"You know, we've been in this elevator for quite a while now...Just how far up are we going, exactly?" The Commander finally asked after a long silence.
SOP-II turned her attention to the elevator controls and scratched her head.
"Oooohhh." The doll came to a realization, and pressed the button on the panel.
It was then that the team felt the elevator begin to actually move. The rest of the team exchanged mortified looks as the realization sunk in.
"How the hell did we even make it this far?" The Commander sighed out.
"Good question..." STAR deadpanned.
As the elevator traveled, the team stood in silence. M16 pulled another bottle of JD out of her jacket and took a swig, to the dismay of the rest of the team.
STAR suddenly turned to the Commander. "Hey, that reminds me...We were having a drink when we got warped in here...that means the liquor cabinet is still unlocked..."
"Ah, shit...you're right...Well, Executioner's probably helping herself to my Knob Creek right about now..." The Commander grumbled.
"No, it's worse...Today's the day that 416 was supposed to get back..."
The Commander's eyes shot wide open. "Oh shi-"
"Residents of this Berlin neighborhood were rocked this afternoon when a large building suddenly and violently collapsed, sending shockwaves as well as debris across the community."
As the reporter spoke, the camera panned over to the mound of bent rebar and crumbled concrete that used to be the Commander's safehouse. A short, young girl with snow-white twintails suddenly walked into the shot in the background, holding up a sign reading "Hi, Elisa!" before being dragged off by the ear by a dark-haired woman in a maid-dress.
"As of this moment, authorities have yet to determine a cause for the failing of the structure, but several witnesses did report hearing a large commotion coming from inside the building moments before it collapsed. As for the building itself, I have been told that it had been rented out by a Commander working for an Eastern Private Military Corporation. Yes, I am talking about that Commander. I know what many of you must be wondering now, and while I take no joy in relaying such news, it is unfortunately my duty to inform you that I have it on good authority that Griffin's Commander was not in the building at the time of its collapse, leaving him free to continue his unfunny and cringeworthy antics for the foreseeable future. More updates as they come on this developing story, this is Shadowless for DRF News reporting to you live from downtown Berlin."
"I'm sure everything will be fine, Commander. You're tired, stressed out, and overthinking things..." M4A1 tried to reassure.
The Commander huffed in frustration. "This just keeps getting better and better, what's next, is-"
"Shut up!" The entire AR Team frantically interjected.
"What?" The Commander asked defensively.
RO sighed angrily. "This is Paradeus we're talking about, don't you realize that any sarcastic hyperbole you throw out is going to be fulfilled? Anything is possible with them! If you say that they have-"
"RO!" The rest of the team interjected.
"Please don't give them ideas! The last thing I want is for us to suddenly encounter a-"
"AR-15!"
"Don't even think about things! They're probably reading our minds trying to draw inspiration!" M16 quipped, her eye immediately widened as she realized what she had done.
"Damn it, M16! Now you've done it!" M4 hissed.
"Look, just shut up - all of you! Nobody think! No ideas, no theories, no imaginings...just, clear your heads." The Commander ordered.
The elevator arrived at the door with a soft *ding*, and the doors slowly rolled open. The group cautiously stepped out into a small empty hallway, bright blue light shining through the reinforced glass lining the wall to the side.
Keeping a low profile, RO inquisitively peered through the glass at the towering structure below, pulsating with blue light as it let out a vibrant hum. "Is that...the reactor?"
"Either that, or the world's largest lava lamp..." The Commander replied.
"So that would put us on the Reactor Level, then..." RO deduced.
"Think they've got a 'Self-Destruct' button laying around? It sure would make things a hell of a lot easier..." STAR half-joked.
"Even if it were that easy, which it won't be, we'd still have the Black Zone to contend with. Let's not go pushing any big red buttons until we've figured that part out." The Commander surmised.
"Right...So what do we do now? The way back's a dead end, that sword-bitch breached the hull to top it off, and this is the only floor this elevator takes us to." STAR asked.
"We need to keep a low profile and find some kind of security room, some place where we can access the cameras and find a map of this place. Hopefully we can find William before he or one of his elites find us, and find us a way out as well." The Commander laid out.
"Right, we're rats in a maze unless we can figure out where we are and where we're going." M4 affirmed.
The team's attention turned to the single door at the end of the hallway.
"Well, there's only one way forward..." RO commented.
M4 nodded. "Go silent - stay low and quiet, no shooting unless we're fired upon or I give the order. Even if we weren't outgunned, the Reactor level's the last place we want to be throwing bullets."
The automated door opened with a whirr, and the team found themselves in a large, empty room. A large square opening in the ceiling gave view to the floors above, the walkways encircling them over their heads. The squad slowly crept along, hugging the side wall and training their weapons on all sides, covering as many angles as they could as they made their way to the other end of the room.
However, as if on cue, the whirring of some kind of thrusters rapidly encroached upon them as they reached the middle, and a figure suddenly swooped down from above. A distinctly mature woman hovered graciously in the center of the room, her hair noticeably more naturally gray than the snow-white color the other Nytos and Sangvis units sported, her limbs colored gold and much more ornate and elegant compared to the crude function-over-form type of the others.
"What do you think you're doing, little rats? Did you really think I wouldn't notice you scurrying around? You are in my sanctum now, and your filthy paws desecrate it with every step!" Nemhran hissed out before suddenly a swarm of orbs manifested behind her, and quickly shot towards the team's position.
The team frantically dove out of the way as the orbs impacted on the wall they had been hugging against a moment prior with a series of concussive blasts, shaking the ground with enough force to make the Commander brace himself against the pillar he had taken cover behind.
The Commander turned angrily to M16, who had taken cover close by. "A flying Nyto! Now look what you've done!"
"Tch, so what, you're saying this is my fault?!" M16 replied defensively.
"You're goddamned right! I refuse to believe that this thing existed a second before you opened your mouth!"
Meanwhile, inside Nemhran's head...
"A miss, as expected, but a lucky shot would be boring..." The XS Strelet behind the controls mused.
"Quit babbling, did you find them or not?!" Morridow's voice demanded from the other end of the comms.
"Affirmative, I have positive ID on Griffin's Commander and Tactical Doll ST AR-15."
"Terminate them."
Another deafening wave of blasts shook the floor beneath them, causing the Commander to grimace as he continued to brace himself. "Yeah, give me some more tinnitus, asshole! I don't have enough already!"
At the next break, STAR quickly peeked out, her sight fell swiftly on the airborne target before she squeezed the trigger, but the Nyto shot to the side and out of her optic's view just as the shot rang out. Sensing the imminent danger, the doll quickly dove to the side and rolled behind the adjacent pillar just as another cluster of orbs slammed into the spot that she had been standing.
"Ngh! This bitch is slippery, I'll give her that..." STAR huffed out.
M4 followed suit, tried as she might to keep her target in her sights, acquiring her long enough to make a clean shot proved to be an uphill battle. "Damn it! She's too fast!"
Meanwhile, SOP-II sat behind her pillar with a gleeful expression as she finished the final checks on her 'creation'. "Now's my time to shine...Go get her, Junior..."
Inside the cockpit of Nemhran, the XS Strelet scoffed at the sight of the dolls scrambling for cover as he rained down torrents of concussive blasts on them. "Predictable..."
Suddenly, however, a new blip popped up on his radar, a small object closing fast, and immediately afterwards, the lock-on alarm blared oppressively. "What the...?"
A small, yellow craft complete with blue stripes and checkered decals came into view, barreling straight towards the viewports, a missile blasted off the rail under the wing and whizzed straight towards the Nyto, prompting it to immediately go evasive.
"That craft...it can't be...it's a Yellow!" The pilot cried out as the missile narrowly missed, shooting past the Nyto and slamming into the far wall.
"Damn, nothing but air. Stay on 'em, Banana-1!" The Commander's voice sounded over the comms in the cockpit of the yellow craft, where SOP Jr. was behind the controls.
The Nyto swiftly turned and fired an orb at the craft in retaliation.
"CAUTION! MISSILE! MISSILE!" The megaphone fixed to the top of the craft blared out at ear-splitting volume, prompting the craft to swiftly turn to the side out of the missile's path.
The enemy pilot's eyes narrowed. "Not bad...but the show's over with this next shot!"
A swarm of orbs suddenly manifested from behind the Nyto, and began speeding directly towards Jr.'s craft.
"MISSILE! MISSILE! MISSILE! MISSILE! MISSILE! MISSILE!" The megaphone blared incessantly as the swarm approached.
As soon as the swarm was near enough, Jr. ripped the controls, sending the craft spiraling in ways that one wouldn't have thought possible. The craft spun through the swarm of orbs with an uncanny grace, narrowing dodging through the gaps of each and every one before swiftly regaining control and blasting straight towards the Nyto.
The pilot's eyes widened at the display. "How is that craft moving like that?! What kind of monster could be behind the controls?!"
A missile suddenly barreled straight for the Nytro, slamming straight into its ECM defense field.
BOOM
The missile detonated before it could penetrate the Nyto's armor, but the shockwave was still enough to send it spiraling out of control. The pilot barely managed to regain control as alarms in the cockpit blared and wailed.
"Damn it...that Yellow craft is too much!" The pilot cried out.
"Enough bellyaching, Nemhran-1! Your ECM defense field has enough coverage to protect you from most directions! Retreat or eject before you've taken out that Commander, and I'll kill you myself, is that understood?!" Morridow growled over the comms.
Meanwhile, as Junior assessed the damage to the enemy, or lack thereof, the Commander's voice suddenly chimed over the comms. "Listen up, Banana-1, MDR has forwarded us an analysis of the enemy craft - Codenamed: Nemhran. She is being protected by an ECM defense system, but there are gaps you can exploit! I'm forwarding the details to your targeting system, now go, take down Nemhran! You're the only one who can stop her! Demon Lord of the Griffin Dorms...I pray for your success!"
Regaining his composure, the enemy Pilot turned to face Junior's craft. "Ha! That's right! You can't hurt me, you'll never figure out my weakness! Go on, fire away, coward!"
Acquiring Nemhran in her sights, Junior armed the FU-Q.A.A.M., and locked onto the Nyto. The missile blasted off the rail and shot towards its target at high speed.
The enemy pilot smiled arrogantly. "Is that all you got? Ha! Too bad, buddy!"
Nemhran swiftly and gracefully dodged out of the way, watching smugly as the missile shot past her...But then the sound of tires squealing suddenly caught her attention as the missile appeared to screech to a halt mid-air, before rapidly turning and orienting itself directly in line with the gap in her ECM field, and shot directly into it at Mach Speed...
BOOM
Flames spewed, alarms blared, and smoke began rapidly filling the cockpit as the Nyto spiraled helplessly out of control.
"Oh, screw this! I'm outta here!" The pilot cried out.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" Nemhran's voice sounded from inside the cockpit.
"Where do you think?! The hell out of here!" The pilot replied.
"You were specially selected to pilot me! You can't just eject from inside my head!" Nemhran cried out in protest.
"Oh yeah, lady? Watch this!" With that, the pilot slammed his fist on the eject button...
A series of small charges lined on the inside of Nemhran's temple detonated, launching her cranium upwards, and immediately afterwards, the pilots seat shot upwards at incredible speed...directly into the inside of the metal cranium. The Strelet smashed into the inner wall at full-speed, crumpling his armor like a beer can that had an overripe tomato stuffed inside of it, and promptly sending him lifelessly clattering to the depths below. Meanwhile, Nemhran's lifeless, flame-engulfed body careened wildly towards the ground before slamming into the floor, detonating in a spectacular fireball.
The Commander slowly emerged from cover and let out a whistle of admiration at the sight of the flaming wreckage. "Sierra Hotel..."
Meanwhile, Morridow's rage boiled over as she gazed in disbelief at the static-filled screen that once hosted Nemhran's feed.
"WHAT?!" The Nyto finally bellowed out, slamming her fist against the desk, causing an assortment of loose objects to bounce and rattle from the impact. "WE JUST ROLLED THAT MODEL OUT! HOW THE HELL DID THEY DISCOVER ITS WEAKNESS SO QUICKLY?! I SWEAR TO GOD, IF THAT IVAN BITCH WE TOOK IN SOLD US OUT, I'M GONNA-"
"Hey, keep it down, will you?! I'm doing a 12.0 match and I need to focus!" Narciss hissed out from behind as she focuses intently on her game.
Morridow gnashed her teeth and growled. "Stop playing that fucking video game! That Commander is loose in our base, what are we going to tell Father if he breaks something important while you're sitting here playing on the fucking computer?!"
"In a minute! I need to finish this match!" Narciss protested.
"You know what? Fuck it, do whatever you want, I'll deal with this myself..." Morridow hissed before storming out of the room.
Completely unfazed by her sister's outburst, Narciss nonchalantly resumed her match of War Thunder...
The forbidding red light over the locking mechanism to the door leading to the maintenance passage suddenly began flickering defiantly, before slowly resigning itself and changing to an affirming green, the door began opening slowly. The Commander and the AR team slowly filed in to the dark passage - a large stretch of dim hallways and narrow catwalks suspended over a dark shaft, a web of pipes and support beams lined the seemingly bottomless chasm from above and below.
"A lot of places to hide in here...heads on a swivel team, watch out for hidden threats - we don't want to be taken by surprise in here..." The Commander stated.
The fireteam slowly crept forward through the dark passage, the blowing of fans and the humming of breakers drowning out their footsteps as they advanced.
It didn't take long, however, for a shiver-inducing clattering noise to sound from the shaft above, though the background noise made it difficult to place from exactly where.
A metal pincer suddenly shot out of the blackness above, slamming into the catwalk with a deafening clang and sending the team scattering.
A shrill cackle sounded from the darkness. "What's the matter, Commander? Not so fun when they're not tied to a chair?"
Ducking into a dark indentation, the Commander took a brief moment to regain his bearings. The dim, sparse lighting made it difficult to see, let alone place his assailant's position. "Morri...I take it you're not coming to apologize?"
"Your mother should apologize to humanity, Commander." Morridow responded from the shadows.
"Hey, leave my Mom out of this!" The Commander said, continuing to stall for time.
"Commander, at your back." An encrypted Zener communication suddenly sounded in his earpiece.
The Commander turned to find STAR had made her way to him.
"The rest of us are trying to line her up, keep her talking." STAR communicated over the channel.
Morridow let out another cackle. "Still the Comedian, are you? It's too bad your jokes are all you have left. Look at you now, you and your precious friends trapped here with me, your base reduced to ashes, your allies running around like headless chickens, playing straight into our hands no matter how clever they think they are. You've lost, Commander. No matter how much you kick and scream, it's all going to end here, and everything you've struggled for will fall like dominoes soon after...Tell me, Commander, how does it feel? All that effort just to end up in your position..."
"You really think so? All things considered, I think I'm a hell of a lot better off than you right now, Morridow." The Commander retorted.
Morridow's laughs resonated through the corridor. "And how do you reason that? I've been gifted more power than you will ever know, Commander."
"And yet you're still nothing more than a piece of trash. You can talk big all you want, but at the end of the day? You're still nothing more than a lapdog. You spend every waking hour of your existence bending over backwards for a narcissistic brat with the charisma of a screeching toddler, and that's what your whole sense of worth is tied to - whether some snotty little rich-kid likes you or not. But he never will, will he? All you can ever be to him is useful, and once you aren't anymore, he'll put your sycophantic ass out to pasture like all of the other trash...You know he will eventually, if only to bury his dirty little secrets. Even if you kill me here, you're screwed, and we both know it."
Silence...That might not have been the best approach to take, but there was no going back now...
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Morridow spoke again.
"You don't know shit about me, Commander!" The Nyto hissed venomously.
"I got front row seats to that little show M4 put on in your head, Morridow, I know all about you, how you are nothing more to 'Father' than some failed abortion - a defective husk of something that was supposed to be much more glamorous, and that's all you ever will be. Yeah, poor little Morridow, tossed aside like a piece of garbage, probably wishing she was scrapped like one, boo. fucking. hoo."
"Shut up!"
The Commander continued unabated, he himself falling into getting sidetracked by his emotions. "And what has your life been since? Setting bombs for his little cult and blowing up innocent bystanders? Stabbing unarmed women in the back? How pathetic and fucked in the head do you need to be to consider that a worthwhile existence? 'Elite of the Nytos', talk about a fucking joke, you're barely above some edgy teenager shooting up their high school because their parents didn't love them enough. Underneath it all, you're just a scared, lonely little girl."
The silence was deafening, Morridow's temples throbbed with fury as her hands clenched into fists, her teeth gnashing together.
After a long silence, the Commander spoke again. "At least answer this for me: Why'd you really kill Machlian? Were you really so desperate for Daddy's attention that you'd murder your own sister in cold blood?...Or was it the fact that she didn't turn out as fucked up and hollow as you when she was discarded that really got under your skin, Morri"?
"...Commander...you're a dead man!" The Nyto growled out before detaching herself from the shaft above, slamming down into the maintenance passage in full view.
Morridow's rage came to a rolling boil, evaporating any plans or strategies she once had in an instant. The only thing she could focus on was shutting that arrogant motherfucker up, tearing him limb from limb, shattering his bones, rending his flesh, hearing him cry out in agony, making him spend the rest of his short, agonizing existence begging for God to send him back in time to take it all back. The Nyto locked onto the Commander's position and charged forward in a blind rage - straight into the AR Team's kill-zone.
"There's the itsy-bitsy spider!" SOP-II gleefully called out.
"Bring down the rain." The Commander calmly ordered.
Raging torrents of tracers erupted from the shadows, sending sparks flying from the metallic pincers shielding the Nyto as it was knocked off balance by the relentless procession of impacts. One of the shots managed to break through and nailed her circlet, sending both it and the set of draconic horns attached to it flying off her head and over the railing, plunging into the dark abyss below. The fact that the scar the Commander had carved into her forehead was now fully visible only served to intensify her infernal rage.
Morridow shrieked in fury as she lashed out, violently thrashing her appendages at every perceived threat, steam hissed from severed pipe sections as she sliced through them, sparks flew from the walls as her pincers gouged into them. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!"
The Nyto continued to swing and thrash, but whenever she could encroach on one her assailants, they had disappeared into the shadows by the time she reached them. "WHERE ARE YOU, COMMANDER?! I'M GOING TO RIP YOU AND THAT PINK-HAIRED BITCH TO PIECES!"
More shots tore into her appendages, denting and warping them as they began to let out a strained whirr, spitting out sparks and puffing out smoke as the impacts refused to relent.
"I think you pissed her off, Commander..." STAR said as she observed the scene from where she and the Commander had relocated.
"I'M GONNA SLICE YOU OPEN, TEAR OUT YOUR INTENSTINES, AND HOLD AN AEROBICS CLASS USING THEM FOR LEG WARMERS!" Morridow's voice cried out once again.
"Now that's just disgusting..." The Commander quietly commented.
Morridow continued to push herself into overdrive, her systems straining from the AR Team's saturation attack as she desperately thrashed at every source of gunfire she could.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU BOTH, THEN I'M GONNA DRAIN ALL YOUR BLOOD, TEAR OUT YOUR BONES, STUFF YOUR BODIES AS TROPHIES, THEN I'M GONNA SIT THEM IN A BIG CHAIR WITH SOME ELVES AND REINDEER, THEN I'M GONNA SIT IN YOUR LAPS AND TELL YOU ALL THE COOL SHIT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!"
As Morridow screeched out her outburst, the Commander and STAR quietly exchanged glances.
"...I'm no psychologist, but I think this girl had one fucked up childhood..." STAR spoke.
"No shit..." The Commander affirmed.
Morridow's systems strained to their limits, alerts and warnings filled her HUD as she felt herself burning up. Finally, one of the impacts caused the hydraulic in her appendage to fail, launching the pincer backwards and slamming it into her head, knocking her off balance and disorienting her greatly.
"Now, SOP-II!" RO called out.
SOP-II trained her last 40mm grenade on the stumbling Nyto, and squeezed the trigger of her M203.
BOOM
The impact of the blast launched the Nyto backwards, the shockwave warped and twisted her pincers beyond usability or even severed them outright. Any part of her that was still organic had been shattered or ruptured, but she still clambered back to her feet, every section of her body screaming with pain. Her systems quickly moved to shut off her pain sensors, only to find that the option had been locked out - another punishment from Father for her previous failures.
She knew she was on borrowed time, alerts filled her vision, screaming for her to retreat and seek out repairs, her cybernetic chassis grinded and whirred, ready to give out at moments notice, blood and flesh seeping in and jamming up the fans, filters, and actuators. The only thing that kept her going was her rage - she was going to kill that man if it was the last thing she did...and then she spotted him. That Commander bolted out of the Shadows, towards his team across the chasm.
"COMMANDEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Morridow screamed out with all she had, and sprung towards him with incredible speed, not caring about anything else. She was going to die here, but she was going to make sure that at least he'd die first.
Suddenly, a shadowy figure burst out from her peripherals, and she realized all too late exactly what the Commander had planned...
The doll's boot slammed into her cheek with incredible force, jarring her vision out of focus, knocking her jaw loose from its hinges, ripping her teeth straight out of their gums. The scream she let out barely even sounded human, and it was quickly snuffed out by a burgundy-gloved hand coiling around her neck, constricting her trachea shut as she was lifted off her feet. She could only glare hatefully but helplessly into her killer's violet eyes as she was oriented with the chasm behind her.
STAR wasted no time, letting out a labored grunt as she heaved the battered Nyto over the railing, her target's screams resonating down the chasm as she disappeared into the abyss.
Morridow clambered helplessly as she felt the air rushing past her, the dim light of the maintenance passageway disappearing into the distance as she picked up more and more speed.
CRUNCH
SNAP
Morridow's back slammed straight into a beam suspended above the chasm, arching her into a U shape as a loud snap resounded through the empty chasm. Her lower half felt as if liquid fire had been flowing through her veins, a sensation that was simultaneously burning and freezing flared through her waist and legs before fading just as quickly as it started, along with every other feeling below waist level - as if her lower half had suddenly disappeared out from under her. The Nyto limply slid off of the beam, and continued plunging into the depths below.
CRASH
The ceiling of the room gave way to the Nyto crashing through it, slamming straight into a large wooden crate, splinter it to pieces and sending the plaque labeling it sliding across the floor.
Marshmallows (Please DO NOT jump from the Reactor Level Maintenance Passage and attempt to land on to break your fall - Thx, Mgmt)
Morridow groaned as she slowly pushed herself up with her hands, and observed her surroundings. It didn't take long for her eyes to fall on the big, bold, red lettering on the wall -
Penis Explosion Chamber
The moment Morridow finished reading, a small drone descended down, a scanner protruded from its body and it slowly beamed a soft red light across her body. An affirmative chime suddenly sounded as the scanner focused its attention on the carving on Morridow's forehead.
"Penis detected."
All Morridow could do was scream - let out one final petulant howl against the dying of the light.
The Commander walked up to STAR's side, joining her in gazing down the chasm Morridow had plunged into.
"I swear to god, if she comes back from that..." STAR uttered.
Suddenly, a scream that unmistakably belonged to Morridow echoed from the depths.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
BOOM
The Commander turned to STAR. "I don't think we have to worry about that, good stuff, STAR."
STAR and the Commander bumped fists as they continued to admire their handiwork.
"Saved your ass again." STAR lightly punched the Commander's shoulder before they turned to face the rest of the AR Team.
"We all good?" The Commander asked.
"We're all green, Commander." M4A1 affirmed.
"Then let's not waste any more time, let's get the hell out of this deathtrap."
With that, the team proceeded onwards. Between Gray, Bramedb, Pandora, Grig, Nemhran, and Morridow, William was running out of heavy-hitters to send after them. It wouldn't be long before they encountered the man himself, for better or worse...
A/N: Well, this took a lot longer than I wanted it to. The next chapter should hopefully be out a little quicker.