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As Bark studied Tracy, the duelist was watching the bear just as carefully. Her warning seemed to embolden him, even if just slightly. But she could still see the apprehension in his eyes. Tracy stared hard into Bark's eyes. Were these the eyes of a killer? With some people, it was more difficult for her to tell. There was a stoicism and toughness for sure. A familiarity with violence. But it wasn't something Tracy could tell for sure. Bark took a step closer, and Tracy narrowed her eyes. She-
"Attention all available units – an intruder has been sighted in Assembly 3, near the control room antechamber! Seize him immediately!" A voice called out over the loudspeaker, over the sound of the fire alarm. The muffled sound blaster fire and combat came from the direction of Assembly 3. Terrence. Sounded like Stealth was over.
"WAIIT!!!" Kiwi's voice flared up, the humming behind the voice a discordant mess of panic as the Bard stood up next to Tracy, the next words formed behind what almost felt like a gust of powerful wind right towards Bark. "Wait wait wait!!!"
"Kiwi!" Tracy exclaimed, but once again, the Bard couldn't be stopped. He called out to the Bear in a desperate plea. The duelist bit her lip, looking from Bark to Kiwi. Would he be the type to be swayed by words? Actions had been far more effective with Braxer.
She hoped Terrence could hold out for a few moments longer.
Zombino. I don't know if this is even how things work here, but if it is, attack now.
Outside the facility, within a ruined house, Zombino blinked. The duel monster sat up, closing its book it was reading, and looked towards the Armament Facility. It stood up, walking towards the walled complex. As it approached, it pulled the ax out of his head. Zombino swung his ax at the wall. It struck with a thunderous crash, sending a crack up the wall. One strike. Then another. Then another! With one final strike, the section of the wall crumbled. Zombino stepped onto the compound, slowly looking around at the Sumeragi soldiers that were undoubtedly looking at him.
Then he charged.
Tracy let out a shaky breath, and slowly closed her flip phone. She kept her hands in the air, not yet ready to start fighting.
"Haven't you seen what Sumeragi is doing in the slums? The bodies of men, women, children sprawled in the streets?" Tracy said to Bark. "And for what? For the sake of "Humanity"?"
Tracy paused, looking Bark up and down.
"Do you really think Sumeragi will want to keep you around, after they're done with us?" Tracy asked Braxer. The duelist paused again. Wait, why was this Bear here? Why would Sumeragi be using a Bear, for all their human supremacy stuff? The bear was stoic, tough... Was it all a facade? Another thought occurred to Tracy, and her pleading expression turned to one of concern. "Is Sumeragi forcing you to do this?"
Hand: 3 Cards
Field: Zombino, 2 set cards
Spell/Trap Card Zone: 2 face down cards
Graveyard: 1 Card
Banished: 3 cards, face-down
Terrence "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" Boom
Terrence let out a pleasant sigh, satisfied with the damage he’d done to the Mantis. It was definitely, positively damaged at those joints, but it also wasn’t creaking or acting like it was already going to fall apart. Hopefully his plan would work, and this thing would crumble into a bunch of useless pieces a few miles out from the factory.
Satisfied, he turned to leave. He could go ahead and regroup with Tracy and Kiwi now, hopefully their stuff was going as smoothly as his-
Aaand that was an alarm going off. Shit.
He could assume that that meant something had definitely not gone smoothly over at the Control Room… and yet, just as he turned to backtrack, he was put in a bit of a pickle. His methodical carving of the Mantis’s joints hadn’t alerted the guards, but by chance, they’d happened to see him thanks to the new commotion. The one that saw him had already alerted others, probably a whole lot of them.
“Really, man? All available units? Can’t think of anything more high priority? Buh,” Terrence grit his teeth as more guards backtracked over. They were already firing at him, forcing him to manifest his turtle shell, prisms of the armor forming across his back as he hunkered down.
“This doesn’t really fit my definition of ‘seizing,’ guys!” he added to his previous gripe. He could handle the attacks fine at first, but once a Psi-User and a turret were added to the equation one by one, it became quite apparent to him that he couldn’t just camp out here. Besides, he needed to get to Tracy and Kiwi…
Focusing as well as he could with the barrage of attacks forcing his shelled figure backward, he analyzed the possible exit points in this room. There was the way from which he’d come, but that was going to be flooded with Sumeragi in just a few seconds if ‘all available units’ was anything to go off of. The best way out was… the vents, it seemed. If he could just slip into one without any of these guards noticing, then it was possible they’d just accumulate here to uselessly search for him, and he could make his way to his teammates to form an escape plan. But how could he escape with all these eyes on him…?
Destruction- he was gonna have to nip the whole Stealth Squad title in the bud, because it was time to become the Smashing Squad instead. His only hope of getting in that vent unseen was tearing this place apart and slipping away in the excitement.
With a huff, Terrence hopped into the air and concealed himself in his shell as best as he could, layering more magic atop it as two giant orange hands manifested on either side of him. They had a childlike excitement to them as they began to take turns building momentum for the shell, grabbing and manually spinning it around until it whirled at a dangerous, dizzying pace. Like two really bad friends trying to make their third friend throw up on a playground.
And then, the throw- one of the hands flung the rapid shell with a great, Bravery-Magic filled might, Terrence clearing the length of the room in a moment, passing right by a Sumeragi grunt and ‘crashing’ into the wall near the vent. It was, of course, a trick, he was not one to voluntarily hit a hard surface at over a hundred miles an hour. Before impact, he had the shell ‘erupt,’ giving off the impression of a violent magical explosion, but it was really just for show. He could only hope the Sumeragi didn’t see through it as he dove away from the shell before the impact, practically ragdolling into the vent.
Hopefully, they would just believe that he was boneheaded enough to reduce himself to atoms like that for a failed attack… or that he’d teleported, or something.
Bark the Polar Bear -Control Room Antechamber-
There was a loudspeaker announcement, which notified them that attacked least one of Tracy's associates had been found. When-
"WAIT!"
Again, Bark complied, stopping in his tracks as the second human revealed themselves. He resolved to listen to them for a moment once more as they explained themselves again. They wanted to shut down the weapons facility so people wouldn't get hurt. A noble cause, the hired muscle could recognize. His face showed sympathy to their cause, and gratefulness when Tracy closed her phone.
The young girl then spoke of what Sumeragi was doing. Bodies in the streets? He hadn't heard anything about that. Even in his disbelief, he found it difficult to look Tracy in the eye as she pleaded with him. He looked away, visible confliction on his face. If she was against Sumeragi, she would say anything to make them look bad.
...right?
In times like these, Nack would always say the same thing. It was none of their business what their employers were doing, it was just work. Not a lot of other jobs for someone who can't speak- he had to take what he could get if he wanted to survive.
It couldn't have been as bad as they said. The minos had started this war, hadn't they? They still had the strength to go on the offensive, as displayed by the attack on the wall and on this factory. Still, the polar bear couldn't shake the feeling Tracy was telling the truth. She asked if Sumeragi had forced him to do this. He looked her in the eye again and, almost apologetically, shook his head no.
The polar bear closed his fist, and a spark of septimal energy shot out towards Tracy's duel disk. It'd freeze over the weapon, but not her arm. He only wanted to disarm, not hurt her. Then, he reached out to grab Kiwi by the back of their shirt and hoist them off their feet. In a moment's time, he would reach out to grab Tracy by the arm as well. The whole time, he wore a glum look on his face, as he got no enjoyment out of detaining these pure souls.
Amaterasu (8/10 Ink Pots)
Shard of ice flew into the air. Those that didn't melt from Ammy's firestorm instead hung in the air, jostling sightly as they deflected V2's bullet. Amaterasu's ear flickered and she turned towards the sound of loud pinging. As it grew closer, she reequipped her reflector and buckled down just in time for the bullet to strike, pinging off her reflector and rising into the sky!
The firestorm soon dissipated, allowing Amaterasu to lock eyes with Ghiaccio. The Italian had stalled his offense...was he looking to escape? Amaterasu wasn't opposed to letting him leave. Fighting a human wasn't a priority for her anyway. Perhaps if she could convince him to leave...
Amaterasu tail swished again, leaving another infinity sign just above, one noticeably larger than the last. The ensuing Fireburst was even larger, ballooning up into a great sphere of intense flames. It was as if Amaterasu had created her own miniature sun above, and its heat beat down relentlessly, even in the absolute zero environment Ghiaccio created. Amaterasu slinked around the italian, gauging his reaction. Her fireburst came at the cost of a lot of ink, but Amaterasu hoped it would convince Ghiaccio to back off.
- Armament Factory, Control Room Antechamber -
(Auto perms granted by Mal)
The polar bear seemed very troubled by Tracy's and Kiwi's pleas. And yet. As Tracy watched, she could see the hints of doubt in his eyes. Doubt, and duty. He shook his head, signaling that he was acting of his free will. But Tracy could tell their pleas hadn't been enough to sway the polar bear. The slight hardening of the eyes, the shift in weight. The bear attacked, firing a spark of icy blue energy at Tracy!
In between Bark and Tracy, a creature appeared! The small, purple form of Penguin Soldier jumped up from behind the crates, one of the cards Tracy had set on her duel disk earlier. Penguin Soldier blocked the attack, the weak nature of the attack and the Penguin's own cold resistance allowing it to tank the attack. In the same moment, the Penguin Soldier swung his own small sword. It unleashed a massive blast of icy air, one that filled the whole corridor! An icy blue energy would swirl around Bark, before picking up and launching Bark! The polar bear was sent flying back, smashing through the door to the Control Room. He wouldn't be hurt by the move however, as the icy energy would protect him from the damage he would have taken slamming into things.
The duel had finally begun. Tracy didn't want to fight this Bear. But she couldn't let her or Kiwi get captured, either.
Tracy drew a card from her duel disk.
"Kiwi, I've seen singers able to shatter glass with their voice. Can you use your singing to shatter the ice on the door?" Tracy asked, referring to the door to the hallway behind them. At the same time, a cloaked spiritual figure appeared in the air next to Tracy. The sage from the Ledger of Ledgermain, the spell had finally resolved. Tracy received the three cards that had been banished off the top of her deck, and was already making moves.
Tracy placed three cards one her duel disk in rapid succession. A green card and brown card appeared in the air in front of Tracy. From the spell card, a strange jet wing flew out and attached itself to Penguin Soldier. The wing was white and orange, and had a shark design in the center. Bubbles were flowing out of the ends of the jet. It was the Aqua Jet spell card, a card that she was using to boost the power of Penguin Soldier. From the brown card, another monster appeared. It was another penguin, a smug black and white penguin armed with a sign with a red 'x' on it. The monster was Nopenguin. The third card was a face-down card that went into her spell and trap card zone.
"Penguin Soldier, Nopenguin, attack!" Tracy ordered.
"Wak, wak!" Penguin Soldier quacked. With the Aqua Jet on its back, it shot towards Bark and attempted to slash at the polar bear with its small sword. Nopenguin followed up, attempting to smack Bark with its sign as well.
So far, Tracy felt she had the situation under control. One of her face down cards was the Trap Card, Eisbahn. If the other Sumeragi troops in the Control Room attempted to join in the fray, she could use it to turn the ground into a slippery ice sheet. It probably wouldn't affect Bark, or any Sumeragi soldier with a water or ice based Septima, but hopefully it could buy them a few more moments.
Hand: 4 cards
Field: Zombino, Penguin Soldier (with Aqua Jet), Nopenguin, 1 set monster
S/T Zone: 3 set cards
Graveyard: 2 cards
Banished: 0 cards
At Kane's behest, the group warily continued their return trip to the designated safe house, their recent encounter and completed mission very much fresh on their minds. On the way there, there was a buzz of static from Akira's radio. It cleared up after a moment, and a voice came through – it was Kohaku's voice.
"Hiya officer!" she greeted. "Um, hope I didn't catch you at a bad time or anything, since you're fighting Sumeragi and all. We've been gathered up at the bank I told you about for a bit, and guess what? This scientist lady and her daughter came right in, saying you guys pointed 'em here from that crash site! Awesome work, seriously! Looks like our group's getting even bigger, and I think we're all getting along nicely, too. Anyway, she told us you should be coming back soon with her husband and stuff, so I guess we'll see you guys then!"
Thanks to each of their transportation methods, it didn't take long for the four to finally arrive at their destination. The aforementioned bank came into view, appearing somewhat dilapidated. A series of big letters were placed at the top of its decaying entrance, with some of them having dislodged and fallen to the ground. Coming a little closer, it was fairly simple to piece them together as 'SAPPORO BANK'.
A few reception chairs, coffee tables, and teller stations could be seen from the outside as the squad rolled to a stop. Soon enough, a familiar face cautiously peeked a head out through the entrance: Kyota. Quickly recognizing the group, he gave an energetic wave.
"Yo, welcome back, dudes!" he called. "Come on in, I wanna hear about just how many bad guys you beat up!"
Armament Factory
Pressure was rapidly building on Terrence's position, projectiles of various kinds barraging the teen's magical shell, some pinging off and others dispersing against the sturdy defense. Recognizing he could get pinned down soon, the SOUL-user elected to reposition to a safer spot, doubling as an attempt to lose the security that was currently firing at him.
Said fire continued to rain down as he began to whirl around in his shell, aided by Bravery-infused hands he had conjured up. He spun and spun, building up ludicrous speeds, enough for the attacking Sumeragi soldiers to visibly back away when one of the hands made to fling the shell, clearly not intending on getting hit by such a projectile.
Fortunately for them, Terrence was not aiming for them – but at the vents connecting to other parts of the facility.
BOOM!
He soared across the room like a cannonball, an explosion of Bravery magic surging out on (apparent) impact with the wall, just over halfway across the room. The burst of blinding orange light was accompanied by a cloud of smoke, and when both faded, there appeared to be no trace of Terrence.
"The hell...?" one soldier muttered, puzzled. More infantry began to pour into the room, though had no target to shoot at.
"He must've warped away..." another said. "Dammit, spread out and find him, he can't have gone far!"
Right as he said that and the soldiers started to move throughout the factory, there was the sound of a crash outside, barely audible over the blare of the fire alarm. Some of the soldiers headed outside the factory, figuring Terrence was the cause of it – or one of his associates.
The latter was more accurate, as Zombino had been the one to break through the perimeter wall. A group of ten soldiers was the first to arrive at the scene, made up of four Gunners, three Grenadiers, and three Homing Launchers. Although somewhat confused by the duel monster's appearance, they pointed their weapons at Zombino, having a momentary staredown.
The zombie charged ahead, axe in hand, and he was quickly met with a mix of plasma bolts and homing missiles. The Grenadiers, meanwhile, raised their shields and positioned themselves in front of the other soldiers.
Inside the facility, Bark had been flung into the control room door, smashing it open. The icy energy brought forward by Penguin Soldier prevented damage to either the polar bear or the console he'd nearly struck. A total of seven Sumeragi members were present in the room, mostly gathered towards the back wall, where a couple other consoles an a series of screens were located. The screens displayed security footage of various points in the factory, showcasing the violent explosion caused by Terrence and Zombino's battle with the troops outside.
Before the screens were five soldiers: two Gunners, two Grenadiers, and a Psi-User. They were positioned as to guard the two men that the no-longer-stealth squad had seen before – the lanky man in the lab coat and the bearded Sumeragi executive, who were both using one of the consoles in front of them.
With the squad now having made their presence known, the soldiers moved into action to support Bark. The Gunners and Grenadiers rushed ahead to help with the assault – and were promptly made to slip and fall at the hands of Tracy's Eisbahn card. Only the higher-ups and the Psi-User kept their footing, with the latter taking to the air before sending a series of psychic orbs down at the opposition, starting with any monsters Bark hadn't yet dealt with on his own.
Meanwhile, in the network of vents above them, Terrence had successfully slipped away from his opposition. The cramped path in front of him twisted this way and that, requiring the teen to navigate around a bit before he could make it to his desired destination. Given his rather effective blindsight, however, that likely wouldn't pose much of a problem; not to mention the noise of combat near and in the control room would be sure to guide his way.
They had approached the seemingly abandoned bank, the team with the recently rescued commander in tow. Bo didn't seem overly enthusiastic however.
Boboiboy looked back to where they originally had their chat with the master of magnetism. That leader who placed the burden of a people on his shoulders, the ends justifying the means. He felt something primal deep inside him at the thought. A part of him still shaken up.
He's just like her. I can't get that imagery out of my head. The feeling of dying to princess Kira'na... To think I'm still carrying the weight of that...I suppose I haven't tried to slow down and think about it in a good while...I hope this won't affect my duties.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when a familiar voice spoke out to them.
"Yo, welcome back, dudes!" Kyota called. "Come on in, I wanna hear about just how many bad guys you beat up!"
"Ah- hey Kyota!" BoBoiBoy waved back, giving a polite but tired smile. "We can tell you in just a bit bud, let us get settled down for a bit first."
Walking up the steps a bit, he eyed a nearby chair, quickly gravitating to it and plopping down on the previously abandoned furniture. Sighing in relief, he was glad they had made it back...yet something felt off.
"Say, none of the other teams have reached out to you guys, have they? I don't see any of them here..."
The false Ghiaccio was revealed, however the shot on the real Ghiaccio was redirected to Amaterasu. Luckily the wolf was able to reflect the blast. Ghiaccio had stalled his assault, and seemingly so had Frisk. While Ghiaccio was able to redirect V2's bullets, that didn't mean they had no options... as the railcannon core had just finished recharging.
V2 fired a core to distract Ghiaccio, before tossing several coins over the head of the assassin. The machine fired an electric railcannon shot at the coins, the high powered shot now filled with enough energy to break apart ice shards it crashes into. Headed for the same weakpoint as before. This time, the railcannon shot would hopefully work- and unbeknownst to V2, Frisk would be assisting them.
The dog... blocked V2's bullet. Somehow, it had figured out White Album's Gently Weeps ability, and blocked against the surprise attack! Ghiaccio's scowl grew even greater under his helmet. This bitch. The heat the dog had been generating was enough to free Frisk from her frozen confinement. But the teen didn't move in to attack, or create more shields. She just stood there! That bitch of a dog was just as relaxed, walking around casually.
"Grrrr... You... YOU FUCKING SONS OF BITCHES!!!" Ghiaccio screamed as Amaterasu attacked with her massive Fireburst. The mist around Ghiaccio grew brighter and brighter, before suddenly becoming blindingly bright, completely obscuring Ghiaccio. V2 threw his coins and opened fire with his railcannon, and there was a loud crackling noise. Then the light faded away... and Ghiaccio was gone. All the ice in the area had melted back into water, and the air was back to its normal temperature. Ghiaccio had vanished.
Her wings moved in front of her at the light. Half the people Frisk fought pulled some kind of blinding move, it was really kind of annoying. Yet, despite her defense... no attack came.
...
Frisk’s wings parted, moving behind her as she looked around. Left... right...
“Shoulda listened to me,” Chara said. “Now he’s a problem for later.”
“Means he can be beaten,” Frisk muttered in reply.
“He’ll be ready.”
“So will we,” Frisk’s wings dissipated, the magic recalled into her. That had taken a bit, but... what now? The data center was in ruins, thanks to her kind of stupid move. If there HAD been anything left to find, then it was either gone or buried in rubble.
Pulling out her phone, Frisk made sure it was still fine. Unlike the fight with Blade, it was still operational. That was good. She’d been worried her earlier tumble had maybe cracked it. Looks like Jin wouldn’t be tasked with fixing it again. This time.
“Alright, well,” Frisk spoke louder to the other two. “I guess uh... we just go back, then? I got the data we came for.”
The teenager slid the device away.
She didn’t really feel like she had the energy to do another run today... maybe tonight, if she got a good nap. Frisk was admittedly kind of eager to return to the base, finding her thoughts wandering back to Terrence for a moment... if he was okay.
Frisk took a second to figure out what direction they’d come from when originally approaching the data center, then started walking along the streets back.
Mr. Miracle
Even though they were already underway towards the bank yet again, Miracle could not stop but continue to ponder about that magnetic fellow. He was a very misguided one, turning his grief into a full-on bloodlust.. yeah, Terry didn't experience the same things he had, and frankly never wished he would. But even if bad came to worst, the magician never thought he could just.. incite all-out war like that. Start Genocides against anyone, no matter how horrible they were. All that blood spilled when you blend toxic and innocent together, all those lives wasted when it's already so precious.. it was baffling to him how anyone could think that way.
Hagen had promptly been snapped out of his pondering tirade as a familiar voice sounded up in his ears, coming out of Akira's radio. Kohaku, who let the group know that Kane's family had arrived safe and sound. Good.. it probably wasn't the best idea to just let them walk around on their own like that, but Terry did have to look after his own back then at the same time. Who knows what could have happened without his presence back there? Then Kyota followed suit after they arrived, also quick to speak up and asking of them how many villains they'd taken down. Miracle hovered in the air and rubbed his nape awkwardly, figuring it would probably be best to hold off on that until everyone was attending.
"Ah, about that.. We should wait until all the others get here first. We found something very interesting in that crashsite. Or, well.. rather someone very interesting."
Akira Howard -Noon-ish, Sapporo Bank-
Kane on the back of her motorcycle, the policewoman zipped back towards the designated meeting area. Her radio crackled to life, and Akira knit her eyebrows together in focus as she listened to the message over the winds that rushed by. As Kohaku spoke, however, the Legionnaire started to smile. It was nice to hear some good news today. She grabbed her radio, pressed a button on it, and held it up to her mouth.
"Copy. Thanks, Kohaku."
...
They had arrived. Akira let Kane dismount before she went off to hide her bike nearby again. The motorcycle still had some use left in it, but she would have to find some way to charge it soon.
The officer was the last inside the bank. She gave a friendly wave to Kyota, tuning into the conversation as Boboiboy mused about how they were the first ones to arrive.
The logical side of Akira knew that they hadn't checked in because they were on foot, and had no means of communication. Of course, this didn't mean she didn't worry especially since they had even more reason to distrust V2 now.
"It might be a while before they show up. Where is everyone else at?"
Kiwi, perhaps foolishly, had thought that his and Tracy's words had convinced the Bear not to stop them. Given the look on Bark's face, that seemed like a reasonable thought. It was wrong, of course.
The Polar Bear almost moved to attack, launching an icy attack before attempting to grab Kiwi...Both of which Tracy was able to prevent after summoning a penguin, which tanked the icy attack and blew Bark back with a blast of icy wind!
"Can you use your singing to shatter the ice on the door?" Tracy asked Kiwi, gesturing the Bard towards the door behind them, to which Kiwi slowly nodded. They'd never done it before, but there was a first time for everything...?
"Um- okay! I'll do my best!" Kiwi turned and quickly dashed over to the iced over door, and began humming with a hand outstretched.
At first, it seemed like the ice wouldn't budge, but then another force of wind entered the hallway - Kiwi's own, the gift of the Queen of Winds piece of the Earthsong and magic, wind slammed right into the ice. It took a fair few moments, but it was shattering little by little...
Bark the Polar Bear -Control Room Antechamber-
Bark was launched through the doors, blasting them off their hinges. Though he had braced himself, the wind had protected him in a way. That gave him room to recover and keep his boots below him, so that he could land and face the incoming penguins standing up.
First came the soldier. It was boosted by some sort of jetpack, but its stubby arms gave it poor reach. Bark took advantage of this by palming its forehead before it could strike. The Nopenguin tried to follow up. Bark quickly overpowered the Penguin Soldier and swung it at the other monster, hoping to pin them both there. He raised his other fist, and then brought it down on whichever monsters he had trapped as a finishing blow.
The enforcer held back against the small animals of course, but, seeing as the first one came at him with a deadly weapon, he swung hard enough to knock them out, easily.
Tracy then changed the field to disadvantage the soldiers behind him. For whatever reason, they didn't affect his His mitts glowed once again as he touched the floor, turning the smooth surface into a rough floor, forming stubby, uneven crystals for the grunts' boots to grip onto. He saw the bard behind the duelist begin to break the ice, but it would be some time before they did.
The bear hoped the ice had fried the electronics. Or, better yet, one of the soldiers in the control room had the sense to lock down that door. Stepping over the Penguin Soldier, he marched towards Tracy. His gaze had hardened; the sympathetic indecision all but disappeared. The duelist was armed with a highly dangerous weapon- more powerful than Bark had ever seen save for a select few. The power to summon monster minions and magical effects was a little unnerving- and the bruiser had a feeling he'd only seen the tip of the iceberg.
"Nope, bro," Kyota replied to Boboiboy. "You dudes are the only ones with a radio, so we haven't heard a peep from anyone else, but I bet they're fine. They've got the magic dog and Terrence out there, and those dudes can totally kick ass!"
At Miracle's mention of finding someone interesting, he looked to the magician for a moment, before he pointed at Kane.
"Ooh, you mean him! The scientist lady... Jennifer, I think? She said you're some awesome pilot that's blown up all these crazy monsters in another planet! You've gotta tell me all about it, bro!"
Kane let out a slight chuckle at the boy's excitement. "Guess my reputation precedes me. I've got a few stories, though... I'm not the one Miracle's referring to."
Despite the fact that he was wrong, Kyota's smile didn't fade, as the thought of hearing the commander's tales was more than enough for him. Akira's question came next, inquiring about where everyone else was, and the boy began to move backward, waving for the four to follow.
"Right this way!"
Kyota led the group through the main floor, which primarily consisted of a series of teller stations on one side and a lobby in the other, most of them dusty or damaged with age. There was a gate between two of the stations, which the boy easily swung open, and they continued through a nearby personnel-only door – which led straight into a break room, where everyone else was.
The center of the room contained a large rectangular table, enough to sit about twenty people or so, though a couple chairs were missing. On one end of the table sat Kohaku, Maria, and Eva, with the three taking turns playing patty cake together. Closer to the middle of the table were Jennifer and Jin, the former tapping away at a tablet-like device connected to her suitcase, while the latter looked on curiously.
At the group's arrival, both Jennifer and Eva got up from their seats, rushing over to hug Kane, which he eagerly returned.
"Daaad! You're back!" Eva exclaimed.
"Of course I am. I told you two we'd all make it out okay, didn't I?"
"Yeah. No excuse to send us walking through a ruined city, though." Jennifer teased.
"Right, sorry about that... Looks like trouble was mostly contained to the crash site, at least."
"Mostly?"
"We'll explain soon." Kane assured.
While the family had their moment of reunion, Kohaku walked around the three to approach Boboiboy, Miracle, and Akira. Her eyes slightly glazed over as she looked to the Sophians, her expression becoming somewhat bittersweet, though she eventually regained her focus, offering the heroes a smile.
"Welcome back! Sounds like things went pretty well, huh?"
Q.U.I.L.L. HQ
Obscured by reflective mist, Ghiaccio had suddenly vanished. The shift in the environment was immediately felt, as the temperature rose to how it had been when the group arrived, all the ice melted apart, and even the rain that had rolled in began to cede somewhat.
With the building wrecked from the battle, there was little left for the team to retrieve at this location. The information Frisk had been able to save would still be helpful, no doubt, shedding some light on some of Sumeragi's past operations and projects, as well as how Q.U.I.L.L. had acted to stop them firsthand. Something they couldn't quite achieve back then – but those efforts could fuel a new rebellion today.
Coupled with Ghiaccio's apparent disappearance (which perhaps shouldn't have been that surprising, considering his ice-skating speed), it was about time they headed back to the safe house before any Sumeragi reinforcements showed up. Turning away from the ruined facility, Frisk led the way, both V2 and Amaterasu following close behind as they moved through the streets, mostly retracing their steps and taking the same shortcut as earlier.
Kiwi ran out and began to sing to break the ice around the door. Tracy walked out from the cover of the crates as well, standing in the middle of the antechamber between the Control Room and Kiwi. Her Eisbahn Trap card had been effective, spilling a majority of Sumeragi soldiers across the floor in the Control Room. The trap card floated in the air next to her, a purple card depicting a lizard warrior in ice skates standing triumphantly over a squad of goblin struggling on an ice sheet. As she anticipated, Bark was immune to it's effects. Another Sumeragi soldier, the Psi User, also seemed to evade the trap.
Penguin Soldier squawked in surprise as Bark grabbed him, swinging the duel monster around. Nopenguin just managed to avoid it, quickly sliding away on the icy surface. Bark beat down on the Penguin Soldier, and in another squawk, the monster burst into pixels and vanished. The Psi-User unleashed a barrage of psychic orbs at Nopenguin, which Nopenguin was able to hit away with its sign and slide on the ice to avoid the rest. The penguin lowered its sign, looking up at the Psi-User smugly.
"Wak, wak, wak..." Nopenguin said, waving its fin.
When Penguin Soldier was destroyed, Tracy placed another card on her duel disk and pressed a button on it. With the first effect, in a flash of light another monster appeared next to the duelist. It was, of course, another penguin. This one was dressed in priestly robes, with a staff. It was Penguin Cleric. If she had Penguin Cleric in her hand when a Penguin monster was sent to the field to the graveyard, she could discard it to bring back that monster from the grave, face-down. Penguin Cleric incanted a revival spell, and in a flash of light, a large, face-down duel monsters card appeared in front of Tracy. The Cleric nodded to Tracy, before disappearing into pixels.
The second effect was another Trap Card. It appeared next to Tracy, depicting a small hamster creature delivering a devistating uppercut to a massive purple beast. This card triggered when one of Tracy's monsters was destroyed by battle. It allowed her to special summon a monster from her deck in face-down defense position, as long as it had attack equal to or less than the destroyed monster. A massive face-down card appeared next to the first one.
Bark walked out of the Control Room. The indecisiveness of the Bear was long gone. It was better this way. He was resolved to fight her and Kiwi, and Tracy was resolved to fight back. They had laid their cards bare, as it was. Tracy drew a card from her deck. A quick glance revealed it to be the Field Spell card, A Legendary Ocean. It would power up her WATER monsters, but it would probably power up the Bear as well. Not the most helpful in this situation. All five monster card zones were filled, and-
Burning...
Tracy ignored the voice that rumbled in her mind. Nopenguin was still active on the field, and there would be a limited amount of time before the Sumeragi soldiers that had fallen from Eisbahn would recover themselves. And that Psi-User was going to be trouble. Tracy raised her hand, and hesitated. What.... what was about to happen, if she did this? Banishing things here, it wasn't the same as in the card game. She had used Nopenguin's effect to remove Blade's weapon, and it had just become incorporeal. What would happen if-
She didn't have time to consider it. She could only hope it wasn't too terrible...
"I'm... I'm sorry! Penguin Soldier, go!" Tracy said, flipping up a card on her duel disk. The card that had been summoned by Penguin Cleric flipped up, revealing to be Penguin Soldier! The small monster swung its sword, unleashing a powerful blast of icy wind that once again encompassed the hallway, and now the Control Room. Within the Control Room, Nopenguin's sign began to glow.
The icy energy would swirl around Bark, once more attempting to pick up and launch him back into the Control Room. However, this time, he would also be struck with a massive red 'X' of glowing, painful energy and concussive force! The wind also swirled around the Psi-User, and a massive red 'x' struck the Sumeragi special soldier. But instead of hitting the Psi-User with concussive damage, the soldier abruptly vanished. As if they were blipped out of existence, to another plane entirely. Tracy visibly paled, staring at the point where the Psi-User once was. He had been... banished. Banished. Banished, not destroyed. Monsters survived being banished all the time. That was the D.D. monster's whole thing, right? They'd be fine... right?
"Penguin Soldier, Nopenguin, attack!" Tracy commanded. But instead of going after Bark, the pair of Penguins headed towards different targets. Both slid on the ice towards the Sumeragi Grenadiers, Penguin Soldier slashing at once of the soldiers with its small sword, while Nopenguin attempted to smack the other one with its sign!
Zombino sprinted towards the Sumeragi soldiers, its golden ax glinting and glittering in the sun. It swung it in a golden blur, moving with surprising speed and agility for an undead creature. Zombino ducked and dodged explosions, striking away plasma bolts with its ax. It reached the Grenadiers, and as they braced for attack- Zombino jumped over a Grenadier, grabbing the soldier by the collar and throwing them at a group of Gunners and Grenadiers. It turned towards another Grenadier, grabbing the plasma shield their were weilding and shoving it out of the way. The plasma seared the monster's skeletal hand, but Zombino did not seem to notice or care. It slashed at the now-open Grenadier with its ax, and a Gunner fired a blast of plasma into Zombino's back. The Zombie monster lurched forwards, and black, scorched flesh was instantly apparent. But the Zombie monster appeared to be unphased by its wounds, continuing to fight the group of soldiers.
It had been about five minutes since the Data Squad had left the smoldering ruins of the Q.U.I.L.L. Headquarters. They had been picking their way through the streets, making their way back towards Sapporo Bank. Perhaps they were feeling victorious. That they had vanquished their foe, at least for the moment. Their mission may have been finished.
But their foe wasn't.
A target causing him to retreat was something new for Ghiaccio. He knew it was always an option, at least theoretically. After all, not all the targets he got from the boss were lazy politicians and fat cat business owners. Aside from Risotto, Ghiaccio was the member of La Squadra Esecuzioni that had to get the closest to his targets. And some of these targets were skilled fighters, or even Stand Users that had betrayed the boss. There was the time he had been ordered to kill Stiletto, a member of Vice that had planned on collaborating with the police. The bastard's Stand, Knives Out, had gotten close to taking him out. But Ghiaccio had won in the end. He always won in the end.
He always got his target. And dammit, he wasn't going to fail now.
From behind the Data Squad, Ghiaccio shot around a corner. The White Album armor coated him, just as it had before. The assassin skated down the street at 60 miles per hour, attempting to slam into Amaterasu at full force!!!
Kohaku made herself known when they walked further into the building. Something was clearly on her mind, but believing she meant to keep it private, he didn't comment on the matter. Instead he gave a brief smile before gesturing to the rest of the team.
"As good as they could, we got everyone we knew out and nobody was gravely injured." He informed, putting a hand to his chin. "Though we got the ire of a new enemy it looks like. Sumeragi seems to be aligned with 'Genosha', we ran into their king on the way out. He won't be coming to just give us another warning next time."
Her power was returning, and without any use, it was quick. A part of the teenager was still trying to... wrap her head around all of this. Life had become quite the adventure in the last few months... hadn’t it? After four years of peace on the surface, living as normal a life as one could under the loving care of Toriel, surrounded by friends...
The takeover of Voxis City, from the battles in its streets, martial law, hiding in the abandoned subway, to the Kingdom of Hopes and eventually taking the fight back to the Messiah. Then off to France she’d run with Trinity to bring down Songbird... joining Wingstar... learning so many new things... confronting Demon again in the wake of a devastating battle... the near-annihilation of France, Asgore’s trial, training to face Demon, heading off to Russia... now she was here.
And so was Terrence. They hadn’t really talked much last night, but Frisk was desperate to get the opportunity soon. To catch up, tell one another about what they’d been doing, and... maybe even discuss what THEY meant to one another.
“Now is later,” Chara said, her tone bored.
Frisk didn’t know what that meant, but she felt a tingling in the back of her skull. That same feeling from before... when she’d sensed Blink’s presence... when she’d tuned in to see Demon’s attack... when Asgore was arrested...
Ghiaccio was fast, zooming in at the head of his cool air, but Frisk matched him.
Just as suddenly as he’d appeared, Frisk was suddenly in his way. Her spiked pavise materialized, shining brightly as it was brought up, and Ghiaccio collided earlier than intended—
Coming to a complete and total stop.
Magic braces secured Frisk to the spot as she brought the surprise attack to a stand-still as the girl buckled, but held firm, and in the very same second, a gust of lashing red magic cleaved out of the pavise itself. Perhaps it was more aggressive than she’d intended... but Frisk had just acted on pure instinct.
A crack split across the pavise's front.
A touch of her dark reflection was shining through. A piece of what she really was.
She was done with this guy.
The lashing determination severed through a nearby steel car, signifying its lethality as it reduced the metal to tissue paper. If his limbs went with it, she didn’t care. She just didn’t have to kill. The dark reflection clawed at her mind... it wanted more control... promising absolute victory... tempting, but she did what she could to push it back down. She couldn't afford another Demon situation... not like that, not again...
“Really?” Frisk asked, her tone bland as she put up her front. “You’re nothing. Leave.”
It was though her demeanor had flipped on a dime. The reflection's influence was seeping out. Something darker had come over her.
The Psi-User's projectiles were swiftly deflected by Nopenguin, and as he prepared to launch another wave of Mind Bombing, the soldier was hit with a combination of Penguin Soldier's and Nopenguin's effects – causing him to suddenly disappear. Not in the usual teleporting flair that Adepts with the same Septima had displayed, but more like he'd instantly vanished. This surprised the Gunners and Grenadiers on either side of the room, all of them momentarily staring at where their ally had once been, before they all looked ahead to the penguin monsters.
Clearly, they weren't intending on suffering the same fate.
Penguin Soldier and Nopenguin closed in, swinging their weapons at the Grenadiers on either side, though they were able to raise their shields in time. Penguin Soldier's sword pinged off of the energy shield, while Nopenguin's sign, surprisingly, caused the soldier's arms to buckle under the pressure, skidding back slightly even with the firmer grip that Bark's ice manipulation gave him.
Despite the difference in reaction of each soldier, the Gunners beside them were quick to counterattack with their beam rifles, shooting point-blank bolts of plasma one after the other into the penguin monsters. Towards the back of the room, an alert popped up on the console before the scientist and executive, the former turning back to face the others, a slight scowl on his face as he stretched out a hand.
"You'll have to stay put..."
On the other end of the hallway, Kiwi's held-out note seemed to have a clear effect on the ice covering the door in front of them. Little by little, cracks had begun to form, and it would be a matter of time before it would shatter the ice completely (though whether it would even open was another question). Quite suddenly, however, the bard would feel a strange sensation at their feet, like the floor was behaving abnormally.
Then, Kiwi began to sink. Somewhat slowly, akin to quicksand – the area of effect clearly visible as the floor around them now shifted and rippled, a hazel energy softly glowing alongside it. It even appeared to be gradually spreading, the energy slowly rippling along the hall, headed back towards Tracy to take away her breathing room.
Meanwhile, outside the facility, Zombino was absolutely blitzing past the attacks of Sumeragi's infantry, weaving around some projectiles and even taking some hits in stride. His axe swing on the Grenadier tore through the soldier's armor, quickly incapacitating them, and his toss of the first Grenadier had knocked some soldiers over – additionally drawing further attention to the zombie, exactly as Tracy intended.
What had started off as a group of ten soldiers was now creeping into the twenties, and more were certainly on the way. Gunners and Homing Launchers alike rushed into the fray, firing plasma and missiles at Zombino, despite his proximity of their more vulnerable allies. Even machines started to get in the mix, two Flying Drones and an Interceptor drifting closer to the group, the drones firing more plasma while the Interceptor charged in to bash into Zombino.
Akira Howard -Sapporo Bank-
Akira followed Kyota further into the bank, and to the break room where everyone else was. The officer smiled seeing everyone safe and content like this. She took a deep breath. The air was musty, but it was a place where she could now let her guard down. Boboiboy began his report with a mention of Magneto.
"Overall, the mission was a success. According to Gardner, we didn't leave any souls or high-value targets behind," she added.
Then, Akira left Boboiboy to explain the rest if he so wished. She wandered off to the side. Her mind had already went towards taking all her armor off while they waited on the others to arrive. Sure, it was snug, but it was weighty, and there was no telling how long it'd take for the others to come back, or if she would be going back out on another mission.
Akira then remembered something, and her fingers dug into one of her uniform's many pockets. Rolling a small item around in her hand, the Legionnaire looped around towards the one and only Mr. Miracle.
"You did good work out there. I think this is yours, though."
Akira presented the last of the three smokebombs that she had taken from the magician.
Bark the Polar Bear -Armament Factory-
The Penguin Soldier was resurrected, and with it, the icy winds kicked back up. It seemed like this effect was produced by the soldier somehow. This time there was also a large, red X that came at him and the nearby adept. The bear raised his arms, the gloves producing a shock of septimal energy to block this attack as he was blasted back by the winds.
This time, the bear caught himself sooner and grabbed the doorframe before he went fully through it. His grip warped the metal as he pulled himself back through. The psychic adept was nowhere to be seen. Had he teleported away, or had that X done something to him? Whatever it did, the effect looked like the X on the Nopenguin's sign. Stood to reason that it had something to do with it, since all the other penguins so far seemed to have some form of magical effect.
The Nopenguin had zipped past him while he was recovering, and was now dealing with the Grenadier. The soldier had successfully halted the penguin's momentum, and in that instance, Bark threw a punch at the creature, seeking to smash it into the Grenadier's shield. If it had managed to dodge, his other hand would come around to swat it into the wall.
As soon as he did, he turned to run at Tracy, his eye on the left of the set cards- he'd seen how the monsters tended to pop out of those. He was starting to hold back less now, partly because of the heat of battle, but also since that last attack had ramped up the stakes dramatically.
Amaterasu
Amaterasu yawned as she trotted back to the home base. After her last fireburst, her determination had run out, and she had returned to her basic appearance. She didn't mind, though she did mourn the loss of warmth from her fire mane. A nap under the sun sounded just heavenly right now.
Yet her troubles never seemed to stop, as Amaterasu felt a chill run across her spine. The goddess spun around to Ghiaccio blitzing them from behind, reaching out to grab the wolf-
Only to crash into Frisk's pavise. The girl acted startling fast, blocking the attack before Amaterasu could do anything, and lashing back. But any gratefulness the goddess felt was quickly smothered by a sense of danger. Not from Ghiaccio, but from Frisk.
Ammy jumped forward, putting herself in between Frisk and Ghiaccio like before. But her stance was different. Defensive on both sides, as if she intended to keep both from approaching the other. The goddess looked between Ghiaccio and Frisk, distressed at the sense of evil she felt from the two humans.
Something was bothering him that he had yet to discuss, remembering the brawl near the tail end of the mission, he recalled the blue robot with a striking resemblance to one of their comrades.
"An important thing to cover: V2 seems to be a model of robot, one that Sumeragi used against us to dangerous utility. That's what's making me worried that Frisk and that flame-dog's squad hasn't returned yet, I can't rule out that V2 could have turned on and eliminated them when they weren't expecting. If that's the case...he'll come looking for us next."
Looking over to Akira, the orange clad teen shook his head.
"Looks like you were right to be suspicious of him, so we have to be prepared for when he comes back. We can't afford to be caught unexpectedly by it."
Terrence "Fucking Comes Through The Ceiling To Box A Bear" Boom
…
Had it worked?
He was so tense, he had to shake his head a bit and remind himself that he hadn’t ACTUALLY slammed into a wall and blown up. Things were getting pretty strenuous here, especially with that last maneuver, a complex series of tricks and misdirections like that… and a pretty damn potent piece of offense, and all of it expended not for an attack, but a simple diversion!
But, on the bright side, it had worked. Fortuitously, the soldiers believed that he’d warped away somehow, and he wasn’t going to let that opportunity go to waste. With the soldiers splitting up and many of them opting to travel outside the factory, Terrence grinned- this meant it would be pretty easy to regroup with Tracy and Kiwi, and escape this place, right? Right??
His journey through the vents began, made much, much easier with his blindsight- each one of his own motions, and the motions all over the factory, allowed a clearer picture of his surroundings to be painted. The network was large and winding, connecting to several different rooms of the factory, as well as the outside… but it was pretty easy to recognize where he wanted to go. This was because there was only one room in the factory that had battle-ready penguins in it. Classic Tracy!
So, Tracy and Kiwi had gotten into a combat situation… the Sumeragi were there, but the main opponent seemed to be… uh…
Was that…
Was that a monster, that was fighting his fellow Stealth Squadders?? It certainly wasn’t a human, more closely resembling an animal… but not without its human qualities. The species wasn’t important, though- what was important was getting the hell out of here, and it looked like they wouldn’t be achieving that without a little bit of violence after all.
After some fast-paced lunging and crawling, the battle was effectively taking place beneath him. He was just a few movements away from being able to drop down and come in through the vent to join the fray… but, he had a better idea.
He slid his fists apart, as far as the vent’s size would permit, and raised them upward just as far. Two large orange layers appeared on the outsides of his fists, brimming with potent physically-enhancing magic. Positioned right above what Terrence thought to be a monster of some kind, he slammed both forearms down, hard, aiming to land a powerful, albeit unorthodox blow on the opponent (with a little bit of the vent and ceiling sprinkled on as a treat).
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