Bowling for Bastards

Small rays of the rising morning sun poured through the open windows of Pentecost's office while he and his generals sat watching the aerial recording of the Kamacuras mission. The three men were silent while the video played, enjoying an electronic eye view of the fight from the perspective of Cherno's UAVs. Eventually the video ended with the high-altitude bombing run that burned away the kaiju nest, leaving Pentecost to turn to the other men for their opinions.

"Well," Gordon said with a smile, "that mission worked fairly well didn't it? Bugs are dead, none of ours died. I call that a win."

Tachibana nodded, though his expression was a bit more reserved. "It wasn't perfect. Cherno's arm damage is severe enough that it will take a few days to repair, and Gorosaurus and Gabara's injuries will probably take at least that long to heal. That's three fighters who won't be available for the opening attacks."

Pentecost nodded and said, "That's true, but we planned for the possibility. Their targets were to be some of the more reluctant mutants, the ones that only joined the faction for protection rather than ruthlessness. Even if we don't engage them on the first day, they may be too worried about what we do to the others to consider attacking on their own. Who knows, we might even be able to convince them to defect if we do well enough in the opening engagements."

"Be nice to save some ammunition for the real nasties," Gordon snarkily agreed.

Tachibana accepted his colleagues' words and allowed a smile to appear on his own face. "I guess you're right. At least the mindlink tactic has proven itself. If we had tried to do this without it I'm certain our three fighters would have been killed trying to communicate with each other."

"So what's next Stacker?" Gordon asked eagerly. "The rest of the fighters are still moving to their launching off points. They won't be ready till the end of the week."

Pentecost was not fooled. He knew what Gordon was really asking. "Did you have a particular target in mind Douglas?"

"Target?" Tachibana asked. "What target? I thought all the neutrals were already being confronted by the diplomat telepaths to stay out of the fight or else."

Gordon just smirked. "There is one left over. One that doesn't have a word for diplomacy in her mind."

Pentecost placed a thoughtful hand under his chin, pretending to wonder which kaiju Gordon was talking about. "And who would that be Doug?"

The American general chuckled creepily. "I just figured since we were on the subject of insects we might as well finish off the exterminations with the queen bug herself."

Tachibana stared at the man with an open mouth. "Are you crazy Gordon? You can't be suggesting we go after Megaguirus! The only kaiju that could beat her were Rodan, Mothra, and Godzilla, and they're stuck into another world. Gamera might be able to take her on but he's busy negotiating with Kong, and none of the Jaegers are properly equipped to bring her down."

Megaguirus was well known (and feared) throughout the Global Defense Force as one of the few kaiju out there who had gone claw-to-wing with the King himself and nearly beaten him. Like most flying Kaiju her physical resistance was lesser than the terrestrial monsters but her speed was second only to Rodan and she carried much nastier weapons, not to mention her energy absorption ability. The only reason the monstrous dragonfly had not joined the mutant faction was her extreme selfishness and territorial nature, oddly enough making her an active threat to both sides of the conflict. Pentecost went over all this in his mind as he idly listened to Tachibana explaining to Gordon the sheer folly of such an idea. Gordon did not seem the least bit upset by the other man's ranting, which prompted Pentecost to interrupt his intelligence head and say, "I assume you have some sort of plan in place for this assault."

Gordon's smirk became downright evil as he answered. "Oh, I have an idea or two." He then withdrew a folder from his jacket and handed it to Pentecost, who took it and read through without a word.

A few minutes later Stacker spouted his own smirk and handed the folder back to Gordon. "Approved. Get on it General."

Tachibana just held his head in his hands as Gordon exited the room, moaning to himself, "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

Pentecost simply patted the man on the back and looked back at the door, a strong sense of anticipation filling him. This is going to be interesting.

---

It was a beautiful day in the South Pacific, with nary a cloud in sight. The ever bright light of the Sun pounded down on the ocean below, the glistening surface softly undulating under the gentle sea breeze. A tropical green island was visible in the distance, its barren mountain peaks towering above the earth below like pillars in a great hall. High above the peaceful waters the quiet was disturbed by the roar of jet engines zooming by. In the cockpit of his jet GDF Captain Brain Forrest looked down at the distant ocean and smiled, forgetting his duties for a moment and just admiring the view. He glanced back across his aircraft, taking in the smooth lines and matted gray paint job of his plane, once again marveling at his luck in being able to fly such a magnificent machine.

The product of a ten year, multination design project, the F-22 Raptor was the queen of the skies, the first Terran aircraft that could match and even approached the capabilities of the alien enemy mankind had been repeatedly forced to fight. Combining the pinnacles of human engineering and Mysterian metallurgy allowed for a jet aircraft capable of exceeding Mach 2.8 in level flight and maintaining its turning ability at almost any angle and speed. Such abilities were necessary against the fighters employed by the Alien Coalition, which, being designed for close-quarters combat in the vacuum of space, were more than capable of outmaneuvering the long range missile attacks of previous generations, leaving dogfights as the only reliable way to engage them. Major upgrades made to missile technology after Final Wars held hope of reintroducing beyond visible range combat, but on the off chance it didn't work the Raptor was designed to handle itself on the alien's terms.

Brian's flight, the 108th Global Defense Force Tactical Fighter Squadron, had been one of the first to be equipped with the new plane, and they all loved them as if they were living members of squadron, adding their own personal touches to mark each aircraft as their own. On the tail of Brian's jet was emblazoned a billowing tongue of deep red flame, a fitting emblem for his callsign, Pyre.

Brain's thoughts were derailed suddenly by the familiar 'Be-beep be-beep' of his radio waking up. "Attention all aircraft, I repeat, attention all aircraft. This is AWACS Thunderhead. Operation Flyswatter is about to begin. Is everyone in position?"

Brain's brain shifted into combat mode as he flipped the switch that controlled his helmet radio and answered with, "Roger that Thunderhead. Pyre, Hellhound lead checking in." He cast a glance behind him, noting the five smaller craft flying stock steady in an inverted V on his tail. "My drones are up and ready to go. Hellhound, sound off."

Fifty meters to the left of Pyre's plane his wingman tilted her wings back and forth for a moment and responded next. "Fringe reporting," she said in a stable tone. Fringe was Pyre's long time wingman and professed (on Brian's part) heart of the team, if not the whole squadron. Her emblem was a simple white dove flying through a black and red background, symbolizing her wishes for peace and willingness to fight to make it to happen. "No problems here. My group is ready for combat."

A moment of silence passed as Pyre waited for his number 3 to call out, which proceeded to grow longer and longer as the nearer plane on his right flew on without concern. "Harley?" Thunderhead called out, obviously irritated. "Harley wake up damnit!"

"Oh uh, hey!" a casual male voice said finally. "Sorry bout that. I was letting the computer fly for a while. Must have dozed off for a minute there." He loudly and repeatedly cleared his throat for several seconds before continuing. "Harley here, reporting me and my toys are ready for our suicide mission, sir!"

"Cut the crap, Mr. Port," Thunderhead said with an audible roll of his eyes while Pyre just chuckled to himself. Harley was the squadron's clown pilot, a perennial joker who would never shut up and took almost nothing seriously. If Fringe kept everyone grounded and focused, Harley was the one who kept them all sane. True to his name his emblem was a beautiful black motorcycle with flaming decals and a rose on the seat, symbolic of the romantic that he pretended to be.

"Hellhound 4, are you awake?" Thunderhead called.

"Yessir!" an earnest male voice responded from the last Raptor at the back right of the flight. His tail sported a reaper-like figure gliding over a battlefield, a large blade-edged bow carried in its skeletal hands. "Grimm is all set for the mission. Just waiting on your word sir." Grimm was by far the youngest member of the squadron, just barely of the legal age when he'd signed up to the GDF and sporting a child-like exuberance to match. Said exuberance translated to a level of raw skill that no one had expected from a rookie pilot, leading to him being attached to Pyre's unit in a heartbeat.

"Very well," Thunderhead said, pleased that he got a serious answer from one of his charges. "Confirm Hellhound flight and drones are in position. Talon flight, what is your status?"

The radio crackled for a second before a curt male voice answered, "Mobius here. Maintaining course and altitude. No problems."

Fifty miles ahead of Hellhound flight and skimming barely a hundred feet above the ocean's waving surface flew two dart-shaped jets barreling through the air at just below the speed of sound. Entirely unique from anything else in the human arsenal, the Wyvern was the closest thing humanity had to a trump card over the Coalition's space fighters. If the Raptor was the queen of the skies, then the Wyvern was God's own aircraft, with a capabilities list that read like a fighter pilot's wet dream. Max speed of Mach 3.5 in a climb, maintaining supersonic speed during extended maneuvers by folding in its forward swept wings and dual purpose tail stabilizers, and a weapons load-out large enough to equal two older generation jets. The only problem with them was that they were very expensive and untested, and the two Wyvern's of Talon flight were the only two prototypes currently in existence. Pyre had been surprised to hear they were being used in the operation, and that had been the factor that convinced him that Command was serious this time.

Ever since this Megagurius had first appeared after her mother's disastrous fight with Godzilla she had been a consistent pain in the ass for the GDF in almost every way possible. Repeated attacks on human cities all around the world by her and her child swarms had claimed thousands of lives and untold monetary costs, making the queen bug priority enemy number one on humanity's kill list. The problem was that it quickly proved impossible to kill her, mostly because she never stayed in any one place for very long. Locating her wasn't usually too difficult as her thermal signature was very easy to spot against the cool backdrop of the ocean or most landmasses, but knowing where she was didn't make it any easier to actually catch her.

Through some means not yet understood Megagurius and her children all had the ability to sense high concentrations of energy, which included the radio waves used for radar and laser designators. Because of this the insect queen was able to know immediately when an air raid was approaching her to fire at BVR and make herself scarce before they could get in range. Attempts to go radar-less had also floundered because conventionally loaded bombers were too slow to keep up with the bug while still carrying enough firepower to kill her and nuclear-armed bombers were always detected at range enough for Megaguruis to escape. Sure every nest Meg tried to build was obliterated almost immediately, thus depriving her of more swarms and their ability to gather more energy, but each time the queen would just slink away and build another, creating an endless and frustrating cycle.

Not this time though. This time they weren't trying to catch up to Megaguruis. This time, she was going to fly where they wanted her to go.

Reality returned to fore as Thunderhead responded to the lead Talon's statement. "Roger that Mobius." Thunderhead's voice left the radio for several seconds before he came back saying, "Just got a message from the Hiei. They are in position and waiting for our signal."

"The Hiei?" Harley parroted. "Who's that?"

"That's the name of the Super X-3," Grimm said helpfully.

Pyre huffed and said, "I thought Super X-3 was the name of the Super X-3."

"It is," Grimm replied. "They just added the ship name on for documentation and stuff. Plus it's a weird name when you think about it."

"No it's not! Super X-3 is an awesome name. What the heck did they rename it for?"

A pained female sigh came over the radio. "The name does make sense. Hiei means 'the Cold' in Japanese, and the Super X's primary armament is designed to freeze the target."

"Well that's great Fringe, but I'm not sure if you noticed, but most of us ain't Japanese so we wouldn't know that now would we?"

"Cut the chatter!" Thunderhead nearly roared at Harley before restraining himself. "The name isn't important. The fact is the X-3 is in place and ready to go. Happy?"

"Indeed I am sir," Harley vocally smiled. "Ready to get back to dying for my planet."

Thunderhead just silently projected his hatred towards Hellhound 3 as he continued with the mid-air briefing. "Anyways, now that everyone is in position we will begin the operation. Okay, according to our SR-71 pass the last recorded position for Megagurius was a small valley on the south side of the island. The valley is only 100 meters wide and 500 meters long Talon, so there won't be much time to line up a run. Based on previous mapping your best line of approach would be through a series of canyons running along the spine of the island that open up on where the target is sleeping. The canyons are mostly 50 to 60 meters wide but there are some chokepoints in places."

"How wide are these chokepoints?" Mobius asked.

There was a rustling of papers over the radio before Thunderhead hissed in a hesitant breath and said, "5 meters, maybe a little less."

"5 meters!" Harley exclaimed. "You've got to be kidding! There's no way their planes could fit through there. That's crazy!"

A female voice came on the radio and interrupted Harley's protesting, saying arrogantly, "It won't be a problem. You Hellhounds just be ready to pounce when we say so."

Pyre couldn't help but shudder at the harsh tone of Mobius' wingman, Demon. The two pilots of Talon flight were the absolute best pilots in the world, bar none, but some measure of social ability was lost in compensation for their skill. Mobius was a loner through and through, preferring his own company both on the ground and in the sky. He wasn't rude or obnoxious, just very uninterested in interacting with other people, and every attempt to socialize with him was brushed off in favor of flying practice or writing letters to his family.

Demon was very much his opposite in that regard, constantly ambushing people all around the base to brag about her abilities or just show off her perfection in everything she did. The most annoying part of it though was that she really was that good, meaning that every attempt to take her ego down a peg failed and just made her that much more arrogant. About the only person she acted even halfway decent to was Mobius, the only pilot to exceed her skill, and even then it was the sort of false politeness that clearly declared her wish to best him in the future. He often returned the favor by allowing himself to be drawn into constant arguments with her, funnily enough making her the person he spoke with the most on base. Their rivalry was legendary amongst the GDF and rather unnerving for their poor squadron mates, who kept getting caught in the middle of it.

"If she says they can handle it they'll handle it," Pyre said to Harley. "We just have to worry about our part of the mission."

"And how hard could that be?" Grimm said cheerfully. "It's just a bombing run."

"Actually I'm more concerned about what comes after that." Harley said.

Thunderhead came back on the line then with an exasperated, "Would you please cut the chatter. Talon flight, you are cleared to begin your approach to the target. Keep your radars turned off until you're in position then get the hell out of there."

"Roger that AWACS," Mobius said as he pulled his aircraft upward and increased throttle, smoothly passing through the sound barrier with nary a hint of turbulence. "I'll lead and spot your attack run Demon. Just stay on my tail and you'll be fine." There was a brief pause before he spoke again, a hint of competitive amusement coloring his voice. "If you think you can handle it that is."

In her cockpit Demon blew a lock of night-black hair out her eyes and responded with an evil grin, "What's the matter boss? Worried I'll pass you by?"

No response was incoming before both shut down their radios and leaped forward towards the awaiting island faster than sound could match. Pyre could just barely catch a glimpse of the wakes created by their twin sonic booms far below before they passed out of sight.

"Geez, those two need to quit wasting time and just get a room already," Harley said.

Pyre was about to disabuse him of that notion when Fringe said, "Agreed. It would be nice for them to stop yelling every moment they're on the ground."

"Wait, wait, wait," Pyre said incredulously. "You really think those two have a thing for each other?"

"Demon does for him at least," Fringe answered. "I'm less sure about Mobius, but the fact that he even speaks to her suggests he at least finds her interesting."

Grimm hopped in with his own opinion next, arguing, "But they're always arguing about everything. They don't even seem to like each other."

"People don't always have to like each other to like each other kido," Harley said wisely. "Some of the best relationships I've ever had have been with chicks I couldn't stand at first. Like that one girl who once kicked me in the—

"For the last damn time Harley, CUT THE CHATTER! Save your damn high school drama for the base."

Pyre smiled wryly and responded, "Roger, sorry about that Thunderhead. Won't happen again right folks?" A chorus of affirmatives came from the others, Harley doing his best to sound sincere and failing miserably.

"Yeah that'll be the day," Thunderhead muttered to himself before speaking up in a more official tone. "Hellhound flight, begin your approach for the bomb run. Drop down to 5000 feet and come to new course of 280 for twenty miles so you can clear the canyon walls. There's a break in mountains your weapons can pass through. Once you're there turn back to the target and accelerate to Mach 1.5. That'll give the bombs enough speed to reach the target on time for Talon's run. After that move to your encirclement positions and ready your drones for the second phase."

Pyre nodded to himself and confirmed, "Roger, Hellhound flight moving to course 280." He then smoothly banked his aircraft to the right, the others following the maneuver easily till they were at the right heading.

"Man he is such a hardass sometimes," Harley said over the inter-plane comms.

"Only because you piss him off Harley," Pyre responded snarkily. "Maybe if you weren't such a loud-mouth he wouldn't pick on you so much."

"Nah it's not that. He just can't handle my special charm."

"If that's you want to call it," Fringe said, causing Harley to laugh good-naturedly.

Meanwhile Talon flight was approaching the northern end of the island, flying low and fast to cover the sounds of their jets with the island from their kaiju target. Once they were within a mile of the beach they pulled back out of Mach, slowing down to less than two hundred miles per hour. Despite the downgrade in speed the path Talon flight would have to fly would be anything but easy. Flying an aircraft with an 18-meter wingspan through an airspace that was 100 meters wide would be considered madness by most pilots, let alone the 50-meter width of the canyons Talon was set to traverse. Mobius and Demon weren't most pilots though.

Entering the first canyon in sequence the two planes flew along the series of valleys, flitting back and forth through the twists and turns of the island's spine. Mobius lead the way, ducking around corners with casual ease and blowing past rock faces as if they were open sky. Demon followed several hundred feet back, adding in stylish looking rolls and drifting her plane through turns as if she was trying to dogfight the canyon itself. After several minutes the passes opened up somewhat to a large valley holding what appeared to be the ancient remains of a long demolished stone temple. There wasn't much time to sight-see though as the end of the valley was fast approaching, and the gap there was much too thin for a Wyvern to fit through normally.

"First chokepoint is ahead," Mobius said over his personal comms. "Do exactly what I do." The 5 meter wide opening looked much smaller up close than it had sounded when Thunderhead reported it earlier. Mobius reassured himself that the math was in his favor and shrugged his fears off to the back of his mind. He lined his aircraft up with the gap, flipping a switch on his console to manually shift his wings to their interior positions and lower his vertical stabilizers. Normally done at high speed to reduce the plane's aerodynamic profile for higher speed the setting would now be used to make fitting his 3.42-meter tall plane through the 5-meter gap a (slightly) less impossible task. Murmuring a silent prayer of luck to himself Mobius made a final few preparatory maneuvers then rolled his plane 90 degrees to the left and began to pass through the gap. Unable to resist the urge to look up he was able to see every little nook and cranny in the rock face just a bare few feet away from his cockpit. Then, just as soon as it had started he was through and clear to the other side.

Demon chuckled to herself as she watched her flight lead pass through the slit as smooth as can be, then laughed again at her accidental innuendo. Now it's my turn. Pushing up her throttle Demon raced towards the gap much faster than Mobius had done. At the very last second she snap rolled into the vertical, flying through in just over a second, then continued the roll back into the horizontal as if it had been one smooth maneuver. Taking a moment to ensure she was on a safe path through the new valley they had entered Demon keyed her mike and laughed aloud, saying, "You see that Mob?" She paused as they rounded another corner, sweeping over the treetop canopy and burning away the highest level of the leaves. "Guess we know who the braver pilot is now, huh?"

Mobius growled while throwing his plane under a rocky overhang, leveling off just before hitting the canyon wall. "Foolish more like! This area is dangerous enough to fly in without adding on flashy movements. It's unnecessary…" He pulled up and over a hill projecting the trees higher than the norm. "… and incredibly stupid."

Demon followed a few seconds later, rolling her aircraft over the same hill and practically skimming the treetops with her tail fins. "You're just jealous that I thought of it before you did," she said with all the grace of a kindergarten braggart.

Forcing himself not to respond Mobius put his full focus back into navigating the canyon ahead. A quick glance at his HUD map showed that they were nearing the release point for Hellhound. He cued up his long-range radio and flew as high in the canyon as he dared to ensure line of sight with the AWACS. "Thunderhead this is Mobius. We are nearing payload release point. Is Hellhound flight in position?"

There was a brief pause as the controller switched to the other channel to confirm. "Roger that Mobius. Hellhound confirms they are in position. Just waiting for your word."

Mobius looked back at his map and saw that the point was at just ahead. "Pyre, can you hear me?"

The squadron lead's voice answered immediately. "Loud and clear Mobius. Waiting for your word."

"On my mark then," Mobius said as he leveled off in the wider expanse of the current valley. "3. 2. 1. Mark!"

"Release!"

80 miles away from the valley where Megaguirus slept four F-22 Raptors simultaneously released their payload of eight 1000 pound 'smart' bombs. Small stabilizing fins attached to the back of each bomb made tiny adjustments to their flight path to ensure they landed precisely at the point prescribed by their pre-loaded GPS computers. Launched at one and a half times the speed of sound the bombs' travel time was around 4 minutes, which, if the computers back at base were right, should be almost exactly the time Talon flight made their run on Megaguirus. As he did the mental calculations in his head, however, Mobius realized that he and Demon had been going too slowly to match the bombs' ETA. Someone must have input the speed calculations at normal cruise speed in level flight, not considering the obstacles slowing them down. "Shit," he muttered to himself before switching back to personal comms. "Demon. Got some bad news. We're not going fast enough to reach the target on time. We're going to have to speed up."

There was no answer for a moment while Demon let Mobius absorb the irony of his statement after his admonishment of her earlier. "Sound just fine to me boss. You sure you can handle it?" she asked with supreme relish.

Mobius narrowed his eyes in muted anger and responded, "Just stay on my ass." As soon as the words left his mouth he shoved his throttle forward to 75 percent power and rocketed off to the end of the valley, a cone of displaced air following in his wake.

A successful smile lit up Demon's face while she moved to match her flight lead. "That's it chief. Show me what you're really made off."

The next three minutes were passed in a high-speed blur, both Mobius and Demon pushing themselves and their aircraft as far as they could go. Valleys and canyons flashed by as the two Wyverns practically bounced from turn to turn. Mobius gritted his teeth as he passed through another 5 meter gap at several times his previous speed, certain that he had scraped some paint off his tail from the sheer turbulence of his passage. Demon meanwhile was whooping and hollering as if she was on a rollercoaster ride, giving no indication of fear at the prospect of a very sudden death from the slightest mistake.

The minutes passed tensely, every second carrying with I the promise of instant doom, but somehow the two pilots managed to survive their mad rush through the forested island. Mobius sighed a breath of sweet relief as they entered the final valley before their target's location. "Bombs arriving in thirty seconds," Mobius announced. "Line up for the drop."

"Roger," Demon said in a serious voice. Playtime was over. Now was the time to be serious. Flicking her eyes down into her cockpit for a moment Demon flipped her master arm switch and opened her main ammunition bay, revealing a pair of bombs with an unusual coat of paint. Both planes slowed down to just above stalling speed as they passed through the final opening into Megaguirus' valley.

The kaiju's black exoskeleton was easily visible at the end of the valley, an artificial clearing surrounding her obvious landing spot where trees had been blown down. Mobius quickly aimed his nose directly at the creature's back and used a targeting laser to mark a broad flat plate of shell between Meg's wing roots. "Target marked," Mobius announced. "Release!" Demon instinctually pressed the launch button then slammed on the throttle and pulled up steeply, following her flight lead into a rush climb for the open sky.

Below the two jets Megaguirus began to stir in her sleep. The point of the laser marking her back felt like the bite of a mosquito, the irritation forcing her eyes open. She had little time to think about it though, as at that instant 10 bombs impacted her all at once. The 1000-pound bombs of Hellhound flight exploded all across Megaguirus' side, sending supersonic shards of steel flying through the air to clatter against the kaiju's body. The explosives were barely enough to dent Megaguirus' armor, and while some of the shards embedded themselves in her wings they were too small to do more than prick at her. The insectoid kaiju roared in pain and rage, immediately taking flight and soaring upward. What she was unaware of was that two of the bombs had not exploded, instead using their momentum and weight to puncture her back plates and embed themselves within her skin.

Hundreds of miles away on a computer screen a radio signal was picked up by AWACS Thunderhead's antenna, letting the aircraft controller know that Talon flight's strike had been successful. "Well done Talon, the trackers have been planted. She has nowhere to run now. Hellhound flight, you're up."

"Roger that Thunderhead," Pyre acknowledged. "Alright guys, you ready?"

"Ready to die?" Harley asked. "Not really."

"We'll be fine Harley," Fringe said reassuringly. "Just keep your hand on the throttle and there won't be a problem."

"That what they always say," Harley muttered as he banked off to his assigned direction and hit the super cruise.

---

Megaguirus shuddered as she felt stinging waves of pain flow through her with every beat of her wings, a blinding cloud of outrage filling her thoughts. How had this happened? How could she have been struck like this without any warning? She should have been able to sense an attack coming and avoid it. The queen's anger was interrupted as she felt a cascade of familiar energy bouncing off her from the north. Where normally she would treat the sensing energy with distain and simply fly away with a gleeful cackle, now a stab of fear took its place. If she could be struck so suddenly without any warning then who knew what else the mammalian pests had planned.

Panic began to ensnare Megaguirus as she turned and bolted in the opposite direction. Her wings became a blur as she pushed herself to her limit, creating an explosion of air as she broke the sound barrier. Yet despite her speed the energy was keeping up with her, staying agonizingly close with each passing minute. Suddenly a second stream of energy appeared from the west, forcing Megaguirus to shift course and drop her speed. Two more emitters appeared to the east sometime later, making Megaguirus feel more and more like piece of prey caught in an encroaching net. No matter had hard she flew the fleshies' machines kept getting closer and closer due to her having to constantly change course. Outrunning her enemies was becoming an obvious impossibility.

On the edge of her sight was another island, which her previous visits had shown contained numerous caves in which she could shelter and attempt to lose her pursuers. In order to do that though she would need to conceal where on the island she would hide to keep the fleshies' from dropping her cave down on her. And that meant blocking the detector energy behind something.

Focused now on her new plan Megaguirus dove down toward the island, angling in towards the nearest set of mountains while using gravity to accelerate her as much as she dared. Just before she could reach the cover of the rocky outcrops another energy source bloomed directly in front of her, prompting the giant dragonfly to screech in terrified rage and turn away, circling around the edge of the now useless island. With the detectors that close she could never properly hide here. As her anger cleared and she furiously flew the perimeter of the island to come up with a new plan she noticed that she had not been attacked yet. Suddenly curious the insect queen looked up at where she sensed the energy coming from and saw none of the large metal birds she'd seen demolishing her nests so many times in the past.

2000 feet above her Pyre looked down on the bug from where he and his drones circled, noticing that the creature had stopped attempting to flee. "Uh oh," he said to himself as he keyed his mike. "Uh guys, I think she's figured it out."

"Well of course she did!" Harley exclaimed from off to the east. "It wouldn't be one of our missions unless something went wrong."

"Cut the chatter," Thunderhead ordered sternly. "Just get out of there, Pyre. Try to lead her to the south if you can, but focus on staying out of her reach."

"Roger that," Pyre answered. He then hauled his aircraft around and began accelerating into super cruise. Megaguirus caught sight of the Raptor's flaming exhaust and screeched in anger, immediately climbing after him, intent on destroying the pests who had dared to strike at her. Pyre noticed Meg flying toward him and poured on the afterburner, his break through the sound barrier happening just above the tips of the nearby mountains. "She's on me guys," Pyre announced. "I could use a little help here." Behind him Megaguirus crested the coastal mountain range and launched herself after him, eager to kill the metal bird she believed had injured her pride.

Pyre realized that he wouldn't be able to escape Megaguirus for long at this close proximity, so he quickly turned to his drone controls and switched them to attack mode. The group of bell shaped aircraft turned as one to face the onrushing insect, the lead craft opening its weapon bay and launching off the first strike. The missile streaked off for several hundred feet before it exploded just a few feet in front Megaguirus' face. The insect screeched, more out of surprise than pain, but did come to a halt as she tried to see what had attacked her. The drones zoomed past Meg on all sides before immediately flipping around and diving back into the fight.

Megaguirus hovered in place, trying to keep track of the drones and smack them away with her claws and wings, but the metal gnats were too quick and numerous for her to follow. As soon as she would get her eyes on one another would lace her side with cannon fire, then her wing would receive a missile to the membrane. None of the attacks were really hurting her, but darned if they weren't pissing her off. Roaring at the top of her lungs Megaguirus started swiping blindly around herself, managing to clip a couple of the drones and smashing them to bits.

"Those drones aren't going to last long guys," Pyre said as he circled several miles off from the kaiju. "We need to keep her distracted for the Super X."

"Roger that sir," Fringe answered, setting herself in off her partner's wing along with the others. "Our drones are moving in now."

Sure enough, the fifteen other pilotless jets roared in on Megaguirus from all sides, bombarding her with missile and cannon fire. Soon the insect queen was shrouded from view by an ever-shifting cloud of gray, as if she was a horse being hounded by flies. Harley was quick to point out the irony.

"How's it feel being the prey this time, huh bitch?"

"You know this isn't actually hurting her right?" Grimm asked.

Harley chucked and said, "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it."

"Stay focused," Mobius ordered as he flew into formation with Hellhound, Demon at his back. "We have to be ready to jump in if the drones can't keep her occupied. Speaking of which, Thunderhead? What's Super X's status?"

The airborne controller was silent for a moment as he waited for news from a technician. "Just got a message from them. They are on their way. E.T.A. is six minutes. Keep the target busy until they get here."

"Understood sir," Pyre said. "Alright everyone, time to play the bait for the trap."

"And I just love being the bait Cap," Harley added.

---

On the island below the struggling fliers a large black mass started to rumble as its internal nuclear engines roared to life. Giant tilt-fans embedded at the base of the wings flamed on, the already charred dirt beneath the craft rising again to searing temperatures. Slowly but surely the Super X-3 lifted into the air and edged forward out of the valley it was hidden in.

At the front of the craft underneath a four-foot thick layer of battleship grade armor the Super X's bridge was quietly humming with activity. The crew was spread out in a semi-circle of large consoles, the whole compartment tinted in red by the radiation-resistant cockpit glass.

Commander Kuroki shifted his view around the compartment, sprouting a slight smile at seeing his crew working diligently at their tasks. It had been many years since the Super X-3 had been deployed but that wouldn't hold them back from doing their duty.

"Looks like that new radiation shielding is working well," Kuroki's copilot, Barm, said with a triumphant smile. "Megaguirus doesn't seem to know we're here."

"Let's hope it stays that way. Green light status confirmed," he said as the Super X lifted up above the mountains encircling it. "All stations are set and ready for combat. Thunderhead, are you receiving us?"

"Loud and clear Hiei," the air controller answered. "Hellhound and Talon flight are currently engaged with Megaguirus at your 8 o'clock. I'm patching you into their comm line now."

A moment of static streamed through the radio before the connection was established and a loud bunch of screeches roared through the speakers in-between panicked callouts from the pilots.

"Drop, Grimm, drop!"

"Aaaaah!"

"Mobius, cover him!"

"On it! Have the drones attack from above to distract her."

Kuroki hardened his face as he pushed the Super X forward and banked towards the fight. "Attention Hellhound and Talon flights, this is the Super X-3, approaching you from the North-East. As soon as we are within range we will be launching our missiles at Megaguirus. Please be ready to break off and evade at our signal."

"Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast," Pyre said with a grunt. "We're almost out of drones here and I'm not sure how much longer we can avoid getting hit at this rate."

"You won't have to wait long," Elise, the weapons tech, said. "We just picked up the target on our scope. Locking missiles on now."

Along the top of the Super X a pair of square-shaped pods emerged, each carrying a grid of oversized cadmium missiles. Similar weapon bays opened up on the underside of each wing, lines of heavy cannons and freezer missiles awaiting their chance to do damage. "All weapons systems ready to fire sir," Elise announced.

"Launch the first volley," Kuroki ordered. "Pilots, you have twenty seconds to get out of range. Evade now!"

"Oh gee, thanks for the heads up there, dude."

"Less snark, more dodge!"

The Super X-3 shuddered in flight as a barrage of projectiles erupted from all along its length, the clouds of exhaust temporarily obscuring the craft from sight. The stream of missiles flew through the sky at high speed towards the fur ball centered on the insect queen. Megaguirus by this point was enraged beyond any remaining hint of sanity, blindly striking wherever she sensed the blaze of jet engines or the roar of cannon fire. So deep was her anger that she did not notice the malevolent flies peeling off for several seconds, and by the time she did it was too late.

The missiles' aim was true, explosions of frost cascading across Megaguirus' body and wings while cadmium shards lanced into the exposed skin on the wings and poisoned the insect's veins. The normally nigh-unbreakable chitin armor Megaguirus wore began to fracture and crack as she struggled to stay in the air, her mind becoming blurred under the combination of sudden pain and poisoning.

"First volley appears greatly effective," Mobius reported as he circled a mile off from the kaiju.

"Greatly effective?" Grimm asked. "She's barely hanging in the air already. Just hit her with the freeze laser and she'll go down for sure."

Barm laughed. "Well, you guys heard the kid. Time to whip out the big gun."

At the very front of the Super X a pair of clamshell shield covers flipped open, revealing a beautifully polished mirror within. Deep within the gargantuan aircraft the fusion reactors were pushed even higher as the X's primary weapon gathered energy into itself. Bright blue light shone on the edges of the mirror, the air around the projector becoming shrouded in sudden fog as the temperature dropped precipitously. Within the cockpit Captain Kuroki lined up the Super X onto Megaguirus, ready to bring an end to the queen's reign.

Unknown to the crew of the Super X, however, Megaguirus was far from beaten. Within the haze of the kaiju's mind a single point emerged, a focus that brought her conscious thought out of the pain and torment. Her head turned to the north, catching sight of an electric blue spot surrounded by a black smudge. Megaguirus stared at the distant mark with unending hatred, her emotions crystalizing into a single thought.

Kill.

Reaching deep within herself Megaguirus tapped into her hidden reserves of energy stolen from countless sources and unlocked the barriers hiding it away. In an instant her body was overloaded with power, the sudden increase in temperature flash boiling the ice covering her exoskeleton. Tears in her wings began to mend over in seconds, the scared flesh under her exposed armor repairing itself just as quickly. Her eyes clouded over with red and an aura of energy formed around her body.

Die.

Like a bolt of lightning launching from a cloud Megaguirus zoomed forward towards the Super X, a trail of fiery orange following after her.

"Oh shit!" Demon cried as she rolled hard to get out of the range of Meg's sonic booms. "The bitch has gone super! Watch out X!"

While the fighters all poured on their speed to evade the suddenly glowing kaiju the Super X continued flying on straight toward the queen. "Launch another volley of missiles," Kuroki ordered calmly. "We're not going down that easily."

Again obscuring smoke formed around the body of the Super X, dozens of missiles flying out of their holds. The projectiles rapidly closed on their target. But when the missiles came within reach and detonated their subzero payloads were melted meters away from the kaiju's skin. Megaguirus cackled at her foe's failure and raced onward, reaching out with her claws and slashing deeply within the Super X's armor as she flew past. Reinforced, sharpened chitin dug a long trench through the airship's armor with a metallic screech.

The massive craft bucked at the strike, the bridge crew being thrown about in their seats like a roller coaster. Commander Kuroki shook his head to clear the blurriness out of his eyes; thankful he had remembered to wear his helmet on this mission. "August, what's the damage?" he shouted as he got back on the controls, banking the craft around to try and get vision of the target.

"We're wounded!" The flight engineer cried. "We've got a serious hull breech on the starboard side. Armor was cut clean through."

"Was the reactor damaged?"

"No sir, thank god, but we've lost secondary power for the starboard wing. Weapons and flaps are completely nonfunctional, and the anti-grav's showing signs of weakening."

"This is getting bad sir," Barm said as he searched his radarscope for the target. "She's coming back around for another go."

"Ready the port side cannons," Kuroki responded as he caught sight of Megaguirus again. "Reroute power from the starboard wing to the port, give those guns some more juice to punch through that aura."

The Super X-3, battered and bleeding smoke from its side, turned to face the insect queen again, the missile pods retracting into their bays to be replaced by a battery of embedded 5-inch rail guns. Megaguirus gave a roar of challenge and barreled in toward them, her claws snapping threateningly as she flew.

"Fire now!" Kuroki shouted the instant they aligned with Megaguirus.

"Firing!"

The guns boomed as they spat out their rounds, multiple flashes exploding from their barrels in rapid succession. The slugs traveled even faster than the missiles had, their momentum pushing them through the aura as they melted and striking Megaguirus as streams of super-heated metal. Even with boost her power had given the queen's armor faltered under the assault, the molten shards piercing into the flat parts of her shell and searing the flesh beneath. Megaguirus roared in agony but refused to turn away, accelerating at the Super X with murder reflected in her eyes.

Kuroki watched Megaguirus continue approaching under the barrage, Elise keeping the guns firing until their magazines were spent and they were forced to reload. "On my mark Aug, I want you to lighten the port wing by half and double the starboard wing at the same time."

August lifted an eyebrow but gave his affirmative, knowing now wasn't the time to be asking questions. Kuroki watched the queen come closer and closer, counting down the seconds in his head. "3. 2. 1. Now!"

Just as Megaguirus moved to swipe at the Super X again the gigantic craft violently rolled 90 degrees to the right and banked hard, zooming past on the kaiju's left just off the tip of her wing. As soon as they were past the queen Kuroki leveled the Super X out and pushed his engines to their limit, steadily opening the range between them and Megaguirus.

"Is she still not down yet?" Harley complained as he orbited several miles off from the fighting. "How much pain do we have to smack her with for her to give up?"

Thunderhead ignored Hellhound 3's complaining and asked, "Mjolnir, any chance you can get a shot in on the target to help out?"

There was an audible sigh over the radio. "Negative. There's too much maneuvering going on for us to line up a clean shot. We're trying to get closer but it'll take time to lessen the distance enough for a shot to land quickly."

"Well what about us?" Grimm asked. "Can't we help?"

"Negative Grimm," Thunderhead said. "Megaguirus is too strong for you to deal with right now. Don't attract attention to yourselves."

While the others were arguing the Super X was pulling further away from Megaguirus, the insect queen continuing the chase but beginning to feel the weight of her injuries. Commander Kuroki grimaced as his craft shuddered during its flight, fighting to keep them from listing to the right. "What's going on back there August?"

"The airframe is taking too much stress sir. The hull is beginning to crack around the damaged area, and the starboard wing has stopped responding to input. We won't be able to evade Meg for much longer like this."

"What should we do sir?" Elise asked.

Kuroki was for several moments, his mind calculating a dozen paths to find a solution. "We need to end this fight now, before the damage can extend any further. Prep a charge on the laser."

"What good is that going to do?" Barm questioned reasonably. "The mirror's at the front of the ship, and there's no way we can turn around in time to get her with Meg following us like this."

Kuroki smiled. "So we don't turn. We rotate."

The crew fell silent at the pronouncement. August was the first to speak up. "Sir, are you certain that is the best way to do this? A maneuver like that would cripple the ship."

"We're already crippled as it is," Barm said. "There's no way we can make it back to base like this. If we're going down, might as well bring the bitch down with us."

Kuroki looked to Elise and asked the all-encompassing question. "Can you guarantee a hit if I get us on target?"

Elise stared back at the Commander, her face a stony mask of determination. "If you can hit her sir, I'll make sure she feels it."

"Hell, they can always build another one of these things."

"Assuming we survive," August interjected. "The cockpit eject has never been tested before. We have no idea if it'll work or not."

Kuroki sighed, turn his attention back to the controls as he set up the eject sequence. "Nothing risked, nothing gained. Let's get this done."

"Beginning charging sequence," Elise reported.

Barm keyed up the external radio and said, "Thunderhead, this is Lieutenant Barm. Requesting a search and rescue team be readied at base to pick us up."

"What? Why?"

"Super X isn't making it back to base in this state," Barm explained. "Too much damage to the flight mechanics. But if we're doomed to go down, we're going to bring Megaguirus down with us."

Thunderhead was quiet for a few seconds as he processed the statement before saying, "Understood. SAR teams will be on stand-by. I'm not sure what you have planned, but good luck Super X."

"Thank you Thunderhead. Tell them we'll all buy them a round when we get back."

Commander Kuroki nodded at Barm and turned back to his panel, turning off unnecessary systems to speed the rate of charge on the mirror. The tension steadily rose as the seconds ticked by, the crew of the Super X stoically set about their tasks. Elise ran through the charging sequence as quickly as she dared, careful to not overload the capacitors with too much power too quickly. August set about programing the anti-grav generators for the sequence of maneuvers ahead, running quick calculations to determine just how far he could push the system without tearing the Super X apart.

Finally there was a confirming beep signaling the completed charge on the mirror. Kuroki looked over his shoulder and stared each of his crew in the eyes, seeing their acceptance of the plan. "This is it people. Time for the queen's reign to come to an end. Activate the anti-gravs!"

Barely half a mile behind the Super X Megaguirus surged ever onward, the whole of her being intent on demolishing the flying metal beast ahead of her. Her wings no longer flapped but were a solid wave of thrust pumping on either side of her torso, propelling her forward towards her target. So focused was her acceleration that when the human vehicle suddenly stopped flying directly away she could not react beyond a bewildered look.

Without any visual warning the Super X-3 turned off its main engine thrust and rotated in place, its momentum keeping it moving forward despite the aerodynamic shift. At the same time the craft's nuclear engines zoomed into overdrive and overcharged the anti-gravity units, reducing the Super X's weight to near nothing for a few instants. Even with the reduction in mass the force of the turn cracked the wings and tore off most of the tail, but the crew was uncaring of that. Using the last of their spare power Kuroki aimed the front of the Super X at their pursuer, Elise keeping her finger on the trigger until the last possible moment. Megaguirus was entirely unprepared for the maneuver the humans had just pulled and ended up accelerating straight forward into the face of the surging blue mirror.

Elise said nothing as she thumbed the fire button, a brilliant cerulean laser beaming out of the Super X's nose and connecting at the base of Megaguirus' right wing. The air between behemoth and beast snap froze into void-temperature ice, the insect queen's blazing red aura fading immediately as its energy was sapped. Megaguirus' armored exoskeleton became as brittle as glass while the skin underneath turned black and dead in milliseconds. The wing itself shattered into a billion pieces on its next down flap, tiny sparkles of frozen flesh clouding the sky before disintegrating from the friction of their forward movement.

The moment Elise fired the laser August and Barm finished the last step of the ejection sequence by pulling down on a pair of heavy handles on the ceiling above them. Heavy gears and levers situated around the cockpit roared as they ripped the armored room out of its place and launched its upwards under the power of three massive rockets. For an instant the crew breathed a sigh of relief, but it proved to be short lived when they looked out the front window.

Megaguirus' tail stretched upward to strike the ejected cockpit, its giant stinger reaching out to pierce them in one last bid at revenge. Reacting purely on instinct Kuroki hauled the flight stick to the left, using the last of the maneuvering fuel in the rockets to angle the cockpit and change the direction of their flight. The stinger missed the crews' room by the barest of margins, the blunt edge of the tail knocking into the side of the cockpit and sending it tumbling away in a flat spin.

Dimly aware that her attempt at killing her attackers had failed, Megaguirus helplessly rammed full force into the remains to the Super X, 12000 tons of kaiju impacting with 6000 tons of military super-weapon. The queen's crippled frontal armor buckled under the strength of the hit, large parts of her right side being ripped from her body, destroying organs and muscle tissue as they went. By the same token the heavy metal plate of the Super X was shredded like so much tissue paper, unlaunched missiles and cannon rounds exploding as their detonators were demolished. Eventually the nuclear reactor buried down in the center of the Super X's frame was exposed, the ultra-hardened pressure hull managing to survive the onslaught for but a few bare seconds before rupturing.

The internal fusion reactions were suddenly exposed to open air, the near pure energy exploding outward and vaporizing everything nearby it. The detonation could be seen for miles around, a giant fireball flashing into existence where the Super X had once been.

"Holy shit!"

"Fucking hell, did you see that?"

"What just happened? Are they okay?"

"I can't see anything. There's too much debris."

"Super X, this is Thunderhead, do you read over?" Silence. "I repeat, Thunderhead to Super X crew, do you read me?" When he again didn't get an answer he said, "Hellhound, Talon, get in there and find the escape capsule."

"Understood sir," Pyre responded. "We'll check the radar screens and… wait… What's that?"

From out of the cloud of dark black smoke a shadow fell, streams of fire and flesh trailing away behind it. The broken and burned body of Megaguirus limply dropped down onto the island below, gouging a deep furrow through the lowland forest before coming to a shuddering halt just short of the ocean waves. A torrent of pain roared through what remained of the queen's mind, her eyes weakly opening in time to see one of her miniscule attackers soaring past.

How. How had this happened? This wasn't how fate was supposed to fall. Megaguirus was a queen, the pinnacle of her species, greater than any real insect this pathetic world could offer. She had fought the oversized creatures this strange land played host to, had evaded the constant hounding of the tiny fleshies for her destruction of their stone nests. None could match her. Indeed, none could even touch her.

So how had she been struck down like this? She should have seen an attack coming and been able to avoid it, should have destroyed those intrusive pests with relative ease, should have annihilated the metal thing with a single swipe! Where had it all gone wrong!

With a deep-seated growl Megaguirus struggled to lift herself from the sand, but the missing shades of her wings taunted her with weakness, forcing her to plop back down in exhausted agony. Deep within herself she knew this was the end. There was no recovering from this, no repairing the damage she had been dealt. A strained sigh escaped the queen's mouth, her eyes falling shut as she thought of her one comfort sheltered far away from this last resting place. She lay there on the beach quietly, listening to the slowly crashing waves as she waited to expire.

She did not see her end coming.

From beyond the visible horizon a neon blue bolt lanced through the sky towards the grounded kaiju. The tiny slug of hypersonic metal landed with the force of a nuclear explosion against the queen's face, its kinetic energy transferring into her body in the barest instant. What little remained of Megaguirus' faceplate was vaporized on contact, her softer flesh beneath boiling away as it was eviscerated. The round dug ever deeper into the kaiju's abdomen, its reduced energy merely splitting the body in half and melting everything in its path into a pile of goo. Less than half a second after the shell first struck its eroded remains finished its journey through its target, exploding out from the base of the dragonfly's tail and embedding itself in the beach in a towering shower of sand.

Crashing echoes of momentous sound cascaded off the surrounding mountains for minutes afterward, the fragile peace of the remote island shattered as easily as the life that had just been ended. Far above the disturbed rocks a group of metal birds circled, watching dispassionately as the last of the chaos settled back into relative quiet.

"Hit on target observed," Mobius reported tonelessly. "Target is confirmed eliminated."

The trembling voice of Grimm appeared on the radio asking, "I… is there any sign of the escape capsule?"

"Negative," Pyre answered. "Radar's shot to hell from the explosion. We'd have to do a visual search to find them and we're almost out of fuel."

"You don't think they've…" Edge trailed off as she refused to accept the possibility.

"They've what? Died? I sure as hell feel dead right now."

Everyone jumped in their seats at the sudden words.

"Lieutenant Barm!" Thunderhead shouted. "Is that you?"

"In the flesh." A series of coughs sounded. "What's left of it that is. Mind calling those SAR guys now? Kuroki here looks like he could use a stiff drink, and don't even get me started on Elise." A muted shout sounded over the channel along with a grunt of pain. "Jeez, I was just kidding. Girls can never take a joke can they?"

"No they can't man," Harley said to his brother with a chuckle. "Just hang in tight Barm. We'll make sure you can tell your tale at the bar tonight."

Barm laughed and glanced around the cockpit at the others, seeing the multitude of bleeding foreheads and dark bruises they all sported. "Best take that order to go, bro. I don't think we're going to be getting out of the hospital anytime soon."

"Cut the chatter Lieutenant," Thunderhead ordered gently. "Save the laughter for the surgery team."

A good-natured groan came from the other end, prompting the other pilots to laugh as they turned off to the north and flew for home, leaving calm contrails arching through the cloudless Pacific day.

---

"Are you certain you want to do this?"

Taiyou opened her eyes at the question, taking a moment to adjust to the dim light of the cargo bay. She felt a jolt in her seat as the aircraft bounced off some invisible buffet of air, giving her a brief moment to think about what she'd been asked. "If I weren't I would not be on this bumpy mess of a plane," she answered with as much irritation as she could muster.

Miki looked at the other telepath uncertainly, biting her lip as she tried to come up with a better way to voice her concern. "It's just… I know this has to be difficult for you."

"What is?" Taiyou questioned sternly, silently willing the smaller woman to just drop the topic she knew was approaching.

"Going back to them," Miki answered. She paused, looking around the bay to see if anyone else was listening to them. When she was assured they were being ignored she continued. "You could just stay on the plane you know. I'm sure Gondo's team will be able to handle everything on their own. They're good soldiers."

"I know. They are the ones who beat me after all."

Miki winced at the bitterness she could hear in Taiyou's voice.

Taiyou noticed Miki's expression and said in a flat tone, "I'm not going to seek vengeance against them if that's what you're worried about."

Miki huffed in amusement and said, "I'm not worried about that. Gondo would be more than happy to oblige you if you tried." Her smile faded as she looked back at the other telepath. "I'm worried about you and how you'll handle this."

Taiyou growled in annoyance and turned away, folding her arms over her chest. "I'll handle it just fine. You don't need coddle me like I'm some frightened little girl."

"I'm not trying to coddle you," Miki said quickly. "I'm just worried. That memory I saw…" Her voice trailed off as she saw Taiyou tightened her arms but she pushed on. "A memory that strong doesn't just go away because you don't agree with it. Nor does years of indoctrination."

"You think I don't know that?" Taiyou whispered back to her harshly. "Even now I have to fight the urge to try to bring this aircraft down with us in it just to keep us from getting there." Miki's eyes widened at the words, whether from fear or surprise it was hard to tell. "The only thing keeping me from doing that is my hatred for what they did to me and the others, for all the lies they told."

Miki looked down at the floor at the words, saddened that the woman had to resort to such feelings to maintain control. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were suffering like that. If there's anything I can do to help…"

"Oh spare me," Taiyou retorted in frustration. "I may be willing to work with you people but please keep your sappy bullshit to yourself. I have no need of it."

Miki couldn't help but laugh a bit at the woman's exasperation. "Would you prefer that I act more like you? Sarcastic and acidic to everyone who talks to me?"

Taiyou looked down at Miki from the edge of her vision then fought down the urge to laugh at her ridiculously over-the-top scowl. "Just…" she cleared her throat to hide a chuckle. "Just leave that stuff to me. You're so goody-goody you could probably never pull it off anyway."

Miki smiled slightly at the victory, small though it may be. Her glee faded though when the plane's forward motion fell away and the red cabin lights shifted to green.

"Alright people, we're here," Captain Gordon announced as he and the other soldiers stood up and checked each other's equipment. "Deployment in one minute."

Miki looked back at Taiyou in concern, only to see a tranquil mask on the taller woman's face. She sighed and asked, "Are you ready? There's still a chance to stay. You don't have to go."

Taiyou narrowed her eyes as the aircraft's rear hatch opened, showing a rundown looking warehouse sitting in an abandoned scrapyard with a city framed in the background behind it. "Yes I do," she said with complete certainty as she stepped forward to join the group of soldiers crowding at the door. The instant the plane set down the soldiers rushed outside and ran to various pieces of debris and trash for cover. Taiyou stood at the exit for an instant more, looking up at the building with an inscrutable look on her face. A rocket flew toward the entrance and blew away the door while the squad rushed forward, guns at the ready.

"Hello everyone," she murmured almost to herself as she stepped from the aircraft, Miki following close behind. "Guess who's home."

---

Pre edit: Hello again folks. Sorry about the month long wait, this chapter was just hard to write. I had to constantly check the logistics of everything over and over again, not to mention go over the wording repeatedly to get it just right. I hope you all think it was worth it. And yes, there's a lot of Ace Combat references in here, kinda a big fan of the PS2 games. Hell I still have them and play them every so often. So there's that. Next time will (probably) be the last of the individual missions before the war truly begins, plus some B-plot stuff and the like. Till then, adios!

Oh wait, I almost forget. This story is now mentioned on the Bridge's TvTropes page! WHOOOOOOO! Awesome! Ok so it's not technically my own page but hey, its a start! Don't forget to read the main story as well guys. That stuff is really getting good. (Hmm, maybe I should remind Tarb to start posting on this site again...)

Post edit (10/23/15): (Looks at the previous notes) A month long wait eh? (Shakes head) If only I knew. Soooo… hello again folks. I realize this isn't what you guys were expecting for my next update for the story, but well, here's what I got right now. I've been a bit busy lately with the return of school, plus I kept oscillating back and forth on what I wanted to do for chapter 9 and had to drop several ideas after I got new info from Tarb. Then I get that super long critical review (finally something I can really learn from!) and I simply had to respond to it. And my response? A complete rework of the chapter to fit back into the theme I had going so far while keeping the base of the scene the same. Never let it be said that I don't learn from my mistakes or listen when others point them out. If any of you guys find a similar issue in the future, please feel free to… no, I demand that you point it out, so that I might repair the damage and learn to avoid it in the future. Thank you all for reading what I have so far and waiting so patiently for the next chapter. I can't make any promises as to its release date, but rest assured it is coming. Until then, enjoy the rewrite and hope to see you again next time. BlazingPhoenix, flame out.