Mozzarella's Excerpts

## Prologue (Note found on Mozzarella's bed at Anzio)

I have to leave. I hit a hot spot on the case. They say that he's dead, but I can feel him every night, I can hear him breathing, seeing his silhouette. I swear I can see him out the corner of my mind, but when I look, there is nothing but the blackness of the night.

Maybe, by leaving Anzio and everyone else for a while, I can find my torturer. Waffentractor Thran Vermillion is alive and out there. And only I have both the will and ability to find him.

Do not look for me while I'm gone. If I do not return within the month, the automatic lock on the P.44 will open and reveal everything.

## Chapter 1: The Journey Begins

I decided to pack lightly and take one of the older L3/35 tankettes that has had its gun removed for maintenance. Not like I'll need a gun, anyway. Once I was packed and ready to go, I left and locked my door.

The previous day, I made copies of all my work and put it into my P.44 Pantera. I then put a timed lock on the latch that will open in the event I didn't return. I would really hope I returned.

I packed my stuff into the empty commander's seat, careful to make sure nothing will fall over onto me while I'm driving. I also made sure that the Purifier Mask was secured from damage. One of the reasons I also chose this L3 was because I had previously modified it to increase its range, I also made sure to pack extra fuel and rations before I set out on my adventure.

At the next harbor, which I knew would be near my first place of interest, I quietly started the L3 and left the ship. As I looked back one last time, I felt my heart tugging in two directions. One towards my friends, those I called family, on the ship. The other towards my path I would take in my search for answers.

I shifted into gear and drove onwards. I could feel a tear rolling down my cheek, but I didn't wipe it off.

## Chapter 2: Town

It would seem obvious that a tankette would bring attention to itself, so driving through town I had to be careful of those wanting to take pictures. I decided to go through town under the hatch and out-of-view.

"My Baby!" I heard a woman cry out.

"Huh?" I hit the brakes, not knowing what happened, and opened the hatch. When I looked out, I saw a cart racing down hill, towards where my tankette was. A woman in her late 20s chased after it.

"I gotta help her" I jumped out of the hatch, nearly landing on a few by-standers, and caught the cart as it passed. The woman came up to me out of breath. The was holding a purse and her hair was a mess from running.

"This yours?" I asked, gesturing to the cart with the baby in it. "I'm glad I was here."

"Yes, my boy just sort of took off." The woman said in between breaths.

It was then when I heard a lurch. When I looked to where the sound came from, I saw the L3 slowly start to roll down hill.

"Nonono" I started to run after it as it picked up speed. Why didn't I think about the parking brake? I looked in the direction it was headed to, and saw a crosswalk with people crossing. I ran faster to catch up to the tankette, where I was able to grab onto the side of the hatch and jump up. I didn't bother turning my body to hit the pedal with my foot, I simply rammed into it face first.

The tankette halted as my full weight went through my face and into the brake pedal.

"Owwww" I said quietly.

I put on the parking brake and stood out of the tankette.

"I'm fine" I said weakly.

I could hear sirens coming close as the word of a "runaway tank" made its way to the police.

"Ma'am, why don't you come with me?" An older man in uniform said. "Leave the tank to us."

## Chapter 3: The Interrogation

"So, you claim that someone's baby rolled down the hill, and after you helped the tank started going downhill?" The old policeman said.

After getting myself arrested, I was taken to the juvenile jail. The police were only just now interviewing me after half an hour of waiting.

"Well, here's the bad news for you," the man continued. "There was no woman that fit your description, so tell us why you decided to run through a crosswalk full of people!"

"I don't know what to say! I told you everything that happened!" I said back.

"Grr, fine, I'll leave you for now" the gruffy man left stood up out of his chair and closed the door as if he had done it many times.

"What a douche" I think outloud to myself.

At this moment, the door to the room opens and a tall, bald man in a jet-black suit walks in.

"Greetings, Ms. Covaste" the man said.

"Who the hell are you?" I stand out of my chair, "And how do you know my name?"

"Please Ms. Covaste, I'm here to talk, that's all" the man said smoothly.

"I already said I don't need a lawyer." I sit back down.

The man pulls out the Purifier Mask that I brought with me. "Quite marvelous technology, isn't it?"

"How the?"

"Able to filter anything out, even the deadliest of bioweapons are ineffective against it. And by the way, Ms. Covaste, Mr. Venator will be glad to see you safe." He sets the mask onto the table.

"So, he's the one behind this? Waffengarden is still alive?!" I start to work on the handcuff on the bench. I was willing to put up with a cop, but to a servant of him? No chance. Besides, I think, he's just another lackey.

"I am not at liberty to discuss Mr. Venator with you." He leans back into his chair and interlaces his fingers. "I am at liberty to deliver you to him though."

"So, it was fake?" I continue picking the handcuffs, "the stroller was a set-up?"

"Yes, you are smarter than I thought, I can see why Waffengarden has interest in you."

"Not a chance" I say as I finish on the handcuff.

I quickly get up and punch the man square on the nose. A satisfying crunch is heard.

"Gah!" His hands fly to his nose, "you bitch!"

I swipe the Purifier from the table and run to the door. I turn back to the bleeding man and say, "I know" in a high pitch, taunting voice.

I turn and run down the hall bumping past police officers as they chatted.

"Stop her!" I hear Mr. Blacksuit yell behind me.

I run to the end of the hall and to the left I see the exit door. A large, beefy man steps out from a room by the hallway. I build up enough speed and, taking in a deep breath, drop to the ground on my back. I slide easily under the wide stance the large guy had and, keeping up my momentum, I am able to get back onto my feet without losing speed.

I push through the exit door and, squinting from the suddenly bright light, look for the L3. There! They were having it stored on the temporary block before it could be processed.

"Bitch!" The door behind me opens and Mr. Blacksuit steps out. In his hand, he held a gun.

"Shit!" I dive behind the closest car, a 1998 Toyota, just as gunshots start going off. The glass shatters and alarms start to blare.

"Come back here!" The gun goes off again, then clicks. "Shit"

I take the opportunity to make a run for it. I keep the cars in the lot between me and the man as I got to my L3. I quickly open the hatch and close it just as the gun starts to go off again.

I look inside the tankette and I am relieved to see nothing was moved, other than the Purifier's box, which layed open on the seat.

"Come out here!" He fires 2 shots that bounce weakly off the side armor.

I shove the mask into its box and quickly start the engine as I hear the man get close. I throw the tankette into reverse and accelerate backwards.

"Aaaagh!!" The man cries out in failure.

The tankette crashes through the gate at the entrance of the holding lot. I turn into the main road and kick the vehicle to high-gear.

## Chapter 4: The Chase

The tankette roared down the road where the police station was on. I was careful not to run over vehicles and people, but I found it easy when the cars started pulling over.

I gotta get out of here. I kept thinking as I navigated the streets.

The police were responding again, I could tell by the sirens gathering behind me. Ahead, I could see a intersection where a group of police cruisers had parked. I turned down to another road. That way, police cars gathered. I turned around. More cars gathered.

I'm trapped.

I knew that it was the end, there was no way I could just jump over them, unless...

I remembered back to when I competed against Jatkosota in an exhibition match. This was before I had my Pantera finished and I was still being the gunner of a semivente, that small self-propelled gun.

During the match, I was knocked out by a flying BT-42, which I remembered seeing from the sidelines of the Oarai-All Stars match.

The main problem I saw in this was how? there was no terrain that would allow for a jump. We were practically on a plain. When I asked the BT's driver about it after the match, the girl, named Mikko, taught me how.

"So, you wanna know how to jump a tank?" Mikko said smugly. "Normally I wouldn't tell people from other schools how to drive, but you asked nicely."

"Thank you, for allowing me to learn Ms. Mikko" I said very respectfully, I didn't want to miss my chance to learn.

Mikko walked to the BT-42. "So, I don't know about other tanks, but it's pretty simple to do in this. The hardest part is being precise with your timing."

My heart fluttered at the word precise, precision is practically my middle name.

"Let me give you a demonstration first" Mikko said as she got into her hatch. "Stay right there"

The BT roared to life, then drove off, sliding a little on the pavement of the parking lot as it drove away. The BT turned and faced towards me when it was about 75 meters away, then accelerated directly at me.

"Shit, this is what she meant by 'demonstration'". I thought.

It was too late to move out of the way when I heard a lurch sound from the BT and suddenly the front end kicked into the air.

The back end followed the front, getting launched into the air and over my head. When I turned to look behind me, the BT landed with a screech of metal on concrete. The BT started to move again, this time in reverse. Just before it would hit me, Mikko turned it on a dime, like how we turn our L3s at Anzio. When the BT came to a stop, Mikko was facing towards me through the open hatch.

"You ready to learn?"

"Very" I said, a grin appearing on my face.

Back to current time, the police had me completely surrounded. But, their attempts at capture were futile. I turned the tankette in the direction of the intersection, where my landing zone was the largest. I then threw the L3 into high gear.

The policemen started to scatter, but one poor soul stood still in fear. When I was about 25 meters away, I suddenly pressed down the clutch and gunned the engine. A fraction of a second after the clutch was pressed, the sprocket made a loud creak, letting me know I was ready for lift-off. I released the clutch and let the built-up energy in the engine go into the transmission, from the transmission into the differential, from the differential into the sprocket. The sprocket snapped at the track suddenly, pulling it tight like a bow string being drawn back. The tightening track transferred the energy from the sprocket directly into the ground, then from there Newton's third law of motion propelled me upward. I soared through the air over the rookie's head and landed with a screech on the other side of the barricade.

I was already going down the road as I landed. I could see the exit up ahead to get out of the town. Nothing was in my way and I made it out of town.

"Maybe I should lay low and travel at night" I say as I direct the tankette into the forest.

## Chapter 5: The Dream in the Forest

This would normally be the point where I could hear Darjeeling say some sort of quote I have never heard before like "the forest invites those seeking answers". I am starting to miss everyone back home, but my mission must continue.

I parked the L3 in a clearing and walked around collecting branches full of leaves to hide the tankette under for tonight. When I was satisfied with my work, I looked for sticks that were dry. The dryness in the sticks means that there isn't water that can pop and make noise inside the stick as it burns. The lower saturation of water also means less smoke.

I build a small fire and pull out my roadmap. I soon realize that in my rush out of town, I didn't check what direction I was going. I close the map and sigh.

"How lovely" I say to no one. "I got arrested and lost in one day."

I remember what the man in the black suit said to me. "I knew that Vermillion was alive, that man just confirmed it out-right." I look up at the stars dotting the night sky. "New moon, it will be dark and hard to see, so I might as well wait out the night."

I get up and grab my bed roll from where I left it leaning by the tankette. I look at the bullet marks left by Mr. Blacksuit. I smile, deciding that if I was being chased by Vermillion's henchmen, I was on the right track.

I lay out the sleeping pad and lay down, deciding to let the fire die down on its own.

"Sahi!" Huh? I hear someone calling my name. I can't move, I notice quickly. I see a face, a woman's, over me and I hear it whisper something, but it is not clear.

"What?" I say, able to move some.

I see bars suddenly form around me and the woman fades away.

I wake up with a start, it is early morning and the sun just came over the tree line. I looked around, confused at first.

"It was just a dream." I relax. I look around again, the ashes from the fire smolder, I'm not hurt, and the L3 is where I left it. I breath a sigh of relief and get up. I start to think of a back-up plan, now that I have a compass up in the sky, I know that I left town going west when I need to go north.

"I can drive through the brush beside the road," I think to myself. "And when I reach a town I can get gas and start heading north."

## Chapter 6: Pitstop by the Roadside

The tankette glides over the grass by the road. It is around midday and I haven't seen any sign of cops. There was no one else driving on this lazy Sunday morning and I liked the idea of being able to use the road again, so I pull gently on the left tiller. The tankette responded just as gently and pulls to the left onto the road.

I enjoy these rides in the L3s. Others will often forget that tanks are all about fighting as much as they are enjoyable to drive. And in my opinion, the L3/35 is the best tank to drive. It is small and light without sacrificing too much room on the inside.

But that is where the benefits end. In combat, it is good at making a distraction, but the machine guns are inadequate against anything other than a tin can.

The engine quiets down as I transition onto the road. Now that I don't need to push so hard through the soft mud, I can save gasoline. A yellow van passes by on the opposite side of the road. I take a deep breath. "Finally back on track" I say as I see the van as a sign that I made it past the police.

Up ahead, I see a town. This one is smaller than the last one I was in before. The first building I see is a gas station. It was one of those branded ones from what I could tell by the large sign featuring a cartoonish cat.

Beside the cat is a price chart. I see that regular gasoline is ¥274 per gallon. I cannot believe these prices, but I need the gas if I want to find my answers. I pull off the road and find a pump to go to.

As I pull in, I see it is one of those ones that have the workers filling up for you. "Great" I say to myself. I pull into the closest one and cut off the engine. A short teenager wearing a blue shirt comes towards me as I open the hatch.

"What will it be?" He asks.

"A full tank."

The teenager looks at me for a second, then busts out laughing.

"Oh! That's a good one! Full tank! Ha!" It takes me a second to get what he is laughing about.

"Yeah, a full tank, regular unleaded gas."

Then I get what he is laughing about. I accidentally made a pun. I start to feel a smile forming on my lips.

"Ok, that was completely unintentional. But," I giggle. "I get it. But please I need some gas."

The teen regains composure and grabs the pump. He starts towards the tankette, then stops.

"It's right here." I point to where the gas cap is right behind the crew area. I sit back down into the tankette. I hear the cap swing into the side as it is unscrewed, then the gas start pouring in. I already started to count out how much money I will need to pay as the tank fills up.

"That will be ¥6,450" I hear the teen say. I was so busy counting out change that I didn't notice the pump stopping.

"Ok" I hand him the yen. Strange, I think to myself. I swore it would be ¥6,500. Maybe it's a tip for the laugh?

The teen hands me the receipt. "Have a great day!" He calls as he runs back into the store with the change. I start the tankette back up and see the fuel gauge at the top.

I push down gently on the gas pedal and release the clutch. The tankette starts to move forward with new life.

## Chapter 7: Awaiting her Arrival

I'm back on the road again, now with more gas to keep me going. I will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of my past. I have a history before Venator, and I will uncover it.

The terrain starts to get rocky and the air gets colder. Soon enough the road narrows from two lanes of asphalt to only one rock covered dirt line. Farther on, I have to start wearing my coat as the road starts winding up mountains like a snake. The left side of the road is a mountain wall, and the other side is a steep drop. This was just the type of terrain that the L3/35 was designed to traverse.

Up ahead, around the next bend, I see small lights dot the horizon. These dots are not the light of a distant city, but are the lights of my destination. A helicopter flies overhead. Search beams radiate light into the sky. This is the Faust factory. On the surface, it seems like a few buildings. But I know that under the skin of the Earth, there is a factory producing tanks by the hundreds.

I look at the factory through high powered binoculars from outside the hatch of the L3. Large military trucks drive on the main road with their cargo covered. I shift over, soldiers are talking while playing cards. At the helipad, the helicopter that flew over me lands.

I took the back road to Faust because it isn't guarded. From what I've been told by Phoenix, Venator had a secret base here, but he refused to tell me how to get into it. That is why I came here without letting anyone know, so that I don't get stopped by anyone. Phoenix especially.

Faust is bordered on all sides by a canyon, with only one bridge to cross the gorge, I have to be creative with how I get into the factory. I knew that Venator also needed a way into his base.

I direct my attention to the cliff face. I have went down the cliff once before, in my Pantera. That was when the Faust factory got destroyed by Phoenix out of anger and I was unlucky enough to be there. This time is different, however. I know what I have to do and prepared. The L3 is perfectly capable of navigating its way down the steep canyon walls.

I put down the binoculars and start to drive towards the edge. I stop and look down the drop. It was a lot steeper than a second ago. Maybe whenever you prepare for something, it gets scarier than what it should be. I lower myself into my seat and close the hatch, I tighten the latch and test it. I don't want the top to fly off as I go down. I grab onto the tillers and take in a deep breath.

"It's all or nothing" I say to myself. I exhale and push the tillers forward. The tankette tips over the edge.

The feeling of adrenaline kicks in as I start to go down. I start to feel weightless as the tankette goes down faster and faster. The tankette shakes. I can hear the metal groaning from the stress. I pull on the tillers to keep myself in line. Dust plumes behind me. The groaning intensifies.

"Stay together baby! Just hold together!" I shout at the tankette, willing it to not break apart. The items I strapped down beside me start to shift around, stretching the ratchet straps. I see rocks ahead and pull on the left tiller, barely missing it. Small pebbles run under the tread and the tankette shakes violently, then start to turn around. I now have my back turned away from the ground. The tread keeps going forward, making the tankette start to flip. I shift into reverse and smash my foot into the accelerator. It was too late to turn around and I hit a rock. The L3 flies upward from hitting the rock, which I now see was shaped like a ramp. Thinking fast, I switched to 4th gear and gunned the engine. The track reversed direction and Newton's third law saves the day again as the tankette starts to somersault. The tankette turns over in the air and lands on the wall again, this time facing forward.

I am now able to look forward again and I see the ground coming towards me very quickly. I pull back on the tillers just before impacting the ground. I hit the bottom and the dust behind me catches up, enveloping the whole tankette in a cloud.

## Chapter 8: A New Friend

I can't breathe, when I try to, dust goes into my mouth. I can't see, when I open my eyes, they hurt. I feel around. I ache everywhere. It is quiet. I reach to my left and I feel a box.

The Purifier! I grab the box and pull it towards me. I feel around it for the latches to open it. There! I hear the click of the lid opening. I reach inside and pull out the Purifier. I pull the mask over my face, securing the straps to my head. I start to breathe and open my eyes. I notice that it is hard to breathe, like breathing syrup. I can't see. It is like my view is covered by something. I reach up and feel around the mask, feeling around for some kind of switch. My finger brushes against a bump and I press it. Suddenly a blue light flashes in front of my eyes. Text hovers in front of me.

"Scanning brainwaves" What the hell does it mean by that? The text suddenly changes.

"Welcome, Sahira Covaste. Adjusting system." Is this some kind of smart mask? I did not know because although I have used the mask, I have never actually worn it. The blue light starts to weaken and I start to see through it. I couldn't see much. I wish I could see better.

"System adjusted, activating breathing systems and vision" Suddenly, I am able to breathe freely and I can see. A yellow crosshair follows my eyes as I look around. Everything is tinted in bright blue. I can see that the inside of the tankette was ruined. I look down, my hands are scratched up and my legs have blood running down them. I look up towards the hatch. When I look at it, small text appears and a blue outline goes around the hatch.

"Open to escape, minimal danger detected" I get it now, this mask was intended to assist soldiers in battle, and it considers me as its soldier.

"That is correct, I am here to assist you, Ms. Covaste."

I open the hatch and get out of the tankette. "So, you can read my mind?"

"Yes, I am an Artificial Battle Assistant, ABA for short."

"Hey, can you get this text out of the way? I'm trying to see." The text disappears and I hear a feminine voice.

"Audio mode"

"You can talk? What exactly are you?"

"I am an artificial intelligence designed to give you the edge. You can rely on me to alert you of danger and inform you."

"So you are some kind of virtual assistant? That's convenient" I look back at the L3, it lost bogeys and its track.

"It appears as though this vehicle has been damaged beyond your current ability to repair." ABA says. "Suggestion, take only necessities."

I reach inside and take out a backpack. I pack in food and water. I start reaching for my binoculars.

"That won't be needed, I shall provide visual support and navigation."

"Hey, ABA, I do appreciate that, but do you need to talk so robotically? Speaking like a human will do just fine" I shrug on the bag. I look around and see the wreckage of not only the L3/35, but of the original factory that was destroyed before.

"I believe that this tone will make you more comfortable." A couple of beeps later, ABA started to sound like an actual person. "You know, you don't seem like a soldier, but you got the spirit, and you did activate me, so I do have to say that I am impressed by you."

"Now you got sass? Well, I guess I asked for it." It seems this journey of mine just got a lot more interesting.

"Indeed it has."

"Stop butting in, ABA"

"Ok, Ms. Covaste"

I chuckle, "Just call me Mozzarella."

## Chapter 9: Immunity

"I should be clear of the dust" I look up, I can now see that it is still night. I start to take off the mask.

"Hey! What are you doing! You're going to get infected!" The bands on the back of my head tighten.

"Infected? Infected by what?"

"Malice! You are lucky that that dust pushed away the gaseous malice."

"There's malice down here?"

"Yes" green starts showing up in front of me. "See all this green? That is how malice is indicated! I didn't show you before because I thought you knew about it."

"Oh, well you see, I have a uh, immunity you can call it."

"Improbable! There is nothing in the records of any living test subject with immunity!"

"It is true though, I have been in contact with malice and even its other form, antvira." Antvira was a short lived pandemic that was similar to malice that I took part in taking down."

"That's impossible!" ABA made a sound that could have been a sigh. "If you say so," the straps loosen, "but at the first sign of infection, I will have to disinfect you."

I take off the mask. I take in a breath. "See? I have immunity!"

"That's impossible! How!? Well, I guess that this form wouldn't work for you anymore." The mask starts to shake, then fold into itself.

"ABA? What are you doing?!"

"Let's see, this form should work!" In my hand, I now hold a watch. "Go ahead! Put me on!"

"How did you do that? You just made yourself into a watch!" I held the watch up.

"Simple, I'm not just a mask, I can also form into different shapes that suit my user."

"Well that's handy" I slip on the watch. It suddenly tightens into a comfortable fit on my wrist.

"Now we can get to business."

I start to walk forward. "ABA, can you search for an entrance into some kind of bunker?"

"I can ping the walls of the canyon and find a pocket of air, that could find an entrance."

I hold the watch up. "So I just put you against a wall?"

"Correct" I push the watch into the side of the canyon. After a moment, I here a high-pitched sound, followed by a low-pitched sound.

"Air gap detected, up ahead about 200 feet."

"Thanks" I walk forward and turn around a bend. I see a piece of metal in the rock face. When I get closer, I see that it is a door that seems reinforced with steel. I step towards it and reach for the handle. Behind this door are my answers. I breathe in and open the door. The hinges creak loudly as they turn.

"It's dark, do you have some kind of flashlight?"

"Yes, turning on light." A small door opens on the side of the watch facing forward, then a beam of light shines through the opening. Inside, I see wreckage. This place had to have been hit by the shockwave of the Faust explosion. I see computer screens behind the wreckage, all but one is smashed into itself. I look around and I see a breaker box. Beside the box is a big lever with a label, "master power". I walk to the switch, careful not to trip on rubble, and flip it. The lights on the ceiling flicker on. ABA's light turns off.

I look around. A brain floats in a jar on the table. Flasks from an experiment clearly gone wrong lay on the floor. I walk to the computer I saw earlier and see that it turned on. I grab the mouse and shake it. The computer was logged in already and is on the home screen. It is littered with folders. I click on one labeled "welcome" that was apart from the others. In the folder is a mp4 file. I open it and a picture of a man pops up on the screen. The man had lines on his face and had a balding head of gray hair.

"Welcome. You have come very far by coming here and I congratulate you, Sahi. Frankly, I'm impressed. First you escape me, now you come back looking for revenge." I know this man's voice. I know that this man is Waffengarden Venator. "You are too late! This is the only file you will find because I will delete the rest after making this video." The camera shakes and dust shakes off the ceiling. The man looks up. "Well, today seems like your lucky break, I won't have time for these files while this is happening." I know what he is talking about, this footage was recorded during the destruction of Faust. I need to thank Phoenix later for blowing that place, because he just gave me the biggest load of information I need. "We will meet, Sahira. Just you wait." The video cuts itself off.

"He knew I would come here, that son of a bitch! At least I got some information now. I click onto another folder. This one is labeled "Experiment". Inside are several images. I click on one labeled "Purifier 1.0". The image is of a mask, similar to the first one that Sera gave me. There was text under the picture.

"Standard mask, filters Malice efficiently. Acquired by force. Can be used to assert control if modified." I click to another image. This one looks exactly like the mask that Sera gave to me.

"Purifier 1.1: Added contacts to back. Contacts interface with wearer's brain. Mask will be distributed along with originals." I felt sick. Venator has taken the original Purifier and created what had taken control of Sera long ago. He sabotaged the masks to take control at a small scale.

"Hey ABA, what is Malice? I need to know."

"Malice is a bioweapon created by Waffengarden Venator. Malice is neutralized by the use of purifier masks." ABA responded.

"So, it's like a virus?"

"Not exactly, it was engineered to infect its host like a parasite."

I continue down the list of pictures. The thumbnail for one reminds me of ABA.

"Purifier 2.1: The retaliation against the imposter models. Features an advanced user interface that tunes to its wearer. Impossible to sabotage, automatic tuning prevents the use of control contacts."

"So, ABA, you are one of these 2.1s?" I look down at the watch."

"Incorrect, I am a 2.5. I am the first and only one of my kind, My system was deemed unsuitable for production and I was scrapped. However, you have found me and activated me."

"They got rid of you because they couldn't produce more of you?"

"Correct"

I go to the next image it is unclear what it is. It looks like a baby, but the picture is taking its time to render.

"Contact. 6 o'clock!" I turn around at ABA's warning just as a bullet goes through the monitor where my head had been.

"Well hello again, BITCH!" It was Mr. Blacksuit wearing a purifier mask. He raised the gun in his hand. "You aren't getting away this time."

## Chapter 10: Capture

I dive behind a larger piece of rubble and tuck in my knees. I can't believe he tracked me down here.

"Heh, you know, I thought you would have broken some bones in that crash, I saw the wreckage." He squeezes off some more shots and I feel the rubble breaking apart behind my back. "But here you are, not even scratched."

I look down, he was right, the scrapes on my hands had disappeared, along with the cuts on my legs. Even the blood was gone.

"More over, you are breathing in malice without even being affected. How strange. Venator truly does have his reasons for wanting you."

"Mozzarella, there are more contacts approaching." ABA chirped, "this was an ambush."

"I see you finally turned on that thing, quite a smart little thing, isn't it?"

I look down at a broken pipe on the floor. If I was going to get taken, I will kick and scream the whole time. Why make it easy for them? I reach down and grab the pipe and a few pieces of rubble off the ground. I flip myself over so I am now kneeling facing towards Mr. Blacksuit. I may not have Carpaccio's arm strength, but I can throw. I toss a piece of rubble the size of my fist into Blacksuit's direction.

"Gah!" He cries in pain. "Move in! We need her alive!" I can hear the commotion of soldiers entering the room.

"Come on out and no one gets hurt little missy." One of the soldiers calls out. I see that he is in full gear with a purifier mask covering his face. In his hand he holds an assault rifle.

"Oh please, like you can't do anything to me!" I shout back in a sassy tone.

"Mozzarella," ABA chirps, "you are surrounded, the best course of action is to surren-"

"No, ABA" I cut her off. "I'm not going down without a fight." I glance at the guns. "Also they need me alive, so they won't shoot me." I stand up with the pipe in both hands and start a war cry when I feel a jolt of pain in my chest. I stop, the wind knocked out of me. Another jolt of pain, this time in my stomach. I forgot about bean bags. I collapse onto one knee, and before I can get back up, Blacksuit slaps me across the face. He then puts his hand under my chin and lifts my head up.

"Mr. Venator will be delighted to see you." He picks up my wrist with his other hand. "And this will also be good for me to have. Tazer!" He shouts to one of the soldiers who gives him a tazer.

"Wait no!" ABA yells before being electrocuted and shutting off. The watch loosens as it looses power and Blacksuit slips it into his pocket. I am too weak at this point to do anything and Blacksuit drops my chin.

"Put her in the back." He says and the soldiers lift me up by my arms and carry me out of the bunker. In the dark I can see two trucks, one larger than the other. The soldiers carry me to the larger one and open the door. They put handcuffs on my wrists and throw me into the back, which is a metal box with a slit near the top that was supposed to be a window. I'm too weak to resist and I simply lie on the floor.

I'm weak, I just let him catch up to me. How can I be so stupid? The bean bags probably broke some of my ribs.

"Are we just going to leave her lying down there?" One of the soldiers say. "We can at least have her sit down."

"Don't, Alex, she can lay there all she wants. Besides, she can get up if she wanted to." The other soldier closes the door. I don't feel like moving at all. ''I'm just an idiot, now I'm just going to be back to where I was before going to Anzio. Venator will torture me like I'm just an experiment.'' I remember the picture of the baby that was in the experiment folder. "I'll be just like that baby."

A thought runs through my mind. Was that me? That was the last experiment picture and it was taken a few years ago. Just how long has Venator had me? My entire life?

## Chapter 11: Welcome Home, My Dear Child

Author's note: I am sorry that I had to leave the roleplay server for a few days, but this is a story that has twists that I feel is worth missing a few days to not spoil them.

I had sat in the back of this van for over eight hours. Or is it four hours? I don't remember anymore. The van had been on flat ground for a while now, so we must have left Faust. Sunlight pours through the small slit. My ribs don't hurt anymore and when I slide my shirt up, there isn't even a bruise on my belly or my breast where I felt the bean bag hit.

"So I do have some kind of fast healing." I feel empty, all I did at Anzio, becoming friends with all those people. It was all for nothing. Soon enough, I'll be Venator's and this time, I wouldn't have any fight left in me to resist his brainwashing and torture. Venator really owns me now. Heh, I have to chuckle at myself, I guess I wouldn't remember doing all of this. My story will be over. I won't have my answers. I will never see my friends again. Hell, that teen from the gas station would be the last person to see me. Well, I'm all out of fighting spirit and running on an empty tank.

The van suddenly stops. After a minute, the door opens and sunlight covers the entire inside of the little metal box.

"Damn, she really looks depressed now." Said the soldier supposedly named Alex.

"Get up " said the other soldier. My body refused to move. "Ugh, well, now you can help her up Alex." Alex steps up into the van and reaches down for my arm.

"Come on," he says coldly, "let's get you out of here." He grabs my arm.

Suddenly another vision comes to me. This time, I see a man in his thirties with white hair start picking me up. I look at my arms, they are short and chubby. Baby hands?

"Get away from her!" The same woman from my dream in the forest now stands over me. I look around, I see wooden bars around me. I'm in a crib? I start to hear crying. I realize that I'm crying. This is my past. That woman must be my mom. And the guy must be my dad. Why are they arguing?

Suddenly, I'm back in the present, I'm standing outside of the van, holding my arms over my chest and crying.

"Alex! What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! She just started crying!"

"Well stop her! I don't want to hear it."

"How! I don't get girls!" Alex starts to look at me. "Um, shush?"

I stop crying, "I'm fine, you dumbass." I wipe my face. "I just-"

"Ah, Sahira! Long time no see." I look up, neither of the soldiers said that. A man in a gray suit stands over me. It is him. The man that has taunted me for my entire life. Waffengarden Venator in the flesh.

"Leave." Venator says to the soldiers.

"Yes sir!" Both soldiers say in unison. They get into the van and drive off.

"Welcome home, my dear Sahira." Venator says. "I see you have done well for yourself." He takes me into a building.

I finally get the will to say something. "You win." I croak out.

"Sorry? I didn't quite hear you that well." I can tell he's toying with me. "Not talking anymore? What a shame. I wanted to enjoy breaking you, but I guess that on the ride here you broke yourself."

He walks me over to an elevator. He presses button for basement three. I see a whole row of buttons under the B3 button. Just how deep is this place?

I start to have another flashback. This time, I am in a basket going down a elevator. I look up and the man from before is carrying me in the basket.

"It will be ok Sahira. Daddy will take care of you." The elevator stops and the door opens. When I look, I see a metal table.

I am back with Venator in the elevator. The door opens. It opens into a hallway with metal walls. I start to follow Venator through the hallway. I look into one of the doors. I see ABA being linked to multiple wires.

Venator turns and opens a door. Inside, there is a long table with straps.

"Looks like I can skip the torture and just go straight to the brainwashing." I see tools hanging on the wall. A saw is plugged into the wall.

This is my chance to end him. I realize that this might be my last time being Sahira, so I have nothing to lose in this attempt. I grab the saw, and power it on. I slice through his back. Blood gushes out.

He starts to laugh. "You really thought you got me?" He turns around. I see that his face has no pain. "Oh you poor girl, seems like you still have something left to break." He grabs my arm and pulls me into the hallway. "I know just what to do, because physical torture doesn't quite work."

How the hell did he survive that? He pulls me into a room that overlooks a huge machine. The room the machine is in seems to go down forever. The room has a control panel with a red button and a keypad.

"Look here. This machine is an experimental time translator. You are smart enough to know what that means."

I can't believe my eyes, I was looking at a time machine. "How? Time travel? What are you planning?"

"I'm going to use this to split the timeline. Before, I didn't have what I need to operate it." A door opens down in the room with the machine. Two people in white lab coats walk across a bridge to the machine in the middle. They carry a cart between them. I squint and see that it is ABA.

"Now you come along with just what I need to wipe anyone out of existence!" Venator starts to laugh maniacally. "I will take out people that stop me from rising to power, and this AI will calculate who will be wiped!"

"You are a monster!" I cannot believe what he is saying.

"I'm only doing the world a favor. I will assert peace over the entire Earth! No more wars, no more suffering! And who better to be with me than you!"

"Me?! What the hell do I have to do with this?!"

"Oh, isn't it obvious? I heal quickly, you heal quickly. The malice infects everyone but me and you!" He looks at me. "You're a smart girl! Figure it out!"

It was impossible, and I start feeling another flashback. It is of the man who is my father. This time, I can see his face clearly. My father has blue eyes and white hair, just like mine. My father has a long nose and angled jaw. The flashback ends and I am looking at Venator. He has blue eyes and white hair, just like me and my father. Venator has a long nose and angled jaw, just like my father's. I feel my heart speed up.

"No! You can't! You can't be my father!" I shout up into his face.

"You are a lot like her, you know. That's why I did it. That's why I had to wipe your memory, because you never believed in what I was doing, just like she didn't." I start to feel my body shake. "You even have her wavy hair and face."

"You- you-" I start to feel tears as I collapse onto the ground. I wanted to find where I was from, and I have my answer. "Where is she?"

"Gone, but with this I can bring her back! He starts to laugh again. He hits the button on the control panel. "Now behold! This room has just become an observer outside of the time stream!" The windows of the room flash, then turn dark. "Let's erase you from this little stream of mine!"

The room shakes. The windows flash again and I see a house. It is a cute little place with green walls. Venator grabs a pistol. "I will make this quick, and don't worry, you aren't from this time stream, so you won't get affected." He runs into the house. I try to stand, but find that I can't.

I'm the daughter of that monster. My real name isn't Sahira Covaste, it is Sahira Venator.

Author's note: now you see why I left the room, Sahira being Venator's daughter was something I had planned since when I had Mozzarella tell Alice about her situation about how she got to Anzio. As of the time travel, that was something I had to do when Soviet decided to do the small reset. It was the only way to keep the story relevant to the roleplay storyline. As of other parts of the story that happen after this chapter. The original plans have been scrapped. A new story is being written that would hopefully be better.

## Chapter 12: What Have I Become?

This is how my journey for answers ends? Me becoming a helpless by-stander to the taking over of the world?

I start to make a fist. Does Venator actually think that I will just kneel to him? I will go down kicking and screaming.

"So, I'm your daughter, huh?" I raise my bound wrists above my head. "You really shouldn't have let me known." I pull down, forcing the handcuffs into my knees, breaking the skin open and revealing bone. "Because I bet that your daughter would be one hell of a badass." I raise my hands up again and smash the bone. It hurts, but only temporarily. I pull up a shard of bone from my kneecap and use it as a make-shift lockpick. After I am free from the shackles, I use the wall as support and I stand up.

"I guess I can fill that 'badass' role." Maybe that can be on my resume, "professional badass".

I look down at my knee, the bone has repaired itself already and the skin is slowly knitting itself together. I put my foot on the ground and test my knee. There's no pain and I can use my leg. I step out of the observation room and run to the house. Before I can reach the door I hear a gunshot.

"Venator! You son of a bitch!" I yell as I bust through the door. "Come here if you want to get rid of me!"

"Oh, how nice of you to join us!" Venator turns around, holding a woman. Mom. The thought races through my head. "The family is back together." I look around the room he is in. Memories start flooding in. Memories I never knew I had.

"Please! Help me!" The my mom cries before Venator knocks her out with the grip of the pistol. Her body goes limp and Waffengarden drops her on the ground. I see a crib in the corner of the room. I can see blood dripping away from it.

That's me. I'm too late. I'm dead.

"Well" I say and glare into his eyes, "I guess now I have absolutely nothing left to lose."

"I wouldn't be so sure Sahira, there's still your life." He aims at me. I dive to my right, barely missing the shot.

"Hey! What was all that talk about 'who better to be with me than you' bullshit?" I know he needs me.

"Well, that got thrown out the window when you crashed the family reunion." He fires at me again.

After his burst, I lunge forward and grab his legs. As he falls he drops his gun. We start to wrestle on the ground. We slowly make our way to the gun. I grab it first. When I do, I stand up away from him and aim on him. When he sees the gun pointed at him, he stays down.

"Is this how you really treat your father? You wave a gun in his face?"

"It's what I have to do, to save the world."

"I was saving the world!"

"By controlling everybody! That isn't how it works!"

"Look around you, darling! People die because of their little squabbles. They need someone to guide them! I am that guide!" He started to sound sorry, but I didn't buy it.

"You call it guiding! It is slavery! You are trying to take over the entire human race!" I start to have another flashback. Bad timing.

I am in this very room, but in my timeline. My mom is rocking me in her arms. I hear a crash as the door is forced open. Two men wearing masks hold guns to my mom.

"Give us your valuables! Do as we say or you'll get it!" One man says, shoving his gun into my mom's face.

"No." my mom says. The man slaps her with the gun.

"Yes, you will!"

"Stay away from my baby!" My mom stands up, she grabs a pocket knife from the table beside the rocking chair. Then I hear gun shots. My mom drops me on the ground and falls. This is what happened. This is why Venator does this. But this still isn't right!

Back in present time, Venator stands up and lunges for me. He must have saw me having a flashback. I raise to shoot as he grabs the gun and shoves it down. The shot rings out. Everything goes still and Vermillion and I start to look down. My mom lies there, blood starts gushing out of her stomach. He collapses and I drop the gun.

"No... babe? Babe!" He starts to pull his hair out.

I flashback. My dad, the younger Venator, kneels over my mom from the other timeline.

I'm back to present. The old Venator starts to stand up. I knock him out with the back of the pistol and carry him outside. The reality of what just happened hits. I start to sob. I drag my dad into the observation room and close the door.

"CLOAK ENGAGED" A robotic voice says. I start crying completely now.

"Mozzarella!" I hear a familiar voice chirp.

"ABA?" I sniffle.

"You have no idea how long it took me to gain contact with you. You seem to be about twenty years into the past."

"Twenty? It's more like sixteen!"

"Like I said, it took a while to get a hold of you."

"Four years?" I stand up from where I fell onto the floor.

"Correct, you and Venator has been gone for four years in this timeline. In the meantime, Venator's followers have left because they weren't being given orders. I'm going to pull you into this time stream, press the button on the panel, please."

I walk to the panel and press the button. The room vibrates and bright light flashes. When I can see again, the sight before me is amazing. It looks like outer space. And all around the room, I can see strands of light wrapping around each other. It reminds me of spaghetti.

"Welcome to the time zone. Here, everything that has and will ever happen is available to you. I have learned a lot in these last four years."

"This is, amazing!"

"It is 'amazing' but there is a problem, see that orange line? That was not there until a few minutes ago. See how it ends? That end keeps growing. That is a new timeline that originates from when you just were." ABA is right, the orange line looks short, but I see it slowly getting longer.

Behind me, I hear Venator groan. "A new timeline? Then, I succeeded!" Venator then rushes towards me. I panic.

"Open the door and stay away from it!" ABA calls out. I run to the door and open it. I suddenly feel a rush as the air behind me starts to rush out through the door. I grab onto the control panel. Venator isn't so lucky and he flies through the door and into the abyss. When he is out. A bulkhead door slams closed and the air pressure returns to normal. I let go of the panel. Before the door closes, I can hear a faint yell. "I'm sorry Ridley. I was never able to finish what we started."

"Is he gone?" I look at the door, where my dad once stood.

"Yes, the area outside of the Observatory is pure space. Any matter that exits the room is converted into energy that dissipates."

"So, he's gone for good."

"That version of Venator is, I will explain when you arrive back here."

## Chapter 13: Despair

The room shakes as it enters back into the timeline. After the flash of light, I see that I am back inside of the massive room with the time machine. The bulkhead door opens.

"Welcome back Mozzarella." ABA says over the intercom. "Go to the theater room down the hall to the left." I leave the Observatory and see the room that ABA is talking about.

"So, are you going to explain what is going on?" I see that the theater room has tv screens on all of the walls. One of the screens turns on and I see a picture of the time stream.

"This, as you know, is the time line." The image shifts and I see the orange line. "And this is when you just were." The screen shows pictures of a younger version of Venator crying. "After you left that time, the Venator of twenty years ago arrives at his home to find both his daughter and wife dead."

"And let me guess, that is the reason why the orange is there."

"Yes," the screen shows police cars outside of the little green house. "When the police investigated, they found Mr. Venator and a handgun with his prints on it and convicted him of double homicide." The screen flashes to a mugshot of Vermillion himself. "Venator Thran Venator was sentenced to life in prison."

The screen flashes again and now a newspaper with the headline "Venator Escapes!" Is on screen with a blurry picture of a running man.

"Venator escaped prison and made his company in this alternate timeline. But unlike this timeline, where his daughter, you, lived, Vermillion has lost his entire family and has different morals. In this timeline he seeks nothing but revenge."

"What you are saying is that I created a worse version of him?"

"Yes, and meanwhile in this timeline, Venator's company fell apart as the brainwashed workers reintegrated with society quietly. With them gone I was able to take over this facility and discover all of this."

"What about while I was gone?"

The screen shows a picture of my L3. "After Anchovy attempted to find you, a search party found the remains of your tankette and suspected you died. The sensha-do federation, along with other world superpowers, blamed the Soviet Union for your death." The screen shows explosions and troops shooting rifles. "The result was a short conflict between the Soviet Union and the world. After two weeks of fighting," A picture of my Pantera flashes in screen, "the hatch of your Pantera opened and it was believed then that Venator had killed you." The screen shows Phoenix shaking hands with world leaders. "Peace was made and efforts to find Vermillion resulted in nothing. Venator had men destroy all evidence of his existence and the case of Sahira Covaste's death went cold for the next four years."

"So that's what happened? Everyone just moved on?" I feel a pain in my chest. They just moved on and Venator was never discovered. "What about the other timeline?"

"This is a new timeline and the end of it hasn't yet been determined. By best estimates, Venator will take over the world without mercy."

"So, there is nothing left for me here, but a dangerous man is in another timeline?"

"Mozzarella! Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?"

"Yes, I will enter into that timeline and finish Venator for good."

"That would be the best strategy." ABA said after a few seconds if thought. "But it is possible that by traveling into a timeline where you don't exist in you will create a time-space rupture."

"It didn't rupture when I left. This will work! Besides, everyone here thinks I'm dead, so it wouldn't make a difference if I just leave." I leave the theater. "I need a tank though, they wouldn't just give someone who never existed a tank."

"This place has no facilities to produce a tank."

"I can just find one there I guess." I walk into the Observatory. "No better time than now to go." I press the button.

"There's a ripple forming in B5! It happened as soon as the machine turned on! Shutting it down." I run out of the Observatory and to the elevator, I had to see what that ripple was about. I press the button B5 and the elevator starts to descend.

When the elevator opens, I see a large room that looks like it can fit a small home inside of it. At the center of the room, a ball of thunder hovers. Lightning bolts shoot away from it. The lightning gets more and more intense and my hair stands up because of the electricity. The ball suddenly shrinks and I get pushed back by a shockwave. When I hit the wall I black out.

## Chapter 14: A Future Reminder

"Mozzarella! Mozzarella wake up!" ABA yells over the intercom. I slowly open my eyes. My head hurts and everything is blurry. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm up." I wipe my eyes and regret it, my head starts to pound even worse. I am lying on my back and I can see that the overhead lights are flickering, half of them are smashed.

"What happened? I my camera down there got knocked out temporarily." I start to stand up, using the wall as support. I rub my head and look up. I can't believe what I see.

"It's a tank! "Oww..." My head pounds again. "It looks burnt."

"Hold on, my camera is coming back online. You're right, there is a tank." I look at it closer. It looks like my unfinished Project 65.

"Hey, that reminds me of my design!"

"You know, it does follow your design pattern." I walk closer to it and reach out. "Don't touch it! Thermals show that it is hot!" I back away.

"How is it here? I mean, I know it came from whatever that ball was."

"I'm picking up an electrical signal coming from it, it's a video."

"A video?"

"I'll project it." A hole in the roof opens and a projector drops down. It is supported by a mechanical arm. A video projects onto the wall.

"Hello?" A woman on screen says. The woman has long, white hair that flows down her back and she wears some kind of black futuristic suit that goes around her entire body. That's me. I notice. She is hunched over controls of what looks like a tank and the camera is positioned right infront of her. "This might sound like a weird request, but I am sending this Progetto 70 to you so you can succeed where I failed." The camera shakes and the me in the video winces. "I've tried taking on Waffentractor, but he was one step ahead of me." The version of me looks to be in her twenties. "I am sending this tank to you now so that you don't waste time making it. Hopefully this time around you can take him." The twenty year old me looks up and closes one eye. After a moment I hear a bang and the sound of the gun ejecting the round. The version of me looks down to the camera again. "When you get this, I will already about be captured. Hopefully you, a younger version of me, can react in time, I cannot go with this tank into your timeline, there just isn't enough power for me." The older me has a tear run down her cheek. "Make sure you don't end up like me, this may be our last chance against our dad." The video cuts out as another explosion is heard.

"What? That- that was me" My headache is gone now. "And what do I mean by 'last chance'?"

"Mozzarella, the tank is safe to touch now." I turn to the tank. "There are signs that show that there is a temporal anchor in it, just like the Observatory."

"That is how it got here?"

"That is how the Observatory works, it is like bow fishing, the Observatory is an arrow. The bow in this case is the Time Translator and the line that holds the arrow is the temporal anchor."

"And the TT also acts as the reel. Got it." I climb onto the top of the tank and open the hatch in the turret. Cold hair blows out from the inside. It looks almost exactly like what I planned for the inside of the Progetto 65 to look like. The only differences being that there is a extra panel on the wall that looks like the inside of the Observatory, and a tv screen beside the panel. On the seat there is a neatly folded suit like the one I was wearing in the video. There is a note on it and I pick it up.

"One size fits all. ABA can make the polysuit look like anything." At the bottom it is signed "S.V." Sahira Vermillion. I pick up the black suit.

"Hey ABA, do you know about a polysuit?"

"I think that I can connect to it. Let me try." The suit in my hands flickers and looks like my Anzio uniform "I can change it into different clothes, it seems." I stand up out of the tank. I look down and realize that my clothes are all torn up and bloody. I also realize that I haven't kept up with personal hygiene.

"Hey ABA,"

"Yes Mozzarella?"

"Are there showers here?"

## Chapter 15: A Whole New World

The polysuit feels pretty comfortable after I put it on. I just finished my shower and was now eating a frozen tv dinner that I found in one of the break rooms.

"You know, the last time I ate was technically over four years ago." I say between bites. "But to me it was only two days ago on the side of the road. It feels like a lifetime ago."

"Mozzarella, there is something I need to tell you." ABA's voice comes from the overhead speaker.

"What?" I say, still eating.

"I ran some simulations and found that, you won't be able to stay in that alternate timeline permanently."

"How so?"

"While you are in the other timeline, the matter that makes you up violates the law of conservation of mass."

"I figured, so all I need to do is come back here and I'll be good to go?"

"Yes, you have approximately two weeks inside of the alternate timeline before it forcibly kicks you out into the pure space region. If you are outside of an Observatory of some kind, your body will vaporize and you will turn into energy. I am working on a permanent solution because you can't go your whole life in between time streams."

"Who said that I don't want to be here?"

"You hinted towards leaving this timeline for good."

"Huh, I guess I did." I finish eating and I throw away the plastic plate. "Let's see what the power issue is that future me talked about."

"I determined that the Progetto's reactor ran out of fuel and I have already found a stockpile of uranium in B10. I can morph the polysuit into a radiation resistant suit when you get down there." I go out into the hallway and step onto the elevator.

After the elevator stops and the door opens, I feel the polysuit vibrate and get heavier. A yellow hood goes over my head. After a second, a small window forms and grows to cover my entire view. I look down and see that I am now in a full hazmat style suit.

"That felt weird." I walk down the hallway. I stop at a door labeled "Radioactive: Enter With Caution"

I open the door see a room with rows of canisters on shelves. The room looks like it goes for miles because of only the light near the door being on.

"Only one will fill the reactor." ABA says. I grab one and leave the room, closing the door behind me. Once I am on the elevator I press the button to take me to the Progetto 70. When I approach the tank and get onto the back deck, I see that it is the exact same way as my 65 was supposed to be. I open the radiation hood on the reactor and uncap the uranium can. I poor in the pellets. After I close both the radiation hood and the canister, the polysuit vibrates again and returns to its regular form.

"I guess that I'm ready to go." In the tank I found a stockpile of money that I could use.

"I can monitor you through here." The screens inside the tank turn on as the reactor starts to work. I sit down into the tank and strap myself in. "Are you ready, Mozzarella?"

"Yes" I put my hands on the control sticks.

"Putting in time coordinates and powering up Time Translator." The button on the side lights up after a moment. "Your good for launch into the alternate timeline."

"As Anchovy would say, VAI AVANTE!" I press the button and feel the crackle of electricity as the reactor hums. I feel weightless for a second, then the monitor shows a diagram of the spaghetti-like time stream. On the diagram, there is a small dot that is moving towards the orange timeline. As it gets near, the electric feeling intensifies and the screen flashes white.

I feel a jolt as the electricity suddenly goes away. I look at the main view screen and I see trees. The side screen turns blue.

"Mozzarella! You landed successfully in the new time stream." A timer shows up on screen. "Here is how long you have until you get kicked from the timeline."

I unstrap myself from the seat and stand up out of the hatch. I breathe in the fresh air as birds chirp in the distance. "Does this thing I any kind of cloak like the other room had?"

"Yes, I will go ahead and activate it while you are out. I am linked to your polysuit so that I can come with you even if you leave the tank."

I drop onto the ground and the Progetto 70 completely disappears behind me. The polysuit vibrates slightly and morphs into a pair of jeans, a button up shirt, and a jacket. I am in a park area and luckily no one is around, there aren't even cameras around me. "I made it to the other timeline, and I will catch you, Venator." This is a vow I made not only to myself, but to all those that have suffered under my father.

## Epilogue

I look over the Faust factory. My tank is under cloak while I watch the struggle below me. They fight Seraphina but she seems to be too strong to be defeated. She holds Anchovy's neck and shoves her to the wall. At this point in time, I know that both are just acting out because they were both brainwashed by my dad. This display of violence was just to make others think that Anchovy was her real self when I know that she is not.

"It's time I introduce myself to them." I say as ABA takes control of the Progetto and starts to drive towards the factory. "It's time to make myself known."

Author's note: that is the end! Mozzarella has had a crazy adventure and now it is time for her to reintegrate into the main roleplay to continue her story. I hope you have enjoyed reading and Happy Tanking!