Unmei Force Solitary Legends: Steel Avengers
Chapter 5: Red Sun over Paradise
Gus, Jack and Lif entered the World Marshal HQ, as they looked around, seeing that the entire front lobby was eerily empty.
"Well, I'll be, you actually slipped your way in. I'm impressed." Sundowner's voice blared from the speakers in the lobby.
"Sundowner…" Gus scowled.
"The brains in the server room are undergoing training." Sundowner continued. "Knock yourself out. Go nuts."
They soon made their way through the lobby, before they found that there was a female reception droid on the desk, which resembled that of a female receptionist.
"I'm sorry, sir. Our business hours for the day have ended." The droid responded back.
"Don't bother. Thing's just an answering machine." Jack informed the rest of the group.
As they began to listen to the droid on the desk, moments before the cyborgs arrived, an alert came to them from the wolves.
"Raiden, Alex, Erick, Therese, unidentified sources within your area. Use extreme caution. We shall arrive soon to provide aid." Red Wolf warned the group through comms.
Just as Red Wolf said this, from the outside of the building looking in was Takumi, but not just any version of Takumi, his fallen self, as there was a faint purplish aura around him, and his eyes reflected insanity and unprovoked rage in them. Takumi had two arrows nocked into his dark bow Skadi as he drew back, ready to fire at Raiden and Líf, and soon he did, as the Wolves arrived, and deflected the arrows, while throwing several heat knifes that cut through the arrows, rendering them useless.
"T-Takumi…!?" Gus exclaimed, seeing a familiar face, even if it was corrupted by insanity.
"Damn dogs." Takumi growled, looking to his companion, who was Ike, but he was a fallen version of himself, his red cloak ragged and torn, while there was a red glint in his eyes, as well as a dark purple aura of flames "Ike, it's time for us to engage, you have your wish."
"Hate… HATE! I WILL KILL!" Ike yelled, leaping down into battle, Chaos Ragnell coursing with chaotic energy, as he and Takumi entered the building, which triggered the alarms in the area, as cyborgs surged into the area.
~BGM: Hands of a Slayer: Doom Eternal Song by DAGames~
"This isn't good, we're surrounded on both sides…" Gus clicked his tongue, turning to the enemies on both sides.
"Bandana man doesn't seem like he cares about what gets in his way…" Jack stated, before he then devised a plan, and turned to the others. "Actually, all of you… Why not lure him towards them? It'll be two birds, one stone. Especially with archer boy supporting his frenzied friend."
"A sound idea." Lif answered back. "Draw the enemy forces to fight amongst each other. But it will be difficult to do that."
"Order received, we shall draw them to the unknown enemies to the proper locations." Red Wolf said, as it and Black Wolf began to draw Ike and Takumi to the cyborgs.
"Get back here… DAMN MUTTS!" Takumi yelled, firing his bow at Red Wolf, although the LQ-84i model dodged the arrow with a simple leap, rushing amongst the advancing cyborgs.
"Kill…. KILL!" Ike yelled, slashing at Black Wolf without paying attention to cyborgs around him.
The fallen Ike was tearing through the cybogs with his blade, as he let out feral roars each time he did so, as they fell to him like wheat to a sickle. Takumi's dark rage grew further, before he then rapidly nocked arrows and shot stream after stream at the dodging Wolves, with most of the arrows striking through the cyborgs with little ease, empowered by magic far powerful than what technology here could protect against.
Soon, Jetstream Sam came into all of this, before Gus, Lif, and Jack, who were fighting off another wave of cyborgs noticed him. Sam himself then eyed the heroes, before then at the two twisted warriors that were tearing through the cyborgs, as he had a intrigued look on his face.
"Well… Looks like things are quite hectic here." Sam stated, before he then grinned at Jack and the others. "Anyway, love to join in the fun, but I have other matters to deal with. Adios!"
"Damn it, get back here!" Gus growled, as he tried to stop Sam, although the cyborg swordsman weaved through the crowd of cyborgs, dodging Takumi's arrow-fire, and managing to dodge several slashes from the fallen Ike.
He then made his way to the elevator at the back of the lobby, before giving them a mocking wave. "Play nice in there, all of you." He parted with that mocking statement, as the elevator doors closed in front of him.
"Well… Guess we're doing this the typical way then." Jack sighed, before he then looked towards the fallen warriors. "Well, damn. If I didn't believe in magic before, like the hocus-pocus shit I see with Siege… I believe in it now."
Soon, the enemy reinforcements ceased, as there was too little cyborgs to actually properly make another wave of reinforcements, as the two surviving groups faced each other, as the Wolves retreated back to the heroes, their job fulfilled. Takumi himself looked very incensed, while Ike still had the death-glare in his eyes.
"You dare toy with me like this… you insolent mutts… I'LL HAVE YOUR HEADS!" Takumi screamed with rage, before the aura around him increased, before he then fired a arrow engulfed in the aura, as the group's instincts warned to disperse, as the arrow exploded into a large magic burst upon impact from where they landed.
"Alright, we're going to need some way to deal with them. Any ideas?" Gus asked back. "I can suppress Takumi, if you guys can stop that other guy with him. You have the blades, it's your fight."
"Don't worry, we've got you covered." Jack answered back, before he and Lif charged at the fallen Ike with their blades at the ready.
"DIE!" Ike growled deeply, before he then slashed his blade at them, causing the both of them to block, as the force of the swing forced them back a little, before the three of them engaged in a clash of blades, as Ike was holding his own quite well, despite being attacking from two sides.
Gus was already in combat with Takumi, as they used various weapons to blast at Takumi, wasting no time switching weapons, while the rest reloaded themselves automatically inside his portable weapon cache. The Wolves did their best to help, as they helped to draw fire from Takumi, and used their heat knives to pressure Takumi further. The corrupted archer was forced to use his own enhanced physique to dodge most of the attack coming his way, while also countering from the distance with his arrows, which tore through whatever cover that Gus tried to find, forcing the brown-haired soldier to move on to another spot.
After a while, Ike then snarled, before he then tried to perform Aether onto them. However, Jack noticed the opening that Ike left in doing so, entering Zandaitsu mode, and striking through Ike's grip on his Chaos Ragnell, knocking it through the air, as it lodged itself into the ground, while Ike held his hand, which was bleeding from the strike, but not fully cut open, while growled lowly.
"It's over for you." Lif declared, before he tried to attack Ike, only for the corrupted warrior to swiftly leap back and re-arm himself with the blade. "...I stand corrected."
"KILL!" Ike growled, before he then performed his Aether, this time successfully, as he smashed down towards Lif and Jack, as they rolled out of the way, the impact causing the ground to fracture at the centre of the strike, as well as creating a massive shockwave from the force.
"Alright, you got any ideas to take him down? He seems like he's driven with too much rage to stay down!" Jack asked Lif.
"We need to whittle him down. At least he's predictable in the way that his attacks are overly aggressive, and his dodging is based on instinct. He can't fool us when we figure out his pattern of attack." Lif suggested.
"So just hold out and pray? Well, better than nothing right now!" Jack exclaimed back, before Ike charged back at them, as the two of them defended against his own attack.
Gus and the Wolves were having more luck with their opponent, as Gus was able to push closer to Takumi, before he then threw a flashbang to attempt to disorient the corrupted archer. When it detonated, Takumi was indeed affected, as he was writhing on his feet, letting out pained howls from the ringing sound and the blinding light in his senses. It gave the Wolves enough time to put down Takumi with a series of combined strikes that sliced through him, causing him to be floored onto the ground, with blood pooling beneath him.
"Damn you… Damn you, mutts… Damn you, rebel bastard… Damn you all…" Takumi snarled, before the aura around him slowly faded away. "Damn you damn you damn you damn you DAMN YOU!"
Ike seemed to notice that his own ally has fallen, as he retreated back. However, doing so allowed the Wolves to lunge from behind, and the two swordsmen to strike at him. Faced with attacks on both sides, he tried to do a spinning strike to drive them back. However, Lif slid under the strike, before then slashing through Ike's leg, deep enough to disable them, no matter how much rage was pumping through Ike's body to keep him moving.
Battle Results:
Combat: A
Jack then kept his blade at the ready, as did Lif, while Gus and the Wolves had their weapons trained on the corrupted warrior, as he didn't seem to be moving at all, although he was very much conscious, and had a hateful expression on his face.
"Who the hell are all of you? You certainly ain't something from this world." Jack demanded from Ike, keeping his distance, in case Ike had any tricks up his sleeve.
It was at that moment a voice cackled at the group, a voice that Gus recognized well, the voice of Siege Alter.
"Well, well, well, I see that you four were skilled enough to take care of my puppets…" Siege Alter chuckled, as two portals opened, dropping Ike and Takumi into Siege Alter's realm, before a viewing portal opened, revealing Siege Alter's body to the group, as he looked not too much different from last time, except for the fact his marks on his body were more in number, and more demonic looking, and he had at his side, instead of an alternative Ragnell, it looked to be a demonic version of the weapon Aymr.
"Hello again~! Oh, Gus, you've grown quite well since we last saw each other! Including your ability to see carnage much better than before." Siege Alter cackled, as his tone was sickeningly sweet to the point of mockery.
"...So this is what you have made as your 'servants'." Gus darkly answered back.
"This entity does not register in our databases. Nor does the name 'Gus'." Black Wolf answered back. "Alex, we need clarification on the matter."
"And you brought your doggies with you." Siege Alter continued with a mocking tone, laughing maliciously. "Oh wait, to call them dogs would be an insult to that term. They're just machines with a souped-up AI."
"So you've decided to come back, after you get your ass handed by Richard and Siege, and then smashed to oblivion by a very angry girl couple." Jack answered back. "How long did it take to piece yourself all together, like Humpty Dumpty? Either way, you got some good men fighting for you, too bad it ain't enough."
"Oh, don't you worry there, 'Jack the Ripper'." Siege Alter answered back with a grin too wide to be natural. "This is just a taste of the hell that I would subject all of you to. You gave me the kindness to send me to oblivion, taking me a long time to recover myself. So let me return that kindness back to you…. Ten-fold."
Just then, Gus could hear a familiar scream coming from behind Siege Alter, as Gus felt dread crawl up his spine, as he hoped that it wasn't who he hoped it was.
"Oh, and speaking of taste, did you enjoy seeing Takumi again, young Gus?" Siege Alter asked with a chuckle, before turning behind him. "Well, here's someone else you'll remember!"
The image switched to Corrin, the female rendition, having her dragon blood painfully awakened. She looked at the portal that was brought up, seeing Gus on the other end, as tears fell from her normal colored eyes for the moment.
"Gus… I… I'm sorry… Please… ple-" Corrin began to say, before her screams returned, her dragon tail forming on her body as the demonic aura surrounded her, as her eyes were now colored red. "Gus… please… if we meet in battle… put me down so I don't hurt anyone! AAAAAAAAAGH!" Corrin yelled as the pain continued for her, the image returning to Siege Alter as he laughed maniacally.
"Did you enjoy seeing her again, Gus? Don't worry for her, she'll be fine, serving under my command." Siege Alter said with a crazed grin.
Gus was silent, as he then seethed in rage. "...You will pay for this, Siege Alter. I promise you that much. To think that you would go far to reach out and take someone like her, and turn her into this…" He swore.
"Maybe I will. But not today." Siege Alter sneered back. "Anyway, I still have use for those two. After all, I just need to make them stronger than before. What doesn't kill them, allows me to make them stronger and stronger, until they'll be able to crush you. Until then, see you~"
Siege Alter then let out hysterical and insane laughing, before the viewing portal finally closed.
"Damn… We need to watch our steps around here… If he was able to send them here… Who knows how many times we'll encounter them in our journey…?" Gus remarked back.
"Focus on the mission, we can worry about the rest later." Lif assured Gus, before turning to the Wolves. "I assume that you want to know about what was being discussed?"
"No need. We will clarify about it later." Black Wolf answered back, before they headed back towards the elevators, as Erika already had one ready.
"Just so you ask, while you were having your conversation with your old buddy…" Erika told the group, stating the last two words with oozing sarcasm. "I decided to disperse my control over the room. Most of the systems are ours. For a HQ of a world organisation, this place ain't so hard to crack open. Then again, you're looking at one of the most powerful hackers from my world."
"So what did you deal with?" Jack asked back, before the group entered the elevator, as it began its ascent.
"Well, the elevators are working for a start, all security alarms, gates are turned off. Not that it matters. You saw how many cyborgs were rushing to contain all you guys." Erika answered back. "I wouldn't be surprised if the entire building is desolate of guards from this point on. But I'd watch out for those unmanned drones. They can still deal with you, once they assessed the situation and figured out our plan. Also, you're going to need to walk the rest of the way up. This elevator only goes between the lower half of floors, and the stuff we're looking for is on the upper floors."
The group then exited the elevator, as they proceeded through the corridors in the floor, as there were no guards as Erika has informed them about. They soon made their way through the disabled security gate, before they then reached a long corridor along the building, with windows to the outside, which were being blown open by several helis.
"Run, run, RUN!" Líf shouted as the helis shot rockets at the group, the group ran at quite the pace to outrun the incoming missiles, as debris fell in their path, while the group weaved around it. They soon managed to reach the staircase, as they ascended a few floors up, before they found themselves in another long corridor, where the helis weren't at, but instead a group of cyborgs.
Before the group could take care of them, something burst through the windows behind the cyborgs, as it was Thraisr, fresh from her battle with Monsoon, as she stabbed her blades through the backs of two of the cyborgs, killing them with a severed spine, before then slicing the rest of the cyborgs up, before they could attack her back.
"Sorry to have been so late to the fight." Thrasir smirked, as she quickly joined her blades back together into a single blade. "I just had to finish my battle. The magnetic cyborg is dead, I made sure of that."
They soon turned towards the corridor, before rushing down it, ascending a few more floors, while the helis pursued and fired at them, before they reached a large waiting room, where there were several GRADs laying in wait for them. However, they didn't do much to delay the group, as they blasted through them, dodging the gun-fire from the bi-pedal robots, before then either slicing or blowing them to pieces.
When they were about to head to the next set of staircases, several stray rockets landed on the side of the building, dropping too much rubble for them to cut through in time.
"Well…" Jack remarked, before he then eyed outside, where there were many vulture drones converging on their position. "Looks like we're going to have to take the outside way. Hope you got balance and acrobatics, because you really don't want to fall from here."
"We have to jump… from these drones?" Gus asked back, before he then sighed and took a deep breath, knowing that it was a difficult task. "I suppose we have no choice then. I'll go first."
He then used his flight powers to aid his landings just enough to land on each drone, before he then kicked off the last one on his set, and landed on the side of the building, as he used his flight magic again to keep himself rushing horizontally up the side of the building. The others didn't need such aid, as they simply jumped from drone to drone, and used the explosion from a destroyed drone to propel them onto the side of the building, while their own momentum was enough to keep them moving up the side of the building at full speed.
Several helis then rose into the air, as they tried to blast the group with missiles, or gun them down with their vulcans, as the four of them were forced to weave through the area, dodging all that, and the falling debris, before they then found their destination, as one of the missiles blew a hole inside, as the group jumped right into it, just as the hole itself was closed up by more falling debris.
"Whew… We made it." Gus sighed in relief, before he then looked around as they were in a corridor which had oriental Japanese paintings inside of it. "Huh… That's interesting to see in a military HQ."
"Then you wouldn't believe what I'm going to tell you next." Erika told the entire group, giving them a brief message through the comms. "There's also a indoor Japanese garden inside there. Someone's a fan of Japanese culture. Just get through it, and you'll find an elevator that can take you to where we need to go."
They then proceeded through the corridor, before they then reached the garden itself, as there were pagodas around then, path mades of polished stone, a large red oriental foot-bridge over a flowing river, and cherry-blossom trees that were dropping petals around the area.
"Ah… the sight of this place is one of the things that never gets old, no matter how times I'd go through all of this." Jack remarked, before the group noticed a squad of cyborgs coming their way, as Jack pulled out his blade. "Well then, let's make a sword dance worthy of the atmosphere, shall we?"
"I'll step back on this one." Gus stated, knowing that he rather let the others fight with their blades, and keep true to the theme here.
The three of them tore through the cyborgs, this time more elegantly, as they made it so that the sprays of blood touched the falling cherry blossom petals, turning them a crimson red. When it was all done, there was fairly little blood on the ground, except for what was on the petals. Gus was impressed by that, as he clapped his hand in respectful applause. Jack merely let out an amused 'Heh.', before he and the others sheathed their blades.
"That felt oddly peaceful compared to our other kills." Líf remarked with a smile.
"Yeah, it did." Thrasir said with a smile back.
They soon continued through the area, as they leapt onto a catwalk over the area, which led them to another corridor, as they slowly made their way through, before they were notified by the Wolves.
"We have a question to ask of you." Black Wolf stated through the comms. "After some time analysing the recent moments, we have found something of note to debate about. We find that your nature does not resonate well with your primary objective. It is considered to be more on emotional urges that you are acting upon, than duty itself."
"Indeed. We won't apologise for what we did." Gus answered back. "But we do try our best to keep as many lives alive as we can, directly or indirectly through our actions."
"But your goal is protecting as many people as you can. That has a very broad range, which could encompass the entire population of the world, even your 'enemies'. It is impossible to perform with the first condition, and even more so with the second, considering your relations with them." Red Wolf argued back. "However, through everything we have observed, we have made a theorised conclusion to your actions: That your actions are rooted in affinity to what you are able to do, rather than what you can't do. It is a form of understanding that there are limits to your goal, but you will try to resist those limits as much as possible to achieve greater results, example being more lives are saved."
"That's actually a smart way to think about it, Wolves." Jack remarked back. "Siege got that kind of mindset, I tell you, but he doesn't give no damns about limits and everything else. He just simply pushes through as much as he can, until he can't go any further, through every means possible."
"Understandable. We are still waiting for your input, when the mission is complete." Black Wolf stated. "We will inform you, if there is more that we need to discuss."
The Wolves then cut the connection from their side, as the group were right at the freight elevator, as it was already unlocked by Erika, waiting for their input to activate it, and take them to the lab.
As the freight elevator went up, enemies began to jump on the freight elevator to attack the group, but they were easily cut down, as the group made their way to the server room where Sundowner was waiting for them, as all the brains were being contained there. But first, they would soon be met by an exact copy of Mistral, although her skin was completely black.
"What… Mistral?" Jack asked, but when he saw that it was a copy, he got a scowl. "No, just a mass produced copy!"
"Of course, silly." The real Mistral said with a chuckle, walking into view, having made up her mind on what she wanted, as she brought her own set of Dwarf Gekkos. "I don't look hideous like that copy."
"About time. Decided to fight alongside us, have you?" Líf asked.
"I'll explain later, right now, let's destroy this foolish excuse of a copy." Mistral stated, before she then connected all of her limbs together, and also attached the arms staff in a quick motion. "Try your best against me, vous truqueuse."
The copy Mistral prepared her arms staff as well, as the two of them clashed with each other, as their arm staffs were colliding with each other, trying to entangle one another with each other. The group watched as the two of them fought, as Mistral was apparently getting an upper hand over her clone, as being the real deal, Mistral was more experienced fighting than her AI-controlled clone.
"Right, we should start cracking those doors-" Thrasir was about to say, before suddenly, a mist surrounded the group, as she recognised the mist immediately. "Oh, not AGAIN!"
"Yeah, they also made a copy for the recently-late Monsoon as well." Jack responded back, before the group moved to cover each other's backs, before they parried strikes from the copy, which didn't look much different.
However, there was a surprise after the fog was lifted, as they didn't just see the Monsoon copy right there, but also a copy Reisen, and a copy Ieyasu as well, which confused Jack, Lif and Thrasir, and shocked Gus.
"What…!? But how…!?" Gus exclaimed. "Ieyasu's not even in this world at all, and why did they make a copy of Ayase so quickly…!?"
"Looks like the enemy would have to be desperate to make a body double from whatever information they could use. She won't be a problem at all." Lif responded back. "But what about that other one…? I only recall seeing him a while before we did all this."
"...Something tells me that Siege Alter isn't the only one meddling with this world." Gus stated ominously.
Soon, the copy Reisen and copy Ieyasu readied for battle.
"Therese, take care of the copy Ayase. Erick, Jack… You know how to deal with Monsoon. I'll deal with the copy Ieyasu." Gus told the others.
"Got it." Thrasir stated, before she then separated her sword into twin daggers again, as she managed to block the copy Reisen's blade, which was an inferior version of the HF blade that she was using. "Come on, show me what you got!"
The copy Reisen then backed away, as she then threw a series of daggers at Thrasir, hoping to strike her with one, although she dodged the daggers deftly. However, the copy followed up with another attack, whipping out her side-arm, before firing a series of tracking shots that slightly honed towards Thrasir, although she still managed to dodge the attack.
Thrasir growled back, before she then fired a few shots of her own, only to see that the copy Reisen was agile enough to avoid all of the bullets coming towards her, indicating that nothing but melee attacks was going to work on her. Thrasir then charged at the copy of their ally, as she jumped back and avoided the white-haired warrior's swings, before going for a swinging kick at Thrasir's head.
However, Thrasir managed to block the kick with her leg, before returning the favour with a countering kick that staggered the copy Reisen long enough to give her time to slice at her, as most of the attacks landed on her. However, after a while the copy recovered herself, before her eyes glinted red, letting out a disruptive pulse that stunned Thrasir momentarily, enough to leap back.
As the copy did so, it then placed a hand to the eye, as several holographic copies of her appeared by her side, before she then mixed herself with the handful of illusions, which were life-like enough to fool Thrasir at first glance. She and her illusions attacked Thrasir, as she was forced to block from all sides, expecting that all attacks might be real, as she was forced to weave and bob frantically to avoid the attacks.
However, as the assault continued, Thrasir slipped a bit of her magic in, as she used it across the ground to detect the real copy among the group of illusions, and tracked her perfectly, despite the chaos around her. With a single thrust, she then drove her blade right through the glowing eye of the Reisen copy, as she was knocked back, and clattered across the ground, while the illusions faded to nothing.
When the copy Reisen was back on her feet, her left eye was nothing but gutted wires and sparks, as she was damaged by the attack. However, it still tried to attack, as if ignoring the loss of one of its optical cameras, and tried to assault Thrasir with a series of attacks. However, it then got too close to Thrasir, as she snuck a blade through the copy's blind-spot, and jammed it through the side of the head, enough to destroy the internal components.
The copy Reisen twitched erratically a few times, while sparks flew out of the punctured hole, before she then fell onto her knees, and exploded into scrap. Thrasir merely scoffed, before she then turned her back from the destroyed clone.
She would turn to see Mistral having struck down her copy, an unamused look on her face. "First, children, now, this. I do not know why I signed up for this job now that I think back, I should have just stayed away from this war and kept on doing my thing, potentially condemning far less lives than I would have now.. But like the others, my prey now begs for her life to me." Mistral said, soon jabbing her staff through the head of her copy, as it destroyed the copy with a miniature explosion, leaving a headless robot on the ground. "And I will still deny that life."
Meanwhile with Lif and Jack, they easily dealt with the copy Monsoon, as they had the humour to cut the copy into pieces far smaller than what Monsoon could reform from, as the pieces all sparked electricity.
With Gus, he was managing to fight well with the copy Ieyasu, as the mechanical boxer didn't have much of a chance hitting Gus, who evaded his charges with a simple dodge-roll, and shooting the body of the copy with various weapons, as they whittled down the armour on him.
The copy tried to perform Eastern Winds on Gus, only to walk right into a live grenade that bounced him into the air, before Gus fired a series of shots with his assault rifle, and shooting another grenade from his grenade launcher to blow the Ieyasu copy back.
By the time the Ieyasu copy got back onto his feet, Gus was already onto him, as he was hit by the recoil of a full-on shotgun burst, as Gus fired his weapon again and again, until the copy was dazed against the wall. He then slammed another clip in, and charged the weapon to max power, like he did with the GRAD in the lab, before firing the massive energy blast that obliterated everything on the copy, except his legs, which fell down with a metallic clank.
"Well, that was quite the quick fight there, isn't it?" Mistral mused, before turning to Jack. "I suppose that now you know where my loyalties lie now, do you? I have to admit, if I lived enough to know about this, I would have resigned in an instant out of disgust. I don't exactly enjoy my childhood, and I certainly rather not have children going through the same."
"Huh. Never thought that I'd hear that from a resolved killer like you, Mistral." Jack responded back.
"I only kill, because it's my calling." Mistral stated back with pursed lips, as she swung her arms staff around her back. "I still have a thing called moralité, you know? I just simply have a low bar to clear. And twisting child minds into what I am without choice or reason… It doesn't suit me. And considering that you're more potent than you are, without the atrocities, I might consider working alongside you in the future. If I feel like I need someone to watch my back for once."
"Well, I'd think that the others would be glad to hear it." Gus nodded back, before the doors to the server room inside had finally unlocked. "Alright, let's go."
Jack then slammed the button to open the doors, as they rushed through it, before they found themselves in a large room, where there were many pillars that were filled with glowing hexagonal panels. As they slowly walked through it, they then saw Sundowner come down to the ledge overlooking the entire room.
"Shhh, don't disrupt the students while class is in session." Sundowner stated, placing a finger on his lips. "I believe that you all might have some clue about the lesson plan… The same regimen that soldiers go through in civil wars. Effective program, just look how many mercenaries turned out. Of course, running it in the real world just got a bit too… complicated. Doing it virtually, though? No fuss, no mess. Straight to the brain. It's like a dream."
"A nightmare you mean." Gus countered back with a snarl. "You enforced those immoral duties on them, unwanton destruction, use of excessive force, slaughter of innocents and POWs... I bet that you wouldn't be above giving them a nice big reward each time they followed that!"
"Oh, they do enjoy it! We give their pleasure centers a nice big jolt every time." Sundowned cackled. "Plus, they get a shiny new body as a graduation present. Another thing in common with several of you."
"We chose this on our own volition." Lif retorted back. "To think that you would not only go as far as mutilating children to get the parts you need… But you also conditioned these children to be your kind of unquestioning and merciless soldiers... People like you make me sick."
"Oh? You think that kids don't have any sense of violence in them? Ha! Kids are cruel. Why do you think kids like video games filled to the brim with violence and destruction!?" Sundowner barked back. "In fact, all people are, by nature, they just lose touch with it as they get older. Start thinking they know right from wrong. 'That's immoral'. War crime this, Code of Conduct that. Kids you can mold, manipulate into performing all kinds of atrocities, because they don't care about what happens, as long it's fun for them, and nothing like a good atrocity to keep a war going!"
"Then it was fortunate that you hid that fact from me when I was working with you." Mistral remarked, stepping forward, and eyeing the entire room. "I would most definitely not approve of all of this, considering my background, and I would have either resigned out of sheer disgust, or perhaps I would have done the same as Raiden would have done."
"Well, well, Mistral. I thought that you were dead after Raiden dealt with you back at that refinery. I'm surprised that the idiot Dolzaev didn't finish the job as intended. What, did you suddenly have a change of mind?" Sundowner responded back. "Hah, you know how deep you're in this. You ain't got shit to wash those bloodied hands of yours clean. You're a war criminal like the rest of us. Shame that you didn't have the decency to die like you're supposed to."
"Die like I was supposed to?" Mistral asked back, as she understood the meaning of those words, as she tilted her head, and narrowed her eyes. "Huh, now I get it, vous bâtard intelligent. You and all the others sent me on that mission to get me killed before I could sniff around about all of this, didn't you? Have your loyal pawn delay the big bad Valhalla Company with her death. Quite naughty of you to say that to me, Sundowner, after everything I have done for you and this company. Well then, I guess my mind is set now… Desperado is going to be ashes when we're done with it. This wind blows with Valhalla now, Je démissionne. "
"Hah… And none of you see the bigger picture." Sundowner stated, before he then strode towards the front of one of the hexagonal panels, before it slowly opened, letting out a hiss of cold air, showing that one of the cybernetic brains was inside of it. He then plucked it out, and held it in his hand. "Say you bring this whole place down, waltz outta the rubble with all these precious brains… nothing changes."
Soon, the various panels on the pillars opened, to reveal the brains inside of them, which horrified Líf, Thrasir, and even Mistral, as they hadn't seen this before.
"Oh God…" Líf said in horror, seeing all the brains.
"This… this is…" Thrasir began to say, but was finished by Mistral.
"Madness." Mistral said, glaring at Sundowner. "To see this for myself… will you all stop at no low to see your goal achieved?"
"Of course we won't stop." Sundowner said with a chuckle. "We're starting up the war economy again, and getting soldiers, however age they are, is just the way to do it! The war's already going on strong, and we need more soldiers to do it! But I suppose you all are the knights in shining armor to save the day?" Sundowner asked sarcastically, before he turned to walk outside. "Then let's take this to somewhere less crowded."
"There goes Sundowner!" Boris called to the group. "After him, and don't let him get away from you all, again!"
"Already on it." Jack said, as the group of five ran up to meet Sundowner out on the helicopter pad.
"Whaddya think?" Sundowner asked with a smirk, soon spreading his arms wide. "We can play out here without damaging the merchandise. Thing is… you all are already behind schedule to stop things, because in three hours… well… hehehe…"
"What happens in 3 hours?" Líf asked, glaring at Sundowner.
"As I said, you're all too late. Even at Mach 2 you all wouldn't make it." Sundowner said with a chuckle. "And killing you all, is gonna take some time. Slow, and painful, time."
Helicopters began to fly up behind Sundowner, as his explosive plating began to activate from his backside, stretching out as four child sized cyborgs joined his side, as they had explosive plating armor as well, Sundowner smirking as Líf was absolutely pissed.
~BGM: Red Sun~
"Meet the newest graduates of the current class!" Sundowner exclaimed with a sadistic tone. "They really proved to be the cream of the crop, perfect scores across the board! In reward, they get the pleasure of making you their first kills from you all! What are you going to do now? Kill them like the rest?"
"Jesus…" Gus muttered back.
"...I'll deal with this." Líf darkly said, preparing HF Sokkvakebr for battle against Sundowner, making it a priority to disable the kid cyborgs, as he summoned his battle visor that he had on his suit that went over his eyes.
"Let me deal with those helis myself. I owe you all a favour, after all." Mistral stated, before she whistled, as her group of Dwarf Gekkos came, as she launched them towards the helis as they latched onto it, beating through the glass and strangling the pilots to death, causing them to crash one by one. "Just take care of the poor children. First thing you should do, get rid of the explosive plating. It hurts them as much as it'll hurt you if it's triggered."
"I also have heavy tranq rounds at the ready. Just make sure they're stopped long enough for me to get a clear shot of their flesh, and I'll have them sleeping no time flat." Gus stated. "Erick… if you would-"
"I know. I'm more worried if Sundowner tries to use them as human shields." Lif responded back, before he then engaged Sundowner and the child cyborgs.
"Hah! You aren't so tough, now that I have good gear!" One of them cockily stated, as he swung his blade at Lif, only to be parried, before knocked back, as Lif used the knockback, to cut through the joints of the explosive plating, as it fell harmlessly on the ground. "Wha…!?"
Gus then immediately took his shot, as the child cyborg was struck by the tranq round, as it was filled with enough to put even cyborgs to sleep. Lif caught the falling child, before throwing him towards Thrasir, who caught him and laid him down on the ground.
"Rrgh… Prepared to the brim, aren't you all?" Sundowner growled in irritation.
"We don't need to kill to win a fight, except when it's with YOU." Lif threatened back, with his last word emphasised with hate.
Two of the child cyborgs tried to attack him from behind, although Lif parried their attacks. Sundowner tried to take Lif by surprise, only to be surprised when the top panels of his explosive plating was cut off, when Lif swung himself over, while the children's platings were removed, allowing Gus to knock them out from range, although Lif was too busy to throw them across. However, Jack did the job for LIf, as he rushed up, and blocked the attack from the remaining child cyborg, and flipped back off the heli-pad, and laying them beside their unconscious friend.
"I won't lose! I won't LOSE!" The remaining child roared, as he tried to rush the group at the back, only to be countered by Thrasir, who cut the plating off, and took the matters in her own hands, hitting him with a neck-chop hard enough to send him into unconsciousness, as she slowly lowered him to the ground.
"Erick! They're all safe and accounted for!" Thrasir shouted to Lif. "You can finish the job."
"Gladly." Lif responded back, before his eyes glowed red. "Time to die."
With that, Líf and Sundowner began their one on one battle, with Sundowner growling.
"I'll bathe in your blood!" Sundowner roared, charging straight for Líf to attack, who avoided the attack and hit Sundowner with a bunch of slashes, but Sundowner soon stumbled back and put his explosive plating in front of him.
"Ha! I'm fucking invincible!" Sundowner mocked, only for Líf to attack the weak spot in the plating, and cutting off all four remaining plates before Sundowner growled, attaching his blade in his left hand to his right forearm, and having a visor come on over his eyes as he prepared to face Líf blade to blade this time, no shields involved.
Líf would keep winning exchanges of blades with Sundowner,even though Sundowner's attack had greater range with both of his blades stuck together as pincers, \ as Líf pushed Sundowner closer and closer to the edge, and soon enough, it seemed like he won, when Sundowner stumbled back towards the edge more.
"Ya got me…" Sundowner said, before falling off the helipad…
And hitched a ride with another heli, as the pilot was aiming a missile towards the group!
"DIE!" Sundowner yelled, as the missile was fired, but Líf had another approach than what Raiden went through.
Líf would catch the rocket, holding it to where it didn't blow up, as he soon powered his way to turning around and throwing the missile right back at the helicopter!
"SHIT!" Sundowner yelled as the helicopter blew up, sending him flying right towards Líf, as Líf jumped up, activating Zandaitsu and cutting Sundowner to pieces, before landing as the bits of Sundowner landed on the ground in a bloody mess.
Battle Results
Combat Rank: S
"Hmp." Líf said, the visor retracting as he sheathed his blade. "Good riddance."
"Attaboy...You really got me…" Sundowner's voice crackled through Lif's comms.
"What happens in three hours?" Lif demanded back. "ANSWER ME!"
"He'll… launch… Operation… Tecumseh…" Sundowner wheezed.
"Who? Armstrong? We know that he'll pulling the strings behind all of this!" Lif growled.
"I've already said too much…" Sundowner hacked back.
"Well, doesn't matter what you say, we'll stop it regardless!" Lif exclaimed back.
"Heh heh heh…" Sundowner weakly laughed. "I have a call to make…"
"Heh heh… Cut yourself shaving, Sundowner?" Sam mocked through the comms.
"Asshole… They're good… real good…" Sundowner responded back. "You knew this would happen, didn't ya? Well, you'll get your wish… Up to you, now… S...am…"
Soon the comms line cut, as Lif raised another one to Erika.
"The Marshal HQ is captured by us. Plus an unlikely ally, and several complications that we just resolved." Lif informed Erika.
"I noticed." Erika stated, as she had her eye on Mistral, who was just standing around, checking on the child cyborgs. "By the way, I should inform you that I have done the calculations. If Sundowner isn't trying to play with us, the diameter of the area covered by the time period and speed, is beyond the US, and likely encompasses other continents as well, most likely Europe."
"And he said that whatever happens will rival that of the 9/11 incident… From what I learned about it with Siege… It isn't something good." Thrasir added.
"That's right. And since I have a good hunch where they might be attacking, I suppose that I know where we're going next." Erika responded back.
"We're going to Shabhazabad Air Base at Pakistan." Jack stated, as all eyes turned to him. "From what I learned, the US President Hamilton headed to the Middle East for his scheduled meeting with Pakistani President Farooq Salam. It's basically for peace talks to strengthen relations among both countries, as Pakistan is fairly anti-American. If one of them dies, or even both… Say hello to the war on terror, part two."
"Indeed, considering that I have read the news, and made the proper reasoning and connections to reach that choice." Erika responded back. "Think about it, what spike demands for PMCs? Instigating merciless wars. It has to be a political hot spot, so that the nation is outraged enough to declare war first-hand and start the snowball of violence of. What's more, no nation stable enough would get the required results. Pakistan is a third-rate country, so if it goes to hell, no-one would miss it, and they are less inclined to 'pull their punches' so to speak. It would have a global domino effect. Not to mention that optimally, drawing a superpower works to their plan, i.e the US. The president's visit checks the marks for all of these."
"Then we have to-" Gus tried to argue, before Jack raised a hand to silence him.
"Not a smart choice. We're basically criminals ourselves, and it's our words against the World Marshal, not to mention the Senator's." Jack countered back, before speaking with Erika. "Speaking of which, do you think that we'll be able to get there with everything you have, Erika?"
"No vehicle in this world can possibly have the speed to reach the location required in less than three hours. And we need to go there early, so that we can intervene in all of this, before things get hectic." Erika responded back. "Fortunately, there is a way. Solis has RLVs, Rocket Launched Vehicles. They can top up to Mach 23 speeds reliably. And that kind of speed will reach Pakistan in half an hour, and the air base less than a minute passing the borders of the country. While I deal with the matter, I'll forge a request to pay for a trip on it, using several 'underground' connections, and some persuading, you just get there quick. I've parked the car below. Use it to drive to your destination quickly."
"What about the children inside?" Jack asked back.
"Don't worry about that. I've got a transport chopper on the standby, and my drones at the ready to cleanly retrieve all of the brains. I can't do much to revert them as they are, but what I can do is use my cybernetic expertise to write up programs to reverse the conditioning, and make sure that they're back to normal, when we find proper bodies to place them back into." Erika answered back. "By the way, Rei and Siege are coming with you. They're following after the car."
Soon, the transport chopper reached the helipad, as several of Erika's drones came out, as they transported the unconscious child cyborgs into the hold of the aerial vehicle.
"Well, I suppose that there's nothing else I can do here, is there?" Mistral asked back.
"Nah, I think that you let us handle all of this. You've already done enough in all of this." Jack responded back. "Take the chopper back, and I hope that you won't have another change of heart when you head back."
"Trust me, a lady might turn her heart once, but never twice." Mistral teased with a sly grin, before she then boarded the chopper. "Au revoir, Raiden and company."
"Right, let's head down. I believe that Erika has unlocked the elevators, so we can ride the rest of the way down, given that there aren't any more nasty surprises."
The group nodded, before they headed into the facility, took the cubicle elevators down on the ground floor, as their car was laying in wait for them, with the Wolves taking their place in the back of the car, and Richard and Siege were on the sides of it, riding motorcycles.
"Hey. Heard that the mission went smoothly, and that you got a fairly nice encounter with Mistral." Siege responded back.
"So, we got a clear path ahead, at least that's what I hope." Richard told the group. "Get in the car, we need to get to the space centre, and catch our ride there."
Jack nodded, before the group entered the car, before Erika activated the automatic controls on the car, as it began to drive along with Richard and Siege following closely behind it, as they left the city of Denver quite quickly.