A few days after Bana's arrest, it was time for Torna to come and pick up their scheduled delivery of artificial blades. This was it. If they could pull this off, then they could deal a massive blow to Torna. Jin was still a problem, but there was at least one catch which Azurda and the girls had helped him with: their ship. If they lost that, then they lost a key part of their operation. Jin would be forced to leave if they could put the ship in danger. He hoped at least. There was no guarantee he would be on the ship, but he liked having a back up plan as the girls were not quite ready to face him yet.
Morag was not a fan of that part, but Rex and Pyra assured the Inquisitor that they could not handle Jin right now, so this was their best shot at capturing more members of Torna. They had made sure to keep up operations of the plant enough so that Torna should not have suspected anything. All there was to do now was lie in wait.
Rex and the others were on hand as Mikail and Patroka arrived. Shortly after, they found themselves surrounded by a mass of Ardainian troops as well as the Aeges' driver and the Special Inquisitor. It was not the greeting they were expecting to say the least.
"By my authority as Special Inquisitor, I hereby place you under arrest for crimes against Mor Ardain."
"Well, this was not the greeting I was expecting," Mikhail did not seem too nonplussed about the ambush all things considered. The same could not be said about Patroka.
"How did you even know we'd be here?"
"A tip," Morag struck the ground extending her blades into whips, "Now, will you come quietly, or will we have to restrain you by force?"
"Uh, yeah, think I'm gonna have to pass on that one," Mikhail smirked as he readied himself for a fight, "Though I am curious about this tip of yours. Have anything to do with the Aegis or her driver?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," Rex taunted. Despite the show, Rex knew he was doing the two a favor. Not to mention their blades. They may not like it, but an Ardainian cell would at least keep them alive over the coming weeks.
"I actually would," Mikhail smirked back.
"Mikhail!" Patroka scolded, "I don't think this is the time!"
"Fine," He sighed as their ship surfaced from the cloud sea…only to immediately come under fire. They had made sure that the patrols would be able to quickly move in and assault the Tornan ship. The Ardainian warships would be no match on their own, but they could still do some damage in a surprise attack.
"You really thought of everything, didn't you?" Mikhail said lightly before charging for Rex. However, the young driver quickly blocked the one-two punch by the massive gauntlets. Every attack Mikhail tried though generally met with air as blade eater fought blade eater.
"Not bad for a kid, but I have a question for the girl," Mikhail spoke in a lower tone, "What's with that look? I had heard you had reverted. Why retreat into the façade again?"
"That's enough out of you!" Rex came to her defense as Pyra's expression hardened.
"What do you know, kid?" Mikhail dodged a slice making out like it was no problem, but it had actually been unpleasantly close, "Do you even know what your little girlfriend is capable of?"
"More than you do," Rex pushed Mikhail back, "They are good people, and I won't let you, or Malos, or Jin hurt them! Not again!"
"Woah, hit a nerve there," Mikhail backed off figuratively and literally, "Well, at least she found someone who cares…Addam would be happy I guess. That said, Patroka, I think we should be making our exit."
"About time!" The flesh eater was not looking forward to taking on Morag and Zeke at the same time. For all her confidence, she was not stupid. That would be an uphill fight, and she knew it. Not to mention the other brats around.
"Too bad our ride is a little preoccupied. Guess we'll just have to change targets." On his signal, one of the ship's canons stopped targeting the Ardainian warships and instead targeted the loading dock.
"They're going to fire on the dock," Nia realized with dread.
"They could bring this whole area down on us," Morag noted.
"Rex!" Pyra called out with an idea. Trusting her completely, Rex did not hesitate to toss her the sword as she ran toward the Tornan vessel. With the right timing, she believed that she could intercept the javelins as they fired, potentially dealing a significant blow to the canon itself.
"Blazing End!" Pyra tossed her sword toward the canon.
"Not so fast!" Mikhail fired from his massive gauntlets and knocked the sword away.
"No!" Pyra stared in horror as the canon prepared to fire, and in a flash she was swapped out for Mythra. Without saying a word, Mythra called down Siren's energy blast through just the right part of the roof of the cave hitting the canon just as it fired. The impact not only destroyed the javelins, but the explosion still inside the canon left it inoperable.
The damage caused the ship to start leaving without the others. A fact they quickly picked up on, but as they tried to catch their ride, they were cut off by Zeke and Morag.
"Going somewhere?" Zeke smirked with his sword over his shoulder. As they were distracted, some of the soldiers finally got a clear shot and fired off their ether nets against the four. Though, much to their surprise, Patroka not only stayed standing, but started radiating energy.
She made a last ditch effort to charge her assailants, but she was suddenly brought to her knees by a strange force. That force came from a blade who had just reached the loading dock. With her powers, she had quickly subdued all four members of Torna.
"Fan!" Zeke greeted with open arms and a wide smile, "Fancy meeting you here. Did I really take that long?"
The blade in question smiled, "I meant no offense, but the Praetor wanted to meet the Aegis' driver sooner rather than later."
"Ah, right," Rex looked away from Mythra who refused to look at any of them. She did not have to in order to know that most of the others were staring at her, but what was she supposed to do? Let them get blasted to smithereens?
"I'll go with you," Rex walked towards her before turning to Morag, "But first, we should talk. About Judicium."
Morag's eyes narrowed, "My, you are well informed, aren't you? Very well, you and the Aegis can come with me. Captain, get these four to detention cells."
The soldiers saluted before doing just that. Fan offered to help to make sure they did not escape which she did with Morag's blessing. This left the rest of the party on the dock.
"Did…did you all just see that?" Nia looked around.
"She suddenly different," Tora noted, "And what with that big beam of light?"
"Shellhead, did you know about this?"
"I…may have seen her at work a bit. Gotta say, the blonde one is quite something."
"Ugh, another secret Rex was keeping from us," Nia folded her arms, "I just can't get a read on that kid."
"He does seem…troubled," Dromarch concurred, "A stark contrast from when we met. I wonder what the cause is."
"You do not think Pyra is the cause?" Poppi asked flapping her arms.
"I don't know about that," Pandoria chimed in, "But he seems awfully protective of her."
"And for a shrimp, the little chum is one of the best drivers I've ever seen. Sure, the Aegis is supposed to be strong, but that's not all there is to it."
"It seems the driver of the Aegis may be almost as mysterious as his blade," Dromarch commented solemnly leaving the others to ponder just who he was.
A/N: Started my challenge run…only to find out you can't remove party members for a while. Oh well, I can try to keep them low level for a while until I can boot them out, but Rex seems to be handling his own just fine anyway.
And I am…concerned somewhat about how much of Pyra and Mythra's DLC will actually reference XC2. Could be worrying too much and it's a limited thing, but expect the worst and hope for the best I guess. Hopefully the music and spirits at least stick to the game.