Authors Notes: Thanks for all the reviews and emails, keep them coming and Ill do the same with the story.
"You have no idea who attacked you?" Karl Schubaltz asked, looking down at his battered and bruised brother.
"No, it was pitch black and it happened so damn fast. All I know is that it was a GenoSauer." Thomas made a tight fist from pain as a doctor cut his arm, taking out a few pieces of broken glass and steel.
"Could it have been Raven?"
Thomas did the only thing he could. Nod his head quickly.
"Alright, that should be the last piece." The doctor said, pouring some alcohol on the cuts, listening to Thomas as he shirked from the intense pain.
"So you think it was Raven." Karl asked, nodding to the doctor as he got up.
"Maybe, but if it was Raven I don't know why he left us alive." Thomas replied.
"Maybe he didn't know you three lived."
"He knew we lived." Thomas watched as the doctor started wrapping his arm with some medical tape.
Karl nodded again. "Alright, get better quick." Karl saluted and walked out.
Moonbay walked into the room Irvine was in and smiled. "So how are you feeling?"
"Been better." Irvine said lying on his bed with his eyes closed. "Guess it could have been a lot worse."
"Yea could have."
"What about you?" Irvine asked, finally opening his eyes.
"Few bruises but nothing else. Gustav got some minor damage."
"What about the Saiex."
Moonbay shook her head. "Totaled, they can't get it fixed."
"Damn." Irvine said, looking at his arm. It was in a sling, doctor said it was a slight fracture but nothing worse. He got up out of the bed and headed out of the door.
Moonbay watched him but didn't follow, she just smiled.
Marcus ran down the small and narrow cavern, trying to get away from the two men following him. He was breathing hard, tired from all of the running he was doing. A few minutes he ran into a dead end. "Great." He kicked the ground, looking around for a door or hatch but saw nothing. He listened, hearing the two men coming down the hall. Marcus jumped down behind a rock and watched as the two men, one with long blond hair and the other with short brown hair came running down searching for him. Both had rifles ready to fire and kill. Marcus looked around and found a few big rocks and grabbed a few of them and waited.
"Think he found the door?" The man with the blond hair asked the other.
"Doubt it, check behind that rock." The brown haired man pointed with his rifle.
The man nodded and walked over slowly.
Marcus grabbed one of the rocks and waited until he saw the man put his face to the side of it, then smashed the rock into his face and grabbed his rifle. Marcus came out but felt as a bullet ripped through his shoulder. "Ahhhhh, shit!" He screamed firing his gun at the other man, shooting him in the chest. Marcus took a deep breath and licked his lips as he slowly walked back out to the main hall. He put his hand tightly over his shoulder, keeping the blood from coming out. "What the Hell is going on here." He said quietly to himself, looking around. Finally he got back to the main hallway and looked down at Paul's body, red holes covering his entire chest and neck, a gruesome sight. Marcus shook his head and walked on, keeping his rifle ready to fire.
Zack stared down the glass wall, the deep cave holding the torn hulls of hundreds of Zoids, the power cores ripped out of them.
"What the Hell is all this." Zack looked around trying to figure this out. He had never seen anything like this and wasn't sure he wanted to. Zack looked around the small room he was in and saw the elevator. He smiled and walked in it, letting it take its course down to the ruins below him. He felt it stop and quickly got out, keeping an eye on the men he had seen earlier. Zack walked around, keeping cool and quiet, doing his best to keep his presence unknown. He hid behind pieces of Zoids, waiting for the area to clear up. Zack looked around, trying to find anything. On the other side of the room, Zack saw an opening in the rock and decided that was the place to go. He took a deep breath and made a sprint, hoping no one would see him. No one did, and inside he found dull lights over his head and rusted walls surrounding him. Zack slowly moved on, keeping his senses sharp and making sure no one found him. He walked around, searching a few rooms finding nothing in any of them. A few carvings engraved in some stone pillars but they said nothing but the same things he had read in the journal. Zack lowered his gun as he walked into another room, this one was like many others, a bed and desk with a lamp sitting on a table. He walked in and opened the drawers of the desk, nothing in any. Zack sat down on the bed and put his shotgun next to him, putting his forehead in his hands. "Nothing, nothing in this entire place." He said to himself, taking a deep breath and looking back up. Zack walked back to the desk and looked at it. He traced his fingers along some words that were carved into the desk, it was the form of Zodian he didn't know. "Beware av demonen, han utløser." He shook his head, wishing he knew what it said. Zack turned and saw something taped under the table in the opposite corner of the room. He crawled under and saw it was a book. Zack gave a slight chuckle as he took a knife and cut the book lose. He sat back on the bed and read the cover.
The word Tiger caught his eye, it was scribbled in just like the rest of the words. Zack opened the old book and studied the words, doing his best to translate the alien language. "La créature de mensonges de Genèse avant de nous, obéir son maître et détruire qui de ce qu'il redoute." Zack gave a silent laugh and put the book in his pocket. He got up and grabbed his gun and slowly walked back out, continuing the same path he had started. Zack looked around, the room seemed to be getting older for some reason, most likely because whoever was here hadn't come down this far. Eventually he found another opening and walked in, raising the shotgun to his shoulder and ready to shot anything that seemed to be a threat. Walking in he had a bad feeling, felt like someone was watching him and breathing down his neck. Zack kept looking back a few times making sure it was just his imagination, he was hoping it was. "Hell with this, it's creeping me out." He turned back around and headed over to the way he came in.
"Leaving already." Hilz said before he jumped down from a small ledge about 20 feet above the ground.
Zack turned and looked at the man. "Yea I am, why Hilz, there a problem." Zack raised his shotgun at Hilz's chest and pulled the safety.
Hilz smiled. "You might as well put that down, wont do much good."
Zack looked at his eyes and nodded, lowering the gun to his side. "Alright, now mind letting me go or so we need to throw a few fists."
Hilz smiled. "Don't think so, unless you really want to."
Zack looked at him. "Aren't you dead?"
"And so I was, but death can be countered just like anything else in life." Hilz smiled as he watched Ambient slowly come up behind Zack, and drive his tail against the back of his head. Hilz walked up to the unconscious body and reached into his pocket, taking the old book out. "This is not something you should have, it could ruin all of are plans." Hilz lit a match and put it against the book, letting it slowly burn. He threw the half burnt book onto the ground and walked away. Hilz heard his Organoid roar. "No, we will let him live. Him and Fiona. The rest you can kill." Hilz walked out of the ancient room and over to a small crack in the wall. Putting his hands in between the crack, he slowly pushed it open, revealing a GenoSauer, and the Death Stinger. Hilz looked around and saw Jason standing in front of the Stinger, the gray Organoid stood next to him. Hilz walked to him and bowed his head.
"You found that book?" Jason asked.
"Destroyed, and the Death Stinger is ready." Hilz said slowly raising his head back up.
Jason smiled. "Good, hopefully you wont screw up this time."
Hilz smiled. "Van and Ryss are dead, all I have to do is deal with Raven."
"I know, but I have a change in plans. I want you to lose to Raven."
Hilz looked at him. "Why do you want me to lose."
"You'll see, same with the rest of the planet. But I want you to lose to Raven, destroy as much as you want but you have better lose. You of all people know I can do far worse then kill."
"Do I let him destroy the Death Stinger."
Jason nodded. "When the Tiger is resurrected, we wont have a need for it."
Hilz bit his lip, angry at the order Jason had just given him but he knew he didn't have a choice.
"I have given you more then any man could ever possibly have Hilz. Power, knowledge, and a second chance. If you lose to Raven then we will not be stopped. If you kill Raven, well." Jason smiled and walked away.
"Can you explain that to me."
Jason stopped and turned around. "Lose to Raven, and you will know. Kill Raven, and you will finally understand what it is to suffer."
Hilz just nodded and looked at the Death Stinger, the mighty Zoid ready to kill and destroy. "What do you think Ambient, shall we listen to him or do what we wish." Hilz listened to his red Organoid. He smiled. "We will see."
Marcus looked around the building, the loss of blood made him dizzy and tired. "Come on Marcus, hang in there." He said to himself finding himself in an old burial ground. "Nice place." He smiled looking around. Marcus listened as he heard foot steps slowly come up to the doorway he had entered. Quickly, he got behind a wall and waited for the person to enter, his vision had gone blurry, but he saw someone with blond hair walk by. "Fiona." He said, slowly getting up but walking closer he saw it wasn't Fiona, it was a solider raising a rifle.
The solider smiled and aimed his rifle, opening fire at him. He fired about 20 shots, each ripping though his hips and chest.
Fiona heard the shots and started running again. For a while she had been hiding under a bed, hoping nobody would find her, but the shots scared her and she took off again.
Zack got up and rubbed the back of his head. Looking around he saw he was in the exact same place, but a few feet away he saw the ashes of a book. Zack searched his body but couldn't find the book and he knew exactly what book had been burnt. "Great, just when I thought I had found something." He picked his gun up again and ran out. A few minutes later he found the dead body of Paul, a puddle of blood spreading out in a 4-foot circular area and red holes covering his chest, neck, and face. Zack shook his head and took of running again, quickly crashing into another person. As fast as he could he stood up and aimed the shotgun at the fallen person. "Fiona, what the Hell are you doing here. Where's D." He put a hand on her shoulder and helped her up, trying to catch his breath.
"Dead, Hilz killed him." She said, her voice had a slight sobbing tone.
"Paul's dead to, what's left of him is back a few feet. Guessing Marcus got the same fate." Zack looked at her and grabbed her hand. "Lets go, this place is not exactly what we thought it would be." He started running, forcing her to come with him.
They ran for about an hour, completely lost in the massive complex. "Great, what is this crap." He said looking around. Zack walked over to a rocky area, searching it for anything useful but as he took a few steps in he felt the floor collapse from underneath his feet.
"Zack!" Fiona screamed running over to the hole. She looked down and saw him dangling from a piece of rock that stuck out of the wall. "Are you ok?"
"Take a look at my position and tell me what the Hell you think." He said, trying to climb his way up. Eventually he was able to, looking around he felt his heart slow down. "Alright, lets go the other way." He got up and slowly started running.
"Wait."
Zack heard Fiona say that and he stopped. "What." He asked looking around to see if she saw something. "You alright."
"I feel something." She said softly, looking around the room they had gone in. Her eyes widened as she finally recognized it. "The Death Stinger."
"The what?" Zack said resting his body against a wall.
"Hilz revived the Death Stinger. We need to warn the Empire and Republic."
"Sure, we just have one slight problem Fiona. We have no clue where the Hell were at." Zack raised his voice as he finished the sentence. He saw his yelling was starting to get to her emotionally and decided it was best to cool down a bit. "Alright, it can't be much farther. Come on." He waited for her to start following him before he went anywhere far. Zack stopped and looked back at Fiona. "You have any idea what La créature de mensonges de Genèse means."
Fiona looked at him. I think it means The creature of Origin lies before of us, why."
"Book I found, Hilz burned it. That was part of the sentence I read." He rubbed his head trying to remember anything else about it. "It was called Svart Era or something like that."
"Black Era?" Fiona said, still looking at him.
"You know what it is?"
Fiona shook her head.
"Damn, alright forget about it." He shook his head and started walking again. Minutes later he, they had finally found the entrance they had come in. "Alright, get to the Sabertiger as fast as you can and wait for me."
"Where are you going?"
"To get something I found earlier." Zack took off running. He found the room he wanted to find about 15 minutes after he split up with Fiona. It was the same one he had found the book in. "Come on, there has to be something else in here." He crawled under the bed and desk but found nothing. He turned over a chair, hoping to find something there but saw nothing. Zack there it against the wall and sat on the floor. "Damnit." He got up and ran out of the room finding himself face to face with Hilz.
"Could have left alive, but now Ill have to kill you." Hilz smiled.
Zack made a fist and swung at his jaw, knocking Hilz to the ground. He ducked, knowing the red Organoid was behind him again. Zack grabbed Ambient's tail and threw him to the ground. "I don't fall for the same trick twice."
Hilz got up and smiled. "Doesn't matter, the Death Stinger is revived." Hilz wiped the blood off of his mouth. "You'll be dead within the month."
Zack smiled. "Doubt it, takes more then you to kill me."
Hilz stepped aside. "We will see."
Zack ran out, passing Hilz and the Organoid. He found his way back to the entrance fairly quickly. The freezing air and howling wind made him use every bit of effort and strength he had left. Finally he made it, Fiona sitting in the back chair of the cockpit. "Lets get out of here." Zack quickly got his Zoid up and running. Doing his best to keep his Zoid moving in the icy conditions.
"We have to get to an Imperial or Republic base and tell them about Hilz and the Death Stinger." Fiona said, searching a map for any type of base or outpost.
"You find one and Ill get you there."
Raven looked around, the sun gleaming over the snowy lands and the slight breeze gave the cold air a nice feeling. He watched his breath come out of his mouth and nose, the warm sun and cold air made this place seem calm and peaceful. Raven turned his head, Drake standing next to him. "You sure they'll come through here."
Drake smiled and nodded. "Down there, about two dozen sleepers wait for their target to cross the path."
"And I need to come down to the rescue." Raven smiled.
"Something you aren't to used to."
"I have done it a few times." Raven walked back to the GenoBreaker and closed the cockpit.
Drake nodded and walked over to the Hellcat he had arrived in. "Anubis, lets get out of here." He watched as his Organoid merged with the Zoid, bringing it to life quickly. Drake looked over at the GenoBreaker and took off in the opposite direction, waiting to hear the first few shots fired.