This is a WEIRD episode to adapt, and I bet a bunch of you weren't expecting it. Well, this is an 'apology' episode with how I handled Kai in 2019. I think we went too hard on the 'hate' against her character. I dunno if any of you know this, but Kai's VA pretty much quit the acting industry because of how her character was treated, at least according to TV Tropes. If this is true, I feel immensely bad for sort of dog piling on that. Oh, and there's a retcon about something Ruby did. Sort of.
I still need to work on those revamp chapters…
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
Ceres carefully flew the Proto Truk over the sea- she was thankful that Blonko let her borrow it, and was especially cautious with the thing. She wasn't like Kevin, obviously. Everytime he used the ProtoTruk, Rook would notice a new dent in it.
"It's kinda weird that Kai's calling for help." Ben said, as he slurped his smoothie. "Max mentioned that she'd become 'Miss Independent' way back when. She's on par with Rook in combat."
"The signal she sent out gave out sparse details." Ceres said, eyes focused on the sea. "...but let's not focus on that. It's the first time I've been in London, and I'm honestly excited."
Ruby was noticeably quiet during the flight. Uncharacteristically so. She was excited to go to London, it was a first for her as well, but something was bugging her. She was trying to keep herself occupied by doing weapon maintenance but that would only distract her so long.
"You okay, Ruby?" Ben asked, looking in the back.
Ruby stopped screwing in a part of her weapon, and took a deep breath. "...what if she hasn't changed?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, yeah...I heard you punched her or something?" Ceres asked.
"W-what? No. I just murdered her with words." Ruby said. "Like an author would."
"Let's...just say it was kinda deserved," Ben said to Ceres, "but...one can hope she's changed. Right?"
"I guess. Doesn't exactly help though."
"No one can go through their teens without cringing at their past self." Ben said. "I do it all the time."
"That's fair, I guess. But...still. Always kinda wondered if we'd meet her again and if...well, things changed," Ruby mused.
"Things have kinda changed a LOT in seven years for you two." Ceres said. "Like, a lot."
"Well, yeah, but I mean for her. Like, have you ever met someone and they said something that was just so completely wrong that you had to correct them on the spot. Then years pass and you finally hear about them again and you wonder 'did I get through to them?'"
"Sometimes," Ceres said. "But that is an understandable fear. Especially with those stupidly stubborn people."
"When we first met Kai, she was kind of like that. But she thought that Huntsmen were just a fancy cover-up for poaching," Ruby sighed.
"...ah. She's that kind of stubborn. I get it." Ceres frowned. "Welp, we can see what kind of person she's become now...cuz we're here."
"Well, no time like the present," Ruby said, steeling herself. Moment of truth time.
The city of London was a beautiful sight, but thanks to the rain, conditions were...less than ideal right now. It did help Ceres discretely park their vehicle though, in the back alley of some old spot in the city.
Ruby lifted up her hood and pressed the button to compress Crescent Rose before they left the Prototruk. She hooked the weapon's smaller form on the back of her belt.
Ben pulled out two umbrellas from underneath the seat. "...you take one, I'll take the other with Ruby?" Ben offered.
Ceres grinned. "You two will literally jump at any opportunity to be cute together, huh?"
"Are we not allowed to?" Ben smirked.
"No, but you two can be especially sickeningly sweet." Ceres said, as she stepped out and opened her umbrella. It was coming down hard.
Ruby pulled up her hood, as Ben put up his own. "You ready for this?" Ben asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Ruby said, as they stepped out into the night. Kai wanted them all to meet at a quiet pub not too far from here. The walk was tedious- with how much it was raining, the group was practically soaked when they got there. The umbrellas did nothing.
Ben huffed, as he huddled close to Ruby. "In my head, this was cuter."
"That's cause this kind of thing isn't done in heavy storms. Appreciate the thought though," Ruby said.
Ceres shook her head. "Thought it'd be kinda nicer out tonight. Promised Ari I'd try and get some photos of stuff..."
Once the trio was at the pub, they quickly raced inside, just to escape the weather. Ruby looked to her cape to see if she could maybe wring it dry somewhat.
Ben looked around. The pub looked moderately busy. Tonight was a Tuesday, so none of the rowdy crowd would be around until...Thursday, at the latest Friday. Ben scanned the room for where Kai might be.
Ruby wringed out her cape, as she huffed.
"Still nervous?" Ceres asked.
"Yeah...I know I shouldn't care, but I wanna get along during this mission." Ruby explained.
"Fair," Ben said, still scanning the pub for Kai. Maybe he already saw her and just didn't notice. After all, there was no telling if Kai had changed much over the years, or if there weren't any changes at all. Well, at first glance anyway.
"Listen. If she starts causing problems, then we'll leave, okay? I want you to feel comfortable with all this." Ceres said.
"I'll let you know, promise," Ruby said, "I just wanna give her a chance first."
"Well, here's your first one." Ben pointed over to a rather bored looking Kai, in the corner booth.
Time had certainly passed since the last time the two had seen Kai. She'd grown noticeably taller. She had an athletic build, and wore a short-sleeved red T-shirt with a red and peach colored sweater. She wore brown pants with a bunch of equipment strapped onto it, black trench boots and had her hair kept short.
"Here we go." Ben said, taking a deep breath.
Ruby took a breath as well, following Ben over to Kai's booth.
Kai noticed the trio moving over to her and that bored expression on her face changed. "I was wondering when you'd show. Rain slow you down?"
"A bit," Ben admitted, "we thought it'd be a bit lighter."
"Ceres North." The leader introduced herself, extending her hand. Ceres made sure to give Kai an extra hard handshake- to establish dominance, and also just to show her she wasn't messing around.
Ruby sat next to Ben in the booth, making sure to keep some distance between her and Kai.
Kai shook Ceres' hand, a bit surprised by just how hard the shake was but she didn't let it show. More noticeably, she didn't really address Ruby. Maybe Kai didn't want to start anything since she needed help, or maybe it was something else.
"Soooo, what have you been up to?" Ben asked, trying to break away from the awkwardness of everything.
"Oh you know, little of this, little of that, started taking some Judo lessons," Kai shrugged.
"Any reason why you're in London, though?" Ceres asked. "London doesn't get much alien activity."
"I still find that weird," Ben said, "I mean, one of the biggest cities in the world gets so little alien visits?"
"It is a bit weird...but that might be about to change," Kai said.
"...how so?" Ceres asked.
"At first, it just seemed like a new urban legend was starting up. People mentioned seeing armored figures landing on the rooftops before vanishing entirely or flying off with 'a burst of fire beneath their feet'. Sometimes the sightings would line up with museum break-ins...but nothing gets stolen."
"Okay, okay...so, you want us to help you investigate that?" Ben asked. "Sounds simple."
"There's...a bit more to it than that," Kai said, the tone of her voice changing from that usual confident tone to one of concern.
"Alright..." Ben said, narrowing his eyes.
"My grandfather and I were investigating some claims about a legend." Kai said. "How familiar are you guys with Excalibur?"
Ruby's eyes went wide. "Sword of Sigurd, Beowulf and King Arthur? It's real?"
Kai looked a bit uneasy when Ruby spoke. "Uh...yeah. It...has the possibility to be real."
"Hey, if there's a possibility," Ruby said excitedly. It was still a bit awkward but, the two were at least talking now.
"Well...we were looking into it and...we might have caught a lead," Kai continued.
"Okay, okay, that's good! So, you want us to help you find it." Ben smiled.
"...Ben. I mentioned me and my grandfather were looking for it. Notice who's missing from the booth?" Kai asked.
"...what happened?" Ben asked, his voice going somber.
"Like I said...we found a lead and I was getting some supplies for the trip before we actually headed out. I came back to our place, maybe two or three hours later? It looked like someone just fought a war in there...holes in the walls, broken glass and furniture..."
"...I'm...I'm sorry to hear about that." Ceres said. "Do you think-"
"No. He's not dead." Kai said firmly. "This was planned. Someone must've heard about the same legend, and instead of actually putting in hours of research, decided to kidnap the guy who already put in the time."
"They might've taken him...but," Kai brought out a folded piece of paper from her pocket, "they didn't get this. While I was out getting supplies, he was mapping out where we needed to go."
"So, what, we need to scour the castles of England?" Ben asked. "England has like...what, a few castles?"
"800 castles." Ceres said flatly.
"...okay, but how many with swords in them?" Ben asked.
"...probably fewer? I dunno." Ceres shrugged.
"We don't need to go looking through castles." Kai huffed. "I already know where they're headed.
"Oh. Convenient," Ben said.
"Like I said, we were getting ready for this. Just need some gear. I still have it, of course," Kai said, pocketing the map again.
"So...when do we get going?" Ruby asked.
"As soon as you guys are able. I know you just got here and all," Kai said.
"Well, no time for a pint...or, whatever UK people call it." Ben said. "Let's go find this sword before they do."
Kai nodded and brought the map back out, unfolding it and handing it over to the trio.
"...why does it say we need to go to a storage place?" Ben asked.
"Well see...here's the thing...that's the surface map," Kai answered.
"...surface map?" Ruby repeated. "Meaning?"
"Meaning that the storage place is the closest spot where we can access the underground. What, you didn't actually think the sword would just be in some old storage crate did you?"
"As funny as it seemed, kinda." Ceres said. "So, let's get going. What's the name of the place?"
"Howl's Castle and Moving Storage. Not too far from here." Kai said.
"Good. Also, we're driving there, because this weather sucks." Ceres said, pressing a button on the ProtoTruk keys to bring it to them.
The ride over was...weird, honestly. The group really wasn't talkative. Ceres was driving with Kai up front, with Ben and Ruby in the back.
Ruby did try to strike up a conversation with Kai, but unfortunately no good topics came to mind. She wanted to say something about the past...but that might bring up the whole "murdered by words" thing. Weapons were off the table because Kai didn't seem the type.
Ben patted her on the back. "Hey, look at it this way. You can interact with her once, and probably never again."
"Well...yeah," Ruby admitted, "but that doesn't really help."
"I thought what you said back then was right. Why beat yourself up over someone who may or may not even need help?" Ben asked.
"Honestly it's just the whole...not knowing right now. If she still thinks Huntsmen are nothing more than poachers, that's on her."
"Maybe it's better not to know." Ben suggested. "Don't wanna pick at the scab of a wound, you know?"
"Yeah, just...I dunno. Just being optimistic I guess."
"Let's just help her, and get out of here. We honestly have bigger things to worry about." Ben said. "Like, I know we took down an immortal space alien a few months back, but after this, it's kinda low on the docket."
"...uh, hey. Excuse me."
Ben and Ruby looked up, to see Kai, standing by the door. "So...can I...talk with Ruby real quick?"
"Well...here we go," Ruby muttered to herself, walking over to Kai. This was going to go one of two ways...time to figure out which.
Ben's eyes darted between the two. "Uh...I'll...be in the front." Ben said, as he awkwardly scurried away.
"So...uh...what did you wanna-" Ruby began awkwardly once Ben was gone.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry."
Ruby perked up. "Huh?"
"I just wanna clear up the air between us. I'm sorry." Kai said. "After what you said, I had to do a lot of soul searching. I'm the type of person who has to see and believe things before even relaying the info to someone else. There are things that exist in this world that...well, can only exist by word of mouth. Maybe...the Grimm are real, and you're saving lives by taking care of them. The world's weird, especially with what's happened nowadays."
Ruby was stunned. She was honestly happy that this was going the opposite of how she imagined it would, but now she was just trying to figure out what to say.
"I...I get it. Everything that's happened...it's made all of us realize some things," She eventually managed to say.
"Mom and dad always kinda told her to be skeptical of stuff. I don't think my dad liked the fact my granddad was a plumber, so he always said "take stuff with a grain of salt." It stuck with me, for a majority of my life. I only started thinking for myself when I was 12." Kai huffed. "I honestly wanna go back in time and kick ten year old me in the ribs."
"Don't we all look back at our younger selves and cringe?" Ruby chuckled, remembering Ben's words from before they landed.
Kai chuckled. "I suppose. But...for right now, I know we're not friends. I just want to be on neutral ground with you, so this doesn't affect the mission."
"I'll be honest, I was kinda hoping for the same thing. If you called, we knew it had to be important. Wasn't expecting to be going after a legend but, still."
"The sword itself may not even be real. That's the thing." Kai explained. "The kidnapping was done for the motive of 'profit'. It's disgusting."
"It is...but let's just say I'm a bit more open to believing in legends now."
Kai gave Ruby a look, but shook her head. "If you say so." She said with a chuckle.
"Oh, trust me, we'd be here a while if I explained," Ruby said.
Before Kai could ask what she meant, Ceres called out for them.
"Alright, we're here. Now what?" Ceres asked.
"Well, we need to find a way in." Kai said.
"Back alley way." Ben suggested. "Obscure enough for no one to really notice. And I know the best alien for this job." Ben activated the watch, and scrolled to the icon of Grey Matter.
Ben slapped down the watch. In the blink of an eye, Ben had become one of his smallest aliens. "Now, time to find an opening."
"Huh, don't remember seeing that one," Kai said to herself, watching Ben look around for the best spot.
"He's a newer one." Ceres said, as Ben searched around.
And one I'm regretting using- I'm soaking wet. Ben thought to himself. Should've used Ghostfreak.
Ben quickly found a wall, with an open window. "Bingo." He grinned, as he scaled the wall with ease. He crawled in through the tiny gap, and reverted back to human. He opened a door, and motioned for the others to come in.
Kai lead the way, her phone out looking at the last text she got from Wes before he disappeared. It was just a number followed by 'use the map'. So obviously this place had something where that number would be used.
Ben and the others walked around. Ruby quickly took note of something- a muted TV, and some open boxes of chinese food. Ruby waved her hand over it- still had some heat to it.
"Uh, guys?" she spoke up, "Someone was here. Recently too."
"Ok, so keep an eye out. In case we need to explain ourselves," Kai said.
"Right, right." Ben said, as he scratched his face a bit. Kai's eyebrows went up a bit, as she took notice of the Omnitrix.
"...did...you get a new one or something? Looks weird." Kai said.
"Huh? Oh, same model. Just...different design." Ben said.
"Really? So it's upgraded."
"In more ways than one," Ruby muttered as she kept looking for anything that stood out.
"So, how many do you have now?" Kai asked.
"...I dunno. 50? 79? I don't keep track." Ben said, as he noticed something odd. "That's weird...what's with this paper under the rug?"
Kai stopped and took notice of that. She knelt down and pulled the paper out from under the rug, unfolding it to read it.
"What is it?" Ceres asked, looking at the paper curiously- it was a map of the area.
"Another map," Kai said, looking it over and finding a place marked. "Who's ready for a cliche?"
"Make that cliches." Ruby said, as she peeled the rug back some more- there were some scattered pieces of paper. Kai's eyes widened.
"Wait, wait...I recognize these sheets!" Kai said, as she quickly gathered them. "He drew a map of Parliament Square, and paired it with some old maps of London..."
"Any reason why?" Ruby asked.
"I need a light or something..." Kai looked around, before her eyes drifted over to Omnitrix. She pressed the button on the side, as it lit up. The maps were illuminated by the light.
And sure enough, the maps were meant to be viewed with shining on them. Kai held the maps up and that's when they all saw it. They were lined up perfectly, so much so that the cemetery had a very interesting intersection there.
"What's with that X?" Ruby asked.
"The statue of Oliver Cromwell." Kai stated. "He was an English military and political leader best known for making England a republic...and doing a bit of genocide."
Ben cringed a bit. "Ergh..."
"This map is from 1860...but it's weird. That statue isn't in the square anymore." Kai hummed.
"Maybe it's not pointing to the statue," Ceres suggested.
"The other statue was installed in 1899..." Kai frowned. "And the statue was moved to..."
"Highgate Cemetery," Ceres read off the map, "You were right on the cliches."
"So, what's with the red x?" Ben asked.
"Maybe...your grandpa was trying to throw off whoever kidnapped him and took him here." Ruby proposed.
"I think you're right on the money." Kai nodded. "If they're going to the wrong location...let's go to the right place and take whatever he was looking for."
"This is turning into an Indiana Jones movie," Ruby said. "And I'm all for it. Let's go."
The graveyard was...unnerving. It had that energy of some place you didn't wanna trespass in during the night, given the creepy statues of angels.
"I'm holding my tongue in making an obvious reference." Ben said, as they followed Ceres and Kai. Ceres was using a fireball as a light through the place.
"I'm very tempted to," Ruby admitted, looking over to the statues periodically just to make sure they didn't move. "If they move, nobody blink..."
Kai gave them a weird look. Ceres rolled her eyes. "Ignore them. They're being silly." Ceres said, while also watching the statues to make sure they didn't move.
Weeping Angels aren't real. But the fear sticks with you after "Blink".
Ruby had Crescent Rose out just in case things went south, which seemed more than likely. It wasn't hard to find the statue, even amidst all the stone angels. Standing atop a pedestal of stone was a sculpted bronze man clad in attire typical of the time period in which he lived, saber triumphantly stabbed into the ground held with one hand and a book held against his side in the other.
"Lots of famous people are buried here." Kai said. "Michael Faraday, who discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, electrolysis...Karl Marx, writer of the Communist Manifesto...Douglas Adams, writer of Hitchhiker's Guide..."
"...that last one doesn't real fit." Ben frowned. "But, cool fact."
As they got closer to the statue, Ben stopped and turned around for a minute. He felt like he was being watched. He wanted to chalk it up to the statues but there was something about this feeling that just...put him even more on edge.
"So, the map. What's it say?" Ruby asked.
"Let's see...oh, great. A riddle." Kai huffed. "The secret lies betwixt...Wall and Hall. Both capitalized."
"Wall and Hall..." Ben said. "Maybe...they're people buried here."
"Wall and Hall," Ruby repeated, scanning the gravestones for names.
Ceres walked amongst the tombstones, before she came across an oddity. An unmarked grave. She looked to the left. "Michael Wall..." She read off the tombstone, and then to the other. "And Eunice Hall." A small grin came to her face.
"Found it."
And before she could say anything else, she heard a familiar click and a hum. An energy weapon being powered up.
Ceres looked behind her, to see an alien, in heavy armor, a blade in their hand. Ceres recognized them instantly. "You're that Mutant Sotoraggian Bounty Hunter...SixSix, right?"
The alien gave a simple, low snarl. It was saying yes...at least, she thought.
Ceres grinned. "That armor...how fireproof is it?"
Ceres increased the size of her fireball, as she flung it at SixSix's face.
SixSix growled in surprise as he stumbled back, smoke rising up from his helmet. He wasn't burned but the sudden brightness in his eyes did send him reeling for a moment. Once his vision cleared, he took aim with his pistol and began firing, bolts of dark purple energy firing from the barrel with each pull of the trigger.
Ben and Ruby looked over. "Hey, it's...that one guy!" Ben yelled. "From when Vilgax tried to kidnap Kevin?"
"...who?" Kai asked, as Ben activated the Omnitrix.
"You had to be there." Ruby said, rushing to help Ceres out.
The bounty hunter shouted...something in a strange language at Ben and Ruby. They didn't know exactly what he said but it sounded like he was shouting curses at them. He changed targets, aiming his pistol towards Ruby and continuing his volley.
"Uh...same to you, buddy!" Ben said, as he twisted the dial to Kickin Hawk. "Been a while since I used this one!" He slapped down the dial, as the changes began.
Ben's body first gained more muscle in his arms and torso. His legs maintained a similar amount of muscle but they started to gain more avian features, turning yellow and scaly beneath the knee, ending in two sharp talons. His body became covered in brown feathers while his chest feathers were more of a tan color. His hands become yellow and scaly like his feet, ending with three sharp, black talons. Black arm blades suddenly extended out and back from arms, right below his elbow on the back of his arms. A tan mohawk of feathers appeared on Ben's head as green armbands and anklets appeared on his body, followed by a green, metal harness, the Omnitrix symbol planted firmly in the middle. To finish off, a green, wrestler-like mask appeared on his face.
"Okay, so...there's an alien bounty hunter attacking us...and you choose a giant chicken!?" Kai yelled.
"Hey, Kickin Hawk's one of my best hand to hand fighters!" Ben defended himself. Ben immediately perked up, as he quickly blocked a blade strike from another bounty hunter- this one was similar to SixSix, but he had lighter colored armor.
"See? Good reaction time! That's what we want in an alien."
He was quickly brought back to the fight when the bounty hunter reared his head back and then slammed into Ben's forehead, hard.
Ben stumbled back, as he regained his footing. He cracked his head, and then his knuckles. "Big mistake, buddy." Ben motioned for the Bounty Hunter to draw near.
The hunter spoke in that same alien tongue SixSix, pointing his blade at Ben to accept the challenge. He then held out his free hand and it morphed into a four-barreled, rotating heavy blaster.
Ben smirked. "Try and shoot me." With the screech of a hawk, Ben leapt up into the air, effortlessly dodging the hellfire of blasts aimed at him.
The hunter growled as jet boosters extended from his back and he launched himself up towards Ben.
Kai wasn't safe though as another set of shots began to ring out all around her.
Kai looked up- another bounty hunter, wearing the same armor. This one was at least different looking. A much more slender build to her, but still the same gibberish. Kai cursed herself for not having a weapon on hand.
The hunter opened up her rifle with a snap, like a double barrel shotgun and ejected the spent energy cell inside. It popped in a new one and snapped the rifle back into position before taking aim again. Kai ducked behind a gravestone as the barrage of bullets continued anew.
Kai frowned. "Judo isn't gonna really cut it here, is it?" Kai looked over the gravestone, as she noticed something red flying through the air, right towards the female assailant-
The hunter turned just in time to see Ruby slam into it with a double kick to the chest, sending the alien staggering back a bit. The rifle was quickly put away as a pair of arm blades extended from the hunter's wrists.
"Didn't realize there was a whole family of you guys," Ruby joked.
The female alien snarled, as it rushed at Ruby. Ruby ducked under the flurry of slashes, as She quickly flipped back, kicking the alien in the helmet.
The hunter staggered back, rubbing its chin from the hit before changing it up a bit. With a few button-presses on its gauntlets, the blades began to hum and glow with purple energy. She shouted what might have been a war-cry in her alien tongue as she rushed back in to renew her assault.
"Hey, knock it off!" A burly voice frowned.
Ruby paused- she knew that voice. Her face scowled. "Remember how you said some guy stole your grandpa to make a profit?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah?" Kai said.
"You were right on the money." Ruby said.
"You've GOT to be kidding me," The voice said, its owner stepping forward between the gravestones. "What are the CHANCES of running into YOU TWO again?!" Vulkanus shouted, crossing his arms.
"Vulkanus?!" Ben said, ducking under a blade swing from his opponent.
"You were expecting Psyphon to return from the dead, maybe?"
"The dude from Hong Kong?" Ceres asked. "Yeesh, what happened to you?"
"Well, getting your highly successful crime ring dismantled DOES do things to you. Had to sell all my assets just to pay for these guys." Vulkanus said. "Pretty penny for each of them! And that's just a down payment."
"You know we actually beat one of these guys before, right?" Ruby said as she took a shot at the female hunter.
"Wait...what? Which one?!" Vulkanus asked in disbelief.
"I don't know, I forgot his name! The one Ceres is dealing with!"
"...SixSix...I'd say you're getting a pay cut but...well...rather not have SevenSeven and EightEight turn on me."
"...THOSE are their names?" Kai asked from behind her cover.
"You wanna make jokes about their names? Come out of cover, they love it when people do that. Gives them a chance to vent their anger," Vulkanus chuckled.
"Whatever." Ben said, dropping in from behind Vulkanus. "Where's the old man?"
"Oh, him? He's around," the crime lord said, "But I still need him."
"Do I have to beat the stuffing out of you for his location?" Ben growled.
"Guess you do, cuz I'm not saying a peep. I know I said I'd beat the shit out of Salazar...but then that piece of shit rat sold everything I own!" Vulkanus frowned.
"And now instead of a big, bad crime boss, you're a villain from an Indiana Jones movie," Ben said.
"You think I don't know how much of a LOW this is for me?!" Vulkanus roared, "I'm chasing LEGENDS and tomb-robbing for god's sake! But if there's even a CHANCE that that sword is real...well, call it the choice of a desperate man."
"I'll call you desperate and totally kicked in the face." Kickin Hawk leapt up, as his talons grabbed Vulkanus' face...and, with a midair flip, threw him into a statue.
The statue wasn't strong enough to withstand the impact and broke when Vulkanus hit, exploding into a myriad of stone pieces that scattered everywhere, some even clinking against Vulkanus' armor.
"Ow." Vulkanus said flatly. "That really hurt."
The crime lord dusted himself off as he got, his arm shifting into a mace-head. He took a look over at SixSix, who looked back to him for a second. Vulkanus nodded and, with that, SixSix activated his jet boosters and started flying off, firing barrages of blasts back Ceres in case she tried to give chase.
Ceres grunted. "I swear, your armor is cool...but you're just a huge douche!" Ceres chucked a few fireballs at the mercenary, but he avoided them by zipping around.
Just to cover his tracks, SixSix unhooked a grenade from his belt, primed it and tossed back towards Ceres as he zoomed off for whatever reason.
"Where the hell is he going?!" Ceres huffed, as she ducked behind a grave.
The grenade exploded, sending debris everywhere. Ruby suddenly landed in front of the grave Ceres took cover behind after the grenade exploded, EightEight not far behind, taking a swing at her. Ruby dodged out of the way just in time. The bounty hunter huffed in annoyance, turning off and retracting one of her blades and drew a plasma pistol, firing off rounds towards Ruby.
Ruby's eyes opened up, a glint of determination shining. She quickly shot back up, and noticed a heavy stone. "Albedo said my semblance negates mass, right? So..." Ruby sped towards the rock, and swallowed it up inside her torrent of roses.
EightEight tilted her head when she saw the rock vanish in a storm of roses. She also wasn't expecting that rock to suddenly reappear above her, as Ruby ended her Semblance before zooming away in another petal storm. EightEight looked up just in time and rolled out of the way, the rock crashing into and cratering the ground, dust and dirt getting sent up into the air.
"So close, too...Maybe I need something heavier." Ruby's eyes scanned for something she could use...and her eyes ended on a statue.
While Ruby was dealing with EightEight and Ben had taken to facing off Vulkanus, Ceres suddenly found herself in the sights of SevenSeven. Two rows of rockets extended up from his shoulders as he fired off six miniature missiles her way.
Ceres jumped back up, as she conjured up a powerful flamethrower from her hands. The missiles slowly burnt away, leaving Ceres to rush at the mercenary.
SevenSeven laughed as he brought out his blade, the rocket rows withdrawing back into his armor. He rushed at Ceres, a purple energy shield emerging from his left arm as his sword was suddenly lit by a bright, white glow.
Ceres narrowly dodged the attacks. This bounty hunter was far more savage than SixSix. She could sense the bloodlust from behind the armor.
His blade was also something to look out for. That white energy around it left a cold mist trailing behind the weapon each time he took a swing.
"A photon destabilizer...thought those things were banned." Ceres noted, dodging another slice.
The hunter spoke in his native tongue, probably bragging about how they were and that made them perfect for his job or something. Hard to tell without a translator really.
Ceres frowned. "Good thing of note about those photon destabilizers. Too much heat, and it'll blow your hand clean off." Ceres said, as she sent some flames at it.
SevenSeven pulled the blade back and brought up his energy shield, the flames held at bay.
"You're prepared for anything...of course." Ceres said. "...good thing I am too." Ceres pulled out a small trinket from her pocket, and threw it at the mercenary. It looked like a tiny marble.
SevenSeven was caught off guard as the marble hit his shield.
...and then promptly deactivated it.
"Archimedean power disruptor. A gift from home." Ceres grinned, as she sent another torrent of flames at the sword.
SevenSeven started running, trying to keep himself and the sword ahead of the flames. He ducked and weaved between the statues and tombstones for cover.
"Yeesh. Agile...too bad you're not a Plumber." Ceres said, chasing after the assassin.
Ben dodged another swing from Vulkanus in the meantime, a gravestone shattering from the impact instead.
"Yeesh. You're gonna have to pay for that repair with all the money you don't have." Ben taunted.
"Oh shut it!" Vulkanus roared before bringing down both fists on top of Ben. He was able to jump out of the way and counter with a roundhouse kick to Vulkanus' jaw, almost knocking the crime lord off his feet.
"Like I said...Kickin Hawk's my best hand to hand! You can't beat me in combat!"
"How good is he at hostage situations?" Vulkanus grinned.
SixSix had returned by this point, landing on the ground with metallic clicks. With him was Wes Green, restrained with energy bindings and a gun to his head.
"SixSix there LOVES using tachyon weapons. Wonder what happens when you fire that at a human?" the crime lord smirked.
"I've seen the results." Ben growled.
"Oh you have? Good to know! Then you know how MESSY it gets. Give it up and the old man doesn't end up a pile of gore on the grass!"
Ben looked over to Kai, who had a look of horror on her face. Ben took a deep breath. "Fine. We'll cease the attack."
"SevenSeven, EightEight!" the crime lord called out. SevenSeven peeked up from behind a gravestone just to make sure the flames had died down. They had and he walked out from behind the stone, getting out a new set of energy bindings. EightEight did the same...after freeing herself from underneath the statue that Ruby had dropped on her. The fact she had to give up AFTER managing that pissed her off. Ruby could just feel the smugness radiate off of EightEight as she slapped on the bindings.
"Now, see...I get the feeling you guys know a BIT more than we do about this...so new part of the deal. You help us find the sword, we let the old man live."
"Don't listen to him, Kai! Run!" Wes yelled.
"I'm not leaving you with him, Grandpa!" Kai said.
"Awwww, how cute. Grandfather and granddaughter. Warms my heart." Vulkanus sighed. "...cuff her."
SixSix passed off Wes to Vulkanus, who threatened to crush Kai's grandfather's shoulder just by accident. The bounty hunter moved up to Kai and slammed the energy restraints on her.
"Now, how about we take these kids to the greatest sight in the city." Vulkanus grinned. "Hey, Ben...have you ever been to Big Ben?"
Ben groaned. "Wow, where am I, grade school? Lame comeback, even for you."
"...oh shut up, I was hoping to deal with Rex again. I didn't think up anything for you," the crime lord defended. EightEight, meanwhile, facepalmed at that. This was really who she was working for.
"I'd react the same way if he was my boss. Don't worry." Ceres comforted her.
