So, without even a few minutes for everyone to compose themselves, they would be sent once more into the breach. Band gave a sigh that entered his mouthpiece and came out as a deflated-sounding musical note. Though in fact fully restored by the Friend Heart given to him, he would have liked at least a little time to settle down and fortify himself before more fighting. But people were already in motion, which meant he needed to kick it into gear, too. “No rest for the wicked, huh?”
Sand swirled beneath Kan-Ra, lifting him a few inches into the air. “Off already, hm?” His unblinking gaze fixed on Fox. “Robin is where I’m headed--a certain unsavory nook in the residential district. I’ll look forward to our cooperation, hm?” With that, he glided out, none too fast.
As the others took off Tora and Poppi lingered by Band for a moment, the Nopon’s protests going unheard by the frontrunners. “Wait! Just because Tora self-heal doesn’t mean Tora get stamina back!”
Band looked down at him and extended a giant hand, big enough to grab Tora and hold him like a basketball. “If you’re runnin’ on fumes, I can give ya a lift.”
Although he looked tempted, Tora ended up shaking his head. “No thanks. Tora not want be carried!” Band showed his respect for the decision with a nod, and the trio set off after the main group. Although the question of how the two teams would be divided lay on everyone’s minds, they jogged in silence for now so that the Twilight Princess could bring everyone up to speed on the state of things. The exposition Midna delivered to the newly-freed fighters, Band included, was a lot to take in on short notice. Suddenly there was a much bigger picture in play, and though the detective would need to confront it in due time, the game plan remained the same for now.
Together the Seekers, the Phantom Thieves, and Kan-Ra’s Grimleal made for quite the attention-grabbing procession, not to mention the space they took up, and as the convoy passed the entrance to the Bazaar the frontrunners came to a stop. Too short to see anything, Tora could only slow down in wonderment as he, Poppi, and Band made for what looked like an impromptu foot traffic jam As they got closer it wasn’t long before they realized, however, that the sudden stop was the result of a single obstruction. Worse still, it was one most people present could recognize and groan internally at: that precocious demon child, Laharl. Even worse, he had some sort of beef with Mao of all people, and the ensuing exchange did a lot to make both of them look like bad guys.
While the two came to terms the others slunk into the shade offered by the colorful awnings of the nearby buildings. Tora glanced back down the street to see Kan-Ra pulling up ahead of his acolytes, gliding on a wave of sand. His unblinking eyes went between the scene ahead of them and the rest of the stopped fighters. “My, aren’t we carefree,” he grinned. “You must be strong indeed if you truly plan to forge ahead without a strategy or preparation.”
Joker crossed his arms. “Now’s as good a time as any,” he declared, suggesting that the team make use of the delay. After Primrose somehow pacified Laharl a little, she offered the loot from the Museum of Vanity, and once she’d finished complaining Sectonia produced a ghastly-looking headpiece that she said could help with its itemization. Everything about it screamed ‘dangerous’, but Joker stared at the Symbol of Avarice with resolution in his eyes. “I’ll try it. Panther, would you mind…?”
The girl was already nodding, her pigtails bouncing as she did. With her friends around her changing wouldn’t make enough of a spectacle to attract unwanted attention, so in a flare of blue flame she donned her iconic mask and catsuit once again. “Ready to heal you if anything goes wrong.”
“You’re the best. Thank you. As for the spirit...” He looked over those offered by Primrose. “Jesse, you deserve the spoils from the eldritch monster. And the fate of Yuga should be yours to decide, Fox.” From the remaining six he ended up claiming the remains of a
Nyabon. “I’ll try this spirit, if you don’t mind. Here goes.” Gingerly the young man took hold of the chest. He noted its big, floppy tongue, then put it on. He stood there, head covered by the ridiculous thing, for all of a second before its effect took hold. “Ow. Ow, ow.” Without further ado he crushed the Nyabon spirit, which shattered into fragments of light that quickly coalesced into a
demonic pistol. The moment he felt its weight in his hand Joker pulled off the Symbol of Avarice.
Panther hovered over him, figuratively speaking. “Are you okay? What happened? Do you need healing?”
“I’m alright,” Joker reported. “It didn’t actually hurt that badly, but it kept hurting, and getting worse. Like grabbing a hot skillet on the stove.” He looked down at his new weapon, intrigued. “This looks pretty good.”
Band examined the unusual firearm with a seasoned eye. “That’s one mean-lookin’ hand cannon,” he said. “Careful where you point it, ‘less you like the idea of blowin’ someone back to stardust.”
The Phantom Thief Fox stepped up next. “Though he deserves it not, I will see if I can make anything beautiful from what that reprobate left behind. Like this?” He grasped Yuga’s spirit tentatively, then slipped on the chest hat and squeezed the mote until it broke. From its shards manifested a
sheer black blade with edges that shone with all the colors of a painter’s palette. Once relieved of his headwear Fox stared at the weapon with reverence. “Magnificent…! Though I will not forgive him, I will relish this chance to better vanquish evil.”
Not counting the Shambler put aside for Jesse, that left five demon spirits, and though they didn’t relish the chest’s painful curse Mona, Panther, and Skull all expected a chance of their own. In particular Mona dreaded a sensation that reminded him of his head getting enlarged earlier, but nevertheless the greedy cat braved the Symbol of Avarice to turn a
Dead Fish spirit into a
Swordfish Rapier. With no need for her healing, Panther returned to her civilian outfit before converting an
Inugami spirit into a
sleek black-and-white SMG. Finally, Skull pulled a
fearsome kanabo from an oni spirit. His eyes practically bugged out when he got his hands on it. “Holy crap, this thing kicks ass!” He looked over everyone’s treasures. “Wow, we all got stuff that works for us. That freaky-ass hat’s the real deal.” Only two spirits remained with which to utilize it.
Although the spirit-breaking left a number of his new allies better-armed, Kan-Ra did not look fully satisfied. “That is all good, but we have yet to decide who’s going where.” He tented his fingers, examining the gathered fighters. “If our new friend is leading the way to the office hideout, with Midna and the rascal alongside, my colleagues and I will assist Azwel with the other one. But since only I will enter to reinforce him, we could use some extra strength.” He looked at Joker, but the teenager looked to Fox, giving him the first pick.
“I’ll go with him. Joker and his team can take the other side, and split the rest of us evenly both ways. Where everyone goes is up to them, but keep your strengths in mind,” he reminded them, regarding their potential team composition. All he knew for sure was that the Thieves would stick together regardless, and that he had to separate from them to keep a line of communication.
Joker chimed in after him. “Actually, it might be a good idea if the Thieves split, three and three. We usually work in teams of four max, after all. And both sides need healing.” His companions saw the wisdom in such a move. “One bruiser, one mage, and one all-rounder for each time. I’ll go with Mao, alongside Skull and Panther. Fox, Mona, and Necro, can you go with...uh, the other Fox?”
“Aw, I wanted to go with Lady Panther!” the cat complained.
Yusuke, meanwhile, looked pensive. “Two Foxes, is it? A stroke of misfortune. Loath as I am to assume a different moniker, perhaps we should take a page out of Oracle’s book and call me Inari for the rest of this operation?”
“Uh...” Fox paused for a moment trying to process an appropriate affirmation before awkwardly, indifferently settling on
“Sure.” with a head shake and a shrug.
Joker’s expression made it look like that left a bad taste in his mouth. “Hm. Let’s just switch everyone, then. Phantom Thief Fox and Mona with me, Skull and Panther with...Kan-Ra.”
Jumping up and down, Mona exclaimed, “That still doesn’t solve my issue!”
Joker pretended he didn’t hear him. “As for the rest, hmm. Sectonia with me would make one flier each. Then Band with Kan-Ra would make one heavyweight each.”
The detective glanced at the mummified sorcerer.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. “Works for me.”
That left Tora, Poppi, Jesse, Red, Yoshitsune, and Primrose. Since the hamster and the android effectively counted as one, that made an odd number, and these three didn’t have much in common. If only…
“What’s this?!” A big voice brought everyone’s attention to the entrance of the Bazaar, through which a familiarly huge man with a familiarly amazing mustache was headed their way. Braum treated everyone to a smile. “Hello again, my friends! I just finished carrying crates around. If not for blazing hot desert, I would not have even worked up sweat!”
Joker clapped his hands together. “Perfect timing, sir! If Tora and Poppi go with me and you with Kan-Ra, both teams will have a defender. Then Primrose and Yoshitsune with Kan-Ra, then Red and Jesse with me, I suppose.” His gaze swept across those present. “Is that alright with everyone?”
Looking excited, Tora jumped up and down. “Okay. Sound good to Tora, meh!”
Fox chimed in to suggest a simple edit.
“Swap shields with us,” he suggested.
“Give us Tora and Poppi, and you can take Braum and keep Necro with you. That way we’ll still have a flier, and we need an ear on your side in case anything happens.” Moreover, if it meant Fox’s team ended up with a marginally favorable number, given they would have two Grimleal officers on their end instead of one, their odds may work out better should they decide to turn on them.
“That means an uneven distribution of Thieves, but...” The young man pointed out. “We probably can make it work. You okay with it, Skull, Panther?”
It looked like Skull was. “Aw, yeah! Some quality alone time~!”
“You wish!” Panther scoffed, though she didn’t look that scornful.
Joker nodded. “Good. And by the way…” He narrowed his eyes at Laharl and Jesse. “If there’s a good chance to free anyone who needs it, take it. All set, guys?”
Fox replied with a nod, then told them,
“Good luck, and stay sharp!” With their teams (and loadouts) decided, Fox gave the official word to break for their respective destinations.
“Let’s go!”
Looking up at the building, with all those stark glass windows, it was hard to imagine it as anything but a run-of-the-mill office building where old people without adventure or ambition filed taxes or tallied censuses or something. But then again, where better to put a secret than somewhere so normal nobody would give it a second thought, let alone a glance? Of course, none of this really mattered when the front doors lay in shambles, blasted open by a single piercing blow dead center. An inexplicably vast amount of water soaked the entrance area, while a cohort of Grimleal acolytes formed a perimeter around the building, keeping both a watch of the building and civilians away. There could be no doubt that Mao led the team to the right place. With Necronomicon among their number thanks to Jesse’s Tool Gun’s shrinking powers, the ten hurried inside.
They entered the building’s ground floor office sprawl to find a shootout in progress. Closest to the door stood a
very tall rabbit lady with a longbow even bigger than she was., using a column as cover. Thanks to her position she spotted the newcomers immediately, and shared with Midna and Sectonia mutual recognition. The rest must be allies of theirs, since the Grimleal outside let them through without a scuffle. “Get down!” she yelled.
The next second a fusillade of bullets rained down on the entrance, forcing everyone to run for cover in a mad dash for safety. Gunfire struck anyone too slow off the mark, but that didn’t include the Phantom Thieves, who became dark blurs as they vanished into hiding. On the other side of the room stood a
mustached gunman with a
Flatline assault rifle, a
minigun-toting lunatic, and a
tough-looking brawler with a
carbine. The man wiped his forehead with a robotic arm. “Aw hell, it’s a full-blown invasion! Time to roll out the welcome wagon!”
Next to him the minigunner cackled. “You nuts? We’ve got this! We’ll just rip ‘em up too!”
“There’s too many,” the third observed. “We should bring the fight to the basement!” At that moment Ciella ducked out from cover and took aim. Water magic built in her bow as she pulled taut the string, and when she released it five huge bolts of water rocketed forth in a spread pattern. They tore across the office space, flinging furniture and documents around in watery pandemonium. When they hit the walls they ricocheted, but the shooters took evasive maneuvers. “We’re on the back foot now.” Amara growled. She spotted Braum advancing in front of Ciella, his shield impervious to gunfire. “They’re gonna rush us.”
“Psh. I’ll handle this.” A
lone hedgehog strolled out from behind cover,
grenade launcher in hand. Without any hesitation he opened fire, laying waste to the floor space. The explosions confounded Braum and blew him back. When Shadow’s weapon ran dry, he clicked his tongue. “Hey, old-timer. Do your damn job!”
A
warrior ran by him, inhaling deeply. There was a split second, like the calm before the storm. Then he
yelled. “Fus...ro dah!” An enormous shockwave rolled across the ground along with his voice, throwing up a tsunami of furniture.
As desks and chairs rained down around him Mona clutched his head in his hands. “This is insanity!” he yowled. “We can’t even dash between cover if they’re hurling our cover around!”
Joker nodded as he watched a filing cabinet smash against Braum’s shield. “We can’t make progress in a mess like this. We have to split them up.”
With a sniff Ciella exited her cover. Bullets struck her but she barely seemed to react. “I’ll grant you this opportunity. Bring them despair!” She charged, carried forth by a tide of water, and like a wave against the shore soaked up everything that came her way before crashing into the gunners’ fortress. Then she welled her power up around her and unleashed an omnidirectional wave, scattering her foes.
The Phantom Thieves surged forth from hiding, Joker in the lead. “Now! Pick your fights and take them out, two on one!”
After sitting down to rest on top of the hanging submarine, Nadia watched the others doing their best from her vantage point. The Koopa Troop plus Rika took her advice and started to trace the wire bundle that fed into the ceiling arm. Being more technically minded than his father or the Abyssal, Junior managed to track down a likely candidate in the form of the communications station up by the Command Center’s overlook window. It featured a bevy of switches and controls, and once the little guy climbed up into the slightly damp swivel chair in front of it, he could take a good look.
Judging by the sliminess of the terminal Moreau had gotten his hands on it a few times, but it wasn’t so crusted that he couldn’t claw some off and make out the controls’ labels in the poor light. Most of them related to radio operation, but there seemed to be one that could lower the bay’s safety cage. In the bottom right Junior found two levers and a release. One lever bore a label that read
Submersible Arms and the other
Arm Track. Both offered enough resistance to demand the strength of two hands, but moving the latter slid the arms’ mounting from over the floor to over the water, and when Junior pulled down the former the arms lowered the submarine as well. Nadia grabbed hold and hung on tight as the near-spherical vehicle descended toward the water, her ears flattened to try and muffle out the loud, hydraulic whine of the machine arms. It took only a few noisy moments for the arms to reach their full length and dip the underside of the submarine in the water. A couple feet of clearance extended to either side except for the one with the cage door, where the promontory provided easy access to the vehicle’s back.
Nadia clapped her hands. “Nice going, that wasn’t so bad! Now we just have to...actually go down there. Heh.” Though she tried to hide her fear of going underwater, the droop of her ears said enough. She shivered as she peered into the water. “It’s pretty dark down there. Won’t we need Blazermate to scan for the...uh, whatever we’re looking for? This thing might have lights, but that’ll make it a sitting duck for any monsters down there.”
Glancing between Blazermate and Nadia, Bella looked concerned. “Well...unfortunately, there’s a good chance any creature would be able to detect it even in the dark. Unless they’re less developed than the average fish, they can probably both hear and feel things moving through the water.”
“Gahhhhahaha...” Nadia groaned, giving a wry laugh. “Guess we’ll need to give the monsters something else to pay attention to.”
At about that time, Mirage’s efforts with the pilot seat were bearing fruit. In a twist of fate his new toy ended up connecting to the vacant shell of the universal helper BULL unit that now lay in the hallway. He could move its arms and crane its head around, but that seemed to be all--unless the others could use the conveyor belt the machine lay on to bring it to the water. Although Geralt wanted to help, he didn’t know the first thing about what Mirage meant by conveyor. Sakura filled him in on the second part, but from up above Nadia filled in some extra details. “No worries! I don’t know half of these gizmos, and I don’t even have an excuse. But a conveyor belt’s like a movin’ carpet, pretty much. And it just carries whatever’s on it whatever way it’s movin’. Doesn’t get much belter than that!” She grimaced. “Yikes, that was crap. This place must be gettin’ to me.”
But it was getting to someone else a lot worse. Nadia’s eyes rested uneasily on Sakura as the other girl headed toward the pit, passing Peach on the way as she went to activate the conveyor. Sakura was muttering to herself about the situation. For a moment it seemed like she was looking on the bright side, but something was weird. Her manner and her words were discordant. The feral didn’t get much time to think about it before Sakura promptly threw up.
Quickly Nadia looked away, but her skin wouldn’t stop crawling. An uncomfortable tension filled the Command Center’s atmosphere, silent as the grave except for the patter of Peach’s feet as she headed back down the hall toward the terminal. Nobody wanted to deal with what happened, Nadia least of all. But something in her roiled. She couldn’t quite describe what or why, but it angered her. Most fundamentally she didn’t want to see Sakura upset--loveable, innocent Sakura, whose double dose of naivety and compassion was now making her suffer.
It isn’t right, she thought. But things weren’t going to get any better. No doubt the road ahead would have even worse choices and consequences. Could Sakura walk down that path, like this?
No. Nadia could imagine the poor girl collapsing and never getting up, the weight of one robot heavier on her heart than the fate of the whole world. And even if she did, the defeat in her soul might spell the difference between life and death the next time a monster reached out to grab her. If the world wasn’t going to change, Sakura would have to.
Nadia jumped down from the submarine, her bare feet smacking against the concrete. She scampered over to where Sakura knelt and grabbed her shoulder. “Hey!” she said with force, her anger unmasked. She shook the girl roughly. “Get a hold of yourself! Don’t you realize what you’re doing?”
Spinning Sakura around, the feral looked her in the face. “You’re giving them the win! This is exactly what they’re trying to do!” She craned her neck around to look at the others for support. “They trapped us in this place, full of awful crap. Its one big, nightmare funhouse, and we’re along for the ride! Everything in this place is designed to take our power away, to make us hungry and miserable, and to scare the bejeezus out of us.” Her expression softened as she squeezed Sakura’s shoulder. “I know it feels awful. I don’t blame ya. Butcha know why it feels awful? ‘Cause it’s made to! You’re the nicest out of all of us, so they’re goin’ after
you.” She stepped away, pointing a finger right at her friend’s heart, then crossed her arms. “They think you’re the weakest link ‘cause you’re nice. You really gonna let them do ya like that? Give yourself up on a platter? A nice, tasty Kasugano Snack-ura? Come on! I thought you were tough!” Nadia instantly realized she’d probably gone too far by insulting the girl. But surely Sakura wasn’t going to just fizzle out and give up? That wasn’t the read Nadia got at all. The Street Fighter just needed a jump start to realize -or at least, to think- that she was being played. Then she could rise up against the evil that sought to oppress her, her fighting spirit renewed.
....Right?At about that time Peach got the conveyor running. The device’s rollers ran its belt slowly but steadily, bearing the BULL unit toward the Command Center. Mirage remained wired in, but there wasn’t a lot for him to do but wait and worry about what was going on with the others. Rather, distracted by Sakura and the hubbub surrounding her, he didn’t notice a slight but growing combined sensation of headache and nausea. As eletromagnetism built within the pilot seat’s headcase, however, the discomfort worsened, until it finally spiked and disappeared. The surge’s abrupt departure left the poor boy disoriented and reeling but otherwise okay, rather like he’d suddenly recovered from a heavy migraine. If he examined the machine it would betray no abnormality, but the bizarre and unpleasant side effect would no doubt warrant some reconsideration on Mirage’s part.
While he dealt with that, something else was afoot. With a click the clamps holding one of the diving suits in place released themselves, causing the suit to flop over backwards and fall to the floor, startling Bella. It hit the ground hard enough to suggest some real weight inside the suit, although Bella couldn’t imagine what that might be. To her horror, the suit started to move on its own. She scooted backward with a muted cry as one arm slid across the ground towards the helmet, reached up, and rubbed the side of it like how someone might massage their temple. “Oogh…” came a strangely electronic yet familiar voice from inside. “That wasn’t fun…”
For a moment only silence greeted Link’s inquiry, which could only be understandable. After all, how could the cute, fuzzy, fairly-like Moogles of Alcamoth possibly appear in an accursed hellhole like this, who knows how far beneath the stormy waters of a monster-infested sea?
One did anyway.
With a magical poof a portly Moogle manifested in front of Link, apparently mid-way through taking care of a hard-to-reach itch with the aid of a backscratcher. “Whoa, ‘ey, what in the, ahum, ugh!” the creature exclaimed in surprise. His voice was weirdly deep and gargly for a Moogle, the sort one would expect out of some sweat-stained, pizza-eating, beer-guzzling middle-aged Manhattan apartment dweller, and not at all a mystical koala pixie. He waved with the backscratcher, trying to appear cheerful. “I mean, heyas! Moogle messenger, at your service, and, uh...wait a sec, who the heck are yous guys?” His gaze shifted rapidly between Kamek, Link, and Glen in utter confusion. “When did we link up with a buncha tots? But...whoa!” Flapping around in a circle, he took in the sights of the Depths. “What the heck’s this place?! This ain’t no daycare!”
As Linkle bombarded him with questions and details, Father Guerra held up his hands in surrender. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, little miss! Back up just a moment. Someone tried killing you?” He looked at Albedo for confirmation, but the Alchemist was in the process of showing sketches from his book and didn’t think to do anything but nod. “Invincible, you say…” He considered the casual manner in which the pair seemed to be treating the subject matter, as well as the young lady’s crossbows and the ominous feeling that clung to her. It took him only a moment to understand, and when Guerra looked back at Linkle he saw her in a new light.
“Pardon me, you’re clearly not ordinary people. Come with me.” He closed his book and set it aside, then stood and began to walk, leading his guests to a more private area by a window. When they sat again a slight change had affected his demeanor, some sort of tightening around the eyes maybe. The kindness did not leave them, but they held steel, too. This was a Father who could get down to business--a man who offered a sandwich to the hungry and a lead pipe to the evil. “I may be an old man, but I’d like to think I can help people like you. People who want to make the world a better place.” After accepting the sketchbook from Albedo he looked at the drawing while continuing to speak. “Everyone knows the Stranger. A force of nature. He came here once, searching for someone, but he did not find them. We are lucky he seems to avoid this place, for his capricious nature brings ruin wherever he goes. If you’re interested in him, well...” Guerra’s voice held nothing but seriousness. “You’ve found the right man. I’m not one to stand by while tyrants put people’s lives in jeopardy. So I’ll help however I can.”
With a shake of his head he passed back the book, his face apologetic. “Unfortunately, I do not recognize these symbols. If only you could do an internet search, huh?”
“A what?” Albedo raised an eyebrow. “What is an internet?”
“Ah, excuse me,” Guerra waved a hand. His guests’ clothing and weaponry should have given away their technology leve. “Something where I come from. It’s a system spread all over the world. As long as someone has a machine called a computer and a connection to the internet, anyone can access all the knowledge of mankind. Isn’t that incredible?” he laughed. “Not very good at it myself. In fact, the kids can barely put down their phones long enough to listen to my damn sermons…”
As he trailed off Albedo put a hand to his chin. “So all we need is a ‘computer’ and a ‘connection’, right?”
Guerra blinked. “Er. Yes, but I couldn’t tell you where to find one. Or if this place even has an internet. You may be better off asking around.” He put his hands on his knees. “If you do, you might have better luck asking an idol than a priest.”
Once again Albedo reacted with confusion, narrowing his eyes. “Do you mean in the second tower? We tried a few of the statues, but they were not exactly forthcoming.”
“Oh no.” Guerra shook his head. “I suppose I should use the colloquial term. Not idol as in statue. Idol as in...well...this place is frequented by a few pagan gods.” He looked between his guests. “Surprised? It’s a funny thing, actually. You might think they’re the stars of the show, but in reality, those ‘gods’ are treated more like bums. They have some power, yes, but they are not invincible, nor unknowable. They have needs, and desires, and flaws, just like humans. And like humans, they are deserving of our compassion, but not our worship.” He shrugged. “That is why I hesitate to call them gods, when there is only one almighty God, far greater than any human could ever imagine. But you’re not here for a sermon, eh?” Guerra smiled, relaxing into his chair. “If you want to talk to one, there are a few you may be able to find. Pele is amicable, and earns her keep stoking fires in the kitchens and forges. Mercury sometimes delivers objects or lost souls to our door. And then there’s Skadi, who lives in the basement of this very tower. She is not well, but she’s there.” Having said his piece, Guerra waited on a decision.
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