AN: sorry ppl, pointless chapter after such a loooong wait. My bad. I'll get working on the next chapter now.

Chapter 12: I hereby call forth the Council of War

"Repeat that again, slowly."

"I… uh…" The poor man backed away slowly from a very irate maverick, who made no move to follow him except with blistering violet eyes. Gulping, he closed his eyes and obliged. "Van-sama wasn't there when I went to pick him up at nine o'clock."

"So I can see. And what did you do after this?"

"Well, I… I waited for half an hour, and when it looked like he wasn't going to show up, I went into the restaurant and asked, and they said that he'd left with Fiona-sama–" a flinch at the hostile curse; Raven motioned for him to continue, "–with her at around eight thirty, and hadn't come back."

"Did they see where they went?"

"N-no. Apparently, it was getting to rush hour around there, and all the clubs were filling up…"

He'd trailed off when the door opened, and Ryss walked in unsuspectingly. She stopped abruptly to observe: an imperial employee, white-faced and shaking as he stood as far away as possible from the quiet but nevertheless furious Raven. She moved over to where he was sitting cross-legged on a bed and daringly placed a hand upon his shoulder, asking softly, "What's wrong?"

"Van's missing."

"Ah. That explains everything." She turned to the quivering driver and ordered, "Calm down and tell us everything you know–"

"What's to know?" snapped the maverick. "That Zoidian bitch did this, no mistake."

"Raven, calm down."

"Not likely," he snarled back. Pinning the chauffeur with his best demanding sideways glare, he asked, "Where's that brat of an emperor?"

"You can't just go charging up to him, Raven, he's the emperor–"

"I can and I will, Ryss. We were assured of our safety –including Van's– when we agreed to stay here. If it wasn't for that, I would have been out of here as soon as that idiot could move. He had an obligation, and now that he's broken it, he'll answer for it. Immediately. Well, do you know?"

"I- I was his majesty's personal chauffeur… I can call his secretary..."

"Do so."

As the servant began dialing on his cell phone, Raven stood and began to pack. Ryss followed his lead with a sigh. "You know that the Guardian Force are going to question our sudden absence, right? And without sufficient evidence, we can't point the finger at them."

"Wasn't planning on it," mumbled the Genobreaker pilot. "Was thinking more along the lines of a charged particle beam or five. Fifty works as well, even if that damn chunk of red scrap metal'd probably fall apart right after…"

"Well, we can't aim that either," she chuckled, shoving her toiletries into her own pack. "Not that I'm not tempted to, of course. That is another factor to consider though, don't you think? The 'breaker's core is in bad shape, and that's not something that can be fixed, at all, or else it would have already been done. Only one who could've possibly altered the core was Ambience, and that chunk's dead as well."

"Wouldn't be all that sure…"

"Raven?" Eyes now wide, she went over and shook his shoulder, not even noticing when he brushed her off. "Are you saying there's a possibility that Ambience is alive?"

"Anyone could be alive. Prozen didn't die from the first Deathsaurer, that white organoid didn't die from the times I shot the Blade Liger's zoid core, Shadow…" Biting his lip, he continued doggedly. "He didn't die from being hit by a charged particle beam. Nobody worth more than a glance has ever died the first time we tried to kill them, why should Hiltz and Ambience be any different?"

"So are you going to angst over every single person you failed to kill in your life, and stress that the ones you think died might not of and will come back to haunt you? Don't dredge up past spirits, Raven. What's in the past is in the past, and it can't harm us anymore."

"Wrong," the maverick answered frostily. "Until six years ago, I had a perfect killing record. And then I messed up. Once. And the whole thing just blows up in my face, quite literally, and I'm stuck where I am today. So I don't believe you when you say the past is separate from now, because it isn't, and it never was."

"You tried to kill Prozen."

"There is a fundamental difference between wanting to kill, and wanting to protect yourself. You can do one without the other, and the result's usually different as well."

"So, Van. Did you want to kill him, or just stop him from getting to your head?"

He sent a cold glare, the like of which she hadn't seen from him in some time. "I wanted to kill him."

It was no good to tell him that he thought otherwise, or pass on her own thoughts on the matter. He always had a nice thick veil between eyes and brain whenever this topic was breached, and she knew that he dwelt on it constantly, far more than was healthy even for someone as screwed over as him. So what if everything he did was related back somehow, and thus inevitably on his mind? So what if he tried to change into something he wasn't –and succeeded at it quite nicely– just to forget who he once was? It didn't mean everything was a fault of the past. It didn't mean everything repeated over and over again.

"I would have felt that little rat if he was alive," she cut in, attempting to talk some sense back into him. "Plus there's that whole organoid link thingy, no? And even if he had somehow managed to survive the Blade Liger plunging through the Deathsaurer's zoid core, he would have been sucked away by the Zoideve sinking back into the ground. So Ambience can't be alive."

"Kindly recall the fact that you and I were also supposed to have vanished into the ground, as you put it so eloquently. And your inability to sense something does not mean it doesn't exist."

"I wish you'd remember that yourself sometimes," she muttered, and was ignored.

"Have you considered why my Genobreaker is still alive, yet was damaged so badly after the whole fiasco with that damn statue and the Deathsaurer? I'm not too familiar with all your damned Zoidian magicks, and there're probably exceptions, but if the creature that resurrected or created a zoid in the first place dies, doesn't that also kill off the one that's still alive? Which is why if the Zoideve dies, all zoids and zoidians go with it. Source of all life and all that other crap. It's also probably why there are so few zoids still alive now compared to what it must have been before."

"I'm not sure it works that way…"

Shrug. "It makes sense in my head."

"Raven, do you know what it means if your theory is true?" asked Ryss softly. "It means that you wouldn't be able to kill Ambience without killing off your Genobreaker, and maybe Shadow along with him. That little runt would haunt you forever."

"Forever is a strong term," he replied, voice equally low. "Because I don't plan to live forever." Shedding the eerie tone, he shrugged again. "Besides, it's worth a shot. We disappear for an extended amount of time, cause trouble for that little brat who screwed us over, and possibly get to fix my damn zoid. Then we go and hunt down the bitch and maybe get Flyheight out of there, and I get beaten to death by about a thousand Guardian Force morons. Huzzah." He frowned at her skeptical look. "It's a plausible thought. Even I can die if a thousands zoids just decided to throw themselves at me. That would be heavy."

She had yet to see this side of Raven, and could merely scratch her head at the sight, supposing that it was stress causing this rather strange change. "I suppose. Ambience had better be close though, or we'll be noticed long before we're out of there, and that'll be a problem time three to deal with. And while I know you want to make things as difficult for the kid as possible right now, we do need his help in fixing this, at least while on Imperial territory. We have to hurry though; if we let them get out of the country, it'll be a mess."

"What does it look like I'm doing now?"

"Don't snark at me, Raven, I'm trying to help!"

Movements slowing down significantly, he sighed as he turned to her. "I know. S… che."

"That's okay."

Apparently he was more tired or stressed than she'd noticed; for once he was letting her hug him without pushing her out of a window for one of the organoids to catch (she'd learned quickly that while kissing and biting and sex and fighting in general were accepted forms of contact, hugs were not). Now though, he was actually letting her hug his head to her chest like the angsty-yet-clingy bishie that he was. She took the opportunity to run her hands through his messy grey locks as a peaceful silence descended upon the room. After a few minutes she turned to the shell-shocked servant in the room.

"Did you find his majesty?"

"He's trying to get out of a meeting with his ministers, and may be delayed, but his on his way," the man replied softly, eyes almost boggling out at the innocently sleeping mass she held. "Um, ma'am? Is… he always like this?"

"No," the zoidian murmured in reply, sounding thoroughly pleased with the situation. "Never."

"Ah, um. I see."

She left the chauffeur to his relieved bafflement and meditated on her plans in silence until Rudolph came barging in, looking as though he'd run up seven flights of stairs at full sprint; his hat was held vaguely to his head by a hand, his long hair was flying out of place because of his loss of headgear, and his robes bore definite signs of mishap (jelly stains indicated a shortcut through the kitchens, dirt a path through the gardens, and rug burn a sign of the halls). Idly Ryss wondered how fast the emperor would've had to run to show up like this; she'd heard enough gossip about his prowess at athletics to believe they were true.

"Is… it true?" he gasped, almost keeling over before he repaired imperial dignity and stood up straight, rearranging the hat over his hair and straightening his state robes, though he maintained the panicked expression upon his face. "That Van has disappeared?"

She stifled a sigh at his question; now, she'd have to repeat the calming process all over again. 'Men,' thought Ryss as she slowly outlined the details of what she'd heard to the emperor. 'They're all too excitable.'

"I can't believe she'd do that. I refuse to believe it."

The news of Van's untimely disappearance had traveled fast through a palace of gossipers, and now Moonbei was pacing and occasionally shaking her head as she stared at the untouched bed in Fiona's room; for once, the splendour was lost upon her. Irvine watched her calmly, though he didn't feel half so.

"It's not a matter of whether you believe it or not. The evidence seems to point to that, and the possibility is very high–"

"No, it can't be! Fiona wouldn't do something like that. I know her. They must've been kidnapped by bandits, or… something…"

"Zeke's not here," he pointed out, finality in his voice. "And I know that she didn't take him with her; I saw them leaving. The fact is that we don't know Fiona as well as we thought. She's changed, and neither of us have been around to see it."

"I should've paid her more attention," Moonbei bemoaned. "Instead I was too caught up with my own stuff, and abandoned her when she needed me the most."

"We're all members of the Guardian Force now, and have our own obligations," reminded the mercenary, walking over to cradle his girlfriend in one arm. "I doubt that anyone but Van could've gotten through to her anyway."

"It's all that dolt's fault for leaving us to search for Raven. Not that I can blame him… hate how the GF's going these days with their damn propaganda and inability to operate beyond that–"

"Sh… it's bad luck to say things like that," hushed Irvine, quieting the wailing transporter with a finger and looking around. "You don't know who might be listening."

"I don't care. Van was right to leave the Force, and we should have ages ago too. Things aren't the same anymore." Suddenly sitting up straight, she turned to him and gripped onto the collar of his shirt with an intense stare. "As soon as we find that idiot, you and I are going to quit the GF and wander off. I'm betting there's some countries west of here in serious need of a good old transporter-mercenary combination to relieve them of their money and worldly goods."

"Are you serious?" he asked, half-bemused.

"Deadly. You're coming with me, unconscious or not."

"Oh, so you're going to pull a Fiona on me and– Hey!"

After landing a solid punch to his forehead, she sighed and took to her feet, stretching. "But let's be really serious now. I'm betting the rest of the GF crew here know about this plan, so they'll be doing whatever they can to stop us from leaving here. Technically, we're on a special visa that permits us to roam in the palace only, so that'll severely hinder our maneuverability. I suppose it's too much to hope that Fiona's mobility will be similarly restricted; she must've been planning something like this out ever since she heard of Van's whereabouts."

"Our zoids are pretty conspicuous," Irvine mused. "Not often that you come across a heavily modified Lightning Saix and a battle-scarred Gustav traveling together. They'd find us in an instant."

"Speed's more important than stealth right now. We have no idea where she might've gone, so there's a lot of space we have to cover. At least she's currently on Imperial soil. Once she gets near GF strongholds though…"

"Well, we have an idea of which direction she's going in, at least." He resumed the usual bored posture of leaning against furniture with hands entrenched in pockets. "Admittedly, your Gustav is too slow for this task. We'll have to borrow something."

"I've always wanted to try out some of the Empire's Redlars… they look so much sleeker and more sophisticated than the Pteras the Republic uses…"

"Moonbei, we're already going to have the Republic hunting us down for possibly mutinying against the GF. Must we offend the Empire as well?"

"Well, if we're going to be hunted, we might as well be hunted in style and have two armies after our sorry butts instead of one," was her cheerful reply. "Besides, I'm sure there're a lot of others disillusioned with what the GF's doing right now, even if they're not openly saying it. Doc–"

"Don't finish that sentence."

Looking at his intent gaze focused behind her, Moonbei realised that there was something immensely wrong. She hadn't heard the sound of the door opening behind her, but she damn well heard the click of a trigger being fiddled with. With reflexes learnt from zoid piloting, she flung herself to the side as Irvine pitched forward the contents of his pocket, a small round orb that exploded on contact, filling the room with plumes of dark smoke. Blind shots rang out from the enemy; luckily, the mercenary had already climbed onto higher ground on the bed, and the bullets buried themselves into the mattress below him. The Gustav pilot was less fortunate; she'd made her way to the emergency switch in the room, and took a bullet to the arm as she switched it.

The blare of sirens shuddered the rooms, drowning out even the sounds of gunshot. In the few seconds that the smoke took to clear, the door had been forced open despite bars and locks, and imperial palace guards swarmed into the room, immediately forcing all the attackers down. The ones attempting to secure Irvine and Moonbei were gifted with contemptuous looks; they faltered for a moment, in which the Emperor stormed in as well. Surveying the scene with a cursory eye, he shot potent looks at the guards harassing his guests until they desisted, and strode slowly into the middle of the room and began to issue orders.

"Call doctors to this room immediately to attend to Miss Moonbei's wound. I will not have her bleed unattended in my presence, thank you very much. These felons are to be taken to the prison cells in the east wing, where they will await trial and the full power of the Imperial Court until further notice." Knowing that he'd be interrupted here, Rudolph wisely cut himself off before anyone else could do so (and thus reduce his authority).

"You can't do that. We're representatives of the Guardian Force–"

"You are also here in the Imperial Palace on a special visa, that while guaranteeing your protection to the best of our ability, subjects you to Imperial law should you commit any crime or cause harm to any of our citizens or other guests," replied the emperor, almost roaring his fury at the man. "You have just attempted to assassinate important members of your own entourage, in my palace, and I will not stand for it. Guards, take them out of my sight. I will detail personnel to deal with them shortly."

A doctor with nurse came in as the prisoners were dragged out, and she efficiently extracted the bullet from Moonbei's arm after a quick shot of anaesthetic before treating and bandaging the wound left behind. The nurse packed their equipment up just as quickly, and the pair retreated within five minutes, carrying the hearty praise of their emperor and some material gains with them. As soon as they were gone, Rudolph dismissed the majority of his guard to stand outside of the room, leaving only four figures with him. Firmly shutting the door, he turned around with a sigh, ignoring the sight of Irvine glaring at his companions.

"Well, we got 'em good this time," remarked the emperor grimly as he turned to his audience. "Moonbei, Irvine, I'm so sorry that this occurred while you're in my hospitality. I–"

"How did you get here so fast?" demanded the mercenary, concerned with practicalities as ever. Rudolph nodded.

"After what happened last night, I guessed that something amiss may happen here tonight, so I ordered supervision in this quarter. Unfortunately, the amount of guard could not be increased without raising suspicions, and by the time we received word that the guards around this part of the palace were not responding, the attackers were already well and truly in motion. We acted as quickly as possible."

"Thank the Zoideve for that," Moonbei groaned, arm beginning to sting as the anaesthetic slowly wore off. "If you'd gotten here any later, things could've gotten a lot messier. Irvine, you'd better tell Dr. D that his smoke bombs are only effective for 20 seconds."

"That can wait," he growled, eyes rolling. He returned to glaring at the newcomers. "What are they doing here?"

"Well," smiled Rudolph, appearing far too pleased with himself. "I figured that if the other GF people decided to attack you two, then you weren't involved in the plan to kidnap Van, and would agree to help us find him if you weren't planning to already. It'll be much easier if we work together, right?"

"I don't want to work with anyone," growled Raven, already annoyed from being put under a sleep spell by his on-off Zoidian companion, flung the veiling cloak from his head and walked up to the emperor to glare down at him. "This is a waste of my time."

Before he could stalk off far, the emperor called out, "Hold it Raven. Your ability to fight is unquestioned in this room, but you are not the only able person around us, and you are not going to be rescuing Van alone. With so many powerful allies helping us, it is important that we co-ordinate our movements in order to avoid any undue mishaps–"

"Powerful allies? And who might they be?"

"Dr. D for example," cut in Moonbei, affronted by the sarcasm in his voice. "He's an old trooper who won't fight with anyone if he doesn't believe in the cause. Same with Hermann, and O'Connell's more loyal to Hermann than the Republic. And they're just people from the Republic who're likely to help us."

"So an old geezer who invents faulty technology for those inept at piloting, a former captain and politician's son who's skills leave much to be desired, and his loyal sidekick. Excellent."

"We are well aware on your views Raven, but despite your prejudices I am sure you recognise that their skill levels are among the highest around," countered the emperor diplomatically before anyone could call the maverick forth to answer for his words. As expected, the grey-haired man sneered, but didn't comment further, allowing Rudolph to take his eye off him for the moment. "In addition, Rosso and Viola have just sent word that they have successfully completed their mission, and are currently flying towards the capital. We expect them to arrive no later than tomorrow morning, though if we can get a decent plan up soon we will be able to direct them to a new position."

"Is that the best you can muster from the Republican and Imperial armies combined?"

"We have also contacted Colonel Schubaltz. Though he has yet to reply, we are confidant that he will show that his loyalty to the Empire is above all else."

This trump card was adequate to quiet the disgruntled Genobreaker pilot, who sat on the desk and curled his legs up with a scowl, almost prompting Rudolph to smile. He'd gathered from some older contacts in his army that Raven had shown respect (by his standards) for the former Major that he'd given no one else in their army, which had been excessively large at the time. It seemed that this was still true to some extent, if mention of the elder Schubaltz could produce such a startling effect. The others looked dazed by the sudden transition, making him feel smug; being the emperor (and a good one at that) had some unforeseen benefits after all.

A less-than-subtle clearing of the throat broke his self-induced high, and he glared at Ryss for spoiling the rare mood before continuing. "So there we have it. Quite an extensive list of remarkable personnel at our disposal, though we'll have to act fast to confirm their loyalties. Moonbei, I assume that you have contact numbers for Hermann and O'Connell…?"

"Right here," she confirmed, pulling a hefty address book out of her pocket and flipping through it. Irvine made do with a simple scrap of paper.

"I've got Dr. D's number here."

"Good, good." Sticking his head out of the door, Rudolph yelled some orders down the hall, and a few secretaries carrying traveling desks, cell phones and equipment trudged in after two minutes grace. A phone was handed to Irvine who went to one corner, while Moonbei made do with the fixed one in another. Meanwhile, Ryss helped the diminutive emperor to spread an enormous map onto the desk –once she'd shoved Raven off it– and pin it to the wood with a hammer and nails.

They were just marveling at the job they'd done (regardless of damage to furniture) when Irvine strolled over and declared, "Dr. D says that Van is an idiot to get himself captured, and the world has no use for idiots. Except as a joke. Therefore, with the world being as grim as it currently is, what with the Guardian Force advancing full-speed towards megalomania, we need more things to laugh at." Dramatic pause. "In other words, he'll help."

"Did the old fool say how?"

The mercenary eyed Ryss for a few moments before replying; somehow, it seemed intrinsically easier to talk to her and accept her as an ally after their earlier encounter. "He's actually quite near us at the moment, and he's got a Pteras with him. Give the Doc twenty minutes, and he'll be here."

With a loud farewell, Moonbei also finished her conversation. "Hermann's all set to help out as well. He's close to the border, so he says to just send over the orders when we're ready. O'Connell's with him, as well as some of the guys from their former regiment. They've a nice little troop down there at the moment, though I think some of them complained when he told them to lay off the beer for tonight."

"I don't get it, aren't they in the Republican army?"

"Ah, you guys wouldn't know since you disappeared for a while," nodded the transporter sagely. "They were honourably discharged pretty soon after Zoideve, though now that I see what's going on I'm starting to question what the circumstances behind that really were. Guess I'll have to ask them later…"

"Why didn't you know about the state the Guardian Force is in? You're one of their highest ranked officers."

"Because I'm still a transporter at heart, so I've been away for ages. Irvine, did you know?"

"Oh course not," he replied coolly. "I haven't been to a proper Guardian Force meeting in well over a year, since I've been testing out new equipment on bandits. The last and only time I've seen the heads of the GF were when they phoned to tell me to come here. Guess the Doc sensed something wrong with the arrangement and followed me here."

They spent the next twenty minutes with their eyes glued to the clock on the wall.