"Hez…!"

"Hezekiah! Wake up…!"

Hezekiah's opened an eye only slightly. Everything about his body felt numb and weightless. His vision was dark. His ears barely picked anything up. Everything felt muffled, so far away. Like he was stuck inside of his mind, only able to tell what was going on via a faint opening in his eyes and ears. With the tunnel vision to the max, he saw the silhouette of a soldier trying to wake him up to no avail. His eyes turned to his left where he saw fire and the silhouette of someone else….

"He might be fucked!"

"Focus on him, I'll get Otaes out of here!"

The voices danced in and out of his mind, sometimes audible, sometimes not. He didn't really know for sure where he was, or how he got here. His only feeling was that of something warm all over his face, though he wasn't sure what. The soldier hunched over Hezekiah's body, trying to do something that Hezekiah couldn't see. He turned to his left and saw Temetet. His lime-colored eyes were closed shut. White skin the color of clouds, and sea-blue hair, stained with red blood. The soldier tending to Hezekiah turned to Temetet. Placing a hand on his neck to check a pulse.

He didn't respond.

"Shit…"

Hezekiah noticed an orange glow coming from somewhere. As he became more aware of his situation, his senses began to return. He was in a helicopter, and they crashed. Remembering that, it felt as if his tunnel vision was fading away. Slowly, however. He felt hands grasp him, and his body move about a little bit. He was dragged out of the dark cavern of the helicopter and into the bright sunlight of the world outside. He took a look at who it was dragging him and saw Brian's glasses glint in the sun.

Hezekiah couldn't decipher who they were speaking of. He gained enough sense back that now by now, he was mostly aware of what was going on not just to him, but around him. Behind Brian and Hezekiah, Flint was carrying an unconscious Otaes in his arms. She looked bad. Really bad. Her obsidian-black skin was tainted with red that stained her blue hair. Another head injury. Ahead of them, the rest of the soldiers were pointing their guns up, yelling orders to a crowd that had formed. Hezekiah didn't get a great look at the crowd, as he was turned about and sat against a tree. His head was wobbling, and he had to fight hard to keep himself from nodding off, "Aw, man… this doesn't look good at all," Brian squealed after he got a good look at Hezekiah's face once again.

"Lemme see, lemme see," A third Marine materialized from behind the tree Hezekiah leaned against, peering at him with a careful look, Lafayette slowly moved forward, "Damn it, get one of the elves to help him up!"

"Can't! Otaes is unconscious!" Flint answered, huffing as he shifted the weight of her limp body in his arms. He lowered her down against the same tree Hezekiah leaned against, putting her right next to him. Hezekiah could just barely see her, her chest was making the motions of breath. Her face made slight little movements, perhaps deep in intense dreaming. She was definitely alive, if unconscious and in a critical state. She wasn't doing too much worse than Hezekiah was, with the only visible thing separating their two conditions being Hezekiah was still awake.

"What about Temetet?" Lafayette asked.

Brian and Flint both looked at each other before they looked at Lafayette, "Temetet…" Brian trailed off.

Flint took the liberty to finish, "Laf, I don't know how we're gonna tell Otaes but… Temetet's dead."

Lafayette's eyes widened, "What? He's dead?"

Brian slowly nodded, "Found him in the helicopter, wasn't breathing, no pulse."

"Dammit!" Lafayette spat.

Hezekiah took in another breath of air, and his mind became clearer. He stumbled to his feet, gathering the attention of Lafayette, who put a hand on him, "Whoa there!" He cautioned.

"I-I'm fine!" Hezekiah assured him as he fully stood up.

"You sure?" Lafayette asked.

"Positive," Hezekiah put his hands on his knees as he tried to get another breath in.

"Oi! Unity!" Lieutenant Sherman's voice was heard through the midst, "Where is Sergeant Brooks?"

"You think the Reformists will help us out?" Hezekiah asked Sherman.

"They say that they know you. They claim that they know Sergeant Brooks!"

"Then we'll take all the help we can get! Also, please ask them if they can help Otaes. She's unconscious!"

"Roger! I'll be back!" Sherman took a glance at Otaes until he walked back off. In Hezekiah's vision was Flint, Lafayette, Brian, and the burning helicopter behind them. Further beyond, the river tributary. And beyond that, the towering heights of the Minervan Magical University way out in the distance.

He heard shuffling from behind. Out came two figures. The first figure was obvious, the rabbit ears, the smaller stance, it was Cathy.

The second was a human woman. She wore a navy blue hooded coat with yellow embroidering stitched on it. She had rose-tinted white skin, jet black hair that hung down to her waist. A blue headband wrapped around her head, with two sky-blue eyes peering out at the world. She looked out of place, and she didn't strike Hezekiah at all as a warrior. He wouldn't have guessed that she was, if it weren't for the rifle that was slung over her shoulder.

Hezekiah found his eyes following her. The same feeling grew in his heart as when he passed by Corporal Rose. Something so oddly familiar about her, but no ideas came to the surface except for the Mirrorface. The woman looked at him too with an expression of bemusement. He knew for a fact that she felt the same way he did. Something was wrong, there was no way else to put it. If Hezekiah had been the only one to feel this way, he'd have dismissed it as himself being crazy. But both times, Rose and this woman seemed to have mutual feelings of odd familiarity towards him. He saw it when he caught the edges of Rose's emerald green eyes staring at his back as they passed each other! And he felt it now with this woman! What the hell was Mirroface up to?

Cathy momentarily blocked his view of the woman. Her eyes landed on Otaes first. She moved a paw up to cover her own mouth, shocked when she saw her lying unconscious next to him. She knelt next to her, placing a paw on the side of her neck. After a bit, she stood up with the news, "As long as she's alive, we can help her!"

"That's all I needed to hear, I'm Lieutenant Sherman by the way." He said to Cathy, "Who do I owe it to?"

Cathy nodded, "Cathy. I'm the leader of the Reformation."

"You've met Unity?"

"Let's just say that we've fought together once, it's a long story," Hezekiah told him.

Sherman shrugged, "Good enough for me," a few Reformist elves walked into Hezekiah's view. Five of them. They picked up Otaes' body, gently moving her onto a stretcher. Two elves picked up the wooden poles and carried her up.

"Follow them, we'll take care of your soldiers as long as we can," Cathy told Sherman.

"Thank you, and if you'd be so kind, be on the lookout for the Marines who crashed into the river. If any of them are still alive, that is."

"You have my word."

"Alright! Rose, Cato, Scott, stay out here and radio Eagle Six. Give 'em a sitrep, immediately. Request urgent evac and medical! Everybody else, follow me," Sherman ordered.

Hezekiah watched as his squad got up to follow close behind. He made a mental checklist of all the names. Quinn. Lafayette. Brian. Flint. And of course, himself. They all looked roughed up and injured. In fact, he noticed a slight limp coming from Flint, several large cuts on Lafayette's face, and a lot of blood on both Quinn and Brian's uniforms. But they were alive. That's all Hezekiah could ask for.

He understood the situation fully now, and a shiver went down his spine when he thought about Temetet.

How were they going to tell Otaes? Who was going to tell Otaes? And when?

The trees and blue sky around him were soon replaced by walls and the ceiling when the stretcher was brought inside of the City Hall. The halls were made of wooden planks that covered the bottom half of the surface. The upper half was painted with an olive green coat. It reminded Hezekiah of some of the older libraries back on Earth. Lined on the sides of the hallways was a huge crowd of curious-looking Reformists and civilians alike. They whispered things among each other that Hezekiah couldn't quite understand, staring at him in careful observation. He had no idea what they were thinking, and that unsettled him a bit, "Stand clear! Stand clear! Wounded coming through!" Said the elves carrying Otaes up front as they broke a path through the crowd.

Winding through a mess of hallways, they arrived inside of a large room lit by a series of lamps on the wall that gave the room a warm atmosphere as the oil inside burned. The orange glow of the oil lamps swept through the whole of the room, letting Hezekiah spot multiple tables, desks, a lot of beds, and other practical furniture. Judging by the state of wounded people lying in the beds, this was supposed to be an emergency triage. The wounded had bloody bandages all over, a few had bandages that covered the entirety of their faces. They put Otaes up on one of the beds.

"Where're the doctors?" Quinn asked Cathy as they watched the elves leave instead of healing them.

"Occupied. We have over three hundred civilians inside of the City Hall, and most of them are injured in some state," Cathy explained.

"Well, what about the elves? I thought they healed people fast?" Flint asked.

"Not all elves are healers. Otaes is a Raritan. Raritans are healers. The Eastern Elves here, aren't. We're working with magical spells but they can only do so much before our nurses become too exhausted from overuse of magic," Cathy told him, "If we can get Otaes to full alertness, then we'd have access to her natural healing powers. But until she wakes up, there isn't much we can do."

"Can you do anything?"

"No… no, not me. I've only healed obvious physical injuries and minor illnesses before. It'd take our best nurse to help her. But he's resting," Cathy told him.

"Resting?"

"Overuse. Magical spells require energy from the caster's body. That's true for both Ekron and natural magic. If you use a spell for too long, or if you cast a spell that's too powerful for your strength, you'll pass out. It happened to all of the mages who cast the world-destroyer against your forces."

"But we need her, now! If you can get her up, you'd have one more qualified healer! Right!" Flint reasoned.

Cathy looked at Otaes' body and grimaced. Tensing up a little bit, "I'm incredibly busy but…"She felt the eyes of the entire Task Force looking at her expectantly. She let out an exasperated sigh, "I'll try my best!" Moving by her bedside, Cathy took out her Ekron stone necklace, holding it in a paw. She closed her eyes, and focused…

Red light surrounded her paws, and Cathy held them out above Otaes' sleeping body. There wasn't much at first until Otaes herself began to glow an ekron red. Eyes shifted back onto Cathy, who looked like she was struggling to lift a heavy burden. Whatever she was doing, it was taking a physical toll on her. Her breathing had become strained, taking in sharp breaths while letting it go quickly like she was running laps and her limbs were trembling slightly. It was at that moment, that Otaes had begun to move. It was only her head that had jerked to the side. Her fingers curled, and then relaxed, and then her head jerked to the other side.

"She must be having a nightmare or something," Lafayette pointed out. It did indeed seem to be that she was on the cusp of waking up from an unpleasant dream as she squirmed about. Again, attention shifted to Cathy who looked fatigued beyond belief. It had only been a few seconds…

"Cathy… take it easy," Sherman warned her, observing her physical state. But Cathy didn't seem to hear him. Sherman took a few steps closer to her, and the Ekron magic began to turn grey. It must be what overuse looks like. It reminded Hezekiah of what shields looked like after taking too much damage, shattering when the magic ran out of power.

And Cathy shattered. The red glow disappeared, and the hare fell backward. Luckily, Sherman was just behind to catch her in his arms, "Woah! Easy there!" Sherman exclaimed. Cathy grabbed his coat, using it as a grip as she tried to get back to her own feet. She was panting, her back was arched forward, her head and ears hung low. She looked like she had just run ten miles. Sherman helped move her into a chair to rest, and she shuffled her feet while following him. When she finally got into a seat, she held a paw up.

"She… she'll be… fine," She panted.

Otaes had begun to stir completely now, waking up from whatever unconscious state she was in prior. At a certain point, she jolted awake, her eyes shot open and she sprang up, yelling. Her words were hardly intelligible, yelling something around the lines of fire and an explosion. Stuck in the crash. Otaes' eyes darted around the room, the soldiers began to gather around to help her calm down.

"It's alright, it's alright. We're safe," Flint told her.

She looked up at him with confused eyes, "W-where am I?"

"Minervan City Hall. We happened to crash right next to the Reformists, and they took us in," Sherman explained.

She didn't look super convinced, and she studied all of the soldiers. Locking onto Hezekiah for a moment to observe his injured state, "We crashed?" she asked.

"Yeah, but looks like we're all here… for the most part," Hezekiah whispered the latter, but Otaes seemed to get it. She took a survey of everybody around her. Her eyes narrowing when she realized who was missing, "Where is-"

"We have to start moving!" Flint interrupted before she could finish her thought.

"Yeah… uh, Cathy!" Lafayette turned to her. Cathy had regained her stamina while resting, and she stood on her feet, still a little tired, but okay nonetheless, "What's the situation around here? Are there Iscariots coming? Can we help in any way?"

Cathy nodded, "Yes. A few hours ago, the Imperials came with a small army to burn the City Hall, and all of its occupants, to the ground. My soldiers have managed to fend them off, but the Imperials will be back! And I'm not sure we have the power to hold off a second wave."

"We can assist, as soon as my soldiers check in with our base," Sherman replied.

"I'll take all the hands that I can get! Alright let-"

"WAIT!" Everybody stopped to turn to Otaes, she was frustrated with Flint's deliberate attempt to move on before she could figure something out. With everybody's attention turned to her, she asked the dreaded question, "Where is my brother? Temetet?"

The soldiers looked at each other. The question of who would break the news in their minds. Lafayette let out a nervous cough, Hezekiah stared at the wall, Brian shuffled in his boots, and Quinn had no idea. It was Flint who stepped forward, "Look, Otaes. I don't know how to tell you this, so I'll just put it bluntly. Temetet…"

Otaes' eyes widened. It was like she knew the words before he had said them.

"Temetet's dead."

A thick silence rolled into the room. Hezekiah swore he could hear Otaes' heartbeat. Unsure of how exactly to react, everyone just stood there. Otaes herself remained still as stone. Her only motion was that of her putting her face into the palms of her hands, covering her eyes. She didn't move but it was obvious that tears were leaking, tears that she didn't want anybody to see.

Flint moved closer, "I'm sorry, but we found him inside of the helicopter and… one look and we knew. I'm sorry." He put a hand on her shoulder, but Otaes lifted her arm and threw it off.

"No!" She yelled out. Revealing a face that was drenched in tears. Flint took a step back to give her space. Everyone had. That's what she needed.

"Come on, leave her be. We've got work to do." Sherman got the team moving. They couldn't spare too much time in consoling her. As much as they hated to admit it, there were more important matters to attend to. Hezekiah slowly eased himself off of the bed. He felt bad for her. They all did. They all experienced the loss of someone close at one point. They all related to that sinking feeling deep inside that one got in the wake of a death. The unsureness of how to react. Hezekiah knew that all too well, unfortunately…

They left, leaving her behind, "Is she gonna be alright?" Quinn pointed a thumb towards the room, once they had gotten deeper into the City Hall.

"She'll have to be," Sherman told him without much of a second to consider, "People die in war. Sometimes, those people are close. She ought to know that."

"Yeah well -- Nevermind."

"Sir! Sir!" Footsteps came running down through the hallway. Running through a crowd of Minervans walking about, came Rose.

"Calm down, lad. What is it?"

"Sir!" Rose said, a bit out of breath, "We've established contact with Eagle Six!"

"What's he saying?"

"They're trying to find a way to evac, but they fear it won't be for a while! We'll be stranded out here! But we've also found a bunch of Marines who have survived Hotel 2-1's crash. They were swimming in the river when the Reformists helped pull them out!"

"Warm them up and stabilize the wounded, if need be! We're going to be taking defensive positions around this perimeter!" Sherman told him. Rose nodded receiving the order and turned on his heels to rejoin the rest of Hazard to assist outside.

Hezekiah listened to the conversation. Stranded? Not exactly how he wanted to spend the day, "I'll take you to the barricades and trench line that we've constructed!" Cathy told them, leading the way, "I have a few people you'd like to meet before the Imperials come back!"

They continued walking through the halls of the building. Twisting this way and that until the team came to the massive lobby at the entrance of the building. The lobby was crowded beyond belief, filled with civilians. Some demi-human, some human, some lizardmen, and insects. It was bizarre to see them all here congregated inside of the large room. Cots had been spread out on the floor to act as beds, children huddled together or ran around playing. Food lines had formed and basic wounds were being treated, "This is the largest haven for refugees in the City," Cathy said as they walked, "All of these people would've been dead if we hadn't arrived."

"You're doing good work out here," Hezekiah told her, "Somebody has to look out for the people during times of war."

"It was necessary. During the last major war, we didn't exist. The amount of civilian blood spilled then had paled to what's going on in Minerva now."

"Is that why you're willing to work with us?" Hezekiah asked her.

Cathy sighed, "Common enemies. An enemy of my enemy is my friend. My main goal is to keep the people here safe and to expand our movement by liberating the peasants and slaves of Minerva. We can only do that by dislodging the Imperials, and for that, you have done a fantastic job."

"Aren't you concerned with any civilians we might've killed?" Sherman asked her, "This is war, and whether intentionally or not, weapons of war will kill anyone inside the city."

Cathy shook her head with a rather emotionless expression on her face, "In every war, civilians are killed. It's inevitable when wars drag out into cities. The difference is the circumstances between the two sides. The Imperials denied the people here the ability to evacuate to fight you. You are trying to fight the Imperials but to do that, you have to go through the city. Any other option would've been stupid unless you didn't plan on fighting this battle at all. That isn't to say that I'm not upset whenever I hear reports of civilian casualties, those reports are why we are here in the first place doing what we do. But, obvious nuance applies to every side."

"Can you put that in layman's terms for the people in the back?" Sherman asked with a bit of humor peppered in his voice.

"I can't fight you and the Imperials at the same time," Cathy said with a sly grin, "As the leader of the Reformation, I have to decide who my allies and enemies are. For now, you're my allies."

"For now?" Sherman asked.

"For now," She confirmed

"Glad to hear it!"

They walked across the lobby, past crowds of people inside, towards the large double doors that made up the entrance of the building. Cathy pushed the doors open and outside were two people gathered around a table with a map on top. One a human, the other an elf, "These are my commanders. The people I wanted to introduce you to," Cathy said pointing a paw.

The duo of Reformists looked up and stood a bit straighter when they saw the team come forward, "I'd like you to meet Marcus and Serj," Cathy introduced the commanders, who eyeballed them as they came through.

Serj was an Eastern Elf. He was a thin elf with strawberry pink skin and grey eyes. As was the norm for all elves, the iris of the eye held no pupil. It made Hezekiah wonder if the Elves were blind in some form, or if they saw the world differently, considering that their eyes were somewhat luminescent. Serj wore navy blue leather with a pair of navy blue slacks. A khaki scarf and undershirt shielded his neck from the cold, and a variety of satchels and bags were strung around his torso. On his head was a steel Adrian helmet, which looked a bit out of place in a world full of early-modern age equipment. Around his waist was a wooden rifle. Judging by the fact that it had a location for breech-loading and a bolt to chamber the gun, this was also unlike the barrel-loaded muskets and rifles of the revolutionaries. Serj wore no blue headwrap or armband. He had an air of professionality to him, standing upright, clean-shaven, and having a fresh-pressed uniform.

Marcus looked different from Serj in every way possible. He struck Hezekiah as being oddly… normal. From the peaked gatsby hat and the working-class attire he wore, he could've easily blended into a scene from those black and white photos of New York in the 1860s. He looked about forty, maybe fifty in age. A permanent five-o-clock shadow and bruise under his left eye highlighted his facial features as distinct. He also carried a rifle in his hand, though it seemed even older in technological invention than Serj's. It had no bolt action nor anything else that would signal that it would be a breech-loaded weapon. Just a long wooden gun with perhaps a bit of rifling inside of the barrel.

"Serj, Marcus, these are the Ithacans I've mentioned earlier," Cathy told the trio. They eyeballed the team of soldiers, taking in every single minute detail about them. The first of the three to speak was Lori.

"Do you kill Imperials?" Marcus asked, testing them a little bit before talking any further.

"Only the bad ones," Lafayette chuckled.

Marcus pursed his lips, impressed at the answer, "In that case…" He began, "I'm Marcus, I command half of the Militia here. Lieutenant Serj is our head instructor."

Serj did a bow wordlessly, "Instructor?" Hezekiah asked, "As in…?"

"I teach the militia how to march, how to aim, and how to shoot," Serj told him, "I was sent here on a mission from my leaders in the Falklands to organize the militia."

"You've come at a bad time," Marcus added, "Imperials attacked us just a few hours ago. They will be back, any minute now!"

"We've promised to help you as much as we can, but our main goal is to get out of here alive!" Sherman informed them.

Serj's eyes shifted from observing the soldiers themselves, to their guns, "Are those rifles?" he asked, pointing towards the gun that Sherman held.

Sherman lifted the metal contraption into the air for Serj to see, moving it around slightly, allowing him to inspect it from a distance, "Aye."

"What's the difference between the guns that you use, and my own?" Serj asked, giving his rifle to Sherman. Sherman took the wooden gun in his hands as he looked it over.

"This looks like a Springfield Model 1873," Sherman remarked, "Quite advanced stuff you have here."

"We call it the Shelby Model 4," Serj informed, holding his hands up to receive his rifle. It was interesting to see what looked like a soldier from the days of old interact with modern troops.

"We don't have much time now to compare guns! The Imperial army shall return very shortly!" Cathy interrupted the two, "Word from Perceval is that Lady Igraine and Wendover are preparing a final all-out offensive to destroy the City Hall, take the mayor as a prisoner, and crush the revolution! We have to be prepared!" Cathy told them.

"Who's Perceval?" Hezekiah asked her.

"He's one of the most well-reputed Imperial Generals currently, and he's working with us!"

"So he's a spy?"

"Technically, though he has made it clear that his loyalty is complete to the crown."

"Sounds a bit like a conflict of interest…" Hezekiah noted.

"Everybody involved in this revolution has a conflict of interests. All wars and revolutions force that upon people. Myself, Serj, Marcus; even you and your soldiers."

"We aren't conflicted! We're here to get rid of the Iscariots and go home!"

"We are Iscariots."

Hezekiah thought about it for a moment. They were here fighting the Imperials. Their objective was to beat the Imperial army at Minerva, liberate the slaves, and force the Empire to the negotiating table while securing the allies of the NATO force. That on its own seemed simple. But then, there were the methods of how they did so. Destroying civilian infrastructure in a densely populated area? Pushing through with an invasion to put the people of Minerva at risk? Were they fighting the Imperials, or were they fighting all Iscariots in general? Had Unity not made contact with Cathy, it was wholly possible that NATO would've been locked in combat against the Reformation too.

Cathy was right, they were fighting with a conflict of interests. They can't fight to protect the people of the city while simultaneously destroying it unless their only goal was to end the Imperial threat. But Jefferson had made it repeatedly clear that it wasn't, they were there on a mission to liberate. Not to destroy. That's why they had allied with the Kiote people. That's why they even made contact with Cathy at all.

"We've set up two defensive perimeters ahead of the City Hall!" Said Serj pointing to the map of the City Hall region, "A and B. Perimeter A is being held about two blocks to the south of the City Hall by Serj's scouting forces, some of the best that we have! Should Perimeter A fall, we'll regroup one block away to put a fight at Perimeter B with the mass of the Militia putting up a fight!"

"And if Bravo falls?" Sherman asked him.

"Bravo?" Marcus was bemused by what seemed like a rather typical statement from Sherman to the rest of the soldiers. When Sherman realized that the revolutionaries were, of course, unfamiliar with the NATO Alphabet, he explained further, "Objectives 'A' and 'B', to us we call them Alpha and Bravo. What happens when 'B' falls?"

"Well… if Bravo falls," Serj added the new word to his lexicon, perhaps taking some notes on organization from the soldiers, "We'll retreat to the City Hall proper. There, we'll use the windows, the stone wall surrounding the garden, and our trenches in the park area, to hold off the Imperials."

Marcus interjected himself, knowing exactly what the next line of questioning would be, "If we are forced to fight here, again, we'll order our nurses to move all of the civilians who can't fight deep into the labyrinths under the City Hall."

"I'm sorry, labyrinths?" Sherman asked.

"Aye, underground tunnels run under the City Hall. It's a jail for Minerva. It's small, but it'll hold the wounded and sick. All the adults who are capable of fighting, or know how to tend a wound, we're planning to use should the Imperials come again."

"And in the event that they manage to overpower our forces there, we'll lure them inside of the City Hall where we'll put up our last stand. If we fail there, we all die! Win, and we live to fight another day."

"What are we up against?" Hezekiah asked, "Numbers-wise? Do they have dragons? Mages?"

"We expect mostly draconic forces, low-level mages, and a lot of cannon fodder. A lot of them. This is going to be their final offensive, according to Perceval," Cathy said, "It will be all or nothing. They're getting desperate!"

"Then we'll just have to get evil!" Sherman told her in response, "We're in contact with my commanders, I can get reconnaissance flights and fire support to help us out! However, our primary goal is to get out of here!"

"We're aware of that. When you leave, we expect to be on our own," Cathy looked apprehensive as she said that, obviously worried about the inevitable time when the soldiers had to go, "If we haven't defeated the Imperials by then-"

She stopped halfway in her sentence, her eyes darted up to the skies behind the soldiers. Everyone followed her gaze, and in the air was what appeared to be a shooting star. A tail of red embers followed close behind a ball of burning light. It reached an apex in the skies, no longer flying upwards, hovering mid-air for a while, before exploding. The firework burst with red and green embers flying outwards in a sphere, before fizzling out into the blue of the sky. The only thing remaining was the dark smoke left behind from the detonation.

"What's that about?" Sherman asked.

"The Alpha line is being engaged!" Serj shouted, readying his gun for battle.

"Damn it! Alright, team, Listen up! I want contact with Eagle Six immediately, tell him that we're digging in, and request any available support! You'll take defensive positions inside of the City Hall and wait until the Imperials come to us!"

"Alright, Boys! You heard the man, let's get to it!" Hezekiah instructed Unity. They launched into a sprint back inside of the building. A general panic had formed inside of the building as the wounded were being moved away from the large room, readily exposed in the event of an Iscariot attack. Nurses and surgeons dashed about trying to relocate those who couldn't move. The soup lines had dispersed with all of the food being moved away. The militia had taken over, using the windows that stood like giants in the room. Militiamen had taken to the windows, standing guard with their guns pointed out to the streets below.

[Jefferson] "This is Eagle Six to Hazard Actual! Do you read? Over!"

Sherman took the liberty to respond, clasping a hand over his wireless earpiece,

[Sherman] "Hazard Actual, we read you! What's the word?"

[Jefferson] "We've worked out a solution. Zulu-Nine is running reconnaissance over the area and has declared that it is not safe to attempt an exfil at the moment! We're going to airdrop supplies for you to last until conditions improve to land our evacuation teams! Over!"

Sherman groaned a bit, obviously unhappy about the situation, though receiving supplies from the air was considerably better than being left alone,

[Sherman] "What's the status on fire support?"

[Jefferson] "It's on-station. Zulu-Eight is on the way back from refueling, and Yankee-five is available to provide precision artillery support! We're working on an exfil, now!"

[Sherman] "Just get us home alive and that'll be good enough for me!"

With a click, the transmission ended. Unity would post up here to assist the Militia in defending the City Hall, in case Line A and B were to fall. Speaking of which, Hazard had just entered in. A few Marines followed the FECU forces, wrapped in warming shawls, "Lieutenant Sherman, sir! We've managed to get the Marines safe and secure!" Cato said as he walked in.

"How many survivors are there?"

"More than we expected given the circumstances, so far, only the two pilots are missing! But many of the Marines have broken limbs, they're being cared for by the nurses around here."

"I want you to gather everybody capable of fighting, and bring them up here now!"

"Yes, sir!"

Later that day…

The Minervan City Hall…

The sun was beginning to set from its noon position. The sky was getting darker. Sounds of gunfire had only intensified as the Militia from line A made a retreat to Line B. Another flare had been sent up, warning the City Hall's occupants to prepare. And prepared, they were.

Hezekiah was stationed in the halls of the building. Large windows looked to the outside world. He yawned, stretching his limbs as he kneeled in the hall. Surrounding him, up and down the hall, was Unity. Down two members, Temetet who was dead, and Otaes who was in mourning over his death. A few of the rescued Marines also accompanied them, followed by Corporal Rose from Hazard, and lastly a lot of Militiamen.

Hezekiah looked over his shoulder to the left, he saw the human woman again. Sleeping this time. She leaned against the wall, rifle at her side. Her head was slightly bent as she got a precious few minutes of rest. He had yet to figure out her name. He had to know. That gut feeling was compelling him to figure out more!

To his right was Rose, wide awake. His MP5SD was pointed out of his window, kneeling up to see over. There were a few others awake. He needed to figure out what exactly was going on. And most of all, he needed to see if he was alone or not. Though, Rose kind of intimidated him. Not just because he was a member of the SAS and could probably snap Hezekiah like a pencil if he wanted to, but also because everything that Hezekiah was planning on telling him sounded as if it came straight from the ramblings of a mentally insecure madman. Hezekiah didn't want to get put on any list for a psychic evaluation, but if he talked to Rose, he was going to tell him his biggest secret.

Mirrorface. It happened with both Rose and the Woman now. When he saw either of them, the picture of the Mirrorface flashed in his mind. They had to be connected somehow. Even if just barely. This was something that he needed to get to the bottom of. And he knew that he wasn't alone. The Warrior Mother confirmed that this, 'mirrorface' creature was a real entity that she was in contact with as well. It couldn't be denied.

Hezekiah sharply inhaled, mustering up enough courage to lean over and pat Rose on the shoulder. The masked man turned to look at him in query, "Hey! Rose, right?"

He nodded, "I'm Hezekiah, Hezekiah Brooks," he held out a hand.

"Corporal Eden Rose," Rose revealed his full name to him. Hezekiah thought that it was odd. He shouldn't know what his first and last name was. That was supposed to be classified. Right?

"You're comfortable telling me your real name?" Hezekiah asked him.

Rose shrugged, "Who said it was real?"

Hezekiah nodded as he realized that of course his real personal information would be protected. All Spec-Ops forces had codenames and callsigns that they knew each other by. Who the hell names their kid 'Eden Rose', two first names. What the hell is up with that?

Now that Hezekiah thought about it, he couldn't have done much even if he knew everything about Rose. They were all stuck here in Mysterium. There was no use being secretive about anything personal, nobody would get the chance to tell anyone on Earth. It begged the question as to why Rose had both a hidden identity and wore a balaclava then. All the other members of Hazard seemed to not care if their facial identity was exposed. Perhaps some things were just too secret? Leaving it at that, Hezekiah cleared his throat before he got to the point.

"Look… I just wanted to talk to you," Hezekiah told him straight up.

"What of?" He asked. It wasn't a 'no'. That was a good sign.

Hezekiah looked around to see if anybody was listening in. Quinn and Brian were sound asleep. Lafayette and Flint weren't too far away, but even if they could hear, they probably didn't care. All the Reformists around them wouldn't be able to understand their language unless they had a translation spell active. Figuring he was in the clear, Hezekiah told him in a hushed voice, "This whole Mysterium thing. I think --no, I know-- we have something in common!"

Eden Rose straightened up a bit, looking a bit anxious. He squirmed about before looking back at Hezekiah, returning the hushed tone, "Well, I'm glad that you've brought it up."

"So you know what I'm talking about?"

"It's been happening since before I've arrived here. Everywhere I go, I keep getting followed by this… this thing. I don't know if it's a man or a monster or-" Eden stopped, realizing what his words sounded like. Though Hezekiah couldn't decipher too much emotion through the mask, the ways his eyes darted away showed he was embarrassed.

Hezekiah figured it was now or never, "Mirrorface?"

Eden looked up at him, eyes wide, "Yes! I mean… for fucks sake… I thought I was alone."

"Yeah, me too. You know anything about it?" Hezekiah asked him, curious to see if the SAS Operative had gotten any information on the creature. But unfortunately, all he received was a disappointing shake of the head.

"You?" Eden asked.

Hezekiah again looked around. Just as predicted, Unity could care less of what the two were whispering about. He looked at the woman. The lady was moving about in her sleep, whispering something repeatedly in her own language that neither Eden nor Hezekiah could understand. She only started after Hezekiah had whispered the word, 'Mirrorface'

"I think she might know a thing or two about it," Eden pointed out, "Shall we introduce ourselves?"

"I think so," Hezekiah slowly moved over to her. He managed to put a hand on her shoulder, to shake her awake. Her eyes shot open immediately, and she looked at Hezekiah with a mix of both surprise and horror, "Woah! I don't wanna hurt you! Sorry!" He tried to apologize, though he doubted that the woman understood. She took a few steady breaths, calming down, and reached a hand into her coat. When the hand emerged, it was carrying an ekron stone.

"What? What happened? Are the Imperials here?" She asked immediately once the translation spell started working, getting to her feet ready to fight if need be. She looked irritated at haven been woken up, but also looked attentive. Ready to fight at a moment's notice.

"No! They aren't. We just needed to talk to you."

Her blue eyes darted between Hezekiah and Eden, "About what?" was all she asked.

"We think that you might know something important!"

"Well if you have any questions about the battle, you're better off asking Cathy or Marcus-"

"No-no-no, you misunderstand!" Eden interrupted, "We think you might know of a certain creature that we call… the Mirrorface?"

Her eyes widened upon hearing that, and she froze completely, standing still as a statue. Bemusement, excitement, fear, all were possible emotions running through her mind. Hezekiah would know. To find out that something that once terrified you in your dreams and you only thought belonged in the figment of your imagination, but actually turned out to be a real thing. It was terrifying for Hezekiah, he could only imagine how she felt.

She regathered herself after a minute, blinking profusely as she stammered a sentence out, "I-I'm Yuri."

"Hezekiah," Hezekiah said with a bow.

"Eden."

"We ought to talk about this somewhere…" Yuri looked around suspiciously, "Somewhere a bit more private."

The two soldiers agreed and followed Yuri as she took them into a well-lit room down the hall. Opening the mahogany door, they were greeted by the orange glow of a single candle. It lit the room to reveal it as an unused office of some sort. After the three fully entered inside, Yuri cautiously closed the door behind her, "Who are you two?" She asked firstly, trying to get her bearings before engaging in such personal questioning.

"I'm Hezekiah Brooks, that's Eden Rose-"

"I know your names, but who are you? Where do you come from?"

The two soldiers looked at each other, not completely sure how to answer. Yuri clarified with a slight stammer, "Are you Ithacan?"

"I suppose you could call us that," Eden told her, "Though it'd be more accurate if I told you that he's from the United States Marine Corps. I'm from the British Special Air Service."

Yuri blinked, even more, confused than when she started, "What he meant to say," Hezekiah interrupted before the conversation became too frustrating, "Is that we aren't from here."

"Here as in… this continent?"

"Here as in, this world."

Her eyebrows drew together as she tried to figure out how, "Look, I know you have a lot of questions about us. And to be honest, I don't have too many answers about our circumstances. But I know, that all three of us specifically, share something… or someone… in common."

"Mirrorface," Eden whispered the name, "I've seen a lot of things in my career as SAS. But I've never felt fear the same as whenever I see that thing."

"You see it in real life? Like walking around?" Hezekiah asked him.

Eden nodded, clearing his throat, "It's like a phantom. It appears out of the corner of my eyes blending in with the background. Sometimes, it's right there in front of everyone! But nobody else seems to know! I first saw it when I was going through training into SAS selection, and I just assumed it was a VIP. But no matter where I went, it followed. Until…"

"It followed you here," Yuri finished his sentence.

"Yeah. What about you two."

"I've only seen it in dreams. Thankfully," Hezekiah said, "I don't know what it is, or what its goals are. It talks like it's an intergalactic bureaucrat of some sort, always telling me about some larger goal. It's kinda like a guardian angel or something, but it never seems to do much except sit back and watch me."

"You seem to have had a more pleasant experience than I had, " Yuri said sheepishly, "I too have only seen it in dreams. Twice now. Both times have been beyond memorable. It just fills my imagination…staring at me with those red dots for eyes…"

"It has eyes?" Hezekiah asked, never noticing that feature of the monster.

"Like a demon. Two red circles, with black dots for pupils. And they peer at you from the darkness of your mind. It's… it's inside of my head!" Yuri held her skull as if she literally meant that the creature was living inside of her brain.

Hezekiah raised a hand to stroke his chin in thought, it seemed that each of them was in contact with the same entity. Or perhaps multiples of the same species of creature. Each experience was vastly different. Eden however stole the idea straight from his mind.

"Yuri has only had two nightmares of the creature. I'm the only one who has seen it in real life. And Hezekiah, you're the only one that it talked to," Eden explained his thinking, "I'm beginning to sense a pattern here."

"So it's playing favorites?" Hezekiah asked.

"No. Well, I don't think so. But it's coming to us differently and doing different things. For me and Yuri, it's simply watching. For you, it's talking directly to you!"

"What did it say to you?" Yuri asked as she turned to Hezekiah expectantly. Eden seemed to look at him the same way.

Hezekiah felt a tinge of nervousness seethe in. He really wasn't the one to know much of anything about the creature, and he wasn't exactly sure what to tell them. He figured he'd tell them everything, but they were running on borrowed time. The Imperials would be back any second to break through Line B and to siege the City Hall. He'd have to tell them quick, "Well, it all started two-- about three-- months ago. I was in Afghanistan."

"What's that?" Yuri asked him.

"It's a country we were fighting in back on our homeworld, Earth. I saw it in a dream while I was on base there, about a week before we went through the portal. It opened this weird inter-dimensional door leading to this forest. When I walked through, I burned everything to a crisp. And then it gave me a seed…"

Yuri raised an eyebrow in intrigue, Eden leaned forward in curiosity. This was definitely new to them. Hezekiah knew that he sounded insane, but at this point, weren't they all a bit crazy?

"It told me that if I planted the seed, I would accept its mission. So… I did. I planted it, and it grew into a new forest," Hezekiah illustrated it almost in his head. He recalled the vivid imagery of plant life blossoming around him, dreaming about it almost nostalgically, "One week later, I wind up here. It's come to me and we've talked a few times, usually before or immediately after a major event. Usually, it just talks to me about its 'employers' or my 'mission'. I don't know what it wants me to do…"

"Wait a minute, rewind for a bit," Eden held out his hand to stop Hezekiah from continuing, "You said that this happened three months ago?"

"Give or take a few weeks, why?"

"That's around the time that I started to see it. I saw it once during training, and again while I was running a mission," Eden thought to himself. He seemed to hunch over as he recalled the details.

"What mission was it?" Hezekiah asked him, curious as to what exactly Eden was referring to. But instead of an answer, he was met with a quick brushing off.

"Can't say. It's classified."

"Does it have something to do with a Baku?" Hezekiah couldn't stop himself from saying that. He didn't know why he had. He should've left the conversation where it was, a classified mystery. Judging by the look of suspicion that Eden's eyes cast, he had far overstepped a boundary.

"What do you know about that?" Eden asked through narrow eyes.

Hezekiah bit his tongue, a nervous sweat trickled down his back, "Erhm, I don't know much of anything. The only reason why I brought it up is-- well Sherman mentioned it. He turned to Newman and said that you guys knew here from this thing called Baku. I'm sorry if I overstepped some boundary, I-- I just thought that-"

"No, no. You're fine," Eden held up a hand, "But you aren't supposed to know about that!"

Some more silence grew between the trio as they thought about their circumstances. Unable to know what to do. They had to reason it out among themselves, "We all are. All three of us!" Yuri was the first to break the ice. Eden and Hezekiah both looked to her with questioning eyes, "We were destined to be here for something! It wanted us to meet! Somethings coming on the horizon, and I think the Mirrorface is gathering what it believes are fighters to do its bidding!"

Of course, it made sense. The Mirrorface needed all three of them for something. They shared a common enemy. The Imperials. But, why would a cosmic entity need to act in such a manner to take down an empire? Albeit, a very large and powerful Empire, it should've been a cakewalk for a cosmic entity. Clearly, destroying the Iscariot Empire wasn't it. The Mirrorface had an ulterior motive to use the three, and potentially others that they haven't met, as pawns to do its work. But against who though? Who could pose such a threat to the Mirrorface?

Hezekiah's mind briefly thought back to every conversation with the elves that he had about the Mirrorface. His brain traced back to a conversation with Temetet and Otaes during the ride through the forest inside of the Buffalo. The two had mentioned something about "Guardians". Protectors of this world. Perhaps… perhaps they were the ones that needed to be stopped?

"We need to talk to Otaes," Hezekiah thought to himself, mentally sighing. He really didn't want to. She was in no state to act as an informant about this sort of stuff. She was grieving. And Hezekiah, Unity as a whole for that matter, just wanted to leave her alone for now. That's what she needed, just some space alone to collect herself.

Eden looked to the door, which was slightly ajar, "We better get back to position. Remember, rule number one of fight club…"

"Don't talk about fight club," Hezekiah replied in understanding. Both he and Eden shared a slight fist bump before they turned to Yuri to check if she understood.

Naturally, she hadn't, "I'm lost," she said.

"It means, 'don't talk to anyone about what happened here'. This stays between us three, for now."

She nodded, "Right… It was a pleasure meeting you two!"

"Likewise," Hezekiah said, "I've got the feeling we'll meet again."

"Oh, we will. I bet your ass," Eden chortled.