The initial PCA agent returns with a female of indistinguished apparance,a robot almost. 'Greetings,Mister Flynn. I am Aegis,a fellow Neuropilot like you. Surely you must know something important."

'Can your partner leave the room? A lot of this feels personal.' Flynn requested. The female looks to her partner,who nods and leaves with skepticism.

'Now that youre free of that stress,can you help?' Aegis asked,as she settled down in a chair in front of the disembodied AC head.

'Gladly. What do you want to know?'

'Myself and your investigators have done research on the group you referred to as the Storm Burners. Your allies. We were hoping to pick up where we left off on that matter.'

Engineers were attempting to strip the damaged armor from Flynn,but were having trouble. "Its no use,the only part we can move is his head..."

"Hey,big guy,we cant get into your armor. The storm must have fused it to the frame.'

[So Im stuck like this?!]

"Not Entirely. Your head is removable. We lack proper donor body parts. When it comes up we will tell you. Stay alive in the meantime..."

'So at the time they lacked the proper parts to fix you?'

'Correct. Seeing as my armor was previously,nearly comprimised,survival chances too slim to count...it was as if I was something too new to account for.'

"Look,the best we can do is outfit you with a Type 'A' Coral genny and a set of leftover Gills. Your FCS is locked into 'Talbot' settings. Whoever made you did attempt to blind you."

[Lovely. Any work from Axxiom?]

"He ordered you on standby until we could call your previous company. We were unfortunate so far..."

'So your company didnt call?'

'They did not pick up the phone,no. Not considering the wealth alone they use to keep me alive. A lot of engineers feared i was abandoned by the corporation that chained me to afterlife."

'How long did you wait?"

"3 Months..."

'How were Axxiom's requests?'

'Have you heard the thousands of screams of people? No matter how evil?'

'What did you do to know this?'

'I burned coral...All evil nonetheless..But I burned miles...thousands of miles.'

Bright,blood red fire was taking over facilities...within a reasonable margin.

'Ran from their ghosts...'

Transparent flames were thundering after the Storm Burner's helicopter,within,an armored core was slowly bleeding to death right in front of Flynn..and thrashing about in their harness in an attempt to attack him.

'Defended myself from their undead.."

The helicopter crashes,with Flathead as the lone survivor. In a frigid enviroment,highly damaged MTs gave chase,forcing Flathead up a hill,toward a bottleneck. He began defending himself while falling back as undead machines clamored over one another.

'On the detonation,do you remember anything before?'

'I remember fighting. We were attempting to make a mass atmosphere filter to regulate the violent storms. Many corporations were competing for placement in the newly oxygen rich bubble. In peace we found war.."

From beyond a burning coral haze,a bubble was alight with explosions and gunfire

'Violent war..."

"Do you know what caused the explosion?"

'I assume a stray high-explosive. R.a.D and Dau-Feng were really going at it.'

"We investigated the site ourselves. The explosion was not accidental. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves in this regard,I must ask who you knew of the Storm Burners,for a brief recap.'

'Axxiom,Crab Knight model,Class S,as you probaby know is the leader. 5 other ACs were under his command,alongside a decent handful of engineers and MT pilots."

"Who were these other ACs,Mr. Coppertip?"

"There was Icon,Basho model,class A. Not exactly a guy I called a friend to know much about. What I did know is that he was the security guard of Sector 12. Appearently has been for a long time. He never really sticks around in the bay."

"Next comes BRAXX,Unknown model,C class. He was definitely a big guy,tetrapod setup. I assume he was either a Voice like Axxiom,or perhaps a muted pilot. Whatever the case,He did the most damage,and crowd control,keeps the field free during storm operations."

"Final Evaluation, Class S . One of my closer allies alongside Axxiom,was a fellow stranger like me. He too did not did not talk much,but he was one of two actual Burners who could keep storm side effects to a minimum. Many of the engineers referred to him as 'The Catalyst' because of the primary weapons he uses to burn the coral."

'Lastly,is Rust. An old construction class AC,without much of a rank to be mentioned. Like Braxx he was a bit of a big fellow,but he still seemed light for all of that armor. He was the humorous,disgruntled grandfather of the group with surprisingly potent coral burning equipment. He's nowhere near as precise as Final Evaluation,but makes up for it in covering large areas of storm that cannot be covered easily."

"Interesting...The Storm Burners were quite the crew! Your leader,Axxiom,is there anything you know about him?"

It was a quiet night in Sector 12,and Icon was on patrol,alone like usual. The storm's whispering and howling making for the only ambience.

"Other than he was the Leader? No. Ive sortied on his command for 6 months straight,didnt seem like the shady type..."

"Unfortunately,we found what remains of his body's Mem Drive..."

Not far behind Icon,Axxiom lurked in the shadows,barely visible due to his black paint. He was armed,awaiting an opportunity it seemed. Silently he approached Icon...

"It turns out your leader had ulterior motives after all. What all he was planning we know. We need your help filling in the gaps,and we will gladly return the favor with your questions."

"Alright...How can I help?"

"When Icon was Decomissioned in Sector 12,Where was Axxiom relative to you?"

"Axxiom had sent me and Rust on a Storm Control mission to get sattelites in orbit. We needed to keep track of the storm's patterns in case flammable coral was on the way. BRAXX was busy with bulk crowd control..And couldnt handle all of the Reawakened."

"We need to launch those satellites Now Rust!!"

"Id like to see you program a satellite in 5 minutes under pressure! Just keep the Reawakened off of me!"

Not far beyond a temporarily sealed gate,undead MTs and ACs were clamoring over one another in an ever growing pile to get the gate open.

Icon looks behind himself,visibly flinching as he noticed the large machine behind him...The only thing visible of Axxiom,was an Ashmead,its spike unused...

"S-shit,Axxiom...you scared me. I suppose you wanted to join me on patrol..?"

Axxiom remained silent...

"It turns out your 'leader' was a killer. He was gathering Coral Burners to wipe them out so the Auroras could spread."

"But why was he trying to stop the Storms? How did it pass under me..?"

"Killers make sacrifices to their own cause. To gain your trust he actually did send you on missions that helped to contain the storm. However you also helped to feed his fire to go through with a kill."

'I...I see...could we take a break for a moment..?"

"Of course. This must mean news to you. Take your time."

A distant crash sounded,followed by hundreds of thundering footsteps and roaring voices.

"RUST WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!"

"Then leave. I cant stop the coding now and im one of 3 people on this burnt rock with valid launch permissions."

"Im not gonna leave without you."

"Flynn,for a wolf to survive it has to chew off it's own leg. Take my explosives thrower and run. No matter what you hear. No matter what you see. DO NOT STOP until you see those rockets launching."

Rust frees his explosives thrower,allowing Flynn to pick it up and equip it.

The bulkheads to the silo close,and bulge as a large Reawakened rammed into it,followed by thunderous banging.

"That bulkhead wont hold. Go."

Flynn began to flee,as Rust relaxes some,leading a wire into the armored core sized console and picking up Flynn's previous weapon,a Haldeman.

[Permissions sequence complete. Welcome Jackson.]

[Launching satellites in...10]

The thunderous banging continued,and many hands,large and small began attempting to pry the door open. Rust looks at an engraving on his Bad Cook

[9..]

"In Death we are one,my blazing flame"

[8..]

"Im coming home..Ember..."

[7..]

The door that blocked the Reawakened horde began to fail,allowing MTs through. "COME AND GET ME YOU UNDEAD FREAKS!!" Rust roars as he began to slay the horde,scattering shrapnel,shotgun shells and molten metal throughout the room.

[6..]

The reawakened Armored cores got through,as Rust used the last of his ammunition. He began to fistfight those who got too close.

[5..]

Before long,he was restrained by a pair of heavies,as a lightweight armed with an ashmead approched. It had many holes in its chest,and one hole in the head,the model obscured by the single see through hole that made up the face.

[4..]

"You are one UGLY Motherfucker,you know that?" Rust asked in pained amusement. The Lightweight arms its Ashmead,and punches a hole straight through rust's chest. As they did,the heavies began pulling apart Rust..

[3..]

[2..]

[1..]

A vent opens,and unleashes hellfire upon the small horde and their cadaver,as the satellites took to the skies as fast as they could manage.

Flynn was leaving the facility,as he watched the rockets slowly become minor specks in a red starred sky...

The facility began to shut down,having completed its purpose...

Flynn looks to the sky,then the rusted explosives thrower. Newly etched into the metal was a phrase...

"A wolf knows when to quit."

Flynn gingerly runs his fingers over the carvings..

"Hey,Flathead. Something happened,we need you Rust and BRAXX back at base." Axxiom reports over the comms.

"Axxiom...We lost Rust...He had to give his life to deploy the satellites."

"He is one with the great firestorms of Raven,how he wished to leave. We will burn a candle for him later."