Reign of Chaos Chapter 8, a Zoids fanfic by Sh33p

Sh33p Disclaimer: I don`t own Zoids. Consider this disclaimer valid for the whole damn story :P

Fear was palpable as the containment unit slid to a slow halt, the sound of desert sands shifting beneath not-too-distant wheels echoing into the ears of a former mercenary and two teens, all three of them caught in a crazy game that they could all only scarcely comprehend the scale of, though no one with sanity could really understand it all. This didn`t count the fact that both teens were each only barely sane anymore didn`t count very much, it took a very special type of insanity - evil - to understand what was truly happening.

Brad was silent and unflenching as his restraints were undone down to a pair of simple handcuffs, which were re-cuffed to his own belt a second or so later. Jamie followed suit in similar fashion, though the precaution of the cuff-to-the-belt wasn`t taken, and Leyla was already incapacitated enough as it was. Though the lone wolf of the trio was mostly quiet aside from the occasional disgruntled sound or a witty comment on the side, the other two were each bordering on being terrified. Leyla less so than Jamie, but still.

Harshly and without a single word of comfort, damnation or mocking, the three were lead from the holding unit, out the back and into the light of day, which was soon turned into the shadow of a Hammer Kaiser, a rarer, far larger version of the Hammerhead I and II, each of which only measured in at a tenth of the size at best for the I, three tenths at the maximum for the II. It was almost the size of an upper-middle-sized Whale King, and for it`s size, equally armed. Hammer Kaisers were made for stand-off assaults or bombardment using conventional, cruise and ballistic missiles, they weren`t quite as armored as their cousins, but they were more agile and could easily make it into space with little trouble, while only the smallest Whale Kings could do such a thing.

"Money to burn, I`m guessing?" Brad asked one of their captors with an off beat sarcasm that underlined the mutually held 'we`re screwed' attitude of the three. He got no answer other than a solid smack across the face, and though a small trickle of blood ran down from one nostril afterward. "You hit like a girl," he muttered under his breath at the would-be disciplinary, who only growled annoyedly and made ready to attack again, held back by one of the others.

Minutes passed, the three were lead up a ramp that was actually the Kaiser`s normally concealed lower jaw, easily large enough to lead to a hangar that maintained room for up to fifty normal Zoids, or one enormous Zoid. Minutes more passed as their Zoids were loaded in, along with the troops, and a few minutes more dragged by with no conversation from the three, though Leyla and Jamie were both becoming increasingly disoriented and even a little panicked by their surroundings.

After a time though, each was uncuffed and flung into a single cell for the three of them, with little care for Brad or Jamie but a suspicious amount for their compatriot, who was only kicked in by the seat of her pants rather than roughly thrown in like the other two.

"Feel free to take `er strait jacket off, won`t make a bit of difference where you`re goin`," one of the guards mocked before slapping the door shut and leaving the three in dulled shadow, only barely able to see more than a few feet in front of them.

"Well, all things considered, that wasn`t too bad," Brad commented, rubbing his sore wrists while Jamie sought to release the strait jacket`s grip on his girlfriend. Leyla merely stared at the former mercenary in annoyance before speaking up.

"What the Hell is wrong with you? We`re being taken to god-knows-where and your only reaction is to pop off jokes?" She asked, breaking her normally cheerful, calm and polite demeanor in the heat of the moment. Jamie said nothing, but it was obvious that he agreed wholeheartedly. Brad gave a shrug in the darkness.

"Panic gets us nowhere, it also wrecks our focus. We have to remain calm and work together as a team to get outta here, if that`s even possible."

"And where does sarcasm get us?" Jamie asked with a tone that matched Leyla`s own, needlessly helping the girl up.

"Sarcasm is just my way of staying calm. You two could make out, dance around to hummed-out pop music, sing sports anthems, play rock-paper-scissors, cheesily declare your love for each other or whatever for all I care, just don`t panic and lose focus on our goal."

Neither bothered arguing the point, but neither were about to let go of each other either for that matter. Stoically, Brad crossed his arms over his chest, sat down on one of the four or five uncomfortable, wall-hung beds and crossed his legs, leaning back against the wall itself and closing his eyes a second later. As Leyla and Jamie fumbled their way over to another of the three chained/hinged beds, an empty hum sounded off in the darkness.

It was the tune of an old roady`s theme song, first hummed out some two-hundred-and-fifty-years earlier by a woman history would record as Moonbay, everything from a `Staver to a six time racing champion at the Guylos Grand Prix to a founder of one of the more successful soft drink companies around.

Roughly ten hours ago, life had been perfect. Just about everything was going well - her boyfriend was doing fine despite being covered in minor cuts and bruises, his best friend was doing reasonably well, her own friends were all doing just fine, her employer and surrogate uncle was doing good, her education was being provided for through both her own hard work and her boyfriend`s, she was making good grades and had a promising future career in virtually any generalized medical field she felt like going into.

Right about now, to say that Abigail Summers felt like crap would`ve been a particularly light way of putting things. A childbirth, three improvised surgeries, four emergency blood transfusions and an amputation, as well as two fatalities had left her completely drained of just about everything. She`d been running on all cylinders with jet lag since getting off the Hammerhead she and Mark had come home in. The tan skin of her arms was still visibly wet from having just washed them down after removing surgical gloves, and all things considered, she was doing a fairly good job for someone who was getting only a crash course as more than a student.

"I need a nap," the short young woman muttered to herself, plopping down with a soft thud on the bench outside of any one of the five choked hospitals in Farentown. With close to two thousand fatalities at this point, there were also well over six times as many surviving casualties of the ambush that had taken place the previous evening. Smoke still billowed up from the ruined ashes of several of the Zoid hangars that had been blown to smithereens, and in a city where there were at least sixteen local multi-Zoid hangars and shops with half of them exploding, the damage had been immense.

Several of the local high rise buildings still bore scars, blown out glass and the like, it was really quite insane, not to mention difficult to really wrap one`s brain around.

"You ain`t the only one," a ragged voice replied as a second thud - this one more dull than truly soft - sounded, a taller, relatively thinner form landing next to her. Abbie glanced sideways, watching as Mark sat next to her with an opened can of Jolt Cola and a bag of potato chips, while Kyle mugged a canned drink machine that had swallowed a quarter.

"Long night, honey?" She asked sweetly, almost murderously eying his drink like a dying desert animal. Mark scouted the look ahead of time, offering a sip without being needed to hear a request. The two looked like the twilight of a morning compared to the twilight of the afternoon. Abbie was wearing a pair of snug fitting jeans and a short sleeved, pink t-shirt, along with sneakers and nothing else. Mark was wearing a pair of black cargo pants and a matching t-shirt, his old baseball-styled cap worn raggedly atop his head, a bit of five-o-clock shadow on his chin. Both looked a bit paler than usual from exhaustion, each mirrored the other with dry eyes of a different color to each other - Mark`s being a dark blue, Abbie`s more of a vivid green - and both looked like they were ready to fall asleep on each other.

"You could use a bandage change," Abbie observed after several seconds, downing at least half of Mark`s drink and suddenly twitching slightly as the caffine literally jolted into her system.

"Bandages smandages-" "GIMME MY GOD DAMN DRINK YOU PIECE O` CRAP!" "- save `em for who needs `em."

A loud crash and the sound of breaking plastic to the background of an irate bishounen frothing out the mouth like an absolute psychopath.

"I think Kyle`s gone insane, dear," Abbie casually pointed out. Mark shrugged vacantly.

["Someone draw their fire!" Harabec ordered, taking charge of the situation the moment he arrived. Shots rang out briefly as the black-and-gold Rev Raptor sprang it`s scythes into attack mode and dodged through fire from a Helcat, gutting the thing in the small of the back with ease before moving on into an acrobatic jump.

Kyle had taken things so literally that the Ivory Blade Liger was shaking it`s rear end around at the enemy Zoids like a cheap stripper trying for a five dollar bill on the graveyard shift.

Mark yanked the bag open and swiped a handful of chips, a subtle tick visible at the edge of one eye. "I don`t think I`ll ever look at Blade Ligers the same again..."

"Bloody, filled with screaming, improvisional medical care at it`s best and more physical and mental trauma than you can imagine," Abbie explained with an unusually blunt way about her. She then leered uneasily at him with a dimmed expression. "Heard from Mom, Pierce or your parents yet?"

"Nope," Mark said like a ton of bricks. The global communications network had been among the casualties of the night`s activities: There had been so many calls, e-mails, log-ons, mixed news broadcasts and long range transmissions on similar frequencies that just about everything wasn`t functioning right. The internet had briefly crashed, phonelines had overloaded and crossed calls from having so many signals at once, the news was almost completely unreliable and long range transmissions had flooded every known frequency but military channels.

About the only communications technologies actually working anymore belonged to the military, in fact. Everything else was still in Hell and it probably would be for a while longer. Abbie sighed, finding something else to focus on since she didn`t exactly like talking about the end of life as pretty much everyone had known it.

"Don`t try to be a freakin` self-sacrificial twit, newb," Kyle interrupted, lightly whacking Mark across the back of the head.

"Go screw another drink machine, chinmo," Mark replied, harshly backhanding the other in the stomach.

"I`d rather not," Kyle retorted, this time jamming his fist down into Mark`s scalp and tilting that black cap all out of place as a result.

"I insist," Mark shot back, his own fist shooting up into the bottom of Kyle`s jaw, behind that oh-so-lethal chin and knocking the silver haired man`s head back. They stood like there for several seconds, and Abbie just stared at them sourly.

"You both have way too much time on your hands," she finally said with a sigh, just swallowing what was left of Mark`s former drink as if it were a shot of vodka.

A loud explosion of dust and dirt as the Geno Breaker materialized, off balance and obviously disoriented, it`s pilot conveniently missing from the cockpit as it fell over. Bill let out a loud yell of indignance and landed harshly after a four foot drop, skidding along for a few feet before stopping. There was a shock of color in front of him, and then Borealis finished materializing, eerily seeming to crack it`s neck from side to side.

"Come to finish me off?" Bill asked in a tone bordering on irate but held in check by that same murderous calm.

Finish ya off? Now WHY would I do THAT?! Borealis replied, twitching several times as it`s optics briefly dimmed and brightened repeatedly for no apparent reason. Especially here, of ALL PLACES that I could choose to kill ya, SONNY!

"What the Hell happened to your voice?" Bill asked, sitting up and casting a glance at the surroundings. The Breaker was lying on it`s stomach, the surrounding area was one that Bill hadn`t seen in years.

Irony. It was the same place they`d first met some ten years earlier when a then-younger Bill Chapman had literally stumbled into a wandering, twisted looking creature he later knew as Borealis. A wide road running through the forest near his home town of Wind City, though this was more or less a road nobody ever used anymore. Highways and the like tended to supercede back roads for just about everyone but bandits, gangs and smugglers, and they usually picked less obvious routes.

Borealis stood anxiously, randomly glancing from side to side with jerky movements, all the while bouncing up and down like a boxer in the ring. The black haired young man standing before him merely growled under his breath and stood up, dusting himself off without a word and looking around.

"You probably just got me killed," Bill said with a sneer, the skin around the choker he wore still looking a bit singed from the jolt that had just pulsed through his system mere seconds earlier. Borealis seemed to literally blink, all movement ceasing instantly.

"But I guess I can make it up by ripping your guts out, now can`t I?" He asked angrily, a maddened smile appearing across his face. The Organoid took a step back. "Now c`mere, ol` buddy, ol` pal, let`s see how you like it when I try to kill you," Bill stated, suddenly breaking into a run. Borealis merely jumped up, dodging over him and landing behind, perfectly balanced.

Gee, ol` Billy-boy, don`t take getting flung out of a Whale King in the heat OF THE MOMENT too lightly, do ya?

Bill stopped almost on a dime, twisting around on one foot and making another charge.

A solid *THWACK* and Bill twisted through the air like a rifle round, landing in a skid on his back some thirteen feet from where the Organoid had firmly belted him across the face. Despite being the youngest of the current generation, Borealis was no pushover.

Slowly, disoriented and now bruised across one cheek, the black haired youth sat up, wiping dirt from his mouth with a lethally determined glare. "I`d rather not," he muttered out, standing up straight and throwing his fists up in a boxer`s stance, almost mimicking the style of movement that Bit Cloud often used when he was shadow boxing to blow off steam.

The steady, rhythmic bouncing motion of his near hovering steps was a small distraction, but Borealis was still easily able to tilt out of the way of a three punch assault, fists literally blurring past his head as the Organoid stood there, looking quite oblivious at the moment.

A punch into the bottom of the jaw and the seven foot tall Organoid tilted back at an unnatural angle, standing still only due to the balance of it`s tail. Both eyes dimmed briefly and then lit back up as was the norm before -

- another solid *THUD* issued in the road, that Bill slamming down into the ground on his face from a downward headbutt.

Effortlessly as it was, Bill was back on his feet and a bit dazed with ease, now bruised on the forehead as well. Again he attacked - fists blurring almost entirely out of view. Two punches at first, then three, four, five, six and a seventh followed suit, every one of them missing their target before Borealis effortlessly jumped back, balanced on his tail and sprang forward, glowing briefly with a trailing aura of red, blue and black before delivering an uncannily martial arts styled kick across the other`s face.

Bill streaked through the air and landed with yet another loud thud on the ground, skidding and rolling along awkwardly to the head of the downed Geno Breaker, while his former best friend landed with a near karate-like pose, short arms sticking out in a pathetic attempt for a fighting stance, one leg curled in and his tail arcing low to the ground for balance.

Slowly this time, Bill sat up again, expression borderlining on murderously psychotic as he wiped his jaw once more. "What the fuck happened to you?" He asked in disbelief.

... Yanno, for YOU of ALL PEOPLE ON THIS admittedly small and utterly pathetic multi-climatic dustball of a PLANET TO BE ASKING ME!!! Is more than a smegging smidge smagoogling IRONIC! Mister I`m-gonna-KILL-YER-AYUSS!

Again, the Organoid hopped around, still on one foot. The insanity would`ve continued, if not for the green streak that crackled in overhead, slamming into Borealis like a freight train and completely obscuring him in a body-sized crater.

Spectacle appeared almost effortlessly in his place, but only for a second, streaking again and phasing into view on top of the Geno Breaker, then swooping down, grabbing Bill and blazing back into the skies, taking both the Zoid and it`s pilot with him.

A pause. Slowly, he rose back up, covered in dirt and dust, optics blazing brightly in the morning light, but he didn`t pursue them. Instead, he did something that was now becoming quite typical given that his sanity was still on temporary hiatus:

"Report," a voice echoing calm villainy echoed in the purposefully ill-lit room that served as Vilhelm Rommel`s private office. It was currently occupied by only two people, namely the overlord of the entire organization himself, and a seemingly unimportant lackey who was actually the ship`s third-in-command, after it`s captain and Rommel himself.

"Last night`s attacks lead to mixed results, sir. Fifteen of the neutral zone-cities are gone, leaving only Farentown, Romeo City, ZBC headquarters and the Guardian Force`s Command Ultrausaurus fully intact or close to it. Outside of that, we`ve successfully caught the governments of the Helic and Guylos nations both off guard, their forces are in disarray and around 70% of the raids we made on their civilian populations broke through due to military incompetence."

"And what of the more specific targets? I take it those are the ones that were the most mixed?" Vilhelm asked sourly, leaning rather heavily on one elbow, shifting slightly in the throne-like chair behind his desk.

"... Yes, sir. Fleiheit and another woman - we believe it was Riese - killed themselves before we could take them alive. Several dozen of our soldiers were injured and the Zoids involved in destroying the Wind Colony were so haywire that we had to wipe their cores and data banks completely clear."

A grimace of annoyance. He`d been relying heavily on taking Fiona Alysse Linette-Fleiheit alive, and possibly taking the other Zoidian as well. Unless he could find a viable substitute...

"Bit Cloud and the Liger Zero also escaped the trap we`d set for him. The entire ambush force was massacred in under three hours, what little we could gather from black boxes show that everything went right down hill the moment Fleiheit took her own life. We were also unable to locate Stoller and his people, or Vega Obscura and the Berserk Fury. We did recieve confirmation from an agent, that Obscura was spotted near Garnhelm Base, waging battle with his older brother. We`re unsure of the exact outcome, but we`re trying to get confirmation of information that Cloud, both Obscuras, the Liger, the Fury and an unknown Zoid in mid-evolution are at the same base."

"New Helic City and Guygalos are both only slightly damaged, Romeo and Farentown are both becoming patchwork fortresses, our second attacks on all of them failed to varying degrees..."

"Ah... Well, pretty much all of the teams lower than A have been disabled, tied up in defense of a town or city, are missing or dead."

"Most of the Class A teams have gathered around Romeo, Farentown and some of the border cities, while a few Class S teams have been spotted at Firishton, on the southern coast of the neutral zone. Outside of that, most, if not all, are missing in action," the lieutenant finished, though he spoke again before Rommel could try and say something. If not for the fact that it was particularly good news, he probably would have killed the sorry bastard.

"The captain of the Fatalistic Renegade successfully captured three prisoners earlier this morning," the lieutenant reported with a nod. "Your point being?" Vilhelm asked with palpable annoyance.

"Two are members of the Class S Blitz Team, the other is Leyla Tsun, the woman that Bill Chapman`s Organoid was drawn too."

The mood in the entire room changed. "Very good," Rommel said to himself, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "What`s the name of the Renegade`s captain?"

"Susan Turpscavey, I believe. One of the most well-rounded captains we have, as a matter of fact."

Vilhelm smiled lightly. "Good. Tell her to rendevous with us at Tollway Base as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," the lieutenant said, suddenly wanting to leave very badly. The very atmosphere in the room had turned so malignant that it almost held a barely perceptable strain just to try and breathe. Finally though, after a number of lengthy seconds, Vilhelm spoke up again, his voice laced with the same tone it often held when he had some sort of plan waiting in the wings.

"Give me status reports of the Black Ultra and Hellwalker projects as soon as we land," he ordered finally. The other gave a brisk nod and waited. "You can leave now," Vilhelm finally said, waiting until he could see the beeds of sweat starting to drip down the other man`s long face. He recieved a stern salute from the lower ranking officer, who then speed walked out of the room, leaving Rommel alone to brood and scheme as he always did.

Unseen by the eyes of men, women, Zoids or Organoids, standing alone upon the top of one of the three flat-topped mountains that rose in the background of the sprawling Garnhelm Base, two sets of eyes wandered from sight to sight, and two sets of minds remained joined in a debate over the next course of action. It was quiet, this far out, unnervingly so for most people. Birds didn`t fly here, no one was moving off base and the scanners hadn`t picked them up for a multitude of reasons.

The most evident of those reasons was the enormous creature that stood alone atop the hill, it`s fiercely glowing red optics settling indecisively on a speck of movement within the base. The distance between those eyes and the speck of movement - which was named Bit Cloud - was at least six miles, yet Roc could see as if he were standing mere feet from the object of his interest. It was his power that was throwing off the base`s scanners, just a simple, limited impulse of magnetics and the like everytime someone set an eye or an ear in their direction.

The other reason, less apparent since she was both a good dozen times smaller at least than her enormous comrade, was Madison Rose. With little, if any effort, she was telepathically obscuring every peek anyone took at Roc and herself. Her own eyes, pink and seeming to lack any definition between iris and pupil, were settled elsewhere from those of Roc`s, namely the dull glow miles upon miles away, where a darkly purple diamond sat undisturbed.

Their own silence was disturbed however, for they, like anyone who was naturally sensitive to Zoids, could hear the dull, repetitive drumbeat of what sounded like a colossal heart. Bump. Bump. Bump. Every two seconds, it was as flawless as clockwork, perfectly timed in every way.

"I doubt the forces they`ve gathered here stand a chance," she finally stated, not feeling a bit of remorse but at the same time, not feeling any satisfaction either.

We are not letting them die. We are not helping them die, either. We are merely playing our part in this game, Roc replied calmly, his voice a soothing, parental tone, though with the way Madison spoke, it was hardly needed.

Indeed, we are. But as we have our roles, so do they. So do Three, Four and Five. Jhadakalori-... Zeke, and Specular, even Shadow. We must let this play out as it shall, for it will determine how we involve ourselves.

Initially, yes. Our first actions. To be the mentors of saviors or the saviors ourselves.

"I see," she said in understanding. Despite not seeming too bright, the tall, masculine looking woman was more intelligent than many people would ever determine from a first glance. "I still don`t see the purpose of letting so many die though, not when they`re needed," she said, still not out of sympathy but more out of apathetic logic.

They need not become dependent upon us. Guardians, we may be, but a crutch we are not.

Madison gave only a low, thoughtful sound in reply, turning her attention back to the window of the base`s hospital, where a lone, blue shape had snaked it`s way inside.

In the middle of the desert terrain just outside of Romeo City, Leon Tauros stood with an errant expression before the downed hulk of his Blade Liger, one hand clasped behind his head, one tucked into the pocket of his long-vest. He had no idea what he should have been feeling as he regarded the formerly glorious Zoid lying in a heap before him, it seemed as though he should have felt the same sense of profound shame that he`d once worn like a badge of honor, but that didn`t seem to fit anymore. Leon Tauros was used to turning his emotions off, he fought without them and in most cases, he felt that they were more a liability to him than an asset.

In this case, logic was failing him and his emotions had gone haywire. He should have felt saddened but instead he felt a mixture of restrained pride, something of a hollow sting in his chest and the urge to smile like a mad man tugging at the edge of his lips.

"Even when you`re half-dead, you`re still just as glorious as ever, eh?" He asked the Zoid, finally recieving a low rumble in response. It dared not move, the stabilizers wouldn`t even function, but it was still alive. Somewhere in the back of his thoughts, Leon felt relief that he wouldn`t have to be looking for another Zoid. He had made a vow that he`d die before losing this one, he intended to keep it even if it was a self-fullfilling prophecy.

Nearby stood a less than whistful Pierce Summers, also regarding her downed heap of a Zoid. Smoke still trailed up from the engines, the silver paintscheme had been almost as ruined by the sand, the blades remained in their attack position but the glow had long faded out to reveal only onyx-tinted metal. She was incredibly lucky to even be alive, and she knew it. Less than stoic, and far less than relieved or whistful about her current situation though, about the only thing showing on her features was a look of concern mixed with annoyance, flight helmet held lazily in one hand at her side.

"Could`a gone worse, I suppose," she finally admitted with a small shrug, just as several thuds came to a stop behind her, followed by the sound of swishing glass and a final thump of feet landing on the hard packed dirt.

"Well, aren`t you two just the happily miserable heroes of the day?" Noami`s voice mocked. "Keep up the pity partying and you`d make a fine couple for the angsty romance writers," she added as a joking afterthought, earning an ireful glare from the green haired woman standing across from her, though Leon seemed to not register a single word. He was still caught up in staring at the Blade Liger.

"Yo, Leon!" Naomi shouted out at his lack of response, waltzing on up to her partner-in-crime with her hands tucked into the pockets of her long coat. He was still quiet for several seconds more before letting out a lengthy sigh that sounded somewhere between defeat and absolute victory, lowering his free hand down into his other pocket and then leering down at the ground. When the sniper stopped walking and stood next to him, she paused as well, regarding the damage with a whistle of impression before glancing sideways at him.

She would`ve made a witty comment because she was expecting to see him blubbering like a baby, or at the least shedding a tear or two for a defeat that brutal, but instead?

"We got our asses his kicked," he said, more in relief than in the expected 'why me?!' manner she had been prepared for. Caught off guard by this, Naomi quirked a thin, darkly crimson brow up, dark violet eyes shifting back towards the Zoid in front of them. "Could`ve been worse," she echoed Pierce`s sentiments, though with a bit more sophistication. "You`re right, it could`ve. But it didn`t," Leon replied, looking back up from the ground.

"He could`ve finished every last one of us off with the charged particle cannon. Even you."

"Why didn`t he then?" Naomi asked pointedly in mild disbelief. Given how insane the night and the accompanying morning had been, her doubt was minimal at best, as was her surprise.

"He didn`t want to fight," Pierce cut in, following Leon`s train of thought down to the letter. Tauros gave a nod, speaking again a second later.

"Don`t you remember how his shot cut out involuntarily right before it could his the Whale King? Or how the Geno Breaker threw it`s head back in pain?"

"Zoids don`t feel the pain of their pilots, Leon," Naomi skeptically said, though she put little effort into backing her words up.

"Bit felt the Liger Zero`s pain, the guy fought almost exactly like he would in that kind of Zoid, even sounded just like him," Leon shot back. "So if Bit could feel the Liger Zero`s pain then-"

"Then you`re right," Naomi conceded without bothering to fight it. "It`s not too much of a stretch," she added as an afterthought before switching subjects. "I managed to call in some help for you two, they`re bringing in some of the guys from the other lines to fill the gap, and there should be a Gustav here in a few minutes," she explained, turning around.

"I left it parked about ten miles southeast, with any luck it wasn`t hit by that psycho trying to fry me," she said, slowly walking towards the Gunsniper. "Which is exactly where I`m headed now."

"Well duh, Mister 'You`re-no-better-than-the-cockroaches,' I`d think you would know me better by now," she shot back, though she didn`t stop and turn around to face him while doing it. Better to not let him see her trying to stifle the giggle at what she correctly thought would be his utterly dumbfounded expression, she reasoned.

"Right..." Leon finally replied, giving a slow shake of the head and glancing over at Pierce. "What about you?"

The formerly quiet ex-Backdraftee just shrugged as well. "I been here this long, haven`t I?" She asked with a mock roll of the eyes.

"I didn`t mean that, I meant are you going to go back to the city on foot or wait here?"

"Misery loves company," Leon quipped, knowing that Naomi would hear him since she hadn`t finished climbing into her Gunsniper yet. At that, he walked around the downed Blade Liger, thoughtfully swiping a hand over the tip of it`s snote and then speaking in a hushed tone.

And with that, he walked off towards the city, soon joined by Pierce as she thoughtlessly lobbed her helmet over her shoulder and into the busted open cockpit of the Storm Sworder, speeding up briefly to catch up with Tauros in the process.

"Angsty romance novel fodder, all the way," Naomi smirked, reaching up and pulling the cockpit shut without another word.

The lighting was dull. Not necessarily dark, but it could have been done far better. The bed had no mattress, the chains that held it up and the hinges that kept it close to the wall restricted comfortable movement severely. He was hungry, but it wasn`t yet time to eat. The sounds of movement could be heard, if he`d placed an ear to the wall. The entire room shook imperceptably from the ruckus of movement taking place all over Garnhelm base, and yet it barely seemed like he noticed them.

The only sound he seemed to register, the only vibration that caught his bored attentions came from within. His own mind was picking them up and transmitting them in the only way his brain could consciously register, the sound of a heartbeat. Slow, steady, unwavering and precise. Every two seconds, he heard it. Every two seconds, the blackness behind the closed lids of his eyes was briefly interrupted by a burst of white, outlined with an especially thin, dark purple. It would fade over the course of the next two seconds and then burst into his opaque vision again, growing a little bigger and a little brighter by the hour.

He sat alone in the cell, ignorant of his surroundings because he had already figured them out perfectly. His head was balanced on one cheek, in one hand, the ungloved fingers strumming a slow rhythm on his relatively pale flesh, his other hand sagging off of one knee. Disinterest made him look arrogant in his current settings.

Tomorrow afternoon, he`d pinpointed with some effort. Shadow could have gone faster, of course, but the Organoid seemed to have an utterly sadistic sense of irony. Tomorrow afternoon was the 231st anniversary of the day that Shadow had first evolved the original Geno Breaker from Raven`s reborn Geno Saurer. The Organoid had timed it so perfectly, that it would be completed at the exact same time as Geno Breaker had been, under nearly matching conditions.

Activity broke, his disinterest briefly seemed to fade and his eyes opened, viciously pleased with himself. Irises of a particularly dark looking purple, almost black unless viewed in the proper lighting, seemed to glow with murderous intent as a smile slowly etched it`s way onto Kale Obscura`s face.

EndlessAdventure: You`re right about the Diamond Fox, but that`s about it. I`m not sure what Leena`s next Zoid might be, it could be the Uglena but I have another candidate in mind that rather... Ties into a potential prequel I may write. The other Zoids are as yet, undetermined, though I`d bet one or two belong to the resident mad scientists since they were never mentioned after the two fought. Not sure though.

Illidan: Chapman isn`t exactly insane but he`s not quite in the best state of mind either. The best I could think to describe him in his current condition is this: Pissed the HELL off. Leon pointed it out earlier, if you didn`t notice: Chapman would have taken out Rommel if not for that choker on his neck electricuting the daylights out of him.

Vile21x: I`m not entirely sure about Leena being back to 'normal' so far. Guess we`ll have to find out over the course of the rest of the story, eh? :P

Welp, that`s all for now folks! No Bit or Vega this chapter but I got to just about as many people as I could without lengthening the hell out of it, sooooo...

Reign of Chaos by Sh33p

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36

Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim

Tim Seltzer's page www.seltzerbooks.com/tim.html

Discuss books at Blogging about Books http://www.seltzerbooks.com/blog/
Other book reviews by Richard Seltzer
Opus authors -- contemporary writers whose entire work is great
The Readers' Corner and Writers Showcase

This site is published by Samizdat Express, 213 Deerfield Lane, West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. (203) 553-9925 seltzer@seltzerbooks.com

Book collections on CD and DVD. A library for the price of a book.
Limited time offer: 2 for the price of 1

Return to Samizdat Express


	Webseltzerbooks.com

Reign of Chaos

Chapter 8

The Quiet of the Reload