The weather outside was nice: not too sunny and not too cloudy, making the morning air quite cool. There were no predicted storms or any events that were going to happen. It was a perfect day for many things: a good day for sports teams to wake up and play, a good day for an average joe to go for a walk in the park, maybe even hang out with friends if there wasn't a global pandemic occurring. Certain worlds had these days, but a number didn't. A quite large group of worlds had been doing other activities, such as hide and seek from the enemy, preparing a nice game of Battleship for certain odds, and racing to prepare. This wasn't any normal day.
This is the day worlds collide.
Kegan stepped back after the final piece had been added and admired his work for a moment, smiling as he realized they were done. Helmets, check. Upper body, check. Lower body, check. Legs and arms, check. Enough room for their powers, double-check. He smiled as the list was complete and they were almost ready to save their friends.
"Hang on, y'all. We're coming."
Meanwhile, Gaijin sat at the holo table, waiting for the return of his friends while Markus finally decided to fall asleep again, leaving him pretty much alone. Then, he looked down at his creation: a small device that was supposed to be a portal opener between the island and a small base Markus had commandeered for them. He looked to what the source of it was: a small hard drive. One that was Colinne's. The design was based off the machine that she had built before it was stolen while they were there. The thought of her brought back bad memories and having to watch the corpse made him sick. But then he knew that this would avenge her. Saving all these people is what she would've wanted. Suddenly, the device gave a white glow before a small white portal appeared and he stepped back in shock. He smiled and jumped up in excitement.
"It worked," he said, admiring his work.
Sean's sudden entrance cut him off, "We've got it!"
Gaijin looked over and saw Sean carrying the small device that supposedly would help them get past the forcefield: the Hammer Of Dawn. Felix smiled.
"What about the satellite portion of it?" he asked.
"Noah has that covered," Sean said. Gaijin imagined Crystal trying to grab onto the satellite and try to port it to the right place and chuckled.
"Alright," he said as a pair of footsteps came into the room. The two looked over to see Kegan and Tails running into the room. Kegan had a huge smile on his face.
"It's done. Let's get ready."
A few minutes later the group was assembled in the holo table room. Kegan finished up a map of the island and sent it off to the suits AI's. Markus looked at him and nodded as he typed into his watch and quickly flicked his wrist, sending him to the military base they had. Kegan smiled before looking at the group and silently urged them to follow him. On the way, Kegan walked next to Tracer and began to talk.
"Is your team ready?" he asked. Tracer nodded.
"As ready as Overwatch will ever be," she replied. Kegan sighed.
"Thanks again," he said, bringing up his coms, "How about everyone else, Markus?"
"Good to go," Markus said, "Spartans are ready to go into the IMC areas, 141 is set to start infiltrating known Crystalite bases and causing havoc, and more at the ready."
He looked at his watch, which displayed a time of 9:45 am. He sighed before pressing on the coms again.
"Tell them to be ready to move out at 10 am sharp," he said. Markus gave a simple reply before he went silent. Kegan then led them into the hangar with the vehicles and suits. He sighed as he turned around to the group.
"Alright," he said, "Tracer, as soon as you are finished with that threat, you come and help us on the island." She nodded and blinked away out of view as Kegan continued, "Fox, you, Ratchet, and Crystal have the responsibility to make sure that those reinforcements can get here. Take out the towers and keep any incoming Crystalites at bay."
"But what about the prisoners and generators?" Ratchet asked. Kegan sighed.
"I'm getting to that," he said, "Bill, I want you to go down there and hold them off as long as you can."
"By myself?" he questioned. Kegan gave a devious smile.
"Not exactly," he said, purposely avoiding the question, "Anyways, we should be able to get onto the island if the Hammer Of Dawn hits the forcefield just right."
"And why did you bring us here?" Felix asked. Kegan smiled.
"Well, to tell you all this," he said, snapping his fingers and causing numerous cases to open up, showing weapons and the suits he had been building. The group's attention suddenly turned to said suits and the admiration was clear as Kegan finished.
"And to show you your newest attire."
Skye watched as more and more people were being snatched from the cell and she stood in front of Krystal even though she was absolutely terrified of what was going to happen next. Krystal stood behind her in a defensive stance but still could feel her legs shaking as the Crystalites finally came up to the cell and opened up the door. Krystal immediately dashed out, trying to make a run for any exit, but failing as a Crystalite grabbed her arm and pulled her into a tight grip. Skye ran over to assist but failed as another one grabbed her and held her in a bear hug-style hold. The two began shouting at each other and the Crystalites, demanding they let them go but to no avail, as Skye watched helplessly as the Crystalite walked away with Krystal, most likely to a demise worse than anyone could imagine. She felt herself on the brink of crying but held it together as the Crystalites teleported her to the main control room with Omi and she heard people screaming from behind her, but she refused to turn around. Then, a familiar deranged voice appeared.
"I see your fear, Skye," Omi said, bending down next to her, "But when this is all over, I promise you that I will-"
"Shut up, jackass," she said, her anger pooling inside her body and tears in her eyes, "I know what you want. You want everyone and everything dead just so you can bring upon your twisted version of peace."
He chuckled, "'Twisted'? Do you think my ideology is twisted? That peace and balance are twisted? See, this just proves my point: you people are so corrupted and twisted that your sense of peace is utterly baffling. You think you are right, even when you walk over the corpses of innocent people and the backs of hard-working individuals. All for what? To claim that you are the heroes and are trying to help them, right? You are all the epitome of imbalance."
Skye groaned, "So this what this is all about? Balance? Then you are sorely mistaken if people are actually going to die off without a fight."
"I never said I didn't intend a fight," he replied somewhat smugly. Skye ground her teeth together.
"Why did you bring me here?" she asked. Omi sighed.
"Obviously I wanted to have you do something," he said, "And I think you work best standing here rather than actually being down there."
Skye sighed in frustration, "But that's not all, is it?"
"I heard from a little birdie that you know information about the group and who they prize the most here, other than you that is."
"Well, you're going to kill most of them," she replied sternly. Omi smiled.
"I don't mean them," he said, "I mean the group of World Zero individuals we have on this base. Since we both can't hide the fact that we know they're all from World Zero, how's about you give me a little piece of your mind. Who are they?"
Skye fell silent. She knew the group's names but was not willing to give them up as she knew that they had family there. One single slip up and they die. She inhaled and spoke.
"Well, I know for a fact that you're not thinking straight, as usual," she said, smirking at the end.
"Oh. So they do have people here?" he said, seeing straight through her play-off, "Then maybe I should get that little vixen to assist in this if you don't comply."
"Well, hate to break it to ya," Skye said, "But I don't know any of them well enough to know loved ones."
Omi tilted his head, "Yes, I know you're not smart or sociable enough to talk about those topics. I can see that. But a first name wouldn't hurt, you know, like your little tool Excavious."
"What?" she said in disbelief, "Why would you call Ex a-"
"A tool?" Omi smiled, "Because you are using him to get something out of him. You are using him to find a place to live. Yet I've heard he trusts you, enough to put his life before you."
"He's a trusting guy," she said.
"Then you must know. His. NAME!" he shouted, slamming his hands into her shoulders and grabbing her off the ground. Skye groaned in pain as she felt her muscles try to fight off his tight grip but failed miserably. Omi stared at her for a moment before sighing.
"Well," he said, "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way."
He dropped Skye who fell on her knees and he snapped his fingers and two Crystalites walked up beside him, "Find the vixen girl. Now."
The Crystalites walked off and Skye tried to stand in protest but could do nothing as they walked off. Skye watched and prayed as they walked off. Omi cackled once again.
"Can't you see?!" he said, insanity pouring from his voice, "I AM IN CONTROL!"
BOOOOOM!
An explosion occurred, causing Skye to kneel down and cover her head as the ground below her vibrated violently. Omi had done the same, except Crystalites had come over to assist him in standing up. The Crystal King looked over to one of the smarter Crystalites.
"What the fuck was that?" he asked. The Crystalite looked at the screen then back to him.
"It looks like we were hit by something," it replied, "Something big."
"How big?" Omi asked.
"Big enough to dislodge our four main forcefield projectors," it said grimly. Omi growled.
"Get as many Crystalites here as possible," he said, turning away. The Crystalite spoke into some microphone for a moment before his expression turned grim.
"Um, sir?" it asked for Omi's attention. The Crystal King turned around to see it trembling in fear.
"Most of our main jump spots to this spot have been compromised."
Skye's face grew into a smile as another Crystalite spoke, "Multiple unidentified craft flying towards the island. Fast."
Omi turned to Skye, his face an unprepared mess of emotions. Skye only smirked at his fear and stood.
"I'm sorry, who did you say had control again?"
"Approaching the island fast, everyone get into positions."
Ratchet's voice echoed through the group's coms as they all prepared their suits. Felix watched as his suit shifted into position on his body until it fit snugly. He looked in the glass that gave a small look at his suit: a similar suit to the one he had previously while adding on some things, like making it lighter, showing a little more forearm and his bandages, as well as replacing the full Vigil from Rainbow Six helmet with a more flashy open design like Wally West from the Flash. He looked over at Mark, whose suit was also somewhat open except his body was covered in an extremely old-looking armor, showing his bracelets and fingers as well as a nice cloth-like material underneath it all. Wasn't covered in anything, but did have a strange neck device that Ex said would scramble his face in cameras and anyone's eyesight as well as putting a small forcefield around his head from the neck up. Finally, Sean wore a strange super-suit with areas to let a green liquid he could control flow around his armor and to his hammer. His suit and hammer somewhat matched with a thin pair of navy blue armor leggings and blackish gray boots. His face protection was similar to Marks but with the addition of a gray cap similar to his more famous one.
"I look ridiculous," Sean said. Ex sighed.
"Yeah, sorry," he said, "Let's just say I went for something more practical than presentable. Also, I was under a little time crunch, so sorry man."
Felix looked over to see Ex, Chesh, and Crystal in their suits. Ex wore a much better color schemed suit with black boots and forearm gloves. His suit was a pair of armored jeans and a strange-looking top consisting of a black undershirt and a blue jacket looking over the top. His back had some kind of circle on it, somehow allowing his powers to flow freely. His mask was the same except for a few minor changes to the vents on his mask. Chesh wore a more soldier-looking outfit with a strange-looking soldier's helmet that allowed his hair to flow out the back as well as cover his face in a spray painting mask. His chest had a pair of overall-looking strips going down the sides of his chest, containing things like grenades and such. The sides of his hips had two pistol holsters and a few magazines holds that automatically refilled if a new magazine was inserted. His suit had hard armor plates on the chest and very strong padding on the legs, which gave him extra protection. Finally, Crystal floated around, his head invisible except for his sunglasses and his red and black fedora. His suit was a legitimate suit, having a red and black striped suit and pants, with black boots and gloves. It looked fragile, like a normal suit, but if Ex was to believe, it was much stronger than that.
"Stylish," Felix commented to Crystal, who nodded back.
"Thanks," he said, "Went through some serious testing to get it as good as it is."
He nodded as he looked to the rest of the group, seeing Mat and Gijian were wearing the suits that Ex had made for them while Steph wore a suit having room for the quiver and bow being able to go over her shoulder. She had armor protecting every part of her, from her forearms to her shins and all of her upper body. Underneath all the plates lying a protective carbon nanotube mesh that should be pretty much bulletproof. She didn't mind the look, but she requested that she had a helmet that would protect her identity and her face. So, Ex fulfilled the request by giving her a nice helmet that complimented the look: a helmet that gave her a lot of peripheral vision and her nose and mouth from dangerous toxins, but also let her hair roam freely behind her. She smiled as she brought the mask up to her face and it hissed into place onto the neckpiece of her suit.
"Well, Ex," she said, "I'll give your service and such a ten outta ten."
"Thanks, Ms.," he said respectfully.
Felix then looked at the suits given to Delirious, Terroriser, and Vanoss. Delirious's suit was the same when they went to try and save Skye a few days prior: blue and black attire with a white hockey mask. He watched as Delirious strapped on a few rift bombs to his belt. Terroriser wore a suit that was very similar to the terminator from the second movie, except with a face scrambling neckpiece and a futuristic-looking version of the weapons from the Terminator movies, including the lever-action shotgun and a smaller version of the laser rifle. Vanoss, however, had the most stunning thing: an owl helmet that reacted with his facial expressions, it's beak opening when he opened his mouth, his eyes blinking when he did, and much more. His suit was also equally impressive, having a multitude of features like an ability to control his yellow energy and the ability to be extremely flexible as well as strong. Its main trait was the yellow owl symbol on his chest.
Crainer, Dan, and Ian sat together, Ian's suit he knew well: the trench coat and badass modern-looking wizard. Dan, on the other hand, wore what looked like a miners outfit mixed with a modern soldier's attire with heavy brown boots and thick gloves. His face was covered by only a pair of light blue goggles, finishing the look. Then there was Crainer, who had a more mechanical look to his. His hand's hand translucent tubes leading up his arms and to his chest, allowing him to use his powers somewhat like Iron Man and such. His suit was similar in build and style to an Iron Man suit, minus the colors in favor of turquoise, green, and blue aesthetic. His helmet covered his eyes and most of his nose but left his mouth and hair go rather than holding it.
Finally, Stampy, Squaishy, and Squid stood together in a more reserved group. Stampy wore a strange yellow suit similar to a pilot flight suit, though also covered in protective body armor similar to kevlar and maybe steel. The two big parts of his suit were the shining silver boots he wore with small wings on the sides and the Halo-inspired helmet with small cat ears at the top, working somehow to his advantage. Squaishy wore a mage robe and, again, protective gear underneath it. It had white and a much brighter yellow outlining on each of the clothing choices as well as some way for her arms and such to breathe. She also had a mechanism on her back for her 'wings' as well as her staff. Finally, Squid's suit had a pair of holsters for his 'sharp circles', to which they later learned that it was a pair of weapons called the kana-wa. His suit consisted of a skin-tight suit beneath a short blue and white robe with yellow accents and outlines on certain parts. His helmet was an upgraded and changed version of a scuba mask made to look like a group of tentacles reaching around his neck and going around his mouth. His eyes were covered by a pair of thin and small goggles that were specifically made for him and were blue with yellow accents.
"This is it!" Ratchet yelled, knocking Felix out of his train of thought and prepared his suit for the battle.
"So wait, quick go over of the plan," Joe said, "Beth, Noah, and Kegan are going to have the skies and try and draw their fire away from us, right?"
"As well as get Bill down into the generator room and some assistance from whoever gets here first," Kegan added. Joe nodded.
"Felix, Mark, and Mat are going to drop down next to one of the main turrets, destroy it, and then make our way towards the prisoners," he said.
"Yep," Mat said, "We do that and give them more breathing room up in the air."
"And the rest of us are flexible on what to do?" he finished.
"That and you guys are our first line of defense against any rogue incoming Crystalites," Kegan said. Joe nodded.
"Then that's all." Joe nodded as he slipped on his helmet followed by the rest of the group. OBIS quickly calibrated settings in each of the suits and linked them to the coms as Markus spoke.
"Our job is finished," he said, "ETA five to seven minutes."
"Copy that," Ex said. Then more voices came on.
Captain Price was first, "Finished here. ETA ten to fifteen minutes."
Then Tracer followed, "Everything under control here, loves! ETA is three to five minutes."
Finally, Fox ended it off, "Star Fox defenses are set. ETA five minutes sharp."
Ex smiled, "Now all we need to wait for is-"
He was cut off as a sudden explosion near the ship caused the group to shake around. Ratchet's voice came over the PA.
"This is a good spot!" he shouted, "Opening the doors!"
The doors to the cargo ship folded open and the group looked out at the island, currently thirty thousand feet below them. Felix felt his heart stop while he could see Ex and Beth growing nervous about the scene. Ex spoke into the coms.
"Alright, we'll jump here," he said, turning to Squaishy and Chesh, "Ratchet, once we are out, take this thing closer to the ground and work on getting everyone else out."
"You got it!" he shouted, causing Ex to recoil from the sound.
"Buddy," he said, "You're talking through coms, there's no need to shout anymore."
"Oh, sorry," Ratchet said. Ex chuckled before he looked at Crystal and Beth. He gave a small smile before Chesh walked up beside him.
"How do you expect to get down there?" Chesh asked, "'Cause that's how I'm getting down too."
"Like this." Ex smiled as the circle on his back spun into position and began sprouting the dark blue metal he was known for. This time, the metal formed into wings that stretched to about one and a half times the length of his arms, the neon blue lights glowing brightly as it did. Two circular holes appeared that contained futuristic rotary propellers that were supposed to give him lift and help him fly. Finally, they finished and Ex looked to Chesh.
"Hop on," he said, turning his back to him. Chesh jumped on his back like a piggyback. He then took one last look at Felix, who nodded to him. He nodded back and responded.
"SEE YOU ON THE GROUND!" he shouted as he jumped off the ship, Chesh's screams of fear slowly fading away as Squaishy and Crystal followed behind. The door began to close and the rest of the group went to take a seat as the ship made a rapid descent. Felix sighed, hoping for this to be over soon. But once again, life had other plans as a sudden thud caught the group off guard. The door swung back into an open position as the dive they were in became steeper. Ratchet yelled over all the noise and chaos.
"WE'RE HIT! GONNA NEED TO JUMP NOW!" he shouted as he grabbed a jet pack and ran for the open door. Felix looked to the rest of the group as he stood, motioned for the rest of the group, and followed Ratchet out of the ship. Before he did, he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"HANG ON, MARZIA! TAMA UNITE ISE!"
Ex watched as the ship dived even further towards the ground, things flying out of the back. Parts, seats, and people. Ex watched as the System Breakers fell to the ground and, one by one, sprouted dirt as they impacted the ground. The ship veered towards one huge turret and direct impacted it, causing the two machines to explode. Ex turned to Chesh, who still held on for dear life and only looked up occasionally. Finally, the coms crackled to life.
"Ex, if you were down here, I would fucking kiss you."
Ex chuckled at the sound of Sean's voice and the rest of the group as they all returned to life, "That's great to hear, man. Glad to know that you all survived."
"With fucking ease, man!" Terroriser shouted. Ex gave a short but hearty laugh.
"Alright, y'all know what to do," he said, "Crystal, take out those fucking towers. Beth, you are on temporary anti-aircraft destroying duty. I'll take Chesh to the generator and from there we can move."
The groups all quickly signed off but not before Ex spoke one last time, "And Mark?"
"Yes?" Mark asked. Ex smiled at the response he thought of.
"Break some shit for me, will ya?" he asked. He could tell Mark smiled at that.
"With pleasure." With that, Ex fell into a dive towards the island as he watched Beth and Crystal follow quickly behind. Ex watched the ground quickly approached as Chesh questioned him if he was going to pull up or not. More and more shots pestered the air around him as if teasing him when one would hit. Crystal veered off, aiming towards one of the four towers that held the forcefield up, while Beth pulled up somewhat earlier than Ex. Finally, he spread his arms out and grabbed a pair of grips, and yanked backward, allowing his body to tilt upwards and fly forwards past multiple turrets and spin so he was tilted along his axis and on his side.
"Your stop is coming up, mate," he said, feeling his grip loosen but not by much.
"Alright, could ya slow down?" Chesh asked. Ex sighed.
"Ok, hold on," he said as he spun around and came to a hovering stop as Chesh dropped down next to one of the turrets that, according to Markus, should lead down to the generator room.
"So, I'm doing this alone?" he questioned. Ex shook his head, tossing him a small rift bomb device.
"Not exactly," he replied, "As soon as that starts to beep, throw it anywhere away from you. They are your backup."
Chesh nodded, "I trust you."
"Thanks," he said, "I won't let ya down."
He then flew up into the sky, the flurry of rounds now returning around him. He turned to see one of the towers suddenly eject hundreds of pieces as it toppled over, exploding multiple times on the way down. Flying out of the rubble, Crystal spun out of the rubble and flew towards the next tower, hitting it at such a high speed that it was impossible for the tower to survive as it concaved inwards and fell like a Jenga tower. Crystal flew out of the other side of the tower as it fell into rubble. Ex smiled as voices spoke through the coms.
"Need some help here!"
Sean ducked down below as a Crystalite swung and missed him. He grabbed his hammer and reeled back to swing, only for something much bigger to hit it and send it flying. He spun around to see Mark, holding a huge piece of the turret they had just destroyed.
"I had that, Mark," Sean said stubbornly. Mark chuckled.
"Sure you did," he replied. Then, the more Crystalites jumped at them, only for one to be smashed to the ground by Sean's hammer and the other two to be hit by what looked like a flying disk. The disk quickly flew back behind the two and into the hands of its user Mat. He sighed.
"Can we argue about this later, please?" he asked, "We've got to get to the prison."
"I'm at the prison, waiting for you guys," Joe suddenly said into the coms.
"Alright," Mat said, "Stay there, Joe, I'm on my way."
"Brian and I will be on our way to the World Zero prison," Evan said, "May need back up."
"Who's gonna take on the big man?" Sean asked.
"I'm down, anyone else?" Crystal asked.
"You'll get there ahead of me, but sure," Delirious said.
"Alright everyone," Mat said, "Let's go."
Sean turned and ran to Brian, who was waiting on Evan at that moment. Before long, however, a jeep appeared in a white burst of light. It skidded in front of the two and they hopped on before Evan even said a word. A second later, he slammed his foot onto the gas pedal and the jeep shot forward at an extreme speed. Moments later, the group reached the hangar and they jumped out. They ran to the doors and waited for a moment until Evan nodded to Sean and Brian, leading to him entering the doors before them and leading the way and moving in.
The humongous hangar was... well, humongous, with small vehicles strewn about the place, as if it were left in a panicked hurry. Tools were everywhere, small screws and bolts were around unattached wheels, and cars, jeeps, and aircraft were still raised up for repairs. They walked past many things, trying to see if there was some type of entrance underground or something. After a few minutes of searching, nothing came up.
"Maybe we're doing something wrong?" Brian asked. Sean shrugged.
"Maybe we're not looking hard enough," he said. Evan sighed.
"What could be an entrance?" he thought out loud. He walked around for a moment before a small detail caught his eye: scratch marks on the floor beneath the vehicle lifters. They were small so they were that much harder to notice, but the detail stuck for all of the lifted vehicles. Without another word, he stood on the space in between the metal structure and began scanning around trying to find any other mechanical works that could help him.
"There's something up with these things," Evan said, causing the two to do almost the same thing. They sat there for a moment before suddenly, Sean's boot tapped against something on the lower metal structure, causing a sudden metallic groan before the ground gave out beneath his feet. He gasped and tried to find a ledge to grab onto but failed as he fell into a spin but quickly uprighted himself and landed on his feet. He looked around at his new environment as he heard two other pairs of feet land near him. He looked up, only to step back as a charging Crystalite almost crushed his skull against the floor. He grabbed his hammer and slammed its top into the thing's chest before swinging it at the thing's head, sending it flying across the room and slamming into a wall, causing it to crack. He smirked as two others approached the group, only for one to meet a boot from Vanoss and the other to be caught in a chokehold by Terroriser and promptly thrown into the ground.
The three then looked up and saw a large group of Crystalite guards approaching them. The three looked at each other before turning back to the group and getting in a ready position for the fight. Evan quipped first.
"ALRIGHT! Who's ready to get their ass kicked?"
Bill was getting worried. Though he was only down in the reactor for a few minutes, the adrenaline made it feel like an hour. He thought that the device would begin beeping pretty quickly, but that was not the case as he was alone for most of the time. It seemed like the Crystalites had packed up and gotten the bomb part ready pretty quickly. And lazily at that. Just a press of a button and it was overridden. He sighed and spoke into the coms.
"Alright," he said, "The self-destruct stuff isn't a problem now. What's the plan now?"
"Just wait there," Mat said, "You'll get company soon."
"Soon as in?" he asked. As the words left his mouth, a burst of bullets flew right past his head, one skimming his helmet. He immediately ducked and tried to find cover but could only grab a small piece of metal from debris and hold it in front of him as the bullets kept flying in his direction.
"Oh, that company," he grunted as another large round hit the metal and dented it. His eyes darted back and forth before another round hit the metal, denting it right next to his hand. He was so focused on the metal that he didn't realize that the rift opener had dropped down to his feet. His heart rate increased more than it already had and-
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The sound was almost music to his ears as he looked down and saw a small light at his feet. He threw the metal at the Crystalites and dove away as the rift bomb began to beep even more rapidly. Then, a sudden wave of air pushed past him and caused him to fall further into his fetal position. He waited for a moment before he uncoiled and sat up, only to feel a barrel be placed at the back of his head. He peeked around his shoulder to see a group of Crystalites standing over him, weapons drawn. Chesh sighed.
"So, what now, fuckwits?" he questioned.
"Now, you-" The Crystalite was cut off as suddenly something hit it and sent it flying into an adjacent wall and led the group to stand there silently before a deep voice spoke first.
"Now you what?" the voice asked. He turned to see his savior: a figure with a big head and a blue unzipped coat, as well as black shorts with a distinctive white line down the sides. He also had a pair of pink slippers. The figure was as recognizable as his smile. Sans. He chuckled as his eye turned a light blue.
"You didn't finish." His sentence was followed by a group of four bones appearing out of thin air and impaling the portion of the remaining Crystalites. Chesh quickly grabbed one of the Crystalites and began pummeling it until it was similar to a bent metal sheet. He heard footsteps sprint up to him and saw as a Crystalite tried to get him back for his fallen friend, only to suddenly stop midair before a blade shot through the thing's chest. It stopped moving and the attacker dropped it.
The attacker was in a black suit with green plates on top and a green helmet similar to something out of Halo, but he knew otherwise. His chest plate had a small red device on it and his helmet had a few cracks, most likely from his previous encounters before this. The Slayer. He stared at Chesh for a moment before he surprisingly extended a hand to help him stand, to which he shakily accepted. He stood as the Slayer opened his super shotgun and reloaded it calmly and near-emotionless. Chesh turned to Sans.
"Boy am I glad to see you," he said. Sans shrugged it off.
"No problem, kid," he said, "Just here to help out."
"Alright," he said, "We just gotta make sure they don't get here and turn it back on."
"Seems easy enough." Chesh nodded as the sound of footsteps approached quickly. The three watched the door as Crystalites exploded through the entrance. Chesh looked at his new teammates, smiled, and shouted:
"TAMA UNITE ISE!"
The door to the prison launched off its hinges and the Crystalites jumped as they were all single-handedly bested to near sheet metal thickness by bright yellow streak. One final Crystalite stood in the way to which it was responded by a sudden disk hitting it and deactivating it by cutting deep enough into its neck to dislocate the device. The shield returned to Mat, who looked to Joe who was now out of breath.
"I'm sorry," Mat said, "But what happened to me going first?"
"Oh right," Joe said, "Guess with my speed I got impatient."
Suddenly, a Crystalite grabbed Joe and launched him backward into a door. The door bent and broke, giving way to Joe as he flipped and landed on his feet. He looked at the Crystalite and chuckled, coming up with a quip.
"Don't you guys know?" he asked, "Cats always land on their feet."
The Crystalite groaned, "I don't have time for this."
As it said that, a group of three arrows pierced the things back, causing it to turn around and see Steph pulling back another arrow and firing it. It was a normal arrow, which the Crystalite chuckled and caught.
"That's it?" it asked. Steph shrugged.
"Made ya look." With a crash, the Crystalite was crushed by a sudden blue mech and pummeled until it was sticking out of the ground. The mech stood for a second before reforming into the user's body, which happened to be Ex.
"Anyone need help here?" he asked. The group unanimously said no, and Ex nodded as they continued into the prison. After a few minutes of walking, they came to a door into the cells. Quickly, Mat took the lead and Ex stayed behind him, rifle drawn and ready. With a swift kick, Joe knocked the door off its hinges to a cacophony of fire from the Crystalites. Ex fired back while Mat held firm in his position. Suddenly, a second rifle began firing back, and he looked back to see Joe with a Halo assault rifle shooting back at the Crystalites. Steph tried to get shots towards them but failed as she could prepare the spot properly. Finally, Mat came up with an idea.
"Anyone have any grenades?"
"I got it," Joe said, typing into his watch and appearing in his hand was a small spherical device. He clenched it into his fist before lobbing it over the shield and waiting a few seconds. Then, an explosion silenced all of the noise and gunfire. Mat peered over his shield and saw that the Crystalites had been destroyed, melted, or blown far enough that they decided to run. Ex ran up to where they stood to find a few more cells filled with people. He looked around, but no sign of Krystal or Skye. But he did catch a familiar face: Wraith. She was on the ground with a gunshot wound to her chest with Lifeline and Octane kneeling down assisting her. Ex knelt down as well, hoping to help out. The image reminded him of Colinne as he was forced to watch her die. He thought for a moment before he clenched his fists.
Not this time.
He removed his suit jacket, to which it responded with a short pattern of beeps before he raised Wraith's arms and placed the jacket on her. She was confused but went with it as he zipped up the jacket until it was fully zipped. He pressed a few buttons on his watch before Wraith gasped in a sudden feeling of stinging around her wound. She watched as the blood flowing out of blood lessened until it was nonexistent. Mat rushed up to her and helped her up and looked at Ex, who spoke first.
"I couldn't watch her die," he said, "Not like Colinne. I had to help."
Mat nodded, "I could tell. Now, let's go find this sucker and our friends."
"He's not here," Octane blurted out. Ex groaned.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" he shouted. He sighed before suddenly realizing something else.
"Where's Skye and Krystal?" he asked Octane.
"They were one of the few taken-ah," Lifeline injected. Ex felt his face go pale as he looked to everyone else as they said multiple things, such as they had taken their friends, fiance's, partners, and more. That was, until one voice, in particular, shouted to him.
"They took some kids to the plant."
Frozone's voice was recognizable immediately, and he knew which kids he was talking about: Dash and Violet. He looked to Mat, who nodded and Ex looked back to the group.
"Follow this kind gentleman," he said, referring to Mat, "He'll keep you safe and-"
"We're not leaving, kid," Frozone interrupted. Ex looked at him surprised.
"That guy has taken so much from us," he said, "It's about time we returned the favor."
Ex was silent for a moment before he sighed, "Okay. All who want to stay and fight, follow my friend Stampy, the one in the yellow suit. To those who want to get out of here, stick with Mat, the one with the shield, and he'll lead you to an extraction point."
"What about you?" Steph asked. Ex looked at her and spread his wings out.
"I'm going to go teach this guy a lesson."
With that, he jumped up and a rush of air pushed everyone backward a little bit before Mat began ushering people out of the building, hurrying them while Joe sat there with the rest of the group and quickly rushed them out to join the fight. Then, Joe noticed something strange: the sky was growing darker. Clouds were forming out of nowhere. The forecast was said to be clear today… but they were sometimes wrong.
Delirious slowly made his way through the building, using his abilities to get from place to place without being seen. He made his way through the complex building, each hall seemingly the same as the last. That was until OBIS was able to send a scan of the building and he followed it until he reached a pair of large doors that led to an undetermined location. In front of it, two guards stood at attention in case of any unwanted visitors. Well, there was going to be a very unwelcome visitor in just a moment. Delirious, after a quick thought idea, thought it would be fun if he did something a little… off the books.
The Crystalites stood, unbeknownst of the shallow black smoke accumulating on the ground. Just enough to conceal a flashbang. The smoke then dissipated around the flash bang and it exploded.
Crack-BANG!
The Crystalites jumped as the sudden explosive went off and blinded them for a moment. As their vision returned, one screamed as Delirious lunged at said Crystalite and slashed him with his machete, cutting into the neck area and deactivating it before looking or the other one as it raised its weapon. Delirious chuckled as he disappeared into a cloud of black smoke and the Crystalite began to spray at him. The bullets effortlessly pushed through the smoke, but no blood was spilled as no one was there. It stood there dumbfounded for a moment before a blade was shoved through its chest and it whimpered at the sight.
"Not again," it whined before it fell to the ground dead. Delirious held a small keycard and scanned it against the card reader. After a second, the doors hissed opened and let rip a cacophony of noise. Electrical sparks, banging of metal, and, most importantly, screams. Screams of pain and horror as people were massacred. Delirious stood in shock as he listened to the screams from the victims.
Each person was inside of their own small pod, some type of energy being siphoned out of them. Each energy stream was a different color and each one had a different density, some clouds thicker than others. He watched as more and more energy floated upwards and then was pushed through a tube and into what looked like a needle connected to a console with a multitude of different buttons and such. Delirious acted quickly and ran up to the console and tried to find out what to do. He began pressing buttons, hoping one would open up the pods. After a few moments of panic pressing, he saw a lever at the top with a small line saying: Power On/Off. The lever was switched to on at the moment as he reached to flip it. Then, a voice shouted behind him.
"Stop right there!" a strange voice shouted. He spun around and saw a figure similar to a Crystalite walking towards him. Without another word, Delirious did the smart thing and flipped the switch off as the room began to power down. He heard people gasp in relief as the pain had ended while others collapsed with very little energy left. He then walked towards the stranger which, for some reason, didn't seem real. Something was off, his look, his voice, it sounded too robotic and distant for him to actually be in the room.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked. The man raised his hands in surrender and showed that he had no weapons on his person.
"I am… how should I put this?" he thought aloud, "A man willing to make a deal in desperate times."
Delirious tilted his head, "And what might that deal be?"
"I want that vile," he said quickly, pointing to the small glass tube hanging above the console.
"And why would that be?"
The figure sighed, "A reason you wouldn't-"
"Understand?" Delirious finished, "You mean like the balance shit you talk too much about."
Omi shot up in shock, "How did you-?"
"Kinda obvious," Delirious admitted, "And now I'm gonna do this."
With a swift motion, Delirious unsheathed the machete on his back and reeled back ready to smash the vile. With a quick swing, the vile shattered and all the energy rushed through the tubes and back into the pods of people. Most gasped, refueled by the sudden energy burst and filled. Delirious smiled at that before something lifted him off his feet and threw him back. He skidded across the ground, all the air being shoved out of his lungs. He tried to stand but was grabbed by his throat and lifted above the Crystal King's head.
"You delirious fool!" he screamed, "You've ruined everything!"
He threw Delirious into the console and then jumped on him.
"You don't understand, do you?!" he screamed insanely, "I shall make death bow to me!"
He slammed down in the console, only for it to give way for his fists only. He looked and saw that the man had turned into a puff of smoke and it quickly dropped to the ground and behind him. He suddenly turned around to see Delirious shove his machete through him. His eyes were pitch black and his voice distorted to a much higher and scarier version of his laugh.
"And you don't understand either," he growled, "I am death, and I ain't bowing to you asswipes."
He grabbed the machete, twisted it in his chest, before ripping a huge hole in his side by pulling the machete until it exited the side of Omi's body. Or so he thought. The body glitched and then turned into a modified version of a Crystalite. A hologram.
"You little shit," Delirious said. He then remembered why he was there. He pressed a few more buttons before the pods around him opened with a hiss. The people in them stumbled out just before the pods lowered and let others lock into place to open as well. This went on for a minute before it reached the last ring of people. One of them, a familiar blue vixen, was leaning heavily against the glass. He reacted quickly and grabbed her before she fell onto the ground. She was breathing heavily as she stood up to see his hockey mask. She sighed in relief.
"Well, am I glad to see you," she said, her voice void of energy. Delirious tried to calm her.
"You're alright now," he said, "We're going to get you out of here. All of you."
He heard people audibly sigh in relief, thinking this nightmare was over. Delirious was about to speak when suddenly, he saw a group of Crystalites turn into the room, ready to fire. Without another word, he grabbed a rift bomb from his belt and threw it into the crowd, causing an explosion, and a second later they were gone. He grabbed Krystal and dove behind the console, bullets flying in their direction.
Krystal then spoke, "Where did they go?"
"Some base Markus lent to us," Delirious said, "It's a long story."
"Too little time," she said. Then another thought crossed her mind.
"Where's Fox?" she asked. Delirious shrugged.
"Said he'd be here soon." Those were the only words he could say before a familiar voice, the one of Omi, and his scream echo from above them.
"GODDAMMIT!"
Omi threw a piece of metal around the room, trying to calm his frustration. The look of his struggle made Skye smile. Her smile stayed even as Omi looked at her with fury in his eyes.
"What is it that you find so funny?"
Skye looked at him, "Oh, just the fact that your ass is getting handed to you."
Omi gritted his teeth, "This is not a laughing matter."
"To you, it isn't," Skye responded, "To me, it a hundred percent is."
Omi groaned, "How can you be so stubborn in the face of death?!"
"Because I'm not dying," she replied, "You are."
Omi sighed, "There has got to be a way to get these shits off the-"
A thought suddenly flew into the king's head, and a devious smile grew onto his face. The Crystalites seemingly knew what he was talking about and began preparing for something. The Crystalites typed into the computer and then promptly pressed a button that gave way to a huge crack of thunder and lightning.
And then...
A deep and loud roar flowed past the air as Ex tried to control himself as more wind pushed around him. He looked down to see Felix running almost parallel to his flying. He flew down low and sped next to Sean.
"What the hell was that?!" Felix shouted, a mixture of panic and fear. Ex shook his head.
"Maybe something to do with that big cloud," Ex guessed. They both were confused until a sudden cloud created a shadow around them. Until they looked around and saw that it wasn't a cloud, instead of the shadow of something huge. Ex spun around and Felix looked up, both of their faces turning pale and they could only scream as two huge claws descended upon them.
"HOLY SHIT!"
Both said in unison as Ex held out a hand to Felix. He quickly took it and the two flew back before the claws dug deep into the ground. The Great Destroyer was a ginormous winged lizard, similar to Ghidorah from Godzilla except without the three heads. Its scales were a deep green and its skin a pale white. Its head was large with a thinning snout and rounded nostrils. Along with that, it had horns running until the back of his head, and then it turned into scales turning vertical on its back. Ex heard Sean profusely thank him before he came to and had a thought.
"We gotta get this thing outta here before it fucks everything up," he said with more and more blood returning to his face, "Get OBIS to find a solution."
"And you're gonna do?" Felix asked. Ex groaned at his idea.
"Be the bait," he said, "Until you guys can get it the fuck outta here."
Felix nodded, "What's your plan?"
"Be the bait?" Ex answered quickly before shooting up into the sky and towards the lizard. That's when his thoughts translated into his words.
"This is a terrible idea," he said, trying to think of something else on the spot, "Shove it? No, I'd risk hitting the prison and killing people. Take out the legs? Who knows what it would do to the reactor below. Shit. This is what I have to do? Fuck. Hey, green teeth! OVER HERE!"
Ex screamed to get the things attention and flew up in front of it. It growled in annoyance at what looked like a bug on its snout. It shook its head, trying to get him off, but failing as he formed a giant gauntlet on his arm and threw a mighty punch in between its eyes. It let out a ferocious hiss as it recoiled from the shock before returning its attention to the hero. Ex, realizing what he did, flew away as a sudden flame just barely missed his armor and he dove again. He knew that the idea was bad, but he decided to keep its attention by taunting it.
"HAHA!" he screamed, "MISSED ME!"
It once again growled and lifted itself off the ground and hovered a couple of hundred feet off the ground. It came face to face with Ex, who began to shake with terror.
"Umm… hi?" The lizard roared in his face and immediately his wings retracted and he fell as the thing leaned forward and chomped down where he was before. His wings returned and he hovered above the ground. Ex looked around for a solution only to see Gijian running up to Mark, who cupped his hands and assisted Gijian in his jump. With Mark's extra strength, Gijian was shot up onto the back of the creature. He slapped a bundle of rift bombs on the back of its neck. A growl emanated from its throat as it tried to shake Gijian off. He grabbed onto one of the scales on its back, holding on for what Ex knew as dear life. The bombs then began to beep, signaling that they were activated.
Ex decided to make sure that thing wouldn't come back as he grabbed a large weapon from his watch, something that was very familiar. To put it simply, it was a big fucking gun. He pulled the trigger and the weapon charged up as the beeping of the devices increased significantly. Finally, it made a loud boom noise as it released the charged energy in a fast-moving green ball of energy. It collided with the beast and it roared in pain as the rift bombs went off, sending it off to some world. Ex sighed in relief but quickly retracted that as he saw Gaijin falling.
Gaijin felt the beast leave from under his feet and gravity grabbed him and upped him down to the ground below. Hundreds of feet below. He gasped but found the courage to hold in a scream. He closed his eyes for a moment, praying that if this were a nightmare he would wake up. Then, a realization hit him: the air wasn't rushing around him anymore. He wasn't falling. His eyes opened slightly to a sight.
In front of him was a small glowing fox, one about the size of a puppy. Its fur was a pure white with black streaks of fur going from its eyes, past its ears, and down its back. His eyes widened as his eyes saw the multiple tails floating behind it. Its eyes were as white as its fur, but with gray dots for pupils. A kitsune.
"You're a Yokai," Gaijin thought out loud. The thing blinked at his words before suddenly laying down in his lap and wrapping its tails around his body. It then disappeared in a bright flash of light as the world seemingly began to speed up again. The air began to rush past him again and he fell once again. He looked down at the ground, but this time didn't feel as afraid as before. He felt the air below his feet accumulate into something that felt like the ground but instead it cushioned his fall as he bounced up and hit the ground, similar to a double jump. He sighed and looked as Ex landed next to him. He smiled in relief.
"That was slick what you pulled," Ex said, "Nicely done."
"Thanks," Gaijin said, "Now, back to more important things."
Ex nodded, "We need to get to that base and pray that we aren't too late."
"Yep," Gaijin said, "The only problem is that we now have more Crystalite reinforcements on their way."
"Well shit," Ex said, "I guess we're on a time limit now."
"When you put it that way," he said, "You make this sound like a game."
"Well, when you think about it, we can beat this with video game logic."
"What? Shoot the bad guys until they die?"
"No, no, not just that," Ex said, "But more or less we do something else, like kite him out into the open and then blast him."
"Or get in and out quickly and detonate the island reactor," Gaijin pondered.
"But in order to do that," Ex replied, "We're gonna need a lot more hands."
"Then I believe that won't be a problem."
The two turned to see a familiar face in a silver hooded cape. Anahella. Her attire was now different with much more clean pants and a white shirt. The cape slowly flapped in the wind, like something out of an epic movie scene. She smiled at the two and Gaijin gave a smile in response. Then another voice piped up.
"Cheers loves!" Tracer's cheerful voice shouted from behind Anahella. She spun around and Ex felt the corners of his lips tilt up at the sight of the Overwatch dropship along with multiple other ships approaching the island, including Star Fox, Halo, and a few more. The dropship hovered over the land and the door opened as multiple figures from Tracer to Price to spartans. She smiled as she finished her well-known catchphrase.
"The cavalry's here!"
A/N: Holy crap. This took a lot longer than I thought it would and, realizing how long it is, it is going to be split into two parts. This is the first part and the next part should be out sooner or later. Hopefully, early July but I can't guarantee that. After that, one more part and it is finished! Anyways, just letting y'all know before I go. See y'all later!