Master Rexen's projection shook a bit. "General Abershen-Blake has already ordered you to stand down and await detention, Venerable Stixson. "
"I will not stand by and let a good friend and an innocent mech designer bear the blame for someone else's crimes!" The expert pilot insisted! "Venerable Zoman did not give his life to us in vain. Professor Anton's work truly succeeded! I can feel it! He is innocent!"
The air suddenly grew tense as the skull mech began to resonate at an increasing intensity.
Professor Anton looked up in alarm. "Venerable Stixson…"
"I know you're right, Anton! Maybe your attempt hasn't worked out as well as we hoped this time, but I am sure you can vindicate Venerable Zoman's trust in your work! We just have to keep working in order to complete your current project!"
This did not sit well with Master Rexen and the Blue Cavalry. As the Master was about to issue a sterner warning, l Venerable Stixson was no longer willing to wait for the opposition to call in further reinforcements.
Expert pilots were decisive people.
Once they made a decision, they often acted upon it without entertaining any second thoughts.
They were also quite good at reading other people's intentions. When Venerable Stixson saw that Master Rexen was determined to put a total end to this entire affair in one way or another, the young and impulsive expert pilot could not hold himself back any longer!
"Follow me, professor! I will carve a way out for you!" He roared even as his expert mech exploded into action!
The skull mech raised its rifle and began to fire a rapid sequence of resonance-empowered positron beams at the Blue Cavalry mechs within its line of sight!
Mech after mech collapsed onto the floor as the powerful positron beams seared straight through their armor and inflicted crippling damage onto their internals!
The regular mechs had no chance against a genuine expert mech! Not under these circumstances and with so few numbers
"Stop, Venerable Stixson! You are committing treason!" Master Rexen yelled just before his projection cut away.
It was a pity that Venerable Stixson remained unmoved to these pleas.
"I will not allow any further injustice to take place under my nose!"
The expert pilot followed his own heart and conviction and proceeded to fight for a way out of the secret base.
Under Stixson frantic urging, Anton bewilderingly entered the skull mech's cockpit.
There, he watched on as the rogue expert mech proceeded to shoot down any opposing mech and scare away any groups of infantry that sought to stop the escape of the chief suspect.
Stixson tried his best not to kill any Fridaymen in his escape attempt. All of the damage he inflicted onto the opposing mechs merely disabled their systems without ever placing their cockpits at risk.
Without any expert mechs or overwhelming numbers on their side, the Blue Cavalry units simply found it impossible to stop Venerable Stixson from doing what he wanted.
Eventually, the rogue expert pilot and the fugitive Senior managed to make their escape.
That journey was one of the most chaotic periods of Anton's life. He could not even explain how he was able to outrun his pursuers and evade capture for so long.
All he knew was that he could never return to the Friday Coalition for the rest of his life.
Anton spoke to Master Rexen one last time over the comm. It was when he had just crossed the border of civilized space and became secure in the fact that his pursuers were unlikely to catch up at this point.
"Master…"
"You shouldn't have called me, Anton." Rexen sighed. "Now I will be put under another round of investigation. Do you know how much your escape has exacerbated this debacle?"
"I am sorry, Master."
"Don't apologize anymore. You have made your way into lawless space. The rules of survival are much different over there. If you want to stay alive, then you must adapt to a more brutal game. Never show weakness. Project strength in any way you can. The infamy that you have built up will serve you well in that. Play into the madness that has led the public to believe you have ruthlessly cut down thousands of people in your quest to design a better mech. Let the pirates of the frontier know that Reno Jimenez, otherwise known as the Skull Architect, is the most murderous mech designer in their midst."
"What?" Anton looked astonished. "My name is not—"
"It is now." Master Rexen insisted. "The spooks of the Gauge Dynasty may have successfully provoked a scandal that has inflicted significant damage to our Vermeer Group social cohesion, but we have done our best to limit the damage. We could not afford to drag in the Blue Cavalry and our expert pilots into this cesspit. We especially could not afford to tarnish the reputation of your alma mater. No matter what, the dignity of Marten Hildebrand and its backers must remain spotless. Hence the reason why the culprit of the brutal murders is Professor Reno Jimenez, a failing mech designer who originated from an average mech design university, have I made myself clear?"
"Yes… sir…"
"Good man. For what it is worth, I wish I would have intervened sooner. I should not have denied you so often. I at least needed to keep a closer eye on you when you started showing deviating behavior. If I did, I could have guided you to a healthier course of action."
The fugitive mech designer became emotional to the point where he began to tear up. "I would have liked that as well…"
This was the last time that the Skull Architect used his original name.
Professor Anton Mendoza became a forgotten person in the Vermeer Group.
Though not all of his traces could be scrubbed, the government did its best to minimize any mention of him. The name disappeared on many databases and many people who knew him personally received strict orders to never talk about Anton Mendoza again.
Since the condemned mech designer largely spent his time in a closed circle and had very few interactions with other parties, it was easy for the Vermeer Group to make the alumni from Marten Hildebrand disappear.
In time, the scandal itself became forgotten as time and other events began to dominate people's attention.
The few people that were still obsessed over the incident finally let go once the Komodo War commenced in earnest.
Compared to a tragedy that affected a couple of thousands lives at most, a war that directly affected the lives of trillions of Fridaymen and Hexers and decided the future of even more people was much more significant!
The Skull Architect never forgot, though. The traumas he experienced from this life-changing sequence of events haunted him up until this day.