Chapter 21 – Back Together

Maria did end up going with Brad and his little fleet of ships, but she didn't ride in one.

::How can you be holding on there?!:: Brad demanded from the cockpit.

Maria gave a short laugh at his surprise. "Magnetic soles in my boots! I had them properly upgraded when I switched out the jet shoes a long time ago. Joshua did a pretty good job in keeping us up to date with that sort of thing – I really doubt that anyone could have considered us obsolete."

Brad, who was definitely aware of Maria's state as a living being in a mechanical shell, grumbled something that Maria didn't quite catch. That was fine, though; she wasn't focusing much on their conversation anyway.

Ahead of them was Knives' "ark." The hulking piece of a colony ship that looked like a giant rectangle and, in Maria's opinion, had no business floating around in the sky like the hulking piece of junk it was.

Even if it had giant, Plant-like wings growing out from the sides. Those definitely had no business there.

Her eyes narrowed as she crouched closer to the surface of the pod that Brad was manning. "Let's do this."

::Kid, whatever it is that you're going to do, you'd better do it now!:: Brad yelled. ::Hit and run, let's go!::

Maria was already starting to build up heat and fire in her core, being careful to not melt into Brad's ship and making it difficult to fly as a result. As she raised her arms up in front of her, down on one knee as she as, flames started to lick at her arms – first red, then white hot as the air around her blurred like a mirage.

"White Flare, 25 percent!" Maria barked. "Fire Spark!"

The resulting blast of flames looked larger than it normally did – instead of being just the size of her head, it was the size of her entire upper body.

And there was enough strength in it to get sent flying into the side of the boosters at the back of the ark and set off an explosion of heat and light at the same time that a fired missile did. The ark listed to one side, but it didn't start to collapse to the ground.

Maria cracked her knuckles. "That should slow him down for a while." She looked over at the caravan of soldiers that was ahead of the ark, frowning. It looked like Knives had hit them with something just before they had gotten there.

::Was that a direct hit?:: one of the other pod pilots asked over the comms. At least the short-distance communications worked.

"It wasn't quite a direct hit," Maria called back. "But we've definitely done some damage to that monstrosity."

::Hopefully the Plants on that thing understand what it is we're doing:: Brad said. ::Man, do I feel sorry for hurting them, though-::

Another explosion went off inside the ship, causing it to list to the side even further and for something to fall out the bottom.

::What's that? It looks like someone just fell out of the ship!::

Maria's head lifted up a little at that, and she focused on the figures that were falling towards the sandy ground in the distance. "That's – I'm going down there."

::Why?:: Brad demanded.

"That could be Vash and Nicholas, that's why!" Maria pulled herself off Brad's ship and started plummeting towards the ground, leaving the ark behind as it struggled to regain its balance in the air.

Her hoverboard disconnected from her back; Maria reached out and grabbed it, pulling it under her before taking off towards the ground and the cross that was sticking up out of the sand.

Nicholas' weapon, and it clearly looked like it needed repairs.

There were footprints, too, and they were leading towards what looked like an outcropping of stone in the distance. They were also quickly disappearing in the swirling, kicked-up sand from the fight up in the air.

A crackling noise hit her ear, followed by a familiar voice. ::I dunno if ya can hear me but – I just got Vash out. We'll keep an eye out for you guys::

Maria didn't pause. She kept moving forward instead, at the quick pace that her hoverboard allowed, kicking up sand in all directions.

She was going to find those two as if her life depended on it.

Time Break

Finding the boys under the outcropping was easy.

Taking in the fact that she'd stumbled in and caught sight of Nicholas passed out in a pool of his own blood, with Vash looking no better next to him?

Maria landed on the ground out in the open and stepped into their shelter, causing Vash to look up at her in surprise.

"Maria—"

"Save your strength," Maria replied briskly. She reached behind her back and pulled out a backpack, red and worn like it had seen far better days and a lot of travel. Unzipping the largest pocket, she pulled out bandages and moved to kneel next to Nicholas, ready to bind up wounds he might have had.

She blinked in surprise when she found that there wasn't anything visible that matched any sort of wound – or the amount of blood the ground had absorbed. "What the…a metahuman? In my dimension?" She picked up the crushed device that was lying in Nicholas' open hand – the device that Jolt had given him months ago.

"Metahuman?" Vash repeated weakly.

Maria tossed him a blue, round fruit that didn't look like it belonged anywhere on the desert planet. He barely managed to catch it with his one hand. "A human with abilities that aren't normally gifted to them. Increased healing, strange abilities – these sorts of gifts are rare, and only when something else gets involved."

Vash cleared his throat nervously. "Um…something else got involved. I-I don't think Wolfwood would want me to say anything else about it."

Maria paused to consider that, then nodded shortly. "All right, I'll leave him alone. But you'd better eat that Oran Berry – it'll give you some of your strength back." She could hear one of Brad's ships coming up behind her and landing. "And at least you have other choices on where you can sleep. You've missed a lot in the last – what, seven, eight months? I'll make sure to fill you in when you've regained some of your strength."

Vash nodded wordlessly in response. He looked at the fruit in his hand cautiously, then took a bite of it as Brad and a couple others approached. His eyes widened. "What—"

"That," Maria said with a grin, "is something from another dimension. Keep eating it; you'll regain your strength faster that way."

Vash didn't need to be told twice; the fruit was gone in seconds, and he was licking his fingers of the juices by the time that Brad had gotten under the outcropping.

"You have no idea how much of a heart-attack you've given Luida," Brad said in a somewhat stern voice. "And you two definitely need medical attention."

Vash smiled weakly. "It's good to see you, too."

Time Break

Luida made sure that Vash and Nicholas were looked after, wrapped in blankets, and given a meal before they had to interact with anyone in the abandoned town near the base. And even then, only Brad, Maria, and Wildfire were really allowed to get close, besides a few select others.

Mostly because Vash and Nicholas ended up informing them about how exactly they'd managed to get off Knives' ship, on top of some vague references to what was happening to Vash while he had been trapped up there.

The tin can in Maria's hand that she had been drinking from was crushed in a sudden move. "I thought there was something off about Bluesummers when we saw him at the Dragon's Nest. He's not gonna do so well with trying to control me, that's a certainty."

Nicholas snorted. "What makes you say that?"

"As far as he knows, he needs an organic mind and body to be able to manipulate a person physically, right?" Maria shot him a grin that was more feral teeth than friendly. "I don't have an organic mind and body, even if I might choose to look like I do. He's gonna be in for a nasty surprise next time we meet." She was about to take a swig of her drink from the can, but then frowned when she saw that the liquid was spilling out between her fingers instead. "At any rate, it'll help me get some of this anger out over what happened to Joshua." She tossed the crushed can aside.

Vash stiffened a little. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Maria paused at the question, her shoulders stiffening a little. Wildfire, who was leaning against a wall near Maria, looked extremely grim.

"Your brother didn't see Joshua as a sentient being," Wildfire said. "Judging by the fact that his armor had been torn open and his core exposed. Jolt and First Aid looked him over after we brought him back to the shuttle, and there was proof of purposeful damage meant to keep Joshua from doing things Knives might not have wanted him to do."

Vash swallowed.

"He died seconds after we got to him," Maria said with an emotionlessness tone to her voice. She looked at Vash and Nicholas. "His core – his very soul – had been damaged to the point that he was unable to sustain his connection with his body any longer, and it sped off to the AllSpark." She sighed and shook her head. "I would like to ask Knives what he was thinking, using the man that your kind sees as their friend and practically adopted eccentric uncle like that."

"Uncle…?" Brad repeated in confusion. He blinked a couple times, then shook his head. "Know what, I'm not gonna ask. We've got other things to think about." He leaned forward in the chair he was sitting in. "Our recent attack has clearly slowed the ark's invasion. We could see the stripped Plants stuck to the side of it shine and stop working."

Vash's eyes narrowed in thought. "I think Knives has been jolted by the collected consciousness of the entities he's combined. When I was near him, it was almost like his sense of self was being swallowed by the rest."

Maria's eyes narrowed slightly at that. "You mean that he's turning into a hive mind of some kind? More than Plants are normally?"

"…something like that. Plants normally are connected by nature, but the two of us aren't hooked into the network like the rest of them." Vash adjusted the blanket around him. "Because we're independent – we can move outside of the bulbs and interact with this dimension freely – we don't feel that connection as much. I don't know how much time Knives spent talking to our sisters, but there's no way he's surviving being connected as he is right now."

"Where is Knives now?" Nicholas spoke up. He'd taken over an entire couch and was lying across it, wrapped up in his blankets.

"His course is mostly a straight line at this point," Jolt spoke up grimly. "He has passed Carcassas and is headed towards East December."

Vash's expression hardened at that.

Nicholas pulled his head under the blankets. "Is that so?"

"There are a lot of people trying to stay ahead of him too," Wildfire spoke up grimly. "They're abandoning cities and practically crowding together like sardines. We've been doing what we can to pick up stragglers and survivors and making sure they're not killed, but the shuttle can only be in so many places at once. And even if we were to help the caravans move, our alternate modes aren't built for travel across deserts." She made a face. "The Sea of Rust is bad enough, but an entire planet of that? No way are we going to do very well here for long."

Maria nodded in agreement.

"There's something else too, though," Brad spoke up. "And I don't think that you two know about it yet."

Maria and Wildfire blinked, then exchanged looks.

"According to our most recent analysis, the fleet from Earth may arrive earlier than planned."

Nicholas threw the blanket back abruptly as Vash leaned forward.

"Really?!" Vash said in surprise.

Brad nodded as Maria and Wildfire raised eyebrows.

"This isn't entirely good news," Brad pointed out. "It means we've got less time to work with. We have to stop Knives before the ships arrive."

"Because then they'll get caught in the crossfire too," Maria said, nodding.

"There's something else here, too, isn't there?" Wildfire looked over at Jolt. "The humans are still using Plants on Earth, too."

Jolt nodded in response. "They are, yes. They're probably using them on their ships in order to reach here quickly." He looked over at Vash. "You've been near him for the last several months. Considering what he's done, would he…"

Vash nodded in response to the blond-and-blue-haired figure. "Knives will be able to do it. His reach and the Plants he's absorbed into himself are responsive enough to reach beyond the stratosphere and conduct intricate operations. If he can send them far enough without worrying about the connection degrading..." He sighed. "All he'll need to do is absorb them one by one."

Brad slammed his hands down on the coffee table. "Damnit! That must have been his plan all along!"

"He's planning on taking out our hope for survival…and then likely using the ships from Earth to construct himself a way to get to Earth," Maria said, eyes narrowing. "We can't let that happen."

"No, we can't," Wildfire agreed. "Which means that we're going to have to come up with something that'll—"

Shouting started going off outside of the room they were sequestered in, causing them to turn their gaze towards the shuttered window.

"What the hell…?" Brad pulled himself to his feet and moved over to the door and pulled it open. "What the hell's going on out here, huh?" He stepped out.

Maria was about to follow after him when she saw Vash rising to his feet. She went over and offered him a shoulder to lean on before making their way towards the door.

Upon catching sight of the familiar figure who was approaching, Vash's cautious expression quickly switched to relief. "Marlon!"

"Hey!" Marlon grinned. "You really are alive, you vagabond!"

"I was gonna say the same thing about you!" Vash replied with a wide grin. "How have you been?!"

"Well, everyone in town had finally left," Marlon said with a shrug. "I set myself down to accept my fate with one last supper, when I was visited by a rude guest. That guest had the nerve to ask me to make one more gun. I told them not to be foolish. The world being in the state it's in, he was surely dead. But the guest wouldn't listen." He paused, looking Vash over. "And it appears the woman was right. Take it."

He tossed a package at Vash, who was barely able to catch it in one hand. His eyes went wide at the shape of it as Marlon started walking off.

"Marlon – that woman!" Vash called after him. "It wasn't—"

"Keep it up," Marlon called back. "If you survive, I'll pay my respects."

"What about Nicholas' burden?" Maria called as Marlon started to walk past the empty house they'd taken up momentary residence in.

"The hell you callin' my Punisher?" Nicholas called back from where he was crouched in front of the building.

"I'm calling it what I see it as," Maria replied without pause. "A burden."

"And a burden it is," Marlon looked over the broken outer shell of the long end of the cross, which had been bent in pieces from Nicholas' and Vash's fall from the ark. "Well, I'll see what I can do."

Nicholas eyed him suspiciously.

"It's okay, Wolfwood," Vash called over. "Just give him two days; it'll be back to normal by then."

Nicholas didn't look too happy about that, but he grunted and muttered something.

Marlon nodded and took the weapon, slinging it over his shoulder with a grunt. "Man, this is a real piece of work! I'll do my best to make sure that it's in good shape again, though – count on that!"

Maria smirked and shook her head a little as the man dragged the gun off. "I guess we're gonna be here for a couple days, aren't we?"

Vash looked at Maria curiously. "We?"

"Soundwave, Sparkseer, and First Aid can handle shuttling people out of danger zones for now," Wildfire said. "Unless you want me to call them here so that we can start strategizing more quickly."

"You're really willing to put yourselves in the line of fire like that?" Vash asked in surprise. "This isn't—"

"This became our fight as soon as Maria got involved," Wildfire replied with a grin. "Trust me, this kid has got a lot of pull on Cybertron, and when her message came through we knew we had to do something."

Vash blinked in surprise, and he looked over at Maria.

Maria shrugged one shoulder. "I may have been born on Earth, but I have a second home on Cybertron with Wildfire. The Cybertronians who have seen the two of us together don't know about our history unless they were involved in their own war centuries ago."

"So when the message got through, Sounders made sure that Ultra Magnus heard about it, and that got us moving," Wildfire said with a smirk. "So you've got us at your back, and if anything else goes wrong Jolt over there can bring in back-up if we need it."

"That's the idea, yes," Jolt confirmed.

Vash looked floored by this. "I…thank you."

Wildfire chuckled and ruffled Vash's fallen-flat hair. "We've got a long ways to go; don't thank us yet. This war is long from over."

Jolt nodded in agreement. "I'm drawing up plans for another prosthetic for you so that I can put it together and attach it back at the base as soon as possible. Is there anything you'd want added to it? A stun charge or—"

"Stun charge?" Vash looked at Jolt with an expression of surprise. "You can do that?"

Jolt held up one hand; bright blue sparks flew from his fingers. "Joshua and I have and had the same ability; the two of us figured out how to recreate it artificially. It may take some time to get yourself acclimated to that power, but it should prove useful."

Vash stared at Jolt for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"In the meantime, you should get back in there and sleep," Brad said, pointedly looking between Nicholas and Vash. "We'll get moving in a couple days to start thinking about what we're doing next."

Vash nodded in agreement, becoming serious again as Nicholas flicked his cigarette away from him. He looked moody and grim – unusually so.

Maria decided that she'd ask him about what was bothering him later.