The Moudrin soldiers in the Lichtenheim trenches were ready to give up. The battlefield in front of them was out of their worst nightmares. Corpses of their comrades lay scattered in bits and pieces. Their tanks had been reduced to oversized trash cans, riddled with holes caused by missiles and bombs they'd never imagined could exist. Even their air-support had been rendered useless against the enemy's ground-to-air missiles supplemented by the anti-aircraft defense. And thus, their bombers and fighters also lay in the same wasteland where their comrades had been blasted into oblivion.

Private Gaznek raised his binoculars to his eyes and scanned the battlefield when the haze of the dust cleared up a bit. He grimaced at what he saw. He turned to Lt. Schwarz. "It's looking a lot more grim now, lieutenant," he said. "That line of silvery armored trucks looks undeterred by everything we did to them."

Schwarz narrowed his eyes under his steel helmet. His face was covered in numerous thin cuts and coated with dust. His demeanor was stoic but his hands clutched the full-auto machine gun in front of him to suppress the shivers from wracking his entire body.

The lieutenant didn't answer Gaznek's statement. He just looked away from the battlefield and scanned the narrow trench.

The numbers of their battalion had dipped significantly throughout the day. Schwarz was just thirty two yet he had seen more death than any thirty two year old man ever could (both on and outside of the battlefield.)

Yet what he had seen today made him question his experience as a soldier. Their battalion of three thousand men had arrived at Lichtenheim early in the morning. And in the past seven hours, three thousand men had been cut down to a measly two hundred and fifty.

"Two hundred and thirty eight," Major Cole, the field medic, reported. "Ten of them succumbed to severe injuries."

"What about the remaining two?" Schwarz asked.

"Deserted."

Private Gaznek swallowed hard. "Lt. Schwarz, maybe we should too–"

"Never!" Schwarz snapped. He looked out at the battlefield again. "The enemy is right there. And behind us is the open route to the capital of Eisenburg. Us leaving would mean letting the enemy invade our home!"

"Us staying is also going to mean the same, lieutenant," Cole said. "We are down to two hundred men from three thousand. They even shot down our air support. And they keep moving closer and closer. If we stay put we'll only get trampled over."

"Then we'll get trampled over!" Schwarz growled. He turned to private Gaznek. "Call for more backup. We'll either stop those trucks from entering the capital or die trying!"

#

The sonar techs in Schattenwolf finally got a lock on something forty one miles north east from their starting point. The attack submarine made its way at full speed since it was just a search and recovery mission, they didn't have to worry about any foes picking up on their activities.

As they arrived closer to the destination the photonic mast operator called out for Wagner from his corner in the control room. "Is this what we are looking for?" The operator pointed at his computer screen that was giving visual feedback from the ocean in real time.

Wagner and Norton leaned closer to the screen. In the deep blue shadows of the ocean, floating on top of the jagged sandy floor was the metallic cube the size of a cottage. Even while draped in the misty shadow of the salt-water, the cubical structure seemed to give off a fiery orange glow.

As Schattenwolf swam closer to the cube, the grinding hand loom noise the sonar techs had detected grew louder.

Norton nodded. "That is the atronizer. That noise you hear is its engine processing the hybrid quartet."

"Well now what, doctor?" Wagner asked.

"We have to get inside and send the deactivation signals to the Rain shots," Norton said.

Wagner nodded. "Seems like we'll need to tug it out to the shallower waters before we do that. How much does it weigh?"

"Just two tons." Norton shrugged.

"Another piece of cake." Wagner scoffed. "It's nothing compared to this nuclear-powered beauty we are in, right now."

#

The sky was turning darker as the evening approached. The Orsztok soared steadily on its way to Moudrin. Jennifer had said the trucks had been deployed to a city named Lichtenheim. That was the place that gave the straight access to the capital of Eisenburg.

Lisa, Erik and Luce were in the cabin of the Orsztok. The briefcase sat in Lisa's lap. The hybrid-0 cube was within the briefcase. Erik and Luce hadn't been able to take their eyes off the case. However, Lisa was fairly relaxed as she took in the sights from the window opposite to her.

"Are you feeling nervous?" Erik asked her.

Lisa shook her head.

"By any chance, were you in the army in your past?" Luce asked her.

"No, I wasn't.".

"You have the calm disposition of a soldier before battle."

Lisa was amused. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It is," Erik said. "I certainly wasn't the kinda soldier with a calm disposition."

"I never could've expected that from you." Luce said.

"Neither did I?" Lisa leaned ahead. "You, of all people, to be the nervous kind?"

Erik shrugged with a grin. "I wasn't really a jitterbug but I was certainly the nervous type, despite all the training they gave us," he said. "I was the kind to crack jokes and keep smiling like an idiot on the way to the battle."

"That's something I would expect from you." Lisa grinned back at him.

Erik's expression sobered. "However, I feel the need to make a joke now." He looked at the briefcase again. "Because I've never done anything of this magnitude."

Luce followed his gaze to the briefcase. So did Lisa.

"I've been thinking about everything we've done so far. The riots of Sector 21, the escape from Sector 22, the Sector 25 prison massacre, all the raids so far. Nothing has been as destructive as what we are about to do."

"You two seem convinced that we are gonna have to use hybrid-0 as a weapon when we get to Lichtenheim." Luce raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it supposed to be more of a threat? Aren't we gonna use it just to inspire fear among the Ardvenian troops?"

Lisa frowned deeply.

Erik smirked at Luce. "Never pegged you to be the hopeful type, agent."

"Hope has its advantages. If I hadn't had hope, operatives and revolutionaries wouldn't have shook hands. Weren't you also hoping for us to become allies when I made my offer?" Luce said.

Erik's smirk turned into a more genuine smile. "If I said I wasn't, I'd probably be lying."

Luce turned to Lisa. "You're quiet, Mrs. Neville," he said, "won't you like to add anything to the conversation."

Lisa shook her head. "I'll spoil the optimistic energy you two have created here."

"Spill the beans, Lisa." Erik scoffed. "I've seen you do worse things than make a gloomy statement. And it's not even a joke."

Lisa sighed. She looked out the window opposite to her again. "A thing that began with violence can't end with just talking and peace. You can't simply end a decade-long war with just a threat."

There was a moment of silence. Ian Harper, who'd been piloting the helicopter announced: "This is stork. Estimated time of arrival at Lichtenheim is ninety minutes. Over."

Luce and Erik remained quiet even after the announcement.

Then Lisa said, "I'd told you I'll spoil the optimistic energy of the room."

#

Schattenwolf had dragged the atronizer up to a shallower depth before it surfaced. Norton climbed out of the conning tower of the submarine and landed on the hull. Captain Wagner followed. Both men were in full naval diving gear. Then the two of them entered the ocean.

The atronizer was suspended twenty feet below the submarine by an industrial tow line. The two men swam down to the big metallic cube. The frontal face of the metallic structure had an automatic door and a panel on the side. The lower face of the cube had a serial number engraved on the surface. Norton recognized the serial number right away. That meant it was the same atronizer they'd used while they'd unleashed the rains in C3. That also meant Norton knew the code to unlock the door.

Norton entered a code into the panel. The metallic door slid open. The two men swam into the cube. Norton pushed another switch inside the entry chamber. The door closed. The two men swam deeper inside the atronizer. Norton entered another code into another panel.

Electrical pumps sucked the water out of the entry chamber. In the same inner panel, Norton entered another code. Another door opened beyond the entry chamber. As the water ran out of the cube. The metallic grinding sound became louder. Wagner could feel the reverberations in his head.

"What is that sound?" he asked as the doctor led him down a metal corridor.

"The pistons carrying out the process on the hybrid quartet," Norton said, "The atronizer needs to be under the ocean to keep the temperature optimal. Or this place would've been burning like a furnace."

"What exactly is this hybrid quartet?" Wagner asked as he followed the doctor.

"I don't know."

Wagner frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't know." Norton shrugged. "No one knows what that thing is. I can only tell you its chemical properties, its composition and what it does when we process it in this contraption. But its origins and the place it was acquired from remains a big secret in the classified government files."

They came at the end of the corridor with an iron valve on an iron door. "And you were the one who created these machines, right?" Wagner asked.

Norton shook his head. "I wasn't alone. I was the one overlooking the project where we invented these things." Norton wrenched the valve, with visible difficulty. Wagner helped him unlock the door.

The iron door opened in a room full of monitors with graphs and countdowns on the screens. Norton nodded as he took in the sight. "It's exactly how we did back in C3," he mumbled and got down to business, entering codes into one of the computers.

Wagner watched the man as he proceeded about his task. He didn't interrupt the entire time.

After about twenty minutes of steadily typing away at more than one keyboards, Norton stepped back from the monitors.One by one, on each screen, a new dialog box popped up. Hybrid cycle deactivated.

"Perfect," Norton mumbled again, nodding. After exactly forty five seconds another dialog box popped up. Reverse cycle initiated.

The metallic grinding stopped. Norton sighed in relief. "We're done here, let's go." He started to lead the man back the way they'd come.

"So, it won't rain anymore?"

"Nope, the cycle has been reversed." Norton shook his head. "The clouds will disappear in another hour. It's a crisis averted, captain. Congratulations."

"Dr. Norton, wait," Wagner said.

Norton halted in his path. He looked back at the captain.

"Before we go back, I have a question." Wagner said. "You said you were a part of the team that made these machines and the first testing ground was a state in your own country. Why, doctor? Why did you do it?"

For a moment, Norton seemed too exasperated to answer the question. But then the exasperation disappeared. Norton almost aged a decade in that moment in the hallway, his wrinkles grew prominent and his eyes looked defeated. "I was selfish, captain. I only cared for myself and my wife. Someone came knocking at my door and told me I could give a better life to the one person I loved and I made the choice without thinking twice. All I had to do was burn a barren city. It didn't even feel like such a big price to pay at that moment. Little did I know the trees we planted in that waste land would bear such poisonous fruits."

#

The sky turning darker trench in Lichtenheim had come alive again. The backup that Schwarz's battalion had demanded wasn't going to arrive and neither were they given the order to retreat. So Schwarz and his men took the only way they had. They fought.

Twenty more men had deserted. Only two hundred left in the trenches. They did what they could. They aimed their guns and they kept firing.

The legion of silver trucks still looked as unscathed as they had in the morning. And they were moving in closer and closer. Schwarz knew he was going to die. But he was certain he wouldn't die a coward.

So they kept fighting...

#

The Orzstok flew across the setting sun. "This is stork, estimated time of arrival at the Lichtenheim trenches is fifteen minutes."

Everyone in the cabin heard the announcement from Harper. Lisa looked at Erik, "Is the plastic ready?" she asked.

Erik held up the C4 explosive molded to look like a unicorn. "It's ready."

Lisa rolled her eyes. She slid the briefcase over to him. "Attach it to the cube. We need to be prepared."

Erik showed a hint of reluctance as he attached the plastic to the hybrid-0 cube.

That's when the cabin intercom hissed louder. "This is stork, I just received a message from home base. It was Cathy. She revealed something really important..."

#

There was a moment of silence as everyone sat stunned in the cabin after Harper announced the message. And then Erik spoke up. "We're shifting tracks." He put on the head set and spoke into the microphone. "Take us right to the trenches. Not the Ardvenian troops. I repeat, fly over to the trenches, not the Ardvenian troops."

#

Schwarz's battalion never ceased their fire. And the silver trucks kept moving in. The battalion had lost more men by then. They were probably down to a hundred and ninety or something. Soon, none of them would be left here.

Clinging to that ominous thought, Schwarz kept firing. Until he felt someone firmly tugging at his shoulder and roughly pulling him away from the full auto machine gun.

"Cease your fire!" A silver haired man was screaming at him over the thundering gunshots. "Tell your soldiers to cease fire!"

Schwarz frowned. "Who are you?"

"We are your last hope!" The silver haired man screamed. "If you wanna win this battle, cease your fire and start your retreat. We'll handle the rest!"

That's when Schwarz felt another hand tugging at his shoulder. It was private Gaznek. "Lieutenant, look!" I pointed overhead. A combat helicopter was making its way to the legion of silver trucks.

The stranger who had appeared in the trenches grabbed a hold of Gaznek and said, "tell the others to cease fire and retreat. Help has arrived. Pass the message down the line!"

Gaznek didn't bother acting puzzled by who this unknown man was or if the order was really coming from the lieutenant. He was just too happy to know they were leaving this hell behind. So he did what the stranger had said.

#

"Tell Harper to keep this thing steady!" Lisa screamed over the fierce sound of the helicopter rotors. She was leaning halfway out of the side of the helicopter cabin with a harness on her waist. "And tell him to go just slightly behind the trucks. But not too far back. Those missiles can shoot us from a hundred and sixty degree angle!"

"Stork, keep the copter steady!" Erik screamed into his own headset as he held onto the rope attached to Lisa's harness. "And stay just ten meters behind the line of trucks!"

"We are on target!" Lisa screamed.

Erik gripped the rope tightly. "We gotta wait for Luce's signal!"

Lisa could see the line of trucks. About fifty of them. All special grades like the one they'd stolen in sector 22. They could take down multiple nations with power like that in their hands.

But that won't be for long.

She looked down at the cube in her hand, the fiery orange liquid swirling within the cylindrical well, the unicorn shaped C4 explosive attached to its top. This is it, she thought, Oriana, mommy is doing this is all for you. So that you won't have to see what hell we live in. She swallowed hard and waited for the signal from Erik.

She felt the tug of the harness, then Erik's voice screaming in her ear. "Luce has got the soldiers away from the trenches. This is it!"

"Okay!" Lisa screamed back and flung the hybrid-0 cube down at the army of special grade trucks. "It's going down!" She pulled the detonator out of her pocket and kept her eyes on the ground below. She was counting the seconds in her head.

From the height they were at, the cube would get close to the trucks in about fifty seconds.

She clutched the detonator tightly and observed the ground. The seconds kept ticking.

Seven, six, five, four, three, two...

#

Schwarz and his men who were about a hundred meters away from the trench didn't just hear the explosion, they felt the ground tremor, the shockwave throwing them off balance. Luce looked back to see the magnificent wall of purple fire that had risen in the place where the trucks had been approaching them.

Explosions kept echoing in a succession as he saw the special grade trucks getting blown to pieces. And the fire kept spreading.

#

The purple clouds in Stahlberg had cleared up. All they saw was a clear evening sky overhead. And those aerial devices that the doctor had called "Rain shots" hovering in the air.

Then Schattenwolf resurfaced by the dock. Norton and Wagner boarded off the submarine. Emilia rushed at him first, embracing him and kissing him.

Leo Albrecht just looked up at the sky with a small smile. That's when Germaine approached him again. "What have you thought of my offer now?" she said. "We stopped the rain."

Leo's smile widened a bit. "If you do become the First Leader, you can only expect friendship from my end."

Germaine was about to thank him when Albrecht's personal assistant appeared at his side. "Mr. President, we received an update from the troops in Lichtenheim. They reported victory."

This time Albrecht didn't just smile. He let out a hearty laugh. "Today is just turning out amazing, isn't it?"

"They said they received help from someone unexpected," the personal assistant said.

Albrecht raised an eyebrow. "Unexpected."

"Some people from Ardvenia led by a man named Erik Koehlwin."