Chapter 10

One year A.E. (After Emergence Day)

To their credit, the former UIR states had stood with the COG for far longer than Richard Prescott would give them credit for. Then again, it wasn't like another state had attacked. Every soldier on Sera had fought side by side with his or her comrades when the monster rose up from the depths of the planet. The Locust, aptly named for a variety of reasons, had surged up to the surface of Sera all across the world without warning, parley, or mercy. They were grotesque and numbered in the billions, with even more pouring from the ground every day. Efforts to negotiate peace had been met with one demand: the death of every man, woman, and child on Sera.

Prescott sneered at the thought of the alien forces killing his citizens. The look gave several passing Gears pause, but not as it would have with his predecessor. Unfortunately, the great and esteemed Chairman Dalyell had suffered a fatal heart attack two weeks ago. Several billion monsters (and one super pissed off ninja) out to kill him, and the stress of the situation put him down. Still, Dalyell had been getting on in age, and there is little that could prepare someone for attempted genocide.

Prescott entered his office and was not surprised to see the shapely form of Louise Settile lounging on the padded leather couch near the window, looking out over Ephyra. While the two had entertained an unofficial relationship, her arrival likely meant something was wrong. When she heard the door close behind him, the COG's number one intelligence officer turned in her seat and face the Chairman. The lock clicked into place almost silently.

"Surprised to see me?" She asked, her voice a mixture of coy flirting and genuine concern. Richard waved off her look, and took his seat next to her as they looked out over the city together,

"Hardly. I have to assume that something, somewhere is going wrong at all times these days. If you're here, then something has either gone very wrong, or very right." He said as he leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of him. It wouldn't do to show weakness in front of any citizen of the Coalition, but Louise would take any secret of his to her grave, and that brought comfort that few could provide to the new Chairman.

"I'm afraid it's a little bit of both. I got the number crunch from your plan last week. It's viable, but we both know what it means." She said slowly, her sharp eyes gauging for his reaction. When his shoulders slumped slightly, it was genuine.

"I understand the cost, Louise. I really do. But it is a cost we will pay either way, unless we act."

"I'm not questioning the necessity of it, Richard. But we'll be the murderers that go down in history for this. You know that, don't you?" Richard glanced at her without turning his head, a single eye on her, and her reflection in the window.

"If I'm written into history as the most murderous, treasonous bastard in Coalition history, at least it will mean that there will be someone there to read that history." Richard said with some conviction. "I will not preside over the extinction of the human race." Louise settled a reassuring hand across Richard's shoulder.

"Well, there is good news too. Our Gears are holding on the borders, even with Locust boring up behind them. Hoffman and his protege have not been holding back." She offered. Richard turned his head in mild surprise.

"The Dawnbringer girl? I understand that Namikaze trained her and raised her, but I don't see how she could change the tide of this... slaughter." He paused slightly, but that was the reality of it. His Gears were being pushed back and ambushed every day.

"Field reports indicate she has some lower scale abilities like Dawnbringer's, but her intuition and leadership have helped as well. There have been no less than a dozen holes open up inside of our lines that she has shut down entirely. And her friend, Cpl. Baird, has already designed a preventative measure against emergence holes." Louise actually had the decency to blush. "It only makes me wonder what Dawnbringer could do. I almost regret hauling him off to New Hope."

"I understand Dalyell's reasons for it, but we didn't yield anything promising from that research. On top of that, the primary researchers were killed last year, anyway. I feel like my predecessor succeeded only in earning us a dangerous enemy." Richard had not been party to the machinations of Operation Dawnbringer. He had only heard of its full ramifications upon his appointment to Chairman. To some, it would have seemed to be research and development, the advancement of the Coalition. To Richard, it was the forced separation of father and daughter to further war in peacetime. Not a decision he would have made, but it was one more sin Richard had inherited from his predecessor. And there was little he could do about it now.

"Contact Adam, and get Bardry and Victor in here. I've got a decision to make." Richard spoke with the authority of the Chairman, and Louise Settile quickly became Agent Settile once more. She slid of the couch almost silently, and crossed the floor to the door. She unlocked it and hesitated before opening it.

"Are we really doing this, sir?" She asked. It wasn't reassurance she was looking for. Louise had done many things in her life that would condemn her in the eyes of the public. No, she was looking for resolve in the new world leader. Richard gave her a level stare, and she saw what she was looking for.

"Assemble the meeting, Ms. Settile. These monsters will not pillage my people."

"Yes sir." And with that, she was out the door and gone, his hidden hand guiding the dying Coalition in an attempt to save it from total destruction. Richard wasn't naive or incompetent enough to say that Louise was his most valuable or most effective arm in the war against the Locust. But damn if she didn't get things done. With Settile gone, Richard sat down behind his desk, and looked down at the world map of Sera stretched it. There were boundaries and lines of battle draw all across it, with different colored ink used for different times. And beside the map was an estimate of the effective range of the Hammer of Dawn weapon satellites.

Richard Prescott had no way of knowing if the future would hold humanity's survival. Monsters pressed upon their borders and took no quarter. But in three weeks' time, he was about to become a monster himself. He would go down in history as the man that dropped the Hammer on his own citizens. Kill the many, to save the few. And when the smoke cleared, Richard wasn't sure that he could stand in the light of day again.

Hoffman had ordered them to Ephyra as a form of R and R, but as Sam and Damon arrived in Tyrus' capital city, there was clearly no time for rest and relaxation. The newly minted Sergeant Byrne and her pet corporal, as some called Baird when his back was turned, arrived just in time to catch the tail end of Prescott's speech.

"...I know that it is an impossible task for most of our loyal citizens. I know that for some, the fight against these monstrosities has made it too late for you. For all the brave people that cannot make it in time... The Coalition will honor your sacrifice." As the speakers ended the Chairman's remorseful announcement, the silence that followed was almost as loud as the impending uproar. Baird and Sam exchanged looks of surprise, and were witness to an instant riot.

"Baird, gather the Gears and get them out here! We're on crowd control!" Sam said quickly, sprinting out of the barracks to corral the irate citizens of Ephyra. Baird cursed, and dove back into the mobile command unit. Inside, there were Gears clustered around televisions and radios still reeling from the announcement.

"Alright, chumps! Off your asses! We've got a city rioting out there!" There were precious few that respected Baird, and the few that did had seen him work wonders with machinery and vehicles. But all of them recognized the need for order. Hell, it was what the COG stood for.

Baird led thirteen Gears from their mobile command center, and found Sam standing in front of a glass storefront. The patrons and customers inside were trying to press pass her, but the stout little Kashkuri woman manage to hold them back. Baird and another Gear, a huge black man that eschewed helmets as often as Baird himself, joined her in holding back the panicked mob. Even as they held back the press of bodies, Sam was shouting.

"CALM DOWN! Do you really think you're doing any good by running in the street like rabid animals?! Get your heads on straight!" She roared over the cacophony of frenzied people. Several backed off at the sight of huge, armored Gears, and even more halted at the sound of her authoritative voice. But as the panic eased, it gave way to anger and outrage. A young, skinny man, likely exempted from service, stepped forward with a scowl.

"That crazy bastard just sentenced our people to death! We've got family out there! Doesn't he care?" The young man barked. A few others rallied behind him, and there was a general sense of danger for the three Gears.

"This is nuts, Sam." Baird muttered, she would not be deterred. Sam reached forward and grabbed the outspoken man, and hauled him up nose to nose.

"Panic is useless. No, it's worse than useless; it's detrimental to everything we've clung to! If you spend less time worrying and more time preparing, we'll be able to save more people. Get to work, and you just might save someone's life!" She barked into his face. The scrawny coward shrank back from her wrath, and she released him to let him stumble back.

"She's right, folks. The harder we work now, the more people that we can help. You can't get the shakes now, baby." Their hulking ally said easily. If Sam's wrath dimmed their fiery anger, the big man's easy demeanor and huge size dashed it completely.

"What do we do, then?" A woman asked hesitantly. Sam stepped forward, the crazed mountain visage gone, and in its place was the confident sergeant with answers to their problems.

"We've got ten days before the Hammer drops. How many people survive depend on food availability and space. Go home, contact your families, and prepare. Set up gardens, clear out old space. Get ready to share space, because we just became the last safe haven on Sera!" She said loudly and evenly, and already people were nodding their heads. The citizens had not abandoned all sense, even despite the distressing announcement the Chairman had made. Sam stood in front of them a moment longer, and then stepped to the side, as did Baird and the other Gear.

Instead of the onslaught of panicked bodies it had almost been, the group of people moved out of the store quickly but orderly, just like they had been taught in school drills. The young man Sam had grabbed glowered at her, but still moved with a purpose. The store front crowd had been the largest in their section of the city, but there were a few more populated areas that needed pacifying. Sam and the other two set off at a decent pace, though there was time for conversation.

"Thanks for the help Cole. Who knew you had a little bit of farmer in you?" Baird said sardonically. The name clicked, and Sam finally recognized the hulking mass of Gear behind them. Augustus Cole, the Cole Train, an up and coming thrashball star that joined the army after E-Day. Cole shook his head at Baird's bite.

"They're just scared, baby. Some folks still have people to lose." The statement made Sam and Baird both wince. Cole's parents had been killed on E-Day, as had Baird's. The difference being, Cole had actually loved his mom and pa. Baird's parents had been entitled upper class shits that cared more about family name than family fun. It was their intolerance of Baird's love for engineering that put him in the same training camp that Sam had enrolled in.

"Yeah. And the sheep flock to the nearest cliff. Sometimes I prefer the grubs." Cole and Sam had both grown used to Baird's mouth. It wasn't easy coping with a merciless army of monsters slaughtering everyone you've ever met. Baird saw the world for the slobbering monster it was. He just spat back.

"Next time we'll let you talk to the grubs, Baird. Since you're the expert and all that. I'm sure you'll have plenty to talk about." Sam chided. Together, the three turned a corner into the next cross street, where more Gears were controlling the crowds. The three filed in to help, just as Lieutenant Kim was directing the scared populace on the same tips Sam had just relayed to her crazed mob.

After an early morning spent convincing the local civilian population that panicking was bad, Sam and the other Gears returned to their barracks. Many Gears were just as upset as the civvies, but you can't argue with several kilometers and a deadline. Goodbyes were said over the phone, and last ditch survival plans were concocted. As desperation and sad acceptance set in, Sam was nonplussed. She sat on her rack poring over a map that was pre-Locust war, examining truck routes in a continued attempt to locate her surrogate father.

Baird and Cole chatted with a few of Cole's friends, offering well wishes and hopes for the best. Because Baird's only real friends were Sam and Cole, his social outing was more for Cole's benefit than his own. The selfless act earned a modicum of respect in Sam's eyes. She and Baird had been more or less tied at the hip since Emergence Day a year ago. In that time, she had seen his harsh and biting attitude toward the world and decoded it for what it truly was.

Baird had grown up in a household bereft of the love and care many families enjoyed. Where one would expect a doting mother or a proud father, Baird only grew up with expectations and disappointment. And after he joined the army, Baird had sheltered himself from harm even more with his biting tongue and razor wit. Because if Baird never actually cared about someone, it didn't hurt as much when they got hurt or died. It explained his short list of trusted friends, and it also explained his hesitation to expand his list. Sam never confronted him about his attitude because she realized it was his shield; his protection against the madness of the world. To some it might seem a cynical bastard who didn't care about anyone. Sam knew it was different: he was a little boy that didn't want to be hurt anymore. So when he snapped or caused offense, Sam and Cole did not hesitate to defend him. Because Baird was one more friend that needed protection.

Sam had suffered the attention of several suitors even in this rundown existence the Locust had brought down in Sera. And yet, not one had continued their attempts after a talk with Damon Baird. There was even a time when he had been nursing black eye, and he'd refused to explain what happened. That Sam was included in Baird's short list of people worth defending was a compliment in itself. In another time, it might have made her blush. But these days, it made him someone she had to protect.

Cole gave the two space when he could, and could only offer amused grins at the two when they interacted. A few grunts had proposed that the two hurry up and kiss already. The response had been bodily harm visited upon said mouthy soldiers. But the general consensus remained: there was no Byrne without Baird close by.

These thoughts crossed Baird's mind as he leaned against the wall next to the duty roster. He watched as Sam continued to examine logs that were five years old, trying to determine where the shipments had gone. Her dogged determination to find Naruto, her father in every sense but blood, had at first mystified and stumped Baird. He didn't have a great relationship with his parents to draw on, but he couldn't seem himself going through every spare moment trying to find one person in a world gone to Hell. Any kind of determination was admirable, but wasting time and resources chasing a highly unlikely goal was simply a waste of time. But searching for her old man kept Sam together, so he'd help however he could.

The radio buzzed with reports of road closings and Locust attacks as the entire population of Sera rushed to occupy a handful of cities on the Jacinto plateau. After the day had dragged on, what was shocking news had dulled to hopeless background noise. The Coalition had not taken the message well.

The sound of boots on the stairwell interrupted Baird's brooding and Sam's map reading. They turned and saw Colonel Hoffman marching down from the squad bay above, with several other ranking Gears in step behind him. The Locust war had not aged Victor much, but time had not left the veteran Gear unscathed, either. Wrinkles settled into his face as he scanned the room, and his eyes fell on Sam.

"Sergeant Byrne." He growled loudly. When the other Gears in the barracks heard his voice, they all stiffened to attention, and a fresh private near the door cried, "Colonel on deck!" Together, all Gears stood at attention, though Hoffman quickly waved them back at ease. He scowled a little at being reminded of his rank; Hoffman was built to fight with his men, not send them to their deaths. The rank of colonel never suited him, no matter how proud Margaret was.

"Col. Hoffman, sir. Good to see you." Sam said, the official edge slacking off slightly, but not completely. Victor almost paused as he hear Sam Byrne's daughter refer to him that way.

"Stow the ceremony, Samantha. Neither Naruto nor your parents would want you snuffing up to me anyway. I need your squad for a mission." He growled, eyeballing Cole and Baird. They just stared back, though Baird tucked his chin a little bit. Sam chuckled.

"My squad? Earlier today I was just a part of Charlie Company. Our squad leader hasn't been replaced, and me and Baird are all that's left of Lima Squad." Sam grimaced. She had turned in Lima Squad's COG tags shortly before the broadcast that shook the world.

"Well, take three guesses what that makes you, Sam. I'm forming you into Lima, and Cole is going with you." He looked at Gus as he said the last part, and the gargantuan thrashball star nodded.

"Yes sir. Will we have a fourth?" Sam asked, looking around. Hoffman nodded and motioned behind him. Several Gears parted as a man with startling orange-red hair pushed his way through the entourage of Gears following Hoffman. His pale face was decorated with dark blue facial tattoos, and Sam recognized him from the stories Hoffman and Naruto had told her.

Padrick Salton saw whose squad he was joining, and he stomach turned a knot. The thrashball star he knew only from listening to the radio with Baz. The young blonde guy had earned a reputation for a sharp mind and a sharper tongue. But the daughter of Sam Byrne, and charge of Naruto Namikaze, caused the cold feeling in his chest. Here stood the woman raised by one of the most honorable men he'd ever met, and he had betrayed said man to a conniving Chairman. The fact that his own life had been in danger meant nothing.

"Pad, meet Sergeant Sam Byrne. Believe me, I never thought I'd say that again. Sam, this is Pad. He and your father fought together at Anvil Gate, among other places." Victor said as he stood between the two. Sam looked at Pad with a mixture of reverence and curiosity, while Pad struggled to meet her gaze. He probably thought about comparing her to her father, which explained the awkward silence.

"Sam's in charge, with Pad in secondary. Cpl. Salton has a lot of experience to offer, and he's a hell of a shot. That should round off Lima Squad just right." Hoffman said, clapping both of his friends on the shoulders as he moved past them, off to settle some other problem that Solomon Bardry was too important to handle and the ground troops were too disorganized to tame. The newly reformed Lima Squad watched the colonel and his trail of supply officers and adjutants walk around the corner and presumably out the door. Sam and Baird looked at each other for a moment, then they and and Cole turned to look at Pad. The older sniper almost flinched under their collective gaze, though Sam's curious look was the one that nearly broke him.

"Well, our first detail is a recon mission towards the borders of Char, so I guess having you along is a stroke of luck, Pad." She said amicably, grinning slightly as she shook his hand. Pad returned the smile, though he was knocked off balance slightly when Cole patted him on the back hard enough to knock the wind from him.

"Welcome to the winning team, baby. We'll show you the tried and true way of dealing with our grubby grubs, ha ha!" Cole boomed, his infectious good mood ending whatever awkward silence there was between them.

"Easy Cole. He's used to eating twigs and baby rabbits. Don't want to break any of his ribs." Baird added, his snide remark earning a raised eyebrow from Pad. The lad was testing him, Pad knew it, and he'd let this one slide. The reaction, or lack thereof, did nothing to perturb Baird. The cocky blonde just resumed his semi-permanent sneer and starting looking over the map of their recon area.

"We can move your stuff to our little corner of heaven later, Pad. For now, look over these maps of Highway 312 and see if you can find a decent observation point." Sam said, pulling said papers out from underneath Baird. To Pad's surprise, Baird offered no verbal or any other kind of resistance. Clearly, the blonde either admired or respected the Kashkuri native enough to keep his mouth shut. The two moved with easy familiarity as they looked over the maps splayed across Sam's cot, yet they did not have the intimate closeness of two people that had shared a bed. Cole stood in the background, a reassuring column of good-natured muscle. The three were a tight squad, drawn together by camaraderie and the terrible circumstance of the Locust. Pad felt like an outsider, and not just because of the way he had sold Naruto out to Dalyell. He didn't have any common ground with the two men, and his only connections to Samantha were her surrogate and biological fathers. Samuel Byrne was dead, and Naruto locked up somewhere in a research facility. It was time to make friends.

"So, what's our first mission?" Pad asked hesitantly. Baird moved over slightly and left enough room for Pad to get a look of the map. Displayed was the nation of Tyrus, and several advancing red lines that indicated the last reported location of Locust troops. Char, on the western edge of Tyrus, was well behind the most recent line of ink.

"We sneak behind enemy lines, assess the area that's going to be attacked, and observe Hammer effectiveness on hostile forces." Sam said in a monotone, robotic voice, before slipping back into her regular tone. "Other words, we get to watch the world end and see if it ends the grubs too." There were several rail stations near Char, since it had been a major freight hub before Emergence Day. The rails were trashed by emergence holes and genuine Locust mischief, but they represented long sight lines and little cover. It would be a trick just to get close enough to the city.

"Those railways were meant for cargo and Imulsion, so there won't be a lot of Pendulum War bunkers around when everything goes up." Baird added, pointing out several tiny rectangles on the map near Char. "I didn't build the Hammer, but I'd say that this should be close enough to watch the fireworks without getting our asses fried."

"Only one problem with that, baby." Cole added. "Most of those bunkers are the kind you build underground. Even if it's shallow, that's gonna be one mean dugout." Sam and Baird both nodded. Due to its presence in the ground, most shelters safe from bombing are very NOT safe when your enemy tunnels up from below. If the Locust got a fix on their position, they'd be too busy fighting off the monsters to observe the blast. And considering how far behind enemy lines it was, they'd likely lose that fight.

"Good thing you brought me then. I'm an ace at getting in an out without the buggers spotting me." Pad said, tracing a line from a rail junction toward the bunker Baird had mentioned. "There's a lot of vegetation until about fifty meters from the rails. There was strict codes enforcement during the war because a downed tree would halt the war effort. The crews didn't bother with anything until it infringe on that fifty meter mark. We can use the bush for cover, and then close in from there."

"How do we know there won't be a dried out field instead of thick woods?" Baird questioned.

"Have you met a rail sapper? Even the Army guys are a functional marriage of lazy and efficient. If they didn't absolutely have to clear trees, they didn't clear trees." Pad returned. Baird frowned, but accepted the explanation.

The four continued planning their approach, and spent the next half hour gearing up to move. Pad and Cole were checking the larger Gear's packs for any extra rattle and stuffing socks and extra shirts in between everything metal. They did the same for Baird's stuff as well, and Sam didn't carry a pack. She just wore her favorite jacket, and left it open to account for her chest pates. It didn't look very regulation, but she didn't have to lug a fifty five pound pack with her on account of the plethora of storage seals hidden in her jacket. She'd yet to apply the same to her armor, but it was soon coming.

When the men finished their preparation, Sam radioed CIC and requested a Packhorse to drop them off as close to Char as possible. A few minutes later, a medium sized armored truck rolled up to their barracks and took on Lima Squad and a few other Gears. The ride was bumpy even on paved roads, and with the cramped space, Baird's knee almost became Pad's new eye patch. But after an hour of sweaty, cramped space, the Packhorse stopped and opened its hatch, allowing Lima to step out into the mid morning sun. Instead of the COG base nestled near the center of the city, an hour's drive had put them on the edge of town. The road emptied out onto a main highway, and Sam winced when she saw it. Already, there were cars moving en masse toward Ephyra, rushing to get in before Prescott's curtain came down. There were squads of Gears posted at checkpoints just before the entrance into the city that would register all refugees entering. Prescott had planned ahead, at least.

"Come on, lass. We won't get past the Kryll standing around." Pad prodded, and Sam agreed. The four descended off the highway and into the median and began a comfortable jog. Control had allocated a Packhorse outside of the city, but they weren't going to fight oncoming traffic to get to it.

"You know, if it didn't turn us into shiny little targets, I'm sure I'd find a way to make our armor burn off those little pests." Baird muttered, which caused Sam to smirk.

"Those little pests are itching to have Baird for dinner. Just because we can get rid of them easily doesn't mean they're not a threat, Baird."

"Just sayin'. A few UV lights hooked up to our armor and BOOM: crispy flying razor rats."

The Kryll had been another unfortunate enemy in the Locust war. Once the Locust emerged, another predator had followed them out of their black warrens. Kryll were blind, flying predators barely larger than your average bird. However, when they attacked in huge numbers, their sharpened wings and biting teeth could reduce a Gear to a pile of armor and meat in seconds. Thankfully, the Kryll seemed to do the same to Locust drones and grenadiers, though they gave the larger creatures in the Locust menagerie a wider berth.

Cole and Baird took the stroll well, their breath coming in even draws as they plodded along. Sam seemed like she was walking, though no one was aware that she was channeling chakra into her legs to reduce the effort as an exercise as much as an effort to remain rested. Pad jogged along without complaint as well, though his age wore on him a bit. Together, they ran down the grassy road underneath the lanes of traffic that entered and exited Ephyra.

Forty five minutes later, the squad made it to a fuel station that had been converted into a forward outpost for Gears. Their Packhorse was sitting under the fuel station's awning, topped off and ready to roll. Baird exchanged a few heated words with the sergeant there, and then they were off. Sam had Baird drive, partly because he understood the workings of the vehicle best, and partly because he would gripe and snark if he wasn't driving. Lima Squad made their way down the parkway, headed toward Char, and their front row seat to Armageddon.

Hoffman wished he'd had more time to spare for Sam and Lima Squad, but Prescott's announcement hadn't made things easy for him. Bardry had much of the high level coordination handled, but a commander like Hoffman was pivotal in keeping the men fighting and focused. It wasn't just the fear of drawing his ire for screwing up. Hoffman's reputation as the commander of Anvil Gate MADE him Anvil Gate. Seeing the man that defended a fortress from impossible odds was a huge morale boost for the Gears. If he could hold off the Indies for months, then surely with him walking around the Locust would have to fight a lot harder to wipe out humanity.

It also didn't do for their reputed colonel to yell at the Chairman in front of Gears and civilians. Thankfully, the COG leader's walls were soundproofed to prevent eavesdropping on important conversations.

"I'm not saying there's another option, but you could have given us a later deadline. We're about to wipe out 80% of the human race in one. Fucking. Shot!" Hoffman yelled, slamming his fist into the desk to punctuate each word. Prescott's calm facade didn't waver.

"If we extend the deadline, refugees won't be the only thing pouring into the plateau. Three days is too long for our forces to keep out the Locust. On top of that, our food production and lodging wouldn't be able to hold fifty thousand more people than we have already taken." Prescott explained calmly, trying to cool the fire that threatened to cause Hoffman's head to combust. It didn't work.

"We've condemned most of the planet to death by orbital goddamned laser! I know the numbers, I know the risks. But if you delay it by even one day, that's a chance for whole families to be saved." Hoffman wasn't used to playing the humanity card, and it showed.

"I didn't expect the sentimentality approach from a man that watched civilians die for months holding a Silver Age garrison." Prescott said with a raised brow. "I'm afraid we have to sustain what we have, and hope for the best. Besides, the reconnaissance squads I ordered to the fringes will determine just how good we are at destroying our own planet."

Victor was aware that Lima had received orders like that, and it was one more group of friends that would hit hard if they were lost. But he wasn't allowed to complain when Sera was about to become a wasteland.

"Asset denial. Massive casualties inflicted on the enemy. But my own damn wife walked out the door when she heard what was happening. How is the COG going to react to us, the people supposed to protect them, roasting our own fucking citizens?" Margaret had left angrily, attempting to make it to a neighboring city to save her sister. Hoffman had tried to stop her, but the colonel's wife was as resourceful as she was furious.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Victor. Our allies will be few and far between after the dust settles. Let us hope this hits the Locust as hard as it hits us." Prescott knew he was right, and he knew that Hoffman would go along with the decision. The man had one of the command keys.

"And...there's still no word on Namikaze? That man was a walking WMD, and yet you've got him squirreled away somewhere. He could take out fields of Locust and protect our people at the same time!" Hoffman had brought the topic up several times in the past few months, and Prescott's answer was the same as it had always been.

"Or, he could decimate us for the actions of the previous administration. If I had been in his shoes, I'd definitely be ready to shed some blood. If he's as deadly as you say, he's better off where he is. For our sake as well as his." With that, Prescott turned and faced the window. The conversation was over, and both social and military courtesies dictated that Hoffman leave. And despite his growing rage, he did. He scared the secretary on the way out though.

As the war raged in populated areas and disputed battlegrounds, New Hope Research Facility sat abandoned on its lonely mountain top. After Emergence Day, the secondary scientists and assistants were removed, and the security teams reabsorbed into the Army. As such, all live specimens were placed in long term stasis. This not only included Dawnbringer, but the Sire project as well. As such, Naruto had been moved to a larger room, filled with much freakier neighbors in stasis. The blonde man himself, however, was unaware of his surroundings. He was currently embroiled in a mental haze, snaps of forgotten memory overlapped with bouts of complete oblivion. Time had passed without notice to him, an entire year gone as he rolled in the fury and despair of his past. In the regret of what Madara had done...

"The eye has been accepted by your body, but the boy is proving resourceful. My strongest seals are decaying rapidly, and adding more may disrupt your connection to the Rinnegan." Naruto could hear Kabuto's serpentine voice, but the darkness did not yield to his sight. A distressed growl emitted from his lips unbidden.

"No matter! I have wrested some control of his chakra network. Once I have gathered enough, I will resurrect my real form. I just have to maintain...ugh!" Hands grasped his head as Naruto and Kurama continued their mental assault.

"YOU CRAZY OLD BASTARD! Let! ME! OUUUT!" Naruto howled as he beat upon the bars of his mental prison. Several paper seals glowed on the golden bars, but their hue dimmed with just a little with every strike. Across from him, Kurama roared and snarled, railing against the bars with equal fervor to his jinchuriki. The giant fox clashed claw and tooth against his cage, further adding to the mental assault the two waged upon Madara's psyche. And just as they had done several times before, the two finally broke the restraints laid by Kabuto and Madara.

Vision washed over Naruto as he took in his surroundings savagely. A bright light hung above him as the Kabuto loomed over him, the mutated scientist's yellow eyes narrowing as he recognized Naruto regaining control of his body. The snake hybrid backed off as Naruto spun with a kick to attack him as well as gain his feet.

"You slippery bastard, you two aren't going to be able to finish this! I'll stop you for sure!" Naruto said heatedly. He crossed his fingers and summoned three clones, all of whom attacked Orochimaru's most sadistic follower. Why his doppelgangers held off the snake man, Naruto focused what control he had over his body on breaking down the nearest door.

One mangled slab of metal later, the open night sky greeted Naruto. The trees were large and vibrant, indicating that they were likely in the Land of Fire or the Land of Springs. It was odd that their little hideaway was so close to the outdoors, but given that HE was their captive, there was likely a coalition of shinobi looking for him. That, and a former teammate to Orochimaru was leading the search, so all of the old snake's hideouts were subject to discovery.

Naruto felt his control shift slightly as Madara raged against him, vying for control once more. Kurama did his best to suppress the Uchiha patriarch, but the Sharingan had trump over the Nine Tails. Naruto unsealed a package from his coat and dropped it on the ground, pushing chakra into it as it fell from his fingers. His control faded completely, but Madara was too slow to stop the ensuing plan.

Naruto's plan: blow shit to the moon.

The explosion was so loud, Naruto's ears simply reported the high pitched wine of ruptured ear drums. It blasted Naruto's body into the air, and reduced the local area to a giant crater. The charge had landed facing down, otherwise it would have likely blown the skin off of his bones. Not a deadly injury considering his regenerative ability, but it was pain Madara was spared from as Naruto's nervous system came under control again.

The old psychopath activated the Rinnegan in Naruto's right eye, and he could already see chakra being molded in the distance. Naruto's bomb had attracted the attention of his friends.

"Insolent pest!" He ground out. The entrance to Kabuto's spider hole had collapsed completely, so his only recourse was to take off running. In the body of a Senju descendant, his Sharingan wasn't capable of manifesting beyond the fragment of his soul inside of Naruto's body. This meant his teleportation technique the Kamui was a no go. And Naruto was not the fastest person in Konoha, even with Madara's viable tricks at his disposal.

"Stop, you body jumping fuck!" Kiba had inherited his mother's foul mouth. Madara/Naruto jumped at the last second as a large white creature cut across the path in front of him. Two kunai appeared in the possessed shinobi's hands as he blocked swiping claws and slashing teeth. When his assailant withdrew, he witnessed a large war dog, Akamaru. The dog was snarling ferociously.

"Kiba's got him stopped! Everyone, in position!" That was Shikamaru's voice. With the Leaf Village's resident genius heading the attack, it was luck that his team was the one's responding. The fact that they were close by only meant that the lazy genius had been employing Kiba and his tracking abilities as well.

"Back off brat." Naruto's voice was snide, evil, and definitely out of character. "You're out of your league even while I am trapped in this form." Akamaru's growl deepened considerably.

" Figures you'd body snatch just like that snake bastard Orochimaru! You'll never get away with this!" Kiba snarled.

"That was a considerable amount of syllables, far more than I expected from an Inuzuka." Madara goaded in an attempt to lure the boy into making a mistake. Surprisingly, Kiba simply smirked.

"You're inhabiting the body of a guy a lot dumber than I am, ya old shit. And don't expect this to go your way just because we're young." Ouch, Kiba. That was harsh.

Before Madara could focus on fighting, three more figures appeared from the treeline. A woman in a brown trench coat and a platinum blonde woman in a purple top and skirt landed in the clearing across from Kiba and Naruto/Madara. The third arrival irked Madara to no end: it was his failed apprentice, Sasuke Uchiha. The blasted man also possessed one of the few obstacles to Madara's plan. The only thing that can combat a Sharingan effectively, is another Sharingan.

"Ino, now! We'll work him over." Kiba yelled, and charged to close in on the possessed jinchuriki. Madara dodged a few swipes and kicked Kiba away, but the nin dog latched onto his arm with a wicked grip. Madara felt bones crunch as the canine bit down harder, and the bones in his forearms snapped like twigs. A spray of blood coated his sleeve, and Madara delivered several quick strikes to the dog's neck and slung it away. He cradled his weakened arm, and frowned when Naruto's miraculous regeneration failed to start.

"Why isn't it healing?" Madara wondered out loud through gritted teeth. Even for a man who had lost several limbs, a severely broken arm caused considerable pain. A defiant cry echoed inside his head.

"HA! Fuck you, you overgrown prune! You can't force me to give you chakra, and I control the fox's seal!" Naruto cried, and assaulted the bars once more. In the corporeal world, Kiba and Akamaru renewed their assault. Madara dodged and blocked as best as he could while crippled, and then the trench coat woman cut in. Literally.

A tanto blade nearly took his good arm at the elbow as Madara was forced to bend at the waist underneath Anko's savage slash. The interrogation specialist continued her tandem assault with Kiba, her tanto slashing and blocking while Kiba and Akamaru flanked from the sides. Madara began accumulating minor slashes and cuts underneath the combined assault. Irritated, Madara decided to remind these brats why he was feared even in the history books.

"Cauterizing Blast!" Madara swung his good arm in a wide semi-circle, and a solid wall of flames sent his attackers flying back with burns. Kiba and Anko recovered quickly enough, but Akamaru landed hard, and he couldn't clear the burned tissue from his nose. Before the nin dog could recover, Madara appeared behind it.

"Infernal Claw!" Madara's good hand ignited with chakra claws, all five tips gleaming white hot. He brought the flaming appendage down to sever the dog's neck from its body, only for it to bounce off of a very infuriating sword.

Sasuke's sword slashed toward him with almost supersonic speed, forcing Madara on the defensive once more. Madara had wielded the Sharingan for two lifetimes, and he knew better than to make eye contact. He focused on Sasuke's movements and body language, never taking his eyes above Sasuke's neck. Holding off a swordsman actually accustomed to his own body while the Madara was still getting used to Naruto's body was a challenge and a half, but no one present had the experience he had. A few cross cuts raised Sasuke's guard and Madara spun, deflecting a slash by bring his arm up behind him. The resulting return surprised Sasuke, and he came away with four thin lines across his chest.

Madara stopped and squared off with Sasuke, and that pause allowed for another consciousness to assault his mind. Now, several years in limbo on top of his admittedly less than sane plan concocted in the wake of some rabbit demon had left Madara's mind somewhat... unhinged. As Ino Yamanaka attacked his mind in an attempt to free her colleague. With Naruto, Kurama, and Ino all assaulting his head, Madara found the fight just a bit much.

"Scorched Earth!" He cried out, casting both arms out despite the pain in his weakened arm. The others had closed in as Madara encounter the mental onslaught, and only Sasuke had been prepared enough to sense the jutsu. Heat emanated in waves from Naruto's body, scorching Anko, Kiba, and Akamaru and sending them flying.

"Get her away from him! She's the only one that can perform the jutsu!" Shikamaru yelled.

Anko was the closest, and her skin seemed to boil and blister as she flew. Kiba and Akamaru suffered lesser injuries, but they were both thrown into trees and knocked out.

Sasuke pulled Ino out the line of fire – ha – and together they took cover behind another tree. Naruto could hear them plotting as he continued to assault Madara mentally.

"I'm not strong enough to break his hold from here. I have to touch him!" She said loudly, yelling over the increasingly frequent waves of intolerable heat. Sasuke nodded, and then waited a moment for his chance.

"NOW!" Naruto cried, and he and Kurama hammered on their cages as hard as they could. Together, coupled with the exertion of burning away all matter within ten meters, it proved enough for Naruto to end the jutsu. The burning stopped, and as soon as it did, Anko's tanto and Sasuke's sword buried themselves in Naruto's shoulders. Sasuke stabbed down into ground, pinning Naruto to the dirt. Ino leaped in almost immediately, and then placed both hands on Naruto's head. Madara grimaced as he fought off Naruto's assault and the pain in his shoulders, and his plans were falling down.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I'm going to pull you out. Just... forgive me." Ino said, her features taking a regretful tone. Within his mind, Naruto saw a transparent form of Ino appear in the darkness of the sewer.

"Ino! We've almost got him beat. Just let us out, and he's gone!" Naruto cried. He was ecstatic to see her, and if he wasn't so tore down about Sakura, he'd kiss the woman breaking into his head. Ino shook her head sadly.

"It's not that simple, Naruto. When he implanted himself here, he latched onto your memory." Ino toned sadly. Naruto didn't quite understand, but Kurama immediately growled in displeasure.

"I see. So that's how it's going to be." The entity growled. He withdrew from the bars of the cage, leaving a quizzical Naruto and a despondent Ino.

"What does that mean? Come on, we're in the middle of a fight here." Naruto pressed. Ino shook her head.

"Synaptic relay is incredibly fast. The world outside is nearly standing still. But the problem is that Madara will always come back as long as your memory remains the same. Unless your memory is altered, he will always return. And Kurama can't protect you." Ino told him.

"So, I just have to forget him? He's a crazy old coot bent on world domination, so that's gonna be kinda hard to do." Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly.

"It's not that easy. You can't even he realize he ever existed. Even a ghost, a whisper of a memory and he comes back. I'm going to try something, but it's going to be...weird." Ino made a sphere of blue light in her hands, and began molding it in her palms. Naruto felt a sudden sense of vertigo, and collapsed to his knees. His perception, the fight, the very world around him as he had seen it for years changed in a million tiny ways. It was like a million centipedes with a million legs crawled in his mind, needling every taste, touch, and memory within his being.

"Aaagh, Ino! You've got to... ugh!" He cried, the mental strain putting him down beyond speaking. Ino winced, but continued to morph and alter the sphere in her hands.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. But this... it's for the best." She said morosely. She closed her eyes as she completed the transfer, and opened her mouth to say more. Before she could withdraw, however, her eyes opened wide and she disappeared immediately. Still weakened from the feeling of his entire being under rewrite. As such, the dreadful howl that filled his head came not from himself, but from Madara.

Outside, in the real world, Ino tried to catch her breath. Unfortunately, Naruto's elongated canines had found their way into her windpipe. A clout of blood burst from her mouth, coating the ground with blood. Madara dug in tighter, and then released the woman's throat with a bloody grin.

"You may have been rid of me, but it cost you." Madara growled weakly. With that, his soul dissolved into ether, his attachment to Naruto severed as the memories wasted away. The jinchuriki faded into unconsciousness as Ino's jutsu took effect, and the woman herself bled to death on top of him.

Even in some of their last moments, his friends had given their all to save him. And he had killed Ino. With bared teeth.