There was never a moment of her normal life that Allisa felt the most uncomfortable. While there were certainly many examples in her new life (and a few close calls) there was truly nothing worse than being surrounded by her family, sitting beside the still absent-minded stranger from another world.

When they finished, Allisa wanted to leave the table as soon as she could, or at least to get Ion upstairs as fast as she could. Unfortunately, Ion showed no signs that she wanted to leave and was clearly enjoying her time amongst her family. Allisa wouldn't have mind but every now and then Ion would either say something strange or knock-off an undefined fantasy term (even saying eather at one point before Allisa could stop her).

"So what's with that weird dress you were wearing before?" Madison said, keeping her eyes glued to her phone.

"Dress?" Ion looked up (eating a cake after heaving it up from the plate with her fork).

"You know. Is it a fashion statement? Are you trying to start a new trend or-"

"Oh no, nothing like that. It's customary for the star singer to wear-ow!"

Allisa quickly jammed her foot into Ion's ankle to shut her up. "Oh Ion, she's not gonna-Argh!" Something then rammed into her shin as hard as it could. "You little..."

Auntie Catherin noticed Allisa's hissing under the table. "Allisa darling?" She leaned forward before Allisa stopped her, "J-Just banged my leg on the table, is all!"

Uncle Nathen was busy talking to Luke and her parents to notice, so as far as Allisa was concerned, all she had to do was keep up the farce among her auntie and cousin.

"Star singer?"

"I-It's from a-an anime!" Allisa said quickly. "I-Ion's really big into anime. We've been watching it all day and her favorite is about this girl who can sing.... About the stars..." In truth, Allisa was not that well versed in anime, only conscious of a few shows.

"What's an a-"

Allisa shut Ion up again with a sharp kick, picked up her fork to try and eat her dessert as she tried to come up with more excuses. She was then rammed in the shin again, far harder than before, her fork falling off the table.

"J-Just a sec!"

She quickly ducked under the table. "Would you quit it!!" She hissed to Berken, who floated in place waving his arms and pointing, clearly wanting to tear into Allisa as loud as he could. Luckily, no sound came out from whatever speaker the rabbit used.

Since Berken outright refused to leave Ion's side, the two came to an unease agreement that Berken could loom underneath the table (with Allisa making some on the spot speech so he can fly underneath the table) and muting his voice so no one would know he was there. That also meant the only means of communication was to ram into Allisa's shin whenever she silenced Ion.

"She is perfectly fine as you can hear. Now be a good little rabbit and stay put!"

Allisa's remarks were not taken well as Berken seemed to be flailing his arms angrily as Allisa reemerged with her fork, giving her auntie an awkward smile.

"So you're one of those people," Madison said to Ion. Her face was still glued to her phone. "... Ack, there's no signal, what gives?"

"Star singer... has a nice ring to it," Catherin said to Ion, "Can you sing yourself Ion?"

"Hm, uh... Y-Yes," Ion's response felt drained of the energy and enthusiasm she had before, as though it had all faded away. When Allisa looked to her, she was gazing blankly down at the table trying to avoid eye contact.

"I thought so," Catherin said enthusiastically, "Looks like that come with a fine set of pipes. Even Allisa here has a wonderful singing voice," Allisa could feel her face flushing with color. "A-Antie Catherine!" She could hear Madison snicker.

"Say," Catherin leaned closer to Allisa, keeping her eyes on Ion. "I'm sure Allisa has told you, but I have a few connections. Perhaps a little song after dinner and I can-"

"No." Ion's reply was very blunt. Catherine looked particularly shocked and off-put by it.

"Sorry?"

"Thank you," Ion kept her gaze down. "But.... I can't sing for just anyone."

With a sigh, she sat up from the table. "I'll... I'll wait in your room," She said to Allisa, turning to the rest of the table before bowing and leaving without a word, leaving everyone perplexed by the mysterious girl's departure.

"Was it something I said?" Catherine asked Allisa.

Her attention was still diverted to where Ion had left with no answer to give her family. While she was glad Ion turned down her ante to avoid the light show that may occur, the sad look Ion wore stook out in Allisa's mind.

"What the hell..." Beside her, Madison was tapping her phone whose screen was blanking out. The old fashion radio adorning a table between two potted plants suddenly turned on, letting out a low croaking noise. The lights then began to flicker on and off, turning off completely. Then, everything went back to normal.

"..... Does that usually happen?" Nathen broke the silence to the baffled Herb.

Before he could answer, his phone began to ring. Pulling it from his pocket, he let out a deep sigh before standing up. "Sorry. Gotta take this," He left the table, ducking into the kitchen as he answered the phone. Allisa felt a chill go down her spine. To her, unexplained events were-

"Ugh!"

Berken rammed into Allisa's shin, not once, but three times. "D-Dropped my fork again!" She ducked under the table-

BANG!

- Berken ramming into her face hitting her forehead with the force of a baseball. He seemed more distressed than before, flailing his little hands, hovering back and forth.

"What?!" Allisa hissed rubbing her face. "Ion's gone upstairs so kindly fly up there and-"

Berken floated right up to Allisa, clearly trying to speak and would likely be making a racket if not for muting his voice.

"Whatever it is, wait until we get upstairs!" Allisa hissed, earning her another bang on the forehead. "I told you... You can't be seen by-!"

Berken unscrewed its left finger, holding it out desperately. Allisa took it from the robot, staring puzzled at the bronze finger. Berken pointed to one of its ears. Allisa obliged, cautiously putting the finger into her right ear-

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!!"

Berken's voice came through the finger so loud that Allisa shot up, banging her head on the table with enough force to knock everything on it down.

"Allisa?" Alicia was about to duck under the table to check on her daughter before Allisa reemerged.

"S-Sorry!" She said with a forced smile, rubbing the top of her head, removing Berkens finger from her ear while rubbing the inside. "S-S-Stood up to fast!"

"There was an electromagnetic pulse just now!" Berken's voice continued through the finger. "It might be Altosk! Or worse; ENFORCERS!! Of course, it has to be Enforcers! We must have-"

Allisa kicked out, her foot making contact with something heavy while pulling the finger away from her ear. She could feel Berken ramming into her shin in retaliation, far harder than he had before. All eyes were on her.

"..... Are you ok Allisa?" her mother asked.

"N-Never better...."

****

Dinner ended shortly after Ion's departure. After bidding her cousin's goodbye for the evening (and being brushed off by Madison) Allisa vanished to her room as fast as she could, grabbing a sleeping bag from the hallway closet. The moment she walked through the door, Allisa threw down the sleeping bag and slumped on her bed.

"How did I pull that off?"

With a deep, exhausted sigh, Allisa pulled out her phone, cycling through her contacts. From Mirage to Dale, to Cliff, to Nel. Each time was the same, the call cut off or failed to connect. What are they doing?

"Good news spy!" The loud, obnoxious voice of Berken disrupted Allisa's serenity. "Whatever caused that EMP wave a little while ago has vanished. No signs of any threats or dangers. We are completely safe!"

Allisa grabbed her pillow and threw it at the floating rabbit, missing as it swerved to avoid being hit. "What was that for!? Berken demanded as he stabilized. "Finally showing your true colors after all spy?"

"That's for nearly bowing out my eardrum!" Allisa snapped pointing at her left ear. "And I'm sure you've broken my knee cap!" she added, rubbing her shin.

"Ba! You think I would care about the well being of a spy who put Ion in danger, mingling with a group of potential assassins!"

"The only danger down there was Madison poking fun at her, which she gave lots of opportunities to do!" Allisa yelled back at Berken. "Again, if you kept her up here like I asked I wouldn't have had to jump through hoops to keep the farce going; or had some annoying rabbit ram into my shin repeatedly before rendering me partially deaf!"

"Automotive Support Droid you dolt!" Berken snapped back. "And its because you kept assaulting Ion that I needed to act!"

"Then be a good support whatever and teach her how to not act like a total ditz and spout out weird one-liner like eather, Sora or star singer in front of my-"

"Berken look at this!" Ion cut the argument short. She had been blankly staring out of Allisa's bedroom window for the past hour and seemed to have not noticed the spat between Allisa and her companion. Berken flew up to Ion who pointed upwards to the sky. "There's really nothing up there but a sky."

"That's true," Berken said gazing upwards with Ion. "You can even see some stars out there. Though light pollution seems to have dimmed a lot of them out."

"Even so..." Ion leaned on the window sealed with a wondrous look.

"You sound like you've never seen the sky before," Allisa asked, curious on Ion's behavior. Even with her ditzy behavior, getting excited about seeing the night sky seemed a bit much.

"Well, that's true." Ion nodded back. "Sora's a hollow world so whenever we look up we usually see the faraway lands of Almyshi or Dobomes."

"Huh...? So... there's no sky where you're from?"

"Not... in a natural sense." Ion admitted before Berken joined in.

"Sora has an ancient system that controls both the weather to the day-and-night cycle of a 30-hour planetary rotation."

"It can be quite beautiful to look up and see the lights of the cities above." Ion gazed back out of the window. "Though... seeing a sky free of everything is quite amazing. I never thought I would be blessed to see another world."

For the first time since meeting Ion, Allisa was finally curious about where she was from. "So... what is Sora?"

Noting the question, Ion turned from the window to face Allisa. "Sora is an artificial world constructed by the first Star Singer."

"Constructed...?" Allisa couldn't even comprehend the notion. "So... it's like a space station?"

"I suppose that's an accurate discretion." Ion chuckled. "It's a large sphere, orbiting our dying sun and planets. As we've said, the land and population live within the inside of the sphere." She walked over to her sleeping back, kneeling on the ground.

"That's... kinda unbelievable," Allisa said truthfully.

"I don't blame you for being skeptical. If I was told that story, I would probably brush it off as a fantasy." Ion said cheerfully before clearing her throat, "About 3000 years ago our people existed in a solar system of seven planets, four of them habitable of life. But then, all of a sudden, reality began to break. All around our system, a malevolent space known as the void emerged, trapping our system.

"The planets farthest to our sun were swallowed by its appearance with the Ozomet race vanishing into the quagmire and horrific monsters then spawned from that expanse, descended on our homes. One by one, planets and cities began to fall, millions died, the lands of our forefathers became tainted, decayed and broken. Even our sun, a sign of warmth and comfort began to break down. All hope seemed lost.

"But in the mits of the destruction, one hune girl, Star Singer Strelizia made a pact with the Ekon, a powerful deity to our people, absorbed its power, and with the Ekon's song weaved a world free of the malevolence and taint that spilled from the void. The remaining five sentient races, the Hunes, Borgos, Bunika, Aswee, and Ravengers migrated to the new world as Strelitzia weaved another song, creating the enforcers to fight back the void.

"Our people were saved, but our old homes were devastated, unable to support life. So, for the last 3000 years, we made our home in Sora."

Ion paused, allowing Allisa to fully process the information.

"The star singer...." Allisa sat cross-legged on her bed. "created an entire world?"

Ion nodded.

"Is that even possible?" She asked out loud as she tried to even comprehend the narrative. She had a feeling Ion was someone important, but to hear the story...

"But wait..." Something then dawned on her. "Didn't you call Ion the star singer?" She asked Berken.

"Yeah. That's cause she is," Berken said matter of factly.

"It's... kinda complicated." Ion continued. "In saving our worlds, Strelizia exhausted all the eather she had. But Sora is a song tied to the star singer, and her death would undo the very thing that has saved out people. So, as a final act, Strelizia sang one final song.

"The song of reincarnation." Ion looked straight at Allisa with a smile mixed with sorrow. "I am the 1'638th reincarnation of the star singer, Star singer Ion."

Allisa couldn't help but stare slack-jawed. Even with everything she had experienced, to see someone who claimed to be a reincarnation of a legend seemed so far-fetched, even with her position as Goddess Chosen looming over her. "So... does that mean you're related to-"

Ion shook her head. "No, I have no blood relation to Strelitzia.

"The reincarnation is done seemingly at random. The only criteria appears to be the person must be female and of the five sentient beings of the original system. Besides that, there's no rule, relation, even race determining who the Star Singer will be. There have even been three Ravenger Star singers, and Star Singer Y'stezzen is still a pretty controversial figure."

"Ok..." Allisa nodded. She felt she didn't want to know what Revengers were, already forgetting the names of the other races. "So that light show you did in my room,"

Ion nodded. "It's the power of my song magic. The Star Singer is blessed with the power of the Ekon, who's songs can create miracles. Though it does come with some... strange alterations to us,"

"Like...?"

"Well for example; how old am I?"

"Huh?"

"Go on, guess!"

"Ok... uh, 18."

Ion chuckled. "I'm 27 years old."

"Huh.....? WHA-?!" Allisa shot forwards as though someone was pulling on an invisible string. "But you-"

Ion continued chuckling before speaking. "When the song of the Ekon fully blossoms our physical aging completely stops. It can be as a child or as a woman in the prime of her life. For me, I was 16 when the song completely manifested, and... I've been like this ever since."

Allisa blinked several times before coughing, regaining her composure. "So you're immortal?"

"Oh no. I can still die. But... my body has been pretty much frozen in time. And when I die, a new star singer is chosen and the cycle continues."

"That...." Allisa couldn't help but clench her right hand, feeling an old wound drag up. "But if you're that important," Allisa looked to Ion again. "Why are you here?"

For the first time, Ion cast her gaze downwards as sadness shimmered on her face. "Well...."

"Ok, that's enough." Berken interrupted, floating in front of Ion blocking her from view. "What we do is none of your business! I still don't trust you, and what we are doing here is top secret!"

"Berken, I think we can trust her." Ion said.

"B-But-!"

"She's letting us stay here after all." Ion smiled. Berken reluctantly hovered away as Ion faced Allisa again.

"Uh... are you sure? If it's a secret mission or-"

"It's nothing like that," Ion shook her head, "Although... it's nothing admirable..."

Taking a deep breath, ("Ion," Berken floating beside her) Ion faced Allisa again. "There are three regions of Sora, Ter'figma, Almyshi and Dobomes, and each region are controlled by the governmental bodies of Sora; Altosk, Marina, and Sigmundus. Due to the Star Singer's position in Sora, our words hold enormous sway- well, in theory- so in the past the powers of Sora had vine for control of the Star Singer.

"Owing to a terrible war 400 years ago it was decided by both the remaining council and the Star Singer at the time that all future reincarnations of the Star Singer is to pledge allegiance to the power of their birth.

"So...." Ion took in another deep breath, clenching her fingers on the hems of her dress. "I'm the Star Singer of Altosk."

"And... that's a bad thing."

"That's putting it likely," Berken answered for Ion. "Marina and Sigmundus aren't exactly Ekons, but Altosk is one of the most corrupt societies in Sora, especially with governess Golmora in charge. It rules practically with an iron fist that's mostly unseen. They control that region's media, communication, markets, Grav rails, anything people need to live in Ter'figma, Altosk owns it. It's business first, people second. If you can't work for Altosk, or have something they need," Berken finished his sentence by tapping his forehead, jerking it to one side imitating being shot in the head.

"Wha- That's awful!" Allisa said outraged. "But... can't you do anything? If you're so important to them-"

Ion shook her head. "I... I can't." She took a deep breath. "I have to stay neutral."

"But-"

"But even if I did, I won't be able to make a difference. At worse... I might start another civil war which could cause even more suffering. But all the while, my allegiance to Altosk means they can act with almost impunity."

"That's... that's messed up,"

".... I couldn't take it anymore. I... I just wanted a way out, away from them. Two of my closest friends, Markus and Bec, proposed a solution. If I could escape to Almyshi, I can swap my allegiance to Marina."

"You can do that?"

"Yes, but it is frowned upon. Changing allegiance is akin to betraying and abandoning your home." Berken continued. "Unfortunately, to swap allegiance, Ion would have to go to Marina in person, and with Altosk controlling pretty much all modes of transport in Ter'figma, there's no way they'd let her just walk away."

"So Markus, along with two pilots, Larek and Otto, smuggled me out of Sora. The plan was to fly through the void to escape any pursuit Altosk would send then fly back to Sora. But.... Something went wrong."

"Did... Uh, Altosk find you?"

"Worse," Berken spoke up again. "The Enforcers swarmed us.

"The... Enforcers?" Allisa tried to recall who they were again.

"Basically flying through the void, especially with Star Singer on board is a big no no! They won't hesitate to shoot anyone down, which is what happened to us."

Ion shook her head in sorrow. "I was put in stasis to hide my presence to prevent our ship from being overwhelmed. I don't know what happened. When the stasis was lifted we were already under attack. Markus told me to sing to transport everyone out. When I came too, the only one besides me was Berken. And... you know the rest."

There was a sadness to Ion's story, one felt through her expiation. It was the same flash that she had shown back at dinner. "Oh, sorry. I may have gone a bit too far there," She said quickly, trying to brush off the conversation.

Allisa glanced out of her window. "So... those friends you were looking for before?"

Ion nodded. "I.... I'm not sure where I teleported them. For all I know, they are still in that forest where we crashed. I-I need to find them and-" She tried to stand up but tripped slightly on one knee.

"Ion!"

"Woah! Take it easy," Both Allisa and Berken rushed to her. Ion tried to sit up, but ended up collapsing again. "Maybe you should call it a night for now. After everything you've been through, you must be exhausted."

"But," Ion tried to stand again but fell forwards to be caught by Allisa.

"Hey don't worry. I'm sure your friends are fine." Allisa said, helping her back into her bed. "Tomorrow, I'll take you to my friends and we'll search for them together. More people the better, right?

Berken looked as though he was about to protest, but a quick glance to Ion seemed to have changed his mind. "She's right Ion. You still haven't recovered from using the song."

"I..." Ion sighed and then smiled at Allisa. "I'm sorry. I know we barged in unannounced, and we've only just met so-"

"Don't worry about it," Allisa shrugged. "I'm... kinda use to this by now."

Ion smiled back, dropping onto the laid out sleeping bag and went out immediately. Berken meanwhile flew (to Allisa's annoyance) into several of her action figurines knocking them over before sitting down. "Be warned spy! My sensors will still be operable even when I’m powered down. Any danger comes our way and I'll pounce on you like a Revenger to a scrapyard!"

He then seemed to deactivate, the lights in his eyes shutting off.

Allisa stripped out of her clothes, putting on her sleepwear. Many thoughts still swirled in her head; the story of Sora feeling so unbelievable and something that could be easily dismissed.

Yet, Allisa knew better than to doubt such a tail. Her entire life from when she freed the sword was exactly the same, like an unbelievable tail that could be dismissed as a bedtime story.

As she sat back on her bed, her eyes darted to Ion sleeping peacefully.

Of all the places to end up...

A wiry smile escaped her lips, feeling the irony sink in. Yet there was something in Ion's story that seemed tragic. Even sleeping soundly looking angelic, there was a sadness to her expression. Even as she told her story, Allisa could feel something radiating from her; Sadness, powerlessness, and a strong longing.

Turning out her lights, Allisa went through her contacts one last time.

The Scientist

"Well.... could be worse,"

Cliff gazed blankly at the scorched earth of what used to be the battlefield. It was hard to believe he was sitting in what was a forest. The enforcers had ensured the battlefield looked as unrecognizable as possible, scorching all signs of life from grass to even the roots of trees making it look like another planet. The spires and other constructs had disappeared, and in their place left strange holes in the ground with no indication of how deep they truly went.

"How are you holding up?" Mirage asked, leaning on his back as support. Both of them had used a level up in order to defeat the primes and were now both hit by the after-effects.

"Trust me, I've been through worse back in Avalon," Cliff said back, letting out a sigh, glancing up at the shadow of the wrecked ship. Despite the chaos that surrounded it, the vessel survived completely unscathed (or less broken then it was).

After the battle, Markus and the boys went into the bowls of the vessel and had been fishing out bits and fragments which slowly took the shape of Markus's body. Cliff wanted to help, but due to the pain he was in, he knew he would be of little use, and he knew Mirage felt the same way. On the ground at the base of the ship, Meracle, Sasha and Nel were rearranging the fragments and larger joints of Markus's body. So far they had two arms, legs and crotch, all of which seemed to make Markus far bigger than Cliff had initially guessed. If the length of his feet were anything to go by, Markus seemed to be over a foot taller than he was.

"How we doing over there?" Mirage called out to the girls.

"Nyew," Meracle held up a part, scrutinizing it. "I still have no idea what this thing is,"

"I think that's a finger, Mary," Sasha said.

Meracle picked up another part from where the right hand was and examined both side by side. ".... This one looks different though. Hey Nel! Do you know what this part is?"

".... I'm still trying to work out what this part is," Nel said without taking her eyes from a triangular plate.

"Maybe it's apart of his leg," Mirage called out.

"No.... The plates there look different."

"..... I think this is part of his hip," Sasha said, placing a cylinder part on where Markus's upper hip was.

To Cliff, it almost seemed like they were trying to put together a 3D puzzle.

*Woof woof*

The piece was disrupted when Cerberus pounced from the depths of the ship, followed by gruntled sounds and clanging metal. Melvin, Dale (With Markus's head ducked under his arm) and Rodger emerged from the bowels of the ship with their backs turned. Max and Yuki then came into view, carrying a large metal object. As it got closer, Cliff managed to make out it as... a metal torso.

The girls parted ways as the boys dragged the machine piece, the wizards looking as though they were sweating, no doubt using them magics to support the torso, and the looks on Max and Yuki's faces meant it truly was as heavy as it looks.

They didn't even make it to the rest of the pieces before "One. Two!" they threw it, hitting the hip joint and nocking apart all the progress the girls had made.

"Meow! Look what you've done you jerks!" Meracle snapped. "It took us ages to put that together!"

"Yeah, well we had to haul all that crap out from that pile of garbage!" Yuki snapped back.

"I must ask you to refrain from throwing my body in such a manner," Markus spoke.

The boys didn't seem to herald their words, looking out of breath. Yuki glared at Nel before saying "... Thanks for the help ladies."

"Anytime," Nel said rhetorically.

"So... Is that the last of it?" Max asked.

"Yes," Markus said, narrowing his eyes. "The damage seems even worse up close."

With the cyborg's instructions, they managed to put the body back into its shape, lining all the broken pieces they found and positioned them as close to each other as possible.

"Whoa, you're pretty huge!" Rodger bellowed after the pieces were rearranged. "Kinda look like one of them forest bigfoots back in Sterland made of nothin' but metal."

"So now what?" Cliff said. "Probably a good time to mention none of us can fix machines."

"Hey Dale, Melvin. Can you use your magic to fix him?" Sasha asked.

Both wizards shook their heads. "I wouldn't know where to start. I've never used magic to fix something this complicated before."

"My thanks, but your assistance is unnecessary," Markus said. "Mr. Dale. Do you mind attaching my head back to my torso?"

"Uh.. no." Dale said, "If that means I don't have to carry you again,"

He jammed the head into the open socket of where his neck was. "Thank you. Now please hold it still."

Markus closed his eyes. All of a sudden, blue light began to shine from Markus's neck, flowing into the torso. "You may let go now."

Dale released his head and stepped back, as he and everyone else was stunned that it was completely attached to his neck.

"Whoa, Cool." Max gawked. "What'd you do?"

"I-I didn't do anything!" Dale said, looking unnerved as he saw Markus moving his head.

"Please don't be alarmed." He said to his stunned companions. "This is my eather ability. I can manipulate mechanical constructs and devices. I can replicate, Reconstruct and reorganize nearly anything mechanical in nature to something drastically different."

"I don't get it, but that sounds awesome," Rodger said, clearly impressed.

"Now, would you be so kind as to reattach my other limbs and extremities."

The others began reattaching the other pieces to Markus, beginning with his arms, hip, and legs then the smaller pieces. Once attached, the blue vain light stemmed though the limb, both reattaching itself to the body propper and slowly repairing itself, closing fissures and dents in the silver plates. Even wires snaked into his body on its own as though they were a living creature. Eventually, all the pieces of Markus had been reunited. The cyborg sat up (which was slightly taller than the children that surrounded him) moving his various limbs. A pale blue collection of light then blinked a few feet from where Markus sat.

"What's that?" Yuki asked.

"Looks like a hologram from a movie," Mirage said.

"Indeed," Markus responded, not looking away from the display. "It is a personal computing device. My body is equipped with a data center that uses eather to keep it intact even in the event my body was damaged or destroyed. As you can see, I have a hologramatic projector that is can create a user interface."

".... Could you speak normally for once?" Yuki said scratching his head.

The hologram then vanished, with Markus closing his eyes in lament. "As I feared. Damage is too severe. At the moment I have use of my neck, left arm, hip," waved his right triangular foot, "And my right foot. All secondary functions such as weapons and scanners are offline."

"You can't fix it?" Melvin asked.

"I can. However, full repair of my body and all systems will take an estimated eight hours to complete. That's too long...."

Cliff could tell that there was something pressing on the strange cyborg's mind as he spoke, seeing the conflict that was plain on his face. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get like this?" He asked. "Was it from the crash?"

Markus chuckled. "That would have been part of the cause, though impact damage would not have left me in this state. To put it bluntly, I used my ability to merge with the ship's eather drive to avoid it exploding in the void." He raised his damaged left arm. "You've seen the results for yourselves."

"And that's how you ended up just a head?"

Markus nodded lowering his arm. "That's the sum of it. As my head is the only part of my body that is mostly organic, it was that part that was teleported away by Ion's song."

".... Song?" Mirage repeated the word. "What do you mean by that? Like a... magic spell?"

Markus didn't seem to hear her, instead of gazing blankly at his left fist before clenched it (with some effort given the damage). "I apologies for asking this after everything you've been through, however-"

"You want us to find your friends?" Nel asked, stepping forward. Markus looked up to her and nodded.

"I realize this is a selfish request, but as you can see I am in no condition to commence a search. However, It is imperative that I locate them as soon as possible.... Ion in particular."

"Ion? That's a weird name," Rodger said thoughtlessly. "Is she important or something?"

"Yes. I will explain why in due time," Markus said to him. "As you'd agree, this is not the ideal location."

"He's got a point," Dale said, sounding worried. "With all that noise we made, I can bet the black ops guys will be coming to investigate any time soon." He leaned into Cliff and Nel. "Wouldn't be surprised if they've found Markus's buddies already."

Nel stepped towards Markus. "These friends, what do they look like?"

Markus gave Nel a brief description of his friends, starting with the one he called Ion, then the piolets Larek and Otto (who by what Markus had described didn't seem to be human).

"Are you sure?" Cliff asked Nel once Markus had finished his descriptions.

"Of course. If they're out there, I'll find them."

"You have my gratitude, Miss Nel." Markus bowed his head.

"Just Nel." Nel departed, running in a straight line towards the tree line in the distance. "I'll meet you back at the home!" She called back before vanishing.

"Ok, what say we get outta here before those soldiers show up?" Cliff asked, receiving muffled and enthusiastic responses from his team, ("I for one could do with a shower," Mirage says to Sasha).

".... While I would recommend we extract ourselves from this place," Markus said, moving his right leg, "In my current state, I don't think I am able to move more than a few paces from this location.

"Don't worry. We've got that covered. Open!"

A portal opened behind Markus surprising him.

"Ok, grab a limb and start pushing!" At Cliff's orders, everyone approached Markus, Max and Yuki grabbing his arms, Dale grabbing his head with Rodger, Sasha and Melvin began pushing his torso (with Cerberus nuzzling alongside his master) with Cliff and Mirage pushing his feet, closing the distance to the portal.

"P-Please be delicate. My body has not been fully-!"

"Geeze your heavy!" Max complained as he pulled.

"Consider... losing several pounds would ya!" Yuki added.

"And I thought... we'd be done with heavy lifting," Melvin complained as they inched closer to the portal.

"Hey," Mirage turned to Cliff as they pushed. "I'll give Allisa a call tomorrow morning. Think she's gotta know about this,"

"Agreed." Cliff nodded. Even though they agreed to give Allisa some space following the last adventure, the meeting with Markus and the encounter with the Enforcers was certainly something she must be made aware of. "At least.... She would have had a better night than us."

****

Helicopters passed over the checkpoint that bustled with activity. From this position, the soldiers of sector 13 were hard at work trying to restore the busted radios and communication equipment following the powerful electromagnetic blast that originated from the forest.

Everything was not going well for Cpt. Brice. The mission was only to investigate the woods to the east of the town following reports of something crashing into the forest. Half of the Little Wood battalion had been deployed as per standard procedure in dealing with the unexplainable. Everything seemed to have gone wrong after that, even before the wave that killed nearly every electronic device, almost crashing the chopper before the pilot regained control.

"Sir!" A soldier approached him with a suite. "Communication with the FOB has been established."

"And?"

"Still no response. Squads Alpha to Gamma, along with the checkpoints are still dark. Only Hotel is still in radio contact."

Brice let out a sigh. Seventy of his men were now unaccountable. "Alright. Prep your squad. They should still have their locators on them."

The soldier saluted before Brice walked away to Squad Iowa standing at the edge of the forest. "Have they said anything?"

"Not a word captain." The squad leader confirmed. "... We still have no idea what that one is."

At the center were the two suspects arrested by Iowa squad. One looked like a pilot given the jumpsuit he was wearing, even though its design seemed alien. The other.... No one was certain of what he was. With the orange helmet removed, the short man had a literal rabbit head with brown, greasy fur.

Brice ignored the creature, walking straight up to the man who looked back at him with as much courage as he could muster, though the Cpt could tell he was terrified. "Some of my men have vanished. Have any idea what's happened to them?"

The man shifted nervously, looking to the creature that stood up to his hip. "Uh... well... Perhaps your radios are busted or something."

Brice punched the man in the gut, watching him collapse to the ground.

"Larek!"

"Take them to the FOB for interrogation!"

"Sir!"

Brice turned his back as Iowa squad dragged the man to his feet, forcing both captives away at gunpoint. He took out his pack of cigars, pulling out one with his mouth walking towards a makeshift table. On it was the equipment pulled from the two captives, consisting of strange guns that clearly used bullets despite being like nothing he had seen before to circular devices that looked like they belonged in movies.

"Another day in the office," With a sigh, Brice lit the cigarette, inhaling a deep breath before breathing.

"Sir!" One soldier approached.

"Did you find the squads?"

"N-No sir. We've uh... we've lost contact with Hotel squad."

****

A squad of ten soldiers marched silently through the woods, illuminating the darkness with the flashlights mounted on their guns, oblivious to the hunter that stalked them. He waited, waited for them to become more spread out as they walked closer and closer-

The first soldier fell, his neck snapped with a violent twist. His friend who marched in front heard the noise of his gun falling, turning to see-

He flopped to the nearest tree as blood spilled from his neck.

A third was decapitated, not even realizing something behind him. The fourth and fifth turned as shuriken's gouged into their throats.

The remaining five marched on unaware that half their squad had been killed, even as the sixth soldier was dragged behind a tree. The seventh was run through, the eight standing beside him had his throat slit.

The final two made it to their destination; a black triangular shaped ship nestled between the trees. One soldier approached, tapping the metal with his gun.

"Call it in."

His instructions went unanswered.

"I said-"

His friend was laying on the ground.

"Shit! Man down!"

The final soldier waved his gun, trying to find the attacker. "Hotel squad, sound off. Hotel squad! Anyo- GACK!"

He turned face to face with his attacker, unable to see his face through the completely black helmet. The attacker freed the chrome single-edged blade, allowing the final soldier to fall. With a swing and a hiss, the man sheathed the blade to his back which vanished with mechanical clicks.

The ship's cockpit opened as the man approached, raising his black arm with silver joints. He reached in and pulled out a cord, sticking it into a socket on his wrist and uttered but a small message.

"She's here."