Digimon: Symbiosis (Remastered)

by Dragon Champion Zero

Everything changed the night the sky lit up. Now, with everything in two worlds laying on the line, they'll have to join together to survive and overcome - in the most literal sense possible.

20. Chapter 20: Faces Of Malice And Resolve

Things have been going smoothly on my end, so here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 20 - Faces Of Malice And Resolve

—

"Tell me you're not serious."

"Would I lie about something like this?"

"No, but I wish you were lying anyway." Blazereptimon rubbed his head. "You said how many?"

Ebonvargmon bowed his head. "Several dozen at least. It's far from the force that came in, but enough of them seem to have held out against the obvious danger of the digimon invaders to be a threat to us still. The entire front of the BICI is swarmed, most likely they have watchers on the emergency exits as well. They aren't flooding in yet, but who knows how long that'll last?"

"Damnation…we don't really have a choice this time, do we? There's going to be bodies."

"And we'll be lucky if those bodies aren't ours. And here I thought hunting down sneaky digimon was the worst thing we had to worry about out here…and Iris and Isaac are inside, aren't they? This sounds like it has all the makings of a disaster." Ebonvargmon looked worriedly over in the direction of the building - they were under tree cover, not anywhere in the vicinity for the sake of safety as they tried to figure something out. "I barely was able to pull myself away…if we engage now I don't know that I'll be able to stop until I know they're all right."

"Guys, guys!" Jetdramon crashed down in their direction, making a mess of a bunch of tree branches. "We've got trouble!"

"Shut up, Jetdramon, there's a bunch of people around who'd gladly open fire on us the moment they could!" Blazereptimon snapped sharply. "We know about what's in front of the BICI, that's what we're trying to figure out right now!"

"That's not it!" Jetdramon shot back urgently. "I saw movement in the trees to the west! I think some digimon escaped our tracers!"

"You think? Didn't you visually verify?" asked Ebonvargmon.

"I couldn't! They were under tree cover, it looked like they were moving around in some of the yards. And I didn't want to stay too exposed because of the guys in front of the BICI!"

"Well, not like we knew who we were up against beforehand anyway," grumbled Blazereptimon. "The digimon have to come first, they'll go after anyone if they get the chance, the soldiers at least are focused on us. Let's keep a low profile and move on them. Jetdramon, you're walking."

"Ah, man, walking SUCKS."

"It sucks less than being shot at. Besides, we need to talk about our action plan."

"Yeah, I guess."

The trio started to move in the direction of the suspicious activity, trying to keep a low profile as they did. Their voices stayed low, but there was plenty to talk about, so silence wasn't golden this time.

"I'm just saying, Burner, one Jet Stream would probably gut at least half of them."

"The more bodies we leave, the more we get scoured in the public eye. I said we couldn't avoid that entirely, but stopping caring about it is just as bad."

"These guys are as bad as Emperius, though! They're hunting us down mindlessly! They're power-hungry monsters!"

"We don't know that they haven't been indoctrinated with false ideas about us. How many of the rank-and-file soldiers know what our actual purpose and mission is? The ones at the helm surely are aware of it, as has been made depressingly clear, but there are far fewer of them than there are of the grunts. Which means if we wipe them out indiscriminately, we risk giving those same villains more ammunition to manipulate others with."

"Ugh…Wolfy, would it kill you to be wrong once it a while?"

"That's hardly an inconceivable outcome. Still, Skyder, I think something with your flash may be necessary to throw them off. Maybe not directed at them, but skirting their presence, putting the fear of god in them or something…"

"Like a strafing run or something? Swoop over with guns blazing? Or lasers, I guess in my case."

"Getting them in disarray might be what it takes to disrupt their incursion…" Blazereptimon went quiet for a moment. "But that chaos won't be enough to get things cleaned out quickly. They're too many too close in to try to play defense the way we did earlier. The only choice we have is to strike a much more severe blow and hope that someone can get on the horn to stop this invasion before it gets worse."

Jetdramon frowned. "What are the chances of that at this point?"

"I don't know. It's not a foolproof plan."

"Great…well, I guess we'll have to figure that out. But we're about where I saw that movement, so…"

"If only it were darker out, I would have a better sense of things," stated Ebonvargmon tensely as they emerged from the trees and brush; they were in one of the wooded park areas, but it wasn't terribly dense tree coverage, plenty of gaps to see through. They weren't exactly as concerned with that as they were with the potential threat they were dealing with, but at the moment they still didn't have the luxury of being as open as they would have liked.

"…I don't see anything here yet," remarked Blazereptimon, looking around.

"This was definitely the right area," insisted Jetdramon.

"I don't disbelieve you, I'm just not sure where I should be looking."

"…Oh, no." Ebonvargmon's voice quaked a bit.

"What is it?"

"A trap. We walked right into it."

"What?!" Suddenly there was a flurry of motion around them - soldiers stepping out from behind trees, weapons pointed right at the trio. Around a couple dozen, and they were concentrated more on the side farther from the road, but there were more than enough of them that the lack of soldiers closer to the road didn't really mean much - they wouldn't have time to escape all of them.

But if the soldiers were bad, it was the ones who weren't which were even more troubling. Three of the ambush party stepped closer, each of them armed and at the ready - pistols, but they didn't look like they were lightweight weapons. Leading the trio was the darkly triumphant face of Jonah Wheeler; flanked to his left was Malcolm Sykes, and to his right, Lexis Redford was there, walking unsteadily and looking well short of ideal health. "Well, well, well…here I thought that might be too simple to work," spoke Wheeler, in a gruffly malicious voice that grated on Blazereptimon's ears. "Then again, simple creatures usually fall for simple tricks."

"…I wouldn't have thought a rat like you would risk making a personal appearance in a place like this," the fiery reptile hissed back.

"Oh, I wouldn't risk letting this moment of personal glory get away from me," the man replied a bit smugly. "After all, it's not every day that I can stake my claim as a global hero. And it'll be a PLEASURE to get you all out of my way."

—

For a day that had already been as rough as it had, Isaac was convinced the breaking point was moments away only now. Facing down tanks and armored vehicles and even titanic digimon seemed preferable to what they had to deal with now - trying to gather up the most vulnerable among them and try to hide away until the situation was brought under control. And he didn't have any idea when that was going to be, or how.

And the worst part was, he was pretty sure Elliot didn't either. There's a reason he had us round up the kids along with the digimon…he thinks there's a distinct chance everyone else won't be leaving this building alive. Protect the kids first, they have more of their lives in front of them…I hate how grim that sounds, but all I can do right now is try to keep them safe and hope for the best.

He was hoping very strongly that he was bringing up the last of them - Ashley and Elecmon trailing behind himself and Datacarnomon. And neither of them looked any more at ease with what was happening. "We're supposed to just leave Mom and Dad here?" asked Ashley, panting a bit as they hurried past the 11th story.

"Not everyone's gonna fit in this room," huffed Isaac - it was his third trip up the stairs, and he was definitely starting to feel it, especially given that he already wasn't at his best. "He knew what he was saying. Trust me, I don't like it any more than you do."

"Why aren't we just fighting back?" queried Elecmon as he hopped up the stairs. "Surely we can take a bunch of humans!"

"If we don't bring the building down on our heads, we just make sure more humans come hunting for us," said Datacarnomon tersely. "And the more we fight, the more we weaken them for the real enemies. We need to stop this cycle of madness before it gets worse than it is…maybe someone down there will know how to do it!"

"I sure hope so…" Ashley sounded less than at ease with that. It was rare for her to be this out of sorts, and Isaac couldn't even enjoy it because the stakes were way too high for that. I'm just gonna have to make sure we survive long enough to have a better chance down the road…

Top of the stairs, the highest floor of the building. Isaac pushed the door open and took them down the hallway, a fairly long ways towards the back corner of the building. He wondered if part of the security of this place was how far away it was from easy access - someone would have to go through a lot of the building in order to get to it, particularly if they didn't know where it was. He was very much hoping that that would work in their favor, but if the building was swarmed, it probably wouldn't matter much. Ironically, I think our best hope is that they THINK we're going to attack them. They're probably not prepared for us to be hiding, especially after earlier.

Just as they reached the next doorway, it opened it front of Isaac, nearly making him run smack dab into Paul Dailey. The agent took a couple steps back, letting out a shocked cry. "Ah! O-oh…it's you. And…another one of those thi-uh, digimon creatures?"

"If you're up here, you have to have seen others, we were all asked to gather here," remarked Datacarnomon.

"Yes, I know, I just…I didn't realize there were so, uh, MANY of you."

"Believe me, we weren't expecting this many to be on our side, either. Wish we had even as many of those army guys to count on."

"…They've really got us surrounded, huh?" The agent scowled darkly. "I always thought the biggest danger I'd face here would be some nut job looking to blow the place up because of the 'evil government' or some nonsense. Never thought it'd be our own military trying to take us out…" He pulled a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to Isaac. "Here…I got this when I started here. The Protective Custody Room…it's got a secret of some kind, that you use this code on the keypad on the inside to trigger. I don't know what it is, but it's supposed to be a last resort. I hope you don't have to use it, but if you do…good luck."

Isaac took the paper with a nod. "Thanks…I hope not either." But having an extra possible option was always good…even if he didn't know what it did. He moved aside, letting Agent Dailey hurry past, and entering into the next hallway. It wasn't too much longer before he hung a left and entered what looked like a pretty standard office room, apart from the thick doors on the next wall over.

"This is supposed to be secure?" asked Elecmon dubiously.

"Nope. But this is." Isaac headed over to the door, punching in a code. There was a buzz and the thick doors slid open, revealing a very spartan chamber inside - no furniture, windows, or anything other than some carpeting that looked like it hadn't been updated to match the office's. And, at the moment, a bunch of people huddled close to the floor inside.

"Ashley!" Kirsten said with a harsh whisper; she had her arms around Benny, who was crying quietly and clinging to a very nervous Dorumon. Beside them, Shadowdramon was sitting protectively, a scowl on his face to rival any he'd had when they'd had him held prisoner, and not far from him was Commandramon, who'd re-donned his equipment but was not looking any more comfortable than before. "Can you help Iris out? I think she's a bit overwhelmed."

"Just a bit!" Iris affirmed; she was doing her best to keep Cayden and Alisin calm, but not meeting a ton of success. Cayden had Talomon in a tight grip, Alisin was holding to Felismon, and both looked like they were about to start bawling themselves. Shockavimon wasn't joining in here, sitting in front of them with a very dark look on her face. Ashley could tell some 'big sister' energy was needed, and headed inside with Elecmon and sitting next to Alisin, trying to reassure her as best she could.

"Is that everyone?" Crestmon asked; he'd de-evolved to keep the already crowded room from feeling even more oppressive, though he looked a lot more nervous in his Rookie state. "I don't know how many more we can get in."

"Everyone that I know of," said Isaac as he stepped in and pushed on the inner keypad to shut the doors; after they closed, there was a loud click as the lock engaged. "We're supposed to try to wait for a signal from Mr. Katran or Mr. Conover that we're clear to leave…but apparently there's another option, not that I know much about it other than it involves this code. Data, do you think you can figure it out from scanning the keypad?"

"I doubt it…there usually isn't a lot of information that can be gleaned just from reading the connections," replied the robot. "I think our best bet is to lay low and try to stay quiet, so we can hear what's going on out there. If our attackers come looking for us…worst case scenario, we're gonna have to get messy."

"That's the second-worst-case scenario, then," snapped Shockavimon.

"Second…oh. Yeah. Definitely."

"Then that's what we do." Isaac sat down with his back against the doorway, Datacarnomon setting up next to him. Too many little kids needing to be watched over…someone had to be the ears focused on the outside. I swear, I'm gonna make these idiots pay for what they're doing to all of us. Maybe I can't justify going in with guns blazing, but they'll get theirs however I can make it happen.

—

"I hate every part of this," growled Elliot as he held his sidearm at his side. The sounds of people stationed outside the building were audible at this point, even if somewhat muted; there was a pretty hefty contingent, at least compared to what they could reliably resist. "I'm finding it harder and harder to think of a future in which this doesn't go badly."

"Are you sure we should have weapons ready?" asked Emil a bit anxiously. "That sounds like it's asking for trouble."

"At this point I think trouble's beyond asking. But I'm not going to be someone's target practice. If they come at me, they're going to have to earn it."

"Sirs!" Both turned sharply at the sight of the soldier hurrying down the stairs. "I saw them all out there…do you think I can help? They might listen to me sooner than they'd listen to you!"

"You're…Elias, right?" Elliot shook his head. "At this point, I'm not sure they'll listen to anyone. I don't want to put anyone else in their crosshairs if I can help it."

"I didn't join the army to shy away from danger, sir," replied Elias resolutely.

"…Fair point. Still, I don't think that's a good idea. If you want to help, keep us backed up in here. If things turn ugly, we'll be in need of more firepower." A loud thunk and crash drew everyone's attention to the doorway; there were voices coming from behind it, out in the lobby. "And I think that might be happening right now. Everyone stand at the ready."

All three stood back, taking defensive stances as they waited for the coming onslaught. The door in front of them suddenly busted open, but it wasn't at all what they were expecting - it was a burly man with short hair in plain clothes, waving a pistol around recklessly. "DON'T ANY OF YOU FUCKERS MOVE!"

"What the hell?!" Elliot almost raised his pistol at the man and started firing, briefly convinced it was some random idiot off the street - but he stopped just in time as he saw a soldier step in behind the man, with a smug look on his face. Those were the only two there, leaving them at the numbers disadvantage at first glance…but he knew the moment he started shooting that there would be plenty more storming in.

"Very well done, officer." The soldier had a very haughty air to him, one that Elias knew too well…of course it had to be Landon Colress. "I can't see why they ever would have removed you from the police, you're clearly overqualified."

"It's THESE bastards who got me kicked off!" snarled the other gunman. "All for trying to do my damn job!"

"Wait…are you…" It was suddenly dawning on Emil, he remembered back to when they'd been talking about the monsters after getting their sketches.

"Burt Cragland," growled Elliot darkly. "I knew I should've been keeping tabs on you."

"Shut it!" Burt was quite steamed, and being as loose with his gun as anyone they had ever seen. "It's your fault! You and your ridiculous 'no-kill' order! Now I see why, you were just trying to play protector to those freaks! You're just as bad as all of them, no one would care if I filled you all full of lead right now!"

"Calm yourself, Mr. Cragland," said Landon calmly, patting the other man on the shoulder. "Much as I'm sure they deserve it, we need to focus on the most important targets right now." He gave a smug look at Elias, whose grip tightened on his weapon. "Ah, Elias Corazón…General Sykes is going to have some very harsh words for you when you're taken back to him in handcuffs. He was quite happy when I reported a deserter, enough that he let me have this honor of being one of the ones to slaughter a few worthless monsters. I wouldn't mind adding your own body to that count, but I'll let him decide if I get that honor as well." He leered towards Elias, a malicious grin on his face. "And since I know I can speak freely now…it really is what all you deficient-skinned neanderthals deserve."

"You…" Elias's fingers clenched around the handle of his rifle.

"Ah ah…I wouldn't make any sudden moves if I were you. There are three dozen armed men waiting in the lobby. If they hear any gunfire we don't warn them about, they're prepared to go scorched-earth on this building. No survivors whatsoever. No matter how many people in here are just suckers or pawns…you know we can't leave any risk of the monsters being welcomed anywhere, hm?"

Elias was clenching his jaw hard enough to almost break it, but he lowered his weapon down, as did Emil and Elliot. It could have been a bluff, but something about the sadistic look in Landon's eyes had them more worried that it wasn't.

"There, not so hard, was it? Next up…you can tell us where you're harboring them. Don't try to tell us they're not in here, there were reports that they were seen running in earlier and I very much down they've found a way to vanish on their own."

"You want to look for them, you go right ahead," Elliot said shortly. "I'm not telling you a thing."

"You might wanna rethink that, shithead!" snarled Cragland.

"I'm not rethinking anything. We're trying to protect people in here, including children. Like hell I'm going to give you anything that could put them in danger."

Landon smirked and held up a hand as Cragland started to seethe. "I suspect they'll be in far more danger if we have to wander around with weapons hot trying to find them. You can tell us now and save us a whole lot of trouble, you know…one never knows when a 'misfire' might happen at the wrong person if we have to go interrogating people…"

"You slimy, evil scumbag…" spat Elias. "They NEVER shoulda let a gun get into your hands."

"I don't take judgment from inferior races. Now, are you going to talk, or…" Landon paused as his radio went active. He picked it up. "Colress." The voice was too low and garbled for any of the three to hear, but the increased smugness on his face was not a good sign. "Why, thank you, you've been a sensational help. Give Redford my regards." He hooked the radio to his belt again. "Good news for you all! You don't have to tell me anything. A protective custody room on the 14th floor? A perfect place to hide your little fugitives, isn't it?"

"…They aren't up there." Emil was trying to keep his voice even. "We reserved that room for children only. To keep them safer than the rest of us."

"Hah! A likely story!" guffawed Cragland. "You think you're gonna pull one over on us like that?!"

"…Hm, no, I do believe he's telling something of the truth," stated Landon. "After all…we're also well aware there were children who were apparently working with and even harboring some of the monsters before…what a perfect diversion, hiding them together. Why, some fools might just have believed that the two would never be found in the same place. Now…I do believe we have our destination."

"You bastards-" Elliot took a step forward, then froze as both weapons pointed right at him.

"I would mind your manners, Mr. Katran," said Landon in a sickeningly gloating tone. "Your actions will decide how many die here today. If we have a reason to, it doesn't just have to stick to monsters."

It was the worst feeling in the world for Elliot to let the two out of his sight and enter the stairwell. Everything they had said, he didn't trust them one bit…but a full-on siege would guarantee everyone in there perished, including the ones they were trying to protect most. Only when they were gone did he finally let his cool go, slamming his fist on one of the tables. "Damn it all!"

"We can't let them just go kill them!" Elias said desperately.

"But we can't just kill them ourselves, that'll just get everyone here killed including them! And they're going to have to defend themselves…that might just bring the hammer down on us anyway!"

"…There's still hope." Both sets of eyes turned to Emil.

"Hope?! Where in the hell is the hope, Emil?!" raged Elliot.

"Hopefully, given to them by Paul. I told him to give them the Last Resort Code. With any luck, they'll know they're in danger and use it."

"The Last Resort Code?" asked Elias. "What's that supposed to do?"

"…It gives them a way out." Elliot suddenly calmed down a little. "I completely forgot about that…but are you sure they got it?"

Emil nodded. "You know Dailey, he's still green and gung-ho enough that he doesn't do anything by half. That's why I made sure to ask him above anyone else. And now we have to prepare for them to be pissed that they didn't get what they were looking for. They're probably going to be even more unstable than before…we have to make sure they don't take it out on anyone else."

"…Standoff." Elliot nodded grimly. "Maybe our last stand. But if it keeps them alive…I'm ready as I'll ever be."

—

"You…" Blazereptimon could barely hold his tongue looking into that smug bastard's face. "You don't have any idea what kind of mistake you're making."

Jonah Wheeler looked entirely unconcerned. "Oh, I don't see any mistake. I do appreciate you putting that little strike force from before to bed, though. Once I've taken care of this loose end here, I'll have to think of a fitting statement to claim victory over them. Silencing the threat to our dear city, and personally finishing off the perpetrators…I'd like to see the bitch campaign against THAT."

"Perpetrators?! Are you nuts?!" squawked Jetrdramon. "We're the ones who stopped this whole damn city from being a smoking hole in the ground!"

"Watch your tongue, beast, or I might just jump the gun on you," Sykes warned.

"It's true! And that's not even close to the end of it! If you think that's all Emperius has to throw at us, you're way off! That was just a taste of what they can do!"

"Oh, I highly doubt that," remarked Wheeler with a derisive laugh. "After all, once we cut off the source of these attacks, then we won't have anything more to worry about. And that's you."

"That's utter rubbish," Ebonvargmon growled. "It wouldn't be in our best interest to fight against them if we were somehow bringing them here! They're the ones who have this world's destruction as one of their goals…all we've been doing is trying to stop them! We haven't been trying to hurt you at all, we even tried to do as little damage to all your attackers as possible!"

"Shut your trap, dog," grunted Redford. "That bitch girl attacked me, you call that no damage?"

Ebonvargmon's eyes flashed. "Call her that one more time, I DARE you."

"Don't get goaded, Wolf," Blazereptimon warned, before turning his attention back to Wheeler. "I don't know what you think you know, but this isn't some weird game we're playing. This is an invading force from another world. We aren't pulling them in, we're fighting AGAINST them. People have seen us. The idea that we're somehow yanking them in just to put on flashy battles is nonsense! This is life or death, people could be killed, we're trying to stop that! You can't seriously believe we're behind this."

Wheeler was silent for a moment, before his grin twisted further. "Heh…well, you're right about one thing. I don't believe it. And you know what? I don't care."

"…What?"

"You simple creatures would never understand what's really at stake here. Maybe you think you know about us because you've been programmed somehow, or you're using humans as hosts - not like a bunch of teenage brats would get it, either - but you're nothing in the long run. You'll be a bad memory before everyone else knows it. There's only one thing that really matters…that I take control of this country and turn it the RIGHT way around. Enough of this pussy 'woke' bullcrap, of people insulting and denigrating this great nation like the ungrateful brats they are. Enough of the PROPER ruling class, as the founders intended it to be, being made to feel like dirt for exercising their rightful dominion while the bottom-feeders get to have their pride and their limelight months and all that nonsense. I'm going to set people STRAIGHT, make them fall in line and bring this nation back to its glory days. And they won't even spend a moment arguing with me once I've single-handedly saved this whole world by taking out you creatures and putting an end to these attacks."

"Y-you…you're a lunatic!" gasped Jetdramon, looking frantically at Sykes and Redford. "Don't tell me you two buy this garbage?!"

"What makes you think I disagree with him?" snorted Sykes haughtily. "It's about time we throw around our military might like we should have decades ago! Back when we were respected and feared by the world for our power. We're gonna fight all the wars we ought to to clean up this world OUR way, and Wheeler'll make sure I can make it happen. Not like that bitch would ever give me a look."

"Don't bother questioning Redford, we already know HIS ambitions," Ebonvargmon said menacingly. "Power-hungry idiots, the lot of you. You'll doom this world to destruction. When Emperius launches their next attack, you'll be slaughtered to a man. You don't have the remotest idea what digimon are capable of."

"Big talk from a little pup," rasped Redford. "If you things can handle them, they can't be that hard to kill. We have plenty of weapons against them, and once they see they're outmatched, they'll turn tail and run like cowards always do."

"You really are clueless!" hissed Blazereptimon. "Emperius won't be stopped by you! They're as relentless and sadistic as you are, and a thousand times more powerful! They wouldn't actually give a damn how many they lose if they win in the end! Get your heads out of your asses, these guys will stop at nothing to get their way, and you'll be overrun before you know it!"

Wheeler let out a wry, acidic laugh, a ghastly sound with toxic undertones. "Oh, we'll be ready. When I'm in charge, failure won't be an option - I'll end this one, and the next one, and every one after that, as many as it takes. You think you're some kind of menace, but you're NOTHING compared to a man like me. I was destined for power, I have everything that the powerful were always meant to have, and I won't be afraid to use it like so many others have been. And when everyone else sees that, they'll know they have nothing to worry about except obedience. Do as I say and they will live…don't make the mistake of being the next enemy in my crosshairs."

Holy crap. I didn't like him before, but I had no idea he was like THIS. He won't listen to us, he doesn't care, as long as he thinks he's going to get the power he wants, there's zero chance he'll rethink his decision… Blazereptimon was starting to feel that anger well up again, but this time tinged with fear…there didn't seem to be any way out of this, not with soldiers all around them ready to gun the three of them down if they tried to book it. He couldn't Thermal Zone, the other two were too close, and they weren't prepared for defense against bullets like this. It seemed like all he could do was try to move at the last second and hope the bullet didn't land a kill shot…or hope that he was physically powerful enough to safely stop a bullet. And he wasn't sure he wanted to count on that.

"Face it, freaks. It's over. You lost. And don't think your others are going to rescue you…we have someone taking care of them as we speak." Wheeler raised the pistol at Blazereptimon's chest. "All your efforts come to nothing, as it should be. Only I am worthy of being the hero here. Anyone else who tries to get in my way, well, they should have known better. General, if you will."

"Of course. You, come here! It's time!" Jetdramon and Ebonvargmon watched aghast as a soldier ran up and handed the general a camera.

"You are so damn twisted it's not even funny!" the dragon snapped furiously. "You're trying to take SNAPSHOTS of our murder?!"

"Since you fiends don't leave bodies, we need the evidence to prove it," Redford bit back. "Inconvenient, though at least it makes for a good tell if you're dead. Besides, I want to be able to look at something and feel that satisfaction again."

"Enough talk," Wheeler said before any of the three could respond to that. "I don't want my moment of glory spoiled by your babbling. Victory is best reveled on in silence, and the dead make no noise."

Blazereptimon wanted to annoy the man by refusing to humor that insane command, but he didn't want to distract himself. He was intently focused on Wheeler, trying to sense when the human was going to fire…he wasn't faster than a bullet, but the right movement at the right time, maybe he could jump just early enough that Wheeler couldn't stop from firing and maybe he'd just get out of the way, or only get winged and could at least get off a Solar Wave and incinerate him before he was cut down. Maybe the other two could get away in the confusion, go help the others before they suffered the same-

POP

—

Ike. There's something funny about this room.

Isaac had to take a moment to realize that he was being mind-spoken to; he was so fixated on listening for potential sounds that he almost didn't even notice it. What do you mean, Data?

I cracked into this place's network and downloaded some schematics to try to see if I could figure out what that code was about and what we could do if someone did find us-

Wait, you just…did that? Isn't there supposed to be security?

Psh, I've been doing this for years, you guys don't have ANY idea what security is like compared to us. For starters, most of our security is actively intelligent and adaptive. Now THAT'S a fun fight. So, yeah, not really a challenge here. But I noticed something…the area this room covers isn't on any of the architectural drawings on any other floor. And the exterior of the building doesn't have a disparity on the 14th floor.

Isaac needed another moment to process the significance of that. …Wait, what? That space has to exist. It can't just not be there.

Right. But the drawings have it as a total blank. Nothing specified. Why is the 14th floor different?

You think this has something to do with the code we were given?

Right now it's as good a bet as any. And if my hypothesis is right…oh, crap.

What?

Datacarnomon rose to his feet, turning towards the door. Signals are distorted because this place is semi-shielded…but I'm pretty sure there are human signals coming our way.

Oh, crap. Isaac rose up as well, and his movement drew attention from the others. What should we do?

Get ready to plug in the code. If it's unfriendlies, we'll need to act fast.

With a nod, the boy moved over towards the keypad, fingers at the ready. They waited with bated breath for any sign of what was coming…and it didn't take nearly long enough for the bad news to make itself known.

"Hah! Just like you said!" A rough, angry voice that sounded too uncomfortably happy for their liking. "Damn, they're just behind there, are they?"

"I would bet my family fortune on it." Another voice, higher and 'posh' and smug, which grated badly against Isaac's ears. "All we need is to get in, and they'll be sitting ducks. I do so love easy kills, effort is for the lesser."

"…How do we get in, though? Did they say anything about a key code?"

"Hm…no, no they did not. Redford would probably know it, but he's supposed to be occupied. I doubt I'll be able to get it from him."

"Dammit! We're gonna have to go back down and grill those twits downstairs! Or find someone else who'll talk at the barrel of a gun! I don't wanna give these things any chance to get away!"

"…Well, now, officer, I don't think we need to be in such a hurry. It's possible there's some bulletproofing, but I doubt it would hurt too much just to try to shoot through and see if we can slaughter them nice and quick." Isaac's eyes shot wide open hearing that. Jesus hell! These people are psychos!

"Oh, yeah, that could work! But ain't there supposed to be kids in there?"

"Pah, they should've known better. Besides, any dead human bodies in there we can easily blame on the monsters. Who's going to doubt us? We saved as many as we could, right?"

"Heh, sounds fine to me. I don't like kids anyway. Little brats. Radio down and let 'em know there'll be fire in a moment."

Isaac wasn't waiting anymore - before Datacarnomon could even signal to him, he slammed his finger against the buttons, almost threatening to break them in his fury. As soon as the code was in, there was a low hum and a thud, and then the room seemed to lurch, making the younger kids yelp.

"Wait! Did you hear something?" It was hard to make out the voice with the hum, and it was the last that they were able to hear as there was a sudden feeling of movement in the room. Now everyone was looking up with wild eyes at Isaac.

"Oy, little bro!" Ashley whispered hoarsely. "What gives?"

"…I think we just started an elevator," Isaac said slowly.

"You 'think?'"

"He thinks, I know," affirmed Datacarnomon. "That was why the space on the schematics was empty - they needed space for the elevator shaft. Their 'last resort' was a way out of the building that isn't connected to the rest of the building at all."

"How do you know they aren't waiting at the other end?" hissed Talomon.

"Because I don't think they know this IS an elevator," said Isaac. "Even the guy who gave us the code didn't know…they can't be prepared for something they don't even know exists. But that gives US the problem of not knowing where we're gonna come out..."

"You don't know what's at the other end?" asked Shockavimon nervously.

"Blank spaces aren't the greatest sources of information," sighed Datacarnomon. "But it has to be better than live rounds, right?"

"I sure hope so," Iris said shakily. "God, the EVIL in those people…"

"Were they…saying what I thought they were saying?" asked Kirsten fearfully.

"They were DEFINITELY saying what you thought they were saying, and let's not say anything more than that," insisted Ashley. No one argued that - the younger kids didn't need to hear in more detail what they had just narrowly avoided.

There wasn't much longer to contemplate things, as the elevator shuddered to a halt. Everything went still, no one saying anything as they waited for something to happen. When nothing did, Isaac moved towards the keypad again. "Probably a manual open…Data, any idea how far down we are?"

"Sub-ground-level, not excessively," the robot reported. "I'm gonna have to train you on sensing these things yourself, now that you're getting some machine in you."

"Yeah, well, that's gonna have to wait until we're out of this mess. Any signs of life?"

"Nothing outside of here. It's as safe as it's gonna get leaving…we probably don't want to sit around here, just in case someone figures out how to summon this thing back up that we don't want to meet."

"That's as good a reason as any to get moving," agreed Iris, as she stood up and helped Cayden to his feet. "Let's get going and hope we don't run into any ugly bugs or spiders."

"Going where?" asked Dorumon. "You just want us to walk down some strange hallway without any idea what's on the other end? You humans need to get some survival instincts!"

"Hush," growled Shadowdramon. "The further we are from those madmen, the better. Besides, this world doesn't have the same kind of dangers as ours."

"I'm not sold that I'd take theirs over ours at this point," muttered Crestmon. "But he's right, in here is too close for comfort."

"Mmph…" Dorumon didn't look convinced. "Fine, I guess. But if anything happens to Benny…"

Not that I'm complaining, but how the heck did they flip so quickly? Iris pathed to Shockavimon. They were ready to put you under just days ago, and now Dorumon and Talomon and Felismon are defending Benny and Cayden and Alisin like their lives depended on it. At least Shadowdramon and Elecmon got talked into submission…

I think it's part of our nature, replied Shockavimon. Most digimon - well, the ones who aren't completely lost, anyway - are wired to see children as non-combatants and to be protected from that kind of stuff at all costs…the ones who don't are basically considered the most evil among evil. You and your friends are in a weird in-between that we don't really have, and they don't know as much about humans as we did, so I don't think they see you that way, but those three come off as young enough that it's unmistakable. That protective urge, plus probably a desperate need for acceptance…Emperius didn't treat them well, Crestmon told us that, so they probably were starved for some kind of feeling of belonging and someone caring about them. The kids gave them that unconditionally…

It all made enough sense to Iris - and gave yet one more reason to make sure they all got out all right. "All right, let's get moving. But Dorumon, if you're worried about safety, we'll make sure we're as safe as possible. Shadowdramon, dark as it is, you're the best to detect anything that we don't want to run into, I want you up from with Isaac and Data, their sensors or whatever should help. Commandramon, Crestmon, you guys take one side, Shockavimon and I will take the other. Ashley, Kirsten, Elecmon, behind the kids to make sure they don't get separated. Dorumon, Talomon, Felismon, you three stay with them and make sure if anything happens, you don't lose sight of them."

"Hey, I don't remember asking to take orders from anyone," griped Talomon.

"Are you really gonna say no to this?" Felismon asked leadingly.

"I…well, no, but still…"

"Complain about it later then," said Ashley, already getting into her position. She flashed a smile at Iris. "Pretty smooth there…wasn't expecting that from all I knew of you. Then again, I wouldn't've expected the whole 'turning into a lightning bird' thing either."

"I guess I'm just full of surprises," replied Iris, though she felt a bit of pride about that. Though something else poked at her as she felt that…but there wasn't any time to dwell on it, they needed to move.

—

Back at the BICI, if things had been tense before, now they were threatening to snap right apart, as Landon Colress and Burt Cragland burst out of the stairwell angrily, only to freeze as three weapons were trained right on them. Emil, Elliot, and Elias were keeping them from going any further, but they still weren't ready to fire yet, knowing that these two weren't the biggest problem they had to deal with…but if they were going to go down, at least the two of them weren't going to escape the consequences.

"Treacherous worms," spat Colress, hand on his gun still but not raising it up. "You thought you were clever, setting us up like that? I'll make sure you suffer for that."

"You'll have to delegate, because one step out of line and we'll at least make sure you two don't leave here alive," Elliot replied stoically. "Don't think we didn't hear you shooting up there. Willing to slaughter children for your bloodlust, you're twisted."

"Look who's acting all high and mighty, the bastards who sold out our entire world to these freaks!" raged back Cragland, looking for all the world like he was going to lift his gun and start shooting at any moment. "Where did you send them?! We know what you did, we saw the ropes through those goddamned holes!"

They escaped… Emil's heart lightened just a little bit as he steeled himself against the two. There didn't seem to be any way to save himself, but knowing Iris was out of danger, if only for the moment, would hopefully be the one last comfort he could take with him. "You'll never know where they went. Maybe you should be focused on the here and now."

"I'll focus on what I goddamned want to focus on! Tell us NOW or this whole building's gonna run red with blood!"

"Why should any of us tell you anything?" snapped Elias. "You wanna go on about how monsters are gonna kill everyone, yet you're gonna do the exact same thing? Seems like you guys are the REAL monsters here. And if you think what monsters oughta be is shot until there's nothing left…"

"Subhuman savage." Colress looked like he'd just sucked on a lemon as he glowered at Elias. "Merely taking you out of this world is too good for you, your entire name should be scoured into the dirt for your traitorousness."

"Anyone ever told you you talk like a comic book villain? Far as I'm concerned, one less of you for one less of me is a trade the world wins."

"You even try and I'll plug you through the skull!" roared Cragland.

"You won't even get the chance!" snapped Elliot, barely holding back from shooting - the ex-cop was a bomb waiting to blow, it was hard to have restraint when he was waving that gun around so haphazardly, any one of those motions could have been to point and fire. Is there a point to bothering? Whoever shoots first, we're all dead…in fact, us not shooting first might put that in jeopardy, since it's what comes after…

He nearly let himself get distracted the sound of a commotion from the front of the building. Something was happening, he wasn't sure what, he couldn't see from where he was, none of them could. But Colress sure seemed to think it was good news for him, as that sickly smug expression came back, if marred by a sourness it hadn't had before. "Well, well…looks like your time is up after all. They must be coming to back us up since they haven't heard anything from us…they know what the right side is, unlike a certain few someones here."

"Go on, just TRY to shoot us…they might decide not to stop at you three," goaded Cragland aggressively. "What's it gonna be? Take us out and let them all run this whole place over, or surrender and let them hold you down while we put bullets between your eyes like you deserve?"

And no guarantee they'll stop there once we're finished, thought Emil grimly. It almost seemed like it would be worth it…but before he he could convince himself beyond the point of no return, the doors burst open and soldiers poured in. "EVERYONE, WEAPONS DOWN, ON YOUR KNEES, NOW!"

"Perfect timing, men," Colress said, turning towards the soldiers with a smirk, but that rapidly vanished as he suddenly had half a dozen assault rifles trained on him.

"I SAID DOWN, NOW!"

Cragland and Colress were shocked silent, completely flummoxed by that sudden turn - and Elliot, Emil, and Elias were feeling no less so. After a moment the two surrendered as ordered, their guns laid on the ground and the two descending to their knees as the soldiers kept their weapons trained on all of them. Only then did the soldiers lower their weapons, but the threat wasn't completely gone as they approached, a dozen of them keeping things in check as they accosted the five men.

Elliot, Emil, and Elias were brought back into the main office area and made to take a seat. None of them questioned it, the gruff orders suggested that this was NOT a Q&A session. Eventually after a bunch of chatter between themselves and through radios, one of the soldiers came over to them, and pointed to Emil and Elliot. "You two. Badges and ID, now." Both of them complied in a hurry, wary of the weapon the soldier was carrying, not trained on them but still quite uncomfortably close and dangerous. In seconds their badges and IDs were in front of the soldier, who took a quick glance at them and then turned and nodded to another. "They're Braun BICI."

"Good. They're clear." The other looked hard at Elias, who shrank back a bit under that gaze. "You, name. Don't think I can't find out from your unit."

Elias gulped. "E-elias Corazón, sir. I…I'm a deserter. I left them before the attack started, they…I couldn't go through with what they were doing…"

The solider looked skeptical, but turned towards Emil and Elliot. Emil spoke up quickly - he still wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but him and Elliot being 'clear' sounded like more than he'd dared to hope for, and he didn't want one of their few allies getting caught up in that. "He's been helping us all day, I can confirm. He's on our side."

"…What do you think?" the second soldier asked his fellow.

"I don't see any reason why they would lie about this. Especially given what we saw when we got in." The first soldier nodded towards the trio. "Right, you three stay right where you are for the moment while we secure things. This has been mess enough already."

"Secure things?" Emil questioned.

The soldier didn't respond, but even if he had tried to, the outburst from the far side of the room would have interrupted him anyway. All three's eyes widened as they caught glimpses of Landon Colress and Burt Cragland being escorted under physical restrained through the room. "This is an outrage! This is madness! You can't be doing this to me!" shouted Colress with almost tangible affront mingled with panic. "We're saving this world, how dare you manhandle me like this!"

"What's the matter with you people?!" Cragland sounded even louder than ever, and he had been loud enough to start with. "Are you some kind of idiots?! We're trying to stop MONSTERS out there!"

The three exchanged looks - this was decidedly NOT the response that had been threatened by the two of them. They weren't sure what had changed, but the fact that they weren't dead on the floor right at that moment felt like a minor miracle. There was another conference among the soldiers in the middle of the room, before the first one turned back towards Emil, Elliot, and Elias. "They were the only two who were inside the building beyond the entryway?"

"As far as we're aware," affirmed Elliot. "The others were allegedly stationed as backup if something happened to them. This building doesn't have other entrances, only one-way exits, and no one else in here would have let anyone in."

"We're still going to have to secure the building. We also had word that there were…evacuees?"

Emil nodded. "Yes…mostly children, a few young adults, and some…uh…"

"Digi-mon?" Emil's eyes widened hearing that word come out of a stranger's mouth. "That was the term we got in briefing. I don't know a whole lot more, but I assume that those are what everyone else is calling monsters."

"You…wait…where…how did you…"

"Directives from Ferrum. Our orders were to secure the BICI and its defenders, both human and digimon, and ensure their safety, with further information to come later."

Ferrum! That was a code word that Elliot and Emil knew more than well enough. "Then we need your help!" Emil declared. "There are a few different egress points for the evacuation route, but one of them is more secure than the others, they're most likely going to go there. We need to ensure their safety at the other end…no one should know about this, but if there are any other of those invaders walking around…"

"Then we'll need details. And some way to ensure that they don't mistake us for the wrong side. We've…been given the impression that they can be dangerous if they need to be."

"…I think I know how we can do that, sir," offered Elias.

—

Something unexpected had happened. Blazereptimon had heard a gunshot, and he wasn't dead.

Jonah Wheeler let out a cry as the gun dropped from his hand, holding his wrist in pain. General Sykes had dropped the camera and was scrambling to grab for his own gun again, but a sharp, fierce voice called out before he could draw it.

"STAND. DOWN."

The evening was not yet finished with surprises, as everyone looked over in shock. Through the gap in trees stood another unexpected figure, brandishing a pistol which was currently smoking, flanked by armed men with their weapons raised and backed by a regiment of soldiers which were spreading out behind the group, taking aim at the rogue soldiers who were backing off and surrendering.

And Wheeler's look of fury had suddenly evaporated, replaced with abject horror. "You!"

"The next shot won't be to disarm. Consider this your only warning, ex-Secretary Wheeler." She stood far taller than her stature would have suggested, dwarfed by the Secret Service agents around her and yet somehow more imposing than all of them. Dressed in a familiar suit, black with dark stripes that were only barely perceptible yet just about anyone would remember them when asked. Her expression steely and unyielding, regardless of whether she was smiling or frowning, or full of measured fury as it was now.

Marina Herrera. The Iron Woman.

"…How…how dare you…protect these things!" Wheeler was clearly trying to scramble, looking petrified even as he spoke up. "They're…they're a menace! They're trying to destroy our country, and you…you'd just…sit back and watch!"

"I've heard how little you think of me, Jonah, but you shouldn't believe your own lies." The gun she was holding was lowered, but the President was far from non-threatening still, especially as the men flanking her kept at the ready as they moved forwards. "Did you really think I didn't have some idea what was going on? That you were actually keeping me in the dark with your inept crony while I was stuck overseas? I pay attention beyond my own nose, Jonah. The only traitors here are you and those who went along with you as you tried to attack the ones who were ACTUALLY defending our country - and who were trying to warn us weeks back, another fact you tried and failed to hide from me."

"That…no…" Wheeler rounded on Redford. "You said they weren't letting anything through! You said everything was being directed to me!"

"It was! I swear it was!" protested Redford. "I talked to them every day, they were catching it all up and sealing it down!"

"That's what they were trying to do," stated Herrera icily. "How fortunate, then, that someone took the initiative to set up a duplication relay for all incoming information. Preserving a copy of everything that came in before you could lock it down, because they didn't trust the suddenly shady behavior of a few agents who will not be able to find jobs for a LONG time. I was briefed on everything that came in on the trip over here - how they contacted us multiple times, telling us about the threat and what was at stake, warnings that should have been heeded…until you locked them down and barred people from taking overt action, so that you could try to start your coup here."

Wheeler went white. "C-coup?! That-"

"That is EXACTLY what I would call it when a man seizes control of a military force and uses it to invade one of our own cities. This was a blatant attempt to seize power, and you and everyone else here knows it. And worse, to try to kill these heroes who have been doing everything possible to protect us, while you make it as hard as you can for them to stand up for us…the trials for sedition are going to be made VERY public, and your crimes VERY well-broadcast."

"You can't! You can't do that!" Sykes burst out frantically, struggling against the agent who was handcuffing him. "We'll make sure they know! That you were protecting monsters that were trying to destroy us! YOU'LL be the one ruined! We'll be vindicated!"

"They're a menace! They're freaks that tried to kill me!" yelled Redford.

"You think you're such a big-shot, but everyone will know the truth!" roared Wheeler, pulling hard at his own arraigner. "The people have seen what's going on here! They've seen that these destructive beasts will rain death on them while you stand by and do nothing! They will have the TRUTH!"

Herrera did not flinch from the attacks. Instead, she held out her hand, and one of the remaining agents handed her a tablet. A few quick swipes, and then she turned it towards them all. "You're right about one thing, Jonah. The people will have the truth…in fact, they already have, more than you ever knew."

Jaws dropped as a video played - footage that was immediately familiar to Blazereptimon and Ebonvargmon, a camera capturing the fight against Ogremon and Boogeymon, plenty of somewhat obscured footage but also a lot of clear images of both of them. Marina swiped across, and another video played, clear footage of Jetdramon during his helicopter rescue and subsequent elimination of Pteramon. Another swipe, and Blazereptimon was even more stunned to see a clandestine capture of the fight against Ashinkaimon - one that he'd thought had been completely private. Bloody hell, how often were we caught that we never knew about?!

"The world has seen what they've been doing," continued Herrera, her voice getting a bite to it. "They've seen, and they've been cheering them on. Every new video or image that comes up, our good friends at the CIA have made SURE that it's been spread around, and from there it's taken nothing to make it fly around like wildfire. Millions upon millions of people aware of the truth, of how fiercely they've been fighting against other terrifying creatures with nothing but malice in their hearts. And you, ever the ignorant fool, never thought or cared about what they might already know…you were too busy plotting about the only thing you ever did care about - yourself. Well, you'll have plenty of time to focus on yourself when you're sitting in detention." Herrera nodded to her agents. "Secure them and don't let anyone talk to them. I want them secluded from everyone else."

"Yes, ma'am." The agents marched the disgraced men off, following a good amount of the military contingent escorting the renegade soldiers. The symbiotes suddenly found themselves in a much more peaceful, less threatening situation, something that seemed unimaginable minutes ago…the sighs of relief were quite audible.

"…I owe you three the biggest of apologies." President Herrera turned her gaze on the three. "I let myself be deceived about him for far too long. I thought surrounding myself with different voices would help ensure I didn't build an echo chamber around myself…it's a harsh lesson that I need to choose those voices FAR more carefully."

"All's forgiven on our end," chuckled Jetdramon. "I thought I was gonna be aerated there for the longest time!"

"Jetdramon!" snapped Ebonvargmon. "Decorum, please!"

"I'm…astonished you would actually show up here in person," said Blazereptimon, still in a state of shock. "On a day like this of all days, it's couldn't possibly be more dangerous."

"I couldn't trust that they'd hear me if I didn't…or listen, even if they did. Sometimes you need to take a risk to get things done…something I have a feeling you are already well aware of." For the first time, they saw a smile on her face - though, like every other expression she had, it was one that spoke of toughness. "I only have parts of the story, I'm certain of it…I want to know everything, from start to finish, so that I can make sure we take the right action. It's high time you got proper support out here."

"I couldn't agree more," replied Blazereptimon with a nod. "But, uh, first order of business…there's a building in town that's probably under a lot of pressure right now…"

"Already done. I diverted most of the soldiers we mobilized to defusing the situation there when I got the report in. Hopefully before they did too much damage. I have more orders out to help shore up the city's defenses, but it will take some time for them to arrive…I want to be able to get them caught up as soon as possible."

"As long as we have everyone we're supposed to, we'll be in as good of shape as we've ever been," said Ebonvargmon. "Then yes, let's get somewhere more comfortable and get you up to speed."

—

The group's transit through the tunnel was not in complete darkness, as it turned out, though it wasn't exactly well-lit either. There were a few very dim lights pockmarking the upper walls of the tunnel, with dust and grime blocking most of the output. No one felt like taking the time to clean them off given the circumstances, and how much it would have helped was debatable anyway.

They kept to formation as they trudged beneath, the main focus being guarding the three youngest. Thankfully, they seemed to have calmed down somewhat from the state they'd been in before, though none of them looked particularly happy…then again, that was true of the rest of the group as well, so perhaps that was to be expected. Still, they were getting the best they could hope for at the moment - no interference from the front and no pursuit from the back.

After a fair bit of walking, Isaac held up a hand as he slowed down. "Looks like we're coming upon some kinda door. Looks big and heavy, maybe wrought-iron. Hopefully not rusted shut…if it is, we may be held up for a while while Data tries to get us in."

"I could try to open it too," offered Crestmon.

"Hm, maybe plan B. First let's see if we actually need that." Isaac stepped forward, making a face. "Phew…smells kinda nasty here. I hope there's not something decaying in the walls here, that would be…not a pleasant thought."

"Smells more like a sewer than rot," remarked Felismon.

"That would NOT be an improvement," Kirsten muttered with a shudder.

"It's not easy to tell, but I don't detect anything beyond," Datacarnomon reported. "We might as well go for it if we can."

"Okay, let's try it." Isaac steeled himself and pulled down on the heavy handle. He expected it to have a lot more resistance, but it gave pretty easily under his efforts, and he was able to push the door out. Immediately, they were assaulted with dank, rank air, which made all of them recoil. "Jesus hell! That's disgusting!"

"Ooh, I think I might be ill…" Crestmon moaned tensely.

"THIS is supposed to be an escape route?" Ashley gacked. "Are you sure we didn't miss a turn or something?"

"Maybe it really IS a sewer…" Felismon stuck her tongue out. "Some way out! Who'd do something like this?"

"I think you're right," agreed Shockavimon. "There's definitely running water in there. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I don't think a sewer is something that should ever be dual-use."

"They usually aren't," said Isaac, retching a bit. "Which makes this an anomaly. It can't have been like this when it was made…they must've run it through this area because that would keep people from coming in the other end. But where does it come out? Sewer water's gotta run through the treatment plant, they can't just dump it out in the river like this."

"Well…maybe the path diverts?" asked Commandramon. "We might as well follow it…it's not like we have many other options…eugh, much as I'd rather not…"

"Do we really have to go in there?" asked Alisin.

"We'll try to get through it as quickly as possible," promised Kirsten.

"Agreed, I don't know how long I could handle this," Dorumon groaned.

Reluctance aside, the group entered into the sewer area. The walkway was narrow enough that they couldn't stay in their original formation; they had to move to more of a two-wide line, with the digimon mostly staying closer to the water and the humans closer to the walls. To call it unpleasant was an understatement - the smell did not get any better as they traveled, and the walkway was slick and slimy, making the footing somewhat treacherous. The younger of the group seemed to have a harder time keeping their footing, which slowed things down and made them have to work harder to keep upright. To make matters worse, the lighting down there was far worse than the corridor, bad enough that Iris and Shockavimon were having to use their electric abilities to hold balls of lightning above them just to see anything. With all that on top of everything else, moods were quite precipitously low.

And Datacarnomon didn't think the new information was going to help matters. "I'm getting a sense of this place…but it's not a good one. There's multiple branching paths."

"What the heck were they thinking with this?" asked Ashley incredulously.

"Probably that they didn't want their escapees hemmed in to one location that could be hunted down and swarmed," remarked Isaac tensely. "I've got a more important question, where does that leave us? We've got to take one of them, what's the best one? And can we even get out of any of them?"

"…Look, if I could answer every question, I would," growled Datacarnomon. "Any knowledge is good knowledge."

"Yeah, well, incomplete knowledge is not super helpful knowledge," countered Kirsten.

"Wait!" Everyone stopped as Cayden suddenly cried out. "I remember something! Wally said he and some of his, uh, buddies or something, they would hang out by some mystery place near the river, and near the, uh, the…he, uh, he called it a 'WTP.' He said they could never get in but it was supposed to have some secret hidden inside, he said they all talked about what could be in there! M-maybe this is that?"

"'WTP' has to be 'water treatment plant,'" mused Isaac. "So if we keep going towards the plant...Data, do you know anything about the branches?"

"Uh…let's see…one looks like it directly exits to the river - that doesn't follow the sewer, but it's also definitely the most accessible from the outside, so if someone did catch on to what was going on it's definitely the riskiest. There's another branch that splits at least once more, but only one of them clearly keeps following the river…I'd bet that that's the one we want to follow."

"Now's not the time to be betting, Data," remarked Shockavimon.

"Ah, I, uh, that was…j-just a figure of speech…"

"Uh-huh. I know you too well, you're playing mind games with yourself again. Make a secret bet to get your fix in…"

"Mmph…sorry, yeah. I'll, uh…I'll try to push that outta my head…"

"Is this necessary?" Shadowdramon griped impatiently. "Every second I'm down here feels like my scales are getting slimier. I'd rather get going so we can get out of here already."

"I can't argue with that."

They started moving again, Datacarnomon leading the way along with Shadowdramon. Everyone seemed to have settled down a little bit, with the prospect of a more concrete direction in front of them…unfortunately, that didn't last very long, as Benny started to shake and cry. Kirsten hurried up towards him, trying to settle him down. "It's okay, Benny…we're not gonna be in here much longer. Just keep walking with us, okay?"

"But…but…what if there's monsters down here?"

"Benny, it's okay, there…aren't…" Kirsten trailed off, as her reassurance suddenly felt hollow. "Uh…hey, any of you want to, uh, reassure me that there's no digimon that likes to hang out in sewers or anything?"

The sudden evasive looks from all the digimon did not set anyone at ease. "Well…I mean, I'd LIKE to reassure you of that…" Crestmon said nervously.

"Oh, for the love of god…" Ashley facepalmed. "Okay, what are we looking at here?"

"Only the foulest, grossest digimon around," Dorumun grunted, sticking her tongue out. "They aren't STRONG, really, but no one wants to go against them. The main ones are the Numemon and the Sukamon, and their variants."

"How bad is it?" asked Iris.

Talomon snarled. "Three words: poop-flinging attack."

"Ew!" Cayden gasped.

"But theoretically, we shouldn't run into any of them," countered Shadowdramon. "To my memory, Emperius didn't have any of them in their ranks. Numemon like to be in swarms of their kind, they have a very strength-in-numbers mindset to offset their general weakness…their attacks are disgusting but not particularly damaging, meaning they weren't sought-after as members. Sukamon are slightly more dangerous because of their claws, but Emperius didn't have any of them around either."

"I'm still not gonna feel safe until we're out of here," groaned Kirsten.

"You're gonna feel safe out there?" asked Iris. "I don't feel safe anywhere in this city anymore, and I'm the one who can electrocute people."

"Guys, we really shouldn't be staying stopped like this," said Isaac, his voice strained. "The longer we stay still, the greater the chances I'm gonna add to the grossness."

That got things moving once again, but they were all just a little bit more wary - Shadowdramon's reassurances aside, none of them were particularly thrilled about the idea that it was possible to run into something down there. Still, all seemed to be going well enough, and at the branch, Datacarnomon led them down the direction that seemed most likely to get them where they wanted to go. There was another branch up ahead, but that one was pretty easy to parse, with one direction going off well away from the river. The ordeal was still unpleasant, but it didn't seem like it could get any worse.

So of course it did. Datacarnomon suddenly froze in mid-step. "Signals! Unknown number! They're closing in…but I don't see them? Where are they…oh, no, don't tell me-"

"AAGH!" Alisin screamed as the water suddenly splashed up, and several green slug creatures leapt up, hurling discolored piles of dung towards the group. Almost as suddenly as they appeared, they were gone - courtesy of gunfire from Commandramon, a blast of dark breath from Shadowdramon, shots from Datacarnomon, and an electric strike from Elecmon. But at least some damage had been done, if only psychologically - Crestmon, Talomon, and Commandramon got the worst of the splash, while Kirsten had been forced to block one of the dung projectiles with her arm, leaving a nasty smear on it.

"What the good holy hell was that?!" Isaac exclaimed.

"Numemon," growled Datacarnomon. "So much for none of them working with Emperius…"

"They must have been brought in while I was over here…" Shadowdramon snarled. "But why? No one wanted to team with them."

"Well, they did, and now some of our number are soaked with stinky sewer water." Shockavimon looked grimly over at the trio of victims, all of whom were trying very hard not to throw up. "I know it's crude to think 'at least it's not me,' but…"

"Guh…huugh…" Crestmon was on his hands and knees, dry heaving a bit. "This is the worst…"

"Well, this is just great…I sure hope that's the worst thing we run into down here," Iris said with a shudder.

"You might want to hold that thought…"

"Data, I swear, I don't care if you're a robot, I'm going to throttle you."

"Don't kill the messenger. I'm picking up another signal…it's not moving, but it's just past the corner and on the path we need to take." Datacarnomon shook his head. "And I thought the worst of it was going to be the stench."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure you're suffering, mister 'I can turn off my senses on cue,'" Shockavimon snapped.

"GUYS. We need to GO so I can CLEAN myself OFF." Kirsten's sharp tone left no room for argument, and the digimon hurried up towards the front so that they could meet the potential threat head-on. There was a palpable tension as they reached the corner and turned, wondering what they would be greeted with - another disgusting sewer digimon, or something worse?

Even when they saw it, it was hard to know the answer. The creature was laying on the unsanitary walkway floor, looking to be either asleep or unconscious. It was a humanoid-looking crocodilian creature with a long, somewhat narrower snout, a darker green in color, with lighter green and blue armor covering its chest, head, knees, lower legs, forearms, and tail. Its hands had armored knuckles, with the armor looking sharp and fang-like.

"Okay, I've heard of 'sewer gators,' but this is ridiculous," Isaac cracked.

"It's Gharialmon," Shadowdramon said cautiously. "That one IS one of ours…er, one of Emperius's. Though, he wasn't exactly thought of highly… 'insufficient devotion to the cause,' was what I kept hearing. Hard to believe he'd be part of who they sent over on a mission like this…"

"If he thought this was a fine place for a quick nap, I question both his sanity and intelligence," Ashley said. "But he's in our way…we can't let him wake up while we're trying to pass, or even after, we'll be trapped if something doesn't go our way on the end of this stupid path."

Datacarnomon nodded. "Well, then, I guess it's confrontation time. Get ready, because we don't know how he'll react to being woken up."

"Can it be any worse than Reyn?" Shockavimon jibed.

"I'm in no hurry to find out. Ready…" Once the others had braced themselves, Datacarnomon let out a synthesized roar that jolted Gharialmon awake. In moments the reptile was on his feet, looking around wide-eyed in shock. Once his eyes landed on the group, he took a hop back, raising his fists and readying for a fight.

For a moment there was a standoff, the group of smaller but much more prepared digimon versus the larger, stronger, but outnumbered one. Each one waiting for the other to make the first move…and then, suddenly, unexpectedly, Gharialmon dropped his fists. "Ah, ta hell with it. I can't beat all y'all." The thick drawl, reminiscent of a southerner, sounded oddly appropriate on him.

"…Well, then, I suppose there's no need for a battle." Shadowdramon lowered his sword. "It's been a while, Gharialmon."

"Yeh, reckon you could say that." Gharialmon scratched his brow nervously. "Didn't think I'd catch ya like this though…herdin' humans through a place like this? Y'all really did flip the big one to the big E, din'tcha?"

"They turned on us first," snapped Talomon. "They sent freaking Ashinkaimon on us!"

"Oof…that was what the holy bitch was doin' with that? Overkill much?"

"The holy…hey, mind your language, okay?" Kirsten chided. "There are little kids here!"

Gharialmon cocked his head. "Huh? Whazzat matter?"

"Who's the, uh, holy not-nice-lady they're talking about?" asked Iris.

"That'd be D'arcmon," Felismon said. "She's the definite wannabe head honcho, though wannabe is as close as she's gotten. You either follow her and are devoted to her, or you don't and you think she's the biggest pain in the tail there is. She thinks she has a whole lot more power and influence than she actually has, and she wants even more than she thinks she has."

Isaac filed that away for future reference, hoping that his new mechanical integration would help with his memory. "Okay, that's a useful bit of info, but for the here and now, I'm more wanting to know what you're doing down here, and whether you're with those Numemon that popped out at us a couple minutes ago."

"Oy…well, I ain't got much defense, really…" sighed Gharialmon. "They wanted me in charge'a those little bastards 'cuz they didn't trust 'em on their own. They, ah, ain't strictly Emperius…just a buncha mercenaries. Emperius thought they oughta be good fer gettin' inside human houses without anyone bein' ready for it, and wanted me ta set 'em up while the whole shebang was goin' down ta soften the humans up."

"…I'm going to have BAD dreams about that," Ashley shuddered.

"So there's a bunch of these creatures trying to swim up drainpipes now?" Isaac asked tensely.

"Was the plan, but it ain't happenin'. They needed me ta stop the water flow, they ain't strong enough to get through the pipes as they are…but I got the, y'know, cold feet. 'Tweren't like I loved the idea ta start with, seemed kinda sneaky-mean far's I was concerned…but they demanded it, 'cuz I'm a hydrokin, y'know? But I got here an' I couldn't go through with it…told 'em scum-sucking slugs I didn't want to, and they roughed me up good…ain't sure where they are now but I'm bettin' they're still somewhere down here…"

"We might've taken them out already," Commandramon reported. "If there were only like four or five of them."

"Ah…reckon 'yer off by a factor 'a 25 or so."

"Oh, isn't that just LOVELY…" Kirsten groaned. "More chances to get contaminated…god, I really wish I could wash up right now…"

"Eh? You need a wash-up?" Gharialmon rubbed his head. "I could help with that…my water's a lot cleaner than anything down here, for sure."

"Your…water?"

"He's a hydrokin digimon, he can use and create water," explained Commandramon.

"How the heck is THAT supposed to work?" asked Ashley incredulously.

"Same way I can fire off electric shots effortlessly," Elecmon replied.

"I'm not going to complain if it can clean me off." Kirsten stepped forward, holding out her marred arm. "Do your thing, gator-dude."

"Er, yeah, a'right…" Gharialmon somewhat nervously brought his hands together and pulled them apart, forming a growing sphere of clear water between them. As Kirsten held her arm out, he compelled the water over it, making it swirl around and breaking up the streak of feces. Once it was gone, the water orb dropped and splashed onto the walkway, and Kirsten pulled her arm back, feeling a bit of relief; whether or not it was totally sanitized was hard to say, but it felt a lot less grody.

"He definitely does not seem so bad," remarked Isaac.

"He never did really fit the Emperius mold," agreed Talomon.

"Okay, this is all well and good, but we're still down here and it's not getting any less stinky," Shockavimon said. "So, Gharialmon, if you're not interested in fighting us, you need to either let us pass or come with us."

Gharialmon rubbed his head uncertainly. "Well…reckon I ain't gonna last long all on my lonesome. Might's well tag along for the moment at least…'specially since I don't know where those damned Numemon went, and I ain't champin' at the bit for a rematch."

"Then let's keep going," agreed Shadowdramon. "Trust me, you've made the right decision." The gator didn't look totally at ease with that, but joined along with, sticking towards the front. After the unwelcome disruption and a sudden new ally, they were finally on their way again, traipsing through the dark, narrow, fetid corridors in hopes of coming out better at the other end…though with considerably more apprehension knowing there was a cadre of nauseating Numemon potentially lurking anywhere along their path. And it wasn't sitting well with Ashley in particular that they seemed to be blind to the location of the threat.

"Are you SURE you can't just use your crazy robot powers to find them?"

"Ash, he's not magic," grumbled Isaac.

"He's sufficiently-advanced technology, that's supposed to be close enough!"

"I promise you I'm trying," Datacarnomon sighed. "I've got the range dialed up to the maximum here, but nothing is popping up. I even set it to specifically detect Numemon to increase the sensitivity. I could detect those few in the water before, but only when they got close. I thought it was water interference, but then even I should have been ambushed before…"

A nasty thought suddenly occurred to Shockavimon. "Data? You remember when we first encountered, uh, certain members of our group and you were having trouble detecting them?"

"What's that got…oh…guh."

"What are you talking about?" Talomon asked blankly.

"The jamming units, doofus," Felismon chided. "You know, those 'stupid gadgets' you didn't want to carry because you were too eager to try to cut things until Shadowdramon told you he wasn't going to bring you if you didn't take one."

"Oh. Right. Wait, those things made you invisible to guys like him? Why didn't they say that?"

"They did," said Elecmon drolly. "You didn't listen."

"If they were willing to spare some of them for us, it wouldn't be far-fetched for them to provide at least one to the Numemon," Shadowdramon mused. "Especially if it was meant to be a stealth attack. Gharialmon, you didn't happen to see them carrying anything like that, did you?"

Gharialmon thought for a moment. "Can't say fer certain, but I mighta seen somethin', not that I could tell y'all what it was…little bastards weren't lettin' me in on much'a their plans, I was jus' their way in."

"So we can't see them even with robo-eyes," sighed Kirsten. "That sounds lovely…what happens if they get someone to replace Gharialmon and do what they wanted to do?"

"We're going to have to figure that out when we have the time to," groaned Iris. "Not looking forward to having to scour sewers again…but unless they show up right in front of us, we can't really worry about that now."

"Now that you've said it, it's going to happen," remarked Dorumon grimly.

"You know what, if Murphy wants to ding me for this, he can have at it, it'll mean one less trip down here. And this one's already been long enough. Data, can you at least tell us how much further we have?"

Datacarnomon nodded. "THAT I can help with. I'm not registering any more branches, just one turn about…half a mile or so down? So any luck, we'll be out of here in 15 to 20."

"Soon, then," mumbled Commandramon. "Then maybe I can jump in the river and clean off a bit."

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you don't want to use a city river for cleanliness," remarked Isaac. "Even after the clean-up it's still not great."

"I might take my chances," countered Crestmon.

The unpleasant stroll continued, the speed aided a bit by Kirsten carrying a clearly weary Benny on her back. The hope became a little more guardedly optimistic with no further sign of assailants and the amount of ground to cover slowly diminishing. Iris took this time to learn a little more about Gharialmon - she wanted to be totally sure they weren't making a mistake letting him come along, he'd been amicable enough but trust was not in the longest of supply. "What's your story, Gharialmon? How did you come to be in Emperius?"

"Ah, well… 'tweren't a fancy novel or anythin' like that. Was sent there with a buncha others, part'a some kinda deal with Emperius an' the gov'ner of our town. She wants ta take a big chunk'a the wastes and make 'em a giant swampland or somethin'." Gharialmon shrugged. "Ain't totally sure I get it, ain't like we're needin' a ton more space at da marsh or nothin'…but it were a simple trade, manpower for Emperius and other sorts'a power for her. She sent a bunch'a her cronies along, and a bunch'a us who didn't like her too…ain't as many'a them left anymore, most either ate it or bolted, an' the ones that bolted, they ain't anywhere nearby if they know what's good fer them. Emperius don't take lightly ta ditchers or turncoats. Kinda felt like I shoulda done the same, but I ain't good at hidin'…"

It seemed a likely enough story, from what they'd all learned about Emperius…Iris felt bad for him, just another unwilling conscript trying to survive. She'd gotten the sense that those ones had probably done a lot less of the more monstrous things Emperius was infamous for…she couldn't imagine someone as nervous as the Veedramon from before being willing to take part in hunting down traitors. Especially when they have enough of the zealots at their beck and call…I wonder, though, how many they turn from unwilling to eager. Or just take advantage of other things, like Shadowdramon's obsession with fighting. We still have to be careful, not everyone with a sympathetic backstory remains that way…

"Won't be long now…yeah, here's the bend. Probably just a couple more minutes." Datacarnomon sounded relatively relieved. "Yeah, there's a clear terminus here, we're almost done."

"Thank goodness," shuddered Ashley. "I might never get the smell of sewer out of me. I might have to take a shower with bleach."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," agreed Crestmon. "Might be the only way I feel clean again. Though I don't really have much of a place to go to do that…"

"Hm, maybe I can sneak you over to our place, Mom and Dad aren't there at the moment…oh, but I doubt we have enough bleach for that. Oy, little bro, can you turn that brute's gun into a bleach squirter or something?"

"I have bigger things to worry about right now, Ash," Isaac snapped testily. "As do you. None of us is getting home until we've figured out how the hell we're getting out of this mess. Getting back into fresh air is just the start of it. Honestly, making do with the river just might be what we have to do, much as I don't like it…at least it's better than being down here."

"Yeah, I'm thinking a real scrubbing might have to wait, but a nice wash-off would at least-" Datacarnomon was cut off as he almost walked into Shadowdramon's sword, the dark dragon stopping dead. "Oy, watch where you swing that thing."

"Quiet," growled the dragon. "I sense something. Look out!"

"Wha-yah!" Suddenly the water erupted from not far in front of them, a massive pile of slimy creatures massing themselves on the walkway in front of them. "Crap! It's them!"

The group was forced back a bit as the wall of Numemon eyed them eagerly, a few of them already readying their nasty projectiles. Never before had a gang of slugs looked so imposing…well, a gang of slugs and apparently one snail, as the one right in front was. "Ha-HA! I knew the traitor would try to find a way out sooner or later! And it looks like we might even get the biggest bounties, we've even got some of the tainted ones in front of us!"

"KaratsukiNumemon…" Gharialmon growled. "Y'all're testin' my patience. I jus' wanna be rid'a ya."

"Well, you can be rid of us when we're rid of you by turning you into our personal target practice!" The KaratsukiNumemon readied his own putrid projectile, and the wall behind him was more than amply armed with offal. "Show no mercy! We'll prove to Emperius that they underestimated us! The true power of the two worlds will be known!"

"Get down!" There was a lot of ducking and covering as the cascade of crap came their way. The digimon tried to take one for the team while also attempting to counterattack, but only a couple of the Numemon were deleted from the efforts - there were too many and they were each taking some of the blows to protect their comrades.

"We need more firepower!" hissed Data. "Let's merge!"

"Agreed, but we need space!" Isaac replied. "We're too bunched up!"

"I'll make ya some room!" Gharialmon rose up, his gauntlets suddenly swirling with water. "Hydro Barrage!" He thrust them forward, sending two forceful whirlpools at the wall of green. The Numemon were pushed back and knocked over; the damage was minimal to the water-resistant slugs, but it was the opening they needed.

"Elecmon! Give them some light!" Shockavimon and Iris joined together, Elecmon replacing them as the light source, at least after the flashy glow from them and Isaac and Datacarnomon died down. Soon, Ionfalkemon and Mecharexmon were at the ready, facing down the reformed slug wall.

"Ack! They weren't supposed to be able to do that!" KaratsukiNumemon didn't seem nearly as confident now. "But we'll show them! Slime them good!" Another volley of poo was launched, with Mecharexmon taking the bulk of the blows, though shielding most of the others from the disgusting danger.

"I'd complain, but I don't think I can actually smell any worse at the moment," growled the cyborg, raising his cannon arm. "Saur Blaster!" The bursts of cannon fire erupted from the barrel, battering part of the wall and deleting several of the Numemon, though it seemed others were just taking their place. "Grrr…they're blunting my shots, it's like they're transferring damage!"

"Then let's disrupt their little game! Head's up!" Ionfalkemon spread her wings, focusing hard to make sure she directed her electricity very fiercely. "Dervish Bolt!" The swarming electricity slammed into the wall, eliciting a lot of cries of pain and a fair few deletions, the rest of the wall collapsing. Suddenly it was chaos, the swarm half trying to rebuild and half trying to attack, but more cannon rounds from Mecharexmon disrupted both of those plans, rapidly busting the now-isolated and vulnerable slugs. Several tried to jump into the water and ambush from there, but a Dervish Bolt directed at the slimy stream meant that was no escape.

When the dust finally settled, there was only one thing left in their path - the shell of KaratsukiNumemon, out of which the mollusk slowly emerged, looking much more nervous. "Uh…we'll…call it a draw?"

"We'll call it 'get your ass out of here or join them,'" rumbled Mecharexmon, his cannon charging at the lone remaining interloper.

"Aiie! Abort, abort!" The KaratsukiNumemon activated his return charge and vanished, and Mecharexmon lowered his arm, the glow retreating.

"You weren't really going to go all the way with that, were you?" asked Ionfalkemon. "The infrastructure damage would've been a nightmare."

"Tch. Doubted I would need to. Coward hid away at the first sign that it wasn't going his way. Let's get out of this place...Gharialmon, if you could…"

"Ah, yeh, one sec…" A brief washdown later, and the symbiotes reverted to lower forms and returned to their separate states, leaving the walkway much clearer. As the water diverted, they made for the ladder, their way out of this nastiness and back to…other nastiness, but at least nicer-smelling nastiness.

"That hatch up there looks heavy…" Shadowdramon peered up through the darkness, frowning. "We'll need strength to move it. Maybe you shouldn't have hurried to separate."

"Pah, that's not gonna be any problem," Isaac replied dismissively. "Leave it to me!" He was the first up, and the first to meet their last impediment, a hatch that looked to be similar to the door in composition, heavy and metal, with a turn wheel rather than a handle. He gripped tight, clenching his teeth and grunting hard as he pushed with all his might, until the wheel finally gave way and started to rotate properly. A couple turns was all it took for the thump to sound, and he pushed it up and over. "See? No problem at all!"

"Yeah, sure…that definitely sounded effortless," remarked Shockavimon with a giggle. "All that grunting and straining was just for show, huh?"

"Hey, no smack-talk, or I'll leave you down here."

"You're doing that to all of us if you don't MOVE," snapped Kirsten impatiently.

"All right, all right, jeez." Isaac clambered up, and one by one the rest of them followed suit. Where they found themselves was a small, somewhat cramped shack of sorts, albeit one without windows; there was only a little light trickling in from the vents up near the top, and the whirring of an industrial fan overhead. The smell was hardly roses, but it was better than the sewers themselves; the main problem was that there wasn't a ton of room for all of them, though enough that they could shut the door and put the sewers behind them for good.

"So…now what?" asked Talomon.

"Now we have to figure out what's going on out there," muttered Isaac. "Data, what's your bead?"

"Nothing yet…whoops, hang on, need to recalibrate, I'm still on Numemon detection." Data was quiet for a moment. "Okay, still not picking up any signals, but I want to be outside before I commit to that. I dunno what this place is made of, it might cause some detection issues."

"Then let's the four of us go out," said Iris. "If things ARE bad, maybe we'll stand the best chance of neutralizing it."

"You really want to do that?" asked Kirsten nervously.

"Less 'want' and more 'have to,' but same difference at this point."

"She's right," agreed Isaac. "Stay quiet, all of you." Slowly he pushed open the door, taking a cautious look out. At first glance, he wasn't seeing anything, and as he got more and more of a view, that remained the truth. He motioned for the rest as they slipped out; things seemed to be remarkably quiet out there, save for the squawking of a few seagulls.

"Oh, great, gulls," groaned Iris. "Feel free to take a few pot shots at those, Data."

"Well, that's kinda harsh, Iris," Isaac remarked teasingly.

"If they draw attention to us, it won't be harsh enough."

"We'll table that suggestion for a moment, in case we have better targets," the robot replied. "Jeez, it's darker out here than I expected…hate being trapped in windowless places, it's so easy to lose track of time, even with an internal clock."

"That's the least of our worries right now," observed Shockavimon. "We have only a vague idea of where we are, we don't know what's happened to everyone else, and we might be being hunted by just about anything from humans to digimon. And we still need to make sure the people we rescued actually stay rescued, AND figure out where they can go where they'll stay safe…"

"Okay, I get the picture. You're not usually so anxious, Shockavimon…I know it's rough, but we've gotten this far."

"I know, it's just…on my mind a lot lately for some reason. But just talking about it won't fix things…we've got to figure out the lay of the land here."

"I almost want to try calling my dad, but…" Iris took a deep breath. "I'm almost afraid to, given what we heard those psychos saying…"

"If things aren't safe, it wouldn't be a good idea anyway." Isaac was looking around, seeming a bit distracted.

"You know, if you're trying to be reassuring, you're not doing a very good job."

"Sorry. I'm trying to tap into some of the stuff I should be able to do…I don't want Data to be the only one detecting people if they're around. I think I got it…" Isaac whistled. "Dang. A HUD in my vision? I can totally get behind this."

"He's nerding out again," sighed Shockavimon.

"Hey, I'm nerding out for a cause this time. Let's see…uh-oh."

"Oh, no, not 'uh-oh.'"

"Sorry, but it's an 'uh-oh.' I'm picking up what I think are, uh, human signals, coming our way. About a half-dozen of them."

"Same," agreed Datacarnomon. "Back to the shack."

"Are you sure?" asked Iris.

"If we're playing defense, I don't want them being ambushed. Worse comes to worse, Mecharexmon can fire through the walls."

"…Okay, I guess you're right. Let's hurry before they see us."

They hurried back to the shack, their presence not inspiring a lot of comfort among the people still there, especially after hearing what they had to report. Everyone went quiet and near to the floor, trying to make themselves as small of targets as they could. The hope was that whoever was out there wouldn't think to check the building, or would find it locked and wouldn't investigate further. Hopes which seemed to be dashed rather quickly, as the sound of footsteps outside became audible. Kirsten covered Benny's mouth as the boy started to shake madly, trying to make sure he stayed quiet.

"…Hello? Is anyone in there?" A knock came at the door after the voice spoke. "If you're in there, you can come out."

Isaac and Iris exchanged looks. That was an unexpected turn…but it wasn't a voice that they recognized, so they weren't entirely sure whether they should trust it. On the other hand, it seemed risky to ignore it…if they came here, they were expecting someone. Isaac decided he needed to take the chance, rising up and getting near the door. "Who's there?"

"US Army. We're here to aid the defense against the monster invasion. We know some defenders escaped from the BICI earlier, we're under orders to help them to safety."

Everyone perked up on hearing that - it sounded a lot more promising than anything they'd heard to this point. But Isaac and Iris weren't yet convinced…there was still a chance it could be a ruse. "How do we know you're on our side?" asked Isaac cautiously. "We've had some trouble with people so far, I don't want to put anyone else here at risk."

There was a bit of quiet outside, and then another voice came through. "Hey, it's all right, we're okay now. I know my new buddy Commandramon's in there with you, he'll vouch for me."

Commandramon jumped up hearing that voice. "It's him! It's Elias! He wouldn't be here if they weren't on our side!"

"Well, I guess that's good enough for me." Still a bit wary, Isaac opened the door, and the semi-familiar face of Elias Corazon, along with several other soldiers crowded around, weapons holstered and eyes very wide as they looked upon the curious crowd inside. "Sorry, we're not exactly smelling fresh…walking through a sewer doesn't exactly do wonders for that."

"Hey, alive and smelly is better than dead and smelly." Elias gave a salute, which Commandramon immediately returned without being prompted. "You don't have to worry about those dicks anymore, they've been taken in. The right people showed up just in the nick of time."

"You mean they're not after us anymore?" asked Iris.

"The unit the attacked you after what you've been doing for us is going to be in extremely hot water," said another one of the soldiers. "I can't believe they almost left us to rot against those invader creatures…wait, are there more of you than they were reporting?"

"Not exactly…it's a long story, we'll tell you on the way." They moved out of the doorway to let the others file out, looking considerably more relieved than before. "Did anything happen at the BICI? Is my dad okay?"

"He's just fine," Elias assured her. "As is everyone else. It got tense there for a moment, though…I'll be happy not to have to go through that again. Let's get you back there, I'm sure he'll be glad to see you."

"I think we'll all be glad to see some familiar faces again," agreed Ashley. "But, uh, before we do that…Gharialmon, would you mind doing us a favor? I don't wanna go in ANYWHERE stinking like this."

The gator digimon rubbed his head. "Y'know, I ain't JUST a mobile shower…"

"Last time, we promise," Iris assured him. "Besides, I think some of our new friends should get an idea what they're REALLY looking at…this is a safe way to do that. And Ashley's right, we probably shouldn't be stinking up the place."

Gharialmon sighed, but conceded to the request, and as the soldiers' eyes bugged out, Isaac got to enjoy the attention not being on him for once in this mess. And she's right…they'd better get used to this, because I have a feeling they're probably gonna see more of it, and in a much less friendly situation. But I'm just glad this is how it turned out…I'd almost given up hope. Guess we've got a few more miracles left in us…

---

I could have used this remaster to adjust the attitudes of the villains of this part of the production. I could have, yes. But if the real world is going to throw cartoonishly-forthright evils at me, why should my fictions be held to a higher standard? No, I'm not apologizing for the lack of subtlety here, far as I'm concerned that's closer to realism than I'd like.

Making the president a Hispanic woman just felt good. Though it might have helped that I also made her a character with actual personality.

Here's the other part of the turnabout rationale that wasn't present back in Chapter 14. Was it necessary to explain, strictly speaking? Maybe not, but I preferred there being a more concrete reason that would explain their behavior in part at least. It might seem to be at odds with how Salmandmon originally thought of Reyn and Skylar as kids, but that would be a way of thinking unique to those five because they've seen inside their heads for so long - for those naive to humans, they would use their instincts instead.

Custom mon behind-the-scenes: Gharialmon was invented for this, as a branch off of a crocodilian line that I don't think I ever actually used anywhere. Yes, I do in fact come up with a lot of reptilian characters.