Far away from O'Clock City, a mana-powered transport pod traversed Grand North's southern desert: A vast expanse stretching beneath a scorching sun that threatened to melt steel.
Some hours had passed since Oliver and Aurora left the Spellex warehouse and crossed the border from Efea, and for the spider woman, each minute was an eternity.
Slick with sweat, the heat outside made her feel like she was melting from the inside out. Unlike her though, the doctor remained cool and collected. His posture was relaxed… and unfazed by the environment.
"Are we there yet?" Aurora gasped before a large wave of dry air hit her face through the vehicle's vents.
"Just a few more minutes and we'll hit the mid-wait point," the doctor responded.
"I swear to whatever gods are out there, I'll kill you if that's true!"
Oliver laughed in a dry sound that held no genuine mirth.
"Just a few minutes and we'll be there. Don't worry."
They passed the skeletal remnants of ruins from the Helix War, slowly decaying under the desert winds. Then, after continuing through some wind-sculpted hills, they entered a large sand field.
Aurora couldn't help but look up from the vehicle window and see giant sand tornadoes spiraling in the air, like pillars of swirling sand and dust.
The tornadoes never touched the ground. They seemed to hover perpetually about one hundred meters above the earth while arcs of lightning crackled around them.
Oliver knew this was no mere weather anomaly: They were powerful natural defenses of earth and magic that protected the area from spy planes or aerial attacks. Perfect for a hidden base.
Soon after, a massive complex of buildings materialized in the distance: A prison that could be confused for a small town, cunningly designed to remain unnoticed by satellites.
The place seemed completely abandoned from afar. Though, as their vehicle drew closer, the movements of people came to light. Most of them seemed to be human, with a few beast-people and vampires that wore blue uniforms adorned with red stripes.
It wasn't just any color… It was the symbol of "Grandiose"... the terrorist group.
Oliver opened the door when the vehicle came to a stop and a wave of suffocating hot air surged inside. Aurora desperately gasped.
"AH!" she exclaimed and instinctively shielded herself from it.
"We're here," the doctor calmly said, "Inside, there's air conditioning, so let's get a move on."
Walking on the sand, Grandiose soldiers greeted them with deep respect. They knew full well who was in charge of their grand operation… Who held the strings of their rebellion. Oliver was not just the beginning of it; he was the very end.
"I thought you said there weren't many people under your command," Aurora murmured.
"Well, only about a thousand or two. Not that many."
"You call that, 'not that many'?" she finished, after walking past several stolen Hawk Walkers and transport jets bearing the Grand North's capital logo.
Inside the prison were a vast number of people moving from left to right.
"Who are all these people?"
It wasn't until they passed some teenagers carrying grenades when Oliver answered.
"All the people here are individuals who see the problems in the government led by Alex. They are strays from Grand North, who were too poor to live closer to the capital after the Helix War and the natural magical disasters that came from it. They were forced to live in the ruins of the conflict, with no one to answer their call for help. Except for one person…"
"You?" Aurora probed.
Her question was answered with silence. Afterwards, three words escaped the man.
"No. Someone else."
She wanted to continue their conversation, though there was no more time for it. They had reached their destination.
Immense and imposing metal doors slid open and revealed a conference room, where a silent individual stood. Oliver and Aurora entered and the dark-coated machine turned to face them. His optical sensors flickered. It was very similar to Alf, yet subtly different.
The machine had a fluid, liquid metal outer shell that constantly shifted and perfected itself… A clear upgrade from Alf's rigid design.
"What took so long?" the robot asked in a neutral yet subtly impatient tone.
"Sorry T3, we had to take a detour after a sand tornado touched down on the main road," Oliver responded.
"I understand. You could have notified me, though. I have been wasting power maintaining magnet pulls from inside, waiting for you."
"Still not done with the miniature fusion reactor, huh?"
"Not yet. It has to be perfect, just like me," the machine, called T3, stated with arrogance.
He quickly looked at Aurora and scanned her.
"I heard the Spider Killer was one of the most powerful beast people. I must say, I am deeply disappointed."
"Excuse me?!" Aurora exclaimed and narrowed her eyes, "And who is this Alf knockoff?"
"Excuse you?! I am NOT an Alf knockoff," T3 retorted, "I am superior to that imperfect piece of rotting metal."
Their little interaction caused Oliver to sigh and smoothly step between them.
"Alright, stop fighting. Aurora, this is T3. He's a machine-based organism just like Alf, but way more intelligent and powerful."
The machine offered a subtle nod while crossing his metallic arms. A clear gesture of pride.
"And T3, THIS is Aurora Spice. The Spider Assassin from Ihari," Oliver continued, "She's the 7th strongest assassin in the 'Ghosts Star Association'."
"Seventh strongest, huh? Is that the best you could get?"
Aurora swiftly shot a web at T3 with an annoyed grunt. The machine reacted in an instant and his liquid metal form shifted to avoid the attack. This let the web slam against the wall behind him.
Even still, the woman used the web as a point of leverage to pull herself forward with force. She appeared directly in front of the machine and her leg coiled to deliver a flying kick that would knock out any ordinary person... T3 was not just any person.
He reacted with inhuman speed and morphed backward just enough to evade her kick. Then, he flowed around her, avoiding even more web attacks.
After a missed strike sliced through the air, Aurora turned towards him and a challenging smile appeared on her face.
"I've never killed a robot before. I guess I gotta stop holding back."
"You never had, and you never will," T3 flatly stated.
His hand morphed into a sleek and deadly plasma weapon. They were about to resume their assault until Oliver stepped directly between them.
"Stop!"
Both Aurora and T3 halted their attacks mere inches from striking him.
"Okay, let's get one thing straight. We all want something… Something that we will all get when we finish the mission," He raised his open palm, pointing first at Aurora and then at T3, "You want to deepen your relationship with the man you love, and you want revenge concerning your creator. If we work together-"
"You're not supposed to reveal information about that!" Aurora exclaimed.
"It would be futile; I already knew much about your reasons for joining this operation."
"It doesn't matter!" Oliver's firm voice cut through their bickering, "Aurora, if we want for this mission to succeed, we need to trust each other. Starting with knowing why we are here."
The half human looked at both of them for a few moments. Her deepest instincts screamed that this was a very bad idea…
"I'll drop my hand when you tell me one thing."
"Sure, anything."
"Why are YOU doing this? Why did YOU initiate this large operation against the capital?"
Oliver's expression hardened and the air in the room grew surprisingly heavy.
"You wanted to be open about why we're here, right?" Aurora pressed, "Then why are YOU here?"
Anger erupted from Oliver's simple words.
"I want revenge."
"Revenge for what?"
Silence.
"Revenge for what Grand North did to my wife."
She understood when her gaze met his eyes. Aurora previously noticed the dark aura of vengeance emanating from him… now she saw something deeper.
He was on the same consuming quest she was on… and those were the same eyes she saw reflected in the mirror each morning, haunted by the memory of her adopted father's death.
She slowly lowered her arms. T3 also followed.
"I guess we're looking for the same thing…" the woman said.
"Yeah. If we work together, we'll get everything we want. But we need to fix the little conflict we have here, alright?"
"And how are we supposed to do that?" T3 asked analytically.
"By the two of you shaking hands and agreeing to work together."
Both Aurora and the machine looked at each other with a complex mixture of conflict and reluctant understanding. T3 focused on the doctor one last time and sighed. He walked towards Aurora and his robotic right arm morphed back into a natural robotic hand. He lifted it toward her.
"I calculate that it wouldn't kill me to work with an inferior being like yourself."
Aurora chuckled softly and slowly lifted her own hand.
"I guess I can work with a self-righteous prick like you."
Their hands clasped briefly in a reluctant alliance.
"Well… would you look at that?" Oliver stated, "Now we can actually start discussing business."
Even if things were superficially resolved, both T3 and Aurora walked backward, glaring at each other. She didn't know what his deal was and it seemed they were going to have a really hard time working together.
As for T3, he didn't really hate her. It's just that he wasn't a fan of her unpredictable half-human emotions disrupting his precise calculations.
"How are the preparations going?" Oliver asked and walked to the array of screens at the back of the room.
"Everything is coming along. I have bodies close to their facility with the Magic Duster. Though, if we are not careful, Rod and his daughter will make it to the capital by aerial transport sooner than planned," T3 explained, pointing to a screen displaying the Gun Hero's intended running path, "From the tracker in the Telyglasses, calculations suggest 4 days sooner. I have initiated delaying procedures so that they take longer."
"That's a bad thing, right?" Aurora said with sudden agitation, "I still need to see the capitol building's schematics to make a path towards the desired point. If they get there soon, I won't be ready."
"Lucky for you, I have already made multiple possible pathways to the kidnapping point; they are in the planning room downstairs," the machine replied.
Aurora scoffed.
"Unlike you, I have far more experience on this sort of thing, so your possible routes are as good as unusable."
A guttural sound erupted from T3. It sounded like he was trying to emulate laughter. Maybe he thought it would come out one way. Though, in truth, what he generated was a horrible mechanical sound.
"Did you just try to laugh?" Oliver asked, trying to hold in his own laughter, "Buddy, we gotta work on that."
Aurora felt a surge of irritation… She definitely knew the robot was messing with her.
"That was the most disgusting sound I've ever heard in my 60 years on this earth, and it's not even close."
"You are just not ready for perfection."
"Well, ANYWAY," Oliver's voice cut through them once more, "Aurora, you'll have to take a look at the route, see what works and what doesn't. That way, we can be sure the plan is foolproof in the aspect of infiltration."
T3 stared at Oliver. His logic aligned with the man's strategy.
"What about everything else?" Aurora asked, "What happens after the kidnapping? How exactly is Rod gonna become mine?"
"After we get the girl, we attract Rod and capture him," Oliver responded, "But right now, what's important is the infiltration."
"Wait a second, did you just say capture?" the woman's voice rose, "Are you gonna use that "Dusty" thing you told me about? It was supposed to depower him, right?"
T3 scoffed and signaled the screens. It instantly displayed an image of the machine that was able to seal away Rod's power.
"Is that supposed to be it? Looks more like a fire cooler…" she said before Oliver pointed at the screen.
"That right there is our key to success. 'Magic Duster' is the codename for it. Its original function was to absorb powerful natural magic from the atmosphere and contain it, momentarily sealing it. It was supposed to be utilized in the middle of the continent to enter the floating Celestial Lands. And from the test run in the Spellex Facility, it worked wonders for Rod's mana."
"Well… if it worked "wonders" I wouldn't have been stopped by him, would I? I agreed to do that mission because you guaranteed it would work."
"I did show you its effects beforehand, didn't I?" the doctor responded.
"Rod destroyed the Magic Duster without the need of his power. Remember, he is still a gun user," T3 backed him up, "Either way, even if Rod's mana is denser than the strongest non-interlink users, this machine was designed to absorb a lot more than his body can output. Thus, it is an effective tool to take away his advantage."
The woman's mind shifted from skeptical thoughts to anticipation.
"Could this really work?" she thought.
Then, the doctor walked closer to her, noticing the conflict on her face.
"I know it may seem trivial, but I have faith in this plan. It's been in the works for years now, and I know it will work."
"I have done more than seventy million simulations, and all of them suggest we are successful," T3 backed him up.
Silence.
In those moments, the machine's optical sensors analyzed Aurora and noticed something.
"Is there something you do not understand?"
"I need more information…"
"I'll explain it to you after we get Catra," Oliver responded firmly, "We need to focus on the deadline right now. If we miss this chance, the mission won't succeed, are we in agreement with that?"
Aurora looked at him for a few seconds.
"Yes."
"Good. Then let us get started with the planning. This service bot will lead you to your quarters and the planning room," the doctor finished.
She immediately noticed Oliver had accounted for all of their individual goals… yet, one part seemed off. Aurora had an unsettling feeling that they were hiding things from her… Even still, she decided to hold off and continue with the plan.
"Okay… Keep me informed about everything," she stated, "I may be your ally now, but that can change quickly."
"Don't worry. We'll inform you," the doctor dismissively said.
The floating surface bot passed the entrance and Aurora followed it. She took one last look at her new allies… and finally left.
Oliver sighed once they were alone.
"I can feel the anger in your circuits, T3. What's wrong?"
"How could you let her join?" the machine exclaimed, "We both know she has a history with Rod. Out of all the seventy million simulations, 99% of them end with her betraying us at some point. It is in the nature of her love."
That the machine's words did not faze Oliver at all. Slowly, he walked past T3 and focused on a screen displaying complex data on Aurora.
"I know."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You said 99% of your predictions showed Aurora betraying us, is that correct?"
"Affirmative."
"That means our plan has a 99% chance of success."
The machine tried to understand that unexpected conclusion.
"The plan is completely dependent on her betraying us, because if she doesn't, then we will fail. I accounted for anything and everything. Trust me when I tell you that."
At that moment, T3 noted that the doctor was completely serious. He was still unsure, but Oliver's words made a different kind of sense. It was apparent.
"Do you trust me?" the doctor asked.
That question caused T3 to remember how he was saved by Oliver… from his prison in that darn Grand North lab…
"Affirmative."
"Good… Now let's get back to work."