Full Circle (Razgriz x Candira)

Exodus had to move; he knew his position was given away when he fired. He had prepared for this to the best that he could; however, the intermittent shimmering seemed to stop. That meant they found a way to restore shields to full capacity. That wasn't good, but there wasn't any turning back now.

Avia, meanwhile, was absolutely appalled someone would attack her master like that. "WHEN I FIND YOU, I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR ENTRAILS AND PARADE THEM FOR ALL THE FILTHY HUMANS TO SEE!" Avia screamed. She then noticed a blue dot moving in between some small spires; she immediately calmed down and spoke to Cytomander directly. "Your Excellency, I found the little ant! He's off your eight-o'-clock!"

Sovereign, who was farther away from Exodus, saw that Exodus had fired and decided to join in on the fun, despite having been told to stay hidden. "YAHA! EAT THIS, YOU FLYING FUCKING.......GAH, WHATVER, JUST DIE!" A giant cannon seemed to materialize out of nowhere on Sovereign's shoulder; though it wasn't the same build as the launcher Exodus built, it could still deliver a heavy payload. Another defeanening BOOM was heard as the artillery cannon was fired repeatedly, sending ultra high-explosive ordinance to rain on Cytomander's shields. Each round made contact, causing the shield to flicker.
The strike teams in the port side were fully engaged and ready for combat. It was taking longer for the starboard deployments due to the massive damage sustained from the initial strike. However, they were soon ready to go. "General, this is Gold Squad Leader. All available strike teams are standing by and awaiting instructions" The pilot controllers then spoke to Cytomander, "Sir, analysis reveals all anti-air and anti-ground batteries are still operational. Should we activate them?"

In the fortress, the engineering teams were struggling to fix one of the shield generators. They almost got it fixed when suddenly the one they were working on overheated and exploded after Sovereign's barrage nailed the shield. The resulting explosion took out all but one of the maintenace crew members; he then radioed in, "General, one of the shield generators is offline. Others are holding up and we'll do what we have to in order to keep them online."
 
Harbringer saw that the plan was shot to hell and sighed. She squeezed off a few low-tech rounds with Sovereign's makeshift cannon. It added some damage without giving away her position. "Get them in a formation so I can fire at them all."



"What do you think, you idiots?! Send out the units, fix the shields, and activate everything. Blanket the area with charges and bullets.
 
The hangars seemed to burst with life; aerial units soon blanketed the airspace, searching for where the targets would most likely be. "Oh, fan-fucking-tastic!" Exodus growled; he had intended to use himself as bait and let his team-mates hammer them from behind, but now that wasn't going to work now that Sovereign had given himself away. This whole plan went to shit, but at least they got one good shot in.

Avia finally spotted where Exodus was and shouted, "Everyone, converge on me! I found the bastard who attacked our General! Let's rip him to shreds!" Most of the units now followed Avia as they led here to Exodus' location; with Harbinger hidden, this would present a good opportunity to thin their ranks. It was hard for him to move with the bulky cannon on his shoulder; however, the surronding rock cover would buy some time. "Harbinger, switch to shredder rounds and increase rifle velocity 78% percent. I'll try to line them up for you." These guys seemed to be fairly easy to lead around; soon they were in a perfect position to take out them all except Avia. "Harbinger, fire!" Exodus said into the mike once he was sure that she had a clear view. However, it would soon prove difficult to fight; the ship itself started dropping charges and the onboard sentries began firing at any thing that wasn't friendly; namely Sovereign and Exodus. While Sovereign's Gunmen could handle the massive amounts of enemy fire, Exodus' could not. IT could take a few shots, maybe a direct impact or two, but anything more than that and he'd be dead.

Sovereign, meanwhile, was having his own problems; though he wouldn't exactly label them as such. Being an explosives master, he could easily knock these bastards out of the sky; his shielding let him take all the charges and bullets could drop on him, and when it ceased, he dropped them to let his hip-mounted autocannons work like Phalanx guns. "YAHA! NOW THIS IS A FIGHT! COME AND GET ME! I HAVE PLENTY FOR EVERYONE!" Explosions rained down all around him; tough as they were, this would only drain the Trio in the long run.

One of the pilots who was engaging Sovereign was panicking; an obviously rookie pilot, his Gunman swerved trying to avoid Sovereign's bullets. However, he noticed that something about the red gargantuan was familiar and fed his observations to the pilot-controllers. "Gah! HOLD STILL! I CAN'T MAKE YOU GO BOOM IF YOU KEEP MOVING SO MUCH!" Sovereign roared.
Inside the ship, things were starting to get back to normal. Damage was contained, and shields were operating at good enough capacity to handle most conventional weapons. Anything like the thing that hit them initially, however, and the shields would drop. One of the pilot controllers then spoke, "General, one of the pilots has confirmed that one of the targets is a member of the infamous Trio. Sir, with all due respect, I think we should pull back. Human settlements we can handle, but these guys are a whole 'nother level." Another pilot controller laughed again, "Please! With our air capability, it's like the General said: We are SUPERIOR to ANY ground troops. He who rules the skies, rules it all! Isn't that right, General sir?"
 
Well fuck. All of the hangars were opening and gunmen were pouring out like frightened bats from a cave, only these bats were angry and had weapons. What a crappy metaphor to think of at a time like this! Harbringer growled and did as her commander asked, adjusting for her own skills and calculations as well. Once the gunmen were lined up, she fired several rounds and watched as they exploded before the one who appeared to be the leader: Avia. She was the only one at the moment who was left out of target range. And if not for the missiles and charges that were coming in her direction, Harbringer would have taken that bitch out as well.

She had to find more cover, and quickly. So she moved her gunman as stealthily as possible to get some clearer shots at the enemy.



Just as the controller had said they were superior, Harbringer's shells blew up a whole line of gunman right before their eyes. The irony was palpable as Cytomander had a fit. "KILL THEM ALL! I don't care what you have to do, just do it!" Who was this "Trio" to attack him? How dare they? The worthless bunch of humans would just have to be taught a lesson. A final lesson.
 
The explosion from the aerial Gunmen behind Avia caused her own personal mech to suddenly accelerate forward; the body of her mech collided with Exodus' own. Their jumbled combination rolled and turned for a good while before coming to a stop. And boy what a compromising position it was when they finally stopped; Exodus' Gunman was laying on top of Avia, giving it the impression the mechs were having sex. Both pilots were knocked unconscious from the force of the impacts; Avia was the first to wake, moments before Exodus was beginning to stir. "Wha.....? H...hey! Get off me, you perverted filthy human! Only Cytomander is allowed to be like that with me!" Avia screamed as she manipulated her Gunman to push him off. Exodus felt his Gunman roll over on to its back as he finally fully awoke. His Gunman was on its feet in seconds, ready to fight.

Avia's Gunman seemed to dust itself as it faced Exodus; it then rose in the air its flight engine engaged. "I'll make you pay for trying to harm our glorious leader!" "BRING IT ON, BEASTMAN SCOURGE!" Exodus bellowed as he let the Blood Rage consume him and drew his combat blades; he and Avia charged each other simultaneously. Avia used her aerial mastery to hack and slash at Exodus' mech with her mech's own talons while Exodus swung his combat blades to deflect and attack.

Sovereign was having the time of his life; he was swatting them out of the sky, though his ammunition in the autocannons was beginning to run out. "THE WAR MACHINE GRINDS TO HALT WITHOUT AMMO!" he roared as his ammunition neared ten thousand; with the autocannon's rate of fire, that would last him about thirty more seconds. He continued to fire regardless, even as increasing numbers of bombs and various other explosives rained down around him. They were quickly running out of options and ammo. Something drastic would have to happen soon.

The pilot-controllers punched in commands at inhuman speeds; they would this 'Trio' just who the top dogs were. The massive Gunman fortress turned hard to port; soon, it faced Sovereign directly. The end of the starboard-side inner arm opened and what looked like two thick rectangular metal slabs extended out. What the Trio didn't realize was that this was one of Cytomander's ultimate weapons; an onboard railgun. What it had in firepower in lacked in practicality; it required the ship to be facing its opponent in order to score a hit. But with Sovereign trapped, this was taken care of. "Activating secondary generators. We have current flow. Forty-five seconds till maximum charge"

Exodus saw during his fierce combat with Avia that the Gunman was facing Sovereign. He then saw the slabs extend out of one of the arms; he knew that was trouble. He couldn't shake Avia; she was too persistent. He then was forced to have her do something that would never had to in an ordinary situation. "Harbinger! Put your rifle to maximum output! And whatever those slabs are, put as many holes in them as you can!" At maximum, her rifle could easily pierce the shields and damage whatever those slabs were meant to be used for. However, there was an almost guarantee that it would fry her rifle. He hated having her do it, but at least she could hide and try to fix it.
 
Had the sniper been paying attention to the outcome of her shots on the other gunmen, she would have been amused and slightly irked at the position the two fighters had ended up in. As it was, Harbringer had found new cover and was currently running scanners on the air ship to try and find another weak point. It was shown to her as the ship targeted Sovereign and Sovereign only. She gasped when she found out what it was. "RAILGUN!" she typed frantically. She couldn't risk giving away her position when she did what she was about to do.

She found the point of firing and aimed with as much precision as she could, calculating everything. She used her most powerful weapon and maximum power--it would leave her considerably less effective, but not utterly defenseless. Rather than think about all the drawbacks of this very poorly thought out plan, Harbringer fired her most powerful charge into the railgun, shattering the two barrels and causing a rather large explosion, despite the fact that the shields had lessened the impact considerably. And now...her rifle was all but useless. She attached it to her back and took out some smaller guns, wishing they were better, but dealing with it. She managed somehow to stay in stealth mode and hoped that her shot had done what it needed to do.
 
The shields on the Dai-Gunten failed again as Harbinger's round pierced them effortlessly and shattered the railgun. The resulting explosion from the massive amount of energy that was being charged into it rocked the ship once more and caused the personnel that weren't braced to fall over again; it also caused two more shield generators to fail. "Shields down to 40% maximum strength!" a pilot controller called out before the shields came back online. They were significantly weaker now, but could still deflect most conventional arms. The bombardment from the fortress and the aerial Gunmen only seemed to intensify; lasers, bombs and bullets carpeted the surrounding area as the flying Gunmen and the fortress worked to exterminate the enemy threat.

Sovereign wanted to use his higher-yield explosive weapons; unfortunately the ports in his Gunman that usually opened to fire them were heavily damaged and unresponsive to his insistence to open them. On top of it all, his autocannons were very nearly reaching zero now; he had less than one hundred shots left. "Exodus, you better think of something! I'm running out of gun juice over here! And my explosives can't be launched!" he sent out as a burst message.

Exodus and Avia were still fighting; both of their Gunman were severely beat up. Avia's flight engine was severely damaged and her talon weapons were now more blunt than butter knives. Exodus' fared no better; one of his combat blades and both pistols were destroyed and his armor had long gashes and holes all over it. They were both exhausted, but still determined to destroy each other. Exodus looked over to see the shields falter once more before coming back online. They were getting close, but they were now completely fucked. Sovereign was almost out of autocannon ammo and unable to fire his heavier explosives due to his being trapped, Harbinger's rifle was surely toast, and Exodus was fighting for his life against a very skilled opponent.

Exodus grimaced; why did everything have to go so wrong? Unfortunately his distraction didn't go unnoticed by Avia; though she couldn't go up, she could definitely use her flight engine to speed forward, and boy did she. She sped forward at an unbelievable speed, slamming her blunted foot into Exodus and causing him to slam into a cliff wall. The impact made him hit his head and knock him out; his Gunmen fell forward on its front. Avia cackled and wrenched the one good blade from Exodus' Gunman's hands. She then stood over and yelled triumphantly as she held the blade, ready to impale Exodus, "Die, you human bastard!"
 
Harbringer managed to catch the action this time and just as Avia raised the blade fired as many rounds as possible into the flying gunman with her gun. She managed to stay in stealth mode and continuously hailed Exodus with text, but she doubted it would be enough. They were all fucked, and if they stayed, the would be fucked. They needed repairs, new plans, and significantly larger numbers. But if they left they'd lose their chance, and there wasn't much of a place to go in any case. Damn it all! Why was this happening? She fired at Avia again, giving her leader more time to recover and less of a challenge to deal with when he woke up.

As for Sovereign...She couldn't be in two places at once, and Exodus was down. He needed her more.
 
Avia felt the rounds impact; these were enough to destroy the flight engine entirely. She turned and saw more rounds fly at her, piercing her front and very nearly hitting her. "Who's there? Show yourself, you little human coward!" Avia screamed as she looked around to see where the shots were coming from. Harbinger's distraction gave Exodus time to wake up and see that Avia had been diverted; Harbigner must have drawn her attention away from him. He noticed Avia was holding his blade; not wasting any time; he charged her from behind, grabbed her Gunman's arm and twisted it so that the blade pointed at her back. He then gave a roar as he shoved the blade through the mech and its pilot; streaks of purple coated the blade's silvery length. Avia simply whimpered out, "Y..your.....Exellency....I....failed you" before her Gunman collapsed, the pilot herself dead.

Exodus was breathing heavily; now that nuisance was gone, they still had to contend with the fortress Gunman. "Ugh.....thanks for the back-up, Harbinger." he then typed, knowing she was near by. He looked around for the launcher; after digging through some rubble, he found it. It appeared to be moderately damaged and capable of only using one shot. "Damn it!" he growled. "Harbinger, disengage cloaking. We don't need it anymore. I need to see where you are when I fire this thing."

Sovereign had finished holding off his own attackers; the massive ship still faced him though. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT, UGLY! BAHAHAHAHA!" Sovereign roared even though the ship couldn't hear him. His own Gunman, despite its heavy armor and shielding, was a fairly sore sight. Exposed wires, exposed cockpit, useless explosives, everything was going to hell. The fortress then did something rather unexpected; it charged Sovereign as if to ram him with its bulk. Sovereign then had an idea; it was suicidal and Exodus sure wouldn't go for it if he divulged all the details. "Exodus, do you still have the One-Shot?" he typed out, though he saw little point if the enemy knew where they were.

Exodus got the message and typed back, "Yeah.....why?" he then saw the Gunman charge Sovereign's position and understood; Sovereign needed the shields down to jump into the massive hole in the front he made earlier. He could then wreak havoc on the inside and let them in. "Got it. When you get in, force them to land." he then typed back. Shouldering the launcher, he put it to maximum power and fired; a blue light streaked through the air and hit the shields hard; the bubble disappeared as the last of the shield generators were taken out. Sovereign then jumped in the massive hole where the 'face' once was. The Gunman crashed through the wall of rock were Sovereign was. A few tense moments later, a message appeared to both of them, "I'm in." Exodus breathed a sigh of relief; now they just had to wait for Sovereign to do his thing.
 
Harbringer did a little fist pump and disengaged her cloaking devices as ordered. "Alright, if you're sure," she said, coming back into plain view. "See why you shouldn't go off by yourself?" she asked pointedly before watching the ship ready itself to ram Sovereign. "What? He's going in alone?" She asked, left out of the communication loop. He was already in by the time she'd said it. "Shouldn't we go after him?"



Inside of the Dai-Gunten Cytomander was going crazy. "What happened?! Incompetent fools! Get this ship up and running at once!" With that, he ran toward the hangar with his smaller gunman, determined to take them all out.
 
"Don't worry, he's not going to be hurt. And we're certainly not leaving him to his own devices; we're in this together. But if I recall, you were the one who told us to scatter." Exodus replied; it was good that they did that, though. They would been fucked if they stuck together. Then he realized that they could use this slip in; Exodus said to Harbinger as he discarded the useless, heavily damaged launcher, "Forget it, let's go. If we move now, we can make sure we get in and finish off Cytomander." He then had his Gunman run toward the massive fortress, intent on giving Sovereign back-up whether he needed it or not.

Sovereign, however, was following his own plan; one that involved an action that would upset Exodus greatly. Still, with his Gunman incapable of launching its explosives, he saw only one recourse that would allow him to be combat-capable; overload the core and detonate the explosives on his person and in his Gunman. Combined, his Gunman would explode with a yield of 15 megatons. And when the flying fortress exploded, that yield would easily triple. Still, this was the way he wanted to go out: In a blaze of glory and the sole creator of a gigantic, super-badass explosion. He used what little knowledge of Gunman he considered useful; how to overload the core. He diverted the shields so that core would reach critical levels quickly. He sent out his last message over his external comms, roaring "CYTOMANDER! TODAY, I, SOVEREIGN OF THE TRIO, EXPLOSIVES MASTER AND OVERALL GREATEST WARRIOR EVER BORN, WILL KILL YOU! HOWEVER, I DO HAVE ONE LAST THING TO SAY: EXODUS, LET LOOSE ONCE IN A WHILE AND KEEP HARBINGER SAFE!"

There was a slight pause as Sovereign's words echoed throughout the ship and the terrain where Exodus and Harbinger were. Exodus himself stopped dead in his tracks; what the hell was Sovereign was saying? "Sovereign, hold on! We're coming!" Exodus yelled. However, it would soon be too late.

Sovereign then roared "I MAKE BIG EXPLOSION! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....!!!"; that was all that was said before the core of his Gunman exploded. Fire and sheer explosive seared through the entire ship. There seemed to be a yellow glow before the blast reached the main power sector. A series of chain reactions occured, and it was not long before the ship itself exploded into an aerial fireball that grew in size very quickly. "NO!!!!!" Exodus shouted; time seemed to slow down as he realized what Sovereign had done.

However, he then saw the fireball quickly getting larger. "RUN!! HARBINGER, MOVE, MOVE!" Exodus roared as he turned to turn and run; the blast wind from the 45 megaton detonation threw his Gunman hard into through several rock spires before it slammed hard into a small mountainside. "UG.." was all he said before his head slammed against the Gunman's wall and left a nasty gash on his forehead and knocked him out again. The impact was hard enough to bury his Gunman under a small pile rock and rubble that collapsed from the mountain he slammed into.

While Exodus was out cold, debris rained down and blanketed the now formation-less, scorched terrain, leaving that along with the corpses of Gunman downed from the Trio's fighting with the General. They had done it, they had killed a General. But at a very high cost.
 
Harbringer was shocked when she heard the announcement that he made. It took her half a second to realize what he was about to do. "Sovereign, no!" She started to rush toward the ship as well, knowing that he was about to do something very rash. "Please, don't!" Fear gripped her heart as she caught up to Exodus only to stop as their giant comrade sacrificed himself to destroy the ship in an explosion that could have put a crater in the moon. "NOOOOO!" Her body froze and tears immediately came to her eyes blurring her vision as she stared at the place her friend should have been. "SOVEREIGN!" For a moment she couldn't breathe, sobbing uncontrollably. And then she noticed the fireball getting even bigger and Exodus running for her.

They were both pushed back by the blast, though she managed to fare better, only slamming into the cliff. She had the wind knocked out of her but she was able to avoid debris thanks to her consciousness. Unfortunately, that also meant that she could still see the explosion that killed her friend and she was numb with pain and sadness. Until she remembered Exodus was still alive.

She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and immediately got up to release him from the pile of rock that covered him. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare be dead!" She panicked as she freed him but got no response. So she broke open his cockpit and climbed down from hers to find him. "Exodus!" And there he was, bleeding and unconscious. "No! Wake up!" She hugged him to her and check for vitals. He was still alive. Quickly she got a first aid kit from her gunman and set to work treating him as quickly and steadily as she could. "Please wake up," she said softly. "I can't take losing you, too."
 
Exodus was out for a long while as Harbinger worked on him; after about half-an-hour, he finally began to stir. His head throbbed, his vision was blurry and his ears were ringing. He tried to move, but his whole body ached. He could barely feel someone touching him all over, wrapping his body in something. An enemy? No, they would have just killed him. How long was he out? Wait.....the explosion! It all came back at once; Sovereign was dead. Someone he considered a brother, dead. The physical pain became augmented by the emotional wave that rolled over him. "N...no.....Sovereign...wh...why?" he choked out. Sadness in combination with the physical pain of his injuries made it nearly unbearable.

His mind then rolled to his other teammate. Harbinger! He needed to see is she was still alive! HE couldn't lose them both, no, he would NOT allow that to happen. "Harbinger......need.....to...find...her." he then said, unaware that the very person he sought was the one patching him up.
 
When he woke up she as so relieved she couldn't move for a moment. She hurried to get him all taken care of so she could tell him that she was alright. The blonde had to stop for a moment as he mentioned their fallen brother and she hoped that she could keep going. She quickly finished him up just as he started to ask for her.

"Hold still Exodus. I'm here," she said softly. "I'm just treating your wounds. I'm fine..." she said softly, her voice a bit raspy from all the tears she'd shed. When she was finished she set everything aside and sighed, trying to keep from crying again. "Can you open your eyes?" She asked. "Please?"
 
Exodus barely heard Harbinger's voice; he recognized enough of it to confirm it was her. It brought immense relief to him that she was alive, but it did little to console him of the loss of his brother-in-arms. His eyes opened slowly; he then tried to sit up, only to find it hurt too much to do so. So he just laid there; the full gravity of what just happened was still sinking in. He thought he'd be dead long before his comrades died; he didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to handle what just happened; Sovereign was dead and it was his fault. That's all he knew.

So, instead of doing anything useful in his eyes, he broke down. He cried, harder than he'd ever cried before. His tears stained the ground below him, stinging the small cuts that covered his face. He felt so goddamn useless, lying here while his friend, his brother, his comrade-in-arms died because of his ineptitude. "Damn it.....DAMN IT......DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he howled, furious at himself for letting Sovereign die.
 
Frowning, Harbringer knew that this was grief that Exodus had to deal with on his own--lord knew she was having a hard enough time with it. But that didn't mean that he had to suffer alone. She put her arms around him and held him gently, staying near by so that he could have reassurance of her presence. She cried with him and kept him close, glad that she didn't have to deal with this all alone. Of course, it wasn't Exodus' fault, but he would never see it that way. He would always feel responsible. And perhaps he was in a way. But there was nothing that could have been done to change Sovereign's mind at the end. Nothing.

Telling him in this state would do nothing, so Harbringer just made sure they were both as comfortable as they could be.
 
Exodus felt Harbinger hold him; he felt so disgusting. He knew she was trying to help him, but it just made him feel worse. He'd gotten one of them, one they both considered family, killed. Killed because of his ignorance, his stupidity. Exodus felt like he deserved to get shot in the head repeatedly. Over a year's worth of pent-up emotion raged through him all at once. He felt like he was crying for hours, until he could shed no more tears. Not because he wasn't sad; it was that his tears just dried up.

Eventually, he stopped his sobbing and said, "Harbinger.....I hate to be so useless right now, but could you help me up? I want to go pay my respects. Sovereign deserves that much." He wanted to mark the site where Sovereign died, to show the world that the Generals weren't invincible. He wished he could have found the launcher; he'd use that plus the two unused magazines of ammunition to create a tombstone of sorts for him. A weapon of mass destruction, for a man with love of such things. It seemed a fitting memorial.
 
She stopped crying a bit before Exodus...but she was still sad. A weight fell on her heart--one that was unlikely to go anywhere any time soon. Someone she loved had been killed. Had killed himself for the sake of her and Exodus. She couldn't ignore that. She was angry at Exodus for not taking time to think this through and do more thorough research. But she couldn't stay mad at him. Not when he was so sad and guilty and angry at himself.

So she helped him up after a bit of shifting of her weight and then she helped him climb out of his cockpit. When they were out, she helped him up again and bore most of his weight as she walked toward the crater caused by the explosion, moving slowly because of reverence, sadness, and Exodus' condition.
 
As they made their way to the center, Exodus like a lead weight had anchored itself in his heart and grew heavier. His vision still sucked from the force of the impact, and his body hurt, even with Harbinger bearing most of his weight. Soon enough, they reached the center of the magnificent explosion; large pieces of the enemy fortress and wreckage from the other enemy Gunman lay around them. Scorch marks covered the terrain, fires raged everywhere as they sent up black columns of smoke. Stone formations that probably stood tall long before this battle took place now lay in rubble, strewn with Gunman parts and scorched bodies. Ash from the disintegrated corpses fell like snow; it was a disgusting sight. Exodus then said, "Alright, Harbinger. Let me go, I can stand here."

Exodus looked around, as if to expect Sovereign to magically reappear; he knew deep down Sovereign was gone. And Exodus himself was to blame; no matter what any told him, he was the reason Sovereign died. He was too rash, too confident in his team's ability. He wanted to cry, he wanted to die. "Harbinger...." he said, but then cut himself off. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was, that he tried to prevent this. But, somehow, he felt that it would only make things worse. For both of them.

So instead he said, in a solemn tone, "I can't believe it.......I can't believe he's gone." Anger, sadness, fury, all of these negative emotions coursed through him. He collapsed to his knees. "D...damn it" he choked out "It should have been me. Sovereign shouldn't have died." His teeth clenched so hard he felt like they would shatter. "Why......." he then mumbled, then howled "I WAS THE ONE WHO FUCKED UP! WHY WASN'T IT ME!?!"
 
Harbringer let him go when he asked and watched as he beat himself up for something that wasn't really his fault. "Exodus..." She frowned and looked away as he howled into the sky. She could hardly believe it either. Just earlier the lovable lump was being his goofy self...and now...He was gone forever. She put a hand over her mouth and shook her head, unable to bring herself to say anything at all. She looked up into the sky and wished that Sovereign could be here to help Exodus get through it...but only she had been left behind.

She stayed away from Exodus for the time being, knowing that no matter what she did or said, he wouldn't want to hear it. Instead she sang the only funeral song she knew, bowing her head as she did so. It seemed like the right thing for her to do to honor her comrade's memory. And maybe it would get Exodus to realize that no matter what they wanted, neither of them could undo it.

Fresh tears were spilled as she sang and her voice wavered a few times, but she got through it.
 
As Exodus leaned down against the massive pile at the center of the detonation, he heard Harbinger begin to sing. Her voice was melodic, despite the small waverings, like something an angel would say. He then remembered reading about something; a place a group of people called the Vikings had named 'Valhalla'. It was a place where noble warriors went to after they had died; there, they could eat and fight as much as they want. And even if they died, they would simply return to the great banquet hall and feast more before fighting again. It would repeat for eternity; it was a place Sovereign would no doubt enjoy. He hoped that's where he went. Eventually, the song ended, and Exodus got a hold of himself, mostly. The wound of losing Sovereign would take a long time to heal indeed and it was something he would never forgive himself for.

"Rest well, brother Sovereign. You deserve it. Through it all, you really gave them hell." Exodus then said in a solemn tone, his eyes still red and puffy and his voice strained. Shakily and slowly standing up, his head hung low and his eyes, normally burning with fire, were blank and lifeless. "Whenever you're ready, Harbinger, we can go." he then said in a flat tone; he'd stay as long as she wanted to, no matter how painful it was for him.
 
She turned her own puffy, red eyes to him and walked to his side. "Just one minute," she said softly. She got down on her knees and whispered something softly to her fallen comrade. "I'll always remember you, Sovereign. I still think you were smart, even if you were an idiot. And I will never forget how brave and strong and wonderful you have always been. I hope you found happiness." She held back more tears and shook her head to stop them falling. She took a moment to get ahold of herself and then stood up and looked around for something--anything to mark Sovereign's presence here. She found a large piece of metal that had cooled and brought it to the center before she found a jagged piece of metal. She etched his name into it and planted it in the ground. "Good bye."

Now, Harbringer turned to Exodus and nodded. "Let's go."
 
Exodus nodded; he then heard something big rolling towards. Looking to his left, he saw an unused artillery shell that seemed to stop right as it reached him. It was big, which meant it came from Sovereign's mech. He decided this would be his contribution to Sovereign's memorial site; despite his condition, his muscles strained visibly as he lifted the heavy round to sit flat on its base. Taking a rock, he carved 'BOOM-BOOM' into its side. He then followed Harbinger, limping noticeably as he made his way back to his Gunman.

It was heavily damaged from the force of the impact and would travel incredibly slow. But, Exodus didn't care; he didn't even now what he was doing anymore. What was his purpose? How could be a leader if his comrades just died around him? He never felt so unsure, so useless during his entire campaign against the Beastman. After hobbling inside and using what little strength he had to remove the rocks that were inside the cockpit, he tried to get the machine to turn on. His mech faltered as it tried to power on; only when Exodus howled in rage did it spring to life. Large chunks of its armor were missing, its right arm and left leg were crippled enough to expose the structure beneath. He wouldn't be fighting for a long time; not in this thing, he wouldn't. But even if the mech wasn't a factor, he just couldn't bring himself to want to fight. "Let's go" he then said flatly.

Over the course of a month, Exodus didn't pursue any Beastman units; it was as if the will to fight was sucked right out of him. He didn't eat nearly as much as someone of his size should, he couldn't sleep, and he didn't bother repairing his Gunman. Over time he got worse and worse.

Eventually, his travels in his still beat-up machine would lead him to a cliff overlooking the ocean. The slope above the cliff face was covered in thick, soft grass. Below him was a beach, its sands obviously untouched by anyone, Beastman or otherwise. The waves crashed into the sand-covered shore; it was almost hypnotic. As Exodus got out of his Gunman, his footing slipped, causing him to faceplant into the ground below. He didn't even bother getting up; maybe he would just lay here and slowly die away.
 
She'd known since the day Sovereign died that Exodus would never be the same. For a number of reasons. But over the next month, when she needed him most, Exodus began to isolate himself from her, constantly pushing her away. Each time she would feel hurt, but do as he wanted because there was simply nothing else to do. She began to wonder why they stayed together. He'd lost all his drive to fight and looked more and more depressed each day.

Though she had repaired her gunman, Exodus made no effort. She made a few small repairs to make it easier for the machine to keep up with her, but out of respect for his wishes, did no more. He seemed to hate her as time went by, but she would not give up. She was getting tired of this in a hurry.

Finally, they came to a beach. and a small cliff. It was maybe two stories tall--if that. Harbringer had been on the beach, watching him wistfully, wishing she could figure out what to do to snap him out of it. And then he fell. She gasped, but knew that nothing would be broken--his body was too strong for that. And then he didn't get up.

That was the last straw. She ran over to him, shorts and shirt from their old bunker victory on rather than the suit she usually wore. "Exodus, are you ok?" Maybe he really was hurt. She got on her knees in the sand with him.
 
Exodus lay face down on the beach; he heard Harbinger's voice but made no effort to get up. He then rolled over onto his back and said emotionlessly, "I'm fine, Harbinger. Just leave me be." His eyes stared blankly into the heavens above; how could he live with himself? Why was he even still alive? Well, the answer was obvious: Harbinger. Sovereign wanted Exodus to keep Harbinger safe, and that's what he did, for the most part.

"Harbinger, would it be too wrong of me to ask if you just snapped my neck?" he then said completely out of nowhere; she must hate his guts for getting Sovereign killed, and it would serve him right to die. Now it wasn't just his will to fight that faded, but his will to survive was beginning to ebb away as well. It would be obvious to anyone he was on the last ropes of his sanity.
 
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