Lucya skimmed through her father's video library, and found a number of old movies on burned DVDs. As she wondered why her father would continue to use such an antiquated home video format, she observed that some of these were home videos in addition to bootlegs of movies. One of them was titled "Old Memories, Vol. I". Just as Lucya was about to insert it in a DVD player, the door opened and Tornovich entered.

"Lucya?" he said to her.

"Yes, father?" asked Lucya.

"How do you like your body so far? Does it work efficiently?"

"Perfectly."

"What do you have in your hand?" asked Tornovich.

"May I ask what this is?" asked Lucya.

"Video recordings of your human self." said Tornovich. "She used to record blogs and livestreams in her younger days."

"Could I watch one of those videos, father?" asked Lucya.

Tornovich hesitated, then nodded.

"Just one." said Tornovich. "Then I want you to come with me to meet the others."

After switching the video mode on the television, Lucya inserted the DVD into the video player, then pressed the Play button. Almost immediately, a young woman that looked like a slightly older version of the human Lucya in the photograph, was sitting on a chair and wearing a headset.

"Hi, everyone!" said the woman, with a voice identical to Lucya's. "Welcome to my livestream! First, I want to give a shoutout to my dad, who has been busy working on his company's new operating system. But since it's still in progress, I'll just have to make due with Windows 11. So today, I'm going to be streaming a live reaction to some random public domain movies I downloaded from the Internet. I can afford to buy any movie I want of course, but public domain movies are in my comfort zone since I don't have to worry about the video getting taken down for Content ID. So anyway, this one is called Horror Express. It stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas. I love all three of these actors, so I think this will make for a fun movie to watch. So let's st-"

Suddenly, the video halted, and started to glitch.

"Hivno!" said Tornovich, swearing in his native tongue. "The DVD must be dirty again. I'll clean it later."

He ejected the disc and checked it for dirt and scratches, before putting it back in its case. It was awkward due to how large his hands were.

"Lucya, before we go down to meet our guests, I want to take precautions in case anything goes wrong." said Tornovich.

"What kind of precautions?" asked Lucya.

Tornovich opened a cabinet next to his bed, and pulled out a gun belt along with a long-barreled sidearm. As Tornovich fastened the belt around Lucya's waist, Lucya examined the gun itself.

"Can you identity the weapon, my dear?" asked Tornovich.

"It appears to be a TOZ-81 Mars revolver." said Lucya, as she aimed down the sights and breaking it open to examine the five-round cylinder within. "A prototype handgun built for Soviet cosmonauts during the Cold War, as a survival tool. But the only working model was lost or destroyed seven years ago."

"Yes, but this is a reproduction built by Devereaux Arms AB. I had it commissioned by them twenty years ago to be my personal sidearm after...well, I'd rather not say." said Tornovich, hesitating briefly. "It cost a small fortune, but nothing that my company couldn't afford. Now I want you to have it. I'm getting old and I don't expect that I would last long in a site of conflict anyway."

"Father, I'm honored that you would give me this..." said Lucya. "But I'm sure that my body, as you designed it, wasn't built for combat."

"Every bio-robot shell that my company manufactured has built-in procedures for self-defense, even if the host has seen no action of any kind. You, Kyra, and all other Eternal Robotics bio-robots having the same basic capabilities in hand-to-hand and small arms combat as a soldier of the former Soviet Union. I hope nobody will force you to use these."

Again with the Soviet Union. Lucya often wondered about the emotional attachment that her father had to that place and time period. She often had trouble determining whether he longed for it or hated it. Or perhaps it was both; she always found humans very hard to understand. In just a nanosecond, she shifted her attention back to the gun. Once the gun belt was fastened around her waist, Lucya snapped the gun shut, twirled it around in her hand, and stuck it into the holster like a cowgirl in the Old West.

"Interesting." said Tornovich. "Lucya, you surprise even me sometimes."

Matt and Amonyushuu left the galley, holding hands. Due to how short and stubby her fingers were, Matt's hand almost completely covered it.

"I hope you had a wonderful time being alone with me." said Amonyushuu.

"I'd say the same to you." said Matt, nervously. "So...would you like me to...uh, you know...walk you back to the others?"

"Thank you, but it won't be necessary." said Amonyushuu. "I think I know my way around by now."

She twitched her hand as a subtle gesture for Matt to let go of her. When he loosened his grip, Amonyushuu put her arms around him and gave him a hug. Matt hugged her back. Suddenly, he felt her claws prickle him in his back.

"Sorry." Amonyushuu whispered. "Feline instincts."

Matt was left alone in the corridor, leaning against a wall, breathing slightly uneasily when someone walked up to him. It was Luke.

"Matt, what are you up to?" asked Luke.

"Nothin'." Matt sighed. "Just got done with my first date ever. Just don't tell my brother, okay?"

"No problem!" asked Luke. "It was with the cat-girl, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"How'd it go?"

"She made some hot chocolate for me. It was pretty good."

"She made food for you?" asked Luke, patting him on the shoulder. "Way to go, dude! That means she likes you!"

"Yeah, I guess it does." Matt nodded nervously.

"So, I heard that Hayami and Mutio are together." said Luke.

"They are?" asked Matt. "Really?"

"Yeah, Mutio's staying with Blue-6." said Luke. "That's what some of the other crew are saying. I don't know if this means they're dating or anything, but it could happen now."

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and sounds of brawling punctured by yelling and swearing. Matt and Luke ran over to investigate the source of the commotion. It was Pete and Desmond, the latter of whom was leaning against the wall clutching his chest.

"Never talk to me about that again!" shouted Pete. "I don't need this shit in my life!"

"What happened?" asked Luke.

"Oh, he was blabbering on about some AI that he was talking to. He told me that he would get a girlfriend before I did." said Pete.

"Well it's kind of true." said Desmond. "You're not exactly boyfriend material."

"Sure, because I'm fat?" asked Pete. "Because I'm an annoying, whiny shithead that does nothing but give other people shit? I know you're all thinking it!"

"Yes, because you always act like a shithead!" said Rockefeller.

"You know what?" growled Pete. "I have every goddamned right to act like a shithead! Everyone I knew or cared about before the floods is either far away or dead. Ever since the flood, I developed an eating disorder from all the stress and anxiety that I was going through at the time. My home, and everything I owned is at the bottom of the ocean! I got sick with all kinds of diseases during my time in Miami, and always went to bed scared that I might get attacked in my sleep by mercenaries or pirates or Chimeran sea-monsters, or that the water would rise up even more and drown me, or that all life as I know it would just end because of whatever the hell Zorndyke was planning to do to us. If you had to live with that shit all the time, trust me, you wouldn't be the nicest guy around either!"

"We've all had to deal with that, Pete." said Kino, walking up to him from behind. "I lost my home, my parents, and my sister because of Zorndyke."

Pete turned around.

"And I'm sorry to hear that, but-"

"But at least I did would I could for the greater good." Kino snapped. "Because I wanted to do everything that I could to bring the world back to the way it was."

"Well good for you." said Pete. "But I'm not a Grandpas pilot or whatever you call those things. I'm not a badass mercenary or a deep sea salvager, or anything cool like that. I'm just an ordinary guy who got dragged along on something that's way over his head. I just want to go back to living a normal life, and I'd rather not end up being collateral damage the next time a bunch of robots go Terminator 3 all over the place!"

Rockefeller grabbed Peter by the neck and turned him around. Pete, who was wider, and heavier than Rockefeller, hardly budged. Luke, Kino and Matt leaned back, not wanting to get in the way.

"If you want a normal life, then you will shut up, act like a man, and earn your right to have one! Just like the rest of us! If not, I suggest you get the hell off this submarine the next time we reach port!"

Pete started shaking. His eyes started to water from his anger.

"I've carried you all the way from Florida and my patience with you's starting to wear thin! You do not want to see what I do with people that piss me off!"

"Fine!" Pete growled, half-sobbing. "Maybe I will! Thanks for the advice! It's the best I've gotten all month!"

He turned and stormed down the corridor, leaning forward so that he was looking down at the floor. His tears fell down to the metal floor as he kept going. Kino looked on after him, as did Rockefeller, Luke, and Matt.

"Whoa, I think you got him good!" said Luke.

"Don't you think you were too hard on him?" asked Kino, showing remorse.

"Don't worry about it." said Rockefeller. "He's just being a crybaby, like usual. He's the kind of guy that loves hamming it up for attention."

"Mr. Rockefeller, don't forget he's a human being." said Matt. "I think I can see where he's coming from. I wouldn't want to be involved in all this either."

"Matt, you're fourteen." said Rockefeller. "Pete's a fully-grown adult. He should at least act like one. We've had to put up with him since Miami. And since Cyrus is recovering and Rick's back in Canada, I'm glad someone was able to put him in his place."

"Yeah!" agreed Luke. "Good job, man!"

He gave Rockefeller a thumbs-up.

"Knock it off." Kino said, waving her hand for him to put his down.

She walked away.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Matt.

"I need to get back to the Grampus, and so does Hayami." said Kino. "Make sure Pete doesn't do anything stupid before we reach port."

"Well, that's one hell of a challenge." said Rockefeller, once Kino was out of earshot.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to make an announcement." said Tornovich. "You might have noticed that for the past few hours, the corridors have been completely devoid of Lucya's voice."

"So what did you do?" asked Erik. "Did you get rid of her? I hope so, because her voice was so annoying!"

"Yes and no." said Tornovich, ignoring the rudeness of Erik's comment. "Lucya will no longer be heard on the loudspeakers, but I have not disposed of her completely."

"Then what happened to her?" asked Sandra.

A door behind Tornovich opened, and a young woman entered the room. She was clad in a black-and-gray Eternal Robotics jumpsuit and black rubber boots. She had a thin build, long black hair, dark eyes, and skin that was even paler and grayer than Tornovich's. In fact, her skin had a faint silvery glint around the edges where the wall lights illuminated her. This was the first clue that gave away that this woman wasn't human. Campbell mentally noted that something about her features reminded him of Tornovich. When the woman approached Tornovich and stood beside him with both of her hands clasped behind her back, she spoke.

"Hello again, everyone." said the woman, speaking with a very familiar voice. "I am Lucya."

She waved her hand, but nobody waved back.

"As you can see, I now have a body." she continued. "My father created it for me."

"Oh, great." said Erik. "Because that's exactly what you need."

A couple of the other men that were present, on the other hand, were whispering excitedly at the sight of her. Campbell himself fought the urge to let out a wolf-whistle. Sandra rolled her eyes.

"I've seen that face before." said Dr. Cameron, walking up to Lucya. "Yes, that's your daughter. Isn't it, Tornovich? Except I remember her being much older and somewhat…heavier too."

Lucya flashed her eyes in surprise.

"Yes, she is." said Tornovich. "As I explained to Lucya earlier, she is a perfect replica of my deceased daughter from when she was leaving her teen years and entering adulthood. She was at her happiest then, with hope for a bright future ahead of her."

He walked up to Lucya, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Unfortunately, the happiness did not last long." said Tornovich. "She became depressed later in life, developed an eating disorder that caused a severe weight gain, and she spent most of her time in her bedroom. She was unemployed, did not want to leave her room except for meals and bathroom breaks, and she met a horribly sticky end at the hands of terrible men."

Lucya frowned, a first for her since she had received her new body. She turned to look at her father, concerned about him. She could see that his eyes were beginning to water.

"Those men had brutally murdered her, destroyed my robotic masterpiece KANA, and put my wife Dominique in the hospital for two weeks. They had no reason to take our beloved daughter's life. It was KANA that they wanted."

Tornovich let go of Lucya's shoulder.

"But that is a story for another time. This remarkable young lady that you see before you is both Lucya Diana Tornovich and KANA combined into one. While she doesn't have her human counterpart's memories, her personality is a perfect replica, painstakingly compiled from years of analyzing her social media history, old home videos, and my own memories from the time I spent with her in my household."

Tornovich stepped in front of Lucya.

"I want all of you to please, treat her with as much respect as you can muster." said Tornovich. "If you hate me for whatever I have done, please don't take it out on her."

"Father, you don't—" Lucya spoke, but Tornovich raised his hand.

"That will do, my dear." said Tornovich. "Now I have something to look into. Please, talk with these people."

Lucya nodded, then approached their guests. She was still frowning, waiting for one of them to say or do something. Campbell approached her first.

"Uh, hi." said Campbell.

"Hi." Lucya said simply.

She looked at the other humans, almost all of whom looked at her suspiciously or with contempt. Since Campbell seemed like the most friendly option to interact with, she shifted her focus back to him.

"So you are Kyra Lane's son?" she asked.

"That's right." said Campbell. "So do you talk to my mom often?"

"Yes, she's a valued employee of the company." Lucya said, starting to smile. "I wish that she could be around more people…or robots, that are like her. I have a feeling that she may not find working in Greenland to be what a human would call…exciting."

"Well I imagine so." said Campbell. "Aren't there any other employees there?"

"If you mean human employees, then no." said Lucya. "Site-G is staffed entirely by robots, and the only humans that would be anywhere near it are plague victims undergoing the transition into robotic shells. But there are other sites and properties owned by Eternal Robotics that have human employees."

"So why is mom working at Site-G?" asked Campbell. "She's Canadian, so shouldn't she be working somewhere in Canada or at least the United States?"

"Site-C and all other Eternal Robotics property on Canadian soil were destroyed by Zorndyke's forces during the war. Site-G was closest, so she was transferred there after receiving her robotic body."

"Well, that sucks." said Campbell. "Uh, by the way. Is it okay if I ask a personal question?"

"Of course." said Lucya.

"Who were you talking to earlier?" asked Campbell. "Tornovich said something about you having a boyfriend."

Lucya blushed.

"Oh, I was talking to an American man." said Lucya. "He had repaired one of our company's drones, and he seemed to really like me. His name is Desmond Rockefeller."

"Wait, Desmond?" asked Campbell. "Oh my god, you know Desmond Rockefeller?!"

Lucya nodded.

"He's my best friend in the whole world!" he exclaimed to her. "And he's still alive out there! That must mean the rest of my friends from Miami are alive too!"

"I would hope so, since Blue-6 seemed largely intact despite the fighting that had taken place earlier." said Lucya. "But what can you tell me about Mr. Rockefeller? I have taken an interest of my own in him."

"Well, he's a really nice guy. Very laid back." said Campbell. "The guy loves working on machines. And he can fly a helicopter better than anyone I know. Though I don't know that many helicopter pilots."

"Hmm, I'm sure I could fly one too." said Lucya. "I was programmed to remote control a number of different aircraft if the need arises."

"Great, then I'm sure Rockefeller would love to have you as a co-pilot." said Campbell.

"That's good." said Lucya. "I'm expecting to meet Desmond in person, when we reach Norway."

"I could never be a co-pilot myself, much less a regular pilot. It's a miracle I didn't crash and burn all our helicopter over the top of this airship when I flew it up here. By the way, who's flying this airship?"

"Even while I'm in this body, I can control the Perun's trajectory." asked Lucya. "But there is also a skeleton crew of robots manning the bridge of the Perun, controlling everything from the engines to the steering to the on-board weaponry."

"So those robots were the ones firing down on us back in Canada." said Campbell.

"Correct."

"So you weren't the one shooting at us?" asked Campbell.

"I deploy the robots and assign parameters for them to follow, but I can only control the armaments if I directly control the robots manning them. And I usually only do that at a time of emergency."

"Can you control the other robots on this airship right now?" asked Dr. Cameron.

"I believe that I can." said Lucya.

"So you're like a…technopath?" asked Sandra.

"In a way, I am." said Lucya. "But I can only control robots that are assigned to the Perun or to designated sites. If I go anywhere else…"

"Then you will be all alone." said Tornovich, behind her. "Which is why I will not send you alone for your assignment."

In his office, Brigadier-General Wells sat at his desk, reading through important documents regarding the Chimeran prisoners. There was a frantic knock at the door.

"Come in!"

A soldier bounded in, panting and out of breath. There were sounds of gunfire in the distance, echoing through the halls.

"Sir, we're under attack."

"By who, Sergeant Kaine?" asked Wells.

"It's Colonel O'Hara." said Kaine. "He's trying to take over Mount Weather, and his troops have infiltrated our ranks. What do you suggest we do?"

"What?! I must alert the others!"

An alarm sounded in the distance. Ignoring this, turned on the speaker.

"Attention, all personnel of Mount Weather. This is Brigadier-General Wells. The base has been infiltrated by insurgents. Their leader has been identified as Colonel O'Hara. Do not trust anything he says. He has been identified as an enemy of the state. I repeat..."

The door exploded, and in entered Colonel O'Hara. He was flanked by two of his men. Pulling out his sidearm, he shot Kaine in the throat and Wells in the shoulder. O'Hara walked over to Kaine, who was gurgling and clutching at this throat, and fired another shot into his head to end his misery. After ordering his men to stand outside and guard the doorway, he approached Wells who was leaning wounded against the wall.

"O'Hara, you bastard!" grunted Wells, through his intense pain. "What do you plan to achieve by doing this?"

"Since I'm going to be killing you very soon, it isn't going to matter." said O'Hara.

He raised his pistol and cocked the hammer. But before he could pull the trigger, there were several gunshots outside the room, followed by the swishes of a knife and screams of agony. O'Hara turned around to investigate the source of the noise. As he did so, he nonchalantly aimed behind his back without looking to shoot Wells. But Wells knew he would do this, and struck his hand with his cane. The gun fell out of the colonel's hand and fell under the desk. O'Hara grabbed Wells and threw him to the ground behind his chair. He would deal with him later.

Jackson entered the room, with a bloodstained knife in his hand.

"O'Hara, you snake!" he growled. "You think you're gonna take over so easily? Surrender or I'm gonna cut you to ribbons. You're going to get a court martial and a life sentence in military prison, if you're lucky!"

"I don't think you're in any position to threaten me, Sergeant." said O'Hara. "I'm the one with the bargaining chip. One step closer..."

He drew out a serrated knife, using it to point at Wells.

"And he's dead."

"Chip this!" Jackson yelled.

He lifted his knife, and threw it at O'Hara. It hit him directly in the chest, and he recoiled from the hit. But he didn't fall to the ground despite the blade being embedded in his uniform.

"What in the..." Jackson whispered to himself.

O'Hara pulled the knife out of his uniform, and threw it back at Jackson, who rolled out of the knife's trajectory. He stood back up and gawked as O'Hara removed his shirt, revealing that he was wearing a sleeveless high-tech ballistic vest underneath. He nodded towards the thrown knife, and Jackson went to grab it. Then the two soldiers circled each other like wolves, then ran forwards thrusting and slashing their knives at each other with incredible speed and agility, parrying and dodging each other's attacks in perfect synchronization.

Slash! Parry! Parry! Thrust! Slash! Thrust! Slash! Dodge! Thrust! Thrust! Parry! Feint! Parry! Spin! Dodge! Slash! Parry! Thrust! Thrust! Thrust! Dodge! Slash! Parry! Punch!

Jackson punched O'Hara in the face with his free hand, but O'Hara responded by crouching and delivering a sweeping kick. But Jackson somersaulted away. O'Hara rolled forward and kicked up with both feet into Jackson's chest. Jackson groaned in pain and staggered, giving O'Hara time to stand back up. O'Hara ran forward to slash Jackson with the knife, but he swung his hand to the side, knocking the knife out of his hand. Jackson prepared to slash with the knife, but O'Hara grabbed his right hand with his own. The two locked their hands together in a knuckle-crushing grip. Jackson looked at O'Hara's right forearm, and noticed there was a strange tattoo printed on it: A seven-pointed star within another seven-pointed star.

"Holy shit..." said Jackson. "You're with..."

But before he could finish that sentence, O'Hara twisted Jackson's fingers in his left hand, causing him to cry out in pain. Using this moment of weakness, he wrapped his arm around his ribs and kicked him in the groin. Twice. Jackson cried out in pain, and his knife fell to the ground.

Now it was just their fists. The two grappled, but Jackson managed to grab his opponent by the shoulder and slam him to the ground. But he immediately rolled away and stood back up. Jackson braced himself for another attack when O'Hara dove forward to tackle him like a football player. Jackson was able to cross both of his arms in front of him in an X-shape when O'Hara got to him. He was able to push him off after he landed, and then pick up the knife. O'Hara kicked the knife out of Jackson's hand, sending it flying towards the ceiling, where it lay embedded. Then he kicked him in the stomach again, picked him up, lifted him over his head, then slammed him onto Wells' desk. Surprisingly it did not collapse underneath him. As O'Hara went for the other knife, Jackson rolled off the desk and picked up a new weapon: Wells' chair.

Jackson walked towards his knife-wielding adversary, and swung the chair at him like a large cumbersome baseball bat. O'Hara got hit by the first swing, but he managed to grab the chair at the second. At first, Jackson tried to pull the chair back to no avail. Then O'Hara did the same, with similar results. So they did the opposite and decided to shove the furniture into each other until one of them would fall over.

As the fight unfolded before his eyes, Wells crawled towards the desk to reach under it for the gun. Ignoring the sounds of combat, yelling and swearing, he painstakingly pulled the pistol out, climbed out from behind the desk and waited for O'Hara to enter his sights. O'Hara saw what he was doing for a split second, then unpinned a grenade on his belt on let it fall. It rolled over to his right. Both combatants stopped fighting over the chair and dove into the hall to avoid the explosion. Wells was shaken by the shockwaves and he now had a ringing sensation in his ears, but was not seriously injured by the explosion.

Meanwhile, the fight continued outside. O'Hara limped towards an emergency station, and broke out a fire axe. Jackson ran towards him hoping that he could grab the handle, but O'Hara hit him in the brow with the bottom end, knocking him to the ground and leaving a bloody bruise on his face. Then O'Hara starting chopping at him while he dodged from between his legs. Then he kicked O'Hara in the groin, crawled away from between his legs, and got back up. Jackson was about to reach for a fallen soldier's gun, but O'Hara unpinned a grenade and threw it at the bodies. Jackson was forced to run back to Wells' office to avoid the explosion. While he was in there, he got his commanding officer out of there, half-carrying him down the corridor. The two hurried out with Wells firing back at O'Hara with his own pistol. Furiously, O'Hara repeatedly swung the axe in the air, in one instance (to his own surprise) deflecting a bullet with the metal handle. Once he realized too late that they were out of range, he pulled out another grenade and threw it long and far. But Jackson and Wells were able to get out of range just as it would have detonated.

O'Hara turned on his wrist communicator, and balefully growled into it:

"Attention all troops! Hunt down and kill Brigadier-General Wells and Sergeant Jackson! Seal all exits and do not let them escape."

Ten soldiers ran up behind him.

"Orders, sir?" asked one of them.

"Has this level been secured, Sergeant Hollis?" asked O'Hara.

"Yes, sir." replied another soldier.

"Hollis, I want you and two others to come with me." said O'Hara. "I want the rest of you to go after Wells and Jackson. Kill them and get my sidearm back."

Armando and his men ran down the corridor, trying hard not to enter any sites of conflict. Soon they came upon an area full of dead soldiers. Seizing the opportunity, they took the weapons of the fallen men, and loaded them.

"Let's blast these muchachos!" said Armando, as he reloaded an M4 carbine that he had taken from a fallen soldier. His two accomplices both took Mossberg shotguns.

As some soldiers turned the corner and saw them, one of them shouted "Halt!"

"Halt this, pendejo!" yelled Armando, as he fired at them.

The three of them blasted the soldiers full of lead, when suddenly one of his men dropped his shotgun and fell dead with stab wounds in his back.

"What the hell?!" said the other, as Armando made a run down the corridor.

Armando fired back at the emptiness around his comrade, but to no avail. Then his comrade started wrestling with something invisible. It did not take him long to figure out what was happening. Noticing the sprinklers on the ceiling, and a grenade near one of the men he shot, he picked up the latter. He pulled the pin and threw it at a nearby sprinkler. The explosive detonated, and the fire from the explosion scorched the ceiling. On cue, the fire alarm started to ring and the entire corridor was doused with water. The stealth armor on Jimenez and Forrester started to short out and they materialized in seconds. Armando's accomplice could now see who he was fighting, and Armando noticed the other soldier was slowly approaching him in a crouch with his knife drawn.

And as the two engaged in close-quarters melee combat with each other, Armando's accomplice picked up a stun baton that was lying on the ground,. But since the sprinklers were still active, both he and Jimenez were viciously electrocuted when he struck his attacker. Both of them were dead in seconds.

Forrester looked back at his comrade in surprise. This distraction gave Armando enough time to tackle Forrester, forcing him to the ground and knocking the knife out of his hands. They rolled on the ground, punching and kicking at each other until Armando was able to break free. Seizing this opportunity to escape he ran down the corridor, trying hard not to slip on the blood-dyed watery floor. As he ran, Forrester grabbed his knife and threw it. The knife hit Armando in the leg, causing him to yelp in pain. He slowly pulled the knife out, and limped away with it in his hand. Forrester ran to a nearby fire alarm, and shut off the sprinklers. After a couple of seconds, the sprinklers stopped and Forrester once again became invisible.

Carson and Riggs hurried to the front gate, dodging gunfire from the cybertank. So far, the tank had not fired its main cannon, but it was only a matter of time. The gate was wide open, so Riggs and Carson both ran to either side and pulled the doors together with them on the outside. The cybertank once again entered its "crawler mode" and climbed over the gate, crushing it under its weight. Then it crawled on for a bit, firing its machine gun turret after the two escaping marines. They ran down the dirt path until they reached the same clearing where the King Stallion had landed before. When they got there, the cybertank fired its cannon. Both ran just in time, as the shot eliminated the clearing. They disappeared into a thicket of pine trees, and hid there.

"What do we do?" asked Riggs.

"We need to get back into the base somehow." said Carson.

"What do you have in mind?" asked Riggs.

"There's a series of underground tunnels down below. We constructed a hidden opening on the far side, shortly after the base was reinstated as a military installation."

"Lead the way!" said Riggs.

The two men took out their sidearms and advanced with stealth through the wooded area.

Walsh and his contingent of human and Chimera accomplices hurried down the corridor until they reached an elevator. There were hurried footsteps behind them. The soldiers aimed their firearms behind them.

"Wait! Hold your fire!" said Walsh, once he recognized who it was.

It was Wells and Jackson. But no sooner did they turn the corner than many armed men followed, firing their guns after them. Walsh and his men returned fire, and Jackson also turned and emptied the rest of the clip in O'Hara's sidearm, which he then disassembled on the spot and dropped its pieces on the floor.

"Let's see how O'Hara likes having to put his gun back together." he said.

"O'Hara?" asked Walsh.

"Yes, it's O'Hara!" said Jackson, turning to Walsh. "He's the traitor, just as we suspected!"

"Then those men attacking us are his!" said one of the soldiers behind them.

"I'm afraid so." said Wells. "We need to...wait."

"Are you two all right?" asked Walsh.

But before they could answer, the Chimerans that were in their group broke off from their human allies, and began to stripped the dead soldiers of armor and weapons. Whatever they couldn't wear themselves was thrown aside and the guns were thrown to the human soldiers for their own use. The knives, stun batons, and other melee weapons were kept by the hybrids to use as their weapons. Then they rejoined the humans.

"Consider yourself fortunate that you aren't our enemies...at the moment." said the lizard-man leader. "Or you would be with those men on the floor. Now go ahead and take their guns. I know you need them."

Jackson and Wells nodded awkwardly, and they and several other soldiers each picked up a firearm. Jackson took a Mossberg shotgun while Wells took a Beretta pistol. The Chimera prisoners were now surrounding Wells with ravenous mouths and claws wide open. Jackson pointed his shotgun at them.

"Wait!" said Jackson.

"You!" said one of the hybrids. "You're the one in charge of this place! You were the one holding us here against our will!"

There was a cacophony of roars and screeches, but none of the hybrids attacked.

"Yes, it's true." said Wells. "But I assure you that I did everything I could to make your time comfortable here."

"If you value your life, you will tell us where the rest of our kind are being detained!"

Wells knew that this information was classified, but at this point he didn't have much of a choice.

"Lower levels. Deep underground." said Wells. "If O'Hara's men haven't killed them all, we might still be able to free them."

"If we do, we better do it fast." said Jackson. "I think things are about to get a lot worse. O'Hara's much worse than he appears to be."

"What do you mean, Jackson?" asked Wells.

"I saw a tattoo on his arm." said Jackson. "One of a symbol that I haven't seen in many years. Not since before the floods."

He described the tattoo he saw on O'Hara's forearm.

"Well, I'll be damned." said Walsh. "I didn't think he would stoop so low as to join...them. Now it all makes sense!"

"Who? What are you talking about?" asked the frilled Chimeran.

"We'll explain later." said Walsh. "Right now, let's get your comrades out of here."

As everyone prepared for the elevator trip down, one of the Chimerans, a wolf-like biped with long white fangs, sniffed the air. Smelling something unusually, it slowly crept away from its fellows without a word. Armando limped around the corner, panting heavily and swearing when he saw the large group gathered around the elevator.

"Stop him!" shouted Walsh.

Armando raised his hands, making no attempt to fight.

"Look out!" he shouted. "Some invisible hombre is trying to kill me!"

There was a thumping, and one of the corpses stirred. The wolf-man's nostrils flared as he smelled something.

"He's telling the truth!" said the wolf.

"What do you mean, Salvatore?" asked the frilled lizard Chimera.

The wolf-man charged forward with a loud growl. He pounced at thin air right next to where Armando stood, and began rending the emptiness with his claws. Gobs of blood and gore splashed away from his claws, punctuated by cries of pain. Forrester re-materialized and fell dead among his slain comrades.

"Unless you want to join him in that pile, you better come with us!" said Walsh.

Armando nodded and slowly walked over, following by Salvatore who was sniffing him curiously.

Riggs and Carson came upon the entrance to a tunnel in the mountainside. It was guarded by several soldiers, and the gate was shut. There were many tanks and trucks parked nearby.

"There will be too many of them to fight by ourselves." said Carson. "We will need to sneak past them undetected."

"Right." said Riggs. "But let's try not to damage the vehicles unless we have to. If the base is overrun, they might be our only way out of here. And there's no telling how many of our men are trapped inside."

"I agree." nodded Carson.

The lift doors opened, and the assembled human-Chimera group departed from it into the deep, dark caverns that lay hundreds of feet below the summit of Mount Weather. It was like a subterranean village made out of concrete buildings.

"These are the oldest sections of the complex." said Wells, as he walked ahead of the others. "All of the other areas underground were added in later years, after ownership reverted to the military. This is where the president himself would have sought shelter in the event of a national emergency, such as nuclear war...or a great flood."

"Nice history lesson." said the frilled lizard Chimeran. "But where are the prisoners being kept?"

"Under heavy guard." said Walsh, walking forward and pointing out several heavily armored soldiers patrolling the paths between buildings.

"Are they your men?" asked the Chimeran.

"I don't know." said Wells. "But the alarm should have been raised down here too."

Thinking quickly, the soldiers arranged a plan with the Chimerans. In two minutes, the Chimerans were all being escorted towards the center of the group of buildings.

"Halt!" said one of the patrols. "What's going on here?"

"Orders from higher up." said Walsh. "We've been told to gather all our prisoners to this spot, and execute them all at once."

"I don't remember Colonel O'Hara giving us such an order." said the soldier.

Walsh kicked the shotgun out of the soldier's hands, then shoved him to the ground. Other soldiers loyal to O'Hara saw what was happening and aimed their guns. But Wells' men fired their own weapons at them. After a short firefight and their enemies were all gunned down, Walsh aimed his carbine at his captive's head.

"Are the other prisoners still down here?" Walsh demanded.

"Yes!" said the soldier, giving Walsh his keycard.

"Good." said Walsh.

In a few minutes, more than sixty freed human and Chimeran prisoners had joined them. But just as they were all assembled, all the lights were dimmed until they were in complete darkness. A splash of red light took their place almost immediately.

"Damn, they must've cut the power." said Jackson.

"Then we're all trapped down here?!" asked the frilled Chimeran, as his fellows all started hooting and hollering in alarm.

"Don't panic." said Wells. "There are other ways out of this part of the complex."

"I just hope we can find them soon." said Jackson.

A/N: This chapter took a while, but hopefully it will keep you all entertained; I wanted to get it done in time for my trip to California at the end of the month.