The Console Wars: Reloaded

[Dragonvarsity]

"Alkitov's trying to contact Microsoft right now, seeing if we can make a deal to put this war to an end." Rebecca walked along the halls with Megan and Henry, as well as the other agents who had stood behind her earlier.

"Yeah, like Microsoft would be willing to do that. Arrogant tools, they'd rather blow themselves up then come to a reasonable conclusion." Henry mentioned as he caught up with her.

"You'd be surprised after watching some of these conferences. Anywho, Microsoft's networks were breached, Old Natal is in a state of panic, and they're faltering in Metropolis. I think they'll be more open to suggestions about now...""

"I thought Nintendo was supposed to come to Microsoft's aid in Metropolis?" Megan questioned, following along with them as their feet met the ground almost simultaneously.

"More reason for the faction to ignore anything we try sending them." Henry retorted.

"Nintendo's forces will come alongside the United State's... at least, that's what Virgil and Alkitov told me. And it's not just anyone speaking with them Henry, it's Alkitov. He's attended several meetings with the United Factions-"

"-An associated that's now disbanded, thanks to the war-"

"-Yes, but Alkitov still maintains a presence between the factions. Even Microsoft officials have implied that in several public events, before those missiles and the briefcase bombings started this whole series of battles."

They continued to walk without speaking for a second.

"Yes, I bide my time with politics, of all things for a programmer to get attached to. It can get awfully boring down here, you know." Rebecca mentioned, with her eyes locked to the door approaching them.

They stood beside the closed door with the handful of agents, as Rebecca's phone began to ring again. She grabbed it out of her pocket, as David Cromney's number could be seen, lit up across her phone's screen.

"This is Rebecca again... Yes, I understand. I'll try putting you on speaker with them, just hold on for a second." She covered the phone with her hand, before whispering to Megan and Henry.

"Alkitov is busy with the Microsoft call and disspelling rumors of Nintendo taking over Vita City. It should hopefully give you enough time."

Rebecca smiled, before tapping the Speaker button while keeping a few fingers pressed against the bottom of the phone, so that Cromney's voice didn't boom too loudly. Megan went ahead and spoke.

"David, this is Megan speaking."

"Oh good, you had me a little worried. You haven't kept in contact much, which, understandably, can make me paranoid."

"Apologies, I was-"

Megan stared down to her left wrist which she has grasped onto with her right hand as it healed.

"-busy."

"Rebecca's told me of the situation with Robotica and the information from those missiles. But I want you and your newly-acquired boyfriend over there."

Megan laughed nervously for a second, while Henry merely scratched his ear, wandering off in terms of keeping his attention focused towards the call.

"Sir, if you'd excuse," Rebecca interrupted, "we're not quite sure sending Megan and Henry over there would be best."

"And why is that?" David asked genuinely.

David Cromney had sources and connections. But in this case, he wasn't playing dumb, and they didn 't actually think he was, either. Rebecca gritted her teeth as she tried not bringing up Microsoft having spotted the two who had not long ago broke into the Tian Palace. Seconds were beginning to pass and Megan couldn't take it, so she brought forth her own answer.

"If we can handle this digitally, we might have a better chance at ending this war more quickly through taking down the Resurrectionists. The situation in Metropolis is only looking worse and Sony troops are growing closer and closer to New Lead.

"We're already sending forth our first wave of resources to aid Microsoft. And if this source now inside the Robotica Headquarters can actually take down this group of terrorists, then I'd rather we meet in person for it.

Besides, from what I've gathered, there's a password required to access the missile's data, it seems to come from a question that could be tied to those scriptures."

"Question? What question?" Henry asked, joining in on the conversation before Rebecca could ask the very same question.

"Cassandra's two prophets, the Counterpart and the Equivalent, were born in the holy city of Zion, otherwise known as... well, fill in the blank."

"Is it one word, two.. three?" Megan asked.

"It doesn't say, however, you should try finding it sooner rather than later. I've just landed here in Liberas and they're already trying to get back to the US. Tell me when you're flying over, I'll see you when you arrive."

"Seeya then Cromney.. sir..." Henry spoke up before they ended the call.

------------------------------------

"Attention: We have just landed in New Leaf." The pilot stepped out of the cockpit after the plane was fully on the ground, as he walked over to Virgil.

"You're clear to step out, now. Whatever happens, well, don't kill yourself. That would be very, very bad."

"Will do."

"No, I mean it like, this is just a flat-out horrible idea. You're trying to put an end to the war and yet you're willing to risk your life to do so. But if Nintendo's acting president dies right as Sony is about to attack the very same city that he dies in, well then that will cause more outcry and panic, thereby simply delaying the Console War from being settled. Honestly, have you ever studied wars, assassinations, or anything even remotely related to those concepts you ignorant fool of a leader you."

"Alright, you take care as well," Virgil said, smiling as he put on his motor helmet and grabbed onto the motorbike, before walking out of the plane with it and to the city that followed him.

The influx of Nintendo forces occupying the area meant more people searched and separated , making some areas emptier than others. And yet, they somehow missed one of the biggest threats to the factions being flown in and weaseling over to a highly secured laboratory.

Was there a mole, a rat, some other disgunting terminology lurking with Nintendo's own forces that let them through?

Virgil rode his motorbike across the uneven cobbled streets of New Leaf and passed over the curved bridges hanging over the city's extensive canals.

The memories of his time in New Leaf flooded back into Virgil's mind, but he tried to keep himself focused on the task at hand, as he quickly sped towards where Seth Graven and the other NCMAP scientists were being held hostage by Ezekiel and his cohorts.

------------------------------------

Rebecca returned to the scriptures which she and Virgil had carefully organized earlier, messing up the once careful pile as they each began frantically sifting through it all for at least a clue to Robotica's question.

"This would probably be easier with the New Leaf team not under siege, wouldn't it.." Megan sighed.

"If the answer is in those final pages we don't have, I swear.."

"Not a worry Henry..because I think I just found it."

Rebecca pointed her finger to a line which read closely to English. "Here, it mentions both prophets-"

"Does it say their names, Megan asked,"

"No, it doesn't."

"We still don't know the identity of the second prophet though, isn't that right?" Megan asked, as Henry cut in.

"Stop. Task at hand. We worry about the Counterintuitive part or whatever his.. or her... name is later. You were saying Rebecca?"

"Well, it mentions their birthplace being Zion, otherwise... 'known as'?"

"Known as..."

"The City of Andromeda."

((The cool thing about typing on my phone is that I have another excuse to justify any sloppy writing that my posts may contain after hardly bothering going back over them.. not that the added excuses here are actually justifiable. Also:))



((Not the ending to the game but things like what's to come in New Leaf and in the United Factions capital of Liberas.))

[Dragonvarsity]

Megan continued glossing over the scripture's notes Rebecca had pulled up.

"Can the Resurrectionists honestly be that dumb?" Henry stared blankly. "I mean, they've already been linked the Andromeda Mission by several vocal conspirators. If they were responsible for this project, why name it something straight FROM their scriptures?"

"Ask Artyom Pajari," Rebecca noted, as she continued to sift through the scriptures just in case.

"Who?" Henry asked.

"Man responsible for the Andromeda Mission," Megan chimed in. "I guess religious endeavors supercedes... sneakiness."

"About as good of an answer as I can think of," Rebecca noted, before smiling towards them.

"It's time for you two to go now."

"Right now?" Megan asked.

"Yes, the chopper will be landing soon. Alkitov won't know until later, but don't worry. No sense in locking you up like... like this."

Henry walked over and hugged Rebecca, before he and Megan began walking away.

"Thanks, Rebecca. But when we're back and you can track down the rest of those 'Resurrectionists', save a few of them for me to.. greet."

Rebecca smiled again. "Don't worry, we've already brought back some prisoners from Resurrectionist Island. Plenty of ***-kicking to still be had."

Megan and Henry were guided by the other Nintendo agents who were waiting outside, as they took a back entrance that led them up stairs and, after several security measures, away from the Hyrule Fortress and back above ground. They approached the helicopter with determination, stepping inside with the directions set to Liberas, Sweden."

((Wait, did I say Liberas was in Sweden, or somewhere else, or did I even bother saying? Whatever, it's a tiny detail, not worth stressing over))

------------------------------------

Driving over the waterways, past the troubled citizens, under the clothing lines hung between separate buildings.

Virgil parked his motorbike against one of the back alleys near the Missile lab. Nintendo troops kept their ground but still kept themselves scattered around and away from the area.

"That could be useful.." Virgil tilted his head up towards the metal ladder attached to the wall. He jumped and grasped onto the bottom edge of the ladder, pulling it down before moving back against the other alley walk. The ladder extended downwarda with a clang, as Virgil tinkered with the touch interface of the Motorhead GK7.

"Aand alarm is set." The motorbike's screen spit out a quarter-sized metallic plate , which he stuffed in his pocket. All he'd have to do is tap it a few times with his finger, and the plate would recognize his fingerprint, sending a signal for the bike to follow him.

Virgil continued by climbing up the ladder until he reached the rooftop of an abandoned office building he decided to start with. Thankfully, the buildings weren't spaced too far apart, allowing him to leap to the rooftop of one building , and then that of NCMAP's building. Several Nintendo helicopters flew overhead, as they kept an eye on Virgil while maintaining their distance from him.

His eyes darted towards each part of the roof, looking for an opening. Virgil grabbed another device out of his pocket, as he clasped it to his ear, while lying down with the same ear pressed against the roof's floor, or rather, its ceiling.

"Extraction Process Complete," he could faintly make out the message from the machine's voice.

Down below Virgil and the roof divider, Ezekiel's troops took out the USBs, retrieving all of the scripture's data, as well as the data Seth and others had discovered from the missiles. The Equivalent stood there silently, while the scientist hostages could only shiver in fear as they lied pressed against the walls in fear.

Ezekiel waved his hand towards the machibe, and with a swift motion, brought his hand down. The Resurrectionists proceeded to kick down the machinery they had jut stolen the data from, smashing it to a mere disfigured set of pieces. Th e guards then used some of their ammo to shoot the Nintendo technology, before killing several scientists as well.

Seth bit his tongue as he eyed his friends huddled beside him, just as the guards had turned to do away with all of their hard work.

He began tapping his knee, trying to communicate in Morse code with them. His message read:

"We need to get out of here. I think I have an idea."

Ezekiel waved his hand around again, signalling the Resurrectionists to stop breaking it now. There was no way it could be recovered, only they had the data now.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" one female scientists.. Morsed back(?)

Seth quickly eyed the Monado blade prototype which he had left by his computer, smiling.

Virgil slowly walked towards a nearby ventillation entrance, trying to keep quiet, but the thin roof wasn't helping. He began to ready his gun, as well as several gooey bombs, as several guards could barely make out the noise.

"What was that?"

Seth tapped his knee a countless number of times again, as some of the Resurrectionists were distracted, while others kept their eyes on the hostages. "Follow my lead.."

Ezekiel raised his eyebrow, as he could make out Seth's messages. He turned sharply as Seth bolted for the Monado. The resurrectionists began shooting, but Seth countered as the blade bounced the bullets back for him.

"What?" Virgil could hear the sounds of gunfire now.

"BORN IN A WORLD OF STRIFE," Seth shouted while slicing through several Resurrectionists with the blade.

"WE CHOOSE TO FIGHT," the female scientists said, before ramming into one guard.

"AGAINST THE ODDS!" The blade flew out of Seth's hands, stabbing into more guards' chests as Ezekiel retreated behind a desk.

Virgil threw some of his gooey bombs down into the vent, exploding in succession before he dropped down behind one of the broken machines, taking down a few of the terrorists himself.

"Technically that's how the Xenoblade reference could go I guess but- OH MR LEE HELLO."

Ezekiel bolted for the back entrance as most of the Resurrectionist soldiers now lied on the floor with fatal stab wounds. Vorgil faced one though covered in meral armor, as he swung a giant broadsword at Virgil.
Virgil rolled to the side and, catching his breath, tossed his last gooey bomb as it landed right on the guard's armor. An explosion followed, as well as a bit of a bloody mess, too.

The Monado fell to the ground after using up its power, while the New Leaf scientists surrounded the fallen baddies. Virgil ran around them thohgh, sprinting outside so he could chase after Ezekiel who slid from one corridor to another down the emptied streets of New Leaf. Virgil eyed the area around him, having just lost the prophet. He frantically grabbed for the plate and tapped it repeatedly, as he tried yelling to nearby Nintendo guards.

"EZEKIEL IS ON THE RUN!"

The motorbike sped over now, crashing into different buildings before speeding over to Virgil. Very stylishly, Virgil jumped in midair, pressing his feet against the stone wall beside him, and then leaping upward again, before landing on the motorbike as it rushed right under him. Riding forward now, he stomped his foot against the pedal, driving back into the open as other guards engaged in the chase.

As he drove forward, Virgil caught a glimpse of Ezekiel out of the corner of his eye, far and away and running through one of the alleyways to the side. Virgil immediately shifted his motorbike aover to that direction, making his way back into the alleys, as the GK7's screen began to flash. Virgil tapped the screen with one finger as he kept his eyes toward the road ahead, swerving through the alleys as he tried to find Ezekiel again.

A call started between Virgil and one of Nintendo's generals stationed in Eterna.

"Mr. Lee, we have to pull back our forces."

"Why? We need to find Ezekiel!" Virgil swerved his bike around again, riding into another one of the twisted corridors outside.

"They- they're here."

Sony troops could be seen now, marching just a few miles away from Eterna, emerging from their hideouts with several tanks barely noticeable with their invisibility cloaks on.

((But seriously, go play Xenoblade. It's great.))

((Yes, I went completely out of character for Virgil just so that he could say those two words.))

[gdn001]

Trevor climbed the fuselage of the aircraft, looking around for a pull lever. He tried to open the cockpit, but it was secured. Trevor picked up one of his devices and placed it against the lever. The screen showed a bunch of operations and the cockpit opened, allowing him to sit inside. He lowered the mechanism, then reached for his map.

- Okay, the man mentioned somewhere near Lebanon. I guess I'll have to land on the nearest airstrip and figure it out as it goes. Now for the hard part...

Trevor tapped some buttons on the dashboard, causing it to light up.

- Weapons system or engine first?

He turned on the weapons, then fired explosive rounds at the hangar doors, causing them to collapse. The base went into full alert as the doors exploded.

- On other thought, maybe I should have turned on the engines first.

Trevor fired up the engines, causing the aircraft to move forward. With no time to taxi onto the runway, he accelerated forward towards the buildings ahead and took off shortly of crashing into them. The air base was already sending interceptors after him.

---

Lightning crackled everywhere, brightening up the sky. Sony was on Trevor's tail. ((♬))

- Trevor Hunter, revert course immediately, or we will be forced to take you down!
- I can't go back now...

Trevor threw the aircraft towards the sea below, causing the pursuers to follow. He went into a reverse loop, placing himself behind the enemy. The fighters quickly scattered, disappearing from sight. Trevor looked around for them, but they already had locked onto him.

Trevor fired the flares, which filled the sky with fireworks. The missiles went for the flares, missing him. Trevor suddenly applied the air brakes, causing everyone to go past him, and his engine to stall.

- Where did he go?
- I lost contact on the thermal scanner, switching to optics mode.

Trevor was falling towards the ocean, desperately trying to reignite the engine. The afterburner kicked in, causing the aircraft to gain a sudden boost of speed. He steered the jet back towards the horizon, just a few meters above the water. The two interceptors were above him, allowing for a surprise strike.

- Disable, don't kill. At least try to keep some credit with Sony.

Trevor engaged the experimental EMP missiles, and locked onto one of the pursuers. He fired the weapon, which went straight towards the enemy jet, disabling it.

- Whoa!

The other jet retreated after witnessing his attack. Trevor steered the aircraft high above the clouds, leaving the storm and reaching a sunny, blue sky above a carpet of clouds.

- Better get out of radar quick, before they send reinforcements...

((It's almost happening. I think I might have an additional post before I'm eligible for the Gran Finale Sequence.))

[Dragonvarsity]

((Been experiencing a posting glitch, so I cut some out and it works now I think!))

After returning to the United States from the Metropolis attack, the groups of Microsoftian soldiers split up as they returned to different encampents monitored by the faction. One of MS' generals walked along the underground hallways of one base stationed outside of Old Natal, as he kept the pulsating sphere covered in a case of his.

"Jessica, gather some of the other scientists here."

"Oh good, you're still alive.. gather them for what?"

The general opened up the case, showing her the glowing artifact.

One of our troops found this in Agni Tian's palace. I had someone on the ship examine it, all that we do is that it contains some form of atomic properties. So, let's get a group together and solve this puzzle ASAP."

------------------------------------

In the midst of battle between Sony's forces and Microsofts, one Resurrectionist plane managed to fly away from it all, flying over the ocean with a path set toward the Middle East.

"Keep her quiet.. we still have a ways to go from here." The Resurrectionist Runner spoke, as he helped pilot the plane over the Indian Ocean.

"The U.S. has several waves of forces which will be backing up Microsoft in the coming hour, apparently."

"A shame we won't be able to see them blow up the entire capital with our own eyes." The pilot retorted, as the plane continued to drift through the countless series of clouds and under the vibrant blue sky, with Terra's presence so far yet so apparent to them.

------------------------------------

Large patches of grass swayed back and forth from force of the wind from the helicopter's blades, as the pilot descended the heli down on a field, with Megan and Henry proceeding to step out. They thanked the pilot before walking forward along the open field, approaching David and Marcus as they stood there in their fine, gentlemanly suits, with a golf cart beside them and Robotica's headquarters off in the distance.

"Welcome to Liberas, you two."

David Cromney reached out his hand for Henry.

"I don't believe we've met. David Cromney, pleased to meet you."

"Henry Robertson. Could you tell me what exactly you do?" Henry remarked sarcastically.

"It's nice to finally be back in Liberas, aside from the.. well, circumstances. We better get over there to the HQ, then."

"Yes, let's hop into the cart. Marcus, I need you to return to the offices, I'd prefer to discuss things with Megan and Henry alone."

Marcus glared at them for a second.

"Alright," he said calmly, "nice seeing you again for three seconds Megan." He stepped away from them before turning for a second.

"What's with your wrist?" Marcus pointed out, as Megan hardly even noticed her other hand weapped around it.

"Oh, it- it's fine," she said reassuringly.

Marcus nodded in response, before walking in the other direction along the field as Megan waved goodbye. They hopped into the golf cart as David them forward now. "Marcus is very obedient, which is good, but sometimes he just goes too far, like a.. puppy almost."

Henry shook his head in agreement, as Megan kept silent about it, not wishing to engage in the conversation. "The United State's first wave of forces should be reaching Metropolis shortly. Even with my inauguration still a few weeks away, I can still pull a few strings, thankfully."

"Unfortunately," he continued, "it's not been too easy."

"Yes, I imagine the whole president schtick wouldn't just be a walk in the park," Henry kept up the cynicism for his own entertainment.

"No, I mean with the presidential funding. Someone had stolen the rest of our campaign money as well as plenty of donations. Tens of millions of dollars, just vanished like that.

"That's awful.." Megan noted. "Have you started up an investigation?"

"Not yet, but we're working on it. We don't want some big news story to break loose, so we're keeping the information between a few handfuls of people. I can trust you Henry, correct?"

"Aye aye, sir," Henry responded, this time actually serious, but it still wasn't very easy to tell the difference.

David parked the golf cart right in front of the towering, mechanical palace. "Nice to see the trip over here was smooth. It usually involves dodging multicolored shells and such," Cromney noted. He placed his hand against a viridian touch pad screen firmly attached to the wall. He proceeded to insert a code as several camera pieces overhead matched their sights on his face. A ding sound followed, as the steel doors slid open.

"Not too bad for security." Henry walked inside.

"Raidou Shinkawa was determined about his mission, I hear," Megan caught up with them, as the metallic doors automatically closed behind her and the other two.

"It's a shame to even think about someone like Ezekiel Davidson gaining control of this company. Just a way to empower his little chaotic rebellion, I bet. Terrible to imagine, really."

David Cromney was a liar.

............

But he was a good liar.

------------------------------------

"What the hell is this?!"

"Well that lasted longer than I thought-" Rebecca sat down as she prepared herself for Alkitov's lecturing.

"I asked you, trusted you to keep Megan and Henry safe, down here in the Hyrule Fortress. And what did you?"

"I sent them to Liberas..." Rebecca delivered the line flatly as ahe tilted her chair back, sighing.

"Yes, the capital of a disbanded world government for the factions, a place of controversy where, undoubtedly, media analysts will easily be spotting Megan and Henry. Then, who knew, the entirety of Microsoft has actually already found out about their presence in Metropolis from that handful of Microsoftians who saw them."

"The Robotica Headquarters aren't even really in Liberas, right outside and away from the commotion. Look, we need for them to find out that data, Alkitov-"

"-I could have negotiated with David so that there wouldn't be a risk for those two."

"Like you haven't put Henry at risk before."

"This is about what's good for the entire faction."

"Oh yeah? Is locking me up here good for the entire faction?!" Rebecca stared at Alkitov tensely, as her eyes began to water up.

"I did what I thought was best."

"Three months.. is how long you said it'd be. Then five months, now eight months, and hey, that wouldn't be too much of a problem really had it not been delayed to fourteen months. How long am I supposed to stay here, really?"

"I've had men and women stationed far longer-"

"Good, then I'll have plenty of time to catch up with the records they've set."," Rebecca responded bitterly.

"I only want what's best for you, Rebecca."

The twenty-something hacker from Illinois began to tear up more, pressed her face against the palm of her hand before tilting her head back up, facing Alkitov again.

"I know... but you have to trust me here, and we need to stop the Resurrectionists.."

She sighed again.

"Any update on Virgil?"

"No, I'll keep checking to see if he's managed to blow himself up yet or not."

Rebecca smiled vaguely. "Don't worry though Alkitov, Megan and Henry are going to be just fine."

((EDIT: Can I add in more? Let's see..))


The three of them walked along the open room with devices buzzing and sparks shooting out in the corners, stepping over the large wires spread all over as the glowing of some technology made for the building's only illumination. David turned the central motherboard back on, as the sound of it booting up echoed throughout the silo-sized structure.

"Please insert the passcode," the computer spoke to them.

"The answer should be Andromeda.. or the City of Andromeda." Henry stepped forward and typed it in as one word, with an incorrect beep as a response.

"Alright," he said, as he slowly typed out the other answer, with hardly any light by the keyboard to help him see what he was inserting. Megan's eyes glared toward Cromney, before darting around the room. The quietness was almost unbearable, before a shuffling sound from above broke it.

"What was that?" she asked agitatedly.

"Probably some rats caught in the ventilation. I haven't exactly had the time to keep pests away." He was beginning to look suspicious, his "I'm-not-suspicious" face starting to face as another bit of shuffling could be heard. Henry typed in the final key, before Megan grabbed Henry's arm with her good hand.

"What are you doing?" David said.

She didn't respond, and simply began deleting the keys Henry typed, curious about how he'd react. And that reaction was Cromney pulling out a gun.

"Don't be dumb now," David retorted, as he shoved Megan and Henry to the side, typing the remainder of the phrase back in, as numerous red dots appeared on both Megan and Henry's faces, from the Resurrectionist snipers perched up top. David pressed 'Enter' as the computer processed the information.

"Password Complete," the computer voiced out loud.

"So what exactly is this program really supposed to do?" Henry gritted his teeth. A set of floor boards behind the motherboard system began to open up, as several pseudo-Sony missiles emerged from the ground, answering his question.

"Missiles Ready. Target Location: Eterna City," the computer continued.

A blast of smoke was released within seconds, as the three missiles shot into the air and through the ceiling opening which had also just opened up, now on a collision course to blow up the very center of Nintendo's esteemed capital.

[xxMATEOSxx•]

A slow approach, carefully checking every opening, spinning to avoid creating any blind spots. She reached a clearing with a solitary wooden building, the size of a large shack, sitting in the middle of a rough circle of trees. Dried leaves crunched underfoot as she made her way forward. She stepped into the circle. The ground collapsed several inches beneath her feet. She heard a slight mechanical hum, her only warning. Without a second thought, she dove back and rolled behind the nearest tree. From in front of where she stood, the ground shifted as a small mechanical turret rose up and fired from dual barrels. The bullets just missed her as she took cover.

The gunfire did not relent. Bits of wood fragments blasted off the tree she hid behind, but it was thick enough to offer enough protection. Noel reached into her vest and pulled out a grenade. She depressed a button and tossed it. It landed at the base of the turret, beeped several times, and then exploded into a small fireball that engulfed the turret and rent it from the ground.

She waited a few seconds and then emerged from cover. Noel noted the damage with satisfaction and carefully made her way forward. She made it to the shack and worked her way around it, finding no windows or apparent openings of any kind. She checked the wood more closely, brushing her fingers against the grain, until she found something, a seam. It formed a roughly rectangular shape that she could press in several centimeters. The wall in front of her shot inward by a few inches.

Another turret rose behind her. Noel would have no time to find cover. She spun into a jump and aimed a pistol, hoping the metal would be thin enough that she could do some damage. The barrels repositioned to aim toward her and made to open fire just as she faced them.

Two stones, the size of bricks, pummeled the side of the turret. The first hit the barrels, snapping the first and bending the second out of shape. The second stone hit the turret body squarely, making a sizeable indentation, damaging it beyond use.

Noel landed smoothly without firing a single shot. She watched as Mathias emerged from the trees, in his hands one last stone, picked up from the ground in case it was needed. After the two were comfortable that the area was now safe, Albert followed. He looked to the damaged machinery and the shack, where the wall had opened to reveal a metal hatchway, similar to the one Noel used to enter the prison laboratory.

“Well,” he said, “Looks like we’re in the right place.”

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Abigail’s eyes shot open. She turned her head and saw the red led flashing on her tablet. She grabbed it and opened a map of the facility. There was an indicator that the outer security system had been activated. She checked the live surveillance feed and confirmed it just as the second turret responded. Like the first, this one was destroyed, and she saw all three of them stand at the entrance. Abigail checked to make sure the rest of the security system was active and functioning.

Then she received another warning. Someone was trying to access their network. Abby rolled her chair in front of her laptop and ran a program from there. Too late, they gained partial access. She watched the video feed again and saw the hatchway open and the three of them carefully enter down the ladder. They were in. The computer break-in continued, and Abigail manually entered sequences of commands to counter it.

The time had come.

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Another auto turret. This time Mathias melted the ice block he formed at the opening of a canteen he kept strapped on his hip. A stream of water released and snaked into the barrels. With force of will, Mathias froze the liquid, disengaging the machinery before it could fire.

“Looks like there are no human guards here,” Mathias said as he removed the water from the now useless turret and returned it to his canteen.

“Maybe it’s to keep it secret,” Noel suggested, “If the defense is automated, then there are less people that need to know about the base.”

“Lucky us, I barely even need this,” Mathias lifted the submachine gun Noel had given him.

“Try to conserve your energy though,” Noel said, “we still don’t know when we’ll need it.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Noel turned around, “Where to next Al?”

Albert was walking behind them, eyes locked onto his screen as he held his laptop against one forearm, using his other hand for the keyboard. He had kept most of his attention focused on it, relying on Mathias and Noel to keep him protected as needed. In the meantime, he had been unlocking a working path to where they needed to go, bit by bit. With his help, they had been able to make it through with only a few wrong turns or surprises.

“Give me a second,” he said without looking up, “It’ll be a left up ahead. We’ll hit a door I’ve already opened but another set of rockets are waiting on the other side and…argh! This is taking too long!” he grumbled in frustration.

“You’re doing great,” Mathias said, “Without your help we wouldn’t make it a single step. Even warning us about the defenses, that’s huge.”

“Yeah maybe,” Albert answered, “but let’s see if I can take it a step further.”

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Abigail threw up every line of defense she could, but it wasn’t holding. Each time they breached a bit of information, she saw that they gained huge amounts of ground. Nevertheless, she did not panic. She was among the best at what she did and it was time to prove it. She set up locks, denying access at every turn, making them work for everything.

At the same time, she prepared another program. This one was not for defense, but for her to strike back. As soon as an opening presented itself, she would use it to infect their system, giving her total control. It was just a matter of time before she could shut them down.

Another warning. She opened the necessary page and saw the cause.

No!” Abigail shouted and immediately tried to salvage what she could, but it was too late.

“No! No! No! No! No!”

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“Yes!” Albert suddenly exclaimed.

Mathias looked back to him, distracted, just as a turret began to emerge from the wall up ahead. Noel dashed forward, gun in hand, but there was no need. The turret had come out halfway before stopping and returning to its default position, leaving the wall clear. Each door also emitted loud clicks or metallic sliding noises as the locks disengaged.

“I got it. I’ve shut down their automatic security,” Albert said with triumph while continuing his work.

“How long?” Noel asked him.

“I’ll hold it back as long as I can,” he answered.

The three of them continued forward under his direction until they hit a hub with six paths to take. They waited. After a minute Albert said, “I have the map and, I think, we’re going to have to split up.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Noel said. Mathias agreed.

“I’m picking up the signal coming from two locations. I’m thinking one of them could lead us to Alexander, but I don’t want to leave it to chance.” With a few clicks, he sent something to Noel. She checked the handheld computer she received from the Ressurectionists. The display now showed a map with a red dot blinking within a gradient. “There’s someone in that area. You two should check it out.”

“And what about you?” Mathias asked.

“I’ll head this way. We’ll be able to keep track of each other.” Al pointed out a trio of green dots representing them. They also each activated their comlinks to keep in contact.

“Are you sure about this Al?” Noel asked him.

He answered seriously, “This is the way it’s going to be. Don’t worry though, like I said, the security is down. I’ll be able to make it through without any problems. I can deal with anything else.”

Noel wasn’t about to stop him, not now. She and Mathias took a moment to watch as he checked the path ahead, looked back to his screen and made his way onward.

Mathias covered the mic on his headset and asked Noel, “What are the chances that he bumps into a wall when he’s not looking?” He shrugged with a half-smile.

Noel brought her hand to her forehead and rubbed her temples with a silent groan. She checked the map again and pointed them in the right direction.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abigail frantically jumped back and forth between her tablet and laptop, making rapid-fire commands every time. Their roles had been reversed, with her losing control of the system and now scrambling to regain it in parts. Eventually she even lost access to the cameras, leaving her completely blind. Still she did not give up as she awaited the opening she needed.

She found it. It was subtle to the point that she almost missed it, but Abigail was immediately able to run her attack program. Since they were now running on the same network, it was able to insert itself automatically into the other system. There was a block. Nothing serious; she could get around it in an instant.

Abigail input a string of commands, finding the combination that would work. Then all she needed was one last sequence. She set it and hovered her finger over the enter key.

She hesitated a moment too long.

Before she could run the final command, the program shut down. One after another, the rest of her running tasks followed, until her laptop was completely idle. Then the screen started to dim. Audible components began to grow noticeably quieter as they slowed down. Abigail tried to stop it but to no avail. In a matter of seconds, her laptop shut itself off, unable to restart. Her tablet followed a moment after.

She sat back in her chair is disbelieving defeat. She heard the door behind her slide open. She did not turn around. She did not have to.

She did not want to.

Albert stood at her doorway, his laptop now held at his side. He looked to his sister,

“Sorry Abbs.”

((Remember when I said all I had to do was edit this post and it would be ready to go in a couple of days. Funny joke huh))

((Regardless, I am now in my endgame, whatever that means.))

((I also finally got to put in my first major reversal/juxtaposed bookend of the conclusioning. It was so exciting. Remember August of last year? Wow. I know it's been over a year since this project began but dang, having to hunt down this post and seeing how long I ago I set this up really puts it in a new light. Anyway, in my major post where the conflict is pretty much established ish kinda and Roger is still alive and such, Albert discovers Abigails files on Project Ouroboros (remember that? I'm sure I'll come up with what it is eventually) but has his system destroyed via massive overheating. Eagle readers will notice that when he gets the rat's revenge, it is done in the opposite fashion, with Abigail's computer slowing down and ceasing to run, almost like overcooling. It is also the opposite of how I would say their styles are, if I had ever established that in the story anyway. The flashy Albert has his hardware destroyed in a ball of fire (in a matter of speaking) while cool and collected Abigail has her computer shut down in a way that is visually less remarkable. I'm sure that's how computers work either way.))

((I wasn't sure who to title this under. It's very much an Abby/Albert chapter, but they don't have their own established subsection. Since Abigail is the primary person in a way, I could put it under Alexander as with her other stuff but he doesn't even make an appearance. For that reason I also can't just say "Everyone" like I was planning on eventually doing.))

((And next one will be...sometime. I have absolutely none of it written, so if it took me a week just to edit one entry, I have no idea when I'll write a whole new one.))

((Later.))

[gdn001]

(( ************************************** ))
(( * Last Main Post Before Finale * ))
(( ************************************** ))


Trevor landed on the sandy airstrip, surprising the lazy engineer with his top-of-the-line, and yet worn out aircraft. He parked it out of the strip and jumped out, walking towards him.

- No questions. Do you know of any place of interest nearby?
- Wh-what sort of place, mister?

Trevor took his crumpled map, and handed it to the man.

- It has this spot marked. And the letter Z beside it.
- Could... It is probably Zion?
- Zion?
- I have heard of people who went there, but I have never been myself. It is in the middle of the desert as far as I know. No idea how to get there though.
- How does it look like?
- Your average desert ruins, I guess? I told you I have never been there!
- Well, do you at least know how close it is?
- Not too close... I would say it would take three days to walk there. Again, all assumptions!

Trevor thought for a while, then pointed at a jeep stationed nearby.

- How about that?
- A day, at least. You would still have to find it yourself.

Trevor thought about buying the jeep from him, but reminded that he just got out of a Sony prison. He considered stealing the vehicle, but decided to opt for a nicer approach:

- The jeep, does it have a full tank? Would you be willing to trade it for the aircraft?

The man was astonished by the offer.

- What?? Why would you...
- Listen, I really need to get to... This Zion place. They took my friend there. Actually, someone told me they would take her there... Well, long story short, I don't need the jet but I need the jeep.
- But...
- You should dismantle it for parts, they can sell for plenty, top of the line stuff. All I ask is for the vehicle.

The man hesitated, but then accepted the trade and handed Trevor the keys to the jeep. As he walked towards it, he interrupted Trevor.

- Since you're doing this for a friend... One of my comrades drew a sketch of how the place looks like from distance.

He handed Trevor the sketch, showing a rough drawing of the fortress and well-defined nearby mountains.

- Look for these formations, and you should find your girl. I still think this is a crazy man's errand, but your determination is honorable! So I wish you good luck!

Trevor thanked the engineer, and drove towards the marked mountain into the desert.

END OF CHAPTER 6
((Now I put my posts on hold until everyone else has caught up with me. But not before a last intermission))

[Dragonvarsity]

((Sucks to be Abigail.))

((Also, poor Ammy having to stay in the plane during Operation Take-Down-Alexander. Can't wait to see how the big confrontation goes down.))

((Also also geesh gdn I gotta catch up with ya.))

((Play this now.))

Virgil slammed his foot down against the pedal of the Motorhead GK7 now as it raced him forward with its engine humming louder and louder. Riding along the bumpy cobblestone streets again, he swerved through each of the following alleyways as Sony's first line of forces marched closer and closer to the Nintendo-occupied city, ready to fire. Ezekiel was on the run and on his own at this point, but that didn't mean he would be caught so easily. He slipped through one back entrance after another, running out of options now.

Megan and Henry were shoved against the dusty, metallic floors by several Resurrectionist operatives, pinned down while chained against the nearest block of machinery. The smoke began to settle from the missiles' blast, while David continued to stare at the central screen some more.

"Don't kill them just yet," he briefly mentioned.

The two captives looked at each other silently, with Henry remaining stern while Megan couldn't help but show some form of worry after having just been betrayed by Cromney.

"Proceed scanning," the Microsoft general spoke up, as the artifact found in Tian's palace was placed in a large glass casing, while several machines began to twist vertically around it in a circular fashion. They spun around rapidly now as the data was being sent to several scientists' computers.

"Just don't trigger anything," Jessica retorted. "We already know that it contains some form of atomic power, no need to have it blow up in our faces."

"Right," Rebecca responded to General Damius Alkitov, as she booted up the systems in her office again. She glanced upward, beginning to smile as hope was slowly being restored for them.

"First batch of data from Resurrectionist Island has just come in. We may be able to start tracking down some of their other hideouts."

"Good," Alkitov's eyes wandered across the different screens, before spotting the red dots that had just appeared on a world map.

"What the hell is that?!"

Gaining in speed, the missiles flew through the vast skies over Finland, quickly having passed over the Baltic Sea as its flight path to Eterna remained in check.

"No disruptions encountered," one of the Resurrectionists noted to David, as he stood there, practically shaking for a bit.

Henry glanced over to a crack in one of the walls, spotting the curious face of one six-eyed economist hunched behind it, hidden. Without making himself look like a fool and ruining things, Henry slowly shifted his gaze. Marcus was aware of how the Robotica Headquarters handled, how to maneuver it.

How to lay a trap.

Sparks began to fly, causing several of the guards to walk over as they could hear someone messing with a slew of wires behind some of the walls set up. Suddenly, more sparks shot out and the entire lighting of the room shifted on and off rapidly. Several computers shoddily scattered nearby transformed into laptop gun sentries, targeting the Resurrectionist troops as they fired the guards down. Henry banged the chains against the clunky machinery he and Megan were stuck with in response, but it was no use.

"I can break one of my wrists.." Henry said.

"Henry, you don't have to do that..." Megan responded sharply.

"Look, we need to get out of here, I have to-"

Megan slipped her left, previously broken wrist out of one of the chains slowly, as they remained positioned while the Resurrectionists were banging against the computers and trying to find the man screwing things up.

"Oh... right."

Virgil bolted forward atop his motorbike he could catch a glimpse of Ezekiel again, who proceeded to draw out his weapon against Virgil. He quickly ducked his head behind the handle bars in response just as he swerved again. Ezekiel was clearly losing steam. In the distance, however, Virgil could point out a helicopter from above, heading to the same direction as Ezekiel. That was Ezekiel's way out.

Megan reached out her arm for one of the nearby pistols, gritting her teeth by the pain from the force placed on her hand when grabbing it. She aimed it and shot the other chain attached to her right arm, praying that shooting at the chain wouldn't just result in a bullet bouncing back into her face. Thankfully, that wasn't the case here. She managed to shoot off Henry's shackles with her good hand then, before finding cover amidst the giant shootout.

"Who the hell did this?"

"I think it was Marcus... nice aim by the way." Henry grabbed for a nearby gun as he shot down a couple Resurrectionists himself, with the laptop guns beginning to power down. Marcus remained hidden as the troops were falling down, one after another after another.

"Alright, the data is loading," Jessica stated, observing the computer monitors as she stared to the room where the glowing artifact sat in.

"Those are missiles from the looks of it," Rebecca stated.

"Why were these recognized specifically?" Alkitov asked, seeing as they began to pass over Finland at an incredible rate.

"These systems are smart and will pick up on familiar technology, like the missiles the Resurrectionists used to frame Sony."

"Can we find out its flight path?"

"I'm trying..."

Virgil jumped off of his motorbike while keeping the button that would call it over inside his pocket, right by the sleeping dart he had with him back from New Natal. He sped forward, trying to chase after Ezekiel, knowing that going on foot would prove to be more resourceful in the jam-packed sections they were now in. He pulled out his phone and shouted at one of New Leaf's commanders.

"There's a helicopter up in the air! I think Ezekiel's heading there, you need to blow it down!"

"How do you know there aren't innocents in that heli, Mr. Lee?!"

"WE NEED TO STOP EZEKIEL!"

Suddenly, a fire blasted from one of Sony's tanks positioned outside of Eterna, shooting down what the enemy faction must have assumed to be one of Nintendo's own reinforcements.

Virgil stopped briefly to witness the explosion, as did Ezekiel behind several buildings away from him, panting for breath. Virgil smiled briefly before continuing forward.

"Take cover!" Henry shouted, as he shot down the last Resurrectionist spy.

Except for one.

David stood pressed against the screen behind him where he launched the nukes. He pulled out his gun but Henry was quicker, sending a bullet into David's hand as he dropped the gun in agony. He yelled and pounced towards Henry however, slamming him to the ground as Megan rushed forward, toppling David off of Henry. She pulled out her gun and faced it to Cromney, her own cohort. Her own.. friend.

"Henry, you need to find a way to call Alkitov, warn him about those missiles."

Henry nodded quickly as he grabbed for the phone which one of the guards had taken from him, hurriedly jamming in the number for the Hyrule Fortress. Megan's stare towards David remained cold now, with any look of forgiveness wiped clean.

"SHOOT THOSE SONY TANKS DOWN!" one of New Leaf's generals shouted, as several more bombs were shot towards the outskirts of New Leaf.

The sound of gunfire was starting up, and Virgil could hear it. "**** it, no.." He ran through the alleys more now, approaching a bridge over one of the city's waterways, just as Ezekiel ran onto the bridge in front of him. They both simultaneously pulled out their weapons, facing each other blankly. Virgil slowly uttered out a few words, as the cannon fires became more apparent.

"We can end this. No more games," Virgil had the chip pressed between one of his fingers and the gun now, slowly tapping on it a couple times as the motorbike was catching up.

Ezekiel held his gaze, before trying to shoot at Virgil. The bullet knicked his arm as the Nintendo president dodged to the side, as the motorbike flew from where he came, slamming Ezekiel off of the bridge and into the water below them. Virgil pulled his gun back and aimed it at Ezekiel, floating there and done for.

"It's over. Now tell me, who s-"

"-HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" A squad of Nintendo's forces and New Leaf police walked forward from behind Virgil, as he slowly turned towards them.

"Mr. Lee?"

"Ezekiel's down there in the water," Virgil stated as he glanced down towards one of Cassandra's two prophets. The guards immediately jumped down into the water and surrounded him. They proceeded to handcuff Ezekiel tight before climbing back up with him.

"We'll be sending him to a highly secured prison station in Eterna, much better than the lousy security Microsoft had for him."

"I want to be there as he's transported-"

"It's too dangerous, you've done plenty as is!"

Virgil remained determined but backed off, nodding softly as he saw them proceed to escort him away.

Relived, but infuriated, Virgil stood upright like a stature as he saw as the person with the answers he needed was taken away, just like that.

((Hey, remember how Virgil had that epic tune from Pacific Rim as his own "theme music?" Well, here's the thing. I had seen Pacific Rim right as sign-ups were going on for this game, and the music really helped inspire some of my writing, so I thought it would be cool for that to be worked in. The problem is that... well, it's action-y, and Virgil hasn't done a lot of action-y stuff until recently. At some point I knew though that it would end up having a purpose, and I guess this was it. Hopefully mixing things in with my other hodgepodge of characters helped amplify the intensity without making it all come off as too confusing... hm.))

((Also worth noting that this was going to be split up into two posts and not have the music play throughout. This would have allowed David Cromney to be more menacing and not taken down so easily, but I had to cram in so much while having the vast majority of the post contain the background music because I wanted the Virgil/Ezekiel encounter to be at the end... so yes.))

((Also, I went ahead and removed the Blossom Dance bit from that earlier post of mine because it was too cringe-worthy every time I passed by it, nbgggh. In case you're curious though... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TfWu5jGtWA))

[xxMATEOSxx•]

Mathias and Noel drew closer to the unidentified signal Albert had located for them. Despite his assurance that the security system was offline, the two of them still journeyed slowly. They quietly and carefully checked every corner, wary of any danger from lingering traps, though they encountered nothing.

“What happens after this?” Mathias asked after a time, breaking the silence.

Noel knew what he meant, “It’s better not to think about things like that. Focus on right now, otherwise we might not have a future to worry about.”

“I can’t help it,” Mathias said as they walked on. “It wasn’t all that long ago that I was just traveling the world with Amaterasu. Everything has changed so quickly since then. Between finding out my family disappeared, finding you, and, well, everything else, who knows what could happen next.”

Noel did not answer, but Mathias pressed on, “Say we do stop Alexander and save the world. What then? Do we just pick up where we left off?”

“That’s not how it works,” Noel responded, her tone making it clear to drop the subject.

After a time, Mathias said, “I guess not,” but his thoughts remained. Noel was thinking along the same lines. What would they do? She and Albert would have to go into hiding. Between her work with Microsoft and anything someone might uncover about their encounter with the Ressurectionists, there was little chance they would be welcomed as conquering heroes. Who was she kidding? There was no chance. No, it would be better that Albert just set it up so that they could just disappear. Remove all digital traces of them so that they could do, something. She could not imagine what. Ultimately, part of her really didn’t want to think about it.

But that left Mathias. He might be dragged into things too, simply by his affiliation with them. Then again, he might not. Her life was destroyed when she left Microsoft knowing that it would be taken as an act of treason. Even with Bastion out of the way, the factions would still consider her a wanted criminal. Nothing would change that. But for him, with the right spin, anything was still possible. He could go back to his life if he wanted to. But then, from what he told her, she wasn’t sure what would be waiting.

She almost broke her own rule and brought it up to Mathias herself when they found themselves outside the room where the signal was coming from. They stood before the door, steps away from opening it. Moments away from confronting Alexander.

“Are you ready for this?” Noel asked instead. Mathias silently nodded, his face set. Noel steeled herself as well, letting all other thoughts melt away. They walked forward. The door slid open on its own.

The room was empty except for a single desk with a computer and a chair bolted to the floor. The display was lit with blocks of text. The two cautiously approached and checked the space. There was nothing else, just four walls and corners devoid of anything. There weren’t even any switches for the lights. Mathias went to the computer.

“This must be where the signal was coming from. Not Alexander after all.” He took a seat in the chair and read the screen, “This looks like, I don’t know, some kind of program command I think. It looks like it’s just waiting for someone to press enter.”

“Don’t mess with it,” Noel warned, “We don’t know what it does.”

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to check to see if there’s anything else on this desk.”

Suddenly, the door slammed shut. Noel immediately hurried toward it, but the locks audibly engaged. She slammed a fist against the metal.

“****, it was another trap. Mathias, I’m going to try to blow this door open.”

She turned around just in time to see Mathias attempt to stand up. Before he could, metal cuffs rotated out of the arms of the chair, keeping him in place. He struggled to free himself for only a moment, when a square section of floor below the desk rotated about a central axis. Mathias and the desk both rose sideways as the floor flipped itself. He just had time to yell, “Holy cra-” before he disappeared completely and the floor stopped moving. The space he and the desk once occupied was now blank space, the underside of where he once sat.

Noel did not even know how to react. She stood in place, just staring at the empty spot that was now indistinguishable from the rest of the room.

“The hell was that?” she yelled to no one. Then the floor below her opened up. There was no rotation, just simple floor panels swinging directly below her feet, connected to hinges on their sides. Gravity shot Noel downward. She tried to grab the edge of the floor, but her fingers slid off without gripping. With an echoed scream, she fell into the darkness below.

The floor panels swung themselves back up, locking back into place, leaving the room completely bare. The lights flickered off.

((So, this went absolutely nowhere I originally intended.))

((I took a break after my last entry. Well, not so much a break as I just didn't have the time or inclination to write again. But last night, around midnight, I woke up ready to get down to business. And then I promptly sat there not doing much of anything. Frankly, I was not in the mood to be writing the scenes I needed to write. Instead, my mind wandered to how it would be so much easier if I could just have them conveniently separated via contrived traps. Then I thought, why not do that? And thus, here we are. Why yes, it was fun to write. On an unrelated note, I have the sudden urge to watch Abbot and Costello movies.))

[/B]((Now I put my posts on hold until everyone else has caught up with me. But not before a last intermission))

((From my end, feel free to move on. Looking forward to reading more. Also, yay! Crossovers happening over there.))

((Also, poor Ammy having to stay in the plane during Operation Take-Down-Alexander. Can't wait to see how the big confrontation goes down.))

((Yes, I've been wondering what Amaterasu has been doing when she's on her own.))

((Hey, remember how Virgil had that epic tune from Pacific Rim as his own "theme music?" Well, here's the thing. I had seen Pacific Rim right as sign-ups were going on for this game, and the music really helped inspire some of my writing, so I thought it would be cool for that to be worked in. The problem is that... well, it's action-y, and Virgil hasn't done a lot of action-y stuff until recently. At some point I knew though that it would end up having a purpose, and I guess this was it. Hopefully mixing things in with my other hodgepodge of characters helped amplify the intensity without making it all come off as too confusing... hm.))

((Reminded me to check the music I picked way back when. If I weren't trying to pick video game music at the time, Noel's theme would have originally been the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme music instead of Devils Never Cry. The result would have been the same, but one if a Buffy reference, so it's automatically better. Apparently. Maybe. Whatever.))

[Dragonvarsity]

((In retrospect, Virgil was kind of being an idiot there, wasn’t he? I mean when he just let those random Nintendo guards take Ezekiel away.. hmm.. maybe we can just pretend that a super official Nintendo official was there with them or Alkitov was on the line to confirm something or.. yeah.))

Henry began glaring at the computer screen David had just used to launch the missiles earlier, while keeping the phone in one of his hands as the call went through.

“Alkitov! Cromney just launched several missiles on the way to Eterna!”

“We just spotted them on one of the maps, where in Eterna is it hitting?”

“I don’t know, but it’s bound to make a mark. We’re at the Robotica Headquarters.”

“Okay… wait, David Cromney launched them?!”

Henry’s eyes shifted over for a brief second to Megan who kept her gun pointed towards the panting David, not caring to turn over herself.

“Yes.. he was working with the Resurrectionists. But that isn’t the point, we’ve dealt with them,” Henry continued.

“Okay, well, is there anything you can use to stop those missiles.”

“Hell if I know, I’m not familiar with this technology.”

Megan kept her focus towards David, a psychotic mix of anger and fear boiling beneath her skin.

“How are we supposed to shut these missiles off?!” she demanded, shifting her hands a bit to emphasize the pointing of her gun.

David looked at them silently for a second.

“The deed is done. Eterna will be hit, as New Leaf will be attacked. You might as well say goodbye to Nintendo, because I can assure you that Microsoft will have enough to contend to with Sony.” He covered his wound in agony, but tried keeping his composure while against the steel floor.

Megan nodded her head slowly as her eyes remained frozen and locked.

“You’re full of ****.”

She pulled the trigger and sent a bullet into his leg. Another scream was let out, as Henry rushed forward with his phone in hand.

“Henry..” Alkitov continued, “what the hell is going on over there?” Megan went back to her silent state, as Henry tried filling in the gaps for her very own interrogation.

“I don’t care how strong you think you are right now. You blow up Eterna, well, we’ll know where it came from. And then the factions will know how this whole charade began by your pathetic cult. If Microsoft loses their ally, then they draw back from China. Sony will find the spies hidden in Metropolis without a battle waging there anymore, and the whole attack of New Leaf could be withdrawn.”

David looked up cynically. He still found Henry’s argument rather weak, given all of the variables in play. But then he turned, he truly witnessed now the dead bodies of the troops who fell before him, seeing no other man or woman stand before him aside from the two front and center. He looked up to Megan, before sighing and then answering.

“...The Konami code.”

-------------------------

“Breaking News: We have just spotted several missiles spotted flying past Finland and over Russia now, with a flight path not changing. The destructive power of these missiles and their true power is not known, but we will keep you posted while the world stands waiting.”

Virgil watched as Ezekiel was hauled away on one of the military jets by Nintendo officers, as they prepared to fly off to Eterna. The attacking sounds became more apparent, as Sony tried tearing down one of the walls Nintendo had set up around the city, with only a few blasts making it over. Grabbing for his phone, Virgil waited impatiently as he was directed to one of Microsoft’s generals.

“I need to speak with Hope Tanner. Now.”

“She’s busy, I’m afraid.”

“Well that’s too bad, because I just chased down the most wanted man on the planet while keeping my job, and I’m still fine.”

“What?!”

“Okay, I’ll cut the cynicism. Ezekiel Davidson has just been captured. You know he was broken out, so let’s not play mind games. I assume you’ve received contact with Nintendo’s General Alkitov.”

“Our faction has had several conversations with him and other Nintendo officials.”

“We have to end this. The war. Those troops of yours aren’t going to conquer Metropolis, and I am not going to let New Leaf be torn apart.

“We can’t just let these events unf- oh god.”

“What?!” Virgil asked interrogatively himself now, before a Nintendo guarded tapped him on the shoulder.

“Mr. Lee, reports just came in. There’s a group of missiles heading to Eterna right now.”

His eyebrows shot up, before continuing to speak to the Microsoftian authority.

“The United States’ forces have already hit Metropolis I hear. We can end that battle. We can make a deal with Sony-“

“What about your capital?!”

“I’ll be clever and come up with something.”

There was a pause for a moment.

“..Well, no need to waste any more time then. Go save your faction, those reinforcements better make a difference in Metropolis.”

The call cut off, as Virgil stood there, quiet.

“Can’t we disarm the missiles like we did before?” Alkitov asked Rebecca, while staying on the line with Henry.

“Those were the only Robotica disarmers we had. We don’t have time Alkitov, these missiles are going much faster than the ones from before. They’ve already passed from Russia into Kazakhstan.. close to China now!”

They both began looking panicked, not for their own safety in the secure Hyrule Fortress, but for those of all of Eterna, and the events that could ensue.

“We might have a solution, Alkitov!” Henry yelled in the phone, as he began typing the code into this screen.

“This better work…” he muttered to himself as he typed it out.

“Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A…“

“WAIT!” Alkitov yelled. “For lord’s sake, you have to wait for it to be able to drop into the ocean, just in case.

Henry kept his finger above the ‘Enter’ key, as Megan stood like a statue yet shaking.

“When I say it…” Alkitov spoke up, as he and Rebecca watched the blinking red dots pass over a map of China.

A bang could be heard against the Robotica HQ’s doors now.

“What-“

“Five..” Alkitov began counting down.

Another slam.

“Four..”

The blinking red dots flew quickly over the outline of China.

“Three…” Megan stared up almost savagely, while David kept his eyes downward, trying to cover the bleeding as best he could.

“Two..” it reached closer and closer to the edge of the nation, as the slamming against the doors became more and more frequent.

“One, NOW!” Henry pressed hard against the button as the code went through, as an explosion could be heard in the background, with the doors blown down.

“LIBERAS POLICE, IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!” Megan kept her glare as she kept a gun pointed towards David’s head. Henry ignored the cops as he tried pressing again, but nothing.

“It didn’t go through, it didn’t do anything..”

“ON YOUR KNEES, RIGHT NOW!”

Henry turned around, standing, as the guards quickly readied their weapons.

“Hold it,” a figure stepped out finally. “Marcus Taylor, political advisor of David Cromney. These two are not guilty, David is. I’ve got video evidence pointing to him launching those missiles just earlier, willing to kill both of these Nintendo agents. Please.” Marcus tossed over a USB containing the video data to one of the police chiefs. One began to play it through on the computers as they restrained both Megan and Henry to the floor, treating David.

“Hello?” Alkitov yelled. One of the cops picked up the phone at this point.

“This is General Alkitov from Nintendo. What was said is true. Henry, congratulations, you just stopped the missiles.” Henry stood there, confused by how it worked, while one of the police chiefs gave a hand signal while scanning the video evidence Marcus had provided.

“Taylor and Alkitov are right. These two are innocent. As for Cromney… take him away.”

((Hey, Ezekiel is being flown away to Eterna, and those missiles are heading to Eterna. Since Ezekiel is one of the two prophets of the terrorist group David Cromney is in cahoots with, why not use that as a threat to disarm the missiles? Weell, laziness. Also, too much back-and-forth already aahh (also, laziness).))

((In other news, one more post left for my fifth chapter, which should hopefully arrive later today.))

[xxMATEOSxx•]

5. Konami code solves everything, except it doesn’t, except it does?

((Greatest summarizing ever.))

((Also, you're worrying about the logic? Embrace the chaos instead. All the cool kids do it.))

[Dragonvarsity]

((Greatest summarizing ever.))

((Also, you're worrying about the logic? Embrace the chaos instead. All the cool kids do it.))

((Thanks. ))

“Jessica, keep your eye on that artifact. Our faction has work to do.” The Microsoft general stepped out of the scientific room of brooding science gatherings as the tune of beeping and booping kept up, with the scanning of the radioactive sphere making up for the lab group’s lack of Halo music in the background.

((*insert unclear time-skip here*))

The world was abuzz with news concerning the factions, but something had been reached.

Sony troops were falling back from New Leaf before even breaching the wall of the city.

Clouds of dust had appeared across the opening to Metropolis, with several districts hit and confirmed deaths of at least several hundred soldiers, with more from the capital’s crowded number of civilians. And yet it finally occurred. The United States’ warships pushed through the ocean near the Sony capital's docks, attacking Team Playstation's outposts from the side before they could reach the remainder of Microsoft’s forces that were storming on land. The fighting was starting to simmer down.

Deep within Sony offices and the underground labs of Microsoft, a truce was being forged.

------------------------------------------

“How are you feeling?” Rebecca asked, as she and Megan had the chance to sit down together again, right by the entry way to the Hyrule Fortress.

“Henry said it wasn’t pretty.”

“It wasn’t. But I’m better now.. thanks. I just, I can’t wrap my head around it. All of this. This war, the lengths David had gone too. I thought I knew him, I thought I could feel… comfortable. I just feel like I’m running out of space to breathe, and I’m just going to… suffocate at some point.”

Rebecca placed her hand on Megan’s shoulder for a second, reassuringly.

“You can’t though. You’ve done this faction more than we could have imagined, and I’m sorry for what happened. You can sit back-“

“And do what?” Megan placed a hand over her face, concerned with herself still.

“..I don’t mean to burden you with these problems. Do you know where Henry is?”

Rebecca saw the look in her eye when she asked the question, and smiled for a second, before pointing her finger forward.

“Yeah, he’s over in the room over there, to the left.”

“Thanks Rebecca.”

"Oh, before you go. Apparently there was in fact data from the Resurrectionist HQ that we can use against the Resurrectionists."

"Really?" she began to look confused.

"Yeah, it's weird, but it turns out. Nintendo's already infiltrated more of the bases. The Resurrectionists are falling apart."

------------------------------------------

Zipping over the waters of the yellow sea, several bulky air drones marked by white and green hovered over where the disarmed missiles had floated up to the surface.

“Nintendo got a hold of those initial missiles and found something vital in them, correct?” the Microsoft general inquired.

“Now it’s our turn.”

------------------------------------------

Megan creaked the door open, as she could see Henry sitting down, eyes peering up as she came in.

“Hey there troop,” Henry said as he kept fiddling with his Magic 8 question block.

“I’m a reporter, remember?” ((no seriously, remember how I made her a reporter? Anyone, guys?))

“Not anymore,” he kept shaking it after having muttered a question to it earlier.

“Right.. I’m not a reporter anymore,” the information still hit her like when the thought first entered her mind.

“I know things that most people out there aren’t supposed to know,” she admitted.

Henry stared towards the floor for a second.

“Yes.”

------------------------------------------

“This is Aya Brea speaking, and welcome back. After a mission into Italy that led to an attack on New Leaf, Sony forces quickly withdrew their attack. The battle for Metropolis was met with additional support from the United States as they aided Microsoft in their efforts to breach into Metropolis. However, this too subsided as Sony outposts attacking the Microsoft ships were struck down. The battle there has currently been brought to a standstill.”

Two of Liberas’ police guards pushed Cromney forward as both his hands and his feet were shackled together, not helping the bullet wounds of his that had only just been treated. He was brought into a desolate interrogation room, sat down on a simple chair whose legs had literally been molded into the floor. He took a seat as instructed, while one of the guards sat down on the other side of the tablet, staring. He made the first move, while David sat there, gazing without a hint of movement in his face.

“I want to begin from where this war had begun. So then, where were you when the missiles that hit Uzbekistan had been discovered?”

((Did the missiles hit Uzbekistan, or Syria? I don’t know, I forgot which set was associated with which faction at the beginning of this game.))

David breathed heavily, before responding while keeping his stare locked still towards the guard.

“Are there spies within your group here?” he asked straight up.

“Excuse me?”

David looked down for a second, keeping his hand around his wound with care. A tear dropped down from his eye, before he spoke up again.

“I need to know if there are spies within here,” he whispered cautiously.

------------------------------------------

“Oh good, just the person I was waiting for,” Alkitov retorted, as Virgil entered his offices.

“The others are on their way.”

Alkitov rummaged through his papers as he continued to speak. “Just a few hours before the public meeting..”

“Right, it should be nice,” Virgil pondered as Megan, Henry, and Rebecca entered the room as well.

“I guess we won’t need a code phrase after all,” Virgil said jokingly.

“What’s that?” Megan asked, as they all took a seat by Alkitov’s desk.

“It’s nothing. Ezekiel’s been locked away for good this time. I’ll be leaving soon to declare an end to this war. There will still be things that need sorted, but at least we won’t be trying to blow each other into smithereens for the time being.”

“And what about Rebecca?” Henry brought up. “No Nigerian spies spotted in or near Eterna for over three months now.”

“It takes more time than that..” Alkitov stated. He looked over to the brown-haired tech assistant though, pinching his forward before continuing.

“..But I’ll consider this, alright?”

Virgil stood up at this point, clasping on the door handle of Alkitov’s office as he prepared to walk out. “I better get going, then. Think about what Henry said though, Alkitov. And good work everyone, I mean it.” Virgil looked over to Megan for a split second before closing the door behind him. The position she was left in from all of this lingered in his mind.

------------------------------------------

“..in other news, rumors regarding a takeover of Vita City have been dropped. Nintendo’s own General Damius Alkitov has already made several statements claiming that they have no interest in trying to conquer Sony’s strongholds, and wish to focus solely on their faction. Old Natal is also showing signs of recuperating from the earlier bombing, with the city’s own esteemed police department keeping things in check and several donation funds already set up to help aid the families of those who were killed.”

The news report was overshadowed by Jessica and the Microsoft general, as they began to converse again.

“The data upload is nearly complete. Have those Resurrectionist missiles been found?”

“Yes, they’ll be here shortly. I’ve also sent out several of our own agents to speak with Doctor Seth Graven.”

“What for?”

“He had apparently helped with the analysis of the missiles Nintendo had picked up, I think he’ll be resourceful in doing the same for us.”

“We’re treading on thin ice here, you know.”

“I think we can take the risk in this case, the project was already being discontinued anyway. The faction will have plenty of things on their minds.”

Jessica nodded, as she observed the holographic scans from her smart watch.

“We’ve spotted some evidence that confirms the rumors linking members of the Indie Underground with the Resurrectionists,” she noted. “I’ll upload some of the scans we retrieved from our last mission. Something big is going to happen.”

They peered back toward the news channel, as it continued with one more report before breaking to commercials.

“Research into the funding of the Andromeda Mission has been dropped, with the Russian prime minister assuring that they were not involved with the transfer of money towards Artyom Pajari and his group of scientists. We’ll just have to wait to see if these proposed probes are successful, and if Terra is actually worth looking into for a future outside of Earth.”

------------------------------------------

Virgil stood up with the other two faction representatives in front of a massive crowd of news reporters, citizens of Eterna City, and among the crowd, he could barely make out both Megan and Henry, along with a Nintendo agent not too far from them whose recordings were being sent directly to the Hyrule Fortress for Rebecca and others to enjoy. Alkitov stood over to the side along with other officials of each faction. The other two representatives stood up with him, as he continued to speak, delivering the lines he had made sure to memorize to a tee.

“As time has progressed, the factions have grown stronger, becoming just as powerful as many of the leading nations themselves. In order to assure peace and harmony in a largely competitive market, the United Factions were formed, a way to ensure unity unlike was found between the two factions that came before us.”

He paused, as he looked out towards the crowd, with phones and cameras flashing and beeping, ready for his next words.

“..Now in no way do I mean to defend the actions of the Resurrectionists, as they’re called, but like many acts of terrorism, they raise a question by many and take it out of proportions. Hidden within this group’s vicious acts committed against the factions lies hidden, a message. Can the factions survive together at the status they have recently achieved? A world government is not the answer for us, clearly, but the factions can and should be able to accomplish what’s good and necessary without stepping over the boundaries of their.. counterparts."

He took one more pause, staring out again for a fleeting moment.

"And from there, I am happy to declare that a truce has been settled. The Console War between Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft has officially come to an end."

~END OF FIFTH CHAPTER~

((And so, war has been brought to a close. The Resurrectionists shall be taken down thanks to what was found on Resurrectionist Island and inside the Robotica HQ. Megan's current situation wasn't entirely ignored, Rebecca should be able to live a normal life again without the Nigerians after her, and Alkitov did well. A small part of me would've been happy to just end my story like this. But alas, there's one more chapter, and it's going to flip everything on its head, more or less.))

((Another thing I have to mention deals with the "faction representatives," as I called them. I already felt kind of bad about using Hope Tanner in Tian's palace despite knowing she was off to Metropolis and had planned to attack at some point, but still. So I tried avoiding using her name at all pretty much, and then of course we never knew who the Sony CEO was. Maybe someone will be able to fill in that gap in the next game.))

[Shooter0898]

"You know what we're doing? We're going to get revenge! Vengeance! Every one of you know the risks. I don't mind dying, I hope you all don't. I hope you're all would be happy to risk your lives. This isn't just some personal vendetta, you all know this. You all want him to die. He must pay for his crimes. His demise will be met with many firing guns illuminating the sky, dancing and celebration. If we fail however. We shall be hailed as heroes. Statues either way.

Just remember men. Tonight is the night that we avenge the lives of thousands. Tonight is when we destroy the reason for the problems in The Wasteland. Tonight is where we give up our lives for the greater good. Tonight is where we shall leave Old Natal red."

[gdn001]

INTERMISSION

Homebound Issue 235: The End?
Part 10

GDN tackled the mysterious man, followed by Zim right behind him.
- Now you better start talking about our mutual friends...
He took out a shock knife and threatened him with it.
- ...or you're going to be seeing pain for a long time...
- GDN, why do you have to...
- It's okay, it was bound to happen...
- What was bound to happen?
- These images of yourselves are nothing but an artifact from another dimension. I would explain that to you, but I'm afraid that's beyond your current capacity of understanding?
- I'm a very patient man, and I have a thirst for knowledge. So you don't even think of pulling that crap on me.
- GDN...
- What is it, Zim?
- Stop it. It's not his fault.
- What?
Zim slowly pulled GDN away from the man.
- What are you doing?
- I don't know, but yet I do.
- You still have a lot to learn, GDN!
GDN looked at the old man.
- I still hope I can have you by my side one day. The set up with the doppelgangers was uncalled for, I admit, but I will keep working towards you.
- ...
- Take this, it will clarify some things on the long run.
The man tossed a book to GDN.
- Work towards it, and you will become worthy of our attention. Goodbye.
The man walked around the corner. GDN tried to follow him, but he was gone.
- What did he mean with "beyond your current capacity of understanding"?
- I don't know Zim. But this book will tell us. Let's get back to the base.
And so they did.

---

- I talked to them.
- Good.
- This whole experiment was something we shouldn't have done in the first place.
- It was. The dark energy cloning was never a good idea. Specially when bad people get their hands on it.
- I still left with them the secret of dark energy relocating, and about the core.
- I believe that they will know how to use this knowledge.
- The guardians of the core know better. We can be one hundred percent assure of this.
- You're right.
The two people vanished into the mist, and complete silence echoed through the place.

---

- Hey you, girl!

Camille looked over the comic, at the guard threatening her.

- Where did you get that?
- The comic? You want it?

The guard called over his buddy, who was keeping an eye on her earlier.

- Where were you? Did you see that she has forbidden material?
- Gee you guys, it's just a book...
- I... I though she was feeling too isolated... So I gave her something to read...
- Oh really? Why don't you take her out to dinner then?
- If you guys are really going to act like that over a comic book, just take it. I finished anyway...

The angry guard took the comic from her.

- If you weren't soo important, I swear I would have already done something about you!
- ...
- And you as well!

The guard walked out of the room, taking a last look at the other guard.

- This better not repeat itself!

He left, leaving the other two alone.

- Sorry about that, I just wanted to help...
- That's okay. You're the only guy in here who has not been a complete a******.
- ...
- Now... He said I was important, how is that?

The guard hesitated, then sat down on his chair.

- Just keep quiet, okay?
- Well. Okay.

END INTERMISSION

[xxMATEOSxx•]

“What are you doing here?” Abigail asked in a tired voice. Albert stepped into the room, removing his earpiece as did so. It was a large office with a few empty metal desks sparsely occupying it. The lights in the forefront were on, but toward the back, there was darkened space. He replied to his sister,

“You’re the one who called me.”

“And you were dumb enough to actually show up.”

Albert shrugged, “I guess I have questions of my own, not the least of which is why?”

Abigail answered, “Didn’t I tell you already.”

“Oh, I know why you think you’re following Alexander. What was it? Ambition, wanting to be a revolutionary, having some sense of worth? I think it’s all a load, but it’s something I already understand.”

“Then what?”

“Why keep me out of it for so long?” He ran one hand through his hair in exasperation, “Did you think I would hold you back. Did you think I wasn’t as good as you? Because we just proved that’s not the case.” He plopped his laptop onto a desk with a bang. Abigail flinched. His voice rose with growing emotion, “And why did you feel the need to do it all behind my back. This wasn’t some spur of the moment decision. You planned it out continuously for years and decided to fool me the entire time.”

“It was part of the deal that I work on my own, but I had to remain with you to maintain my cover.”

“Oh great! Well glad you were just following orders. And here I thought it was personal.”

Abigail remained in her seat, “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Albert calmed himself before continuing, “I’m not asking this because I wanted to be included. In fact, I think the entire thing is completely insane. In fact, it’s downright stupid. How did you and Alexander expect to overthrow the entire world with a few dozen people with some special ability? It’s not like they’re immortal. Hell, some of them have more limitations than Noel, and you expected her to go down without a problem. No, my point is that it’s all a load of crap, and that you knew it from the beginning.”

Abigail’s expression hardened. She adjusted her glasses and said, “You belittled my reasoning for working with Alexander. You shoot down the entire enterprise itself without even understanding it. What do you know?”

“I don’t need to understand the plans. I don’t need to know anything about Bastion,” Albert said, “I just need to understand you.” He approached her, “I know you Abby, maybe better than you know yourself right now.”

She laughed, “Who was it that was tricking the other?”

“Yeah, you had me going for a while. Especially when you pulled that gun on me back in headquarters.”

“I told you then that next time, I wouldn’t be able to hold back. It was your one chance.”

“Yeah,” Albert agreed, “but you were lying. Want to know how I know?” he placed a hand on the top of his laptop, “Just now, when I was breaking in. You could have stopped me.” She started to answer but he cut her off, “No, don’t deny it. No need to be humble. You’re good. You had that program, the same one you used to shut down my system in New Natal. I know you tried to use it. Maybe I could have fought it off, or maybe not. Either way, I didn’t have to find out.”

Abigail said nothing, did not break her gaze.

“No, I didn’t. If I did, I would probably be eating auto-turret bullets right about now. That’s what you were trying to prevent.” Still she said nothing, but now she looked away, ever so slightly. Albert nodded, “Whatever convictions you think you may have, they’re not strong enough for you to want to let me die. I really don’t think you’re all that attached to them at all.”

“You’re wrong,” Abigail said defiantly.

Albert now stood directly before her. He sighed, “Then prove it.” He reached behind him and removed a pistol from its holster. He placed it on the table. “Having people point guns at my head has become a bad habit of mine,” he said, “but I figure I’m willing to let it happen one last time.” He stepped away. Abigail looked to the gun, then to him. He stood, arms at his side, his face expectant, almost hopeful. She reached out and grabbed the gun as she stood to face him.

“All this will prove is how foolish you really are,’ she stated.

“Maybe. I guess we’ll find out.”

She made to raise the gun, but now moved tentatively. She looked again from it to him, and let her arm drop to her side without ever aiming. “I’m sorry.”

“Well that’s a relief,” Albert’s voice cracked as he exhaled.

Abigail fell into her chair and hung her head, “I told him I’d do it, that I’d fix my mistake.”

“But you know it’s not worth it, and that it wasn’t a mistake.”

She looked up to him, her eyes rimmed red, “I still think the old order has to change, that the faction system as to break down.”

“Yeah, you and everyone else. I’m just glad you aren’t cold blooded enough to commit fratricide over it.” He reached down and hugged her. She rested her head on his shoulder. “Sorry to say though, Noel and Mathias are probably dealing with Alexander right now, so you’ll have to find someone else’s coattails to ride.”

Abby pushed him back said, “Alexander isn’t even here. It was a set-up.”

Albert’s mind stuttered, “Wait what?”

“The plan was to lure Noel and Mathias here and then trap them with a poison gas. I had the program remotely prepared until you shut me down.”

“So they’re safe now?”

“Well, it should be displayed on a decoy computer in the room. If they press enter, it can still activate manually.”

Albert sighed in relief, “Well, I think they have enough common sense not to do that, so we’re in the clear. If Alexander’s not here, then we’ll just find what we can and leave.” Then after a moment, “And you should come with us.”

Abigail’s response was almost immediate, “I can’t.” Just as he was about to argue, “There’s a difference between not wanting you dead and wanting to join you. At this point, I don’t think I can. Nothing changes the fact that I betrayed everyone.”

Albert would have argued more, but decided against it. Maybe with Noel and Mathias there, things would change. Assuming Noel didn’t pull a shoot first attitude. Maybe it was best that they just left.

“Whatever you want,” he answered quietly, “You’ll at least let us leave though, right?”

She nodded, “Yes. Just call them now, with Alexander gone, this base has been abandoned.”

“Wrong on that count!”

The two of them stood turned to the dark part of the room. The silhouette of a figure was just visible, but the voice was unmistakable. With a clap of his hands, the lights in the back turned on, and Alexander was revealed.

“I’m sorry to say I agree with your brother,” he said to Abigail, “You don’t hold strongly enough to the convictions you claim to have. Which is a shame, but it doesn’t change anything. As I told you, your punishment for letting them escape was already decided.” He looked to Albert surprised face, “And don’t worry about contacting our other guests. They should be joining us any moment.”

As if on cue, a part of the ceiling spiraled open, revealing a gap. They heard a yell grow louder, and seconds later, Noel came crashing through the hole and landed with a hard bounce onto a desk. She groaned in pain.

“Nice of you to join us. It’s been too long.” Alexander greeted her with a bow.

((The only really special thing about this particular entry is that I took some stuff I was already going to write, took out most of it and then put the rest on fast forward. I didn't think events would come as a surprise to anyone interested in it so I thought just getting to the end would suffice over elongated nonsense.))

((Oh, that poison gas line was a reference to my first choice of something to do with my last entry. Mathias would have hit the enter key without thinking , the door would close like it did, and then gas would fill the room. That would have been Alexander's trap, not Abigail's, but I didn't follow through with it anyway.))

((That's right, trapdoors and falling through the ceiling was the less ridiculous option in my list of decisions.))

[Dragonvarsity]

Chapter 6: The Counterpart / All Roads Lead to Zion

"And unto the shining silver pillars they stood, recognizing their fate and alignment with the Resurrectionists."

"The Counterpart and the Equivalent they were, prophets of the ancient factions, and destroyers of the new ones."

The sky remained grey and cloudy over Eterna City, as several jets flew forward with other Resurrectionist hideouts marked on their radar. Eterna City had become a hub of news with the announcement there of the Console War's end. Day was beginning to pass steadily now as Hope Tanner and her affiliates flew back off to the United States, to retain order to her faction. Virgil and Alkitov walked along one of Eterna's towering courthouses, as the marching footsteps of the Sony CEO could be heard from behind them. The two stopped, as they were approached by him.

"I'm sure you of all people know that despite the speeches had and the press tours to come, the ties between the factions have all but been severed at this point."

"Yes. A period of isolation is to be expected," Virgil responded. He continued in a monotone as if he was reading it off of an ever-presenting sheet floating a few yards in front of him. "We're sorry for the damage done in Metropolis. I know it will take time to restore it to where it once was."

The Sony CEO stared for a second before turning around with his staff, walking off to their own plane back to their homeland.

"Having to revitalize Metropolis is probably the best thing that that disgraceful city could ask for," Alkitov retorted.

"Eterna City is far from being perfect either, but you're right." The two continued walking in the opposite direction of the Sonyites and into a stationed limousine right by, as a slew of news reporters began rushing over in one big stampede.*

"Take us back over to the nearest station in Kyoto, please," Alkitov stated as the one-eyed driver nodded. "And put out that cigarette, it's disgusting. Any more of it and I'll personally ensure your exclusion from the next Smash Brothers."*

"How the mighty have fallen.." Virgil inquired. The evening quickly approached as the limousine parked in the Kyoto station. From there, Virgil and Alkitov followed several other agents as they began walking forward until they'd reach the entrance back into the Hyrule Fortress. They both made sure to keep their conversations limited.

"So then, when will you be giving up the position of president?"

"It should be handed over tomorrow. The new leader has been picked and everything already."

"Good.. seems like a respectable candidate."

The two kept silent from there, until a large rustling of leaves could be heard in the distance from some of the bushes far to their left.

"What was that?" Alkitov's eyes darted over. A couple of the Nintendo agents drew out their guns to be safe.

"It's fine. We better keep moving though, night is falling quickly.

The sky grew darker as they reached the Hyrule Fortress, as Virgil knocked loudly against the tilted metal doorways. They entered the proper ID by way of scans and passcodes, before entering the underground passage.

"I don't understand," Henry noted, flipping through some of the scriptures with Rebecca. "Who is Cassandra again?"

"You keep skipping this part," Rebecca pointed her finger to repeatedly. "Cassandra is supposed to be.. their goddess. And these two right hereare supposed to be her prophets."

"And Ezekiel was one of them?" Megan followed up.

"Yes, he was what they referred to as the Equivalent. The Counterpart remains unknown. But apparently there were some Resurrectionists brought back from the island post of theirs. Hopefully we can get some interrogations going.

"Getting coldblooded on us, Reb?" Henry asked as he leaned back on the wall behind him while she sat down, scanning over the papers some more.

"I don't like puzzles that come without answers.." she looked up as Virgil and Alkitov stepped forward. They glanced over the scriptures for a second before greeting each other.*

"I think I'll be staying here for the night. Transitioning between presidents isn't always the smoothest process." Virgil walked past Rebecca and the others to the room he was staying in, while Henry began scratching his head while looking at the scriptures more.

"So then, Alkitov, when do we get to start cracking skulls with those Ressies we just captured?"

"Ressies?" Alkitov scoffed.

"It's a nickname for them," Megan's eyes began to grow droopy as she tried to keep her focused on what the other two had been analyzing.*

"I see..." Alkitov responded. "It does sound almost childlike.. belittling in fact. I like it. But I'm afraid a number of negotiations and deals are going to have to pass before we can tie any of them to a table just yet. It's not as simple as you'd think."

"All I'm saying is that the war and all might be over.." Henry started up.

"..but we still don't know where Zhou is," Megan continued for Henry. "We don't know what exactly he was planning to deliver to Agni Tian."

"Or hey, those missiles," Rebecca pointed out, raising her hand up as she spoke. "I don't know about you guys, but if I were part of a giant enemy cult hell-bent on destroying the factions, I wouldn't exactly provide hints to destroying my group within the missiles I've sent out."

Alkitov scratches his beard for a second as he stared up to the ceiling above, before glancing back over to them.

"Maybe there was a spy who disagreed with them. We did find reports of the Sonic Team disbanding from Sega and Atari's ways, maybe they planted something before leaving the group?"

"I guess it's possible.." Henry thought over.

"But the data was still partly corrupted by way of the satellites. The only way we were able to access it was from its point of origin, through some sort of manually programmed question. Someone knew about what was those in missiles."

Megan nodded repeatedly, not sure of how to add to the conspiracy theorizing.

------------------------------------

Virgil closed the door to his room and lied flat along the bed before him. He rolled up his sleeves to analyze a few of the scars across his arms. Jumping up and heading for the nearest bathroom, he changed out of his suit from earlier and into some casual clothing for ex-Nintendo president sleep time. But he knew that he would simply remain awake for hours on end. Virgil looked into the mirror before him. He began to whistle like the blades of the helicopter as it narrowly lifted up from the drowning of sand. He spit into the sink like the missile that whizzed right by him that day.

Virgil glanced back up into the mirror as he sighed a deep breath. The mysteries that were brought up by Henry and the others surrounded him as well, but soon he would be without that level of power. Pushed back.

He needed to see Ezekiel Davidson.

------------------------------------

The sun shined brightly, signalling a new day for Eterna City and the faction of Nintendo. Virgil awoke in a cold sweat, brushing his hair back as he headed back over to take a shower

Alkitov, Megan, and Henry also slept there for the night, as Megan continued to think through her relationship with Nintendo. Alkitov pushed the door open out of his own chamber before being greeted by Megan, standing right in front of him.

"You're up early, Ms. Sharp."

"I needed to ask you something, about what I've done for your faction."

Alkitov nodded. "Go on then."

She inhaled for a second before speaking. "Am I really safe?"

.......

"No.. No, I don't think you really are."

Megan bit her lip, as her eyes faced over the floor, hidden behind her blonde hair as she smiled for a second. It was as if what Alkitov said had been funny to her. "I just had to make sure."

------------------------------------

Rebecca began to tackle a bag of tangela-flavored ramen noodles from beneath a kitchen counter by her office, as Henry walked by.

"Time for me to head back out," Henry exclaimed.

"Alright, well, seeya then Henry!" she said, putting down her latest faction-approved meal of noodley goodness. She began to look down depressingly as Henry walked off.

"Wait!"

"Hmm?" he turned around.

"What Alkitov said about those prisoners, he was right. It's not as simple as we would've thought."

"Whaddyou mean?"

"Nintendo has lost the right to interrogate those prisoners, they're going to be shipped tonight to an outpost elsewhere in Kyoto."

"What?!"

"It wasn't Alkitov's choice."

"But they could lead us to the counterpart, or- or something?"

"Yes, I know. We even acquired info on each of them. One of the people there worked closely with Ezekiel."

Henry grinded his teeth for a second. "Thanks Reb." He began to walk out.

"Just don't do anything stupid, alright?" Rebecca called over to him. Henry turned around for a second, smirking.

"You know I can't make any promises."

------------------------------------

"Doo dee doo dee doo, working on my day job," the Liberas guard said to herself, as she walked down the halls, banging her staff against the prison bars of each cell to her left and right, signalling that it was time to be fed. She then walked farthest over to the most isolated cell, where David sat, with his arms and legs still chained up. She looked into the glass window attached to the door leading inside, seeing as he kept his head pressed against the metal table in front of him, with his arms drooping down. She swiped her card in, walking inside as she brought in a meal for him.

"You can't sleep forever. We've got the work to do, so get up and enjoy the grub we've served up."

He sat there silently, not moving his arms or his head.

"C'mon then.. up or I'm waking you up myself."

He stayed quiet, not a muscle still moving.

"This better not be some stupid joke.. c'mon get up!"

She grabbed for David's head and lifted it up, only for it to fall back down, as she could see that his eyes were wide open. She quickly pressed her hand against his neck and then his wrist, trying to find a heartbeat, trying to find a pulse.

"Guards, get in here NOW!"

David's head remained against the table, as the Liberas guard stood back to catch her breath.

"He's dead."

((Here it is, then. My final chapter. Expect lots of stuff to go on.))

((Also, Virgil's age has been retconned to 36, because of reasons...))

[Shooter0898]

Adam and Greenly sat in a separate room from their assembled army, drinking their problems away.

"Greenly?"
"Yes Adam."
"Do you remember that boy that sat outside that Sony guy's office in Sena?"
"Oh that's just Thomas's bodyguard. James I think his name is. He's 18, good guy, couldn't hit an elephant at close range."
"What's his second name?"
"Who James's"
"No. Thomas's"
"None of your business. Even Thomas isn't his real name."

At this point Stevan entered.

"The men are ready."

Adam and Greenly followed Stevan out of the room. The men walked down a narrow corridor, past decaying paint and on walking broken glass from the former sky-light.

The men entered a hall. 29 men sat down awaiting orders, 30 once Stevan took his seat. Greenly took his position in front of the "soldiers".

"Men. Many of you know what's at stake. Pride, dignity and the knowledge that future generations will see you as heroes. I won't lie. Most if not all in this room will die. I know you aren't afraid of that prospect, nor am I! Behind me is Adam. He will lead those of you in the back two rows on an attack on the nearby military base. The two men in the front you are capable of flying the helicopter will be with them for support. Which leaves you 8. (Including Stevan) You will have the pleasure of being with me where we kill our target. Any questions?"

Stevan raised his hand. "Wasn't the point of me being here was that I was supposed to disable the alarms?"
Greenly responded quickly. "Yes that is true. Unfortunately we had one problem in the fact that we had no equipment so hopefully you can shoot well." He then continued, "get ready men. We leave in an hour, we have a long ride ahead of us."

[Dragonvarsity]

((Nice to see you joining in with us for the end, Shooter. Good luck with wrapping your part of the story up!))

((Also, happy Spaff Appreciation Day!))

Down beneath the layers of concrete of Empire City, the Emerald-tinted laboratories of Microsoft's own analysis team kept themselves busy, as Jessica and her superior analyzed the papers bent sent through to her computer, while the other scientists' monitors kept up their off-again on-again layering of chiptune noises sounding off naturally from the microprocessors' exertion placed forth via the data uploads.

"Here we are," Jessica clicked back and forth, opening up the files one of her assisting agents sent to her. "Blueprints we tracked from Resurrectionists working within the indie underground, they appear to be pod-like devices tied with the Andromeda Mission."

"So Artyom Pajari is in fact working with with the Resurrectionists?"

"It appears so. According to the notes listed, the pods can be set off and take their own autopilot-esque route, or be manually controlled. They also appear to have some sort of canisters attached to their sides.."

------------------------------------

"Rebecca, hey it's Henry!"

"I'm a little busy right now Henry, what is it?"

"I'm at the railyard where the transfer's being made."

"......."

"Rebecca?"

"How the heck did you know where it was going down?"

"I know a guy."

"......."

"I sort of know a guy."

"......."

"We've shared glances on several occasions"

"......."

"Okay, I just met him for the first time."

"......."

"Will you cut it out?! We need to figure out these questions. The war might be over but that doesn't mean more things aren't being planned?"

Henry remained crouched behind a large hillside as he peered out overhead, grasping onto a set of binoculars as several guards had their backs turned to him from afar.

"Virgil is planning to help with the interrogation with Ezekiel. It's not worth risking your well being and Nintendo's when we could just get what we need from Davidson!"

"Look Reb, if we couldn't even get to the Ressie Island prisoners, how do we know we'll even be able to get to Ezekiel?"

"Ezekiel's actions affected Nintendo far more than those on the island outpost."

"But still," Henry lowered his voice, trying to keep quiet. "..I have to do this. I can't let what we'd planned to be in vain. Not again."

Rebecca faced the computers in front of her before peering out of her office to the unsuspecting Nintendo agents. She got up from her chair, closed the door, locking it tight, and returned to her seat, before responding.

"Okay... alright, I'll do what I can to help you."

------------------------------------

The large doors from behind Jessica and the general were shoved open as a couple Microsoft guards led Seth forward, dressed up in his lab coat while one of the guards held the Monado prototype for him.

"Oh give it back.. it's out of juice anyway. Wouldn't hurt a single soul right now.." he moaned on.

"Doctor Seth Graven, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Seth quickly grew impatient, his eyes focused on his lovingly crafted sword that the guard kept out of reach.

"I will need that back at some point, but, onto business! We've got an artifact and some blueprints, correct?"

"The missiles that were sent to Eterna will also be arriving shortly," Jessica stated, as she looked back over and tried jailbreaking her smart watch.

The Microsoft guards walked off with the Monado blade as Seth sighed before quickly regaining focus at the task at hand. The awkward silence passed for a moment before the Microsoft general spoke back up.

"Right this way, then. So you don't feel any remorse in betraying Nintendo like that?" he said, not entirely trustful of Seth by that fact alone.

"I wouldn't call it 'betraying,' really. I've always tried presenting myself as a freelance agent, and to be quite honest, I think I've managed that position very well. Indeed, I've helped out all three of the factions, quickly changing jobs for different companies. Once an accountant, then a medic, now a scientist! Who knows what I'll be next..."

Seth began to get lost in thought as he tapped his chin.

"Elevator concierge wouldn't be too bad.."

"Ahem," the general spoke up, as Jessica brought her arm down and they both shifted eyes towards each other.

"You'll need to do something similar to what you did with Nintendo's missiles, only you'll have to work on a quicker timeframe. The indie underground supposedly has plans to be launching something very soon, and it's important we find out what that is asap. Come with us."

Seth followed Jessica and the general over as the missiles were being brought down into the base, with Jessica passing by and grabbing for the printed copies of the pod concepts discovered. Seth's eyes gazed over to the white, open room beside him where the glowing artifact sat, glancing through the glass wall with an unmatched curiosity, as Jessica grabbed his lab coat collar and pulled him away.

------------------------------------

Noon passed by as Henry waited there quietly, making for a nice hideout. Keeping control over the Resurrectionist Island prisoners was important during the transfer, but neither Nintendo nor the Japanese officials wanted to draw much attention, so resources were kept small, mainly wanting to make the movement of prisoners snappy.

Henry placed his hand against the hill keeping him covered as he could hear one of the trains riding over and coming to a stop.

"Thank goodness for camouflage clothing," he said, blending in with the dirt as much of the train still poked out, making his cover otherwise useless. Even with his disguise, most of the windows were boarded up in order to take advantage of the imprisoned so that they could know as little as possible. This included their surroundings. Grabbing for his beige-ish mask and placing it over his head, Henry peeked his head out as he could see the prisoners begin to step out, pushed along with their faces concealed.

"Well this isn't going to be easy then.." he looked down at his phone as he tried to memorize the face of the Ressie who he was mainly interested in.

The Japanese patrol left where the train had parked and moved forward, farther away from where Henry had been sitting. He looked back over, seeing as the place was quickly being abandoned. Without hesitation, he crouched up and in a bent stance, began to run off and pressed himself against one of the train parts. The impact against it made a banging noise, but their path hadn't changed. Henry sighed, hopping into it the corner of it quickly without touching the brass bars to his side.

Crouching down into it, he looked over as he could make out the rear of the crowd of troops with the prisoners. Henry tore through part of the mask so that he could place a bluetooth set into his ear, calling Rebecca back.

"Bit of a problem we got.."

"Oh dear, what is it?"

"All of the prisoners are masked, finding the right one won't be easy.."

"And you're sure that you need him."

"If I'm going to risk it all like this, I don't want to pick the wrong guy. It's gotta be this one, he worked with Ezekiel, he's who I should be after."

Henry jumped out of the train cart and made his way behind one of the nearby buildings, ready to strike like the fool he was determined to be.

((Not as important as the last post of mine with David Cromney's death and Virgil's flashbacks but still important in transitioning some plotlines forward.))

[Dragonvarsity]

((Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!))

Henry stood pressed against the building wall as he could hear the soldiers march away with the group of prisoners.

"It's not that large of a group.. maybe I'll get lucky. No-not before they shoot me down... oh why does it have to be like this."

He reached for the modified packet of power pellets in his pocket, staring down at them uncomfortably.

"Well.. here goes nothing," Henry ripped open the packet and swallowed down the power pellets. He began to cough wildly, drawing the guards' attention. As they did so, however, he leapt from the cover and began ramming his hand into each one of the guards, who each responded by falling to the ground as their skin began to turn blue. Henry knocked down some of the Ressies without touching them, ripping off the mask.

"No.. no... c'mon... YOU!"

Henry grabbed the man by his coat's shoulder as he dragged the Ressie forth, as the effects began to wear off and the guards' skin was slowly returning to normal.

"WE HAVE TO KEEP MOVING," Henry yelled, as the guards darted for their guns and tried catching up with them before opening fire.

"In that truck!" the Resurrectionist officer ordered, as Henry ran across, hijacking the vehicle.

"Key's still in..what a relief," Henry slammed his foot down as the car shot forward. He kept one hand on the wheel while holding a gun pointed to the Ressie in another. He bumped a button on his earpiece with his shoulder as he re-established communications with Rebecca.

"It's Henry again, I've got Nikola. We're going to try driving away from their sight but I need you to make sure we can't be tracked."

"On it, but I'm going to need location details, maybe I can tap into one of Nintendo's own systems there.."

Henry's eyes looked forward and to the side where Nikola sat repeatedly, who kept his eyes looking straight forward, with his hands against the dash.

"Bullet Bill highway, right by Onett." ((That last bit was an Earthbound reference... I really need to play Earthbound still.))

"Alright, I'm working on it right now.."

"Okay, well I can't stay here long," Henry said, swerving through traffic before heading between two buildings, trying to evade any oncoming police.

"Not a problem," Rebecca added. The Resurrectionist officer remained silent with his hands up on the dashboard, before finally speaking.

"I'm willing to cooperate, just so you know."

"Well, I'm sure you were faithful to Ezekiel," Henry said bitterly.

"Yes.. but I'm sure you've gone through enough games, as have I. So then, you need to find out something about the Resurrectionists, yes?"

"Zion, the Counterpart, you name it."

"Good, because I want to know too."

"You mean you don't know already?!"

"Well... no, but I can help you figure it out. There's a Robotica station not far from here, abandoned just like the rest. Our group used Robotica's technology for much of our communication after Ezekiel briefly took over the company. We should be able to sneak in and track down that kind of information."

Henry began to chuckle. "You honestly think I'll just pretend you might not be trying to trap me or something?"

"You know Robotica was used by us. What good is some low-life Nintendo soldier good to me?"

Henry kept the gun pointed to the soldier readily, but he respected the officer's jabs against him, there was an actual believability behind what he was saying.

"Satellite data was manually controlled to intercept important data from those missiles," the officer spoke up.

"..Yes."

"This applies to the recent set of missiles as well. We might be able to find something from the Robotica outpost that applies to the missiles and beyond what they may have contained."

Henry rode the Mercedes Benz DLC forward very seriously as he and Nikola now headed toward the Robotica station for answers. ((Pffft I'm sorry.))

------------------------------------

From the Hyrule Fortress, past Kyoto and Eterna, Virgil stood inside the hallway of one abandoned building, sifting through a set of papers hurriedly. A knock sounded, to which he responded, "Come in."

He looked up only for his eyebrows to raise too. Megan stepped in, smiling and no longer clutching onto her wrist.

"Wh.. How did you find me?" he asked.

"Alkitov helped. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something, but I just needed to speak with you."

Virgil nodded, putting the papers to the side as she walked forward. Virgil began fiddling with the inside of one of the pockets, as Megan began to speak.

"When I first met you, after Miyamoto's death... I just didn't know what I was getting myself into."

"You seem less cynical," Virgil delivered flatly, along with all his other lines.

"Hm, go-to first impressions of me usually. But I mean it, I-" she looked around for a second, before continuing.

"I did things that I can't forget. One day I'm going to blink and the world's going to know. I'm not safe, and Alkitov agrees."

Virgil nodded softly, turning his head down in empathy. "What do you think you'll do?"

"..What else can I do but join Nintendo?"

------------------------------------

A smash, and then a bang. Henry and Nikola stepped over the remains of the entrance door and cautiously stepped inside the Robotica station. Empty and abandoned as they had hoped for.

"I'm giving you visuals now," Henry avoided using Rebecca's name, preferring anonymity with his new acquaintance. That and a gun still raised up high.

"No snipers this time?!" Henry yelled as he fired several shots around the ceiling, before aiming the gun back at Nikola.

"I imagine I won't need to worry about wasting bullets," Henry muttered.

"You're not helping matters," Nikola stated, walking forward to this station's motherboard, as he began inputting commands. Henry kept his eye over, making sure there wouldn't be any floors opening up for missile launching this time around.

"I can patch into a data log from the Resurrectionists, but I'm going to need to establish the right sort of connection."

"What do you mean?" Henry looked confused, staying on the line with Rebecca as she could hear everything.

"Nintendo's networks won't let this sort of information pass through, but if you can manually disable a portion of the system so that I can download the data log from its original source-"

"How do I know this isn't some virus to infect all of Nintendo's networks?"

Nikola stared at Henry for a second.

"I don't know what answer your want, but this is how you're going to find your answers."

"I know a way to disable it, Henry," Rebecca chimed in now, as Nikola stood there, only able to hear from Henry.

"Alright, how?"

"There's a connection setup out of the Hyrule Fortress, I can stage a mission to clear out the base and sneak out to open a hole through the system. Then you two will receive the information you need."

"-No. Just find someone else to do this-"

"**** it Henry, there isn't anyone else who'll do this before ratting us out.

I need to do this."

((So yeah, I kinda phoned this post in, at least the rescue mission part. I was just kind of stumped on how Henry would rescue not-Kuzanao-Sakamata. Also yes, there's actually a valid reason of the guy not being Kuzanao, as Ryan wanted to come back somewhat recently but didn't so it might've been weirder, I dunno. But yeah, it would've been kinda great perhaps given Kuzanao's relation to Robotica, plus there could have been some fun conversations bounced off between him and Henry during the trip, but whatever. I already might hijack Hope Tanner for something important, so there is that. And basically, when I feel like my writing is getting sloppy, I try throwing in some silliness into the mix, as you can see.))

((Oh, and yay for another random character shoehorned in for the end! Well, unlike Jessica who's going to do something incredibly important for the finale, Nikola's whole purpose is just to get Henry to Robotica and help extract some needed answers. Honestly, there's no twisties or whatever with him that will delay the story, I promise.))

((Heads up, by the way next post is going to be very, very important if I end up fitting in as much as I want.))

[gdn001]

((Arr me mateys... Sorry, I'm just not good enough to master the art of pirate speak. Well, silliness it's a great way to break the ice when things gets too serious, as the master of silliness Cosheeta would agree. ))

((This post was mostly to save you the hassle of double posting, should nobody else post before your next part.))

[Dragonvarsity]

((Arr me mateys... Sorry, I'm just not good enough to master the art of pirate speak. Well, silliness it's a great way to break the ice when things gets too serious, as the master of silliness Cosheeta would agree. ))

((This post was mostly to save you the hassle of double posting, should nobody else post before your next part.))

((Yarr... thanks gdn, matey... thing. Anyway, here's my next post. No skipping to the end!"))

"Hopper mines, pitfalls, turrets, Kaepora Gaebora's dialogue text, nothing will get past the traps we've set up."

The Eterna guards stayed watch around Ezekiel's enclosed prison cell, while others were stationed throughout the hallways of the prison base. There was no time for screwups, not when Ezekiel was depending on it.

------------------------------------

((Listen to this.))

A tear shed down Rebecca's face as her fingers continued to flick around and all across her keyboard, finishing off her hacking into Nintendo's local notification systems. She had managed to forge a faux protocol and have it sent out to the majority of the troops and other scientists stationed down in the Hyrule Fortress. Just as she closed her computer having finished the program off, Rebecca stood up out from her chair, and she could hear it. The stomping of feet throughout the underground base, people leaving, emptying the place out now. She swung the door of her office room open with nothing in response but her own proceeding footsteps, walking forth down the passage ahead. Turning one way, and then another, before walking down a select hallway that she knew all too well, stretching on and on for miles to her psyche. But Rebecca raised her chin up and wiped away the tears steadily rolling down her cheek as she kept walking. Walking forward.

"Once you're out, the station won't be too far. If anything goes wrong-"

"I'll be fine Henry.."

Her eyes now locked focus onto the luminous red 'Exit' light that stared her down itself as she steadily approached it. Rebecca had every intention to break from her former constraints under Alkitov's overly protective wing and her own psychological missteps scattered throughout her past. Rebecca tossed it all to the side now as her fingers met the touch-enabled screen on the lobby wall, sliding her fingers around on it and whispering forth one of the passwords she had programmed in. A silvery piece clicked open and the lock disengaged. Slowly and carefully, Rebecca pushed the doors open, before sliding through the entrance, hacking into another doorway, and closing both of the back exits behind her.

((Now stop the music.))

------------------------------------

Multitasking so that he could join in on the artifact analysis, Seth inched over on his complementary swivel chair, fixated on the papers regarding the recently acquired artifact as he unscrewed the Resurrectionists' latest missiles apart with the same sort of freeze gel he used last time, having to glance over to it now and again as he grabbed for his metal tools and needed to carefully pick up the proper chips and circuit boards before they would be fried from the excessive heating quickly coming out of the missile's fuel gauge.

"You're analyzing those reports wrong," Seth brought up, as he uploaded the circuit data onto one of Microsoft's constantly monitored computers. "Plug the atomic structure data into this formula, yes over here. Good, good." His eyes darted back to the chips and the computer as it began to upload, and he quickly swiveled back into position right before Jessica made her way around the corner into his work space. She glanced over while Seth innocently mumbled "Data uploading almost complete... hmm.."

She continued onward, meeting with the general again.

"More news from the indie underground spies. The Resurrectionists aren't just using Artyom's pods, but a train."

"A train? To transfer the pods over somewhere?"

"Yes.. the vague rumors of Old Natal are true. If what we've found is true, then there's an entire railway hidden somewhere beneath the city. The pods will be brought onto the train, and it will.. well, ride off."

"What time, and.. and where?"

"No specifics just yet as to when it'll head off, but no less than five hours he said. It could be a couple fewer though."

She brought her hand up to her forehead again, pinching at it as she sifted through the glowing blue information slightly levitating above her wrist.

"As far as the location goes, it's not meant to lead them somewhere in the U.S. Apparently, it will travel through a tunnel system underwater, and lead the pods elsewhere."

------------------------------------

"Alright.. I'm out."

"You're going to want to cut through the nearby forest. Just keep going straight until you find a metal hatch. It might be covered in dirt some though."

"Not exactly the easiest instructions to follow," Rebecca whispered, passing through the forest grounds alone still. Her ears perked up as a few rustling of bushes far away could be heard.

"Oh no..."

"What is it?" Henry responded.

"Nothing, I think it was just some animals.."

"If you need to turn over toward the city or head back to the Fortress-"

"No, I think I see it." Rebecca kept quiet as she came to a halt, stooping down as she wiped away the dirt atop the hatch. She noted the carving of the tree right by, with plenty of other trees containing similar but not exact carvings. She grabbed for a metal tool out of her pocket and began working away at the hatch's locks, before pulling up the doorway and closing it behind her. She began the descent into the darkness below, with only her phone as a light. While not experienced in protecting herself, Rebecca kept a pistol in her back pocket, not willing to make herself a target so easily.

She pointed her phone around against the floor, noting the machinery in front of her.

"Here it is, it shouldn't take me long to crack it."

"Okay, just be quick. I don't feel right with you staying in there long.."

Henry stood there with Nikola, as they kept their eyes on the rafter above, and the small windows in the upmost corners of the ceiling for solar energy purposes.

"It's a shame what Robotica turned into, falling in the hands of the Resurrectionists."

"You don't sound very patriotic for a Ressie," Henry remarked, keeping one hand pressed against his earpiece as Rebecca hacked away.

"A what? ..Oh, right. Well, things changed. I don't suppose I'm as tied to the religious stories as others. One of our leaders, Ezekiel, constantly needs rescuing. Even now they're going to try breaking him out again. As for the Counterpart, well, always keeping secret, whoever he may be.."

"..Right.............. WAIT WHAT?! They're going to break Ezekiel back out?!"

"Of course.. I thought you knew."

"Well, son of a *****, we need to call- no, I guess we shouldn't."

"You shouldn't," Rebecca chimed in. "They can't know we're here. And Virgil's going to visit Ezekiel. I'm sure the security is very high for him."

"Hope so.." Henry stated, glaring back at Nikola whose eyes wandered on the computer screen.

"And done, try it now," Rebecca said, already moving towards the stairs leading her back up."

"The software's working, see for yourself," Nikola stepped to the side as Virgil tried opening it up.

"Welcome," the computer software greeted him. "Q&A initiated. Please strike the 'Enter' key to begin the session."

"It works. Alright, get back as fast as you can."

"Will do," Rebecca stated, pulling out her gun as she pushed against the latch.

But it wouldn't budge.

"What the hell..."

"Rebecca?"

"The hatch, it- it won't open!" She kept pushing against it, before stopping. Realizing what might be above, she slowed down her breathing but her heart raced on. The large weights keeping the hatch from opening were kicked off from up above, as the door opened up. A group of masked spies looked her dead in the eye, as she pulled the trigger and shot one of them down.

Screaming, Rebecca stepped back but tripped down the staircase. As the set of agents began crawling in like rats after her, she slid back on the ground, as Henry could only shout back in response. She aimed her gun back up and shot another in the throat. Before she could again, one of the cloaked people pinned her against the wall. She screamed again, before being hit hard against the chest, falling to the ground now.

Trying to catch her breath as her eyes darted around to try locating the gun, she muttered the words "Henry. I, I'm sor-" before her dialogue was cut off by a swift kick to the head.

"REBECCA!!" Henry shouted in anger and in fear, no longer bothering with the anonymity of her name. Nikola looked down quietly, stepping back.

The agents proceeded to crush her phone and then ripped out her ear piece.

"Grab her and take her to the truck. I'm sure the Nigerian premiere will like to have a few words with her."

The conversation cut off, as Henry took out his ear piece, muttering some hateful things under his breath toward himself.

Rebecca was lost.

She was gone, for good.

The screen beside Henry continued to blink with the same lifeless computer sounds, waiting for a response to begin its own program.

"Were those the Resurrectionists?"

Henry breathed heavily, moving forward and striking the 'Enter' key like the software prompted. What Rebecca did for them wouldn't be in vain.

Nikola spoke up again.

"Were those the Resurrectionists?"

.....

"..No."

------------------------------------

"We've killed that **** talkative owl. Now, magnemites.. engage." The metallic pokemon scattered throughout the vents, shutting off the cameras and traps set forth, as the Resurrectionists began sneaking through themselves.

"THE CAMERAS ON SECTION C HAVE BEEN SHUT DOWN!" one guard spoke up.

The alarms blared repeatedly, as the Resurrectionists remained hidden in the shadows.

"And now for our next trick.. one whispered," as several of the jail doors began to unlock, swinging open even.

A large number of the inmates ran out and began tackling the guards, as Ezekiel remained locked inside his own room.

"Dear god.." one guard spoke up, beginning to taze some of the prisoners as he ran back over to Ezekiel's cell.

------------------------------------

"You're going to want to be clear and direct in your questioning," Nikola brought up,as he stood guard while Henry stared at the computer screen.

"Conversation initialized. Please be clear and direct in your questioning.."

Henry ignored the redundancy and opened his mouth, but couldn't find the words. Pulling out his phone, Henry skipped Alkitov's name and dialed Megan. The ringing started, as Henry began to speak to the monitor.

"What is Zion?"

"Zion is symbolic of the beginning and the end to the Resurrectionists. Zion the city is the birthplace of the Counterpart and the Equivalent and it is where a battle was fought."

His phone hung up, as Megan hadn't responded.

"**** it.."

"Please restate the question."

"..What do you mean there was a battle?"

"Please restate the question."

Henry quickly grew impatient as Rebecca's life was now on the line. He breathed in slowly, tapped on Megan's name again in his phone, and spoke back up.

"Explain the battle at Zion."

"Zion was a Sega stronghold, attacked by Atari right before the final Console War between them."

"..Okay, so how long did the Counterpart and the Equivalent stay in Zion?" With every answer came another question for Henry.

"The Counterpart and the Equivalent stayed in Zion up until the battle against it by Atari."

"So how did the Counterpart and the Equivalent escape the battle at Zion then?"

The blades of the helicopter spun rapidly as it narrowly lifted up from its drowning in sand.

A missile whizzed right by him.

.....

"Irrelevant."

"What do you mean it's irrelevant?! We're talking about two prophets here who escaped! And are now threatening the factions! There has to be a good reason!"

"Please restate the question."

"Henry?" Megan asked, as the call had just went through.

"Megan.." Henry paused the conversation prompt, beginning to speak with her.

"Where are you?" he continued.

"I'm with Virgil, some old town hall outside of Kyoto and Eterna."

"Look, Rebecca's been captured-"

"What?!"

"Please restate the question," the computer continued, despite Henry's attempt at stopping it momentarily.

"Something's happening," Nikola shouted, pressing against the keys.

"Someone's hacking into the system, you might not have much time left."

"Megan, stay on the call, I've found a way to get answers from the Ressies, just.. hold on."

Megan kept her phone against her ear as Virgil sat there, in genuine shock by Rebecca's capture.

"We need to find her, do what we can for Nintendo to track down her captors." Virgil said. Megan nodded, as Virgil grabbed for something underneath the table between them slowly. Her mind was on other things though.

------------------------------------

"I don't understand sir.." the Nintendo operative asked, running with Alkitov as they ran across the dirt ground.

"Wiping away Rebecca's footsteps, very clever.. those ********-"

Alkitov ran with a ferocity unseen in a long time, pulling the hatch door open instantaneously as he pointed his gun down into the darkness, slowly stepping down the stairs leading him where Rebecca went.

"I saw the footage broadcasted from the treetops, they definitely got her," he remarked as his own statement twisted inside him, a stabbing pain in his heart.

"Watch out for any traps, general!"

Alkitov shot down into the darkness a few times, before bringing up his flashlight down, seeing the seven-foot tall communication tower already on.

"Nothing... but the faction's security has been breached."

"By Rebecca, sir?"

"No, it must have the Nigerians. The only reason it would be hacked into is so something could get into our system. I'm going to try shutting it down as quickly as I can."

------------------------------------

"This is General Alkitov speaking," Alkitov's voice boomed out of the computer Henry and Nikola were using. He had tracked the source of the program which had sneaked through Nintendo's security. "Enough with your games now, I'm shutting this down immediately. Surrender or we will come and find you."

"Alkitov, it's us!"

"He can't hear you," Nikola bobbed his head in disbelief. "It's just a one-way transmission."

"Megan, Alkitov's trying to stop this program, we can't let him override this!"

"Okay, just- do whatever you need!" Megan yelled back, as Virgil took out his phone to call Alkitov.

Henry rushed through the contacts on his phone as too he tried calling the general.

"The signal's screwing up... Megan, can you hear me?"

"Please restate the question."

"J..st bar..ly!" she responded. "V..gl's t.r..ng now!"

"**** it, Alkitov. Okay, time to get the upper hand from you. It's been a long time coming."

((Queue the music.))

Henry's window of opportunity was closing.

"Who is the Counterpart?!" Henry shouted at the computer. A sound came from the rafters, as Nikola drew out his concealed weapon and started shooting at it.

"The Counterpart is one of the two prophets of Cassandra-"

"Yes, I know, but what is the Counterpart's name?"

------------------------------------

The Resurrectionists pinned down the Eterna officer, as Ezekiel was brought out of his cell, cloaked in secrecy again.

"How the hell did you-"

"Strategy, and a bit of luck. Seems like someone was kind enough to break into your security systems for us. Now then.."

The Resurrectionists shot down the guard and escaped through the back entrance with their prophet, driving off.

"There's a plane a way's away from here, Ezekiel. From there, it should take you there, to Zion. To the girl. To the pods and a new beginning for us."

------------------------------------

"Almost there.." Alkitov slammed against the keys.

"COME ON, COME ON!" he shouted, desperate as he continued from the rage filling inside him.

He had failed to keep Rebecca safe.

------------------------------------

"The Counterpart has many names."

"Yes, but what is it?"

.....

"Please restate the question."

Megan held the phone tightly as she could overhear. Virgil began to step up with something in his hand, shaking inside as Megan barely noticed.

"WHAT IS THE COUNTERPART'S CURRENT NAME?!" Henry shouted, as a bullet shot from the rafters straight into Nikola's head.

.........

.....

"...Virgil Lee."


Nikola's dead body slammed against the ground, as Henry remained frozen.


"..Oh god."


Megan's eyelids shifted over to Virgil as she could hear the footsteps of other Resurrectionsits entering. Virgil pulled out his gun, still standing and whispered to her from the other end of the table:

"I'm sorry.." Virgil reloaded his pistol as he aimed it towards her.

And pulled the trigger.