Chapter 5

"I don't wanna spar you, you clod! You cheat-"

"Don't be such a big baby just because you can't win. You're always a sore loser."

"You're a poor winner! And you fell on me last time, too!"

"You're mad because you suck, and you're a wuss."

"You don't even-"

"SHUT UP!" The overly exaggerated exclamation was mine, and I was a stone's throw away from beating them both senseless.

Leviathan pouted. "Well, tell him to leave me alone. He started it." Her resemblance in mentality to a five-year-old was uncanny.

Their incessant bickering had been ceaseless for the past day, and the only thing that kept me from escaping on some made-up "mission" was the fact that when Mayu contacted us, we may have to act fast. Needless to say, I did not trust either of my colleagues to issue proper commands under pressure. They were both very liable to get in over their heads.

"C'mon, Harpuia. It's so boring around here," Fefnir grumbled. "If she won't spar with me, than why won't you?"

I glanced over at my red-and-white clad friend. "What, and kill your winning streak?" I was slumped against the wall of the training room, one knee bent, one straight, with my right arm draped over the bent knee. I was not sure what had brought me here, other than the company of my fellow guardians. I supposed that I was inviting punishment, but even I did not wish to be alone all of the time. Though irritating, their companionship brought a bit of peace to my mind. They were something that I could understand and predict. I could rely on them.

Fortunately, I also "predicted" Fefnir's next move and vacated my spot on the floor. He hurled a deactivated training drone at me, and it crashed against the wall. "What was that for?"

"You're dissin' me, aren't you?" He picked up another drone.

"You know, we do have to pay to get those repaired. And anyway, you wouldn't have beat me if Leviathan hadn't come in." I chucked the broken drone at his head. He ducked, but it hit Leviathan on the side of the helmet.

"Your aim sucks!" Leviathan rubbed her head and scooped up the basketball-sized machine. "Eat this!" She and Fefnir both threw their projectiles. I ducked one, whipped out one of my blades, and cut the other in half. I caught one of the halves and nailed Fefnir in the chest.

"Show-off," he said mockingly. "Try this!" He scooped up an armful of broken drones and targets and began whipping them at me one by one. Leviathan did likewise. The effect was like a strange game of dodgeball, and somehow, Fefnir and Leviathan turned on each other as well. I returned as many as were thrown at me, hitting my target more often than not. I realized that I was laughing, and I paused, the smile fading from my face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Fefnir dropped his armload and walked over. "You okay?"

"...Yeah." I looked away. "It's just... been so long since I last laughed like that. I... wasn't sure that I could anymore."

"Lighten up, Harp." He clapped me on the back, and I decided to ignore the nickname.

"Yeah, don't be so serious all the time," Leviathan chimed in.

Fefnir looked at me meaningfully, an unusually soft expression on his dark face. "You're becoming as cold as those X-drones we send out to do our dirty work. Don't let that replace the Sage who's my friend."

Leviathan came up on the other side of me. "Don't let this war steal your humanity. I know we're reploids, but in a way, we're human, too."

I smiled, a small smile, but for once, it was real. "... Thanks guys. I think... maybe I forgot that"

Leviathan surprised me with a quick hug. "Welcome back Sage. I was getting sick of 'Master Harpuia." She grinned widely, and beyond the seemingly shallow exterior, I glimpsed her strong personality. And I remembered; this was my family.

"Master Harpuia, please report to the command room." Since I did not normally carry a com and my whereabouts were usually unknown, the summons was broadcast over the general loudspeaker. Another message sounded. "All troops assemble. Commanders Fefnir and Leviathan, please report to your posts."

I looked from one friend to the other. "This isn't a good time," I growled. "Thanks to Zero, we're running low on X-drones. We'll have to rely more heavily on sentients, and you can't just buy those by the thousand."

"Look at it this way," Fefnir answered, a gleam in his eye which he always got when he thought a battle was near. "The soldiers are better fighters. We shouldn't lose as many as we do drones." He ran off.

"Well... I guess that's the only plus." I was already sprinting down the hall, Leviathan at my heels.

"An... attack?" she questioned, her voice coming in strange, sporadic bursts thanks to the jarring of her footsteps.

"It seems so," I concluded. I arrived at the command center, and she hurried on to the communication/teleporter station. She and I would probably eventually be needed on the front lines with Fefnir, but for now we all had our own tasks to perform, and mine was to strategize.

I arrived at my post with a command and a question already on my tongue. "How many are there? Mobilize our remaining X-drones and put them on the front lines."

A calm-faced officer glanced up at me and back to the monitor. "It's not an especially strong force, only a small fraction of what even they could manage."

I nodded absently. "Meant to get out fast, or to be expendable... What's the Resistance up to?" The last question was rhetorical, of course, and I drummed my fingers thoughtfully on the table. "Tell Fefnir to pull back and let the X-drones handle-"

"Harpuia..." Leviathan's fuzzed exclamation came over the com that, for once, I had actually thought to grab.

"We need you... communi..." Piece 'a junk doesn't even work right. I got the idea anyway, and with a nod to the officer, I sprinted down the hall and to the next room on the left.

"Leviathan, what's the problem?" I called over the buzz of activity.

"We've just received a communication from Mayu. She's transmitted coordinates, and we're teleporting her in right now."

The teleport pad lit up brightly, the energy finally coalescing into a rather petite figure.

Mayu stepped off the pad carefully, looking circumspectly at her new surroundings, finally noticing me and trotting over.

"Hey, the Resistance-"

"Thanks for the heads-up," I interrupted.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry 'bout that." She smirked up at me. "Better late than never."

"Hey," Leviathan protested. "How can you be so smug about it? This could cost us more lives, plus several million in weaponry and X-drones."

Mayu frowned. "I am sorry. I had no chance to contact you until now." She pulled her helmet off- by her design, I had suspected that she was one of the models who could. "I do tend to joke in tense situations. You must forgive me that, I'm afraid; it's a rather bad habit on my part." She turned to me. "Master Harpuia."

It sounded odd. Coming from her, I was more used to hearing "Sage."

"Did you discover anything of value?" I questioned out loud.

"I'm afraid I'm not much good at tactical stuff, so I didn't understand a whole lot. What I do know is that their new general is someone named Elpizo. Supposedly, he defected from Neo-Arcadian forces some time ago. You heard of him?"

I thought for a moment. "...Maybe. I'm not sure. He wasn't anyone of any prestige, I don't believe..."

"Hey, I remember," Leviathan broke in. "He was just a rookie, an overconfident loudmouth. We usually sent him back and forth to different groups to relay messages that we didn't want transmitted over the coms for one reason or another." She made a face. "I always thought that he was dumber than a rock."

"Well, if that's the case," Mayu snorted, "then you shouldn't have much trouble countering his strategies."

"Okay," I said humorlessly. "Why don't we start with this one; why is he sending such a pitiful force to attack us?"

She shrugged. "Well, of course, he didn't tell me personally, but I heard something about it not being a real attack."

"Oh?" I said curiously. "It seems real enough to me. They're out there fighting."

"Hey, I can only repeat what was said, right? Anyway, I think that he was just trying to get a feel for what kind of a force you had left after the last series of battles, before Zero left. At least, that's the impression I got from what I overheard." She paused and looked at me questioningly. "What do you make of all this?"

I was thoughtful for a moment. "I'd guess he wants to know how best to attack us, whether directly or with guerrilla strikes. And of course, he's judging our remaining weaponry, such as the X-drones."

"So, this attack's just a little distraction?" Leviathan wondered.

"Yeah, pretty much," Mayu commented.

I drew my sabers without igniting them. "Come on, Leviathan. We'll end this insult to our strength now."

Leviathan smiled wickedly. "Bring 'em on. I'm up for some action." She glanced back at Mayu. "What about you? I thought you joined the forces."

"Naw," Mayu denied. "If I help you fight, then I can't be a spy anymore 'cause someone's bound to recognize me."

I pulled Leviathan along with me. "She doesn't much like fighting anyway," I interjected. "Let's get out there before Fefnir finishes the battle for us."

Leviathan nodded and followed me to the teleporter. I stepped in first and waited while the coordinates for the battle-field were locked in.

Though a familiar sensation to me, I still found teleportation an odd mixture of pleasant and unpleasant. In truth, I was not sure which it was predominantly, so I guessed at both. First, a wave of energy washed over me, coating me in blinding light. I felt both too warm and too cold at once, and oddly detached from myself- Not surprising, since for a brief moment my being was nothing but atoms and plasma- Then came the rush, a blackness punctuated by white bands and streaks, making it seem as though I were moving at tremendous speeds, though I had not moved yet. Finally, I was floating, washed in mellow light. Then I was forcefully set into reality again, on a raging battlefield. The process had taken at most about three seconds, but I had come to discover that eternity is what lies between those seconds.

I had long since stopped feeling the initial vertigo from the jump that sent many new rookies to their knees- One of the many reasons that we typically did not teleport soldiers to the battlefield. I was off and running the second that my energy had coalesced into a solid form again, Leviathan a short distance behind me.

Although Fefnir had been ordered to have his army hang back, it did not stop him from fighting anything that came within range of his imposing form. Flame-thrower blazing, he fired the burning gas balls over the battlefield like a madman, managing to look exceedingly happy and exceedingly angry at the same time. He was in his element.

Leviathan, though not as strong a combatant on land as in water, regardless made a valiant effort. Her weapon, a large combination of a harpoon and a spear, flashed dizzily in the dust-streaked sunlight. The harpoon was not as powerful as Fefnir's flame-thrower or my twin sabers, but it still outmatched her opponents by far.

I spotted the remaining group of X-drones on the front lines, firing their medium-powered busters mindlessly at their opponents. They could, of course, only follow orders. In the past, without proper direction, they had been known to wander aimlessly back and forth, firing their weapons at friend and foe alike. I suspected that that, in part, was the reason that we had lost so many to Zero. The unintelligent creatures had not the good sense to avoid being cleaved in two.

Their lack of self-preservation instinct was, at the moment, both a help and a hindrance. They charged ceaselessly after those which they knew only as targets to be eliminated, pressing forward even after bodies had been severed or limbs ripped off. Their zombie-like indifference could be intimidating at the least, and their inability to feel pain or fear gave them an extra edge over the Resistance fighters. Unfortunately, it also caused them to wander directly into enemy fire without a care in the world.

The sentient soldiers of Neo-Arcadia had fallen back as ordered, and seemed to have suffered few casualties. Some of the more powerful officers had followed Fefnir and continued to fight. I decided that I may have to have a word with Fefnir later.

All of this I took in in a matter of seconds, soaring low over the battle field to assess my most strategic position. Phoenix Magnion, one of Fefnir's underlings, spied me and took to the air on fiery wings, calling to me as he came. I always thought him a rather strange-looking reploid, with a face incapable of showing expression, no arms, and oddly formed legs. He was, however, a powerful warrior, and one that I would not even care to face.

"General, we're already beating them back. What's going on? This win is too easy." His wing beats sent whirling gusts of heated air into my face.

"I believe that this is more of a damage-assessment on their part," I called back over the cacophony of battle. "Just repulse them quickly, using as little force as possible. Better for them to think us weaker then we truly are than stronger."

Magnion nodded his strange head. "But the X-drones are dwindling. We had few to begin with."

"Do what you need to turn the Resistance back. Now that the drones have thinned their numbers, it may be a good time to strike." The commander, modeled somewhat after he avian namesake, turned to flap back to the battlefield.

We need more X-drones to throw away in battles like this. Another shipment should be arriving soon, but what we need is a factory. Unlikely, considering our current standing with the powers that be. We'll be lucky if they've even sent that shipment yet. I landed near Fefnir and Leviathan, who were making a rather successful team effort in the thick of battle.

They fought in a well-synchronized pattern, like a strange dance, Fefnir firing his canon at any combatants who were out of range of Leviathan's swiftly flying harpoon. She ducked low and swept the blade through the ankles of a Resistance fighter, and at the same time Fefnir aimed over her head and shot three more advancing soldiers.

I fell into the familiar pattern of battle, slicing one reploid's face, another's hand, another's torso, exposing wired, sparking innards and ruby-black blood. My mind was alert, yet numb, as though I were watching myself defend, attack, dodge, strategize, attack again... It all had a sort of morbid monotony that I had come to expect from war, and I lost track of time and the bodies that fell around me. Even my own fatigue was some strange, outside sensation that I acknowledged but paid little other mind.

A shot whizzed by my head and I turned to deal with the threat only to see Leviathan decapitate him with one smooth swing.She looked tired and worn, and was covered, as were all of us, by a film of blood-muddied dust, but seemed unharmed. I imagined that Fefnir probably had taken care to discourage anyone from getting too close to her. He occasionally displayed the capacity to be very protective.

Fefnir himself had gotten mobbed by the enemy, too close to use his firearm- at least the way it was intended. Instead, he successfully wielded it as a melee weaponA resistance soldier flew screaming through the air and landed nearly on top of me. I neatly divided him into fourths before he hit the ground.

I was breathing hard, covered with blood. Some of it may have even been my own. My lip throbbed, and I swiped on fist over it to discover blood trailing down my chin. I had not even realized when it had happened. The enemies around me had dispersed in full retreat, and my fellow guardians made their way over to me.

"What was that?" Leviathan wondered out loud. "That force couldn't have been more than a couple hundred strong, but they fought like they meant it." She flopped unceremoniously to the ground and whined, "I'm tired."

"You think yer too good to spar me, but a low-key fight like that's gotcha on the ground." Fefnir toed her with one boot. "You need more practice or some second-rate soldier's gonna kick yer butt."

"I don't spar you because you fell on me last time!"

I allowed myself a small smile. "I believe the words you're looking for are elbow-dropped, not fell."

"It was an accident," Fefnir lied with an innocent face. I knew it was a lie because Fefnir never has an innocent face.

I shook my head. "Whatever. We have more important things to worry about. Nothing about this battle adds up."

"General." The familiar winged figure of Magnion alighted on the ground before me. "What do you think they were after? Even the Resistance isn't crazy enough to stage a direct attack against our base with a force that small."

"I don't know," I answered simply. "But I know someone who will find out." I imagined Mayu, still standing in the transport station. She has some explaining to do. "Get a cleanup crew out here," I concluded. Magnion saluted, flapped once, and was away.

"Leviathan, com into the transerver station and tell them to lock into our coordinates." I needed to think, and here was not the place to do it. I heard Leviathan speak quickly into her com, although I did not pay much attention to what was said in particular. Leviathan then disappeared in a blinding streak of light.

Fefnir quickly followed Leviathan, and then I felt the familiar tingle of energy that always ran through my body right before teleportation. In the split second before I transported, the air combusted with a violent explosion. Flame ripped at me from all sides, but I vanished before I could feel anything but some of the heat.