The Shadow Fox was first to pick up on the second Geno Saurer.
It was kilometers off, much closer to the actual Mackaray base. The Fox intercepted its communications: Koga was looking to report in to Fuma, though his inability to check in was becoming eclipsed by the frustration of being unable to contact her at all.
Frustration, not concern. Good.
With the same smooth coordination as before, the Fox and Sniper both cut silently through the foliage, making their way closer. Reaching an unspoken threshold they again split, Naomi going for a vantage, as Brad surveyed the situation directly.
Nearer Mt. Iselina, the terrain subtly changed. Though still shrouded by dense forests, the mountain slopes gave way to steeper edges and inclines. Stands of trees ended suddenly in cliffs. Many simpler Zoids would've found the terrain unnavigable.
Geno Saurers weren't simpler Zoids. Neither was the Shadow Fox.
"I still can't get ahold of Fuma," Koga sighed into the comm. "This shit's going to take forever."
"Strange. Almost like these arrays were installed for a reason." Came Ehga's bored and sarcastic reply. "Comms are basically shot out here without them, and without Satellites. She'll be back soon. Just finish that section, it won't take long."
"Says the lazy bitch who gets to be warm in the Whale King." Koga needled, chuckling. The two teammates continued their idle banter for a while, before falling silent again.
It wasn't so straightforward this time. The best vantages for the Gun Sniper were now above the treeline, making them abysmal choices in the glaring midday sun. Naomi sat uneasily in her crouched Sniper, waiting.
Ambient sat hunkered on the Shadow Fox's back. Largely obscured by the shadow of its vulcan-gun mount. It shared the Zoid's regard of the distance-obscured Geno Saurer.
[ Scary._ ] The Zoid whispered to Ambient.
~Nah. Fine lass, just a little upset. Genos donnae like th'cold.~ The Organoid watched the Geno Saurer root through dense underbrush, the mats and tangles of foliage almost nothing to the beast.
These powerful Zoids were incomplete reflections of Ambient's original Zoid companion, a fact which the Organoid relayed like an idle curio to the Shadow Fox. The Fox found this interesting and wanted to know more, but-
The Geno Saurer glanced.
Ambient's regard had become almost a beckon, its stare hazing into wistful recollection. That stopped abruptly when Ambient registered the mental contact.
The Saurer's notice sunk into the Organoid like teeth, and Ambient sputtered at the inadvertent betrayal of its attention - and position.
~Oh, fuck me.~
This wouldn't do at all.
Ambient realized it needed to both go find and address the remaining Geno Saurer, before the other Zoid could be alerted. If it were made aware of the Organoid, any stealthy approach would be impossible.
Though far and few between, there were in fact downsides to Organoids.
~Tod, go, now. Lad; back in a bit.~
Ambient leapt from the Fox and vanished in a flash of red.
The Fox reflected serious concern with the command, but Brad saw the Geno's gaze and body shift and knew it was too late for anything else. The man grit his teeth and shoved the steering column forward, the Shadow Fox obliging and swiftly tearing off through the trees.
The Zoid's every movement was the end product of precise calculation, armor slipping within inches of every trunk - until the Shadow Fox exploded into the small clearing, claws searing bright. Surprised, Koga reacted and the Geno Saurer took a step to the side-
The Saurer's talons bit down on a ledge. Koga's eyes snapped in alarm towards the drop.
The Geno Saurer faced the Fox, and-
Two strike laser claws made contact with a scream of metal. One set of claws sheared the side of the Saurer's neck, and the other connected with its shoulder. The Fox threw its weight into the lunge - it knew what it was doing.
Brad didn't know what it was doing, was late to the plan, and reeled as he saw the ground beneath them disappear. The Shadow Fox's CPU blazed with calculation as it upended, turning its body just so-
They plunged, struck the side of the cliff, rolled and tangled mid-air. After an alarming span of free-fall both Zoids landed hard on the rocks and snow below, a coarse rain of rock and debris peppering after them. The Fox ultimately remained on top, the painful brunt of the landing jolting straight to shrieking stabilizers and joints.
Silence settled after a few moments, broken only by the clacks of residual falling rock.
Brad caught his breath.
The enraged Geno Saurer twitched then thrashed beneath, its jaws surging upwards to seize the Fox by the neck. It threw the smaller Zoid off, the Fox twisting mid-air and managing an intact landing. Brad whipped its gatling to bear and opened fire.
Through the plumes of dust and smoke the Geno Saurer's cabled talon flashed, hooking into the Fox's leg and ripping the smaller Zoid down. Koga recognized the Shadow Fox.
"You?! Fuck you, man."
Brad lifted his eyes but the Fox didn't move its head, so as not to betray the skulking Gun Sniper above. Without the advantage of complete surprise, this might be a little more difficult.
"Fuck you too," Brad replied, bucking the Fox out of the cable-claw's grip. The smaller Zoid's digital growl clashed harshly with the Saurer's deep hiss.
Brad felt the Fox acknowledge something he didn't understand. The Zoid shifted its gatling and blasted what seemed to be an arbitrary location on the ground. The alert Geno Saurer's head and shoulders hunched forward, as it shifted to stare-
Crack. A sniper's bullet right to the back of the Geno Saurer's head, bursting out one side of its fanged face. It shrieked in pain and surprise, whirling-
Crack. Another explosion ripped through the side of the Saurer's neck. It stumbled, shrieked, tried to remain standing-
Crack. A final, well-aimed shot to the Zoid's torso dropped it.
The Shadow Fox wagged its tail, looking up at the Gun Sniper through the curling smoke.
"Nice." Brad said into the comms.
"Don't nice me," Naomi snapped. "What the hell was that?!"
"A change of plans." Brad replied, keeping an eye on the Geno Saurer's cockpit hatch. He turned his wrist and sunk the steering unit's triggers, intending to light up the Geno Saurer's cockpit with a brutal strip of laser vulcan fire.
But the Fox resisted. Not defensive. Against the rules.
"The rules don't fucking matter here, Fox." Brad growled, irritated.
It didn't agree. This was a battle; the rules always mattered.
Brad impatiently side-eyed a console. "Fox. You're not stupid. We didn't come here to win."
The Fox rumbled. It wasn't stupid, no. But the rules between humans weren't really the issue. It simply knew what was expected of it on any given battlefield, and what abstract social contracts it and other Zoids were expected to uphold.
You did: work together. You didn't: fire on cockpits. Unless threat to life or limb was involved… but, they weren't right now. The other Zoid had been disabled.
The rules, what could it do.
Brad shook the steering column once in frustration, and sighed. He undid his harness, drew his revolver, and quickly slipped out of the cockpit to the ground. At a dead run, he quickly covered about half the distance to the downed Saurer - before something twinged in his mind.
He glanced just in time to have silver flash down, skipping off of his thick jacket.
A blade. Koga stood, poised with two daggers, scowling at Brad. The two nimbly ducked back from one another.
Brad eyed the other man and shook his head, loosely aiming his gun and firing off several shots. Koga was quick to dip aside, but two of the shots ripped across his bicep, flecking fabric and blood.
Koga sucked in a breath and darted aside. He threw down both blades and leapt forward again, this time with more precision. In a single, smooth move he seized the revolver's barrel in one hand and Brad's arm in the other. He twisted to one side and snapped the gun out of Brad's one-handed grip, catching it.
The Backdraft pilot sneered, skillfully flipped the gun and pointed it at Brad's face.
One of these men had grown up scrapping on the streets. The other was highly trained in hand-to-hand combat.
It didn't matter, because the woman above had a sniper rifle.
Crack.
Less mighty than the Gun Sniper's rifle, but no less air-shattering. The sound and Koga dropping happened almost simultaneously.
Brad tore an adrenaline-fueled distance back; it took him several seconds to register what'd occurred. Looking up, he saw nothing. But looking back down… he watched the man below shudder on his back in a rapidly-growing pool of blood.
Koga went slack and stopped moving after several seconds.
Brad stood there silent, his every exhale a small cloud in the cold air.
From atop the Liger Zero, Zero silently watched One and Vega.
They were playing.
Playing.
Zero hadn't thought One was capable of such apparent frivolity.
But the two were definitely playing. One was - with great restraint, and very gently - wrestling with the boy, mouthing him and letting Vega clamber onto it at will. An arched neck, bunched haunches, a lightly waving tail. Stiff mimicry of a juvenile Organoid at play.
The white Organoid gave a small snort.
Zero and One had no natural youth or maturation period to speak of. They'd been brought into existence as adults of their kind. Though they were born atypically, beyond their increased power, lack of a Colony and unusual bondmate situation... they weren't that much different from any other Organoid.
If anything, Zero and One could themselves be considered of the same 'Colony.' Not that Zero really wanted to relate itself to One. And while it did want the black Organoid to lighten up… it found One's current childish antics strange and unbecoming.
Vega seemed to be having fun though.
It was good to see a true positivity blossoming in the two's relationship. However willing the participants, the chains of a true bond had every potential to be a stranglehold. Especially if brought into being by unbalanced psychological - and physiological - demands.
Still.
It was odd to see One so playful. Content, almost.
What had changed?
Vega and One stopped when Jaime briefly entered the hangar to get something - then resumed as soon he'd uncomfortably shuffled off. No one could long deal with Vega and One's alien regard as a unit. Even Sara had found herself quickly unsettled by it.
The two grew tired after a while, and nestled into a dark, blanket-filled corner they'd set up, for a nap. There were no schedules to adhere to, no timelines, nowhere to be. Zero stretched a leg and one wing lazily; it certainly was on board with the idea of a nap.
As it settled, One finally acknowledged Zero's observation with a glance.
The Organoids glared at one another with a guarded silence, One gently grooming Vega's hair as it did so.
There was no quarrel. There was no reason for it now. They simply didn't like each other.
The dull afternoon heat, the hangar's blissful shade. The comfort of silence and safety. They all culminated in drowsiness, and One drifted off, head resting protectively across Vega's back.
As was its growing habit, Zero mentally reached out to Bit and stroked the blonde's cheek before it too went to sleep.
From elsewhere in the base, at the sensation Bit absently looked up from a datapad he'd been reading. To never be alone was quite an incredible feeling, and one that Bit now gladly clung to.
But like almost everything, it had downsides.
Bit still couldn't shake the occasional, unbidden imagery of the horrifying Zoidian apocalypse. Couldn't shake the idea that the Organoid had made some kind of mistake, choosing him.
He'd done nothing to deserve such joy and intimacy with anything. Nevermind not one, but two amazing Zoids.
With significant guilt, Bit glanced in the direction of the dead Berserk Fury.
Vega'd not really said that much about it. But the child's well-crafted veil of civility only did so much to hide the seething jealousy in his eyes.
And Brad. Bit thought about his former teammate, thought about how he wouldn't simply let Zero help him . Thought about how anxiety-inducing the strange red Organoid now with the man was.
That shoddy beast's green optics were, put succinctly, evil. Its voice and demeanor were thick with contempt; it made absolutely no secret of how much it hated people.
Bit couldn't comprehend how Brad was okay with that. But Zero had explained that Organoids could choose how they spoke - to individuals selectively, or in wider broadcast. They could also fork their output in a way likely to be perceived differently by each listener.
Bit didn't like that at all. He had trouble seeing that ability as anything but a means of deception. Zero likewise had a hard time with Bit's perspective, trying to explain that back when Organoids were numerous, such behavior wasn't just courteous, it was necessary. Telepathic din was a real problem. Well... had been.
And that reminder served only to dredge up the horrors of the Zoidians' end again.
Bit's breath caught every time he remembered it. Blank, dark optics and glazed eyes staring from everywhere. Bodies. Death.
What made it worse, was that per Zero's relayed memories, Zoidians looked just like people. Humans.
Were they humans? Zero didn't know. It didn't think so, and tried to explain the differences as it understood them. Tried to explain that there were clearly hybrids, akin to when Organoids of distant Colonies bred together.
So for that to happen, they must be different. But not too different.
Bit didn't like that either. Nothing about Brad, Vega, or Vega's mother seemed any different from anyone else, but Zero resolutely insisted they were. How did Zero know this? How could it tell?
The answer was that it simply could. But couldn't articulate what made it think that, or why.
Bit's change in demeanor caught Steve's eye.
Seated across the room, the older Toros quietly watched the blonde Warrior set down his datapad and cycle through several subtle - but pained - expressions.
"You all right?" He asked after a few moments.
"Fine, Doc." Bit replied, pointedly dropping his gaze. "Just fine."
He clearly wasn't. His throat worked, and his eyes intently picked at an empty spot on the table.
Steve inhaled deeply and stood, walking over.
A brief upward flick of green eyes, and the two men's stares met.
It was the first time Steve had taken a good look at Bit in a while. There were differences both subtle and staggering: this was still quite clearly Bit Cloud. But his eyes? They were almost the eyes of a complete stranger. They roiled with an indescribable depth and intensity, borderline threatening.
"Zero." Bit offered in explanation, though that explained little and only made Toros's face wrinkle.
The blonde looked aside. It felt awkward to elaborate, but he tried to.
"He's... part of me. And I'm part of him. That's just the way it is now."
Steve clearly didn't understand. But he nodded anyways.
"These Organoids are something else, eh?"
An understatement. Bit looked back at Toros, somewhat wearily.
"Doc. I know you've been on the fence about all this. But I don't think we should tell the ZBC about... them. I don't think we should tell anyone."
"Agreed." Steve had already discussed the matter with Leon and Jaime, but for some reason left out the most relevant stakeholder. Perhaps it was the whole property angle… which seemed inappropriate for creatures clearly more sapient than Zoids. "But we need to be cautious. And it's up to you to keep Zero out of sight."
Easier said than done. "No, it's up to Zero to keep Zero out of sight. I can't just tell him what to do."
The notion of these creatures courting disobedience raised Steve's hackles. Not so much on account of Zero, but One. The black Organoid was unsettling at the best of times. The mere notion that Vega had no real reins on it was terrifying, and he didn't want to consider it.
But come to think of it, Bit admitting he had little control over a 9-foot-tall beast with opinions and a bladed face wasn't very comforting either.
"Just... be careful. We can't fight the ZBC. Or ZBGF."
Green eyes flicked with thought for several seconds. Bit's brows dropped, and he met the older man's eyes again, intently.
"Can't, or won't?"
Unseen and to one side, Sara had been standing. Silent, listening.
She grinned.
The Gun Sniper arrived quickly.
Naomi tore out of her cockpit and over to Brad, hands and arms visibly shaking as she seized his sleeves and shook him. "What the fuck were you doing?!"
Brad blinked at her. "I- I didn't think th-"
"Just stop. Right there. You didn't think." She speared him with a pointed finger. "We can't - you can't - we aren't fucking around here!"
Brad looked down at her pointing hand, watching it shake. He belatedly realized she'd likely not shot a person before. Well, no - he knew she'd shot at (and as an occasional result, shot) plenty of people - well-aimed shots towards extremities. Usually to prove a point.
But not like this. Not to outright kill.
He pulled his arms back enough to wrest his coat from her grip, before firmly taking her hands in his.
They stood silent in the cold until Naomi calmed. Once she did, her eyes flicked up and furiously met Brad's.
"I get it." She said through her teeth. "But I… fuck. I can't believ- fuck."
She pushed away and turned her back, shaking her head.
Brad wasn't sure what to say.
He glanced up at both Zoids in turn. They looked back at him curiously, but weren't helpful. He didn't see Ambient.
"I'm sorry." He finally said.
Naomi remained silent for a few more moments, then shook her head again.
"No. Don't be. It's not your fault. We didn't have a choice." She paused to clear her throat, but her voice stayed thick with emotion. "We never had a choice in their bullshit."
Yet all Brad could remember in that instant were two very simple questions and how he'd answered them.
Do you want power?
Do you want control?
He'd had a choice.
And he refused to believe it was the wrong one.