Chapter 10: Into the blizzard
05:55 AM (Iceland Time), Saturday January the 27th…
"… Do you copy, Bapgei? Are you in position?"
"I am, Master."
"The weather shield is working?"
"Perfectly."
"Good. Remember your orders: you infiltrate the lab during the distraction we'll cause. If needed, stun anyone that you find inside the place. Then use the terminal I gave you to copy their info…"
"Roger that. Leave it up to me!"
"Start moving and wait for my signal once you reach the duct."
"Understood. I'll get on the move."
"Alright. You guys. Get ready: that combat jet isn't going to be as easy to take down as a Harrier 2."
"Understood, Twilight – sama. Did you get it? Cloud Man and Swallow Man!"
"Y-yes, sir! Understood!"
"Dark Generator is still forbidden. No trump card either. Don't remove the limiters. It's possible that we'll be fighting normal humans and our purpose isn't to damage or kill them. Same to you, Yamato Man! Cosmo Man! No "Cosmo Gate" either!"
"Acknowledged, sir."
Twilight had changed to a Navi-like appearance consisting of a helmet with a mouth guard activated, his chest emblem, consisting on two shades of black and white split by a horizontal grey line.
His shoulder pads were shaped as two split halves of a diamond, navy blue color save for the forearms and his boots, colored purple.
Lastly, he had a black smooth cape hung from the back of his shoulders.
He and his men were standing in the middle of a blizzard and looking towards a set of domes some tens of meters ahead.
They were visible thanks to their beacons and the spotlights scanning the perimeter: a track for planes to land and take off was also visible beginning at the hanger and the sides had beacons as well: Twilight was talking with Bapgei over the radio while Freeze Man made sure to remind his men how to behave.
"Zoan Gate Man is backup." Twilight reminded Freeze Man.
"Acknowledged."
"Let's go and…! Huh?"
Some spotlights built atop the hanger suddenly turned on and focused on them: they had to shield their sight since they were too bright: the hanger door opened and a vehicle rolled out.
"So you've come, Twilight. Just as I expected."
"What! You expected me!?"
The vehicle was a highly modified combat jet colored back and having retractable wings with two engines on each one: it had an open compartment on the front with a mounter machinegun and two sets of double grenade launcher tubes to the sides of the machinegun.
What stood out the most was that it had no viewing window and there didn't seem to be a door to enter or exit it.
"I did some modifications to my Mega Hurricane taking you and your men into account. They were worth the workhours, yes."
"How did you know we'd come here?" Twilight gasped.
"You're the vengeful type. I knew that, once Mr. Vadous told you we were the ones who uncovered Bapgei's identity, you'd come have your retribution. I thought you'd so after you attacked his HQ to rescue Bapgei but you didn't. That gave me further time to prepare. Besides… I figured out the word left behind by your men… "Global Winds"… The Arctic is one of the points where most of the global winds generate: it meant us. So another reason we could ready!" Spimer exposed.
"I did tell IQ – sama I was afraid the name was a tell-it-all but Her Grace wouldn't change it…!" He grumbled.
"Thought as much. Not even you would make a name so obvious."
"Whatever. I just need an EM pulse to fry you out!"
"Be my guest. In the meanwhile… My excellent three agents will take care of you men… Bring them out!"
AT-ST walkers from the Star Wars movies walked outside of the hanger next: the shutter descended and then the Mega Hurricane opened fire.
"Evasion course!" Twilight ordered.
He tried to use Area Steal but part of his body began to break down and distort into raw polygons: he gasped and stopped and so did the others, surprised: the machinegun rounds converged on Freeze Man's front armor and most of them bounced off yet others managed to get stuck there: the AT-ST walkers began to shoot grenades at the other members and they jumped to dodge: Twilight still looked puzzled.
"What was that? I felt like my body was unable to stay materialized and was being forced back into the Cyber World…" He muttered.
"… Anti-materialization jammers…! They interfere with the "Bestialize Factor" and if you try to get too close you get sent back to the Cyber World…!" Freeze Man realized.
"Damn it. They put up counter-measures!"
"And that means that… We can't intrude their base from the real world: only from the Cyber World…!"
"This will become another Waterloo, Twilight!"
"Sheesh! Eat this! EM Pulse!"
Twilight formed and shot an EM pulse at the "Mega Hurricane" but it was far from affected: the grenades hit the snow around Twilight and he tried to shield from the explosions: the other members were fighting the 3 AT-ST walkers but weren't faring better because they were being shot the grenades and they were being hit because they apparently could lock into them and follow their movements.
"I added special coating. I foresaw the use of such attacks."
"Damn it. Last thing I needed!"
"What do we do?" Freeze Man asked.
"Aim for the legs of those things!"
"Roger. You heard it, men!"
"But ignore the cockpit! Then strike from the Cyber World! I'll settle the score with this guy on my own!" Twilight added.
"Understood. Go!"
"Elec Storm!"
"Swallow Cutter!"
"Thousand Spear!"
"Ice Tower!"
The Darkloids tried to focus their attacks on the walkers' legs but a shield-shaped "Dimensional Area" formed and repelled all of their attacks: they gasped in disbelief.
"Shield-shaped Dimensional Area?" Freeze Man gasped.
"By all the…" Twilight gasped as well.
"I've been researching into these since some years ago. I only had to ask Dr. Wily for the schematics." Dr. Spimer admitted.
"Damn it! Old man Wily! I always forget him! It's turning annoying: that I forget about others! Despite being a Navi!" Twilight grumbled.
"Looks like you're getting senile." Spimer taunted.
"SENILE! ME! I'M A DARKLOID!"
"Like I care. You're not real "Darkloids" per se. You use the title but you aren't. Shade Man would come reap your blood if he heard that!"
"Sheesh. That vampire! Good thing I got rid of them!"
"That your best shot, Twilight? Or you're trying to be stingy?"
"NO! I'm going to get serious! Special Skill time!"
"Hmpf. Bring it on."
"…Drill a hole into the Universe… Through any direction, without exhaust, freely shift… You light pillars of destruction that pierce through the world… Lazy Laser!"
Twilight suddenly chanted something before announcing an attack: he built up energy just as a wormhole with spinning bluish edges and blackish insides formed in front of him: he shot a powerful surge of yellow energy inside of it and vanished yet another wormhole formed just above the Mega Hurricane: it bounced off the armor while leaving a barely visible burn mark there and headed for the ground: but, before it could hit it, another wormhole formed behind the machine.
"Merde alons!"
Spimer violently made the machine accelerate across the track and lifted off to escape the laser heading for the rear: he quickly veered course and opened fire towards Twilight: he got hit several times and shattered revealing it was an ice sculpture: the real one suddenly appeared atop the machine and was trying to plunge a sword like the one his men had into the machine yet it easily broke into the attempt: Spimer accelerated and Twilight was tossed off the machine because he hadn't secured himself to begin with: he warped and landed on the ground.
"Gathering afterglow, shining blades... Sparkle of light that announces the demise... Tear the horizon and return to nothingness... Demise Light Blades… AKA… Zero Blade!"
Twilight formed some purple-edge triangles with a green dot on their middle and they combined to give shape to a large blade that he held over his head: some openings formed and purple energy began to glow and shine from within it: he swung it forward and a stream of purple energy preceded by a sonic boom shot forward over their heads: he then shot forward and plunged his blades into the Mega Hurricane but they shattered as well.
"Damn it. This armor is something!" He cursed.
"Trouble, Twilight – sama! I sent Swallow Man to scout the Cyber World but… It's a mere 2 per 2 meters platform in the middle of a void! It's a totally isolated section… The only one we can access! There are no other plug-in points… We can't find the wi-fi routers… We tried the radar tower but couldn't access it either!" Freeze Man reported.
"Fuck. They predicted that as well."
"Blame yourself for trying to listen in using Zoan Gate Man."
"Grrr…! Damn it! IQ – sama! This is gonna be bad!"
"Got some toys for you. Have this on for a change!"
A compartment opened on the top of the machine and a laser gun emerged: it quickly loaded up a blue laser and it shot for Twilight as he was about to do something else: the blow hit him on the chest and momentarily stunned him, pushing him back: he recovered but by then the gun had been stored inside of the armor again.
"I'll burn all to cinders! Not even DUST will remain!"
"I'm skeptical. Can you do any better than that?"
"Grrr! Heat waves that actively burn like the Sun... Burning passion, undulating Inferno... Only ashes shall remain in Purgatory's flames... Sunshine Nova!"
Two endless pillars of flames formed behind each combatant thus limiting their fighting space: Twilight shot forward and Spimer merely made the machine (stationed in mid-air) tilt to the right: Twilight plunged into the pillar and some embers jumped off from the impact: he quickly emerged at a slightly higher height while surrounded by a fiery aura: he moved NW and plunged into the second pillar: some embers jumped off again: he finally stopped in mid-air between both pillars.
"Huh? What? There's more?"
He expanded his body and some fiery spheres began to come out while drawing patterns and acting in groups: they formed several curved lines with small gaps between each sphere and they kept on expanding: some flew towards the base but broke down into polygons before vanishing seconds away from contact.
"More, more AND MORE~!"
The patterns suddenly gave way to three streams that formed a "T" shape and now the way to dodge was to exploit the corners: the pattern changed yet again and now was two diagonal streams aiming SW and SE respectively so the middle was the safe spot: the pattern returned to the "T" shape and then to the diagonal shape and kept on cyclically shifting between each other: Spimer attacked with the machinegun and stunned Twilight to knock him off the air.
"Wasn't a threat either. They were barely some hundreds of degrees hot to begin with. This thing can resist up to tens of thousands of degrees."
"Sheesh. I won't give up so easily! I don't care if I'm recycling stuff: as long as it's enough to beat you! You can't possibly be harder to beat that that damned interloper!"
"Who knows? Figure out your powerlessness."
"Mutually attracting magnetisms burst open… Desire it all wish it all… Deprive… Rise… Grand arms… Super Heavy Magnetic Exploding Star!"
"Hum. Let's see if this can beat the protective coating…"
Twilight formed a small purple sphere on his hands and then flung it at the middle of the air: it suddenly began to grow while trying to suck in everything around it: the walkers jumped away through a jet-pack on their back to avoid being sucked in: a ring-shaped wave formed on the edge and quickly shrank and vanished before reaching the center: it soon became about 3 meters tall to and shrank to about two thirds or more of its original size and imploded, with that energy hitting both and the walkers as well: some traces of smoke remained on the spot where the sphere had been at.
"All systems nominal. Despite the "magnetic" word in its name it was more like an attempt to recreate a star's death in a miniature scale… No damage done to the coating. I did put effort into it!"
"Huff, huff… That didn't do it either? Freeze Man!"
"The walkers seem to work normally too… And the jammers too…"
"Hey! Speaking of which…! Bapgei! Report! Bapgei! Damned. It's jammed…! What's happened to Bapgei?" He demanded as he looked up to the machine.
"Don't worry! I knew you'd make him sneak into the lab dome so I sealed off through DAs all but one room where he'd end up at… One of my "S" series robots is fighting him… While holding back, of course. More like having him run around in circles." Spimer chuckled.
"Damn it. Forgot about those things even though I saw one in action over a year ago! What's with me? Why am I forgetting things? As a data life-form, I shouldn't forget things!" Twilight growled.
"Eh… To be exacts, sir… You placed those files in folders but you haven't accessed them since then so… You haven't "forgotten"… Your files lack tags to link them to current thoughts, sir…" Freeze Man pointed out in a timid manner as if he feared Twilight would get annoyed.
"GRRR! Fine! It's just that it's easy to say "I've forgotten"…! I was originally of flesh and blood and could forget things!"
"R-roger, sir. As you command, sir…!"
"One more! My pawns will take care of those: you try to find the jammers and disable them to…!" Twilight began to order.
"They're on the inside, sir. We already tried to, sir!"
"Shit. Though they were on the outside. We can't destroy them. How about you try to attack the hanger?"
"It's also got jammers, sir. And the lab dome has a variant of those that's more powerful too…" Freeze Man trailed off.
"And these jammers mean that I can't contact IQ – sama either! Swallow Man's the fastest, no?"
"Indeed, sir. He is, yes."
"Send him running away on foot until he's outside of the jammer ring… He needs to update IQ – sama. We might need Her Grace's support. Risky but necessary. Her Grace and Mr. Secretary are the only ones who can come close to the domes. Let's take profit of that to intrude the lab and steal the stuff on it…!" He whispered.
"Roger, sir… Swallow Man, did you hear that?"
"Copy that… I'll pull a stun…"
Swallow Man jumped towards one of the walkers' cockpits but four grenades hit him: he groaned and collapsed on the floor face-down: the walker then focused on Yamato Man, striking the legs: Swallow Man rose and quickly ran off on foot without the others noticing: Twilight had formed Spark Bees to keep Spimer busy in the meanwhile too.
"…The revolving reincarnation spins life... And crosses the irreversible curtain... You soul: return to the living world... Resurrection!" He announced.
Twilight began to build up purplish energy and then formed a column of energy that was of a pinkish shade: some small columns of white energy and sparkles formed within it as well and a shape began to form inside: the light ended and it turned out it was none other than Flash Man yet his eyes glowed in a crimson color: he jumped for the Mega Hurricane and landed atop it: began to try to open the laser hatch.
"Won't let you. Hah!"
Spimer accelerated towards the closest dome so Flash Man was unable to stay materialized and was forced into the Cyber World: Spimer then dived for Twilight and Freeze Man as they aimed Magma Cannon Battle Chips at him: they began to shoot a torrent of flames at the vehicle but had no effect: they ducked as the vehicle shot past them, performed a loop and stopped close by still in mid-air.
"EAT THIS!"
"What now? Are you going to try to scare me with some lights?"
"Hmpf. The hum of devouring flying insects resounds… Endless hunger's fangs… Devour and chew it all… Destiny Fang!"
Twilight jumped into the middle of the air and formed two small objects at both sides: they had a grayish body shaped like a mouth and were filled with many teeth: their top was yellow: a small sphere of energy formed atop Twilight and he began to throw what seemed to be a winged mass of energy at them: hordes of flies began to be swallowed up by the fangs and slowly grow in size: they quickly became almost 2 meters tall each and now they rather looked like discs having 2 circles of outer and inner teeth on their insides: they flew away left and right while Twilight himself turned invisible: Spimer gasped and ignited the jets to make the vehicle shot higher into the air.
"Hah! Mince them to DUST!"
Both mouths clashed and met each other, spinning and apparently chewing yet they did nothing because their intended victim wasn't there anymore.
"Did you feel the FEAR?" Twilight laughed.
"That could've been dangerous." Spimer muttered.
"Fear and terror! Such is the goal of Neo Gospel! Have at you, Regal!"
"Maybe you want me to summon The Fear from the Cobra Unit and teach you what real fear is about?" Spimer taunted back.
"Wha~t? This smart lass wannabe Frenchman!"
"A rip for a rip! Or maybe eye for an ye!"
"Damn you~… You'll pay for that!"
"This is Lieutenant Marylitu. Anaya and Izono have appeared near the lab dome but we were patrolling the perimeter with walkers… They have Stringer missiles so we need to use chaff to avoid those…"
"Speaking of which… I see. Swallow Man isn't here. Must've run off to report to those 2… And Opoulos and Zoan Gate Man must be in the base ready to pull all of you out of here…"
"But these 2 are inside of the jamming field…"
"Swallow Man isn't. Must be looking on from afar using IR vision and deducing what's going on… Or maybe he's got an overhead camera as well high enough to be free of jamming…"
"Ah! That makes sense, sir. We didn't consider it."
"This is Morgan… That runt actually beheaded Unit S – 4. I'm going to teach him some lessons myself." A man radioed.
"Remember to hold back, Colonel. It's a human, after all!"
"Of course. Hey! Runt! I'm your next foe! Dodge my right swing!"
"Grah! Gimme a break! Two androids on the same day is too much!"
"A real war won't give you breaks! Fight until the other collapses! Your petty master didn't teach you this is a war!" Morgan firmly countered.
"GHIAKLGDNLSKNGLBK!" He growled something undecipherable.
"Why don't we let them hear?" Morgan suggested.
"Excellent suggestion. Twilight! Listen to this."
"What? What now, you Frechman!? Grrrr!"
"How about my left upper? There! This one! That one, too!"
"Gruh! This guy's way too fast! Since it's an android! Sheesh!"
"Damned it. Bapgei's fighting that Morgan…! The android!"
"Indeed. Ah. By the way. Those excellent ladies are taking care of your petty masters…" Spimer added.
"Heck. Those three ex-military…! We were read…! This is turning worse!"
"So? Got anything better in store?"
"Annihilate the evil spirits that antagonize the world… Even if my hands are stained with sins… Send the sinful souls to God's presence… Lust Doppler!"
Twilight glowed and formed three ghostly pinkish bunshin of himself that took positions above him and to his sides: they shot forward followed by Twilight: they all crashed upon the machine but didn't get to get any damage: he landed back on the ground.
"Death, death, death, death, death, death, death, death… Death, death, death, death, death, death, death, death… Death, death, death, death, death, death, death, death… Re –su – rre – c – tiO – N!" Twilight began to chant in a row to then oddly misspell "resurrection" as if he wasn't sure how it sounded or it was an attempt at pronouncing it.
Two columns of light formed and both Plant Man and Bowl Man (lifeless) formed there.
"Plant Weed!"
"Pin Missile!"
Neither attack managed to inflict a single scratch: one of the walkers turned from fighting Cloud Man and shot several grenades at both of those to delete them: Twilight shrugged and seemed to be up to something else.
"Heaven is will, the Emperor's God-mind… Hunt the opposing fellow… Psycho Fusion!"
Spheres of purple energy having the emblem of the Darkloids drawn on them formed and fused to give way to a bigger purple sphere that produced a cross-shaped attack: they began to pop out around the Mega Hurricane: it shook a bit but didn't contribute to damaging it either.
"I've got something BIGGER! More POWEFUL! Feeling SCARED?"
"Your ego? It's as big as Volgin's ego?"
"SHEESH! Don't mix me with that Volgin moron!"
"No good. This is going to end up badly!" Freeze Man sighed.
"Godly Emperor that rules the Heavens… Heavenly Star Summoned from Beyond the Galaxy… This is Divine Punishment… Be destroyed, you fool… The One Come from Beyond the Rumbling Space!"
A gigantic mass of plasma, a miniature star, began to fall from the "sky" towards the Mega Hurricane while forming a layer of plasma around it: Spimer gasped.
"That could easily damage the integrity of the ice shelf…! I've got to stop it somehow… I know!"
He opened the laser gun and two extra wires plugged into the base: the gun's sound changed and a powerful green laser began to charge up: Spimer shot it at the sphere and hit the SW corner of it: the continuous attack began to slowly push it towards the right and away from the ice shelf towards the awaiting ocean over 30 meters below: once he made sure it'd fall there he turned his attention back to Twilight and the others: they were running away from the base.
"Wait! Don't chase. Radar tells me: they're dummies!"
"Too late! The rolling thunderbolt is the guidance of beliefs… The roaring thunder boom is the proof of fate… The tearing thunder and lightning are the foundations of the Universe… Voltic Chain!"
Some gigantic chains suddenly began to pop out of nowhere and cross across the area in several directions forming a mess that trapped the walkers as well: Twilight put on a Dream Aura while the chains glowed with azure electricity: the walkers began to frizzle and suddenly stopped working altogether.
"Devil. But at least they lasted until now."
"Huff, huff…! Cloud Man! I gave you the data! Go bust the ones near the lab dome so that IQ – sama and Mr. Secretary can assist Bapgei!"
"Roger that! Right now!"
"Did you hear that? Lieutenant."
"I copy, sir. Let's do what we can." A woman replied over the radio.
"Don't overdo it either."
"Roger that, sir. We'll handle it, Doctor."
"Almost done with you lowlifes… A couple of parting gifts… Soon… I'll become a GOD! And crush all of you! Feel the fear, fools!"
"Oh yes? More fairy tales? The Grimm brothers tales?"
"GRRRR! Lightning that vibrates and rinses like the heavens… Smash all that you meet across your path. Lightning Sphere!"
Twilight extended his right hand forward and built up some electricity there: four bluish/white spheres of electricity formed around him and quickly spun clockwise very close to the front of the machine: they didn't do anything either.
"And… The sparkling thunder-wrapped holy blade… Azure lightning's outrage: pierce the enemy… Spark Calibur!"
A gigantic white mass of energy shaped as a blade formed and plunged into the front of the machine: some of the coating jumped off from the force of the attack: there was some frizzling and the frontal weapons stopped working.
"Hah…! So! Your damned machine wasn't invincible!"
"Well. I added this recently. This is coating is another material altogether. It doesn't change that you couldn't penetrate an inch of the original material. By the way! Your REX deployment gave me the idea for this alteration. REX works by using external sensors to allow the pilot to see what happens in the battlefield!"
"Damn it all. Why do my ideas always backfire on me?"
"This is Cloud Man! I beat the walkers! Bapgei managed to get out through the way he'd come in but he's all exhausted… We're heading to extraction point Beta!" Cloud Man reported.
"Fine! The rest save Freeze Man! Head to Beta! Escort the VIPs! Watch your tongues! Else you'll anger IQ – sama!"
"R-roger, sir! Right away, sir!"
"The runt ran away: he'd brought a rope ladder which he used to climb down from the vent… He's cut it to impede me from chasing. Hmpf. No bif deal in the end, huh?" Morgan reported.
"You did excellent, Colonel. They're going to run like mice."
"MICE? ME~? WHY, YOU~!" Twilight hissed.
"Mice that hide and shiver in fear of being discovered and forced to migrate… No? Can you prove me that I'm wrong, then?"
"Sheesh. Damn this Frenchman!"
"Did you forget again that what's in Utah isn't that "Duo's Comet" but an exploration ship with no weapons onboard?"
"What? Oh damn it! Not again! I mixed up the tags!"
"No good. I knew it." Freeze Man sighed.
"Where's your damned GUTS?" Twilight snapped at him.
"T-that's, eh, hum, well…" He began to blurt in a rush.
"I guess he never had those and wanted to play strong. Not surprising, coming from a creation by Dr. Wily…"
"Hmpf! Dr. Wily did create me but that's unrelated!"
"Let's run! This is a disaster!"
Both ran away yet they suddenly slipped and hit the ground with their bottoms: they groaned and got up somehow to run away again; the walkers' top hatches opened and the three agents emerged having thick weather clothing on plus googles and scarfs.
"Are you alright?" Spimer asked.
He'd deployed the landing gear and a hatch formed to the left: it opened and tilted to become a staircase similar to a jet's entrance: Spimer, wearing aviator outfit (a brown leather helmet with black shades and a mask that had the mike on it, black leather coat and jeans and boots) jumped off to run towards them.
"We're alright. We quickly put these on." Jasmine replied.
"Hurry into the hanger. I'll have the "S" units retrieve these: go ahead and have something hot at the café too to regain body temperature. A hot chocolate would do." He instructed.
"Roger, sir. But I'm surprised at how blunt they battled." Justin muttered.
"They weren't ready for such opponents." Spimer replied.
"Roger, sir. At once, sir." George acknowledged.
The four of them rushed into the garage the shutter of which was slightly open: it quickly shut down and the heating system began to work: they were able to take off the winter clothing and sigh in relief.
"What about the officers?" Jasmine asked.
"There's an emergency exit on the rear of the dome: it's built as part of an airlock-like room to allow for a transition in temperature. They've surely come in by now. I'll go check on them!"
"Indeed, sir. We're alright." Marylitu replied over the radio.
"Huff! That bitch sure was in the mood to insult me today. Not like I cared. She's but a dog that barks but doesn't bite." Troniat sighed in relief.
"You needn't tell me. And quoting Vincent Red hoping to drive us mad: almost got away with that!" A third woman complained.
"Now, now. Take it easy, Marshal Frendan." Morgan told them.
"Roger, Colonel. As you command!" Frendan obeyed.
"Have some proper rest. I'll take care of the retrieval of those. Speaking of machines… We could lend some Nibelung to Mr. Vadous and he'd distribute them. Let's turn their weapons into them!"
"I did have that plan but I forgot about it when I began to prepare for their incoming assault… Good. Let's do it. I'll finish tuning them up… And they'll be met with a nightmare."
Spimer took out the helmet and sighed in relief: he picked a handkerchief from the coat's pocket and wiped off his sweat.
"Well. I should contact Mr. Vadous and tell him what's happened… If he doesn't figure soon by hearing to the mikes in their hideout… Heh."
You suffered a real Waterloo, Twilight… Sink into humiliation forever!