Meh. Sorry, I woulda posted this yesterday, but every time I checked, the servers were overloaded. Whoa, denied. The next won't be up till Monday, though...so this has to laaaast you.

-RS88- Oh, don't worry--it really doesn't get that dark. The original idea was much more heavily influenced by the Animatrix, and it was darker; but in the months of contemplation that this went through in the back of my mind, it changed. Mostly it was me...like, "Whoo! Eve!" And yeah, Van has it pretty rough. Maybe I overdid it, but I also need him to be at a certain level of maturity...and being raked over the coals worked quite well--toughens him up for Reese interaction, I guess. They have some bonding to do. In addition, I sorta went through a stage where I was fed up with him, so everyone else was, too. Oops. And no, Van probably wouldn't do that...but oh, man, I would laugh.

Wow, are you guys sure you don't have any questions? Ones I can answer, I mean...not like, "What's going to happen next?" or anything. I just don wanna lose anyone. And is it just me, or there a lot of Reese-haters around these days? Not necessarily here, per se...but it just seems like quite a few bios I see are devoted to saying why she sucks. And really, why would it matter if she's with Raven? Nothing's wrong with pairings, they just need the right presentation. :P

The Second Renaissance

Part Three: Salva Nos

-

II. Entropy

The days of the goddess were over. The pendulum had swung. Mother Earth had become a man's world, and the gods of destruction and war were taking their toll. The male ego had spent two millennia running unchecked by its female counterpart. The Priory of Sion believed that it was this obliteration of the sacred feminine in modern life that had caused what the Hopi Americans called koyaniquatsi–"life out of balance"–an unstable situation marked by testosterone-fueled wars, a plethora of misogynistic societies, and a growing disrespect for Mother Earth...

-Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code

-

It was raining again in Guygalos, a steady and nearly opaque downpour that washed the streets clean and rang sharply against the shingles of the palace roof. Away from the showy majesty of the main entrance, a narrow side gate sat nestled amongst ornamental orange trees, their fruit battered by the tempest.

Just outside of the nearly hidden entrance was the Imperial Colonel Karl Shubaltz, rigid in attention. Before him stood four figures, three of whom were royal palace staff. They bowed respectfully, and the last person stepped forward. A young woman, she was cloaked against the heavy rain, and a large hood threw shadows against her features. The only things visible on her face were two red markings, one on each of her cheeks and level with her lips.

The representative for the Empire, Karl thought. She's...small. The girl came to his forearms at best; but, then again, he was tall. Knowing his voice would be lost in the rain, he gestured emphatically to the rear of the palace...and to the gigantic underground hangar that they both knew was there.

She nodded to him, and turned to the waiting palace staff. She bowed politely, and then turned away and started walking. Karl jogged to catch up with her quick pace, and overtook her easily. He gave her a curious look, but nothing more. The Di-Bison had set out the day before, and the Ultrasaurus was running a little off schedule.

The upper entrance to the hangar loomed before them soon enough; Karl opened the door and ushered the representative in before him. Once inside, he removed his hat and shook out his hair, but she didn't make a move to take off the soaked hood that still covered her head. A small elevator carried them down to the lowest level of the hangar, and the bulk of the Ultrasaurus emerged from the shadows. A huge ramp extended from its belly, and the lights of the zoid were dark; the circuits would be connected when it was time to go.

Fifteen minutes later, a low hum reverberated throughout the hangar. The platform underneath the Ultrasaurus shuddered and began to rise. Karl watched with a sigh from the darkened guest room–usually reserved for visitors such as the President of the Helic Republic or the Emperor of the Guylos Empire–as the bright lights of the hangar swung by and faded into darkness. Finally, the lift grated to a jarring stop, and it seemed like a second dawn had broken, dashing rain against the zoid and filtering in dim light to fill the hangar.

For a few breathless seconds, all was quiet; then a dull roar grew from the floor, and the lights flickered on. With a whistling shriek, the Ultrasaurus lurched forward, its circuits a little rusty from total neglect for the last year and a half. It lumbered into the lashing rain, indifferent to its human passengers, and set on its instinctive course to join its comrades.

Karl began to breathe again. The crazy plan was actually working. Incredible.

"Thank you, Colonel Shubaltz."

He threw a surprised look at the girl beside him. She drew her hands up and finally pulled the hood of her cloak away from her head. When he saw her face, he nearly had a heart attack, but managed to drop to one knee, instead. "Y-your Highness," he choked.

Marianne, the Empress of the Guylos Empire, smiled at him as she wrung out her thick braid. "Now, now, Colonel, you've known me for far too long to speak to me like that."

Karl stood stiffly. "I wasn't aware that you would be joining us on this trip, Hi–er, ma'am."

Marianne shrugged, flicking her soggy bangs irritably. "Neither was Rudolph. He worries too much, anyway."

"Then I must insist that you return to the safety of the palace this instant."

The girl glared at him. "No, I came for a reason. I'm sixteen years old, and the Empress of your country, Colonel. I am here to represent the royal family of the Guylos Empire. Besides," she grinned. "I understand that this zoid won't be stopping until it reaches its final destination."

Karl's broad shoulders sagged in defeat. "Yes, ma'am, that's right."

Marianne smiled, and her big brown eyes seemed to sparkle with self-satisfaction. "There, see, it will be fine. It was my idea, so you're not at fault. Now," she stretched. "You may go. I'll find you if I need you again."

Karl saluted and made his way to the door, trying to ignore the rise of hot anger in his chest. She wasn't really to blame: she was a spoiled and naïve royal who didn't realize what disrespect it was to treat someone of his rank like a servant. He stepped out and closed the door behind him, exhaling heavily. After a moment of deliberation, he hurried off to inform Colonel Hermann of the situation that had suddenly substantiated itself.

-

In the wasteland, heat made everything seem to move in slow motion, sending shimmering waves up from the golden sands. The small Imperial desert town seemed to be empty at first glance, but proved to be simply still. Its citizens either congregated at safe public places, or hid in their homes. Fearful eyes watched behind cracked shutters as military jeeps rolled into the town, stopping in front of the one place that anyone could find solace: the tavern.

Five Imperial soldiers hopped down from the vehicle, glancing suspiciously around, as if they expected ax murders to be lurking in the early afternoon shadows. Looking grim, they slowly mounted the steps of the tavern, and, at a nod from the soldier in front, pushed in the swinging doors.

Inside, it looked as if half the town were present; it probably was. It was almost silent, save for the quiet clinking of the bartender's glasses. Women sat at the tables, brushing sweaty hair off their foreheads and fanning themselves wearily. Beside them sat men who were too proud to do the same.

At the creak of the doors and the clack of boots, everyone in the room glanced up, only to be met with the sight of uniforms. Guarded looks immediately went up, and any hospitality that the townspeople may have once expressed dissipated at the sight of authority.

The soldiers scanned the room quickly, and seemed to find what they were searching for at the back of the room. Sparing no pleasant looks, they pushed past the equally silent civilians to the last table, backed up against the wall, where a lone figure sat.

They halted in front of him, and their leader, a second lieutenant, stood at their head, staring down at the man. When that elicited no response, he cleared his throat and said irritably, "Are you the mercenary Irvine?"

The man glared up through spiky bangs and replied, "Who wants to know?"

The lieutenant matched his scowl perfectly. "You are to come with us, sir."

"Why?"

At this seemingly simple question, the soldier said coldly, "These are orders from the top. You are to come with us, now."

The mercenary shot back a simple, "No."

The soldier's eyes flashed. "Why, you..." The subordinate officers around him stepped up menacingly, raising their automatic rifles in an obvious threat. It was, ultimately, because they were so close together that they were taken by surprise.

Irvine leapt up, driving his fist into the nearest Imperial private's stomach, simultaneously swinging his other arm around to collide with another soldier's neck. The first unfortunate private gasped, retched, and finally collapsed. The other stumbled, only to meet a booted toe head-on. His nose crunched sickeningly.

Irvine stumbled out from the awkward stance, and his boot caught on one of the uneven floorboards. He lost his balance, and skidded to the floor on his forearms. Painful splinters bit into his hands, and he winced. Shifting his weight, he flipped his muscled body over, preparing to push himself to his feet...and stopped.

The Imperial lieutenant held the automatic rifle's muzzle only a few inches from the mercenary's nose, glaring daggers. The entire tavern had fallen silent, now thoroughly empty of townspeople. As soon a fight ever started, the women always hurried out, small children clutched in their arms. Not wanting to get involved, the men indisputably followed...except for Clive. The bartender was probably hiding beneath his counter right now.

In the ensuring silence, broken only by the muffled groans of the beaten soldiers, the lieutenant growled softly, "I said, you are to come with us."

Just as softly, Irvine snarled, "And I said no. I know my rights, and I'm no criminal. What do you want?"

The man simply narrowed his eyes, and didn't answer. A motionless silence fell, accentuated by their toxic glares. When something scuffled at the door, neither of them moved. It was only when a soft voice came from the head of the room did they divert their attention from one another.

"What do you think you are doing?"

The lieutenant holding Irvine at gunpoint paled a few shades and startled into a stammering salute. "Uh, Lieutenant S-shubaltz, sir, this isn't, um...I mean to say–"

"Go."

"But–"

"Go."

Irvine watched with wicked pleasure as the lesser lieutenant–and his men that were able to follow–stalked off, and then turned his gaze to the Guardian Force member that had, oddly enough, just saved his skin. Thomas, the remnants of an angry fire just dying in his eyes, looked exhausted. Hoisting the Beke rifle unit to his shoulder, he stepped forward to give Irvine a hand up.

The mercenary willingly accepted the assistance, but then grimaced at the sting of splinters in his calloused palms. He glared at them in distaste, noting the spots of blood already appearing on his tanned skin. He shook his head, looking up again. "Hey, Thomas. Been a while. Mind filling me in?"

Thomas heaved a great sigh, running his free hand over his tired eyes. "Could you wait until you see Van? In all of an hour?"

Irvine frowned. Thomas...was leaving something up to...Van? Something had to be wrong. "Uh, sure. But...where?"

Thomas turned to go, pushing one of the tavern's chairs, knocked over in the brawl, back to its upright position. He glanced over his shoulder. "The Ultrasaurus."

"What?"

-

In the fading daylight, the sparkling crimson comet of an organoid's jets shone like a miniature star. It traced unnatural shadows across the rugged canyon walls, and illuminated startled desert creatures that shrank in fright from the alien in their world.

The sharp report of an automatic rifle broke the almost still air, chasing after the organoid in a mixture of muzzle flashes and sharp cracks on the rosy colored stone. The organoid swerved unsteadily, and then flew for a ledge close to the gorge's floor. One brilliant flash of light later, and the night had swallowed everything without the benefit of the zoid's telltale flight boosters.

Just as the night sounds of the desert crept back into a hesitant symphony, a flare shot into the starry night and exploded into being, throwing everything into harsh relief. In the following breathless moment, two shadows fled, one to the sky and one to the canyon's floor, both chased by the flare's revealing glow.

Shoving his body against one of the larger boulders littering the ground, Raven cursed under his breath. Of course all of Zi would still be after his head–but why now, of all times? With the Genobreaker gone, he and Shadow couldn't do much more than run like cowards. Shame wasn't something Raven was used to feeling, and it stung hatefully in his gut.

Scuffling footsteps called his attention to the far side of the boulder. Raven gritted his teeth. They're here. His hand dove into his ragged cloak and emerged wrapped around his gun. He took a breath and narrowed his eyes. The footsteps sounded closer, closer. So close.

In the instant that the flare's harsh light died, Raven yelled hoarsely, "Shadow!" and leapt to the side of the boulder, leveling his sights on the soldier trying–and, failing, obviously–to track him silently. In the shadows of the canyon, they were both nothing more than dark outlines.

"Raven! Stop!"

Raven's eyes widened in surprise, but then Shadow was there, swooping in on his powerful wings and roaring fit to wake the dead. A shimmering silver shape hit the organoid in midair, launched from the top of the boulder. Shadow bellowed in anger and retaliated by whipping his tail around the slam his opponent harshly into the canyon wall. The air was soon full of feral roars and shrieking growls of pain.

"Raven! Call Shadow off!"

Raven shook his head, squinting futilely in the dark. "Flyheight?" It was almost unbelievable. After almost a year of getting in each other's way, he hadn't seen his nemesis for quite some time. But sure enough, the idiot was right in front of him, yelling at Raven and his organoid, alternately. He shook his head. "What do you want, Flyheight?"

Van stopped short, and allowed him a brief and slightly scary smile. "We need you to cooperate with us."

Raven eyed him in the dim light. "Who is 'we'?"

"Everyone. The Republic and the Empire."

The silver organoid slammed into Raven's cover-boulder with a sharp snarl. He shakily stood and charged at Shadow again, roaring. Shadow sidestepped the attack and sank his teeth into the other's tail.

Van suddenly looked alarmed. "Call Shadow off! Zeke's going to be hurt."

Raven rolled his eyes. "Shadow. Don't kill him." As Shadow obediently backed away from the wary silver organoid, Raven turned back to face Van with a distinct grimace of distaste on his face. "Why do you want me? And what makes you think I'll do it?" He let the words be as insolent and bad-tempered as possible.

Van's face fell a little. "Well...because." His voice got quieter. "You're the best pilot I know, Raven, and we need all we can get. Besides, you were so hard to find that we don't have time to get anyone else."

Raven glared contemptuously. "I was hard to find for a reason, you know. Even you should have guessed that. And what was that about me being a pilot? News flash, genius! The zoids are gone! There's nothing to pilot."

Van glared back at him. "It's not like you're the only one affected by all this! My Liger's gone, too–everything is gone, and we have to do something about it, or else nothing is going to change!"

His expression grew darker, and the volume of his voice slowly climbed. "We're trying to pull together for the only opportunity we may ever have to retaliate, and we need all the help we can get. Unless you just want to run away, then you have to stand and fight with us!" By then he was yelling, and he stopped for breath, looking a little surprised by the venom in his words.

After a brief, stunned silence, Raven raised his eyebrows, a grudging respect for the young man in front of him glimmering in the depths of his mind. "Well. Persuasive words, Flyheight. What do you want me to do?"

Van's voice dropped to its normal level, and he gave a quiet sigh. "Just come back to the Ultrasaurus with me for now, and then we'll go from there."

Raven smirked. "Fine. I'll do it. But, for future reference," his eyes flashed, "I don't run away."

Van nodded in acknowledgement.

"Shadow, come."

-

The Ultrasaurus made its slow and steady way across the Central Range, stopping for nothing and no one. It was almost the exact same route it had taken about two years before, but those crater-like tracks had been obscured by time, and were lost to all but the observant.

Irvine wandered around the huge zoid, idly checking out the current situation. Thomas had ditched him at the main hangar, hustled off with a bunch of desperate-looking technicians. The base-on-legs was strangely empty...but of course, that was partly due to the absence of the zoids in its huge hangar. It was also partly due to the utter lack of crewmembers. Last time he'd checked, this thing took more people than there were in the Republic's presidential cabinet to run it.

Thomas had just told him to find Van for a decent explanation. Easier said than done, really. Nobody seemed to know where he'd gone. Thomas had said he might be with Reese...even stranger. Irvine grimaced. Definitely didn't want to deal with her–or Raven, for that matter. They were both onboard, for reasons beyond him.

Finally, after about an hour of walking, Irvine stumbled upon a small, tucked away conference room, equipped with two long tables and about thirty plush chairs. Van was hunched in one such chair, his head down on the table. The mercenary approached quietly, and when he got close enough, he nudged the younger man.

"Hey, kid." He studied Van for a few seconds, and then added helpfully, "You look wasted."

One of Van's eyes slid open, and he tiredly considered his old friend. "Hi." He pushed himself up, rubbing his face. Irvine sank into the chair beside him, and stared a little more. The young lieutenant had dark circles under his eyes, and looked a few hours short of a decent night's rest–the same as Thomas.

After a few silent moments, he finally prompted, "Well?"

Van gave a jaw-cracking yawn. "Well what?"

"Thomas said you'd fill me in."

Van scowled in irritation, making a sound in the back of his throat. "That figures. What, exactly, do you know?"

Irvine paused for a moment, glaring critically at Van. "I know that my Saix is gone. That's just about all that really matters to me." He narrowed his eyes and steeled his voice. "But I know that everyone's zoids are gone, and that makes them desperate. I've seen perfectly rational men fight each other for no reason at all, just because they're itching for some violence and want to see blood. I know that everyone is helpless and confused, because no one's told them what has happened." He raised his one visible eye to meet Van's stunned expression. "Don't you dare leave me in the dark, Van, because I've had just about all I can take of the military keeping things from civilians."

Van nodded hastily, all petulance forgotten. "Reese says that...that the zoids are angry, because the humans have abused them for hundreds of years. We treated them simply as tools of war, as possessions, not as the inhabitants of Zi, as they are in their own rights." He took a deep breath. "And, apparently, we called the Zoid Eve's attention to the situation a couple of years ago, so she, um...called them to her."

Irvine raised an eyebrow, and he added hastily, "I know that sounds really weird, but it's the truth, I swear. It was like a huge Rare Hertz pulse that affected the entire continent."

"And...Reese told you this?" Van nodded. "Why is she here?"

Van shrugged. "Don't ask me–she just showed up the other day at my doorstep. She seems set on coming with us, because it's her duty or something."

Irvine nodded. "I see. Then I suppose the question I should be asking is about Fiona." he raised his eyebrows. "Where, exactly, is she in all of this?"

"With the zoids."

"Come again?"

Van sighed. "They, um...took her. I think." He threw his hands up. "I don't know! I'm really not the person you should be asking about all this. You should really go see–"

"No," Irvine said flatly. "I absolutely refuse to talk to Reese."

"Lieutenant Flyheight?" They both looked up at the interruption, and saw an Imperial private standing at attention in the doorway. "Sir, a briefing is being held in Conference Room 4B at this time; your presence has been requested by Colonel Hermann."

Van nodded and stood, then gestured for Irvine to do the same. "You'd better come, too. We'll talk on the way."

Strolling down the long hallways of the Ultrasaurus, something suddenly occurred to Irvine. "We're going to the Valley of the Rare Hertz, right?"

"Right."

"And this hulk is taking us...and doesn't know we're on board?"

"I hope not."

"Then how are we going to stop?"

Van shrugged. "Apparently, Thomas has something going with the Di-Bison. He's supposed to shoot us down when we get there."

"Excepting the fact that Thomas is on the Ultrasaurus right now." Irvine stared at Van's nonchalant expression. "Don't tell me I'm the only one that finds something inherently wrong with that whole set-up."

Van shrugged again. "No, he has some sort of complicated remote control thing, and has been running Beke from here for the past day or so."

"Oh. Okay." Irvine rolled his eyes.

The large room of 4B loomed before them, a low murmur of many voices trailing out into the hall. Inside sat most of the passengers of the zoid, excepting a few of the technicians and spare, lower-ranking soldiers. Rob Hermann, Karl Shubaltz, and Doctor D made up the heads of the room, along with a young woman Van didn't recognize right away. After a moment, though, he blinked in surprise.

"Empress Marianne," he muttered to Irvine, who shrugged. The marriage of Emperor Rudolph had taken place about a year before, and attracted the expected amount of attention. Obviously, the royal family simply wanted their own supervision of the operation that was taking place at the moment. The young girl sitting before them, playing with the end of her long braid, was proof of that.

Raven and Reese stood a careful ten feet away from one another, and didn't acknowledge each other in the least. Thomas sat off to the side, four or five of the subordinating technicians at his side. Van stole off to talk to him, and Irvine retreated to the back wall, keeping a healthy thirty feet of floor and soldiers between him and highly ranking authority.

Hermann stood, and the room fell silent. "Let's begin the briefing." He eyed the faces before him. "You all know why you are here. We're on our way to one of the most major battles in the history of Zi, and you are the soldiers chosen to fight." He was, of course, speaking literally. Each of the soldiers had been specifically selected for their skills with zoids.

He turned to face Thomas and his crew sternly. "Lieutenant Shubaltz, how many portable Beke units do we have on hand?"

Thomas swallowed hard. "Fifty, sir." Beside him, Van drew in a sharp breath.

Hermann looked grave, and turned back to face the room as a whole. "What we are going to attempt involves taking control of a few of the zoids with the help of the Lieutenant's A.I. system. You heard him–we only have fifty. That means fifty zoids fighting for us, and that's only if they all work properly.

"After we drop our initial offensive, an electromagnetic pulse, Lieutenant Shubaltz will lead a small faction to capture a few of the–temporarily–stunned zoids. As soon as that is accomplished, three separate factions, led by Thomas, Irvine and Raven, will commence attacks." Hermann raised his eyes, confirming that everyone understood him.

After a few silent seconds, Irvine frowned, his plan to stay unnoticed forgotten. "Wait–Van, you're not fighting with us?"

Van's eyes fell to the floor, his voice quiet. "Um...no, I'm not."

Irvine's eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth, but Reese cut him off with a smirk. "He's coming with me."

Irvine coughed. "Pardon?"

Hermann sighed, running a hand over his eyes. "Lieutenant Flyheight and Reese are going into Evopolis alone while the zoids are distracted by our main force."

Raven made a sound in the back of his throat. "So, you're saying that we're decoys?" A flurry of whispers rose from the nervous soldiers standing by him.

Thomas winced. If you want to think of it that way... "Well, of a sort, yes." The whispers turned into murmurs.

The maverick narrowed his violet eyes. "Is it worth it?"

Hermann raised his voice, claiming authority again, and the room fell quiet. "That depends on how much your zoid is worth to you, Raven. But," his eyes scanned the faces before him, "it's more than that. This is the ultimate battle for survival. This may be our only chance to confront the zoids and have half a chance of winning. In case you haven't noticed, every odd is stacked against us. We have to give everything we have, or else it's over. Put aside your differences and remember your reason for fighting–maybe then we'll actually win."

Thomas flashed briefly on the image of a happy little girl with trusting green eyes...and nodded, mostly to himself. Around the room, everyone was deep in his or her own thoughts, seemingly dwelling on memories similar to his.

Hermann stood. "All of you are the best. Your prowess with zoids has called you to duty, and now it's time to serve your planet." He ended in a respectful salute. One by one, the soldiers in the room mirrored him. Irvine closed his eyes, and Raven and Reese didn't make a move to do anything. After a long moment, Hermann relaxed. "Thank you. You are dismissed."

Slowly, the room emptied. The various soldiers filtered out, and Colonel Shubaltz went to escort Marianne back to her rooms. Hermann slumped wearily into his chair, rubbing his hands over his eyes. A hand on his arm made him look up in surprise, only to meet the ancient eyes of Doctor D.

The old man smiled. "Your father would be proud," he said quietly.

For the first time in a long time, Hermann allowed a smile.

-

It was only a few hours later, as dusk began to fall, that Reese heard footsteps approaching as she waited in a small alcove of a narrow hall. Her eyes closed, she smiled, and felt Raven pass. She opened her eyes and stared at his back, and he spared half a glance over his shoulder at her.

She acknowledged Raven with a smirk and narrowing of her turquoise eyes. "Never thought I'd see you fighting on Flyheight's side again, Raven."

He turned a venomous glare to her. "What was that?"

She examined her nails. "Actually, I never thought I'd see you fighting without the Genobreaker." She brought wicked eyes to his again. "You always were one to hide behind your zoid."

With a growl, Raven grabbed Reese's wrists and slammed her back against the wall, caging her body with his own. Leaning in close, he snarled, "Don't mess with me, Reese." He tone became mocking. "Besides, rumor has it that you're Hermann's chief informant."

Reese shrugged, or as much as she was able, considering that her shoulders were trapped at an awkward angle. "It concerns matters you wouldn't understand."

"What, your pride?" The iron grip loosened slightly.

"Maybe." She half-shrugged again.

"You think I don't understand pride, Reese?" Raven made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat.

Reese quirked her eyebrows. "Not my pride, Raven. You don't know my sort of pride, not at all."

Raven rolled his eyes and finally dropped her wrists. "I'm not fighting with, alongside, or for Flyheight. I'm taking the only option left to me, which is to fight for the right to live. And," his tone turned icy, "I don't, nor have I ever, hidden behind my zoid."

"Unless you count your organoid." Ignoring his malevolent warning glare, Reese went on airily, "Where is Shadow, by the way? Is he waiting...or has he abandoned you?" She raised her eyes to meet his again, but he didn't answer.

Raven's violet eyes were unreadable and stony, but after a moment, Reese's lips curved in a smile. "I see," she purred. "I always knew Shadow was special...but I never dreamed he could resist Eve's pull. Especially without the benefit of the presence of an Ancient Zoidian," she added as an afterthought and a sly twist of her gaze.

Raven hooded his eyes. "Yeah, well...Shadow is stronger than that."

"Of course he is, darling." Reese smirked at the flicker of discomfort that crossed his face, but then she cocked her head to the side, as if she was listening to something. After a few seconds, she focused her gaze on the hallway behind them. Raven followed her gaze, but when nothing happened for a moment, he opened his mouth to say something...and then Van rounded the corner.

The lieutenant drew up short, blinking in surprise. He clearly hadn't expected to see either Raven or Reese having a seemingly normal conversation in that particular hallway. He opened his mouth to break the awkward silence, but Reese cut him off.

"Well, come on, then, let's go." She waved at Raven, smirking. "See you around, darling. Flyheight, I was talking to you, come on." Van hesitantly followed her. He and Raven each did his best to ignore the other, their earlier confrontation unacknowledged.

When Van finally caught up to Reese's brisk walk, he blurted, "Where are we going? And why? I haven't gotten any orders–"

"Your organoid."

"What?"

Reese shot him a scornful look. "Your organoid. What's-his-name. He's–"

"Zeke."

"Yeah, Zeke. He was sick, right?"

Van blinked. "Oh, yeah, he was. How did you–"

"The old man told me. I want to check on him."

Van stopped walking. Reese kept going, and he stared after her retreating back. He smiled faintly. They really...aren't so different, after all.

Reese suddenly stopped, throwing an icy glare over her shoulder. "Stop comparing me to your girlfriend, would you?"

"Wha–!" Van's eyes went wide. "Stay out of my head!" he snapped indignantly.

Reese glare faded to a wicked smirk, and she turned and kept walking. Van hurried up to her side, his cheeks flushed. "If you mean Fiona–"

"Who else, stupid?"

"–then you're wrong. She's not my, um, girlfriend."

Reese rolled her eyes. "Whatever you want to call it." She rounded another corner and ducked into an open supply room. Or, at least, what was supposed to be a supply room.

About four or five mattresses had been spread on the floor of the large, dark room, spaced substantially away from each other. On the one closest to the door lay Zeke, stretched out on his side, snoring loudly. Reese spared him a quick glance, and then she went to the makeshift bed in the darkest corner.

Kneeling by the mattress, Reese smiled fondly. "Oh, there you are, love." Her organoid purred, pushing her head into her mistress's small hands. Reese ran her fingers over Specular's smooth blue metal plates, but found neither a scratch nor a scrape. "I see they've been treating you right...put them in their places if they don't."

The organoid hissed an affirmative, and Reese smiled in pride. "That's my girl." The girl dragged herself to her feet and walked back to where Van sat at Zeke's side. She glanced in the other corners of the room, but saw nothing. She shrugged. "Funny, I thought Shadow would be here. I should have known that he wouldn't, though. He has to keep an eye on Raven."

She knelt beside the silver organoid. She started to reach out to him, but hesitated. She smirked and said, "You know, I could return the favor and compare you to Raven." She met Van's dark eyes. "The only difference between the two of you is that you care."

Van glared at her, all surprise forgotten. "Is not. I'm not like him at all. He hates zoids, and besides..." His voice grew quieter. "Raven has killed so many times that it doesn't matter to him anymore."

Reese startled him again by laughing. "You can't be serious. First of all, Raven is just stubborn, and can't admit that he's wrong. He loves Shadow with all his heart, and would rather die than lose him again. Second of all..." She laughed again, more coldly this time.

"There is no way you can be that naïve. You have been fighting wars for about seven years now–do you honestly think that you haven't killed in that time? Practically the only zoid battles you've ever lost were against Raven, and you almost killed him.

"Think about it. To completely disable a zoid, you would have to hit either the cockpit or the core, and the latter sets off an explosion large enough to destroy the cockpit, anyway. There aren't many survivors of a detonation like that." She stopped for breath. "So, tell me, Flyheight, how many lives have you stolen? And how many did you regret taking? I know for a fact that you didn't shed tears over Hiltz or Prozen's graves. Or Eve's, for that matter.

"I suppose I should be grateful that you couldn't quite manage to kill the mother of all zoids. Not that it's for lack of your trying, that is. Maybe, in the end, it falls on your shoulders, to drive the Zoid Eve to such anger that she–"

"Shut up."

Reese smirked at the quiet fury seething beneath the surface of Van's words. She shrugged in a half-hearted attempt to smother her amusement, and reached out her hands to stroke Zeke's snout.

The organoid awoke with a startled grunt, but then relaxed warily into her touch. Unlike Specular, his hide was scratched quite badly in some places, and at the base of his tail were what looked suspiciously like tooth-punctures. Reese ignored it and let her eyes drift shut and cleared her mind, an open invitation to the organoid before her. She could have forcefully extracted the information, but zoids were much more ancient and wise than the arrogant humans that presumed to claim them. It would have been equally arrogant and disrespectful to violate such a soul.

The organoid didn't seem as sick as the old man had claimed, and there was no reason to believe that he had never been less than this complacent. She frowned. Very odd. Without Fiona around, he should have at least lashed about a little...but there it was. The message she received from him was uselessly cryptic, and delighted in its simplicity.

She's here.

-

"We're here." Thomas took a deep, steadying breath, and examined the computer equipment spread before him. He sat in the main control room of the Ultrasaurus, and a view of the looming mountains greeted his eyes. The Valley of the Rare Hertz was there, all of the zoids were there, and Fiona was there...all waiting.

Dawn was still a few hours away, and it was the time of night when everything was still, still to the point of insanity. He was alone in the darkened console area, and was grateful for the comforting hum of the monitor in front of him. The information scrolling across the screen told him that the Di-Bison was directly in the Ultrasaurus's path, waiting for the fortress zoid to come into range. Beke had been there, in fact, for a few hours, having overshot the time it would take the hindered zoid to reach the rendezvous point.

"I have...one minute." Thomas took another deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. He and Beke would have to target the barely-patched armor on the Ultrasaurus's chest–it was huge, and there was, supposedly, margin for error. Each of the cannons would have to hit the same place to bring down the zoid at least fifty times its size, though. One shot, one chance.

"Thirty seconds." The battle started at dawn. There wasn't a sleeping soul on the Ultrasaurus, excepting maybe the organoids. Everyone was too tense, waiting for the instant when the fortress zoid went crashing back down to the earth.

"Ten..." Thomas's finger hovered over the button that would send a signal to Beke. He tore his gaze briefly from the screen to strain his eyes against the darkness, but the Bison was cloaked in darkness. He turned back to the computer, and whispered, "Megalomax...fire." Then he pushed the button with a deep exhalation.

For a moment, it seemed that nothing would happen, and Thomas felt sickening despair welling within him. Then a low hum caught his attention, and he glanced outside in time to see a small star bloom jarringly below him. The Ultrasaurus shrieked in its low, haunting notes, and smoke billowed from its chest to plume around its neck. The world tilted crazily, and then the ground was rushing up to meet the zoid.

Thomas grabbed the more important equipment and braced himself against one of the many chairs perched on the upper console area. With a deep, jarring boom, the zoid finally came to a rest, its crushing descent halted by the beginnings of a valley on either of its sides.

Thomas hesitated, and then picked himself up unsteadily. A sharp grating sounded briefly, but shuddered to a stop. The zoid was damaged almost beyond repair, this time. Low creaks and groans echoed throughout the hull as the monstrous weight settled. Wobbling on the skewed floor, he muttered again, "We're here."

And with that, he knew that the point of no return was gone.