No sooner than the moment the final two halves of the dome closed than the rest of Queen's forces took flight. Every remaining plane that Queen had been holding in reserve for this moment took flight and filled the skies once more with a ridiculous amount of war machines.
It was almost funny to see as both of them had apparently reset everything back to the beginning. Only this time Queen didn't need to waste a single plane trying to break through energy barriers. Immediately as the fortress was consuming its damaged parts and replacing whole blocks with new segments was Queen carpet bombing the area with her fleet.
This time Queen began air dropping in her Vulcans and dozens of armoured cars right into the fortress, obliterating any defences the moment they showed themselves. Apparently, Queen had been holding back her best planes because this time the planes were tanking shot after shot against their own defence as they made sweep after sweep throughout the city. Genesis and Sundancer had no issue causing as much destruction as possible. We carved destruction all over the place, destroying the fortress city faster than it can replace the damage with new parts.
I convinced Trickster to start swapping out the blocks of metal and glass the Vulcans were producing with rubble blocks. Although I might have had to subtly threaten him with the idea of me slipping the fact he wouldn't help to Queen if he did do it. So… maybe I made another enemy. But whatever, I wasn't exactly friends with any of these people anymore. Except maybe Brute, or PillowMan and his sister. But even then I wasn't so sure.
The Citadelian, roughly the size of Brockton Bay though maybe a little bigger, was burning. Countless smoke stacks rose up everywhere from the dozens of us assaulting it. I managed to finally get Reaper inside The Citadelian. A few of the thrusters flicked on and off to confirm that Reaper had some control over The Citadelian. The plan was that he would go through and start systematically shutting down the fusion reactors within. But it was going to take a while before that had any real effect with how many there was bound to be.
I instead floated high above The Citadelian and watched the fight continue. Brigadier had basically lost, but he was being a pain in the ass about it. We were systematically destroying the surface of The Citadelian, and there was no way he couldn't know about Reaper forcing his energy sources to stop producing. But he was slowing us down as much as he could. Never mind the fact that he had erected that dome thing that was pretty much impossible to break through, but every single weapon was still blowing some of Queen's planes out of the sky and ripping Sundancer's suns apart.
It didn't bother me that much, he was only prolonging this for however long it would last. Which only meant Queen's Vulcans had more time to steal his own fortress from him. What I did concern me was the fact that I saw Brute and Toll slip inside the domes before they finished closing. And the steady stream of notifications of Troll's deaths let me know they were going after Brigadier. With a vengeance, apparently.
I felt the power that we keeping me in this form slacken the longer I was out of combat. I could help the others destroy the place. It would keep me in this form for a while longer, so long as I was fighting. But that wouldn't help us get Brigadier, only getting into the dome would do that.
I little fact I had picked up a while back was the fact that the largest bomb ever detonated, the Tsar bomb, released as much energy as the sun hits the entire planet with in two seconds. With that in mind, I took my form higher and put myself in the sun. But I suppose, compared to the entire planet I was relatively small, I wasn't picking up energy fast enough. I looked around for something with more energy. I could throw myself into The Citadelian's thrusters or I could fly around the remaining defences and absorb some more energy that way. But it wasn't fast enough for what I wanted. And then I saw exactly what I needed.
I pulled out my miraculously unharmed phone and dialled up Queen.
"Heeey Tsu!" Queen chirped from the other end immediately after picking up.
"Hey Queen, you know that big dome in the centre of things?"
"Yeah?"
"Imma break it." Queen paused for a moment.
"Neat. I'll get things ready." We hung up at the same time and I saw her planes stop attacking for the moment, rising up above the cloud layer to join me and falling into formations that left them circling The Citadelian like metal vultures.
I turned my built up energy into directing towards the edges of Brockton Bay and within seconds found my target. Legend.
"Legend!" I called. He floated passively and let me approach before speaking.
"What is it?"
"I need you to shoot me."
"What?" I grinned at him.
"I need you to shoot me. Hard as you can. Is that so strange?"
"I shoot villains a lot, but usually there is a little more context."
"Here's your context. I'm a villain, you a hero, now blast me like you're trying to rip the planet in half." Legend shook his head but raised a hand anyway. Next thing I know my vision went a brilliant bluish white. I was vaguely aware of a pleasant stinging sensation going all over my body as I absorbed the energy. But then I thought of something absolutely horrible and I just couldn't resist saying it.
"Oh yes, daddy hit me harder!" Instantly the beamed stopped and the look an Legend's face, or at least the part of it I could see, was the greatest goddamn thing I had ever seen. I immediately cracked up laughing so hard I fell over, which in when your float in mid air means I did a backflip.
"Was that all you wanted to do?" Legend asked me sourly.
"Nah, but it was fun though. The energy you gave me should be enough. Ta-ta for now." I flew away before he could say anything else. I thought back to his expression again and snorted. Too good, too good.
I positioned myself above the domes and watched Queen's planes go out and began turning to make another pass. Down below I saw the Travelers doing the most damage while the fleet of Vulcan's cleared away more and more of Brigadier's fortress. I hope it's annoying him, because he sure annoyed me.
As the planes were making their return trip I flipped myself upside down and drew on all my stored up power. Legend gave me everything I would need to crack those domes open like a bloody walnut.
My vision went blurry as I went blasting downward at what I would expect to be the speed of sound based on the sonic boom I just absorbed into my energy banks. I was getting ready to wonder if I had hit it or not when I suddenly felt a wall slam into me. I'm not sure how to describe it beyond it felt like hitting a brick wall, but without stopping. It felt the metal crashing and bending and push against me every stop of the way feeling just as hard as if I was simply pushing against it with human strength. Only I didn't stop, I couldn't see what was happening but my sphere of influence provided me with enough detail to know I was fucking up the dome big time. It was like looking at multi colored strobe lights through a kaleidoscope but with a significant amount of more exploding metal.
I suddenly felt myself falling as I broke through the last layer of the dome and slammed into the ground beneath. I was a little bitter as I felt all my stored up power leave and the transformation fade away. Stupid finicky power, I didn't even know I could use a transformation power so hard that I actually lost it. I guess that's another thing I'll have to write down.
I got back up and dusted myself off and looked around. I was standing in a massive crater of metal beneath a hole that looked like someone took a giant pair of scissors to the tops of the domes. I only had a moment to realize that there was an innumerable amount of missiles and bombs filling that gap and heading straight for me.
I wasn't sure if everything Brigadier built was made so it exploded if damaged too heavily or if that was a side effect of my power, but when the explosions went off they really went off. I had my back turned and was already running when the bombs it and the force slammed into me. My vision went blurry for a moment and I was vaguely aware I was spinning through to air before coming to a sudden stop as I slammed into one of Brigadier's buildings. Which also exploded.
I hit another building which thankfully didn't blow up in my face and I had a chance to let the room stop spinning before I brought myself off the floor and brushed myself off. I guess I had to thank my power for fireproof anime clothing. I had also discovered that the more revealing my clothing was the more indestructible it was, by some anime law of physics or whatever. That's why I switched to a qipao. It was more sexy and maintained an asian theme while also giving me that durability boost. I would have just put on the smallest bikini I could have fit into, but I have to at least pretend I have standards. That, and it would get kind of annoying if every straight male I encountered suddenly experienced rapid blood loss through their nose. Even then it was a hard trade off for near invulnerability.
I heard fighting going somewhere else and quickly ran towards it, acutely aware of the even more pleasant stinging sensation coming every time I touch the electrified metal of The Citadelian.
And stopped the moment I saw it. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. Brigadier got a mecha before I did? What? By what rule of anime is that?
Brigadier's mech wasn't as glamorous as the rest of his fortress, but it was very clearly Dragon level type Tinker mech. Had the vague shape of a gorilla if was made up with just a ridiculous amount of armour across it. It stood nearly three stories tall when on all four legs and each piece of armour had to be at least a foot thick, like the kind of armour you might find on a battleship.
Every last piece of armour and every one of the many different defensive guns had its own pinkish blue force field surrounding it, and probably had several more kinds of defences included in it too. In terms of weaponry, it seemed to be packing just as much power as his whole fortress. With flak guns, sonic beams, lasers, artillery cannons, anti-aircraft stuff, and more than a few missiles in there. Typical Tinker cheating, although with Queen on our side I don't think we have room to complain as I'm not sure Alexandria could have broken into this place by herself.
However, I was glad to see that the only weapon the mech was using was its sonic cannons every time Brute leapt in the air towards it. Otherwise, it just used its gorilla hands to smack, smash, grab, and destroy the two of them as they fought.
So naturally, my first reaction was to join the fight by bringing a bokken straight into its face.
The force of my strike sent the mech reeling backwards for a few seconds before booster jets stabilized it and it fell hard back onto all fours. For a face, there was a projected face of Brigadier himself. He was old enough to have a grey moustache on his face and a well worn determined angry look etched into his features. He was wearing some type of military uniform with a black beret decorated in stars.
"Wow, really going all in on the whole Brigadier thing huh?" I asked smugly as I stuck my own landing and shouldered my bokken.
"And just who are you, little girl?" I was aware of Brute and Troll walking into sight behind me. Brute's clothing was very torn Troll was duel wielding a pair of Queen's rail guns.
"Little girl? The name is Tsundere." Brigadier's eyes narrowed.
"Ah yes, based on the Japanese character trope I assume? Well, forgive me if I don't take criticism on my theme from a girl clearly too obsessed with foreign cartoons." Jackpot. Not only did this guy like to monologue, he also wants to have an actual argument. I could feel my power welling up exponentially with every word.
"At least mine makes sense." I countered. "I bet you never even served in the military, let alone earned those stars." Not a hard leap to make. There was a reason there weren't any capes in the military, because most of them would have triggered during boot camp or while fighting against caped threats. Let alone any of them make it to a general or brigadier before triggering. And judging how he scowled at me, I think I hit close to the mark.
"And just what castle do you think Queen of the Castle is a Queen of? Because last time I checked, I was the only one here with a castle of any sort."
"A castle we're currently in the process of stealing. So maybe you shouldn't be waving that around like it means something because I just head butted your ultimate dome hard enough it cracked like an egg shell."
"Insolent girl! What exactly are you hoping to accomplish by helping that mad woman? What do any of you hope to accomplish by fighting me? All you have done here today was make an enemy of me and tentative allies with the unstable Mad Tinker. And when you have shunned her and sent her on her way like all the others have before you, I'll come back for you and make sure you know what it means to fight a war with me!"
"What do I hope to accomplish? Well, right now it is my sincere hope that I can be a two-in-one pain in your ass. And Queen is a friend, I wouldn't be a good anime character or a good person if I turned my back on her after this." Brigadier actually laughed at that.
"Friends? Queen of the Castle doesn't have friends. She has people that have what she needs for short periods of time. You are no different, no one has ever been different. At the end of this you'll see she is too dangerous and more trouble than she is worth and send her on her way. Queen is alone for a reason, and she always has been. Or do you think those pancakes she is always making are just naturally that good?" Oh, this motherfucker did not just try that card. How long has he been spying on her like that? Well, I guess when his sole focus in life is killing one person in particular you'll learn things like that, but still; that is creepy.
"Oh, I don't know. I don't plan on turning on her, she is too much fun. How about you Troll?" I rolled my head and looked back at him with a silly grin. His Lenny face mask seemed to match it.
"Same here. Or at least not until I get my pirate battle."
"And how about you Brute? Would you dump Queen off if you were in our shoes." Brute seemed to think about it for a second.
"Crazy tinker girl? No. She is sweet girl, batshit crazy, yaes, but sweet girl."
"Well, that's three of us." I told Brigadier. "As in three more friends than you have. That is an awfully empty city you have out there. Tell me, how long has it been since you have had any real human contact? Did you have a wife? Kids? Friends and family before you started chasing Queen all over the world or have you always been this messed up in the head?"
"Enough!" Brigadier shouted, slamming his gorilla fists on the ground. "Let us get this over with." So no more talking I guess. Fine by me, I got all the power I was going to need for this. Sometimes it is just so great to be me.
The moment he lifted an arm to smash the ground we were standing on I darted forward with an intense burst of anime speed, unsheathing a katana with my free hand and slicing into the joint between his arm and shoulder in one fluid motion. As expected, I didn't do any apparent damage that I could see. Typical of the fortress Tinker, creating a mech with no real weak points. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way.
Brute barreled into the gorilla mech's chest which gave me a moment to dart backwards and think up a quick plan of attack. Troll was firing wildly against every bit of Brigadier he could see while Brute just punched and slammed into it. Not much to go on, but I still had no idea why Brigadier wasn't using his weapon systems for anything other than knocking Brute down. I raised my swords, katana in my right hand and bokken in my left. I don't know whether smashing or slashing would be more effective, so I guess I'll just have to try both.
"Seismic Swing!" I shouted. My bokken glowed white with some sort of massive power right before I leapt forward and slammed it into the mech's right arm. Brigadier pushed me and the swing away like it was nothing and charged forward.
Brigadier flattened Troll.
"Wind Cutter!" This time my katana moved so fast that a thin vacuum field opened up behind it as I bolted forward with it. The blade struck a force field on the mech's back and slid off like water before I kicked off and did a backflip away.
"Holy Shuriken Strike!" Six bright white shurikens flew outwards in wide arc inside the pitch black darkness the move summoned before coalescing on to the mech and exploding against the fields. Brigadier turned towards me as the darkness faded and opened up on my location with flak guns. I ducked and weaved in and out of his line of fire, sometimes cutting bullets out of the air as I went past before I made it all the way to the mech. I was leaping through the air when a sonic beam struck me and sent me reeling backwards before Brute struck Brigadier again. Troll popped up out of nowhere and fired an RPG at the mech. I followed close behind it with my anime speed. As soon as it exploded against Brigadier's force shield I leapt in the air and spun around before bringing my bokken across what would have been the mech's face. I saw the force field flicker for a second and knew we had to be getting somewhere, just not all that fast.
I heard a resounding crash behind me and turned to look at what made it. A second mech, this one standing tall like a human with several rocket pods, energy cannons, thrusters, laser weapons, and otherwise all over it. Each pick painted red and black. It was clearly made to be fast, as all its armour was light probably only half the thickness of Brigadier's gorilla mech. On its face was the displayed picture of Queen.
The mech pulled out two sword handles and pressed buttons on the sides of it, causing two bright white energy blades to spring forth at nearly the length of the mech itself.
"Plasma swords!" Queen sang before leaping up into the air and slamming both swords against the gorilla mech.
Acutely aware that either one of these two mechs could crush me just by stepping on me, I retreated for the time being and found Brute doing the same thing.
Now the weapons systems on both mechs were roaring not stop as the two of them traded fire back and forth. Brigadier seemed determined to keep Queen at a distance and was doing a pretty good job of it too. Missiles and cannon fire got traded back and forth, but Queen was amazing at dodging most attacks and Brigadier seem great at simply taking one hit after another. The surrounding buildings have been completely demolished entirely and then stepped on a few more times after that, turning the entire battlefield in one open arena where the two massive mechs fought with each other.
Every time Queen went into charge all of Brigadier's weapons would open up and push her back again, sonic cannons and flak guns bombarding her seemed to be the most detrimental. Then whenever Queen managed to start laying down serious fire with weapons that far out classed Brigadier's he would charge her, forcing her to retreat again and start over. Neither one was doing much to the other, but Brigadier had a lot more armour that could be chipped away than Queen did. We needed to flip this around.
"Brute, throw me," I ordered. He grunted his approval and I leapt into his open arms with two bokkens in my hands now. The next moment I was in the air, beginning to spiral.
"Comet Crash!" I called as the move popped into my mind and I named it instantly. As soon as the name was called I added more spin to my spiral until to everyone else I would have looked like a blurry Tsundere-coloured ball. I had the bokken crossed in front of me in an 'X' shape just before I crashed into Brigadier and fell to the ground in front of him. I was back up in a second and swung my bokken against the mech's legs.
A five or six lasers began targeting me, but I moved faster than them as I became a blur of movement around the mech. Brute soon joined me in the attack, moving just as fast as I was but without the anime side effects.
I found myself suddenly spending more time evading sonic beams and lasers than actually striking the mech. Brute was much the same, but we were distracting it enough that Queen came in and brought both swords down on Brigadier's head.
The mech raised and arm and caught both swords easily, possessing more raw strength than Queen's attack mech. Brigadier grabbed Brute with his other hand and threw him into Queen's mech, sending them both tumbling backwards. I jumped up and tried the strike him again, only to get back handed across the battlefield.
I saw Queen rising back up and opening up with hundreds of miniature and full-scale missiles. Brigadier leapt through them, causing a massive explosion that hid him from view for a few seconds before he emerged again. Queen dodged easily out of the way and threw Brute back Brigadier, knocking him off balance as he landed on the ground. Queen quickly followed up with another strike of her plasma swords and several strikes from her cannons.
Brigadier's mech was back on its feet in a second and the battle was back on. I could spot several force field panels had gone down, giving us a weaker point to strike. But it wouldn't be enough, my swords couldn't cut through that, and Brute couldn't land a good hit. Queen had already taken a lot of damage. We couldn't keep doing this.
Troll slid next me where I had landed and took his mask off. He was, of course, grinning at me. Probably having as much fun as I would be if I wasn't so focused on finding a way to get at Brigadier. That was another thing I found fun about this whole thing. Queen and Brigadier were the only ones whose innate power and strength meant anything. The rest of us needed to rely on being clever. If Skitter had a more useful power that let her be here I would almost shudder to think how much better off she would be here than me.
All the same, I had to think of some plan. I had something, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a plan yet.
"Reaper are you there?" Out of the ground in front of me Reaper's ghost form, indistinguishable from his real form except for the fact that part of it was inside the ground. "How long until you can jump in another machine?" Reaper held up two fingers then made a side to side motion with his hand. "Two minutes more or less?" I asked him. He nodded. I turned to Troll.
"You got anything that might be able to take out those force fields?"
"Let me check." Troll swiped his hands in the same motion I have seen him do time and time again as he opened his inventory. He reached in and pulled out something that was very clearly some kind of Tinker weapon.
"Damage is high, but the condition is still pretty low. Might not survive the fight, which normally means it will turn into some sort of bomb. Fun."
"If that happens, throw it in Brigadier's direction. You ready?"
"Eyup." He answered. I sheathed my bokken and drew out a katana. I took a careful check of my power. I could feel a transformation, but it was far off. Too far to be useful in this fight. I had plenty of raw power to work with though But I could feel several unnamed moves lingering in the area too, along with the ones I had already used. This was probably the best I was going get during this. If I thought Queen would go with it I would have seen if I could get him to go into another conversation or monologue. Oh well, I guess it'll have to do.
I charged forward and slashed at one open plate of armour that wasn't protected by force fields. My katana bit into the metal a few inches but didn't do anything all that important. Brigadier's fists, laser, sonic beams, and a few missiles were quick to respond, but I was already running past him. Troll was approaching him from behind and began shooting him with the Tinker weapon. If I had to guess it was probably some sort of combination of a shotgun and a railgun, but knowing Tinkers it could have been anything.
I jumped gracefully through the air and landed on top of Queen's attack mech. Instantly I felt my power shift downward into the mech. Exactly what I was hoping for.
"Hey Queen?" I asked, looking down at Queen's projected face. "Any chance you could let me in? I think I could help if I was in there." Queen frowned.
"I don't need help, go away and let me fight Brigadier." As if to state this fact Queen's activated several thrusters and moved forward so fast that I nearly fell off. Brigadier lifted a fist to strike her as several missiles and flak guns fired against Queen. Suddenly Brute barreled into Brigadier's raised fist so hard the entire of the body of the mech twisted, giving Queen the opening and strike the force field on his back, shattering it. Suddenly Queen's mech and I were in the air as Brigadier threw us. Queen had to roll to avoid getting tramped as the gorilla mech tried to land on us.
"Damn it Queen! Let us help you!" I shouted at her as the mech continued on fighting after I had fallen off.
"I told you, I don't need help! Brigadier is mine." Brigadier's laugh was clearly projected to be louder. Prick.
"What don't you tell them your real reason you don't want help, Queen of the Castle." Brigadier said, slowly stalking forward as Queen unleashed weapon after weapon against his mech. Brigadier moustache curled as he smiled cynically. "You're afraid of depending on people because you fear they will turn on you. Just like you father did two years ago!"
Oh that was it. There are unspoken rules. Mostly people knew them as; everyone helps during an Endbringer attack, no one benefits from and Endbringer attack, you don't attack a person's civilian identity, and you don't take advantage of a fallen foe. Simple things like that. But you don't bring up a person's past, it was just wrong. This messed up creeper had just crossed so many lines I didn't know where to begin. Actually, that wasn't completely true. In a split second decision, I decided I would start with a new move I just named.
"Death Spiral!" I drew a second katana and took one step forward before my power took over. The world went black and I started flying forward with an increasingly rapid spin. Brigadier's mech was the only thing in the darkness beside myself that was visible and I aimed for the only spot that didn't have a force field covering it.
I tore through the mech's right arm like the metal was made of paper, and in true dramatic fashion, the separated arm exploded.
"Now Reaper!" As soon as the words left my lips Reaper burst out of the ground and jumped into Queen's mech. No hatch opened up so I settled on leaping on to the back of it and focusing all my power into effecting the attacking mech.
Instantly Queen seemed to realize what was happening because she darted forward the moment I had my grip and plunged a plasma sword right into the spot where I had cut Brigadier's arm off at. Queen's mech was instantly assaulted with missiles and sonic cannons, but for whatever ones she didn't dodge she tanked like they were nothing. That was Reaper's power at work in large part. He makes the machines he jumps into stronger and more efficient, and my own power certainly helped that.
Brigadier seemed to realize he was in trouble now because he started to swing his mech's remaining arm wildly. But Queen was faster. With one hand she cut through his remaining force fields and into armour on his left side, while her right punched him right in the face. The projection of Brigadier's face winked out but the mech kept fighting.
Twin artillery cannons on the ends of Queen's mech's wrists opened fire with a single shot and blew Brigadier's head clean off. Suddenly the mech swung its fist at us again and Queen raised a sword to block it. The blade cut partially through the fist before the blade suddenly broke and the fist came crashing in.
The sheer weight of the mech was the only thing that keep us on our feet long enough for Queen or Reaper to turn on the thrusters and launch us back into the fight without a moment to spare. Queen grabbed his other arm and pulled Brigadier off balance before using and elbow to knock him completely to the ground. Queen suddenly leapt backwards and lifted her arms up. The robotic arms began to whirl and change. Suddenly two massive energy cannons replaced her hands and her largest artillery cannons appeared on her shoulders, ready to fire two massive twin rounds at any moment. Brigadier's mech was struggling to get up as Queen charged the cannons, the green light getting brighter and louder up until I thought it was going to shoot.
And then a golden light cut clean through the waist of Queen's mech.
We collapsed to the ground in a heap of metal before I could look up. When I could look up I saw Scion floating above us, watching passively.
Scion's presence was absolutely terrifying to see. In the back of my head I knew that we were fighting on a scale only seen in past wars or the Endbringers, but in my mind, I guess I still thought this was really just a general super villain fight or something like that. Nothing Scion worthy. But still, the realization that someone so powerful they could probably render the entire Citadelian to dust in an instance is mind numbingly terrifying.
I heard Queen sigh through the speakers of her mech. Brigadier's mech struggled to its feet and 'looked' up at Scion, as well as it could without its head and began walking away.
"What's going on?" I found myself asking before I even knew what I was saying.
"Golden guy showed up." Queen sighed. "It is just no fun when he shows up, you know? Neither of us can fight the other, and it simply isn't a test anymore to see who builds the better stuff.
"So you two are just going to give up?"
"Yeah, we'll both leave and go lick our wounds until we're ready to do it again. Eventually one of us will be better than the other." I took a moment to process that and suddenly became aware that Scion was flying away. I looked at Troll and Brute, who had gathered behind me and were waiting.
"Hey Reaper, how about you and those two head back for now. I'll catch up in a minute." Reaper's ghost body floated up out of Queen's mech and drifted over to Troll and Brute both of which began strolling out of the dome to join the others. None of Brigadier's defences were up anymore.
I took a moment to shift my position and sat down next to Queen's projected face on the front of her mech. I looked at her for a moment, and she stared back at me.
"So, are you actually in there? Do I need to break this open to get you?" Queen shook her head.
"It's controlled remotely back here on The Spire. But it was hit pretty hard at some point so it is going to be damaged whenever you get back." Queen sighed and hung her head. "Tsu, what Brig said I-"
"Queen," I cut her off by raising my hand. "It doesn't matter. Whatever he meant, what ever it means to you. I don't care, you don't have to tell me." Queen drew her eyebrows together in a confused and worried fashion.
"You don't?"
"Nope." Queen smiled weakly, but I could see her eyes lighting up back into the way they normally do.
"Thanks for the help. I'm sorry I told you I didn't need it. I just… I never really had help before." I smiled at her.
"I wouldn't be a good anime character or a good person if I didn't help you. We're friends, you got that? That's what we do." Queen's smile broadened and her voice returned that her normal chirp.
"Okayyy Tsu! Oh, and by the way. This mech and everything else that crashed is set to explode in, like, forty seconds."
"Oh, thanks for the heads up," I said sarcastically before turning and running out of the dome and right off the edge of The Citadelian, crashing face first right into the bay as Brigadier finally left.