After a bit of climbing, the group reached the very top of the SPECTRA building. On a platform was Kale himself. Right behind him was the very AI he was about to test, SPECTRA. It was a sort of diamond-shaped device with a gold and gray paint job, with all sorts of glowing red compartments. And close to its computers, connected to it in a glass container, was the Vambrace of Shem-Ha.
"Nowhere to run, Kale!" Korsica declared.
"Gotta admit, you work really well together," Kale admitted.
"You're NOT going through with this." Peppermint insisted.
"You activate SPECTRA for real, the deity inside that Vambrace takes over your AI and the world ends!" Connor said.
"I won't let you dissuade me from this, cowboy. You know how you get to the top? Having VISION. Something all of YOU lack." Kale said.
"Enough, Kale. You can't stop all of us." Chai said.
"So just shut this down already," Connor said as he and Chai moved forward.
"Don't think so. You've had a few hits, but I think it's time we break up the band." Kale said, snapping his fingers and separating Chai and Connor from the others with another Harmonic Barrier.
"Dammit, Kale!" Peppermint said.
"How about it, Chai? Come on my side, I can make you a REAL 'rockstar'. World famous." Kale persuaded. "And you, Connor. Aren't you tired of playing second fiddle to real stars of the show? With my influence, you'd be more than just some C-lister. Forget one office in a big city. I can make you have it all."
"Forget it, Kale. I'm not taking the easy way." Connor said. "I don't want to take any handouts in trying to make me and my team successful as Heroes for Hire. I wanna get there by earning everything by working hard myself. What good is having a life and a second chance if you don't give it your best shot to make it work? That's what I'm doing, and that's what Chai's done to this point too."
"He's totally right, Kale. So you know what? We're good." Chai said.
"You know what? Doesn't matter. We all know who are the Target users of SPECTRA." Kale replied.
Kale then cast off his suit, revealing his heavily modified body, being entirely cybernetic from the neck down. The appearance was adjusted instantly to include a long mechanical coat. His robotic implants share the same color attire he normally dons, but now with a blue line on his chest reminiscent of a tie. He then raised his right hand as SPECTRA activated, the Logo appearing on the back of his palm.
He then sent a controlling wave at both Chai and Connor, hitting them dead on before they could react. Chai's MP3 Player shut down as he was thrown to the ground. Connor was also affected, as he gained a purple glow and went completely stiff and unresponsive.
"Two more pawns, and these two should fare me better." Kale said as he raised his arm, as Chai rose up, his eyes completely glazed over with a remotely relaxed expression.
"We're both proud to be members of the Vandelay Family." Chai said as he and Connor both walked towards Kale.
"Chai would never say something like that!" Macaron said.
"Yeah, well that's the point, I'm controlling him and the cowboy with the-" Kale tried to explain, when suddenly from out of nowhere, 808 jumped on his face and started attacking him. "What the..?!" Kale asked, throwing the robot off his face. 808 recovered, however, and she actually seemed ready to fight herself.
"YES YES YES YES YES YES, 808!" Peppermint cheered.
Chai and Connor both zombie walked to Kale, who was so upset he threw them both against SPECTRA's control console, sandwiching them both against it.
(Cue: The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails)
After the impact, Chai's MP3 Player started beating again as his eyes twitched, and Connor's Ichiaival fell off his neck and started glowing near him, falling near his legs. But Kale didn't notice at all because he was too preoccupied with 808 confronting him.
"Is this a joke? You think- You think I can't deal with a CAT?" Kale asked before drawing a beam katana from his right arm.
Vs. Kale
FIGHT!
The fight began in earnest, awkward as it was, 808 scurrying towards Kale in an attempt to save Chai and Connor.
"What do you think YOU can do?" Kale asked as he sent waves of fire at 808.
The robotic cat companion was able to jump over them all and time it just right with the music playing. She eventually reached Kale, jumped up to him at eye level, and landed a good hit with her claw on Kale's hand that held his SPECTRA control device.
"Stupid machine…!" Kale said, jumping to the other side of the platform. "This'll stop you!" he sent out even more waves of energy after that, Some even delayed. But 808 was able to get past them and reach Kale again, this time destroying the control module on his hand.
With Kale's control severed, Chai's MP3 player beat to life, regaining his will and control over his body and Armstrong Enhancement. At the same time, Connor's fallen relic glowed and was magnetized back to his transformation belt buckle, breaking him free from the powered-up SPECTRAs control as he recovered as well.
"Dammit!" Kale cursed.
"Get him, guys!" Korsica called.
808 ran up onto Chai's shoulder before licking his and Connor's cheeks. The two of them looked at each other, smirked, and prepared themselves for battle. Respectively, Chai drew his magnetic grabber and assembled his guitar, while Connor, his relic already in place, transformed in an instant crimson flash and donned his Ichaival Gear.
"Don't call it a comeback." Chai quipped.
"What a pain in the ass," Kale said before adjusting his tone. "You know what? Let's take this outside," he said before snapping his fingers as the platform they were on rose up. Before they knew it, the three of them and SPECTRA were at the very top of the tower, surrounded by a number of pylons as lighting crashed outside.
"Warp!" Lysithea was heard as she and Hilda appeared next to the two.
"You really didn't think you were gonna do this without us, were you?" Hilda asked.
"Nope, not at all. We're in this together, right?" Connor replied.
"Of course." Lysithea said. "We'll pour all our efforts into this battle. Let us open a path toward the future!"
With that, the final battle against Kale truly began. He mainly fought using swift strikes from his beam katana, but he also had four drones by his side and was protected by a shield.
"Dodge this!" Kale said as his four drones prepared four laser blasts. Chai blocked them according to the flashes they have off, and then gave Kale a couple of whacks with his Guitar, cutting his shield down.
"Your turn, Korsica!" Chai called, Korsica warping in to help break his shield.
"Everyone, we can't lose this!" Korsica said, stunning Kale with her cyclone blast, breaking his shield and leaving him open. Hilda smashed him with Freikugel, Lysithea blasted him with Swarm Zeta, and Connor peppered the estranged CEO with homing lasers from his revolvers.
HORNET PISTOLS
After that assault, Kale stumbled back but backflipped to recover.
"Heh! Come on, Connor." Kale taunted before prepping a faceoff attack. Connor parried two strikes, dodged laser blasts from his support drones, and then parried two more, making Kale skid back again.
"You should see what this body is capable of," Kale said, dusting himself off as the pylons pulled themselves in closer. His back then opened as four mechanical tentacles popped out, the ends of them opening and spinning up before different attachments spawned on them. On the top were two Z-Shielded fists. On the bottom, a flamethrower was attached to his left, and a laser cannon appeared on his right. "Puts Chai's pathetic Armstrong tech, your Symphogear, and any other tech you've seen from other so-called geniuses across the multiverse to shame."
"Oh, we'll see about that, Kale." Connor said as he readied himself for another round.
"Oh yes, we will," Kale assured.
The battle resumed as the group combated against Kale and his new ligaments. He could use any one of them to attack along with his Beam Katana and drones, but as tough as they were, they could also be destroyed.
After clashing his rifle with Kale's katana, Connor was pushed back, giving Kale an opening to try and score a hit.
"Come here!" Kale did his best impression of Scorpion before launching himself up with his Z-Shiedled fists and slamming them down into the ground, Connor dodging out of the way just in time so they got stuck in the platform.
"Connor! Let me and Hilda break those shields!" Macron recommended.
"Alright! Set Macaron up, Hilda!" Connor said.
"You might as well give up!" Hilda said, dealing a critical hit with Freikugel and smashing Kale's Z-Shield.
"Get em' Macaron!" Chai called.
"SPECTRA's finished, Kale!" Macaron said, destroying the Z-Shielding and disabling the arms. "Got 'em! Now see if you can destroy them!"
Chai and Connor attacked the arms while they were down, soon able to destroy them and causing Kale big damage. Lysithea followed up by blasting fireballs at Kale, but he evaded them using his speed.
"Might wanna stand back!" Kale said, preparing to strike back by charging up his flamethrower.
"Stay back, guys! Let me handle that!" Korsica said.
"Go, Korsica!" Chai said, Korsica coming in.
"Kale, I'll never forgive you!" Korsica declared, blowing out the flamethrower with her cyclone, disabling that tentacle as well. "Now it's up to you!"
"I've got it!" Lysithea said, destroying the tentacle with Dark Spikes Theta. Hilda then gave Kale no chance to breathe, despite being at a weapon disadvantage. She evaded lasers from Kales's drones and then knocked Kale back. The corrupt CEO responded by using his last tentacle to prepare an attack, charging up a beam with a shield behind it.
"I can break that lens for you, guys!" Peppermint said.
"Do it, Peppermint!" Connor said as Peppermint was called in.
"Just give it up!" Peppermint called, rapidly blasting the shield lens with her blasters before the shield shattered, disabling the arm. "Now finish it! Show Kale who's in charge!"
On Peppermint's command, everyone ganged up on Kale and destroyed his final arm, dealing him another big dose of damage. He skidded back towards SPECTRA, his coat in tatters as he struggled to get up.
"It's over, Kale!" Chai said.
"On my side, you and Connor could've been something, Chai." Kale said, casting his coat off and raising his katana to the sky. The pylons closed in as orbs of orange energy formed before producing a larger one above Kale as it struck down on him, supercharging his entire body as the blue lights in his body turned orange. "Too bad both of your little adventures end here."
In his final form, Kale's attacks now had more power to them and called down lightning strikes from above. Kale clashed his blade with Chai's Guitar as he parried his attacks, and right as he was getting overwhelmed, Connor swapped in from behind. He gun-dueled with Kales's katana before catching him with a backhand and allowing Hilda to knock him into the air.
"Gimme a break!" Connor yelled before toe compartments at his waist opened and fired off a salvo of missiles straight at Kale.
MEGA DETH PARTY
Kale slashed through some rockets, but couldn't cut down all of them as they exploded in his face as he fell to the ground, giving Lysithea an opening.
"You will regret this!" Lysithea said as she cast Hades Omega, burning Kale in a purple fire tornado. He was trapped in it for a bit, before slashing his way out of it.
"Ugh, ENOUGH!" Kale said, making everyone dodge his charge slash before he prepared another face-off attack as the lift lowered back down to where Peppermint and the others were. Chai blocked and dodged all his rapid attacks as both he and Kale were knocked back, but the Harmonic Barrier keeping Peppermint, Macaron and Korsica out of the fight directly was finally disabled.
"Macaron!" Chai called, directing him to Kale.
"You've ruined this company enough!" Macaron declared to Kale as he and Chai double teamed him, punching and whacking him and launching him into the air.
"Let's do this, Korsica!" Hilda said as she and Korsica leaped up into the air towards kale.
"Can't believe I looked up to you!" Korsica said as she and Hilda hit Kale multiple times before slamming him back onto the floor.
"Peppermint!" Lysithea called to Peppermint as the two dashed towards the latter's brother.
"This isn't just about Vandelay. It's about FAMILY." Peppermint said as she and Lysithea bombarded Kale with projectiles before Peppermint pushed him back with a kick. That gave Chai the opening to charge in on Kale as 808 joined in on the action.
"And this…is Game Over!" Chai said as he and 808 clubbed and clawed at Kale before launching him into the air as Chai slammed him back down towards the SPECTRA server as Kale slowed himself down with his hand before looking up in anger. "Enough's enough. Give us the password."
"Never." Kale insisted, before he and Chai clashed, guitar on plasma katana. "You're just a bunch of losers!"
"Maybe so. But together, we're unstoppable." Chai said.
"Chai!" Peppermint called.
Chai moved out of the way as Peppermint blasted Kale with her shotgun, followed by Korsica launching him up into the air for Macaron to punch back down. Chai and Hilda then whacked Kale with a flurry of blows before Lysithea blinded Kale with Aura. When Kale got his sight back, he was too late to know that Connor had the perfect shot lined up with his Magnum in laser mode. With a finger bang to send him off, Connor thrusted his magnum into Kale's chest and hit him, the laser blasting from it and slamming him right into the very center of SPECTRA as he crashed against it, his body sparking and prepared to blow as he weakly looked up at the group.
"You know what the mantra of people like us is?" Connor asked. "Start from the bottom, fight to the top. But that's something you'll never understand. Because you've never had to work hard for anything in your life."
"This is just too much work…" Kale said as he rolled his eyes before closing them as he soon exploded.
Connor then twirled his magnum before holstering it back in his rifle, his Symphogear coming undone as he lowered his hat. "Sayonara."
(end song)
The group recovered from the explosion, and there wasn't any trace of Kale left.
"I-is that it?" Macaron asked.
"I think so." Peppermint said.
"Good riddance, huh?" Hilda asked.
"Whoa." Chai said.
Peppermint then ran up to the console with 808 following as she plugged in each of the Heads passkeys along with Kale's which was handed to her by 808. She then put in Korsica's password as the final peice (which, ironically, was literally 'PASSWORD'). The keys then activated as the ground shook for a bit as SPECTRA began glowing before it shutdown as smoke emitted from it. During the overload, Connor could've sworn he heard someone scream before SPECTRA shut down.
"It's over. This is just a bunch of scrap metal now." Peppermint said as Connor walked up, seeing Shem-Ha's Vambrace near the computers.
"And this won't be causing any world or universe any trouble," Connor said. "World doesn't need you getting out, Shem-Ha. So stay asleep in your jewelry forever, kay?"
"So, I guess this is mission complete?" Hilda asked.
"Yup. And it was worth it even if were not gettin' paid." Connor said.
"I was worried there for a second. But I knew you all could do it." Macaron said.
"Look who's here," Korsica said, having CNMN strapped to a roller cart on her back.
"I'll assume by the damage done Mister chai was involved." CNMN said as Macaron happily picked him up.
"We'll get you fixed in no time, mate." Macaron said.
"It's done." Korsica confirmed.
"You did it, Chai." Peppermint said to Chai.
"Well done, young man." Urbosa said as she and the rest of Team Revival arrived.
"WE did it." Chai corrected.
A little later, the group was summoned back to Kale's office in front of Roxanne, who was now 100% SPECTRA-free.
"I apologize for putting you through all this," Roxanne said.
"Nothing we couldn't handle, Miss Vandelay," Macaron assured.
"I won't make the same mistakes again. If possible, I'd like to make it up. It would be an honor to work for the company…the REAL Vandelay that I admired." Korsica said.
"And we will welcome you with open arms," Roxanne said as she took Korsica's hands in hers before approaching Macaron. "Ahh, Macaron. After all these years, it's so good to see you at my side again."
"I should have done something sooner, known things weren't right, Roxanne." Macaron said.
"You made it right; that's what matters. And our team needs you back leading development." Roxanne said.
"Got a new partner, too." Macaron said as he motioned his head to CNMN.
"While it might not look it, I had quite a fun adventure coming to meet you!" CNMN said as Roxanne smiled nervously before patting his head as she then turned to and approached Peppermint.
"I won't run away this time, Mom. I understand what you always wanted for me…and the company." Peppermint said.
"Peppermint, you need to do things your own way." Roxanne said before pulling her daughter into a hug. "Never change who you are." she said as Peppermint slowly returned it. "I think we have a lot of catching up to do."
"I'd like that a lot." Peppermint said.
Roxanne then turned to Connor.
"Connor Trav Yukine, Hero for Hire. It must feel good knowing that you saved the world without any assistance from your friends." Roxanne said.
"Great, actually. This is the first time me and my crew have actually done a mission and completed it on our own." Connor said. "And don't worry about any sorta payment. Knowing that Shem-Ha's bracelet won't be used nefariously and that it will be safe and secure from anybody looking to get their hands on it? That's reward enough for me this time."
"You have our word that bracelet will be kept safe and secure within the confines of Vandelay's security." Roxanne said before turning to Chai. "Ah, Chai."
"I'd love to help, but don't quite think I, uhh…fit a job description, so maybe I should see myself out." Chai said prepared to leave.
"Chai, I think you know yourself, that you are special. Making the most of what was handed to you, and making a difference. I think that's the kind of attitude we need here right now. And Project Armstrong needs an ambassador. A leader; a real 'rockstar'." Roxanne said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you interested?" she asked as Chai looked up in thought.
(Cue Ending Theme: Honestly by Zwan)
In the time that followed since Kale was deposed from his role as CEO and Roxanne took back control, Vandelay Technologies had finally gotten its old groove back. Roxanne restarted Project Armstrong and opened it to all the public, not just those living on the campus, but across the Future Universe.
Peppermint was given the freedom to do what she wanted on Vandelay's campus, and her first project was repairing her mother's old company truck as she got it back up and running.
Korsica was given her position as Head of Security back, and with Kale not in charge, she had a more comfortable and stress-free time… although she was still drinking decaffeinated coffee.
Macaron also got his job back as Head of Research and Development. Though, the first thing he had to do was fix up CNMN.
And as for Chai, he did end up taking Roxanne's request to be the Ambassador for Project Armstrong, and he, Peppermint, macaron, CNMN, and Korsica were able to remain friends because of it. But just in case it didn't work out… Chai started to practice playing guitar, as a backup plan to continue to aspire to his dream of being a Rockstar in the future.
And so, Team Revival left the Vandleay Campus for its better and brighter future. Now they look to their next job or another big adventure. Wherever the wind takes them, it could happen someday… or sooner than they think.