Yeah, um . . . I could trot out any number of excuses from school, to boredom, to losing the will to write for my heinous neglect of this fic. But I won't. No apologies, it wouldn't be worth it. Instead, I give you what you came here for. Chapter nine, in its entirety, complete after eight months of screwing around.
I do not own Zoids, nor the title of this chapter (which was lifted from End of Evangelion).
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I'll Pity You When You're Gone----------------------------------
Nine: Love Is Destructive----------------------------------
"Watch out for the wall, Van."
Only just managing to avoid walking smack into the wall, Van shook his head a bit and turned to Karl.
"Thanks . . . I guess I'm still pretty out of it."
"From the battle? I doubt it." He caught sight of the Imperial smirking at him. "Fiona told me about the drugs." Groaning, he pushed his hair back again as he walked down the hall.
"She's so dramatic. They were painkillers. So what if they helped me sleep?"
"I'm not attacking you Van. I've taken them myself." Van looked at Karl in surprise.
"You? But you don't seem the type to like dulling your senses." Karl shrugged a bit and returned his attention to the halls ahead.
"I don't. But sometimes you just need to . . . you know?"
"I do," Van said earnestly. Boy, do I ever, he thought to himself. What with everything that's been going on lately, I'm lucky I didn't go raving mad. "Did you see Thomas last night? Or, rather this morning?"
"Hm?" The older Schubaltz came out of a temporary lapse of thought. "Oh, yes, I did. He was working again."
"Figures. What on?"
"I haven't got the slightest idea." Karl stopped in front of the briefing room and grinned at Van. "I do know it was circular."
"That narrows it down a lot," grumbled Van, pushing through the door. The briefing room was a fairly non-descript space, not much different from many other rooms in Redstone. However, a large table designed to seat thirty people at maximum took up the main floor area. On days which required a mass gathering of soldiers, officials and other assorted people, it could get pretty loud and confusing in there. Redstone had held one of those types of meetings early that morning, due to the attack from the night before. It had been a fairly subdued one though seeing as all that had needed to be discussed was the cumulative damage and how much of the Empire's money would be used to repair the base. It had amounted to quite a lot.
Fiona and Thomas were sitting at the far end of the table, talking quietly when Van and Karl came in. They broke off their conversation and Fiona waved them over. Van gratefully sank into the chair next to Fiona and took up the cup of coffee she had waiting for him.
"Nice to see you in the land of the living Van," she said, obviously still a bit annoyed about the whole drug business. Seeing as he was in the middle of drinking his coffee, he just opened one eye and waved her sarcasm off with his free hand.
"Come on now, not this early in the morning," said Karl. He idly turned his own cup but didn't drink from it. "We need to talk about this."
"We pretty much did in the other meeting though," Thomas mused, seeming to mentally tick off what had been discussed. "It was all the information on the attack that we had, along with casualties and damage sustained."
"Stuff we know, of course," Van said thoughtfully. "Was there anything important that I missed?" Van had not been in the meeting; he had been sleeping like the dead and enjoying every minute of it.
"Hm, well . . . they said that a number of Zoids had been sabotaged. Those won't be up or running for a few days at least, especially seeing as repairs to the base itself take first priority. Also, the damage done to the power supply will take precedence over everything else. They've restored proper power to the hospital building at least."
He seems so normal, Van thought, watching Thomas. Like nothing ever happened; no battle, no fight with me, no finding Raven in a store cupboard . . . He mentally winced. When would he ever get over the idea of Raven being around again, dead in every way but one? Not ever, he supposed. It was something he had never prepared himself for.
"The team I assembled before I left Desert Heights should be here within the hour," Karl added, checking his watch. "They're traveling with Gustavs, so they would have taken much longer than I did in the Command Wolf."
"Yes . . ." Van commented vaguely. Again, the enigma of the Schubaltz brothers was taunting him. Karl he thought he could understand, to some degree at least. Thomas he was entirely unsure of; he had no idea what the man might do in some situations, and nor did he think anymore that he could judge his personality. The brothers' bond was the thing most confusing to him. Karl was definitely taking on the older brother role. It didn't matter that Karl had explained his early arrival as his duty to the Empire, Van knew better than that. He had torn across the desert to get to Thomas. But there was something else. Something about the way Karl treated Thomas, something very hard to grasp. He had seen a part of it after the incident with Reese, and no doubt it had happened again last night when Karl went to find his brother. Yet Van knew that it was an aspect of themselves that he would never, ever be privy to. And that was fine. There were some things that you just did not tell everyone. He himself was testament to that.
"In any case, we'll need to stay sharp." Fiona's voice broke into Van's thoughts and he tried to pay attention again. "Hiltz proved last night that he's out to get something, and he's not beyond using nasty tactics to get it. He's also smart; we can't deny that. No one's mounted a human invasion in years, not since Zoids came into full military use. There hasn't been any point. But Hiltz saw a way to exploit that fact."
"True. He might have other strange methods up his sleeves as well." Thomas gazed out the window towards the Zoid runway. Three Gunsnipers and a Dark Horn were out for repairs, with one of the Gunsnipers being hardly recognizable as such beyond the long tail gun. "But he obviously needs to mess with the Zoids before he can do much. His force has taken a few beatings and losses recently."
Van blinked at that, suddenly noticing something. "Hey, Thomas. When did you take the bandage off?" Thomas looked over in mild surprise.
"Last night. I think I wore it longer than I should have. Just forgot it was there, I suppose."
"You look much better without it."
"Uh, thanks . . . I think."
"So then," Van said, drumming his fingers on the table. "I guess there isn't much to do but wait."
"Seems that way," sighed Karl. They were silent for a while, each pondering the tenuous peace that hung over the base. Karl grunted as he stood up. "I hate inaction."
---
The air around Redstone was tense with anxiety all day, expecting retaliation. Rubble was cleared, rough wooden scaffolds erected, and power boards replaced where possible. No attack came. Slow repairs were made to the destroyed buildings, and even slower to the Zoids. The equipment on base for mechanical engineering and Zoids maintenance had been destroyed in the attack, and so they had to make do with the meager supplies that Karl's team had brought for the time being.
First to become fully operational again was the hospital wing. Thankfully it had not been specifically targeted for destruction; rather, they had disabled the parts of it that were needed most. Spare generators and power cords were found and brought in from Desert Heights. Raven was shifted from the tents to the same room he had been in, and through the use of the accelerated healing machines his gunshot wounds were healed. Still he was unresponsive to most people, but the doctor noted that he was eating better than the report from Doctor Sharlen had indicated.
Though she had looked for him, Fiona could not find Shadow anywhere on the base after the first morning he'd been found. There had been no reports of him beyond that, and so she took that to mean that the organoid had taken off again. It bothered her slightly but the fact that Shadow had been rarely seen before the attack seemed to show that he roamed far, and was not often very close to Raven. She had no doubt though that the organoid would reappear in a flash should any danger make itself known.
On the third day after the attack, a transmission came in from another Imperial base. It was a distress signal, and an hour after they had received it another call came in requesting aid from any nearby bases. They had been assaulted by armed forces on foot: Hiltz's forces. Redstone was in no position to help and, much to the chagrin of Van, could only stand by. Within the first week of the attack, another five were reported, all in Imperial territory. All of the bases were hit in the same manner as Redstone with no member of Hiltz's force being apprehended for questioning. A huge number of Zoids, rising into the hundreds became useless or compromised. The Imperial army was growing angrier at the lack of retaliation being made against Hiltz. Reports came in from Gaigalos of an attempt at assembling a task force to seek out and destroy Hiltz and his men, but nothing conclusive could be done for the present. All available Zoids within a hundred mile radius of the affected bases were called in to the rebuilding effort.
Van and Karl grew more restless as they entered the second week. Both of their Zoids, the Command Wolf and the Liger were fully operational. Karl often went on wide-ranging scouts into the dead lands around Redstone, but came back each time empty handed. Van on the other hand was having trouble enough with just piloting the Liger. Though he had modified the controls to accept one-handed piloting, it was proving much harder than he'd thought to actually pilot. He had grown so accustomed to the dual joystick configuration that having to rely on just one was a serious setback for him. He spent most of his spare time coming to grips with it, doing slow trial runs around the base, with the occasional aid of Zeke for firing. Shooting and piloting simultaneously just could not be done anymore.
With the Di Bison in a worse state than any other Zoid on the base, there was little for Thomas to do with it. The parts needed to fix it were now in high demand, and were more readily available in the north. Beyond the removal of melted panels and circuitry, ready for replacements, nothing could be done at present. He dedicated his time to assisting the communications staff, becoming the man to call when the computers broke down, as they often did under the large amount of stress they were placed under from incoming distress signals and complex restructuring of the telephone lines around the base. Van and Fiona often came with him to lunch breaks, but for the most part he stayed alone. Karl observed Thomas from a distance, watching for signs that only he would be able to spot. With his duties as a commanding officer, he rarely got the chance to see Thomas as it was; his old concerns were beginning to be rekindled, but were yet to become a flame.
Throughout it all, Raven waited. He didn't know what for, but he knew that he was waiting. Ever since he had woken up, he had felt a slight tug at the back of his mind, within the haze of his thoughts: something was going to happen, and he would be involved. For now, he merely allowed the medical staff to do their work. The girl visited him a few times, but he paid little attention. He just watched, and waited.
And so it was that the tenth day since Hiltz's assault came.
---
Sighing, the soldier arched his back in a stretch before resettling against the wall. The white heat of the sun beat down upon Meine Base, making the air sizzle and waver. Despite the endless stream of distress calls and reports of attacks upon other nearby Imperial bases, and being told over and over again that they needed to be on high alert, he just could not find the motivation to stay utterly focused. It was the heat. The little strip of shade he'd managed to score off his friend for this watch did nothing against the temperature; a couple of degrees cooler, if that. And what with all the haze in the air, it was difficult to see anything properly.
Still he continued to scan the scorched yellow horizon for anything approaching. His shift would be over soon, and then he would be able to get a drink. Preferably with alcohol.
"Hey, Turner," came a voice from his left. Turner looked to find another soldier approaching.
"Taking my place now, Andy?"
"Yeah, and you know I'm not happy about it," Andy grumbled, rearranging the rifle on his back. "It must be a hundred degrees out here!"
"Actually, my watch says it's 43 degrees but that's enough for me as it is." Pulling back from the wall, he gave Andy a mock-salute. "Man your post with honour, soldier."
"Oh shut it, Turner, you know I have a headache."
"Communing with the bottle again last night then?"
"Don't say that!" hissed Andy, glancing around. "If that snitch Jones walked around the corner . . ."
"You'd be very, very unlucky indeed."
"What with how my luck's been lately, I wouldn't be surprised." Turner was about to reply when he heard something. A distinct whistling sound. He looked at Andy in confusion mere seconds before all hell broke loose.
The wall they were standing against exploded violently, shattering into pieces that were hurled through the sky and into the ground. Flinging themselves to the ground they covered their heads as concrete and dust rained down. "What in fucking hell!" shouted Turner, scrambling up from the rubble to his feet. Just then another high-pitched whistling sound went overhead and another explosion rocked the ground. "It's bombs!" cried Andy as he followed a swift black blur across the sky. A split second later the building across to their left burst asunder, chunks hailing across the tarmac.
Skirting out of the way of the falling rubble Turner's ears were assaulted by a sudden cacophony of whistling, explosions and gunfire. Looking around wildly he saw the source of the gunshots. A large group of men had appeared unexpectedly ahead of them, dressed in uniforms of a sandy colour. They swept in so fast that they barely had time to react. Getting a hold of his wits faster than Turner, Andy pulled him sideways into a wall as they blitzed past, apparently not noticing them. As he wondered how they could have missed him Turner watched them running towards one of the roads. They had nearly reached it when their ranks were pierced by others, stark against their light clothes in their grey uniforms. The Imperials in the base had been their target!
"Come on!" shouted Andy, dashing off with rifle raised towards the fray. Turner belted after him, unhooking his own gun as he ran. Without warning another explosion demolished a building sending wall and stone and sand across his path. He staggered back quickly, cut off from Andy and the warring soldiers. Swearing, he went left around the edge of the dust storm. It was his duty to protect the base at all costs but every step he took threw obstacles in his path.
Finally clearing the newer patch of strewn garbage he found the base in pandemonium. Shouts and cries were everywhere, and where he had seen only one concentrated assault before he now saw wild fights everywhere. The enemy men were working in teams of five or ten, driving in wedges through the Imperials to get to the buildings and power supplies. He ran through them, felling a sand-coloured man with a shot when he leapt at him. Having no clear idea of what was the most important thing to protect, Turner thought only of finding Andy or his commanding officer in the tumult. Overhead the bombs continued to fall, devastating the buildings and runways all around, making it impossible to see where he was going.
He beat an invader to the ground and then shot him through the middle before leaping over him. If I can get to higher ground, he reasoned desperately, I can see where I'm needed most. A huge cascade of wall had collapsed against the F building, where the privates bunked. Seeing that it reached nearly to the roof he quickly jumped onto it, hurriedly scrambling up the dangerously loose cement and bricks. He grabbed hold of the roof guttering with his hands and hauled himself up. Turning, he looked around.
Confusion reigned in Meine Base. Everywhere he looked there were churning masses of light and dark men fighting to the death. Quickly he aimed his gun again and began to snipe a group of the invaders who were wearing down three Imperials fighting savagely in a corner. He scanned the base again looking for more targets when he saw the Zoid hangars. He was not close to them and so could only vaguely see what was happening. It looked as though the brunt of the assault was being concentrated there. Nodding to himself Turner was about to jump down from the building and go aid them when something else caught his eye. A flare of red in an otherwise burnt out landscape. He squinted, shielding his gaze against the sun. It was a man, with red hair, striding purposefully across to the Zoid hangars. However, when he got within a few hundred metres of them he turned, going left instead. The battle did not seem to touch nor bother him. As he watched, Turner suddenly realized where he was going. Gasping in shock he recklessly jumped the full distance down to the ground. When he landed his knees buckled and he rolled a few metres. A light-uniformed enemy soldier appeared above him with his gun leveled at his head. Without deliberation Turner lashed out with his feet, knocking the man off balance whilst leaping up. He grabbed hold of the gun but the man refused to let go. The man pulled hard on his gun, bringing Turner down on him. A frenzied fight enveloped the two, clawing and punching to gain the upper hand. In a moment of confusion Turner wrested the man's gun away from him and fired it, killing him.
Dazed and unsteady he got back to his feet and started running again. He had wasted too much time with that scuffle; the red-haired man would surely be at his destination by now. Deciding to take the shortcut through the winding back alleys of the buildings Turner played a dangerous game of chance, nearly losing his footing many times on the debris and glass littering the way.
He burst out of the last enclosed path and ran full speed towards the low-slung hangars that held the Empire's experiments. The man had been going this way. The doorway was wide open and he went in unopposed. Having been there many times on his break he quickly darted through the short hallways and emerged in the cavernous main body of the hangar. He caught a vague glimpse of scaffolding and metal before something hard and heavy slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. Winded he looked up to find a monster's face glaring at him, vicious teeth bared in a metallic snarl. Shocked for a moment he didn't even register that the reptilian face darted back, prepared to strike. About to die, he was saved by a commanding voice from the side.
"Ambient, here! We have no time to waste with trash!"
The beast jumped off Turner, leaving him coughing and gasping on the floor. Pulling himself back up he saw the man with flaring red hair above him on a scaffold. Sensing his gaze, he turned. And Turner recognized him, from the numerous wanted bulletins now circulating the Empire. Smirking, he gave a mocking salute before stepping off the scaffold into the cockpit alongside it. The matching red monster, a crimson metal-plated thing that looked like a miniature Zoid, shot off the scaffolding as well and blasted a hole through the wall ahead, roaring as it went. There was a groaning sound as the restraints holding the Zoid the man had just entered snapped and broke. Shaking free of the ripped metal, it gave a bellow and charged through the wall, escaping the hangar and the base at the speed of sound.
Panting, Turner staggered over to the red emergency phone on the wall. He felt extraordinarily grateful as someone picked up on the other end, asking him in a tense anxious tone what was going on.
"It's Hiltz! Hiltz has stolen the experimental Lightning Saix! He's stolen it!"
---
Shadow peered into the dark maw of the cavern from a distance. Blackness blocked everything from sight within the first few steps, but there was no mistaking the cold air that billowed out of it. The organoid stared fixedly a while longer, before turning and trotting away across the stony red earth.
The cavern led under the ground somewhere; the scent of deep, solid rock made it undeniable. Under the ground, something was concealed. Shadow could feel it, a presence of menace and power. It had drawn him towards this place, this opening in the ground, but the organoid was not going inside. His finely tuned sense could feel the insurmountable strength there and he knew that it would be the death of him to investigate and risk its awaking.
Dark claws pausing, Shadow twisted his long neck back to survey the cavern again. An unassuming wide opening in the low-slung hill, cut into the reddish stone. Jagged edges, curved, too low to allow any Zoids to enter successfully.
To Shadow, it screamed unnatural.
The burning sun had begun its descent towards the horizon. Within a couple of hours it would fall out of sight in a fire of death, only to reemerge in the east and live again.
Many things had been happening. Human things, and Zoid things. Shadow had seen the destruction and burning of bases across his roaming path. From the air above he had witnessed an attack in progress. As always, humans alone had swarmed through the artificial constructions like locusts, tearing at foundations and life. As always, they soon disappeared, leaving not a whisper of their presence but the carnage of their deeds. The obsidian organoid had never descended to help or hinder those being attacked; he only observed. He had no wish or need to take part in these power struggles, for the only person who could persuade him otherwise was no longer a part of such things.
And yet, the attacks bothered him. They were only precursors, in Shadow's mind, to a doom that the humans, not even the Ancient Zoidian girl, had not foreseen. A doom that was hibernating in the deep places of Zi. Hibernating beneath the very same cavern a mere fifty metres behind Shadow.
A sound, like the shrill tearing of the air, snapped Shadow's attention back to the land in front of him. It was growing closer, just beyond a rise that obscured his vision. Spikes flexing in anticipation, Shadow growled softly and lowered his head; he recognized this sound. However, it did not match with the silver organoid's sound pattern. This was something else.
Shadow watched as a red flash appeared above the rise hurtling in his direction. The organoid, as it must surely be, seemed to then notice Shadow, standing conspicuously in the open. It emerged out of its vibrant energy shape and took on its metal form: dark red, with long spines, and sharp green eyes.
The red organoid dropped to the ground before him, claws slicing deep into the dirt under the impact. Following the momentum from its dive it whipped its head down to glare darkly at Shadow. The red organoid snarled open-mouthed, a clear predatory threat.
Shadow responded with a long hiss, moving his body lithely to display his spikes at their most prominent. The red one advanced a step, snapping its head up to a more intimidating height and snarled again, the same message. Get away from my territory.
Shadow raised his own head and bared his teeth, rumbling deep in his throat. This new organoid was volatile. If he made a move, even to leave, it would try to tear him to shreds. Shadow was a threat to be dealt with, said the frenetic glitter in its green eyes.
Making a lightning fast movement to the left the red one continued to growl and snap. Trespasser. It dashed to the right. Threat. Snap left, closer to Shadow. Deathdeathdeath
The red organoid struck out with its teeth. Shadow flashed right out of the way, hissing, and snapped in with his own jaws. The red one dodged, howled in frustration, and struck again, this time at Shadow's partially unfurled wings. It caught the left one in its mouth and clamped shut. Shrieking in fury Shadow latched onto the spine protruding from the red organoid's back, digging his teeth in and pulling hard.
"Well well, Ambient, what have you caught?"
Shadow released Ambient's spine, though it maintained its death grip on his wing, to turn and see where the broadcast voice had come from. Unnoticed by the scuffling organoids a dark black feline Zoid had approached, and it now stood before the two. Shadow looked up at the fangs of the Zoid, its body smoking from its supersonic run across the desert. There was a deep chuckle of laughter from the pilot.
"The pet of the renegade – or should I say, 'former renegade'. How interesting that you discovered this place on your own."
The Zoid opened its jaws in a low, mechanical growl, baring its arm-length teeth. Apprehension crawled through Shadow like insects as he tried to wrench free of Ambient's mouth, to no avail. The catlike head of the Zoid dipped closer to him, and he could see the form of a man behind its sinister eyes.
"Interesting indeed. . ."
---
Raven started, and sat up.
The subdued noises of the hospital wing rang faintly in his ears, punctuated sporadically by the clang or crash of some construction work. Those sounds were ordinary. What he had just felt was not.
Unkempt hair falling into his eyes, he turned to look out the window. The sky was a sun-leeched blue, darker with the encroaching sunset. He blinked. Without hesitation he flipped the sheets off himself and dragged his unfamiliar feet to the ground. He stood, unbalanced for a moment, before righting himself and then began to methodically pull the intravenous drip from his arm.
Tossing it aside Raven crossed to the far side of the room, where a shabby cardboard box sat in a corner. Hefting the box onto a chair with some difficulty, he took out the rough Hessian shirt inside. Memory distantly retained the fact that this was his. He also removed the long, black and purple body suit.
As he changed, fumbling with half-familiar clasps, Raven's mind was ringing. Barely anything had changed; his mind was still stifled utterly by the fog, but a few moments ago something had lanced through with a clarity that was almost painful. He didn't even understand what it was exactly. The feeling was similar to the dormant instincts in its obscurity. However, it was different to those, he knew this. This feeling, whatever it was, had compelled him absolutely to move. It had felt like nothing more than a cacophony of mindless noise, panicky and angry and desperate all at once, and it pulled at him relentlessly. He could not let it be.
He finished with his boots and straightened up again. There was an odd buzzing in his ears and jittery tingles danced along his skin. He ignored them, and crossed to the door. Looking out he found the corridor quite deserted and slipped into it, walking steadfastly down the right branch. Wrong, protested the instincts, rising from the depths again. Dangerous. He ignored those too. The new feeling was overriding everything.
Raven paused at the end of the corridor to survey what was around the corner. The left passage proved to lead into the hospital wing proper; he could see people moving at the far end. To his right was a wall. Or rather, the remnants of one. A large hole gaped in it, strewn around with rubble and dirt. It was preferable.
After struggling briefly through the hole, Raven dropped down low to the ground and allowed the instincts to gain some control. His eyes scanned the viewable portion of the base quickly, landing on buildings, repair teams and terrain vehicles. A series of tall corrugated iron sheds rose above the buildings towards the left. Zoid hangars.
He set off, more swiftly than his weakened state should allow, ducking in and out of alcoves and doorways. Busy as they were with repairs, not one soldier noticed him.
Raven halted at the door of the nearest shed and had to cling to the handle to hold himself up. The exertion of the last few minutes had caught up with him and his tired body was protesting any further moves. A dull ache had settled in his chest; an ache that recalled to his mind what had happened the last time he left his bed. The memory of that even was fragmented, distorted with terror and pain, but far clearer than any other he had. The call from within his mind though would not be relegated to second place.
Pushing through the door Raven shut it behind him. The Zoid hangar he had entered proved to be occupied by ten odd Zoids, each of different makes and colours. Using the instincts, Raven crossed the concrete floor towards the nearest. It seemed to his mind the best available Zoid for his purpose. As he hauled himself up the ladder of the Zaber Fang, he also found that it was familiar somehow.
The cockpit hatch snapped shut behind him. For a moment he merely sat and regained his breath. Flicking his gaze towards the hangar doors, Raven placed his hands on the control sticks and executed the Zoid's warm-up.
The Imperial soldiers outside barely had enough warning to fling themselves out of the way as the red Zaber Fang burst through the hangar doors, weaved down the rubble of the main runway and sped off into the distance, into the setting sun.
---
"I just don't understand what he hopes to achieve by this," Fiona sighed in frustration.
Van turned to look at her. "You mean besides crushing us all into the dirt?"
"You know what I mean, Van." She paused in front of the tactical map of the Gailos Empire. "What is the point of hitting these bases," she swept an arm out to indicate the red flags pinned to the map, "in the way that he did?"
Van regarded the map again, trying to ignore the flurry of movement and voices behind him. They were standing in Redstone's secondary command centre, and the place was a hub of activity at the best of times; now, at the worst of times, it was twice as busy and thrice as distracting. He picked at the lightweight cast still bound around his arm. Somewhere behind them, he could hear Karl belting out orders left, right and centre. He didn't know how the man could handle it, being bombarded with so many questions and expected to have the magic solution to all of them. He supposed it came with the rank of major.
He looked at Fiona, frowning slightly. Fiona had seemed out of sorts for the past few days. Sometimes she would lose track of a conversation and stare at things he couldn't see, and he knew for a fact that she had not been sleeping well. The dark lines under her eyes told him as much. Now, she was focusing so hard on the map of Gailos that he thought she might burn holes in it.
Leaning forward, he tapped her on the shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked, trying to drag her attention away from the map. "You don't look well; maybe you should take a nap."
"I don't need a nap," she muttered distantly, still furiously appraising the map with its random scattering of red flags. "There's something we're missing." Van blinked.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, exactly," she said. "It's like . . . like there's something I can feel that hasn't been taken into account. Something horribly important."
They were quiet for a minute. "You haven't been sleeping well," Van said in an undertone. Finally Fiona turned to look at him, discontent in her eyes.
"Yes, I know. I can feel something, I just don't know what."
"Is it an Ancient Zoidian . . . thing?"
"Probably. It's so frustrating, like it's just out of reach. It's got something to do with-" Fiona broke off all of a sudden, a shocked look on her face. The din of noise behind her continued without a break, yet it felt very quiet to Van at that moment.
"Fiona? Fiona, what is it?" He shook her a bit, distressed at her lack of response. "Fiona!"
She blinked, and then looked at the map again. "Oh, no . . ." she whispered. Before Van could respond she darted off to the side, towards one of the internal phones on the wall. He followed, at a loss. Fiona took up the phone and hammered in some numbers. She waited with a tense look on her face as it rang. "Nurse? Give me the status of the patient in room 305." A pause. "No, I already know that. Check on him!"
"Fiona, what are you doing?" pressed Van. "You're scaring me." She paid him no attention, waiting for an answer on the other end of the phone. Even through the noise of the command centre he heard the voice of the nurse when they returned, sounding frantic. Fiona pressed a hand to her free ear, attempting to cut down the noise.
"What do you mean, gone?" Another pause. "Just like that? When was the last round? . . . Ten minutes ago. So he might still be . . . his clothes are missing too?" Van was starting to get very apprehensive; there was only one person Fiona would be enquiring about, and what he was hearing did not make him feel at ease. "I see," Fiona breathed. "Thank you, please do it." She hung up.
She wouldn't look at him, but Van knew. "Raven is . . . ?" he began, but found himself unable to answer. Fiona nodded, giving him a haunted look.
"Major! Major Schubaltz!" came a cry from the other side of the room. They both turned, along with everyone else, to stare at the soldier who had run in. Karl turned as well, striding up to the winded soldier.
"What is it, private?" The man caught his breath, a panicky look in his eyes.
"It's one of the Zaber Fangs, sir. It's been taken without permission. We think it was stolen."
"A Zaber Fang?"
"Yes, just now sir. Nearly ran down some officers before it took off on a bearing of north east." Karl stared at the man for a moment before turning to look at Van from across the room. A flash of understanding passed between them; Karl knew what Raven's piloting history was as well as Van did.
Fiona, however, was not paying attention to what they were doing. She had crossed back over to the map of Gailos. She traced her finger around the red flags. "Of course," she whispered, "north east. I see now."
"See what?" Van asked, hurrying up next to her. "Do you know where he went?"
"Yes. I see the pattern now, too. All these base strikes have been apparently random, but that's not true. They've been starting further away, and coming in closer as time's gone on . . ."
"Fiona, you're not making sense. Further from what?" She turned to look at him, and he could not read her expression.
"The caves of the Rarehertz. The bases that have been attacked . . . they've all been within a couple hundred kilometers of the Rarehertz caves. And I think I know," she said, "what it is I've been feeling."
Looking at the map again, Van could now see the pattern. A definite circular shape, with a tiny marker labeled RarehertzCaves in the centre. Hiltz was there; that was his base.
Raven had gone north east. The Rarehertz caves were north east from Redstone base.
"Karl!" shouted Van, snatching up a portable communicator from the table. "I'm going after him. There aren't any other Zoids that can be prepped in time. Get Thomas to follow after us as soon as he can, along with a task force of whatever Zoids this base has left. We're going to need them." Van only vaguely heard Karl's confirmation as he rushed from the command centre, with Fiona right on his heels.
The Zoid hangar where the Blade Liger was being held was empty except for Zeke. The organoid noticed immediately Van's anxious attitude and shot into the Blade Liger's side. Scaling the ladder two rungs at a time with one hand, Van thumped down into the control seat. Fiona dropped in behind him as the cockpit slammed shut. Without deliberation he fired up the Liger's controls and forced the Zoid into a run, cursing at the one-handed control method he had to take.
The Liger obliged to his desire for speed, Redstone base receding quickly into the distance behind them. "I'll get him if it's the last thing I do," he growled to himself.
"Van, please, just hurry," Fiona said from the back seat. "Something awful's happened . . . and it might get worse if we don't stop it. We've got to help him."
"What?" he said incredulously, twisting around to stare at her. She didn't answer, just looked ahead anxiously.
Putting her cryptic words aside for the moment, Van hammered the Liger into top speed.
---
He was close now, very close. Raven slowed the Zaber Fang from the breakneck pace he had been keeping, trying to keep his panic from spiraling out of control. A few minutes ago the insistent pulling sensation had abruptly disappeared from his mind, leaving him distressed and confused. The only thing he could think of to do was to keep running towards where it had directed him. Something was very, very wrong.
The rocky ground beneath the Zoid's feet was evening out as he crested a rise. At the top, he gazed down towards a low-slung rock wall a few hundred feet ahead. Incised into the rock face was a deep opening, a cave, leading back into the ground. His hands preformed some more deft movements, and the Zaber Fang slowed further, approaching the wall.
He couldn't make sense of any of it. His instincts were piloting, but everything else was still obscured by his lack of memory. Scanning the area, Raven could not see anything worth noting. It was just a stony ledge in the middle of the desert.
A panel on the control board began to beep, drawing his attention. He could vaguely make out the words 'Proximity Danger' flashing on the screen. Frowning, he looked up again.
A lithe Zoid had emerged from behind a mass of boulders, and was facing him down. His fingers tightened on the control sticks. The communications unit crackled into life, along with a voice.
"I never expected you to come here," said the voice, carrying a hint of amusement. "I'd thought you were permanently . . . broken." The feline Zoid moved a step closer, eyes flaring bright green. Raven's gaze drifted across it, uncertain as to what type it was. His subconscious couldn't identify it.
"You couldn't possibly have thought of it by yourself. I daresay that second rate organoid of yours sent out a distress signal." The man chuckled to himself. "Pity that it did it no good."
Perplexed, Raven surveyed the Zoid again. His gaze caught on something sticking out from its teeth. He squinted, looking closer.
Shards of black, twisted metal emerged from the Zoid's mouth.
In one eternal, painful moment, everything became clear. A violent upsurge below his mind rose up and obliterated the fog of amnesia, shattering it into nothing.
Raven screamed.
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To be continued.