Examining the exosuit user, Fade watched blood drip from their left hand down to the ground. On their left hand, the exosuit user wore a gauntlet with two-foot-long jagged blades protruding from their wrist. With the main energy color of red flowing down their right arm, there was a slight hint of purple energy to go along with it.
"You know Killjoy, you really are so much like your father." Fade began to walk forward, his tail whipping around and destroying the ground around him. "A savage beast in need of being put down."
"I'm really getting tired of people telling me that." Killjoy sneered. Grabbing a mass of nanotechnology from the ground, he threw it to Fade's feet. "That one of yours." He added in a mocking tone as Fade peered down at the decapitated head of Thorn.
"Yea..."that" is one of mine." Fade said solemnly as Magna finally reached the battlefield, Sheila following close behind her.
"That mark?" Killjoy questioned upon examining Magna. "Thats Wardens mark. What did you do to him?"
"I killed him." Magna answered with an empty tone.
"Sounds like he finally got what he wanted by the tone of your voice." The voice of Captain Forger spoke from behind Killjoy. "A death worthy of a true warrior, it's all the idiot ever hoped for. And by the look of it, he passed Sheila down to you."
Taking multiple steps forward, Fade spoke. "Shut up, will you."
"Take on the girl." Killjoy said, walking towards the oncoming Fade.
While Killjoy took his next couple steps, Forger backed off to the side and outstretched his arm towards Magna. Then returning in kind, Magna dashed past Fade towards Forger. With those two fighting it out, Killjoy phased to Fade's side and threw a punch towards his face. But his punch was deflected when Fade's tail whipped into his hand.
Merely standing while his tail did all the work, Fade watched all of Killjoy's attacks get deflected. "You don't understand how tempted I am to tell you who your parents are." His tail suddenly swooped down, smacking Killjoy's foot out from under him. Then grabbing Killjoy as he stumbled back, he threw him to the side.
Killjoy jumped up off the ground after rolling through the dirt for a moment. "Then why don't you?" He said while charging at Fade.
Dodging a jab from Killjoy's gauntlet with only atoms to spare, Fade countered by shifting forward and hitting him with a palm strike to the face. "The absolute certainty that your father would rip me apart." As Killjoy stumbled back disoriented, he closed the distance and delivered multiple blows into his body.
"I'd be fine with that right about now!" Killjoy yelled as he grabbed Fade by the throat, drew his head back and headbutt him hard enough to break his stance. "Fuck!" He let out in an exited tone.
"Yup" Fade thought while backing off. "Just like his fucking father!"
Not giving Fade enough time to think any further, Killjoy phased right in front of him. He then sent a jab aimed at Fades face that he dodged. What Fade did not dodge was the right hook he moved directly into. But as he was hit with that, his tail wrapped around Killjoy's leg, yanked him into the air and then slammed him back down into the ground.
Before Killjoy had the chance to recover from the attack, Fade sent an energy infused kick into his stomach. Fade, putting a massive amount of energy into the kick, sent Killjoy flying towards the facility. A facility that was now being plagued by disastrous explosion and energized fire.
Rolling to a stop, Killjoy pushed himself off the ground and peered over at the burning facility. "What the hell is going on in there?" Killjoy coughed. While rising back up to his feet, a massive explosion blew apart the main section of the facility.
In the midst of the massive explosion Outlier rose out of the facility, firing off a beam of energy at an Angel jet as it flew by. Stepping out of the facility, Outlier lowed its left arm and aimed its hand at Killjoy. Then suddenly, a beam of white energy tore through Outliers arm at high speeds from behind.
This beam of white energy severed Outliers arm and then spiraled into the battlefield. After a moment of sliding across the battlefield ground, the energy dissipated, revealing Foxtrot now sliding across the dirt while standing. Slowly coming to a stop, he was placed rigth into the middle of Magna and Forger's fight.
The two exosuit users stopped as Foxtrot slowly turned his head, taking a second to study each of them. Energy was still meandering around him as he turned his head. Behind, Outlier dropped to its knees in front of the facility. And closer than that stood Killjoy and Fade, each wondering, "What the hell is he doing here?"
"So, you guys finally decided to join us after all." Forger said while taking a step towards Foxtrot. "I understand that may have been hard, considering-"
Without a word or even turning to look at Forger, Foxtrot interrupted him by raising his arm and aiming his palm at his face. Without the chance to react in time, Forger took a beam of white energy directly to the face. A beam of energy that atomized his head, leaving his body standing in place like nothing happened.
Forger's body dropped to the ground after a long moment of silence shared by everyone on the battlefield. Magna, Fade and Killjoy all stared at him in surprise, each of them unable to speak a word. Then, Foxtrot turned around, the thrusters of his jetpack activating, thrusting him towards Fade at a high speed.
Fade was barely able to dodge in time as Foxtrot kicked the ground where he once stood. Lunging forward, he tried to throw a punch at Foxtrot as his tail flew at him from the side. To defend against this, Foxtrot simply jumped back with assistance from thrusters on his calf and aimed his palm at Fade.
A blast of energy discharged from Foxtrots hand that Fade was able to narrowly avoid by dodging. But the blast of energy was a feint from Foxtrot that Fade fell right for. Raising his leg slightly, the thrusters on his calves activated, allowing him to send a devastating kick into Fade's stomach, sending him flying into the air.
"I see." Fade thought as Foxtrot flew up to him, landing a blow into his head. "He's found a way to deactivate his limiter. But I thought it was impossible for Exocore members to find the limiter." Letting his energy overflow, a shockwave of green energy exploded from his exosuit.
Yet even with the shockwave still ripping through the air, Foxtrot flew directly into it. He flew through the energy and sent a powerful right cross into Fade's face. "He's faster than me and I can actually feel his punches." Fade flew across the battlefield into the battlefield and crashed into the ground beside Killjoy. "I don't understand."
"He's supposed to be one of Apocalyptic Returning's weaker members!" Fade hissed as Foxtrot landed before him and Killjoy. The sheer intensity of the energy being exuded from Foxtrot sent a sense of dread throughout his body. "Ha, I get it, you activated overdrive, didn't you?"
Taking a step back, Fade peered at Killjoy. "He's going to kill both of us if we don't work together! Overdrive doesn't last forever so if we-"
Letting out an amused chuckle, Killjoy lunged forward and slashed Fade across the chest with his gauntlet. "As if asshole!" Killjoy then stepped on Fade's tail and sent another jab at his body. But before the jab could hit Fade, a blast of white energy exploded into Killjoy's head, causing him to stagger back disoriented.
Foxtrot then stepped back with assistance from his jet pack, dodging multiple punches and tail jabs from Fade. Stepping forward, Foxtrot watched as Fade's fist narrowly flew past his head. He then drew back his left fist and sent an energy enhanced left hook into Fade's face, breaking his jaw.
As Fade staggered back in shock, Foxtrot began walking towards him slowly. Then, stopping only a couple feet away from Fade, Foxtrot raised his left arm and aimed his palm at the struggling Fade. Energy began to charge up in Foxtrots hand, but before it could discharge, he was hit by a blast of yellow energy.
This blast of energy sent Foxtrot flying across the battlefield, eventually causing him to crash into a destroyed tank. Looking over his shoulder, Fade watched as Outlier stepped across the battlefield over to him. Then, he turned his head only to see Killjoy standing there, examining the new white energy integrated into his exosuit.
"He's figuring out how to use her ability?!" Fade examined Killjoy while taking a step back and raising his hand to hold his broken jaw. "What a monster."
Slowly opening his eyes, Foxtrot examined the battlefield around him. In the distance Killjoy and Outlier engaged in combat. Up to his left, he saw Magna sitting atop the tank he was implanted in. Pushing himself out of the tank, he turned after hearing a bark, seeing Sheila sitting on the ground beside him.
"This mutt yours?" Foxtrot asked while struggling to stand, his mind still in a slight daze after taking such a powerful beam of energy.
"All those years ago." Magna began. "Why did you leave Exocore for Apocalyptic Returning? What reasons could you have possibly had for joining a group of psychotic battle junkies?"
"Are you really in any position to talk right now?" Foxtrot questioned, turning his head to look up at her. "You're fighting for an organization hellbent on taking over the world."
"For the betterment of humanity!" Magna raised her voice. "They're not the same as they were one hundred years ago. Taking over the world is the only way to unite everyone on the path for world peace. Even you should be able to see the path the world is currently taking and conclude that humanity won't last for another hundred years."
Foxtrot turned away from Magna, unable to listen to her antics any longer. "Honestly don't even know why I'm arguing with you about this. I don't even care about humanity." Watching Killjoy punch Outlier across the face, Foxtrot's white energy pulsed back to the level it was at before.
"You asked me why I joined Apocalyptic Returning." The thrusters on Foxtrot's jetpack fired up, boosting him into the air. "It's because they don't care when I do shit like this!"
"I don't understand, how the fuck did shit get this bad?!" Fade thought while watching outlier drop to its knees.
After punching Outlier to its knees, Killjoy was now falling back down to the ground from a hundred feet in the air. As he did, his gaze fell upon Fade, who was staring up at him in terror. Then, as he was about to speak, Foxtrot sent a powerful energy enhanced punch directly into his face.
This punch from Foxtrot released a shockwave of white energy that propelled Killjoy into Outlier. Killjoy slammed into Outlier's chest, knocking the Mech over as it was trying to get back up. Yelling out multiple obscenities, a shockwave of red and purple energy exploded from Killjoy's exosuit.
Then, as Killjoy was drawing back his left arm, preparing to jump and attack Foxtrot, his arm suddenly fell slump. Confused, he turned his head to see that his left shoulder was practically missing. Blood poured from his wound as he looked even further behind, seeing that Outliers core had been damaged from Foxtrot's attack.
A loud whirring noise filled the ears of Killjoy as Outliers core began to overload with energy. A sudden pulse of energy exploded from the core, covering Killjoy the ground and a large portion of the Infinium facility. Then, with a bright flash of light, everything the energy touched was gone, teleported away to an unknown location.
Foxtrot stared down at where Outlier and the facility once stood in confusion. In the blink of an eye, they were suddenly gone, an act Foxtrot could find no reason behind. Not that he cared all that much, he had already finished what he came to do. But in reality, it was not finished, at least not until he caught Fade jumping at him from behind.
Whipping around, Foxtrot dodged and grabbed Fade by the tail midair. For a moment, he spun him around, then flung him back down towards the ground. Where he then crashed into the same tank Magna was still sitting upon. But what happened next was something Foxtrot was not expecting.
Fade let out an angered roar as a shockwave of green energy blew apart the tank around him. "This FUCK, ruined everything." He thought after realizing his jaw was still broken. "It was going so fucking smoothly until this motherfucker showed up." Watching Foxtrot land on the ground, Fade phased forward and sprinted towards him.
Letting energy flow into his leg, Foxtrot boosted forward, attempting to deliver a kick into Fade's head. But, instead of getting hit by the kick, Fade dodged under it and grabbed Foxtrots other leg by the ankle. After jerking Foxtrot into the air by his leg, Fade slammed him down into the ground, creating a small crater in the process.
"I'm starting to slow down." Foxtrot thought while boosting away to dodge Fade's tail. "The initial burst of energy from activating overdrive must be dying down. Must be because I already-"
Fade suddenly dashed up beside Foxtrot, interrupting his thought and forcing him to boost back. Nevertheless, Fade still caught him in the face with a right hook that planted him face-first into the ground. And before he could comprehend what had just happened, the pincer on Fade's tail stabbed into his back.
Being raised into the air by Fade's tail, Foxtrot felt the poisonous energy from Fade's tail spread through the wound in his back. After a moment of that, Fade's tail threw Foxtrot to the ground right beside where Fade stood. Foxtrot landed on the ground, unable to move, with the only thing he could do was watch Fade from the corner of his vision.
Raising his foot into the air, Fade stomped down onto Foxtrots head repeatedly over a ten second period. Then, Fade drew back his leg and kicked Foxtrot onto his stomach. He then slammed his foot into Foxtrots throat, pinning him to the ground. Then, his tail shot down, piercing into Foxtrots hand and into the ground.
"Nice fucking job asshole. You showed up out of ass fuck nowhere, destroyed our Mech and killed a couple Infinium captains." Fade let out after feeling if his jaw was properly healed enough for speech. "Congratu-fucking-lations asshole, now die." Yet even after saying that, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
Fade stared off into the distance at something that Foxtrot could not see from the angle he was lying at. "Shit" Foxtrot heard Fade mumble before an exosuit user suddenly appeared in front of Fade and himself. Barely able to turn his head under Fade's foot, Foxtrot was hardly able to make out the familiar yellow energy of the exosuit user before Fade.
In the blink of an eye Fade retreated, phasing back a couple dozen feet. "Should've known another one of you bastards would have shown up eventually."
"How are you doing Fade?" Musashi asked while suddenly appearing behind Fade and pressing his sword up to Fade's throat. "I see you and Foxtrot were having a nice time."
"C'mon let's get you up Foxy." Scout said, grabbing Foxtrot from the arm and helping him to his feet. "Ahhhhhh" He let out while examining the wound on Foxtrot's back. "Lucky, we showed up when we did." Flicking the wound, he let out a slight chuckle. "Don't worry, Rika will fix you up right as we get back."
When Scout backed up from Fade, Musashi lowered his sword and walked over to them. "Nice seeing you after so long Fade." Musashi stopped beside Scout and placed his hand on Scout's shoulder. "Be seeing you."
"You fucking assholes." Fade spat. "All you fucking bastards think you can just show up whenever the hell you want, do whatever the hell you want and just fucking leave like nothing."
"Then do something about it...bitch" Scout added mockingly before he teleported himself, Musashi and Foxtrot away.
This left Fade standing alone, Magna walking towards him with Sheila following close behind. Fade still stood there staring at what was left of the destroyed Infinium facility. Even as Magna walked up beside him, he still stood there, staring, contemplating, trying to figure out what to do next.
"What are we supposed to do now?' Magna asked solemnly before sitting down on a rock. Upon sitting down, Sheila walked up to her and laid down beside her feet.
"You're going to go back to Headquarters." Taking a step forward, Fade watched as the remaining Mariquel forces moved towards the destroyed Infinium Facility. "There's something else I need to handle before going back."
"This is bad." As Fade walked through the trees, he pondered in his head. "The rest of the Mechs still aren't finished and those Apocalyptic Returning bastards are already interfering. Having to fight both groups is going to be impossible right now." A VTOL flew down from above the trees and landed in front of him. "We don't have the manpower."
The ramp to the VTOL opened, revealing Savage Coledrane to be standing inside. Walking up the ramp, Fade glanced at Savage for a moment before sitting down. "So, your regeneration can even save you from getting your brains blown out?"
"I've survived a lot worse than having half my head blown off." Savage remarked. "Perks of having one of the highest levels of regeneration out of any exosuit user ever."
"You find any information on what I asked of you?" Fade questioned, Savage sitting in the seat across from him.
"Yea, just not easily." Savage answered. "From what I've found, the tracks are leading to the Russian wastelands. I'm sure you know what that means."
Of course, Fade knew what that meant. He was there in Moscow when the country fell to ruin after the virus simply known as XK-0 was released across the globe. There was no way he would ever forget the horrors of that day. A day that brought the world to its knees, the day known as Navidad Caido.