"That was just an amateur hour bird." Clover said, rubbing at the place where Jonas had jabbed her. "The Antarctic Tern, on he other hand, is famed for it's very set and predictable migrational pattern."
Of course, that was what she'd said about the last bird. She's thought the same about the four before that and at this point the belief was that of a gambler doing one last spin over and over again in the hopes of hitting the jackpot. In a way it had worked out. Almost all of her seemingly random movements had kept bringing her into contact with people either out for Oh-One or willing to help her along the way. Hell, most of them were converging here, like they were were being drawn in by some kind of gravity she wasn't going to even thing about understanding.
She turned to follow behind Jonas and Otsana as Brown raced down the hill towards them, but something caught her eye. She looked on as a makeshift sled, rider and all, hit the hill and skipped across the past them before sending its poor rider flying off into a nearby snowbank. Even if there wasn't likely anyone else that could be falling from the sky the persons helmet identified her well enough as a MAVERICK trooper. She felt a full body shudder come on as she imagined what that poor bugger must have been going through in their last moments. The boys they had stolen their plane from owned them some serious thanks.
"Sainte atha ma u Hrair, kan zyhlante hray u vahra ma hyaones." She muttered watching them, a funerary prayer for them and their countless comrades who'd gotten tangled up in this nomad business. The respectful tone she'd taken was shattered, however, when the soldier started to push themselves out of the snow. "Say, we got a live one!" She said, a pleasant shock coloring her voice. "Brown's reinforcements are here."
Clover broke off from the group and made her way over to see how the soldier was doing. Pretty well, she decided, if she was pulling off her helmet in this weather. "You okay, hero? Nothin' broken?"
Seshat huffed. Oh-One was already a match for her, though the fight was only beginning. She once again found herself wondering how her current battle would have gone if she were but a few centuries younger.
"... Get the power stone, both of you! I'll hold off the T1000 here!"
Seshat nodded. She, frankly, doubted that Justin stood much chance against Oh-One on his own, but it was a noble gesture nonetheless. He had bought her some time. The only question was how much.
“I will leave this to you, then, Justin.”
Extra boosters unfolded from behind her back before firing off in unison, leaving behind a trail of white fire as she followed Oh-Seven into the air.
Jill sped across the Arctic wastes at record speeds, her bike’s engine roaring in a way that almost sounded gleeful, as if anticipating the coming battle.
Much like its owner.
Under the mask, Justice Rider Blaze’s heart was pounding like crazy. This wasn’t just any fight, or any sort of canned plotline, she was going to save the world, and she was doing it live! She was going to make history, be a real hero! As long as she didn’t mess it up… But that wasn’t going to happen. Right?
The drone attached to her motorcycle let out a string of beeping noises.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jill said. “It’s just butterflies, y’know?”
Jill lowered her head slightly and took a deep breath. She focused on that burning fire inside herself, channeling it into her persona. Most Nomads probably didn’t try to get into character, but when she did it, everything just felt easier. She turned her shaky half smile into a full-on grin.
“How about you?” Jill asked. “You holding up alright? The bike, too?” The robot beeped affirmatively as Jill made a quick check on the rest of her gear. The EX-System was fully charged, and running comfortably at its usual nine percent intake. She nodded, satisfied, and focused back on the tower.
She could make out Oh-One in the distance, fighting some other Nomads. She could handle being late. The fact that two of those other Nomads were Justin and Oh-Seven? She could deal with that too. Oh-One was the main target, here. Closing in fast, she made a ramp of light over a decently-sized snowbank and rode high into the air, tires coming down straight towards a landing on Oh-One itself.
“Hey again, Oh-One!” Jill shouted. “Did ya miss me, baby?”
Justin grabbed onto his Sound-Scythe with both hands and swung it at Oh-One's head and in which the mechanical monster flew backward. Oh-One pointed both hands at Justin and fired two beams that melted the snow and Justin dashed in between the blasts as he threw the Scythe at Oh-One... only for the machine to catch it midair. There was a brief pause before he crushed the Scythe.
"... Crap," Justin said to himself as Oh-One pointed his hands and fired another beam of red hot energy that Justin dashed away from.
"You cannot win, Justin Haggar," Oh-One droned on. "Why fight?"
"Yeah I know I can't," Justin said as he took cover behind a rock as Oh-One kept blasting away, "I'm just stalling you."
"You will-" Oh-One attempted to speak before he detected the roar of a motorcycle and the looming shadow of one coming down on top of him. He turned around but Jill's bike crashed down on Oh-One and brought him directly into the snow with a massive crash. However, Oh-One activated his moonlight directly into the bottom of Jill's motorcycle.
For once, Justin was happy to see Jill. He was about to joke about her being another thing for Oh-One to shoot at that wasn't him, though he would prefer to handle Oh-One alone. "Ain't you a sight for sore eyes, Jill!" Justin said as he came from behind the rock.
The tower was getting closer and closer and Oh-Seven could detect Seshat nearby. She hoped that she didn't get in the way as Oh-Seven finally approached the tower. However, she knew it was too easy. She had scan-mode activated as she knew exactly where the Power-Stone was in Oh-One's monstrous tower. She sped up a little bit before...
DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!
And Oh-Seven saw the looming shadow of a massive machine coming down like a meteorite. It was colossal... and red hot due to the flames. Oh-Seven came to a stop as she looked up - before she jetted off in the opposite direction when her scanners detected it was coming down on her. She activated her Over-boost as her lower body transformed into a jet and she flew off as fast as she could before the machine hit like a comet. And when it did it sent shockwaves through the earth as the ground split open and cracked.
Oh-Seven got away and as her lower body transformed back to normal she scanned the several story tall machines and got a good look at its composition. It was enormous, wielding two oversized weapons, one chaingun and a railgun. Its eye began to glow a bright red color as Oh-Seven knew it was one of his machines.
The chaingun began spinning fast as it unleashed a barrage of bullets at Oh-Seven and she dashed with the bullets trailing behind her. And with the other weapon, it charged up a powerful glowing blast from the raygun directly at Seshat.
It was just a regular day in the life of a Nomad.
Going to fight a murderous killing machine that's bent on destroying the world!
Just Tuesday to Jaden. He managed to hitch a ride with the famous Margot Renard Bleu and... her girlfriend Brooklyn Vanburen. Or they acted like it. Jaden didn't fuckin' know or care, he was just leaning up against the door wearing a black winter parka with pants, and had on fluffy ear muffs. His words were right on his back and side waiting for action! His arms were crossed and his eyes were closed... Jaden heard the words MAVERICK and his eyes shot wide open as he looked off towards the front. Now, this just got a bit more fun. Part of Jaden wanted to teleport onto their planes and cut their turbines in half just to fuck wit' 'im.
"Yes, we can handle ourselves,"
"... How do you think we got this far?" Brooklyn compounded Margot's point as she slapped a hand down on her shoulder. She was also wearing a green parka with heavy-duty snow boots. She sure as hell wasn't equipped for all this snow, but she had to get that power stone! At least before someone like MIRAGE gets it.
"Well, I don't know," Jaden added. "Dumb luck."
And laughed as Brooklyn rolled her eyes at him. The plane slowly descended as they made their landing and Jaden stepped off. He sensed a group in the distance... and he had a feeling he knew exactly who it was. He grinned... and that grin was knocked off his face as MAVERICK's fleet got wiped out. Brooklyn stared at it all wide-eyed as every plan was destroyed except for one.
"Oh my God..."
"Wow, look what good the all-powerful MAVERICK is," Jaden said with a laugh before he looked at the pilot. "You better get outta here before Oh-One does that to your plan, bro." He chuckled again.
"Well, no time like the present. Allons y."
"Sorry sista," Jaden said as he put two fingers up to his nose. "I fly solo. See ya later."
And then Jaden disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
"Damn it, Jaden," Brooklyn said before she faced Margot. "Let's get to the tower."
In the distance, they could see several flashes of red and blue, and a robot falling from the sky.
As Jonas waved his hands like a scrub lord; a barrage of five CDs came out of nowhere flying at high speeds and landed right in between his legs.
In a cloud of smoke, Jaden appeared in front of him, posing as he knelt on one knee with his katanas outstretched behind him. He said, "Ninja!"
Then he teleported again outside the group and he had thrown a roundhouse kick into the air and he repeated, "Ninja!"
When Jaden reappeared, it was an explosion of smoke at the base of a massive rock. And Jaden came running out up the rock as once he reached the top he valiantly leaped high up into the air. And when his foot collided with the ground, he whipped around and shouted, "NINJA!"
Jaden grinned as he looked down on Jonas. He crossed his arms as he said,
"Well look who it is: Jonas and the Cult of Langer..." He started chuckling, "More like Lagner. Geddit? Because ya'll laggin' behind!"
He knew he wasn't endearing himself to the group and didn't care.
"I wasn't even gonna show up since I expected you to been have the Power Stone by now-" So I can jack it from you. "-but it seems getting a magic pebble from a tin can is too much work for the great and powerful Jonas Langer so I came here to save you from embarrassing' yourself even further."
Hah, so these bitches were supposed to be bona fide MAVERICK soldiers, yet their formation got taken out by a fucking faker! The One even if these fuckboys and girls were the real deal, he wasn't surprised that they couldn't handle the legendary One that was jettisoning towards the glacial beach after nabbing an intact life boat they had stashed with a bunch of other crap on board.
Did he damn a buncha' morons to an icy fate? Maybe. Did it look like he care? Fuck no, he was gonna wreck this sorry ass prototype's ass as he maneuvered the boat through the icy chunks, avoiding slamming into them like the bad ass he was.
The One could only stroke his goatee, thinking back to that one movie that was playing on that TV as a toothy smirk crossed his face. "Hell yeah, that's how I'm gonna make my fucking entrance," with that thought on the forefront of his mind, he swerved the boat to avoid capsizing it before taking hold of his hat and casting it forward.
And, presto. Snapping his fingers (even though no one is watching), he fired off a barrage of rockets at a specific angle into the ice sheet, ensuring the resulting blast would create a ramp in the process. The One would take advantage of this as he caught the returning hat, increasing the speed of the boat exponentially, until...
Ksshooosh!
The splashing of the chilling waves followed by the scraping of the hull against the ice sheet ensued as the boat soared through the air. Alright then, next was sticking the landing as he turned the high-powered propeller off as the vehicle began it descent, crashing onto the hardened beach with a strange, squishing sound as a part of the hull cracked as it made a rough landing.
It was probably nothing as the boat skid alongside the beach before The One front-flipped out, just as it crashed into some supplies. As he did this, he tossed his hat around, letting it spin around him to knockout any MAVERICK soldiers nearby him.
Yeah, that would show these cucknug...
... gets?
As soon as he caught the hat, he instantly realized there was no gunfire as he placed it back on his shiny, bald head, wiping his fingers across the edge as he analyzed the vicinity. Most, if not a majority of these soldiers were actually dead or bleeding out on this cold, cold landing. Blinking, he turned to look around, finding that there was a thin but fresh layer of blood that coated the ice behind him, with bits of metal and fleshy bits around the area...
... as well as an arm, yikes. The One strolled on over as he pulled a walking cane from his coat and extended the 'lethal' weapon. Pushing up the side of the boat, he squinted his eyes while making a smile o-face upon witnessing the scene.
"Oooh, that's gotta fuckin' sting. Eh at least he made for a badass entrance, even though there's no one FUCKING HERE," The One suddenly rose up and shouted, letting the boat come back down onto the corpse's face, smashing and crushing the mushy face even more as he sighed, pinching the bridge of his rose.
Seriously, who did this?! He was supposed to be the one to kick the asses of Abel's men, not some two-timing, random nobody who had severed these chucklefucks in twain! He swore on Gerard, that if he ever found that sonova bitch, he was gonna blow their fucking world up!
Shaking a fist at the planes as they plunged into the glacial unknowns, he cursed at that nobody who stole the limelight from him before twirling his cane and scanning the area for any survivors.
Well, from what he could tell, some of the men and women were holding onto dear life, and as much as he wanted to stick his cane up Oh-Ones shiny metal ass, he could at least interrogate some of these survivors. At least that was one caveat; after all, survivors were a dying breed.
Skedaddling over to the nearest MAVERICK soldier, The One crouched down and lifted up the man or woman's head, fuck if he knew what some of these people looked like under their power armor. "Hey, hey, who the hell killed your guys asses," he shouted into the persons face, disorienting them even further, "Wh... who... you?"
Great, this guy was useless; he kept heavily breathing and struggling to speak, as if he was on the verge of an asthma attack. Not like it had to do anything with the gaping wound in the side of their gut as The One violently slammed their head back down into the ice as a sickening crunch of their helmet was soon to followed.
There was some other noises they gurgled out, followed by some twitching before they stopped move all together. Well, onto the next person!
"Who the fucking fuck fucked you up?"
"Don't want... leave-"Crunch.
"What thing fucked your asses up."
"Geugh, blagh, p-pink b-b-bun-"Crunch.
This same rinse and repeat event occurred for the next two minutes as The One slammed another helmet into the ice, causing blood to spurt out as the body sporadically flailed before the rest of their life dissipated. Ugh, did none of these fuckheads know who murdered them?! Jeez, can't believe he wasted his time with these fuck-cabinets.
Scanning the area, there was nary a person left he could really interact with, especially since 90% of them had their heads smashed into the ice when they couldn't answer. Placing two fingers to the sides of his temple as sighing, he turned to glance over at the tower from earlier that had shot MAVERICK (and by proxy and most importantly, him).
Eh, he didn't come here to beat the ass of whoever did this, he was here to beat the ever loving shit out of ProtOh-One for making him look bad! Who did this fake fucker think he was, stealing his name and using it to commit atrocities? Twirling his stick and grasping his hat, he rocketed towards the tower, leaving behind explosions in his wake.
"Live one," Jonas inquired for a moment as he glanced over to the person Clover pointed out. The doctor squinted his eyes at them and sighed, before trudging on, ignoring the sap in the snow. Or, well, he would of, if Clover hadn't deemed it necessary to assist them.
His shoulders drooped very briefly as he stared at the sky, rolling his eyes with a forlorn look that just said "ugh." Pivoting to analyze the person, he decided to just give the bunny a chance to inspect them, if only for him to scrutinize and discern if this soldier would be of any use to them. Then again, most of these troops were generic, faceless goons to him and nine times out of ten, he bet that this one was as well.
Jonas did raise an eyebrow upon seeing the visage of the lady and upon closer inspection, he recognized who this person was. Well, he didn't know their name, but he did see her plenty of times during their wild goose chase for Oh-One around the globe. The one constant MAVERICK soldier.
Upon completing his examination of the lass, Jonas just shrugged and continued walking towards the tower, "Forget about her for now, she's just another dime a dozen MAVERICK soldier. She isn't like Otsy in the Nomad sense," he couldn't help but stress these two details for Clover, as well as the entire group.
The girl's Ki was moderately higher than the average persons amount of Ki, at least from what he could gauge when he sensed their level. "Lets keep moving for now, if she lives, she lives and can make it to the fight. For now we can't waste any more t-"
Before he could finish his assertion, five CD's suddenly shot out from nowhere. Jonas would mistake it for an ambush if he didn't notice the designs on the front of them, as well as the hooting and hollering imbecile that decided to scream ninja and appear in front of him. The doctor could only give a hefty sigh as he rolled his he back, with his shoulders drooping.
"I can't believe I have to deal with this right now," realigning his head, he just pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head dismissively as the boy continued treating this as if it was some sort of game.
After being as subtle as an elephant stampede, he finally stopped after running up the side of a decently sized, mildly frosty stone and stood at the top. Jonas listened to whatever drivel he began spouting, feigning a stifled yawn as he continued to insult him and the group. These words meant as little as his crappy songs, speaking of which.
*Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap.*
Jonas pivoted and pressed his foot against the CD's that were embedded in the snow and broke them all in half with his boot in quick succession. It was the most entertaining thing he could get out of this one-sided conversation with Jaden.
"Right, because that metal tin can would carry the Power Stone on him at all times," Jonas reminisced to himself, recalling all those encounters with Oh-One. He didn't know about the others, but he did manage to discern that Oh-One was just sending them all on a wild goose chase, pretending the stone was on him.
He really should get around to telling them all that, but regardless, that was one issue he would handle later. In the now, there was this ronin rapper.
"If I'm embarrassing myself more than usual, then I wonder what that makes some of our encounters then," Jonas replied in an affable tone of voice, pretending to play polite as he gave a quaint smile to Jaden. "Need I remind you about the outcome of all our encounters, or have you already twisted them around to make you look like the victor in some of your latest songs," Jonas' smile shifted in viciousness as the tone of his voice gained a semblance of underlying mockery.
Jonas chuckled before brushing his short, blonde hair to the side, "Regardless, there are more pressing things to deal with at the moment besides your lack of creative talent in your latest flop." Looking over his shoulder he gestured towards his teammates to follow after him.
"Lets get going everyone, the clock is ticking and we need to beat Oh-One's shiny metal ass before he enacts his plan; Clover, again, leave the soldier alone, if they make it, they make it," Jonas glanced over his shoulder at his companions, waiting for them to move before he would start to walk towards the tower.
"And since ninja boy seems so keen on talking shit, if he tries anything, sabotage or all that jazz, put him down and return to the fight, though I doubt that'll take much effort to put him down," Jonas commented off-highhandedly as he sensed something transpiring in the distance. Two radiant energies that he had felt before.
Justin and Jill, both moving around in aggressive patterns. He furrowed his brows and squinted his eyes at the place. There was no time to waste.
Antarctica did not agree with Jamie. It was cold as hell even with the afternoon sun overhead and a thick MAVERICK labeled jacket over his shoulders. Less than an hour into the mission and things were already pear shaped. The MAVERICK assault vessel that was supposed to bring in the heavy equipment was well on its way to the bottom of the bay. Jamie himself was on a landing craft just launched with it's first load when the laser sliced through the water mere feet off the bow. With the heated bridge and cabin full of half frozen survivors they had dragged over the gunwales, he had climbed to the roof to get some breathing space.
From there he could survey the shoreline with his binoculars as they pulled ashore. Bodies were everywhere. Between the burning husks of planes turning men into kindling, pale bodies bobbing with the wake, and poor souls that had run afoul of gravity, he struggled to find signs of life. At least the life boats that made it to shore before them had signs of life. Scanning up and down the beach, he spotted a landing site covered in bodies. This wasn't unusual in itself but what happened next was. An explosion a few yards offshore caught his attention, as did the lifeboat flying through the air and landing with a crash. His radio crackled. "Cranton, did you see that? Do you see any survivors?"
"Let me see." His lips pressed together as he saw a well dressed figure flip out of the boat. "Yes Captain, we have a Nomad." He pressed his lips together as he zoomed in. He paused as The One walked up to one of the others on the beach, and lifted them up. "Looks like we got some casualties over there too." He could see the Nomad yelling at the soldier, though the reply didn't seem to please them. "What are you doing boy?" Jamie muttered to himself. This guy was familiar. Top hat, bald, and angry. This matched his knowledge of The One to a T. He got his answer soon enough as The One slammed the agent's head into the ground. Jamie's grip on his binoculars tightened as he let out a growl of disgust. "The Nomad's killing our men. Permission to engage when we land?"
There was a few moments of radio silence before he got his reply. "Granted. Take a few men as backup. Try to save as many as you can" Seething, Jamie had already assembled a small squad before the landing ramp dropped. It was miles down the beach to get to The One, but at least the ship had plenty of troop carriers. In minutes Jamie was barreling down the coast, eyes focused on getting his hands on his quarry ASAP.
Even as they approached, he saw even more explosions as The One left the scene. They were already gone by the time he skidded to a stop on the shore. The area was dead quiet as he climbed out of the rear hatch of the APC, the squad on edge for more attackers. Jamie, however, could sense no other ki-sources than themselves. "Damnit," he hissed. "No survivors over here," he radioed in. Walking around his detective nature kicked in. The number of bodies looked about right for the number or empty boats. However there was clearly a second Nomad around. Bodies laid in pieces everywhere. Limbs laid strewn about with clean cuts, riot shields and armor laid bisected with their owners, and others looked like a butcher had gotten to them. They didn't have the tell tale burns of a laser, either. "Captain, this is Cranton. We got another Nomad here attacking our forces. Looks like some sort of blade user. I'm going to try and pursue them and the other Nomad." Jamie sighed, and headed back to the troop carrier. "Alright, we got at least two Nomads running about killing us. We gotta go stop those bastards." He climbed into the commander's hatch. "Let's roll out!"
Aline gave a wide grin as Brown went off in response to her compliment, nodding along and not put off at all when her arm popped out of her shoulder. On the other hand, Isko looked like he wanted to pick up the injured girl and run her to the nearest hospital.
“I’m holding you to that!” Aline piped up after Brown stopped talking, absolutely set on getting shown how to land without a parachute. It looked like a whole load of fun! “Parachute’s are lame, anyway. I’m definitely never using one again.”
“And life saving,” Isko muttered, rolling his eyes. He then practically grabbed his sister by the back of her coat and dragged her towards Jonas - who he’d much rather be by than the worst influence ever. He gave the doctor a nod, and then towards Otsana, but was otherwise silent.
"I bet I can beat the both of you to the bottom of the hill!"
“You’re on!” Aline grinned, immediately pelting after Brown… But much slower because the snow came up to her waist and she wasn’t burning through it like the other girl was (she must be warm, Aline wanted to get closer just for that). “Hey, wait up! Some of us can’t melt everything!”
Isko shook his head but started the walk towards the tower with the actually sensible members of the group… not that they got further before some jackass appeared shouting Ninja far too many times. Isko had to resist the urge to face palm and just turn around to walk in the other direction. Was all this worth going through? Normally he was pretty chill with things, but there was only so much shit he could talk while trudging through freezing ice to defeat a wannabe robot overlord.
He couldn’t turn away, though, because his sister was off chasing after Brown and would definitely get herself killed.
“I agree, let’s get this over with,” Isko let out a heaving sigh as Jonas told them to get going again, once again starting walking. He pointed towards Aline and Brown in their weird race towards the bottom of the slope as he did. “And try to catch up with those two.”
He tilted his head as they continued walking, eyes narrowing as he had to concentrate to ki-sense: trying to ignore the energies coming from Brown and his sister as she tried to catch up. Two people fighting… he assumed they were up against Oh-One. That meant they were getting close. He turned to look at Jonas.
“So, what’s the plan for when we reach the fight?”
Rendezvous with Brown was terse, then boisterous, then challenging, as she popped her arm into place without a second thought then dared anyone with the stones to race her down the hill. Her body radiated steam, and an oddly cozy warmth, so the cold was a little nippier as she took off slogging through snowfalls. "Well, sure! But I have very short legs!" Askin tried calling, shoving through snow after her at a very unimpressive speed.
The others were falling from the sky quickly, efficiently. Clover had already landed, brushing off her parachute like a cobweb, and Isko and Aline straggled behind Brown, Aline over the moon at Brown's feat of near-death.
"Well this is convenient," Otsana remarked. "Usually have to spend a good while getting everyone back together"
"I think it's the team spirit," said Askin, well behind Brown as he struggled over to Otsana. "Before you know it, we'll be so efficient we'll need matching beanies."
Flaming wreckage and pulverized bodies bloom like flowers across the tundra, black and red bruises on the snow. Askin would be glad to put this stretch of hell behind them, but then Clover's voice comes from one of the corpses, "Say, we got a live one!"
"Lets keep moving for now," Jonas called back, carelessly. "If she lives, she lives and can make it to the fight. For now we can't waste any more t-"
And another interruption; the kshk-shks of metal on snow as five--are those CDs?--struck the ground in formation at Jonas's feet. Then there was another person crashing the party; first here, then there, then overthere, reappearing in bursts of smoke as he shouted, exuberantly, with each pop, "Ninja! Ninja! Ninja!" Then, finally settled into
"Well look who it is: Jonas and the Cult of Langer..." He started chuckling, "More like Lagner. Geddit? Because ya'll laggin' behind! I wasn't even gonna show up since I expected you to been have the Power Stone by now, but it seems getting a magic pebble from a tin can is too much work for the great and powerful Jonas Langer so I came here to save you from embarrassing' yourself even further. I know, somehow, that's possible"
"-but if we're lagging," Askin said to himself, "aren't you lagging too since you're here with us, or-"
Jonas broke the CDs with a sweep of his foot and waved off Jaden impatiently, with some biting comments on his music which, Askin privately thought, were not entirely deserved from what he'd listened to.
"Lets get going everyone, the clock is ticking and we need to beat Oh-One's shiny metal ass before he enacts his plan; Clover, again, leave the soldier alone, if they make it, they make it. And since ninja boy seems so keen on talking shit, if he tries anything, sabotage or all that jazz, put him down and return to the fight, though I doubt that'll take much effort to put him down,"
Jonas straightened, like a dog catching a scent. Then, carving through the air, a thin thread of brutal red light cut through the sky; the sound of metal on metal, the sound of fighting. Askin squinted; it looked like there was a fight somewhere way down along the tundra.
"Oh-One," Askin said quietly, mental math tumbling about his skull. "He's away from his tower..."
“So, what’s the plan for when we reach the fight?” Isko asked, tactfully not letting Jaden's showboating or Jonas's grumbling derail them.
With a sweep of Askin's egg-yolk overcoat, a huge wooden coffin appeared out of the thin air; the luggage, and the goodies. Popping open the coffin's side, Askin produced Otsana's snowmobile-with-sidecar. "While the big man's out on the battlefield, we should get a team beelining for the tower, no? How fast can you drive this thing, Otsana?"
Seshat, thankfully, had time to slow down before the giant robot crashed down on top of Oh-Seven’s previous location.
She did not, however, have time to mount a proper defense against the railgun. The giant bullet crashed against Seshat’s shield just before it could activate its energy field, sending the ancient warrior spinning about in midair as it faded into green light. After she righted herself, she holstered her rifle and put her hands in front of her in preparation for a spell, but she was interrupted by the sudden presence of… a fighter jet?
Isabella and Rosie stood side by side as the jet shifted into hover mode and opened fire on the mech that had suddenly appeared in front of the tower, pelting it with a deadly rain of gatling cannon fire and rockets as it circled around it. The cacophony was downright deafening, though the two stared intently at the mech for any signs of retaliation.
“I think I’ll see if I can’t find that stone, is that alright with you?” Rosie’s voice echoed throughout the half-demon’s soul. He nodded in response.
“Alright. Stay safe, Isabella…” Rosie pulled his son in for a quick embrace, sighing deeply before letting him go.
“Y-yeah…” The Rider stammered, quickly nodding once more. “You too.” Rosie quickly ran towards the wing of the plane and leapt off, wings sprouting from his back as he flew towards the top of the tower.
Jill rolled off of the robot, the bike still roaring as it took a nasty gash through the side from Oh-One’s laser blade. She gave a thumbs up and looked back towards Justin.
“Sorry I’m late, Justin!” She said, confidence radiating off her armor as her scarf blew majestically in the wind. “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” She stepped off her bike, and Pit Stop immediately began work on repairs, wirelike arms disappearing in a flurry of sparks and smoke. She held out her hand, and one of the bike’s handlebars shot off and landed straight into it. She swung it, and a hi-tech sword popped out from within. The bike instantly turned around and sped away behind the safety of a nearby snowbank.
“It kind of sucks that you’re scratchin’ up the bike,” Jill admitted, walking towards the robot. “Had a cool new trick I was hoping to show off!” She broke into a dash and swung the blade straight down towards Oh-One
"I DID IT!" Brown shouted as she slid to a stop at the bottom of the slope not far from where the group was, a waist high trench melted clean through the antarctic snow and ice. Steam continued to steadily rise from her flushed pale skin as she threw her arms towards the sky. She let out another victorious cheer up at the frost glazed clouds before turning to confirm that she had beat Askin and Aline by a fairly wide margin through the snow.
"I got to the bottom first! I am the winner! All that training to learn this technique was worth it!" Brown cheered, smiling as she looked to Aline and Askin.
It was ridiculous to flaunt a victory in something so spontaneous and childish as racing down a hill
And on some level Brown knew that.
But any victory, any success was precious to Brown. Her newfound desire to further impress Aline, and the idea of impressing others pushed her to find victory and boast in the few places she could.
Finally with the group Brown quickly waded over to them. As she did however she witnessed Jaden's appearance and heard at least some of what he said. A deep sense of irritation arose within Brown at the rappers smarmy words. His visible sense of self confidence quickly rubbed against Brown's still-bruised ego like sandpaper against the surface of a half-deflated party balloon.
Doing her best to avoid looking at Jaden, Brown made it a point to further stop on the broken remains of his CDs before sliding into position besides Jonas.
"Don't worry Jonas! If the ninja tries anything I'll just kill him." Brown announced cheerfuly as she began walking alongside the doctor, leaning into his field of vision to show off that she was in fact fine and had totally landed without any help from the parachute he insisted she wear.
"My mom told me that Ninja were actually pretty trustworthy a long time ago. It was Samurai and Ronin that were the lying backstabbers. However Jaden's an asshole. So I guess he's being honest in that we shouldn't trust him? I think?"
Brown actually stopped momentarily in her walk, gears turning in her head as she tried to process the strange logic she presented. Quickly abandoning her attempt at rational deduction Brown quickly caught back up with the others, all but throwing herself before the collective group as they walked. She in particular focused on Isko and Jonas as she put her hands on her hips and stood confidently in the freezing snow.
"Plan? The plan is this: We find this robot-guy and we kill him! Why bother with that tower? All this is happening because of the Robot-guy, right? And there's only one of him. He might have more robots around but if that's all he has then he's no match for us! Though I know for a fact I'll be the one who will take him down. I developed a new special technique just for killing robots. And I don't even go blind anymore when I do it!"
Location:Antarctica Interactions: Jamie@redbaron1234, The One @Savo "Wah! So BORED!"
A few mere minutes had passed away and already Parsnip could feel the high from killing the MAVERICK agents on the beach begin to fade. She bounded through the snow, hopping across the frozen wasteland before gradually slowing down as her enthusiasm dimmed. Parsnip had hopped to find even more MAVERICK agents waiting out in the snow or heading towards the tower. Yet she hadn't seen any more since leaving the beach and a growing restlessness and boredom began to well inside her.
"That can't be all there is!" Parsnip exclaimed to the open air, her tone the same as a child learning there were in fact no more cookies in the cookie jar.
"I can't even make a snow angel because this stupid snow is too stiff. And I can't very well have a snowball fight alone..."
That thought made Parsnip visibly wince and she felt a familiar pull from the back of her mind against. Grasping her face Parsnip breathed heavily, her eyes darting around the desolate landship in a desperate search for something to distract her. Where her eyes failed her however here ears did not.
Behind her, towards the beach, Parsnip heard the heated sputtering explosion of what she could only assume was some kind of small machine taking flight. It was difficult to tell the distance, but Parsnip could tell it was fast and moving in the same general direction she was, towards the weird looking tower off in the distance.
The noise that came after that however excited her more.
Boat engines. The sounds of boots and distant speaking.
Parsnip's maimed and unmaimed bunny ears turned and flicked atop her head like radial antenna as she began to bounce up in down on the spot.
"Yes, yes! There are more! More coming for me perhaps?"
Parsnip stopped at that thought and put a hand to her chin Disappointed she didn't have her play-detective hat with her, the bunny girl thought for a few moments as she mulled over her predicament.
"I came all the way here to have fun and make those awful, disgusting MAVERICK agents pay. But after I kill them all its going to be hard to get back and its going to be SUPER boring after I kill all them. At the same time that tower in the distance looks kind of neat and I wonder what that flying thing might be. If only I could kill MAVERICK agents AND go to the cool place, or at least closer to it."
The rabbit girl pondered heavily for a few seconds before a light bulb went off in her brain. A wide grin slashed across her scarred face as she unzipped her backpack and reached inside with wiggling, eager fingers.
"If you want to play somewhere specific, leave a note for your friends~"
Out of her backpack came the freshly severed limb of one of the MAVERICK agents she had killed on the beach. Parsnip hadn't remembered why she had taken it, only that it seemed like a good idea at the time. She had taken the time to put a plastic bag over the severed end of the arm so as not to get the inside of her backpack dirty. Cleaning it was a pain and washing machines were scary, and expensive. Four whole quarters was a lot of money!
Yanking the bag off the end of the arm, blood quickly began to drop from the still warm limb.
Working quickly Parsnip held the hand of the arm and dragged it through the ice and snow like a disgusting pen. The blood from the arm was her ink and every time it seemed to freeze or dry, she'd simply cut the end off a little to get that much more out of it. In a matter of moments she was done and Parsnip stuck the severed arm upright in the snow in front of her message.
COME PLAY WITH ME AT THE TOWER, MAVERICK~ Signed, Parsnip <3
"There! There's no way they can miss this." Parsnip stood in front of the large, scrawling message of blood carved into the antarctic snow and admired it. She felt particularly proud about the crude, but cute looking drawing of (what was supposed to be) herself besides the message.
"Welp, better get hopping! I can't wait for them to catch up with me. Teehee~"
Parsnip once again took off towards the tower, keeping her ears peeled for any other fun or interesting noises...
“Sorry I’m late, Justin! Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”
"Better late than never!" Justin shouted as he shook his head. Thank God, or whatever fucked deity was up there, that somebody wasn't sitting around eating crayons. Even if Jill wasn't exactly what he had in mind for backup. He was expecting a few hundred Justice Riders at the better least, but better than nothing. Justin saw that she was attacking from one side, so he was quick to attack from the other. While she dashed forward with her blade, Justin launched himself forward with a blast from his hands. He fired another blast before he swung his leg out for a massive wide-arc kick that left a trail of energy.
Oh-One's bright red laser beam came from his hand as he attempted to parry the blade but the kick hit him in the back. The blade sliced into his frame but stopped midway through his shoulder. Oh-One quickly raised his hand and created a barrier around himself.
"Can't hide in here forever, tin-can!" Justin shouted as he began throwing a star platinum-style barrage of punches directly at Oh-One's barrier that was getting blocked.
"On the contrary," Oh-One's voice droned on as the shield began getting brighter and brighter and got increasingly unstable. "Engaging..."
The barrier started vibrating more and more as Justin quickly dashed away from it.
"... Assault Armor."
And the shield couldn't take anymore and an enormous explosion came from the barrier that incinerated the snow and grass underneath it instantly. It left behind red embers as it slowly began to fade away. Oh-One quickly flew up into the air assisted by his rocket system.
The barrage from the chaingun came to a halt as Oh-Seven saw a fighter jet begin to carpet bomb the tower. After activating scan mode, she identified that it was Isabella Levai... the last person she wanted help from. She sighed as she activated her jet-booster and began launching herself up into the air towards the Power Stone. She would check if Seshat was okay, but she can handle herself.
However, Oh-One's machine had a similar idea as it squatted down a bit before the jet boosters on it's back let loose a hellish stream of air-boiling flames. It was enough upwards force to send the machine forwards towards Izzy's fighter jet. The mech pointed it's chain gun directly at the jet soon as it had a line of sight and began firing.
Oh-Seven saw this as her golden opportunity to begin an attack on the robot. Her left arm transformed into a plasma gun that began charging a massive ball of blue energy, that, once it hit its peak, was larger than Oh-Seven. She narrowed her eye at the thing before cutting loose the ball of energy and it slowly traveled towards the machine while it was focusing on Izzy. When it got close, Oh-Seven fired a smaller, faster, ball of energy that hit the bigger orb and caused an enormous explosion that knocked the mech backward.
It sent it directly into the tower that caused some pieces of it to fall off, and it got some attention off Izzy.
"Regardless, there are more pressing things to deal with at the moment besides your lack of creative talent in your latest flop."
"Lack of creative talent...?" Jaden parroted as he tilted his head sideways as everything else Jonas said went over his head (because Jaden's always the winner). But, he said he ain't got no creativity!? Or talent?! "Bitch, I got creativity out the ass, sorry your gimmick is being a pedo doctor!" He shouted out his reply as he crossed his arms. Yeah, he got that bitch now. The Numbah-one Ninja never backs down.
"Don't worry Jonas! If the ninja tries anything I'll just kill him."
"Hahaha, you think yo' ass can kill me?!" Jaden laughed at her like a supervillain as he threw his head back laughing. "Only thing getting killed here today is the verse of this diss track!" He said triumphantly to Jonas Lagner's wack pack as he focused, and in a puff of smoke came a giant boombox that started blasting a beat. He started dancing as the song started and he began rapping.
"♫ Alright, special report from the eastsiiiiide. The Numbah-One Ninjah, not yo sistah, one of the most sinistah ninjas to ever ninja. I see a buncha kids bout to run and get they fathers. Jonas Lagner, could be faster, think he could ever stand to the G. Had 'im cryin' over his little knee-knee, lil bitch can suck my pee-pee. Everywhere you go you see my name, because ya'll know I'm the best in the game. Because ya'll so lame, I gotta treat this like a game. Only thing ya'll can kill is my vibe. I'm the master lyricist you're just a masochist, better get it off yo' chest. While you prepare to suck my diiiiick! When my tongue is in motion bitches swear it's the potion, to make 'im put their booties in motion while you grab yo' lotion. I'm the chaos, you just a flash in the pan with no fans. I own the world, I can make it swirl, while you act like a girl. It just ain't fair, I swear ya'll abuncha...Squares. ♫"
He dropped his microphone as the beat stopped and when it hit the ground it exploded. For absolutely no reason at all. He put his hands on his sides as his speaker stopped blasting the beat. Well, Askin was right. He was lagging. It was maybe the Lagin Lagner effect, but Jaden wasn't going to stick around. He dropped into his Japanese salute.
"While ya'll are circle-jerking each other to exhaustion, I got a power stone to make a chain with!" Jaden disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Bye, bitches!"
"Ugh, just... give me a minute Isko," Jonas sighed as this scenario continued to play out, resulting in the doctor pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. For starters, reprimanding him after revealing the snowmobile, something the Thousand-Folded Steel Crapper could either steal or destroy.
Well, could being the keyword here, but instead decided to chide him about being a pedophile or something, "Well, in other news at least we now know why half of the tracks, as well as insults he produces, are shit," Jonas nonchalantly muttered before addressing Brown. He could not understand for the life of him why Otsy decided to recruit her the more time went on, especially with a plan like that.
"You're missing the bigger picture Brown," muttered to the girl, crossing his arms before tilting his head towards the tower, "even if you land the finishing blow, you'll still lose. While one of the ob-" Jonas winced, his eye twitching as he began to grind his teeth at the sound of that dumb bastard rapping.
He couldn't help but bar his teeth and grumble, blinking and massaging his temples briefly before he had an aneurysm, "-jecives is to scrap him, if he enacts his plan, we lose, end of story." Jonas placed a hand on his hip and pointed at Askin, "And you."
The doctor took in a deep breath before continuing following the explosion of a pipe bomb, "Don't just throw items out willy nilly; for all you know, Jaden could of jacked the damn thing or destroy it just to fuck with us." Whether or not the duo took that to heart, Jonas pivoted and turned to the tower.
"Moving on, you're correct in having a group gun for the tower, namely," Jonas nodded his head towards Askin, before wiggling an index finger and middle finger at both him and Otsana. "You, Otsy, and myself. We'll be using a combination of Otsy's favorites and the tools you've gathered from other Nomads to break through and retrieve the Power Stone from Oh-One's fortress. As for the other group."
Turning to face Isko, he winced a bit dejectedly as he briefly glanced over to the immature members of the party before leaning in, placing an arm on his shoulder and whispering into his ear, "Hate to do this to you, but in a nutshell, you're babysitting these two," Jonas murmured, moving a finger between his sister and Brown, "They're a bit of a liability if we try to drag them to the tower, so keeping them placated with beating on that tin can is the best option, as dangerous as it is. Thankfully, I feel dealing with Oh-One is the lesser of two dangers."
Leaning away, he put on his most charismatic smile as he pointed to Brown and Aline, "And the rest of you all will be fighting against Oh-One. Isko is the designated leader for your guys group, so listen to him." Jonas frowned, his face darkened as he crossed his arms at glowered at the duo.
"That goes double for you two. Remember, think with your heads, not with your pride. Do stupid things, expect stupid results; you might have your techniques, old and new, but using them smartly is another thing, especially since this isn't a game. You fuck up, that's the end of it; scars, limbs, hell, even your life. So think before you act; doing something cool for that little burst of dopamine could leave you face down in the snow with your entrails splayed on the side."
Jonas couldn't help but stare dejectedly at the ground, taking in a deep breath of air as he let it sink in for the two and everyone else listening in. His piercing glare would work to bore into the two as he continued on to address the rest of the group. Enough of the negativity, he needed to psyche them up.
"So, if we are going to win this, we need to be meticulous about smashing this robot to bits. Dismantle him, melt him, hell, keep him distracted as long as possible if you have to. Patience and knowing where, as well as were to strike is key to this all, not brute force. Exploit anything you can, even the chinks in your personality. Do this and you'll dismantle Oh-One's sorry excuse for a robot ass while Otsy, Askin, and I will dismantle his sorry excuse for a plan. Now, lets get out there; drinks are on me when this is all over!"
As Jonas cried out, he thrust an arm outwards towards the tower, him and Group A's target. While Jonas did this, it looked like a part of him was peeling off, as if he was shedding like a bug. Following this, a clone of him separated from the original before looking at Isko, awaiting his orders. "I'll send in a decoy so you three, possibly seven can get in some free hits wailing away at Oh-One," he stated to Isko as he patted the cushion of the snowmobile.
"We're leaving this up to you guys; Askin, Otsy, lets get going!" As Oh-One began to sore away from the two, a familiar knife and string instantly pierced the cold, wintry air surrounding the group as it began to whip around Oh-One, looking to ensnare the robot. Should Jill and Justin look off to the side, they would notice a familiar, yet sullen face reaching up towards their assailant.
'Jonas' had arrived.
Seems he appeared from out of nowhere as he he let the string do the work before gripping on tightly once enough had left his coat. 'Jonas' wouldn't bother responding to any greetings verbally, but would nod as he focused intently on the fleeing Oh-One, looking to attempt wrapping him up and dragging him back to the ground.
Well, attempt being the key word. For one, the robot weighed a lot and the boosters weren't doing anything to help remedy the situation. However, he was at least successful as the knife found its mark, digging into the metal frame as the rest of the string firmly wrapped around the bot the moment 'Jonas' gripped down.
It was mostly an exercise in futility, but regardless, it would keep their enemy in place, at least for the moment. 'Jonas' Would probably struggle a bit in keeping Oh-One down, much like a fisherman with a huge catch, but at least he was holding him down for right now.
It probably wouldn't be long until Oh-One was able to flee if he continued boosting, but for now, 'Jonas' dug his heels into the ice, glancing over to Justin, Jill, and eventually behind him, as if waiting for something or someone to appear.
Otsana's ears pinned back as she saw the hapless soldier plummet from the sky. "Ech that's pretty cold," she thought of Jonas' comment, though she was glad to see Clover checking on them. However she quickly drew her pistol as heard the sounds of incoming projectiles, but already relaxed when she saw him. Not exactly a great ninja if he was seen. Already she had let Jonas and Jaden do their pissing match while looking out over the horizon. She did smile at the Cult of Langer line though.
"Lets get going everyone, the clock is ticking and we need to beat Oh-One's shiny metal ass before he enacts his plan; Clover, again, leave the soldier alone, if they make it, they make it. And since ninja boy seems so keen on talking shit, if he tries anything, sabotage or all that jazz, put him down and return to the fight, though I doubt that'll take much effort to put him down,"
"Understood your holiness," she said, before making the sign of the cross.
She looked over to Askin as they pulled out the snowmobile. "While the big man's out on the battlefield, we should get a team beelining for the tower, no? How fast can you drive this thing, Otsana?"
Walking on over she ran her hand over the seat of the snowmobile. "With me driving and some passengers squeezing against each other, hella fast." She nods sagely. [color=color] "But seriously we can hit highway speeds on this thing. Fit two in the sidecar, and one behind me while I drive." [/color] Pulling out a pair of goggles from her pack, she called out to Jonas. "Boss, how'd you want to split up?"
"Moving on, you're correct in having a group gun for the tower, namely," Jonas nodded his head towards Askin, before wiggling an index finger and middle finger at both him and Otsana. "You, Otsy, and myself. We'll be using a combination of Otsy's favorites and the tools you've gathered from other Nomads to break through and retrieve the Power Stone from Oh-One's fortress. As for the other group."
Otsana nodded, and turned back to the snowmobile, starting the engine to let it warm up. "Gotit," she says, doing one last check before they headed out. Soon enough, with Askin's help, the trio were zipping along towards the tower. It loomed tall ahead of them, and despite the distance the sounds of Oh-One fending off the Nomads were easily heard. Head on a swivel, she scanned the base of the tower. Already several nomads were dealing with a giant robot, a perfect distraction for them to sneak in themselves.
Driving towards the base of the tower, the giant robot fly into the air after the jet that had strafed it. However between the combined assault of the flying nomad and jet, it was soon knocked back into the tower. She spotted a hatch opening at ground level to let out a squad of drones. As one they turned towards the approaching snowmobile, and ran to close the distance, streaming around chunks of the tower. "Damn, looks like we gotta deal with this. Askin, pull out Miggy. I'm going to need them soon." The lead drone raised it's arm, and though it had no weapon in it's hand, she knew better than to underestimate it. She swerved, just in time as the drone fired a laser disk, taking the pom-pom off the top of her hat. "Machine gun, now!". Gunning the engine, she had to keep dodging as they closed the distance.
Isabella stared down the giant machine as it continued to advance despite his assault. Disappointing, but not unexpected; the jet was, though advanced for its time, something of a relic; the rest of the world had a long time to catch up to SHADER’s once state of the art machinery. The mech raised its chain gun, and Isabella only barely had time to command the jet to strafe out of the way before bullets began to fly his way. Isabella waved his hand, creating a cloak of darkness from the shadows inside the plane, and held it up with his arm like a shield.
Though the plane managed to swerve out of the way of the opening brunt of the mech’s assault, it did not manage to avoid it entirely. A stray bullet hit the wing of the plane, another grazed the bottom, and another was only barely stopped by Isabella’s mere presence, a bullet harmlessly sinking into the darkness of the shroud the way a stone might fall into a lake.
We can’t take too much more of this…
The assault was only stopped by a large blue explosion that sent the robot staggering backwards. He looked to his side to find the android Oh-Seven… He had particular orders concerning her, but they were strictly secondary, and he held no ill will towards her, so those orders could get fucked as far as he was concerned. He offered her a simple nod of acknowledgement before turning back to the mech, conjuring a large bullet of shadows, and loading it into a slot on the side of his belt. He pulled the trigger.
Usually, there were not very many shadows in the Antarctic climate. The abundance of flat landscapes covered in harsh, reflective snow meant that there was simply too little room for them to form. This was a special circumstance, however, given the presence of a fighter jet, a giant robot, and an ominously large tower all casting their silhouettes across the frozen fields.
They vanished, drawn into Isabella’s armor. Out of the corner of his eye, the black knight saw Seshat launch a volley of dozens of missiles at the giant robot.
Perfect timing…
He focused his newly gathered power into his leg as Leviathan gave itself form from the shadows, snaking its way impatiently across his armor. He leapt high into the air and dove towards the robot foot first, Leviathan screeching with fury as it manifested a shadowy aura around its master.
Jill pulled the sword out of Oh-One’s body just before he put up his shield. She coated her sword in a shroud of flame as she aided Justin in the attempt to break through, but the effort was rendered meaningless when the barrier began to glow. Justin was backing off...
Shit!
“Toh!” Jill gracefully backflipped high into the air as the shield exploded, feeling searing heat just barely graze the tip of her boot. She made sure to grind her foot into the snow a little when she hit the ground, disguising the act behind an excellently-timed landing pose. She heard a series of beeping noises as her now-repaired motorcycle pulled up beside her, Pit Stop extending a hand for a casual wave.
“Good timing, buddy.” Jill said with a smirk. “We’ve gotta shift into high gear!” She held out her hand as the robot unlatched himself from the bike and attached itself to her armor, his carapace unfolding and melding with her suit’s own armor plating until she was covered from head to toe in shining metal. Inexplicably, a second trail of cloth emerged from her scarf, which joined its twin in perpetually streaming in the wind. She reached down to her belt and turned the key further.
“Thirty-three percent…”
Jill felt a momentary burst of hollow pain as the EX-System began to draw upon even more of her ki, though it quickly faded as Pit Stop’s AI merged with it, carefully micromanaging the way the system drew power from her. She placed her hand on the throttle that now sat attached to her other wrist, and moved it into position, feeling a rush of power as her equipment began to charge itself beyond its usual limits.
“Burnout Form!” Jill announced, striking a flashy pose. She reached for her bike and lifted it onto her shoulder, transforming it into its cannon configuration, and aimed it towards Oh-One…
Wait, is that Jonas?
Damn, and Jill thought she was late. She’d forgotten he was even coming along by now. Still, it was nothing to get distracted over. She dug her heels into the snow and let loose with three giant spheres of powerful plasma, all lined up straight towards Oh-One.
Clover and the not-dead MAVERICK agent had rejoined them in time to hear Jaden be seized by the burning compulsion to rap, and Jonas trying in vain to talk over the beatbox-boosted singing.
"--Jonas Lagner, could be faster, think he could ever stand to the G. Had 'im cryin' over his little knee-knee, lil bitch can suck my pee-pee--"
"--scrap him! If he enacts his plan, we lose, end of story--"
"--Because ya'll so lame, I gotta treat this like a game. Only thing ya'll can kill is my vibe--"
"--and you, don't just throw items out willy nilly; for all you know, Jaden could of jacked the damn thing or destroy it just to fuck with us--"
"Mhm," Askin nodded politely, watching and privately enjoying the mess their small run-in with Jaden had turned into.
By the time Jaden vanished in a cloud of smoke, a plan had come together; one group to the tower, one group to face down Oh-One himself.
Askin counted them up like chess pieces, and appreciated Jonas's careful division of forces; between him, Askin, and Otsana, they had the mixed experience and raw versatility to break through the tech of the tower; between the raw power of Brown and Aline and the quick maneuvers of Clover and Isko, they had a combat team that could deal damage and protect its own weak spots.
Otsana flipped the engine on with a warm mechanical purr, running one last check with military efficiency before nodding.
"--hey um sorry about the doctor guy being a bit of a dick, no hard feelings?" Askin said as he backed towards the snowmobile, making a quick hi and bye first with the remarkably intact MAVERICK agent girl with Clover, "--and glad you're not dead! Welcome to the team and all that--"
And then catching up with Brown, "--and hey go kick some ass! Good luck, best wishes, tell me all about it when we're back together--"
The finally drawn back to the snowmobile by Jonas's impatient gaze. All business, as usual, already waiting and ready in the sidecar, while Askin was left to hold on to Otsana, where hopefully his slight weight wouldn't cause much baggage for any fancy maneuvering she might need to execute. He adjusted the goggles she passed him, cinching them tight to the face.
With a brr and a hum and a blast of snow, they were off racing. The tower getting taller, and taller, and even taller. There was a roar overhead; the Justice Rider plane soared ahead, zoning in on another machine titan that had squared up to defend home base. Squinting, Askin thought he saw another figure, a flying woman, zipping around lobbing blue bursts of light at the huge robot.
Then, ahead, more complications; a squabble of drone-bots emerging from the tower's hilt.
"Damn, looks like we gotta deal with this. Askin, pull out Miggy. I'm going to need them soon." Miggy, shoot, which one was Miggy? Askin fingered the bottle he'd named their Reinforcements. One gun out of a dozen, plus ammo chains and explosives and other goodies. Okay, simple enough, just squeeze out a bit, a very precise bit, of the contents. The one named Miggy--
Otsana dragged the vehicle in a sharp drift, just barely avoiding a laser disc. Askin hugged her back tight to keep from flying off, face against shoulders. "Machine gun, now!"
"Oh, I get it! Machine gun, M and G, Miggy--"
Pleased with himself, Askin focused on the bottle; like unscrewing the cap off a shaken bottle of soda, so just a bit of fizz goes shooting out. Big fast shooty gun, please?
A chain of grenades appeared out of thin air; Askin threw a desperate hand out to snatch them before they went flying; second try, the grenades now slung over his shoulder; a massive machine gun, not unlike what you'd mount on a Humvee, appeared in Otsana's lap.
Before Oh-One could assess the situation and continue the barrage on Jill and Justin, a stray knife came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around his leg. Oh-One immediately looked down at Jonas Langer holding onto his leg... he pointed his hand at him and shot a few searing hot blasts his way before his sensors picked up a bright blue light coming his way...
"Huh?!" Justin said as he looked on at Oh-One being held in place by... Jonas Langer. About damn time he showed up, more and more people were joining the fight bit by bit. Fortunately, he was being useful... Jill's little bicycle transformed into a cannon and Justin was hoping that it'd be enough to finally take down the mechanical menace. Which was why he saved his attack for later.
The laser beam was so epic that it caused the ground to break, collapse, and massive rocks to spontaneously float up into the air! It was so much that Justin had to cover his face.
The beam hit Oh-One and sent him flying across the artic wasteland right into the sky. Unfortunately, Mr. Langer wasn't smart enough to let go and went with it. Whoops! Sad to say that Justin couldn't shed a single tear. The beam faded... and Oh-One was still functional. Just barely though... most of his robotic exterior was burned away and exposed wiring and metal. Sparks were coming off of him, yet he was still functional enough to keep flying.
What a joy.
Justin stuck his hand out and a glowing blue circle appeared, spinning fast as fuck. It gradually slowed down, revealing his weapon, the Sound Scythe. He grabbed it with both hands as he prepared to attack Oh-One... and then in the distance, about half a dozen robots fell outta the sky! They crashed into the ground so hard that Justin could feel it from over here. The dust cleared and it revealed several quadrupedal mechs in the shape of an artillery cannon... their weapons extended and began opening fire on them.
One round hit the ground next to Justin and it sent him rolling over, he looked up and saw that everything was going destroyed around him by the robots. Doesn't matter... because Oh-One was flying away from the scene towards the tower.
"Aw no, you don't!" Justin shouted as he began running in between the shots after Oh-One with his scythe ready.
Isabella's kick managed to slice through the robot and cleave through the arm that had the massive plasma cannon. Its arm hit the ground and exploded instantly. Oh-Seven saw this as her chance to finally get the power stone! She flew directly towards it, sticking her arm at the tower and fired a rocket at it. It collided with the tower and blew a massive hole in it... and the power stone with water waves inside of it was revealed. Oh-Seven flew directly towards it, activating her quick boost to help her close the distance. However, the robot aimed it's oversized chaingun upwards and fired a barrage at her.
Most of the bullets missed but one massive round went directly through her stomach and left a massive hole and she yelped as she crashed into the tower. Fortunately, Oh-Seven was a robot and could survive these kinds of attacks. She hopped up to her feet as she reached for the power stone...
Meanwhile, the robot had activated its massive thrusters...
"... Bitch, where ya' think you goin'?" Jaden said as he teleported into the fight right above the robot. He grabbed onto both of his katanas as he slashed downwards and cut off the robot's other arm. It dropped to the ground and he saluted everyone. "Ya'll can thank me later, whoosh!" Jaden shouted as he ran up the tower towards the power stone.
However, the robot had one final card... out of its core several lights began to flash as if it was cracking. It violently convulsed as it erupted in a gigantic explosion that created a massive mushroom cloud... and it was enough to kick over Oh-One's tower over. The bottom section of it was evaporated in the explosion and it went falling downwards... towards the various people underneath it.
"Aw shit, later~!" Jaden shouted as he teleported away in a cloud of smoke.
Oh-Seven was about to grab the stone when the massive explosion knocked her completely off balance! She fell onto her shiny metal ass as she couldn't help but yelp. She felt the tower falling over... and the Power Stone flew downwards towards the ground.
"Damn it!"
Oh-Seven hissed as her feet transformed into thrusters and then she flew downwards to grab it before it was buried underneath the tower.
Margot looked at the spot Jaden was a few momments ago, and let out a sigh. "Merde" She looked over to Brooke and then the tower. "Sounds like he can get his own ride back to the mainland." She did have to give him credit for not leaving footprints she could see. Her best guess is that he had some sort of technique to avoid breaking the crust. That or he simply jumped from rocky outrcopping to outcropping.
Looking off in to the distance, she saw the lasers and explosions of the fight already happening. "If we're lucky he's going to get distracted showing off to someone else. But it looks like someone's already gotten there." She pulled her cape around herself, grateful for the extra bit of warmth it added. "Better see if we can go help them." Grinning, she pushed through the snow, rushing to catch up to the fight that had already started.
Jamie
Jamie followed the explosions over the icy terrain, the tracks of the carrier letting the squad speed along. The scorch marks made it easy, but after a while the driver called out to Jamie. "Sir, over there, 1 o'clock on the ground." Jamie spotted the grisly note from yards away, the dark red stark against the icy blue snow. He ordered the driver to stop, and he got out to read it.
COME PLAY WITH ME AT THE TOWER, MAVERICK~ Signed, Parsnip <3
"Of fucking course," he thought. Dossier after dossier sprung to mind going back months. The MAVRICK Mangler, the Bunney Eared Butcher, among a dozen other names. He took a closer look at the message. The blood was unclotted, and a few feet away he found the severeted arm. Still unfrozen. "She's still nearby," he said to himself."Cranton here. We have two known murderers nearby. Parsnip, and The One."
Standing up, he easily spotted the blood flecked footprints heading in the general direction of the tower. He pulled his whip out from his jacket, and signalled for his men to dismount. Within minutes he led the group forward, creeping along with the carrier behind them. Soon enough he spotted the girl's distinct pink headgear ahead of them hiding in some rocky terrain. There was no thoughts of trying to take her alive, especially after the trail of bodies. With a simple wave his his hands, the squad, and the carrier's autocannons, opened up on the Nomad
Isabella sailed towards the ground and landed in a crouch, having apparently been completely unaffected by the fall. He paused for a moment.
“Rider Kick...”
He didn’t look back as the robot’s arm violently exploded, A serpent of shadows worming its way through the weapon and tearing it apart with glee before snaking its way along the snow to return to its master. Isabella turned and watched as the other Nomads continued fighting the mech, then focused on his plane, which had shifted back to its regular flight patterns as it made large, continuous loops around the tower.
Go help Jill.
The jet altered its course and blasted off towards the younger Rider’s position. If the mech was focused on the others, that left the Power Stone wide open. He had orders concerning that too, but he had no intention of following them. There was a lot that Isabella himself could do with a Power Stone, but he was in no position to take it for himself. But if he made his move at just the right moment…
The rider was shaken from his thoughts by the force of a large explosion, slamming him against the colt metal of the tower with a sickening thud. He quickly regained his composure, though, and noticed that the explosion had sent the whole tower careening over. He broke into a sprint as he saw the power stone fall down to earth…
And get snatched up by his father, gliding along on ebony wings. Rosie landed gracefully in the snow, and made a few gestures with his paintbrush. Trees inexplicably sprouted from the cold Antarctic snow, positioned in a way that they managed to hold up the rubble while the rest made their way out from under it. The demon looked at the glowing stone in his hand with a raised eyebrow, looking at it with the jaded interest in a fleeting curiosity.
“I do hope I’m not interrupting anything, Angels.”
Jill let out an excited whoop as Justin’s attack sent Oh-One flying across the snow fields. She reflexively tracked him with her cannon. The bike’s windshield popped up from the side of the weapon, having turned into a targeting lens that began to track Oh-One’s position through the icy winds… in addition to the various bits of info that Pit Stop was directly displaying across her visor. She noticed the timer in the corner of her eye and went easy on the throttle on her armor after the EX-System filled back up to full again, reducing the strain on her ki.
She turned her focus back to Oh-One. He… still wasn’t dead yet. She shifted her cannon back into a bike again and hopped on, ready to continue the chase, when Pit Stop let out a series of beeps. She looked skywards, watching as a squad of robots thudded against the ground. The bike rattled. Their cannons trained on her.
"So what do you think?" Jill asked her companion. Those cannons were a problem, but they couldn't let Oh-One get away again, especially if he managed to grab the stone on his way out.
Pit Stop started beeping out their own thoughts on the situation, but they were quickly interrupted by a hail of gunfire raining down on the cannons. Isabella's jet raced by, throwing Jill's scarf around in the wind as it began looping back around towards her.
"Jill." Isabella's voice rang out through her helmet. "We've got the stone. Take down Oh-One. It's time to activate it."
"A-activate it?" Jill stammered. "It" had only been simulated so far, not tested. That was scheduled for tomorrow.
"Yeah." Isabella's voice was hesitant. "Are you ready?"
"I-I don't know… I mean, we can take him down without it, right?"
There was a long sigh on the other end.
"Jill..." Isabella recited. "A true hero knows when to stand tall and fight." Jill froze up, Pit Stop’s beeping fading behind a layer of mental fog. Why was she scared, again?
"Who are you, really?" She asked. Why was she asking that?
“Your shining mentor.”
Justice Rider Blaze clicked back into place.
“The plane will be coming back around in a second,” Isabella explained. “I need you to go all-out and finish Oh-One off for good.” Jill revved the engine with glee.
“Got it!” She said, with renewed fervor. “No time to waste, let’s get back into gear!” She could hear the plane coming up behind her, and sped forwards to match its pace. A ramp appeared from the snow and sent her sailing straight up on top of the jet. She was gaining ground on Oh-One fast, but some of the cannons were still standing, and she could see shots whizzing past the plane. She’d need to do this quick, especially if the other Nomads didn’t clean those last few bots up.
Jill stepped off the bike, feeling a cold clang as her metal boots collided with the body of the plane. She adjusted her stance and held one hand forwards, palm open. This one wasn’t just a cool pose, she needed to make sure her ki was flowing as freely as possible. Her hand drifted to the key on the side of her belt. Why was she shaking? She was the hero! And she was going to save the day, no matter what.
“Cho… HENSHIN!”
And with that cry, her heart started pounding, and she turned the key as far as it would go, straining as it creeped up towards ninety-nine percent. She felt the device whir in hunger, coldly devouring her ki as her body struggled to keep pace with it. She realized she was at the threshold, the last chance she had to turn back, and turned the key that one last degree.
She felt her life flash before her eyes, feeling utterly empty and hollow inside, feeling the device eat more and more. She fell to one knee, realizing the grave miscalculation that had taken place: She wasn’t strong enough to call on this much power. No one was. It was going to drain everything from her. She was going to die here. A more recent memory flashed through her mind. Her sister’s birthday…
She couldn’t let this be the end.
Something sparked within her. Her body, her armor, all of it was coated in an alien blue light that obscured her entire body. A series of pipes and tubes emerged from her bike, and stabbed themselves into her back. She screamed. She didn’t feel hollow anymore. She looked towards the bike as it slowly clawed its way over to her, tugging at the holes in her back, and stared back at it, rising to her feet through the excruciating pain; the burning and shocking sensations that were searing through every inch of her body. She reached out to touch it, and it unfolded, becoming a writhing mass of plating, wires, and tubes that enveloped her entire body. Lightning shot down from the sky onto her. She burst into flame.
The being that emerged from where Jill Breicen once stood could not be called human. Nor could it be called a machine. It defied both categories. Underneath cold exterior armor that vaguely resembled her former suit sat limbs made of living metal that folded and depressed like skin and flesh. Even deeper, an organic heart of synthetic materials pulsated and pumped glowing blue fluid throughout its body. Jill herself was not “wearing” this armor or this creature in any traditional sense; she felt she was simply a purified sludge of a person who had simply become another part of it. A fuel for this monstrosity to consume. Even mentally, she only formed half its consciousness, a familiar friend taking up the other half of this incomprehensible burden.
Jill struggled through the continual pain and looked through the odd lens of this eight foot behemoth, readjusting herself to the process of moving its limbs. This creature’s vision was strange, perpetually tinted blue, grainy in some places and crystal clear in others. What little signs of life there were in the Antarctic glowed with radiant energy. When she looked down at her own body, it was almost blinding. Her mind was racing, perception being tasked to its limit, overcome with so many different stimuli, in so many new and alien ways. She was losing herself, feeling the pain and animal instincts begin to take over-
It’s alright. Breathe…
She took the other half into consideration. The creature shuddered as its chest expanded, and contracted.
The second thing she noticed is that everything was so incredibly slow. Flakes of snow took seconds of observation to be able to tell that they were even moving at all. She felt an order of magnitude slower, having to put in seconds of maximum effort to move “her” arm or turn “her” head a single inch. Oh-One was flying below and a bit behind, and the flames of his propulsion systems were like a slow and graceful dance. The plane the creature was standing on was dipping, unable to hold its weight. There was a supernatural gravity to this titan, that rendered it far heavier than its components, and far heavier than anything could hope to support.
We’re close. We can take him down if we jump off. Let’s keep our cool.
Jill willed the behemoth forwards, taking slow, agonizing step after slow, agonizing step. She stopped at the edge. She noticed the ground under her feet slowly, ever so slowly, tilting down out from under her.
Let’s focus our efforts, channel that pain. Get some speed.
Jill focused her efforts on leaping, landing, crushing that horrid machine and wiping it out for good. She broke free of the stasis her universe was under, the armored titan making a running jump off the side of the plane that was, to her, done at normal speed. To anyone else, it was so close to instantaneous that the distinction hardly mattered. The creature fell, and Jill returned to that unending stasis as she fell. She waited. She knew she would reach Oh-One. Eventually She broke the slow down once more, this time on instinct, as the behemoth quickly wrapped a gargantuan hand around Oh-One’s torso and held the robot below itself, rocketing towards the ground at what to the outside world seemed like insane speeds.
She was going to turn Oh-One into a crater, and then she was going to pummel and tear until there was nothing left of him.
Oh-One's hud and systems decided something on the radar. He just didn't know what as he picked up something overhead. Oh-One quickly flipped over, but his body was sparking and covered in red-hot metal from that attack. His right hand was glowing with a red light as he prepared to blast whatever was coming his way... and he barely had time to scan it before the hand wrapped around his torso and brought him to the ground so hard that it created a crater.
> DANGER DANGER DANGER
His systems repeated as it became more and more... static. Oh-One knew, at this rate, it wouldn't survive this encounter unless... Using his thoughts that were far superior to this being, his hands began glowing with orange light as he put them together. His arms were glowing red hot as they were being overcharged...
"I am superior..."
Eventually, both hands were glowing like an enormous red orb.
"... I am Oh-One. I am..."
An enormous red laser beam went directly towards Jill.
"... perfection."
Jill had no understanding of what Oh-One was attempting to say to her. She only understood that he was attacking her. She also understood that slow as he was, this thing she was inhabiting was even slower. At point-blank range, there was no way she could defend against such an attack, either.
She took the beam head-on.
For what was, from her perspective, agonizing minutes, her world was nothing but searing light, scorching, and tearing at her metal body. She felt the hand's grip loosening on Oh-One, ki fields straining against the blast... and she felt pain.
The massive beam of light quickly faded, leaving a cloud of snow and smoke. When it blew away, it revealed that its target was still standing. Its frontal armor was covered in scratches and scorch marks. A dent could be seen where the center of the beam impacted its chest. The exposed "skin" around its arms was covered in small gashes, leaking a bright blue fluid that glowed with ki, as well as azure sparks and flames. Slight cracks were going across what one would hope was the front of its helmet.
But it was still standing. The blast had only sent it back about afoot. It took another "breath." It took a step forwards.
And, lightning-fast, it sent its fist sailing towards Oh-One, gaining a coating of blue flame for the slightest of instants that it could be perceived to even be in motion.
Justin was still hauling ass... he was, fortunately, able to get out of the kill-zone. The rest of those scrubs were fighting off the horde of robots while Justin stayed on Oh-One's ass. This was going better than he expected, usually the way these go he gets punched in the face a lot. Now its Oh-One running with his tail in between his ass. Justin had to crack a smile as he managed to catch up to Oh-One and Jill... She transformed into some type of monstrous mess of metal and Justin wondered, just for a second, if she lost her humanity just to stop Oh-One.
That didn't matter. How far she wanted to go to stop Oh-One was her business.
He just had to catch up.
Oh-One's digital reflexes were capable of reacting to the punch as he caught the punch from Jill's brand new form. The impact of his elbow hitting the ground created another crater, he had to make sure that his plan goes as planned. His thrusters activated as he put them on max and attempted to fly while carrying Jill with him.
Jill's form only barely began to move upwards, heels being slowly lifted off the ground while the ends of its feet still touched the snow. It was an incredibly heavy thing. It attempted to yank him into a good position and punch him again all while Oh-One was holding onto Jill's hand...
... Well, not for long.
Justin had closed the distance and dashed at the two fast as he could. He wasn't going to let this monster getaway any longer. He had one chance, and one chance only, and he wasn't going to let this pass. He pulled his Sound-Scythe back and cut Oh-One's arm clean off... and it exploded for some reason when it hit the ground. It should give Jill the perfect opening.
Which she took. The ground shook as the beast landed, and it let out a pneumatic hiss as its arm shot out again, grasping at Oh-One's leg to slam the bot back into the snow again as hard as it could. And when Jill grabbed onto it, the unexpected happened due to a ploy by Oh-One to break free... his leg detached from his body and then exploded in her hands.
Jill watched as the limb gradually expanded and burst, a slow-motion shower of flames slowly spreading out from its center. It was, effectively, harmless, doing little more than leaving a scorch mark on her form's armor.
Jill was, at this point, all too aware of her new body's weight and lack of agility. The jump to Oh-One would have been easy to make normally; now it simply wasn't a possibility.
It was, on the other hand, unbelievably strong.
She slowly reared back, channeling all the power she could muster. The act of properly channeling ki was, in this state, incredibly difficult. It needed to be maintained far longer for a single movement, and the other half could only do so much to help without any experience with ki itself.
Still, she pulled it off. Flames burst and lightning arced from the creature's body as it sent its fist flying at the same ludicrous speeds it had achieved earlier, with such strength that it sent a powerful wave of air flying up towards Oh-One.
However, Oh-One merely put his hand up and created his glowing red barrier around him and it tanked the blow. The barrier began glowing, shaking, crackling with electricity as Justin knew exactly what the robotic fucker was planning.
Was he going to allow it?
Fuck no.
He was tired of this mechanical freak waving his dick around with all of these flashy attacks, and he sure as fuck was tired of this wild goose chase. Oh-One was right there on his shitlist under Abel and his goons, so he was going to make this hurt. Both of Justin's hands began glowing as he put them together and a spinning blue orb was created in his hands. It danced to hand to hand until Justin put it together and stabilized it. He narrowed his eyes at Oh-One as he screamed.
CRESECENDO! CRESECENDO!
An enormous blue beam of energy went flying directly at Oh-One's barrier as he charged up his Assault Armor... it collided with the shield right when it reached its peak. It cracked, shattered, and finally collapsed as Oh-One was sent flying into the sky... at least not for long. The beam faded away and the burning hot Oh-One came flying towards the ground and created a crater when he finally hit...
Jill focused on moving as fast as she could as she watched Oh-One fall from the sky. She felt she was beginning to lose control of whatever base instincts resided inside this monstrosity. The other half, too, was beginning to grow distant. Half-heard thoughts of encouragement were drowned out by bursts of static.
There was a strange whirring noise that emerged when it broke into a run, every step a pounding force that shook the earth around it. The whir grew into a biomechanical roar of screeching metal and synthetic rage as it leaped on top of Oh-One and sent its fist flying down into his chest, a metallic clang echoing out as the crater widened. Its left hand wrapped around Oh-One's arm. It pulled it free, tossing the sparking limb aside before doing the same to its twin. More glowing blue blood leaked out of its face and onto Oh-One's chest. It had resorted to mindlessly striking down on Oh-One again and again, every punch mangling the robot further. It raised both its fists above its head as Oh-One began to speak:
"... Nothing will- *zzt* stop me fro- from-from achieving my *zzt* goals. I am perfection..."
And it brought them down again, caving in his chest plate. It raised its arm again, fingers outstretched.
"... Let us meet again."
There was a momentary pause. Something played out across the cracks in its visor before it stabbed its hand into Oh-One, piercing straight through the armor plating. It twisted and searched for vitals before it pulled them out with force, hand dripping, and sparking with robotic viscera. It rose to its feet and let out another roar as it stepped down on the robot and pulled, cables snapping, and tossed the chunk aside. It lifted Oh-One, scanning for any signs of life, and tossed his corpse aside like a ragdoll, hearing a thud as it slammed against the ruined tower.
It paused. Vomited again. Fell to one knee. It stared into the glowing pool. Its components couldn't keep this up anymore. It crackled, seared with flame, and burst into blinding blue light.
The motorcycle sat smoking in a scarred, mangled heap. Pit Stop laid half-embedded in the snow, thrusters sputtering as the screen on their face occasionally flickered out. Jill's gear and armor had completely disengaged, a deathly pale face peeking out from behind layers of winter gear. She looked up at Justin and gave him a shaky thumbs-up.
"Heh..." She let out a small chuckle. She pulled it off. "We did it, Justin... He's finally-"
She went silent as she fell into the snow.
Jill?! Jill?!
Justin shouted as he ran over to Jill and lifted her upper body in hopes that she didn't push herself that far...
Alright bitches, boutta hit ya'll with these bars, Started in Brazil with no chill, Oh-One not the one started the attack, Left with the power stone and we all thought that shit was wack, Chased him all ova the globe with all modes of transportation And no hesitation And we finished his ass in the sooouthsiiiiide
Made the bad guy a real sad guy in the arctic wastes, Wiped that funny grin off his face No need for that funnyman shit Many tried all failed Laggin Langer so stupid he couldn't hold a hangar Too busy sittin 'round pissin' n kissin Jill without a pill and Lustin Justin rose 'bove the rest They beat the numbah one robot
At a heavy cost because they not boss The power stone went into hiding no more biden Well sept some of them None of 'em could get hired so we just retired To the Gold City of Sin Baby! Few months past just so fast I can't hardly wait
Months later it was a beautiful day in the shining Gold City in California. The sun was shining, the bird was singing and the children were playing. The many Nomads were going about their days and it would be a total shame if a giant battle came from the sky and ruined all of this. People were walking down the street of downtown Gold City as a massive shadow was cast over the place as a battleship almost as large as the city appeared.
People ran screaming as one of the main cannons on the ship fired a green laser that cleaved its way through a large swath of a skyscraper and knocked it over. People ran screaming as several laser beams were fired into the city as the battleship had no target in mind. Just pure, absolute, destruction. The beams stopped for a moment as one could observe the gigantic frame of Abels stepping on the very tip of the ship... with his MIRAGE legion behind him.
It was a mission that required the absolute full power of MIRAGE because it involved a Power Stone. Abel had tracked it to this city and the Pariah demanded that he recovers it soon as possible for their plan. He stood on the very tip of the battleship, ominously looking down as he began to enact his plan, which was fairly simple: shock and awe. He looked over his shoulder at the MIRAGE Nomads and... his eyes landed on a certain Nomad that stuck out to him.
He stopped looking badass as he turned around and marched over to that particular Nomad.
"... Violet," Abel said as he looked down at the woman... who was lounging on a beach chair with sunglasses on and used a tanning reflector. To her side, she had a radio blasting some music. "... What are you doing?"
Violet turned her head towards Abel and tilted her sunglasses downwards with some amazing dexterity given her claws. "Oh, I'm just soaking up some rays before the mission. Gotta get my tan and all!"
Abel was silent as he stared at her, and he was hoping that silence would speak for him.
"Oooooh, don't look at me like that!" Violet started.
"Violet," Abel started before he pointed towards the tip of the ship, "The mission."
"And you have more than enough people for it, I don't think I-" Violet tried to protest before Abel grabbed onto her upper arm. "Abel-"
Abel yanked her hard as he could as he effortlessly lifted her, it wasn't long before he swung her around in a complete circle and chucked her hard as he could off the front of the ship. Violet loudly screamed the whole time as she descended towards the ground... and Abel casually walked up to the front of his ship as he nodded at his men and women.
"... Let's go."
Abel shouted as he jumped off the ship and then his men followed behind him. He fell at incredible speeds, so fast that he began to burn with orange flames. It didn't affect Abel, barely anything did. Not even the impact of crashing into the ground at a terminal velocity... and when he hit the ground he demolished that bit of street he landed on as concrete was sent in all directions and it created a massive wave. When the dust settled, Abel looked around and saw all the destruction around him.
It made him feel a little sad.
A small round robot floated up to him and a red light began glowing as it recorded him. Every TV, monitor, and so forth in Gold City began to broadcast his message.
"Citizens of Gold City," Abel stated, "You know who I am so I'll skip the pleasantries, it has come to the attention of MIRAGE that there is a Power Stone located here. You have thirty minutes to place that Power Stone in my hand or I will burn this city to ash."
At this point, every monitor displayed a red countdown from thirty minutes.
"I'm waiting."
Abel said... before he faced his crew and pointed forward to signal them to go look for the Power Stone.
Jim Baxter sat and exhaled loudly, closing his eyes and listening to the birds chirp around him as he placed his lunch on the table. He'd been averse to some swanky rooftop garden on his building but had come to almost desperately require its presence. It centred him. As he slid out the foil wrapped packaging and began to unwrap it to eat, a new sound permeated his gardens that did not centre him whatsoever.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Jim turned to face a man, most certainly not an employee, saunter to his domain as if he belonged here more than Baxter himself did. The individual was odd, wearing a dark brown cowboy hat, black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, navy blue jeans and dark brown cowboy boots, all with a black duffel bag slung around his shoulder. Baxter was trying hard enough to figure this intruder out that it didn't even further register to him as odd that the man sat right next to him until after a few seconds. He scanned the rest of the gardens with all of its empty chairs and tables before turning back to the man.
"Plenty other places to sit, my friend" He stated with more than a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Antarctica, some odd months, ago you and your company got that sought after ol' contract to strip the conflict zone for all its useful salvage. Which, I imagine for a killer robot, is pretty substantial." The man said in an even tone, interrupting Baxter and leaning back nonchalantly.
"Wh- Are you insane, friend? Who the hell even are you?" Jim sputtered out, his voice raising in anger as he stood up prepared to call for security.
Voyt turned to face Jim Baxter, putting his hat slightly further up so he could look the businessman in the eyes.
"Lauren Baxter. On her second year at G.C.U. Studyin', I believe, biochemical engineerin'. Smart kid." Voyt slowly stood up himself as Jim Baxter's face began to turn from anger to concern.
"I say this. because." Voyt, with inhuman speed, unholstered a revolver and pointed it at Jim Baxter's face. "If you don't answer my questions in a way I deem satisfactory. I'm gonna have to pay her a visit after I deal with you."
Voyt pulled back the hammer with a mechanical click that made Baxter involuntarily gulp.
"Wh- what do y-you want to know?" Jim said, the gravity setting in as he held up both hands defensively.
"From what I hear you an your boys stripped the place clean, part from one important piece of salvage. The power stone. Who's got it?" Voyt asked.
"I- I don't know? I-"
"Wrong answer." Voyt said, interrupting Baxter's explanation. He began advancing as Jim backed away in fear - the gun inches away from his nose. He stopped once he hit the end of the roof, the waist high wall doing nothing to hide the sheer drop from his building.
"I've had enough 'conversations' with your higher ups to know its company policy to try and get its salvaged tech back into workin' condition then sell it for a higher mark up. Like say, some drones Oh-One was usin'. Even if ya can't get the drones themselves in workin' order you can still strip em for parts. For example, their records." Voyt said.
"As far as I've been told, only folk that would have clearance to go through those records. Would be whatever unmarked personnel you authorised. And you."
Baxter's breath became shaky as Voyt took another step forward, sending the CEO leaning even closer over the edge. He shut his eyes, centred himself, and opened them with a soft exhale.
"We did manage to recover some footage while the rider broad's camera was focused on the fight. It isn't anything concrete but we at least have them close to where the stone was kept and eked out some physical descriptions." Baxter managed to say, albeit in a slow and deliberate manner.
"Enlighten me."
"Well, based on records from the rider lady, we think the person who had the best chance to take the stone was-"
Baxter was cut off as a wave of pure green energy slammed into the building behind him. The force of impact knocked Jim forward in a heap on the floor and caused Voyt to stumble backwards. He unholstered his other gun and pointed it in the direction of the blast before the huge screen adorning another adjacent building lit up with the unwelcome helmeted visage of Voyt's employer.
"Citizens of Gold City," Abel stated, "You know who I am so I'll skip the pleasantries, it has come to the attention of MIRAGE that there is a Power Stone located here."
Voyt narrowed his eyes. He then turned to see Jim Baxter all but throw himself into the elevator, then began pounding at the first floor button for at least several seconds before the doors slowly shut. Voyt simply stared in annoyance at Baxter's attempt to flee.
"Hrn."
He turned back to the screen.
"You have thirty minutes to place that Power Stone in my hand or I will burn this city to ash."
At this point, every monitor displayed a red countdown from thirty minutes.
Voyt's knuckles turned white as his fist tightened.
"Abel you moron." He muttered to himself before looking down at the carnage below. If Abel wanted to do things the hard way then that was fine by Voyt, he had a lead, Jill had relatively few confidants that he knew of, least of all ones combat ready enough to go to Antartica with her. If one of them had the power stone, Voyt was going to find it.
In spite of Abel and his tactless way of doing things.
Gold City - Alleyways
It had been a turbulent few months.
The jubilation and sheer happiness that had arisen once Oh-One was soundly defeated was offset by the unrest that followed. For though the heroes had persevered and ultimately triumphed in the snow, the world had still come terrifyingly close to death. With many of the nomads either critically injured or elsewhere or merely in hiding after the fight, Cain had taken it upon himself to keep Gold City secure in the months that followed. Would be gangs and nomads who hoped to cash in on the city's fragile state were returned beaten to an inch of their life. Or dead. Citing only a raggedy looking man as being the cause.
Cain had considered it something of a penance for not being in Antarctica where his presence could have prevented the injury or death of others. Prior to now he felt things were secure enough that he could continue his investigation, until the first volley of energy slammed into Gold City's streets.
Cain stood above the opportunistic looter, watched him spasm at his feet before drifting painfully into unconsciousness. Cain turned his gaze at the frightened family the looter was preparing to alleviate of their supplies.
"Find somewhere below ground. Don't lose track of one another and until you find somewhere to hide. Don't stop running." Cain kept his face obscured from the family as they rushed past him out into the streets. A mother and her two children. He hoped for the best but right now was sure the worst hadn't even come yet.
Cain's body broke apart as he drifted out onto the streets himself, next to an electronics store where the row of TVs behind a window lit up.
Even though he remembered exactly how MIRAGE's Operatives looked and behaved he still took a moment to register the man before him. It had been far, far too long.
'All this time I've been hunting you down, Abel. Yet here you are. Straight to me.'
He couldnt hear Abel's spiel from the display TVs but every other screen in Gold City carried the armoured terrorists face and voice clear enough. Even still, Abel's words fell right off Cain as he looked to the sky and saw that abomination of a helicarrier.
Cain did not even feel himself moving or his hands sharpen into claws as he walked towards the helicarrier off in the distance.
