In the plains where Nitori's workshop was located, a battalion of robots began to search the area for anything of value. As they approached Nitori's house, an alarm began blaring. "Attention intruders," it said. "You have entered the private property of Nitori Kawashiro. If you do not wish to be painfully removed from the premises, please go back the way you came now." The robots, of course, ignored the warning and found their way to the source of the alarm. "Ok, I warned you," the alarm said, before arcs of electricity began jumping out of seemingly random places in the wall, striking the robots one by one. Though the robots were insulated against magic, they were not protected against electricity, and the sudden influx of power fried the circuits (and burned the money that was their fuel) of each one that was hit. As some of their number were struck, the robots attempted to scan where the most likely spot for the generator could be, and raced towards it. When they reached it, there were only two robots left, one of which immediately hit the generator with their bat, destroying both itself and the generator in one swing.
The last robot remaining entered Nitori's workshop. Seeing a strange box on the table, it assumed the box was important and could contain a weapon for the fight, as the locked crates sometimes did at Mann Co. It reached down and opened the lid-at which point it was promptly punched in the head so hard its faceplate crumpled. The scanned copy of Dell's gunslinger landed on the (now destroyed) robot and wagged its pointer finger, before attempting to crawl along the floor towards freedom.
On the Tengu Mountain, Kanako felt a sudden pain and nearly dropped her teacup. "Miss Kanako? Is something wrong?" Sanae said, noticing the slight tremor. Kanako was about to reply when a loud ripping noise split the air. Running outside, they arrived just in time to see strange metallic men begin parachuting out of a tear in the sky. Sanae brought her hands to her cheeks and let out an excited whoop. "Oh, that's so cool! It's like that scene from-" she said, jumping a little, which thankfully caused a bullet to whiz right by where her feet had been. "From, from, from," she said, seemingly stuck in her thoughts due to the bullet.
"Sanae," Kanako yelled, raising a pillar in front of her as more bullets came her way.
"Wh-wh-why are they shooting at us? H-how are they shooting at us?" Sanae said, panicking just a little bit.
"I don't know," Kanako said, "But they won't be for long." She began summoning more pillars, knocking some more of the robots out of the sky, though there were too many for her to get all of them. As they fell, they began to maneuver towards the pair, attempting to get a clear shot at them.
Sanae flung some danmaku at them as they approached, but they seemed to vanish into nothingness as they approached the robots.
Sanae stared at her hands for a second before attempting to launch another wave, only to have it fail as well. "My danmaku," she said, shocked. "It's not working." As she said that, the first of the robots who'd maneuvered into a good position to shoot took aim. Sanae flinched and closed her eyes, preparing for the worst, when there was a loud noise of metal hitting metal. She opened one eye to see that the first wave of robots who had found a sight line had been crushed by the falling debris of the robots that had been destroyed in Kanako's first attack. Sanae breathed a sigh of relief. Kanako began moving her summoned pillars around, smashing them into as many of the robots she could. Slowly, however, she began to tire, and the pillars slowed down. Eventually, out of breath, Kanako collapsed onto Sanae, and the pillars ground to a halt. The few robots remaining approached them cautiously, guns trained on Kanako's head.
As they approached, they paused to try and identify the source of a fluttering noise. Eventually, they identified it as a member of the Pentatomidae family of insects, and as they tracked it, it fluttered over to the two women and perched itself on Sanae's hand. She let out a snort, and barely managed to contain her giggles. "Sanae?" Kanako asked, concerned.
"S-sorry," she said. "It's just, this stink bug picked probably the worst time to come back here, didn't it." Kanako blinked, and then let out a low, throaty laugh.
The robots, who had been momentarily distracted by their laughter, once again pointed their weapons at the pair. "Begin elimination in three," the lead robot said.
Sanae closed her eyes, while Kanako glared at the robots.
"Tw-" the robot managed to get out, before it found it could no longer speak. Looking down, it saw the tip of a sword sticking out of its neck. Puzzled, it attempted to grab the sword, at which point Momiji sliced straight upwards, cutting the robot's head in two. Before the other couple robots could react, she sprinted up to them and, with one quick swing, cleaved their heads from their bodies, causing them to explode. As soon as she saw the pair was safe, she fell onto her back, panting with exertion.
"Ms. Momiji," Sanae said, hurrying over as fast as she could while still supporting Kanako. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," she managed to get out between pants. "Just a bit tired." Sanae sighed in relief.
"Thanks so much, Ms. Momiji," Sanae said. "I don't know what we'd have done without you."
Sighing, Kanako nodded. "We were in a bit of a pinch." She paused, realizing there was a question she hadn't asked. "Not that I'm complaining, but why did you come up here, Momiji?"
Momiji grimaced, and looked a bit embarrassed. "I, well, um-" she said, before giving up with a sigh. "I was chasing the stink bug."
"Eh?" Sanae said.
"I have a sensitive nose, alright? So when that bug just went and squirted that disgusting aroma at me while I was at my post, I may have gotten a little angry," she said.
They all looked at the stink bug, which was still on Sanae's hand. Startled by all the sudden attention, it promptly squirted stink juice into the air and flew away, causing the group to begin coughing and waving their hands in a futile attempt to ward the smell away.
A few robots touched down in the forest of magic, though the trees made sure a majority of them didn't even make it to the ground. Those that did walked through the trees towards an energy spike in a shack near the edge of the forest. Quite a few were picked off by the vegetation, despite their attempts to be stealthy. Still, six robots managed to make it to the shack. The demoman robots blew up the door with grenades, and the others (two scouts, a soldier, and a medic) rushed in to find no one there. Cautiously, they crept onwards, until they heard a couple of voices talking behind a door.
"Wow, that's really impressive. How did you do that?" a man's voice said.
"Ah, i-it's not much, really. It's just part of being a youkai," a woman's voice responded. "T-this isn't even that impressive."
"Don't sell yourself short," the man said again. "That's really useful."
The robots burst through the door guns blazing, and found themselves in another empty room. Confused, they began looking around, before they heard a noise from back where the Demoman robots had been standing guard. Turning around, the two Scout bots ran back to the entrance to find the two Demoman robots had had their heads crushed, sparks flying from where they'd been caved in. They fanned out to begin exploring, when from around a corner Hoshi appeared suddenly and swung his shovel down at a Scoutbot's head, crushing it. Before the others could react, Ishida showed up from behind and crushed the other Scoutbot's head with a rather heavy book, and an arrow from Eirin's bow took care of the Medicbot. The remaining Soldierbot started firing at the three it could see, but Shomei formed a reflective bubble in the pattern of a prayer bead around him, causing his rockets to reflect back into him and destroy him.
"Whew," Ishida said, sitting down. "I don't know how you lift heavy things like this all day."
Hoshi shrugged, hefting his shovel back over his shoulder. "You do it for years, eventually it becomes a habit."
"Ah, so that's what you can do, Ms. Shomei," Eirin said.
"Yes," Shomei said, quietly. "It was more meant for danmaku than whatever that was though. I didn't think he'd blow himself up like that."
"It's troubling," Eirin said. "I've never seen weaponry like this before. I should probably get back to Eintei, just in case. You are welcome to come with me, Shomei."
Shomei nodded. She walked over to Hoshi and Ishida, who were discussing proper lifting techniques. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you," she said, bowing deeply.
"What?" Hoshi and Ishida said. "You didn't cause us trouble," Ishida continued. "This is all my fault. I'm so sorry that we tried to use you like that. Even if you offered, it was just, we were stupid."
"We're the ones who are sorry," Hoshi said, as they both bowed as deeply as possible.
"Ah, but-" Shomei began.
"No buts. Just accept their apology," Eirin said.
"O-ok," Shomei said, looking uncomfortable. "I-I forgive you."
"Great," Eirin said. "Now we must be off. Mr. Hoshi and Mr. Ishida, know that if I catch you doing anything else like this again, I'll leave your fate in far less merciful hands than mine.
"G-got it," Ishida said, while Hoshi nodded emphatically. Eirin quickly began leading Shomei back through the forest, while Ishida and Hoshi began cleaning up the broken robot parts.
A large amount of robots crashed into the gardens of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, crushing a variety of hedges and flowers as they landed. Heavy bots and Medic bots began to untangle themselves from the greenery, when Meiling ran up to see her garden, which she surveyed with horror. Her eyes eventually landed on the robots and narrowed, before she began breathing deeply. The robots, confused, began to rev up their miniguns, when her eyes flew open and she sped forward at a blazing speed, a rainbow aura appearing behind her. Before the Heavybots could fire, she had already punched straight through one of their heads, and gripped the other side of his head, and spun in place until she built up enough speed to fling the robot at a clustered group of heavy bots, all of which collapsed in a pile.
Before she could charge at the pile of robots, the sound of a rocket firing distracted her, but it blew up in mid air. Turning to look at where the sound came from, Meiling saw a bunch of destroyed Soldier bots, knives sticking out of them in a variety of places. "You should watch your back more," Sakuya said, patting her on the shoulder.
"Cut me some slack," Meiling said, sending a flurry of punches and kicks at the pile of robots, breaking them into bits. "I only have so much time to take care of intruders before you get here."
"Well, really," Remillia said, spearing a few Scout bots that had been rushing the pair from behind, "when they make a noise like that, you have no time at all before she's down here."
"Wait, you mean you waited to help me?" Meiling said, wiping her hands.
"I didn't want to rob you of your revenge," Sakuya replied, shrugging.
Koakuma appeared from around the side of the building, carrying a few scraps of some Demoman robots, and magically inspected the scraps. "Someone's done some shoddy anti-magic proofing on these. It's serviceable, but I think it can be broken with a decent amount of direct magic expenditure."
Flandre's laughter came from the other side of the house, along with a series of exploding noises. "Well, I'm glad they provided an outlet for Flandre, whoever they are. I'm going to go back in for tea, I think. Meiling, I hope the garden will be cleared up before my nightly stroll."
Meiling surveyed the wreckage of her garden again, before sighing heavily. "I'll do what I can, mistress." She rolled her shoulders and began the slow process of carrying way the broken wire structures and sweeping up the scattered flowers and vines.
A few robots landed in the bamboo forest of the lost, but despite the anti-magic coating, they still got turned around and confused. Quite a few simply wandered off into the forest until their batteries died. Some managed to find their way towards Eintei, but fell into pit traps that seemed to have been created out of thin air. A group would fall into a pit, and the rest would try going a different way, and would fall into a different pit. Despite their best efforts, the robots couldn't get any closer to Eintei than they were, until eventually they gave up and went the other way, getting lost in the forest as well.
When Reisen found Tewi later, she was smirking knowingly. "Oh no. What did you do, Tewi?" Reisen said, looking around in apprehension.
Tewi laughed. "How cruel. I was just working my butt off to give you some peace of mind."
Reisen gave her a skeptical look. "Well, if that's true, then thank you. But please don't let that be an excuse not to work."
"Fine, fine," Tewi said with a sigh. As Reisen walked away, Tewi smirk took on an evil tone. She couldn't wait for when Reisen discovered the robot head she'd put in her bed.
And, of course, those robots that attempted to land in the Garden of the Sun were destroyed horribly as soon as they touched the ground. The less said about what happened to them, the better, though the sunflowers did look brighter and fuller afterwards.
Back at the shrine, an emergency council had been brought together, consisting of the entire RED team, Reimu, Marisa, and Suwako, while the rest of those in attendance attempted to drive back the robots. "Right then," the Sniper said, over the sound of pained and exerted grunts and breaking metal. "We need a plan. Any ideas?" the Sniper said.
"Yes!" the Soldier said, standing at attention.
"One that doesn't involve blowing everything up trying to find him," the Sniper said.
The Soldier scowled, rubbing his chin in thought.
"Right, didn't think so," the Sniper said.
"Vell, I may have somezhing ve could do draw him out," the Medic said, reluctantly.
"Lay it on us, doc," the Sniper said.
The Medic pulled out the syringe Eirin had let him keep. "Zhis is a substance I acquired earlier, known as refined youkai extract."
At the sound of the word "refined," all the other team members' eyes shot up. "Give me this magical strength potion," the Soldier said, reaching out to take it from the Medic, before the Medic slapped his hand away.
"I vould not recommend zhat," the Medic said, scowling. "It is a very powerful substance," he continued. "but it vill destroy you from zhe inside out if you take it. Still, he doesn't know zhat. If ve can make him believe zhat it vould make him more powerful, I zhink he vould try and take it from us and use it."
"Well, while that's a nice plan, Doc, it doesn't really help us find him," the Sniper said. "I mean, unless we start bragging in front of his robots about it, he's not going to know about this 'secret weapon,' we've supposedly got, and I don't think he would fall for something that obvious."
"I can get it to him," the strange man who'd met them with Reimu said, appearing behind them.
"Gah," the Sniper said, turning around, his kukri in hand. "Would it kill you to speak up before you're right behind me?" he said. "A man can only get snuck up on so many times before he gets paranoid."
"My apologies," the man said, a small smile gracing his features. "But I assure you, I can get that to him."
"You know where he is, do you?" the Spy said.
"Yes," the man said, still smiling, causing the group to blink in surprise.
"What? How?" the Scout said.
"Secret," he said. "But I believe Ms. Reimu can vouch for me," he said, turning to look at her. She gave him a scrutinizing look, before nodding, seemingly satisfied.
"Are you sure about zhis, Ms. Reimu? Zhis is zhe only sample I have. If he's lying or incompetent, ve von't get anozher chance," the Medic said.
"He's telling the truth," she said.
"What is he, some kind of ninja?" Marisa said.
The man blinked in thought, before his smile widened. "Interesting. That comparison is not entirely inaccurate."
"Wait, really?" Marisa said in surprise. "Oh, that's awesome. You'll have to teach me to be all sneaky sometime."
Reimu and Suwako shuddered. "Vetoed," Reimu said.
"Yeah, considering what you get up to without amazing stealth skills, I shudder to think what could happen if you learned stuff like that," Suwako said.
"Spoilsports," Marisa said, pouting.
"Doctor," the man said, holding out his hand. The Medic reached the syringe out towards him, but hesitated. "Is there something wrong, Doctor?" the man said, still holding his hand out.
"Oh, I'm just having a hard time letting it go. I could do so much vith zhis. So much," he said, looking off into the distance.
"Doctor," the Heavy said sadly, putting his hand on the Medic's shoulder.
"Ah," the Medic said, startled out of his daydream. "Yes, yes, fine." Relenting, the Medic placed the syringe into the man's hand. "Excellent," the man said, closing his hand around the syringe and dropping his disguise, revealing himself to be a slightly damaged Spybot.
The group cursed as he began moving towards the portal as he cloaked. The Soldier yelled and charged in the direction the Spybot had been moving, swinging his shovel wildly.
"Ah, crap, crap, crap," the Scout said, running after him, bat in hand.
"Perhaps you are not such great judge of character as you think," the Heavy said to Reimu, who frowned.
The Sniper massaged his forehead, while Dell fiddled with his PDA, a stern expression on his face.
The Medic was furious. "Zhat sample vas one of a kind! Vhen ve find zhat Spybot again, I vill make it vish it had never been created. It vill envy zhe Spy in our refrigerator."
"Well," the Spy said. "I suppose we must prepare a Plan B."
"I wouldn't, just yet," Reimu said.
"Did you not see that thing just run off with the syringe?" Marisa said, annoyed. Reimu gave her a withering glare.
"Yes, I saw. I knew what he was," she said, simply.
"You bloody what?" the Sniper said, incredulously. "You knew what he was and still let us give him the syringe? Why the hell would you do that?"
"Because it didn't come in with the rest of them," she said. "It came in with all of you."
"Eh?" the Sniper said, stopping mid-tirade.
"It fell in with the rest of you. Had a chance to kill me, didn't, and so I decided to give it a shot at being my servant," she said. "He was doing pretty well until now."
"It didn't kill you when it had the chance? What's special about you then?" the Engineer said, curious.
"Don't know," Reimu said, shrugging. "I think it got changed by its journey here, since it didn't act like all these others. Probably Yukari's doing, honestly. I don't know how much she's done to affect those that cross the border."
"So is slightly different. Still, what if turn back to normal when go through portal?" the Heavy said.
Reimu frowned. "I don't think it can. You can't reverse that kind of change."
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" the Sniper said.
"Will," she said, simply. "It has it's own will, unlike these others," she said, nodding her head towards where the battle still raged. The Oni and Tavish were managing to destroy most of the robots, though a few Oni were lying on the ground, unmoving. Defender Sukasa moved between them, performing what little first aid she could to those that needed it. Unfortunately, more robots just kept coming in through the portal, though at least a couple were going back through the portal, possibly reporting to Grey Mann.
"Well apparently it's still loyal to his maker, even with its own will," the Spy said. "In any case, might I suggest we try and follow some of those robots back through the portal? Presumably they're reporting to their maker."
"Sure, if you have some way for us to get past the flood of robots," the Sniper said, pointing towards the army of robots in between them and the portals. "Something that gets all of us there, not just you," he said, preempting the Spy's response.
"Ah, well, now you've gone and made it more difficult," the Spy said.
"This going nowhere," the Heavy said, sighing. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. "Heavy may as well start punching robots. Might clear path." He walked off towards the fight, when there was suddenly a massive flare of light and heat from amidst the growing crowd of robots.
Waves of fire consumed everything in a large radius around where Mokou had fallen, destroying about a tenth of the robots in the shrine's area, and distracting the rest. "That's it," Mokou said, standing up, her eyes full of fury. "Where the hell'd that little bastard go?"
"You're ok," the Pyro said through Terry, hugging her happily. There were a few burn marks on their suit, but they didn't seem to mind. "I was so worried when the rainbows faded, but then they flashed so brightly and now you're back," the Pyro said, clapping their hands together excitedly.
"Ah, yeah, yeah" Mokou said, a bit embarrassed. "I…do that. Anyway, what happened? Is Keine alright? I'm gonna kill that little sonuva-" she began, before Tavish skidded to a halt right in front of them.
"Ha," he said, getting up and clapping her on the shoulder. "Tha' was bloody brillian'! Good goin' playin' dead, lassie."
"Uh, yeah, thanks," she said. "What happened to-" she started asking, before he waved her off.
"Tha' teacher ya got so worked up abou's fine. Some a' Delly's turrets took care a' those robots. And the guy who ordered it isn' even on this side a' the portal," he said, gesturing to where the portals were still spitting out robots.
"That cowardly little-" Mokou said, spitting out flames behind her. "Do we have a plan to get to him? Because I want in. No one threatens Keine like that without being burned to a crisp."
"Well, I think the other guys were coming up with something," Tavish said, pointing back towards the rest of the RED team. "I've been busy helping ou' the Oni. Ya know, ya didn' have ta take playin' dead tha' far," he said, frowning. "I mean, ya coulda just kept looking aroun' an' stuff, so I wouldn' have ta let ya know all this."
Mokou looked away briefly and covered her eyes, before nodding towards the rest of the RED team. "They were making a plan, right?"
"Huh? Ah, yeah," Tavish said.
"Great, thanks," she said. "You gonna come with?" she asked the Pyro, who nodded, and they headed off towards the rest of the RED team.
Tavish shrugged, and charged back to the group of Oni who were trying to use the sudden loss of a large part of the robot forces to their advantage, by destroying as many of the remainder as possible. Above him, Merasmus and the Bombinomicon summoned a few bombs to attack Caucior.
"What kind of wizard threatens innocent children?" Merasmus yelled at Caucior as they floated above the battlefield.
"It wasn't my idea," Caucior yelled back, trying to deflect the bombs with a shield spell, though some managed to get through and blow up in his face. "But it worked out fine, ok? Anyway, I just went along with this to get at you. I still need to pay you back for my loss at the magician conference!" He threw a ball of light at Merasumus that exploded in midair, though Merasmus seemed to deflect them all easily enough.
"What are you talking about? I didn't win the conference competition, you did," Merasmus said, summoning a few more bombs that flew towards Caucior on wings.
"What?" Caucior said, dropping his guard, letting the bombs explode next to him. "Aargh, that hurt!" Caucior yelled, patting out flames on his robe. "If you didn't have that stupid book you'd be worthless, you know!" he said, bitterly.
"You dare doubt the power of the great Merasmus?" Merasmus said, an eyebrow twitching angrily. "Bombinomicon! Go watch with Mima as my magic destroys this fool with ease!"
"Uh, you sure boss? It's been a while since you've fought without me," the book said.
"Well, that might be true," Merasmus said, deflating slightly, "but skills like mine never fade!"
"Ok then boss. Good luck, buddy," the book said, floating over to Mima. "Hey lady, how's it going?"
Mima's gave the Bombinomicon an irritated glare. "I'm not thrilled," she said, causing the book to shiver slightly. "These robots and that third-rate wizard have completely ruined my wedding." She glanced at the book for a second, an evil smirk forming on her face as she got an idea. "Hey Mer-Mer!" she said, getting Merasmus' attention, "Do you mind if I borrow this for a second?" she said, pointing to the Bombinomicon.
"Oh, um, of course dear," he said, dodging a missile of arcane energy that flew towards his face. "Just be careful with it, ok?"
"Careful? Me?" Mima said, feigning offense. "It's almost like you don't know me at all."
Merasmus laughed nervously. "P-Please?"
"Ok, ok," Mima said, letting out a light chuckle. "Just for you, dear." She floated over to the impromptu strategy session that Mokou and the Pyro had just arrived at.
"Look, can't we just smash through 'em or something? A surgical strike or whatever?" Marisa was saying.
"Zhat's not a surgical strike unless your doctor uses a hammer to perform an appendectomy," the Medic said.
"Didn't you do that to the Scout just a couple weeks ago?" Dell asked, frowning.
"Vhat? Oh, yes. But zhat vas an experimental treatment. Not a very good one, as it turns out," the Medic said, smiling. "Zhese zhings happen."
"Hey you guys need help getting to that robot-making menace?" Mima said, butting in.
"Yes," the Sniper said, exasperated. "For the love of god, I can't keep having this argument any more."
"Awww, I didn't know you loved me," Suwako said. "I'm flattered, but you're really too young for me."
The Sniper gave Suwako a pointed stare, before looking at Mima in the desperate hope that she'd have some way to get him out of that conversation. She looked at him sadly and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you win her heart. You'll just have to keep at it." The Sniper groaned and buried his face in his hands. "With regards to getting back through the border though, I brought this guy," she said, pointing over her shoulder to the book.
"Hey guys," the Bombinomicon said. "We gonna blow something up? It's getting boring around here." A robot crash landed in the middle of them and was quickly destroyed by Mokou's fire.
"Is this really the only way to get back? How did you come through, anyway?" the Spy asked.
"Oh, Reimu and Yukari gave me a pass," she said, waving a piece of paper. "It only lets me take one person along though."
"Wha-Reimu, is that true?" Marisa asked.
Reimu sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, it's true. Initially it was just for that conference she wanted to go to, but then she met her 'Mer-Mer'" she said, shuddering, "and basically forced us to extend it. It kept her out of my hair, so I didn't really mind."
"Why Reimu, I'm wounded," Mima said, placing her hands over her heart.
"No you're not," Reimu said, flatly. "And before any of you ask," she said to the rest of the group, "I can't make those passes without Yukari."
"No, but this guy can get us through," Mima said, grabbing the Bombinomicon.
"Ooh, are we blowing open the border again? Oh boy, oh boy, this is gonna be great," the book said. The RED team looked at her skeptically.
"Uh, hate to burst your bubble, but doesn't that generate a lot of, well, suction? Won't all these other people get sucked in too?" Dell said, giving a meaningful glace at the Oni.
"It only generates suction for the people we want it to," Mima said. "I mean, Mer-Mer and I didn't get pulled in when we first brought you here."
"You're just a Swiss army knife of bombs, aren't you?" Dell said to the Bombinomicon.
"I don't got this name for nothing," it said.
"Well what are we waiting for, maggot? I've got robots to kill," the Soldier said.
"Wai-" the Sniper managed to get out, before Mima waved her hands and chanted "Porta ad Aliud Planum Convocem via Magnum Crepitus," causing a large bomb to appear again. "-t. Damn. You piker," he continued.
Mima gasped, dramatically putting a hand over her chest. "I take offense to that. I'm really more of a pikeress."
The Sniper scowled, but before he could respond, the bomb exploded, sucking him, the rest of the RED team (though Tavish and the Scout ended up taking a bit longer to get pulled in, as they were pulled from even further away), Suwako, Mokou, and Marisa through.