Disclaimer: I don't own Nadesico or any of the characters appearing in the television anime series or manga. This fanfiction is meant purely to entertain. So please don't sue me, I'm not worth it. I openly admit that I don't own Nadesico, and I'm not trying to pass this off as a completely original story. Also, I don't own Golden Boy or Transformers, but I do use a few lines from both and a lot of mecha from Transformers, but I do own the characters Finn Saotome, Yumi Yoshino, Sanoske/Sakura Hashima, Mr. Noda, Mrs. Noda, and I think that's about it. If you want pictures of the mecha, don't hesitate to e-mail me at soundwave100@hotmail.com Thanks!
Act 8
Idiots
'Why do I sense a recurring pattern here?' Finn thought as he and Ryoko sat chained to their chairs in an interrogation room. The supreme commander of the UF stood at one end of the tiny room, and a security officer wearing dark glasses at the other.
"Look, we really don't have time to stay and chat. We're kind of in a hurry," Finn said.
"You're not going anywhere," Commander said. "Do you really expect us to believe this? That this…thing destroyed one of the Jovian moons? Are you insane?"
"This is exactly what I was afraid of," Finn said to Ryoko.
"Next time I'll just keep my mouth shut," she said.
"It's not your fault. We've got a bunch of loonybins…"
"Silence!" Commander shouted. "Do you have any proof to back up your claim?" Finn jingled the handcuffs that restrained him against the chair. The officer looked at the Commander, who nodded slightly. Finn's cuffs were unlocked, but his feet still remained chained.
"Just watch," he said, and hit a button on the communicator on his wrist. A vidwindow popped up. "Play video logs Zero Hour," The screen fizzled for a moment and then began to show a battle. "The view you're seeing here is from our cockpit while we were fighting the Division. We hooked up with some former Jovian troops and were going to destroy the Division while it was still young. Anyway, watch what happens right here. Pay attention to the top left part of the screen." The screen moved in slow motion and showed the massive wave of Zero's first blast, ripping a clear line right through the battle.
"It just looks like an oversized gravity blast. What's so special about it?" Commander asked. Finn flipped through some of the later parts of the battle until he came across the part where Zero destroyed Ganymede. "I don't believe this. This can't be real; it must be a trick."
"It's real. Why do you think we came back here?" Ryoko demanded.
"Deserting, fleeing court martial…"
"We came back to get help! Why do you think we came here of all places?!"
"Why should we help you?"
Finn rolled his eyes. "Because this thing's not content with blowing up a moon. Here, take a look at this," he opened another window and displayed the text messages they had received.
"This is all some trick, some ploy to get us to surrender the remaining forces…"
"Open your fucking eyes!" Ryoko shouted. "We're not trying to deceive you morons. We're trying to bail your ass out of the fire."
"Look, if it would make you feel any better, do you want to talk to Captain Misumaru? She can back us up," said Finn, motioning to the backpack that was on the table. Commander nodded, the officer took off his glasses and carefully opened the bag. He took out the leap phone and examined it. Finn and Ryoko's eyes widened slightly when he handed it to them. He heaved a sigh.
"It's my eye, isn't it?" he said, looking at them with one brown eye and one light blue eye.
"Why would we want to look at your eye? Is there something wrong with that weird eye?" Finn asked.
"There's nothing wrong with my eye, this one just has no pigment. I'm what you'd call a partial ocular albino. Now, you seriously want to use this thing to call your captain?"
"Are you kidding? I'd give my right eye."
"Do you know how it works? It looks complicated."
"I like to think I have an eye for detail," the officer's eye twitched. Finn took the device and punched in the numbers.
"Hello?" came a voice from the other end of the signal. "Oh, Saotome, we've been waiting for you to call. What took you so long?"
"Never mind that," Commander said. "How is this possible? If you were orbiting Jupiter there would a long delay in the signal."
"It's called a leap phone. But never mind how it works. What did you want to speak to me about?" Yurika asked.
"What is your motive in sending these two to spy on us?"
Finn and Ryoko facefaulted.
"For the last time! WE-ARE-NOT-SPIES!!" Ryoko shouted.
"We sent them to you to ask if we could borrow the Cosmos and Skylinx, along with any other forces you have available, to help us defeat Zero. I don't think it's too much to ask," Yurika said. "Pretty please?"
"Why should we?" asked Commander. This time it was Finn's eye that twitched.
"Because if you don't, there's a good chance Zero will defeat us, leaving Earth and Jupiter totally vulnerable to attack," Yurika said.
"See? We're not lying," Finn added.
"We're currently preparing for an assault and need everyone both sides can spare," Yurika continued. "I trust Lt. Saotome has shown you the video logs we recorded?"
"Yes, he has. But I still don't see why we should help you."
"There's an awful lot of paperwork," the bureaucratic officer added.
"We'll go through it with a fine-toothed come, cross the Ts and dot the…" Finn noticed the officer's hand reaching for his gun, his weird eye twitching slightly. "lower case Js."
"So what's it going to be?" Ryoko asked. The Commander shook his head.
"Are you blind or something? Earth alone can't stop this thing; neither can the Jovians stop it, by themselves. Only with our combined forces do we stand a chance. This isn't like before where you just sit in your bunker and watch your troops die. I can guarantee you that no body's safe. They want to destroy humanity; it's as simple as that. So if you're going to help us, say so now. If not, then stop wasting our fucking time," Finn said, slamming his hands down on the table. "It's like I'm talking to the broccoli." There was silence for a few minutes.
"I'm ordering you two executed for giving false information," Commander said, smashing the leap phone against the floor. "Sergeant, kill them at once. I swore I'd never forgive the Nadesico, and I'm not about to start now!"
"Whiney little bastard," Finn grabbed Ryoko's hand, which was still cuffed to her chair, in one hand and the backpack with the other. "Well, if that's the way you're going to play. See you," They disappeared, leaving only a pile of chains and handcuffs behind and a small sparkle of bose particles.
"That could have gone better," Ryoko said when they rematerialized.
"I'm not all that surprised about it though. Good thing I had a CC on me," Finn replied, taking a look around. "Where are we, anyway? I don't really remember having any destination in mind when we jumped."
"It looks like the Nadesico, but I don't recognize this part," Ryoko said, looking around.
"Welcome, Saotome, Subaru. We've been expecting you," came a voice from behind them. Finn grabbed his gun from the backpack and aimed at the owner of the voice.
"Akatsuki," Finn said, pulling the trigger.
Skylinx
"I'm afraid that's not going to work, my friend," Akatsuki said smugly. "This ship's bee rigged with internal distortion fields to prevent any nonsense. I have business to discus with you, so I'd appreciate it if you kept your anger from clouding the issue."
"And what would that be?" Finn asked.
"Please, come this way," Akatsuki began down the corridor. Finn bit his lip and holstered the gun, even though every fibre of his being told him to pull the trigger again and again until Akatsuki lay dead on the floor.
"So what's the 'business' you have with me?" Finn asked when they reached their destination, which looked a lot like the bridge of the Nadesico. He assumed it must be the bridge of the ship they were on.
"It would appear that we were totally wrong about the origin phase transition technology," Akatsuki said, taking a seat. "I guess it really was man that discovered it." Finn was about to open his mouth when Akatsuki put his hand up to silence him. "Do you think I'd just let the Nadesico go? I've been watching you the whole time. Every sensor reading and video log recorded by the Nadesico is sent directly to me. I've been watching your every move, and I must say I'm surprised. Even I didn't know about this new faction of people. However, since it appears they're out to destroy the human race, I think it would be more profitable to help you guys out a little."
"Uh huh. Well. Unlike the UF commander, we actually have reason to be suspicious. So why should we trust you?" Finn asked.
"Still paranoid I see," Akatsuki smirked. "It's good to see you haven't changed much. It makes you all the more predictable."
'Bastard,' thought Finn. 'We've probably been playing into his hands the whole time! I've been careless.'
"Just one question. Why aren't you rotting in some cell like you're supposed to?" Ryoko asked.
"You don't bite the hand that feeds you," Akatsuki said smugly. "Nergal supplies the UF with the most advanced military technology on the face of the Earth. Do you really think they'd let all that go to waste? I'm sorry Saotome, I hate to sound like the classic villain here, but you should have finished me off when you had the chance."
"We're set to launch, sir," some one said. "All systems green."
"You came in search of help, and beggars can't be choosers. So you should take this chance, it's what Yurika would do. Both the Cosmos and the Skylinx are standing by to jump. You know that this is bigger than both of us. Do you want our help or not?"
"On one condition," Finn said. "Neither you, or any of your crew are to set foot on the Nadesico."
"You're not seriously going to trust him, are you?" Ryoko asked, surprised.
"I'm not going to trust him, but, as much as I hate to admit it, he's right. This is what the Captain wanted and this is bigger than both of us. I know I'll hate myself in the morning for this." He turned back to Akatsuki. "I'll accept your offer, but only if you agree to my condition,"
"Agreed. Now, since you appear to be in a bit of a rush, come this way," Akatsuki led them off the bridge. "For some reason, boson jump technology only works on the observation decks of ships. Curious, isn't it?"
"Spare me your bullshit," Finn said. "Just remember that we may be working together, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Quite a temper, wouldn't you say?" Akatsuki asked Ryoko, who glared at his smugness.
'And I thought he was obnoxious before,' she though. She could see what Finn despised so much about the guy. He acted as though the world belonged to him and anything that got in his way, he'd just weasel his way around it.
"I take it you have enough CCs to get us to Jupiter?" Finn asked, still trying to figure Akatsuki's ulterior motivation for helping them. 'All I have to do is find out what he's after.'
"We have enough to jump an entire fleet. I just hope you two are up to the trip. You've had quite a day."
"We'll be fine," Ryoko said.
"Just remember that the Captain and Commander Sakura are in charge. You're here to help, not to take over," added Finn.
"I assure you, I have no private ulterior motive," Akatsuki said.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because this time it's true," Finn snorted in disgust at this remark. "Anyway, we're here." They stepped through a doorway and entered the observation deck. It looked, more or less, like the one on the Nadesico. There was a tree, they couldn't tell if it was fake or real, situated on a grassy slope, at the bottom of which lay a pile of equipment, cords running across the floor and computer monitors set up on boxes. "I have on favour to ask of you before we jump."
"What's that?" asked Finn.
"I'd like to pilot my old aestivalis. Sentimental value, you know. I trust it's still on the Nadesico?"
"It's still there, collecting dust. I'll tell Seiya to ship it your way."
"Good. Now it's time for you two to fulfill your end of the bargain, you just…"
"We know the drill," Finn and Ryoko took their places.
"You sure about this?" Ryoko asked.
"As much he disgusts me, we've got no other choice. Believe me, if there was any other way…"
"I know," she said and they took their places.
"This might feel a little different than your last time jumping a ship, since you don't have Tenkawa or Yurika here," Akatsuki said, standing by a computer where a techie was working away. "Are we ready?"
"Yes sir. All systems green."
"Good. Start sequence." Akatsuki watched on as the bose particle waves flowed through the networks in Finn and Ryoko's bodies. "Incredible, isn't it?" A second later, they were on the dark side of Jupiter, not far from the Nadesico and the Jovian fleet.
"We're receiving an incoming transmission from the Nadesico," Erina said from the bridge. Neither Finn nor Ryoko had noticed her there before.
'I guess two hungers for power attract,' thought Finn.
"Greetings, Captain. It's good to see you again," Akatsuki said when the vidwindow appeared.
"Akatsuki? What the hell?" came Akito's voice.
"Just what is going on here? Where are Ryoko and Saotome?" Yurika asked.
"Don't worry, they came with us voluntarily, they're right here, if you want to speak to them. I must say, I never expected to fight along side you again, especially under these circumstances."
"Anyway, we're done here. Wait until the Captain gives you your instructions. Have both the Cosmos and Skylinx ready for battle," Finn said. "Oh, and one more thing."
"What's that?" Akatsuki asked.
"If you're pulling something, I'll hunt you down," Finn said. His tone was that of suspicion and hatred. Ryoko figured it wasn't humanly possible for a human being to hate someone as strongly as Finn hated Akatsuki.
'Not that I blame him,' she added to herself. "Come on, let's get out of here," she said, pulling a CC from her pocket and the boson jumped back to the Nadesico.
"I was going to send a shuttle for you…" Yurika began when they appeared on the bridge of the Nadesico, but stopped when she saw Finn's expression. "Just what happened to you anyway?"
They recounted their tale of interrogation, sentenced to death, jumped bye bye, and meeting 'the sneaky reptile of a human being' (as Finn put it) Akatsuki.
"I think I've made it pretty clear to him that you're in charge," Finn said. "Not that he'll listen to me," he added under his breath.
"I just can't believe you were able to get along with him," Yurika said. "I mean, last time I had to cuff you to a handrail."
"Believe me, Captain, it was with great restraint," Ryoko said.
"Well, at least you didn't kill him."
"No matter how hard I tried," Finn mumbled. "Anyway, enough about him. I take it you've decided our battle plan?"
"Yes," Yurika said and she opened a vidwindow with a picture of Jupiter and its moons. "It wouldn't be strategically wise to send in one huge force, not with their main gun. It could blow us out of the sky before we even made it within firing range. We're going to split up into three groups and attack in a triangular form. Remember to stay away from the projected range of fire from Zero's main gun. The Nadesico will be in group 1, the Cosmos in group 2, and the Skylinx in group 3. You will attack at these points," three red dots blinked on and off on the screen. "Ryoko, Saotome, you'll be with us and attack at the top point of the triangle. Our first objective is to take out Zero's distortion field. All aestivalis will be equipped with Seiya's field countermeasure and will try and neutralize Zero's field."
"Hold it a sec," Finn said. "Just how strong is this field?"
"We're not exactly sure. However, from our readouts, it seems to be roughly the same strength as the fields that covered Fort Mag, only as one field. We'll have twelve aestivalis in total working to counter the field, which increases our chances of success. After the field has been neutralized, we will commence a full barrage and, hopefully destroy their main cannon before they have a chance to fire. The operation will commence in about an hour. So I'd get something to eat, if I were you," Yurika said.
"I feel like I'm living in an episode of Dragon Ball Z," Finn said as they left the bridge. "Every time we defeat one enemy, a stronger one takes its place."
"True, but I don't think things could get much worse than this. I mean, we're fighting a frigging moon now. I don't see how it could get much worse," Ryoko said. Suddenly, she stopped.
"What is it?"
"Follow me," she grabbed him by the wrist and took off down the corridor towards the hangar, dragging Finn behind her.
'Hey, that's what I'm supposed to do. Author, you bastard!' Finn thought.
"Sorry, but I think it's about time Ryoko was given the spotlight for sec," the author said. "Now get back to work."
"Seiya!" Ryoko shouted when they got to the hangar floor. "Where are you?" They found him with his model diorama. Finn, by this time, had been dragged and smashed into several walls, garbage cans, and vending machines, and was in a swirly eyed daze. When he finally snapped out of it, he noticed Akito's aesti getting ready to tow Akatsuki's frame over to the Skylinx. "Seiya, you remember those missiles you loaded onto Jetstream, right?"
"Yeah, what about them? I hope you didn't use them already," Seiya said, putting down a model.
"What exactly did you say they did?"
"They neutralize any distortion field on contact. It creates a concentrated counter-field. Why?"
"Ahh, I see what you're getting at now," Finn said to himself.
"We can use them to knock out Zero's distortion field without having to expose the aestivalis. Are they strong enough to counteract a field as strong as Zero's?" asked Ryoko.
"Maybe, I'm not sure if they'd work against something that big though. I mean, they were designed with battleships in mind, not moons. I could try boosting their power, if you want. I don't know how effective they'll turn out to be, but…"
"Do it."
Finn opened a vidwindow to the bridge.
"Hey Captain, can we switch your way of taking out Zero's field to plan B?" he asked.
"What have you come up with now?" Yurika asked.
"Hey, don't give me any of the credit. Thank Ryoko here. We have a couple of missiles that, according to Seiya, will take out a distortion field on contact. We'd like to give them a try," Finn said.
"Can it be done?"
"I think so. I think it's worth a shot."
"Go for it. We'll send you two with a small guard force within firing range. But if that doesn't work, I want you to pull back and go with the original plan," Yurika warned. "I'll radio the other ships and let them know of the change of plans."
"Can do, Captain," Ryoko said. "Get to work!" she kicked Seiya away from his models and in Jetstream's direction.
"Man, I love you," Finn had waterfalls streaming from his eyes as he looked at Ryoko.
* Ahem * the author would like to apologize for how boring Act 8 has been thus far. However, I can assure you that in it will pick up now. I just needed a couple of pages to get everything ready. Thank you for your patience. We now return you to your regularly scheduled fanfic.
Operation Zero Hour
"All ships are in position. Jetstream has launched and is currently joining its guard force. Once they reach rendezvous point, they will begin moving towards Zero," Ruri reported.
"Standby on the PT cannon, keep it on continuous recharge," Yurika ordered and opened a vidwindow. "Sakura, is your battlegroup ready?"
"Yes, Captain. What about Akatsuki?" Sakura asked.
"Akatsuki, is your group ready? Yurika asked.
"We're all set. Just give us the word," Akatsuki said from his aestivalis. There were three other aestis with him, all fully armed and ready to go.
"Jetstream has met the grasshopper squadron and is en route. They will be within firing range in twenty seconds," Ruri said.
"Operation will commence as soon has the field is deactivated," Yurika ordered. "Ruri, keep your sensors on that field. If it's not countered by Ryoko and Saotome, I want you to call them back immediately."
"We're almost in range," Finn and Ryoko said from Jetstream's cockpit. "Firing in 5, 4, 3, 2,1, launch!" they fired their first missile, and followed it's green trail of thrust gasses as it shot through space. After the first few thousand kilometers, they lost sight of it.
"Contact," Ruri said. "I am unable to determine what the field strength is. Interference from the PT cannon's charge is distorting my readings.
"We've got an idea," they said, and fired a standard missile. By this time they had cut their thrust back to 10% and were slowly creeping closer to Zero. The missile disappeared from view, but they followed its projected course.
'Come on Seiya, don't let me down,' Ryoko thought. There was a small blue flash where the missile connected with Zero's distortion field.
"No hit. Zero's field is still operational," Ruri said.
"Call them back, get ready for Plan B," Yurika ordered.
"Jetsream, come in. Pull back, we're going with Plan B, over," Megumi said.
"Not yet," they said. "Give us a few more seconds,"
"Denied. Return to our lines," Yurika ordered.
"They've turned off their communication signal, Captain," Megumi said.
"Hot heads," Yurika said to herself. "We'll just have to go along without them. Get ready for Plan B, we start in one minute."
Ruri remained silent and watched the monitors. "They've fired their second countermeasure," she said when another green contrail of gasses could be seen.
Immediately after firing the second counter-missile, Jetstream launched two standard missiles timed to hit a few seconds after the first. Even though Yurika had ordered to abandon Plan A, everyone still held their breath and watched.
"Counter-missile has made contact," Ruri said. The next few seconds felt like hours to everyone. It wasn't only Jupiter's fate that hung in the balance, but Mars, Earth, the Moon, and life as they new it. It could boil down to this one shot. "Second missile has made contact. Minor damage along Zero's outer hull."
"It worked?" Yurika asked. "Nadesico to all ships, commence operation A. Ruri, fire the PT cannon, keep it on continuous recharge."
From the bridge's monitors, they watched as the aestivalis and hundreds of grasshoppers and dimojin robots flew forward in a massive cloud.
"We told you it'd work," Finn and Ryoko said.
"Let's go kick some ass!" Akito shouted.
'I think Tenkawa's a few fruit short of a loop,' Ryoko thought.
'Nah, I was the same way till I got blown apart a few times. Let's go!' Finn replied. They hit the thrusters and took point at the front of battlegroup 1's force. Off in the distance, at attack points two and three, they could see the other forces en route. As soon as they were in range, they flipped the twin cannons forward and charged them up/
'Haha! Eat this!' Ryoko thought as they unleashed their blastwave, which was low power for Jetstream, but awesome nonetheless. The blast ripped through the outer skin of Zero, sending bits and pieces flying off into space.
"Alright, we're in range. Let 'em have it!" Akito ordered and he and the other aesti pilots drew their rail guns. He held the trigger down and launched charge after charge into Zero's hull.
"Save your ammo, the battle's just begun," Finn and Ryoko warned Akito. "They might pull something." A few kilometers away they saw the first blast from the PT cannon gouge city-sized hole out of Zero. The formations of fighters broke when they got within a few hundred meters of the surface. Small groups broke away and spread out.
'My spider sense is tingling,' Finn thought.
'Too easy, right?'
'Bingo,' Jetstream shook slightly as a blast from the surface was absorbed by their distortion field. 'That's what I was afraid of,'
"A large number of high-mobile enemy units are being launched from Zero. Surface defense systems have been activated as well. Watch your flanks," Ruri said, firing another PT blast into the moon.
"Roger that," they said as they transformed Jetstream to robot mode and drew its sword. A few hundred meters ahead of them was one of the enemy fighters. It was slightly smaller than Jetstream and similar in shape, being a robot. It held a machinegun-like device in its hands and had a large shield attached to its back. The robot noticed them and opened fire. A cloud of yellow bolts flew past them at amazing speed.
'Must be some kind of mini-gravity cannon or something,' Finn surmised.
'Not all that different from what those demolishers used, only they seem to go a lot faster,' Ryoko added.
They skimmed along through a small canyon that had been formed along Zero's surface, which, up close, was covered in tall structures that looked like skyscrapers. From the sides of which, enemy guns tried to shoot them out of the sky. They quickly flew below the enemy robot and tried to run their sword through it from below. However, their blade was stopped by the crackling energy waves of a distortion field. Quickly, they deployed their own field to weaken the other and grabbed it by its arm. They swung the enemy robot around before bringing it around and impaling it on the sword. They shook the twitching robot off as sparks flew from its wound, deployed their cannons, and fired a blast across the surface, vaporizing several of the enemy units and knocking down a few skyscrapers. When they fell, rock was exposed not far beneath. They concluded that this had once been a naturally formed moon, but had been hollowed out and reconstructed into a weapon. The surface, and the airspace above it, was a melee of grasshoppers, dimojins, and aestivalis. It was hard to tell who was winning. Then, a massive shockwave knocked everybody off their balance as the moon's main gun fired. Off in the distance they could see the faint flashes of explosions as the blast struck the left wing of the Nadesico's battlegroup, vaporizing several its own units in the process.
'They're destroying their own troops? And I thought the Division was low,' Ryoko thought.
'Watch it, three on our tail,' Finn warned as he looked behind them. 'Damn, those things are fast.' They transformed to fighter mode and took off, trying to ditch the enemy units that were playing a lethal game of follow-the-leader.
"This isn't going very well," they heard Yurika say. "We're not causing enough damage. That thing's just too big." Finn and Ryoko decided to look for themselves. In a move that would have killed the pilot of any other frame, they pulled a 90-degree turn straight up and thrust high above the battle.
'She's right. Look at that. It looks like a moon with acne,' thought Finn. "We're just not causing enough damage.'
'We're too busy with the small fries,' Ryoko added. 'And they've got us too busy to pull back and regroup.'
"Hey Captain, how are things going at the other sites?" they asked as they flew back down to rejoin the battle.
"Pretty much the same. The Cosmos and Skylinx are firing their gravity blasts, but its like throwing grains of sand at a wasp nest. Hang on a sec, we're getting an incoming transmission." Megumi patched the message through to Jetstream.
"Your efforts are in vain. Submit now, or we shall exercise disciplinary action against you. End com."
"What do they have planned, something worse than destruction?" they said mockingly.
"Failure to submit. End com." Zero's main cannon fired again, however, this time it appeared to fire off into space with no intended target.
"They missed!" Yurika cheered.
'Something's not right here…' Finn thought.
"Captain, what did they fire at? Did you suffer any losses?" Sakura asked from her dimojin.
"We didn't sustain any damage, the blast just flew off into space without hitting anything,' Yurika replied.
'No time to think about that now, let's just get back in there,' Ryoko thought, and they dove back into the battle. They flew straight down towards the moon. With the twin cannons they unleashed an onslaught of blasts into the swarm of enemy robots, which, for the purposes of this fanfic, shall hereon be referred to as slingshots. When they had blasted a clear hole into the slingshots' defensive line, ramjets moved in and their lines began to slowly advance. Many of the aestivalis had moved down into the buildings along Zero's surface and were fighting on the 'streets', passages between structures that looked remarkably like those of a city. Akito and his squad were holding a section of city directly below the airspace where dimojin and ramjet units were fighting off the attacking slingshots. Jetstream transformed to robot mode and landed beside Hikaru and Kumi, who were taking cover behind a building. Their railguns were beginning to run low on ammunition and the slingshots were beginning to gain ground.
"Hikaru, Izumi, cover me. Kumi you're with me," Akito said as he got ready to charge the enemy. However, Finn and Ryoko put their hand on Akito's shoulder and shook their head. "Why not?"
"Let us show you how it's done," they said, grinning. They drew their sword and fired a blast into the ground, sending a cloud of metal shards and dust up into the area. Quickly, they dove into the cloud. When they shot out the other side, the slingshot units weren't expecting a frontal assault and were caught off guard. Jetstream quickly severed the torso from the rest of the body of one and sliced another one down the middle. Further back, more enemy units had come to reinforce their lines. Finn and Ryoko quickly picked up the useless arm of one of the fallen robots dove into the space between two structures. "It's like fighting in a city," They motioned for Akito and his squad to advance. They put their sword back into its place in the left wing and pulled the useless hands of the slingshot off the gun it was holding. Gradually, their dimojin allies began to come down to the surface, where there was better cover and gravity, which would both work to their advantage. Finn and Ryoko took the unknown enemy's weapon and opened fire. It felt a lot like holding a machinegun, only having, what they both assumed to be, mini-gravity shots being fired from it.
As more and more assistance came from above, with more Alliance and Division forces descending into the city streets, they began to quickly advance. However, they were vastly outnumbered. For every slingshot you shot down, a dozen more would take its place. They were soon deadlocked in city warfare, neither line advancing or losing much ground.
"Captain, I've been feeding the main monitor images to the asteroid colony, as you requested. But I'm not getting any response. The signal's not reaching them anymore," Megumi said.
"Contact the guard-ship we left behind and ask for a status report," ordered Yurika.
"I'm not getting anything, Captain,"
"Hang on a second. Ruri, trace the line of Zero's last shot. What was its projected heading?" Yurika asked.
"Calculating," Ruri said. "It would appear that the asteroid colony was in the direct line of fire. Projections indicate that it has been destroyed."
"So that's what they meant by 'disciplinary action'," Yurika said, staring at the floor.
"Should we tell them?" Megumi asked, referring to the pilots and other soldiers out on the battlefield.
"No, that's not the kind of thing they need to hear right now," Yurika said. "They'd get angry and careless. I don't want anything distracting them."
"PT cannon is fully charged again, Captain," Ruri reported.
"Aim for the Zero's main gun, see if you can take it out,"
"Aye, ma'am," Ruri turned the Nadesico and fired the blast clean into the hole from which Zero's awesome power erupted from, or at least, that's what they hope would happen. The PT cannon's blast struck something before it reached Zero's cannon.
"What happened?"
"It's another distortion field. It's blocking the area around the cannon, we can't damage it as long as it's active," Ruri replied.
"Excuse me, Captain?" Mika said. "But wouldn't now be a good time to try and use Fortress Magnum? Our forces are deadlocked; they're not getting anywhere. It could be the only way win this battle."
Meanwhile, they were holding their ground, but the enemy was doing the same.
"Damn, I'm out of ammo," Akito said, clicking his projectile depleted railgun back into its place on his aesti's back. Jetstream handed him a slingshot gun they had been using.
Ahead of them, the slingshot robots had hunkered down, having made a strong defensive barrier using their shields. A line of the robots had knelt down and held their shields, which were surprisingly strong, in front of them.
"Don't waste your ammo on their shield. Only fire if you get a clean shot," Finn and Ryoko said. An explosion sent a few dimojin units behind them soaring into the air and then crashing to the ground not far behind them. Jetstream grabbed one of the broken dimojin's arms and dragged it behind the wall of a building. "Anyone in there?" they asked, trying to make contact with the pilot. "Sorry about this, but since nobody seems to be home…" They hauled the robot up and held it in front of them. Using the dimojin as a shield, Jetstream, along with Akito, Hikaru, and two other dimojins, stormed the enemy lines. Most of the hits were absorbed by the broken dimojin. When they were close enough, Jetstream threw the robot up and over the enemy shield. Akito tossed an explosive charge after it. A massive shockwave blew them back as the dimojin's PT engine-core was punctured by the explosive. During the confusion, Jetstream and their comrades stormed the few remaining slingshot units, and were able to advance a couple hundred meters. More enemy robots appeared out of a section of the street that had been blown away.
'Must be some kind of hangar,' Ryoko concluded.
'Let's check it out then,' they drew the sword and dug it deep into the surface. When they had cut a large circle into it, they smashed Jetstream's foot through, causing the pieces to collapse and cave in on one another. The wreckage crashed onto floor after floor, until if finally smashed through and fell into some kind of open space.
"Just need to borrow this for once sec," they said, grabbing one of Akito's charges and chucking it down the hole. They stepped back and waited until the explosion blew several broken enemy units flying out of the hole. "Come on!" They dove into the hole, sword drawn and guns ready.
'What the hell?' Finn asked himself. Inside looked like some kind of factory. Pieces of slingshot robots were being put together and then launched out a central catapult.
'It's some kind of factory,' Ryoko concluded.
'Then let's take it out,' they ran towards the manufacturing device with their sword raised. However, before they reached it, they encountered some kind of barrier. 'It's a distortion field.'
'We've still got one missile left, should we use it?'
'Nah, not yet.'
"Hey Tenkawa, get your ass down here! Bring some fireworks with you," they shouted.
"We've got the upper block secured. Just flushing out the…what the hell?" Akito asked when he descended into the open space.
"How many charges you got left?"
"Two," Akito answered, bewildered by what he saw.
"Snap out of it man, give one to me," they held out their hand and Akito placed one of the motorcycle-sized explosives in it. "Fire in the hole!" they cried, chucking it at the area where the distortion field. The force of the blast blew them both back against the wall.
"Setting those things off inside a moon isn't exactly the best idea I've ever heard of," Akito said, shaking the stars from his eyes. "Especially when your INSIDE the planet!"
"Tell us about it later," they said and grabbed Akito's last charge. "Head back up to the surface and take them out. We'll handle things down here. Good hunting." They climbed through the wreckage the explosion had caused to come crashing down on them and pressed their way further into the plant. They quickly reached the main manufacturing mechanism. Wasting no time, they drove their sword as far as they could into a panel that they guessed to be some kind of computer. It sparked and sizzled. Not two to wasting a perfectly good wound, they thrust their free arm into the opening and pulled the computers innards out. The machine began to work twice as fast as it did before, causing a backup at the catapult.
'Oops. Finn thought. Then he noticed the robots that hadn't been launched yet were advancing on them. Their guns were mounted on their backs and they carried a mean looking swordlike weapon. It was roughly half as long as they were tall and split into a V shape near the tip. Kind of like some twisted hybrid between a sword and a dangerously oversized pair of scissors. They dropped Akito's last charge into a small storage clip on Jetstream's waist, took the sword by both hands and charged the growing group of robots.
"I thought you said you were going to 'handle things' down there?! The enemy force just doubled!" Akito screamed.
"It's on our to-do list!" they shot back, locked in combat with the slingshots. Fortunately, the space was small enough so that only two or three slingshot robots were actually clear to take a shot at them at a time. Their sword slid into the V in one of the slingshot's weapons. The right hand let go of the sword while the left continued to try and force it's way down the centre of the enemy weapon. They pushed forward and came face-to-face with the enemy slingshot. Using their free hand they delivered a forceful punch to the robot's chestplate. The slingshot seemed to cock its head to one side, as though it pondered what exactly its opponent had accomplished. With a smirk, Finn and Ryoko opened fire from the right arms guns, ripping the robot into shards. The armour seemed to melt away, and the inner structure fell to pieces under the hailstorm of bullets. The slingshot's weapon fell to the floor, but was picked up by Jetstream before it settled on. Finn and Ryoko threw the enemy weapon spinning into the group of slingshots, knocking them back. With the twin cannons deployed, they fired a low power blast into the group. Since they were working in an enclosed space in such close proximity to one another, the enemys' distortion fields were next to useless, and they melted into deformed pieces of bubbling slag. Finn and Ryoko picked up a section of the melted mess, which quickly solidified in the exposed environment, and jammed it between the two 'arms' of the machine. The arms struggled against the straining metal.
'That's not going to last long,' Ryoko thought as they picked up the charge and magnetically connected it to one of the arms.
'Neither will our merry mechanical men,' they skidded back to the opening and used Jetstream's arms to brace themselves against the immanent explosion.
'What the?'
'Damn thing must be jammed,' they took a few steps closer. 'It should have blew by now.'
'Wait a second! Wait a second!' Ryoko's mind screamed as they reached out to pick up the defective explosive, which wasn't so defective when the vibrations from Jetstream set it off. They were briefly engulfed in a fireball, but that was soon replaced by a mountain of collapsing metal components raining down on them. The floor below them collapsed and they tumbled down into the moon's bowels.
"I am no longer registering Jetstream's energy signature," Ruri said. "A large explosion was detonated a few meters below the surface, after that there is no reading on them."
The Belly of the Beast
"Ouch," Finn and Ryoko said as they hauled themselves out of the pile of scrap in which they were buried. "Tenkawa, you there?" they got noting but static. They hit the lights mounted on the main cameras that fed visual data into the cockpit IFS since it was pitch black.
'Where are we?' Ryoko asked.
'Beats me,' Finn replied as they put Jetstream back firmly on its feet. They took a long sweep with the lights over their surroundings. Anything close to them was just a pile of debris, however…
'Wow shit, is that what I think it is?' Ryoko asked as they zoomed in on not-so-unfamiliar object.
'A bike?' Finn asked as they picked the object up. He looked through the radar scan of the space they were in. From those readings, they determined that they were in a large, open space. The few hundred meters or so had tall structures stretching high in the air. A couple hundred meters of open space came after that. They hit the thrusters and slowly ascended to about halfway between the ceiling of the massive space and the skyward structures. They fired a scattered shot of red flares into the sky, which illuminated the sky in an eerie red light.
'Oh my gah…' Ryoko's brain tried to comprehend just what exactly they were seeing. It was a city. It stretched for miles and miles in every direction, with tall skyscrapers lining the streets, which had sidewalks, trees, benches, and everything you'd expect to find along city streets.
'I guess that answers a few questions. Damn, and I thought the Jovian colonies were huge," Finn thought. A bright light above the smooth ceiling began to flicker before it managed to stay on, illuminating the city.
"Attention Madorian citizens, due to structural collapse the atmosphere has been released. Please stay indoors until the atmosphere is restored," came a booming voice from behind the artificial sun that lit the city.
'Um…' Finn was at a loss for words. Not that was all that surprised to find people living under Zero's surface, but of finding such an expanse as the one that lay before him.
"Alert! Alert!" the voice boomed again. "Intruders have penetrated C-block and have entered Madori city 09-A. All combat personnel, report to stations and begin emergency checklists. Civilians, move to shelters. Combat alert!" Several large sections of the city's streets slid aside and slingshot robots were elevated out of them. Some of them grabbed their guns while others drew their blades, but they all began to make their way towards Finn and Ryoko in Jetstream.
'What are you looking at?' Finn asked the enemy. 'You looking at me? You want a piece of me? Let's see what you got!' Ryoko gave him a mental punch to the face. 'Ow. What was that for?'
'We're over a city you moron! We can't risk killing a bunch of civilians, even if they are on the enemy side,' Ryoko told him. They quickly evaded an incoming volley of gravity blasts from the enemy slingshots. They missed and were sent careening into buildings, blowing out sections and floors, sending debris crashing to the street.
'You have any better ideas?' Finn asked as they detached the right wing shield and descended to the city streets. Shots ricocheted off the shield and into buildings, furthering the slingshot's destruction of their own buildings. 'I don't believe this, even the UF didn't blow up their own buildings!'
'I think it's time for a little safety lesson,' Ryoko readied the flashbombs. They fired them out of a side launcher and high into the air. They both closed their eyes as a blinding flash of light filled the streets. While the slingshots were recovering, Finn and Ryoko charged the first line of the robots. They impaled the first one and ripped its torso vertically in half before pushing it aside and beheading the next. The robots a further down the street opened fire and Jetstream picked up one of the fallen robots to use it as a shield. They grabbed the gun from its hand and returned fire before diving behind the relative safety of partially collapsed building. 'There's too many of them.'
'You think these buildings are evacuated?' asked Finn.
'Could be, they mentioned something about shelters,' Ryoko replied.
'I've got an idea,' They charged up the twin cannons and brought the machineguns online. Quickly, they rushed across the street. Ryoko took control of the machineguns and fired them at the group of enemy units while Finn, using Ryoko's distraction, fired from the twin cannons and blew away the first floors of two buildings opposite their enemies, causing them to lean into the street and collapse, burying the enemy robots in a heap of rubble. 'Haha! There goes the neighbourhood!'
'Spare me the clichés,' Ryoko said.
The city quietened and Finn and Ryoko rested Jetstream's back against the wall of a narrow alley, which they had managed to squeeze into. The radar was clear and there were no heat signatures big enough to be enemy units, so they took this chance to catch their breath.
"Think they're gone?" Ryoko asked as they disconnected themselves from the IFS.
"Beats me," Finn replied, a bead of sweat rolling down his face, dripping onto his suit. "Just when you think things couldn't get any worse, we have to tumble down the rabbit hole and into wonderland."
"You don't suppose it'd hurt take a look around, do you?" Ryoko asked. "I don't think we should be expecting anyone for a while, reinforcements would be here already if they sent them." Finn slid open a compartment under his seat and pulled out two military assault rifles.
"If you don't mind a few travel accessories," he said, clipping a band of grenades across his waist. Ryoko popped the hatch open and they climbed out and onto the street. It felt like stepping into any normal Earth city street. There were cars, trees, sidewalks, stores, skyscrapers, it was all there. Since they had come down through a hole in the ceiling the city environment existed in a vacuum. Finn looked up at the hole high above them. However, something sparked his interest. The hole appeared to be getting smaller. "What the hell?" he stopped and stared at it. It was definitely getting smaller. "Ryoko, take a look at this. Up there." Not like it was all that necessary, he pointed to the opening from which they came. However, before Ryoko raised her head to look, the hole disappeared.
"What?" she asked. Finn stood staring at the sky, trying to understand what he had just witnessed.
"I just…huh?!" Finn said. "I'm going fruitloopy."
"Let's keep going," Ryoko began down the street, her gun ready if need be. "It looks like a normal city, just supersized."
"Yes," Finn noticed the streetlights, which were blinking red, had turned to a solid green. Overhead, the artificial sun beamed down on them as you'd expect it to during a hot July afternoon.
"Damage has been repaired. No enemy activity detected. Stay at condition 4, be ready to return to shelters," the overhead voice boomed. A few minutes later, people began to file out of stairways leading up to the streets from underground bunkers. They both took cover behind what looked like a mailbox of some sort and poised their guns, ready to fire. However, as the streets filled with people, nothing happened. They walked right by Finn and Ryoko without even giving them a questioning glance.
"What the…?" they both said and dropped their guns slightly.
"You'd think they'd be a little intimidated by two people in enemy uniforms running rampant with automatic weapons, or questioning at the very least," Finn said. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Ok, I'm not dreaming," Ryoko said as she withdrew her fingers from Finn's back.
"How come I don't get to grab you anywhere like that?" Finn muttered under his breath.
"What was that?"
"It felt like a crab on my back," he added quickly. "Hmm," Finn scratched his head and watched as people walked by, taking no notice of either of them. They just continued with, what they guessed to be, their usual lives as though nothing had happened or that they even existed.
"I feel like I'm in The Sixth Sense or something," Ryoko said. Finn stepped out from behind the box and right into a short-looking man's way, pressing the gun into his chest. This sight, which probably would have reduced most normal people to a puddle of loss-of-bladder control fear seemed to have no effect on the man. He just walked around Finn and continued on his way. "I see dead people." Finn walked into the middle of the street and fired several rounds into the air. "Are you sure it's a good idea to actually ATTRACT people's attention here?!"
"Very educational," Finn said to himself, observing the people's reaction, or lack there of.
"Well? Do you have any idea what's going on here?"
"Not a clue," Ryoko punched him in the gut. "I deserved that," Finn wheezed and fell to his knees.
"We might as well take a look around, seeing as these people don't seem to care all that much about us," she said, and they set off into the giant city. Something sparked Finn's interest. All of the people here seemed to look identical. Their clothes were the same, a pale blue tunic looking thing with baggy white pants and sandals. Ryoko got one of those creepy vibes. Finn looked around, fascinated by what he saw.
'I wish I had my notebook,' he thought. At first they made small treks away from Jetstream, fearing that the people of this city might try some kind of sneak attack while they were away from the frame. However, after several loops to and from the robot, they began to feel, more or less, comfortable with leaving it while they ventured further into bustling city. Finn was surprised a little when he saw that the roads were not meant for cars or busses, but for bikes. Rows of identical red bicycles with their owners rolled past. After an hour or so of walking into what they guessed to be the heart of the city, they stopped in a small park, where benches and trees surrounded a small fountain of a man holding some kind of urn, from which water poured into a small pond.
"It looks like some kind of cult city or something," Ryoko said. By now they had worked up a bit of a sweat in the hot air. Finn knelt by the pond and dipped his hand into the water and splashed the water on his face. The city seemed to freeze. Everyone within eyesight froze where they were and stared at him. There seemed to be some kind of hushed silence. Even the bikes came to a stop; their rider's eyes fixed on Finn, who, at this point, had a rather large question mark floating above his head.
"What the…?" he asked, looking around at all the people staring at him. He stood up and tightened his grip on his gun. People stood aside as a small group of men in grey uniforms filed into the park.
"Who are you and what the hell do you want?" Ryoko demanded, raising her gun. They seemed to ignore her and formed a circle around them. They held some kind of stick-like instrument, which they held at their sides as though ready to strike out any moment.
"Well, gentlemen, what can I do for you?" Finn said casually, though he kept his finger on the trigger.
"Are you the desecrators?" one of the men asked.
"Ah, finally some attention. I was beginning to think this was someone's sick idea of the afterlife or something," Finn said. "Who wants to know?"
"You bear weapons of evil, you must be desecrators, here to soil our pure land," the man said.
"Oh boy," Finn heaved a sigh. "Here we go again."
"You have tainted our holy fountain's pure water with your evil hands. Submit at once, or we shall exercise our hammer of justice against you!"
"Quit your babbling and start explaining. Just what are you talking about anyway?" Ryoko demanded, fully prepared to exercise her automatic rifle of justice.
"You are his accomplice? I see, evil always comes in pairs," the man pointed his stick in Ryoko's direction.
"Before we 'submit', as you put it, you have some questions to answer. Number one, who are you and what the fuck is this place? And don't give me that cornpop 'holy land' crap, I want answers," Finn said, raising his rifle and holding it in both hands, aiming it in the man's direction.
"You cannot hurt me. The voice is with me."
"Don't fire unless they make the first move," Finn whispered to Ryoko, who nodded.
"They converse secretly among themselves! Evil secrets from one mouth to another! Exercise caution, these two are of foul origin!"
"This is just what I needed," Finn said sarcastically. "A bunch of nutbars telling me I'm evil. Sorry guys, I've heard it already. Answer my question."
"So you may use that information for your vile purposes? I shall reveal nothing!"
Finn's eye twitched. "Look, I'm going to ask you one more time. Where are we? What is this place?" he demanded.
"They dare ask favours of us, do not heed their calls, do not be fooled by their mask of friendliness," the man said, raising his instrument.
"There's nothing friendly about us if you're going to keep up with this shit," Finn said, becoming increasingly agitated. "Come on Ryoko, let's get out of here." Finn began to walk away, but the man raised his stick.
"Halt, you shall not pass while there is still breath in my lungs," he said.
Finn raised his gun level with the man's face.
"Don't tempt me, pal," he said and, once again, began to try and pass. However, he encountered some kind if invisible barrier. "Ah, a distortion field eh?" Finn's eyes searched the man for something. "Some kind of field generator in that wristband I guess. Clever."
"Our holy barriers are none of your concern. Drop your instruments of evil, or we shall strike you down where you stand. We will not hesitate to rid the universe of your kind. You dare force your ways upon us, contaminating our world with your filth. Seize them at once!" the men began advancing. Ryoko fired a few rounds into the air.
"Back off pal," she said, raising her gun level with the man's head. However, they continued their advance. One of the men swung his instrument at Finn, who responded by jumping aside and taking a few shots at the man's leg, avoiding vital areas if at all possible. The bullets ricocheted off the invisible barrier of the distortion field and embedded themselves into the stone below their feet. Finn reached for one of the grenades he was carrying, but fell to the ground, a buzzing pain ripping through his body. "What the…?" one of the men touched Ryoko with his weapon and she, as well, fell to the ground. "Bastards," She managed to say before her vision became black and she slipped into unconsciousness.
The Chosen Ones
"Ow," Finn groaned as he came to. He blinked his eyes, trying to get the spots to disappear and the clear the blurriness that clouded his vision. He tried to rub his sore eyes, but found his hands were bound behind his back. Slowly, he tried to stand up, but fell back into the rear wall of the dark room and slowly slid back down to the floor. Something stirred not far away. He tried to crawl over, but had to settle for reaching out and poking his cellmate with his foot.
"Augh," the person said. Finn immediately recognized the voice.
'This moment's crucial, I have to choose my words very carefully,' Finn thought. "Couldn't hurt to take a look around, she says," 'Idiot!' Finn's brain slapped him. "How are you feeling?" he added quickly.
"Like shit," Ryoko replied.
"Same. I don't suppose you know where we are?"
"You should know better than to ask stupid questions by now," she said, shuffling over and resting her back against the wall beside him. Light poured in from a small barred window at the front of the room. There was someone talking outside, but they couldn't make out the words in their current state. They saw similar openings along the front wall, as they were in the doors of every cell, each separated by thick bars. "What did we do to deserve this?"
"You exist, that is enough reason for them," came a raspy voice from the cell beside them.
"Who're you?" Ryoko demanded, not in the mood for any shit.
"A prisoner, like yourselves. You ask why they brought you here, that's a simple enough question: you exist. That's all the reason they need to lock you up," the stranger said.
"Great, stuck in a black cell for the rest of my life," Ryoko said.
"Oh, don't worry, you won't stay long. They don't keep you here for more than a few hours," the stranger said. "They'll be picking you up for execution in a little while."
"I suppose a Swedish massage was too hoping for too much," Finn said, shifting to try and face the stranger, but it was too dark to see much of him. "Who are you anyway?" he asked.
"I was the pilot an aestivalis, I'm from Earth. Name's Hunts. I got shot down and they hauled me out of the burning wreckage. Bastards should have just let me die," the stranger said, a bout of coughing overtook him for a few moments.
"You're an aesti pilot?" Ryoko asked.
"I was part of the Cosmos' battlegroup. That bastard Akatsuki was supposed to cover my while I pulled out combat, but he took off before me."
"Don't get me started on him," Finn said bitterly. He was about to say something else when Hunts' door slid open. Two men came into the room and grabbed him by the arms. He tried to struggle, but ended up being dragged from the room. "Let him go!" Finn cried and threw himself into the bars in a futile attempt to help his fellow pilot. However, he was shocked when he connected with the bars and was thrown back against the wall, smoking rising from his body. Ryoko managed to stand up and shuffled her way over to the door and looked out the barred opening. Finn joined her a moment later. "Maybe I should add some barbeque sauce next time," he said dryly. They could see as Hunts was led over before a man sitting in a tall chair, which sat on an elevated pillar. The man was dressed in ceremonial robes and looked down at Hunts. He said something, but he was too far away for them to hear. One of the guards pressed something into the exposed part of Hunts' arm.
"Has his Magistrate rendered a verdict?" the guard boomed.
"Is he the one?" the man in robes asked.
"Nay, he is not the one," the guard replied, looking at the device he had pricked Hunts with. "Guilty or innocent?"
"I find him innocent," the man in robes, whom Finn and Ryoko guessed to be the Magistrate. The colour seemed to drain from Hunts' face. He was led up a small set of stairs and chained by his arms to a hook and left dangling there. One of the guards carried a bloodstained instrument, similar to the ones the guards by the fountain had, and stood before Hunts. He then struck him with the instrument, sparks flew everywhere and a strange noise, similar to that of humming powerlines, filled the room, dampening Hunts cries for mercy. When it was all done, Hunts' smoking body hung limp. Finn glared at the scene and shuffled back to the wall.
"Not exactly the way I wanted to go," he said grimly. With the limited mobility he had in his bound hands behind his back, he felt around the floor. "Damn, it's clean. Ryoko, can you see if they emptied my pockets?"
"I take if you have something to get us out of here," she said as she shuffled back. She knelt down beside him and felt around the inside of his pockets with her fingers. "Nothing."
"Damnit, they even took our communicators,"
There was a sound at the door of its lock being removed. Finn looked at Ryoko, and they nodded. The door slid open and they both charged at the guard, who smirked when he saw them come at him. He pressed a button in his wristband and they both collided with the invisible barrier of a distortion field and were sent back into the far wall.
"That could have gone better," Ryoko groaned. She tried to move, but her limbs felt like weights. The guard grabbed Ryoko's ankle in one hand and Finn's in the other and dragged them out into the open space and before the Magistrate. The guard pricked them both with the same device Hunts had been. "Who the hell do you think you are?" she demanded. However, the guards and the Magistrate seemed to totally disregard her.
"Has the Magistrate rendered a verdict?" the guard asked.
"I object to this bullshit," Finn said, bringing himself to his feet.
"Silence, or you'll be held in contempt of this court," the Magistrate said.
"I have nothing but contempt for this court," Finn spat.
"Guard," the Magistrate said, and the guard brought his knee swiftly into Finn's stomach, knocking the air from his lungs, and sending him to the floor gasping for breath. "Is either of these the one?" The guard checked the device he held in his hands and looked at it with a confused look on his face. "Well?"
"Yes, Magistrate. I am reading that they are those we seek,"
"Which one?"
"Both of them," the guard asked, still sounding puzzled.
"Don't I feel so special," Finn said, still recovering his breath. "Just what does that mean anyway?"
"How is that possible?" the Magistrate asked, ignoring Finn.
"I don't know, sir. But that's what I'm registering."
The Magistrate descended the steps down onto the floor. By this time, Finn had picked himself up off the floor and stood ready to defend himself if need be, Ryoko did the same.
"Who are you?" the Magistrate asked. They both glared at him.
"Saotome," Finn said suspiciously.
"Subaru," Ryoko said. "What's it to you?"
"How is it that you are both the chosen one?"
"How the hell should we know? We don't even know what you're talking about," Finn answered.
"Where are you from? What faction?"
"Why should we tell you?" Ryoko demanded. The Magistrate looked at the guard, who forcefully jabbed his elbow into Ryoko's stomach. "Is that all you got?"
"How about you start by telling us what's going on. If we knew what you were talking about, maybe we could answer your questions," Finn said and the Magistrate looked at him with a scowl.
"Insolent boy," the Magistrate said, looking at Finn. "For every question you sinners refuse to answer, we shall exercise disciplinary measures,"
"Like what? A tickle-torture?" Finn the guard struck Finn with some kind of cattle prod like object. "Alright, I'll shut up already," he said, his clothes smoking.
"Now, tell me where you came from, I command you!"
"Yes sir," Finn said with an overly abundant dose of sarcasm. The guard shocked him again.
"Maybe you should just keep your mouth shut," Ryoko sweatdropped.
"Cease your conspiring! You, devil-boy, hold your tongue!" the Magistrate shouted. "Now you, girl, answer my question! To what faction do you belong?"
"Not any, really. But I guess you could say Earth," Ryoko said.
"Earth," the Magistrate repeated. "And I take it you two were the ones who sent the call?"
"Can I ask what 'the call' is?" Finn asked.
"You don't know, you don't know, you just don't know!"
"Enlighten us," the guard shocked Finn again. "What was that for?!"
"I told you to hold your tongue, and when I give an order I expect it to be obeyed."
'Man, what bug crawled up his ass?' Finn asked.
"Just what is the call?" Ryoko asked, glancing at the smoke rising from Finn's slowly cooking clothes. "Does it have anything to do with Mars?"
"Correct, how quickly these vermin catch on. We built the Hand, as a final test your race must pass before its destruction. Call it your last chance for deliverance."
"And just who are you anyway?" Ryoko asked.
"We," the Magistrate said. "Are the Successors. Can I see your hands?" he said, addressing both of them.
"Can you? Have they become invisible?" Finn chuckled.
"You're enjoying this way too much," Ryoko said to herself.
"Guard?" the Magistrate said. Finn prepared for another barbeque, but instead the guard hit a button in his wristband. The metal clasps that bound Finn and Ryoko's hands fell to the floor. "Show me your hands." They immediately assumed a stance of combat readiness. "Show me your hands!" Finn reluctantly showed the back of his closed fist. "And it is true! You both bear the mark! How can this be? How is this possible? What trick are you trying to play on us?"
"Call it an 'accident'," Ryoko said. "Now how about you explain to us just what this is all about?"
"They found our parcels! They knew what to do with them!" the Magistrate babbled on.
"Answer my question!" Ryoko demanded, her voice boomed throughout the massive chamber they were in.
"You could call it our gift to you. I suppose you know of microtech?"
"Nanomachines," Finn concluded.
"Consider it the key to the door of your oblivion," the Magistrate said. Finn and Ryoko just stared at him. "Oh my, you don't know. You just don't know!"
"I'm starting to get pissed off here, gramps," Finn said irritably. "Start talking sense."
"Are you the one we spoke to?" the Magistrate asked, disregarding Finn's demands. "The one who blasphemously ridiculed us?"
"I suppose you could say that," Finn replied.
"It is just as the Voice spoke of. The evil beings would attempt to tarnish the silver purity of our faith. But I shall hear not your evil! You were the ones who called out to us for your own destruction, be prepared to face such the fate that befits your kind!" Finn took an aggressive step forward. "Violence is always the human's way. It is such a pity, a waste of your species."
"And what do you consider yourself?" Finn asked. "You look like flesh and blood, just like me. Minus sanity, though,"
"We were once of your kind, it is true. But through the Voice, we have ascended beyond your level of existence. We are those chosen to cleanse this universe of your sin!"
"So let me get this straight," Finn said, trying to put these very awkwardly shaped pieces together. "You guys built Fort Mag, and left it on Mars as a test. So if we could ever figure out how to work the damn thing, it would send a signal to you guys, wherever you came from. And while you were waiting, you converted this moon from just a hunk of rock into a kind of suped up flying cannon. So when you guys finally received the signal that we'd activated Fort Mag, you'd take it as a sign that the human race was so bloodstained that you would wipe us off the face of the universe. And you, like just about every zealous faction of nutbar lunatics in history, are justifying your actions in the name of religion, your 'voice' Am I right?"
"The demon knows trickery of mind!" the Magistrate cried.
"Call it the power of observation. Believe me, I've had a lot of practise," Finn replied. "And I'll take your reaction as a 'yes'."
"You spiders! How dare you poison our minds with such lies!" the Magistrate by now was on the defence, and Finn was on the attack.
"What right do you have to proclaim yourselves above humanity and blow it off the face of the universe?" Finn continued to ridicule the babbling zealot. "Because the 'voice' told you? I could pull a better excuse out of my ass. At least the Jovians had some comprehendible reason for wanting to destroy the Earth. But you, you guys…gah! I'm choking on my own rage here!"
"Magistrate!" a man burst into the chamber. "The sinners have broken through the first layer of holy armour. They are advancing towards the City. Our forces can't withstand their evil witchcraft."
"Call the Hand, we shall use it to dissuade them…" the Magistrate was cut off as a fist connected solidly with his face.
"Shouldn't take your eyes off a spider," Finn said. "They tend to be venomous."
Run For Your Life
"Starting to think a little less with your head and more with your fists?" Ryoko asked as they ran down a corridor.
"I think you're rubbing off on me," Finn replied, they rounded a corner. "Damnit, where is it?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen anything that looks like a control centre,"
"At least we found these," Finn said, touching the gun, secured in its holster. They had broken into a room, which they thought might be the control centre but ended up being a storage locker, containing their confiscated items.
"Just remember one thing," Ryoko said.
"What's that?"
"You're going to probably have to put your feelings about killing aside for now. I know you don't like it, but we're probably going to have to use some lethal force. Here!" Ryoko kicked another of Zero sliding metal doors down. "Damnit!" The room turned out to be just another storage room. They had already considered boson jumping, but it was a no-go idea since they didn't have a CC, and they were too far under Zero surface to contact the Nadesico.
"There they are!" came a voice from behind them. Ryoko fired a few shots in their direction. However, the bullets were deflected by their personal distortion fields.
"I forgot about that."
They rounded a corner and ducked behind a support beam that ran along the side of the wall.
"And I thought Fort Mag was big," Finn huffed. They pressed themselves as far as they could behind the beam and waited for their pursuers to pass. Ryoko tossed a grenade down the other corridor, and, like moths to a porchlight, their pursuers followed the direction of the blast. When they could no longer hear footsteps running down the cold metal floors of the corridor, Finn and Ryoko emerged from their hiding place. Ryoko began to run down their chosen passage, but stopped when she noticed Finn standing, looking at the wall.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Well, well, well. Lookie what I found," Finn grinned and stepped closer to the wall. There was some kind of terminal built into it. Finn took the keypad and punched in some commands. A map appeared on the terminal's screen. "Come on, come on," he flipped through the various options the computer presented him with.
"Find anything?" Ryoko asked, looking around. "We don't exactly have a lot of time right now."
"I know," Finn hurriedly punched in more commands. "Where are you?" he punched the screen in frustration.
"They're coming back," Ryoko said urgently. Finn quickly looked at the screen, taking in as much of the information as his mind could process. There was one unidentified location on the map. It was big, really big, but didn't have a label like the other rooms.
"Let's go," they took off in the other direction.
"You know where we're going?" Ryoko asked.
"Not really. Look for room with a blue insignia on it, it should look kind of like the ones on our implants," Finn said.
They sprinted down this hall, then the next, rounded corners, like two mice running a maze. However, this maze had cats prowling its halls.
"Wait!" Ryoko skidded to a stop, causing Finn, who was behind her, to crash into her. They both fell to the floor in a tangled mess of arms and legs.
"What is it?" Finn asked, untangling himself.
"Blue insignia, right? Right there," Ryoko said, motioning to the door on their right. It was very big, at least the size of a truck's cargo doors, and heavily armoured.
"This looks promising," Finn said, taking a look at the entry consol attached to the wall beside the massive sliding door. In the darkened hallways it was difficult to see exactly what he was doing. "It's some kind of code."
"I guess knowing it would be too much to ask for," Ryoko said, looking up and down the deserted corridor. "Shit, more peons," she said when she noticed the faint glare of searchlights coming from around the corner behind them. Ryoko instinctively drew her gun.
"Damn, no good," Finn stepped back from the consol and looked around. His eyes searched their surroundings, looking for something. "I guess it's no good running." He added when he saw searchlights coming from the other direction. There were a series of support beams protruding from the wall with small space between each one. "Not exactly spacious, but wide enough." He said and walked down the corridor a little way, looking up at the ceiling, until he found what he was looking for. "Over here." He jumped up and grabbed onto the grate of a ventilation duct. He then pulled himself up, planted his feet on one side of the opening between the support beams and his back against the other. "Come on." He dropped his hand down to assist her. However, she jumped up, grabbed the grate, and pulled herself up. It was a tight squeeze, but they both managed to wedge themselves up there, relatively out of sight high above the floor.
Below them, the two groups of pursuers met.
"Did you find the desecrators?" one of them asked.
"No, they could be using the ancient magic," another one answered. "The scrolls say that those who would awaken the City would possess such magic." Finn watched with great curiosity.
'Very educational," he thought.
"Could they have broken into the archives?" all eyes turned towards the door. The man walked over and looked at the consol. "It's been tampered with."
"Open the door," the one that seemed to be in charge ordered. Finn and Ryoko's eyes followed the man, but he passed out of their sight, the beam blocked their line of vision. They heard the man punch in a six-digit code and the door slowly slid open. "Check inside." The shuffling of feet followed.
"Nothing, sir," came the reply.
Finn's foot slid a few millimetres, but he caught himself before he fell. He held his breath and glanced down, hoping no one had heard the minute squeak of his boot against the smooth metal.
'Whew,' he thought when he saw that no one had taken notice of it. All of a sudden, there was a slight clang against the floor of the corridor. 'What the hell?' There on the floor, was Finn's communicator, which he had slipped into his pocket.
"What be this?" the commander said, picking it up. "Where did this come from?" he pressed a button on the device's side, and a staticy vidwindow popped up. The commander dropped it and they all stood back. Finn and Ryoko, by this time, had drawn their guns and were laying in wait, just waiting for the group below to see them.
'Aaaaaaaand….' Finn thought. 'now."
"Up there? The spiders have scaled the walls!"
"Here we go," Finn said and they both jumped down, into the group. He grit his teeth and pulled the trigger again and again. The first few bullets bounced harmlessly off their distortion fields. However, they soon weakened and collapsed, leaving them with only their undrawn sword-like instruments to protect themselves. Finn and Ryoko, in the confusion, managed to take out most of the group. Finn mentally apologized every time he pulled the trigger. A few broke away from the heap of bloody bodies that had piled up around them and stood back from Finn and Ryoko, who were covered in blood, with their instruments in hand.
"Stop this at once! Or we shall strike you down where you stand!" one of them said.
"You'd do that even if we did stop," Ryoko shot back, aiming her gun. The men took a step back.
"I guess there's no other way," Finn said under his breath. "Do it." Ryoko pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.
"Oh shit," she said, pulling the trigger again and again. "I'm out of ammo."
"Perfect," Finn muttered and turned around. The men charged and he opened fire. However, they kept coming. Even when their distortion fields had shattered and blood poured from their wounds, they still crept forward. Finally, two bodies of the three fell lifelessly to the floor. The third and final one stood shakily on his feet and continued to shuffle forward.
"Do it," Ryoko said. Finn took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger. He did not open his eyes until the sound of gunshot's echo stopped reverberating through the walls. The shadow cast by his hair made the space around his eyes seem black. "No time to think that over, we've got to get moving."
"Right," Finn said quietly and made his way over to the consol.
"We don't know the code, I couldn't see," Ryoko said. Finn punched in a number, hit the button, and the door slid open.
"Got to learn to use your ears," he said and they both entered the room. Finn found another consol on the other side and locked the door behind them.
"You think that'll hold them?"
"It's worth a shot, and it's not like we have any better ideas," Finn took the seat in front of a massive monitor. The room was massive. There was row after row is shelving units 20 feet high on rails that slid back and forth. There must have been at least fifty units placed along the floor, along with boxes, papers, and miscellaneous items here and there.
"They called this place the 'archives', I guess that's what they are,"
"Maybe we can use them to find some answers," Finn said as he got up and began to search through one of the shelving units.
"Where should we begin?"
"Anything prior to the War for Lunar Autonomy. These people must have come from Earth before the early Jovians were banished." Finn pulled out a stack of old DVDs and began to sift through them. Most of them were old movies, anime, TV shows, things you'd expect to find in an antique store.
"I think I found something," Ryoko said, a few units over. " 'Data tracks 2080: Beginning'."
"Let's have a look," Finn said, and they popped the disk into the ancient DVD player built into the computer. The screen fizzled for a few moments, but then became clear.
"In the year 2080, United Earth Forces banished us from the Earth and the Moon, for fear that we would some day rise up and overthrow them, shedding light as to the true nature of the universe. Prior to the Banishment, the UF had fiercely oppressed our people, stating that our laws and beliefs were 'inhumane' and 'immoral'. As a result, we were given two choices. The first was to stay on Earth and live in concentration camps, which was an outrageously unreasonable proposal. The second was to leave Earth within one year, or be imprisoned, with our leaders executed. The UF expected us to agree to the first option. However, we took them up on their second offer and used funds donated to our organisation by followers to buy space barges, big enough to transport the majority of our people away from Earth. Mars was our intended destination," was what the disk said before it began skipping and the information came out garbled.
"Explains a lot. But still doesn't tell us how they came up with the boson jumping technology."
"You're really against this whole alien theory, aren't you?" Ryoko said.
"Sorry, I don't buy UFOs," Finn replied.
The next few disks they tried were all of old movies, news reports, and anime. Strangely enough, they were all found on a shelf labelled "Heathen Records". However, they finally came across something else that seemed promising. Ryoko put the disk in and closed the player. The first few minutes of the disk were garbled beyond recognition.
"We had settled on Mars and had rebuilt our communities and were living quite contently for several years," the disk played when they finally got it working. "However, a discovery changed the course of the Successor people forever. We discovered a massive supercomputer buried at the planet's south pole. This was assumed to be alien technology when it was first discovered."
"Looks like you're theory's been blown out of the water," Ryoko said.
"However," the disk continued. "We later discovered that a transport ship we thought we had lost during the initial entry into Mars' atmosphere had apparently survived, with its passengers intact. These people came across a remarkable discovery. Due to the impact zone where their ship crashed, much of the overlaying snow had been evaporated. This exposed a layer of an unusual material, which they called neomite. It possessed remarkable qualities and, having the most advanced scientists and engineers with them, was quickly developed into a three forms. The first one discovered was a form of propulsion, using a transition vacuum to propel craft remarkably effectively and efficiently. The second was a highly concentrated destructive wave of gravitron waves, which could double as a protective field. The third was the most remarkable. It was a form of instant transportation that used synchronized itself with the radiant energies of particles elsewhere in the universe. This synchronization could then be used as a form of teleportation. Due to the fact that energies radiate different energy signatures at different times, the form of teleportation was not limited to the confines of time. However, the crashed ship had contained the most fanatic extremists of our faith, and they used this new technology to dominate and 'cleanse' our society of non-believers. Now, only a small band of our kind, the moderate believers, survive. We leave this record to anyone that may find it, as proof of our existence; an existence the extremists have sworn to wipe of the face of universe. We managed to damage their main manufacturing plant. However, before we could fully destroy it, it teleported to unknown destination."
"The artefact." Finn concluded, and they tried more disks.
"Date: 2095. We have successfully purged Mars of the insufferable existence of the non-believers. However, a more dangerous threat now looms over us. Using our power, we have read into the Earth-dogs communications had have discovered that a group of lunar dissidents is en route. I suggested destroying them the moment they arrived, to prevent any contamination. However, the Elder has a different plan. We shall bury the City at the South Pole where we originally found the magical substance, and leave it as a test. We will move beyond the range of their probes to the moons of Saturn, and begin construction on the Purge. When the human race has discovered how to use the power we left behind, it will serve as our beacon. The City, being a weapon, will tell us that the human race has exhausted all possible means of peaceful existence within itself, and it will be our light to follow, to cleanse the universe of those foul beings! Unfortunately, the transport vessel that moderates all transport via our power is too large to take with us on your pilgrimage to Saturn, and will be left behind."
"Explains a lot," Finn said. However, before he could say anything else, there was noise coming from outside.
"They're trying to get in," Ryoko said, her ear pressed against the door.
"Not for long," Finn drew his gun and fired into the consol, or, at least, would have, had there been any bullets left in his gun. "Give me a break," he muttered. Ryoko smashed her foot into the device, destroying a good chunk of it. The door uttered a strange click and the voices from the other side turned to shouts.
"Go with what works," she said. Finn began rooting through more shelves. "What are you looking for?" However, before he could utter a reply, red marks appeared in the heavily armoured door.
"Come on, where are you?" Finn said, tearing through boxes and shoving things off the shelves.
"Whatever you're looking for, better hurry up," Ryoko said as she pushed heavy file cabinets against the slowly melting door. "They're coming through." Finn tossed something her way. It was an old handgun, well over a hundred years old. There was ammunition in the clip, and it appeared to be in working condition.
"Pray that thing still works," he said as he continued sifting through the archives' contents. Ryoko pushed over another file cabinet and took cover behind it. "Gah damn! I can't find it." He grabbed another old firearm off the dusty shelves and joined Ryoko.
"What were you looking for anyway?" she asked. However, before Finn could answer, they heard the file cabinets Ryoko had barricaded the door with falling over.
"We're in!" cried one of the Successor officers. There was a slight clinking noise at his feet and he noticed a small round object roll between his legs and into the cluster of men that had gathered around the entrance. However, before he could examine the object any further, it exploded, sending some of the men flying into the air.
"Here we go," Finn took a deep breath and opened fire. However, this time, the Successors returned fire. It looked like some kind of handheld gravity blast gun; the blasts knocked the shelving units over, sending heaps of items crashing to the floor. Finn hurled another grenade into the cluster of men in front of them. However, for every man they shot down, three more came and took his place.
"Damn, I'm out," Ryoko said, her ammunition depleted.
"Same," Finn said and he ducked behind the overturned file cabinet. He unclipped his last grenade from his belt. "Last one. Here goes." He began to hurl the explosive at their enemies, however, a sudden blast against the file cabinet caused him to drop it and sent it rolling away behind them, into the stack of toppled shelving units. "Aww man, give me a break!" he himself braced himself over Ryoko as grenade detonated. Since they didn't have anything to protect them, the force of the exploding blast hit them unhindered, and their surroundings, causing even more shelves to collapse, partially burying them under a heap of, for lack of a better term, stuff. Finn's head emerged from the rubble and something connected solidly with his head and he lay there swirly eyed for a few moments.
"You can get off me now," he heard a voice come from below the rubble.
"What happened?" came the coughing voice from the other side of the veil of smoke that filled the room. Finn picked up the object that had struck him.
"Neomite?" he asked himself. Ryoko shoved him aside and climbed up. He grabbed her hand. "It's a long shot, but think of Jetstream's cockpit."
"But we don't have a CC," Ryoko said.
"Can you see anything?" came a voice.
"Wait until it clears!" came another.
"We don't have a lot of time, just trust me," Finn held the chunk of neomite with one hand and Ryoko's hand in the other.
"Right," they closed their eyes and concentrated. They felt the familiar tingle as their nanomachines got to work. However, when they opened their eyes, they were still where they started. "You were saying?"
"Crap," Finn said, he was about to throw the worthless stone away, but decided Inez might want to examine it, so he stuffed it into his pocket. "Ok, time for plan B."
"Do I even want to know?" Ryoko asked.
"Come on," Finn jumped over the battered file cabinet, dragging Ryoko with him.
"Are you nuts?" Ryoko asked.
"Trust me," he said.
"I hear something," one of the soldiers said as Finn burst from the smoke and ploughed into them. Fortunately their distortion fields weren't online when he did so, which made it easy for him to take three of them down before they knew what was going on. Ryoko, by this time, had caught onto the general idea of Finn's 'idea' and had knocked a few soldiers to the floor. Quickly, they grabbed their enemies' weapons and took off down the corridor, leaving the soldiers dazed and confused.
Finn and Ryoko rounded a corner and kept on running.
"Shit," Finn cursed when they reached a set of locked doors. They backed up and tested out their new toys. However, the doors simply reflected their shots. "Damnit, they just had to go to these stupid futuristic weapons." By now their pursuers were catching up, the corridor filled with their gravity blasts, which narrowly missed them. One grazed Finn's shoulder and he fell to one knee. His wound seared with a blistering hot pain, it felt as though someone were poking him with a red-hot piece of iron.
"You alright?" Ryoko asked, returning fire.
"It's just a flesh wound,' Finn's mouth grunted, meanwhile his mind screamed at him. He grit his teeth and forced himself to concentrate on returning fire. However, most of their shots were deflected off their enemies' distortion fields.
"Damn, those things don't work well against bullets, but they're pretty effective against whatever these things are," Ryoko said, diving to the floor as another barrage skimmed overhead. Their enemy stopped and continued firing. "I guess they're going for it this time."
"Don't let go without a fight," Finn said.
"We're out numbered, out gunned, and trapped. What do you want me to do? Start thinking good thoughts?"
"Couldn't hurt. Just click your heels and say 'there's no place like home'." Finn smirked, his face contorted by pain and the dry amusement of the situation. The Successor soldiers closed in.
"The Magistrate wanted them alive," one of them said.
"He only wanted to meet them, he said to execute them right after," another one said. They seemed to think it over for a moment, before they silently decided that Finn and Ryoko were too dangerous to keep alive. "Fare thee well, sinners." And they pulled the trigger.
Escape From Zero
"What the?" Finn asked when he opened his eyes, the light was dim and the space was tight. He felt around, trying to figure out where he was and how he got there. "Ryoko?" he said upon seeing Ryoko across from him. Slowly but surely, Finn began to piece this together. "In Jetstream?"
"Is this someone's twisted idea of a joke?" Ryoko asked. She looked at herself and found her conduction gloves on and that she was strapped in, ready for flight. She noticed bloodstains on her pilots' suit. "I guess it wasn't a dream. But how the hell did we get here?" Finn noticed a dim light coming from somewhere in the cockpit. He searched for it, and finally found the source. From his pocket, he produced the small chunk of neomite he had grabbed in the archives. They both looked at each other.
"Don't ask me," Finn said when he noticed Ryoko looking at him.
"Who cares, let's just get out of here," she said and connected herself to the IFS. Finn did the same and they brought Jetstream online. For some reason, it was still where they had left it. The streets were bustling with people, but they didn't really care at this point. They piloted Jetstream out into the street and, surprise surprise, no one seemed to take any notice of them.
'You're not going to give them a chance to evacuate?' Ryoko asked when she felt Finn bringing the machineguns online.
'Just a small puncture,' Finn said, and they blasted up towards the strange ceiling above the city. They blew a small hole into the ceiling and they felt the effects immediately. Air was pulled out of the pressurized city and shot out into the cold vacuum of space. Even in Jetstream they had trouble staying away from the basketball sized hole. 'What the?'
'They're just standing there,' they saw enemy robot units appear from their launch pads under the sliding sections of the street, they launched and immediately opened fire.
'Are they nuts? They haven't even evacuated the civilians yet!' they banked to the left and the shots made the hole open even further. They transformed to fighter mode and dove towards the ground, only to pull up, skimming the streets, and open fire at the enemy. 'Try and keep the shots on an upward angle.' However, the slingshots simply evaded their shots. Jetstream transformed to robot mode and they projected their distortion field at a close range, neutralizing the enemy's field. Quickly, they gouged a hole out of the chest and pulled out the slingshot's insides. The robot hung limp in the air for a moment before it lost power and plunged into the city streets. It's partner drew its sword-like instrument and took a slash at Jetstream. They swung Jetstream around, caught the blade before it made contact with their hull, and proceeded to snap the end off. Using this end, they carved a long line down the centre of the robot and ripped it to shreds with their machine guns.
'Bring on the next!' Ryoko cried and they swung around, looking for the next opponent. Off in the distance, six more were flying towards them, closing fast, with another squadron following not far behind. When Ryoko brought the twin cannons she felt a tug, like someone was holding her back.
'We can't fire over a city like that,' Finn informed her. The slingshots were now within firing range and had opened fire. They detached Jetstream's shield and held it in front of them. 'We can't let civilians get involved.'
'Look Saotome, I know how you feel about civs, but I think survival is a little more important right now! We can't just dodge; they're reinforcing their lines too quickly. It's either them or us,' Ryoko said. She continued to feel Finn's hesitation. However, before she could say any more, Jetstream shuddered violently and they began to loose altitude. 'Shit, we've been hit.' They caught themselves just before they hit the city streets, and landed rather roughly, gouging deep tracks into the pavement. The slingshots landed and proceeded to take cover behind buildings before they opened fire. Below them, the civilians continued to go about their daily business, seeming totally unaware of the battle taking place in front of them. 'They're not even looking at us! I know you hate killing, but take a look around you!'
Finn looked around at the people, drones, who just walked from this place to that place. The slingshots fire caused a building to collapse and fall across a busy street. Finn's blood began to boil.
'Damnit, damnit, damnit!' he cursed. 'Let's just get this over with,' they drew Jetstream's sword and charged forward towards a group of enemy units there had taken cover. Their blasts bounced off Jetstream's shield. When they were close enough, Finn and Ryoko deployed the distortion field again, the air shimmered as the conflicting fields cancelled each other out. The first slingshot was divided cleanly down the middle, and the next was cut into three pieces, which fell into the streets. During this brief distraction, several slingshots were coming up the street, firing away. This caught Finn and Ryoko off guard and they suffered several direct hits in the back before they grabbed one of the disabled, but still whole, slingshots and used it as a shield. The attacking robots were too far out of range for their distortion countermeasure, so they had to settle for the old fashioned way. The machineguns heated up as hundreds of bullets were projected from them in a matter of seconds. However, due to this time-consuming process, two more had landed behind them and had launched a massive barrage of missiles, which hit Jetstream's hull unhindered, causing it to fell to the ground and blowing one of the twin cannons off its anchors, sending it twisted and broken onto the ground. Finn and Ryoko hauled Jetstream up off the ground and opened fire at the base of a tall skyscraper. The concrete was quickly eaten away by the bullets that gnawed its base, causing the building to collapse onto three slingshots standing in front of them. 'Buried and helpless, life is good.' They then turned around and sprang forward onto the robots that had launched the missile barrage. Their distortion fields were quickly torn away and Jetstream rammed its fist down into the head of one of robots and ripping it off. They then grabbed the broken robot by the arm and flung it into the other. Transforming to fighter mode, they flew high into the sky, before pulling into a dive and opening fire at the few remaining enemy units. Two slingshots jumped out from behind two buildings opposite from one another and grabbed onto Jetstream's wings, dragging them down crashing into the streets.
'And you wanted to fight defensively,' Ryoko said. 'There's a saying where I come from. Bastards that dare piss me off shall be blown up!'
'They think we're demons? Let's give them some hell!' Finn wasn't holding back now. His anger had been provoked, and the hardened warrior side of him cast its shadow over his compassion. Jetstream transformed and they flipped it sideways, forcing one slingshot below them, taking the brunt of the force that was tearing at them as they skidded along the pavement. When that one had been eaten away by the friction caused by the crash, they ploughed the other one into a nearby building. The three remaining slingshots regrouped at the end of the street. Two of them held their guns, ready to fire. However, before they could do so, the third one put its hand up and pointed its twisted instrument in Jetstream's direction. 'A duel?'
'Looks like it,' Ryoko looked around, trying to pick out any slingshots that may be lurking in ambush. However, the radar was clear and nothing registered on the heat scan. They drew Jetstream's sword from the left wing and held it out at the robot's arm's length. The opposing robot nodded, grabbed its weapon with both hands and ran forward. Jetstream did the same, its metal feet pounding depressions into the pavement and sending bits and pieces of it into the air. When the two blades met, sparks flew, and both robots came to an abrupt halt. Jetstream's blade became lodged in where the opponent's blade split off into two points, and they were slowly being pushed back.
Realizing that their current strategy of trying to simply overpower their enemy wasn't working, Finn and Ryoko opted for a different plan of action. They let go of the sword and quickly shifted to the right, the enemy's blade nicked the left side of Jetstream's torso armour and sank into the ground. While the slingshot tried to pull its weapon out of the ground, Finn and Ryoko slammed their fists into its chestplate and opened fire. The bullets ate away at the armour and reduced the robot to two torn halves. It then exploded in a giant fireball, flames spilled onto the street and blocked the two other slingshots' view. They saw a figure emerge from the inferno. Jetstream sprang forward, elbowed the robot on the left in the face, crushing its visual sensors, and, using the potential energy within their already positioned fist, proceeded to slam their fist into the one on the right, sending it crashing to the ground. Finn and Ryoko triumphantly surveyed the battlefield. The civilians still continued their usual activity, even though several blocks had been levelled, over a dozen skyscrapers had been reduced to rubble, and there were craters everywhere from missiles that had never reached their targets. However, before they could take off, a missile came out of nowhere and struck the middle of Jetstream's already damaged back. They fell to the ground and noticed that something felt different. Looking around, they saw something curious. All the people were perfectly still, as though they had been frozen instantaneously. But before they could stop and think about it, another slingshot stood over them, holding its gun to their head. By this time Jetstream was heavily damaged with systems on the verge of failure. There was a brief moment where both Finn and Ryoko prepared for what was to come. However, this lasted only a split second before they quickly grabbed the slingshot's gun barrel and crushed it with one hand. The slingshot took a few steps back as they hauled Jetstream up off the street and onto its feet. They slowly walked towards the enemy robot, which seemed to be staring at them in disbelief. Jetstream continued to come forward, its eye visual receptors glowing a fierce red.
They came faceplate-to-faceplate with their enemy and were about to smash a hole clean through its torso, when Finn's other side stopped him. His mind was at war with itself. One part of him wanted to destroy this enemy, tear it apart until it was nothing but a pile of scrap on the ground. He wanted someone to pay for all the injustice, all the destruction! He wanted to take it all out on this single enemy. But the other side held him back.
'What are you doing?' Ryoko asked.
The enemy seemed to recover its senses during this brief moment of hesitation and drew its blade, raising it high above him, preparing to slash down at them. When it did bring the weapon down, Finn and Ryoko caught it in midair. They snapped the blade in two and used the piece they had broken off to slash a diagonal line across the robot. It stood there, before they pushed it over with Jetstream's finger.
Wasting no time, for fear of being caught off guard, they planted their feet firmly into the ground and gathered their energies. Aiming their remaining shoulder cannon to the sky, they began to charge it up. They both felt the concentration of energy surge into the single barrel. When they could both no longer tolerate the stress of such a massive concentration of energy that had build up on their shoulder, they unleashed the massive wave upon the ceiling. The wave struck the ceiling, and they saw it travel upward to the surface. A massive hole the size of the Nadesico was blown into the roof and small pieces fell from above. Quickly, they transformed Jetstream to fighter mode and thrust up towards the opening. However, they noticed it was getting progressively smaller as they approached. There was an unusual force pulling them closer and closer. It even sucked up things off the city streets, such as bikes, garbage cans, and, much to Finn's nauseating surprise, people, which collided with Jetstream's hull, sending small clanging noises reverberating through the frame. Finn felt Ryoko's reaction, which was very similar to his. The people were literally frozen, having been exposed to the cold vacuum of space, and were being sucked out and ejected back into space. They both forced their minds off the subject and concentrated on cranking the thrust up as high as it would go.
"I am detecting a massive energy fluctuation from point 022502," reported Ruri as a massive wave of blue energy exploded from Zero's surface.
"Enemy attack?" asked Yurika.
"Negative, the blast came from inside, some kind of internal explosion."
"What the hell is going on?!" cried Akito as he was sent flying high above Zero's surface by the blast wave. "Where'd that come from?"
"I am detecting an unidentified object traveling at high velocity emerging from the blast zone," Ruri said.
"More enemy units?" Akito asked.
"Idiots," Ruri said as Jetstream came flying out of the opening.
"What's the sitch?" Finn and Ryoko asked as they emerged onto the battlefield. From what they could see, the battle was progressing much the same as it did when they had first fallen through and into the city. The Cosmos and Skylinx's battlegroups had joined the Nadesico and were attacking the areas around Zero's massive main cannon.
"Ryoko, Saotome, pull back. We're issuing an order to retreat," Yurika said. "We need to regroup and rearm."
"Roger that, Captain," they replied, too tired to argue. They made a beeline for the Nadesico, with Akito and his squad not far behind.
"Minato, prepare to pull back. Megumi, radio the other ships and tell them where the rendezvous point is. Ruri, stand by on PT cannon," Yurika ordered.
"I'm reading high concentrations of bose particles, Captain," reported Ruri.
"Where from?"
"Directly behind us at approximately 653km to stern. Signature matches our records. Tracing now."
Yurika watched the stern vidwindow and saw something beginning to materialize out of the cluster of glowing bose particles. The first part to emerge from the gap in the fabric of space looked to be about the size of a chulip. However, it continued to get bigger and bigger. It was painfully clear what was going on.
"Don't bother, Ruri," Yurika said. Behind them, Fortress Magnum materialized, transformed in robot mode and ready for battle.
It Gets Worse
"Seiya, can you patch her up?" Finn asked as he hopped down from the damaged Jetstream.
"You're looking well, for a dead man," Seiya said and began to examine the damage along Jetstream's side.
"What do you mean?" Ryoko asked, jumping down and landing beside Finn.
"You were gone for nearly four hours," Inez explained, appearing out of nowhere. "You have been gone for over 237 minutes, or roughly four hours. During which time, our battle plans have collapsed and all our forces have gathered along these coordinates. Just out of range of their main gun," she motioned to a minimap of Zero in a vidwindow. "The Captain has issued a retreat, so we may regroup and rearm." At this time in the explanation, the aestivalis were beginning to file into the hangar. "Approximately 46% of our attack force has been destroyed, disabled, or missing, presumed dead."
"I take it that it would be too much to ask for Akatsuki to be among them?" Finn muttered.
"Negative, he is aboard the Cosmos right now, rearming his aestivalis," Inez answered. "However, we have caused severe damage to Zero's main gun, which is presumed to be partially disabled by now. We are leaving some personnel on Zero so the enemy cannot reinforce their lines."
"All combat crew, remain at your stations. Black alert, repeat, black alert. Standby for further orders," Megumi said, relaying the Captain's orders.
"Some break," Ryoko said.
"Where've you two been?" Kumi demanded, ripping her helmet off.
"Call it a…scouting mission," Finn said.
"Scouting?" she smirked and looked at Finn, then at Ryoko, who both looked a little dishevelled. "Find any new positions?"
"Why you little bi…"
"Pilot Subaru and Lt. Saotome, please report to the bridge immediately," Megumi interrupted Ryoko.
"I doubt this could get any worse, so what does the Captain need us for anyway?" Finn asked rhetorically. A few minutes later they arrived at the bridge. "Alright, what's the matter now?" his eyes bulged slightly when he saw the rear monitor. "I had to ask."
"Saotome," Yurika said. Finn looked at her. "Help."
"Fort Mag is still in dimensional transition," Ruri said. "Projections indicate it will be unable to fire for a while longer,"
"Seiya," asked Finn, opening a vidwindow. "You know how I wanted Jetstream repaired?"
"Give me two hours," Seiya replied, lifting his welding mask.
"You've got ten minutes. And make sure the main gun is operational." Finn said and closed the window.
"Have you got any ideas?" Yurika asked. "Maybe you can control it like you did last time?"
"I doubt it. I'm not even sure how I ended up stuck in that thing the last time," Finn replied.
"Could you give it a try?"
"Suicide's not exactly in my job description."
"Do we even know it's hostile?" asked Jun.
"Afraid so," everyone looked at Finn. "Believe me."
"I've got an idea," Akatsuki said, opening a vidwindow onto the bridge from the Cosmos. Finn instinctively reached for his gun. It was a good thing it was out of ammo, or else there might have been a few dents where Akatsuki's window had opened. "Saotome, you have one anti-field torpedo left. Why not use it to knock out the Fortress' distortion field? We could send a team inside to destroy its operational control systems,"
"Is Tenkawa's team ready?" asked Finn.
"We need Akito and his squad back on Zero as soon as they're rearmed," Yurika said. "You'll have to go with someone else."
"Sakura, any of Skylinx' aestivalis ready?" Finn asked.
"Most of them have been destroyed," Sakura said grimly.
"They were only trainee pilots," Akatsuki added. "My team's ready to go."
"Then it's settled. Saotome, you're going with Akatsuki's team," Yurika said. Finn was about to protest, but she stopped him. "And I don't want your grudge getting in the way. Is that clear?"
"What's that grinding noise?" Jun asked. Everyone glanced in Finn's direction. You could almost see the enamel flying.
"I am detecting initial systems activity coming from Zero," Ruri said.
"Well?" Yurika crossed her arms. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Yeah," he sighed in defeat. "But I don't have to like it,"
"Good. Akatsuki, when can you launch?"
"Give me five minutes," he answered. "Meet us at rendezvous point zeta."
"You'd better hurry up, Saotome," Yurika said. "You've got five minutes."
"I just love these 'no-pressure' scenarios," Finn remarked as he and Ryoko ran off the bridge. "Gah, I can't believe I actually have to work with that snake. Simply being on the same side is hard enough, now I actually have to put up with the bastard personally."
"I'm surprised you even agreed to it," Ryoko said.
"Only because I have to," Finn added quickly. When they reached the hangar, there were maintenance crewmembers stuck to every exposed piece of Jetstream's hull.
"I'm going to ask you just one question, Saotome," Seiya said. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU DO TO THESE THINGS?!"
"It's just…well used. That's all," Finn replied.
"Crashing through buildings probably doesn't help though," Ryoko added quietly.
"Is she ready?"
"We've managed to get the key systems operating at about 75%, and the major structural damage has been repaired, but any interior problems will still be there. We've only been able to get the worst of it patched up," Seiya replied.
"What about the main gun?"
"Hey Toji!" Seiya shouted, a man standing on Jetstorm's back looked their way. "Is the main gun working?" the man named Toji gave a thumbs-up. "It's as ready as it's ever going to be."
"Alright, thanks," Finn, followed by Ryoko, climbed up the ladder and popped the cockpit hatch open. They both put their helmets on and plugged themselves into the IFS. The maintenance crew scrambled off the frame as it began to roll towards the catapult, and was soon thrown back into space. They met up with Akatsuki's aestivalis team and began to fly towards the massive construct that was Fortress Magnum.
"We're almost in range, prepare to fire," one of Akatsuki's flunkies said.
"I'm reading a massive energy build up from Fort Mag. Signature matches that of the…" there was a blinding flash of light as Ruri's window went grainy.
"What's going on?" Finn and Ryoko asked. "Ruri? Where are you? Come in!"
"Never mind them, we've got a mission to complete," Akatsuki said. "We're in range, fire the torpedo," Finn looked back and saw the Nadesico still sitting in one piece, and assumed it was some kind of system failure on Jetstream's part.
"Roger that, commander Akatsuki," they said, targeting the projected weakest point in Fort Mag's distortion field. The torpedo fired and left a small streak of gasses as it shot forward and collided with Fort Mag's field. One of Akatsuki's men fired a missile, which struck the fortress' hull. It looked like a firefly in front of an elephant. They continued flying forward.
'So far so good,' Finn thought. Ryoko could feel his hatred for Akatsuki like a burn, some bubbling pool of acid in his mind.
'Not that I blame him,' she said to herself.
"Enemy units incoming," one of Akatsuki's men said.
"Where from? Our scanners are shot," Finn and Ryoko said.
"They're coming out of the fortress. Must be some kind of drone programme or something."
"Prepare for close-range combat," Akatsuki ordered. Finn and Ryoko cranked up the thrusters and blew past him. "Watch where you're going!"
"We'll keep that in mind," they muttered and fired a missile into the centre of the group of robots that were flying towards them. They looked a lot like the slingshots, only heavier and bulky. They concluded that they were some kind of slingshot predecessor. "This things are over a hundred years old, they belong in a museum, not on the battlefield." The missile exploded, sending the enemy units spiralling off into space in peaces.
"There's more where that came from," one of Akatsuki's men said. More of the enemy robots were flooding out of small hangar bays along Fort Mag's sides. This time they opened fire. A massive barrage of gravity blasts flew straight towards them. Jetstream banked right, away from the barrage, but two of Akatsuki's men weren't so lucky. They took the full brunt of the blasts, causing their distortion fields to fail. Jetstream's remaining booster was punched to full and blitzed the enemy with a massive onslaught of good old-fashioned bullets, ripping over a dozen to shreds. They transformed Jetstream to robot mode and ploughed into a group of them. The robots were is such a bad state of disrepair that they crumbled under the impact of Jetstream's fists.
'They don't even have distortion fields,' Ryoko thought as they smashed their way through another group.
'Yeah, but they just keep coming,' Finn added as they drew Jetstream's sword and sliced two in half.
Akatsuki and his team were ploughing their way forward. However, every one enemy unit they shot down, even more came to pick up the slack.
"This isn't getting us anywhere," Jetstream turned around and thrust away from the battle. They came to haul outside the enemy's firing range.
"You bastard, what the hell are you doing?" Akatsuki demanded. They didn't reply. Instead, they armed both machine guns and burst forward, sending a torrent of bullets raining down at Fort Mag, whose surface was crawling with enemy units. Huge sections were cleared as the robots were shredded. They cleared one section in the fortress' upper chest area.
"Don't just float there, get moving!" they said to the gawking members of Akatsuki's team. By this time, they had now landed and had magnetically grounded Jetstream's feet to the city. Walking forward, they shot down any enemy units that came within firing range.
Akatsuki's team landed and formed a defensive circle.
"Open it up," Akatsuki said as he stepped forward. Finn and Ryoko ceased fire and withdrew their sword. Holding it in both hands, they thrust the blade deep into the armoured hull. Just then, a massive explosion sent Jetstream flying into the air. Akatsuki grabbed their hand and pulled them back down.
"We don't need your help," they snapped as another explosion shook Fort Mag, causing them all to loose their balance.
"What's going on here?" one of them asked. They saw a bright light grow from further down Fort Mag.
'Oh no,' Finn though. 'Oh no. Aww shit!'
"Nadesico, come in! Nadesico! Ruri? Do you read us? Answer us damnit!" they shouted, only to have a grainy window stare blankly back at them. "Damnit, come on comlink," they mentally kicked the computer. "Work!"
"What's going on here?" Akatsuki asked.
"Contact the Nadesico, tell them to get out of there. NOW!" they ordered.
"Wh…"
"Just do it!"
A massive burst of light blinded them all. It seemed to come from everywhere. It was several minutes before the spots cleared from their eyes.
"What happened?" Akatsuki asked. Finn and Ryoko didn't answer. They took a few steps towards the blast that had just erupted from Fort Mag's guns. A floating mass of twisted steel remained where the Nadesico had once been.
The Code of Heroes
Jetstream fell to its knees and braced its arms against the ground. Finn and Ryoko's eyes were both wide with the horror and brimming with tears of fury and rage.
"Saotome, Ryoko, snap out of it," came Akatsuki's voice. Around them, the enemy was gaining ground.
"Gone…" they said. "Gone."
A gravity blast exploded a few meters away. Jetstream formed a tight fist and stood up.
"They're gone," they said quietly. "And it's all because of you," they stared at Zero. On its surface they could see the tiny flickers of light as explosions erupted. They revved up the engines and took off.
"Wait!" Akatsuki grabbed onto Jetstream's ankle just before they flew out of reach and held them back.
"Let us go!" they screamed, kicking at Akatsuki's aesti's head. More of Akatsuki's team tackled Jetstream and restrained it. "Akatsuki, let us go right fucking now! We'll kill them! We'll kill the whole fucking lot of them! We swear we will!"
"Damnit, hold onto them!" Akatsuki ordered.
"We're trying, sir!" came the grunted reply.
"We'll kill them!" Finn and Ryoko screamed. "All of them! They'll pay this! Every last fucking one of them! Let us go!"
Even though Ryoko felt the same way Finn did, what she felt from him scared her. She had never felt anything so unforgiving, so full of rage and hate and sorrow. She felt it possess every fibre of his being and grow stronger and stronger, more hateful, the need for revenge filling him, blinding him with his own rage.
"Killing them isn't going to bring the Nadesico back!" Akatsuki shouted. "You can't let them die in vain. If you go after Zero you'll be destroyed, I can guarantee it!"
"Akatsuki, let us go," Jetstream became still. "We mean it. There's not a whole lot keeping us from killing you right here, don't push us."
"If you go off, you'll be destroyed. It's as simple as that. Are you just going to throw your lives away and let Zero win? You two are the only ones who know enough about Fort Mag's interior to carry out this operation."
"Don't give me that shit. You probably know every nut and bolt of this thing. You seem to have your little moles everywhere"
"You're not going to go against your captain's last orders, are you?" Finn and Ryoko fell silent. "That was her last request, are you going to betray her dying wish?"
"Damn you, Akatsuk. You're a bastard, you know that?" Akatsuki's team relaxed their grip and they shrugged them off. "Fine. Let's do this. Just remember one thing, you pull anything, anything, I'm not holding back." They grabbed the sword, which was sill embedded in Fort Mag's hull, and began carving the hole. Akatsuki's men formed a defensive circle around them and kept the attacking enemy units at bay. When the circle was complete, they began pounding their feet against it, trying to break through. "Give us this," they grabbed Akatsuki's railgun and grabbed one of the rail-charges. They then stuffed it into the opening they had carved and gave it a strong kick. The force of the shock detonated the charge and blew it open. Akatsuki grabbed his railgun back and they both descended into the fortress' interior.
"Incredible," Akatsuki said as he looked around the massive corridor they had broken into.
"Don't fall in love with it, we're not staying that long," they said and Jetstream took point. "This way."
They followed a system of twists and turns, moving deeper and deeper into the bowels of the massive construct. The interior was well lit, as though it were expecting someone. Finn and Ryoko shrugged that feeling off and pressed onward. They began to find themselves in familiar territory and spotted some of the damage they caused the first time they had ventured into these hallowed halls.
"We're here," they said and landed at the base of a massive steel door. "When we ran an sweep of the fortress' interior, we found this part to be the main hub of all the internal systems." Akatsuki landed and aimed his railgun at the door blocking their path.
"Don't bother," Finn and Ryoko said, putting Jetstream's hand up. "It's about three meters thick, that thing wouldn't even make a dent."
"How do we get through then?" Akatsuki asked.
"Through there," they pointed to a massive steel grate covering a giant ventilation shaft that hung from the ceiling. They thrust up and jabbed the sword between the holes of the grate and began to pry it off. Akatsuki watched with great interest. "Tell us something, how did you arrange for Mika to get aboard the Nadesico anyway? We had you locked up the whole time,"
"What are you talking about?" Akatsuki asked. They pulled the sword out of the grate and rested the tip on Akatsuki's aesti head.
"We're in a bad mood, so don't tempt me. You know damn well what I'm talking about," they turned back to the grate.
'Should we use the cannon?' Ryoko asked.
'We may only have one shot with it, I don't want to waste it on a door,' Finn replied. Just then, they felt the grate give and they pulled it off. However, their sword was left seriously deformed and bent. 'Great, just what we needed.
"Come on," they entered the dark ventilator shaft and switched on their headlights. The shaft was very narrow and they had to crawl in some parts, squeezing through tiny passageways. Finally, they made it to the other end and quickly smashed the grate off. Inside they found a massive spherical room, blinking with the lights of controls and flashing images on giant monitors. At the very centre of the room lay the megacomputer that controlled all boson jumping. They fired their boosters and hovered inside the room. "This is it."
"What are we looking for?" Akatsuki asked. "What is that thing?" he asked when he saw the cube-shaped computer.
"You don't want to play around with that," they warned. "Look for anything that might seem like the main control panel, or network hub. If we blow that, this thing won't give us any more trouble. We hope."
They began searching the room, which was a giant, hollowed out sphere. The megacomputer stood on a massive platform at its centre. All around them there were monitors, showing the battle from the various cameras mounted on Fort Mag. They even saw Akatsuki's team battling outside. There were even more of the ancient robots flooding onto the battlefield.
"Hey Saotome, Subaru, over here," Akatsuki called.
"What is it?" they asked as they floated over to take a look.
"It looks like some kind of IFS interface," he said, looking at a small consol built into a platform at the front of the room. Finn zoomed his cameras in to examine the equipment.
'I'm going outside,' Finn disconnected himself from the interface and secured his helmet. Ryoko did the same and Finn opened the hatch and climbed out. It took a moment to descend to the consol. It was painfully obvious on closer examination that it was made by humans. Finn mentally kicked himself for even thinking that aliens had ever built it. He touched down and looked at the controls. "I can't read it, I've never seen anything like it."
"Is it an IFS?" Akatsuki asked.
"I think so," Finn touched the blue touchpad and one of the monitors displayed a familiar symbol. It was the same as the ones he and Ryoko had on the backs of their hands. There was a bright flash in one the monitors, which then zoomed in and followed the blast as it struck the Skylinx, reducing it to a floating chunk of molten metal. Finn pressed one of the buttons and the monitors all switched to the interior view of the room they were in. He pushed himself off the floor and grabbed onto Jetstream's open hatch. "I think this is what we're looking for," he said as he pulled himself back into the cockpit and sealed the hatch.
"We want to destroy everything in this room," they said when Finn had reconnected himself to the IFS. "But don't touch the cube, we want to keep that intact,"
"Whys that?" Akatsuki asked.
"We just don't. Blowing it up would probably cause more trouble than it would solve," they picked up Jetstream's twisted sword and raised it high above their heads. "Bye bye Fort Mag," they said as they brought the sword down into the control panel. However, before they could fully do so an explosion sent them crashing to the floor. Pieces of the unprotected hull went flying everywhere.
'How did any Successors follow us in here?' Ryoko asked. To both of them, the blast felt like being hit by an oncoming train.
'That wasn't a Successor,' Finn groaned as they pulled themselves out of the floor.
"Akatsuki," they said when they looked up and saw Akatsuki floating there, a smoking railgun in his hand.
'Damnit, I knew it!" Finn's blood boiled. 'I knew we should have known better than to trust that cold-blooded oversized iguana!'
"You traitorous worm," they said as they came to their feet. Jetstream's sword had snapped in two, the broken tip lay suspended between the two robots.
"And you even saw it coming!" Akatsuki said. Jetstream raised its arms and prepared to fire the guns. "You wouldn't try anything in here, not with your precious jump computer laying exposed and vulnerable. You wouldn't want to upset history, would you?"
"We'd have till the end of time to clean you off the walls, Akatsuki. We might risk it," the guns clicked as they safety was turned off. Akatsuki floated closer, but they stood fast.
"Even with your paranoia, Saotome, you're still too trusting. You were weakened before you started, weakened by your sense of trust."
'Target the upper body, cockpit area. We want to finish this quickly,' Finn thought. Ryoko gave a mental nod. Akatsuki floated back a few meters before firing from his railgun. They raised Jetstream's distortion field, but it was too late. As their field came into being, the railcharges were in a close enough range and exploded. The field contained the blast within the field's area, trapping Jetstream a violent inferno. Finally, the pressure from the contained explosion was so great; it finally blew the distortion field out from the inside. Jetstream floated, it's paint blackened and exposed parts partially melted. Quickly, before they could gather themselves, Akatsuki fired again and again until his weapon ran out of charges. Jetstream's left arm was torn off and several parts of the chest were blasted open. Finn and Ryoko felt the damage being inflicted as though the charges had struck them directly. Akatsuki stared at the crippled robot. Before he could react, Jetstream came to life and opened fire with its one remaining machinegun. A torrent of bullets collided with Akatsuki's distortion field. However, before it could do much damage, the gun ceased fire, having run out of ammunition. Jetstream then lunged at Akatsuki's aesti, causing them to collide with the opposite wall. They picked the broken handle to Jetstream's sword out of the air and brought it down towards Akatsuki's chestplate. Akatsuki caught their wrist before the broken blade made contact and, with both hands, tried to force it back.
"Give it up, it'll only hurt for a second," Finn and Ryoko grunted, pulling every last spark of energy they could from their already overworked PT engine. "Should have known better than to trust you."
"You're first mistake, but not your last!" Akatsuki yelled back as he brought his knee into Jetstream's stomach. During the brief pause, Akatsuki then forced Jetstream off. "You know this city is priceless. It wouldn't be very profitable to just destroy it."
"Fort Mag's power is beyond anything you can imagine! You can't control it! We couldn't, what makes you think you can?"
"I will win by any means! At any cost!" Akatsuki grabbed and charged up his distortion blade. "What's a warrior without weapons?"
"A warrior still," Finn and Ryoko answered,
"No, nothing. You are nothing compared to me!" Akatsuki yelled. "Let's see, where are we now? I have the only weapon, I have the power to dominate the course of human history, and the only remaining obstacle in my path to unimaginable power, is you." He charged forward and smashed Jetstream into the wall. "Exhausted, damaged beyond repair," Akatsuki raised his weapon. "defeated."
"Not…just….yet," they struggled to say. Quickly, they searched their surroundings for anything that could serve as a weapon. Finn spotted a twisted piece of a steel bar that had been dislodged when Jetstream crashed into the wall. They grabbed it and smashed Akatsuki's head with it. Akatsuki was taken off guard and was pushed back with each blow. However, all they succeeded in doing was slightly denting the asti's armour. Akatsuki swung his blade and severed Jetstream's remaining hand.
"Oh really, come on. An iron bar, against an aestivalis?" Akatsuki grabbed the helpless Jetstream by the throat and held them up by it. "Face it. You've lost."
"Bite me," they spat, flipped the main gun forward, and began to charge it up. Akatsuki just laughed, but they continued charging. "Now you're going to pay the price for pissing us off!" However, before the cannon even charged up past 20% it exploded. "What the hell?"
"You were too careless," Akatsuki grinned. "You were right, you know. I do know everything you've done, every last little detail of your insignificant lives. You may spin your webs, but I spin them larger," he thrust the blade into Jetstream's chest and through the cockpit. Finn could fell every system beginning to fade, among other things.
'Ryoko? Ryoko?!' he could feel her presence fading. 'Ryoko, come back to me!' Finn's vision was grainy and everything seemed to happen in slow motion. He could hear Akatsuki's laughter. There was a flash of light, and before he knew it, Finn found himself on a grassy plain near the edge of a cliff. "I know this place," he said to himself. There was no one to be seen while he walked along the edge. Up ahead, he saw something in the grass. "Ryoko!" he burst into a run and found her in a yellow sundress laying in the sun. "Ryoko!" he knelt down beside her and took her hand. However, she became slightly transparent at his touch, like a ghost. The sound of his heart beating was overly audible.
"Hey Saotome," Ryoko said in a weak voice. "Don't go getting all gushy on me."
"Ryoko," Finn's hand began to pass through Ryoko's.
"You know what you have to do," she said.
"I can't, how could I destroy it? How could I do that and live with myself. I'd rather be dead and with you than have never known you at all!" Finn said.
"Don't be an idiot," Ryoko said. "You can't let the Captain down, and you sure as hell can't let me down. Just promise me one thing," Finn looked at her eyes, his glistened with unrestrained tears. "Don't go and forget about me." Finn nodded grimly.
"You got it," his hand fell through Ryoko and hit the ground. She slowly faded away, a content smile on her face.
"Give 'em hell."
Finn's vision returned, and he looked around. Akatsuki had withdrawn the blade from Jetstream's cockpit.
"Anyone still alive in there?" he heard Akatsuki laugh. He could feel Ryoko's life slip away, but not without feeling the blood seep from her wounds and the pain that followed it.
"Akatsuki," Finn seethed with anger and hatred, more intense than anything he had ever felt before.
"Ah, so there is someone still alive in there! Saotome, you look like you're having a rough day."
"Shut your fucking mouth!" he thrust forward, channelling all of Jetstream's functions through his own implant. He could feel the stress as the information meant for two minds surged into one. But his efforts were of little use. Jetstream had no hands to fight with, so he merely pushing Akatsuki's frame back against the wall. Akatsuki rammed his aesti's fist into Jetstream, sending it crashing into the opposite wall. "I won't let it be for nothing, Ryoko."
"Are you still babbling to yourself?" Akatsuki grinned.
"You're dead. This time, this time there's nothing holding me back!" Finn screamed and, with the limited mobility Jetstream had with a single pilot, pulled himself from the broken wall.
"Big talk for a piece of scrap. Face it, you're lost," Akatsuki brought his blade level with Jetstream's cockpit. Finn looked around for any kind of weapon. However, the handle of the broken sword lay embedded in the ceiling, and Akatsuki's discarded railgun was out of ammo, and without any hands such a weapon would be of little use. "What can you possibly do?"
"Improvise," Finn said and thrust forward, cranking his engines to full, and ploughing into Akatsuki, causing them to both fall hard into the megacomputer. Finn manoeuvred Jetstream into a position that pinned Akatsuki against the massive computer. Quickly, he send the commands to his PT engine, which began charging to infinite capacity. Before Akatsuki could free himself, Jetstream's PT engine overloaded.
From outside, Fort Mag's head erupted in a massive flash of light.
…to be continued in Act 9
End of Act 8
