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Dante grumbled and groaned as the bright lights filled his eyes again and a faint whisper echoed in his head, "Come on... wake up!"

"I'm up already." He was crumpled onto the floor with a spent rifle in one hand and no less than ten enemy bodies piled by the door, "What's... the situation?" Pain was still a significant factor and he didn't dare move.

Jill returned a syringe to her pouch, "Well, we found your gear on our way up. When we got here you had done most of the work. Oh! And that injection isn't a long-term fix, it's just enough to get out you out of here without completely bleeding out."

"Cratis, get me on my feet. We're leaving. Jean, you lead." Victoria paced over and was able to get Dante up, "Not following orders?"

"I'm terrible with a gun." Victoria threw Dante's free arm over her shoulder, "We need to move fast before the bombing."

Dante took a quick look around, "Someone give me a pistol. Jean, you know the way so get a move on." Chey handed Dante her sidearm, "Everyone, you know the drill." Victoria struggled a bit to hold both of their weights, but she was able to keep moving in a steady walk. Titus and Chey took the lead.

Ratchet took the pistol from Dante and held up his other side, "Not much use for a sniper in closed quarters, right?"

Dante sighed, "You're all doing laps when we get back to the ship." Victoria and Ratchet had to put in a little extra effort to climb over the hills of bodies in the narrow halls, but it wasn't long before Zero Unit escaped from the now uninhabited building. Most of the city was in flames, no doubt a reaction from Isa and the rest of Fallen Sky.

"We need pickup!" Jean shouted. From the look of things, she was just about out of ammunition and was understandably worried. Since Dante didn't have an earpiece, he couldn't tell what was being said on the other end, but Jean's relief was a good sign. The Albatross hovered down from the clouds and lowered the side ladder, "Hurry up!" Dante was shoved on first, and with the little bit of strength he had left, he was able to climb up. The rest of Zero Unit followed without incident, which was unexpected.

Sere had her hands on her hips, tears in her eyes, and an expression that was a blend of joy, anger, and sorrow, "Why do you keep doing stupid stuff?!"

"Part of the job." Dante pulled himself against a wall, "Now about that medical crap, can we take care of that?"

"We have to board the Siren II for now. Angel?"

"Already on course."

"I could really use a nap and a drink." Dante wasn't able to move anymore than he had, whatever they injected had a short effect and his insides already felt strained, "Anyone have liquor handy?"

Chey reached for a flask but Jill slapped her hand. Wendy sighed, "A drink won't help you heal and may make it worse."

"Worse than what? A patchwork job on my insides? Faulty intelligence?"

Titus was visually nervous, "Hey, well, after this Goddess wants to see us. So, you know, might help to be sober?"

"Really?"

Ratchet elbowed him in the side, "That wasn't a good argument numbnuts. Listen, just... keep sober until after surgery. I'll even make you whatever drink you want."

Dante was skeptical, "I'll believe it when I see it. Victoria, greet them at the airlock, would you?"

She nodded, but they hadn't arrived yet, "Docking."

"Still got it."

The airlock popped open and four of Isa's men jogged onto the Albatross with a stretcher, "Medic Unit, let's get you up."

Dante looked at the man with a tired eye, "Good luck, I can't move. I think that injection froze up my muscles." The men were able to lift him with ease, "Alrighty then. See you all in a bit." He was wheeled off quickly and through a series of hallways, all paneled to look like a pirate ship. Dante drifted a bit, then passed out.

"Still not sleeping properly I see."

"More like I'm not waking up normally." Dante felt better, but still sore, "So Isa, how are things?"

"You almost died."

"You didn't answer my questions."

"Just peachy. Now why do you keep almost dying?"

Dante looked into the soft room light, "Circumstance mostly. Besides, I'm paid to almost die"

She took off her hat and tossed it onto the footboard, "Didn't you say that you were going to retire one of these days?"

"When I'm done."

"And that will be?"

Dante shrugged, "When I'm done. Until then, I've got work to do and not a lot of time to do it. Give me a gun and send me back out for all I care."

"Nuh uh. Downtime for you and your unit. You aren't getting another mission for a long while. When you're good to go, get back to the Albatross and get away from here. Take a vacation with your unit, throw a party, live a little. Just don't do anything to get yourself shot." Isa sighed, "Try not to do anything to get yourself shot."

"And if I refuse to be a passive citizen?"

Isa snarled, "Then I'll arrest you and keep you in a cage until you comply. Seriously, take a day off. We have enough people to do what we need to get done." She had a thought, made obvious by her expressive face, "Tell you what. If you don't do what I say, I have something that I'll have you do for a month straight. Won't tell you what though." She stood up and retrieved her hat, "Don't leave until you get the green light."

"Someone's cocky." Dante sat up, feeling the soreness radiate through his entire body, "Might as well see what the blue girl wants back at HQ." He jumped up from the bed and tied his gown tightly, "Starting to wish I scanned over the blueprints for this monstrosity."

After a few minutes of wandering, he located a small map on the wall, "Hey! You're not supposed to be up!" Two of Isa's guards jogged up to Dante, "Please go back to your room and lie down sir."

"Tell me how to get back to my own ship. I'll lie down there."

The two looked at each other, "We have strict orders sir. You are not to leave until you are given permission by a doctor."

Dante breathed deeply through his nose, "Is that right? So you two are gonna stop me?" They became more nervous, "If Isa bitches, she can come see me directly. Now tell me where to go." The harsh tone was more than enough to get the guards to tell him everything.

Dante followed the twisting halls, stairs, and elevators to the dock area where many of Isa's engineers and medics were gathered, no doubt for quick repairs and injured soldiers. With his usual confidence, he marched through the droves of professionals, gathering their lines of sight, "Dante... sir... Commander..."

"Albatross." The woman pointed at a dock in the middle of the others, "Thanks." He marched on, the gentle breeze of fresh air cooling his backside. It had occurred to him all too late that his gown had come undone and was open, but he didn't care enough. The Albatross' airlock opened and Zero Unit was shocked in more ways than one. He pointed at them individually and barked commands, "Alcohol. Pants. Food. The rest of you prepare to launch." Everyone scattered.

"Here, some pants." Victoria handed them over gently, even though the material was tough enough to withstand small calibur bullets without tearing, "I'm thankful you don't have a lot of clothing, I didn't have to dig." Dante slipped on his pants and removed his hospital gown, "To the lounge area?"

"You got it." He limped off and soon plopped onto the couch.

Wendy brought up a tray of steaming hot foot, "It's the best I could do with what you had on the ship."

Ratchet was finishing a cocktail, "See? You have nothing to worry about."

"Like hell I don't. You know blue girl is gonna have us do some stupid shit, Isa will throw another fit, Mira and Rachel... don't even want to think about it. At least Marie is cleaning up." He downed the drink Ratchet brought over, "Now we're on vacation again. This is insane."

"Don't even care that you were seconds from death, do you?"

"Nope." He used a fork to scoop up some food, "We all gotta die sometime. Besides, it wasn't really my fault. How about another drink?"

"One track mind sometimes, you know that?" Ratchet went back behind the bar.

Dante chewed and swallowed while looking out into space, "A survival trait. I can either panic about almost dying, or move on and get to my next task. Whatever happens will happen, so roll with the punches."

"A good way to think about life." Victoria sat in a chair, "Though some would say that you care more about the goal than the journey."

"What if the goal is the journey?"

Wendy shook her head, "This is getting awkward, speak normally. A bandit queen and a psychotic mercenary shouldn't have this much in common." Dante put both of his feet on the corner of the table in front of the couch, "Why are you...?"

Miss Star came flying into the room and grabbed Dante from behind, "Stop dying!"

"Haven't died yet, have I?" He pulled her forward so he could get some more food, "What's the ship's situation?"

"Boring! Everything is fine. Refueled, no damage other than superficial stuff. What's the problem?"

Dante continued to gaze into the nothing, "Just my job to be up to speed on things. Anima is in my room right?" Miss Star nodded, "Alright, then everything is good. You can all do whatever and relax. I'm just going to sit around."

Ratchet took a seat next to him, and Miss Star still didn't release his neck. Wendy wandered off to work on her weapons and the other members of Zero Unit were doing whatever it is they did when Dante wasn't ordering them around. As long as the ship didn't blow up, he didn't really care.

"Dante, incoming transmission from Isa."

"Just tell her I'm taking it easy, I don't feel like talking to her right now."

"She says it's important, and that she only wants to tell you."

A wave of disappointment washed over him, "Fine, I'll be on the damn bridge. Star, let go." Dante wriggled free and casually walked through the Albatross, "Angel, if this is a joke call I want her on a block list." He sat in the captain's chair and Angel opened the screen, "Spit it out Isa."

"Oh come on, I'm letting that whole escape thing slide. I'm giving you a heads up. The Goddess has been reading too many history books and tried to design a few weapons herself. She didn't build them, so that's a relief, but Zero Unit was asked for specifically. You get to test out her creations."

Dante blinked slowly, "Why is this news?"

"'Cause she's sending you to some freaky world we just found for whatever books they have. Listen... just... read the weapon names..."

"Halberd-004, Saber-002, Hammer-001, Dagger-010... what?"

"Yeah..." Isa looked uncomfortable, "Like I said, she's reading too many old books. Just... test them out when you can, and let her know what you think. It'll shut her up for a while."

Dante rolled his eyes, "This is some sick joke I hope. Let me guess, we're going to a world that hasn't advanced out of-" Isa looked away, "Oh for fuck's sake..."

"I know, I know, it seems ridiculous."

"You're a wannabe pirate, so you can't really judge."

"I will slap you through the camera. Anyway, I didn't think I could send you into that one blind."

"Agreed. I would have laughed on my way out of her little library. Well, guess we're off to some stupid planet with a bunch of weapons with idiotic names. What could go wrong..." He ended the transmission, "I'm too damn old for this."

"Dante, would you like me to inform the crew?"

He sighed, "No, let it just wash over them. Hell, they might even like it. Going to be like fighting bales of hay with a flamethrower..."