As they walked, the Magma Dragon turned its gaze back, looking directly at Sera with one burning eye. "When your machines fall prey to the virus the humans unwittingly created, they are simple germs to us. All of the rogue machines here, except for the scarfed one, are infected by that same virus. They serve no other purpose now."

The creature turned its gaze back forward as it stepped across a pool of lava. As he did so, the flow of the magma slowed considerably before darkening, and a slow cracking sound was heard as it cooled and hardened into volcanic rock with its passage.

Matt threw up his hands. "All right, all right. I'm sorry. Guess I'm still not over that game I tried to beat last night, eh?" He smirked. Yeah, sure. The game pissed him off just now. Right.

"Just... sit somewhere. And try not to stick your foot in your mouth if you open it up near Helena," R.D. muttered, finding a place to sit amongst the pilots.

"Feh." Matt dismissed the matter with a wave of his hand and went to sit down with the girls and Hugo.

Breakfast went without much incident, involving most of the pilots prodding R.D. about his experience with aerial mechanoid combat, to which R.D. replied to the best of his ability. After all, their machines were radically different from Omega and his partner on this world.

Soon enough, the period ended, with each of the companies being called out to go about their duties over the intercom. Raven directed his team to the simulation rooms for their daily practice.

"Well, now what do we do?" Alasea asked, leaning her head into her hand as it was propped up on the table. Most of the soldiers had cleared out, and Ileyna was just finishing what was left of her own food, an irritated look on her face.

"Good question." Matt glanced at Ileyna. "Hey, what's wrong, kid?"

"I don't like this stuff," was Ileyna's simple reply.

"Then don't eat it."

"Matt, she needs to eat something," Helena said.

"Then feel free to supply her with something she'll eat," Matt said with a twist of his hand.

Helena stood and pushed her chair in with one hand in her pocket. "Come on, Ileyna. Let's go back to the room and see we've got anything you'll like."

"Okay," Ileyna said, standing up and pushing her beret back into place when it invariably slipped. She took Helena's hand as she went with her back to their quarters.

"Humph." Matt leaned back, resting his elbow on an adjacent chair. "Kids."

"Still don't like kids, Matt?" Alasea asked, sitting up a bit straighter at the table bench.

"Doesn't look like it," R.D. said. "We didn't encounter any other people after we fought Malvettix that second time in Africa, and he didn't have to deal with any kids on Repli-Earth."

"When did I say that I don't like kids?" Matt said. "Ileyna's been pretty good so far."

"Ice Man's practically a kid," Hugo said, walking up. He tapped Matt's ankle, and Matt lifted the Mettaur onto the table. "But at least he's well-behaved."

"Well, you weren't exactly all that comfortable around Ristar," R.D. noted. "He got along with Hugo better than he did with you."

"I guess I mellowed out, then. And really, Ileyna hasn't given me a reason to hate her yet."

"Oh, admit it, Matt," Alasea said with a giggle. "There's no way you could hate a little girl like that."

As her giggle subsided, Alasea stood up. "Well, I'm going to go see where my father's at," she said. "Hopefully he's not too busy right now."

"All right."

"Don't get lost," R.D. said.

"I'll be fine. Take care, you three," replied the Daughter of Dawn as she left, waving as she did so.

Matt gave R.D. an even look. "So can I go kick your ass on Ultimate Fighters or something?"

"Yeah, sure," R.D. said, making a flippant gesture. "I have nothing else better to do at the moment."

"Cool."

As R.D., Matt, and Hugo walked down the halls towards the recreational sector, they spoke of more mundane topics, mostly with R.D. and Matt making quips at one another with an occasional comment from Hugo to shut them both up. It seemed that, for a while, at least, nothing could go wrong on this world. For now, they wouldn't have to worry about getting assaulted by some demonic minion hellbent on acquiring the Omega Core from Matt.

Naturally, all good things... must come to an end.

A shrill alarm cut through R.D. and Matt's conversation, and red light streaked through the hallways and chambers. R.D. immediately cut off what he was saying as he looked up at the nearest klaxon.

"Incoming enemy force detected at 7 o'clock! We are under attack! Repeat, we are under attack! All units, prepare for battle!"

"Shit!" Matt said. "Hugo! Go get Helena and Ileyna! Lead them to the vault!"

"Got it!" The Mettaur burst into the crowd of soldiers rushing to defend the base, weaving between their trampling feet.

The Aube military station was thrown into a state of chaos. People began running about, soldiers rushing down in lines with their pod-like weapons in hand, technicians and scientists scurrying about as they locked down essential areas. Outside, turrets began to align and center themselves on incoming black specks on the horizon. The invasion force was approaching.

===Hallway===

Klaxons blared, causing Alasea to freeze on the spot and look around, quickly finding the flashing red lights. Gritting her teeth, she clenched her hands once. Dammit, not now!

People began to rush past her in the halls, forcing her to turn and get moving. Before she could go far, she heard someone call out to her.

"Alasea!"

Looking in the voice's direction, she saw Jared running to her. "You better find your friends, 'sea," he said. "You'll need all the help you can get to defend the Essence."

"What about you?" Alasea asked, looking concerned at him.

"I'm headed over to the research labs. I need to get a Nova Reactor fitted, and to get my Trikeros."

"That's on the way then," she said. "Come on, let's go!"

===Hanger Bays===

Voices continually blared over the intercom systems as men in black flight suits ran towards the red-and-black Falkens, running up the short portable stairwells and hopping over the edge into the pilot seats, allowing the canopies to close down as the jets' systems started up. As they lined up to shoot down the runways, the Nine-Ball and Nine-Breaker pilots arrived.

"Man, this sucks!" Rodeo whined as he ran with the rest of Raven's squadron to the mechanoid launch bays. "Why do they have to attack this early in the morning!?"

"Just shut up and deal with it!" Maria spat as she began to outstrip him in running speed. "Just kill them as quick as we can!"

Metal clops resounded down the corridors as Hugo burned his tiny feet. He slid into a harsh curve, only to see Helena and Ileyna running at him. "To the vault!" he shouted. "Let's GO!"

"Okay!" Helena shouted back, and the three shot for the vault.

"Report status!" General Dagenais bellowed out in the command center.

"Sir, we've got multiple inbound Devil Dragons bearing down from southwest!"

"Dimensional anomalies detected in sector F-13! They're breaking through the walls!"

"Begin combat operations!" Patrick ordered. "Fill all evacuated sectors with bakelite and secure the civilian evacuation route! Launch all mobile weapons!"

"Roger! All Falkens, Nine-Balls, and Nine-Breakers are being deployed!"

===Sector F-13 Hallway, Aube===

Up ahead of Hugo, Helena, and Ileyna, the wall exploded violently, filling the hallway up with black smoke, causing Ileyna to shriek in fear, immediately falling backwards from behind Helena. Ominous shapes poured out of the gap in the wall, turning and facing them with too many eyes. They hunkered down and began to approach.

Two soldiers that had also been heading in the direction of the three stopped and took aim with their weapons. Dropping down onto one knee, they waited steadily as the creatures began to appear.

They crawled out on the walls and ceilings; tall, lithe humanoid monsters with heads filled with ten eyes each. Their limbs were splayed in unusual directions as their claws gripped into the metal walls. Screeching, the Imps rushed forward. The two soldiers opened fire, spraying a stream of bullet fire down the hall.

With vicious screams, the first three Imps were shredded to pieces, skin and blood igniting into demonic flame that quickly disintegrated them. More and more began to pour through; some headed for the soldiers and Hugo, some headed the opposite direction. Gunfire echoed throughout the base.

===Nine-Breaker Hanger Bays===

"All units, this is Razgriz-1," Adrian spoke through the comm. unit as he flipped various switches to activate his machine, "Our objective is to secure air superiority. Arm KARASAWAs and spread out into an arrowhead formation upon launching."

"Roger, boss," Rodeo replied through his own comm. unit as he started up his Nine-Breaker. "What're the Nine-Balls supposed to do?"

"Nine-Ball units will deploy on the ground and lay down suppressing fire with their grenade launchers," Ashley said. "They're being deployed around the mass-driver. That's the intended target for the enemy."

"Really? How'd you figure that out, Lieutenant?" Asked David Jordan through the comm.

"This is AWACS Thunderhead," came the voice of an already-deployed AWACS unit assigned to them. "The Devil Dragons are coming in from 7 o'clock, the direction the mass driver is aimed at. The enemy has figured out our escape route. The Mass Driver needs to be defended at all costs. Razgriz Squadron, keep a sharp eye out for any surprises."

"Don't worry about us," Rodeo said casually. "Those Devil Dragons can't keep up with the Nine-Breakers!"

"Don't get cocky, Rodeo," Adrian reprimanded. "You saw what those things managed to do to Galm-2."

"Yeah, but he escaped and took them out, didn't he?" Rodeo countered. "All he lost was his missile pod and his right arm."

"Doesn't matter, Massimo," Raven said. "Just make sure they don't surprise you. We're launching, so get ready."

"Roger!" came the voices of his subordinates. Adrian guided his machine into the catapult and waited for the staff to secure it. After a moment or two, his Nine-Breaker leaned forward into the launching position. "This is Razgriz-1, callsign Raven! Launching!"

The catapult shot down the length of the massive hallway, propelling the mechanoid forward at insane speeds. It released its bindings at the end, throwing the mech forward out of the tunnel and into the morning light.



Thrusters in the back and legs ignited before gravity took hold, launching the machine up into the air. Raven gunned the thrusters and headed out into a warzone, into a sky filled with winged monstrosities and beam fire.

===Area K, Innerpeace===

"What other virus would your kind be afraid of?" the Magma Dragon spoke with what sounded curiously like a laugh. "The Maverick Virus, of course."

"That can't be possible, can it? That virus was eliminated already," Seril said, looking concerned.

"Don't be naive, whelp," the Magma Dragon said. "This dimension's boundaries are weak. This Maverick Virus came from another dimension. Probably brought in by that monster that destroyed the southern continent."

A monitor would flash in the command room. Colonel Patterson would appear, the screen shacking, breaking up occasionally. Gunfire and screams could be heard in the background and some soldiers were running behind him, yelling something. He opened his mouth to speak, but then turned quickly back.

"Reinforce the southern wall! Get some more demolitions over there!" The screen went black for a moment as Patterson began to run off. There was sometime of silence from the monitor, then it came back on. Patterson had a gun in his hand this time, and sweat was pouring down his brow.

"General! The creatures, they're breaking through faster than we thought! Some of them have gotten under our radar somehow!" Explosions sounded off in the background. The screen began to shake again, breaking up, static building. Only parts of Patterson's words could be caught.

"Under- coming- floor- I re- ground- come- the floor-" The screen went black one final time.

Hugo smacked the end of his pickaxe on the floor as he unleashed the power of the G-Stone, firing his chainguns at the approaching demons.

Helena fell back, landing on all fours. She shot a glance past her shoulder. "Ileyna," she growled. "Stay back."

"Patterson! Patterson! Dammit!" Patrick swore, slamming a fist against his desk. "Alert all units to be on the lookout for enemies infiltrating beneath the floor! Get reinforcements down to the upper command deck immediately!"

As orders were relayed, the General fell back into his chair, muttering. "Has the evacuation of the civilians completed yet?" he demanded, looking about.

"Almost, sir! Estimated to complete within the next seven minutes!" came the reply.

"That's not fast enough," Patrick growled out to himself.

===Sector C-5 Hallway, Aube===

R.D. ran hard, pumping his legs as more and more fireballs were hurled by Imps, the blasts just falling short of his feet. He threw an arm back and squeezed the trigger of his Guardian-issue rifle, sending a volley of blaster fire back down it at the pursuing Imps.

He rounded the corner and smashed his back hard against the wall, next to Matt and Officer Richter. "I think... twelve--no, thirteen more are chasing us," R.D. said, panting heavily. "They cut off the access route to the elevator and destroyed it. We'll need to find another one."

"There should be two more elevators on the other side of the sector," Richter said as he wrapped a bandage around a burn on his leg, where an Imp had struck him with a fireball. "There's more reinforcements coming from them. You'll have to split up once you reach the elevators."

"No problem," Matt said. "I'll nuke the hell out of them."

He never expected the situation to get out of control this quickly. Guess it was time to prove some more how he was one of the men and not one of the boys.