Chapter 7: Retaliation

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Armored Core games, just my OC and his NEXT.

Vandread Raven: The Second Stage.

The Nirvana fighters watch in horror as the delivery ship is destroyed in a massive fireball.

Keith said, "This can't be happening!" He desperately tries to refuse accepting at what happened.

On the ship's bridge BC snaps out of her state of shock.

She ordered, "Ezra!"

Ezra nodded, "Right. Ms. Gasco, please come in! Ms. Gasco!" Back on the battlefield, the red Nirvana comes out of the flagship and Hibiki snapped!

He yelled, "I'll get you!" He defuses Vandread Meia and the enraged Hibiki rushes toward the enemy fleet, his vision filled with red. Suddenly Barnette's Dread comes in front of him and blocks his path.

She ordered, "Everyone, pull back!"

Hibiki fired back, "Stay out of my way!"

"There is no way we'll win if we are impulsive!" She said as she discards her craft's wings.

Hibiki replied, "That's not for you to decide!" A vision of Gascogne quickly flashes through both of their minds.

Keith and the other pilots fall back. The Nirvana turns around and heads to who knows where while it threw Bart out of the virtual helm. He landed on his butt completely surprised by what just happened.

He wondered, "What the?"

Belvedere asked, "Why did you come out?"

Bart answered, "I don't know, it changed course on its own! And I burnt my hand." Ezra repeatedly attempts to contact the delivery ship until Magno tells her to stop, seeing that it's useless.

The Nirvana and its fighters head for safety inside a nebula. The fighters shoot down any pursuing cube-types before returning to the ship. The Harvesters halt their advance and patiently wait for the crew to come out of their hiding place.

Meia contacted the captain, "We've completed docking all the Dreads, captain."

Mago told her, "Good work."

The Dread leader offered, "Please accept my apology for what happened to Ms. Gascogne."

The pirate leader said, "That's enough, Meia."

Meia protested, "But captain!"

Magno snapped at her, "Let it go! Just remain on standby for now!" Meia knew better than to question Magno's authority.

She sighed, "Understood." After ending the transmission she slammed her fist, "Damn it! I thought I've become strong enough to not let myself be fazed by anything." She struggled not to cry until she felt Keith place a hand on her shoulder; Meia looks up and sees him with a sympathetic look on his face.

He said, "It's okay, Meia. Go ahead and cry shedding tears for those we care about is nothing to ashamed about. You don't have to keep it bottled up inside, you know." Seeing no deception in his words, Meia got out of her Dread and stepped onto the floor then burst into tears, laying her head on Keith's shoulder while she held the back of his dark blue g-suit tightly in her hands.

Keith wrapped his arms around her back and used one hand to gently pat her back. Meia's tears form small puddles on the hanger floor. She knew Keith could tell how someone is feeling just by judging their facial expressions, no matter what excuse they thought up he always saw through that deception and she was no exception.

Everyone else is feeling the same way. All they can do is cry.

BC said, "Just as I feared. What happened to Gascogne is having a major effect on the crew! Especially dealing with the loss of someone so close to them."

Magno cried, "However, what Gascogne left behind is just as big. She left a gaping hole in their flagship and that means we still have a way out of this!" In the infirmary Barnette clenched her fists in her lap.

She said, "I didn't get the chance to apologize to her!" She regrets her missed opportunity then she felt Jura wipe a tear from her eye.

Jura informed, "The Barnette that I know is much stronger than that." She rubbed her cheek. This cheered Barnette up a little and the blonde smiled, "See? You look better now." Barnette took Jura's hand and held it. Though she wanted Canis to be here with her, she understood that Canis wants Barnette to spend time with her blonde friend alone. She respected him for that.

Sometimes this war against their home planet bring back haunting memories of the Economic War in Keith and Canis, they starred death in the face and survived the hellish ordeal.

Hibiki enters the dark, empty Reg Central room and walks up to the table where he and Gascogne played cards. Then he spots Dita holding a puppet.

She waved it, "Smile! Smile!" She exposes her face.

Hibiki asked, "What are you doing?" Seeing the redhead smile just made him snap, "How can you be smiling at a time like this?"

Dita answered, "It's because I don't know how I should be feeling right now. When I was little, when the living unit I was in closed down, everyone had sad faces just like now. Whenever I messed up or said something silly, everyone laughed. So now I don't want anyone feel depressed!" Barnette enters the room and she lowered her head.

She asked, "Why? Tell me why, Hibiki. Why didn't you save Ms. Gasco?"

The young Tarak wondered, "What was that? I didn't quite hear you."

Barnette spoke louder, "You should've payed more attention to those around you."

Hibiki exclaimed, "Are you saying this is my fault?"

Barnette accused, "You're always bragging about stuff but when it comes down to it, you are completely useless!" Dita tells them to stop when she knocked over the timer. Hibiki stares at it.

Gascogne said in his mind, "Hey, it's your turn. Show me your hand!"

Hibiki clenched his fist, "Okay, I'll show you. Get everyone down here right now! It's time for a tactical meeting!" A short time later BC enters the room.

She asked, "Why did you call this meeting?"

The Vanguard pilot informed, "I know a way to shut down their flagship."

BC raised an eyebrow, "How?"

Misty showed her the answer, "With this!"

The commander gasped, "That's the capsule from Pluto!"

Misty nodded with a grin, "It's the virus that eats the Pexis. We can beat them with this."

Hibiki turned to her, "Is it ready?"

The aqua marine-haired teen replied, "Yeah! All we need to do is have him eat it." She pointed at Pyoro.

The machine went wide-eyed, "I wasn't informed of this! I don't want to be seperated from Pyoro 2!"

Ezra removed her baby from him and corrected, "Her name is Serena!"

Meia informed, "But in order to upload the virus, we'll have to break through the enemy's line of defense. How do you propose we do that?"

That's when Keith joined in, "The enemy is a machine so I've been helping Parfet build a weapon that will emit a powerful electromagnetic pulse to sever the link. However, the EMP will only be effective for a few minutes at most. Barnette, your Dread will be mounting this weapon."

Hibiki smirked, "Alright! Let's hit them hard!"

The pilots shouted, "Yeah!" They commence the operation.

Pyoro whined, "Pyoro 2!"

Hibiki shouted, "Would you shut the hell up? You're really annoying!" Dita approaches Hibiki's Vanguard but the Tarak teen told her he doesn't have time to deal with her and combines with Meia to create Vandread Meia. They speed through the enemy formation, Barnette orders the other pilots to cover the infiltration team while she herself waited for the right moment to fire the EMP weapon.

'Not yet! Now!' She thought.

She presses the button and fires the weapon two spheres of energy come out of the barrels and then detonate, emitting the electromagnetic pulse and disabled the cube-types long enough for the infiltration team and herself to enter the flagship. As they near the core of the ship, Barnette's Dread gets hit and lingers behind eventually they reach their target area and Hibiki next combines with Dita's craft to form Vandread Dita.

Pyoro heads to the mainframe where he can upload the virus. Vandread Dita begins to recieve punishment from enemy fire the red Nirvana comes in and attempts to shoot down the Vandread but Meia distracts it. She directs its attention towards her and it fires its chest beam but Meia avoids it what she didn't expect was that a cube-type approached her and prepared to fire at point-blank range. Suddenly an emerald colored beam destroys the enemy. Barnette turns her head to see a familiar crimson Dread and black NEXT.

Barnette gasped, "Jura! Keith!"

Jura urged, "Don't just sit there! Hurry up and finish the job!"

Duero told her, "Don't push yourself. Your painkillers will be wearing off soon."

The blonde replied, "I'm well aware of that. That is why I'm telling them to hurry up!" Vandread Dita fires the shoulder-mounted laser cannons at the vein-like branch that the red Nirvana is using to stand on, the branch snaps in two and the evil doppelganger tumbles. The virus is launched and spreads throughout the enemy fleet. Before the infiltration can leave the persistant red Nirvana fires a concentrated beam attack and hits the team's craft. Vandread Dita shoves Barnette's Dread out of the way before it, along with Black Dragon and the other Dreads get hit.

When Barnette looked at the sight it was absolute carnage. The units are badly damaged and their pilots are hurt.

Meia ordered, "Barnette, it's not safe here. Just go!"

Jura added, "That bothersome Pyoro is getting in the way."

Barnette refused, "I can't! I can't leave anyone behind!"

Dita assured, "It's alright because we won't lose! I don't want anyone to have sad faces again!"

Seeing that the enemy is about to fire a second round Keith shouted, "Get out now!" Then the beam hits and the machines are supposedly destroyed. Barnette looks at the fireball and immediately went wide-eyed as she witnessed the damaged the units fuse to form another Vandread.

This unit dubbed Super Vandread, is humanoid in shape, has the physical appearance of Vandread Dita and Meia and the equipment of Vandread Jura and Black Dragon. Its armor is a mixture of shinny silver with blue trimmed with black here and there. Its fingers and visible joints are a glowing aqua-green.

On the bridge BC and Magno are stunned.

Inside the cockpit Hibiki, Dita, Jura, Meia and Keith observe the transformation. Dita sits on Hibiki's lap, Meia sat in a seat behind the main one, Keith was in one next to her and Jura sat in a seat up front facing the controls.

Jura asked, "What...is this? I'm suppose to operate all of this by myself?" The enemy stares down at them with glowing eyes filled with destructive intent.

Hibiki shouted, "Hey! Stop moaning and do something!"

The blonde informed, "In case you have forgotten, I'm injured!" She slammed her slender hands onto the controls, this made Super Vandread form a shield to deflect the third beam attack and then it pulls a sword out of its hand. It speeds toward the red Nirvana and slices it diagonally in two. The bridge crew watched in awe.

Magno chuckled, "Amazing little children." The fighters return to the ship and Super Vandread defuses.

Keith swiftly gets out of his NEXT and notices that Black Dragon has undergone another metamorphoses.

On its back were newly fledged metal wings that can now form violet colored dragon wings when opened, its back weapons retained their positions, spikes were poking out vertically from the shoulders of the ARGYROS/A arms with another pair of spikes sticking out of the back of the forearms, the black armor is reinforced even more allowing Black Dragon to withstand even more punishment and keep going, and finally Black Dragon is equipped with highly destructive rail guns mounted on the hips, the 07-Moonlight beam saber hung just above the left rail gun. Keith whistled at the sight of this.

In the engine room Meia and Jura look at the Pexis.

"Back there it wasn't the Pexis lending us a helping hand in the fight against evil." Meia said as she recalled the event that just occurred.

Jura replied, "But it was the Pexis that allowed the Dreads, Vanguard and Keith's NEXT to fuse together."

Meia elaborated, "It's because we had the same thought. We were optimistic and wanted to make it through the end no matter what. That is why it happened."

On the the Nirvana's bridge BC cried, "Captain, the crew is requesting a ceremonial service for Gascogne."

Magno sighed, "Alright, BC. I leave the details to you, call me when the service is ready." The aged pirate leaves the bridge after giving BC her orders. Misty watches her leave.

She said, "I feel sorry for the captain."

Ezra explained, "It's not a surprise. You see Gascogne has been the captain's partner ever since she became a pirate."

Amarone added her own, "While she was like a big sister to us, she was more like a daughter to our captain."

In her quarters, Magno places a picture of Gascogne along side the pictures of other deceased crewmembers then she heard her door panel beep.

She said, "Come in." The door opens to reveal Barnette holding the timer in her hands.

At Reg Central, Hibiki flipped over the cards of his next hand. It's comprised of four aces and a joker.

The pilot mumbled, "Good hand, huh?" Barnette decides to take Gascogne's place as the person in charge of Reg Central.

She now wore a yellow tank top, white vest, black shorts and ankle-high boots. She removes her crown jewel.

Keith sends his own warning to his home world. In the message was a dark sky with lightning flashing in the clouds.

Keith had demonic wings sticking out of his back and holding a flaming sword in his left hand and his eyes are blood red with slit pupils. This made him look more demonic than human. His eyes are filled with bloodlust!

Keith exclaimed, "Planet Earth, welcome to your demise! We are going to beat your ass like never before. The crew and I are going to condemn you to eternal damnation! And we will leave your unmanned automated fleet in a charred, broken, smoking heap in the cold emptiness of space! I will soon open the gates of Hell and unleash the most deadly of demons upon you! You see, corrupted inhabitants of Earth, you think this harvesting operation is for your self-preservation at expense of others? You obviously have no idea that nothing lasts forever, not even you! Planet Earth, I felt your wrath long enough. Now you're gonna feel mine! You will know my name as the Demon of Hell! It's too late to atone for your sins, all you can do now is burn in hell!" Lightning flashes behind him accompanied by loud thunder, lighting up the background and allowing his appearance become more visible. After that lightning flash the scenery turns completely black leaving only Keith's blood red eyes glowing in the darkness. This bone-chilling message from Keith caused the Earth Council to tremble in fright. They now know what they're up against.

A/N: Chapter 7 done. Well everyone, I'm back from my trip of Las Vegas earlier than I thought.

Now in regard of this chapter, I made slight additions to Super Vandread's appearance. I added Black Dragon's armor color and its ranged weaponry, other than that Super Vandread still retains its capabilities as seen in the anime.

Well, as a bonus I decided to have Black Dragon undergo an upgrade.

Read and review, everyone.

Stick around for chapter 8.

Vader 23A.