Tralala... Wow, this is going fast. I've really missed posting. Oh, and I've done a lotta art for this--the links tomy deviantARTaccount isin my bio, but most of the stuff I've done, I did quite a while ago. Ergo, it isn't presentable. Maybe I'll find some of the better ones and post them, or something.

Anyways. It was right around this chapter that I started having serious fantasies about a badass-Reese/Eve-Fiona catfight. It would be so cool, I swear. And I mean on somewhat level ground...god, this is what techno does to me. Make it stop.

The Second Renaissance

Part Four: The Age of Aquarius

-

II. Nexus

"In terms of prophecy, we are currently in an epoch of enormous change. The millennium has recently passed, and with it has ended the two-thousand-year-long Age of Pisces... As any astrological symbologist will tell you, the Piscean ideal believes that man must be told what to do by higher powers because man is incapable of thinking for himself. Now, however, we are entering the Age of Aquarius–the water bearer–whose ideals claim that man will learn the truth and be able to think for himself. The ideological shift is enormous, and it is occurring right now..."

-Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code

-

The chilling silence that captivated the battlefield lasted only a short while. With a roar, the zoids charged in an overwhelming wave of doom. A charged particle beam roared across the sand, melting it into globules of molten glass. In answer, Raven's Genosaurer responded with a similar attack.

And so, the true battle for survival began.

Reese slowly approached the outer guardrail of the Ultrasaurus' hull, a smile balanced on her lips. Explosions echoed deeply from the battlefield, the roars and dying screams of clashing zoids blending together into a cacophonous tumult. The hot afternoon sun burned away the last remnants of the morning's haze, revealing the steep walls of the Valley of the Rare Hertz that were so touchably close.

Running her tongue over her teeth, Reese ginned and tightened her gloves. Experimentally clenching her fists, she murmured, "Are you ready, Specular?"

Harshly clanking footsteps and a soft hiss answered her. Reese clapped her hands and pulled her goggles from their perch amongst her bangs to cover her eyes. Viewing the world in a deep, rich green, she shot a glance over her shoulder. "What about you? Are you ready?"

Van stood behind her, a hand on his organoid's neck. He nodded, his face set in grim determination. Reese noted with slight irritation that he'd ignored her advice and was wearing the plain white short-sleeved shirt he'd worn for the last day or so. He'd refused the heavy jacket and shoulder holster she'd suggested, as well. He had, however, managed the small mobile comm. link that clipped directly onto the ear, as well as the double holster-combination-harness that allowed for more mobility and storage of equipment. It was empty, but for a few loops of rope.

She rolled her eyes and checked her own paraphernalia. Her jacket–idiot, he'd regret it soon enough–was rolled to her elbows and rubbed comfortably against the revolver tucked under her shoulder. A metal flashlight bumped against her right thigh, and a tight coil of rope swished against her left.

Satisfied, Reese smirked. Yes, they were all ready. She stretched her arms. "Well, then...let's fly." With that, she grabbed one of Specular's mandibles and swung up to perch precariously on the organoid's shoulders. She grinned and mentally urged Specular on. With no further provocation, the organoid took off.

Specular swooped dangerously low into the battlefield, and Reese clenched her hands tighter on the organoid's mandibles. The battle was suddenly right there, not something far away and irrelevant. A Liger leapt forward to rip out the throat of a nameless opponent, and roared in bloodlust. An Iron Kong beat its chest and swung around to deck a Red Horn, burying its mighty fist deep into the other zoid's innards. A Hel-Digunner hissed, darting forward to latch onto a Rev Raptor, stubbornly holding on until its opponent's leg collapsed. Reese shivered and hugged Specular's neck tighter, throwing her gaze to the Valley walls before them.

It was as she scanned the rock for the familiar cleft that Specular suddenly hissed and twisted midair. Reese shrieked and locked her feet together as the organoid leaned into a barrel roll. A sizzling violet beam roared by where they'd been just seconds earlier. She flattened her body to Specular's back, but clenched her jaw as the organoid shuddered–she'd been hit.

Reese's world tilted even more crazily, and lurched at a dangerous angle to the ground. She looked up in time to see the Rare Hertz desert rushing straight at her face. Specular slammed into the sand, and her tight grip was wrenched loose. She hit the ground hard on her back and rolled, the abrasive sand burning her bare skin; she tumbled to a stop lying flat on her back and staring at the cerulean sky. After a few seconds, she sat up with a hand on her dizzy head, blinking furiously. The sky and desert swirled into one for a moment, and then finally arranged themselves, reality seeping back in the roars of battling zoids. The sand shuddered faintly with each massive explosion.

"Reese!"

She turned in time to see Van swing from Zeke's back. The organoid, thus unburdened, shuffled to where Specular lay, stretched out on the sand. Reese gasped and scrambled across the sands to the blue organoid's side. She swatted Zeke away, and Van knelt on Specular's other side, pulling his goggles down to rest around his neck.

Her frantic hands explored the organoid's hide, even though the trouble was painfully obvious: the left portion of Specular's back was melted, and one booster was almost totally destroyed. Reese swallowed hard. "Specular? Can you...move?"

By way of answering, the organoid hissed softly and struggled to her feet. Reese let out her breath in a weary sigh and relaxed. Sinking back down, she met Van's eyes.

He blinked at her. "Well...what now?"

She pushed her flight goggles up wearily and looked to the Valley walls, the base of them only a hundred feet away. She pointed to where the shadows seemed to lie oddly in the bright afternoon sunlight. "There. We go down to the Kaiser's old cave."

She dragged herself to her feet and put a hand on Specular's shoulder. "But not you." She narrowed her pale eyes and pointed to Zeke. "Or you." She glanced at Van. "They'll have to go the long way around."

"What? Why?"

"Because." She started walking, limping a little. "The stairwell is too narrow. Organoids don't fit." The cool shadow of the Valley fell across her, and she peered up, pointing. "There, see? They'll go up and over and meet us inside."

Specular brushed past her and buried her clawed feet deeply into the rosy stone. With a powerful kick, the organoid leapt off the ledge and touched off on ladder-like outcrops, gaining altitude at an alarming rate. Zeke followed, more slowly and reluctantly. Both Van and Reese stared after them until the glaring reflection of the sun prevented it.

Reese shook her head and started towards the seemingly solid cliff wall. She glanced irritably at Van, who hadn't moved. "Come on, already." Then she slipped into the rock.

Van blinked, dubiously following her, and found himself in a shady alcove. Reese stood before him, a blank look on her face as she stared into a three-foot wide hole in the ground, gaping into the solid rock. He glanced around; that was it, the only thing in the small space.

As Reese muttered, "I don't understand...what happened?" he finally grasped the situation. The so-called "stairwell" wasn't there.

With the scuff of his boot, Van confirmed the obvious: the loosened pebbles tumbled down into a dizzying drop, a hollow clacking echoing back. He didn't wait for them to hit bottom. Turning to Reese, he said uneasily, "Is it, ah, supposed to be like that?"

She recovered and shot back derisively, "Why? You scared?" But, after a moment of staring into the sheer black drop, her expression changed to one of slight despair. "But, no. There used to be steps." She coughed. "A lot of steps."

Van shrugged, unhooking the coil of rope from his belt. "Well, we'll just have to rappel down. No big deal."

Reese stared into the black hole uneasily. "Yeah, I guess."

-

The light at the very top of the vertical tunnel was just beginning to fade to nothing when Van heard Reese swear loudly.

He locked his gear, then peered down past his feet, where he could barely see a dim spot of blue. "Reese? You okay?"

She looked up at him, yelling, "The stupid cave's full of water!"

"Uh-oh." Van turned his gaze up, to the tiny circle of light so far above them. We can't go back up, it's too far... He glanced down again and said, "We have to keep going, there's no other way."

When Van's voice echoed down to her, Reese's eyes went wide in disbelief. "What! But it's cold!" She shook off her wet foot again, shuddering at the memory of the sensation of freezing water seeping into her boot.

"Deal with it! Come on, Reese."

She scowled, wrapping the rope above her around her left wrist several times, then went with her right hand to unhook the heavy clip suspending her above the water. "Easy for him to say," she grumbled. "He didn't just get his foot dunked in that stuff." Finally, she was hanging free, supported only by her left hand. "Are you sure?" she yelled.

"Reese. Go. Now."

She grimaced, and took a moment to pull her goggles over her eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut out of reflex, and released the rope. She plunged into the water feet first, and only went down a few feet before surging up again to break the surface, gasping. "Holy...freaking...cold..." She glared up malevolently to Van's form, and growled, "C-come on in, the water's g-great."

A couple of seconds later, he did, splashing down beside her. He struggled to the surface, gasping from the shock. "Gods. That's...cold."

Reese, her teeth chattering, glowered at him. "Brilliant. Bloody freaking b-brilliant. Now what, genius?"

Van returned her glare through the green glass of his own goggles, but then held out his hand. "Give me your flashlight," he demanded. She sighed and handed it over. Taking a deep breath, he ducked underwater, and managed to keep Reese from kicking him in the head. The flashlight's beam did nothing to penetrate the gloom, only illuminating the jagged rock wall to his right, and a murky view of the uneven floor. He kicked hard, and broke the surface again, spitting water.

Reese looked to him expectantly. "Well? Any more b-bright ideas?" Her chattering teeth made it difficult to look menacing.

Van clicked the light off, throwing them into semi-darkness. "I hope you're a good swimmer."

"You can't b-be serious." Reese clenched her jaw and clipped her words. "The entrance to the city is too far. We won't make it."

Van shrugged. "Not if you think like that–or if we keep sitting here, for that matter. Treading water will only make us tired," he added.

Reese glared at him, gritting her teeth. After a moment, though, she sighed. "Fine. Fine. If we die, it's your fault." She grabbed her flashlight back from him and flicked it on. She tested the tightness of her goggles again, and with one last vehement scowl, took a deep breath and dove.

Van gave a triumphant, "Heh," and followed closely after her.

The cave was quite a lot bigger than he'd first expected, stalagmites jutting up to meet their cousins in an endless jagged landscape. There was no visible life in the cavern, but that was probably due to a groundwater leak of some sort...which would explain why it was so cold.

The pressure steadily increased, pressing ominously on his ears as he ducked down to avoid hitting the toothed stalactites. The muted beam of Reese's flashlight bounced around on the rocks below them, briefly illuminating vague shapes. The deafening silence pressed in with simple and relentless force, broken only by the muted burbling of air bubbles rising to some invisible surface.

Hours seemed to pass in the murky gloom, even though Van knew for a fact that he could only hold his breath for two minutes. The water made everything dreamlike and slow, and the gliding texture of the water added to the illusion of a trance.

A flashlight beam in Van's face startled him into pulling up sharply. Reese glared at him from behind the light, her hair in a cerulean halo around her pale features. She gestured emphatically at a slender crack in the jagged cave wall. Studying it, Van realized that it was the passage; upheavals after the Deathsaurer's final resistance had disengaged the cave's floor and made it almost level with the ceiling.

He waved at her; she rolled her eyes and swam up to the crack in a flurry of opalescent bubbles, sliding through with little room to spare. He followed gingerly behind in the almost pitch-black water, and squirmed through the opening. Smooth rock stretched before his nose in bare, bouncing illumination, and he pushed off with his hands, only to burst unexpectedly through the surface.

Reese looked back at him, and rolled her eyes again. She pulled her goggles down to rest around her neck and flipped soggy bangs from her eyes. "Hurry up." She shivered. "It's c-cold." With that, she turned and sloshed away through the now waist-deep water.

Van yanked his own goggles off and followed her, ruffling a hand through his hair. The water became increasingly shallower, until it lapped at his knees. Slanted stairs climbed crazily from the dark water, and Reese perched on the top step, catching her breath. The light sat beside her and shone toward the distant ceiling. Van sat down heavily at her side, and vigorously shook out his hair, throwing water droplets everywhere.

After a few drippy moments, Reese fumbled for the flashlight at her side, her teeth chattering. She heaved herself onto her knees, and clicked it on, sweeping the beam around in a wide arc. When the dark stone fell away into the surrounding darkness, she squinted hard, almost certain that it was the right passage.

But then she caught a glimpse of something no girl should ever hope to see: two golden eyes, glinting at her from the inky black. Reese shrieked and promptly dropped the flashlight, plunging them back into darkness.

Van sighed, his hands already slapping wetly on the rock in search of the light. "Smooth move, Reese."

She gasped indignantly. "Don't blame me! There's something there! "

"Really." Van closed his fingers on the light, and smacked it a few times, watching it for signs of life. After a moment, the bulb flickered back into being, successfully high beaming him. Blinking his eyes hard, Van held the light to his temple and squinted into the darkness. After a moment, he turned to Reese with a skeptical expression. "Chicken. It's just your dumb organoid."

Reese coughed in surprise and pushed herself to her feet, shivering. "Specular?" A soft hiss answered her, and she sighed. "Well, it scared me. Come on, let's keep going." She smoothed her hair down and out of her eyes, trying to tuck it into some semblance of order. She stood, peeling off her jacket to wring it out over the stone floor. Pulling off the mobile comm. link, she threw it to the floor and stamped on it in disgust. "Stupid thing," she muttered. "The water ruined it."

The beam of the flashlight shone brightly past her. "Zeke? Hey, Zeke?" A growl answered Van, and the silver organoid slipped around Specular to greet his master. Specular herself clanked forward, pushing her snout into Reese's wet gloves.

The girl smiled. "I'm glad to see you made it, darling. Now," she shivered. "Let's go find some sun, all right?" Specular hissed and started into the darkness. Reese glared over her shoulder. "Flyheight!" she snapped. "Give me that flashlight." He surrendered it without question, just a wary look. She shone if forward and started walking. "Come on, I'm cold." He sighed and trudged wearily after her, Zeke at his side.

Specular led them through the thick darkness, navigating what seemed to have been a short passage once; it was littered with gigantic piles of shattered rock, and the walls leaned threateningly. Vegetation crept up the walls in solitary and wan-looking vines–nature taking back what was rightfully hers, even in the shadows.

Finally, a small rectangle of light appeared in a sliver, a wash of golden daylight encroaching upon the almost total darkness. Reese sighed in relief and flicked off the flashlight, tucking it back in its sling. The rectangle proved to be a crack between two huge doors, the hinges locked with rust.

Reese frowned. "Specular. Push, please." The organoid willingly stepped forward and thrust her head against the large door on the left. Her metal talons screeched on the stone as she strained against the great weight, and her tail lashed. With a roar, Zeke leapt to help, and finally the door began to shriek in protest. Slowly, it swung open, flooding the passage in light. Reese blinked hard, and then made her way through the doorway.

The ruined ceiling of the huge corridor allowed the rich sunlight to bathe the dark stone in gold, and scraggly desert plants hung over the jagged rock edges. Vast columns stood sentry, guarding the silent hall. The center of Evopolis lay at the end of the large passage that continued on, and ruined rooftops peeked over the protective valley walls that wound around the structures.

Sighing in relief, the girl spread her jacket on the warm stone, and sat down, facing the doors. She finger-combed the tangles from her hair as Van sat beside her, a strange look on his face.

"What are you doing?"

She glanced at him. "What do you mean, what am I doing? What does it look like I'm doing?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Wasting time."

"Am not." She shrugged her holster from her shoulders and laid it out to dry, too. "I'm cold. I'm wet. We're going that way, so I'll want to be dry," she pointed to the dim innards of the city. "We need a plan...and I really want to look at those doors."

He gave her a dirty look and sighed in exasperation. "I still say we're wasting time. We need to get this over with and get back. Thomas and Irvine will need help, I think."

Reese snorted, standing to brush herself off. "As if. They looked like they had it covered." Ignoring Van's mutter of "Not really," she approached the huge doors, running her hands over the engravings on them. She peered closely at the markings on the doors. "It's a good these thing stayed open–they took a password." After a moment, she blinked. "Oh. Never mind. Silly. I guess I forgot."

Sounding as bored as he could manage, Van asked. "What was it?"

She raised her eyebrows, glancing back at him. "You honestly don't remember? The key to the end of the world: Fiona." She stared at him, as if it was the most common thing in the world.

Van thought for a moment–the phrase did sound familiar. "But...why?" He felt oddly redundant, asking that again.

Reese turned back to looking at the doors, and was silent a long time, but then she suddenly asked, "Did you give her the name?" She didn't look at him.

Van took a minute to register exactly what she meant, his mind scrambling. "Oh, Fiona? No...it was one of the first things she said. I...just figured it was her name, is all." He shrugged uncomfortably.

Reese's eyes slid to him, and then she nodded absently, her gaze going back to the runes. "The name...Fiona...it's derived from Fionulla." She hesitated. "It was...the name of Zoid Eve's–supposed–once-human form. According to legend, anyway." She swallowed hard. "Just a...stupid story, is all." She ran her fingers across the stone of the giant doors. "But her name...was the password to the sacred city of Evopolis."

-

Wave after wave of zoids crashed onto the small human resistance; the sharp staccato shots melted together into a continuous boom. The comm. links were choked with static and frantic cries for help. Sand flew in an erratic golden rain. The roars of the zoids held a distinctly triumphant note.

Irvine gritted his teeth, directing the Blade Liger to slash through a Dark Horn. As it exploded, a Guysack landed on his back, raising a huge claw menacingly, ready to drive it through the Liger's boosters. He yelled and aimed one blade's pulse laser rifle straight up; he fired and shot the zoid through its core. As it collapsed with a shriek, Irvine punched open a comm. link. "Hermann! What's our status?"

A visual link came up, but it showed nothing but static. There was no answer, and he growled, closing it again. "We're cut off." He gunned the thrusters and shot forward to latch onto a Gunsniper's throat, and twisted until the torque ripped it out. He followed up with shots from his pulse laser cannons, felling a Zaber Fang.

"I really start to wonder...are we doing the right thing?" he muttered to himself. He sloppily sliced through a Rev Raptor, and its oversized foreclaw carved out a shallow cut on the Liger's chest.

"What makes us so sure that we are right?" He clenched his jaw and batted away a Molga that had launched itself at the Liger's cockpit. His eyes narrowed, and suddenly there was an awful, bitter taste in his mouth. "Can we...can we honestly say that we have more of a right to live than they?"

He growled, hating how he doubted himself, and let the destruction spiral away, out of control. His hands were working automatically, fingers dancing across the levers and consoles before him. The Liger roared in an echo of his feeling, and ripped into the other zoids with blind and terrible rage. Explosions bloomed in a whirlwind of fire around him, wreathing the cockpit in sparks. The Liger's blades were glowing Zabers, slicing cleanly through reinforced armor, cores and gun barrels alike. There, a Zaber Fang. A Command Wolf. A Dark Horn. Then, in a blur and flash of light, they were all gone, obliterated by the awesome firepower that the Liger hid so well.

And then there was a strange shape before him. The Liger stumbled, and Irvine blinked at the Gustav cutting across his path. He grinned wickedly. "Easy. Can't you–" And then the zoid's trailer exploded in a deafening crash.

The Liger roared in pain, thrown back by the blast. It flipped over and crashed into the sand, then lay motionless. The fire in Irvine's veins died, and he became suddenly aware of a maddening numbness that filled his head. He groaned and gingerly touched his forehead–his fingers came away sticky with blood.

"Irvine! What happened?" Thomas's voice was frantic. "Are you okay?"

He grimaced. "Yeah, I'm fine." He pulled the zoid back to its feet, and scowled to find that he'd been thrown far to the side–the battle continued on without him. "It was a Gustav, loaded with explosives. Or something."

"A suicide bomb?"

The warm drip of blood down his forehead made Irvine grimace again. "Looks that way. Killed quite a few of its own along with it, too."

Thomas shivered. "A terrorist. Did they learn that trick from us...or vice versa?" Irvine didn't answer.

Thomas shook his head and stole a look around. The main defensive line was weakly holding fast. Fatalities were relatively low so far, but anything could happen.After the Gustav... He counted silently. "Seventeen. That's about...thirty-five left." He purposely didn't add any units to the statistics. Not seventeen dead zoids, seventeen dead soldiers, Imperials or Republicans. Not seventeen dead comrades. Seven years in the military had taught him that.

Don't think, just act.

Strategy has worn itself out, and now there was only room for an all-out mêlée. Raven and Irvine continued to wreak their own sort of havoc, but he was silently grateful for it; they kept a tight hold on the middle and north edges of the desert battlefield, and had yet to be seriously pushed back. It was, however, only a matter of time.

Nothing could hold out forever.

Thomas shook his head and focused again on the battle at hand. "Hey, Beke. How are we doing on batteries?"

A little diagram popped up in the corner of the screen–half-charged. He let out his breath gustily. They were doing better than he'd though. As long as the battle didn't drag on as long again as it had, then everything would be fine. As long as Van and Reese were successful in their mysterious mission in time, then everything would be fine. If the batteries died before then...he shivered. Best not to think about it. "What if"s could kill.

Beke beeped, and crimson circles showered the screen. There came a low hum as the Megalomax cannons warmed, and he didn't look away as the cockpit's screens filled with blinding gold.

-

Reese stood, flapping out her jacket. She smiled in satisfaction when she wasn't splattered with water droplets, and pulled the sleeves up her arms. She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, time to move."

Van scowled at her and pushed himself to his feet. "It's about time."

Reese just gave him a look and flipped up her flashlight. "C'mon, Specular, let's go." Her organoid gave a sibilant noise and rose to walk beside her.

Van stared after her a moment, distrust warring with anxiety in his dark eyes. Zeke clanked to his side and stared at him, growling a soft question. For a few long seconds, Reese and Specular's footsteps were the only sound in the quiet hall–even the sounds of the battle were muted to nothing. Finally, he swallowed hard and followed after her, jogging to catch up. Zeke trotted at his side, not entirely oblivious to his master's distress.

The hallway stretched on and on, the shadows silent and unmoving, undisturbed in the long years since their last awakening. Van personally found it to be creepy, but Reese was unaffected, and walked on, unfazed...so he didn't say anything about it. The place was so utterly devoid of life that it was disconcerting, and he wondered if Reese really thought that Fiona was in the city somewhere.

As if she had read his thoughts–maybe she had–Reese suddenly stopped and looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. "So...just curious, but did Fiona say anything odd to you right before she disappeared? I mean, like especially and specifically odd?"

Van blinked, taken aback. Reese waited for an answer, as if it was a common and conversationalist question. He frowned. "No, I don't think so, why?"

She shrugged, looking away. "Oh, no reason. I just thought that she probably knew it was coming, is all. Never mind." She shrugged again and kept walking.

Van blocked her way. "What do you mean, she probably knew it was coming?" He glared at her nonchalant expression.

"What do you mean, what do I mean? She's a Pre-Cog." She let this sink in, and then added, "Duh." After a moment, she sighed in exasperation at Van's blank look. She put a hand to her forehead and mimicked shrilly, "I see it coming! Death, doom, destruction!" She let the hand drop and asked in her normal voice, "Sound familiar?"

She pushed past him, and Van let her, scowling darkly. A few steps later, she stopped and turned, a disbelieving look crossing her features. "Don't tell me you never even considered her abilities?"

Van shifted uncomfortably. "Not...really." He shrugged. "Does it matter?"

She stared at him. "Of course it does!" Then, "How could you not notice? Jeez, it's like a beacon or something...I didn't think it was possible to miss." She turned to face him, and counted on her fingers. "She's a Pre-Cog–oh, sorry, Pre-Cognitive–she can Dowse, and I'm pretty sure that she has the most mental sensitivity that I've ever heard of before." She shrugged. "Whatever. I guess it really doesn't matter, anyway." With that, she turned and kept walking. Specular cocked her head at him, and then turned to follow her mistress.

Van gave an exasperated sigh. "Reese."

She stopped again, impatient. "What?"

"Is there a particular reason that you hate me?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Don't flatter yourself, Flyheight. I wouldn't waste my time hating you. But," she thought for a few seconds, and then shook her head, smirking. "Nope, sorry. No good reason."

Van rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Never mind. Forget I asked." Reese smiled at his frustration and kept walking.

The dark hallway soon opened into muted sunlight, the skyline of Evopolis suddenly stretching before them. The wide walkway went further, into the very heart of the city, while crumbling skyscrapers loomed dangerously over it, their shadows lurching across the path.

Reese looked briefly down the walkway, but then shook her head and went to the worn edge of the stone. She sat down and pushed herself off, her boots tapping down on the first step of the huge support pillar's spiral staircase. Van dropped heavily down beside her, and narrowly avoided losing his balance.

He glanced irritably at her. "Why do we have to go this way? What was wrong with that?" He pointed vaguely back up.

Reese shrugged. "That leads to the Zoid Eve's console area, and I'm pretty sure it collapsed last time." With that, she started down, trailing the fingers of her left hand against the reassuring wall, and her voice bounced against the stone. "Fiona's probably down here, anyway."

A crash right behind Van made him jump and yelp. Zeke head-butted him forward, and he edged out of the way. It was just in time, because he had serious doubts that Specular would have waited for him to be safely clear of danger. He scowled at them, then turned follow Reese; clanking footsteps behind him made him uneasily eye the unguarded edge that toppled out into nothing. The stairs wound dizzyingly about the pillar, and their steep tilt was disorienting. The smoothly carved wall escorted them down, forever down; its stone bore faded paintings or etchings. The contents of the artwork were unintelligible, for the wear of centuries had taken its toll and disguised them with dust and age.

The stairs twisted dizzily around and around for what seemed like hours, but the stone floor below was slowly coming closer, and the hollow tap of their boots and the steps of the organoids were becoming shallow sounds. The spirals finally loosened to become wider, and began to level out somewhat. When the steps spilled into another wide hallway, Van sighed in relief and leaned wearily against the pillar.

Reese stood a little way away, staring straight up. The walkway that led to the console was far, far above them, and the skyscrapers' roofs further still. She had forgotten how small it felt, to stand on the streets of her ruined city, for it was, undeniably, hers...or, at least, it had been. Now, it was just a conglomeration or crumbling stone and buried memories. She shook her head and looked down to see Van eyeing her critically.

She blinked at him. "What?"

"How close are we? How much longer?"

She shrugged. "Fiona is probably close to where the Zoid Eve was." She pointed along the same route that the walkway above took. "There, in the heart of Evopolis."

And so, once again, they began to walk.

-

She could feel them getting restless, and their burning desire to fight. Their desperate, animalistic need to triumph was growing, and beginning to override all her commands and reassurances. They were impatient and vindictive–a bad combination. The first ones had sacrificed themselves readily, and the second ones were tearing into the humans with all their might. This third group was erroneous, but they didn't care. They still wanted vengeance.

She felt the power of them all, blended within her own muscles and sinews, felt it and marveled at it. They were capable of so much, and yet still bowed to her small power...all for a weak human sentiment. She felt their self-righteousness, their anger, their thirst for revenge. They deserved their vengeance; they had waited long enough. But mostly, she felt them surging against the limits she had placed upon them.

With an effortless shrug of her mind, she set them free to rush forward unchecked. "Go," she hissed. "Let them suffer for what they have done to you. Let them bleed..."

-

Blood. It was everywhere at once, a warm gush of liquid that refused to stop. Reese gasped and clapped her hands to her face, trying to staunch the flow of crimson liquid that poured from her nose. Her palms quickly filled with it, turning them an unpleasant vermilion, and she stumbled to a halt.

A couple of drops splattered from her fingers to the stone floor, and she coughed, trying to keep her head tilted back. It just ran into her mouth, and she choked, her vision swimming.

Van turned around, startled, in time to see her sink to the ground dizzily. He approached her hunched form cautiously as she took deep, rasping breaths. Upon reaching her, he put a hesitant hand on her shoulder, and she jerked, inclining her head toward him slightly, her hands still covering her mouth and nose.

"Are you...okay?" he asked, wide-eyed.

Eyes closing, Reese shook her head. She turned back to the ground and opened her hands, letting a cascade of blood fall from her palms to the floor. Van recoiled as she coughed, spitting out more of the ruby liquid. A trickle of it still ran from her nose, but it slowly diminished to nothing. After a long moment, she wiped her face on her sleeve, and it left a bright smear.

She glanced up at Van and coughed, starting to get out one word of explanation...and then the floor began to tremble. Van swallowed hard and darted his glance around as thunder echoed against the dark stone. Reese pulled herself to her feet via Specular, and said hoarsely, "C'mon, move it." She lurched to one of the huge pillars and crouched behind its bulk. Van followed suit nervously.

Soon the rumbling became clearer, more pronounced, and finally separated into crashing footsteps. Zoids marched by in a colorful blur of gleaming canopies and glinting claws, and loose pebbles on the stone floor rattled in a rapid staccato. Their metallic hides gleamed in the dim light from above, and they single-mindedly strode on, each of their animalistic faces grinning toothily.

Van traced their liquid movements with wide eyes, the shadows playing erratically across his face. Reese just took a steadying breath, still scrubbing at her cheeks. Actually seeing the zoids, so close, made it much harder to dismiss them as non-threatening...she gently pushed Specular behind the pillar with her, and Zeke managed to follow suit, ducking into the shadows.

The zoids that passed were not necessarily different from those already battling–they varied from Command Wolves to Shield Ligers to Gordos...but for one. Van gasped as he recognized the familiar shape of the Lightning Saix. The feline zoid advanced on with the rest, onto the desert where it would surely battle its former master and friend, possibly to the death. After a few moments, the procession thinned and dissipated, a Helcat bringing up the rear. Van stumbled out into the main hall and stared incredulously after them. The clanking footsteps soon faded, to leave silence once again.

He glanced back to Reese furiously. "Exactly how long did you know they were down here?"

She shrugged, shakily getting to her feet. "Long enough to get out of the way."

He threw up his hands in frustration and yelled, "Well? Any more surprises that I should know about? Maybe before they get us killed?" He glared at her, grinding his teeth in utter fury, and Zeke regarded him with apprehension. "Look, Reese, I'm sick and tired of your attitude. I want you to tell me the truth, and I want you to tell me now. How much further do we have to go before we find Fiona?"

Reese sent an icy glare his way, drawing herself up. "I'm not keeping as much from you as you may think, okay? How was I supposed to know there were still zoids down here? I mean, I thought that maybe–"

"You thought!"

Reese stamped her foot and yelled, "Shut up and listen for a minute, Flyheight! Fiona's down here, and I can feel her coming closer! Now..." she lowered her voice and took a deep breath. "Were I you, I would be coming up with a plan. Otherwise," she giggled a little helplessly, "Your darling Fiona will kill us both."