DUST AND THE SWEEPER
Chapter 8 - The Grid
Deep in the recesses of the gargantuan facility, Dust, Blinx, and Picaro wander onto a balcony displaying a technical marvel. An entire factory self-automated, constantly shifting structures like a giant machine, folding the panels in to make roads for the security robots to walk on. Dozens of patrol ships hover through the deep corridors lit by large open windows displaying the sprawling cityscape outside.
"Man," Blinx wonders. "I keep forgettin' the World Ships could take all this."
"The ships," Dust asks.
"They each had a subsection where they held parts for the tower," answers Picaro. "It's like one giant Lego set!"
"How do we know where to go?"
"Lemme check."
Next to the boys is a small computer terminal along the wall which Picaro can plug into. In the meantime, Blinx veers his sights away, monitoring the small camera drones flying overhead in case he ever needs to shoot. Dust keeps Ahrah in hand, flipping the sword around in preparation for another attack, having already dealt with crowds of malicious machines on the way here.
"Be very mindful everyone," Ahrah advises. "I sense a familiar presence nearby."
"What in this tip could be familiar to ya," questions Blinx.
[ALERT: UNAUTHORIZED BIOLOGICAL FORMS DETECTED. SCANNING NOW]
"Aw man," Picaro shouts and transforms his arm to its gun mode. "That's what I was afraid of!"
Another panel above the terminal opens up. A small scanner begins examining them, picking up on their weapons and identification. Though there's no record of Dust, Picaro and Blinx are spotted, causing a freeze in security.
[TIME SWEEPER, DESIGNATION #01712….]
Another ping comes on after a few seconds for the main computer to process. Instead of the usual cold automated voice on the loudspeaker, another one comes on. This time, a softer, somewhat organic male pitch saying to them…
"Hello again. I am Aegis, the former administrator assigned to the Time Factory. I believe we have met before, Blinx and Picaro."
Stunned, Blinx harks back darting his sights to every corner, instantly recognizing the friendly administrator's voice, but with no sign of him anywhere.
"Aegis," Blinx stutters. "You're still here? Where are ya?!"
"Oh, right," Picaro palms his head. "Did I forget to mention he's the AI for the tower and production line?"
"Correction: Sentient Intelligence," Aegis responds. "Around the time of the attack on the factory, I uploaded my consciousness onto the central server of the World Ships to transport them to the planet where we currently reside. Afterward, I was transferred to this facility and reprogrammed to maintain production of the war droids."
Blinx strains, "Ya dumped yer brain in a computa'?"
"It was the easiest way for me to coordinate every vessel since the Mother Computer's commands were insufficient for such a task. As well as it being shut down during the incident."
Picaro adds to this. "Truth is, we would've got the Chief to do it instead, but he planned on going down with the ship. Sure, Admin's got no body, but the CEO pretty much saved his life."
"So if you're still here, you can help us bring down Benito, right," asks Dust.
"Yes and no," answers the system. "Benito has tampered with my programming to prevent me from retaliating against him. However, I can guide you through the process of disabling the security grid for me to regain my full faculties and override his commands."
"Okie doke," Blinx nods. "But where're we supposed to go?"
"INCOMING!"
Picaro shouts as a dropship arrives right above them, launching two rockets at the balcony they stand on! Blinx slows down time fast enough that Dust uses a whirlwind to hurl the missiles back, easily blowing the ship to pieces! But another squad of combat robots rolls in from a lift on the far end of the chasm to the main walkways! A magnetic bridge is activated from the trio's end to the other side for the soldiers to cross. One of them gets shot down by Picaro, but the rest continue to blast at the group from afar; one bolt grazing Dust's armored shoulder and forcing him to deflect with more concentration! It takes Blinx slowing down the bullets again to give Picaro wiggle room to bring the heat on the droids marching over the gap, dismantling them with heavier rounds. The mere push from the mod forces him to stop to cool his gun down while Dust sweepers through the squad, cutting down each trooper on his way to the elevator!
"You can use the lift in front of you to reach the terminals," Aegis answers. "I will mark the right floor for you."
Blinx steps into the elevator, noting the floors for the grid are already set on the many hundred button prompts. Soon as all three of the team walks in, the lift begins to head down, albeit rapidly thanks to the advanced hydraulics. Going down, the men can see through the transparent walls the huge gears of the clocks outside the tower slowly turning, along with several flying drones zooming out the hangars. A sigh of relief comes out of Blinx's mouth, listening closely to the silent radio.
"Oh thank God," Blinx sighs. "There's no elevata' music."
Ahrah, with humor in his voice, scoffs at him, "We are on a quest to bring a dictator to justice and you're concerned about the music?"
"When you've heard 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for the umpteenth time, you'll know the struggle. Anyway, which floor're we headed to first?"
"You are now arriving at Level 128 A," Aegis replies.
"What about Mick," asks Picaro. "Where's he at?"
"He is currently guarding my central processing core. But he is unable to assist you at this time so as to not give away his role here."
"Forgot he's spyin' fer us, I hope," Blinx says, prepping his Sweeper again.
The elevator's sound system makes a light ping when it reaches it's floor. The doors slide open, but outside is a forked corridor where the paths are blocked by ray shields. Behind them, a hatch from the low ceiling folds outward, lowering two large objects; same royal colors as the previous metal troopers, but bulkier and tucked with their arms crossed against their knees.
"Ey, what's the deal with these guys," Blinx asks the admin.
"Security Defenses Stage 1 has been activated," he answers.
While the shields are still up, these sturdy robots transform into their actual shape of a near-identical replica of the mad General Gaius; just with the same helmet and visor as the previous models slightly modified. Unlike their template, however, they have no swords and seem to be lacking hands to carry any weapons.
"Heh. That's funny." Blinx nods his head at the droids behind the shields. "Kinda looks like yer description of General-"
BLAM
"OH MY GOD!"
Blinx falls back barely dodging a shot when the rays are lowered! He and his partners are forced into the corners beside the door as the heavy units spray a scarily strong array of rounds per shot, rapidly firing until the lift nearly comes apart! Blinx slowly down time by 50%, giving Picaro enough time to shoot back, only to find that the armor on the bots is impervious to simple shots. He's forced to switch to his explosive rounds, aiming for the joints and firing at both metal troopers! Finally, they're dismantled; though not without difficulty. The three men rush out the lift before it begins crumbling under its own weight from the damage!
"Damn, those guys got us good," Picaro shouts!
Blinx barks, "I thought this was security stage 1, not stage 100!"
"It is stage 1," Aegis retorts.
"O-oh…," he whimpers.
"Ahrah comments, "Don't give up now. We're already in the thick of this mission. And the worst -getting here- has come to pass."
"Right. Uh, let's see…"
The Time Sweeper investigates the broken remains of the battle robots, finding that one of their guns is still intact. With his saber, he removes the weapon from their arm, then notices the slots from the inside matching that of his Sweeper's. By swapping its vacuum with the gatling gun, Blinx has successfully created a new mod!
"HA! I knew it," He grins. "The inner workings of these parts match our Sweepers!"
"Cheap Tom Tom engineering," says Picaro wandering into a hall. "And if that's the case, then some parts of this tower weren't that well organized. Which means the console should be behind one of these walls…"
Dust wanders into one of the labs off to the side where automated arms experiment with an inert shard of a Time Crystal using tiny lasers. Being careful not to bump into the equipment, he taps his gloved hand onto the wall at the end, feeling the creases around a certain spot he can open, revealing a small control panel.
"You have found the first terminal," confirms the Administrator.
"Awesome," Dust says lunging Ahrah straight into the computer! However, this causes the lights the flicker and Aegis' voice to distort from a high to low pitch randomly while responding.
"thERE Is a sEcond elEvAtOr to the end of the hallway."
Concerned, Blinx asks, "Woah, Aegis, you alright?"
"I am fine. That was only part of the shutdown."
Relieved, Blinx continues with his teammates to the turbolift. But just as they begin to exit, Dust stops in his tracks when his attention is caught on one of the lab rooms. Inside is a strange dark object. Metal in nature yet somewhat organic at the same time with the tentacles protruding out the satellite's lower end. It's being scanned and studied by the several x-rays and video cameras circling it on a rotating rack. Whatever it is, the object is identified as foreign on the monitors, which link to its systems to scan for a signal somewhere on the planet. Dust's helmet captures a good image of the scene on his way in the elevator with his buddies to dissect later. In the meantime, he focuses back on the mission.
In the next level going down, a holographic display of some kind of creature pulls up as the robot arms align the floors for entry. It seems to be a briefing room of some kind, giving a good look at this hybrid monstrosity. A strange mix between a regular Gaius soldier's torso -that isn't an android counterpart- and an entirely mechanical lower half balanced by wheels for feet and digitigrade legs.
"Hate to see that thing in person," Picaro winces.
One of the walls pulls up to unleash its complement of heavy gunners already having Dust shield his friends with a spinning deflect of his sword! Behind them, another set of droids, now regular troops, charge for the Time Sweepers. But with Blinx's modifications to his signature weapon, he burns through them like a shower of molten lava! The mere intensity and vibrations of the mobile turret cause him to lose control for a moment when he rotates toward the Gaius-like units, countering their attacks with their weapon! Dust even has to duck underneath the storm of bullets, watching as they cut the men down and ruin the wall and ceiling panels, exposing the mechanical arms and catwalks behind them! With how effective it is, Blinx turns off the mod when it begins to overheat.
"WHOO," he cheers. "This thing got BITE!"
Dust snarks, "Yeah, just be careful not to point that in my breathing space."
Picaro notices that behind the broken barriers, the catwalks leading up takes them to an array of fluid tubes and a control station. Heading inside, what seems to be the security box is there front and center, locked but unguarded.
"That must be the next console," Dust says.
He simply cuts off the lid and shoves Ahrah into the controls like before. Normally, this would call for confirmation from Aegis, but nothing comes from him. The lights in the room they're in abruptly come off and backup power is administered to the fluid pumps outside. As well as starting an alarm triggering the red spotlights.
"Asking Aegis for confirmation would be the wisest move," scoffs Ahrah.
"Yes, thanks Dad," Dust quips. "That would've never occurred to me."
"A small deployment has been dispatched for your location," Aegis advises. "I would advise using their platform to reach the next console."
Right on time, the next wave of sentries arrives with their weapons primed. Seeing the fluid intakes next to them, Blinx shoots at one of them to cause a small flood, thinking they would short circuit the droids like before. Though it does make a single unit fall down the pit, the rest keep standing firmly on the pad and shoot! The trio now crouches under the desk in the small station.
"I thought they weren't waterproof," Blinx panics.
"Improvements were required after the destruction of the first batch of soldiers on Half and Half Village and Aurora," Aegis answers. "Each unit radios feedback on their performance."
"They got shipped to our place too?!"
"If they did that after a fight, they might be disabled," Dust hopes. "But we'll have to worry about that later. How're we supposed to get past those guys?"
"Stay here," orders Picaro, who crawls from the floor to the walkway. Surprisingly, despite the risks, the robots couldn't detect him. Their lack of night vision keeps them from seeing the Cat-Sith soldier snipe them from behind! The two heavy androids are easily taken down from a new weak spot detected in the back. Blinx raises his Sweeper in a lopsided fashion to shoot back while crouched, successfully blowing the rest of them to pieces. Picaro hops on the platform kicking the mechs off as Dust and Blinx follow along.
The lift takes everyone up to a much wider area still shrouded in darkness and emergency lights, and surrounded by a platoon. Those that can see the team from the walkways and terminals fire away immediately, almost striking the makeshift elevator's hydraulics. But Blinx's new modifications easily mow them down by collapsing their flooring into the railway beneath them. It thankfully doesn't take long for the elevator to finish rising to the next wire-filled substation that thankfully isn't guarded.
"There it is," Aegis confirms.
Blinx clicks his Sweeper again. It switches to its regular setting to launch one of Picaro's rounds at the target, instantly sparking an explosion destroying the whole room and breaking off the cables!
"Now where're we supposed to go," asks Blinx.
As if in response, Aegis sends the platform moving backwards toward the walls of the tower floor. It comes to a stop at another catwalk by the windows, when at the corner of Blinx's eye, he sees something strange moving about in the distance where they came. It's an almost similar shape to the schematics on the hologram from earlier, skating with the wheels and hopping up with boosters in its back to hop on another floor into the next room. Right before a transport, a tram ride, zooms into a tunnel below, crushing the debris in front of it!
"What was that?"
"That was a train," answers the voice. "A connected line of railroad cars with or without a locomotive invented in 1804."
"I think he meant the weird creature that skated above it," corrects the Mithrarin.
"I believe that was part of an emergency response team. It's a new unit to replace the marauders."
"Whatever that was, I sure as Hell don't wanna bump into it," says Picaro. "Definitely not worth investigating."
Two more groups of robots take the lifts on either side down to the trio, then use their heavy gunners to dismantle the elevators!
"Aw crap," shouts Blinx as he sucks up the incoming bullets with his Sweeper. "They've blown up our exits!"
Outside the windows, a dropship built for 4 descends with yet another set of droids ready for deployment. But as they get closer, Picaro hatches an idea.
"Wanna help a brother out," he asks Dust. "Shoot me up there."
Confused, the Warmblood does as he asks and pushes him up to the shuttle's roof with a strong wind from Ahrah. Using the chord in his augmentation, Picaro plugs into the ship's computer through a panel up top, toggling a few settings to take control. He unloads all the droids inside, but does so out the window above the huge drop outside to send them plummeting to their destruction!
"Hop on," he yells, giving Dust and Blinx ample time to get on board the carrier from the sides as Picaro takes off. "Aegis, patch yourself in so you can guide the ship."
"Affirmative."
While getting higher to the side of the huge tower, the only thing on Dust and Blinx's mind is the titanic drop. Even going upward feels as if there's no end as they can't see the top of it. It's not long before Aegis tells them to stop and head back inside, crashing through the glass into a small computer room where instead of robots, they're met by members of the original Tom Tom Gang! These muscular Pig-like humanoids don't even get enough time to aim their pistols at the duo when Picaro starts shooting the dropship's guns at them! He doesn't kill them, however. Merely shooting at the floor to trip them up and knock them out.
"Man, I love this thing," he cheers as he squeezes the shuttle further inside, knocking over several of the big terminals hooked to the ceiling!
Curious, Blinx examines the unconscious pirates, seeing that their red goggles had been cracked but inside display a string of text detailing different corners of the level they're on. Including Blinx identified as a target.
"Can't say I was lookin' forward ta seein' these guys again," mocks the Time Sweeper.
"These are members of the Tom Toms," asks Dust.
"In the flesh. At least it's better than those gatlin' robots."
BZZZSSHRRK "The main members of the Tom Tom Gang are centered in the highest levels of the facility," Aegis explains. "This is where they run tests on their latest droid models and various objects. The final console should be located up ahead."
With the directions, they proceed into the next hallway filled with blocks of workstations on the sides leading into the main server room. A bigger, constantly shifting chamber where it is especially cold to keep the hardware cooled down. There's already a wave of troops standing idly by waiting to attack; now including melee users. A few of them descend from the balcony above the squad for a sneak attack, but Blinx puts them on pause long enough for Dust and Picaro to tear them apart! Those off to the end of the room begin their assault. Like many times before, Blinx sucks up the shots and launches them back. But this time, the droids are shielded! The shots bounce off an invisible barrier around the heavy gunners!
"Crap, they're shielded," Blinx shouts right when one of the metal men launches a missile at him!
The Time Sweeper slows the speed of reality just enough that it gives him and his partners ample time to leap back from the blast. However, when Blinx attempts a reverse or pause, his weapon stalls.
"Aw nuts," he grunts, hitting his Sweeper. "Batteries're dead! Guess I've been usin' this a Helluva lot, huh?"
"There are a few Time Crystals available to use in the next room," Aegis suggests.
Dust swing tosses Ahrah so fast that the sword goes flying across the room like a boomerang, spinning and slicing through the guards like a hot butter knife! Only the two gatling bots keep firing with their shields up until Picaro sees an opportunity. Blasting a girder up top to collapse it onto them! Though the machines barely stand, the shields are down and give Blinx a chance to bring the heat with the last of the bullets stored in the Sweeper!
"That was a close one. Now where do we go," he asks.
"The console is just above you," says Aegis.
"Where? I don't see it."
"It is within the ceiling. I will lower a lift for you to enter."
One part of the roof comes down with an arm, small enough for only one person to hop on.
"Lemme take this one," Picaro says stepping onto the platform. "Goin' up!"
While Picaro exits into the ceiling, Blinx and Dust examine the servers and notice they're all labeled differently. These once belonged to the Mother Computer of the Time Factory, indicated by their messages saying such. Once Picaro takes out the last computer, Aegis pings and tells Dust…
"Dust, turn off your browser immediately. Your antivirus has detected a malware-infected download."
"Huh," Dust pauses.
"I apologize. Each terminal is connected to my processing core. Please disregard the previous statement."
"Hey bro, you ok up there," Blinx loudly asks Picaro.
No luck. He's too high up to hear anything, and the lift that brought him there is jammed.
"He is trapped in the maintenance sections of this room, Blinx," Aegis responds.
"Damn… At least he's safe up there. Better go find me some goodies."
Next door, the duo is greeted by another odd find. A smaller room where several Time Crystals are packed in containers while strange blob-like specimens are being prodded at on the worktables by automated units. To Blinx, they vaguely resemble creatures he's seen countless times in the past. However, they lack any physical features that suggest they were even alive like eyes or a mouth. Not even antennae.
"Um…Aegis, not to change the subject, but what exactly is Benito experimenting with here," Dust asks.
"Mysterious objects that descended with us when we arrived on the planet, as well as remnants of other Time Shards. It seems this area we've landed on also contains its own plentiful supply of Time Crystals beneath the world's surface. However, records of these crystals' formation trace back to an era where current society was at its prime."
"That sounds…confusing."
Blinx smashes open one of the crates to grab himself a replacement shard, red. With a few adjustments to his Sweeper, it automatically comes back online, instantly reversing the box being opened.
"That oughta do it," he grins. "Good as new!"
Dust beams another smile at Blinx, saying, "Just a thought, but it's a good thing Fidget's not here. Or else she would've screamed, 'OH NO! GAIUS IS BACK FROM THE GRAVE! HE'S MULTIPLYING,' over all the stuff we've been through so far."
"Yes…," Ahrah replies. "And you do a surprisingly decent impression of her. Now, where do we continue from here?"
"W-while Picaro remains in the maintenance hall, you must reach me at the heart of the tower," Aegis says before he glitches. "I have maaaaaaaaaaaaaaarked an exit point."
"Hearing him talk like that will never stop freaking me out," Dust comments. "Let's keep moving."
It doesn't take very long for the duo to make it to the next elevator used for limited access deep near the core of the facility. As it ascends at a fast pace, Blinx and Dust notice the number of wires traveling up with them outside. Steel beams separate the floors of the heavy machinery beneath a sprawling room where the floor tiles flash red as if an alarm is going off. At the center going upward, each cable converges into a massive, bulbous machine surrounded by tracks and computer stations. Eventually, the lift comes to a stop and opens its other door, giving the pair time to marvel at Aegis' form.
" ̶͖̇Y̵͙̽-̶̹̌y̵̯͂-̴̹͊y̸͍͘-̵̫͂ẏ̶̱o̷͂ͅù̶̻'̶̺͘r̵̡̐e̶̟͑ ̶̩͘n̷̮͛-̸̙͝n̶̖̉e̸̱̚a̷̪̅ŕ̵͖i̶̠̽n̸̙̆ğ̵͍ my central processing core," he glitches. "E̷n̵g̵a̷g̶i̴n̷g̶ autoturret defenses… A-a-attempting shu-u-u-utdown…"
Blinx, beginning to sprint from the brain assures the administrator, "Don't worry boss! We're almost there!"
"Why would they make this machine so huge if it's the only thing controlling the building," asks the Mithrarin as he runs with his partner.
"Well a person's brain is a lot more complex than a tiny computa'!"
BLINX!
An older, rougher voice over by Aegis' terminal belongs to Mick. A greenish Cat-Sith sporting the same attire as a marauder. However, his waving at the Time Sweeper reminds him he isn't a threat. Mick comes over to the computer with a grin on his face, coming to give Blinx a bro hug.
"Mick ol' pal! You good?"
"I'm just fine," he nods. "I already took out the robots here when I heard you were coming. Aegis' terminal's right there."
"Awesome," Blinx smirks as he walks over to the station. "Let's-"
BANG
At the blink of an eye, all three men are met by an explosion big enough to send them flying off the balcony onto the walkway behind them! Blinx even drops his Sweeper and Mick pulls out his energy axe from his own in preparation for a fight. Dust barely recovers when Ahrah shouts, "DUST, GUARD UP!"
Dust brings the blade up to his face, and right on time as a chainsaw as big as himself clashes with Ahrah, coming from the mismatched creature patrolling the tower! This cybernetic monstrosity with a mono-eye and a pig-like torso, clearly a malformed Tom Tom member, grits their teeth at him while wheeling itself back toward the computer. And just above him on the next balcony is the leader behind the chaos. Benito, very much on the heavy side sporting his red and white outfit, fancy boots, a cape, and a golden crown with a crystal embedded in it. He straightens his silver and red lenses, strokes the hair under his chin and smirks at the Time Sweeper and Mithrarin beneath him.
"Well, well, well! Look who the
Cat dragged in," he snarks. "Looks like all those reports were right."
Blinx casually rolls his eyes, "Oh wow! If it isn't Dr. Piglet. Am I still way past cool for ya?"
"Blinx," he shakes his head. "Why am I not surprised? Ya screwed with me an' my boys before, but now this? With the ninja fox on your side?!"
Dust replies, "Actually I'm more like a wolf. But that ninja's name is-"
"Yeah yeah yeah," the tyrant interrupts. "Dust, killer of my ol' client an' protector of the innocent. Two sides of the same coin. I got the whole scoop since before I even came to this planet an' got stuck in the timeline."
"Somebody's been doin' their homework," Blinx smirks.
"Won't lie. I had a feeling the General guy would fail. But that's coo. I've got other arrangements for you boys as you can see. Y'like Ugo's makeover? He calls it, Time Hunter."
"Dat's Ugo…?" Blinx takes a moment to examine the cyborg's look and scowls realizing what it is. "…Eh. Could be worse. Could be like how he used'ta look."
"Never underestimate Tom Tom engineerin', son," Benito grins as he fiddles with Aegis' systems. "Take 'em out, and leave the leftovers to me!"
[WARNING: SECURITY PROTOCOL STAGE 3 IS ACTIVE]
As Ugo begins to zip toward the group, blasting his heavy gun at them, drone defenses ascend from the pit along with two of the Gaius Gunners, switching from gatling mode to full siege barrels! Blinx, seeing the explosives coming their way, slows time long enough for Dust and Mick to rolls from them before they land! Mick joins the Mithrarin in slicing the first wave of hover bots surrounding them and firing pellet shots, which Mick can deflect with his shield. While they're busy, the Time Hunter focuses on attacking Blinx head on, slicing a piece of his Sweeper barrel when he swerves from a swipe from the chainsaw!
"A little much fo' someone plagiarizin' from Doom," Blinx grunts while running backwards and shooting.
When he nears the lift, he notices the two heavy gunners still launching four martyr shells from the walkways on either side meant to land where he's standing. Once Ugo gets close to him, Blinx stops shooting and sets the Sweeper to pause, freezing the Tom Tom in place moments before he's shelled! The explosion throws Blinx onto his back wondering if it succeeded. Unfortunately, even with chunks of his flesh scorched off exposing the augmentations underneath them, the Time Hunter keeps trucking. His attempt at decapitating the Cat-Sith leads to him slicing the elevator in two when he ducks under him, rolling between his metal legs! Ugo's torso quickly rotates to whack him in the back of the head, knocking Blinx against a guard rail and dropping his Sweeper! He just misses his chance to grab it before it plummets into the chasm!
"Son of a-"
WHAM
Blinx barely dodges a slam from the cyborg! It catches Mick's attention from afar while he's in the middle of protecting Dust from gunfire.
"Blinx, catch," he barks when he tosses his Sweeper at Blinx a good distance away! Ugo even attempts to slice it on the way toward him, but Blinx easily hops past him and grabs it with enough room to slow down the Time Hunter!
"Thanks, but what about'chu?!"
"Don't worry," Mick nods. "I got this!"
Now without his signature weapon, Mick books it with his shield still up, circling down the platform's path toward the Gaius Gunner who turns their attention to him when he shoves the shield in the middle of one of their gun barrels! When it fires, nearly half the robot combusts whilst its right side keeps shooting! It still has just enough control for Mick to steer the cannon away from Dust and right toward the drones bombarding him with lasers, then the other martyr robot, then Ugo! The Tom Tom's leg is struck hard, bending it at an awkward angle and causing his movement to stagger and rotate as he moves forward! An electronic screech is let out from him when Benito yells, "This was supposed to be an upgrade for ya, Ugo, not a downgrade! Hit 'em harder!"
Prompted, the Time Hunter's back opens to unload another turret mount. This one launches shells up top that descend to the platforms like hail fire! As they come down, Dust looks up and mutters to himself, "You've gotta be kidding me…!"
He's nearly blared by nothing but explosions around him when he leaps and rolls across the floor! Blinx himself pauses the shots and reverses them back at the Time Hunter, but he's already on his tail. When Dust gets near his friend, they're both clotheslined into a wall away from the brain of the tower!
When Mick comes to assist them, preparing to throw a bunch on his way to the giant, he's struck from a swift backhand that throws him off the walkway into the gap, just barely catching himself with one of the huge cables leading to Aegis! Still pinned to the wall, Dust pulls out Ahrah, severing the chainsaw from Ugo's arm to free himself! Backing up, the cyborg aims directly at the Mithrarin for a charge shot from his cannon. But just as he prepares to fire, Blinx deploys the Sweeper's axe, ramming it into the weapon to overload it from the inside. The resulting blast blows both the Time Hunter and Blinx back, but Ugo's sent falling off the balcony! What seemed like a swift victory turns into horror as the monster launches two tethers from his back into the ceiling high above to slowly lift himself. But fortunately, Mick notices. Seeing that he's closest to the creature, the Time Sweeper removes his gloves, sharpens his claws, and quickly severs the two lines, sending Ugo down into the grave as he screams in both an angry and horrified tone!
CRASH
"Klonoa, there is a shutdown button nearby," the Admin stutters. "Press it and the 501st Legion can continue."
"Damn," Benito shakes his head. "That's what you call wasted. Time to up the ante."
Just as Benito starts to modify the security again, Blinx switches to a scope mode and snipes the control panel! All of a sudden, Aegis's gargantuan structure begins to spark electricity from its cables and computers as if it were going critical. Random hover drones and soldier bots pour in from different openings in the room, yet they don't seem to attack anyone but themselves! One by one, they collapse or shoot in random directions right before shutting down completely when Aegis returns to his faculties to calmly say…
"Thank you. The Security Grid has been disabled. I will be offline temporarily to reboot the system. Commencing s-s-system…shutdoooown…
[THIS, SYSTEM, IS NOW, UNDER, BACKUP MAINTENANCE]
With a sigh, Benito quietly applauds Dust and the Time Sweeper, nodding, "Bravo. Veeeeery impressive. Couldn't have done better myself."
"Nice job sendin' yer boys to do yo dirty work, Big Ben," says Blinx, cracking his neck. "Why don'cha come down 'ere an' show me you got ba-"
BOP
A strange bubble is formed around Blinx and Dust from the crystal in Benito's crown, like a miniature cell. Not even Blinx's attempt at disabling it with his Sweeper has any effect on it, negating all his methods from reverses, freezing, or fast-forwarding the barrier. Scowling back at the Tom Tom Leader, he folds his arms and tells him, "That still doesn't answer my question."
"You boys up for some roast beef," asks the pig. "Come with me to my office."
Two Tom Tom guards with tattoos on their arms come from the elevator with two security drones still intact for escort. Mick, attempting to climb up to the wire to the bridge, sees his comrades being taken away, unable to be rescued in time when Picaro busts down a wall panel to find them. By the time he catches sight of them, it's too late. Benito has both the Time Sweeper and the Sen-Mithrarin in his custody, quickly sending them up a lift with him and his men.