The day went on in the ravaged land of New York. The Chimera kept going with their strikes, but so did the crew.

Tagging along with Hunter had it's benefits, the man knew the streets perfectly as if he had a map in his mind and he also knew how to avoid detection. The shady alleyways where one could vanish from sight, the sewer system and where it led, the safest lairs and buildings in the area as well as the transport routes that the chimera used for their weapons and soldiers, he knew all that.

He had his means to contact the army and provide them enough fire power and intel to make a profit if the price was right. After all, when you are good at something it's better to not do it for free. In a way he was happy with his job since he got paid every now and then to do things he loved despite the war and it's consequences.

Now was probably not a good season for him though, because ever since the Chimera went through some serious upgrades and replenished their stock thanks to an unknown party, his success had decreased considerably. The military and all resistance were getting whooped left and right when they finally came close to picking apart the Chimera by their roots. The alien forces had acquired some fine hardware that Hunter didn't mind admitting, would make fine additions to his collection if he could just get close enough to get a hand on it.

But given the current ordeal, Hunter wound up with only one solution for these issues: come out of hiding and start fighting.

Then like a pure miracle, like some sort of gift from a Providence, he met with a bunch of people, rare and special people that were ready and armed to the teeth for the war against the invaders. A band of brothers and warriors that woud solve all of his problems if he solved theirs. And being the businessman he was, that sounded like a fair trade.

So, after helping them fend off some chimeras and giving them a helping hand, Hunter and the crew banded together. Now he was guiding them through the mean streets plagued by the Chimera in what seemed like a messed up tour and to their own credit, they were doing just fine.

A loud and nasty scream came from a wounded chimera soldier as it was disarmed and his body smashed on top of a car by Pyramid Head. The fiend tried to break free desperately but Pyramid Head no sold the attempts. He raised the Great Knife with his right arm and in a strong swing, he brought it down on the enemy, cleaving it and the car in half. It was an instant kill.

Another chimera jumped from it's cover with a weapon at hand but as soon as it did, it was greeted with a bullet to the face, shot by Radec.

So far the crew's walk had been simple as that, following Hunter's lead, minding their own business, dispatching any foe on their as soon as they popped up and talking just a little on the way.

"What's with these spooks that they just keep showing their mugs every minute?" Daxter asked as he grew weary of the gritty atmosphere and sneaky fiends showing up every now and then.

"You know how it is, Dax, it ain't home if there ain't a bunch of ugly suckers firing at you and getting fired back." Jak said to Daxter to calm him down. "Upside is, more ass to kick."

"I'd like to share your enthusiasm, naughty dog." Nate said with a smile as he walked and made a few pauses every now and then to loot the enemies down.

"Yeah, that's the spirit. You guys will feel right at home when you make it to the battlefront. If we make it that far, that is." Hunter told Jak and the others as they marched.

Through the length of the team's walk, some of them spent the time interacting, trying to start conversations to keep their minds busy.

Dante approached Nariko in her lonely strut.

"Listen, I was thinking that I'd need to get some extra practice if I want to beat my brother next time. Now, I'm usually prideful about this sorta thing but with how things are, if you'd like to help me train a bit, that would be really cool. Sorry if I suck at words but you're one of the few women I know, so yeah, there's that." He cleverly discussed, careful with his choice of words to avoid upsetting the warrior girl in any way.

"Your courting ritual is very strange, demon." Nariko noted. That statement made Dante roll his eyes.

"I wouldn't call it that, lady. It's more of an open invitation to kill time and gaining some strength from it." Dante tried to explain. Nariko gave it some thought.

"Tell me, do you find joy in killing? The act of taking a life, does it fulfill you?" Nariko inquired, eyeing Dante with newfound interest.

"Not in the kills themselves, precisely. Well, maybe if it's some ghouls and freaks who actually deserve it, my world and yours are better off without them. But what I've got a knack for, what excites my blood and bones and makes my day is the feel I get when I'm hacking and slashing a horde. Wether it's swords or guns that I'm using, it just get me off everytime. Nothing beats killing the freak who took your parents away and cutting his legacy of heathens."

Nariko smiled a little at Dante's bold declaration.

"I think I might relate to that." She then drew her blade and showed it to Dante from up close. "Do you see my sword?"

"Yeah, it looks fancy. What about it?"

"The thing about it is the polarizing nature of it, the irony. This tool of destruction is aimed to anihilate the enemies in my path, to defend my loved ones and everybody who stands by my side. It is magical, with powers infused by the gods down to it's core. Using it in battle has kept me alive for the longest time. Yet it is also meant to drain my life away, until I am depleted. Battle after battle, I went through knowing how high the price was, what it meant to wield it and be worthy."

"And so?"

"I realized a greater purpose was there. My life is a small price to pay for the well being of those I care about, if you ask me. So I gathered up my courage and fought until that day came."

"And that's how you died and wound up here, right?" Dante asked with attention. Nariko nodded calmly. Dante rubbed the back of his head deep in thought at what he heard.

"Well, I'll be damned. You really are something else. And here I was going to ask if I could borrow the damn thing." Nariko shook her head at the words.

"I don't wish the painful burden of the heavenly sword to befall on any of these people. Not even you." Nariko stated in a grimm manner.

"Huh, well, thanks, I guess. Think it will still kill you when this is all over?" Dante asked with concern. Nariko shook it off.

"If this is all over at some point, that is. My vitality hasn't slipped away so far but we will have to wait and see. If death comes to me, I will greet it like an old friend, with no fear nor regrets." Nariko valiantly stated. Dante whistled for a bit from how bold her statement was.

"That's admirable. Too bad I don't have your attitude for this stuff. I value my life and I'd rather keep it, you know? I have some unfinished business to live for." Dante said, thinking of all the demons that still plagued his world and had to be put down for good, and of course, Vergil, who from the looks of it got the sweetest part of the interdimensional deal that they faced now.

"As in your sibling rivalry?" Nariko guessed, and she did it right. Dante smirked.

"That's right, you get me."

"And I pity you. I had a sister, one of my reasons to live and her safety was my goal. She meant the world to me. I cannot fathom the pain that it would be to have your own blood turn against you."

"Now that... that's just an awful feeling. See, Vergil and I weren't always like that, it used to be different, used to be good. No matter how hard things got, we stayed together, we fought together. I thought he was some bloody hero but then things went to hell. Had to choose between him and mankind and guess what I chose? I felt a bit lonely after it, sure. But I got used to it." Dante said as he relived the experience.

"And now he is back to haunt you. What an experience. You know, for a demon, I think I'm feeling a lighter half of you." Nariko commented.

Dante half jokingly chuckled at her comment.

"Lady, that's because you only know one half of the story. Our father was a demon, Sparda. Our mother on the other hand, quite the opposite, she was an angel, named Eve. You do know what an angel is, right? The winged agents of God and all that fluff?"

"I can work up an idea. What you mean to tell me is that you have a dark side, yet also a light one, correct?"

Dante nodded with a squint.

"Yeah, some things you just don't mix. Look at me, I'm the living proof of that."

"From what you tell me, I wouldn't say you came out that bad."

"How reassuring."

At some point, a warning from Hunter made the crew slow their pace to perceive something. Sounds not too distant that his enhanced senses managed to catch. He then quickly signaled for everyone to hide in an alleyway behind some trash with him. They relunctantly agreed and rushed for cover.

Hidden in the dark, they could make out the figures of an advancing troop of the Chimera not too far away. This one seemed more organized than the previous ones that simply drifted away from their ranks.

"Why are we waiting here? Why don't we just take the fight to them like all others?" Nariko questioned, her sword ready to bath in blood of the heathens.

"And warn their friends up ahead? Be patient." Radec countered, thoughtfully studying the enemies and scanning everything from their equipment and armor to their vehicles. These guys were better packed. "Coon, what do you see?"

Sly paid no mind to the nickname and using his binoccucom, he set his sights on the marching horde of creatures.

"These guys must be frequenting the same jewelry as the fiends we left behind in the other worlds, because they're looking shiny. They've got the big guns." Sly observed as Hunter, Ratchet, Jak and Daxter joined at his side to have a look with their own binnoculars too.

"Definitely seeing a strong pattern here." Ratched commented upon observation.

"What do you mean?" Hunter asked, unaware of what the new purple weaponry and armor on the chimera could mean.

"Means that your pest has a supplier, which is our pest, which means that for the sake of public health, their extermination is a double utmost priority."

"Believe the guy, he's a space nazi." Nate joked a bit earning a subtle glare from Radec but only a mildly confused look from Hunter.

"What the hell is a nazi?" Hunter asked. While most of the team didn't know either, those who did looked at him with shared confusion.

"Sorry that I forgot, but what year did you say this was on earth?" Cole politely asked.

"I don't keep a calendary, but I assure you we haven't hit the 20's yet."

Now that explained everything for Nate, Cole, Dante, Raiden. Couldn't have World War 2 if the whole world had a common enemy from outer space. Didn't know if they should envy Hunter or pity him. A sudden explosion and the echo of a few shots fired by the chimera about a block away answered that for them. It was pity, they should pity him.

After a while, the path became clear and the team's march became possible once again. Hunter led them through routes that allowed them to get to their destination without any further inconveniences from the chimera.

Hunter eventually sighted his command post in the distance and rushed to it excitedly now that they were out of the harm's way.

"This way, folks." The crew followed right behind and they caught sight of the same thing as Hunter, leading to various different reactions in result.

"You have a beautiful home, Hunter." Ratchet tried to cheer up as he looked at the old and damaged warehouse on the end of the street. It's doors and windows were covered only with wooden boards and even then, the bricks in many spots had been eaten away to the point where they left holes here and there, leaving it exposed.

As if on cue, a couple of bricks fell off.

"Bloody inspiring." Radec added with no doubt.

"You wouldn't keep rats out with that thing, let alone the freaks on our tails." Daxter criticized, grabbing his own tail as if to prove his point.

"I said I had a command post, not a five star hotel. And don't judge a book by it's cover, alright? The things in there are nothing short of treasures, unless they prove too measly for your fancy high standards. We've got to make the most of it, you know." Hunter let out for the crew. This got them to roll with it.

"I have slept on the hottest sands of deserts, in the midst of a cruel wind that would rip the flesh of a mortal's bones. I have gained rest sky high in the coldest of mountains where the ice cold cutting through skin like a thousand little knives. I have been from a volcano to the depths of the Underworld where it burns like the sun itself. So I suggest you to show gratitude and settle for what we are being given, for one." Kratos lectured with wisdom flowing through him like a river. He was usually more tense and less expressive, but the circumstances were currently too favorable to complain at all.

Jak nodded in agreement.

"Alright, it's better than nothing." He commented on the subject.

"And there's nothing better around." Cole pointed out. Radec rolled with it.

"It will have to suffice." Radec went on to say.

"That it will. Now hurry your asses in, we're no good out here." Hunter commanded as he headed inside.

The view inside wasn't much better than the one outside. The place screamed barren, it was a mess of things. It was dusty in many spots, but it didn't lack in space. There was only a little light that came in the form of rays. Little rays of sunshine from the outside. Hunter was careful to remain unseen.

"Please get comfortable, make yourselves at home. Careful with my stuff." Hunter instructed.

As everyone walked and looked around, they felt the wooden floor croak beneath their feet. It became increasingly evident when Pyramid Head dragged his Great Knife across, much to Hunter's distaste.

"Got something down below?" Ratchet asked with concern. The floor didn't seem stable enough to handle their combined weight.

"I keep some of my stuff there, yeah. Now, the lights are out, there's no energy but I should be able to get this show running if I can fix that power box over there." Hunter spoke as he grabbed some of his tools but Ratchet gestured for him to stay at ease.

"Easy, let me handle that. I'm a mechanic." He told Hunter.

He complied and watched as Ratchet moved over to the box and it's switch, running a quick check on his mind of what could be wrong. His omni wrench wasn't suited for the job so he put it aside and started to re-wire the system with his own hands and Clank's instruction.

Shortly enough after, the only step left was the power source, it seemed like the fuses had been burned. Ratchet called out to Cole for his aid on that.

"It's good as new, all we're missing is a nice kick for the energy, would you do us the honors?" That said, Ratchet eyed how Cole put a hand on the switch and sent a burst of electricity through it, bringing the lights back for good, much to the team's delight.

"Nice." Hunter mused to himself. "Now if you excuse me, I have a call to make."

With that out of the way, Hunter went to a dark corner of the building where there laid a huge table, to do his part. A huge white blanket covered the equipment lying on the table and Hunter quickly pulled it off to unveil his radio equipment. It was huge and extense, also battered with an aged look, as if Hunter had to scavenge and put things together desperately to get it done, which seemed to be the case. He plugged it in and worked up a few kinks to get it running.

"Took me the longest time to build this baby but it was worth it." Hunter commented as he sat down and tried to contact the military.

"So who are you calling?" Ratchet asked.

"The cavalry. The moment we intercept the next convoy they're going to have a rare opportunity to advance and kill the mutts and I wouldn't like for them to waste it, wouldn't be good for business. Plus, I imagine that the army would pay me most handsomely for giving them an edge in the war with the transport routes and all. A man's got to make a living."

"Think it will make a difference?" Dante countered, a bit critical of the approach. "If they're as damned as you say, maybe we should do this ourselves and get done with it."

"So you suddenly became a one man army, huh? Listen, we can't just rush things, there would be an entire army waiting up for us if we did, and while I don't know about you, in my plans it didn't figure to go into a kill zone and get mowed down just for the glory." Hunter responded, not fond of the idea of becoming some cannon fodder.

"You've got to take a risk to take a win, you know?" Dante insisted. Kratos joined the talk too.

"The way I see it, all the power is in our end. Take us to the battle front and we will end this war for you."

"And end my business just like that? Do the calc. Don't get me wrong, I hate those things, but the moment we wipe them all out, I have reasons to think my existence would grow exponentially boring."

"Yet if we don't, you lose anyway. If they're getting stronger over the time, how long do you calculate you have before they start overwhelming you? And with how many of them you have killed, joining them isn't an option. Choose the lesser bad." Radec told them with persuation flowing in his voice. Hunter seemed to be thinking it through.

"And think of what we told you before, if there's other worlds around, what's to stop you from doing your thing in all and each? Imagine a fortune bigger than this whole city, just waiting for you in the other side." Said Sly with a grin as he and the others moved behind Hunter. Radec put a firm hand on his shoulder to further call his attention.

"Where I come from there's a war, bigger than this one. Imagine the references a colonel like myself could give for a professional like yourself. A man like you could be of use to us."

"It does sound promising." Hunter commented.

Part of the team had to work hard to hold their laughter at the continuous attempts at getting Hunter's assistance.

"Okay, it's worth a shot. If that's what you want then you can have it." Hunter said as he paced back and forth on his chair, deep in thought. Too many factors to account for. "Though I'm a bit worried about wether or not we can actually survive this ordeal you present me with."

"You do your part and I'll do the worrying, trust me, it's better that way." Sly said with calm.

"That's fair." Hunter said happily. "First thing's first though, we still have a job to pull. We stay here and wait till the Chimera show their mugs, then we blast them to pieces. Not that I don't like our chances, but I don't know how well you guys work under pressure."

"Swimmingly." Radec stated boldly.

"You'll see." Raiden added with confidence and a smile.

Then there was silence.

"So, how long do we wait?" Ratchet suddenly asked.

Time went by, and the crew was to occupy themselves and spend that time in their own separate ways. The chimera would pass by at night, leaving them with a few hours to walk around and do as they saw fit in Hunter's lair. A breath of fresh air and a break from all the running and marching was very much appreciated by them. Served them right after all the fighting, though most of them had to admit that the fighting was important to them, even necessary. Periods of peace could be a blessing, but they could also grow dull and boring. But they still found ways to fight the inactivity and undo that uneasy feeling.

Pyramid Head seemed disturbed, but also dead silent and quiet. He rested his head against a wall, his Great Knife resting on the floor, pretty much cracking it with it's weight alone. Nothing worrying him, nothing passing his mind if he had one, nothing at all. He was a punisher, representing torment and acting as a form of grief towards those who needed and wanted to be put through pain, physical, emotional and mental.

He manifested himself in front of those who suffered from the inside and now had to do so on the outside too. A tormentor and executioner. But things changed, way too quickly for his taste. He found himself dragged, hauled, pulled out from his town and sent to a different world altogether. The town of Silent Hill was missing a fraction of itself, an aspect, thus he was bound to return as soon as possible. And the town didn't live up to it's name, for it wasn't silent at all, not in his secluded and triangular head.

It was loud, nasty and wild. It reached out to him, seized his being and demanded his return as part of it, to become whole once again. Oh, the wait was unbearable for both.

There were so many souls he tormented over the years, many poor devils and bastards looking for salvation. What they did not know, was that salvation could often present itself in a weird fashion, not so nice. He stalked them in the mist, grew stronger from their sins and showed them the path to attonement, in the most unorthodox way possible, making sure he was unforgettable.

But from all those lost souls in pain coming wayward, one stood out. His name was Sunderland, James Sunderland. Once a married man, he killed his wife, yet he had lost her before death. Death didn't do them part, sickness did, and that brought the worst out of the man. So when he ended up in Silent Hill, looking to find solace, trying to block the memory of his acts but also to punish himself for his actions, he found what he looked for in the form of Pyramid Head. But the monster was taken back by the man's determination and his ability to overcome his obstacles. He went through resisting Pyramid Head's tactics and in the end he got to acceptance, the final stage of his grief and the final step to defeat the monster, slaying him with his very own weapon and getting him to resort to his last move: Suicide. Self-sacrifice was much needed in cases like that, Pyramid Head knew it and James definitely did so too because in the end he took that way out too, driving into water to his death with his wife's corpse next to him, thus reuniting with her.

But that was all irrelevant, unimportant, a different story that nothing had to do with his current one. Moving on, he had only one purpose now, returning, and if he had to tag along with others and butcher his way through hordes of enemies, he would do it. That he would.

Raiden stood with his head pressed on the window, his single eye scanning the streets up front as if awaiting for the first sign of trouble to draw his HF blade for what seemed like the longest time.

Restless, tireless and almost emotionless he stood. Crazy as his situation may have been, he felt guilty to admit that he was grateful for it. It felt good to have an excuse, to make himself of use and slash enemies of all sorts for a cause. Made him feel less crazy, though he still knew that he was clearly not all there.

Every battle before and after his upgrades had taken quite a toll on him. He had the urge to keep going with the slaughter and hopping from a dimension to other was certainly giving him a drive and an excuse to do so. If he hadn't let his Ripper self come out in a while it was because he was keeping it for a special time and he had a metallic gut feeling telling him that said time would come soon if things kept escalating as they did. It was just a feeling.

Still, putting that old battle tendency of his aside, his company wasn't half bad, neither as soldiers nor as people. For a bunch of disorganized strangers meeting by fate they sufficed, working together, fighting together and seeing things to their end. Nice soldiers, the lot of them. This almost made him forget the family he had waiting for him back at home. Truth be said, there were times when in the middle of a slaughter he wondered how his wife Rosemary and his son John would be doing without him. It would take more than some money and the occasional gifts sent to their door to remind them that they still had him in their lives. He missed them.

Then again, he also missed the sheer carnage of letting loose in the battlefield, and if he had to share the fun of it with some kindly strangers then it was a fair trade.

"Do you ever rest?" Cole asked with his arms crossed, walking up next to him, seeing how unblinking and focused he stood as sentry. Raiden shrugged without taking his eye off the street.

"When the enemy is down in pieces, the war won and the land secured. That's when I rest. Thing is, I'm growing tired of resting." Raiden replied. Cole watched the same front as him, with his hands ready.

"Nice. Because I don't think we'll be catching a breather soon after."

The two of them went on and so did time.

Ratchet ran a quick check of his own weapons, sitting on a table and counting up all the ammo he still had. He hadn't gotten any chances to reload since there were no Gadgetron vending machines in any of their stops at the dimensions. That was to be expected.

Jak came to inspect his Morph Gun too. He had the same issue with his weapon. If it went on, they would have to switch to melee only. Not like they couldn't manage though.

With the clock ticking and seeing how the team's focus was all around, Hunter whistled in a call for their attention, ready to break down the nature of his plan and share it with the other. So lonely had he been over the years that he had come close to losing the capacity to dialogue so he guessed keeping up the talk would do more good for him.

Everyone in the crew stopped what they were doing and turned to Hunter as he dragged a chalkboard around alongside a set of radio equipment, which he put on the table to then start talking.

"Alright, class, I hatched us a nice plan of attack and it's time you learned it. Before I go on, somebody want to say something?"

Dante raised a hand like a child in a classroom before making his point.

"Not tryin' to be an asshole, but..." He began, only for Radec to cut him off by musing.

"Too late for that."

Dante shrugged it off and continued.

"Who died and put you in charge?" Dante finished questioning, getting only a glare from Hunter.

"Who died and...?" Hunter began with a chuckle. "Well, to be precise, half the population of America, if not 60% of the world, including military leaders and officers, alogside this entire city. Given that I'm the only local around, that gives me the merit by default. So hush, little girl, adults are talking adult things."

Dante crossed his arms and sat patiently on his chair as Hunter continued and the crew listened up.

Exactly an hour later, a large chimera group marched through the streets, their tanks flattening cars like pancakes and their dismounted units looking out for human enemies. It was getting darker, and it didn't help them how dead the lights on the streets

were, with only a few trash cans set on fire lighting up their path. They expected nothing, given how many times they had ravaged and purged the area. Their only concern was the time, they got delayed after a fight against the military and so they had lost a few numbers and weapons, but not quite.

But no matter how packed and equipped they were, it escaped their line of sight how some blurry figures and silouhettes ran from a rooftop to other, pinpointing their location and direction without them noticing.

"So, how's the view, coon?" Hunter asked Sly through the radio as he moved underground to rig his charges.

"Got them right where you wanted them." Sly commented as he watched with glee how the enemy came to a stop, caused by an inmense barricade of cars and concrete blocking their path while covering what awaited them on the other side. "How's the wall holding up?"

Dante picked up the call and answered on a low tone, careful to not be overheard by the chimera.

"So far, so good. My trigger finger's itching though."

From all ends and angles that the crew had taken as positions, each part studied the chimera's movement pattern with mild curiosity and fair caution. The creatures advanced, getting closer and closer to the barricade now obstructing them as if planning to get through. They seemed more willing to just blast it apart and go through than to take their time and get around, and they did have the tanks and the weapons to ensure that.

Nathan, Radec, Jak and Ratchet were all positioned on the rooftops around the horde, taking cover and aiming at the biggest threats in the perimeter. It was getting real dark, but that only worked to their favor, hiding them in plain sight while the chimera were so close together that not a single one escaped their range. Together they awaited the signal to start the killing.

"Do you know how to handle that babe?" Daxter asked Ratchet, seeing him try to adapt to the sniper rifle Hunter had given him to make up for his loss of ammo.

"I'm fine, a gun is a gun." Ratchet said, shifting his weight a little and pressing the rifle butt on a shoulder.

"Jus' sayin'. Back at our place, we've got a nice shooting range to prep. You and your tin buddy remind of a few targets there too." Daxter went on about.

Then the radio echoed with a call from Hunter, which Nate picked up.

"Can you see the beasties in your scopes?" He asked with concern, earning a chuckle from Nate.

"We can see all but their genders, pal." Nate joked.

With that confirmation given, Hunter kicked off and ran from his position in the sewers in a hurry. With the charges rigged to give the chimera a nasty surprise, Hunter's only business was to get off the blast radius as soon as possible. All the flamable gases underground would do the job.

Climbing up the ladder, he made another call to each part of the crew.

"You've got greenlight. When you're ready."

Back at the surface, the chimera were a few away from the barricade, their foot soldiers heading to climb it while the tank crew stepped on the pedals to just go right through. That was when the unsuspecting soldiers climbing at the front felt the great wall tremble, about to come undone by the might of a combined force on the other side.

"C'mon, give me a hand here." Dante muttered as he pressed his back to the multi-story tall wall they had crafted together, intending to bring it down.

It was Kratos who casually stepped up front and with only one hand, taking Dante's plead literally, pushed the many tons of metal and brick down on the enemy.

The ranks of the chimera present at the time ranged from 300 to 500 according to Hunter's observations. The crew members at the rooftops could bear witness to that. Over 12 tanks roamed on the way. Those who tried to climb the wall and those standing closest to it found themselves crushed by the rubble, squashed like bugs under it. Now that was the crew's chance.

The rest of the chimera didn't slow down one bit, they all drew their guns and took aim at their opposition, but that was when Hunter beat them on the draw with his detonator. Before they could fire, the street shook violently, cracking and then collapsing into pieces with an uproaring explosion, bringing the chimera down into the big hole that was made into the sewers.

Dante and his part of the crew backed off to shield themselves from the blast. Kratos jumped ahead of tge others to absorb the blunt force of the explosion. Together they outran the increasing quake to reach the higher ground while the chimera were dragged into the pit.

There was a rise of smoke coming from the pit, covering the horde of enemies. About 6 whole city blocks had collapsed taking the troops down but the crew was sure they were still in one piece and more pissed off than actually hurt, but that was fine by them, they didn't expect it to be easy.

By the time the smoke cleared, the chimera were already blasting out of the pit with guns blazing, but so were the crew's gunners.

The sound of the sniper rounds echoed through the night, taking headshot after headshot on the exposed and unprotected soldiers.

From the rooftops, Radec grinned under his mask as he shot heads off. Ratchet, Nate and Jak followed suit for as long as they could before reloading and ducking under the response fire.

"How'd ya like that, you putrid leeches?!" Daxter exclaimed in joy while Jak dispatched foe after foe from the line. That only lasted for so long though, as Jak and the others began noting how much closer the enemy's shots were getting.

"They're not playing with pea-shooters anymore." Ratchet stated, seeing how the shots fired by the chimera were threatening to bring their whole building down without even trying. The structure would only hold up for so long.

"Will have to do better than that, I'm afraid." Radec mused with confidence, staring down at the rather shaken probe enemies while crawling into a better aiming position. But then to add more trouble to the equation, the ones operating the tank regained balance and spun their turrets to take aim at the roof. "Oh, now that's just playing dirty."

"Move!" Jak yelled as he caught sight of the attack, warning the others as he ran to the edge.

Without any more warning, a well placed tank shell of high caliber found it's way into the rooftop, disintegrating most of the building where the sniper nest was set. Ratchet, Nate and Radec barely had the time to get running and then jump from the corner when the deafening explosion behind them went off, it's shockwave sending them flying and crashing through the windows of the next building. Their landing wasn't particularily graceful but they made it.

Meanwhile, Kratos and Raiden led the attack in the streets, taking out the front lines as the others took cover behind them and then approached further. They were met with quite some resistance, but when Kratos and Raiden drew their blades, the opposition proved futile. Heads rolled and limbs flew once they stepped down on the pit. The tanks opened fire all at once, only for Kratos to jump ahead and take all the damage.

Unfortunately, the chimera weren't limited to just land troops this time. A deafening sound came from the sky, causing Dante tolook up from his position and then shout a warning.

"Take cover!"

Blinding lights showed up in the sky, and with them, an entire wave of bombs and heavy artillery too. Dante, Cole and Nariko dashed at top speed to avoid the blast radius, but Pyramid Head's slow pace got him caught in the middle. Kratos and Raiden were too busy slicing the tanks apart, forcing them to brace themselves at the last moment. A smoke cloud and a blaze of fire erupted from where they once stood.

The shockwave that came after was enough to shatter the windows of all nearby buildings, reminding Nate and company to get their heads back on the game if they planned to stay alive.

"Would have been great if you warned us about that weather, Hunter!" Nate called out on the radio.

"Like hell! Don't know where they got those things from, this is way past their usual game!" Hunter responded on the run, trying to hide from the bombers.

Said bombers made a formation in the air. The ships had a shape similar to U.F.O's but not quite, their circular build was complemented by a series of thrusters and cannons as well as some sort of hatch down under where the bombs came from. They were big enough that they totally eclipsed whatever little bit of moonlight the streets were getting and their engines roared with a macabre sound from their altitude.

Kratos and Raiden were being crowded and shot at by the remaining chimera down in the pit. The bombing had taken it's toll not just on them but on the chimera too. They seemed willing to make plenty of sacrifices to earn victory, but the crew could make it through that.

With his warrior instincts taking over completely, Kratos got back on his feet at godspeed, snatching a chimera's head and crushing it before tossing the body at the other ones like a cannonball. He brought his blades up and after a combo of devastating swings he brought them down on the ground, causing a loud shockwave that knocked the fiends back.

Another tank fired at him, yet the shell never hit when a reincorporated Raiden took off like a jet and sliced the shell apart, following with a slash that took away the top of the tank alongside the driver's head.

The ships above them were on their way to strike again but both warriors saw ahead of that. Kratos seized one of the tanks, lifted it, and after a couple spins, he hurled it at a ship at hundreds of miles per hour.

Raiden took the initiative to finish off all the remaining land troops and then fled the scene with Kratos before another rain of fire came upon then. They made a brief stop to grab Pyramid Head and carry him on the run to a safe place.

It took a while and lots of running for Hunter to make it but he eventually reached the top floor of an old abandonned hotel that he thought would make a fine vantage point with Cole and Sly climbing it on the outside. Once they were high, Hunter took note of every single target and counted the missiles he had for his strike accordingly.

Eight ships in the sky, though one was coming apart after being struck by what Hunter perceived as a flying tank. It was freaking odd, but he kept in mind that was how the crew worked. With 7 main targets now, he spared a glance at the 10 missiles he packed. Though they belonged to the chimera and were designed to take down all sorts of aircraft, he knew it would take more than one to destroy each ship and even if he could bring down most of them, he knew that wouldn't cut it. But he still had to give it a try.

As he took aim, he noticed that Cole was up to something too.

"Don't mind if I change the weather." He museed. A lot of energy coursed through his body and then his his hands reached at the sky, as if gesturing for something to happen.

"Is he off his meds?" Hunter asked Sly with curiousity. The thief just smirked and shrugged.

Now Hunter didn't know what the conduit was doing with his powers, but he soon came to realize how effective it was.

Massive clouds were formed and came together up in the sky. Lightning flashed all over the area. Now things weren't looking up for the ship. It was unlike anything Hunter had seen before. Even though Earth was exposed to some pretty hostile and chaotic conditions as of the chimera's arrival, this took the cake in the abnormality section.

In just a matter of seconds, before the ships could find them, a large and unprecedented storm took over a huge part of New York. Cole focused on the sky and with another motion, he called forth pillars of lightning down on the ships. Most of them hit, knocking the ships off course. Three of them were destroyed afterwards, leaving them with four more to go. This turned the tides on the crew's favor for the rest of the battle.

Hunter grinned at the sight and joined the offensive, launching his missiles against the aerial targets.

The chimera's response was vicious however. Now aware and locked on the team, they began firing from their turrets at a mad speed.

Cole put up a shield, but while it covered him, Hunter and Sly, the chimera just lowered their shots to hit the lower levels, threatening to bring down the building with them.

Running low on time and relying on a mix of parkour and free running, in which they were quite experienced, Hunter, Cole and Sly evacuated the hotel, landing in a back alley to then sprint away from the devastation that came to be around them.

Dante and Nariko stood a few meters away from a shattered window facing one of the attack ships as it lost altitude to probe the area, ready to race ahead and jump into action.

"Shall we?" She asked him with a firm tone.

"Thought you'd never ask me." He replied before drawing his sword and sprinting at mach speed alongside Nariko.

They let out battle cries as their weapons collided with the thick shell of the flying vehicle, tearing human sized holes on it. What went down inside was a total carnage.

The ship's handlers and pilots were bluntly taken by surprise, left with little to no time to react, which Dante and Nariko seized as an opportunity.

The chimera tried to raise their guns but they didn't even get that far when Dante filled them all with lead coming right out of his pistols.

With the pilots dead, Dante ran straight to the controls, trying to find a way to operate the machine before it hopelessly crashed.

"How do you control this weapon?" Nariko asked out of confusion, which Dante shared.

"Well, I think..." Dante began only to trail off at how lost he was with the controls and buttons. So he just yanked out the pieces and shot the buttons, just about to flee. "There, that'll do. Follow me, princess."

But when Dante turned to look at Nariko, she had just made another hole in the shell with the blaster of a dead enemy.

"No, you follow me." She commanded seriously before leaping off the crashing ship.

"That I will." Dante mused to himself, following Nariko afterwards.

Their fall was hard enough to crack the asphalt below them, but not as much as the flaming ship about to explode.

With three more to go, Hunter laughed and ran down the little street left by the bombs, in order to get a good shot at the three attack ships left. He spat and then raised his launcher, glaring at the bombers.

"Come and get me. Come get a load of me!"

They caught sight of what he was doing, but by the time they did, he had an advantage. They fired at him, their distance being one of the few factors why he remained in one piece afterwards.

"Do it, do it, I'm right here, I'm waiting." He kept saying mindlessly. The day he was mutated by the chimera, it took a toll on his mind and behavior, giving him a pretty reckless outlook at times like this.

The crew didn't let him down either. Raident went flying against one of the ships, thrown by Kratos as a way of reaching them. He ripped it apart in the air, each one of his swings charged and energetic at a blinding speed, which in his eyes felt like slow time.

Kratos himself scaled viciously, catapulting himself off the road and crashing against a ship with his gauntlets worn, his punch hitting it hard enough to floor it and shatter it's build. The ship was floored upon impact.

This left Hunter with just one to worry about, which he luckily dispatched before it could land actual shots on him. All the missiles he fired did the job. He watched satisfied how the hull and the carcass were covered in flames and then dragged through the asphalt with a loud and gratifying sound. It stopped just a few feet away from him, in the process of which he didn't flinch or try to back away.

He raised his now empty launcher and pressed his boot on the steaming pile of scrap and remains in front of him, as if claiming victory.

Hunter then looked around with joy, eyeing the fruit of the crew's work, and so did them.

A few chimera engulfed in fire came from the blaze left by the last three ships, shrieking in pain. They didn't make it far, being all dispatched accordingly bya fully recovered Pyramid Head.

"I changed my mind, Hunter. The weather is looking rather nice this time of the year." Nate joked as he came from the building where he sheltered, walking up to Hunter with a smile.

"If you want to keep it like that, I suggest we get moving." Radec spoke grimmly behind him.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be the guy cleaning this mess up." Daxter said, brushing the sweat off his furr.

Hunter though, was busy at the time, looting and scavenging whatever there was to be found of value on the chimera. He pretty much danced from one charred corpse to other, light on his feet.

"Okay, we made it. Now what?" Came from Dante as he and Nariko walked into the light formed by the flaming wreckage.

"Now we wait, until everyone is good to go." Raiden said, back to join the group with Kratos.

"We are all fine, the wisest thing to do now is to keep moving and find a safe path." Kratos added. "Assuming we know where we are headed."

"Sounds like a plan." Sly commented.

"Oh, there's a plan in the making, alright?" Hunter said in a short break from his ravaging and pointing a finger to his head. "I've got it right up here. I'll make a couple calls so that the cavalry will hear."

"Cavalry? I figured by this point that was us." Jak argued with a raised eyebrow.

"And I thought you were a lone wolf." Ratchet supplied. Hunter shrugged it off.

"Not if I can help it. I'm not against having a bit of extra hands on my corner. Especially if I don't have to pay you. A wolf can always use a pack." Hunter explained.

"Glad to hear that. Leadership was starting to weigh on me anyway." Cole quipped with a smirk.

"A lot of pressure, I imagine. Still, I'd like for you to make up your minds on where you want to go from here. Because as you saw, there's a war blazing out there and it ain't pretty."

There was a moment of silence in which the crew stopped to think things through and consider their options. That was when Nariko felt the need to join the talk as well.

"You should lead us to where the war is at it's strongest. The front. I think we can agree on that."

Most of the crew nodded in agreement.

"I recon this might be a good time to remind ourselves of what we are doing and the reason." Clank said as a reminder of the situation with the portals to the team. He dropped from Ratchet's back for a moment to make his point. "The anomalies I'm picking indeed tell me that there's another portal awaiting here, at a considerable distance in the north."

"Funny, because that's exactly where the front lines are." Hunter mentioned. The connection between those things was made clear.

"That sums it up. It's like the previous dimension, guys, there is a portal, a source that we must reach, yet a swarm of monsters stand in the way." Ratchet concluded in light of the information they received.

Regardless, their options were laid out and in the end it wasn't much of a choice. There was at least the hope that even if they couldn't return to their lands, they could always let out their frustrations on the "head of the games" by destroying him.

"When you put it like that, it's a simple choice." Sly said in agreement.

"It is." Radec voiced.

"Look at it this way, we have a disaster in our hands and the only way out, is through." Nate reasoned with no doubt on what their next stop was. Raiden spoke up next.

"We may have no guarantee on what will happen there but if we at least get a shot at the bastards pulling the strings, then I'm down for it."

"I second that." Kratos stated with the slightest hint of a smirk on his face.

"All has been said then. We are clear to go." Said Nariko after the choice was taken. Hunter nodded and signaled for the sewers.

"Cool. I'll lead the way though. A full frontal assault will do us more harm than good, wouldn't ya agree furrball?" Hunter asked Ratchet with a smile. The lombax thought about it for a moment before quickly agreeing with the man.

"Yeah. Got any options?"

"Sure thing. I'm taking the tunnels. Can you dig it?" Everyone nodded. "Good. The chimera will be too busy with the military to give a damn. We go right under the radar, as far as we can get and from there we figure what we'll do. I'll talk to the soldiers, see what I can do to help ya and then it's square. You guys will be free to follow your death wish, wherever it leads you."

Ratchet gave it some more thought and then pulled back from his worries to conclude.

"Fair enough."

At the peak of their tower, each one of the Polygon Man's enforcers paced and stood to the edge of the structure, having a good look at the barren wasteland beyond, represented by the growing horde of marching soldiers and war machines, taking a scourge to mankind.

"A view to kill, gentlemen. Had you ever seen something so beautiful?" Calypso asked his peers. A vicious businessman, he was rather enthusiastic about his newest promotion in terms of power. So many earths to be accessed through their new employer, and so much time to play with them.

"I did. Once. In hell." Vergil replied sincerely, memories flashing, of how he raised his very own army of demons, which was still at his disposal and waiting to be put to good use.

Not like he couldn't wait. He was patient about it. First he would prove himself the one and only, true successor to his father. Or at least the only one worthy of the honor. And he would prove that by exacting a great vengeance against his brother. Dante just couldn't get the message through his thick skull, of how in order to truly rid the world of evil, to save it, it had to be saved from itself. If he was hurting humans, it was so that they wouldn't hurt themselves far worse.

Death, war, famine and pestilence. All four had struck his earth so hard it was undeniable. To kill demons didn't even begin to fix what was truly wrong with it.

At least in the earth where he now stood, it seemed like the threat of the chimera had presented mankind with a golden opportunity to grow up and evolve, unifying to battle a common enemy and not themselves. At least they were dying for something as somebodies, and not for nothing as nobodies.

Utterly splendid. So enlightening. It was proven true that nearing the end, towards the brink of their extinction people really changed for the better. That was an universal truth that the Polygon Man had shared with him.

And on that topic, Vergil's reflections were paused by the sudden appearance of his employer.

Only that this time, the Polygon Man had taken on a different form to present himself.

"Fellows." He spoke up with that ominous tone of his, as he walked up to Vergil, Calypso and Zeus in his newly acquired avatar. "How about we go out for a walk?"

To that they couldn't say no.

F***ing finally, am I right? I'll make a longer author note later because right now I'm stressed out of my mind. I owed you guys this but I must confess that a lot of other projects have taken priority over this one. While I still feel obligued to it, there's a lot of other stuff that I need to sort out. Just you know, this isn't dead. I'll remember. Take good care, everyone, sending good vibes on your way.