It should have been him.

The memories ate away at his mind: the gate, the Legions, Akira and Yuri surrounded and him lying there so pathetic, so useless, blood seeping from the gash across his torso as he watched the monsters close in.

It should have been him.

Captain Max Howard stared at the ceiling of Neuron's medical bay. His remaining eye was glassy and vacant, like a doll that had been left to rot. Every time he blinked he saw their faces; the faces of his children. No amount of physical pain compared to the relentless agony that rained down upon his inner self with the force of a thousand storms. The word echoed through his mind: failure, failure, failure.

A flash of blue in the corner of his eye told him Brenda was taking her seat. "I see you're awake, captain."

Max did not answer. He did not move. Only distantly did he hear her continue; "You fell unconscious after returning from the gate and have been out for about a week now. You took a bad hit, but your wound has healed quickly. You should be able to go back into the field; just try not to strain it too much. I've been told to inform you there's new armour waiting for you in your locker along with your other things. Also, the commander requested your presence as soon as possible."

His silence stretched on. It might have been a minute before Brenda spoke again, or it might have been an hour; "Max, I know you've been through a lot, but try to keep moving forward, okay?"

Now Max turned his head to her, and she flinched as though struck, her usual cool demeanour shattering under the intensity of his gaze. "Shit, I'm sorry; I worded that badly. I didn't mean – I didn't mean just like that, I know it won't be easy, but..."

Max rose. He moved so slowly, so wearily, one would be forgiven for thinking his muscles were made of lead. The scar across his torso ached as he dragged himself out of the medical bay and towards the lockers without another word to the stuttering doctor. The world around him barely seemed there. Everything was covered in a thick haze and the people he passed were faceless. They might have spoken to him, but he could not hear if they did.

At the lockers, he reached for his Legatus – and hesitated. The cube within it twisted and pulsed. He remembered the moment when it had broken free. He remembered his Gladius clashing with the Legion's chest at the same time its blade broke his armour and bit into the flesh beneath. He remembered throwing its collar in a desperate attempt to recapture it as they both fell back, and succeeding.

Had he succeeded, though, really?

Somehow Max made it to the command room. Commander Yoseph Calvert was not at his desk. Max glanced around, briefly meeting the gaze of Olive, who flashed him a faint smile he did not return. She opened her mouth as though about to offer an explanation when a new window opened on the central screen.

"Ah, Captain Howard," said Yoseph, who appeared to be in the back of a car. "It's good to see you on your feet again."

"Cut the crap, Yoseph. Just tell me what you want."

Max's words came as abruptly and harshly as the cracks of a whip. His voice had a raspy edge to it from going unused. Yoseph's face remained as stone. "I understand you have suffered a great loss, Howard, so I will let this outburst slide, but I remind you that I am still your commander and you will address me as such."

Max bared his teeth in a silent snarl. Anger built up within him, white and hot, his hands flexing instinctively. Yoseph continued, seemingly oblivious to the emotions before him; "I won't lie to you; the situation is grim. We've lost four Legions and two of our most promising officers. This is a blow none of us could have anticipated. To make matters worse, while your squad was on the other side the Aegis Research Institute came under attack."

"From who?"

"I'm getting to that. The Legion production facilities were hit the hardest; it'll be months before they're operational again. You understand where this is going, don't you? Your Legion is the only one we have left. The pain you must be going through is immeasurable, I know, but mankind needs you, captain. Every single one of us."

Max's fist slammed down on the desk with such wrath the various papers went flying. Olive gasped, but no one could have held back the rage boiling over from inside him. "You don't know shit about how I feel! If it weren't for you – if you had talked to me before you dragged them into this – they'd still be alive!"

Every millimetre of Max's body roared with the need to take the commander apart piece by piece. Yoseph had no idea how fortunate he was that he was not actually present.

The commander did not even blink. The most he did was push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Much has happened in the time you were unconscious, captain. We recently dispatched officers Lopez and Wong to Maison Forest in Zone 37. There were reports of several missing people in the area, but without their Legions to assist them they turned up nothing. The damage the chimeras did to the area was considerable."

Images popped up as he spoke of an area Max knew well. Maison Forest. He had walked those burning streets more times than he could count. Talked to the people who lived in those crumbled buildings. The pit inside him grew the longer he looked, but he could not pull his eye away. He suddenly felt cold.

The cats...

"This cannot continue. The chimeras are not going to let us rest; their attacks are only going to worsen unless we fight back, and as it stands you are our only means of doing so."

Max lowered his head. "Just tell me what I have to do."

"Very well. For this, however, we will need to assemble the other officers."

Max did not raise his head again until all of Neuron's field officers had entered the room. He saw Alicia and Jin immediately. He looked away.

"As I trust you are all aware, the Aegis Research Facility came under recent attack. From the security footage provided by the bureau of information, we have been able to identify the suspect. It's her – Jena Anderson."

The footage in question played as he spoke, displaying a woman striding through the sterile corridors of the ARI. She was obviously a scientist by her attire; a scientist who must have been dragged through a hedge backwards and then dumped in the middle of a warzone, she was so filthy and ragged. Another image appeared, one of a woman matching the one in the footage, albeit before she went through whatever had left her in her current state. She had been pretty, once. Despite the apathy that now filled him, Max found himself wondering what had happened to her.

"Anderson was one of my brightest stars at the ARI – that was, until she vanished some twenty years ago. She assisted me from the earliest stages of my Legion research. Seeing her like this is difficult."

"The investigators shared this information because they think we'll be interested in this next part," Olive added. She went on to explain the suspect had stolen several Legion cores for reasons unknown.

"I've dealt with enough shit from Legion cores for one lifetime," Max grumbled, quickly pushing all thoughts of them from his mind.

"The suspect was reported seen in Harmony Square," continued Olive. "That's where you're headed."

"Neuron, move out!" Yoseph said.

Max saluted alongside the other officers. "Roger."

He tried to leave fast, but a hand fell upon his shoulder and he heard Jin's voice:

"Hey, Max –"

Max shrugged him off so aggressively he stumbled. The glare he shot him could have made even the wildest of chimeras tremble. "Out of the way, Jin."

Jin had the decency to look guilty. Max hoped he understood why. Alicia tried to say something, then, but he was already gone. As Max reached Neuron's garage, he felt the tears building behind his eye, and it took everything he had to hold them in.

How could he save the world, when he could not even save the ones he loved most?