Lying prone comfortably behind a barricaded window, Simon "Ghost" Riley patiently awaited the strike. Within the last few minutes furious construction had been done around the building, and even now it was still going on all around them. There had been talk of shield generators-so whoever was tasked with getting the shield up would have to maneuver to different parts of the buildings. As for Ghost, he was patient in waiting-war is often a game of such.
The CheyTac Intervention he held in his hands was cold and lifeless, but he knew within minutes that very weapon would have to spout gunfire in order to cover their position. Facing a wide stretch of buildings and roads, Ghost was told his objective was to provide cover fire and to take out enemy sharpshooters. He was told he would be provided assistance if needed.
For more than a minutes he waited there without moving, peering through his scope to catch anything that would stand out. Scoping out the peaks of the buildings, nothing stood out to him until he heard the faint sound of rumbling in the air in the distance. Peering harder into his scope, he could soon make out the shape of a large green drop ship, bearing the words UNSC Pelican.
"Got a drop-ship commin' in sir," Ghost noted over his com-link to Captain Price.
"Duly noted. Hostile?" Price asked.
"We cannot be sure," Came the voice of Master Chief over the com.
"How so?" Samus asked.
"UNSC ships are friendly for me-but tonight it seems their using everyone against us. Hold fire until we know." Chief responded.
As soon as it was within a few clicks of the building, the drop hatch to the Pelican opened to reveal a massive chain gun.
"Gun in sight!" Called Nathan Drake.
"The Arwings are prepped-should we go after it?" Falco asked.
"Engage!" Samus said.
"Hold it-it isn't firing!" Link noted.
Indeed Link was right-the drop ship did have a massive gun, and it refused to fire at that moment. Stunned that it was making no hostile movements, everyone within the building went quite fore a few seconds. Finally a voice sounded out of the Pelican.
"Greetings contestants-we mean you no harm. We are UNSC soldiers, sent as part of a care package to help you defend the building. We have some additional defenses and troops-will you let us land on the landing platform on the buildings south side?"
"Should we trust them?" Samus asked.
"Let them come. That area is covered by several turrets. We have . . . what's his name again . . . Roy and he is there with the one they call Sora. They shall help oversee that it is safe." Price suggested.
"Mario is also standing by in the area-we could use the help, so I say we taking them in carefully." Shadow said.
"You're cleared, but under watch. No tricks now!" Price said clearly through the over-com of the building.
"Over and out!" responded the Pelican's speaker.
Hovering down to the platform, the ship landed with ease. A hissing sound emitted from the giant airship as the doors opened, revealing four heavily armored troopers. There armor in many ways looked similar to Master Chief's, and each carried the UNSC logo on their suits. With them they carried several crates, and to show that they meant no trouble, all kept their hands away from their holstered guns.
"What supplies have you brought?" Roy asked the groups simply.
"Base defenses sir, and a few care packages. I don't think you'll know how to prime some of them, so we insist on setting them around the base ourselves. It should not take more than three minutes most to prime them." The lead soldier said.
"That may not be enough time," Said Nathan Drake as he walked over to them.
"Any hostiles in sight?" Ghost asked over the com.
"I cannot only make out a few off in the distance-none seem to be within our exact proximity." Samus noted.
"Alright, can we trust them?" Drake asked.
"There ODST's-trained soldiers for extreme situations-I would make sure that we have someone go with them when the prime the devices." Master Chief said slowly.
"On it-I'll go with the ones who have packages, while Mario, Sora, and Roy follow the others who station the care packages." Drake responded.
"We had better get to it then, common men!" The lead ODST shouted.
As they the small troupe entered the building, Meta Knight suddenly appeared in the middle of the platform with the swirling of his cape, preforming his famous appear/disappear attack. He too had heard of the ship bringing supplies, and curiosity overcame him as he approached it.
"Meta Knight!" A voice suddenly called, as if from nowhere.
"Who speaks?" Meta Knight said slowly.
"It's Mewtwo-I am communicating with you through my psychic abilities."
"And you are doing this why?" Meta Knight asked with some frustration.
"This cargo that we are getting . . . I am suspicious-meaning I am not sure about it. I sense too that you have your doubts."
Falling silent for a moment, Meta Knight realized that Mewtwo was right. No one ever lived ling by being too trustworthy, and even with the provisions they had set forward to make sure the drop was safe, he could not help but feel uneasy about the whole matter.
"You're going to inspect it aren't you . . . be careful." Mewtwo warned.
"Right," Meta Knight said blandly.
Walking up to the open drop doors of the Pelican, Meta Knight was approached by one of the ODST's who had remained on the ship.
"Can I help you with something sir?" The ODST asked in a somewhat concerned voice.
"You said you were here to help us right?" Meta Knight asked darkly.
"Yes Sir, it is our orders sir!" The trooper responded.
"Who gave the order?" Meta Knight asked as he stepped forward.
"Our superior sir-he said this would help make the defense of the tower better." The trooper remarked.
"I take it you mean the boss of these games?" Meta Knight asked.
"Yes sir!" The ODST responded.
"Would you stop saying that! You are trying my very small patience. I wish to inspect your ship, may I come aboard?" Meta Knight asked.
At this the ODST seemed to tense up, and Meta Knight could almost see a sense of worry overtake the troopers body. His armor hid his features, but Meta Knight was sure that underneath it he had broken out into a sweat.
"I am sorry sir-but I do not think I can comply with that order-besides it would be of no use to you"
The second he finished talking the trooped stepped right in the line of Meta Knight's path that lead to the interior of the Pelican. Looking the soldier over, Meta Knight could tell that the ODST was holding a tight grip on his shouldered gun. It was not an aggressive motion, but one of fear of attack. From where he stood, Meta Knight would have to go through the man in order to look at the insight of the ship.
"Why may I not come in? You are here to help us no? Then I should be granted access!" Meta Knight demanded.
"Sir . . . I cannot . . . my superior strictly denied it. You cannot pass. Trust we are doing the right thing." The ODST responded, ad he gripped his gun harder.
Meta Knight realized he was getting nowhere with this talk. He had the trooper fairly worried now, and any sudden move might cause the ODST to draw the gun he now so desperately gripped. Something here smelled of deceit, and Meta Knight was one of the few fighters who had absolutely no regard for secrets being kept from him.
"I trust no one!" Meta Knight whispered sternly as he swirled himself in his cape and vanished into thin air.
Shocked to stillness, the ODST did not move for a few seconds as he tried to take in what had happened. He had no idea where Meta Knight had vanished to, and judging on how suspicious his tone was, the ODST quickly became worried. What if he . . .
Turning quickly at the thought, he rushed up the dropped doors of the Pelican to the control panel, worry flooding through him. Rushing to the cockpit chair, he turned it around hoping to find the driver to whom he could explain everything that just happened.
What he found, however, was the pixilating body of what was the driver, a sword wound going right through the chest of the driver. Scared by the sight, he quickly jumped away in fear, his eyes searching the room.
Someone had killed the driver, and the ODST realized that it was probably the contestant who had just disappeared before him a few seconds ago. He could have been anywhere in the room, and that though of his using a sneak attack had the ODST on the edge. Walking carefully back a few steps, the ODST raised his weapons and began to check corners of the ship. The contestant could be anywhere, and he had to be ready.
As he checked the ODST began to wonder why the contestant had killed the driver. He was suspicious sure, but surly he would not kill unless provoked, and the only way the driver would provoke is if somehow the contestant found out about their mission here with the drop-off . . .
Panic swept over him as he rushed for the control screen, hoping the information on it did not get out. As he logged onto the main page, he began to shrivel up as he saw all of the files and briefings of their mission put up on screen. In headlines at the top of the screen was the name of their mission-"Operation False Hope", and below it was an infrastructure of the buildings weak spots. Not too far off were the schematics for bombs with enough power to blow off huge chunks of the tower the contestants were trying to protect
"No, no . . . he figured it out! He cannot spread the news!" The ODST said to himself in despair.
"Don't move. I have figured out your plan to sabotage us!" A sinister voice said from behind him.
Turning, the ODST found himself facing the sharp sword of Meta Knight-the same weapon that had destroyed the driver.
"What do you know? We have committed no sabotage." The ODST stuttered out.
"Those supply crates and fortifications-those were really bombs were they no? Your plan was to gain out trust to get to the critical locations of the building where underneath the supplies you promised were bombs big enough do sabotage the towers infrastructure. With parts of the building gone we would be open to attack from a larger wave of enemies than the one we just defeated." Meta Knight said angrily.
Realizing the hopeless state of his condition, the ODST hung his head. Indeed that had been the plan, and with a contestant discovering it, the situation looked bleak. Staring into the yellow eyes of Meta Knight's mask, the trooper knew he would not leave this ship alive-Meta Knight was ready to defeat him. Realizing his end was inevitable, the trooper signed, then gathered the determination within him to say three small words.
"Execute the plan!"
In that instant a loud explosion filled the ears of everyone present, and a terrible roar like that of thunder rumbled all around. The tower itself was shook to the core, as thee large sections of the towers infrastructure were blown away in a mere few seconds. Fire began to spread upwards towards the building's roof, and immediately after the explosion stopped, voices of confusion, fear, and terror reigned throughout the building.
"What the bloody . . ." Ghost began to say.
"It was a trap! We've lost three critical points on the building!" Nathan Drake shouted over what was left of the com.
"How bad is the damage?" Samus asked deadpan, anger hinted by the sinister quality of her voice.
"Look at the durned map of the building! She won't hold if we lose more areas like them!" Marston said.
"Wait, what of the escorts we sent with the soldiers?" Snake asked suddenly.
"Oh, no . . . Sora, Mario, Roy! Anyone there, respond!" Link shouted desperately over the com.
Only silence answered him, and for a minor second all was still. As much as they all wanted to hear from the three escorts, only the departed could have told them, as the fate of the three was hard to bare.
As they had approached the site where the troopers were to deploy their defenses, Roy had become increasingly nervous. Nothing about the dark and armored troopers suited him, and he knew enough about past Smash Worlds to know betrayal was all too much a possibility. As they drew close to the area, he rested his hand upon his sword, ready for anything.
Making it to the exact spot, the ODST's had halted suddenly, and a dead silence fell over the room they were in.
"Well, aren't you a'gonna set it up?" Mario questioned.
"We . . . have orders to wait until we get the all-clear from the ship." The ODST said simply.
"You already had orders to deploy this material, why would you need orders to begin . . . unless . . ." Roy stammered before coming to a horrifying conclusion.
Immediately drawling his sword from his sheath, Roy pointed it at the soldiers, defiance showing in his face.
"Mario, Sora . . . why don't we check those 'defense' crates-see what's really inside them!" Roy said.
Giving silent nods, all three approached the troopers and their crates. Growing worried, the ODST's went for their guns, only to hear the order they were waiting for go across their coms.
"Execute the plan."
Instantly, one of the troopers pressed a trigger on his arm, and the crates exploded in a giant ball of fire and toxic gasses. Realizing they would be incinerated, Roy activated his shield-a tactic he knew how to use since all Smashers in past games had one, and quickly tried to cover the front of both Mario and Sora. For whatever reason, and much to the surprise of Roy, he found his own shield merging with that of the other two's, who, while both unconscious from the blast, managed to somehow project theirs.
Combining their three shields, Roy tried to hold off the blast, but as the fire and explosives grew strong, the more he realized that the shield would not hold enough to save all three of them. In an instant, he desperately realized what he must do-if he could leave the shield but keep his shielding power with the other two, he shield just might be enough to save two-whatever happened he was now sure it would certainly not save three.
Bowing his head in understanding, he took one last look at both the fighters before jumping out of the shield and into the blast, where he instantly screamed in pain as he pixilated into nothing.
Elsewhere the blast had done similar and even worse damage. From his point by the bottom of the building, Solid Snake ran for a generator room to see the schematics of the building. The design showed that at the bottom of the building was being held up by eight pegs that jutted into the ground-four main ones at each corner supported by four smaller ones in between each of the main four. Judging by where the explosions were taking place, Snake came to disturbing conclusion.
The bombs had ripped major holes on three different levels and sides of the building-more than that, they had each been by corners. These blasts would cause more pressure to be put on three of the main beams, causing them to sink deeper into the ground while the fourth one would stay where it was. This would cause in balance which in turn would make the building easier to topple from the ground below-if the fourth peg lost too much from the rest of the others, it would be easy to in-balance the scale enough to create a toppling of the building.
If that was not enough, Snake noticed, creating such holes in the building allowed major gaps through which structural damage would begin to erode quickly with time. As they eroded, the structure would morph to allow easier attacks-they could now have direct access to the middle of the building-and if befalling it from the bottom did not work they could always remove it piece by piece by simply removing the top as they went along.
Nothing about the situation looked good for them. The thing to do right now, Snake thought, would be to alert every one of the balance that they lost, and find some way to re-fortify it. If this was done, they might have a longer chance of surviving. Trying his com at first to no success, he finally reached the cowboy known as Marston, who in his trek down the building found himself only a few floors above Snake.
"Hey cowboy-I'm uploading the blue print of the buildings base to everyone-those blasts weakened the structure from the bottom up. Let everyone know where we need to do work defensively!"
"Names Marston-I'd prefer you call me that-unless you 'wanna start being called Rattler." He noted simply.
"Fine-advice taken-just inform everyone else!" Snake responded.
Back atop the buildings upper levels, Mewtwo reflected quietly on the damage. Several screams of horror echoed throughout the building, and his mental powers could sense the terror in so many in the tower. He for a fact knew several fighters had been lost in the bombs-well a fifth of their remaining forces had been done in by the betrayal. Better than anyone he could understand the damage done-not just to their physical power to defend, but more to their will to fight and their hope of winning. Moral would be severely down.
In the midst of his meditation, he remembered the fighter he had talked too just mere seconds ago. Growing slightly concerned, he tried to call him over his mental link.
"Meta Knight? Are you still there?" He questioned.
Through the fog of his mind Mewtwo thought he could make out a quiet grunt, and then the voice of Meta Knight filled his mind.
"It was a trap."
"Yes," Mewtwo responded, "And we were not prepared for it. Did you get affected by the blast?"
"The ship was nowhere near the blast zones, so I am still on it right now. I just destroyed one of the traitors." Meta Knight responded.
"Good. We need you back on up here. I sense this might have only been a precursor-with our defenses down, we may be more open to attack." Mewtwo said.
"It makes sense enough. Alert the others!" Meta Knight said.
Switching his mental powers to everyone he could fit in his reach, Mewtwo focuses himself inwardly and prepared a message for all the fighters to here.
"Do not be alarmed everyone-this is Mewtwo. The bombs that have just been set off were part of a betrayal trick by the enemy. We have faced severe losses-I am afraid many Smashers met their fate for the night with those bombs. More will surly follow unless we get ready for the next attack. Think about it-we have not seen the next wave yet, so these bombs must have been a precursor to weaken us before they strike."
"Makes sense," Price noted over the com, "The creature is right. We need to continue our fortifications. They'll likely be here any second, so it's time to hunker down!"
"That Snake fellow gave me instructions to show you all this map. At every terminal in the building the tower schematics can now be seen. They have created unbalance by putting pressure on one corner of the building. Any more hard hits and this whole thing could topple. We need a team of several Smashers to go and defend and mend the bottom while the rest of us hold the top. I say those in the middle stay by the windows and give covering fire." Marston said through a speaker.
"If you got vehicles or special bonuses of any kind, use them now. We may not have this position we have now forever, so it's critical we get what we can now before the chance is gone later." Samus noted.
"We'll need forces on the ground too. Has anyone heard from Altair and Sub-Zero since they touched ground?" Fox asked.
"I'm sure their fine. Someone else batter go down there and help them though," Sly Cooper suggested.
"I may be bleeding, but I'll go shown 'em a grand ole time down there!" Travis Touchdown boasted proudly.
"I'll go with you-I am more of a ground fighter anyway." Little Joe said as he fasted his boxing gloves tighter.
Before they could leave the maddening and defiant roar of Bowser broke through the communication of the fighters, and a few turned as the giant Koopa made his way to where Little Mac and Travis were. Snarling through his nostrils, he gave them one short look before nodding, as if to let them know that he would go down as well.
All together the three jumps off the tower for the ground below, hoping to aid both Altair and Sub-Zero . . . if they were still alive. Watching them go, a figure moved on the shadow of the roof, heading for the stairwell. Shadow the Hedgehog never really considered himself a team player, and while he could appreciate a motivating speech or action, he found it never worked for him. He was better off on his own, and he had his own plans for how he planned to survive the night. Already he had formed some sort of alliance early on with Marston, Master Chief, and the Arbiter-but that was more for the games in general.
Tonight the figure had stated the only goal was to stay alive as long as possible, and he could do no secret work on his own while all this chaos happened. Better for him to stay back and play his cards coolly then rush into battle head first. That type of ideology, he thought, was always Sonic's department, not his.
Speaking of Sonic, the Blue Hedgehog himself was not too far away, silently watching over the battleground before them. In any instant the battle would continue and many more would be destroyed . . . for the night only. When Sonic had last come to the Smash universe in brawl, he had been thrilled to be a part of such a high stakes and energizing game. He had been somewhat late to the whole Taboo thing, and had concerned him greatly at the time, but as soon as the games picked up after that he felt right at home in the competitive set up.
When he had heard how grand an event these new Smash games would be, he had been thrilled, and this time he would have some friends along for the journey. To Sonic it seemed almost perfect, and he was ecstatic to get started. Even when the whole opening night thing began, he felt safe in the challenge, knowing that even if they were 'destroyed' tonight, or even in the tournament, they would simply be sent to an enjoyable place to watch the rest of the events before being softly returned to their homes.
That for him began to slightly change when he witnessed the horror on the building. Contestants being pixilated into nothing and screams of horror as they did so made his inside shiver. As of yet his confidence in the games had not been shaken, but the longer he was in this tower, the sicker he felt. It was no fun watching others lose . . . not this way. It was a major blow to him, and Sonic was a hard creature to put down.
Noticing his discomfort, Knuckles the Echidna put a hand on the hedgehogs shoulder, and was about to say something when the attack struck. Out of nowhere in the sky large portals opened in a blue hue that changed the color of the sky. From these portals came purple ships with semi-reflective barriers and on their arches sideways wings heavy firepower was mounted. Within seconds nearly thirty of them had flown out of the portals and each were aimed for the tower.
"Here they come! Get the ships ready . . . and what are those things?" Falco asked.
"Banshees . . . powerful starships used by the Covenant. I have some experience with them. If you could get me to one, I could put it to good use." The Arbiter said solemnly.
"The Arwings don't have space for cargo." Falco said simply.
"Then perhaps my ship can help?" Called the voice of Nikolai over the com link.
Seconds later, a Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low rounded the corner of the tower, with Nikolai at the helm. Its strong black plating reflected off the color changing sky, and the M134 Miniguns mounted to it made it look formidable compared to the light-air Banshees.
"Get on my alien friend. I will try and get you close to one!" Nikolai said to the Arbiter as the ship quickly landed where he was standing.
Quickly they lifted off, and behind them were Falco, Ratchet, and Captain Falcon in the Arwings. The rest of the fighters resumed their positions, for the ground assault was coming too. Several more tanks and cruisers swarmed to the streets of the building, and heavily armored soldiers and knights appeared everywhere. Covenant aliens and Gek were approaching in small Phantom carries, while a horde of what must have been thirty dragons flew towards the top.
From the ground rose several ghost type Pokemon, and many Primids materialized out of thin air. Buildings were lined up with massive guns and even more helicopters and Hilo's appeared than last time, and many of DK famous enemies Krocodiles were also present. Promethean soldiers soon joined their Covenant allies, and several of the, Dead Space, aliens made their appearance.
Dry Bones and Hammer Bros began to scale the building, while a swarm of robotic bugs that looked all too familiar to Ratchet made their way towards the building. Metroids floated freely through the air searching for targets, and several Pac-Man ghosts appeared with open mouths ready to eat. Several of Crash Bandicoot's Titans were also there, and Space Invaders quickly dropped from the sky. Everything seemed to scream all out invasion.
This time there would be no silent moment before the fighting, as instantly shots were fired from every angle. Ghost, from his window in the middle, pointed his sniper on several advancing soldiers, looking for headshots with every bullet. A few meters off, Heavy stood laughing as he rained fire with his mini gun down on the enemies below. Bomberman, a determined look in his eyes, joined their assault by throwing his bombs.
From the middle of the roof, Master Chief reached into his belt to draw the marker he had gotten in his special box. It said it was for a Mantis drop, which could be very useful for this time. However Master Chief realized that he would be better out of it, as he wanted to do more than just be trapped in a machine.
"I'm calling down a Mantis-it's basically an armed mecha-bot. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll send if down if someone else will pilot it." Master Chief said simply.
"Sounds like fun-let me drive!" Ness said enthusiastically.
"Are you even old enough to have a driver's license?" Sonic asked.
"Hey man quiet! How hard can it be?" Ness asked.
"There's an auto-support system inside the mech-use it if you need help." Chief said as he threw out the marker.
"What about you-we could use you here in the fight!" Samus noted quickly.
"I'm not leaving, but I believe the defense will need my help elsewhere. Keep holding them here." Master Chief ordered, and turned away.
"I think I know where you're going, and believe me you need backup. I'm coming to."
Turning at the sound of the voice, Master Chief found himself facing a muscular figure in a black bodysuit adorned with some silver lines. His whole face was obscured by the suit, and covering his eyes was a red-tinted visor that looked just as forbidding as Master Chief's gold one.
"They call me Prophet. You are curious and want answers, and so do I. I will assist you-do not argue, for it will be no use." The figure said.
Master Chief desperately wanted to continue alone, but looking over the figure in front of him he realized trying to get him away would be no use. Looking deadpan at the man before him, he gave a slight nudge with his shoulder to tell him to come along. Replying with a short nod, Prophet followed Master Chief as they vanished down the stairs from the roof.
Up in the air the Pave Low quickly rounded the skies as the Banshees approached. Opening up with its guns, the massive helicopter tried to knock the ships out of the sky, but the pilots quickly did dodge maneuvers to evade the gunfire. Behind the Pave Low, Falco readied his Arwing as he locked onto the Banshee that was in the lead.
"Talk to me pilot. How do we get the alien close to a ship?" Falco asked over the com.
"They are too nimble and quickly for me to dock beside-the best option would be for me to get close enough to one where the alien could launch himself at the ship from my helicopter." Nikolai responded.
"Ratchet, Falcon-new plan-stun a one of those Banshees with an electric stun, and when it's down we can launch the alien on to one!" Falco ordered.
Turning the Arwing at a near 90 degree angle, Ratchet spun towards a square of five Banshees, firing his lasers at the main wings. Connecting two solid hits on the wings of two different ships, the two Banshees lost control and crashed into one and other, creating a large explosion. In response, another Banshee released a green bomb at Ratchet's ship, connecting with the nose and setting a small part of the engine on fire.
"Aw 'Danget! I'm hit." Ratchet shouted.
"The ship should have an emergency cooling factor. If the hit is not serious, then you should recover. But be careful-you can't take another hit like that!" Falco said.
Seeing his companion in danger, Captain Falcon swung his ship in front of Ratchet's to protect him. Seeing the effect of the Banshees bomb on Ratchet's Arwing, the rest of the Banshees now released theirs towards the Arwings. Grabbing the controls swiftly, Captain Falcon swung his ship upwards to miss the bombs, while Ratchet dropped below to miss them as they flew overhead.
Not too far away, the Pave Low struggled as a swarm of seven Banshees began to encircle it. Creating a makeshift ring around the helicopter, the eerie sound the ships made from their hovering rung deep into the ears of Nikolai. With them trapped in the circle, there was no way to go. In that instant the Banshees turned their guns on the helicopter and open fire, sending burning plasma into the heavy armor of the airship.
"Alien, this ship was designed to hold off lead and material projectiles, not alien lasers. She won't be able to take much more of this!" Nikolai said to the Arbiter.
"If we can clear this ring around us, and one of the support ships can paralyze a Banshee, then I can make the jump." The Arbiter said.
Seeing the Pave Low being bombarded below him, Falco gripped the controls and did a nose dive, heading straight for the outer edge of the circle. Turning on his lock-on missiles, he launched an array at the ships below him, cutting quickly through the air as the speed of his ship increased.
Taking after Falco's lead, Ratchet and Captain Falcon piloted their ships away from the continuing bombarding by the Banshee bombs. Each taking separate parts of the circle, the ships tried to hack away the ships with their missiles, quickly swarming around the circle as the Pave Low continued to take fire.
"That's it-keep blasting them; we may just have the opening we need!" Nikolai said.
Noticing that the circle was being broken, one of the Banshees broke formation and turned on its jets to blast away. Perhaps he would have too, had it not been for the quick eyes of Captain Falcon. Turning his ship to chase the lone getaway, Captain Falcon tried the lock-on sequence so he could get a good shot at it. As it turned out, it was quite the hard ship to lock-on to, as the ship used several maneuvers to evade the Arwing behind it. Twirling and flipping repeatedly in the air, the Banshee kicked up its jets to full throttle to speed away, but before it could Captain Falcon launched the electric stun of the Banshee right at the center of the Banshee, instantly cutting off its controls and paralyzing it.
"'Hoo-yeah! The ship is paralyzed. Hurry and bring the chopper around before it wears off!" Captain Falcon said with a victory cheer.
Turning the ship towards the paralyzed Banshee, Nikolai made his way to the spot as quickly as possible. As they reached where the frozen ship stood still, Nikolai swung open the side doors of the Pave Low and ushered the Arbiter to the edge.
"This is your stop my friend! Best of Luck!" The pilot shouted over the roaring winds from the altitude they were at.
With a small nod, the Arbiter jumped off the Pave Low and onto the Banshee below. Using all of his strength to open up the cockpit, the Arbiter stared hard at the driver of the ship-a blue armored Sangheili Minor. Anger and rage showed in the face of the driver of the Banshee, and quickly the creature went for the energy sword on his side. Grabbing him quickly, the Arbiter gave him and sad look and disarmed him quickly, pulling him into the air and holding him over the edge of the ship.
"I am sorry my brother. There is nothing personal about this-only survival." The Arbiter said deeply.
As soon as he said it, he released his grip on the Minor, who quickly plummeted to the ground below him, letting out a loud scream that many could hear. Hearing a member of his fellow species shout like that made the Arbiter bow his head in a bit of shame, but realizing the matter at hand he swiftly jumped into the cockpit and gripped the controls. Within seconds the ship was back on line, and hitting the thrusters the Arbiter soared up into the air on the Banshee.
"Nicely done-that gives us five good ships in the air, and we have to be ready too-there are more ships to come!" Ratchet said.
"Let's form a loose formation around the heavy helicopter! Everyone else support it because it has the big guns!" Falco ordered.
As soon as they came to formation they pointed their ships towards the opening of the portals, ready for whatever was to come. As he fiddled with the controls of his ship, Ratchet recalled something from his memory that he had said not to long ago.
"Falco," Ratchet said, "Remember a little while ago when I told you we were 'gonna be in for a long night?"
"Yeah," Falco responded questioningly.
"Well . . . I think it's 'gonna be a lot longer than I originally thought. If those fighters keep pouring out of the portals, then we could be in trouble. The bombs already caused us to lose some of the building, and by now the number of fighters in the tower is probably down to about half of what it was now. The odd are against us." Ratchet responded.
It was true, Falco could not deny that . . . but maybe it was better this way. After all, no one ever fought harder than when the chips were down and they were backed against the wall.
"I'll think I'll take those odds gladly!" Falco said with a small smile as he sped towards the portal.