Chapter 7 - Battle Damage

2010, Warehouse, 7:36 PM

I still felt bad about calling Amy off her date. A single glance at the disappointed look on her face, and I could tell it had been going well.

I hope this guy will be willing to give her another chance…

Which was one of the downsides to being a scout. Running off from first dates tends to net a short supply of second ones.

But the fact of the matter was that I hadn't been kidding about us needing her here either. This guy would be annoying enough by himself, shooting high-powered energy beams that could change direction once at a ninety-degree angle to follow you, and he could also generate a few clones that were capable of everything he was.

And that wasn't going into the fact that he could fly and spout purplish clouds of gas that we weren't stupid enough to go into.

And even that wasn't going into the fact that all of these half finished jerks on conveyor belts were firing at us every chance they got.

But what really pisses me off is that high and winy voice he uses to taunt us.

I grimaced as he and his duplicates shot out blasts. The real problem with them is that we couldn't tell who they were aiming for until it was too late.

I jumped suddenly over one beam, only to have another peg me in the side, knocking me to the ground out of sight behind a pillar.

"Shabon Spray!"

The magical mist spilled quickly out and into the room, and soon Sailor Mercury was hovering over me, a worried mother's expression on her face.

"Glad you came…"

My face whitened in pain and she shushed me.

"Don't talk and stay down. This isn't really all that serious, but it could become that way if you aggravate it. You should be alright by tomorrow, though if Iactuallythought you would listen I'd make you take it easy for a week."

Convinced I would be all right for now, Amy turned and began fiddling with her computer. The fog lifted a moment later, and as it happened I was looking up at the skylight, just in time to see a pair of blue boots come smashing through it, raining glass down into the center floor.

As I neared the floor of the room, I kicked my EAS into action, dashing away from where the shots around me were coming in, and straight towards one of the three Infinity Mijinions I could see, letting my fully charged buster speak for me.

It phased out.

Clone.

I didn't let that stop me though, I had to keep moving, and fast. I just barely got out of the way of Mijinion's Ray Arrows, making him and his copy gloat a bit. I started my buster charging.

"How long do you think you can keep dodging X? I can keep doing this all night, but how long can you go?"

I dodged some more minor shots, and slid underneath another Ray Arrow, not pausing to answer. I couldn't afford to break my concentration. Both copies spoke at once, making it impossible to tell which was real.

"How long do you think you can keep dodging? You're not fast enough to dodge it all I think. You'll be caught before too long. What do you think?"

My buster was fully charged, but he wasn't stupid enough to let me get off another shot by letting up, not even for an instant. I executed a roll underneath one of them, launching my shot. Not directly at him or his clone, as he would have expected, but into the heart of the manufacturing device, stopping the production.

"Mars Flame Sniper!"

She'd used the distraction well, and managed to take out the ones already half assembled. That left only Infinity and his remaining clone.

This might actually be manageable without severe injury…

"AAAGH!"

A slight mistiming on my part and suddenly there's a Ray Arrow buried in my side. I rolled with the blast, coming to rest behind a column to catch my breath. I ground my teeth a little.

I usually attempt to avoid combat. It's a useless, pointless waste of energy, and if the world were a better place you'd be able to solve everything by talking it out. Usually. But in times like these, when the enemy is obviously not going to listen to reason, I call forth my battle experience and embrace it utterly.By talk or by violence, no humans will be hurt on my watch.

Taking a breath to compose myself, I rolled out from behind the column and opened fire again, running into the thick of the fray.Oh boy… he regenerated his clones again.

Not pausing for a moment, I launched a few shots, destroying a clone and rolling behind another piece of cover. A quick glance to my left revealed Amy and the green one. Ignoring them for the moment, I quickly stood and fired out a few shots, if for no other reason than to prevent him from making a second clone.

Dropping back down, I started charging a shot. I looked at them.

"I don't suppose either one of you has any bright ideas? Last time I fought this guy I had backup."

Which was true.Zero teased me for a week because he got to pull my butt out of the fire.

The green one was holding her side. I gave her a small smile and she looked puzzled for a moment. Amy wasn't looking up from where she was tapping at her computer, but answered anyways.

"I think I can tell which one is the real one, but I need a moment more to work with."

I sighed.

"Okay. Great. I'll go keep his attention. Think you can eliminate one of the clones for me?"

She nodded, and I leapt back up, running for the fray. I rolled between the 'Cresent Beam Shower' and jumped over a 'Flame Sniper' all the while launching shots at the various images of Mijinion floating around. The attacks from the others temporarily stopped as I entered.

Well, at least they have a sense of professional courtesy.

"Mercury Ice Bubble Blast!"

A clone behind me iced up temporarily, then the ice crashed down to the ground as it dissipated underneath. A 'Thunder Crash' quickly downed the other clone, leaving me with Infinity wide open. I set a scanner to 'lock' on to him so that I'd know which was real even if he used more clones.

Time to finish this.

I watched calmly from the shadows above as the blue robot, X, danced around and through fire from the lightning bug like robot. I watched, and waited.

My attack isn't good for much, admittedly. The rose only stuns an opponent, so I have to wait for an opportune moment to reveal myself. Finally, it came.

X and the bug were both weaving in and out, but X concentrated a little too much on the real one, and one of the clones slipped around behind and blasted him. The blast hit him point blank, and he smashed into one of the support beams for the roof. I winced in sympathy. But, that was my turn to strike.

I threw the rose down, catching Infinity Mijinion in the back. I didn't stick around to see the rose hit, though. I'd learned early on that sticking around to make a speech after that was an open invitation to get my head blown off.

The rose was a direct hit, and he froze. Not too long, but just long enough for Serena to go to work.

"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"

Both the real enemy and the clone turned to her and stared. I was actually a little miffed when they froze longer from the name of her attack than my rose. But, it turned the annoying insect into a scrap heap, so who am I to say anything?

I jumped down from my perch in the rafters, landing lightly on my feet. Amy was helping Lita up, and surprisingly, Mina was doing the same with X.

I stopped at a rumbling noise behind me. I turned to see a purplish-black energy reach out with tentacles of its own power, and begin to grab pieces, beginning to reassemble itself.

Then, a blue bolt of energy flew into it, destabilizing it. It was followed by several others, which quickly buried themselves into the energy mass, forcing it to dissipate.

X, cannon smoking from the discharge, collapsed off of Mina, almost pulling her down as well, and leaned against a pillar. He held his head in his hands. "Well, that was new…"

"Doesn't usually happen, I take it?"

X shook his head as I spoke. "No, once they explode, they generally stay down."

"Well, it may not have been natural." Amy interjected from over where she was helping Lita sit. "My computer was picking up high concentrations of negative energy coming from the core. That may have been what caused it to reform."

X looked up at her. "Huh? What kind of energy is that?"

"The kind of enemies we usually fight use negative energy like we use our abilities." X nodded and replaced his head back in his hands.

Mina frowned. "Hey. Are you alright?"

I frowned. That was honestly a good question.Run diagnostic.

System Status:

Leg Units: 35% Damage
Status: Impaired
Details: Movement Impaired

Torso Unit: 38% Damage
Status: Impaired
Details: 'Rock' disabled, damage critical for organic tissue.

Left Arm Unit: 86% damage
Status: Critical
Details: Critical Damage, temporary function cease

Right Arm Unit: 12% damage
Status: Functional

Head Unit: 15% Damage
Status: Impaired
Details: Optic Sensor Malfunction

Core Unit: 72% Damage
Status: Critical
Details: Recharge Needed; Teleport Disabled

Repair Function: Active
ETR(Estimated Time to Recovery): 5 days 3 hrs.

Unit Status: Near Critical

Well, the optic malfunction certainly explained why my vision was flickering in and out at the moment. Looking up I realized they were waiting for an answer. I sighed.

"No, I'm not. I should be fine in a week or so though." I got shakily to my feet.

"Rest." I looked over to see Amy, hands on her hips. I still shook my head.

"I need to find Mijinion's core processor. It'll have the majority of his recent memories on it. Might be able to figure out where they are."

"We usually take the parts back to my basement anyways. You can look through them there."

I grumbled a bit, but acquiesced, sitting down again. The blond one was back, looking at me with concern. The one in the red skirt, Mars, was looking on with something close to distain on her face. Venus spoke. "How are you doing, really?"

"Really? My teleporter's broken, so I can't use that, my left arm is useless for at least another twelve hours, and my optic sensors are on the blink, so I can't drive. My… disguise… is disabled so I can't walk. No transport, no place to stay, and it'll be at least three days before I resemble anything close to normal."

She blushed. "Um… sorry."

I waved it away with my good arm. "No, not necessary. I'm just tired is all."

"Well, you could stay with me again."

We were both startled to see Amy standing there. She held something out in one hand. "Is this it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's it. Well, I wouldn't mind staying your basement again, at least until I'm somewhat better, but how would we get there?"

Mars choose to butt in this time. "Hey, we carried you back to her place last time!"

There is no way that's happening while I'm conscious.

I groaned. "I am not liking my options."

"You can stay here if you like!" She shot back snidely.

I sighed. "Ugh." I looked around, and spotted the guy in the tuxedo. "Hey! You can drive a motorcycle, right?"

He nodded. Slowly. I smiled. "If I start it up, you think you can drive my Landchaser?"

He gulped.

Well, this has been about a year in the making, and it's not my best work. I'm unrepentant, as this just doesn't hold my interest as much as my other stories at the moment. I'll try to update more often, a yearisfar too long, but you never know.