Billy and Fabian stood by, tears of sweat dripping down the officer’s hairless scalp, as the two waited for whatever the outcome of the fusing process would spawn. The soldier tried two preemptively grenade throws, but it seems like whoever designed the C.T.Ds thought about generating their own magnetic field to protect them from Billy’s signature weapons.

Billy- “ What else do you know, Fabius?”

Fabius- “ I don’t know what makes you think I’m hiding-”

Billy- “ High-rank in the Zin family, lack of any interest in Sa- the council plan of integration, sudden interest in me while I’m not at my best? I honestly don’t know which to pick.”

Fabius, chuckling, took a few steps forward. “ Very well, champ, you’re right in not offering me any lint of trust. If I offer myself as a vanguard and bait for you to study the enemy, would that be fine with you?”

Before he could have time to process the request, the chimera C.T.D. finished fusing Finer and the mole, resulting in a robotic being, a bit larger than the mole but by not much. Instead of the robust, orange armor, Finer’s thin body now covered the mole as a second layer, with an additional two wings on its back.

Billy didn’t wait for neither it nor Fabius to move first, and fired a burst from his shotgun towards it; a part of the armadillo armor levitated off the ground and put itself between the bullets pellets and the chimera.

Fabius- “ Ah, quite ingenious, a shield that moves automatically. Quiz time, champ, what do you think moves that orange part?”

The soldier wanted biological eyes now more than ever to properly squint as a reply. “ How should I know?” The prisoner put up a paternal smile in front of him and rushed to attack the chimera hand-to-feet. Billy thought of doing the same, but Fabius' advice echoed in his mind. “Fine, I’ll be studious, you prick!”

The former officer managed to keep the C.T.D. occupied just with his feet strikes, showing multitudes of techniques and improvisations to keep the chimera occupied with him. Or that was the plan, as the orange shields protected it from Fabius, the mole’s head was focused on Billy and when it found a moment of disattention, it fired a harpoon-like projectile from it’s reformed tail.

Billy rolled to avoid it, but then felt his left arm unresponsive. The harpoon acted like a Trojan horse to hide the real attack. A barrage of electromagnetic needles that embedded themselves into his outer layer and disrupted his internal components.

Billy- “ It’s a box of tricks this one, ain’t it?”, he almost roared, getting slowly annoyed by the outcome.

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Fabius- “ What then?”, he yelled out, not to call for advice though- “ What do you want to do, number one?”

The harpoon levitated from its spot and returned to the chimera, probably to load it with another round of needles. Billy decided to pull out his combat knife and deal with whatever close-up gimmicks it had; He hoped that having to deal with two fighters in hand-to-hand was enough to disrupt the chimera’s defense, but quite the opposite happened. Its response speed increased, even managed to score some counterstrikes with the drills on its hands.

Huffing, Fabius took some distance, followed soon by Billy. “ Well, champ, what do you think? Would you have won against this during the R.O.C.?”

Billy- “ Doubt it. Even if the orange shields are a new addition, my guess it’s just an upgrade from the original design.”

Fabius- “Right. Surprised by its endurance, too. Thought a being like this would just burn through any energy reserves as quickly as your Angie.”

An idea glimpsed in Billy, who looked at his co-fighter. “ Hey, wanna try that vanguard plan again?”

…

The soldier crouched and sat, waiting for the chimera to use the harpoon again. No dice, this time both of the drills flew towards Billy, which, once again, was forced into dodging around. Not part of the plan, but it was a blessing in disguise, as he managed to cut one of the drills with his combat knife; he then threw the hand-drill to Fabius. “ Can you use that?” asked the cyborg, but the officer didn’t need to respond. He dribbled the weapon with feet like a professional football player, right into his cuffed hands.

Fabius- “ I can handle it.” He then ran towards the chimera, once more attacking at close range. Billy tried to sneak behind it, but then, just as he intuited, Finer’s head that was attached to the chest-level, turned around to follow him.

Billy- “ Guessing the second one is still active, controlling parts of the system.” He then threw his knife, launching on a trajectory near the opponent. At first, it looked like he missed, but then the chimera noticed that the knife was stuck in a levitating stasis, in the space between the main body and where the shields operated from.

Fabius also noticed the weapon, and stuck to it, a grenade that activated itself right where the knife stopped. And so did the chimera, who realized the magnetic trick, but knew that the simple method to pass it was to change the poles of his shields to repel the knife back.

Fabius- “ Not fast enough, though”, said the officer, showing an incredible speed that surprised both the chimera and Billy, a skill he kept hidden until then. Fabius kicked the suspended weapon right into the chest area, causing internal damage to the chimera.

Error messages started to scream inside the chimera, slowly closing the armor closer and closer. The wings then started to spread and something like an engine roared from behind it. The two knew what it planned, and not a strike or shotgun shot was enough to stop it from going into the sky.

The chimera fled, faster than any expected. Both stared at it, unsure of what to do next. Fabius then turned to him, hoping for a positive response.

Fabius- “ I was never here?”, he waited, while steps and brushes approached their location.

Billy looked at him, then at the sky, and after a while he waved him off with a hand brush. In the next second, the giant prisoner disappeared as swiftly as a cat, leaving only the drill behind.

A few seconds later, Chirani and the rest of the sniper crew arrived to a stage of broken rocks, destroyed land and Billy standing still, still overlooking the sky. The soldier turned to them, somehow sending shivers down their spine. He passed by them, keeping to only a sentence.

Billy- “ I’ll send a report tomorrow. But Chirani, prepare yourself, ok?”, he added, staring at the drill. The sniper immediately understood what he, and it, meant.

Chirani- “ Understood. I’ll… Oakley!”

Oakley- “ Ugh, yes boss?”, the girl jumped from the sudden yell.

Chirani- “ You’re in charge of gathering evidence. Simo, you’ll help her and keep an eye out for her. I’ll take Zarrin to a medical center.”

At first, the two wanted to fight back, but the moment they saw their leader’s pulsing veins and bloodshot eyes, both knew this wasn’t one of those “happy-go-lucky team” moments.

Oakley- “ Yes, boss”, she replied, taking a trash bag and started to look around in the dark, murky aftermath of the fight.