Chapter 31…

While the interior of the missile tower looked complicated, the staircase to the gun's control room was actually located on the exterior of the building. Ashley found this to be rather strange, as the elevators in the main corridor had to lead to somewhere - perhaps they would only ferry passengers to the top floor.

Regardless, Ashley and Cozbi were very close to fulfilling their assigned goal. The holo-pilot had taken point and brutally kicked open the metal door that would grant them entry to the exterior staircase.

The staircase itself was metallic, much like the catwalks that dominated the interior of the tower. The passageway was bolted to the side of the tower and led upwards to the door of the main control room - which sat on the lower left of the missile tower's massive racks.

"Gun loaded, Ishikara?" Cozbi turned her head and muttered. She lifted up her R-201 and shook it gently to emphasize her question.

"Not sure what that pilot had left in her mag…" Ashley tapped the handle of her looted Mozambique. "You should take point…"

"Alright."

Cozbi kept the barrel of her rifle high as she ascended the staircase to the control room; Ashley followed closely behind, drawing her Mozambique from its holster and keeping it low.

It would take the two of them only a few seconds to reach the top of the stairs; but a few seconds was all that Ashley needed to turn her head and look at the battle raging below.

Far down the mountain, explosions bloomed as bug-sized titans did battle on the outskirts of the town. The Militia base in the center of the town was abuzz with activity - titans being prepared for battle and aircraft being fueled for takeoff. It seemed as if the Militia had gotten over the shock of the IMC's ambush and was working hard to match the ferocity of the Apex Predators.

In the streets of the town, hundreds if not thousands of people were charging around in massive swarms. Ashley could only assume that it was the civilian populace fleeing for their own safety. A firefight cropping up in one's backyard was bad enough… but once titans got involved the only clear course of action was to evacuate.

"I'm going to send in a distraction…" Cozbi muttered, breaking Ashley away from her observations. "Ready?"

Ashley lifted her Mozambique a little and crouched behind Cozbi. Only a few steps from their position on the staircase was the door to the control room. Cozbi and Ashley crept up and the former placed her hands against the door handle.

"Three…"

"Two…"

"One!"

Cozbi flung open the door and activated her hologram. The life-like representation of Cozbi sprinted through the open door and was immediately greeted by the yelps of surprise and hasty pistol fire.

Cozbi and Ashley piled into the room after the hologram and raised their weapons. Cozbi did the dirty work, firing off two well-placed bursts that dropped the room's two occupants.

The men stationed in the room were dressed in jumpsuits - coloured in green and yellow tones like the rest of their Militia cohorts. One of them was slumped dead over the main control console and Cozbi wasted no time in tugging him off. The holo-pilot let the corpse fall to the floor with a we thud and turned her attention towards the control console.

"That was anticlimactic!" Cozbi joked as she looked over the control console for damage. She regarded the two men she had just killed with nonchalance, a small wave from her hand being the only indication that she was talking about them.

"Yeah…" Ashley frowned and tapped her fingers on her Mozambique. She tore her gaze away from the fresh corpses and wandered over to the wall of the control room. All of the walls were made from transparent glass - most likely bulletproof.

From the angle she was standing at Ashley had an unparalleled view of the battle below. She watched the bug-sized titans fighting and the pinprick-sized civilians scurrying to safety.

"You sound unamused," Cozbi grumbled as she pulled her data-knife from its sheath and slipped into the console's port. "Don't tell me that you're going to act all high and mighty again… you killed plenty on the way up here…"

"Yeah…" Ashley's frown grew more pronounced.

Far down below, two IMC titans broke through the Militia ranks and began charging one of the streets. The pinprick-sized civilians were left fleeing as heavy rounds and missile fire tore up the surrounding buildings.

Ashley was so fixated on the view that she tuned out the sound of Cozbi talking.

"-at least you can get the bloody job done," Cozbi finished. Her date-knife "dinged" and showed off a blue screen to signal that it was done capturing the console. Using her data-knife as a steering lever, Cozbi jerked it sideways to re-align the missile racks of the anti-air tower.

The entire structure shifted, vibrated, and grumbled as the swiveling head slowly turned the missile racks downwards. It was so intense that Ashley had to press her hands against the window to steady herself.

FInally, after what seemed like minutes, the anti-air cannons head and barrels were pointed down at the small city below.

"Blisk, this is Knife," Cozbi called into her helmet radio. "Green is KIA but Ishikara and I have taken control of the objective. We're all ready to go up here."

Their radios were silent for a long moment.

"Knife, Tigress, good work," Blisk crackled over Ashley's helmet mounted headset. "Shame about Green, but he knew the risks. Hold your position, I'll give the Militia a little call and see if they're interested in standing down… if not, I'll let you know."

"Aye, boss," Cozbi flicked the side of her radio. She moved her hand down and squeezed the grip of her data-knife tightly.

Ashley was still staring down at the town and base below. She felt strange in the moment, as if she was living in deja vu.

"I hope they just stand down," Ashley breathed out in a sigh. "Leveling an entire base… Jesus…"

"It would be a gigantic waste of good resources," Cozbi answered, her grip on her data-knife still tight.

Ashley felt her back stiffen a little bit. The other woman in the room with her had been nonchalant about her response… which Ashley expected.

"A waste of resources?" Ashley narrowed her eyes underneath her helmet. "There's a town down there… civilians…"

"Militia civilians…" Cozbi tittered. "It's our job to take the tower… not care about a bunch of enemies. Besides, they had plenty of time to run for the hills..."

"That's callous," Ashley spat, her hands curling into fists. "Very callous…"

Ashley could hear Cozbi's nostrils flaring, even though she was still wearing her helmet. The woman hadn't moved from her position at the control console, but Ashley could see her visibly shaking with anger.

"I don't want to hear another fucking word out of you!" Cozbi hissed. "Good lord, Ishikara… grow up and accept the job for what it is!"

"I do!" Ashley spat back, tearing her eyes away from Cozbi and looking back out the window. "But it's fucked up! And I'm going to call it for what it is! Even if you refuse to…"

"We've been over this before, haven't we!?" Cozbi growled, her grip on her knife tightening further. "I don't take pleasure in this-"

"Bullshit!"

"Well what does that make you then!?" Cozbi was now yelling. "You're just as complacent! Fucking hell, you even admitted to me that your a terrible person! Despite all that's been said between us and you and Blisk… you're still here, in the Apex Predators."

Ashley felt her upper lip curl and her back stiffen.

"Just shut your fucking mouth for once…" Cozbi shook her head, each word carefully pronounced. "You are a lazy, pathetic, drunken recluse… you know exactly who and what you are but you're still trying and failing to pretend otherwise. I honestly don't know what Blisk sees in you… you're nothing and no one..."

Ashley bit back a biting retort and turned her attention back to the window. She could feel the tips of her fingers digging painfully into her palms and did her best to relax her grip.

"Blisk?" Cozbi sighed and tapped her radio. "Anything?"

"I've had the Medusa send the same hail four bloody times…" Blisk yelled back over the radio, the sounds of violence and gunfire in the background. "Fuck it… level the bloody base!"

"Should I give you time to bugger out?"

"Is that even a question?" Blisk scoffed. "I'll send out the retreat order… fire on my mark…"

"Got it, boss…" Cozbi took her hand off her radio again.

It was a shame really… an entire base and a surrounding town being leveled. It honestly reminded Ashley of…

... now she knew why she was feeling deja vu. Ashley was staring down at what was soon to become a second Demeter.

She could see it now, several car-sized missiles rocketing straight downwards and striking in the middle of the base's heart. Missiles of that size were designed to shear frigates in half… there was no way anything below the mountain would be spared. The base would be wiped clean off the map… as would the surrounding town… and everyone in it.

A gigantic clean slate… made from soot, bones and superheated glass.

Ashley's feeling of deja vu intensified, she saw the destruction of Demeter flashing across her eyelids, as if a malevolent God had pressed his finger to the planet's surface and simply erased everything there.

She had never told Blisk… or anyone, about how she got off of Demeter...

"Ishikara! Where are you running to? There's still time to stop this!"

There hadn't been… James MacAllen was already overloading his titan's nuclear core...

"Ashley! What the fuck do you think you're doing!? Where are you going!?"

Colton had screamed out to her when he saw her turn tail… she had taken the cowardly route. But what else could she do? She didn't want to get vaporized, her sense of self-preservation overpowered her sense of logic.

"Hey lady… come on! We all want the same thing you want! Put it down! Please!"

The workers had been innocent… but they were just in the way. It was hard to think clearly when the planet you were on was about to get incinerated. They had a space worthy ship and Ashley was desperate...

"You- you… I can't believe… WAIT PLEASE!"

They didn't let her onboard… Ashley's gun had done the talking for her.

"What the fuck did you do to them!? Good fucking God, Ashley!"

In her panic… she never bothered to see if her team had caught up with her… she was desensitized to the point where she didn't hear them pounding on the door, begging to be let in.

Ashley's newly acquired ship made orbit while everyone else was killed by a flash of light and heat.

And here she was again… years later… looking down at the next Demeter.

The difference was, she was helping to pull the trigger this time…

But was that alright? Of course it wasn't… Ashley had spent the years since Demeter sleeping in a shack and drinking away the last of the credits she had left.

"Green light…" Blisk crackled over the radio. "Blow these bastards to hell…"

"Got it, boss," Cozbi pushed the data-knife forwards to angle the tower lower. She turned her attention to the firing controls and began fiddling around with the different knobs and buttons. "Okay… I'm firing in ten seconds!"

"Go!"

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…"

Deep, deep down… something inside Ashley snapped…

"Five, four, three..."

How could she stay like this? Her life? All the shitty things she had done? How could she complain about the plethora of war crimes she had helped to commit… while willingly taking part in another one? It didn't make sense, nothing made sense…

"Two… one… z-"

Well actually, one thing made sense… what she had to do was clear. Ashley had been a hypocrite for a long, long time… but now there was a chance to change that. If not for the innocent people down there… then for herself...

Moving without thinking, Ashley thrust herself away from the window as Cozbi's hand was inches away from firing the missiles...