(Meanwhile, inside Aegis Headquarters, Jax, Proxy, Pulse, and Gauntlet continue to chase after Focus through the corridor. Proxy uses her air shoes to propel herself upwards and forms several blasters with her tech, firing at Focus. However, he easily dodges her blasts without losing momentum and then jumps backwards, much to her surprise, landing a roundhouse kick at her face and sending her plummeting.)

  Jax: Prox!

  (Jax enters his muscular form and hurries to catch Proxy before she falls into the ground, and after managing that, Focus kicks him in the face, knocking him back and causing him to drop Proxy. Despite his muscular form, he soon finds himself overwhelmed by Focus’s relentless flurry of punches. It’s then that Pulse charges up a green energy lance and attempts to land it at Jax to apply a buff, but Focus blocks it. Gauntlet swings a whip katar at him, but Focus’s reflexes are just too quick, and he turns to grab it with his hand and pull him in, landing a kick at his gut and sending him sliding. Pulse then charges up a green energy lance and energizes herself with it, applying a buff on herself.)

  Pulse: Buff: Hyperphase!

  (Upon activating that buff, she gets enveloped with an electric green aura and lunges at Focus at much higher speed than usual, yet it’s still not enough to take him by surprise, and he blocks her punch with a chop that knocks her back.)

  Pulse: (gritting her teeth) What’re you doing, Focus?! I don’t get it!

  (She circles around him, attempting blow after blow at high speed, but Focus blocks all of her advances then lands a powerful punch at her gut and knocks her into a wall, the punch powerful enough to negate her Hyperphase Buff. He follows that up with another punch, sending her crashing through the wall and passing by her. It’s then that she briefly gets to see the look on his face from up close, an agitated scowl with tired eyes, leaving her stunned as she falls into the ground. As the others rally around her, they see that Focus has already made his escape.)

  Gauntlet: (grimacing) We lost him.

  Pulse: (groaning) We can’t stop now. We’ll have to — . (reaching for her watch, yet struggling to find it) Wait, where’s my watch?!

  Proxy: Huh?!

  (Meanwhile, Focus continues running off through the corridor, having finally lost his pursuers, while holding the watch he sneakily snatched from Pulse’s wrist, promptly putting it on. Meanwhile, Jax, Proxy, Pulse, and Gauntlet run off in an attempt to catch up with Focus. However, as both Focus and Jax examine their watches, they’re shocked to see that they’re not functioning properly.)

  Focus and Jax: (in unison, in separate locations) What?

  (Suddenly, all of them are stopped dead in their tracks when they sense something, an intimidating presence of energy. Focus’s pupils narrow in shock, and his lips part in horror upon sensing it. Elsewhere, in that moment, Hunter finds himself up against none other than Red Flare herself, who has a wicked, crooked grin on her face as she envelopes herself in a crimson, fiery aura.)

  Hunter: (internally) That’s gotta be the full power of the Fire Surge Beacon, brought out in a moment of intense emotion, her fear, in that case, just like most other Surge Beacons. Given her status as one of the most powerful Surge Beacons detected, I might be in for a difficult battle. She’s not to be taken lightly.

  (Hunter tightens his grip on his dual guns and then lunges at her at high speed, firing a pair of blasts while he’s at it, but he’s stunned to see Red Flare so effortlessly get past him with even more rapid speed, canceling out the blasts. He quickly turns to face her, but she lands a fiery punch at his gut, sending him sliding. He grits his teeth as he steadies himself, and it’s then that Red Flare starts chuckling loudly.)

  Red Flare: (chuckling) Was that shock I saw in your face earlier?! And now I see urgency! Glad to know you’re slowly losing that aloof attitude!

  Hunter: (thinking to himself) Something’s off about her. She’s acting different, yes, but it’s neither too different to be fully berserk nor controlled enough. Could it result from her time with Aegis?

  Red Flare: (wickedly smirking) Lost in thought, aren’t ya? At least that’s the thinking part of the way. You sure can think. But come on! Run that mouth a bit! The last two weren’t really all that chatty, unless the first guy’s yells count as dialogue… (sighing deeply, sounding bored) and sadly, I’m starting to see that you’re just as boring.

  Hunter: (scowling) You talk too much for your own good.

  Red Flare: Now that’s what I’m talking about!

  (Red Flare propels herself right at Hunter with a crooked grin, and he jumps sideways to get out of the way, firing a bunch of gunshots while he’s at it. She easily cancels them out with her mere aura and then launches several fireballs at Hunter, who blocks them with his gunshots, as expected. However, Red Flare acrobatically jumps at him, reappearing directly above him while charging up a burst of crimson flames with her palms.)

  Red Flare: (grinning) Heads up!

  (She launches that burst of fire, and Hunter attempts to cancel it out with a barrage of gunshots, but it causes the ground underneath him to collapse regardless, causing him to fall into a lower floor. Upon steadying himself, he finds Red Flare jumping after him, and he fires several more blasts at her, only for her to accelerate her fall and stomp the ground in front of him, knocking him off balance. However, she too gets knocked off balance when Hunter fires a pair of gunshots at the ground she’s standing on, stopping her from closing in, and then he lands a punch at her gut, sending her sliding.)

  Red Flare: (chuckling) This is gonna be fun. Might as well crank it up a notch, shall we?!

  (Red Flare charges up her aura even further, while Hunter takes a firm stance against her. The two lunge at each other, her fist colliding with his gun, and the two get knocked back, but they quickly recover and take off at high speed, repeatedly colliding into one another. They crash through the wall and turn to a wide corridor, with Red Flare chasing after Hunter, who repeatedly fires gunshots at her. She isn’t bothered at all by these attacks, managing to catch up with Hunter regardless.)

  Red Flare: Too slow!

  (She attempts to land a fire lance at him, and he jumps back to avoid it then manages a kick at her back, launching her through the air. She propels herself upwards midair and pierces through the ceiling, and Hunter quickly jumps upwards and gets behind her, only for her to regain her momentum in the air and turn to kick him in the gut, sending him crashing through another ceiling. She moves in for another punch, and Hunter blocks it with the back of his hand, then Red Flare continues flying off at high speed while hurling Hunter along.)

  Hunter: (internally) She’s definitely something else. Entirely. If she ever gets unleashed on the world… then everything will burn to ashes.

  (He continues getting hurled at high speed and piercing through several more ceilings without losing any momentum, his clenched jaw meeting Red Flare’s crooked, wicked grin. Hunter attempts to fire a gunshot with his free hand and take her by surprise, but she beats him to it, landing a small yet powerful fireball at his gut. This sends him crashing through one last ceiling and through the rooftop, finally out of Aegis Headquarters and into the sky. He looks around at the moonlit sky, and from his elevation, he notices several Aegis soldiers in the training camps outside getting taken out by a battalion of masked shadow soldiers.)

  Hunter: (internally) Masked soldiers… that’s gotta be — ! (grimacing) He’s here? Since when?

  (Before he can arrange his thoughts, Red Flare propels herself into the sky and above Hunter, her dark smirk widening as she launches a burst of crimson flames at him from above. He looks up at her just in time to block it with a gunshot from close range, getting sent plummeting back into the ground and into a rock butte. Hunter ends up destroying the entire rock structure, emerging from the rubble. He reaches for his watch and tries to link up with the others and warn them about Infinity’s attack, but he’s surprised to see that it doesn’t work, neither as a map nor as a communicator, while Red Flare drops down on the ground to face him.)

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  Hunter: (internally, grimacing) Damn it. It’s not working. Why is that? No time to dwell on it. (turning to Red Flare, thinking to himself) I need to stop this sudden attack however I can, but leaving her unchecked will cause a lot more trouble. I have to put her down, and fast.

  Red Flare: (smirking) Lost in thought again. I bet you talk a lot in your thoughts.

  Hunter: (sharply) I have no time to waste. I’ll have to make this quick.

  Red Flare: (chuckling) Why the rush, man? We’re just getting started!

  (She cracks her knuckles, her grin widening as she stands before Hunter, who assumes a sharp fighting stance to continue the battle, this time outside of Aegis Headquarters. Meanwhile, back inside, two soldiers escort Shay through a corridor, now without cuffs, only to see several soldiers unconsciously frozen in place, much to their shock, and Shay immediately recognizes the person behind this.)

  Soldier 1A: (approaching one of the frozen soldiers, shocked) What the hell?

  Shay: (internally, his lips parted) This ice… it’s gotta be… Ethan!

  (Without any sort of hesitation, Shay headbutts one of the soldiers and grabs his weapons as he knocks him into the ground, then before the other soldier reacts and fires at him, Shay lands a plasma blast at his chest, knocking him into the ground as well. He then quickly turns to the other soldier and shoots him as well. After leaving the two soldiers unconscious, he runs off, following the trail of ice left behind with a grimace.)

  Shay: (thinking to himself, anxiously grimacing) Ethan has made his escape. I have to find him!

  (Meanwhile, Commander Cromwell and Commander Locke finally join a battalion of soldiers, who escort them as they continue firing at the masked shadow soldiers. Elsewhere, Boltix, Jackpot, and Mistrick confront Hollow through gritted teeth, seeing the neon red symbol on his mask glowing.)

  Hollow: I’m not here to fight you, Sparks, for we are not enemies. We simply wish for you to join us.

  Boltix: (snarling) You know, I’m really sick of where this is going. Stop messing around and tell us where’s Stone!

  (Hollow clenches his fists and envelopes himself in his electric neon red aura, the glowing neon red symbol on his mask narrowing in reaction. Boltix too charges up his yellow and blue electric aura and immediately lunges at him at high speed, only for Hollow to knock him back with an energy beam and then kick him in the gut, launching him through the air. He quickly regains his balance and runs off beside Hollow, the two bumping into each other repeatedly. Hollow jumps upwards and gets behind Boltix, launching a barrage of blasts at him midair, only for him to cancel them out with a lightning bolt.)

  (He then propels himself right at Hollow, landing a punch at his chest and sending him sliding into the ground. Jackpot joins the fight with an electric bat and pulls several grenades out of his Creation pot, launching them at Hollow. He quickly jumps out of the way, letting the grenades explode, and Jackpot closes in while swinging his electric bat at him. Hollow energizes his fist and knocks it back with a punch, then he lands another punch at Jackpot’s chest, hurling him off his feet. Boltix returns and moves in for a blow at high speed, and Hollow quickly knocks his fist back with a chop then lands a roundhouse kick at his face, sending him flying. Mistrick joins the battle and jumps above Hollow, charging up her palms with black energy.)

  Mistrick: Let’s see how you like it.

  (She forms two misty blasts with her palms and lands them at the ground, then they grow into a black mist that submerges the area. Hollow fires an energy blast at her, but she has already disappeared into mist, and then several mist copies lunge at him. He propels himself upwards to dodge their advances while charging up his neon red electric aura even further.)

  Hollow: This won’t work on me, Mist Surge.

  (He launches a powerful barrage of blasts all over the room and the rubble around it, blowing up all possible hiding spots, and that’s when he finds Mistrick, who was in hiding in order to maintain the mist. She doesn’t get to teleport out of the way when some of the blasts land at the area around her, disorienting her long enough for Hollow to land a powerful kick at her face, a kick strong enough to negate her Mist Surge and send her crashing into a wall. He doesn’t relent, moving in for another punch, but then his energized fist gets knocked back when a sudden club projectile stands in the way.)

  (It’s none other than Sylvia Anderson herself, handler of the Sparks, who arrived at the scene and came to Mistrick’s rescue. She launches some more club projectiles at Hollow, who steadies himself just in time to cancel them out with a couple of quick blasts, though he gets knocked back regardless. Boltix, Jackpot, and Mistrick rally around Sylvia, who’s got a sly smirk on her face.)

  Sylvia: (slyly, to Hollow) Didn’t see that coming, huh?

  Boltix: (surprised) Sylvia? What’re you doing here?

  Sylvia: (shrugging) Nothing, just thought you’d need a bit of help. I was also gonna tell you about Infinity’s attack, but I guess you’ve already figured it out.

  Jackpot: (narrowing his eyes suspiciously) Something’s wrong. You’re not gonna do work by yourself willingly.

  Sylvia: (annoyed) And you’re right! The two commanders practically forced me to help out! I hate it!

  Mistrick: (rolling her eyes) What a surprise.

  Sylvia: Hey, I just saved you, in case you haven’t noticed! You’re welcome!

  (Sylvia sighs deeply, and then she and the Sparks turn their attention to Hollow, who charges up his neon red electric aura once again and lunges at them. Jackpot launches a powerful, metallic shield out of his pot and right in front of Hollow, taking on the blow and slowing him down, then Boltix lunges at him and kicks him in the face, sending him sliding. As the trio move in on Hollow, Sylvia charges up her hands with a golden glow, and a giant roulette wheel forms above her.)

  Sylvia: (grinning) Guess I’m spinning on odd to start things off.

  (With that command, the roulette wheel starts spinning, and the silver ball inside it ricochets rapidly. As Hollow notices that, he wastes no time, propelling himself upwards and away from the latter trio. He charges up a powerful energy beam and launches it right at the roulette wheel, much to Sylvia’s surprise. The roulette wheel gets destroyed, and Sylvia gets overwhelmed by golden sparks of energy as a result, groaning in pain, the punishment of her Casino Royale Surge.)

  Boltix: Sylvia!

  (With Boltix, Jackpot, and Mistrick distracted by Sylvia’s pain, Hollow capitalizes. He punches Boltix in the gut, uppercuts Mistrick, and kicks Jackpot in the chest, all in rapid succession, hurling them all off their feet. Sylvia’s punishment ends, and she steadies her stance while groaning in pain. The others join Sylvia and take their stances as well through gritted teeth.)

  Boltix: (gritting his teeth) Bring it on.

  (Hollow turns his attention to Boltix, Jackpot, Mistrick, and Sylvia, who all stand opposite to him, and he takes a firm fighting stance in response. However, before any of them gets to continue the battle, the floor underneath them suddenly gets submerged in ice at a rapid pace, and then they themselves get frozen in place except for Hollow, who turns to the one behind this sudden attack. It’s none other than the Ice Surge Beacon himself, Ethan, who slowly walks through the now-icy corridor and into the room.)

  Hollow: (muttering) The Ice Surge.

  (He wears a white shirt with pants, and the look on Ethan’s face is nothing like his previous self: he’s got a tired, empty, detached, and emotionless expression on his face. He looks around at the Sparks, seeing their shocked reactions with a chilling detachment as he approaches Hollow.)

  Hollow: (subtly surprised) Ethan.

  Ethan: (hoarsely) Infinity has ordered the two of us to leave the interior of the headquarters and wait for him outside. He’s heading for the Fire Surge Beacon.

  Hollow: I see. We’ll get to it, but first, I need to do something.

  Ethan: (snarling) What is it?

  Hollow: (firmly) My master has permitted me to do so. We’ll leave afterwards and follow his orders.

  Ethan: Is that so? (muttering, subtly harsh) Make it quick. We don’t have much time.

  (The neon red symbol on Hollow’s mask narrows for a moment, as if in visible surprise, and he reluctantly nods, then Ethan steps back, crossing his arms with the unchanging, detached look on his face. The Sparks continue glancing at Ethan in disbelief as they remain frozen in place, unable to break free so easily, and then their attention turns to Hollow as he stands in front of them.)

  Hollow: (firmly) You were forced into a life you never wished for, all because the world never adapted to the mere idea of your existence. You had to fight tooth and nail for a living as a result of everyone else’s ignorance. Join us. Join my master’s side, and grasp your destiny with your own hands. Let us not allow ourselves to be crushed underfoot by the obsolete ideals of a dysfunctional society.

  Sylvia: (scowling) Hmph, spare me the crap. We have nothing to do with this nonsense you’re spitting. We’re just doing what’s best for us without a care in the world for anything or anyone else.

  Hollow: This is what’s best for you, what’s best for all of us. Why do you struggle to see it?

  Boltix: (grimacing) We decide what’s best for us. Not you. Not anyone else.

  Jackpot: (narrowing his eyes) Save your breath, cuz we’re not interested.

  Hollow: (muttering) So that’s what you choose? To stand against the truth?

  Mistrick: (rolling her eyes) You might as well stop trying so hard. Save it for someone who cares.

  Hollow: But why is that? (his warped voice fading, turning into a more familiar voice) Why won’t you listen?

  (Upon hearing that voice, that all too familiar voice, Boltix, Jackpot, Mistrick, and Sylvia glance at Hollow in shock, their lips parted and their pupils narrowing in realization, as if instantly recognizing that voice. As Hollow lifts his hood up and slowly takes off his mask, placing it in his pocket, their suspicions get confirmed. What they see behind the mask is a twenty-year old young man with a bald head, brown eyes, and a darker skin tone; even Ethan reacts with the faintest glimpses of surprise upon seeing Hollow take off his mask. It’s none other than their lost teammate, the person they kept desperately searching for, the look on his eyes sharp, grim, and subtly tired: it’s Stone.)

  Stone: (looking up at them, a slight rasp in his voice) Don’t you… trust me?