Zeno caught himself waking up and checking on Atari throughout the night. That morning he counted seven or eight times. If proof was needed, his lethargic behavior, constant yawning and droopy eyelids were evidence enough. In order to wake up quicker, Zeno decided to make a quick tiramisu by using instant chocolate cake mix and some leftover tiramisu icing. That was eaten before they went to meet up with the others at the factory.
"You can really smell the rust in here. This whole area is even more deteriorated than I thought it'd be." Copen noted.
"It reeks in here. This might be our toughest mission yet, and not even because of the enemies." Zeno gagged.
"They're not the only things we have to watch out for. We need to be careful around that flammable gas too." Copen commented.
"I'm gonna get sick if we're here too long. Let's find that Binding Brand." Zeno added.
The first enemy they came across was not even ten feet away from the entrance. It emitted a purple gas that slinked across the ground before vanishing into the air. This machine looked like a steam cleaner for vacuums. It had two pipes on the left, a ring of orange metal, a light on top and old fashioned front car lights on the bottom. Three of these were met before they encountered the first ATEMS agent. The gas was a green-yellow color and bust into flames from even a bullet touching it. Three disguised drones tried to kamikaze themselves as the second ATEMS agent was eliminated.
"The pipes around here are really rusty." Gunvolt remarked.
"They seem like they'd collapse if you put a lot of weight on them. Watch your step Lily." Zeno cautioned.
"A-am I really that heavy?" Atari worried.
"That's not what I meant." Zeno denied.
'Is she worried about her weight?' Zeno pondered.
"This is absurd! None of the data prepared us for this!" Lola shouted as she caught sight of an ATEMS rocket launcher.
Atari barely made the jump from the 3 lined up crates to the two and Zeno had to grab her hand. There was more jumping trouble or her when the thin metal platforms they jumped across had two on fire. It was a constant fight, both with the terrain and enemies. The newest strange enemy they came across was orange with a translucent shield attached to the front and green light rings coming from the back.
It had two fins of orange with green tips. One pair on top with another on the bottom which were reminiscent of a shark's dorsal fin.
"Think it'd be bad if I sprayed some air freshner in here?" Zeno wondered.
"If you want to turn into a living torch that'd be a sure-fire way to do it." Copen answered.
"There are gas leaks all over the place." Gunvolt realized.
"Good thing it's not poisonous gas. Not that it matters tome." Lumen rambled.
"You really have it good Lumen. You don't even have to bathe." Zeno joked.
"Ummm, I still bathe every day you know?" Lumen reminded.
After passing through an airtight security door, everyone was locked into a room.
"There's no alarm, that's not good." Gunvolt sighed.
With aten enemies defeated streak, Zeno was getting tired.
"How many more of these guys are gonna show up!?" Zeno ranted.
"There's no end to them. It'll only be a matter of time before we run out of resources." Copen anounced.
"-Sorry I'm late! You can rest easy now that I"m here!" Xiao informed.
"Xiao, what took you so long man? I thought you bailed on us." Zeno huffed.
"Sorry about that. The information on that place is really outdated. It took me forever to get the coordinates." Xiao explained.
"Can you help us out here?" Copen questioned.
"Just leave it to me! ... That should do it! The infinite loop in the code is fixed!" Xiao cheered.
"I never wana see those orange razor roll bots again." Zeno snarled.
In the next area after the Hexapyle, there was three pillars of four bots firing what looked like fire charges from Minecraft. The bots themselves had the appearance of metal trash bins. Further in, there was floating platforms going up and down.
"Just hold onto my hand, okay?" Zeno requested as he held out his hand for Atari.
When the platform jumping was done, Atari elt he eyes begin to droop.
"If I stare at the fire too long, I start to feel kind of sleepy." Atari yawned.
"That sounds like a lack of oxygen. Stay awake for a little while longer, it'll all be over soon." Copen demanded.
"Be careful, it seems like the air up ahead is full of gas." Zeno stated.
And full of gas it was. Luckily, the fianal area, the control area was completely gas free. The enemy was right in front of them.
"I see the ragtag team has finally graced us with their presence." Sistina retorted.
"Is this an ambush?" Zeno panicked.
"Just when I was wondering who would be foolish enough to challenge Prince Zed. Who would have guessed it would be the once-mighty Azure Striker held on a chain by Sumeragi's former Muse. Is Quill really so strapped for talent?" Sistina moocked.
"Say what you will about Quill. But I won't let you talk that way about Lumen." Zeno growled.
"You invaded our country and now you're stealing our relics! Your barbaric acts have gon on long enough. We will put an end to this!" Copen announced.
"Hmph. An order from Prince Zed is the same as a decree from the royal court! The likes of you have no say in the matter. If you insist on interferring, then Miss Sistina will have to teach you exactly how foolish you really are." Sistina remarked before transforming.
Sistina's eyes turned black with pink irises, and a matching beehive hairdo with two pink strips that reached down to her thighs. Donning grey, black and white armor with her headpiece armor resembling an insect's antennae. She also wore a grey bodysuit with pink highlights around her cleavage and most of her legs, with her feet turned into pointed heels with white crosses at the midsections and pink tips at the end. She also had a pair of pink wings as well.
Sistina looked down and shot three pink bullets that flew above the ground and up into the air. Flying to the center of the room, Sistina used the same trick before flying to the left side of the room. She used this one last time before her second gauge kicked in. Sistina flew a little higher and shot some blue bigger bullets as well.
Five bullets in total before she used her "Relentless Rain" final gauge attack. This name was used by Zeno, claiming the attack made "pain and bullets rain down". Sistina flew to the center of the room, ten feet itno the air. She closed her eyes and raised her hands above her head.
She held them together like she was praying as a hot pink orb was formed in her hands. A bullet of neon pink at 10-15 feet in width shot down seemingly out of nowhere. Sistina charged up the orb in her hands as the bullet was destroyed. When she let the ball go, Sistina split it in two.
A thinner and sleeker pair of bullets appeared with one next to each wall on the left and right sides of the room. The bullets soon disappeared, leaving a spiral of fire on the sides of the room as Sistina reappeared on the right side of the room. Gunvolt used his Luxcalibur attack and dissolved Sistina's transformation. The wrathful woman disappeared in the same manner as Grazie.
"If he really cared about her the way she tought, then she'd be behind a desk taking phone calls where it's safe." Zeno jested.