Act 2 -

CHAPTER 6

An anchor woman sat confidently behind her desk and spoke at the camera. News footage displayed behind her as she reported the day's top stories.

Today's top story comes from the New Macross Warehouse District, which was once an important source of industrial work for the people of Old Macross. In recent years it has fallen into disrepair, and a reported source of much criminal activity.

Earlier this week, RDF forces invaded the Warehouse District and uncovered what appeared to be a Zentraedi slave-trading ring. RDF soldiers rescued dozens of young female Zentraedi from a prison, and the Zentraedi were sent to local hospitals for rehabilitation.

Though many consider this a victory for the RDF, it has also sparked controversy. Many critics are claiming that the RDF is losing discipline. Forces are not very prevalent in the Warehouse District, and some people claim that the RDF should have discovered the slave-trading ring sooner. Lynn Kyle, the leader of the non-profit group Freedom Cross, is calling a public meeting tomorrow to address what he calls "more proof of the RDF's corruption."

Still, the popularity rating for the RDF is expected to rise. Admiral Reave is also expected to speak tomorrow, to assure us that today's incident did not put the citizens of New Macross in any danger...

The lights from the doctor's examining room burned Lynn Kyle's eyes. He groaned and climbed off the table. "I'm done," he said.

Ayanami Raine was slipping on a lab coat. She ran her hands through her dark red hair, and let it rest on her shoulders. Even so early in the morning, she was a strikingly beautiful presence. As always, she was silent.

"Don't bother asking what I'm doing," said Kyle. "I'm getting out of here."

She frowned and looked back at the examining table.

"I'm not in the mood for this." Kyle stepped into the hallway and waved behind him. "I'm skipping my exam. Goodbye, Miss Raine."

Miss Raine sighed in frustration. She reached to the wall next to her, and pressed a button on the computer console. The examining room door locked shut.

"Thank you for your concern," he said, "but it's very early in the morning and I'm exhausted. I would like to get some rest."

Miss Raine turned and looked Kyle in the eyes. She sighed angrily and unlocked the door.

Kyle turned to leave the examining room, but a loud crash made him stop in his tracks. From the ceiling above him, a metal pipe broke loose and swung down. Miss Raine gasped and jumped away. The pipe sprayed a thick cloud of steam into the room.

"Don't touch it!" said Kyle. "It'll burn you." He stepped around the pipe and took her by the hand.

But she would not move; she had stopped cold in her tracks with her eyes on the ceiling.

Kyle looked up, and gasped in shock.

The steam was condensing around every cold surface. And in between two metal rafters, the water droplets were clinging to the shape of a human being. They ran across a giant, invisible body that faced them from above.

The being fell from the ceiling, and landed with its feet on the examining table. The metal smashed and dented. And when the invisible man stood, he was at least six inches taller than Kyle. The water dripped over his surface, phasing his body in and out of view.

He looked down at them, and spoke with a voice that was distorted and mechanical.

Do not interfere.

He stepped into the hall, and the cold air dissipated his form.

Lynn Kyle ran through the halls, followed by a squad of foot soldiers. He was still wearing the wrinkled business suit. A cell phone was at his ear.

"Where is the intruder now?"

We're trying to locate him, sir. He's wearing some kind of cloaking device.

"What?!"

We can't see him, sir. He...turns invisible.

Kyle sighed. "We'll have to track him with the heat sensors. He's probably heading for one of the storage areas. I'm en route to the control room now, I'll meet you there."

That's not necessary, sir. We're professionals. This guy got the drop on us...but he's not leaving alive.

Kyle struggled with his phone as he sprinted down the busy hallway, pulling Miss Raine by the hand. Every radio channel was being used. Military commanders were giving orders over the airwaves and relaying their groups' positions. Every minute or two, a voice from the control room would tell everyone the target's newest position.

Armored soldiers pushed Kyle aside as they ran past him, scanning the area with heat-sensing visors.

He stopped to catch his breath. "Stay calm," he panted. "I'll take you somewhere safe and call for help. Can you open a new communication channel for me?"

She wiped some sweat from her forehead, and nodded.

"Perfect. Let's give it a try."

They found the entrance, and Raine unlocked the door. The storage room was a giant warehouse filled with three-story drums of jet fuel. Grated catwalks wrapped around the inside walls. At the far end, a small control room contained a few computers.

Kyle looked around each corner as he passed the drums of fuel. Damn it, he thought, not now.

Raine breathed tensely. Her beautiful eyes were shaking as she looked to him.

"Whatever it is, it's got to be from the RDF," Kyle said. "It's been spying on us."

She gasped.

"Don't worry...if it found our protoculture, it would have left by now."

They locked themselves inside the control room. Miss Raine began working right away, typing a string of commands into the computer. Kyle looked in the desk drawers for a weapon, but nothing turned up.

Raine tugged at her lab coat nervously.

Across the warehouse, the door Miss Raine had unlocked was opening again. Freedom Cross soldiers poured inside and began forming small groups. At least six of the soldiers were using robotic full-body armor and carrying heavy weapons.

"I think it worked!" Kyle smiled. "They're here!" He waved to the troops, which were still moving into the storage area.

Raine looked back at her screen. It hadn't even booted up.

Kyle stopped waving. "This isn't right..."

Alpha team, cover the south-east. Beta team, stay with Gamma and take the West.

Mobile Arms, patrol the area and wait for orders.

Watch your fire around those drums or it'll get nice an' toasty in here...

Let's use those heat sensors, people!

Directed by their commanders, the soldiers activated their heat visors and patrolled the warehouse. The bulky Mobile Arms troopers pounded slowly across the space. They carried powerful cannons, almost as big as their bodies, without effort. Their footsteps created thunderous echoes, and their visor-clad helmets moved slowly back and forth as they scanned the area.

One of the Mobile Arms troopers suddenly raised his weapon. He only fired once, but the barrel flash was almost five meters long. And it sounded like the blast from a tank's gun.

That's a hit. Intruder is down.

The men gathered behind him and watched. In the middle of a bare spot on the floor, a pool of blue liquid was forming on the concrete.

Is he there? I can't see him.

Increase thermal intensity to eight-hundred percent. He's there.

Jesus, it's like he bleeds ice cubes!

Okay, I see him now...wait! Motion!

The Mobile Arms soldier held out his arm and kept the other troops back. He stomped toward the puddle on the ground and lifted his weapon again. It sprayed a wall of searing-hot flame. The floor burned intensely, and a still human figure began to appear within the blaze.

Hold it! You'll ignite the fuel!

Relax, it's shielded. Go on, hit him a few more times.

The figure began to move inside the fire. It staggered and swayed, and then rose to its full height. It was taller than the Mobile Arms, and almost as wide. But this ancient warrior had no battle armor.

He slowly stepped out of the flames. The fire enveloping his body immediately fizzled out. The Mobile Arms soldiers fired another wave of napalm fire, but this time, the intruder would not burn.

His body was wrapped in a black jumpsuit. Hoses and cables ran across his chest and around his back. His head was a shining robotic helmet, with a blank slate of metal instead of a face. A hole was torn in his jumpsuit's side where the cannon shell had struck him. But a sheet of protective metal was underneath it.

A pair of skeletal, mechanized hands slowly opened and closed at his sides.

The Freedom Cross surrounded him, but he stood still. A commanding officer pointed at a man on each side of the circle.

"Armor piercing rounds! Now!"

The men fired their assault rifles. The intruder's jumpsuit split and shredded as the bullets tore into it. And the ancient warrior reacted immediately. He stretched out his arms and the robotic hands split into sections. Cables whipped forth, attached to the attackers' chest plates, and sent out shockwaves that threw them ten meters away.

The cables grabbed the assault rifles before they could hit the ground. The faceless warrior's hands reformed and gripped the guns. He flicked his wrists, and both weapons switched to full-automatic. He trained the sights on the commanding officer; armor-piercing bullets tore the man apart.

Miss Raine gasped and cried, as she looked out the glass. Kyle grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her to the ground. They lay silently on the concrete floor. Gunfire popped in the air just beyond the windows.

Raine whimpered as she stared at the ground.

He wrapped his thin arm over her back. "Relax," he whispered. "We'll be fine."

She choked back her tears and tried calm down.

He nodded quickly. "I know, I know. Just keep quiet and do what I say. We'll make it out all right."

The ancient warrior -- the one who found Lynn Kyle's secret base -- was Eo Prime.

He slid carefully between the fuel containers. His arms were outstretched at his sides, blasting the advancing soldiers as they fought to surround him. He fired his guns without looking at the targets. The black steel mask he wore was always facing forward.

Gunshots flew wildly around the barrels of fuel. soldiers' helmets and chest plates ripped to pieces. The mercenaries of the Freedom Cross tripped over their mutilated squad mates as they ran for cover.

It was only moments before the commanders ordered them to fall back. Eo Prime slid under cover behind the barrels. His black suit of armor disappeared into the shadows.

Hold your fire! Nobody hit that fuel!

The smoke began to clear. Shell casings were still rolling across the ground. Shredded bodies lay amid pools of fresh blood.

A Mobile Arms trooper raised his arm. There!

A shadow rose and fell at the edge of a fuel barrel. A group of soldiers kicked over a table and dropped behind it. They rested their rifles on the table's edge and shot into the darkness. The recoil made their bodies shake.

A muzzle flash lit up from another fuel barrel, several meters away. The table shredded to pieces; the soldiers screamed and fell.

Two Mobile Arms troopers aimed their cannons and fired. The blasts left a massive crater in the floor. But Eo Prime was gone again. The assault rifles lay where he once stood.

He's unarmed. Let's go.

Only a handful of standard soldiers were left alive. The Mobile Arms ordered them to pull out, and slowly approached the steel cylinders, as their mechanical legs stepped over the bodies.

One of them held a flamethrower, and the other a mini-cannon with rotating barrels. They activated a set of flashlights on their helmets and scanned over the barrels.

I'll take point, said the man with the mini-gun. Hose him down as soon as I draw him out.

They split up, and the flame trooper stayed behind. He surveyed the ruined warehouse through his visor, and nervously shifted his weapon from hand to hand.

Motion came from the control center at the far end. Miss Raine and Lynn Kyle were running across the blood-soaked floor. They stopped when they saw the trooper.

Stop! Find cover! It's not safe yet --

A spinning knifeblade jabbed into the flamethrower's napalm tube. The chemicals sprayed into the flame on the weapon's barrel. A white-hot explosion shattered the soldier's body.

The second trooper backed away from the shadows with his mini-gun blazing. The sound of the gun was relentless and its flash was almost blinding. Empty casings spat from the chambers by the hundreds.

The monstrous Eo Prime was crouched atop one of the fuel barrels. He leapt high over the soldier's head and reached out his hand. A cable whipped forth and wrapped around the barrels of the gun. Eo Prime tugged back on the cable. The mini-gun jerked upward and landed on the soldier's chest.

Metal shards blasted through his shoulders, and his helmet burst like glass.

Eo Prime landed on his feet. His faceless mask watched Miss Raine and Lynn Kyle, frozen in their place. Behind Eo Prime, the cable unwrapped from the gun barrels, and slowly drew back into his arm.

Miss Raine gripped a pistol in her trembling hands. She sobbed and sniffed as she held the gun at the attacker.

"Raine wait!" cried Kyle. "Don't!"

The skeletal fingers of Eo Prime twitched with anticipation. His suit was dented and filled with holes, but he did not bleed.

Kyle tried to keep from shaking. "Raine...don't...shoot him..."

Miss Raine could barely hold the gun still.

"He told us not to interfere. Just put it down...he won't attack unless we shoot first."

Raine blinked, as tears ran down her cheeks.

Eo Prime's hands were widening and forming sharp claws. From his palms, serrated blades were sliding forth.

She pulled the trigger. The gun did not fire; nothing was in the chamber. Kyle grabbed it from her hands and threw it across the warehouse. He struggled to hold her against him as she screamed, and looked straight into the Zentraedi warrior's stare.

The faceless metal mask was cracked open. Whatever lay beneath it was dripping a neon blue liquid onto the ground.

Eo Prime raised his powerful arm. He pointed the blade at Lynn Kyle's chest. Without moving his arm, the blade twisted violently, as a warning. The Zentraedi crouched down, bounded into the air, and disappeared.

Breetai watched as the technicians worked on Eo Prime. A full-time crew and a specially-designed sleep chamber were committed to repairing and maintaining the soldier. But ironically, most of the crew were only researchers, and Eo's cyborg body seemed to repair itself better than the RDF could.

This time was no exception. Eo had entered the containment chamber only a few minutes ago. But his vital signs had stabilized on their own. The men and women were carefully removing his shredded battle armor, calling out their progress as they worked. Breetai stood beside the examining table and watched.

His chest plate disconnects at the shoulders, under his arms, and at his waist. Make sure they're all unlocked before you pull it off.

Okay, I've got his thigh plates off.

Davis, can you get a saw with a number-five blade? The metal on his left arm fused together at the elbow.

A woman reached at Eo's face, to pull off his mask. But she gasped, as a shining skeletal hand raised up and grabbed her wrist.

"Uh...sir..." she said. "I have to remove your helmet now."

Breetai looked down at the woman. "Leave it," he said sternly. "Eo Prime is still healing."

"Oh! Yes sir."

Eo released his hand and lay it back on the table. Breetai looked down at the faceless mask. Within the cracked steel, he saw the glistening of a bright-blue liquid.

"Are you in pain, my friend?" he asked.

The skeleton-fingers grated against the cold table.

"We will provide whatever services we can," Breetai said. "Thank you for everything you have done today."

Eo's helmet rose and fell in a slow nod.

Behind his body, a video screen showed the spy photographs that he had taken -- a heavily-guarded outpost, a batallion of mercenary soldiers, and at least three squadrons of old Veritech fighters. All of these, within the confines of a Freedom Cross building. And the most shocking photos of all revealed that Lynn Kyle was hiding a matrix -- a device used to hold protoculture.

Breetai looked over the pale flesh of the Zentraedi soldier. It was scratched and burned, but the wounds were healing before his eyes.

"Your abilities are remarkable," said Breetai. "You are a fine warrior. The RDF takes pride in you."

The bony hands closed into fists. Eo spoke, with a hoarse, choked voice.

I needed a weapon.

"I know," replied Breetai. "It was not my idea to send you ill-prepared. But we do not fully understand this new Ghost technology. It could only hide your body from view, nothing else. We were hoping you could escape without detection."

"I blame only myself," said Eo.

One of the technicians flipped on a miniature saw, and buzzed at Eo's arm plates. Sparks flew, but the metal would not cut.

"I think we're gonna need a bigger saw!" he called to his co-workers.

Eo turned to the man. I will remove it, he called out. His voice was regaining its trademark power.

"Your mission was successful," said Breetai as the technician ran off. "Your discovery has shocked the Global Defense."

I must return and capture that matrix, said Eo.

"Do not fear, warrior. You will. But next time, we will send you prepared."

Eo Prime sat up on the table. His mechanical hands gripped the mask and pulled it off. Blue liquid dripped from inside as he set it down. His face was smooth and angular, and his eyes were dark and determined. Half of his chin was discolored with bruises, and a giant scar ran from his ear to the edge of his lip. But as Breetai watched, the bruises disappeared and the scar faded into nothing.

They both glanced down at the mask. A bullet was rolling around inside it.

"I anticipate the victory," said Eo Prime.

a/n:

First of all, thank you very much for reading this story and commenting. Some of you are reading it for the second time! I'm having fun telling this story...again, I guess.

This chapter was difficult to re-write from the original version. The action scenes were edited and cleaned up, and some unneeded content was removed. But the biggest change here was in the characters of Lynn Kyle and Ayanami Raine.

In the original, it was a Freedom Cross fighter pilot who discovered the spy Eo Prime. Since many of the extra characters are no longer appearing (or have lesser roles), it's now Lynn Kyle who helps Miss Raine escape from Eo Prime.

Miss Raine's "new" character has been really interesting for me. She's become one of the biggest mysteries in Ghost Eagles -- mostly because, up to this point, she hasn't spoken a word. For this chapter I decided to leave most of Raine's actions the same as before -- but once again, she never speaks. It surprised me to see how much more powerful Raine became, simply by removing her dialogue.