Here it is, I'm trying to get this sequel to Ramsus and the Elements put up on RPGamer.com, hopefully you'll like this as much as I did writing it. Thanks for reading it.

JC

Citan Mizuki sat alone in his small workspace at his home, waiting for his guest. His guest was expected anytime now, so Citan took this free time to continue writing more of his memoirs of everything that had happened within the past two years. He'd been writing his account of everything for the past few months, in between helping to rebuild his home, and the destroyed village of Lahan that he lived near. He was writing memoirs so they could someday be read by everyone, and hopefully even be passed down long after he died so future generations could know what mistakes his had, and not have history repeat itself. It was around seven months after the whole ordeal had ended, and although the world still needed more healing than anyone in Citan's lifetime could do, there was for once, peace.

Just as Citan was writing his account of the first meeting with Id, there was a knock at his office door. When it opened, Mui, Citan's wife, was standing there with a tall, blonde haired young man.

"Citan, Billy's here." Mui said, holding a cup of tea in her hands. She walked in, and gave the cup of tea to Citan, and he thanked her.

"Thank you, dear." Citan said, taking the tea. She nodded, and walked out as Billy Lee Black, 17 year old former priest, walked in and sat down on the couch near Citan's desk.

Billy looked much different than he had when he was a fighter. Instead of the blue priest's robe he used to wear, now he wore a brown trench coat much like his father's, a light blue dress shirt, brown slacks and brown hiking boots. Billy reminded Citan so much of Jessie when he was Jessie's age.

"Thanks for coming, Billy." Citan said.

"It's kind of important."

Billy shrugged. "There was really nothing to do at the Snowfields anyway. There's enough food for whole year, and we've been able to get power running so there's light all the time."

"How's your father?"

"He's fine, so, Prim. The old man's trying to be New Kislev's sheriff because Rico's trying to get the place back in order, and offered him the job. Age never seems to catch up with that man."

Citan chuckled, then the look on his face turned serious.

"There's something I'd like you to do, Billy."

"What is it?"

"Remember a little while before we fought in Merkava, Fei, Emeralda, and I went to a large lighthouse."

Billy started to think back, and remembered hearing about it, but never visited the underground city he'd heard so much about.

"I remember, but I never went down there." Billy said.

"That's what I called you here for." Citan cleared his throat, and stood up in front of Billy.

"Being you're not so busy, I wanted to send you on what I'd call an investigation of this underground city from the Zeboim era. We never had too much time to spend on it when we first explored it, we had other concerns. So although I'd like to go back down there and see more of what I can explore, I'd rather you and some others go down and report what you've explored for me and everyone else curious."

It didn't sound like such a bad idea to Billy. He was curious about the Zeboim era himself.

"Why choose me though? There are quite a few other people who'd like to explore below the lighthouse, and I'm not exactly a scientist." Billy said skeptically.

"Don't doubt yourself so much, and like I said, there are two reasons I'm sending you and some people to accompany you. The first of which, is because of your youth."

"My...youth? What has that got to do with anything?"

"Simple. As it will always be, the future belongs to the young. Although you're definitely wise beyond your years, you still have much, much to learn. In fact, when I was your age, I thought I knew everything, only to find out I barely knew anything myself. All youth make that mistake. I'd like to make sure you avoid that as much as you can, and get a little knowledge of history."

Billy smirked, and leaned back in the seat.

"Why learn history? I was apart of it." Billy said sharply.

"Still, I'd like to go. What was the other reason you were sending me?"

"When we were last down there, there were a few nasty monsters there. They may be gone now, they are hopefully gone now. If they aren't, however, I need you and your team to handle whatever dangers you might encounter. I've already written down the suggested people you should take with you, who are...young, like yourself. Also strong like yourself."

Billy rolled his eyes. "Is this one big class field trip, Citan?"

Citan straightened his glasses and chuckled. "You could see it that way. Even you must admit, however, that there are too little things for you, the younger people to see or do."

"You especially, Billy, missed the many things youth has for you. Did you ever just...explore somewhere? This will be very fascinating, learning things about the old civilization before anyone else does. If you don't want to do this, however, I'm sure someone else would like to. Why, Elly would love more than anyone..."

Billy waved his and, cutting Citan off. "She's too busy and you know that. I'll do this, and tell everything you missed, everything I'll know back to you."

Citan nodded. "It's important we know the mistakes history makes, Billy. Or else we'll always, always be doomed to repeat it. That's the main purpose of this. Enlightenment would be a close second."

"Who exactly do you want to come along with me? Do I know them?"

Citan grinned. "Ah yes. Very well indeed."

Citan reached across his desk, took a sheet of paper, and handed it to Billy. The sheet of paper included the aspects of the mission he was being sent on, and the people he was suggested to take with him. Billy slowly lowered the paper from his face as he read it, and the look on his face showed just how annoyed he was.

"Oh no. Don't do this to me, Citan. Not them."

"Come now, Billy. They're you're friends!"

"No, one is my friend. The rest of them are ditzy, headstrong she-devils who wouldn't even be interested in this kind of thing."

"Don't be so sure, my friend. Go ask them first. Ditzy and headstrong, yes, but they are certainly clever and their strength exceeds possibly your own. So please...try them."

"Tell me again, why are you switching the power from the backup generator to the main generator?" Tolone asked her little sister Seraphita, standing over her as Seraphita kneeled at the bottom of the large battery generator.

"Because we have more power in backup right now than we do for main power! If we take away more of the backup power and put it to main, maybe the power wouldn't go out so much in this junkhole!"

Seraphita exclaimed.

Tolone and Seraphita were doing what they did best, which was argue. They were both wearing their brown worksuits that every worker at the Snowfield Base used, and they looked very conservative from what they looked like only a year ago. They were working with the large power source, like a battery, located in the bowels of the Snowfield Base, which was being called Shevat again.

It would never fly again, but could still be the main home for the refugees of the apocalypse until more of the cities could be rebuilt. Tolone still had her white hair, but kept it in one ponytail in the back of her head, not two on the side of her head. Seraphita however, still kept her short, fiery red hair,

and her fiery attitude as well.

"The reason the power keeps going out around here could be, possibly...your constant cutting it short!!" Tolone yelled.

"That's not true. Everytime the power goes out around this base, we have enough backup power due to my switching it, so we can always turn everything back on even when it goes out! It's genius!"

Tolone sighed, feeling the situation hopeless.

"What goes through that little, boy-crazed head of yours I'll never guess."

Tolone turned around, and saw Billy Lee Black walking towards herself and Seraphita, his hands in his trench coat pockets. Tolone nudged Seraphita, and she turned around quickly straightening her hair and trying to look her best.

"Oh...hi, Billy!" Seraphita said happily, standing up. She was trying to flirt as much with Billy without him taking too much interest in her. It was a shame Billy didn't think of her like that, at all.

Billy simply nodded at her and Tolone.

"Have you two seen Kelly around?" Billy asked.

"They wouldn't let me see her on my way back here, she's working sonar duty on the Yggdrasil."

Billy said, disappointed.

Tolone shrugged. "I have no idea, we've been down here most of the day."

"Is there anything else we can help you with?" Seraphita offered excitedly.

Billy nodded. "Yeah, meet me in my room on the Yggdrasil tonight, both of you. We all gotta talk."

Before Seraphita could give her next enlightening response along the lines of asking Billy if she should dress up, Billy had turned around and was already on his way out. Seraphita pouted.

"All the good ones really are taken." Seraphita said, disappointed. She quickly continued on with her work, while herself and Tolone kept bickering over absolutely nothing.

Kelvena brought two trays to the table that she and Primera sat at in the Yggdrasil's lounge. She slid the second tray of hot food over to her younger friend, and took a sip of her tea.

She looked the same as she always did, her blue uniform kept immaculate and her sea blue eyes were wide open. Primera still never talked, but would show how she felt about people with her emotions, and with her body language. She stayed around Kelvena much of the time she was off, Primera sort of looked up to Kelvena, as they both had a disability they struggled so much to overcome.

Primera actually wanted to talk, but just couldn't bring herself to.

"We'll be here at the Snowfields until tomorrow morning." Kelvena told Primera, who was eating the ice cream on her tray.

"Sigurd told me they need refueling then we're going to Kislev, which means you can see your father for a bit. Just think, the Snowfield Ruins will be empty soon. The cities will be full of people trying to start over, like the survivors of Shevat and the people the Yggdrasil rescued all over the world."

Kelvena sighed.

"When that happens, I'll actually miss the place, despite all those times the power goes out."

Primera smiled, just a little.

Just as Kelvena was drinking her tea more, Billy walked in the door of the lounge, but Kelvena didn't notice him. He walked behind her slowly, then affectionately wrapped one arm around her neck and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Hey blue eyes." Billy said, releasing her, smiling. Kelvena turned to him, and smiled back.

"Hey Billy. What did Citan want to see you for? They don't alter the course for the ship unless it's important."

Billy pulled up a chair and sat next to his blue haired girlfriend, and put both hands on the table.

"I'll explain later. I need you, Tolone, and Seraphita to come to my room tonight."

Kelvena stopped drinking, and for a second seemed real paranoid. Billy smirked.

"No, we're not taking our relationship to that level." Billy said, laughing.

Billy and Kelvena both laughed like crazy, Primera didn't seem to get the joke though.

"Actually, Citan has asked the four of us to go on a little field trip."

"Field trip? We don't have time for that kind of thing, I work too hard on the sonar here. I'm actually better than Franz at it, and Sigurd is starting to get used to me. Maybe even trust me."

"I don't know about trusting you, but your hearing is like ten times better than everyone, and your one of the best workers on this ship. The ship's in mint condition, it doesn't need any kind of repair. You can take time off, what kind of sonar will be going on when you're airborne? We're not at sea right now, and no kind of sea trips are planned, so why not come along?"

Kelvena hesitated, and started to think. "Give me the details of the trip first." she said finally.

"Great." Billy said, whipping the chair away and standing up. "

"In my room after your shift is over, then we're all gonna talk about it. Take care."

Kelvena heard Billy walk away quickly, even hearing the door slide shut behind him.

"Field trip...what is in his head now?" Kelvena asked Primera. Primera just shrugged casually.

That night, the four of them met in Billy's quarters to discuss what he so eagerly wanted to ask them. Even Primera showed up, but just for the purpose of hanging around. Everyone came in and sat down at a square table, then began their meeting.

"Can we hurry this up a bit? I've got two guys who want to fight over me up in the lounge. It'll look bad

if I'm not there for it." Seraphita said.

Tolone rolled her eyes at her, and went back to her favorite saying about her little sister.

Not even the apocalypse changes some things. Tolone thought.

Billy ignored the comment, and took out a packet of notes Citan gave him.

"I called you three down here because Citan wants me to do something that he said only we could do."

Billy started.

"There's an underground city that I heard about, but never went into. It has something to do with the Zeboim era, the one before ours. Citan feels he didn't find out enough when he went there the first time. I know Emeralda had some kind of weird thing happen that made her grow older, but besides that and a few other things they found, they didn't uncover everything they wanted to."

"Yeah, something about the world coming to the end must have distracted them." Tolone said sarcastically.

Billy glared at her briefly, then continued. "Citan didn't find out the exact name of the city, he didn't find out enough about how the people lived, he couldn't even find out what identity Miang occupied."

The three girls sat up quickly. "Miang?" Kelvena asked.

"He told me they have an archive of news reports, one includes Miang's picture as she appeared before Ramsus killed her. They're the same person, and Citan's guess is that a few thousand years ago, she helped destroy the world."

Tolone scoffed. "Kinda like now."

Miang had been the trifling force in all of the lives of the former Elements. At first, it just seemed she was their main recruiter, and the woman they all hated because of her snobbish ways and their own petty jealously. Then it turned into them having to save Ramsus from her and Krelian's raising Merkava,

their being trapped on a Salvager and being rescued by the Yggdrasil after killing the Reapers on the Salvager with them, only then to find out from Ramsus that their time as Elements had been destined since their birth, and then the greatest shock of all, that a body Miang occupied produced them all.

They hated a woman for the longest time that in the end proved to be their mother.

So just the mention of her name struck a nerve in all of them, even Dominia, who noone had seen for over 6 months.

"That's worth finding out." Kelvena admitted.

Seraphita sighed. "Why...why should we learn more about her? I don't even want to think about, or hear the name Miang again."

"Like Citan told me, if we don't learn from history's mistakes, we'll be doomed to repeat it." Billy spoke up.

"History won't repeat itself with Miang!" Tolone exclaimed. "Miang's gone! She's never comin' back."

Kelvena lowered her head, and frowned. "How do we know this?" Kelvena asked.

"How do we know Miang can't come back? Miang was alive since the dawn of this world's time, how do we know she's not still out there, waiting for just the right time to return? Or how could we defend against someone like her who'll weave her way into the heads of world leaders, then take the world down?"

Billy nodded at her. "In that respect, Miang's got a record of 2-0, so I think it's time we learn from our mistakes. Maybe if we knew before...billions of lives could've been saved. Citan says we're part of the younger breed, and told me the future belongs to us. Also told me all of us missed too much of a youth we should've had, and maybe this is a chance to learn something that's pure...not someone else's programming. What do you all think?"

Kelvena nodded quickly. "Something real to learn...I'd like that. I'll go, Billy."

Tolone and Seraphita looked at each other, like they were reading each other's mind.

"There's been a lack of adventure around here since all the fighting's stopped, and maybe we do need to learn from history's mistakes." Seraphita stated.

"I'm in."

Tolone bit her lip and nodded. "I'll go, there's not much to do here besides fixing stuff and the bad food."

"What about Maria though? How come Citan didn't ask her to go, or Emeralda?"

"Maria insists on being Queen Zephyr's personal bodyguard and actually, Emeralda has opted not to leave. She was already there once, twice if you count her birth." Billy said.

"There's one more person Citan wants us to take...I can't believe it, though."

Seraphita tried to peek at Billy's notes, but couldn't see the next person on the trip.

"Who else is goin' then?" Seraphita asked. Billy immediately sighed.

"The bitch." Billy said simply. Although not everyone at the table referred to her that way, everyone knew who he was talking about.

Kelvena nodded. "It's going to be hard to get in touch with Dominia. We haven't seen or heard from her in over 6 months."

Not long enough. Billy thought to himself.

"And I'd appreciate if you didn't refer to her, or any other woman like that, Billy." Kelvena said sternly.

"It's true though." Billy said with a smirk.

"Citan told me when he went down there, there were quite a few...monsters."

"Were they hard to fight?" Tolone asked, interested by the idea of fighting.

"Well...he went down there in Gear. We don't exactly have those anymore, but hopefully there shouldn't be anymore monsters down there. Which is why we have to take precautions, still. We're being given some small arms, enough rations for two weeks, and full communications to the Yggdrasil in case we need to bail. Emeralda would actually be the expert on what's there, meaning she knows just a little bit more than Citan. Still very little, but we're gonna change that."

Tolone nodded, and turned to Kelvena.

"How the heck are we gonna find Dominia? She could be anywhere, and we have no way to reach her. I'd also be lying if I said our losing our powers didn't leave us a little bit weaker." Tolone said.

"I'll take care of reaching Dominia. She's can't be too far away I hope, and as for our powers being gone...we survived on a Salvager for two weeks without them. Just our brains and our hands to work with, which are the two best weapons anyone can have." Kelvena said confidently.

Billy nodded, and stood up. "I'll get word to Citan and tell him we've decided to go through with it. Kelly, just try to find Dominia before we leave by the end of the week. If not, we're goin' without her."

Kelvena stood up, already thinking of the way to get ahold of Dominia.

"I've got it covered. Just get your guns ready." she said, walking out the door.

Billy started leaving after her, followed by Kelvena. Tolone and Seraphita still sat in Billy's room, silent, thinking of what else to do. Then it hit Seraphita.

"Hey Tolone, we're in Billy's bedroom." she started.

"I wonder if he has some kind of porn collection under the bed!"

Tolone wanted to roll her eyes and call Seraphita an idiot, but for some reason the idea didn't sound so crazy.

"Come on, Seraphita, Billy was a priest." she said.

"Which mean now that he's not, he's definitely got some porn under his bed." Seraphita said excitedly.

Tolone and Seraphita spent the next five minutes searching Billy's room for his porn collection.

The young girl sat alone, surrounded by the bodies as the fog surrounded her. It was like nothingness, it was like she was standing in a void. No sound, nothing to see, only the gray void around her. Then the girl's vision started to adjust, starting to adjust to seeing something more. Then she saw a older woman, just laying still about 3 feet from her. The girl crawled over to the woman slowly, and touched her. She was bloody on the chest, her head and face was bloody, and she wasn't moving. She was dead. The girl's cold shock from touching was nothing compared to the next frightening realization.

This was her mother.

The young girl screamed, and started crying for her dead mother, trying to call her back, then stood up to run for help, screaming for help now. The void started to fade more, and she saw an older man, lying still and bleeding the same way her mother was. She ran over to him, and saw he was bloody in the face, his body riddled with bullets, and saw he was dead. Worse was this was her father.

All this young girl could do was scream for help, and run from these bodies, looking for it. Then the void faded more and more, and all she saw were more dead bodies. That's all she saw as the void faded more. She could just scream, but noone could hear her. Noone would.

Dominia awoke panting and in a cold sweat.

It's the same damned dream again...it never stops, it never ends.

Dominia had nightmares every night she slept. It would either be that same, terrifying dream of her former home Elru, or it would be one of her victims calling out to her. Someone she killed, someone who she or someone higher than her had deemed an "Enemy of Solaris". Solaris was gone now, but the nightmares weren't. A lot of good that Enemy of Solaris line did her now.

Ramsus was in the other tent, he couldn't hear her panting and waking up at nights because of nightmares. He was likely having his own. Dominia stood up, put her gray jumpsuit on her body, and went outside where the fire they built to keep warm was still going. She'd been around Ramsus for over six months now, left her partners behind and was still hoping for a love that she wasn't sure could ever be returned. They had kissed, sure. That was about it though. They both knew she loved him. Neither one knew if he did, or ever would have really strong feelings for her. All she could do was hope, and all this went through her mind as she kneeled in front of the fire, trying to make sense out of things again.

As she was thinking more to herself, Ramsus walked out of his tent, wearing only his boxer shorts, and was obviously sweating himself. He quickly started to act cool as he saw Dominia in front of the fire, looking on. He strolled up, and sat beside her casually.

"Couldn't sleep." Ramsus said. Dominia looked at, and saw he was sweating and looked uneasy, but kept himself so calm, so cool.

"Nightmare?" Dominia asked.

"No. One of the best dreams I ever had, of one of the best memories I ever had." Ramsus said honestly.

"It was of my disposing of one of my tougher enemies through my command of the military, and after Cain himself announced my victory on Solarian-wide news networks, and I got acclaim for being a genius, Miang was there, saying she was on my side all along."

Dominia's stomach wrenched every time she not only heard that name, but had to hear Ramsus say it.

His infatuation with the woman had greatly diminished, but he still hadn't totally got over her. Like he said, he might not ever.

"Why...why would all that be such a bad dream then, Kahr?" Dominia asked.

Ramsus's head snapped to her quick. "Because look what we were once, Dominia, and look at us now." he said, staying cool.

"The higher you are on the ladder, the longer the fall is."

Finally, Dominia grew tired of his depressing talk. Strangely enough though, Ramsus thought this was his reaching out. Dominia just thought it was annoying.

"Oh...please!" Dominia sneered, standing up. "If I have to listen to you moan about your falling from grace one more time, I'm gonna show you what falling down really is."

Ramsus stared at her with contempt. "You don't have to stick around, you know. Why don't you go back with your ditsy little sisters, I'm sure they're bored."

"You know what, Kahr? That's actually not a bad idea. I would've split from you awhile ago, except..."

"Except what?" Ramsus jumped in. Dominia's heated attitude suddenly started to shrink down, and she quickly stopped being angry.

"Except you...need my help." Dominia added in, sullen. Ramsus smirked, and invited her to sit back down.

"I don't need anyone's help, Dominia. I thought you understood this. I don't really need anyone except myself and my depression. A man must hold on to something."

Dominia sighed. "And obviously misery loves company. I want to stay around you Ramsus, but I don't need to be depressed along with you. I'm trying to forget all the events of my past life, you can't seem to though. I have nightmares myself...you won't see me complaining about them."

"Try it sometime. It may make you feel better." Ramsus said sarcastically. Dominia took it seriously, though. Sense of humor was not something she had.

"Really? Does that work?" she asked.

"A little." Ramsus admitted. "What you always seem to call my complaining to you I always seem to consider...opening up just a little."

Dominia nodded, and Ramsus's idea of talking about what's on your mind didn't seem like such a bad idea. She never tried it before. For the next two hours she talked with Ramsus about the kind of dreams she'd been having, about the kinds of nightmares she saw, and how she felt about them. Strange enough, she actually felt better after it was over.

"I thought I had nightmares." Ramsus said, feeling tired. "The nightmares are telling you something, you know that, right?"

"Kelvena told me something like that. I just thought it was more of her good-karma, bad-karma crap."

Dominia said.

"Well, she was right. You have these nightmares with your victims reaching out to you, screaming at you, some of them innocent, some of them not. You're going to have them for a long, long time."

"Until I make things right. Considering the circumstances, it doesn't look like I can do that."

Ramsus nodded. "You can always pray for their forgiveness. You can always fast, always find a way for forgiveness."

Dominia smirked. "You must have been there when they wrote that Etone crap the way you sound."

"Maybe nightmares are what I deserve."

"We both do."

They stayed silent for a minute, then Dominia stood up again. "Back to the idea about seeing the girls again. I haven't seen them in months, I think it's time I saw them again. They'd like to see you again, I believe."

Ramsus shook his head. "You go."

Dominia looked taken back. "Why? Don't you want to see the team again?"

"No. The second I left the ruins seven months ago, I had no intention of returning there, or any other city of this planet. I want no part of it, it wants no part of me."

"But Ramsus..."

Ramsus held up his hand sharply. "I'm not discussing it anymore. You go see them. I'm not going anywhere near a large group of people. I value my privacy now."

When Ramsus said he wasn't going to discuss a subject anymore, she knew that was the end of it. He wasn't going to see the former Elements with her, and that was that.

"When my visit is over though, how will I find you?" Dominia asked.

"I'll find you if it's really good for me." Ramsus said seriously. "Like I just said, I value my privacy now. Leave for a week or two to visit the only family you've got, Dominia. Hopefully you'll find it better to stay with them. If not...there's still a place with me."

Dominia nodded, and went into her tent to start packing her things together. An hour later she was done packing up her tent, her clothes, and her gear. Ramsus acted casually, like her leaving was nothing. She wrapped everything up in one travel bag, and started to leave for the beach where they had left their small boat. She stopped, and sat down before leaving.

"Ramsus...I wish you would reconsider." Dominia said. He just shook his head again.

"My decision stands, Dominia." Ramsus responded quickly.

"Ramsus," Dominia started, "Please, take care of yourself."

Dominia slowly leaned over, and even though he didn't share the same affection at first, kissed him softly on the lips, then he returned the affection by kissing her back. She stood up, waved quickly, and walked away from the camp.

Kelvena had tried to get in touch with Dominia via the Yggdrasil's excellent communications system, but she never got a reading on Dominia's ship to do communications. She gave up after two days, and had to turn her attentions to preparations for their trip. For the next week Billy, Kelvena, Tolone, and Seraphita actually found this as a good opportunity to get back in shape. Billy practiced on his marksmanship, Tolone and Seraphita refined their martial arts moves until Seraphita started complaining about headaches.

Seraphita made excuses about a lot of things, but when it came down to work, she didn't mess around, so Tolone took her sister's complaints of headaches seriously. Seraphita suddenly complained she had pounding headaches for minutes at at time, then they vanished like nothing happened. The medical personnel found no trace of head injury or a tumor, so they said maybe it was extreme stress. That was the final verdict, but Tolone and Seraphita both started thinking it was more.

Kelvena was never the best at hand to hand combat, so she didn't train too hard. Her lack of vision was always her weakness in a fight. Although Billy tried to make her feel better about herself, her lack of vision and ether powers made her 10 times weaker than her times as an Element. She could just help prepare the supplies.

Two days before the team was set to leave, someone showed up right at Kelvena's room in the landed Yggdrasil. The metal door slid open, and Kelvena stopped her enhancements on Billy's rifle and Kelvena instantly knew who it was and rose her head. Kelvena couldn't see her elven-like features, her pointed ears, her white hair, or the brown jumpsuit she was wearing, but didn't need to. She felt her energy everytime she entered the room.

Dominia Yizkor walked over to Kelvena wordlessly, and Kelvena rose, and gave Dominia a great hug that old friends, or sisters give each other.

"We were just looking for you!" Kelvena exclaimed.

"Well, you found me." Dominia said.

"Where have you been all this time?" Kelvena asked.

"Ramsus and I have been trying to make sense of our useless existance." Dominia said.

"Well, any luck with you and him?"

Dominia shook her head in disappointment. "It was like trying to push a boulder up a mountain. I'm going to keep trying though, but I thought I should see you."

"You have got to see Tolone and Seraphita. They'd love to see you again."

Dominia's attention was quickly diverted from Kelvena to the rifle laying on the table, a sniper scope was almost attached to it.

"What are you using this for?" Dominia started. "Using guns now? I've got some disturbing news for you Kelvena, but...you're blind." Dominia said sarcastically.

"Um...that's what I have to explain to you. It's what I wanted to call you here for. First off, the rifle isn't for me, it's for Billy."

Dominia arched an eyebrow. "You and him still? You manage to hooked up with the only straight priest on the planet."

Kelvena didn't seem to find the remark funny, and the look on her face reflected this.

"Dominia, I wanted you to come here because we're going to leave on a little expedition in 3 days time."

This got Dominia's interest quickly. "Expedition? What kind?"

"I'll explain at dinner, with everyone there."

"Will your priest boyfriend be there, too?"

Kelvena finally got annoyed, and it took alot to anger her. "I know you don't like him, and there's a 5 letter word he uses when referring to you, but until you get someone worthwhile, don't criticize me." Kelvena said sternly. Dominia instantly backed off, seeing this side of Kelvena she never saw before.

"Fine, fine. We'll meet at dinner and discuss exactly what we're going to do."

Kelvena returned to normal, innocent demeanor quickly. "Thanks. It's good to see you again, Dominia."

That night, the other two former Elements were happy to see Dominia again, though Billy was clearly disturbed a little. They wanted to know where Ramsus was, and Dominia told them the truth. They were disappointed, they really wanted to see Kahr again. After Dominia's minutes of sharing what she and Ramsus had been doing the whole time, Seraphita spent hours sharing what the old team had been doing. After the nice dinner, Dominia finally agreed to join her former team for their trip to the ancient Zeboim city, and get some time to reevaluate her relationship with Ramsus. Late into the night, they all finally went to sleep, until Seraphita's was terribly disturbed.

Seraphita was suddenly in a strange land, it looked like something she'd never seen. She looked at herself, and was in great shock, as she was wearing the stylish red bunny ears she used to wear during her time as a happy-go-lucky Element, her old red suit, and when she glanced behind her, she saw her Seraphita could just gasp in shock at everything, the huge buildings, they looked like centuries old, still had lights in them. There was a street with white lines going up, and there was even a strange, black, destroyed car that said something like "Honda" on the side.

"What is going on here?" Seraphita asked herself. This dream was so strange because she actually felt herself having full control over her actions. She turned around from the Honda, and suddenly there were several men in front of her, wearing black and holding guns. She screamed, but noone could really hear her. There was a man in front, with black hair and his own handgun.

"Element bitch, stay away from here." the man in black told her, the look of hell in his eyes.

Seraphita's shock quickly turned to anger.

"I have no idea who you are or where this is, but you never talk to me like that!" Seraphita yelled. Then a feeling returned to her body that was missing for almost a year. She felt her power return back to her veins, the power of an Element. Out of instinct, Seraphita grew a fiery aura over her body, gathering power. After charging her power for a few seconds, she fired a great fireball from her hands at the men before her, making them dive for cover as the ground exploded.

The leader scrambled to his feet, gritting his teeth in anger. "So you want to play it that way? I'll show you power." he said spitefully. He nodded to the men on the ground, and they got to their feet.

The men pointed their guns back at Seraphita, and quickly started firing all at once like a firing squad at the young woman. She was already prepared though, the second the bullets came flying, she held up her hand and a large circular shield of fire spread from her hand, burning any bullet aimed at her before it could get to her. She may not have been good at common sense, but she definitely had fighting down.

The men stopped shooting, shocked by the defense. The leader didn't seem shocked at all, though.

"My turn!" Seraphita shouted, her fist blazing with fire. Seraphita threw her fist down on the ground, sending a visible, fiery shockwave at the grouping of men, then exploded, blasting them everywhere into the air. The explosion enveloped the leader, but suddenly he leaped out of it 20 feet into the air and back onto the ground like it was nothing.

"Just like old times, hm?" the leader said.

"Who are you?" Seraphita asked.

The leader grinned. "An old friend."

"I have lots of friends, don't seem to remember you."

"Such a shame. Such a pretty girl, but can't take good advice when it's given. I'll just repeat myself. Stay away from the city, Element."

Before Seraphita could respond, she was awakened by a headache so strong, she thought her head would explode. She screamed, and the lights flew on and Tolone, on the top bunk, jumped down and comforted her as best she could. The pain in Seraphita's head was so much, she couldn't even bring herself to speak to Tolone.

The next day, in the medical bay, Seraphita's headaches had cleared, but she wasn't any clearer on her strange dream.

"What was so strange about this dream you had, Seraphita?" Tolone asked while Seraphita was sitting on the bed.

Seraphita sighed, and took a drink of her water. "There...was this crazy guy and some other crazy guys, and they had guns! That wasn't the weirdest part though." Seraphita said.

"What was it?"

"I, I had my powers back."

Tolone looked taken back as if she'd seen a ghost. "You had your powers back? How?"

"I have no idea! This crazy guy tries to kill me, then he calls me cute, and tells me to stay away from his city."

Tolone sighed. "I'm sure it was just a bad dream, Sera. All these headaches can't be an accident though."

"We don't have the medical stuff here that we did in Solaris to check my head out though." Seraphita said. "Guess I'm just gonna have to take everything as it comes. I'll be alright for the trip, you'll see."

Tolone nodded. "Fine. If you get another headache though, call me."

Tolone got up and walked away, but then she turned around.

"Sera, what was it like to have your powers back, even for a short time in a dream?" Tolone asked.

"It was incredible. It was like finding a part of myself all over again." Seraphita responded.

Tolone turned around feeling a little sad now, and walked out of the infirmary.

End of part 1

Finally, the day came for departure. Everyone got dressed up in Yggdrasil crew uniforms except for Billy, he just wore his blue jeans, cowboy boots, and leather vest with a black short sleeved shirt.

They all met up in the lounge, and got the food and supplies organized.

However, Billy found his rifle was missing when he looked for it. Kelvena took it from her bag, with a new addition to it.

"This should be a aiming scope if I structured it right." Kelvena said, presenting the rifle to Billy.

"I wouldn't know how it looks, I hope it's right."

Billy took the rifle, and examined the new aiming scope. It was perfectly crafted, and looking inside of the scope, it was clear and magnified.

"They used to have these all the time in Solaris. I don't know if this world had that kind of technology, though." Kelvena said.

"It's great!" Billy exclaimed. "I can pick off far off targets with this now."

"You and your damn guns." Seraphita added in. "You shot me once, you know!"

"If I remember, you were trying to kill me at the time."

"Well...you could at least apologize!"

"No. You and Tolone were trying to kill me and my friends, so I shot you with a pistol. Lucky you didn't die."

Tolone jumped in, and snorted. "Lucky? We could heal, and still can! The healing is genetic, ether power doesn't have a thing to do with it. You can shoot us now and we'll be fine in 3 hours!"

Billy whipped a pistol from his holster, and pointed it at Tolone. "If you insist."

Then Dominia kicked the pistol from his hand, standing to the side of him.

"I know you weren't going to shoot, but never, ever point a weapon at someone from MY team." Dominia said sternly. She was making it very clear that although Billy was appointed to go on this mission, she would always be the leader of her team. Before Billy could respond, Dominia turned to Kelvena. "Get the first aid kits ready. They set a course for this...lighthouse that leads to the city earlier this morning. We should be there in a few hours." Dominia said.

Kelvena nodded, and went on her way. Dominia followed after her to do her own work, while Billy stood there, wondering what just happened. No question who the leader was anymore.

They landed at a huge lighthouse on the coast. Billy and Kelvena stayed behind a few minutes while the other got off the ship, they had to say their good-byes to little Primera.

"We'll be alright." Billy told his little sister as the three stood in his room. "I promise we'll be back here, ok, Prim?"

Primera looked down at the ground, sad. Kelvena now had on sunglasses with blue lenses, and kneeled down to Primera. "It's not that dangerous down there, and I promise we'll be back here in a week or two." Kelvena told her young friend.

"Maybe we'll bring you something back, like a 2,000 year old rock, or maybe we'll name something we've discovered after you."

Primera looked up, and actually started to smile. "You'll be alright here, or we can go up and ask the crew to take you to New Aveh to be with your father for awhile."

"Dad would love to have you around. I bet he's bored with nothing to shoot." Billy joked. Primera nodded slightly, and smiled at the two.

"Great! Be sure to tell them after we leave." Billy said. He kneeled down and hugged her, so did Kelvena, and then said their good-byes.

The group of 5 met outside of the Yggdrasil, and was it ever cold in front of this enormus lighthouse. Seraphita cradled herself, trying to keep warm.

"So this is it? A whole city is in this lighthouse?" Seraphita asked. "What a crappy city."

Billy rolled his eyes. "The city is underground. Then again, you think really one-dimensional."

Seraphita scoffed at him, and looked at the lighthouse up and down. It looked ruined, with deep cracks all over it, it stood two times taller than any other lighthouse, and had one big opening where she didn't see a ladder or stairs going up into the lighthouse. The place looked so ruined, if you threw a rock at it, it could crumble.

"How old is this thing?" Dominia asked.

"Citan told me it could be anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 years old. Enough of looking at the lighthouse though. It's time to start our...'mission'." Billy said.

Everyone picked up their backpacks and slung them over their shoulders as the Yggdrasil pushed away gusts of wind as it took off and flew away just as quickly as it landed. The group walked into the lighthouse, and it was just as destroyed looking as the outside, however, there wasn't anything to walk upstairs on, or downstairs. It was just one large, empty room.

"Well this was a short trip." Seraphita said sarcastically. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

Just then, the floor started to move, and it slowly started to descend. The floor was obviously and elevator. They all went down, it seemed like minutes the elevator slowly descended. Finally, the elevator came down to the bottom level, and the group examined what was before them. It was nothing like they'd ever seen.

It was a very, very old-fashioned city. There were buildings made with bricks, not what the Solarian Element girls were used to, these buildings still had lights, the streets looked ruined but there were certainly walkable, there were even operating streetlights. It was so strange, they all thought, that the ancient city could be so close to the cities of their time. After all these years, everything was still operating. Then Seraphita freaked.

"This...this is the city from my dream, Tolone!" Seraphita exclaimed. "We can't stay here!"

"We're not gonna leave because you had a dream about this place, Sera! We can't go by on our dreams like that! It may have been a fluke!" Tolone said, trying to comfort Seraphita.

Dominia turned to Seraphita. "We're not abandoning. Don't care if you dreamt about this place or not. No go, Seraphita. Clear?" Dominia ordered.

Seraphita lost the look of panic from her face, and nodded. "But I'm keeping this handy!" Seraphita shouted, pulling a pistol from her brown uniform. Everyone turned around, and they began their quest, to gather all the information on this place that they possibly could.

Billy failed to see any of the monsters Citan had spoke about, like a dragon or a griffon. There wasn't much of anything down there. They walked around the place slowly, searching for anything strange. They didn't find much of anything awhile, until walking into their first building down the first block. There wasn't anything in there, just a bunch of cobwebs and a broke down elevator. Broke down in the sense it crashed all the way to the bottom of the shaft and there were skeletons. The girls declined trying to get up any farther in the building after seeing this. They walked for awhile longer before they decided to set up camp. They took their bags from their shoulders, set up tents, and decided this be their spot to meet, share info, and sleep when needed. It was midday, and it seemed like they accomplished nothing so far. However, like Seraphita's dream suggested, there was more to this place than meets the eye.

Seraphita sat at the camp, eating soup, when again, something struck her. Not panic, but the same "voice" that attacked her mind while she slept.

I see you couldn't heed the warning. the cruel voice said to her. Only she could hear it. It was in her head. She knew she wasn't going insane, but why was this unseen force talking to her and only her?

Don't even bother to scream. Don't even bother to speak. They'll think you're crazy, Seraphita. Crazier than you already are.

Seraphita's expression looked like she just saw a ghost. For some reason, she knew the voice in her head was right, the voice was clear as her own thoughts. What was this? Why did it know her name?

You're smarter than you look for not telling anyone about this, Seraphita. They won't believe you. Noone believes anything you say. Of course, I don't need to believe what you say. I can see your mind.

Seraphita was quickly starting to realize this game. This "voice" was into her mind, seeing into her. She had to talk back to it.

What...what are you? Seraphita thought, wanting to be heard.

Like I told you once, Element. An old friend. Solaris?

All my old friends from Solaris are gone! What do you want?

Revenge would be nice. You see, you and your friends ruined my life a little while ago. It's time to ruin yours, I figure.

You'll never get the chance, whoever you are.

I beg to differ, beautiful one. I already know more about you and your friends than you do yourselves. I already saw into their minds, what they think, what they desire, what they hate. You...but you, I saw something in you I didn't in them. You have a gift they don't have, Seraphita.

Get out of my head, whoever you are!

My name isn't "whoever you are", dear. Richter, if you will. I will be seeing you soon, in all your glory.

Just as quickly as it came, the voice in her head stopped looming over her, and was gone. The feeling of fear was still there, however. Richter. She knew that name. It tapped a chord in any former Solarian. Seraphita quickly got up, and got into the circle where the others sat, and started on excitedly.

"Everyone! Everyone! Listen!" Seraphita shouted.

"What is it now?" Dominia said, annoyed.

"I had a voice, in my head! It was talking to me!"

Dominia glanced at Tolone. "She's losing it, Tolone. Better get her in check before I do."

Seraphita pulled at her short red hair in frustration. "I'm not crazy, damnit! I really did!"

"Sera, I think you should calm down!" Tolone exclaimed.

"It was Richter!"

Suddenly, all 4 of the Elements froze where they sat.

"Ri...Richter?" Kelvena stammered.

"Yeah!"

"He's dead. Impossible." Dominia said. "You're hallucinating. If you don't get it straight, and I mean right now, I'm calling the Yggdrasil and picking you up."

"Shut up, Dominia! Did you see the body?" Seraphita yelled.

"He would've died in the world's crash." Dominia said, keeping cool.

"Oh, really? Did we die? He was one guy, stronger than almost all of us! How do we know he's not just hiding out down here?"

Billy sat where he was, looking really confused. "Did I miss something?" Billy asked.

Kelvena stood up, and told Billy to go to his tent. He went, and she followed him in. While Seraphita and Dominia continued their loud discussion, Kelvena knew it was necessary to tell Billy just who was this man called "Richter", from Solaris.

"What's going on, who is Richter?" Billy asked.

"A mission when we were the Solaris Elements. One of our biggest missions, definitely the hardest. We barely came back alive. Operation Darkest Before Dawn." Kelvena said.

"What did it have to do with this Richter guy?" Billy asked.

Billy handed Kelvena some juice and she blindly grasped it as she began her long story.

"Take those stupid things off." Tolone told Seraphita. Tolone pointed to the red bunny ears on Seraphita's head, the ones that matched her tight red suit, her hair, even her shoes.

"They make me look cute." Seraphita said.

"They make you look like a ditz." Tolone replied.

"Enough with the fashion, ladies." Dominia said, sitting at the table in the lounge of the Solaris base.

Kelvena sat next her, her eyes closed like they were then.

"This is important, I think we should pay attention." Kelvena said.

Tolone and Seraphita quickly sat down, and paid attention.

"The Commander is on his way to a permanent position in Gebler, on the land of the Lambs. He's going to lead the army there, and hopefully someday our great Solaris will have control of this land as well as the inferior one. " Dominia said.

"Really? Great!" Seraphita exclaimed, clapping her hands.

"However, as Ramsus's personal guard, we have our duties, and our orders to protect the Commander wherever he is, so we're going to have follow him a bit on this move. This includes taking initiative." Dominia added. She nodded at Kelvena, and Kelvena put a large file folder on the table, then opened it.

"This is Atticus Richter. I know you guys have seen him on the news, I used the computer's news networks to hear of his exploits, then pulled the text version and audio version on my audio NewsNet."

Kelvena said.

Seraphita and Tolone looked at the file, and saw a young man in his 20's with short, spiked, black hair, a black suit with a high turtleneck, steel bracers, black boots, and green contacts in his eyes.

"Kinda cute." Seraphita said.

"Kinda cute?" Tolone asked. "Try kinda psycho!"

"Atticus Richter is psyche-evaluated psychopath." Kelvena started. "He was the son of one of Solaris's generals until the general turned traitor to Solaris, and tried to help some of Krelian's test subjects escape."

Tolone nodded. "Morian Richter. Krelian caught him and made him the first test subject for his newest bioweapon. They didn't tell the public that, of course. They told them it was exile."

"Attitcus's family was blacklisted from every honor they once had." Kelvena continued. "His son and wife winded up homeless, his wife becoming a prostitute before her arrest, then Richter winded up on the street, just at age 16, no family, no friends. Just the 3rd class slums of Solaris. From information, he vanished for a little while, then was arrested for double murder. He got away on the count of a technicality, also known as the Furai."

The Furai. The Solarian organized crime (mafia). They ran Drive before it became legal, and even after it was made legal only for military, the Furai made it able for the public to get hold of it. Rumor had it Krelian himself controlled the Furai to better finance his experiments, stretching his control of Solaris even more.

"After his release, intellegence reports that he became the Furai's number 1 assassin, until Krelian himself gave Richter a spot as a chief intellegence agent. This stems from Richter's mastery of telepathy. He's a level 5 telepath, a one-in-a-10 million. He was Krelian golden boy, only 22 years old. He was responsible for infiltrating the main defenses of Elru, learning their defenses without even having to leave Solaris. That's how powerful his telepathy skills were. After the war with Elru, however, he started believing his own hype. Intelligence agents started following Richter instead of Krelian, and Richter broke from Krelian and started his own branch of Intellegence, calling themselves the Stalkers. Information was a distant second priority. Government assassination was their prime motive, taking money for it, and for their own purposes. Krelian didn't mean, he still had all the power. Until they made Krelian their next target. They didn't kill him though, it was their one failure. One too many. Krelian sent his best men after the Stalkers, and took them down to a very scarce number. None of them could beat Richter, he used his powers to find out about the attempt before it happened. Finally, as you know by now, the remaining Stalkers have started terrorism and bombing populated targets. Normally, noone would care, until they attacked a 1st class location.

Intellegence now believes the Commander may be the Stalkers next target. They're small in number, but extremely smart and lethal. The initiative of this, of course, is to subdue all of the Stalkers, and Richter." Kelvena finished.

"Kill." Dominia added. "Kill all of them. They are a threat to the Commander. Kill them all, is there any moral dilemma in anyone for this?" Dominia asked. Noone spoke up, Tolone and Seraphita just shrugged.

"This operation has been deemed top secret, and we do not discuss it outside of this room. It's codenamed 'Darkest before Dawn', because after this problem has been eliminated, Commander Ramsus can continue on to Gebler without any trouble at all." Kelvena said.

"It begins immediately, we will depart tonight to the Stalkers Base of Operations in our Gears, and bring the base down. We'll send in a few troops to soften the place up for us, the Stalkers have their own very powerful Gears."

"No sense in us getting all the scratches!" Seraphita jumped in. It didn't matter to anyone that the troops they were sending in first were definitely going to die. They only cared about themselves.

Dominia stood up. "If that's all, Kelvena, I expect you and them to be ready in 5 hours, Gears fully armed, yourselves fully armed. Dismissed."

"This guy sounds like a real nutcase." Billy said. "You four were really that bad? Was killing really that easy?"

Kelvena nodded in disappointment.

"I'm not proud, Billy, but it's true. I was never proud to take a life. I was always proud to be an Element, but never to take a life. It's just something we did...the job called for it. It was hard the first time, but after we did it alot, it became easy."

"Men like Richter, though, they like to kill. They get the rush, the feel of power. You've killed, Billy. Are you like that?" Kelvena asked.

Billy sighed. "I have blood on my hands, true. Only when I needed to, I never got pleasure from killing another man."

Kelvena smiled, then leaned over and gently kissed him on the lips.

"What was that for?" Billy asked.

"Being human." she responded.

"Continue the story." Billy told her.

Nights in the air, flying over to a target, were the most tense times of the young women's lives. They would just talk while flying in their Gears to a target, the Bladegash, the Marinebasher, the Skyghene and the Grandgrowl all had flying capabilities better than any standard issue Gear.

"Hey Dominia, why are you so quiet over there?" Tolone asked over the intercom system.

Dominia's head was obviously elsewhere.

"Nothing, just thinking, Tolone." Dominia said.

"Did you talk to the Commander today?" Seraphita asked over her comm.

"Yes." Dominia said reluctantly.

"What's bad about that?" Seraphita asked.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"You're either happy or depressed when it comes to Ramsus, what is it now?"

Dominia sighed. "It's Miang. When Ramsus goes to the Lambs world, she's...going with him."

"Oh no." Seraphita said. "Now come on, you had to know there was something going on with those two."

"I know that..I just didn't want to believe him with that...whore."

"Don't let your personal feelings get in the way of duty, Dominia." Kelvena put in. "She would've followed Ramsus to Gebler anyway, it's her job. Jealously will get you nowhere."

"Do you like Miang, Kelly?" Seraphita asked.

"Not at all. We under pretty much under her command, and she did appoint us, so let's not spend too much energy hating her." Kelvena said.

"Well...she's still a whore, and she doesn't deserve any of Ramsus's affections like she gets." Dominia said.

"And who does? You?" Tolone asked. There was no answer.

"We're coming up on the base." Dominia reported. "Get armed."

There was already heavy firing at the base from the original troops that were sent in, but they were already decimated. The first lines of defense, however, had been beaten back, and that's what the Elements wanted.

"Alright, Kelvena, you're with me, Tolone and Sera, stay close." Dominia ordered.

As they approached the base to land, the 4 split into two groups. They landed, and there was gunfire on all of the Gears the second they did.

"Stop bothering me!" Seraphita shouted, using her Grandgrowl's roar to blow back the men on the ground shooting at her Gear. The groundmen fired at the Bladegash and the hovering Marinebasher, but with one swift swipe of her sword, Bladegash split all the close up firing men in half.

"Let me handle this really quick, everyone." Tolone said, getting her guns ready. The Skyghene flew up 30 feet into the air, and machine guns rose from it's back, firing at all the gunmen on the ground, killing wave after wave of them. The gun rotated and fired until no more of them came out.

"Well done." Dominia said to Tolone's channel. "Stay in formation, proceed with caution. I know they've got some Gears in here."

They moved the Gears forward past the wreckage of the other Gears and the corpses, into the vast double doors that the original troops were able to blast open before they got destroyed.

The inside was actually quite clean, it looked like a basic Gear hangar. 4 standard issue Gears were inside their ports. The team walked in front of them, looking for the next danger, but it attacked psychologically first, not physically.

"Welcome to my playground." a voice said over the PA .

Kelvena noticed the voice from voice samples on his file. "Atticus Richter, correct?" she broadcasted over her PA.

"Oh yes, miss Korian. And I know all about you, and your Elements. The joys of highest access into Krelian's highest and most secure files."

All the girls froze in their machines. They looked all around for who was talking, but didn't see him.

"I've been ready for you, you see. I've known about your attack since you planned it this afternoon. A man can only be so prepared against Solaris's most elite attack force, eh? We'll answer that question very shortly."

Before the team could respond, the 4 Swordknights inside the ports broke free with punches, and charged at the Elements. Hearing the attack, Marinebasher swept it's tail at the Swordknight heading for her, and cut the leg off at the ankle, making the Gear fall to the ground. The Swordknight heading for Bladegash charged it and pinned it to the wall, but Dominia made the Bladegash raise it's knee into the Swordknight's sternum, then extended it's blade into the Swordknight's chest while it was bent over. The Bladegash ripped the sword back out, then with a backhand split the Gear in two with a swift cut.

The Swordknight charging for the Grandgrowl, grabbed the machine by both sides, lifted it up, and threw it across the room, but the Grandgrowl flipped around in a amazing move and landed on it's feet. The second the Grandgrowl did, it leaped like the speed of light back at the Swordknight, mauling it . The scratches the Grandgrowl made cut so deep into the Swordknight, oil started to spurt from it's chest.

"Take that!" Serphita yelled.

The Swordknight charging the Skyghene never even touched it. The Skyghene flew itself up, and out of the Gear's range, making it stumble as it came to a halt. While it's back was turned, the Skyghene charged the Swordknight, it's sharp wings aimed at the Gear's head. The wings pierced the Swordknight's head, making it just crumble to the ground.

"That's gotta hurt the pilot." Tolone said.

"Pilot?" the voice came over the PA again. "Oh no...like they say, it's all in your mind. There's no pilots in these Gears. Just a little bit of very high developed telekinesis. Level 5 telepaths can do that, you know. Then again, I killed the others like me. Sure beats facing competition head on."

"Great Solaris..." Dominia said, shocked. "I've never heard of such power!"

"Like I said, I knew you were coming, and you've made a real mistake in coming here. As you stand here looking like a bunch of adolescent idiots, what's left of my men are going to bomb your precious Commander's cruiser at my order. Then...you'll fail in duties to protect him. That would be awful, so awful, no Solarian commander would ever give you a post again. Being a 3rd class citizen. Believe me, that's the worst thing for 4 such pretty...alone, young ladies who'd be living on the streets."

Dominia gasped, and started for the large doors they came in at. "We have to get going. Commander Ramsus is in trouble." Dominia shouted over the PA. Before they could get out, a large, black Gear sprang from a sliding trap door in the floor. It had a round head, it's eyes bright green.

"Meet the Tyrant." the voice in the Gear said, the same as the one over the PA. With that, the Tyrant spin kicked the Bladegash back with the group, stunned.

"Except this one has a pilot. Yours truly."

Dominia got back in line in the group, and stood tall. They were going to do something that made them proud, hyped them up before a fight, and intimidated the enemy. The Element's Creed.

"Using our powers to fight each day, winning those fights in any way, to humiliate and destroy on the battlefield, to act as Solaris's great shield..." they all said.

"Earth." Dominia said.

"Water." Kelvena said.

"Air." Tolone said.

"Fire!" Seraphita shouted.

"With strength exceeding that of any man..." they all said.

Dominia stepped forward. "Run now while you still can."

Richter laughed inside of the Tyrant. "Entertaining! Very entertaining! I'll tell you what, girls. If YOU leave now, I promise I won't shoot you in the back while you leave."

Dominia rose the Kishin Blade in the air, and charged it up with fire, and launched a fire blast from the blade right at the Tyrant, knocking him to the floor. The Tyrant got up to it's feet with a Chinese handspring, in fighting position. "I take that as a no." Richter said.

The Tyrant leaped into the group with a jump kick, knocking the Marinebasher back 50 feet into a wall.

"Damn!" Kelvena shouted, her Gear immobilized. "That Gear has enhanced strength, more than ours! It must have been customized by Krelian himself!"

"Thanks for the update!" Tolone yelled back sarcastically. The Bladegash dashed in with a slice, but the Tyrant dodged, and in the same motion roundhouse kicked the Bladegash in the head, making it 180 flip to the ground. Tyrant backicked the Skyghene as it came around for an attack on Tyrant's head, and it punched the Grandgrowl out of the air as it leapt in for a strike.

"Having fun, ladies? You do know, if you kill me here, I won't be able to make the order to kill your Commander. Then again, you won't kill me."

The Marinebasher started charging up it's water attack.

"Do you ever shutup? I'm tired of your speeches." Tolone said, trying to get her machine to recover.

The Bladegash rushed at the Tyrant, trying to cut at it, but the Richter blocked every attacked with it's arms, then shoulder flipped the Bladegash to the floor in it's vulnerable moment. Tyrant snatched the blade from the fallen Bladegash, and knocked the Skyghene down from the air as it was about to attack again, but was left vulnerable itself for the Marinebasher's Tidal Wave attack.

The Marinebasher charged a giant, explosive bubble, and with the Marinebasher's targeting capabilities, acknowledged a lock to it's blind pilot with a beep. The Marinebasher hovered 20 feet above the ground, and launched the bubble at it's target like a bullet, then caught the Tyrant head on, knocking it back to the entrance of the base.

"Bullseye!" Seraphita yelled. The Grandgrowl was the first to try jumping on Richter as the Tyrant was on the ground, but as it leapt in midair for another assault, the Tyrant threw the Kishin blade right at the Grandgrowl's stomach, impaling it straight through. The Grandgrowl fell to the ground out of the air, smoking and electric sparks shooting from the stomach.

"Damn you!" Seraphita yelled at Richter from her damaged cockpit.

"Kelly, gotta help me out over here!" Seraphita shouted.

As Bladegash jumped in for another attack on the downed Tyrant, it quickly flipped the Bladegash over, then got back to it's feet. The Skyghene was waiting. It fired it's machine guns at Richter's Gear, making him raise his arm to block, giving Kelvena time to rush over to the Grandgrowl. The Marinebasher wrapped it's tail around the sword, and pulled it from the Grandgrowl's belly as it laid belly up. Bladegash moved over, and grabbed it from the ground.

"I'll take that." Dominia said. "Tolone! Form up!"

Tolone stopped firing, it wasn't doing much damage anyway, and got in line with the others.

"Does the Grandgrowl have enough to go on?" Dominia asked Kelvena over the PA.

"It's taken heavy damage, it'll go on, but the battery and fuel are draining at an extreme rate. We've got about 5 minutes." Kelvena reported.

"In which time, you'll be dead!" Richter shouted over his PA, pointing.

"While the Grandgrowl still has power, we have to do what we've never done!" Dominia said.

"We have to form the G-Element!"

"What? That's too risky!" Seraphita shouted.

"You don't have much of a choice, your machine is going to go out in a few minutes, then we can't form at all."

"And in case you haven't noticed, we're getting our butts kicked!" Tolone added.

"Fine. We don't have a choice." Seraphita admitted.

They all took the keys they'd never used from the side of their seats, and put them into a hole on the control console. The Elements Gears...they started to form into one, great Gear.

After the formation, there was only one Gear. In good condition, twice the Tyrant's size, and twice the Tyrant's armor.

"I'm not even scared, girls. Watch this!" Richter yelled. The Tyrant closed it's hand into a fist, and blue fire emanated around it, and fired it straight at the G-Element, knocking it back, but not down. The Shockball could destroy a normal Gear, but not this one. The G-Element sliced at the Tyrant again, it's swipes much powerful now. The Tyrant blocked twice, but on the third one, it lost it's right arm.

"Crap..." Richter said from the inside of the Tyrant. "You haven't got me yet, girls." Richter said. Richter jumped in with a jump kick, three quick punches, and a roundhouse to the face, but only succeeded in knocking the G-E back, but not down.

"Our turn!" Seraphita yelled from inside the G-E. Her cockpit was damaged and sparks were flying everywhere inside it, but she was happy just to be winning. The G-E uppercutted the Tyrant onto the ground, then picked it up by the shoulder, hurling it back into the hangar. The Tyrant slowly got to it's feet, and limped back towards the G-E, functioning less and less.

"Let's finish this creep." Dominia said. She rose the Kishin blade, and charged it with a little power from all of the Elements, making the sword glow and shine. Finally, the G-E rushed the Kishin Blade into the Tyrant, nearly splitting it from shoulder to hip. It couldn't even move. It couldn't issue it's order to attack Ramsus's cruiser, it could only do one thing.

"If...If I go down, I'm taking you whores with me!" Richter yelled.

He pressed the 30 minute self destruct on his console, and his extra-powered reactor would destroy anything close, the whole hangar included.

"We've got to get out of here!" Dominia yelled. The G-E turned around, and the pilots made it run out of the entrance, then it activated the boosters and started flying off just as the base exploded.

"Everyone alright?" Dominia asked.

"1 minute and it's lights out in here." Seraphita broadcasted.

"2 of my 4 turbines are broken. I won't be going on the sea for awhile." Kelvena said.

"My right wing is falling off. My Gear is out of commission for a week or so. You?" Tolone asked.

"My sword is almost bent and I wasted all my power in charging the sword up and combining the Gears. I'm not going to work for awhile. You did good tonight, girls. We almost lost this one, ladies. Very close to a loss. But we killed Solaris's most wanted and came out alright. Now after we take care of the rest of Richter's gang, the Commander's conquest of the land dwellers can go on as scheduled."

"Oh. I'm looking forward to that one." Seraphita said sarcastically.

"I want to get back as quick as possible...I think I broke my wrist."

"Get yourself fixed and quick, we've got to take care of Richter's gang, and quick." Kelvena said.

"Did you get all of Richter's gang?" Billy asked.

"They didn't get a response from Richter after we killed them, so they just vanished without a trace. And like Seraphita said, noone ever found Richter's body. We just assumed he and the Tyrant went up in that explosion. Here's the strange thing, though. We never found the Tyrant either. Krelian wanted to take Richter's body, take the cellular level of his brain, and hopefully use it to produce his own level 5 telepaths. Since we couldn't find the body, this was a problem." Kelvena finished.

She turned her head, starting to think. "The real question is wheter or not Seraphita is crazy." Billy said.

Kelvena kept thinking, then came to a conclusion.

"Well, personally, I don't think she's crazy. I think she's perfectly sane, always has." Kelvena said, standing up. She followed the sound of Dominia and Seraphita still arguing, Seraphita in tears now, and held up her hand to call a stop to the whole argument.

"I think there's evidence supporting Seraphita's argument." Kelvena said.

"This I've got to hear." Dominia said.

"Well, we never did find Richter's body, we never did find Richter's gang, we never did find the Tyrant. And Atticus was a Level 5 telepath. That's a strength we can't even comprehend, not even we were that powerful. Atticus was extremely resourceful, 2 times higher trained than anyone in Jugend, and could kill on command or even for fun, and is only 27 years old, so age hasn't caught up with him. A man this resourceful and we didn't find the body or the Gear can only mean, logically, that he's not dead." Kelvena told the group.

"Maybe you're cracking up just like Seraphita." Dominia said.

"Quiet, Dominia." Tolone said.

Kelvena continued. "How do we know, from Seraphita's dream, that it wasn't Atticus Richter trying to scare us from here? Or maybe he knew we'd show up, and is trying to extract revenge?"

"Say what you mean, Korian." Dominia said sternly.

"Atticus Richter is alive, and he's down here hiding out. Since we're the ones who put him down, he's been obsessed with us in his twisted mind for over two years. He knows everything about us, has been peering into our minds every second. What's left of his gang is here with him, and the Tyrant is still here." Kelvena stated.

The girls, except for Kelvena, all looked at each other. Billy still stood behind Kelvena, in awe of the deduction his girlfriend had drawn to. She wasn't just smart, she was smarter than himself. Much smarter, Billy thought.

"Why is he in my head?" Seraphita asked.

Kelvena sighed. "I only jump to conclusions I'm sure about, Seraphita...but there's only one real reason I can pick that he's in your head."

"When he's in our heads, we can't detect him, we can't hear him in our minds like you can, we wouldn't be able to have a dream like you can. I may or may not be right by what I'm about to tell you, Seraphita..."

"You sound right so far, Kelly, so please go on."

Kelvena nodded. "You can hear him, and he only talks to you because by the evidence of your headaches in the past few weeks, the dream you had where he spoke to you, and now where he speaks to in the clear draws me to only one conclusion. You're a level 5 telepath yourself. "

End of prt 2

Seraphita covered her face with her hands, trying to comprehend what Kelvena just told her. Kelvena was right 100% of the time, why should this be any different? Kelvena Korian was a tested genius, why wasn't she the level 5 telepath?

"How...they never found out about it back home!" Seraphita said excited.

"I'm not certain, like I said. Latency in telepaths often starts around your age, though. You've had these headaches for weeks, then your dream. These headaches you kept getting were Richter trying to probe into my mind, but then your mind became aware even though you didn't. The tapping Richter did inside your mind opened up the blocked path, and your mind was ready for it yet. The headaches you kept getting were a side effect. He awoke your latent telepathic powers." Kelvena said.

It was all a great shock to everyone, but for some reason it seemed true.

"Don't say you're not certain, Kelvena. You're always right." Dominia said.

"It's just hard to believe that out of the handful of people who are level 5 telepaths, Seraphita could be a one. Let's face it, she's not the smartest one of the bunch."

"Some people who are telepaths genius, yes, but not all. As far as we know, Seraphita and Richter are the only level 5's on the planet. We were all taken from the same gene pool as Seraphita, but maybe the gene skipped us. Miang did have telepathic capabilities, after all." Kelvena said.

Seraphita sighed. "Why does he have to bother me, though?" Seraphita asked, desperate.

Tolone sat next to Seraphita and put her arm around her.

"You're the only other telepath on this planet." Tolone said.

"And I think he has a little crush on you."

"Actually," Kelvena started, "Richter killed all of the other level 5's in Solaris for fear they'd someday be sent to kill him, or they'd take power before him. He may be scared of the competition now."

Seraphita turned to look at everyone in the circle.

"Which now makes her a target." Dominia concluded. Everyone stayed silent, but knew it was true.

Dominia stood up.

"Alright, everyone, on guard. We are not evacuating, because this bastard is up to something. Our original mission parameters stand, we are going to gather as much information as we can, but if Atticus Richter is down here, and if Atticus Richter is trying to kill one of ours, we're going to get him first. Besides, I want to find out how exactly he found out about this place." Dominia finished.

"Any questions?" Dominia asked. When there were none, she nodded, then took the pistol from the back of her belt and started loading it.

"Looks like the Elements are back in buisness for a bit." Tolone said.

"Do I ever miss it."

It was always dark in the underground, so they had no idea of telling day from night, so the group traveled by night and split up. Dominia set off on her own, while Tolone and Seraphita went one way, and Billy and Kelvena went another.

On Dominia's path, she searched one building near her, and found stacks of old newspapers.

"The cookie jar." Dominia said to herself. The room of the 3 story building was dusty, had cobwebs, but was strangely well kept for a room it's age. She took a newspaper from the lowest shelf, and started reading it.

The headline on the first newspaper had 4 women on it in black and white, all with shocked looks on their face. It said "Spice Girls Revealed to be Men!" on the headline in big black letters. Dominia couldn't help but notice the strange likeness with these 4 women with her sisters.

"Look like women to me." Dominia said. She reached up and read the next newspaper, it looked even older than the one before it.

It said "President Morrison Assassinated!" on the headline in great black letters, and a picture of a president with a bullet wound in his head. Dominia took the next newspaper from the same shelf, and it looked the same as the one before it, except it said "Nation in Grief" in black letters on the headline. That's not what caught Dominia's eye though. It was the person in the picture, next to the president's coffin. She had purple hair.

"Miang?" Dominia stammered. Dominia took the newspaper, and put it in her bag. Just as she was doing so, she heard a sneaking noise to the side of her, behind one of the empty bookshelves.

"Girls?" Dominia asked blindly.

Dominia started looking around for someone, anyone, but there was nothing. Just as she turned her head, a bullet whizzed right past it, a shot from a silencer. Domina's head snapped forward, seeing her attacker.

A man dressed in black with a black, plastic mask that had green eyes. He held the silencer at her, cold, ready to fire again, but Dominia rolled towards him and grabbed his arm as he fired it. The second she

got his arm, she twisted it all the way around until she heard and snap, and the killer howled in pain. She jumped to her feet and grabbed him by the neck with one hand, choking him.

"Who the hell are you?" Dominia commanded he say.

The killer choked and coughed, but it mattered to Dominia none.

"Who sent you to kill me, badly, might I add." Dominia added.

"The one who will soon take this world back." the man said, groaning.

"Well that man sure isn't going to be you." Dominia said, spinning the killer around into a headlock, then breaking his neck with a snap. Killing was nothing for her, almost simple.

"For your information, murdering wench, it was me." a foreign accent said to her from behind. Dominia turned around again, and saw a man with a leather black vest and black shirt, with black and green military fatigues and boots, standing with two other men dressed the same way, their weapons brandished. It wasn't Atticus Richter, though.

"The fun keeps coming." Dominia said. "Who are you supposed to be?"

"I'm Mr. Richter's best friend. I oversee many of his projects, miss."

"You don't seem like much to me."

"Well, after killing a group of Krelian's own assassins and losing my right arm in the process, I think I've earned a little more respect than what you're giving me."

"You must not have been very important, they would've sent me. Then you'd be dead."

The man laughed hard at her, rubbed his cybernetic right arm. It looked like a real arm, but was simply a replacement. Exposure to alot of heat would melt it into nothing.

"The name is Korsan Tore, formerly of the Solarian Crime Syndicate, or Furai. 49 kills." the man said proudly.

"I'm impressed." Dominia said sarcastically. Korsan grinned.

"Kill her." Korsan ordered.

Dominia dove out of the way as they fired their pistols, two rounds from both guns. Dominia quickly snapped her sword from it's sheathe, and waited for their next move. She'd been in a situation like this so many times, it was like second nature. She was having no problems, and was perfectly calm. In fact, she always felt at home when she was in a fight.

She heard one of the killer's footsteps coming up to her side, and whipped her sword back, cutting deep into the killer's ankle. In a split second, she whipped her sword back out, and shoved it deep into the killer's stomach, to the hilt. The second she did, the second killer fired a shot, but Dominia spun the lifeless body of the man she just killed toward the shooter, using the corpse as a shield. She kicked the corpse to the shooter, then impaled the shooter and the corpse's body while he was stunned.

Dominia yanked the blade out, and looked for Korsan. He wasn't there, however. He vanished.

Billy and Kelvena walked the streets, looking for any sign of life, like they opted to do. As they walked the outside streets, Kelvena stopped suddenly. Her 20 times enhanced hearing picked something up.

"Billy, stop." Kelvena said.

"What is it?" Billy asked.

Kelvena stopped for another second, then put her arm on Billy's shoulder pulling him down.

"Get down!" Kelvena yelled as a bullet struck the wall where Billy's head would've been. Billy pulled his guns from his holster in a second, waiting for the target to show itself while staying low.

"It came from 6 o'clock!" Kelvena shouted. Billy pointed the pistols to his right, but didn't see anyone. Billy got to his feet, and looked all around, but didn't see anything.

"So the blind one really can hear a bullet coming." Korsan's voice boomed nearby.

"If only she could see me behind her, she'd be a good as gold."

Just then, an arm wrapped itself around Kelvena's neck out of the shadows. The stealth was so good, not even Kelvena could pick him up. He walked out of the streets, while holding Kelvena in his grip, hostage while Billy pointed the gun right at his head, standing 6 feet away from Korsan.

"Are you really that good an aim? I could throw her in the direction of the bullet if you fired, then you'd have one dead girlfriend." Korsan teased.

"Who the hell are you? Richter?" Billy asked, trying to hold back his anger.

"No, but I know him real good. He's paid me a whole lot of money in the past to take care of little problems like yourselves, and you don't seem too hard to kill." Korsan said.

Billy didn't talk anymore, just kept the gun on Korsan.

"You better connect with that shot, otherwise you die...and I will do worse than kill her." Korsan warned. That was enough.

"I don't miss." Billy said, right before firing a shot aimed for Korsan's head, but Korsan knew Billy was going to fire, and threw Kelvena to the ground and got out of the way, the bullet whizzing by his ear.

Korsan rolled back up to his feet, but Billy kept the gun on him. Kelvena laid on the ground, panting and rubbing her neck, while Korsan was at Billy's mercy.

"Shoot, kid." Korsan dared.

Billy shrugged, and fired three shots into Korsan's chest, except the strange thing was sparks flew when the shots connected. Korsan didn't fall, didn't even reel from the blow. He just looked up and Billy, with an impressed look on his face.

"Always, always aim for the head, boy. Anything else, it's your ass." Korsan said, grabbing the nose of the pistol lightning-quick and backslapping Billy to the ground with his cybernetic right arm.

"You Etones always were easy to beat down." Korsan said, standing over Billy. Korsan then turned around, and vanished into the shadows again.

As he left, Dominia, Tolone, and Seraphita seemed to rush to the pair at the same time. They got them to their feet, and they caught their breath.

"Who...was that?" Billy asked, rubbing his face.

"Korsan Tore, Solaris assassin I think." Dominia said. "Richter's errand boy."

Kelvena caught her breath, and put her blue shades back on. "They're going through a whole lot of trouble to make sure we don't find something. Korsan didn't kill Billy and I when he had the chance."

"Do you think he's testing us?" Tolone asked Dominia.

"That, or Richter doesn't want to waste his troops too much. After Krelian decimated them first and then us, he must have somewhere from 5-10 men left, which after I got some of them in the library over there, about 7 or 6. I still want to know how they found out about this place." Dominia said.

Dominia turned to Seraphita. "The best way to deal with a psychopath is to patronize him. When he gets in your head again, do just that. Talk to him, soften him up. Maybe we can learn where he's hiding and finish the job we started."

Seraphita nodded.

"If everything's ok, stay sharp and watch your backs above all else. We're not going to confine ourselves to the camp just because of some psycho who wants us out of his place. The Elements do not take orders from terrorists, especially Atticus Richter." Dominia said.

After the talk, they split into groups once more, and continued their searches. Seraphita found exactly what she was looking for within the hour, as Richter tried to talk to her again, as she and Tolone tried to open a trapdoor to a basement in one of the buildings.

"Leave the strong work to the tomboy, Seraphita." Richter told her.

"Tolone's my sister, not a tomboy." Seraphita shot back.

"I stand corrected. Aren't you supposed to be patronizing me, though?"

"Whatever. I just want to know how you survived that explosion back when we beat you."

"It's a magic trick, my dear Seraphita."

"Stop calling me that, you psycho bastard."

"Psycho? You dare call me crazy? I'm not even going to go into your great Dominia's problems. She could bring a psychologist to tears. And what about the blind Kelvena, who just kills to follow orders, not because she wants to? I haven't heard such lies since Krelian told me he only had Solaris's best interests in mind after releasing a bio-weapon on a 3rd class place.

I won't forget Tolone, or the tomboy, of course. She forces you to hold her hand through every situation, through every day of your life, stop me when I'm wrong."

Seraphita wanted to, but even she had to admit he was right.

"All 4 of you are crazy, and so is the blonde guy. I followed the belief of the Etones, and nowhere in the book did it say grab your rifle and blow away the nearest Reaper. And I know something else about his little 'book'. It's not the real one."

Seraphita was drawn back to Tolone's attention as they finally lifted the trapdoor from the floor.

They looked down into the lower chamer, it was a long way down into the chamer with no ladder. However, there were still lights in there, and the room seemed to have been cleaned out recently.

"How are we gonna get down there?" Tolone asked.

"There's a cushion at the bottom, drop down." Richter told Seraphita with his mind.

"I think there's a cushion at the bottom, let's just drop." Seraphita said, climbing into the trapdoor. She dropped into it, and like Richter said, landed right on a cushion, which looked like an old bed mattress. She nodded up to Tolone, and Tolone dropped down on the cushion, bouncing off and standing on her feet. The room was definitely furnished recently. There was a clean desk, a red carpeting all around the room, red carpeted walls, and a large TV screen built into the front of the room.

Seraphita whistled. "Someone had fun in here." she said.

"Me, actually." Richter said.

"You see Seraphita, this is one of the many spots I use to relax myself. This whole city is my kingdom."

"You have to answer me one question, Richter."

"Anything."

"How did you find this place? The city, I mean."

"Excellent question." Richter told her.

"You see, Krelian has known about this place much longer than anyone else. This place was going to be used for Krelian getaway in case Solaris suffered an untimely demise, or Krelian failed in his original plans. Obviously, Krelian won't be needing this place, so he sent me to get it cleaned up, get batteries to get the place with lights on and everything. After my loss to you and your team, I went here to lick my wounds and regroup with my men so we could make one final strike at Krelian. Unfortunately, someone must have beat us to it." Richter finished.

"Seraphita? Seraphita?" Tolone asked, seeing her sister looking distant.

"He's talking to you, isn't he?" Tolone said.

"He...doesn't seem so bad." Seraphita said.

Tolone rolled her eyes. "We do not have time for you to play puppy love with an assassin. Do you have any idea how we get out of this room, now?"

"There's a tunnel behind one of the walls. That's not all there is to this room, though." Richter told her.

"Richter, why did you have Korsan try to kill my team earlier?"

"Korsan tried to kill you? I have nothing to do with that."

"Don't play dumb, you bastard. You tried to kill us!"

"No, Korsan tried to kill you. I don't know anything about it."

"You're a liar!"

"Why don't you find out for yourself, Seraphita? Why don't your probe into my mind like I've probed into yours? I know more about you and friends than you do yourselves with that method. So why don't you try the same thing, Seraphita?"

"I don't know the first thing about being a telepath, I was just handed this power and I don't know what to do with it."

"It's simple, Seraphita...you just see what your target looks like. That's all you need. Being you've seen me before, concentrate all your mind's power on the one figure. Then go for a walk in my brain."

"What are you doing?" Tolone asked.

"I'm finding a way out of here, and finding out where Richter is." Seraphita said.

"Just concentrate, Seraphita. It's so much easier for a level 5 to do it. I can do it in my sleep, in fact, that's the most fun way."

Seraphita flashbacked to when she saw the first picture of Atticus Richter, then concentrated her mind on that one figure she remembered, along with the link she was maintaining with Richter now.

"Come on...concentrate a little harder...I can already sense you in my mind."

"Sera? Sera?" Tolone said, shaking Seraphita from her trance, but she wouldn't come out of it. Seraphita's eyes were closed, and she was concentrating. She slowly lost all consciousness of everything around her in the solid world, now she was in a different one.

The second her concentration reached it's peak, she felt like her mind was leaving her body. She entered a whole new existance, like she was flying.

Her mind ventured, she just stayed floating in the air of her mind, not going anywhere.

"This way." a black shadow said to her from afar, then floated away. Then she floated herself away with the figure, in the void, until she was surrounded by a large, black room. It was a destroyed room, a black, with cracks and cobwebs, like it was about to fall.

"I...I can't move around." Seraphita told the void.

"Think of something. Think of anything, and you will have that body, that form, even the clothes on your back." the void told her.

That was just what she did. She thought of the attire that always made her most comfortable, the old Elements outfit with the bunny ears on top of her red hair. They made her look cute, she thought.

Her body stood in the empty, dreary room, wearing the Elements suit, looking for what was next.

"Ever hear you're stuck in the prison of your mind?" the void asked.

Then void took shape, into the shape of a very attractive, well-built man in his mid 20's with black hair and black clothes. Atticus Richter, in person.

"Well, my mind really is a prison."

"Wha..what's happening to my body in the real world?" Seraphita asked as Richter approached her.

"You're in a deep, deep sleep until you return your mind to your body. They can't wake you up, you only need to when you feel like it. This place, the escape in the mind, is the only true escape from the chaotic world we're forced to live in." Richter said, now face to face.

"You're a mind-player, Richter. You're trying to make me think you have feelings for me. People like you don't feel, just like Dominia." Tolone said.

Richter reached in, and touched her face. She wanted to push him away, but didn't. No hostilities in this world.

"You know, a long time ago, I was. Except I did feel. In fact, I took pleasure in taking someone's life much the way you and your friends did. For patriotism, for superiority. I knew about everything your friends did even without scanning anyone. I did have top access to all of Krelian's files, even the non-important ones. "

"Why are you a killer, then, Richter? You don't seem evil!"

"You didn't let me finished. I killed 100. I killed 1,000. Not because I had to, but many times, because I enjoyed it. I loved the rush, and every man I killed was my father who gave up his life and ours for the damn Lambs."

"Why are you telling me this, Richter?"

Richter took Seraphita's hand, and just held it. This man either had genuine feelings for her, or was a charming genius.

"Because like you, I don't want to do that anymore. The war is over. The world is over. I want to stay in this place until I die, but I don't want to die alone. I have to pass on my power through a child, and that child will go above ground and help rebuild the world."

"How do I know if you're telling me the truth?"

"Because I need a mate with the same kind of power as me. The result of two parents with level 5 telepathy could form the most advanced human ever."

"I hope you don't mean mate by me. I'm 17 years old. I'm not even legal yet." Seraphita said with a smirk.

"That's another reason I chose you over the others. You have life, which I wanted you to bring to me. Is it so hard to believe that maybe I want to start over? That maybe I didn't send Korsan to kill you?"

"You're just a little too convincing, Atticus. I don't believe you for a second."

"Really? You still don't believe I didn't send Korsan to kill you? Watch this."

Saying that, Atticus produced a screen-like vision of himself chained to the wall, badly beaten, his clothes tattered and torn, with soldiers standing near him ready to fire in case he tried to escape. Seraphita's jaw almost dropped to the ground.

"I'd be lying if this sudden change of heart was brought on naturally. I've been like this since about a month after we got down here. Korsan got a little too used to leading my soliders during my absence, and they got used to him. So after a week of putting up with my leadership, they overthrew me and forced me at gunpoint to get the Tyrant repaired and running so they could kill all the monsters here, except they didn't have the tools down here. So they hid from the monsters Krelian created and put here to guard, then the other Gears came here 6 months ago and killed all the monsters. Korsan's group now wants to go above ground and take everything back in the name of Solaris."

Seraphita scoffed. "More like in the name of himself."

"Yes, I have been spying on you all since my defeat, but what else can I do? I tried to scare you away because I knew you'd come if I tried to scare you. You have kill Korsan, or he'll kill you soon enough. He hasn't already because he doesn't have the firepower. He has 6 men left vs. you Elements."

Richter grinned. "It's not very fair for them."

Seraphita frowned, then Richter raised her chin with his hand. He leaned down and kissed her firm on the lips, like a dream to her. After what seemed like an hour, he broke the kiss and she just stared up at him.

This psychopath...could he really love, or was he playing me? Seraphita thought.

"There's just no way to know." Richter said.

Damn, forgot he knows what I think. Seraphita thought.

"You can know what people think, also."

"How?" Seraphita asked.

"To put a long procedure short, I must tell you to listen while noone talks. I have helped awaken this power inside you...all you have to do is aim your mind at another's. Before long, it will be second nature. You were destined to have this power, Seraphita. Maybe it's because you were always the black sheep in your group, maybe it's because God thought you deserved something."

Seraphita looked at Richter oddly. "God? That was all some great, millennium long hoax. Even Billy the church-boy knows that."

Richter rose his eyebrow. "Not quite." Richter said. "As it turns out, your trek here is not without fruits. In the world before this, there was another book speaking of God. It was the first one, and the real one. In my first exploration down here, I found that book. The last known. It was tattered, and some pages were ripped, but it spoke of deeds done by a great Messiah, and revelations of an anti-Christ."

Richter looked down, frowning. "Krelian and I were the only two to know about it's existance. The foundations of this..bible were taken and twisted around, hence the Etones and their scandals. By reading this book, I found that any man can be forgiven for his sins, even me. At the time I found it, though, I paid the forgiveness part no mind. I only paid attention to the revelation of the son of the devil, who would destroy mankind. I thought that was me, I thought that was my mission. Obviously, I was mistaken. Now I want to be forgiven by God, and atone. "

Richter sighed, and continued. "God is real, Seraphita. Not some machine. Our creation may have been originated by one, but God is the one who destined that to happen. We've angered him, that's why he's done this to the world twice. Everyone had a part in it, but now we have a chance to start this over. I want to give this book that I've kept safe to your partner Billy, so please hurry and set me free."

Seraphita was about to say yes, but then she remembered who she was talking to. This was manipulating, psychotic, cold blooder killer. She may have been ditzy, but she still had the instincts of an Element.

"No. You tell me where it is, and I'll get it." Seraphita said sternly. She tried to read into Richter's mind, but something stopped her. It was like a wall. Was he blocking her?

"Don't you trust me?" Richter asked.

"Famous last words!" Seraphita exclaimed. "Now I know I have to get it for you instead of setting you free!"

Richter smiled at her. "That's my girl." he said. "I'll guide you to it's hiding place. Don't let anyone know what you're doing, they don't trust me. They won't trust you."

"I don't trust you myself, Richter." Seraphita said.

She looked down, and looked back up. "And...and don't you think for a second that I'd ever return your affections for me! I'm a girl for everyone to enjoy."

Richter laughed hard at her. "You forget, I've seen into your mind for the longest time. You're still a virgin, but not only that, you're afraid to get close. You're just someone who enjoys the company of people, not just men. Men are the only people who talk to you because women think you're a...slut. So you're just used to talking to men."

Seraphita's jaw dropped, and she slapped him. "Don't you look into my private life ever again!" Seraphita yelled.

Richter rubbed his jaw. "Hm. The fierceness of an Element. I like it." Richter said.

"You must leave now. Time moves differently in the mind than the real world. You've been asleep inside of that room for the past 3 hours, Tolone's probably left, and you must get up before Korsan's boys find you."

Seraphita gasped. "Something I forgot to ask you...how do you know what I'm doing, every second of the day?" she asked.

"Level 5's can actually see things through another person's eyes. But that's not something that'll be easy, you still need work." Richter said.

Seraphita sighed. "I...I better go." Seraphita said. "How do I leave?"

Richter chuckled. "Simple. Walk out the door."

Seraphita nodded, and turned around walking out the door of the destroyed, dark room. She turned around and looked at Richter one last time, then walked out of the door. It was like lightning, like traveling through a long pipe at the speed of light. Then suddenly, she felt whole again, like she was back in her body, and her eyes fluttered open.

"That was insane. This whole idea is insane." Seraphita told herself, staring up at the trapdoor in the ceiling.

Seraphita was dressed back in her normal clothes, without the little bunny ears, and life was once again miserable.

There's no rush like coming back from the world of the mind. Richter reached out to her with his mind.

Seraphita sat up, and looked around the room. The TV had been ripped from the wall and stacked on top of the table below the trapdoor, like someone had climbed out. More like jumped out, thanks to Tolone's enhanced athletics. She climbed on the stack, and just leaped out. Seraphita had indeed been left alone, although she was sure Tolone went for help.

There's a switch under the desk. It opens up the passage to the city under the city as I call it. Richter thought to her.

A switch under the desk? Not one for originality, are ya? Seraphita replied.

Seraphita felt around for the switch under the desk, and sure enough there was a switch, almost like a light switch. She flipped it, and the side passage slid open, showing the way out of the office.

After you. Richter thought to her.

Seraphita walked into the passage, and it was like a basement corridor. It had pipe-shaped, dimmed lights all along, and it looked like it went on for quite a bit. Seraphita followed it down, pushing past the cobwebs and the lights that blinked on and off, but followed the corridor straight down.

When I could come down here, I got blisters walking this thing. Richter thought to her.

Is this gonna take awhile? Seraphita thought back.

Not too long. Your sister Tolone will be back any minute now, though. Let's not forget Korsan's boys aren't exactly friends, so I'd get a move on. When Tolone gets here, Korsan's boys will be here the second they do because they've got your friends tailed.

Seraphita cursed herself for not remembering the passage of time. 3 hours? It was taking Tolone and the girls 3 hours to get down and check on her? What was going on with them?

3 hours ago, after Tolone's leaving the room

After spending an hour waiting for Seraphita awaken, Tolone knew it was time to get help. She ran the street looking for the rest of the team, but couldn't find anyone.

Finally, panting and sweating, she pulled at her white hair in frustration. "Damnit! Where are you guys?" Tolone shouted in the street, hoping someone would hear her. Apparently someone did.

"We're right here." a voice from behind her said. Tolone turned around, the man was standing about 20 feet away. He was tall, wearing black, had metallic armor.

This must be Korsan.

"You're Korsan?" Tolone shouted. Korsan walked closer to her, calmly.

"No need to shout, gorgeous." Korsan said.

"Don't call me anything except my name, idiot. I don't take flattery from scum." Tolone said bravely.

Korsan, close to her, grinned. "You also don't look good in red, sweetness." Korsan said.

"What are you talking about? I'm not..." as Tolone said these words, she looked down at her top, and saw three red laser dots pointed at her heart, lower neck, and stomach. Tolone cursed herself for being so stupid to walk into a trap like that, and let the enemy know where she was.

Korsan's grin stayed the same. "Now, if I whistle to those three men, you die. So you can either listen to what I have to say, or your little family will have one less member. Are we straight?" Korsan asked, knowing the answer.

Tolone nodded, and rolled her eyes. "What do you want, slimeball?" Tolone asked with contempt.

"You naked would be nice, but right now I'll settle for something more satisfying." Korsan started.

"Now dear, Atticus Richter, my employer, has a book that I'm looking for. It has the power to inspire millions, and it tells some...truths to it. He's sent his sister to both fetch the book and set him free."

"What's the problem for you then?" Tolone asked.

"I've decided to betray Mr. Richter, actually. His call for an attack on you was entirely unprovoked, and I certainly didn't agree with it. I want the whereabouts to the book so I can stop him, and kill Richter."

"Shouldn't you know where he is?"

"He locked himself up with that damn book and many of the other artifacts you seek. He's in some kind of personal museum, the fruit ball. And he's using your sister as bait to set him free and defend against us. He may have killed multiple people at once before, but we're stronger and smarter than them. With her, however, he may pull it off and kill us."

"Can't he stretch out with his mind and stop your heartbeats?"

"No. We're all telepaths