Volume Twenty Nine - Hunted

== Chapter 337 - Debriefing ==
"There's a microchip inside my brain?!" Andromeda roars.
"Yes, and it's been the cause for your more recent negative behavior." Hammond answers. "I suspect that Darkstar implanted it so they could worsen relations between humans and Socqreath."
"Yet another twisted thing they did..." Jack replies.
"Yes, and I also believe that they're manually sending impulses to Andromeda's hypothalamus to make her more aggressive when she is angry or scared." Hammond says.
"I'm going to kill those bastards..." Andromeda growls.
"We need to find them, first." Hammond explains. 
"I can't believe Darkstar would do this..." Candice breathes.
"You can't? They're terrorists, they only want revenge and destruction, not actual, real, tangible victory." Hammond replies. "Their cause didn't die even when their leader did, they're all just in this for the sake of destruction now."
"And...what about Atlas?" Kasper asks.
"...Falqo and I told you everything that we know. We just don't have all the information we need." Hammond answers. "Right now, I think it's best that you return to New Earth, while I work on my project. I think you'll know when it's been completed."
"Alright, then..." Jack replies.
The five walk out of Hammond's office, and down the hallway, toward the elevator, thinking about everything that he had said. Was it true? Did Andromeda really have this implant? If so, they had to call Demetrius, surely he could remove it with his medical skills. Or maybe even Arthur.
Still, they were glad to finally know the identity of Sechsgrad. If they found him working with Darkstar, they could take out the last of their enemies for good, and finally get the rest they all thought they deserved after literally just helping win a war against an empire of space dragons.
Jack at least, wanted to rest.
They then entered the elevator, and pressed the button for the entrance floor.
"I hope we see Uncle Falqo again." Candice remarks.
"Yeah, I do too." Kasper replies, as Andromeda turned her head away.
"Anne...we're going to stop them." Jack says, putting his hand on hers.
"...It's not them I'm worried about." Andromeda replies softly. "...I did...a lot of bad things...and I've hurt...so many people..."
"That was Darkstar, not you." Jack says.
"...Whatever was influencing my decisions...I still carried them out." Andromeda breathes, as Jack hugs her gently, Andromeda hugging him back just as gently.
== Chapter 338 - Blackshot ==
When the elevator opens at the bottom floor, they all saw a man in a black and green military uniform standing there, with an odd helmet on his head, holding a gun.
"What the--" Jack starts, before they all dodge bullets from the figure, who had almost immediately started firing at them!
Jack takes out his own gun and fires back at the figure, the bullets bouncing off the figure's clothing.
"Who is this guy?!" Jack yells.
"He goes by the name of Blackshot!" Shunsuke answers. "He's a mercenary!"
"Why does there always have to be someone new trying to kill us?!" Andromeda roars, dodging another bullet.
Kasper starts to dig around his sleeves for something, as Shunsuke picks up a small crate and throws it at Blackshot, who sliced it in half with a katana and starts to walk towards them.
"What?!" Candice shouts, as she leaps over a bullet.
The five keep doing their best to evade Blackshot's gunfire, as Andromeda rips a sign out of the floor and throws it at the mercenary, who cuts in half as he did the crate and keeps walking towards them, keeps firing.
"Just leave us alone!" Andromeda roars, as they reach a bullet train and immediately jump in, Blackshot walking in after them as they do so.
As the bullet train started to move through Olympus Mons, the five did their best to keep evading Blackshot's gunfire, which was much, much more difficult in such a small space.
Shunsuke rips one of the bars off the train and runs to swing it at Blackshot, who kicks Shunsuke in the stomach to send him flying through the door of both the car they were in and the car in front, sending him into that car.
The other four run into that car and start sending bullets and Psychic Weapons at Blackshot, who dodges all of the attacks to run in after them, chasing them as they ran to the other end of the car.
They waste no time and open the door of that car to run to the next car, and the next car after that, and so on, barely dodging Blackshot's gunfire and sword slashes as the did so, knowing each train car they ran through was being wrecked by their assailant.
Then, they saw they were entering Muskville, and decided to just leap out of the train and onto the ground, gritting their teeth in pain as they did so, and not immediately seeing Blackshot as the train passed.
"Did we lose him?" Jack wonders.
"I doubt it...look around." Shunsuke replies, as they start to walk through Muskville, searching for their attacker.
== Chapter 339 - The Hunt is On ==
Then, suddenly, they heard a gunshot, Andromeda just barely dodging a sniper round as it grazed her cheek!
"What?!" She shouts, before turning towards a building, and glaring at it. "He's there!"
As she says that, Jack fires at the building, but there was no reaction.
"He's not there anymore..." He breathes, his eyes darting around.
Soon, they heard another trigger being pulled, and leaped out of the way of another sniper round, one which exploded when it hit the wall of a building.
"Gh!" Shunsuke grunts, as he picks up a garbage can and throws it in the direction the bullet came from.
It clatters to the ground, without a clear response from Blackshot.
"He's toying with us!" Andromeda growls.
"No...hunting us." Shunsuke replies, as they all look around once more, trying not to split up.
And once more, they hear something rushing towards them, and all dodge...a rocket!
"WHAT?!" Candice screams, as the rocket hits another building, causing it to topple over.
"This is getting ridiculous!" Kasper yells, as he once again looks for something he had in his clothing, a weapon, most likely.
Jack begins firing in random directions, hoping at least one bullet would at least graze Blackshot.
And then, they heard a clink.
"There!" Jack shouts, running towards where he heard the clink come from, as Andromeda, Candice, Kasper and Shunsuke all follow him, ready to fight as well. If they couldn't run from Blackshot, they would take him down.
And then, they dodged more bullets from the mercenary, as he stepped out of the shadows, glaring at all of them with a red eye.
"You seem very intent on dying." Blackshot remarks.
"No, on killing you." Andromeda retorts, glaring viciously at their assailant, who narrows his eyes with a slight chuckle.
"You can try." He taunts, pointing his gun at them.
== Chapter 340 - Fighting Back ==
Jack immediately fires again at Blackshot, who fires at the bullets from Jack's gun to knock them out of the air.
Andromeda rushes at Blackshot and slashes at him with her Psychic Weapons, as he blocks with his katana and fires at Andromeda's abdomen, Andromeda barely dodging as she felt the bullet graze her stomach.
"Gh!" She grunts, as Shunsuke runs in to punch Blackshot, who preforms a backflip to kick Shunsuke's arm, dislocating it.
"Argh!" Shunsuke yells, leaping back to attempt snapping his arm back into place, as Jack fires more bullets at Blackshot, who blocks with his katana.
Andromeda picks up a car with her Psychic Weapons, and throws it at Blackshot, who slashes it in half with his katana as he did to everything else they threw at him, and rushes to slash at Andromeda's stomach, aiming to slice her in half!
Andromeda leaps back as fast as possible, feeling a small cut be left on her stomach, and rips a lamp post out of the ground to use as a spear against Blackshot, who sidesteps the lamp post and grabs it to use as leverage to slam Andromeda into a building, Andromeda quickly letting go of the lamp post so that this didn't happen, as Jack fires again at Blackshot.
Blackshot merely twirls his katana to deflect the bullets.
"Seriously?" He demands, before sheathing his katana. "Let us see what else you can do."
Jack rushes at Blackshot to throw a punch at him, the mercenary grabbing his fist and throwing a punch at his stomach.
"GAH!" Jack roars in agony, as Blackshot throws him to the ground and dodges a punch from Shunsuke before kneeing him in the stomach to send him flying backwards.
Andromeda sends more Psychic Weapons at Blackshot, who dodges all of them and slides beneath them to sweep Andromeda off her feet and kick her into the air.
Before Andromeda could hit the ground, Blackshot grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up off her feet, and beginning to tighten his grip.
Andromeda tried to wheeze for breath, as Jack and Shunsuke both throw punches at Blackshot, who backhands Jack in the face while simultaneously elbowing Shunsuke in the face, sending them both flying back.
"NO!" Candice screams, beginning to run towards Blackshot as Kasper follows her.
"Now...you die, Socqreath Queen." Blackshot remarks, putting his gun to Andromeda's head.
But before he could pull the trigger, he leaped back to dodge a machete.
== Chapter 341 - The Uncle Fights ==
"What kind of trouble did ya'll get into this time?" Falqo demands, standing there and holding said machete.
"Uncle Falqo!" Candice shouts. "Be careful! He's super dangerous!"
"Yeah, I know." Falqo replies nonchalantly, as Blackshot runs at him with his sword.
"So am I."
And at that, Falqo blocks the slash, and the next slash, before ducking beneath the next slash after that to grab a grenade of of Blackshot's utility belt and throw it to the ground, creating a bright flash and filing the area with pitch black smoke.
"MY EYES!" Andromeda roars, as Falqo runs out of there, the five of them following his lead.
Falqo takes them to a small spacejet, just big enough for them all to fit inside, as he starts the engine and begins to take off, dodging and weaving through a number of missiles suddenly fired by Blackshot, said missiles exploding in the air after what seemed like a minute, as Blackshot fired more of them.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Falqo growls, continuing to dodge the missiles as, when this batch exploded, he turned around and fired a great many bullets at Blackshot with the spacejet, Blackshot blocking the bullets and preparing to fire again, as they heard Strike Craft coming from Musktopia.
"There's our cue to leave." Falqo remarks, as he begins flying them towards the tunnel they came into Olympus Mons through, Blackshot being forced to flee by Musktopia's Strike Craft.
"Well, wasn't that an adventure." Falqo says.
"It was another time we were almost killed..." Andromeda retorts.
"Oh, lighten up, we'll be back at New Earth before ya' know it." Falqo replies, as the spacejet flies through the tunnel and reaches the Docking Dome that they had entered Mars in.
Then, Falqo entered credentials and flew through the airlock, flying out of Mars as fast as the spacejet would go, and flying to the nearest Warp-Lane.
Blackshot sat in an old warehouse, polishing his weapons as he plotted his next move.
"Those two aren't going to escape my wrath..." Blackshot remarks, as he polished his sword, and looked into it to see, reflected, the silhouette of a man wearing a trenchcoat standing at the doorway, at the top of the stairs.
"You had better not be taking my little nemeses away." Karim says, as Blackshot turns around to glare at him.
"You are going to regret coming here, relic." Blackshot retorts. "I fear no man, no Socqreath."
"Is that so?" Karim asks, as he points his gun at Blackshot. "Because I don't either."
== Chapter 342 - The Return of The Immortal ==
Karim fires at Blackshot, who dodges the bullets and lets a few hit his armor, as he fires back at Karim with his own gun, Karim making no effort to dodge as he simply starts to walk down the stairs.
Blackshot then points his sniper rifle at Karim, and fires, Karim ignoring the shot even as it went through his knee, which started to regenerate.
"You are an abomination..." Blackshot growls.
"You are, too." Karim replies, as he leaps at Blackshot, who fires a rocket at him, Karim grabbing the rocket and throwing it behind himself as it explodes, before grabbing the rocket launcher and crushing it in his grip!
Blackshot then grabs his sword and swings it at Karim, who catches it and snaps it in half, before being punched in the face by Blackshot multiple times.
Karim catches one of Blackshot's punches and throws his own back, Blackshot catching Karim's fist, as they headbutt, Blackshot flinching back as Karim kicks him in the chest to send him through the table and into the wall.
Karim grabs a chair by its leg and drags it to Blackshot, swinging it at him like a bat with one hand as Blackshot blocks with his forearms, stumbling back as Karim goes to stomp on his face, Blackshot grabbing Karim's leg and sweeping his other leg off the ground.
Blackshot quickly kicks Karrim back before he can move again, but Karim soon got back up like nothing happened, and started firing at Blackshot again, the mercenary cartwheeling, flipping and twirling to avoid the bullets as he picks up his own gun to fire back at Karim, who walks forwards while barely noticing the bullets.
Then, Karim takes out a grenade and throws it at Blackshot, who throws his own grenade back, the grenades colliding and creating a bright flash of light as well as an explosive shockwave, sending fire and smoke everywhere as Karim just walks through the fire, dusting himself off.
Blackshot then takes out a laser gun, and fires it into Karim's eyes, which continuously go blind and regenerate back to normal, as Karim fires the gun out of Blackshot's hand.
Blackshot swings a kick at Karim's side, Karim grabbing Blackshot's leg and flinging him through the air to fire at him once more, but Blackshot sets off more flares and smoke bombs, as Karim watches.
When the smoke had cleared, Blackshot had vanished.
"Well, I didn't expect that from you." Karim remarks, as he walks out of the building, and past the people he had killed while walking to the warehouse to begin with.
== Chapter 343 - Return to Maibaum Manor ==
"So this is where my niece's boyfriend lives." Falqo remarks, looking up at the mansion at the top of the mountain. "Quaint."
The six then walk into the manor, past a portrait of Gerald, as Falqo closes the door.
"I'm so happy you came with us!" Candice shouts, hugging Falqo again.
"Yeah, me too, sort of." Falqo replies, hugging back, before they all look at a large TV screen with a console beneath it. "That your game place?"
"Yeah, I...haven't finished it, yet." Kasper replies. "I'm hoping we stop Darkstar...and Sechsgrad...soon, so I can focus on this."
"Yeah, hoping that happens too." Falqo responds.
Candice soon flips open the refrigerator, and smiles wide at all the food options inside. It wasn't long before she started making a bunch of sandwiches, salads, and the like, while eating a popsicle.
"Huh?" Andromeda remarks, noticing what Candice was doing.
"We're gonna' have a big meal!" Candice shouts.
"O...kay." Andromeda replies, as she and Jack watch Candice make the food, Kasper going over to try and help, while Shunsuke looked down at his Winchester, smiling a bit, knowing that no more of his family would be lost to the Netraxian War. He was hoping all their families could meet up soon.
"Now that's a real old-fashioned gun." Falqo says, Shunsuke looking up in slight surprise.
"I...want to carry on my family's tradition." Shunsuke replies.
"Yeah, I get that." Falqo responds. "Just don't lose yourself in the process."
"Err...okay, then." Shunsuke says, a bit confused, as Falqo sighs and stands up, looking out one of the mansion's windows, down on the large city below.
"These kinds of places are made to let their residents look down on the rest of society..." Falqo remarks. "...and in return they've gotta be good to that society. Rulers only rule by the consent of the governed, after all..."
Then, they heard the doorbell ring, and a knock on the door.
"Huh?" Kasper wonders. "I don't remember inviting anyone else..."
"I have a feeling this'll be bad..." Falqo retorts, as he slowly walks towards the door.
Jack and Andromeda watch, as Andromeda got a sinking feeling, and started to glare at the door.
"Anne?" Jack asks.
"I think I know who's knocking..." She replies, as Jack turns back towards the door, which Falqo soon opens, revealing it to be, in a new white and gold jacket which extended downwards to his knees, Richard Robinson, flanked by his supersoldiers.
"Hello again, everyone." Richard declares.
== Chapter 344 - Ultimatum ==
"Well, if it isn't Richie." Falqo retorts.
"Kindly step aside, Distler. We're here for your niece and for the Socqreath Queen." Richard says simply.
"No, I ain't backin down when I know full-well that you wanna kill me damn niece." Falqo responds, glaring into Richard's eyes. "If you didn't get orders from the King himself to do this, then you and your buddies can pack up and leave."
"...I said...step...aside." Richard retorts, staring into Falqo's eyes coldly. "If you do not comply, you'll be shot."
"Can't wait to see you be court-marshalled for that." Falqo retorts back, not budging an inch, as Richard glares back. 
"Why are you so obsessed with Andromeda?!" Jack demands.
"Do you not know the things she's done?" Richard demands in response. "I've told you before that you shouldn't trust her, when she's been keeping her darkest secrets from you this whole time. She needs to face justice for her crimes!"
"What crimes?! What the Hell are you talking about?!" Jack roars.
"You already know!" Richard roars back.
"No! I don't!" Jack yells. "Please, just leave us alone!"
"No! If you don't get out of the way then I'll have my men fire on you!" Richard yells back.
"And lose any chance of rising through the ranks?!" Jack screams.
Richard was silent for a moment, as he turns back towards Falqo.
"He might be a bit overemotional about it, but he's right." Candice's uncle says. "Piss off, or get discharged from the military. Andromeda is not worth it."
"...Oh, she is..." Richard retorts. "It seems even you have no idea what she's done."
"Oh, I do. Mr. Nanocane filled me in on that." Falqo softly growls. "And I bet you're ten times as deplorable...as she used to be."
"...You are really testing my patience, here-" Richard starts.
"Oh, shut the fuck up!" Falqo shouts, interrupting the Colonel. "Stop acting so professional when what you're trying to do is so blatantly inhumane!"
"...I will say this...one...last...time." Richard retorts.
"No, you won't." Andromeda growls, glaring at Richard. "Leave...now..."
"You have no right to give me orders." Richard replies. "Prepare to open fire on them."
"Have you forgotten about me?" Kasper demands, as Richard turns towards him. "If you kill them...I will make sure your punishment is severe."
"...Annoying little brat..." Richard mutters. "Someday soon, I'll have more power than you ever will."
He then turns to his supersoldiers.
"Retreat...for now." He orders, as he and the soldiers walk away, him turning back to see Falqo once more, and then leaving.
== Chapter 345 - Phantom of the Past ==
A few hours later, Jack was walking back from the store, having picked up a number of groceries, when he saw a group of people walking somewhere, and, a bit curious, decided to follow them.
He thought this might be big, and if it was something bad, he thought he would try to stop it. If not now, then later.
As he followed the group, he found himself inside a large warehouse, with banners of the 'Dragonslayer' from that ad draped everywhere.
"What the..." Jack breathes, trailing off, as he sees someone slowly rise from beneath a large stage, and it was the exact man on the posters.
"Hello to all of you who visited this area." The Dragonslayer says into a microphone. "As you can imagine, times have been meant for celebration recently, at our triumph over the beastly Netraxians. No longer shall they threaten our kind, now, they will know our strength, and they will tremble before us. Never again, will they have the spine, the nerve, to be our enemies, not now that their ferocity, their power, has been taken from them!"
The 'Dragonslayer' pumps his fist up, as does everyone in the crowd, except for Jack, who was confused, curious, and suspicious, narrowing his eyes.
"Of course, if you came here, and see me, then you know that my mission is incomplete." The Dragonslayer continues, pacing back and forth across the stage with one hand behind his back and the other holding the microphone. "Though we removed one threat from humankind, many more aliens still remain in our borders, and threaten us daily. This threat must be eliminated if we are to truly live safely, without fear of any kind."
"Wha..." Jack trails off, his eyes widening.
"We must exterminate the Socqreath from the Human Star Realm!" The Dragonslayer declares, now facing towards the cheering crowd.
Jack, shocked, immediately starts to slowly walk away, as the Dragonslayer continued.
"The Socqreath took my family away from me, and I know they've taken the families of many here as well." He says. "As such, now you may know me as Phantom, as I will be the ghost of the Socqreath's past."
Jack continued to walk away, eventually walking out of the complex as he heard more cheering. He needed to tell everyone about this immediately, because this was urgent. They weren't just dealing with one terrorist group, anymore...they would have to deal with two.
Darkstar...and 'Phantom'.
== Chapter 346 - Unease ==
"Someone wants to kill all of us?!" Candice screams.
"Yes." Jack replies. "He calls himself Phantom, and he wants revenge for his dead family."
"Why...are there always more people trying to kill us...?" Andromeda breathes. "What did we ever do to them?!"
"Be alive." Falqo retorts. "Almost every goon I've dealt with, Hell, almost every goon all of you've dealt with, has been a total psycho. I'm pretty sure this 'Phantom' guy is just trying to sow as much chaos and distrust as possible, and we need to put a stop to it as soon as we can."
"What if...he's telling the truth?" Shunsuke asks.
"Then boohoo for him." Falqo retorts. "The instant you try to kill someone for a reason other than self-defense, you can kiss your morality goodbye."
"Maybe we should split up for the time being." Kasper remarks. "Just to make it harder for Phantom, or Darkstar, or Sechsgrad, to find all of us."
Falqo laughs at this.
"Ya think Sechsgrad won't be able to find you?" He demands. "From what Mr. Hat and Clogs has said, what you're suggesting is about as likely as a brain appearing out of nowhere."
"The others, though...they should be much easier to deal with." Kasper replies.
"Yeah, maybe. But where would you wanna go, anyway?" Falqo asks.
"I was thinking...maybe...Weepmire." Jack answers. "I...I wanna see Mom, again..."
"Who else wants to go to Weepmire?" Falqo asks.
"I'll go with Jack." Andromeda replies.
"Me too." Shunsuke says.
"Okay, then. Just don't get yourselves killed." Falqo responds, half-joking, half-not, at least it seemed that way. "You three had better get to packing, then. You can take my jet as long as you bring it back."
"Thanks, Falqo." Jack replies, as he, Andromeda and Shunsuke go to pack their things, Jack feeling excited about seeing his mother again, but also dreading seeing the town itself again, he hoped it hadn't fallen more into ruin since he had last been there, he seriously hoped so...
As Jack was packing up, Andromeda put her hand on his.
"Anne?" Jack asks.
"Jack..." Andromeda starts. "Please...if this...'Phantom'...finds us...be careful. I don't know anything about him, but I have a bad feeling..."
"Of course I'll be careful." Jack replies. "I always am."
"...You...you haven't been very careful about Karim..." Andromeda responds. "Just...please...don't go rushing to fight someone we don't know the capabilities of...I...I don't think I could bear to lose you...not again..."
Jack then hugged Andromeda gently. "I promise you won't lose me." He replies, as Andromeda tears up, hugging him back.
== Chapter 347 - Experiment Gone Wrong ==
"Come on, come on..." Arthur remarked, as he placed a number of test tubes containing various blood samples from various species into Demetrius' 'DNA Reader', as Demetrius had called it.
He watched the blood samples go through swirly tubes, mixing together as they all emptied into a syringe, with the screen on the device showing the same strand of DNA in all of them.
"A virus' genome...in all of these..." Arthur breathes. "...A form of Panspermia...?"
Arthur then takes the syringe out of the device, and examines it closely. It seemed all the blood types melded together well enough, so it should be safe for injecting, he thought. He just needed to know what the virus may have done, and so he went to place the syringe in another device, a 'Virus Simulator'.
As he walked, he felt his foot tap something, and looked down to see what looked like a grenade.
"Oh, well. Shouldn't be too bad, one of those things..." The doctor remarks. "Disarmed, I believe..."
He then walked over to put the syringe in the Virus Simulator, and looked on the screen to see what it did to the organism he selected, a human of course.
He watched in horror, as the human's body started mutating and contorting, and turning a glossy, pitch black.
"Necrosis...mutations...what the Hell...?" Arthur breathes, as he hears a faint beeping. "...No..."
And then, the grenade his foot had tapped...exploded!
== Chapter 348 - Depraved ==
A man was walking through the town of Weepmire, in a raincoat, holding an umbrella in one hand, as he looked around.
The rain seemed slightly harder today, and thunder was roaring in the clouds above.
The man continued walking towards the bakery that had been built, and as he walked into an alleyway, he started to feel uneasy.
"...Is...is someone there...?" The man asks.
"Oh...someone is indeed there." A somewhat slimy, gravelly, yet somewhat high-pitched voice answers from behind the man, who whirls around to see a cloaked figure standing at the end of the alleyway, illuminated briefly by the lightning.
Then, a scream, of both terror and agony. A scream, soon cut off.
Chewing sounds could be heard, as another man, a tall man also wearing a cloak, walked towards the first figure.
"Hello, there." The man with a familiar, soft-spoken, cold voice said, as the first figure stopped chewing, wiped his mouth, and turned around with a cruel, wide smile on his seemingly scaly red face.
"And who might you be?" The figure asks.
"I am the man who can help you be a bit more...organized about your killing." The man replies. "How would you like to help me kill two Socqreath, and four humans?"
The figure briefly looks shocked, before he starts giggling maniacally.
"Oh, I'd love to!" He shouts, beginning to laugh madly.