Their battle won, at least for the time being, Sean and the rest of the ACTF were settling down to a meal and some well-deserved R-and-R. Sean was especially glad to have both the meal and the promise of rest. It had been a harder-fought battle than he was used to, against Zoanoids that Sean hadn’t even known about. None of the Zoanoids that Chronos had ever sent against him had been that strong.

Thankfully, these Zoanoids had been just as stupid as the others that had been sent after him. And now, just to make things that much better, there was the ACTF to back him up. Sean hadn’t ever suspected, when he had first met up with Atkins all those months ago in Utah, that he would ever be joining up with a secret military organization that was dedicated to fighting against Chronos.

Still, it was good to know that he had people who would fight with him when it came down to it. Though Sean had been a lone wolf for a long time, even he had to admit that taking on Chronos was not a job that could be done by just one person. And, now that he had Cori to worry about, Sean was even more grateful to have the ACTF backing him up. Cori wasn’t someone who liked to stay on the sidelines while other people risked their lives.

Staying with the ACTF’s Scientific Division and helping them research Zoanoids gave her a way to feel useful. Not to mention the fact that she was damn good at what she did. Of course, with these new Zoanoid types showing up so suddenly, Cori and the rest of the Scientific Division were going to have their work cut out for them. Probably for a long time, given that they were going to have to do some pretty drastic information-gathering.

Hell, the Tech Division was probably going to end up getting involved as well. Everyone from Atkins on down knew that the ACTF’s Tech Division were the only ones who could get into Chronos’ computer systems with a minimum of fuss. Sean had heard rumors that one of them had even planted a virus in one of Chronos’ mainframes. Even if it was just a rumor, Sean was impressed with people who had the guts to claim to be able to do things like that.

Sean had seen people in the Tech Division do things with computers that he was sure that he’d never be able to do. It there was any set of people who would ever be able to get in and out of Chronos’ computer systems, Sean knew it had to be the ones who worked for the ACTF Tech Division. Finished with his meal, Sean left the table and headed for his room. Cori would no doubt be there waiting for him, and Sean would be happy to see her.

Cori also knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t be in the mood to do much of anything but settle down and doze off. It was a side-benefit of their being together for so long. Stretching as he walked, Sean made his way down the corridor that would lead him to his quarters. ACTF bases were built to be confusing, Atkins had told him, and sure enough it had taken Sean a fair amount of time to get used to the layout of the base.

Thankfully, none of the exits were in any way hard to find. Nor was the armory, or any of the four cafeterias. In fact, the only places that were hard to get into and out of were the Tech Division’s little playground, and the place where the mad scientists of the Development Division hung out and designed all kinds of things for the express purpose of making any Zoanoid who ended up on the business end of them regret getting up in the morning.

If not being created in the first place.

When Sean had that thought, he had to laugh at himself. Zoanoids weren’t the brightest bunch out there, and Sean really didn’t think they had any capacity for regret. Or any kind of thought, really, given the way they all acted. It was kind of strange to think that some Zoanoids could actually manage to pass for human, but then not all of them were made completely by Chronos.

Sean sobered at that thought, remembering Cori’s father again. He had been a Zoanoid, and he’d given his life to protect Cori and Sean from Crane. Thinking of the short-lived Guyver-Zoanoid, Sean shivered. It had nearly been him that died in the cave when it had come down to a battle between Guyver and Guyver-Zoanoid, and Sean didn’t even want to think about what might have happened to him if Cori hadn’t been there.

She had been the one to fire the shot that struck Crane’s already-damaged Control Medal, giving Sean the time he had needed to rip it out of Crane’s unit. Without his Control Medal to regulate it, Crane’s Guyver had reverted to its natural state: a flesh-eating parasite. Sean hadn’t waited for Crane’s unit to finish its meal, instead opting to blast both it and Crane into nonexistence with the Guyver’s massive cannon.

After he had done that, and after his talk with Cori and Atkins, Sean had sent the spaceship that Chronos and he had dug up back to wherever it had come from. He hadn’t wanted either Chronos or the government to have the weapons that were on board. He still didn’t, come to think of it. Even if he knew that the ACTF’s sole purpose was to fight against Chronos and its massive army of Zoanoids, there were still people in the government that Sean wouldn’t trust as far as he could spit.

Atkins was a good person, if a little hard-assed and overbearing at times. Sean didn’t know if the same could be said of the people he served. Sighing, Sean remembered something else that he had done on the day he had killed Crane. After the admittedly spectacular launch of the spaceship, Sean had gone back into what remained of the cave, hunted down Crane’s damaged Control Medal, and stomped on it until the final piece of Crane’s Guyver had been reduced to little more than metallic dust.

It had felt good, cathartic, if maybe a little pointless. Sean still didn’t know why he had been compelled to destroy Crane’s Control Medal like that, but maybe it had just been a crude way of getting one last bit of revenge for all that Crane had done. Yeah, that was probably it. After all, it wasn’t as if Crane’s Control Medal would have made much of an impact on the would if Sean had left it intact.