And the Story keeps going on. To all People hoping the mc and to find together quickly will sadly be dissapointed. Their ways will eventually cross but other goals will be followed first.

  Enjoy the new Ark everyone ^^

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  Another catastrophe had shaken the world. Once more it had taken place in the United States. New York City was laying down in ruins, it's citizen spread across emergency camps. But still, the Statue of Liberty still stood strong overlooking devastation.

  In the end the civilian casualties had been barely at 300000. It was a big number but compared to the amount of people that had been saved it was stamped as 'acceptable'. When looking at the casualties throughout the participants of the fights things looked different depending on whom you asked.

  The Raiders had taken the biggest hit. Of the second team only the leader survived while had disappeared after her betrayal. The third team lost multiple members, John codename was found dead, pierced by multiple objects causing him to bleed to death. Velvet codename vanished completely. Rachel seemed to not have been able to take part in the fight in the first place. Karif a confirmed spy for had also been killed. Mikael was captured by military personnel for further questioning. In the end the biggest hit they had to take was the death of their most important leader. Lane was confirmed deceased with her disappearance only one full team remains mostly autonomous stationed in Japan.

  HALO too had to comp with some big losses that day. Losing two of their council members was a hit that shook their foundation as new members had to be selected. Also losing a chunk of their manpower in New York they decided to slow their operations down, only granting help to small numbers of members. In the end survived after a chase throughout the subways of NYC.

  The Fallen took mediocre losses, as they were not a unified fraction only parts of them ended up without leaders, these where quickly integrated with the remaining fractions removing the problem of leadership entirely. Out of the three envoys none made it out alive. In the end they could not succeed in even laying hand of their arch-enemy Arthus.

  The espers from Arthus Welten barely took a hit at all. Only a doll of could be found at the site though many where surprised why he had not used his power to defend himself more properly. and Arthus himself made it out alive together with his personal guard making use of a high ranking esper named . Being able to transport big amounts of matter across distances they simple teleported out leaving only a few martyrs behind to defend. Arthus has not shown himself since, seemingly preaching lesser power output to his followers.

  Nothing is known about the three other espers that had taken part of the gathering. , and had completely vanished once the fighting had begun. No more information could be gathered, thought they are still presumed to be alive.

  In the end nothing is known about Alice . After the dust had risen from the destruction of the first few skyscrapers she was last seen holding the head of an elderly woman. The forces engaging had reported that she simply had vanished with a worried expression. With that she had gone into hiding and we had no means of knowing where she would go next, or as a matter of fact what she planned to do.

  The military forces deployed had taken losses too, though they were once more dubbed 'acceptable'. Many operatives were lost and even more normal soldiers helping in the evacuation died from the collapsing buildings. The truly elite squads under commander Girand Ithild took no losses. A few prisoners could be taken in and soon disappeared out of any records concerning them. They have been presumed to be taken in by the Clan.

  In the end A3's losses could all but one be summed up as 'damaged'. Multiple members had lost limbs and parts of their armor but all could be repaired within a few weeks give and take. There was only one injured. Rose. Looking down on her I felt sad. Her entire remaining body had taken an enormous amount of damage and the molten metal from the armor had to be cut away entirely. After bringing her to headquarters and shouting for a medic it barely took eight minutes for a helicopter to arrive that took her to the nearest military hospital. Everyone had joined us in a matter of hours except Karen who had to report to her superiors.

  We all had waited together for the report of the doctors responsible. Their answer was quick and direct.

  Her survivability was low, they had to perform new surgeries barely tested and even if she survived there was a chance that she would never recover. Our mood had been at an all time low. Christian almost had thrashed the entire lower gathering room of the hospital. In the end it was Karen that came and calmed us down. At the moment it was just me, Liam and Karen assembled in front of Rose's bed. Her torso was covered in bandages and a multitude of machines kept her breathing. Our captain had reacted quite calm as I had told her what happened she had only rushed out of the room after I had finished leaving us alone for multiple hours.

  Now she had returned wearing a weird expression, she seemed half happy half distressed. Though she gave us a tired smile trying to lessen our worries... She did not succeed. Then she finally spoke up.

  "I've found a way to keep her rate of survival up. I want to talk with all of you ASAP, the others have already gathered..."

  Nodding we followed her into a private meeting room. Everyone else was already waiting all positioned differently across the room. The air was filled with sadness. It had taken a lot out of them to see Rose injured like this, though most of them hid it under their professionalism.

  After closing the door and placing a small device on the table in the middle Karen finally spoke up.

  "I have talked with some people, now I want you to listen to me. I have asked the Clan to take her in."

  Our faces clearly showed our surprise as both Songe and Christian opened their mouths but Karen interrupted them with one gesture.

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  "Even if you're against it I have already set everything in motion, she's being transported as we speak. She'll be put in one of the Clan's hidden hospitals where her body can be kept alive indefinitely. Songe?"

  Giving him the permission to speak he instantly starts.

  "Are you sure this is a good idea? What safety do we have that they will actually heal her? Why should they even?"

  Karens head seems to fall down as she answers.

  "I've called some favors in and asked for help from some others. They won't betray us, Rose will get better soon. The only thing we can do now is wait and hope for the best."

  I had an bad feeling and asked my captain outright.

  "What did they want in exchange?"

  She flinched, everyone had noticed it. It was such an involuntary movement and though it was small everyone inside the room was trained well enough to make it out. Instantly the atmosphere changed and all expressions turned dark.

  "What'd they want Captain?"

  Songe asked with clear worry in his eyes. But Karen only shook her head.

  "The only thing that concerns you is that we'll have to fulfill missions for the Clan."

  I squinted my eyes together staring at Karen.

  "What kind of missions Captain?"

  Shaking her head again she stayed silent seemingly thinking about what to say. Chris seemed angry and started walking towards her but Ignar stopped him with one simple motion. Then he directly looked at his Captain.

  "Karen, all of us have gone through enough shit together to earn each other's trust. Rose is important for us all. If you order me right now to stop asking I will not go further. But rest assured that I personally will do everything in my power to see Rose back to at her prime even if it takes the next twenty years of my life. We owe her that much.

  So, will you share what you know with us or do you deem it better to lift the responsibility yourself?"

  The talk seemed to have shaken her a bit because her entire aura seemed to calm down. Then she mustered all of us before continuing.

  "We will be tasked to catch multiple high priority targets for the Clan. They all need to be captured as unharmed as possible."

  Ignar tilts his head in confusion.

  "Why do they need us? Don't misunderstand, I know we're effective but don't they have much stronger and loyal forces at their hands?"

  The others nod in agreement, from what we could gather the Clan was incredibly powerful. Karen smiled defeated.

  "This is the favor I called upon. The Clan does nothing for free but I still knew someone that owed me. The Clan will let us do this for them and in return they will heal Rose. They'll probably use us for missions with a lower survival rate. In us they've found a disposable force that is not connected deeply with the family."

  She gestures towards all of us.

  "If anyone wants to step out of this deal I'll respect it, bu-"

  We all interrupt her together.

  "Karen, you don't need to ask us this. We're in."

  "As if we'd let something like that stop us."

  "It's worth for Rose."

  We all had the same idea in mind, safe Rose. Lastly Liam asked another question.

  "Karen, what exactly do you mean with high priority targets?"

  She seemed to hesitate a second before responding.

  "I only know of a few. First and foremost is Arthus himself, the Clan seems to know his power and wants to find out more. After that there are multiple others, Arthus' adjutant is important as well with her ability to regenerate. If possible they would like to get their hands on as well, though I do not know why. They are also interested in who seemed to have betrayed the Raiders for unknown reasons. Fascinatingly enough they seem to know nothing about her but as always they mostly want her for her unknown regenerative ability. I am sure there are others but they wouldn't tell me anything else."

  We had to stomach that information first. Arthus was known as one of the most powerful espers in the world. Even though not much could be gathered on his power he was marked as extremely dangerous and now that he had gone into hiding it would be even more difficult to even find him.

  The others as well, of course would always be located close to her idol but the rest? had completely vanished. Thinking about the masked figure I felt saddened. We had been connected through a seeming hate on the Raiders but I had already decided. Comrades and friends would come first. Seeing the determination in our eyes Karen seemed to lighten up a bit. With gratitude in her eyes she gave her orders.

  "Very well then Rose will be kept alive until we can give the Clan something they want but as of now we're heading back home. Everyone get ready."

  Nodding everyone starts to head out but I wait until the others have disappeared. There was still something bothering me. In the end only me and my Captain remained and as soon as the door closed behind Liam I asked.

  "Karen? Is this really all there is? You could have anticipated our answer and only missions with a chance of death would not be enough to make you this... shaken up. Is this really everything they wanted?"

  And then she made a mistake, she lied, her aura filled with regret and pain as she answered.

  "Yes Alexis, this is everything."

  Then we walked outside together both hearts heavy. Hers from an unknown threat and mine from her lie. In the end everything would be exposed and I was sure the entirety of A3 would aid her. Though I wasn't sure if Karen was aware of this herself.