Soon we surface again a little ways north of Bread Reef. The aircraft are gone.
"Crap… they took my bag! I knew I was forgetting something," Larry groans.
"That's bad, isn't it? You'll be compromised," Vernicia tells him.
Pex shakes her head. "Nah. Ninety percent of it is still encrypted, anyway. They won't find anything they don't already know about."
"My extra ammo was in there, though," Larry grumbles. "And my money…"
Vernicia inconspicuously looks away.
Pex raises a finger. "I know. How about we meet Roy at #4? It's a ways north, on Titan's Hill. I'm sure he'll be stoked that we're pals with Gen 3."
"W-we aren't pals," I reply.
"Aw, don't be like that. Birds of a feather, and such." Pex claps my back. "Now, let's head north. Titan's Hill is about half a day from here. Erm, maybe longer, since I heard you guys aren't as…" She stops as I glare daggers at her. "Uh, what's with that look?"
"Don't worry about it," Larry sighs. "The sooner we head out, the better."
After changing back into our travel clothes, we start flying farther north.
Pex leisurely flies circles around us as she chatters. I'm trying very hard to ignore her clearly superior speed. "Fun fact about our destination: apparently it was just a hill when it was first discovered a few centuries ago. Now, though, it's like 4000 meters tall. Wild, right?"
"So it grew? I've heard trees can do that… but why would mountains?" Vernicia rubs her chin. "Reminds me of those urban legends."
"Hey, look at us," Travis says. "We might as well be urban legends. You ever think about how improbable our very existence is?"
"Our existence, huh." I momentarily close my eyes. "I can never seem to wrap my head around it."
"Well, you never struck me as much of a thinker," Travis points out.
"What! I spend lots of time thinking about stuff," I retort. "Sometimes I even come to logical conclusions!"
Travis snickers at that, and I kick him the head, denting his helmet.
"Hey! These take ages to buff out," he complains as he recovers from his tumble.
"Be glad it isn't your head," I yell back.
"Uhm. is she always…" Larry whispers to Rurin.
"Just treat her like a hair-trigger autocannon," he replies. "Y'know, make sure she isn't pointing at you when she fires."
"Um…"
We keep flying north. The lowlands and sparse trees give way to denser forest as the sun starts to set.
"Look at that," Travis whistles. "More green, more orange, more brown. Ponds too. Those are ponds, right?"
"Looks like it," I reply. (Though I don't actually know.)
"Hey, um." Vernicia speaks up. "Can we check out the forest sometime? Not now, obviously, but I've always wanted to walk through one."
"Later, sure. For now, though, we're almost there," Larry answers.
The six of us continue north as the forested wilderness gives way to more lowlands. On the horizon sits a lone mountain, more clearly visible now that the ethereal haze over the trees is gone.
The weird part about it is that there are no other mountains or rocks anywhere near this one. All of a sudden, I can believe that maybe it really was planted here like a tree. I start to wonder what a mountain seed looks like…
"It's about 1280 kiloms from Bread Reef to Titan's Hill," Pex announces as we draw closer to the massive peak. "Pretty jolly jaunt, right?"
"I've never seen a mountain like this before. Where's the hideout?" Vernicia asks.
"Right in that cave. That one," Pex points. "The one those black things are moving towards." She pauses and squints. "Wait, are those I-bots? I didn't know they could scale inclines this steep."
"Hey, those things are modded too. Look, they've got guns and treads," Rurin notes.
"Guns on an I-bot? I thought they were meant to subdue," Travis says.
"How'd they find it…?" Pex scratches her head. "I thought…"
Larry looks over at her. "Wait. Pex, where's your computer?"
"Huh? It's right here." She pats her satchel, then takes it off and looks inside. "Wait, this is just a supply bag. Weird, I had it when we were fighting at Bread Reef… and then we dove down, and… wait, huh? Did I pick up the wrong one?"
"We shouldn't waste time backtracking. I'm pretty sure they're gonna investigate the hideout and find it," Larry figures. "And judging from the I-bots' presence, they definitely went through my computer's location data already. All of our locations are compromised… no wonder they suddenly left us alone!"
"No point in regretting anything now," I tell him, activating my vibroblades. "If we can't run from 'em, then let's crush 'em."
Following Larry and Pex, we land in a cave a few hundred meters below Titan Hill's peak. There we find a row of armed I-bots; guns aimed at a barricade. Since they aren't facing us, it's easy to tear into them from behind, and before long they're a pile of metal scraps.
I deactivate my blades. "Heh. Take that, ya tin trunks."
Travis sheathes his white sword. "Hard to believe we had trouble with 'em like a week ago," he mutters.
Roy pokes his head out. "Oh, you guys made it. Crap, look out! The reinforcements are here, get down!"
"Should've busted 'em beforehand," I grumble, jumping behind the barricade next to Roy.
"You still have Macy's gauntlets?" He asks me. "That's them on your arms, right?"
"Yeah. What, does she want them back?"
"I wouldn't know; I haven't seen her in forever." He ducks back down as the next wave of I-bots begins attacking. "I was just curious, is all. You seem to resonate well with them."
"Huh?" I reactivate my vibroblades.
"That sheen," he mumbles. "Interesting."
"What're you acting all mysterious for? Let's thrash these things," I insist.
Roy pulls some different-colored orbs out of his bag. "Of course."
Between the seven of us, the remaining I-bots stand zero chance. Afterwards, we regroup in front of the hideout.
"Man, everything's been wrecked," Larry sighs. "Looks like my hunch was correct."
"What hunch… wait, you lost your bag?" Roy looks alarmed.
"And Pex left hers at Hideout 3. Yours is all that's left," Larry tells him.
"They had to have been scouting out the region for a while now, too. Guess this means our other hideouts are compromised," Pex grumbles.
"Yeesh." Roy scratches his neck. "Picked a hell of a time to drop the ball."
"We've gotten out of worse though," Pex replies. "As long as we still have the data, we can keep up with our plan."
"Hey, look. Drone fighters. Haven't seen those in a while," Travis observes. Sure enough, a small fleet of unmanned combat aircraft flies into view. When they get closer, smallish payloads drop off of their bodies and ignite in midair.
"Oh. Missiles," I say.
We all quickly take to the sky, flying away from the hideout as the guided rockets all fly into the hideout–
BAKOOOM. The cave is destroyed in an instant, causing a small portion of Titan's Hill to collapse in a rockslide.
"Destroy the drones," Roy instructs. "We can't let them track us!"
Me and my comrades look at our weapons – none of us were ranged. The Larry draws his bow–
Wheeeee… BANG!
The drones, which had been flying in a close stealth formation, are all wrecked in a single powerful blast, their remains tumbling to the ground far below.
"Oooh," Travis applauds.
"That was my last bomb arrow," he sighs. "And I probably won't be able to make more if we can't safely use our hideouts…"
"Ohh." His hands drop.
"Heh… finally," I sneer. "I was wondering when they'd put up their dukes."
"This does strike me as a last-straw situation," Roy agrees. "I mean, two sets of aeronauts on the loose? Who wouldn't pull all the stops? I'm pretty sure we aren't even supposed to know about each other's existence."
"Well, if they're getting frisky, we'll frisk 'em right back," I declare. "And to kill a weed, you have to get it at its… thorns? Roots? Stem. I think it was stem. There were never any weeds in the badlands, now that I think about it…"
"The extreme temperature fluctuations render the badlands inhospitable to most forms of plant life," Larry mutters mostly to himself. "Except mushrooms, for some reason."
"I like your motivation, little lady," Roy tells me.
"Shut up! Don't call me that, I'm Shurikit," I retort. "If we're looking for weeds, why not head over to the weed we know best?"
"Joseph, huh… that would mean backtracking all the way to the badlands," Rurin mutters. "Hey, did you guys in Gen 1 have a keeper too? We should go after both of them."
"Nah. Mac was chill. Sweet, even. Loved talking about ghosts and stuff," Pex reminisces. "Then he did something strange to Macy, then Macy vanished, then the higher ups had him offed… it was a whole thing. Basically, our keeper is out of the picture."
"We'll make this quick and easy, then," Travis decides. "Let's swoop in on Joseph and grab him, then force him to tell us what's going on from a thousand meters up."
"And then if he doesn't, we can drop him and cut him up on the way down," Vernicia adds.
"Sounds like a plan," Rurin nods.
"Easy there, guys," Larry cuts in. "We don't know if he's the actual threat yet."
"Well, he's the only person we know we'll get answers from if we interrogate and torture him," I shrug. "I bet he's tougher than he looks."
Roy gives us a weird look. "Are you guys always this aggressive?"
I calmly meet his gaze, my pupils glinting red. "This is personal."
"Uhh…"
"I think it best we let them handle this," Larry tells him.
We fly south along the east coast, a cool breeze picking up from the sea beyond. Or, wait. If the sea stretches for more than 1000 kiloms, does it become an ocean?
"Look. There's another city on the shore," Vernicia calls.
"You've pointed out all of them so far… this makes, what, eight?" I fly closer to her. "Gonna tour them later?"
"Heh. That's the plan," Vernicia proudly replies. "I learned a lot while we were in Chandonis, like how the name of this continent is Aridovia. Apparently, it's the biggest continent in the world."
"I wonder if anyone saw us flying overhead," Rurin says.
"I've always wanted to be an urban legend," Travis tells us. "Then I could land in front of someone and say, 'yeah, it's true. I'm real.' Then maybe flex or something. It'll rock."
"Uncouth." Vernicia shakes her head. "Being an urban legend is all about the mystery! Like the Flammenfrau. Even now, no one knows if it's real or not."
I blink at that. "The… what?"
"Oh. Maybe I'll be a hero instead, then. Or a vigilante…" Travis begins mumbling to himself, then striking aerial poses.
By the time we reach the forest, it's completely dark, save for the twinkling of the stars above. We land at an empty camp lodge Pex apparently frequents and prepare to turn in for the night.
Pex deftly picks the lock and opens the gate. "We're heading inside," she calls.
"Have fun," I reply, flying up to perch on the lodge's wall.
"This could be it," Vernicia murmurs, dashing into the dense trees. "The forest, the forest…" she soon disappears into the leafy darkness.
"Hmm… those bots and drones are gonna be annoying to deal with. I wonder how far they've spread out," Rurin wonders.
"Maybe if we just let them catch us, they'll leave us alone," Travis speculates.
"Those heavy bots had serious firearms, though," I recall. "Missiles, too. I'm starting to feel like they actually do want us dead."
"I was just spitballing. No way I'm giving up the ghost that easy," Travis replies.
"Well, this region is huge, so they probably won't find us immediately," Rurin says. "Unless one of us had a tracer on us, heh."
"As if. We'd never be able to rest if that were the case," I shudder, flying up to the roof.
Laying down, I stare at the stars above. While I'm here, I'd might as well. It's quiet enough…
Status: I'm in my body. Update pending: I'm not in my body…I have to get out of here.
I rise into the night sky, leaving my body behind.
(Hmm… do physics matter in this form?) I wonder to myself. (I'm not technically physically here, right? Who's to say I can't just… go straight to the House of Steel?)
(Careful.)
I look around. It's that presence again! (What? Where…)
A spirit appears in front of me. It's indistinct and shapeless, but at the same time, I get a clear vision of a woman's face– mischievous eyes, a catty grin, and long black hair tousled into the worst case of bedhead I've ever seen. (Hi. Looks like you found Mac's enchantment,) she says. (Banger.)
(Who are you?)
(The House of Steel is really far away,) she replies. (Make sure your connection doesn't break.)
(Hm?) I drift closer. (What happens if it breaks?)
(While in this state, there isn't anything tethering your mind/spirit complex to your body. Stay focused on your goal, no matter what, or you'll never return again.)
(Is that a warning? Lady, I bleed focus.) I wind up my energy. (Check this out!)
Then, I release it, opening a memory gate – ZHIFF!
In a flash, I find myself in front of the House of Steel.
(Haha! See? I…) I look behind me. The ghost woman is gone. (Whoops. I hope she didn't want to come along. Actually, who was she?)
My mind soon focuses back on the House of Steel. This ghost mode is proving to be very useful for scouting. Now, if only I could punch stuff in this form…
I wander the facility, flyffing through walls and observing the researchers and guards working. Nothing new here…
Then I enter a small backroom and freeze. Joseph and the Guy are here! They're talking to someone on a talkbox. I move closer to listen…
"…never on board with this to begin with! Machines can fail, you know," Joseph is saying. "And they have already, numerous times."
"They aren't that incompetent," the Guy mutters.
"Still think getting henchmen is a better deal? Henchmen die, Mr. Adams," the talkbox states. "They atrophy with inaction and consume resources better spent elsewhere. Machines can be repaired, rebuilt, retrofitted, and endlessly redeployed. They have never steered me wrong in the past… yes, they're far better suited to my methods. Also, If I recall, it was you who wrote up the I-bot proposal in the first place."
"I only did that as a contingency. And none of this would be a problem if you had covered for us when they came," Joseph retorts. "You and I both know that the aeronauts are your only option for weaponization."
"Best option," the talkbox corrects. "And anyway, you have some nerve talking to me about that when you haven't even detained any."
"Feh… you know we trained them to avoid capture at any cost," Joseph grumbles.
"Not my problem," the talkbox dismissively replies. "I'd like a good number prepared from Gen 3 or 4. As for Gen 1… well, if push comes to shove, I've already authorized lethal force."
"Well, Gen 4 will be simple, at least. They're still in their safe house."
"And what of the third?"
"They were last seen with Gen 1, as it happens. The attack drones and I-bots we sent to the lone mountain were destroyed, so we'll start the next sweep from there. I'll just warn you now, it'll probably be a while."
"That's fine. I have all the time in the world. Though perhaps I should still set a deadline… three months, how's that?"
"That will be enough."
Connection unstable! My memory gate will soon close. Return imminent, pending reset.
"Hah!" I jolt upright. It is morning in the forest. "What the…" I rub my eyes. Did that whole thing count as a dream? I know it wasn't a dream, but I still feel rested somehow. No complaints here.
"Morning, Kit," Vernicia calls. "Want some flowers? These here are tasty. And there's a ton of 'em."
I hop down to the ground in front of her. "Since when were you… never mind." I munch on a flower. "Hey, you're right. Not bad."
"What are you, hippies? Gonna live off the land?" Travis asks.
"I could if I wanted to," Vernicia coyly giggles.
"What…?"
"I bet she found a book or something," Rurin figures.
"Or something. You never know what you'll discover in the forest," Vernicia says.
"I'm pretty sure half the stuff that grows here can kill you, though."
"Not as many as you think."
Travis and Rurin share befuddled looks. I take this opportunity to speak up: "So, guys… it's official, the Gen 1 guys are in danger."
"What? We're all in danger, all the time," Travis replies. "What's new?"
"I'm serious! They only want us alive, so they'll start coming in with bigger guns. Uh, probably."
"How do you figure?"
"It, uhh… while I was asleep…" Wait, how am I supposed to explain this? I don't even know what I'm doing half the time when I go ghost.
"What, did you have a dream about it? You an oracle now?" Travis looks curious.
"Uhm… y-you know what, never mind. Maybe it was just a dream after all."
After convincing my comrades not to worry about me, we meet Gen 1 in the lodge. Then we head back into the sky, moving full speed towards the badlands.
By midday, the great ridge comes into view. Then as we fly over it, the calm, cool breeze quickly becomes a harsh and freezing cold gale.
I grimace at the sudden, all-too-familiar climate shift. "Yep… I really don't miss this place."
"Did you guys see that big place with railways coming out of it?" Vernicia calls.
"You mean Ridgeside Station?" Roy replies. "We can fly, what's the point?"
"Blehh! You don't get it." Vernicia sticks out her tongue. "Anyway, that's going on my list too."
"You have the names of the other cities too?" Larry asks.
"It'll be easy to find out once I get a hold of a proper map," Vernicia replies.
We fly for a while longer until I begin to recognize some of the rock formations. "Okay, guys, we're coming up on the House of Steel. Ready to storm the keep?"
"Is Joseph not in the safe house?" Vernicia wonders. "Or is this about…"
"I doubt he has a reason to stay there now that we're gone," I reply.
"Right then." Rurin spins his polearm. "Strike fast, strike first, get the truth out of Joseph. Let's do this."
We land on the dry, cracked ground near the House of Steel. Judging from the dryness and the breeze… yeah, a dust storm's probably gonna blow through soon.
Pex starts stepping on the ground, appearing to test it with her foot. Then she turns to look at us. "This place has a tunnel underneath it with no security."
I blink in surprise. "Really? No, seriously? You're not joshing us, are you? How'd you learn about it?"
"I found it. It's a thing I can do," she vaguely replies.
"What…?" I hesitate for a second, then relax, twirling a ponytail. "Eh, never mind. It's a bit confusing, but I guess everyone has their secrets."
"What do you mean?" Rurin sounds more befuddled at my change of heart.
"Here it is! Feels like it leads… straight under that facility," Pex reports. "Probably a secret delivery route. Give me a sec."
Pex begins picking the lock on a huge, camouflaged trapdoor on the ground, which opens up to reveal a wide ramp leading into an underground tunnel.
"Wow, right on the nose," Travis whistles. "This is perfectly secret shipment-sized." "Yeah," I mutter. Maybe the truth is closer than we think…
Wasting no time, we dash through the tunnel. There are no lights down here, but our night vision helps us see well enough that it isn't too big of a problem.
"So, what's the plan?" Roy asks.
"Hmeh? Same as always, I guess," I reply.
"We're running straight into the heart of enemy territory," Roy presses. "Surely–"
"Hey, don't worry so much! This place isn't so bad," I assure him. "We've been a couple of times already, you should know. 'Raid the place and kill anyone who tries to kill us' has worked just fine, so we'll be a-okay."
"Unless they run us down with I-bots. What then?"
"Didn't I tell you not to worry? Come on, trust me on this!"
"Yeah, Roy," Pex winks at him. "Trust her on this."
Roy looks back at Larry, who nods. "Hmph. Fine. Let's see how far this gets you," he relents.
At the end of the tunnel is a large, round lift platform. As we step onto it, lights begin blinking as it automatically activates, rising into the House of Steel's center.
As the floor gate opens, the guards stationed there stand at attention.
"A new shipment? Normally he'd tell us," one guard says.
"You think it's from higher up the chain?"
Larry jams an arrow into the lift's mechanism, causing it to shudder to a stop before setting into the floor above. This leaves an opening to the tunnel below about a meter wide… huh, smart.
"Hm?" A guard peeks over the edge. I recognize her as Sheila. "Wait, that's not–!"
Travis whooshes up and slashes her with his sword. She collapses in a spray of blood, and the other guards immediately open fire with their guns.
"Raise the alarm," Bob shouts into his comm, "Central storage has been breached, get backup down here stat!"
"I don't think so!" I raise my vibroblades and launch a crosswave slash at him, downing him in a single strike. "Verni, Ru, sweep the area for anything useful."
"They called for backup," Larry reminds me. "We have maybe a minute before I-bots run us down."
"We'll bash 'em up too, then," I reply, caving in another guard's chest with a straight kick.
"Yo Kit! I found high-powered explosives," Rurin calls to me.
"Hey, good idea. We can just crack the place open like an egg, then pick Joseph out of the mess and get the truth out of him that way," I decide.
As me and my comrades start positioning the boxes, I hear footsteps and machine noises approaching from both directions. Then I feel a sensation like an earthquake, and the hallways collapse, filling with rocks and debris.
"Oh. Lucky," I say to myself.
Travis starts running fuses between the boxes. "How big do you think the blast will be?"
"Big enough to at least cause a collapse," I reply. "Let's move fast, they'll be here any moment."
"And how are you going to detonate them without killing us all?" Roy asks, giving us a critical look.
"Leave that to me," Vernicia says, pulling out some fire orbs. "I figured out how to trigger these things remotely."
Roy does an incredulous double-take. "What the hell? When did you – those are mine!"
"They're gonna be mines in a moment," she snickers, then tosses the orbs onto the boxes, where they stick and start to glow. "Alright, set and primed!"
"Are you serious right now?!" Roy is sounding angrier by the second.
"Well, yeah. That's why we're doing it," I answer.
Rurin and Travis rejoin me. "The boxes are in position."
"Good. Let's book it!" We slip through the opening in the lift and descend back into the tunnel.
As we start to run through it, guards and I-bots suddenly swarm us from the front, firing bullets and nerbo indiscriminately.
"Detonate now," I call as we all duck and cover.
BABOOM—
As the storage room explodes, more explosions sound off above and huge chunks start to fall from the tunnel's ceiling.
"Keep moving, guys!" As the tunnel starts to collapse, Travis runs next to me.
"Nice chain reaction, huh? I'm something of a demolitions expert," he brags.
"Sure, sure. That explosives guide in the study room, right?" I reply.
"I know you haven't read it."
"Whatever!" I roll my eyes and keep running.
A minute later, we fly out of the tunnel just as it collapses completely, spewing dust from the trapdoor. There are more guards and machines lying in wait, but it looks like they're distracted by the House of Steel's destruction. Easy fodder for us!
After clearing them out, we finally land a short distance away from the facility, which is now burning and spewing smoke.
"Phew! Good run, guys," I nod.
"You call this shitshow a good run?!" Roy explodes. "Do you have any idea how many people were in the facility you just destroyed?"
"So what? It's not like they were innocent," Travis shrugs.
"That's not the point! Not that you would even get it. Needless collateral, no sense of coordination beyond basic battle instinct, and most importantly…" Roy makes a sweeping gesture. "Take a head count!"
"Hm?" I look around.
"Oh. Pex isn't here," Rurin notices.
Travis leans on his sword. "I thought you guys were all faster than us."
Roy clenches his fists. "Here's the truth – we only survived this because we of Gen 1 took initiative – securing escape routes, cutting off the enemy advance; you know, BASIC TACTICS. But you still managed to scuff things so badly, Pex ended up staying behind to keep the whole damn tunnel from crushing us!! You guys have no sense of anything beyond brute force, don't you?!"
"Oh, like you're any better? Mister 'wait until it's safe'," I shoot back. "I should've figured as much when we beat you and Larry up earlier! Did you guys ever trust us?"
Larry raises a hand. "Look – we're scouts; you guys are fighters. It's only natural that our strategies would differ."
"Don't side with them," Roy replies. "Their 'hit it until it dies' mentality can hardly be called a strategy."
"I'm not siding with them. These are just facts," Larry states. "We only let you take the lead because we thought you knew what you were doing."
Rurin furrows his brow. "Um… does that mean Pex is…"
"Oh, now you're worried about her? What a joke," Roy scoffs.
"Grrrgh, forget it! We don't need you to do what we're doing. We never did," I yell.
"Oh really? Without us, you would've sealed yourselves in and immediately gotten caught," Roy points out. "And aside from that, the idea that maybe we could find important clues in there didn't even cross your mind, did it? The House of Steel is a treasure trove of secrets!"
Another explosion rocks the House of Steel, causing the rest of it to collapse.
"Ahem. It was a treasure trove of secrets." Roy gives me a pointed look.
"Brute force, huh," Vernicia mumbles.
"For the record, I still believe we can and should work together," Larry says. "This destruction, however, will probably alert all of A-Tech's squads to our whereabouts; so… yeah. We're leaving."
"And don't follow us! I'd rather you didn't get us all killed," Roy tells us. Then the two of them spread their wings and launch into the sky.
I probably can't keep up with them even if we did give chase. Looks like they win this time…
"Aw, man," Vernicia sighs. "I kinda liked Larry."
I cross my arms, now feeling frustrated. "Forget those guys. I don't care. We… we can do this ourselves."
"Ah, quit lying to yourself," Rurin tells me. "We really blew it this time."
"Literally," I grumble, kicking a rock.
Before we can figure out what to do from here, a metal-plated hand punches out from the wreckage. The Guy?! Of course he survives…