“You’re saying we’re locked in with the infection?!”

“It sucks, but… it makes sense,” Austin muttered, passing Sky a quick glance before returning to scanning the horizon. Many of the Black Suns soldiers who had been lined up to exit Holres’Ket had already left the line and began forming up to deal with the situation, leading to a chaotic atmosphere of confusion at the gates. “This Nanocreature stuff is dangerous…” Austin continued. “If lockin’ down the district can stop it from spreading further, then it’s hard to argue against it…”

“And if they decide to bomb this place from orbit while we’re still stuck here?” Conrad prompted.

“…Well…” Austin responded uneasily, but trailed off, unable to come up with a reply.

“Sounds to me like the best way to protect ourselves is to be proactive,” Pierce declared. “If we help get this infection bullshit under control, then we can stop it from escalating to the point where orbital bombardment is necessary!”

“You want us to get in the way of the professionals?” Phoenix questioned incredulously.

“If they on their own were enough to handle this, then the situation wouldn’t’ve gotten this bad in the first place, would it?” Pierce shot back.

“No, you should listen to Phoenix,” Luke cut in. “This is a Black Suns operation. An outbreak might be happening right now, but the Suns are trained to deal with and contain this kind of situation.”

“Not to mention…” Twy commented warily, “I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t shake the feeling that this has something to do with the Suns’ Sector 2 showing up, yesterday. Everything was going fine while the Green Suns were in charge…”

“…Can political bullshit really lead to an infection outbreak, though…?” Conrad questioned.

Pierce audibly scoffed. “Someone hasn’t been reading their history textbooks.”

“Regardless, we’re staying put,” Luke insisted. “The bulletins recommend that anyone who isn’t part of the containment teams bunker down in place, so—“

In the middle of his sentence, another explosion sounded, this one slightly nearer than the first. And then, shortly after that, one of the ruined buildings in the distance appeared to melt down into the ground, into a silver slurry — only for a gigantic dragon-like creature, complete with two sturdy arms, Siion-like hind legs, and a long tail, to climb out of the slurry and unfurl its massive wings. Its wings appeared almost to stretch across an entire block as the beast let loose a deafening roar; immediately, weapons fire began lighting up its metallic hide, driving it to flap its wings and take to the air — a procedure that flattened all of the buildings in the immediate vicinity, and blasted away many of the soldiers who had been standing nearby.

Following the emergence of the silver dragon, stunned silence overtook the Earthian travel group. It was Sky who eventually broke the silence as she exclaimed incredulously, “what the hell is that?!”

“A silver dragon…” Luke muttered, his expression collapsing into a scowl.

“I’d heard from Mote that they ran into one a few months back,” Mark commented in disbelief, “but this is…!”

“It’s a Critical Infection Incident… right?” Twy glanced uneasily between the other Earthians and the dragon, which was now strafing the streets of Holres’Ket as it fired storms of tiny metal flechettes out of its mouth at its Black Suns opponents. “Rebehka told us about this back when we first visited Relédiaka. When the metallic infection reaches critical mass within a certain area, all of the nanites come together to form a large, winged beast — a dragon! That dragon!”

“Shit… how the hell did things get this out of control?!” Phoenix questioned.

“Just goes to show that the Suns need help!” Pierce insisted. “If this is a ‘Critical Infection Incident’, then this is already the worst case scenario, right? So we need to put that thing down now!”

“I agree that the situation has changed,” Luke admitted, “but this is still no excuse to charge recklessly into danger—!”

“Then we should just stand around here, doing nothing? Bullshit! I say we should help — after all, we’re able to help, right?” Pierce turned to look at each and everyone else in the group. “If that old man in Riverana is even half right, then we’re better suited to fight the Nanocreatures than anyone else here!”

“If we had more training, maybe…” Austin muttered.

“Sure, but not everything is perfect. Think about it this way, then: this is a chance to show up that Chaos Knight bitch, and show her that we Earthians aren’t just opportunistic bastards. To show her that we really can help!”

“Ugh… I hate that I actually kind of agree with you…” Phoenix responded.

“Personally, I’m all in favor of the ‘bunker down’ plan,” Conrad declared.

“Of course you—!” Pierce began to retort, only to be interrupted by yet another explosion. In response, he immediately summoned Hastryth — the blade at the end of a long energy tether, connected to an extravagant black and dark blue hilt with a glowing deep blue orb inset upon the grip — and whipped around toward the source of the explosion. “We don’t have time to keep arguing! If anyone’s with me, if anyone’s willing to actually face this problem head-on — then follow me!”

“Pierce, wait—!” Luke shouted, but before he had even finished calling out Pierce’s name, the Velocitechnic had disappeared. “…Damn it!”

“Figures he would run off on his own…” Twy muttered.

“Normally I’d agree with you, but this time…” Phoenix warily eyed the silver dragon in the skies; while it was clearly capable of flight, it still remained relatively low to the ground, occasionally even landing to rend the buildings around it with its massive limbs. “…Can we really just sit around and watch this happen?!”

“Help Pierce?” Kestrel questioned, her gaze focused on Luke.

“Aw man, not you, too…” Conrad groaned.

“I could go to back him up, as well,” Mark pointed out.

“Argh…” Luke growled in frustration as he eyed the silver dragon himself. “…Fine! Phoenix, Kestrel, Mark — if you three want to go help Pierce, then go! Make sure he doesn’t hurt himself, or get in the way of the Suns!”

“Got it!” Phoenix replied, already being lifted into the air by Kestrel’s wind manipulations. The two women then rushed off after Mark, who had already used his bountiful strength to bound deeper into the district, toward the silver dragon.

“You can’t be serious!” Austin exclaimed in disbelief. “We’re— we’re just letting them join the fight?!”

“At least they didn’t drag me into it, this time…” Conrad muttered.

“No, but I’m afraid that I will,” Luke declared. “These are extraordinary circumstances. The others may be reckless, but we all have energy shielding, here. Directing their energy to productive means is the best way to keep them in check. As for us… follow me.” He began walking back in the direction from whence they had come, deeper into Holres’Ket.

“What? We’re going in?!” Sky questioned incredulously, “but weren’t you just saying—?”

“That was before that silver dragon showed up,” Luke countered. “But if a Critical Infection Incident is unfolding before our eyes, then we can’t afford to just stand around. At the very least, we need to head back to the research center and make sure the Deans are okay! And if they are, they should know better what to do in this situation!”

“…So we really can’t avoid action after all, huh?” Austin lamented, but nonetheless rushed after Luke — as did the remaining Earthians. “Seems like everywhere we go, things go to shit. Can’t anything just go well, for once…?”

---

*

“RAAAAAAAAARGH!!!”

With a thunderous roar, the metallic dragon brought its two mighty fists down on one of Holres’Ket’s ruined buildings, instantly smashing it into smithereens. As it withdrew its arms from the cloud of the building’s debris, two quick bursts of flame emerged from the cloud to sear the dragon’s maw; before it could move to retaliate, however, a half-dozen Black Suns soldiers opened fire on it from down the block. With an irate snarl, the dragon turned toward them, allowing the Pyrotechnic stuck in the debris cloud to extricate themselves and flee unabated.

As soon as the soldiers got the signal that the Chaotic had fled, they began their own organized retreat — but then the dragon lunged for them, its massive wings pumping once to give it an incredible burst of speed. Within a second, it was upon them, its giant maw opening wide to spew forth a storm of flechettes. The Suns’ energy shields protected them from direct harm, but the flurry of tiny knives still staggered them such that the dragon was easily able to snatch two of them off of the ground in its hands. Now holding the two soldiers, the dragon’s hands seemed to melt and reform around the soldiers’ bodies, forming — at a glance — some sort of cocoon.

But before the cocoons could fully form, a supersonic blur and the flash of a blade glinting in the light rushed past both of the giant beast’s wrists, followed by its half-cocoon hands falling to the ground — now severed from the dragon’s arms. Despite being dismembered, however, the dragon didn’t bleed; instead, it roared in irritation, extending one of its severed arms toward the pile of silver goo on the ground that was once one of its hands while it turned to stare at the individual who had attacked it: a certain light-skinned man with dirty blond hair, wielding an extravagant blade at the end of an energy tether.

“…Alright!” Pierce pumped his fist as he watched the two formerly trapped Black Suns soldiers free themselves from the dragon’s severed hands — just as the dragon dug its limbs into the two silver piles and reformed its hands as if it hadn’t been injured at all. Well that’s bullshit, Pierce thought to himself, and then quickly crouched down and leaped to the east as the dragon lunged for him. But at least I’ve drawn its attention! Alright, you big fuck, show me what you can do!

Almost as if in response to Pierce’s unspoken words, the metallic beast used its powerful wings to launch itself into the air, where it opened is mouth wide once more. Pierce prepared to dodge a storm of flechettes, as he had seen the dragon spit multiple times before, but what hit him instead was an impactful laser that launched him haphazardly across the street. Surprised at the use of a new weapon, Pierce was unable to catch himself before he unceremoniously slammed into — and through — a building’s walls, causing the structure to collapse on top of him. He managed to recover before it could trap him fully and then launched himself through the collapsing roof — where the dragon was ready and waiting. It immediately moved to grab him; in the split-second that Pierce had to react, he knew that he had no way of dodging midair, but he still managed to whip himself around to keep his right arm free as the dragon grabbed him. A metallic silver material began to rush across his body, just as he had seen with the two soldiers earlier. But before the nanomachine swarm had the oppotunity to cover him, he summoned his weapon back into his right hand and sliced at the dragon’s wrist, again severing its hand.

This time, however, as the hand began to fall to the ground, the dragon immediately blasted its own severed hand with the laser in its mouth, rocketing Pierce into the ground just below him. “Agh—!” he reflexively grimaced in pain from the impact, but he still forced himself back to his feet and dashed off — only to be hit in the back with another laser. The fuck—?! he mentally exclaimed as he was sent sprawling once more, fucking lasers — I can’t outrun lasers! I hate this shit!

As if to spite him, another laser blast punctuated Pierce’s thought, flattening him against the ground. He quickly rolled over and jumped to his feet, at which point he turned his attention to the dragon itself — which had just made a dive for him. Pierce immediately made to dash off, only for yet another laser blast to interrupt his movement, preventing him from dodging the dive.

And yet, as he recovered from being blasted once more, Pierce noted that the dragon’s dive had failed to complete. Before it reached him, it was knocked off course by an incredible blow to its side — and after delivering that punch, Mark fell to the ground next to Pierce. “Are you alright?” he questioned, though his gaze remained focused on the silver dragon.

“I’m fine,” Pierce insisted as he jumped back to his feet. “…Decided to join, though, huh? Tired of just sitting around with the rest of the losers?”

“We can discuss that later,” Mark insisted, summoning his green and silver halberd as the dragon recovered from his punch and turned his way. “Phoenix and Kestrel are on their way, as well. When they get here—“

“Chaos Cannon! Chaos Cannon!”

Phoenix’s shouting — accompanied by two mach-speed projectiles slamming into the dragon’s chest — interrupted Mark’s statement. The Chaos Energy projectiles tore two holes clean through the beast’s chest, causing it to stagger backwards; Mark immediately took advantage of the opening to bound forwards and begin attacking the metallic creature, while Kestrel and Phoenix alighted on the ground next to Pierce.

“Figures that someone would have to rescue you,” Phoenix snidely remarked.

“Rescue? Hmph. I could’ve handled that situation on my own,” Pierce retorted. “And what about you, huh? You aren’t as fast as me, but you still took your damn time!”

“Unlike you, I actually checked to see if recklessly running off was a reasonable course of action!”

“You mean you asked for permission? From who, Luke? Why the hell are you waiting for a SERRCom officer to tell you what to do?”

“That’s not what I meant, you ass—!”

“Incoming,” Kestrel interjected, crouching down to grab both Pierce and Phoenix and yank them to the side with her winds. Just as she did, Mark came crashing to the ground right where they had been standing — followed by several massive spears, each constructed of the same nanites as those within the dragon’s body. Several more such spears followed, as the dragon took material out of its own wings and legs to craft the massive projectiles; Mark was able to punch away two of them, but the third hit him square in the chest, blasting him backwards once more. The dragon then hopped down to the ground and lunged after him, its left-hand claws raking the ground and leaving behind streaks of metallic silver. Before the dragon could reach Mark, however, Phoenix knocked it to the side with a call of “Chaos Impact”, and Pierce followed with a flying kick into its neck. As he rebounded off of the staggered beast, Pierce then lashed out with the blade at the end of his energy whip, tearing into the dragon’s flank and shearing off its right-side wing.

In retaliation, the dragon snapped its tail around toward Pierce, but Kestrel caught him in a pillow of air and yanked him out of the tail’s path. As she deposited him on the ground, Mark bounded forward, bringing his halberd down on top of the dragon’s front limb and shearing it in twain vertically. Then, as soon as he landed on the ground, he adjusted his grip on his halberd and gave a mighty upward swing, catching the dragon in its neck just as it staggered down to his level. Effortlessly, Mark’s halberd cleaved clean through the dragon’s neck, leaving its head to fall to the ground.

In the brief lull afterward, Mark took a deep breath, and Pierce made to pump his fist in victory — but then, the dragon’s dismembered limbs each spontaneously lunged for the two men, catching them both off-guard and restraining them against the ground. Phoenix quickly fired off several Chaos Cannon shots in an effort to obliterate the mass of nanites restraining Mark and Pierce, though while she did, the main body of the dragon retreated to the streaks of silver it had left on the ground — the streaks that had since grown in size to cover nearly the entire street. As soon as the half-destroyed body reached the silver sheet, it absorbed all of the metallic material, seemingly draining the surrounding area of matter as it completely reformed its body.

“What the fuck?!” Pierce exclaimed in disbelief, having just been freed by Phoenix’s Chaos Cannons and swept to the side by Kestrel’s wind. He, as well as Mark, Phoenix, and Kestrel, each looked up at the now completely uninjured dragon of metal — and the two smaller beasts that formed from the dragon’s former head and wing.

“It keeps reforming itself…” Mark muttered as he gripped his halberd defensively. “I can see why the Nanocreatures were considered such a threat.”

“How can we stop it from doing that, though?” Phoenix tensely questioned. “The nanites are eating matter to make more of themselves, right? And that’s how it regenerates? But how the hell do we stop that?!”

“Out of our league…” Kestrel stated tersely.

“Don’t tell me you want to run,” Pierce retorted. “In the end, it’s still just a beast! This is totally something we can handle—!”

“Overdrive: Electrostorm!”

Just as the silver dragon began to lift itself into the air, a dark cloud formed in the skies above it — followed immediately by a series of fierce lightning strikes, each blasting away at the dragon’s limbs and the two smaller creatures that had recently formed to aid it. As the strikes continued, Nil’kin sauntered onto the scene, her disdainful gaze centered on the massive dragon in front of her. She then glanced at the Earthians out the corner of her eye. “…Decided to play heroes, have we?”

“The fuck?!” Pierce exclaimed irately, “you were the one lambasting us for not getting involved in the Nanocreature War! Why are you complaining when we try to help out now?”

“…Heh,” Nil’kin responded with a smirk. “Well, I have to admire your attitude, if nothing else. It’s good to see that someone is actually taking this seriously.”

“Weren’t you back at the research center, watching the surgery?” Mark questioned. “Did something happen?”

“Those Nimalian fools are still trying to cure that fateless creature, if that’s what you’re asking,” Nil’kin responded derisively. She then crouched down, preparing to enter the battle as the lightning strikes from her storm cloud began to die out. “As for what’s going on here — the only explanation is the Black Suns’ carelessness in handling this district.”

“Speaking of the Suns, where the hell are they?” Phoenix questioned. “We’ve been fighting this thing alone!”

“They’re evacuating their personnel and valuable materiel,” Nil’kin replied, and then audibly scoffed. “The Colonel gave me some excuse about his ‘Green Suns’ not being prepared to fight a Critical Dragon, but that sounds like folly, to me! Now, if you Earthians are serious about helping, here, then follow my lead! The only way to defeat a Critical Dragon…” Sparks began wreathing her body as she charged forward, launching powerful blasts of lightning at the still-recovering metallic beasts. “…Is to obliterate it completely!!”

---

*

“What the hell happened here?!”

“That’s a good question…” Luke muttered, his pace slowing as he looked up at the sight before him. He had just rounded the corner onto the street hosting the research center where Kaoné was curing the infected creature, and upon doing so, the first thing that caught his attention were the massive swathes of ice that covered half the block. Glistening, translucent ice completely encased the research center as well as most of the street and buildings around it, the ice spires reaching a few dozen meters into the air to create a jagged barrier. Cold air swept across the street as the immense amount of ice caused the temperatures in the surrounding area to nosedive, all while several Black Suns soldiers stood watch just outside of the ice.

“…Rebehka’s thing is ice, right?” Sky questioned warily as the group took in the frozen sight. “Did something happen to her?”

“Maybe she used her Overdrive, or something,” Conrad suggested.

“No, Rebehka’s Overdrive creates a lasting blizzard,” Austin corrected. “This obviously isn’t that.”

“Somethin’ had to’ve made her do this, though,” Spike pointed out.

“Maybe. It also might not have been her,” Luke said. “This ice could’ve been created by a Black Suns Cryotechnic, or even by Kaoné — ice is matter, after all. But there’s only one way to find out.”

“…Aaaand we’re going toward the ice. Great,” Conrad deadpanned as he watched Luke begin jogging toward the Black Suns.

“It’s all we really can do, right now,” Twy said, carefully gripping her summoned bow as she followed after Luke. “Just be thankful that the fighting isn’t here!”

“For now…” Spike muttered, his gaze focused on the bright lightning strikes in the distance. He then turned to face the Black Suns — and Colonel Petro D’Tan, who stood with the soldiers.

Upon noticing the approaching Earthians, the Colonel turned to look at Luke in exasperation. “I thought you were leaving the district!” he remarked.

“We were in line, but the place got locked down before we could leave,” Luke replied. “What’s the situation?”

“And why is there ice everywhere?!” Sky exclaimed.

“Reports say we’re facing a Critical Infection Incident,” Petro answered. “Somehow, the Nanocreatures managed to amass enough nanites in this district to reach critical mass without us realizing. And with that, they’ve developed the capability to reproduce at will and corrupt other matter actively, rather than passively.”

“We heard about this Critical Infection stuff from Rebehka,” Austin said. “That’s why that dragon showed up here, right? But if the situation is that bad, then why the hell are we sticking around?!”

“We’re not,” the Colonel countered. “District-wide evac is underway, but it’ll take time to get everyone out. We need to delay the infection as much as we can in the meantime, so that we can evacuate as many people as possible.” He then turned to gesture at the masses of ice all around them. “That’s why all of this ice is here. As soon as it became clear we were dealing with a Critical Infection, Dean Tchiréon froze the entire research center, to slow down the infected creatures inside that might have escaped.”

“Slow down?” Sky echoed, “why not stop?”

“Nanocreatures can consume any matter to turn it into more of themselves… and that includes ice. Doesn’t it?” Twy questioned.

Petro nodded sagely. “It does. Fortunately, ice and cold still seem to slow them down, but it won’t stop them for good. So we don’t have much time.”

“What caused this in the first place?” Austin asked, “if the district was so close to a Critical Infection outbreak — I mean, did this really surprise you? Is this related to the cure attempt, or something?”

“How did everything get this bad, anyways?” Conrad added. “I thought energy shields were supposed to be able to stop the nanomachines.”

“They are,” Petro responded, though frustration began leaking into his tone. “All of the creatures under Sector 1’s watch were properly contained by energy shields — and they still were at the moment of the outbreak. An outbreak like this shouldn’t be possible with the kind of security measures we use. Certainly not so suddenly, at least.”

“…Are you suggesting foul play of some kind?” Luke questioned warily.

“Whether or not there was foul play doesn’t matter at this moment in time,” Petro replied. “We need to focus on getting everyone out of here alive. Only then can we afford to start figuring out what went wrong.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“What about the cure attempt?” Austin insisted. “And the Deans? And that Dra’kis lady?”

“The Chaos Knight left at the earliest sign of trouble,” Petro answered. “I hear she’s leading the fight against the Critical Dragon herself. Dean Tchiréon remained behind to freeze the block, but she’s since left to help contain the infection, as well. And Dean Densalin… she’s still in the research center, working on curing the sita.”

“She’s still in there?!” Spike exclaimed.

“Kinda thought she’d have left,” Conrad said.

“The Dean understands that this cure attempt is an important and significant next step in developing a wider cure for the infection,” Petro replied. “If she can cure the sita, then it’s only a matter of time before we never have to worry about another Critical Infection Incident!”

“What if that cure attempt is what caused the outbreak?” Austin suggested. “Did we think of that?”

“The captured specimens in the research center did grow more aggressive when Dean Densalin began the procedure,” Petro admitted. “However, even an aggressive infected animal will take days at an absolute minimum to wear down the energy shields holding them captive. There’s clearly something else that went wrong for things to get this bad.”

“If starting the cure turned everything aggressive, then would stopping the cure make them go docile, again?” Sky asked.

“No,” Petro said. “There’s never been a recorded incident of the metallic infection regressing in aggression. It always escalates. That’s why I’ve allowed Dean Densalin to continue with the cure attempt — it isn’t as though ceasing it will help anything. If she can cure the sita, then at least something good will come out of all of this.”

“And that’s why you’re still here, then?” Luke questioned as he glanced at the other Black Suns standing guard. “To protect the research center, and Kaoné?”

The Colonel nodded. “That’s right. We need to hold this place for as long as we can. Though, at the moment, the nanites seem to be focusing their efforts in bolstering that dragon…”

“Some of my colleagues ran into a Nanocreature dragon aboard a space station,” Luke stated. “According to them, it was able to maneuver around easily even without atmosphere, or artificial gravity. Can we be sure the silver dragon that’s here won’t just fly off into space on its own?”

Petro turned to look at Luke in alarm. “It what? This is the first I’ve heard anything like that!”

“Sounds like it could be a real problem, then,” Conrad commented flatly.

“The thing can fly anyways, can’t it?” Sky questioned, “why would you think it can’t fly over the barriers between the districts?”

“The energy barriers extend far into the upper atmosphere — into low orbit, even. It’s impossible for any air-breathing engines or atmosphere-dependent propulsion to reach those altitudes,” Petro declared. “But if there’s even the slightest chance that that dragon could fly over the barriers, anyways… damn! We need more people on it—!”

A thundering, echoing snarl ripped through the block, immediately drawing everyone’s attentions to the street behind the Earthians. As soon as the snarl sounded, two silverish feline-like creatures bounded around the corner — followed swiftly by a massive horned beast, standing nearly two stories tall at the shoulder. Its four legged-run didn’t slow as it leaped against some ruins on the far side of the street to take the corner easier and then continued charging straight at the Earthians and Black Suns, its hooves shifting into clawed paws that raked the ground and left behind long streaks of silver as it approached.

“What the fuck?!” Austin exclaimed in surprise as one of the Black Suns fired off a Chaos Impact, slowing the beast’s charge — but not stopping it at all.

“The fight’s even coming to us, now, huh?” Conrad muttered as he turned himself invisible.

“I’m sorry to drag you into this, Earthians!” Petro shouted as the other Black Suns began fighting off the approaching creatures. “But for the sake of this galaxy’s future, this research center needs to hold! And to make that happen, we’ll take all the aid you’ll give us!”

“As much as I dislike it, it seems a little late to say ‘no’, at this point,” Twy remarked, already drawing her bow to aim a silver arrow at the massive beast.

“This is a shitty situation, but for now, we have to trust the Colonel!” Luke declared. “Colonel — give me a rifle, and I can help! Everyone else — hold this line for as long as you can!”