ShadowXX, brother of the late SonicXX, sat up in bed looking at a hologram. The hologram was of a beautiful girl, dancing around a group of people playing cards. He'd always liked this one because of the lady.

A servand came in and brought him a cup of steaming tea from the Iron Cafe on Venezia, just a block from where he was lying.

"This is the finest there is, sir," the servant said, in buttered tones of butlers everywhere in the universe.

"Thank you, Porkerkins," ShadowXX said. "Your support is duly noted." He went back to watching the woman again, who was now doing a wild and exciting dance in four times the speed of sound. He reflected upon his brother, a man who did not really value Venezia, but rather valued what was in the "spirit world". He always claimed over the phone to have raised the dead on some planet or another, or to have summoned a tornado that wiped out a quadrant, or, in fact, to have actually succeded at all these tasks. Once he summoned an epic duck. But what did ShadowXX do for a living? Made Venezia a better place to live, of course. It was the job of the second in command to assume the leaderly responsibilities after the original's death.

His wrist meter beeped suddenly. ShadowXX started, looking around. It only did that when a high ranking official was nearby. But only SonicXX was higher than him, surely!

Then, it hit him.

Maybe SonicXX hadn't died.

Maybe he was still alive.

The figure on top of the raging war machine leaped down and strode over to Grean. Grean had just enough time to raise his hammer when the swords struck at blinding speed. There was a clang as they were deflected off the hammer's bronze head.

"Ohhh, think you're a tough guy, now, do you," a rough and grizzled voice came from the shadowy face. The sunglasses glimmered. The blades struck again. This time, Grean wasn't prepared. He took a gash to the arm and howled with pain. Red hot spikes seemed to be driving into him from the wound. He straightened up in time to clumsily deflect the next bout of sword swings. But, with the second impact on the hammer top, with his shaking hands, the hammer sailed over Grean's head and into the chasm.

"Hah. I laugh at your attempt to defeat me. In a real battle, one with swords alone, you would be powerless. But ohhh, no, you just had to get an idiot with a gun to help you along. PATHETIC!" The man looked to Blackrose, wo was aiming a gun at his head. He chuckled. "Go on, shoot me."

The laser went through. Smoke poured out of the wound. Then, miraculously, the wound ceased smoking and started to knit together.

"You can't defeat me that easily, Grean. You know the hydra of ancient myth? One head is destroyed... one head-" Another laser ripped through. Another wound sealed itself. "-Comes up."

The tip of another sword suddenly emerged from the man's chest. He glanced back. Builderman was on the other end, corkscrewing the sword back and forth. Grean siezed his chance and slugged the man in the jaw, hard. The shadows disappeared from his face, and the scars and knotted burns underneath were revealed. With a soundless howl, SonicXX ripped Builderman out of his back and hurled him into the chasm. Out of the corner of his eye, Grean saw Builderman hanging onto the edge by fingertips. He had to act.

"The machine! Get to the machine!" Builderman lunged at the huge drill monster, and sank his sword into the metal coat. This allowed him to find purchase on the shoulders of the behemoth, and he started to climb to where the central control node was probably located. Another shock from the fiery column jutting into the sky from far away turned the horizon completely dark red. The turf started to really burn under their feet, and massive, molten boulders rained down. Through it all, Grean dodged and weaved under SonicXX's blows, trying to get to Blackrose and the rest, gathered, ready to attack the drill machine.

"I will kill-" SonicXX's voice was suddenly cut off as a white fog enshrouded them. Ketsuban was bringing them all back. He sat, again as if in meditation, and all the while the sounds of hell dimmed and faded. SonicXX screamed as the white clouds enshrouded him, the drill machine, and the frightened cultists inside it, all in one fiery ball of jagged compression. Then, with a wink, everyone vanished.

The F.E.A.R. fleet, brought together from the old shipyards on Venezia, hovered over Javion. ShadowXX had detected his brother at that point, but couldn't find him on the scanners. Maybe it was just a blip. But maybe, if he was still-

"Sir," a cadet said urgently to him. "Look at this!" ShadowXX followed the cadet's shaking finger. A ball of steel surged out of the brown atmosphere of Javion, straight towards the fleet.

"AGH!," Shadow screamed in angst. "Mother of Telamon!" The ball stopped about halfway to the fleet, and flew silently on a trail of red steam. ShadowXX's tracker started to bleep faster now.

"What the-"

The ball exploded. A red-outlined figure stood in the void, holding back the fire with two katanas, and redirecting it at the struggling figures in freefall that had emerged from the fireball. They all were dead before they made it past the F.E.A.R. scanner ranges. The booming voice echoed through all the ship's speaker systems:

"Hello, brother."