The tone of the room changed with Hisato's news. Vatra wasn't able to process the panic surging from Enyalius and Revna before the two of them darted back into their ship like rabbits from a fox. The boarding ramp started to slowly raise.

"What the hell?" Vatra turned from the ship to Hisato. "Don't let them leave!" she shouted.

Hisato spun on his heels and ran for the side panel by the door. He waved his hand across a mechanism and it slid to the side. A screen flashed blue before he started to input commands that Vatra couldn't fully see. Whatever it was he did, within a few seconds, the lights of the hangar shut down along with every other mechanical noise around them.

Blackness swirled around Vatra's vision save for the faint glow of the lights from Enyalius' ship. She saw the growing fire of the vessel's engines burn before the roar hummed deep in her ears and vibrated up from her boots to the top of her head. The engines increased in ferocity only for a moment before dying out just as quickly as they'd turned on.

"He will be suspicious now," Spyro warned from close to Vatra's left.

She looked over and saw the outline of his mask in the glow of the ship's exterior lights. "Enyalius was going to find out sooner or later. This group showing up only expedited things."

"You know who these people are?" Spyro asked.

"Not really, but I think he does." Vatra nodded to the lowering boarding ramp.

The shuffling of boots behind her signaled her spirit companions were as restless as she was.

Enyalius walked down the ramp as if he hadn't darted up it with his tail tucked between his legs a few moments earlier. "I have to say, I'm a little suspicious now that one of your crew knows how to operate the hangar door. The guy up in the control tower wasn't so sure why it wasn't opening," Enyalius said. He watched carefully as Hisato walked back over to join Vatra and Spyro.

"I'd like to know why you were trying to run away so fast when those ships showed up, and you saw that familiar image in the jamming signal. I thought you wanted your father back," Vatra shot back. She straightened her back a little more, as if Enyalius could even see them very well in the dark. Their figures were probably like faintly lit shadows to him.

A nervous chuckle shook Enyalius' shoulders. "You have no idea who these people are."

"I didn't think you guys knew them very well, either," Vatra retorted.

"You don't get it. I can only assume they're here for me, now. You would have had an advantage going out there and finding them. This isn't going to end well for anyone, and I won't let them catch me." Enyalius stepped further down the ramp.

Vatra groaned audibly. "You're skirting around my main concerns, here, buddy. Who are these people?"

"Your main concern should be the safety of everyone here in Belltower. Even as mercenaries, I'd assume you'd care about innocent lives," Enyalius warned.

Looking over to Hisato, Vatra glanced quickly back to the war god. "What do you mean?" she pressed her question with a harsh tone.

"Those ships out there will destroy everything here just to get to me. They'll kill everyone. When they find me, anyone I'm around is considered dangerous just for being close by. It won't matter if they're innocent or not. So, please, just let us leave and we can resume our deal another time," Enyalius said.

Vatra's eyes widened. His tone was sincere. Something she'd never thought she'd hear lacing his words.

"Why would they think that?" Vatra asked, stepping forward a step. She knew what his answer was going to contain, at least a portion of it, but she wanted to know why these people would kill innocents just for him.

Enyalius looked back up into the ship, acknowledging Revna's presence at the top of the ramp with a small exchange of a nod between the two of them. "They capture and then kill people like me. The gods and other supernatural beings from Earth. They blame us all for what happened to their planet."

"So you do know a lot about these people," Vatra said.

"You don't seem so surprised by my explanation," Enyalius paused, walking even closer to her, "who are you?"

Boots slamming against metal pulled Vatra's attention away from Enyalius' accusing eyes. She caught the flash of Hisato's maroon suit in the shadows, disappearing in the darkness toward the exit.

"Hi-" She stopped herself from saying his name. "Hey, wait!" Vatra yelled for Hisato, but he didn't stop.

Jumping back from Enyalius, Vatra spun to face Spyro and the others. "Stay here and make sure they don't leave," she ordered.

Spyro nodded in understanding and closed in on Enyalius.

Trusting herself to navigate the pitch black, Vatra strode confidently across the hangar toward the door. She held a hand out and stopped herself from walking face-first into the wall. Blindly, she felt along the solid surface until her fingers pushed through to open air. The door was still open.

The hallway was dimmer. The row of lights once guiding the way on the floor were no longer lit. Instead, a haunting red glow illuminated the ceiling as a steady alarm rang up and down the hall like the sound itself was moving.

Vatra looked up, her eyes following the lights down the hall. She saw figures at the far end running. By the urgency in their movements, it was clear they were heading for safety, not to cause harm.

"Where did you go?" Vatra muttered. She chose the direction away from the main shopping district, assuming that Hisato most likely went for the control tower to try and get better communication.

Frantic people pushed past her, leaving a hangar door that shot open to her left. Vatra ignored their rude behavior, understanding the panic they must have felt. She watched curiously over her shoulder as they disappeared into the shadows behind her.

After a few minutes of walking, Vatra reached a door conveniently labeled 'COMMUNICATIONS'. She pulled the handle and started up the staircase. Narrow, metal steps ascended sharply at an angle that made her dread the trek back down.

The alarm turned to a faint hum behind her, shut out once the door closed her in the stairwell. She reached the second door at the top and looked cautiously through the window pane. The only person on the other side was Hisato.

Rusted metal screeched as Vatra pushed the door open. She stumbled into the control room, looking around the tower with a quick sweep of her gaze. Panels filled with screens and blinking lights covered the desks and walls, and large windows looked out over the treetops.

Six vessels were burning at a high speed directly toward them. Large ships that, even from a distance, Vatra could see were well-armed with guns capable of taking down Belltower.

"Hisato," Vatra started. She took a step toward him.

He turned to her, mask in his hand, and a somber look on his face. "I ordered evacuations of the people. The escape pods are on the other side of Belltower, which will take them below the surface and out far away from here."

"We should hand Enyalius over to them. This isn't worth the fight, and he definitely isn't worth the trouble," Vatra said.

"You heard him." Hisato held his arms out. "They'll kill everyone here anyway. Somehow they knew he was here."

"Leave with them," Vatra pleaded. She grabbed Hisato's hands in hers. "You won't survive their attack. I'll stay and try my best to defend Belltower. There's a defense system, right? And I can take the Agkistrodon out and try to get a few of them, too."

"I can't leave," Hisato said. "I'm bound here as a guardian spirit to protect this place. I'm going to defend it myself." He turned back to the control board and started pressing buttons and flipping switches as fast as he could.

Vatra watched, helpless, as Hisato remained at his post. The auto-lock defense guns outside started firing off on the incoming vessels. Large blasts that shook the entire tower sent the ships into defensive maneuvers. They dipped and spun off, splitting apart from one another.

"You should go if you don't want your ship to get blown up," Hisato said to Vatra without looking at her.

A sinking feeling gripped her around the heart. Vatra hadn't faced the demise of someone close to her in so long, even the idea of it was crushing.

"If you think I care more about that ship than you, you're deranged," Vatra growled. She ripped her mask off and slammed it on the control panel.

Hisato looked up at her, eyes softening as he looked over her face. "I couldn't leave Belltower if I wanted to. I have to protect this place."

"I didn't say you're leaving, did I?" Vatra placed her palms flat out in front of her, careful not to press anything. "I'm going to help you kill these assholes. And you're going to owe me big time for this."

"Owe you for what?" Hisato questioned. He glanced back at the carnage outside, sighing in obvious relief as an enemy vessel careened into the forest below.

"Commandeering an extra ship," Vatra grumbled out. She pushed off the control panel and turned back around.