"Fate... That's what determines everything."

Desty Nova's face loomed above the glass jar. Inside, the floating hideous new form of Makaku stared mindlessly out, shuddering with unnatural breaths. The mad scientist's face slowly but surely took on a patient smile.

"One event leads into the other. Action and reaction. Ceaseless, endless, one foot in front of the other. That's the way it works."

Jashugan was lain out across the length of the iron-reinforced table, hands locked down in place. His upper skull had been removed through careful incision, his eyes glazed over from the mind-numbing effects of drugs, as Desty Nova loomed over, gleaming blades within hand. He searched.

"It's been that way forever. No way to deny it - What once was will always determine what will be. No escape from an endless cycle of repaying for our sins, suffering for our woes, and rejoicing at our little victories and triumphs."

Rain was falling in the alleyway, as the bloodied remains of a body floated slowly down the curb-side. Above them, a silhoutte loomed, peering intently at the corpse. Zapan had been dead for almost a half-hour - just enough time left.

"We're nothing more then tools - Results of our past, we act out our little pre-written plays. We react to actions that came before us, and our reactions create more reactions... More ripples in the pool. And so it is that we *are* a result of Fate, and simultaneously, it's tools..."

Kaos, only 8, stared at his father as he carefully handed him a bird-cage. Inside was a single unhatched egg, cradled in the branches of a nest. His slender hands clutched at the cage with a surprising firmness, and a subdued sense of quiet awe.

"And yet... Isn't there a way to become something more?"

Den roared across the landscape, eyes vibrant, blade clutched in hand. And before him, his enemies trembled and fell. Beneath his hoofs, a single tree was shorn in half, the bird's nest within crushed into oblivion.

"To break free of this endless cycle... To cease to be nothing more then gears in a machine, to undo this suffering for the sins of the past. To stop this cycle of Entropy... The Downward Spiral..."

Ido's death-cry was cut off by a hideous inhuman roar, a screeching scream calling over the landscape. Armed with the Berzerker suit, he sought the only thing his barely-attained pain-soaked mind could recognize. Vengeance was all Zapan had left.

"To break free... Is it possible? It requires sacrifice, and there are so few willing, and so much pain..."

Desty Nova, villain, scientist, and seeker of Karma, placed his arm gently around Gally. He stared out towards the horizon, and for that moment, he found what he was looking for.

"I won't surrender to it. I will *break* the wheel, and I will transcend! Death itself can not defeat me, what power does Fate have?! I will do battle with Karma itself!"

Kaos, now as Den, charged forward with a final battle-cry towards Desty Nova. A litany of hatred and anger spouted from Desty Nova's lips, his shouts drowned out by the rumble of the towering Martian Robot.

"For no matter what evil I may cause now, in the years to come, there will be those - in the future - who will forever thank me... For through *my* work, the World will be remade, and redeemed... And the sins of our past washed away."

Desty Nova's tears flowed down the length of his cheeks, clutching the armor piercing automatic weapon. Alita's blade cleanly and with a single stroke beheaded him, sending it spiraling to the depths of the generator.

"Nothing... Will stop me. Nothing..."

The mad scientist lifted his fists to the heavens, as ashes and flame rained down from the orbital elevator. Tiphares rumbled, the floating city minutes, moments, from falling atop of the Scrapyard.

"And finally... There will come an end... To all pain and suffering..."

The scent of grass and sweetness filled the air. The tulips had begun to bloom. Deep within the warmth of the Tree of Life, near it's very top, a flower of it's own grew with a strangely burning warmth.

*.*

Thoughts?