Archcore: Children of War

[45]-[The Place Where It Began]

"A group that's labeled as an independent government on Venus has been revealed to be an illegal organization moving various illegal cargo that show signs of uprisings across the other colonies. This group, Amaryllis, is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous, performing acts of terrorism and mass genocide. Even turning the Anchorage colony into a warzone."

The news was played constantly, and even now, it was still hard to believe.

"How? How did this happen?" Izumi asked. After another day, she was able to leave the infirmary, though her arm was still wounded and put in a sling. As a result, she wouldn't be able to pilot her Sentinel for awhile.

"That bastard, Orpheus Kaiba did this." Another male said, "He played us. He's been playing us since our first mission to Earth."

"Izumi, there's something you should see." Nifa said, "It's... it's about Levy." Izumi said nothing as she looked to Nife, a concerned look across her face.

Nifa led Izumi back into the infirmary, "What happened to her? Is Levy alright?" Nifa nodded as she looked back at Izumi, "No, it's nothing like that. Levy is actually doing much better in fact. She might even wake up soon. What I wanted to show you, was this."

Nifa took a tablet from Stephanie and showed it to Izumi, "We took a sample of Levy's blood earlier today. We found this, it looks like the levels of the hCG in her blood have significantly increased."

Izumi looked at it in disbelief, "Don't tell me, does this mean Levy is..." Izumi trailed off, still unable to believe what she was looking at.

The two looked to Levy who laid in bed, still in a medically induced coma, but the mask over her face had been removed, "Somehow and I don't know when, but Levy is beginning to show early signs of pregnancy."

* * * * * *

The Chrysanthemum arrived at the station above Venus. Despite what the news was saying about them, the Venus colonies still sided with Amaryllis. Knowing they did no such crimes and owed the group for all the aid given to them. While it was pointless, they'd act oblivious to the arrival of the Chrysanthemum when NOVA eventually came around.

"Man, screw this." Miké said, "After everything we did for that arrogant asshole and this is how we're repaid."

"No point in complaining about it now. We need to haul ass back to HQ and get these machines prepared for the worst." Grace said, "I want all the Sentinels on the first ships down as well as their pilots and those who take top priority. Luka and the Operators."

"This sudden change, doesn't really give us the optimistic nature I hoped. If this goes as I think it will, we'll still be on Venus, we can fight them on our terms." Luka said. Akira looked at Luka.

"We're fighting a supreme government, do you think we would've have a chance?" Akira asked. Luka rubbed the back of his neck and smiled, "Honestly, I don't really know. To the rest of the colonies, we're a bunch of unreasonable terrorists now. Branding us as simple minded people. Venus is now really the only place we can go back to."

"We always bet it all on our strength. In the end, you always have some plan for us to get out of problems. I trust you on this, Luka."

Luka looked out the window to see Venus, "We had no enemies when this all started. Only until after accepting Claire's request, that's what led us all the way to where we are now."

"And now, we have enemies, Luka." Akira said, "Enemies that are backing us into a corner once again. When faced with impossible odds, and our backs against the wall..."

"All we can do is fight." Luka finished.

"We're here." Akira and Luka looked out the window to see Venus even closer now, "Time to prepare for the worst. Right?"