Chapter 5: Parabellum

Earlier, on a different side of the Reverie…

Silver Wolf typed away on her wrist mounted computer, looking at the holographic display while seated on one of the chairs in the hotel room of the Reverie. Across the room sat the other two Stellaron Hunters on the couch, Blade and Kafka. Both were sharpening their swords, with Blade even offering the whetstone to Kafka. The group were able to sneak into Penacony with guidance from Elio and some insider help, and were able to occupy a secluded room on a floor patrolled by a careless Bloodhound guard.

After running a few more programs, Silver Wolf closed her display. "Should throw out our digital tracks for now." She sighed. "Whew, just getting into this place without invitations is already tricky."

"We're not out of the woods yet" Kafka replied, checking the sharpness of her katana before sheathing it and tossing the whetstone back to Blade who caught it with finesse. "We're on schedule with the script, but our outsider could show up at any given moment."

"I've gotten a hold of their surveillance system." Silver Wolf added, opening her holographic display again before swiping it toward Kafka's phone. "Here you go. Nothing out of the ordinary…yet."

Kafka opened the program sent by the hacker, searching through the cameras watching the lobby and the numerous hallways in real time. Silver Wolf's surveillance program had access to Penacony's security database thanks to numerous firewall breaches, and the Hunters can identify each guest with a quick scan of a button. Of course, trying to find an individual over countless guests – especially with a festival going on – would be difficult. Silver Wolf could just upgrade the scan, but it needs time to finish.

And time is of the essence for this operation.

"I've got something." Silver Wolf spoke, opening the camera footage that was looking down a particular hallway.

"Send it up."

Kafka watched as Camera 45 recorded a man exiting the room where the Trailblazer had entered. That was part of the foreseen events, as the man was of the IPC - Aventurine. Soon followed by another woman, unknown to the database. Despite the intruder, this was also part of the events, as the woman was Acheron the Galaxy Ranger. What was not expected was what happened next - as an unknown figure dressed in black combat gear picked the lock to Trailblazer's room and entered inside.

"This must be our man." Kafka comments.

"Not just that." Silver Wolf added as she opened another screen showing different footage from another camera, Camera 37. Here, Aventurine walks into a room - but moments later, a woman in black leather clothing and what appears to be a colorful skull mask exited the room. Upon enabling the audio recording, they could hear her speak to some kind of radio.

"This is Sangre. I've taken care of the gambler. Move to phase two."

There was no doubt about it. Almost immediately, Blade stood up as he sheathed the Shard Sword to his hip. "It's time." He spoke.

"Indeed. We'll handle whoever's taking Stelle." Kafka nodded. "Wolfie?"

"I'll go check if the gambler's still alive." Was the hacker's reply, getting out of her couch. "Do we have to save him? He's IPC, you know."

"We need intel. Once you've gotten what you can, regroup in the lobby."
"Sure."

With their plans established, the Stellaron Hunters went out the door and rushed towards their respective objectives. Kafka and Blade went towards the elevator to head towards the Trailblazer's hotel room while the hacker went in a different direction, towards the direction of Aventurine's new hotel room.

As Blade and Kafka waited for the elevator to bring them down, the old swordsman noticed Kafka's fingers fiddling with the grip of her submachine guns strapped to her waist. Strange… he never saw Kafka as a fidgeting person. In all of their missions up to this point, she was always collected.

"Your hands." The woman blinked upon hearing Blade's comment and looked down to see her hands. Kafka couldn't find an answer to them either.

"I must be eager to go, that's all." She answered nonchalantly. "Let's just focus."

"Right." Blade replied, ignoring her dismissive tone and focusing towards the elevator doors. It didn't take long before the doors opened to the floor of the VIP lounge. The two exited the elevator, ignoring the shocked looks of the guests who had suddenly noticed their presence. Before they could call security, the two Hunters were already in the public lounge and rushing past the bar to reach the hallway of the room where Stelle was staying. Besides, they had more important things to worry about when they heard the gunfire. And a loud "NO!"

Kafka's chest tightened. She recognized the voice belonging to Stelle. She gripped her submachine guns, steeling herself. "Blade, take the lead."

"Got it." The old swordsman drew his blade and rushed towards the open doorway. There was only a brief glimpse of something flying out of the room before Kafka realized what it was.

"Grenade!"

A system hour earlier…

"Ariane?"

The girl before her stood there confused. Firefly had expected Stelle to be confused, yes. But when she ran up to her, Stelle had a look of shock. Almost as if she recognized her. Firefly thought she remembered her face despite the memory wipe Kafka had done at the start of this whole journey, but then she spoke a name she didn't recognize. "Who's Ariane?"

Before poor Stelle could even comprehend what was going on, the two Bloodhound guards caught up to them.

"Hey, look! She has an accomplice!"

"Good work! Now we can nab them both!"

Firefly turned towards them. "Wait, please! There must be a misunderstanding! She's not–"

One of the guards interrupted her. "Silence, stowaway! We'll hear you talk once you're behind bars!" He pulls out a pair of handcuffs and apprehends Firefly without a second thought, with his partner brandishing a police baton. "Come on, let's go get the other one." They turn towards the Trailblazer and approach her.

"Don't you dare touch me." Stelle growled, suddenly putting her hands up.

"Ha! That's not gonna help you any– ARGH!" The male guard goaded but was interrupted by a right cross to the face from the Trailblazer, making him drop the cuffs and down to the ground.

"Jerk! Now you just gave us reason to–" The partner, a female guard, tried to retaliate by swinging her baton, but her arm was suddenly caught by Stelle's hand, who started twisting her wrist in the wrong direction. She tried to resist, but her grip was surprisingly firm and was starting to put an excruciating strain on her arm. "Ow ow ow OW! H-hey, let go!"

"Listen, I don't really care about what the hell you'll do with her, but don't you try roping me into this shit." She replied stoically, twisting the guard's wrist even more, making her cry out in pain and dropping the baton. "So kindly piss off."

"W-wait, hold on!" Firefly suddenly stood at her side. "Miss, you don't need to do that. She's already surrendering."

Stelle quickly looked back at her, causing her to flinch. Firefly wasn't scared of her by any means, but the Trailblazer had a Terrifying Presence. Eventually, she did see her hardened gaze soften, and she did let go of the guard's arm and pushed her away, leaving her cursing on the ground and cradling her now sore wrist. Stelle was about to ask her something when another set of footsteps entered the premises.

"The hell's going on here?" The newcomer spoke, revealing to be a tall man with shaggy brown hair and stubble around his chin, and wears a dark grey dress shirt with a white vest over a turquoise vest, along with a maroon tie and pants sharing the same color. His gloves were mismatched, one being fingerless gloves and the other a white regular glove.

"Sir! This girl broke the nose of my accomplice and almost broke–" One of the guards complained.

"Hold it." The man raised his hand and approached the two girls. "I hope you two don't mind me asking, but what's happening here?"

"These morons were harassing me." Stelle answered, sending a glare at them that suddenly made them gulp nervously. "I only acted in self-defense."

"Right…" The man looked at Firefly, to which she responded in kind with a determined look, before sighing. "You two really are idiots." He muttered.

"What, sir?"

"What's gotten into you all? Open your eyes and take a good look. Is this lady the stowaway we're looking for?" The man gestured towards Firefly.

"Huh? Who's this?" The female guard asked the male guard, pointing at the newcomer.

"Don't you know him? Look at his brown hair and gray vest. He's the officer sent here by The Family to maintain order at the Charmony Festival." The male guard answered.

"I-I see…" Turning towards him, she gave an awkward salute. "Sir, the thing is, we're trying to apprehend a stowaway, and that young lady there looks very suspicious. We're sure she's the one!" The female guard reasoned. Stelle rolled her eyes. What professionalism.

"That's nonsense. Take another look, will you? The witness report says the suspect is a lad with silver hair, and you guys are going after a girl with silver hair. Does that even make sense? She's our guest!" The shaggy-haired man retorted with arms crossed, to the embarrassment of the two Bloodhound guards. "Look, just get out of my way and I'll take care of this."

"Yes, sir." They both answered, walking away with their tails between their legs. They glanced at Stelle again, trying to make sure she wouldn't lunge at them before booking it.

The officer sighed. "Sorry for all the trouble you went through back there. I'm Gallagher from the Bloodhound Family, and those idiots are some young Bloodhounds I've been training. Because of their youth and inexperience, they mistook an honored guest of Penacony for a criminal...This is indeed a regrettable mistake." Gallagher gave a short bow. "I'd like to offer my sincerest apology to you on behalf of the Bloodhound Family."

"Right." Firefly nodded, though Stelle didn't show any form of gratitude.

"We got a tip that some criminals were planning to take advantage of the festivities around the Charmony Festival to sneak into Penacony. Now that the festival is just around the corner, many shady characters are likely lurking around…" Firefly did seem to take some offense in that.

"Don't worry. I believe this is just a misunderstanding. How could such a lovely girl like you be a stowaway?" Gallagher corrected with an assuring smile.

"Thank you for the help." Firefly smiled back.

"Just doing the job." Gallagher checked a pocket watch from his coat. "I need to get going. If you need help, you can reach out to me through the young Bloodhounds in this area. I wish you an enjoyable experience in this land of dreams." Before he left, he turned to Stelle. "Oh, and that hand-to-hand stuff? Don't do it to my guys, alright? This is your only warning."

"Mm. Sure."

"Right then." Gallagher waved them goodbye, which Firefly and Stelle waved in return. Once they were alone, she sighed in relief and turned towards Stelle. "I owe you a big one. If it hadn't been for you, I might have been...taken away by them."

"You tell me." The Trailblazer was looking at her gloved hand, clenching and unclenching her fist before she sighed, picking her phone up from the ground she apparently had dropped. "Look, Miss…whoever you are. I'm confused as all hell, you didn't really have to drag me into that. I'm trying to just enjoy my time here."

"I-I'm sorry to bother you, those two wouldn't stop tailing me." She replied bashfully. "We could perhaps…continue this discussion while I'm doing a tour?" Firefly suggested. "I'm a local here, and I work for the Iris Family." She seemed to realize something before she spoke again. "Oh, I've almost forgotten. I'm Firefly."

She outstretched her hand towards Stelle's. The Trailblazer took her gloved hand in return and shook it. "Stelle…sure, why not?"

"Excellent. Let's get going then." Firefly, shaking her hand a bit after realizing Stelle's grip was stronger than expected, gave a small smile as the two began walking. She knew the Golden Hour enough to act as a tour guide after scouting it out a few solar cycles ago, making sure she used different disguises to get the Bloodhounds off her trail. It shouldn't be a problem to play her act.

"By the way, I've just noticed... You're a Nameless, right? Is this your first time here on Penacony?" She asked.

"Yeah?" Stelle suddenly remembered the Nameless badge pinned above her right breast on her jacket. "I mean, it's hard not to notice this thing."

She smiled. "That is true. Aside from that, the Interastral Peace Broadcast recently did a whole segment about your glorious achievements. I also know that you guys often travel around different places in the cosmos."

"Wow. A big fan, huh?" Stelle rubbed her head bashfully. "Well, I'm nothing special. I'm just a gal who's part of a greater entourage of great people."

"Nonsense, you deserve as much recognition as your peers." Firefly responded. Her mind wandered back towards a time where she was once a cog in a greater machine. Those that fell that day, she never forgot their faces.

Wanting to push that haunting memory out of her system. Firefly innocently asked. "So…who's this Ariane person?"

"Dead."

Stelle's callous answer caught her off-guard, making her turn towards her in shock. "O-Oh. I'm sorry." Firefly's eyes gaze downward, feeling a little embarrassed that she asked.

"Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago. You just remind me of her." Stelle shook her head.

"Really? How so?"

"You have her face and hair. But you have weird eyes. Not that it's a bad thing, but yours are pretty?"

"Oh." Her face felt warm at the compliment, as she tucked a lock behind her ear. "T-thank you. I've never heard anyone say that to me."

"Surprised no one hasn't asked you out yet." She put her hands into the pockets of her jacket as they continued walking. "So, what's your deal? You said something about being with the Iris Family?"

That question put her a little on edge. "Me? No, I'm not one of them — not yet, at least. I merely work for them. I work as a stage performer, although right now, I'm just an extra. When there are no acting gigs, I work as a guide near Glaux Avenue."

She looks around, seemingly looking for something in the crowd. She collects herself and returns her gaze to Stelle. "Anyway, that's not really important. I want to show you around town, that's all." Firefly takes Stelle's hand, much to her surprise, and drags her along. "Come on, we've got plenty of places to be!"

"I…okay?" Stelle let herself get dragged. While she was suspicious of this girl, since it appeared she was hiding something from her, and the fact that the stowaway the Bloodhound Family were looking for someone that fit Firefly's description, if not for the gender; Stelle decided to play along. So far, she seemed the most trustworthy person compared to that gambler Aventurine or that weird purple lady with the katana.

Their little tour soon had them walk back towards where Stelle came from - an atrium that acted as a four-way intersection for different parts of the commercial district, with the center being a circular light blue glass floor with a few glass balls for decoration. Above the center floor is a glass chandelier with the same glass balls hanging from the ceiling. Firefly began to explain. "The first stop most people head to when they arrive in the Dreamscape is the Oti Mall! The Dreamscape Sales Store here is super famous."

"Yeah, that famous store over there cut me off from a really good dream." Stelle sighed. "I get it's some kind of free trial or something, but come on, 100,000 credits for a dream?"

Firefly felt her lips crawl into a smile of amusement. Stelle didn't change at all.

"Business is business, but I don't blame you for being discouraged." She sighed. "Anyway, there are also stores that sell luxury goods, apparel, trendy toys, and even cars... As long as you have enough Alfalfa coins, you can buy anything you fancy." The two walk past a luxury car on display in the mall. "Items purchased in the Dreamscape can also be brought into reality through an extra service. Unfortunately, the transfer of automobiles to the real world is not available at the moment... You can come back for them next time."

"Huh. Didn't know you could bring those with you. So how does that work? You wake up in your hotel room, and suddenly there's a car blocking the door?" Stelle asked.

"No, silly. There's another part of the reality Reverie for that sort of thing." The mental image of a car shooting out from the memoria tub and getting stuck in the hotel room made Firefly snicker. "I can't imagine the chaos if that was the case."

She then pointed down the street. "Over there is the plaza. Follow me, I'll buy you a meal - their delicacies are a must-try!"

"You sure? I might just buy everything just to taste them all." Stelle jested.

"T-that shouldn't be a problem!" Firefly laughed nervously. "I think I have some savings left…"

"Woah, relax! I'm just messing with you." The Trailblazer grinned. "I don't plan to eat much; you can stop worrying about your budget." Firefly pouted at the joke but ultimately decided it was just some good fun.

The duo continued to walk down the street before stopping in front of a restaurant, the Clock Diner, with a neon sign with the restaurant's logo glowing amongst the already blinding lights of the Golden Hour plaza. The windows were colored orange at the top and green at the bottom. The entrance was two double doors that each had a symbol of a suite in playing cards: a spade and a heart on the left door, and a diamond and a club on the right door.

There was a waiter dressed in an umber coat over a light beige dress shirt and pants standing in front of the entrance, who noticed the two girls approaching the restaurant. He gave a slight bow when they stopped in front of him. "Hello! Welcome to the Clock Diner. How may I serve you?"

"Yes, may I have the menu, please? We'll take these to go." Firefly responded. The waiter nodded, pulling out the menu, presumably out of thin air, and handed it to her. Stelle blinked in surprise. 'This was probably part of the dreamscape.' She thought.

"Here, go pick. It's my treat." Firefly handed the menu to the Trailblazer. The selection was surprisingly small, with only six options available for her to choose from, complete with the prices next to them. 5,000 credits for cake, ridiculous! She could buy a similar meal in the Xianzhou Luofu for a quarter of the cost.

"Yeesh, it's like everything here is trying to drain your wallet…" Stelle muttered before pointing at the image of a burger on the menu. "Can I have the, uh…Float Disc Burger?"

"Of course." The waiter nodded.

"I'll pay up." Firefly spoke, handing over the credits to the waiter.

"Please wait a moment. Your meal will be with you shortly." He gave another slight bow before entering through the double doors of the diner.

As they waited, Firefly commented. "I love their Oak Cake Rolls here. I get one here every day."

"Every day?" Stelle raised an eyebrow.

"Well, only one. And I don't have to worry about calorie intake in a dream."

"Thank the Aeons nobody's gotten a dream cardiac arrest…"

Firefly giggled. "You're funny."

"I get that a lot." She shrugged. "Although some people I know find it more annoying than funny."

"Well, I think it's endearing."

"Hm." After a pause, Stelle asked. "You have any siblings?"

"Me?" Firefly pondered for a moment before shaking her head. "No, I don't have any siblings." She put her hands behind her back and swayed idly. "I haven't even met my parents yet."

"Guess that makes two of us without parents." Stelle replied. Firefly tilted her head at the statement. Was this about Stelle's prior time with the Hunters? Or was this her parents in that past life?

"I did have a sibling, though, a twin brother…" Stelle added. "I haven't had the faintest idea where he is now."

"What was he like?" Firefly asked, curious.

"Well…" Stelle tried to remember the memories of her and Caleb. "We were close. I don't fully remember, but from what I can recall…he's a nice guy. He cared for me and Ariane, even if I was the older one."

"He sounds nice." Firefly smiled.

"Yeah…yeah, he was."

It didn't take long for the waiter to arrive with a paper bag with the Clock Diner logo on it. He handed it to Stelle with a smile. "Thank you for waiting – Here you go, madam! And may your dreams be pleasant."

"Thank you… How long has it been?" The Trailblazer suddenly asked.

The waiter was confused. "It's only been two minutes, madam."

"...Huh. Thanks." She nodded back and glanced towards Firefly. She nodded, and they began walking around the plaza. She fished the burger from the paper bag, unraveling the tin foil around it. The burger itself was stacked with a lot of ingredients: starting with melted cheese, the burger patty, another slice of cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion and a large disc-shaped potato chip between the buns. It could barely fit in her gloved hand, but she took a bite anyway. With a loud crunch, she took a bite - and immediately fell in love with the taste.

"Mmm, hohly sheeth." Stelle mumbled with her mouth full. "Thith ith soh goohd."

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Firefly giggled. "Glad you enjoyed it."

Gulping down her food, she spoke. "I know putting fries in your burger is good, but wow, this takes it up two notches." To Firefly's surprise, she witnessed Stelle finish the burger in four bites.

"Alright then." Firefly led the both of them back towards the atrium before turning right, leading them out towards the main avenue. On their right was a storefront with the same double doors as the Clockie Diner, but the windows were diamond-etched glass instead of the diner's flat ones. "This is one of the luxury stores I told you about earlier." She then pointed straight ahead. "If we keep going, we'll reach Glaux Avenue, which is the road to Golden Hour."

"Yeah…"

Firefly continued leading Stelle toward the avenue's center with a Clockie Statue. However, just after a few steps she realized Stelle was not following her.

"Stelle?" She called for her but only found her standing in the same spot - in front of the luxury store, looking at…something. "Stelle, what's wrong?" When she walked up to her, she saw that she was staring at something with wide eyes. Firefly turned toward the direction of the Trailblazer's gaze. Her eyes grew wide too as she found out what she was staring at… or rather who she was staring at.

Standing a few feet away from them, was a young man that stood around the same height at Stelle; who wore black combat armor that resembled a flak jacket with pauldrons on each shoulder, armor padding around the waist, groin and thighs, knee pads and greaves all underneath dark grey military fatigues. Two black belts held two ammo pouches positioned on each of his hips. He wore no helmet, which both girls could get a good look of his face - sharing the same angular chin, fair skin, round nose and gray hair of the Trailblazer. The only difference between them being, he had emerald green eyes compared to Stelle's golden yellow eyes.

"Sis, this isn't an illusion, right?"

…

Of all the things Stelle had experienced today - dealing with Aventurine, going through her memories from a gigantic eyeball, getting a free tour from the cute girl named Firefly - seeing her brother for the first time in gods know how long was perhaps the most bizarre out of all of them. She didn't even know if he was still even alive when she saw the first memory of him. Yet, here he stood in the middle of fucking Penacony of all places, wearing armor she didn't recognize.

There was so much to say, so many questions to ask, but she could only utter his name.

"Caleb?"

The young man nodded. "It's me. Do you still remember?"

"Not all of it." Was her answer. She walked towards him, until they were about a few feet away. She looked at him up and down. "You're real, right?"

"Real as I can be." Caleb reached towards her face, moving her bangs just to see the bullet scars on her head. "It's really you…Courier Six and everything…"

"So I have been told…"

He looked like he really wanted to say something, but his pained expression was enough to tell that he couldn't. "I'm sorry we had to meet like this, but you must listen to me." He then noticed Firefly standing close by. "I-Is that Ariane? Is she real too?"

"No, it's not her." Stelle shook her head. "But she is a real person, her name is Firefly."

"Hello." She waved nervously at him.

"This shit just gets weirder by the minute…" He holds Stelle's shoulder. "You have to listen to me. I didn't come here alone. There are people out there in the real world looking for you, and they are not friendly." That seemed to get not only Stelle's worried reaction but also Firefly's. "We need to get out of this dream now."

"Wait, who are these people? Why are they trying to get Stelle?" Firefly asked.

"They are armed and dangerous." Caleb answered. "They're looking for something called a Stellaron, and somehow you have one in your possession." He pointed at Stelle, his finger pressed against her chest.

The gravity of the situation seemed to hit Firefly first, as she suddenly fished her phone out of her pocket. Reading something from it, she looked up towards the twins. "I'm so sorry, Stelle. I-I have to go." Before either of them could react, she ran away.

"Firefly, wait–!" Stelle tried to reach out to her, but she was long gone. She sighed before she turned back to Caleb. "So they want me because I have a Stellaron? How do they even know about that?"

"I don't know, but we need to go now." He quickly looks around. "How do we get out of here? Is there an exit?"

"I didn't see one. It's a dream, we have to find a way to wake up." Stelle explained. "We'll have to wait a bit for our bodies to wake up."

"No time." Caleb suddenly pulled out a handgun from the holster on his back - a large, engraved revolver - and cocked the hammer, to his sister's shock. "This must be some kind of lucid dream. I'm doing the shortcut."

"Woah, woah, woah! You're going to SHOOT ME?" Stelle exclaimed. This was all going too fast, first they reunite in how many years and now Caleb wants to shoot her?!

"There's no faster way!" Caleb retorted. "Please, sis…you have to trust me. We're both fucked if we drag this any longer."

Stelle hesitated. Why wouldn't she? She's seen the barrel of a gun pointed to her head before and witnessed herself die. It was still pretty harrowing to her. However, she did realize this was a dream after all, and she's never exited the dream via 'death' before.

"Wait." She pulled out her phone, which confused Caleb since he has never seen a smartphone before, and began typing a message.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asked.

"I'm contacting my friends. Don't worry, they're good people. They can help us." She replied before she sent the message.

The Astral Express Family

Stelle: Meet me in the lounge. Need help NOW.

She put her phone away before she could read any of the replies from the Crew. "There. Done. Do what you have to d-"

Stelle wasn't able to finish her sentence before she saw the muzzle flash, as a .45-70 Government round blew her brains out.

The Trailblazer gasped as she sat up from the dream pool, back into reality. Quickly touching her head, she was relieved to find it intact with only the two bullet scars from Benny. She groaned as she got out of the dream pool. She was glad to be out of the Dreamscape, but the sudden blast scared the shit out of her.

"Goddammit…" She muttered. Stelle heard movement behind her and she quickly turned to see someone move out of the dream pool. The figure had the same armor as Caleb, but instead of his face it was a helmet and a gas mask. "Caleb?" She asked cautiously.

"Yep, yep. It's me." He replied, his voice muffled from the gas mask as he was getting up to his feet. "Fuck, that hurt." Caleb was about to speak to her when he suddenly saw a fist fly towards him, as Stelle punched him in the chest. Hard.

He stumbled back. "OW! The fuck was that for?"

"You should've warned me before you blew my head off!" Stelle retorted, before she angrily sighed. "Whatever. You better explain this crap once this is all over."

"I'll try." Caleb winced. "Jesus, you still hit like a goddamn truck."

He pressed a finger against the right side of his helmet, which was apparently a radio. "Shit. My cover's blown, they're on their way." He cursed, before taking out what appeared to be a normal suitcase. That is, until he pressed a button and flipped it open, revealing the mechanics of a submachine gun underneath. He pulls out another gun - his M1911 - from its holster and flicks some kind of lever, before he tosses it to Stelle. "Here."

She caught it, feeling the pistol in her hands. It was like the 9mm pistol that Benny used, except it was a little heavier with a slightly larger frame. Remembering how Caleb used his revolver, Stelle found the hammer of the 1911 and pushed it down, cocking the hammer back. "What now?"

"Hide." He moved to the direction of the doorway, pressing his body against the corner wall. The door opened outwards so there was no way for them to stay close to the entrance. Stelle, with no knowledge on how to properly fight with a gun, followed his lead. As they set themselves up, they could hear footsteps from looked back at Caleb, who whispered to her. "When they enter the room, we take them out."

Her heart pounded in her chest as she leaned against the wall, holding the .45 caliber pistol in both of her hands. This was no longer a memory where she saw death through the eyes of her past self. This was the real deal.

Stelle only gave a nervous nod before the door swung open, and three individuals dressed in black all stepped inside. Two of them were men in black suits, black ski masks and yellow-tinted shades to cover their eyes, carrying suitcase submachine guns of their own. And one was a woman dressed in black leather reminiscent of a mariachi outfit, with a skull mask decorated with colorful floral designs. Strapped to her hip was a 10mm pistol in its holster and a sword resembling a Chinese jian sword.

Stelle glanced at Caleb, silently asking for a signal. He nodded in response, slowly raising his SMG.

"Spread out. They haven't left the room." The woman ordered. Then the twins struck.

Stelle and Caleb raised their guns and pulled their triggers. The men in suits didn't expect the surprise attack, so they were gunned down before they could retaliate. Stelle didn't go for a killing blow, instead shooting the torso. Caleb had to follow up the kill shot by spraying his SMG at the head and chest. She couldn't believe her eyes but she had witnessed someone's death in front of her.

The woman didn't expect the attack either, but she was able to react faster than her subordinates - as she dove to the ground and drew her pistol in a single motion, firing two shots as soon as she hit the ground. The first hit Caleb in his torso, making him stumble against the wall. The second shot hit Stelle's left hand, causing her to cry out in pain and drop the .45 pistol. Gold and red ichor flowed from the wound, leaving droplets on the floor.

The woman quickly got up to her feet and aimed her pistol at them, swapping between Caleb and Stelle. "Muy bien. You two managed to surprise me." She turned the pistol towards Caleb, who was trying to stand up. "Especially you, Zerstörer… Or so I thought."

"Fuck you, Sangre." Caleb spat.

She scowled. "You killed my favorite lieutenant."

Sangre fired her pistol. Caleb had expected for the bullet to hit him and was ready to move, but a fiery orange light had flashed before him. Standing in front of him was his twin sister, the blazing lance of Alisa Rand in her hands - apparently had deflected the bullet with immense speed. Caleb watched with wide eyes and an open jaw. What fucking world did he fall into?

Sangre also looked surprised, but recovered from the shock and drew her sword. "Is this the power the Stellaron has given you?"

"No." Stelle replied. "I earned it." She takes a stance, the lance pointed downward to form a defensive block. "Now back off from my brother."

Caleb hastily got up and readied his SMG. "Alright, on your lead Sergeant."

"What?" Stelle turned towards him in confusion.

"Sergeant! You don't remember you fought in the army?" Caleb looked back at her.

"I don't know how to lead–!" Stelle tried to argue back, but she was kicked away by Sangre.

The Hispanic assassin rolled her eyes. "Dios mio. So noisy."

She lunged towards Caleb, her blade at the ready to slice him. But she was intercepted by a fiery charge by Stelle - forcing the two to lock blades with one another.

With the extra breathing room, Caleb rushed to loot extra ammo and a few grenades from the fallen operators. From the edge of his vision, he stole glances at the intense duel between the assassin and the Trailblazer. In those very brief moments, he was in awe to see his sister move in ways not even a Legionary could match - moving the gigantic lance with finesse as if it was just a comically large rapier. He aimed his gun and gave supporting fire.

Stelle grunted as she clashed blades with Sangre, defending each strike and counter attacking. However, the assassin moved far faster than she expected. Every once in a while, she snuck in a cut to her arms, her torso and legs, poking at her defense to find weak spots.

Caleb's surprise attack forced Sangre to back off, a few of the bullets piercing the unarmored skin of her leather jacket. Stelle followed up with another lunge with her lance, breaking through Sangre's weak block and actually shattering the blade and forcing her towards the wall. She was now backed into a corner with the two fighters blocking her path.

However, before the twins could effectively take advantage of Sangre's opening, something strange had happened.

Her eyes flashed yellow through her mask and she suddenly charged towards Stelle with her bare hands, knocking her down so hard the lance flew out of her hands. When she dashed towards Caleb, he tried to dodge while firing his SMG. She was too fast for him to register even with a little device that he had access to called the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System or VATS.

Sangre kicked him down by the face, cracking the lenses of his gas mask, and sent him to the wall. The dazed Stelle watched in horror as she picked his SMG discharged the entire magazine into Caleb's body, some of the rounds hitting the unprotected parts of his armor. He fell to the ground again, slumping against the wall and staining the walls with his blood as he slid down to the floor.

"NO!" She cried out. There was no way her brother would die like this. Not when they just reunited.

Stelle grits her teeth as she tries to go for the lance she dropped. Unfortunately for her, Sangre was much faster than she was and kicked her weapon away with her boot, before she threw a roundhouse kick towards Stelle's head using the same foot. The Trailblazer stumbled backwards, reeling from the head kick before she was pinned down to the ground. Stelle struggled against her grip, but Sangre pressed the gun barrel to her head.

"Ah, ah, ah, mi amiga." She warned. "You don't want to do that."

Stelle held back tears. Glancing painfully at Caleb's slumped body and with no other option to fight back, she stopped struggling.

"What the hell do you want with me?" She demanded.

She gave a sinister chuckle. "You don't seem to remember anything at all. But I've seen what you can do. You don't know it yet, but you're capable of far worse - of so much destruction…"

"Yeah? If it's the Stellaron inside of me you're talking about, you're out of luck because if you try to kill me, this thing will go off." Stelle bluffed. She had no idea how the Stellaron would react to her body functions shutting down, but she hoped it would put her captor on caution.

It seemed to work, but Sangre simply smiled. "I'm not talking about the Stellaron, Subject 96."

Something about that name made Stelle feel very tense, even more so than Benny or any mention of the Courier. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll know soon enough." Sangre replied ominously before the sound of rushing footsteps entered their ears. "Reinforcements of yours?" She asked, suddenly hoisting Stelle up by the hair. Ignoring the pained cries of the Trailblazer, Sangre put her into a one-armed chokehold, facing the doorway.

"They're gonna beat your ass. I'm sure of it." Stelle grunted, despite the strong grip around her neck.

"Oh I'm sure they will." Sangre then ordered on her radio. "Badger squad, clear the lobby for me. Cazador squad, back up on my position." She put her pistol back into its holster, before grabbing something from her belt and bringing it up to her teeth, pulling some kind of…pin? She then threw it out of the doorway, delaying whoever was rescuing Stelle as the object that Sangre threw was a concussion grenade. There came a panicked voice from the other side before the grenade detonated, sending a loud BOOM across the hallway and even shaking the hotel room. Sangre took the opportunity to push out of the room and into the hallway leading towards the VIP lounge.

Stelle's ears rang as the grenade went off and her vision went blurry from the shockwave of the blast. As she was dragged out by Sangre into the hallway, she only saw glimpses of her would-be saviors - purple and green blobs moved on the ground and tried to get up.

Sangre dragged Stelle through the VIP lounge, firing a shot into the air to control the civilians. They dropped to the ground from the sudden noise, allowing Sangre to pass unimpeded. She was about to head towards the exit that leads out to the Reverie's lobby when she was blocked by a crowd of Bloodhound guards, armed with batons and pistols. She frowned, clearly things had not gone the way she expected. Then she hears a voice come from behind.

"Stop where you are!"

Despite the concussive blast, the pursuers caught up to them. Stelle widened her eyes to see their faces: Kafka and Blade. But why were they here? Did their 'script' let them know about the unknown forces kidnapping her?

"Not another fucking step!" Sangre warned, pointing her 10mm pistol towards Stelle's head. "If any of you move, I'll blow your little Stellaron's head off!"

"I'm only going to say this once, so listen." Kafka responded, snapping her fingers. The moment she said the word 'listen', Sangre's mind began to waver as she lowered her gun slightly. Soft voices were speaking in the back of her mind. Drop the gun. You can't take them all. You'll lose.

"You're surrounded on all sides. Surrender now and let the Trailblazer go, or face the consequences." The former Devil Hunter continued using her ability as she slowly approached Sangre and Stelle guns up, before standing next to Blade. "Do it now."

Sangre hesitated, the soft voice was soothing to her consciousness. Her body wanted to follow her orders… But she knew mind manipulation, after being subjected to it herself. And she wouldn't put herself in a situation like this without backup. She blinks hard, shutting out the sweet voices in her head - then pressing the 10mm pistol harder into Stelle's head. The purple strings that surrounded her shattered like weak threads of cloth. Sangre looks at Kafka's confidence faltering and grins smugly. "I'll take my chances!"

One of the radios of the Bloodhound guards squawked. "This is Jackson, we have two unidentified spacecraft rapidbly approaching the Reverie- Oh fuck! They're gonna ram the hotel!"

The Bloodhound guard with the radio spoke into it, confused. "Say again? What do you mean they're ramming the-"

Suddenly the entrance to the VIP lounge exploded - sending debris and the Bloodhound guards blocking it to the ground. Whatever crashed into the Reverie didn't wait for the dust to settle as a sliding metal door opened and gunfire erupted from the cloud. Seven soldiers dressed in thick black combat armor and respirator masks that covered their faces stepped through, creating a firing line as they opened fire with their black assault rifles. The Bloodhound guards that tried to flee or fight back were gunned down, and forced many of the civilians who weren't already ducking behind the couches to take cover further behind or to flee to the hallways.

"Get to cover!" Blade rushes towards the black soldiers with his sword at the ready to draw fire from Kafka as she moves towards the pillars to flank. Ignoring the pain of rifle bullets carving into his flesh, he lunged towards one of them and swung at the neck, decapitating him. Like flowing water, he moved to the next soldier - sweeping his legs with his sword, cutting them and sending the soldier into the air. He screamed before he was silenced by Blade with a front kick to the face and sending him crashing towards the bar in the middle of the lounge. Bottles of SoulGlad and other beverages fell out of their shelves and shattered onto the floor.

"Take that bastard out! Helion 1-1 and 1-2, support!" One of the soldiers barked orders. Blade's kamikaze rush against the soldiers caused the formation to break, forcing them to step away from the swordsman to aim their rifles at him - allowing Kafka to strike from behind with her SMGs. Two of the soldiers were hit, but their protective gear were able to take most of the burst. They moved towards the pillars to find cover, firing their rifles to suppress Kafka's position.

"OH SHIT-!" A soldier panicked as Blade continued to push through the soldiers, slicing one's arm off and kicking him away, before shoulder-checking the same soldier that yelled and stabbing the Shard Sword through his neck. In the chaos, Blade noticed the two soldiers suppressing Kafka's position, but there was also Sangre with Stelle - moving towards the unblocked exit.

Sensing the hesitation, Kafka calls out to Blade. "Go get her! I'll be fine." She threw a frag grenade of her own towards the pillars where the two soldiers were. "GRENADE!" One of them screamed as the both of them moved out of their cover, which gave the opening Kafka needed to finish them off with her katana.

Without wasting another second, Blade nodded and rushed towards Sangre, blade at the ready. She was tricky, keeping Stelle hostage. He had to be quick and very precise for him to free the Trailblazer without any harm.

Wait… Blade hears something from the left. He tried to dodge but he moved a half a second too slow.

BLAM! BLAM!

Blade was sent flying towards the side, a chunk of the left side of his head practically gone and his torso practically torn from multiple holes. His body rolled lifelessly next to the pillar where Kafka had taken cover. Kafka glanced at his corpse. "Shit." She knew he would come back despite receiving fatal wounds, but the gruesome death didn't make it any less grisly. Trying not to gag at the sight of Blade's brains spilling out, she held his body by the collar of his tailcoat and dragged him towards cover, which would allow him to quickly regenerate before any more damage could be thrown at him.

She took a peek from her pillar, seeing the source of the shot. Sangre had called something large and bulky to follow her - making Stelle's recovery more of a challenge. That was all she could see before the chunk of the pillar exploded, forcing Kafka to return to cover.

"Stay the fuck down!" The last remaining soldier was soon supported by Helion 1: A heavily armored soldier covered head to toe in kevlar and armored plating, armed with a black automatic shotgun with a drum magazine. His comrade, Helion 2, had joined Sangre as one of her extra bodyguards - leaving him to wreak havoc.

Kafka clicked her tongue, just what she needed. She's faced formidable foes before, but at least they gave her time to think, plus she had Elio's foresight with every mission. Without any prep time and the enemy giving her no chance to think, it was going to be hard to think of a plan on the fly. She couldn't peek now, as the heavy kept pinning her down with shotgun fire. It was a miracle the pillar hadn't been degraded into a million pieces, but it wasn't going to hold for long. She also noticed the last black soldier moving closer to her position, rifle at the ready. Blade was still regenerating, so she was on her own.

Taking a brief moment to catch her breath, Kafka reloaded her SMGs before she emptied her entire grenade supply towards the heavy soldier. Five grenades rolled at his feet, causing him to look down.

"What the-!" The whole room shook from the shockwave, knocking the armored unit off his feet. Kafka peeks out of what little cover she had left, firing her SMG to stagger the one soldier left. She rushed towards the soldier, swapping one of her guns for her katana to lunge at him. The black soldier couldn't retaliate against someone moving as fast as lightning, as Kafka thrust her katana towards his unarmored neck. He choked on his blood leaving his throat as Kafka pushed the body away, leaving the sword still stuck to the corpse. Helion 1 was just about to get up when Kafka aimed both SMGs at his head and pulled the trigger. The heavy soldier's helmet can withstand a lot of punishment, but the visor could only take so many 9mm rounds going off at 1,200 rounds per minute. The bullet resistant glass shattered, leaving Helion 1 at the mercy of Kafka's twin SMG fire. The sickening sound of flesh torn to bits from bullets filled the room as the heavy unit finally fell over dead.

Kafka stood there for a moment, taking her breath. She reloaded her SMGs a second time, seeing that she was down to her last spare magazines left. The squad had been wiped out, but she couldn't waste any more time - as the echoing sound of gunfire filled the rest of the hotel. Stepping over the sea of bullet casings on the floor, she rushed to check on Blade. Thankfully, he had regenerated enough to regain consciousness.

"Urgh…" Blade groaned, opening his eyes. Feeling his sides now fully healed, he clenched his fists. "He caught me off guard."

"Don't worry, Bladie. I took care of him." Kafka responded, offering a hand for him to grab. Blade grabbed it immediately and was brought up to his feet. The duo went over to their fallen swords as Kafka nodded towards the exit. "Come on, we need to keep up."

"Wait."

The two Stellaron Hunters paused for a moment, looking back at the new voice that came from behind them. They were stunned for a few seconds, before Blade broke the silence. "Why do you look like her?"

The new voice belonged to Caleb, his helmet now strapped to his hip and thus showing his face, who had just stuck his second Stimpak into his arm. Miraculously, he survived the mag dump from point-blank range thanks to his armor - albeit now starting to take its toll from the damage. Feeling the rejuvenation of the medicine in his body, he picks up the heavily modded Assault Carbine and grabs a few magazines.

"I'm her twin brother." He responds, narrowing his eyes at the both of them. "I'm not sure if you're the help my sister asked for, but if it means saving her from those bastards, so be it."

The duo looked at each other, almost as if having a conversation about whether or not they should trust the person that looked exactly like Stelle if she had green eyes and was a male. There seemed to be an agreement, as Kafka gave a nod before turning to Caleb - looking at the armor he was wearing. "Well, mister. Normally, we'd question you if you're truly her brother. But we're going to need all the help we can get." She glanced at the circle of stars on the chestplate of Caleb's combat armor. "Especially since you seem to know them."

"I do." He racks the charging handle of the Assault Carbine. "Lead the way."

A/N: Hello again!

Before I end, there are a few things you guys and gals need to know. For the record, I'm back to college classes (yay…) so updates will be slow yet again. I promise not to leave you guys waiting for nine months again.

Most of the weapons, armors and outfits that show up in this fic that come from the Fallout universe (and eventually will show up when the crew get transported) I try to stay close to the vanilla games. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't take some creative liberties. I plan this fic to be lore-friendly but also having some of my twists in it.

On with the reviews…

Hutakata: You'll soon find out why a certain group of people from the Fallout universe is trying to get into the Star Rail universe. As for augmentation, Caleb didn't quite go through the same journey as Stelle did, as she is Courier Six in this world - so augmentations are minimal. He does have access to VATS tho.

Dat Dude: Woah, that's practically all of the perks in the game. Stelle won't be THAT strong, but she's definitely skilled in some areas than others - like Guns ;)

LilyMaja: Hello again! Don't worry, this fic will have a better lifespan than the last one. I'll try to simplify for newcomers to Fallout this time around.

T0mT0m: Truth be told, I have no idea how to put that certain Galaxy Ranger into the story. Him in Fallout would actually be another fun concept. I'll consider the idea, thank you.

Thank you for your time. See you in the next chapter!

- Ghost

Update 01/21/25: Changed the entirety of the hotel room fight scene. I originally didn't want to incorporate the fact that the characters in HSR (and in other gacha games for that matter) can just summon their weapons out of nowhere, and it's never explained why. However, I realized it might actually work in my favor story wise