The Vindictive Clan

**The Vindictive Clan** is fourth act of *Fire in the Sky*. It follows the Vindictive Four and their time working for Vindicto's Mercenaries. The story takes place before Animus' death. The story specifically follows Anais Morningstar, Melian Amdis, Rem Kuthras, and the leader of Clan Charlie, Roywyn Garrick.

## Part 1: The Life Debt

This is the first season of Act IV. It begins with the four mercenaries and the rest of Clan Charlie being scorned by Carlisle for leaving the past team leader behind to die during a mission. He tells the clan that whomever reaches the flag at the top of the pole in the center of the camp and pulls it down will become the new clan leader. Roy ends up proving himself to the group and becomes the new leader of Clan Charlie. After two spectacularly messy missions; the adventurers return to a destroyed camp and are blamed for the crime.Carlisle Vindicto also blames them for kidnapping the Princess of Zelcutta due to the statement made by his most trusted mercenary, Jupiter Mars.

The Vindictive Four head to Armistice to get more informaton on the missing princess. They meet the Carter Princesses and King Erving Carter. They are all (except Rem Kuthras) invited to attend a private ball that evening. At the ball, Anais falls head-over-heels for Nadia Carter. They end up marrying the next day after the kidnapping of King Carter by Ender. Rem makes a pact with Vesuvius Slade. Also, Melian and Roy meet several powerful members of the Vigilant Order but come no closer to tracking down the missing princess.

At the end of the chapter, the adventurers meet Irabella Roseheart who asks them to join her and journey to put an end to an experiment against the people of Omega. The adventurers agree and go with her, arriving in New Tides before the chapter closes.

## Part 2: Rise of the Androids

Without knowledge of their mission, or any clear reasoning, the Mercenaries trek across Omega in search of the generals of the Tremekian Army. Irabella has tasked them with killing the generals in order to cause mass disarray on the planet. Irabella gets the mercenaries to release an army of Liches on the people of Omega. Things get out of hand when the creatures begin to kill everyone in sight. Irabella, distracted by rage, does not protect the innocent masses that are killed in the crossfire. The mercenaries kill numerous generals, but are captured once they try to pursue Vilis Runehartz. The Dark Man transforms Anais into an Android, which makes him the fourteenth known Android in existence. With his newfound abilities they are able to escape. Jupiter Mars arrives to stop the mercenaries and he kills Nadia Carter. He is killed moments later by Anais. Anais feels nothing for the loss of Nadia, but the group mourns her death. The Dark Man later transforms Nadia into an Android.

The mercenaries go to meet Irabella in New Tides. They witness as she tricks the Livaseer of Omega and takes over her body and power. Irabella tasks the mercenaries with going back to Wraith to let the Archduke know of what she has done.

They arrive at Spero and watch as the Archduke is hypnotized by Anastacia Runehartz. She isn't allowing him to interfere with her "experiment" on Omega. The mercenaries are detected and Vesuvius Slade kills Melian Amdis.

They escape Spero and are attacked by Ender and a group of Androids. They are surrounded. Hope looks lost as the chapter closes.

## Part 3: The Prologue to War

In a moment of sheer luck, Zayne Heretic and his team arrive to save the day. They are able to keep the Androids at bay while the group flees to meet with Irabella. Irabella, distraught over the loss of Nadia, decides that they need to attack Anastacia where it hurts: her beloved project. The mercenaries collect information about Camp Antonia and Irabella plans an attack. Tiana and Paola want to help in any way they can so Irabella casts a spell that multiplies their power dramatically, and this causes their beauty to essentially vanish.

The mercenaries are pursued by Mordecai and his gang. They do not find Mordecai to be a threat upon first reconvening with him, and are blindsided by a powerful attack. Irabella is hurt badly by the attack and the gang must flee. Meanwhile, the liches on Omega are subdued by the power of the Dark Man. He is able to stop them from doing any further damage to the experiment at Camp Antonia.

The mercenaries are wanted by Vindicto's men and the Galactan Authority for assisting Irabella with her dangerous scheme on Omega. The mercenaries agree to help Riddick Winters capture Irabella in exchange for their freedom. They meet Winters' daughter and she insists that they must trick Irabella since killing her would kill the entire planet of Omega. They are able to seal her inside the same portal that the feral creatures came out of, and Omega is safe once more.

## Part 4: War of Hearts

Vindicto is not satisfied with letting the mercenaries off for their crimes, and he takes matters into his own hands. He personally goes to Omega along with his men to fight the mercenaries. He brings Ender along with him to the brutal battle. Nadia and Anais fight in their Android forms, until Nadia nearly kills Anais. She feels something, and her Artificial Intelligence begins to craft emotion, a phenomena that has never occurred with any of the other Androids. She stops the onslaught against Anais and attacks her cohorts instead. Ender and the other Androids retreat due to her unexplainable power level.

Vindicto does not back down. He is finally killed by Roy.

Meanwhile, Mordecai has taken over Vindicto's island on Wraith along with the remaining mercenaries. The Nefarious Seven still wants revenge against Roy's clan, and Mordecai is in charge of exacting their revenge. He convinces Archduke Winters to help him with punishing them by threatening to reveal the Archduke's secret. Betrayed, the mercenaries decide they must free Irabella in order to survive. They are stopped just before freeing her by the spirit of Maphrodite. She casts them back to Wraith and destroys the Shed.

Archduke Winters is killed by his daughter, and she assumes the role of Archduke after making his death out to be an accident. The Livaseer of Wraith knows the truth, but before he can step forward and tell the Authority, Haley has him captured by Mordecai's men. Mordecai and Haley Winters decide on a new Livaseer to replace Onyx, but during the ceremony, Roy is able to trick them into making the recently deceased Melian Amdis the new Livaseer by making them resurrect the wrong soul.

The all-powerul Melian is able to expose Haley for her crimes, and the Galactan Authority arrest her. Mordecai escapes, and his fate is left unknown.

## Part 5: Return to Heart

Years pass, and the mercenaries live in peace in the Morningstar castle. Anais and Nadia are both more in tune with their emotions and have rekindled their romance. Melian is an important public figure that actively seeks to improve the lives of those on Wraith. Rem continues his secret training with Vesuvius to increase his magical power, and leaves the presence of his old friends at the beginning of the season. Roy and Dodoria continue their search for relics and finding out the location of Roy's old love.

A strange turn of events bring the mercenaries back together. Melian calls upon them to inform them that their old friend, Rem Kuthras, partnered with the Nefarious Seven and was killed on Omega. Melian lets the mercenaries know that strange things are happening on Omega, and he believes that they may need to intervene as representatives of the Galactan Authority if the issues persist. Melian explains that most of the people of Omega do not know of the existence of Wraith due to an experiment that occurred at Camp Antonia, and therefore their intervention must only occur as a last resort.

Conditions on Omega deteriorate significantly. Nadia is made aware that her sisters have been killed, and she believes Irabella must be involved. It is revealed that the mercenaries did in fact release Irabella again before they were cast from the planet, and all of the havoc she has wreaked was because of them releasing her. They agree to go to Omega and capture her aboard one of Wraith's largest ships. The Authority has authorized the destruction of the planet Omega due to the failure of the experiment, and the mercenaries are to destroy the planet once they capture Irabella. Anais and Roy go to Omega, along with Dodoria, and they are able to capture her. But before they can leave the planet, a Lilanthian Vampire appears on board their ship and brutally murders Roy.

A large object crashes into the ship and Dodoria and Anais are thrown into the depths of space.

Dodoria asphyxiates immediately. Anais begins to panic. He sees the emergency capsule at the edge of the destroyed ship and claws his way toward it to survive. He climbs into the capsule. A "critical error" message blinks on the screen, making the emergency craft inoperable. He cannot move the ship and is stuck to float in space until help arrives.

Anais, without any further options, awaits his fate.