The End of The Road by CB2001 (aka Chase Lonehart)

The following story is fan written work. NBC Universal and Trion Worlds holds the rights to Defiance. Story lore, terminology, settings and races are copyrighted to them. Please support the official release (Note: The game servers for Defiance have gone offline on April 29, 2021. Blu-Ray and DVDs of the show are still available). The same goes for the song lyrics featured, which belong to the song writers who created them and referenced in this work. Some of the characters mentioned are either original characters created by the author, or are created by other authors from the Defiance RP Forum at defiancerpforum.freeforums.net/

NOTE: Iri’s full name is pronounced as “Airy Say-well”. So, not to be confused with how you pronounce Siri or eerie for the first name and “Samuel” or anything else like that for the last name.



She hated being this far away from home but knew that there were obligations that needed to be met. Traveling all the way to Missouri to celebrate the founding of the small town that showed as much unity to both humans and Votans than most of the world was one part of the reason she headed out. Even Freedom, Alabama had its division, but eventual integration. She still felt sorry for the residents of Freedom who did not survive the Hidden Hydra Incident, as it would be come to be called, but was happy that there were those who survived it. It was nice seeing some familiar faces, such as Irisa Nolan and Alak Tarr. But there was a second reason she came out, and two she arrived in town she needed: Ex-Mayor Amanda Rosewater and the clone of Meh Yewll, and for more personal reasons. What had once been a small town called Defiance had become something bigger and better. The New Frontier no longer existed, as it finally been tamed like the Wild West of old. No one had to carry weapons out of fear of some danger sneaking up on them, but the price of taming it came at the cost of a lot of lives over the years. But those lives paved the way for a better future.

“God, it feels like only yesterday that the Storm Divide was dangerous,” Iri heard Amanda speak.

“Yeah,” Yewll replied. “Funny how time works.”

ETA to Home, 10 minutes, Abacus' voice echoed in her head, the EGO's voice soothing and calm that reminded her of Marlene Dietrich from the movie A Foreign Affair.

Iri Sewuel-Lonehart, an Indogene who had decades ago came to the planet, stared out the window at the cities that sprang to life within the area of what had been the Storm Divide years ago, the Mag-Lev train taking her and her companions back home. She recalled the film Koyaanisqatsi because of how the lights of the town she passed through reminded her of the night shot of Los Angeles, the lights looking as if it was like stars on a black blanket laying on the ground. And each of those towns were defiant against it, just as Defiance had been its adversaries. And like Defiance, they thrived. But she recalled back to the times where her, her love and their friends had to cross it on their trips throughout the former United States and she missed it. She turned to look at Amanda and Meh so she could inform them of something. Amanda still looked as beautiful as she had before, but now with quite a few wrinkles around her eyes, forehead and mouth, as well as a bit of loose skin under her chin and her hair gray, pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a gray colored duster, a blue button up shirt, black jeans and boots, and was still skinny in an age group that typically would have filled out more.

“I’m glad we are getting to do this,” the human told her. “There’s a lot of people I never got the chance to say goodbye to.”

“Regret is a bitch,” Yewll told her. “Life rarely gives much opportunity to say the goodbye when the end comes.”

Much like Iri, the Meh Yewll, whom Chase referred to as Meh-2 at times, showed no sign of aging, her hexagonal skin still in the same place it had been years before. She wore a winter coat with gloves, brown slacks and boots as well. Unlike most races that existed on Earth, the Indogene were the second longest living species next to Sensoth. And much like many others of their kind, time barely touched her and Iri, while it had dragged their humans over the hot and searing coals of life. Iri sported her old dark Indogene jacket, the same kind that most Indogenes had been seen wearing. Her hands were covered by her old brown leather gloves, color matching pants and black calf high boots. She sat with her hands in her lap and fingers threaded together.

“I must reiterate,” Iri told them. “There’s a good chance that he might not be coherent. He might be fully there, in a memory or both. Whichever it may be, just roll with it as best as you can.”

They finally arrived at the New Freedom Memorial Mag-Lev Station located where the Strato-carrier had once crashed, taking only thirty-minutes to travel from Defiance to Paradise and the sun hanging mid-way towards the horizon in the late afternoon sky. She hoped that he was still there, as she did not want him to go alone and without her. She once had told Eren Niden years ago, "Time is luck. Eventually, it runs out on everyone." And after 81 years of his time on the planet, it was almost out for Chase. A lot of things changed since the way the world used to be, and the Mag-Lev station was one of the first changes that came after everything. They made their way down the terminal to the pickup area, Jebediah waiting for them with his 2012 Avenger. He had his father's sad-looking blue eyes and his mouth turned down in a permanent frown for his resting face. Jebediah had a lighter shade of brown hair than Chase when he had been younger. She could see he was wearing his blue hoodie over a dress shirt, an old pair of camo pants and sneakers. Though they had adopted two children prior, Iri surprised Chase one birthday by telling him that she wanted to have another child that was of his genetics and had been discussing with a human woman about donating an egg to conceive the child. The woman needed the money and had no issue providing ovum for them. Iri had successfully perfected the increased speed of cloning to where what took months to years to create with previous cloning tech, would only take a day for a newborn to be developed and then proceed to grow at a natural rate, as they wanted. The couple talked with their adopted kids before proceeding and the kids were okay with having a younger sibling, even a human one that was part of their father.

“Hey, Mom,” he said as she came up to him.

Iri turned around to introduce the pair from St. Louis to him.

“This is Jebediah,” Iri told them. “He’s our youngest.”

“Wow,” Amanda seemed surprised. “You look a lot like your father when I first met him.”

“It’s nice to meet both of you,” he replied, holding his hand out to shake theirs.

“Likewise,” Amanda replied.

“Same here,” Yewll replied. “I’m sorry it’s not under better circumstances.”

Iri could tell he was tense, which lead her to hug him like so many times in the past. She pulled away, looking into his blue eyes, much like his father had.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

He nodded. “Ze and De sent me to pick you up.”

“Is your father still here?”

He nodded as he made his way around to the driver side door of the old Dodge Avenger that had been found and pieced together. Iri opened the passenger side door for the front seat and helped Amanda into it. Both Yewll and her took the back seat and they pulled off from the terminal. They would drive past KTAM, it converted back into a radio station to broadcast music from the world as it once was all the way through to the latest, which Jebediah had tuned into and music playing. Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” playing at a low volume over the speakers in the interior of the car.

“I know things are tough,” Amanda told the young man. “But everything will be okay. I have seen my share of death, some of the times it hit harder than others. However, it was okay afterwards.”

“I’ve accepted what’s coming,” Jebediah replied. “I just wish it wasn't so soon.”

The highway they took was a bypass, passing through smaller towns like Shondu, Coopertown and Soleptorville while still remaining farmland that has prospered more since every enemy had been completely eradicated from the area. The highways had been constructed in the years since San Francisco had been reclaimed, and the bypass allowed for a quicker trip to and from San Francisco than the previous roads had. Eventually, Iri would the Golden Gate again, restored to its splendor and made functional as a complete bridge once more. Jebediah began to slow down as he approached the city limit. The road took them past the Arkhunter Memorial Museum, which had been constructed where the Bathhouse used to reside. It served as a museum chronicling the years after the war, how San Francisco and Paradise were when Chase had arrived in the area with the Von Bach expedition and housed many artifacts of historical significance, such as pieces of the New Freedom, a non-functional terraspire, and several items that had once belonged to various Arkhunters, including items that had belonged to their friends. Her husband's Hemi Orange Challenger was held there as an artifact of the old world to show future generations how Arkhunters had travelled. And in the Hall of Remembrance, you could access holographic avatars and information of every Arkhunter who used to live, if any information existed on them. For someone like Wolfram von Eschen and Vo Kshaa, their information was limited due to the lack of records available, while for others like Belle Starr, had complete biographies available. Most compromised with just listing their name, the year they were born (if possible), year they died and cause of death, if any available.

“This place is doing way better since the last time I had been here,” Meh said. “The last time I was here was during the time LOCI wasn’t giving up the ghost and this place was just a wasteland.”

“It’s amazing how life springs back after so much destruction and death. I never once believed I would live this long to see it.”

Death was the word that caught Iri’s attention. Death, the end of the long road of life for everyone. And for Chase, it had been slowly approaching at the age of 75, where he started to show signs of memory loss again. At first Iri thought McCoy was malfunctioning, considering how long and how hard the EGO unit had worked to bypass the physical damage to Chase's brain to allow for him to remember who he was. Iri had Abacus, her EGO unit, run a scan on McCoy's programming and saw everything was working that started her concerns. It was after Iri had him checked out by a medical scan that she saw what was happening, and how the damage was slowly spreading with his EGO trying to keep him going. And as the year progressed, Chase's condition got worse. McCoy was struggling to keep him together. Iri managed to conclude what it was that was going on. It stemmed from the combination of the damage he sustained from him and his friend's journey into Tampa and McCoy struggling to keep Chase's mind from faltering after she had been reinstalled to bypass that damage and reinstate function to recall everything. As time went on, the unit had to do it is best to replace areas of the brain that were slowly falling apart. Out of all the bullets, Charge Blade stabbings, falls, assassination attempts, Hellbugs, Raiders, Volge, Grid, everything else in the world that could have killed him and his attempted suicide in the Canadian desert, it would be brain damage that would be his end. In all the times that they had gone through, standing against the world's attempts to end them, it would be a flaw of human biology that had doomed him. No amount of technology or medically advanced treatments could help him, especially at his age and severity of the condition. And in the four years, the family who had loved him and whom he had love had to witness him slowly become someone who looked at them from time to time as strangers, wide-eyed with confusion.

Iri continued to look out the window as the streets passed by, families, venders and individuals out in the street. Human and Votan together, living perfectly as Defiance had shown possible decades ago. And their example spread throughout the world, which included San Francisco.

“When it came to the Renaissance of San Francisco, the people wanted to rename the town in Chase's honor,” Iri told them. “He refused. He said, ‘This town was San Francisco long before I came into this world. It should remain San Francisco, especially long after I'm gone’. So, they kept the name as it was.”

“Chase always knew the importance of preservation of the past a lot more than most,” Amanda chuckled. “There’s not much of the old world left over.”

“Same is true with some of the people of the old world as well,” Yewll noted.

Yewll’s comment only reminded Iri of a simple fact: there were only two Arkhunters left in the world. Those two were her and her human husband. And she knew that soon, the last of the Arkhunters would be completely extinct while these people of the new world will continue after them. And she could not help but think back on it, recalling all the faces and places that had been a part of her existence in the world. But the real changes started after a few horrific events. The thing that led to a lot of the changes started with one event: involving what Iri referred to as "The Woman in Red" incident. Carmilla Le Fanu had come to the bay looking for her brother Edwardo, looking almost as pale as a Castithan than a human being should. She and Edwardo were both infected with a disease that was the mutant baby of rabies and porphyria that could infect any species. It caused a severe reaction to UV light and a hunger for blood. Carmilla had apparently gone insane, believing herself to be a centuries old vampire and Iri had fallen for it due to her missteps and becoming infected. What resulted was Chase, The Cowboys (his Historical Salvage/Arkhunting group) and some of their friends coming to save her from the Storm Divide. Chase had faced what he had done as Tom Cody, the massacre of a small town of cannibals. He had murdered all of them, man, woman and child, because it was the only way to stop them from hurting others while he had been on his way to the Bay to figure out who Rose Sinn was and why he felt guilt when he thought of the only name he could recall after losing the rest of his memories. After the event which lead to the death of Carmilla and Iri and Edwardo had been given the cure for the disease, their friends returned to the Bay (including Belle after she saw how dangerous the job of Historical Salvage truly was) while Chase decided to take the Cowboys to Freedom, so that they could meet the original group and see how Historical Salvage worked. When they got there, they encountered another situation, which was later referred to as "The Hidden Hydra Incident."

They had discovered that half of the townsfolk were missing, with some of the town in tatters, with the other half not having any memory of any of the people who disappeared and not noticing the poor condition that the town was in. After some investigating, they discovered that there was a mutated Hellbug Matron that had moved in under the ground in town and had been feeding on the townsfolk. They apparently emitted a high-pitched sound which interfered with the normal process of the brain and, somehow, wiped the memory of whomever the Monarch fed on, and made residents unaware that they were being eaten one by one from a long neck and head (like a dragon's). Chase had to make a hard decision, and in order to save what was left of the town, the Cowboys had to set fires throughout the town in order to burn it down, forcing the residents to leave. And when the Monarch came to the surface, with the help of the remnants of the E-Rep, they were able to use an orbital cannon to kill it. Due to the amount of displaced townsfolk, the Cowboys had to get them to Panama City and then had to struggle with getting the town's help. As a result, due to the constant struggles with the local government, Chase couldn't keep up with anything happening in the Bay. After finally getting the help needed and setting up homes for the survivors of Freedom north of Panama City, he finally got in contact with the Bay. Iri had thought she had seen Chase at his lowest point before. It was not the case until that moment.

Iri pushed the thought out of her head as the Avenger finally reached its destination: a small corner in the southwest of the island, now a lush green land with a house constructed on it. Chase had enough scrip to have a single-story house that appeared like the modern design circa 2013, it resided with a beautiful view of the ocean at the back side of the house. As they pulled up, Iri spotted two other cars: Ze'ka's 1995 Jeep Cherokee Country and Dena's 2068 Dodge Charger, which involved a lot of the retro design of the 1969 Dodge Charger of old. She knew they were there to see their father, for the last time. Jebediah lead her and their guests to the front door, entering the foyer, which lead to the open living room kitchen area and dining room, with a hallway leading to the south end of the house, where the bedrooms resided. Iri could hear music playing from that direction, which she knew that it was the thing that helped calm Chase down during his rougher times when his condition got worse. She found Dena, her Castithan middle child in her thirties, in the kitchen as she prepared for what was to be the last meal. Dena had kept dying her hair blue, which certainly jumped out in comparison to her pale skin since her teenage years. She wore a Ramones T-shirt and blue jeans. She certainly got her style from her father.

“Hey Mom,” she greeted her solemnly. Iri could tell that she was desperately trying to put up appearances in the face of the inevitable, cooking food to keep her mind on anything else.

Iri made her way around the kitchen's center island and hugged her from behind. Dena turned, burying her face into her shoulder, sobbing as her facade cracked. Iri shushed her like she used to do when she was little and had become upset or scared.

“It's okay, Dena,” she told her. “Everything is going to be okay.”

“I know,” the Castithan cried. “But I can't help but feel sorry. I know you prepared us for this, but it still sucks.”

“Don't let it eat you up,” Iri told her as she turned her head up to look in the eyes. “You’re stronger than you know.”

Dena then noticed Amanda and Yewll watching them, pulled away from Iri as she wiped the tears away from her pink eyes. Iri could see from the blood vessels showing that she had been crying on and off throughout the day. When it comes to the impending loss of someone you love, Iri knew it was common to grieve just as much before as it was after. Dena turned back to making the food.

“I’m sorry,” Dena addressed the guests. “I forgot we were expecting company.”

“It’s okay, dear child,” Rosewater told her. “It’s a heartbreaking time for all right now. What meal are you making?”

“I figured I'd make Dad a Powburger and fries,” she told her. “I know Dad used to get Powburgers from the Crater.”

“That's perfect, my love,” Iri told her with a warm smile, placing a hand on her daughter's back in comfort.

“Do you need a hand with that?” Yewll asked her.

“I just need to finish the fries and then begin cooking the burgers,” Dena replied.

Iri looked over at Jebediah, who had been witnessing the whole scene from the entryway to the living room. Iri could see her youngest doing a better job at accepting what was to come. He made his way around the island so he could help his older sister with the food. Iri turned to her guests.

“Give me a moment to check in,” she told them and then she motioned towards the living room area. “Please, have a seat.”

Iri turned and headed towards the sound of the music playing. As she approached, she recognized the lyrics to “The Last Pale Light in The West” by Ben Nichols.

And I ask for no redemption
In this cold and barren place
Still see the faint reflection
And so by it, I got my way

The last pale light in the west
The last pale light in the west

Iri slowly opened the door to make her way in. She found her eldest, Ze'ka, sitting in a chair next to the bed. The Irathiant elder son wore a blue business suit with no tie and the collar left unbuttoned, his blonde hair combed and slicked back. His head was hanging low but raised up when noticed her enter the room. Iri headed over to him, and he took her hand, holding it against his face as he closed his eyes.

“Hello, mother,” he spoke in his Irathiant tongue.

“Hello, elder son,” she replied in his language. “How are you?”

“I'm okay,” he replied, and she knew he was. He had accepted what was to come a lot easier than his siblings had.

“Good,” Iri told him in English. “You were always the stronger one, weren't you?”

“Not always,” he replied. “But I know I need to be. Especially for my brother and sister.”

“That’s my boy,” Iri replied. “How is he?”

“He's been napping for a couple of hours,” he told her, slowly getting up because he knew she was going to be sitting next to him. “Are Rosewater and Yewll here?”

Iri nodded. He headed out of the room, his footsteps carried down the hallway towards the kitchen and he could hear his voice as he greeted the guests from Defiance, whom Ze’ka had some contact with in the past.

“Ms. Rosewater, you look very well,” she heard him say. “Doctor Yewll, looking lovely as always.”

“Stop trying to kiss my ass,” she heard Yewll reply. “That is Amanda’s job.”

The song on the sound system that resided on the bedside table switched to another song she recognized. It started off with a female harmonized cooing before it was joined with a guitar slowly fading in and followed by Ben Schneider's voice as “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron played. Iri took a seat in the chair next to the slender figure in bed. The cheekbones in his face were more prominent than they had been when he was younger, the burn scar on the right side of his face appearing leathery. His hair went from thick and brown as it was then to thinner and light brown mixed with shades of gray, like a cloudy mix of the two. His frame was thin and mostly hidden by the pajamas he wore. A catheter tube went from inside of his waistband down to a bag at the side of the bed, which had collected the urine produced. He had a nasal cannula in his nose that she could hear the hiss of the air passing through, which helped his breathing. He was semi-erected in bed, elevated to help with acid reflux that had the tendency to flare up, and the covers pulled up to his chest. His mechanical right arm had been detached long ago due to his memory loss, and it was done for his safety and the family due to his off days. Abacus had noted McCoy's location the moment she got within the Paradise area, and above him his name appeared in blue: Chase Lonehart. McCoy herself had been silent for the past two years, mostly because the EGO was trying to dedicate every bit of processing power to keep her user from completely slipping away, only occasionally piping up if necessary. And speaking often took away processing power from her task. She had to commend the EGO unit’s dedication to keeping her user alive for as long as she could.

Abacus, you can turn off the tag, Iri told her EGO internally.

If you say so, was the only response she gave and his name disappear from above him.

Iri leaned forward and connected her forehead with his, lightly brushing it against his. She watched as his eyes opened, still as blue as they had been when she had met him in the woods outside of Freedom forever and a lifetime ago. At first, he seemed to scan the room to see where he was, until his eyes met hers. And then came the look of recognition and familiarity in them.

“Hey, Iri,” he replied, his breathing shallow.

“Hello, my love,” she replied, putting on a warm smile. “I'm glad you're still here.”

He chuckled. “I wouldn't leave you.”

She felt an internal pain but kept it down for his sake. Iri had learned to better control herself, especially towards the last few months as he became more and more disconnected from who he used to be.

“How was the trip to Defiance?”

“It was great,” she told him. “Alak Tarr sends his love and wishes you a safe and peaceful passing. He wished you had been there to see Luke and how he's grown.”

“Would have loved to, but given the circumstances...” he replied, as if he lost his train of thought for a moment. “I thought of everyone again.”

“Again? Your thoughts drifted back to long ago, eh?”

He nodded, looking at her.

“I remembered the time I tucked Belle into bed,” he told her. “Her asking how we met. I told her about my father and I rescuing you from those Hellbugs. About how I couldn’t save him. I told Belle about our nights snowed in at that hotel, where we ended up sleeping together. I remember her saying, 'Sorry for ruining your makeup sex,' because of how she thought I was being kidnapped again and heard us making out through the wall of the rooms we rented at the Delilah Sister's Hotel.”

This made Iri smile and laugh.

“I remember that,” she told him with a chuckle. “I kissed her and fondled her breast while you were in the bathroom getting a rag for the cut she got on her foot. She dropped the champagne bottle she was going to use as a weapon and stepped on a piece of the glass. I talked with her the next day to apologize for my behavior due to being in the mood. She told me I had soft lips.”

“Whatever good she saw in me,” he told her, struggling to keep on the train of thought he was on. “Whatever she saw as heroic in me, I'll never know. She was too good for the world that was. They all were. God, I miss them.”

Iri recalled back to when she had seen him at his true lowest point. He had been informed of the deaths of several of the Arkhunters who his friends were. The one that hit him the hardest was the death of Belle Star, whom he felt that he let down the most. When the Cowboys returned to the Bay, Chase not only worked on performing the Historical Salvage he had planned previously, but he was going to finally make things right in honor of their friends. After brokering a peace with the Volge, Dark Matter and the E-Rep, along with the Arkhunters that remained after the Arkbelt had been destroyed and no more Arkfalls came, the combined group permanently stomped out the Hellbug, Infected, Scrappers, Mutants, 99ers, Shrill and Raiders throughout the Bay before doing the same in San Francisco. Chase had become the figurehead of a hopeful tomorrow, and everyone was looking to him as inspiration. An assassination attempt led to the destruction of the cabin on top of the mountain at Mount Tam that they had built, missing him and her when it went off. Some VC-devoted zealot tried to kill the figureheads of San Francisco in hopes that it would spark a new Pale Wars. It resulted in Jon Cooper, Ara Shondu and Varus Soleptor being killed. But all it did was strengthen Chase's resolve. And as he decided to make his move against the Grid, LOCI would not go out without a fight. With the help of Eren, Iri and Meh Yewll's clone, they were able to create a virus that would target LOCI's brain. There had been a lot of bloodshed just to get close to it, but when Chase did, Jebediah and Cynthia, the EGO personality copies of Chase's dead parents made from his memories, opted to sacrifice themselves to save Chase and free up enough of McCoy's resources for her to do what she needed to deliver the virus.

After that, in addition to the help of fixing and modifying some of the terraforming tech so that it didn't result in crust collapse, with minor changes and a couple of years, the ground in San Francisco was leveled out. Any ruins were torn down and a new city was born, and a new home it became. The Golden Gate Bridge was also restored to original functionality. The world had watched and saw what he had accomplished, and it inspired the world to change for the better, just as much as the Act of Defiance did. Both the E-Rep and Votanis Collective around the world started to work together even more, without groups or species separating them and reclaimed all the land that had been destroyed by the war and torn to pieces by the terraforming. In the United States, the New Frontier was now just a distant memory in the past. Only after five years, Chase stopped the suffering in the Bay. But Iri knew how Chase saw himself, the one truth he could not shake: he was just a man who had been driven by nothing more than grief from the loss of people he cared about. And nothing he did during that time could relieve the pain or silence the ghosts he carried with him.

But even with all the battles won, Chase wished he could have his friends with him once again. He still suffered from survivor's guilt, though over time he began to get better with the use of therapy. It was in his early 50s he told her how he felt.

"There's not a day that goes by that I don’t think about everyone we lost. We finally achieved a better world as we always wanted," he told her one night, tears rolling down his face. "But it doesn't make up for them not being here. I wish they had been here to see it."

Chase and Iri had finally decided to take Lena Marr's advice about adopting since Iri could not bear any offspring due to a piece of shrapnel that ripped through her uterus towards the end of the Pale Wars. They became a family made up of three little kids. When they came into their lives, Chase appeared to feel even better and seemed happier than he had been. After a while, began to write out his and her story, purging himself of his pain and let go of his inner demons. It led him to write his autobiography, detailing the truth behind his actions and his struggles, and the world saw the hurt he truly suffered as she had, but never stopped seeing him as a hero. Iri knew that those deaths still lingered in the back of his mind, even fractured from the cave in that caused his to be damaged. But she was hoping that it was not of pain and terror that he was experiencing in those moments, but memories of happiness.

She looked at him as he stared up at her, a tear rolling from his eye.

“Don't fret about that anymore,” she told him. “Tell me something, my love. All the things we've done... Do you think it was worth it?”

Chase looked into her indigo-colored eyes while she stared into the blue pools of his, and he replied, “Yes. It was worth it. Not just for us. But for our kids. For the next generations to come. It was worth it. But I still wish those we lost could have been here to see it.”

She leaned forward and kissed him lightly, hoping to take his mind off sad things. She didn't want his final hours to be wallowing in regrets that he couldn't undo. But when she looked at him, he seemed confused for a moment.

"Uh," Chase appeared to try to find the right worlds. And yet, all that came out was, "Hey Iri."

"You've already said that," she told him. "But hello again."

Chase stared at her for a moment confused, and then came back with recognition.

“I'm sorry,” he told her. “I remembered when I came into the Michael Breaker's electronics shop in Freedom, due to the VBI Player. When I saw you, I couldn't think of what to say and that was the only thing that could come out.”

“The battery memory issue,” she replied. “I had to use one of the IRC Four-Four-Nine units to replace the battery in it. And it played so much music for us over the years, through thick and thin. Von Bach knew how to make a good music player even if it wasn't their intention.”

Chase took her gloved hand, lightly holding it.

“We’ve got visitors who wanted to say goodbye,” she told him.

He closed his eyes and relaxed his grip, placing his hand on his chest. Lord Huron's song had been replaced with another on the radio, starting with the strumming of an acoustic guitar before joined with a piano. She recognized it as “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor as she got up but disregarded it as she left the room to go get the two who travelled there with her. They entered the room, they moved quietly.

“Are you sure he’s awake?” Amanda asked.

“He is,” Iri replied. “He’s lost in memory right now. His brain deterioration worsened and McCoy’s attempts to keep him active aren’t holding up as well as they used to. So, he is often bouncing around.”

“I could have told you there were limitations to such an idea,” Yewll told Iri. “Where’d you get the idea to use an EGO to help with his memory issues?”

“From the real Meh Yewll. I found her notes on how to make a copy of someone’s personality from the memories of another with the use of an EGO device when Victor Fontaine tried to get back the wife and son he had abusing, whom Chase had helped escape his grasp before reaching the Bay as Tom Cody. The unexpected result was not that it worked, but the development of two additional EGO personalities based on Chase’s memories of his parents.”

“I remember them,” Meh looked at Iri. “Still could have told you the limitations if you had asked.”

“It doesn’t make much of a difference now, Meh,” Amanda responded. “Don’t be like Yewll so much.”

Iri watched as Meh reeled back internally, the brief pause of silence she took typical of the real Yewll whenever she realized she made a mistake. Her postured changed as she turned back to Iri.

“I’m sorry,” Meh told her. “I keep forgetting to try to be less of an ass than the real Meh Yewll was.”

“You are forgiven,” Iri replied. “But I have a favor to ask of you, Meh. I have decided to transition.”

The look on Yewll’s face was enough to confirm what Iri expected would be her response. Rosewater, however seemed confused.

“Transition?” the human asked.

“It means she’s going to kill herself,” Yewll informed her human as she folded her arms across her chest. “Long before the Votanis system was going to be destroyed, we had freed ourselves as slaves from the Omec and started to share a home planet with the Castithans. There were a few who started having relationships with them. Due to such a short lifespan of their partners, some would choose to end their life when their partner expired or sometime afterwards.”

The look of shock on the old woman’s face was also expected by Iri as Amanda turned and looked at her.

“You’re going to kill yourself?” the human asked, confusion crossing her face. “Why? What about your family?”

“Knowing her, she’s already prepared them for it,” Yewll answered that last question for Iri.

“I am not asking you to help me with it,” Iri told Yewll. “But I need you to do something for me after it’s done.”

“Wait, you still haven’t said why,” Amanda interjected.

Iri took a moment to process before turning to Rosewater to give her the answer:

“My existence began centuries ago,” Iri told her. “My life began when I met him on what would be considered the one of the worst days of his life. I know I will not be able to live without him. It is the same reason why those in the past opted to transition after the passing of their Castithan partners, because when they lost their partner they couldn’t let go of them. They started suffering from extreme depression, or worse, emotional disconnection and repression. And when you have as long a lifespan as we Indogene do, you either live long enough to have your soul die or you lose all feeling and be dead on the inside.”

Iri looked Yewll, knowing she knew exactly what it was like.

“I will not be the same person I am without him, much like how the real Meh Yewll wasn’t the same after she lost Lev. You know exactly what that was like. Chase and I promised that we'd be together until the end. And that is one promise I will not break. All life ends just as all life began. And in a life where people allow their deaths to be random, the only solace that exists is that we should be able to control the end as we've tried to control our lives. Our children are adults now. And they have been prepared as best as we could for this new world, and they do not need us anymore. I miss the world as it was, but the fact is that time is limited for everyone. I've lived long enough. I choose to end it on my terms. And it will be when he goes.”

Amanda thought about the words, and Iri hoped she understood why she was making the decision. She looked at Meh Yewll, and her eyes told Iri she understood.

“What method are you going to use?” Yewll asked.

“Euthanasia. I don’t need the assistance with that, I’ve already got everything needed and set to go. It will be tonight when his EGO cannot maintain the functions of Chase’s mind anymore. With the calculations I have made, based on the number of times he’s had severe incidents in the past, which often involved moments of temporary loss of conscious and brief ceasing of involuntary functions he’s had in the past two years, the next one will be the final one for him. He will lose consciousness one last time and he will die. And it will be sometime an hour and fifteen minutes from now, in the 8 o’clock hour.”

Iri noticed Amanda silently crying, now aware she would be losing two people she knew instead of just one. Iri placed her hand on the human’s shoulder.

“Don’t be sad,” Iri told her. “Just as much as his death will be painless for him, my end will be painless for me. My kids will be okay after this. And as you said to my youngest, things will be better afterwards.”

“I think you’re stupid for wanting to die,” Amanda said as she locked eyes with her. “But considering all the ways the world tried to end you two… I guess this could be as close to a mercy either of you could have.”

“So, what do you need me to do?” Yewll asked her as she lowered her arms from her chest.

“After our deaths, I need you to remove the EGO units from us. I already have plans in place for what will happen to them. There is a powered storage device in the closet that will keep them active after we’re gone. I had originally intended for Ze’ka, my eldest, to do the removing of them. But then I realized how cruel it would be for him. And if there is anyone who can remove them without having to damage them, it’s you.”

Yewll looked at her a moment, processing everything she had been told before making her decision. The look in her eyes finally gave her the answer before she opened her mouth.

“Fine,” she replied. “I’ll dig tech out of you two after you croak.”

Iri nodded, pleased that the final part of her preparation had been completed. Iri took a moment to step out of the room to allow the two to get a chance to say their goodbyes to her husband, and she informed Ze’ka that Yewll will be performing the extraction. When she got back to the doorway of the room, she watched them as they talked with him. She could see the familiarity in his eyes, but then temporarily slip away from him.

“Doc?” he asked. “Ms. Rosewater? What happened? Is Kenya okay?”

Amanda, who had been sitting in the chair reeled back, covering her mouth and trying to keep from showing her grief.

“Yes, Chase,” Yewll answered. “She’s okay.”

“Thank God,” he said. “Hunter Bell really needs to buff up security at the Need/Want. I doubt I’ll be there for the next stool that flies Kenya’s way. And I’m sorry to be bothering you again with another injury so soon, Doc.”

“Don’t worry about it, Mister Painintheass,” Yewll replied.

Confusion crossed his eyes once more, and then recognition came back.

“I’m sorry,” Chase told them. “I was remembering when I took the stool to the head for Kenya during the first month I was in town.”

“It’s okay,” Amanda said, taking his left hand and holding it.

“Doc, I am still sorry for touching your ear that time.”

“Don’t mention it,” Yewll replied with a chuckle and cracked a small smile with her arms crossing her chest again. “Ever.”

Iri had taken a moment to head to the bathroom to change out of clothes into her hooded gown that she wore for sleep. It may have been used to keep skin-on-skin contact to a minimum in the past so accidental sex didn’t occur, but if she was going to go to sleep, it was probably the best outfit to do so as it was intended in its design. By the time she finished and both Doc Yewll and Amanda Rosewater finished saying their goodbyes, dinner had been completed, and the kids delivered the plates to the room. The song on the radio had changed once again. It started off with a piano playing before Dave Grohl's vocals joined in for the song “Home” by The Foo Fighters. She always thought the Foo Fighters was the oddest name for a band she ever heard. Iri took a position on the bed at Chase’s right side, while Dena took the chair next to him and both Ze'ka and Jebediah sat on the floor. Iri had to help with cutting and feeding the burger patty and fries, as he had been too weak to handle the action on his own. Meh and Amanda decided to eat in the dining room, giving the family their last moment together as the final meal. He continued to hold onto his old self long enough, as he knew it was going to be the last his kids see of him. He told them an amusing story about their long-lost friends, one they had heard before and enjoyed hearing again. As the sun set over the ocean view from the bedroom, Ze'ka had taken all their plates back to the kitchen after they finished and then returned.

“There's something I have to say,” he told them. “When we go, do not hold onto the pain or any guilt for things left unsaid. When I lost both my mother and father, I carried that guilt with me for years. And everyone I cared about before; I carried those losses with me. I let the ghosts I carried dominate me for too long. Do not carry your mother and I in sadness. Carry only the goodness and happiness we shared with you. And if you do feel any sadness or regret, just carry it for a short time and let it go. A person can carry thousands of ghosts with them, and it's too easy to let them define you. Do not allow us to do that to any of you, okay?”

They nodded silently, Iri knowing that they would do their best afterwards and eventually only remember the good. Jebediah helped wheel in an old IV contrast machine that had been loaded with the liquids that were needed for what was to come. Two IV lines connected into a Y connector, so that they went from individual lines into one. Iri set her tablet device on her bedside table, plugging in the cabling that led to the machine and a cable attached a wireless signal detector. She opened his shirt and placed a portable heart monitor on Chase, connecting the wires to ensure that it could detect his heartbeat and transmitted the signal to the tablet before she buttoned it back up. The final thing for the prep was Dena helping install an IV line in Iri's chest so that it would be in common carotid leading into her right heart, taping the tube to go around her breast and up her neck. Iri attached to the tubing to the contrast machine into the line leading into her, making sure that the tubing was secured and didn't come out. She zipped up her gown, the IV line leading out through the turtleneck.

“Okay kids,” she told them, looking at them. “It's time for bed.”

The kids all nodded, knowing this was it. They knew that in the upcoming hour, their parents would be gone, which is a small luxury that so few have. Jebediah took Chase's hand, holding it and trying his best to keep his composure. The radio began to play “Here's to the Night” by Eve 6, filling in some of the silence in the room.

“I love all of you,” Chase told them. “And I am so proud of who you all have become. Thank you for letting me be your father. Goodbye, kiddos. Y'all be good... No. Be better than us.”

They all nodded at him. Iri looked at them as they began to avoid eye contact.

“Look at me, kids,” Iri told them, and they obliged. “I am proud and have been lucky to have you as my children. You may not be of my blood, but I still love you as my own flesh. Take what we have taught you and be good people, not just for others, but for yourselves. And always look out for each other. You are not alone. Goodbye my loves. And as your father said, do not hold onto this pain for long. And enjoy this new world, for it is a gift we of the past have given you."

They keep their eye contact on her and on their father. Jebediah leaned in, kissing his father's forehead.

“Goodbye, daddy,” he said, before turning his attention to Iri, taking her glove hand and kissing it. “Goodbye, mama. We'll see you again.”

As soon as he let go both of their hands, he left the room hesitantly, trying not to cry in front of them. Ze'ka took his father's hand and kissed it, following by his mother's glove hand. He had a small smile of sadness on his face and kept his tears at bay.

“Goodbye my mother and father,” he spoke in his Irathiant tongue. “May Irzu deliver you on the path to beyond this world and that you get to dance with your ancestors and friends once more. Your hearts will continue to beat through mine.”

He sat Chase's hand down on his chest, and placed Iri's on top of his. Ze'ka slowly left the room, taking a moment to look back at the people who raised him. He nodded at them, turned and exited the room. It was Dena's turn to say goodbye to them, placing her hand on theirs. She stood silently for a moment, her eyes closed, trying to build up the nerve. She finally looked at them.

"Goodbye, Mom,” Dena told Iri, trying her best to hold back the tears but could not. She turned to look at her father, who looked at her in return. “Goodbye, Dad."

Iri took Dena's hand and kissed it, holding it for Chase to do the same. Dena leaned forward and kissed her father's forehead. And she then did the same for her Indogene mother. She quickly exited the room, holding her hand to her face to keep her sad moans quiet. Iri noticed Yewll and Amanda standing in the doorway, slowly coming in. Iri held out her hand, and Meh Yewll took it.

“It’s been an honor to know you, Meh Yewll,” Iri told her in the Indogene tongue.

She could see Yewll’s eyes tearing up.

“Rest peacefully, Iri Sewuel,” she replied. “And you were right about these humans. They didn’t deserve what we did to them.”

When Iri had told her how she felt about what they had been doing to the humans during the Biodine Project, it had been shortly after Iri found Lev dead from her suicide by slashing her wrists and Yewll tried to get Iri to take her place on the project. Iri nodded, knowing that the clone and the real Meh Yewll had shared the same memories to a point, and that her words were expressing guilt that the real one had. Iri turned Yewll’s gloved hand around and kissed it before letting go to allow Yewll to leave. Amanda Rosewater looked at Iri, holding out her hand to shake it. Iri took it and kissed it too.

“You take care of Meh,” Iri told her. “As long as you can.”

Tears rolled down Amanda’s face as she nodded, slowly exiting out of the room. Iri opened the channel between their EGO units, so she could have a word with them.

Abacus, McCoy, she started by projecting her words through the channel. Thank you both for your help over the years. Especially you, McCoy. You kept Chase with me when I thought I had lost him too many times. Abacus, you helped me become an Arkhunter, and a good one at that. Your actions have not gone unnoticed.

Thank you, babe, Abacus replied.

McCoy was silent for a moment before she finally piped up and went silent again: Thank you, Iri. And it has been a great honor to know the two of you.

As the room slowly began to get dark and the 8 o’clock hour was a few minutes after halfway through, Chase and Iri looked into each other's eyes as Pearl Jam’s “Last Kiss” played over the radio halfway through.

“I wish I had met you sooner,” Iri told him. “I wish I could have been the one and only lover you ever had. I would have liked to have met your parents while both were alive. I wish I had stayed with you instead of going to the University of Alabama after your father's death. We could have stayed in Defiance together. I wish I had been with you in those are eight years instead of apart. I would have liked to be there for you in that time. I would have gone with you on the New Freedom. I would have been by your side throughout everything.”

She looked up at him for a moment before resting her head back down and staring off into the room. The light in the room was low as the sun disappeared over the edge of the Pacific, leaving a colorful hue that reminded her of the painting Soleil couchant à Ivry. She originally could not recall but later remembered it being painted by Armand Guillaumin. A bright colorful mix of oranges and red, with blue not too far above slowly approaching the horizon as the sun moved away. The song that played at that moment began with a voice singing and low synth cooing.

Oh lordy, now trouble so hard
Oh lordy, now trouble so hard
Don't nobody know my trouble but God
Don't nobody know my trouble but God

“Natural Blues” by Moby was the song that filled the room as the two sat there in bed, Iri tucked into her husband's right side. It was the natural spot for her, having occupied it with him for the past few years, her head resting on the cloth of his shirt just below his collar bone, looking out at the view as the colors chased after the sun.

“But I am happy,” she continued. “I am happy with the time we had, and don't regret a single moment of it. I carry them with me. I carried you with me where I went.”

“If I had to redo everything,” Chase told her. “I wouldn't change a thing. Not one good or bad moment. And I would love to do it again with you. You were the best thing to happen to me, Iri. You were worth every second of suffering I had. I wish I could have been born an Indogene back before the Votan system went away. I would have liked to know you for as long as you've been, so that we could have been together for longer than we got.”

Hearing this made tears form in her eyes, as well as made her chuckle.

“You would have made a terrible Indo, Chase,” she told him. “But you were the perfect human for an Indogene like me.”

“Belle?” she heard him say. “Vo? Taffer? What are you doing here?”

She looked up at him to see him staring out in front of him, with nothing in view of the ocean, as if someone else was in the room with them. His head began lightly bobbing up and down, which was an indication to her about what was about to happen. Iri knew McCoy was losing the fight to hold him together and alive. She knew that shortly, he would lose consciousness for the last time, and the decline in the brain's functions would lead to his death shortly after that. Iri turned the human's head to face her, his eyes locking onto hers at first with confusion and then with familiarity. Iri kissed him one last time. In the past, a small kiss would have been enough to stir her sexually. But as she got older, she learned to better control herself. And in this moment, it was the best kiss they ever shared in their decades of existing with each other. And it was one that she would carry with her into sleep.

Iri pulled back away from him, cupping his face with her right hand. She stared into his eyes, as his appeared to be getting heavy.

“I love you, Chase Loneheart,” she told him before it was too late.

“I...” he started, his mouth trying to form the words he tried to say. “Love you... Iri...”

His head slowly laid back against the cushion behind him. Iri smiled, knowing that the struggle for them was almost over. She stayed next to him on the bed during those last few minutes, her eyes closed and her head resting on his chest, comforted in the thought that it was time, and she was going on her terms with him. Five minutes later, at 8:43 PM Pacific Time, Chase Lonehart let go of his final breath. The sensor registered his last heartbeat, and the pump kicked on. The first syringe was filled with a sedative, a means of making sure Iri drifted to sleep. After the 100 milliliters was completed, the pump waited 30 seconds before it began to push 200 millileters of paralytic, which would cease her involuntary functions such as breathing and the beating of her hearts. At 8:44 PM, Iri Sewuel-Lonehart, a woman from another world, followed her human husband beyond this one.

At 9:00 PM, Meh Yewll removed the EGO implants from them as Iri had asked. They would be stored in a powered storage unit until they could be transferred to the artificial bodies that Iri had made for them, so that they would not be lost to time like others have. The Lonehart children knew that the EGOs carried copies of their parents’ memories, which was a comfort for them. At 10 PM, The Lonehart Corporation transmitted the news of their passing to the world. The last of the Arkhunters were dead, and the Loneharts passed peacefully. They would be buried together the next day in one grave, forever together in death as they had been in life. They would be buried in the Valhalla Cemetery, residing where the Iron Demon Ranch once stood. They would be resting along with their friends, associates and other Arkhunters who lost their lives. Their tombstone read with the following inscription: Loved to The End, Defiant to The End.

The following night, the entire town of San Francisco and several patrons from throughout Paradise came out to honor the last of the Arkhunters, standing at the Memorial Museum as Chase and Iri's names were added to the list of dead who helped make the Bay what it was. Ze'ka, Dena and Jebediah watched as the holographic representations of their parents in their prime were added to the display along with the other Arkhunters before them. After their inclusion in their likeness into the museum, Amanda Rosewater addressed everyone outside.

“When I first met Chase, it was after he protected my sister from getting a stool smashed against her head in a brawl that had broken out in the Need/Want,” she told them. “Then I found out about his background, being a member of the Cowboys from what was once Freedom, Alabama. I knew that Chase was a good man and a force to be reckoned with when he got caught in a cave-in at the McCawley mines, and he dug himself and a fellow worker out of the cave-in in three hours. And even with the number of times he, his friends and his love Iri, passed through Defiance, there was never a dull moment I can honestly admit to.”

This brought a chuckle out of everyone, including the Lonehart children.

“If there is one thing I never expected, it was for Chase to be as a major influence on the world,” she admitted. “But then again, none of us ever expected to live to see this new world formed after the war. But we all hoped for something better. Chase never wanted the responsibility of the changes that occurred while he was alive. But Chase was one of the few who was driven to make things better after having suffered so much loss. And Iri was his rock. She was probably the only one who understood him better than most. He had even gone insane when he thought he lost her. And like all relationships, there were rough patches they went through. Most of them because of her. But she evolved into a better person because of him. Her actions helped him, and made him a better person in return, as love should. Her love for him kept him afloat when so many times he fell apart. And together they stayed. They raised three wonderful people. Iri's knowledge in biomechanics made it possible to save lives quicker than they had been before. And like her husband, she was a damn good Arkhunter.”

She took a moment to collect herself, Yewll coming up next to her to see if she was okay. Amanda nodded at her. It was clear that on Amanda's face, she was desperately trying not to burst into tears.

“I'm sure every one of you know how they impacted this area, if not all of the world. But I think of these Arkhunters, not just Chase and Iri, but all who are memorialized here as a part of the Defiant Few. Not just the ones who put the war aside to help those in need in the Battle of Defiance. But for those who helped shaped the world, who defied everything this world threw at them. The ones who raised a middle finger at fate and said, “Go jek yourself! We will not go out without a fight.” Those that went out, they gave their all, so that there could be a better tomorrow for everyone. It is with great sadness, and with great honor, to be here to lay to rest the last of the Arkhunters in the world. It is the end of an era. May they never be forgotten. Defiance!”

“Defiance!” the citizens of San Francisco replied in response, in honor of the Arkhunters.

Meh stepped up, taking Amanda's hand, helping her step away from the podium that had been set up. Amanda couldn’t keep back the tears anymore, her eyes shrink wrapped in them and they started to roll quietly down her face.

“Hey now,” Yewll told her. “Don't cry. I'm gonna miss Mister and Misses Painintheass, too.”

This brought a chuckle out of the woman who was once Mayor of Defiance. She looked at the Indogene, who had first started out as someone who had caused some problems, to someone who helped, to a copy of someone who helped, and eventually, her friend and eventual love.

“When it comes my time to die, what will you do without me?” Amanda asked Yewll.

“I don't know. Maybe I would shack up with a Sugar Mama for a while, get drunk from depression, maybe film some very unflattering porn,” the Indogene joked, until their eyes met, and she realized Amanda was serious. “I would give up existing for you. Like Iri did for Chase. After all, who the hell else would love me like you?”

“I would want you to live,” Amanda told her. “I would want you to keep the memory of me alive even after I and everyone else are gone. And I know you are strong enough to stay alive, and there is always someone out there who can care about you. Don't ever forget that, okay?”

There had been a group of people gathered nearby to let go of paper lanterns that floated up into the night sky, with the word “defiance” written in English and the various Votan languages, in honor of not just the last two Arkhunters in the world passing away, but in honor of all of those who had been lost along the way. The lanterns floated over the Pacific Ocean, floating away from shore like all the souls that went before them. Jebediah held onto his father's Von Bach Industries Player as he watched them. He turned on the player, the last song that had been cued was the last time Chase had touched the device before all songs were transferred to the stereo system in their home and had remained in his desk drawer for years until Jebediah found it. When he did, he asked Ze'ka and Dena if either one wanted it, they felt Jebediah should have it. He pressed play, the player transmitting it to a bluetooth speaker he had also brought with him. The song, “Keep Me in Your Heart” started with the strumming of a guitar, followed by Warren Zevon's voice, like a message from their late parents.

Shadows are fallin' and I'm runnin' out of breath
Keep me in your heart for a while
If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for a while

When you get up in the mornin' and you see that crazy sun
Keep me in your heart for a while
There's a train leavin' nightly called "When All is Said and Done"
Keep me in your heart for a while

Sha-lalala-lala-li-lalala-lo
Keep me in your heart for a while
Sha-lalala-lala-li-lalala-lo
Keep me in your heart for a while

Sometimes when you're doin' simple things around the house
Maybe you'll think of me and smile
You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse
Keep me in your heart for a while

Hold me in your thoughts
Take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes
Keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you

Engine driver's headed north up to Pleasant Stream
Keep me in your heart for a while
These wheels keep turnin' but they're runnin' out of steam
Keep me in your heart for a while

Sha-lalala-lala-li-lalala-lo
Keep me in your heart for a while
Sha-lalala-lala-li-lalala-lo
Keep me in your heart for a while

Keep me in your heart for a while




Iri, it’s time to wake up, she heard Abacus’s voice echo in her head. It's 8 a.m. and a fine morning.

I'm home, she reminded herself. On top of Mount Tam, Chase's mountain top.

She always remembered the spot as Chase's mountain top because of when he told her of when he first got to Paradise, having to sleep in the cramped back seat of the orange Hemi Dodge Challenger. Now, it was home. Their home. It took time for it to be built because of the steep uphill climb without a ramp, but eventually became easier after its construction. She found that the bed was empty next her. She got out of her gown, pulling on her Omega Recon outfit, getting ready for what would be her usual day. She made her way into the kitchen area of their cabin, grabbing an applrange from a bowl sitting on the counter, grabbing her Alliance Terranaut helmet from the coat rack next to the door as she made her way outside. The morning air was cool and crisp. Due to how high up the mountain was, the only clear view was the morning sun piercing through the light mist. She found him hunched over the Hemi Orange Dodge Challenger with the hood up, him checking the engine per usual in the morning. He turned his head to see her, a warm smile forming, almost as handsome after the first day she met him, except for the burn scar on the right side of his face from the incident with Lady Christianna's mother testing her to become her replacement as the Mistress of Justice. His brown hair blew in the wind when he stood up. He wore his Riveter outfit, and his Defiant Few Assault Gear helmet rested on the driver side roof of the roller.

"Look who decided to wake up," Chase said with a chuckle.

Chase closed the hood of the Challenger as she made her way over to him, taking a bite into the applrange, tasting its tangy sweetness. It was enough to give her a little boost for the morning.

"We got to get going," Chase told them. "We're gonna be running late and you know it takes time to get to Top Notch. Everyone's waiting on us."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. We're on the clock," Iri replied as she finished the fruit and chucked the core off the side of the mountain.

Abacus picked up McCoy's signal, which gave her some relief in knowing where he was. She opened the passenger side door and slid into the seat, it hugged her as she pulled on the seatbelt. Chase finally took his place in the driver seat, buckling up and setting his helmet in the backseat next to hers. The engine cranked and roared to life after one turn. She could smell a bit of the petrohol, which was probably what Chase was checking on.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Chase replied. "A little bit of a leak, got it fixed."

He put the Challenger into gear and began to head down the ramp towards the Crater.

"Is Von Bach still causing problems?"

"When is he NOT causing problems?” Chase replied with a chuckle. “I think Belle should take over his duties. One less headache to worry about."

As they made it to the road, they turned and headed towards Top Notch. There was a part of her that hoped that things would continue to be good, though she knew that the chances were high that they weren't. She was looking forward to seeing her friends again on this fine day. Just as they approached Top Notch, their EGOs gave them notice that there was an Arkfall coming in. She could see the Cerberus and the Durango belonging to the Cowboys, as well as the rollers for Belle Star and Vo, as well as Atticus and Lady coming down the ramp, joining in behind them as Chase's Challenger lead the way. Her hailer squawked, the voice of Belle Starr coming through when Iri answered.

“Glad y'all could finally join us,” she said with the N’Awlins twang in her voice as it came in through the open channel.

“Certainly, took your time,” Vo K’shaa, her Irathiant boyfriend chimed in from next to her..

“Like we would miss it,” Iri replied with a smile on her face. “Let's get to work, people. Cowboys, make sure you're stocked up on ammo.”

"Will do, boss lady," the Texan Irathiant Vick Turner replied, his accent thick in response.

“How many rounds of ammo do we have?” the voice of Rebecca Ludlow, a Castihan female that had her hair dyed a vibrant green color, could be heard asking, more than likely in the back seat of the Durango.

“Two thousand, four hundred and twenty-three,” Collin Crosby's child-like voice replied. He may have been mentally handicap, but his savant syndrome and his aiming skills did help when the situation called for it.

“How can you be sure of that?” Janet asked him.

“I've known him all my life,” his older brother, Darren Crosby, told her. “It's just how he's wired. Trust me, the number he says is right.”

“Y'all do know we're on an open channel, right?” Vick asked them, as they clearly were unaware of it before.

"Are y'all gonna lead the way, or are we gonna have to pass you, Chase?" Taffer's voice came over the hailer. "Kick in that boost, will ya slowpoke?"

"Alright, alright, keep your pantyhose on,” Chase muttered. “McCoy, cue up some traveling music."

Sure thing, McCoy replied cheerfully.

The first song the VBI Player cued up started with a lead guitar acoustic guitar, piano, bass guitar and drums. It was joined by Bob Segar's voice. Iri remembered the song from hearing before, recognizing it as “Against the Wind” by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. Iri never felt more alive and happier than to be there, with everyone she cared about, in that moment as they went all out and headed south towards the Golden Gate with the Arkfall's estimated impact being in the ruins of San Francisco. They were joined by the thousands of other Arkhunters all scrambling for the big payday from the Arkbelt. But at least she was still together with her friends, and most of all with Chase. To her, that was more than enough. She felt it was going to be a good and long day. And continued to hope that it would be for all of them.

Against the wind
I'm still runnin' against the wind
I'm older now but still runnin' against the wind
Well I'm older now and still runnin'
Against the wind
Against the wind
Against the wind

Still runnin' (against the wind)
I'm still runnin' against the wind
(Against the wind) I'm still runnin'
(Against the wind) I'm still runnin' against the wind
(Against the wind) still runnin'
(Against the wind)runnin' against the wind, runnin' against the wind
(Against the wind) see the young man run
(Against the wind) watch the young man run
(Against the wind) watch the young man runnin'
(Against the wind) he'll be runnin' against the wind
(Against the wind) let the cowboys ride
(Against the wind) aah
(Against the wind) let the cowboys ride
(Against the wind) they'll be ridin' against the wind
(Against the wind) against the wind
(Against the wind) ridin' against the wind...


This is a dedication to those who've I have known, most in a life that took away more than gave. This tale was not just of myself, but of some people who were punished entirely too much by a world not created by them, and just because we were alive to see it. All we wanted was to live, happily and peacefully, but were treated like children playing in the street and being ran down without regard. But we continued to keep on as best as we could. We all had our happy moments, as well as our sad ones. We had moments where our faiths were tested, and moments where our hope and sanity had been broken, only to be raised back up to hope and sane once again. Our only sin was hoping for a better day by pushing through the darkness that sprung forth from unfortunate events that started centuries before any of us were born and hounded us until that better day finally came. I love all of them, even if I knew them for such a short time. Here is the list to whom my love is dedicated:

To Cynitha (Deceased).
To Jebediah (Deceased).
To the townsfolk of Defiance (St. Louis).
To Kenya (Deceased).
To Amanda.
To Rafe, Pilar, Luke, Quentin and Christie (Deceased).
To Datak and Stahma (Deceased).
To Alak and Luke.
To Meh (MIA, Presumed deceased).
To Nolan (MIA, Presumed deceased).
To Irisa.
To Meh-2.
To Berlin (Deceased).
To Samir (Deceased).
To Phelur and Jasine (Deceased).
To Minnex.
To Max and Sylvia (Deceased).
To "Baby" Belle.
To Blink (Deceased).
To Janet (Deceased).
To Odysseus and Drew (Deceased).
To Laquire (Deceased).
To Robert and Henry (Deceased).
To Samantha and Jolene (Deceased).
To Sarah (Deceased).
To Marshall, Thomas and John (Deceased).
To Jackson (Deceased).
To Michael (Deceased).
To the survivors of the Hidden Hydra Incident of the late town of Freedom, Alabama.
To the townsfolk who died due to the Hidden Hydra Incident.
To Marcus and Biraa (Deceased).
To Rose (Deceased).
To Belle and Vo (Deceased).
To Taffer (Deceased).
To Luuzuk (Deceased).
To Daiden (Deceased).
To Volodja (Deceased).
To Raizar (Deceased).
To Marcel and Lena (MIA, Presumed Deceased).
To Wolfram (Deceased).
To Atticus and Lady (MIA, Presumed Deceased).
To Erika (Deceased).
To Sandy (Deceased).
To Frankie (Deceased).
To Rosa and Eren (Deceased).
To Cass (Deceased).
To Ara (Deceased).
To Varus (Deceased).
To Jon (Deceased).
To Torc (Deceased).
To Karl (Deceased).
To the members of the E-Rep (Disbanded).
To the members of VC (Disbanded)
To the members of Dark Matter (Disbanded).
To the members of VBI (Disbanded)
To every Arkhunter that came to the Bay on the New Freedom.
To every Arkhunter that came after the Arkfalls stopped.
To the residents of Paradise.
To Vick (Deceased).
To Darren and Collin (MIA, Presumed Deceased).
To Rebecca (Deceased).
To Murry (Deceased).
To Rynn (Deceased).
To Ek (Deceased).
To Tom Cody (Full Recall).
To EGO (Deceased, Cave-In in Tampa).
To Jeb and Cyn (Deceased, LOCI Revolt Incident).
To Iri.
To Ze'ka, Dena and Jebediah.
To McCoy and Abacus.
To C (Hippocampus Damage).

... And so forth.

Each of these people were my brothers and sisters in arms. They were my family. They were my comrades and friends whom I had and wouldn't have wished for any better or a moment with them changed for any reason. They remain in my fractured mind, and the enemies we faced will never be forgiven for their sins. The greatest "enemy" was the mistakes made by faults not of our own, attacking us where we lived and played, and we lost our innocence as a result. I hope someday that they will be happy once again and walk in a place where no shadow will fall upon them. And I hope when we are all together again, we are in a place where we are happy and free once more to be who we were. Defiant to the end.



This fan fiction story is dedicated to the cast, crew and creators of the TV series Defiance (2013-2015), and Trion Worlds for the game of Defiance (2013-2021).

The users of the Defiance RP Forum, who I met at the Defiance Forums, and who are still on my mind to this day, created several RP stories from 2013 to 2019: defiancerpforum.freeforums.net/

And to the friends I've made in the game and the players from the moment I started playing back in 2014 to those during the last months of the game's existence. You all have given me a lot of fun and great memories.

Thank you all for such a fun trip through the New Frontier. Defiance!

"We strive for the best, but sometimes we fall short. Sometimes we forget ourselves, and occasionally, this new world rears up and kicks us in the teeth, but we stay. We fight because this town is worth fighting for, and if necessary, it's worth dying for." - Amanda Rosewater, "Pilot."

"It's in our nature to want to be other than we are. It's what makes humanity great. We are creatures of incredible curiosity. We envy the flight of birds, and we build wings. Born earthbound, we reach for the stars." - Viceroy Berto Mercado, "If You Could See Her Through My Eyes."

"We're goin' to Jackson, ain't never comin' back." - Johnny Cash and June Carter.