“Come on… how long is this going to take?” Daemon was pacing the floor of the guild master’s office while Elec-Sys was busy scanning the exo-suit.

  “I know this is taking awhile, but… Oh no…“ Elec-Sys emerged from the suit's core, a frustrated look in her holographic eyes. “Dammit, something’s wrong with the suit’s M.A.P!”

  “The… M.A.P?” Daemon asked, giving a confused look.

  “The ‘Multiversal Atlas Projection’, or M.A.P for short, is what allows for proper traversal between two points in the multiverse.” Elec-Sys explained. “Without it, one would just be flying blind and who knows where they would end up.”

  Daemon turned his gaze to the suit. “And… you can get this fixed, right?

  “Obviously.” Elec-Sys stated rather matter-of-factly. “The problem stems from where the materials are and how we’ll get them.”

Her eyes began glowing a bright teal as the hologram of a starship was projected in front of her.

  “Right here, inside one of the Egrecorps’ airborne RnD facilities.” She began as segments of the ship phased away to reveal the interior. “There’s a file we need inside of their server room, overseen by the eyes and ears of the whole operation, you may recall them by the name ‘Rayne Howeduc’.”

Daemon's ears perked up when he heard that name, breaking his graze back towards Elec-Sys.

  “Rayne… as in the Rayne from… this guild?” He asked.

  “The very same.” Elec-Sys replied, nodding.

  Daemon shook his head in disbelief. “Wait, so if it's… ‘that’ Rayne, then that means the tall figure who sicced that ‘Sweeper’ on us really was-”

  “-Myron Nox.” Elec-Sys replied.

  “But how could they be from this guild… was it all just a front?” Daemon asked, his mind rushing with multiple scenarios.

  “No, the guild here has nothing to do with the Egrecore.” 'Elec-Sys reassured him. “The Myron ruling over the Egrecore is from a distant universe, in a timeline where he… gave into the voices. Where he allowed them to drive me completely mad with delusions of grandeur. Your guildmaster was lucky enough to get the Crucible away from the guild before the voices got to him as well. But what they want with the guild members here… not even I know.”  

“Do you think they are holding them hostage? Looking for ransom, perhaps?” Spoke Milo, walking into the office, overhearing the conversation.

  “Unlikely.” Elec-Sys responded. “Ransom isn't their thing. They're usually more of the ‘shoot first, ask questions never’ type.”

  “If this ship harbors their so-called ‘eyes and ears’ then maybe we’ll find out what they did with Myron and the other guild members.” Daemon proposed.

“Maybe… It's worth a shot.” Elec-Sys replied, heading back into the suit. I’ll charge up a rift and we’ll be on our way.

The exo-suit's right arm morphed, its armored plating shifting up, revealing a gun-like device glowing with bright green energy. Pointing it to the wall the arm began to crackle with electricity.

  The suit's on board voice began counting down. “//: Rift opening in three… two… one…”

Before the rift could be opened, the suit's energy began to falter, the device slowly whirring down as it morphed back into its arm.

  “No, no, no, not now!” Elec-Sys exclaimed, exiting the suit to check for any external damage.

  “What happened?” Daemon asked.

  “It looks as though the last of the suit's energy was used up during our fight with the sweeper.” Elec-Sys groaned with exasperation. “Without an external power source, we aren't getting anywhere.”

She and Daemon pondered for a moment before Milo spoke, his eyes lit up.

  “Mrs. Belladonna trimmed her wool earlier today, there should still be quite a potent electrical charge in the scraps. Do you think that could work?” He proposed.

  Elec-Sys turned to him. “That could work, perhaps, but it'd only be good for a one way trip.” She weighed the possibilities in her head before continuing. “Yeah, it'll have to do, Daemon, Milo, bring every bit of it back here, I’ll construct the necessary enclosure.”

Daemon and Milo both acknowledge her, heading to the guild barracks.

Heading into Cedric and Lyra's room, Milo floated over the trash bin brimming with wool located next to the mirror.

  “Here we are,” He began, picking up two handfuls of wool. “Now, if we create a static charge like this…”

Milo began rubbing the two bundles of wool together, sparks crackling along its surface. Within seconds, electricity ran through the wool with a steady current.

  “This should suffice, don't you think?” Milo walked past Daemon with an armful of electric wool.

Daemon picked up an armful and began to follow Milo, before his gaze stopped on a tattered travel cloak placed atop one of the wooden chests.

  “That was Mrs. Belladonna’s…” Milo said, noticing Daemon's gaze. “… why don't you bring it along? I'm sure she would appreciate the gesture of returning it.”

With a nod, Daemon grabbed the cloak, draping it over his shoulder and following Milo back to the guildmaster's office.

Elec-Sys had already rigged the suit arm to two containers, various wires connecting them. Daemon and Milo returned, each placing their bundles of wool into the containers.

  “Alright… let's hope this works.” Elec-Sys spoke as she dematerialized back into the suit, it's arm morphing once more to summon the rift. The wool began to smolder within the containers, their energy was sapped through the wires, powering up the device as it sent a blast of bright green towards the wall that made Daemon have to shield his eyes. Returning his gaze to the wall, a swirling, crackling vortex emerging from its center.

  “That did it!” Elec-Sys proclaimed, the exo-suit doing fist pump. “Now, come on, I'm not sure how long this rift will remain open, so we need to hurry.”

Daemon rushed to the exo suit, draping the cloak across himself as the core enveloped him in its light.

  “Hold on!” Milo ran up to them, waving them down. “I wish to tag along with you.”

  “Absolutely not, I'm not putting you at risk of capture as well.” Daemon responded.

  Milo huffed and stepped in front of their path towards the rift. “I made it my goal long ago to protect the members of Wanderlust. Please, Daemon, they're like family to me… I will do whatever it takes to bring them back.”

  The exo-suit stood there looking down at the determined ghost doll, arms crossed. “Fine, I suppose I can't stop you…” Daemon replied with a sigh. “Elec-Sys… can you…”

  “I got this.” Elec-Sys responded, taking partial control of the suit, the core opening to catch Milo in its beam. The suit's emissive lights dimmed from their usual blue color, flashing a deep purple as the motors and servos whirring in response to the Crucible making space for the new passenger.

  Inside of the suit, Daemon looked around the void for any traces of Milo. “Hey, Elec-Sys, where'd you send him if he's not here?”

  “I sent him to the inner workings of the Crucible.” She responded, appearing on one of the many holographic screens. “But don't worry, you two will still have contact through the pilot interface and I’ve got an eye trained on the Crucible’s just in case anything goes awry.”

  “Now let's go. Please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times, this could get a little bit bumpy.” Taking control of the suit's movement, Elec-Sys led it through the rift.

The rift of green broke the skyline, the exo-suit rocketing out and through the clouds. Flying through the air, Daemon peered down to notice the distant shape of Valley Town and the guildhall.

  “Uhh, did we… loop or something?” Daemon asked, looking around confused at the familiar landscape below.

  “Nope, what you're seeing here is an alternate timeline.”

  “An alternate timeline? But it looks identical to where we were before.” Daemon said.

  “Well… if you forward for a second…” Elec-Sys turned the suit's gaze towards a large ship in the distance, the same from the hologram displayed earlier.

The ship remained in a stationary position, floating high above the clouds over the town, the Egrecorps' transference beams flowing too and from its hull.

  “We're approaching our destination, preparing to board,” Announced Elec-Sys and they flew closer.

The suit dived down into one of the transference beams heading into the ship, a flash of white engulfing their vision as they materialized inside.

The inside of the ship was unusually quiet, save for the light buzz and muffled beeps of the

onboard technology. They appeared to have been transferred to the ship docking station, units of the Egrecorps moving back and forth across the room with near perfect efficiency. Daemon looked around, the soldiers walking past him, seemingly unaware of his presence.

  “Why aren't they attacking us?” He asked Elec-Sys from inside his head.

“That's something I forgot to mention. See, word may travel fast through the Egrecorps’ outfit, but this is one of the few ships that has yet to know that War Angel went rogue.” Elec-Sys explained.

  “But you said this ship was overseen by their ‘eyes and ears’.” Daemon replied.

  Elec-Sys giggled. “That's the best part… not even he knows yet. This means, if we're lucky, we got time to get in and get out without anyone batting an eye.”

Daemon felt rather nervous walking so close next to his enemy, worried that they could realize and turn on him at a moment's notice, but at this point he had no choice but to grit his teeth and push through this mission quickly.

Walking through the automatic doors, they were greeted with a grated, open walkway suspended above a large room dimly lit with a pale purple light, the floor covered with metal scrap and mechanical body parts. Daemon looked past the railing to notice a hulking metal beast stomping along the floor on four massive legs, its large maw scooping up any scrap in its path.

  “What is that thing!?” Milo exclaimed, catching a glimpse of the hulking beast below them.

  “That is one of the Egrecorps' smelters.” Elec-Sys explained. “These brutes take the defective and broken, consuming them and breaking them down into reusable molten metal.”

  “I thought the Sweeper recycled the defective.” Daemon spoke up.

  “They do, normally, but a Sweeper’s main purpose is to incapacitate rogue units so that the robotics division can either reprogram or repurpose their parts. A Smelter’s purpose is to break the entity down completely so that their raw materials can be put to better use.” Elec-Sys elaborated.

As the three watched the marching mass of metal trudge across the floor, their attention was broken by a voice coming from across the catwalk.

  “Hey, you there! What do you think you’re doing!?” The voice called out.

Daemon turned quickly, taking a defensive stance as he noticed a soldier walking towards him, hesitating for a moment as he spied no traces of a firearm on their person.

  “I don’t recognize your model…” The soldier said, looking up and down the War Angel’s form. “ Let’s see… an Upper-Class unit… Are you perhaps one of the Brain’s RnD staff?”

  “I, uh-” Daemon began before being immediately cut off by the soldier.

“-Excellent, here.” The soldier thrust a flash drive into Daemon’s grasp before turning to walk away. “Your boss is expecting that battle data, We’ve got people up the ladder hinting at something big coming our way and RnD needs that info uploaded to the Brain’s servers ASAP. So get moving.”

Daemon watched the soldier leave, confusion hidden underneath the exo-suit’s face at the sudden transaction.

“What was that all about?” He asked Elec-Sys, taking a glance at the small USB in his hand.

  Elec-Sys scanned the USB. “The server, huh?” She pondered for a moment. “This could work in our favor… Sending directions now.”

Following Ele-Sys’ directions down the walkway, Daemon found himself in a medium sized room, a circular desk against the wall, flanked by two elevators. 

At the desk was a skeletal, mechanical figure, it’s round turquoise eyes darted back and forth between the various monitors that surrounded it, It was attached to a large apparatus dangling from the ceiling, a multitude of arms jutting out from every angle, all feverishly typing away at several keyboards, causing a cascade of text and numbers to flood each and every screen.

 “Uhh, excuse me…” Daemon began, walking up to the occupied desk jockey.

  “Who’s askin’’?” The figure’s head swiftly snapped to meet War Angel’s eyes, their voice and speech pattern sounding nearly identical to Rayne’s.

One of the arms swung over to meet the exo-suit, the palm splayed before it as a light ran across their chassis - a scan of some kind. The figure went back to their fervent typing as the mech’s data slowly appeared on one of the monitors before an error filled the screen.

  “Hold it, got somethin’ here…” They spoke with a suspicious tone and they minimized the suit’s data. “Hmm… Universal Serial Bus… Battle data from universe W441-V7…” They glanced back before pushing the monitor to the side, sliding the next one over to continue his typing, “Elevator on the left will take you to the server room. When you’re there, slot the data in and I’ll handle the rest…” They nonchalantly gestured to the opening elevator door. Daemon briefly looked around before quickly rushing into the lift without another word.

Within the rising elevator, Elec-Sys materialized from the suit, frustrated.

  “God dammit. Daemon, he was so close to sniffing you out, if you didn’t have that USB on you…” She glared, clearly angry at his conspicuous behavior around Rayne.

  “Well he didn’t.” Daemon crossed his arms. “But you know you could’ve warned me that was the overseer I was walking up to…."

  Elec-Sys just shook her head disapprovingly. “Whatever… But now who knows how much time we have. Keep your head low and let’s get this done.” She told him as she dematerialized back into the suit.

The elevator eventually stopped on a barren hall of metal, completely silent save for the hum of the lights. Daemon carefully made his way down the hallway, keeping a close eye on every corner he passed.

  “This should be the server room. Daemon, stop here.” Elec-Sys said as they passed by a heavily locked door.

Walking up to the door, a camera emerged from the top of its frame, scanning them before the door began making sounds of clanking and tumbling, sliding open after a short moment.

The room housed a multitude of active servers and computers, all sporting a turquoise glow. A heavy mist floated through the air, limiting Daemon's vision as he slowly traversed the room. Through the obscuring mist glowed the peculiar light from one of the monitors in the corner, emanating a magenta light, sticking out among the shroud of turquoise mist.

  “This is it. Take the exo-link from your arm and slot in.” Elec-Sys instructed.

  “The What now?” Daemon looked at his arms confused.

Eventually, he noticed a cord with a port nestled in the suit's left wrist, pulling it out and slotting it into one of the computer's ports. The machine began to flicker as its data was siphoned, the magenta light traveling visibly through the cord.

While the suit was busy extracting whatever it was from the computer, Daemon heard the sound of metal scraping. He looked behind him to identify the noise, but saw next to nothing beyond the mist that filled the room.

  “Uh, Elec-Sys, did you hear that?” He asked, an increasingly nervous tone in his voice.

  “Most likely a fan inside these servers grinding, I sense no other lifeforms on the scanner.” She replied.

As Daemon turned his attention back to the machine, a blade flew from behind the cover of the mist, piercing straight through the suit's right arm, dragging in away from the port and stopping the siphoning of data.

  “Well… serves me right for just lettin’ you pass on by without a full analysis.” The voice of Rayne called out, a skeletal silhouette emerging from the misty shroud, the appendage that struck Daemon being a long tail ending in a bladed claw.

  Daemon, attempting to pry the blade out, had his balance toppled as Rayne retracted his tail back, tearing the arm clean off. “Ya know, I told Lord Nox that adding that new AI to that suit was a bad idea… That upgrade has made you a traitor.”

The arm began to deconstruct piece by piece, morphing around the tip of Rayne’s tail to form a makeshift gun barrel. A bright light soon erupted from it, rocketing towards Daemon as he ducked behind cover. Hearing Rayne's approach, he quickly ran between the servers, trying to get as much distance between them as possible.

  “Rayne, don’t you realize that Nox is just using you?” Ele-Sys attempted to get through to him. “Don’t you remember what they did to your guild?”

  “Oh, I remember… But my eyes have been opened… and it was a major blunder of theirs to refuse his offer.” Rayne responded coldly, following her voice, his tail whirring as it charged up another shot.

Pouncing around one of the servers, Rayne looked around, spotting no trace of the suit. Whipping his head around towards the sound of the server room door opening, he managed to capture a glimpse of Daemon running out the door.

  “So they wanna play a game of cat and mouse, huh? Fine, I accept.” He muttered to himself, casually walking after him.

Daemon ran for  the elevator, getting in and pressing down as the shape of Rayne's skeletal frame appeared at the end of the hallway, the doors closing before he had a chance to catch up.

  “Can’t this thing go any faster!?” Daemon yelled, frantically pressing the button before the voice of Rayne suddenly came over the ship’s intercom.

  “Attention, passengers, please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times. Things are about to get a little bumpy.” he spoke, the elevator light beginning to buzz and flicker.

Just as the intercom went dark, a loud metallic snap could be heard from above followed by the elevator plummeting swiftly down the shaft and crashing to the bottom floor. 

Daemon stumbled to his feet to pry the destroyed elevator, noticing a handful of soldiers running towards the shaft in response to the crash. Climbing out of the elevator shaft, Daemon ran past the soldiers, knocking them over into the railing of the grated walkway, Rayne walking casually as he trailed behind.

  Rayne glared at the soldiers as they helped one another to their feet. “Well, what are ya cookie cutter cannon fodder waiting for? Shoot him!”

  The soldiers acknowledged, opening fire upon Daemon as he ran down the walkway. With no cover to speak of, Daemon jumped over the railing, landing into the piles of mechanical limbs and scrap below. Rayne peered over the railing, the weapon upon his tail whirring to life once more as he charged a shot. Daemon  waded through the mounds of scrap, ducking behind a large chunk of metal to avoid it. This spot however would not prove safe for long as the Smelter came barreling in his direction, Daemon diving out of the way as its maw scooped up all the scrap in its path, leaving him without cover.

  Rayne chuckled as he aimed his shot. “There ya are… Ready…” His tail began glowing brightly. “Aim… Fire!”

A second blast of energy erupted from the tip, flying towards Daemon who quickly ducked, grazing past him and straight through the hull of the ship behind him. A powerful vacuum was created as the ship depressurized, forcefully pulling Daemon alongside any loose bits of scrap through it.

  Rayne stood there, rubbing the back of his head. “ Well… that wasn’t in the books…”

  “Should we send a squad after them, sir?” One of the soldiers asked.

  Rayne cast a glance at the speaker. “No, I’ll handle this dude myself. Lock this sector down, get this ship back to HQ and inform Lord Nox… I ain’t about to just let this infiltration slide.” He replied before snatching the gun from his hands and jumping over the railing and diving through the hole in the ship.

Daemon, plummeting through the air, managed to gain stability, launching the thrusters and flying past the falling debris, landing onto the streets of Valley Town.

  “We got what we came for, right?” Daemon asked Elec-sys, his breathing heavy.

  Elec-Sys scanned the data gathered from the ship. “Checking file integrity… It’s incomplete, but it’ll be enough to fix the M.A.P.”

  “That’s all ya came for? Really now?” Rayne spoke, perched atop the roof of a nearby building. “Ya know… At first I was curious as to why an A.I like you would need such data from my vaults, but now I realize that it’s not for your sake…“ Rayne’s stare intensified, his gaze feeling as if it were piercing through the suit itself and straight at Daemon. “It was for your little passenger there…”

Jumping down from the roof, Rayne’s tail coiled as the pieces of the exo-suit’s arm were flung off onto the ground as he cocked the rifle in his right hand.

  “Rayne, please, you don’t have to do this.” Daemon pleaded, backing away.

 Ranye scoffed as he raised his gun. Slowly circling around. “Lord Nox has promised us all God-like power. Just imagine, a chance to be a better you - to have power beyond imagination,  let me tell ya, little dude… I’d definitely kill for that…”

Rayne opened fire upon Daemon, who rushed to pick up the suit’s arm through the flurry of bullets. Scooping the arm from the dirt, he flew into the air in an attempt to create distance between him and Rayne. Before he could make any meaningful distance, Rayne’s tail lashed out, grabbing him by the leg and flinging him back to earth.

  Rayne stood over Daemon, their digitigrade foot, while thin and flimsy looking was deceptively strong, planted firmly against the exo-suit’s chest, pinning it to the ground. “Ya know, this game has been fun and all, but I think it's time.”

  “Mr. Howeduc, please. this isn’t you!” Milo spoke up.  “Can’t you see that you’re being manipulated!? I know you still care deeply for the guild, and that you would never let it become so corrupted as to turn into… this!”

  Rayne cocked his head to the side, resting his gun on his shoulder. “Ya tell me I should care… but I just can’t bring myself to. Not when you of all dudes are sidin’ with these traitors. I kept my loyalty, but what about you, Milo? From where I’m standin’ ya seemed to have lost all of yours...”

Daemon could hear Milo’s calm and steady demeanor slowly slip away as he heard their breath quicken. The suit began suddenly glowing with a vibrant purple light as Milo took over direct control, grabbing a hold of Rayne’s leg and throwing him off.

  “Don’t you… ever accuse me… of being unloyal!” Milo seethed, reattaching the severed arm, energy manifesting around it to form a bright violet aegis. Milo Flung the shield forward, Rayne ducking under it as it stuck into the wall.

  “Hah! Ya missed!” Rayne began to laugh before the shield dislodged from the wall, striking him in the head and returning to the exo-suit’s side.

He rubbed the back of his head, casting a spiteful glare at Daemon before his chassis shimmered as the light bent around him, rendering him almost completely invisible. Milo rushed towards the vanishing mech, swinging the shield in a wide arc only to hit thin air.

  “So… The do-no-harm Doc finally shows his true colors. Done pretendin’ that you’re so stoic and level headed, are we?” Rayne’s voice called out from around them.

  “Shut it!” Milo yelled, looking around frantically for the mocking mechanized feline. “You do not know me!”

  Rayne chuckled. “What’s the matter, does the truth hurt? Admit it, everybody’s got their inner demons… even you. So why don’t ya just let ‘em out? Let the world know who ya really are on the inside.”

  “Easy now, he’s just trying to get under your skin.” Daemon consoled Milo while their anger towards Rayne’s words sent intense waves of energy throughout the exo-suit. “Just breathe… I’ll take over from here.”

Milo’s energy dissipated, transferred back into the Crucible as Daemon regained control.

Scanning the area carefully, he turned to the sound of footsteps approaching rapidly from behind. Rayne, low to the ground, dissipated his cloaking tech as he struck Daemon in the side. Daemon retaliated, grabbing the Sweeper’s chainsaw from exo-suit’s back and swinging it down. Rayne guarded against the saw’s teeth, raising his arm up as the saw burrowed into it, a storm of fiery sparks flying out from the impact. 

Locked in collision, Rayne stared into the suit’s eyes once more. “I don’t know what this A.I promises to make ya work for it, but I can guarantee ya they won’t keep their word.”

“They promised me nothing…” Daemon responded through gritted teeth, tearing the chainsaw from Rayne’s arm, the suit’s heavy boot punting him backwards.

 Rayne rose to his feet, clutching his abdomen. “Then why help them? Ya got no horse in the race. No reason to fight...”

  Daemon revved the chainsaw, rushing towards Rayne. “You don’t know what I fight for!”

Rayne evaded the oncoming saw as he circled past Daemon, his tail sweeping the exo-suit off of its feet as he pinned it to the ground again.

 Rayne pinned the suit down, yanking the chainsaw from his grip and tossing it aside. “Maybe I don’t… but I do know this - the power ya hold will be a real monkey wrench in our operation… I won’t kill ya outright, but I can’t allow ya to have the strength to ruin Nox’s grand vision…” Rayne’s head split open revealing a bright teal core, several mechanical tendrils lashing out and connecting to the head of Daemon’s suit.

Daemon could feel the tendrils begin leeching the suit’s energy away, a wave of pain enveloping him as if his very lifeforce was being siphoned as well. He struggled against their grasp, reaching out for the chainsaw thrown a few feet away. Focusing his fleeting energy into the suit’s hand, he pulled the chainsaw over to him, clamping down on the trigger and plunging it into the side of Rayne’s neck. The tendrils unlatched from the exo-suit’s head as Rayne yelled out, pulling away from the saw’s grinding teeth and stumbling off of Daemon.

  The chassis of his head still open, the core pulsed as Rayne spoke. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury Exhibit A…” He chuckled, falling to his knees, the light of his core flickering and buzzing ever so slightly.

He watched as Daemon climbed to his feet, approaching him with the chainsaw in his hand still roaring.

  “Ya know, I wonder…” Rayne groaned in pain, “… what is it ya really fight for? Fame? Fortune? Or perhaps most likely… family? Maybe we’ll have the crew pay your poor mother another visit…”

Daemon’s breath stifled, Rayne’s words sending his blood to a boil. Rushing towards him now, Daemon tackled Rayne to the dirt, his chainsaw pressed against his throat, ready to finish what it started.

“I swear… If you lay a hand on her I will personally dismantle every last one of you cybernetic abominations! What did you do to her!?” He screamed in rage.

  “Nothin’ yet. “Rayne callously replied. “But if you keep on like this, we won’t be to blame, it’ll be her blood on your hands.”

Without another word. his hands shaking from his anger, Daemon quickly grasped the core inside of Rayne’s head, tearing it from the wire and rivets that kept it locked down. He brought the core to his line of sight, watching his body grow limp as it lost power.

  “I won’t let you hurt my family… I will die before I ever let that happen.” He muttered to the fading core, cracks forming along the glass enclosure as his grip tightening around it.

  “Daemon… I think that’s enough.” Elec-Sys calmly spoke, taking control from the suit’s arm and loosening its death grip. “Remember what you told Milo, ‘Don’t let him get under your skin’. As long as I’m around, I won’t let any harm come to your family.”

  “You said we have the means to repair the M.A.P, right?” Daemon asked. “I need you to pinpoint where my mother is, I need to make sure she’s safe.”

  “I promise, she’s safe where she is.” Elec-Sys replied. ”but for the time being, we need to prepare. The Egrecorps planning on going to war here and we-”

  “I don’t care about that!” Daemon stormed out of the exo-suit, Elec-Sys following shortly after. “Find someone else to play a role in this damned war of yours, I want nothing to do with it…”

  Elec-Sys sighed, placing her crystal wing against his cheek and locking eyes with him. “Daemon… I know I’m putting a heavy burden on your shoulders and that you feel like you’re not up to the task, I get that… But please, you are the only person not on the Egrecorps’ side who can pilot the War Angel, without you, who knows how many innocent lives will be lost… is that what you want…?”

Daemon stepped away from Elec-Sys, grabbing the core from the exo-suit’s hand, staring in contemplation.  A few moments had passed before he noticed the residents of Valley Town gathered around him to see the spectacle that had just unfolded. Odd to him, instead of cheering, the crowd remained there in wide-eyed silence.

  “D-Do you have any idea what you’ve just done… ?” A resident in front of him eventually spoke, eyes transfixed on Rayne’s lifeless body. “We’re doomed… all of us… the whole town. They’ll be back to pick up the pieces and then we’re all going to get it… They’re going to kill us all!”

The panicked rambling of this villager sparked a chain reaction within the crowd, causing an eruption of worry and fear to spill out from the masses.

  Elec-Sys looked around at the uproaring citizens before glancing over at Daemon with an inquisitive look. “Daemon, I’ve got an idea, bring that core with you.” 

Daemon simply nodded in response before she dematerialized into the suit, following close behind her. Assumed control, Elec-Sys flew onto a nearby rooftop, Daemon yelling for the crowd to quiet down.

  “Alright, listen up, all of you!” He began. “I want you to take a good long look at the body you see laying at your feet… Do you have any idea who they are… ? No…? Well I’ll tell you… that scrap you see before you is none other than the Egrecorps’ main conduit of information. Without them, their entire operation is virtually blind.”

A few of the citizens within the crowd gasped, the murmuring growing louder and more confident.

  “And this right here is the brain of that very conduit.” Elec-sys raised the core for the crowd to see. “All of the Egrecorps’ information flowed through this brain… and now we had the opportunity to use this data against them, to retaliate and take back what’s ours! So what do you say, Valley Town? Are we going to let some outsiders invade our homes, walk around like they own the place and mess with our livelihood?” Daemon asked the crowd.

A sparse number of ‘no’s’ trickled from the crowd.

  “I have lived my entire life controlled by those who sought nothing more than to use me for their personal gain, and I am willing to fight to protect those closest to me… Valley Town, are you willing to do the same?” He yelled.

A few individuals in the crowd raised their voice to cheer for the idea, but a majority of them fell back into worried murmuring.

Daemon shook his head. “Come on, get yourselves together! We have the opportunity to overthrow a major power and save countless lives from potential chaos! You should not be afraid to fight for what you think is right, this is your world and no one, not even the Egrecorps can take it from you! So stand with us, Valley Town and let’s cut the head off of this vile snake!”

The crowd began to fill with more cheering ballooning into a cacophony of triumphant shouts.

  Daemon smiled, looking down at the mass of invigorated people. “I think that about does it. Funny… I never thought I’d see the day where I’d be the one that people look up to…”

  Elec-Sys giggled “Well, I think you did really well. You may not realize it yet, but you have the potential to be a great leader.”

  “That is true, but… Daemon, are you sure you are mentally prepared to deal with this?” Milo chimed in, concerned. “I thought you didn’t want anything to do with this conflict.”

  “Believe me, I don’t…” Daemon sighed, staring at the cracked core in his hand.. “But I’m afraid at this point I don’t have much of a choice, if it’s not me, then the responsibility will just be dumped onto someone else. Besides, they threaten the lives of my family and I’m not going to let that slide. If they want a war… well then they’re going to get one.

From within the core, an unseen eye surveyed the unsuspecting group, studying their every move.

  “That does it… ” Nox slammed his fist into the console from where he watched the ordeal unfold. “These transgressions cannot be allowed to go any further.”

  “C'mon, Nox, I almost had them, I just got cocky was all.” Spoke the distant voice of Rayne, a compartment in the wall opening up, billowing steam as his fully recovered mechanical form emerged..

  Nox turned towards the approaching desk jockey. “You imbecile! You should have stayed on the ship where you belong! Do you even realize the power you’ve given this heathen!?”

  Rayne put his hands up. “Chill, chill, we’ve got time. He may have bested me once, but he won’t get the chance to next time.”

  “‘Next time’? There will be no ‘next time’ for you. You should be honored that I revive you at all… that I don’t scrap that shell of yours and resign you to hive work like the rest of them!” Nox pushed past Rayne, making his way to the door.

  “Now hold on, just…  give me another shot. We’ve got a premium opportunity here.” Rayne pleaded.

  Nox stopped, turning his head back to meet his gaze. “Give me one good reason why I should…”

  “One good reason? How about two?” The lights on Rayne’s chassis began to flicker and buzz as the monitor displayed two images - one of Rayne’s old, lifeless mechanical body and one of Daemon. “The little dude thinks I’m dead, that the core he holds is the end-all-be-all of Rayne Howeduc… I also have an inkling as to where he’ll be heading next.” The two images disappeared, replaced by the single image of a solar system with the label ‘K1038-B2’.

  Nox walked back to monitor, the image of the system filling his visor. “You’re sure that this is where he’ll be?”

  “Positive.” Rayne responded. “And even if it isn’t his next stop, we can’t pass up the element of surprise.”

  Nox sighed, his metal claws clasped behind him. “Very well, but I expect better results from you this time… You understand the consequences for failure…”