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Mr. Miracle
Though along the cold, metallic ground his white, claw-tipped paws scrabbled, Miracle luckily didn't have to go searching for his allies for too long. After all those breadcrumbs they'd left behind.. or rather the trail of destruction for what it truly was.. stumbling upon his team wasn't taking him long at all. As ratty (literally) as he was right now, Terry decided to weave between the legs of Frosty the Snowman and Human Torch alongside the remaining officers they had been in clash with. Though, the odd-looking rodent did not scurry past the two without leaving his own little present behind - a particularly powerful leap into the air that had him firing a shockwave of prismatic energy through his ringed tail like a laser cannon in order to help push the enemies towards Ice and Blaze.
His keen nose already twitching plenty, Terry found it rather easy to keep track of the policewoman, though noticing her behaviour he did feel glad she was taking the time out of her obviously busy schedule of trying to not get shot to go look for him. She and the other two probably had caught wind of his little clash with that murderbot, thus explaining the impromptu hide-and-seek session. Though not being one to keep the lady waiting, Miracle's body had lit up once more before forming back to his human self as he smoothy slid over the floor and leaned against the wall next to the doorframe to the Laboratory, tipping his hat to Akira before taking note of his disheveled, somewhat dusty suit.
"You called?" Though chipper and quick to re-enter his Miracle Persona, it was quite evident that mentally speaking, Hagen was still busy going through the remaining pangs of blunt force he'd suffered earlier. His alter-ego's charm was cracked, but not gone entirely. It could never, really. "We need to talk once you're all done wrapping up here because, boy, do I have some real bad news for you all.."
Amaterasu
Amaterasu managed to setup a rudimentary barrier, though it clearly was not gonna last. Frisk's magic barrier already showed signs of heavy damage, only barely standing after Frisk reinforced it. The rest of barricade would likely fall much faster.
Amaterasu dutifully trotted behind her barrier at Frisk's request. She lowered into a proper battle stance, staring down the entrance solemnly. Her Thunder Edge charged energy, poised to strike the second the perimeter was breached.
"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE, CAZZO!" Ghiaccio yelled at V2, while attempting to freeze the war machine. However, that wasn't V2's plan at all. Stopping in place (coincidentally, the rage-aura around them dissipated at this exact moment), V2 kept firing with the Nailgun for a fraction of a second, before...
Well, before saying a snappy one-liner. It was drowned out in the intense noise of dozens, potentially hundreds of superheated nails firing at Ghiaccio at once. The superheated nails slammed into Ghiaccio's ice shield at comically rapid speeds, hoping to melt it. Towards the end of the barrage, V2 tilted the gun downward into their leg, firing just a few nails into it to heat it up and melt the ice that had formed there.
It was at this point that V2 noticed the Sentry Unit flying towards them like an artillery shell. V2 chose interception, swapping to one of their most dangerous weapons- the Malicious Railcannon- and firing it directly at the gigantic machine. The explosive energy slammed into the robot, aiming to knock it off it's course with kinetic energy, although the V model did also engage in evasive maneuvers.
V2 evaluated the situation for a moment. They were outnumbered, potentially outgunned, and had failed at distracting all of the enemy forces for their allies. The best way to salvage this was to kill that high value target, Ghiaccio. If they didn't, this operation could be an utter disaster, depending on how the Data Center crew was holding up.
With the Hunter disarmed and now freezing over, Blaze took his chance to deal with the Fusion Adept. His wild swing struck the man right in the face, cracking the visor as he was blown backward from the force, falling prone with a shout. He didn't seem to resist any further, remaining on the floor for a few moments – before his body shifted into a ball of energy like before, shimmering weakly as it drifted upward, vanishing through a crack on the ceiling.
He did not return.
Up ahead at the stairwell, Akira and Miracle had now reunited, the latter appearing a bit worse for wear. The officer's peek through the crack revealed a short hallway that rounded a corner to the right. Occupying it were a series of Sumeragi robots: two Chainsaw Sentry Units, two Flying Drones, an Interceptor, and a Bomber. Upon closer inspection, there appeared to be a hole on the ceiling near the door, possibly explaining how the larger units in particular had made it this far.
The back wall held another screen flashing the same 'Connection with Sophia Force Lost' message as before, and there was a sleek-looking camera positioned where the wall and ceiling met above the screen. It was unclear whether it was functional at all.
Fortunately for Akira, the robots didn't immediately notice her inspection. However, instead of progressing deeper into the station like previously encountered units, they appeared to be standing guard. Catching them by surprise could prove a little more difficult than the group's previous encounters.
Data Center (auto perms granted by Comic)
Upon holding Moniqa's ID a bit closer to the central screen, a slight jingle came from the computer, and the login process completed.
ID Recognized – Moniqa Albrecht, "Sheeps 3"
Operation Management Officer – Q.U.I.L.L. of Japan
The previous text faded, leaving just Q.U.I.L.L.'s logo in the background and giving way to new pieces of UI. A loading bar popped up on the bottom of the screen, gradually filling up, and a few alerts appeared on the top right.
ERROR – Could not establish connection to global network
Accessing local Q.U.I.L.L. database...
Access Complete – Q.U.I.L.L. of Japan
With the loading bar completely filling up, Frisk was then met with a simplistic home screen. At its center was a search bar, allowing for a keyword-based search of the database. Along the top of the screen, meanwhile, were a series of marked files that didn't seem to fall under a shared category. Left to right, they read 'Lifewave Research', 'The Muse', 'Project Gunvolt', 'Mission Reports', and 'Journal'.
Seeing the readily-accessible data before her, Frisk got right to opening the files that caught her eye, pulling out her phone to take pictures of as much as she could. First off, she opened the Mission Reports segment, which pulled up a few files to begin with, among the more recently accessed ones.
March 13, 2054
Mission: Bring Back the Muse
Outcome: FAILURE
Summary:
GV conducted head-on assault on Onogoro Float, creating a diversion for Sheeps Leader and Sheeps 2 to seize control of orbital elevator Babel.
Control of Babel taken. GV entered the elevator, assisted by Sheeps Leader.
Loss of contact due to elevator leaving signal range on the way to orbital space station Firmament.
Elevator returned to base 2 hours after departure to Firmament, containing only injured Sheeps Leader.
Sheeps Leader's personal report confirmed GV was KIA, and rescue target Joule fatally wounded by collateral damage. Head of Sumeragi Defense Unit, Nova Tsukuyomi, was also killed in the encounter.
Sheeps Leader also reported battling against the previously encountered third party known as Copen.
Without The Muse, Sumeragi has lost a major asset. However, the loss of GV is also a major blow to Q.U.I.L.L. Next steps to be established.
February 2, 2054
Mission: Kaleidoscape
Outcome: SUCCESS
Summary:
Following injury of Sheeps 2 in battle against Sumeragi Adept Zonda, GV engaged in pursuit of target in the Sinner's Row area of the city.
GV obtained visual of Zonda. However, contact with the enemy was soon lost due to Septimal interference.
Update to target's file: 'Mirror' Septima conjures illusions of intricate quality to confuse foes.
Communication with GV lost for about 10 minutes, later confirmed to be signal jamming.
Zonda was eliminated by third party, later identified as Copen – who absorbed Zonda's Glaive and septimosome into his gear. Claims to work alone to exterminate Adepts.
Combat report by GV confirms Copen utilized replicas of Septimas used by previously encountered Adepts. 'Greed Snatcher' bullets noted as especially dangerous, as they neutralized GV's own Septima for a short period upon contact.
Enemy eventually retreated. Data will continue to be collected to prevent unwanted intrusion in future missions.
Having saved enough for now, Frisk moved on to the 'Lifewave Research' file. The forces outside continued to break down the barrier, firing incessantly with plasma, lasers, and missiles alike.
The following information was pilfered from Sumeragi's servers.
The Lifewave is a natural power connected to all living organisms, first documented by Sumeragi's first spiritualists in the Heian Period. Extensive research since then has revealed several distinct categories, known as 'stages', that a living being is attached to at birth; corresponding to greater physical, cognitive, and supernatural abilities.
1st to 3rd stage (Primordial): Average humans and animals.
4th stage (Tetrad): Generally consists of spiritualists and ESP users.
6th stage (Senary): Beings that have greatly influenced history, leaving behind all sorts of miracles. Also regarded as 'Saints' or 'Spiritual Beasts'.
7th stage (Septima): Beings with psychic power that defy the laws of nature and physics. Referred to as 'Adepts'.
The Septimal stage was first discovered in 2024, when a man in South America, regarded as "the First Adept', exhibited the ability to create and control electricity. This Septima was later dubbed 'Azure Striker'. In the years since, Adepts have steadily grown in number, enough to begin to overwhelm the governments of many countries, who have turned to persecuting Adepts due to their destructive capabilities.
The factors that determine whether one is born an Adept, the type of Septima manifested, or what exactly prompted the Septimal stage's appearance remain unknown. Only a biological factor, known as a 'Septimosome', has been identified in the bodies of Adepts.
Frisk's Determination barrier finally gave out from the pressure, shattering apart – and the moment it did, Amaterasu lunged forward, swinging her Thunder Edge. The glaive cut through the Patrol Bot that had positioned itself by the entrance, some electricity arcing out to zap the nearby Hunter and the two closest Homing Launchers. They all staggered back from the attack, though the Hunter recovered quite fast, a flash of bright light surging from his body, aiming to briefly blind Amaterasu. Regardless of its effectiveness, he would suddenly vanish and reappear behind the wolf with another flash of light, drawing an energy dagger to slash at her. At the same time, the more distant Grenadiers and Homing Launchers launched an explosive each, all heading for the goddess.
With Ammy delaying intervention for a bit longer, Frisk made to get through some of the 'Journal' files as well. The most recent file seemed to pop up first.
June 20th, 2055
Sumeragi's been cracking down harder and harder on their security and operations. I hate to say it, but it's not looking great for those of us here.
It feels like yesterday that Zeno and I slipped past the border to join forces with the members of Q.U.I.L.L.'s Japanese branch. Having seen how ugly things were getting for Adepts back home in Germany, I thought joining with an organization that fought for their rights all over their world was the right thing to do. To help make a better life for the oppressed, even if the media called me a terrorist for it. Despite being a lot younger than me, Zeno had that same idea years before I did, except Q.U.I.L.L.'s Italian branch was soon overrun by other groups.
Years later, though, I feel like we're at the end of our rope. Sure, we're some of the few remaining members of the group around the world, and for being the branch that's placed right next to the largest Adept-exploiting company on the planet, we've held out for a pretty long time. But since that day in Firmament, with both GV and Joule dead... It's never really been the same. Like we've been dug into a hole that we just can't get out of.
GV wasn't just our best combatant. He was part of a family. Asimov's been so cold and angry since his death – I know he saw him as a son. Seeing our usually composed and friendly leader like this is difficult. He keeps going out on missions the moment he has an objective established, saying things like 'I can't simply stay somewhere safe and use my brain'. With him putting himself on the line like this, disregarding his well-being so much... I worry he'll get himself killed.
Is it wrong for me to say that?
I don't know how much longer we can function here. I get the feeling Sumeragi's close to pinpointing our location and wiping us out for good. I'll have to try and back our information up elsewhere, make copies of our IDs, convince Asimov and Zeno to relocate. Maybe even tell Asimov to grant me some sort of 'second-in-command' position so I can get clearance to manage every bit of information that Q.U.I.L.L.'s got on its hands.
Probably best that I meet up with him in his office upstairs when he's back in HQ. Even if I'm feeling desperate, I'd rather not go around his back and get that top clearance some other way...
Another set of pictures was taken, but the sounds of explosions and energy fizzling about behind her grew more and more difficult to ignore to Frisk. Maybe it would be best to deal with the threats now before her allies were overwhelmed.
Armament Factory – Conference Room
Grabbing a cup from the coffee maker, Tracy pressed her ear and the cup against the wall. While there had previously been no sound coming through from the other side, the teen's homemade trick allowed her to pick up a bit on the adjacent room's conversation, though it was greatly muffled.
"...Mining provided a great deal of materials for production. Though it may not seem like it, this land holds a variety of greatly beneficial resources. I believe we should continue to see growth in our operations here, as will the other facilities within the district."
"I see. Then, aside from our weapons, machines, and vehicles, fabricating more unmanned mechs here should be on the table too, right?"
"Yes. Simpler, older generation models such as the Mantis line should be feasible to make over short periods of time. We'll have to leave the fancier stuff to the main factories, including the prototype Cerberus Legion."
"Heh, I always did have a soft spot for the Legion line. Ol' marvels of engineering. Would be nice to see them make a comeback."
"In any case, we still have incoming materials from the auto-fabrication plant and the district, so orders are to continue operations as usual. Of course, keep an eye out for suspicious activity. Demerzel's assigned a Kestrel to hunker down here, but we shouldn't get too comfortable. Those intruders from yesterday could wander in here from anywhere in the slums."
With the adept defeated, it was quickly seemingly compressed into an orb of light before finishing itself through a crack on the ceiling. Ice blinked up at it, not expecting it but not showing any visual indication of surprise.
"...He flew away."
"Aww, what gives?! After that pain and we don't get to snag some answers of our own?! UGH!!"
Blaze stomped his foot in irritation, the metal blackening under his stomping, a thread of steam coming from it. Ice just pointed forwards, not acknowledging this childish display of frustration.
"...Miracle needs helping or something?"
"Yeah yeah I know, ice cube. Let's just go."
Blaze would be less keen to listen to the other elementals, Quake and Ice being the exceptions. In hindsight, Quake likely knew this when he split the two of them out. So he tolerated Ice's direction, the two of them heading to a doorway which lead to a stairwell. There was no telling where Akira had gone.
As they walked up the stairs, Ice investigated their surroundings while Blaze took a metal pipe they had found amongst the battle, banging it on walls they passed.
"Akira! Miracle guy! Where are you?! Show yourselves already!"
The banging continued as they climbed, only for the pair of opposite elementals to find Akira and Miracle at the entrance to a room marked laboratory. The magician seemed worse for wear. Upon spotting the two, Blaze chucked the pipe behind him, the two catching up to the rest of their party.
"Yo! Top hat! You about to keel over?" Blaze asked, arching a brow as he crossed his arms.
Ice didn't make any verbal remark, simply holding his palm up in a feint wave geared towards no one in particular.
Unfortunately, Frisk could only briefly scan the files before she took her pictures. Time was short, so she’d rather take these pictures now just in case, have at least something to show when she got back to base with Ammy and Veetoo. Though she did notice the names of each member of Q.U.I.L.L. that was brought up: GV, Joule, Asimov, Zeno, and of course Moniqa. That failed mission ‘Bring Back the Muse’ was probably the one she’d already read about, when there was a turning point and Sumeragi gained the upper hand.
Amaterasu was now out in the hall, doing battle with their foes. Frisk took her last pictures before tucking away her phone. Hopefully these files would still be here when they took care of this and... why was it so chilly all of a sudden?
“Maybe V2 knows...” Chara mused.
How cryptic, but it did its job. Veetoo needed help, right now would be ideal. The time for fighting had come.
Conjuring a war hammer, Frisk tapped into her rejuvenated power since last night’s brawl, aberrating on the spot. Like a glitch, she materialized behind the Hunter just after he’d moved behind Amaterasu, Frisk swinging the hammer heavily at his head. Her aberration wasn’t finished yet, however, as the teenager then appeared beside the nearest Grenadier with an equal blow, then a second and a third, glitching her way to each one rapidly to deliver her heavy strikes before she finished her chromatic aberration, appearing back in the entryway to the room, hurling the war hammer to the far side of the room to catch any Sumeragi still on their feet. It would carry on to the back wall, striking to then bounce off of it as though the wall were made of rubber, the hammer then spinning back to fly toward Frisk’s hand, once more attempting to catch any foes in its return venture.
“Veetoo needs our help,” Frisk informed Amaterasu. “So let’s try and knock these guys out quick.”
The Hunter moved to slash Amaterasu with his dagger – but a warhammer slugged into the side of his skull just before the blade could get within reach. He was flung into the nearby wall with a loud thud, falling unconscious as Frisk continuing to aberrate this way and that.
In the chaos of the conflict and being faced with such a strange ability, Sumeragi's infantry struggled to keep up with the attack. The first Grenadier went down much like the Hunter, while the second Grenadier barely managed to bring up his energy shield, its edge narrowly catching the warhammer as it came down, glancing it aside, though the shield was knocked out of his hands. The one Homing Launcher she moved towards was not as lucky, being incapacitated by the blow.
The ensuing warhammer throw missed the Grenadier as he ducked below it, and two of the three remaining Homing Launchers avoided the weapon as well – with the last one being hit right on the head, falling to the ground unconscious.
Despite the difficult situation they were suddenly faced with, the soldiers began to counterattack. The Grenadier rolled a grenade along the floor to explode between Amaterasu and Frisk, while the remaining Homing Launchers both fired a fast-moving missile at Frisk.
As the infantry retaliated, heavy footsteps came from the nearby hall connecting to the exterior. Entering the data center was a Sentry Unit with a blaster cannon for an arm, though it appeared slightly different from ones the two had previously seen. It had a mostly orange coloration instead of the usual green and red, and parts of its plating were missing or cracked, as though it had just been put together.
The Sentry Unit brought its blaster forward, and the remaining soldiers scrambled aside as it shot a large fireball toward Frisk and Amaterasu.
Her Thunder Edge sliced through the patrol bot, eliminating it while pushing back the other soldiers. Yet one recovered blisteringly fast, disappearing in a flash of light. The flash briefly blinded Amaterasu, but her other sharp senses caught the Hunter as they appeared behind her.
Before either could react, however, Frisk came from the doorway, bashing aside the hunter with a hammer of her own creation. Apparently having got all information she need, Frisk joined the fight, teleporting around the room and assaulting the Sumeragi before chucking her weapon and letting it sweep around the room. Two of the homing launchers ducked under the attack, only for Amaterasu to pass them, batting each aside with her Thunder Edge before they could recover. The nimble wolf goddess skidded behind Frisk, her tail dripping a streak of ink that intercepted the grenade, Power Slashing it back towards the grenadier.
The Sumeragi dropped like flies, reduced to half in a moment. The others retaliated, but thanks to Amaterasu, it was pretty dang futile. It almost seemed like they’d just wiped out the unit in one fell swoop - but the stomps of something big nearly took the wind out of Frisk’s sails.
One of those mechs had made itself known, one arm a giant gun of some sort. Probably didn’t wanna get shot by that. As Ammy retaliated the grenadier, Frisk pulled most of the magic back from her hammer, weakening it as she reared her arm back, then threw the weapon.
The Sentry fired, the fireball clashing midway with the hammer, erupting both projectiles. Frisk used her reclaimed magic to instead amplify her heels to give her a boost in speed. “I’ll go left, you go right.”
Leaping to the left, Frisk entered the central room of the data center, leaving zigzagging lines of knives in her wake, each of which spun before zeroing in on the Sentry, exactly mimicking Undyne’s homing spear attack.
Summoning her spiked pavise, Frisk reinforced it and drove the bottom into the ground at her feet as a barrier, expecting to have drawn the initial ire of the automaton to give Amaterasu an opening.
Akira Howard -Morning, NORA Ruins-
As she peered into the crack, she could make out several figures in the hallway, the light from outside pouring in from above them. With the aid of her IRIS, she could see the exact models, particularly useful for the sentries, and concluded that there were no life signatures, either. Robots guarding this particular area... but why?
Suddenly: Miracle.
Akira sputtered, quickly stumbling backwards into a combat stance. Upon realizing it was him, she relaxed her stance and let out a breath of relief. He was safe, though it seemed like he'd been roughed up. The officer took off her helmet and shook her hair into place. Even with the cooling and respiratory technology packed in there, it still got stuffy.
"Have you learned your lesson about going it alone?"
She heard clanging coming their way.
"Don't tell me..."
Sure enough, it was Blaze making all that racket. He was acting like he wanted to draw attention. On second thought, that was absolutely in-character for the boy. As the elemental barged in with a shout, Akira rushed to shush him.
"Are you crazy? There's hostiles in the area!"
She whisper-shouted, before the Legionnaire donned her helmed again and looked back through the crack in the door to see if the machines had been alerted. In doing so, she had a realization. The policewoman turned back towards Blaze.
"Through that door is a group of enemies all bunched up. No humans, just robots. You wanna make some noise?"
Mr. Miracle
It seemed as though his teammates were already more than eager to head into that new room and take out whatever was in front of them.. or whatever opposed them, for that matter. Still though, Miracle knew that as much as he wanted to aid them right now, he did have to inform them of the incoming threat. He genuinely doubted that blue murderbot was waiting upstairs for him and his reinforcements to come to it, time was of the essence right now while they still had downtime.
"No, but I have learned something far worse. That red drone you were suspicious earlier? It's got a brother. Or a cousin. Whatever way, it's basically a blue copy of it.. and it's far more bloodlusted, too."
Hagen spoke back in response, turning around the door's frame to equally peer into the same room that Akira had been viewing into. None of them appeared to be similar to that winged nightmare from earlier, so safe to say that it was maybe, just maybe, HOPEFULLY, the only one of its kind here. Either that.. or they would be royally screwed soon enough.
"What I learned is that it has a lot more guns and is a lot more agile and speedy. Also, it punches projectiles away. Yes, punches, you heard that right. No idea how long it'll be until it finds us, but if it's anything like that red fellow.."
He sighed, shaking his head at the mere thought. He had not a single clue where that machine had gone off to, but for all he knew, they were all far from safe. Especially now more than ever before. Still, Terry had already upheld one hand, formed into a fingergun, the tip of his index finger pre-emptively charged with his prismatic magic in preparation for magic missile firing.
"We should be careful. If you see any yellow eyes in the dark or the clinking of coins, be on high alert. Let's go."
"Are you crazy? There's hostiles in the area!" Akira whisper shouted to Blaze.
"So? We'll just blow 'em up just like all the others so far!"
Blaze didn't seem to worried about the danger, neither the robot that Miracle described. Seemed after their recent fight with the adept technomancer that he was confident about his odds. Ice seemed more reserved, putting a hand to his chin, thinking about something Miracle said. Ice was about to propose a plan when Akira said the following words:
"Through that door is a group of enemies all bunched up. No humans, just robots. You wanna make some noise? Cut loose on 'em."
Ice stopped, their view sliding over to Blaze. Blaze's eyes regressed to practical dots, smoke welling up and pouring out of the corners of his mouth. The room already felt hotter as it seemed as though the words had invigorated the elemental, a faint glow of heat radiating from him. Ice knew this look. He stepped away from his fellow elemental split.
"Aw HELL YEAHHHHH!!!!"
He shot off into the entryway, the metal he jumped from melting and dripping on the spot. Rumbling was heard deep below them, as if something deep below the earth was greatly disturbed. The doors blasted apart upon him flying into the corridor, as he glided in, heat rose up under him, forming into liquids from the melting metal. Soon enough, the whole corridor began to tear apart and melt. The melting walls joined the oncoming rush as the firecracker blaze approached the enemies, riding a-
"LAVA WAVE!!!"
He would ride the wave of lava, aiming to crash it across the whole mob of enemies, not caring about the collateral damage or habitation of the room. Ice simply slowly turned to Akira with a deadpanned expression, folding their arms in silent disapproval.
Terrence Boom
“Something like that, yeah…” Terrence nodded, watching as Tracy pressed the coffee cup against the wall, and her ear against that- smart. He did as she suggested, taking a cup for himself and following her lead. If he were to really focus, he probably wouldn’t need it- but this was a much less strenuous way of listening in on the adjacent room, so he was all for it.
The conversation being had was a grim one- of course, Terrence wasn’t sure what a lot of those proper nouns they were using meant, but they couldn’t possibly be anything good. Cerberus Legion? Mantis? Kestrel?
All this talk of them amassing materials, power, mechs, weaponry- it was making this a little bit hard to remain stealthy, because now all Terrence wanted to do was enter the next room and kick a lot of ass. Then go around the factory, and kick a lot more ass. He knew better, of course, sighing as he backed away from the wall. At least they had further confirmation that they’d gone undetected, for now.
“What I wouldn’t give to trash this place,” he commented with a click of the tongue. "Think we should figure out a way into that room once they clear out? I'll bet there's a lot more information than in here."
The superheated nails slammed into Ghiaccio's ice shell, but seemed to do little to stop Ghiaccio's continued advance! Small cracks began to form in the ice shell, but any water melted by the superheated nails appeared to quickly be refreezing on the exterior of the shell. V2 began to slide away, but the robot's stopping to open fire with the superheated nails and counterattacking the launched Sentry gave Ghiaccio the opening he needed. Ghiaccio attempted to slam into V2 at full speed, trying to grapple the robot with a freezing, icy grip and pin him against the remains of the broken AC unit he busted up earlier.
"You've got a lot of guns, Cazzo. Too bad none can help you here." Ghiaccio growled. "Who's here with you? The brat with the elemental powers? The girl that held her own against Blade? The street magician?"
Tracy Rinehart
Armament Factory - Conference Room
Tracy grabbed a pen and memo pad from the conference table, quickly making note of what the people they were spying on were saying. Mining... Weapons.... Machines... Vehicles... Unmanned Mechs. Mantis. Prototype Cerebus Legion (engineering marvel). Auto-fabrication plants. A Kestrel is here? Kestrel... that was a type of bird, wasn't it? Some other high-ranking Sumeragi person, like the Falcons Frisk talked about?
Tracy nodded in response to Terrence's comment, continuing to listen at the door.
"Yeah. I bet they also have some sort of office around here too. Some place to store all their files and information. That's where most of the info is going to be." Tracy said. They were also pretty far from the Wall. Did this place have a Barracks for the people to stay at? Maybe they could snag some disguises from there...
"These walls are pretty soundproof..." Tracy said. "Can you tell how many people are in there? Maybe we can take them out without anyone else noticing."
Tracy paused, looking back to Kiwi.
"Ah, right. Avoiding violence. Maybe not that." Tracy said. "Maybe there's a way we can mess up the production line here instead?"
Nodding along with everything said, Kiwi took the time to join in on listening through the wall with cups - Though what they heard was rather... dark.
They looked a little sheepish as Tracy acknowledged to avoid violence after looking at them, feeling slightly awkward.
"Yeah, sorry - I know it'd probably be easy enough for you guys but I prefer to talk my way out of things... Oh!"
That brought an idea to Kiwi's mind, bringing a smile to the bard's face.
"I could try and get them to leave that room by talking to them, maybe? I've found a lot of people agreeable if you just say you're meant to be there or be completely honest but I don't think that works this time, met some friends that way. Okay, maybe that won't be the case this time, but still - I'm a people person." They stood straight up as she explained, trying to project confidence in the idea.
Who knew, maybe there was a way they could use talking to getting all the information they needed?
"Um...worst come to worst, I'll understand if you guys need to knock them out. I really don't want it to come to that, though."
With full permission given by Akira, Blaze burst straight into the next hall with destructive intent.
The structure rumbled and groaned as the lava rose from below, steel melting and breaking apart on contact with the molten liquid. The wave rapidly swept through the hall, nearly covering its entire height as it ran over the Sentry Units, Interceptor, and Bomber. Only the Flying Drones were spared from a direct hit, though the splashes of lava and pieces of debris riding atop the wave were still able to reach the robots and knock them out of the air, sending them plummeting to their demise.
Blaze's attack slugged into the back wall of the corridor, taking out a good chunk out of it on impact. A smaller portion of the wave split off to follow the right bend of the hall, though it didn't get very far, only reaching about ten feet or so before settling down, while the main wave continued to burn away at the station's structure. This part of the hall continued a little longer until stopping at a set of mechanical doors, with a sign above them reading 'Pre-Lab Security'.
At that moment, a hum of static began to echo through the hall. Its exact source was unclear, but after a few seconds, a voice began to cut through the static – that of an older, focused man.
"––oes ––– read me? This ––mander Kane Gardner –– Sophia For––."
As he spoke, rapid footsteps echoed from elsewhere in the station, a bit further ahead and above the group. A blast of some sort rang out as well, akin to a wall crumbling down.
"––ting friendly assis–– laboratory. Hosti–– currently ––ing location."
Data Center Q.U.I.L.L. HQ
Amaterasu's reflection of the grenade sent it right back to sender, the explosive bursting point-blank from the soldier. He fell backwards from the blast, knocked unconscious, and the restored Sentry Unit stepped forward, charging another shot of its cannon, pointing it at the wolf.
Before it could fire, however, Frisk's onslaught of knives soared from the connecting hall towards the robot. Some pinged off the more complete segments of its armor, others embedding themselves into the machine, though it didn't immediately slow down. The attack indeed drew some of its focus away from its initial target, the Sentry Unit swinging its free arm at Amaterasu for a quick backhand, before it turned to aim down the hall, shooting another large fireball at the teen.
With her pavise embedded to the floor, Frisk stood behind it as she summoned two short swords in either hand. The placed pavise took the brunt of the fireball just as Frisk leapt, placing a foot on the top of the pavise while she slashed both swords, then kicked off toward the robot, using her enhanced jump to soar over the top of the bot. Behind her, she’d left two bloodwounds hovering in the air above the pavise in an ‘x’ shape.
Just over the top of the machine, Frisk threw her short swords down to strike its shoulders, the tips of her blades imbued with explosive contact points courtesy of Witch’s influence. Landing deftly on the other side of the Sentry, Frisk activated the bloodwounds and they both tore through the air at the robot, aimed for its center as Frisk raised her foot, kicking at the Sentry and expelling the magic on her leg in an attempt to knock it into the bloodwounds.
Finally, she raised her hand, recalling the pavise. It spun like a saw through the air as it dislodged itself, soaring vertically toward Frisk’s arm, intended to tear through the Sentry if it remained standing or in the way, locking back onto Frisk’s forearm once it had reached her.
Immobilized, V2 was... basically useless. If they had the Knuckleblaster, this would be easy to get out of, but alas if they had the Knuckleblaster then they wouldn't even be in this situation to begin with. The V model chose to reallocate as much power as possible to generating heat. Movement functions, now useless, were temporarily disabled in order to increase their temperature as much as possible and stave off freezing.
"You've got a lot of guns, Cazzo. Too bad none can help you here. Who's here with you? The brat with the elemental powers? The girl that held her own against Blade? The street magician?" the ice powered human questioned. "Why don't you go over to that data center and check? Certainly your allies could use some help," retorted the V model.
It was a wild guess. Sending such a powerful foe to the others was dangerous. But, at the same time, Ghiaccio would have gone there anyway after killing V2. Self-defense would allow them to assist Frisk and the wolf in escaping this danger. And... they would need help with V1. Without V2, they wouldn't stand a chance.
Amaterasu
Amaterasu and Frisk took off, each taking their respective directions around the Security Unit. Frisk distracted the unit with a knife barrage, though the metal monstrosity did not entirely lose focus, swatting at the wolf as it turned. Amaterasu did not falter, keeping her Thunder Edge low and charging beside her.
The fleet-footed goddess flipped over the unit's arm, dodging the blow and landing onto it's hand. With the mech's focus on Frisk, Amaterasu seized the chance to run up its arm and deliver a thunderous uppercut directly to the head! The momentum of the slash carried the goddess into the air, where she equipped her Tundra Beads and fired a literal hail of frozen beads into the Security Unit as she and Frisk traded positions.
As both landed on opposite sides of the mech again, Amaterasu equipped her Solar Flare. Frisk pulled her pavise back, and Amaterasu sent her blazing reflector spinning beside it. Both shields worked in tandem to saw and melt through the machine in one combined blow!
Crackling and scraping rang out throughout the room as Amaterasu's Thunder Edge cut into the Sentry Unit's head, swinging upward. It stumbled backward, Tundra Beads slugging into the top of the robot, frost briefly accumulating on its body, before said frost was immediately blasted apart by Frisk's own technique, concentrated explosions surging out from the thrown shortswords that had struck its shoulders.
The puppeteered Sentry Unit was staggered by the barrage of blows, rearing its cannon arm back to take aim at Frisk – when a magic-empowered kick struck its midsection, sending it skidding backward, only for the approaching bloodwounds to sent it right back forward, the volatile Determination attack searing through much of its body, knocking it down on its knees, which quickly gave out from the accumulated damage. Still, it pressed on, raising its weapon once more––
BRRRRRRR!
When Frisk's spiked pavise and Amaterasu's Solar Flare converged on the machine's body, metal creaking loudly as both weapons sliced into the Sentry Unit. The next moment, the pavise and reflector emerged from the other side of the robot, metal plating and internals scattering everywhere as it fell, the orange lights throughout its body fading in a flash.
With that awesome display of teamwork, the two had cleared out the Sumeragi units within the building, free to head out and aid V2.
"Hm."
Outside the Q.U.I.L.L. facility, the Puppetmaster Hunter let out an intrigued hum. The other Hunter, who had positioned himself behind the remaining active Sentry, turned to look in her direction.
"What? Something up?"
"Got company. We'll know exactly who's in there soon enough."
She waved an arm in front of her, and the reanimated Bomber and Interceptor flew down to position themselves above the building's entrance. The hatch on the bottom of the Bomber opened up, preparing to drop explosives on the intruders once the newcomers revealed themselves.
Meanwhile, the Forceburst Hunter figured Ghiacchio wouldn't need his assistance for the time being, choosing not to cannonball another Sentry Unit towards V2. He instead let the machine be for now, as it would pick up the presence of its targets shortly after their arrival, firing out a stream of plasma bullets from its gatling arm. The Hunter himself would have his Septima at the ready, waiting a little longer to see who was coming to greet them before he used his ability in any particular way.
In an awesome display, Frisk and Amaterasu double-teamed the Sentry Unit, giving it no room to breathe or retaliate, their attacks swiftly bringing it down to a heap of scrap. Standing over the somewhat smoldering metal, Frisk dispersed her pavise and glanced down toward the computer room. Everything still seemed intact... that was good.
Her gaze returned to Ammy, and Frisk decided to give the dog some praise. “Good girl! We smashed up that robot good, huh?”
Was it offensive to say ‘good girl’ to her? The wolf was clearly on a higher thinking level... Well, the Dog Guard didn’t seem to mind comments like that, so Frisk felt it was probably fine.
“I need to go take just a few more pictures of the data, alright?” She told Amaterasu. “Go ahead and make sure Veetoo isn’t... y’know, dead. I’ll be right behind you, I’ll ty to make this quick.”
They had that moment away from Sumeragi’s forces, and no obvious signs of further units followed. Frisk just hoped she was making the right decision here, if Veetoo had been taken down and she was sending Ammy out alone... no, Veetoo was undoubtedly dealing with more than she had so far. He was the primary distraction, after all. Amaterasu’s help would lighten the load for him, and once Frisk got these final pictures, she’d do what she could to help out, too.
With that, she darted her way back to the computer room, getting her phone ready for the remaining files.
Leaving Amaterasu for a moment, Frisk booked it back to Moniqa's office. The screen was still on by the time she returned, and the teen wasted little time in perusing some of its contents again, starting with the next bit of her journal file.
June 8th, 2055
Asimov called me for a meeting in his office today, partially to thank me for doing the bulk of administrative and communication work around here. He said he knows how difficult things have gotten recently, what with our resources dwindling and having to accelerate guerrilla operations at the same time.
It's nice for him to show some appreciation. Besides, I'm terrible at hiding the toll it's taking on me. God knows me and everyone else could use some time to rest. But with Sumeragi growing and their responses to our efforts getting better over time, we've all had to push through and try to find some footing.
Though, I think my stress's been showing more than usual lately – Asimov brought up the same conversation from the past few months again. How I'm the only non-Adept in the Japanese branch, and one of the few regular humans in the organization as a whole, which apparently makes me a remarkable case. He says most non-Adepts that are supportive of Q.U.I.L.L.'s actions really have some ulterior motive, but is that actually true? Maybe it's his laser focus on saving Adepts and protecting their rights that's got him on edge.
Still, him bringing the subject up again just makes me feel like he's somehow not trustful of me at the same time. I've told him a million times already. I can't leave him or Zeno alone on this. If we fall apart, Sumeragi will be able to do as they please in Japan, maybe even elsewhere with their growing overseas influence. Their Glaive technology's advancing a bit more to keep Adepts in check better. We'll stop Sumeragi. Adepts and humans should be able to live together in peace – I'm sure everyone here still has that goal in mind. I know I do, Septima or not.
...Heh, it feels weird to think I don't actually know what their Septimas are. Maybe I'll see them in action soon, or they'll let me know the kinds of amazing things they can do. Zeno's been itching for an opportunity to show off since we arrived in Japan.
Until then, guess it's just as Q.U.I.L.L.'s ethos goes: "Don't go snooping on others' Septimas".
Moving on from Moniqa's journal, Frisk set her focus on 'Project Gunvolt' next.
The following report is based on recon and firsthand experience from GV.
As a means to solve Japan's growing energy woes in the middle of the 21st century, Sumeragi launched the top-secret program 'Project Gunvolt' circa 2043. This project involved a combination of Sumeragi's most recent technological advancements: Septimosome cultivation, Septimal inducers, and cloning.
Project Gunvolt's test subjects consisted of kidnapped orphans and clones under Sumeragi captivity, who were then modified with Septimal inducers – implants containing the cultivated 'Azure Striker' Septimosome from the corpse of the First Adept. The project's end goal was to mass-produce artificial Adepts with the Azure Striker Septima, supplying Sumeragi with a limitless energy resource to exploit.
However, the procedure had an extremely high failure rate, as nearly all subjects electrocuted themselves to death when attempting to use the Septima. A partial success was recorded in the earlier days of Project Gunvolt, but the artificial Adept's reportedly unstable control over Azure Striker resulted in a catastrophic accident that burned the facility down, leaving no survivors.
Approximately five years later, a nine-year-old orphan boy was the next compatible subject with the Septima, yielding the first true success of Project Gunvolt. Q.U.I.L.L. learned of this development shortly afterward, after which the organization leader Asimov broke into the facility, rescuing the boy from Sumeragi's clutches. After a one-on-one meeting with Asimov following their escape, the boy volunteered to join Q.U.I.L.L., and as he could not remember his original name after the project, was subsequently given the name 'Gunvolt'.
Sumeragi has attempted to continue Project Gunvolt after this incident, but no further successes have occurred after GV.
With her pictures of that document taken, Frisk turned to the last of the bookmarked files – 'The Muse'. This one had a couple images attached, mainly depicting a blonde-haired woman in an idol-like outfit, holographic blue butterfly wings sprouting from her back.
Compiled information is based on some public knowledge, Sumeragi's own servers, and GV's reports following first contact with The Muse.
In 2052, Sumeragi unveiled their very own corporate virtual idol to the public, a butterfly-themed songstress called Lumen. She quickly skyrocketed in popularity throughout Japan, becoming the nation's top artist in just a few months, holding various broadcasts and live performances, including Sumeragi-owned media such as their popular September Record MMORPG.
Following a hacking incident in September Record, Q.U.I.L.L. conducted an investigation on the game and Lumen's associated events. This search revealed a correlation with an increase in Adept captures, and it was determined that Lumen's songs doubled as a sonar that resonates with an Adept's Septima and mind, generating a unique interference wave for Sumeragi to track.
Q.U.I.L.L.'s operatives soon tracked down the source of her program's code with the objective of eliminating her, but when GV encountered Lumen, he discovered she was the manifestation of a captive young Adept's –named Joule– Septima. GV proceeded to abort the original mission, resign from his role, and free Joule, taking her into hiding with some Q.U.I.L.L. assistance so that she could live a more normal life.
Over the following months, more of The Muse's properties came to light. It holds immense latent power, and Joule's lack of control over it is the cause for the manifestation of Lumen as a separate avatar with her own will, an exceptionally unique case. The Muse's resonance with other Adepts through song can grant a boost to their capabilities, and as it falls under the electron-controlling line of Septima, an especially strong affinity has been recorded between The Muse and Azure Striker, particularly in dire circumstances.
As later unveiled by the head of Sumeragi's Defense Unit, Nova Tsukuyomi, Sumeragi's goal with The Muse was to exploit its ability to resonate with Adepts and their minds. This operation, labeled by Sumeragi as 'Project Muse', would amplify the Septima from orbital station Firmament, projecting The Muse's songs over the globe. As a result, Adepts across the world would be subjugated into following The Muse's commands, granting Sumeragi the means to both prevent internal uprisings and amass an army against foreign nations.
Joule was kidnapped by Sumeragi forces and brought to Firmament to carry out Project Muse, prompting Q.U.I.L.L. to move out in order to prevent the operation's completion. While Sumeragi was not able to fulfill their plan, the lives of GV and Joule were both lost in the struggle.
Now that The Muse is gone, Sumeragi will not be able to track or control Adepts with ease. However, Q.U.I.L.L. will remain vigilant for any alternative operations that they may employ. No further info to add.
Having now covered The Muse, Frisk had gone through the most easily accessible files. While there was always the potential of digging deeper through the search function, supporting Ammy and V2 against the threats outside was certainly a major concern.
Armament Factory – Conference Room
As the trio listened in on the adjacent room's discussion of the factory's operations, pondering what they could do next, there was the muffled sound of a door opening on the other side.
"Sir–"
"You're interrupting," the apparent leader of those in the conference room spoke, his voice stern. "What's the matter?"
"Apologies, sir," the new arrival said, tone a little more timid but a smidge energetic. "I've just come from the compound's control room. I've received reports of units in other locations that have begun to engage in combat with some of yesterday's intruders. Specifically, those sent to investigate the crash site and abandoned data center."
There were a few moments of silence.
"...What are your orders, sir?"
"Looks like we'll be switching gears a bit today. Get back to the control room and start directing outgoing units to the crash site and data center. Also, divert factory resources to finishing up construction of a Mantis in Assembly 3. Even if it takes half an hour, I want one headed to at least one of those locations as soon as possible. Tell the units to keep the targets pinned down if needed."
"Understood!"
With that, the people around the room began to mobilize – it seemed things were about to pick up soon.
Akira Howard -Morning, Crash Site-
Miracle spoke of a robot, one that looked exactly like V2. That model must be some kind of Sumeragi creation... maybe V2 was just a rogue one? Or, more likely, he was deep undercover. This was bad. Every step forward seemed to warrant two steps back. Speaking of...
Akira could only look on as Blaze flooded the hall with lava, sending it crashing forward to blast out the back wall. She timidly turned to Ice, hanging her head. No matter what she tried with that fiery personality, it was always such an extreme reaction. Now, the entire hall was red-hot. Exasperated, she sighed.
"Ice, I'm sorry. Could you please cool down the hallway..?"
If he did, Akira intended to continue down the hall.
Ice had no doubt Blaze was enjoying himself. But just like any fire, if it's not a controlled burn, could easily get out of hand. This is something he grew to temper upon being around him. He did take down all the robots as Akira wanted, but they had to deal with the boiling hot aftermath.
Seeing Akira apologize, he saw no further need to stare disapprovingly at her. Connecting the tips of his thumb and index finger to form an "O" over his mouth, he exhaled a thin strip of blue. The lava close by began to cool and turn to a rocky-metal pulp, enough to walk on, but still hot enough to burn bare feet that walked on it.
Making a brown-silver road of a foothold, he walked as he paved a way towards Blaze, who stood knee deep in the lava, laughing away as the broken robots sunk deeper into the molten liquid.
"Hahaha! Is that all?! I thought it was gonna be a bigger fight! Nothing but a bunch of worn out tinker toys!"
Blaze looked around for his next targets, hearing some kind of commotion ahead...maybe a tad upwards? Thinking himself on a roll, he headed on straight to the Pre-Lab security. Now, with a name like that, he knew a fight was ready and prepared. Knowing this, he began to inhale deep, puffing his cheeks and stomach up, smoke gushing out of the corners of his lips rapidly. If there were enemies in the room he was to enter, he'd light them up with a bursting beam of flame!
At this point in time, Ice had made his foothold road to the deeper and last segment of Blaze's lava pools, getting right to the solid metal on the other side just to see Blaze running off into the next room.
Amaterasu
In only a few seconds, the mech was reduced to a pile of scrap. Frisk seemed pleased with their efficiency, calling her a "good girl". The wolf goddess couldn't respond, obviously, but her tail did wag. It wasn't the praise gods typically fed off of, but Amaterasu appreciated it regardless.
“Go ahead and make sure Veetoo isn’t... y’know, dead. I’ll be right behind you, I’ll try to make this quick.”
Her tail dropped, still and lifeless. With a frustrated sounding huff, Amaterasu obliged the girl, running out the door to meet the machine.
Her surroundings grew colder as Ammy approched the rooftop. So cold, in fact, that the plants growing under her feet frosted over the instant her presence left them. Soon enough, none grew at all, instead replaced by beautiful yet lifeless snowflakes flowing from Amaterasu's paws.
The sun goddess rose to the rooftop to the sight of of the machine still alive, in direct combat with a...human? They appeared to be human, but were accompanied by an otherworldly presence. Even that aside, Amaterasu could sense a darkness within him, some kind of evil that made her hackles rise.
"Who's here with you? The brat with the elemental powers? The girl that held her own against Blade? The street magician?" the man asked V2.
His question was answered by a loud snarl from the wolf goddess, announcing her arrival. Amaterasu carefully circled the man, giving him a chance to leave without any more fighting.
Within his icy shell, Ghiaccio grinned. The small cracks created by the superheated nails faded away, repairing themselves as the water and ice refroze. Over his earpiece, he could overhear his troops beginning to engage whatever allies V2 had brought into the facility.
"Oh, don't worry. I'll be seeing them soon enough." Ghiaccio said. Ice began to spread across V2's body, covering the robot more and more. Finally, the machine was fully encased. Ghiaccio pulled the frozen robot off the wall, watching the light in its eye dim. Not shut off completely, but stay in that low, dim state. V2 hadn't been slain, but instead placed into some sort of frozen, suspended animation. Call it hibernation or low power mode, the killer robot was incapacitated.
"Oi, you two!" Ghiaccio called over to the Hunters. "Prep this one for transport. Make sure he stays this way, at least until we get him into better containment."
A loud growl interrupted him, and Ghiaccio turned to face Amaterasu. The magic dog. Ghiaccio narrowed his eyes, looking over Ammy carefully. The footage from the attack on the wall showed this beast was fast, agile, and strong. Summoning weapons and shields as well. The snowflakes seeming to emerge from the feet of the dog did not escape is notice either.
"Why the fuck would you bring a dog to a Data gathering mission?" Ghiaccio said, half to himself. "So. There's another one as well. It makes my job easy, having to fight you one at a time."
With one foot, he shoved the frozen V2 towards the Hunters. The robot slid across the roof easily, and Ghiaccio kept his eyes locked on Amaterasu.
"You're worth more alive then dead, bitch. But either way, I'll still get paid." Ghiaccio sneered. "So be a good dog, and HEEL!"
Ghiaccio gestured at Amaterasu, and ice shot up from the frozen puddles on the roof! The ice attempted to freeze around Ammy's legs, the same technique Ghiaccio had been trying to use on V2!
Tracy Rinehart
Armament Factory - Conference Room
Tracy shook her head at Bard's suggestions.
"I don't think that's a good idea. These guys seem like they are on the lookout for us. If you walk in without a disguise, they're going to get you. They'll kill you or take you-"
The voices in room began to speak up again. Tracy paled at what was being said. Communication between the Sumeragi forces were strong, if they were able to get news here of the other's attacks on the other location. Control Room. 30 minutes. Tracy checked her watch. Assembly 3. Tracy didn't know what a Mantis was yet, but it sounded big, fast, and bad for the others.
"I'm sorry, Kiwi. I don't know how we're gonna solve this without violence." Tracy said. "Terrence. Do you want to find Assembly 3, and mess it up? Kiwi and I can try to find that Control Room they were talking about, and mess things up there."
Tracy put her cup down on the table and threw the notepad into her backpack. She moved to the door to the factory floor, opening it up quietly and slowly. She was opening the door just a crack, so she could take a look out into the factory floor to see what they were up against. And more importantly, the directions the people from the adjacent conference room were heading to. The one that was told to go back to the Control Room sounded kind of snivelly, hopefully his voice matched his appearance.
Terrence Boom
“Hmm. Nothing too troublesome, there’s like… five guys in there. Nothing too bad… got to be careful, though. Don’t want to get the whole factory’s attention, and all it takes is one dude sending out some alert and we're screwed. There’s over a hundred in this place- those odds are a little, uh, less flattering,” he pursed his lips. At that point, the sheer numbers would be overwhelming, and they’d potentially have to flee with fairly empty hands.
Now, unfortunately, they were reaching a point where refraining from violence was going to hinder their results. Kiwi’s way, of course, sounded like the best option… in a vacuum. But the Sumeragi were kind of like, assholes, and Terrence didn’t want the Bard to end up getting hurt by becoming the center of attention for said assholes.
The voices in the other room- there was combat going on, elsewhere. Terrence immediately locked in, leaning his forehead up against the wall as he absorbed every last syllable- the pieces were easy to put together. They had to be talking about Frisk and her squad, right?
“...be safe,” he mumbled under his breath.
They were more alert now, which sucked, and stacked the odds of somehow negotiating a peaceful exit with these people even further against the Stealth Squad. Yeah, that probably wasn’t an option…
“Tracy’s right. It’s one thing not to want to hurt people, it’s another thing to put yourself in the line of fire like that. We don’t want you to get hurt, either, Kiwi- and hell yeah I want to go and mess it up,” he switched from concerned mode to mischief-teenager mode in an instant, hands balling into fists at the idea of crushing some Sumeragi resources.
Mr. Miracle
It seems as though his words may have fallen upon deaf ears, as Lava Boy made haste clearing out the next room with an attack that left Terry sweating bullets - almost literally, too. The heat alone of lava exposure wasn't exactly doing his frayed nerves any good, though Ice was quick to cover it up again so Miracle could only nod over in gratitude.
Since his entourage seemed unwilling to delay further exploration, Hagen unfortunately had to follow along.. at least he could use this break away from fighting, even if momentarily. Who knows what else lie ahead that he had to help his trinity team with? Though he was still a bit out of it, it did not escape Miracle the fact that he could feel his body turn lighter soon enough, finding himself floating upward again.
"Oh, good. I was starting to miss this feeling."
The magician could only sigh to himself, glad to know his inability of flight was only temporarily stolen from him by that blasted machine. He didn't think either of the two- er, three were really all that capable of levitating about like he was, so he didn't bother mentioning it at the moment. Hopefully, this notion of space between his group and that navy murderbot wouldn't be closed soon again..
..Oh, better not think that way before destiny jinxes him. Lady Luck is a cruel mistress, after all.
Capturing a good deal more images, Frisk stepped away from the screen and checked over her gallery for a moment. Twelve images total for what she could fit into her screen, decent quality... Everything seemed to be in order. She’d look it over with the others when they were all back at base.
Hopefully everyone would be there.
Frisk’s gaze turned blank as she stared at the screen for a few more moments until Chara bent into view, leaning to the side to put her head nearly in front of the phone, staring at Frisk. “You know, I’m almost glad your little Demon fight’s been delayed.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?” Frisk asked as she tucked her phone away.
“You aren’t ready.”
“Look, be cryptic all you like, but be helpful while you’re at it,” Frisk sighed. “Any idea how our friends are holding up?”
“Oh yeah, let me just look through space and time and tell you their status,” Chara said. “You want their health bars as whole numbers or a percentage? I might as well get their social security number while I’m at it.”
“This isn’t helpful,” Frisk pointed out.
“I can give tips on what’s immediately around us, otherwise I’m not a thesaurus,” the shaytan shrugged. “But I’d advise taking an alternate route.”
Good enough. Frisk stopped in the main server room, staring down the hall for a moment before she turned her gaze upward.
...
“So. There’s another one as well. It makes my job easy, having to fight you one at a time.”
Ghiaccio brought up a foot and kicked V2’s frozen form across the roof to the two Hunters supporting him, having already given the order to take the robot into custody via transport. Yet as V2 slid toward the pair from the front, the roof practically exploded just behind them. Dust and debris billowed around the eruption, kicked up into the air. The dark dust became illuminated, bathed in an ominous scarlet glow - before a bladehail was manifested, crimson knives bursting from just behind the smoke in a wave of projectiles, scouring toward the Hunters and quickly toward Ghiaccio.
For a brief moment, a pair of red eyes could be made out in the dissipating debris before Frisk emerged from it, summoning a spiked pavise as she quickly surmised the situation she’d just walked into, immediately noticing Veetoo and the state he’d been left in.
Frozen... how in the hell...?
“He’s not dead,” Chara noted. “Though it’ll take a really big microwave to thaw him out.”
“Don’t have time for that anyway,” Frisk replied, darting forward and placing her palm over the ice above Veetoo’s chest, sliding her hand down before she pulled away, leaving a scarlet trail on the ice - more focusburst magic, seeping through the ice with the intent to unleash a chain reaction of micro-explosions that would tear apart the ice without damaging Veetoo. It would take a minute to take effect, but that was time she could buy.
Better time than a microwave would take, at least.
Amaterasu
Ghiaccio turned towards Amaterasu with a dark look, and the wolf's nose wrinkled further. Whoever this man was, he was bad news, to put it lightly.
The sentiment was soon proved correct as Ammy felt something encroaching up her leg. Ice from the frozen floor covered her paws, steadily rising to immobilize her legs. It failed to go much higher, however, as Amaterasu Solar Flare blazed brightly. The ice receded from the warmth from the reflector, though freezing her paws still effectively locked Amaterasu in place briefly. Ghiacco's ice spikes rose and stabbed through the goddess, seemingly tearing through instantly. Yellow kanji flew out of Amaterasu as her second level of godhood was broken, leaving her in a red state. Unfortunate, but it gave her chance to phase past the ice spikes and dash towards Ghiacco. Using her "Inferno" brush technique, twin streams of fire burst from her Solar Flare. They moved in a serpentine fashion, quickly closing in on Ghiacco from different angles, aiming to melt through his armor!
The aftermath of Blaze's lava wave aftermath began to quickly cool down, and the fire elemental was the first to barge into the next room.
Blaze blew the doors open once again – and unfortunately for him, he found that there were no enemies in sight. The pre-lab security was a spacious square room, stretching nearly forty feet high, with various pieces of equipment having been flung, scattered, or destroyed in the crash. Among the more numerous items amidst the rubble were a variety of scanners, security robots, and basic weaponry. There was a large hatch in the middle of the ceiling, its purpose unknown, and the wall on the other end of the room held a door with two blank screens on either side, as well as a camera at the top.
Although the room itself was silent as the others joined Blaze, rustling and crashing echoed from the walls, mostly a little higher than the group's position. It grew louder by the second, though had yet to reach this room, at the very least.
"Good to see you were able to make it here."
The voice came from one of the screens – it had a speaker installed. Static flared across the display for a moment, before it gradually gave way to a relatively clear video feed. The screen now showed a man in his late thirties, his eyes and hair both blue, though the latter was graying slightly. He was only visible from the waist up, donning a sleek military-like uniform that was mainly red and black in color. A cyan hexagon-shaped emblem with a black diagonal line was slung around his waist, and a logo displaying an European-style dragon on a crest was plastered on his left shoulder.
Notably, he appeared to have some bruises and cuts along his face and body, though he paid them no mind.
"Judging from what little scans and footage we've been able to conduct with next to no power, you are not with those... 'Sumeragi' assailants, correct? We could use some assistance in leaving the station... not to mention fending off what's left of them."
The noise beyond the walls continued to grow louder.
"Ah, my earlier transmission may not have gone through properly. My name is Kane. Kane Gardner. I am the Commander of the Sophia Force."
Q.U.I.L.L. HQ – Exterior
With V2 out of commission for the moment, Ghiaccio ordered the Hunters to transport the robot out of the area. Before they could get started with that, however, the rest of V2's team finally arrived.
Amaterasu's exit from the building through the front had been swift, and even as bombs began to fall and plasma bullets fired out, the wolf managed to deftly bound her way up to the rooftop. Frisk took a different approach entirely, blasting her way directly to the rooftop to join Ammy, bypassing the ambush the Hunters had set up. Not just that, but the human had already begun to work towards thawing V2 out from his icy prison.
"Aw, great." the Forceburst Hunter muttered. "Things are kickin' up a notch."
Still standing behind the remaining gatling Sentry Unit, the Adept let out a burst of kinetic energy, sending the machine flying through the air just like before. Its trajectory would bring it into a collision course with Amaterasu as she dashed towards Ghiaccio.
"Remember the intruders' capture is high priority," the Puppetmaster Hunter spoke. "Let's get that robot out of here as soon as we can."
With another wave of her hand, the Interceptor that was previously hovering above the building's entrance quickly moved in front of her. She grabbed onto the back of the robot, allowing it to carry her into the air, soon dropping off on the opposite end of the rooftop as the rest of the group. The Bomber she also commanded began to drop explosives throughout the rooftop, mostly aimed for Amaterasu and Frisk, though a few were also dropped in between the squad and her, providing the Adept cover to reanimate the remains of the previously flung Sentry Unit.
At the same time, the Forceburst Hunter propelled himself with another kinetic blast, landing onto the nearest edge of the rooftop. While his exposed face turned ever paler as he drew closer to the source of cold, he remained focused. Thrusting an arm out, a wave of kinetic energy shot out towards Frisk, before he pivoted to push V2's frozen body off of the rooftop. At least, it appeared so at first – in truth, he'd be pushing it onto a newly-repositioned Interceptor, which would then carry the captured robot down to ground level.
Armament Factory – Conference Room
Having heard of the factory's upcoming plans from the nearby meeting, Tracy moved to the factory floor's door, opening it slightly.
The previously muffled sounds of machinery immediately became louder, rushing into the room. Starting to scan from the left, Tracy could spot the nearest corner of the factory floor, which simply consisted of a single pillar with a few open supply crates positioned nearby it, containing various mechanical parts. Some Sumeragi soldiers would periodically come to pick one of them up, bringing it to one of the two nearby conveyor belts (which were narrowly visible from this angle) or elsewhere in the factory.
More importantly, this corner pillar displayed 'Assembly 1' in steel letters.
As Tracy continued to watch, two figures walked into the factory floor from her right, hugging the left wall as they walked down the fairly long room. The first was a slightly lanky brown-haired man somewhere in his mid-twenties, wearing a rugged lab coat with some sort of radio clipped to the chest pocket. His posture was also quite bad, as he slouched noticeably as he walked.
Right behind him was a tall, fit man with black hair and a thick beard obscuring the lower half of his face. Contrasting the other man, this one wore a neat black executive uniform with gold trim and a black tie. Sumeragi's logo was clearly plastered on the left side of his chest, as well as his back.
The two continued down the room, passing by soldiers and robot arms alike, before they stepped into an elevator near the other end of the factory. While the higher floor wasn't entirely visible, it seemed to consist of a walkway hanging over the first floor, leaving open space around the middle.
There was an explosion from the roof, one that distracted Ghiaccio from the dog. Crimson knives materialized, raining down towards him. The knives struck his ice shell, bouncing off before vanishing. Red energy constructs. So the other member of the squad was the brat that held her own against Blade. She ran towards V2 and Ghiaccio moved to stop her, only for the dog to make their move.
The dog had fire powers, evidently?! His ice spikes had struck Amaterasu, but the dog was able to shake them off and rush towards him? As they did, it shot bursts of flame at him! Ghiaccio raised his hands, focusing the cold energy from his stand to protect him from the flames. The fire struck the ice shell, but seemed to have little effect as Ghiaccio kept up the cold pressure from his stand. But little by little, his ice shell seemed to be shrinking from the heat of the flames.
This dog was not going to make him lose his commission! Ghiaccio gestured, and ice spikes shot up in the path Amaterasu was taking to get to him. His hope was that the attack would be so sudden, the dog would run into them and impale herself on them. As a side effect, it would make dodging away from the falling robot a little more difficult for Ammy. Freezing that dog didn't seem like it was going to be effective, so he'd just have to beat her down!
Amaterasu was hounding the guy (Sans tier pun right there), using her flames to counter his ice and... wait. Frisk had to double-take, catching a glimpse of the man beyond his ice shell and...
She was convinced she’d just seen somebody’s grandma. Some old lady was doing all this?
“Look out,” Chara said, her tone bored.
Frisk glanced away from Ammy’s fight in time for one of the Hunter to make his move, thrusting his hand out. Frisk prepared for a magical attack, a summoned weapon, something of the sort - but a telekinetic blast wasn’t what she’d anticipated.
The teenager was flung backward, twisting herself through the air with a grunt as the bomber did a sweep, dropping off explosives, some of them headed for the girl.
Landing on her feet, Frisk summoned a bubble barrier around her immediate self, shielding her from the wave of bombs as she eyed the bomber, but her attention returned to the spatial-powered Hunter as he used his power to shove the frozen Veetoo onto a hovering robot. The magic seeped deeper, ready to start tearing apart the ice, but it would all be for naught if they got Veetoo into captivity before he could recover.
She had to prevent that.
Frisk dissipated her shield, bearing her spiked pavise as she charged forward, like she was charging at the Hunter - before she disappeared, aberrating away, her form flickering in a frozen sprint. She reappeared past the adept, level with the Interceptor’s rear as she plunged the pavise’s spike forward, intending to cleave the robot cleanly in two.
With that, her form flickered and returned to where she’d originally aberrated from, still mid-sprint and likely having turned the hunter’s attention away, Frisk stopping herself with a stomp on the ground, said stomp producing crimson circles all around the hunter’s feet - before knives shot up out of the circles.
Now walking, Frisk began to approach the ledge of the building to look down and see Veetoo’s status as the explosive magic would finally take hold to tear apart the coating ice and free the robot.
Amaterasu (9/10 Ink Pots)
More of the Sumeragi had entered the fight, with a Hunter tossing a machine over Amaterasu. At the same time, spikes of ice once again rose in her path. It was clear they were trying to dissuade the goddess from closing in on Ghiaccio.
Then fine. The wolf jumped up, soaring just over the machine the Hunter threw at her. Amaterasu jumped off the robot projectile, using the added height to soar over Ghiaccio's ice spikes and pounce on her new target: The Bomber!
Just as the machine started its first volley, Amaterasu would land on the machine, flip behind it, and slam her tail down, creating a Power Slash on the machine's rear that would spike it directly towards Ghiaccio! Whether it was a direct course or the italian moved out of the way, another streak of Inferno would quickly catch up to the bomber just as it got near him, burning through it and it's contained explosives to ignite an explosion!
Akira Howard -Morning, NORA Wreckage- Crashing and metallic clanging, approaching their position. It didn't take a genius to discern that. Akira turned on her IRIS to see the general location the sound was coming from. There was a transmission that appeared, announcing the presence of anti-Sumeragi survivors. Pleasantly surprising news, but the officer's mind was mostly occupied for the moment. She still nodded at Gardner to acknowledge him.
"Officer Akira Howard, sir, Field Captain of the RAVEN Task Force from the NEURON division. I need you and anyone else on board to lay low and sit tight for now. We currently have... something coming this way."
Akira struggled to swallow her nervousness, gripping her baton tightly. She stared in the direction of the noise as it grew ever-louder.
"Miracle. ...You're the most mobile of us, so you'll be able to get to the survivors first. Be ready to go help them. I'll take point against this thing..."
"What's left of 'em?! There won't be anything left once they face me!" The hot headed elemental snorted smoke.
The sound behind the walls had become impossible to ignore. The fire elemental generated fiery pillars in their hands, grinning directly at the metal surface. Seeing where this was going, Ice rolled his eyes, bringing out his bow to the ready. If Blaze was going to try it, he may as well ensure it's success.
Ice fire off a splinter of ice arrows towards am elevated segment of the wall, freezing it in a thick sheet of his namesake. After this, Blaze punched the air several times, fireballs chucking from him one after the other. They bombarded the wall, made more brittle by the ice. And with one final large fireball, Blaze yelled as he aimed to break down the wall entirely!
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