The final (but definitely not best) chapter for Resonance! Resbang has taken up a lot of my writing time, so I apologize for not updating sooner. Please enjoy!
Civilians ran rampant in the streets, trying to follow military personnel out of the city while still in a panic. The mobile fortresses, eight in all, slammed their enormous feet into the ground, destroying whole roads and buildings in one movement. They let nothing, neither a fleet of armed tanks nor the crunch of a poor soul trapped beneath their feet, stand between them and their objective. The order for the destruction of the D Tank had been given. And only Maka had the key to halt the order.
"Squad Leader, I'm headed for number seven!" she announced over the radio as she and Soul advanced towards the fortresses. "Now we just have to find it…"
"There between six and eight!" Soul shouted. The other fortresses were spread out, their numbers painted along the sides of their metal bodies, but platforms six, seven, and eight made their way towards City Hall in a tight group. "Shinigami must have programmed them to protect the control box!"
Rung and a few others in Landmates rushed past the group of fortresses. "Five is advancing, focus it!"
"No! Focus six and eight!" Maka shouted. "Bring them down!"
Pausing for a moment, Rung growled before turning around towards six. "This plan of yours better work, Albarn!" He and his men opened fire on platform six, aiming for the legs. If they could not destroy it, they could at least keep it from reaching the D Tank. One final rocket destroyed a portion of the platform's leg and sent it tumbling to the ground. "Heading to eight now, get to that damn box!"
Soul pulled up ahead of Maka. "Go find it, I'll distract seven!"
The head of her mech nodded to him before she dove for the ground below platform seven. She watched its guns aim for him, bullets narrowly missing, as she searched for the control box. For a moment she worried that Tsubaki had told her the wrong platform number, but soon she spotted the box. As she made her way towards it, platform eight found her. Just as Rung's men brought down its legs, the platform fired at her. Its bullets just grazed her as she grabbed hold of a bar on platform seven. Despite not receiving the attack head-on, her Landmate was severely damaged. There was no way she could continue safely in the mech.
And so she took a leap of faith out of the cockpit, reaching for another hold on the platform with her human hands. The mech fell to the city floor below, and she pulled herself up towards the control box.
"All but platforms six and eight have reached City Hall," she heard Soul's voice over the radio. "They're starting to climb! Maka, do it!"
With the press of a button, the control box came to life, a computer screen prompting her to follow the shut down sequence. Spartoi continued shouting orders over the radio as she broke through two of the three overrides. Platforms three and five reached the top of the enormous building, revealing even larger weaponry than they had used prior to their ascent. As she got through the final override, the shut down button was released for her to press. The screen asked her to input the password. With only the letters "Tsub" typed in, a stray bullet from one of the other fortresses hit the box, scrambling most of the screen. Maka managed to enter the letter "a" before the keyboard refused to enter any more.
"C'mon, work! What is happening?!" she shrieked as she mashed the letters "ki". Only "Tsuba" remained on the screen. She slammed her hand down on the shut down button, hoping that the box had picked up the final letters of the password. "INCORRECT PASSWORD" flashed on the screen. "It isn't working! I don't know what to do!" she shouted over the radio as she typed in "Tsuba" again.
"Keep trying! We have to stop them!" Soul shouted to her as he neared her. Suddenly, the platform shot at him, his Landmate taking a direct hit. The mech fell apart around him, allowing him to escape before it exploded into a fireball beneath him.
Time stood still for a moment as Maka rushed to catch him, forgetting about the password for a moment. She managed to grab his arm, not quite ready for his full weight but still keeping her foothold on the platform.
"Maka, let me go!"
"Forget it! I'm not losing you again!" she shouted back at him as she struggled to reach the keyboard once more. She pressed the next letter, the letter "k" appearing on the screen. She felt her foothold slip a moment, and the keyboard became too far for her to reach. She chanced a glance up to platforms three and five as their guns readied their final attack. They were out of time.
"Just let me go! Think of who's more important here!"
Ignoring Soul's pleads for her to drop him, she continued to reach for the control box. "Mama… help me…" she breathed.
The screen flashed "Tsubaki" for a moment before turning green and giving her full access to the shut down button. Just within reach of the button, she smashed her fist into it.
Immediately, the guns on the fortresses powered down. The city, covered in smoke and debris, stood silent for a moment. The legs beneath all the remaining fortresses collapsed beneath them, keeping them rooted to where they stood.
"All of the fortresses have shut down! D Tank is secure!" Rung announced over the radio. All of Spartoi shouted out in rejoice as citizens of Mors cautiously crept back into the streets.
Able to use both her hands again, Maka pulled Soul up onto the platform with her. Feet securely on the metal body, he tackled her in a hug. "I knew you could do it," he whispered in her ear. She smiled, wrapping her arms around him. Wind whipped around them, and they parted to find a helicopter had come to their rescue.
Black Star and Tsubaki smiled at them as a door opened to let the two pilots aboard. "Get a room, you two!" the mechanic cackled, patting the cyborg on the back once they were safely inside. Maka simply rolled her eyes and moved to hug Tsubaki, fully recovered from her procedure.
"We were all so worried," Tsubaki said, wiping tears from her eyes. "But I had faith. I knew you wouldn't let us down."
"Thanks for that," Maka replied. As the helicopter pulled away from City Hall, she stared at the holes made by the fortresses and remembered that there had still been people inside. "What about Akihito?! The girls! Shinigami! They were all-"
"Liz, Patty, and Akihito are all fine," Tsubaki reassured her. "They were evacuated before the fortresses reached City Hall. But Shinigami…" The bioroids eyes dropped to the floor of the helicopter.
"He… didn't make it out…?"
Black Star set a hand on her arm. "He was an old geezer. Should have been dead long ago, but Shibusen had him on life support. When he shut it down, he knew he was going down, too. He was dead before the fortresses even got there. Nothing we coulda done."
Maka went silent for a moment, trying to make sense of all that had happened. "But… if no one was at the computer when they got to City Hall… The final letter of the password…"
"It's been left to us now," Soul interrupted her. He held her hand tightly. "We've got a future to protect, right?"
She looked around to all of her comrades, all her friends. A smile crept to her face, and she nodded.
...
It's not as if anything has changed, and the sins of humanity may only get worse. But there's always a chance the next generation will learn from our mistakes. Because they are the true new race of man. So I'll keep fighting, for our children's sake.