Cyber Peacock appeared without warning or ceremony; X looked up and pointed his buster and there he was, the Peacock already firing feathers that would explode upon impact into a million digitized pieces. This was Peacock's field. Zero and X dodged feathers that exploded with a reverse noise, the kind of noise you don't hear when watching videos of atomic bombs or supernovae, but quieter, more controlled, the heat from the localized explosions spreading, Zero drawing out his sabre, wordlessly, the sound of X firing his blaster straight upwards to the ceiling, with Cyber Peacock now vanishing out of view. Blue beams streaking through the Peacock's body, data strings running randomly in the background, an eerie ambience almost like night. The quiet in waiting for the Peacock to reappear somewhere. Zero and X spaced the floor and watched for some movement.
Which then appeared quick as a snap beside X and charged its feathers, X not having enough time to react quickly enough, he dashed backward and shielded himself with his non-buster arm and got caught in the Peacock's feathers spreading out like so many knives. The sound of X's arm getting sliced, oil dripping like a watercolor onto the hexagonal floor, Zero rushing in, knowing that the Peacock was going to teleport away, leaving a hologram that faded slowly, a hologram of the Peacock standing up straight, looking at Zero over his shoulder. Oil was spilling and X used his non-buster hand to try and keep it from spilling out fast. The floor a transparent purple, like standing on very thick glass.
The third time, the Peacock appeared far from them and shot out small feathers like missiles. The artificial plumage of the bird some disturbing and sad throwback to something around the year 200X, when peacocks still existed, inhabited forests and were kept on farms, when peacocks showed off their plumage as a way for peahens to choose their mates. There is something disturbing and sad about a peacock living in a cyber-world, its eyes metallic and dead, there is something sad about a peacock that stands upright as it fires small feathers from its hands, feathers that Zero manages to deflect with his sabre. Flashes of green that seem impossibly long and exact, the feathers fly in quickly, rocket-propelled, but Zero cuts through.
The effect of holographic dust settling or dissipating.
The effect of the Peacock teleporting, again.
The oil from X's arm is warm and thin, and he's damaged so you can see some of his internal wires. It's the effect of something humanoid being revealed. Gears whir quietly, rotate visibly in X's chestplate.
Zero nods at X, and X nods at Zero, and they stand on opposite sides of the large room again. This time, when the Peacock appears next to X, X turns on Zero's sabre, pulls it out and in one move slices clean through the torso of the Peacock.
The face of the Peacock as it dies is unrecognizably mechanical and cold. Its eyes stay open and its beak stays closed and it falls in the resigned posture of something that no longer registers anything anymore.
The holographic strings of data continue to appear and disappear at random.