Raise Your Hell

by TheLandMaster45

What exactly a Diver is to do when a force with a sick sense of humor decides to toss her off to a world where half of humanity is worth less than the dirt they die on, and the only hope for a red planet is a reckless band of orphans who fight with the help of demons from the past? Why... Raise hell, of course!

4. Chapter 4

For some reason the chapter uploaded improperly. Reuploaded with the intact one, should be working now.

~O~

Sadly, the ride towards CGS' base quite quickly lost its majesty once a sight Serena would forever dread came into view: a mob of children, wearing dirty uniforms, digging up the grounds surrounding the base while a group of some of the ugliest adults she had ever seen barked orders at them and waved clubs both at and onto the kids.

Were it not for the seat belt, sheer distance, and the need for keeping up appearances, she would have already leapt out of the truck and drop-kicked them all into submission. Unfortunately, for Orga's plan to succeed and allow the Third Group to give half of the adults some new breathing holes, Serena would have to play mostly dumb and make preparations for the take-over to happen.

Of course, mostly did not mean completely.

"Everybody get your game faces on, time to meet your fellow gun-toting maniacs," the ex-Diver called aloud into her comm piece, even if only two people who were wearing them could actually properly register her words in any method. "Argi, you alright in there?"

"Go to hell."

"Good, keep that attitude with ya, you'll need it."

"Are you sure about these mercenaries, Serena?" asked Liarina, her tone of voice quite skeptical even through the comm set's speakers. "I read up on CGS, they're nothing to write home about…"

"That's the point of it, Liarina. If they're small-time, then we can avoid detection for longer than with a well-known unit," replied Serena, her eyes never drifting away from the approaching gate currently guarded by four kids totting assault rifles. "Plus, this is the young miss' wish, so let's respect that, shall we?"

With her part said and a hum of agreement from Liarina in return, Serena waved to the rest of the convoy as they finally came upon the gate, even if it was nothing more than theatrics considering the order was actually given by her mental link, but still necessary if she wanted to keep up appearances for the CGS people. In response, the APCs opened up the way for her truck and Kudelia's sedan to approach the base's gate and stop just shy of it, allowing the four kids to walk up to them just as Serena lowered the window of her door and peer over her sunglasses at the boy. "Hey there, kid. We got a meeting with old man Maruba regarding a job, can you let us through?"

Considering the way the teenager simply blinked at her question, it seemed that was not one of the things he expected her to say. Still, he seemed at least able to roll with the punches, choosing instead to signal for another one of the kids, who pressed down on the radio in his ear and began talking to the person on the other end. As they talked, the teen turned back to Serena and started scrutinizing her with a clear attempt at seeming threatening.

Said attempt crumbled when Serena gave him a smile and a wink, making the teen turn around nervously and cough into his hand, something that earned a chuckle from the ex-Diver. Moments later, the kid speaking in the radio returned and signaled the vehicles to go through, with the gates opening shortly after to allow the convoy into the base's interior.

The interior was just as Serena remembered it from the anime: a mostly featureless concrete patio, with a few hangars off to the side, the watch tower, a few smaller buildings scattered around, and the main one sitting almost smack-dab in the middle, its multiple glass walls clashing heavily with the metal everywhere else. Everything looked weathered and dirty, even if the dry climate of Mars likely spared the place from the worse, but it was blatantly clear that CGS' glory days had come and gone, otherwise they would have refurbished the whole base into something more proper.

And of course, as expected of a place run by a bunch of slave-drivers, things were already active inside the base as well. Mobile Workers were lined side-by-side, weapons raised and cockpits open as they were serviced by adults and kids alike, while truck-type Mobile Workers hauled around crates, and more adults ran other children through simple workout drills. Many of them stopped their work, however, to gaze at the convoy that soon began to slow down and parked in the middle of the patio. With expected professionalism, the M-Soldiers began filing out of the APCs and offloading all the cargo both the transports and the trucks had brought along, piling everything on the ground before turning to stand guard over the crates. Following the androids were Liarina and Argi, both staring at their surroundings as subtly as they could and with differing levels of sympathy at the children of CGS, though they were quick to school themselves once they were approached by Serena herself, who signaled them towards the sedan. And indeed, not a moment later, the young miss and her aide climbed out of the car along with their M-Soldier escorts, and while Fumitan was still wearing her blue dress, Kudelia had eschewed her more extravagant clothes for a simpler set of clothes: a red blazer, white blouse, jeans and cream-colored boots, with her hair done into a surprisingly compact ponytail, though it still reached past her waist in length. The Bernstein heiress thanked Fumitan as the aide helped her off the car, though her smile and cheer died out fast once her attention refocused on the CGS members surrounding them all, and Serena could see her hands tightening minutely in what was undoubtedly frustration or anger, which prompted Serena to walk forward and clap her hands loudly to get the attention of the group.

"Alright folks, let's get to work, shall we?" called out the ex-Diver with as carefree a smile as she could muster, one hand stretched out just in time to grab a rifle thrown by a passing M-Soldier. "Young miss, Fumitan and Liarina, we got a meeting to attend while these fine folk plus Argi get to rearranging these supplies onto our hangar, so let's get to it shall we?"

"… Yes… we have a job here, indeed," replied Kudelia, her tone of voice thankfully far more level than would have been expected of the heiress in these circumstances. With a resolute nod, Kudelia turned towards the central building and strode confidently towards it, flanked closely by Liarina, Fumitan and one shotgun-carrying M-Soldier, while Argi muttered complaints about being handed more work as he passed by his boss-slash-fellow revolutionary… right before Serena gripped his arm and pulled him close enough to herself that her hair shadowed their faces from any peeping toms.

"As soon as you're done moving everything and made sure the Haros and automatons are all secure, ask one of the M-Soldiers for Gamma Squad. I need you to make some preparations for me outside the base, and you need to do it today," called out the woman in a far more serious tone, her free hand slipping Argi her sidearm and a radio. "The androids will have your instructions. I'm counting on ya, okay?"

Whatever complaint Argi had building died down once he caught sight of how serious Serena's eyes were under her glasses, especially with the hint of golden flaring in her pupils. "Alright, I'll get it done," replied the ex-assassin, taking the offered pistol and radio subtly and shoving them in his pockets before he turned towards the M-Soldiers waiting around the cargo, signaling them with his mechanical hand.

With that done, Serena turned back towards the main building and rushed after her charge, her heart already skipping a few beats out of nervousness.

Hopefully she wouldn't feel like punching Maruba in the face during the meeting…

-O-

GJALLARHORN'S ORBITAL HEADQUARTERS – SPACE STATION ARES

There was a rhythmic thumping being heard inside the hallways of Ares.

It could easily be mistaken for some form of ongoing maintenance being performed on the station's interior. Or perhaps some faulty piece of equipment acting up that needed fixing. At the most, one could think that it was the product of a particularly bored soldier hitting the walls just to ease his boredom.

None of these things were the correct answer.

The reason for the incessant banging noise was, in fact, the result of the station's commanding officer, Coral Conrad, taking a policy of seeing the walls of his office as a giant nail, and his head as an indestructible hammer to be taken to said nail with unrestrained abandon.

"DAMMIT! DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT!"

Said action was compounded by his intense cursing and shouting, which thankfully did not carry as far as the sounds of his head slamming did.

But in his mind, Coral was absolutely justified in his reaction. After all, he had just been informed his (and by extension, his superiors') plans had just been completely derailed.

It was to be a simple affair: find Kudelia Aina Bernstein, guarantee her location, and then "remove" her from the picture, so as to cull any possible revolutionary movement. Simple, effective, and most of all, easy. Highly regarded as she was, Bernstein was only a young noble girl, hardly a threat against overwhelming firepower or a commando unit.

However, one massive wrench had been thrown onto those plans: they had lost Kudelia.

It shouldn't have happened, by all accounts. Norman Bernstein had been adamant that his daughter had remained at home almost all days, with only a visit or two to locales for public speeches, and their undercover agent keeping watch over her house had corroborated Norman's story. That she had left without warning or even a notice of where she had gone to was an unprecedented action, and now it had put everything at risk.

True, Mars was not a particularly large place, and there were only so many places Bernstein could hide, but that still meant Coral would have to find her, and then flush her out of hiding somehow. That would take time, time he didn't have.

Not when he had just gotten the call, five minutes ago, that the inspectors from the Earth Branch were on their way to Mars already. And if they got here before he had succeeded in capturing Kudelia, nothing would save his career.

Hence, his current manner of stress relief.

Finally, however, the pain in his forehead began to eclipse the relief the act gave, forcing Coral to back away from the wall, gasping for breath and nursing a budding bruise. "Of all the times for things to go wrong, why now," snarled the head of the Mars Branch as he paced back to his chair and all but threw himself onto the seat, hands already massaging his temples in a more sedated effort to stave away his headache. "Dammit, everything had been going so well… What could possibly have happened!"

There was a thought, back in the deepest recesses of Coral's mind, that somehow… somehow, that maniac Solomon had something to do with this. Coupled with that was a more… paranoid part of his brain, that wondered if Solomon and Kudelia were related somehow, but thankfully his more logical, power-hungry side squashed that idea with a vengeance.

And in the end, there was nothing Coral could do.

Nothing, but wait… and hope a solution presented itself.

The fate of Gjallarhorn depended on it.

And no insane maniac would get in the way of his ambition.

-O-

Serena had been wrong. She had not been ready for this.

As expected, Maruba had called in a few of the kids from the Third Group, namely Biscuit, Eugene, Mikazuki and Orga. The ugly, cube-headed fuck from the First Group that she couldn't remember the name of had also been in the room, but he had done little other than glower at all the present people, so his presence had been basically as a non-entity.

And in the few minutes she had been in the room, Serena had been very, very tempted to punch Maruba in the face, repeatedly, until that stupid grin was wiped off his face.

The thought of the people present being witnesses to the act were acting with mixed results at best. Kudelia and Liarina would definitely be appalled by it.

Orga would either point and laugh, or join in. And he had definitely caught sight of the way Serena's expression kept twitching as Maruba went on at length about what an honor it was to have Kudelia ask them to perform this job, about how noble her cause was, and how brave she was for wanting to speak out against the government… empty platitudes to suck up to her and probably ask for a bit more money.

The only thing he'd be getting was a kick in the ass, if it depended on Serena.

Plus a slug to the chest, if Kudelia wasn't looking.

Truthfully, however, Serena hadn't been paying that much attention to Maruba's words, leaving it more instead to Liarina, Kudelia and Fumitan. Instead, the ex-Diver had her attention focused on the younger CGS members.

It wasn't hard to see that Biscuit and Eugene were nervous, what with the way they were fidgeting whenever they thought no one was looking, or how Orga had been stealing calculating glances at the four women seated across from Maruba… but out of all of them, it was Mikazuki that made Serena more concerned.

She knew the memes and jokes about Mika being a flat, wooden character (she even had a wooden cut-out in her room that she jokingly called an 'authentic Mika cosplayer'), and how his emotions slowly died out to nothing as the show went on… but actually seeing the kid in the flesh really made you realize just how off he seemed.

The boy looked completely nonchalant, lazily gazing around the room without a hint of care of the First Group leader's reaction, and out of all of them, he was the only one to have his hands shoved in his pockets rather than held at parade's rest, and his entire stance felt almost lackadaisical. And yet…

It might have been because of her Innovation, or her old Diver intuition, or even straight up instincts, but every time Serena and Mikazuki crossed gazes, she could feel the cold in his eyes and the slumbering killing intent waiting just beneath the surface, something that definitely didn't belong in a kid that young. It all made Serena wonder, if Mika considered her a threat of any kind, he might go to Orga and have him confront her over any hidden agendas.

Or he'd just shoot her behind a hangar or something like that…

The ex-Diver was finally broken out of her musings, however, once Kudelia rose from her seat and walked over to the four children who had been watching, a small smile gracing her face as she gave them all a polite nod (something that seemed to violently shock Maruba and Cube-head, to Serena's colossal satisfaction). "Thank you for taking this job, it is a pleasure to meet you all," she said with utmost calm and friendliness, though it didn't escape Serena's attention that she had quite a tinge of empathy in her eyes. "May I ask you to give me a tour of the building? I'm afraid I… require some help understanding the directions inside."

And to no one's surprise (at least, for someone who had seen this play out before), Kudelia had posed the question to Mikazuki.

To his credit, the young man took the request in stride, answering her question with his natural indifference. "Sure, this way," he replied, and with just as calm, turned to leave the room with Kudelia in tow, leaving two bewildered young men and one mildly amused one to stare at the door their comrade had just left through. After a moment of awkward silence, Liarina rose from her seat and gave the group a somewhat flustered bow.

"I'll… follow them, if you do not mind," said the girl, and with that she had left as well.

After yet another moment of silence, Fumitan let out a weary sigh and rose from her seat, taking into her grasp one of the pads listing the work contracts between CGS and JSS before walking out the door, only stopping once she was at the door arch. "I'll review the contracts and deliver them back by the end of the day. Please make all arrangements necessary on your end."

"Sure thing, Fumitan, see ya around," replied Serena, and with that the aide disappeared down the hall, her heels clicking against the metal floor until the sound disappeared in the distance.

Seeing that things seemed over, Cube-Head Fuck let out a derisive snort, before refocusing his attention and anger towards the remaining three members of the Third Group. "Well, what are you space rats waiting for?! Get to work already!" he snarled, pointing a finger out the door. In response, Biscuit and Eugene took off running, while Orga merely gave the man an unimpressed side-eye before calmly walking out with his hands in his pocket. Once only the three adults remained in the room, Cube-Head let out a dismissive snort before crossing his arms. "Pfeh, wide-eyed idealist… no idea why she'd want the brats, but the money's good at least."

It might have been the fact that he had forgotten that Serena was still in the room, but Cube-Head had unfortunately chosen the wrong moment to make a derisive comment towards both the children and Kudelia while the ex-Diver was within ear shot. So, with the single longest sigh of her life, before calmly standing up and walking up to Cube-Head, before pulling a handkerchief from her vest. "Here, buddy, you're gonna need this," she said in an eerily tranquil tone, even as the smallest flecks of gold began tinting her eyes, before throwing the piece of cloth up in the air.

"Wha—"

Before either Maruba or Cube-Head could react, Serena swung the butt of her rifle like a hammer directly into the latter's face, with all the strength her body could output. And considering both her muscle mass and the fact she was now a trans-human born from a human being pumped full of magic particles, such strength was vastly above what Cube-Head probably expected. The results, of course, were predictable: Cube-Head's nose crumpled like tinfoil, blood spurting out onto his clothes as the towering man fell into heap on the floor with a shout of pain, while Maruba shot to his feet in incredulity.

"What the hell do you think—"

Click!

But before the businessman could say anything more, his words died on his throat at the sight of the rifle now pointed at his subordinate… but which paled in comparison to the positively venomous glare Serena had aimed at him, and which he somehow could still make out from beneath her shades.

That the handkerchief landed neatly on Cube-Head's chest right where blood had landed only served as the proverbial kick in the nuts.

"Allow me to make this perfectly clear to the both of you," almost spat Serena, her gun still pointed squarely at the downed man's head. "I hate you two. Hell, I despise you both with every fiber of my being. I hate you," and she emphasized the word by inching the rifle's barrel closer to Cube-Head, "for throwing your weight around like you're a big fucking deal for ordering fucking children like they're your slaves. And I hate you, Maruba Arkay, for actually thinking putting whiskers on these brats was a splendid idea. If it were up to me, I'd ask for five minutes alone with you two in a locked room, hands and feet tied while I have a crowbar…"

And just like that, the tension seemed to bleed off of the woman, Serena taking a step back as she lowered her rifle down, though her glare remained fixed on Maruba. "But fortunately for you two, I'm not gonna do anything that would make miss Bernstein angry at me, and beating sense into you two would make the job be cancelled. So instead, I'm gonna give you one warning…"

"Do not. Dare. To act out while I'm watching. Or else."

She did not wait for their replies, what with Maruba looking like he was stuck between pissing himself or running, while Cube-Head seemed a second away from leaping back to his feet and taking his chances at caving Serena's face with a punch. Instead, the ex-Diver promptly turned around and walked out of the room, almost subconsciously as she stalked her way through the halls. More than once, a kid or adult would almost cross her, only to quickly dodge out of the armed woman's way, until she finally reached a non-descript door and went into the room.

Serena barely registered it as a bathroom before she threw the gun down and ripped her shades off her face, her breathing coming out as ragged gasps as she threw herself at the nearest sink and opened the faucet with trembling hands. As quickly and as carefully as she could, Serena splashed the cool water onto her face and rubbed it vigorously, repeating the act several times until finally, her breathing began to even out and she could lift her head to focus on her reflection on the mirror. Golden flecks still ran through her irises, but after a few furious blinks, they began to fade away until her natural red color remained.

That… hadn't been normal. Serena had never been a confrontational person, even when she got into the more particularly heated fights back in GBN. At most, her anger would have been an annoyance at best, something to say a few sarcastic comments with before leaving the whole thing behind. She had never even thrown a punch at someone in real life before.

And yet, back in the office… she had wanted to hit the man. Really wanted to. She had felt anger beyond anything she had ever thought possible of herself, an unnatural desire to hurt, to harm, to PUNISH clawing its way out of her chest.

"What… what the hell…" she gasped out, a hand slowly reaching up to grasp at her temple as she gazed at her own reflection on the mirror. "Why… did I…?"

That she didn't know why scared her.

That she didn't know if it would happen again scared her more.

-O-

An orator could hardly allow themselves to be at a loss of words. Speaking was their line of work, after all.

Yet, words failed Kudelia as she watched the young boy lead her around the hallways of the base, emotionlessly listing each location as they passed it and never once stopping to look back at her. His posture, his words, what little she had gotten to see of his face… it all was so…

Dead.

That's the only word she could think of.

Everything in this boy… this child, younger than even her, showed the signs of someone who seemed to have just… given up. Like he had just come to accept his role in life, and had taken to simply living through it as best as he could, until he either passed away or…

"And behind this is the engine room. We have our own Ahab Reactor."

"… Excuse me."

It was the first time Kudelia had spoken since the boy had taken her on her requested tour. Shockingly enough, the boy indeed stopped and turned to look back at the heiress, that same placid expression still present in his face. Still, the fact he had stopped was enough for her, and so the heiress seized her chance. "Apologies… but I forgot to ask your name before this."

"… Mikazuki Augus," was all he said, and judging by his tone, nothing much more would come of it. Still, Kudelia did not falter, and once more allowed her thoughts to flow back to the tip of her tongue.

"… It might be insensitive of me to ask… but…"

"Hm?"

"… May I shake your hand?"

The motion itself was simple. Raise a hand, offer it to Mikazuki, and hold it until he accepted it.

And yet, for some reason, Kudelia felt as if the world rested on her limb.

Especially when the boy's gaze shifted just so down to her hand, impassive, before calmly raising his own to the air. "My hands are dirty."

It was such a simple answer, short and to the point. And indeed, Kudelia could very well see the oil and grime coating his palm, staining the pale skin a deep black. It was a hand Kudelia had never grasped in her life. Nor had she bore in any stretch of time.

How much of a story did it hold?

"… Yes, of course…" muttered Kudelia, her own hand clenching just so in reaction to the sight offered. Yet still, she couldn't help the nascent sorrowful smile that grew on her face. "But still… Would you offer me that chance?"

Once more the boy betrayed no emotion, but for the briefest of moments, Kudelia caught the faintest spark of curiosity in his eyes, and that was enough to push her determination onwards. "At another time… I may have wished to see myself as equal to you. Maybe try and share your burden, in any way that I could, so that I could come to better understand this world that I wish to help. However…"

"… Someone opened my eyes to the world. Someone who I had never met before, never heard of before, until the day they took to the same road as me. They made me realize that… that the world truly is a vast place. That I was foolish of thinking that I had seen everything, and could consider myself ever capable of standing as an equal to you all... At least for now, that is." And with one final shake of her head, Kudelia offered her hand once more, her eyes never averting from the boy's own. "But until then… I will start from zero. And if I have to dirty my hands for it… I'll do it as many times as it takes."

Throughout the entire speech, Mikazuki remained still and silent, and even at the end, he still would not give her a reply, merely staring at the outstretched hand in indifference.

Yet, in the end, the boy finally seemed to come to a decision.

And it was with those big, dirtied hands of a killer that Mikazuki grasped onto Kudelia's, gripping as firmly as he could, and leaving darkened stains all over them as he pulled away, before calmly turning around and beginning to walk once more, toward another inane stop in the tour. "Come on, this way."

It wasn't much of a start… but it was something.

-O-

"This isn't… what I had in mind… when we came here…"

With each labored breath, Argi took another step up the cliffside, carrying in his back yet another rocket launcher to be mounted on an enclosed outcropping, just deep enough to hide it away from view, but with enough clearance to allow the rocket to fire unimpeded.

Something that he had done eight times already.

At least he hadn't been alone in this endeavor: performing the same activity, only with no complaints at all, were the Machine Soldiers Serena had promised as assistance, each one hauling a crate on their back as they trudged resolutely across the rocky terrain.

When Serena had said the robots would have the instructions, Argi never expected them to be "go walk around the desert and set up traps all over the place for me", otherwise he probably would have raised some form of complaint over them.

Then again, the part about an upcoming Gjallarhorn attack did help the mercenary to keep his trap shut, especially when he thought back to the way the woman had worded it all: that she didn't think they might come attack, but instead that she knew that they would attack. Now, Argi wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, what with his limited education during his upbringing and such, but even he could put two and two together over why Serena was so certain: it was because of Kudelia Aina Bernstein.

Even while flying around the Solar System, hiding away from Gjallarhorn or other criminals while looking for leads to their quest, Volco and the others always caught the young heiress' transmissions. And though he couldn't really understand all of the rhetoric like Liarina or Volco (and maybe even Nanao) could, Argi could see just how much of an impact the girl had been making, considering the amount of people those rallies seemed to gather, or how big the protest could get in the streets.

And every time they happened, Gjallarhorn would be right there, with plenty of Mobile Workers and troops to keep watch over everything, just waiting for an excuse to put everything down. So if they had the perfect chance to grab her and make her "disappear"… well, what were a few dead kids?

If only Astaroth had been brought down… then he could have stomped anything Gjallarhorn sent their way. His sessions in the simulator had already taught him more on how to pilot the Gundam, especially with how insanely intense Serena's program was, so Argi was sure he could put up an even better fight than his previous ones.

Volco never did forgive that near-loss to those Hugo-piloting pirates…

With a final grunt of effort, Argi shoved the missile launcher into crevice and secured it with some bipods. Just as he raised himself off the ground, Argi heard the sound of steps approaching him, and a turn of the head confirmed it to be one of the Machine Soldiers he had brought along. "DEPLOYMENT COMPLETE, ALL WEAPONS IN PLACE," said the robot in that deep, monotone voice that made Argi's skin crawl. "REQUESTING PERMISSION TO MOVE TO SITE EIGHT."

"Yeah, go right ahead, I'll circle back and check on the explosives," replied the mercenary with a wave of his mechanical hand. "When you're done go set up the sniper perch."

"UNDERSTOOD, AGENT MIRAGE."

And with that, the robot moved away, joined soon after by its compatriots that were now box-less, before walking off to another cliff side. After a moment of watching the robots leave, Argi let out a weary sigh, then ran a hand through his hair, wiping the sweat and dust off it.

Four sites down.

Five more to go…

"No rest for the wicked, I guess…"

-O-

THREE DAYS LATER…

One would not think living in the base of child soldiers with the threat of an attack by an extra-solar paramilitary organization hanging over your head would be uneventful. But once again, the universe surprised Serena with curve balls.

After her "episode" in Maruba's office, things had moved surprisingly smoothly and quickly. The man had agreed to the paperwork offered to him, down to even the split in profits and arrangements for the travel crew. Naturally, Kudelia had made clear that the Third Group would be the one to perform the trip, and Maruba had agreed to it, though in the end he still insisted that some members of the First Group join the trip so as to properly keep in touch, even though Serena knew it was more to keep the kids under watch… and maybe even her, to an extent.

Not that it was an unwarranted thought, granted. Cube-head's nose still looked quite crooked after she introduced a rifle's stock to it.

In the end, however, they had had to acquiesce, and a small team of First Group members had been chosen to accompany them all, Cube-head included.

Not that it would matter much, in the end, but they didn't know and didn't need to know. The children would take care of that very soon.

And besides, Serena had other matters to attend to.

Veda, ready the transmission, make sure our security's up and running.

The thought was made without a change in her facial expression as she stared blankly ahead at the outside cafeteria, or even a twitch from her hands as she brought the spoonful of meat and vegetables to her mouth. And when the computer sent a signal of confirmation back to her brain, the only sign of her communication with it was the hidden faint glow of her eyes, which faded away quickly enough to allow the ex-Diver to remove her shades and massage her eyes. Thankfully, none of the kids around her raised questions, though admittedly they had no real reason to, especially since Serena had picked a table more isolated from the others, allowing her peace of mind from the hustle and bustle of the kids eating and chatting away.

It also had the bonus of leaving it easier to discreetly signal Argi and Liarina as they passed by with trays in hand, allowing the three to sit in moderate privacy as they picked at their food. "Alright folks, talk to me: how are things so far?" asked Serena, giving her co-conspirators as friendly a smile as she could.

"Traps are all in place, just gotta man them," replied Argi, the young man mindlessly picking at the sausages in his own plate. "Not that they'll help a lot if Gjallarhorn brings Mobile Suits down here… you sure they're really coming?"

"Oh, I'm quite positive of it."

"But we made sure to hide our movements so well," half-whispered Liarina in return, her eyes flitting off to the side as she stared at a most bewildering sight: Kudelia Aina Bernstein, working alongside the recently-arrived Atra Mixta and Biscuit's sisters Cookie and Cracker to serve up food for the children from the Third Group, a pleased smile on her face as she poured bowls of soup and handed them over to the ecstatic boys. "How would Gjallarhorn know where we went?"

"Because even if people didn't see us, the cameras certainly did," replied the ex-Diver with a sad sigh. "There'll be footage of our convoy leaving the city, and of Kudelia's car joining us. And if I tried erasing the evidence, they'd just get even more suspicious of us, especially of JSS." Casting one last look at Kudelia as the heiress offered the passing Mikazuki a plate with thickly-sliced vegetables, Serena couldn't help the pang of disappointment in her heart, even as she brushed some locks of her hair off her face. "Really, I'm surprised it's taken them this long to find us… but at least it gave us some good prep time."

"Mmm… alright, so what do we do, then?"

Before an answer could be given, however, a slight crackling sound began ringing right next to their table, loud enough that even some of the nearby kids turned their heads toward it.

The source of said sound, of course, was the radio Serena just so happened to have placed on another table, and that up to that point had yet to pick up any signals.

Until now, that is.

"Greetings, once more, to all people in the world."

"For now? Sit back and enjoy the show."

-O-

EN ROUTE TO MARS – ABOARD BISCOE-CLASS GJALLARHORN TRANSPORT SHIP

"Tch… this crazy fool again…"

The chuckle that escaped McGillis' lips was laden with amusement, and all of it was caused by Gaelio's recent yet unusual animosity towards the cloaked figure that overtook their main screen, those piercing golden eyes glaring defiance at the world.

"You certainly seem quite riled up, Gaelio," said Fareed, turning his head just so to give his friend a playful smirk. "Weren't it you who said Solomon was nothing more than a nuisance?"

"That was before I read the reports from the colonies," replied Gaelio in return, a sneer clear in his face as he glared at Solomon's image, arms crossed almost defiantly as he let out a huff. "I don't know who this is, but this coward's clearly content with sitting back and causing all the chaos he pleases. It's unsightly."

"And yet they are having an effect on you, no?"

"Tch…"

Of course, their banter would not matter to Solomon, who merely gestured with their hands to their audience before resting them once more in the table. "Allow me to preface this broadcast by apologizing for my continued silence. Though I had more than intended to speak to you much sooner, it would appear Gjallarhorn has been quite motivated in striking both my name and intents from public view."

"But I assure you all, listeners, that their efforts will never bear fruit. For when the just wish to be heard, there shall always be means for their voices to echo out. Alas, today we shall not discuss our most benevolent caretakers. Gjallarhorn's actions and deeds are many indeed, after all, and there shall be a better time and place to espouse on their existence. Today, we shall instead focus on what they consider to be their ward by right. Today, listeners… we shall discuss Mars."

If Solomon had his curiosity before, now the masked figure had McGillis undivided attention.

Not to say that Fareed had not been interested before in the figure, far from it. In fact, the day after his first broadcast, McGillis had spent the entire day sitting in front of a computer terminal, scouring Gjallarhorn's databases for any information likely tied to the mysterious speaker. And yet, not once had Gjallarhorn encountered an individual such as this, be it in terms of name, deed or objective. The only scrap of information in any way related to the mysterious figure had been oblique references in an old, downright ancient book pertaining to demonology, one that Gjallarhorn most likely had archived just as a matter of formality, rather than with any specific goal in mind.

That said information named Solomon as "a king who held dominion over devils" only made McGillis' curiosity peak higher.

"Yes, humanity's greatest conquest among the stars. That those who are now long gone were capable of terraforming an entire planet, and making it hospitable for human colonization truly speaks of the wonders that the Age of Calamity has swept away. Those who were brave enough to venture into this unknown horizon and saw fit to risk their lives for the possibility of mankind expanding across the stars would have been seen as pioneers, heroes, perhaps even martyrs, should they have not survived their mission."

"And so I ask… what changed?"

McGillis had to praise Solomon's skills in theatricals, as they pressed their hands together, then pulled them apart, allowing dozens of different images and videos to grow and cover the screen, and while none of them were quite the same, all portrayed the same thing: suffering and pain.

People in the streets, suffering of hunger and poverty, or selling themselves for whatever value others would deign to throw at them. Recordings of the innumerous slums, with dilapidated buildings in every corner and street, some barely better than standing walls with a hole for a door. Shots of what few factories and corporations existed on Mars, surrounded by protesting workers who ran the gamut between disheveled to mostly normal-looking, and who themselves were surrounded by heavily armed and armored Gjallarhorn soldiers.

And of course, there were the protests.

McGillis hadn't had the time to follow all of them, his position would never allow it, but he had seen more than his fair share of broadcasts covering said events, be they done by the public news teams or by Gjallarhorn's surveillance teams. But even that paltry number was enough to make the Fareed heir's hands tighten around each other as he beheld broadcasts both he had already seen, and ones he hadn't, of people who years ago would indeed been seen as heroes and pioneers.

Yes, in an age long past, led by a hero and visionary who truly understood humanity…

"Discrimination and prejudice, brought forth by those whose souls are still weighed down by gravity," spoke up Solomon, their pose unflinching as always, but with clear contempt in their voice. "Those who were too cowardly to leave their cradle now pass judgement upon who they consider beneath them. Humanity went to space so that the planet would not collapse under the weight of the people on it, and so our planet would be allowed to heal and thrive from the damage we inflicted upon it, but it seems that the Age of Calamity erased not only the nobility of Mars' past, but the respect Earth once held for it."

"But I suppose not all have forgotten it. After all, as long as the masses continue to rise, that memory will never be forgotten, no matter what those on Earth speak of you. And I do not mean to neglect those who live in the colonies,"added the figure with a wave of their hand, some of the images being replaced instead with pictures from inside the cylinders, be they the slums, the protests, or the factories' downright draconian-esque work environments. "After all, just as the first Martians braved the inhospitable land of the red planet, those who took to the unforgiving void of space risked everything to forge humanity a home truly amongst the stars."

Raising one hand to shadow his face just enough to keep it hidden from Gaelio, McGillis chanced a sideways glance at his companion, and was sadly not surprised to see the man's scowl still in place, clearly unmoved by the words of the cloaked figure. Likewise, the other crewmembers seemed likewise unaffected, though McGillis had not expected Solomon's words to reach them. It'd be wishful thinking at best to hope that the more uncultured masses serving under the aegis of Gjallarhorn would heed the words of a revolutionary, no matter how much weight they carried, but at the very least, those who should hear them would certainly pay attention.

After a long, silent pause, Solomon waved their hand once more, dispelling the images and leaving the screen clean of any obstructions. "Once more, I request that any with a fair sense of justice enter the databases which I have offered, for you shall find that they are quite unbiased in the knowledge they offer, unlike that which is offered to us all by Gjallarhorn. Until then, remain safe, and remain unclouded in your judgement, viewers." And with that, Solomon disappeared, leaving in their wake a black screen with their sigil emblazoned on it, slowly spinning in its own axis as code streaked down from it. Once that happened, Gaelio let out an aggravated sigh as he ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head slightly.

"Finally, it's over… That almost took forever…" muttered the Bauduin heir with an annoyed tone. With his part said, he quickly spun around and walked out of the bridge, waving one hand dismissively over his shoulder. "I'll go catch some shut-eye… you'll be fine by yourself, right McGillis?"

"Of course," replied Fareed in return, though the moment his acquaintance exited the room, his smile fell in favor of a far more serious countenance, followed quickly by McGillis opening his personal pad and keying in the address for one of Solomon's databases.

If Gaelio would remain ignorant, then it would fall to McGillis to make use of the knowledge offered.

His goals demanded no hesitation or room for error, and if sacrifices had to be made along the way… then so be it.

-O-

As the radio died down, Serena slowly surveyed the dining area, taking in everyone's reaction to Solomon's words. As expected, the vast majority of the children looked bewildered or confused, a by-product of their complete lack of education. Others, likely the ones who had received at least some education or were sharp enough to understand what the masked figure's words meant, and judging by the looks that Biscuit and Orga were sporting, it was clear they were at least interested in what Solomon had to offer.

She did not bother with the adults from the First Group, since by and large they'd be out of the base once the change in management happened, but Serena did glance furtively at the cooking area… and, with a very much self-satisfactory grin, subtly motioned Argi and Liarina towards it as well.

After all, she would not want them to miss out on seeing the serious and supremely determined look on Kudelia's face.

The happiness of the moment was muddied, however, when a message arrived from Veda: their destination had been found out.

Gjallarhorn would be coming.

"Finish it up, you two, we got a strategy meeting to go through," called out the ex-Diver as she pushed her food tray away, before briskly rising from her seat and nearly powerwalking back to the main building. Moments later, Argi and Liarina were after her, their own food forgotten as they braced themselves for whatever was to come.

-O-

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, IN-ORBIT AROUND MARS

"That computer of yours confirmed the data for me: three Mobile Suits just left the Ares headquarters and set themselves on a drop course for the Gjallarhorn local garrison down in Chryse. We also got some hush-hush deployment of Mobile Workers, stated to be for a training exercise… but we all know that's a load of garbage."

As Volco read the tactical data sent to his pad, the Warren fugitive couldn't help but be impressed by how thorough it all was. His grievances and suspicions towards Serena not-withstanding, he had to admit that whatever system or computer she utilized to spy on Gjallarhorn was powerful indeed, especially if it could break into the satellites deployed around Mars' orbit, or even the communication systems the organization used on the ground.

Her comments about being unable to breach into the Earth-borne servers did not serve to diminish Volco's opinions in any way whatsoever: this woman was dangerous, and it would pay to keep an eye on her, regardless of how friendly she was being with them.

Still, she was on their side for now, so Warren would give her the benefit of the doubt.

Hence, their ongoing meeting.

"Assholes sure can work fast when they want to…" muttered the woman with a weary sigh as she massaged her forehead vigorously. Beside her sat Argi and Liarina, both just as serious as Serena, though it was clear Liarina had a tinge of nervousness to herself, what with the way she was slightly fidgeting. "Still… suppose it's better we deal with them now than later. Maruba hasn't even started packing for the trip, so we got all Mobile Workers down here."

"Why don't we bring the Astaroth down?" asked Argi aloud, and judging by his scowl, it was something he very much had thought about for a while. "If they're bringing Mobile Suits here, we need more firepower than this!"

"There's no way we can bring the Astaroth down stealthily, Argi," replied Volco in return, his expression as stony as always. "And if Gjallarhorn catches wind of the fact we have Mobile Suits of our own, then covert ops be damned, they'll send reinforcements."

"Not to mention we already have a Gundam down here, and a pilot who can handle controlling it," added Serena almost as an afterthought. "Trust me, I hate this as much as you do, but if we wanna catch these bastards by surprise, we have to play smart."

However, while Argi and Liarina seemed to have missed the first part of that statement, Volco did not, hence why his grip on his crutch grew tighter as he leveled a glare at Serena. "What do you mean, you already have a Gundam?"

If she was bothered by his expression, Serena did not let it shown, the woman instead simply nodding and pointing a thumb over her shoulder. "That old fart Maruba dug up one of the frames here on Mars. ASW-G-08 Barbatos, to be precise. He rigged it up as the power source of this place, but it's still fully prepped to launch. I managed to sneak the Haros into the reactor room inside some crates, they're gonna make the adjustments and refueling, but it still needs a cockpit, and I can't bring one in without people seeing it.. though I'll probably have to do it regardless." With her part said, Serena allowed a second to pass, then shrugged nonchalantly. "Still, it's a Mobile Suit we got."

It was only after a long, very much drawn-out moment of silence that Volco mustered up an answer to that.

Said answer was to run a hand over his face, and muster an annoyed groan from the depths of his cynical heart. "And you couldn't bring this information up before because…?"

"Wasn't really important 'til now."

"Of course…"

"Alright, focus, you two," called out Liarina, the young heiress shooting an almost pleading look at her old and new comrades. "We know Gjallarhorn's gonna hit the base, in terms of a fight we can work out something. But what about Maruba and the others? I've been keeping an eye on him, and no offense, he looks like he'd run the second someone tough comes knocking."

"You're not wrong," replied Serena, one hand bringing up a datapad to show to Liarina. "Maruba'll cut and run the second Gjallarhorn hits, and when he does, he'll take anything of value not nailed down in his office. Hell, knowing the asshole, he'll try and pull the accounts dry just to get an extra helping of cash for himself… no, we gotta cut him off here, before he runs with his stuff."

"What of the other members of CGS?" asked Nanao, the "maid" speaking up just as she entered the room carrying two trays of food atop her hands. "Can we trust the other adults and children to stand their ground?"

"The adults? Fuck no, they'll run too… but the kids will stay. This is… the only home they have. They're not giving it up without a fight, odds be damned."

There was a very clear tone of uncomfortableness in Serena's tone, made clearer still with how her posture sagged as she stared at something off-screen, most likely a door or related. It seemed to be a sentiment that Argi and Liarina alike shared with her, judging by their own expressions, and in the end Volco couldn't blame either of them. Just from the information the chip engraved in his brain gave him, the young Warren knew CGS wasn't exactly the cheeriest of places, so to see it up-close must have been even worse for the three, especially to Serena herself.

Still, they had a job to do, and it wouldn't pay to get distracted now.

"Alright, let's focus. What's the plan for when Gjallarhorn attacks?" asked Volco, and thankfully his words had the desired effect, Serena quickly sobering up and returning her attention back to him.

"Liarina will take some M-Soldiers to confront Maruba and keep him from stealing all the assets, while Argi and a squad will keep Kudelia safe, just in case those assholes try to sneak commandos in or something."

"And you?"

When Serena didn't answer immediately, Volco worried that she might have had no idea.

He worried even more, however, when a downright scary grin spread across her face.

"I'll be… liberating some assets."

-O-

TWO DAYS LATER…

It wasn't always that Mikazuki couldn't sleep, but tonight was one such time. The climate had grown particularly chilly, and as always Maruba refused to up the heating for their dorms past the bare minimum, plus he had lent his blanket to another kid, leaving Mikazuki with only one option to get some proper sleep: head to the warmest place he knew in the whole base.

Thankfully, none of the First Group members assigned to security patrols actually had taken up their posts, so the path to the reactor room had been clear of anyone.

Or, rather, clear of anyone trying to stop him. More than once Mikazuki had crossed paths with one of those weird soldiers that had arrived a couple of days ago, but none of them had done anything to try and stop him. At most, they would give Mika a nod or salute, only to immediately return to patrolling the hallways.

All in all, Mika didn't quite know what to think of them. And truth be told, he didn't very much care.

As long as they didn't bother him, he'd have no reason to bother with them.

… And yet… he still felt bothered by something. It wasn't by them, per say, nor was it by that weird boss of theirs that, apparently, had butt-stroked Haeda into the ground, and was the reason he had been wearing a nose splint these last few days.

No, what bothered Mikazuki so much… was that lady, Kudelia.

She hadn't been rude to him or the other kids. In fact, she had been nothing but polite to all of them, even offering to work in the kitchen, though he had caught glimpses of Atra and Biscuit's sisters teaching her how to cook, so maybe she had needed lessons beforehand.

Still, she was quite unlike what little Mikazuki had thought her to be like: rather than some spoiled or naïve noble, Kudelia had been… approachable. Not to him, granted, especially after their very first meeting, but more than once he had caught sight of her trying to strike up a conversation with the other kids. It never lasted very long, since some of the questions she asked were above what they could feasibly answer, but what little she got seemed to be enough to satisfy Kudelia's curiosity.

And yet… why would she bother? She was their client, they were just the contracted muscle hired to keep her safe. Why would she take time to get to meet them, when they could very likely die during the job?

Maybe it had something to do with that weird person in the radio. Kudelia had seemed quite interested in what they had to say… so did Orga, actually…

Well, as long as it didn't bother Orga in any bad way…

After a few more minutes of walking, Mika finally arrived at the reactor room, ready to finally get a good night of sleep.

That thought was quickly shunted away, however, when he realized he wasn't alone in the room… by a wide margin.

For rather than the giant empty concrete hole that the room was supposed to be, Mika instead found himself staring at a veritable horde of tiny robots with colorful balls atop of them, frantically running from one side of the room to the other carrying tools, equipment, or even entire tubes that, with a glance to the side, he confirmed to be connected to propellant tanks. And all of this was being utilized on the metal giant in the middle of the room, who while still motionless and left in the same position as always, now seemed far more… prepared, for lack of a better word, what with the tubes snaking out of its body haphazardly.

And a proper cockpit too, or what passed for one, and which most likely had come from the abandoned Mobile Worker that only now Mika could see was sitting in the corner of the room, deprived of its seat.

It was quite a different situation than what the reactor room normally should be.

With his sleep now forgotten, Mikazuki carefully paced into the room, dodging around the robots (who, for some reason, shouted "Sorry, sorry!" as he passed) until he reached the Mobile Suit, and he began to look over it. Overall, it still looked intact, no parts missing… or, at least, no parts missing that weren't already missing, and the robots were being surprisingly careful as they tinkered with the thing.

Still, Mika couldn't help but wonder, who could have—

The sounds of approaching footsteps from the hallway he had just entered from were quick to interrupt his musings, the child soldier whirling around to see who else had come to the reactor. And lo and behold, it was that other mercenary boss, Serena, carefully sneaking her way in, a hand pressed against a commlink on her ear. Whatever she was saying, however, went unheard due to how low her tone was, but it did not matter much, for the second she was inside the room, the woman pulled her communicator off her head, heaved a very tired sigh, and turned around dramatically, hands on her hips. "Alright, boys, how's the work going with— Oh hello there, Mikazuki."

It was there for a fraction of a second, but Mika noticed how she almost stumbled both with her words and with her step once she caught sight of him, though she recovered just as quickly, instead walking up to the boy with that same confidence she always carried. "I take it you couldn't sleep with the cold?" asked Serena, an easy-going smile on her face even as she stared down Mika's own impassive face.

Sadly for her, the boy was not distracted by the attempt at small-talk. Instead, Mika cast a side-ways glance to the robots still scurrying around, both hands shoved into his pockets as he stared up at the adult. "These are yours, right?" he asked calmly enough, though there was a visible spark of seriousness in his eyes as he posed the question.

"Yeah, they are."

"What are they doing here, then?"

"Maruba let slip that he had an Ahab Reactor down here, so I offered to have a check to see if it was working. Didn't expect a whole Mobile Suit down here, granted…"

"Hm. Who were you talking to?"

"I sent some patrols to keep an eye out on things, was just getting their reports."

"Hm."

And yet something nagged on Mika's mind. Both answers had been perfectly acceptable and plausible, especially with how skittish Maruba seemed to be around her, but he still could tell that there was something more to those answers that she was purposefully withholding. After all, reactor maintenance didn't involve installing a cockpit on a Mobile Suit that hadn't been used in forever… still, he wouldn't get answers out of her now, in the dead of the night, and with sleep slowly crawling back onto his mind.

It seemed Serena shared the same train of thought, judging by the way she rubbed one eye tiredly. "Alright… I'll tell them to stop so you can catch some shut-eye—"

One second.

One second of hesitation on her words, of her eyes to widen and her posture going stiff was all it took to make Mika's instincts flare up, and for a moment he almost pulled his handgun from within his coat.

He never had the chance, however, when not a moment later, the entire reactor room shook violently, loosening dust from the ceiling and making many of the robots stumble where they stood, though neither Mika nor Serena lost their footing, both of them shifting their stance just enough to keep themselves standing.

"What the…" muttered Mikazuki, his eyes turning towards the ceiling, but the moment he turned his attention back down, he saw Serena already standing at the door, her coat tossed aside as she returned Mika's gaze with a supremely serious one.

"Patrols just reported, we're under attack," she said, and just like that Mika's own focus became laser-like, the boy quickly dashing after her and leaving the worker robots behind to do whatever they had to, any trace of tiredness vanishing from his body as they thundered down the halls.

"Who's attacking?"

"Gjallarhorn."

-O-

Lack of sleep would have been a big worry to Serena right now, were it not for the copious amounts of adrenaline surging through her bloodstream. Even after all the preparations, all the back-ups, and all the small amounts of meditation she had done, the ex-Diver could barely contain the shaking in her hands as she dashed madly towards the hangar, the entire building shaking under the relentless bombarding it was suffering.

She had been through battlefields before, several in fact, but those had been in GBN. Simulated combat with a bunch of other people playing a game for fun, even if two of those times had been an in-game war for the future of the servers, and the other a…

… War with the survival of an entire planet and alien race on the line…

…

Alright, so maybe she had gone through some shit already…

But those times, not only had the risks been to her, she hadn't been this alone. On both occasions, a literal army had been at her back, made up of some of the craziest players and builds she had ever seen, all fighting together for what they believed in.

Here? She had a bunch of child soldiers piloting glorified IFVs about to tangle with three Mobile Suits and a larger army than what they could field… and only one shot at it. One stray round, one fuck up…

"Well, guess that means I just can't fuck up…" she muttered darkly, thankfully low enough that Mika couldn't hear her. The renewed sound of rumbling from another rain of missiles definitely helped too.

"Where are we going?" asked Mikazuki, unsurprisingly still calm regardless of the destruction going on around the two of them, and easily keeping pace with the bigger, more fit adult ahead of him.

"Check up on Kudelia, one of my own should be taking her to safety," she replied just as easily, even as she sent mental commands to the M-Soldier units waiting at the ambush sites and escorting Liarina to her own goal. As soon as the words left her lips, and the two turned a corner, however, they were met with unexpected company in the middle of the hallway.

Unexpected, but very welcome.

"Miss Durandal!" called out Kudelia, the girl and her aide looking positively tiny amidst her M-Soldier escort, while at the forefront, Argi totted a massive automatic shotgun, the young man's face dead serious as he minutely raised the gun, though he quickly lowered it once he saw who the arrivals were.

"Kudelia, glad you're alright," she replied as calmly as she could, though her gaze quickly focused on Argi. "Argi, report."

"Gjallarhorn's smashing the place up, I'm taking the VIPs deeper for security," said the boy, his tone firm and unwavering as he lightly waved the shotgun back to indicate said VIPs. "Liarina's on her way to fulfill her own objective."

Serena had to fight back the grin that threatened to appear on her face at hearing those news, otherwise some uncomfortable questions would be asked, so instead she merely nodded and returned her attention to Kudelia. "Miss Bernstein, follow Argi and stay close to him. I'll go topside and coordinate things with CGS. Don't leave your escort until you hear from us, got it?"

"O-Of course."

Though she could do little about it, Serena couldn't suppress the pang of empathy in her heart towards the heiress. Even while trying to look strong, Serena could see how wide the girl's eyes were, and how she trembled every time the building shook from a hit: Kudelia looked one step away from being terrified out of her mind, though thankfully she seemed to still be holding on. But for now, all the ex-Diver could do was give them a solid nod, and take off running with Mikazuki again, leaving Fumitan, Argi, Kudelia and the M-Soldiers to vanish down the hall towards a more secure position.

In the end, they didn't have to run much further. Not a minute later, the two came upon the exit from the building, a single metal door with no windows and armored enough to tank a grenade. The moment they reached it, Mikazuki punched in the code on the numpad beside it, allowing the slab of metal to slide into the wall.

What awaited on the other side could very well be called hell.

Though the barrage of rockets she knew Gjallarhorn had aimed at the base had diminished, a few rockets still flew across the skies to impact down the surrounding area, sometimes crashing down worryingly close to the main compounds. The sound of gunfire filled the air along with the smoke and dust of missed impacts, and Serena didn't have to strain her ears too much to hear the sounds of pained screams… all of which were of young voices.

And all around, members of the Third Group rushed from one place to the other, hauling ammo, parts or medical supplies to wherever they were needed, while far too the side, a tall young man with lilac hair busied himself with giving orders to every other boy around him as he stood atop a parked Mobile Worker, only to stop and stare at the two newly-arrived figures, before he began waving them over.

"Orga!"

"Go, I'll go check on my men."

With those final words, Serena and Mikazuki broke away from one another, the boy rushing towards his oldest friend while the woman took off running towards the hangar she had been loaned, jumping over every crater that got in her way. In seconds she had covered the whole distance, her coat almost flying off with how fast Serena was moving, until she finally reached the building, the sounds of battle growing muffled amidst the metal walls as she stared down the remaining M-Soldiers she had at her disposal, all of them armed to the teeth and awaiting orders.

But first, she had other confirmations to make…

"Liarina, Argi, status reports now," she barked into her radio as she took off and tossed her coat and shirt aside, one M-Soldier pressing the Alaya-Vijnana port onto her back while another brought a handgun, belt of grenades and hookshot pistol to her.

"Kudelia's safe, we're holed up on the reactor room," replied Argi, the boy's voice still holding firm. "The Haros are done with the Gundam, too, I had them hide in the crates before anyone came snooping."

"I also finished my own job," piped up Liarina, her own tone borderline caustic as she let out a huff. "Though honestly, I hope you never ask something like this out of me again."

"Maruba give you any trouble?"

"Almost, he got pretty high and mighty when I showed up, started ranting about how he wasn't gonna listen to some brat… caved in pretty fast when the troopers walked in. He took off, but left all the loot behind."

"Hah, nice."

It was a small moment of levity, but considering the way things were going, Serena would take anything at this point to keep her mind away from the dread of dying like a dog in the first battlefield she was about to find herself in. Once she had strapped in all the gear the M-Soldiers had given to her onto her body, Serena took the last item they had offered, a heavy-duty combat visor, and slid it onto her face, allowing the polarized glass to fully hide her eyes from the world.

Better be precautioned than caught off-guard, after all.

"Alright, maintain your positions. Things are about to get nasty, and if Maruba took off, then it means the First Group is running with their tail between their legs, no surprise…" As she spoke, Serena walked back as slowly as she could to the door of the hangar, feeling the chill air of the night waft over her exposed torso. "Gamma Squad, everything set?"

"AWAITING ORDERS. WARNING, AHAB WAVE SIGNATURES DETECTED, FOUR TOTAL. LAUNCHERS WILL BE UNNEFFECTIVE AGAINST MOBILE SUITS."

"Fine by me, they're not gonna—"

Naturally, it took a second for what the M-Soldier had said to register. In that second, Serena missed a step and almost stumbled to the ground, only barely managing to save her dignity by desperately flailing her arms and hopping forward like a crazed toy. But when she recovered her posture, the words that came out of her mouth were almost a screech.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN FOUR?!"

-O-

Things were bad.

Things were going really, really bad.

Granted, Orga wouldn't be caught dead admitting to that, but he also knew how to keep himself a realist on the inside, and an optimist on the outside. And right now, the realist in him was fighting tooth and nail for a strategy that could help them survive this shit-show.

Of all people to come knocking at their door, it had to be Gjallarhorn…

Thankfully, their battle strategy had been more miss than hit so far. The initial bombardment had done some damage, but most missiles had hit more empty land than their base, meaning their Mobile Workers had been spared the damage, though they had lost a lot of the cover plates in return. Added to that, Gjallarhorn had seen fit apparently to only teach their drivers to move forward and shoot, with barely any attempt to dodge incoming fire. The result had been that their Mobile Workers charged head-first into their position, guaranteeing they'd be met with enough hits to bring them down, forming yet another obstacle in the battlefield that limited Gjallarhorn's movements, and funneled them even tighter onto the Third Group's field of fire.

And yet they still kept coming… and no hide or hair of the First Group's forces to be seen. Still, some help had arrived, at last.

"Orga!"

"Mika, right on time!" cried out the leader of the Third Group in relief, his grin wide and toothy as he watched his oldest friend rush to his side, already tossing aside his coat and shirt as he approached Orga's Mobile Worker. "Where were you?"

"Just dealing with some stuff," replied Mikazuki, the boy still dead-calm amidst the cacophony of gunfire as another boy placed the Alaya-Vijnana port onto his back.

However, while normally Orga wouldn't question Mika's decision or answer, he certainly could tell that there was likely a lot more to that answer than just "some stuff". But that would have to be left for later, when they weren't at risk of dying to an unprovoked attack. So instead, Orga merely nodded and pointed at the waiting white Mobile Worker parked to the side, which had just been fully prepped by the remaining ground crews. "Alright, get out there, then! We need all the guns we have to beat those guys back!"

"Got it." And with that, Mika took off, dashing to and quickly hopping onto his Mobile Worker as the boys servicing it left to work on other machines arriving from the front.

"Boss, let me help too!"

Just as Mika left, however, another voice called out to Orga, a much younger one at that. And when the boss of the Third Group turned towards its source, he saw it was none other than Danji, who both had a determined (if still scared) look in his face, while beside him stood Takaki with an exasperated (if also worried) expression. "If you're shorthanded, put me out there, Orga! We still got a free Mobile Worker left!" cried out the boy, his hands clenched tightly into shaking fists.

Truthfully, however… Orga didn't want to send him out. He knew Danji, and while the kid could be eager, he wasn't exactly the most strategic of them. If he went out there, it was a given that Danji wouldn't listen to orders, regardless of who gave them.

But at the same time, unfortunately… they could use every pilot they had right now.

"… Alright, go board it. But you're under Shino's orders, got it?"

It was more a bluff than anything. Shino's a good leader, yes, but at the same time he'd have his hands full corralling the others into a proper defense. If Danji decided to do something stupid, there'd be no one capable of stopping him. In the end, all Orga could do is give a half-confident smirk as Danji pumped his fists with a cry of vindication, and Takaki gaped uselessly at his chief, before the younger boy dashed away towards the single parked Mobile Worker left in the patio, only slightly stumbling when another loose salvo of rockets fell down on some other corner of the base, leaving Orga to turn around and refocus on coordinating his troops—

"DENIED!"

WHACK!

"Waagh!"

Only for this attention to be refocused on Danji… who had just been violently roundhouse kicked away from the Mobile Worker by that woman Kudelia had arrived with, and with enough force that he actually skidded along the ground for a solid meter.

The fact said woman was as naked as he was from the waist up didn't register to Orga until she was already inside the Mobile Worker's half-closed cockpit, its engine purring to life and the vehicle righting itself in a way too organic fashion. And even that was quickly forgotten in favor of taking his headset and scrambling to find whatever frequency connected to that Mobile Worker as it drove away into the front lines, leaving an insensate Danji and a mob of shocked kids staring at the retreating IFV. "Oi, what the hell are you doing?!" barked Orga incredulously, his eyes already tracing the path the Worker was taking to the absolute hellhole that was their crossfire with Gjallarhorn.

And of all the replies he could have gotten…

"Making it up as I go along! Now shut up and let me not die!"

That was not what Orga expected.

-O-

Mobile Workers were pieces of shit. It was an opinion Serena had solidified quite thoroughly throughout her years as both a solo Diver and a for-hire informant, and oh could she list the reasons she hated the damned things so much…

Inadequate weapons, subpar armor plating, an absolutely abhorrent suspension system, lack of any ejection system…

But primarily? She hated, loathed, SEETHED at how CRAMPED the cockpit was.

Those feelings were only reinforced further when Serena's hijacked vehicle bounced off a particularly solid rock, and not only almost made her hit her head against the low-clearing hatch, but also flopped her breasts like beanbags in front of her.

In hindsight, it was her own fault for not preparing a suitable wardrobe. Now, she just had to live long enough to be able to regret such a thing.

"Alright… I can do this… I can do this…" muttered the ex-Diver, her hands borderline strangling the vehicle's control levers as she pressed forward at full tilt, the roar of the engine droning on her ears.

Just as she passed CGS' gun line, however, something… strange occurred. It wasn't something truly jarring, but she could not name when it had started.

All Serena knew was that she blinked… and the moment after, the world became tinted black-and-gold, moving in furious slow motion, with dulled sounds all around and streaking lines both behind and ahead of what the woman faintly realized were cannon shells fired from the Gjallarhorn Mobile Workers.

What the hell…

That her voice echoed not from her mouth, but from her mind and surroundings, was only a mild addition to her pile of shock.

In a brief moment of clarity, however, Serena saw that two rounds were projected to graze the left side of her Mobile Worker, so accordingly she tilted the controls levers and weaved her way around the shots, the Mobile Worker rumbling as it plowed through a few smaller rocks to complete the maneuver. As she did, Serena felt a pull towards the closest of the enemy Workers charging forth, so with another twist of her wrists she forced her own Worker to spin, and fired off three rounds on each of them: two to the base of the turret, right where it met the chassis, and one directly through the canopy window. Both Mobile Workers jerked violently from the attacks, smoke wafting from the heated impact spots, then skidded into a crash against the ground, just as lifeless as their most likely deceased pilots, leaving Serena free to refocus her attention on the rest of the battlefield… and to try and process what was happening.

She had never been this accurate before with her shots, especially with a Mobile Worker. While Valefor had ranged options, they were secondary at best to her true main talent: melee combat. Put her in a ranged machine, and while she'd probably land shots, it'd be nothing to write home about. Put her in a melee machine, however, and she would piledrive an enemy suit into the soil.

She had, in fact, piledrived a suit into the soil. It had wrecked that rental God Gundam's joints, but by God had it felt satisfying.

Yet, here she was, nailing shots that would have made any dedicated sniper pilot gape, in a machine that wasn't meant for this job.

And the strange sight phenomenon, the predicted shot trajectories, her heightened sense of awareness and acute skill increase… was this…

Was this… Innovation?

00 had never explained how a True Innovator truly was like, what with the only examples being Descartes and Setsuna, plus their abilities were never truly expanded upon in canon, but Serena knew that this most likely was not supposed to be something an Innovator should experience, at least not without massive quantities of GN particles.

Could this be because of the Alaya-Vijnana? Could it be causing this to happen?

Her thoughts ran a million per hour, and yet somehow, they did not interrupt her actions at all. In fact, it felt disgustingly easy to weave the Mobile Worker around the enemy fire, all the while returning her own shots at whatever Gjallarhorn Workers decided to try their chance at charging CGS' gunline. And each one that did was met with the same fate: three rounds, two to the base of the turret, one to the cockpit, all while Serena flowed around their shots like a ballerina.

It was in the middle of this unknown state of hyper awareness, her mind swimming in all the possibilities and probabilities, that Serena caught sight of a single Mobile Worker attempting to flank her, its railgun slowly spinning to try and follow her erratic evasion. Just as she swiveled around to take it down, however, something lurched within Serena…

G-Guh—"Haaaaah!"

And the world slingshotted back into normality.

Gone were the trajectories and expanded senses, replaced instead with the feeling of cold sweat cascading down her body and blood trickling down her nose as Serena furiously gasped for oxygen inside the cramped cockpit, her hands trembling from what was probably a severe case of information overload.

"… -ove! If you stop, you die!"

And while her brain rebooted fast enough to register Shino's shouting through the comms, Serena knew she wouldn't avoid a hit at this range. Still, she willed her body to react, wobbly legs pushing down on the pedals as she tried to turn the Mobile Worker around to minimize the hit…

BANG-BANG! BANG!

Before the Gjallarhorn vehicle could take its shot, however, several more struck the enemy Worker's hull, forcing it to spasm with each hit until something inside gave in to the assault and exploded, forcing the machine to sag under its own weight.

"Sorry to make you wait."

And Serena couldn't help but sigh in pure relief as the young, almost emotionless voice spoke up on her radio, the ex-Diver grinning stupid as she watched a white Mobile Worker roar down the hill, moving with just as much grace as she had been moments ago as it gunned down Mobile Workers one after another, easily weaving under and around their firing arcs.

"Mikazuki you asshole, just had to make a big entrance, eh?!" Serena half shouted, half laughed, as finally her thoughts cleared up and she felt strength return to her limbs. As she pushed the pedals and levers forward once more, Serena caught a glimpse of a blue Mobile Worker joining the fray as well, moving not as smoothly but just as ferociously in its attempt to gun down Gjallarhorn's forces, even landing extra shots to take them down. "And here comes the big lug Akihiro!"

"I'm not letting you two hog all the damn glory!" shouted the Human Debris, his voice filled with determination as he joined his fellow CGS member and Serena on the dangerous dance of death against Gjallarhorn. "I got my own pride on the line, dammit!"

"Damn straight you do! And I ain't losing to you two snot-nosed kids, ya hear?!"

"Step to it, then. You're falling behind."

"Heh, cheeky brat… you're lucky you're endearing!"

And like a well-oiled machine, they took to work. Together, the three ran circles around Gjallarhorn's forces, dodging enemy fire and returning their own punitive shots with wanton abandon. If a Gjallarhorn unit turned to focus on one of the three, the other two would seize the advantage and take out the distracted target, all the while cover fire from the CGS gunline rained down over their heads, somehow even more furious than before.

Still, Serena knew the worst was yet to come. The four Ahab Wave signatures had yet to move from their original position, which meant the trigger for Orlis losing his patience had yet to happen. And if that took too long…

"C'mon, Orga, Biscuit…" she muttered angrily as she spun her Mobile Worker with enough speed to make the chassis connection groan in a most definitely not healthy sound. "Do it, already, give the damn order…"

Thankfully…

BOOM!

Fweeeeeeeeeeeee…

The universe seemed particularly cooperative right at that instant, if the red flares rocketing to the sky far from their battlefield. So, it was with a loud whoop of joy that Serena watched as half of Gjallarhorn's surviving Mobile Worker forces left their positions and made haste to intercept what she knew to be the evacuation convoy the First Group had put together.

… Still… maybe she could find it in herself to… give them a hand, as one would say.

Her mind made, Serena reached into one of the pouches hanging from her waist, and pulled from it a small, unassuming detonator, which she quickly armed…

"Fireworks time."

And pressed.

A second later, the ridges Gjallarhorn had been parked upon outright erupted in fire and smoke as the explosives Argi and the M-Soldiers had painstakingly hidden amidst the rocks went off, blasting half the remaining Gjallarhorn Mobile Worker forces to kingdom come. The other half, the one that had begun moving towards the First Corp "ambush force", immediately skidded to a halt, the vehicles rushing to re-organize themselves at the loss of so many of their allies all at once.

The explosions were not the only sound threatening to rupture Serena's eardrums, however.

"HAHA! YEAH, EAT THAT, ASSHOLES!"

Shino was giving the military-grade ordinance quite a run in sheer volume.

"W-Where the hell did all those come from?!" asked an almost-panicked Eugene through the radio, his voice barely carrying over the hollering and cheering that soon came from the many other children watching the fiery spectacle.

"That would have been me, Eugene," replied Serena with a chuckle, her Mobile Worker slowing to a stop right beside the equally-immobile Akihiro and Mikazuki.

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, don't knock my paranoia until it fails to save our asses… also don't walk out there until I cleared out the ones left… if there's any."

"We're gonna have a talk about this later, lady," called out Orga, though judging by the relieved and cheery tone of his voice, Serena had half a mind that said "talk" would probably be about sharing ideas. "But damn if it isn't a sight for sore eyes!"

And for a moment… Serena felt relief. Felt happy, certain that things were gonna be just fine.

BOOM

Reality, however, tends to be a cruel mistress indeed.

The impact went off just shy of her position, rocking the Mobile Worker down to its screws and bolts with how violent it was, and raising a cloud of dust that enveloped her, Mika and Akihiro, hiding all of them from view. It did nothing to stop the sounds of further shots landing, nor of the successful hits on CGS' Mobile Workers of both the First and Third Groups, which prompted an avalanche of panicked shouts from other kids and adults as they tried to make sense of who exactly was attacking them.

But Serena didn't have to ask. She already knew the answer.

And she could feel her stomach tying itself into knots when the dust cleared, just in time for her to see the towering form of an EB-06s Graze Commander Type land amidst the wrecked battlefield, kicking aside a fallen Mobile Worker and only nearly missing a lucky Third Group survivor who had just left his wrecked vehicle.

"Why is it taking so long to neutralize such a facility?" echoed a haughty, condescending, and most of all, infuriating voice across the entire battlefield, one that made Serena's blood pressure spike a notch or three. "All Mobile Workers will get a pay cut!"

Were it not for her foreknowledge of things, Serena probably would have felt even worse at the sight of three more Grazes, Standard Types this time, jumping over to stand beside the Commander Type. As it were, however, things were still mostly on-script with what she knew. All she had to do now was go with the plan… and pray it didn't get her killed.

"No way. We can't win against Mobile Suits…"

"What are we gonna do, then?"

"We… we gotta run…"

"Where to?"

The fact the radio continued to pick up the chatter of all the other kids, who were (rightfully so) beginning to panic at the sight of the four impossible opponents standing in front of them, only served as a further reason for panic.

…

And yet…

Even with all that, even with the deck clearly stacked against them, facing what could very well be the first of many hurdles along the way… Serena couldn't help but feel… relief.

Because when she had jumped inside the Mobile Worker, and rushed to the battlefield with barely any idea of what she was going to do… she knew she should have been afraid. It was natural, after all, considering she had just dived into a life-or-death battlefield where a single mistake would have (and still could) cost her life, but to this point adrenaline and panic had kept the fear in check. But now, hearing the children being just as afraid as she should have been… it felt like a weight had been removed from Serena's shoulders.

She wasn't alone out there, weathering the storm by herself. There were people with her, people who were just as afraid as she was of losing their lives uselessly. Just like her, they would fight, struggle, squirm and scream for their lives… and they would win.

"That's right. There's no place to run. There never was."

But if there was one thing that truly cemented that feeling on her mind and heart, it was the sound of Orga's blatantly confident tone as he climbed atop his own Mobile Worker, the young man standing proudly and defiantly against the foes laid against him.

And if a kid could be unafraid of things… well, then why couldn't she?

"… Yeah… I guess you're right, ain't ya, Orga?" said Serena softly, her hands slowly but firmly gripping her Mobile Worker's control levers as a calm smile spread across her face. "Only way we got is forward."

"Suppose that means you got a plan, then?" asked the young man back, just as calm as her.

"You could say that."

So with not another word, Serena slammed her feet down on the gas pedal, and rocketed her way forward towards an opponent she would never be able to beat under normal circumstances, uncaring of the surprised shouts coming from the commlink as she barreled her way towards Orlis' Graze, who had decided to use CGS' Workers as target practice, four of them already having been reduced to flaming wrecks.

-O-

As he watched the woman charge into what could very well be her own death, Orga could do little more than grit his teeth and clench his fists…

…

"Orga."

That is, until a voice sounded near him. A familiar voice.

"Mika?"

"… I have an idea."

-O-

"Teams 1 through 6, aim at the Commander Type at the front, teams 7 through 12, ready to deploy payloads against the three rear targets."

"AFFIRMATIVE. AWAITING COMMAND."

When Serena had drawn up the plans for fighting Gjallarhorn's forces, all of her focus had been on beating the Mobile Suits. Until Barbatos took to the field and started tearing its way through the enemy, what the Third Group and Serena needed was to buy time. The options to do so however were quite limited: the 20mm guns carried by CGS' Mobile Workers would never do damage to nanolaminate armor, neither would explosives or rocket launchers, much less the counter-snipers she had prepared that were now useless, considering they had missed their timing against Gjallarhorn's own sharpshooters.

It was then, however, that Serena thought of an utterly insane idea. It was highly unlikely to work, could very well spell her death if even one step went off at the wrong time, and depended too much on external factors instead of things she would be in control of.

In summation, it was a plan borderline guaranteed to lead to an early grave. Sadly, it was also the only plan she had any faith in.

Step one: get Orlis' undivided attention… and unfortunately, she knew just how to achieve that.

"All teams, open fire!"

Without delay, three of the mounted rocket launchers fired their warheads, the projectiles arcing through the air as they flew towards Orlis' Graze, easily visible to anyone paying half a cent of attention. Thankfully (though sadly), the Gjallarhorn officer was too preoccupied with taking down Mobile Workers to notice the warheads flying towards him. The same could not be said of the other three Grazes, two of which quickly turned their attention to the oncoming projectiles, raised their rifles and began taking potshots at the missiles. That seemed to be enough to draw Orlis' attention, given the way the Commander Type turned its head towards the sky and at the oncoming projectiles, before raising its own rifle to try and shoot them down.

Being that the missiles were vehicle/Worker-grade warheads, they were naturally quite large. Because of that, the Grazes actually had a better chance of intercepting them mid-flight than if, say, they had been infantry-grade missiles. Such was the case now, as in a stroke of luck, four of the warheads were struck out of the sky… only for their payload of smoke canisters to rupture and explode outwards, blanketing half the battlefield in a colossal wave of white and hiding the Mobile Suits from view. With the confusion caused by the attack, the Grazes halted their interception attempt, allowing the remaining missiles to strike the ground free of obstacles and make the smoke cloud become even thicker.

Thick enough that when Serena's Worker slipped in, none of them would have been able to see it unless it was right up in their faces… or they used electronic tracking.

So when Serena slammed the cockpit hatch open and climbed out of her still-moving Mobile Worker holding a flashbang and a grappling hook pistol, she was not surprised at to see Orlis' Graze turning to her direction.

"If this shit works, I swear I'll start believing in God…" she muttered darkly, almost crushing the grenade in her grasp. "Here goes!"

She wound her arm for the throw…

-O-

"Gah! Damn pest-!" Orlis snarled as he tried to peer his way through the smoke, his Graze's optical sensor exposed and wildly swiveling as it attempted to find that that damn Mobile Worker that had dared charge at him. If only this smoke would let up-!

Ping.

There! A mark on the radar! And it was coming right at him!

"There you are, you filthy Martian rat!" shouted the captain as he aimed his rifle at the spot the radar had marked, his finger one squeeze away from pulling the trigger and sending that pest to hell—

BANG!

Just before he did, however, something burst into a large ball of light and sound, eclipsing the entirety of his viewscreen and making Orlis' ears ring from the sheer loudness of the blast…

"Gah!"

Unfortunately, said blast also made his hands jerk reflexively to the side, forcing his Graze to turn the rifle away from the Mobile Worker before firing the round, which buried itself onto some random place on the ground off to the side. Still, even if his main weapon had failed, Orlis' rage still allowed him to subconsciously remember something he could do to hit the Mobile Worker. So, with all of his anger and frustration, Orlis slammed his foot down on one of his pedals, and kicked towards the approaching Mobile Worker with all the strength his Graze could muster.

And while still couldn't see the resulting damage, the very satisfying sound of crunching and twisting metal that reached his ears was more than enough to bring satisfaction to Stenja's ears, the man laughing almost maniacally as he tried to rub the stars and spots out of his vision. "Ha! Serves you right, Martian scum!"

…

WARNING, EMERGENCY HATCH RELEASE ACTIVATED.

His euphoria was swiftly replaced with confusion, however, when the text appeared across all his screens, which then promptly shutdown before the Graze's cockpit slid open.

"What in the—"

Click.

What awaited outside, Orlis would have never dreamed of seeing: a woman (a half-naked woman at that), grinning wickedly while she clung from the cockpit hatch with one hand, the other clutching a large black handgun so tightly, her knuckles were turning white.

But the most striking thing of all? Her eyes.

Her shining, nebula-like golden eyes.

"Y-You-!"

"Wouldn't you know it… I guess I believe in God now."

-O-

There weren't many more ways things could have gone wrong, Crank Zent thought as he boosted his Graze out of the smoke cloud, which had thankfully already begun to disperse under the onslaught of the heavy Martian winds. Their Mobile Worker forces had suffered heavy losses, their waiting commando units had come under brutal sniper fire from multiple locations and were likewise down several men, and now Orlis had charged headlong into what was clearly an enemy trap with no regard for a plan.

Honestly, what had Coral been thinking, putting the operation under the command of Orlis, of all people. Had the captain sent in their Mobile Suit forces sooner, than they wouldn't have suffered nearly as many casualties, and Kudelia would perhaps already be under their custody…

His revelries regarding his former student's qualifications were interrupted, however, when another voice cut in through the radio, one he had only recently become acquainted with.

"L-Lieutenant Crank!" cried out Ein Dalton, the young man's Graze landing somewhat awkwardly but thankfully still upright beside Crank's own unit, followed soon enough by Lieutenant Prescott's Graze. "Captain Orlis, he—"

"I'm aware, Ein," quickly interrupted Crank, his eyes scanning through the still-present smoke in search of his former student. "The enemy could be attempting some kind of ambush, however. Be at the ready."

"Pfeh, another dirty trick to throw at us, more like," scoffed Prescott in return, the man almost spitting the words as he glared at their surroundings.

In the end, however, none of the three had to wait very long to discover the fate of their erstwhile commanding officer: moments later, Orlis' Graze jumped out from within the smoke, landing perfectly a few meters ahead of the three, its rifle and axe still held at the ready as its head swiveled to and fro, likely in search of more hostiles. Letting out a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding or was capable of giving when it came to Orlis, Crank relaxed minutely onto his seat, his hands gently flexing as he shifted his grip on the control levers, before promptly performing a boost forward alongside his two other subordinates towards Orlis.

Just as Crank landed, Prescott's voice echoed in the radio, the lieutenant's voice tired but still firm with professionalism as he took a few steps closer to Orlis' unit. "S-Sir, are you alright?" asked Ein, his Graze's head turning towards his superior's unit for a second before refocusing its attention on the once-more revealed base they had been sieging.

It was at that moment, however, that several things became known to Crank.

First, that Orlis did not immediately reprimanded Ein for addressing his commanding officer.

Second, Stenja's very uncharacteristic silence regarding this entire situation.

Third, and most damning of all, was the very brief glimpse in his Graze's viewscreen that Crank's peripheric vision caught of a blue-clad corpse lying upon the red Martian ground, a large pool of blood staining the soil.

And in those brief, almost infinitesimal moments that the information took to be processed by his brain, Crank's instincts flared to life as his blood ran deathly cold.

"EIN, GET BACK!"

His warning, however, would be just too little, too late.

The second, the literal second the man shouted—nay, screamed his orders, Orlis' Graze spun with a speed and skill Crank knew his student would never be capable of, and swung its axe at the torso of Ein's Mobile Suit, the attack catching the young pilot completely off-guard and leaving the blade to bury itself violently upon the Graze's armpit and outright amputating the entire limb off.

"A-Argh!"

"Lieutenant!"

"Ein, NO!"

As Ein's Graze fell to the ground, Crank rushed to his aid, Prescott already opening fire with his rifle at the rogue Gjallarhorn machine, who, in yet another display of skill Crank knew Orlis was incapable of, spun around and threw its axe at Crank, who was forced to halt his charge to desperately intercept the thrown weapon that came dangerously close to slamming blade-first against his Mobile Suit's torso. The stolen Graze then crouched down, and while firing pot shots of its rifle at Prescott, took the axe from Ein's prone machine, then leapt back with a booster-assisted jump, landing upon one knee on the hill leading to the mercenary base. Its head then opened up to reveal the spherical sensor underneath, which quickly began flitting between the three remaining Grazes before its head plate closed once more as the machine rose to its full height, rifle and axe held loose at its sides, while all around the mercenary Mobile Workers began dashing to as safe a distance as possible from the Mobile Suits.

"What's the meaning of this, where's captain Orlis?!" shouted Prescott, the man uncharacteristically furious as he took aim with his rifle at the hijacked machine.

"Sorry to disappoint, but the dear captain's taken a permanent leave of absence from the world of the living," replied the hijacker, an adult woman judging from the voice which was dripping with contempt. "I'm sure you can grab his corpse off the ground over there, bring it back along with the others, but I'd say let him feed the soil with them. It'd be the first good he ever did in his life."

"Insolent wretch!"

As much as he wished to get answers from the unknown killer, however, Crank had more pressing priorities to attend to. So without further ado, the man rushed to where Ein's fallen machine laid, quickly crouching his Graze closer to it before carefully raising the Mobile Suit up. "Ein, can you hear me?"

For a moment, no response sounded from the radio, which only made Crank's panic rise further. Thankfully, however, the sound of hacking coughs and a groan of pain echoed through the speaker, which while not ideal, filled Crank with relief, before a small video image opened to the side of his viewscreen, revealing in it the clearly shook-up but still very much alive Ein Dalton, who winced as he held his likely injured torso. "L-Lieutenant… Crank…?" asked the young man weakly, his tone making clear the amount of pain he was in.

"I'm here, Ein, don't worry," replied the older pilot, his tone carrying as much care as possible towards Ein. "Can you move?"

"B-Barely… I think my ribs are broken, can't… move my arm properly—G-Ghack!"

"That's enough, lieutenant, stand down," said Crank as he watched Ein hack up another coughing fit, a few droplets of blood flying from the young man's mouth at the last second. "Leave this fight to us."

"But lieutenant-!"

"That's an order, Ein!"

With his parting words said, Crank raised his Graze back to its full height and readied his weapons, preparing himself for the fight to come.

Before he could think of any approach strategy, however, Crank watched as Prescott discarded his rifle and readied his own axe, before quickly charging at the stolen Graze. "You will pay for what you've done, murderer!"

However, while Prescott's charge was strengthened by the fact that he was using all his Graze's boosters to push forward, his actual strike was sloppy at best, likely because of anger clouding his actions. As such, when the lieutenant swung his axe down in a devastating chop, all the stolen Graze had to do to dodge the blow was boost to the side, letting Prescott's attack to whiff harmlessly where the hijacked machine once stood, only narrowly missing getting stuck on the ground, though the blade still raised a cloud of dust when it scrapped against the soil. Rather than retaliating, however, the woman chose instead to simply stop and stare at Prescott's machine, going so far as to holster its rifle to the back of its waist before switching its axe from one hand to the other, calmly twirling it around in a motion that made Crank aware of how dexterous this woman was when piloting a Mobile Suit.

"Murderer? That's rich, coming from you," she said venomously, motioning to the battlefield that surrounded them with her Graze's free hand. "You're leaving just as many corpses as me, but you call me a murderer? What, did your zealotry make you blind and stupid?"

"Prescott, stay sharp, she's trying to draw you in!"

Sadly, Crank's warning fell upon deaf ears, and Prescott once more charged against the stolen Graze. This time, however, the woman saw fit to block the attack head-on, her axe clashing with Prescott's own as both Mobile Suits pushing against one another with all the strength their frames could afford, sparks flying as the blades and shafts ground against one another in the struggle. "What would a mercenary know about belief! You're nothing but a hired gun, working for the highest bidder! None of you have any honor, any higher cause! Nothing but death-dealers who sold their souls for money!"

"And you sold yours to the devil!" countered the woman, her calm now discarded in exchange for fervor Crank had seldom seen in a person. "All of you, Gjallarhorn scum, lording over others like the world was made to be your plaything!" With a flare of its boosters, the woman's stolen Graze pushed forward and drove one of its knees into the torso of Prescott's machine, staggering just long enough for the woman to (to Crank's utter bafflement), perform a boosted spin kick against Prescott, sending his Graze tumbling down the hill while she boost-jumped further away atop the hill, landing onto a crouch as it stared defiantly at Prescott as the man attempted to recover from the bizarre blow. "Don't go thinking you're God! You're nothing but trash sitting atop a pile of corpses!"

The snarl that came from Prescott's throat sounded anything but natural, and served as a clear sign of how far gone the man seemed to be. "You accursed bitch! I'll wipe you off the face of this planet! You, and every other mercenary in this base, I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

Once more Crank readied himself to enter the fray…

"That's where you're wrong."

Just as he did, however, another voice echoed across the battlefield: this time a male one, far calmer and more composed, but no less confident or defiant. And after a second to track down its source, Crank finally spotted it, standing atop a mercenary Mobile Worker and glaring daggers at him and Prescott.

… It… it was a young man.

… No… It was a child.

"Dying here? As if," continued the young man, uncaring of the fact Prescott had now turned his attention squarely at him. "I'm not dying here. None of us are."

With a scream of anger, Prescott fired off all of his Graze's boosters one more time and jumped straight into the air.

"We'll never die. Not like this."

The Mobile Suit reared its arm back, axe poised and ready to strike down the tiny Mobile Worker staring it down.

"Not here. It can't end here."

"DIE, MARTIAN SCUM!"

In that moment, an alarm went off inside the cockpit of all four Grazes.

An alarm that was ignored by Prescott, missed by Ein, made Crank's eyes widen, and caused Serena to grin like an animal.

"It can't end here!"

"PRESCOTT!"

"Ain't that right…"

CAUTION

AHAB WAVE DETECTED

…

"MIKA!"

The hillside exploded in dust and debris, kicking up a gigantic brown cloud that enveloped both Prescott's Graze and the Mobile Worker it was aiming for.

Yet, none could have missed the giant moving inside the cloud.

Not as it slammed one foot down to pulverize the ground beneath it, twisting its entire body as it reared to swing a massive, flanged mace at the still airborne Graze.

And not as, with strength powerful enough to rend the earth itself, the white Mobile Suit swung the mace forward, crumpling the Graze's entire torso into so much scrap metal, tearing its head off on impact before finishing the swing and smashing the Gjallarhorn MS onto the ground, ruining whatever was left of its torso.

-O-

"Hey… what should I do next, Orga?"

…

"It's obvious, ain't it?"

"Huh?"

"We are going."

"To where?"

"Somewhere not here."

…

"To the place where we truly belong."

-O-

And inside the Barbatos' cockpit, even as blood ran freely from his nose and eyes… Mikazuki Augus smiled.

"… Yes… Let's go… All of us…"

"… Together."

~O~

Oh look, this took no time at all!

…

Please don't shoot me.

Long story short, I switched shifts wildly at work, costing me my writing time, I suffered a nasty block case that had me writing and re-writing scenes for this chapter four or five times until I was satisfied, not to mention getting my head stuck with an Azur Lane/One Piece crossover idea that wouldn't leave me alone, yet I wrote nothing for.

… Plus the worsening chaos at home, but y'all already heard enough of that.

In summation? It was a colossal shitstorm.

Still, here it is. And we're starting canon proper now!

For now, I'll go double back to writing for Special Delivery to the Frontier, finish the next chapter for that, and then see where I go from there.

Happy belated Halloween folks, and stay safe!