Dahlia swallowed hard as the girl started to wrap the bicycle chain around her gloved knuckles. When she made a fist, the chain formed a makeshift knuckle duster on her hand. Dahlia's stomach turned when she realized what was going to happen to her.

She tried to scramble away but Cathy grabbed the woman by her collar and yanked her to her feet. Cathy drove her fist into Dahlia's stomach. The force of it constricted her throat and she found herself unable to scream despite the agony of it.

"How do you like feeling helpless and being at the mercy of someone you obviously can't stop?" Cathy said, glaring daggers at Dahlia as she dealt another gut punch to her.

This time the woman groaned, doubling over.

"This is how my state felt when you and your secret friend, Vardin, bombed our cities!" Cathy growled and slammed a knee into Dahlia's face.

The Nesokan heiress stumbled backwards, falling ass-first on the courtroom floor. Dahlia raised her handcuffed hands to her burning, aching nose. Her fingers came away bloody. She gasped.

That's when Cathy drove the back of her heel into her side. Dahlia felt a violent ripple in her ribs, a shockwave through her lungs as the air left her body. Her head hit the ground.

The heiress felt herself tearing up. But Cathy wasn't going to give her the luxury of crying just yet. She pressed her heel down on the woman's face, crushing it underfoot like a smoked out cigarette. "Is it suffocating yet?" Cathy said, gritting her teeth. "This is what my parents felt when that virus was rotting them away. The same virus that came from the bio weapon you unleashed on us."

Dahlia was sobbing now but her cries disappeared under Cathy's boot. She clutched at Cathy's pant sleeve as if begging to be spared.

Cathy bared her teeth at the woman and drove her boot into Dahlia's stomach. "Quit your whimpering! Aren't you happy now? Hundreds of Ardvenians died for your foolish cause. Hundreds of Moudrin soldiers had to throw their lives away for your vanity. So many of the Torqua lost their homes. Look, Miss Esker, your dream of mass destruction came true. How do you like the aftertaste of its power?" Cathy grabbed the woman by her hair and pulled her up in a sitting position.

Last thing that Dahlia saw was the bicycle chain flying in at her before Cathy's punch ate her vision.

#

The purple clouds were growing thicker over the city of Stahlberg. The President's guard had cleared the road to the docks. A long line of black SUVs came down the road, leading a white sedan that belonged to Leo. In one of the SUVs following the sedan were the Ardvenian visitors. The line of cars went through the main gates of the dockyard.

Captain Wagner was waiting on one of the docks. A large black shadow of metal loomed behind him. The sedan came to a halt fifty feet away from Wagner. Leo, Germaine and Norton climbed out of the car. Wagner snapped a salute to the president who just nodded in response. Brendan, Eva, Emilia and Rozwel climbed out of the following SUV and joined the rest of them at the dock. Introductions were kept brief as yellow lightning crackled across the purple sky covered with purple clouds.

"So, who is going to board the submarine," Wagner said, pointing at the black metallic shadow behind him. Lighter gray letters stood out on the black beast: U-90 Schattenwolf.

Norton raised his hand. "I'll be the only one oncoming of course. The rest of you won't have much to do there, anyway."

Emilia stepped forward. "Are you sure?"

"You, especially, are gonna stay on the land. I won't let you risk this with me. I'm already feeling stressed. I don't want to be worried for you too." Norton heaved a sigh.

Emilia looked rather hurt. But then she smiled a little at her husband.

Gemma put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Don't worry, Mrs. Blake. He will be fine."

Emilia nodded reluctantly and stepped back after kissing her husband briefly.

Wagner nodded at them. "Alright, then. Let's get to work, doctor." He lead Nortan over to the submarine and the two of them climbed the ladder up to the hull of the submarine and then descended into the conning tower.

As the submarine disappeared under water, Germaine turned to the president. "I'm sure Dr. Norton and the captain will locate the atronizer. In the meantime, I want to make you an offer."

"What kind of offer?"

"One that might stop more people from dying."

#

"So what are we looking for, doctor?" Wagner asked as he led Norton down a narrow passageway inside the submarine.

"The atronizer," Norton said. "It's about as big as a single story cottage, except no one lives in it. And the cottage makes noise like a hand loom."

"That's an interesting description." Wagner nodded as they arrived at an oval door at the end of a tubular passage. "What does this atronizer do?"

"It's a machine that carries out several chemical and nuclear level procedures on a substance simply called the 'hybrid quartet.' At the end of the procedure the hybrid quartet gets converted into one of the four states of hybrid matter. The hybrid-1 is one such state. Hybrid-1 is then stored into the aerial devices called Rain shots that make the hybrid-1 undergo a cycle that is somewhat similar to the water cycle that causes rain."

"Interesting, and what does that rain do?"

"It's capable of burning entire cities. When hybrid-1 condenses and precipitates, it becomes intensely corrosive and flammable in the presence of oxygen."

Wagner's face turned grave at the revelation. He nodded solemnly and unlocked the oval door. They entered the Sonar control room. Five technicians sat at five different consoles. Each of them was staring at two different monitors, observing the acoustic displays and checking the feedback they were receiving at different frequencies.

At the center of the room was a desk on top which sat a map of the ocean they were in. "Where are we supposed to begin our search?" Wagner asked Norton, leaning over the map.

Norton grabbed the pencil laying on top of the map. He made a circle on the ocean they were in. "The atronizer is sending radio signals to the Rain shot. They must've set up the atronizer within this sphere."

Wagner nodded and crunched some numbers in his head. "So we just need to search about eighty miles in four directions to locate this little undersea cottage." He smiled. "You're in luck, Dr. Norton. Schattenwolf is equipped with some of the most powerful sonar arrays on either side. This will be a piece of cake." He stepped over to the technicians to pass down the instructions about their mission.

#

Leo Albrecht gazed at the ground as he processed the offer Germaine had just made to him. "Even if I nominate Moudrin to sign with the International Peace Forum, that would still not stop this war, Ms. Koehlwin," he said.

"It won't," Germaine said. "But you can use the Rain shots as a leverage against Ardvenia."

Leo looked at her curiously. Eva was also intrigued.

"What are you suggesting?" Leo said.

Gemma looked up at the purple clouds. "If Moudrin becomes a member of the IPF, you would not only be bound by the mandatory peace treaty but you can raise the question in the Forum about Ardvenia being a bully that keeps dragging you into the battlefield. You can use the Rain shot and Norton's testimony as evidence to back the claim. The IPF can then blacklist Ardvenia which will make other countries want to withdraw their trade treaties with us. Since we won't be able to generate income, we won't be able to fund the war. Peace will be the only option for us."

Now Eva was almost appalled. "Gemma, that would damage the overseas trade monopoly the Koehlwins have!"

Gemma grinned. "It won't."

"How?"

"Because Norton and the evidence of the Rain shot is just a leverage. Not a weapon to actually make Ardvenia look like an international bully. It's just a means to get the Seat of Authority to leave Moudrin alone." Gemma turned to Leo. "Once you get the Ardvenian government to do that, you can sign an official peace treaty with us, maybe even start a trade."

Brendan's eyes went wide with realization. "That would not just stop the war but Ardvenia won't get blacklisted and the economy won't suffer any more than it has been for the past decade. That would also mean the common people of Ardvenia can finally live a more peaceful life after ten years of hell."

Eva was caught off guard. Rozwel and Emilia looked astounded. Brendan's eyes were gleaming with pride for Gremaine.

And president Leo seemed thoroughly impressed. "You thought this through. It's really commendable. Your offer is indeed worth considering but..."

Gemma frowned. "What is it, Mr. President?"

"I'm still deeply hesitant to trust the country that has been killing my people for a decade."

"What do you mean?!" Brendan snapped, even though he hadn't intended to sound so harsh. "We came all the way here to make an offer of peace, and to stop the rain that has already burned three cities in my country."

"It's a rain that your country created," Leo said. "It was sent here to just kill more of my people. I can acknowledge that not everyone in Ardvenia is a terrible monster. Some of you are great people with a lot of compassion. But Ardvenia is still scientifically more advanced and larger than Moudrin. Even if I tried to use that leverage against you as Ms. Koehlwin suggested, what's stopping the next government from just declaring another war against us? Your government has done this before."

There was a flash of lightning, a crack of thunder.

"So you want a leader whom you can trust at Ardvenia's helm?" Gemma asked.

"Yes." Leo nodded. "Someone who won't exploit the power of the Seat of Authority the way Julien Varon has done so far."

"Fine." Gemma shrugged. "Then I'll become the First Leader if you promise to maintain peace with us."

#

Half of Dahlia's face was covered in blood as she lay prone on the floor. Tears mingled with her blood before they trickled down her nose and dripped to the ground. Every bone in her body was screaming in pain but the girl named Cathy wasn't yet satisfied with all the suffering she had caused her in the past twenty minutes.

Clinging to the last shred of ego that was left in her, Dahlia looked up at the girl and spat in contempt. "You all are nothing!" she screamed in a grating voice. "Everyone who died in that rain deserved it. And everyone who will die in Moudrin deserves–"

Cathy slammed her boot into the woman's face, knocking her teeth out. And also knocking her unconscious.

Cathy looked down at the Nesokan heiress as she lay out cold on the courtroom floor. She unwrapped the bloody bicycle chain from around her knuckles and let it fall out of her hand. She went and unlocked the main door and summoned the medic who had patched up Atron's half-maimed hand.

The doctor saw the woman lying down with half her face beaten to a pulp and winced.

"She is alive," Cathy said. "I made sure not to hurt any major organs. But I don't think she'll be able to walk." She shrugged and walked away.

Milo still hadn't talked. Hadn't tried to admonish her when she did all those terrible things to that woman. In any other circumstances the skull would have spoken up. But not today. Today, it was silent as the dead should be.

Cathy went back outside and felt the sun in her face. She stood in the burning daylight but she couldn't shake off the cold that she had started to feel in her bones. And with the strange chill came a sense of loneliness. She couldn't understand what she was experiencing. She looked down at the bird's skull on her chain again. "Why won't you talk, Milo?"

#

Cathy spent the rest of the day out on the porch, hoping to hear Milo talk again. He didn't. That feeling of cold loneliness didn't leave her body. It was like a fever slowly spreading through her system. She remembered the blue scab on her chest she had got from the EpiFeeeze. Was this nausea another side effect? Is this what Erik experienced too?

Cathy hugged herself as the cold feeling got worse. She clutched at Milo's skull in her grip. She shut her eyes. "M-Mom, dad, Milo...I...I wish I was with you now..."

A tear ran down her cheek.

That's when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Cathy awoke with a jolt.

The girl named Tracy was standing over her. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Cathy wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Wh-Why wouldn't I be?"

Tracy scoffed. "Right. You fell asleep here and you trembling muttering to yourself. It seemed like you were having a nightmare." She crouched next to the girl. "You sure you're okay?"

Cathy cleared her throat and nodded but she wasn't certain if she was being honest.

Tracy chuckled and crouched next to the girl. "We should totally get you something to eat. But first I was here with an important message."

Cathy raised her eyebrow. "From whom?"

"Dahlia."

#

The Nesokan heiress has gained consciousness a few minutes before Tracy had summoned Cathy. The entire half of the woman's face was covered in bandages, so was her obviously broken nose and legs were in a makeshift splint. She had been propped in one of the benches in the courtroom like a porcelain doll on the verge of breaking.

"What do you want?" Cathy asked as she entered the room.

"You beat me up so I would relinquish the order, right?" Dahlia said. "The order to move Silver Lining into phase two."

Cathy crossed her arms and said nothing.

"I can't do that." Dahlia shook her head ever so slightly. "The soldiers assigned to drive the special grade trucks won't stop until they accomplish the objective. Mr. Varon made the phase two of Silver Lining irreversible. Whoever tried to compromise the mission would get executed on sight. Mr. Varon wanted the mission to succeed whether or not he was there to reap the fruits of its success." 

(to be continued...)