Something has just happened.
I was going to say it looked like an ordinary day, but something is happening at the front of the Headquarters. There is a cluster of Hunters…I don't know what is the matter yet. It seems that Zero has rushed towards what the troops call Wormswood Forest…
…Lifesaver has just appeared. He has several doctors with him. They too are heading for the forest. I must find out what is going on at my base…
--Personal Log, Commander Signas
Captain Greaves threw open the doors of the diner in a grand gesture, bellowing a greeting to his favorite waitress as the other six Hunters in his junior unit filed in behind him. The regular patrons shook their heads disdainfully. The local Hunters always seemed so boorish to them.
Greaves paid them no mind, however. The big gray Reploid, the embodiment of a trucker gone militant, swept his waitress, Sandee, into a big hug and merely gestured towards two empty booths, which his unit noisily occupied. "Mornin', Miss," Greaves said gallantly. "I wonder if you could find some of those pancakes you know I love so much?"
The waitress, who was also Greaves' sweetheart, merely smiled and pecked her man on the cheek. "You keep hold of yourself, Greaves. I don't want any trouble like last time, all right?"
"Trouble!" Greaves guffawed, banging his fist on one of the booth tables jovially. "No trouble from this gentleman! Or his dependents! Isn't that right?" he growled, tossing a glance behind him.
To a one his unit members swore to behave. Sandee just shook her head and went to order the pancakes, the usual breakfast for Captain Greaves' division of Unit 5, Maverick Hunters. The six Hunters under Greaves included four male Reploids and two human females, and Greaves may have been going batty but he'd be damned if some of them weren't making eyes at each other. Not that he cared one way or another. Greaves had turned out many a Hunter in his time, graduating them to higher units, and he was fairly well respected despite his unruly tendencies. This morning meal was a sort of ritual he'd concocted—rather than getting plastered after completing a training exercise, Greaves took his team out to his favorite diner, one most of them frequented anyway.
"Eat up, boys!" Greaves declared once Sandee had returned with the tower of pancakes. "I haven't seen mountain tactics like that since my group three years ago!"
"It's good to be the kings," agreed Greaves' top student, a likable green Reploid named, of all things, Opium.
These happy Hunters, dining in this quaint little restaurant on the outskirts of the bustling Denver Megacity, couldn't possibly have known that thousands of miles away in Tokyo, a switch had just been triggered releasing deadly gas from two steel canisters, a switch that also triggered an alert within the shrine of a Reploid called Magna Centipede. They had no idea that a small cabal of men had gathered near the diner who knew exactly where their unit would be sitting and who had just received orders, along with scores of other such groups, to commence operations.
Therefore it came as quite a surprise to Greaves when the front of the diner vanished in a cloud of fire.
"Jesus!" Greaves exclaimed, bolting to his feet but unable to take other conscious action for a second while he processed the scenario. By then it was too late—two Reploids and three humans had marched through the new doorway and had begun spraying adaman bullets towards the two booths. Adaman bullets, the most destructive rounds on the market, were outlawed in rapid-fire mechanisms simply because of their power, and by the time Greaves realized that yes, this was really happening to him, one of his human female troops simply ceased to have a body, caught by a hail of the infamous bullets. What was left of her hit the ground in a cloud of red mist with a series of sickening wet plops.
This triggered Greaves' warrior impulse. Despite a sharp pain in his shoulder, signifying a hit, he called forth his armor and his weapon, a mighty axe, and started forward slowly, already taking hits that punctured his armor and hurt him badly. Opium was faster. The green Reploid donned his armor instinctively as soon as he heard the explosion, racing towards the attackers with his beam saber drawn. It gashed a bloody line through one of the Reploid attackers, spilling a chunk of his right arm onto the ground.
Greaves surged forward, emboldened by Opium's actions, but his valor didn't last long. Opium crumpled like a crushed weed as the second Reploid, one in sky blue armor, unloaded the last of his ammunition into the Hunter at nearly point blank range. Greaves swung his axe maybe twice before sinking to his knees, missing much of his abdomen. He spat up blood, tuning out the terrified shrieks of the surviving patrons to behold the sorry remains of his unit—all six were dead.
The sky blue Reploid smiled down at the defeated Greaves. He reloaded his weapon along with his comrades, while Greaves quietly signaled the local Hunter HQ with a distress signal that would yield results far too late. The enemy leader smiled at the cowering Sandee and, to Greaves' horror, proceeded to obliterate her. His comrades heartlessly hosed down the innocents trapped in the building, taking after their boss.
"NO!" Greaves exhaled, leaping towards the blue Reploid, who dodged with the help of jet packs built into his back. Two new bullets severed Greaves' right arm, and the dying Hunter fell hard the floor. "You…!" he gasped at the approaching blue Reploid. "Kou…Cao!"
This provoked a laugh in a scathing voice that would have inspired Greaves to dislike the man even if he hadn't been in the process of dying by his hand. "No," the Reploid said, shaking his head almost patronizingly. "He's just my boss. Me, I'm Daedalus…king of the air. You, mon capitan, are king of worms now." His buddies stepped beside him, their reloaded weapons leveled at the doomed Hunter, who quivered with rage.
Daedalus's shit-eating grin just grew wider. "You're gonna help my boss send the most powerful message to Commander Signas that's ever been sent before. It's really easy for you, too. All you gotta do is die."
As a storm of adaman bullets reduced a Hunter captain's body to scraps in a Denver diner, two other Hunter captains in London fell with holes in their throats courtesy of a sniper hiding in Big Ben tower.
In Beijing, China, Hunters and civilian scientists reported to work at a small research building that produced arms for the local Hunter force. Ten minutes after receiving the go-order, a team of only two men fired Dozer missiles into the building, transforming it and everyone inside to ashes.
In Megacity 5, in the same Yates Forest that Sting Chameleon had lorded over a decade earlier, canisters containing more of Doc Volvar's Nexnecis came to life as a team of exercising senior Hunters hit the tripwire. The shimmering golden gas took precisely six seconds to kick into action, and all twelve Hunters who'd inhaled it fell to the ground in excruciating agony. Eight died on the spot; two of the four remaining radioed the base for help.
All around the world, Hunters of all rank and race were killed in one fell swoop…
…And in Japan, it was no different.
The first sign Alec had that it would be an interesting day was the sight of what had to be the biggest wave he'd ever seen racing towards the HQ. The wall of water, no doubt a present from Mustafa's foreshadowed eclipse, slammed into the Hunter beach with a deafening roar that echoed all throughout the Hunter grounds.
Apparently this wave had done some damage. Alec came to this conclusion because, as he completed his stroll around the HQ building en route to his morning meeting, he saw a gaggle of Hunters clustering around a clearly confused Erich Zegmann. The commotion had started almost as soon as the little tsunami had touched down, which led the pilot to his conclusion. Alec excused himself, meaning he said, "Move it!", and pushed roughly through the crowd until he found his fellow commander. "What's the deal?" he asked.
Before Zegmann could answer, the crowd parted like the Red Sea as Lifesaver and two fellow medics, Doctors Carlton and Ledyard, drove through on ride-chasers with special medical sidecars. Alec's eyebrows rose involuntarily. The doctors offered no comment, speeding away from the HQ. But to Alec's surprise they did not head for the beach, but rather for Wormswood Forest.
"What's all this?" Alec asked again. This time Zegmann obliged him, shrugging his broad shoulders in a gesture of annoyed helplessness.
"Zero came out here acting all funny," the big human explained, waving half-heartedly towards the forest. "He got a call from some kid out there…sounded like something happened. Looks like it, too," Zegmann concluded, nodding at the distant medics.
"Hmm." Alec blinked the last of the sleep from his eyes and noted with interest that the assembled crowd now included the prominent Signas himself, along with the ever-watchful Caligula, who looked as though he were bracing himself for a ruined morning.
Signas, it turned out, was heading right for the two commanders. "What's going on?"
Zegmann couldn't help looking tired. "Zero came out here looking all shook up, then we intercepted a communication from the forest…seems like there's some trouble."
"What's the trouble?" asked a new voice. Alec glanced back to see Commander Archer standing directly behind him.
"Zero came out and…" Zegmann threw up his hands. "Someone else, please!"
"Someone sent an SOS from the forest," Alec summarized.
"Who was that?" Archer asked, frowning curiously.
"I think we're about to find out," Caligula said, out of nowhere. He'd appeared behind Signas like a ghost and just as ethereally flowed towards the front of the group, which quieted down even though unbidden. They could all see the three ride-chasers returning, their emergency lights flickering in a dance of rubies and sapphires. Lifesaver led the group and was alone; Doctor Ledyard had a big, black-haired man on his sidecar, and even at a distance the contorted grimace of pain on his face was clearly visible. Right behind him was Doctor Carlton, who toted a smaller Reploid with a similar expression, though he seemed to be twitching slightly. Aside from this they were both immobile. Zero brought up the rear, his accelerator boots slower than the ride-chasers but speedy nonetheless. His expression was unreadable. The Hunters followed them with their eyes as they approached, every single one of them thinking the same thing: This isn't a broken bone. Someone is dead.
"Vulcan!" Alec exclaimed, totally forgetting himself and breaking out in a run towards Carlton's ride chaser as it came to a stop. "Vulcan…oh, Jesus Christ!"
Commander Tremont's action had the effect of shattering the artificial stillness that had fallen over the crowd. Just like that the mass of Hunters started in every which direction, while Lifesaver shouted for them to get out of his way while he helped load Vulcan and Hawkins onto stretchers born by other members of the medical staff, which had assembled at the mouth of the HQ.
"Hawkins!" Archer boomed, bodily shoving his way through the crowd and nearly flooring Zegmann as he passed. Dr. Ledyard rushed to intercept Archer but he was too late—Archer beheld the armorless form of his best friend, saw the blood falling from his lips, saw the pale flesh sketched with black spots from veins ruptured beneath the skin.
"Archer!" Caligula intervened, bringing the tall Hunter away from the stretcher. He had surprising force for a fairly small Reploid. Ledyard took the opportunity to get Hawkins spirited away to the infirmary, with Vulcan following close behind. Alec rushed in after them. "Archer," Caligula said again, "you need to get a grip!"
"What happened to him?" Archer roared, slamming his hands onto Caligula's shoulders. "What the fuck happened to him…to them?"
"We don't know," Lifesaver put in, stepping up behind Caligula. "There was some kind of…"
"Gas," a new voice finished. They all turned to behold Commander Zero. "Get working, Doc, I'll tell them what we saw."
"Good." Lifesaver shook his head as though to clear it, blinking through bloodshot eyes. "See me later, Zero," he added before leaving.
Zero clamped a hand on Archer's shoulder, helping to steady his comrade. Zero, however, was barely steadied himself—his sense of balance seemed to be off. His eyes were bloodshot as well, and Caligula thought he looked a bit pale too. But then, Zero had apparently not been himself all morning. "He was like that when I found him," Zero was telling Archer. "Vulcan too…I pulled them away from it, but I…wasn't fast enough."
"Away from what?" Signas joined the conversation.
Zero's explanation was delayed by a sudden racking cough. "Some kind of gold shit…gas, or something."
"Gold gas…" Something lit up in Caligula's eyes. The intelligence chief suddenly snapped into action, herding Signas like a sheep towards the base. "Sir, you need to get inside, now."
Signas blinked. "What are you…"
"Get inside now!" Caligula thundered, and Commander Zegmann, understanding, began to usher Zero and Archer in the same direction. "Everyone!" Caligula yelled to the Hunters that remained outside. "Get into the base! This place is under attack!"
"Dammit!" Signas growled, surprised that he hadn't realized the significance. The Hunters retreated into the building with embarrassing disorder, Caligula and Zegmann bringing up the rear. Signas lost himself in the shuffle. Everything was moving too fast all of a sudden…but why? What had happened? And what were they supposed to do next?
Caligula had taken full charge of the situation, leading the present Commanders to a small lobby away from the general hustle. "Where are the others?"
"X is probably on his way to the briefing," Zero said breathlessly. "He probably doesn't even know…"
"I'm going," Archer declared, still in some shock. "I've gotta know what's…what's going to…"
"Zegmann, take Archer to the medical wing." Caligula looked hard at Zero. "You don't look good."
"I'll be fine," Zero waved it off, despite the cold sweat he clearly felt.
"Get to the infirmary."
"No, the docs are busy enough." Zero raised his hand to stall further objection. "I'll go later. You heard me tell him that out there, right?" He turned to Signas, finally fixing the Grand Commander with his full attention. "What do you need?"
Signas rooted himself back in reality, ashamed at getting flustered now of all times. "I need all the other commanders…Zero, go, find them and get them to me. Then see a doctor."
"Right," the crimson Hunter said, starting off. "I…I don't think it's related to the gas. I've been messed up since I woke up…"
"So I hear." Signas nodded again and the Hunter vanished. He turned to Caligula, but in transit his eyes detected a much-needed face. "Castle!"
"Castle, Acrystos," Caligula greeted them, Reploids in black and green. "Where's Damia?"
"We don't know," Castle responded, puzzled. "What's going on?"
"Find her, send her to me," Signas ordered. "We need the commanders—"
"Shit," Caligula said suddenly. "Sir, he said it was a gas…"
Signas reeled. "Oh, god…"
"Gas?" Castle was frowning. "Sirs, seriously, what is going on?"
"You two get the rest of your unit suited up with masks and quarantine the forest out there," Caligula ordered. Curiously, Castle and Acrystos straightened up as though they were responding to Damia herself. "And if you do see your leader, send her to the war room."
"Are we under attack?" Castle dared to ask, before leaving.
Caligula looked at him steely. "Yes."
The Unit 8 soldiers took off. Signas and Caligula both turned and headed for the aforementioned war room. "You're sure about that?" Signas asked quietly as they walked. "What you just said?"
"It was poison," Caligula suggested. "Zero said it was gold. It's him, Signas. He's just declared war."
"What's his status?"
"He's not breathing, nor is his generator functioning!"
"A rupture?"
"We don't know, it's just not supplying power!"
"Well get it working, dammit!"
"We're trying! It's not responding to the charges."
"God damn it, Hawkins!" Lifesaver hissed, frantically taking the patient's blood samples. "What on earth happened to you…" He blinked, examining a sample with his own eyes before passing it to an assistant. "Doesn't seem to be anything in the blood…"
"We're assuming it was a gas," Ledyard reminded him. "It probably works through inhalation."
"Where are our scans?" Lifesaver asked next, very impatiently.
"Still being processed," Carlton replied, from where he was hooking Vulcan up to life-support and performing similar tests. "Give it another minute."
"I don't think we have another minute!" Lifesaver declared sourly, just as the door flew open and Commander Archer entered.
"Oh, no," Ledyard protested, getting in between the commander and Hawkins. "Sir, you have to leave."
"What happened to them, Sidney?" Archer asked, his voice shaking. "What happened…? Are they all right?"
"No, they're not all right," Ledyard replied, bravely imposing his human body against Archer's metallic might and urging him from the room with Zegmann's help. "And we need to help him, and we need you out of here so we can do that."
"Archer!" a brusque voice barked, coming from a figure racing down the hallway. It was Mason. "Archer, you gotta let the men work!"
"Oh, thank god," Ledyard breathed, passing Archer off to his friend. He looked to Alec Tremont, whose eyes were riveted on the younger Reploid, Vulcan. "You, too. Out."
"Tell me," Alec said gravely, looking his fellow human right in the eye. "Tell me how bad…"
Sidney Ledyard faltered. He blinked quickly, his mouth twitched, but he couldn't bring himself to answer. "Please leave," he finally did say, while in the background Lifesaver continued to call for the results of the internal scans of his patients.
Alec nodded, the slowest nod of his life. Then he did leave.
Zero ran bodily into nearly every other Hunter he encountered on his mad search for X, making only the lightest attempts at apologies. He had more important things on his mind at the moment than etiquette. "Commanders!" he bellowed through the halls until his communicator patched in frequencies so he could find them directly. When that failed he repeated the process. Then he finally hit pay dirt.
"Zero!" Damia yelled, doubling back and heading his way. "Zero, what's going on?"
"We were attacked," the crimson Hunter said. His body shivered and he grimaced, bracing himself against the wall.
"Zero?" Damia blinked, appearing rather uncertain. "Are you…?"
"I'm fine…there was some gas attack, I pulled Vulcan and Hawkins out of it."
"You pulled them out of it?" Damia stepped backward in alarm. "Zero!"
"I'll get into the infirmary in a minute," Zero growled, his patience lost. "But you need to find Caligula, now."
"Where's Delates?" Damia asked suddenly.
It was Zero's turn to blink. "I thought he was with you."
"He always goes outside in the mornings," Damia responded quietly.
"I haven't seen him," Zero replied, trying to play it off, though internally he'd just received a blow. He and Damia were suddenly thinking the exact same thing, both trying to ignore the icy feeling it produced. "I'll let you know when I find him."
"Right…" Damia nodded, forcing her fears for Delates aside and walking backward towards the war room. "Zero, really, you should get to—"
"Go!" Zero thundered, breaking away from the wall and whirling away from her. Damia sucked in a sharp breath and let him leave, heading to her own destination.
"Alec!" Zero roared next, finding the pilot wandering rather aimlessly near the infirmary. "Alec, with me!"
"What do you need?" the pilot asked instantly, walking with Zero in what seemed to be the direction of the 17th Unit's sector of the building.
"I need planes in the air, that's what," Zero responded. "This place is under attack, and—" He started coughing again, clutching at his chest. "Jesus…"
"Zero…" Alec frowned. "You don't look so—"
"Get the planes in the air!" Zero interrupted him angrily, forcing himself to stand upright. "Whoever did this might still be here. You need to find them if they are. What…" Zero squinted at the human. "What are you…?"
"Zero," Alec said evenly, though his face was whitening. "Zero, there's an awful lot of blood coming out of your mouth right now."
The veteran Maverick Hunter blinked slowly, raising his hand to his lips and bringing it away in some disbelief. "No," he whispered. "No, I…" He coughed again, gagged, and spilled most of that blood onto the floor.
Alec recoiled, watching the champion soldier crumple to the floor. "Zero!"
A cry of pain escaped Zero's lips; he clutched at his chest and looked helplessly up at Alec. "Help…"
"Shit…" the pilot said, his mind frantic. He moved slowly away from Zero, looking around numbly for someone—anyone—to help. "Shit, not this…anything but this…"
Zero pitched forward and vomited blood again. This time he slumped onto his side, groaning as more pain hit him.
Alec Tremont broke into a full run for the infirmary, yelling for help but getting nowhere over the shouts of the doctors. "Zero's down!" he finally shouted, and that got their attention sure as hell. "Zero's down!" he yelled again, badly startling nearby Hunters outside the infirmary.
"What?" Lifesaver asked, turning to Alec with some disbelief.
"I said get to the corridors," Alec shouted again, hoarse. "I said Commander Zero is down!!!"
BREAKING NEWS—MAVERICK HUNTERS ATTACKED
By Roland Duke, Hunter Correspondent
TOKYO—Though details are scarce, it does seem that the Maverick Hunters have suffered an assassination attempt at their Tokyo base. Several high-ranking Hunters have been attacked, along with others, although the conditions of the stricken Hunters are at this time completely unknown.
Reports are circulating that Hunters were attacked almost simultaneously in cities around the world, including London, Beijing, Denver and the old Hunter stronghold of New York. All details are, as previously stated, very scarce, but something is definitely happening in this world. Stay tuned for updates as they come.
"I'm not upset that other people love you," Alia insisted. "I'm upset that you didn't tell me so I could love you with them."
"Alia, I saved the human race like…four times," X responded tiredly, examining the morning's files. "You didn't think a fan club or two would pop up?"
"I'm your special helper," she responded as they walked. "I'm shocked that you wouldn't tell your special helper that you had fan clubs."
"Alia, do a Google search or something, and you'll find hundreds of Hunter fan clubs."
"Really?"
"Yeah…granted most of them are for Zero, but…"
Alia flashed her best model's pose. "You think I have a fan club, X?"
"Well," X replied coolly, scanning something about a Maverick sighting in some obscure corner of the earth. Another dull day, it looked like. "I honestly haven't checked."
"You mean you haven't started one?"
"What?"
"X! I'm your special helper! I'm hurt."
"'Special' is definitely the word," X said, finally giving into a smirk.
"Oh, you're no fun in the morning," Alia grumped, giving up and looking around. "Hey…something seem off to you?"
"Yeah." X frowned, coming to a standstill. "It's a little too loud for this time of day…"
"It's about to get a lot louder," a voice said from a hallway to the right. X and Alia turned to behold Commander Luna with Kevin Seitz, Caligula's senior spook. "X, there's a situation."
"What's going on?" X asked, even as Luna broke him away from the confused Alia and started leading him in the direction of the war room.
"Some kind of gas attack," Luna continued, her usual lighthearted demeanor replaced by something painfully serious.
"A gas attack?" X asked, incredulously. "On the base?"
"Right under our damn noses," Luna replied ominously.
"We've got Unit 8 attempting to quarantine the forest and bring back a sample," Seitz explained. "Whatever it is, it laid up Hawkins and Vulcan of Unit 5."
"How bad?" X asked immediately.
Seitz could only shrug. "I haven't seen them. I can only assume it's bad."
"On the base?" X asked again, with some violence. "How the hell did that happen? I mean we have security measures for god's sake! Aren't your people supposed to know about these things, Kevin?"
"We are, and it seems we dropped the ball," the spook replied, clearly wishing he were a real invisible man at that moment.
"Well if that isn't the most reassuring thing that's ever graced my sound receptors!" X folded the morning briefing file under his arm. He figured it'd be pretty useless now. "What do we do now?"
"Last I heard, Signas wants all the commanders gathered in the war room," Luna replied. "Except Alec, who's going to mobilize Steel Wind to scan the base grounds for any more traps."
"Reconnaissance flights," X growled. "Good, let's have recon flights after the fact instead of before it. It only defeats the purpose, after all."
"X, being pissed at us isn't going to help right now," Seitz retorted. "We don't know if this attack is over or not, or how many are even in trouble. This just—hello?" he cut himself off to answer his cell phone, falling back a few steps.
"This just what?" X pressed Luna.
The purple-haired commander shrugged helplessly. "This just started like five minutes ago, X. We don't know anything. Zegmann says Zero was acting all nutty this morning, and then they got a message from Vulcan saying he needed help. Next thing anyone knows, Lifesaver's toting bodies."
"Bodies?"
"Well…unmoving figures?" Luna shrugged once more. "Zero went off to find you. I don't know where he got lost to if I found you first…"
"Probably ran off on his own to find the bastards," X shook his head. "Even now after Seraph Castle he's still impulsive as a—"
"Zero won't be doing much running at all for a while," Seitz cut in, waving Luna in another direction. "To the infirmary."
"The infirmary?" X blinked, stopping in his tracks. "Wait…" He focused on the human, a killer chill shooting down his spine. "Kevin, what happened to Zero…?"
The doors to the medical wing burst open once more, and a new gurney was wheeled in.
"Get him hooked up!" Lifesaver shouted, and a team of doctors swarmed around Zero's writhing form. Unlike Vulcan and Hawkins, Zero was very much conscious, and was strapped to the gurney because he kept clawing at his chest. He continued to choke up blood, and as one doctor cleaned that up two others hastily hooked Zero to a life support system while a third took a blood sample while Lifesaver prepared the internal scanning machine. By now the whole base was up in arms. Word of Zero's affliction had spread like wildfire due to Alec's earlier outburst, and the Tokyo Headquarters was officially in a state of panic. "That idiot! I told him to get in here sooner!"
"He just fell down in the hall," Alec was explaining weakly. "I mean…he didn't look good even when I first saw him outside, but then he just—"
"I've got it," Lifesaver nodded, brushing the human aside. "Get out of here. I don't want anyone coming in contact with these patients unless they absolutely have to."
Alec tilted his head despite the order to leave. "Why…?"
Lifesaver sighed, powering up the scanner and stifling a cough of his own. "Because I don't, all right? Now go do something useful, Commander! Lord knows they'll have a use for you somewhere right now."
Alec took the hint and buggered off, but he didn't go far before he ran into the other commanders—nearly all of them. Signas, Caligula, X, Luna, Archer, Mason and Zegmann had all showed up at the word that Zero had fallen victim to whatever this killer was.
"Keep them out!" Lifesaver ordered, and Ledyard once more moved to complete this task. "Hang in there, Zero," the medic whispered as tranquilizers were administered to the thrashing Hunter. "We're gonna figure out what's wrong with you, come hell or high water…"
"Blood scan negative for foreign traces," a nurse said behind him. "I think it does work through inhalation."
"Process Zero's scan," Lifesaver ordered, moving the scanning equipment.
"Scans are back for Hawkins and Vulcan," Dr. Ledyard announced, pushing a few buttons on the largest computer, calling up a projection. Lifesaver opened his mouth to protest, but the scanned image of Hawkins's interior appeared too quickly. Instinctively Lifesaver sucked in a sharp breath and stepped backwards. "Oh, god…"
A hush fell over the entire medical wing as all eyes were drawn to the projected image. Hawkins appeared to have been, for all intents and purposes, gutted without leaving a scar. His skeleton appeared eroded but in tact…however, his sensitive internals and veins seemed to simply have disappeared. What remained of them were shredded, and his entire chest and abdominal cavities were filled with blood spilled internally.
Lifesaver could easily follow the path the golden gas had taken in its quest to kill the second in command of Unit 5, Maverick Hunters. From what he remembered of the crime scene, Hawkins had been the first to jog past the Pillars, where the canisters had been planted. Likely they had exploded in his face, and he'd been inhaling more than usual anyway due to the fact that he was jogging. From there the gas, which had to be composed of some brutally corrosive airborne chemicals, had traveled down his windpipe, ruining it almost instantaneously and seeping out the holes it made into the rest of Hawkins's body. He'd evidently inhaled enough of the stuff that there was plenty to disintegrate his vital organs. A quick glance at the head revealed that some of the gas had gotten Hawkins's CPU, and, likely, his control chip. If there were any more painful way to die on the earth, Lifesaver would be hard pressed to name it.
A horrible scream from the hallways brought the chief medic back to his senses. He turned to see Archer stagger backwards, and he would have fallen had it not been for Mason's quick reflexes. Seeing what had become of his best friend had not done well for the stricken commander, especially since a similar thing had to have happened to Vulcan.
"Get that off the projector!" Lifesaver snapped acidly. Ledyard blanched, feeling like a total ass, and blacked out the image, handing paper copies to his boss instead with mumbled apologies. Lifesaver snatched them away and scanned them once more, trying to shut out the sound of Archer's ravings in the hall.
"Sir," said a doctor working on Hawkins, gesturing with a defibrillator modified for Reploid use, "he's not responding to charges."
Well, he wouldn't, would he? Lifesaver's eyes drifted to the chest area of Hawkins's scan. The Hunter's generator had ceased functioning because it was full of holes. The gas either wasn't strong enough or there hadn't been enough of it left to entirely eliminate the adaman surrounding Hawkins's generator, but there had been enough to erode parts of it. The generator hadn't exploded because the energy it produced had simply leaked out into Hawkins's body, helping the gas destroy his internal anatomy.
"Sir," the doctor said again, shaking his head in defeat. "I'm sorry, but…"
"Yeah." Lifesaver nodded numbly, looking down at the fallen Hunter. Patches of black dotted Hawkins's bare arms, courtesy of ruptured blood vessels. Lifesaver didn't even want to guess what the chest and stomach looked like. It's the Plague, he realized. The Plague…in this brave new world, it's the goddamn Black Plague…
"Time of death, 8:05," the doctor attending Hawkins said with an air of stupefied finality. Lifesaver could sympathize. Ten minutes ago this had been a normal day. He turned away from Hawkins as the other doctor pulled a sheet over his head, to the horror of the spectators watching through the windows outside. Lifesaver refused to make eye contact with any of them, least of all Archer.
"Sir," Ledyard broke the silence. "We have Vulcan's scan, too. They're working on him now…"
"Save it for a moment," Lifesaver interrupted, heading towards Zero's doctors. "Get him into surgery with Vulcan, now. Don't bother waiting for the scan—get a replacement trachea in here and get the old one out."
"You're sure?" Carlton asked, taking charge of Zero's medical detail.
Lifesaver nodded. "He didn't inhale as much as the others, even if he did go right into the thick of it like the idiot blonde that he is. The fact that all he's doing is coughing up blood and grabbing at his chest while still remaining rather alive leads me to believe that his only problem is a shitass windpipe."
Ledyard raised an eyebrow as his fellow doctors wheeled Zero towards the surgical part of the medical wing. "His only problem?"
Lifesaver shrugged helplessly. "One finds optimism where one can." He took Vulcan's file and scanned it briefly, immediately letting out a sigh of relief. "It's not as bad…"
Ledyard shook his head. "But it's still bad, sir. Multiple internals are ruptured, and his own windpipe is looking rather…shitass, as you called it. Not to mention there may be damage done to his generator."
"Fix it," Lifesaver ordered simply. "I don't want anyone else dying on me today, you hear—" He cut himself off with a harsh cough.
The hairs on the back of Ledyard's neck picked up. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Lifesaver waved it off. "Actually I'm probably not, but I'm not worried at the moment."
"That'd be exactly what the 'idiot blonde' said too."
"Sidney," Lifesaver said patiently, "you and Carlton were there with me. No offense, but you're a hell of a lot weaker than I am. This stuff, if it was powerful enough to eat away adaman, would have dropped you like a sack of bricks there and then. It didn't."
"You also didn't send me in there. You made me wait outside the forest specifically for that reason."
"But we weren't much closer to it than you were," Lifesaver retorted, getting annoyed. "Zero had already taken them out of the biggest cloud of that gas. …Any word from the bosses as to what that gas was?"
Ledyard shook his head. "Not yet. What do we do in the meantime?"
"Pray." Lifesaver gestured towards Vulcan. "What do you think?"
"He's holding up, but frankly, he could die at any second just like that if his generator starts leaking." Ledyard sighed. "The damage isn't as extensive—I think Zero said he found him laying face-down, so that would explain why as much of the stuff didn't get into his system. Also…"
"Also…?"
The human frowned. "For some reason, he shows signs of being conscious…while at the same time he shows the signs of unconsciousness. In his CPU, I mean."
Lifesaver frowned. "Can't you only be one or the other?"
"Yeah, but…apparently not. Maybe he's dreaming?"
"Hardly a textbook medical diagnosis." Lifesaver sighed, waving Ledyard towards the patients. "Help them." His eyes narrowed at the hallway. "I'll go tell them about Hawkins."
"Good luck," Ledyard replied gravely, starting off.
Lifesaver drew himself up, forcing himself to focus. Everything was happening much too quickly for everyone, but it was rare that things didn't move quickly for a surgeon of soldiers, and Lifesaver was better able to handle it than most of the other Hunters. Hoping this would give him the edge he needed, he left the safety of his infirmary to go tell Archer that his best friend was dead.
Vulcan wouldn't exactly have described himself as dreaming, had he been given the chance. It was a bit…more than a dream. He definitely wasn't in Tokyo, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint how he knew that. Everything was spinning around him. He couldn't quite remember what had just happened, or why he was here…wherever 'here' was.
And then his vision focused, and there he was in the middle of a war zone.
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto," he whispered to himself, drawing his beam saber and ducking behind some burning debris. He looked around, but curiously enough while he seemed to see his enemies, they couldn't seem to see him. Also, even though he could see everyone clearly, the fighting seemed to be going on far, far away. Gunshots fired from figures ten feet from him seemed to echo from a faraway dimension. "What is this…?" he wondered aloud.
He was unexpectedly answered by a voice that was unknown to him. It was deep and rumbling, possessing tremendous power…but also it seemed to convey an equally impressive amount of wisdom.
"This, Maverick Hunter Vulcan, is war."
Vulcan turned around with a gasp. He leapt backwards, immediately brandishing his saber. "Who the hell are you?"
His stalker grinned with dazzlingly white teeth that seemed to positively glow from a face of obsidian black. The big, sturdy Reploid crossed burly arms over his chest, showing Vulcan a glistening black body lined with gold trimmings and specked with decorative gems. Like most Reploids he was humanoid to a point, walking upright with four limbs, but his face was that of a lion, and his head was framed with a solid gold pharaoh's headdress that spilled down over a chestplate that resembled granite. Silver hair blew in the slight wind behind the creature, but that wasn't the only interesting thing to be seen back there—he had wings. His wings appeared to be made of stone and hardly looked like wings at all, composed of long jagged "feathers" with nothing in between, but Vulcan for some reason had no doubt that this guy could indeed fly. His body was also covered with hieroglyph markings of fluctuating colors, and his eyes emitted a very deep red glow.
"Sheathe your twig of a sword," the monstrous Reploid said dismissively, "lest I snap it on my knee."
"Who are you?" Vulcan repeated, attempting to look un-intimidated and failing miserably.
The creature smiled again, replying rather cryptically. "My name is already known to you, child."
Vulcan nearly choked. Again he stepped backward sharply, shaking his head. He did know the name. But why? Why on earth would he…?
"You are so silent." The winged Reploid's smile faded. "Surely you have questions for me."
"Geode Sphinx," Vulcan finally pronounced the name, his eyes betraying his utter confusion. "What…what is this place? What do you want with me?"
Geode calmly unfolded his arms and gestured eastwards. "There is someone who desires an audience with you," he rumbled, his voice like the ageless stone he appeared to be fashioned out of. "This way."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Vulcan replied shakily, determined to hold his ground. "There's nothing you can tell me there that you can't tell me here!"
The sphinx laughed softly, which in his case sounded like distant thunder. "Your resolve is charming, boy. But do not delay further." His red eyes narrowed, and his menacing smile returned.
"This is not someone you want to keep waiting for long."
The lonely caravan of Hunter commanders marched back to the war room quietly. Four commanders were not present—Alec had called Bale earlier and put planes in the air, and was now heading back to Sakimoto Airfield to check on their progress; Archer had retreated to his chambers to be alone for a few minutes; Damia was still taking care of the Wormswood quarantine; and Zero was a bit busy fighting for his life.
Signas, Caligula, X, Luna, Douglas, Zegmann and Mason marched somberly into the war room, a big meeting room sporting codeword clearance mainframes. Some sat, others stood quietly. Signas finally broke the uncomfortable silence.
"Everyone on this base is panicking." He spoke calmly, though he lacked the force that the other commanders had gotten used to from him. "That's mostly my fault for not cutting off access to the infirmary."
Zegmann raised an arm, then let it fall nervelessly. "There was a lot going on, and it all just happened…"
"I know." Signas crossed his arms behind his back and breathed deeply, collecting his thoughts. "X, I need you to get moving around the base. You're the biggest hero this place has—it's up to you to raise morale. I know you'd rather eat coals, but…"
"Don't worry about it." X rose from the seat he'd taken, leaving the briefing file there that he should have been covering right now with the commanders. And here we were going to spend the day worrying about random Maverick sightings!
"Thank you." Signas turned to Mason. "How is he, you think?"
Mason shrugged very slightly. "I've known Archer a long time, and I can't even guess. I think he learned to control grief after Raine, but…"
Another silence permeated the room. Raine was a Huntress who'd fallen to Maverick brigands in between the first and second wars. She'd been Archer's lover, and her death had crushed him at first. In time, his devotion to the Hunters merely increased as he became more and more anti-Maverick, while at the same time becoming fiercely loyal to any and all of his men. In addition to being a friend, Hawkins had been Archer's subordinate, and to lose a soldier that prestigious had to be like a slap in the face. It was public insult added to personal injury.
X paused on his way out. "Will he be able to…?"
Mason nodded. "He'll put it aside, and spend most of his time the next few days being really pissed off. If you're going to have him do something, have him console the rest of his men and rally them in support of Vulcan. It'll give his people something to focus on."
Signas nodded. "Give him some time, then tell him that. In the meantime, work with Luna and mobilize your units. You can put them outside, but carefully. I want this base secured. Erich," he said, turning next to Zegmann. "Stick around. I may need your machines to help Damia with the forest, and if not you'll help Mason and Luna."
"What about me?" Douglas asked.
"Get back to the garage, prepare the usual counters for chemical weapons."
"…Are there usual counters for chemical weapons?"
"That's what I pay you to answer." Signas gestured for the door. "Get to it."
"I wonder if this is what my horoscope meant when it said 'good times are here to stay'," Caligula said tiredly as the commanders filed out.
Zegmann frowned. "You read horoscopes?"
"No."
"What else do we know?" Signas asked, sitting down and resting his head in his hands. "Other than we just lost a lieutenant commander on a morning jog?"
Caligula's arms raised and fell back at his sides much as Zegmann's had earlier on. "Last I spoke to Kevin, Intel had no warnings that something was going to happen. There was increased message traffic for Tokyo, but only slightly, and that's not unusual for Tokyo, given that we're here."
The grand commander nodded without looking up. "What do you think about Zero and Vulcan?"
Caligula blinked. "Lifesaver said—"
"I'm asking you."
The intelligence chief scratched his head. "I don't…well, you saw that scan…" He shook his head. "I'm really not going to call it, sir. Even I'm not that much of a cynic."
"Erich?"
"I'm with the spook," Zegmann replied. "About that forest…the ones you need tracking the gas, shouldn't you send Unit 0 members, too? Those are the guys who usually look for stuff like that, if Unit 8 isn't available."
"It'd be a good job for them," Signas agreed. Then his head snapped up. "Why wasn't there a representative from Unit 0 here…?"
Zegmann shrugged. "Zero's kind of comatose at the moment."
"Delates isn't, is he? Where is he hiding?"
Caligula frowned. "I haven't seen him this morning, come to think of it."
"So we don't know where he is?" Signas rolled his eyes. "The second most capable Hunter unit, and we don't even have a leader for it! If Zero's gonna be out of commission, would someone be so kind as to figure out where the hell his lieutenant is lounging about in the middle of a crisis?"
"I'll do it," Zegmann offered, eager to do something. "I'll send him to you if I find him. Call me if you need me."
Signas nodded as Zegmann left. "My horoscope said all my hard work was about to pay off," he offered lamely.
"You just can't trust stars nowadays." Caligula took a seat and cracked his neck. "We should have more information very soon."
"Back there, when we first realized what was happening…" Signas shook his head. "Thanks for being on top of things. I shouldn't have frozen up like that."
Caligula let out a long breath. "I froze up too, sir. Everyone did—even Zero. I was just the first to snap back into action. It could have been any of us."
"Still—"
"Still, you were built to run an army and to be the best tactician around, which you are. And Cain built me to keep things together behind the scenes, which I do." Caligula smiled thinly. "Though I think he wishes he'd made me a bit less paranoid."
"It's your job to be paranoid."
"Fat lot of good it did us," the chief snorted. "A dead lieutenant and two other casualties who could perish at any—"
A sharp knock at the door cut him off. "Enter," Signas ordered, and Damia and Castle passed into the war room. "Finally. What's the deal?"
Castle hung back near the door. Damia appeared somewhat distracted, but didn't explain herself. "The forest is quarantined to the best of our abilities. We could use some of Erich's machinery to put on the finishing touches, but we were able to neutralize most of the gas ourselves."
"You know how to neutralize it?" Signas's eyes widened. "Have you told—"
"The others are giving this report to Douglas and Lifesaver as we speak." Damia folded her hands behind her back, blinking dry eyes.
Caligula frowned. "Are you all right?"
She nodded quickly. "We wore the suits, and I didn't let Everett into the forest. I'm fairly sure we're okay, but I'll have Lifesaver's people take a look later on to make sure."
Signas nodded. "You were saying…?"
"Yeah." Her face darkened. "The gas is called 'Nexnecis'. At least, that's my assumption—the word was carved onto the delivery canisters, like it was some kind of product you buy in a damn store."
"Nexnecis…murder," Caligula translated. "Son of a bitch."
"We don't know exactly what it does," Damia went on, "but judging from our samples it contains a mix of high power acids that someone made airborne. It wouldn't be that hard to make acid airborne…it's the combination that makes Nexnecis so deadly. This stuff is built to eat away at the materials used to fashion most Reploid internals."
"So we have learned," Signas sighed.
"Hawkins is dead," Caligula clarified. "The gas disintegrated most of his internal torso and some of his CPU."
"Dead…?" Damia's voice became very small. "Oh, god…"
"What about the other one?" Castle piped up from his corner.
"Vulcan was in critical condition last we heard," Caligula replied evenly. "So was Zero."
Castle's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Zero's down, too?"
"That idiot," Damia shook her head. "I told him to…"
"Lifesaver thinks he should be able to save Zero," Signas said quickly. "Vulcan is a lot more iffy." The commander's eyes focused again on Damia. "You were saying you neutralized it?"
The guerilla nodded, somewhat distantly, her mind still on Hawkins. "Right. As potent as the mixture is, all three of its elements can be mostly diluted by a dendrydium solution."
"Dendrydium?" Caligula nearly laughed. "The stuff they put in Reploid beer?"
"The stuff that gets us drunk is the stuff that cures Nexnecis," Damia affirmed, herself still struck by the irony. "It's not the only ingredient for a cure, but a dendrydium gas seems to have neutralized a lot of the Nexnecis gas. Problem is, pure dendrydium can be just as nasty to a human as the Nexnecis, so we'll have to dilute that with—"
"Hydrogen," Signas finished. "That'll be easy enough. Cal, call Zegmann and Douglas. Tell them what we just heard." He looked back to Damia. "You think Lifesaver can use dendrydium to our advantage?"
Damia shrugged just as helplessly as every other commander had that morning. "I think the point of something so easily destroyable as Nexnecis is to kill you before you can get your hands on the thing that destroys it."
"I thought so, too." Signas nearly rested his head in his hands again, but suddenly remembered who he was talking to. "Hey…have you seen Delates?"
Damia blinked slowly. "He still hasn't shown up?"
Signas blinked back. "I'm sure he's around somewhere…Zegmann is looking for him now," the commander said smoothly, refusing to display his sudden worry before this Huntress. "Take over for him, would you?"
Damia had very little problem with that assignment. She inclined her head to Caligula before leaving, and the Intel chief waved her off as he hung up the phone he used to contact Zegmann. "Go. I won't need you guys for a while yet."
Damia and Castle made their exit. Caligula stood. "Hmph…dendrydium. Well, that's some good news."
"Yes, I suppose it is." Signas rubbed at his tired eyes. It seemed like a full day had passed already. "She doesn't know where Delates is, either."
"Don't jump to conclusions." Caligula shook his head as firmly as he could. "Never ever jump to conclusions…especially in a crisis."
Signas considered this. "…Yeah. But it's still easier said than—oh, what now?" he asked with some annoyance when Kevin Seitz and two members of the Intel staff burst in unannounced.
"Sirs," Seitz said, turning on the television sets in the room, "you have to see this."
"What's going on?" Caligula queried, stepping towards the other two agents. "Volkado, Kalisto…?"
Seitz motioned to the television, which showed images of a burning diner. "Watch and learn."
"…the restaurant in question, Alison's Diner, was a favorite of Captain Greaves and his Hunters, but there remains no evidence that this morning's slaughter was anything but unprovoked. The murders of Greaves and his unit, as well as the civilians in the restaurant, coincide with several other attacks on Maverick Hunters that have occurred within the past hour, including a sniper attack in London that killed two Hunter captains, a bombing in Beijing, and an apparent attack on the Tokyo Headquarters itself…"
"Jesus Christ," Signas breathed. "It's global!"
"How the hell did we not know about this before the press?" Caligula snapped.
"We did know," Seitz replied, just as hotly. "We were all a little too busy to notice, that's all." He shoved some files into his boss's hands. "This is what we do know, and it's really not much better than what's on TV."
"And that would be…?" Signas asked impatiently.
"The attacks weren't just limited to Tokyo," Seitz summarized. "They include an RPG attack on a research facility in Beijing, the sniping of two Hunter captains in London, the apparent annihilation of a whole rookie unit in Denver along with a lot of civilians, and, if you'll look at the last page…"
Caligula did so. His expression was positively icy. "Commander Zion informs us that twelve of his best guys were involved in a gas attack in a forest. Ten of them are dead, the other two are not expected to survive surgery." The spook looked directly at Signas, who had the same frosty expression on his face. "It's still not over."
"Of course not," Signas fairly growled. "You were right. It is him. He did declare war." Signas gestured to Seitz, Kalisto and Volkado. "Cal, take your guys and learn absolutely everything you can about this. I want a full briefing in half an hour, preferably much sooner."
"Yes sir." Caligula left with his Invisible Men, leaving Signas alone. The Grand Commander slammed his fists hard on the meeting table, growling an obscenity. Who the hell did Chartreuse think he was to pull this shit? He'd pay for this one.
Signas took a few breaths to get a hold of himself, and then turned on his communicator. "X," he said to the voice at the other end, "we've got more problems."
"You've had a rather impressive career already, Vulcan."
The silver-armored Hunter glared daggers at the sphinx he was still nervously following. "Just what do you think you know about my career?"
Geode rumbled with laughter, his massive shoulders twitching only slightly. "I know quite a bit. I know that in your young life you have already killed many people, for example."
"Congratulations," Vulcan retorted. "I am a Hunter, you know."
"A Hunter who fought and destroyed many Mavericks on a battlefield much like this one." Geode waved an arm to encompass the burning buildings and gunfire in the streets of this hazy world. "Do you recognize this place?"
Vulcan exhaled slowly. There were plenty of details, but they seemed to be drawn from many points in his memories, not just one in particular. "No. It's just a war zone."
"Yes…the final destination for most soldiers."
"But not all of them," Vulcan said suddenly, a chilling feeling creeping into his stomach. Memories attempted to invade his mind, why he was here, what had happened back in reality, but he made no further progress.
Geode Sphinx narrowed his red optics at the Hunter before him. "You look troubled."
"Tell me why I'm here," Vulcan responded, drawing up his courage to face the beast. "I don't have time for riddles."
"Oh, but you do have time!" Geode said pleasantly. "You have all the time in the world, Vulcan. You just don't realize it yet."
"Tell me why I'm here," Vulcan ordered again, with more force. He still clenched his blue beam saber in his right hand. Geode glanced at it rather dismissively, and again folded his arms over his chest.
"War is many things to many people, Vulcan. To some it is a line of soldiers shooting each other on an open field, and to others it is a guerilla conflict in some jungle." He tilted his head, indicating the surrounding environment. "To you, it's this—a confused jumble of chaotic memories that paints a picture of something untamed and unsophisticated." He flashed his brilliant smile once more. "We believe you have the wrong idea."
"War is hell," Vulcan summarized, waving around at the burning world. "And this is a pretty good representation of it."
"You hate war," Geode continued, as though Vulcan hadn't spoken. "You hate and fear it, but for the wrong reasons."
"How can there be a wrong reason to hate something this monstrous?"
"There are many wrong reasons. The first is fear. Too many people fear war because it threatens the stability of the social order." Geode chuckled. "To their credit, these cowards acted correctly by worshipping war. Time after time it has been revered as a god or as an otherworldly force…Greeks and Romans had their war gods, and the Christian Bible personifies war as one of the Four Horsemen that will one day destroy the world." The sphinx's smile became something almost whimsical. "I guess you could say I'm one of the Horseman's four horsemen."
"Here to end the world?" Vulcan countered. He'd tried to sound bored, but at this point emotion was pretty much lost to anxiety.
"No, not to end the world." Geode straightened up, lowering his arms and gesturing to the Hunter. "As I stated, many fear war for its capability to destroy a social order. And I think you and I both know, child, that the current social order is rather flawed."
"So you want to destroy the social order? You're anarchists, then?"
"Anarchists!" Geode Sphinx roared the word as though wounded. "You misunderstand gravely, Hunter. New laws will replace the old. It always happens. You see, that is the virtue of war—it is the bane of complacency, and complacency is the bane of progress."
"If you ask me," Vulcan said carefully, "war brings forth destruction. And destruction is kind of the bane of progress too, don't you think?"
"I think of things in the long term. You're trapped in the present. But not for long."
Something caused Vulcan to shudder at that last statement. "Not for long…?"
Geode gestured forward. "Come…he is waiting for you. Then you will learn what you really need to know."
"He's stabilizing again."
"Good," Dr. Carlton replied to the nurse, not taking his eyes off his work. Vulcan was now going into his second hour of surgery. The vanquished Hunter was opened up on the operating table, lost in a sea of tranquilizers and his own mental shutdown as Ledyard and Carlton finished transplanting the irreparable vitals Nexnecis had managed to destroy. Vulcan had just suffered a little episode in which his generator's functions increased inexplicably, accelerating bodily functions and pumping blood faster than the doctors liked, since many veins still needed repairing. It was an episode like this that could kill Vulcan, even after the diciest parts of the surgery were completed.
"So what were you gonna do today?" Carlton asked lamely, clamping a vein and completing installation of the new trachea.
"Teach med students at Yoshita," Ledyard replied, just as casually, helping with the transplant while two nurses bustled around them seeing to monitors and the life support machine that was supplying the power to Vulcan's generator. "You?"
"Paperwork." Carlton finished and let out a long breath, standing straight up and cracking his back. "So, in a way, all this was…"
"Yeah," Ledyard agreed, and that was the end of that bit of dark irony.
"How's he doing?" Lifesaver cut in, walking over from where he'd been monitoring Zero's operation.
"We've moved past the transplants," Carlton summarized. "So far there doesn't seem to be any problems synchronizing the new vitals with his CPU. Now there comes the tricky part."
"The smaller repairs," Lifesaver nodded heavily, pausing to cough into his hand. "Any problems…?"
"Just a little hiccup in the generator," Ledyard announced. "We stabilized it, but…"
"A generator hiccup could kill him, like that," Carlton said darkly, snapping his fingers.
"Right." Lifesaver drew a hand across his forehead, appearing very tired. "How did the cocktail work?"
"Like a miracle," Carlton said reverently. "What the hell was in it?"
"Well, you know about the dendrydium," Lifesaver replied. "Douglas noted that dendrydium shares a lot of characteristics with molybdenum, and throw in a few other things and you've got a viable cure to Nexnecis."
"I guess the hard part is taking the cure fast enough," Ledyard mused.
"You suppose correctly," Lifesaver agreed. "A shame we didn't figure this out in time to help Zion's people."
"Another gas attack?" Carlton raised an eyebrow. "I heard there were a few more attacks, but are they all Nexnecis?"
"No, just this one." Lifesaver shook his head. "Twelve of Zion's best are dead, also thanks to a forest trap."
"All twelve died?" Ledyard asked incredulously.
Lifesaver nodded. The three doctors looked back at Vulcan with a new form of reverence. If they could keep this kid alive, it'd be quite an accomplishment.
"How's Zero?" Carlton finally asked.
"I think he's out of the woods." Lifesaver gestured towards the slumbering Hunter, while doctors and orderlies bustled around tending to him. "The old windpipe is gone and the new one is in. Like we suspected, there isn't much damage outside the trachea, though his lungs need some work. Reploids don't really have to breathe, so I'm not really worried about him dying on us before we can fully fix him." The medical chief gestured towards Vulcan. "Don't lose this one, you hear me? Archer's got enough on his mind as it is."
Ledyard and Carlton nodded. As Lifesaver walked away, the two doctors began the painstaking repairs of Vulcan's blood vessels and the minor injuries on some vitals. "Hear that, kid?" Ledyard mumbled as he worked. "If you die, we'll kill you."
Alec arrived back at the infirmary right about the time Lifesaver was presenting the new news about Vulcan to those gathered in the waiting room. It wasn't even noon yet, but the day already seemed to have lasted forever. Alec didn't exactly expect a blazing sun, either—Mustafa's eclipse had blocked out the solar giant as planned, casting a dismal dark glow over the planet as the sun rose to its throne at the top of the sky. To the pilot, it seemed like a hideous omen, considering the circumstances.
For one thing, he was very shaken about the fact that someone had managed to plant a lethal trap on their own base. What if it had been, say, a nuke in a suitcase instead of gas? This incident meant to Alec that it was currently feasible for someone to simply swim onto the beach, run into the forest, set down a black box, swim away, and the next morning, boom, no more Tokyo Hunter base. Seraph Castle had raised the bar to nukes, and Alec could no longer expect Mavericks to stick to conventional weapons.
There was also the matter of the other attacks. Twelve elite Hunters were dead in New York. Nine rookies and their captain had been eliminated in Denver, along with eight civilians. Two other captains had fallen in London, and there were seven dead in Beijing from the RPG attacks. Finally, and most importantly to him, one global lieutenant commander was dead in Tokyo and his subordinate was hanging in the balance, along with one of the most respected Reploids to ever walk the earth.
Alec was particularly interested in the fact that the victims shared no common link other than the fact that they were, mostly, all Maverick Hunters. There was no discriminating by rank—rookies and experts were gone, young and old, privates and generals, all taken out in mass murders. And infuriatingly, no one at any of the crime scenes seemed able to track any of the suspects.
Alec had no delusions about catching the assholes who'd set the Nexnecis trap in Tokyo. Whoever they were, they'd come and gone completely under the radar and hadn't even left a hint of a clue. They would go free, unless they got caught in some unrelated incident. It hardly seemed fair, but what could you do?
All he could do, he knew, was help his friends.
The pilot entered the waiting room and found, as expected, Krysta and Rykov sitting quietly in a corner. Krysta rose as soon as she saw him, drifting across the room into his arms in a very quiet embrace. "How are you holding up?" he asked, patting her back as reassuringly as he knew how.
"I'll be fine," she replied, very unconvincingly. Her voice indicated clearly that she'd spent the last hour with tears in her eyes. "How about you…?"
"I'm not worried about me," the human replied calmly, releasing her and wiping away a tear on her cheek. "I'm more worried about you guys."
Krysta forced herself to smile a little, letting Alec pass her and quietly embrace the standing Rykov. "How did this happen?" the big Reploid asked, in a very slight voice.
Alec couldn't help but flinch. Hawkins and Vulcan were Rykov's best friends. To have both of his closest companions knocked out of commission at the same time would be catastrophic for him. "I don't know. No one knows."
"They can't do this," Rykov insisted, shaking his head and clenching his fists. "They can't just walk into our homes and kill our friends…we can't let them…"
"They'll pay for this," Alec promised him, surprised at the force in his words. He quickly realized as he looked at his shaken friends that he fully intended to destroy whoever had done this, or whoever had ordered this done. A desire for revenge had never burned this strongly within him before, and the desire hit all at once, at this moment. It made him reel slightly, but he quickly regained his composure. "I mean it."
Rykov saw the fire in his friend's eyes, nodding assent. "I want to help."
"No, no," Alec said quickly. "You need to stay here…you and Krysta need to be there for him when he wakes up. …How is he?"
Krysta's smile took on some actual hope. "Lifesaver just told us he's doing a lot better. They found a way to get rid of all the acid, and they're done with the…with the transplants," she finished, shivering.
Rykov gathered the girl in a one-armed hug, looking past her to Alec. "He's still in a bad situation, pal. But it's looking a lot better than it did earlier."
Alec nodded. "Anyone seen Archer…?"
"He's been here," Krysta affirmed. "He went to the war room to help Signas." She lowered her already quiet voice another notch. "Alec…do you think he'll…?"
Alec looked both his friends in the eyes, showing them the kind of steely resolve many of the Hunters had been lacking that day. "Guys, your friend survived a shredding on a train in motion, followed by a brutal war and the psychological effects that followed it. There is no way he is going to let himself be beaten by some cheap booby trap in his jogging path."
The way he delivered the statement seemed to leave no doubt. Rykov remained motionless and expressionless, though in his eyes he acknowledged his friend's words. Krysta wiped fresh tears away and quietly mouthed her thanks.
And at that moment, the Monty Python theme song broke out in the telltale beeps of a ringing cell phone.
"Well that ruined the moment," Alec said with a half-smile, flipping on his device and turning away from his friends for a second. "It's me…what do you need?" He listened for a few seconds, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You're serious…? Right…I'll be right there!" He replaced the phone and looked to his confused friends. "I'm needed in the war room. You guys gonna be all right?"
"We'll be fine," Rykov assured him, and he sounded a little more convincing. "But what's that about…? More bad news?"
Alec actually laughed. "Ry, this may be the best news we've had in months."
X found Alia sitting alone on a couch in the 17th unit's common room. The blonde Huntress was staring into a television set across the room, though her eyes seemed distant. X crossed over to her, glancing at the news story reporting no new developments in the ongoing investigations into the global attacks on the Maverick Hunters. "Looks like a rerun."
Alia blinked, shaken out of her daze by the sound of his voice. "Oh, X." She stood quickly, appearing flustered. "You…do you need something?"
"Nah, I'm fine…"
"Are you sure?"
"Alia, settle down," X said, moved to a smile. He gently pushed on her shoulder and she reclaimed her seat. X rested next to her, gesturing towards the television. "Anything new?"
"No," Alia replied, turning the volume down from its already quiet setting. "They just say the same things…no leads, no developments, just…just a lot of…" She seemed a little breathless. "It just seems so bad," she added with a shiver.
"Alia…" X gathered her into a tight hug. "It's pretty much over now…it's okay."
"No, it's not okay," she retorted, her body shaking with sudden sobs that prompted her commander to hold her tighter. "I knew Hawkins…I even know Vulcan a little, and Zero…"
"I know," X said quietly, feeling a sadness welling up inside him for the first time that day. It was strange, he thought, that it had taken him until this moment to feel grief over Hawkins's death, since Hawkins had in fact been a decent friend to X. "I know how you feel…"
The dispatcher shook her head, looking up at her commander through her short blonde locks. "You don't…god, X, it's different for us…"
"What do you mean…?" he asked, letting her pull back a little.
Alia took a breath, trying to articulate better. "Me, Shadin, Scylla…the rest of your lieutenants, all Zero's people…you and he have done so much for us. For either of you to be…"
"Alia, Zero is going to make a full recovery," X said forcefully, taking her gently by the shoulders. "And we're going to get the people who did this to him."
"How?"
X smirked. "Have you ever known me to be inefficient at hunting Mavericks?"
Alia smiled sadly. "They're not Mavericks this time, X…there's probably humans involved."
"Then we'll bring them to justice as well."
At any other moment that sentence would have chilled Alia, especially coming from X. But now it seemed to, of all things, reassure her. She gave her boss one more quick hug. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"So am I," X replied with a grin, looking down at her. "Ready to get back to work?"
Alia nodded, wiping her tears off her face in some embarrassment. "I'm ready. I'm helping Seitz get together a list of passengers who used local airports yesterday."
"I see. I'm gonna be advising Signas most of the day, and then—"
Alia blinked. "X?"
"I've got a communication," X explained, answering his internal radio. "Yeah, it's me. …All right, I'll be right down." He cut the connection and looked to Alia, somewhat tiredly. "They want me in the war room again."
Alia, however, was suddenly paying a lot more attention to the television. "Yeah, X," she agreed, turning up the volume and speaking barely above a whisper. "And I bet I know why."
"Wormswood is as secure as it's going to get," the big Reploid was saying. "God himself could come down and Erich would deny him entrance."
"Erich always did strike me as the kind to tempt omnipotent beings," Damia replied blandly, relaxing against a doorframe, though 'relax' was a term used loosely today. Around them in the lounge, Hunters milled about slowly and without much purpose. This was a new experience for them—they'd been rather brutally attacked, but they had no one to strike back against just yet. Tensions were running far too high for the guerilla commander's liking.
She shook her head slowly, returning her attention to the Reploid next to her. "Worried about the gas, Waffles?"
He shook his head. "We've sprayed the forest with more of that dendrydium cocktail than I think is healthy for the vegetation, and we'll do it again every day for a week for good measure. Even then I don't think Erich will let anyone in." His name wasn't really 'Waffles'. He'd been christened Remington, constructed rather like Signas—appearing to be decked out in a military uniform, only it was black rather than Signas's navy blue, lined with gold trim and a few red sparklies. As Erich Zegmann's lieutenant, he'd helped create the nickname "Mr. Pancake" for his boss, due to the fact that Zegmann was prone to using his personal ride armor to flatten enemies. However the nickname game bit him in the ass when, after flattening his own share of enemies, Remington too became worthy of an epithet, and since pancake was taken he became known as "The Waffler".
Damia sighed, standing straight up and arching her back in a luxurious stretch. She wanted rather badly to fall asleep on the nice couch in the corner, but sleep wouldn't be an option for at least eight more hours, and only then if she was lucky. She guessed this would be a long night. "Hell of a wake up call, eh?"
"You said it." Remington frowned, glancing to the aimless Hunters wandering the lounge. "These kids need something to focus on soon, or things are gonna get even uglier."
"There aren't any leads," Damia said with some frustration. "Almost four hours now and there haven't been any leads. By the time we find one, the bastards will be safe."
"So we'll retaliate against the nearest Serpent installation we can find and let Units 5 and 0 take their revenge. We've gotta find someone to punish for this…and if we don't hurry, I'm afraid we'll be the ones who get thrashed." He glanced to the clock, and then threw Damia a salute. "Break's over. I'll catch you around."
The guerilla nodded. "Base is secure?"
"Totally," Remington reassured her again. "We've combed every inch of our property and there aren't any other booby traps laying around. Don't worry about anything other than catching these guys."
Would that it were so easy… "Right. Thanks."
Damia turned away from the disappearing lieutenant and performed her own analysis of the assembled Hunters. The Waffler had been right—they were either scared shitless or bubbling over with anxiety or anger. Damia wanted more than anything to be able to say "Here's the bad guy, go kill him" but that information just wasn't there.
Her eyes drifted towards the south entrance to the lounge, where an interesting character had just wandered in. He looked rather like a half-drowned cat; with unevaporated water still dripping from his body, and seaweed was tangled in his hair. Also he seemed to be bleeding from the forehead. To the present Hunters he must have looked like a cousin of the Loch Ness, but even in his disheveled state Damia recognized him instantly, and every bit of apprehension the day had inflicted upon her evaporated in a blaze of relief.
"Delates!"
The drenched Hunter looked up, blinking at the figure rushing towards him. "Oh, thank God," he said, rather relieved himself as he embraced her tightly. "I didn't know if you were…"
"Where were you?" Damia asked fiercely, looking him over. "What happened to you…Jesus, Del, you're bleeding!"
"It's nothing…"
"The hell it's nothing. What happened?"
"Eh…" Delates winced, scratching the back of his neck, appearing more embarrassed than Damia had ever seen him. "Apparently Poseidon got sick of my bullshit?"
His girlfriend's face went blank. "Delates, don't ask me to engage in complex thought today."
"Yeah…can I sit down?" Loch Ness stumbled towards the couch with Damia's guidance. The guerilla commander then scooped up some tissues from a nearby dispenser and took a seat next to her paramour. "Thanks…" Delates said, wincing as she wiped away the blood flowing from the nasty cut on his forehead.
"How did you pull this one off?" she demanded, mustering enough energy to be irritated.
"I…it was something out of a bad fanfiction, or something," Delates protested lamely. "I was at the beach, doing my thing…"
"'Obey me, ocean, for I am your master'?"
"Yeah, that." He flinched when she wiped the blood off the wound itself. "I sat down at the Throne, just as the biggest goddamn wave I've ever seen came crashing down onto the beach."
Damia frowned. "A wave?"
"I told you it was stupid," Delates said, failing in his efforts not to flush red. "It hit me by surprise…stopped breathing when I saw it. It cracked my head against one of the Throne's rocks and washed me clear off the side of the chair itself. Apparently I've been laying face down in sand for a few hours." He grimaced, holding the bloodied tissue against the cut himself. "I'm almost afraid to ask, but how was your day?"
Damia's voice dropped to something that sounded very defeated. "Vulcan and Hawkins were attacked."
"They're the ones?" Delates's face went slack.
She nodded. "There was a chemical weapon planted on their jogging path…someone watched them and learned their routine, and then…" She swallowed hard, like X feeling remorse now that things had settled down. "Hawkins died. Vulcan is in critical condition. Zero got messed up when he dragged the two of them out of the forest, but he's stable now."
Delates blinked a few times, shaking his head in slow disbelief. "I just saw them," he whispered. "I saw them both not five minutes before they went into that forest…there's no way…dead?"
Damia's face grew even more sullen. "It doesn't end there…we took hits in Denver, New York, Beijing and London. There were Hunter casualties all around the world this morning." She lowered her eyes, resting a shaking hand on his leg. "I didn't know what to think when I couldn't find you…"
"Damia…"
"They watched them, Del. Whoever killed Hawkins was watching him beforehand. You go down to the beach almost every morning…I thought…"
"I'm here," he said firmly, draping his free arm around her shoulder tightly. "And so are you. We're still alive." He kissed her forehead gently, and then looked right in her eyes. "Don't you ever lose hope, you hear me? No matter how bad it looks, don't ever count me out."
Damia met his eyes and nodded. "I know…it just…all happened so fast."
"Tell me about it," he murmured, wincing as his forehead began to throb again. "Do we know who did this to us yet?"
She shook her head. "We aren't getting any good information from the sites."
"So why don't we look for ourselves?"
That was worth a double take. "Excuse me?"
Delates shrugged. To him it seemed obvious. "We're the best Hunters on Earth. Why are we waiting for some lesser detectives to figure these crimes out?"
Damia frowned. It seemed odd that no one had considered that yet. She was about to reply, but a sudden whoop of excitement from across the room startled her. The other Hunters in the room had been so quiet she'd forgotten they were there, but this sudden activity seemed so unlike them. "What happened?" she wondered aloud, standing with Delates.
"Commander!" a rookie near the lounge's large television declared, sounding very happy. "They got him!"
"Who got who what now?" Delates asked, puzzled, following Damia to the front of the room, where the breaking news report was more audible:
"…was apprehended near the First Anglican Orphanage in Grantham, England by a team of Maverick Hunters led by Commander Virgil Arcanus, apparently after he and his accomplice, Julian Rosen, attempted to rid themselves of their child hostages, who had become more a liability than an asset. London Hunter Commander Michael Jameson was available for comment:
'The citizens of all the world can rest easy tonight with the knowledge that one of the most brutal, dangerous men alive is in custody at last. The Maverick Hunters took some damage today, but it is clear through successes like this one that we will not be so easily defeated. Commander Virgil and his team of fine detectives are praised for a job very well done.'
Interrogations are scheduled to begin immediately, with the hopes that Azarias will have some information regarding the deadly attacks on Hunters across the globe this morning. Once more, the Serpent operative Wildcard Azarias has been captured with his accomplice Julian Rosen in Grantham, England, and no hostage casualties are reported."
"No hostage casualties!" X was exclaiming, triumphantly pumping his fist. "Wildcard Azarias was just owned!"
"Nah, that's just starting," said Alec. "Once Jameson's people get through with him, Azarias will wish Virgil had killed him back there."
"No doubt the thought crossed our detective's mind," Zegmann opined, sitting down and squinting at an Intel report on the matter.
"What did we miss?" Damia asked as she and Delates entered the room.
"Well, you—" X paused, narrowing his eyes at Delates. "Where the hell have you been?"
"I fell in the toilet," Delates said with a straight face, still lamely clutching Kleenex to his reddened forehead.
"…Okay, well, I'll leave it at that," X said, shaking his head sharply to clear the image. "Zero's gonna be fine, by the way. Lifesaver said they replaced his windpipe and took care of a few other minor repairs, and he'll be conscious in an hour or so."
"Well thank Light for that," Zero's lieutenant replied with some relief. "So what about Azarias?"
"Virgil caught Azarias and his fellow kidnapper escaping from an orphanage in Grantham," Caligula piped up from his perch at the far end of the war room's long table. "Apparently Wildcard couldn't keep tabs on the children and figured he'd throw off the authorities by ditching them while they were still alive."
"How are they?" Commander Luna asked.
"Scared to death but unharmed," Caligula replied. "Virgil had his bodyguard incapacitate Azarias and he arrested the son of a bitch himself. Rosen didn't put up a fight."
"Just like that?" Luna asked, impressed.
Caligula actually smirked. "You ever seen Virgil's bodyguard? He's patterned after a giant gargoyle, and he casts a hell of a shadow."
"So we finally have some good news," Signas summarized, clapping his hands and gesturing to his subordinates. "Jameson is going to try to get everything he can out of Azarias as soon as possible to see if we can't track any of the people who attacked us this morning. X, Damia, Delates, Erich, Alec, Luna, Mason, I want us to be more visible. I want people to know that the Hunters aren't daunted."
Caligula's communicator went off. "What is it, Kevin?" he asked quietly, turning away from the conversation.
"What about Archer?" X asked.
"Archer's fine," Signas replied coolly. "At least, he's as fine as can be expected. He's with his unit now, waiting on Vulcan's scenario."
"Commander," Caligula interrupted them suddenly, "there's someone who'd like to talk on the speakerphone."
"Is it Jackson again?" Signas queried, annoyed. "If that bastard thinks he's fooling anybody with his 'greatest sympathies for our loss'…"
"Commander," Caligula said again, "I've got Virgil Arcanus on the line. He'd like to talk to us."
Pretty much everyone in the room blinked and stepped back in unison. "Virgil?" Signas asked, frowning. "Not Jameson?"
"Virgil," Caligula said again.
"Put him on," X suggested.
Signas nodded and Caligula gave the order. A second later a crackling sound filled the room as the signal was established. "Can you hear me, Virgil?" Signas finally spoke.
"You sound like you have a smile on your face, old friend."
The voice that had replied fit the image of Virgil they all had in their minds to a T. It was an old voice, gravelly and heavy, and perhaps even grandfatherly. It carried a light British accent and conveyed both authority and a strong essence of intellect. If there was a more fitting voice for an old detective, none of the Hunter commanders had ever heard it.
"It's the first smile of the day, Virgil," Signas responded. "And we have you to thank for it."
"Ah, yes…who all is the 'we' that I'm speaking to?"
"We've got X, Luna, Damia, Delates, Erich Zegmann, Alec Tremont, Mason and Caligula."
"Caligula…I imagine you've had twelve kinds of aneurysms throughout the course of the day?"
"Something like that," the Intel chief replied with half a smile.
"I gotta say, you lived up to your title, Sherlock Virgil," X spoke up. "I never thought for a minute Wildcard Azarias would be caught without losing some of the children."
"'Act as though ye have faith, and faith shall be given to you,'" Virgil said in reply. "For my part, I never thought for a minute you'd all still be hanging around your headquarters."
"What do you mean?" X asked.
"The Maverick Hunters were attacked in several cities today." Virgil's voice became heavy. "Jameson was right—your leaders need to show themselves to prove they are not afraid."
"I was thinking the same thing," Delates said. "And I just gained consciousness. What was up with you guys?"
"Hey," X fired back, "you apparently spent the morning in a toilet, so let's save the blame game for a another time."
"The saddest part is, it's not far from the truth," Damia mumbled to Luna, who just shook her head.
"We were getting to that, detective," Signas assured him. "In fact you just interrupted my speech."
"I'm terribly sorry." Virgil's voice took on the hint of a smile. "I know how much your subordinates must enjoy hearing you speak."
"You bet they do," Signas replied, raising an eyebrow that just dared one of them to comment.
"Hah…well, I'm calling to rescue at least one of you." Virgil cleared his throat. "Signas, with your permission…X, I'd like to invite you to come to London."
The Azure Hunter tilted his head. "…What?"
"Come to London," Virgil elaborated, "and help with the interrogation of the criminals we apprehended today."
"What…now?"
"Yes, now. We've all agreed that you need to be visible, and appearing at Scotland Yard to question the enemy is a good way to prove to the other Hunters that you're not taking this lightly."
"He has a point," Caligula put in.
"X," Signas asked pointedly, "is Jasper up to speed on all this?"
"I can bring him up to speed," Caligula answered for X.
"Well then." The Grand Commander nodded at the hesitant veteran. "Don't keep him waiting."
"Uh…" X laughed and scratched his head. "Well…okay, I guess."
"You can get the coordinates from Caligula," Virgil informed him. "The sooner Azarias sees you standing before him, the sooner he'll sing." The detective paused, switching targets from one to all. "This is a new kind of battle for us. But if you learn anything from today, learn that mistakes are going to happen. Don't dwell on them."
"That's decent advice," Signas agreed. "Thank you, Virgil, and congratulations again."
"Thank you, sir, and good luck."
The line broke. X frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "So where exactly am I going…?"
"Talk to me in a minute," Caligula replied, scribbling down notes from a private communication.
"On that note," Signas regained control of the conversation, gesturing to Damia, "I want Unit 8 to head to Denver right away."
Damia raised a brow. "Why, exactly?"
"Commander Moor is new," Signas explained. "Take a look around, see if you can find anything he missed. Mainly it's for visibility. I'd send Unit 0, but Del, you look like crap. Plus I'd rather not send the leadership of both Units 0 and 17 out of the building at the same time right now."
Damia nodded. "I'll get my people together. We'll be gone in twenty."
"Make it ten," Signas ordered. "Every minute puts more distance between the perps and the crime scenes." Damia nodded assent and left. Delates followed her after getting a nod of assent from Signas, who then glanced at the others. "The rest of you keep the base up and moving. We're gonna go on patrol tonight and if anyone dares raise a finger against us, they're gonna wish they hadn't."
Throughout the last of the conversation Caligula's scribbling had become more and more frantic. Finally he slammed his pen on the table and bolted to his feet. "Sir, the infirmary," was all he said, and he stormed out of the war room.
The remaining commanders looked at each other for a few seconds, their relatively high spirits dissolving into confusion, and finally back to an oh-god-what-now attitude, and one by one they filed out after the intelligence chief.
"Generator function is normal, blood flow unimpaired!"
"It's not the blood flow," Lifesaver said, feeling rather pathetic as doctors helped him onto a gurney. "It'll be the damn windpipe…" The medical chief coughed again, emitting a light spray of blood. "It's all windpipes today…"
Caligula burst through the infirmary doors. "What the hell happened?"
"Sir, Lifesaver inhaled some of the gas in the forest during the initial rescue," Dr. Carlton said, approaching the spymaster. "His symptoms grew progressively worse as the day went on, until…"
"I'm fine," Lifesaver protested loudly, waving Caligula off. "This is just what I get for smoking too much."
"You don't smoke at all," Caligula replied, approaching the medic. "Dammit, Lifesaver, how did you not fix yourself before this? The same thing happened to Zero that's happening to you!"
"Damage isn't as bad," Dr. Ledyard announced, looking at Lifesaver's internal scan. "I think we can repair it without a transplant.
"Well isn't this my lucky day," Lifesaver grouched, breaking off into another racking cough.
"What happened?" Signas asked, barging in with X.
Caligula stepped back, feeling his head spin. "Crap…Carlton, who else came in contact with that gas?"
"I did," the medic admitted. "I scanned myself as soon as Lifesaver collapsed. I'm pretty sure traces of the stuff remain."
"Can it spread from you to someone else?"
Carlton blinked as though struck. "I…I don't know."
"X, Signas, get out," Caligula ordered, ushering the two of them towards the door and patching through to his subordinates. "Kevin, get a quarantine team down here. I want this infirmary sealed off! No one gets in unless they're dying, understand?" He gestured to Carlton. "Get all these docs scanned. Who else came in contact?"
"Unit 8 explored the scene, as did Unit 15," X said from the doorway.
"Where's 8?"
"They're on their way out."
"Someone find them," Signas ordered. "Make sure they take a dose of that cocktail with them. You too, X."
Alec stood outside and watched in alarm as, in front of his eyes, the medical wing of Hunter Headquarters was placed under quarantine due to a chemical agent that might be passed between Reploids. The day just got better and better.
"It's like the plague," Zegmann said, standing next to him.
"It is a plague," Alec agreed, watching Caligula work. "God only knows how far it's gonna spread now…"
"Where are you taking me?"
The words were no longer delivered with determined curiosity. Now Vulcan just sounded frightened.
Geode Sphinx flashed his radiant smile, continuing forward without looking back at his silver-armored shadow. "So now the images around you have begun to solidify into something real…something you know. Good. It means we've arrived."
"Arrived where…?" Vulcan asked, but his words were whispers. He already knew where he was. All around he saw things that by rights no one should ever have been forced to see in the first place. He was standing amidst a ruined section of a city, where the burning tops of broken buildings lay strewn about in the streets. Civilians of all age and race were busy pulling the dead and wounded from the debris.
But when they saw Vulcan, they stopped. They stood and they stepped back, their eyes penetrating the Hunter's body and going straight to his soul. Where were you, their eyes asked? Why weren't you here to stop this? So intense was their gaze that Vulcan found it hard to believe that so many could blame a single person for such a complex act of destruction, but then he remembered that they weren't just looking at him—there had been many Hunters then, all of them marching in a line under a winter sky lit up only by flames and the white wind of a mountain snowstorm, which itself was partially obstructed by a nuclear mushroom cloud.
"Megacity 5," Vulcan breathed. "Just like it was that day…"
"Yes," Geode nodded. "Everything is the same as it was on the day that the Mavericks ended centuries of nuclear abstinence and broke the power of the Megacity Army."
Vulcan's breaths came slower as he took in the scenery. It had been such a terrible day. The world had woken up to the sound of a nuclear detonation, followed by the Maverick occupation of the city. The enemy had crushed or immobilized all local Army bases, and with the bulk of the Hunter army in the Catskills, the Headquarters had been ripe for the picking. After punching a hole into the formerly mighty building with a missile that failed to go nuclear, the Mavericks conquered it, driving Signas and a few other refugees outside, where they ran for their lives to the cover of a nearby destroyed roadway.
Then the Hunters returned, and the little war grew all the more deadly. A terrible aerial battle brought down the enemy flagship Gallagher, but at the expense of many buildings and lord knew how many lives. The Hunters, with Vulcan in their ranks, had proceeded to drive back and defeat the Maverick 'Frontline' unit, though Vulcan, Hawkins and a group of other Hunters from his Unit 5 had broken off from the main team to rescue Hunters pinned down in a slag pit. They'd been able to clear out the Mavericks harassing their friends, but then…then Vulcan's very soul was scarred by what happened next.
"Your memories show you fragments of a doomed world," Geode was saying. "In time these fragments will represent the whole. But that is not for me to explain…" The sphinx lifted a finger that had started to glow yellow. Vulcan opened his mouth to protest, but then, before his very eyes, Geode traced a golden hieroglyph in the thin air. "Now go," the behemoth ordered with finality. "He awaits you here."
"What…where? What are you—"
Before Vulcan could finish the hieroglyph flared with electrical energies, smashing into Vulcan with a force he could not quite describe. He cried out in shock rather than pain, feeling himself arching through the air before the world around him went blindingly white.
"I don't envy you the job, sir. This place is pretty grim."
As she said the words Damia cast her gaze over the bloody scene that a few hours ago had been a happy casual dining restaurant. The bodies had by now been removed, both Hunter and civilian, but the Huntress could still see the bloody patches of ground where the victims had previously lain. The whole thing struck Damia as something out of a sick movie—five guys with heavy machine guns mowing down an unarmored group of people without any inkling of regret. If it were a movie Damia would have called it bad writing. She expected villains to have more depth than that.
"It's almost as grim as the amount of evidence we've found," Commander Moor replied, standing beside her. He was a feline Reploid, a very astute looking cat in gold armor with the fur coloration of a tiger-tabby. Though relatively young, he'd attained the rank of local commander, and oversaw all Hunter operations in the Colorado area. Captain Greaves had been a personal friend of his.
"Wanna run it by me again?" Damia asked, feigning helpfulness. "Maybe you'll remember something new?"
"I've given up on that," Moor replied with a snort. "But all right. Okay, we didn't find anything on the scene except some rubble from where the adaman bullets either missed or went through the targets, striking the walls of the building. Took out some nasty chunks, as you can see."
"I do," she agreed, wincing involuntarily.
Moor raked his clawed hands across the back of his head, as though willing his brain to think harder. "These guys did a pretty good job silencing most of those present, but there were still some eyewitnesses. They describe three humans and two Reploids as the culprits, and one of the Reploids was sky blue in coloration, a little taller than average. The diner's proprietor's are being questioned, but I don't think they had anything to do with it." The Denver commander shrugged. "We've posted guys in every airport around and they're screening, but nothing has come of it. We're pretty sure they wouldn't be stupid enough to teleport, and in any case humans couldn't do that anyway, so we're thinking that they're gonna board a flight." He shrugged again. "But we don't have any descriptions of the humans, other than they're three males, one with a beard."
"That does sound grim," Damia conceded. Her gaze turned to where a particularly heavy spot of blood stained the tile floor. "I'm sorry about Greaves."
Moor nodded slowly, clenching his fists. "They just came in here like…my god, Commander, you didn't see the bodies."
The guerilla offered him a sympathetic look. "We lost one in Tokyo…the Unit 5 lieutenant commander."
"I heard," Moor said, returning the gesture. "I'm sorry about that."
"He had his insides neutralized by an airborne chemical agent."
The cat shuddered. "We have to get these people. I mean, we have to really get them."
"Tell me about it," Damia agreed, glancing up to meet Castle's eye. "Excuse me a second…"
"Sure," Moor nodded, resuming his accepted routine of pacing around the diner, wondering what the hell was wrong with this world he lived in, pausing to take a call on his communicator. Damia meanwhile crossed the room to where Castle, Acrystos and Dantz had finished their search of the building.
"Nothing new," Castle said, throwing up his hands. "But we didn't really expect anything anyway."
"How did they coordinate this, is what I'm wondering," Acrystos mused aloud. "They had all the attacks happen at the same time…that means they had to have known when Hawkins tripped the Nexnecis in Tokyo."
"A control cell, you mean," Damia summarized. "I think so, too…probably there was a remote trigger installed in the canisters in Wormswood. Hawkins was, in effect, the go-order for all these other killings."
"Sons of bitches," Dantz opined, rather poetically. Both his comrades nodded whole-heartedly.
"Commander Damia!" Moor said suddenly, re-approaching her while clearly fielding a call via radio. "I think we may have something after all. Tune to this frequency," he ordered, giving them the proper number.
Damia's lips pressed together in concentration. "Does this mean…?"
"It was in the collected body parts," Moor explained feverishly. "A piece of an arm was found…we thought it was one of ours at first, but apparently…"
"Apparently that chunk of arm contained the Reploid's radio unit," Dantz said with a big grin, receiving the same information.
"Because he just got a call," Castle finished, laughing aloud in dark irony. "But where from, now that is the question."
"Are you tracing this?" Damia asked hurriedly.
"Of course, of course," Moor replied while listening. "All messages are being transferred directly to Caligula, as per Signas's orders. But…I'm being told that the message seems to be coming from a mountainous region in Montana."
"Any of your boys on vacation out there?" Castle asked pointedly.
Moor shook his head firmly. "Which likely means the arm belongs to one of the enemy. So we're looking for a sky blue Reploid and another Reploid with a wounded arm."
"What good does this really do us?" Acrystos asked skeptically. "It's been almost six hours since the attacks. They'll have flown away by now."
"You ever flown by shuttle transport?" Damia asked with a snicker. "Sure they're fast when they get going, but it's the get-go that's the problem."
"Add to that the fact that the Hunters have been requiring added security checks, and you've got delays up the ass," Castle added.
Acrystos frowned deeply. "You're putting a lot of faith in the fact that they had trouble getting off the ground."
"Well in a case like this we go with what we have," Damia decided, turning to Moor. "Have your guys check all the skyports and airfields in Colorado for delayed flights to anywhere in Montana, and update the description of the attackers."
"You getting this?" Moor asked his guy on the other end of the line. He received an affirmative in reply, and nodded at Damia. "What's next?"
"Let's get back to the local base and give them a hand," she suggested. "Unit 8 will be ready to head to the scene as soon as we get a good feeling. If any of you want to tag along, be ready to move very soon. Every second we waste…"
"…Is another step closer to freedom for the bastards who did this," Moor finished, gesturing towards the door. "All of you!" he ordered to the men still on scene. "Return to base and suit up! We've got some new information and we may have to act on it any minute now. With any luck, we can send the message to Kou Cao right now that you do not mess with the Maverick Hunters without losing the tongue you gloat with!"
It was quiet in the waiting room.
Alec sat in a chair on the end of a row. He had an old magazine in his hands, but he had yet to actually look at it. His eyes were riveted on the east wall, behind which he knew surgeries were still taking place to save lives. He could picture the doctors walking around in their gas masks, performing their grim tasks with the knowledge that they'd be stuck in the infirmary far longer than any of them wanted to be while they—and the infirmary itself—were decontaminated. Signas had long since kicked out the human doctors, and they served primarily as messengers for the Reploid doctors who weren't allowed to leave. Alec's gaze occasionally drifted to the door, willing it to open, willing someone to be at the other end with good news. It had yet to happen.
"What's a five letter word for ice cream, candy, etcetera…?"
Alec turned to Delates, seated next to him with old crossword in hand. "Depends…what's it start with?"
"Dunno."
"Haven't found it yet…?"
"No, just…I don't know."
The pilot frowned, catching a glimpse of the puzzle. "Someone filled them all in already…! What's the point of…?"
"You can do the puzzle again," Delates insisted, wincing as his bandaged forehead attacked with a forceful throb. "You just have to look at the clues without looking at the puzzle."
Alec gave Zero's second a very long inspection. "The word is treat."
"But you looked!"
"Of course I looked, that's how you do a crossword, you get letters from other words and you use them to help you find the other ones!"
Delates's growl dissolved into a sigh, and he tossed the puzzle onto the nearby table in defeat. "Yeah…I suppose so." The special operative, still looking mightily disheveled after his battle with the ocean, followed Alec's eyes to the wall. "How do you think they're doing in there?"
"Dunno."
"Haven't heard a report recently…?"
"No, just…I don't know."
Delates frowned, completing the cycle. "You know, excess worrying isn't going to help them any. It'll just give you gray hairs."
Alec glanced to another corner of the room. Archer was sitting quietly with his head in his hands, which apparently he'd been doing a lot of since the tragedy began in the morning. Next to him, Rykov was staring dully at the floor with one arm around Krysta, who appeared to have dozed off.
"Worrying is about all I can do right now," the pilot said, redirecting his attention at Delates. "Why not do a good job of it?"
"'Cuz it'll do a good job on you," the emerald Hunter replied. "You can destroy yourself worrying about things you can't control. Zero, Vulcan, Lifesaver…they'll make it or they won't. It's up to them."
"Well aren't you Mr. Optimist."
"Actually, you're talking to one of the biggest optimists on the base when it comes to this stuff," Delates replied with a friendly smile. "I came home from Seraph Castle to find Damia broken to bits and near death. She shouldn't have recovered, physically or mentally, but she did." His green eyes became filled with an almost devout resolve. "You would be amazed just how strong we really are, Alec. Simply amazed..."
That took Alec by surprise. The words were short and simple, but he had never heard Delates talk with that resolve before. The pilot sat up straight in his seat and let out a long breath, feeling his apprehensions loosening their hold on his mind. "Yeah…I suppose so." He half-turned his head towards Delates, smiling lightly. "She was pretty worried about you today."
"I suppose I can't blame her…" He shook his head slowly. "I'd have thought the same thing if it had been me." He glanced towards the human. "What about Ravenna? She freaking out?"
"I've called her a few times," Alec replied with a nod. "She was pretty shaken up. Apparently word has leaked from the HQ that Zero was attacked…" He laughed once, rather harshly. "That's my own dumbass fault."
"Oh, give yourself a break…"
"I shouted the information at the top of my lungs. It's hard to explain that away."
"Well if you hadn't shouted, you might not have gotten Lifesaver's attention in time, and my boss would be dead." Delates looked hard at him. "This is a new kind of war we're fighting. We can't lose sight of the big picture. We can't punish ourselves for the little things, because trust me, there's gonna be quite a lot of little things popping up to punish ourselves for."
"Again, your optimism is like a shining beacon of hope," the pilot replied, sighing. "They called it the plague, Delates. Like the bubonic plague. It even gives you spots."
Delates shrugged. "The bubonic plague is nothing in today's world, and this is just as easily defeated, or so I hear. We just have to be ready for it, now that we know what it does." He leaned back in his chair and, of all things to do, he laughed. "Damn…"
Alec's lips curled into a curious frown. "What's so funny…?"
"Oh, 'funny' isn't the word for it at all," Delates replied, though he was snickering lightly anyway. "It's just…well, a random memory. You know that song, the one kids sing, 'Ring Around the Rosie'?"
Alec called forth a very obscure memory of early childhood. "Sort of, yeah…what about it?"
"They used to think," Delates explained, hesitating as though in disbelief that he was having this conversation but continuing anyway, "they used to think the song was about the bubonic plague."
Alec laughed too, completely despite himself. "Whaaat?"
"The theory makes enough sense… 'Ring around the rosie', well, like you said, you get spots, red or reddish black. 'A pocket full of posies', they used posies and other flowers in potions to try and ward off the plague. 'Ashes, ashes'…eventually they wouldn't even touch the bodies for burial, and would just burn them. And finally…"
"… 'We all fall down,'" Alec finished. "That one's self-explanatory."
"Yeah…" Delates shook his head again, smiling vaguely. "I think they've since disproved that theory…but still, a bunch of little kids singing merrily about death and destruction?"
"That's sick," Alec declared, smirking involuntarily at the thought, a thought he couldn't seem to banish from his mind. "And it pisses me off that I find it funny…"
"Well what did I say about worrying about what you can't control? It even ruins your sense of humor."
Alec quietly pondered senses of humor for a few seconds. Then he looked back to Delates with an even wider smirk. "A wave, Delates?"
The Reploid's face darkened. "Go choke on something."
Alec laughed, but before he could offer a riposte the door opened to reveal Dr. Sidney Ledyard, who immediately commanded everyone's attention. The human looked rather tired, which was to be expected. Alec felt a twinge of pity for the doctors still operating. "Delates," the doctor said, stepping towards Unit 0's acting commander. "I'm going to want you to stand by."
Delates blinked slowly. "Gonna tell me why…?"
Ledyard actually smiled. "Zero's going to be waking up soon, and he'll probably be bitching for someone to give orders to."
The special operative just rolled his eyes. "Just when I was starting to miss him, too."
"How is Vulcan?" Alec asked, knowing Archer and the others were paying attention.
Ledyard's smile faded, but not entirely. "There isn't much of a change, though we've repaired most of his internals. It's just a matter of getting his new parts in sync with the old ones while keeping the generator stable. Give it a little longer."
Alec nodded, glancing to where Archer, Rykov and the awakened Krysta were sitting quietly. "Thanks…"
"Hey," Delates said as he stood, looking straight at Alec. "Remember what I said."
"Yeah." Alec nodded. "I will."
Delates nodded back and left with Ledyard. Alec looked at Archer, who replied with a very slow nod. The pilot's eyes then fell on the crossword puzzle Delates had discarded. "Damn him…" Alec growled, scooping the puzzle off the table and glancing at the clues, attempting to feel dignified.
"Four letter word for fortune…"
Darkness abound. That had been the first hint that something was wrong.
Throughout his career, Zero had been treated to the services of the infirmary on many occasions, and almost always his first reaction upon regaining consciousness was to bitch about the lights being too bright.
No lights. Nothing to bitch at. Something wasn't right.
Well, actually there were some lights, but they didn't do much good. Zero's optics had only now become adjusted to the darkness, and he could make out the domed marble ceiling above him from which four decorative lantern lamps hung, like the kind you'd find in a church. The chamber itself reminded Zero of a place of worship, though he couldn't imagine what was worshipped here. There even seemed to be an altar in the distance, and when Zero finally felt sure enough of himself he left his cover behind a large Corinthian column to approach the center of the chamber.
He didn't wholly remember how he'd gotten here. He did remember that there had been some kind of attack at the HQ, and then he'd fallen to the attack himself. Aside from that all he knew was that his steps had been wobbily at first, and his throat and chest felt very cold. After his third step a new sensation struck him—pain. His chest, while cold, seemed to burn, and he crumpled to his knees with a groan that echoed throughout the dome of black marble.
A sound from the far end of the chamber attracted Zero's attention. He held his breath, gritting his teeth against the pain and trying not to make further noise. For some reason it didn't occur to him to switch on his infrared scanning, or to even reach for his lightsaber. He just stared forward, able to make out nothing but a table of some sorts.
He glanced down next, and his frown deepened. There was a large symbol on the floor in the center of the chamber…at first it took Zero a while to figure it out, but after a few blinks he recognized what appeared to be a DNA helix. But rather than being composed of the usual representative orbs, the helix was composed of strands of what appeared to be…pictures? Zero squinted harder, and yes, there were rows of three different kinds of pictures—artistically drawn death's heads, swords and embers.
His head snapped up when he heard another noise from the front of the room. It was soft, short…vocal. A sob?
"Who's there?" Zero called out, summoning his courage and standing. His eyes clearly made out an altar of sorts at the far end of the room, surrounded by extinguished candles. Kneeling before it was a figure cloaked in dark garments. Whoever or whatever it was, it didn't respond to Zero's call. The Hunter approached cautiously, watching the cloak tremble and hearing noises similar to the first. This person was crying. From the sound of the voice, it was a female. "Hey…" Zero tried again, laying a hand on her shoulder while keeping the other hand free to defend himself, just in case. "I'm not going to hurt you…what's wrong? Who are you…?"
As soon as his hand touched her shoulder, the figure's trembling seemed to increase. The head of the cloak twitched slightly towards him, and an arm rose slowly. From it emerged a robotic hand, uncovered by skin, that pressed on top of Zero's with cold firmness. Zero drew a sharp breath, and subsequently emitted a sharp cry when the head snapped around to reveal a woman's shredded face, flaps of skin hanging like tattered leather, one eye gone and the other bloodshot and lidless. Black blood dribbled from her mouth, which was wide open in pain and fear.
"What happened to you?" Zero asked, steeling himself and taking her by the other shoulder, unable to hide the horror in his eyes. But the devastated woman's only response was to stare at him out of her red eye, as though recognizing someone she's never seen before and knowing who he was anyway.
"You…" she said in a voice too young and innocent to belong to so unfortunate a person, "you're…original…"
"What's that?" Zero asked, leaning closer to her and holding her upright in what he hoped was a gentle manner. "Do you know me…?"
Her breath began to come heavily, and a frantic look crept into her remaining optic. She surged forward suddenly, taking Zero totally off guard and spilling him onto the floor. Stripped steel fingers grasped at his throat, and he beheld a torn face filled with black hate. "You…your fault…all your fault!"
Zero just stared at her, totally paralyzed by her words and actions. Then there came a sharp crack from the far side of the room, near the Corinthian pillar, and a beam of flaming white light struck the vanquished woman, snapping her head back and throwing her off Zero. She lay on the floor and clawed at her face as the white energy coursed over her figure, and finally she lay still, her black cloak flowing over her body.
"What are you doing talking to strangers?" asked Zero's rescuer blandly, lowering her still-glowing right hand and stepping out of the shadows.
"Iris?" Zero shot to his feet, all the events of the last minute catching up at once. "You…what are you doing here? …Where is 'here'? Who was she?"
"Calm down, Zero," Iris all but whispered, stepping past him and staring at the altar. "It's over now…for the most part."
Zero blinked slowly, shaking his head to clear it and focusing on her image. It occurred to him that he'd never seen her in quite this way—she wore her hair free and unbraided, dressed not in casual clothing or her violet armor but in a flowing white dress…or it could be called a robe, Zero supposed. What also occurred to him was that her presence here confirmed the obvious supposition that this wasn't reality…but nor was it really a dream either, he knew. He'd only been in this exact state once before, right after beating Sigma and encountering… 'Him'…for the first time.
"What's over, Iris?" he asked, a powerful sense of foreboding seizing him. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" Her words came somewhat sharper than usual. She turned her head from the altar to gaze back at him, and he could tell she was annoyed. "Let me sum it up, dear. You woke up to the sight and sound of the entity that wants you pulverized more than anything in the world talking to you and goading you on. And what did you do?" She turned full around, raising her arms in desperation. "You rushed outside and went exactly where he wanted you to go and did exactly what he wanted you to do. And now…" Her arms fell helplessly. "Your body's laying on a gurney with a new windpipe after a rather close call, and you're here because…well, because you are."
Memories reached his mind as quickly as the words reached his ears—the forest, the golden gas…Vulcan, face down in the dirt, trembling in agony…Hawkins, sprawled out between the Pillars, clutching weakly at his throat, his eyes nearly popping out of his head expressing a greater pain than most would ever know…and Alec, rushing for help as Zero fell to the floor choking on his own blood.
Almost as soon as he recalled the memories another wave of pain hit him, crumpling him to his knees with a sudden cry. Iris's anger evaporated somewhat and she rushed next to him, kneeling and taking his shoulders. "Are you all right…?"
"What's…wrong with me?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"It's just the aftereffects," she assured him, her airy voice soothing his frenzied mind. "It'll pass soon," she promised, brushing a stray blond lock from his face.
Zero's mind was indeed frenzied. The exactness of Iris's words had hit him hard. He had done exactly what Gemeines Gehirn had wanted him to do. He'd blindly rushed into danger, and then…
"Damn it, Zero…" Iris sighed, shaking her head and looking him in the eyes. "I can't protect you from everything…you're not supposed to die, but you still can die."
"I…I know," he whispered, lowering his head as though slapped. "I'm…I'm sorry, Iris…god…"
"It's all right," she whispered back, embracing him. The shiver that shot through his body told Iris volumes about just how unnerved the metal warrior was. "It's all right, Zero…"
"Of all the enemies on earth," he said, still unable to steel his nerves, "he's the only one I fear…"
Iris nodded, understanding perfectly. Zero fought battles without fear for anything except not completing his mission, and the mission was almost always accomplished by defeating an enemy. Fear for personal safety had never really been an issue for him, perfectly evidenced by his self-destruction to save X. What did frighten him was a being that could manifest itself into any physical entity it so chose. What frightened him was an enemy that could do what Sigma had never been able to do—lead Zero into the battles against friends and self that would mean the death of his soul.
"He's alive, then…?" Zero finally asked her.
Iris nodded, releasing him from the embrace and helping him to stand. She smiled sadly at him through a veil of brown hair spilling onto white-garbed shoulders. "We hurt him badly two years ago…but he still exists, yes. And he must be gaining power again, if he was able to contact you…"
"Where is he?"
She shook her head. "I…don't know that. Not yet."
Zero nodded in acceptance of that grim fact. Then his eyes caught sight of the nearby black cloak lying on the floor. "Iris…what was she?"
The spirit of the British Reploid shook her head with pity. "She is a representative, Zero."
"A representative? Of what?"
"Of a great atrocity…" Iris's eyes had become misty. She walked slowly towards the cloak, still shaking her head sadly. "An atrocity that continues to this day. And soon…" She picked up the cloak—nothing was left underneath. "Soon, all the evidence will have vanished. Just like she did."
"An atrocity…?" Zero blinked slowly, approaching her warily as though he expected the cloak to fly out and smother him at any minute. "What kind of atrocity?"
Iris blinked away a tear, lovingly folding the cloak like a soldier would fold a flag. "There are enemies every bit as malevolent as the Mavericks out there, Zero," she whispered without looking at him. "Humans do not have their hands clean in these wars."
"No," Zero agreed, just as quietly. "No they do not."
Iris turned to him, finishing her work on the cloak without looking at it. She inclined her head to the helix in the center of the floor. "The skull, the sword and the flame…a most unholy trinity." Her voice became much more forceful. "You have met representatives of the skull already, Zero."
The blond Hunter nodded, images of Seraph Castle flashing through his mind. "And her? That poor woman…?"
Iris pressed her hand against the folded garment in her arms. "She…was a representative of the flame. She…no, all of them…they need your help."
"She called me the original," Zero pointed out. "What did she mean…?" His eyes narrowed when Iris did not answer. "There's only one thing that comes to my mind, and it…tell me it's not that."
"You'll understand soon," Iris whispered. "Very soon…"
"And the third?" Zero gestured towards one of the rows of swords making up a strand of the helix. "Who are the representatives of the sword?"
Iris just shook her head, tendrils of brown floating across her delicate face. "That is X's mystery. As for you…you will know a sword when you meet one." She clutched the black garment to her chest. "But for now…help her."
The supposed entrance to the black marble chamber began to resonate, as though daylight were spilling in. Zero looked to Iris, who stepped forward and pressed the cloak into his arms. Almost immediately Zero felt an incredible surge of emotions, all of them bad. He felt the fear, the anger and the hopelessness of the altar woman, and even though he didn't know what had happened to her he did know he had to find out.
"Iris…what's happening in the world? What is all this…?"
"The same things that have been happening for years…the same things that caused four wars and several other uprisings. And I think you know who wants to continue making use of these injustices…don't you?"
"I will stop him," Zero promised her as the light grew brighter. "I'll find a way…I won't make this mistake again."
"I know…" Iris replied with a smile, hugging him tightly. "And always remember…of all enemies on earth…you're the only one he fears."
Zero took the comment with a smile, kissing her once and forcing himself to step away. "The attack wasn't set for me."
"No," she agreed. "Your friends will tell you everything that has happened."
He nodded, looking her over one last time. Then he turned and left the haunting chamber behind him, feeling his senses adapting to the conscious world.
Behind him, Iris let out a worried sigh. A large shadow passed over the altar behind her, and a male figure stepped forward, laying a heavy hand on her shoulder. "You're sure about this…?"
Iris's head fell slightly. "It's the only way."
"We don't know this is Chartreuse's goal."
"Yes we do." Her eyes narrowed, focusing on the helix. "It's the same thing, over and over…and it has to stop."
"The more we learned about them, Iris, the harder they tried to destroy us. Isn't it a risk to set the Hunters up against them…?"
Her response was a derisive laugh. "If the humans want to attack the only ones keeping them alive, let them doom themselves. We don't exactly owe them any better." Her voice fell, sounding sad once more. "Besides…they're going to do it anyway…it's already started. And I'm not letting them take any more innocents with them."
The second figure considered this for a few seconds.. "You trust him?" he finally asked, very quietly, as the light at the entrance of the chamber faded.
Iris closed her eyes, redirecting them at Zero's exit. Then she answered…in a tone of voice that left no doubt.
00563S: It's blocked. They're all blocked! The only thing left is this flight.
00563R: You're just standing there?
00563S: Well what the hell do you expect us to do, Caliph? The Hunters are everywhere and they're pissed!
00563R: I don't doubt that they are. Listen to me, Daedalus, you're just one of many travelers being inconvenienced today. That's all there is to it, and that's all the Hunters have to—
00563S: That's really fucking easy for you to say, sitting up in fucking Montana in your fucking fortification! You sent us to do a job, and then our getaway breaks down? What the shit is this?
00563R: Calm down. No one has harassed you yet, have they?
00563S: No but if this isn't tempting fate I don't know what is. A crew from Tokyo is showing up, I heard on the news. Cruz's arm got busted up back there. That's a mark!
00563R: Stay calm, goddamn it. If you make a strange move now the game is over.
00563S: Thanks for the pep talk, asshole. If this is what you call a mission, then you can just get yourself a new hitman!
00563R: Don't overvalue yourself, Daedalus. Just get the hell out of there.
00563S: I'd love to. I'll give you a ring when that happens. I hear hell's mighty cold that time of year.
00563R: Just get the hell back here before it's too late.
"Yahtzee!" Kevin Seitz declared, making about twelve copies of the intercepted communication. "Did you trace it?"
"Rocky Mountain Airfield, other side of Denver," replied Volkado, a red-haired Reploid involved with upper level Intel work. "They should still be there."
"Transmitting coordinates to our guys," said the blue-haired Kalisto. "Patch me through to Commanders Moor and Damia!"
"What's going on?" Caligula asked, rushing over.
"Our blue Reploid is named Daedalus, our wounded Reploid is named Cruz," Seitz said, unable to hide a devious grin. "They're at a small airfield in Denver, still waiting on a delayed escape flight, and Damia should be waiting for a go-order right about now."
"Consider it given," Caligula said. The Invisible Men reacted as though it was a command direct from Signas, which it usually was. "Kevin, how the hell did we do that?"
"Technology is a beautiful thing, boss. We searched for messages using the same frequency as the one we got in the chopped arm at the diner and found one at the airfield. It's to a fellow named Caliph, who appears to have a base in Montana."
"Which is where that first fateful message came from," Caligula finished, a smile creeping onto his features. "She knows to catch them, not kill them, right?"
"Remember who you're dealing with," Seitz reminded him. "Damia knows what she's doing."
"Unit 8 is moving," Kalisto announced. "Moor is taking troops to surround the airfield."
"Good." Caligula tried to imagine the look on Mr. Daedalus's face when Damia cornered him. This one's for you, Hawkins, the chief thought, turning back to Kalisto. "I want constant communication. Someone call Signas, if you haven't already…he's gonna want to see this."
Vulcan opened his eyes cautiously. He still dared to hope that this time he'd be home at the HQ, where someone could tell him what in the world was happening to him. This time, he told himself, would be the time when everything started making sense.
Yeah, right.
He was in a depressed area, surrounded on all sides by debris. In the distance he could see highways under fire as distant combatants continued their struggle. "Megacity 5," he said aloud, standing slowly. He was pleased to find that his lightsaber was both lying next to him and still in working condition. "But if that's where I am, then this place is…"
He felt the shudder begin between his shoulders, shooting down his spine and throwing him back to his knees. Yes…yes it was all here…the exact same place where two years ago he'd…
"Aaargh!" Vulcan cried out, clutching at his chest. What was this? Pain? What was happening to him? It came suddenly and without warning, a cold fire burning in his throat down to his lungs…a terribly foreign feeling, like something was inside of him that shouldn't be there.
Then it came—the voice.
It was at once extremely familiar but entirely foreign…a much stronger, much more resonant version of a hated voice. It penetrated Vulcan's pain, giving him an anchor to engrain in the ethereal environment before the pain consumed him.
"Maverick Hunter Vulcan. Enjoying the view?"
Vulcan felt the pain subside. Taking the opportunity he scrambled to his feet, activating his beam saber and following the sound of the voice to its origin…and just as expected, the man was there, perched on top of a disabled but still quite menacing tank.
"Tetra!"
Indeed, it was the man Vulcan had faced here two years ago. He sat with his back to Vulcan, and he appeared to be fixing something though Vulcan couldn't quite see what it was. A rich laugh escaped the shabby Reploid's lips, a laugh that rooted Vulcan in place with indecision even though his mind screamed for vengeance.
"Yes, yes I believe that is what you called this man," the tanker agreed cheerfully, still not looking at Vulcan but still apparently giving the Hunter his full attention. "It only makes sense that this is your perception of me…"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Vulcan asked acidly, steadying his hands on his sword. "Come down here and face me, you bastard! This time…this time I won't let you…"
"Let me what?" Tetra asked calmly. "Let me terrify you? Scar you? Humiliate you?" The mirth in his voice was poison. "Vulcan, my boy, you have come very far since this day, two years ago. You are a warrior."
"I am a Maverick Hunter," Vulcan said steely. "And I don't know what this is about…or who you actually are…but I'm sick of this already! Why don't you just get on with it so we can get this over with?"
"Excellent. I like a man who can cut to the chase. Geode was right about you, Vulcan. You have many of the qualities we're looking for."
"You some kind of recruiter?"
Tetra chuckled. "Funny you should say that…"
The Hunter wondered if he should be taking any kind of precautions. Presumably he could rush around the side of the tank and confront his enemy directly but…but something kept him here, something he couldn't yet explain. "The Egyptian weirdo spoke of a 'horseman'. That's you, isn't it?" There was no answer—Tetra just kept on working. "I'm not interested in what you have to offer…I'm happy with my life. I'm not helping you start a war…or…whatever it is you do. So just…just screw off, all right?"
There was a very long silence after this. Even when Tetra responded all he did was twitch his shoulders in merry laughter for a while. "You are a tense child, Vulcan," he said, in between guffaws. "But that is expected, I suppose, from one on the brink of death."
"Death…?" The word stopped Vulcan cold. "What…what are you talking about?"
Tetra kept on chuckling. "You don't remember, do you? Poor boy…it will come as a shock. Are you sure you want to know?"
"Spit it out, you smug son of a bitch!" Vulcan spat, clenching his teeth and trying to calm down.
"I'd watch your mouth, Vulcan," Tetra warned, even as the wind picked up. "After all…I'm the one about to save you from the gold plague."
Before Vulcan could ask what that was, he noticed the gold dust in the wind blowing by. "This…what's this?" He started to turn back to Tetra, but something struck him hard and threw him back to the ground. Crying out, Vulcan scrambled to collect the beam saber that rolled from his fingertips, but he stopped cold when he saw what had hit him—or, more precisely, who.
"Hawkins!"
Vulcan could say no more than the name. His friend, still dressed in his running garb, his black hair flying free, entered the gold air as he turned his head towards his underling. "Vulcan? Vulcan, are you…"
No more words left his mouth. Instead his hands came suddenly to his throat and he staggered, quickly falling to his knees as though struck in the stomach. Vulcan watched his friend begin gagging on blood in a matter of seconds; saw the dark blotches appear on his arms; saw the eyes widen and the mouth fly open to release a horrendous shriek of pain. The cry punched a hole through Vulcan's very soul. It was the sound of a man wallowing in his complete and utter destruction, a man experiencing a pain that defied definition or comparison. Hawkins flopped onto his back like a fish out of water, flailing and clawing at the dusty ground. His cries became short, involuntary bursts of noise that reminded Vulcan of a dying animal more than a wounded Reploid. And his eyes…
…In those eyes Vulcan saw the extinguishing of a spirit.
"Oh, my god," the silver Hunter whispered, even as his own pain returned. "Hawkins, what…no…no!" He screamed once in anguish, and again in rage, forcing himself to his feet and waving his weapon at the tank. "Get…get down here, you bastard! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
The air died around them. Tetra stopped laughing. He took whatever he had been working on and raised it to his head, fastening something in place. When he spoke again it was with a voice that blasted Vulcan back and shook the very world the Hunter was trapped in. The sky, already a dull red, pulsed with fire. Tetra stood, turning around very slowly. "Do not mistake me for some pathetic junkyard tanker, Hunter. I am more than anything you have encountered in your young life." And then Vulcan saw it, as the enemy looked at him from atop his perch.
He was wearing Derringer's face.
Tetra sprang from atop the useless tank, somersaulting through the air and landing elegantly in front of Vulcan, who scrambled backwards like a child running from the bogeyman. He fixed the Hunter with eyes of red, peering from Derringer's empty sockets, the leathery mask clinging perfectly to Tetra's visage. He spoke again with a voice that drowned out the thunder of the virtual world he'd created.
"I am Ares. I am War. And you, Vulcan, will become my avatar, or you will join your friend Hawkins in the vast abyss. Your past life has ended…now I offer you a new future."
The enigmatic figure smiled, and to Vulcan's horror, Derringer's lips curled up as well.
"Tell me, Maverick Hunter…what is your decision?"
"So what did he say?" Cruz was asking, trying to hide his badly bandaged arm as much as possible.
"Caliph?" Daedalus bristled. "The son of a bitch has no idea what he's doing. We're getting on this flight, we're going back to base, we're getting paid and we're never bothering with that asshole again."
"We should get in line," Frederick, a bearded human, opined. "They're gonna be calling the flight soon, and I wanna be first in line."
"You said it," Daedalus agreed grumpily, taking up his suitcase. They'd all ditched their weapons long ago, of course, but it would look odd for the five of them to just be boarding a plane without any luggage, so they all had some clothes packed for appearances. With any luck, Daedalus thought, this would be the end. He could go home and give a toast to Captain Greaves. Yes, the sky blue Reploid thought with a sick grin. That was exactly what he'd do when he got home.
He glanced around when the five of them had lined up. They looked fairly casual, decked out in civilian gear to throw off authorities and mixed with about twenty other passengers trying to get home to Montana. Nearby he saw a short young woman walk up to the ticket vendor for his aircab line, but didn't think anything of it. Aside from that he really didn't see anything that worried him.
Maybe, just maybe, he would get away with this after all.
"Commander Moor," the squad leader said, rushing up to the feline Reploid. "Airfield secured. We've posted troops at all exits, and there really aren't all that many exits to worry about."
Moor nodded. "Good thing this is a fairly small airfield. Damia," he said, contacting the Huntress via internal communications. "Things are turning out fine. Do you want help inside?"
There was a brief pause. Then, "You go in, take a small team with you. Keep them invisible until we sound the alarm. We're getting a visual now."
"So they're there?"
"We think so…Nexus spotted a guy with a bandaged arm. I'm taking a closer look."
"All right…Moor out." He glanced to the squad leader who'd just reported. "Take five of them and follow me. This ends now."
"We've got problems!"
"What now?" Dr. Carlton asked, his aching head protesting the additional work.
"It's Vulcan," a nearby doctor was saying. "His systems are accelerating!"
"They're what?" Carlton asked. He was echoed by Zero and Lifesaver, both of whom were active though under slight sedation, and both wondering if they'd just heard correctly.
"Systems and generator function are accelerating," the doctor repeated. "We're finished with the major repairs, but it takes time for the body systems to adjust. Things can't just accelerate like this and be healthy!"
"Stabilize him," Carlton ordered. "Find a way. What's this…?" The doctor frowned, watching Vulcan's mental readings. "By god…it's still happening."
"What's that, sir?"
Carlton pointed. "He's showing signs of consciousness and unconsciousness at the same time…and they're stronger than ever." He stroked his chin with the pointing finger. "Vulcan…what the hell is going on in your little world…?"
"Get…get away from me…!"
Ares laughed, a booming chuckle that made Geode Sphinx's rumbles seem like the rush of waves on a beach. "Vulcan…look at yourself. You're crawling like an animal."
"You killed him like an animal!" Vulcan declared, trying pitifully to stand while gesturing to where Hawkins lay unmoving in horrific rigor mortis. The pain in his chest was growing, and his legs absolutely refused to solidify into steel again, remaining flimsy as jelly. His balance was off. The world was spinning.
"Me?" The self-proclaimed war god shook his head disapprovingly. "You need to calm down, child. Use the intellect you were gifted with. It was a gold gas…Chartreuse killed your friend. Chartreuse has killed you. Yes," Ares added, smiling with Derringer's face once more. "All that has kept your body functioning until now is my influence. Once I leave…well, who knows how long it will take? Or how painful it will be? Are you sure you want to leave Hawkins unavenged? Leave Rykov alone with his sorrows as his two best friends pass from life? And Krysta…dear Krysta…whatever will she do without you? You have seen it, haven't you? The look in her eyes, whenever you are alone…?"
"Leave her out of this," Vulcan said, finding strength in recollection of his friends. This time he succeeded in standing, looking at Ares with new determination. Then he did indeed use the intellect he'd been gifted with. It was a realization that came suddenly, but it was correct and he knew it. "You haven't been watching me…I'm just a dying Maverick Hunter, and you want a spy…! You want me to join you so I can lead my friends to their deaths!"
"No, Vulcan," Ares replied, almost sadly. "I want you to take part in eternity. I want you to help us usher the next race of Reploids into the world…a world that owes us far more than you could ever begin to imagine." He extended a hand to the Hunter. "Come with me now, Vulcan. Help make the future Reploids were meant to have. Help us take back what the humans have stolen from us." The fierce red eyes behind the mask appeared to almost plead with Vulcan. "Make a world your friends can be proud of."
Vulcan wanted to tell him to screw off, and that Sigma had said the exact same things and turned out to be a major quack. He wanted to say so many things, but there it was before him…a prospect of death larger than any he'd yet experienced. If he said no…if he refused this offer…
But then he looked at Hawkins, and his fears evaporated. The dead Hunter's open eyes pierced Vulcan's apprehensions and called to memory every lesson in loyalty his friend had ever taught him. When he looked back at Ares he saw not life, but something even worse than death. The world Ares wanted was not one his friends would be proud of…that world was the one Vulcan had been building as a Hunter. All manner of emotions caught him at once and he snapped forward, bringing his saber towards Ares's outstretched arm with a hateful cry.
The plea in the red eyes flickered and died. Ares drew back his arm with impossible speed, letting Vulcan pass him by and smashing a fist in between the Hunter's shoulder blades. Vulcan cried out as communication between his upper and lower halves short-circuited slightly. He stumbled and fell hard…into something very wet.
Revulsion shot through the silver Hunter's body, catching his breath in his throat. He knew exactly what—or more precisely, who—he had fallen in. It was happening again…and just like last time he was paralyzed, completely unable to take action as the tanker's hated form stepped forward, an assault rifle in his hands.
"I think this is the right model, isn't it?" Ares was asking almost conversationally, gesturing to the rifle. "You can tell, can't you? You've seen it often enough in your nightmares."
Vulcan couldn't choke out a reply as Ares stepped up next to him and loaded the weapon nonchalantly. He just laid there, the pain in his chest killing him, his lightsaber still clutched in his left fist but useless in this present situation.
"I do not take well to those foolish enough to reject me," Ares said icily. "But make no mistake. I did not spend this time and effort to recruit you to just walk away now. Your cooperation is helpful…but not necessary. I will have my spy. You will make war, Vulcan, and you will lead your friends to their deaths, as you so eloquently put it."
Ares-Tetra lowered the muzzle of the weapon at Vulcan's chest. "Welcome to the next frontier, child. The last war begins now!"
"Can I help you, ma'am?"
"Yes," Damia replied, gazing intently at the flight schedule behind the attendant. "Do you have any tickets left for the Helena flight?"
"I can check," the attendant replied cautiously, punching in a few numbers on his keyboard. "But we've been pretty backed up all day. Hunters, and all that."
"Yeah, tell me about it," she replied with an understanding smile. While he worked she turned her head and caught a glimpse of Cruz and who she imagined was Daedalus. The glimpse was all she needed. She turned her head the other way with a casual sigh, communicating internally. "Castle, you're in position?"
"Ready and waiting, chief. We've got weapons set for stun and Nexus will take care of anyone who gets away. Moor's waiting, just in case."
"Good…try not to hit any civilians, all right?"
"Hey, who do you think you're talking to?"
Damia killed communications and smiled at the apologetic attendant. "That's all right. Thanks anyway." She stepped away from the booth, scanning the room as casually as she knew how, focusing briefly on the targets. They were in a good position. She only saw one or two possible escape routes from here and there weren't many civilians around them. She didn't quite know which humans were the right ones, but she figured she'd be able to tell by their reactions to this…and she only had one chance at this.
Damia sent a go-order to Castle and looked right at the target group. In a voice that rose clear above the regular din of the airfield, she called out, "Daedalus!"
The response was involuntary—Daedalus's head snapped towards the voice like a sprung mousetrap, betraying his identity instantly. Cruz blinked twice, processing what had just happened, while two nearby humans began to look nervous. The third, Frederick, was already looking for an escape.
A streak of crackling blue energies from Deluge hit Cruz in the chest, stunning him cold. A flash of white light erupted around Damia, and when it faded away she was clad in her sparkling blue and gold armor. "Everyone get away!" she shouted as she rushed towards the targets, drawing a laser pistol and shooing the civilians. She brought up the weapon and shot a stunning blast at a human near Cruz who looked guilty. She really hoped she had shot the right person. Public relations were bad enough as things were.
Frederick had broken away from the pack and was racing down a side hallway. He may have gotten away with it if Nexus hadn't seen him make a break for it. A portal appeared at the far end of the hallway and Nexus rushed out, rushing straight for the human. Frederick skidded to a frantic halt and tried to run back the other way but the purple Huntress brought him down in an easy tackle.
Castle, Acrystos and the others had apprehended Cruz and the other two humans, but in a sudden burst of light Daedalus donned his own armor. It wasn't the armor that defied the Hunters, but the fact that Daedalus had boosters on his back—the Serpent operative shot through the air over the Hunters' heads, darting down the aircab terminal. Damia raced after him with Castle close behind.
Nexus reappeared with the subdued Frederick as Dantz and Deluge attempted crowd control. Acrystos fired off a communication to Moor, who appeared with his team to reassure the crowds and keep order. As far as Acrystos could see there were no civilian casualties, which was an unbelievable plus to an otherwise negative day. "All right, let's get this place under control—"
People were screaming again. It wasn't hard to see why. Something split the air near the terminal…two claws, it seemed…claws that pulled apart the sliced air as though they were ripping a hole in reality. Eventually the portal was big enough for someone to pass through, and pass they did—a mantis class Reploid composed almost entirely out of extremely chrome armor with large, flickering red eyes. It landed hard on the floor, scattering nearby civilians. As the portal closed above it, the Reploid turned to fix Acrystos with a curious stare. Then a laugh resonated within its throat and thrusters in its wing pods flared to life, carrying it up and down the terminal after Daedalus and the Hunters.
"Shit!" Acrystos exclaimed, beckoning to Dantz. "Come on! This isn't gonna be good!"
"We all made mistakes that day. None of us expected to see a tank roll up out of nowhere. We all froze. We all panicked."
Vulcan's mind recalled the words…Hawkins's last real lesson. His eyes registered the fiend above him, smiling down as he prepared to corrupt a dying man's soul.
"Next time…? That's up to you. It's up to all of us, Vulcan, to defend our friends. 'Cause I don't care what anyone else tells you, your friends are all you got in this world…"
The image of Hawkins's death replayed in his mind…that undignified, horrendous passing of a good friend and leader…
"If anyone dares to come after your friends, you gotta send them to Hell so fast even Satan's surprised to see 'em. Next time someone who looks like Tetra points a gun, what are you gonna do? Stand there and stare?"
The muzzle of the weapon flashed white. Vulcan's pain magnified as he registered hits in the chest. His mouth flew open and he screamed at the icy feeling that coursed throughout his torso.
"What are you gonna do…?"
Ares had never seen anything remotely like it. Even as he pulled the trigger, even as he released what should have been the killing shots into his prey, Vulcan stood up, rising through the bullets with a mighty cry of both pain and fury. The warlord's eyes widened as in one fluid motion Vulcan came to his feet and slashed his saber clear through his enemy's torso. Black blood erupted from Ares's assumed body, an arm hanging limply at his side, the rifle clattering uselessly to the ground. Vulcan's war cry doubled in intensity as he lashed the blade across Ares's chest, spinning the warlord through the air and onto the ground very unceremoniously.
"Go to hell," Vulcan seethed, seemingly unconscious of his own badly damaged torso. "Go to hell!"
Ares stared up at the silver Hunter, more surprised than he may ever have been. A curtain of red energies flowed over his stricken form, though his voice was still strong. "So be it…"
The virtual world began to lose its form. Vulcan paid no mind to the blurring ethereal reality around him, focusing solely on the warlord. The energies surrounding Ares flared up and dissolved Tetra's body, and after a blinding red flash nothing remained. Derringer's face fell to the earth, while above the battlefield, in the red sky, Vulcan heard his enemy's voice one last time. "You're strong, Hunter…but one day…I shall personally enjoy…watching you die…!"
Bring it on, Vulcan tried to say, but he could not speak. He gasped in shock and immense pain as his damage registered. He slumped to his knees, and then fell flat on his back, coughing badly and struggling to breathe. His head lolled to the right, and he saw Derringer's face melting into the earth. Good…rest in peace, old friend…he thought, feeling curiously at peace himself despite the pain. The world continued to fade before him, becoming brighter and brighter until finally he had to shut his eyes, still breathing in staccato bursts but suddenly unable to move his arms. "Keep him stabilized!" he heard someone shout. "We've almost got it!" came the reply. Familiar voices, he thought, as he felt someone inject something into his arm. The sense of peace was heightened, and Vulcan felt his mind drifting back into a dreaming state, but he wasn't all that afraid of what might be waiting for him. Tetra would no longer haunt his nightmares. He'd shown that son of a bitch who was in charge of his life.
And you're next, war god…bring it on. Bring it on!
The red laser from Daedalus's cannon tore a hole in the dark terminal wall, inspiring Damia to get a move on. She fired twice at Daedalus, nicking him on the foot as he rounded the corner to the closed-off aircab. "Disarm!" Damia shouted, hearing Castle approach behind her. "You're in enough trouble as it is!"
She thought she might have heard Acrystos shouting something behind her, but whatever it was it registered far too late—a blisteringly cold beam of blue energies flew in between her and Castle, slamming both of them against the walls of the thin corridor and dropping their stiffened bodies to the floor. The freezing energy all but encased Daedalus, trapping his legs and one arm in a cage of ice. The operative fell hard to the floor as well, staring up at the approaching menace with eyes widening in horror.
"No…Mantos?"
Damia sucked in a sharp breath as the Reploid passed her by, apparently disinterested in the Hunters behind him. "Thy identity unveiled," he said, his voice a cold little rhyme, "thy mission failed."
Daedalus opened his mouth to protest but words never left his throat, largely due to the fact that he ceased to have one. Mantos lashed bladed claw across the cornered operative's neck, separating head from body and kicking the lower half away with a powerful clawed chrome foot. "Oh, my god…" Castle breathed, working his joints back into action. He rushed over to help Damia do the same, even as Acrystos, Dantz and some others approached from behind.
The mantis skewered Daedalus's head like an olive on a toothpick, spreading his mandibles in a twisted insectoid grin. "His control chip you require to quench your vengeful fire," he said knowingly, his eyes twinkling. As he spoke a surge of blue energies washed over the severed head, freezing it in a ball of ice.
"Who the hell are you?" Damia demanded, switching her weapon to kill and leveling it at the enemy's face.
"Mantos is my name, Polar Mantos, one and same!" He even sketched a little bow. "You…Hunters dear, before me here, are the ones known as the Unit 8?" He chuckled lightly. "Give it time, new friends of mine…someday soon we'll have our date."
At that he smashed Daedalus's frozen head on the floor, where it fragmented like a grenade. Damia instinctively fired her weapon, but Mantos had already surrounded himself with spiraling blue rings of energy that shredded a hole in the ceiling of the terminal. The rings closed together, forming a pillar of blue light around the Reploid, and when it thinned and vanished Mantos was gone with it.
"Damn it!" Damia raged, kicking the nearest shard of Daedalus's skull. "What else happened back there?"
"Nothing," Acrystos said forcefully. "We've got the others in custody. It's just…"
"Yeah," Damia agreed grouchily, leading the party back to the lobby. "It would be nice to have taken Daedalus. How are the civilians?"
"Doing fine," Acrystos responded, patching into Nexus to make sure.
"Caligula," Damia said, patching into her own contact. "Apprehended four out of five, but we lost the leader. Yeah, there was a complication…"
"…and apparently this mantis executed Daedalus before Damia had a chance to bring him into custody," Caligula was saying, standing on the balcony overhanging the Zen garden.
Signas exhaled slowly, enjoying the comforts of his own quarters. He'd specifically chosen a room with a view. It helped him collect his thoughts. "An agent of Chartreuse, we think?"
"Probably an 'insurance' agent," Caligula agreed. "He was probably tasked with neutralizing any of the global assassins that we got our hands on."
"Polar Mantos," Signas repeated the name, turning it over on his tongue. "Sounds like a Maverick."
"If only it were that easy to identify them," Caligula grumped. "We turned the humans over to the Army after a few questions, and Moor will take care of interrogating Cruz."
"You trust him?"
"Yeah. Greaves was a friend of his. He'll do a job."
"All right." Signas allowed himself the first yawn of the day. "Wow."
"You said it, sir."
"Vulcan is all right?"
"He'll pull through. I'm stopping by the infirmary in a minute to get the final results on the Nexnecis counter serum. Zero and Lifesaver will be okay in a day or two. It'll take Vulcan longer, but he'll recover."
"That's good news." Signas let his eyes drift to the distant forest. Zegmann had left three containment machines there to keep guard and continue the decontamination of the area. It seemed to him like he'd never seen a more sinister forest. "It's been two years since I've been to Hunter's funeral."
Caligula nodded slightly. "Usually the Reploids don't want them."
"Cain wants them. He'll be returning in time for this one, I think."
The Intel chief followed his boss's gaze to the forest, shaking his head. "It could have been worse."
"It could have been a nuke," Signas agreed. "This can't happen again." He glanced to the shorter man. "You know what I'm telling you?"
Caligula exhaled slowly. "You're sure you don't want to talk to X about it first?"
"Without security we don't have a chance. Do what you need to do, Cal."
"Thank you, sir." He paused. "Do you need anything?"
"Yeah," Signas said, redirecting his eyes at the sky. "A time machine."
Caligula nodded almost imperceptibly and left. Signas continued staring at the stars, picturing one of them as his newfound archrival. "All right, you son of a bitch…you want a war?
"Well, you just got one."
"Turns out the quarantine was unnecessary," X was saying, seated next to the bed. "Nexnecis doesn't travel well from person to person."
"Thank goodness for small miracles," Zero muttered, seated half-upright in his bed. His throat was still cold, but there wasn't much pain to speak of. According to Carlton he'd be back in action in just a day. "So tell me, my friend…what kind of person is Wildcard Azarias?"
"Much less impressive than the name makes him sound," X growled. "He's just a punk, Zero. An asshole punk who got his rocks off hurting kids. Virgil was right, though…one look at my mighty physique and Azarias sang like a canary."
"You're a regular juggernaut, X," Zero said with a straight face. "You think we have enough to pinpoint a base?"
"Several bases. Azarais was a big fish in that organization, remember? Virgil will take care of the rest. Virgil…there's the guy you oughta talk to, Zero. He's even more impressive than the name can tell."
"I'm sure I'll run across him someday." Zero coughed lightly. "Damn…what a day."
"Tell me about it."
"How's Alia holding up?"
X blinked. "She's fine, I suppose…a little shook up, but they all were, I think."
Zero let it go at that. "And Archer?"
X closed his eyes. "Better now that he knows Vulcan's not going to die on him, but still…Hawkins was his best friend. Well, Hawkins and Mason anyway. Mason's been a big help today."
"I bet."
The infirmary was dim. Things had settled down considerably. Carlton and the other Reploid doctors had been cured of any remaining Nexnecis, and the environment had been declared safe enough for public access. Zero saw Caligula enter and head for Lifesaver, who was moving around slowly but surely. Finally the blond Hunter turned to his own best friend and asked the question that had been eating at him for the last three hours. "X…you wouldn't hesitate to kill a Maverick to save someone, right?"
X raised an eyebrow "If there was no other way, sure, I guess. Where did this come from?"
"What if it wasn't a Maverick?"
"You mean a human…?" This prompted a serious frown. "Zero…are you sure you want to be—"
"Gold Serpent's ranks are composed of a lot of humans, X. Three humans were involved in the Denver attacks. One of these days we're going to have to make that decision."
X stared at the floor, turning the question over in his mind. "I honestly don't know, Zero. I don't know."
Zero closed his eyes and nodded with relief, of all things. "Neither do I."
X let the silence carry on another minute before standing. "I've got a few more things to do tonight…you all right?"
"'Course I am, I'm Zero, dammit."
The tone was so inconsistent with the moment that X had to laugh. "Yeah, I suppose you are. Don't fall out of bed."
"Just make sure there's coffee tomorrow morning, or I'll put you in a gurney!"
At the other end of the infirmary, Vulcan lay quietly. Rykov and Alec had left to get some food, Alec for biological reasons and Rykov because he needed something to shred. Krysta, however, remained next to him, clutching his hand in hers and sitting with him quietly. She appeared to have dozed off against the bed frame. Vulcan could hardly blame her. He wasn't much for conversation at the moment.
He kept his eyes leveled at her peaceful face. He could still make out the lines where tears had flown down her cheeks, and if he'd had the strength he'd have involuntarily reached up to brush them away. The ends of her icy blue hair fell onto his shoulder, and even in a light slumber she kept her hand firmly pressed to his.
"You've seen it, haven't you? The look in her eyes, whenever you are alone…?"
Ares's words echoed in his mind, and he tried to picture her blue eyes when she'd first came in to see him. She'd been so happy, so relieved…and so sedated. She'd said everything with her eyes, her only physical actions being to embrace him awkwardly and kiss his cheek.
Vulcan looked past the obvious question about Krysta and focused on another one: was she in danger? Was she, or Rykov, or Alec or any other of his friends in danger? Surely Chartreuse wanted them all dead, but whoever this Ares was he had some kind of greater power than an ordinary Reploid. Was something about to happen? And would he be able to protect his friends when it did?
Guided by some unknown force, he redirected his gaze towards the front of the room, where X was exiting. He saw Lifesaver, and beyond him…Caligula.
Vulcan's eyes met those of the intelligence chief and time froze around them. Vulcan did not consciously know what he conveyed in his gaze, but the message burning within him evidently made itself clear. Caligula inclined his head so slightly that it was barely noticeable, but Vulcan saw it nonetheless.
His eyes returned to Krysta, and he tightened his grip on her hand. He would protect her. He would protect all of them. He would no longer stand and stare when his enemies came for him…he would send them to hell so fast Satan would be surprised to see them.
He'd help make the world his friends could be proud of…one way or another.