Time for the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 22 - Desperate Measures

—

I can't believe I'm actually doing this…we're all going to hell for this. Jetdramon landed in front of the BICI, still feeling far less than at ease with what was about to happen. Those disgusting Data Fracture Bombs were a crime against all that was good and decent…and perhaps their only chance to defeat Marsmon and Suijinmon. If they failed, the entire city was going to be razed, and that was just going to be the start…their forces weren't at all ready for this, they probably wouldn't have been ready for a Champion of considerable size. And none of that made him feel any better about what he was being asked to do.

Soldiers were stationed at the doors of the BICI, and they gave him a wide-eyed look as he approached. At this point, he was beyond caring. "I need the President out here, right now. It's life or death."

The effect was immediate, and somewhat gratifying - no hesitation, one of the soldiers turned on his heel and hurried into the building. It took Jetdramon a moment to register just how much weight his word carried. They just…answered to me like I was a commander. I never really thought about it, but…we're the only ones who have experience fighting these enemy digimon…we really are the authority right now, aren't we? That's a scary thought. Their lives really are in our hands…ugh, I wish any of this made this more palatable…

It didn't take long for President Herrera to march out, with a couple more soldiers flanking her for protection. "Jetdramon, was it? Lay it out for me."

All business, cutting to the chase. He'd appreciate it more later when he wasn't so distracted. "As we feared, we've encountered an enemy out there that's proving to be far more difficult than any other we've faced so far. We just had a bad run-in with them, and managed to push them away by the skin of our teeth, but they aren't down and they'll be back to fighting power too quickly. I've been…tasked with trying to retrieve two Data Fracture Bombs."

That got a reaction from her. "Those? From what I was told, those were war crimes."

"I'm well aware, and I'm doing this under protest. But as much as I hate it, we might not have what it takes to try to take these two down on our own, and if we don't, that's all she wrote."

"I see. I don't like it, but I'd rather have to answer for it after the fact than answer for inaction while Braun was torn to pieces on my watch. Do you know where they are?"

Jetdramon shook his head. "Honestly, I don't 'know' anything about them. Burner says they have to have had more than one, and I can buy that, and I can't imagine they'd be anywhere outside of Braun, but that's all I've got. And if I have to go searching around, the only way we'll get anywhere is by luck."

Herrera nodded. "We've secured the cooperation of a number of the rogue soldiers. That's our best chance." She turned to one of the soldiers behind her. "Talk to the soldiers in security one. Anyone who knows anything about the Data Fracture Bombs, get the information immediately!" The soldier responded with a salute and hurried off down the road, while Herrera turned back to Jetdramon. "How long do we have?"

"I don't know for sure. Let's leave it at 'sooner is better.'"

"Then we'll prioritize speed. And since you're the fastest one of us, I'm asking you to fly me there when we get the information."

Jetdramon blinked behind his visor. "Fly you? Are you sure? I've already had to do that once and it wasn't exactly well-received."

"Absolutely. I need to know what I'm dealing with first-hand before you fly off with them. If I'm going to face up to these acts, then I'm going to know what I need to answer for."

The dragon could only nod to that. It's a very different danger she's facing down, but she's facing it all the same…we'd better make sure it pays off, it would be almost cruel to fail just when she's able to stand at our backs.

—

The old Chip's Corner Store. A place which had recently seen some unusual activity, and soon wouldn't be seeing any more, its purpose having been served. But Darkvargmon still had a reason to go there.

He appeared in the basement of the building, popping up as he had a tendency to do without anything impeding his way. The basement was incredibly dark - with the upstairs door closed and no windows available, the only light that could trickle through was the barest hint of ambient light from the windows upstairs seeping through the crack in the door, which was almost imperceptible.

But he could do even better than that. Shifting back to Ebonvargmon, he opened up the freezer door, entering the place where they had kept Shadowdramon and Crestmon confined. Nothing was in there now, there was only the slightest hint that it had ever held anyone, a stray food wrapper and some crumbs. Neither of which was of any concern to him, as he pulled the door shut. Now the darkness was truly complete, were anyone else in there it would be like being in the dead of one of the deepest caves in the country…

Derek had only experienced that once, and it was like nothing he'd ever been able to imagine before. A darkness so pure and complete that it enraptured and exhilarated him…and energized him. He'd felt amped up like he never had before after that excursion, and it was rather a disappointment that it had only been a brief minute. He certainly tried to block out as much light as he could most of the time in his room, but there was no way to make it as complete as that…

But here? Here worked just fine. And Ebonvargmon was sure it would bring him the same energy, energy which he could put to good use. He sat on the floor, crossing his legs and closing his eyes, taking in the raw, unblemished darkness, letting it work through his weary body, stilling his mind and meditating with a focus on nothing more than basking in the lightless chamber and steeling himself for the coming battle.

Anything I can draw, I must draw. Whatever energy I have, it serves one purpose. They fall, and we don't. Nothing else matters now. And if the night is truly my time, then now is the time to prove it.

—

Every second ticking by made Jetdramon antsier, and not just because he didn't like to be sitting still. He wanted to be up in the air, racing around, engaging his foes, not waiting around for information on where he could find something to commit atrocities against two Mega-level threats. But there wasn't much he could do except wait, not when he was missing crucial information.

"…You seem uncomfortable, Jetdramon." At least he wasn't alone, but President Herrera was intimidating in her own way. "Talk to me."

"…I just…don't like what's about to happen."

"Understandable. I don't like it either. Our hands are tied by the consequences, but it doesn't make anything feel better, does it?"

"No. And it bothers me how quickly the others jumped on this. Something that monsters like Wheeler and their ilk were happy to use, and here we are doing the same thing…"

"I don't suspect they're more at ease with it than you are. Just less expressive about it."

Jetdramon huffed. "Less expressive? How do you hide something like that? I can't imagine not showing how not-okay I was with that!"

"Some people are better at hiding their emotions than others. Some are demanded to be." Herrera gazed out over the road. "They call me 'Iron Woman' because they see me as unshakable…not many know why I got to be that way. Part of it is social pressure - a woman who's emotionally expressive is mocked and derided for it, has that leveled at her as being unfit for positions of authority. Some of the same people who would jump on that would have said not a thing about Jonah's outbursts when I showed up, despite them being far more emotional than most women ever were a day in office or on the campaign trail, or indeed anywhere else in their professional lives. It's not right, but it's the way it is, and no one's going to single-handedly change that. So I certainly cultivated that impression that I was unflappable, steely towards anything…but it wasn't all projection."

"It wasn't?"

"Some people, they just don't react as strongly to things. There's no real rhyme or reason to it, they just aren't expressive by nature. I'm one of those people…I feel emotion just like anyone else, I believe, but it doesn't come out the same way. It made it a fairly simple transition to accentuate that, since all I was doing was more of what I was normally like. Other people, they wear their emotions on their sleeves, they're more expressive than others, and it makes them easier to read and understand. Perhaps that's just the way you are, Jetdramon - more expressive than the others, when you feel something it doesn't feel right not to reflect it in yourself. And there's value to that…there's an earnestness and passion in it that conveys to others that you care. There are good sides to my way of things, but one of the drawbacks is that it can give the impression to others that I don't care. I do, but my manner isn't the way that most people convey that. Yours is, and people latch onto that…it helps them feel closer to you, and helps build trust in you in ways that are harder to do for less expressive people."

Jetdramon rubbed his head; this was definitely not something he had been anticipating this night, just a casual chat with the highest authority in the country, like it was no big deal. Being set in the backdrop of waiting on weapons of torture to use against genocidal fascist literal monsters made it all the more surreal. "I guess that's possible…how did you even figure that all out?"

"It's an asset to be able to read people. Understanding their way of thinking is important to understanding how to connect with them, or figuring out their machinations. Sadly, I can misread people, too…I never truly thought Jonah was anything but self-serving, but I wasn't aware of the real nature of his malice. I figured he was a typical self-interested person, who just wanted to be part of the game regardless of who was in charge, and if he was in the right place, he'd be more asset than liability. I underestimated the depths of his heartlessness, and how many people he could wrangle into his plots. Though I doubt many people would've considered him capable of something like this…but it highlights the difference between people. Jonah wouldn't have blinked at using one of these bombs, regardless of the necessity or the costs. You're facing a cost-benefit ratio that's tilted extremely to the latter side, and still have reservations…it's telling of who you are."

Jetdramon wasn't entirely sure what Herrera meant by reading people, but he didn't have to ask on that point - the soldier Herrera had sent for information was running back. "Madam President! We've got a bead on the stockpile! We were pointed to a warehouse along the river, I've written down some directions that way - and they told us something else, too, that there might be someone there who knows more about the bombs!"

"Then we haven't a moment to waste." Herrera nodded to Jetdramon. "Let's get there and see whether this person is still there - there might be something we can do about these yet."

Jetdramon returned the nod; the prospect of going to get them was raising his anxiety again, but he fought it down. He didn't have the luxury of letting his feelings get in the way of what he needed to do, even as much as he wanted to…he just had to hope the results were worth the weight on his soul.

—

Ionfalkemon certainly hadn't expected to be back near her home again that day. Not with no one there and nothing there for her to take interest in. But as it happened, there was one thing now that was not just of interest, but of importance.

…I can feel the buzz in the air. They didn't cut it…thank goodness. I'm going to have to apologize to all those electricians I watched doing pole work, they probably won't approve of this.

She dropped to the ground near the live electrical line. The line itself was intact, so there wasn't any sparking or otherwise visible danger - but she knew better, she could feel the charge coursing through it even now. The power company either didn't have anyone checking things out or didn't have anyone period, and she wouldn't have been surprised at either of those - now wasn't a good time for that, and with quite a few of the houses vacated, there might not even be anyone to complain.

She certainly wasn't.

She stepped up to the line and picked it up. The surge was almost immediately evident in her body, she was a VERY good conductor and the wire was almost immediately responsive to her. But this wasn't the best way to charge up - she could draw from this, but it wasn't going to be as efficient. She needed to be the ONLY target, a draw for that electricity to surge directly into rather than bypassing her.

This is a 'do not try this at home' moment. Good thing no one's watching me now…I hope.

Taking a deep breath, and mentally apologizing one more time, Ionfalkemon brought the line up higher, opened her beak, and snapped down. The sudden surge from that was rather loud, but she felt the rush through her as crackles of electricity escaped the open ends of the wires. In a flash, she grabbed the live ends with both hands and inserted herself into the circuit, hissing at the incredible charge. She could almost feel it sparking all over her body as she drew from the power that was being coursed through the line, draining everything that came through. What effect this would have on the surrounding buildings, she had no idea, but if it meant no messy death and destruction, she figured they'd probably forgive her.

I don't know how much I can charge up from this, but I have to make sure I don't lose track of time. I can't let this go to waste, I need to put everything into what we've got…DFBs or not, they aren't going to be pushovers. But we can do this…we have to do this. For both worlds, we can't afford to fail here.

—

The river industrial district wasn't a familiar place for Jetdramon - Skylar simply didn't go there, he had no reason to. But the description that he was given was clear enough, and even in the darkness, he could see which building had been indicated by the soldier. It wouldn't have, by any stretch, been his first prospect to look at…he was really glad they had been able to get this information, a search probably would have taken all night, and they didn't have all night.

It was still the most awkward flight he'd had yet, on account of having President Herrera in his arms. He had to dial back the speed even more than with Reyn and Salmandmon to make sure she wasn't injured by the G-forces, and made sure to fly quite straight - thankfully there weren't any hazards in the sky at the moment that he had to try to get around. The position was not the most comfortable - it was halfway like a bridal carry, but tighter to his body and with his arms almost crossed rather than both underneath, while she had an arm tightly around his neck as well - he wasn't about or risk her flying on his back and she didn't seem remotely comfortable with that anyway, this was the best they could do. He wouldn't be in any hurry to fly with passengers again after today, that was for sure.

And he didn't seem to be alone in that sentiment as he landed and let Herrera down safely. "Well…that was quite the experience, but I hope you'll forgive me if I say I'm in no hurry to repeat it."

"I think we're on the same page there. Unfortunately I'm more of a fighter jet than a passenger jet."

"I'll encourage you to stick with your strengths. Let's see what this place is about." She led the way, pushing in the door - unlocked, unexpectedly. Jetdramon followed inside, taking a look around. There were a bunch of boxes just inside, making the place feel quite cramped at the outset. It clearly was not specially set aside for the bombs, but must have been appropriated from an existing warehouse for other goods…Jetdramon wondered if the people who normally used it had any idea what was being done in here. It would hardly have surprised him to hear that Wheeler hadn't gotten permission for this…

A sound made him pause. "Hold up…I thought I heard something."

"Same," agreed Herrera, slowing her already measured pace. Both were quiet, listening for it again…and after several seconds they heard it, a low sound, short and scratchy, almost like… "Is that…someone snoring?"

"It could be…who would be asleep in a place like this?"

"Only one way to find out." The two navigated in the direction of the snoring, through the maze of boxes, some of which seemed to have been moved around haphazardly, not like the neat stacks in other areas. Jetdramon was flexing his clawed fingers, steeling himself in case they needed a fight, or even just intimidation factor…the fact that he was what he was would probably have plenty of that already, but a few sharp pointy implements usually didn't hurt. He noticed that President Herrera was keeping a hand close to her pistol, though not on it; clearly she was ready for the same thing.

Around another wall of boxes, they finally saw something different. On one side, a row of unusual-looking piece of ordinance, not at all like munitions one would usually see from a tank or a plane. Along the back, a couple of fancy-looking tower computers and monitors. And not far away from that, a man of Asian descent sleeping on a cot that didn't exactly look comfortable. If this isn't where they're storing those things, I'll be shocked…but this is a hell of a set-up, thought Jetdramon grimly. Isaac would take one look at this and instantly develop PTSD. "Does he look familiar to you?" he asked Herrera.

"Not at all. But if we're going to get any answers here, it'll be from him. I don't see any self-defense in here…" Herrera was still cautious in her approach, until she was certain that there was nothing on the sleeping man. So satisfied, she leaned down and shook him awake. It didn't take long, the man groaning as his slumber was unceremoniously interrupted…and then he started with a yelp as he saw someone standing over him, shrinking away from Herrara. Then his eyes caught sight of Jetdramon…he let out a cry, scrambling backwards on the cot, letting out a heavy expletive in a language that Jetdramon could only assume to be one of the Asian languages - but which, unexpectedly, his brain registered exactly what it meant without difficulty. Whoa…the digimon said anything they said or heard would be understood, but I didn't think that would translate to us.

"Easy! Easy!" Herrera's commanding voice caught the man before he knocked anything over. "I need to ask you some questions! Do you understand me?"

"Yes! Yes! What…what is one of them doing here?!"

"Trying to save your asses before you get barbecued by some serious bastards," growled Jetdramon. "No thanks to you lot, really."

"What? What…what's going on?" The man looked both panicked and confused now - which was great, considering that they were on a time crunch and needed this precisely not at all. Jetdramon relaxed his claws, clearly he didn't need intimidation factor here…what he needed were weapons, and fast.

"I'll be perfectly happy to give you the short version, but then you need to answer OUR questions," demanded Herrera. "And time is of the essence."

The man nodded. "I…yes, I'll…I'll try to answer what I can…"

—

A convenience store on one of the roads of Braun. The lights were on, and incredibly enough, someone was home.

Not that he wanted to be. A man of Caribbean descent was manning the counter, somehow bored and terrified out of his skull at the same time. As far as he was concerned, the shop should have been closed - everyone was either out of town or hunkered down, absolutely no one was on the roads except a few military vehicles and he didn't want ANY of them anywhere nearby. But his boss had absolutely refused, insisting that he show up and that there would have to be someone to show up that would make it worth his being there. No amount of argument otherwise would convince him, and the threat of losing his paycheck and his job had been enough pressure to get him to cave.

He'd heard all the attacks that day - yes, he HAD been there that long, told he wasn't to leave until his replacement got there. Said replacement clearly had more sense than he did, or at least a bank account that could afford not showing up for work…he'd hunkered down as much as possible, trying to keep anyone from finding out that he was there, because of course there wasn't a single actual customer there that day, why would there be? He was exhausted from being up for so long, regretting all of his life's decisions…the only reason he hadn't left was because he was too scared to go out there with all the monsters that might be out there.

So when he heard footsteps, snapping him out of his boredom and bringing terror back to the forefront, he was naturally inclined to duck behind the counter and hide. What good could come of drawing attention to himself? They'd all just passed by earlier, apparently too busy with other things to care about razing the place, though he wasn't sure how long that luck would hold out. This time, though, it seemed like that luck had vanished, as the thudding steps got closer and louder. The attendant's fervent hopes of no engagement were dashed further when he heard the door open, the bell ring…and then a loud thunk and a loud growled "OW!"

It was safe to say that was not what he was expecting.

Mecharexmon snarled a bit as he rubbed his head. "How many freaking times is that…frickin' doorways, they're next on my hit list…" He straighten up a bit inside, looking around for what he was trying to find…and getting very quickly distracted by a ping on his sensors. He looked over towards the counter, peering at the man doing a poor job of hiding. "What the hell? There's actually someone in here?"

Gulping, the man peered over the counter…and then froze a bit. The giant cyborg dinosaur standing there looking confused was a sight to behold…but this was different from what he had been fearing. Because he had SEEN this one. He was one of the ones in the videos that were all over the place, apparently fighting most of the other monsters that had appeared. The word from just about everyone was that he was somehow on their side…he wasn't any less terrifying for it, though.

"…Okay, I can tell I'm scaring you," Mecharexmon rumbled. "Let's just cut to the chase, then. I need to know where your energy drinks are, and the faster the better, because I could use the processing time." Meekly the man pointed to one of the refrigerators, which had plenty of cans inside. "Thanks. I'm gonna have to give you an IOU for them, I'm guessing my credit chip isn't gonna cut it here."

The man said nothing to that, just watched as Mecharexmon tromped over to the refrigerator and pulled open the door, almost a bit too hard. He reached in, grabbed at the cans, pulling them out two or three at a time, and then piercing the tops open with his claws, tilting his head back and jaw open, and letting the contents drain into his maw. Lather, rinse, repeat, over and over again, the empty cans clattering onto the ground as they were discarded.

The man's eyes kept getting wider as he saw more and more of those cans being downed. "Uh…th-that…that's not…they say not to drink so many of those at once…"

"Eh? Don't worry about it." Somehow that voice came out unimpeded despite Mecharexmon continuing to fuel up. "I'm reprocessing this stuff fast as possible to spread the fuel around, that'll take the edge off. And trust me, I want all the energy I can get for this, there's some nasty crap out there that's not gonna go down easy." Finally Mecharexmon shut the refrigerator door, and then gathered up the several dozen cans and crushed them together, leaving a nice big brick of compacted aluminum on the counter. "Thanks for this. And seriously, get the hell outta here. There's only two left right now, but this ain't the end of them. You're better off far away from Braun until this is all dealt with."

And with that, Mecharexmon left, making sure to watch his head as he exited. The man listened to the heavy footfalls get more distant, and then reached for the phone on the counter. He pressed a button on it, and listened to it ring for a bit as it went to voice mail. "…Boss? I quit. Ale fout tét ou." And with that, he hung up and got his ass out of there - like hell he wasn't listening to a cyborg dinosaur when it told him to scram.

—

Much as Jetdramon was feeling the pressure of time in the moment, he would still have to say that this was as worth it as it got. The man they had somewhat ambushed had eventually introduced himself as Reizo Takahashi, a computer and data scientist with a company that did some contracting work with the US government. And what he had to tell was mind-blowing.

"We received a call from US Secretary of Defense Jonah Wheeler, for an extremely confidential project with an incredibly fast turnaround. We were tasked with developing a sort of bomb that could be used to destructively erase hard drives and other storage media without actually damaging them. It was a bizarre concept, a weapon that targeted the data on the drives rather than causing physical damage…many of us questioned the need for such a device rather than using more conventional methods of destruction, but our bosses took the job. And they developed one…I was never informed of the precise details, but I believe it is a…highly modulated EMP-type device, one that somehow specializes in data destruction. When the time came to inquire about delivery, though, we were directed to prepare deployment to Braun. We'd all heard about the attacks, none of us wanted to go there, but then we were told that the bombs were not meant to be used on devices at all - they were meant to be used on…CREATURES."

"They were already preparing these?" asked Herrera dubiously. "How did they even know what they were targeting?"

"Because we told them…" Suddenly Jetdramon understood just how they seemed to suddenly have a weapon designed for digimon. "We gave them information about digimon in our messages. We thought they were just being ignored…"

"…That's right. The information about digital creatures was in there…I didn't register that as much as the active situation. So this wasn't as spur-of-the-moment as we all thought, this was weeks in the making."

Reizo nodded. "We received the order in question on April 8th."

"The day after Aquilamon." Jetdramon growled in annoyance. "Wheeler didn't waste any time. The moment he saw monster attacks and knew what they were about he was putting a grand plan in motion. How the hell long has he been sitting on something like this?"

"Longer than I want to think about," agreed Herrera with a scowl. "He's had these bombs for days, though, and he hasn't done anything with them?"

"We were instructed to wait until the mobilization…according to my bosses, we were to have a stockpile ready for transport on command. We received that command yesterday…they sent me along with them, to make sure there were no issues." Reizo bowed his head. "I…really didn't want to, this whole thing terrified me, but I wasn't given the choice. But it was a mistake…I'm not good enough to fix them."

"Fix them?"

"Yes. I was told that the bombs were a failure. They had tried a couple earlier and they had done nothing to the creatures they were used on. I was ordered to try to get them working, but…I don't know what can be done with them. I've scoured the code and the physical parameters for hours, nothing about it seems wrong to me…"

"There IS nothing wrong with them, except for the fact that they exist," snarled Jetdramon, making Reizo jump a bit. "They DO work! They're goddamned torture devices! One of the digimon was hit by one and it would've been a long, excruciatingly painful death if we didn't come up with a countermeasure right away!"

"What? But…but I don't understand! I was told that they had had no effect on the red lizard creature!"

"That's because the 'red lizard creature' isn't a digimon," stated Herrera. "It's a hybrid creature…a fusion of digimon and human. Just like Jetdramon here."

"A…hybrid?" Suddenly Reizo seemed significantly less anxious and more curious about Jetdramon. "You're…you're a monster/human fusion?! How is that even possible?!"

"If there's an answer to that question, I'm first in line for it," countered the dragon brusquely. He was trying to temper himself - Reizo clearly wasn't the mind behind these things, just the fall guy, but that wasn't making him feel any less irked. "That's not the point right now, though! The point is, I have to use one…two of these horrible things or we might all be doomed!"

"I…I don't think I want to know. But…tell me, you said…you said that you found a way to make the digimon survive? How?"

"Not my field. All I know is that it was like basically cascading body failure over a matter of ghastly hours. He said it was like feeling his body tearing itself apart at the seams…"

"Goodness…that does sound horrible…and also horribly flawed."

"I'm gonna pretend I DIDN'T hear that-"

"Hold up." President Herrera put up a hand, silencing Jetdramon, before looking back at Reizo. "Explain."

"Er…" Reizo hesitantly glanced at Jetdramon's glower, but nodded. "The idea was meant to be a rapid way of destabilizing the creatures and neutralizing them. But a slow cascading failure would allow for them to survive long enough to deal considerably more damage…and if they knew their time was limited, they would likely aim to spread maximum carnage rather than letting themselves be distracted by opposition. Hm…" Reizo hurried over to one of the computers, waking it up and starting to type. "If I remember correctly, one of the key parameters here was energy amplitude…they were testing them on simple hard drives, of course it wouldn't be equivalent to living data-based creatures, no wonder the output was suboptimal…"

"Do I want to know what an 'optimal' output is?" asked Jetdramon through clenched jaw.

"Ideally, one that would immediately disable and then rapidly destabilize the opponent. A bomb isn't something you want someone to survive, especially used directly…if I increase the energy magnitude to the maximum, the bomb may work more as intended, without the long breakdown process…at least on creatures who aren't strong enough to weather it for an extended time. I'm not sure how far it can go as is…"

Herrera turned to Jetdramon. "Well? What do you think?"

Jetdramon took a deep breath. "…Maybe. I don't know if you can juice it up enough to actually do that against just any digimon. But…if it can kill even Champions cleanly, then maybe it'll be less repugnant. I don't think it'll be able to do that against our enemies, though, these are some seriously bad dudes."

"But could a well-attuned Data Fracture Bomb impair or disable them enough for you to end the job quickly?"

"…There's only one way to find out. But it's got a better chance than anything else."

"Then that's what we're doing." Herrera turned back to Reizo. "How long to tune two of these?"

"I haven't run this process before, but it's not a difficult one," the tech replied confidently. "I just have to hook them up and adjust the output parameters. The time will probably be most taken up by the update process…maybe twenty minutes? And you're right, our output is limited…we might need bigger ones if we have more powerful creatures to deal with."

"We'll discuss that once the current crisis is resolved." The president nodded, then turned back to Jetdramon. "It's a compromise. In a moment like this, we don't have the luxury of making everything nice and neat. But we can minimize the worst of it. Given time, we might be able to make these even less inhumane…but we need to get to the point where we have the time to do that."

Jetdramon nodded. He still didn't like these things, but making them less vile did help to settle his conscience a bit. And I'm glad I heard about this…because if what he was saying was right, the bombs as they were before might not have done much of anything to Marsmon or Suijinmon before it was too late…

—

Weary though he was, Blazereptimon still needed to do some heavy lifting. Thankfully, it wasn't THAT heavy for someone as strong as him.

To the uninitiated, what it looked like he was setting up outside was a slab of granite topped with ceramic tile, surrounded on three sides with plastic barriers, with the fourth having a hinged door of the same material. It was set up out in the roadway, as far from anything readily flammable as he could get it, but he didn't have the time to spend to do any better. With any luck, it wouldn't matter much anyway.

A ceramic pot was placed inside the chamber, and he added in a mix of a couple of different powders, providing a very liberal amount of each - more than he would have done if he was just showing off to a friend or neighbor, for sure. But Blazereptimon didn't want to hold anything more back than he had to, not when everything was as dire as it was. A bit of swishing around, trying to mix them together without setting them off too quickly, and then he set the pot down and stuck in a metal strip, lighting it with a finger. And then he waited…

He didn't have to wait long, though - as soon as the flame from the strip reached the powder, it started flaring to life, a violent and powerful reaction creating a flame bright enough to light the street up. Blazereptimon looked away briefly, then shut his inner eyelids to protect them from the extreme brightness before looking back at the incredible display. Reyn's favorite thing in the world: a thermite reaction. Such incredible heat, such a brilliant sight, one of the ultimate displays of the power of fire that could be accessed by the average person - not that Reyn was ever quite the definition of 'average' but still.

But looking wasn't the goal today. And he managed to break himself out of the trance of the sight of it to do something that would have been gobsmackingly stupid had he been just about anyone else - he reached in and plunged his hand into the cataclysmic reaction. A loud hiss escaped him as he felt that furious heat surge through him, his body shivering as that torrid rush surged through him. That feeling of being charged up by heat had always been a rush for Reyn, but it was nothing compared to what Blazereptimon was feeling now…so much potent heat being pulled into him, wiping away the fatigue and soreness that had been growing ever fiercer over the course of the day.

The side impact of that, though, was also to amp up his impulsiveness. And without even thinking about it, he grabbed some of the flaming powder and thoughtlessly rammed it into his maw. The sensations of heat poured into him as he swallowed, the dryness of the powder barely registering as his tongue was lit up with the flavor of raw fire, a taste that was infinitely hotter and more delightful than any pepper or spice he'd ever had the chance to try. But it was that fire settling into his core that was the REAL treat, more quickly stoking him than just the contact had…before he knew what he was doing, he was grabbing and stuffing his mouth with as much of the thermite as he could, being somewhat haphazard with it and knocking some of it around onto the street, though there wasn't enough for the reaction to really do more than create slightly bubbling pits in the pavement before it settled down.

Blazereptimon paid this no mind, pulling the pot out of the chamber and shoving his snout into it, licking up whatever he could while that reaction continued unimpeded inside his gut. That raging heat was making him forget all about the aches and pains and tiredness he'd been feeling before, revving him up to levels he'd never known possible. And as the pot was licked clean, it was cast back into the chamber somewhat carelessly, as Blazereptimon tore off, the supercharge leaving flaming footsteps behind him briefly as he rushed to meet the others, as ready to take on an unfair challenge as he ever would be.

—

Mecharexmon was the first one to stomp up to the rendezvous point, but that wasn't a surprise - he was ten minutes early. Maybe it was a bit of overcompensation knowing one part of him had a tendency to NOT adhere to a good schedule…even though he himself hadn't had any issues with it, it was better not to start now.

Despite that, it quickly became apparent that he was not the first one there, as a voice popped from the shadows to startle him. "I was wondering when I'd start to have some company. Although the silence has been rather enjoyable in a way."

"I can silence you, I'll enjoy that a lot too," the cyborg growled, not looking towards Darkvargmon. "I'm so glad your other form is solid."

"There is something to be said for fully corporeal bodies…but also an argument to be made for the opposite." Despite that statement, he shifted back to Ebonvargmon, priming himself for the upcoming fight. "Do you know where they are now?"

"They've split up. One's south of Jordan, one's west."

"…Split up? That was what Burner wanted…that seems oddly convenient."

Mecharexmon nodded. "Yeah, but I think it makes sense to them. They don't know we've got a plan, and I think they expect us to try to take them on one at a time as a group, leaving the other to cause chaos while we're occupied. And they think if we try to split up, it'll be easy for them to take us down…which isn't necessarily entirely wrong, so we need to be careful."

"Indeed…" Ebonvargmon's ears twitched. "Mm, bird wings. Ionfalkemon's close by."

An accurate statement, as Ionfalkemon swooped in and landed near them. "Phew…that's a rush. I hope you guys are ready, because I think I need to let off some of this charge pretty quickly."

"Save it for the right targets," remarked Mecharexmon. "How'd you get that juiced up?"

"Just making myself an enemy of the utility companies. You?"

"Pilfered convenience store energy drinks and a lot of reprocessing."

Ebonvargmon shook his head. "And it seems I'm the only honorable one here."

Mecharexmon smirked a bit. "Trespassing, breaking and entering…"

"…okay, Burner's the only honorable one here. Speaking of…"

"Whoo!" The fiery reptile came surging up, cloaked in his flaming aura. "That was SOMETHING! I gotta do that again sometime!"

The energetic outburst had them all a bit taken aback. "Jeez, and I thought I was amped up," remarked Ionfalkemon. "What in the world were you doing?"

"Ah, nothing much! Just making myself a light snack!"

"A light…what?"

It took a moment, but Mecharexmon caught the implication first, and gave the reptile the strangest look he could. "Did you EAT thermite?!"

"Yeah!" hissed Blazereptimon eagerly. "And it was fuuuuuun! That's a heat ain't gonna be matched by any pepper any time soon! Whoo, sorry, I'm a bit riled up, I haven't been able to settle down!"

"Honorable, maybe…sensible, perhaps not," sighed Ebonvargmon.

"Well, it worked, at least," Ionfalkemon said resignedly.

"Then we'd best get to work quickly." Mecharexmon checked his map, verifying nothing had changed. "Marsmon and Suijinmon decided to separate on their own. Presumably thinking that either we'd make ourselves easier fights or would try to gang up on one and let the other wreak havoc."

"Oh, good!" cackled Blazereptimon. "Then that's the first step taken care of! Now we just need to figure out where our bomber is."

"And how are we going to do that?" asked Ebonvargmon. "We can't exactly go hunting for him."

"I'll take care of it," stated Mecharexmon. "He's got a built-in comm system. I'll act as broadcaster and transmitter…" He went quiet for a moment, trying to tune into the dragon's frequency. He felt it instinctively as soon as it hit. "Jetdramon. We're gathered and ready to go. What's the situation?"

Jetdramon's voice come through to the others through Mecharexmon. "…How did you get in my head?"

"Magic. The bombs?"

"Oh, right. They're just about done modifying them…they're dialing them up, they weren't calibrated for digimon, much less Megas. Even at max power, it's not gonna take them straight down, though…it might stun them for a bit, but if we don't strike then, they'll probably start rampaging, especially if they know their time is short."

"So it actually WAS an accident that they were so terrible?" asked Ionfalkemon.

"I mean…hard drives can't really 'fight back' against what they do. Nor do they feel, as far as I know, unless the metalhead wants to chime in on that."

"That makes sense," agreed Ebonvargmon. "Still not pleasant, but perhaps they can be fixed, then. But that's for a different fight. They aren't ready?"

"They will be soon. It can't be rushed. But I'm taking off with them as soon as I can."

"Then we'll have to stall them a bit," insisted Blazereptimon. "And that means we need to match up. If we're going two by two, we need the ideal two for each of them. Bolt, Wolf, Marsmon is faster, but less armored. Your attacks are more likely to get through him. Rex, you and I are better for Suijinmon, we hit harder and that tanky-ass robot is gonna need some heavy hits. Skyder, I want you to hit Marsmon first - we know Suijinmon has those anti-air missiles, if something bad happens I want us to at least have that one down as much as possible."

"I don't like thinking about that, but you got it," Jetdramon replied. "Can you get out of my head now? This feels weird and I've got people looking at me."

"Tch, fine." Mecharexmon snorted as he cut the comm. "Whiner. We heading off then?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Ionfalkemon. "Wolf, you ready for a ride?"

Ebonvargmon nodded. "As I'll ever be. And I hope it's not the last thing we do."

"Should we teleport in, then?" Mecharexmon asked Blazereptimon.

The fire lizard shook his head. "Not right in. Get close, but not on top of him. Let's try to buy a couple minutes if we can, the less time we have to fight before the bomb gets dropped, the better for us. Keep them occupied, guys, but try to stay safe! If we cark it before Jetdramon gets in there, it was all for nothing. We can't let that happen!"

"Right!"

—

It wasn't that long before the bombs were ready. It still felt like too long, especially knowing that the others were moving to engage. Jetdramon fingers were starting to twitch when Reizo finally turned to him. "They're ready. Only two of them…I hope you don't need more."

"I don't think we get a chance to use more."

"Then I pray that this is enough." The tech handed the DFBs to Jetdramon, straining a bit with the weight. That wasn't nearly as much of an issue for Jetdramon, who could handle them pretty effortlessly, and he was able to hook one under each arm. They didn't look at all like he would have expected, being spherical and about fourteen inches in diameter.

"These are really it, huh? I was imagining something a lot bigger than this."

"They wanted something that was more portable, something that could be launched by ground troops into the fray rather than delivered by vehicles. Why that was important, only my bosses would know. There's a lot of complex machinery in there, but the process of creating the shockwave destroys it…that's probably why they made bombs rather than trying to make some sort of firing weapon. So please be careful flying with those, too much speed might not be good for them."

A sigh from Jetdramon. "Lovely. Everything wants to slow me down tonight. Hopefully I can still go fast enough…right, then, I'm out. Hopefully not for good…"

Reizo bowed to him. "Our lives are in your hands…may fortune ever be in your favor."

Doesn't feel like it has been very much so far, but I'll take whatever well-wishes I can get. Jetdramon carefully maneuvered his way back out of the warehouse, no easy feat considering how cluttered it was in there. Somehow the stakes felt higher than ever, even though they really hadn't changed…the prospect of imminent failure just felt that much closer. But if he played his part, maybe that would be enough…

As he exited, he heard Herrera bidding farewell to someone on the phone; she turned to him, nodding as she caught sight of the DFBs. "Everything's ready, then?"

"Yeah. All that remains is to see if they work. Anything I should know about from that call?"

"Nothing that will change anything tonight. I was on the horn with my other generals, giving them an update on the scope. They needed to know we were dealing with creatures potentially more powerful than had been reported before, and we needed everything we could muster ready in case it came down to us…and to have in reserve for later, because I'm going to guess that these aren't the only two of this threat level."

"Not even close. But I hope it doesn't have to come to that. If we can't handle them, I don't know that there's time to mount a defense…"

Herrera nodded resolutely. "I understand. It's a critical moment…life and death hang in the balance. But you've been there before, haven't you? And you prevailed. Hope remains, as long as we're willing to believe it. Do you?"

Jetdramon bowed his head. "…I do. I won't ever give up hope as long as I still breathe."

The president gave him her signature firm smile. "Then fly for us, Jetdramon. And bring that hope to fruition."

So buoyed, Jetdramon nodded, and then fired off his jets to rise into the air. He didn't have much time, they were probably already fighting…nothing else mattered now, except doing what he was tasked to do and fulfilling his promise to them. And that's what he kept his mind fixated on as he soared towards the sounds of chaos off in the distance…

—

"This is where Marsmon went?" Ionfalkemon was looking around; there was nothing out there, they were past the city limits and it was empty except for trees and grassy fields. "I would've expected him to go somewhere where he'd put others in danger…since, you know, they're assholes like that."

"They might be calculating that we'd be more likely to aggress when the risk seemed lower," muttered Ebonvargmon. "Lull us into a false sense of security…they're arrogant enough to think that they're invincible, so they won't be focused on trying cheap tricks to mess with us."

"Might not be misplaced, for all they know…let's make sure he doesn't get any ideas. There!" Dark though it was out there, Marsmon had a bin of a glow to him from his natural heat, and he stuck out clearly once Ionfalkemon's eyes passed over. She swooped down, diving as quickly as she could with Ebonvargmon on her back, hoping to catch the fascistic feline off-guard…but he was clearly prepared, and the flames charging up in his fists forced her to chance tactics quickly, swerving off to the side and letting Ebonvargmon leap off of her before she swung back around to face Marsmon.

"Only two of you?" Marsmon snorted derisively as he smacked a fist in his hand. "Arrogant fools, you barely survived us with bigger numbers! Did you really think you stood a chance like this?"

"We'll stand a chance so long as we keep fighting," declared Ebonvargmon as he drew out his blade. "Don't think we're going to just give up."

"You should. You haven't remotely the power to handle a Mega-level digimon! Only a fool would try to engage a foe so much above their level! But your foolishness is my gain…once you're dead, nothing will stand in Emperius's way!"

"We're aware of the stakes, thanks," snapped back Ionfalkemon. "And we won't let that happen! Dervish Bolt!" She spread her wings and loosed a surge of electricity, larger than it ever had been before. Marsmon seemed intent on just no-selling it to prove his point, but the potency of the attack was beyond his expectations and he roared out and took a step back.

"What…that's not…rrgh! Where did that power come from?!"

"We have our ways. Nether Blow!" Ebonvargmon unleashed his attack from the ground under Marsmon, making the warrior growl again as he was forced to endure another unexpectedly harsh impact. As soon as it ended, he lunged towards Ebonvargmon, slamming a flaming fist into the ground just moments after the lupine warrior leapt and rolled. A quartet of Shadow Bolts impacted against him, clearly affecting him but not stopping him.

"You pests aren't going to best me! I don't care if you're done something to power up, you still can't hold a candle to me! Mugenhadou!" Marsmon rushed towards Ebonvargmon and started swinging; Ebonvargmon focused and moved deftly to evade the strikes, remembering clearly how useless blocking had been, while Ionfalkemon swung around and delivered another Dervish Bolt to distract him. It only slightly slowed him down, but that was just enough for Ebonvargmon to keep ahead of him and then backflip away from the finishing fire column. Marsmon had another trick ready, though, and whipped around and tried to unleash the same column at Ionfalkemon, who was flung away by the surge of heat, though just avoiding the brunt of the attack.

It left Marsmon open, though, and a quick leap and slash caught his back as Ebonvargmon took advantage of his brief window. He jumped back again as Marsmon turned towards him, looking more furious than ever. We're only chipping away, and he only needs to land one good one to win. He's right, we can't beat him like this…we need that bomb, fast!

"Your deaths will be SUCH a pleasure to me!" He started rushing towards Ebonvargmon again, swinging hard, but was clearly a bit slower than he had been from the multiple blows he'd taken. That excess energy was starting to wear off for the two hybrids, though - it could only compensate so much for how much they'd drained themselves in the earlier fights, and they were going to be slowing down soon as well. Ionfalkemon delivered another Dervish Bolt, but she could tell it wasn't coming out as strong as it had been, and now was more irritating Marsmon than actively disrupting him. He suddenly whipped around and leapt up into the air at her. "Die, bitch! Corona Sanctions!"

"Static Arc!" It was all she could do, setting up the barrier to try to repel Marsmon. It slowed him only a fraction of a second, but that was just enough time for her to swoop down and under him as he broke through the barrier, a roar of frustration breaking out as he missed his mark once again.

He landed and turned towards her as she got distance on him again. "I can do this all night, worms! And you're barely holding together! Lay down and die already!"

"Does demanding someone let themselves die ever actually work?" asked Ebonvargmon sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up!"

—

There. The first fight. It's time!

Jetdramon hadn't needed a lot of guidance - the clash was loud enough to be heard across the city. And the fiery bursts of Marsmon could be seen quite clearly from above…he dove, trying to keep his speed just in check enough to keep from ruining the bombs, trying to get Marsmon in his sights. I have to drop it close, but not on top of one of my own…that's a tall order with how much they're moving around.

Getting closer down helped, but was also risky, making him more noticeable. But Marsmon seemed too locked in to realize he was there…with a determined breath, he clicked the trigger on the bomb in his right hand and let it drop, in the vicinity of the battle. Then he swooped back up and started looking for the other fight - no time to wait to see if it worked, every second he did was another second that the others were in danger from Suijinmon. And if it didn't…well, it probably wouldn't matter anyway, as dire as that thought was.

—

Marsmon didn't notice the bomb at all…but Ionfalkemon and Ebonvargmon certainly did, and keeping his attention on them was the key to their ploy. And with the warrior's focus fixated on them, he was caught completely off guard what the bomb let loose its debilitating shockwave. He staggered to the side, managing to maintain his balance but unable to figure out what had happened…and soon, too caught up in the sudden impact on his body to think about that. "Wh-what…what…this…what is…this…ragh, I'm…what's…happening t-to me?!"

Ebonvargmon steeled himself and pointed his sword out. "Now's our chance! Bolt, to me!"

"Right! Let's finish this now!" Ionfalkemon swooped in and positioned herself above Ebonvargmon. No words were needed - they both knew exactly what they needed to do, and as their energies connected with each other, they let loose as quickly as they could, giving Marsmon no chance to recover.

"Synchro Strike! Twilight Thunder!"

Those raging black bolts emerged once more - this time channeled though Ebonvargmon's sword rather than Ionfalkemon's wings, concentrating the attack in a narrower range, much more focused on Marsmon than spread around. The narrower blast zone amplified the strength of the barrage of dark electricity as it blasted through Marsmon over and over, getting a yowling roar out of him as he was brutalized by the attack and the damage to his body, overwhelming him completely. His body dissolved into data as he met his end, leaving nothing but scorched grass in his wake.

As the attack ceased, Ebonvargmon dropped his blade. "It's over…that was too close. Even with our preparations, we still only just held our own long enough."

"Long enough is long enough," sighed Ionfalkemon. "Much as I'd rather not, though…we need to hurry over in case they need help over against Suijinmon. I don't know how much I have left in the tank, but anything is better than nothing."

"I hate to concur, but I have no choice…"

—

"Slow DOWN, dammit! I can't keep up with you!" Mecharexmon was doing his best, but Blazereptimon was almost running rings around him and still keeping well ahead as they charged towards Suijinmon.

"Pick up the pace, we've got a battle to fight!"

"Like it's so easy!"

"You have a speed program, use it!"

"I'm saving that for the actual battle!"

"Your chaotic discord is detrimental to all known offensive tactics." Suijinmon's remark was delivered as emotionlessly as ever, yet it was easy to envision the derision behind it. "This extermination will be dramatically easier for it. Particularly with clearly insufficient numbers."

"Maybe we only need two of us to take you down," snapped back Blazereptimon with a cackle.

"Impossible. My simulations have placed my odds of victory against you at 100% with 0% margin of error. Your capabilities are too inferior to remotely inhibit me."

"We'll see about that! Solar Wave!" A furious wave of flame burst from Blazereptimon's hand, enveloping Suijinmon and leaving some search marks on it.

"…Unexpected. That technique carried an 80% increase in anticipated effect over previous calculations. A source of empowerment was available to you. But no matter, it is still short of necessary magnitudes to threaten my physical integrity."

"Let's add a little more to that, then," growled Mecharexmon. "Saur Blaster!" He fired up his chain gun cannon, barraging Suijinmon with shots that were actually throwing the robot somewhat off balance, though not nearly enough to truly take it down.

"This resistance grows tiresome. This world is ours, despite your feeble efforts. Infinity Cannon." Suijinmon turned its cannons on Mecharexmon, who fired up that speed program and dashed out of the way. But he quickly skidded to a stop, and then flung himself backwards as Suijinmon fired where he seemed like he was going to be, avoiding another direct hit just by the skin of his teeth.

Before Suijinmon could line up a third shot, Blazereptimon rushed in and slammed his fist into its face, trying to catch its eyes and inhibit its tracking. Even powered up, though, that impact felt like it hurt him a lot more than it hurt Suijinmon, sending a shooting pain through his arm. And Suijinmon reared up and unleashed its Accel Arm, trying to crush him between those two powered-up arms that it bore on its upper body, sending Blazereptimon scrambling to escape. "Nothing more than an irritant. Your useless attacks will not save you."

"Rrff, you're the one who's getting irritating." Blazereptimon focused on the slightly dented head of Suijinmon, channeling up his energy. "Incendiary Ring!" The ring of heat compressed and exploded on that spot, but Suijinmon still wasn't damaged enough to lose vision, and he was forced to dive away from another Infinity Cannon strike, which caught his tail painfully and blackened the tip of it. Dammit, I'm losing steam already? Jetdramon had better get here soon, I need to hold some in reserve to attack when we have our opening…

Suijinmon's focus on Blazereptimon gave Mecharexmon an opening, though, and he was using it as best he could, leveling his charged cannon at the robot. "Take this! Saur Blaster!" The powerful beam smashed into Suijinmon, making it rock and stagger, and returning its attention to its other foe. Mecharexmon didn't let up, though, unleashing a barrage of Swarm Missiles to cover his escape, pelting Suijinmon with more damaging projectiles. He was able to escape from the next Infinity Cannon blast, but his speed boost had petered out, and the next one he barely managed to blunt with his shield program, and his head was still giving warnings about damage even with that.

"Your resistance is meaningless. I am capable of outlasting you completely, despite your best efforts. Foolish hope will not save you." Suijinmon readied its cannons for Mecharexmon again, then stopped and rotated, looking up towards the sky. "An aerial ambush. Attempting distraction to prevent my notice, of course. It shall be rendered useless just like all other efforts. Shattering SAMs."

"No!" Blazereptimon leapt forward, flinging a Solar Wave at the missiles as they were launching from Suijinmon's shoulders. The fire failed to damage them, though, as they were sent skyward, directly at Jetdramon. "Dammit!" He wanted to try again but they were flying too fast, and Suijinmon was turning back to him, forcing him to scramble back and avoid another assault from the cannons.

—

Dammit! Jetdramon was in a panic as he saw the missiles fire off. Of course Suijinmon would be more likely to notice him! There was no way he could properly outrun those missiles with the bomb in his hands…he grabbed the DFB and zoomed over, cutting the missiles off at first, but they gave quick pursuit. At this rate, he only had seconds before he was blown out of the sky, and their hopes along with it!

…One chance. I have one chance! He clicked the activation on the bomb and dove, zipping towards Suijinmon. The missiles were trailing behind, getting closer in but closing the gap less with his speed, dangerously fast for the bomb, which was already triggered and ready to go off within seconds. Suijinmon had already started turning to re-engage Mecharexmon and Blazereptimon, and wasn't able to correct to counterattack Jetdramon as he careened downwards, in a dangerously deep dive that had him on a headlong course with the ground, with missiles screaming behind him…

At the last second, he chucked the DFB down just behind Suijinmon, and then banked hard to the right just as he dove over. One of the missiles impacted Suijinmon from behind, while the other continued behind Jetdramon. The jets flared up as the dragon shot back upwards, drawing the missile behind him and keeping just ahead of it, giving it everything he had to keep from being blasted by it. Still, he could feel it creeping closer, and it had enough juice left to reach him before petering out.

His hand glowed, and he suddenly shot upwards, and then flung himself into a rapid flip down, firing off his Jet Stream where he desperately hoped the missile would be, where it SHOULD have been…the heat from the explosion rushed over him, the shockwave rocking him a bit, but he was able to right himself in the air and slow himself down to a stop. Panting hard, realizing how narrowly he'd escaped…that was getting to be too much of a disturbing trend lately.

—

Suijinmon didn't have time to even look at what had been dropped before it went off. The blast didn't seem to rattle it at first, but then they saw hitches in the robot's movements. "What…that is…not…s-system error…cas-cading failures…you…I…w-will not…be…stopped…"

"That's our window!" Blazereptimon yelled. "We need to strike, now, before it recovers!"

"Charging up!" affirmed Mecharexmon. "You think this'll do it?"

"It's still heavily armored…let me throw my fire in as well!" Blazereptimon hurried up next to Mecharexmon, channeling a Solar wave into his own hand. As he neared, though, he could feel the energy sync between him and Mecharexmon, a power he wasn't familiar with at all. "What the…what…in the world?"

"Burner!" Mecharexmon was unfamiliar with it as well, but his head was giving him feedback. "Join your energy with me! This is what Bolt was talking about before!"

"It is? All right, here goes!" He grabbed the cannon with his fired-up hand, and the reptile's fire energy whirled between them, getting drawn together with Mecharexmon's charge. The cannon was rattling with the raw power being held within, forcing both of them to stabilize it as they pointed it at Suijinmon, who was trying to move but failing.

"Synchro Strike! Nova Cannon!"

A blisteringly blazing beam of superheated energy blasted out from Mecharexmon's cannon, enveloping Suijinmon completely. The robot let out a staticky cry as it was obliterated, its data enveloped in the blast and utterly vaporized. The same was true of a line of foliage behind it, the beam carrying a fair bit beyond the scope of the battle…unfortunate collateral damage, but far less than there could have been.

Blazereptimon was panting as he released his hand from Mecharexmon's cannon, shaking his head. "We gotta be VERY careful where we use that kinda thing, if that's the kind of damage it can do."

"Totally noted," replied Mecharexmon. "Jesus hell…but…it took down Suijinmon. We…we did it."

"That was insane!" Jetdramon swooped down, looking fit to be tied. "That beam was STUPID powerful! I don't think the trees are gonna be thanking you any time soon, though."

"I'll volunteer to the Nature Conservancy after we've made sure this world has a future," replied Blazereptimon with a relieved sigh. "I'm glad you're okay, Skyder. What about the others?"

"Heeeey!" The answer came not from Jetdramon but from Ionfalkemon as she flew over towards them, with Ebonvargmon trailing underneath her. "You guys're all right! Suijinmon's gone?"

"It is! And Marsmon?"

"Will trouble us no more," affirmed Ebonvargmon. "Despite everything, we somehow managed to survive this harrowing night. Unless something else nasty wants to show up…"

"My sensors are clear," replied Mecharexmon. "Nothing else out there. Anything we didn't turn to our side we turned to dust. It's over…for now."

"I'll take 'for now,' if it means I can recover for next time," finished Blazereptimon. "Let's get back to the BICI…I think we're all in need of a good sleep. Rex, if you have enough juice…"

"For someone who says they don't like teleporting, you sure have suggested it a lot," the cyborg needled.

"It's either that or trudge back the whole way on foot, and I need a break."

No one else objected to a quick return either, and they gathered together to be whisked away by Mecharexmon back to a place where they could finally rest. There would be plenty that would have to be fixed or replaced in the wake of what had happened, but all that could be done, so long as the people were around to fix or replace them…and they had once more defied oppressive odds to ensure that they were.

—

The bad news was, Mecharexmon was wrong about nothing else being out there. The good news was, it wasn't a catastrophic error.

One digimon HAD escaped the carnage that had happened that day. But it hadn't been there to engage - it had been there to observe. A single MailBirdramon, flying far enough overhead to escape the range of detection for just about everything that had been used. Carrying on it multiple cameras, including its own eyes, watching what had unfolded. No matter how brutal the sight was, no matter how unexpected, no matter how unfortunate, it did its duty.

And with nothing left to watch, the air shone and swirled around it as it carved its passage back to the other world - its last thought before disappearing being that their leader wasn't going to be happy at all with what he saw…but happy that he would at least be able to see it.

Another item of convenience, promoted to something meaningful and understandable. The Data Fracture Bombs were originally given the thinnest of justifications for their existence, and even then it wasn't done that well. In the revision, they now have a reason that they were innovated, and while I'm not going to pretend I could give you a good reason for HOW they work, there's just enough mechanical sensibility to feel like it can be accepted.

And more team attacks, which I'm really glad I was able to use here, because it makes sense as a killing blow to that level of enemy.

You might think it sounds unbelievably ridiculous that someone would force an employee to work during a crisis like this. I've seen far too many stories about atrocious bosses to find it remotely implausible. When I throw out little pieces about humans behaving in bad or dumb ways, they aren't just out of nowhere, they're informed by things that I've seen and heard about. The pandemic especially fueled a lot of frustration with my species. But to be sure, some of that also gets picked up by some of the digimon in the story as well - I don't consider these problems inherently 'human', there are people like that everywhere there are people.