BATTLE FOR HUMANITY, PART TWO

"Sunny, they'll notice. Someone should be coming. The Raiden-II."

"We better hurry then."

"Wait a second, if FOXALIVE has hijacked the capital's AI...then we've gained control of their AI. We could use it to stop the cyborgs."

"Hmm, if that's the case, then Harrie should be around here somewhere too." Sunny replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Harrie had the chip stuck on her neck, right? You should be able to locate and download the data that had been stolen and install it into you."

He was downright confused but knew she was correct. How would they specifically find Harrie's stolen knowledge amongst the rest of the AI? As he steadily charged, he managed to sit up in his spot, leaning against the control panel with heavy breaths. "What good will it do anyway?"

"We should at least get it back, and we'll need to rebuild your body either way."

"W-what?! How will I be able to rebuild my body?"

"I can help you with that." Sunny said, and suddenly the Gekko sprang into motion, hopping over to the table and lifting off his parts which had appeared to have been scattered over the worktop surface. "Come on, little guys, let's go. I think we might be able to piece you back together – or you might have to undergo a full cyborg body conversion."

"What!?" He spluttered.

"We need a body without a head – to fit yours on."

"Will...will I survive?"

"Of course! We're just going to transfer you to a new body, that's all. And it's not the first time you've underwent a procedure like this one. Let's get to work, everyone!"

He really wasn't sure, and he watched as the carts began to shake and then several Dwarf Gekkos began to climb out, some with only one limb and they started rolling towards him. The ones on the table also jittered into action, rolling off the surface and onto the floor. The Dwarf by his side grabbed his arm whilst the rest of the Dwarves went up to him and began hoisting him up. The little guys were carrying him somewhere. Glancing around, he still could not see Sunny within the vicinity at all.

"Quick, give me the cable and attach it to that guy." She said.

"That cyborg over there?"

"Yeah, let's transfer my conscious into him."

"O-okay." He said, and the Gekkos took the cable and took it out of the control panel and connected it to the cyborg's neck.

He glanced wide-eyed as the cyborg began to get up, shaking his head. Turning to Raiden, his mouth moved and – "Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. This'll do for now."

"Sunny...?"

"Yeah, it's me. I just needed a body to borrow." The cyborg, now with Sunny's consciousness, began to collect the rest of Raiden's pieces off the table.

"How long will this take...?"

"Hm, if we're quick enough then you'll be back to normal in no time."

Raiden groaned as the Dwarf Gekkos carried him out of the room. "Sunny, I need to get back to Harrie as quickly as possible."

"Don't worry," Sunny said, "Leave it all to me!"


MEANWHILE

It was Sam versus Tetsuo.

Both men stood facing opposite each other, having chosen a quieter area far from the battleground for their battle where they would not be disturbed.

"I remember you." said Tetsuo, flexing his fingers as they wavered closer to the handle of his glaive, "You were there in Salt Lake City, aiding Raiden."

"And I remember you." Sam replied, "We never finished our battle."

Tetuo's eyes narrowed as his visor lowered to cover his nose and mouth whilst Sam grabbed his blade, holding it in front of him. They were still, eyeing each other warily to anticipate who would perform the first move. However, both decided to move at the same time, dashing towards each other with ferocious speed. With a cry, Sam's blade collided with Tetsuo's glaive, metal striking against metal. There was a flash of red and silver respectively and both retaliated with equally matched, violent blows.

Sam leapt away to avoid Tetsuo's range; with the glaive he was able to cover more ground. He flipped backwards to avoid an attack and Tetsuo went charging towards him - Sam did the same – both clashed together so hard they both were sent flying backwards from the impact although Sam had taken the brunt of the attack due to Tetsuo's exoskeleton and cyborg enhancements. Tetsuo went skidding on the back of his heels, slamming his claws into the ground to regain his balance; Sam went stumbling, rolling back up to stand.

Stunned for a brief moment, Tetsuo shook his head to readjust his senses only for Sam to come counterattacking with a swift uppercut of his blade. Tetsuo grunted, flipping to the side to avoid the attack. With a blade, Sam's attacks were quicker and easier to control whilst Tetsuo's selection of weapon, despite giving him long range and several advantages, was slow to retreat at some points.

Tetsuo came at him relentless; forcing him backwards and Sam's back found the railing of a steel catwalk; underneath the metal bridge and it appeared to be a dark abyss leading to god-knows-where. A fall would kill him. The cyborg was advancing and he retreated backwards and onto the rickety catwalk. Tetsuo brought the glaive crashing down, smashing against Sam's blade and countering all his blows; as though possessed with the raw instinct to destroy, Tetsuo's blows were becoming more and more aggressive than the last and Sam soon found himself on one knee, holding his blade with two hands to block his persistent attacks.

Tetsuo swung his glaive high and proceeded to hammer away at Sam, who had no choice but to defend the entire time. His leg giving under; he abandoned his spot and rolled backwards, evading the attack by diving to the left and Tetsuo's glaive slammed into the metal mesh of the catwalk, slashing through and creating a gaping hole. Ripping the weapon out of the destroyed bridge, the cyborg came at him with another roar; Sam ducked again and the glaive slammed against the bridge's chain instead, causing the catwalk to tremble violently before it tipped to one side. Both men were briefly throwing off their feet before tumbling over the railings.

Sam grabbed on for his life with one hand on the railing whilst the other gripped his sword handle tightly, staring down at the darkness below, eyes wide as dust fell off and disappeared into the gloom. Not too far away, Tetsuo was also holding on and both glanced at each other before the cyborg ultimately frowned.

He narrowly evaded Tetsuo's powerful kick aimed at him. Was this cyborg serious? Fighting to the death whilst hanging off a bridge? Sam avoided the attack by swinging his body to the left, causing the bridge to creak loudly, probably from Tetsuo's weight. Tetsuo aimed another powerful kick at his direction, this time to the right. Sam avoided yet again by quickly climbing a few rungs away although his palms were beginning to get sweaty. The glaive came next; Sam had no choice but to bat him away with his one hand holding his sword and kicked at him in the stomach. Unfazed, Tetsuo came at him from all sorts of direction and Sam continued dodging the best he could, the bridge creaking under their weights and the pressure from their actions were beginning to make them fall lower and lower.

"At this rate we'll both fall..." Sam muttered, but no sooner had Tetsuo started, he too, began to reach up to return to the bridge properly, hoisting his legs up and finally managing to loop his foot through one hold. Holding his blade using his mouth, Sam grunted as he finally landed back onto the catwalk and was shortly followed by Tetsuo who was now readying himself back into an offensive stance.

With a fierce cry, Tetsuo dashed towards him and the glaive went swinging; no longer did the cyborg seem interested in technique or finesse, all he was interested in was defeating Sam at any cost – he was whaling blows on him and Sam was also either countering or attacking.

Eventually, they came a stop, standing and staring at each other with fierce frowns, blood gushing from multiple flesh wounds. Sam grunted; he leapt off his spot on the bridge; Tetsuo did the same. Both men passed each other, their weapons in hand. There was the sound of blades clashing and there was the briefest flash of silver. Sam's arm went flying, having been caught in Tetsuo's attack.

Tetsuo landed a distance away and Sam landed behind him with his blade facing downwards; he was panting laboriously before emitting a bloodcurdling yell as blood gushed from his severe wound. The blade dropped out of his hand and he soon coughed up some blood, the red liquid spilling all over the ground beneath him. With a yell, he stood up, clutching the stump of his missing arm.

Tetsuo remained in his low crouch, one knee on the floor before turning round to face him; his visor was bloodstained and broken - he ripped it off his face, throwing it away, revealing a massive gash and exposing a glowing red eye and metal skeleton – Sam had cut into his chest and all the way up to his shoulder, his neck and half of his face.

"You...you are not human." Sam growled.

"I have never been one of you." Tetsuo replied, "Which is why you will not win this fight. I am better."

"I can still fight." With only one arm, Sam swung his blade, blood flying off the steel and to the ground. With a fierce cry, he came charging at Tetsuo, leaking fresh blood all over the floor.

"I will destroy you!" Tetsuo snarled, before he too, rushed towards Sam.

Both men yelled loudly, as they passed each once more on the bridge. Sam brought his blade high and Tetsuo brought his glaive low; that was how he managed to cut off his arm. He would not let the same thing happen again – but he needed to find an opening. It would have to be when Tetsuo was close enough to him despite the risk – but it would be a wrong move for certain if he was too slow as he would definitely lose in this case – with little choice, Sam let out a fierce yell and with a twist of his body, he missed the glaive that had been aiming for his chest; at the same time, having come close enough to his powerful adversary, Sam rammed his sword into Tetsuo's chin with as much strength as he could, watching the blade pierce his throat before bursting out of the top of his head. He used so much strength that he'd tackled the cyborg, sending them flying to the ground.

They landed with a 'thump' and there was something wet trickling over his hand relentlessly but he did not dare let go; Tetsuo could be heard choking and rasping and finally, Sam looked up to see the cyborg gazing at him widened eyes, blood spewing forth from his wound.

"H...how..."

Sam pulled the blade out of Tetsuo's head and raised it high.

"No - " Tetsuo choked out, briefly before Sam brought his sword down and his head went clean off his shoulders.

...

Meanwhile, Harrie quickly slipped out of the cockpit, having finally defeated the RAY with Bladepuppy's help.

"This is good; we can use him." She muttered to herself.

"Master, we must hurry."

She nodded, clambering over the downed RAY's leg and scurrying to one leg. "Puppy, keep an eye out for me, will you?" She said, and with an acknowledgement of her command, he leapt atop the RAY, scanning the perimeter. She wrenched open the panel to reveal the controls and as she tampered with them, she turned when she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. Her eyes widened in astonishment at the figure who had appeared before her.

"Harrie." He said.

"Raiden?!" She exclaimed, briefly stepping away from the panel. She was confused by his sudden appearance as she glanced at him in shock, she noticed that amongst the blood and death, he was completely unscathed, "What are you – "

She was interrupted when he rammed his blade into her chest.

Bladepuppy yelped as he witnessed what had just happened. "Master!" He leapt down from the RAY as Raiden pulled the blade out of her and Harrie dropped to her knees, clutching at her chest with one hand, blood spewing from her mouth.

"...Raiden?" She croaked, as Bladepuppy pounced on him, snarling. She crumpled to the ground, staring wide-eyed as she proceeded to witness Raiden overpowering the UG in a matter of seconds and abruptly slicing him into pieces; the amount of slashes was countless, his sword a blur of silver.

Zandatsu.

"Puppy..." Harrie choked out as the UG dropped to the ground in pieces; she lifted herself off the ground as Raiden approached her again; no, this was not Raiden. It couldn't be. It was then she noticed strange words stamped on his chest. Her eyes widened promptly as she met his gaze. "You're...Mark two?"

...

"Raiden, stop sleeping, we're almost there!"

He opened his eyes and found himself completely rebuilt and fixed to what appeared to be a plane. He would remember the last time this sort of thing happened, he had been deposited on the shore of Sukhimi, the capital city of Abkhazia. That had happened a long time ago, and he wondered if he was ready to for another insertion like this one.

"Sunny?!" He exclaimed, glancing to his left and right; he was strapped to the plane's underbelly by the metal loop over his chest and legs; to his amazement, he appeared to have a new cyborg body, "You did all this?"

"Sure did." said Sunny's voice over the intercom, "Isn't this great?"

"Are we near the Resistance?"

"We'll be there in approximately twenty seconds!"

"How long has passed?"

"Just a couple of minutes."

The fact that it had only been a couple of minutes stunned him a great deal. "Sunny...thank you."

She giggled. "You're welcome, Raiden. Just to let you know, I've given you a stronger version of FOXALIVE and slipped it through one of your ribs. I copied the virus over to another device which you need to plug it into the Mark Two."

"How will I do that?"

"You know that cable at the back of your neck?"

"Yeah?"

"Just take it off and jam it in."

She made it sound so easy. "Right, okay, so I need to find some kind of opening to do that. Why is this important?"

"Because it'll destroy him from within. It started with him; it will end with him, too."

"Can't we just lob off his head?"

"Do me a favor and plug it in, alright?"

"Alright, alright...By the way... Sunny, am I the one responsible for all this...considering he's my clone?"

"Of course not. Now, are you ready? Insertion in three...two..."

"Sunny, wait!"

"One!"

He cried out as two doors beneath him opened; immediately the atmosphere went cold and frosty from the air outside and then the metal loops holding him up vanished; he went hurtling out of the plane and into the sky, the chilly air and frigid wind biting at him from all sorts of directions; the plane carrying him continued to fly overhead, zooming away in the distance. He could no longer hear Sunny's voice. It would've been nice if Sunny had given him a few more pointers about what was going on but at the moment, he was flailing in the air. This time the insertion was slightly messy; he hastily maneuvered himself into the right position, keeping his body flat and rigid as possible, arms flat against his side, and he saw a gaping crater in the ground where the Resistance appeared to be.

He could see cyborgs within the distance; he would deal with them later considering he still had the FOXALIVE prototype fed into the capital's system. It would destroy them from within; at least Sunny was still there, working her magic. As he zoomed in closer, he readied himself for impact – even though Sunny had rebuilt his body in that short amount of time, he wondered how strong it was. She had even given him a new HF blade that was strapped to his back. As he neared and neared, he saw UGs and humans alike – despite the Resistance behind underground, it seemed the cyborgs had torn through the ground completely, exposing them. Raiden spotted a familiar figure within the chaos down below – it was Mark Two, a ghostly silvery white specter amongst the darkness – and there was Harrie before him, clutching a fresh, bleeding wound – Raiden veered towards their direction in an effort to stop him.

Get away from her! He thought with a growl, and once he was close enough –

Raiden-II turned round and grabbed him.

Raiden's eyes widened thoroughly. How could he know!? Raiden ended up smashing into the cyborg regardless and they both went flying from Harrie, ploughing through the ground at least twenty feet away before coming to a grinding stop. It was a miracle they didn't explode upon impact.

Grunting, once Raiden-II regained his composure, he kicked him off and stood wobbly, growling. "Raiden."

"You won't get rid of me that easily." Raiden snarled in response, whilst Harrie stared at the two in shock.

The clone said with a frown, "It seems that if one wants something to be done – " He grabbed his intact blade and held it in front of him, "One must do it themselves."

Raiden pulled his HF blade out and held it firmly in hands. "Let's end this once and for all." He said, "I am Lightning, the rain transformed."

...