Upon entering the dome library that Eliza prided herself in, it was now battlefield. Sharpnels of metal pieces of golems everywhere, books on the ground, and even the computers that Eliza used were smashed. Once we arrived, the pressure immediately got to me. The sparking lights just trying barely stay on made things feel dire. Siren was on one knee holding her stomach, Volv held the Avatar's mechanical arm trying to keep it in place, Olley taking shots with her Mark2 but it's complex armor system just wouldn't allow anything to pierce through, and Nitra was protecting Onagi from getting shot by some kind of debris. Pain was still coursing through my system and I couldn't keep up with what was happening. But there it was, a black and red metal Avatar. It stood menacingly in it's bipedal form, it's towering height made it seem impossible to take down. Slim long arms with two three pronged hands, glowing red core on it's torso, and stub legs. These things were no joke to fight against because the people who made them were us. Avatars were AWD in origin, it had one directive programmed into it. Protect who imprinted on the Avatar cores. When this was first created, it was made for the representatives when they united in Polarity. They were virtually indestructible. What was worse is that they were completely loyal. Guess our engineers did their job a little too well. It's ability to overpower us so easily gave me a cold feeling. Behind the avatar was a man in a lab coat holding a pistol aimed right on Eliza. She was on the ground holding her head. The fighting soon ended when the avatar stopped moving. The man held his hand up. His gaze was now completely on me. Those dead eyes. I could never read those expressions of his.

Peter: Good afternoon. Or that's what I would like to say if it was Earth. Welcome my little guinea pig. We've been waiting for you arrival.

Eliza: Arc! Don't come any closer! Stay where you are! Just leave! I'll be alright!

Peter: Silence please… I'm talking to my lab rat. Have you finally come back to me on your own? We still have tons to reveal in that mind of yours. There's just so much vital information to pass up. Return to us, so I may finish my research. Nothing short of helping out humanity.

Arc: What the hell! Let her go! I thought she was your wife! What are you doing!?

Peter: Manners… I see that you've already met my brilliant ex wife. Shame that she refused to join me all those years ago. So foolish to want to continue this project of hers. A waste of talent. Nothing good from helping those Earthlings.

Arc: Stop already! You're not even here for her! You're here for whatever it is!

Peter: I know. I'm here for two things. I shall leave promptly with my Avatar once I do.

Volv: Arc! Don't! We tried negotiating! He's not going to change his mind! Just don't make things even more complicated than it needs to be!

Peter: Avatar. Keep him quiet. I'm speaking to my lab rat.

With a quick smack, Volv got slammed into the walls of the library then held on the wall by the avatar's three pronged hand. His deadpan voice always made it hard to figure out what he wants. He's just on a different scale than most life forms! His coldness was unlike any other. It infuriates me that someone with nothing but a simple gun held all the power in the room. What was worse is that he wasn't even scared that we had powers beyond his scale. He's not scared of anything!

Arc: What do you want? Stop this! I thought we were supposed to be humans!

Peter: Humans? How distasteful. Why would I want to be human? The only thing that makes humans so great is our capacity to struggle for so long. We're like insects that refuse to die. Or so I thought. I knew that there would be something out there. Something in the beyond that rivals this struggle. There was nothing in this world that would change me from being human but yet. You exist. It almost makes me want to break out some kind of smile but I'm not a madman just a mad scientist.

Arc: You're not making any sense! With your capacity you could've done greater things!

Peter: But of course I will. It's only natural right? There's no greater achievement in life than discovering the unknown. Humans however, will never achieve it if we stay the way that we are. Now, to get to business. I simply want two things. You and this woman's research. If you could deliver them to me then I shall leave promptly.

Olley: What about all the vermins and King Argo!

Peter: Was I not clear? I said I would leave. Whatever they wish to do on this godforsaken planet is up to them. Well at least for now.

Volv: I told you there was no use talking to him. He's only interested in what he wants!

Siren: Where did he even get an Avatar of all things!?

Siv: There's a mole. We don't know if it's in the team or not! But we got a rat in the Platform!

Arc: I thought you said not to mention it!

Siv: Change of plans. Now that everyone is in this place, I want to know who the hell sold us all out! I want fucking find out now!

Peter: Strange…

Siv: What is it now asshole! You want to be our guest and tell everyone who it is?

Peter: I do not recall anyone defecting to our cause. I would've known.

Arc: What!? I have the recordings that someone sold us out! You knew that this was going to happen. You also knew that there was going to be an attack on the airship that night!

Peter: Witnessing a falling empire… As much as I wanted some information on your whereabouts, I have no knowledge of it. I was only advised that we should make our move.

Siv: What the hell!? So this mole didn't even rat us out!?

Siren: We need to focus! We can take care of this rat problem on a different time!

Arc: What is actually happening?!

Peter: Intriguing. Truly something that I should take account of. There are more sides to this than I have initially thought.

Siv: Then it should be whoever advised you then!

Peter: Impossible. They have not been in contact with your type of humans ever. Unless...

Arc: Unless?

Peter: Another faction. Though it does not interest me to pursue. In the meantime, what about my demands? I must further my research. Come now, Arc.

Arc: You're talking like I'm some kind of animal! I'm not going to go with you!

Peter: This is stupid. Why would you not want to further advance the human race? Was this not the goal of your Platform? I am merely doing this for the good of our species. This feeling is indescribable. You are denying progress… How… Idiotic.

Siv: Shut it! You're just some loon of a scientist. You're just a dime a dozen in the forsaken universe! You're nothing special! There are always going to be people like you!

Peter: No… I'm not like the others. You people are proof of that. I've already discovered that we aren't the only humans in the universe. The odds of our species colliding are one in numbers. Then it begs the questions, are there more? The notion motivates me. How much longer till I find it? I want to reach further. I want to become greater.

Siv: You sure don't sound motivated.

Peter: Ah yes, I'm rambling now. Arc, where is Able?

Arc: He's gone…

Peter: Excuse me? What do you mean by gone?

Arc: He's gone.. Decommissioned! One of your men blasted him beyond belief!

Peter: No, that's impossible. I gave the order not to kill Able. He potentially contained the final elements of Eliza's recent research. Anything this woman makes is valuable.

Arc: I burned my hand trying to save his black box but I couldn't get it! He's dead! Eliza's research is gone!

Eliza: No… Able…

Peter: So… I've come here in vain. Eliza, will you re-create our greatest work?

Eliza: I'll never work for you ever again! There's nothing that would change my mind! You're just another one of those people on Earth.

Peter: Don't compare me to those weaklings. But so be it, I already have most of the research anyway. What you're working on now has no value to me anymore. A shame, we could have done more together. If only you shared the same vision as me.

Eliza: What you have in your head is the biggest ego. You have no heart. You will never reach Eden!

Peter: Witness me.

Siren: Eden!?

Everything turned black and white for a second. I didn't quite realize what just happened in front of me. A shot rang out in the air but it didn't come from our side. Olley was completely still with her rifle slowly dropping on the ground. The atmosphere around the dome instantly turned silent. The sound of someone's breathing would be enough to get everyone to stare. In this moment in time, all the pain and fatigue vanished in an instant. The only thing that was flooding my senses was the sight of blood. Floods of red poured down on the floor then slowly oozing to us. His back turned towards everyone as a portal started to generate from behind him. Everyone in the room started to run at him but the Avatar had morphed into its quadrupedal form. It started to attack again, keeping us away from Peter. My body moved by itself, running to where it happened. Peter had already vanished while leaving his Avatar. As I reached closer, I went down on the ground to hold Eliza. She was dying. Her blood was all over my hands and combat suit. She kept applying pressure on her wound as did I but trying to stop anymore blood from pouring out. Even though I knew it was too late, why was I tearing up? I took off the eye attachment because it was getting flooded with tears. Eliza's face was in pain but her lips tried to make a smile. I knew that trying saving her was hopeless because her body was weak and frail compared to us. Yet, I didn't hesitate to take out the first aid spray of my pack and applied it on her gun wound. She shrieked in pain, tears in her eyes. There was no way that she was going to survive with how much she lost. We don't even know the extent of the gunshot! She raised one of her hands from the wound to touch my face.

Arc: Save your strength! We can still save you! Place your hand back on the wound! You're already losing too much blood!

Eliza: ...You're.. Shaking… Hahaha… You're not… The one dying… Why are you… Shaking so much?

Arc: I don't know! Just save your strength. This coating might not save you because our diets are different! So keep holding that wound! Please! Just do it!

Eliza: Arc… Take care of… Nex alright… You… Need to realize… It's not just about… Being a good soldier… Just… Be a good person…

Arc: Please! Just keep it together!

Eliza: He looks… Up to you… More than you think… You're more than… just a soldier...

Arc: No! You're going to see the others! You're going to know what's it like up there! The Platform won't let you die!

Eliza: It's… Going to be okay… Just one more… Thing… Take me to that metal casket… While I'm still alive…

I scooped her up from the floor then towards the direction of that thing I saw cycles ago! Her blood still spilling on the floor made me even more anxious. Her eyes were barely up, it was eating me alive from the inside. I've never felt this kind of danger before! Everyone was still fighting the avatar, trying their best to take it down. However, I had no time to be distracted. As soon as we arrived. Eliza started to reach in to go in. Her skin now slowly becoming paler by the second. She finally got onto the device. Before she closed it, she leaned over to me with her last ounces of strength. Eliza touched my face and kissed me on the cheek. Her hands were cold almost to the point of being ice, yet it felt so warm. She finally closed the metal coffin. Seeing her close that metal device didn't feel good to me. I'm losing everyone! I'm losing myself…

Nex: Arc! We have to go! This thing isn't going to break anytime soon! It's time to go!

Arc: Not yet! Just a few more minutes!

Siv: We don't have anymore minutes son! We have to leave now or we'll all die! This place will crash down with the amount of damage we're doing! Get your head together! You're a soldier!

The machine glowed a bright green and blue! Everyone was fighting for their lives but I was still next to the metal casket. A couple more seconds and Olley had come to my side. She was saying something but nothing in head was processing any of it. Before I knew it, she reached around my stomach then started pulling away from Eliza! I held onto the handles with my life because I wasn't going to abandon her! Not now! She didn't deserve any of this! She was going to see what we had to offer. Eliza had a future in the Platform. This was all my fault. She died because of me. My grip was loosening, right as my strength waned, something had appeared out of the machine! It was a blue circuit chip! Olley jumped over to take it out of the machine then yanked me away. This time my other hand was being pulled by Siv too. Volv, Siren, and Nitra had been preoccupied trying to destroy the Avatar while Nex and Onagi were on the corner thinking.

Siv: We need to leave! We can't win against this thing!

Nex: Regroup!

Everyone started to retreat back to Nex as quickly as possible. As soon as we got within range of Nex, we reached out to him again. From complete destructive noise and tremors, everything turned quiet and peaceful. It felt like I was going through some kind of trance, every single tiny noise just impacted me!

Siv: Team meeting now! No excuses!

Everyone started to pour inside the facility. The tension in the air was far stronger this time. Siv's intensity was beyond what I thought his voice sounded like. Olley and Volv had to carry me towards the office. They laid me down on top of a table. Olley rushed to get the first aid supplies. In the meantime, everyone had been staring each other down. Their glares could melt ice instantly. Nex took up to the middle of the room to be diplomatic but he was clearly enraged.

Volv: Someone has to talk or this is just going to lead to trouble.

Onagi: Traitor…

Arc: I don't want to believe it as much as the other person but it's the truth.

Nitra: It's not about the truth Arc. This goes against what the Platform has built. I would die for my people, so to be in a company of someone that could potentially bring harm to them is an insult beyond belief.

Siren: A disgrace to the Platform!

Siv: You're telling me! I want to get to the bottom of this! I need a status check on what the hell did you guys do before we jumped into Talos!

Volv: You don't have the authority to ask that.

Siv: I don't think it fucking matters anymore! I want to get down to it unless you have a problem with it?

Volv: I never said that. I just said there needs to be a system or it'll just be a group pointing fingers!

Onagi: Agree…

Siv: Damn it! What about you Arc? What do you think?

Arc: I think that I need to calm the fuck down because I am going going insane right now! I need some fucking quiet!

Olley: Arc…

Arc: I did whatever I did out there. I wanted to save those in Talos but… All of them are gone. No matter what I did, they died. So why I'm fucking quiet is because I'm just trying to process everything right now! Protocol usually states that it doesn't matter if any of the locals die but why is it eating me alive. We barely even survived those fights.

Nitra: We don't win every fight we take, Arc. it doesn't work that way especially not now.

Siren: What bothers me is that he managed to have access to an Avatar. Not just any kind of Avatar but an authentic AWD Avatar.

Olley: What makes the difference?

Siren: AWD Avatars are made to take down armies. They are a war weapon. A relic of Polarity or at least should have been. The Platform doesn't produce them anymore. All of them were discarded and stored in the Platform's vault.

Nex: So it really wasn't just a coincidence. Whoever defected had access to the Platform's vault system.

Everyone started to argue and my ears were burning up. I didn't want to listen to anything anymore. My gut was telling me to scream to shut them all up but I knew it wasn't worth it. I just rushed out of the office. Luckily nobody seemed to notice. My body was in extreme pain now, the pain killers were finally wearing off. After I took another pellet, I started to climb up towards the watchtower. There was nothing more I wanted to do than just to sit and relax for a bit. As I finally reached a seat, I could feel my tears again. I didn't realize it because it felt like I was out of my body, I was under a mental breakdown. My teeth started to hurt because of the amount of pressure I added to them. I don't remember everything else.

The afternoon sun was already settling down. Time had already passed and no one had talked to each other. I was still on top of the watchtower surveying everyone from above. Everyone was starting to suspect each other. My head was completely numb as I tried to keep still to heal my wounds. There was a small metal clanking sound behind me, I turned back to see that it was Nex and Olley. Their faces were mournful from the events. Nex mostly appeared to be more annoyed though. Olley came up with a med kit to treat my wounds. I didn't have the face to look her in the eyes.

Olley: Do you guys still take stitches? We need to seal that wound properly.

Arc: Yeah, we still do but only in the field.

Olley: Then you'll be taking the stitches. Turn around, I'll do your back first.

Arc: Alright…

Olley: Oh and here… I think you might want this.

Arc: What is it?

Olley: It's from that Ev3 golem that saved you. While you were spacing out I took this out. I had a feeling you knew that golem.

Arc: Huh!? But... Your hand!

Olley: Yeah, I had to burn my hand too to get it but you seemed pretty destroyed. I thought you would want this.

Nex: That's what you meant huh… Able…

Olley: It's not much but I just thought you might want it. I'm not even sure what it is either, here you go.

Olley handed me a black box, this was Able's memory bank. I held it on my hand like if it was a baby. My insides just continued to tear me up. Every little thing started to hurt me. I didn't want this pain. This box had the last recorded moments of Able's life. A part of me wanted to say that Able was just a pain but if he was, then why do I feel this way? I held the two things left of them. Eliza and Able, I wished I knew more of you. I thought for sure that we would bring them up to the Platform. Maybe it's my fault for being so attached to locals. Even then, it still didn't feel right saying these things in my head.

Arc: Thanks. I appreciate it. If only I could've saved them…

Nex: You did what you did. They were just one step ahead of us. It's not fair but… This is how it is Arc… We go in and we don't always expect to win… We never do. That way it's a little bit less painful.

Arc: I didn't expect those kinds of words from you… But thanks… We can't save everyone and that's okay… But… It still hurts anyway.

Nex: So this is the pain that we're all running away from? I think I can understand it now. Cognitive magic...

Olley: What are you going to do?

Nex: I'm not sure. But I don't want to forget anymore. I hope I don't. I don't want to forget Eliza. She was far too kind for this world.

Olley: They're the ones that deserve more from the world. It's just tragic.

Nex: We can't win all the time...

Arc: …

She took out a bunch of things from her med kit and I took off my shirt. She started stitching up my back in silence. Everyone felt a bunch of different emotions right now. Our group was in mourning because of what we failed to accomplish. Vanta was mad because they failed their mission and had an asset casualty. For me, I felt the failure of the two groups land on me hard. Nothing in that mission felt like we accomplished anyway. We went in and just instantly lost. There was in no way in hell that we would be prepared for all of that. They dissected us a bit too well. Probably from the help of Terra, she always had a knack for strategies like these. Damn it all!

Nex: What are we going to do next? We just lost pretty hard. We failed our mission.

Arc: I don't know what we're going to do… Not for the longest time… We don't even have an ounce of where to go and find them. They could be anywhere on the planet.

Olley: If they're heading somewhere, it's probably out of the planet.

Arc: Figured they'd want to find a way out of here.

Nex: No chance in hell that the Platform would allow them to leave. They'll try to shoot them out of orbit.

Arc: They probably have all their eyes on us now. Losing an X class Adamian like Terra. It's just not going to sit well with the higher ups.

Nex: You're not thinking.

Arc: Losing Terra with the secrets of the first series, not allowing anyone to leave the planet, and us failing. It's only a reason for them to use them.

Olley: Use them? Who's them?

Nex: The most destructive Adamians in the Platform.

Olley: What do they do?

Nex: They have the combined power to blow up an entire planet. Though they're only used with the proper passages and authorization of the Republic.

Olley: They can't just blow up an entire planet!

Arc: It wouldn't be the first time if they decide to. Some planets we visited were beyond saving and they were given the order to obliterate it down to it's core.

Nex: Now that we lost so much. It wouldn't be a surprise to receive the red letter.

Arc: I was expecting it to arrive too. But the real question is if the Platform will allow us to leave with the secrets of what just happened here? Or would they want to wipe our memory again.

Nex: I don't want to think about that.

Olley: What about me Arc? Am I going to die?

Arc: I don't know…

Nex: Olley…

Olley: They can't blow this planet up…

Everything fell into silence again until another sound of climbing made us turn our heads. A head popped out revealing Siv. His expression wasn't good. He reluctantly got up to us then sat down with us. He tapped the button on the communicator watch and it revealed a message from the Platform.

Siv: You know the protocol. We knew that this was coming...