Back in Merricent the atmosphere had changed significantly, especially near the capital city of Neo Brighton. The relaxed aura exuded by the city, which was intended to be a safe haven for channelers and their ilk, had become heavily militarised in the wake of the haima’sa incident just over a month prior. The tension in the area was now palpable and none were more aware of this fact than the students of Titan Academy, who spent most of their days on campus within the capital and frequenting the surrounding areas.

On this day, Tyler Cage and her younger sister were making their way through that very capital towards the Watering Hole, their favourite diner. However, the streets that were usually populated by the odd channeler and those intending to do business with this unique subset of humanity were instead traversed by military exo-suit operators and pilots of more specialised military hardware.

As the two young channelers made their way down these streets, they passed the two same to Rogue special officers that had been stationed at the corner outside of their favourite diner for the past two weeks. So as had become customary they each nodded a casual greeting to the young man and woman who had the privilege of operating the Rogue Special Forces’ Chiral exo-suits.

Unlike the Vulcans that had assisted Roun and the others in their battle against Teros, these suits were much less bulky and conformed to not just the pilot’s body-shape but also their proportions. This made it rather easy to differentiate female pilots from males, and even determine slight height differences between individual pilots. In this particular suit the two soldiers each stood just over six-feet tall, with the young man, Justin, noticeably standing a few inches taller than his female partner, Nina. But their smaller size did not mean that the Chirals were to be taken lightly; these exo-suits, which were designed for quick responses to mobile threats rather than the all-out-assault mandate of the less mobile Vulcans, each wielded a detachable energised blade on their backs and zeta blasters on their wrists that made them much better suited to urban combat.

While these smaller exo-suits guarded the narrow side-streets and alleyways that characterised Merricent’s capital, the main streets played host to even more heavily militarised technology, such as the aptly named mobile turrets. These behemoths of high-density polymers and ultra-dense alloys were the successor of contemporary tanks; and while they more closely resembled the exo-suits of the times than the tanks whose role they had taken over on the battlefield, these constructs were much too large to be considered ‘suits’ and were more accurately classified as ‘vehicles’. Standing just over six metres (twenty feet) tall, these humanoid vehicles lacked the speed and dexterity of their smaller cousins. As such, despite having a much more varied effective range than the tanks that they had replaced, their focus was still very much on their offensive and defensive capabilities rather than their overall mobility.

For that reason these massive weapons-platforms stalked the Neo Brighton main-streets, utilising their massive zeta generators to fuel high powered scanning arrays. These arrays were usually the first to detect the odd time-space distortions that tended to herald the arrival of the various haima’sa life forms, allowing these ‘MTs’ to act primarily as battlefield coordinators for the smaller ground units. However, in dire times these mobile turrets also functioned as ‘final solutions’ for the harder to deal with creatures – more and more of which seemed to be showing up since Teros’ appearance just over a month prior.

So far, the deployment of MTs and Exo-suits into the capital had produced the desired effect, suppressing the haima’sa presence within this area to nigh non-existent and as such keeping their existence out of the public eye. But what was once a task handled stealthily by the agents of the Rogue Special Forces was now handled by a much more visible force, so even though they’d so far managed to keep the threat itself out of the eyes of the public, they’d effectively failed to hide the fact that there was indeed a threat. This led to rampant speculation and rumours amongst Merricent’s populace. Tyler and her friends were not exempt from such activities.

“Any word on Roun, Tyler?” Jinn inquired as he had for the last five weeks, expecting the usual shaking of her head that characterised her response.

“Actually, good news.” She smiled in reply, much to his surprise. “I got a call from him this morning.”

“What, seriously?” Jinn gasped. “How is the bastard?” He inquired with excitement, as Elf also leaned in to hear the report.

“Freezing his butt off in Genaisa but otherwise good.” She smiled. “Apparently his dad pulled him out of T.A. and is training him at home for a bit.”

“How come though?” Nicola inquired, quite curious about that particular development.

“I dunno.” Tyler shrugged. “I got the impression that it was ‘family stuff’ that he was sorting out before he could come back.”

“I hope he manages to work whatever it is out.” Nicola chimed in. “I remember him telling me that his dad was against him moving back here with Kairi to finish school in the first place.”

“Yeah, his dad’s always been very protective of them—” Tyler nodded. “—which is pretty weird if you’ve ever met his dad.”

“What do you mean?” Elf inquired.

“His dad just doesn’t strike you as the type, y’know?” She explained. “He’s this really stern, task-master type… not the kind of guy you’dexpect to lose a lot of sleep worrying about his kids over minor stuff.”

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“I know right?” Nicola nodded. “I’d more expect something like that from his mom but she’s super chill about that stuff – she was all for him moving back to Merricent in secondary school.”

“Maybe moving back to Merricent wasn’t minor stuff.” Jinn interjected.

“Here we go again.” Elf rolled her eyes.

“Hey don’t start with me Alphia, I’m just telling you what I heard.” Jinn replied, causing Tyler and Nicola to look on with puzzlement. Jinn leaned in close and caused the others to do the same. “You remember that weird thing we saw, the night before Roun up and vanished?” He inquired, causing the others to nod in return. “I overheard my dad describing something similar to a friend of his the other night, ‘cept he said he heard about this thing back in eighty-four… like fourteen years ago.”

“Okay… so?” Nicola pressed.

“Twenty-three eighty-four was when Roun and his family moved to Genaisa.” Tyler explained. “He and Kairi moved back on their own at the end of eighty-nine.”

“Yep.” Jinn nodded. “I thought it was a bit too much of a coincidence that these things show up the first time and the Itami’s hightail it out of Merricent, then they show up again and Shin sends for his boys… the two can’t not be connected, right?”

“Only problem with your theory is that Kairi’s still here.” Elf retorted, arguing the same point that she’d argued last time Jinn brought up this topic.

“Well he’s a grown man.” Jinn scoffed. “Shin can’t really make him go back to Genaisa now, can he?”

“This is a nice theory and all Jinn, but what’s the connection between the weird bug-monster and the Itami’s specifically?” Nicola inquired.

“That much I don’t know.” He shrugged, causing Tyler to laugh lightly.

“That’s probably because there is no connection.” Tyler finally chimed in. “Shin pulled Roun and Kairi out of school and moved back to Genaisa in eighty-four because Kairi was a trouble maker – he was always getting into fights. Back then Shin and Naomi were flying back and forth between Genaisa and Merricent on business so the boys were spending way too much time unsupervised. The move meant that they could keep an eye on the two of them and keep them out of trouble.” She explained.

“Actually, I’ve heard a couple stories about Kairi during his dark-years.” Elf chimed in. “I was watching one of his fights on the HV and a commentator said that he once took out the side-wall of a school gymnasium with a single attack in a sparring match gone wrong. He was apparently quite the menace.”

Nicola just laughed lightly.

“That’s hard to believe given the Kairi we know now.” She commented.

“Yeah, Kai’s so stiff and serious now – he’s practically Shin Itami Jr.” Tyler added.

“I guess a lot can happen in fourteen years to really change a person.” Elf stated, drawing nods from the other members of the group as they pondered the possible causes for such a change.

As their minds drifted off however, a familiar voice drew their attention towards the door of the small diner, which was sliding open to reveal the light-skinned, blue haired young braver, Daito Paine.

“Hey guys.” He announced as he quickly made his way over to the table, causing Tyler and Nicola to slide around so that he could sit down.

“What took you so long?” Nicola inquired. “I thought your class finished an hour ago.” She pressed.

“Yeah, I was on my way over when they locked down like half the city.” He explained. “They dropped a high level DMZ and had mobile barrier generators and everything. I had to take the long way around.”

“Wow, that’s the second time in as many weeks.” Elf replied. “These things really do seem to be keeping the military busy.”

“Tell me about it.” Tyler scoffed. “Our dad’s been home even less than usual this past month and whenever he does come home he’s always complaining about having to work with the Rogues.”

“He’s with the Merricent military right?” Jinn inquired.

“Yeah, he’s with the Royal Guard.” Tyler replied.

“—who all pretty much hate military channelers.” Nicola added with light laughter.

“Seriously?” Daito inquired with shock. “I thought the Merricent Royal Army and the Rogue Special Forces were allies.” He added.

“Oh they are… politically at least.” Tyler nodded. “Merricent’s had a strategic alliance with the Rogues since the organisation was founded… almost sixty years ago, I think. Kyasho Mirakama and the royal family are on great terms – but the national military and the faction’s troops are like chalk and cheese.”

“How come?” Jinn inquired.

“I think it’s a matter organisational-culture.” Nicole explained. “My dad and all his army buddies are real stiffs and he usually refers to Rogue channelers as ‘undisciplined punks’… so I’m guessing it’s that.”

“Yeah, dad doesn’t consider them to be very professional, or disciplined for that matter.” Tyler added.

“But still he’s happy to let you two join the Rogues?” Jinn’s just looked confused.

“Happy would be over-stating it.” Tyler giggled lightly.

“We’re army brats, no two ways about it.” Nicola chimed in. “So with our abilities, military service is kind of a no-brainer. Unfortunately, regular militaries don’t really know what to do with channelers yet – so faction life is kind of the only way to go.”

“Our dad accepts this, but he’s far from happy with it.” Tyler added. “Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for him, he’s still got a few more years of combat duty before they stick him behind a desk and give him any kind of administrative clout.”

“Yep! After that though, mission one is relooking the way the military treats us ‘metas’.” Nicola rolled her eyes at the derogatory classification.

“If he ever manages that he’ll probably be breathing down our necks to quit the Rogues and join the Royal Guard.” Tyler sighed heavily.

“That’d sure be interesting.” Daito smirked.

“That’d probably suck.” Jinn chimed in. “The army seems like a real drag and I’m sure it doesn’t pay half of what the Rogues shell out at higher ranks.”

“More importantly, I’d be taking orders from my dad at home and at work.” Nicola scoffed loudly. “You might as well just shoot me now!”

Her exclamation caused the entire group to burst into laughter, but soon their revelry was shattered by a deep rumbling which drew the attentions of the group of young channelers towards the demilitarized section of Neo Brighton. The deep rumbling was followed by a tangible shockwave before a rush of zeta only detectable by these unique few.

“What the hell was that?” Nicola’s eyes widened at the surge, expressing what the other members of the group were currently thinking.

“That’s zeta fallout.” Tyler spoke up, being the only one among them adept enough to identify the source of the surge. “Something pretty big just went off – and not too far from here either.”

“Man, what the hell is really going on in Merricent these days…?” Jinn muttered.