Excerpt from the introduction of the Holovision Documentary, 'The Exodus of Florida', dictating the harsh conditions of mass immigration of refugees from the Free City of The Floridian Gulf to New California and SynTec's New Port City following it's decimation to The Infinite.

The Fourth Swarm was longer than any of the previous. For 28 years, humanity struggled against a constant onslaught of MAL that were of unparalleled danger and versatility. On the continent of North America, they'd believed themselves safe in the year 2421 when the MALtitans: The Typhoon and The Mother ceased activity early on in the year.

At the time, The Flordian Gulf was thriving and the most populated Free City in the world at 340 Million residents. It spanned from the American State of Florida down to Veracruz of Old Mexico, the location vital for North American import of SynTec and Imperium goods.

Meanwhile, The Infinite was last spotted on the southern coast of South America, predicted to attack the Antarctic territories of the Corporate Nations. In one day, it travelled through an entire continent undetected. Past the Free Cities Novo Rio and Amazon Central, it stopped at The Floridian Gulf — and decimated it.

NeoCore was quick to respond with Herald: Cold-Vulcan, but the MALtitan's rampage was short and devastating. In the eighteen hours it was active, 120 Million were deemed casualties, and another 90 Million were killed the following week as MALs erupted and reproduced during the calamity.

What followed was a mass-evacuation of the remaining 130 Million surviors through NeoCore Citadels and SynTec Aerodynes. However, sudden activity of the titans: The Mother and The Terror had caused both parties to redelegate resources, resulting in 70 Million stranded refugees after a grueling month-long evacuation. Although further aid was given to the refugees in the form of NeoCore and SynTec escorts, infighting had significantly dampened evacuation efforts as food and water resources ran low.

With little choice, many refugees migrated through MALinfested regions on foot. Although corporate aid was given, millions chose to travel independantly while others joined Nomad tribes for shelter. Travel through the American wilds was considered exceedingly dangerous due to the permafrost conditions of the continent's center. It is approximated that of the 70 Million refugees, 25 Million traveled to SynTec's New Port City, whereas 45 Million traveled west to New California.

Of these survivors, less than 15% made it through the journey.

The Ripper

I was giddy. Just two of The Dogwhistler's thralls had proven to posses quite the exquisite Shardware on their persons, no doubt at the hands of an Uncaged affiliated Operator. Perhaps even the handiwork of lovely Skelly, why if it turned out to be the work of some scrapper torn from the streets and force-fed Warpcode into those Shard-gluttonous maws of theirs, I would be sorely disappointed.

What I sought to pry was the sweet flesh of one touched by by none other than the Skeleton Man himself, Mikail Almajali, to beseech upon his secrets like he had once deigned me to share unto him. Oh… I'd kill to grant myself that joy, for even bones carried within them the vital marrow through which we bore blood and steel.

I would gladly feast upon the Warpcode bleeding into his work, hungrier than any have ever known.

"Uh, The Ripper… you're kinda creeping me the fuck out." Starlight chided, a child unaware of the beauty of our cruel craft.

And… language, my dear.

"How are all three of you such hypocrites?!"

Hypocrisy is the fodder that shields the mind of Ripley Donovick, dear. And I am no such mind, I am one born of the depths of his craving for excellence. I shall let nothing unbecome of the shared wish we desire… To arm Dreadwire. To lead him into a path where blood and steel lies for our plunder.

My great mind. And his… slightly lesser one.

"Brat!" Maiden was simply too blind to register either of us. "Get a moving and hook up your AI to the mainframe! Let's see what it can do!"

Tilting my head, I let my voice glide towards her. "My deepest apologies, Maiden, but this AI of mine positions herself as Starlight, and neither her nor I will take such disrespect from an Operator who spent-how-many-long years toiling to develop a mere alarm system."

"Oh… okay! I like you a lot more now Ripper!"

Apologies for being pedantic but, dear, it's 'The' Ripper.

She blinked in my view, "Uh, sure."

Maiden clicked her tongue beneath her mask, before taking it off so I could finally grasp sight of the woman who'd bested Dreadwire. She was old, white weaves of hair tangled into a thick bun and her dark skin was wrinkled by sun and age, but those icy eyes of hers held a piercing wisdom I couldn't wait to take for myself.

"That seems very unsanitary."

I'll sterilize them, of course.

As we walked into the bottom workshop of the homeless shelter, I was mildly startled to see just how many of Dogwhistler's dogs lay in subdued rest down here. The briefest scan counted fifteen of them laying about convoluted surgical beds that were overcrowded and overrun with machinery. Many of them had limbs pried off, while others had wires worming into their skull's various cavities.

And then, there were the two black-skulled grunts at Tier II who Dreadwire had critically harmed. One of them bled profusely from his stomach, the other had crimson tears dripping down emptied eye sockets. Maiden snapped her finger, pulling my attention away as she pointed me towards a system of holograms and a Netport.

Not in a hurry, I observed the various biomonitors. They aimed mainly to stabilize nervous system integrity and personal-

"Hurry up!" She barked, and I begrudgingly stepped a little quicker and hooked into the mainframe. Maiden tapped a console, and grunted. "I'm giving you basic operating access via a remote pathway. 'Starlight' can go through both the systems here and your Frame in a second."

"A millisecond." Starlight proclaimed, slipping into one of the illusory scattered around us. "So what do you want me to do?"

"I'll have Seraphim look at you, figure out your limits. It's a step above any other standard AI-based Datashield, but I doubt it compares to a fraction of Dogwhistler's mindgames." Maiden swiped through a few bars, before leaning to look at Starlight who was now cast in an outline of silver. A swirling eye appeared next to her, a vortex of metal drowning inwards. That should be none other than eraphim.

ANALYZING FOREIGN- ERROR:- ADJUSTING SAFETY MEA- ERROR:- ADJUSTING SAFETY- ERROR:- ADJUSTING SA-

"Give permission to foreign Warpcode software titled 'Starlight'." Maiden sighed. "Seraphim's been doing that ever since your little Daemon got into our systems."

Starlight's pink began to extend onto Seraphim's round body, who stood motionless. "Oh, wow. You're not as scary as I thought Sera!"

"Don't call her Sera." Maiden said sharply, but there was a confusing weight in her voice. Sadness? "And you're only observing a portion of her…. This is her full power."

The silver-shaded globe rippled, before blowing up like a balloon. Or a very inflamed eye. In brutal honesty, Seraphim dwarfed Starlight. The globe was about fifty-times larger than her. Starlight's mouth went wide and then she sputtered. "O-oh. Hey there, Seraphim. Sorry, maybe you and me got off on the wrong foot. Or, erm, wrong handshake protocol. All those pokes I did to you… it was just sportsmanship? We good?"

Stolen novel; please report.

"AFFIRMITIVE." The globe responded, slivers of silver opening to reveal wings with small holes upon them. "I AM DETECTING MINOR DAMAGES TO MY DATASHIELD CAPABILITIES; WARPCODE INJECTION REQUIRED."

Maiden sighed, reaching into a drawer where she pulled out a Datacube that she plugged into the mainframe, before looking over Seraphim. "Starlight, that fancy force-correspondence you tried on me, I'm allowing you to try it with Seraphim. Just don't eat her."

"I have a good diet, I'd never take nibbles out of something so…" Starlight's eyes trailed higher and higher to look at the massive globe. "Uh, robust."

An eager smile grew over me. "Ah, so you can restore both Shardware and Warpcode constructs, now you're delighting Starlight with a glance of that Restoration Unique Feature? How charitable."

Maiden's eyes flickered over to me. "How did you… tch. Better you don't tell me, or else I'll never let you leave. Besides, it's all in preparation, I need Seraphim to be able to withstand Gold — that means I need to start the process of integrating Gold into her. For all we know, Dogwhistler is a Titanium Delver. No matter how complicated and effective her code might be, it won't be enough against something of a higher Grade."

"So you plan to fuse Starlight into Seraphim, then?" I had my issues with that, but also a morbid curiosity. Would the end product be an amalgamation of the two?

"No. I just need Seraphim to observe Starlight's structure, and for Starlight to provide a little… aid. And Starlight's too small to be anything meaningful for Seraphim." Maiden angled closer, adjusting various parameters as the punctures in Seraphim's coding patched up.

"She still provided ample damage to your own construct." I leaned closer, taking great observation of the process.

"How do I put this?" Maiden split her gaze between both AI's. "Starlight is Gold, her Warpcode means more than Seraphim's Silver. In terms of quality, density, and efficiency, your little construct packs a punch. Seraphim's good, her original author was one of the best in her grade, but she's no longer around. I don't weave Data. All I do is restore it, and provide Seraphim with the resources to improve herself. Problem is, she's hit a plateau for the last few years. If I change any parameters with Seraphim's original source-code, which is a monumental task, I doubt I can keep control of her."

"Seraphim would become a Daemon." I concluded. "Neither MAL nor human. A semi-living viral being of Warpcode, bound to combat The Dogwhistler, but it could deviate and self-alter itself to be too efficient and cause damage to the systems here and elsewhere. A rogue entity waging war on the Net, just waiting for its various Sentinels to spill Silver digital blood in those digital labyrinths."

"About as eloquent as you could put it." Maiden stiffened, the reparations were done and Starlight was twirling around with a dizzy look on her.

"I'm about to barf up all the spaghetti I ate. How strong is Seraphim?"

"About the equivalent of her original author. So just know that if I had set Seraphim to actively squash you instead of trying to figure out what you are… you'd be squished." Maiden said flatly. "Seraphim's got the strength of a Tier III, whereas my scans pit Starlight at Tier I. Just a highly efficient Tier I. No wonder it was a pain in the ass hitting you… she boasts about a 42% increase to your facultative nervous system. Incredible analytic capabilities for everything related to Warpcode which extends to your own sensory and mobility translators, the ability to synchronize to an Adapter's Implant without risk of Degradation, and from what I see… a self-coded Personality Editor?"

"Oh… uh…" Starlight rubbed her chin. "Helps me understand human emotions better!"

Maiden clenched her jaw. "Don't even want to know what a Daemonized Personality Editor could do if it infects an Adapter. Be careful with this one, Ripper."

"'The' Ripper." I corrected. "And Starlight is her own person. Should she choose to go rogue, she will face the consequences."

Starlight laughed nervously. "Ah, ha… looks like I'm stuck to you, The Ripper."

I grinned. "Good girl."

"Ew, don't say that to me!" Starlight belched. "I've seen you say that to Mirage plenty of times!"

Maiden stilled, twisting her icy glare onto me. "You're dating Mirage?"

I hummed to myself, reaching for my goggles. "Ah, perhaps it would be better if… these were off."

The goggles popped off my mask, and I let-

Ripley

I was now facing Maiden's scrutiny. Oh shit… rubbing my neck, I nodded. "Yeah, we're a thing."

"How did they let you?" Maiden questioned.

"Oh, her Personas?" I chuckled. "Simple, I'm just dating them all at once. Don't ask. It's complicated… not the relationship! Just, uh, the situation."

Maiden rubbed her forehead, exasperation burdening the air she spoke into. "I should have figured out from Starlight's name. And not her Personas, I meant Diamante and Missy."

"Why would they have a problem with it?"

"Cus'," Maiden's eyes bore into me, "that girl's always getting herself mixed up with the wrong crowd."

"You mean Skeleton?" I shook my head. "Mirage told me about him, and yeah… I know they work together sometimes… but she's not at his beck and call. He was just the first person to give her… purpose and power. She's grown since then."

"She's very much still the same person, never knows what she wants so she does what others ask her to and then throws all her tantrums into those three Persona's of hers." Maiden tightened her mouth. "Just… be careful. Last thing you need is to be dating someone who's helping the person we might be going to war with."

"War?"

"We need him dead before the Swarm." Maiden said simply. "Otherwise, the city will find use for him, might even make him a known figure to the public. His weapons, his skills, they're too good to pass up when the city's going to be facing the wrath of MALtitans at two borders. Him, Dogwhistler, Soul Killer. All of them need to die."

"The Uncaged…" I swallowed my thoughts. "And this place, it's a staging ground for the war against them? Freeing Dogwhistler's captives, taking her Shardware and using it against them. I told Missy about the dog tags, so since then… I'm guessing she's been sending these people over to you."

"Missy, no. I wouldn't work with her even if it meant a free ticket to Titanium. Diamante's the only one of the Misfits I can actually stand." Maiden spat out.

My eyes snapped at hers. "First, Mirage… now Missy?"

"Mirage is used too easily. Missy uses people too easily." Maiden let her eyes settle on me, gently. "I'd wager she's been using you too. People don't change who they are, just the way they act. Missy's done things, terrible things, since she dropped onto Florida a century ago."

"When she was in NeoCore?" I nervously gritted.

"Back then—" Maiden squeezed her fist, "—and since. I've been burned by her once too many times, all she leaves of you are ashes. Even then, she'll find a way to use your ashes as fuel for her desires."

I wasn't sure if it was right for me to hear all of this, but it was more information than I'd ever gotten from them. "And her desires are…?"

"To burn the world." Maiden gave a morbid laugh. "The Uncaged, The Founders… they're all just stepping stones to her conquest to change the very foundations of society. She might seem caring one moment, but it's all just a facade. I would know. My eyes are proof."

She popped out her blue eyes from her skull, revealing a wound inside of stitched bone and metal. "Best way to kill a Shard Adapter… it isn't a headshot. It's a shot through the eye, you almost got me with it, break the optics and shoot through the orbital fissure into that sweet brain juice. Get the angle right and you can even sever the brainstem. Lots of Adapters now have some sort of subdermal plating within their skulls, especially Tier IIs and IIIs."

Maiden then popped the eye back into it's socket, I squinted at the audible pop. "Didn't notice an orbital fissure in your socket. Is your eye an External Shardware? Never seen that before, thought you always needed a direct Neurowiring tract to transmit that much amount of optic data.'

"It is. Integration can do more than just make you good with a gun or drone." Maiden's gaze then burned as they stared intensely into my own. "Speakin' of your eyes now, where'd you get them from?"

"My eyes?" They were found with the Endoskeleton my grandfather had, but I didn't want her to know that. "Just a family heirloom."

"Specialize in breaking down structure and architecture, while also analyzing Shardware build, right?" She… guessed?

"Uh… yeah, how'd you-"

"So the bastard got a grandson, huh…" Maiden laughed. "Alberich Gravas, you son of a bitch. Bad enough you left Missy a Devil and a Skeleton, now you left her a spider."

"You knew my… grandfather?"

"Yeah… The Hammersmith." She said his name with both reverence and frustration. "We came to the city together."

Maiden stirred in thought, as though I'd reminded her of a past long forgotten. "Us, and a whole lot of others. They've mostly gone and died now or hopped up on the wrong side of our barrels. He was always the type to disappear, never one for teamwork, but I've been wondering where the son of a bitch went."

"Africa." I said quietly. "Skeleton told me."

"Imperium, huh? Or… oh, that son of a bitch!" She snapped her fingers, a wild grin growing on her. "That crazy fucker is gonna try and do it! It was just a theory when we talked about it!"

"Theory about what?" I leaned closer, my attention rapt.

"About how to kill the monster that destroyed our home." She fell into her seat, her eyes drifting to pained memories. "The Infinite."

"Kill… The Infinite?" I took a deep breath.

"Yeah, and the bastard's putting all his Shards on the line. Africa… it isn't Imperium he's after. It's The Terror. He's after Oblivion."

My mind honed in on the last word, my Implant hunting for meaning. Slowly, words came out of my mouth. "He's hunting after a Fragment of a Source-Shard… The Terror, it wields the Source-Shard of Oblivion."

Maiden froze. "How on earth does a fresh Shardling like you know about-

I shook my head in confusion. "Wait, he's going to kill a MALtitan… by hunting another MALtitan for parts?"

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