Chapter 36: The White Star That Burns Blue
Disclaimer: Anything awesome in here is mine. Sort of.
But first, seeing as so many people were complaining about the 'error' in the last chapter, the 'mistake' which I made by giving Ashe a fusion core, here's some background data to explain some of the thoughts that went into making that. Hopefully it should bring the 'WTF?!' quotient down to more acceptable levels:
My take on it is that Model O itself is...well, for lack of a better word, 'broken' on some fundamental level, which is why it works the way it does, i.e not Megamerging fully, and acting more viral than a normal personality. That 'broken-ness' essentially means that a lot of normal laws and restrictions on normal Biometals and such wouldn't apply. And since Omega himself was designed to take advantage of Cyberspace, which is essentially hacking reality itself, my take is that Model O, without any controls or restraints, can't really 'hack' reality with as much finesse as Omega theoretically could, but instead has a more brute force approach.
Essentially, I think the best way to put it is that if Omega is a crystallized, refined version of Model O, the Biometal itself is raw and unrefined, a formless...entity of some sort. But it still has the same 'power' as Omega. So Model O in a sense, exists as a raw, concentrated mass of sheer power, so great that it literally FORCES reality to bend to it's whim via Cyberspace. Simply by existing, it changes reality.
...I...don't know if any of this is making any sense, but if it does, that's the difference between them.
Model O can force the world to obey, though the quality of the end result will be nowhere near as 'perfected' as Omega, whom the world actively changes to obey. Kind of like the difference between a natural genius, and a hard worker.
This difference, actually is at the core of Ashe's strange fusion core.
Though you lot may say it wasn't one of my better thought-out ideas, and I agree with you on that to an extent, I assure you, I have put a good deal of thought into it. Firstly, in the author's notes, I mentioned several possible explanations for it.
The theory I myself had in mind is more along the lines of Model O, being so corrupt and damaged, not being able to manifest the Evil Energy at all. That data may actually be corrupted beyond recovery, I have yet to decide on that.
At any rate, what actually happened was this:
Model O gave Ashe it's heart, what SHOULD have been Evil Energy. However, as with any data from Model O, it was badly damaged and/or corrupted. In addition to that, remember, Model O has to FORCE reality to be hacked, relying more on sheer overwhelming brute force and power.
And on top of that, Evil Energy is exactly that, evil. It is a power so blasphemous that it's almost like a cancer on the face of reality. There is almost NO WAY the laws of reality would have been hacked to allow it's return that easily. Even Omega would have been almost unable to do it.
With that in mind, the fact that it was trying to hack to manifest almost irreparable data made that task almost nearly impossible. Worse still to manifest something that the world itself would ACTIVELY be trying to reject.
Even if it had been Omega at peak condition, with a perfect version of the data, with all necessary conditions at optimum, it would have been nigh impossible to do.
However, Model O still forced the laws to bend. Unfortunately, when you bend something out of shape like that, you HAVE to have something to put into the vacuum you've created. Nature/Reality abhors a vacuum, yada yada.
But the data was incomplete. And the process was too far gone, with too much power behind it for it to simply fail. So reality itself sort of...filled in the blanks.
The data was a mess, full of holes and missing pieces. But many of the things to describe it WERE still there, enough to form a garbled sort of 'image' of what Model O was trying to manifest. Despite all of the factors working against it, Model O's power was just too great for reality/Cyberspace to simply let the manifestation fail. So caught between a rock and a hard place, nature took it's course and followed the path of least resistance.
Filling in the blanks, and meeting the requirements of Model O's hack, a nuclear fusion core was the only possible result to satisfy everything.
With all of this in mind, is it any wonder it's going a little haywire?
...there. Does that help it make a bit more sense?
If so, great. I'll answer any further questions you have in the reviews.
Beyond that, enjoy. And expect more such...'mistakes', as I kick the crossovers up a notch from here onwards to be a bit more...direct.
The God of Destruction roared, the Zweihander tearing another oncoming pillar apart. Leaping past it, he whirled, dodging another one that rocketed past millimeters away. Reaching out, his claws bit deep into the hard surface, pulling him out of the way of still another pillar, before flipping over another one and firing off another gauntlet that twisted straight through another oncoming construct, shattering it to pieces as it reached him.
"COME ON COME ON! You say you're the world? Well then, COME AT ME!"
Gemini simply laughed, from his vantage point deep within the colossal maze of flying pillars.
"Why should I, mister 'Crimson King of Destroyers'! If you say you would destroy even the world for opposing you, shouldn't YOU be the one on the offensive? Ahahaha-whoa!"
Twelve needles slammed into a hastily moved pillar, a last minute denial of what would no doubt have been a spectacular headshot, bordering on impossible, considering the sheer number of obstacles between Gemini and herself. Queenbee lowered her throwing arm, another spine materializing between her fingers in a flash of gold.
"I don't believe my Master gave you permission to use that title." She stated coolly.
Omega whistled in admiration.
"Well color me impressed...You've really gotten a taste for those, huh?"
Queenbee flicked her hand out, a full complement of the deadly spines fanning out in her slender fingers.
"They're extremely easy for my swarms to produce, and I rather like how simple they are to use, Master!" Queenbee smiled, snapping one finger backwards and putting six more needles into an oncoming construct without so much as batting an eyelid, the delayed charges planted in just the right spot to split it into perfect quarters lengthways, the remnants passing harmlessly off to either side of her
"...either I'm getting sick, or that's just a warm fuzzy feeling of pride I'm getting."
"...while I will admit your conversation is not without its merits..." Craft interrupted them, his voice sounding politely strained.
"I would greatly appreciate some assistance, if you don't mind."
The two turned to see the grizzled commando struggling to hold back one of the pillars with one hand, the Neige Cannon braced against his body with the other and firing non-stop, missiles and beams alike blasting out in alternating streams of destruction as his right leg pressed down on another pillar, doing his utmost to stop from being crushed.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about you." Omega deadpanned.
"You..." Craft grumbled, before starting in alarm and leaping backwards as a colossal array of seeker shots smashed into the pillars pinning him, their destruction giving him the time he needed to get free.
"I assume you're feeling better then, Grey?" Craft turned from his mid-air position to see the source of the beams. Grey stood on another materialized platform, breathing hard as he lowered Model A's Seeker Buster.
"I wouldn't go THAT far..." The boy managed a weak smile. "It's just me here, after all..."
Craft blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...it's just me here, with Model A's form and powers. I don't have access to any of his experience, his tricks, anything. It's all down to me."
Omega reared back, the Gate of Babylon firing relentlessly, a ceaseless barrage firing in every direction. Turning to fire over their heads, he spoke to Grey almost absentmindedly, his red eyes alive with a savage glee as he tracked dozens of the incoming pillars, dancing in midair as he stepped, sidestepped and danced around more coming at him from another direction.
"Why, where'd the paperweight run off to?"
"He's...around, but right now, he's too busy to help me. Right now Model A's just doing everything he can just to try and stabilize the data for Ashe."
Omega's eyes narrowed. Seizing a battleaxe from the gate, he spun and smashed it into the side of another pillar, the axe exploding like a bomb and splitting the construct in half, before turning and firing another palm-mounted Buster Charge into another one.
"Model O, eh...?" A dark smile spread across his face. "Well then, we can't afford to screw around here now, can we?"
And then before Gemini could even react, one of his own pillars was hurtling end over end right back at him.
"Wh-what the-?"
[Cue Music: Two of Fairies- Crow's Claw]
Desperately twisting out of the way as it sailed past his head, he looked back at his enemies in outrage.
"You!"
Charging headfirst up the length of another pillar, Omega cut loose, the Gate of Babylon at its full capability hammering away at Gemini's defenses. Grinning widely, he brought his right hand up, the Omega sigil burning as he cut loose with a blast of hellish power, shattering the defending pillars.
"Guh...that damned Gate...!"
Even as Omega tore apart another pillar with the blazing Zweihander, the Technician was already counterattacking, twelve dozen pillars leveling themselves at the attacking God, their ends glowing like cannon muzzles.
"Divine Cannons, FIRE!"
Blasts like the wrath of gods tore through the Cyberspace, the air screaming as they hurtled past, Omega leaping from one pillar to another as he dodged the oncoming beams.
With a blast of power, Craft snapped his cape outward, one beam torn apart by the reflective might of his cloak.
"Two can play at that game..."
Neige came up, muzzle burning white hot, Craft's cybernetic eye flashing once, the grim red light flickering across Cyto's array.
"Full power...DEAD END SHOOT!"
The one-man siege cannon thundered, punching a hole in the world as it raced through the green sky. Striking one of the Divine Cannons head on, it smashed right through it from end to end, Craft swinging the beam out and away, tracing a path of destruction through Gemini's constructs.
"Dammit, what the hell kind of gun is that?!" The Technician demanded, ducking as the beam swept past his head, launching another pillar and fifty beams through Craft's location, forcing the commando to break off the attack. More cannons arrived at his side, blasting away even as he launched off hundreds more of the pillars, sending them hurtling at the three attackers from every angle, a perfect sphere with no escape, blotting out the sky as the constructs crushed inwards.
Grey grinned, leaping to the front.
"This one's mine!"
A flash of light, and Chronoforce plummeted from the sky.
"The hell-Oi, kid! What the hell are you doing?!" Omega yelled, halting and looking down in alarm.
And then he saw the light of a full charge swarming around the falling Pseudoroid.
"Oh-hoooooooo!" A demonic grin spread across his face. "Well, THAT'S an interesting power!"
And as Grey unleashed the power of Chronoforce-
They vanished, the pillars smashing in on empty air as Chronoforce's ability all but blinked them ahead in time.
"Wh-what?!" Gemini recoiled in shock. "Where did-"
And then the red light burst to life behind him. Whirling, he froze at the sight of the God of Destruction, suspended in midair, arms folded and silhouetted by the terrible crimson sky of weapons.
"My turn."
"DAMN YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUU!" Gemini swore, twin pillars crossing in front of him to cut off the first wave from the Gate. And as they parted, his blue visor flashed, an entire array of pillars behind him glowing with the light of his Divine Cannons.
"RETURN FIRE!"
Countless beams blasted forth, meeting Omega's ceaseless barrage head on.
"Mongrel...!" He laughed madly, "You wish to challenge the king?!"
The red light swelled, expanding until it all but surrounded the Zone Technician.
"Then let's see just how far that godly control of yours can go!"
His coat flaring out behind him, Gemini reared up, a demonic light in his eyes.
"WITH PLEASURE!" He roared, countless pillars materializing, aimed in every direction around him. "After all, NO KING CAN SURPASS GOD!"
The Divine Cannons roared, a solid wall of light and destruction expanding out from Gemini as the blazing steel wrath of the Gate plummeted inwards at him. Explosion after explosion rang out , filling the verdant world with light as the immovable object met the unstoppable force.
And then Gemini vanished, a muffled curse of shock escaping him as an armored grip slammed shut on his features and yanking him out of the sky.
The Dullahan's engine roaring, Craft hurtled downwards, blasting headfirst through the hellish world of destruction, his left hand seizing the Zone Technician's skull and dragging him down through every pillar he could find on the way down.
Still heeding the Technician's command, dozens more of the cannons materialized, beams of destruction tearing up the space around the Dullahan, all seeking to protect their summoner as the bike leapt from one surface to the other as it charged down.
Gemini snarled, clawing at the hand on his face.
"Get... OFF OF ME!"
Spotting his destination ahead, Craft smirked and drew his hand back.
"What are you-!"
And without further ado, he brought the nose of the bike up and brought Gemini Cyto's head smashing into the ground at six hundred miles per hour.
With a roar of agony, the Technician burst from the cloud of dust, pinwheeling and crashing across the surface as Craft blew past him in a hurricane of exhaust smoke and still pursuing beams.
"What...how is this...I disintegrated the floor!" Gemini spat, staring at the platform like expanse around him. "There shouldn't be anything like this here!"
"I know." A friendly voice said behind him.
"That's because I made this!"
And as the Technician whirled, eight hundred pounds of Gallidin Voltzer smashed headfirst into him at speeds surpassing Mach 3.
Lightning flashed, a brilliant arrow of electricity hurtling across the floor, with Gemini Cyto pinned at the head of it, a runway extending meter by meter in front of the charging Gallidin, Grey materializing more and more of it with each step.
"Y-yoooooouuuuuuu...!" Cyto roared, blood splattering against the inside of his helmet as he struggled to get a grip on Gallidin's body, to throw him off..
"DON'T...UNDERESTIMATE...GOD!"
Under Gemini's control, the ground shattered once more, Grey's recreated platform disassembling almost instantly before the Zone Technician's overwhelming authority. A massive pillar erupted beneath them, Gemini dropping to his feet as Grey was hurled away, another pillar crashing into him in mid-flight.
"D-dammit, what kind of insanity...?!" He swore, getting back to his feet.
And then, as the golden light danced through the air, he froze.
"Oh no..."
Looking up, he saw the demonic grin on Omega's face as he dispelled the Gate of Babylon, the red sky disappearing and revealing the true purpose behind such an outlandish battle of firepower.
To hide his true trump card.
Queenbee stood there, lines of golden energy dancing all around her as they flowed inwards, forging the thing in her hands.
Drawing it back, put everything she could spare into it, cracks appearing along the surface of the weapon as she overloaded it past it's breaking point. A volatile construct, a barely contained explosion held in her hand, being drawn back...
"Like HELL I'd let that hit me!" Gemini snapped, his cannons already dropping down to firing position around him as still more appeared around Omega and the others, prepared for a massively destructive counterattack..
"Divine-!"
"Mister Saber!" Too late, the Technician saw the telltale blue shell again, as Chronoforce unleashed its power.
The world flickered, and suddenly there was a shadow over him.
"WRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Gemini's eyes bulged.
"Oh you have got to be SHITTING me!"
To stunned to react, he barely had time to finish his incredulous statement, before Omega smashed him flat with Craft's bike, the owner turning away in the distance so he wouldn't have to see the fate of his beloved machine.
"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN-oh crap." Gemini paled as Omega darted away, revealing Queenbee holding her now fully overcharged construct.
"DIVINE SPEAR...!" She roared, drawing the blazing lance back, the air itself shaking with the amount of power she'd put into it.
"Shit...!" With a panicked curse, Gemini brought as many pillars as possible between himself and Queenbee, a solid wall of constructs made from Cyberspace itself.
"SPEAR THE...GUNGNIIIIIIIIR!"
The massively overcharged construct blasted through space, the gold light burning through to a bloody red crimson color as it smashed straight into the Zone Technician's defenses with an impact that rocked the entire space, light and sound erupting in a devastating shockwave from the point of contact.
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME, YOU CRETINS!" Gemini spat, enraged beyond reason. "I'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE, AND I WILL TELL YOU AGAIN! I AM A ZONE TECHNICIAN!"
His grip tightened, throwing out his other arm to support the wall before him, still more pillars slamming into place around him, reinforcing his defenses more and more.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW HARD YOU STRUGGLE...OR HOW HARD YOU TRY...!"
Omega's cold eyes regarded him dispassionately, his strange 'sense' for Cyberspace showing him the effects more clearly than his eyes. This 'Zone' of the Technician's, marked out by the nigh-impenetrable barrier he had broken through to get here, was shrinking, the Technician rerouting Cyberspace ITSELF to form his defenses.
Already he could see the Gungnir slowing down, and beginning to shake. A taut smile worked it's way across his face.
"To manipulate the programming of reality itself to this extent, to the extent that the programming ITSELF becomes physical..." He gave a half-hearted chuckle. "That pink devil wasn't kidding..."
"IN THIS SPACE...!" Gemini roared, cracks racing across his mask. Slowly, his fingers began to close, his power beginning to overwhelm the opposing force.
"I...!"
Crack.
"AM...!"
Crack.
"GOD!"
CRASH.
Even Omega had never seen anything like it. Space...twisted, the walls of the entire Zone suddenly imploding in towards that one point, and just...crushed the Gungnir out of existence, as though it had never been.
"Wh...at?" Queenbee gasped, unable to believe it. That was an attack on par with the spear her Master had struck her with in their first battle! How...
"How could he just...snuff it out like that?!"
The massive walls split open, the terrible pillars separating and leveling themselves at the Legion force once more. As the last bastion peeled away, it revealed the figure of Gemini Cyto standing tall, one arm on his hip, tattered coattails flaring out behind him, and radiating enough sheer arrogance to poison an entire room.
"Do you understand now, you cretins?" He demanded. "I am a Zone Technician. So long as you stand within the boundaries of my Zone, you face a world where only my word is law! Logic, reason, sense...the only thing that prevails here is what I wish for! That is what it means to be a Zone Technician!"
Raising his arms, the world quaked, colossal pillars erupting in a row on either side of two groups, enclosing them in a single aisle.
"Now..." Gemini seethed, "With no place to run...no place to hide...I will smash you head on, with the wrath of my entire world!"
Craft's eyes flicked upwards as a strange darkness passed over them. Thirteen pillars, larger than anything Gemini had yet to throw at them, began to orbit around Omega's side of the battlefield, each following a path of their own. Like the electrons circling an atom, they moved, the blunt, hexagonal ends pointed directly at Omega. Craft wasn't certain what drove his conclusion, but somehow, he instinctively knew by looking that those colossal constructs, moving as inexorably as the continents themselves, were on an entirely different level from what had been thrown at them thus far.
It would cost them something on the power level of another Gungnir to destroy just one, and that wasn't saying anything for the destructive power if Gemini chose to use them in cannon mode. If this had occurred in the real world, and not just in Cyberspace, Craft knew they would easily be continent busters, a combined strike from all thirteen at once enough to break a planet. Not for the first time, he found himself grateful that this kind of thing could only occur in Cyberspace. Sure, he could probably handle them in the real world too, but then he'd never have time for a coffee break!
Just the thought of such a bleak existence was enough to make him shudder.
"...you just thought of something weird again, didn't you..."Queenbee glanced at him.
"I hardly think you're in a position to tell me about weird thoughts." Craft deadpanned.
Omega stared at the enemy on the other side of the field, his eyes uncharacteristically cold and silent. Seeing the change in demeanor, Gemini gave a dark smile.
"It seems you've realized it then..." He said aloud, "True Technicians generally don't operate with such a wide Zone as the one I've been using up until now. The reason for it being that the wider a Zone is, the more difficult it is to control. Thus, everything so far...all of your blood, sweat and tears, has been against a Gemini Cyto at 30% capability."
Grey's eyes widened.
"THAT was just a third of his capability?!"He demanded.
"Oh yes." Gemini nodded, "I had spread my Zone so wide in order to control my many forces in the city. Unfortunately, I had no idea it would be possible for Legion to field anyone capable of fighting so strongly here. That you were able to force me to withdraw my Zone to it's optimum size is nothing short of miraculous. Now..."
Raising his hand, he extended it out to them, a twisted smile on his face.
"Enjoy the gift of a Gemini Cyto at one hundred percent."
All four of them were almost crushed flat in the first instant, three of the floating pillars locking into place, suddenly vibrating, and trapping them in a three way gravitational lock. Hammered from three sides by immense G-forces, Grey dropped down onto all fours almost immediately, his Reploid frame barely able to tolerate the strength of the forces. Next to him, Queenbee had been smashed to the floor of their platform, lying on her back as she struggled to move even a finger. Even Craft was affected, his knees bending as he slowly sank, propped up only by Neige, the gun barrel slowly crushing the hard surface beneath them as he leaned on it.
"Th-this is...!" He gritted.
"That's right." Gemini said grimly. "My Pillars of Onbashira. the strongest constructs I can conceive. Like the divine tools they were named after, they are the ultimate incarnation of my will, and shall enforce it on those who dare to defy me!"
And as the muzzles of the remaining ten Onbashira began to glow with an ominous, cruel red-orange light, he stared down at the only one who had not moved, even under the pressure of his gravitational forces.
"You..."
Omega still remained where he was, arms folded, hovering alone in the air, his ice-white mane hiding his features, but not the cold red-glint in his eyes.
"You want to enforce that will of yours on ME?" He demanded, his voice still level. "Then come at me, you pitiful human. You, who wish to hide behind your false godhood...Come at me, with everything you have, with all your might!"
The red eyes narrowed.
"...and I'll show you a man deluded beyond all belief in his own powers."
Gemini's eyes widened in rage.
"FIRE! NOVA GENERATION CANNON!"
Energy blasted forth from the remaining ten cannons, slamming into a point somewhere behind the four Legion operatives.
In that instant, a star is born.
The white hot heat lashes out, moving deceptively fast for such a slowly swelling nova. In fact, even at the speed that it is increasing in size, it would be several minutes before the surface of the star reaches the four trapped fighters.
And yet, the heat is tremendous. A terrible solar wind, sweeping out with a buffeting, infernal heat. A crushing pressure exerted from all sides.
Truly, rather than anything godly, this should be said to be more like demonic,as 'hellish' is the only description that could suffice for such conditions.
"Not to...be a buzzkill..." Craft grunted, "But I assume you have...some sort of a plan...?"
The corners of Omega's jaw stretched back into a smile.
"...I hate it when I'm right." Craft groaned.
CRASH!
The Vermilion Vile Warwolf slammed back into a building, nuclear heat exploding just inches away from it.
"Tch...!" Granz growled, "I can't even get close to her like this!"
'Her' of course, still being Ashe, who was currently running rampant with raw nuclear power, a gift from Model O.
Well, gift here being a relative term. The good news, was that she was essentially now a living, breathing engine for nuclear fusion. The bad news? She had absolutely no control over it, with each punch, kick or impact resulting in the release of powerful nuclear 'reactions' spherical orange detonations that were, for lack of a better description, small-scale nuclear explosions. Further bad news, she didn't seem to have realized that there WAS bad news, with the knowledge that she now had enough power to total Granz being all she was interested in.
Not that she had gone mad with power, no. Far from it. She just had no idea that there was even anything wrong, not knowing that this power needed to be controlled, or just how much of a hazard she currently was. Thus far, only Granz had any inkling that anything was wrong, and that was thanks to him accidentally installing outdated radiation sensors on his machine in the first place!
And unfortunately...
"SHIT!" The Warwolf rolled sideways, firing another blast of its chest cannon as Ashe came smashing down on on its previous resting spot.
At the moment, Granz was a mite too occupied to be able to explain it to Ashe, even if he wanted to.
Fortunately, there was another person on the scene who'd been getting the vague feeling that something was wrong. And by vague, we mean realizing that she'd lost over ninety percent of her regenerative capabilities, and was barely able to move.
Celtis groaned and stirred, her eyes fluttering open.
"I...ugh...what happened...?" Slowly, she managed to push herself upright, shaking her head woozily.
And then the ground shook, another wave of heat rushing over her and slamming her back down. When it had passed, she lay there for a moment, blinking in shock.
"Th-that was..."
And as recent events rushed back into her head, she gasped.
"Ashe!"
Panicking now, she struggled back to her feet-
Only for Model O to give an angry growl and smack her across the back of her head...mentally, of course.
Back down on the ground for the third time in as many minutes, Celtis blew a stray strand of hair out of her face and did her best to restrain her temper.
"Mooooodeeeelll Oooooooo...!"
Another angry sound was her only response. Pissed off now, she bolted upright, yelling at the thing in her head.
"Don't you growl at me! What the HELL were you playing at just now?! Granz almost turned me into a carpet stain because you suddenly decided it would be funny for me to lose power in the middle of a boss fight! And don't get me STARTED on what you did to Ashe! Sure, it might have been stupid to try to Data Get you, but nobody besides me and Phoenix knew that! What the hell made you decide to replace her heart with a copy of your fusion reactor-?!" She stopped in mid-rant as the implications of her last statement sank in, turning her completely pale with terror.
"Oh GOD, you gave her YOUR FUSION REACTOR. Oh god..." She fought the urge to curl up into a little ball and cry, settling instead for clutching at the sides of her head in disbelief. "Oh GOD, Omega is going to KILL me...! I'm not even sure why, but it seems like the sort of thing he'd be willing to kill me for!"
This went on for a few more minutes, before it suddenly dawned on her that something was very wrong.
Aside from those two warning growls, Model O wasn't saying ANYTHING.
"Model O...?" She tried tentatively, before a sudden impact shook the ground and almost threw her off her feet.
She looked up in time to see Ashe skid backwards through a wall, her boots digging molten tracks through the ground under the force of one of Granz's punches. Recovering, she took a single step forward, twisting to avoid the next one, and punched the Warwolf right in its chest.
Right at that moment, as Granz said something utterly unprintable and fired his emergency thrusters, all but catapulting himself backwards, away from her fist, exactly at the instant that the terrible orange sphere of destruction erupted...and Celtis felt the power drain out of her again.
Her vision blurring, she dropped down to all fours again, shoulders heaving as she tried to breathe.
That power...Model O's silence...a terrible suspicion began to dawn on her.
Without a moment's doubt, she closed her eyes, plunging herself back into the stark void she knew to be the Biometal's prison. What she found there was beyond anything she could ever have expected.
Model O still stood there, pierced through and bound by it's many chains. But now, for the first time since she had known the cursed Biometal, Celtis saw a grim seriousness on it's features. One hand extended outwards, the other clutching the outstretched hand's wrist, Model O gritted it's teeth and struggled.
And in the distance...Celtis stared at the glorious might of a newborn star. A brilliant orange sun roared, seething with power, eager to grow and expand, to continue to accumulate more and more power as it's unstoppable nuclear reactions progressed ever onward.
Yet...it could not. Red energy, brilliant crimson light danced through that orange surface. Restraints of energy, flaring brightly every moment the star roared, struggling to keep the power contained. And still, despite the cosmic might in front of it, Model O still stood, alone and chained, and still fighting.
"You...idiot...!" Celtis gritted her teeth, numb with shock. "You knew this would happen! So why-?!"
Model O's blank red eyes flicked sideways to her, and for an instant, she was struck by the resemblance to it's original, a grin that would not have looked out of place on the real Omega flickering across it's ruined face.
Celtis knew what that sun was, and what it meant here.
That...was Ashe. More specifically, that was the thing Model O had put in her.
A nuclear fusion engine, of which no known examples had survived to the modern era. A legendary, demonic power that could just as easily destroy as it could save. Once stabilized, that incredible power could be harnessed and controlled, utilized with pinpoint precision. But without a controller of some sort, something to channel the nuclear reactions...it would simply consume itself and everything around it in an inferno of destruction. For Ashe as she was now, without any such control...her first punch, her first impact, would have vaporized herself and everything within miles of her in an explosion of unparalleled power, doing far more damage to Legion than ten Granz Armadas ever could.
And Model O had known that. So it had known there was only one thing it could do. For the sake of striking a blow out at the supposed arrogance of that man, to prove it was more than what he carelessly dismissed as a beast, it would stake everything on this moment, risk leaving its host Celtis unprotected, and not even certain if it could restrain the power of that nuclear drive outside of it's own body.
It had known all of these risks, just how insane and selfish this plan really was...and had done it anyway.
"What...HAPPENED to you when she used the Data Get?!" Celtis demanded, stunned. Model O was many things, but magnanimous was not one of them. So then why-?!
"...n...NoT fOr...HEr...!" Model O grated, fragments of it's features disassembling and reassembling as it forced words out of the torturous wreckage of it's vocal processes.
"F...foR...ME...!"
Her second surprise in as many minutes.
"W-what the...y-you can talk now?!" She stared at the Biometal in shock, realizing with a jolt just how important this was to Model O, just how badly it needed to see this through, regardless of the strain to itself. Data flickered through her mind, fragments of memory slipping past Model O's mental locks, to reach her.
They were partial, broken things, the Biometal realizing that they were reaching Celtis, and belatedly snapping them back, but not before she'd seen it's conversation with the monochrome stranger, and the price it had requested of Ashe in response.
"So THAT's why you're doing this..."
Model O gave what sound like an embarrassed grumble, distracting itself with the massive sun in the distance.
"And THAT'S why I've lost power!" She realized. "Because you're busy trying to keep her in check!"
Model O's jaws grated together, gritting it's teeth as another particularly powerful surge burst from the sun. And as red cracks spread across it's hand, Celtis was suddenly struck by the chilling realization that whatever Model O was, for all it's power, it wouldn't be enough.
"AAAARGH!"
Ashe let out a yell of pain as she smashed back into the building, orange power erupting around her and tearing apart the remains.
"Ugh...!" Gritting her teeth, she forced one eye open, staring up at Granz in anger.
"Dammit!" She growled, "What the hell is going on?! The amount of damage I do keeps fluctuating!"
"Damn right it is." Granz said flatly, hefting a single massive boulder in one of the Warwolf's claws, and smashing it down on her.
"Which is a good thing." He added, watching the boulder disintegrate under a series of nuclear reactions. "Both for me, and unfortunately also for this trash heap you call a city."
Ashe burst free of the rubble, one hand outthrust. Gritting his teeth, Granz twisted the Warwolf to the side as nuclear fire erupted from the empty air. His claws long since melted, he launched the grappling arm off anyway, the brute force of the heavy fist smashing her flat again, coughing up red smoke.
"Good for me, in that I can figure out how to dodge you, and when I can afford to take a hit." He glanced at the radiation detection screen and grinned. Flat-out BEST piece of accidentally installed luck, ever. With it, he could at least tell how much power was about to released, and could determine whether he could safely take the hit and press forward, or to break off and evade.
"And good for the city, in that, well, let's just say you could do a lot more damage than I ever could..." The Warwolf's armored foot crashed down on Celtis, having already determined her current output was low enough to risk it, as Granz added, "And that's only counting the ACCIDENTAL damage...!"
"What...are you..." Ashe gritted, the sign of the nuclear hazard igniting on the floor beneath her, a pillar of radioactive fury erupting and blasting Granz off of his feet. "TALKING ABOUT, DAMN IT!"
Nearby, Celtis cried out and dropped to her knees, doubling up, Model O giving a roar of pain, red cracks racing up it's arm.
Ashe wiped her mouth, grinning dangerously.
"Weird problems or not, believe me, I've still got everything I need to smash you!"
The Warwolf slowly pushed itself back to its feet, Granz grinning.
"Oh I'm sure you do!" He laughed, "But can you bring yourself to do it?!"
"I...what?" Ashe stopped, confused.
"Heh heh...you truly ARE a fool, A!" He grinned. "Why don't you take a look around at your surroundings? And REALLY look at them?!"
Despite herself, Ashe's eyes flicked to the side, and she felt like she'd been punched in the gut.
"Th...this is...!"
For the first time, without the fight with Granz occupying her attention, she saw the place they were fighting in. Or rather, what had become of it.
Six city blocks.
Six blocks that had been full of skyscrapers and buildings mere minutes before, a place battered by Granz's assault, but still recognizable as a city nonetheless...now lay in ruins, all but razed to the ground. The furthest three blocks still stained the sky a bloody red with the hellish fires that still burned from her opening attack. There was almost nothing recognizable left, the area looking no better than the cursed Sector that had been obliterated by Black Thresher.
Ashe took an involuntary step back, her eyes wide and staring as she continued to stare at the surrounding carnage.
"Th...this can't be...!" She managed, her voice shaking. "I-I...did all this?!"
"You really had no idea what you were really doing, did you?" Granz asked, almost conversationally, before his mech's optic laser burned a six centimeter hole clean through the right side of her chest, throwing her back against the wall. With a scream of pain, Ashe jerked as more of the orange flares erupted around her, destroying more of the surroundings. And now, chilled by the terrible sight she'd just seen, she noticed those reactions for the first time.
"Wh-what the...I didn't do anything just now, but it still-!"
"Oh, you've only just noticed?" The Gearhead replied, his tone still casual, before a hail of his wrist vulcans tore up the ground around her, gashing her in several places as she threw up a shaky wall of nuclear heat to defend herself. His hands danced across the keys as his army, their advance slowed during his occupation with fighting Ashe, began to push forward once more.
"You truly are a COLOSSAL fool." He laughed. "I don't know how you did it, but right now, you've got a full power nuclear fusion engine sitting where your heart used to be. And you can't control it in the slightest! Every impact, every punch you throw, every hit you take, you bleed off power reflexively! Just throwing you across the floor is enough-"
Suddenly the Warwolf was behind her, and with one tremendous kick, Granz smashed her fifty feet across the ruined area.
"To do THIS!"
A solid fissure of orange explosions tore up the earth in her wake, the light shining on Ashe's pale features.
"Y-you're lying...!" Ashe snapped desperately, struggling to her feet, "I...If that was true, if I couldn't control it, why haven't I just destroyed everything already?! If this reactor's as powerful as you say, I should be having problems with it putting out TOO much energy, rather than the opposite, which is what's happening!"
Granz leaned back in his chair, a smile playing across his features even though he knew something like this was probably morally reprehensible. But DAMNED if he wasn't enjoying this!
...he briefly wondered if he should get some kind of mental help to deal with it, but shrugged it off after a moment.
"I wonder about that..." He smirked, "After all, why don't you try asking your frie-HFDGHJKL!"
The Warwolf did an almost perfect backflip onto it's spine, the impact of the Hades bullet blasting it full in the face. Amidst the sounds of Granz's cursing, Ashe whirled.
"Arca-" She stopped in mid-speech, the relief draining from her voice.
Celtis sank back against the broken wall behind her, managing a weak grin, blood closing one of her eyes as the Hades slipped out of her hand and clattered to the ground.
"A-Ashe..."
"ARCANA!" Forgetting Granz completely, she bolted towards her teammate. "Wh-what happened to you?!"
"H...he's right...Ashe..." Celtis coughed, struggling to talk.
Ashe jerked, her hands stopping just short of Celtis.
"Wh-what?"
Celtis forced her head up to meet Ashe's gaze, and as their eyes met, Ashe choked, seeing Model O, and the furious battle it was waging against it's removed power.
"S..sorry." Celtis managed a weak grin of apology. "But it's taking everything he and I have to keep you from losing it altogether."
Rather than charge out to help the battle, she had been in hiding, silently dedicating whatever power she could towards helping Model O.
...which had been practically none, as even with everything she could muster, Celtis was...well, Celtis. But she'd ignored Model O's outraged protests and done it anyway, because it was what she felt needed to be done.
Which was why she'd ended up in this pitiable state. Her body, having already taken considerable damage from Granz's attack when she'd first begun to experience Model O's strange weakness, hadn't been able to heal properly, and she'd only made it worse by moving to smash down Granz.
"I...I...!" Ashe staggered back, pressing a hand to her face, "Oh god, I didn't...I didn't realize...!"
"It's...not your fault..." Celtis coughed again. "It's...mine...I should have warned you...about taking on Model O...and I should have been strong enough...to withstand this long enough for you to finish beating him...!"
But she was a coward, she couldn't finish saying. She had seen what was happening, with each further reaction that had erupted, how much damage it was causing to Model O, but more importantly, she had felt what it was doing to her. As the host of Model O, it was her power that fed the Biometal. Model O's power was supported by her, and with each wave of it that the broken Model was forced to put into restraining Ashe, the more damage it did to her.
It wasn't any sense of heroism, or desire to stop Granz's poisoned words that had driven her to attack just now. It was the fear, the cowardice that came from knowing that Ashe's very next attack would most likely have killed her. Celtis had seen that death coming...and couldn't face it. So she had run from it, her cowardice leading her to strike him down before it killed her.
And she hated herself for it.
And now Ashe too was suffering, as she realized just what the consequences of her actions were.
"I...what do I do...?!" The Model A Chosen One pressed her hands to her face, her mind reeling. There was nothing she could do, her mind replied. If she attacked, Celtis would die. If she herself was hit, even one more time, Celtis would die. And if Celtis died, they all would, with Model O no longer able to stop the out of control reactions.
A rumbling sound, and as the shell-shocked Ashe turned, Granz gave a savage laugh of triumph.
"FINALLY!"
And with a strange, whistling sound, several objects shot forth from the trans-server portals opening behind him. Before either girl could react, Ashe had been thrown off her feet, the objects piercing her body and staking her to a ruined wall in a flash of fire and bloody smoke.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The Warwolf dusted itself off, Granz staring with obvious satisfaction at the seven dull gray, cylindrical metal rods stabbed into Ashe, all but crucifying her.
"Wh...what is this...?!" Ashe demanded, struggling to free herself, a sudden strange coldness beginning to spread through her body from the rods.
"Control rods." Granz said, obviously pleased with himself. "From the minute I realized what I was dealing with, I had the factories that idiot employer of mine captured immediately start on a rush job for me. That job?"
The Warwolf stepped forward, and with a blow, drove one of the rods deeper. As Ashe screamed in pain, he gave her a cold smile.
"Putting together a bunch of neutron cancelling control rods for me. After that, it was a matter of creative application of the trans-servers I already own, and a couple of linear accelerators." He leaned in, ominously. "So long as these things are in you, they'll eat that nuclear power as fast as you can make it."
Spotting one of the rods already beginning to glow red-hot, he amended his statement.
"Well, at least until you overload them." He turned away, "At any rate, it'll be long enough to shut down the REAL problem."
The Warwolf's footsteps shaking the floor, he broke into a run. Cold red and green lenses fixed directly on the suddenly frozen form of Celtis Arcana, he growled.
"No doubt that reduction in reaction progress has given that blasted hunk of metal in you more than enough time to start healing..."
Model O swore profusely, having indeed already cut back on it's restraints of Ashe's power, relying on Granz's control rods to slow the nuclear reactions long enough for it to finish healing Celtis. But it hadn't expected this ASSHOLE to charge it so soon!
Desperation fueling her, Celtis ignored her still damaged body and threw herself forward, reaching for the fallen Hades, Granz's vulcans hammering away at her, geysers of dust and plasma erupting from the ground around her. She didn't even know what she'd possibly be able to do with it at this point. She heard Model O cursing, almost abandoning it's restraining task to desperately crank as much power out of it's regenerative abilities as possible, and then the Warwolf was towering over her, red lenses blazing, it's remaining claws raised high and shining in the orange glow.
"Lights out." Granz snarled.
And in that one minute, in that whirlwind of chaos, of confusion and desperation, the pure white sphere Model O had torn out of Ashe to make room for it's nuclear heart, having lain forgotten on the floor next to the Biometal, pulsed with a brilliant light.
And the Hades handgun, the crimson cannon forged by the hands of a man beyond even the laws of space and time, roared with triumph.
"About that plan..." Craft cleared his throat. The gravitational forces had increased to the point where even he had been forced down onto one knee, Grey having long since joined Queenbee flat on the ground. Behind them, the colossal supernova filled the sky, it's raging surface drawing ever closer. By rights, Craft knew they should have already been dead, burnt to dust by the heat pouring off of it.
But he knew Gemini Cyto wouldn't be satisfied with just that.
No, he was containing the power of the nova, locking it in on itself, within that spreading sphere of destruction.
Once they were swallowed by that outermost layer, however...
Craft preferred not to think of that.
"What 'plan' could you possibly have for getting out of this?!" Gemini demanded, staring outraged at them over his outstretched hand.
And then the God of Destruction grinned.
"You did good, Grey."
Flat on his stomach, still struggling to maintain their platform despite the crushing pressure bearing down on them, the Chosen One of Model A lifted his head, eye's widening as he heard the man in crimson say his name for the first time.
"Saber, you..."
"After all, thanks to you, I've got a neat new trick up my sleeve." He grinned, and turned to look back over his shoulder, an approving look on his face.
"Good job, Grey!"
And with that, Omega turned forward and stared directly at the Zone Technician on the other side. No-one knew if it was because he'd somehow figured out Omega's plan, or because he'd instinctively realized the danger, but in that moment, Gemini Cyto gave a wordless scream of anger and released the control of the supernova's speed. The laws of physics now firmly back in charge, a wave of destruction swept out at the speed of light.
Destruction was now mere microseconds away.
Omega's smile widened.
Microseconds? What a ridiculous thought. It might as well be centuries away. After all, time was no matter for him, not any more. For here, in Cyberspace, thanks to Grey's efforts, he now had all the time in...
Omega's eyes flashed, an inhuman smile slashing across his face.
"ZA WARUDO!"
And suddenly, the next thing Craft, Grey and Queenbee knew was that they were well away from their previous position and staring down at the remains of the dying supernova.
As for why a supernova that should have by rights been still exploding had suddenly winked out of existence...well the answer was obvious.
Because the Zone Technician controlling it had been completely and utterly defeated.
The colossal Onbashira Pillars that Gemini Cyto had called his strongest and greatest, fell to the floor, one by one amidst tremendous crashes, and clouds of fragmenting green data.
In the center of it all, Gemini Cyto lay sprawled full length on the ground, an unmistakable graveyard of scarred and broken steel around his motionless form, the Gate of Babylon having an all too familiar signature. Omega stood over him, Zweihander drawn and held loosely at the side.
As a drop of blood splashed across the ground, Omega looked down and grinned.
"Not bad, 'o god'. I've never heard of somebody being able to counterattack a target moving faster than time itself."
He reached up and tugged idly on the narrow, eight-inch wide hexagonal pillar that Gemini Cyto had still somehow managed to punch clean through the center of his chest.
"I...told you..." Gemini smirked behind his bloodied mask. "In this world...I am God!"
A fit of coughing overtook him, blood splashing through the cracks in his mask.
"But you too..." the Technician continued when the spasm had subsided, "What was that...thing...?!"
Gemini Cyto had only seen it for a brief moment, only his dominion over Cyberspace allowing him to have even been able to glimpse the oncoming attack, an assault striking out at a speed faster than time itself, hundreds of blades materializing around him in a mockery of the attack he himself had used earlier by surrounding them with pillars. One single, black and white image, of this enigmatic man in red, and behind him, a colossal shadow in white, a purple mane of hair flashing out behind it, with massive, floating white claws reaching out to the Zone Technician, demonic talons spread out as if to drag him down to the pits of hell.
And that faceless black visor, red lines where eyes should have been.
Omega looked down at the defeated opponent and grinned.
"Good eye." He smirked. "For now, let's just call it a trade secret and leave it at that, shall we?"
Gemini laughed bitterly.
"Suit yourself. Now finish it, oh 'King of Destroyers'." He gave a savage look up at the one who had bested him. "After all, there's no room for gods so long as a god-killing king wanders the land, right?"
Omega laughed long and loud, stabbing the Zweihander into the ground.
"Aye...but for a god-killing king, there's always room for a goddess as a queen!"
And in one motion he had reached down and torn the concealing visor of Gemini Cyto off, crushing his lips against those of the startled and beautiful girl that had been hiding behind it.
Craft simply stared.
After several moments, he finally came up with an appropriate comment.
"...What."
Granz's claws smashed down, pulverizing the earth and everything around it for ten meters. Breathing hard, he stared at the screen, his heart racing.
"What the hell...WAS that?!"
In the instant he had struck down at Celtis, he had heard...something. A roar that sounded as though a single clear note had rung out, like the voice of a bell. And there had been something like a flash of light, or at least he thought there might have been, before his claws had struck.
Now, Granz might have been a bit stubborn, and a bit of a COLOSSAL ass when he was ready, but if there was one thing he WAS, aside from an EXCELLENT multitasker and strategist, it was a fast learner.
And if there was one thing he had learned from dealing with Legion and their specialists, most plainly highlighted by his encounters with the God of Destruction and then the rest of them in this battle, it was that ANYTHING that involved 'mysterious flashes of light' or strange roars like that, specifically if it occurred on the opposite side of the field from him, and worse still if it happened right as he was about to claim victory, it usually meant really bad shit was about to happen.
And most of the time, he was on the receiving end.
So it was quite understandable that he didn't let his guard down just yet, instead searching through the clouds of dust and smoke for his target.
Celtis blinked.
Model O stared back at her, frozen in mid-restraint.
There was an awkward silence.
"Um...hi?" Celtis tentatively raised one hand in greeting.
Another silence. Wordlessly, the Biometal turned it's head back to the sun, just to make sure that yes, Granz's control rods had indeed scaled it back enough for it to afford some leeway-
And then rounded on Celtis in a growl of outraged incredulity.
"Wait wait wait, hold on!" Celtis panicked, Model O grabbing her by the front of her shirt. I don't know what's going on either! I just blinked and I was here!"
Model O blinked.
"Really!"
"..." Dropping her, it stepped back and gave a bewildered growl. Now utterly confused, it looked around. If Celtis was here, then...who was outside?
It got its answer seconds later, as blue fire erupted behind it.
Whirling with a snarl of challenge, it choked off, staggering to a halt as it beheld the newcomer. Next to it, Celtis stepped back with a similar expression.
"Wh-who are you?!"
And a voice that spoke in her mind responded.
'I ask of you...Are you my Master?'
Blue light washed over Granz from behind, casting a long, distorted shadow of the Warwolf over the ground. With an aggravated sigh, the Gearhead's shoulders slumped.
" I should have known." He muttered, and whirling, he brought the Warwolf's right arm up to fire-
-as it fell to the ground, the entire shoulder having been shot to pieces in the first flash of blue.
Granz stopped dead in his tracks, trying to process what had just happened.
"What just-"
The other arm dropped, shoulder sparking.
"Wh-what the hell?!"
Raising the Warwolf's head, he primed the optic cannon-
Which sparked and died, a crater being blown out of the side of the machine's face.
"Y-you...what the hell is going on here?!"
The one remaining camera working, he tilted it up-
And saw her.
High above the city, the Colonel Commissar continued his battle, the great iron blade crushing and cleaving Doru Ghoras one after another, listening in on Nana's conversation. Splitting another one of the Mechaniloids in half, he leaped atop another one, his grappling nails stabbing deep into the bulky armor.
And for a brief moment, he spared a glance over at the burning, smoldering area that marked the radioactive zone. And as blue fire flickered and flashed, he gave a rare smile, before returning to his own battle.
"Manifestation from Cyberspace...who would have thought I'd ever actually see it in person?"
Whirling, the cross in his hands rotated once more, the deadly revolving stake punching through the heart of another Doru Ghora.
"I wonder...what otherworldly heroes shall it show us today...?
Cyberspace...
The unknown realm that lies hidden behind reality.
That green world made of data given form.
It is the programming code for reality itself. It stretches out forever, throughout the myriad parallel dimensions of the multiverse. The ultimate program, it has no beginning, and it has no end. It continues to run, beneath the surface of reality, the true form of the laws of nature and of physics. It is not alive, and it is not dead.
The multiverse is not sentient, nor does it possess anything that can be considered as such. It simply exists. A program without a purpose, it is the clockwork that keeps the whole of reality ticking onwards, unseen and unheard.
It does, however, possess a will of sorts.
For wherever there is imbalance in that program, where one variable has gone out of control, a disturbance of the natural world, there must always be a way to correct it.
There are many ways this infinite program can correct such flaws.
If the distortion is too great to be corrected, that 'will' takes action, the world, or reality itself rebelling and erasing it entirely, such as through natural disasters, much in the way that a certain city of ancient times was drowned beneath the waves.
However, such a response is not always necessary.
Cyberspace ticks ever onwards, recording each passing moment. It records everything, right down to the smallest living cell. And throughout this, there are those rare few existences which the multiverse, which Cyberspace itself recognizes as existences surpassing the norm.
Legends.
Heroes great enough to shake even the multiverse with the strength of their deeds.
And it is to those rare beings that the world extends an offer.
Even after death, they would continue to aid the multiverse. They would become it's champions, summoned from beyond the reach of time and space, to return to fight once more. Each one strong enough to become a distortion in their own right, they are the debugging programs of Cyberspace, resetting the balance through their actions, their power.
Now just imagine for a moment...a system designed to call on the aid of such powerful beings. To allow them to be made manifest once more without awaiting the multiverse's summon.
Standing atop a pile of rubble, her back was to the Gearhead, a black, hooded longcoat blowing in the wind, two thin white lines running down from the shoulders down to the wrist of the long sleeves. A pair of feminine boots covered her legs up to the knee, the rest of her clothing being a black pair of shorts and a black bikini top, leaving most of her eerily pale skin exposed. Her hair was as dark as night, tied up into twintails that blew out behind her. Finally, a single white star flickered with the wind, emblazoned between the shoulderblades of her coat.
And covering most of her right arm, the end of it reaching all the way down to rest on the rubble beneath her...was the single biggest goddamn cannon Granz had ever seen a human use. The damn thing was almost as big as she was!
"...and now who the HELL are you?!" He demanded.
The girl stood there for a moment longer, flexing the fingers of her empty left hand experimentally.
It had been so long since she had stirred.
A lifetime of battle, struggling through the chessboard plains of the Silent World.
And yet it seemed the battles were not over yet.
Someone had still needed her.
Here, in this world, a different version of the one reflected by the twisted mirror of the Silent World, she stood atop the rubble and looked up, up, as high as she could.
There, barely visible through the dirty, smoke-stained winds, she saw it.
That blue, untouched sky, she had only seen in dreams, glimpses of the real world.
She heard the heavy steel footsteps, and turned, the Warwolf glaring furiously up at her from it's one remaining eye.
She knew what was happening, what was occurring in this new world. She supposed it was one of the perks of her new...'condition'.
After all, for the sake of finally escaping that neverending melancholy of battles on that silent world of greys, she had stretched a hand out, seeking some way out...
And the multiverse itself answered her.
The man in white, who stood at the very edge of time and space, had heard her.
In those timeless, gold eyes, she had seen the question. The deal she would have to make for that freedom, and what that freedom would entail.
Slowly her eyes tilted down, focusing on the battered machine, seeing not just the metal, but the connections tracing back through space to the one controlling it.
The Warwolf instinctively took a step back, a cold feeling running through the Gearhead. Even hidden as he was, in his secret base countless miles away, concealed from all eyes, somehow, he got the feeling that those emotionless, eerily blue eyes were staring right back at him.
"This...is going to be a problem." He muttered, already sensing that this was no normal foe. The fact that she'd silently and effortlessly just WIPED OUT both of the Warwolf's arms all but attested to that.
Never taking his eyes off of her, he switched one of his hands over to a different keyboard, typing away. In response, a countdown timer came up, tracking the progress of a geographical locator program.
The girl's grip tightened on the grip of the battered cannon.
The price of that freedom...to offer her services to the multiverse itself. As one who had transcended the boundaries of mortality, to become a hero, to become a legend, she would respond whenever the multiverse needed her, a wordless, soundless call that echoed from any time or place to correct the world once more.
She had heard many names for such an existence, but thus far there was only one she felt summed it up the best.
Antivirus.
Wherever there was an imbalance in the laws of the multiverse, an anomaly that was beyond the correction of those involved in it, a distortion in the great program that was Cyberspace, the Antivirus would be manifested, to take action on behalf of the multiverse.
That was her role now.
To be summoned to countless new battlefields, to fight on any number of new worlds, in order for her wish to be granted, to be able to see that blue sky with her own eyes.
And so here she stood, once more summoned to a new battlefield to struggle once more.
The girl hefted the cannon, her coat shifting with the movement.
But...strangely enough, she found that she didn't mind.
All those untold centuries of battle in that Silent World...they had been without a purpose, without a reason. One simply fought because that was their purpose, existing to mirror the interactions of their selves in the real world. Just distorted reflections, fighting on in a pitiful imitation of their real selves.
But here, as one who fought for the balance of the multiverse...there was a strange happiness in her. There was a purpose now. A reason to do battle, no longer doing it 'simply because'.
The cerulean eyes, lit by lines of white in concentric circles surrounding the black pupils, seemed thoughtful for a moment.
However, it seemed as though this time, it had not been the multiverse that had called on her. Rather, this seemed to be some external summon, as though an outsider of some kind had called for her. It was not unheard of for such things to happen, but for it to occur and call her as flawlessly as this...Truly, this was no ordinary technological marvel. There should be nothing capable of reaching into the depths of Cyberspace to summon an Antivirus with this level of clarity.
Unless...
She seemed to consider it for a moment, remembering once more that man in white, with the unreadable golden eyes, who had given her that chance at freedom.
If it was one connected to that man...then there was nothing such as impossible.
She looked across the stark void, at the wary ghost, a shell of its true form, restrained by unmistakable black chains sealing it there, and her eyes flickered in recognition.
Indeed...if it were the owner of those chains especially, such an open disregard for the workings of the world were not just unsurprising, but were almost to be expected.
Barring that, whenever one was summoned in such a manner from Cyberspace, without needing to fulfill their role as an Antivirus, there were rules of a sort to follow...One such rule being that the Anti-Viral would always be given a particular class designation, based on their abilities, as a sort of limiter to prevent them from becoming a dangerous imbalance in the world themselves. And here on this world, it seemed she had been given a most unexpected designation...
Granz's eyes flicked to the timer.
Her eyes moved to the green haired girl, half hidden behind the scarred crimson ghost, an alarmed and slightly frightened look on her face.
"Wh-what did you say?" Celtis asked, bewildered.
Her expression never changing, she repeated the question.
"I am one who will fight by your side. I ask again...are you my Master?"
Celtis exchanged a baffled look with Model O. The Biometal, for it's part, gave the newcomer a hard look, but gave a grudging nod. As a creation of Cyberspace itself, Model O knew what it was looking at.
"Um..."Celtis looked between them a few times, still clearly uncertain.
But Model O's grudging acceptance of the newcomer, and her own desperation to do something to make up for her moment of cowardice, that had all but seen Ashe destroyed moments ago, cemented her decision. She swallowed.
"If you'll help us...then yes." Celtis straightened up, hiding her nervousness. "Yes I am."
Blue fire roared to life, scorching the earth beneath her, her long coat flaring up in the stark void where the broken Biometal stood chained.
"Then my power is at your command."
The girl leveled that scarred black cannon directly at Gearhead Granz, a brilliant blue charge igniting in its depths.
"But..." Celtis asked, still shaken by the sudden cerulean inferno that now raged around them, Model O giving it wary glances and growling slightly. "Just who ARE you?"
"All right..." Granz grinned, "You're not the green-hair, and you're DEFINITELY not the nuclear disaster over there..." he glanced at Ashe, who was still struggling to free herself, before turning back to the newcomer.
"So mind introducing yourself?"
And in a voice that spoke without her lips moving, the pale girl in the black coat responded, her words echoing in the emptiness of Model O's prison and in the real world as well, spoken to both the unnerved Celtis and the wary Gearhead Granz.
'Class: Assassin.'
Her left eye ignited, an otherworldly blue flame bursting to life.
'Black Rock Shooter.'
And she cut loose, burning blue shells slamming into the Warwolf with colossal impacts.
"SHIT!" Granz cursed, the mech rocking back. "That thing's FAST...!"
Firing boosters, he flipped the machine out of the way, trying to get as much distance from the oddly named 'Black Rock Shooter'.
At least, that's what he tried to do, before a chill ran down his spin and he threw the Warwolf sideways to avoid a pointblank shot from the SAME cannon, it's wielder staring up at him with those cool blue eyes from directly behind him.
"You...how the hell did you get there so fast?!" One of the Warwolf's legs slashed out in a spinning kick, it's talons scything through the air above the BRS as she ducked. Spinning around, she brought the cannon up and fired again, impacts slamming into the machine's torso.
"Guh...dammit!" Granz cursed, blasting off the damaged chest panels and cutting loose with a storm of missiles. "Dammit, I can't even SEE her!"
None of his prized sensors were picking her up at ALL, not even to lock on. Even proximity sensors weren't detecting her, the BRS landing atop the Warwolf's shoulders and flipping off with another three cannon blasts as Granz tried vainly to keep her in sight. No biological signature, no electrical signature, no metal detected, even from that massive cannon...if it wasn't for his own eyes, Granz would have sworn he was taking damage from NOTHING!
With an angry growl, he slammed the Warwolf's heels into the ground, electricity coursing through them.
"DISRUPTOR WEB!"
Lines of crackling light spread out from Granz's machine, gigavolts of electricity that would have incapacitated any enemy caught in it. Too late, Granz caught the flames of blue dying in the air, a trail leading to-
The Black Rock Shooter cartwheeled through the sky, cannon up and firing.
"God DAMN it!" Granz swore, twisting the Warwolf's body. Shots tore chunks out of it's edges, armor plates grazed off by the fierce blue shells, and somehow, incredibly, he avoided a fatal blow. Back panels blasted off on explosive bolts, emergency thrusters fired, the mechaniloid leaping off of the ground and rocketing straight at the BRS.
"The hell with sensors! If my machines aren't enough, I'll take you on myself!" The Gearhead roared.
The black cannon flashed, metal cracking and shifting. And in a burst of blue flame it transformed, a massive iron blade replacing the muzzle.
"A melee form-?!" Granz barely had time to be surprised, before she swung at him, the heavy iron blade smashing into the Warwolf's side, the flat of the massive blade crushing the metal and caving in the entire left side of the mech's torso, launching it out of the sky.
"AARGH!"
With a deafening crash, it fell to earth, punching a colossal crater in the ground and catapulting debris in every direction.
The Black Rock Shooter landed, her black heeled boots tapping down on an upturned car.
In complete contravention of the known laws of physics, the Vermilion Vile Warwolf lived still. A hulking form that loomed out of the smoke, half of it's body smashed beyond ruin, it's one remaining eye piercing the smoke with a red glow, it stared out at her with a cold rage.
And incredibly, Granz began to laugh.
"I will admit this, stranger. You're indeed one hell of an enemy! Unfortunately..." His grin widened, "Let's see you try that against a FULLY POWERED WARWOLF!"
The counter hit zero, and in that instant, the Warwolf flashed brilliantly. Granz's trans-server commands finally obtaining the necessary lock, they stripped the mecha of all of it's damaged sections and armor, teleporting in brand-new and fully functional gear to replace them.
Within the space of a few seconds, the Vermilion Vile Warwolf reared up to its full height, steel body glinting in all it's glory as though it had never been damaged in the first place.
"Now..." Granz smiled, all but gloating, "Let's try this AGAIN, shall we?"
A/N: And thus does the Chronicles reach a turning point in it's writing. That crimson handgun, bastardized duplicate of the Dominion, has finally showed a glimpse of it's true powers.
As mentioned before, expect the crossovers to get a tad bit more intense.
The Chronicles will remain a Megaman centric fic, but as the Black Rock Shooter has proven, I will be bringing in other characters from entirely different universes, each to play a role of their own. I apologize in advance if some of you take this badly and decide to ragequit on account of me getting more serious with the anime and manga references, but I do hope you'll continue to stick around.
Other than that, there's not much else I can say for this chapter...other than to facepalm and wonder what the HELL I was thinking to give FRIGGING OMEGA a TIMESTOP ability.
...Also, the Dio reference was practically MANDATORY.
Anyway, for those of you interested in the Black Rock Shooter and her original story, I recommend you go look up the OVA, followed by the eight episode anime. I can guarantee you, it WON'T disappoint.
I will be taking some liberties with her, though, as the Black Rock Shooter's never really been a truly 'defined' character, with at least four different versions of her out there.
At any rate, she's one of my top three favorite girls of anime, and thus, this crossover had to be done. And to HELL with the consequences. My story, MY RULES.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and look forward to the next chapter!
DarkShift Out!