Chapter 10 - Front Line

“Alright guys,” Willy began, the rest of his team standing directly behind him, their arms folded proudly, looking poise, dignified, ready to put everything on the line to defend their one shot at freedom, to guard the place they grew up, surrounded by people that accepted them. This was more than just a hideout to them, or an organization composed of people with simply the same goals of world unity, they were a family. They understood just how severe this situation was.

Trav bit his lip, feeling like he was in an actual war zone. In fact, he was. This was war. Two sides fighting for not only victory and dominance over the other, but for their beliefs and standings. Trav was involved now, ever since that fateful day 12 years ago with Willy, he’s been in. He couldn’t let this moment pass over him now, he had to grasp it, with both hands. His will fired up.

“Remember, we don’t know who our enemy is yet,” Willy stated, the others listened intensively. “They managed to sneak on our island, and managed to get past our ambuscade squad almost instantly. It might be K.I., it might be the government. Whatever the case, they’re trying to take everything from us. We cannot and will not accept this hospitality.” Willy took a deep breath and sighed, looking ahead, the wind breezing Willy’s hair with a gentle sway.

“As you all know, except maybe Trav,” Willy paused, glancing at Trav for a brief second. Trav smiled ludicrously. “The Vault main Island, Momodore, is surrounded by three layers of ramparts. The fact our forces were so easily defeated leaves us to believe we are dealing with a  powerful enemy. I’ve laid out our battle plan, so everyone, listen closely,” Willy hunched over, grabbing a random stick from the ground he began drawing a diagram in the mud with bad yet easy to read illustrations and labels. Everyone looked down, as Willy began to speak.

“Ten, you cover the outside boundary of the base at exactly 5 o’clock from this position. You’re guarding the main entrance. Do not let anyone in at any costs. Rubie, being the Speedy Gonzales and the tricky scoundrel among us, you are to cover the second layer of the base at approximately 30 meters north from where we’re standing. Jesse, you take the south, and being the only one capable of long range feats, also you’re the strongest among a body of water; you take the outskirts and guard the entire perimeter. Make sure no one comes back in from outside. Lastly, I’ll go out into the front lines, and hold out everyone from layer 3 of the island’s core.”

Trav listened, and was astounded by Willy’s plan. The fact he thought that all up within the nick of time he needed to take was brilliant to him. Willy’s intelligence was quite beyond belief for Trav as well. Could it have also been an enhancement brought on by the CPES serum? Then he remembered he was left out of the equation. He raised his hand, Willy looked over.

“Oh, right, sorry, I forgot about you,” Willy said slowly, slapping his head in shame, a look of apparent disgust with himself appeared, clearly outraged by any flaw in his character or plan. Trav smiled awkwardly.

“Uh, yeah, no worries there buddy. I’m not that important anyway, and I am the weakest among you guys I’m sur-“

“Trav, you stay here with Ten. Help him guard the entrance to Vault,” Willy said simply, standing up straight, stretching his back, and then rubbing the back of his neck to stretch. The others simply watched the battlefield outside. From their distance, it was hard to see much, but the cries of the people outside, the spill of bloodshed, the horrid drench of sweat, blood, and tears, even if just faintly, it could be heard. Not to mention the staggering sounds of the guns and cannons. Trav was honestly scared shitless, it just hadn’t quite settled in down there yet, what exactly he was up against.

An explosion ignited directly behind them, the earth from the ground below shot up, sending a smoldering surge of smoke and rubble above raining upon Team Willy. They had already begun their attack to the closest quarters. Willy raised his hand, ignoring the close call, and shot his arm forward.

“Split up and take it to them, team!” Willy declared. The team nodded vigorously, splitting up to their own sections in the island. They speedily retreated, setting out on foot toward their respective sectors assigned on the island, all except Willy, Trav,, and Ten. Willy turned back to Trav, giving a quick thumbs up with a nice guy smile, before setting off directly north.

---

“Surround and seize the border, cut off all outside and inside supply to the ocean. We’re seizing them and closing them off in their own terrain,” Colonel Rash directed to his squadron behind him with an authoritative sharpness, to the point with no bullshitting around. He gritted his cigar between his teeth, his eyes glared at the Vault HQ from the hilltop where they stood, watching the IMO forces charge head on inside of the land, drenched in a bloodied battlefield. Major Kana stood beside Colonel Rash, resting her hand between her breasts, breathing softly.

“Sir, your pager,” Major Kana said, hearing his pager vibrate on his belt collar. Colonel Rash had a tendency to only focus on one thing at one time, completely ignoring all environmental and psychological factors of anything else, which was the focus General Okayama admired about Rash enough to promote him up in rank. Colonel Rash reached for the pager flipping on the speaker.

“Colonel Rash. How’s the situation?” The familiar young voice of the General of IMO, Neito Okayama, said from the other end, static infused with his transmission. Despite the occurring static, his tone as always remained bored and nonchalant.

“Magnificent, sir,” Colonel Rash replied, a little sarcastically, as if to match his tone with the General’s, clearly holding no bars and not feeling obligated to kiss ass. He followed Okayama’s orders and that was it.

“Very good. I have a pretty awesome plan, and you’re going to listen to me, and carry out this plan, kay?”

“By all means.”

“Firstly, this island is connected by four beams underwater. This is only an ark of land shaped as a U, only because of the shape and buoyancy is it able to float above land, sort of how you would describe the displacement of a ship. These beams are solid state ice mechanics that operate as support pillars in order to keep the island in place and restrained. These ice pillars were obviously crafted by someone within Vault, as the ocean is essentially frozen in a 5 meter radius, inside and out. Procedure Let’emSink shall commence now. If you can go underwater, and take out those pillars, you will sink the island, and let it plunge into the depths of the ocean.”
"How will taking out those pillars sink the island? If the island floats like a ship, then taking out the ice pillars will do no good." Rash questioned the General's plan apathetically. Most people, even in his rank as a Colonel, didn't ask questions, they just did. General Okayama liked this little small trait in Rash.
"As long as the pillars are there, the island cannot sink by conventional means. Following me now?" 

“I see,” Colonel Rash lightly said, listening attentively. “Leave everything to us.”

“There’s a reason I keep you around, Colonel, and it’s not just for your face.” Neito said on the transmission, before the connection was lost. Colonel Rash secured his pager within his belt, adjusting his twin katana sheaths on his back, folding his arms within his uniform. “Move out, guys. If you see any Vault members, hold nothing back, kill them.”

“Yes sir!” the soldiers howled, leaping down the hilltop, sliding off, carrying their weapons in hand, ready to sink the Vault island, Momodore. Major Kana looked over at Colonel Rash curiously.

“Of me, sir?” she asked inquisitively. Colonel Rash blew off a puff of smoke.

“Right now, we’re south of the border. Head north, lead your own squadron there, and split them up. I’ll take west and east, you take north and south. We have to surround all borders of the island for this procedure to work.”

“Yes si-“

Colonel Rash’s instincts kicked in, the wireframe image of a man no one else could see through normal eyes appeared at vast speed. Rash, in a near flash, withdrew one of his twin katana from his sheath, clashing blades with the blue haired wonder, sparks of the collision fluttered between them. The only signal from a movement Rash could, at first, find in his actual appearance with his left eye, was the movement of a blue scarf, and intense sapphire eyes. Colonel Rash’s right eye was blind, and in so, the sunglasses gave him a wireframe image of his surroundings. The man leaped back, sheathing his sword as quickly as he drew it. Colonel Rash closed his right eye, observing the boy through his sunglasses with his normal eye. He said nothing, only stood there solemnly, his blue scarf and hair flowing with the island draft.

“The IMO, huh?” Jesse finally said. Rash simply stared at him apathetically, as if taking no real, earnest interest in him just yet. He had gotten his attention though, even the few soldiers standing behind the squadron were bewildered. They rarely ever got to see the Colonel fight. “Imperial Mutant Officials. What business do you have with us?” Jesse folded his arms, staring seriously at Rash. Rash simply frowned.

“Since day one, you have been an enemy to the government; therefore you have been an enemy to the world. Sabre can’t condone for your actions, he won’t save you this time,” Rash said with a declarative, serious tone. “We have orders to sink this island.” Jesse closed his eyes.

“You IMO agents know nothing. For tampering with our home land, you have trampled on our family and friends, and even our ideals. We have always fought for the world, yet the world does not acknowledge that. For that…” Jesse began, his body suddenly began steaming, as if his body temperature was beginning to drop drastically, and it was visibly showing on the outside.

“You must be punished.”

Colonel Rash stood seriously, as Jesse’s body began steaming more by the second. He took acute interest in his case. The steam began to cease, as Jesse’s skin on his face suddenly began to freeze, turning into a solid state of ice. The IMO soldiers charged head on for Jesse at all angles on account of a hand signal by Rash; however, it seemed to be a harsh misunderstanding. Rash grimaced.

“Fall back, idiots! Don’t charge him!” Rash declared, far too late now. Jesse opened his eyes, the ice layering his body began to give sound effects of cracking. “Frozen Ring.” Jesse said, soft spoken and tranquil as possible. The soldiers, only inches away from impaling Jesse at nearly all angles, suddenly, from their feet, they were trapped. Their bodies jerked forward, yet they couldn’t fall. For the over 30 soldiers that charged Jesse, they were frozen in place, the ground beneath them, the center point being Jesse, was literally a ring of ice. The ice began to spread up their bodies, trapping them in an evident ice prison. Their screams echoed across the island, their faces iced shut in suspended states, horrified expressions glued all around. Jesse stared on nonchalantly, yet totally serious in light of Rash.

Major Kana observed, the ring around her eye suddenly began to spin, observing Jesse and his biomass from where she stood. “Seems we have an ice man on our heads. His whole body is literally a frozen mass.” Colonel Rash exhaled smoke, taking a huge whiff of his cigar, both feeling the chill of the ice.

“Alright. Kana, do as I told you. Looks like we might need to get Velvetti after all. Go on,” Rash commanded. Kana nodded, and began running off. Jesse’s eyes turned to Kana as she ran, holding up an open palm in her vicinity.

“You officers aren’t getting away,” Jesse coldly stated, creating a cluster of ice molded swallows, their wings condensed in hard ice. They each flew for Kana at full force. In a mere instant, the swallows were sliced into bits, remnants of ice scattering across the field. Jesse glared over at Rash, whose black katana was raised, resting against his shoulders casually, blowing more smoke, before finishing his cigar, pinning it against Jesse’s own self made ice on the ground.

“I’ll play with you a little while, boy.”

“Bring it, scum.”

---

Willy leaped through the front line of the battlefield, rushing past the IMO agents near him, literally kicking off of their shoulders, gaining momentum for a big boost of a jump. The agents looked up as Willy made a fool of them by so easily passing by them. One aimed a rifle at Willy as he leaped up, shooting as an angry flail in the air. “Stop right there, scoundrel!”

“Take him down!” Another drew a smoke bomb, plunging it into the ground about a meter Willy’s general vicinity, spanning across the area in a 5 meter radius. The smoke began to cover the entire area; the IMO soldiers aimed their firearms inside of the smoke randomly and began shooting, at this point a shoot-and-pray ordeal. The shots eventually stopped, ceasing fire, they lowered their weapons, hearing not a sound within the smolder. The five soldiers smiled in unison, clapping each other in arm’s length.

The smoke lifted, a figure launched up in the sky in a revolving spin. The soldiers looked up in bewilderment at the figure, as before they knew it, the middle man in the crowd was struck down, face first in the mud ground by a powerful vertical falling spin kick with great velocity to the back of the head, knocking him out instantly. The other four soldiers raised their firearms, firing their pistols for Willy once again. Willy looked intensely, a dead serious expression upon his face, his eyes bulged as he took a leap of faith, completely avoiding all of the bullets with great speed, he appeared behind the soldier on the second left, kicking him in the kneecaps as he appeared behind him, severing his knees down with a violent crack, he fell down, also face first, screaming in pain. The other soldier on the far left withdrew a sword and slashed for Willy with a double handed swing, Willy responded by leaping up, grabbing the man’s sword handle by prying it out of his own hands by pulling his body forward, flipping forward once, propelling himself with a powerful spinning kick, sending the man flying with a unique spin across the muddy terrain.

“Don’t get so cocky, Vault rubbish!” the English soldier fired his rifle for Willy, whom responded with a simple sidestep, the bullet gliding only centimeters away from his cheek upon impact, so light across his face it didn’t even leave a scratch. Willy looked on seriously, and grinned, the other two began quivering.

“It can’t be… this man… must be… The Kid!”

Upon that exclamation, Willy frowned, and angrily stared at the man, whom only responded in more fear. Willy stepped forward, his muscles began bulging slightly.

“Don’t compare me to that man! Aura Release… one hundred ten percent!” Willy charged head on, kicking off the ground at an immense speed, plunging his entire body for both of the IMO soldiers, clothes-lining both of them, both of their bodies flipped into the air mercilessly countless times, before finally landing head first into the ground. Willy looked on apathetically, and ran forward, charging once again through the front lines.

“One hundred twenty percent!” Willy kicked off his feet, leaping at an even more immense tempo, charging into the heart of the front lines almost instantly. The soldiers looked on, aiming their weapons at a seeming blur, before they were all dismantled as a union, their bodies scattered across the battlefield. Willy surged through the battlefield, aiding his Vault companions. He clashed heads of soldiers, spin kicked several on the side, leaped down from the sky, locking his legs with another’s, and he spun him across the field at an intense pace. Willy landed, receiving a scratch across his left ribs. Willy merely shrugged it off, turning around; he punched the dull edge of the sword into pieces. The soldier looked on in complete amazement, before he knew it; a boot impacted his face, causing a domino effect among the other soldiers directly behind him. A large man approached Willy, standing directly above him, holding a shotgun directly in his face, Willy looked up seriously, he grinned.

“Oi… good show… but you let your guard down! The name of the man who stole your life on the battlefield, Sergeant Ion!” the large IMO soldier fired for Willy’s head, leaving it a bloody, beefy mess, or that’s what would have happened. The soldier’s eyes widened as the barrel of his sniper expanded, as if exploding on the inside. Willy released his hands from the gun’s edge, revealing his merely black hand, holding the shotgun shells, completely crushed by Willy’s hand. Willy flicked both of them for Sergeant Ion’s face, colliding at a great trajectory.

“One hundred thirty percent!” Willy leaped off of the ground, tackling Sergeant Ion in the gut. Sergeant Ion’s eyes widened, he coughed up saliva and blood. As they landed on the ground, Willy finished him off with a swift jab to the rib cage, with enough force to shatter all of his ribs effortlessly, as he fell to the ground, utterly defeated. Willy leaped up, staring up ahead at the battlefield.

“This will all be over soon guys… count on it!” Willy charged forward, completely fearless, only one goal on his mind; protecting his comrades and family.

---

Major Kana stood below a small cavern in the island’s north boundary on the outskirts. She rested her hand on her chest, checking the scenario for anything. In this area, totally clear, it was perfect. Her and her squadron set their sights on the outskirts, most of the elite military force of the Vault on the defense squadrons had already been wiped out by the first ambuscade. Kana grinned, chuckling merrily.

“Next up, we need to secure the borders of the entire island. We need to trap them inside before we sink the island. Move out, guys!” Major Kana called, lifting up her arm in the air, holding up her index finger, signaling them to move forward and expand. They saluted her, and made their way off.

Unexpectedly, the ground began to tremor, and over time, quake more violently. Kana looked surprised, glancing over her shoulder from behind as she turned around; observing the sudden shift in the island’s ground. Kana stood her ground; the other soldiers remained strong as well, as strong as they could. Even more suddenly, what appeared to be a large stampede of an enormous amount of purple blurs came into view, as instantaneously, ¾ of the soldiers in the entire region were wiped out, their blood splattered among the ground, draped with straight claw-like patterns among their abdomens. Everyone seemed to have the same blanket of blood covered among their bodies. The afterimages stopped, revealing a small, almost petite sized female in the midst of the slaughter, her sapphire-lit eyes glaring menacingly at Kana. Kana stared back, slightly appalled. She raised her right hand above her chin in observation.

“Looks like we have a cute little brute within our hands now,” Kana said with a light chuckle. The girl stepped forward, in an instant, disappearing in a flash, her after image disappeared, creating sets of a purple blaze along her trail. Kana’s eyes widened lightly, as she felt a tug on her blouse beneath her IMO Major coat. She gasped, as the girl looked dead serious into her eyes, her face painted with the blood of the soldiers she had just slain mercilessly.

“Get the hell off of our island, whore!” Rubie head-butted Kana between the eyes, causing her to fumble back, skidding against the ground for a good meter away. Rubie gave her a dead grave stare. Kana’s head was busted open, bleeding profusely due to not only Rubie’s hard head, but her bull horn hat as well. Kana stood up, brushing off her hair, as if her only concern was her hair, excuse the blood on her face. She glared at Rubie, equally matching her pissed off expression.

“You petite bitch! How dare you touch my face with that ugly mug!” Kana exclaimed in rage, her face enraged at Rubie. Rubie simply stared at her with the same grim scowl as before, blowing steam out of her nose, Rubie walked forward. One of the soldiers who barely survived Rubie’s initial blitzkrieg assault backed up in fear.

“I-I recognize her. She’s the Vault’s Redhorn Rubie! She’s small, but a little devil! She must be the spawn of satan!”

“Whatever… I’m taking that little twerp out! I don’t care what illustrious reputation she has, this is what we, as IMO soldiers, do!” the man held up a magnum, firing for Rubie. The bullet merely deflected off of her chest, displaying her harder-than-steel body endurance. He looked on in utter shock, and shot many more rounds, all deflecting with an initial spark. Rubie growled, her face twisted in an expression bent on grounding mayhem. The soldiers stood up, backing up with a shake. Kana growled, biting her lip, not intimidated in the least, only troubled by her as a person.

“Redhorn Stampede!” Rubie dashed forward at the same untracklabe, impeccable speed as before. In a mere instant, she literally crushed the first IMO soldier into the solid ground with a downward stomp, on rocks. Debris of the rocks shot up in the air, as the man coughed up a mantle of blood in anguish. She glared up at the other solider, snarling. The solider screamed, firing rapid shots at Rubie from close range. Rubie charged head first, punching the man in the gut with extreme, groundbreaking force. The pure impact of the punch sent a small shockwave through the ground, causing it to crack slightly. The cavern they were in threw rocks from above onto them from the extreme tremor. On top of that, her fist had a sharp edge, as it not only crushed the man, but slashed through his stomach. He fell over, his pupils gone, pure white, mouth gaped open pitifully.

“You cunts screwed with us, don't act like you didn't have this coming! Hope you like dirt, you’re gonna be eating a lot of it.” Rubie tilted her head, giving Kana the same death stare as before. Kana stood up straight, adjusting her IMO coat. She clenched her fist, as her hair began to stand up, a white layered force field generated around Kana.

“Alright then little girlie… let’s go.”

---

Trav watched the war front from his own eyes, at least in the distance he could. He heard the screams and bloodshed of both comrades and enemies, it physically made him sick. Never in his life had he had to deal with anything on this magnitude. He had been in many fights before, sure, but war was completely different. It was hell. Both sides going at it, killing as many people as they could, the thought didn’t settle well with Trav. Trav held his stomach tight. On the opposite side of Trav, Ten punched a IMO soldier in the face, sending him sprawled across the ground KO’d. His green eyes glanced over to Trav.

“You okay, Trav?” Ten asked rather sincerely. Trav found Ten the oddest of the members, probably because he was a robot, or a gentle robot, and among Team Willy, next to Willy himself, he was the only ‘people friendly’ person on the team. Who would have guessed? Not Trav.

“I’ll be fine… but you shouldn’t worry about me, man. Way more important things at stake here,” Trav replied, his eyes scattering across the battlefield. Both Trav and Ten stood side by side behind the Vault entrance. Ten stared down at Trav, noticing a sudden surge of IMO soldiers coming close to Vault. Willy must have been doing his job well, Trav thought.

“Whether I agree with Willy’s decision to send you on the battle front or not, is not my justified choice to make,” Ten said in his robotic, monotone voice, yet Trav felt the sincerity, for some reason. He just knew Ten was being sincere and real. “But I do know why he kept you here with me.”

“I’ve never experienced anything like this before… I’m not sure what to do, to be honest,” Trav said with a sigh, cringing at the sound of a machine gun’s rounds, followed by an explosion. Ten remained unscathed, psychologically, yet with emotions, you could never truly tell with Ten, being who he was.

“Just stay by me. I’ll protect you. You are one of us now.” Ten said. Trav smiled.

“Thanks Ten.”

Ten walked forward, and looked down. Instantly, what appeared to be an actual egg landed on Ten’s steel chest, followed by an explosion. Trav’s eyes widened, a look of stricken horror on his face.

“Shit!! TEN!!” Trav began running forward. He stopped and looked up, staring up at two flying IMO soldiers, one literally wearing a beak mask, the other upon the flying soldier’s back via a carriage like a pigeon. Trav raised a brow, scratching the back of his neck, a ‘what the hell’ look on his face.

“Nice package,” Trav said, surprisingly calm, yet his inner turmoil said otherwise. The beak/pigeon IMO soldier laughed.

“Kawkawkaw! Danke!” the pigeon man said with a rather high pitched tone you’d expect out of a bird man. He landed, the other man, extremely short; nearly midget sized, landed in an upright, confident pose, sprouting artificial angelic-like wings. Trav grimaced, his face boiling with fury. “You were unfortunate enough to run into the Flanigmo Bros! Sergeant Hawk; that’s me!, and my partner, Sergeant Bawk! Prepare for your execution, along with the rest of your precious faction!!! Kawkawkaw!” The little man simply snickered and repeated what his comrade said.

“Yeah! Just like the rest of your faction, bawbawbaw! Die!!”

As Sergeant Bawk leaped forward, soaring through the air with his frilly angelic wings, Trav clenched his fists in anger, and was going to attempt a punch of rage at him, even if it would be in vain, for what they did to Ten, he couldn’t just sit idly by and let this happen. Trav propelled himself forward, but was suddenly stopped, running face first into the familiar tin man, smoke still growing upon his steel body. Sergeant Bawk’s eyes widened, as Ten simply grabbed the little man by his neck, grabbed him like a towel, snapping him like a twig. Trav looked on, shaken up, he stood back, the look of dismay revealed itself once again. His heart began racing.

Sergeant Hawk gawked in astonishment, then rage. He began flapping his wings, taking flight. “You little twerps…! My brother!! You will pay for this with your lives!!” Sergeant Hawk soared down, approaching Ten like the pray he was to him, his beak widened, he expelled a large number of eggs to the field, causing them to release a large smoke bomb into the terrain. Trav stood back, holding his nose.

“Ew… shit… what is that god forsaken smell?!”

“Venomous Egg Buster!” a purple gas began to release in the atmosphere. Ten widened his eyes, grabbing Trav, he opened a compartment in his stomach, and forcefully placed Trav inside.

“Hey! What gives?!” Trav banged on Ten from inside.

“That’s poison gas; I can’t let you inhale any of that toxin!” Ten paused momentarily, staring up at Sergeant Hawk. “Trav, leave this to me.”

---

“Very well, my dearest ladies, it seems our inevitable departure must commence as of now,” Kaidoh spoke smoothly with a boastful grin. The ladies all frowned, kissing the ground as Kaidoh walked upon it, others bowed before him. Kaidoh held his mirror delicately in one hand. He turned around, waved his right hand with a gesture holding up his index finger. He pointed at the group of ladies (and a few men). “However, do not fret, for the ends of our expedition is only the beginning of a new chronicle. When I return, I shall become king. I will be on the top of the world. I will... be sure to check all of you into my office.” He winked, as the ladies screamed. Kaidoh turned around, heading out of the Vault. “Run along now, my dearest. I cannot allow you to participate in this epidemic warzone. If anything were to happen to you, I would simply cringe in agony, as my heart shatters into fragments of a lost ark.”

The ladies blew many kisses before making their exit out of the Vault, securing themselves in the safe underground tunnels, away from the war. Kaidoh walked outside of the Vault HQ, and ran through the first layer of the island, his hair and robe elegantly flowing with the wind.

An ambuscade approached. A group of six soldiers drew themselves out of their hiding crevices in the island, aiming their rifles and pistols for Kaidoh. Kaidoh’s eyes slowly turned, as he landed, the gunshots went off. Kaidoh snapped, a majestic field of blue plasma energy whipped around him, taking the shape of a dome, repelling all of the bullets. The IMO soldiers groaned.

“Shit… another superhuman! He must have a War Rune! Kill him!”

Kaidoh wagged his finger, tilting his head with a smirk. “Friends and enemies, divide and conquer among the war zone… do you really think you can defeat me? For your faces are only averagely defined.” Kaidoh awaited, as he slowly lifted up his hands, in the style of an open praying mantis.

“He’s trying something funny! Shoot him now! Hurry it up!”

“Azure Firecracker,” Kaidoh grinned, as he snapped both of his fingers, and waved his hands. In that instant, a staggering set of blue fireworks ignited among the crevices of the ground of the four soldiers, blowing them away out of consciousness, scorching their bodies with the power of the ignition, as Kaidoh did not directly assault them, only in their general vicinity did the azure fireworks display. As the fireworks went off, Kaidoh turned around, looking in his mirror, staring at his face as the fireworks shot up into the sky, directly behind him, they went off, spreading in the dusk. Kaidoh smiled.

“My, what a handsome devil you are.”

“Ah… you must be Kaidoh, yes?” a female officer of IMO approached from behind, directly in view of Kaidoh’s mirror. Kaidoh’s eyes widened, staring at the elegantly defined face of the female Lieutenant General of IMO. He turned around, staring with an acute interest in the new woman. He bowed before her, taking her hand, kissing the back of her palm. The woman was the same woman who stood atop of the hilltop earlier, looking at Willy through a crystal ball and vaporizing into light.

“Madam, it is truly an honor to be in the presence of such a woman with a staggering beauty such as yourself,” Kaidoh stared up into the woman’s eyes, who retorted with a simple stare, her pink lips carving a majestic smile, which apparently hypnotized Kaidoh.

“Why, thank you,” she replied with a slight blush. “You’re fairly easy on the eyes yourself.” Her gaze suddenly narrowed, staring seriously at Kaidoh with a clear intent. “It always cringes my heart to have to lay waste to such a fine man."

“Oh, but why? We can leave this island and discuss our future together. We can plan out every last detail-“

In that instant, the woman kicked Kaidoh across the face, nearly snapping his neck from the enormous force. As Kaidoh fell, she placed her hands on her hips, smiling seductively, yet with an aura of malice and deceitfulness.

“My name is Velvetti, General Lieutenant of IMO.”

Kaidoh stood up, staring up at Velvetti, he flipped himself up with a handspring, and stared up at her with a cocky grin.

“It goes against all of my policies to attack a woman… but in some special cases… it seems I am forced to lift a hand,” Kaidoh said. Clearly, the only thought on his mind was the definite necessity to grope her. He stared seriously… into his mirror. “Well, it seems we will have to get serious… she is an enemy, after all, even if she is completely gorgeous.”

Chapter 9 - My Resolve, Our Resolution!

“General Okayama, we have conflicting investigative reports on-“

“Hoooold,” the pearly headed young man leaped off of the furnace in the diminutive, yet saturating apartment. Clothes, plates, all accounts of food, mainly pasta, splattered over the kitchen sink in a muddled vogue, and the ceiling fan was missing three blades. He squatted down on the kitchen table, knocking down an assortment of silverware in the process. He folded his arms over his knees, which were folded just below his face. He looked on with a glum yet estranged expression. Despite his appearance, it was obvious he was a high ranking member of a military squadron. He didn’t look any older than 18, and he adorned a high honorific badge across his right shoulder. “Why are you here, Major Kazin? It’s after 5 pm, I have no more business at the IMO headquarters.”

Major Kazin looked up, and sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose, looking down and taking notice of his superior’s untidy apartment. He adjusted his high trimmed shades and stared back at Okayama. “I apologize. Should I have knocked first?”

“That would be a start, though it wouldn’t hurt your credibility to bring me a Jalapeño  Popper.” Okayama replied irately, glaring up at his nearly 7 foot tall underling. “It must be important if you came down here though, it better be worth interrupting my after hours.”

“Yes well, regarding the investigation of the Channel 05 News Station in Heretic,” Kazin began, adjusting his shades, filing the report in his hands, he scanned the report. “We had evidence that pointed it the source was by an external induced explosion.” Okayama nodded with a slightly irate sigh, resting his hands on his chin blankly, as if annoyed he was getting information he already knew crammed back into his cranium. “Recent examinations say this may have been a collapse on the internal structure. One of the support beams in the building had collapsed which is a possibility of a collapse. Or more like, it was destroyed.”

“Humph, what is that supposed to prove?” Okayama questioned, Kazin looked up. “We have stronger evidence and countless eye witness accounts that suggest it was an explosion. Challenging that is rather redundant, don’t you think? It’s like cutting down a tree with a fish.”

“I’m not challenging the initial theory sir-“

“You said you had contradicting evidence. Pinpoint me exactly where that contradiction is, and why it’s relevant, and stop wasting my time. You’re boring the shit out of me.” Okayama said impatiently, narrowing his pure white ominous eyes. Kazin cleared his throat professionally and stood tall.

“We believe the perpetrators were inside of the building during the collapse, and there was a third party responsible for the destruction of the building on the outside.”

“That’s a strong argument you make, but it’s rather fruitless without evidence. What’s the proof?” Okayama stood straight on the table, now staring on even grounds with his subordinate, his white hazy eyes looked on irksomely.

“We found a body inside.”

“Were you honestly expecting to find something else?” Okayama replied sarcastically, folding his arms.

“I mean one of the bodies was unique.”

“Did it sprout a tail?”

“She was identified as Clara Underwood, the Anchorwoman for Channel 05.”

“So she didn’t have a tail?”

“No, sir, she didn’t have a tail.”

“Fascinating. Well, I know about her death. What about her is unique?”

“She was found inside of the debris of the News Station, yet she died of a gunshot wound.”

“As opposed to being crushed and flattened? That is news, from Clara Underwood.”

“Right,” Kazin sighed. “We believe the station was attacked by two parties, they didn’t appear to be working together. The good news though, and the main reason I came here, is because one of the cameras in the debris, by some long shot, managed to pick up an image of the perpetrators leaving the incident.”

Okayama’s eyes widened lightly, he grinned. “Now, why didn’t you just say that from the get-go? So then, who was it?” Okayama folded his legs, sitting back down on the table.

“The Golden Eagle of the Rose.”

Okayama laughed heartily, for the first time, showing genuine interest in the case. It was a name he apparently didn’t expect to hear. “Well, that is interesting! Very well, this is what you’re gonna do. Gather the assassination and interrogation squadron and surround the Vault’s perimeters.”

Kazin nodded. “Very well, sir. Will you lead the expedition?”

“Nah, I told you, these are my off hours. I’m on salary, so fuck you and your crew,” Okayama rested the back of his head on his hands. “Though, there is someone I’d like to recommend to you. Since we are dealing with Vault, you may want to consider calling up her.”

“You can’t mean-“

Okayama smiled cockily with a tilt of his head. “Velvetti.”

-~-

“Welcome to the team, Travis Reid. Good to have you in,” Willy said, standing by his fellow crew members in the assorted hallway, all four of the members (excluding Sabre) looked on, poised and professional, except Rubie, who fidgeted with her royal colored cape as if bored to bereavement. Willy raised his hand, offering a shake to Trav. Trav lightly smiled, accepting Willy’s firm handshake.

“You know, it doesn’t seem fair he didn’t take the initiation test,” Rubie blurted out, raising her hand as if being called on. She lowered her arm to her level, pointing to Trav with a quirky smirk. “This little punk should take it too, otherwise, we won’t know what he’s really worth.”

Ten’s green eyes examined the area with a profound interest. “A test? I never took a test?”

“She’s lying,” Jesse said coldly, folding his arms, his blue scarf covering his bottom half facial features. Jesse’s words were as chilled as frost. “There is no initiation test.”

“Right,” Willy said, glancing back at Trav, raising a smirk. “Ready for your test, Trav?”

Trav’s eyes widened. “A test? You just said there was no test-“

“They’re only fanatical; they have a lot of team spirit. They only want the best for our team.” Random enthusiastic habitats of the Vault surrounded the room, throwing up their hands in unison.

“The spirit of Ares blazes within us!

“Our heart is a raging dynamite ready to explode!”

“My eyes glisten with the inferno of courage!”

Trav scratched his chin, looking back up at Willy. “So, is this a loyalty test or something?”

Willy simply looked on and smiled peculiarly, “Something like that.” Trav raised a brow. From Willy’s mystique, it could be anything. He wasn’t the easiest guy to predict. He waited further, when Willy spoke up again. “You have to fight-“

“Darn, I knew it. I have to fight you, don’t I? Are you an idiot? Why are you always dragging me into your battles, man?! Now you’re even making me fight against you?! Where is the righteousness in this situation!-“

“Ten.”

Trav stopped, looking up at Willy, removing his hands away from his head he was clutching in disbelief and anguish. “What?”

“You have to fight Ten.”

Ten waved. Trav wiped his nose, his eyes shrunk, and his facial features swelled like an old raisin. “What?”

“It’ll be easy. His body is only as hard as steel. Just aim for the cylinder heart,” Rubie said, cocking her head back with a beaming smirk. She playfully gestured her hand for a motion forward, staring at Trav with slight pity. “From what you’ve told us, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“I haven’t told you anything,” Trav said, wiping sweat from his forehead. They couldn’t be serious. They really wanted him to fight against that metal contraption? His body looked four tons harder than Xero’s, and Willy couldn’t put a powerful dent in his armor. What was he expecting to be able to do?

Ten stepped forward, his mere metallic footsteps quaked the ground, or so was the sensation. The room seemed to tilt forward by his overwhelming presence. Trav looked up in awe, as he stood easily three feet taller than him. Trav gulped, deciding that if he was going to swallow all of his panic and angst, he had to do it now. If it was a test of loyalty, they at least wanted him to try, he figured. Or maybe they didn’t, maybe it was a test to see if he would harm his comrades? Trav didn’t try any further to wrap his brain around it, thinking things through was never his strong suit. He acted purely on impulse. Trav stepped in front of Ten, standing as tall as he possibly could in the situation, though he still took note of how towering Ten was to him. He briskly looked up, gulping, attempting to portray a stern look across his face.

“Well, if that’s what Willy wants… I’m in,” Trav said, gathering all of his inner confidence he used to face Sidian in the gym during his time period in 2012, only Ten, physically, was a lot more appalling and threatening, yet his personality and poise said otherwise, ironically. Ten stared down apathetically.

“Yes, you may begin when you are ready,” his deep, mechanized voice pronounced. Ten clenched his steel fists, holding them in a straight column from Trav. Trav took an unorganized, untrained stance. Willy and the others of his team all took notice of this. Willy studied Trav’s maneuvers with an insightful eye. Rubie shook her head in apparent disapproval. Willy and Jesse merely observed inquisitively.

“Here I come!” Trav announced head on, leaping off of the ground, going for a direct charge for Ten, relying completely on instinct rather than common sense. Trav, losing his footing almost instantly after the leap of faith, was caught in the stomach by Ten before he could even make a move. Trav leaned down his head, coughing up a fair bit of saliva, as he was pushed back by pure force on account of Ten’s metal hands. Trav caught his fall in the open floor, catching his breath, the breath that was just socked right out of him. Trav suddenly felt a surge of pain radiate through his person. He clutched his stomach with a sharp twinge, coughing faintly.

“Come on, what was that?” Rubie taunted teasingly with a bright smile lighting the room like a montage of Christmas lights. Despite her personality and habits, she was easy on the eyes. “What was that you just spit up? What little sense of your dignity you had left?”

“Shut… the hell up!” Trav made another charge, throwing a punch for Ten. Ten simply side-stepped, stepping away from Trav with a sweep. Trav glared on, throwing a barrage of punches for Ten, all untrained, impulse punches Trav merely threw as a throw-and-pray sort of deal. He had only hoped at least one would hit. Despite his size, Ten proved to be quite fast. Not a single one landed. Trav began panting, already out of breath (again).

“You need to take a breather?” Rubie chuckled with gusto. “Loser’s corner is down the hall, next to the Failure’s Convention.”

“You’re not taking me seriously, are you?” Trav said in between intakes of air. Ten simply stared down at Trav for a few seconds. Trav took his silence as a good enough answer. “You hit me once… why did you do that? Why won’t you hit me anymore? Are you taking pity on me…? Man, I didn’t ask for that, I don’t want that! Take me seriously!”

Ten looked down, what Trav would have considered pity, but it wasn’t quite that. Ten made no attempt at hiding his disapproval, which seemed out of character of him. Weird, how could he say that to someone he barely knew? Ten continued to look on, and finally lowered his head, staring Trav in the eyes with a serene resolve.

“What is your resolve, Travis Reid? Why go this far for us? For a future you cannot hope to save?” Ten said with his robotic voice, taking one step closer, his figure towered over Trav’s. Trav glared up, as if appalled he would ask that question. Trav wiped his mouth, smiling.

“One man believed in me,” Trav replied simply. “He believed in me, and I believe in him. Together, we can win the world. That much, I know,” Trav replied with a cocky smile, glancing over at Willy for a brief second. Willy caught the glance, and smirked back, as if proud with his answer.

“Well, that sounds unbelievably vague and cliché, not to mention unrealistic,” Rubie said, rolling her eyes and folding her arms, looking away as if in inclusive disgust. Trav ignored her comment, and walked over to Ten, extending up his arms 110 degrees from his body, his right arm more curved than the left.

“You ready to finish this, Ten?” Trav said with a boastful, self complimenting smirk. Ten’s face merely smiled, even if it wasn’t entirely visible by his overbearing metal body.

Abruptly, with no warning, the Vault alarm sounded off in a fierce chime, sounding like a military alarm. Red lights flashed across the locality inside, the members inside of the Vault’s alarm on their faces could be easily deciphered. Most were afraid, some were angry. Jesse merely sighed, Rubie clenched her fists gritting her teeth, Willy’s eyes plastered across the walls.

“What the hell is that?” Trav asked through the alarm. Willy turned to Trav smoothly.

“Cipher Red,” Willy replied austerely, looking up toward the exit doors. The people within the Vault’s main halls began taking an emergency shuttle exit within the base, others stood firm, running for the exit doors, equipped with various weapons of sorts from the stock piles on the wall. With a sudden, bewildering silence in the atmosphere, Willy slowly turned his head to his team.

“Everyone, get ready. Sabre will be expecting us.”

“Sabre isn’t here Willy!” Rubie exclaimed angrily, the anger not directly gunned for him, but she was angry at the situation no doubt. Willy’s eyes widened slightly.

“Well, that’s not good at all. That would explain the wide scale panic,” Willy said, almost absent mindedly. The others seemed not to notice it, or mind it at all. Trav rubbed his temple. Jesse began moving forward in front of the others.

“We have to take Sabre’s place, and preserve the hideout at all costs. Everyone, be prepared to sacrifice everything for our name and resolution,” Jesse said, speaking like a true leader. Willy nodded in concord.

“It must be the government administration,” Willy exhaled, walking next to Jesse. He slowly began building up his pace, a dead determined glare plastered on his face, his brow raised accordingly, he looked ready to knock some heads. Rubie clashed her fists together, exhaling from her nose in a bull-like fashion. Ten merely followed, walking normally among his teammates. Willy turned back to Trav, noticing he was staying still.

“You coming?” Willy asked legitimately, holding out his hand. Trav stared into Willy’s eyes for a brief second, and shook his hand. “If you’re on the team, get your game face on.”

“Damn straight. Let’s bust some heads.”

-~-

“Oh boy, it seems my face will have to settle inside of a battlefield once more,” the doctor of the Vault, Kaidoh, stepped inside of the main hall, his left hand gestured with a tilt to his face, holding a small hand sized mirror in place. “I suppose I could use a quick wash afterwards, yes? Only a good leisurely gawking is in order, ladies.” Kaidoh waved his right hand majestically around his face with a cocky smirk, a bunch of Vault ladies surrounded him, hearts shaped in their eyes, calling Kaidoh’s name like horny dogs, embracing Kaidoh from all angles. Kaidoh smiled, his teeth twinkling in the sunlight outside.

“Do not fret, ladies, everyone will have a turn. Let us be off, and protect the Vault with our utmost potential!” Kaidoh said, a sparkling glitter of blue dust swirled around his being. Was it magic? Looked like it. The ladies were in awe; even some men were swayed by Kaidoh’s majestic conduct.

“The time for Vault’s ascension into the heavens, begins now. Let us shine on a pedestal upon God’s throne.” Kaidoh wiped his goldenrod hair behind his face with a conceited smirk. He was ready for this.

-~-

“Seems we’ve broken through the first line of defense,” an officer said, his badge glistening along with his figure inside of the walls outside. He was smoking a blunt, blowing a puff into the air, he suddenly coughed afterward. A female officer next to him spoke up.

“Seems the Vault is at its most vulnerable now. Sabre is gone, that leaves us to target them with no benevolence.” The woman said, her natural blue eyes, though bright, had a unique ring around them, her pupils were unnaturally small. “We shall inform Lieutenant Velvetti of our feat. The Vault goes down today. What are your current orders, Colonel Rash?

“Those revolutionaries have had imaginary dreams for far too long. They have been sidestepped from reality. It is time to put them in their place. A cold awakening, a dreamless world. This world should not be lived in dreams,” the smoker, Colonel Rash, replied, taking another exhale off of his blunt. He looked over at his partner. “Captain Kana, dispatch the 4^th squadron and surround the boundary. Make sure no one escapes. If they do, drag them back by their nose hairs, dead or alive.”

The female captain in rank, Kana, nodded, taking out her radio, she began ordering those on the other end of the receiver according to Rash’s expectations. Colonel Rash looked through his sunglasses, a mischievous scowl upon his face.

“If this goes well, we won’t even need Velvetti, or the Supreme Commando.”

-~-

A crimson haired woman looked on from the outer bank of the island. She appeared on a hilltop, alone, dressed in a white badge of honor, which she adorned with pride. She licked her lips, looking down at the battlefield, as if she could see all, as if she was sitting upon God’s throne, watching the peasant flitted ants make their way across the island. Her emerald eyes lit up, placing her hands on her hips, her military robe of honor blew with the rustle bustle of the wind. She slowly kneeled down, holding up her arm in a vertical position from her body, her palm lit up, materializing a beacon of light which seemed to have molded from an acute paradise.  The orb condensed, creating crystallized sparks around her person, lighting up her face from view, where no one but her could see.

Inside of the orb was Willy.

“Willman. I look forward to meeting with you once again.” She leaped down, sliding off of the hill, the orb decomposed within thin air, disappearing within the light it was made. She flipped off of the ledge top, and vanished from nowhere, her body dispersing as a beam of luminosity, lighting up the heavens with a divine prowess.

The raid of the Vault had officially begun.

CS Update: Wiki is Active!

I'm making this short update post to inform you that the CS official Wiki is now officially up and running. Well, it was up and running before, but it had no relevant content to CS. Now it does, so if you would like to check up on some info in CS you may have missed, or just knowledge for knowledge's sake, whatever, it's all there.

The Wiki covers (or will cover in the future); characters, settings, organizations and groups, story arcs, and more! The link to the Wiki is in the external links section at the right >>>

In case you don't feel like clicking all the way over there, I'll supply a link HERE

Yours truly,
Travis Reid

Chapter 8 - Team Willy

The world around Willy swiftly came into view. His consciousness slowly returned to focus on the world engaged around him. He found himself in a familiar room, the Medical Unit Wing in the Vault. He had been in here a few times before, not exactly his cup of tea and biscuits, certainly not a place he would choose to be. Willy sat up, suddenly feeling a jolt of pain cascade throughout his body. He found it restricting to move, the bandages wrapped up around his chest and his right arm. Normally after a few good hours of sleep, Willy’s body was able to rapidly heal at a supernatural rate, but not this time apparently. The damage done in his battle with Xero was far too staking on his being.

Damn, I almost forgot! Willy grimaced, narrowing his eyes toward the door on the other side of the room, unusually far away.

“I wouldn’t venture too far in your condition. Your face must be shed from approaching sunlight!” A lighthearted, patient voice called from the back room. Willy froze up instantly, cutting his eyes slowly to the back room. He swallowed slightly before sitting up in his bed. He heard little footsteps echoing across the hallway, he immediately knew, not only by the voice, but by the slow pace of the footsteps who was treating him, if it weren’t obvious enough by the room stature of assorted picture frames covering the entire room of single close ups of as certain individual’s face. That was the only detail he seen and needed to know.

“Kaidoh,” Willy said slowly, finally turning his full body around to face the man who walked through the room, adorning a crescent style of ornaments, light blue hair styled, twin mirrors attached to both of his robe pockets.

“I’m a doctor, little swan, and you are 100 years too early to be referring to my face without a proper resignation,” Kaidoh said rather sharply, which Willy challenged with a simple scowl. Willy turned away, knowing that in these types of arguments, even Sabre couldn’t beat him. “You took quite a beating there,” Kaidoh stated bluntly, reaching inside of a file cabinet across the room, rummaging through many materials inside. “If Sabre was only a few more minutes late, I might not have been able to save you.”

“Was it really that serious?” Willy asked, staring down at the ground with an endless, unfocused gaze.

“Yeah, your pressure points were completely jammed, and your brain lost signal with your body. Seems your nerve receptors were jammed. Basically, your CPES Aura abilities were completely shot down, and had it not been for my interference and emergency surgery, you surely would have died within the hour. Whoever did that knew what they were doing, indeed. That’s not even mentioning all of your other external injuries. Those six broken ribs were pretty troublesome as well, with a pierced lung and all. Jeez, you’re a mess; so unmanly of you.”

Willy nodded slowly; he was hardly listening to Kaidoh, his thoughts completely focused on something else, Xero, and Clara. He killed her in cold blood, right in front of him. Willy clenched his fist, his silent rage began flaring in him. He couldn’t just sit here sulking, he had to act. Willy slowly stood up, once again, and headed for the door. Kaidoh turned his head toward Willy, pulling out a pill bottle from inside of the cabinet. “Wait up, slow down your trajectory there young swan, and please turn your average face to my attention.”

Willy looked back over his shoulder, as that instant he did, he caught the approaching pill bottle with his right hand. The pure lift of his arm sent a large jolt of pain through Willy’s body. He grimaced, shaking it off. Kaidoh grinned from behind, sitting on Willy’s bed.

“I know how you get in these situations, so just go and bleed to death, but at least you could take those antibiotics.” Kaidoh winked. Willy smiled.

“Thanks Kaidoh.”

“I’m a doctor.”

“So Trav, this is the gang!” Sabre sat on the bar stool holding a beer. Trav stood next to him, glancing around the large lobby.  Large assortments were sorted over the hideout, many tables and chairs rowdily loitered around, many statues of a golden eagle floated above the ceiling. A small crowd began cheering at the new arrival, as beer and smoke dispensed in a wild sense across the room, many fists began flying, chairs crushed, had Trav not ducked, he would have been rammed into an incoming large man who was shattering the glass bottles across the bar table. Another smaller man ran up and slid the big man down the table. He hit his head on a supporting pillar in the room, causing a picture portrait to crash down upon him. Trav watched with widened eyes.

“Uh- what- what the hell?”

“Nah, it’s normal. They often fight when they’re happy,” Sabre said as if it were no big deal at all, taking a sip of his beer bottle. He leaned across the counter, smacking himself in the face, he looked back groggily to Trav.

“You’re already drunk after one drink?! How sensitive can you be?!”

“Amm nawt droonk!” Sabre uttered out almost incoherently. Trav’s eyes widened, pointing at Sabre.

“That’s exactly what a drunken person would say!” Trav exclaimed, leaping across the bar as another man flew past him. Trav crouched down underneath.

“This is crazy! How can these guys be so disruptive?!”

“This is the only life we have now, Trav,” Sabre said, slouching down on his chair, his cheeks suddenly back to normal color. Trav looked up with even more widened eyes, clearly reaching the size of the moon now.

“What the hell?! You’re sober within seconds?!”

“Trav, I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet,” Sabre said, setting his beer aside. Trav looked up, attempting to tune out all of the noise. Sabre cut his eyes toward Trav casually, without a care in the world. He almost even looked bored. “My name is Sabre, but I’m more known around here as the Golden Eagle of the Rose.” Sabre held up his hand, Trav taking it with a diligent shake.

“Nice to meet you sir,” Trav said, clearly unsure what else to say. He wanted to ask so many questions, but he couldn’t bring himself to. “My name is Travis Reid.” Sabre nodded.

“Right, I know you. There’s a group of people I’d like you to meet Trav. Follow me if you will.” Sabre said, pumping Trav on the shoulder. Trav stood up and followed Sabre out of the room. Trav hit his head lightly tapping himself in the right temple. What was he getting himself into? Things were even more chaotic now than they were a few hours ago, which he could barely remember. It was more than any average person should be able to process.

Sabre walked through the hallway, making a left turn down a red carpeted hallway, which he found strange considering there was no carpet in the lounge room or the other rooms. Trav followed peculiarly, a brow raised the whole way. Sabre opened the door to the end room on the halls, motioning for Trav to come inside. Immediately after Sabre opened the door, Trav held his nose tight with both hands.

“Jesus! What’s that horrid stench?! That is ass at its nastiest!” Trav obnoxiously scowled nasally. Sabre inhaled deeply filling his lungs with the malicious air. Trav literally felt like he was going to pass out, maybe even venture into a stifling coma.

“Yo! Golden-rod! What’s up?!” a loudmouthed girl with sharp features leaned against the center table and chair in the room, wearing a rather uncanny hat and ruby crafted gemstones draping down from the hat on chain. She was wearing a casual red robe, yet was torn in about 50 places. Trav couldn’t make out all of the defining details at that moment due to the reeking aroma, but he did notice a large brew of steam mounting in the kitchen. The room was apparently a small apartment inside of the Vault.

Suddenly the girl’s chair was pulled out from behind her. She fell to the ground on her back. She glared up, her eyes shot up with an infuriated glower. “You asshole! You did that on purpose!” she pointed up at the man behind her, who walked toward the wall.

“Loudmouth Rubie’s reputation exceeds her,” a sapphire haired man leaned against the wall, crossing his arms with a casual lean, a deep blue scarf draped around his neck, he wore a casual black T-shirt underneath his white, blue trim layered jacket. He looked up, meeting eyes with Trav with a glacial iciness. He nodded slowly, gesturing up a quick hand on acknowledgement before turning his attention back to Rubie. “Your ass was in my face. I didn't like it.”

“No one said you had to look at it! I didn’t even want you to look at it Jesse! And couldn’t you just move?! Like you just did?! Was knocking me down even necessary?!” she pouted, while the man, Jesse, looked over at the corner of his eye.

"It's more fun to move you," Jesse said with a unique chill. Trav could have sworn his throat chilled from his words.

“Interesting bunch,” Trav said with a sigh. Sabre smiled.

“’Course, you know, we’re all that’s left of the rebellion. Everyone here is crammed as a exultant family. These three here are the two other comrades of Willy.”

“Three?” Trav took a swift look at Jesse and Rubie, then directed his attention toward the kitchen. He squinted his eyes. In that same instant, a frying pan along with a thick carved chef’s knife lunged forward at an intense speed, the knife merely scrapping Trav’s cheek, while the frying pan hit his face, knocking him against the wall sideways. The knife stuck through the wall next to Trav. He looked up slowly, a quite horrified look upon his face. Jesse looked up nonchalantly, directing his eyes away from the floor toward the kitchen.

A man walked out of the kitchen, as his steps emerged closer, a quake in the floor began to feel more apparent. His footsteps also had a metalized feel, squeaking profusely with each closing step. As his face came into view from the steam, he looked down at Trav. Trav’s eyes widened intensely, attempting to crawl back up using the wall as a measly support.

“What the hell is this guy?! What is up with you people?!” Trav began panting, clutching his chest in a near panic state. Sabre looked up, as if confused.

“What? That’s just Ten. He’s just an android chef.”

Ten appeared, standing tall, over 8 feet tall. His body was an entire metallic canvas, similar to Xero but on a much larger scale. His eyes were completely neon green, with a darker shade of green as a pupil; his body was a rusty red, with a blue eagle painted across the right side of his chest. The most peculiar of all though, he was wearing a party hat with blue ribbons adorned on the top. Trav’s mouth gaped open as he looked up.

“My apologies, Travis Reid,” the android said slowly, his metallic voice nonchalant. “My arm short circuited. You may punish me with a paddle.”

“Alright so, this has to be a dream, all of this. There’s no way this is real life. You’re all just there in my dreams, this is all a dream. Why are you guys hiding like cowards then? You should go out and fight if it means that much to you!” Trav said in disbelief, with a slight terror lifting his voice. After all he had been through the past 24 hours; he felt he had a right to make a judgmental statement.

Sabre and Jesse both looked at Trav, and remained quiet. Rubie leaped over the table with one foot, and tackled Trav outside of the hallway. Jesse only slightly opened his eyes, while Sabre looked on.

“You think what we’ve been going through for the past decade is a dream?! You got a lot of balls to say something like that twerp! Don’t talk like you know everything!” Trav looked up, a blank expression plastered on his face. Inside, he felt completely conflicted, he didn’t know how to react at all. He wanted to believe he was dreaming, but she just tackled him, that hurt. He lost consciousness at the news station; he woke up in pain, more psychological than mental. “Those fiends have stolen away our freedom! Just their presence masks a sense of insecurity and taints all of our hearts! We’ve fought against these monsters for over a decade, and now they’re finally tired of us, they’re going to wipe us out! Before you go and blurt something entirely stupid and judgmental like that, you should think about us, think about how we feel, what you would do in our shoes. This isn’t a dream, this is the harsh reality. If you’re not going to accept it, then go sell yourself to K.I. and get the hell out.”

Trav looked up, resting his head against the scarlet carpet masking the hallway. He placed his hands over his face. “I see.”

Rubbie stood up, walking away from Trav. Trav made a slit in between his fingers to watch her walk away, watch her turn her back on him. “Wait.”

Rubbie stopped.

“You must be in pain right now,” Trav said, relying completely on impulse now. Sabre curiously looked on; Jesse closed his eyes once more. Ten stared apathetically. “You must have been going through a lot. I apologize, I don’t know what I was thinking. Well, I wasn’t thinking, how can I think in this situation?”

“Is this your way of asking for forgiveness?”

“Not at all,” Trav said, slowly sitting up, using the wall to lean on support. “I really couldn’t care less if you ever forgive me in this world, but…” Trav spoke up. “I have made a decision.” Rubbie finally turned around to face Trav, her garnet eyes glared at him with a certain intent he didn’t quite recognize. “Seems Willy was telling me the truth. I do want to help, any way I can.”

“The first thing you can do is man up and stand tall,” Rubbie said, walking back inside of the apartment. “Apparently you’re Willy’s accomplice. If so, I hope he teaches you exactly what it means to fight for us, and how to be a proper man.”

“Very well, Trav, if Ten and Jesse are okay with this, would you like to become a member of the Vault core squadron, Team Willy?”

Trav simply nodded. “I’m in.”

Jesse nodded apathetically. Ten smiled. Sabre chuckled.

“Welcome aboard. Once Willy awakens, we’ll all meet up and discuss what’s next.”

Willy walked through the lobby of the Vault headquarters, his hands in his pockets. He looked around, everyone that was fighting earlier were asleep in awkward positions on the table, floor, and even bar counter. Willy sighed, rubbing the back of his head. He looked at each one of the ones on the floor, and immediately headed in the opposite direction.

“Willy, mind if we talk?” a feminine voice echoed from afar. Willy stopped, turning around, facing the android girl who had saved him from Xero’s wrath in the station, Yuki.

“Yuki?”

“Hi Willy.”

“What are you doing here? You don’t usually lounge around headquarters.” Willy asked casually, slightly tilting his head to his right. Yuki smiled, adjusting her glasses on her face.

“You don’t need to worry, Trav has already settled, and is staying here for the night as well.”

“I see.”

Yuki stood up from the bar stool, walking closer to Willy slowly. Willy stood and watched her approach. Yuki stared into Willy’s eyes, boring through his soul, she was always good at catching him off guard, she was so unpredictable, Willy never knew what she was planning, just like her brother.

“I wanted to see you before I left.”

“Where are you going?” Willy’s eyes widened slightly.

“Away.”

“Broad term. Mind explaining?”

“I’m going away on a mission.”

Willy scowled slightly, Yuki looked on passionately. “If you really cared about us, you’d stay here with us, you know. Yuki, everyone knows about these secret missions.”

Yuki looked down, her cold grey eyes staring with a sad concentration. “I have to do this, not only for my sake, but for Vault’s too. You know how much influence he has, and he could find us, through me.”

Willy shook his head slowly, clearly in disagreement. “You can’t keep doing this forever. You can’t keep doing this to us. Just think about Sabre.”

Yuki paused for a short while, making her way out of the sliding glass doors. She looked back one last time before walking outside. “I’ll do what I have to do. Give Trav my regards.”

Willy nodded. “I’ll tell him everything.”

“Hopefully only everything he needs to know. Meet up with Team Willy, Sabre should have your first assignment with Trav ready.”

“You’ve talked with Sabre?”

“Nope,” Yuki smiled, disappearing outside in the cold brittle storm. The thunder roared, shining a sapphire light through the room, illuminating Willy’s face as he watched Yuki part. Willy closed his eyes, and kicked one of the tables lightly across the floor. He walked inside of the red carpeted hallway.