My name is John Harolds. I was a junior at the Sacred Soul Academy, a prestigious academy that churned out hundreds of alumni who would one day become the pillars of society. Something happened that year. My classmates and I became involved with something big that could threaten the very social order of the world we lived in and we ended up being hunted by the police, the military and everyone we had ever trusted. This is the story of the greatest escape of our lives. What if you were told that the life you had led was all a big fat lie? We finally arrived at Los Angeles City after three whole days of sleeping on our hoverbikes. What we found there, was beyond what we expected. Escape! Chapter 6 By Shinieris

"30 minutes until we arrive at Los Angeles City," Nanako reported as she woke us all up.

"Great! I never want to sleep on a hoverbike ever again," Carl said with a yawn.

"Why do we have have to enter the city? Can't we go around it?" I asked through the intercom.

"For the last time, Jane, listen when people explain it to you. We have to enter Los Angeles City through the highways because everyone does that. It will be suspicious if we're the only ones who circle the city," Yuu answered.

"But there's a whole lot of empty ground around the city, surely we can go far enough away from the city," I argued as Anya typed something into her tablet on the seat behind me.

"That empty ground is also very flat, barren and featureless. Anyone can see us. They won't even need a binocular to see the dust storm we'll be kicking up with our hoverbikes," Nanako said.

"And don't forget, we also need to meet with the Underground Resistance's Seraph Cell," Anya added from behind me.

"Wait, Underground Resistance? That wasn't part of the agenda!" Yuu yelled through the comm.

"First time I hear about this too," I said, as I turned my head to look at Anya typing something into her tablet, "What are you talking about, Anya?"

"I asked them to check if Los Angeles City is under lockdown like Chicago City. They assured me that the city is still running as usual and we can go in and out as we please. In exchange for that information, the leader of Seraph Cell wants to meet us, the survivors of Sacred Soul Academy. I think it's a fair exchange," Anya answered without a change in tone.

"How are you so familiar with the Underground Resistance, Anya?" Nanako asked, sounding very suspicious.

"Oh my, don't tell me. You guys haven't put two and two together yet, have you? I thought I left lots a clues. Very well, I am part of the Underground Resistance, Seraph Cell. My mission was to infiltrate the Student Council and report their activities to the Seraph Cell."

"You lied to us and to Anna?" Miriam accused.

"For your information, I did not lie. Andy, Annamarie, the Shimizu twins and Henry all knew who I was. They just didn't take the trouble to introduce me to the rest of the Student Council members. Annamarie even told me that she won't give me any information, but if I can find it myself, then I have the right to do whatever I want to with that information."

"But, what about the letter from Andy?" Carl asked.

"That was the only lie I told. I was supposed to be rotated to another assignment three weeks ago, when I discovered a number of suspicious purchases by the Student Council. The Seraph Cell told me to stay and to confirm if Project Salvation was being activated. They told me they will send some assistance, but judging from the attack on the academy, it was obvious either they were too late or they didn't arrive. That letter by Andy, was mailed by me."

"So that mission in the first email, it was your doing? What if our classmates misunderstood and ended up doing as you told them to instead?" Yuu fumed.

"No, the letter was indeed from Andy, he just never gotten around to mailing it. I took a draft of an email that Andy already completed and added some things, such as a fiction of me being a last minute addition to the class. Everything else was Andy. I don't remember emailing it to Yannick or Miriam though, I thought like the rest of the Student Council, they would stay and fight to the death."

Suddenly everyone was quiet.

"We-well, we didn't know we were supposed to leave either. Anna approached us at the last minute and told us to go ahead," Yannick said.

"Yes, Anna promised that the rest of the Student Council will be following shortly. How were we supposed to know they wouldn't be coming?" Miriam sobbed

"I'm sure Anna wanted both of you to live in their stead, Miriam," I said, trying to comfort her.

"Anya, confirm that it's safe to enter the city," Yuu said.

"Uhh, hello... I already said it's confirmed, right?"

"Check again!" Yuu said, his tone harsher.

"Fine!" Anya bent past me with her mouth inches from the comm before sitting back on her seat and muttered, "Control freak."

We stopped outside the city while Anya sought confirmation again. Meanwhile, all of us lowered our windshields and tried to take in our surroundings. We were holding in wait at a rest area right beside the raised highway. At the moment, traffic was pretty light, but that could change come rush hour. This was Los Angeles City after all, the jewel of the eastern coast. Around us were barren steppes, having only light growth of grass and unsuitable for farming. There were however, plenty of areas with heavy developments, mainly areas assigned for heavy industries and vertical farming. Vertical farming or otherwise known as farm-in-a-building are tall buildings, where farming, rearing and food processing are all done in house, instead of spread out over large areas of land, making the type of soil it stand on a non-issue. As for why it was outside the city, Nanako filled us in during our ride after the battle at Mineshaft 1. Several years before, a legislation was passed that all polluting industries as well as agricultural activities were to be moved far from the city, to make room for the population growth that unnaturally ballooned out of proportion in the recent years. The only connection between the city and the agricultural and industrial areas were the highways.

"Done! They've confirmed it, again. So if nobody else have a problem with it, let's just go, shall we?" Anya said while raising her hand when she saw that Yuu was about to open his mouth, "The Seraph Cell also instructed us to park our bikes at the South Pasadena Public Parking Complex. Then we have to take the subway to the Seraph Cell HQ. I'll guide you from there."

"How can we trust them?" Yuu asked.

"Excuse me? They're my people. They have operated for more than thirty years and they know much more than us. Like me, they are very trustworthy!"

"Like you?" Miriam added, "That's not saying much."

"Shut up, Miriam!" Anya scolded.

******

"Man, for some reason, the idea of riding a subway in LAC gives me a feeling of dread," Carl remarked as soon as we parked our bikes.

"You and me both, I wonder why," I agreed.

"Maybe it's a sign of your memories getting back? I don't feel anything about this place or this city," Nanako said.

Yannick nodded. "Well, there are cases of people recovering their memories of the real Earth after being away from technology for a long time."

"That reminds me," Anya said as she hopped down from the back of my bike, "No matter what, don't look at the interactive screens or advertisement screens for that matter. And avoid listening to any kind of music. It's okay if you accidentally heard it, but don't listen to any one sound for more than twenty minutes."

"Why not?" Nanako asked, while locking up her bike.

"Because of subliminals. Los Angeles City is full of it. If you see an ad for a lollypop, chances are, within that two minutes period, you have already been told twelve times to kill your own mother. Audio subliminals are a little less efficient, so it takes a lot more time to brainwash a person compared to visual subliminals."

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," Carl said as he finalized the lockdown process of his hoverbike.

"I do. Once, one of our members came back and attempted to kill one of our top ranking members. As a result, the special earplugs and sunglasses became required accessories when going out. Unfortunately, we don't have those at our disposal. So our best bet is to make best speed to the HQ and hope we arrive before any of us get brainwashed."

Yuu got up from his bike and started the lockdown process. "Alright, I understand what you're saying. So Anya, you will lead the way. Carl, Jane, Nana and myself will go to this HQ and maybe get these anti-brainwash accessories so we can leave the city safely without being brainwashed. Yannick and Miriam will stay here and watch the bikes-"

"Hold on a minute!"

"You have something to say, Miriam?" Yuu asked.

"I want to see the Underground Resistance too! I've never met any of them. I want to see what the big deal is!"

"No, we need both of you to watch the bikes. Who knows how long we'll be gone."

"Yannick can watch over the bikes. Why would we need both of us to watch over it?"

"No, you don't understand, we have to-"

"Yuu, let her join us," Nanako said as she pulled him in for a whisper.

"Fine!" Yuu relented, "But we'll leave you if you fall behind!"

"I can take care of myself! I'm not like some little kid..." Miriam looked at Anya.

"Hey! Who are you calling little kid?"

"Let's go, then," Yuu urged once I completed the lockdown process on my hoverbike.

Ten minutes later, we were standing in front of a two storey shoplot, huffing, puffing and wheezing from having broken into a run the moment we got off the subway. For some reason, Yuu simply told us to run for our lives with Anya leading without telling us why. Anya then lead us through side streets, shoplots and backdoors of private premises. Somewhere in the confusion, we lost Miriam.

Oh well, I'm sure if Miriam can't find us, she'll just go back to the hoverbikes.

"Why... huff huff... are we... huff huff... running?" I said as I looked up at the shop sign that said, 'Herbert and Selkie, General Construction' in front of me.

"Wheeeze... Need to... huff puff... get away... wheeeze."

"Is this it, Anya?" Nanako asked Anya, who was trying to catch her breath, looking none too worse for wear.

Anya nodded, but she asked, "Why... are you... not... tired?"

"You've all been riding hoverbikes for far too long. Should've taken some time to exercise, don't you think? Well, I'm going in first, then," Nanako said as she walked into the office while waving at us with her left hand.

"Wait up, I'm coming," Yuu said as he staggered after her.

"Let's go," Carl said as he held me up by my arm.

"Good afternoon," the receptionist, a girl about 13 years old chirped from behind her desk, "Can I help you?"

"Hi, Sally," Anya said, her breath still heavy.

"Anya? You're alive!" Sally jumped over her desk before rushing past us and ended up hugging Anya, "Why didn't you send any message? Herb thought you're dead!"

"I can't risk my position, you understand. Is Herb around?" Anya asked as she gave Sally a hug.

"Upstairs with Selkie. Just go ahead."

"Thanks, Sally. Come on, you guys," Anya said as she took the stairs.

We took the narrow stairs one at a time. We came to a corridor with two rooms and two fire poles at the end. It was sparse and undecorated, but surprisingly clean and without dust. Anya went up to the closest door and knocked on it twice. We heard a voice asking us to come in and Anya went first as the rest of us followed behind. It was a typical office, with a large desk facing the door, bookcases on the left wall and cupboards on the right wall. A dark blue carpet and flowering shrubs decorate what's left.

"Anya!" a rugged old man smelling faintly of cheap cigarettes rushed over and took Anya in his arms, "I thought we lost you!"

"I'm sorry, I can't say anything, you know. I couldn't break my cover," Anya said as she hugged him back.

"Umm, not trying to judge, but... are you two in a relationship?" Carl asked.

"Relationship? Wait, what?" Anya looked at him in puzzlement before understanding came upon her and she snorted in disgust, "No, you idiot! This is my father."

"How do you do?" the rugged old man stood straight before extending his hand to each of us, "My name is Herbert Alinesqu, Anya's father and the boss of Seraph Cell Second Division. I must thank all of you for having taken care of my daughter in your travels. I hope she had not been a problem to you?"

"Daddy!"

"No, Anya's been very useful," I said as I noticed his eyes lingering a little too long on my face.

"And that man behind you is Selkie," he said as he gestured to the man standing behind us. I didn't event notice he was there.

"How do you do?" Selkie said as he pushed his glasses up with a finger, "My name is Selkie, no last name, please. Pleasure to meet... Annamarie?"

"No, I-" I stopped my words mid-sentence as he whipped out his particle wand a little faster than I could pull mine out. I only barely managed to stop his particle stream with my IL52S's deflector stream.

"What?" he looked confused as he fired another stream at me, which was also cancelled out by my deflector stream. Any further attacks were stopped when both Yuu and Carl tackled him to the ground.

"Selkie, calm down. She didn't trigger the alarm," Herbert said.

"The alarm could be faulty. We haven't had it serviced for six months now! How can you explain how she can be a dead ringer for Annamarie?" Selkie defended himself as Yuu and Carl disengaged themselves.

"Sisters, maybe? You know they never told us anything. Always wanted to take, take and take without ever giving back," Herbert said.

Selkie pulled out a device from a nearby cupboard, flipping it open and scanning me with it. It looked very much like the scanner that Miriam gave Carl when we were escaping the academy. As he scanned me with it, he frowned, then did another check and frowned again. He spent an awful long time on my fake breasts.

"You're a man?" he asked with an expression of disbelief.

"A man? Oh dear, and here I thought I finally found you a mother, Anya," Herbert slapped his forehead.

"Daddy!"

"It was out of necessity," I said.

"Well, we all do what we have to do. Don't worry, we don't judge. Thank you for taking care of Anya. If there's anything I can help you with on your mission, feel free to ask. Selkie will arrange that you get everything you need, within reason. We can't possibly give you a stealth bomber in any case."

"Daddy, they already got something better. Henry gave them the Mirialis Corvette," Anya said excitedly.

"Mirialis Corvette? Amazing. Henry and the First Division went through all that trouble to steal three of them, as I recall. Well, either way, say your farewells to your friend, Anya. I'm sure they need to get going as soon as possible."

"Farewell? Anya, are you leaving us?" I asked as I grabbed Anya's hands.

"Sorry, Jane, but this is as far as I go. I got a lot of paperwork to do, anyhow. Don't worry, I won't tell them of your destination. It's not like I know in the first place," Anya said with a small sad smile.

"You haven't found out what Project Salvation's goal is?" Selkie asked.

"No, and it's not like they can tell me. That information is locked inside their brains. Any attempt to tell anyone, even each other, results in a nerve system backlash that causes them to choke to death. There is nothing more I could learn."

"Do you know what happened to our classmates at least?" Yuu asked.

"I think I got a report on that somewhere. Let me check," Herbert said as he went back to his desk and opened one of the drawers, taking out a stack of papers. After much shuffling, he took out two papers stapled together from the stack and gave it to Yuu.

"You're still using papers? Aren't they really expensive nowadays?" Nanako asked.

"Papers, unlike e-papers, are extremely hard to be read once they're turned to ash. E-papers on the other hand, can have their data recovered easily, unless you burn it in a smelter. E-paper is very tough for its price."

"Oh God, I didn't know it was this bad," Yuu murmured.

"What? What?" Carl asked as he took the papers from Yuu's hand. He paled immediately.

Nanako gently took the papers from Carl's hand. She read through it, then handed it to me without a word.

To: Seraph 2nd Division HQ
Subject: Status of known Project Salvation members

Seat # 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 31

Name Violet Tam Victor Yong John Harolds Carl Miller Yuu Nakani Nanako Fujisawa Arnold Whilming Maria Sheffield Moorthy Sekaran Priya Ananda Jennifer Carter Joshua Collins Michael Williams Tanisha Robinson Jerry Davis Carol Rodriguez Sophie Beauchamp Frances Vinot Azman Hussin Kamaria Bukhari Rahman Ibrahim Salmah Sulaiman Runa Kobayashi Ken Matsuzaki Wong Mei Ling Yap Shu Fong Marcus Lewis Sally Grey Igor Krazinsky Olga Karovka Ilsa Foerster Hans Krause

Status Alive, last known location San Diego City Alive, last known location San Diego City Unknown, last known location Sacred Soul Academy Alive, last known location Chicago City Alive, last known location Chicago City Alive, last known location Chicago City Alive, last known location near New York City Dead, last known location B5152GK Military Base Alive, last known location Manchester City Alive, last known location Manchester City Dead, last known location B2477FC Military Base Alive, last known location Springfield Town Alive, last known location Manchester Town Alive, last known location Manchester Town Dead, last known location Northampton Town Alive, last known location Northampton Town Dead, last known location Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last known location Sacred Soul Academy Critically injured, last known location Salt Lake City Dead, last known location Salt Lake City Alive, last known location Dublin City Alive, last known location Dublin City Alive, last known location Dublin City Dead, last known location B4457KV Military Base Alive, last known location San Diego City Dead, last known location San Diego City Unknown, last known location New York City Unknown, last known location New York City Alive, last known location Springfield Town Dead, last known location B2477FC Military Base Alive, last known location Manchester City Alive, last known location Manchester City

Summary: 19 alive, 1 critically injured, 9 dead, 3 unknown.

"Oh God, so many dead," I said as tears ran down my face.

"Jane, look at the second page," Nanako suggested.

I flipped the page as told.

Special mention:

1) Annamarie Hudson 2) Miriam Posener 3) Yannick Weber 4) Harald Johansen 5) Shimizu Haruka 6) Shimizu Hanako 7) Andrew Clark 8) Anke Drescher 9) Sulaiman Majid 10) Catherine Marsel 11) Tan Siow Peng 12) Leslie Santiago 13) Ashley Morris 14) Fang Xiao Han 15) Jonathan Ortiz 16) Myra Alexopoulos 17) Henry Nelson 18) Jessica Hutchinson 19) Larry Hale 20) Selene Coyne 21) Mary Caldwell

Unconfirmed, reports stated she was last seen in Chicago City Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last communication from Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy Dead, last reported in Sacred Soul Academy

Warning!
1) Shapeshifter Miriam and Yannick were seen accompanying Annamarie Hudson, Carl Miller, Yuu Nakani and Nanako Fujisawa.
2) Shapeshifter Olga Karovka was tasked with approaching Rahman Ibrahim, Salmah Sulaiman and Runa Kobayashi.
3) Shapeshifter Maria Sheffield was seen accompanying Michael Williams and Tanisha Robinson.
4) Shapeshifter Miriam was seen accompanying Moorthy Sekaran, Priya Ananda, Ilsa Foerster and Hans Krause.
5) Shapeshifter Jennifer Carter was seen accompanying Arnold Whilming, Marcus Lewis and Sally Grey.

Collected and compiled by Hermes Cell.

"What is the meaning of this? Shapeshifter Miriam and Yannick?!" I demanded.

"Seems our observers spotted them with your group. It's a good thing that you managed to shake them off. I need to know about John-"

"We didn't shake them off," Yuu cut him mid-sentence.

"Excuse me?"

"We didn't shake them off," Yuu repeated. Just then, light started flickering around us. Both Herb and Selkie paled as Miriam suddenly burst through the door.

"Guys, that was mean of you! Leaving me behind like that," Miriam pouted.

"How... did you find us?" Yuu asked.

"Tracking device, of course! Sorry about that receptionist girl downstairs, though," Miriam said with a wink.

"Shapeshifter!" Selkie cried as both he and Herb pulled out their particle wands. Their shots struck true, as Nanako added her own particle stream into the mix.

"Heheheh, too late! Guess the Underground Resistance is just a bunch of rabble dogs in the end," Miriam said as her body disintegrated, leaving behind a rancid smell where she once stood.

"Anya, take them to the base! Inform everyone to pick up arms. We're going to be overrun!" Herb ordered as he pressed a button on his desk and the desk burst into flame. In the meantime, Selkie went around doing the same with the bookcase and the cupboard.

"Come, quickly!" Anya urged us to follow as she went out to the corridor. "Take either one!" she said before she jumped at the firepole and slid down into a vertical tube lit by two flourescent lights.

I followed close behind as Nanako took the other firepole. I slid down with my legs around the firepole only for my butt to painfully hit the bottom. I realized what my butt was sitting on when I let go of the pole. It was a freaking slide and in my panic I lost my balance and ended up sliding down head first into the twisting tunnel.

"Ahhh!" I heard Anya cry from under my butt as I came out of the tunnel and fell on top of her. "Didn't you know that you're supposed to alternate going down the firepole?"

"Sorry, I'm not a fireman," I said as something else came out of the same tunnel towards me.

"Ow!" I cried in pain.

"Uhh, that was rough. Are you okay, Jane?" Carl said as he raised himself above me, while squeezing my breasts.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY BREASTS, MOLESTER!" I cried as I slapped his hands away, causing him fall on my chest.

"BOTH OF YOU BASTARDS GET YOUR DICKS OFF OF MY FACE!" Anya cried from under us.

We got off of each other just in time to avoid Herb as he crashed on the mattress we were on. Neither Nanako nor Yuu suffered the same problem as us. Selkie also landed safely on his mattress a few seconds later.

"I've told you, Selkie. The right slide is too steep," Herb complained as he painfully got to his feet.

Selkie ignored him as he pressed some buttons next to the only door in the featureless wall in front of us. The door then opened, revealing a long bright walkway. On the walls on either side of us were two more doors. Herb explained that those were elevators, but they couldn't risk using them just now. Selkie then went into the walkway as he gestured us to do the same. We passed through a number of laser scanners or something similar, until we reached the end of the walkway where another door stood. Selkie entered something into the keyboard and scanned his eyes before the door opened, leading us into another walkway, much wider but separated into three rows, and this time, there were people inside. Most of them were armed for battle.

Herb, Anya and Selkie each went through a row first. Carl, Nanako and Yuu went next as Herb ordered the whole base to be on red alert. The siren call sounded so loud as I went through my own inspection. I almost didn't hear them when they told me to stand still. I only realized something was wrong when the armed men pointed their rifles at me. I was nudged at gunpoint to go back to the scanner as a circle-like thing went up and down around my body. One of the men at the console told me to strip to my undies to which immediately refused. Having the nozzle of a rifle pressed against my temple made me change my mind and before long, I was standing half naked in front of all these people. Carl, the horny pervert was salivating like a dog.

They sent me back to the scanning device as they stretched my clothes onto a conveyor belt before making it go through a kind of machine. Then one of the unarmed men felt around my blouse before he pulled out a tiny ball-like object. The men told me it was okay to wear back my clothes and I did it quickly, probably giving Carl a show of too much cleavage. He probably was having fun thinking of Annamarie standing half naked in front of him. One of the men then explained to me that I had a transmitter on my body before he gestured me to go on ahead. Seriously, I was shamed this much for just a tiny BB ball transmitter?

Suddenly Herb pulled Anya close and hugged her tightly, to which she answered with a tight hug of her own. "Anya, take your friends and the kids away from here. You know what this means, don't you?"

"Yes, daddy," Anya said as she shed a tear, "Goodbye."

"Good luck, Anya," Herb let go as he turned to us and said, "Good luck, to all of you."

Anya led us away through a side passage without looking back. All around us, men and women ran around in full body armour while carrying rifles and force lances. The hallways were filled with people and we almost got separated a few times by the time we reached a place called 'Learning Center'. Anya went in quickly into a room full of boys and girls from the age of 6 to 12. There were twenty-two of them in the room.

"Big sis, what's happening, why is the red alert being sounded?" a girl probably 10 years old asked.

"Big sis Anya, why is everyone running around?" a little boy asked.

The children bombarded Anya with questions after questions. Until finally, Anya could no longer control herself and screamed with tears in her face. "Please, everyone, we must leave. Gather your things, take only the most important stuff. We must leave now!"

"But what about my mother?"

"And my father?"

"My mother too?"

"My brother left too."

"I don't want to leave my mommy."

"I left teddy at home."

"I want to wait for daddy."

"BE QUIET!" Anya yelled at the top of her voice as she glared at every one of the kids, "You have all been trained for this. You know this will happen sooner or later. We must leave everything behind and go! Why can't you all understand?"

"Anya," Nanako placed a hand on Anya's shoulder, "How long do we have?"

"No more than 20 minutes," Anya sobbed, "Beyond that, our chance of escape becomes slimmer with every second."

"Do you know the way?" Nanako asked as Anya nodded.

"Children, you have 5 minutes to gather whatever you need. Remember, 5 minutes only. Take only the most important things to you. Those whose rooms are close by will stick together and help each other, okay? Go, now!" Nanako commanded as the children all raced through the open door, leaving behind only a 14 year old boy.

As if in answer to our curious expressions, he said, "I don't have a family anymore. My brother was killed during a sabotage attempt on one of the military bases. I'll go where ever you me want to go, Anya."

Anya nodded in response. I could see a slight smile forming on her lips.

The boy led us to a weapons locker where we managed to cover our belts in force grenades. We also grabbed four duffelbags and put as many rifles and grenade launchers we could fit into it. Five minutes later, the children came back. Most carried backpacks, some carried dolls, some held tablets or laptops of some kind, one brought a handkerchief sealed in plastic. One was missing.

"Big sis, Iria isn't here!" one of the boys remarked.

"We can't wait for her!" Anya said with a face wet from tears. It seemed like what was happening affected her greatly.

"Where is her room?" Nanako asked.

"Section F15B," the boy answered.

"Let's go then," Nanako said.

"Wait! It's out of the way. You won't make it!" Anya said.

"I'll be quick," Nanako said.

"I'm going with you," Anya said as she gave up trying to persuade Nanako, then wiping her wet face with the sleeves of her blouse, she said, "Caron, take them to Exit 5 and then to South Pasadena Public Parking Complex. Then go to the section reserved for our company, you will drive one of the trucks. Helen, you will take the van. Zachary, you will drive whatever's left. The rest of you will pile into one of these vehicles. We're taking them with us, Yuu!"

"Right," Yuu nodded.

"Yes big sis, I won't let you down," Caron, a girl in twintails and carrying a worn-looking particle wand saluted at Anya.

"Go!" Anya said as she got out of the door.

"Carl, take my bag!" Nanako said as she handed him the duffelbag filled with weapons, "I'm gonna need speed on this one."

"No problem, take care!" Carl said to Nanako's back.

Caron, followed by the rest of the children went out and turned left after they all gave Anya a salute at the door.

"Come back to me, Nana!" Yuu yelled to which Nanako simply raised a thumbs up.

"We better go, or we'll lose the kids. Yuu, Jane, cover my rear," Carl said as he ran as fast as he could holding the two bags.

"Of course!" I agreed.

"No problem!" Yuu said.

We only managed to run for about one minute when the corridor behind us exploded, covering it in concrete debris from the ceiling and the walls. There were voices from the suddenly wide open wall next to the rubble. Robotic voices.

"Anya! Nana!" I cried as I ran back by reflex.

"Stop! They know what they're doing. Don't worry about them!" Yuu said as he grabbed one of the force grenades around his belt and twisted the 'modes' and 'timers' ring before throwing it to the corridor we came from. "Jane, throw one of your force grenades too, set it to proximity alert and activation timer to four seconds!"

I did as told and threw it near where Yuu's grenade rested. We pressed on, no longer looking back. Suddenly the wall to our right exploded, throwing us to the opposite wall painfully. My vision blurred as the back of my head hit the wall hard, while two fully armoured soldiers stepped out of the open wall and opened fire on the kids' back.

"Stop," I said, sounding weak even to my own ears.

"Stop," I said, the soldiers probably couldn't even hear me as they kept firing on the kids who failed to find cover in time.

"Stop!" I said with hands around the handle of the force lance I attached to my belt.

The soldiers kept on firing, peppering another girl full with bullets.

I pressed the 'deploy' button on the force lance, causing the handle to extend its length. The butt of the force lance's handle got caught in a piece of debris, pushing against it, effectively pushing me on my feet. The tip of the force lance glowed red as the particle fountain unleashed a blade of magma-hot particles about a metre long. "I SAID STOP!" I yelled as I slashed upward at the fully armoured soldier with the flaming blade of the force lance. The other soldier realized what happened to his friend and he turned around to aim his gattling gun at me, but he was too late. I cut him in two with a downward slash from his chest to his butt.

"Yuu! Oh God, you're bleeding!" I heard Carl say behind me.

"The kids, save the kids," Yuu said weakly.

"All of you, check on your friends and see which one is still alive!" Carl said as he took out a medkit from one of the duffelbags, his own medkit was left behind on the hoverbike.

"Jane, I hate to say this, but I'll be depending on you to keep the enemy away from us," Carl said as he started treating Yuu's open stomache with medical microbots.

"It'll be my pleasure," I said as I went into through the hole in the wall and crashed into a soldier in full armour, who was too shocked seeing a girl in blouse and short skirt appearing next to him to do anything. That was all the time I needed to cut him cleanly in two from the top of his head to between his legs.

I heard a sound of heavy footsteps approaching from behind him, and I knew it was another fully armoured soldier, so I dashed around the corner and swung my force lance twice, cutting the soldier into four parts, in the shape of an 'x'. Behind him came another soldier and he was a bit more prepared for me, for he managed to fire a round of bullets at me, which missed, before he was beheaded with the flaming blade of my force lance. Behind him, at the end of the corridor, more soldiers appeared. I propped up his armoured body with my own, his open neck spurting blood on my hair and face as I used him as my meat shield. Then I grabbed the armoured soldier's left hand that was still holding the gattling gun and pressed the trigger, showering hundreds of rounds of bullets per minute towards the approaching horde of armoured soldiers. When I finally ran out of bullets, the hallway was already blocked by piles of dead soldiers. I let go of the dead soldier, allowing his bullet ridden body to fall the floor. I turned to check the other end of the hallway, barely avoiding a sonic blade aimed at me. If I had been one second earlier, I would've been cut cleanly in the middle.

"You are under arrest!" the soldier, a captain from the rank insignia said in a mechanical voice.

"I don't think so!" I yelled as I charged at him, sidestepping a blade slash as I went for his flank. I stabbed his kidney with the tip of my force lance, but shockingly the particle blade simply dispersed instead of making a hole in his armour.

He retaliated with punch on my stomache, throwing me against the wall. The force lance left my hand before it clattered on the floor and deactivated itself.

"Foolish girl," he said with a mechanical voice as he place the blade of his two metre long curved sonic blade mere centimetres from my neck, "Surrender and you will be spared."

"Don't look down on me, bastard!" I yelled as I ducked under the path of his blade. The I pulled one of the force grenades from my belt, set it to activate in one second and placed it at the space between his helmet and his chest. The resulting explosion threw me against the wall and almost took my hand.

When the smoke settled, the captain fell to his knees, his sonic blade clattering to the floor. His helmet was blown open, revealing a bleeding neck and chin and a face of a youthful man. He raised a shaking hand at me.

"Dying at the hands of a beautiful lady..." he said as he caressed my face with a metallic hand, "... isn't too bad. You will make an excellent soldier. "

I grabbed the sonic blade on the floor and beheaded him with his own sword.

"Jane, they're stable now, we should go... what happened here?" Carl asked as he surveyed the bodies and destruction around me.

"Let's go then," I said as I grabbed my force lance and the sheath for the captain's sonic blade.

Back in the corridor we came from, Yuu was being carried in a stretcher, along with three other children. Some of the children were crying over their dead friends, while some were hugging them tightly as if not wanting to let go.

"How many died?" I asked.

"Six, there was nothing I could do for them," Carl said with eyes downcast.

"You did what you could," I hugged him, my arms went around his neck with my blood covered body, smearing blood on his own clothes, "Go, I'll watch your back."

"Alright, stay close to me then," Carl said as he grabbed two of the duffelbags. I noticed the other two duffelbags that both Yuu and I carried were missing, probably carried by the rest of the children.

We ran for another half an hour along a maze of twisting corridors. Twice we encountered more enemies and twice I single-handedly despatched them. In my mind, no brainwashed soldiers could match me with a sonic blade on my right hand and a force lance on my left. We finally came out into a sewer, where we walked along the walkway until we came across a door. Caron pulled open the door and stepped in, turning on the lights as she opened another door inside. I closed the door and turned off the light in the room as the rest of them carried the wounded up a flight of steps. When we came out, we were already on the ground floor of South Pasadena Public Parking Complex. From afar, an explosion could be heard. Suddenly Yuu woke up, felt his stomache and told those kids carrying him to drop him to the floor. He got up on his feet, with his shirt in tatters and mumbled thanks as he told the kids to head towards Mineshaft 6 ahead of us. After we helped the kids got on their vehicles, we went upstairs to our hoverbikes.

Yannick was waiting there, reading a book. He looked at us, asking what went on just as I slashed downward on his body with the sonic blade. That rancid cat piss smell permeate the air again.

"Even if you kill me now, it's already too late, you know," Yannick said with a lopsided grin despite his upper torso being barely attached to his lower body.

"Damned shapeshifter!" I slashed downward on his head.

"Damned you!" I hacked at his limbs.

"If not because of you, all those people would still be alive!" I cut him again and again, over and over, until Carl grabbed me from behind.

"Enough, Jane. He's dead!" Carl said to my ears.

"Let me go! Let me go! If not because of them, they wouldn't have died!"

"Jane, that's enough!"

"It was my fault, Miriam must've put the transmitter on me. It was my fault they all died."

"Shh, shh, it's okay," Carl said as he turned me around and hugged me tight, "It's not your fault at all. If anything, it's the aliens' fault. Don't blame yourself. You saved us, remember?"

I hugged him back, letting the sonic blade fall to the floor. I cried into his chest, letting go of all the pain and regret I had. Carl was patient, and he hugged me tightly, stroking the back of my hair, sticky with blood, gently. He treated me like the most fragile thing in the world. We stayed that way for a few minutes, until Nanako and Anya returned with the little in tow. It seemed like the route they followed was a lot safer than ours. I wiped my tears as I got up on my bike, with Anya sitting behind me. The little girl, Iria, sat behind Nanako. Carl asked me if I was okay, and I told him yes as one by one, we left the parking complex and the city, where hundreds, perhaps thousands, just died in the past hour.

We arrived at the entrance to Mineshaft 6 slightly ahead of the kids. Yuu placed the WAMS device he received from Henry Nelson at the entrance to Mineshaft 6 while the kids got out from their vehicles. By now, even the injured kids could walk by themselves, a proof of how valuable medical microbots were compared to basic first aid. No wonder each vial costs about an average person's monthly wage. Yuu then turned on his e-paper as he led the way into the spacious tunnels following the map prepared by Henry Nelson. Finally, we came across a reinforced wall. Yuu entered the password at the door's control and the door slid open, revealing a large hangar with the 168 metre-long Mirialis Corvette clamped in the middle of the hangar. Yuu ran towards the ship like a child in front of a candy house.

"My ship! Finally, my own ship!" Yuu said as he hugged the bottom of the Mirialis Corvette's sleek hull.

"Hey, isn't it supposed to be 'our' ship?" Carl objected.

"I agree with Carl," I said as I looked at Carl, who went red in the face for some reason.

"I suppose I agree with them," Nanako said.

"Yeah, it's our ship! Not yours," Anya added.

"She needs a name!" Yuu said, ignoring us altogether, "Hm, what should be a good name?"

"A name? Please..." Carl objected.

"What's wrong with Mirialis Corvette?" I said.

"I don't think that's very high on the priority list," Nanako said.

"Laaaame!" Anya added.

"SILENCE!" Yuu exclaimed so suddenly.

"Wow, that's rude."

"Yeah, I do agree. It's very rude."

"Dear, we're just giving our opinions."

"You offend me, asshole."

"No, I'm saying it's the ship's name. Silence. Because it's a stealth ship, you see?" Yuu said as he kissed the hull.

"Oooohhh..."

"Aaaahhh..."

"Tell us earlier."

"I got offended for nothing."

"What do you all think? 'Silence' is a good name, right?" Yuu said as he caressed the stealth armour plating of the ship.

"I suppose."

"I can agree to that."

"I like it."

"I prefer if it's called 'Princess Anya'."

An alarm suddenly went off. Yuu took out the control device for the WAMS device he placed outside. His expression changed when he saw the display.

"God damned it! They're never letting us go!"

"What do you mean?" Carl asked as Yuu went to the computer terminal with a large screen on one wall.

Yuu connected the control device to the computer terminal and pressed a button as the screen came alive with a map of the Alpine Mountains and a whole lot of sensor contacts from all around. "THAT is what I mean!"

"That... isn't that a bit excessive?" Even Nanako was showing fear now.

"That's... the whole southern part of the screen is covered in sensor contacts. Not even in Mineshaft 1 did we encounter a force this vast," Anya said, sweating profusely as she worked the console to get a better estimate of the force we were facing.

"Quick! Everyone move! Get those clamps out of the way, quickly! We need to get out of here ASAP! Guys, we need to bring in our hoverbikes and get ready to leave the moment the reactor's up and running!" Carl barked orders frantically. I have never seen Carl so panicked.

"Yes, he's right. Let's bring in our hoverbikes, quickly!" Yuu agreed and we went out as one, with Anya left behind to oversee the work.

When we came back in with our hoverbikes, Anya gave us another piece of bad news. He gestured for all of us to follow her as we went up the ramp under the 'Silence' into the engine room.

She tapped the wall where batteries were stacked into the hull. "We have a problem. The Mirialis Corvette has been out of use for so long that batteries are drained. At this rate, we won't be able to jumpstart the engine. Even if we can jumpstart the engine, the battery has been so drained it won't hold a charge for long. I've already told the kids to salvage whatever battery they can find in storage, but we need to start up the reactor using another method."

"Can't we use the hangar's power supply?" Nanako asked.

"It's not enough, the hangar uses solar power, stored in a series of long overdue batteries."

"We have hoverbikes running on nuclear reactors here, can't we use that?" Carl asked.

"Technically it's temperature differential-"

"Shut up!" both Carl and Yuu yelled at the same time. Nanako wisely kept her mouth shut.

Meanwhile, Anya did the calculations in her tablet and agreed it was feasible. We then pushed three of the hoverbikes close to the fusion reactor before hooking it up to the obsolete batteries. Changing batteries would simply take too long. It would've been faster if we could hook up my hoverbike to the reactor too, but there was not enough space for all four hoverbikes to fit inside the reactor room.

"Alright, it's done, one of my boys can handle things here, we need to go to the bridge and establish command posts, now!" Anya said as she lead us to the bridge.

The bridge of the Mirialis Corvette was positioned at the fore of the ship, with large sections covered in clear protective silicates. The bridge was a small room, barely 20 metres square. It had seats for piloting, command, engineering, operations and tactical. The piloting chair sat at the front of the bridge, offering very clear 120 degrees frontal view. Operations chair was slightly behind and to the left of the pilot's chair, with communications, navigations and sensor stations combined into one station. Command chair was to the center and slightly to the right, offering a good view of the front and the operations console. At the rear, facing forward on the left was the tactical console, with the engineering console being on the right, opposite the tactical console.

"Whose who?" Carl asked.

"Anya, has everything been reset?" Yuu asked.

Anya nodded as she said, "All command codes have been reset. It's free-for-all now."

Yuu entered some details into Anya's tablet as he said, "Lieutenant Commander Nakani Yuu, command code Alpha Tango Tango Niner Eight Two Six, Captain."

"You made yourself lieutenant commander?" Carl asked.

Yuu placed a hand on Carl's shoulder. The seat of Lieutenant 1st Class, Executive Officer, is open. Do you want it?"

"You can't seriously think you can bribe me with such a meaningless-"

"Hey Nana, do you want the job?" Yuu asked.

"I never said I didn't want the job!" Carl yelled into Yuu's ears as he took the tablet and entered his designation and command code. "Lieutenant 1st Class, Carl Miller, command code Alpha November Alpha Two Eight Eight Two, Executive officer."

Carl handed the tablet to Nanako. She entered the details and said, "Lieutenant 2nd Class, Fujisawa Nanako, command code Bravo Delta Charlie Three Two Two One, Operations Officer."

As Nanako handed the tablet to me, I asked, "What's my rank and designation?"

"Same as Nana, and since you're the pilot, obviously helmsman," Yuu answered, he had already put his egotistical butt onto the command chair.

I entered the details, but before I could finalize it, Carl said, "Hey Jane, enter Jane Miller into the database, okay?"

I glared at Carl, "Why would I want to use your surname?"

"Because we're married!"

I pressed 'confirm' without changing my name. "Lieutenant 2nd Class, Jane Larssen, command code Juliett Oscar November Three Six One Two, Helm Officer."

"Why?????" Carl wailed.

"Did you seriously think I would use your surname in official documents?" I said as I handed the tablet back to Anya.

She entered her details, paused for a few seconds before she continued and confirmed it. "Lieutenant 2nd Class, Anya Vivesca Alinesqu, command code Kilo Lima Sierra One Zero One Zero, Tactical Officer."

[Command Code Accepted]

"I have linked the base's defenses into Silence's tactical controls, I can fire anytime," Anya said.

"Good, Ops, how long before they enter weapons range?" Yuu asked.

"Estimating two minutes and ten seconds," Nanako answered.

"Helm, how's the VTOL and maneuvering thrusters?"

"VTOL and maneuvering thrusters within acceptable parameters. Don't expect it to overrun a fighter jet, though," I said after testing the thrusters.

"Engineering, how's the power supply?"

"Ergh, not good. Reactor level is fluctuating all across the board. We can probably hover, but there won't be any power left for the ship to navigate or use onboard weapons. Unless of course you want to risk losing power to the thrusters and having the ship plummet to the ground while in the air?"

"Anything we can do about it?"

"I'm going back to the reactor room and figure out where the problem lies," Carl said as he got up from his chair and headed towards the door.

"Alright, do so," Yuu said.

Carl merely raised an eyebrow in defiance before going on his way.

"Guess I should make a speech, then. All hands please finish loading the supplies as quickly as you can. The ship will be departing as soon as the reactor is up and running."

"Hey Yuu, take over my console. I'm gonna go help Carl," Anya said as she got up.

"Captain, call me captain!" Yuu whined, but moved to Anya's chair anyway.

Anya snorted, "You don't seriously think I'm going to call you that, do you? Besides, I bet you'd love this game."

"Of course I'd love this game, I'm the Bloody Shogun! Nana, inform me when the first targets enter weapons range."

"Aye, aye, captain!"

"Finally!"

"Nana, don't encourage him!"

After about ten minutes, Yuu was obviously having a lot of fun. "Hahaha, die, you fucking aliens! Wheee!"

Meanwhile, I was doing the preflight checks for the tenth time. I knew it was expected of me, since the ship hadn't been active for almost a year now. But this was very boring. I had hoped that they could fix the reactor quickly, but no such luck. Carl even said that they didn't know what was wrong with the reactor and had to take the covers off to check the reactions with their own eyes. I was quite worried for them when Carl said it, but he assured me that they'd be fine, as unlike fission reactors, fusion reactors wouldn't emit radioactivity.

"Shit!" Yuu cursed.

"What? What happened?" I asked.

"Their rocket artilleries hit one of my cannons!"

"How many cannons are you left with?" I asked.

"Three! No, scratch that. Two left. The other one ran out of ammo."

"Will it be enough to hold them off until we take off?"

"I don't know. If they can fix the reactor within the next five minutes, sure. If it takes any longer than ten minutes, I'm afraid we'll be overrun!"

I thought about it. I programmed the scenario into the computer and watched as instead of ten minutes, we would be overrun in eight minutes, the way Yuu's been using his cannons. I added the calculations for the ammunition Yuu had left and the computer calculated that it would be 4 minutes before he ran out of ammunition. Within the next one minute, the soldiers would've blown open the reinforced door and surround the ship. No, I simply couldn't allow that. I had to do something.

"Nana, take over my station," I said as I left the bridge.

"Wait, what are you trying to do?" Nana asked as she followed me on my way to my hoverbike.

"I'm gonna buy us a little more time."

"If you're thinking of going out there, stop. There are thousands of soldiers out there and hundreds of tanks and heavy vehicles. You can't possibly win!"

I started the hoverbike before grabbing the curved sonic sword I took from the enemy captain earlier and handed it to her. "I'm not going out there to win. Hold this for me, will you?"

Nanako took the blade, but continued to try to persuade me, "You don't have to go out there, Jane. Trust in Carl and Anya. They'll fix the reactor, for sure!"

"It's because I trust them that I'm going to buy them some more time. Tell Yuu to assist me with his cannons, okay?" I said as I attached my IL52S particle wand to the front of the bike.

"Jane," Nanako hugged me so suddenly, it left me frozen on my seat, "I have a very bad feeling about this."

I hugged her back. "Me too, but it's a good thing that neither of us is psychic. Besides, I'm the best pilot. If anyone can return alive, it will be me."

"Wait!" Nanako said as she took off the Shimizu twin's cloak, "Wear this, may the ghost of the twins watch over you."

"Stop sounding so spiritual all of a sudden, Nana. It creeps me out," I joked as I pulled the cloak down on my body, "See ya."

I sped down the ramp towards the sealed reinforced door of the hangar before punching the codes and riding through the open door. I paused a little at the mouth of the cave, suddenly feeling afraid if I wouldn't make a difference, if I would die instead. An explosion close my my position woke me up as it blew chunks of rocks and dust my way. I decided I had to be strong. With the soldiers marching quickly towards our position, there was no more room for doubts and second guesses. I closed my eyes and pictured in my mind the scene of Yuu sitting against the wall with his stomache wide open and of those innocent children with their dolls and teddy bears being cruelly gunned down by the merciless soldiers. I grabbed my force lance and charged ahead towards the mass of enemy soldiers by myself.

With my left hand holding the handles, I slashed one, two and three soldiers with the force lance before I turned the hoverbike to the left and cut down two more soldiers close to me. The soldiers clearly wasn't sure what happened to their friends and they froze seeing their friends cut down, apparently by nothing more than a riderless hoverbike. I should've thought about it from the start, but I couldn't think clearly. Instead of firing at something they couldn't see, they fired at the hoverbike, which they could clearly see.

The hoverbike skidded on the hard ground as the internal mechanisms seized up, causing it to collide against a column of fully armoured soldiers. Once the hoverbike stopped, I grabbed the IL52S attached to the bike and ran as far away as I could. Investigating the hoverbike would give us precious minutes. When I was finally free from the mass of soldiers, I quickly climbed up to the the hillside towards the mouth of the cave, cutting down the soldiers I came across and kicked them down to the plains below. It was too bad I lost my bike, now I could no longer communicate with those in the ship. But that was okay with me, I was sure they would inform me when they were ready to depart. Now I just had to focus on delaying these guys.

While the soldiers were preoccupied with investigating the riderless hoverbike, I set all the force grenades I had on my belt to proximity alert and to activate two seconds after I pressed the activation button. By the time I was done setting up all the force grenades, it was obvious that they had lost interest in the hoverbike. They climbed up the steep decline on their way to enter the cave, without realizing that I was standing there. I cut down the head of the first soldier to come in range, before pushing the blade of my force lance from below a soldier's helmet up to pierce the top of his head. Then I pressed the button on his waist that locked up his spine and the lower parts of his body before wrapping my small hand around his and pressed the trigger, firing his coilgun autocannon against his fellow soldiers. The rest of the soldiers fired on him, but of course, he was already dead. With his coilgun in my hands I fired rounds after rounds of magnetically accellerated magnets, providing unparalleled piercing power against columns of armoured soldiers. When I saw one of the soldiers fired a rocket towards him, I jumped away, finding cover behind a dead soldier's armoured body. The heat and shockwave was so great that I was stunned for several seconds as the soldiers kept marching forward. I grabbed the hand of the soldier I hid from and pressed the trigger of his gattling gun, releasing a spray of bullet towards the approaching soldiers. It wasn't as effective as the coilgun, but it was good enough to down a dozen of those unsuspecting soldiers, until they wised up and started firing on every corpse in front of them.

I escaped by jumping to the ground below, making contact with the tightly packed columns of soldiers as they climbed the ledge. Before the realized what had happened, I made space for myself by stabbing the soldiers right next to me with the flaming blade of my force lance. Then I put my particle wand back into its holster and grabbed my force grenade. I carelessly threw the grenade around me, one after another, feeling the force of it activating upon detecting movement, flattening the soldiers under its area of effect to the ground. I finished the last of my grenades to make room for me to maneuver. Once I had a sufficient enough space, I swung the force lance left and right, cutting up scores of soldiers as I walked back towards the cave's mouth one step at a time. I've had enough, to tell the truth, I must have massacred hundreds of fully armoured soldiers, who couldn't even see what was killing them. I now understood why Nana felt that she was God. Unfortunately, playing God must end sooner or later.

It unnerved me though, that the soldiers now paid their full attention towards me as I cut up more of them. I knew they couldn't see me, but my luck must run out eventually. That luck ran out when one of the soldiers took off his helmet. When he urged his fellow soldiers to take off their helmets, I knew it was time to make best speed to the ship. Some of the soldiers managed to grab hold of my arms, I cut them in response. Some of them managed to grab my legs, I cut those too. A few of them tried to jump me, I cut them up over and over, then sidestepped the falling bodies. One of them managed to grab me from behind, I stabbed him in the face blindly with the force lance, then pushed him away. By now, I was back in the middle of the fully armoured soldiers, minus helmet. My arms were tired, my legs about to collapse, my escape route cut, I asked myself, Where the hell is that covering fire?

A few of them tried to approach me, but I swung my force lance and cut him in two. Several more approached me, but I cut them too. I cut every soldier who came inside my weapons's range. I briefly wondered why they didn't just kill me, but I reasoned that I would have more value to them alive than dead. Then several of them took out a particle wand, prompting me to do the same. They tried to fire, but their weapons must've malfunctioned because of the cloak, so I took the opportunity to switch to high intensity particles and mowed them down with a lashing of high intensity particles, before the particle wand itself overloaded and exploded in my hand. It was painful, my hand was still there, but I could no longer feel it, as if my left hand had already died. In my pain, I saw a way out, but my legs were already tired, about to collapse, I could no longer dash through the opening. Before I could do anything, the opening was already filled by more soldiers.

"Surrender!" someone commanded.

"Not in your life!" I cried as with the last of my strength, I charged towards the origin of the voice, but instead of cutting through his armour, the flaming blade of the force lance disappeared. The force lance had ran out of power.

The soldier, probably a captain from the rank insignia on his armour grabbed me by my arm as my legs lost its strength. I fell to the hard ground as my strength failed me. "Surrender," he said with a cold voice, "We will show mercy."

It was then that I heard the sound of craft taking off. I looked up and saw the Mirialis Corvette came out of the dead volcano's mouth and flew away.

"GOD DAMNED YOU BASTARDS!" I cried at the sky as I surrendered myself to my fate.

******

"Hey, we've fixed the reactor. It should allow us to fly for a few hours, but we'll need to recalibrate the reactor again - where's Jane?" Carl asked when he entered the bridge.

"You were taking too long," Yuu said as he got up from the tactical console, "We had to buy you time."

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO WITH JANE, YOU BASTARD!?"

"I didn't do anything, Carl. It was her choice to go out there to buy you time."

"Yuu, enemy airships approaching!" Nanako exclaimed.

"How many?"

"4 corvettes and 2 frigates. I can't tell of what type!"

"Shit! Nana, take over helm station. Carl, get to your station, we're taking off."

"All crew, secure yourselves. We are taking off, I repeat, we are taking off!"

"Fuck this! I'm going to bring Jane back!" Carl yelled as he turned to leave the bridge.

"No! It's too late, Carl! We lost contact with her almost seven minutes ago! Nana, take off, now!"

Nanako pushed the lever corresponding to the VTOL thruster while at same time, activating the command code to open the overhead hangar gate. As Carl and Yuu grapled with each other, Nanako pushed the ship higher, up the volcano shaft until it was finally clear. Then she pushed forward another lever, and the Mirialis Corvette, named Silence, sped off to the eastern seas.

*Finally, I finished Chapter 6 of Escape! I had wondered how much longer I was going to take to finish this chapter. For some reason, I couldn't visualize the scene between meeting Herb and arrive at Mineshaft 6.
**As always, all feedbacks and comments are very appreciated. Praises help me to write faster, constructive criticisms help me to write better.
***I wonder if I should work on the next chapter of Butterfly Girlfriend, Sky Goddess or Armageddon next. What do you think as the reader?