A/N: Thanks to Darpsonic6, ChasexJinjaForever, monsuno power, and guest for the reviews!

So so so so sorry that this has taken over a month to update! I've been busy with getting school done, ended up writing myself into a corner with almost all my fics, AND didn't have beta to help since she was busy with her own work (apparently she's on Ao3 now?)

Anyway, pleasant surprises in this chapter, so I hope it was worth the wait. Enjoy!

The room was quiet, except for the ticking clock on the wall. The evening light coming through the curtains was faint, raising the shadows in the room. Dax stood there by the fireplace, staring down at the floor as he heard voices in the other room.

A figure appeared in the doorway. He glanced over to see a woman leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"So. Why'd you wanna come talk to me today?" she asked. Dax looked away back towards the windows.

"Just... Was in the neighborhood," he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets from habit, "It looks like you spruced up the place. At least the last time I was here."

She let out a huff, "Pretty much everything is better then when you were here. Half of the rooms were built in the past few years... But I doubt you came back to talk about renovations."

Dax frowned, staring back to some of the framed pictures. His eyes landed on one with a familiar pair of boys, remembering the day the photo was taken. He turned back around.

"No. I just... What's been going on around here?" he asked, fidgeting from foot to foot, "I heard there were some more improvements that needed to be made-"

"Get to the point Dax. I have things to do, and a bunch of little scrubs to look after," the woman said, strolling over to the couch and sitting down. She crossed her legs, leaning back with her arms still folded. Dax frowned, then let out a chuckle.

"Can't get anything past you can I, Trish?" he sighed, then pulled out an envelope. "I... Was wondering if you heard anything about Eklipse lately. I need to find the leader, and a rumor said a couple of them were in town."

He held the paper out to her. She raised a brow.

"Let me guess. Another 'donation'?" she asked, then waived his hand away, "You don't have to bribe me for help. I'll gladly let you stay here at the orphanage or lend you some information if you need it."

Dax shook his head, still holding it out, "No. It's not that. It's a little something else."

She whipped the envelope from his hand, stuffing it into the pocket of her apron without looking. He figured as much, remembering to write a note along with the money inside.

"As far as Eklipse goes, things have been quiet," Trish said, picking under her nails with a frown, "It's probably because we're now in what's considered the better part of town, but even the scrubs haven't heard anything. I figured I'd at least find one of them with a core. I heard a lot of the fighters moved on though, heading back north."

Dax drummed his fingers against his arms with a hum, "So... No signs of monsuno around here?"

Trish shook her head.

"None that concern you, unless you're part of S.T.O.R.M. again," she said, then narrowed her gaze, "But I doubt that from the look of things. So, what're you planning? You don't come over here unless you're doing undercover work."

He was silent, eyes trailing towards the pictures again. Faintly, he could see a reflection on the glass.

"I'm... Doing a different kind of undercover work."

The clock on the wall started to go off. Trish let out a sigh, and he knew that she was easily able to read through his intentions.

"So that's it, is it?" she said, "Don't you think you're playing this a little too close to the chest aren't you? I mean, it's one thing infiltrating the Forge Resistance, but to try and get into Eklipse is another thing entirely. You're wanted on almost all levels by every group out there."

The lowlander let out a small scoff under his breath. If what Jinja said was true, he wasn't actually wanted by S.T.O.R.M. anymore. But he would rather not go back to them. Not until he brought Klipse back with him.

He walked over to the couch, sitting on the other side from Trish as he scratched the back of his neck.

"I've already searched everywhere that I could on my own. The only way I'll be able to find Klipse is if I go on the inside. There's only so much I can do using everyone else," he said, staring down at his hands, "I need to find him. It's the only way I'll be able to free Spike."

He felt the couch shift next to him, a bandaged hand gripping his own.

"You know, you don't have to do this alone," Tricia said, "I know he's your brother, but there's only so much you can do. Are you sure this Klipse guy is even alive? If you've been searching for years then maybe..."

"It doesn't matter," Dax said, "The only way I can help Spike is if I can bring the true culprit in. And you know who that is."

He paused, fiddling his thumbs together.

Dax knew that Klipse was probably gone. He had asked everyone who was at the battle four years ago whether they had seen the scientist or not. The only ones who saw anything afterwards were a few members of the Strike Squads, but even then they only saw Six.

He thought about trying to track down the clone, but even that trail had gone dry. The last lead he had gotten was nearly two years ago with someone seeing a red monsuno like Demise. Unfortunately, he had gotten there too late, all traces of the other long gone.

Footsteps came running inside, a small girl with ribbons in her hair appearing in the doorway.

"Tricia! I can't find my red shoes!" she exclaimed, "I think the dog took them!"

The woman rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Alright alright. I'll find them for you," she said, "I'm sure they're in your room. You probably just need to clean it."

Dax watched as the girl puffed her cheeks, then marched out of the room. He couldn't help but chuckle, knowing she was probably going to throw a fit. Tricia paused at the doorway.

"Oh and Dax," she said, looking over her shoulder, "Things will be okay. Just have some faith."

She walked out the room, leaving him alone. His expression grew serious in thought. He knew that this was his last resort. No one he turned to was able to help, and that left only one option.

HLP

"Alright," Alpha said, standing in front of the leader of his squad that was at attention, "You have a mission today of the utmost importance. We got word that Chase Suno was spotted in the coastal region-"

He pressed the remote he held, a map appearing behind him on the large briefing screen.

"You and Strike Squad III will travel amongst the Constell isles until you find him, and bring him back. As soon as you locate him, give your location so that the rest of us can follow. Do you understand your task Theta?"

"Sure thing there! We got this in the bag!" the brown-haired teen waved off, excitement evident even in his casual expression. Alpha nodded, a nervous feeling in his gut. He turned to back to the map.

"There are ruins towards the eastern seas, which should be a good place to start," Alpha continued, "I've uploaded the following map to the cloud hopper, so the course is very straight forward. Bren's calibrated the autopilot, so don't mess with any of the controls."

"Wow, might as well just drive the thing for us," the teen snorted. Alpha's eye twitched, and he cleared his throat.

"I'm leaving this important mission to you. You shouldn't treat this lightly," he said, then glanced towards the door, "I have a feeling that our enemies that have been dormant are going to jump on this rumor just as quickly as we are. Which means you'll have to work fast."

He looked back towards the screen. Originally, the commander wanted to send Strike Squad II, but as of late they were busy with the remaining Eklipse members. And his old squad was busy with the Forge Resistance in the west, which only left the newest team.

(And he cringed at that thought)

Alpha turned back to the other, "Do whatever it takes to bring Chase home. Don't get distracted, and keep your teammates in line. You got that?"

"Of course! What do you take me for?" the teen shrugged lazily.

"I'm serious Sebastian. We need this to finally come to a close," The Commander said, pausing for a moment, "Once Chase is back... Things can finally start getting back on track around here."

Alpha tapped his foot. That's what he wanted to believe. But he knew that it would take more then reuniting Team Core Tech to take care of the problems in the world, especially in the matters of monsuno. The least they could do is get Chase and Beyal back into the fight to even the odds.

Sebastian saw his intense expression, then let out a small huff.

"Don't sweat it commander! Me and my crew got this!" he said, puffing his chest up, "We know what to do! And we've got a lot more experience this time! We all will be able to bring Chase back!"

Alpha looked back to the teen, recognizing the enthusiasm from years ago. He let out a sigh, and clapped the strike squad leader on the shoulder.

"Well... Try not to get too caught up in all the action," he said.

Sebastian gave a salute, and turned on his heel to charge out the room. He was already feeling the excitement coming from his monsuno's cores.

"Oh, and Doctor Suno has a package for you," Alpha remembered, "Be sure to pick it up before you head out."

Sebastian paused for a moment, then continued on. Despite the direct order, he went straight towards his quarters to start prepping for the mission. (He could always go to the Suno residence later).

And the packing didn't take very long. Even though Alpha said that they would spend about a week there, Sebastian wasn't about to laze around and take it easy. He was always eager to get the missions done as fast as possible.

(It also helped that there happened to be a festival going on in the region that he was wanting to see)

He threw a few necessities inside, making sure to pack his extra cores, as well as a few of the bio cores that Core Tech made just for good measure. Monsuno fighting was actually pretty easy for him at this point, given how he had only started two years ago. But then again, he did have years to figure out before actually spinning out a core.

As he entered the living space of the flat he shared, Sebastian saw three of his teammates waiting.

"You guys ready?" he asked, glancing around.

"Sure thing boss," the brown-haired, muscular teen said, then paused with a frown, "Wait. I think I need to grab more money for the festival!"

"Yowani. We don't need money for this," the dark-skinned girl sighed, "We're going on a critical mission, not sight seeing."

"I gotta agree with Nadia on that one," Kimi said, griping her own core tightly, "I've been having a lot of strange feelings as of late... And finding Chase Suno is really important. He saved my life once, and I'd like to finally repay the favor."

Yowani rolled their eyes, "Lighten up you two! I doubt the mission will really be that bad. If anything, it's probably just going to be a simple pick up. Now let's get going!"

As soon as they gathered their things and ran out, Sebastian skidded to a halt.

"Hold on!" he shouted, running in the other direction, "Gotta get something from Dr. Suno. I'll see you on deck! Make sure the fuel is actually filled this time."

After a few short turns through the halls, he was at the door to the Suno's flat. He knocked, the door automatically opening. He glanced around, but by the silence guessed everyone was out.

"I guess he's at the lab?" Sebastian questioned, going straight towards the fridge in the kitchen. He popped it open, eagerly taking a soda from the back and chugged half the can down in one go. He visited so often that they kept extras of his favorite snacks around (some of which he wanted for the long ride). He quickly stuffed a few cans into his bag.

As he started helping himself to the cabinet, footsteps came inside from the hallway. He looked up to see it was Sophia. She froze somewhat, but let out a sigh.

"Oh, it's just you," she said. Sebastian gave a wave.

"Hey there Auntie!" he chirped, "Where's Old Man Suno at? Alpha said I need to pick something up from him."

Sophia raised a brow, setting down a vase that she had been carrying, "Well. I imagine that he is in the lab as per usual. Why? Are you going on a mission today?"

"Sure am! Me and Kimi and Nadia and Yowani and my best bud get to finally go out!" Sebastian said, quickly stuffing a few bags of chips inside his duffle before heading for the door again, "Well. I'll see you later!"

"... Good luck!" Sophia called out as he ran. He slid down the stair case as he went down a floor and through a series of halls until he was at the labs. He slowed his pace, remembering the last time he was running through here he ended up causing a commotion (and not the good kind). As he came around the corner, he heard Dr. Suno's voice in one of the rooms.

"Hey~o!" Sebastian exclaimed, bursting through the door. Jeredy turned to him, somewhat surprised but also annoyed at the sight of him.

"Oh... What did you need Sebastian?" the doctor asked, leaning back in his seat as he set down the tools in his hand.

"I'm here to pick up the-woah! Is that a new core?" the teen said, hurrying over to the desk. He scooped up the small metal in his hand, tilting it a few times before shaking it.

"There's no monsuno in here. Are you just repairing cores? Are you just a repair man now? Sounds boring. You must not be very important around here anymore."

Jeredy let out a sigh, plucking the core form the other.

"What was in here, is none of your business," he said, "And my work is important. You're squad members have monsuno don't they?"

"Everyone but my best bud and Yowani, " Sebastian frowned, crossing his arms. Jeredy cringed for a moment, then scratched the back of his neck.

"... I've been a bit busy lately. You should know that Yowa- I mean- Tau just got a monsuno last week. And I need to repair the cores from the west base before issuing out anymore monsuno," Jeredy explained. Sebastian rolled his eyes, figuring the old man was just being lazy.

"Well. Either way," he continued, and strode over to the door and pivoted on one foot, pointing at the doctor, "Where's this package that you have for us? Alpha said you had it for the mission."

Jeredy blinked, his eyes getting a sullen look for a moment. He shook his head and stood up. He walked to the other side of the room where a few containers were, some of which were glowing blue. After looking for a minute, the doctor brought out a small metal case. He held it out for Sebastian to take.

"Here. You'll know when to open it," he said.

"Really? What's in it?" Sebastian asked, taking it in his hands and started pressing the buttons. Jeredy whipped the case out of his hands as soon as it started beeping.

"Hey! I didn't say open it immediately!" he said, frantically disengaging the security on it. What ever was inside must've been important for a lock system like that to be on it. Jeredy sighed when he got it back in control.

"It's necessary. That's all you need to know," Jeredy said, then slowly handed it back, "Which means: no pushing the buttons. I left the code with Delta."

Sebastian rolled his eyes, and tucked the case under his arm. Of course they would give the code to Kimi instead, "Sure. Sure. Whatever you say doc."

"Good. In that case," Jeredy said, then pulled out another case, this one much larger, "Here are the parts that Zeta might need. She'll know what they're for."

The brown-haired teen raised a brow, but took the case. Whatever was inside was massive, nearly dragging it on the floor as he gripped the top handle.

"Uh... Do you need help with that?" Jeredy asked.

"N-No! I got it!" Sebastian huffed out, placing the other case atop the larger and tugging as he grunted through the door. Jeredy watched in amusement, shaking his head as he turned back to his work.

It took him awhile, but eventually Sebastian got back to the deck with the cases in tow. Kimi and Yowani were both waiting outside the cloud hopper.

"Oh! There you are!" Kimi said, then raised a brow as Sebastian let out a huff, "... What is this?"

"Something... For Nadia," Sebastian panted out, "Old Man Suno didn't tell me what they are. Probably weird engineer stuff."

The other two exchanged looks, then shrugged. Yowani picked up the case and easily heaved it into the ship. Sebastian pouted when Kimi let out a small giggle.

"Well anyway. Everyone's on board," she said, then ran up the ramp, "C'mon! We got a mission to do!"

Sebastian quickly shook his head, then gave a nod. He ran after her, pushing the button for the door as he trailed into the main room. He could hear Nadia's voice speaking, then saw her sitting next to their fifth teammate. The dark-skinned girl held a small torch that tossed sparks as it welded the metal on the other teen's wrist.

"-and then Yowani finally got a monsuno. Haven't spun it out yet though, so that'll be interesting to see... And, there," Nadia said, lifting the goggles away from her eyes. The other teen flexed his steel, right hand a few times before turning his wrist. Nadia let out a hum with a sly look.

"But then again, last time Yowani had a monsuno, the entire training bay went up into flames and they had their monsuno confiscated-"

"Here ya go!" Yowani shouted, dropping the case down in front of the two. The girl jumped, then glared.

"Wow. Thanks for giving me a heads up," Nadia snapped, then looked at the top, "Oh. These must be the extra parts from Dr. Suno. I doubt we'll need them, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared I guess, considering I already had to do repairs."

Sebastian shrugged with a sigh, "Honestly though. Old Man Suno's been dropping the ball lately. He was just doing repairs to some cores when I saw him! Adults can't do anything. He doesn't even have a monsuno for Exi yet."

Kimi raised a brow, then looked to their other teammate. He let out a scoff, looking away.

"... I don't need a monsuno. You should know that," the raven-haired teen retorted, rubbing the back of his left hand.

Sebastian frowned as he crossed his arms in thought. He felt his own monsuno's core vibrating at his frustration, but ignored it.

A low rumbling noise got the group's attention. They all turned to Yowani, who started to blush.

"Wh-what? I'm hungry!" the teen sighed, "Are we going to go yet? I'm starving!"

"Why don't you just eat while we're here at the cloud carrier?" Kimi asked, going to her seat and turning on the controls. She put on her headset, adjusting it for a second, "We can wait a few minutes for you to run inside and get something."

"Nah. You wouldn't get it. Besides, island food is the best this time of year!" Yowani said, following suit as the rest of them went to their spots, "All that seafood! And the sweetest of fruits are in season! Can't wait to have some fresh pickled guava! Oh! And pineapple pizza!"

Nadia wrinkled her nose, "Except pineapple pizza is disgusting!"

"No it's not!" Yowani growled, fists clenched tight, "You can't count the pizza they make here because they do it wrong! If it's made right, then it's fantastic!"

"You mean like when you did the last time we tried cooking pizza in the flat, and nearly obliterated the oven?" Nadia giggled behind her hand, "I thought we all agreed that Kimi would do the cooking after that. She's waaay better at making food anyway, especially chicken biryani-"

Sebastian ignored the banter, looking over the controls in front of him. After pressing a few buttons the engines hummed to life. His teammates immediately quieted down as they looked at the statuses.

"Energy at 100%." Exi said.

"Defense systems fully functional," Nadia confirmed.

"Weapons system charged," Yowani grumbled, scratching their stomach. Sebastian reached into his bag and threw a bag of crackers back. The other teen's eyes brightened at the sight, immediately tearing into it with a big grin.

"Cloud Hopper 7 ready for take off," Kimi said into her headset. One of the soldiers on the deck started to signal them. Sebastian grabbed the handles, slowly easing the ship off the platform. During his first few attempts of driving the cloud hoppers, it almost always ended with something getting destroyed. Luckily that was years ago, and he could steer one without even needing the crew to help.

"Cloud hopper 7, you're cleared for take off."

"Alright!" Sebastian said, then jerked the throttle. The ship took off, soaring upward before taking a sharp dive towards the clouds below, "Constell Islands, here we come!"

HLP

The cloud hopper disappear into the clouds, metal flashing briefly in the sunlight as it faded into the distance. Alpha stood there watching, arms crossed behind him as he stared out into the open. He really hoped that he wasn't making a mistake with trusting this mission to them. But what else could he do? If he waited any longer, then that would leave too much opportunity for their enemies to attack.

'... We need Chase back,' he thought, 'However, we can't afford any more mess ups with them..."

The images of flames in the night flashed in his vision briefly.

"Alpha!"

He turned around, seeing one of the soldiers running to him. They made a quick salute before coming to a full stop.

"We just got word from the base in the Aricé region!" they said, "Lieutenant Diellza says there was an attack."

Alpha let out a small gasp, then steeled his expression, "What happened? Who was it?"

"We don't know. But Lieutenant Diellza is on the communication line right now!" the soldier said, the two of them running down the hall, "Lieutenant Jinja is speaking to her now. An official report is being sent over with security footage."

The commander nodded, and focused on following the soldier. Within five minutes, they rushed into the room, two other soldiers inside with Jinja. The lieutenant was leaning over the keyboard, a serious expression on her face.

"-and how many were there?" she asked, glancing over to Alpha briefly before looking back to the screen. Alpha walked up, and saw Diellza speaking.

"There was only the one," she said, ignoring Alpha's entrance, "She said she was Charlemagne's sister-"

Diellza looked briefly at Alpha before focusing on Jinja.

"She must've used that to sneak past the guards. From what security stated, that seems to be the case..."

"Sneaking through? That's not easy for someone to do at your base," Alpha remarked, "Or did you decide to drop the ball today?"

Diellza stared down uncharacteristically. Alpha raised a brow when she didn't respond.

"... Lieutenant. Did something happen?"

The woman continued to look down at the floor, then shook her head.

"No. Nothing at all," she said, "The rest of the report is with Lieutenant Jinja. I'll send an update in a few hours."

The screen clicked off. Alpha raised a brow, and heard Jinja let out a sigh.

"Did I just miss something? What happened?" he asked her. Jinja sat down on one of the nearby chairs, leaning her chin on her palm.

"Someone was in the Aricé base," she explained, "As you know, they're not sure who it was, and are going to send over the footage from the base. Nothing was stolen. But, well, there was a lot of damage."

"How much?"

"The entire cell block was destroyed. They managed to apprehend most of the inmates who escaped," Jinja said, gaze lowered, "But... There were a few people that were injured."

Alpha raised a brow at the gravity in Jinja's voice. She made a motion to the guards to leave. They followed without hesitation.

"What was it? A monsuno fight? An explosive of some sort? How many soldiers were injured," Alpha asked. Jinja shook her head.

"Neither, to their knowledge," she said, then looked up with bright eyes, "And there was only one injured... The Strike Squad II leader."

Silence echoed through the room. A part of Alpha actually wished that the guards had stayed, feeling his breath catch in his throat and unable to hide his fear under the guise of leadership. Especially with how concerned Jinja looked as she stared back down at the floor. Eventually, Alpha found his breath again.

"... Is there any word of... What happened?" Alpha finally asked.

'Well. The last update that Diellza got was that he was stabilizing," Jinja sighed, "The medical specialist Rose happened to be on one of the ships that was scheduled to arrive, so she was able to make an antidote."

Alpha nodded, blinking a few times as he tried to get the ringing in his ears to stop. Even though he and Lieutenant Diellza didn't see eye to eye, Alpha felt an unfound respect towards the younger Strike Squad leader. Lux was very much his successor, and was like a mirror of what Alpha assumed he would be like if it weren't for the harsh training Charlemagne put him and his squad through...

The thought of the old commandant suddenly made Alpha freeze.

"Wait. You said the whole cell block was destroyed," he said, "Does that mean Charlemagne escaped?"

Jinja shook her head slowly, her expression suddenly growing more somber. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't bring herself to do so. Instead, she handed a paper to the Commander.

Silently, Alpha's eyes trailed down the report, quickly skimming over the lines until he reached the part that made Jinja silent. He inhaled sharply, hands clenching into the paper in shock.

Jinja stood up from her seat, walking past him towards the door.

"... I'll go to the base," she said, "I can be there by this afternoon. I'm sure there's something that I can do for-"

"Hold on," Alpha said, taking her shoulder with one hand and shoving the paper into his pocket with the other, "You need to stay here in case we hear something about Chase. When- If Strike Squad III needs help, you and Bren are the ones who will need to be there. I'll go help out at the Aricé base."

He looked up to her, gaze hardened. He had a feeling that this was no coincidence that they got a lead about Chase and one of the bases were attacked in the same week. Jinja must've been able to tell what he was thinking, and let out a sigh.

"Alright then," she said, crossing her arms in thought, "Just... Be careful. I'll keep you updated on Lux's status."

"Make sure that Tango and Kilo go meet up with the others," Alpha said, his hand clenching around Tripwire's core, "And... Make sure the news about Charlemagne stays between us."

She nodded grimly, turning back to the screen. Alpha strode out of the room, fists clenched tightly.

Whoever this new enemy was, they were serious. And whatever they were after spelt out disaster for the rest of them. Especially if it had to do with Chase.

A/N: Review Review Review!