Chapter 25 : Aerial Warfare
Disclaimer: Capcom owns, I don't, etc. etc...Christ do I ALWAYS have to do this?
Yeesh...
Anyhow, enjoy!
Vent bared his teeth in a savage smile as he saw a familiar set of headlights ahead of him.
"Found you, Ibelis...!"
The Vizier hurtled forward as Vent gunned the engine.
"Play God on MY watch, will you...?" His finger hovered over the weapons control panel, just WAITING for Ibelis to come in range.
The reigning champ of the FFA caught sight of Vent's headlights in her mirror, and she gave a slight smirk.
"Come and get me, Guardian...If you can!"
As the Vizier's targeting system beeped its confirmation, and Vent gave a victorious yell, a brilliant flash lit up the night. He heard Model Z's warning shout, and barely had time to react as something massive slammed into the Vizier, with enough force to rock it back on its reinforced suspension. The Guardian leader let out a savage curse and fought the wheel as the Vizier skidded out of control, still hardly able to see through the blazing light.
As he finally brought the Vizier to heel once more, the light suddenly vanished, and the leader of the Guardians found himself face to face with a pissed off Gallidin Voltzer.
"YOU!" he cursed angrily. "I thought I ditched you a mile back, after I locked onto Ibelis!"
Gallidin sneered. "As if one measly bunker-buster would be enough to knock ME out of commission! You just caused a minor setback, that's all!"
He dug his claws into the armor of the Vizier, sparks flashing as his Pseudoroid talons dented and scratched the hardened ceratanium.
"Listen up, hotshot. BACK THE FUCK OFF! Ibelis is fucking MINE!" The Lightning Bullet snarled. "You and your precious Guardians have NO authority down here! This race is MY ground, so all of you little punks can just get lost!"
He reared up, right arm raised above his head as he powered up his green arm blades.
In response, Vent gave a feral roar of his own and slammed his hand down on the control panel.
" LIKE HELL, ASSHOLE!"
A blast of compressed air, and the Vizieer's entire windshield ejected, blasting out of the frame to smash itself to pieces on Gallidin's face. The force of the entire pane of munitions-proof glass breaking itself on his features was enough to stun even the Lightning Bullet's Pseudoroid body, rocking him back on his feet with the force. Shaking his head blearily, he lunged forward again, arm blades whirling to life.
"You'll pay for that, you little-"
Gallidin's angry yell was cut off as a fully charged X-Buster muzzle smashed itself into his snout hard enough to rock him back twice as far, Vent's Megamerged form actually coming halfway out of the empty windscreen with the momentum of the follow-through.
"X-action...HAAM-MMAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The Chosen One roared, before he cut loose with BOTH Charge Shots at once.
Needless to say, the two high power blasts, following milliseconds behind one another, and delivered from a muzzle that was practically embedded in Gallidin's face, had rather spectacular effects.
Ibelis swore and yanked the steering sideways as Gallidin hurtled past her, landing a good fifty meters ahead, and bouncing and rolling for a good dozen more again. With another roll he managed to get back to his feet, still skidding backwards. Spotting Ibelis heading towards him at full speed, he grinned and cracked his jaw back into place, his claws already starting to glow once more.
"Well, far be it from me to look a gift horse in the mouth...COME HERE, YA GENOCIDAL BITCH!"
He leapt forward, ready to do what he did best, as Ibelis gritted her teeth, already trying to bring her front weapons to bear on him.
Vent's eyes widened as he realized his mistake.
"Oh, HELL NO YOU DON'T! NO KILLSTEALING, YOU BASTARD!"
Dropping back behind the Vizier's wheel, he opened up with a full salvo of rockets, not even bothering to aim, his Buster arm blazing away through the open windscreen.
In return, one of Ibelis' mines blasted the Vizier ten feet straight up, while a dozen rounds of her Vulcans managed to tag Gallidin in the shoulder, rocking him back even as he continued to charge at her. Gritting her teeth, Ibelis veered sideways as the Vizier crashed back to earth, narrowly avoiding crushing her beneath its armored frame. Vent spun the wheel crazily, bring the rear of the car around to clock Gallidin straight across the face and sending him spinning upwards into the air with a strangled yell of anger. The Guardian commander was forced to dodge himself, however, as a wave of energy tracers shot past him, courtesy of a vengeful Ibelis.
She cracked a slight smile at Vent's frantic evasion, before Gallidin landed back on top of her, woozy, but still PLENTY mad enough to start hammering away at her bike with both fists.
"Really, two of you guys for just little old me? I'm flattered..."
"Eh, just means it's two desperate guys." Vent shrugged. "Or at least, he's desperate, anyway. At least I've still got a 'friend with benefits'."
Having long since lost track of Vent in the chaos, Ashe suddenly got the vague feeling that she should be blushing for some reason.
Gallidin paused for a moment, his eye twitching, before he turned and flipped Vent the bird.
"Yeah, fuck you too, asshole." The Pseudoroid growled, before Ibelis blasted him clear off of her with the activation of an OverShield of her own.
"OW! God damn it!"
With the combatants once again in motion, the battle began anew!
And then Queenbee kicked half a building down on top of them.
"Oh for the love of-NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN!"
Ignoring Gallidin's outraged wail, Queenbee blasted through the clouds of smoke, hot in pursuit of her red-winged enemy.
She caught sight of her just in time to receive an energy whip across the face for her troubles. Undeterred in the slightest, the Ex-Pseudoroid retaliated by swinging an ENTIRE FRIGGING WATER TOWER at her.
"Son of a-!"
WHAM!
Queenbee smacked her opponent halfway across town with a single strike, and then, almost as an afterthought, flung the entire tower after her. Pausing for an instant to regenerate her face, because after all, she did have to look good for her beloved Master, otherwise she might not get another chance to experience that amazing thing he could do with his tongu-
The Ex-Pseudoroid realized her body was heating up again, and she shook herself out of her perverted daze, blushing. Wiping off the drool, she charged back after her prey, rattling windows with the force of her passage. Right now, there was only room for one thing in her mind, and that was her Master's order. A single command that drowned out all other thoughts, that demanded and would receive nothing but one hundred percent of her willing obedience!
She could fantasize about the rewards for her body AFTER this was done...
"WAIT UP, GODDAMMIT!"
Panting, Ayano finally came to a stop in Queenbee's most recently vacated spot.
"Jesus...frigging...Christ...!" She wheezed. "How the hell...does she move SO DAMN FAST? One minute...she's getting thrashed as badly as me...and then the next she's a one woman demolition derby!"
She paused as she considered Queenbee's reaction to her 'Master's' last command.
"...Wow, she must REALLY be into S&M..."
Then she noticed Queenbee's golden form dwindling into the distance.
"ARGH! JUST...STAY STILL, DAMNIT!"
Yelling in frustration, Ayano's energy wings blazed, launching the harpy girl after the ex-Pseudoroid once more.
In the ruins of yet another office complex, the red winged angel staggered back to her feet, grimacing. After crashing back to earth from Queenbee's last strike, she had barely managed to avoid being crushed by the water tower that had been thrown afterwards.
Now, spotting Queenbee charging towards her once more, the nameless flier managed a grin and licked a trickle of blood off of her lips.
"All right then...Come and get it!"
Her whip lashed out once more, the end looping securely around a strut of the discarded water tower.
"How about a taste of your own medicine?"
Queenbee had no time to react to the gleeful challenge, as seconds later, the entire water tower came swinging around at her, firmly attached to the end of her opponent's glowing green whip. The massive, makeshift flail smashed her clean out of the skies, like swatting a fly with a wrecking ball. She demolished a multi-storey car park with the force of her crash landing, only to be hit even harder by a second swing of the massive weapon.
As the red wings of the mysterious fighter lifted their owner back into the sky, the flyer's eyes widened as a flash of gold emanated from the wrecked car park.
"Shit...!" Yanking her whip free, she dove as the water tower, now shredded into two pieces, shot past her, disappearing into the night. Before she could make any comment about that, she heard a familiar humming sound and looked up to find Queenbee right in front of her, and swinging an entire pickup truck at her face.
Another devastating impact, a crash of metal, and a scream of twisted steel, and the flyer hurtled back to earth, blasting a sizable crater in the road with the force of her landing.
"Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK?"
Ignoring the outraged yell of her enemy, Queenbee charged up her swarm, the golden fog coalescing into a single, mighty lance. Energy crackled over its' surface as Queenbee pumped more and more power into it, almost too much for the weapon to withstand. Cracks racing through the blade, light shining forth as the condensed nanomachines fought to contain the overwhelming force sealed inside, Queenbee drew her arm back, still channeling power into it.
"BROOOOKEN...!" Her eyes blazing, she leaned forward and put the full force of her body behind it, the recoil of the throw great enough to send her four feet backwards.
"STIIIIIIIIIINGEEERRRRRRR!"
They felt the effects of the resulting detonation as far as thirty kilometers away, the plume of light emanating from the explosion bright enough to light up Legion City airspace for miles around. Solid steel and concrete simply disintegrated, vanishing in a haze of destructive glory.
In terms of sheer overwhelming force, it was comparable to even Ibelis' almighty Deathstrike laser.
In the FFA, so close to Ground Zero, racers went flying, their vehicles picked up and thrown head over heels through the air as the shockwave rippled outwards.
"Son of a..." Above the city, Steve jerked the airship's controls, pulling it away from the massive explosion. Leaning halfway out of the open hatch in the cargo bay, one hand gripping tightly to the ceiling rail, Cap slowly lowered his other hand away from his headset.
Staring in complete disbelief through the hurricane force winds raging past him, he actually had to stop for a few minutes while his brain thought of a suitably pithy comment to make about the sight before him.
After several minutes, he gave up, and instead settled for:
"Okay, the rally Champ, I can understand. Maybe even that crazy-assed Guardian leader, because he's got goddamned BIOMETALS. But a goddamn SUPPORTER? Seriously, is there ANYONE in this race WITHOUT A FUCKING TACTICAL NUKE OF SOME KIND?"
"Well...there was that Gallidin guy, wasn't there?" Steve yelled back.
"He's a Pseudoroid! HE'S ALREADY A WALKING HOLOCAUST!"
"Oh." Steve seemed to consider that for a moment. "Okay, I got nothing."
The raider Captain facepalmed with his free hand.
"I better be getting paid for radiation treatment after this..."
"Hey, I heard alcohol is good for that!"
"Wha...Okay, that is officially THE dumbest thing I've heard you say all day, and BOY was there a lot of competition. There is NO way that's true."
Steve leaned back, hefting a bottle of vodka.
"Does that really matter?"
The Captain stared at the bottle for a moment.
It sloshed invitingly.
"You make a convincing argument, Mr. Steve. Now GIMME!"
As the colossal mushroom cloud before her slowly faded, the white hot fires of destruction cooling to a dull orange glow within its' billowing heights, Queenbee lowered her arms, breathing hard.
As the rush of her Master's command finally faded from her system, she gave a relieved sigh. She had done it, accomplishing her Master's first real order!
"Wing...FIIIIIRE!"
The cloud of smoke burst apart, a massive crimson beam of energy shooting skyward, ripping apart the air to slam into Queenbee with the force of a train.
"Gah!" Recoiling, she did her best to shield herself from the intense heat. "Wh...what is this...?"
In response, the beam intensified, a burning wave of blazing heat that set the very air on fire, powerful enough that even a fire-type Pseudoroid such as herself couldn't withstand it. An explosion on her back and Queenbee cried out in pain as her wings overloaded, blasting her out of the beam's path and sending her careening back to earth.
Or at least, that would have been the case, had she not been caught halfway by a familiar pair of hands.
Ayano gave a grunt of exertion, sinking a few feet with the impact, before managing to level out.
"Holy...Man, you REALLY need to lay off the snacks!"
Queenbee shook her head slightly, still a bit dazed from the explosion.
"U...uuuu...Wh-what happened?" She looked up. "Ayano?"
"Yeah, it's me." The harpy-type grinned. "I FINALLY managed to catch up to you! I told you to stop and wait for me, but noooo, you wouldn't listen!"
"What was that attack that hit me...?"
Ayano looked past her and paled.
"I uh...I think she might have something to do with it..."
Turning to follow the harpy's gaze, Queenbee saw all too easily what she was talking about.
Rising from the blazing wreckage left by Queenbee's earlier attack, her still nameless opponent appeared, rising slowly up towards them. Her massive red wings were spread out behind her majestically, open at last to their full extent. This however, was not drew her attention.
Her wings were glowing.
Looking closer, Queenbee's eyes widened as she realized the source of her foe's attack. Too small to be seen at a passing glance, every square inch of her opponent's wings were covered with miniaturized microwave emitters, dozens of tiny rectangular prisms, each glowing with the heat of molten lava. From here she could make out at LEAST a thousand of the things, on one wing alone, with possibly more simply invisible from this distance.
Seeing Queenbee's stunned expression, the angel smirked, her arms folded as she continued to rise.
"Impressive, aren't they? My Burning Wings can carve their way through anything, melting even the most resistant of metals! Not even Fire or Thunder-element opponent's can survive a blast from these!"
She gave Queenbee a smug look.
"That means you too, hybrid machine."
Queenbee paled. Could it be...that this woman knew who she really was?
Seeing the unspoken question written all over Queenbee's startled features, the nameless angel grinned and brought one finger up to level it directly at her.
"If you want to know the answer, then just try to defeat me, Ex-Pseudoroid!"
At that challenge, Queenbee growled and started to get back up. She didn't have time to be lying around like this...! Her Master had given her a command! She could not lose so long as that command remained unfulfilled!
Ayano winced slightly as Queenbee half collapsed back onto her shoulders.
"Ow...hey watch what you're doing!"
Queenbee ignored her, instead looking around at the source of her sudden lurch. It seemed the damage to her wings had been more extensive than she'd thought. It would be at least another seven minutes before they were repaired enough to fly properly. Until then, she could just barely manage to hover in place.
"Uh...you okay?"
At Ayano's question, Queenbee merely shook her head.
"I can defeat her, but I need to finish recovering first. As it stands now, I can't move properly."
Ayano stared at her for a moment longer, then appeared to come to a decision.
"All right then!" She let go of Queenbee, allowing the startled Pseudoroid to find her own balance as she came to a stop in the air.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"Well, what's it look like? You need somebody to stall her until you get back up to par, right?" Ayano slammed her fists together, lightning crackling over their surface.
"You're a Fire-type, and I'm a Thunder-type! Between the two of us, I think we can manage!"
Queenbee stared at her, bewildered.
"B...but why? Aren't you supposed to be on Ibelis' team? Why are you helping me?"
Ayano simply grinned.
"Because it's more exciting this way! What's the fun in just sitting back when there's a cool fight like this going on? Besides, this is how it always goes in all the manga, right?"
Queenbee sweatdropped.
"Uh...I guess?"
"All right then!" Ayano, drew her claws apart, tracers of electricity dancing between them, and fixed the angel with a dangerous grin.
"That means there's only one thing left to do!"
She straightened up, and pointed one finger to the sky,before swinging it down dramatically at the unimpressed enemy.
"The name is Ayano! Ayano Stratova! Flyer for Team Royale, and current holder of the world airspeed record! I'm your opponent, starting now!"
Dropping back down to a pose of readiness, she snapped her aviator goggles into place and gave a challenging smile.
"Your turn!"
The red angel stared blankly at her for a moment, then pressed a hand to her forehead with a rueful chuckle.
"It seems I'm forever destined to cross paths with straight-laced people like you..." She sighed. "Then again, I suppose I don't exactly hate that sort of thing..."
"All right then, my turn it is..." Resting one hand on her hip, she struck an arrogant pose as she responded to Ayano's challenge.
"I am Ferham of the Red Wings! Mercenary currently hired for the duration of this race, and holder of the current altitude record!"
Relaxing, she gave a grin. "So, how's that? Good enough for you?"
Ayano gave a whistle. "Wow, you're Red Wings?"
Ferham gestured to her, well, red wings. Ayano sweatdropped.
"Yeeeeeah...In retrospect, I probably should have caught that a little earlier..."
Queenbee simply stared.
"Um...This seems a bit...silly."
Ayano grinned. "Well, yeah, I'll admit it's a bit cheesy, but a duel's a duel, right?"
Ferham simply shrugged. "Don't look at me, I'm just playing along for fun."
Her aviator goggles glinting, Ayano's face turned deadly serious again.
"Then...here I come!"
[Cue Music: The Cage- Sonata Arctica]
Clenching both claws into fists, there was a flash of light, a rumble of thunder, and she punched two crackling meteors of energy towards Ferham.
She, in turn, simply rolled her eyes and smacked them aside with one wing, commenting to herself.
"...Gee, now why does this whole thing sound so familiar...?"
Somewhere in Legion City, Ace sneezed.
Ayano's wings flared, boosters powering up, and then she was gone, a sonic boom rattling windows in her wake.
"Wing...FIIIIIRE!" Rearing up, the red angel cut loose with another beam of blistering heat.
Not even stopping, Ayano did a perfect barrel roll, looping up and over the stream of fire, before slamming claws-first straight into the startled woman's chest.
"Argh!" Gritting her teeth against Ayano's raging electrical attack, she drew up one arm and smashed her elbow down onto the Harpy's back.
"Get the hell...Off of me!"
"Hell no!" Ayano shot back. "I'm not giving you a chance to break those wings of yours out again!"
Spinning around, she reared up, spreading her wings as she brought her powerful legs up. Metal sprang outwards from the sides of her boots, tilting upwards and locking into place as her talons appeared, all twelve inches of cold steel ready to do what they did best.
Her wings keeping her in position, she cut loose with a barrage of kicks that would have made any Street Fighter proud. A roundhouse right, followed by a spinning left, and then a dozen rapid, stabbing strikes, all seeking to do as much damage as possible, while she continued to alter the angle of her boosters, always keeping herself up close and personal with her opponent.
For her part, the red angel couldn't help but be forced backwards, barely able to shield herself from the furious onslaught. As blow after blow rained down, she growled and lunged to the counterattack. Catching Ayano's next kick on her forearm, she knocked it upwards, letting the sharpened claws whistle past her ear. Rearing back, she snapped the same arm forward, smashing her fist directly into her opponent's chest. As Ayano reeled backwards with a yell of pain, Ferham lunged after her. Seizing the Harpy girl's boot with both hands, she spun around, swinging Ayano in a wide arc, slamming her into a nearby flagpole, hard enough to bend it into a U-shape, before spinning around in the other direction and releasing her, hurling the girl tail-over-talons straight into a nearby wall. She crashed through it, and into the room behind, broken masonry following in her wake as she tried to recover.
"Wiiiing...!"
Ayano looked up and cursed as the familiar red glow lit the air. Digging both talons into the ground in a frantic search for traction, she threw herself into a sideways boost, her wings propelling her through the air in a desperate attempt to dodge.
"FIIIIIRE!"
The beam swept out, tracing a path of destruction through the environment as Ferham turned to follow Ayano.
The harpy girl ducked through one window, spun through a door and plunged down a hallway, before shattering another window and escaping as the building behind her burst into flames, Ferham's Burning Wing cutting through steel and concrete alike.
Turning to look back at Ferham, she swept one hand out.
"Thunder Needle!"
Four of Ayano's metallic tail 'feathers' separated from her, hanging in the air for a brief moment, before miniaturized engines whined to life and they shot off towards Ferham. The red angel dodged around the first two and struck out at the third, only to have them dart away, flying around her at a safe distance. After a few moments of ducking and dodging, the four feathers finally stopped, their pointed ends aimed directly at Ferham.
"Crud." The angel said succintly and dove. Moments later, all four feathers fired, beams of light intersecting at the point Ferham had occupied moments ago.
Looking up, she was rewarded by the sight of Ayano charging in again, taking advantage of the distraction in another bid for close quarters combat. Her eyes narrowed.
"Ohhhh no you don't..." Charging her right wing, she dodged two more of Ayano's electric spheres, waiting for the harpy girl to get close enough, before swinging the now-superheated wing around to smack her clean out of the air and into another maze of unfinished construction.
"Owww..." Ayano groaned, shaking her head even as she forced herself into a run, leaping off of the steel beam beneath her just in time to avoid another high power beam from Ferham's wings.
"Damn, you really like spamming that move, huh?" She grinned, already charging her claws in preparation for her next attack.
Then she caught a flash of green from Ferham, and her grin faded at a surprising speed.
"Ohshit."
With a panicked yelp, she ducked, Ferham's brilliant green energy whip slicing a few strands of hair from the top of her head. Firing her boosters, she yanked her legs up desperately as the whip cracked past her again, threatening to take them off at the knees. Throwing herself into a corkscrew, she spiraled through a maze of steel girders, spinning left, then spinning right, before-
"Wiiiiiing...!"
-a warning flash of red light ahead of her caused the Harpy girl to curse, braking hard.
"FIIIIIIRRRE!"
Unable to stop in time, Ayano made desperate grab for a passing support beam. Her clawed gloves scoring deep grooves in the metal, the I-beam groaning in protest as it bent under her weight, she managed to swing herself onto a new trajectory. Unfortunately, it wasn't as smooth as she would have liked, as the momentum from her 90-degree swing pitched her through a pile of building materials, bouncing her across a half completed floor before she finally crashed through another wall, back into the open air.
"Ugh..." she groaned, pressing a hand to her head. "Note to self: Work on landings..."
Then Ferham came around the corner with a vengeance, wings already charged for another shot, and Ayano cursed.
"No time to dodge...!"
And that really only left her with one option.
"What in...?" Ferham barely had time to finish her stunned sentence, her eyes widening in shock as 54 kilograms of Harpy-type reploid cannoned straight into her. Her Burning Wings discharged reflexively, the blasts passing scant inches away from the sides of Ayano's head and, incidentally, demolishing the penthouse suite of a hotel several miles away, but who cares about that, right?
The two flyers hurtled out of the air and into the side of another half-finished building, Ferham's whip clattering to the ground in their wake.
This structure, however, seemed to have been built much tougher than the previous buildings that had suffered the effects of their battles. As the dust settled, the smoke parted to reveal the two combatants embedded in a sizable crater in the wall, broken bricks and mortar falling around them. Ferham's back was to the wall, both legs pressing hard on the weakened stone as she fought back against Ayano's pressure. Her hands were locked with the Harpy's, in a furious contest of strength as they sought to overpower one another. Ferham, to get free of Ayano, and Ayano to crush Ferham into the cold stone wall.
"Geh...you're pretty tough for a non-combat model...!" Ferham gritted.
"Power...isn't everything...!" Ayano managed. "Speed's plenty tough...once you know...how to use it...!"
Sparks flew from their clenched fingers, Ayano's clawed grip struggling against Ferham's elegant gloves.
"And up close..." Ayanno gave a dangerous smile, "I've got more than enough...power, too!"
Her arm mounted boosters, the false 'wings' that made her a Harpy-model, roared to life, plumes of energy erupting and blasting twenty feet into the air behind her. Ferham's eyes narrowed as, bit by bit, she felt her hands being pushed back. The wall behind her cracked and began to shift, ruptures spreading out around her.
"Damn...you weren't kidding...!" She gasped, her forearms beginning to shake with the exertion.
And then...she smiled.
"But I'm far from done."
Ayano's eyes widened. "What do you..."
Before her surprised gaze, a hairline crack raced down the center of Ferham's breastplate, parting to reveal a perfectly concealed vertical seam. As the last locks released, her breastplate snapped open, each half swinging out to the sides on hinges built into the armor.
Ayano stared at Ferham's exposed chest.
"Um...those are certainly...impressive..." She managed, a slight trickle of blood flowing from her nose.
"You haven't seen anything yet." Ferham grinned.
The skintight black under-armor that barely managed to contain Ferham's ample assets began to glow ominously.
And it was an all-too familiar, menacing red glow.
"Breaaaaaast...!"
Ayano's face went white.
"Oh you have got to be fucking KIDDING me."
"FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRREE!"
SKA-BOOOOM!
The secret of Ferham's power was her extraordinarily powerful thermal generators. One for each wing, and a third one that served as her core. This third one, therefore, was considerably more powerful, as it was also responsible for keeping her functioning. It is this very same generator, however, that fuels her hidden ace, the frightening heat of her chest-mounted Fire Blaster, which she then renamed for more...anatomical accuracy...
The blast was twice the power and intensity of anything Ferham had thrown out yet. At point-blank range, it blasted Ayano straight in the face, smashing her free of Ferham and catapulting her half a mile backwards, a trail of explosions following her rapid passage across Legion City's skyline, accompanied a brilliant red lance of thermal energy.
In the silence that followed, Ferham's high-heeled boots tapped down lightly on the roof her whip had fallen to.
"It never fails." She grinned. "No matter who they are, not even the most battle-hardened opponent can resist a view like this...And if they're all straight-laced, upstanding characters like X, then they get too flustered to think straight."
Stretching her hands over her head, she let the cool night air wash over her exposed chest, the scantily-cut black armor still smoking from the intense thermal blast.
Satisfied that she'd done enough fanservice for one fight, she triggered her armor's locks, the pink and red breastplate closing over her chest once again.
Ayano gave a weak groan, and struggled to rise. After a moment, she fell back, her body still smoldering. It was only because she had been thrown back by the blast that she even had a face left. As it was, she was going to have a BITCHING sunburn for the next few weeks.
Ferham looked at the faint column of smoke that marked Ayano's crash site and smirked.
"That was a good line about power and speed, I'll give you that." she said finally, "But you forgot one thing."
"If power and speed aren't enough, then relying on your wits and cunning will always pull you through."
Bending down to pick up her whip, she spread her wings and took to the skies once again.
"Now..." Her eyes narrowed as she searched the dark air above Legion City. "Time to finish off that Ex..."
A flash of gold from up ahead, and she grinned.
"There!"
Her brilliant whip carved a bright green arc through the night as it lashed out at Queenbee-!
And stopped, as firmly as if it had struck a wall.
Ferham halted, a surprised look on her face. Tugging on the whip yielded no result, other than to pull it taut.
"What the hell...?" she muttered. Following the luminescent green line all the way to the end, her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Son of a bitch...!"
Queenbee slowly raised her head, blue eyes burning in the dark. Gone was the previous appearance. Now, heavy golden armor covered her arms from shoulder to fingertips, her hands encased in oversized, clawed gauntlets. Forged from the bodies of hundreds upon hundreds of her loyal micromachines they were an almighty armor that refused to yield, even to the most powerful of attacks. Seized firmly in their grip was the end of Ferham's whip, the brilliant green energy crushed between Queenbee's merciless talons.
In Queenbee's eyes, the seven minute timer expired.
"HaaaAAAAAH!" With a wild yell, she clenched her fists, green energy flashing outwards as it sought to escape her iron clutches, and then she yanked hard on the whip, a powerful pull that jerked Ferham forward before she could react.
Almost immediately, Ferham released the whip handle, already knowing where this was heading. Breaking off, she reared back, flaring her wings out to their full extent, and pulling her breastplate open with both hands.
"No time for mistakes now...!" she gritted, already realizing that this Queenbee was going to be a lot tougher than the last.
"Teraaaa...!"
Queenbee reeled back, caught off guard by Ferham's release of the whip.
"Fiiiiiiire...!"
The Ex Pseudoroid whirled back around to see Ferham's wings spread wide, her chestplate open, and a brilliant scarlet light already blazing like the heart of three suns in one.
"BLASTEEEERRR!"
A supernova in the night sky, the burning glory of the Red Winged Queen of Flame as she unleashed the full power of her triple generators.
On the ground, Celtis looked up in amazement.
"What the hell is that?"
Model O followed her gaze, and roared.
A lion's roar that echoed through the streets of Legion City, unnerving many of the other racers, and sending a chill down the spine of those who knew that roar.
As one, Gallidin Voltzer, Ibelis Royale and Vent paused in their relentless war with one another to look up at the burning sky.
"Is it just me, or does that sound like somebody's about to get FUCKED UP?"
Gallidin gave a brief shudder at his last memory of that roar.
"Buddy, you have NO idea."
Ibelis said nothing, staring wide-eyed up at the specter of her sister outlined against the brilliant light above her.
"SISTER!" For a brief second, she almost swerved, a blind panic overcoming her, before she managed to force it down, the image of her sister fading, to be replaced by the sight of Queenbee in all her armored glory, facing the oncoming blast.
The younger Royale sister gritted her teeth in anger, at herself for that moment of weakness, and at Queenbee, for wearing her sister's face...
Celtis gunned the engine, and sent Model O rocketing up the face of another building.
"Shit...! If she gets hit by that...!"
Lowering Model O's canopy, she reared up, already reaching for the Hades at her waist...
Only for Model O to give an angry growl and slam the cockpit shut on her again.
"OW! Hey, what the hell are you-?"
She stopped as she saw what happened next.
[Cue Music- GaoGaiGar OST: Yuusha ou Tanjou!- Masaaki Endoh]
Queenbee gave a savage growl and hurled aside the useless whip. As the blazing holocaust of heat raced towards her, vaporizing all in its path, she drew herself up, snapping her left hand out, palm open and aimed directly at the brilliant scarlet beam.
"PROTECT SWAAARRRRM!"
A wave of gold erupted, spiraling in front of her open palm to form a massive, whirling field, a brilliant galaxy of golden lights.
Ferham's beam slammed into it, the raging heat of destruction versus Queenbee's glorious light of genesis. As fast as the micromachines were destroyed, still more reappeared, taking their place in a neverending cycle of rebirth.
Every cloud above the city was blown away, a colossal wave of force blasting outwards from the clash between the two forces.
And then it happened. Cracks racing up the golden armor of her left hand, Queenbee gave a triumphant yell as the whirling shield before her glowed with new life. The light of Ferham's Tera Fire Blaster shrank, condensing into a new form, as the Protect Swarm distorted it into a single bright sphere of energy.
Ferham recoiled, stunned. "Wh-what in the... My attack!"
The scarlet sphere began to move, tracing a path of light over the golden galaxy of Queenbee's Swarm. Up, down, across, it moved, tracing a perfect pentagram. As the sphere of light connected the last line, it disappeared, rejoining the energy making up the pentagram. Queenbee drew her arm back, the red pentagram blazing brilliantly and in a single motion, snapped it forward.
The golden galaxy disintegrating behind it, the external armor of her left hand shattering away into dust with the force, she hurled the entire construct of energy straight at Ferham.
Still stunned from the defeat of her Fire Blaster, Ferham couldn't react in time, the burning pentagram striking her head on. A flash of light, and it detonated, releasing the pent up power of Ferham's own attack in a single, devastating burst of power.
She gave a howl of pain, her exposed chest armor cracking as it took the brunt of the attack. As she flew backwards, propelled by the explosion, her armor battered and cracked, still red hot from the heat of her returned attack, she managed to brake with her still functional wings and looked up, gritting her teeth as she sought to find Queenbee once more.
It wasn't hard. The Ex-Pseudoroid stood in the same spot, the last of her left arm's armor disappearing as it returned to normal. Ferham gave a savage smile and reared back, her wings flaring up.
"I've lost my chest blaster, but I've still got these wings! Let's see you block this without that left arm ! Wiiiiiiing...!"
"Not this time!" Queenbee snapped. Gold light glinted around Ferham and she looked up to see an array of deadly golden spines surrounding her. They struck a second later, striking her from all angles.
In that brief moment, the Ex-Pseudoroid whipped her right fist up to the heavens. It, along with the armored forearm of her gauntlet began to spin, whirling until it became little more than a golden blur.
Ferham finally broke out of the storm of needles, her wings charging once more, and reared up, preparing to fire.
Then, as Queenbee drew her arm back, a determined look on her face, the Red Angel realized what was coming.
"Fiiiiiir-!"
"BROKEN...REVOLVEEEEER!"
Queenbee's hand shot forward, launching the entire spinning assembly forward like a giant bullet. The rest of her augmented armor shattered, its' work done.
Even as Ferham desperately tried to fire, it was too late. The Broken Revolver smashed through her left wing with a sound like breaking glass, the entire wing shattering into jagged fragments.
She screamed then, clutching at her left shoulder as the loss of her precious wing struck her like a red-hot knife to a raw nerve. Her right wing still fired, but the beam went wide, missing Queenbee by a mile. Then the Revolver returned, curving back to strike her right wing this time, and self destructed, destroying it completely.
Ferham plummeted from the sky, crashing to earth on the roof of a building with an agonized screech.
Still not down for the count yet, she staggered back to her feet, coughing blood. Her two ruined wings ejected, a new pair materializing almost instantly and locking into place in the empty sockets. With a savage snarl she turned to look up at the sky, energy charging in her wings once more, this time rerouting power from all three generators to fuel this strike.
And stopped, an expression of disbelief written all over her face.
"What in the hell...?"
The golden swarm circling her once more, a massive figure was taking shape on front of Queenbee.
A pair of armored legs, clad in heavy titanium boots.
Two arms, locked within massive, clawed gauntlets, three spikes emerging from the black banded knuckles of each.
An oversized, badass longcoat of sheer gold that whipped in the raging wind.
A blank face, with no discernible features, little more than an empty slate.
And finally, a long, unruly mane of spiky hair, and her masterpiece was complete.
Celtis' jaw hit the floor, and Model O gave a strangled squawk of outrage.
"N-n-n...No...freaking...WAY. Is that...?"
In Celtis' garage, the God of Destruction managed a half choked profanity. Translating the unspoken question from her vantage point within the Zweihander, Saber glanced at the screen and nodded.
"Yes, I believe your servant Queenbee has just finished creating an artificial golem whose appearance is almost completely identical to yours."
Queenbee swept her hands out to the sides, a triumphant gleam in her eyes.
"Now GO! The ultimate representation of my devotion! Gold...Saber...GAAAAAAAAAAAR!"
The brilliant golden fake-Omega slammed its fists together and gave an unearthly, inhuman roar, one that shook the very air itself. Leg and back mounted boosters thundering to life, the machine gave a howl, and launched itself forward.
GoldSaberGar roared once more, apparently unhindered by its lack of a mouth and drew its right arm back, a familiar violet energy beginning to build around the clenched fist.
Within Legion City, Celtis, Ashe, Craft, Gallidin Voltzer, Syrene Nagato and hell, pretty much anybody else who had seen any of the fights Omega had been involved in since his awakening in 23XX, yelled in one outraged voice.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"
"Omegaaaa..." Queenbee yelled, the fires of victory blazing through her body.
Ferham's wings drooped as the massive figure's shadow fell over her.
"I'm not getting paid nearly enough for this."
"IIIIIIIIIMPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACTTT!"
And the entire skyscraper exploded.
Omega stared blankly at the screen for several long minutes. Occasionally, he would open his mouth, as if to say something, only to close it again a few seconds later.
This went on for a while.
Unbeknownst to him, Celtis and Model O were having an almost identical reaction.
"Did we just..."
Growl.
"...that was..."
Snarl.
"How in the..."
Another growl.
"She...she just...!"
Emphatic nod.
Ashe on the other hand, was in danger of falling off of the flagpole she was standing on as she stared blankly up at Queenbee. Her thoughts on it were fairly easy to understand.
"HolyshitholyshitholySHIT I am SO fucking glad she couldn't do that back then."
Ayano, who had by this time regained consciousness, simply stared.
"That was THE COOLEST GODDAMN THING I HAVE EVER SEEN." she finally managed.
It was, ironically enough, the two commentators who finally managed to put into words what everyone else was thinking.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HELL, HEAVEN AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN BETWEEN WAS THAT SHIT?"
Somewhere at ground level, amidst the clouds of smoke, there was a cough.
Flat on her back, both wings broken to pieces for the second time in as many minutes, Ferham stared wordlessly up at the sky.
Her eye twitched.
"See, THIS is why I don't take contracts from you guys. It's because of shit like this."
"Hey, in my defense, I just wanted you to keep an eye on things! YOU were the one that started this whole mess! And besides..."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"I, uh...I hired you independently...He doesn't know about this..."
Ferham blinked, before a slow grin spread across her face.
"My my...! Is that so? Well, you've certainly fallen hard for him!"
Ferham could almost hear the other person's blush, accompanied by a bout of embarrassed spluttering.
"I-I-I...He...Erk...! For the last time, I am NOT IN LOVE WITH THAT BASTARD!"
Ferham simply laughed.
"Well, whatever. Either way, it's not like I ever owed that bastard anything, so I'll just put this one up as a freebie."
Before either of them could say anything more, an eerie, otherworldly wail, pierced the air. A dull, ghostly moan, it seemed to start from the very depths of your soul, resonating through your bones, shaking the air, and vibrating up through the very buildings themselves.
It went on for almost a minute, a vibrating, incoherent...sound, for lack of a better word. The world shivered under its onslaught, the air itself cooling as fog slowly began to appear.
Ferham kicked off of the ground, her wings lifting her back into the air. Looking around, she spotted Queenbee supporting Ayano as they headed off towards the race once more.
"Hm. I take it you lot were expecting this to happen."
"A little, yeah." her employer admitted. "That's not all, either..."
The eerie howl sounded again, a wave of sonic vibration that echoed through the very bones of all who heard it. Even the two commentators felt it, as high above the city as they were.
"...hey, Steve?"
"Yeah, Captain?"
"You know that weird feeling I get that always tells us to get the hell out of Dodge before some weird shit or the other happens?"
"Uh...yeah."
The Captain stared bleakly down at the darkened area the race was heading for. Unlike all of the other districts they had passed through, where even the most run-down of them had at least some kind of lighting, even just a streetlight or two, this area...had nothing. It was just shadows, the darkened buildings lit only by the faint light of the moon.
And for some strange reason, an extremely localized fog bank was beginning to appear in and around it.
"...I'm beginning to get that feeling again..."
Down at ground level, Vent's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.
"...Ashe. What the hell is that?"
Ashe was in Model H form now, leaping from building to building as she homed in on Vent's position.
"I...I have no idea...! I've never heard anything like this before...There's no Maverick or Mutos I know of that makes a sound like that!"
Vent risked a glance sideways.
Not just him, but Gallidin and Ibelis had paused in their fighting, the Pseudoroid's head flicking from side to side as he looked around uneasily. He too looked unsettled by the strange noise.
Ibelis, on the other hand...
"This is the same…! This is the same as that time!"
Vent jerked, startled, as Ibelis' engine roared. He caught the barest glimpse of her features, contorted into a rictus of rage and anguish, before she blew past him, hurtling headlong into the darkness ahead of them.
"Wh-what the…The hell was that about?" Gallidin demanded, pissed off.
Vent's jaw tightened as he stared after Ibelis' fading tail-lights. After a long moment of silence, he reached forward and slowly picked up the comm.
"…Aile. Come in, Aile."
He hoped he was wrong about this idea.
His sister's image appeared seconds later, as she'd been worriedly hovering over the communications line ever since the FFA had started.
"What is it?"
"First off, are you guys getting this?"
Aile looked up to where the Guardian Base's main screen was displaying nothing but static.
"Yeah, we had it on visual up until a few seconds ago. I think that supposed 'fog' is some sort of jamming device."
"I figured as much…" Vent growled, "But that's not the reason I called. Pull up everything we've got on the Royales, both Vesper and Ibelis."
"What? Uh, yeah, I guess that shouldn't be too tricky, but…what's going on?"
A clank of metal, and Vent looked across to see Gallidin pulling in next to him.
"You've seen the FFA route plan too, I take it?"
"Well, no shit." Gallidin snorted, "Everyone here has."
"Got anything to say about it?"
"Duh, yes!" The Lightning Bullet growled, "Any idiot with half a brain can see that Legion's steering us all in the direction they want us to go!"
Listening in, Aile's expression darkened. So she and Vent hadn't been the only ones to see that…
"But there's just one thing that makes no sense in all of this." Vent continued, his tone still carefully controlled.
"If that's Legion's plan, then why is it exactly that their roadblocks stop so suddenly?"
"Ambush?" Gallidin guessed. "They might just be leading us into an easy killzone to catch the lot of us…"
Vent shook his head.
"No, for two reasons. One, if he already knew this much, why didn't Ace just bring the hammer down while we were all back at the starting area? And two, I've already checked out satellite photos of the entire course. There's no way for Ace to move the amount of troops he'd need into that area without us knowing about it."
"So then…what's going on?" Aile asked, baffled.
"It means that whatever's going on here, the purpose of this race was to bring us to this one location. After that…then it won't matter."
Gallidin turned to stare out where Ibelis had disappeared, his eyes narrowing.
"And ten will get you twenty that a Royale is involved in this whole mess somehow…" he growled.
Aile looked down at the screen as one of her operators signaled her, indicating that the files she had requested were ready.
"So THAT's why you want me to look up Vesper! She's the only thing that could have caused Ibelis to freak out like that!"
"Bingo." Vent grated.
"Vesper Royale…" Gallidin muttered. "I've heard some things about her last race…but it's hard to tell what's real and what's just rumor…"
Vent began to get that feeling once again. The cold feeling on the back of his neck that warned him that somewhere, somehow, things were about to get very bad, very fast.
"I'm not sure, but I think we're about to find that out for ourselves…" He muttered.
Aile's hand tightened on the grip of her command chair.
"…Do you want any additional support from us? Cedre says she can have a squad ready to go in five minutes!"
Vent shook his head. "Negative. Whatever we're dealing with here, it's plenty tough, and I don't want to risk any casualties until we know for sure what it is we're going up against."
"Alright..." Aile said worriedly. "Hold on while we get the intel on Royale..."
The sound of engines made him look up, to see Celtis pulling in alongside them, Model O's kickass new engine making it a simple matter to catch up to them.
There was a moment's silence as both Gallidin and the Guardian Commander took in her new bike.
"...Okay, I think I can safely say it never did that when I used it." Vent managed.
Gallidin was less restrained.
"All right, seriously, what the FUCK? Is it just me or is crazy shit like this fucking NORMAL now? What the hell, man? First that HAX bullshit with the dual wield Busters, then dual-wield SWORDS, not to mention throwing around a whole fucking BUILDING, and now it can TRANS-FUCKING-FORM, TOO?" He flailed around angrily. "HAS EVERYONE EXCEPT ME GONE BATSHIT CRAZY?"
Celtis held up one hand sheepishly.
"Uh...did I mention that it can do your Lightning Dash move now too?"
Gallidin stared at her for a moment, then threw his hands up in the air.
"All right, that's it. Fuck you. Fuck you ALL. I've had it with this shit. Two plus two equals five, and the government is actually run in secret by the Easter Bunny. Fuck you reality, I give up."
Celtis winced as she watched the Lightning Bullet smack himself in the face, shaking his head in despair.
"If it helps, my day hasn't gone all that much better..."
Vent rolled his eyes. "Eh, ignore him. He'll get over it." Then his face turned serious.
"Good thing you showed up, actually." He growled, gesturing to the rapidly dimming surroundings. "I've got a bad feeling about this, and the more guns we get together, the better."
Gallidin's head snapped around to glare at Vent.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the fuck up a second. What's this about getting together? I already said, this is MY turf, and I'll deal with it myself!"
Vent glared right back, as the eerie roar sounded again.
But before he could say anything, Aile called back.
"We've got a problem." She said, her voice tense.
Vent looked back down at the screen.
"What've you got?"
"A whole lot of nothing." Aile snapped. "Legion Security is all OVER these damn files! But the one thing we do have, is this: Vesper Royale's last race, the one that wrecked her racing career, and her life into the bargain as well…The last place she was seen before her crash was heading straight through the gates of Sector 14!"
The handset slipped from Vent's grip. Around him, Gallidin and Celtis displayed similar reactions.
Passing on either side of them were the remains of a massive gate. It had been effortlessly smashed into ruin, leaving behind a passage big enough for all three of them to pass through side-by-side, even with their vehicles.
This however, was not what had unnerved them so.
It was the shattered sign that lay past it.
WELCOME TO SECTOR 14.
"Oh, fuck." Gallidin breathed.
As if on cue, the terrifying roar sounded again.
But this time, there was another sound accompanying it.
Dozens of smaller howls, an unmistakable metallic screech present in each one.
Scores of engines, roaring into life.
Then, as blazing red eyes began to open, tiny pinpricks of light that appeared in every dark corner, hidden within every fleeting shadow, and the black world before them suddenly boiled to murderous mechanical life, every radar within twenty miles screamed a warning, Maverick signal after Maverick signal winked into existence.
Deep within Sector 14, the slumbering monster threw its head back and roared, declaring war on those who would dare enter its territory.
The Black Thresher was awake once more, and the city itself would tremble before its wrath.
A/N: If you're not scared shitless yet, don't worry, you WILL BE.
The SHIT gets REAL next chapter.
Other than that...Oh my God. I promised myself that I WOULDN'T go GaoGaiGar all over this mess. That lasted like, what, five seconds?
insert facepalm here
MAN, I suck.
I had IMMENSE fun writing this chapter still. Ferham of course, got upgraded, with WAY more firepower, as is the standard for, well, pretty much EVERY DAMN CANON CHARACTER IN THE CHRONICLES.
Seriously, what the hell, Capcom?
And before you ask, no, Ferham is NOT, repeat, NOT another one of Ace's agents. She's a mercenary, similar to Vile, and therefore not tied down to any organization in particular.
Now, why is that? After all, clearly A.C.E. is the only facility capable of resurrecting Reploids like her. So...why isn't she still with them...?
Stay tuned to find out.
Anyway, heh, a MILLION bonus points to whoever recognizes the inspiration for Ferham's new weapons!
And yes, even Ayano got her chance to shine here! After all, there's no point in just putting in a random OC if they can't do something for themselves! So yeah, she's got some bite to go with her bark, and I didn't even get to go all out! Darn...Anyway, she'll be around in the future, so there's always a second time!
Next up, the (probably) final chapter of this whole mess! And it will therefore be as LONG AS ALL HELL, and will also be updated a WEEK EARLIER THAN NORMAL in order to compensate for the shortness of this chapter. Seriously, I'm going to NEED the extra space, because if it plays out the way I think it will, there's NO WAY I'd have been able to write past this point with making a horrible cliffhanger. As it was, I had to struggle just to write an extra thousand words here, just so you guys wouldn't call me a TOTAL cop-out.
So don't kill me just yet.
Finally, to face the mysterious last boss of the FFA...Just who, or what is Thresher? What kind of monster awaits our heroes? And just what the HELL has Ace DONE?
I'd say he was a bit of a douche for risking the lives of so many people, except most of these 'people' are more hardcore than most regular Security and military troops!
Conservation of Ninjutsu trope, I guess?
And, more importantly, where the hell IS that scarlet-coated bastard, anyway?
Find out in the next chapter!
Later!
DarkShift Out!