Chapter 9: Declaring her an Enemy

Aria closed her eyes, and gently rested the side of her head against the soft, comfy and warm bed her little brother lied on. She slowly moved for his hand underneath the sheets and gripped whatever outline she could make of it. Just how deeply involved am I in my growing guilt? She gently opened her eyes and looked up to his face. What I did to Carolina is unforgivable, but necessary. Still, I feel like my heart and mind would give away under the weight of this guilt at any moment now. Aria again closed her eyes and leaned forward with a deep breath in. That was a necessary evil…it was necessary. She looked up to Alex and gently ran her finger through his hair. "Sometimes we must do things we don't want to in life, don't we? I'm sure you understand that better than anyone else in our lives."

Alex suddenly awoke a few moments later to the dozing sounds of his sister by his bedside. He looked down to her face. It still is the same face, but the person behind the face is different. Or perhaps the person has always been the same as well, and that I was just too ignorant to see it before. He reached out with his hand to brush her cheek. I curse that fate that has put us on opposing sides of the fence, with both of us so determined in our cause. He retrieved his hand as she shook her head and stirred awake. Their eyes met in a deadlock each trying to gaze deep within one another. Both of them were on a similar wavelength of thought. Why did you choose to be my enemy?

For a moment Aria gave him a concerned look, but then that concern quickly turned to relief seeing him fully awake. She stood up and reached in for a hug. "I'm so sorry for my disobedient soldiers. I never meant for any harm to come to you Alex."

He tried to push her away, but her strength overwhelmed his body. He took note of the armor she wore and wondered if it provided any special properties to her abilities. She retreated back into the chair and sat with her hands on her thighs. She sat simply smiling at her brother in silence. Alex looked away mentioning. "Maybe you don't have as much control over your organization as you thought you did."

"Yes, you are right."

Alex turned in curiosity never expecting for her to agree with him. Aria however further went on to say. "I have personally taken care of the issue. So now, no more political conflicts shall arise and I will have gained their utmost absolute loyalty."

He became extremely aware of her suddenly. Something about the way she said that didn't sit well with him. Her dark tone, calm eyes and an emotionless expression put him on the edge. "What did you do with Carolina?"

"I gave your 'friend' an equal chance," Aria explained shaking her head. "But it seems she had the idea to keep her mouth sowed shut. I was forced to take extreme measures to get the information I need."

"Hmph, good luck with that."

"Yes well, perhaps cutting off a limb or two may change her mind."

Alex stared at her horrified by the suggestion. Aria stood up holding up his chin, and with a sly grin she reminded him. "I'm willing to go to any depths necessary to realize the long time vision. You too should consider my offer again."

"You and I are different," Alex scoffed back flicking her hand away. "The things I went through when you left me changed me for the better. I know where I stand."

Aria now agitated at his persistence stood up and forcibly held his hand. He struggled against the grip but found that the more he struggled, the more she crushed it. She lowered her head onto his hand and with desperation strong in her voice she begged. "Please, come to our side! I don't want to have to make you my enemy."

After a bit of struggle, he finally managed to jerk her away and glared towards her. He breathed heavily upon exerting more effort than he anticipated. He gritted his teeth and sat up straight. "If you didn't want to fight me, then you should not have made an enemy out of the world, the society and especially my friends!"

Aria stood frozen in silence, riddled with shock. She looked away from her brother slowly backing away. She shook her head still unable to accept this brother of hers and quickly exited the hospital area.

Washington looked at the single strand of hair in his hand. Grey hair? He looked at his own reflection. His hair seemed healthy, but upon closer inspection he could see few strands of grey hair mixed in with the rest. He threw the hair in the bin with an aloof sigh. "That's just great. I'm not even that old and I'm already getting grey hair, thank you stress."

He took his helmet, tightened it on his head and exited the washroom. I'm getting too old for this shit. I need a nice long vacation. He walked around the ship to the training facilities and noticed all the trainees already present. Good, he clapped his hands. "Fall in line everyone!"

Wash looked at the soldiers who awaited their next order. "I want all of you to give me ten laps around the area for a warm-up."

After hearing their complaints, he started jogging in one spot and spread his arms. "Well, you slow pokes going to let me show you up so easily?"

As if a switch had been flipped, their competitive spirit had begun overflowing. They all rushed towards Washington, but none managed to pass him. He looked back after completing his eighth lap, while the others were still on their sixth. It looks like they still have quite a ways to go.

Two red soldiers of the BGC stood around observing the outer space with Bitters and Matthews. Grif looked to the others and their entranced stares towards the cosmos. Simmons was taken aback by the beauty. "Isn't it amazing?"

"Yeah…," Matthews felt his mind at ease, and his energy refilling. Bitters noticed one gas cloud in the distance and said. "Doesn't that kind of look like a muffin? Man I'm hungry."

Wow, how interesting, Grif sarcastically pondered as he sighed in his helmet. "What are we even doing here guys?"

"Well you said you wanted to come up here," replied Simmons. "So don't start complaining now."

"Yeah, you are right."

"How about we try talking about something else then?" Matthews suggested. Bitters jumped on the idea, but before he could get a word in, Matthews turned to the fellow Chorus soldier. "And no more talking about food for now."

"Aw man…"

"Well then, what do you guys think about the ATSG and Siris?" inquired Simmons. The others looked at one another in deep thought. Grif waited for others, but no one spoke up, so he took the first go. "I don't know, I don't exactly trust them to get the job done of rescuing Carolina, at least not without some casualties."

"What makes you say that? You hardly know them," noted Simmons. Grif walked around the room at a reasonable pace. "I don't know, it's just an instinctive feeling I'm having."

"You shouldn't make such judgements so brashly," Matthews explained. "It can come back to bite you sometimes."

"Yeah, you are right," Grif conceded nearly throwing Simmons off balance. There he did it again! I think Grif is really turning over a new leaf here. Grif crossed his arms looking at his own history. "I have had issues with this, and honestly I have been trying to fix it for a long time now."

"You can do it," Bitters encouraged taking out a bag of chips. "If you do so little by little daily, you can fix it. Look at me. I slimmed down after doing the training with Washington little by little daily."

"That coming from the guy eating fatty food in front of us," Matthews said snatching the bag. Bitters jumped like a desperate puppy looking for its snack. "But what Bitters said is right Grif. Just trying can make a huge difference."

Simmons agreed as well, but quickly switched the gears of their conversation to something that has been on his mind a lot. "So anyone know what is up with Caboose? Usually he would be sticking pretty close to Tucker, or one of us, but now days I hardly see him. He seems to be spending a lot more time with the freelancers we rescued from the ice planet."

"He has gotten pretty close to Iowa," Matthews chimed in with a happy voice for the blue soldier. Grif laughed to himself noting. "Well, people of equal 'intellect' do seem to attract one another."

"And yet, we are still here talking to you," Simmons added in a disappointed voice jokingly. Grif held up a playful middle finger. "Up yours to buddy."

Tucker looked down the sights of his assault rifle, aimed at the target and nailed it. Everyone around him was both surprised and impressed. It seemed that the time he spent in training with Washington and the other reds and blues was paying off. Now, he could hold his own without Sigma's help all the time in combat when it came to firefights. Tucker reloaded the weapon, grumbled to himself in frustration and continued firing the gun. Palomo was quick to notice this behavior. "Hey, is everything alright Tucker?"

Unsurprisingly, the more Tucker's frustration grew, the more he began to miss his shots. Palomo observed Tucker nearly throwing a temper tantrum as he stomped his foot on the ground. "Um, Tucker? What's wrong, do you want to talk about it?"

Tucker threw away the rifle and caused Palomo to jump back as the aqua soldier ran into the shooting range, drew his sword and chopped the target up into little pieces. "That's what you get for mocking me with your lifeless stare you stupid dummy."

Lopez looked at the mess, then back to Tucker, back to the mess and then back to Tucker again. "[I'm not cleaning that up.]"

"That's a good suggestion Lopez," Donut opted to translate for the Spanish robot against his will. "Lopez says, 'Mister' you need to go look into anger management. I'm sure Doc can help."

"Man, this is such bullshit!" Tucker stomped his way back to the others. He punched the counter containing their ammo clips. "I hate that we can't help save Carolina."

"It is what it is," Palomo replied in an attempt to help soothe the anger. Unfortunately for Palomo, it did not. Tucker raised a finger and a fist slowly inching towards him. "What would you know about Carolina and us huh?!"

Washington restrained Tucker from the behind. "Simmer down there Tucker."

Tucker eyed Washington with much annoyance. He struggled against the grip unable to successfully free himself. "Okay, let me go."

Tucker struggled some more. "Seriously dude, let me go! This is the last time I will ask."

After some more struggle, Tucker head butted Wash's helmet and broke free of the grip. "I warned you."

"You warned me that you were going to be a complete asshole to me?" Wash slurred trying to stabilize his vision. He shook his head clearing it of the dizziness and crossed his arms. "You are lucky that all this is because of a hissy fit and not something more serious, otherwise you would be on the ground by now."

"Predictably so," Tucker agreed taking a few steps back. Washington unfolded his arms and looked to those around him. "What was it you guys were talking about? Why did Tucker get so worked up?"

The others shook their shoulders in cluelessness. Tucker pointed a finger at Wash. "I will tell you why I was so worked up. I don't trust the ATSG to do the job right, or if they can even do it at all that is! I would much rather we do this. Carolina is a friend, and I don't want to leave her rescue in the hands of strangers."

"Calm down Tucker," Wash argued. "To us they are strangers, but to Carolina who has spent months with them will know better."

"So what, we just roll over and trust them implicitly?" Tucker shook his head in disapproval. "If Junior was in danger, I would drop everything to rush to his aid. I would do it even if it meant going through hell for him."

"Look Tucker," Wash held Tucker by his chest armor to keep him at bay. "I want to go as well, but one rash decision can screw everything up for us!"

"This still doesn't feel right!"

"Sometimes," everyone looked to Palomo who spoke up nervously. "Sometimes what we feel isn't right may end up being the best thing to do. It may seem like the wrong thing right now, but because of how much our perception of reality affects and shapes us as well as our choices, we risk a lot by acting on feelings."

Washington agreed giving Palomo more speaking time. "Going in guns blazing to rescue Carolina may sound like a great idea, and maybe fun, but the correct decision for us is to focus on our mission. There is no need to be a hero today and go in guns blazing, that time will come someday Tucker."

Wait a minute, Tucker stopped for a moment to stare dumb founded towards Palomo. He is saying deep and profound things. Is this the same guy I know? Tucker studied him from all sides creeping both him and the others out. "What are you doing Tucker?"

"Oh nothing," Tucker looked away. Washington agreed with the words spoken by the Chorus soldier. "Listen to your friends Tucker, and let others handle Carolina. I'm equally if not more so worried about her. After all, I have known her longer than any of you."

The ex-Freelancer rubbed the back of his helmet nervously. "But I also know just how badly she will kick our asses if she finds out that we dropped the mission to go rescue her."

"Oh, I would not like to be the guy standing next to her on that day," Donut mused. Tucker recalled all of his experiences with her when she nearly took his head off, kicked him so hard in the crotch that he would feel like he was a woman for a moment or worst of them all, when he felt violated by Carolina's butchered usage of his unique catchphrase. "Okay…you all make fair points."

Doc stopped by the door frame to one of the many lounges on the ship. There he saw Caboose with Ohio's and Sherry's group. The blue soldier seemed very engrossed in the group's discussions. Caboose raised a hand bringing up a question for others to find rather strange for him to ask. "So do you guys ever wonder about why we are here?"

"Like, all the time man," said Darryl recalling all the moments he asked Terrill the exact same thing. Idaho slapped his knee in hilarity. "I do that to with Iowa."

"Oh yea, how does it end for you guys?" asked Terrill. Idaho looked down at his right foot. "Sadly, it always ends with me getting shot in my foot."

"Wait, what, how?" Sherry inquired.

"Well let's just say that everytime I brought this question up to him, an ice spider always thought it would be funny to come and make itself at home on my foot."

"Yeah, and I tried to get it off of him, I was helping!" Iowa did his best to defend himself against the jury that are his friends. Idaho shook his head and screamed. "But you hit everything else, including my foot every freaking time. But in all of that you always missed the spider."

"I'm very scared of ice spiders."

"We have noticed on numerous occasions," Darryl added. "Like that one time you blew up our communications satellite dish because you thought there that critter up there."

"How did he blow that up?" asked Doc giving away his presence. They gladly welcomed him with open arms and created a spot for him to take as his own. Idaho recalled the juicy details with a huge smirk on his face. Iowa on the other hand lowered his head in embarrassment. Idaho rubbed his hands together taking enjoyment in Iowa's silent and friendly suffering. "Well he took the microwave from Darryl's side of the base, pressed random buttons in panic and threw it up at the satellite with some crazy hidden strength."

"That microwave didn't even have a destruct button or a sequence on it," Terrill added as a side note. "I don't even know how everytime he touches a microwave, or sometimes even passes by them they explode. It's like they have a thing against Iowa."

"You must be popular!" Caboose theorized. "I'm super popular with robots to. In fact they like me so much, I have Freckles installed in my gun here! Say hello Freckles."

"Hello everyone," Freckles' light blinked in the side of the rifle as he spoke. "It is nice to meet you all."

"That's neat," Ohio studied the rifle closely. She could hardly tell that there was the A.I. of a robot in here. In fact she wouldn't have known had she been never told about it. That's some fine craftsmanship right there. Sherry lowered her head in thought and said. "So Caboose, why don't you tell us, why are we here?"

"Well I don't really know," the blue soldier admitted. "Sometimes I just think about how we are all just a makeup of shared particles thrust into some big event out of our control. It really keeps me up at night."

"All of us made up of shared particles eh?" Idaho eyed Ohio. "I like the sound of that."

"You are thinking something perverted, aren't you?" asked the triplet's leader. Idaho sat back shifting in his seat uncomfortably. "Um…no, I don't know what it is you are talking about."

"I'm going to break you now, and I'm going to enjoy it."

Idaho hid behind Darryl. "Be my meat shield!"

Darryl slid to the side accommodating Ohio. She thanked him for his understanding and took Idaho's hand. Initially Idaho felt all gushy inside like a young boy getting to hold the hands of a girl he really likes. But then he felt it to be a grave mistake to feel as such. She took his finger and started bending it backwards. "Ow! Ow! I give in!"

"Pussy," Ohio stated moving back to her spot beside Sherry. The two women giggled amongst themselves at Idaho's suffering. He rubbed his hand looking at Darryl with a sour look. "That was a dick move man, dick move."

"So, how about a card game?" suggested Terrill hoping to defuse the tensions between Ohio, Idaho and Darryl. The others all were up for it. However Darryl had a special request to make this time. "If we are going to do this, then no getting help from Delta this time, got that Caboose?"

Delta appeared beside his host. "That is rather rude to rule me out from the game right away. I very much enjoyed our last game session together."

"Can you even have a hobby, or enjoy things in the way we do?" Sherry asked raising an eyebrow. The green logical core confirmed that they could. "As we learn more, evolve throughout our existence and operation, we learn to take on more human like qualities."

"Oh man, it is so great to have you guys on board," Doc stated, and suddenly O'Malley switched out with the medic. "Yes, so that I may have more fools for my live target practice, mwhahahaa!"

"Omega, please stop that," requested Delta upon noticing the slight unnerved heart beats around the room. "We don't want to make them uncomfortable."

"I will do what I want!" O'Malley was suddenly suppressed by Doc. "Sorry about what just happened, just ignored him. It tends to happen from time to time."

Everyone looked at Doc in silence as if they had seen something very strange and shocking. Doc stared at the others uncomfortably. "Stop staring at me like that."

Doc shook his head and slapped the sides of his helmet. "As I was saying, it's great having you guys on board. It helps to quench Caboose's need for more friendships as well. You guys have made a huge impact on him."

"It's all good," Sherry prompted to speak up when the others stared at Doc feeling touched by his gratitude. Ohio agreed. "Yeah, plus we like him."

Idaho looked at Ohio but quickly felt a sharp needle pierce his heart upon her quick correction. "Like him as a friend. Seriously Idaho, what is up with you going at it really hard with that gutter mind of yours lately?"

"Hey, a guy can hope," Idaho said in a barely audible tone. "I know, how about if I behave like Caboose, will you start liking me more?"

"Not a chance Idaho, not even if hell froze over."

Idaho held his chest grunting in the pain of rejection. "This is like the twentieth time, and I should be used to it. But the pain is so fresh as if it was my first time. Why must you do this to me Ohio, why?!..."

Outside of the borders surrounding the Cradle of Hope headquarters stood a small group of ATSG soldiers. Each of them was eager to start the mission. Siris looked at everyone, looks like they are all adequately prepared. He signalled with a few hand signs getting several thumbs up. "Good. Be careful, all of you. Remember, if you notice anything out of the ordinary, report it immediately when it's safe to do so. Don't rely on your weapons here, only use knives and your fists."

They all confirmed spreading out through the land. Siris called the headquarters on his holographic display and saw the assigned soldier at his post. "Remember to report in right away if something happens there. Remember to send both a call and a text message in case I can't pick up."

"Yes sir."

The ATSG soldiers moved through the enemy base, having somewhat easily infiltrated it with some minor issues. Many almost came close to enemy contact and nearly risked the mission. To everyone it was clear that they would have no doubt increased the security guards after Ken's break-in. The soldiers all map out the various patrol routes, shift changes and any other normal occurrences. Siris back by their van studied the real time feedback. The routes seem to be very scripted, if this keeps up then it will make it easier for us to infiltrate the base.

After a good three hours, he called his soldiers back praising their work. "Excellent work people, with this we have what we need to start preparing."

"When do we commence the mission?" asked Chloe feeling her heart beat faster, the time was coming where she could once again face Ken and give him a piece of her mind. Siris looked down towards the enemy base and said. "We will commence the mission tonight."

"Isn't that a little bit too soon?" asked one soldier. "I mean, shouldn't we map out at least a full day's and night's worth of patrol data and do this tomorrow?"

"We have no choice," Siris promptly replied. "The longer we leave those two in enemy hands, the longer we expose them to danger."

"That is true," several of the soldiers agreed. One by one upon Siris' notice, they boarded the van and drove away back to the base. As Siris turned a corner, he looked at the crew in the rear view mirror and said. "Gear up gang, tonight we go hunting."

Aria stalked the prison hallways. She slowly treaded towards Carolina's cell and gained entry. Inside, the generals were observing her condition after another session of interrogation. The ex-Freelancer's body looked completely lifeless, her eyes closed and her body limp. Aria bent down in front of the orange haired woman and lifted her head. She turned Carolina's head from one side to the other. "Is she…dead?"

"Just passed out," Kai crossed his arms scoffing. "The bitch couldn't even take a small punch. One touch and she passed out."

"And so the interrogation was a waste today as well," admitted Kabira. Dallas diffused the frustration. "At least she is beginning to show cracks in that determination of hers."

Irene on the other hand lied on the bed taking a nice nap. Aria looked at the lazy general with a curious stare. No matter where she goes, she can just fall asleep so easily. I guess when life gives you lemons, lie back and sleep it off. She stood up gently releasing Carolina's head. "What about her body's condition?"

"These two days have been hard on her," Dallas answered. "And that's not just my opinion, but the doctor's opinion as well. They recommended not doing anything too extreme to her body. It is already at a very fragile state. I would be inclined to agree."

"You are not sympathizing for her are you Dallas?" Kabira asked in a sharp voice. Dallas' face turned stern as he glared at her. "Of course not, but we should know when to stop. Otherwise if we can't even make the distinction between when we are close to crossing the line, and when we have crossed it committing unnecessary violence, then we are no better than the brutal terrorist the media loves to paint us as."

Kabira looked towards Irene for support and a comeback, but her friend was busy snoring loudly. "I swear to god that someday I'm going to make you start going on early morning jogs with me and fix that laziness of yours."

"Enough!" Aria stomped her foot loud enough to gather everyone's attention. "There is no need to argue over this. Her body could no longer take our methods and so she passed out, plain and simple."

Aria bent down and checked Carolina's heart rate. It's stable, good. She eyed the bandages all over Carolina's body with a sense of guilt. She closed shut her eyes and lowered her head in a silent apology, but one to be so easily missed. Why? Aria looked up and punched the wall beside Carolina's head. Why the hell did you have to be so fucking stubborn?! I was hoping that this type of torture wasn't necessary. Kabira felt the disturbance from the hesitant look on Aria's face. "Hey now, you aren't regretting this are you?"

Aria lowered her head upon standing up. "I have always felt regret when we have had to hurt others."

"That's not what it looked like when we had to stop you the last time around," Dallas interjected pinning her up against a corner. The others looked at her for a response. Aria admitted to her fault. "I did enjoy it. I in fact lost myself to the monster that lives within me, within us all always looking to thrive in the violence."

Aria pointed to the shackles and looked at the guard outside. "Undo the chains, and let her rest on the bed."

"Is that wise?" Dallas questioned her judgement fearing that this decision was the result of her feelings and not hardened rational thought. Aria nodded her head. "She has endured enough pain for now. When the time comes, make no mistake, the sessions will resume again. But for now, we can at least grant her a peaceful rest. We are branded terrorists by the rest of the world, but we are just as human as any average Joe on the streets."

"Average Joes who dish out torture as part of an interrogation?" Kai laughed finding amusement in the contorted logic. Aria was quick to silence his aloof attitude. "We are normal people, but individuals who are put into the unfortunate circumstances of being forced to do horrible things to realize our vision. We tried the diplomacy approach in the past with every little thing. I'm sure you remember how that worked out for us, causing us all to go into hiding while we rebuilt our organization."

"Yeah," Kai replied silencing himself. The others waited for the guard to undo her shackles. Kabira shoved Irene off the bed against her childish, yet cute whining and gently placed Carolina under the blankets. The generals left first, Aria looked back one last time and spoke to the guard. "Let us know when she wakes up."

Alex slowly opened his eyes, awakening to the noises of shuffling feet near his bed. He squinted his eyes at the sudden blindness of the white ceiling lights. That gets me every damn time. He looked to his left to see the doctor walking towards the hospital area exit. The doctor looked to the guard who was once the patient beside Alex, and his cell guard. "I'm heading out for my dinner break, so call me if there is an emergency."

"Got it doc, I will look after the facility while you are gone."

The doc thanked the young guard for his aptitude and left towards the cafeteria looking forward to tonight's special. You don't seem like such a bad guy, pondered Alex slowly looking towards the guard. I hate to do this to you, but I need to do what is necessary just like you guys. Alex raised his hand moaning in pain. "Help…Help!..."

The guard looked back with worry, and suddenly rushed to Alex's side. "What's wrong, are you in pain?!"

"I have to go to the washroom, very badly," Alex stated pointing to the nearby facility. "I need someone to act as my support."

"Right," the guard helped lift Alex out of the bed and swung his arm over his shoulder. He slowed down to match Alex's pace. The two after a good five minutes managed to reach the washroom. Alex stared from the side of his eye and looked apologetically at him. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry, for wh-"

Before the guard could finish, he fell to the floor from the precise yet gentle blow to the guard's weak spot by the neck. He rubbed his hand groaning. My body still aches from that beating before. I suppose that should be expected, it has only been two days after all. He bent down reaching for the guard's cap. "I really am sorry about this bud. You don't seem like such a bad guy. But you are standing on the opposite side of the fence from me ready to bare your fangs upon her command. I hope somehow you manage to open your eyes to see things with reason."

Alex worked fast to strip the guard of his uniform and base keys. He switched his dress for the guard uniform, dressed the guard in the patient uniform and dragged him back to the bed. Alex looked around for anyone else present in their company, things were going smoothly. He gently rested the guard down onto the bed and dragged the bed sheets over the unconscious body. Alex left the facility avoiding the cameras he noticed, he made good use of their blind spots and followed the various directional arrows to the prison section.

The guard watching over Carolina's cell noticed Alex's approach. He held up a hand prompting for the young assassin to stop. "What are you doing here?"

"Easy tiger, I'm just here to check up on the prisoner's condition as per our leader's orders."

Alex looked inside and nearly gasped at her current status. He almost backed away towards the wall in shock. The guard looked intensely at Alex and raised an eyebrow while motioning towards his own face. "What happened to your face?"

Alex smirked as he explained. "I got into a little scuffle. It ended badly for me as you can see."

The guard burst out into a laughter slapping his legs. "I bet it was in a bar fight."

"Good guess," Alex joked and turned to leave. As he walked away he held the sensation to throw up locked away. Jesus, how could she do such horrible things to Carolina? He stopped by the exit to the prison cell and gritted his teeth. You really have fallen so low sis. He swallowed a bit of his saliva holding the bile at bay, clenched his hands into fists and exited the facility. I hope Church is unharmed. Alex followed the various signs all the way to the weapons facility. My weapons should be kept there. He turned the corner nearly caught by the cameras, but was quick to hide in the crowd and made great use of his surroundings. Moving when the cameras weren't looking, he worked his way into their blind spot and progressed with ease.

Alex entered the room devoid of any presence, only filled to the brim with weapons for a small army. He scavenged the area for anything useful. In his search moving from one section to the next, he finally came across a set of remotely detonating explosives. He looked around for any cameras and any individual, there was no one. He took a handful and stuffed them underneath his uniform non-conspicuously. Alex moved to the next section where he found his armor. With a wide grin he knew that his gauntlets had to be here as well then. He removed his clothes, wore the armor underneath and put them back on. Thanks to the nature of the explosives containing a hook in their design, he was able to hang them off of his armor. Alex moved with speed and found his gauntlets as well stored away behind many other weapons. They must not have wanted it to be found so easily by anyone else. He attached the gauntlets, activated the computer and tested out the blades. They still work, good. Alex left the room now moving on to the next item on his list of things to be done.

Alex moved throughout the base's floor with a low profile, and he set the charges on any locations that seemed to be already weak. He was left with two charges. He set one up near the weapons storage, and the other was set up by the security office. Now onto the next item on the bucket list. Alex approached a group of soldiers talking and laughing amongst themselves. "Excuse me! I was wondering where they kept the armor of that freelancer they brought in?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I am just super curious to see it," Alex reasoned. "I mean imagine it, the technology that armor must run on."

The guard quickly raised his hand for Alex to stop. He didn't care much for the technical details. He pointed Alex in the direction of the tech labs. The young assassin thanked the solder as he followed the directions to yet another long outstretched hallway. This location was cooler than the others and lit up in a blue hue. I wonder what big bad experiments they get up to here. Alex looked through the lightly tinted windows into each lab until he finally found the familiar pieces of her armor. Alex used the stolen key pass on the lab's card reader and entered. The other scientists looked all in surprise. "Is something the matter?"

"Oh no," Alex responded taking out a clothed bag. "I'm just here to take out the trash."

"Trash?"

Alex pointed towards the armor. The scientists immediately felt something amiss. They all stood in the way of the armor. "We still need it for study."

"Well you don't exactly have a choice in the matter. These are the leader's orders after all."

"I will need to check that with her," said one reaching for a panel. The others agreed, and Alex felt the pressing need to hurry the process up.

"Oh sure, go right on ahead," said the young assassin just as he quickly moved for the one scientist reaching out towards the communication panel. He pointed his wrist blade at the scientists' neck and whispered. "Come on big boy, go ahead and call her while I slice your throat open."

The scientist backed away lifting his hands in the air. Alex smiled appreciative of the understanding. "Good man."

But suddenly another scientist ran towards the communication panel, intending to hit the emergency button. Alex shook his head, he sliced open the throat of the one held at knife point and tripped the one running for the button. He stabbed the blade through the back of the neck and watched the man slowly fade into the unknown void that is death. The last scientist stared in horror. He looked up from the bodies in a pool of blood to the young assassin. He raised his hands in terror and defense. Alex walked closer pointing a finger at his friends. "Sorry bro, but I can't exactly leave you alive, not after what your friends tried to pull. Plus, you would just be a witness to the crime."

He took the armor and dragged it all the way back to the prison section. Upon entering, Alex dragged it down the hall with noises echoing behind him. He walked towards Carolina's cell and the guard instantly recognized him. "Hey, what are you doing back h-"

The guard fell to the ground from a swift punch to the face. He took the guard's keys and opened the cell. He rushed to Carolina's side and tried to shake her awake. It was of no use, she would not wake up. He took out her helmet and put it on. I hope you are awake in there Church. He took the forearm armor and activated the suit. "Talk to me Church."

"Oh look who decided to show up, it's McAssy-douche-asshole," Church spoke in a bitter voice. Alex understood that he had every reason to be frustrated and angry with him. "You can take your anger out on me later. Right now I need you to work with me. I can't get out all on my own, I need intel."

"Fine," Church looked towards Carolina. Hang on sis. We will get you out of here no matter what. He looked back to the young assassin and scoffed. "At least you made it out safely. Please tell me that you have a plan."

"I was kind of hoping to work that out with you right now."

"Oh you did not just pull that card on me," Church threw up his arms in more frustration. "You seriously didn't think of a plan while you were in your cell? You do know that someone could come strolling by any minute now and find us in here right?"

"That's why we need to start discussing solutions rather than voicing our frustrations."

"Che, fine," Church pointed to the helmet and said. "Keep that on your head. I need to run a response test on you."

"Response test?"

"Just do as I say. When I say 'sync', you respond with saying 'fire', got it?"

Alex nodded his head. Church nodded his head and relaxed his form. "Let's begin. Sync!"

"…Fire."

"Sync!"

"Fire."

"Sync!"

"Fire!"

"Okay, that's enough," Church raised a hand calibrating for the response time. "Take the pistol from that guard. Tie that bag of armor around your one shoulder and lug Carolina over the other. I will work on getting real-time data through the cameras and create a layout of the facility. You just do as I say, whenever I tell you to do something specifically, you do it. I will say those things with reason, so don't go around questioning them, after all we don't have a whole lot of luxury to chat here."

"Understood."

"Good," Church motioned towards the bag and Carolina. "Take care of her. I will be back in a couple of minutes with the data."

Church disappeared hacking into the base's systems. He moved from camera to camera quickly imaging the data into a three dimensional map. Alex tied the bag securely on one side, and lifted Carolina ever so slowly. He could hear her moans of discomfort. "I'm really sorry about this, but you are going to have to bear with it Carolina."

Church appeared displaying the map. "I have highlighted the route you need to take. Remember to be fast and accurate with that pistol whenever I tell you to."

Alex looked at one shoulder, and then the other and took a deep breath in. "This isn't the most magnificent of escapes I had in mind."

"Tough luck, suck it up," Church said annoyed by Alex's complaint. "Now, get a move on."

Alex took out the detonator to all the explosives around the base and strapped it by his belt. He moved outside of the cell studying the pistol. He raised it at head height and opened the door. Slowly he moved doing his best to avoid the enemy's line of sight for as long as possible. But this could continue only for so long. A guard noticed Alex and the items he carried with great suspicion. He alerted his friends and they alerted their supervisors. Something was amiss, and the guard opted to investigate. "Hey you, stop!"

Alex stopped in his tracks and eyed the guard from the side of his right eye. In a soft whisper he spoke. "Church, what's your call?"

"You know we don't have time to waste right?"

"Yeah," Alex said in a low voice. Sorry pal, but I'm going to need to make this quick. Alex turned around and opened fire gunning down the guard. The base went on full alert. Following Church's directions, Alex managed to make it to one of the exits, but he found the resistance too heavy for his liking. He placed Carolina behind some cover and opened fire accurately placing several shots lodged into the enemy skulls. The more people he put down, an equal number if not more so took their place. He gritted his teeth groaning in frustration as it was overwhelming. We need a distraction. He eyed the nearby fire alarm with a smile. It looks like even fate wants me to escape as well. He rushed towards the device, dodge rolling out of the way from the stream of bullets. Alex stood up, and pushed down the alarm.

The loud ringing alerted the whole base. The Generals stood up from their respective tables in the cafeteria and walked out to a panicked populace. Everyone pushed past one another to escape the building, chaos built up and Alex saw the perfect opportunity in this. He blended in within the crowd and escaped the line of sight of his enemies. He exited the building out into the cold and starry night. His getaway was successful thus far.

ATSG soldiers armed to the teeth departed their van and looked at the growing numbers on the outdoors of the base property. Many wondered the cause of why this was happening. Church reactivated Ken's signal, as well as Carolina's when finding adequate distance. Chloe heard her communication device beep. She unlocked it and checked for the notification. It was picking up Ken's signal again just as she had configured it to. "Look, Ken's signal is back online. He is moving out of the base now."

Siris looked at the data with confidence and motioned for the soldiers to spread out. "Search every nook and cranny for him."

Alex fought his way through any rare resistance he encountered now. The generals exited the headquarters as per the fire safety procedure, but they did so with several squads formed for the sole purpose of finding their escaped prisoners through a grid by grid search of the perimeter. Aria was the last one out, making sure all the rest were out. "Search for them. Search all night long if you have to! No rest until they are found!"

"This should be good enough," suggested Church. Alex stopped and slowly turned around. He took out the detonator and looked at the base. I wish we could have understood one another somehow sis. He clicked the button halfway activating the detonator, and finally pressed it down all the way. The blinking green light turned red. The bomb signal blinking red on the charges became a solid red. The electrical signals sparked the fuse and the charges exploded, causing the structure to shake and crack until it could no longer support the ceiling. Aria looked back with her generals wide eyed as they saw the ceiling collapse and dust rise in the air. Aria rushed down towards the ruble, but is stopped by a forceful Dallas. "Don't, it's too dangerous!"

"There were soldiers near the building, I can't leave them be!"

"If someone was there, then they are already dead," Kabira argued holding Aria back with a gentle grip on her shoulder. "And if they aren't, then they will be in couple of seconds. There is nothing we can do but endure the casualties now."

Alex turned around, and dragged Carolina away from the facility until he found the sounds shuffling feet through the grass. He was stopped at gun point by surrounding soldiers. He dropped the pistol and raised the free hand. The soldiers quickly lowered their weapon. "It's alright guys, he has the gauntlets and he is carrying Carolina. It's Ken!"

"Am I glad to see you guys," Alex sighed with relief. That was until one of the soldiers mentioned. "Yeah well don't relax just yet. I hear that Chloe really wants to give you a stern talking to for that stupid stunt you pulled off man. I never figured you to be so impatient and dumb."

"I guess I just needed to do something dumb. It did help clear some things up though."

"That's good," the soldier motioned for Alex to follow and he walked behind them, treading up the hill with Carolina in one arm, and the other being used to balance himself with. They return to the van where Siris stood with crossed arms, and a furious expression on his face. Alex handed Carolina to others, same for her armor and helmet. "That's for the help Church."

"Whatever, don't think that this still fixes what you did."

He is never going to let me live this one down. But then again I doubt very many people would. He turned around upon hearing his name and feet rushing towards him. His face jolted to his left from a hard slap. Alex rubbed the side of his face with a grunt. "It's nice to see you to Chloe."

"You god damn idiot, do you even realize just how worried I was? I trusted you to not do anything reckless and you broke that trust!"

"Ken," Siris called out from behind the young man. He turned to face his mentor ready to face up to whatever punishment he had in mind. To both Alex's and Chloe's surprise, he went down to the ground holding the side of his jaw. Siris loosened his fist and stretched his hand. "We will talk about this back at base. For now all I will say is that I don't remember ever raising a dumb student. I'm disappointed in you Alex."

"Sir," one of the ATSG soldiers busy checking Carolina's condition called out. "We need to get her back to base and in our emergency medical beds right away!"

Siris told everyone to load up, there was not a moment to waste. They quickly rushed farther away from the terrorist base and towards the emergency admittance.

When the dust had cleared off, the Cradle of Hope soldiers approached to study the damage. Aria walked atop the rubble with worry of the setback this could cause them. But thankfully, the fact that they were still standing here meant the nuclear materials they had worked to obtain were still safe. Dallas walked to one of the hidden doors and opened it. He called up the crew from down below guarding the entrance for a status report. Kai approached Aria from behind and asked. "What will we do now?"

As Dallas finished getting the update, he turned to his fellow general. "We will continue onwards, what else can we do?"

"That's right," Kabira agreed raising a fist. "They may have destroyed a part of our base, but that doesn't mean that we are helpless. The lower levels of the base are still safe."

"Hmm," Irene looked around with a yawn and nodded her head. "Our plan is still achievable, but the ATSG worries me. Destroying them will be more difficult than we initially thought."

Kabira tapped Irene on the forehead. "Wait a go bring down the enthusiasm. All of us will fight together. We will bring the ATSG down together. Remember that there will always be difficulties. That is a fact of life."

Aria walked past the guards down into the lower levels with the generals following close. She approached one of the scientists walking in the hallway. "Tell the development teams to hurry up with putting the finishing touches on the 'devices'."

"Whoa," Dallas walked in front of her blocking her way. "Slow down, we don't want to rush this. One wrong move and we can all go sky high."

"Things will be fine," she reassured gently shoving Dallas to the side. "Plus, this is no time to be too cautious. It's time we declare war."

If this is how you want for things to come to an end for our family little brother, then so be it. I will oblige you with a merciful death. Aria gritted her teeth with a most determined look to see her brother's bloodshed by her own hands. War was coming, and the bells were ringing louder than ever now.

A/N: Another long chapter dealing a seriously big blow to the Cradle of Hope…or did they?

Also a musical suggestion to start listening from when Alex enters the weapons facility to get the explosives and what not, look up "Chasing Shadows" by Scott Holmes.

What did you think about the chapter?

Constructive feedback is always appreciated! :)

Thanks for reading and your support, I appreciate it.

~ Monty