Episode 30: The War Starts With You

[Noland Hardy]

Out of respect for the Silver Knight's higher authority, Vince opted not to get in contact with the FBI and the CIA over the serious threat Kyuki posed to the entire planet. He chose to wander on his lonesome for a bit to stalk the masked man in accordance with the directions Apollonir gave him. He was still not aware of the Bakugan Termination System's location since Apollonir opted not to reveal that information until he was absolutely sure that their enemy knew about it. It was essentially a blind investigation until Vince chose to call his old "friend," Montai, to inquire about this masked person's whereabouts. Almost too shocked to answer his question, Montai told him that the person in question was inside their hidden building in D.C. Vince asked her to keep his presence a secret from the public since he doesn't want to be asked about the massacre Noland caused. He gave Apollonir the directive of flying him to No Man's Land with the legendary Dragonoid lamenting to himself that what the masked person said held a scary truth: he did know where the BT System was.

Meanwhile, Alex was on the lookout for any suspicious activity along with a few of his comrades. They split up to have more eyes scoping the surrounding area. Each of them were careful not to alert the public that they were basically dead if their enemy chose to strike. It wasn't until Alex chose to visit Kyuki's hideout on a whim of something suspicious going on there that he discovered a plot worth mentioning to his stressed superiors.

[Alex Andersen]

Ironwall City is the name.
Indeed, a very unusual name for a laboratory to bear.
At first very hard to understand the reason behind the name, but those who have witnessed its size, functionality and complexity would understand why it bears such name.
But neither those understand because they are all dead; no one who entered this crazy dungeon of death and suffering has escaped its clutches to tell the tale. If such person existed Ironwall City would have been destroyed long ago.

Complexity is the first quality to amaze anyone here before they meet their death from coming here in the first place. Complexity is why this laboratory survives; once you are inside it your chances of escape are minimal. Machinery and walls are arranged in a specific way making this as complex as a city; or more like a high-tech maze.
A horrifying thought to be there alone or to get lost.

And one person decided to be crazy enough to be there alone.
It was Alex himself.
He did not know the location of Ironwall City. It took him hours to find it using his strong sense of smell he somehow 'borrowed' from Lydia. Kyuki is good, but not perfect at hiding every trace of his existence from someone who can track him like an animal. Not like a man like him would be afraid of Alex.

"Here we go." Alex thought to himself as he walked over the 'Incubator', a large machine used to create artificial biological Bakugans after their structure has been decided.
Alex moved quietly not to alert any of Kyuki's workers in the near and locations of cameras needed to be taken into consideration as well. "Maria is so beating your ass for this." Dante whispered very quietly making sure Alex was aware of what it meant to go completely alone in there without her permission or order. It was a suicide mission. "Yeah, yeah. I knew it from the start." Alex replied quietly and then moved to a huge structure, Core Melt. He looked at it with suspicion. "What in the hell are you?" He said quietly looking at the weird cylinder-like structure. Occupation with that distracted Alex from the fact that he might not be in a very favorable position right now.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

Young man was not aware that eyes were already locked on him.
Being inside such complex area could not end without him being spotted at least once. However, not cameras or workers spotted him, but very eyes of the person he has been searching for this entire time.
He did not notice Kyuki who was observing him only a few meters away behind him. It was not a coincidence; Kyuki knew Alex was in there.
Kyuki's appearance was kinda expected; a man that seemed to be in his 30s (he was much older, but body-modification did the trick), wearing a white lab coat and surprisingly having long white har just like Maria and her sister, Sylvia.

"Core Melt. Dissolves Bakugan life essence turning it into liquid form. Impressive that something like that exists, isn't it?" Kyuki said as he approached Alex from behind of one of the Incubators.

(Kyuki's Arrival)

Alex was clearly shocked and unpleasantly surprised by that Kyuki's ambush. "Come on, you couldn't have expected to just waltz through here? Cameras on the walls are just a distraction from those that are hidden all over these structures; not a single fly can pass through without being detected." Kyuki laughed.
Element of surprise obviously did not work there with him.
He was too careful to be surprised by someone. Every single one of these underground laboratories could be accessed through warehouses that were observed by his drones and hidden cameras. Alex was discovered as soon as he got close. "Hehe, say...you want to hear something interesting? Your superiors might love it."

[Alex Andersen]

"Hell..." Alex whispered to himself after being surprised by this ambush. "I should have known...not like it'd matter anyway..." He thought. He was going to fight Kyuki anyway, so avoiding his sight all over the area was pointless anyway. He tried the element of surprise and you can see how that turned out, but since Kyuki came to him he did not need to surprise him anyway.
That seemed to be good, but knowing that Kyuki confronted Alex only proved that he was not slightly scared of Alex whatsoever.

"You have a death wish, old man?" Alex said angrily seeing how Kyuki freely appeared without any intention of hitting Alex from the back while he had the chance to do so. It occurred to Alex that Kyuki might not be slightly worried of what he was planning to do to his lab.

Alex heard that Kyuki had something to say that Knights' superiors might find interesting. Knowing what kind of knowledge Kyuki had it was probably another announcement of high-tech mass-destruction weaponry he was going to use on Silver Knights. In a blink of an eye Alex jumped from his position and rushed towards Kyuki. "You can scream it out while I tear you apart, old man!!" Alex yelled and tips of his fingers started glowing intensely blue as if they were charged. Alex positioned his fingers as claws preparing to cut through Kyuki like through butter.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

"Don't be stupid, kid." Kyuki said while Alex headed towards him.
Kyuki was not even slightly surprised by this kind of action since he knew what Alex was capable of and how Kyuki was not a peace of cake himself. Just as quick Alex moved towards him Kyuki suddenly vanished from his position. Not exactly that he vanished, but was moving too fast for Alex to be able to follow. He suddenly appeared in front of Alex and knee-kicked him in the stomach slowing him down and then grabbed him by the face and tossed him into the wall.

"You can't tell me you didn't see that coming. If I could infuse others why wouldn't I be able to do it on myself? Hahaha..." Kyuki said confidently knowing that Alex could not defeat him as easy as he defeated his 'father', but not like defeating that one was anything that should be called easy.
He made a few steps forward. "Now that you're all ears..." Kyuki said.

"I'm very sorry about what I did back in the HQ. It wasn't a very nice gesture from me..." He said that with a straight face, surprisingly. "So I thought I could be a nice and polite bastard and make it up. And wouldn't there be a better way, but to organize...no, force a nice little hosting for Resistors and Spartans where they can do what they do. And by that I mean 'tear each other apart', hahaha..." He did not seem like he was joking about that one either. His laughter seemed he had something planned for that, but what else could be expected from him anyway. He was a person who explains something very simply, but it turns out to be chaotic.

[Alex Andersen]

After being thrown into the wall Alex slowly got off the ground.
That was new; Kyuki infusing himself with Power Cores. No way he could have pulled that one out without enhancing his body in drastic manner. Close combat there was definitely not the key to defeat him; he was simply too fast.

However, fighting him was not on Alex's mind now. What he heard Kyuki said would make him laugh in another situation, but knowing who Kyuki was and what he did clearly was giving big hints it was not the matter of laughing. "Are you insane?!" Alex shouted at him angrily after hearing out his little 'proposal'. As crazy as it sounded it did not seem Kyuki was joking about it; it was still in Alex's head that old man might consider him too weak that he just wants to mess around with him, but knowing Kyuki he does not really waste a breath on that many sentences unless he had something real going on. "You're out of your mind, old man. None of them are crazy to jump into a trap as obvious as that one. What makes you think they'd do something like that? What makes you think I'm gonna be your messenger?!! I came here to kick your ass, not be a carrier pigeon." Alex replied angrily to Kyuki's 'proposal'. If Kyuki wanted those to fight out then he definitely had something for them in plan; perhaps to attack Noland and Tank or secretly obtain DNA codes of every single Bakugan there. Or learn their vital weaknesses. Knowing that Resistors were fighting Six Legendary Soldiers and now had completely new powers Hurranians' machines would not be prepared for it, so they would have to do the analysis all over to catch up to Resistors' new arsenal. Alex assumed inside his head that this could be a plan.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

Kyuki clapped and laughed again. "Right there! That's where the catch comes in!"
Well, it was obvious that Resistors and Spartans would not just fall for the trap if there was not a push strong enough to convince them to do so. And Kyuki was well-prepared to take action in that area to ensure everything is according to plan.

"I said 'force a hosting', didn't I? Where did I imply they'd have a choice?" Kyuki inquired. "I prepared a few gifts for all of them to ensure they certainly get interested."

He then took a small remote from his lab coat pocket and pressed one button that was there. A large screen appeared above Kyuki and it started showing pictures. Pictures of Resistors were coming one by one on those slides. Suddenly, they stopped on one picture. It was Markus's picture. Pictures of his with his family together. They all looked happy on the pictures. "They look lovely, don't they? Makes you all nostalgic? Makes me want to tear their limbs off. If this Resistor decides not to show up or losses I'll make sure his family members are nicely and strategically placed on different locations on Earth and Vestal where they'll get a bit of wrath from my gifts I installed into their bodies. Since they are infected so badly they are not far from meeting their end anyway, so why not make sure they do something useful hahaha..."

Pictures started moving quickly again showing Resistors in a group and then suddenly stopped on another person. This time it was Seiki.
Pictures were moving slow showing Seiki in company of her family, Ahio and then pictures of her and Ahio alone. "It's such horrible fate losing your family, isn't it? Oh, wait, you'd know already, wouldn't you? If she is bad enough not to show up or lose I'll give her a wonderful gift. Simply amazing. Hurranians will revive her entire family for her and I'll make sure they're forced into labor before I squish them like ants by making buildings collapse on them. It will be like 9/11s all over; I simply loved the event! I feel bad I wasn't the one causing it, but you get the picture." He said with continuous horrible laugh since this was one activity that would give him most pleasure in murder; reviving girl's friends and family only to kill them all over again.

As that was said pictures started moving again and again and again. Switching until they stopped on Tank this time. "The one who is immune to the infection. His case goes in top 10 of my favorites. He's been talking a lot about some 'John', so I decided to give him a gift and revive the kid, but there's a catch. I'll make sure kid infects other two Stryker cares so much about; I'll make sure he infects them so they can die like worms they are. Oh, I'd love to see Stryker expression when I keep bringing woman he loves back to life just to haunt him until he commits suicide of all the pain. It will be a wonderful thing for my research; a to see how much his brain can hold on hahahaha..."

... ... "But we ain't stopping there, are we, kid?" Kyuki said with a sadistic smile on his face. After this picture changed once again. This time it was Tracy. "I have to apologize for not being creative here, but master Crimson had this in his motives. If her outcome is not satisfactory I'll make sure all people in police departments get a nasty infection and make a nice bloody body-count all over the streets of all the people who still defend Resistors. And not to mention that if I control police I control their weapons; Lasermen and Robotallions always add up nicely in mass-murder, but I think I'll be targeting President specifically this time with them." He continued changing slides on the screen showing more and more pictures of Resistors.
How did he take them? Where? When? How powerful was he that he could just do something without having an obstacle in his way? These were questions of those who have feared him.

The way he drowned in excitement on the thought of murder and torture really proved how psychologically unstable he was. An evil genius with no boundaries; nothing was sacred to him. Humans, Bakugans, Gundalians, Hurranians...it was all just a bunch of mice on his table for him to cut open and analyze. Pictures continued going. This time it was Alana. "Surely you know her. Oh, I love this one. Remember her 'alter ego'? Thankfully, I have some blood samples of that one as well, so if she doesn't do the job we'll have to say hello to Karen again, won't we? And plus, I'll make sure that every living and dead terrorist targets Resistors and not only them. Silver Knights, Eden and other organizations that might be of use to you. And then they'll assassinate all of you, so I can play around with my scalpel a little bit fucking more." After that little speech he gave picture changed to Allen very soon. "I don't even remember his name. Is that how irrelevant he is? He, Master Blaze and that girl grew up together and community center they were in constantly seems to be an abundant mine of resources; a farm where I can pick fresh children to be weapons on the battlefield. I can even make them be my personal grenades. Sounds and smell of flesh flying around when they explode would be something to adore." He did not even care if it were little children. Even if it were little helpless babies. That was how insane he was. He was ready to tear children into pieces without mercy if it could benefit him.

"And finally..." He said as pictures of Noland showed up. "This is a fun one. I doubt he's retarded to lose to Spartans, but in case he does I'll just play around with Daniel's Virus a little bit. Once Daniel is infected power of Deathcrown will be in my hands and cutting all of you open will be doing itself with all that power." He laughed again and shut down the screen putting the remote back in his pocket. "One extra gift for all Resistors... If Gundalian kid wins and I happen to like it I'll look the other way. For every Resistor. Now you've heard everything. You can escort yourself through where you came in." He said carelessly as if Alex was just going to go out like that.

[Alex Andersen]

Alex listened in horror of what Kyuki planned for Resistors.
Those were not some tricks he was going to pull to make them do what he wanted; that was pure and complete insanity. To ever talk about things like that.
How was one person so obsessed with murder and such low decisions in life? How could someone be that cruel and insane? "Son of a bitch..." Alex said as he started getting closer to Kyuki. He was walking slowly knowing what was going to happen if he engaged in close combat.

"I won't let you lay one finger on them!!" He shouted and his entire body started glowing in blue. Blue energy formed around his body and he put his palms together and then separated them creating a blue flame that continued expanding. He then released it towards Kyuki who was just standing there without much intention to engage in combat.

"You seriously think I'm going to leave?! After all you've done already, after you decided to threaten more innocent people?! Only option here is for you to die!!"
Dante looked at the situation nervously knowing that Alex's emotions are taking over in this situation, but certainly it was not a good thing. Even if he managed to kill Kyuki now who would stop all his workers over the world doing what they had in plan. This would only provoke them to do it sooner regardless of Resistors' battle outcome. "Alex!!" Dante shouted, but apparently he was not getting to Alex.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

"I thought you couldn't be more stupid, but this impressed me." Kyuki said with a slight silent laugh not even giving a single damn about Alex attacking him with those blue flames. "You'll be out in a second."

As he said that a screeching sound pierced through the area and three streams for highly-powered dark flames came out of nowhere and clashed with Alex's flames. Both attacks quickly nullified each other and dispersed. "Let me re-introduce you." Suddenly, a massive three-headed dragon emerged from behind of one of the Incubators. It was pitch-black, each head had long bloody-colored teeth and entire body was covered in bloody spikes. There were three tails with spikes coming out of them like those were some maces. Skulls were chained to its body and also drawn on its body. It looked like a Hydranoid, but it was the creepiest Hydranoid that could exist.

Alex's shocked expression could not be missed when he saw it. He knew what that was and was absolutely not happy to see it again. Behind the Hydranoid was a man in black robes.
Suddenly, metallic sounds started coming from Kyuki's right. Those were steps, but as person was in armor or something. Sounds soon turned into a person who emerged from shadows.
Person was wearing metallic armor and was holding a massive battle axe; axe-holder was very long and blades themselves were much bigger than person's entire body. "Hey, hey... You didn't forget about us, did you?" Man in the armor said and started slowly approaching Alex. "Because we didn't forget about you." Female voice soon followed by appearance of a woman who came behind the man in armor. She was wearing some sort of snake-skin pitch-black costume. She had gauntlets with long claws emerging from them and her eyes looked as those of serpent.

Alex's shock and fear could not be hidden. In that small space were all of them. Worst enemies he has ever fought in the past. All in one place. Those who together have killed who knows how many. "Don't you see? You don't stand a chance." Kyuki said and turned his back to Alex walking outside that area. At that moment woman in snake-skin charged at Alex and her speed allowed her to get close quickly. She grabbed Alex by his face. "Soul Venom!" She screamed and Alex's entire body started glowing in dark-purple. Once woman let go of him man in black armor charged in. "Dragon King Battle Blade!" He made a powerful swing with his axe hitting Alex right in his belly with so much force that he launched him towards the roof.
Alex hit the roof and broke through like it was paper showing the force of that attack. He went way out and far away from the laboratory and then crashed into another building.

"He knows where we are now." Man in armor said.
"Venom will eradicate that knowledge. All he will remember will be the message." Woman in snake-skin said and then they all moved away from the scene letting repair drones to take care of all those holes that were made when Alex broke through.

[Alex Andersen]

Alex woke up to the sound of shouts and machines.
After being struck by the man in black armor he was carried to the headquarters by Dante and nightmares that stopped troubling him months ago slowly started to return and haunt him during the time he was knocked out.

People shouting around him were not familiar to Alex's eyes yet since all he was able to see was blur and darkness. After a couple of minutes he recognized their words realizing that they were surgeons and all those machines were...well, whatever doctors use. It started coming back to him as he realized why he was hospitalized. "I...I was...defeated...?" He thought to himself in disappointment; he found where Kyuki was and could not do anything about it. Absolutely anything. All he got was some threatening message and an axe in his belly. That Kyuki would be so much stronger than he anticipated was unbelievable; he defeated Alex in under a minute. More than being disappointed Alex was ashamed. "I can't believe...I'm so useless...disappointment..." He thought to himself while looking aside not daring to look doctors in the eye.

... (An hour later) ...

He was fully conscious now lying in his bed and staring through the window.
Contemplating about life he was motionlessly lying there still ashamed and disappointed with his own actions. He was more reckless that Matt Blade, person who has been shown as the king of being reckless among Knights.

At that moment he heard footsteps at the door.
Turning his head towards it he saw one person he didn't want to see right now.

[Maria Zenovia]

Standing at the door was Maria.
She slowly walked in with that expressionless face.
Her entire face was saying 'disappointment' as she looked at Alex.
She got closer to his bed and still looked down on him the same way.
That expression of hers was embodiment of thousands of words she was supposed to say already while walking in.

"..." Sound of her palm smashing against Alex's left cheek pierced the silence of the room. She did not say anything after that, but just changed her hand and slapped him in his right cheek. Both his cheeks were red like skin of a tomato, but he was motionlessly letting Maria let out her frustration on him. She was expecting at least a little bit of resistance, but he has already made peace with the fact the brought that fate upon himself.

As if slapping him and giving the silence treatment was not enough she grabbed him tightly by his hair with her left hand and then that way pulled him close where their faces were very close to one another. She looked him in the eyes now with obvious anger in her expression. "Why?" She asked quietly. "Why did you go fight alone?"
Alex remained silent and turned his eyes away. "Answer me!" She yelled at him and pushed him back into his bed letting him fall there. In such a long time no one has ever made her so mad, worried and disappointed as him. "What are you...trying to prove...??

[Alex Andersen]

"..." Alex kept silent on those questions and kept turning his head away from Maria not daring to look her in the eyes. "I...I just..." He said slowly after giving it a minute to think. He did not really know what to say. Excuses were the first thing that were coming to his mind, but he really did not want to say any of them. He felt like it was not the right thing to do.

"I just can't bear it anymore..." He said slowly. "The fact that...he is still out there. Alive." Since the day he realized who did horrible things to him and his family he could not stop, but think about it. When he realized what kind of threat Kyuki was he hoped it would be done with time, but years have passed and no one bothered to do a damn thing and look at the world now. Insane doctor simply coming and taking whatever he wants whenever he wants without any significant obstacle in his way. "All these years. All this suffering. No one deserves to live in a world like this!!" He shouted angrily not knowing what to say. He did not only feel sorry about his own family, but all people whose fates were sealed right before his eyes.

"I just want to end it all! Either with him or myself!" Alex concluded not wanting to say anything else in front of Maria about the topic. He felt like trash his whole life that he could never win do anything about thousands of people dying by hands of lunatics like Kyuki. And it was always so close to him. His family, families of his friends and comrades... They were all ruined because of those people who belong in a mental hospital and despite all this humans still fight among themselves. Even when there is a greater threat they are driven by same weak urges they want to fulfill. Alex could not accept that maniacs like Kyuki and Crimson were alive for all those years; that with all this power no one was able to do anything to them.

[Maria Zenovia]

Maria was in a similar situation to Alex's.
She hated Kyuki from the bottom of her heart for many years.
She and her sister were tortured by that maniac and her sister suffered for much longer. Maria became overprotective to everyone after seeing all that and could not bear seeing anyone get hurt and what Alex did was too reckless making her very hurt and disappointed. To think that he would do something like it made her very sad.
And what he said made her even more sad. That Alex said he would end the suffering either 'with Kyuki or himself' which was imply Alex would rather commit suicide than watch and bear suffering in the world. She did not know he was feeling like that.

"And leave them, too?" Maria asked referring to Daniel and Lydia.

"It is not like me to tell you this, but..." Maria quieted down for a second. "...you did a really good job so far. Many people still get to see their families because of you. You came so far...you found Lydia...you saved Daniel. After you accomplished that how can you be so reckless?" She inquired not understanding what Alex really wanted. She tried to read him. He already accomplished his long goal; to get back together with Daniel and Lydia and yet he did not feel complete. Was it only revenge for Kyuki he was pursuing or did he just lost reasons to live for now that he found his family?

"Weren't those two your reason to fight? Wasn't that what you told me the day you've met me for the first time? If nothing else live for their sake." She said quietly as she recalled her little sister who was still inside the prison. She then also recalled something Hydranoid told her not too long after Kyuki used Sandra as a vessel. That seemed like a perfect advice that cheered Maria up a bit, so she wanted to give it to Alex now. "You're not alone...You don't have to bear the burden of everyone in this world. I promise it is going to be alright. You should rest up." After giving him a beating she sure changed her attitude to soft words.

[Alex Andersen]

"I can't...ghh...not yet..." Alex said as he tried to get up, but then pain where he was struck by that man in black armor kicked back in and Alex dropped back to the bed. Even in all that mental suffering he had he recalled some things and it came back to him. He couldn't forget what would happen if he was not to deliver the message and what was going to happen if Resistors do not show up to fight Spartans. "Admiral, please...you have to tell Resistors..."

"Kyuki is...he is planning something..." Alex said as he tried to catch his breath and speak. "He is going to force Resistors and Spartan... he will force them to fight..."
Maria's attention was caught there, but Alex seemed to be out of breath and energy to say everything what should be said.
Dante rolled close to the bed and jumped on it. He couldn't watch Alex like that anymore, so he cut in. "For every Resistor losing or not showing up there will be a massive penalty. If it happens to Markus his infected family will be used for some crazy action across Vestal and Earth. If it happens to Seiki her family will be revived on purpose and killed again. If it happens to Tracy he will infect police departments and kill the President. If it happens to Tank he will revive his deceased friend to infect and kill his girlfriend and other friend and then he plans to revive Tank's girlfriend to make Tank suffer." Dante explained focusing on the important details among Kyuki's blabbering about how nice exploding flesh was or how Kyuki loved 9/11. "As for Alana...in her case he will use all active and dead terrorists to assassinate Resistors, Eden, us and other organizations and he will bring Karen back... In Allen's case he will use children from a community center as weapons. And in Noland's case he will force Virus into action and try to obtain Deathcrown's power." Dante explained it all except the victory parts.

Alex noticed how Dante was not mentioning the winning part. He did not do it for a reason. He did not want Resistors to think losing was an option at all, but Alex wanted to say it regardless. "Kyuki said... he would not do any of those if... Noland and Dragonoid manage to win... and show good performance..."

[Maria Zenovia]

They certainly caught Maria's attention.
She was very unhappy with what she heard.
They haven't even entered the real fight and Kyuki already had the upper hand and a serious ultimatum against Resistors which meant he could force them to fight without effort. She knew that Resistors were certainly going to fight there because the price to pay was too huge to be ignored.

She gave an affirmative nod understanding what Alex said.
She intended to report it to Resistors first.
Despite being crushed like an ant Alex was still struggling trying to get off his bed and be useful and kinda not being able concentrate on what Maria said to him. "I guess we have something in common. Making same mistakes. Trying to carry everyone's burden on our own backs." Maria said quietly with a slight smile on her face. She was still extremely mad at Alex, but could recognize herself in that action of his.
"But we don't have to...because we are not alone. It's alright." Maria said and suddenly another Bakugan orb joined the conversation.
It was Zero Hydranoid who came to give Alex and Dante a visit and to end that conversation actually. "Let me lend you a hand in obeying your Admiral." Hydranoid said to Alex and then suddenly dark-purple mist appeared all around Alex who got drowsy all of a sudden and despite his efforts to resist fell on the bed burying his face into the pillow and falling asleep by force.