April 17th, 2224
A Graveyard, Mega City
4:00 P.M.

The name on the gravestone read "Katrina Star. Born 2195. Died April 17th, 2224. She was a beautiful 21 year old girl". His mind briefly wondered how she could only be twenty-one, when there was so much time between dates, but then he recalled that during the Galactic War, several people were ripped out of reality for seven years.

Someone was speaking about Katrina in the distance. Cole briefly turned his head to see McCabe saying something about her life. He shook his head, wondering why it felt so lightheaded all of a sudden. There was something he wasn't seeing right.

His thoughts were interrupted when a hand rested on his left shoulder. Colephantus turned around to see Blue. "I'm so sorry, Cole..." she told him. "That should be me in the ground."

Cole reached out and hugged her tightly, trying to feel something. "Don't say that," he told her.

"And why not? It's my fault she's dead. I killed her after all," Blue said, pulling away just enough so they could look each other in the face. "I stabbed her and then she died."

Wiendigo shook his head from beside Cole. "A damn shame," he said outloud. He turned to look at Cole. "It's in you," he told him.

"What's in me?" Cole asked him. He glanced around to see the entire funeral had come to a complete halt as everyone stared at him. No one was speaking or moving now. "What...?" he asked again, glancing at everyone. Finally, he turned back to look at Blue. "Why are they looking at me?"

Blue smiled coldly. "Because you're dead," she informed him. She reached out and grabbed his arm, turning him around to face the gravestone again. No longer did it read "Katrina Star", but now it said "Colephantus".

Snipe was suddenly standing where McCabe had been, looking up out at the crowd. "Cole was a moron," he began, glancing at all of them. "But he was our moron." Several of the people stood there, their heads bowed.

Cole glanced around. "What is this? I'm not dead..." he began to whisper, turning to look at them. "This is Katrina's funeral," he said in a hushed voice. He turned back around to face Blue but saw Katrina standing there now, tears in her eyes as she looked at Snipe. "Katrina...?" he whispered.

"Cole died when we began to operate on him, trying to remove the chip," Snipe continued, glancing down at the grave. "Katrina and I tried to save him, but the chip erased everything that Cole was - his memory and his identity," he said sadly. "We tried to keep what was left alive, but there was nothing inside. He was gone."

"That...that didn't happen," Cole muttered. "You saved me!" He turned to face Katrina, reaching out to try to grab her. His hands passed through as he stumbled, turning around to look at her. "This didn't happen!"

Snipe sighed sadly. "Cole would have been glad to know the Human/Reploid War came to an end, though. He believed in that to the very end," he continued. "So I think we should all take a moment to remember him as a casuality of war," he said sadly.

Everyone bowed their heads, closing their eyes. Cole stood there, glancing at everyone. He ran over to McCabe, trying to grab him, but his hand passed through. "But you died ...you died..." he continued. He spun around, eyeing all the people. "It didn't happen like this... did...it?" he asked outloud. Falling to his knees, he glanced up at his own tombstone. "Did I really die and all of this has been a dream?" he asked hoarsely.

"You betcha," came a voice from his side. Cole lifted his head up and looked to the side to see himself standing there. No, not himself - the personality brought on by the chip the government put in his head. "All of this is a fairy tale. A little dream you came up with as your memory was wiped away," he told him. The other Cole leaned against the gravestone. glancing down at him. "I have to say, you can make up some sick, twisted shit in your head."

The people surrounding his gravestone began to walk way, except Katrina. She walked up to it and kneeled down, reaching out to place some flowers at the grave. "I'm sorry, Cole..." she whispered to the grave. Cole knelt there as she stood back up and walked away from the grave and out of sight.

"You want to see what really happened, Cole?" the other Cole asked him. The entire area grew blurry, then it reshaped to the warehouse where Katrina and Snipe stood over an unconscious Cole. "Do you want to see how you died?"

Cole stood up, walking over to the table and glancing down at himself while Katrin and Snipe talked. "Slasher was right. This chip is activated to his self-destruct system. If I remove it wrong, I could kill him and us," Katrina said, her resolve fading. "And if I do it too much the other way, I could wipe out his entire personality and memory."

"Right. So, either we all blow up or he goes totally blank. Not that the latter would be much different from the normal Cole," Snipe said, smiling at her.

"JOHN!" Katrina shouted, anger apparant on her face.

Snipe blinked, then lowered his head. "Right, I'm sorry. I was just trying to make light of the situation," he said softly.

Katrina let out a small sigh, then rubbed her face. "I know, I'm sorry ... I just think I'm in over my head."

"Kat, if anyone can do it, you can do it. I believe in you," Snipe said, looking up at her. "You can do anything you set your mind to - in fact, you'll bring Cole back out of this perfectly normal."

The two of them began to work, oblivious to the fact Cole was standing there like a spectre. As they struggled to work, something began to go seriously wrong when Katrina gasped and frantically tried to grasp the chip with her tools. "What is it, Kat?" Snipe asked her, rushing over to her side.

"The chip is sliding the wrong way!" she said frantically. "I'm about to activate the self-destruct sequence!"

"Pull it the other way, dammit!" Snipe ordered, grabbing her arm and struggling with it. "We can't let it blow up."

"But if I try to move it the other way now, I'll wipe out his entire memory!" Katrina told him.

"We have no choice!" Snipe demanded. And they pushed the chip back the other way. Cole's body twitched and shuddered, then fell dead. Snipe pulled away from Katrina as he looked down at the dead Cole. "I'm sorry, Kat..."

Katrina let the tool drop from her hands and brought them up to her face. "Oh my God, I can't believe we let him die..." she whispered.

"Maybe we can fix him," Snipe said, bringing his hands up to her shoulders. "Don't lose hope yet."

As Cole watched all this, he shook his head. "This didn't happen," he whispered as he stepped back, glancing at the other him. "I didn't die there!"

"Then what's going on? A mid-life crisis? Did you wake up one day and think to yourself, God, I wish this wasn't my life and you created this fantasty where Katrina dies and Blue becomes your snugglebunny?" the other Cole asked with a sneer.

"What?" Cole asked, stopping to glance at him. "What are you talking about?" As the two of them stared at each other the scene blurred out and suddenly Cole found himself in a strange living room. He glanced around. "What are you trying to pull now?"

"What do you mean?" demanded an old voice from behind him. Cole turned around to see an old Katrina standing before him, at least in her late seventies now.

"....Kat?" Cole whispered, stepping forward to look at her. "Is that really you?" he asked her.

Katrina shook her head. "How can you be so cruel?" she said, leaning on her cane. "You pretend you don't know your own wife?" She sighed sadly and then spoke softly. "And you pick on me because I'm old and you're young."

"My wife?" Cole asked her, stepping forward to touch her arms. "Oh God...Katrina...is this real?"

"Of course it's real," Katrina told him. She looked up at him. "I was so worried when you fell on the floor and went real quiet. I was about to call Dad to come check on you."

"Wind?" Cole repeated.

"Yes. Are you okay?" Katrina asked him. "You don't look so well..." she told him.

"I'm sorry...." Cole told her. "I just had a bad dream." He reached over and hugged her tightly. "God, you're as beautiful as the first day I saw you."

Katrina laughed lightly into his chest. "You're too kind," she said. "You know I'm an old woman now. You don't have to pretend in such a way."

"No..." Cole said, looking at her aging face and wrinkles. "You're still beautiful." He glanced at her softly. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you."

"It's nothing," Katrina told him. "Now we should go over to my parents for the party," she said to him.

"Right," Cole responded, glancing around the living room. He walked over to fireplace mantle with the pictures of him and Katrina throughout their life. Their wedding pictures and the other pictures. A picture of them with two kids - adopted. One of them had blue hair, even...

He paused briefly, then looked back at Katrina as she put on her jacket. "What happened after the Human/Reploid War ended?" he asked her.

Katrina stopped, glancing back at him. Her face looked a little hurt. "I thought you didn't think about that anymore..." she told him.

"What do you mean?" Cole questioned her as he stood there. The two of them looked at each other, then Katrina sighed and moved over to the chair.

"You're thinking about her again, aren't you?" Katrina asked him as she sat down. She cupped her hands together, glancing down at them. "You're thinking about Blue."

"What happened to Blue?" Cole asked her, moving over to kneel beside her. He reached out and put his hand on her's.

"She left after the war, when you told her you didn't love her anymore. We never heard about her again until last week when we got news that she died somewhere offplanet," Katrina answered him.

"Blue...died?" Cole repeated, glancing down at the floor. Katrina sighed, reaching out to put her hand on his head.

"You wish you chose her, don't you?" Katrina asked him.

Cole glanced at up her green eyes. "What?" he said softly. "What do you mean?" he asked her, staring at her aged face.

"You wish you chose her, because she would have stayed young forever. But instead you have me - a mortal human who has maybe twenty years left," Katrina said sadly, glancing down. "And you wished you had your love forever."

Rubbing his face, Cole strained to think. His head was hurting and it was getting harder to focus. "Something's not right here," he muttered, getting to his feet. The pain shot down his head to his arms now. "Something's not right!" he screamed again, turning to run out of the house.

Katrina pushed herself up on her cane. "Cole! What's wrong, Cole?!" she shouted hoarsely after him.

Cole ignored her, tearing down the yard toward the streets. "This isn't real..." he whispered to himself. "This never happened..." he repeated over and over.

Suddenly, he ran into the other Cole who was standing there before him. "Didn't it?" the other Cole asked him.

Pointing his finger at his evil side, Cole yelled at him. "What the hell is going on?" he screamed. "What is real!?"

"What is real, Cole?" the other side of him asked. "Do you even remember?" he asked.

Cole grabbed his pounding head. "I don't remember..." he whispered. "What's going on... why do I feel so out of it..." He fell to his knees as the scene around him began to get blurry again. Lifting his head up he saw his own grave again before him.

Cole

Turning away, Cole began to run away from the graveyard. Pumping his legss as hard as he could, Cole found himself running down an empty street.

Cole Cole came to a stop as he glanced around. He was in the middle of a hurricane again and a storm was raging around him. Glancing up, he saw that Junior was floating above him, his lips moving but no sounds coming out.

"...Junior?" he questioned, then winced in pain. He knew this place from somewhere...this place was familiar. Yes. He fought Junior here.

Junior flew down at him at high speeds, but Cole was ready. Leaping up into the air, he activated his katars. As he fell back down onto Junior's back, he raised up both of his katars and slammed it through the Chiere's back and out his stomach.

As Junior crashed into the ground, leaving a silver trail of blood along the concrete, Cole grinned sadistically. He lifted the katars again and drove them through Junior's skull, completely impaling it. The Chiere twitched once, then twice, then fell over dead.

COLE

Cole suddenly stopped, eyeing his bloody work, then deactivated the katars as he stumbled backwards. "Oh God..." he whispered, eyeing Junior's bloodied carcass. "What have I done?" he asked outloud.

He closed his eyes and sat there, when suddenly he felt a hand touch the top of his head. The pounding in his head lessened slightly. Opening his eyes, he glanced behind him to see Katrina, young and looking like she was suppose to look, staring down at him. She gave him a smile. "Thank God... I finally reached you..." she whispered.

"Is this another dream?" Cole asked, his voice croaking as he looked up at her.

"No," Katrina answered, shaking her head. "You know what the truth is, Cole," she assured him. "You fought to protect Blue, remember?"

Cole nodded. "Yes... I fought Ariel and Junior... and then Junior left me for dead..." Cole said as he struggled to remember.

"That's right," Katrina agreed. "You stood up to Junior magnificently," she said, a twinge of sadness in her voice. "I'm just sorry he took his anger out on you and Blue."

He glanced up at her. "You saw what happened?" he asked her quietly.

Katrina nodded. "The moment you entered this place, I saw everything as it happened through your eyes," she told him. Her eyes got a far away look. "I never knew Junior was capable of such anger. Especially over me..." She glanced down, closing her eyes.

"Your death caused a lot of people to lose control with grief, I think," Cole told her as he sat there. "Thank you, though, for telling me to save Blue."

Katrina smiled. "I'm just glad the two of you are together again," she said. "You deserve to be happy, Cole."

"I guess not..." Cole said, glancing around. "I seem to be dead now."

"You're not dead," Katrina corrected him.

"I'm not?" Cole asked. "But then.... where am I?" He glanced around at the blackness that was surrounding them.

"You're in a place between life and death. Your body is dying right now, Cole. You took a severe amount of damage from Junior. And right now your mind is doing everything it can to hold on while stopping what's inside you," Katrina told him.

"What's inside me?" Cole asked her.

Katrina nodded, her face looking serious now. "That's right. You have something inside of you that is struggling to take control," she said. "You're infected, Cole. You have the maverick virus inside you."

Enroute to Mega City Military Base Omega
4:20 P.M.

Ariel sat quietly in the shuttle next to him, refusing to look back at the murderer of their adopted daughter. She didn't say much of anything since they left the Ragnorak and began to fly back to the base. It seemed as if she had gone far away inside herself.

Also, Gravedigger was quiet, standing in the back of the shuttle as he looked out at the ocean. There had been no news from Wiendigo since the Ragnorak's destruction and most people thought he had been destroyed upon re-entry. While Gravediggere remained advent that he was still alive, there was little else to say.

Terra hovered around Slasher and Blue, trying to help repair Cole with any of the supplies necessary. And Silouette remained far away from everyone, watching Cole with a strange look in her eyes, as if she were waiting for danger to arise.

The shuttle zoomed off the ocean and over dry land as it sped along. Wind glanced over his shoulder at the backseat. "Alright, we're approaching the military base now. If there is some sort of attack going on, we'll have to land carefully," he warned them.

Slasher nodded his head. "Understood," he said, applying pressure to some of Cole's wounds.

As Wind turned back to look at his controls, he squinted his eyes at something. "I'm getting an odd signature from nearby," he said slowly. "I think it could be some of the remnants of the Ragnorak."

Slasher glanced up. "Are you sure?" he asked him.

"I'm not sure. But I think it deserves checking out," Wind said, glancing at the nav controls. "I'll drop you guys off at the base, then make a pass back for the location of the signature."

Gravedigger hurried up to the cockpit area of the shuttle. "Then I'm coming with you," he told him.

"Alright," Wind agreed. "Then I'll drop the rest of you off." He glanced at Ariel before she could say anything. "Go with Slasher. I want you there in case something happens at the base. I don't want anything to happen to our..." he began, then trailed off. He couldn't even bring himself to say our daughter's body.

Ariel paused, then grimly nodded her head. "I understand," she answered. "I'll go with Slasher."

Wind nodded his head. "Thank you," he said softly. He then shoved the controls even harder forward and sent the shuttle flying toward the base.

As the shuttle approached the base, the gun turrents automatically opened fire on the shuttle as they neared them. Wind jerked the shuttle out of the way, hitting the booster and zooming around the base quickly. He then spun the shuttle toward the base and came in at a deadly angle. As the shuttle zoomed over the gun turrents, he switched the controls and sent the shuttle flying into the base's complex.

Reaching over with his other hand, Wind pulled down the lever and opened the ramp to the shuttle as he hovered over the inner base's grounds. The gun turrents began to turn around to face the shuttle even as Terra and Slasher moved down the ramp, opening fire at the turrents. Terra's gun blasted them rapidly, while Slasher fired chi blasts into their cracks and caused them to explode. Silouette and Blue helped move Cole's body out of the shuttle.

As Terra and Slasher finished off the last of the gun turrents, they turned around to look at everyone. Ariel stepped off the ramp and then gave Wind the signal. The shuttle's ramp closed and the shuttle itself lifted up into the air. It did a half-turn, then flew away from the base into the distance.

"Okay, first thing we need to do is meet with the others still in the base and find out what happened inside..." Slasher told everyone.

Mega City Military Base Omega
4:00 P.M.
20 minutes earlier...

"I-I don't know, M-Miss," the tech stuttered nervously. Sighing and rolling her eyes, Cheryl let the tech go and began to walk over the to the computer.

"Computer, can you tell me what is going on here?" she asked the computer. The computer began to speak, when suddenly it just went all garbled and the controls went dead. The lights in the room went out for a moment before the red lights of the back up generator came online. "Okay, someone in this base is seriously trying to tick me off," Cheryl said quietly.

As she began to stroll through the base, one of the soldiers ran up to her. "We're under attack!" the soldier said in a panicked voice.

Cheryl looked at him. "Calm down, first off," Cheryl began, glancing around the hallway. "Then tell me who is attacking us."

The soldier shook his head. "We don't know. The attack came from within the base. It's like they just came out of nowhere. They have to be an army! It's impossible to take over this base! Maybe it's the reploids!"

Cheryl smacked him once. "Calm yourself down. It isn't the reploids. We just need to figure out who it is," she told him. "Follow me." She began to walk down the hallway toward the armory.

"What are we going to do?" the soldier asked her as he followed along after her.

"Get you all some weapons, then we're going to find this army," Cheryl said to him. "Then we deal with them directly and personally."

Kio Takemura glanced at him as he stood over the computer station, having effectively hacked into the entire base's computer complex. Ever since the computer system Chip had been taken down last year, Earth's defense systems had not been nearly up to par. And since Kio was one of the people who brought Chip down, he had a close hand knowledge on how things worked now.

Reaching down and pressing a button on the computer, activating the outer gun turrents to shoot any target that came into view, Kio then turned to face X2. He walked over to him, glancing at him. "You're a pathetic excuse for a doctor," Kio told him, pulling out X2's bottle of alcohol. He brought it up to his lips, taking a sip, then shook his head. "Pathetic blend," he told him. Putting the bottle back into X2's pocket, he began to push the chair towards the closet.

"What are you planning to do?" X2 asked him defiantly even as he was pushed into the closet. He bounced off the back wall, flincing in pain.

"Hm. And why would I tell you, doctor?" Kio countered. He glanced back at the form of Katrina on the table. "Though I have my plans."

X2 paused, glancing over at Katrina, too. "What are you going to do with her now?" he asked dangerously.

"You'll see," Kio told him. He slammed the closet door shut and began to walk over to Katrina. Reaching over and lifting up her hand, he examined it, then pulled out a shot and needle. Injecting the needle into her hand, he pushed the fluids into her veins and dropped her hand.

As Kio walked out of the room, he paused as he came face to face with Michiru McCormick, who had arrived at the base to see what all she could do to help with the war effort. And since the war was over, she had come to pay her respects to Katrina. The two of them stood as they stared at each other. They both knew each other, even though not quite by name. Michiru McCormick had worked with the team, just like Kio Takemura, during the previous conflicts last year - the Motenk War.

"Move," Kio said, turning to step around Michiru. Michiru stepped to the side, then paused as she could hear thumping in the closet and X2's cries for someone to help. She glanced up at Kio, who glanced back down at her. Their eyes met and Kio's narrowed. "Bad timing on your part," he said simply.

Kio's hand came moving out of nowhere rapidly and hit Michiru's in the nose hard enough to cause tears to form in her eyes. Blinded and in pain, Michiru stepped backwards when Kio's foot came moving around and swept her off her feet, sending her crashing to the floor. Reaching down and grabbing Michiru, he began to drag her along to the materials he used to tie up X2.

Michiru suddenly kicked out at him, using her quick speed to knock Kio backwards onto the ground. She stood up, holding her hand to her face in pain as she stepped back a few feet. Kio stood up after a moment, eyeing her silently. "I won't go easy on you because you're young," he warned her.

Kio punched at Michiru, who immediately fell back and brought her hand around to knock Kio's away. She found herself falling back on Silouette's techniques without thinking about it. Pressing forward for the advantage, she punched Kio in the chest, knocking him back against the wall.

Shoving off the wall, Kio rammed into her with his elbow extended, knocking her back over some medical supplies. As Michiru landed on the ground, she began to roll away as she heard Kio leap over the supplies and land on the floor in front of her. Kio grabbed the tray of medical supplies and threw it at her. Michiru was hit by the tray and sent sliding along the floor into the wall.

Kicking the tray away from her, Michiru got to her feet, then quickly hit Kio with a psionic wave of energy. Clutching his head, Kio stumbled forward in agony, falling to one knee. Grinding his teeth, he formed a plasma ball and threw it at Michiru. Forced to drop the psionic attack, Michiru quickly dodged to the side, letting the plasma ball smash a hole in the wall.

Kio moved forward before she could recover, slamming his fist into her stomach and causing her to bend over. He grabbed her hair, yanked her head back, then smashed her face into the wall once, then twice, then a third time. "Fall," he whispered to her as Michiru stumbled from the wall, blood running down her nose.

"N-No..." Michiru managed to say. She reached back and unleashed a psionic beam straight into Kio's face, knocking him away from her. Turning around to face him, Michiru shook her head. "I am the daughter of Hotaru and John McCormick. And I won't fall!" she told him.

Kio stood back up, eyeing her. He dashed forward, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her against the wall. As he tightened his grip, she began to see blackness at the corner of her vision as she started to lose consciousness. Concentrating, she slipped into her flying cat form, part of her Lunarian heritage, and escaped Kio's grasp. She felt back, then rammed him in the nose with her body, then flew up and over him, landing on the ground behind him as she switched back to her human form. Quickly, she punched him in the kidney, then spun like Silouette had taught her and hit him in the back of the head.

Falling against the wall, Kio reared back with his arm, trying to knock Michiru in the head, but the girl quickly ducked the attack and backed away from him. Turning around to face her, Kio threw a quick punch at her head, missing as she moved to the side, then followed it up with a spin kick to the other side. Michiru reached up and barely grabbed his foot before it hit her, then pushed forward, trying to knock Kio off balance. However, the more experienced warrior rebalanced himself and stood before her.

Kio suddenly grabbed his blade pistols, a pair of guns that had blades equipped to the side of them, and aimed them at Michiru. He opened fire at her with both guns, sending a gauntlet of plasma attacks flying at her. Michiru stepped back, throwing up a shield of psionic energy to absorb the attacks. Frowning, Kio continued to fire into the shield as he spoke. "Your shield cannot hold forever," he warned her.

And it was true. Each plasma shot put more of a strain on the shield and it was taking more and more energy to keep the shield put up. Straining, Michiru tried to hold on as the shield began to crack from the shots. Kio then stopped firing and concentrated his energy, throwing out a plasma wave at the shield. As the wave hit the shield, it caused the shield to shatter and the wave smashed into Michiru, knocking her back into the wall. Twisting around with his blade pistols, Kio opened fire and hit Michiru in the right arm, then in the left leg, causing the girl to collapse in a kneeling position.

Kio walked towards her and pressed one of the guns against Michiru's forehead. "It's over," he told her. "You fought well." Michiru glanced up at him, then closed her eyes as she began to focus her inner psionic energy. She needed just one good attack to win this fight. Suddenly, Michiru's body began to glow a strange color. Stepping back in surprise, Kio quickly fired two shots at her head, but the glowing aura stopped them. Michiru lifted into the air as the psionic energy soared through her and she extended her hands upward.

Michiru's body began to radiate more light, forcing Kio to step back as he shielded his eyes. As the psionic energy shot up into the air from Michiru's hands, she aimed them at Kio and unleashed a powerful wave of pure psionic energy into him that lit up the entire room. The wave smashed into Kio at highspeeds, knocking him through the wall of one of the rooms, then through another, then through another, then again through one more until he was far enough from the beam's reach and he came to a stop on the ground. The entire base rattled at the psionic output.

Then, the glow vanished and Michiru fell to the ground in an unconscious state. As she laid there, her breathing returning to normal, the base stopped shaking. Kio, meanwhile, forced himself to stand, holding his chest as smoke raised from it. Glancing down, he saw Michiru had punched through his armor and left a hole in his chest, where smoke raised. If it wasn't for his robotic parts, he would have had his chest punctured and organs fried. His right eye glew red for a moment as he shook of the effects of the attack.

Out of nowhere, Strife suddenly jumped at Kio, extending some blades at him. "I got you now, traitor!" he shouted out. Kio turned and brought up the blade pistol, cutting Strife along the chest as he flew past him. As Strife landed on the ground in a gooy mass, he began to reform holding his chest. Turning around, Kio aimed the blade pistol in Strife's face and fired, blowing it around in a splattering goo along the walls.

"That will take you a while to repair," Kio said bluntly as he eyed the pieces of Strife splattered on the wall. He began to walk away as the pieces tried to find each other, but had no way of knowing where the others were on the wall.

As the soldiers quickly began to grab weapons, equipping them, Cheryl glanced around, then paused to consider something. "I want you to find the intruders," she told the soldiers.

"What are you going to do?" one of them asked her.

"I'm going to go pick up something Slasher was designing," Cheryl told them. "A little invention that plays with a person's mind. I'm dying to find out how it works!" She hurried off, leaving the soldiers to glance at each other in confusion.

Silouette stood against the wall. "What is it?" she asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"He's infected with the Maverick Virus," Slasher informed her. He waved the scanner over Blue, but the scans came up with negative. "How did this happen?" he asked Blue.

Blue looked at him. "I carried him as far as I could to the barrier, but I wasn't sure where to take him. When I saw Silouette and Terra on the other side of the barrier, I left to go get their help," she told him.

"He must have been infected while you were outside the barrier," Slasher mused, rubbing his chin.

"I came back, dragged him to the edge so Silouette and Terra could help me," Blue continued, glancing down at Cole. "Can we cure him?" she asked in a tight voice.

"The only person with a cure that I know of is X1 and he's been missing since the Ragnorak took off. And Wiendigo isn't around here, either," Slasher said. "We'll need to seal him off in a room until we can get a cure to him."

"But he's dying," Blue protested.

"I know," Slasher said evenly, glancing at her. "But anyone who tries to fix Cole beyond what we've done is liable to get infected themselves. We need to seal him away from others until we can get the proper equipment to protect either ourselves or to cure him."

Ariel glanced at them. "Lets do it now. There's someone in this base and he's wrecking havoic," she said tightly. It was left unsaid she wanted to make sure her daughter's body was okay.

Slasher nodded. "Okay, lets seal Cole in here. This is a good spot to keep him locked up in," he announced.

Blue looked up at them. "I won't leave him," she said.

"You'll be infected," Slasher warned her.

"I don't care," Blue countered.

"Fine, leave her," Ariel spoke up. "We need to go now." Slasher nodded, then sighed. He waved everyone out of the room, then reached over and sealed the room off with a few key codes to the doorpad.

As soon as the door was sealed, Slasher turned to look at Ariel. "If you don't let go of your hate for Blue, then you'll never heal," he told her in a calm, yet even voice. Ariel glared at him. "I'm not kidding," Slasher said seriously. His look was tired, seeing as he hadn't slept since the April 13th, and he was beyond making jokes at this point. "Now lets hurry," he said, moving through the medical wing toward the area where Katrina was being kept.

As the four of them walked along, Terra and Silouette pulling up the rear, they came across an area of the medical wing that looked trashed from some battle. They slowed down, glancing around at the unconscious bodies of soldiers who had been knocked around and beaten up. It seemed as if someone tore through them as if they were nothing.

Kio stood there as the ten soldiers rushed him head on. He pulled his hands back as he gathered plasma energy and then shoved two waves forward into the rushing soldiers. The waves smashed through them, knocking them into the wall on either side as if they were merely rag dolls. The last three in the back aimed their weapons and began to open fire on him. Stepping to the side, he fired three plasma balls out at their chests, knocking them backwards onto the floor. He then raised his hand and a plasma pillar erupted underneath them, slamming them into the ceiling.

"Hurry," Slasher said, moving down the hallway as they reached more areas that had battle scars. One wall was completely torn apart as if someone had been punched clean through the wall. Silouette stiffened, then hurried past them all to the corner, where she knelt beside Michiru, who was laying against the wall.

"Michiru," Silouette whispered, shaking the girl. The girl stirred, groaning softly in her sleep. Terra knelt beside, glancing at Michiru.

"Is she going to be okay?" Terra asked Silouette.

"She is fine," Silouette said, her voice sounding slightly relieved. Slasher and Ariel glanced around at the destruciton of the room.

"It looks like she put up quite a fight," Slasher noted in surprise. "I wouldn't have thought a flying cat could do it."

Ariel glared at Slasher, then pressed onward into the next room where Katrina was being kept. She glared at the empty table, seeing no body there. Rattling was coming from the closet, so she rushed over and opened it, causing X2 to fall to the floor, still tied to a chair.

"Dammit! Ow!" X2 said as he laid there. He glanced up at Slasher and Ariel peering down at him. "Quick! You have to hurry! Some man came in here and stared doing things to Katrina's body!"

Ariel's face hardened. "Doing what sort of things?" she asked him darkly.

"I think he did something to her - before she died," X2 said, straining. "He was the guy who flooded the sewer systems."

Slasher's face went neutral. "Kio," he said flatly.

"Yeah, him. I recall he touched Katrina's arm when he was escaping. I think he did something to her - sped up her dying," X2 told the,

Ariel's hands began to shake in rage. "Sped up her dying?" she repeated hoarsely, as if she were about to go crazy again.

Slasher reached out and put a hand on Ariel's shoulder. "Leave Kio to me, Ariel," he told her. Ariel glared up at him. "Please," Slasher said.

Letting out her breath, Ariel stepped away from them both, glancing at the wall. Seeing that she wasn't going to rush off after Kio, Slasher turned to look at X2. "Do you know which way he went?" he asked.

"How should I know!? I was locked in a closet!" X2 shouted. "Now untie me." Slasher grunted and shoved him back into the closet, shutting it.

Unknown Location in Cole's Mind
Unknown Time

Katrina put an arm on his shoulder. "You have to fight, Cole. You can't let go now..." she told him.

He glanced up at her as he held his chest. "What does it matter if I let go...Kat?" he asked her. "I'm infected with the virus," he told her. As if to make matters worse, he could hear his own dark ego's voice laughing in the darkness. "I thought I beat him."

"I won't beg you to stay," Katrina began, ignoring the laughter, "but I know you'll be sorely missed if you gave up now. After all that you've done."

Cole nodded, concentrating on the pain. "You're right. I can't let go. As long as I feel pain, then that means I'm alive..." he hissed.

"Right," Katrina agreed. "And as long as you're here, then that means you aren't dead," she told him.

Sitting up and taking labored breaths, Cole glanced at her. "We've come so far, haven't we?" he asked her.

Katrina laughed lightly. "Yes we have," she said with a smile. "And you've changed so much."

"Have I really?" Cole asked her.

"I have to confess I use to worry about you, Cole. I worried that you would do something and get yourself hurt," Katrina told him.

"You mean, you thought I'd do something stupid and get myself killed?" he said in jest. "I know the others thing I'm just a stupid baffoon."

"But look at you, Cole," Katrina said, smiling at him. "Look at how far you've come. You fought for what you believed in and you were willing to die for them. And that makes you much smarter than anyone who runs away from their beliefs."

"Thank you, Kat," Cole told her. "For giving me a reason to follow those beliefs." He smiled at her, when suddenly she gasped in pain and grabbed her hand. "What is it, Kat?" he asked her, moving forward.

"My...hand hurts..." she whispered as her hand shook. "It burns...so much..." She then winced and grabbed her stomach. "Oh...it hurts..."

"What? How?" Cole said, grabbing her. "You can't be hurting, Katrina. You're dead1" Both of them glanced at each other for a moment as his words sunk in. He then paused, looking at her. "In fact, how can you be here?" he asked quietly.

"I-I don't know," Katrina said as she winced in pain. "I'm sorry, Cole... I have to go... don't let go..." she told him as she faded away in his hands.

"KATRINA!" Cole shouted into the darkness. All he heard was his own laughter coming back at him in the dark.

Mega City Military Base Omega
4:50 P.M.

"You took longer than I expected," Kio started off. He then brought his red, cyborg eye to bare on Slasher. "Then again, scanning your body signatures indicates you haven't slept in a week and that your energy reserves are exhausted. You are incapable of doing much of anything right now," he rattled off. "Disappointing."

"I let you live so you could make something of yourself, Kio, and here you are attacking my friends again. My family," Slasher said as he stood there. "I gave you your chance to change."

"I am making something of myself, Slasher," Kio told him. "The rest of you are mindless puppets responding to every crisis that comes along. Humans and reploids, fighting it for control of some miserible planet in the middle of nowhere. It's pathethic how all of you think you have some grand purpose in this life. In reality, you're all nothing but mindless slaves who react to every situation."

"And I suppose you're not? I suppose you're not reacting to things, Kio?" Slasher asked him.

"I'm not reacting, I'm causing," Kio answered. "During the time I spent with you people during the fight with Chip and the Motenk War, I came to realize that you all aren't capable of true strength. When it came time for a sacrifice of a pure life, you all balked at the responsibilty and would have let the world end. Instead, I had to act on what needed to be done."

"Yes. You tried to kill Katrina and use her pure lief to end the war, but Junior jumped in the way of the sword and sacrificed himself for her." Slasher noted. "And this makes you better than us?"

"It does. When I stabbed Junior and powered the sword up needed to kill Theos and the Motenks, I was outcasted by the rest of you who couldn't handle it. You couldn't handle the fact it takes getting your hands dirty to accomplish something. You reacted like cowards," Kio spat.

"I see. And the fact we could restore Junior and save his life, which you wouldn't have attempted, means nothing? Face it, Kio, you're nothing. Even Wind tried to reach his hand out to you and look at you. You've taken his dead daughter's body," Slasher told him, shaking his head. "You've fallen as low as you can go."

"You think I've taken his dead daughter's body?" Kio responded with a sneer. He stood there, shaking his head. "You're really dense, aren't you?"

Slasher stopped, feeling a shiver run down his body. "What do you mean, Kio?" he asked him slowly.

"When we fought in the woods, I planted a tracer on that dumb Terra girl," Kio told him as he stood there with a confident air about him. "I knew exactly where you were in the sewers and I could have flushed you out at any time, but I waited almost a whole day before I did. Why? Because I examined the situation down there. My tracer also worked as a listening device and I learned what happened to Katrina and the extent of her wounds. And like dogs, you turned on each other as she was dying."

Slasher crossed his arms, drumming his fingers on them. "Like dogs?" he repeated. "That sounds a bit harsh. But go on."

"After our battle with Theos in the Motenk War, you all left me to die. And my wounds from Theos were grave and fatal indeed, since I was the only one willing to stand up to him alone," Kio said. "But I was found by a passing cruiser of an alien race who gave me something to help heal my fatal wounds. It just required a little something first." He glanced at Slasher with a strange look. "And I injected Katrina with the first part when I jumped over her."

Kio sped on, running towards Ariel and Katrina. Reaching Katrina's bed, Kio reached out and planted his hand on her hand, then flipped himself over the bed before anyone could react. Hitting the pavement on the other side of the bed, Kio dashed away from them all towards the busy streets.

"But your little injection didn't work, Kio," Slasher said outloud, glancing at him. "Katrina's death was sped up and she died quicker."

"Like I said. All part of the process," Kio answered him, opening and closing his hands. "You see, in order to heal, the drug shuts the body off and then puts the person in a near death like state that could be perceived as death. And then it needs another part of the drug to reawaken after the wounds are properly healed."

He gestured off to the side of the complex with his hand. Slasher turned his head to see Katrina laying there, her body not moving in the least. "If her will is strong enough, she will awaken again. I gave her the second injection already. And if she doesn't have it in her to return, well...her soul will fade away into oblivion," Kio said. "As you can see, I was strong enough to come back."

Slasher stood there, then looked at Kio, sizing him up. "Then why would you do this? Why would you save Katrina, especially after you were willing to sacrifice her during the Motenk War?"

"Because out all of you, she was the only decent one," Kio answered. "That's not saying much, but she knew what she was doing and she didn't pretend when she went about doing it. The last time we needed a pure sacrifice to end the Motenk War, so I planned to use her because she was a perfect target."

"And what about the rest of us?" Slasher asked him.

"The rest of you I will defeat right now. You don't deserve to be in control of the people's destinies. You may have won last time, but you won't win this time. Your body has further degraded from lack of sleep and your skills will be no much for mine," Kio informed him.

Slasher raised his hands up in front of him, getting into a unique martial arts combat position. "Then I'll have to show you that you don't know shit, Kio," Slasher responded.

Kio shook his head, glancing at Slasher. "You pretend to know so much, Slasher, but it's time to show you how wrong you truly are ... right here and now," he told him. He began to channel his cyborg energy throughout his body. His skin began to harden and become more armor like. Then he began to concentrate and releashed his adrenaline fluids through his body, which increased his strength and speed. As he stood there, charging up in front of Slasher, he laughed. "Now lets do it."

"Alright," Slasher said. He formed a ball of chi, tossing it back and forth between both hands. Kio formed a plasma ball in his hands, eyeing Slasher. As both of them stood there, they both began to move at the same time, tossing their attacks at each other. Both attacks ran into each other in mid air and exploded. Smirking, Slasher began to toss chi ball after chi ball in a huge wave. Frowning, Kio began to toss plasma ball after plasma ball. As their balls smashed into each other in mid-air, causing explosions from the mixing energies, both of them began to run to the side, throwing more balls at each other as they tried to get an open shot in.

Spreading his hands, Slasher formed twenty plasma balls and tossed them at Kio rapidly. Frowning, Kio threw up a plasma pillar in front of the balls and let it engulf them. He than quickly threw his own series of plasma balls straight at Slasher. Throwing up his hands, Slasher formed a chi shield to let the plasma balls smash into it. The shield shattered as the last ball hit it.

The two of them stood there, staring at each other. Kio flipped out his rifle and aimed at Slasher, opening fire at him. Jumping to the side, Slasher let the shot fly past him. He turned back to face Kio, who was firing more shots at him. As he jumped backwards, Slasher threw out chi balls into each attack to counter it. He finally backed up against the back of a wall as Kio aimed the rifle at him.

Suddenly a shot came flying from the sky and hit Kio's rifle, causing it to explode in his hands. As Kio slid back, his hands smoking from the damaged blaster, he looked up to see a massive transportation ship in the sky. Slasher looked up, then tapped his comm. "About time, Snipe," he said into the comm.

"Just because you said hurry up doesn't mean I'm going to come rushing to your rescue," Snipe said over the comm. "Now, do you want me to come down there and end this fight for oyu now?" he asked.

"No, I can handle it. Just make sure he doesn't pull anything sneaky," Slasher said outloud, glancing at Kio. Kio stared back, then shook his head. He pulled out his Adam Blade and swung it around.

"Like that?" Snipe questioned. "Because I can shoot him all nice and neat between the eyes and end this."

"No. I like his spunk," Slasher said. He clicked the comm off and rushed out to meet Kio in the middle of the complex again. As Kio swung the Adam Blade around, Slasher ducked the sword and punched him in the chest where Michiru had hit him earlier. Staggering back, Kio kicked Slasher in the face. Too tired and slow to react, the boot hit him in the face and spun Slasher around.

Kio swung the Adam Blade around at him to cleave him into two. Slasher glanced up, then threw up his chi shield and ducked. The huge blade smashed through the shield in one hit, but missed Slasher when he ducked. Uppercutting Kio in the chin, he managed to knock him off balance. He then spun around and kicked the huge sword out of Kio's hands.

"I don't need it," Kio informed him, punched Slasher in the face in two quick successions. He then unleashed a plasma pillar underneath Slasher and knocked him off his feet onto the gorund. Kio then threw a series of plasma balls straight into Slasher as he laid on the ground. As the attacks slammed into Slasher, sliding him across the complex, it seemed as if Kio had won.

Kio stepped forward when he felt his foot stepping on something odd. He glanced down and saw Slasher had planted a chi bomb underneath him. As the chi bomb exploded, it knocked Kio backwards onto the ground. He was sent rolling along the ground as his leg was completely ruined. Pushing himself up, he glanced over and saw that Slasher was slowly getting to his feet, too.

"I wondered where I left that," Slasher said with a shrug. Kio narrowed his eyes and dashed at Slasher. He pulled back and before Slasher's tired body could react, rammed into him with his arm, dragging him along the ground. As Slasher was caught against the arm, he glanced back and saw they were approaching the outer wall. He pointed his hand forward and unleashed a chi bomb into the wall and blew a hole just as Kio passed through it, leading them outside the base entirely now.

Kio stopped running and Slasher fell to the ground in a roll. As he got to his feet, he was met with Kio's fist to the face. Slasher spun to the ground, bounced off it as he rolled along. Dashing forward, Kio picked up Slasher and tossed him into the remaining part of the outer wall, letting him smash against it. He then ran forward and slammed his stomach into Slasher's stomach as he was still sliding down the wall, causing Slasher to cough up blood. Slasher lifted his hand and blasted Kio in the face with a chi ball, knocking him back.

Slasher fell to the ground, holding his stomach as Kio stumbled. Kio growled, then rushed forward again to smash into Slasher. Instead he smashed into a chi shield that formed around Slasher and bounced off of it. Slasher stood up, dropped the chi shield, and jumped up in the air, spin kicking outward to hit Kio in the face. As Kio was knocked backwards, Slasher landed on the ground and phased into the ground. As soon as Kio hit the ground, a series of chi balls exploded out from underneath the ground, knocking him up into the air.

Phasing out of the ground, Slasher punched Kio in the back as soon as he fell back down. As Kio rolled off his fist onto the ground, he began to get up, unphased by Slasher's brutal assault. Slasher jumped backwards, eyeing Kio with interest. As Kio rose to his feet, both of them noticed Cheryl coming through the broken wall with one of Slasher's experiments that he hadn't tested. He lifted his hand to warn her, but Cheryl had already fired the beam at Kio.

Kio turned around and threw up his plasma wave into the blast, countering it. He laughed insanely, then fired a plasma wave into Cheryl, melting her flesh from her bones and turning them to dust. "Cheryl!" Slasher shouted as he rushed forward.

Turning around, Kio punched Slasher through the chest and ripped out his heart. "You won't need this," he told him as he crushed the heart. Slasher staggered forward, then fell to his knees, then collapsed.

Kio stood over the two defeated people, then glanced up at the transport in the air. He fired a plasma ball up into the transport, causing it to explode in mid-air with Snipe still onboard. As the pieces rained down on the base, he started to walk back into the base. Glancing up, he saw Terra rushing forward. He switched over to his rocket attack and fired a rocket into her, causing her to explode, knocking her head off.

Ariel and Michiru came rushing in next. He ducked Ariel's wild swing of a sword, then grabbed her throat, breaking her neck in one clean sweep. Letting her body drop to the ground, he turned to Michiru and began to choke her. As Michiru struggled against him, kicking him in the chest, she turned into a catgon. Grinning, Kio grabbed her tail and smashed her repeatedly into the ground until she was a bloody pulp. Dropping her body, Kio stood there as he glanced up at the falling pieces of the transport. "It's over..." he said at last. He glanced down and saw Katrina's body falling to dust. "And I guess your soul was lost, too..."

He turned away, walking away to start a new world order.

Outside Mega City
4:40 P.M.
10 minutes earlier...

The figure stood up, turning around to look at the two of them. "What took you two so damn long?" Wiendigo asked. "My ass was getting numb."

Gravedigger laughed, shaking his head. "You really don't know how to die, do you?" he asked him.

"I just have too much left to do before I can do something like that," Wiendigo told him. He stepped up to Wind, who was standing there with a smirk on his face. He reached out and grabbed Wind by the shoulder. "Good show up there."

"Not bad yourself," Wind said.

"You know it. I'm still a baddest of the bad," Wiendigo told him. He pointed at Wind. "And don't you forget it."

"I won't. But if you ask me, you're a big ol' softy now," Wind responded with a grin, patting him on the back. "Lets go back to the base. I'm sure everyone wants to hear your story."

Wiendigo reached down and grabbed the eyeball, letting it rest on his shoulder. Wind paused, glancing at it. "That's not some sick twisted momento like Justin's hand, is it?" he asked him.

"Of course it's a momento. After I took down something as big and bad as the Ragnorak, I'm not going to let it go unforgotten," Wiendigo said.Wind shook his head as they walked over to the shuttle. "By the way, I think I lost your sabre. It came in handy."

Wind glanced at him. "You used my sabre?" he asked in confusion.

Wiendigo nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Wind smiled softly to himself. "Only people I program into the sabre can use it, Wiendigo..." he said to him. "It seems someone up there was looking out for you..."

"Hmph. Me?" Wiendigo said in dismissal. But he had a tiny smile.

Mega City Military Base Omega
5:00 P.M.

"Looks like there was an intruder," Wind noted as he brought the shuttle down, landing it in the complex.

Gravedigger hopped out of the shuttle. "Lets hope it's not over already. I'm still raging with energy," he said.

"It's already over," came a voice from the side. The three of them glanced over to see Slasher standing there with his arms crossed. "It was Kio - we beat him," he said simply, nodding at the catatonic Kio on the ground.

"What happened to him?" Wind asked as he walked over to Kio, glancing at his wide open eyes who saw nothing.

"Cheryl used one of my experiments on him. It was a device designed to make a person experience a reality they wanted. It was meant for more wild and daring sex, but I suppose it could be used to lock a mind as powerful as Kio's," Slasher mused. "Though I'm sure one day he'll break free."

"And be pissed," Wiendigo said.

Slasher looked up at him. "We need you to go into the medical wing. Colephantus is infected with the maverick virus. Can you purge him?" he asked.

"I can, if he's strong enough," Wiendigo answered. "I'll go do it now." He began to walk away from them, heading towards the base building. Gravedigger followed after him.

Wind shook his head. "I'm just glad it's over," he said with a brief sigh. "I need to go find Ariel now."

"Star..." Slasher began, holding out his hand. "There's something you need to know about what Kio did..."

Unknown Location
Unknown Time

He glanced up at his alter ego. "I...you should be gone...Kat removed the chip..." he said hoarsely.

"You think I was there because of the chip?" the alter ego asked. "I've always been in you, Cole. The chip just allowed me to come out. And now the maverick virus will let me free. Just give into it."

The pain began to ease away from Cole's head and the pounding dark emotions in him lessened. "Never..." Cole said as he stood up to face the alter ego, who took a step back in surprise.

"What? No! I won't lose control back to you!" the alter ego shouted, grabbing Cole in a stranglehold.

Standing there peacefully, Cole brought up his hands together in between his alter ego's hands, then shoved them outward, knocking his hands away from his throat. "You're over. You may be inside me, but you're never coming out. Because I have something to live for. I have a reason to go on. And it doesn't matter what you try to do ... I'll always win," Cole told him. He reared back and punche the alter ego in the face, causing it to shatter.

Cole gapsed as he woke up in a medical bed with Wiendigo standing on one side of him and Blue standing on the other. Wiendigo smiled at him. "You did good, kid," he told him. "The infection is gone. You have clarity."

Nodding, Cole turned to look at Blue. "You didn't leave me..." he whispered hoarsely. Blue shook her head, tears in her eyes. He then turned his head to look at the next person entering his room and his eyes widened. "You...?"

April 19th, 2224
A Graveyard, Mega City

He didn't know why he was there - he didn't want to be there. Cole turned to look at Blue who was standing beside him, keeping him between her and the others. Some had wondered why she had come to this moment. A lot of people didn't think either of them should be there. But two others had been vocal that they should be allowed to come. Slasher was one of them.

Slasher stood up and looked down at the grave, then looked at everyone. "We are all here today to remember a great person, someone who attempted to change destiny and in the end succeeded," he began slowly. "This person was able to live a great life and made a great sacrifice for us all. And they will be remembered."

Cole glanced to the side to look at the other person who had insisted that they be there. Katrina glanced over at him, and gave him a smile that said she was glad to see him there. It seemed that Kio's cure had worked and Katrina's body revived out of it's near-death state.

Slasher took a deep breath. "McCabe's soul will be out there amongst the stars, watching us. And so we return his body to the ground...ashes to ashes...and dust to dust..." he spoke outloud.

Everyone stood there, then they began to split up. Katrina held her stomach gently as she followed Wind and Ariel off to the side. Slasher whispered something to Katrina, then walked after Wind. "I have something I wish to talk to you about, Wind," he told him.

"What?" Wind asked, glancing back at him. His eyes were lighter and happier, ever since he had learned that Katrina had lived. There was miracle that day for sure.

"McCabe told me to pick a new leader...and I think it should be someone who the humans and the reploids both trust," Slasher began.

"You fit the bill fine," Wind said.

"No. I don't. Part of this conflict was my fault. The people need someone they could look to - someone who can end conflicts. I want you to be the new president of Earth, Wind. I think you can do a lot of good," Slasher told him.

"Me?" Wind asked, stepping back in surprise. "Are you sure you want me to do it?" he asked him.

"You can do a fantastic job. You were always a leader, Wind. And I know that you'll go beyond the call of duty for this planet," Slasher said.

Wind paused, glancing back at Katrina and Ariel. Katrina smiled at him, wrapping an arm around Ariel. "You'll do great, Dad," she told him.

Nodding, Wind turned to look at Slasher. "I'll do it," he told him. "I could use a job here on Earth with my family."

Slasher smiled. "Good..." he told him, patting him on the arm. "I'll expect you in the office on Monday." He walked over to Cheryl and together they walked off.

Katrina glanced over at Blue and Cole talking by a tree. She turned back to her parents. "I want to go talk to Cole for a moment," she told the,.

Wind nodded. "Of course," he told her.

Blue stood there by a grave, looking at the ground. Cole stood there as the wind blew by, causing his tie to flap around. "What is it, Blue?" Cole asked her.

"I... can't stay, Cole," she told him, glancing up at him. There were tears in her eyes as she stood there.

"What do you mean?" Cole asked her, looking at her face. "Why can't you stay?"

"I've...done so much bad here. I've caused so much trouble. And the people here want to forgive me, but I can see it in their eyes - they hate me. And they have a right to hate me. I hate myself, too," Blue told him, rubbing her arms with her hands.

"I don't hate you," Cole said gently, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I love you, Blue. I would do anything for you."

"I know you would, Cole. You're so good to me," Blue told him, looking up at his face. "But I need time to find myself. I need to find out what kind of person I am - and what I'm capable of doing. I came so close to be a murderer and much worse." She cried a little harder. "And I just need to put my life back together before I can make one with you."

Cole paused, then nodded his head, pulling her in for a hug. "I won't beg you to stay," Cole said, "so I'll let you go. But promise me you'll come back to me."

"I promise, Cole...and if when I get back and you still want me, I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you, I promise..." Blue said as she cried.

"Then I'll wait for you. Right here," Cole told her. He lifted her chin up and kissed her. The two of them kissed for what seemed to be forever, the wind blowing around them. Then, Blue pulled away, looked at him, and walked off from the cemetary.

Cole stood there, watching her go, feeling his eyes sting with tears that wanted to come. He could hear someone approaching behind him. "Are you okay?" Katrina asked.

"No," he admitted. "But I will be one day. Because I have something to live for - to believe in, right?" He turned to face her.

"Right," Katrina said with a smile. She leaned up on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "She'll come back to you."

"I know," Cole agreed, smiling at Katrina. He put his hand on her shoulder, walking her back toward Wind and Ariel. "What do I do now, Kat?"

"What do you mean?" Katrina asked him, glancing up at him as they walked along.

"I mean with my life. I have no job. I have no home. And I have no cause. I'm without anything now," Cole told her.

"Then you do what everyone else does ... you live," she told him gently. "You face every day with a bright outlook and you work to make it a better place. Just because this war is over, doesn't mean there isn't work to be done to repair relations between humans and reploids."

"You're right," Cole agreed. "But I'm not exactly good at repairing relations."

Katrina giggled. "All you have to do is help. That's all any of us can do - help."

As he stepped back, X1 turned to see Wiendigo standing there. "He's still your friend, after all this?" Wiendigo asked him.

"Of course. You don't forget friends because they make mistakes," X1 said logically, despite being the most illogical one of them all.

The other outcome, the one he chose, haunted him as he opened his eyes and watched the icicle plunge into Iceheart's chest, go straight through it and out the other side, clean and simple. Her eyes bulged wide open and a silent scream escaped her lips as she fell back, crashing onto the ground in her own battery fluid, withering and dying. She looked up at him and mouthed something he didn't hear, nor did he want to, and she gave a grin. Falling back dead, Iceheart laid still, gone forever.

Shaking all over, Death Star took a step back, wondering what he had done. But he knew.... Turning to X1, Death Star ran over and drew his saber, slashing the steel cables off his friend and leaning him against the wall as he let him go. Slapping X1 awake, the stunned robot looked up, "Hi handsome!"

Wiendigo nodded, glancing down at the grave. "He chose his path and his beliefs ... and followed them to the end. More I can say about most people ... even if he was derranged," he agreed.

X1 patted him on the shoulder. "Derranged is all in the eye of the user," he told him.

"That's beholder," Wiendigo corrected.

"Is it?" X1 asked. He then hopped on a scooter and rode away from the grave. Wiendigo turned to look at it one more time, then walked away from it.

April 19th, 2224
McTregor's Pub on 15th Avenue
Mega City

"What's that?" one of the men asked.

The drunk straightened up. "Hope. Belief. And the conviction to follow it through to the end," he told them. He pointed at the three men. "And you can do the same."

The three men nodded, smiling at him. "Thanks, Cole," one of them said.

Cole waved his hand in dismissal. "Anytime, buddies," he told them, then fell face first onto the table, drunk off his ass. The three men glanced at each other, then sat there with Cole until he woke again.