Alternative Title: A Chapter Where A Question That Nobody Asked Gets Answered
Original Chapter Title: Return Of The Cloaked Bulldozer, Part 4
(Author's Note: This chapter will be incredibly long - due to all that goes on in this one chapter- and also brutal. And the stuff which goes on in this - which is essentially par for the course for this manga and anime - will be about as crazy and unexpected as you might expect.)
"Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change." - Malcolm X
—
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Each thunderous footstep coming out of that dark, warped looking forest caused the would be first year Pandoras, the few dozen limiters that had been unlucky enough to be at the party when they all were taken, the Magnaguards, the remaining droids, Abyss, and Cameron to shake and wobble from side to side. Each one only adding to the amount of suspense, stress, fear, terror, and anxiety everyone in the pit was having right now. Still operating on their programming, the droids aimed their blasters, despite having a peculiar feeling that this day may well be the end of the line for some of them. Cameron, while tense, had both of his lightsabers at the ready, prepared to ignite them.
"Whatever is in there, sir, it's big" Abyss said anxiously as the sound of trees snapping at the base and falling over only added to all the dramatic emotion there. The long lustful, hungry, angry huffs and gruffs further made it evident that whatever was coming towards them was not friendly either. Meanwhile, the squad of technician droids was starting to work faster and faster on hardwiring the wiring to the shut steel doors behind the large group the closer whatever it was in that forest came towards them.
"How much longer?" Cameron shouted, preparing for a fight. "Estimated time you have to buy us: three minutes, sir!" came the reply.
Three minutes, this is not going to be easy, Cameron thought to himself as those long, slow footsteps kept getting louder and louder, as did the trees snapping and coming down that were now starting to become visible to the group. It was then they also noticed something else. Something that even chilled the droids and Cameron to the bone. A pair of pure, fully red eyes staring at them menacingly, as it came closer and closer. Stepping out into the light at the edge of the forest close to where it met the canyon-themed part, fear and terror among the trainees and limiters - as well as physical sweat on Cameron and mental sweat from every droid there - ran sky high to the roof, and for very good reason. Because what came at them was every bit as terrifying as what Astrid had said, and was so hideous and scary that just including it in here would probably you nightmares for months on end after reading this, because that's how scary the fourteen foot tall hybrid creature that came out of the darkness really was.
"Alright.." Cameron shouted. "Hold this thing back long enough for the techs to get finished with that door!" The droids and Cameron were about to open fire and attack when the creature lunged at them at a very fast speed and emitted some sort of EMP Blast from its head, stunning the droids and flinging them against the wall, momentarily deactivated as it grabbed Cameron by the waist and flung him into the wall, knocking the wind out of him.
"Cameron!" shouted Elizabeth, Arnett, and Dolly at the same time, and then all of them started screaming bloody murder and begging the creature to stop it as it picked up multiple large boulders and flung them into the crater in the wall that Cameron was stuck in, brutally burying the boy deeper and deeper into the world under multiple boulders.
"CCCCAAAAMMMMEERRROOONNN!"
No response. The boy who had done so much for them, was seemingly dead, and with it, any chance that the Chevalier would find and save them in time. They were all helpless to await their fate. Astrid delighted at this turn of events, watching as things seemingly once again were going his way.
"Now, my creation.." Astrid gleefully and deviantly stated through the microphone. "Ravish and ravage those trainees, enjoy them, make them learn to submit to the new race of creatures to dominate them!"
The creature eagerly gurgled at the terrified trainees and limiters backing up in absolute terror, before it obeyed Astrid's instructions and lurched toward them. They all ran, hoping to avoid it, but then Arnett and Elizabeth felt something grab one of their legs each and they both fell to the ground. Looking back up to see the creature, hands firmly gripping the leg of each of them that it grabbed, mere words failed to describe how scared both of them were. They were now terrified beyond belief, with one of their legs each now firmly in the grip of the creature. With the droids stunned, and Cameron seemingly dead, and everyone else back up against the wall, terrified out of their lives and unwilling and unable to do anything to help due to being completely frozen by fear, both of them were about to be subjected to perverted, unspeakable acts against their will and nothing could help them, or the rest of the trainees, in there now. Not even their families or fathers. Arnett, terrified for her life for once in her life, screamed.
"CAMERON, DADDY, ANYONE.. SAVE ME!"
Before the creature could violate and rape them though, Cameron's heart - and the tracking beacon on him - gurgled back to life and then everyone heard it.
A bone-chilling, psychologically terror-inducing, loud roar started out of nowhere filled the air in that enclosed canyon-themed space, a combination of 777's roar from the movie Unstoppable(2010) as well as some dinosaur and other animal roars, so fierce and savage that even the hybrid creature with each of its hands firmly gripping one of Elizabeth's and Arnett's legs each, stopped what it was doing and looked around, trying to find the source of that roar. "What in the fuck was that?" Astrid asked, as he even was surprised by the roar. "That definitely was not human.. and I don't think my weapon of terror did that either.." For a few minutes, everyone involved in that base looked around the canyon-themed area, trying to locate the source of that roar. Eventually though, one of the potential limiters noticed something behind the creature, and shakily started pointing towards it, totally unsure if he was seeing what he was seeing. "Uh.. guys.. I think.. I found the source" the potential limiter said, causing everyone to turn to where the limiter was pointing.. and watch the following in shock.
The pile of rocks where the creature had buried Cameron inside the wall had begun to rumble, increasing in frequency and intensity. Astrid's voice over the loudspeaker gave vent to what many were thinking. "No.. it can't be.."
Only Abyss and the droids, which were slowly coming back to working order at that moment, knew that actually that it could be - and it was. What they, and the others, were not expecting was the multiple bolts of yellow, blue, and pink lightning that came through the metal ceiling and crackled off the rocks, making sparks fly everywhere, before after reaching its peak intensity and freezing in place for two seconds.. a human hand burst out from underneath and from the other side of the rocks, as a massive wave of energy, invisible to everyone except the creature, was flung back up out the crater in the wall in an upward curve through the ceiling, through the ground, and out through the sky into space, so massive in volume that it would pass to the end of its journey in its full volume of energy without leaving an impact or bounce off any other object in space. Out from under and behind the rocks came not Cameron as the others normally saw him, but a very familiar cloak-wearing figure from the past.
Arnett gasped, since she knew full well who it was. It didn't take long for one of the limiters to put two and two together and say the words that everyone else wanted to say but couldn't. "Oh my gosh, is that him?" Even the hybrid creature appeared afraid as it stared at what had come out of the wall.
To say that it was simply the Cloaked Bulldozer from the original tale was, in the words of many who witnessed this, a vast understatement. While he was wearing the same purple cloak from the first time, his aura was much, much more dangerous this time around. But what made this time completely different was the fact that both, not just one, of his eyes were now yellow and he had pink spike-like protrusions coming out of his skin completely through the fabric of his combat shirt and sometimes the cloak as well on his shoulders and back, the tell-tale signs that Cameron had entered corrosion-type Nova Form, due to his stigmata corrosion being at a critical level.
What none of them didn't know was that even in Nova Form, though he was slightly confused even as the dark side flowed through him, Cameron was still fully in control - only having taken on a new, darker persona that wasn't created accidentally. The foundations of it had been churning inside of him since he had used the force to keep Dolly from falling after having been tripped at breakfast close to 6 whole weeks ago, and he had no idea that it was inside him - until now. What they had observed during the recent landslide incident and that Radox had sensed from the reports of it had now come to past in its full extent - and they were looking at the results of it being used for the first time.
And as he ignited his red lightsaber, in a move that seemed so un-Cameron-like, he laughed.. not like himself, but more like his adopted father, General Grievous, complete with a imitation of his adopted father's cough after every time he laughed.
"Well, well, well.. what do we have here? A freak of nature who thinks they could simply kill me by throwing me into a wall and then crushing me with rocks. That's rich.." Cameron said, sounding way more malicious, psychotic, and dangerous than normal. "..Considering that with what you attempting to do to the people I care about, I'm going to fucking enjoy taking you apart limb from limb. And the best part? This no-holds barred beat down for your own amusement and your demise is absolutely free, with no extra strings even attached!"
Arnett looked at Elizabeth, unable to tell if the Cloaked Bulldozer in front of them was still Cameron with one leg for each of them in the grip of the hybrid creature's hands, thereby meaning that they couldn't really get a good view on if it was him. "That's still him, right?" she asked. Elizabeth could only reluctantly nod, for even with all that darkness coming from the Cloaked Bulldozer, she could still sense that the boy who fascinated her was still inside, his original personality pushed to the side in favor of the current one at the moment.
Noticing how close the creature was to Arnett and Elizabeth now, and that it had his hands wrapped around their legs, the Cloaked Bulldozer growled in possessive, savage fury, the aura he made becoming more and more dangerous by the second. "BACK. AWAY. FROM. THEM. NOW" he growled, voice dripping with pure rage now. "..or I'll be forced to kill you where you stand, creature."
The hybrid creature refused, maybe thinking that Cameron - or whatever was facing it - was bluffing. But all of that changed when Cameron reached out, and with the force, literally ripped off one of the creature's toes completely off, causing it to release both Arnett and Elizabeth and scream and holler in pain, now terrified. As for the two girls and every other trainee and limiter witnessing it, it was equally a shock to them as well, to witness this side of Cameron. All the while, Cameron's words became more and more maliciously toned.
"I'm going to rip your head off and then mount it on one of West Genetics' walls for people to mock you for months, even years, on end. How's that sound?" he taunted the creature, as he just casually ripped off another toe from the hybrid creature while aided by the dark side of the force. To Elizabeth, Arnett, and Dolly, it was now clear to them that what they were seeing from the Cloaked Bulldozer was more scarier and darker than what Cameron was doing the first time - this time, this was a man letting out his anger in the only manner it mostly knew how to - in savage, brutal, no holds barred, violent rage. The creature screamed in pain more over having another toe ripped off, then got up, and roared, now pissed off.
"Oh, so you fucking want more? You that much of a glutton for punishment, you hybrid piece of absolute shit-stain garbage?" Cameron taunted the creature more and more, until the creature finally snapped and charged him, even with it missing two of its toes now. "How fucking predictable.. well then, looks like you've chosen to do this the hard way. And by hard, I mean.. you're already dead!"
The creature came close to the Cloaked Bulldozer.. but then Cameron pulled out what he had done last time. Despite being a Pandora, he activated a freezing field, and a powerful one at that, one that despite the hybrid creature's major resistance to Freezing Fields, it could not break out of - for this one was being partly powered as well as strengthened greatly by the dark side of the force. The hybrid creature couldn't move, much to Astrid's total outrage and frustration.
"What the hell is this nonsense? You can move! CRUSH THAT INSIGNIFICANT WORM, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" he shouted, through the microphone. But the creature couldn't move, only stared at Cameron terrified as the Cloaked Bulldozer got a menacing looking glint in his eyes and a smirk across his face.
"Now then.." Cameron said. "Time for me to end this perverted shit show. Sorry Astrid, but your supposedly unstoppable terror weapon is about to become a scrap heap right now!"
Slice.
Slice.
Slice.
Slice.
Slice.
Slice.
Slice.
"NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
7 lightsaber slashes in just 6 seconds. But, with lightsaber against flesh, 7 slashes were more than enough - they were just pure overkill. In front of the shocked trainees and limiters - as well as the droids and the terrorists, the Cloaked Bulldozer effortlessly turned the hybrid creature, designed by Astrid as a terror weapon, into a multi-part, cleanly sliced corpse, the creature screaming one final time in terror and pain before it split into multiple parts from the lightsaber slashing.
Astrid couldn't contain the fury inside him, as well as his total ignorance coming back to bite him hard as the terrorist leader was racked with confusion. He hadn't planned for such a possibility, that the Cloaked Bulldozer did actually exist - and that he could easily slay Astrid's carefully crafted terror weapon. All of his calculations had been based on those facts that had been proven time and time again accurate in the past. Yet here, they weren't proving to be as true. Even so, no matter how hard he tried to process, his own arrogance and narcissism refused to let him accept for now - that for once in the man's life, he had been outplayed by the Chevalier, and in particular, Radox Phantomheim.
Even with what he now started to say through the microphone, it was clear to the Cloaked Bulldozer and the droids that they had gotten under Astrid Burke's skin and thrown the man off his game. "WEAK FOOLS! THERE HAS TO BE NO WAY THAT COULD HAVE POSSIBLY HAPPENED! YOU CHEATED, AND NOW I WILL BRING FIRE AND FURY AGAINST YOU AND EVERYONE DOWN THERE! I WILL HAVE MY ENTERTAINMENT AND YOU CANNOT STOP ME!" he screamed, but the Cloaked Bulldozer was unfazed by the threats.
"Well, well.. what a miscreant you are, Burke.. I tire of hearing that pathetic, painful excuse you have for a voice in here.. and I think it's time that you should be suppressed from being heard in here" he said, before he raised his hands and in a display of force lighting, disabled and destroyed every hidden camera and audio recorder in the canyon-themed area. Lowering his hands, the Cloaked Bulldozer took a look at what he had done, and just simply said, "I could have come done that a little bit earlier, but better late than never as they say" before deactivating his lightsaber, turning around and noticing Elizabeth, Arnett, and Dolly walking up to him, tears in their eyes. "Mr. F-Fearsome.." Arnett gulped, using her nickname for him. "I-Is.. that.. still you.. in there?"
In a rare display of calmness for the savage psycho with them, the Cloaked Bulldozer's eyes temporarily changed from yellow to Cameron's pink, and the aura changed as well. While physically, it was still the newer version of the Cloaked Bulldozer, it wasn't the personality of that version now - at least for the moment. "Yeah.. it's me.. even with the new personality.." Cameron said, "..it's still me underneath here. Just.. if you all wish to hug me.. please don't puncture your hands on the spikes. I don't want to have your blood stained on me, if you all understand."
No words were needed after that, as all three of them just hugged him, and just sobbed into his chest, Arnett and Elizabeth especially. Eventually, Arnett just looked up at him, having calmed down. "Just.. get us out of here.. alright?" she asked him.
"Anything you ask, Arnett" Cameron replied. "I mean, your dad did threaten to turn me into one with the force in the afterlife if I let anything happen to you. I don't want to have your dad as well as a boatload of other families angry at me as well. I swore an oath to protect you from harm with my life, and by extension, the lives of the other trainees and potential next-year freshmen limiters here, so heaven forbid am I going to fail you all now. Dad would never approve of it."
Pulling away from them, his aura shifted back and his eyes returned to yellow. Then, the Cloaked Bulldozer then reverted back to a serious mood, and stood up before facing the droids that had been working on the door.
"You got the doors working yet?" spoke the Cloaked Bulldozer to the droid technician squad, to which in reply, one of them gave a thumbs-up. "Alright, don't open it. Droids, listen up. I have orders to give."
One of the droids behind the 28th Generation of Pandora for West Genetics enthusiastically said, "Oh boy.. here we go. One of his brilliant plans." And even in that droid's voice, the Pandora and limiters could tell it meant every single word in a positive tone, and so lifted their spirits that they might escape from the base that belonged to the group that was the Pandora's worst nightmare.
"As much as I would like to hang around and wait for Chevalier to find us, after having to deal with that creature, I have no such desires now. Getting the trainees and potential freshmen Limiters out here is one of the two objectives assigned to you. The other shall be stealing all of the data and documents on this creature that you can find. You there.." Cameron in his Cloaked Bulldozer persona shouted, pointing at one of the security battle droid squads that was reinforced by three super battle droids.
"Yes sir?" the squad leader asked.
"I require your squad to assist Abyss and the technicians. Locate their main labs and server room, hack into their systems, and steal all of the data on how they made this creature that you can find. Anything else unrelated to that, you're free to destroy, blast, or burn. Make sure you give anything related to that creature you can find to Abyss and the technicians" Cameron ordered.
"Roger Roger" the squad leader responded, and the Cloaked Bulldozer turned to Abyss. "Abyss, whatever documents and data you, the technicians, and the squad assigned to support you and them find, you must hold onto and give to Radox no matter what. Got it?"
Abyss nodded firmly. "By your command, General" the commando droid responded. The Cloaked Bulldozer then turned to one of his two MagnaGuards, the one who had the cloak that was worn by his adopted father's beloved Izvoshra, killed in the shuttle crash that led to his adopted father becoming the cyborg known as General Grievous. The MagnaGuard snapped to attention, knowing full well that what the blonde male it was supposed to guard was about to say would be very important.
"IG-One Hundred And Seven" Cameron spoke, speaking the droid's product number in full.
"Yes sir?" the MagnaGuard replied, and Cameron gave the droid its orders. "While Abyss is off stealing files, I entrust you with the command of your fellow MagnaGuard, the remaining 5 squads of Security Droids, and the 2 support squads. Your mission is to find a way out of this base, and get all of the trainees and limiters here out safely. Do not let a single one of them be lost. This mission is most critical" Cameron said in a firm and clearly intense tone, even as the Cloaked Bulldozer, that left no impression in the MagnaGuard's droid brain of what its charge was requiring it to do. "You are in command of this contingent now, so do not fail me."
"Understood, sir. I will fulfill the task I have been assigned to the best of my ability. Though.." the MagnaGuard responded. "..Where are you going, sir?"
Cameron's yellow sith eyes flickered with joy and malice at the same time, and even for veterans, the droids couldn't help but find it creepy, though not to the extent that the trainees and limiters there felt about seeing it. "Astrid Burke has escaped the reach of Chevalier many times before.." Cameron responded, in a very bloodthirsty tone. "..I will ensure that this time, he does not escape it again. Remember, boys, anyone that's part of Astrid's group that tries to stop you, shoot and electrocute to kill. I want every single one you come across dead and neutralized so that they can't make trouble for the Chevalier any longer. And make sure you've aiming at them correctly. I want no blaster bolts ricocheting and hitting the trainees and limiters, otherwise I will personally turn you into scrap metal afterwards."
Even though they were droids, the trainees and limiters there would afterwards swear at that moment, they saw them all physically shudder at that last part. They all nodded, grimly aware of what was on the line.
"Alright. Once we open the doors, I'll lead the way. Once we hit an intersection, we split up and meet back up topside. And guys.. be careful, okay?" Cameron continued, the Cloaked Bulldozer taking on a bit more milder, protective tone. "There's only a limited number of you around to protect the 28th Generation and the limiters caught in this, so please don't go doing dumb shit that gets you killed for no reason. You all know, as veterans, you're a bit irreplaceable at the moment. So please, try not to die. Understood?"
The droids all responded with "Roger Roger" in unison. Cameron's malicious look underneath the cloak returned, and he turned to face the door. "Okay then, let's get to work.." he said, reigniting not just one, but both of his lightsabers now. "Tech Squad, open the doors now. Trainees, Limiters, stand off to the side please. This could get ugly." The trainees and potential limiters all obeyed, watching as the doors slowly opened.
As the doors opened, sliding up to the top and bottom, the droids and Cameron could clearly see quite a few of Astrid's terrorist gang members standing in their way, guns at the ready. "Alright you fiends, turn off and lower your weapons and surrender.." the lead one hissed at them, pistol aimed directly at Cameron, who underneath the cloak, started to laugh like his adopted dad again.
"You can't be serious. We surrender to a bunch of totally insignificant little pricks under the command of an arrogant coward like Burke? You must really take us for fools, even after I slayed his precious terror weapon" he said, before he defiantly took one step into the hallway, getting closer to the group, and the lead one fired a single round from his pistol squarely at his chest. Although he wasn't wearing body armor, due to being in Nova Form as well as having the benefits becoming the Cloaked Bulldozer again gave him, that single bullet simply hit Cameron in the chest, and instead of entering his body, literally bounced off of him, bruising instead of hurting him. The terrorists gasped in horror.
"W-What the fuck even are you?" screamed one of them. Cameron simply reached out with his hand, and with the force, pulled the lead one forward into range of his lightsabers. The man screamed as he was flung forward before instantly being decapitated by a lightsaber. His head simply hit the top of the entrance after being launched upwards due to being decapitated and hit the ground behind Cameron, while the rest of the man's body flew through the canyon-themed experiment area and into the dark jungle beyond. The other men all started shooting at Cameron, but unlike the first guy who succeeding in bruising him, this time Cameron put up some sort of deflector shield using a combination of the force and his Freezing, and all of their bullets simply bounced off of this shield. Bit by bit, they slowly backed away in fear, as Cameron came towards them, using the force, and his lightsabers to kill each of them in equally brutal, equally horrific, yet different ways.
Eventually, the remainder of them had enough and simply dropped their weapons and ran off screaming bloody murder, terrified for their own lives, leaving the first intersection, fifty yards ahead of Cameron, all theirs to split up at. "Alright, let's go! Move it people!" Cameron shouted, and they all started moving quickly, splitting up in different directions, all of them not knowing where they would find what they were going for, but hoping that either they would find it first before things went downhill for them or that Chevalier reinforcements would link up with them. It was their opportunity to attempt a break-out, and they weren't going to let the opportunity pass by.
Astrid watched the security cameras in total frustration and anger. Not only had that insignificant piece of dirt, as he saw Cameron in his eyes, had managed to slay what was supposed to be the greatest nightmarish weapon that Pandora and Limiters would be terrified of, but now his captives were running amok inside his own base, and his own men were being shown to be incapable of getting things back under Astrid's control.
The terrorist leader now seemingly realized something he had thought impossible. Somehow, the Chevalier found out about this. Someone in my organization ratted to them, and they planned for this, using the event as bait for me to take that monstrous brat, so he could fuck up my life's work. SON OF A BITCH RADOX, I thought you were very dumb! YOU'VE OUTPLAYED ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!
Any anger Astrid had quickly morphed into fear as he heard the sounds of lightsabers cutting flesh and metal, the screams of his own men, and gunfire as well as other sounds getting closer and closer to the doorway to his personal office. No.. he can't be already this close..
Eventually, the noise stopped before the door was kicked in, and the white-haired blue-eyed terrorist leader found himself face to face with the Cloaked Bulldozer himself. "It's over Astrid. It's all over for your group now.." Cameron said grimly toward him, eyes full of rage and burning inside in the irises with a desire to kill.
"No! NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING TO ME! THE ODDS OF THIS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE IMPOSSIBLE! THIS ISN'T REALLY HAPPENING TO ME!" Astrid screamed, the older man now terrified for his life. Cameron laughed like his adopted father once more, reveling in the terrified Astrid.
"Well, here's a reality check for you, loser.." Cameron hissed. "This is really happening to you, you arrogant dumb piece of shit. You were so easy to fool, it's really pathetic. And now.. oh yes.. I must inform you that you are now in the last minutes of your worthless life. This ends here."
"NO! NO! Don't KILL ME! YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Astrid shouted before he was brutally force choked to near death by Cameron using the power of the dark side, lifted up from his seat as he choked, before he was flung brutally into the wall, killing him instantly and burying half of his body inside the resulting hole in the wall.
His murderous mood satisfied, Cameron underwent a transformation. The cloak over his head, riddled with bullet holes due to him letting down the shield due to getting closer and closer to Astrid, and covering a lot of his chest and all of his back, disappeared and the Nova Spikes coming out of his back and shoulders all receded back into him, and his two yellow sith eyes, in a single blink, turned back into his normal violet ones. The weird thing about it all was.. he was still conscious, knowing fully what he had done.
"So he's finally dead.. good.. now time to get out of here and find Abyss and the others. Radox will be greatly pleased" Cameron said, even as intruder alarms began ringing. But with just one step, he went from seemingly okay to being severely in pain, having to limp a bit as he clutched his chest, and blood trickled down from his cheeks and other parts of his body from the many grazing wounds he had received, each varying in size and severity. He also felt a bit short on air, having to take in really deep breaths to keep going. "Aaaaahhh.. fuck.." he muttered. "This.. is.. going.. to slow.. me down.. quite.. a bit. Hopefully.. much of.. Astrid's.. group.. has gone.. down.. by now.. or.. has.. simply fled." So, even in pain, he started following Abyss' signal towards where Abyss was, hopefully being outside of the base by now.
At that moment, Abyss, the technicians, the droids, as well as the trainees and limiters had made it out of the base, with very few droid casualties having been suffered. A few droids had taken damage due to being shot with bullets from Earth, but for the most part, the damage done was minimal at best. Even so, the same couldn't be said for the camouflaged tall building in the middle of the jungles of Vietnam, now illuminated for the Chevalier to spot with fires raging in the upper levels of the building in some places.
It didn't take long for Chevalier observers and scouts in helicopters to locate the burning building, even while still being guided by Cameron's tracking beacon hidden underneath his combat shirt, and from there, multiple Chevalier Pandora and limiters, as well as provincial and local law enforcement from nearby towns and cities close to the site, converged on the area.
The droids, for the most part even though they couldn't really express emotions visibly, all felt relieved. They had managed to pull off Radox's plan well, and do their part in taking down the tough-to-find terrorist group. Still though, they still had yet to know if their commander succeeded in locating and killing Astrid Burke, so even in success and accomplishment, they felt a little worried, but not too much, given that their commander was a dark side force user who had done the impossible many times already.
The trainees and the potential limiters who had the misfortune to get caught up in all of this, though, couldn't really say the same about their emotions. Many of the trainees, after watching Cameron do the impossible for them now twice, were really worried if he would make it out of there alive or not. Some of them were less concerned about Cameron's life than others, but even then, they were still thankful for all he had done, given that in all likelihood, none of them could even come close to the ability and power he had. Other trainees, however, were more than worried, especially Arnett, Elizabeth, and Dolly, who anxiously watched the burning building for any sign of the boy who had done so much for the three of them combined at this point. The limiters, meanwhile, they really didn't have much of a clue of how to feel, all of them were still in absolute shock of what had just happened.
At this point, the sounds of helicopters and people shouting at others to get a move on was heard and they all turned to see both air and ground vehicles moving into the clearing by the burning building, Pandora and Limiters hopping out of them and heading towards the burning building. At the head of them was none other than Park Se-Mi, who had immediately requested to join the team that would take down Astrid's group once Cameron's tracking beacon had lead them to Astrid's base.
"Abyss!" she shouted, and the Commando Droid waved. "I didn't expect to see you and your droids here. What's the situation?"
"We got the trainees and limiters out, as you can. Plenty of Astrid's terrorists are dead inside - Cameron ordered us to kill on sight. I don't know how many could still be left in there, but if there are, their numbers are considerably reduced" Abyss replied, before Park noticed that Cameron wasn't with him, and she instantly put two and two together.
"Don't tell me - he split off from you all and went after Burke?" she asked, and Abyss only nodded. "Well.. guess whatever Burke was working on must really shaken him up."
"Enough that he became the Cloaked Bulldozer again and killed it himself personally" Abyss said, causing Park to do a double take.
"Wait? Are you for real?! Wow.. never thought I'd see the day.." she murmured, before a voice from behind got her back on track.
"Officer Park, mind getting back on track and locating any terrorists to arrest?" asked Radox Phantomheim, the Chevalier commander-in-chief coming out of an armored car at that moment, having decided to lead the takedown part of the plan personally.
"Yes. Sorry sir, will get back on them. ALRIGHT YOU WIMPS! STRAGGLING TIME IS OVER! GET A MOVE ON AND GET IN THERE!" she hollered, and led her platoon into the non-burning ground floor of Astrid's base.
"General Radox, sir" Abyss said, and saluted. "I wasn't not expecting to see you here."
"Astrid's attacks in the past have been a bit personal at times due to lack of intelligence and the inability to stop their attacks back then, so I'm leading this one myself to make sure that they go down once and for all" Radox replied, before like Park before him, noticing that Cameron wasn't with him.
"Where's Cameron?" Radox asked the commando droid, and Abyss simply pointed at the burning base. "He's in there, sir" the commando droid said just as the roof of it exploded in a fireball.
Even as Chevalier units entered into the now-wrecked base however, a lone figure now also emerged from the rubble and wreckage of the ruined base ahead of the Chevalier units going into it, and even though he was limping a little, clutching his chest in pain, and looking very much worse for wear with blood trickling down from various grazing wounds, once he got close to the group, he was very familiar to the 28th Generation Of Pandora, to the droids, and to Radox Phantomheim.
The potential limiters were once again shocked at what they were seeing. "Seriously? He's still alive?" one of them shouted.
As soon as the trainees recognized him though, the second in command of the C.I.S Military found himself being engulfed in a group hug, with him in the middle, by the entire 28th Generation of Pandora for West Genetics, and the blonde boy aching in pain from what he had done couldn't help but blush from it in one of the rare moments of his life that he actually did that. Even so, it was hard to breathe from it, and he soon made that loud and clear to them.
"Girls.. girls.. please.." he begged, gasping for air from the hugs he was getting from all of them. "I.. need.. to BREATHE! I'm.. in.. damn pain, for.. God's sake."
As much as the trainees all just wanted to feel safe with him, having just been put through a very troubling experience, with the added horrors of having the Cloaked Bulldozer come back and then literally rampage through their captors' base, killing nearly everyone he came across in the process that tried to stop him, they understood. For the most part, they backed off.
All except for Dolly, Elizabeth, and Arnett, that is. And for one of the rare times in his life, Cameron couldn't help but turn completely red in the face at the sight, blushing very hard, even harder than before. As much as his body ached in pain, he still admitted that what had been a cute moment, even with him all hurt and aching in pain, seemed even cuter when it was just the three of them doing it.
The sound of footsteps soon caused his mind to turn away from it, though, as Abyss walked up to him.
"Sir.. you're still conscious?" Abyss asked. "..And not unconscious, like last time?"
"Somehow.. Abyss.. yes I.. am" Cameron responded, taking deep breaths at intervals. The pain was severe, yet still he powered through it.
"Where's Astrid Burke?" Radox asked the limping blonde male.
"Dead, sir. I.. killed him.. myself" Cameron responded, face as noble as ever, even if he was in pain. "After I.. slew his.. creature, I took.. it upon.. m-myself.. to.. end him. I.. take.. all.. responsibility.. for my.. actions in.. there as.. well.. as the.. actions of.. my subordinates." He huffed between every two or single words he said, gathering air. "I ordered.. Abyss and.. the technicians.. to steal.. and download.. every single.. file and document.. they had.. on how.. they made.. it."
Abyss handed Radox the backpack slung over the commando droid's shoulders. "All files and documents related to this creature, all in file folders and on flash drives and one of my spare tablets, is in here. Every last bit, sir. We also destroyed every non-essential file except those related to how Astrid's group was able to pull off all of those attacks. It's already been uploaded directly into the Chevalier's data banks" Abyss said to the Chevalier commander-in-chief, who nodded as Abyss then saluted him. Radox slung the backpack over his own shoulders, and smiled in pure joy, proud of what Cameron, Abyss, and their droids had managed to pull off.
"You both have made me proud, boys. Chevalier and the population as a whole are indebted to you and your droids, Cameron" Radox said, and Cameron just simply smiled like a boy in a candy shop, something which made the trainees and the limiters that had been caught in the crosshairs of what had just happened happy as well. "I'm sure our scientists and technicians, as well as those of the companies cooperating with us, are going to have a field day with the data your droids have managed to acquire" Radox continued. "The value of this data cannot be overstated, but I believe they will find it to be very valuable."
"I..- thank.. you so.. much, sir" Cameron wheezed. "It means a.. whole lot. But again, I.. take.. responsibility.. for the.. actions.. of myself.. and my subordinates. We.. were.. simply fulfilling.. the mission.. you assigned us.. to the.. very end."
"Right, you and your droids were only simply doing your duty and completing the mission" Radox replied, before Arnett spoke up.
"W-wait.. Wait a minute" Arnett spluttered, both shocked and annoyed. "You mean this whole time, you were operating under orders from the commander-in-chief and didn't tell us?! Why?!"
Elizabeth and Dolly, as well as a lot of the other trainees and limiters there, also had annoyed looks on their faces. But, before Cameron could explain himself or Abyss could defend his commander's actions, Radox did the talking for them.
"Apologies for it all, trainees and potential limiters, but in this case, I take responsibility for this. I had both of them swear to secrecy to not tell any of you trainees or anyone else other than their own droids and then have them sworn to secrecy as well for the strict purpose of not alerting Astrid to our intentions. From what limited intelligence we had about this.." said the Chevalier commander-in-chief. "..Our informat made it very clear that Astrid was dismissing the existence of Cameron and his droids as mere fantasy, thus I decided to lay a trap for him, using his own intentions and desires as a bait he could not resist. We willingly let the attack happen just to get Cameron inside their base and then act as a tracking beacon to lead the Chevalier right to Astrid's base."
The trainees and potential limiters were all shocked, but Radox continued. "I've already told your families all this, but even as a monster who has gotten a lot of people killed already by Astrid before, but I made every consideration when formulating this plan. It seemed to me that Cameron was on the verge of unlocking something hidden inside of him prior to the intel we received, and we simply used Astrid's group as a mechanism to get a factor he ultimately couldn't control inside his own base. It was an extremely risky plan, for sure, but ultimately, it seems that it has worked out in humanity's favor."
Cameron now added his own thoughts into this. "Believe me.." he started. "I.. wish.. I could.. tell you about.. it all.. maybe even.. have prevented.. the attack.. but I had.. orders, so.. I followed.. Radox's.. orders to.. the letter." A couple tears flowed down from his eyes, a rarity for him, making it clear to the trainees and limiters that inside, not being able to tell - at least the trainees he cared about - what he was ordered to do pained him a bit.
"It's okay, Mr. Fearsome" Arnett said, smiling at him. "You did what you had to do.. and because of that.. we're all okay. You saved our lives.. and I believe that is the third time you saved my life."
"You.. seriously.. have.. been.. counting.. how many times I've.. saved you? S-Seriously?" Cameron asked her, to which Arnett only nodded, and although he wasn't looking, it was obvious to those among the group observant enough to notice that it wasn't only Elizabeth and Dolly who were looking jealous at this.
"So do you have any requests, Cameron?" Radox asked him. Even with three Pandora trainees - now about to be graduates - all clinging to him, the aching-in-pain boy still saluted the Chevalier Commander-in-Chief before responding.
"Permission.. to go.. to the.. nearest hospital, please.. sir?" Cameron replied.
"Permission granted."
"Thank.. god" he said, before coughing. "Coming out.. of that.. while still.. conscious.. fucking sucks. I.. need.. pain killers.. bad.. right now."
Meanwhile, in the Serenno System..
Count Dooku sat at his desk, meditating in the force. That is, until the entrance to his office opened and a tactical droid stepped in.
"What is it?" Dooku asked, inquisitively.
"Sir, I think we've found him - and more importantly, give you the exact coordinates of his location."
