I will admit that at the very least, you play no hypocrisy in your actions. However, the moment we meet… I will ensure that you will not survive."

Fu Hua and Jetstream Sam deactivated their hijacking of the area's holograms, as the group slowly advanced forward.

"So, that's what you really think?" Raiden asked Inuyasha.

"Well, put it simply, fate has a strange way of doing things." Inuyasha remarked back, as he cooled down. "I do recognise the weight of a life, a few good friends made that clear to me. But that doesn't mean that I became soft, as you can see. People die in battle, that's just the inevitable truth. They walked into this, turned themselves to be unfeeling... That guy made it clear, their true emotions would have made them reconsider choosing this kind of life, if it would have made them have such regrets. I don't have regrets in dying, and I doubt either of you would have as well. Or was that talk before just hot air?"

"It's not. You are right, just because your enemy is deserving of sympathy, doesn't mean that you can just deal mercy. Our path is bloody, and we accept that fully." Sakura remarked back. "It's merely a shame that people like this exist in the ranks of Desperado, with their own regrets suppressed. Death would be a mercy to them, cruel as it sounds."

"Sadly, for most people death is mercy to them…" Inuyasha solemnly stated, before the group moved forward, as they soon saw a woman looking at them, as it was Bronya in her Haxxor Bunny battlesuit, as she looked at them emotionlessly.

"Monsoon. They're here." Bronya stated, before she walked towards them a little.

"Monsoon?" Sakura remarked, before she drew her blade, slowly raising it. "Wait, you're Desperado. Where is Fu Hua and Jetstream Sam? In fact, where's your partner?"

Bronya didn't respond, as she slowly walked back some, her handheld guns were trained at them, yet they did not gather energy at all.

"This doesn't seem safe at all…" Inuyasha growled. "But the only way towards World Marshal HQ is the way she's backing away. But still, why the hell is she not attacking?"

"Don't know, but if she's trying to drag us closer to this 'Monsoon', they'll be expecting one hell of a fight." Raiden answered back.

The group slowly stepped towards her, as they reached the front of the World Marshal HQ, where Jetstream Sam and Fu Hua were waiting, along with a large number of cyborg soldiers.

"Really?" Inuyasha sighed, as he slowly locked eyes with Jetstream Sam. "So, you got something to say to me, or are you going to keep your distance from me?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to just go in running with my blade, do I? Unlike you, I tend to be a bit more patient." Sam answered back with a tilt of his head. "I'm surprised that you don't have that much mercy in you, you are most definitely a very good soldier with that resolve."

"Bite it, I'm doing this for my own cause, 'just' or not in your eyes, I don't give a damn about your opinion." Inuyasha remarked.

Sakura then noticed something, as she slowly tilted her head up, as there was a figure on top of the front door, dressed in black and red armour, with seams on them, as they had a red dome-like helmet over their head, and white hair flowing from it.

"How pleased you are to chop away, Jack the Ripper, Scarlet Mist, and company." The figure spoke with a male voice, confirming his identity. "My name is Monsoon, of the Winds of Destruction, and you had the pleasure of meeting my little friend, Bronya, the Reason Breaker."

"Yeah, guessed as much." Raiden scoffed, before Monsoon covered his body with a surge of pink lightning, as he hopped down, as his body split at the armoured seams, held together by magnetic force, as he landed feet-first and his body reformed shortly after. "Nice trick, where did you learn that?"

Monsoon then flexed his body, including his fingers and neck, as he paced around. "Now, I wouldn't want to waste words, especially when this little situation is like a powder-keg." He stated. "But let me ask you this: Who saves the weak from those who save the weak?"

"Ha. Twist your play on words as much as you like, delusional asshole, but you're not going to bend our minds that easily." Inuyasha said. "The way I see it in front of me, I have two targets. One who made his choice, and one who didn't make her choice. So unless you two are gonna stand down and get out of our way, I'm gonna slice and dice the both of you. And it won't faze me."

"Oh? And you're referring to Bronya as the one forced into this?" Monsoon remarked. "Well, wolf, you're not exactly wrong. She didn't make her choice, but that just means that she has nothing to answer for. She knows to obey a proper order, and never shifted her allegiances. She is a weapon in a human shell, so she doesn't have much conscience to fret over morals."

Bronya shifted her eyes as Monsoon said this, as she wasn't exactly very happy in her forced position. She soon looked to Sakura. "I'm surprised, ninja. You haven't recognized me. Perhaps it was too long ago that your memory needs some jogging. Especially with the hell you put me through trying to get that key."

"...I thought it might be you, hacker." Sakura said to Bronya, with a morose expression on her face. "I just never wanted to accept the fact this is what had become of you."

"You two know each other?" Raiden asked Sakura.

"Yeah. It's thanks to me that she's even out here to begin with. She was actually trapped within a city under a curtain for most of her life, her and her sister." Sakura explained. "So for her to be forced into this… it sickens me that this is what is happening to her."

"As if you would know the conditions of why I'm here, ninja." Bronya said, remembering that her sister was under Desperado custody, and one wrong move from Bronya would lead to Theresa's execution.

"Enough. Well, if you're so Adamant about your methods, then surely you won't mind dealing with them!" Monsoon said, as the cyborg soldiers ran into the area.

"Damn, they're on all sides of us!" Allison yelled.

"Leave this to me." Inuyasha said as he began to blitz the incoming soldiers, spilling their blood as a couple soldiers managed to get good hits on Inuyasha, puncturing through his armor, but Inuyasha only smirked. "Time to let loose…" Inuyasha cackled, as he disabled the pain inhibitors on his suit, as he groaned from the sharp increase in pain, although the pain seemed to be fueling him, as he smirked, his teeth showing and his eyes turning red, as he punctured both soldiers with his HF Claws on his suit, ripping them to pieces, as Inuyasha laughed, his helmet forming as his suit turned into a blood red color. "It's time for Inuga… TO RIP AND TEAR!" Inuyasha yelled, as he took his battle stance.

~BGM: Stains of Time~

"Well, this just got interesting, I'll take this-." Sam remarked, as Sam and Fu Hua were about to jump in, when Bronya and Monsoon halted them.

"Let us handle this, Sam, you two have other things to attend to." Bronya stated.

"Tch." Fu Hua clicked her tongue, as she turned on her heel. "Sam, let us go, if we are to fight them… it will be at a much later and more fitting time."

"As I said, you're not so different to us." Monsoon remarked.

"Blame yourselves for pushing me this far. I'm not exactly too vengeful at times, but now that I've got the chance, I'm acting as what I should be like." Inuyasha smirked back. "Your little companion might live with a few scratches, but I'll relish seeing how you'll handle being torn to so many pieces, you won't be able to put yourself back together!"

"Bronya, ready up!" Monsoon ordered.

"Understood." Bronya responded back, as she stood ready, summoning her guns, as she readied to open fire with them, as she had multiple grenades on her belt at the ready as well.

Monsoon then tossed a smoke grenade, enveloping Inuyasha, as Allison watched the fight, before she got tapped on the shoulder by Sakura, as she and Raiden noticed another batch of cyborg soldiers approaching the fight.

"We'll handle the others. You help Inuga handle the fight, so that he doesn't get double-teamed." Sakura told Allison.

"I'll help where I can from back here." Allison stated.

Inuyasha, meanwhile, parried attacks from Monsoon, as well as avoided grenades and shots from Bronya, as Inuyasha noted that oddly, they were cans of spray paint grenades, indicating that Bronya was fighting with very cyberpunk tactics. He wouldn't waste time thinking on this, as he parried a combo from Monsoon as the smoke faded, before Inuyasha slashed him multiple times on end, before kicking him back. The moment Monsoon tried to use his magnetism trick, Inuyasha chuckled.

"Not today, metal head!" Inuyasha yelled as he activated a part of his suit, as he zapped Monsoon with constant EMP, draining Monsoon's health rapidly and keeping him solid, before Inuyasha landed a massive kick to Monsoon, putting him in pieces enough that it would be a while before he reformed. Inuyasha, seeing Bronya still trying to attack from a range, quickly began closing the distance to Bronya as she jumped and flipped around to get good shooting angles, all of which Inuyasha dodged, before landing a harsh kick on the Haxxor Bunny, sending her back into a wall, as Inuyasha was about to rush at her, but noticed Monsoon reforming.

"Tch, resilient motherfucker…" Inuyasha cursed as he returned attention to Monsoon.

Monsoon quickly recovered, before he then back-flipped towards higher ground, as he wasted no time gathering all the nearby vehicles, before then throwing them rapidly at Inuyasha, hoping to smash him with all of them, as Bronya tried to trap Inuyasha with several rifle bursts. However, both attacks were countered, with Inuyasha deftly dodging the shots, and timing his slashes to break apart the incoming vehicles.

As Monsoon jumped to land back down, Allison used her spear to channel a charge of lightning right into Monsoon, knocking his magnetism off again, just in time for Inuyasha to hack away at them, and then boot his head off the body again, as Inuyasha slammed it against the nearby wall with the attack.

"Allison, stay out of this! I have things under control!" Inuyasha yelled back at Allison, who retreated from the fight slightly.

"Okay, okay… seemed like you may need some backup is all." Allison mused.

While the claim from Inuyasha seemed bold and brash, he was rather truthful with his statement. Despite Monsoon and Bronya's best attempts, they were easily overwhelmed by the Dai-Yokai, as Inuyasha had brought Monsoon to critical health, and had weakened Bronya extremely, as she was currently sitting against a wall in an attempt to recover.

Monsoon, in a last ditch attempt to bring down Inuyasha, took a large pointed pillar from a structure, and pointed it at Inuyasha, before throwing it down, as Inuyasha used it to run up towards Monsoon, before kicking Monsoon into the wall of the World Marshal HQ at sub-sonic speeds, implanting the Desperado agent into the structure, as he activated his own form of Zandaitsu.

"No, please…!" Monsoon yelled in fear, before he was rapidly slashed by Inuyasha, as Tessaiga cut through his electromagnetic bonds, before kicking Monsoon one last time, as he exploded from the final kick, as Inuyasha landed safely, as he walked towards Bronya, who looked up at him emotionlessly.

"...Am I going to die as well? Get it over with." Bronya said to him, as Inuyasha shook his head no.

"...No. Not when you have a sister in need of rescuing. While we were fighting, my allies happened to be tracking down the location Desperado held your sister. The fact of you mentioning her name gave them the information they needed to track down your sister, as you refer to her." Inuyasha said, before getting a codec call from Rachel. "One moment." Inuyasha said, as he backed up to open the call. "It's Inuga, Rachel. Go ahead."

"I noticed that you took a few hits." Rachel responded back. "Not enough to faze you, but still, you did just remove those inhibitors. Think that you need a while to recover before going ahead?"

"Not at all. What's the status on getting Theresa out safely?" Inuyasha would ask.

"Got it covered!" Kiana's voice rang from the background. "They beat her and had her unconscious, but Theresa is safe!"

"Good. I just so happen to have Bronya here safe and sound as well." Inuyasha said.

"...Bronya…!?" Theresa's voice called out from the background, as she pushed Rachel aside, as Theresa looked more like a pop star than how she usually looked, having been of the same universe that the Haxxor Bunny Bronya came from. "Let me see her! She's okay!?"

"And I'm assuming you're Theresa." Inuyasha chuckled. "Yeah, here, I'll show you to her." Inuyasha said, as he soon turned around and moved the call where they could see one another.

"...Theresa!?" Bronya said with widened eyes. "They… they…"

"Yes, they got me out! Baka, you could have died accepting their terms! Why didn't you just give me up to be free!?" Theresa yelled.

"...Because I didn't want you to die…" Bronya simply stated.

"...Tch… Just get here in one piece where we can be together again, sis, okay!?" Theresa growled.

"Perhaps I can be of service there. I happen to be on my way to World Marshal HQ now to see if I can help with remote hacking of the building." Came the German voice of Doktor on call as his face appeared. "I'll pick up Bronya and then we can get to work, ja."

"You have our thanks, Dok." Inuyasha said. "I'll have Allison stick around out here with Bronya, in case Desperado gets any ideas of enforcing their code on her even though there's no more of a risk for her."

"So just you, me and Raiden then…" Sakura remarked. "Fun."

"Okay… stay safe, Bronya…" Theresa said in the call, before it ended.

"I'll rejoin with you all as soon as Doktor picks up Bronya. Get up there and find out what they're doing with those brains." Allison said, as the trio nodded before going inside World Marshal HQ.