"Kori, remind me again why we are down here." Said the blue-haired HUnewearl dressed in red and black as she twirled her Brionac and sliced another airborne Claw with ease.
"Mistress Ame, you should not question Mistress Kori's motives." Said the black RAcaseal as it paused to reload its Anti-Android Rifle.
"It's okay Kaseifu. Since she's helping us I suppose it's within her rights to ask me the same question six or seven times." Replied the FOnewearl dressed in blue called Kori.
"Well, it's all well and good me asking that many times, but at least give me an answer just once!... And for the Light's sake, look out behind you!" Warned Ame.
Kori seemed almost surprised that a Dimenian would be in the Ruins and more importantly that it would like to give her the kind of hug that the Surgeon General would issue health-warnings about. Showing little concern, she raised her free hand and a storm of ice shards flew at and through the vile creature, tearing it to shreds.
"We're here because it's Shi's birthday next week and I want to find him a gift that's unique." She said matter-of-factly.
At the mention of Shi's name, the three females sighed.
"Well that's one mystery solved. The other is, what is the deal with the siren? Did you break something in here? I mean you can be quite careless with those ice techs sometimes."
Kori merely stuck out her tongue at Ame.
-----
Marla could not help but shiver as she stepped out from the Transporter pad into the Ruins. She had always found the entire place too creepy to bear and so had only visited once before. This place was different in appearance to where she had been previously. There the walls and floor were blue stone, cold and hard, dark places where the demons could lie in wait. Here was brighter but more organic, some how worse and her discomfort grew with every passing Beat.
Bernie emerged a few miliBeats later and it was all she could do to not hug him tightly and cry until he took her home. It was only after the Doctor and Elenor arrived that Marla realised she could still hear the siren in the distance. She raised that point with Montague.
"Interesting..." Was all he could say, but he immediately set himself upon the Transporter's computer in the hope that it was linked up to WORKS's netWORKS.
"I've got some good news and some bad news." He said finally.
"What's the good news?" Asked Marla.
"The good news is that I'm a very good hacker! Ha ha ha ha!"
"O... Kay. And the bad news would be?"
"In a little over fourteen Beats enough explosive to put us into orbit will... Er... You know... Put us into orbit."
"Fourteen Beats? Crap! That gives us about twenty minutes then!" Said Bernie.
The others looked at him strangely.
"What?" He protested. "I don't have any lines in this chapter."
"Fortunately, the good news is that I have located the computer with which to deactivate it."
"And the bad news?" Asked Marla.
"We now have only thirteen Beats in which to get there. But the good news is-"
"Uh Doc?" She interrupted him. "Can we continue this conversation while we run for our lives?"
-----
Ame stood back and surveyed their handiwork. Despite the rather annoying siren to distract them, they had successfully devastated the entire field of enemies. Their corpses littered the ground, dissolving into pools of purple goo. Kori and Kaseifu sifted amongst the remains on the lookout for something rare, something that would make a suitable gift for Shi.
All three females sighed in unison. But there was something else...
"Ready yourself!" Warned Ame.
Kori gave her a blank look.
"Point. Weapon. At. Monster." Said Ame condescendingly.
The doors nearest them opened and four Hunters burst through running as fast as they could. These new arrivals noticed that they had stumbled onto what might look like a terrible massacre at first glance, but coming to a halt with all the purple blood on the floor was too difficult a task. The four skidded for several metres before falling to the ground and sliding along to crash against the far wall, ending up in a heap.
"Okay, which one of you pervs is fondling my ass?" Demanded the RAmarl.
"I am." Replied the RAcaseal. "Do you not find it pleasurable?"
The RAmarl then proceeded to attempt to shoot the RAcaseal while the RAmar and a FOnwem they recognised as Doctor Montague held her back. A floating sweatdrop briefly appeared on Ame, Kori and Kaseifu.
"We don't have time... For this..." Montague said straining to hold back the RAmarl's arm. "We only have about five... More Beats till the Ruins explode."
"Uh... I couldn't over help hearing you mention that the Ruins are going to explode shortly. Should we be worried?" Asked Ame uncertainly.
-----
Introductions and explanations made on the run, it was rather fortuitous that they had run into Ame, Kori and Kaseifu. The trio were incredibly powerful and made short work of anything the Ruins might have thrown up in their way and they quickly reached their destination.
The room itself was large with a high ceiling, it had multiple entrances set against each of the four walls and in the middle was a raised plateau with a computer terminal plugged into a large crystal monument. The plateau was separated off from the rest of the room by a seemingly bottomless trench. They stood before the plateau and examined it.
"There's a transporter pad up there, but the other pad must be through one of those other doors." Said Montague. "Even with the seven of us it will take too long to search them all and we only have one Beat left!"
"May I make a suggestion?" Ask Kori. "Why take the transporter? There are other ways..."
The FOnewearl took a sideways glance at the gap in question before giving a casual wave of her Twinkle Star wand. With a fainting cracking and grinding sound, the air before them rippled and condensed into a stairway of ice leading up to the top of the platform.
"That's great!" Said Montague as he dashed up the stairs, the others in tow.
"Now if you'll excuse us... We'd prefer not to be here in case you fail... Not that you would of course. We have full confidence in you." Said Kori giving them a nervous thumbs-up as she and her companions vanished into a telepipe.
Montague scanned the terminal for something particular. He spotted it, a big red button labelled 'Press this to stop self-destruct sequence'. He pressed it confidently.
"Countdown halted at 0.126 Beats." Said a soothing female voice.
"I am genius!" Proclaimed Montague.
-----
In another part of the Ruins...
"Ha ha ha ha! We're almost there, Ult. I must deliver you to the designated location and then the operation will be complete. Those guys must have figured out that they've been duped by now! We'd better hurry."
Leo did not notice that as Ult was following behind him she started to glow brightly...
-----
Montague's fingers danced upon the keyboard as he navigated its menus in search of data.
"I see..." He said. "So it means that this order was not given by Leo, but it must have come from someone with special plans for Elenor. There's no way they could have pulled it off with this kind of setup, but... If the program is still running around, that means... It looks like they had this all planned out, they did this just to keep us here. I can't believe we fell for such a simple trap."
Montague turned and looked at the two RAngers before continuing.
"First of all this self-destruct program bought them some time. Their ultimate objective is to release Ult's power, the abnormal photons were catalyst... It... Well, they planned to trigger the circuit I hid inside of Ult, What a simple plan! I can't believe their stupidity though, they still won't be able to control anything! I just can't take it anymore! How could they believe that they'd ever actually control such power? That primitive equipment could never contain that kind of power! Not just this area, but the whole infrastructure of Ragol would... Phew... Anyway, we don't have much time..."
-----
"Uh... My body. My body is heating up."
"That's odd Ult, I haven't touched you... Holy crap!" Shouted Leo when he saw the glowing particles of energy swirling around Ult.
"I can't take this. Let me go free!"
Leo took a step back shielding his eyes from the increasing levels of light being emitted by the Android.
"No! She's going out of control! This wasn't predicted by the simulation! How much power does this thing have? Okay... Good girl, calm down Ult..."
"No! Don't come any closer..."
The light filled his view as a wave of golden energy swelled out from her...
-----
"Doc look!" Called out Marla pointing to the floor below them.
Ult was walking there in full view, but did not respond to their calls. When she reached a door she vanished in a burst of photons.
-----
I am alone now. And yet... Never alone. Is this what it means to be free? Somebody come and get me...
-----
"Doctor? Elenor?"
It had taken some time to search for her due to her ability to teleport, but the ever increasing spikes of energy soon gave Ult's position away.
"Ha ha ha. Great timing, there's no way out! Don't move Ult!" Said Montague as they moved in to surround her.
"I'm so glad you're safe. I was worried sick!" Said Elenor keeping her Meteor Smash subtly trained on her sister.
"Elenor... Thank you. But... I must... Ugh! My body... Need to get out... My body is heating up... Get outside..."
Once more energy began to coalesce around Ult's torso.
"No! Ult is fusing with the abnormal photons... My poor baby! Idiots! WORKS and their simplistic plans... Ult wasn't made to handle this, she's still a prototype! She's not built to take this kind of punishment, the abnormal energy... Elenor! Quickly, download Ult's data!"
"Doctor? Y-Yes, I understand." Said Elenor as she moved in closer to initiate data transfer.
"Listen to me while I am still... Myself." Said Ult struggling to speak every word. "Doctor, Elenor..."
"U..Ult..." Said Elenor sadly.
"Elenor! Don't stop, continue the download!" Commanded Montague.
"I. I... I've always been inside the capsule in the lab. I want freedom... Elenor, I always envied you."
The energy gathering around the RAcaseal was starting to become green and building in speed. Elenor became uncertain and moved back to a more safer distance.
"I wanted to create my future with my own hands, that was my dream. Then... I received a telepathic call from Ragol. It called to me... 'I want to free myself' it said. Whatever it was it wanted the same thing I did, because even now..."
Her speech was punctuated by a large tremor of the same kind they had experienced in the Mines. It was as if the ground was trying to swallow up Ult before she could reveal its dark secrets. It gradually subsided into a constant, low-level rumble.
"No, it didn't matter what the reason was. I just needed someone to prod me... But it turned out I was just being selfish. I never knew that... I had it inside me. It feels strange, it doesn't feel like it's part of me. It's like a creature that thirsts for fresh blood. Insane... Hungry... And I was the same as that... Something... I had that hunger. A hunger for freedom, to be like Elenor. My control device could not hold me back from my desire for freedom. When the soldiers offered me a way out I knew I must take it. The kidnapping was my idea, I didn't want you to think I was leaving you, I didn't want to make you angry. I... I should've listened to you, Doctor. I should never have come down to Ragol, I'm so sorry, Can you forgive me?"
Montague tried to suppress a tear as he silently mouthed the words "I forgive you."
"Doctor. Elenor. Complete strangers. You came to get me. Thank you for risking your lives for me..."
In addition to the photons building up around her, there was now an eerie, bright red glow, seemingly coming from her surface.
"Ugh! AHHHH! AHHHHHH!" Cried out Ult in pain.
The quake began to build up in intensity like it was trying to match the spectacular light show before their eyes.
"... My final request..." Said Ult, barely audible over the din of the quake. "... Leave, run away..."
Ult turned and walked towards the ravine that had been behind her. Just as it seemed like she intended to plunge in, she teleported clear to the other side of the room.
"Elenor..." Said Montague creating a telepipe. "It's too dangerous to stay any longer."
They all ran into the telepipe, the last thing Marla saw was Ult's energy mass reach critical before a wall of pure light surged towards her and then nothing but blackness.
-----
Thank you