Author's note: This prologue has been divided into two because I saw a split develop when I wrote it.

This new book follows Episode Jackal, but the book is not required to read for this book. This book is also connected to the short story Unfading Memories from the collection Do or Die. This short story is recommended prior reading but not required for understanding

"I can accept the idea of my own demise, but I am unable to accept the death of anyone else." - Maya Angelou

It was that fateful day that ended everything. Everything that was would soon be replaced by a flaming Armageddon because of the events of that one day. The wrong thing happened at the worst place it could possibly think to strike, at a time that only amplified its calamity to those affected.

That day, buried deep in a recent past, would end thousands, and ravage everything that would be left behind.

War was born deep within anguish.

Infinite's head jerked upwards at the sound of an alarm; an intruder alarm.

"Unidentified system intrusion! Northeast lab sector!" The mechanical voice in his earpiece proclaimed.

Infinite gasped and jumped up from the forest ground of Aqua Road to a tower to gain altitude in order to map out the fastest path to the northeast region of the lab.

The Jackal Squad had been stationed there, leaderless while Infinite tackled a solo task that wouldn't have taken thirty minutes. There was no telling if they had received the alarm before the intruder reached the area or if they had encountered a blind attack.

Infinite wasn't about to let the threat get to them before he did. He launched himself from the tower to a rock formation sticking out of the water, then raced towards the invaded area with his thoughts only focusing on arriving, so consumed with his speed and his target that he muddled out the wave of messages through his communication equipment, especially anything with Eggman's voice.

~~ *meanwhile* ~~

Amara heard the alarm blare and looked around anxiously for an armed intruder, snarling and preparing her knife for conflict. However, she was not met with an enemy, but someone she considered to be some sort of family. "Oh come on, ugh, please don't tell me you set off the alarm! For being some of the most dangerous mercenaries on the planet, you two are such idiots!" She smacked the two jackals, Hunter and Remy, across their muzzles and grumbled to herself about their stupidity.

"You're callin' us idiots? So we're supposed to just let 'cha boss us around like you own us or somethin'?"

"I outrank you."

"You ain't married to him yet, Amara! Keep your pretty mouth shut!"

Amara was getting quite furious the more that time passed. "Second Lieutenant Hunter, you are talkin' to First Lieutenant Amara! Blood-tied or not, I'm still better than you!"

"Hush it!" Remy snapped.

Both jackals stopped fighting each other and turned to Remy.

"I heard over the intercom, we got an intruder!"

Amara cried out in frustration, then growled, a fuming grimace stuck on her face. "Okay, since you two can't even do the one job you had: to keep people outta this place, looks like we all got a problem." She said in a harsh deadpan, a knife-sharp glower thrown towards the pair. "QuickStrike! Where are ya?!"

Quickstrike appeared from around the corner, distress apparent in his face. "Amara! Guys! There's trouble, ya gotta keep an eye out!"

"Yeah, we know. There's an intruder. What's the whoop about that?" Hunter did nothing more than rolling his eyes.

QuickStrike shook his head and a few fearful tears ran down his face. "Ya don't know who the intruder is…"

Amara's expression shifted to being more sensitive and possibly concerned.

A figure burst through the bushes, then looked straight at the Jackal Squad as if they were in his way. "I see that the Doctor has put in some effort to keep this place secure. Too bad it's coming down anyway."

Amara approached him with purpose, knowing what she was hired to do.

The others gathered behind her, acknowledging her authority.

"Well, well. If it isn't the authorities' favorite hedgehog." She crossed her arms, only to be met with an energy blast being charged. She gasped. "Everyone move!" She bolted to her right, Hunter and Remy quickly scattered from the area.

QuickStrike, however, could not move quickly enough and he was struck with the blast, his body was thrown by the impact and smashed against the wall, a series of sickening cracks sounding as he fell lifelessly to the ground.

He did not get up.

"QuickStrike!" Remy cried out in despair.

"Well, that was almost too easy, are any of you actually going to try and stop me?"

Hunter pulled small, throwable daggers into his paw and cocked a shotgun in his other before rushing past Amara to confront him.

"Hunter! Wait!" Amara reached her paw out to stop him, but was too late.

Hunter was already fully engaged in a fight with a creature that had been designed to be almost unstoppable with the arsenal of powers he had been given at creation. Hunter fired his gun once and missed, then had the gun kicked out of his paw before getting knocked down to the ground.

Amara wanted to help him, but her instincts knew there was nothing she could do. Needing to satisfy one side of her adrenaline, Amara sprinted from the fight and scaled a tree that was near a large stone boulder. She turned back to the scene just in time to watch her squadmate die, the invader summoned a gem and used another energy blast to crumble a metallic structure bridging an overhang. Debris from the crumbling structure fell and collided with the jackal, snapping his neck in a moment's time.

Remy jumped to Hunter's side, unaware that he was dead. However, the remaining structure, unstable beyond repair, collapsed in the area, blocking Remy's escape routes. A metal bar fell on his head before he could cry out for Amara to help him, killing him too.

"Disappointing. The so-called 'greatest mercenaries on Mobius' provided no opposition. Truly a pitiful display."

Amara, still safely up in the tree she had scaled before Hunter's death, tried to creep away from the scene, uncertain of whether to get Infinite to aid her or to run away. Her weight, however, was too much for a section of the tree and one of the branches separated from the tree in a harsh snap. She bit her tongue to keep from swearing.

The creature, however, heard the noise and spotted her. "Trying to get off without your consequence?" The black creature approached Amara with a displeased frown.

She turned to face him, remaining in the tree.

The creature seemed to recognize her. "I've seen you. Hard to forget when half the recons I get sent on have something to do with you. The Queen of the Black Market."

Amara growled, her tail flicking back and forth, replacing her panic with rage. Boy, did she hate the military. "That's right." She began with a vicious snarl. "Don't wear it out."

"Don't toy with me, vixen."

Amara jumped down and flipped her hair back, baring her teeth. She launched at him, releasing all the tension from the air and initiating a huge fight. It was impossible to tell where one or the other was, the two were so interlocked. Both of them were able to land several punches on the other before Amara landed a kick to the intruder's lower chest and he threw her backwards towards the boulder. She got back up with incredible timing, but not quite fast enough. She was backed into the boulder before she could think of a counterattack.

"Your majesty..." The creature began with a chilling grumble, using Amara's lesser-known title to address her, almost as if he was trying to make an ironic point. He pushed against her chest to hold her against the cold rock's surface, which felt rough and dry, almost as if it had been aware of the event currently taking place for some time, and was thirsty for what finally was to come.

Amara found the action of him placing his hand against her chest highly invasive and gripped a small portion of the boulder that made a handle, curling up in the air to kick him back. She decided to sprint for it, as she knew she was in danger and Infinite was not going to make it to her in time. She heard energy begin to course through a channel nearby and was quickly met with a green, glowing spear.

"You're gonna regret that." He forced her back into the rock that he'd cornered her with, cutting off her escape. "There's nowhere to run. You're not so unstoppable without your squad, are you?"

Amara bared her teeth once again and snarled, her last resort to possibly free herself, but it was hopeless.

She was already out of time.

"Your majesty," he began again, obviously making a point with the title, looking down at the weapon for a second. "Thousands have lived in fear of you, but I'm not here on behalf of the people you terrorize, the hundreds you've ended. I'm here for just one thing, to bring this place down. So tell me, Amara, Assassin Queen, how does it feel to be-" He chillingly raised the spear, then struck through Amara's chest with it, piercing through her heart, striking through the entirety of her and letting the blade rest in the already-bloodstained boulder behind her.

Amara gasped and began to quiver, collapse rising in her legs as a crippling pain surged and burned through her whole body while an intense flood of vital blood spilled from the mercenary's chest; her life fleeing her before both her eyes and the intruder's.

"-overthrown?"