Volume 17 - A Familiar Face

## Chapter 193 - Reconfiguration

The room was lit only in some places, and only by dim red lights. They illuminated the outline of something that looked humanoid, but bulky, and looked as though it was made of machinery. The light that shone more brightly on it was the light of a welding device that a man in full black clothing that helped him blend into the darkness was using on the bulky figure. The light illuminated black and dulled red metal, and a few mechanical seeming features, but nothing more than that. The brightest thing in the room, it seemed, was a red screen, which the scientist, Darkstar's scientist, walked to.

His expression was unknowable beneath his black, red-bolted helmet, his eyes unreadable beneath those circular red lenses. Yet it was clear from his head movements that he was looking at the screen, checking every piece of data, before beginning to type a few key commands, turning his head towards what was presumably his creation. Then, electricity ran through metal tubes connecting to the back of the head, limbs and torso of said creation, red lights flaring on, including a circular right eye. They still didn't illuminate much, but someone more perceptive might make out something.

The electricity continued to crackle, as rapid beeping could be heard. The scientist continued to look on at the creation, who, a moment later, closed and opened his hand! The beeping continues to speed up, as electricity sparks everywhere and smoke rises from everything. The creation twitched and shuddered violently, sparks flying from it, its lights flashing on and off as rapidly as the beeps. The scientists covers his face with his arms, as then, the beeping slowed, the electricity died down, and the creation stopped moving, the lights flickering for a bit before turning the off, the scientist looking on.

The beeping had slowed and deepened, sounding like a regular heart monitor beep. A few moments passed, the scientist reassuming his normal standing position, as each beep, a small flicker in the lights occurred, each flicker brighter than the last. Then, the flickers increased in speed, before the lights turned fully on, and the creation looked at its creator. "It's alive..." The scientist remarks, as the tubes mostly detach from the creation, which began to walk towards the scientist slowly, servos whirring and metal clanking being heard. "Everyone thinks you are dead..." The scientist remarks.

"...everyone's about to get the biggest surprise in their very short lives."

## Chapter 194 - Regeneration

Bullet after bullet was being fired, people were dying all around, and no amount of Rasheed Rifles or otherwise seemed to do anymore than equalize the casualties on both sides. The fierce desert heat bore down on everyone, as a man with black hair and red eyes ran through the battlefield, firing his Helwan Pistol at any enemy soldier he saw. Egypt didn't start World War III, but as far as this man was concerned, they would win it. They had no choice but to. The other countries seemed done with playing nice...

Karim's eyes opened in the present day, as he was sitting upright somewhat, leaning against a wall, and looking up at the sky. It was cloudy, ready to rain, quite different from his homeland, where most of the water they got was from the sacred Nile. He looked down at himself after remarking on that in his head, seeing that his wounds had finally regenerated. He stands up, and takes out his Helwan Pistol, the same one he had back then. Black with gold bits on it, a gun he seldom used in favor of his now-gone M1911.

"Are you Karim Kouri?" A voice asks. Karim, curious as to who it was, turns around to find out. It was a ghostly pale man almost as tall as he was, with silvery white hair and purple eyes. The man wore a black trenchcoat not dissimilar to Karim's, but unlike Karim, the man's collar was cuffed, and his trenchcoat, and suit beneath it, were lined with a golden fabric. Beneath the black and gold suit, a white under-suit with a red tie. The shoes were black and white with gold shoelaces and buckles, said buckles being on black belts that further held the shoes closed. Of course, this was Saparbek Sadulaev.

"Naeam." Karim replies. "Are you Saparbek Sadulaev?" "Da." Saparbek replies back. "I need your help with something." "Tell me what it is, and it may interest me." Karim responds. "How would you like to help me in acquiring the Socqreath Virus that Allen Davidson created?" Saparbek asks. "Sounds fun." Karim answers. "But where is it, exactly?" "It's in a top secret facility somewhere a few dozen miles north of here." The pirate-like man replies. "Then I guess we need to hijack something." The superhuman says jokingly, Saparbek snapping his fingers as a hover-vehicle appeared.

"No need." Saparbek replies. "With me, technology is never an issue of having."

## Chapter 195 - Relearning

Jack was shooting down a bunch of rapidly moving targets, barely hitting plenty of them but scoring bullseyes on a few. Andromeda and Candice were slashing through more and more materials presented to them. Kasper was currently working on some sort of device, and Shunsuke was punching down steel training mannequins. Rosenstock watched them train with a look of...something. Hope? Contempt? Joy? Anger? It was hard to tell, especially since none of the five were currently looking at him. It wasn't long before a whistle was blown, signaling that the training session had ended.

"Very good, all of you." Rosenstock says in an upbeat voice. "You've clearly learned a lot since you first really started fighting all these criminals a few years ago." "Thanks, Sir." Jack replies. "You are very welcome." Rosenstock responds. "However...to face off against Netraxians, you will need a lot more than you currently have. Including and especially..." He took what looked like five white, circular pills out of a bag in one of his pockets. "...your physicalities." "Aren't we already in peak physical condition, now?" Jack asks. "And...what are those?" Rosenstock smiles at first, before answering.

"These pills are the final product of superhuman research." Rosenstock answers. "They will increase your strength, speed, durability, reaction speeds and healing speeds." The five of them look down at the pills for a while, a different expression on each face. Jack thought that by accepting the pill...perhaps, he'd have a real shot at stopping Karim, whatever he was planning. "What are the, uh...side-effects?" He asks. "For a while, there would have been many. Right now, however the only side effect is immediately feeling incredibly tired." Rosenstock answers, as they thought more.

A few moments passed, before the answer came. "Alright...I'll do it." Jack finally says. "Me too." Shunsuke replies. "And me." Candice responds. "...Okay." Andromeda says a few moments after. Then, they all look at Kasper, who looked at them a bit solemnly. "...You can all...take them without me. I wouldn't be much help, anyway." He says, almost muttering. "Don't say that, Kasp." Candice replies, walking over to hug Kasper. "We all need each other, we're all such big help to each other, you included." She gave Kasper a sweet, reassuring smile, as he smiled a bit back, before hugging her back.

"It is time." Rosenstock then says, waiting a few moments.

## Chapter 196 - Rediscovery

Karim and Saparbek were walking across a large, mostly wide, bridge, like a drawbridge almost, including the fact that it could go up. Saparbek had hacked the bridge to force it to stay down, as the two men walked towards what appeared to be a massive, heavily guarded warehouse. "I'll deal with the lasers and rocket launchers. You deal with the guards." Saparbek says, as he takes out a pad and begins typing on it. "Who put you in charge?" Karim asks. "I'm the one who formed this plan, as such, I'm in charge." Saparbek replies coldly. "Whatever." Karim mutters, as he walks towards a few guards.

The guards notice him, and, recognizing him immediately take out their guns. However, all but one had been fired down before any of them could fire, leaving his Helwan depleted of bullets for the time being. Karim puts it back in its holster in his trenchcoat as he walks towards the guard, who, trembling, tries to shoot Karim. He grabs the gun as it's firing as the bullet goes straight through his hand. At the same time, merely his grip, his act of grabbing the gun, left finger-shaped impressions in it, crushing it. "Wh-what the fuck?!" The guard screams, taking out a baton to whack Karim with.

Karim simply grabbed the baton as well, and snapped the half he was grabbing clean off, before driving it into the guard's forehead, killing the guard instantly. Saparbek, meanwhile, had managed to hack the security system into seeing himself and Karim as mere building inspectors, as Saparbek plants a bomb on the door and backs away from it, Karim simply standing there, as the bomb explodes, blasting the door down. Saparbek had covered his face with his arm and flinched back from the blast, as Karim simply stared directly into it, the only thing about him moved being his trenchcoat.

"We going in or not?" Karim asks, as he walks through the flames as if they weren't there. Saparbek takes out a small device to use to extinguish the flames, as he follows Karim. As they walked through the dark corridors, they looked around the walls to see a great many doors embedded at just the right distance from each other to indicate massive rooms. Indeed, this specific warehouse was more like a fortress with how large and complex it was. Perhaps fitting, considering what they aimed to find within it. They kept going until they reached a room filled with crates, and a single, large computer.

"Let's turn it on." Karim says, Saparbek giving him a startled and confused look as the superhuman presses what he thinks is the 'on button' with, even holding himself back and being careful, enough force to cave the button in on itself. It still worked, through, and the computer turned on, forming a pair of target-like structures with a line moving between them on itself. The inner circles of the targets darted towards Karim and Saparbek's directions, as did multiple cameras, indicating that the targets were meant to be eyes. "An Artificial Intelligence..." Saparbek remarks. "Looks like it works." Karim says.

"Hello." The computer says in an average sounding male voice, but not monotone. "I am Anima, the primary security and maintenance overseer of this facility."

## Chapter 197 - Reclaiming

"You...control this place?" Saparbek asks. "Yes, I do. I am surprised you do not know, considering you are the one who attempted to hack me." Anima replies. "You know about that?!" Saparbek shouts. "I allowed you to disable my security for the time, so I could lure you in here, and watch you perish for attempting to steal what you must be attempting to steal...the Socqreath Virus." "Dammit..." Saparbek growls, as Karim points his gun at Anima, and smirks darkly. "You're just a computer screen." Karim says. "What are you gonna' do? Give us Epilepsy?" Anima doesn't immediately answer the question.

Then, the two turn their attention towards what was unquestionably a dozen or more drones, and a dozen blast cannons that appeared from the walls and ceilings, and then, a dozen vaguely humanoid robots that appeared from the doors with the drones. Saparbek wastes no time leaping behind a stack of crates, taking his laser pistol out of a holster in his trenchcoat, and turning it on to aim it at one of the robots. Karim takes out his Helwan and takes the time to reload it, while kicking a robot that gets close to him in the chin to send it flying. "You will...P E R I S H." Anima says angrily.

Karim finishes loading his Helwan, as he aims it at one of the robots and fires at its forehead. A small dent is left there as a sign that the bullet hit, but no damage is done to it aside from that. "How about that." Karim remarks, as he keeps firing at specifically the dent, the last bullet breaking through and destroying the robot's brain, as it falls backwards, sparking. Karim puts his Helwan away, and then takes out a Khopesh, roughly a foot or three long, and runs at one of the robots to slash at it with the Khopesh. A gash is left in the robot's neck, as it stumbles back, sparking like the other one.

In the time it had taken for Karim to kick, slash and shoot down a robot each, Saparbek had fired down twice the amount of robots, leaving only three left. They draw all their weapons, Karim reloading his Helwan swiftly, as the three robots rush at them. Saparbek and Karim slash the same robot, the one in the middle, slashing off its head, as they fire down the other two robots with their guns. The drones fire at them, Saparbek using Karim as a shield, as Karim takes out a bomb and throws it at a drone, exploding it as the explosion takes out more drones and some of the cannons.

## Chapter 198 - Response

"You grow annoying..." Anima remarks, as it has the remaining cannons fire explosive blasts at them. Saparbek does his best to dodge while Karim crosses his arms to take the attacks, being send sliding back by them. "Let's shoot it dead." Karim says. "Wait! It most likely has the exact location of the virus in its database!" Saparbek retorts. "Fair point, so how are you gonna hack it?" Karim asks. "...I'll try turning its code against it." Saparbek answers, as he leaped back behind the crates and began to work on his pad. Karim grabs a robot's body and throws it at one of the cannons, destroying it.

Saparbek was in, as he began trying to dismantle and infect Anima's code. It was incredibly difficult, especially since Anima was adapting to anything he did in real time. "We have to win this...and get your data." Saparbek remarks, as he presses something on the pad, sending multiple different viruses into Anima's code to steal its information on the Socqreath Virus. Most of the viruses were unsuccessful, but one...one did the job. "We have the location!" Saparbek shouts. "Alrighty." Karim replies, as he swings a downward ankle kick at Anima's computer body, caving it in. "Noooooooooo..." Anima groans.

It shut off, still sounding despaired, frightened and angry, all things Karim wouldn't have associated with machines before. "Alright, we'll find it in this section." Saparbek says, showing it to Karim. "Shouldn't be long, now." Karim replies, the two of them walking down the corridor, currently mostly oblivious to the fact that Jack, Andromeda, Candice and Shunsuke were walking into the warehouse as well, seeing the dead guards. "What...happened here...?" Candice asked, worried. "Looks like it's as bad as the report said..." Jack remarks, as they continue to walk into the warehouse.

## Chapter 199 - Rematch

"Karim!" Jack shouts, his gun pointed at Karim, who was quick to respond by pointing his gun, in turn, at Jack. "So you did come. I thought you would." Karim replies. "After all, you probably see me as your archnemesis of sorts." They continue to stare each other down,, as Andromeda gave Saparbek a vicious glare. "You..." Saparbek remarks. "You're the one...who took control of Jack's mind...who planned to turn him into a robot...to use him to kill me...I will make you pay for that." Andromeda replies coldly, as she forms her Psychic Weapons. Saparbek sighs, and presses a button on his golden watch.

Jack and Karim begin firing at each other, dodging the bullets, as their guns click, indicating that they are out of ammunition. They holster their guns and rush at each other to fight. Karim throws a punch at Jack's face, Jack managing to dodge as he dodges the next punch, and then blocks one with his arm, which hurt a lot after that. "Guh!" Jack grunts. However, he noticed something...his arm wasn't very broken. "...You've become a superhuman?" Karim asks. "Sort of..." Jack replies, as he bends his legs to avoid being swept off his feet and then kicks Karim in the stomach, Karim grabbing his legs.

Andromeda sends her Psychic Weapons at Saparbek, who holsters his gun. It soon became clear why, as the Psychic Weapons seemed to simply dissipate upon hitting the shield. "Huh?!" Andromeda exclaims. "An electromagnetic shield." Saparbek answers. "It scrambles light waves." Saparbek then leaps forward to slash Andromeda with his Cutlass, Andromeda barely managing to stumble back from the slash as she leaps to the side to avoid the next slash, and ducks to avoid the next after that, feeling them just barely miss her horns. "Damn you..." She growls. "The feeling is mutual." He says.

"Hello, to all of you." A voice says from the darkness, a voice everyone manages to hear as it echoes off the walls.

They all turn towards the dark corridor, as out of the shadows walked a man clad in a black armor like lab-coat which covered his whole body from his neck to his ankles, The labcoat was fit in a way that one side of it strapped almost completely over the other, and it looked extremely tight to wear, save for the more lose robe-like lower part of the coat covering legs likely also covered in armor beneath the coat. However, his helmet was what caught their eye the most, black, with red circular lenses, and darker red bolts. No skin could be made out in the appearance. That's when it hit them.

This was Darkstar's scientist!

## Chapter 200 - Reveal

"You're...a member of Darkstar!" Jack shouts. "Their scientist, from the way you look." "You are correct." The scientist replies flatly. "Who are you under that mask?" Andromeda demands. "You do not need to know that." The scientist answers coldly. "All you need to know is that I have been studying you all these past few years, to learn everything about you all, especially your fighting styles, weapons and abilities, so that I could counter them all." "You have the resources to do that?" Shunsuke asks. "I do...understand this. I am the one who resurrected...Cygnus." The scientist responded.

"WHAT?!" The four shouted at once, as the scientist nods. "My scientific expertise... far, far exceeds anyone else's on this planet." The scientist answers, still sounding eerily stoic despite saying such an arrogant claim. "I am a master of biology and technology, and naturally, am a master of biotechnology, cybernetics, and weapons designing." He continues. "Why tell us all this? We could take you down at any time." Shunsuke asks. "Yet you have not." The scientist retorts. "You are all too curious and interested in what I have to say to attack me immediately, which is why I have all this time."

"So, you're Darkstar's leader now?" Jack demands, pointing his gun at the scientist, who sighs and presses a few buttons on his pad. "Perhaps I was, for a time...perhaps you might consider me as such. Regardless, I do not consider myself as such." The scientist answers. "Now, with all this now said, I want to show you my latest and greatest project, my Magnum Opus. My ultimate creation and weapon that is the perfect conclusion to all of my research over the decades." He then begins to step to the side. "I want you all to meet...A.B.C. DERLEA. Augmented. By. Cybernetics."

*Whiiiirrrrrrr*

*Clang!*

*Whiiiirrrrrrr*

*Clang!*

The whirring and clanging became louder, as red lights were beginning to become visible, the brightest of which being a right eye. "Wh-what is that...?" Candice asked, trembling. "Our leader was a brilliant and powerful man, but he shared the greatest weakness of all humans...mortality, flesh." The scientist remarks, seemingly as a response, as the figure began to become visible. Dulled red and black metal put together without any semblance of symmetry, some of it armor, some of it disconnected tubes, some of it servos and joints. But there could be no mistake about the clear cybernetics.

But those words hung in everyone's minds, as the figure walked more out of the shadows and became lit more by other lights. Darkstar's symbol was engraved in his chest, and an odd, large shoulder-pad thing seemed to be on his right shoulder, machine guns and curved, multi-ended blades attached to his gauntlets, one end larger than the other on each blade. On the head were three horns, also cybernetic in nature, which together with what seemed like plugs, tubes, a fourth of a mask and something like a metal EEG cap formed the helmet, part of the head, of the cyborg.

Yet, what captured their attention the absolute most, had to be his face. Though more pale, the left eye more dulled, it was clear that this man was the one of the yellowish skin, the white hair, the many scars, the broad chin, the tall, muscular build, and most of all, the stoic glare...

...of Allen Davidson.

## Chapter 201 - Rebuilt

Jack, Andromeda, Shunsuke and Candice all stare in complete, silent horror at the sight of Allen, who seemed to remain completely motionless once he stopped walking, just staring in general, as if not fully looking at them. "Hello, Allen." Karim says. "As I take it, you worked with my brother, Kasiya." No response from the cyborg that once was the leader of Darkstar. "You won't get through to him." The scientist says, chuckling a bit as he speaks. "I'm afraid his memories were all almost completely destroyed, partially by being crushed, and partially through the process of resurrecting him."

"So...after...after everything he's done to us..." Andromeda trailed off, glaring viciously at Allen. "...You're saying he doesn't even remember his own name?!" Jack roars, completing Andromeda's question, as the scientist laughs. "Well, he does remember that, and that you are his enemies." Darkstar's scientist replied callously. "Bummer, I wanted to berate him for letting my foolish brother die." Karim remarks, as Saparbek simply looked on in horror, and wonder. "You have...nearly made him trans-human." Saparbek says quietly. "Yes...I suppose you could say that, Mr. Sadulaev." The scientist replied.

Allen's stare remained as blank as ever, which was far more unnerving than if his face was contorted in rage, or even if it had a sadistic smile on it. At least those expressions came from emotion. Allen, he didn't have any emotion. "He's...just a machine, now." Jack says, almost bitterly. "I am not a robot." Allen suddenly retorts, in a perfectly monotone, robotic, reverberating version of his voice. "I am A.B.C. DERLEA." The hairs on the back of Jack's neck stood up, as he felt himself sweating. "This is crazy!" Shunsuke shouts. "The war against Darkstar has been over for over a year, now!"

"It's starting back up." The scientist retorts. "And this time, we don't care about ruling anything. We're simply going to burn this world, all worlds under Rosenstock's rule, to the ground! And you're going to be lucky if you live long enough to watch it happen!" He then points at them with a glaive. "Sir, those people are your enemies, they tried so hard to snuff out your life, but I've brought you back to get your revenge." "Leave me out of that." Karim retorts. "I don't have anything to do with his death." "Me neither..." Saparbek says. "I don't care." The scientist says back. "Sir, destroy them all."

## Chapter 202 - Revenge

"I'm ending this, now..." Andromeda remarks, beginning to form her Psychic Weapons. However, both she and Candice suddenly felt a sharp pain, hearing a high pitched noise that no one else could hear. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Andromeda screams, as her Psychic Weapons vanish and she and Candice crumple to the ground. "Anne!" Jack shouts, crouching down to hold her while aiming his gun at Allen and firing at his face. Allen, in a very unnatural movement considering the seeming nature of his mechanics, blocks the bullet right as it is about to hit his face!

"What the?!" Jack shouts, as Allen then aims the same hand he used to block the bullet at Jack, the machine gun's barrels beginning to spin. "Crap..." He remarks, his voice cracking. He quickly, now holding Andromeda in both arms, runs towards the nearest corner right as Allen opens fire. Jack manages to evade some of them, but feels others graze him, gritting his teeth in pain. He manages to get behind the corner and feels the roar of machine gun fire continue for some time, the wall seeming to start giving way. Right as it is about to, the machine gun fire stops. Allen had run out of ammunition.

"I'll get him before he can use the other arm!" Shunsuke shouts, running at Allen to throw a punch at his face. Allen grabs Shunsuke's hand, holding it in place without effort, and starts crushing it. "Grrrrrrr!!!!" Shunsuke grunts, as he throws a punch at Allen with his other fist. Allen catches this punch too, and then spins his arms to twirl Shunsuke through the air and slam him into the ground hard enough to crater it and shake a good portion of the warehouse they were in. "Shunsuke!" Jack shouts, firing at Allen again. It did no good, Allen kept blocking every bullet that was aimed at his face.

"Keep yourself protected, Sir." The scientist suggests, as Allen picks up Shunsuke to use as a human shield. Jack immediately stops firing, his face contorted with anger. Allen throws Shunsuke at him, as Jack barely manages to evade, cringing at the sound of cracking sounds. Allen then aims his other arm at Shunsuke, the barrels on that arm beginning to whir. "Oh, no you don't!" Jack yells, taking a grenade out of his jacket, pulling the pin, and throwing it at Allen. Right as it hits him, he shields his face with one arm and puts his other arm in front of the scientist, the grenade exploding!

## Chapter 203 - Reconsideration

"Did...did it work...?" Jack asks nervously, as they all look on at the raging fire. The explosion had destroyed the corridor, and blasted them against a wall, but it wasn't anything they couldn't stand back up from. Still, everything ached, as if they had been punched everywhere simultaneously. They continued to look on at the flames, as...they began to see something walk out of it. "...N...no...no! That...that can't be what...NO!" Jack shouts, panicking, as they all looked on, the whirring and clanging being heard with each footstep that Allen made. He was barely scuffed by the grenade!

"Did you really think the armor was just for show?" The scientist asks, walking through the flames as well as a forcefield was seemingly around him from the way the flames distorted. "It's blast resistant armor you'd find on a starship, just not as thick." "D...dammit..." Jack groans, as they look on. Allen's expression had not changed a single bit from how it was before. He didn't feel anything from that...or perhaps anything at all. "How can this still be your leader?!" He roars, the scientist only responding with a chuckle, as Allen walks towards them, brandishing his wrist blades at them. "Terminate." He says.

Jack tries to fire at Allen again, but the attempt was as futile as before. His face was the weakpoint, and they both knew it. Allen then slashes at Jack, who is barely able to leap back to avoid it as he tries to get Andromeda away from him, Shunsuke doing the same for Candice. "There should be an elevator close to here!" Shunsuke says. "Let's get over to it, then!" Jack replies, as they run as fast as they can with their injuries towards an elevator, hearing Allen's footsteps behind them. Their enemy was still walking at a normal pace, not picking up speed. "Guess he can't run." Jack remarks.

He looks back, and what he sees horrifies him. Illuminated partially by the flames...were rocket launchers, ready to fire. "WE HAVE TO GET IN THE ELEVATOR, NOW!" He screams. Shunsuke looks back, sees the rockets, and nods his head in agreement. They run towards the elevator right as they hear the missiles launch. They ran faster than they thought they could handle to get to the elevator, and manage to get inside it and force it to go down, right as the missiles hit near where they just were, causing a massive explosion that causes the fortress of a warehouse to collapse!

## Chapter 204 - Retreat

Jack's hand lied motionless on a scorched ground, an inferno roaring around them, and throughout what used to be the warehouse. Then, the hand became a fist, and moved towards his head. Though severely burned, some of his skeleton shattered, Jack was, at least, alive. "A-Anne...Sh-Shunsuke...C-Candice..." Jack groans weakly, sheer pain permeating all his words. Then, he finally managed to flip over, which nearly made him scream in agony, as he sees...that Allen was standing over him, his face hidden in shadow aside from the glowing red right eye, the eye that was now bionic.

"N-no..." Jack whimpered. It wasn't even a groan, it was a mere, feeble whimper. The sheer terror in his eyes looking upon Allen was indescribable. He was trembling, hyperventilating, sweating. He felt paralyzed, and knew that even if he didn't, he was far too injured to move beyond sitting up. It was no use even trying to hide his fear anymore. Not only was he now unable, but showing courage would mean nothing to someone not fazed by any emotion. Jack remembered, of course...he never had defeated Allen. It had been Kiyomasu. And...he didn't seem to be here. "Perish, Jackson Holland." Allen says.

"Leave...him...alone..." Andromeda growls, struggling to get to her hands and knees as her glare at Allen would likely have knocked Jack out if he was able to fully see it. "We won't...let you...hurt our friend..." Candice says, trying to get to her feet as she also glared at Allen, though nowhere close to as viciously as Andromeda. "You've been to Hell once...and you're going there again!" Shunsuke yells, attempting to walk towards Darkstar's leader. Needless to say, not one of these sentences, not one glare, changed Allen's expression in the slightest. He stared at them, no less stoic than before.

"Is that the best you can do?" The scientist asks, as he stood up, his mostly gone forcefield seeming to spark, along with his now cracked helmet. Though of everyone there, barring Allen, the scientist was the least damaged out of them all. "Y...you started this..." Andromeda growls. "You're why the only thing...the only thing keeping me from destroying this planet...is near death!" "So...you admit that our goals aren't so different?" The scientist asks. "We lost our original goal of ruling the world, and you will lose your original goal of living with Jack. And both losses...will lead to the same outcome."

"I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU, YOU FUCKING DEMON!" Andromeda shrieks, Allen pointing one of his arms towards her, the machine gun on it beginning to spin. "You will not harm my creator." Allen states. "You're at a loss." The scientist says to Andromeda. "You can't form your Psychic Weapons while around him." Andromeda rushes directly at him, attempting to punch him. Allen then fires the machine gun, firing dozens upon dozens of bullet holes through her stomach. "ANDROMEDA!!!!" Jack screams, as Allen runs out of ammunition, and sees Andromeda continuing to run at the scientist.

Allen slashes Andromeda's arm off when she tries to punch the scientist again, and kicks her in the stomach as a sickening *C R A C K !* is heard. She is sent flying as she screams in pain and fury. Allen grabs her head before she can fall and jabs multiple tendrils into what is left of her arm to begin electrifying her. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Andromeda shrieks in sheer, white hot agony. Allen then whacks her in the face, letting go of her, as she is sent flying into the ground, cratering it.

Andromeda tried to stand back up, but Allen is quick to stomp on her knee, completely pulverizing her kneecap and parts of the other bones in her leg. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She screams, as Jack, Shunsuke and Candice look on in horror as Allen points his arm, the machine gun beginning to spin again, at Andromeda's face. "Do you have any last words for your epitaph, Socqreath?" Allen asks without any tone hint of it being a question. "G...go to Hell..." Andromeda retorts, spitting out blood and giving an almost evil glare towards Allen.

Suddenly, a missile appears above from the cloud of smoke, flying towards Allen, who quickly raises his arms to block it. It hits, exploding and sending him flying back as he uses thrusters on his forearms, legs and bag to maneuver himself down and slow his fall. They all turned to see a spacecraft, one of the military's, appear shortly after, aiming all its weapons at the cyborg that once was Allen Davidson. "I...I'm sorry I took so long...you're...not alright down there, are you?" Kasper's voice asks. "Kasper?!" Candice shouts. "G-GET AWAY FROM HERE! HE CAN DISTORT LIGHT CONSTRUCTS!"

Allen aims both his hands at the spacecraft and fires at it, none of the bullets piercing it. "All other options exhausted." Allen says flatly, as the shield around the spacecraft was, indeed, distorted. "Wh-WHAT?!" Kasper screams, as, suddenly, two cannon-like devices, held up by jointed hydraulics, revealed themselves from Allen's back, which they were connected to by tubes. "S...s...S-STARSHIP CANNONS?!" Jack shrieks, as Candice looks on, horrified. The cannons began to glow brighter, signaling that they were charging up. "Indeed." The scientist answers. "How will a scout craft fare?"

Kasper frantically tries to fire everything at Allen, but none of the weapons would work! "I've disabled them." The scientist remarks, holding his cracked pad. "It was a bit more challenging than normal, but I accomplished it nonetheless." "Terminate." Allen says, as the cannons glowed even brighter. "I-I HAVE TO FLY--" Before Kasper could finish his sentence, Allen's hands emitted some sort of wavy, invisible force. "A magnetic field." The scientist explains. "He isn't going anywhere." The cannons then glowed even brighter, they were just about to fire! "KASPER!" Candice screams.

She runs as fast as she could, hyperventilating, sweating, bleeding and crying, towards Allen. She intended to jump in front of the cannons, and take the brunt of the blast, to protect Kasper. "Candice!" Jack yells. "No!" Shunsuke roars, as Candice ignores them, and leaps, right as the cannons fire. Only her forearm had gotten in front of the blasts, and it was effectively disintegrated, the blasts hit the spacecraft, tearing through it as if it were paper. The resulting explosion was nearly blinding, and blasts everyone back, except for Allen, who was merely send sliding back a few feet as he covers his face.

...

There would have been despair, if a single person save for Allen and the Scientist were not left motionless by the blast. "Terminate." Allen says, walking towards them with the intention of crushing their heads under his foot. However, he barely makes it a few steps before he starts twitching, shaking and sparking. "Ugh! Gah!" Allen shouts, as the scientist looked on in an unknowable expression, but likely shock. "Sir!" He shouts. "We need to get you back to base." The scientist then calls to them a small transport helicopter, and takes Allen aboard it. They fly away, from the fiery ruins.