=CHAPTER 1C: RAGING FLAMES SMOLDER=

=CHAPTER 10C: THE MACHINE DRAWS NEAR=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

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[CHERRYDYNAMICS HQ BUILDING, CEO OFFICE SUITE.]

[Gregory Graham had little silver lining to go on at this point.

Not only were those Sanda Tech brats literally demolishing his factory (and costing him millions to boot!), the virus that had seemed to come from out of nowhere was threatening to spread to the other Continental servers--

And now the GOVERNMENT was sniffing around where they SHOULDN'T be, and Blackwell could very well be either DEAD or running amok!

And now there was that foreign intern, the fat Japanese doctor and the PRESIDENT herself knowing far too much--]

Graham: -...Ngh-

Graham: Keep it together, Greg...

[No, no need to panic--

She was still safely tucked away, albet running everything at this point, but still contained--and he had influences in Homeland and Defense, and his Sentator friend, of course--and if nothing else, he ALWAYS had that ace in the hole if things ever got that desperate.

He had options. It was all like stocks. It wasn't the end just yet.

And if he were to go down, he'll be damned if he wasn't going down alone.]

Graham: (I just have to make a few private calls, pull some favors...)

Graham: (Make sure she is under wraps and try to sail though this--)

[Knock Knock.]

Graham: --??

Graham: -Pushes the intercom on his desk- Darcy, I told you to not let anyone in here--

"Uh, yeah, he isn't--he didn't listen to me--"

"... And it's Daisy, not--"

[CLICK.]

Graham: Tch.

Graham: (Fine, I'll call whatever's left of security once he gets in here--)

Graham: Open.

[The door recognizes the verbal command and slides open without a sound.]

Graham: --?

Graham: What the--

Will: Hello, Mr. Graham.

[William White walks into the room as soon as Graham opened it, not once waiting for permission to enter.]

Will: Am I interrupting something?

Graham: White?

Graham: How the HELL did you get up here--

Will: Oh, I wanted to. Your staff seems to be rather, ah-- lacking since the virus struck.

Will: Nonetheless.

Will: I didn't come here for idle chatter, so I'm going to get right to the point.

Will: It was you who activated Trinity, didn't you?

Graham: -Sputters--

Graham: Wha--

Graham: What are you TALKING about--

Graham: (How does he know about HER?!)

Will: Greg. It's a little...

[His eyes turn dull and utterly emotionless.]

Will: ...Too late to cry dummy, at this point.

Graham: --?!

Graham: (That look--what is THAT look, why is it--?)

Will: Dr. Blackwell wasn't around to stop you this time, wasn't he?

Will: And yet you're trying to scapegoat his father again, just the same.

Graham: --?!!!

[Will walks across the room with a poised grace, almost too perfect, as he turns his back away from Graham.]

Will: -Sigh-

Will: It was NEVER about progress with you...

Will: Or the will, the drive to make the world a better place than what we found it...

Will: It was always money.

Will: -Angry-

Will: Just. Money.

Will: That's--

[He turns, a FIERCE expression breaking through the emotionless mask he wore to EXPLODE in RAGE!]

Will: --ALL YOU E V E R CARED ABOUT--!

Graham: -Falls back into his chair--

Will: Never about HIM OR ME OR EVEN HER!

Will: -Advances- All you EVER cared about was YOURSELF and this EVIL EMPIRE you've built on NOTHING but the PAIN AND SUFFERING OF OTHERS--!

Will: MY PAIN AND SUFFERING! T H E I R PAIN AND SUFFERING!

Will: H E R PAIN AND SUFFERING--!

Will: And YOU--

Will: When you pieced her back together, did you feel anything at all? No, because you would even BRING BACK THE DEAD to justify your own ENDS!

Will: YOU THINK I WOULDN'T NOTICE, GREGORY GRAHAM?!

Graham: N--this isn't my FAULT--!

Graham: Her warning label didn't SPECIFY all this, not specifically--

Will: Warning label--

[He laughs. Bitterly.]

Will: Warning label, WARNING LABEL, HE PUT A WARNING LABEL--

Will: Oh, that's just RICH.

Will: And even then--You didn't listen.

Graham: I--

Will: THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT--!

Will: Trinity, my friends, my FAMILY, MY OWN CHILDREN--!

Will: And even this VIRUS, isn't it?!

Graham: Nono, THIS THING ISN'T OUR FAULT, DON'T YOU PUT THIS ON ME, WHITE--

Graham: I don't know HOW you got this information, but I can very well RUIN you if you so much as--

[Will once again laughs at the face of Graham's supposed threat.]

Will: Is that supposed to scare me, Greg?

Will: What are you going to do? Send your PEOPLE after me?

Will: I've survived them once. I can do it AGAIN.

Graham: --?!?

Will: I am. Not. Afraid of YOU.

Will: Not anymore.

Will: Trinity was my project. You and Blackwell ultimately deemed her a failure.

Graham: !

Will: But she was an educational one, if anything. I learned. Oh, I learned.

Will: And I put EVERYTHING that I had learned from her, from everything that I experienced...

Will: ...All of it, and the good that came from it...

Will: ...Into Mighty No. 9.

Graham: (WHAT--)

Will: Beck is now our only hope of stopping what YOU have sowed.

Will: AT THE VERY LEAST, IF I CAN'T STOP YOU MYSELF--

[He swipes away the various objects on Greg's desk aside, including some very heavy paperweights--]

Will: --HE CAN!

[There’s a muffled CRUNCH and a hissing noise, followed by some leaking liquid.]

Will: --?!?

Graham: What the--

Will: Nnngh!

[He turns his attention back to Graham.]

Will: You--

Will: You honestly think you can get away with everything you've DONE?

Will: After HER?

Graham: --.....

Graham: Wait...

Graham: Waitwaitwait WAIT A SECOND--

Will: --??

Graham: You...

Will: --!

Will: (....Uh...Uh Oh--)

Graham: YOU!

Graham: I didn't RECOGNIZE you with that--that RIDICULOUS HAIR DO--

Graham: But you're--

Graham: YOU'RE BILL BLACKWELL--!

Will: ......

Bill: . . . .

Bill: You were always a bit slow on the uptake, weren't you.

Bill: All these years, Graham, and you STILL haven't changed.

Bill: It nearly makes me feel SORRY for you.

Bill: N e a r l y.

Bill: ...But you know what?

Bill: You're wrong.

Will: I'm NOT Bill Blackwell.

Will: And I HAVEN'T been.

Will: For a VERY. Long. Time.

Graham: HA!

Graham: -Sneers- Oh, you think you're so SMART, thinking that changing your name and identity will change who you really are.

Graham: I'm honestly impressed, though. I really did think you were dead after you just vanished.

Will: -Snorts-

Will: Reports of my demise have been GREATLY exaggerated, Mr. Graham.

Graham: You accosted me, Bill.

Graham: YOU'RE the idiot here, coming back and building those Mighty Numbers even after what YOU did to her.

Graham: They don't even know they're really just BLACKWELLS, do they?!

Will: ..........

Graham: I THOUGHT not.

Will: Leave them out of this, Graham.

Graham: Oh, really, alright, let me just turn back time and stop them from becoming infected in the FIRST PLACE?

Graham: They were DOOMED the moment you created them, Bill, and that ISN'T just their namesake talking!

Will: —Nnnnngh...

Graham: Your old man was RIGHT about you.

Graham: Really, Bill. I thought that a BLACKWELL genius such as yourself wouldn't RETURN to the scene of a crime—what occurred here all those years ago was tantamount to MURDER.

Will: Both of you MADE ME DO IT—!

Graham: But I wasn't the one holding the metaphorical knife, wasn't I?

Will: Graham—!

Graham: I said I would RUIN you.

Graham: It'll be a VERY nice bonus to see everything that you've worked SO hard to accomplish just CRUMBLE away, hm?

Graham: You, those Mighty Numbers, your fat friend and his brother, and that little Russian intern that you CLEARLY have connections with.

Graham: Once the WORLD knows that Dr. William White is a LIE AND THE SON OF A MAD GENIUS—

[WHACK—]

[Gregory Graham's vision went bright as William curled a fist and socked him across the face, causing the CEO to tumble backwards into the floor.

There was a burning sensation as something ate away at the super expensive suit he was wearing, too!]

Graham: -NGH!-

[SMACK—]

[A sneaker plants itself squarely on Graham's chest to KEEP him there.]

((Pic—Will v Graham))

Will: I am only going to say this once.

Will: If you ever.

Will: E v e r.

Will: Threaten or lay one hand on EVERYTHING I love and care about--

Will: I will TEAR you and this company ASUNDER.

Will: You PATHETIC excuse for a HUMAN being.

Will: You MONSTER.

[Will looks down on him with a BURNING hot gaze, like some kind of disgusting bug or rodent, not even worth the DIRT under his shoe that which is soiling the already ruined suit Greg was wearing.

And Graham?

Well, as one would expect, he was certainly no less than terrified, scared witless.]

Will: How fitting.

Will: I think I've gotten my POINT across, hm?

[There is a TOUCH of a evil grin that tugs at the corner of Will's lips.]

Will: Good talk.

[And just like that, Will steps off, carefully walks around the mess made, and makes his way back to the door.]

Will: I'm not paying for any of this, by the way, so you can forget about sending me a bill.

Will: I WAS the one that HELPED you, if you need a reminder.

[He waves back without turning around.]

Will: Enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Graham.

Will: ... Because it is ABOUT to get a whole LOT worse.

[Click.]

[The room is dead silent.]

Graham: . . . .

Graham: (Bill Blackwell—)

Graham: (You—I'll—)

Graham: -OW MY NOSE— BLEEDING—-

Graham: DARCY—SOMEONE GET ME A DAMN FIRST AID KIT—!

Beep.

Graham: —?!?

Beep.

Graham: What the hell is that noise—

[A rather smushed Search Snake—having finally flickered to life, only to find itself incredibly damaged—scrapes itself out of the hiding place where it had been crushed by some paperweights. It was already leaking battery acid, but apparently it had more than one battery, because that wasn’t stopping it…]

Beep beep beep beep beep beep BEEP—

Graham: —?!?

Graham: -DIVES BEHIND THE DESK—-

Boom!

Graham: WHAT THE—

Graham: BIIIIIIILLL—!!

[BACK IN SANDA LABS SEVERAL HOURS LATER...]

Will: (Oof...)

Will: -Stepping out of the elevator- (I actually felt REALLY good about that. Huh.)

“Good afternoon, Doctor.”

Will: —?

Will: (Wait, that...voice--I've heard that voice before--)

Min: So good of you to join us again.

Will: —! (You—)

Des: Doctor. -Nod-

Will: ...I...er...

Will: (W-What is going on, why are THEY here?!)

Will: (Specifically, the President, no less—!)

Will: I...M-Madam President, I...was not expecting...

Min: I realize this, and I apologize. We were unable to contact you to discuss the matter.

[She motioned to a Secret Service member, who stepped forward and handed over a piece of paper. It was a faxed letter from Seijiro, explaining (in Japanese) that he had authorized… the use of the building for the President and some of her staff…?]

Will: (Wha—Seiji?! But—why, you—you know that—)

Will: (—Gh, but you didn't really have a choice, didn't you...)

Will: I...hn...

Will: I see...

Will: I suppose this is because the White House is...well....

Will: —But—why here? This is practically Ground Zero for the virus, and shouldn't there be—OTHER places for situations like this—?

Des: -Sighs—- Exactly what I proposed. <<

Min: It shouldn't be for too long, and I won't necessarily be staying, myself. I'm a busy woman.

Will: -Nervously looks between all the Secret Service members and staff- I...I see. Er....w-well then...

Min: I need to speak with you about the particulars of the arrangements immediately.

Will: R-Right now—? (Oh, God—)

Will: A—Are you sure? I mean we do have—Call, she can certainly show you around—

Will: Besides, I—I have repairs to do on my children posthaste—

Will: Since Soi isn't here, I'll have to do repairs myself...

Will: (And on all nine of them...)

Min: I can appreciate that, and I assure you that I too have my incentives for keeping the discussion as brief as possible. However, it is more than mere living arrangements that need to be discussed. While we may not be able to cover everything that I have in mind, there is one matter that cannot wait—[color=goldenrod]lives[/color] are at stake, and your input is crucial. It's in your best interest in a very personal way, Doctor, to no longer collude it.

Will: (L--Lives--?)

Will: (Wait...she can't mean--)

Des: -Ahem- There's also something else that that Madam President wishes to speak to you about...

Des: I don't exactly know the context behind it, but it's about your... championship fencing days...and Mighty No. 5.

Will: ....

[At that moment, Will would have taken the infected factory all over again instead of this. He pales, all the color rushing off of his face as he breaks into a cold sweat right there.]

Will: (Oh no—oh no, not this—)

Will: (G-Greg--Greg I can handle, but--h-h-her--)

Will: (She can do s-so much worse--)

Will: (She can't have figured it out so quickly, I left almost nothing--! Did they search my house?!)

Will: (Hnn...I can't, I—but—)

Will: (...Mikhail, Soi, my children...)

Min: -Shooing motion to the Secret Service members- Go secure an office where we can speak privately.

[They obey with only minimal hesitation, given that Desmond is also there and they are both armed.]

Des: -...Slightly concerned- Doctor White? You alright there?

Will: -Gulps- I...mn...I-I'm fine.

Will: ...though I could use a glass of water...

Min: Why don't you get us some drinks, Mister Secretary?

Des: -Takes that as his cue- Yes sir.

[Des briskly leaves with all due haste, leaving Will and The President of the United States alone. Will was highly on edge, nervously thumbing the strap of his laptop bang, looking away.]

Will: (...No...No more running...)

Will: (Oh, Soi, I...)

Will: (I really wish you were here...)

Min: Come along, Doctor. Let's get this over with, and then you can rejoin your family.

Will: ....

[He silently complies, hands on his arms and eyes to the floor. Almost as if he was walking to detention rather than just another office.

He was obliged to hand over his belongings before entering the office—clearly, the group had learned from the experience with Mikhail. It wasn't long before the doors shut behind them, and the two of them were alone.

Min let out a short huff of a sigh—of relief or weariness, it was hard to say.]

Min: Let's get right to the point.

[She turned to face Will, holding her hands in front of her with her left hand clasping her right wrist.]

Min: Your work so far has been remarkable, and is the best lead we have on combating the virus. We're all very grateful for what you and your family—particularly your youngest son—have been doing to save others in this time of crisis.

Min: We want to help you as much as we can.

Will: ... >> I haven't exactly made a cure yet, though. That part is proving to be very...difficult. (Trinity...)

Will: It's....not as simple as just doing away with it...

Will: -Sighs- The best thing we can do right now is continue to contain the virus and let me study it's workings so I can learn to counteract it. (Need more time...I need to know how to get those scripts from the code--)

[She was quiet for a moment at this, as if considering how to answer.]

Min: We will aid how we can if given direction. I know that initial encounters were… less than supportive, and I offer a sincere apology. If we had been properly informed and involved, it would not have reached such levels of hostility.

Will: ....

Will: >>;;; (Ugh...I never want to go through with that again. If I can get them NOT to just outright take a aggressive approach towards Trinity, then that's all I need...)

Will: It was...a very unpleasant experience. >~>;; One I don't think anyone here wants repeated.

Min: An accurate statement. And to that end, it's necessary to confront a problem that would otherwise come between full support or cooperation.

Min: There is a matter that would cause no small degree of distress for yourself and those involved if things continue as they are. Not only do I personally not wish to have to do so, but there is a professional incentive not to have such a major distraction at hand when it is imperative that you focus on your work.

Will: ….

Will: ...I...

Will: ... (Mikhail...)

Will: ....

Will: ....Dr. Cossack, you mean.

Will: -Sighs, of course...-

Min: That would be correct. I'm afraid the outlook is very bleak for him at the moment.

Will: (Gh...Mikhail...)

Will: I...could see that.

Will: (...I won't...won't let them hurt you, if it comes to that, I swear...)

((NOTE: Bill color as a shadow here))

Will: (I won't lose you too...)

Min: Do you? I'm afraid it's quite serious, and it's unclear whether he sees that or is simply undeterred by it.

Min: The charges he has taken upon himself would easily earn him a place as a CAL black spot mission.

Will: -Flinches- Gnn...

Will: (Hnn...No, I...I won't let that happen--)

Will: ....Mikhail...

Will: He doesn't...he's not...

Will: (Damn it, talk, Bill! He needs you right now, you can't be afraid--)

Min: Doctor…

Minerva: The situation is pitiable, but that—unfortunately—does not change the fundamental reasons why he is in trouble in the first place. In fact, the circumstances make it worse.

[She spoke as if from memory.]

Minerva: The fact remains that he is the authoritative force behind multiple highly powerful—and apparently unsupervised—Combat constructs who pose significant security threats. Threats made worse by their physiology, as most security measures rely on Xellular structure to be effective against a non-human attacker. Their immunity to such measures and ability to regenerate—some more than others, it would seem—make them very dangerous.

Will: Gh…! (I guess she was told they aren’t Xel…! Felix did mention that the Secretary knew the “truth”…)

Minerva: As for the Doctor himself… he is—by our standards—highly unconventional. He can defend himself and build without using Xel, and he appears to be a master at coding in his own right. Certainly, he has access to measures that can bypass traditional and cutting-edge firewalls alike. Furthermore, he’s also very clever: he was able to obtain well-hidden information the likes of which we have been seeking for months. He’s aware of dangerous secrets, and he has no qualms about stonewalling an investigation. If he chooses to, he can avoid detection completely, even from multiple governmental agencies of several countries. If let go free, there is no telling if he would ever be found again.

[She shakes her head.]

Minerva: He’s chosen to assume responsibility for the actions of his patients. That includes: two or three accounts of hacking through military-level security firewalls, two attempted murders and one additional threat thereof, one breaking-and-entering, and the destruction of federally owned property of national historic and cultural importance.

Will: (Hnn...I...Mikhail...)

Will: (He's not--!)

[Will doesn't know how to respond to this. The Queen's Finals, the White House, and the Military Base--the last of which was HIS fault entirely--it was all roaring back with a frightful vengeance, one that threatened to consume all that he held dear. But how to voice against this, when the leader of the nation could discredit all that he would say--

--simply because he was not the man he SAYS he is?]

Will: I...

Will: -Clearly very upset- He's not...please, he isn't--he's a good man, please--

[Her expression softened, and she interlocked her fingers, holding her hands up near her chin in thought.]

Min: …

Min: …There is still hope. There is a chance.

Will: --? (I...what?)

Min: There is yet a chance that he may be spared.

Will: --!

Will: R--Really-- (--Wait--why?)

Will: (--I should at least hear her out, but...)

Will: (If she knows, then...?)

Will: How?

[She was quiet for a moment again before she spoke up.]

Min: Taken all together, the pieces paint a grim picture for your friend, and one that is not so easily forgiven.

Min: Taken piece by piece… that is not so. Perhaps still not easily… but still potentially forgivable.

Min: His insistence to bear the burden alone will be his downfall if he pursues it.

Min: But if he accepts that things were out of his control and influence—then, perhaps, we can address his sole stain… the ordered interference of the White House security.

Min: For I know in almost certainty that he was not behind the incident at the unapproved military base… and unless I am mistaken, he has little influence over the decisions made by those who are not his sons.

Min: Am I correct in this assessment?

Will: -With some hesitance- I...Y-Yes, that's correct...

Min: Then it is in everyone's best interests to no longer deny that truth, but to own up to it. However, it seems you may be the only person capable of convincing him of this.

Will: ....

Will: (I...)

Will: (Me?)

Will: You want me to convince him... (But...what about...)

Will: ...But what about Tobias?

Will: (The whole reason he's taking it all on himself is because so that Tobias won't suffer...)

Min: -Pinches the left hinge of her glasses, looking over them slightly- Well, Tobias Wily will have to answer for his behavior. We cannot have someone like him running amok on their impulses.

Min: His position is somewhat more forgivable, given that he was never taught how to behave in social situations. That can be fixed.

Will: -Quiet sigh of relief- (Oh, thank God--)

Min: Especially given that the only charge he is fully responsible for would be what happened at the Queen's Finals. He was not, if my conclusions to my research are correct, responsible for the security breach at the base.

Will: No--No, no, of course not--

Will: He was quite...quite still out of it at the time...

[Minerva was quiet at this for a little while.]

Min: That will cause some to question what DID happen, if neither of them were responsible.

Min: I think I know who did it, but there's only circumstantial evidence.

Will: (...Gh....)

Will: C-Circumstantial--?

Min: Just the knowledge of one with both means and motive to pull it off.

Min: Although…

Min: I hardly blame you for that… Doctor William Blackwell.

[There is a very harsh wince at the words-- as if he had been struck physically. There was a subtle shake of his hands, which were very quickly stilled as he balled them up into fists.]

Will: ...that's not my name...

Will: My name is White.

Min: "A rose by any other name," my good sir.

Will: My name is William White.

[There was a steely gaze directed at her now--although he didn't meant anything by it, he couldn't help but become irritated. That wasn't his name, not anymore.

Minerva gave a soft smile at this, tilting her head slightly.]

Min: No one else knows… for now.

Min: Why do you think I left Desmond outside?

Will: ...

Will: What do you want?

Min: -Puts a hand to her face- An end to this, with no more casualties than is within our power to prevent.

Will: .... (Not what I meant, but that too...)

Will: . . .

Will: If you claim to know, then you know why I can't just delete the virus.

Will: ...I...there is something...delicate in the code that I won't destroy.

Will: Not even if you try to make me.

Will: (...Mngh...I still don't know how I'm going to take care of the virus without hurting Trinity...)

[For a moment, her eyes look sad.]

Min: I said "a rose by any other name," Doctor.

Min: Doctor William White is not a five-times fencing champion, as his best friend Doctor Soichiro Sanda claims him to be, and as Secretary Desmond Donald observed. There is no record of this.

Min: It was rather easy with my resources to discern the time frame and location based on your age and the number of colleges in the country who have that level of fencing programs with suitable teachers. Your teacher remembers you well even after the years have gone by. No teacher ever forgets true talent.

Min: I had not bothered to look further than that, for that was not in my business. I had other things on my mind.

Will: …

Min: What you said just now was unknown to me, though I can infer the truth behind it. And if that is the case…

Min: You must work quickly before someone else finds a way. Literally everyone capable is assigned to the project.

Will: -~- What do you think I've been doing all this time?

Will: -We’re trying-

Will: Aside from repairing my sons and daughters and trying to keep this place intact—

Will: I've devoted nearly every waking moment to trying to solve this—

Will: (But it's so hard, it's like trying to wake someone from a very—very deep sleep...)

Will: -Crosses arms- And quite frankly, all of this federal business has not made it easier. -~-

Min: I imagine not.

[She was quiet for a moment again, as if deep in thought.]

Min: I will leave it up to you to give directions on what the best way for HHS to help you would be. That is your prerogative.

Min: For the time being, we will focus on that. The matter with Dr. Cossack can wait until you've had the chance to speak with him… whenever that might be.

Min: He won't be allowed to move about freely, but no other [color=black]action[/color] will be taken against him.

Will: ...I...I'll try to, as soon as I can...

Min: For now, he is resting in isolation. …Let him rest. He obviously is in need of it. -Soft sigh, tapping her fingers against her face- (I look forward to making this all go away.)

Min: Is there anything else you wish to discuss or want to say? Any insight to depart?

Will: …

Will: -Grips- CherryDyn...

Will: Please tell me you're at least looking into CherryDyn.

Will: I...I think they're behind this. All of it.

Will: >> Why else would they make not one, but TWO public statements blaming both Dr. Blackwell and myself, as well as Dr. Sanda?

Will: (....And now Graham knows.... Knows who I really am.)

Will: . . .

Will: (...Maybe he was right about me being stupid...)

Will: (.....)

Will: (Oh, what the hell, it was worth it, for that ONE good right hook.)

Min: To play the devil's advocate:

Min: "There's no accounting for stupidity."

[She spoke that last word with clear derision and scorn, not bothering to hide it.]

Will: …Hn.

Will: Indeed.

Will: …

Will: >> After all this is over...

Will: What will you do with me?

Min: Hopefully, give you honors for your contributions to solving a national crisis.

Will: ...That's not what I meant.

Will: I'm having a very hard time coming up with any good reason why you'd let the real matter slip by.

Will: You're the President. You know.

[Blackwell...a name that was no doubt infamous beyond any other name in America, and perhaps the world at large. He HAD to know--was it because there was just more pressing matters at hand, or something more?

After all, SHE had that power over him now, not him...]

Will: You KNOW what that name means.

Will: Why?

Min: …

Min: -Seems to be carefully considering her answer again-

Min: …A man is to be judged by his choices, not his name or connections.

Min: It has been your choice to work with Sanda Enterprises—a company that is currently researching to find medical breakthroughs with Xellular science. It has been your choice to raise a family, and raise them well. To befriend those in desperate need—indeed, with such friendship that it incites undying loyalty to you.

Min: Your desperation in one moment of ill-founded judgment is hardly unique, even to the current series of events. Your friend made a similar decision in a fit of despair.

Min: But ill judgement can be forgiven, especially when there are no casualties, and no intent for it to be repeated.

Will: ....

Will: I... -Speechless--

Will: (...she's not going to--lock me up, like Father—?)

Will: ...but I... (I lied...)

Will: (I lied to everyone--)

Will: -...clearly very conflicted about this-

Min: -Gently- I can see that this is difficult for you to understand, even though you begin to believe it. That's alright… you will have the time you need for it.

Min: When this is all over, William White…

Min: We will thank you all for what you have done for us, and the sacrifices that were made.

Min: And after all has been said and done, we will leave you all to live in peace.

Will: ....

Will: (In peace...)

Will: ...-Still quite nervous- (But for how long?)

Will: I...I will make sure to let Mikhail know that too.

Min: I'm sure he would appreciate that. It doesn't sound like he's had a pleasant experience dealing with government officials before… though his cooperation will ultimately prove to be to his benefit.

Min: -Small sigh- Well, that is all I have to say on the matter. We both have work to do now, so unless there is anything more you want to add…

Will: No, I...I think that's all.

Will: I...

Will: ...-Very quietly- ...thank you...

[Minerva gives a soft smile at that. She seems more relaxed than before—the kind of relaxation that comes with confidence.]

Min: You're welcome, Doctor White.

Min: You may go.

[Will nods and stands up--he's still a bit shaky, but otherwise a lot more worn out than before--in a good sense, really. He just had to talk to Mikhail...]

[As he steps out of the door, Des passes him by.]

Des: Oh, here. Your water.

Will: ! Oh--I--I forgot about that. ^^;; Thank you, Secretary.

[He accepts it graciously, and goes on his way. Des gives the man a bit of a quizzical look before turning his attention to Min.]

Des: He seems better. Sorta.

Des: What did you say to him, if I can ask?

Min: -Soft sigh- I let him know that we're not out to get anyone per se, and that we want to help out.

Min: I also advised him to speak to Dr. Cossack about the situation to see if he can't convince him to stop being so stubborn.

Des: Well, if anyone can convince him, it's probably Dr. White...he seems to really care about him.

Des: Hell, the guy was ready to tear my face off when I arrested him. >>;; Him and his kids.

Des: It was really startling, you'd think someone that soft-spoken wouldn't have any sort of temper but...I guess 'never judge a book by it's cover' comes into play here.

Min: Well, every man has his breaking point. You'd be surprised how much of a temper the quieter students can have when pressed. I think for now, though, he won't be as hostile to you. If only because he has more pressing needs to focus on.

Des: Hmm. You're right, as usual.

Des: Alright then...now that that's out of the way...

Des: I think Dr. Sanda's daughter was going to give us details of the accommodations and such. Gotta say, as much as the conditions are right now--they're really good hosts.

Des: << Though Seven won't stop giving me the stink eye.

Min: -Amused grin at this- Well, he has been gracious enough to me, for now. I'll see if I can't speak on your behalf the next time we have a chance for conversation.

[Her smile fades, and she looks thoughtful.]

Min: I should like to see DLN-000, but I know the lab is quite crowded right now. That will have to wait until later.

[She shakes her head.]

Min: Well, we'd best go speak to Ms. Sanda, and then I need to talk with Aviator. The news of us coming here even temporarily will be slightly sensational if we don't handle it properly, and he'd know best which of the local stations can be trusted to handle the story.

Des: ...Right...

Des: >>;; Although I'm not too fond of the idea of Six hogging you and I for an 'exclusive' interview. We probably need to break it gently to him that we have work to do--

[She laughs at this.]

Min: We have plenty of leverage when it comes to that. Plenty of things to do and say later. He'll have a month's worth of stories within a few days—so be on your best behavior.~

Des: -Snorts- Yes, Mrs. Morandi.

Min: Lead the way, then. -Amused- Let's get things moving.

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 1A: RAGING FLAMES SMOLDER=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{MEANWHILE, BACK IN SANDA LABS....}

[After confirming there was nothing they could do to help Tobias and the rest of those in the Meadow… Beck, Soichiro, William, and Call did a thorough search of the lower levels of the building Soi was sealed in. To their surprise, they had found a couple of uninfected Patch bots that were busy recharging their energy--their systems also had to be shut down to do so.]

Sunny: D: -BEEP BEEP I AM SCARED WHAT IS HAPPENING WHY ARE THERE EXPLODING NOISES -

Beck: Sunny! :D -shhhh it's OK everything is fine—or will be—-

Will: (Interesting…. These Patches are also fine, like Call…)

[Meanwhile, Call had moved her usual terminal to the lab. She began bringing back the labs systems—one by one—with her father.]

Soi: If we can just get this one back up, we can start looking for the rest of the Mighties...

[Beck perked up from his spot on the floor, a bit busy consoling about six or seven different colored Patches.]

Beck: How are we gonna do that?

[Will frowned and put his hand to his chin, thinking.]

Will: Hmm...

Soi: ...! Ah! That should do it—for now, at least. At any rate: the lab is all set for any repairs Beck and the others might need.

Will: Good, good...

Will: . . .

Will: We can still read most of their statuses, yes?

Soi: Hmm, yes...

Will: Can we trace back their transponders?

Soi: We can give it a try, but with Tobias messing around with the signals...

Call: Tracing...

[A map of the US comes up.]

[There’s a brief moment where everything seemed to be functioning normally, a radar-like display sweeping across the map in search of any sort of response.]

Call: ... ....

Call: Transponder found.

Will: —!!! Whose?

[A marker appeared right smack in the middle of the State of Louisiana.]

[A symbol. Pyrogen's, to be specific.]

Beck: ! Big Brother...!

[Suddenly, there was a glitchy sound effect. The map flickered, and an error message popped up on the screen. Unfortunately, the message looked garbled as well.]

Beck: ! What happened?

Call: There appears to be interference.

Beck: Is it the virus?!

Call: Negative.

Will: Hmmm… that looks like it might be bits of code….

Beck: Huh…? What does it say?

Will: Well, I recognize the error message well enough: it’s the same as from earlier. It could be related to what just happened with Tobias…

Beck: But…

Beck: Why would he want to stop us from saving them…? D:

Soi: Can we get around it, do you think?

Will: Probably, especially considering the state he was in…. It may take a while, though.

Soi: Oh dear…

Will: Call, did you catch the location before it vanished?

Call: Affirmative, Doctor.

Call: Comparing location to local database....

Call: ... ....

Soi: Well?!

Call: ....

Call: It appears that Mighty No. 1 has retreated to an oil refinery.

Will: An OIL--?!

Soi: Good God--He's going to blow it all up to kingdom come--!

Will: Quickly--there is no time to waste! Beck, Call, prepare yourselves for the mission--! Sanda, find another signal frequency for Xel Transfer; something we don't use as often so that Avi won't pick it up if he wakes up first--! I'll set up encryptions from my own terminal to hide it from him in the meantime!

Beck: Yes sir!

Call: Affirmative.

Soi: You got it, Will.

Beck: (Don't worry, big brother...)

Beck: (I'm coming to save you...!)

[COORDINATES SET.]

"... Beck..."

"Yeah?"

"...Please...please be careful. Please."

"I know, Dad."

"We're all counting on you, Beck--promise me you'll come back in one piece for your uncle, eh?"

"I promise, Sanda."

"Good luck, No. 9. Now preparing Xel Transfer..."

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"...I love you."

"...I love you too, Beck...pass that on to Pyrogen for me..!"

[XELS TRANSFERRING...]

[MISSION DETAILS: MIGHTY NO. 1, CODENAME: PYROGEN, HAS BEEN SPOTTED IN A LOUISIANA OIL REFINERY. STATUS: INFECTED WITH HARMFUL MALWARE, FULL COMBAT MODE ENGAGED.]

[OBJECTIVES: RESCUE MN.1 AND PURGE HARMFUL MALWARE FROM SYSTEMS, PREVENT A LARGE-SCALE INFERNO. ]

[SYSTEMS READY?]

[GO!]

[Once Beck had fully reconstituted, Xels clicking into place as his form settled, the first thing that he felt was the heat.]

[The second was the smoke filling the air, and the third was the distant sound of crazed, infected robots just up ahead--Pyrogen was not the only one given free range of the place. Many industrial, non-sentient CherryDyn and Sanda models were running rampant...]

[Beck's comm line crackled to life.]

[CALL] //: No. 9, do you read?

[Beck lifted a hand to the side of his helmet.]

Beck: This is Nine--I read you loud and clear! I've made it to the Oil Platform...

[He pauses.]

Beck: No sign of One yet, and the place is just… it's chaos...

[Soon enough, Soi could be heard over the line as well, along with Will.]

[DR.SANDA] //: A fire wielding robot running wild in an oil refinery...I don't like the looks of this at all.

[DR.WHITE] //: Not exactly ideal conditions, I'll grant you that...

[DR.WHITE] //: Quickly now, Beck--Locate Mighty No. 1!

Beck: On it!

[Beck sprints forward...]

[...And slips.]

Beck: Whoa-!

[CLANK.]

Beck: --Ow--

[CALL] //: It appears No. 9 has encountered an oil spill. From my scans, several major pipelines of the refinery have burst.

Beck: That...would have been helpful two seconds ago...

[DR.SANDA] //: Shake it off, Beck! And be careful if the other robots in the area set it on fire--!

Beck: -Slowly picks himself up- Got it....

[VERRRRRRRRR--]

Beck: --!!!

[CALL] //: Incoming hostile robots.

[It was a forklifting robot--carrying a crate full of explosives, no less! And once it saw the young Mighty Number, it wasted no time revving it's engine and charging at full speed--!]

Beck: aHHH--

[Beck didn't roll out of the way--he jumped, and let the robot pass under him.]

[MN.9 HAS GONE INTO COMBAT MODE.]

[He shoots, and once the robot's Xel Structure was disrupted, stunning it in place, he AcXelarates into it in a flash of white--absorbing its Xel and leaving behind only it's cores.]

[XEL ABSORBED. ABSORPTION BOOST: ONLINE.]

[A green sheen of Xel encircles Beck--the same feeling of power flows through him like before--but this time was...different...]

Beck: ....?

[LAST time, the color was RED, wasn't it...?]

[CALL] //: Warning, multiple incoming CherryDyn robots detected.

Beck: Uh oh—

[Yes, now there was more--in addition to several furnace type robots that shot fire balls out of their tops, and other flame based models.]

[DR.SANDA] //: There are so many fire based robots! WHY ARE THEY ALL HERE?!

[DR.WHITE] //: Good question...perhaps Pyrogen led them here...?

[...As Beck transverses forward, he seems much quicker in this powered up state...]

[...But soon enough, the green Xel fades, and he returns to his normal speed.]

Beck: ...?

[THIS happened last time too--whenever he got one of those...absorption boosts, he got a little stronger somehow...so green makes him a little faster...?]

Beck: (Huh...when I saved the Round Digger, he turned purple---these guys either turn red, blue, yellow, or green...)

Beck: (If green makes me faster, then what does the rest do?)

[He decided to take a moment to figure it out--there were plenty of enemies to absorb, and certain models turned into one of those colors.]

Beck: (OK...Green makes my reflexes faster...)

Beck: (Red boosts my shot output--I can even shoot through certain walls for a while...)

Beck: (Yellow makes me jump higher...)

Beck: (...And blue...)

[XEL ABSORBED. CONVERTING...]

Beck: Huh?

[XEL STOCK 1 FULL.]

Beck: (Xel Stock? I can STORE extra Xel?!)

Beck: (Oh man--I can use that to repair myself on the fly! At least minor injuries...)

[Then--Suddenly--!]

[A familiar figure stands out against the clouded night...]

Pyro: Rrrrr.....

Beck: PYRO!!

[The Mighty Leader was standing atop of a ruined oil truck, surprisingly unlit...]

[Green eyes flickered towards his brother--]

Pyro: ... ...

Pyro: ...You...

Beck: --! YES! It's me, big brother--It's Beck! You remember!

Pyro: ...BURN....

Beck: !!!

Pyro: THE WORLD MUST—

[In a sudden fierce motion, Pyrogen quite literally EXPLODED into flames, becoming twice his own size as he HOWLED into the flame lit horizon overhead!]

Pyro: BUUUUUUUURRRRRRN!

[...However...]

[...Instead of attacking Beck...]

[He...leaps away?]

Beck: PYRO, WAIT!

[Beck, after recovering from the sheer, uncontrolled rage his eldest brother had just unleashed, dashed forward to give chase--]

[CALL] //: Warning: Multiple incoming robots detected.

Beck: Wha--where?!

[SECONDS later, more furnace type robots materialized, as well as a whole SLEW of enemies--both that were from the city AND the fire based models! It was an ambush!]

[DR.WHITE] //: Beck!

Beck: NGH--!!

[He was trapped on all sides, and with nowhere to hide, he was pelted with enemy fire-- both of energy shots and actual real fire. ]

[DR.SANDA] //: MOVE, BECK!

[He's faced Pyro in battle before--in spars. He can handle a little heat, but this--]

Beck: HothothotHOT--

[There was nowhere to go--nowhere but UP, that is...]

[In the midst of quite literally being roasted over an open flame, Beck had to JUMP to avoid the heat from damaging anything important.]

[...REALLY jump.]

Beck: aaaAAAAAAAH--

[Fortunately, gravity and trajectory was kind enough to drop him atop of one of the flying enemies--who was none too pleased to have an extra passenger onboard.]

[CALL] //: .........

[CALL] //: Inquiry: Why do these kinds of events seem to always happen to No. 9?

[DR.SANDA] //: I...don't know...

Beck: Nice CDN GOOD CDN PLEASE DON'T--

[Too late--Beck was now on a VERY wild rodeo ride with the cargo carrying robot, trying to shake him off by flying erratically--and into other robots.]

Beck: -SCREAMING-

[DR.WHITE] //: Hold on, Beck!

Beck: WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING--?!

[CALL] //: Beck, you have a acquired a higher vantage point. I suggest using this to your advantage.

Beck: I WOULD IF THIS GUY WOULD HOLD STILL FOR TWO--

[VERRRRRRR--]

Beck: --AwNO--

[B O O M!]

[The flying CDN had collided with another forklifting robot--which was carrying another crate filled with explosives. The resulting explosion lit up the evening, temporarily obscuring all with the smoke that rose from it.]

[......]

[MN.9 STATUS: ONLINE, COMBAT MODE ENGAGED, DAMAGE REPORT: GYRO BALANCERS CRITICAL, ARMOR PLATING HAS BEEN BREACHED.]

Beck: .....uuuuugh....

[DR.WHITE] //: Beck! Do you read me?! SAY SOMETHING!

Beck: ....hurts...ow....can't....

[CALL] //: No. 9's Gryo systems have been damaged. His mobile systems are shot.

[DR.SANDA] //: --That's it--I'm pulling him out of there! This is way too-

[DR.WHITE] //: Wait!

[DR.WHITE] //: Beck--there is another ability that I designed you with! Can you access your Xel Stocks?

Beck: nnngh...

[USE XEL STOCK 1?]

[COMMAND//: YES.]

[ACCESSING INTERNAL XEL STORAGE...]

[A relieving burst of light blue light seemed to pour out of the ports on Beck's back, wrapping him up in a healing sheen. The cracks on his armor were being sealed, while most of the Xel was released internally...]

Beck: --!!!!

[SELF REPAIR COMPLETE. ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL.]

[Beck shot STRAIGHT up into a sitting position with a small gasp, feeling reinvigorated--renewed, even! He was thrown into alertness, looking around this way and that...]

[...It seemed the resulting explosion from the CDN crashing into the forklift robot had cleared away the rest of the ambush. Place was a MESS, however--some of the oil piping had burst as well, and it's flammable contents were now spilling forth EVERYWHERE.]

[...Beck was not spared from it--he was more or less splattered with oil now, tainting his pristine white armor.]

Beck: Ew...!

[DR.WHITE] //: -SIGHS WITH RELIEF-

[DR.SANDA] //: No time for a bath now, Beck--you gotta keep moving!

Beck: ...Right... (Wouldn't mind one from Cryo right about now...)

[DR.SANDA] //: My...did you SEE all those bots? And such power...

[DR.SANDA] //: ...These designs of yours in our models are something ELSE, Will...

[DR.WHITE] //: ....

[DR.WHITE] //: Yes, well, under the circumstances--that hardly feels like a compliment. -_-;;

[Beck only had one way to go, and that was forward...]

[...Over a flaming floor of burning oil, that is--and above?]

Beck: .....

Beck: Are those electrified spikes.

[CALL] //: Warning: It is not just electricity, but energized signals on the ceiling. They have been modified to disrupt Xel Structures. Proceed with caution.

Beck: Wait wait wait--

Beck: Are you saying that if I touch it I'LL JUST EXPLODE.

[CALL] //: That is correct, No. 9. Your core, however, would be intact, although--

[DR.WHITE] //: I--I think he understands the concept, Call.

Beck: Right--don't touch the purple things, don't touch the purple things--

[Dashing across the suspended platforms was the only way across--along with absorbing other robots along the way. Using the green Absorption Speed Boost he acquired from them, he was able to quickly get by the hair-raising corridor...]

[...And into the Oil Silo field.]

Beck: I still don't see Pyrogen yet...

[DR.SANDA] //: He must be somewhere up ahead, he couldn't have gone that far...

[No. 9 was really starting to get the hang of his AcXelarate Dash--it was almost becoming second nature, actually. He could use it as often as he wanted--there seemed to be no limit, and it didn't expend any of his energy at all.]

[Which was a very good thing for what came up next.]

[C R A C K L E.]

Beck: --?!

[DR.SANDA] //: BECK! LOOK OUT!

[The lower half of the Silo in front of him was damaged--and began to topple over directly overhead.]

Beck: WHOA--

[Beck immediately started to floor it, becoming merely a white blur among the grey of smoke--the Silo crashed behind him with a loud rumble, missing him by only mere inches.]

[CALL] //: Heat has compromised the integrity of near by structures. Please proceed with caution.

Beck: NO OFFENSE, CALL, BUT I'VE BEEN CAUTIOUS THIS WHOLE TIME--

[C R A C K! C R A C K!]

[DR.WHITE] //: BECK--IN FRONT!

[...It was sort of like watching some supped up version of dominoes.

The silos were perfectly aligned in such a way that they toppled over in Beck's path, forcing him to sprint and dash for his life. The malfunctioning robots around him didn't seem to care--they were only concerned on destroying the Mighty Number--so they retaliated by shooting up fireballs into the air to rain down from above.]

[And if that wasn't enough, the floor beneath began to give away under his feet--no, the PLATFORMS were.]

[DR.WHITE] //: DON'T STOP!

Beck: AAAAAAAAAAAAA--

[It seemed like an eternity. It was, in fact, about 20 seconds, but those nail biting seconds seemed to stretch into forever as Beck barreled forth without pause, destruction and fire raging around him, smoke stinging his eyes and throat.--]

Beck: WHAT THE--

[The path suddenly ended.]

[DR.WHITE] //: NO--!

[It just--ended. There was only a sudden drop into a pit of fire, an inferno flaring so high, it was impossible to tell if there was anything on the other side.]

[But he had no choice.]

[He had to jump.]

Beck: HUP--!

[Out of the frying pan...]

[ACXELARATE DASH: MAX OUTPUT REACHED]

[And into the fire.]

[DATA LOSS.]

Will: Call--!!!

Call: Searching...

Call: ..........

[.........]

[..........….............]

[.......................................]

[SIGNAL FOUND. MN.9 STATUS: ONLINE.]

Will: YES...!

Call: Re-syncing feeds...

"--can't get a good grip on--!!"

[--Beck had made it!]

[...But only barely. He was grabbing onto the ledge with everything he had, trying to hoist himself up--but the oil wasn't making things any easier.]

Beck: Arrgh--

[FINALLY, his feet find some perchance, and he pushed off of the wall--and front flipped over, landing firmly and safely on the other side of the pit.

It looks as if some of that acrobatics training paid off--]

Beck: (--! Hey--I did it! I DID IT, BRAND—!)

[....Too bad said brother in question wasn't here to see it.]

Beck: (--…Oh…. Right…)

Will: --......!

Soi: ? Will?

Will: I have an idea--Can we send one of the Patch bots to his location?

Soi: --But--whatever for?

Will: I want him to be in the BEST condition possible before he faces No. 1...

[Will's green hues stare intensely at the screen, at his son.]

Will: Pyrogen, while not being made with the latest Xel technology, has the most experience out of them all. If they ARE to battle...

Will: He's going to need all the help we can offer.

Will: We can send a Patch Bot with some Xel Storage Cubes for him to either store into his Xel Stocks or use right then and there for self repair.

Sunny: -BEEP BEEP- (-_-)7

Call: Commencing Xel Transfer....

[XEL TRANSFER COMPLETE.]

[Beck almost very nearly shot Sunny in her display--but lucky her unique coloring was enough for him to recognize the Patch Bot.]

Beck: Sunny?!

Sunny: -BEEP BEEP-

[Sunny's stomach compartment opens, and out tumbles several Xel Storage Cubes ready to be absorbed.]

Beck: !

[DR.WHITE] //: Beck, these should give you enough to normalize your Xel Count. Call has confirmed that No. 1 is in that destroyed building wreckage ahead...

Beck: ... ...

[No. 9 takes a deep breath...]

Beck: (OK, Pyro...here I come...)

[After dropping down to a partially collapsed room...]

[Once again—standing atop of a pile of debris—was the fire-powered leader himself.]

Beck: Pyro--! Finally...

Pyro: Hnrrrrrr...

Beck: Pyro--come on, big brother-- I KNOW you're in there SOMEWHERE! We don't have to--

Pyro: You...

Pyro: ...Why....?

Beck: ...!!

Beck: Because you're my BROTHER! I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU, NO. 1!

Pyro: .....

Beck: Just--PLEASE hold still for just a few minutes and I SWEAR I can fix this--I can SAVE you!

[With dark, glowing emerald eyes, the leader stood. Unflinching.]

Pyro: ...

Pyro: No...

Beck: Pyro--!

Pyro: Why...

Pyro: Why you not burn...?

Beck: Wha--?

Pyro: WHY YOU NOT BURN?!

Beck: PYRO--

Pyro: WHY... YOU... NOT--

[FOOOOM!]

Pyro: BUUUUUUUURRRRRRNNN?!?!?!?

[As Pyrogen fully ignites his body in flames, HUGE pillars of fire explode on either side of the room--effectively trapping both Mighty Numbers within.

Almost as if this was to be a cage match...]

Beck: Uh-oh...

Pyro: Burn...

Pyro: The world must BURN...! ALL MUST BUUUURN!!!

[MN.1 HAS ENTERED FULL COMBAT MODE. RESTRICTIONS: NONE.]

Beck: NO--!

[SCANNING...]

[SCAN COMPLETE.]

[ E N C O U N T E R ]

[MIGHTY NO. 1-- MODEL CODENAME: PYROGEN]

[HEIGHT: 223cm] [WEIGHT: 236kg] [XEL COUNT: 47,200,000]

Pyro: PYRO CRASH, AND YOU...BUUUUUUUUURRRN!

[Pyrogen was a close range combat model, excelling in melee-style combat.

[He wasted no more time with any more words. A distorted yell of RAGE accompanied his first attack--a headlong, full bodied tackle!]

Beck: Gh--!

[Jumping over was the logical choice--]

Beck: AAAH--!

[...But not the best one, as Pyrogen ALSO left a trail of arching fire in his wake. Beck had jumped RIGHT into them, sustaining burns across his armor plating.]

Pyro: Yes--BURN! BURN LIKE THE REST! B U R N!!

[Flaring, No. 1 changed direction--his arms ignited to TWICE their original output, allowing him to gather his flames up for another attack.]

Pyro: BURN M O R E!

[He thrusted his arms forward--and a burst of fire shot out, threatening to engulf Beck in it's hellish range!]

Beck: PYRO--STOP IT!

[The youngest Mighty had no time wince at pain--he forced himself to roll away, the blaring heat reminding him to be weary of the fire walls that soared to the sky.]

[His default weapon was drawn--but he had not fired yet.]

Beck: I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU, PYRO!

Beck: PLEASE! S N A P OUT OF IT—!

[DR.WHITE] //: It's no USE, Beck!

Beck: --!? Dad?!

[DR.WHITE] //: HE IS TOO FAR GONE!

[DR.WHITE] //: You have to stop him by FORCE--!

[DR.WHITE] //: ONLY THEN CAN HE BE SAVED!

Beck: .....

Pyro: B U R N, MOTH! B U R N!!

Beck: . . .

[MN.9 HAS ENTERED FULL COMBAT MODE. RESTRICTION: PRESERVE MN.1]

Beck: I'm sorry, Pyro...

Beck: But if I have to do this to get you back...!

[BLAM!]

Pyro: —?!?

[Bright orange dematerializing shots pierce through the flames--nailing Pyro right in the chest, who seems VERY confused as to what just happened--]

[—...But the confusion didn't last. It quickly bled away to anger.]

Pyro: RAAAAAAAAAAAGH--!

[CALL] //: Warning: I detect a buildup of energy from Mighty No. 1.

Beck: Energy--?

[FWOOOOOM!]

[Pyrogen's flames...changed color. They were no longer just a bright yellow and orange.]

[They were purple. A sick, sick shade of purple and blue.]

Beck: —????!?

[And that's when it hit him.]

[He's SEEN this before.]

[The Greater Dusk team--at the Queen's Tournament--Bladeblaster--!!]

Pyro: BURNING... BURNIIIING...

[DR.SANDA] //: -ACTUALLY SCREAMS-

Beck: --!!!!! (Nowhere to HIDE—!!! GOTTA THINK FAST--)

Beck: Ah—!

[ACCESSING XEL STOCK 2...]

Pyro: SPIRIT!

[B O O O M!]

[DATA LOSS]

Soi: oh GOD WHAT HAPPENED WHAT HAPPENED--?!?!

Call: ... ...Mighty No. 9's signal has vanished--as has Mighty No. 1's. The likelihood of their transponders ceasing to transmit due to excessive heat damage is--

Will: PLEASE, Call--! No more of that--ARE THEY ALIVE?!

Pyro: Hah...hah...

Pyro: ... ... ...

[There was no sign of Beck at all...]

Pyro: ... ... ... ...

Pyro: Yes...YES! LIKE A MOTH TO THE FLAME—!!

[Victory was his. A familiar feeling--he couldn't place why, but it FELT good--]

[So good that he started to laugh, distorted chortles reverbing around the Oil Platform...]

[There was nothing but the crackle of fire...and screams...]

[.....]

[… … …]

[Wait.]

[All the humans had fled.]

[So WHY--]

"........aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAH--!"

Pyro: WHAT—?!

[C L A N K!]

Beck: NOT DONE YET--!

[Seemingly dropping down from NOWHERE, Beck landed on his elder's back--forcing him to buckle from the force of the fall and the added weight--]

[BLAM!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

Pyro: RRAA—ACK—!!

[Flames attempted to flare on his back--they licked at Beck's form, scorching his armor black.]

[The pain--it was almost unlike anything he's ever felt before.]

[The only thing that came close...was...]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Yes...! That's it, my better incarnation--FIGHT LIKE YOU ARE ABOUT TO DIE!~"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[Beck gritted his teeth.]

[He couldn't let go--can't, not for anything, ANYTHING!]

"Remember. Beck--Physical pain....is MENTAL. In the arena, you will learn how to push PAST it."

[BLAM.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

"But--Big Brother--"

[BLAM.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

"What if it hurts too much...?"

"One of these days, Beck--how much physical pain you feel won't matter in dire situations."

"Are you going to let a few deep scratches come between you and what you care about the most?"

[BLAM.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[XEL QUOTA REACHED.]

"N-No, sir, No. 1!"

"Good!"

[XEL PURGE: ONLINE. XELFILTER.EXE PREPARED FOR OVERDRIVE.]

"Now--Show your big brother what you can DO!"

Beck: COME ON, PYRO--!

[XEL PURGE INITIATED!]

Beck: WE NEED OUR LEADER BACK!!!

[FILTERING.....]

[A blinding flash of green surrounds the two, expelling all of the infected purple Xel in Pyro's frame, running it THROUGH Beck himself, who expelled it right back at One, returning the Xel back to it's rightful owner.]

Pyro: —!!!!

[The Mighty Leader stood rigid, frozen in place as the Xel was simultaneously pulled and put back into him--with little to no pain whatsoever. ]

[In fact...]

[It felt...warm...]

"..........I can see you, you know."

"Eep--!!"

"Now, now, don't be frightened--you have nothing to fear, Beck. Not in this place."

"But...you...and everything else...is so...so much bigger than me..."

"Heh..."

"Good things come in small packages."

[......Small....]

"TRY AND CATCH ME, NO. 1!"

Pyro: ........

Pyro: B...Beck...

[THUNK.]

[His knees give away.]

[FILTERING COMPLETE.]

[ALL HARMFUL MALWARE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM MN.1]

Pyro: Is that....you...?

[There is only harsh breathing in his ear--but...]

Beck: ....

Beck: B...Big...Brother...

Beck: Pyro...I...you're OK...

Pyro: I...what...where...?

[-PING!-]

[CALL] //: Connection reestablished. Mighty Numbers 1 and 9 are online.

[DR.WHITE] //: Beck--! Beck--are you--

Pyro: ....F...Father...?

[.....]

[DR.WHITE] //: S...Son...?

Pyro: Father--...what...what happened? I...don't....remember...

[DR.SANDA] //: He...WILL-- WILL HE DID IT HE DID IT--!!

[DR.WHITE] //: Pyrogen...! You're...alright...!

Pyro: Not--...not exactly...Ngh...

Pyro: I....

[SCANNING...]

Pyro: ......????

Pyro: Beck--What...why do I smell...oil?

Beck: Long... long story, bro...ohmanI'msotired...

Pyro: You're...? I...I don't understand--

[DR.WHITE] //: ... ...

[DR.WHITE] //: Call...prepare for Xel Transfer. Pyro...

[DR.WHITE] //: Everything will be fine, son...I promise. I'll explain it when you're well rested enough.

Pyro: ........

[CALL] //: Xel Transfer in progress...

{SANDA ENTERPRISES, LOWER LABS...}

[Will never thought he would be so close to having a heart attack at the age of 25, and today had been eventful enough to garner that reaction on more than one occasion.]

[But the feeling of relief he felt when he saw his eldest carrying his youngest on his back...]

Call: Xel Transfer complete. I suggest not drawing too close to No. 1--he is still radiating fairly high temperatures.

Soi: Hoooof--it DID just jump a couple of degrees in here, didn't it...

Beck: Uuuuuugh I've never been so TIRED can I take a nap...

[Beck was certainly quite talkative in his complaining...

...But Pyrogen remained silent....]

Pyro: . . . .

[Beck slowly climbs down from Pyrogen--he feels QUITE strange at the moment, as if his systems were preoccupied with something else, and leans against his brother for support.]

Will: ....

Pyro: Father...

Pyro: ...Beck has burns. All over.

Beck: . . .

Pyro: There was OIL.

Will: Son--

Pyro: What happened to us...?!

Will: ......

[Will tries to collect his thoughts--how will he tell him--how will he--]

Pyro: Where is Cryo? We NEED to cool him off--

Call: Mighty No. 2's location is unknown. As are the rest of the Mighty Numbers.

Pyro: —?! WHAT?!

Call: I will now connect you back to our systems. Standby.

Pyro: Nnngh—!

[He did his best to hold still and do as he was told, but it was clear that this wasn't helping matters.]

[RE-CONNECTING...]

Will: … … …

[Unfortunately…]

[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. UPDATING....]

Pyro: … … … …

[RECEIVING RECENT STATUS REPORTS...]

[…There wasn't anything immediately current, and what last info they had was not exactly good news to share.]

[MN.1 STATUS: ONLINE, COMBAT MODE, CONDITION: NORMAL.]

[MN.2 STATUS: ONLINE, FULL COMBAT MODE, -VIRUS DETECTED-]

[MN.3 STATUS: ONLINE, FULL COMBAT MODE, -VIRUS DETECTED-]

[MN.4 STATUS: UNAVAILABLE.]

[MN.5 STATUS: ONLINE, FULL COMBAT MODE, -VIRUS DETECTED-]

[MN.6 STATUS: STANDBY, FULL COMBAT MODE, -VIRUS DETECTED, DATA CORRUPTED-]

[MN.7 STATUS: ONLINE, FULL COMBAT MODE, -VIRUS DETECTED-]

[MN.8 STATUS: UNAVAILABLE.]

[MN.9 STATUS: ONLINE, COMBAT MODE, CONDITION: NORMAL.]

Pyro: NO--

Pyro: NO!

Pyro: OUR FAMILY—!!

[Pyrogen attempts to stand--but his damaged frame does not quite agree with him.]

Pyro: Ngh--!!

Beck: Bro--bro, don't strain yourself--

[-PING!-]

Beck: —!!!!

[FORM DATA ANALYSIS COMPLETE.]

[XEL TRANSFORMATION ENGAGED.]

[Beck's Xels suddenly start to re-arrange themselves, glowing with a bright white light...!]

[NEW FORM SET.]

[REXELECTION: PYROGEN.]

Pyro: …!!!

Pyro: Beck…?

Beck: … … …

Beck: Big brother…

Beck: I… need to explain some things…

-PING!-

<RMDC>: >REQUEST FAILED. DISPLAYING PREVIOUS STATUS UPDATE…

>FMN-008 STATUS: UNAVAILABLE

>DCN-008 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DCN-007 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DCN-003 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DCN-000 STATUS: DEFENSIVE COMBAT MODE

Pyro: What--

Pyro: Lethal Mode--?!

>Loading…

>DWN-024 STATUS: OFFLINE

>DWN-019 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DWN-018 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DWN-013 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DWN-012 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DWN-011 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>Loading…

Pyro: Why...WHY ARE THEY ALL...?!

[Indeed… other than Shadow, most of the line was in Lethal.

…

…With two POIGNANTLY notable exceptions.]

>DLN-008 STATUS: OFFLINE— CRITICAL AI_OS DATA ERROR

>ERROR: DLN-000 SIGNAL NOT FOUND.

Pyro: Shadow--Toby--CARDINAL--?!

Beck: Pyro--

Call: I suggest updating MN.1's memory files with Beck's own.

Pyro: (What...what...)

Pyro: (What sick, twisted darkness has befallen us?!)

Will: .....

Will: Sanda...prep the lab.

Will: Beck--help your brother. There is much to go over...

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 7B: RUSH INTO THE MINE=

~AO v1.0~

((Courtesy of @limitbreakers))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{SOON, AT SANDA LABS…}

[Nico lets the magnetic field shift and he sets Mic down with a slight THUD.]

Cryo: EARTH BROOOOOOOOOOO

[There is a collective of both Xelbots and RAs that gather around Mic, including the humans present.]

White: Oh thank the Lord you are safe--son--

Mic: -Noodle Daaad- -w-

Snow: <'3

Snow: Mister Mic! You’re okay again~

Snow: I made you Rocky Road!

[RRRRRR.]

[...Was that another earthquake--]

Mic: OwO

[....Oh, no. That was Mic's stomach.]

Mic: -Suddenly aware of hunger, mmmmm-

Beck: --Oh--

Beck: (Right, he's probably been down there all this time...)

Snow: It’s okay! Pyro made lots of food.

Brand: Both of him, I would think so.

Snow: For you and Shadesis when she hears you’re better! We think it will help her get better too! : D

Mic: .....

Mic: —????

Mic: -Wait, what happened to Snipesis—-

Skull: She ran into a wall. Very hard.

Mic: !!!!

Mic: O~O

Mic: -ATTEMPTS TO MOOOOOVE-

[WHUMP]

Mic: -Awwww--

Mikhail: No, Mic. Even if you could move, your mobility rig is disabled for right now. You need rest. Proper rest.

[Odd. HE’S sure strangely grim for the celebration.]

Mikhail: One extra mobile party is more than enough for now. : | Rest. I’m sure Felix will be here soon… Piers just contacted and said he was stirring.

Mic: !!

Beck: Felix is waking up?!

Beck: -YAAAAAY-

Mikhail: Yes… and I think I know why. But more on that later…

White: Yes. We'll talk properly once things have settled down.

White: Nico, please get Mic to the Repair Bay. Call, transfer the assimilation data to me, please.

Call: Right away, Professor.

Nico: Yes sir.

White: Soi, can you please tend to those that need repairs?

Sanda: Already on it, Will.

White: Beck? You need rest too.

Beck: Yeah, I know...

Mikhail: …I’m going to make some coffee. And then I need to get back to Siam. There’s some very important work I need to be doing, apologies…. Shadow, make sure you isolate yourself.

Shadow: … Acknowledged, Doctor.

[Shadow was giving off a dark reading of dread.]

Brand: ......

<DWN-024 to MNN-007>: > …

<DWN-024 to MNN-007>: > . . .

<DWN-024 to MNN-007>: > . . .   . . .   . . .

[No words needed to be said….]

——————————————————

[While Mikhail went to rejoin Siam and Gemini in pursuit of the “final piece of the puzzle,” the rest of the Rebel Angels (sans Snow and Shadow) held a meeting.

There wasn’t so much anything said as there was data exchanged.]

((Pic here of Shaaaaaade))

[They all still quite clearly remembered the nightmares that had plagued them for what felt like months now, even if it had only been days within time.]

———————

“Nowhere left to run, anymore.”

[Panic. Sheer panic. Terror. Trapped.]

“Let’s play a little game, shall we? S’ called…”

[A loud click noise.]

“‘Which one of you Wily scrapheaps takes the longest t’ die?’”

———————

[Nico scowled and looked away, his field fluctuating sullenly.

He didn’t like being left in charge, and certainly not under circumstances in situations like this.

They had all hoped that they could find either Shade or Cardinal before time ran out, but now it was clearly too late. With all the seven other wayward siblings rescued, the fact they still had no sign of the sniper’s tracks meant they were already out of time.

It would take more than a miracle for things to continue in a way that allowed everyone to come back in one piece.

They could only hope that their brother could find the last link they were looking for…]

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 1B: RAGING FLAMES SMOLDER=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{Meadow}

[Everything had fallen into a surreal sort of silence when Tobias shut down. Two of the Robot Masters were laying motionless on the ground, their eyes dark and without life. It was as if the souls had been ripped right out of them, leaving them in a state of eternal despair.]

Jack: Oh my God oh my God—

Jack: A—Are they okay, are they even ALIVE—?!

[There were soft and erratic patters of ping noises as the stunned brothers tried to get a response from the fallen. They were growing louder and more frequent, and a sense of panic was starting to rise in the data.]

Mikhail: Enough!

Jack: —! Huh—

Mikhail: -Speaking calmly but firmly- Let’s not jump to any conclusions. We need to run diagnostics on both of them. Carlos, Nico—take Shadow to the lab. Skull, Keltso—do the same for Tobias. Siamini, I need both of you to prepare the diagnostic equipment for them. Go, get things ready. No time to waste!

[His sons obeyed right away, though there was a delay from the Wilybots before they complied with the orders. Mikhail pulled out his phone.]

Mikhail: (I need to know what happened…)

[He dialed the number for Will, but to his aggravation…]

“Hello, this is Dr. William Apollo White of Sanda Technologies. I’m currently unavailable right now—”

Mikhail: -Annoyed- Mmmmmnnn… -Hangs up- (Voicemail AGAIN, Will? Really? At a time like this? Gahhh… fine, I’ll call you again later, after I’ve run the diagnostic.)

[He turned to face Jack.]

Mikhail: …I’m so sorry, Jack.

Jack: H-huh?

Mikhail: You came here for something, and this whole time we’ve all but ignored you.

Jack: Oh, uh… i-it’s alright, I mean… that was a lot going on…

Mikhail: True, but you must have come here for some reason. What was it? Can we help you with something?

Jack: What? God, no, I’m more worried about YOU guys—! A—Are they going to be okay??

Mikhail: -Adjusts glasses- It’s probably just… shock. (No pun intended.) We’ll know soon enough for sure.

Jack: …

Jack: …

Jack: Shock, huh….

Jack: …Hn…they aren’t…they aren’t the only ones….

Jack: Starting to feel a little of that myself…

[Mikhail was quiet at that for a while, and then walked over. He put a hand on Jack’s shoulder.]

Jack: …?

Mikhail: Follow me, Mr. Parker.

Jack: (O-oh, I guess Miss Eight told him about her brother’s name for me…)

Mikhail: Let’s just have a talk.

[Jack followed the Russian Doctor into the main building in the Meadow.]

[They walked through the building and into the kitchen, where Mikhail had Jack sit down at the table. It was a rather large table, and made Jack feel small sitting at it all by himself.

But the whole situation made him feel small. He was caught up in this disaster the same as everyone else, and there was nothing he could do to help…]

Jack: (Son of a glitch…. The whole family is fallin’ apart and what did I do? Nothin…)

[There were the soft background noises of the kitchen as Mikhail started preparing something. They were largely unfamiliar noises; not the clamor of a food-related workplace, like he had worked at once for a couple weeks, not the cheap joints he normally bought from. It was a more personal, friendly and family kind of noise, one that was almost alien to him.

He perked up at the smell of meat, though.]

Jack: (…mmm…meat…ugh, that smells too good…)

Jack: …

Jack: (Gosh, this reminds me of the meal Miss Eight and I had just the other night when she stopped by…)

Jack: (I wonder where she is right now…)

Mikhail: There. It will be a while before it finishes, I’m afraid. Would you like something to drink?

Jack: Uh… I’m fine with whatever, honestly…

Mikhail: How about a milkshake, then?

Jack: Milkshake?

[He perks up a bit more at this.]

Jack: Like with the ice cream you guys sent me back in the hospital?

Mikhail: Exactly.

Jack: Oh, PLEASE…

[Mikhail smiled a little at this, and pulled some ice cream from the rather sizable freezer. The blender was a little on the loud side, but it wasn’t long before Jack had a large glass of milkshake in front of him.]

Mikhail: There you are.

Jack: Thank…

Jack: -Takes a sip- …Thanks for everything, Doc. You guys have been nothing but good to me…

Mikhail: It’s the least we can do.

[He adjusted his glasses again, sitting down opposite the beleaguered ex-arena fighter.]

Mikhail: Now…

Mikhail: You expressed you felt rather overwhelmed by all this.

Jack: …Yeah…

Mikhail: Honestly, anyone would be.

Mikhail: It’s best to start from the beginning.

Jack: …The beginning? Like… this morning?

Mikhail: No… not this morning. It probably started earlier.

Jack: What do you mean?

Mikhail: -Rubs his beard a bit- Well…

Mikhail: Things look confusing to us all right now because we don’t have the proper context to them. That makes it hard to focus on what is going on.

Mikhail: So let’s find some context, and unravel it for you. What’s on your mind? We’ll go back to address it from the beginning.

Jack: Okay…

Jack: …I…I’m just really worried about…God, it was KATE, at first, but after…that…Avi, and now Cards is out there too? It’s just…they’re out there, all alone, especially Cards….

Mikhail: …

[He closed his eyes and sighed, crossing his arms.]

Mikhail: …There’s something you should know.

Jack: (…That doesn’t sound too good…)

Mikhail: It would take a long time to explain all the details, but for a while now, Cardinal has been convinced that Gregory Graham had been planning to make a massive power grab, by means of setting up a crisis and solving it publicly.

Jack: —?!

Jack: What…?

Mikhail: He believed that the highway incident earlier in the year was the result of something in this plan going… wrong.

Jack: Wrong…?

Mikhail: The fact that Graham took the time during THIS disaster to—yet again, as before—publicly say “don’t blame me! Blame someone else!” does not help matters. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

Mikhail: -Dryly- Guilty conscience, perhaps? Or just really bad lying?

Mikhail: That’s what Cardinal believed, at any rate. And I don’t think he was the only one.

Jack: He—he wasn’t?

Mikhail: Due to the meeting we had to discuss the threat that Greater Dusk posed—

Jack: Hang on, meeting—?

Mikhail: I’ll explain later, but yes. During that meeting, it was questioned why CherryDynamics would fund a team, especially one with an assassin. Cardinal wasn’t sure, but felt that Greater Dusk played an important role in the plans: the role of usurping power and favor from the Mighty Numbers, allowing for other power grabs later.

Jack: (They went through all that… because of me and Greater Dusk…)

Mikhail: Lady Countershade seemed to believe that CherryDynamics was not only responsible, but also eager to clean up “loose ends”. Namely…

Mikhail: You.

Jack: Wh...m...ME?

Mikhail: It seemed like it was very personal to her. She was adamant about it in a way that tells me she’d dealt with some sort of conspiracy like it before, whether one of her own invention she convinced herself was real, or else one she had truly witnessed.

Jack: (…She’s been following a few leads besides mine, the way she talked to me before all this…. Did…did that have something to do with my situation—?)

Mikhail: She wanted to protect you, Mr. Parker. She wanted to keep you safe from fixers, from those seeking to silence you as a witness. Something went wrong again in the finals, clearly; something that had not been intended to be publicly known yet. If ever. Likely never.

Jack: … … … … ….

Jack: Jeezus….

[This…this was bigger than he thought.]

[Much, much bigger.]

[What in the world was going on now?]

[Could…]

[Could this be…just too much to handle?]

[Suddenly Jack felt like he was up against MORE than just a virus.]

Jack: … ….

Mikhail: …Tell me more about the crosses, Jack. Felix had been doing research into them, but he fell ill as a result…. You’re the only person who can tell us about them, and… I think that this virus is related to what happened at the Queen’s Finals.

[Jack took in a deep breath after a long sip of his milkshake.]

Jack: Alright…. Where to start…

[He ran his hand through his messy, fluffy hair.]

Jack: Putting them on when they weren’t active–didn’t do a thing. They were made of Xel, so I guess the crosses also had this REALLY tiny core to keep it together….

Jack: They just looked like freaky jewelry to other people. I didn’t like it. Felt…wrong. That’s why I always hid mine under my shirt.

Mikhail: …In what sense? Physically, or morally?

Jack: ….Both? The cross felt…cold. Like it was just pulled out of the freezer, no matter how hot it was out.

Jack: That and inverted crosses are USUALLY a bad sign.

Mikhail: Mmmm…. When you threw the cross down in the finals, that did allow us to briefly see what it was. …The use of that symbol did not go unnoticed.

Jack: …

Mikhail: Their “youngest” brother believed the one behind it was trying to “play God” and was using that symbol on purpose, as a highly disrespectful mockery.

Mikhail: -Softly- I do not discount the notion.

Jack: … … ….

Jack: (The Provider…)

Jack: …..

Jack: Well, whatever nutjob made those things did a REAL good job fragging [glitch] up.

Mikhail: Quite…

Mikhail: There was… a theory I had about it, at the time.

Jack: …?

——————————

Tobias: I don’t understand—! What’s going on?!

[They all fell silent when a quiet voice spoke up unexpectedly.]

Mikhail: … -Quietly- Berserkers.

Cardinal: …! What?

Mikhail: In ancient times, there were men of great strength, warriors that were great and terrible. They could work themselves into a rage that made them almost seem to ignore their wounds in battle—a madness that they channeled with incredible force.

Mikhail: This is why there is the phrase “going berserk.” This is almost exactly what it means.

Mikhail: But to concentrate only on bloodlust, at the loss of sense…

[He adjusted his glasses, the light glinting off them in a glare that obscured his eyes.]

Mikhail: …Especially against tacticians, that can be a very heavy price…

——————————

Mikhail: …Was I right? Is that what they did, induce such a state?

Jack: ….You bet they did….

Jack: When they went active…

Jack: All I felt was rage.

Mikhail: …

Jack: All I felt was…this feeling to break things.

Jack: It was ALL I could think about…

Jack: All…I could think about was…

Jack: How much I wanted to hurt Blade.

Jack: …..

Jack: It was like… something just…took over and….and…

Jack: –….

Jack: I knew it was bad. I had this gut feeling WAY before the finals…

Jack: I knew.

Jack: So I fought back.

Mikhail: … -Focused but also thoughtful- … -After some hesitation…- …We know what that feels like. …You have our deepest empathy.

Jack: ……..

Mikhail: We know that to fight it off is no easy thing. …You are a stronger man than you give yourself credit for, Jack. Not everyone has the will or stamina to do this.

Jack: …..

Jack: -Sigh- Doc, I’m just a normal guy that wanted some extra cash in his pocket. Sure, I’m probably not such a piece of scrap, after all, but…

Jack: I’m not special.

Jack: I’m just…lucky, I guess.

Mikhail: -Gentle slight smile- I suppose. Having Lady Luck on your side is always nice. Heh… I wouldn’t have survived otherwise.

[He goes over and starts pulling things out of the oven, and Jack is left in his own thoughts for a while.]

Jack: (…Is it luck, or is it just something looking out for me…? Ah, who the hell am I kidding… Luck HATES my guts…)

[He was almost too focused to notice the smells of lunch, but it was at this point that the smell of delicious, glorious, tender S T E A K came drifting through the air—]

Jack: —!!!!!

[Jack shoots up into a straighter sitting position, eyes WIDE and eager–]

Jack: That—that is the most awesome smell I’ve ever—

[Mikhail walked over with a platter. A platter with SO MUCH FOOD.

There was steak, there was loaded baked potato with extra toppings set to the side—

Corn, green bean casserole, a tall glass of cold milk, a small bowl of fruit salad— and some chocolate pudding with Oreo bits and whipped cream!]

Mikhail: -Sets it down at the table- Sorry to keep you waiting.

Jack: …

[Jack might have kicked himself later for forgetting his manners—but he just dove into the most delicious food he’s ever eaten in his entire life.]

Jack: -dATA, SO MUCH DATA, OH GOD THIS IS SO GOOD HE COULD CRY-

[Mikhail chuckled at that, seeming very pleased.]

Mikhail: Things will get better, Jack. They may seem nearly hopeless now, but they will get better. Beck White has the power to reverse this, and that’s more than we could have hoped for in such a disaster. I have faith that he’ll bring his family back home.

[Jack slowed down a bit at this, his good mood wavering.]

Jack: …Hey, Doc…?

Mikhail: Yes?

Jack: Do… -Hesitates- …

Jack: Do y’ think Six was… lying?

Mikhail: …? Lying?

Jack: About her. Miss Eight…

Mikhail: …

[His eyes looked very tired at that, and he frowned slightly.]

Mikhail: …I’d say it's possible he was being misleading, but I find it unlikely that Kate is herself… given that even the RMDC was infected. She was connected to the database…

Jack: (…n…no…. Kate, no…)

Mikhail: She might have been asleep somewhere, but even then she would be in danger of getting sick after the fact.

[He gave a deep sigh.]

Mikhail: My heart goes out to those trying to find either her or Countershade; it will be very difficult to find them, and dangerous to confront them.

Jack: …But…

Jack: Isn’t that what bird guy is doing…? (And he can’t even heal them…)

Mikhail: Well. I can’t be entirely sure what he is up to, but that is a distinct possibility. Whatever Cardinal is up to, I can tell you this: nothing will deter him from a mission… not even the threat of death.

Mikhail: -Softly- “No one has greater love than this…”

Mikhail: “…to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Jack: —!

Jack: … …

Jack: (Miss Eight…)

Jack: (Real deep stuff you’re laying down here, bird guy…)

Jack: … …

Jack: Sorry I…I’m not much help…I…

Jack: (….REALLY hope you know what you’re doing…)

Mikhail: -Weary… and sad…- No… it should have been expected and anticipated. We were not surprised. Alarmed, yes, but not surprised….

Mikhail: It is the path he chose long ago, and none can deter it from him as long as he yet runs.

Mikhail: He has made his choice. I only wish he weren’t so fragile…

Jack: ……

Jack: (Fragile…like a bird…)

Jack: (Flying solo for your friend, huh…)

Mikhail: At least he took Jazz with him. That may prove to be his saving grace, if things go south.

Mikhail: …That brings us up to the present, I suppose. Do you have any other questions?

Jack: … …

Jack: (Should I ask ‘em if they can help me find Miss Eight? If they couldn’t stop the bird guy, they’ll DEFINITELY try and stop me….)

Jack: Uh…no, no—well, sorta. Do you guys got anything I can use? Like—supplies and stuff. Just to have on hand.

Jack: And… if you’ve heard anything from Miss Eight’s family.

Mikhail: We have not heard from them yet, but we may hear from them within a week’s time. They are running on a different rate of time passage, so details may be different or confused. Time warps can fuzz the memory rather severely, as our own family can personally attest to. One remembers a general feeling, but not specific events…

Mikhail: As for supplies—forgive me, but I thought Ms. White set you up at a flat in Britain?

Jack: W-well, yeah, but…

Jack: …Saw a metal snake behind my couch…

[Mikhail visibly stiffened at this, becoming very tense. Jack noticed that his gloved, clenched left hand was shaking.]

What he couldn't possibly know was the extent dark, dark torment that plagued the Doctor's mind…]

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: -Somewhat strained at first- Oh, of course. No, of course…. It was good of you to come here…. Let’s see…

Mikhail: I know that David sent a great deal of good supplies—which I see you have brought with you. However… if you’re planning on camping, you’ll need something to eat…

[He wanders off for a moment. When he comes back, he has what appears to be a small cooler… or else a very large lunchbox.]

Mikhail: It’s not much, but with what you’re going through… lunch and dinner over the next few days to indulge in is the least we can do.

[There are sandwiches, sauces, ice cream bars, milk bottles, soda, even Xelpops in there!]

Jack: Thanks, man… this is…. This is just great…

Mikhail: You’re welcome.

[He stands and takes off his glasses to clean them for a moment.]

Mikhail: I’m afraid I must be going. I need to start work on the others.

Jack: Yeah, me too.

Mikhail: We wish you the best as you go on elsewhere, though you are welcome to stay here if you change your mind. I do hope you come back soon at least once—I think Felix had a gift for you.

Jack: …? (Miss Eight said the same thing…. She said he said it was important, too…)

Jack: Uh…I think maybe I’ll just pick that up on the way? Where is he?

[Hopefully he had enough luck on his side to get back to the States in time…AND in one piece.]

Mikhail: He’s out a bit further in the Wilderness. There’s a path that leads more or less right by his house. (Granted, his house is underground, but.)

Jack: Hmm. Got it—I’ll head that way for now.

[Mikhail nodded and left, heading for the medical bay portion of the lab.

Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, Jack straightened out his coat and grabbed the cooler with his other hand, stretching himself out a couple of times–the doc said he had to often just to keep himself limber.]

Jack: Nnh….

[…Despite the looming danger in front of him, and what was yet to come…

…Strangely, Jack didn’t feel all that worried about it at the moment. Maybe it was the food.]

Jack: ….

Jack: (Well, need to at least see what all that is about…)

[It wasn’t long before he found himself in a very unusual house.

It appeared to have been dug right into the ground. This underground bunker had undergone a number of renovations over the years, with the latest one making it far more sophisticated.]

Jack: (This must be the place…. Can’t say I expected it would be underground…)

Jack: …

Jack: -Knocks on the door in the ground?-

[After a few moments, the door was rolled away from underneath, and he found himself looking at someone rather unusual.]

Piers: ?

[The man had golden eyes and aqua colored hair. The air around him seemed to be cooler and… gentler, somehow.]

Piers: I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met before. May I help you?

Jack: (…OK, I’ve seen people dye their hair some CRAZY colors but—)

Jack: Um–yeah, same here. CDN.7037, Designation 'Dencerjack’. Just call me Jack…

Jack: Uh—I’m looking for a guy called Felix? The guys back at that Meadow told me he had something for me.

Piers: Ah… yes, that makes sense.

Piers: Felix mentioned you. He had an important gift for you. Please, do come in.

Jack: … ‘Kay….

[He followed the man down a ladder and into a sort of living room area. There was a large stone table, two chairs, a rocking chair, and a large sofa… currently occupied by a man with long brown hair, who appeared to be asleep in a fevered dream.

There were banners and tapestries adorning the walls, and there were blankets and furs stowed away neatly in a nearby chest. The mantelpiece and shelves around the living room displayed pottery and chinaware that the owner had made, and some wooden carvings. Noticeably, the art around the room showed not only his travels in Weyard and Weyard history, but also scenes and depictions of his friends (and their trials) beyond it.

In the middle of the living room, there were two large dog bed-sized baskets, and one smaller basket. Small cups of stone in the walls around the room served as recesses where beeswax candles and oil lamps rested, though they were lit by Venus energy most of the time… but not today. Today, they were lit by Mercury energy, giving the whole room a soft blue hue to it.]

Jack: (Jeez, this is like something out of a story…)

[His eyes keep glancing back to the little blue lights, wondering where in the world they had come from—this guy registered as an organic, but he was getting some weird energy readings from him too…

Piers: Where are my manners? Forgive me—allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain Piers of Lemuria—a Mercury warrior Adept.

Jack: (….Uhhh.) Nice to meet you…

[Piers looked over at the man on the couch, who briefly glowed a faint gold with a green tint.]

Jack: …!

Piers: Felix is still locked in the cursed dreams… I fear that it is the current disaster which overtook him.

[There were so many things Jack wanted to ask about that—the glow, where the heck was Lemuria and what in the world was an Adept—but he didn’t have the time…]

Jack: Yeah, things have REALLY gone down the drain, huh. …Hope he gets better soon.

Piers: I believe he shall, but that may not be until the crisis has passed… -Small sigh- It is hard to say, outside of time, how long it may take.

[He motioned for Jack to sit down on the floor near the table, which he did.]

Piers: There is, in our world, a material. This material can be used to craft things… jewelry, armor, weapons…. They provide a good deal of power, but they are cursed.

Jack: C-cursed?

Piers: The curse makes it impossible to discard the item without an exorcism. The user gets power, yes—but they are enveloped in a black and red aura, and at times… lose the ability to move of their own volition.

Jack: Ghn…. Oh glitch, that… that’s bad…

[Piers sighed and went over to the mantelpiece above the fireplace.]

Piers: Yes. The similarities were striking, which is probably why Felix was looking into it. Once you understand how something is set into motion, it is easier to see how to put a stop to it. He hoped that studying Dark Matter would yield information that the Doctors could use for medical purposes.

[He brought back a small container. Inside it was a chunk of what looked like an evil cross between obsidian and black marble, as smooth as glass.]

Piers: I'll be honest with you, Master Parker. This was a very dangerous experiment for him to be conducting, right from the start. It's also very unusual that he was working with Dark Matter at all; he'd always made a point never to use Cursed weapons or armor, simply because they were not worth the price. The fact that this happened anyway shows just how motivated he was.

Jack: B…But why the glitch would he DO that—?

Piers: Out of concern. Everyone was very worried. Felix honestly thought he could find an answer. Not only that… he also sympathized with your position.

Jack: …Position?

Piers: -Shakes his head- Within your group. …Felix knew what it was like to have… hard taskmasters, who favored the use of force to show dominance and displeasure.

Jack: -Winces at the reminder… and the thought someone else went through the same thing- …

Jack: …Hn…

Jack: …Is… Is he gonna be okay—?

[The sailor looked over at the Adept in question.]

Piers: …Probably. He’s been through worse in his time.

[He heaved a sigh.]

Piers: At any rate. He arranged for a gift to be given to you, but he fell ill before he could send it….

[He went back over to the mantelpiece and brought over a small box.]

Piers: He said this was to be for you.

[There appeared to be… only a single item inside.]

Jack: ….?

[…What the… a ring, of all things?]

Piers: -Looks QUITE surprised- So that’s where it went.

[He is suddenly very thoughtful.]

Piers: He must have felt that you would need it—and deserved it—and had it set aside for you to give to you…

Jack: ? You know what this is?

Piers: Yes. That’s a Cleric’s Ring: a rare artifact that prevents loss of control of your person.

Jack: … …

Jack: You mean– this thing will protect me from the virus?!

[It takes a moment for him to understand that Jack was talking about the sickness that had overtaken the Mighty Numbers, but then he nods.]

Piers: Yes, that is exactly the idea. It only protects the wearer, however; it does not have an area of effect or the ability to be used as a healing talisman.

Jack: …So it’s just for me. Got it…

[Jack takes a few seconds to inspect the ring a little before putting it on. It fit perfectly.]

Jack: Wow…feels weird…

[…But in a good way.]

Jack: …..

Jack: ….

Jack: (…This can protect me… I won’t get sick. Man, that makes me feel a HELL of a lot better… I guess I really am lucky, having this kinda stuff available… but Kate…)

Piers: I can see you have a lot on your mind… and your gear suggests you have nowhere to go. Would you like to spend the night here? At least then you will have a roof over your head.

Jack: Uh— A-Are you sure? You said Felix is… sick, I, I don’t wanna… be a bother, especially in a time like this--

Piers: Nonsense. It is no imposition whatsoever.

Jack: …

Jack: …A…Alright. I… need t’ think over all this, maybe…. Y…yeah. Thanks.

[And think them over he did.

… … …Kate…. The only person who ever gave two bolts about him…the woman who saved his life…

The woman who had believed in him when no one else did, who had been there to comfort and protect him, who had pulled him out of harm’s way…

The fearless agent who had championed his cause after he was out of surgery, who had kept the press and the forces of darkness at bay…

The… friend he had shared laughter with, who had made his days more than just “bearable”…

She was out there somewhere in America, alone. In the midst of all this.]

Jack: … …

Jack: (….No…No freakin’ way. It’s crazy. YOU’RE crazy.)

Jack: (If she IS OK, somewhere, then yeah, nothing to worry about then–)

Jack: (….But…if she ISN’T…)

Jack: … …

Jack: Sonofva[GLITCH.]

[Without another word, Jack yanks his old biker trenchcoat off from the floor, and heads for the door.]

“Where are you going?”

Jack: !

Jack: Uh—

[Piers was up, dressed in a simple cotton shirt and slacks, with a robe drawn about him. He looked at Jack patiently, clearly waiting for an answer.]

Jack: I…

Jack: I’m sorry, Captain, but—I really have to go—

Piers: …

Piers: Very well.

Jack: !

Piers: But before you do, permit me to at least prepare some supplies.

Jack: I…

Jack: I don’t know if I can carry any more…

[Piers smiled at this.]

Piers: We’ll see about that.

[He went over to one of the storage chests in the room and unlocked it, pulling out a well worn traveling bag. He disappeared off into the kitchen for a moment, before returning with just the bag again.]

Jack: What’s in the bag?

Piers: Some healing items. I am unsure if they would work on you, but I am inclined to think they would. There’s also a change of clothes that should fit relatively well; you’ll want them if you travel for long. There’s also some water and a few defensive items. You may take a look for yourself.

[The first thing he notices is the…wow there is a WHOLE lot more room in here than what it looks like on the outside—how is that even physically possible.]

Jack: …. Are you sure you won’t need this?

Piers: Very. We won’t be traveling for some time; your need is far greater.

Jack: Okay then…

[He proceeds to stuff the cooler in it because NO WAY was he going to drag that thing the whole way.

After some thought, he puts much of what was in his backpack in there as well. Then he puts the bag in one of his many pockets, hauling up the backpack onto his shoulders.]

Piers: -Turns to face Jack, looking at him thoughtfully before giving a gentle smile- I see others have supplied you for the journey ahead as well. I must say… it’s nice to start off a quest with something at hand.

Jack: No kidding…

[Piers opened the door and led Jack outside. He looked ahead down the path, pointing to the horizon.]

Piers: Keep your sights on that city, and you shall arrive where you seek soon enough.

[…WOW OKAY. There was a city there that was NOT there before—

—and what’s more, it looked familiar! It was definitely somewhere from Jack’s own world!

Jack looked to where he pointed–his violet eyes widening as he locked his gaze into something familiar in this huge mess of chaos–it almost felt relieving to see his destination at last.

…In fact…judging from the city skyline–it almost looked like…]

[..Seattle?]

Jack: … …

Jack: I REALLY hope it’s not gonna be raining by the time I get there…

Jack: That city is almost ALWAYS raining, see…

Jack: (…It’s better than nothing, at least.)

[Piers smiled a little.]

Piers: Do you have a poncho you could use? That’s what I’d recommend.

Jack: Oh yeah… now that you mention it….

[He pulled it out and put it on, and then put the goggles on as well. The night vision activated immediately, making the whole world a lot easier to see.

…He REALLY felt like he was about to embark on some important journey, now that he thought about it…

…Probably because he really was.]

Jack: …-Exhales-

Piers: Godspeed on your journey, my friend. Return home safely upon its completion—and may that be soon.

Jack: Thanks, Captain. Thanks for everything.

[He turns away, eyes set on the horizon, rain clouds already starting to form over the distant, war-torn city of Seattle.]

Jack: …Godspeed…yeah…

Jack: (I’m gonna need all the luck in the world for this…)

[In an instant, he starts to sprint off. Might as well get a head start and run for it…!]

Jack: (Just a little further, Kate…! I’m almost there…!)

Jack: (Just hold on until then…!)

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=BONUS CONTENT: BONUS SCENE #2=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

((Prewriting: Desmond and Minerva question Tobias (who has Avi present for support) ))

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{July 3rd, 20XX}

[Tobias fidgeted in his seat, sparking up a bit every now and again. He kept his head bowed, looking down at the ground.]

Tobias: …I’m in big trouble, aren’t I…

[He was waiting in a conference call with Sanda Enterprises, with Avi sitting on the other line.]

Avi: ((Words of encouragement, as best as he can muster, but internally all AAAAAA))

[After breakfast, Avi had been pulled aside by Desmond Donald, who wanted to speak with him….]

-=-=-=-=-

Des: Six, can I talk with you for a moment?

Avi: ((Asks how he can help/what’s going on))

Des: We need to speak with Tobias Wily.

Avi: —…Uh…

Des: We need to clear up some of the finer points of what happened at the Queen’s Finals and the White House. It’s important.

Avi: ((Expresses uncertainty that he’ll be able to convince Tobias to come over))

Des: Just talking would be a start. Do you think you can arrange that?

Avi: I can… tryyyyyy…? (If Nico will even let me get through to him, oh man…)

Des: Great. We’ll be right with you as soon as we get a moment.

-=-=-=-=-

Avi: Just a little chat, right? -Thumbs up- You can handle that, no problem-o!

Tobias: I guess…. I’m just. I dunno, Avi, I’m scared.

Avi: Don’t worry there, Toby! ^.^ I’ll be right there with you.

Tobias: Thanks, Avi. … You don’t… don’t have to do this…

Avi: ((Oh nonsense, happy to help, etc.))

[The door opened, and Tobias just about jumped to his feet. His eyes did flicker a bright green in alarm, and he jerked back, recoiling a bit.]

Des: ((Internal commentary reaction to seeing Tobias on the screen in person for the first time, with the boy clearly nervous))

Avi: ((Internal commentary on both Des AND Minerva coming in))

Min: Good morning, gentlemen. We’ll get right to the point.

[She didn’t sit down, but instead took some file folders from Des and placed them down on the table.]

Des: Mr. Wily, you have been involved in a number of high-profile incidents pertaining to matters of national security… in more than one country.

Avi: ((Reaction to this starting off not so well))

[Minerva took out a series of photographs, data logs, news articles, and audio transcripts, laying them on the table. The pictures from the Queen’s Finals depicted Tobias grabbing Bladeblaster and preparing to strike him. Tobias gave a sullen expression to see the face of his enemy again.]

Des: You have been visually identified as the intruder who interrupted an international sports event to assault one of the participants, and a witness claims that you were also responsible for bypassing security to get there.

Tobias: -Cringes, squinting his eyes shut-

Des: We need you to tell us exactly what happened, how, and why.

Tobias: …

<DLN-008>: > A-Avi—!

[MN.6] //: ((Words of encouragement))

Avi: Mind if I jump in for a moment here?

Des: -Slight frown- -Looks over at Min-

Min: -Unmoved- If you wish. Do try and keep it brief, Aviator.

Avi: :’ D;;;

Avi: ((Stressed punning as he gives his summary of the end of the Queen’s Finals, emphasizing on how OTHER people were behaving, and how Tobias got the short end of the stick))

Des: ((Reaction to all of this, asking further questions as they come up, before stating that they still needed to hear Tobias’s side of the story))

Tobias: Isn’t there an Amendment against this?

Min: -Adjusts her glasses, giving him a look- …You may choose not to answer the questions, true. I must warn you, however, that doing so will leave us no choice but to draw our own conclusions from the evidence, and those conclusions may be incorrect. -Looks down at one of the data logs- We have evidence that you were there, but only guesses as to your motives. There may be mitigating circumstances we haven’t been told about, things that only you can tell us.

Tobias: Wh-what do you mean?

Min: -Folds her hands together over the documents, looking up at the screen- Well, there is the matter that you are a construct, for starters. If you were ordered to do this, then your Doctor would be held responsible, not you. If you were malfunctioning, that would be another example of a mitigating circumstance. Good intentions may also lessen the charges levied against you, though they won’t make them go away entirely. There’s also your background and circumstances to consider.

Tobias: I see…

Des: Were you ordered to attack Bladeblaster?

[Tobias looked up, alarmed.]

Tobias: N-no! Please, don’t get angry at Dr. Cossack!

Des: …

Tobias: It’s not his fault!

[MN.6] //: ((Tries to help calm him down))

Tobias: I…

Tobias: -Meekly, looking down at the ground- I hit him because I was scared and angry…

Avi: ((Wehhhh, poor friend))

Min: Can you explain that a bit further?

Tobias: I thought he was going to kill her!

bzzZAP.

Tobias: He…!

Tobias: He said he was going to kill her…

Avi: ((Bleh, internal displeasure re: BB ))

Des: (So far this is matching up to what Cossack had to say…. Let’s see if he takes it the next step farther…)

[Tobias gave off a lot of very depressed data.]

Avi: ((-Abyss feelings, oh no—-))

Tobias: …

Des: ((Reflection on how troubled the kid seemed, how that compares/contrasts to his expectations/what they know about his temper))

Tobias: …

Tobias: -Whine-

Tobias: I wanted to stop that. She didn’t deserve… didn’t deserve to die. No one should have to go Offline… -Trails off- (Not like that…)

Avi: -Tooooobyyyyy- :<

Tobias: -Bows his head, shoulders sagging- No one was stopping him. I couldn’t… just sit there and wait.

Des: How did you get into the arena?

Tobias: -Grumbles- That was kind of easy…

Des: (…Well that’s not a good thing to hear on a matter of security…)

Tobias: There’s an emergency protocol that allows medical staff to get onto the field. I activated that so I could get in.

Des: How?

Tobias: …

Tobias: -Looks up- I’m not even sure if I CAN explain that. It was like turning on a switch. Not active, active. I turned it on.

Des: No one else was able to get onto the field due to interference. How did you manage to get through?

Tobias: I… don’t know. I guess the matter only disrupted Xels or something.

Des: -Taps his fingers against the table, frowning- What did you intend to do when you got there?

Tobias: …

[He suddenly glared and gritted his teeth, sparking up as his eyes began to glow in anger.]

Avi: ((Quickly says something to calm him down or at least snap him out of a budding rage mode))

[The glow left, and he hesitated for a moment. Then he crossed his arms, hunching his shoulders up.]

Tobias: I don’t know. I just wanted to beat him up a lot.

Des: Were you trying to kill him?

Tobias: -Looks up, both alarmed and dismayed- !

Avi: Woah there! Toby may be a bit of a live wire, but he’d never try and kill somebody!

Tobias: I…!

Tobias: -Looks down again, very troubled- I just wanted him to stop…

Des: But you tried to keep going even after Dynatron got free.

Tobias: I was angry! I guess I got… a bit carried away….

Des: So you’re saying that you bypassed security of your own accord, with the intent to assault a combatant because Dynatron was in danger.

Tobias: -Opens his mouth a little, but still can’t vocalize words- … I…

Tobias: -Bows his head again- Yes…

Avi: ((Says something in Tobias’s defense))

Des: I find it very interesting that you are speaking up in his defense, Aviator. He tried to send you crashing down into concrete while you were sick.

[Both Tobias and Avi cringe at the reminder. Tobias looks particularly upset. He puts his face in his hands, shaking.]

Avi: ((Weak comeback))

Tobias: …fault…

Des: …?

Tobias: -Sparking up erratically, causing the comm lines to flicker with static- Always my… fault…

Avi: ((Tries his best to comfort Tobias))

Tobias: No…

Tobias: That was my fault…

Des: ((Some sort of reaction to this))

Des: …You said—

[Tobias held his hands up near his face in aggravation, his eyes clamped shut as he LOUDLY interrupted, vocalizing for the first time.]

Tobias: I KNOW what I said!

Tobias: Please…

Tobias: Please don’t remind me…

[He put his face in his hands again, his voice muffled.]

Tobias: It’s all my fault…

Avi: Toby…

Tobias: I…

[His fans gave a wheeze that sounded like a heaving sob.]

Tobias: I’m sorry, Avi…!

Avi: ((Some sort of reaction to this))

Tobias: I’m sorry…

Des: ((Internal commentary on the matter)) …

Des: -Looks over at Minerva- (According to Felix, “good cop” works better than “bad cop” on these guys…) -Gestures for her to step in-

Min: You care very much for your friends and family, don’t you.

Tobias: -Whiiiine-

Min: Is that why you agreed to help out at the White House?

Tobias: I don’t want to talk about it…

Min: This is very important. We need to know what happened… for Dr. Cossack’s sake.

Des: He said he ordered you to bypass security. Is that true?

Avi: Woah woah wait—he said that—?!

Des: Yes, during our last interview with him. He said, quote, “I made the decision to bring Tobias back Online. And I ordered him to go into the Cloud, force his way in there, give us the feeds, and disable it or turn it off.”

Avi: ((Slight internal anxiety/panic, this explains why he was sort of arrested the other day))

[A pause.]

Tobias: …

Des: Is that true?

Tobias: -Whiiiiine!-

<DLN-008>: >-AVI HELP I DON'T WANNA BE ERASED—-

[MN.6] //: -Um, uh, IT'S OKAY BRO I GOT THIS—-

Avi: (Oh crap I might not got this, WHY THIS—)

[Avi seems at a loss for words, and Tobias was silent.]

Des: (This isn’t going to get us anywhere…)

Min: Keep in mind, Mr. Wily: you won’t be held responsible for carrying out direct orders you could not disobey.

Tobias: I…

Tobias: I don’t want anyone to die…!

((Some sort of reaction from Des and Avi at this))

Min: Neither do we, DLN-008.

[A pause.]

Tobias: -Peeks through at them- R-really…?

Min: Dr. Cossack was under a lot of stress when he made his statement. We want to verify the accuracy of what he said before we make any judgments.

[Tobias seemed to think on that.]

Tobias: … S…sort of…?

Min: Would you please elaborate?

Tobias: -Hides his face again- …

[He was quiet for some while.]

Tobias: -Timidly- We wanted to get him out of there… before he ended up destroying himself…

Tobias: We were all so angry and scared…. He said that they couldn’t access the feeds in the White House, that something was wrong…

Tobias: He ordered me to get in there and try and get the feeds back, and disable the malfunctioning security so it wouldn’t hurt anybody…

Des: What specifically did he tell you to do?

Tobias: He said not to get out of hand, and not to try and use the security myself…

Min: Oh?

Tobias: …

Tobias: I… I’m sorry, Avi…. I was so angry…

Avi: ((Tries to comfort him))

Des: That seems to happen a lot with you. : |

Tobias: …

Min: What happened when you got to the White House?

Tobias: Hnnn… The Cloud… it was full of fire…! Monster…

Tobias: There was… there was something keeping the fires from working. I… I tried to make it work right, but it hurt—it hurt a lot. So I tried to make it all stop, but I… I couldn’t do it, it was too powerful…!

Des: ((Some sort of reaction to this))

Min: How did you get past the cyber security?

Tobias: It wasn’t working properly. There were a couple of people trying to get in, but I tore up the programs to make them go away. I had to go through a hole the virus left, and there was so much noise everywhere…

Des: What would have happened if you HAD gotten full access to security?

Tobias: Turn it off so that it wouldn’t hurt anybody…. We… we would have taken Cardinal out of there.

Tobias: Just…

Tobias: Just wanted to save him…!

Tobias: Please… please don’t be mad at him…

[Minerva took in a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. Desmond tapped a pen against the table.]

Des: ((Notes (again) that Tobias seems to lose his temper a lot, and starts getting very violent when that happens))

Des: Is this something that is going to keep happening with you?

Tobias: -Whiiiine…-

Des: Felix suggested that you wanted to break into the CherryDynamics servers as well, because you were angry at them.

Tobias: -Somewhat confused- What? No.

Tobias: I mean…

Tobias: I sort of WISHED that I could do it, but I knew it would be wrong… so I didn’t.

Des: The Mighty Numbers are a combat team. The top ranking one in the world. They’re going to be in dangerous situations every now and then—it’s bound to happen. You can’t keep hacking your way through to assault anyone who threatens them.

Tobias: I… I know. I’m sorry, Avi…

Avi: ((Encouraging words about how things are better now, and how he can tell how hard Tobias is trying, and he’s proud with how far he’s come))

Des: Have you breached any other security systems in this world in the last few months?

Tobias: No.

Des: So you didn’t infiltrate to retaliate against Battalion?

Tobias: -Looks up- What?

[He looked genuinely puzzled.]

Tobias: What happened with Battalion?

Des: …You don’t know?

Tobias: Nobody said anything about Bat. It wasn’t in any of the data logs, either.

Avi: ((Remarks that Mikhail ran off and they had to keep it a secret anyway))

Tobias: No, I don’t know about any secrets.

Min: (He seems calmer now, at least.)

Min: Well, Mr. Wily… Nero expressed that none of you meant any lasting harm, and were not truly a threat to the nation.

Min: You acted decisively during emergency conflicts… which is not in and of itself a bad thing. You meant well, which counts for a great deal. And you only entered through legitimate channels, rather than breaking things yourself.

Min: Your temper and self-control, however, need a good deal of work. You need to learn some discipline.

Min: Do you intend to behave yourself from now on?

Tobias: Y-yes, Madame President, I want to be good—to be good from now on!

Tobias: I just…

Tobias: I’m sorry…

Min: You have my pity, young man. The circumstances are mitigating, and we can work with what’s left.

Tobias: R-really…?

Avi: ((Reaction to this!))

Tobias: I… you’re not going to erase me…?

Min: Good heavens, no. However, we can’t just turn you loose, either.

Min: You should really undergo some behavioral and socialization therapy. Learn how to interact with people, and how to control your temper. You should have that chance, at least. Consider it your conditions of parole. However…

Min: You’re going to need to put in some effort.

Tobias: I will, I will…! I’ll…

Tobias: I’ll try…

Avi: You can do it, buddy! : D -Thumbs up- And I’ll be there to help you every step of the way!

Min: Good! That would be beneficial. Perhaps you can mentor him in later stages.

Tobias: -Ping of hope and approval-

((Concluding remarks))

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=CHAPTER 3A: VOLTAIC DYNATRON=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

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{SANDA LABS...}

[The whole building was complete darkness.]

Soi: aaAAAAAAH—!

Will: —!!

"WHOA WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS—?!"

"Beck—Calm—One moment—"

[....A few seconds later, A bright glow shines from the repair bay, and Pyro slowly walks out with his hand aflame, his younger siblings in tow.]

Pyro: Father?

Will: Yes, we're alright.

Soi: Oh thank goodness Pyro thank you—

Call: Initiating Back-up Generator startup sequence...

Call: My scans indicate that the city's power grid was shut down—the main power will be rerouted in about 30 minutes.

Soi: The entire city?!

Will: .......

Pyro: .....

Beck: ...You don't think...?

Will: ...It has to.

Will: Dynatron...

[The lights flicker back on, although they are now a light green.]

Soi: ...If she's managed to access the power grid, then—

Will: Then she must be at one of the country's major power plants.

Pyro: ......Yes—of course—she would have to drain power from a large source at some point—!

Cryo: ........

Call: Initiating search—

Cryo: Big.

Beck: ...?

Cryo: Bros, this is Dyna. We all KNOW her appetite.

Cryo: Where's the biggest power plant in the US?

Call: The largest power plant in the United States is located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Call: However, we will not be able to initiate Xel Transfer until the power comes back on.

Will: We'll just have to make the best of what time we have. Beck, prepare yourself—Sanda, you and I will continue repairs on 1 and 2.

Cryo: —!

Cryo: Daddy— fix my tank first—

Will: I'll do that—

Will: ...But I'm afraid I can't let you go with Beck.

Cryo: But—!

Will: Either of you.

Pyro: . . .

Will: One—you'd risk becoming infected once more simply by going OUT there—

Will: Two, we need someone to stay HERE in case the malfunctioning robots out in the city decide to come back here—

Will: Three, the both of you still need extensive repairs and FOUR—

Will:  Think of the others.

Cryo: ....

Will: You are half-weak to Dyna—and Pyro still needs to recover from his LAST trip to rescue you.

Will: .....

Will: And if by some miracle we do get back in touch with Mikhail and the Angels...

Will: They will want to know if you are alright.

Cryo: . . . .

Pyro: . . .

Beck: ......

Will: ...I'm sorry.

Will: I know you want to help your sister, but...

Will: Beck will have to go on his lonesome this time.

Cryo: ......

Cryo: -SNIFF-

Pyro: . . . .

Beck: .....

Beck: I'll be careful.

Beck: I'll bring her back.

Beck: I'll save her like I did with you guys.

Beck: I promise.

Cryo: ......

Cryo: just don't punch her too hard or something....

Pyro: ......

[MN.1 to MN.9] //: Do what you have to, Beck. Just bring her back to us.

[MN.9 to MN.1] //: I will, Pyro. I will.

——————————————

[HALF AN HOUR LATER...]

[The power had been restored—and everyone immediately scrambled to get the lab systems up and running when—]

Call: Scan complete.

Call: I have located Mighty No. 3's transponder signal in the predicted location. It is confirmed—

KKKZZZZZTKT—

[There was a large data fuzz and the screens went black. They flickered back on after a moment, but only to show error messages.]

Cryo: What the [glitch] was that—

Will: (Right on cue…)

[He set about to clearing out the error messages, but there were several layers of them. And just like before, just when it seemed he’d cleared them all…]

<RMDC>: > PROCESSING NEW DATA…

<RMDC>: > CROSS-REFERENCE IDENTIFIED. ENTRY: DLN-001. ENTRY: DLN_COMBAT.EXE. ENTRY: DLN-008

<RMDC>: > ERROR—CONNECTION TO MAIN SERVER FAILED.

<RMDC>: > CONNECTION FAILED—UNABLE TO UPDATE MAIN SERVER

<RMDC>: > COMPRESSING DATA FOR NEXT AVAILABLE CONNECTION…

Cryo: What WAS all that???

Will: We’re still not entirely sure….

Soi: Call… were you still able to get the coordinates?

Call: Affirmative, Doctor.

Beck: Then I need to get going…!

Call: I will now initiate Xel Transfer. Please stand by.

Cryo: Bro—Bro.

Beck: Yeah?

Cryo: Just remember that Sis likes to TOY with whomever's up against her, so...

Cryo: ....You...might see some creepy stuff in there and I'm not talking about last Halloween, bro.

Cryo: .....

Cryo: Just...pay attention and keep moving forward, 'Kay?

[Beck nods as he re-checks his comm link, eyes trained at the map in front of him....]

Beck: .......

Beck: . . .

Beck: (I...)

Beck: (....I hope you're safe, wherever you are...)

Beck: (....PLEASE be OK...)

Beck: (Please...)

Beck:   (I don't want to be the only—)

Call: Xel Transfer initiated...

Pyro: Good luck, Beck...

Cryo: WE'LL BE IN TOUCH, BRO, GO GET OUR SIS—

[........]

___________

[MISSION DETAILS: MIGHTY NO. 3, DYNATRON, HAS BEEN SPOTTED AT THIS INDIANA POWER PLANT FACILITY. PROBABILITY OF POWER SIPHONAGE: EXTREME.]

[MISSION OBJECTIVES: LOCATE AND RESCUE MN.3, AND PURGE ALL HARMFUL MALWARE FROM SYSTEMS, PREVENT TOTAL POWER GRID OVERLOAD.]

[SYSTEMS READY?]

[GO!]

[Beck could already FEEL the erratic power surges in the air as he materialized into the Power Plant, his systems taking a moment to readjust to charged atmosphere—it made him a little dizzy, honestly.]

Beck: Whoa...

[It passed after a few seconds, and soon he was making headway down the halls—]

[Zzzt!]

Beck: —WHA—!

[Darkness.]

Beck: I can't see—!

[He scrambles for his C.Visor, for the night vision function it had, of course, but as soon as he turned that on— ]

[The lights came back on again.]

Beck: (Gah—! Too bright—!)

[And once again, they shut OFF and ON, flickering randomly as the low fog in the facility crept around the Mighty Number—]

Beck: (Fog—indoors—?)

[His comm comes online.]

Soi: W...What's happening t-to the l-lights—??

[...There was a quivering fear in Soi's tone—for a moment, Beck was confused—

Then it hit him.

Dr. Sanda had a fear of the dark.]

Will: Soi—Soi, it's OK—

Soi: Beck—Beck, PLEASE be careful, youdon'tknowwhat'sinthere—!

Call: Relax, Dr. Sanda.

Call: It is a temporary blackout caused by the erratic power supply....

Call: It may also trigger irregularities in other robots on site. Proceed with due caution, Beck.

Beck: G-Got it... (Night vision's not gonna be really useful if the lights are going crazy like that...)

[Lifting his visor goggles back up to his helmet, he moves onwards, eventually encountering more malfunctioning robots—]

[...Except...]

Beck: ....Uh...

[...They weren't...moving...]

Beck: D...Dad...?

Will: —? They're Offline...

[There was no damage to be seen whatsoever—but they were sparking up rather harshly, and some of them even twitched here and there...]

Call: My scans indicate that they have been drained of all power.

Beck: (Dyna...) … (No point wasting energy on them—gotta keep moving...)

[He carefully makes his way over the Offline’d husks of robots—their cold, unlit optics making them seem lifeless and dead.]

[...And yet, Beck didn't think twice of it. Funny, given how easily he scares...]

Beck: (This is just like going through her part of the sewers—except less water, and less fog...)

Beck: (...and a LOT more creepy, at least—)

[BZZZZZZZT!]

Call: Warning—there is a power surge in your area--!

[The lights become MUCH brighter, and arcs of electricity jump from one row of lights to another, making very LOUD noises—]

[...Wait...the noises sounded like...]

[...Laughter?]

Beck: Ngh—!

[While his systems recover from the sudden outburst of energy, the electricity jumps from the lights—

...To the downed robots around him.

With a startling whirr of machinery, they rise, like puppets on strings, their eyes all glowing an ominous purple.

And in an instant, they all snap their heads toward Beck.]

Beck: AAAAAH—!

Soi: RUN!

[He didn't need to be told twice—he dashes out of there, the sounds of the horde of robots behind him. He manages to shoot some of them down, but there were just so many of them—]

Beck: —?!

[Suddenly, he had to put on the brakes.

A generator model was blocking his path—it was too high to jump over, and what was worse—

This bot was most DEFINITELY not offline.]

[ZZZZZZZT!]

[Beck was BLASTED by a high powered charge, one that raced across the ceiling and over his head—the other had traveled the floor and struck his legs, causing him to be blown back RIGHT into the robots that were chasing him.]

Beck: GGHT—!

[—Fortunately, this current did not stop at Beck, and proceeded to do the same to the rest of the malfunctioning constructs in the hall.]

Will: BECK—zzt—DO YOU R—zzt—ECK?!

Soi: DI—zzt—HE OVER—zzt-

Call: Be—zzt—respo—zzt—please res—zzt—

Beck: Gh—D—Da-

[ERROR: SYSTEM OVERLOAD, REROUTING POWER SUPPLY...]

Will: Hold on—zzt—your sys—zzt—try to—zzt—!

[REROUTING...]

Beck: Gnh...!

[The robots that were around him also had their systems overloaded, and the generator bot had closed up to recharge for another attack.]

[It was all a matter of who would recover first...]

[REROUTING...] [REROUTING...]

Beck: (Come on—!)

[PING!]

[SYSTEMS RESTORED.]

[And just in time—]

[BZZZZZZZT!]

[Beck had only a split second to react—he jumped, and quickly switched his form to Pyro's—he couldn't deal with the threats on either side of him with his default, so he had to rely on his brother's blast radius to quickly take out the constructs surrounding him.]

Beck: BACK OFF—!

[BOOM!]

[ZZZZRT!]

[And it worked! The robot's Xel Structures were now destabilized, giving Beck some much needed Absorption Boosts and a Xel Stock to save for later.]

[—PING!]

Soi: —Got it! Beck—Beck, do you read?

Beck: Yeah—I read!

[A sigh of relief came from the other side.]

Will: Goodness, that was tense—your communicator was malfunctioning, and we had a data loss—we concluded that you had a system overload...

Beck: Yeah—wasn't nice at all...

Will: Fortunately, your systems can reroute power surges--but it also leaves you open, so take care not to let it happen again.

Beck: Right...

[The lights begin to flicker once more as Beck continues, this time making sure to shoot the drained bots first, before they woke up...

It certainly made things a little easier, though the large generator bots were a pain to deal with. Huge, produced by CherryDyn, packed a punch and REALLY tough to take down—they usually blocked the way, so he had no choice but to absorb them and move on.

Eventually, however, after crossing over huge, glowing power lines, he comes across a door. After passing through it, it shuts behind him...

...And the lights shut off again.]

Soi: Nnngh—...

Will: Hold on, Soi— -sounds of rummaging-

Beck: ......

Beck: (...The lights aren't coming back on.... Better switch on Night Vision this time—)

[BWAAAAAN BWAAAAAN BWAAAAN BWAAAAAN—!!!]

Soi: AAAAAAAH—!!!

[A LOUD alarm suddenly goes off, red lights flashing everywhere, sending Beck into a slight panic—]

Beck: Wah—!

Beck: (WHAT'S HAPPENING—??)

[The lights are brought back on again—

And covering the entirety of the walls and ceiling were dozens and dozens of small, four legged robots, resembling—yes—spiders.]

Beck: EEP—!!

[The spider-like bots all chitter at once, a horrifying, low sound, and they all start to crawl...slowly...towards the Mighty Number.]

Beck: Ah—... nice s-spider bots...g-good spider bots...!

Soi: ohGodthey'regoingtoSWARMHIM—

Will: Sanda—get a hold of yourself!

Soi: —!

Will: —He's also locked inside—those robots have drained the power from the other door.

Will: Beck—destroy all robots in the area, you will need their Xel and energy to unlock the doors!

Beck: A...All of...?!

[The spiders closed in, the bulbs on their backs shining a dull cobalt—the ones that had gotten a few feet of Number Nine screeched and jumped on him—!]

Beck: ACK, NO, STOP—GET OFF—!

Beck: GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF—!!!

Will: Beck—focus—!

Beck: OW THEY'RE ON MY FACE DAD HELP—

Beck: THEY BITE HARD OWOWOW—

[PING!]

[MN.2] //: BRO!

Beck: —Cryo—!

[MN.2] //: They're smaller than you, Beck—FREEZE 'EM AND SMASH 'EM!

Beck: !!!

[REXELECTION: CRYOSPHERE]

[A flash of white fading to blue and a COLD blast of ice covers his own frame, trapping the spiders on him in ice. He wastes no time smashing them with his nozzle, absorbing the Xel from them one by one.]

[MN.2] //: YEAH BRO, THAT'S IT—!

[This process was repeated until the last spider bot was smashed, leaving Beck a little exhausted--did the spiders also drain his energy too...?]

[ACCESSING XEL STOCK 1...]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[The door opened once the spiders that were siphoning it's power were gone, allowing him access to the deeper parts of the plant.]

[MN.1] //: ...There certainly is an eerie touch in here...

[MN.2] //: What do ya expect, it's DYNA, of course she'd make everything creepy, it's her thing.

[MN.2] //: Dude, remember the haunted house she was in charge of last Halloween, SOMEONE CALLED THE POLICE EVEN.

[MN.1] //: Someone got lost in there, Cryo—

[MN.2] //: E X A C T L Y.

[MN.2] //: Bro—PLEASE be careful, I dunno what kind of fragged up things she's thought of in her state...

[........]

Beck: . . .

[MN.2] //: ....Bro?

Beck: ......

Will: Beck—?

Beck: . . . .

Beck: . . . -AUDIBLE GULP-

Beck: I—I t-th-think I-I have a pretty g-good idea a-already...

Will: What are you--

Will: —?!

[The next room wasn't much better than the last.

Live, high powered cables were strung everywhere, like some kind of web, and hung up from the ceiling, in various, macabre positions were even MORE robots—

....not just the surrounding models in the area, but—were those civilian models too—?! ]

[MN.2] //: Holy SH—

[MN.1] //: What in the...?!

Beck: D...Dyna...

Will: No...!

Soi: -YUP, HE'S SHAKING NOW, WILL, HELP-

Call: ....

Call: Scanning...

Call: Beck, several of the robots overhead are showing signs of life.

Call: Please move though this area as quickly as possible.

Beck: . . . .

Beck: Wait—what about the civilians?!

Call: Beck—please move. Now.

Beck: But you said—!

Will: We can double back for them later, Beck! GO!

Beck: —Nngh—!

[Reluctantly, he dashes across the cable web, glancing every so often at the civilians he passed by—was it too late for them, or...?]

Call: Warning: Incoming Power Surge.

Beck: —!!

[The cables that surrounded him went live—and a familiar purple current surrounded them! The same kind that the spikes in the Oil Platform and Water Works had—!]

Call: Warning: These cables have been modified to disrupt Xel Structures.

[Dashing around all these death cables didn't seem to be the best idea at the moment—!]

Beck: Oh man—

[He stops dead in his tracks, the loud, buzzing electrical currents resounding in his audio receptors, WAY too close for comfort...]

Beck: O~O;;;;

[The way they were set up forced him to remain completely still-- one wrong move and he was as good as loose Xel.]

[Then...]

Beck: . . .

[SKRET—!]

Beck: what was that—

[He could HEAR something skittering in the darkness—what, he did NOT want to find out.]

[Suddenly, the currents to the cables stopped. Freedom! ]

Beck: (Gotta get outta here—!!)

[He dashed as fast as he possibly could, into down the corridor, and he was only halfway there—!]

Call: Warning: Incoming Power Surge—

Beck: (AGAIN?!)

[Once more, he stopped--the wires sparking to life, and whatever was hiding in the darkness once again made that awful grating noise—!]

Beck: Daaaaad—!

Will: —! Beck—it's a pattern! They shut on and off in intervals!

Beck: —! A pattern—

[Will was right—the wires turned on and off in exactly three second intervals—it didn't give him much time, but...! ]

Beck: (Wait three seconds, dash, wait three more, rinse and repeat...)

Beck: (And try not to be whatever is in the dark's lunch, WHAT IS THAT—)

[SKRET—!]

Beck: Nngaah—

[A tedious, twisted game of Red Light, Green Light—or Purple Light, in this case. Stop, dash, stop, dash—all while occasionally shooting behind him—it seemed to keep whatever creature that wanted his head well away from him—]

[But at last—! There was light! The door!]

Beck: (OH MAN, FINALLY—!) Just a few more—

[SCREEEEEEEEECH—!!]

[MN.2] //: WHAT THE FRAG IS THAT?!?

[MN.1] //: DOESN'T MATTER—RUN FOR IT—!

[The fast paced clacking of multiple feet is more than enough to spur Beck onto dashing the last few feet—and rolling through the door—]

[SCREEEEEEEECH—!!]

[The door slammed shut—and whatever was chasing Beck crashed into it, leaving a large dent—as Beck sat on the other side gasping for air, the creature kept screeching in rage and ramming itself against the door in an attempt to bust it open.]

Beck: Hah....hah....jeez...

[His core was cycling a mile a minutes, and it did take a few more moments for him to calm down once the creature stopped bashing itself on the door.]

Will: (What on EARTH was that...thing...?)

Will: Beck—are you alright?

Beck: Hah...yeah...for the...most part... still pretty scared...

[Collecting himself back to his feet, Number Nine leaned against a wall and sighed.

....Still no sign of Dyna. Oh, she was here, no doubt, but he sort of expected her to show up by now, maybe to taunt and frighten him...

...But nothing. Nothing at all.

...Which was weird, considering Dyna LIVED for that sort of thing—all in good fun, usually, but this...]

Beck: .....

Beck: Where are you, Sis...?

Beck: .....

Beck: (She's gotta be in the generators—if she's messing with the power supply, it has to be from there...)

Beck: Call—how far is the generator room from here?

Call: Calculating....

Call: The fastest route to the main generators is through the Turbine room.

Beck: T...Turbines...?

Call: Correct. You are in it now.

Beck: ....!

[He noticed a low humming noise in the background as he continued, and a soft rumbling under his feet—which only grew louder and louder until—]

Beck: Whoa—!

[The room opened up further to reveal the turbines in question—and they were BIG.]

Soi: Great Scott—look at the size of those turbines—! C-Careful you don't get sucked in, Beck—!

Beck: They ARE big—!

[So big that he wasn't even sure he could get PAST them. And what's worse, they had that SAME purple current of disrupting Xel frequencies--one touch and he was DONE for.]

Beck: How do I get past these things...?

[Flying over them would be one option—but he didn't have Avi's form. Blowing them up wouldn't be a good idea either—that would REALLY mess up the power grid...]

Beck: ....Mmmng...what to do...

[....! Wait a minute—]

[There was a very small space underneath them— but maybe big enough for him to crawl under? Wait, no, if he was too slow, they'd suck him up...]

Beck: .....

[But if he was fast enough...]

Will: ...Call, maybe you should recalculate another path, this seems to be—wait—Beck? What are you doing?

Beck: I'm gonna try something—

Will: Wait—what? What are you—?!

Beck: HERE GOES NOTHING—

[He dashed towards the turbine—!]

[MN.1] //: BECK?!

[MN.2] //: BRO NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING—

[His form...]

[...compresses...?]

Soi: —!!

[It looked like he was a little more squished when he did his dash—so much so that he was able to rapidly duck underneath the space between the turbine and the floor and slide out safely on the other side!]

Will: —?! (He was able to modify his own Absorption Dash?! But—that’s—!!)

Beck: —!!

Beck: ....

Beck: I'm not dead—!

[MN.2] //: BRO—THAT WAS SICK—!

[MN.1] //: NINE, DID YOU EVEN KNOW THAT WAS GOING TO WORK—?! -RANT- DON'T SCARE US LIKE THAT—

Beck: S-Sorry—

Beck: But we are kinda in a hurry—

Beck: Let's see...

[There were more turbines to duck under...]

Will: ......

Soi: Ngh—never thought Beck himself would be giving US such a scare, huh, Will....

Soi: ....—? Will?

Will: .......

Soi: Will?

Will: . . .

Soi: Will!

Will: —! Oh—hm?

Soi: Will—? You alright there...?

Will: Oh—yes. Yes. Fine. I'm fine.

Soi: .....

Will: .....

Soi: Will.

Will: ......

Will: I.... Later, Soi.

Soi: ......

Soi: OK, then...

Soi: ..... (But I can TELL when something is bothering you, Will...)

Will: Beck? Do you read?

Beck: Yup—! I'm at the last turbine—there's another room up ahead—and the air is getting pretty densely charged. Think I'm getting closer...

Beck: ...Whew! OK, that's it...

Beck: Heading into the room now...

[The door opens and shuts behind him again, and—yup, right on cue, the lights switch off.]

Beck: ......

Soi: ohnonotagain—

Beck: ......

[...Nothing.]

[Seconds pass.]

[Still nothing.]

Beck: .......

Beck: . . .

Beck: .....

[Alright, this was getting ridiculous—

He hasn't seen or heard her all this TIME and it was really starting to get to him—come on, he just wanted to HEAR HER—!]

Beck: DYNA—!

Beck: S I S!!

Beck: I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE—!

[......]

[BWAAAAN BWAAAAAN BWAAAAN—]

Soi: -JUMPS AND SCREECHES—-

Beck: Ugh--!

[There was a loud THUMP at the other end of the comm—]

Will: Soi—!?

Soi: @~@

Call: ...Dr. Sanda?

Soi: Ngh—I—I mean—I'm fine—

Soi: I—It's not l-like I'm n-not afraid of the dark— at—at all...I—

Will: —...Call, please take Soi to the other room and give him some water—

Soi: N-No—!

Beck: —! Dr. Sanda—

Soi: I...

Soi: I can't just LEAVE Beck...

Soi: Horf...

Soi: ...I can do this I can do this—

Beck: —!

[Yup—spiders—and it looked like there are some generator bots to boot—!]

Soi: oH DEAR LORD THERE'S MORE—

[BZZzzzzzzZZZZZT!]

[KKSSSSSST—]

"ZZZZSILENCE!"

Beck: —!!!!

[MN.3] //: How am I zzsupposed to enjoy my meal—

[MN.3]//: WITH YOU ZZZSCREAMING IN MY EAR?!

Beck: (DYNA—!)

Soi: —Oh—oh I'm sorry I didn't—

[Beat—]

Soi: Wait—No. 3!

Soi: You were RIGHT, Will—she IS behind the power outages—!

[MN.3] //: Hehehehe...

[MN.3] //: That'zzz right, geniuszz—!~

[MN.3] //: ALL thiszz delicious energy....~

[MN.3] //: Who can REZZIST?!~

[MN.1] //: Dynatron—! PLEASE, stop this—!

[MN.3] //: Why should I?~ I don't have to liszzten to EVERYTHING you zzzsay anymore, big brother—! Not anymore! Heee!

[MN.2] //: Then MAYBE you'll listen to ME.

[MN.3] //: ...?

[MN.3] //: Big zzsis...?

[MN.2]//: ...Hi, sis.

[MN.3] //: -Confused...data...wait...-

[MN.3] //: What are you doing there? Shouldn't you be...?

[MN.2] //: Dyna, listen to me, baby sis—

[MN.2] //: You're not OK, and everything you're doing isn't your fault—

[MN.2] //: Just PLEASE stay put and let Beck do his thing, and everything will be OK, OK?

[MN.3] //: —?

[MN.3] //: But...we were just talking this morning—what happened...?

Beck: NGH—!

[MN.3] //: ...?

[Meanwhile, Beck was dealing with the hordes of robots that were locked in the room with him, using Cryo's form to smash the spiders, like before...]

[MN.3] //: .....!

[MN.3] //: You...

[MN.3] //: You took her POWER—!

[MN.2] //: SIS, NO, THAT'S—

[MN.3] //: AND NOW YOU WANT TO TAKE MINE?!

[MN.3] //: YOU—YOU TOOK IT—LIKE THE OTHER ONE—

[PING!]

[MN.9] //: THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M DOING—!

[MN.9] //: I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU, DYNA!!

[MN.3] //: ......

[MN.3] // ZZSave?

[MN.3] //: .......

[Wild, distorted, INSANE cackling.]

[MN.3] //: I'm not zzsome DAMZZAL IN DIZZTRESSZZ.

[MN.3] //: I don't NEED ZZSAVING—!

[MN.3] //: I have more power in my little PINKY than you do in all the ZZXels in your body—

[MN.3] //: I have everything I could EVER want right here...~

[MN.3]//: All the energy I could ever want! It's so MUCH... Mmmm, I could be here FOREVER...~~

[MN.9] //: DYNA!!

[MN.3] //: Ahahahahahaha!~~

[MN.3] //: All this POWER...I love it...!~

[MN.3] //: Hurry up, Becky--I REALLY want someone to SHARE it with--!~

[KSSSSST!]

Beck: SIS--!

[There was a HUGE static fuzz for a moment.]

Will: --??

Soi: Dyna?? But she just--

Beck: No, wait...

-PING!-

<RMDC>: > CROSS-REFERENCE IDENTIFIED. ENTRY: DLN-008. ENTRY: DLN-001. ERROR—CONNECTION TO MAIN SERVER FAILED.

Beck: Toby...!

<RMDC>: > CONNECTION FAILED—UNABLE TO UPDATE MAIN SERVER

<RMDC>: > COMPRESSING DATA FOR NEXT AVAILABLE CONNECTION…

Will: He must have sensed Dyna on the line... (...It's a good thing he's not awake right now, but...)

[MN.1] //: ....Dyna...no...

[MN.2] //: .....

[MN.2] //: Bro.

[MN.2] //: You know what you gotta do.

[MN.2] //: So this is NO time to be getting cold feet.

[MN.2] //: --....

[MN.1] //: Are you REALLY going to be PUNNING AT A TIME LIKE THIS--

[MN.2] //: THAT WAS UNINTENDED, I SWEAR.

[MN.2] //: POINT IS--

[MN.2] //: Don't let her GET to you, Beck. She might SEEM crazy, but she's IN there, somewhere.

[MN.2] //: YOU JUST GOTTA PUNCH THE CRAZY OUTTA HER, SO DON'T DIE, OK?!

Beck: ......

[MN.9] //: Punch the crazy out of her. Don't die. Yeah.

[MN.9] //: I can do that.

[MN.2] //: Cool beans, bro. Cool beans.

Call: ...Mighty No. 3 has been detected in the generator room up ahead. Warning: There are dangerous high levels of static and electrical discharge as well. We may lose our comm link with No. 9.

Will: I was afraid of that--the Patch bot should be just up ahead to heal you, Beck--you'll need it.

[Once the door had been unlocked, there was a long, suspended walkway with glass windows on the side--and beyond, a large window that showed the night sky, various stars twinkling at him...]

Beck: ....

Beck: (Hang on, Dyna...)

Beck: (I'll save you--!)

———————————

[The generator room lay ahead, and so did the Patch bot just waiting by the door. As soon as it delivered it's load, it flew off, leaving the Mighty Number to stand alone against his own sister.]

[He could already hear the cracks and sounds of pure electricity--]

[...Wait--]

[Was she...?]

"Mmm mmmm mmm I'm a thunderstorm in a bottle!~"

[His vision instantly fuzzed to static several times once he stepped inside, and inwardly groaned--the static buildup in the air was almost unbearable.]

[But once it did adjust, a familiar, harmonious voice rose in volume, now humming to some high tempo tune...]

[Bolts of lighting flashed and arched over the generator....]

[....And the Electric Maiden was dancing and twirling along with them.]

Dyna: Yeszzzz....Yeszzzz!~

[She spun gracefully in place, the power from the country's largest generator bouncing all over the room and right back into her, increasing her already pooled up power supply...]

Dyna: The power--zzzssso much deliciouszzz POWER!

[A high pitched, witch like laugh filled the supercharged atmosphere, and she swayed to some invisible tune that only she could hear in her forced madness.]

Dyna: Mmmm!~ It'szzz intoxicating--! I'm getting DIZZZZY! Ahahaha--

Dyna: WHEEEEEEE!

[Beck could only watch in growing fear as his elder sibling continued to siphon energy at an alarming rate--if this kept up, not only would she blow out the whole grid, but she could SERIOUSLY hurt herself too--!]

Beck: D...Dyna...?

Dyna: Hmmm?

[In an instant, all the electrical interference ceased as she snapped her head in his direction--glowing red eyes zeroing in on his frame.]

Dyna: Ooooh...

Dyna: Zzzo it'zzz you...!~

Beck: .....Yeah. It's me.

Dyna: You came here a lot quicker than I thought! Bravo, baby brother.~

Beck: ........

Beck: I don't want to fight you, Dyna.

Beck: I don't want to HURT you.

Dyna: Awwwwww.~~

Dyna: But why ELSE are you here, hmm?~~

Beck: I'm here to--

[C R A C K !]

Beck: WHOA--!

[A lighting bolt narrowly misses his side, her bits already floating around the room, sparking and crackling with energy.]

Dyna: I'll tell you why, INSECT!~

Dyna: You've come for MY POWER. YOU WANT TO TAKE IT FROM ME!

Beck: NO!

Beck: I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU, DYNA! PLEASE--YOU CAN F I G H T THIS!

Beck: You just gotta hold on until--

[C R A C K!]

[Another bolt, flying over his head--it bounces around the room through the bits that floated about, and returned to Dyna herself.]

Dyna: 'ZZZSave' me....HA!

[SCANNING.....]

[SCAN COMPLETE.]

[E N C O U N T E R.]

[MODEL: MIGHTY NO. 3 - CODENAME: DYNATRON]

[HEIGHT: 191cm WEIGHT: 91kg XEL COUNT: 18,200,000]

Dyna: WELL, WE'LL JUST ZZZEE ABOUT THAT!~

[Dynatron--out of all of her siblings, she was rather unique, in combat terms. She, too, was also built for a support role--but her powers were good for most types of combat, especially in the 'zoning game.' ]

[Her bits flew out from her cloak in groups of six, controlled by her mastery of electromagnetism, in a perfect circle around her...]

Dyna: You'll NEVER take my power...! I WON'T LET YOU!

[With a wave of her claws, they formed into a semi circle--and launched outwards!]

Beck: --!!

[Beck had enough spars against her to know what they did--if they managed to stick to him, they would either start to drain his energy, or overload his systems...!]

[A quick jump backwards and he avoided them, and they ended up sticking to the floor instead.]

Beck: I'm sorry, Dyna...!

[He raised his arm cannon--]

[BLAM--]

Beck: --?!

[--But all his shots met were even more bits, thrown into his line of fire.]

Dyna: Did you REALLY think your PEASHOOTER would do anything againszzt ME?

Beck: Ngh--!

[He thought about what forms he had at the moment--going into Cryo's was out of the question, and using Pyro's could damage the generators...

He had no choice--his default was his best bet against her. He just had make sure every shot made its mark--]

Dyna: Ooooh, Beeeeckyyyy!~~

Beck: Gah--

[Lighting danced around them--Beck was sure he was going to throw up, or at least FELT like it, and for a moment he couldn't see--]

Beck: Ack--!

[T H U N K]

[He felt something WHAM into his back, something slightly heavy, and very warm--]

Beck: --!!!!

Dyna: AHAHAHA!~

[The purple bit glowed an ominous light blue, securing itself upon Beck's back like glue. It hummed as it awaited a command--]

Beck: (Oh nonononono NONONONO--)

Dyna: Now then--!~

Dyna: LET'ZZZ SZZEE HOW WELL YOU CONDUCT!~~

[The horns on her head start to spark-- ]

Beck: (GOTTA GET THIS OFF--!!)

[He struggled and ran back and forth, his hands finding purchase on the glowing bit--pulling--YANKING--]

[BZZ BZZ--]

Beck: (CAN'T--!)

[BZZZZ BZZZZZ--]

Beck: DYNA--!!

[There was only one other way to get it off--]

[B L A M!]

Dyna: --?!?

[Electricity CRACKS, splits, and jumps from bit to bit, like a giant version of a closed circuit--anything close to or touching them would have IMMEDIATELY been fried to a crisp...]

Dyna: What—?

[....But...]

[Sssss...]

[The bit that had attached itself to Beck was now just a smoking mess of Xel, already reverting back to a gooy form--]

Beck: Ghnnn--!

[And yet--]

[Beck was on his knees, BLASTING signals of pain that ran over his back--couldn't--ah--hurts-- hurts--!]

Beck: (AAAAOW, that hurts so much, I had no idea my cannon shots DID that--OW--)

Beck: (it hurts it hurts where--need--Xel Stock--!)

Dyna: .......

[This was the perfect time to attack.]

[BZZZZZ....]

[....bzzzz...]

Dyna: --?

[....But why couldn't she...?]

Dyna: -confused data-

Beck: Hurts--where--

Dyna: ????

[This was supposed to be fun, wasn't it?]

Dyna: Becky...?

[Worry. Power. Guilt. Power. Destroy--]

Dyna: Nnn--

[Brother--]

Dyna: -ZZZZZZT!!-

Dyna: Head--can't--

Dyna: -ZZZZZZZZT--

[ACCESSING XEL STOCK 2...]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[A faint glow, and a sigh of relief--though it didn't last long, as Beck was soon BOMBARDED with electrical interference.]

Beck: --?!?

[But this time, he wasn't the only one feeling disorientated.]

Dyna: -ZZZZZZZZZZT!!-

Dyna: Can't...think--

Dyna: Hurts--

Beck: --!

Dyna: Ngh--power--so much--need--need--

Dyna: T--

Dyna: T--To...

Beck: --!!

Beck: (Is she--?!)

Dyna: He--T--Hel--!

Beck: Don't worry, Dyna--!

Beck: Just HOLD ON--!

[BLAM BLAM--!]

Dyna: --!!!

[A flurry of golden steaks strike the Maiden, and she wobbles--gasping--her mind snapping to a blank state of bewilderment.]

Dyna: M-My--power--!

[ACXELERATE DASH: ONLINE.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[She blinks--her sparks fading, the glow from her bits becoming dimmer and dimmer...]

Dyna: N--No--...!

[Several more bits are thrown, wildly, and they stick to every available wall, forcing Beck to shoot the oncoming threats to give him space to move around.]

Dyna: You--

[BzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZT--]

Dyna: YOU--!!

[ C R A C K!]

Dyna: THERE'S NO ESCAPE--!

[BZZZZZZZZZZT!!!]

[WRRRRRRRRRRRR--!]

[WARNING: GENERATOR REACHING CRITICAL POWER LEVELS.]

Beck: Oh no--!

[Zzzt!]

Beck: Dad--DAD--Call?!

[KSSSST.]

Beck: (Ugh, too much interference--!)

[He rolled away to avoid another high powered 'electric web'--it was a good thing the bits burnt up and faded away once they were used--they were usually single use. However, to make up for it, Dyna had the ability to summon as many as she pleased.]

Dyna: HOLD ZZZZSTILL--!

Beck: NOT GONNA HAPPEN--!

[BLAM BLAM BLAM!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[B L A M--]

Dyna: ?!?!

[Then--]

Dyna: . . . .

Dyna: -SYSTEM SHRIEK OF R A G E.-

Dyna: YOU--!!

Beck: --!!

Beck: --Oh--

[Beck made a VERY big mistake. Or rather, he didn't quite AIM right.]

Beck: Dyna--uh--Dyna--I--

Dyna: THISZZZ--

Dyna: THISZZZ WAS MY FAVORITE CLOAK AND YOU--!!

Dyna: YOU R U I N E D IT!

[C R A C K!!! ]

Dyna: Annoying little mozzzquito--!

Beck: --?!?

[Suddenly, he felt--lighter--and lighter where did the GROUND GO--?!]

Dyna: TIME TO MEET THE BIG BUG ZZZZAPPER IN THE ZZZSKY!~~

[Her bits are called back to her, and now they encircle her form with a grandiose sweep of her arm. Her grin widens, so wide that it looked like it would split her face--]

[A snap of her talons--]

[BZZZZZZZZZT!]

Beck: ---!!

[The bits flash three times, spark, and a line of yellow lighting connects them all...!]

Beck: A--A shield--?!

Dyna: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[She LUNGES, the action just as fast as the lightning around her, her shield acting as a RAM--the shock sends Beck's systems into overload, and also spiraling out of control--!]

Beck: AaaAaaAaaaAaaAAA---

[The wall comes up fast, his head is spinning with interference and dizziness...]

Beck: (Can't tell--up--down--Dyna--where--?)

[There are no more words from the Maiden--only maniacal giggles and banshee-like shrieks, dancing across the air erratically. There were more bits around her--]

[All aimed right at Nine.]

Beck: (Generator--on the right--so--)

Beck: --!!

[BBZZZZZZZT--!]

[.......]

[REXELECTION: CRYOSPHERE.]

[The sound of ICE forming--]

[The walls frost--]

[THUNK--!]

[An ice wall now stands between Beck and Dyna, her bits sending it's deathly currents across it--while Beck himself shook behind it, his eyes closed, nozzle arm shaking and misting in front of him.]

Beck: . . . .

Beck: .....????

Beck: I...

Beck: I did it??

[Cryo's form--it was the most DIFFICULT form to control, due to his own sister's...untamed nature. It always somehow malfunctioned on him, and therefore he never quite used it often.]

[But now...!]

Beck: (--I can USE this--I just have to--)

Dyna: SCREEEEEEE--

Beck: --NGH--!

[He winced from the feedback of that screech of anger--but it helped him get an idea where she was, at least. Since gravity no longer applied...]

[Maybe he can use that to his advantage--like an astronaut--!]

Beck: (Here goes--!)

[He kicked off the wall, and sped upwards--up and over the wall, to the ceiling--]

Dyna: BZZZZZZZT--

Beck: DYNA! OVER HERE!

[As soon as Dyna turned her attention to her little brother, he PELTED her shield with large chunk balls of ice, one after another, in rapid succession--!]

[At first, they seemed to bounce right off--]

[zzZZT!]

Dyna: --!

[But then one of the ice balls knocks out one of her bits--her shield flickers for a few split seconds--!]

Beck: Yes--!

[...Before the current then jumps to the next available bit, the shield containing 5 instead of 6--]

Beck: OH COME ON--

[--Of course, her bits acted like a circuit--if one fails, the current redirects to the next available source.]

Beck: (I'll have to take them out one by one--!)

[Easier said than done--Dyna kept moving around the room, hissing and screaming, determined to put an END to the little mosquito that DARED to challenge her--!]

[4 bits now--]

Dyna: -BZZZZZZZ--

[3...!]

Beck: Come on--

[ZZZT!]

[....Or not.]

[Once the third bit fell, the current couldn't be sustained by just two.]

Dyna: -BZZZT??!?-

Beck: ( THERE! NOW!)

[BLAM!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[BLAM--!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[BLAM--!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[XEL QUOTA REACHED.]

[XEL PURGE: ONLINE. XELFILTER.EXE PREPARED FOR OVERDRIVE.]

Dyna: HISSSSS--!

Beck: I GOT YOU, DYNA--!

[His arms glow green as he jumps from the corner of the room, vaulting himself into a final dash--]

[...Arms...outstretched--]

[Catching her in an embrace.]

[XEL PURGE INITIATED!]

Dyna: !!!!

[Her Xels, tainted with the sick, purple hue of infected virus, slowly draw out to become a faint, light green--......]

[......]

"I zzzeeeee youuuu!~"

"A-Ack--! D-Dyna!"

"Awwww, did I zzzscare you?~"

"N-No! You just--came out of nowhere--"

"That waszzz the point!~ Heehee!"

"I...I don't get it..."

"Awwwww, you're sszzzo CUTE when you're confuszzed--!~ That'szz it, I can't help it, COME HERE--"

"Wha--??"

"You're zzso ZZSOOO CUTE, you have no idea--!~"

"Uh--..."

"What are you--doing?"

"Mmm?~ Oh, right--you're NEW at thiszz, heehee! It'szz called a hug, Becky!"

"Hug...?"

"HmmMm! Hug. They make EVERYTHING better.~"

"....Huh...really?"

"Oh, truszzt me, they do!~ Zzsee?"

[.......]

".....Oh..."

"Yeah...I guess you're right, Big Sis...!"

[Zzzzzzzt....]

[ZZT!]

[THUNK--]

[GENERATOR POWER HAS HAVE LEFT CRITICAL LEVELS. RETURNING NORMAL POWER FLOW TO GRID... ]

"I do feel better!"

[The sudden drop back to the ground was accompanied by the gentle hums of the generator. The lights flicker here and there, but it was only from the damage from the fight.]

Beck: ........

[XEL PURGE COMPLETE.]

Dyna: -Bzzzz...-

[ALL HARMFUL MALWARE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM MN.3.]

Dyna: . . .

Dyna: Gh...

Dyna: H...Huh...?

Beck: Dyna...!

Dyna: ....B...Becky...?

Dyna: Wha....what...ow...--

Beck: Nono--don't try to get up, you're really damaged...

Dyna: ....Where...

Dyna: Where's my poncho...?

Beck: ....Uh.

Beck: It's around here somewhere I'll--find it, in a bit--

Dyna: I--...

[.....She paused, and blinked. Several times.]

Dyna: . . . . .

Dyna: I....

Beck: --?

Beck: Dyna?

Dyna: There was...I...Toby....I called for...

Beck: --?!

Beck: (Wait....)

Beck: (She...remembers that--?!)

Dyna: P...Power...I was...hungry....

Dyna: . . . .

Dyna: Beck...you.... zzsaved me.

[The interference was slowly starting to die down, now that the power levels had returned to normal. Even that was noticeable interference—as a generator makes quite a bit of power.]

[However, it wasn’t too long before…]

-PING!-

Beck: --!

Dyna: ....?

<RMDC>: > PROCESSING NEW DATA…

<RMDC>: > CROSS-REFERENCE IDENTIFIED. ENTRY: DLN-008. ENTRY: DLN-001.

<RMDC>: > ERROR—CONNECTION TO MAIN SERVER FAILED.

<RMDC>: > CONNECTION FAILED—UNABLE TO UPDATE MAIN SERVER

<RMDC>: > ERROR—DLN-008 IS OFFLINE. CONNECTION FAILED.

<RMDC>: > COMPRESSING DATA FOR NEXT AVAILABLE CONNECTION…

Dyna: T...Toby...

Beck: .........

Dyna: I'm sorry, Toby...

Dyna: I...so tired...

Beck: .....

Beck: It's OK, Dyna... You're OK now...

[KSSSSSST!]

Call: --Reestablished. Mighty No. 9, do you copy?

Beck: .....Yeah. I copy.

Beck: ...I got her. I got Dyna--she's OK now.

[PING! PING!]

[MN.2] //: SIS!

[MN.1] Dyna...?

[MN.3] //: Nnn....tired...

Will: (Oh thank the heavens, she's safe--) Beck, she's low on power--Call, we need to get her here right now.

Soi: Please--

Call: Preparing Xel Transfer...

[MN.3] //: D...Daddy...?

Will: There, there, now--it's alright, you'll be home soon...

[MN.3] //: But...I...

Will: Just rest, Dynatron. I promise everything will be alright...

Beck: Whew....

Beck: (Jeez, now that she's mentioned it, I feel...BEAT...)

Call: Initiating Xel Transfer….

[SANDA LABS….]

[Both sister and brother safely made the trip back to California–worn and worse for wear, but alive.]

Will: –!!!

[MN.3 AND MN.9 HAVE ENTERED DEEP SLEEP MODE.]

[There were two, simultaneous thuds against metal flooring. Both Dynatron and Beck has collapsed in sheer exhaustion, unable to find the energy to keep themselves online.]

Cryo: AAAAAH–

Will: It’s fine! It’s fine, they’ve just fainted–Sanda, prepare the med bay–Pyro, help your sister, Cryo, Call, you grab Beck–

Call: Right away, Dr. White.

[The external branch of the RMDC kept going nuts, trying over and over—and failing, over and over—to update the main server.]

Will: Sanda, you go to work on Beck, I’ll handle Dyna–

Soi: Got it–

Will: We need two full canisters in case we need Xel Transfusions–Cryo, go into Dyna’s room and bring back all the power containers you can find–

Cryo: I’M ON IT–

Pyro: What can I do?

Will: Calm Dyna down once she awakens–she’ll need it.

Call: I am detecting activity in the RMDC database, Doctors–the server is attempting to update.

Will: (That…that would probably be the cross references attempting to connect–and him…)

Will: We can’t do anything about it now–transfer all of Beck’s assimilation data to my terminal while we repair, alright?

Call: Yes, Dr. White.

Will: (Three samples–plus the one from Mikhail and his server…)

Will: (I just hope that will be enough…!)

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 1A: RAGING FLAMES SMOLDER=

~AO v1.0~

(Courtesy of @limitbreakers)

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{MEANWHILE, BACK IN SANDA LABS....}

[After speaking with Seijiro… Beck, Soichiro, William, and Call did a thorough search of the lower levels of the building Soi was sealed in. To their surprise, they had found a couple of uninfected Patch bots that were busy recharging their energy--their systems also had to be shut down to do so.]

Sunny: D: -BEEP BEEP I AM SCARED WHAT IS HAPPENING WHY ARE THERE EXPLODING NOISES -

Beck: Sunny! : D -shhhh it's OK everything is fine--or will be--

White: (Interesting...these Patches are also fine, like Call...)

[Meanwhile, Call had moved her usual terminal to the lab, and began bringing back the labs systems one by one with her father.]

Sanda: If we can just get this one back up, we can start looking for the rest of the Mighties...

[Beck perked up from his spot on the floor, a bit busy consoling about six or seven different colored Patches.]

Beck: ...How are we gonna do that?

[White frowned and put his hand to his chin, thinking.]

White: Hmm...

Sanda: ...! Ah! That should do it--for now, at least. At any rate, the lab is all set for any repairs Beck and the others might need.

White: Good, good...

White: . . .

White: We can still read most of their statuses, yes?

Sanda: Hmm, yes...

White: Can we trace back their transponders?

Sanda: We can give it a try, but with Avi messing around with the signals...

Call: Tracing...

[A map of the US comes up.]

Call: .......

Call: Transponder found.

White: --!!! Whose?

[A marker appeared right smack in the middle of the State of Louisiana.]

[A symbol. Pyrogen's. ]

Beck: ! Big Brother...!

Call: Comparing location to local database....

Call: .......

Sanda: Well?!

Call: ....

Call: It appears that Mighty No. 1 has retreated to an oil refinery.

White: An OIL--?!

Sanda: Good God--He's going to blow it all up to kingdom come--!

White: Quickly--there is no time to waste! Beck, Call, prepare yourselves for the mission--Sanda, find another signal frequency for Xel Transfer, something we don't use as often so that Avi won't pick it up at first--I'll set up encryptions to hide it from him in the meantime from my own terminal!

Beck: Yessir!

Call: Affirmative.

Sanda: You got it, Will.

Beck: (Don't worry, big brother...)

Beck: (I'm coming to save you...!)

__________________________________________________

[COORDINATES SET.]

"... Beck..."

"Yeah?"

"...Please...please be careful. Please."

"I know, Dad."

"We're all counting on you, Beck--promise me you'll come back in one piece for your uncle, eh?"

"I promise, Sanda."

"Good luck, No. 9. Now preparing Xel Transfer..."

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"...I love you."

"...I love you too, Beck...pass that on to Pyrogen for me..!"

[XELS TRANSFERRING...]

[MISSION DETAILS: MIGHTY NO. 1, CODENAME: PYROGEN, HAS BEEN SPOTTED IN A LOUISIANA OIL REFINERY. STATUS: INFECTED WITH HARMFUL MALWARE, FULL COMBAT MODE ENGAGED.]

[OBJECTIVES: RESCUE MN.1 AND PURGE HARMFUL MALWARE FROM SYSTEMS, PREVENT A LARGE-SCALE INFERNO. ]

[SYSTEMS READY?]

[GO!]

[Once Beck had fully reconstituted, Xels clicking into place as his form settled, the first thing that he felt was the heat.]

[The second was the smoke filling the air, and the third was the distant sound of crazed, infected robots just up ahead--Pyrogen was not the only one given free range of the place. Many industrial, non-sentient CherryDyn and Sanda models were running rampant...]

[Beck's comm line crackled to life.]

Call: No. 9, do you read?

[Beck lifted a hand to the side of his helmet.]

Beck: This is Nine--I read you loud and clear! I've made it to the Oil Platform...

[He pauses.]

Beck: No sign of One yet...and the place is just...it's chaos...

[Soon enough, Sanda could be heard over the line as well, along with White.]

Sanda: A fire wielding robot running wild in an oil refinery...I don't like the looks of this at all.

White: Not exactly ideal conditions, I'll grant you that...

White: Quickly now, Beck--Locate Mighty No. 1!

Beck: On it!

[Beck sprints forward...]

[...And slips.]

Beck: Whoa-!

[CLANK.]

Beck: --Ow--

Call: It appears No. 9 has encountered an oil spill. From my scans, several major pipelines of the refinery have burst.

Beck: That...would have been helpful two seconds ago...

Sanda: Shake it off, Beck! And be careful if the other robots in the area set it on fire--!

Beck: -Slowly picks himself up- Got it....

[VERRRRRRRRR--]

Beck: --!!!

Call: Incoming hostile robots.

[It was a forklifting robot--carrying a crate full of explosives, no less! And once it saw the young Mighty Number, it wasted no time revving it's engine and charging at full speed--!]

Beck: aHHH--

[Beck didn't roll out of the way--he jumped, and let the robot pass under him.]

[MN.9 HAS GONE INTO COMBAT MODE.]

[He shoots, and once the robot's Xel Structure was disrupted, stunning it in place, he AcXelarates into it in a flash of white--absorbing its Xel and leaving behind only it's cores.]

[XEL ABSORBED. ABSORPTION BOOST: ONLINE.]

[A green sheen of Xel encircles Beck--the same feeling of power flows through him like before--but this time was...different...]

Beck: ....?

[LAST time, the color was RED, wasn't it...?]

Call: Warning, multiple incoming CherryDyn robots detected.

Beck: Uh oh—

[Yes, now there was more--in addition to several furnace type robots that shot fire balls out of their tops, and other flame based models.]

Sanda: There are so many fire based robots WHY ARE THEY ALL HERE?!

White: Good question...perhaps Pyrogen led them here...?

[...As Beck transverses forward, he seems much quicker in this powered up state...]

[...But soon enough, the green Xel fades, and he returns to his normal speed.]

Beck: ...?

[THIS happened last time too--whenever he got one of those...absorption boosts, he got a little stronger somehow...so green makes him a little faster...?]

Beck: (Huh...when I saved the Round Digger, he turned purple---these guys either turn red, blue, yellow, or green...)

Beck: (If green makes me faster, then what does the rest do?)

[He decided to take a moment to figure it out--there were plenty of enemies to absorb, and certain models turned into one of those colors.]

Beck: (OK...Green makes my reflexes faster...)

Beck: (Red boosts my shot output--I can even shoot through certain walls for a while...)

Beck: (Yellow makes me jump higher...)

Beck: (...And blue...)

[XEL ABSORBED. CONVERTING...]

Beck: Huh?

[XEL STOCK 1 FULL.]

Beck: (Xel Stock? I can STORE extra Xel?!)

Beck: (Oh man--I can use that to repair myself on the fly! At least minor injuries...)

[Then--Suddenly--!]

[A familiar figure stands out against the clouded night...]

Pyro: Rrrrr.....

Beck: PYRO!!

[The Mighty Leader was standing atop of a ruined oil truck, surprisingly unlit...]

[Green eyes flickered towards his brother--]

Pyro: ......

Pyro: ...You...

Beck: --! YES! It's me, big brother--It's Beck! You remember!

Pyro: ...BURN....

Beck: !!!

Pyro: THE WORLD MUST...

[In a sudden fierce motion, Pyrogen quite literally EXPLODED into flames, becoming twice his own size as he HOWLED into the flame lit horizon overhead!]

Pyro: BUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRN!

[...However...]

[...Instead of attacking Beck...]

[He...leaps away?]

Beck: PYRO, WAIT!

[Beck, after recovering from the sheer, uncontrolled rage his eldest brother had just unleashed, dashed forward to give chase--]

Call: Warning: Multiple incoming robots detected.

Beck: Wha--where?!

[SECONDS later, more furnace type robots materialized, as well as a whole SLEW of enemies--both that were from the city AND the fire based models! It was an ambush!]

White: Beck!

Beck: NGH--!!

[He was trapped on all sides, and with nowhere to hide, he was pelted with enemy fire-- both of energy shots and actual real fire. ]

Sanda: MOVE, BECK!

[He's faced Pyro in battle before--in spars. He can handle a little heat, but this--]

Beck: HothothotHOT--

[There was nowhere to go--nowhere but UP, that is...]

[In the midst of quite literally being roasted over an open flame, Beck had to JUMP to avoid the heat from damaging anything important.]

[...REALLY jump.]

Beck: aaaAAAAAAAH--

[Fortunately, gravity and trajectory was kind enough to drop him atop of one of the flying enemies--who was none too pleased to have an extra passenger onboard.]

Call: .........

Call: Inquiry: Why do these kinds of events seem to always happen to No. 9?

Sanda: I...don't know...

Beck: Nice CDN GOOD CDN PLEASE DON'T--

[Too late--Beck was now on a VERY wild rodeo ride with the cargo carrying robot, trying to shake him off by flying erratically--and into other robots.]

Beck: -SCREAMING-

White: Hold on, Beck!

Beck: WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING--?!

Call: Beck, you have a acquired a higher vantage point. I suggest using this to your advantage.

Beck: I WOULD IF THIS GUY WOULD HOLD STILL FOR TWO--

[VERRRRRRR--]

Beck: --AwNO--

[B O O M!]

[The flying CDN had collided with another forklifting robot--which was carrying another crate filled with explosives. The resulting explosion lit up the evening, temporarily obscuring all with the smoke that rose from it.]

White and Sanda: BECK!!!

[......]

[MN.9 STATUS: ONLINE, COMBAT MODE ENGAGED, DAMAGE REPORT: GYRO BALANCERS CRITICAL, ARMOR PLATING HAS BEEN BREACHED.]

Beck: .....uuuuugh....

White: Beck! Do you read me?! SAY SOMETHING!

Beck: ....hurts...ow....can't....

Call: No. 9's Gryo systems have been damaged. His mobile systems are shot.

Sanda: --That's it--I'm pulling him out of there! This is way too-

White: Wait!

White: Beck--there is another ability that I designed you with! Can you access your Xel Stocks?

Beck: nnngh...

[USE XEL STOCK 1?]

[COMMAND//: YES.]

[ACCESSING INTERNAL XEL STORAGE...]

[A relieving burst of light blue light seemed to pour out of the ports on Beck's back, wrapping him up in a healing sheen. The cracks on his armor were being sealed, while most of the Xel was released internally...]

Beck: --!!!!

[SELF REPAIR COMPLETE. ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL.]

[Beck shot STRAIGHT up into a sitting position with a small gasp, feeling reinvigorated--renewed, even! He was thrown into alertness, looking around this way and that...]

[...It seemed the resulting explosion from the CDN crashing into the forklift robot had cleared away the rest of the ambush. Place was a MESS, however--some of the oil piping had burst as well, and it's flammable contents were now spilling forth EVERYWHERE.]

[...Beck was not spared from it--he was more or less splattered with oil now, tainting his pristine white armor.]

Beck: Ew...!

White: -SIGHS WITH RELIEF-

Sanda: No time for a bath now, Beck--you gotta keep moving!

Beck: ...Right... (Wouldn't mind one from Cryo right about now...)

Sanda: My...did you SEE all those bots? And such power...

Sanda: ...These designs of yours in our models are something ELSE, Will...

White: ....

White: Yes, well, under the circumstances--that hardly feels like a compliment. -_-;;

[Beck only had one way to go, and that was forward...]

[...Over a flaming floor of burning oil, that is--and above?]

Beck: .....

Beck: Are those electrified spikes.

Call: Warning: It is not just electricity, but energized signals on the ceiling. They have been modified to disrupt Xel Structures. Proceed with caution.

Beck: Wait wait wait--

Beck: Are you saying that if I touch it I'LL JUST EXPLODE.

Call: That is correct, No. 9. Your core, however, would be intact, although--

White: I--I think he understands the concept, Call.

Beck: Right--don't touch the purple things, don't touch the purple things--

[Dashing across the suspended platforms was the only way across--along with absorbing other robots along the way. Using the green Absorption Speed Boost he acquired from them, he was able to quickly get by the hair-raising corridor...]

[...And into the Oil Silo field.]

Beck: I still don't see Pyrogen yet...

Sanda: He must be somewhere up ahead, he couldn't have gone that far...

[No. 9 was really starting to get the hang of his AcXelarate Dash--it was almost becoming second nature, actually. He could use it as often as he wanted--there seemed to be no limit, and it didn't expend any of his energy at all.]

[Which was a very good thing for what came up next.]

[C R A C K L E.]

Beck: --?!

Sanda: BECK! LOOK OUT!

[The lower half of the Silo in front of him was damaged--and began to topple over directly overhead.]

Beck: WHOA--

[Beck immediately started to floor it, becoming merely a white blur among the grey of smoke--the Silo crashed behind him with a loud rumble, missing him by only mere inches.]

Call: Heat has compromised the integrity of near by structures. Please proceed with caution.

Beck: NO OFFENSE, CALL, BUT I'VE BEEN CAUTIOUS THIS WHOLE TIME--

[C R A C K! C R A C K!]

White: BECK--IN FRONT!

[...It was sort of like watching some supped up version of dominoes.

The silos were perfectly aligned in such a way that they toppled over in Beck's path, forcing him to sprint and dash for his life. The malfunctioning robots around him didn't seem to care--they were only concerned on destroying the Mighty Number--so they retaliated by shooting up fireballs into the air to rain down from above.]

[And if that wasn't enough, the floor beneath began to give away under his feet--no, the PLATFORMS were.]

White: DON'T STOP!

Beck: AAAAAAAAAAAAA--

[It seemed like an eternity. It was, in fact, about 20 seconds, but those nail biting seconds seemed to stretch into forever as Beck barreled forth without pause, destruction and fire raging around him, smoke stinging his eyes and throat.--]

Beck: WHAT THE--

[The path suddenly ended.]

White: NO--!

[It just--ended. There was only a sudden drop into a pit of fire, an inferno flaring so high, it was impossible to tell if there was anything on the other side.]

[But he had no choice.]

[He had to jump.]

Beck: HUP--!

[Out of the frying pan...]

[ACXELARATE DASH: MAX OUTPUT REACHED]

[And into the fire.]

[DATA LOSS.]

White: Call--!!!

Call: Searching...

Call: ..........

[.........]

[..........….............]

[.......................................]

[SIGNAL FOUND. MN.9 STATUS: ONLINE.]

White: YES...!

Call: Re-syncing feeds...

"--can't get a good grip on--!!"

[--Beck had made it!]

[...But only barely. He was grabbing onto the ledge with everything he had, trying to hoist himself up--but the oil wasn't making things any easier.]

Beck: Arrgh--

[FINALLY, his feet find some perchance, and he pushed off of the wall--and front flipped over, landing firmly and safely on the other side of the pit.]

Beck: (--! Hey--I did it! I DID IT BRAND--)

[It looks as if some of that acrobatics training paid off--]

[....Too bad said brother in question wasn't here to see it.]

Beck: (--.....Oh....right....)

White: --......!

Sanda: ? Will?

White: I have an idea--Can we send one of the Patch bots to his location?

Sanda: --But--whatever for?

White: I want him to be in the BEST condition possible before he faces No. 1...

[Will's green hues stare intensely at the screen, at his son.]

White: Pyrogen, while not being made with the latest Xel technology, has the most experience out of them all. If they ARE to battle...

White: He's going to need all the help we can offer.

White: We can send a Patch Bot with some Xel Storage Cubes for him to either store into his Xel Stocks or use right then and there for self repair.

Sunny: -BEEP BEEP- (-_-)7

Call: Commencing Xel Transfer....

[XEL TRANSFER COMPLETE.]

[Beck almost very nearly shot Sunny in her display--but lucky her unique coloring was enough for him to recognize the Patch Bot.]

Beck: Sunny?!

Sunny: -BEEP BEEP-

[Sunny's stomach compartment opens, and out tumbles several Xel Storage Cubes ready to be absorbed.]

Beck: !

White: Beck, these should give you enough to normalize your Xel Count. Call has confirmed that No. 1 is in that destroyed building wreckage ahead...

Beck: .......

[No. 9 takes a deep breath...]

Beck: (OK, Pyro...here I come...)

[After dropping down to a partially collapsed room...]

[Once again standing atop of a pile of debris was the fire-powered leader himself.]

Beck: Pyro--! Finally...

Pyro: Hnrrrrrr...

Beck: Pyro--come on, big brother-- I KNOW you're in there SOMEWHERE! We don't have to--

Pyro: You....

Pyro: ...Why...?

Beck: ...!!

Beck: Because you're my BROTHER! I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU, NO. 1!

Pyro: ......

Beck: Just--PLEASE hold still for just a few minutes and I SWEAR I can fix this--I can SAVE you!

[With dark, glowing emerald eyes, the leader stood. Unflinching.]

Pyro: ......

Pyro: No....

Beck: Pyro--!

Pyro: Why...

Pyro: Why you not burn...?

Beck: Wha--?

Pyro: WHY YOU NOT BURN?!

Beck: PYRO--

Pyro: WHY...YOU...NOT--

[FOOOOM!]

Pyro: BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRNNN?!?!?!?

[As Pyrogen fully ignites his body in flames, HUGE pillars of fire explode on either side of the room--effectively trapping both Mighty Numbers within.]

[Almost as if this was to be a cage match...]

Beck: Uh-oh...

Pyro: Burn...

Pyro: The world must BURN...! ALL MUST BUUUURN!!!

[MN.1 HAS ENTERED FULL COMBAT MODE. RESTRICTIONS: NONE. ]

Beck: NO--!

[SCANNING...]

[SCAN COMPLETE.]

[ E N C O U N T E R ]

[MIGHTY NO. 1-- MODEL CODENAME: PYROGEN]

[HEIGHT: 223cm] [WEIGHT: 236kg] [XEL COUNT: 47,200,000]

Pyro: PYRO CRASH, AND YOU...BUUUUUUUUURRRN!

[Pyrogen was a close range combat model, excelling in melee-style combat.]

[He wasted no more time with any more words. A distorted yell of RAGE accompanied his first attack--a headlong, full bodied tackle!]

Beck: Gh--!

[Jumping over was the logical choice--]

Beck: AAAH--!

[...But not the best one, as Pyrogen ALSO left a trail of arching fire in his wake. Beck had jumped RIGHT into them, sustaining burns across his armor plating.]

Pyro: Yes--BURN! BURN LIKE THE REST! B U R N!!

[Flaring, No. 1 changed direction--his arms ignited to TWICE their original output, allowing him to gather his flames up for another attack.]

Pyro: BURN M O R E!

[He thrusted his arms forward--and a burst of fire shot out, threatening to engulf Beck in it's hellish range!]

Beck: PYRO--STOP IT!

[The youngest Mighty had no time wince at pain--he forced himself to roll away, the blaring heat reminding him to be weary of the fire walls that soared to the sky.]

[His default weapon was drawn--but he had not fired yet.]

Beck: I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU, PYRO!

Beck: PLEASE! S N A P OUT OF IT--!

White: It's no USE, Beck!

Beck: --!? Dad?!

White: HE IS TOO FAR GONE!

White: You have to stop him by FORCE--!

White: ONLY THEN CAN HE BE SAVED!

Beck: .....

Pyro: B U R N, MOTH! B U R N!!

Beck: . . .

[MN.9 HAS ENTERED FULL COMBAT MODE. RESTRICTION: PRESERVE MN.1]

Beck: I'm sorry, Pyro...

Beck: But if I have to do this to get you back...!

[BLAM!]

Pyro: --?!?

[Bright orange dematerializing shots pierce through the flames--nailing Pyro right in the chest, who seems VERY confused as to what just happened--]

[--...But the confusion didn't last. It quickly bled away to anger. ]

Pyro: RAAAAAAAAAAAGH--!

Call: Warning: I detect a buildup of energy from Mighty No. 1.

Beck: Energy--?

[FWOOOOOM!]

[Pyrogen's flames...changed color. They were no longer just a bright yellow and orange.]

[They were purple. A sick, sick shade of purple and blue.]

Beck: ---????!?

[And that's when it hit him.]

[He's SEEN this before.]

[The Greater Dusk team--at the Queen's Tournament--Bladeblaster--!! ]

Pyro: BURNING...BURNIIIING...

Sanda: -ACTUALLY SCREAMS-

Beck: --!!!!! (Nowhere to HIDE--!!! GOTTA THINK FAST--)

Beck: Ah--!

[ACCESSING XEL STOCK 2...]

Pyro: SPIRIT!

[B O O O M!]

[DATA LOSS]

Sanda: oh GOD WHAT HAPPENED WHAT HAPPENED--?!?!

Call: .....Mighty No. 9's signal has vanished--as has Mighty No. 1's. The likelihood of their transponders ceasing to transmit due to excessive heat damage is--

White: PLEASE, Call--! No more of that--ARE THEY ALIVE?!

------------------------------------------------------------------

Pyro: Hah...hah....

Pyro: ........

[There was no sign of Beck at all...]

Pyro: ...........

Pyro: Yes.....YES! LIKE A MOTH TO THE FLAME--!!

[Victory was his. A familiar feeling--he couldn't place why, but it FELT good--]

[So good that he started to laugh, distorted chortles reverbing around the Oil Platform...]

[There was nothing but the crackle of fire...and screams...]

[.....]

[… … …]

[Wait.]

[All the humans had fled.]

[So WHY--]

".........aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAH--!"

Pyro: WHAT--?!

[C L A N K!]

Beck: NOT DONE YET--!

[Seemingly dropping down from NOWHERE, Beck landed on his elder's back--forcing him to buckle from the force of the fall and the added weight--]

[BLAM!]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

Pyro: RRAA--ACK--!!

[Flames attempted to flare on his back--they licked at Beck's form, scorching his armor black.]

[The pain--it was almost unlike anything he's ever felt before.]

[The only thing that came close...was...]

----------------------------------------------------

"Yes...! That's it, my better incarnation--FIGHT LIKE YOU ARE ABOUT TO DIE!~"

----------------------------------------------------

[Beck gritted his teeth.]

[He couldn't let go--can't, not for anything, ANYTHING!]

"Remember. Beck--Physical pain....is MENTAL. In the arena, you will learn how to push PAST it."

[BLAM.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

"But--Big Brother--"

[BLAM.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

"What if it hurts too much...?"

"One of these days, Beck--how much physical pain you feel won't matter in dire situations."

"Are you going to let a few deep scratches come between you and what you care about the most?"

[BLAM.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[XEL QUOTA REACHED.]

"N-No, sir, No. 1!"

"Good!"

[XEL PURGE: ONLINE. XELFILTER.EXE PREPARED FOR OVERDRIVE.]

"Now--Show your big brother what you can DO!"

Beck: COME ON, PYRO--!

[XEL PURGE INITIATED!]

Beck: WE NEED OUR LEADER BACK!!!

[FILTERING.....]

[A blinding flash of green surrounds the two, expelling all of the infected purple Xel in Pyro's frame, running it THROUGH Beck himself, who expelled it right back at One, returning the Xel back to it's rightful owner.]

Pyro: --!!!!

[The Mighty Leader stood rigid, frozen in place as the Xel was simultaneously pulled and put back into him--with little to no pain whatsoever. ]

[In fact...]

[It felt...warm...]

"..........I can see you, you know."

"Eep--!!"

"Now, now, don't be frightened--you have nothing to fear, Beck. Not in this place."

"But...you...and everything else...is so...so much bigger than me..."

"Heh..."

"Good things come in small packages."

[......Small....]

"TRY AND CATCH ME, NO. 1!"

Pyro: ........

Pyro: B...Beck...

[THUNK.]

[His knees give away.]

[FILTERING COMPLETE.]

[ALL HARMFUL MALWARE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM MN.1]

Pyro: Is that....you...?

[There is only harsh breathing in his ear--but...]

Beck: ....

Beck: B...Big...Brother...

Beck: Pyro...I...you're OK...

Pyro: I...what...where...?

[-PING!-]

Call: Connection reestablished. Mighty Numbers 1 and 9 are online.

White: Beck--! Beck--are you--

Pyro: ....F...Father...?

[.....]

White: S...Son...?

Pyro: Father--...what...what happened? I...don't....remember...

Sanda: He...WILL-- WILL HE DID IT HE DID IT--!!

White: Pyrogen...! You're...alright...!

Pyro: Not--...not exactly...Ngh...

Pyro: I....

[SCANNING...]

Pyro: ......????

Pyro: Beck--What...why do I smell...oil?

Beck: Long... long story, bro...ohmanI'msotired...

Pyro: You're...? I...I don't understand--

White: ......

White: Call...prepare for Xel Transfer. Pyro...

White: Everything will be fine, son...I promise. I'll explain it when you're well rested enough.

Pyro: ........

Call: Xel Transfer in progress...

{SANDA ENTERPRISES, LOWER LABS...}

[Will never thought he would be so close to having a heart attack at the age of 25, and today had been eventful enough to garner that reaction on more than one occasion.]

[But the feeling of relief he felt when he saw his eldest carrying his youngest on his back...]

Call: Xel Transfer complete. I suggest not drawing too close to No. 1--he is still radiating fairly high temperatures.

Sanda: Hoooof--it DID just jump a couple of degrees in here, didn't it...

Beck: Uuuuuugh I've never been so TIRED can I take a nap...

[Beck was certainly quite talkative in his complaining...]

[...But Pyrogen remained silent....]

Pyro: . . . .

[Beck slowly climbs down from Pyrogen--he feels QUITE strange at the moment, as if his systems were preoccupied with something else, and leans against his brother for support.]

White: ....

Pyro: Father...

Pyro: ...Beck has burns. All over.

Beck: . . .

Pyro: There was OIL.

White: Son--

Pyro: What happened to us...?!

White: ......

[Will tries to collect his thoughts--how will he tell him--how will he--]

Pyro: Where is Cryo? We NEED to cool him off--

Call: Mighty No. 2's location is unknown. As are the rest of the Mighty Numbers.

Pyro: --?! WHAT?!

Call: I will now connect you back to our systems. Standby.

[RE-CONNECTING...]

White: .......

[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. UPDATING....]

Pyro: ...........

Pyro: NO--

[RECEIVING RECENT STATUS REPORTS...]

Pyro: NO!

Pyro: OUR FAMILY--!!

[Pyrogen attempts to stand--but his damaged frame does not quite agree with him.]

Pyro: Ngh--!!

Beck: Bro--bro, don't strain yourself--

[-PING!-]

Beck: ----!!!!

[FORM DATA ANALYSIS COMPLETE.]

[XEL TRANSFORMATION ENGAGED.]

[Beck's Xels suddenly start to re-arrange themselves, glowing with a bright white light...!]

[NEW FORM SET.]

[REXELECTION: PYROGEN.]

Pyro: .....!!!

Pyro: Beck...?

Beck: .......

Beck: Big brother...

Beck: I...need to explain some things...

-PING!-

<RMDC>: >REQUEST FAILED. DISPLAYING PREVIOUS STATUS UPDATE…

>DCN-008 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DCN-007 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DCN-004 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DCN-003 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DCN-000 STATUS: OFFLINE

Pyro: What--

Pyro: Lethal Mode--?!

>Loading…

>DWN-024 STATUS: OFFLINE

>DWN-020 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DWN-019 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DWN-018 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE

>DWN-017 STATUS: OFFLINE

>Loading…

Pyro: Why...WHY ARE THEY ALL...?!

Beck: Pyro--

Call: I suggest updating MN.1's memory files with Beck's own.

White: .....

White: Sanda...prep the lab.

White: Beck--help your brother. There is much to go over...

[Indeed… most of the line was in Lethal.

…

…With two EXCEPTIONALLY notable exceptions.]

>DLN-008 STATUS: OFFLINE— CRITICAL AI_OS DATA ERROR

>ERROR: DLN-000 SIGNAL NOT FOUND.

Pyro: Toby--CARDINAL--?!

Pyro: (What...what...)

Pyro: (What sick, twisted darkness has befallen us...?!)

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 7D: RUSH INTO THE MINE=

((Courtesy of @unluckyadept))

~AO v1.0~

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

[He was almost there.]

((Pic))

[He had hit the road as soon as it was daylight—figuratively speaking. He was actually windsurfing, right now—grateful now, more than ever, that he had given Jazz the upgrade while he was waiting things out. Even if it would come at the cost of all her energy, thus leaving him to deal with the upcoming trial all on his own.]

Cardinal: _(…It’s for the better, anyway. There might be people, and there’s too much history—too many important things, can’t let it burn to the ground.)_

[Baron was sitting on his shoulder. Cardinal had all but forgotten about his feathered friend—he thought he’d left Baron safely back at home in the Meadow, but apparently the cheeky songbird had taken the liberty of moving its traveling capsule from the shelf and into Cardinal’s bag during their last parting. He had discovered this just the other night—and now, Baron would be crucial to communication, should his guess prove right.

He honestly wasn’t sure what he hoped for more, or dreaded worse… that he might have guessed wrong (and thus traveled all that way for nothing, with Shade still at large…)

_…or that he would have guessed *right,* and things were about to get *so much /worse./*_

A soft whine reminded him that he wasn’t the only one worried about the matter.]

Cardinal: We’ll be there soon, Scout. …Baron, you know what to do.

[ALMOST THERE.

He had to make it, he had to— _he was going as fast as he possibly could, *now was the time—]*_

Cardinal: _(Hang in there, Shade…)_

[From this height, he could see a few of the numerous iconic buildings and structures that served as blatant landmarks for his destination.]

>ETA: ONE HOUR REMAINING

Cardinal: _*I /will/ stop you!*_

[.......]

[They say that slow and steady wins the race.]

[And that the patient man would reap the rewards for his virtues.]

[Mighty No. 8 was not patient, nor was he particularly fond of waiting.]

[Sleep was a preferred alternative to that.]

[And it was a long sleep.]

[But now...]

[The wheels of fate were turning fast, far, far too fast.]

[PING!]

"Zzz..."

[PING!]

"...."

[PING!]

"Mggrh, quit yer complainin', m'UP."

[.......]

"...S'that so."

"Suppose ya want me t' DO somethin' about it?"

[........]

"Well, make up yer mind, elsewise I'm goin' back t'sleep."

[.........]

"....!"

"Ooooh..."

"Ah' see."

"Heh."

"Go big or go home. Ah' like that."

"Sounds t' me yer gettin' desperate, though."

"Eh, but what do Ah' know."

"Ah'm just the hitman.~"

[PING!]

"Alright, alright, m'goin. Don't gotta shout."

[A faint red light flickers in the darkness, a crosshairs symbol focusing into view.]

"Target confirmed. Take no prisoners."

"Now THIS is gonna be a REAL challenge, Ah' hope. Heheh!"

[There is the sound of some lock unlatching, and the unmistakable sound of boots with spurs thumping against polished floor.]

"S'use me, boys."

[Click.]

"Ya wouldn't mind pointin' me t' mah new office, now, would ya?"

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

=CHAPTER 1B: RAGING FLAMES SMOLDER=

~AO v1.0~

<<—Previous——————Table of Contents——————Next—>>

{Out in Kansas City…}

[Cardinal seethed.]

Cardinal: (Nothing. NOTHING!)

[He had spent all day and all night looking for some sort of gathering place where Shade might go. He’d found a number of underground dens, alright, but everything was so trashed that it was more or less impossible to tell what had been there before.

He hadn’t really expected this to be simple, straightforward, or easy…

But he was REALLY starting to regret how he had never looked into the other side of Shade’s life.]

Cardinal: (I only wanted to show him the respect he deserved! To not have to choose between duty and friends. And that had been important to him….)

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Cardinal: One thing I always have tried to do when it comes to friends involved in enforcing stuff—and that is not to end up making them feel they have a conflict between duty and… well, us.

Cardinal: That’s why I don’t ask about your job and stuff much even though I am awfully curious at times. xD

Shade: Heh. Oh, I'd tell ya, ah' really would, but. Sort of a whole, uh. Code of conduct sort of thing. Like...honor among thieves? 'Cept with assassins.

Cardinal: -Waves hand dismissively, as if dissipating the idea/concern- It’s more of a sort of… how do I put this?

Cardinal: I know this is not something I’ve talked to you about much before, but… preparing and trying to predict multiple possibilities is a pretty… eh… “strong” program of mine, I guess you could say.

Cardinal: It’s basically the backbone of my survival instinct, what little I have. Since, y’know, I was programmed with the idea that if I ever got destroyed, I could just be uploaded into a new chassis…

Cardinal: …Or replaced entirely.

Cardinal: Having an understanding of all of the elements in play—or as many as possible—is sort of an instinctive drive, you could say? Especially when it comes to power players.

Shade: (Kinda like in a game of chess…)

Cardinal: Now with your associates, that is something that would normally be a prime directive to understand in detail. Because they register—even as an abstract concept—as hunters. Which always take greater… mmm… priority, in a sense, since they are proactive, not reactive.

Cardinal: But in your case—same with Issimo—that, uh… instinct is negated/appeased by, well. You.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

[He was stung with sorrow.]

Cardinal: (Oh, Shade…)

Cardinal: (I…. …I just wanted you to…. …In the beginning, we worried about what might happen if you guys got turned against us, but as time…)

Cardinal: (As time went on, you guys made our world so much brighter that we left such contingencies behind us. I didn’t make one for if I would have to chase you down. This is my fault for being so unprepared…)

[He couldn’t stand this right now. He needed to vent.]

[…Which is exactly what he did.

He walked away from the alleys, making for the skyline.

Let them see his handiwork, should anyone care to look for him.

He needed to keep moving.]

———————————————

{Meanwhile, in the Meadow…}

[Dr. Cossack was sitting in the lab.

The remaining Rebel Angels and the DCNs were all present, though some seemed more restless than others.]

Mikhail: …We all know the grave nature of the situation upon us.

[Slight shuffling noises as a few of the boys looked away and to the side.]

Mikhail: I will not lessen the depth of this crisis.

[He interlocked his fingers.]

Mikhail: Our best friends and closest allies are in grave danger. The majority of the family has fallen to madness, and the remainder are without a proper home or lab. It is Beck against the whole country, and Gregory Graham is only making matters worse.

[He sighed and put his face in his hands.]

Mikhail: And, of course, Cardinal has RUN OFF on his own… AFTER taking all of our supplies.

Mikhail: To make matters worse, Tobias is in critical condition, and Aviator is blocking the signals. We cannot send help, either verbal or physical, for the time being.

Mikhail: I now open the floor. Does anyone have something to say?

[Jaden twirled his drills.]

Jaden: …We have to try and keep Aviator calm.

Nico: …Jaden—

Jaden: -Flatly- As far as I care, the infection is Airman reborn. -Softer again- …But Aviator is still in there. And when he gets back into control…

[He shifts his weight.]

Jaden: Cardinal once talked to him about his worries. Avi has a very sensitive Emotions.EXE program—that’s why getting his soul dragged into the abyss of our suffering hurt him so badly, even while infected. And we all know what it was like the last time someone was forced to see such suffering…

Speedy: -Looks away in shame-

Jaden: …It’s going to be horrible for him once he gets out of it. …He needs to be reassured, no matter how much Airman might scoff at such words. He needs it.

[Mikhail was silent.

Siam eventually sighed, drumming his fingers against his arm. (Gemini, meanwhile, was already over working on Tobias.)]

Siam: …We need to make Tobias our main priority.

Siam: While the research of the virus is important—and the need to find replacements for the supplies Cardinal raided is just as critical—there’s just no real use, since we won’t be able to APPLY such information. Not until Avi is better.

Siam: And for that matter—if Tobias is still unwell by the time they rescue Avi, how much more will that twist the dagger into his heart?

Skull: {You have a very good point, cousin…}

Siam: -Vents a heavy sigh- We need Tobias to be repaired. It is the one thing we can do independently, and… it is so very important. So I propose that we focus on that, exclusively.

[Nods of agreement around the table. Mikhail seemed to be thinking things over.]

Mikhail: …We still need to have something to report to them, should they come back in contact before them. Siamini and I are really the only two that can work on Toby’s coding. With Kalinka safely in the care of Lady and Lt. Nighthawk, and David and Shadow both Offline…. And, of course, Cardinal gone…

[He turns to look at Jaden.]

Mikhail: Jaden, next to your oldest brother, you are the greatest strategist. I want you to go over potential tactics to give as advice. …If you truly feel it important to keep in contact with MNN-006, then that is your prerogative— but be warned. Pushing him too far may have very bad consequences.

Jaden: Yes sir, Doctor Cossack.

Mikhail: {Keltso, I want you to look into getting some more supplies. Help Nico to contact the friends of the Rebel Angels—some of them may have supplies or equivalents.}

Keltso: {Yes, sir.}

Mikhail: That’s it for now. Let’s get started.

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