Symphony

“What did you..."

“Fight with someone calling himself Yeti... I had to cut off the arm myself. You?"

“Battle... with a Sunflower. My arm, my sword and my opponent were all burnt to crisps by a huge energy beam..."

“Sisters in arms, then?" Shiva smiled and stretched out her left arm towards Silver, who grabbed her hand in her right.

“Right on." They shook and let go. “So when are you-"

“SHIIIIVAAAAA!" An all too familiar scream was heard. Shiva closed her eyes and smiled.

“Figured she'd find out I was here sooner or later... it's been a while, after all..." Pallette came rushing into sickbay, being stopped by Lifesavor.

“What do you think you're doing?"

“But... but... I want to-"

“We're seriously busy here! More injured are coming in all the time!"

“I just want to see my-"

“We can't have people running around here!"

“...please..."

“Sigh... alright, you have ten minutes. Don't get in anybody's way."

“Thanks!" Pallette speeded in.

“AND NO RUNNING!" Irritation could be heard in his voice.

“...sure..." She slowed down, walking over to Shiva's bed. She was noticeably holding back tears when she approached and sat down on a chair beside the bed. Putting her arms and head on Shiva's stomach, she couldn't hold back

anymore and started crying. “Shiiivaaaa!"

Shiva put her hand on Pallette's head. “There, there... I'm here now."

“I thought... you... I..."

"I promise... I'm never going to leave you again, not until the day I..." She swallowed the final word of the sentence.

Pallette raised her head and grabbed Shiva's hand. "I have so many things to tell you..."

"So do I... cutie." Being called by that nickname for the first time in many years, Pallette almost burst into tears again. "But we can talk about that when I come home. Speaking of which..." Shiva looked around, spotting Livesavor not too far away, seemingly not busy. "Hey, doc!"

He went over to them. "What?"

"When can I leave?"

"Tomorrow, probably. We've patched up your leg and done all that can be done with your arm stump, and the minor injuries you've already started healing quite well yourself, but we need to keep you over the night and check your status in the morning before we can give a final say on that." He looked at Silver. "As for you, you've got severe second-degree energy burns, and it seems as if your body still hasn't registered the lost arm, and so there's an energy leak going on there... you'll have to stay for a few days, and the prosthesis won't be ready until next week.

"Prosthesis?"

"As it turns out, due to your unorthodox construction, we won't be able to use any of the robotic arms we have without cutting into your shoulder a fair bit, and with the leak, we've determined any such operation would be unsafe. The machine you're currently connected to provides you with vital fluids and makes the energy you were leaking return to your power cell. Basically, we have to get a custom arm for you that'll do that, and it requires some detail work." His eyes turned back to Shiva. "And you still don't want a new one, I take it?"

"No... the left is enough. I have another idea..."

"...wait, what?" Pallette looked confused at Shiva as Lifesavor left them.

"I said that the left arm is enough for me. Only having one arm is just... a very minor problem."

"Minor? How can you say that? You lost your right arm! Why aren't you going to replace-"

"Because I can't."

"What?"

"I cannot replace it, for I did not lose it. I traded it."

"What's that supposed to-"

"I sacrificed my right arm to ensure victory in a battle. Replacing it would be... disrespectful to the dead."

"That's..."

"That's my resolve, as a warrior, as a mercenary and as an Eternal..."

"Eternal?"

"Well, yeah... see this?" Shiva put a finger to the tattoo on her right thigh. "It's to show I'm a part of the Eternals. You know the various government-sponsored forces? Basically military?"

“Yes?"

“Let's just say we're the force they don't talk about."

“You're employed by the-"

“No, not exactly... we are paid to always be ready to be called for... an erasing."

“Erasing?"

“Believe me when I say that the less I talk about it, the better for all parties involved. One of the commonly accepted things about the Eraser Signal is that it's not actually meant to be used..."

Silver looked at her. “...that bad?"

“That bad."

There were a few moments of slightly awkward silence before Shiva spoke up again.
"So, how's Snex?"
More awkward silence.
"What?"
"He... he's..."
"First General Snex is... gone."
"Gone? I'm sorry... what happened? Bomb malfunction?"
"No, he's... gone. As in... gone."
"You mean... gone?"
"Disappeared on a mission... shortly after you and triple had left. Everything seemed normal, he was reporting back normally... then, suddenly, the reporting stopped. We never heard anything from him... we inspected the area closely, tried everything... but there was no sign of him anywhere.


---

South of Maverickhunters Headquarters
Just below that cliff
whatever

666 looked at the shell that was lying beside him. Robotic. Looked like some sort of fossil. Seemed to have some sort of... energy burn. Yeah. "Well, well, well..." He started making his way up. Peering over the edge, there was a figure there. Green, blue and gray getup. Eyepatch over the left eye. Long brown hair.
"Well, what do we have here." The figure watched as 666 got up and lit a cigarette. "If it isn't my brother-in-law. Sort of."
"Snex." 666 went up to him and held out the pack of cigarettes. "Cig?"
"Thanks." Snex grabbed a cigarette, 666 lighting it for him. "Did you..."
"No problems... but what are you doing here? Returning after all this time?"
"You know it's imperative that the Hunters do not know about me. That's why I can only keep in touch with you... because you are no Hunter. And I don't like you."
"Mutual feeling there."
"But that's the reason I can trust you. You're a lowlife, a mercenary... but you don't lie."
"Breaking contract would go against my policy. You paid me, I keep quiet."
"I paid you a token sum of ten credits and wrote a fake employer's name on a piece of paper for you to do something you said you would have done anyway."
"Principles." He took a puff on the cigarette. "By the way... were you able to get..."
Snex tossed him a small bag. "Wasn't easy, but there you go."
"Appreciate it. How's the eye?"
"Getting there... can almost distinguish shapes with it now. I'm just glad I ha

---

A desert
The middle of it
23:45 (three days later)

"So you return at last."
"Of course... even though I believe nothing has changed."
"Oh, but it has."
"What do you mean?"
"You are carrying the weight of yet another life... which you did not when we last met."
"You mean this, huh...?" 666 grabbed Sunset's hilt from his left shoulder. "I knew it... I felt that Blues had passed on." He put it back in the holder but kept his grip on it.
"Very well, then." Hailius pulled out his sword from the sand.
"Same as always..." 666 grabbed onto Nightmare with his right hand and shifted his weight. "Ready when you are!"
"Attack in any way you wish." 666 dashed towards Hailius. A red and a yellow light suddenly flashed, then 666 stood behind Hailius with his swords sheathed. He was completely unscathed. Between the two was a piece of brown cloth, cut off from Hailius' robe.
"Just as I thought..." 666 turned around and put a cigarette in his mouth. "I still don't stand the shadow of a chance against you." He lit the cigarette and looked up in the air.
"But you managed to cut my robe, did you not?"
"Pah... you let me do that. You completely parried my attack, deliberately made me cut a piece of your robe and you still didn't inflict any damage whatsoever on me. It's a world of difference..."
"Do not be so sure... keep walking, and one day you can go further than the one who stands still at the end of a road..."
"Don't be ridiculous... I could train for a hundred years, and still not be able to surpass you."
"Everything in this world will end... either it is ended by the hand of man, or it just runs out of time... I am not eternal."
"I may be an Eternal... but that does not mean I will be around for eternity. It's only a name. I'm pretty sure you've been around for far longer than I have, and will continue to be so for long after I bite it..." 666 started walking forwards, passing Hailius.
"Before you part, let me ask you... do you believe in destiny?"
666 stopped, right next to Hailius. "In fact... I do. But I also believe it is up to every person to shape their own destiny..."
"Keep those words with you... the wheels have started turning in a curious direction, after that which took place a number of days ago..."


---

Events in something that doesn't even resemble chronological order anymore
- X and Lumine visits Silver's lab, shortly thereafter they both disappear. Only their helmets are found, and the greek letter sigma written in blood on the wall.
- Metro goes off to the complex, discovers mavericks there.
- Jay goes away to grab some parts, bringing Atos to help carrying stuff. Silver talks to Alia about Metro having left. During the conversation, explosion happens - mavericks teleport in, Alia is killed. Layer and Palette manages to defend the teleporter room, many systems are destroyed but not before they have managed to run a protocol making it impossible to teleport in to or out from HQ. Silver runs off looking for Atos, who finds himself together with Jay face to face with Optic Sunflower in a storage room.
- 666 and Shiva witness the beginning of the attack from atop a cliff, and runs down. Splitting up, 666 heads to the training facilities while Shiva goes for the refugee area. Narration follows Shiva as she enters a snowy area, kills some lesser mavericks and then encounters Avalanche Yeti about to attack the refugees.
- Kay, being outside the HQ, sees something suspicious and discovers the true mastermind behind the activities - Lumine. She implies in conversation that she's in league with at least Renilo - talking about a reaper. Kay, only armed with a screwdriver, takes her on. As Lumine is about to unleash Paradise Lost on Kay, she retorts using her robot controller, and short-circuits Lumine.
- Silver reaches the storage room. Jay is unconscious, and Sunflower is about to attack Atos. Telling Atos to grab Jay and get out, Silver angrily assaults Sunflower. Sunflower, using her short-range instant teleporting, toys with Silver who manages to get a few hits in. Sunflower decides to kick it up a notch (BAM!) when her ultimate weapon gets in position (12:00) - a huge satellite-controlled laser beam, that when activated targets whatever has been scanned. Silver finally manages to pin Sunflower to the ground by thrusting Longinus into her chest as a laser beam homes in, saying that she'll at least take Sunflower with her. Just as the laser beam is about to hit, Atos drags her away, but she still holds onto Longinus with her left arm. The laser beam fries Sunflower, Longinus and Silver's arm completely. Silver and Jay are brought to sickbay.
- In a forest not too far away from HQ, Bamboo Pandamonium is arming rockets to target the HQ. Vile appears and challenges Pandamonium, acting on his own. After a lengthy battle, Pandamonium is burned to death.
- Metro discovers his enemy: Gigabolt Man-O-War. Proving to be a worthy adversary, Man-O-War is able of cancelling most of the plasma Metro sends flying at him. The battle is taken to the air, and in the end Metro sacrifices Phoenix, crashing it right into Man-O-War who is blown the fuck up.
- 666, knowing the presence of someone, enters a pitch black room, and is introduced to his enemy - Dark Mantis. 666 defends himself nicely without ever seeing his opponent. Mantis claims that in the long run, 666 cannot win without his most important sense. 666 answers by grabbing Nightmare and Sunset in their holders and closing off his four remaining senses - in the order of smell, taste, hearing and touch. As Mantis performs his coup de grace, 666 whips out Nightmare and Sunset at the last possible moment, cutting Mantis into pieces. After activating his other senses one by one, and seeing his now defeated enemy for the first time, 666 explains that he did not use a sixth sense but rather a zeroth sense - instinct - to win.
- Kay is walking through a cliff area, dragging a robot corpse behind her. Her left arm has been reduced to a fleshy mess. Seeing Gravity Antonion and his huge army of antoids, she devises a plan - calling up Jay, Silver answers as Jay is still out cold. Kay explains she will not be coming back. She confronts Antonion, luring him into the remains of a vehicle. Appearing cornered, Kay calmly explains that everything has gone as she intended, that hunters are not afraid of dying and that she learned a trick from one of Antonion's friends she met earlier. Throwing Lumine's upper body to the ground, Antonion realizes he's been tricked. Kay uses a robot remote control to make Burn Rooster crash through the roof. A fire enhanced Paradise Lost is triggered, killing Kay, Rooster, Antonion and 80-90% of the antoids.
- Earthrock Trilobyte prepares a landslide from the cliff 666 and Shiva had descended from. Suddenly, an explosion is heard, and Trilobyte has little to no time to react before he is killed. His shell tumbles down the cliff, later to be discovered by 666.
- The fight between Shiva and Avalance Yeti concludes. After trading blows, Shiva beheads and then skewers Yeti with naginata form Coper, sending a big stasis load through him. Leaving him for dead, he grabs onto Shiva's right arm and starts freezing it. She quickly whips out Coper in schythe form and severs her own arm above the freezing point, making it fall to the ground and shatter. Yeti is killed.
- 666 discovers Trilobyte's shell, and scales the cliff to find his "brother-in-law" - Snex. Snex explains that the hunters must not know he is still alive, and that he is trying to prevent a disaster - refering to a "storm" event a number of years back being only a sample of what might happen. They both leave in different directions.
- Shiva and Silver in Silver's lab, talking about various shit. Shiva explains that 666 has probably gone off to "challenge fate - again". Silver is contacted over the radio - X has been found, implied to have been brought back by Vile. Lumine being the villain is revealed. Silver leaves. Shiva goes to find "someone else" (Pallette).
- Jay sits on the roof, sad about the death of her sister. Atos talks to her. Romance is seriously, completely and definitely NOT implied in any way.
- Nighttime in a desert, 666 encounters Hailius. After a short conversation in which Halius mentions that 666 is now carrying another life (Sunset = Blues), they attack each other. Both come out of it unharmed, but a piece of Hailius' cloth is cut. 666 knows that he still does not stand the shadow of a chance against Hailius. Hailius implies that one day 666 will surpass him, an idea 666 rejects.

666, changes - left part of head ornament is broken off. One of the metal plates on his torso is gone. The forehead protector is completely gone, replaced by a plain white headband tied around the arm. Koe is gone, Sunset can be found on 666' left shoulder. Where Koe was on the belt there is now a gun holster holding a modified Desert Eagle - model #36, the bullets have a thin brittle casing and a core of liquid nitrogen. The casing on his wrists, just below the palm, are a little bigger on the underside, with holes very close to the wrists. These are the anchor points for the Flying Blades - inside the casing, inside 666' entire arm, there's a titanium chain - at the anchor points, Nightmare and Sunset can be attached to the chains, allowing them to be thrown but still attached. Inside the arm, going from the wrist to the shoulder where the other end of the chain is locked, there is five arm lengths of chain - the fifth of which obviously can never leave the arm. So the range is increased by four arm lengths. He wears a dark robe when he first is seen. He has the word "ETERNITY" written on the back of his neck.

Shiva, changes - Hair cut short, a topknot.
word "ETERNITY" tattooed on the inside of her right thigh
modified Desert Eagle - model #29, firing bullets that shatter shortly after being fired leading to a barrage of shrapnel.

Coper Mark 2 - A slightly thicker rod than Coper, about 1,5 meters in length, can be folded in the middle. Has a ~50 cm curved blade, which is sharp on both sides, inside each end, which can be put straight out (naginata form) or flipped out on the side (scythe form). The blades on the two sides can be activated independently from each other, and are turned different ways. In double scythe form the blades go in different directions, and in double naginata form the curves are opposite ways.

8th squadron:
1 - Gigabolt Man-O-War
2 - Earthrock Trilobyte
3 - Bamboo Pandamonium
4 - Avalanche Yeti
5 - Burn Rooster
6 - Optic Sunflower
7 - Gravity Antonion
8 - Dark Mantis

Folk som dör:
- Alia
- Blues
- Kay
- ???


Soundtrack
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6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.




Unseen bonds - the decisive battles of three comrades (Brave Heart)

True colours - a fearless sacrifice

The sisters' requiem - let's meet again in the afterlife (Over the Distance)

That which was lost - turning eyes toward tomorrow (This Land/King of Pride Rock)