Chapter 6: Final Battle

Vermillion Tower - Control Room

Gautham and Sidwell sat hunched over the monitors.

"LEAAA!"

Boom!

An entire corridor of enemy sentries exploded by box.

Sidwell commented, "she's quite enthusiastic."

Gautham hummed, "yeah."

"Hi! Lea! Bye! Lea!"

Blast!

Lea entered a puzzle-room, waved the puzzle hi, completely ignored solving it, and blasted a hole into the wall and went into the next room. A panting and sweating Lukas followed her, stopping by the hole in the wall for a second to recover before running after her again.

Sidwell commented, "she's completely ignoring your 'ultimate' puzzle experience."

Gautham hummed, "I can see that."

A song blared out of the screens as the cardboard box slid into the next room.

[ Devil Trigger ]

"All of these thoughts runnin' through my head!

Arms on fire, veins burnin' red! "

The box leaped over a ledge and jumped from enemy to enemy, blasting them into dust each time and rising with the force of each explosion.

"Frustration is gettin' bigger!

Bang, bang, bang, pull my Devil Trigger! "

"Hiii~"

Lea sat atop the corpses of her enemies and giggled. A shy blush on her face and a dreamy sigh as the sub-boss screeched for dear life while being pulverised by the cardboard a frightened Lukas was sitting in and weighing it down by.

Sidwell commented, "I'm scared."

Gautham hummed, "yup."

Boom!

They both caught on the desk as the whole tower shook, and to their terror, the 'Hi! Lea!' cheers got closer and closer.

Sidwell hummed, "we shouldn't have let her keep that box."

Gautham commented, "right now, she has a weapon that can dice metal, and we are sitting ducks with virtual pretend attacks which can't touch her in that box. Because it registers as the environment and not a player."

Sidwell looked at Gautham, "so a concise assessment would be, 'we're screwed?'"

Gautham looked at Sidwell, "well done, Mr Sidwell. We are quite thoroughly screwed."

Sidwell sighed and stood up, "I should never have come to this moon. Metal Gear be damned."

Gautham put on his CrossGear and readied his avatar, "no offence Mr Sidwell, but I hope you die." He gave him a sincere look, "nothing personal, of course. I could use that time to run away."

Sidwell clapped Gautham on the back, "and I hope you perish as well, Gautham. Would save me the trouble of snuffing you out myself."

They both looked at each other among the echoes of 'Hiii~' and nodded, saying at the same time,

"Godspeed, you sorry bastard."

Vermilion Tower - Top Floor

Lukas collapsed on the floor, panting and sweating and sounding like he dearly needed a break. "O-Oh god… S-So much running… I-Intermission… P-Please."

"Greetings, mortals!" Bellowed the Blue Man, descending from the sky from a shower of light through dark clouds. "It is time for the ultimate battle-!"

Lukas cried out of relief and gave him a grateful smile, "oh thank god!" He punched a thumbs-up to the guy who looked like the final boss. "You rock, blue guy! T-Thanks for the breather!"

"…right," the Blue Man muttered before turning to Lea, bellowing again, "we have always desired the most excellent experience! To thrill the player with the charm and wit of adventure-" Lea glared at him for being a dirty kidnapper and ducked under her cardboard box. "-and you're not listening to us…" The immortal god man looked at the sky, "we have decided. Cardboard boxes are anathema-"

"LEA!"

Lea shouted in affront at that.

W-What did you say about cardboard boxes?!

Snap!

Two trails of tape shot out at the Blue Man and wrapped around his wrists. He stared at them with a frown, "what the-" Pull! "-aaaah!" He yelled with horror as he careened straight for the box. "Nooo! Not this humiliation again-!"

Shatter!

And he slammed into Lea's box, hitting the HF edges and got torn in two. Promptly disappearing into scattered data streams.

"N-Nooo!" Lukas slammed the ground with his hand in despair, his body shaking with untold agony. "M-My break! It was so young!"

Lea got out of her box with a grin.

Finally! Now we can get out of this place!

Zoom!

A long hand of Instant Matter snapped at Lea!

Grab!

It grabbed her box and threw it away.

Smash!

A huge fist formed in the air and smashed it to pieces on the ground.

Lea stared in horror at her destroyed box.

N-No! My box!

She whipped her head at the man to whom those arms retracted and snarled.

Y-You heartless monster!

The man face-palmed, "you're more upset that I broke your box than your kidnapping, aren't you? You've undergone quite the transformation, Lea." Lea made a creeped out face at the man pretending to be all familiar with her. "I am Sidwell, if that jogs any of your memories. We were… friends I would say?" Lea scowled. A box-killer by any other cloth is still a box-killer.

Sidwell nodded, "I see the trauma of learning the truth made you completely lose your mind and fixate on boxes."

Lea scoffed.

What does he know? No box no life!

Sidwell cocked his arm back, "believe me when I say this hurts me more that it hurts you." His arms snapped forward, and a giant hand made of instant matter materialised before him and sailed for Lea.

"H-Hii!"

Lea ducked and closed her eyes, bracing for impact-!

She choked as something suddenly hit her and moved her out of the way, the giant hand's punch missing her by an inch slamming something else, sending it crashing to the wall and leaving a crater in it.

Shaking her head to stop it from spinning and taking a look at the one who'd pushed her away and she gasped, seeing a crumpled and torn brown Box fall to the ground, twitching as its torn flaps fell to the ground.

No! Box!

She ran to his side and cradle his crumbling self on her lap, looking down on him with tears. W-Why did he have to push her a-away? S-She's just Instant Matter, but he's a box. No… not just any box, he's her Box!

"F-Finally found it…" Came a weak rasp from within, along with a chuckle, "M-Metal G-Gear. Or should I say… Instant Gear?" Lea grit her teeth with effort as she tried to push Box up to a sitting position from his slump on the ground. Box's slit met Sidwell's eyes, "instantaneous condensed matter creation, aided by nanomachine hardening for structure and density."

Sidwell smiled, crossed his arms, "yes, quite ingenious isn't it? Instantly deployable, undetectable weapons. All you need is a canister of gaseous Instant Matter and you can level a city with little issue." Sidwell cracked his fingers and lightning crackled out of it. "The nanomachine's electricity does help too." Sidwell closed his eyes, "and I finally have before me assets which are cheap to make, and sell for a hundred times their worth." Sidwell sighed and opened his eyes, "it's unfortunate, but war always pays. And it pays well." Sidwell pointed his hand at Box and Lea, lightning cracking and charging in his palm, a sad smile on his face, "Lea will survive this, but you won't. I'm sure you understand why I have to silence you." He pushed his glasses back, "it's nothing personal. Now… die- Gah!"

Having rushed towards him, Lukas dove at Sidwell, tackling him and pushing him to the ground. He roared out, "Lea! Get outta there!"

Sidwell growled, shoving his fist at Lukas, "get off me!"

Grunting with effort, Lea tried to drag Box with her, but he didn't budge an inch, proving too heavy for her.

"Hey…" She heard pained coughs from Box before he rasped out, "don't let my heroic rescue go to waste… N-Not everyday I save a princess and look good doing it." He chuckled lightly, paying no heed to her incensed and quivering glare. "Run, survive, take up my task and warn the world of Metal Gear… And think of me from time to time, eh?" His slit twinkling with amusement, "I-I'd rather be Jack in the box than Jack the ripper."

"H-Hi!" Lea screamed at him, shaking her head furiously.

I'm not leaving you!

"T-That attack fried my systems. I-I can't move… You can't carry me… Leave."

"W-Why!" She sniffed and hugged him, burying her face in his folds.

I-I don't want to leave you!

Beep!

Lea blinked teary eyes as the world stopped around her, taking a blue tint.

"Lea!" She turned and saw Sergey looking at her from his floating monitor, his face harried as he rapidly typed on his computer. "I know we're not on the best of terms but please listen! I think I can jump start our friend's systems and get him operational again!"

Lea's eyes widened, "h-how!"

"His systems suffer from a maladaptation to Instant Matter! Just like the barrier, it wasn't Sidwell's punch, it was the concentrated Instant Matter which tore a hole through his circuits and drained his power!" Sergey stopped typing and gave her a serious look, "but if we reverse the Instant Matter's calibration, and at the same time suffuse him with a layer of the material, we can induce temporary adaptation, and the resulting friction can be directed to recharge him."

Lea gave him a bright smile, "hi!"

What're we waiting for! Let's do it!

Sergey rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable, "it's just that… you're the Instant Matter in question." Lea frowned. Okay? What's the problem? "You… need to be in close contact. Even over the cardboard is fine but… yeah." Lea took that in, blinking for a few seconds before she chuckled.

Whoa, are we in a movie? Can this get any cheesier?

Smiling wide, she nodded at Sergey.

Beep!

The world regained its colour and moved for her again, with Sergey saying, "whenever you're ready Lea-"

Glomp!

She happily dove into Box and wrapped her hands around her, smiling as she dug her face into him. And with him being as crumpled as he was, her hands easily folded him, setting on what felt like a human shape to her.

Box stared in bewilderment before he stammered, "i-is this the time for this-" And then he stopped short, as electricity began sparking between the two of them, as Lea's Instant Matter began flowing into the box, "what in the-? W-What's happening! S-Sparks flying because of a hug?" Lea let out a shy giggle, shaking her head.

That's just the warm-up! This is how you make sparks fly!

"Guh!" Lukas yelled in pain as Sidwell kicked him off himself, rolling away and holding his stomach.

"This ends here!" Sidwell declared and threw his hand at Box and Lea, a thick wave of electricity exploding towards them.

And at that exact moment-

Smooch~

Lea leaned forward kissed her Box, pressing her lips to its slit-

Boom!

Lukas watched in horror as the beam of electricity struck them and exploded. And right as he cried with anger, he blinked as he saw two feet standing beyond the blast's smoke.

Crack!

Lightning roiled off of two strong set, mechanical hands, dispersing to the ground and breaking the tiles.

Crack!

Tendrils of current flowed over the sword pointed towards the sky.

Crack!

A storm in his eyes, and thunder in his brow, the man covered from head to toe with cybernetics, metallic arms of white, black and grey, with an orange visor atop his head, glanced back and saw Lea gaping at him with big eyes. He smirked, crouching and cupping her chin, closing her mouth shut. He quipped with a grin,

"Kept you waiting, huh?"

Lea gulped at how close he was, suddenly feeling very skittish.

W-Wow, who ordered the f-fashion model.

Because boy he was looking fabulous with his blonde-white hair flowing in the wind. And that metallic jawline…

His face became serious, "I'll keep it short, I am a cyborg." He tapped his skull, "a brain in a robot body." Lea blinked. A brain in a robot body… like a body in a cardboard box… "Now sit here while I take care of things." Lea absently nodded while her mind raced a mile a minute.

N-No way… So Box was the ultimate box all along… A robot box. And when Box was inside a cardboard box… was it box-ception?

Lukas crawled over to her with groans to check up on her, and when he saw her far-off look, the dreamy sigh off her mouth and the small smile which blushed on her face, he gave her a flat look. "Let me guess, you're in box-land?"

Lea tilted her head with a grin.

Am I that obvious?

Meanwhile, with Sidwell.

He frowned, seeing the cybernetic man take a stance with his sword, his eyes narrowed as he glared death at him. Sidwell tried the diplomatic approach, smiling lightly, "did you know the actual culprit of this grand scheme is making his escape as we speak?" He raised a hand forward in friendship, "join me, and together we will bring Gautham to justice-!"

The sword flashed forward, and Sidwell cursed as he triggered a nanomachine hardened wall before them. Which easily got sliced in two, with the two halves falling off and the cyborg stepping closer.

Growling, Sidwell adopted the threatening angle, "I am warning you. Take a step closer and I destroy the evotar server." He raised his hand showing him a remote with the button to do the deed. Sidwell smiled, "a kind soul like you would stand for such tragedy, would it?"

Looks of anger, curses against his name, and devastation were Sidwell's expectations. But the reality?

"What the hell is an evotar?" The cyborg frowned at him.

Sidwell blinked. Huh… That's a bust. You can't threaten someone about something if they didn't know what that was. And so he cleared his throat to begin his tech-talk-

Slash!

"Gah!" He yelled and fell to his feet, holding his hand in pain, a slash running across his palm and the remote split in two. The cyborg standing before him and pointing his sword at his throat.

The cyborg warned, as Sidwell's fingers twitched for his Instant Gear vest. "Don't do it." The cyborg's eyes flashed red, "you don't want to fight me."

Mulling it over, Sidwell nodded, "you win. But I wouldn't celebrate," he chuckled, adjusting his tie, "I've already achieved my objective of marketing the Instant Gear with our little show here." He smirked, "expect to see a world changed."

Bzzt!

He dematerialized, with the Instant Gear he'd equipped falling to the ground.

Box cursed, "dammit! He was an avatar!" He quickly spoke into his codec, "Otacon trace his log route. Find out his location for us to track him down." He frowned, "we need to investigate what other projects he has." Feeling a poke on his back, he turned around and saw a blue haired avatar standing behind him with a smile. He frowned at her, cutting the codec call for later and turning to face her, "hey… you okay- whoa!" He stumbled back as she jumped at him and caught him in a hug, her arms tightly closed around his back. His hands froze in-midst of wrapping around her, wondering if he really should. But when he heard light, shuddering sobs, as she dug her face into his neck, he didn't think twice and hugged her back. Patting her lightly, he said in a comforting whisper, "hey, it's alright now. Just think of me as a box. As long as I'm here, nobody's going to hurt you."

Lea sniffed and nodded.

Y-Yeah. I… I lov…. T-Thank you.

She then parted from the hug and wiped her face, before smiling at him and pointing at herself, "Lea!" And then she pointed at him.

He frowned, staying quiet for a bit before saying, "I'm Jack." He barked a laugh and smirked at her, "Jack in the box."

Lea grinned back, "Lea!"

"And I'm Lea in the box!"

And they stayed like that for some time on the top of the tower, making small talk, cracking jokes or just staying silent and seeing the sky. Until the crew of M.S. Solar arrived to pick them up, much to Lukas' relief that he didn't have to walk all the way back to the PlayerGrounds.