As the adrenaline of combat fades, the pilots turn their attention back to the disabled Mech in the middle of the crash site—Icarus. It has become even more damaged and disfigured in the crossfire.

Kora lowers Templar to a kneeling position and pops the cockpit with a pressurized hiss. She hops down, stumbling a bit on the landing. She has her combat medic kit on hand and races forward.

“Be careful!” Chase says, worrying about unexploded ordinance and spotting flaming bits of debris all around.

Kora skids to a halt in the muddy soil, standing before the Mech’s massive torso and cockpit pressed against the ground. She looks for a way of opening the cockpit.

Not to be outdone, Reo and Chase disembark their Mechs and hurry to her side. Hanami stays in Ranger, recalling her drone but continuing to sweep the island for any hostile signs through her long-range scope.

“Could be hot,” Reo says, gesturing to the crashed heap of metal. He taps it with the back of his half-finger gloved hand. “Nah, it’s cool. Been like this awhile. Core still hummin’ though.”

“How do we…?” Kora muses, looking for a way to manually open the cockpit from the outside.

“It’s already cracked,” Chase says, pointing. Sure enough, the cockpit is not fully sealed, but only appears closed due to the awkward angle of the Mech.

Reo pulls on the pilot hatch, but it doesn’t budge. He climbs up on the side of the Mech’s torso and jams his oversized wrench in the opening, prying with all his might. Soon enough—pop!

“Lucky wrench to the rescue!”

The cockpit yawns open, the pilot seat hanging nearly upside down. Several lights still faintly glow on the consoles, but much is damaged. About half of the cockpit windows are completely smashed.

The pilot is nowhere to be seen.

“He’s not here!” Kora gasps, stepping back from the wreckage.

Satisfied that the external threat is over, Hanami disengages and clambers down from Ranger.

“We still have not contacted headquarters,” she observes.

“Right,” Chase realizes. “Reo, about that encrypted message… Reo?”

Reo is lost in thought, walking the length of the wreckage and carefully examining the charred body of the Mech. He runs his hand along the metal body admiringly.

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“Hey, Reo!” Kora shouts.

He turns around, apologetic.

“Sorry. Just… the thrusters on this thing. They look way different than ours. Advanced.”

“Jealous?” Chase asks.

“Just a waste of a gorgeous piece of machinery,” Reo says, shaking his head sadly.

“You can write a poem about it later, ay?” Kora says. “We still have a missing pilot to find.”

“Right,” he says, walking back to Bombardier. “We should check if they can install some better Comms equipment when we get back.”

Meanwhile, Chase, Hanami, and Kora look up into the empty cockpit for any clues. Apart from the damage, there is little to go on. But then, Hanami perceives something unusual. Chase notices it soon after.

“You see that?” Chase says, pointing to a spot on the interior wall of the cockpit.

“Yes...” Hanami says.

Scratched into the wall are two symbols.

“Are those... hieroglyphic snakes?” Chase asks.

Hanami shakes her head.

“You are looking at it upside down. It is the number 22.”

“Oh.”

“22?” Kora says. “What does that mean?”

Hanami is silent. Chase shrugs his shoulders. They keep searching but find nothing else. Eventually Reo rejoins the group.

“My Comms system was damaged in the fight,” Reo explains. “I can try to repair it, but it’ll take time. Or I can try to send an encrypted message through one of yours. Any info on Reggie?”

They fill Reo in on the strange numbers. Reo doesn’t have an answer for it either.

“Are we assuming whoever was controlling those vehicles took him hostage?” Kora asks.

“Hanami, you said these were disputed islands, right?” says Chase. “So maybe Red Star or Neo Yamato would want to disguise any military actions here? But if the pilot is in custody of an allied nation... I mean, we should have heard.”

Hanami says nothing, staring off into the middle distance.

“Hanami?” Chase prompts. “Anything to add? Earth to Hanami.”

Hanami shakes off her daze but does not look at Chase as she speaks.

“These are the facts so far: Icarus was damaged and made a crash landing on this island. The pilot, Reginald Cook, is missing. The Mech was left here, either on purpose or because somebody did not have the expertise or the time to move or dismantle it. We were attacked upon arrival by an unknown force with military-grade weapons. Either a trap was laid, or our arrival interrupted a salvage operation underway. However, as we have not found any personnel or machines capable of salvage, we should logically conclude that Icarus was left as bait by an unknown enemy.”

“It has to be Red Star!” Chase sputters. “Which means the existence of Mechs isn’t so secret anymore!”

“Red Star is a likely option, but we do not know for sure...” Hanami adds quietly. “We do not have enough information to make a definitive conclusion about our adversaries or their motives.”

Reo gestures to the cockpit of Icarus with his wrench.

“The power’s still on. If the mainframe is intact, it would have records of Icarus’s last flight, destination, and all that.”

A glint appears in Chase’s eye.

“And if we can interface with Mech mainframes using the Neural Net, we should be able to access it!”

Chase climbs up the side of the Mech and swings into the open cockpit, propping himself up in the pilot’s seat. He pulls up his Neural Net hood and nuzzles the back of his head into the circular headrest.

“I’m going to access the mainframe!”

Hanami realizes what he is attempting and calls out, “No. Stop!”

Chase’s eyes roll back in his head as the sputtering systems of Icarus scan his brainwaves. A burst of sparks shimmer from behind the pilot’s seat.

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” Chase screams in pain.