Evening had set in the Government District. Enough time had passed for many of the people who previously got caught up in the surprise attack to depart from this damaged and messy warzone. The streets had been cordoned off while many more military mechs had arrived to defend this crucial location against any further attacks that might ensue. There was almost no reason for anyone to do so, but it was better to be safe than sorry. A new development occurred. Plenty of people saw that the mechs of the Larkinson Clan that previously departed the district came back. They also brought a lot of buddies. Hundreds of mechs from the Larkinson Army brazenly flew from the underground complex of the Cat Nest and flew straight towards the center of the city district in a high-profile fashion! With expert mechs such as the Everchanger and the Minerva leading the procession, it became clear that the Larkinson Clan wanted to send a serious message! If that wasn't enough, numerous shuttles emblazoned with the logos of several prominent Davutan news networks started to head towards the Government District as well! The Larkinsons had invited journalists from each of these news portals to witness a great occasion. What stood out was that the clan did so without consulting the government! This caused a lot of alarm among the various leaders of the newly founded colonial federation! Although the government declined to declare a state of martial law due to a desire to keep this situation from blowing up any further than it already had, a curfew still went into effect. In such a sensitive time as this, any major disturbances or concentration of troops would prompt the military forces to take action. It wouldn't be unjustified for the military to start shooting first and ask questions later! The military mechs patrolling the city did not take action, though. They did not even dare to stand in the way of the Larkinson mechs and ask for an explanation. The Larkinsons seemed to have expected this response and fearlessly flew forward. They crossed the various districts in the way and barged straight into the Government District that still had the scars of the previous battle! A lot of bots and work teams worked to register the battle damage, collect any important evidence, rescue any trapped survivors and respectfully remove the bodies of the deceased. None of the streets looked ready to greet the public again. A lot of bodies still hadn't been cleaned up. The large quantity of beast carcasses were especially troublesome to deal with. Biotech scientists had arrived to examine their organic properties and harvest valuable tissue samples in order to figure out how they became so deadly and hostile towards humans. A repeat of this tragedy had to be avoided at all cost! In any case, the government truly did not want to accept visitors to this district while it remained by blood, but the Larkinsons did not care about this priority. The clan had its own goals. Although the military did not choose to stop the Larkinson units from moving to the center of the Government District, additional military mechs arrived and flanked the unannounced visitors, but otherwise did nothing else. The distance to the central plaza was not too great. The mechs in flight easily reached this crucial position. By now, more powerful mechs had showed up. The Travon Exine piloted by General Ark Larkinson and the Mars piloted by Patriarch Reginald Cross clearly stood out as both of them flew closer to the head of the procession of Larkinson mechs. The Koi Riser piloted by Saint Megan Roonzin hovered a bit further back. It did not hide its presence, but did not show any intention of moving forward either. It was General Ark that ultimately spoke for the young colonial federation. "What are you doing, Commander Ingvar?!" The high-tier expert pilot hissed over a private and encrypted communication channel. "Many different Davutans have attempted to make contact with you and your units, but you ignored all of their calls. Everyone has become a lot more suspicious and alert than usual. You could have brought great danger to every Larkinson with your stunt! What if anyone decided to pull the trigger and shoot?" It was at this time that Commander Casella Ingvar finally deigned to respond. "No one would have shot us. They wouldn't dare. We are the heroes today. Denying us entry will damage the government's relationship with all of the third parties it is trying to befriend. Davute cannot afford to alienate the trading partners it is dependent upon to grow its economy and expand its mech armies." General Ark Larkinson suffered a headache at the moment. Though he was a member of the Larkinson Clan, he also wore the hat of a senior military officer of the Colonial Federation of Davute. Now that both of his affiliations came into conflict with each other, Ark became torn between two loyalties. His current responsibilities forced him to speak on behalf of the colonial state. He did not want this to happen but felt it was better if he did the talking instead of another representative of the government. Ark could at least make sure that Davute did not treat the Larkinson Clan too unfairly. "You are making it very difficult for my superiors, commander." Ark responded with a grimace. "President Yenames Clive is personally urging you and your mechs to return and wait for a missive." Commander Casella maintained an uncompromising demeanor to reflect the Larkinson Clan's current stance. "There is no reason for us to talk. Our trapped clansmen are about to come out. We want everyone to know that they did not wait for rescue from your government or from the MTA. They fought their way out and they want everyone to know it. We have won another great victory, General Ark. This is an outcome that should be celebrated rather than obscured." As a general of the colonial military, Ark Larkinson was not a simple grunt or battlefield commander. He already possessed a good understanding of the goals and the priorities of the state he became obliged to protect. Holding a public parade was not in the government's best interest, that was for sure. Davute already had a lot of egg on its face. Compounding the humiliation by letting the Larkinsons steal the show would once again diminish the standing of Davute. Casella and Ark continued to argue against each other. The two remained professional for the most part as they both did their duty to their current masters. They eventually failed to find a middle ground. The Larkinsons did not budge in their demands and willfully ignored the authority of the state. The only way that the Davutan military could drive the Larkinson mechs out of the Government District was by taking tangible action, but both sides knew that this would never happen. This produced an extremely awkward circumstance where the Larkinson Clan openly defied Davute and got away with it! This was a brilliant show of force and demonstrated once again that this eccentric clan punched way above its weight. General Ark became extremely concerned by these developments. "What you are doing will have consequences, Casella." He warned. "You are not going to make a lot of friends in Davute with these antics. It is the opposite. We have made many new enemies today. Our Davute Branch will not be able to gain as much assistance from the institutions of the state and my mech division will also encounter a lot more hurdles in the future." "You are wrong, Ark. What you fear may happen to a varying degree, but it will never be able to exceed all of the fame and goodwill that we have harvested today. Our clan knows what it is doing, and you would know as well if you were not in a hurry to work for the local state." The Davute Branch may adore General Ark, but the main branch was not as positive. While there was no doubt that Ark was a Larkinson in his heart and mind, the clan would never divulge too much information to him at his current state! Ark fully understood that it was his decision that led to this undesirable situation, but he believed it was for the best in the end. He just had to tough it out and hope that the contradictions between the clan as a whole and the colonial state grew more harmonious in the future. A change suddenly occurred. Though a visible portal had not formed, the two expert pilots were close enough to sense a disturbance down below. A bot appeared into view. It was not unusual for a simple bot to show up in the Government District, but everyone nearby knew that the plaza had been completely empty and deserted at this time! The investigators and the cleanup crews had focused on processing all of the debris and marks of damage in the central plaza first. Any bots should have long been transferred elsewhere! The Larkinson mech pilots all knew what this meant. "The portal is working! Get ready to receive our people!" The Larkinsons helpfully gave the accompanying journalists a reminder to record what happened next. A column of Larkinsons spontaneously appeared into view! It was as if an invisible portal had formed where all of the clansmen could march through and show up in the middle of the Government District. "That's the patriarch!" "Ves has returned!" "He looks much more impressive than before!" "The rest of our clan has returned as well!" The people at the front of this column solely consisted of Larkinsons, though the people that followed after that predominantly consisted of the battle-scarred guard troopers of Davute. The order of the march sent a clear message that it was the Larkinsons that led this parade! For the clan to be able to convince the Davutan soldiers to play along with this arrangement was already remarkable in itself. Even the civilians of the Larkinson Clan got to walk in front of the Davutan soldiers! Two prominent individuals led the parade column. Both Ves and Ketis set an easy pace to ensure that the weaker and injured folks could match their pace. It wasn't necessary for the parade to be too neat. [The hostages have been freed!] A journalist eagerly spoke as more and more people tuned in to the news broadcast. [After a harrowing day of ambushes, tragedies and instances of heroism, we can finally confirm that we are able to announce that the missing VIPs have returned with their lives intact. We cannot independently confirm this news, but the hostages have managed to free themselves rather than getting ransomed.] Other journalists parroted the information they received from the Larkinson Clan, though they couldn't help but add their own embellishments. Their words became a lot more enthusiastic once alien captives started to pass through the invisible portal! Each of them still wore their battle suits because they did not breathe the same air as humans, but it was obvious to everyone that they were not humans! [Look! The truth has come out! It turned out that Karlach did not plot to attack the citizens of Davute alone, but also colluded with a dastardly group of aliens!] [Take note of the markings stamped on the armor of the restrained alien captives. Is that… a gold cat head?] [These alien captives have become the Larkinson Clan's spoils of war! Each and every one of them bears the same symbol. There is nothing that suggests that any of the prisoners have been allocated to the state or other groups. What happened inside this mysterious space where the Larkinsons had to fight and defeat so many aliens?] 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶 Even though a lot of other human survivors exited the portal as well, few people paid any attention to them. They had all turned into background characters today as the Larkinsons had clearly taken the lead this time!