The sound of blades clashing together echoed through an overgrown courtyard. Frightened birds let out odd squawks before flying away lopsidedly. In the center of the courtyard, a teenage girl with hot pink hair in a pixie cut blocked a flurry of rapid attacks dealt by an older female with long, white hair and a scar going across her face.

The girl with hot pink hair donned a black leather jacket on top of a grey shirt that was torn up at the bottom alongside black jeans and boots that reached up almost to her knees but stopped halfway. Meanwhile, the white-haired woman wore a black shirt that was longer in the back like a tailed coat alongside black pants with no shoes and a strap around her waist with the sheath for her sword.

As the two battled, the woman instructed, "Fix your stance. Your balance is off which leaves you open to attacks."

When the girl shifted her feet, she said, "You always tell me to fix my stance."

In response, the older woman replied, "Until you get it right, I will continue to tell you. Now, no talking, You'll lose focus which leaves you vulnerable."

The younger of the two retorted, "You're talking too. Besides, learning about sword fighting is boring. Shouldn't you be teaching me about guns?"

"You're already well trained with firearms. I'm strengthening your weak points. Being versatile is essential for combat seeing as you can't predict what kind of situation you'll be put into," the woman responded.

The girl asked, "Can we at least-" She was cut off as she felt the ground beneath her feet suddenly disappear. A loud groan escaped her lips as her back hit the hard stone. The tip of a sword was pointed mere inches from her neck.

The older woman stated, "No talking." The sword was withdrawn from the girl's neck, allowing her to stand again. The woman then instructed, "Now, back to battle stance." Without another word, the young girl complied.

When the two went to battle again, the sound of a loud fog horn sliced through the cold, still air. They stopped in their tracks as a young man ran over towards them, skidding to a halt in front of the woman before saluting. In between pants, he states, "General Arden, Commander Lin has sent me to inform you that there's been a breach near the Ardosa bridge."

Arden asked, "Is it a mutant?"

The man replied, "No, ma'am. It's an unidentified group of people. They're armed."

Arden nodded and took off towards the breach. The girl quickly followed behind her as the man simply sat on the ground, laying on his back as his chest heaved from trying to regain his breath.

The first thing that struck the girl was the smoke. A collum of black smoke rose up from the bridge connecting the island they were on to the mainland. A mass of soldiers fired into the smoke blindly, hoping to hold back whatever waited to emerge from it and attack.

At the front of the soldiers, a woman with long black hair in a braid and an eye patch stood tall. She carried a strong air of authority with her as Arden walked up to her before saluting, "Commander Lin. You requested me?"

Commander Lin kept her gaze trained on the wall of smoke obscuring her view of the bridge as she responded, "Yes. I'd like you to take a small group to the coast to scope out the situation on the bridge. Have your apprentice find high ground where she can get a good view with her sniper rifle."

As Arden observed the situation, she stated, "Commander, have you noticed that there's no return fire? Are you sure this wasn't just someone trying to scare us?"

Commander Lin narrowed her eyes before raising her hand into the air where everyone could see it before making a fist, causing everyone to cease fire. The sound of flames licking at the bridge filled the air as everyone went still, waiting anxiously for something to suddenly burst out of the smoke and break the silence.

Just as they began to lower their weapons, the sound of a single gunshot sliced through the air. Time seemed to slow down as the bullet emerged from the cloud of smoke. In the girl's mind, she saw the bullet strike Commander Lin in the chest. She saw herself pushing Lin out of the way but getting shot in her place.

The girl began trying to find an alternative way to prevent the bullet from injuring Lin. Quickly, she looked at the sword resting in the sheath on Arden's hip. Time returned to its normal speed as the girl grabbed the sword while she ran towards Commander Lin. She skidded to a halt in front of her as she held up the sword, the flat side facing the bullet. Shutting her eyes tightly, she heard the ting of the projectile striking the sword as small vibrations were sent through the blade.

Slowly, the girl opened her eyes as she heard a mass of guns suddenly aim at the smoke again. Arden pulled the girl into cover as she scolded her, "What the hell were you thinking?! You could've gotten killed!"

The girl retorted, "The bullet would've killed Commander Lin! Besides, I wouldn't have done it if I didn't know it would work."

Arden took her sword back as she said, "I understand that you have certain abilities that others don't but that doesn't make you a hero! Nobody's a hero. Just get to some high ground and use your sniper rifle."

Begrudgingly, the girl followed orders and found high ground. She aimed her rifle at the smoke as they all waited for the shooter to reveal themselves.

Finally, a figure began to step out of the smoke. The first thing that caught the girl's eye was the metal leg that reflected the sunlight as the figure emerged. As more of the figure was revealed, the girl noticed a tattoo on the back of the mysterious person's hand.

The symbol was an oval that ended with points on the left and the right like an eye symbol. It had an X going through it alongside one line going through the X vertically. The tattoo caused multiple soldiers, including Commander Lin herself, to tense up.

The girl froze as the figure's face was revealed from the smoke. It was a female who looked not much older than her. She had long, dark red hair that was faded and shaved on the left side. A mask covered the top left portion of her face as her lips twisted into a smirk.

Arden stood beside Commander Lin as she stared at the masked female with wide eyes, "R-Reina?"

The masked female grinned, "Long time no see, Master."

Commander Lin stated, "You were presumed dead, Reina. Why have you only come back now."

Reina laughed, sending a chill down the girl's spine as Reina's head was in her crosshairs. Arden felt a sickening feeling in her stomach. Reina explained, "I would've but unfortunately, I couldn't." She gestured to her mechanical leg before her expression suddenly turned to one filled with hatred, "I waited for you to come for me. I held on to the hope that I'd be rescued. But nobody came."

Commander Lin questioned, "How did you survive then?"

The grin returned to Reina's face as she answered, "As if I would tell you."

As if on cue, a group of people emerged from the smoke. Noticing the shocked expression on the normally calm Commander's face, Reina was thrown into a fit of laughter, "What's the matter, Commander? Shocked? Though, I suppose it's a fitting reaction. You recognize these people. At least, you should. You deemed them as failed experiments. Unfit for what you had in mind for them. You exiled them so they've been surviving on their own without you."

The girl finally snapped out of her shocked state as she took aim again at Reina. Reina continued, "They showed me that it's possible to live without the Resistance. I realized I didn't need you all. But, don't think that doesn't mean I'm not still upset nobody came to help me. Not even my own mentor. So, I thought it'd be fitting to make you all feel as helpless as I did and see how you like it."

Before the girl could take the shot, a bright light blinded her. Then, a loud sound made her unable to hear anything that was going on. She felt herself soaring through the air as a searing pain shot up her right arm before spreading throughout the rest of her body. Suddenly, something hard collided with the back of her head as everything went black.

When she opened her eyes again, she was laying on her side as the smell of burning flesh and hair filled her nose. She could taste it in her mouth, causing her to gag. The area around her was up in flames and reduced to rubble. Slowly, the ringing in her ears faded as she tried to figure out what had happened.

A pained groan caused her to look over where Arden was on her back, blood trickling from a large gash above her eye. The girl went to get up before Reina came into view, making her way towards her injured mentor. Reina drew a gun, pointing it at Arden as the twisted grin never left her face.

The girl's rifle lay on the ground not far from her. She reached for it before she noticed she couldn't feel anything past her shoulder. When she looked, there was nothing but a bloody stub where her arm used to be.

Quickly, she tore off a piece of the leg of her pants before using it to slow the blood. Then, she reached for the rifle with her other hand. Her hand shook as she tried to take aim at Reina.

Reina laughed lowly, "Sorry, Master. You brought this upon yourself."

A gunshot rang out through the air before everything fell still. The sound of fire consuming whatever it could filled the void of silence. Eventually, the sound of a gun dropping the ground alongside the sound of footsteps walking away could be heard.

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes as she lowered her gun to the ground. Reina turned towards her with the same grin as before as she said, "Sorry, Aisling. It had to be done. You'll see that one day. I know you looked up to her. I used to too. But, nobody's a hero."

Aisling stared at the body of her former mentor as she heard footsteps on the cracked concrete fade away. Soon, she was left with only the sound of flames licking at the remains of buildings and former comrades to accompany her.