The Scarves watch as the mech moves towards them. Fully twenty feet tall, the three‑legged walker bears an oversized version of the same creepy vacant face on the greasemonkey's other creations, but that is not the most terrifying feature of the mech. Nor is the digital camouflage paintjob in a mix of hot pink, lime green, and vivid yellow that hurts to look at. Not even the phenomenal array of weaponry fitted to the mech, ranging from whirring chainsaw blades to searing plasma cannons, is the most terrifying feature.
The most terrifying feature is the tarsier sitting in the cockpit, laughing manically, a look of pure insanity in his eyes. "W‑W‑W‑Welcome t‑to y‑y‑your d‑d‑d‑d‑d‑doom!"
"Not if I can help it!" Tai declares defiantly, slicing the net open.
Severely weakened, the net fails, spilling the Scarves out towards the floor. Instinct takes over, and they all grab hold of the net to prevent themselves falling twenty feet and getting injured. One by one, they rapidly descend, dropping the last ten feet to the floor. Most land smoothly and roll to minimise the impact, but Sally's landing is heavier and more awkward, her right ankle twisting badly.
Danny rushes to Sally's aid as Spade and the felines put themselves between the hedgehog and the mech.
"Are you OK?" Danny asks.
"Yeah," Sally assures, massaging her ankle. "Just need a moment."
"We may not have that long," Danny cautions, watching as the mech takes aim at the Scarves.
Sally follows Danny's gaze to see the mech take aim. Adrenaline takes over, and she leaps to her feet, ignoring the pain in her ankle. A second later, the five Red Scarves scatter as the greasemonkey unleashes a searing plasma blast that melts the surface of the floor.
"Danny, Sally, get to those computers!" Spade barks. "Maria, Tai, cripple the engines!"
"But what about‑" Danny begins.
"Just do it!" Spade yells.
Both couples exchange looks before obeying their orders, all four sprinting past the mech towards the back of the room. As they sprint, the mech would turn to track them, but with Danny and Sally passing on one side, and Maria and Tai passing on the other, the greasemonkey isn't sure which way to turn first.
Spade takes full advantage of the greasemonkey's confusion to hurl three explosive cards across the mech's hull. Each card explodes on impact, scorching the hull, and catching the greasemonkey's attention. "I j‑j‑j‑j‑j‑just p‑p‑p‑painted th‑th‑that!" he yells, aiming all the mech's weapons at the cavy.
"Shit," Spade growls, air‑dashing just in time to avoid being simultaneously diced and immolated.
As Spade faces off against the greasemonkey and his mech, the two couples escape from the hold and look for a way back up to the engineering decks. Luckily, the area they find themselves in is at the bottom of a staircase. Knowing they don't have much time, they sprint up the stairs as fast as they can.
Halfway up to the engineering decks, Sally slips and falls. "Gah! My ankle!"
Danny immediately about‑faces to help his girlfriend. "Is anything broken?"
"Don't think so," Sally assures, grateful Danny's helping her to her feet. "Might have torn a ligament though."
"Then we should‑" Danny begins.
"Finish what we came here to do," Sally interrupts. "It's only a twisted ankle."
"Can you put weight on it?"
Sally tries, wincing as pain shoots up her leg. "No."
"I'll carry you," Danny decides, scooping Sally up in his arms.
"This is embarrassing," Sally blushes.
"It's fine," Danny assures. "I've injured myself on missions before; we all have. You learn from it and move on."
At the top of the stairs, Maria pauses to see how far back Danny and Sally have fallen behind. "Need a hand?" she calls down.
"We're fine," Sally calls back. "You keep going."
Maria hesitates just a moment before continuing through the door and into the engineering deck to find Tai waiting for her. "Let's find those engines."
Tai points down the corridor. "I think they're this way."
"Race you to them!" Maria challenges before setting off at top speed.
"Hey, wait for me!" Tai replies, chasing after Maria.
Five minutes later, Maria and Tai reach the engine room, and enter to find their task a lot more daunting than either imagined.
"Woah…" Tai breathes, awestruck by the sheer size of the main engines.
"We should have brought explosives," Maria realises. "Oh well, too late to worry about that now. Shall we start cutting?"
"Start cutting what?" Tai asks.
"Everything, silly!" Maria answers, drawing her ninjato.
"Except the electrical cables," Tai cautions, drawing her ninjato. "Don't wanna get fried."
"Good point," Maria acknowledges. "And beware of hydraulics."
"Of course," Tai agrees.
The two felines share a quick kiss, then attack the engines, slicing anything and everything they can that doesn't have volts and amps running through it.
As Maria and Tai get to work disabling the engines, Danny and Sally arrive at the computer banks.
"That console there," Sally indicates. "That looks like the main one."
Danny places Sally in the chair in front of the console, then tends to her injured ankle as Sally gets to work. "How long do you think you'll need to crack the security?" he asks.
"It's tough," Sally admits. "Not to mention this isn't like the movies: you can't just crack a password just in time to save the day."
"We could just smash the computers," Danny suggests.
"No," Sally refuses. "We have to shut down the systems properly, or we'll‑ Huh."
"What's the matter?" Danny asks, concerned.
"Turns out it really is that easy to crack a system secured by an insane tarsier," Sally explains. "That greasemonkey may be able to build a formidable robot army, but his password security policy is a real shitshow."
"Was it 'password'?" Danny asks in jest.
"Almost: it was 'drowssap', which in a way is even worse," Sally replies. "Anyway, let's get this ship disabled."
On the bridge, Corazon's screens suddenly go blank. "What the fuck‽" Confused and annoyed, Corazon tries to summon her greasemonkey on the radio, only to find it's completely dead. "Dammit!"
A few moments later, the ship lurches as the engines fail. A second later, the bridge goes dark, bathed only in the red emergency lighting.
"They'll fucking pay for interfering with my ship!" Growling ferociously, Corazon storms into her quarters, emerging moments later with her sword on her back, and the ornate pistol she inherited from Dalika Calayan, the barkada leader she murdered during her takeover of what would become Itim Tsaa, holstered on her right hip. I should have killed them all when I had the chance. And now I will rectify my mistake.
"…and that's all I can safely disable," Sally finishes with a little flourish. "I'd disable the hover motors too, but that'd only cause us to crash into the ocean."
The ship lurches as the engines fail. A second later, the room goes dark, the only light coming from the red emergency lighting.
"And I take it from the lurch that the main engines have gone offline too," Danny concludes.
The lurching of the ship throws Maria and Tai off the engines before they can finish cutting through everything they can find. Taken by surprise, they land heavily on the floor, slide into the wall, and come to rest in a tangled heap, bathed in the red emergency lighting.
"Ow," Maria groans, trying to pick herself up, only to find she's half‑pinned by her girlfriend. "Are you OK?"
"Did you get the plate of the truck that hit us?" Tai asks, heavily dazed.
Maria shifts and pulls Tai up into her arms. "Take it easy, I'm here."
"Is that you, Tufty?" Tai asks.
"Who else, you cute silly?" Maria giggles.
"The ship's spinning," Tai comments.
"You must have hit your head," Maria informs. "Do you feel queasy?"
"Thankfully no," Tai answers.
"Then you'll be fine," Maria assures, gently tickling behind Tai's ears.
Within moments, Tai is purring softly. "That feels amazing."
"Is it helping the spinning?"
"It's getting slower."
"Good," Maria sighs in relief. "Let me know when you're ready to retreat."
In the hold, a very tired and battered Spade is relieved when the mech shuts down completely. However, he doesn't relax: knowing that the mech's creator is insane, the cavy cannot ignore the possibility of explosives set to detonate when the mech is interfered with. Cautiously, Spade approaches the mech, trying hard to bring his breathing under control. The ship lurching to a halt and going dark doesn't help, but his chanting a calming mantra does.
Once calm, and with his eyes adjusted to the red emergency lighting, Spade summons the courage to climb up the mech to the cockpit, praising his good fortune as no explosives detonate. When he gets there, he's surprised to see the cockpit is empty. Curious, Spade breaks the canopy with the butt of his pistol and drops inside to find a hologram projection unit.
The realisation hits Spade like a sledgehammer. I must warn Team Li‑ Team Avalice. Spade tries to activate his radio, only to find static on all bands. Great: it's busted. Frustrated, Spade tears his earpiece off and discards it. Lilac, Carol, Milla, you're on your own. May the Ancients guide you to victory.
In a secret room near the bridge, the greasemonkey can only watch his emergency camera feed showing Spade crippling the mech before heading back up to the engineering decks. C‑C‑Crazy c‑cat l‑l‑l‑lady w‑won't l‑l‑l‑l‑like th‑th‑this… G‑G‑Good th‑thing I h‑h‑h‑h‑have s‑s‑something s‑s‑s‑s‑s‑special p‑p‑planned f‑for th‑th‑the s‑s‑so‑c‑c‑called 'S‑S‑Saviours of Avalice'!