"Blood pressure is normal. Breathing rate is normal. Chemical balance in the Bio Tube is normal. Everything seems to be working properly," a soft, ragged voice sounded within a dark, gloomy lab.

The place was strewed with books, test tubes, and various equipment. Bubbling noise could be heard from the eerie, greenish tank. The air, poisoned with chemicals, smelled like death.

"Excellent, professor. Soon, Unit Two will be ready," another voice, deeper and louder, boomed through the caliginous chamber. "How soon do you think it will be completed?"

"Hmm... Ten? Perhaps twelve days?"

"Beautiful! I'll can't wait to see our newest tool set in motion."

Both men chatted as they walked out of the atelier. Constantly gurgling timbre was echoing around the steel walls. A small human figure curled up into a ball, floating within the verdant liquid.

A smile slowly appeared on its immature face.

After returning to his office and receiving the hearsay, Mak cast his chalice across the room. The fragile cup shattered into tiny crystallized pieces with a brilliant crash. Naiomi leaned against his desk, arms folded.

"I don't believe this!" Mak muttered with unspeakable rage. His face was red from hearing the news. "The biggest, the most powerful starship ever built, was brought down by some petty rebels? I don't believe this!"

She clicked her tongue as she rubbed her legs together. "Mak, my dear, you should calm down. This isn't time for fretting-"

He whirled around suddenly, eyes wide and bloodshot, he shouted: "What do you mean calm down? How can I? We've used up so much resources on our land to build the goddamn ship only to be discarded as space trash! Think about my reputation! If word gets out telling other nations that Mak, the President of the New World Colony, was brought down by a bunch of low-life scumbags, what would happen then? Our economy rates and fame will go down the toilet!"

"Well, complaining certainly wouldn't help," Naiomi shrugged her slender shoulders. "What do you plan on doing next?"

He stopped in front of a piece of giant pane and gazed out into the saffron sky. Hover cars were flying neatly in rows. Skyscrapers, some towering over two hundred stories high, stood with elegance among the many other structures on the surface. The dome shimmered as the sunlight basked its smooth, round surface. Make sighed.

"We need to release Unit Two immediately. Naiomi, send a Light Message to all units out there and tell them to regroup in the Capital Dome. The Rebel Force will certainly attack this chief city."

"Mak, Unit Two has not matured yet. If you emancipate the creature from its nourishing tube right now, its power may degrade significantly. I suggest that-"

Naiomi was struck speechless. Her face turned red as she turned around and stomped out of the bureau.

"We're ten minutes away from touching down on Earth. The time is eight-fifteen in the morning," Roxan said as he configured some numbers on the control panels that were hovering in front of him. "You guys should get ready. Ten of you will be heading toward the Burnt Land right after the landing, and you will retrieve the nuclear warheads that are hidden deep in the mountains. Don't worry, by using the radiation detection radar, we are able to pin point the area where the bombs are located. All you guys need to do, is to follow the flashing dot that will be shown on your visor and you'll find those babies."

Afren looked at me with a set of pleading eyes. My heart ached to see her like this, but with a gulp, I gathered up my courage and left the command center.

It was two days after the detonation of the Space Farer that we had finally sneaked into the Federation Space, the sector that surrounded the planet Earth.

My brain was numb with confusing thoughts. What would happen if I died? What would happen to Afren then? What would happen if we did succeed in bringing down the Federation? What would happen next? What would happen if we didn't succeed? What would-

I shook my head as I grasped the handle and yanked the metallic wall away, revealing a small compartment. This was not the time to think about the future. It was peculiar, really. From the beginning to the end, my ideology kept on shifting, changing. It was as if I was moving through a dream. A dream without a definite end. A dream of surprise.

I took off the large white cloak, exposing my muscular, navy-colored chest. I looked at myself in the mirror. Strong, tall, with a body that had spikes growing in certain areas such as shoulder blades, elbows, and knees... Instead of long and rough looking, which had hung down to my back before, my black hair was now short around my thick neck. My eyes, golden in color, were producing an intense glare. I hardly looked like the young, teenage boy a year ago. A year... was it that long? Had time really gone by that fast ever since my escape from the unnamed military complex that had anchored itself deep into the ground?

I grabbed a chest armor, gray and shiny. I placed it solidly onto my brawny shoulders. The steel protection was cold to my skin. I shivered a little. Clipping it on tightly, I wore another layer of ebon combat suit over the chest armor and my leather pants. This suit also came with a coolant built inside, so that I wouldn't go overly heated, should it came to a desert battle. It was thick and bulky, but nevertheless, I was able to move around easily. Next, I fitted on a helmet. It had the same color as the ensemble. Circular shaped from the back and ending with a slight angular degree design at my chin, it looked... cool.

Putting a small hand-held blaster in the holster that was stuck on my left hip, and both hands holding onto a Pulsar Rifle, I looked fierce and dangerous, which I still was, even without the artificial weapons. My power was still roaming around inside my giant body. I could still release it whenever I wanted to. It had also been a year that I had not touched my secluded dint. Time sure flied.

With a soft touch from the wrist pad control, fresh air flowed in from the tank that was on the floor beside my large talons. I strapped it onto my back. From the reflection of the mirror, I looked like one of those guys who scuba-dived in the oceans on Earth. I chuckled as I clumsily walked out of the room.

We landed on a blackened soil, where trees were burnt to ashes and rocks had turned into dusts. Around us, frigid mountains in all sizes and shapes gazed down upon us. White snow, with a few blotches of black, was blanketing the peaks. I felt miniscule and powerless, while staring at the mounts. Dust and smoke were blasted away as our cruisers fired the balancing burners for a smooth touch down.

After a final jolt, the engines were off and everything was quiet. People began to shuffle around as voices murmured around me. It was time.

My head was blank as I passed through the narrow corridors. Lots of things were flashing through my mind and most of them were blurry. I couldn't remember anything.

Taking in a deep breath, I nodded to Roxan, who at the moment was with me in the cargo hold. Afren was viewing from above behind the safety glass where radiation and bullets couldn't reach her. Roxan smiled sadly as he pressed a red button on the side of the wall. He then jumped back into the room just before the thick titanium door slammed close. The gate in front of me opened, and with nine soldiers behind me, I took a daring step forward.

Our quest had begun.

Talus, Orb, and Wriik were ordered to stay on the ship. I had threatened them with my sharp fangs. If I were to die of some unfortunate causes, then at least the three of them could lead the rest of the army to battle. Afren too, could also help assisting with the war if I were to be killed while searching for the powerful bombs.

"Yeah, don't worry about us. Be sure to do a constant scan of the area around you guys back there, okay?" I spoke into the microphone in front of my mouth.

The visor was slightly hazy, both from my breath and my sweat. Even if the coolant was fully working, it couldn't help prevent a thin layer of mist from forming on the cool viewing lens.

The surrounding scenery was bleak and lifeless. Occasionally, we could see a blackened human skull partly covered by filthy dirt. Our footsteps echoed around the mountain as we carefully followed the flashing dot appearing on our visors.

Finally, after what seemed like a day's walk, we had reached The Vault.

The Vault was a large underground complex that only had one entrance. That entrance was fixed in the cliff wall, with extravagant roots and vines sprouting everywhere, and some were covering the massive gate. The thick door had decayed. The deoxidized iron was debased with brownish and red colors.

Shattered stones were dispelled everywhere. Some were as sharp as a peg; others were as slippery as ice. They made our footpath extremely perilous and difficult to walk on.

The sky slowly turned black as sun lazily lowered itself beyond the horizon. I read the temperature meter in my helmet screen: twelve degrees Celsius. It was not bad, actually. Not freezing cold or anything like that. Before we could take a step forward and try to open the door, a burnish light sliced through the sky. A second after, the ground trembled as the heaven exploded with a roaring crash.

"Thunder storm, sir," one of the ten troops said meekly. "Just to let you know."

I tapped the earphone that was built on the side of the cuirass as I tried to make sense of the broken sentences. I gave up after assaying the signal. Only a buzzing sound had returned.

"No good. We're on our own now," I called out as I descended deeper into the ground.

Feet and gears sounded behind me as the rest of the crew grumbled with discontent.

"Phil, do you feel something strange?" One person asked as he breathed heavily.

It was thirty minutes after pushing ourselves closer and closer to the nuclear devices. The ancient compound had a network of routes that were combined like a maze. During our passing, over two hundred rooms were checked. Some were empty, and others were filled with corroded corpses.

It was fortunate that we had a beacon showing us where the weapons were located. Cobwebs were abundant; they ubiquitously covered the low-hanging ceiling and the walkway. There were a few areas where puddles of murky water glanced up at us silently from the ground. The overall effect was cadaverous, powerful enough to make a person's hair stood up in fright.

The only thing that had kept us from turning around and fleeing with panic, was our clustered beam of white emission. They blended together and produced this wide-angle floodlight that lit up the freaky hallways. I hadn't noticed it before, but I found nine bodies were sticking extra close to my back. It was a good thing that I had the Bio Suit on, otherwise the stench of sweat-covered men would be appalling.

I turned around and saw the poor chap was leaning against the cave wall. His headlight was fluctuation.

"Rick, are you okay?" One of his buddies came forward as he tried to see what was wrong.

A sudden fear clicked in. I wheeled around and stared into the darkness. The light on my helmet could only go so far. Something was wrong. Soon, electronics on my suit were flickering on and off.

"Evan!" I shouted as I raised the rifle up to my chest level. "Take out the Scanner and see if there are anything projecting in our direction!"

I heard a dull thud as the heavy pack slammed onto the debris-littered floor. A zipper was opened, and a constant beeping sound of a computer run-through device flowed into our ears.

"Sir! There's a large quantity of EMP waves flowing out from the end of this passage! The level is way above the normal range!"

"Everyone! Turn on your dampening field, now!" I ordered as I pressed a button on my left wrist.

Immediately, a fuzzy cloak surrounded myself. It flickered invariably for the next six minutes before the view in front of me cleared up. The same thing had happened to the other people. It was indeed, an EMP field that was radiating directly at our face. If we didn't put up a defensive shield in another ten minutes, our hearts would stop and our brains would cease to function. We would be dead, adding our lifeless bodies to the collection of the lost souls here in the buried complex.

We reached the end and blasted away a locked door. Inside the vast chamber, around fifteen nukes were placed prudently on the reinforced racks. Their greenish armors were covered in dust. Fractures were appearing here and there along the walls. Bulbs were expanding in the four corners. Their roots crawled around the place like worms. I glanced to the left and my eyes went wide.

There, sitting in the center of the room was an EMP Generator. It was brand new; outer coverings glittered with ego. The switch was green, signaling that it was on.

"All right guys. Let's remove the Uranium spheres and get the hell out of here," I said as I glanced at the machine with puzzlement. "We only need the spheres to trigger a nuclear explosion."