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Strayed arrived to the Arteria Cranium, the largest amongst and the most important Arteria facility. After a short fight with the League forces consisting of Normals and 2 Land Crab Arms Forts that guarded it, he entered it. Strayed was the last member of the ORCA Brigade, a brigade that wanted to execute the Closed Plan of Rayleonard to open a path for the humanity by diverting power from Cradles to Anti-Satellite cannons so they may fire, but without power Cradles will be forced to crash land onto surface of Earth, killing many people inside. ORCA members knew what they were doing and they weren't going to back down, Strayed especially, after the sacrifices of the other ORCA members he must do it, even if it means he has to die or be seen as a monster to whole humanity. After boosting through one of the hallways his Operator Serene Haze contacted him.
"Stand by, I'm picking up two NEXT signatures, it's Reiterpallasch and My Bliss." Serene said. He was not to surprised hear that Wynne D Fanchion is here, despite her pride as a Lynx which she demonstrated to him on of the missions he took for Interior Union, when a Lynx called Patch surrendered and begged for mercy, she deemed him unworthy of the title of Lynx and cut him down with her laser blade. She was very honorable and despised those who kill for the sake of it.
"Roger, I won't back down, I've gone too far anyway." He said with a sigh, back when he was still a rookie Lynx, he worked with Wynne D on a few missions, he respected her deeply and wished it hadn't come to this.
As he arrived to the last corridor that was connected to the last room before the console that manages the power lines of Cradles he saw a wreckage of a NEXT, it was a silver colored AALIYAH model missing its left arm and having a laser blade stab wound right at its core. The unit was equipped with two ACB-0710 back-boosters and a 07-MOONLIGHT laser blade on its right arm and bearing an emblem of two katanas and a split moon in the background. Strayed recognized the NEXT, it was Shinkai the last Lynx of Rayleonard and an exceptional CQC pilot. With a sigh Strayed put down his weapons and patted the NEXT's shoulder.
"Your sacrifice won't be forgotten." Strayed said, another more Lynx of ORCA died in a battle against The League, another more brother in arms dead. Picking up his weapons his operator contacted him.
"I hate to say this, but we must continue our mission. They're just up ahead. Target the two NEXTs: Reiterpallasch and My Bliss. You've chosen your answer. Now see it through." His black AALIYAH model bearing an emblem of a moon wih two black feathers underneath it and a bright green visor, boosted through the corridor, with 03-MOTORCOBRA machine gun in its left hand and ACACIA assault rifle in its right and OGOTO grenade launcher on its back. The unit was armed to engage the enemy at mid-range combat.
"Our guest has arrived Wynne D. Right on schedule." A dark green HILBERT model NEXT was standing in front of him on a higher ground. Soon after a brass colored LATONA model NEXT came up to the left side.
"You don't hesitate to kill for 'humanity' do you? Then lay down your own life. Like Thermidor before you." She said with hatred in her voice.
"I was hoping to meet you under different circumstances, but I guess that's just how the fate works. There's only one way Wynne D, you gotta fight for what you believe in. Let the victor be justice." he said aiming his his machine gun and assault rifle at them.
"So be it then." Was the only thing she said before she fired at him from her HI laser canon followed by a missile barrage from My Bliss, he dodged the shot and fired his machine gun to detonate the missiles before him, as he fired a shot from OGOTO at Roy, but Reiterpallasch was closing in on him with intent to cut him down using her laser blade. He quickboosted to the side as the grenade shell missed Roy as he already jumped down, however the following explosion hit his NEXT with shrapnel and damaged his PA. Strayed quickly turned his attention to Wynne D firing from his hand weapons, the fast fire rate of his guns were making good damage to her NEXT, but she quickly quickboosted backwards while firing from her laser canon, he dodged, but was hit from the laser shot to the back from My Bliss' HI laser rifle who was closing the distance while firing from his gatling gun. Strayed quickboosted forwards to My Bliss and being behind him Strayed used his quickboost to quickly turn around and fired from his grenade launcher hitting Roy, the shell hit him, severely damaging the NEXT and its Primal Armor, however before Strayed could continue his assault he was almost cut by Wynne D's laser blade who quickly closed the gap at him through the smoke cover of his own grenade launcher's explosion. Strayed quickboosted backwards while firing from his hand weapons, she quickboosted to the side while opening fire from her pulse cannon and pulse gun, while Strayed and Wynne D were in a gunfight, Roy's My Bliss opened fire from its missiles forcing Strayed and Reiterpallasch to disengage. She quickly retreated to Roy's side as they had a stand still moment.
"Can we end this quickly...? That's all we can hope for." Roy said with fatigue in his voice.
"Stand firm, Roy." Wynne D told her partner, however she too sounded tired.
"It's ironic we meet this way Wynne D. We could have flown the skies together. I still remember how we fought together and I still cherish those memories" Strayed said wih sadness in his voice. He still respects her even if she despises him.
Wynne D said nothing in return, as the NEXTs engaged in battle again, however Strayed begun his assault with AA detonation which forced the two to separate, the Assault Armor explosion stripped My Bliss off its protection making it vulnerable allowing Strayed a chance to strike and so he fired from his grenade launcher, the shell directly hitting at Roy. His NEXT heavily damaged was finally finished.
"Not the smoothest ending to my... career. Wynne D... I'm sorry. I wasn't much help..." Roy said as his iron giant finally fell.
"You did well. Now rest, your battle is finally over." Strayed said with respect in his voice.
"Hmph. Roy Saaland... a good guy? It doesn't suit you." Wynne D says as she and Strayed enter the battle once again.
As the battle progressed Strayed was forced to drop his grenade launcher for more mobility, as Reiterpallasch was too fast to be hit by it, however Wynne D's Reiterpallasch finally fell after her NEXT's armor that is weak to ballistic weaponry was shredded. Her NEXT came to a halt. Strayed stopped his attack.
"No! I'm not done yet! Reiterpallasch! We're not finished yet!" She said with despair in her voice, as her NEXT still tried to take a step and begun to fall. Strayed boosted forward dropping his weapons and catched her in his arms.
"I'm sorry that it has to come to this Wynne D." Strayed said holding her NEXT in his hands. Reiterpallasch pulled her hand towards him, Strayed did the same and held onto her hand.
"To treasure a life... is that something to laugh at? Everything is twisted. You. This world. All of it." She said while her NEXT's visor begun to dim until it was off. Strayed held onto her hand a bit more before he carefully set her down.
He looked at the wreckages of the two NEXTs and sighed, he has done it, but at what cost? Betraying Collared and the Lynx who were close with him, not being able to protect White Glint who perished in the seas of Line Ark, gaining new comrades in the ORCA Brigade and then losing them as well and he sill has to become a monster to save humanity. He picked up his weapons and boosted forwards. As he was moving towards his objective Serene contacted him.
"Another NEXT coming in hot!" Serene's voice warned him before he could look at his radar to check he was hit by an orange laser shot. Strayed boosted away before turning to where the shot came from. Strayed saw a familiar looking blue NEXT standing in front of him. His scanners identified the NEXT as Otsdarva's Stasis, however what shocked him was the ID-signal of a Lynx piloting it. It was Thermidor, the leader of ORCA, the man who inspired him to join the fight in the ORCA was standing before him in a NEXT of Otsdarva.
"Hmph, even they were not enough to stop him." The voice of Thermidor came through the comms, however it had the all familiar cocky atitude of Otsdarva.
"Thermidor...! You betrayed us! This was your fight to begin with!" Serene said through the radio, her voice was full of anger.
"The man called Thermidor has already passed. The man standing before you is Rank, 1 Otsdarva." Thermidor, no Otsdarva declared over the radio."
"What is it that you hope to achieve Otsdarva?" Strayed asked Otsdarva with venom in his voice.
"You've fought your way hard and I guess you've won the right to know the truth. Have you ever thought of how all of ORCA Brigade consisted of renegades that opposed The League? On Omer's orders me and Malzel formed an organization to gather all the threats to corporations in one place and send them on suicide missions where they die. Furthermore with the renegades dead we could've intiated the Closed Plan of Rayleonard to make way for corporations in space. This way ORCA will be remembered as the murderers that brought down the Cradles, while Omer will lead the world. That's my mission and you're the final obstacle on my mission!" Otsdarva declared, revealing everything to Strayed. All this war and people who suffered in it were just pawns in a bigger game.
"And what will you have to show for yourself after the war Otsdarva? Blood? Gold? A broken throne? I guess it matters not, now let's see you dance!" Strayed declared before closing the distance with a quickboost while opening fire from his hand-held weapons. Otsdarva quickboosted to the side while firing from his hand weapons. Strayed dodged to the side while taking fire from Statis' assault rifle. His Primal Armor taking damage, but still holding up. However his assault rifle ran out of ammo. Throwing it to the side he equipped the EB-0700 laser blade known for its ability to be activated quickly. Equipping it Strayed was closing in on Stasis while quickboosting side to side so that he could threw his aim off of him, but Stasis' LAHIRE FCS allowed him to keep Strayed locked and because of it he scored a hit from his laser rifle. Strayed still held on and activated his laser blade and swung it across the Stasis' core, but it wasn't deep enough to kill the pilot inside. Strayed retreated while firing from his machine gun to keep the enemy at bay. Otsdarva thought the same as he activated his PM-missle launcher while shooting from his laser rifle, fortunately for him the ceiling was high enough for missles to not hit it. Strayed dodged the laser shot and tried to dodge the missles too, but was hit by three of the missiles. Strayed was firing from his machine gun, but out of its effective range it wasn't very good. So he closed the distance dodging the laser shot from Stasis while Otsdarva switched his missiles for his assault rifle and begun firing while boosting backwards to keep out of his laser blade's range. Strayed dodging the incoming fire as much as he could closed the distance enough for his assault armor to be in range and so he activated it. The green Kojima blast knocked Stasis away and Strayed closed in for the killing blow, stabbing his laser blade right into the core of the blue LAHIRE.
"D-damn it, you are just as good as him. Hehe i-it matters not, you will be hunted down by Omer. I-I-I can promise you that, you WILL die Strayed." Otsdarva promised through the comms while coughing up a few times.
Strayed said nothing as he cut the core of Stasis in two. The two halves soon exploded and begun to burn. Strayed then marched forwards while he checked the status of his NEXT. His NEXT was heavily damaged with only 39% of his AP remaining and his ammunition nearly depleted. Serene contacted him shortly after
"And so ends phase one of the Closed Plan. You are the sole remaining ORCA member." Serene commented with amazement in her voice.
Strayed boosted through the room until he reached the elevator. He activated it and the lift begun it's descent to the room beneath. As the elevator reached its destination he saw a small console that was connected to left side of the wall. Approaching it he contacted Serene for help.
"Serene can you remotely access the console?"
"Hm it's going to take some time, but it's possible." Strayed decided to not ask about how she was gonna access it, he was too tired of all this. As he was contemplating everything that happened to him a small prompt appeared on a console.
"Figured you might wanna do the honors of initiating the Closed Plan, so have at it I guess. Don't worry it's big enough for a NEXT to press."
"Alright, let's finish this."
He pressed the 'Y' command on the prompt. The prompt dissapeared and a bar appeared with 'rerouting' word on it. As it was finished Strayed slashed the console so that it won't be used again. After this he returned to the elevator, as the elevator reached the top Serene contacted him through the radio.
"Wait, I'm detecting a bio-sginature coming from Reiterpallasch, it's Wynne D, she's still alive!" Serene exclaimed with surprise in her voice. Strayed was shocked as well, until Wynne D not a single Lynx managed to survive their NEXT being destroyed. His thoughts were interrupted when Serene asked him.
"So what are you going to do with her?" Strayed thought about it, he couldn't bring himself to finish her and yet he couldn't leave her to die a slow death. And so he decided to help her out.
"Serene, how can we help her?"
"Hm, I'd say that your best bet is on carrying her NEXT out where we'll arrive in a transport helicopter to take you two to Line Ark. Trying to get her out of her NEXT might be too dangerous as the Primal Armor of Reiterpallasch is still active."
"Roger."
Strayed then boosted forwards to Reiterpallasch. As he arrived he could see that Reiterpallasch's visor was blinking. Setting down his machine gun, he carefully picked her up. As he picked her up he noticed that the NEXT's head slightly turned towards him.
"Don't worry, your life won't end here. We'll patch you up." Strayed tried to reassure her. She said nothing in return. Strayed boosted towards the exit. As he finally left the facility he could see a transport helicopter that were flying towards them.
"Strayed we'll be dropping the cables, try to hook them on Reiterpallasch, so we can lift her up." The pilot of the transport craft ordered him.
Strayed did as ordered. Hooking two of the cables to Reiterpallasch's back and two on shoulders.
"All good. Lifting." The pilot said as the Reiterpallasch was lifted into the helicopter.
"Alright now it's your turn."
Strayed stood under the helicopter as the cables were dropped, hooking them up on his shoulders and his core, he was lifted into the chopper. Strayed looked at the sun and he was finally at peace, he had done his mission, the ORCA's sacrifices were not in vain and now he will protect Line Ark, his new home as the successor of White Glint.