Chapter Twenty-Two:

           
“Let’s face it; the Diabolos was a complete and utter failure. If this keeps up our funding will be drained and our budget will be lowered. If we want to make an impact, a mark that will forever stand tall in the essence of society then we have to be more creative, more efficient.” The stern voice of the production manager stationed aboard Prometheus yelled while his staff could only stand idly by listening to the words thrown back at them.
Nathan Leviticus sighed, many thoughts continued to roll through his head like a digital slide show only with out a stop function. Most people would be distraught at what their boss would label a failure but Nathan wasn’t like most people. He was a Lieutenant Commander in the EAP, a man who was labeled as unstable to pilot an MF ever again, and still throughout all the battles he remained sincere and true to his feelings. Throughout the entire 30 minute staff meeting as it was inappropriately called his mind could do nothing but wander off into the clusters of stars that remained frozen outside.

“Psst, Nathan.”

Glancing to his side Nathan noticed his friend, and superior officer, General Ritsuzen standing beside him. At one time seeing Hayate would be a calming gesture, something needed to relieve the intense pressure that continued to clog his daily routines. But lately Hayate served as a sign of more distressing times that lay ahead. It was Hayate that informed him of his transfer to Prometheus and into the Crimson Dawn project.

“Hayate? What are you doing here? I thought you were being transferred back to Tokyo.” Nathan whispered back.

“I still am, but after what happened I decided to stop by here first. Tokyo can wait, I needed to make sure you were still alive after what happened.

Just how in the hell did someone manage to steal the Diabolos?” Hayate whispered back trying to keep his voice in check.

“Can we talk about this another time? Like after the meeting or something? I’m already in trouble for failing to prevent the theft.”

“I heard about that too, don’t worry, I took care of it. It won’t touch your record.”

“Dismissed.” The voice of the production manager shouted. Suddenly a feeling of relief swept over Nathan along with the other engineers and chemists in the room.

“What good timing. Now come on Nathan, there’s some things that we need to discuss.” Hayate said as he grabbed onto Nathan’s right arm in order to pull him away towards the coffee lounge.

“Make it quick Hayate. I have to be back in the production hanger by 0800.”

“Really? Going back to work already huh?”

“Of course, the home land is pushing us to finish the next stage of the Diabolos. But the amount of pressure we’re feeling is nothing compared to the amount in the genetics department.”

Hayate suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway allowing other workers to quickly move ahead towards their daily routines.

“What?” Nathan mumbled staring back at his friend.

“So it was one of them….one of the Crimson Dawn.”

Nathan’s eyes widened, he wasn’t sure up until this point of how much knowledge Hayate had been made aware of. Then again he was a general, and it wouldn’t be surprising to Nathan if Hayate knew even more about the true purpose of the Crimson Dawn and of the Diabolos then he knew.

“Yes it was….”

“So that means you saw what they’re capable of.”

“You….you’re a…” Nathan muttered just before the figure’s right hand smacked the gun right out of Nathan’s clutches.

A serene widened grin glistened in the darkness along with a sadistic laugh.

“Hehehe…this machine is the definition of beauty and perfection.” The person kicked Nathan in the gut causing him to roll over in agony. It was a slight kick, and yet it still hurt as much as it did. Nathan clutched onto his rib cage as he coughed loudly. Thick streams of blood spurt out causing him to choke on his own life-stream.

“I’ll be taking this.”

“What? *cough*….you can’t *cough*….its not ready yet!” Nathan yelled.

“It’s calling me. Its fine just the way it is!” The figure screamed back as he grabbed onto a cable that began to reel him closer to the torso of the Diabolos.

Nathan could do nothing but watch as the person entered the cockpit of the terror known as Diabolos. His vision became distorted, blurred, he was losing consciousness.

It wasn’t something he was about to forget. The strength that he felt pass through his skin and muscles, the agility that could be on par with a cheetah; the inhuman aura that fluctuated through the atmosphere at that very moment wasn’t something that would just fade away.

“Yes, I saw what the Crimson Dawn of capable of, and it is because of this that I disapprove of the actions taken by Laine Priam and her cabinet of politicians.” Nathan replied.

“*Sigh* Always the same naïve person as always huh Nathan?”

“I’m not naïve, I just don’t approve of experimenting on human beings and altering their DNA, God would not….”

“God? WHERE WAS GOD IN BERLIN?!!” Hayate screamed. The sudden raises in octave levels shook Nathan, never before had he heard such anger bellow out from his friend. 

Hayate’s fists quivered at his sides and Nathan could do nothing but stare while other passing Prometheus workers took their ignorant and rude glances.

“Hayate…”

“I’m….I’m sorry. I’ve just been stressing out lately. Between the Diabolos getting stolen and then the sudden appearance of this anomaly…”

“Anomaly? What anomaly?”

At first Hayate stared back at Nathan like he was a moron, every EAP soldier heard about the anomaly lingering in between Mars and Phobos, and had heard of the recent battle that took place there.

“You really have no idea what I’m talking about?”

“Not a clue, you tend to forget that I’m no longer out in the blazing field of battle. I’ve been stuck in this dull place for the past month.” Nathan replied.

“Good point. Apparently a very peculiar heat source appeared seemingly out of nowhere 5 days ago. It appeared somewhere in between Phobos and Mars, and if that wasn’t enough of a shocker there was also an outbreak battle.”

“A battle? Between who?”

“Well we were able to verify a few heat signatures, at first we were extremely surprised at what we found. First off the TA’s very own 181st IDSF’s Marcus Falden was present along with some other MF’s that were believed to be MIA ever since the conclusion of the Azure Cup. Needless to say this event has a lot of the higher ups scrambling to make sense out of the ordeal.”

“I see, do you think it was Red Fury?”

“No, Red Fury has made it extremely clear that they’re going to continue their operations on Mars. But I did hear about the one exception. I heard that they were here a few days ago, 5 to be exact.”

“….” Nathan remained quiet in order to choose his words correctly. It was indeed true that Red Fury arrived at Prometheus and managed to cause an uproar that was contained, namely in part to his quick reflexes and superb negotiating skills. But if he were to announce that he purposely let a TA POW named Gwen Rose escape then he’d most likely be subject to court martial.

“Don’t worry; I’m not concerned about what happened, or about the escaped POW. I’ll tell you one thing, you owe me a lot. I’ve been covering your ass for far too long.”  

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you honestly think we left Prometheus with minimal security measures? I have the entire conversation between you and one Micheal Lythe stored on my hard drive inside my MF.”

“You…heard that?”

“Every word, but, I commend you. This is probably the first and the last time you will hear this, but….I probably would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes. But enough about that, I want to know about this new project you guys have got going on.”

“You mean the MK.II?”

“Yes, that one. Will it be suited with a Crimson Dawn?”

“More than likely, although I had hoped the previous incident would have served as a warning as to not continue with the project.”      

“Well, don’t concern yourself with that. You’ll only give yourself even more stress, and we can’t have that. I want you back by my side again.”

“Haha, wishful thinking. I’ll never get back into an MF.”

“Nah, you will someday Nathan. I know that much for a fact.”

“Before I forget I brought you this. Hopefully it will help out in the construction of the MK.II.” Hayate replied as he handed a flat disc to Nathan.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a heat signature analysis of the battle that occurred between Phobos and Mars. Specifically of two MFs.” Hayate replied with a snicker.

“Just two MFs? How is this going to help me?”

“It’s simple, one of the MF’s was the very same that defeated the Diabolos MK.I. But if you recall in the digital video of the Diabolos’ defeat you’ll see a cluster of objects that showed up just before the Diabolos fell.”

“Yes, and what’s you’re point?”

“Heh, well you see….those objects belong to Blue Dragon.” Hayate replied.

“The same MF that prevented the Tribulation?”

“Yep. So I figure that with the data of the MF that defeated the Diabolos and the data of the MF that defeated Rebel358 you would be able to make a machine that would have no superior and no equal. Have fun.” Just as he finished his sentence Hayate began to chuckle walking away from his friend giving him no more than a quick wave of his hand.

Staring back at the disk that he now held in his hand Nathan took a deep breath. One way or another the information that was now with in his grasp would change the fate of the world.