CHAPTER 3

THE HUNT

With a grunt of frustration, Gaz choked the engine on the backup generator. Though he had hoped the rain wouldn't last more than a night, it had continued on and off right through the next day which meant the solar panels on the cabin roof couldn't gather any sunlight. On the other end, Cal stood and watched from where he had fueled up the tank with the diesel fuel Gaz had recovered from one of the old Libertus bases.

"Are you sure you haven't flooded it?" he asked.

"I know what I'm doing!" Gaz grumbled. The generator was a stubborn piece of junk that wouldn't even turn on unless the fuel to air mixture was just right. Finally, Gaz cranked the ignition and the generator sprung to life, the lights in the cabin flickering back on as he wiped his brow. "Told you." He bragged. "Come on let's get back inside." Together the two of them exited the camouflaged shed and were halfway back to the cabin when Gaz suddenly felt something grab his arm.

"Gramps wait," Cal said. "Do you hear that?" Gaz cocked his ear but couldn't hear anything over the wind whipping through the trees or the patter of rain on their heads. Finally, he heard it, a high pitch whine over the storm that didn't sound natural. It was then he noticed the search lights shining onto the ground from overhead as he looked up and to his horror saw a military grade Mana transport flying towards the beach.

"Run!" he ordered. "It's rush hour!" Cal's eyes shot open with alarm as he and Gramps both took off running for the cabin. As part of Gaz's training, he had subjected Cal to numerous drills and rush hour was a worst-case scenario. It meant that someone dangerous had found them and was launching a surprise attack. Upon reaching the front door, Cal rushed to the garage and flipped the fuse switch to shut off all power to the cabin. Gaz meanwhile retreated to his bedroom. From under the bed, he pulled the laptop and a silver case before typing in a quick message.

ALEKTRA, I'VE BEEN COMPROMISED. IF ANYTHING GOES WRONG DON'T WORRY. I'LL MAKE SURE THE EVIDENCE CONNECTING ME WITH ARZANEL IS ERASED. I'M SENDING CAL TO YOU'S. WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T TELL HIM ANYTHING ABOUT HIS PAST. I DON'T WANT HIM GOING DOWN THE WRONG ROAD IF HE EVER FOUND OUT. I'LL TRY AND GO INTO HIDING BUT IF THEY GET A HOLD OF ME, I'LL USE PLAN B. GOOD LUCK. AND THANK YOU. -GAZ.

Once Gaz had sent the message, he opened the quarantined file, and the virus was let loose to completely scramble the laptop's memory. From the silver case he pulled an assault carbine, an MP5 submachine gun and a harness that carried dual semi-auto pistols, the latter of which he latched around his torso. The final thing he grabbed was a small remote and the instructions he had written for Cal before returning to the living room. Cal was already waiting for him, a hunting knife hanging from his belt and his hunting crossbow in his hands.

"See anything?" Gaz ordered as he passed Cal an SMG.

"Nothing," Cal confirmed. Chances were that they would land on the southern beach before making their way in for a frontal assault. Gesturing to the table, Gaz took position behind the couch while Cal quietly turned the table on its side to make a barricade. Gaz adjusted the sight on the gun and night vision gave him a clear view outside. 'Come on you bastards,' he dared them. 'You're not getting my boy without a fight.'


Looking through a pair of night vision binoculars, Dutch could clearly make out the cabin where the target was hiding. The lights were off but that didn't mean anyone was home. If anything, Gavin probably expected a frontal assault and was waiting for them to barge in. All around him, the 20-man squad dressed in black tactical gear hunched down among the scrub. He couldn't have asked for a better day than this. With the rain and the wind, they had plenty of cover to move in for an assault.

"Alright Lieutenant," he called through his earpiece. A primitive tech to be sure but one that Gavin wouldn't be able to use Mana to listen in on. "Once your men are in position, have them circle around the tree line to the cabin's rear. I want them surrounded so they can't run."

"Understood Commander." Lt. Standall gestured to the forward team and waved his hand in a half circle. The men got the message and quietly began to make their way around the cabin's eastern side.


Gaz breathed in steadily, his aim still as a rock as he scanned the perimeter. He counted ten men moving around the cabin's side. Probably another group readying to attack from the front. Classic pincer maneuver. 'C'mon just a little closer.' He thought, his hand closing around the remote he had taken from his room. About 50 meters from the window, Gaz saw a soldier peered out from behind a tree and Gaz found him staring right into the enemy's eyes.

"Get ready Cal," Gaz whispered. The soldier gestured to one of his comrades to move in and Gaz pressed the trigger. In an instant, the entire tree line surrounding the cabin erupted in a ring of explosions, the light of which was so bright Cal had to shield his eyes. As much as Gramps had tried to prepare him for it, actual combat was far more terrifying than the shows he watched had ever described. "Get Down!" He heard Gaz yell. Cal threw himself to the floor just as bullets began to shread through the walls, pieces of glass and wood showering everywhere.


Lt. Standall lay face down in the mud as his ears rang from the explosions, the hinge of his night vision goggles which had been knocked sideways by the force of the blast cutting into his temple. When the landmines had triggered, the sudden shockwave had sent him flying back into the tree with the force of a train. As his vision cleared, Standall looked around at the devastation. The tree line around cabin was now pitted with craters and littered with fallen trees and the bodies of his men. The ones that had survived were now opening fire on the cabin. Some were using the Light of Mana to try and contain the fires from overrunning their position. Others were trying to get the wounded to safety. He had just managed to get back to his feet when Commander Villson got to his side.

"Stop firing!" he shouted over the gunfire. "All weapons cease fire! Lieutenant, can you get up!?"

"I'm alright Commander," Standall said. Anger and rage filled him like a boiling kettle. In those few seconds he had lost 12 men. Men with families. Some of whom were even expecting their own kids soon. "All men!" he yelled over the communicator, "Move in and terminate with..."

"Belay that order!" Villson yelled. "That is not the mission! We need the boy inside to be taken alive at all costs."

"Commander what are you doing!" he yelled. "How can you just let them..." before Standall could finish he was pinned to a tree, Commander Villson's hand grabbing him by the collar and nearly lifting him off his feet.

"You will do as I command soldier!" Villson roared. "If anyone comes out of that Cabin you put a hole in their legs understand!" Standall gulped and nodded. Commander Villson was usually as stoic as a rock but the way he looked now was like a man possessed. Once he was released, Standall turned back to the cabin and saw 4 of his men framing the porch.

"Move in," he ordered. "No fatalities! Take them alive!"


Once the shooting stopped, Cal peered out from the edge of the table. To his relief, Gramps was unharmed as well and he signaled to let him know he wasn't hurt either. As he did, he noticed the shadows that crossed the outer porch. "Gramps the door!" Gaz sprung from behind the couch and fired through the wall as someone screamed from the outside. "How are we going to get out of this? What if we get pinned down?" Gaz creased his brow and then pointed towards the back door.

"I'll hold them off. You get out of here."

"What! No!" he cried. How could Gramps just tell him to run and leave him to die. "I won't let you..." and Cal barely had time to finish before Gaz suddenly lunged at him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Damn it, Cal do as I say!" Cal looked at him with a mixture of shock and hurt and Gaz groaned in frustration. "Listen, I need you to get to the Skyhook and get it ready to fly. We're going to have to escape and that's our only way off this rock. But one of us must stay here and make sure they can't follow us after. Understand?" Cal still didn't like it, but he could see the logic in Gramps' plan.

"Okay. Just be careful." The way seemed clear, so Cal made his way towards the back door of the cabin when Gaz suddenly screamed and shoved him out of the way.

"CAL LOOK OUT!"

In an instant, Cal felt himself flying through the air as his gun was knocked from his hand and his crossbow strap snapped in two. The world went into semi darkness and his entire body ached, but he fought his way back to consciousness and found himself buried under the backdoor that had been blown clear off its hinges. The bits of broken glass cut at his elbows, leaving them coated with a hot stickiness. Someone yowled in pain and he looked over the edge of the door to see Gramps being beaten down by two soldiers, their stun batons sparking with each hit on the older man's back. Adrenaline took over and Cal grabbed the door, lifting it up and charging forward. With the makeshift battering ram, Cal tackled one soldier away from his Gramps, his leg kicking out to strike the knee of the other. Now that he had some room to move, Gaz drove his fist up into the crotch of the second soldier, doubling him over as he grabbed the enemy's neck and cracked it like a dry branch. Meanwhile, the soldier Cal had tackled stumbled over the table and fell back. Cal's knife sprung from his sheath and before the soldier could regain his bearings, the steel blade had plunged into his throat, Cal's enemy giving a final gurgle before he lay still.

"Gramps are you okay?" Cal gasped.

"I'm fine," Gaz wheezed. Cal looked to his Gramps and saw him leaning against the wall. His hand clutched at his side and Cal saw with horror that a shard of wood had lodged itself right beneath his ribs, a dark smear quickly spreading across his shirt.

"Gramps!"

"It's nothing," he said. "Trust me I've had worse." The front door meanwhile had begun to shudder and break as the soldiers still out on the porch began to kick it in. "You need to get going now. I'll catch up. If you don't then both of us will die. We don't know how many of these guys are and we can't hold out forever."

"Okay," Cal accepted, his stomach sick with fear. "Just be careful." Gaz smiled and patted Cal's shoulder before his grandson turned and raced out the ruined back door into the woods. The front door began to creak as the hinges started to give way and Gaz drew the pistols at his sides.


The acrid smell of smoke and charred dirt made it hard to breathe and the fires were hot enough to make Standall feel like he was practically swimming in his own sweat. Though one of the men attempting to break through the front had been shot, a few survivors from the group encircling the cabin had managed to breach the back door. But after the initial blast, nothing. Whoever was inside there was definitely not your average squatter. From behind the cabin, a sudden movement caught his eye and he squinted to make out the outline of a teenage boy running through the woods.

"I've got him sir!" the man beside him shouted, his rifle brought up to take aim when Standall suddenly grabbed the barrel.

"The Commander wants them taken alive. Come on. We'll circle around and cut him off." With his subordinate alongside him, Standall hurled after the fleeing youth. In the background, they could hear the cabin's front door finally giving way before a burst of gunfire echoed through the woods.


With a final kick, the door buckled in, and Gaz opened fire with both pistols. The first soldier wasn't fast enough and went down, but his comrade raised a Mana shield and rushed in. Rather than waste any more of his bullets, Gaz raised a Mana shield of his own and met the charge head on. Shield to shield the two men pushed and circled around each other like headbutting bulls. And because his opponent was so focused on Gaz, he failed to notice how Gaz was herding him to one of the easy chairs. The soldier's legs hit the back and he tripped, giving Gaz just enough time to bring up his gun to put him down. With the adrenaline wearing off, Gaz winced as he felt the shard of wood that had lodged beneath his ribcage. He could still take a breath so that meant the lung wasn't damaged but depending on how deep the shard went in, he could bleed out before treating it.

A sudden bang and Gaz felt a stabbing pain in his right calf as he fell to the glass littered floor. From the living room window another soldier rose from where he had crouched on the porch, his rifle trained on Gaz as he reached for his earpiece.

"Commander, cabin is secured. One occupant. Negative, it's an older man." Despite his need to keep Gaz under watch, the soldier looked away and Gaz began to concentrate the light of Mana onto the floor. Between the shard lodged in his side and the bullet hole in his leg it took every part of him to push through the pain. "Commander, do you copy, repeat." Finally, Gaz managed to get a hold of himself, and the floor lit up with a green light. All around him, shards of wood and glass jerked upwards and launched themselves in a wall of shrapnel at the soldier shredding him to pieces.

With a great deal of difficulty, Gaz struggled to his knees and channeled the light of Mana to try and heal his wounds. Another benefit of having the light of Mana was the ability to enhance the body's own natural healing abilities. Small wounds like cuts and scrapes would heal instantly but wounds this severe would take hours to fully heal. But at least he could feel the pain easing to the point that he could follow after Cal. 'I'm getting too old for this,' Gaz groaned as he forced himself to his feet. He found the remote and strapped it to his belt and was just about to head out the back door when a familiar voice called out to him.

"I see after all these years; you still have it in you." Gaz turned around and to no surprise at all, there was Dutch standing in the doorway. "All those years looking for the man who killed my little brother. You have no idea how much I've dreamt of this moment."

"Well I'm glad all your hard work didn't go to waste." Dutch bristled at his insolence and Gaz got ready to make his move. No matter what he had to buy time for Cal to get to the Skyhook. "Dutch, listen to me. Everything you know about the Norma is a lie. They're not monsters. Cal's just as human as you or me."

"Oh, I know that, I know EVREYTHING." Gaz felt a cold shock go through him.

"What?"

"When I came out of my coma," Dutch explained, "I met a very interesting man who told me everything." Embryo, Gaz realized. "He told me you were the one who started that fire. And all to bust out the eggheads' little experiment."

"So, you know," Gaz growled, his fists shaking with rage. "You know and you still work for him?"

"I don't owe the Norma, this world or you anything," Dutch answered. "With Embryo's help, I've risen up the ranks in ways that I never would have been able to on my own. And I'm just getting started. After I kill you, I'm going to hunt down that kid and bring him right to Embryo. He's got plans for him you couldn't even imagine."

'The hell you will,' Gaz vowed as he shot his arms forward and another barrage of shrapnel flew towards Dutch only to bounce off the Mana shield that suddenly manifested in front of him.

'He didn't even twitch,' he realized. Did Embryo somehow alter him so he could manipulate the Light of Mana through simple will alone. If so then this fight was going to be even harder than he thought. No point going for the guns as Dutch would just shield himself again, but Gaz knew a few tricks of his own. Focusing the Light of Mana, Gaz manifested it in a blinding flash that staggered Dutch just long enough for Gaz to close the distance and drive his elbow into Dutch's jaw. Gaz followed with a hard right, but Dutch spun and diverted his opponent's momentum to throw him aside and out into the rain. Gaz rolled with the impact across the mud and got to his feet as Dutch wiped the blood trailing from his lip.

"Not bad," Dutch commented. In a blur of movement, Dutch used the Light of Mana to launch himself at Gaz with a fist to his solar plexus. Gaz managed to block and punched with a mid-knuckle fist to Dutch's throat only for Dutch to catch it in a cross grip. "But you're still rusty!" A sudden headbutt and Gaz was knocked back to the ground. Dutch stomped his foot down onto Gaz's chest only for it to bounce off the Mana shield Gaz raised at the last minute. Before Gaz could counter, Dutch spun and his foot came through an unprotected side to kick Gaz right in the side, narrowly missing the shard of wood still lodged under his lung. "You're stubborn I'll give you that," he chuckled as Gaz rolled onto his side. "But I've got better things to do."

Grabbing Gaz by his ponytail, Dutch lifted him up, the light of Mana encasing his hand. "See you around Gavin." Dutch pulled back but before he could deliver the final blow, Gaz's eyes suddenly shot open and the shard of wood was pulled out from his side and stabbed right into Dutch's stomach. Dutch howled in agony and collapsed, dropping Gaz to the ground. Gaz could feel the blood draining even harder from his freshly opened wound, but he couldn't waste any time healing it. From where he lay in a near fatal position, Dutch looked up in a mix of rage and fury as Gaz kneeled down and pulled off his earpiece.

"All soldiers return to the cabin," he called. "Target has been spotted there. I repeat the target has returned there." Dutch's eyes widened in shock as he realized what Gaz was planning. "I don't deny that you deserve your revenge against me," Gaz admitted. "But I'm afraid I can't die until I know Cal is safe." Tossing the earpiece into the distance, Gaz pulled his remote and typed the command before running off into the forest. Along the ground, Dutch tried to focus his Mana to heal but the shard of wood embedded in his gut was making it hard to concentrate.

"Commander!" a voice called. Dutch looked up and through the rain saw to his horror that his men had returned and were rushing right towards him.

"Get back!" he warned, the Light of Mana encasing his body in a protective dome just before the cabin exploded in a ball of fire.


Despite the rain and the branches that the wind whipped up into his face, Cal pressed on at full speed. He could walk this island blindfolded and could tell his position from the smell, the sound, even the topography. It wasn't easy though. He could already tell that the blast which had knocked the backdoor in had left him with a bad bruise across his chest. But he wouldn't stop. Gramps was hurt a lot worse than he was and he was still fighting, and Cal wasn't about to let him down.

Finally, Cal emerged onto the rocky northeast coast of the island. No sooner had he done so, a roar louder than thunder shook the whole island and a ball of fire rose up in the woods behind him. 'The cabin,' he thought. Gramps must have triggered the bombs. 'Okay calm down,' Cal told himself. 'Gramps wouldn't do that if he didn't have a plan for it. He's on his way so I have to get the Skyhook up and running.' Carefully crossing the algae covered rocks, Cal bound into the Skyhook's cave and lit the oil lamp. After booting up the engine, Cal set the vehicle on standby and waited.

Three minutes passed however and still Gramps didn't show up. Was he in trouble? Had the bad guys pinned him down somewhere? Sure, Gramps was the toughest guy he knew but even he would have trouble with that many against him. Three minutes stretched to five and Cal made up his mind. It was risky and Gramps might get mad at him but if he flew around the island, he might be able to spot Gramps, pick him up and then they could get away.

Before he could mount the Skyhook however, something grabbed his shirt collar from behind and his head was slammed into the cave wall. Stunned by the impact, Cal collapsed to the cave floor and was unable to defend himself when a barrage of kicks and strikes from a stun baton rained down on him. Finally, the attack stopped, and Cal looked up to see two men standing over him.

"Well what do you know," the blonde man laughed. "An actual male Norma."

"Sir shouldn't we just put it down now?" his companion asked.

"Believe me, there's nothing I'd like more. But orders are orders. Get him up and take him to the transport. I'm sure Commander Villson has something special planned for him."

"Yes sir," the other soldier replied, his hand grabbing a fistful of Cal's black hair and yanking up his head. "Move it you little abomination!" he snapped. To Cal the voice sounded like it was calling from a mile away. He tried to fight free, but the pain of the attack had left him barely able to move. "I said…" a sudden bang and Cal felt himself released to fall back onto the floor. A second bang and Cal was grabbed once again, a hand lightly patting his cheek.

"Cal…come on Cal snap out of it!" Gramps, he realized. Cal fought his way back to consciousness and through his half-swollen eyes, saw his Gramps standing over him. But he was in terrible shape. His face was pale as a sheet and blood poured from the wound in his side. Despite the pain he was in, Cal managed to stand and supported the older man as he helped him walk towards the Skyhook.

"Gramps you're going to be ok," Cal gasped. "We're going to get out of here and we'll find you some help." Gaz sighed as he looked over his bloody and battered body. No amount of Mana could save him in time from these injuries. "Gramps come on," Cal begged.

"You're the one who's gonna have to fly this thing," Gaz told him. "I'm too weak." Cal nodded and mounted the skyhook. He had just finished running the diagnostic check when he felt something on his right wrist. Cal looked down and saw that Gaz had hand cuffed him to the handle of the Skyhook. "Gramps what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry Cal," Gaz told him as he began to program the auto-nav. "It's the only way.

"Gramps, no please!" Cal begged as he jerked his wrist and struggled against the cuff. "I can't just leave you here! I won't!" In the middle of his struggle, Gaz suddenly threw his arms around Cal and held him as tightly as he could. As he did so, he slipped the piece of paper into Cal's pocket.

"Cal," he whispered. "I didn't deserve a son like you. But I'm proud to call myself your Father. You're going to be okay." Before Cal could protest any further, Gaz pressed the ignition and the Skyhook roared to life.

"Gramps!" Cal yelled as the vehicle lifted up and shot out through the cave entrance. "GRAMPS!" Cal frantically pressed at the controls to make the Skyhook turn back but Gramps had locked them down, leaving him powerless to do anything but look back as the cave shrunk to a light in the coastline while in the island's center, a column of smoke rose up from the cabin where he had lived his entire life.


Now that Cal was safe and away there was one last thing to do. At the back of the cave, a chair had been set up which Gaz parked himself in and waited, a pistol in his hand. Finally, a figure appeared in the cave entrance. "I figured you'd be around sooner or later," Gaz said. 'About time too,' he thought. 'Don't think I could have held on much longer.' Gaz fired but Dutch raised his Mana shield and the bullets harmlessly bounced off it.

Moments passed as the two glared at each other and Gaz saw the hatred in Dutch's eyes. "All we had been through, all we both endured, our dreams and desires. We could've had it all. Don't you remember?" Dutch's expression recoiled, behind all the hatred etched into every part of his face there was nothing but pain. "You gave me the strength to live and become stronger, like any 'brother' would. I trusted you, and you betrayed me."

"What I did to you and Donnie." Gaz coughed up blood. "I've never forgiven myself. Regardless of what you've become because of me, you'll always be my brother."

Dutch sighed. "You still don't understand, you choose the male Norma over me. But now you've just delayed the inevitable," Dutch gloated. "There's only one place he could be going in that direction, and I'll be heading there to pick him up next. Congratulations. It was all for nothing. Brother"

Gaz chuckled and Dutch shot him a bemused expression. "Cal's strong, and I know he'll beat this world…" he wheezed, his other hand tightening around the trigger for the explosives he had attached to the cave ceiling. "And he's got more of a future than both of us."


The roar of a sudden explosion travelled across the water and Cal turned around just in time to see a fireball rise up from the same spot where he had left Gramps. "Gramps no!" he whispered. Denial gave way to despair as the reality sank in. Gramps was gone. The only family he had was dead. Cal buried his head in the Skyhook's console and screamed in agony as he continued to fly blindly over the water.


The Island was still ablaze by the time he reached the transport but thanks to the rain, the flames had mostly gone out. Dutch should have known Gaz would pull a trick like that, but he had been blinded by his own anger and pride. Luckily, Master Embryo's enhancements had enabled him to summon a Mana bubble on reflex to shield him from both the explosion and the resulting cave in. As he collapsed exhausted into one of the trooper seats, a sudden call came in over a private line and Dutch grimaced in dismay. Taking a moment to make himself presentable, Dutch opened a Mana window and before him sat Master Embryo, a book in his hands as he looked up.

"Dutch, how did the mission go?"

"I'm afraid the mission is still ongoing." Master Embryo snapped his book closed and leaned forward.

"Explain."

"Subject Alpha got away, but I know where he's going. He's currently heading towards Arzenal. They're bound to pick him up so I just have to put in the call, and they'll detain him until I can get there." Embryo rubbed his chin and smirked.

"No."

"Master Embryo I don't understand."

"If he really is headed for Arzenal then we don't have to worry about losing him. We can pick him up at our leisure. Furthermore, I'm certain Alektra will try to find some way to use him to her own advantage. I'll let her sharpen him up a bit before I collect him. In the meantime, I think some punishment is in order."

"I'm sorry Master Embryo I swear it will not happen again," Dutch said. Dutch had good reason to be terrified. Master Embryo's power over the world was absolute and he could inflict tortures on a person that they never could have imagined.

"Consider yourself on 'extended vacation' until further notice," Embryo spoke. "For now, your responsibilities at the management board will be taken over by my associate, Blackadder." The call was cut, and an utterly humiliated Dutch boiled with rage. All he had worked for was gone in an instant because of his traitorous former best friend and his little freak. 'You'd better not leave that island,' he vowed as he looked out over the sea. 'Because the minute you do. You're mine.'

But the burning question arises in his mind, who was this Blackadder?


In the solitude of her office, Jill mulled over the message she had just received over the private channel:

'ALEKTRA, I'VE BEEN COMPROMISED. IF ANYTHING GOES WRONG DON'T WORRY. I'LL MAKE SURE THE EVIDENCE CONNECTING ME WITH ARZANEL IS ERASED. I'M SENDING CAL. WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T TELL HIM ANYTHING ABOUT HIS PAST. I DON'T WANT HIM GOING DOWN THE WRONG ROAD IF HE EVER FOUND OUT. I'LL TRY AND GO INTO HIDING BUT IF THEY GET A HOLD OF ME. I'LL USE PLAN B. GOOD LUCK. AND THANK YOU. -GAZ.'

'Shit,' she thought. 'Well what's done is done. But now I have to figure out how to get him here without attracting any attention.' The sudden buzz of the intercom pulled her out of her thoughts, and she erased the message before answering.

"Yes?"

"Commander," a girl's voice said, "Radar has just picked up an unknown vehicle in Arzenal air space."

"I'll be right there." Jill said. Shutting her laptop, Jill exited her office and made her way to the Command Centre. As she opened the door, Jill was greeted to the sight of the three command room technicians hunched over their workstations. "Status report." From one of the forward consoles, a girl with short green hair that was held back by a gold headband looked up.

"Commander." Olivier said. "We picked it up about two minutes ago. It just landed on an island 20km southwest from base."

"Bring up its location."

"Right away Commander," said a second girl with boyishly short red hair. On the overhead monitor, Hikaru brought up a map of the surrounding sea which showed a red dot blinking over a small island in the map's lower left quadrant.

"Hail them," Jill commanded to the third technician, a girl with long blonde hair that draped down her back. "I want to know who they are immediately,"

"We're trying ma'am," Pamela answered. "But they aren't answering any summons. Hold on, I'm receiving a signal. I think they're trying to hail us."

"Patch them through," Jill ordered. "I'll handle this myself." Once the transceiver on her desk lit up, Jill picked up the mouthpiece to make the call. "Attention unidentified craft. You are trespassing in restricted airspace. Identify yourself immediately." After a few seconds, a voice finally answered.

"My…my name is Cal…I'm a Norma. Who is this?" The three girls' eyes widened as a collective gasp rose from all of them.

"Was that a boy?" Hikaru gasped.

"Did he say he was a Norma?" Olivier asked. Jill shot them all a warning glance and they immediately shut up.

"This is Commander Jill of Arzenal," she announced. "Stay exactly where you are. Transport will be arriving soon to pick you up. Do not move from your present location." Cutting the line, Jill lit a cigarette and worked up a plan. "Pamela, have security detail assembled to pick him up. Bring restraints but don't harm him unless he resists. Above all, don't say a word of this to the Inspector. I'll tell her myself. Take this conversation to your graves."

"Yes Ma'am." As Jill left, the command staff huddled together once she was safely out of hearing range.

"What was that about?" Olivier asked. "Do you really think there could be such a thing as a male Norma?"

"Who knows," Pamela shrugged. "But something isn't right. Didn't you notice how tense the Commander looked when she spoke to him. And why wouldn't she want us to tell the Inspector?"

"He said his name was Cal." Hikaru noted. "Did you guys notice how he sounded really sad and hurt. I hope he's alright."


Finally, the Skyhook came to a rest on a lone stretch of beach and the handcuffs unlocked. The rain had finally stopped but Cal was soaked and shivering from head to toe. Slowly, painfully, he dismounted the Skyhook and collapsed onto the damp sand. It still felt like a dream. Gramps couldn't be dead. But when he ran his fingers over his shirt and felt the blood that wasn't his own, he couldn't deny the truth.

"Gramps," he choked out as he buried his face in his arms. He was all alone now. And it was because of those men who attacked them. Why? Why did they do that? Was it really just because he was a Norma? Gramps had told him that the world was a dangerous place, but Cal didn't believe him. So, at his birthday he had wished he could go somewhere and now he could never go home again.

'It's all their fault,' he thought as he began to hyperventilate. 'They killed Gramps. I'll make them pay. I swear I'll make them all pay.' As the tears and snot ran down his face, Cal shifted his weight and felt something jab him inside of his pocket. Reaching in, Cal found a piece of folded up paper. 'Where did this come from,' he wondered as he opened it out.

CAL, IF YOU'RE READING THIS THEN THE WORST HAS HAPPENED. I'M SORRY IT HAD TO BE THIS WAY BUT I COULDN'T LET YOU BE TAKEN. WHEN I WAS OUT GETTING YOUR CAKE, I RAN INTO SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW. SOMEONE I KNEW WOULDN'T STOP UNTIL HE GOT HIS HANDS ON YOU. SO, I MADE PREPARATIONS IN CASE THE WORST HAPPENED. AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS NOTE IS A RADIO CHANNEL. WHEN SOMEONE ANSWERS, GIVE THEM YOUR NAME AND IDENTIFY THAT YOU'RE A NORMA. SOMEONE WILL BE ARRIVING SOON TO PICK YOU UP. DON'T FIGHT THEM. JUST DO EXACTLY AS THEY SAY. I WISH I COULD SAY THAT EVERYTHING'S GOING TO ALRIGHT BUT I'M AFRAID IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET HARDER FROM THIS POINT ON. BUT YOU WON'T FACE IT ALONE. YOU'LL HAVE PEOPLE YOU CAN DEPEND ON. SO, I WANT YOU TO DO THREE THINGS FOR ME.

DON'T GIVE IN TO HATE. I KNOW YOU MUST BE FEELING A LOT RIGHT NOW, BUT YOU CAN'T GO DOWN THAT ROAD. IT'S TRUE THIS WORLD IS SCREWED UP AND THERE ARE PLENTY OF BAD PEOPLE, BUT THERE ARE GOOD ONES TOO, HUMANS AND NORMA. JUDGE A PERSON BY WHO THEY ARE NOT BY WHAT THEY ARE. SOONER OR LATER YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO MEET A GIRL NAMED ANGELISE. SHE'LL BE A NORMA LIKE YOU AND ALL ALONE. SHE'LL ALSO HAVE A HEAVY FATE PLACED ON HER SHOULDERS. SHE'LL NEED AS MANY ALLIES AS SHE CAN GET. SO, DO WHAT YOU CAN TO HELP HER. ABOVE ALL ELSE, I DON'T WANT YOU JUST TO SURVIVE. I WANT YOU TO LIVE. LIVE THE BEST LIFE YOU CAN EVEN WHEN IT HURTS TO DO SO. IT'S YOUR LIFE. DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT CAL. YOU'RE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE. GOOD LUCK. LOVE ALWAYS. -GRAMPS.

Cal felt the lump in his throat start to tighten but he swallowed it down as his tears ran over the note. "I love you too Gramps." Looking to the sky, Cal took a deep breath to clear his head before following Gramps' final instructions. Frequency 6-4-3. The radio light pinged on and someone named Commander Jill answered who told him to stay put. She sounded kind of scary, the same way Gramps would seem when he used to scold Cal when he was younger, but Gramps wouldn't have sent him to her if he didn't trust her. 'Judge a person by who they are not what they are,' he reminded himself.

Eventually, something appeared on the horizon, something that roared like a hurricane. As Cal watched, the object revealed itself to be a vehicle similar to the transport that had attacked his home. But instead of Mana engines, it hovered through the air with the use of spinning propellers. As it flew overhead, the engines rotated upwards, and it slowly lowered itself down onto the surf. Finally, the rear boarding ramp came down and out came 5 figures holding rifles with flashlights attached to the barrels. They wore fatigues with body Armor and on their helmets was a symbol Cal had never seen before. It looked like some kind of winged lizard perched around a sword. They also seemed smaller and slimmer than Cal. But it wasn't until they got closer that he realized he was looking at the first girls he had ever seen in real life.

"S…state your name!" One of them called out nervously, her rifle pointing at him as if expecting him to attack.

"My…name is Cal," he stammered, as much from shock as from confusion. The 5 girls looked to each other and nodded.

"You are to come with us," one said. "Commander Jill has ordered us to escort you to Arzenal to be interrogated. Do not resist."

"I won't," Cal promised. One of them vanished back into the transport and returned with some kind of metal contraption, a large metal ring connected to two smaller ones by a T-shaped chain. To Cal it looked like an enlarged version of the handcuffs Gramps had snapped on him.

"Do you really think we need to," one girl said. "I mean. Look at him."

"We have our orders. And we still don't know if he's a threat or not." Approaching him, the girl nervously held out the restraint. "Give me your hands." Cal obeyed and the girl placed the upper ring over his head, blushing a bit as she found herself face to face with him. After securing his hands into the lower rings, Cal was led into the transport and secured to a seat just before the aircraft took back to the air. On the other side, the five girls stared at him and whispered amongst themselves though Cal couldn't make out what they were saying.


As the transport finally came into view, Jill stood alongside Inspector Bronson in anticipation of its arrival. As the only resident human on Arzenal, Emma was responsible for keeping the Norma on a short leash to make sure they didn't get any ideas regarding their place in the world. Her green hair was done up beneath her officer's cap and behind her glasses, brown eyes stared irritably at the approaching aircraft.

"Why wasn't I told about this?" she demanded. "How could the committee have neglected to tell me we were expecting a new arrival?" Jill shrugged and blew a plume of smoke into the air.

"These things happen," she said. "But at least we were able to recover the prisoner." Thankfully, Emma's pride and inflated sense of purpose made her fairly easy to manipulate. Jill had told her that a Mana transport had been struck by lightning, causing it to go down somewhere in the sea. As the transport hovered overhead, a whirlwind rose up around them as it descended to the tarmac and the boarding ramp dropped open. Security detail exited first, and Emma's eyes widened in shock as she saw a teenage boy in restraints being led out by them. 'So that's Cal,' she thought. 'He's definitely gotten a lot bigger since I last saw him.' Judging from his wounds it had been quite a nasty fight indeed.

"What…what is this?" Emma demanded. "Why is he in chains? Why is he wounded? And where is the Norma?"

"Ma'am," one of the security members answered, "he says he IS the Norma." Emma gave an incredulous stare at the scene before her until Jill stepped forward.

"Why don't we continue this conversation inside?" she suggested. "We can figure out the truth soon enough. You. What's your name?" she asked. Cal looked up and gulped nervously at the woman standing before him. She was tall, slim and beautiful, with long black hair that draped down her back in a ponytail. But her violet eyes were hard and cold. Cal had only seen eyes like that once before, when he had first started hunting and found himself eye to eye with a wolf.

"Cal," he finally said.

"Follow us." Alongside the Inspector, Jill led Cal to the elevator that went all the way up to the Command Centre. Cal had to admit that this place was unlike anything he had ever seen. There were no trees that he could see, and the entire island was raised and flattened like a giant table. The buildings were made of stone and metal, completely different from the wood cabin he had called home, and almost seemed to have been carved out of the island itself. Behind him, Emma kept a close eye on him but wasn't sure what to think. It just didn't seem possible to her. An actual male Norma? Perhaps he had been attacked by undocumented Norma who had tried to brainwash him into being their slave. It would certainly explain how badly injured he was. No human could possibly do that to another.

Finally, the elevator arrived at the command deck and the three turned down a hallway into the Command Centre where Cal saw three girls sitting at consoles in the front. Were they Norma too? They had to be or else they would be using Mana screens like Gramps did. He didn't have much time to confirm however as Jill hurried him into another room.

"Oh my god it's really a man!" Hikaru gasped.

"Did you see his clothes?" Olivier asked. "Poor guy, what do you think happened to him?"

"I don't know," Pamela said. "You don't think he's really a male Norma, do you?"

"Or why he'd try to come here of all places," Hikaru pointed out.

"If he really is a male Norma," Olivier mused, "then that means he'll be living here right?" Neither of the others answered but Hikaru got up from her station and looked down at the floor. "Hey look at this." The two got up and saw a trail of wet footprints on the floor, one in particular held their interest. "Men sure do have big feet."


Cal looked up and shuddered. Whatever this room was it didn't look like it was a good place to be. A height chart had been mounted on one wall and the others hung restraints of all sizes. The only furniture was a table and chairs while at the rear was a cell. The woman with the eyeglasses gestured to a table and Cal sat down at one end while she took the other.

"You said your name is Cal correct." Cal looked up and blushed. He had never been this close to a woman before and like the first one she was really pretty. Especially in regard to her ample bosom which was partially exposed by the top of her purple and white uniform.

"That's right."

"Well Cal. My name is Emma. I want you to tell me how you got here."

"Inspector," the woman in the ponytail interrupted, "forgive me but before we get down to that shouldn't we verify his status?" She shot Cal a warning look and he flinched slightly. The message was clear. Do NOT answer that question.

"Commander Jill you seriously can't believe that he's a male Norma, do you?"

"But I am," Cal Interrupted. "I swear. That's why I'm here."

"Well, there's one way we can find out for sure," Jill supposed.

"Very well," Emma sighed. Raising her hand, Emma conjured a small Mana shield before her. "Hold still." Slowly, she reached out and Cal remained motionless as the barrier pressed against his face. But instead of pushing him back, the instant it touched him, the shield shattered like glass and disappeared.

"N…No," Emma gasped, her eyes wide in shock. "It…it can't be."

"What?" Cal asked. "Is something…"

"Stay back!" she shrieked as she leapt out of her chair. "Don't touch me! Security! Security get in…!"

"Inspector please calm down," Jill requested. "He's still in restraints remember. Let me deal with this. You go type up a file for him." Her eyes still wide with fright and uncertainty, Emma's gaze shifted between Jill and Cal.

"But Commander, what if he tries to…" the thought was too terrible to even think about. Jill may have been a Norma, but she was a woman same as Emma. Who knew what kind of degenerate behavior an actual male Norma was capable of? Already Emma could feel him mentally undressing her and she reflexively covered herself. Jill smirked and threw back the cape over her shoulders, exposing her right prosthetic arm.

"I can handle someone like him," she said. "And if he tries it'll give me an excuse to work off some tension." Emma gaze shifted between the two of them and reluctantly nodded.

"Very well then. I'll leave him to you." Emma gave a quick salute and fled the room, nearly bumping into the command staff who had tried listening through the door. Did the committee know about this, or her father? She'd better make some inquiries and see if she could get to the bottom of this.

Now that she was alone with the boy they could talk openly. Jill unlocked Cal's restraints and the boy looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Did…did I do something wrong?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it," Jill said. "You get used to her in time. So, you're Gaz's kid huh?"

"Yes…Ma'am," Cal replied hoping that was the right response.

"I'm Commander Jill," she continued only to pause as she noticed the way his eyes were scanning her up and down. "And what are you looking at!?"

"Sorry," Cal quickly said. "It's just…I've never talked to a woman before. Gramps told me about woman and what they do with men so I'm not quite sure what to do now."

"Good to see he educated you," she snarked. 'Damn it Gaz why did you shove this on me?' she thought. This kid was going to be a real headache. The security team as well as the command staff had already seen him, and Jill knew rumors were going to start flying around Arzenal by morning. "Never mind that for now. Just tell me what happened? Where's Gaz?" Cal bit his lip and tears began to well up in his eyes. That was all Jill needed to know. "I'm sorry for your loss," she told him. Gaz had annoyed her at times, but he was a good man. One of the few genuinely good humans she had known. If it wasn't for him, she would be dead herself.

"Look at me Cal," she ordered. Cal sniffed as his head rose up. "Tonight, cry as much as you want. But tomorrow, you'd better have it together. I'm not your grandfather. I'm your commander and like it or not you're a soldier now. If you want to live, then you'd better get strong enough to do so on your own because this is only the beginning. Is that clear?" Cal nodded but then realized something.

"Soldiers fight, don't they? Who are we fighting against?"

"Don't worry about that for now," Jill said. "Just rest. You can stay here for the night and then tomorrow we'll assign you some quarters. Above all, don't tell anyone where you came from. It'll only cause trouble if you do." Showing him to the cell at the back of the room, Jill unlocked the gate and Cal stepped through. "Take off your clothes." Cal removed his soaked and blood covered shirt and pants down to his black boxers. His whole abdomen and back was bruised, and he had cuts on his arms and legs as if he had crawled across broken glass. 'Well if he can survive that then maybe he'll do alright here,' she mused. Cal was about to remove his boxers until Jill spoke up.

"Okay that's enough." Cal handed over his torn clothes which Jill took for disposal. She doubted he'd miss them anyway since they were so torn up. As Cal hunkered down on his bunk, Jill returned to the command Centre just in time to see the three technicians standing around the wet footprints left by her, the Inspector, and Cal from the still rain-soaked tarmac. Hikaru had her boot off and was comparing her foot size to Cal's shoe print.

"What are you girls doing?" Jill asked.

"Nothing Ma'am." They all ran back to their consoles as Hikaru hopped back trying to get her boot back on as fast as she could. Jill shook her head as she dumped Cal's clothes down the incinerator shaft and headed for her office. She doubted that anyone would come after Cal here. After all, the whole point of Arzenal was to keep Norma contained. In the meantime, there was a lot of work that would have to be done. Jasmine and the others would have to be briefed and then she'd have to find someplace to put him. 'First squad,' she decided. 'It'll be rough, but that way Salia will be able to keep an eye on him. Plus, it'll give me a chance to see what he can do.' If Gaz's theory about this Ange girl was correct, then in a few months Libertus could have a second chance. And if Cal proved himself capable, then perhaps he might even be able to pilot 'THAT' unit. It would seem Gaz had left them with two useful gifts.


Somehow, despite the cold of his cell and the pain from his beating, Cal had managed to fall asleep until the sound of a hushed conversation woke him up.

"Are you sure about this?"

"We can't just leave him like this. He must be so alone and scared."

"Boys aren't supposed to get scared remember."

"Who's there?" Cal asked. Someone squeaked in alarm as Cal looked up and saw the three girls from earlier standing outside his cell. The red haired one had a blanket in her arms while the green hair carried a small paper bag. As they stared at each other from the other side of the bars, Cal stood up and all three of them flushed before turning around. "What is it?"

"You're…" the green hair mumbled, "…you're undressed." Cal looked down at himself clad only in his boxers but still didn't understand.

"Is that a problem?" he asked.

"Of course it's a problem!" the blonde suddenly cried out, her two friends shushing her.

"Are you trying to wake the Commander?" the red hair hissed.

"I'm sorry," Cal said. The three of them turned around and felt bad at how genuinely apologetic he looked. "Jill told me to strip and…"

"It's okay," Olivier interrupted. "It's just…we've never met a boy before."

"Oh," Cal said. "I've never met girls before either." The admitted awkwardness on both sides seemed to alleviate the tension and the red hair stuck her blanket through the bars.

"Here," she said. "You must be cold, so we brought you this." Cal accepted it with a grateful smile.

"Thank you." Throwing it over his shoulder, Cal wrapped himself up in it. "Is this better?"

"Yeah sure," the blonde answered. "Your name is Cal, right? I'm Pamela and this is Hikaru and Olivier. What happened to you?" Cal frowned and shook his head.

"I can't tell you," He told her. "Commander Jill said…"

"Say no more," Hikaru told him. "We get how scary she can be sometimes. Don't worry. Whatever happened you're safe here."

"Just do as you're told and you'll be fine," Pamela added.

"Excuse me," Olivier wondered, "is it true that you're a male Norma?"

"Yes," Cal nodded. "I am." The three girls' eyes all widened in shock.

"No way," Hikaru whispered. "You're really just like us?"

"So then…"

"That's right?" Pamela answered. "We're Norma too. Everyone here is. Well except the Inspector of course."

"Are there are boys here too?" he asked. The three looked to each other with bemused expression.

"Actually, Norma are usually girls," Olivier explained. "You're the first male Norma we've ever seen."

"Oh," Cal said. "Well, in any case I feel a little better now. I thought I was going to be all alone."

"Oh, trust us," Hikaru grinned. "The last thing you're going to be here is alone." Pamela nudged her with her elbow and shot her a scolding look while Olivier held out the bag she carried.

"Here," she said. "We got you some food from the mall. We figured you must be hungry."

"Thank you," Cal said. "It smells really good." Olivier blushed and fidgeted slightly. "Can you stay and talk some more?"

"I'm afraid we can't," Pamela said. "But we'll see you around Arzenal."

"So…does this mean we're friends?" The three girls looked to each other and smiled.

"Sure," Hikaru said. "You're going to have a LOT of friends here. We'll see you later okay." The three waed goodbye and hurried out the door. "Oh my god," Hikaru whispered. "An actual male Norma!"

"And he's really nice too!" Olivier gushed.

Back on his bunk, Cal ate the meal they had gotten for him, a hamburger with fries and a cold can of soda. He still felt sad over losing Gramps but knowing that he wasn't alone helped him a little. Though there was a lot he had to learn. Apparently, it bothered girls to see boys undressed. He'd better be careful not to offend any of them while he was here.

With a blanket to protect him from the cold and stomach full of warm food. Cal gave in to his exhaustion and lay back down on the bunk. I wish I could say that everything's going to alright, Gramps note had said…

'…BUT I'M AFRAID IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET HARDER FROM THIS POINT ON. BUT YO WON'T FACE IT ALONE. YOU'LL HAVE PEOPLE YOU CAN DEPEND ON.'

'I'll do it Gramps,' he promised as he closed his eyes. 'No matter how hard it gets I'll do as you say. I won't judge people for what they are. I'll find this girl Angelise. And I'll live too. As best as I can.'