Meanwhile back at the battlefield the last of the robot soldiers is riddled full of bullet holes and falls to the ground. The mercenaries cheer and lift up their weapons for their victory over the robotic threat. A worried Zach however does not join the celebration.

“Cut it out you idiots!” Zach yelled. “The worst of the worst got over these walls and all we got defending the city are children!” Zach looks at all his fellow mercenaries with disappointment. From his pocket a mumbled voice is heard. Grabbing Zach’s attention he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a walkie-talkie.

“Zach come in! Come in Zach!” Trace’s voice echoed from the walkie.

“Trace! Where the hell have you been?!” answered Zach.

“About that general class!”, Trace said.

“We’re on our way now! I won’t let those Shima boys go down without a fight!” shouted Zach into the walkie as he gestures his men to start moving.

“No! no! It’s okay Zach! You’re not going to believe this!” Trace’s voice responded excitedly.

“Oh god we’re too late!” answered Zach. “The Shima lineage has ended! We took too long with all these small fry! Damn it all I blame myself! Move out men! We’re going to destroy this monster! For the kids!” Zach lifts his machine gunned arm into the air as all the mercenaries shout and rush toward the gate.

“They did it!” Trace’s voice yells over the walkie. All the men go quiet and freeze in place. All their heads collectively turn toward Zach clutching the walkie-talkie. Zach brings the walkie back up to his mouth.

“… Excuse me?” Zach asks through the walkie-talkie.

“They did it!” answered Trace. “Zed and Psy Shima! They defeated General Class Striker!” Everyone’s jaws drop.

Back in the city Trace stands outside the balcony of a building, peering through her sniper scope at the finished fight between the Shima brothers and Striker. “I ran out here to help these guys…”, Trace thought to herself. She continues to look through the sniper scope to see a Zed and Psy walking out of the dissipating smoke, holding each other up. “Those two… could they actually beat the tyrant?”

Back on the streets the boys walk over to a nearby bench that survived the fight. They sit down and put their heads back. “Holy crap my body’s killing me”, said Zed, grasping his right shoulder. “That many pressure punches really does a number on a guy.” Psy slowly turns his head toward his brother, holding his bleeding arm. “… Oh ya, your arm got pretty beat up too!” Zed begins to laugh and Psy closes his eyes and lets out a soft chuckle. In the distance, Zach followed by a group of mercenaries rush over to the exhausted brothers.

“Wow! Look at this chunk of Big Shot! Looks like a bomb went off or something!” Zach said. Zed gathers the strength to lift his head up.

“You’re really not too far off”, responded Zed. Zach let’s out a hearty laugh in response to Zed’s comment. Trace runs up to the group from the side.

“You should’ve seen them Zach!” Trace said. “Zed plunged his fist straight into that trash can’s chest and kaboom! There was a big explosion! And parts went flying everywhere! And! And! And!” Zach stops Trace and puts his hand on her shoulder.

“We’ve all had a pretty exciting day. Bwa! Ha! Ha!” Zach laughed. Soon everybody joined in on the triumphant laughter. Zed stops laughing and turns toward Trace.

“So,” Zed said. “Where were you during all this?” Trace gets frazzled, surprised, and starts to blush.

“I was up there!” Trace said pointing to a balcony 100 yards away. “I was going to help with cover fire, but you see! You guys seemed like you had everything under control! So, you know!” Trace blushes.

“Trace Ace!” a voice yelled out. Trace stops talking, the blush quickly dissipates. Everyone turns their attention to where the voice originated. A chubbier woman standing at five foot five inches had her hands on her waist as she stared at Trace angrily. She wore a pearl necklace and pearl earrings. Her blonde hair was wrapped up into a bun. Her round face was covered in blush and eye shadow, and she wore an extravagantly trimmed light blue dress. The woman was accompanied by an average heighted gentleman in a dark blue suit. His face was stern and wrinkled, with black hair that was slicked back. A broch in the shape of a bull’s eye adorned his suit. She stormed up to Trace, the sound of her high heels echoed as she did so.

“H-hey… mom”, Trace said. Zed’s eyes widen. Zach put’s his hand behind his head, not sure what Mrs. Ace’s next action will be. Mrs. Ace walks up to her daughter and stares up at her very sternly.

“What do you think you’re doing out here?!” questioned an angry Mrs. Ace. “What are you wearing?! And is that a sniper rifle strapped to your back?! Were you shooting it! You are an Ace! You do not affiliate yourself with all this riff raff! Which one of you gave her this!?” Zach and all of his fellow mercenaries break into a sweat and turn their heads to avoid the piercing gaze of an angry mother. “No matter. Trace you are coming back to the tower this instant. We need to get you cleaned up before anybody recognizes you.” Mrs. Ace turns and begins walking away toward her husband.

Trace looks toward the ground. “… No”, Trace said. Mrs. Ace stops walking.

“Excuse me?” said Mrs. Ace.

Trace picks up her head and looks her mother in the eyes. “I said no”, said Trace. Mrs. Ace looks angrily toward her disobedient daughter.

“In all my years you have never defied me!” said Mrs. Ace. “And you’re certainly not going to now! Now let’s go!”

Trace stomps one foot on the ground. She turns and looks toward the Shima brothers, Zed’s eyes still wide while Psy continues to show no interest. Trace runs up to Zed and grabs his arm. “I’m not going back with you!” cried out Trace. “I’m leaving this garbage city, full of garbage people. I’m going out into the world with these two! The Ace’s are nothing but a bunch of snobby pigs!” Trace’s mother steps back in shock. Zed and Psy look at Trace latched on to Zed’s arm with a mixture of surprise, shock and confusion. Zach and the mercenaries look at them with the same expression.

“My daughter…” Mrs. Ace said as she stumbles backwards. “Leaving the city with two dirty ruffians… calling us pigs…” Mrs. Ace falls into the arms of her husband. Mr. Ace looks at her daughter in disappointment, and Trace stares back with stubbornness. Her father picks up his wife, turns away and starts walking.

“Do what you want”, Mr. Ace said. Trace stares as her parents leave. As they leave her sight, Trace breathes a sigh of relief and let’s go of Zed’s arm.

“Well”, Zach said. “… see you bleeding there pale fella. Let’s get you bandaged up.” Still in partial shock and equal parts confusion, the boys, as well as Trace, get up and follow the mercenaries back into their base between the walls. As the group walk away, a partially intact piece of Striker’s head shows a glowing red eye slowly fade to black.

In another part of Unitia, a shadowed figure sitting upon a throne watches a floating screen in a darkened room, only partially illuminated by the screen’s artificial light. The screen shows clips of Zed and Psy fighting various Cyber soldiers, as well as their fight with Striker. There’s a clear focus on Zed, specifically Zed’s right arm. The final clip is shown of Zed plunging his fist into Striker from Striker’s point of view before blacking out. Two green eyes glow from the darkened throne, clearly angry. Small robots begin lighting up to life in the darkened room, followed by multiple computer screens. The quiet room’s silence is broken by the sound of the tiny robot’s typing away on keyboards. Multiple pictures of Zed light up the various computer screens. A metal spire piercing through the middle of a forgotten town has hundreds of drones flying from it to places all over Unitia.

The next day dawns on Big Shot City. The earlier night was festive in the mercenaries’ base due to their latest and greatest victory. While Zed partied the night with Zach and Trace, Psy found a nice quiet room to get some rest and tend to the bandages on his cut arm. The group sleep well past dawn and into the afternoon. Zed begins to open his eyes to find a passed out Trace on top of him. Zed smiles a gentle smile and proceeds to shove Trace off of him. Trace wakes up startled by Zed’s careless action. She gives a big yawn. “What was that for?” asked a still waking up Trace.

“Don’t you ‘what was that for’ me”, replied Zed. “Your weight was crushing me so I pushed you off.”

“What was that!?” Trace said suddenly fully awake.

“I said, your giant ass was crushing me”, replied Zed. Trace blushes a bright red, raises her hand high in the air and slaps Zed’s face. “Yeeouwch!” The sound of the slap and Zed’s yell alerts a nearby Zach who enters the room.

“Good to see you guys up and lively”, Zach said. Trace and Zed look at each other with disdain in their eyes. “Get up you lazy bones and come meet me in the garage.” Trace and Zed get up and follow Zach into the garage to find a stocked up jeep awaiting them. Psy was sitting in the passenger seat with his eyes closed and arms behind his head. He opens one eye to observe the three entering the garage.

“Bout time”, said Psy quietly.

“So we wanted send you guys off with a new ride”, said Zach. “You know, on account that your old one blew up and all.” Psy chuckled a bit and Zed looked at him, clearly annoyed at the chuckle. “Filled her up with some provisions for you three too. Food, water, you know. The essentials.” Zed looks at Trace.

“You weren’t joking about coming along with us were you?” Zed asked Trace. Trace puts one of her hands on her hip.

“That’s right!” Trace said confidently while pointing a finger at Zed. “I’ve told you before. I hate this city! The further away I am the better.” Trace’s confidence turns to sincerity as she turns toward Zach. “As long as you guys think you’ll be okay without your number one beautiful sniper.” Zach gives Trace a big smile.

“Bwa! Ha! Ha! Trace there’s no stopping you once you get a thought in your head, we both know that”, Zach said. “You go off with these two and save their butts whenever you can, got it?”

“Sir, yes sir!” responded Trace.

“Wait, wait, wait”, Zed interjects. “Me and Psy don’t remember ever agreeing to this arrangement. Did we Psy?” Psy nods his head in agreement.

“So you’re telling me that having a more than talented sniper with a nearly endless supply of funds on your side would be of no use to you in your quest to face against the tyrant of this entire continent?” Trace asked smugly.

“I mean… when you put it that way”, Zed said. Psy lets out a large ‘ugh’ and falls into the car seat.

“Bwa! Ha! Ha! It’s settled then!” exclaimed Zach. “The beautiful sniper of Big Shot City is now the beauty sniper of the Shima Gang!” Zach puts his muscular arm around Zed’s neck. “Don’t you let anything happen to our Trace now you hear?” Zed nervously laughs and nods his head yes. “Good! Oh and if you ever need help in your fight against Cyber Tech, remember you always have allies here in Big Shot City!” Zed hops into the driver seat of the jeep.

“Thanks!” said Zed. Trace follows Zed to the jeep and is about to sit in the back seat but pauses. She then quickly turns and jump hugs Zach.

“Thank you, for everything”, whispered Trace into Zach’s chest.

“Hey now”, Zach said patting Trace’s head. “Don’t be getting the macho man all teary eyed. I’m supposed to be the captain of a bunch of mercenaries!” Trace looks up at Zach and wipes her tears away. She gets off of Zach and proceeds to the back seat of the jeep. Zed turns the key and the jeep roars to life. The garage doors slide open, followed by the nearby outside gate. The jeep begins to leave the garage and then through the gate of Big Shot City. Mercenaries come out from all the buildings between the walls and fill the entrance to the gate with a Zach leading the way. The mercenaries tear up and some even babble as they wave and holler goodbye to Trace. Trace stands up in the back seat and starts waving goodbye with both her hands. Zach who was able to keep his composure the entire time, suddenly bursts out in tears. Everyone continues waving until the jeep is no longer in sight. Zach wipes the tears and snot from his face and looks back to his fellow mercenaries. “Well? What’re you all doing standing around fo’!? We got a city of fancy idiots to protect!”

“Sir, yes sir!” the mercenaries respond after wiping their faces as well.

During their tearful goodbyes, everyone fails to notice the small drone fly into the city. The drone flies to a wall covered in posters. Two arms extend from the drone, one holding a rolled up poster. The drone unrolls the poster and pastes into the wall before flying stealthily away once more. It was a wanted poster displaying one of the pictures of Zed during the fight with the cyber soldiers. A tall figure walks up to the poster and observes it. The figure whistles at the large sum of money being offered for Zed’s head. “Groovy.”

Meanwhile back in the residence of Ace tower a disgruntled Mr. and Mrs. Ace are in their living quarters talking to a man. The couple sit upon a black leather sofa, facing the man sitting in a large black leather chair. “That’s the gist of it”, Mrs. Ace said. “Our little Trace has been swayed away from us by two disgusting ruffians.” The man twirls his swirly moustache.

“Don’t you fret now m’dear”, the man said. The man folds one leg over the other, almost with a sort of smugness to it and takes a sip of tea. “I’ll be sure to get our Trace Ace back from these would be kidnappers, and we shall be married!”