The corridor shook around Makibi Kiyone and Will Pii as they neared the Men in Black armory, causing both to steady themselves. The two glanced down the length of the hallway ahead of them, worry crossing the face of the resident officer.
"That came from the main hall," she remarked.
"More reason to get heavier weapons," the hunter retorted.
"Hopefully, we'll be in time," she said as she approached the armory's door.
Kiyone pressed her hand to a scanner attached to the wall next to the door. The device illuminated under her palm as a beam shone up to her face, reading her features and retinas. The panel above the scanning system displayed her credentials.
Surname: Makibi
Given Name: Kiyone
Affiliation: Galaxy Police
Rank: Detective First Class
Clearance: GRANTED
The pressurized doors parted to either side, revealing a room bathed in light. Racks of weapons lined the walls, lit from beneath by luminous panes. Each weapon had its details and contours highlighted, nothing left to the imagination with regard to its form or function. Closed black cabinets laid under each rack, filled with ammunition corresponding to the proximate weapon.
Kiyone, however, walked past them all to a table in the rear of the chamber. Mounted on its surface were several heavy weapons: multi-barreled cannons, large-bore energy carbines, and low-grade incendiary devices. Drawers in the chest of the table held belts of rounds and power cells for the collected arms on display.
With no hesitation, the detective strapped the harness for the rotary repeater onto her chest and waist before pulling the drawer to retrieve its ammunition. She hefted the heavy gun from its rack and locked it into the harness, clicking the harness's gravity negator. While the device did deplete power faster, it counteracted the weapon's mass, rendering it incredibly light and providing her with far more mobility. She also removed her own orange headband and used it to tie her hair behind her head, prior to securing the gun's targeting visor over her eyes. A ruby glow filled the display as its HUD loaded and began to track and assist the weapon's aim.
Pii entered and perused the weapons, but chose none of them. His hands craved a more customized piece of kit.
"This way," Kiyone instructed as she waved her companion back through the entrance.
"Think that will generate enough heat to disable her Grenhaus integrator?" he posed.
"No," she replied, "but it can keep her attention."
A short distance from the armory, the pair found the evidence room, where the officer likewise used her clearance to open the door. Far more dimly lit than the preceding chamber, rows of shelving systems stood housing numerous boxes of collected items from previous and active cases. Each box was marked with information detailing its acquisition, case, and point of contact.
Kiyone rushed through the aisles to a cage in the back of the room. Elaborately locked, this charged metal enclosure isolated confiscated weapons from MiB cases both pending and completed. Each item was tagged with information not unlike the boxes filling the main void of the room. In particular, Will Pii's armor and high-energy laser rifle (HELR) rested atop a table after being parted from him.
The bounty hunter's eyes quickly found his property as the GP officer systematically opened the locks on the vault.
"All of your gear should be here," she commented. "The MiB are nothing if not thorough in seizure."
Once the cage was open, Pii slipped inside and likewise began to equip himself for the coming conflict. He wrapped himself once more in the red plates and locked the flight pack to his back. Checking his gauntlets, each revealed a small-bore weapon, thankfully still loaded and charged from the battle on Governor's Island. Donning his helmet, he flipped down his black visor, which illuminated with his targeting HUD. After double-checking the status of his equipment, the hunter took up the HELR and ejected its power cell.
"Got a SAN-23?" he asked.
Glancing through the inventory, Kiyone found another weapon and removed a similar cartridge from its breech.
"This should work," she responded, handing him the item.
"Thanks," Pii answered while loading it into his long gun.
"Ready?"
"No," he retorted with a scoff, "but we're doing this anyway."
As they began their egress, Kiyone mused aloud, "If Mecha-Nerti uses NVO energy, whatever weapons we take might only be a deterrent at best."
"You've mentioned 'NVO energy' a couple times now," Pii noted. "What is it, exactly?"
"You know the powers that a Ryoan has?" she posed to him.
As he nodded, she continued, "It's like that, only far more potent. I'm sure you know about the Galaxy Police headquarters 'disappearing'?"
"Every bounty hunter does," he remarked. "It's why we've gotten so much work lately."
Her eyes met his. "That was just one entity with NVO energy."
Taken aback, he asked, "How was he taken down?"
She sighed, "A dimensional cannon, something we don't exactly have readily at hand."
Confused, he inquired, "Wait. I've fought Mecha-Nerti to a standstill before. She's not that powerful, even with her upgrades."
Agreeing, she added, "Neither was Illirg, ultimately. It was a matter of countering the energy he possessed."
"Alright," he commented, "how do you counter this NVO energy?"
Gazing down the corridor in the direction of the main hall, she took a breath and answered, "We need to find Tenchi and Ayeka."
Raising a brow, the hunter pondered, "They're Ryoan? I thought Ryoko was the only one from last night."
"No," she corrected, "they're Juraian."
"So," he deduced, "Juraians have an innate power like Ryoans do?"
Kiyone shook her head. "Sadly, not all. Just their nobility."
Furrowing his brow, her companion questioned, "Just the royal family? You'd think it'd be a trait of the species, like with the Ryoans."
Absently, the detective glanced to her hand and nodded. "You'd think." Refocusing, her hand grasped the steadying bar of her weapon. "The fact remains that they will be key to any victory here."
Pii accepted her point before pausing, hearing steps rushing toward them from the direction of the main hall. He began to raise his weapon when Kiyone motioned for him to stand down.
"Mitsuki!" she called out, seeing her colleague running with three others: Agent O and the Twins.
Matsu Mitsuki slowed when she joined her fellow officer, as did her companions, all catching their breath.
However, Oh stumbled and dropped to one knee, her memory seared by the image of her counterpart and mentor skewered with Mecha-Nerti's weapon. Tears had streaked down her cheeks during their evacuation from the main hall, but in their rush to escape the explosion, she had only had time for a visceral reaction to Agent Z's death. Now, with some distance from their foe, the realization finally wracked her.
Zed is gone, she acknowledged to herself, her mind flying through the vacuum left by the agency's chief, her only superior, and her longtime friend.
For just a moment, her heart reminded her of the hole left by Kay, that she had lost two of her contemporaries in such quick succession. In that moment, she wasn't an agent, but merely human, letting herself feel the loss.
The Twins came to her side, gibbering in their native tongue, while Kiyone flitted her concerned gaze between the assistant chief and her fellow GP officer.
Mitsuki too had been stunned by Zed's sudden and violent end, but given the professional distance she had from the Men in Black, the impact was dulled. Nevertheless, pang of sympathy shuddered her heart as she turned her eyes to Oh, remembering being in a similar place a year ago.
"What happened?" Kiyone asked of her colleague.
"The gynoid killed Zed," she answered plainly, turning her attention to the teal-tressed detective.
"Damn," the resident officer cursed under her breath, disheartened by the news. "Then, the explosion?"
"Zed's last gift on his way out," the liaison added, "a lux grenade."
Listening closely, Pii's eyes opened wide as he stepped forward and argued, "That would melt or vaporize everything in the room, including her memory unit!"
Mitsuki glared at him and retorted icily, "Good. We lost some good people because of her. Let her burn."
The threads holding together the hunter's mission and hope frayed as he took a step back. A lux grenade was designed to burst with the power of small fusion reaction, essentially creating a miniature solar body. With temperatures nearing 6000K, very little could possibly survive its blast wave without some kind of mechanism to protect itself.
But, amid his doubts, his analytic mind churned, recalling their battle on Heiss, her upgrades.
"Did you actually see her after the blast?"
Meanwhile, in the main hall, the Egg Display and the surrounding desks were melted from the intense heat produced by Zed's end. Streaks of molten metal and plastic were swept back away from the epicenter of the blast, scorched black by the fireball created as the gases in the ambient air had ignited. A winds actually blew inside the room due to the unburned air pouring into the resultant vacuum left by the grenade's action.
Nothing was left of Zed's body or those of the agents Mecha-Nerti had manipulated, now merely shadows permanently cast onto the floor and walls.
Yet, within the soot-filled room, a blood-crimson aura glowed, and a synthesized voice moaned.
Up several floors from the devastation in the main hall, Ryua Ryoko reappeared with Masaki Tenchi and Jurai Ayeka in tow. The prince and princess steadied themselves after the sudden relocation while the pirate caught her breath, the rush of the moment passing.
The Okayama native ran his fingers through his hair as he processed what just happened: Zed's death, the grenade embedded in Mecha-Nerti's body, the other agents in her thrall. While not the first time he had seen someone die, the explosive end of someone he had come to know and respect over the last few days took him aback. However, his concern for the pair with him soon roused him from his shock.
"Is everyone okay?" Tenchi asked.
The Juraian lady rested a hand against her chest as she internalized how close to death they all had been before the teleportation. Her heart pounded in her chest as the image of Zed impaled by Mecha-Nerti's weapon haunted her thoughts, how he fell to his knees next to her.
Absently, Ayeka nodded. "I think so, yes."
However, the Ryoan woman stood apart from them, thinking. Zed and Oh had offered her a fresh start, to cut ties with her piratical past, but his passing meant he could no longer pull the strings needed to sever her bonds to her history. Her entire purpose for cooperating with the Men in Black may well be defunct.
Goddammit, her frustration forced into her mind.
She wanted to leave this place. This fight was not hers. The MiB boss was dead, and probably the gynoid too. Her record would not be cleared. She would not know what the bug wanted with her.
"Ryoko?" Tenchi called to her again.
Her hands slid along her forearms as she broke from her reverie. "Yeah. Fine."
He stepped closer to her, but she spun to face him, her expression somber.
"Let's get out of here, Tenchi," she suggested.
"What?" he responded, confused.
"Zed's dead," she reasoned, "as is the robot. This whole thing is a bust."
Disconcerted, Ayeka also turned to her counterpart. "Ryoko, a man was killed. We can't just leave like nothing happened."
"Why not?" the cyan-maned figure argued. "What will us staying here change?"
Behind the violet-haired royal's conscious objections, a voice whispered to her, She's not wrong.
Scratching the back of his head uneasily, Tenchi empathized, "Maybe nothing, Ryoko, but I mean, they just lost a lot of people. Shouldn't we see if we can help them?"
Facing her beloved, Ryoko's selfishness warred with her affection for him, seeing his compassion for the people here. Her fist gathered at her side as she bit her lip, stopping herself from barking her objections at him.
With a breath, she forced herself to reply more thoughtfully, "Tenchi, none of us are doctors. I'm a pirate, surrounded by police. I don't belong here."
Furrowing her brows, Ayeka argued, "We have a responsibility to the fallen, Ryoko, to let their families know how they passed."
"No, I don't," the Ryoan rebuked her.
Before she could continue the argument, footsteps pulled the attention of all three from their exchange. Both Tenchi and Ryoko formed their swords and stood ready while Ayeka summoned her mini-guardians around herself. Thankfully, a familiar voice called out to them.
"Ho! Whoa!" Agent J yelled. "It's just me!"
All three visitors lowered their guard, relieved as the MiB agent joined their ranks.
"I take it you three ran into the robot too?" he asked.
Nodding solemnly, Tenchi answered, "Yeah. Yeah, we did."
Ayeka likewise lowered her gaze while Ryoko closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. This situation was precisely what the pirate had hoped to avoid: the stagnant silence, confusion ebbing into Jay's face, the expectant question on his lips.
"… What happened? That explosion a little while ago?"
Bravely, the prince stepped forward and spoke in careful English, "It was in the main hall. Mecha-Nerti came, and…" he paused, never having to break such news before.
He searched for the correct words, not merely to describe the event, but to convey the gravity of the situation and his sympathy for the loss. While Tenchi was proficient in English, he was not a master of the language.
Then, a soft voice whispered to him in Cerulian, "Chief Z and his agents fought valiantly alongside us, but sadly, they lost their lives to defeat the enemy."
The Okayama native turned to see Ayeka standing with him, her ruby eyes meeting his kindly. The erudite princess nodded as she somberly motioned to Jay, urging her beloved to translate her words to their ally.
Steeling himself, Tenchi did so, the concern in the agent's expression shifted to shock and then to loss. Having already lost his mentor Agent K and having his own career hanging by a thread, Jay ran his hand through his short hair, turning away from the trio. He bit his lip and took some deep, sharp breaths. While Zed was not one of his favorite bosses, the young operative had come to respect him, however grudgingly. He would never have a chance to win back Zed's trust after the earlier incident with Tenchi and Agent G.
"I'm so sorry," Tenchi apologized.
Glancing back to the prince, the agent inquired through his clenched jaw, "Is Mecha-Nerti dead too?"
The half-Juraian began to speak when a loud white noise sounded from the public address system. Across the entire complex, everyone's attention was drawn to the audio as it slowly became more clear and modulated, into a satisfied laugh.
"Mission accomplished," Mecha-Nerti's voice celebrated, corrupted and dissonant.
Outside the armory, Kiyone glanced to Mitsuki and motioned toward the weapon cache inside. Oh rose to her feet, aghast that their foe remained. Pii scowled as he clutched his weapon close, ready.
In the infirmary, Mihoshi rested a supportive hand on Sasami's shoulder, and her other hand on her service pistol. The younger princess held Ryo-Ohki close while the fuzzy creature hissed at the enemy's voice. Washu and Elle looked up from their work, listening to the words that came next.
In the corridor several floors above, fury overcame Jay's face hearing the gynoid's uneven words. Likewise, Ryoko's amber eyes sparked as her own rage spiked at the sound of their antagonist's return. Ayeka clutched the collar of her kimono when a pang of pain shot through her chest, and a light chuckle slipped into the back of her mind. Tenchi's grip on his namesake sword tightened, knowing the battle was not yet over.
"While I may not have ended him… directly," Mecha-Nerti remarked, "the task is done regardless." Static enveloped the public address system for a moment before the sound of ripping metal and the roar of a fire brought another sequence of clear speech. "However, the Men in Black have a new head, do they not?"
A chill rushed through Oh's spine, as Kiyone and Pii turned their attention to her. Elsewhere, Jay began to storm off while Tenchi came to his side to talk him down.
A smug laugh sounded through the speakers. "And, there is that Ryoan pirate, and the Juraian princess."
Ryoko and Ayeka exchanged a knowing glance, fully aware of the threat to them both.
"Oh, and…" the mechanical voice trailed off as another visceral exultation of effort peaked the audio. "Yes… the prince. The hybrid prince."
Tenchi stopped, as did Jay, who looked back at the Okayama teenager.
"Father, my dear cocreator," the artificial being continued, tasting each word she uttered, "who should be first?"
Pii fired on the closest speaker before demanding Mecha-Nerti's position from Mitsuki.
"Don't be so impatient. I will be with all of you soon enough," she promised before the audio system went silent one final time.
A wide smile crossed the lips of the Great Liaens.
Standing upon an elevated landing above his great hall, the fallen king rested his hands along the railing of the balcony. His cross-shaped irises focused exclusively on the communication display projected before him.
"Good work," he praised. "Your success serves to move our agenda one step closer to fruition."
Mecha-Nerti's synthesized voice replied, "Thank you, Master Liaens. What would you have of me next?"
"Transmit all relevant data to me immediately," he ordered. "I will have it analyzed. If this 'Alpha' is as key as you say, we will locate him without delay."
A second holographic window opened to Liaens's left as the transmission began, the progress displayed as a slowly filling bar.
"Transmission initiated," the gynoid answered. "Progress will take some time, due to the inefficiency of their equipment, as well as the damage incurred during the battle."
"Very well. Defend the transmitter and be sure that the upload is completed successfully."
"As you command."
"Once you are finished there, return to us for repairs and refit. You will be required for our coming plans."
"What of the targets that remain? Princess Jurai Ayeka is here, as is her younger sister. Moreover, the pirate Ryua Ryoko and the hybrid Masaki Tenchi are with them."
Liaens had not expected for the Jurai royal family to become involved so early in his machinations, and the schemes of the Kimitan witch had not helped in achieving their goal. However, now that the mission was accomplished, with the benefit of unfettered access to the MiB database, an opportunity to injure and weaken Jurai more could not be overlooked. Eliminating Ayeka would remove her from future considerations entirely, and doing so within the MiB's jurisdiction would further cripple the organization.
And, he thought, removing the slayer of the usurper would be best.
"If the opportunity permits," he advised, "kill the princesses and the hybrid."
"And the pirate?"
The bearded man knew that his benefactor was playing some larger game involving the Kimitan witch and the Ryoan pirate. While he was not privy to the details, the pirate seemed integral enough for their benefactor to waste one of her three dark entities on the Ryoan girl.
The gods are capricious, he mused. They have eternity to play their games. I do not.
"Kill her too," he ordered, "should she prove inconvenient."
"As you command."
In MiB headquarters, Zed's office barely stood among the scorched and melted construction. Its support pillar now wilted under the weight it held, weakened by the intense heat of the lux grenade. Much like the computer core, what technology remained near the Egg Display has been cannibalized by the gynoid to repair herself. Consoles laid dismantled, and gouges in the floor and walls told of her need for raw material.
However, unlike before, her body was not repaired completely to its pristine form. Streaks of steel and plastic were interwoven into her gold hair and silver skin. The bronze of her armored attire was likewise polluted by impurities of weaker metals, and even nonmetallic components like stone and glass. Rather than a statuesque beauty of technology, Mecha-Nerti appeared much more haggard, like a golem of scrap.
She rested her hand on her chest, where a significant crack stretched from her right shoulder to her upper abdomen. She visibly winced at the touch while a lick of black fire radiated along the tear in her structure. Errors and faults streamed through her consciousness, detailing the fissure's inability to close, and the containment failure of her power core.
Chief Z's sacrifice was not in vain.
Mecha-Nerti remembered the lux grenade drilling its way into her abdomen, latched to her like a parasite. Its flash had burned out her optics and immediately started to melt and vaporize her body, the fusion reaction tearing her metallic flesh apart at the molecular level. Had she been merely a machine, she would have been a scorch mark on the walls like the human personnel.
Her logs detailed her survival. The instant the blast wave had reached her power cell, it had attempted to generate a protective barrier, using the NVO energy held within it. While this action had protected most of her cognitive and power systems, the delay in reaction had caused much of her armor and superstructure to be blown away by the artificial solar wind.
And, for a moment, the stellar heat had touched her power cell, and the attached Grenhaus integrator.
She could feel it, the crack in her power cell, her "heart", her very being. This was not an interpretation of error logs like the feeble shell program would exhibit. No, the feeling was visceral, tangible, actual pain. Touching the black fire was akin to an exposed nerve being dipped in acid. With the Grenhaus integrator damaged, this exposed wound refused to seal properly, regardless of materials.
In her eye sockets, her dark power has coalesced into a glassy texture, a portion of her true nature now revealed. No more would her mechanical vision flash "III". Instead, she would depend on her innate sight.
She raised her hand from her chest and gazed down at the cobbled-together appendage. A wave of black and red energy raced along her forearm to her fingertips, her faux skin sizzling from the power's intensity. As the bronze tendrils snaked between the haphazard components, attempting to rejoin them, she curled her lip. Unlike the precious metals of her original construction, these materials would not endure heavy use of her power, and the damaged integrator would not be able to compensate.
However, she computed, if I must, I can go critical and breach containment. Not ideal, but an option.
So, Mecha-Nerti seated herself on the last functioning console in the main hall, her onyx gaze set on the corridor ahead of her. Across her lap, she laid her weapon, an equally patched-together scythe, the original being utterly destroyed by the lux grenade. Its staff was woven from supports and wiring from the column supporting Zed's office, and the blade was a jagged piece of the corridor's bulkhead. She had no faith in this implement when compared to the Juraian and Ryoan blades, yet a distant part of her seemed compelled to build it. Her arm felt incomplete without it, but as she sat waiting her foes, she could not think of why.
Maybe a stray piece of code, she wagered. I will have it revised when I am repaired.
"No!" Will Pii argued back to Makibi Kiyone. "I'm not waiting anymore! I have been chasing this damned gynoid for two years. Her memory core has Nerti Ro's location, and I'm not losing this chance to find where she is."
Standing between Pii and Matsu Mitsuki, Kiyone firmly retorted, "I understand that you want to find her, but facing Mecha-Nerti alone will likely end you."
The bounty hunter scowled, his frustrations boiling through his veins. After being told that the gynoid was destroyed in the blast of a lux grenade, and then discovering her to exist still, the rapid swing in emotions only served to infuriate him more. The first step in undoing his past mistakes felt so close, but dangling increasingly out of reach.
Mitsuki set her organic hand on Kiyone's shoulder and interjected, "He doesn't have to go alone."
The redheaded GP liaison officer had removed her artificial forearm and replaced it with a plasma cannon. Similarly equipped with a gravity negator, the weapon was far lighter than it appeared, and the eyepiece placed over her left eye glowed to life with a HUD for the weapon.
Mitsuki's eyes gazed back coldly. While she had not been particularly close with the MiB staff, she had come to respect both Zed and Oh, and the former did not deserve to die in vain. Moreover, the similarity to Kain's destruction of the GP headquarters weighed heavily on her. She would not be idle this time.
"Mitsuki…" Kiyone began, but her counterpart interrupted her.
"We're all involved, Kiyone," she stated plainly her eyes meeting those of her professional rival. "I'm involved, and the two of you alone won't be enough."
"The three of us likely won't be either," the detective admitted. "We should be finding Tenchi and Ayeka, rather than rushing back into the fray. Their Jurai energy is proven to pierce the gynoid's defenses."
While the three of them were arguing, Agent O had been letting herself feel the accumulated loss from the past few days. First, Kay had retired, and then Zed had sacrificed himself, not to neglect those agents who had fallen to Mecha-Nerti along her path to Zed. Now, she was the defacto chief of the Men in Black, in a crippled headquarters under siege.
But, some words drifted through her memories.
An injury to one is an injury to all.
The distant reminiscence whispered across from just before her resignation from Torchwood, from a man in a blue military coat. While he had seemed pompous and arrogant, as well as seductive, she now remembered a sadness about him, which resonated with her now.
No more, she resolved.
"Head to the main hall," she declared as she turned to face them. Resolutely, she continued, "I expect that both the prince and princess are headed that way already."
Concerned, Kiyone replied, "Are you sure, Oh?"
"I'll be fine, detective," she answered before motioning to the Twins. "Boys, find me Dr. Hakubi. She and I need to have words."
The two squid-like siblings gibbered among themselves before skittering to a terminal nearby to the armory.
"If our two Juraians aren't on their way, I'll be sure that they are shortly." To both Kiyone and Mitsuki, she soberly adds, "Watch each other's backs," before she motioned to Pii and appends, "and keep him out of trouble. We've lost enough today."
Both Galaxy Police officers accepted their orders, saluting Oh before joining Pii. Together, the three started toward the coming battle, while the defacto chief took a heavy breath. She had not wanted to assume command like this.
But, she admitted, someone has to.
"Kid," Agent J barked at Masaki Tenchi, "you had better have a damn good reason for me to listen to you right now."
The Okayama native followed after Jay, arguing, "She has one of those red-flash devices, the ones that erase your memory!"
The neophyte operative produced a pair of sunglasses and placed them quickly over his eyes and responded, "There. What else you got?"
At Tenchi's side, Jurai Ayeka provided her beloved with a retort in Cerulian, which he translated to their ally, "Only my sword could cut Mecha-Nerti's shields." However, he himself added, "And, Ayeka could likely do the same."
Jay finally stopped and glared back at the prince. "You not coming with me?"
The prince and princess halted with him as the former nodded. "We are, but let's think about this for a moment. Rushing into a fight won't win it."
The erudite young woman gave Tenchi the additional solemn words, "And, we've seen enough bloodshed today."
Before the Japanese teenager could translate, Jay waved him off and clarified, "I heard her, Tenchi." He pointed to his ear and explained, "I got one of the translator gizmos like you two, remember?"
Taken aback, Tenchi grinned wryly and scratched the back of his head. "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that."
"Very well then," Ayeka said, now clear that an intermediary was no longer necessary. "We do want to help you, sir, but we have no desire to watch you sacrifice yourself in a fashion like your chief did." Her fingers clutched the kimono over her chest as she remembered Zed fall by her side. "I don't want to see anymore death today."
While anger and loss drove Jay toward the coming battle, the princess's plea did touch his heart enough to give him pause. She reminded him of Elle, of Laurel, before her memory of Rosenberg was erased. The similar emotional wounds forced him to listen to her words, though at the same time, remembering Rosenberg's death and its fallout stirred his own rebuttal.
"This isn't your fight," he argued. "We already had one prince die on our watch. We don't need you two added to that list."
"It is," Tenchi replied. "Mecha-Nerti called us both out by name as targets."
"And, again," Ayeka added, "only Tenchi and myself have the ability to remove her defenses with any guarantee for you to injure her. You need us."
Jay lacked a working knowledge of NVO and Jurai energy, but had seen how effective Tenchi and Ryoko had been against Illirg, and later the gynoid. He could not deny the truth of their points, even through the haze of rage.
"Okay," the agent relented. "Then, what's the plan?"
"We use surprise," Ayeka suggested. "Ryoko can teleport us back to the main hall. I can defend you and Tenchi while the three of you attack."
Tenchi nodded, "That seemed to be working, even with Mecha-Nerti flashing the agents. What do you think, Ryoko?"
The prince turned back to where the pirate had been, but now found her to be missing. Likewise, the princess and the agent sought their cyan-maned fury, but could not locate her. A fear began to chew at the resolve of each member of this trio.
"You don't think…" Ayeka started as she turned her attention to her beloved.
Tenchi's mind flooded with memories: Ryoko stopping him in the hallway on Yagami, her assault on Jurai's defenses, her reckless attacks all on his behalf. He knew where she had gone, and why she was alone. He clutched his namesake's hilt and spun on his toes.
"Dammit, Ryoko!" Tenchi cursed as he raced off toward the main hall.
When Kain arrived above Tokyo in late 1970, Ryua Ryoko had cursed her power of teleportation. One of its restrictions was that she could not send herself to somewhere she had not previously visited or could not visualize. Consequently, she had wasted precious minutes actually traversing the distances within Tokyo to setup Washu's device and to join Tenchi at the Tokyo Tower, leaving her beloved and the teenage incarnations of his parents to face Kain alone.
But, the space pirate had been to the main hall of the Men in Black's headquarters before the battle with Illirg.
While Tenchi and Ayeka were arguing with Jay, the cyan-maned woman had reflected on her part in this entire affair. The mantis creature had shot her down; her criminal past had led to her incarceration and pursuit by the Men in Black, which drew Tenchi's involvement. The bug had hunted her, injuring Ayeka in the process. Now, this gynoid continued the insect's work, issuing an open threat to all of them.
And, she reminded herself, it somehow ties back to Mom.
In the main hall, a gust of air preceded Ryoko's arrival, her teleport displacing the volume of gas in her target location. Standing before the doors to the central elevator, she could see the damage wrought by the lux grenade: the scorched and melted desks, shadows baked into the walls and ceiling, the catwalks and the support to Zed's office wilted from the immense heat.
However, her amber eyes quickly found her prey, the gynoid Mecha-Nerti sitting on the last functioning console. Though its monitor was cracked and partially melted, the pirate could discern a progress indicator at 25% completion. The mechanical being herself held a scythe rebuilt from the scrap of the ruined room. Her body was patched together from random materials, even the stone and plastic of the room.
Yet, Ryoko could not mistake the clear crack in her opponent's chest, particularly the flicker of black flame.
"You look like shit," she said plainly. "The old man wrecked you pretty good."
The golem of scrap raised her onyx gaze to meet her adversary and cold answer, "A temporary inconvenience. I can be rebuilt. He cannot be, nor can you be."
The Ryoan woman watched her enemy carefully, searching for any indication of intent. She approached by foot slowly, remarking, "You'd be surprised. I've survived a lot of things."
"Not solely by your own abilities," the machine retorted.
The pirate paused her advance, her gaze narrowing. "I am a very powerful space pirate, with a lot of abilities."
A smirk crosses the mismatched lips of Mecha-Nerti. "But, resurrection isn't one of them."
Shifting to walk slowly around the gynoid's location, Ryoko responded, "Good thing I haven't died."
The machine remained motionless, merely replying, "You came close once."
A chill raced down Ryoko's spine. She knew that her foe referred directly to the week of time between her assault on Jurai and when she awoke in the hospital on the outskirts of the Jurai Empire.
"An old debt to be repaid, right?"
Mecha-Nerti nodded slowly.
"Not to Balta Isoroku?"
"The pirate guilds know you are alive, but are complacent to let you die your own way."
"A 'higher' fealty then?"
"From what I hear," the poorly repaired mechanism admitted, "someone quite important wants you to live. You are a piece in a larger game."
A burst of fear rushed through Ryoko, the horror of some connected malefactor plotting against her, aiming to manipulate her. If not the pirate guilds, then she could only imagine one another sect, which would have any claim to her life. A few names came to her mind, names she had thought long forgotten. In the five years since her mother's death and cutting ties with her family and the pirate guilds, she never expected to speak of these people again.
Yet, she maintained her composure in her question. "Who would that be? Murakami? Shinya?"
"I have heard neither name spoken in my presence," Mecha-Nerti answered, "only my superiors discussing your involvement here."
"Then, what's the game?" She smiled playfully and added, "Who knows? I might want to play too."
The gynoid's head turned to face the pirate as the machine replied, "But, you're already engaged in a game here, Ryua Ryoko."
The cyan-maned woman stopped her circling path and faced her opponent, her amber eyes meeting the black flames in the metal frame's sockets. She inquired only once more, "Why my mother?"
Mecha-Nerti angled her head to the side as she smiled widely. "A daughter of Ryua should know her fealty, especially when she squandered her gifts…"
The gynoid's words were cut sort by a ruby bolt that slammed into her face from Ryoko's outstretched hand. The impact rocked the mechanical being's head, shattering the stone and plastic that was holding her cheek together. Fury seethed under Ryoko's words.
"I'm no 'daughter of Ryua'," she declared.
Mecha-Nerti's head turned back toward her adversary. The bronze metal of the Grenhaus integrator moved material around her cheek, attempting to reassemble her original structure. Metal, plastic, and stone migrated from other parts of her head to fill in the damage, but only made her appear more skeletal and broken.
With a slight distortion to her voice from the injury near her mouth, the gynoid laughed as a vicious smile twisted her amalgamated lips. "I was hoping you'd prove to be inconvenient."
Like lightning, the robotic entity rose from her seated posture and dashed at Ryoko. Holding her makeshift scythe ready to strike, the golem of scrap closed the distance between them. Yet, when she swung at the Ryoan woman, the latter vanished, leaving only a brief afterimage for the jagged blade to cut harmlessly.
Then, the machine spun away from her position as the pirate's blade punched through her original location. Ryoko had reappeared behind her adversary and thrust her newly forged sword of light forward. Based on their previous exchange, the gynoid had predicted the teleportation tactic.
Mecha-Nerti used the momentum of her spin to arc her weapon back toward the Ryoan, who struck back with her energy construct. When the weapons met, the coherent light easily carved through the improvised scythe, severing its blade to fly away and embed itself in a nearby wall. Ryoko then swiped downward at her opponent, but the gynoid followed her momentum to slip away from the strike.
The female mechanoid glanced at the useless remnant of the blade along the pole in her hands, and noted the newly sharpened tip due to the angle of the cut. She reversed her grip on the staff, rotating the sharp end toward Ryoko before throwing the entire implement directly at Ryoko's chest.
But, the cyan-maned fury just curled her lip in disgust as she teleported close to the ceiling of the tall room. Hovering, she dissipated her sword and summoned her power into an orb between her hands. Pushing the ball of light, it burst into a rain of crimson arcs, all bending toward Mecha-Nerti's location.
Yet, the machine raised her hand, erecting a translucent onyx barrier. Ryoko's beams impacted and reflected in various directions around her intended target, burning into the region around the enemy. The flicker of black flame flared in the scrap golem's chest as she summoned her own power to her hand. The flow of energy from her cracked power cell through her arm sizzled and scorched her impromptu construction. She ignored the faults flooding her processor, waiting for the right moment.
When Ryoko broke off her attack to change tactics, Mecha-Nerti's barrier likewise dissipated, and the gynoid threw her own bolt of energy back at her foe. At first, the pirate created her own rouge-tinted shield, but the bolt tore through her crimson power, forcing her to dart aside.
Mecha-Nerti gripped her fist tightly, pushing her power into it before she flared her fingers and spawned claws of obsidian flame. In maintaining this construct, the metal and plastic in her fingers vaporized, her digits completely replaced by the NVO energy flowing from her core.
Ryoko's amber eyes narrowed, recognizing the talons from both Kain and Illirg. She drew her energy to her hands and threw the bolts at Mecha-Nerti, who easily batted each aside with her newly-formed appendages.
"Powerful as you might be," the gynoid mused, "you will tire." She raised her talons like a fan before her face, adding "I will not."
She drew back her claws as her bodied coiled, ready to launch herself at Ryoko, whose ruby light sparked along her palms.
Then, a streak of red and blue crashed into Mecha-Nerti, smashing her into a nearby wall. With metal wings extended, Will Pii had flown into the room and tackled the enemy, and now held her against the bulkhead. His left hand held her wrist firmly, restraining her talons momentarily, while his right grasped her throat. The HUD in his visor traced a path along her cervical struts, while a weapon barrel emerged from his right gauntlet.
"Hold still!" the hunter spat as he struggled to detain her.
Yet, as she resisted his clutches, she grabbed his visor with her left hand, where an ominous red glow grew over his dark lenses.
"No, Father," she hissed, "gaze into nothingness!"
A brilliant red flash enveloped the two of them, spurring Ryoko to cover her eyes as well. Pii winced in the glaring light, giving Mecha-Nerti the moment she needed to thrust him back and stand proudly over him. In her left hand, she held his visor before tossing it aside, revealing the neuralizer's vermilion eye installed haphazardly in her palm.
As Makibi Kiyone and Matsu Mitsuki entered the chamber, both were confused as Mecha-Nerti approached the reeling Pii slowly, a sadistic smile on her lips.
"I never forgot, Father," she reveled, "that you were Terran as well." She issued her orders as she did the agents previously in her thrall, "Protect your daughter from those who would do her harm."
Mitsuki's brows raised, taken aback. "A Terran bounty hunter?"
Kiyone, however, leveled her weapon at both Pii and Mecha-Nerti. "That means…"
Ryoko landed with the two GP officers, the pirate's amber eyes focused on their adversaries. She raised a hand toward Kiyone and whispered, "Wait, just a moment."
Pii took a breath and recovered from the push back, facing the unlikely trio. His chocolate brown eyes blinked and met theirs.
But, Kiyone noted the recognition as he subtly shook his head at her.
With a nod from her, Pii closed his eyes and reached behind him for the HELR strapped across his back. He spun back toward the gynoid and pulled the weapon to aim vaguely at her. Pulling the trigger, a coherent beam of light punched into the wall behind Mecha-Nerti before he swept the weapon up and to his left, leading the beam across both her belly and the console she defended.
The mechanical woman shrieked in strident tones, recoiling from the impact. Pii released the trigger and stumbled blindly toward Kiyone and Mitsuki, keeping his eyes shut. As the teal-haired detective guided him back into the corridor, the redheaded liaison officer immediately opened fire with her plasma cannon. Likewise, Ryoko tossed bolts of energy at their common opponent.
While the pair engaged their adversary, Kiyone quickly inquired, "How?"
Pii motioned to his eyes. "She flashed against my visor while it was still on my face."
The paragon of detectives nodded, glancing back to the combat in the main hall. "She likely won't make that mistake twice."
"No, she won't," he admitted, frustration in his voice as he slammed his fist into the wall behind him. "Goddammit!"
However, Kiyone's mind was focused on the tactics of the battle at hand, not his quest. Concern bled into her face as she thought, Tenchi has mostly Terran ancestry, and if Ryoko is here, he will be soon too.
Her blue eyes met his brown as she offered a compromise, "I will do what I can to get her memory unit, but I need you to stop Tenchi if he comes this way."
The Terran hunter furrowed his brows, confused, as she explained, "He is both Terran and Juraian. If that neuralizer could affect you, it could do the same to him."
Though he hesitated, desiring to reengage, he ultimately relented. "Fine."
She smiled softly, recalling his dossier. "I will help you find the real Nerti Ro. I promise."
The officer swung her heavy gun back toward the conflict and rushed back into the fray, leaving Pii to await Tenchi's inevitable arrival.
The last functioning monitor displayed 50% completion as a bolt of plasma splashed across an onyx barrier around Mecha-Nerti. The wound inflicted by Pii had already been temporarily patched with miscellaneous materials from her haphazard construction. Brandishing her ruby sword, Ryoko flew at the enemy, but her blade was caught by the gynoid's NVO claws. In a single flex, those claws crushed the Ryoan energy weapon into sparkling filaments, startling the pirate, who thankfully teleported to Kiyone's side before the machine could follow up with a left hook.
Mitsuki joined her two allies as the mechanoid set herself between them and the console.
"Heavy weapons aren't having the effect they did," the redhead commented.
"She's also favoring her left," the pirate added.
Coldly, Kiyone explained, "She's saving that neuralizer for Tenchi, Pii, or any other Terran who engages."
Ryoko scowled as her power ignited between her fingers. "Then, her hand has to go."
"Agreed," Mitsuki added, thinking back to those Mecha-Nerti enthralled in this very place.
The gynoid raised her flaming claws at her side as she addressed her foes, "Come and take it."
The pirate shifted forward, but Kiyone placed a hand on her chest, motioning to the progress display behind their adversary. Both Ryoko and Mitsuki realized as their teal-tressed ally did that whatever the display projected, it would be detrimental their respective goals. The golem of scrap smirked to herself knowingly.
"Over half of the data has been sent already," Mecha-Nerti acknowledged.
"What data?" Mitsuki demanded.
"What Master Liaens has requested."
Then, a distorted voice arose from the public address system, as damaged as it was.
"Spoilers!" Hakubi Washu's words crackled through the damaged speakers. "No fair telling him about all these secrets before us!"
Mecha-Nerti's confident expression fell as she spun back toward the console. Rushing to it, the mechanical woman saw the monitor blink to an artifact-infested image of Washu's smug smile welcoming her.
"How did you gain access to this system?" the gynoid interrogated. "This system was isolated."
Scoffing, the genius cracked her fingers and answered, "But, was it though? You merely closed all the ports, which are software. You never cut the physical lines connecting the terminal the rest of the network."
With a few taps on a keyboard before her, the progress bar began to decrease: 45%, 40%, 33%.
"I'm sure," Washu continued, "that you thought you might reestablish your control over the entire complex, but we have other plans."
Mecha-Nerti's left palm opened beneath the neuralizer's eye to reveal an interface, but before she could connect with the console, a holographic image appeared next to the gynoid.
"Too late," Chief O declared, her icy gaze falling upon her enemy. As the black eyes of the villain raised to meet hers, a slight sneer of disgust crossed the lips of the Men in Black's new leader. "The connection is now two-way, and we will delete every binary digit you transmitted." Her gaze narrowed as she added, "We will find this 'Liaens', and he will be held accountable for what he has instigated here."
Mecha-Nerti scowled as the NVO inferno blazing in her power cell flared. Her power surged through the right side of her chest, shoulder, and arm, burning the superstructure away. Her right arm and a significant portion of her chest was replaced by dark energy flowing from her power cell, now clearly visible within her chest cavity.
She jabbed her bladed fingertips into the floor and tore through the connections between the console and the other systems. Unfortunately, doing so also severed the power conduits, powering down the console entirely. The monitor faded to black, the display last showing Washu's amused smile and the regressed 30% progress. Likewise, the image of Oh dissipated, her icy disposition judging her enemy unworthy.
Ryoko laughed to herself, "Looks like your luck is running out."
Mecha-Nerti faced the pirate as she flexed her arm of black fire. Calmly, she declared, "A setback. Once I kill you three, I'll eliminate them and start over."
Mitsuki raised the plasma cannon attached to her artificial arm. "You're getting ahead of yourself."
"I disagree," the mechanical woman stated as she formed an orb of her black power and threw it at the trio opposing her.
Kiyone and Mitsuki rolled to either side while Ryoko darted into the air. The two GP officers opened fire with their respective weapons, but Mecha-Nerti launched herself at Ryoko, the highest priority threat. The Ryoan woman slid to the side, avoiding the machine's flaming grasp and sending a burst of her own ruby light at the golem of scrap.
The mechanoid caught a railing of the catwalk and flipped herself onto its landing, deftly avoiding the blast hurled at her. The two GP officers quickly reacquired their target and fired again, riddling the platform with holes and blowing loose several of its supports. As the floor became unstable under Mecha-Nerti's feet, Ryoko teleported to hover behind her foe and summon her power into her hands.
But, before the Ryoan could unleash the blast, Mecha-Nerti faced her left palm at the pirate and flashed the neuralizer. Blinded, the cyan-maned fury lost the concentration holding her power together, causing the energy to dissipate. The gynoid buried her talons into the nearby wall, lifting herself from the catwalk so that she could kick away, aiming herself at Mitsuki.
The redheaded officer rolled to the side, but the mechanical woman landed and rushed at the liaison before she could fully recover. The mechanoid's talons grasped and smashed the weapon attached to the officer's arm, pulling at the cybernetic connections within her appendage. Mitsuki screamed at the pain sparking through the blend of technology and flesh.
Mecha-Nerti drew Mitsuki close and hissed, "Matsu Mitsuki, survivor of Kain's escape, your death is overdue."
Aghast, Kiyone called out to her colleague, her weapon's targeting system aiding her aim, but displaying warnings that the two are too close to avoid injuring both.
Then, the cyborg officer smiled. "I never liked this arm anyway." With a forceful twist, she disconnected her arm from the destroyed weapon and pushed herself away from the gynoid, yelling out, "Now, Kiyone!"
Once Mitsuki was out of the weapon's reticle, the teal-tressed detective glared and pulled the trigger. The barrels of her repeater spun and spewed photon charges at Mecha-Nerti, who took several hits before she erected a barrier to protect herself. Kiyone approached closer to her foe, holding the trigger down as shot after shot ricocheted off the barrier protecting machine from her. She was well-aware that she was doing no damage, but she wanted the enemy's attention on only her in this moment.
Mitsuki rushed back into the corridor, where Pii awaited. She collapsed holding where she removed her arm to escape, still feeling the damage inflicted on her. The Terran hunter came to her side and helped her sit back against the wall.
"What happened?!"
"I'll be fine," she hissed as she waved him off.
His eyes slid back toward the battle, glaring impotently while his hand absently reached for the HELR nearby. However, Mitsuki grabbed his collar and pulled him back to face her.
"Don't you dare!" she demanded. "She'll wipe your mind and replace it with instructions to serve her."
"I can't just keep standing by while everyone else suffers for my mistake!"
"Kid," she scoffed, "we're well past anything you did, or didn't do, at the Science Academy. What you can do now is not make it any worse. Keep the Masaki boy from running into the same mistake that you nearly made."
While Mitsuki and Pii argue, Mecha-Nerti dissipated her shield and darted to the side, avoiding Kiyone's shots. The mechanoid swiped at her with those flaming claws, but the detective dodged to the side and bashed the gynoid's left arm with her heavy weapon, before switching off the gravity negator and smashing its true full weight across her back. With that much weight crashing into her, Mecha-Nerti collapsed on the floor, discordant sounds issuing from her vocal system.
Reactivating the negator, Kiyone rose back to her feet and aimed the weapon's barrels at Mecha-Nerti's exposed power cell. At the flickering black energy, the GP officer did not hesitate, pulling the trigger and hammering the enemy's false heart with round after round of high-velocity photons. Teleporting to Kiyone's side, Ryoko likewise poured her energy onto their prone foe, neither of the two showing an ounce of mercy.
Screeching disharmony emitted from Mecha-Nerti's throat while the dark energy swirling within her power cell convulsed and flared. Her onyx eyes shifted to crimson as she spread the darkness around her body, protecting her body. She thrust her clawed hand into the floor and flung herself across the room, away from her attackers. Landing hard in a kneeling posture, the shadowy aura melted back into her burning arm, her metal hand clutching her chest over her power cell.
"Not yet!" she commanded herself, fighting through the faults streaming through her processor.
Her gaze continued to burn scarlet as it turned back to Ryoko and Kiyone. The Grenhaus integrator rearranged the materials of the gynoid's body, attempting to protect or seal the crack in her power cell. However, the flaring power she used to maintain her flaming arm and talons continually scorched the materials, refusing to let the wound "heal". Only with a full shutdown and repair by her creator would this damage be undone.
And, she considered, a full containment breach would destroy this body, and the neuralizer with it.
But, in the seconds she used to process this realization, Ryoko had already teleported across the room and charged a pulse of energy aimed at the mechanoid's abdomen. Before the pirate could release the gathered power, Mecha-Nerti grabbed the golden choker around her neck and hurled her aside. The Ryoan woman recovered in the air and lobbed her blast at the machine, who batted it aside with her talons before sending a counterattack of her own.
During this exchange, Kiyone had reloaded her weapon with a new cartridge of photon rounds and had retaken her aim. With reticle locked on Mecha-Nerti, she opened fire, several rounds piercing the gynoid's chassis before she could erect her defensive barrier. Using her talons, the mechanical woman traced a circle beneath her feet, creating a portal into which she fell.
And, she emerged above Kiyone, falling with all her mass being her claws.
"Above you!" Ryoko called out, and the paragon of detectives leapt to the side, rolling back to her feet.
Mecha-Nerti lunged for Kiyone as she had Mitsuki, but Ryoko appeared, flying at speed. Her ruby sword clashed with the gynoid's bladed fingertips, knocking them away, opening the enemy for Kiyone to unleash another volley of gunfire.
As the engagement continued, Mitsuki and Pii could hear hurried footsteps approaching them. Down the corridor, both could see Tenchi, Ayeka, and Jay running toward the battle. As Kiyone instructed, the Terran hunter stepped before the trio, forcing them to slow their ingress.
"What're you doing?" Jay asked, impatient.
"The GP told me to stop you here," Pii explained, and then pointed at the young prince specifically. "You're Terran, right?"
Tenchi nodded. "Mostly," he replied, though he soon realized the incoming point. "You think she could neuralize me!"
"Or him," the armored individual added, motioning to Jay, and then to himself. "Or me. She's been favoring her left intentionally to prevent any damage coming to her neuralizer."
"You're Terran too?" the Terran-blooded noble inquired, taken aback.
"Doesn't matter what planet you're from," Jay declared as he stepped forward and handed both of them sunglasses not unlike his own. "We've got this covered."
However, Ayeka came to Tenchi's side and voiced her concern, "Are you sure these glasses will be enough?"
Pointing to his own shades, the neophyte agent retorted, "It's worked for me so far."
Mitsuki interjected, "Usually, you'd be right, but this gynoid is weaponizing the neuralizer. She has been flashing each of us from various angles just to blind us, and she already tore Pii's visor off his face to get at his eyes."
Tenchi and Pii donned their glasses as the prince took a steeling breath and responded, "We'll have to be fast."
Jay concurred and slapped his hand on the teenager's shoulder. "Let's kick her ass!"
Ayeka, however, glanced at Mitsuki resting on the floor, her cybernetic arm detached. Her mind drifted to their battle with Kain, of the time-displaced GP operative torn in half by the black monster. Her hand lightly grasped the hem of her kimono, her worries and fears seeping into her mind, as well as a distant chuckle in the back of her thoughts.
Nevertheless, when Tenchi turned to her, his kind face looking for her support, she hardened her mind. She told herself that only they had Jurai's power, and that only they could truly end this threat.
But, voice whispered behind her, You delude yourself. You're not doing this altruistically. You're doing this because you love him.
The barrels of Kiyone's repeater blurred as the detective unloaded successive rounds into Mecha-Nerti's defensive barrier. The gynoid stormed forward until Ryoko teleported behind her, clashing her sword against the shield. As crimson sparks sprayed from each impact, sweat beaded on the Ryoan's forehead, her muscles straining.
"Tire yourself out," the mechanoid quipped, as she splayed her talons at her side. "The end is near."
The teal-tressed officer backed away from her foe's advance, but then her weapon ceased firing. Its barrels continued to spin, yet the ammunition had been spent, the firearm clicking impotently on empty chambers. Mecha-Nerti smiled widely, her skeletal visage twisting viciously before her barrier vanished. Spinning back toward the cyan-maned Ryoan behind her, the gynoid shattered the ruby sword with her claws and coiled herself to thrust the blade-tipped fingers at the pirate.
But, chimes sounded around the machine as wooden cylinders manifested to orbit her. Surprise filled her scarlet gaze while Ryoko just chuckled to herself.
"About time, Ayeka."
Juraian energy shot between the mini-guardians, irradiating Mecha-Nerti with the princess's native power. Faults and errors consumed her sensor feeds while the darkness constituting her right arm and shoulder ignited in blue flames. The power cell in her chest dimmed as her entire chassis shuddered and thrashed under the opposing light.
Mecha-Nerti threw herself backward to escape the brilliant hell that the regal-tressed princess had brought to bear. The mechanical woman hissed through her disharmonious vocalizations, her body more sluggish, the black flames of her arm diminished by a tide of Jurai's might. The scarlet in her onyx eyes flickered, weaker from touching its opposite.
Turning her eyes up, she saw Ayeka standing firm, glaring at her from the corridor. Flanking her, Jay and Pii stepped forward and leveled their respective weapons at their enemy. The deatomizer and HELR shots easily traversed the distance between them, forcing Mecha-Nerti to raise her arms and summon her defensive barrier. Though weakened, the field of NVO energy held against the volleys of shots, deforming from the impacts.
Through the blasts, the gynoid could see the dark lenses on Jay and Pii's faces, bringing a scowl to her lips. She charged the neuralizer in her left palm while she stoked the blazes in her chest and right arm.
Then, the mini-guardians gathered around her again.
Quickly, Mecha-Nerti's talons inscribed a portal below her, allowing her to slip away before Ayeka could irradiate her a second time. Above Ayeka, Jay, and Pii, the exit of the portal appeared and deposited their adversary among them. She immediately swiped at the princess, who shrieked before the former NYPD officer pulled her aside, out of harm's way.
The Terran hunter took aim on his mechanoid nemesis, but she grabbed the laser rifle and rent it from his hands. Backing away, he engaged the smaller-bore laser weapon on his right gauntlet and the dart launcher on his left. Aiming both, he opened fire into her chest, chipping away more of her amalgamated scrap, but ricocheting off the damaged housing of her power cell.
"I'm beyond you now, Father," she declared as she raised her talons to strike him down.
Then, a blue blade punched through her power cell.
Stunned, Mecha-Nerti's face turned toward the Juraian energy blade jutting out from the crack in her energy source. Purple ooze began to drain from the puncture through her darkness as her talons lowered toward the blade. Over her shoulder, she glanced to see Tenchi, arms extended, Tenchiken in his hands, its azure power flowing through her back.
The prince pulled the blade back, and the gynoid collapsed to her knees between him and the Terran hunter. Her right arm and claws dissolved into vapor, as did her eyes, leaving empty sockets. The golem of scrap fell silent and motionless.
Ryoko and Kiyone approached cautiously, soon joined by Jay. Mitsuki pushed herself back to her feet, a relieved smile coming to her lips.
However, tension continued to build in Ayeka's chest. Her heart pounded. Her skin crawled.
Pii knelt with the gynoid, defeated after two years of conflict. Nostalgic, he paused to examine her, to remember her as she was before the Grenhaus integrator. He rested a hand on her neck, the material so broken and disjointed, searching for the release for her cranial unit.
But, deep inside her power core, the black flames smoldered.
"Lord Tenchi!" Ayeka cried out.
Everyone's attention turned to the princess as she stumbled, sparks of pain rushing through her chest. Kiyone and Jay came to steady her while Ryoko came closer, concerned for her rival.
"What's wrong, Ayeka?" Tenchi asked, his attention likewise pulled away from the fallen gynoid.
As Pii's fingers found the latches for Mecha-Nerti's cranial unit, the damaged power cell flared back to life. She rose suddenly, knocking the hunter back, before she spun toward Tenchi and grabbed his neck. She threw him aside, purposefully extending her hand toward him in her follow-through, the red eye of the neuralizer aimed directly at him. The violent throw knocked the sunglasses from his face, leaving him defenseless.
Kiyone, Jay, and Pii raised their weapons toward the revived enemy and began firing, and Mecha-Nerti took the damage, her makeshift body degrading further with each impact.
But, the moment Tenchi looked up at his attacker, the neuralizer flashed, and Tenchi's eyes dilated, stunned and vacant.
The guns fell silent as Mecha-Nerti fell to her knees, her body riddled with holes from the gunfire. However, her vocal system screeched out a single order.
"Save me."
Tenchiken extended its sword blade. Tenchi raised the weapon at his side.
But, his eyes refocused, angrily set on Mecha-Nerti.
He slid forward, cutting through her neck and left arm in a single strike, finally severing her neuralizer.
At this, a clawed hand reached out from Mecha-Nerti's chest and grabbed Tenchi's throat. From the wreckage of the gynoid, a humanoid figure began to emerge, pulling itself out. Its form flickered, vague and not fully defined, but seemed generally female. Her eyes burned scarlet, focused solely on the young prince, while flames cascaded down her shoulders and back like hair. While one arm held the Juraian nobleman, the other bent and cracked the power cell casing and the mechanical woman's chest cavity, freeing herself at last.
"Die, Juraian!" her voice boomed.
Pinned, Tenchi focused all his power into the blade of his sword, causing it to ionize the air around it. The branches of the hilt shifted, reacting to his will. With a single strike, he sliced through the creature's arm, causing the clawed hand to release him and dissipate. The second strike bisected the energy being as the prince darted forward past the wreckage of the gynoid.
In his wake, the feminine flame was extinguished, purple ooze splattering across the floor and Mecha-Nerti's remaining chassis.