General Cluster laughed inside his cockpit. “I found you!”

Huntar glared at the alien mech suit. "How?"

Cluster laughed again as his chest opened, exposing his red triangle that blinked.

“Look out!” Jenny pushed Krysta from Cluster’s path before he blasted his red energy beam.

Everyone flew back and crashed on the other side as the table exploded.

On the floor, Jenny's heart thumped, seeing Cluster marched toward her. He’s going to get me!

The guards rose and fired their laser bolts. Cluster laughed as the blasts bounced off his shiny suit.

He faced them and shot his beam out, vaporizing them.

Huntar charged with his board sword up, roaring. "This time, we will not run from you!”

He swung his sword, hitting Cluster’s torso. It left not a single scratch on the machine’s chest.

"No! This time, I will kill you." Cluster grabbed the lion's neck and tossed him to the wall.

More guards and soldiers blasted all their rifles at the intruder. Cluster held up his arms, blocking each blast from hitting his cockpit. “Your weapons are useless against me!”

He charged, smashing one guard down, and swung his other arm to knock the others away. He punched one soldier's face, flattering the soldier's skull against Horde’s large metal fist. Each soldier fell quickly, no matter how big or small they were.

Gojo took cover behind a crate and aimed his gun at the mech. He fired, but the shot bounced off Cluster’s back and flew back into Gojo’s chest.

“Gojo!” Krysta ran toward him and held him up off the floor. Unfortunately, he was silent with a burnt hole in his breast.

Cluster turned around and chuckled. “How pathetic!”

With tears in her eyes, Krysta screamed in anger. She took out her gun, running toward the mech while shooting at him.

Cluster just stood in one place while raising his left arm up. Krysta’s shots kept bouncing off his armor suit, but she was too furious to focus.

“Look out!” Jenny sprinted toward Krysta’s path, but Cluster slammed his fist down.

The impact from his punch sent a shock wave through the floor, pushing the girls into the wall.

*****

Cluster grinned at the fallen girls. All he needed was the human female to complete his mission.

“Stay away from her!” The female zebra and the rhino raced toward him.

How annoying! Cluster aimed his right arm toward the female’s companions. A small energy cannon lifted from his upper arm before he blasted it.

Bolts of lightning flew toward the two Beastmen and zapped them as they flew back. Both of them crashed into two computer towers, which shocked them even more. Then they fell to the floor. Their bodies smoke while they laid unconscious.

Cluster lowered his stun cannon back into his armor with a satisfying grin. His attack probably didn’t kill them, but it should keep them down for a while. The Krawl authorities will handle them when they will arrive soon.

Cluster picked up the unconscious human girl. He looked around and spotted an elevator directly through the nearest corridor. It will be a straightforward way out for him to leave.

*****

Krysta felt her head spinning as she rose. After her blurry vision turned to focus, she couldn’t believe her new surrounding.

All the computer equipment was smashed and burning within their rubble. Bodies and bodies of brave freedom fighters laid all over the floor, covered in different colors of blood. Green, red, yellow, purple, and white could be mistaken for paint.

Krysta dropped her mouth. Not because of the surrounding carnage. The last memory she remembered was seeing Gojo fell to his death after his blast backfired. He killed himself, but the creature was responsible.

“Gojo!” She raced toward him across the corpses and grew relief when she spotted him coughing.

“Hold on, Gojo!” Krysta cried, holding his upper body up. “I will get some-”

“No-” he coughed again as his green blood dripped from his mouth. “I’m not….. Going to make it…..”

“Don’t say that! We have stolen the best medical equipment from the Krawls! I can-”

“Listen to me!” He grabbed her collar and pulled her toward his face. “I need to tell you….. I am the mole…..”

Krysta widened her eyes. “What?”

“I was the one who told the Krawls when you left to raid their vault…… And I told them where our headquarters is at…..”

Krysta blinked, her tearing eyes multiple times. She couldn’t process what he was saying. “You….. Why?” Her lips tremored. “You are my closest friend! We have been doing this for years! Why would you betray us?”

Gojo coughed. “The Krawls….. The Krawls know where my family is. If I didn’t tell them….. My family would be dead…..”

Krysta clenched her teeth. “So you have chosen them over us?”

“I had no other choice! What would be the point for me fighting for their freedom if they are dead? My cause would be for nothing…..”

“Not just your cause! Our cause! And you ruined it!”

Gojo sobbed. “I know….. Perhaps we shouldn’t be fighting our overseers….. We should be living with our families instead…..”

“And let the Krawls torture and kill them when they make a mistake? Would your family prefer that kind of life?”

Gojo gazed into Krysta’s eyes. “Perhaps not….. Can you forgive me?”

Krysta shook her eyes from her eyes. “I don’t believe I should.”

Gojo placed his hand on her shoulder. “Then make them pay for forcing me to betray our cause….. Do it for my family….. Do it for our kind…..”

Krysta nodded. “I will…..”

With his last grin, Gojo closed his eyes and laid down for his final rest. Although he was a traitor, Krysta cried over his face.

He was like a brother to her since they first met. They trained together, fought together, and raised their organization together. Then things took a different turn when Gojo met a beautiful Volkian girl in the mountains. They married and had a bunch of children. But the war kept Gojo away from his family when he was called back to duty. Krysta understood his frustration by leaving them and deciding the goal to make their future happy. Although he was a traitor, Krysta will not break his promise.