Homura, Weisz, Jinn, Lowell, Percival, Asuka, Sarisse, Stella, and Aiden. This team made their way to the City Gate. It was a large one story building. Behind it was…the actual gate itself. It was a large wall that spanned at least a mile into the sky. It was not something that normal people could even think about climbing. "…Shiki could soar across that with ease, as could our ships." Homura said while looking up at the wall. "Actually…why don't we use your ship to attack?" Homura asked Lowell, member of the Eclipse Ark.
"Your ship is still pinned down by a tractor beam." Lowell responded. "Ours isn't only because they noticed you first. It doesn't matter if we tried to approach from space, or tried to take off from our position. They'd trap us too and we'd be in no better a position."
"Drat…" Homura sighed.
"It was worth a shot though." Weisz said to cheer Homura up. "But we're still going to be in a bind if we can't fight fire with fire…"
"I wouldn't worry about that." Aiden said while stroking his chin. "We can disable the tractor beams from here as well." Everyone looked at him as he said that. "Oh, did I not mention that before? This is not only the gate that protects our main city, but it also serves at the planetary defense system. Granted, I can only imagine what's been tampered with since Prometheus and Pandora attacked…"
"That would've been nice to know sooner!" Weisz exclaimed.
"Now you see why we have to do these things in steps." Sarisse said. "Without destroying the generators, we wouldn't be able to get so close to the Gate. We shut down the power to the security outside, but there are still somethings we may have to deal with inside."
"Luckily, we know exactly where to go!" Stella winked. "After all, all three of us used to work here!"
"All three of you…?" Percival lazily turned her head to Stella, having to brush her green locks out of her hair.
"Mhm! This is actually where we really got to know Aiden." Stella said while glancing at Aiden. "We've known each other for a while, but working the same job with someone really helps that out."
"I remember not being allowed in here…" Asuka grumbled.
"You were too rowdy. Your mom always had to drag you back…" Stella snickered.
"I see why all three of you are here now. If you know what to do and where you're going, all we'll need to do is provide support." Jinn felt better knowing that. However, he was still worried about Kleene and Laguna for obvious reasons.
"I suspect heavy android resistance once we step inside." Sarisse said with a quiet sigh. Her eyes glanced up, and what's when she saw Kamara standing atop the building of the City Gate. Kamara had no intentions of hiding, she wanted all of them to see her. "…And the Goldstones."
"The one that creates fear…" Homura said.
"…She hasn't changed a bit." Lowell mumbled to himself.
"So, is this everyone?" Kamara shouted from above. She looked down, eyes looking towards the three commanders of the resistance. "I'm surprised all three of you are here. But that will just make my job easier."
"You wanna come down and fight?" Weisz said, taking aim at Kamara with his assault rifle. He took a few shots, but Kamara was able to use her sword to block the bullets. It was worth a shot.
"No. I'll wait for you inside." Kamara said while turning and walking off to get back inside.
"…What the hell was that about?" Asuka asked.
"…She's setting a trap for us." Aiden stroked his chin. "She wouldn't make herself clear as day if not. Not to mention, we're out in the open where Max can shoot at us. It's either get picked off, or walk straight into her trap…"
"We don't have much choice." Weisz grunted. "Pretty bold of her to let us know what we're walking into."
"The Goldstones are just smart like that." Sarisse said with a sigh. "We cannot risk the danger of staying outside, so we have no choice but to step into the horrors of whatever inside. A cunning group of three…"
"Then we'll just have to be smarter, faster, and stronger." Weisz said confidently.
"That's the spirit!" Stella said with a grin. "Come on! Let's not keep Kamara waiting. We'll wipe that smug grin off her face!"
"…She wasn't grinning." Aiden pointed out, coughing into his hand.
"…Ah." Stella rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed…
"This gate…" Sarisse was on autopilot. This gate brought back some memories….
.
.
Ten years ago.
"Whew…!" Stella wiped her forehead after a hard day's work. "Keeping up with all those transmissions sure is difficult."
"What do you expect?" A younger Aiden said while placing his hands in his pockets. "We're tasked with keeping Echo City safe. It's important for communications for the entire Kaede Cosmos. It's not going to be an easy job.
"I'm glad we have the androids to help us out. It would be impossible to keep up with all of this otherwise." Sarisse said while giving a tired smile.
"But you know what the best part of the day is?" Stella trailed off, waiting for it. Soon, a young Geno came running down the street, leaping into his mother's arms. "Getting to spend the rest of my day with my son!"
"Mom! I missed you!" Geno said with a bright smile. When with his family, the boy was much happier and outgoing than in the future. "Is dad still busy?"
"Only for a little bit." The man himself appeared: Richard Star. He was a handsome man with short brown hair and green eyes. He appeared to kiss Stella on the cheek. "I have a little bit of time, but I wanted to see my son and wife."
"You are all so adorable." Sarisse placed her hand over her chest. "I'm admittedly a little envious of you all." She glanced at Aiden. "Vanessa and Cynthia will be here soon, right?"
"They will." Aiden said.
"You'll find someone, Sarisse." Richard said while wrapping his arm around Stella. "You are smart, driven, hard working, and dependable. I daresay there are many people missing out by passing you over."
"Richard's right! You deserve someone who sees you for who you are." Stella nodded in agreement.
"Yeah! You're amazing, Auntie." Geno added. His childish innocence made Sarisse smile.
"Thank you." Sarisse said, kneeling down to ruffle Geno's hair a bit.
"Besides, if a human won't look your way, who's to say an android won't?" Richard said.
"Pft, don't be so ridiculous…" Aiden waved the notion off. "Humans and androids aren't so compatible when it comes to romance. Humans are too…emotional. Androids are perfectly grounded."
"So this is where the party is." Vanessa Viscard appeared. Beside her, holding her hand was her daughter, Cynthia Viscard. She had black and red hair, just like the two colors of her parents. "Humans are too emotional, huh? It wouldn't hurt you to spare some of that for us every once in a while." Vanessa teased Aiden.
"Hi Dad!" Cynthia waved. "Are you coming home now?"
"Yes, I am." Aiden let out a sigh, choosing not to respond to Vanessa's remark. She wouldn't get a rise out of him. "I look forward to spending time with you both."
"Yay!" Cynthia clapped her hands together and giggled. "Oh, and look!" She held her hand out, dark red lines briefly appearing along her arms. A dark red flame manifested within her palm for a few seconds before fizzling out. "Mom's been helping me with my Ether Gear…!"
"Whoa…" Geno looked at Cynthia in awe. "That's so cool…! I wish I had an Ether Gear…"
"Maybe one day." Stella said. "But I don't know if I could handle the stress of watching you fight."
"We don't have to worry about that. This planet's always been peaceful. Mostly because anyone who tries to attack us is immediately shot down by our hard working folks at the Echo City Gate." Richard reassured Stella. "I'm about to run out of time, but I had an idea I wanted to share with all of you. I have some free time coming up soon, so I was thinking we could all get together and have a nice little cookout or something."
"A wonderful idea." Vanessa clasped her hands together. "I could use a break from my research. But only a small one, I'm getting close to a breakthrough. Therions are real and I'm close to figuring out where to find one!"
"I'm unsure how you intend on finding something that is extinct, but I'll support you despite that." Aiden said.
"If we're having an outing, I'll invite Medi and Tristan too! Medi's just getting out of medical school, so it'll be nice to congratulate her!" Stella clasped her hands together happily. "You really do work too hard, dear…so this break will be good for you."
"It's not an easy job, but I'm able to do it because of everyone else." Richard said while scratching the back of his neck. "If not for the hard working people at the Echo City Gate, I wouldn't be able to safely do my job. Everyone has a role to play, no matter how small. And together, we all come together for something greater. This goes for humans and androids together"
"There you go, getting all preachy again." Aiden sighed.
"Dad's so cool!" Geno said while balling his fists together excitedly. "I wanna be just like him!"
[End Flashback.]
.
The memory of that day stuck in Sarisse's head for a while. Those days felt like so long ago, especially with the current war against the androids right now. "Something greater…" She mumbled quietly. They were inside of the gate now and it was a high tech facility. They entered a large clearing.
"Here we are." Stella said. "It doesn't look like anything's changed. I was expecting to be hounded the moment we stepped inside…"
"We should take this chance while we have it." Aiden walked over to a nearby panel, pressing a few buttons. "Hah, they haven't changed the security at all. Give me a moment and I can map out our route. Oh…?"
"What is it?" Jinn asked.
"How lucky for you." Aiden told Jinn. A little deep within the facility, a camera showed a restrained Kleene and Laguna in a room somewhere. "I believe we've found your missing crewmates."
"Kleene! Laguna!" Jinn gasped.
"So they crashed around here…" Weisz said. "Okay, we should go get them…"
"Hold on now." Aiden held his hand out. "Not so fast. This front area splits into two paths. One to our destination, where Kamara must be waiting. The controls to disable the gate defenses are on the right path…but if you were to go to the left, we might be able to disable the tractor beams that have your ships threatened."
"This gate does everything, huh?" Lowell said with his arms crossed.
"Indeed." Aiden said with a confident laugh. "If you tried to use your ships to siege Echo City and the tower, the automatic anti-air defense systems would activate to shoot you down. This was actually the first place Prometheus and Pandora targeted. Everything else collapsed after that."
"Whoa…" Percival said, mildly impressed.
"But this is where we mount our counter attack!" Asuka said while pumping her fists together.
"…" Homura was silent. Something felt off… "Weisz…Jinn."
"Yeah." Weisz nodded, placing his hand on the wall for a second. "Something's off. We should get moving and fast."
"I'll go rescue Kleene and Laguna." Jinn said. He couldn't leave them trapped for much longer.
"By yourself?" Weisz asked. "It could be a trap. Take someone else with you. I'll…"
"No, you'll probably be needed." Jinn said. "…Hey…Percival, was it?"
"Huh? Yeah…" Percival pointed at herself. "You want me to come with you?"
"As backup. I'm not going to rush in alone." Jinn said. "Come on, please."
"Okay…be careful, Lowell." Percival wasn't going to fight. She and Lowell nodded to each other and she lazily followed behind Jinn, taking the path to the left.
"What lies ahead to the right?" Homura asked the trio of commanders.
"A long stretch of hallway, some elevators and multiple doors that mean nothing to us." Sarisse said, already leading the way down. "But what we're looking for is on the floor we're on. The rest of this wall is tended to by androids." Which there was a surprising lack of the deeper they went into the gate. Sarisse was on her toes the whole time, expecting some sort of trap at any moment. Everyone was on high alert…
"It's so quiet…." Stella whispered. "It's freaking me out. I was expecting a fight by now…"
"The enemy knows how valuable a position this gate is. If we seize it, we can mount an assault on the city to take it back." Aiden stroked his chin.
"So then why is it not fortified? Perhaps they don't care…?" Homura suggested. It didn't seem likely. It was far too careless actually.
"Far from it." Kamara's voice echoed across the corridor. The group funneled out into another clearing. They arrived at their destination: a large control panel was at the end of the large clearing, but Kamara Goldstone was the lone figure standing between them and their destination. "It is heavily fortified. Just not in the way you expected."
"Goldstone…" Weisz grit his teeth, placing a hand on his watch.
"Kamara…" Lowell had his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"…Lowell? Hm." Kamara gave Lowell a passing glance. But that was enough to anger the Eclipse Ark crew mate. He drew his sword and lunged at Kamara, swinging at her. She countered with a slash of her own, their blades meeting in a stalemate. "I see your blade is just as dull as ever."
"You think you have the right to talk after what you did!?" Lowell growled.
"I told you not to take it personally." Kamara said while knocking Lowell back. This made everyone get into fighting positions. Kamara held her position while staring at everyone, especially Sarisse. "As a bounty hunter, it is a rule that we do not get emotionally invested during our hunts. That said…I am here in front of you all precisely because it is personal to me."
"Oh yeah? Who cares!" Asuka said while pointing at their numbers. "If you haven't noticed, you're pretty outnumbered! I'm sure even a Goldstone can't do much about numbers like these! And you didn't even bring androids for backup!"
"I didn't need to." Kamara said calmly. That still confidence was unnerving. "I already decided that my sword alone would be enough. My sister was embarrassed last night. For the first time in years, she failed an objective. I do not know how this was possible, because our plan was airtight…but it happened. So I have taken it upon myself to end the Alliance right here and now, by taking your leader's head." She pointed her blade at Sarisse.
"I feel so popular." Sarisse said with a sarcastic smile.
"You've wormed away from death over these few months, but that ends today." Kamara said. A black mist began to flow from her body and purple lines formed along her skin as well. Everyone immediately tensed up as Kamara activated her Ether Gear. They knew it caused Fear of some kind, but that was all they knew. The Goldstones were extremely tightlipped about their abilities. All the information the Resistance had was what they could figure out on their own, which came at the cost of many brave lives, and they had no idea if the Goldstones were hiding anything else up their sleeves. "Do you know why I'm here now? Because I am going to drag the Resistance into a waking nightmare they will never be able to escape from. Starting with all of you."