"Dagnabbit, Luke, them dang folks I know ain't nowhere to be seen." Enzo belted into his communicator on the streets. His shuffling brought him past the suggested hotel and he peered into the lobby for a second before walking on, "An' I tell ya, The hawspitality arount hurr ain't like they called it up to be back on Prahm. You gawt any idears, Luke?"

Zeta was making sure everything on her was fitted, and weapons were easy to draw. She made sure her suit was sealed too. Finally she took a rubber band and pulled her hair backwards into short pony-tail. She needed to get a haircut soon. Maybe someone on the ship knew how to do it.

John drew her attention while she was preparing herself. He seemed buzzed by something, a little nervous too. Probably pre-mission fear, Zeta felt it too, somewhere in the back of her mind. This won't be like any other mission Phoenix had after all.

Zeta walked into the cockpit, where John and Echelon were. "Hey John, you okay?" She asked and walked towards pilot's chair. She noticed the hand-drawn picture on the console. Flaming bird with insects all around it. How peculiar. "I did not know you could draw Johnny, this is pretty good." She said picking up the piece of paper and studying the picture from up close.

"Alright, I'll get on that imm - " Smith stopped mid-sentence as he watched John's expression of shock, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Luca's reply to the abject horror only confirmed it - this, all of this, Smith didn't want to have even a single stock share of it. Whatever it was, he was going to stay out of it; there were too many weird, twisted happenings in the Kikyo Sector in the first place, and he had enough of his share at this age already. No need to pile more onto his long list.

" -ediately," He spoke, finishing his sentence. With that, he turned on his heel.

*****

The Ori-Rep messaged Seirin ahead of time, detailing just what he was planning to do. The lack of resistance so far didn't seem to be an outright denial, so therefore, it had to be permission. Regardless of the truth of the matter, the Black Business Suit climbed into the machine-shop modified mech and turned on it's display, quickly going into the diagnostics systems of the LEAF.

"This isn't quite right - the balance is thrown off by the extra plate," He muttered under his breath. And it wasn't just that either. There was a slew of other, minor problems that all together would throw the mini-frame out of synch, but otherwise, the work Seirin had done was rock solid. He set the system to begin detailed diagnostics, self-compensation and optimization. It wouldn't be as good as the work someone who actually knew the ins and outs of the thing would have been able to do, but this was the best Smith could do.

"Mr. Pavone?" he called Luca over the comms. "Seirin's LEAF is running some diagnostics for the time being - it might not be ready when we need it, but I'll bring it anyways just in case we're lucky." Hopping out of the cockpit and sealing it behind him, Smith strode towards the ramp across the hangar, his leather shoes gently tapping against the floor with mysterious suitcase in hand. "Walk."

At that, frame rumbled to life, it's heavy footsteps soon falling into rhythm as it kept pace alongside Smith, the two of them ascending into the ship side by side.

"Oh, uh," John replied to Zeta, "Nah. Ech drew that. What do you think it means?" He inquired as he sat at his seat, looking behind him and looking at Luca, Sebastian and the others assembled in the holding area of the Big Bird.

Echelon had sat down with the others in the crew with her 'suitcase of hurt'. It had a very poorly concealed Fingale's Revenge rifle - barrel visible out one side and the stock and handle sticking out the other, and a duct-taped Paragon IAW. There was also a few large knives sticking out of the side pockets. They looked balanced for throwing rather than for stabbing.

Allison gave Echelon a nod, who nodded back, before trading a glance with Luca and giving her attention back to Echelon. All she seemed to have on her was a refurbished Zen Arms 10mm SMG with a solid stock and an extended, compensated barrel - turning it into a carbine. She had a handful of spare magazines in a spare pocket, and an energy pistol, Xaser. She was also wearing Styrling Muur armour and a helmet for protection.

Melissa seemed to be wearing a combat helmet, with her ponytail poking out of the back of the helmet. Her beloved rail-revolver-rifle was resting against her shoulder. Bulges could be seen in her load bearing equipment for each of the massive bullets that went inside it, and their massive speed-loaders too.

All John had was that GP-12a Energy Rifle, and a Zen Arms .45 that belonged to his dad. He was feeling fairly under-dressed compared to his companions, but he knew that Luca would keep him away from the front line, and that his more heavily armoured and armed crewmembers would keep him out of harm. Plus, he was flying the ship, so it was highly unlikely that he'd encounter a gunfight.

-

"Impressive!" Luca nodded towards Smith manoeuvring the LEAF mini-Frame into the body of the Big Bird, "Hopefully it'll all be sorted out once we get to the ground. Speaking of which..."

He looked over to Sebastian, who'd strapped himself in and put his armaments in a duffel bag in front of him. Luca could see the barrels of the old-style GP-1 and the GP-12b sticking out of the bag, and a magazine of ammunition poking out of a side pocket. His giant calibre revolver was still by his side.

"So, dad," Luca asked as he tried to lean back, accounting for the weight on his shoulders. His ears felt very warm. "What's the plan when we touch down?"
Sebastian interlaced his fingers and looked at his Son, "It'll have to be a drop-and-go. I think that Yuki will have air support once she realises we're going in."

"She already knows that we're coming, she just doesn't know where." Luca corrected,

"We need to find somewhere either too public for her to make a move without retaliation from the locals, or too far out to be logical."

Sebastian rested his head on his fingers and nodded, he then looked over to the ship-board intercom and asked, "John, can you think of anywhere public enough to land?"

"Why?" He inquired as he started to get the engines warmed up, "Are we making a grand entrance for the crowd?"

"Not quite. We're going to hide in the crowd." Luca replied over the same intercom. John nodded and smiled. He considered that Luca would be the one to think of a plan like that, and not Naoko. As far as he knew, she was just a ghastly killer.

John smiled, "I think I know somewhere we could land," He said as he got a picture of the Maharombi area, and looked at the land where the battle was stipulated to play out, and then looked at the Duneway with a devious grin.

After the LEAF was loaded inside and Luca made a quick headcheck, he realised that it was time for the team to leave. Everyone was present and in their place. John, Sebastian, Allison, Echelon, Melissa, Enzo down below, Uriel, Mr. Smith, Zeta, Naoko on his head, Ernie, and finally: Luca himself, the biggest star of all in this mission.

As Luca looked around the room, to all those assembled and strapped in, and the noise in his comm-lines of Enzo down planetside, he reflected on all that'd come and gone in the past few years of his life. Friends, foes, opportunities, items, people. He began to wonder whether this charmed life was all of his own doing, or an elaborate set up for a fall.

He tapped his foot against the ground in thought, concluding that the elaborate set up was simply too much of a contrivance and too expensive, costly and time consuming to be the case. After all, nothing is as it seems until you reach into the lion's mouth take control of the situation, no matter how many teeth separate you from that goal.

And Luca could've qualified to be the lion's dentist with his track record. "Okay everybody, we're moving. John, seal the doors, pressurise the interior, de-pressurise the hangar, and let's go. We've only got five and a half hours until the glass rain falls. If I don't have to fight my brother, that'll be good - if I can have him fight alongside me, that'll be great. If Yuki surrenders, we'll be unstoppable."

"Let's go!" Melissa hollered as she shook her rifle.
"Yeah!" Allison raised a fist in support.
"Onwards!" Echelon's bandsaw-voice yelled, stamping her robotic feet against the floor.

"You got it." John replied before activating the remote controls and sealing the Big Bird. He opened the hangar's doors and put the engines into motion. It only took moments for him to breach the atmosphere and find the Maharombi Duneway. Out in space, he was getting warnings for heavy debris in the atmosphere, and he could see the Delsaurian moon's volcanic activity from space, and he could see it getting closer and closer to the planet.

"This is Delsauria control tower, state your business!" A control tower frantically requested, "You're moving into public airspace!"
"I'm making a quick drop. I'll be just a moment!" John replied, ignoring all protocol.
The control tower was not impressed, "That is a negative. Use a vector we can track and make your drop the normal way, or we will be forced to fire!"

"You'd shoot Luca Pavone? He's in the middle of something very important, and it involves keeping you safe." John asked and bluffed, using his employer as leverage.
"...c-carry on." The tower said with a stammer, before the sound of a bump could be heard, "Unlock aim, do not fire on the vessel. Flag it Friendly. Anyone who does gets court-marshalled, and possibly swarmed by fangirls who want to kill you."

-

The line then went silent as John piloted the Big Bird just over the Maharombi Duneway, close to the Spaceport and near the Industrial area. The Maharombi Duneway itself was fallow land that was excluded from terraforming due to its uselessness and high volcanic activity - it was re-purposed into the most dangerous Airbiking track devised to Nepleslian, and is large enough to be visible from space. Out in the desert area, John's ship came close to the sand dunes, but didn't touch down.

"Alright everybody!" He yelled as the loading began to open, "I'm going to head back out to keep an eye out for any spacebound resistance. Echelon and I will try to hold 'em off with the Kestrel if they get too shooty." The loading ramp was now fully open, and the sound of wind and the waves of heat could be felt throughout, "Now jump! Jump! JUMP!"

Luca was the first to stand up with the invisible weight on his shoulders. He simply walked towards the loading ramp and looked down. The Big Bird was only a few metres off the ground, tops. Luca hopped down first and kicked up a cloud of loose sand, followed by Sebastian landing next to him, then Melissa landing without grace and taking a small tumble before regaining her composure, with Echelon and Allison coming down together.

"Ugh," Echelon snorted, "All of this sand is not going to be good for my servos."
"Don't worry. The graphite lubricants I used should hold up in the heat and sand. If we were anywhere else, they wouldn't work at all," Allison said as she picked herself up off of the sand dune.

Up ahead in the distance and under the shade of the cliff in which Maharombi had carved itself, Luca could see the patch of industrial land that Sebastian was referring to and where his Brother was alleged to be in need of assistance. Sandwiched between the Duneway and the cliffside city, this area was a go-between area for racers and property grounds for other, low-income industrial operations. He looked up and he saw the moon of Morasett, getting closer and closer. He checked the time, and realised that there were five hours left until the glass hailstorm was coming.

His gaze levelled with the horizon, and he saw only his goal ahead. "Alright everyone, get moving quick! Follow our lead!" Luca yelled as he started making footsteps along the low dunes, and kicked up sand with every step. Sebastian was keeping pace, even without an armour. Luca knew he couldn't just fly away because he knew some of the others without armours would be left behind.

"Enzo, pull in and let's go!" His comm line sounded as a beacon appeared on the Rogue's communicator. It would lead him to Luca, and he could see that he was moving towards the agreed-upon location.

Zeta looked at the picture more closely. Bird in ring of fire and insects flying towards it as if they were lured by the heat. Lured to their own destruction. Thinking about it now, she did not like that picture at all. She set it down, where it was. "Ah just some artistic gobbledegook," she said and looked away. John might've seen the uneasiness appearing in her face.

_____
_____

As the ship was heading down, Zeta looked at Luca. He was seemingly fine. Calm. As usual. Zeta was using this time to think. Her eyes wandered around the group. All sorts of various people who got themselves up and joined Luca on his travels. Mercenaries, thieves, sales representatives, bodyguards, mechanic, rogue AIs. He got them all and they were all willing to just join him and go against anything possible.

Zeta wondered how that was the case: How did he charm her, and make her fall in love with him with his way of doing things? She was amazed by it and she knew that she was never happier. This was good, she felt good. Zeta took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second. She was remembering all the good times with Luca and all the good they did together.

She wanted to remember it and finally enjoy thinking about it. This might be the last time after all. Every time they head out like this, they might get too close to the flames and get their wings caught in the fire as the little moths they were.

______

Ramp opened up and Luca was out. Zeta jumped closely after him. Cloud of sand flew in the air as she landed, kneeling down on one of her knees. Standing up, she prepared her Fatboy.

"Let's go." Was all she said. As she stood next to Luca, she knew she was ready for anything.

Ernie peered out the back of the moving space craft hesitantly for a second or two before following the others. It landed in a tumble and skidded to a stop face down in the sand.

Without fuss it stood up again, looked around and trotted to join the others silently.

"Right, Cap'n Pavone." Enzo's voice called back to the captain. Enzo himself was situated in the Lady's cargo-bay, atop a nearby sand dune. He was tinkering with his air bike between changing clothes and readying his weapons. He didn't head out just yet, still deciding whether to even show up for the fireworks. 'Still', he thought, 'Maybe I can vulture some nice shit offa these guys we're kickin' down the door of.'

The heavy sound of boots and shoes hitting the ground below them was washed out by the ship's thrusters as it came in hovering low to drop them off. Smith himself had landed, rolling right back up onto his feet in a single fluid motion before dusting himself off. It was almost as though it were business as usual. Oddly enough, that really was the case here. "Mr. Pavone, the unit is finishing diagnostics," he spoke over the comms, readjusting his earbud as he did so. "I recommend you try shoving it out of the hangar in another pass when needed," Smith suggested to both Pavone Junior and Senior, checking the suitcase's outer cover while he was at it.

"The altitude shouldn't matter too much," the Ori-Rep added, pushing his glasses up with the base of his palm. As curious as this...'family matter' had become, he knew this was not going to be a cakewalk.

Especially if even Luca Pavone was unsettled himself.

"No worries," John replied to Smith over radio as he looked behind himself and realised that he was by himself in the Big Bird. He'd gotten so used to flying and keeping an eye out on bigger ships that he'd no longer thought of the ship as a ship, but more of an extension of himself. He looked down at the others using ship-board cameras to watch their progress across the dunes and towards the light industrial area that resided between the shadow of the cliffside city and the untamed Maharombi Duneway.

It took a good few minutes of uneventful trekking before the sand gave way to concrete barriers that kept the dunes mostly contained. Another short trek down and they found themselves in a honeycomb of warehouses that were separated by wide areas of tarmac dotted with arrows, lines and cautionary signals, not unlike the main roads of a city.

However, since the Glass Hail was drawing closer to the planet by the minute, no activity could be seen out in this warehouse industrial district. People had fled for want of not being chopped to pieces by volcanic glass. Boxes and movement equipment had been left out since it was easy to replace stock and machines, but not people.

The Big Bird, meanwhile, had started making a lazy circle above the the perimeter, and he eventually found himself greeted by another message.
"I thought you were making a stop and go. You aren't going." Said the control tower to the ship."
"Change of plans, dear." John replied as he kept an eye out for the Phoenix, "Besides, it's my ass on the line since the Glass Hail is coming."

The person at the Control tower could be heard tapping a pen against the desk, "Alright then, your funeral. Tell me. What's it like working for Luca? Is he some sort of irresponsible rockstar?"
John made a slow sigh, "Not always. He's a person just like you and me, with real problems. However, let's just say his problems require a slightly less... ah, elegant solution most of the time."

-

"Well, we're here." Luca said, looking around left and right and shrugging his shoulders. He had the GP-1 in his hands and seemed concerned with the lack of activity in the immediate vicinity, "The fun's usually supposed to start once I'm here." Sebastian groaned.

"I still wonder why you call being shot at fun," Allison chipped in as she stuck close to Echelon and watched her flanks as the robot moved ahead. Echelon then paused, causing Allison to bump into her/it.

"I'm detecting an elevated heat signature in that building." Echelon observed using her robotic body's built-in sensor suite. Sebastian looked at where she was pointing and squinted, putting his hand over his eyes to get a better view. He made a joyous gasp of recognition.

Luca gave Sebastian a puzzled look as the old man started making his way towards the building slowly and cautiously. He was still awash with nostalgia, but he wasn't going to drop his guard.

"Mind if I go in first?" Luca inquired once he reached the roller shutters that were guarding the way in. Sebastian gave him a shrug and stood to one side. Luca then raised his foot and put it through the roller shutters, cursing as he realised that his leg was stuck, then pulling it back out and trying again with a little more success.

"Why didn't you blow it up?" Melissa shook her head at Luca, who had simply opted to tear the shutters open using his power-armour assisted strength and walking through the hole he'd produced. He was greeted by the sight of running metal fabrication machinery, and, standing in the middle of the room with an uncharacteristically large sword resting against his right shoulder was none other than the Power Armour Ninja, or, Joe Pavone.

He turned around to face the first person into the room. The sword over his shoulder looked to be as big as a person, and looked more like a large chunk of Nerimium or Yamataium with a slightly sharp edge, using its momentum and mass to cut through just about anything. He put it point first into the ground as a gesture of respect and said, smiling underneath his helmet: "You've grown."

Luca didn't have any words for his brother as his face lit up into a smile. A tear of joy rolled down his face as memories came flooding back, but he had to dam them since there was still a mission to be done. He walked over with his rifle lowered and gave the Ninja a handshake, "So've you," He replied succinctly before he cracked up laughing, realising that Joe was probably in his early thirties at this point.

Sebastian was peering into the exchange. He looked over to the others without so much as a word, giving them the gesture to head in as the coast seemed clear. He was the first to move in and came to stop behind his younger son, and looking at his elder son with a cold reservation. Allison, Melissa and Echelon moved inside, looking around the room and finding it to be clear of threats.

"So," Luca inquired, having put his emotions aside for more immediate concerns, "What's the gig?" He kept his rifle by his side as he looked at the immensely large sword.

"We're taking care of a mole," Joe replied. Luca and Sebastian exchanged a glance. In that glance, the information following was communicated between the two men in a moment's silence:

Think he's talking about Yuki?
I doubt he'd strike against his own master.
Hrm. Seems about right. Still think this is a trap?
Its always a trap.

Joe did not seem perturbed by the exchange. "Her name is Sh-"
Luca's radio crackled to life with a start: "Ship inbound, Lukes, looks like a personnel carrier. They don't seem to be following regulation!" John's voice could be heard on the other side as the oppressive of a Starship's manoeuvring thrusters could be heard above the compound, "I can see it circling around your area, hatches opening and goons dropping out on long ropes, jetpacks or arm-FUCK!" The sound of firing missiles could be heard above, followed by explosions, "...Damn! They've got an armament! There's another ship coming, looks like a cruiser, its too hot for me to stay here!"

"Status?" Luca ordered.
"No hits, got the missile mid flight with zero-point defences." He replied, "I'll try and lead some of the bastards on a merry chase!" The sounds of the Pulse Cannons could be heard firing over the radio, followed by an explosion above, then followed by another explosion on the ground, which shook the entire industrial area and rocked the foundations of the building the team was hiding inside, "Stitch that you arseholes!"

"Godspeed." Luca replied before looking to Joe with a raised eyebrow and a frown, "Some mole, huh?"

Joe mouthed a curse word under his helmet, "Guess they thought they could smoke me out and kill me in the open."
Luca grinned, "Two bucks says they thought you were alone." He raised his rifle and nodded.
"You're on." Joe replied, keeping his sense of humour intact for tense moments like these.

Luca then looked at the ginormous sword on Joe's shoulder and asked, "With that?" He just nodded. Allison, Melissa and Echelon sprung into action, watching the doors. "Alright everyone, look sharp!" He ordered as he released the safety on the GP-1.
"Its the Encore show tonight everyone! Let's not disappoint our regular customers!"

"Nice." Joe replied. Luca just smiled.

Enzo rode into the warehouse complex slowy, passing by the open shutter once after Luca and the gang had already gone in. His eyes were on the sky, watching the enemies coming in over the distant dunes wit some interest. Eventually, he rode into the warehouse with the others.

"Afternoon, gang." The conman ducked his head under the doorway on the airbike and swooped around to Luca's side. He barely batted an eye at Joe or his massive sword. "You knows there's guys out theres, right? Wif guns and whatnots, see?"