It had been roughly three days since Alex was put into the medical bay due to his injuries.

The doctors had told him he would be able to get around the ship and maybe some very light training, but they told him no actual fighting for the next few days for fear the stress might re-open the wound.

Using this opportunity, Alex figured now would be the best time to take inventory on his supplies, armor, and weaponry while he still had the chance. He was headed to the forge right now, where he was supposed to meet with Vinyl and Twilight. He steadily walked inside and sat down on a table, simply nodding in greeting to the mares.

"Hello, Alex! Glad to see the wound's getting better!" Twilight greeted.

"Likewise. I heard about how bad the rogues scraped you up." Alex noted.

"Anyways, we should get on with your current armor. We just got finished working on it." Vinyl walked over to the small garage door leading to a storage unit bearing Alex's name. Using her magic, she lifted the door upwards, revealing his new armor.

The armor looked slightly bulkier than Alex's last Overcharge Suit, and it would add at least three inches to his overall height. The armor looked somewhat different from the alloy once used for the previous suit.

"Nice. The outer layer looks slightly different from the last. More Adenienite tech?" Alex asked.

Vinyl smirked, nodding slightly.

"They added Adenienite Titanium into the armor, they said that with this in the mix, it should protect from most weapon and magic based attacks. I tried holding onto the metal with my magic and it was like trying to hold a wet bar of soap!" Twilight elaborated.

"I wouldn't suspect the Princess of Friendship to make prison jokes." Alex scoffed.

"I... You..!" Twilight stammered.

Vinyl snickered a bit.

"And I see you've attached the Prometheus Charge directly onto the actual suit." Alex noticed.

"I did more research on the device. Apparently it's only a one time use, so save it for when you really need it." Twilight explained.

"Like the Blood Red Night." Alex alluded.

"Also, Twi here did some more research. You know how Locust said there would be more help coming in from different dimensions, right?" Vinyl asked as Alex continued to inspect the armor.

"Sure." Alex nodded.

"He wasn't kidding. Now that the word's actually out, we got drafts coming in ridiculously fast! People from all over the multiverse are signing up!" Vinyl gasped.

"How many we talking here, a million?" Alex asked.

"Try 50 million. Most of which are the most famous warriors of their various dimensions. I even heard that the Princesses and Discord resurrected Kronus just for the occasion!" Twilight added.

"Who?" Alex asked.

"Kronus was one of five gods of elemental magic. He represented fire spells; modern day attack and destruction spells. The most famous of his spells is the 'Fires of Kronus' spell, last used before even The Princesses were born." Twilight explained.

"Okay. History lesson aside. Vinyl, what're we looking at here?" Alex clasped his hands together in anticipation.

"Improved outer layer and internal processing power, amplified repulsing power, enhanced flight capabilities, up to at least Mach 4. Magnetized boots and a built-in retractable Ma Deuce on the right shoulder." Vinyl explained.

"You mean I can fire .50 cal off my shoulder while flying almost as fast as Rainbow Dash?" Alex laughed slightly.

"Yep!" Vinyl smiled again, admiring her hard work.

"Okay, how about my weapons?" Alex asked.

"We have Blitzklinge sheathed, we sharpened the blade and made it slightly lighter and we sharpened the Oracon Amethyst at the hilt." Vinyl listed, pulling out the deadly blade.

"Also, we recovered schematics of your original Electric Fury and repaired it for you. That's also sheathed at the moment." Twilight added.

"You guys work way harder than I give credit for." Alex nodded.

"A raise would be great. My roomie and I can hardly get our mortgage paid lately." Vinyl said.

"Um, sure." Alex nodded uncertainly.

"And we personally made you a rifle for the battle." Vinyl pulled out a box.

"Sure. Let's see." Alex nodded, pulling open the box.

Twilight ripped the top off the wooden box with her magic and levitated the weapon into Alex's hands.

"May I introduce: The Serengeti IX-7 Rifle. Equipped with two sights, a side-grip, under barrel rocket launcher, and a collapsible stock. Chambered in Adenien .45 Meta." Vinyl explained.

The rifle looked almost like a cross-breed of an AR platform and a Galil, but with the two sights attached to the top. The under barrel Rocket Launcher looked similar to a standard M203 but with the rocket warhead at the end, the side grip was incredibly ergonomic and quite easy to control. The .45 Meta round was essentially a slimmed out .458 SOCOM with slightly more powder, so punching through Red Star super-soldiers wouldn't be very difficult.

Alex smiled approvingly, pulling out the .44 Scratch and walking over to the armor, where another holster was put just at the suit's back. He slipped the weapon inside and locked it into place.

"Thank you both. Now, I just need to discuss a few things with the rest of the crew. Head to the meeting room in about 10 minutes." Alex ordered.

"Sure thing." Twilight smiled.

"Okay. Y'know, it's really sad knowing that not...all of us are going in there." Vinyl sighed.

Alex was just outside when he heard Vinyl.

"I know the feeling." He sighed bitterly, walking down the hallway.

----

It seemed like just about everyone was in the room at the moment.

The Elements, The Wonderbolts, Vinyl, The Guards, The Huntsmen and Huntresses, Inheritors, Ryders, Vanoss's crew, literally everyone. Including the crew. Even Raven went to stay on the Iliad to act in advisory capacity as another Inquisitor had been killed.

Alex took a deep breath. He knew for a fact that most of them mistook him for an equal, perhaps a superior. But he always knew that, in the end, he was just as weak and afraid, if not more, than when this whole escapade began.

He shoved that thought out of his mind, and began his statements.

"Hi, everyone. I'm going to keep this short. There's a lot we have to talk about and even more we have to do. Why not get that out of the way first." Alex began.

"Sounds fair. Where do we start?" Ember asked.

"I'd say we should start with where the last couple of...accidents...left off." Winter scowled.

"Cram it, will you?" Qrow blatantly reproached.

"Qrow, not now." Raven chided.

"Shut up, all of you." Sirius groaned.

"Winter has a point, how do we know where to start if we aren't sure where we last left off?" Weiss defended.

"I guess we should take that into account." Twilight shrugged.

"I'm with Princess Twilight." Locust respectfully added.

"Fine. Iris, give us a complete rundown of the Vytal Invasion, the Subterrain battle, the ARES mission, and our most recent defense of the ship?" Alex asked.

"Overall, the death toll has totaled over 972 deaths, including Russell Leone, Lieutenant Auklet, as well as Scratchbolts Cloudchaser and Flitter. As well as 2,659 wounded, including Blake Belladonna, Twilight Sparkle, and Alex Walker on our side. However, we did manage to successfully invade the Island, snuff out whatever the Red Star was planning with the Subterrains, destroy two $50,000,000 satellites threatening the existence of the planet, as well as capture one of Roman Torchwick's personal henchmen." Iris explained.

"But the payloads were destroyed and our defenses were breached! Twice, I may add!" Skirmish said.

"No victory comes without sacrifice, young warrior." Locust dismissed.

"'Young warrior', my plot." Blast scoffed.

"Don't dis robot Yoda!" Delirious defended.

"...Hostilities aside, I may add that so far, 51,142,222 people from as many as 13 different dimensions excluding Equestria, Earth, Remnant, and Adenien. That has to count for something!" Mako added.

"I'm with Mako on this one. We can't always look at the failures! We did what we had to on each of those missions! We invaded a heavily fortified island, drove our enemies out from underground, saved billions of civilian lives, and successfully defended our ship! If we dwell on our shortcomings, we'll never be able to face up against the Red Star!" Kat defended.

Most of the room was in utter silence.

"That was...actually a decent speech. Kudos to you, Miss..." Winter began to congratulate.

"Just call me Kat." She smirked.

"So what you're saying is; We f**ked up their shit and they f**ked up ours." Mini asked.

"That's basically war in a nutshell." Ren nodded in agreement.

"I have a question for the kid. What exactly is our next move?" Asked Sirius.

Alex didn't need to dwell on that for very long.

"Simple. Recent developments from our prisoner suggest that the Red Star is readying itself for an attack against Vale. We deeply weakened them by attacking both the Subterrains and the ARES satellites, but we didn't completely stop them. Intel suggests that a gang led by a man code-named 'Junior' linked up with the Syndicate and just moved in a biochemical weapon capable of wiping out the continent in a matter of months. Acting in advisory capacity is the Inquisitor Omega, who we aren't yet able to identify. Our mission is to disable this bioweapon and get it somewhere where it can never again be used, and find Omega, if he refuses to surrender peacefully, we kill the sick son of a bitch." Alex explained.

"Junior, you sly dog." Yang blinked.

"You know that asshole?" Vanoss asked her.

"In a way..."

"What's the battle plan?" Droidd asked.

"We have Quill acting as our inside man, as soon as he discovers where the bio weapon is, we rush in and take it to where Remnant's scientists can kill it, or at least lock it away." Alex explained.

"What's the bio weapon?" Blake asked.

"Our prisoner identified it as an enhanced form of the 'Vacuo Strain'." Alex replied.

Most of Remnant's inhabitants shuddered at the thought.

"What's got you so scared?" Wildcat asked.

"The Vacuo Strain is basically our version of the Plague." Jaune shuddered.

"Well, shit." Nogla blinked.

"We'll be arriving outside Vale tomorrow. We'll have our operatives around the Vale area incognito. We can't risk getting discovered. They'll be brought in by Vale's police force with new identities, about 1,500 Lien, and new clothes. We aren't letting the Inquisitors get much of an idea of our plans, but we'll be looking for them. You're all dismissed, but I'll need Qrow, Raven, Sirius, Winter, and Yang to stay here. We need to talk about something." Alex nodded as most of the crew filed steadily out of the room until the six Inheritors were left.

"Alright. You got my attention, what is it, kid?" Qrow asked.

"I need to ask you all something. You're familiar with the last group of people who tried to stop the Inquisitors, right?" Alex asked.

"What, the ad-hoc skeleton crew that included your father? Of course we know about them." Sirius scoffed.

"Sirius, please. Show some restraint, this boy's father nearly lost his life in there, and Summer actually died." Raven chided.

"I'm just a Specialist, kid. Why did you ask me to stay here and listen to your cultist psychobabble?" Winter scowled.

"Just a Specialist? You and Qrow over here seem to know each other well enough for there to be some bad blood between you two." Alex retorted.

Winter rolled her eyes.

"Why are you asking?" Yang wondered.

"Luna wrote me a letter saying that you would know something about Kalos Prime." Alex calmly replied

"Kid, none of us know where Kalos Prime is. I mean, there was Kalos Ultra." Qrow laughed slightly.

"Kalos Ultra?"

"The Inheritor's original headquarters for The Inquisitors, located at Nihilos 0-01 Gamma; Downfall. They moved their operations elsewhere since that terrible day. Where, nobody knows." Raven explained.

"Iris, identify the location of Nihilos 0-01 Gamma." Alex ordered.

"Identified: Downfall. Located just two dimensions out from Provinence." Iris explained.

"Provinence?" Winter asked.

"The origin point of all creation. Located at Kai 0-00 Alpha." Sirius explained.

"What else did this foreign night god horse tell you?" Qrow scoffed.

"To look for the disappearances of large ships and airplanes the past century. I have a place in mind." Alex explained.

"Let's hear it." Yang sat down.

"In my old world, Earth, there was a place called the Bermuda Triangle. During around the 20th century, ships, planes, and the like disappeared. It's likely related to the interdimensional teleporter testing around that time point." Alex explained.

"Wait, these 'dimensions' are stacked one on top of the other, right?" Winter asked.

"Yep." Yang nodded.

"If that's right, then we should be able to use the Triangle as a guideline and scan every universe, starting with Provinence, and find the headquarters!" Winter elaborated.

"That may not be such a terrible idea... Robot! Get us a map of 'Earth' and find the Bermuda Triangle!" Qrow ordered.

"I have a name you know. Here!" Iris exclaimed as a holographic image of that general area appeared before them.

"Cross reference that area with as many universes as possible, identify large cities, and send the results to our Scrolls!" Alex ordered.

"Sure thing, Admiral!" Iris assured.

"Good thinking, Ms. Schnee." Sirius curtly nodded.

"Glad to see some people pay some respect when it's due." Winter scowled in Qrow's direction.

"Sellout."

"Drunk."

"All of you, shut the hell up." Sirius groaned.

"Qrow, settle this childish rivalry soon!" Raven sighed in annoyance.

"Anyways, thanks for bringing this up with us. For someone with the least amount of legitimate training I've ever seen, you're actually half-decent. I went over the footage when you fought Omicron." Sirius commented.

"I prefer to do my training on the field." Alex defended.

"Whatever you say, Adenienite." Qrow rolled his eyes.

The inheritors left the room, leaving Alex alone with Yang.

"So, you've looked better." Yang began.

"Looks don't count for shit here." Alex laughed.

"What's with you lately? You've never been this relaxed before." Yang lightly slugged him in the shoulder.

"Relaxed? Oh, no. I'm all wound up like a tin toy. I've just accepted that everything's f**ked." Alex chuckled.

"I hear you." Yang nodded.

"So, what's on your mind?" Alex asked.

"Huh?"

"You obviously stayed behind for a reason, what was it?" He pressed on.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing, and you asked me to stay here." She said.

"Oh, right.."

"Yeah." Yang shrugged.

"Any other reason?" Alex asked.

"No. That's it." Yang insisted

"Okay, I can take that for an answer if you really want to." Alex relented.

"By the way, I should be asking you the same thing." Yang looked at him.

"I'm just...thinking." Alex replied.

"Always the thinker, what's on your mind?" She asked.

"This question always bugged the hell out of me since before Unity actually got together in LS, but did all of you stand by me out of actual friendship like what Princess Twilight and the other Elements constantly flaunt around like an iPhone 7, or do you all just pity me?" Alex asked.

Yang looked like she herself was in thought before she finally answered.

"I can probably see Twilight and her friends standing by you out of pity, why else would they follow a murderer into other dimensions? That's literally the only way I see them going that close to an ex-fugitive." Yang explained.

"Vanoss and his crew are out of the question, I paid them just to keep my ass safe." Alex clarified.

"Okay, sure. Back to what I was saying, from what I can tell, Ponies have no experience with violence or warfare until recently. That's just how it is. People like Ruby and I, we're no strangers to violence or death. Hell, we hunt down monsters and bad guys for a living." Yang laughed slightly.

"So, where does that leave you guys?" Alex wondered.

"Personally, I could tell something was wrong from the moment I saw you, that look of mortal terror in your eye, the constant feeling of paranoia, your overall vibe said something was...off. And it's been off for a while. But that isn't the only reason I stayed with you."

"Then, pray tell, what was the other reason?"

"Your determination. Your own sheer force of will just to stay alive. Look at what you've done these past few months. You've had to kill, steal, and break a few hearts just to stay alive. And you did survive! You have no rules because, if what you told me was true, you felt like the rules abandoned you. Even right now, you're trying to take back your life with your bare hands, and if it means taking someone else's, so be it!"

"Well, that's just the end-all be-all of my life." Alex shrugged.

"You're fighting to take back your life, question is, what part of your life exactly?" Yang asked.

Another open-ended question, as if he hadn't had enough of these in school already.

"I'll be completely honest with you. I don't know anymore, but at the same time, I do know. I'm in the years where I'll have to decide what I want for my own life, not anyone else's, but my own. Locked in that cell for a month made me think I wasn't going anywhere further. But now, everything's so open! I can start fresh in a new environment, new opportunities. A completely different life from what I originally expected. I guess I'm just fighting to have that sense of choice again without anyone standing in my way. And for the moment, it's those bastards threatening me, my friends, as well as everyone else. Right now, all that's standing in the way are those soulless motherf**kers." Alex spat.

Yang stood again, her hands on his shoulders.

"And that's why I've stood with you. Take care of yourself." She briefly hugged him and walked out the door.

Alex reached into his side pocket, reaching for his journal.

"Hey. Nice talking to you." Yang called from outside the door.

Alex looked up from his journal.

"Same here. Stay alive." Alex smiled.

"Okay. Don't let all of this be for nothing, got it?" She called out, walking away.

Alex laid down on the table, journal in hand, just a little bit tired, and his wound still throbbed with dulled pain. He looked back on his life, what had been stolen from him, and what life had repaid him with.

"Trust me, Yang. I don't intend to."