=CHAPTER 1B: RAGING FLAMES SMOLDER=

=CHAPTER 5D: DESOLATE HIGHWAY=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

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{THE NEXT MORNING…}

[June 27th opens with a press release from Sanda Enterprises.

Several releases, actually.

While most of the two families had gathered in the large living room to watch the TV coverage, there were a few notable exceptions.

Tobias was still Offline, of course—and as such, Snow was still waiting on the other side of the barrier, watching and praying his brother would wake up.

Shadow was still attending the repair bay, where Brandish (and Jack and Kate as well, for that matter) were still recovering. Dr. Cossack was in the lab, but working on his own personal project.

Siam, to no one’s surprise, remained shut up in the Rebel Angels’ personal lab, which was elsewhere.

Battalion and Seismic were still being sought; Call was sorting through the data by herself at the moment, since Dr. White was working on the virus and both Avis and the Sanda twins were busy with the news coverage.

As for Beck?

He’d asked Jaden to talk with him outside—and after the conversation started focusing on his immunities to certain weapons, Jaden began to get a bit suspicious…]

Jaden: Uh, Beck? .-. Do you, uh… need my form for something?

[Beck paused for a moment, considering what he knew about what had happened to Bladeblaster. If he was right…]

Beck: yes please

Jaden: Well, um. Okay…

[He sits down somewhat awkwardly, due to his size.]

Jaden: You’ve… never really used one of our Power Capsules before, have you?

Beck: ...Mmm...Nope. The closest thing I've seen is the replica you guys gave us.

Jaden: Okay. Well, to put it in your terms… that’s the hardware that holds our Weapon Data. The data is only compatible with specific hardware. Since you’re set up to be adaptable, I think your system will automatically shift to match that, if it can read the data. What with how you work, you’ll probably end up being more like me than say, Cardinal. That’s my theory, of if we try going about this straightforward.

[He holds his left arm at an angle and concentrates. After a moment, an access panel becomes visible, and it opens.

There’s an active Power Capsule inside. It looks kind of like…]

[It has orange light in the coils but overall gives off a white glow, somehow.]

Beck: ...That?

Jaden: …I don’t have hands, so, y-you’re… gonna have to rem-move it yourself. Gently, please.

Beck: Oh, um--uh...

Beck: Are there any--like, screws or...? -We don't wanna hurt you so how do we take it out?-

Jaden: N-no, uh. It’s like a… an old school battery. It just latches into place. Lift the latches and you’ll be fine. I’m in my repair settings, so they aren’t locked down.

Beck: A battery--OK, got it...

Beck: -If I'm doing something wrong you can stop me OK?-

[There was a slight hesitant pause before Beck gently grabbed hold of the Capsule, and lifted the latches as he was told to.]

Beck: --!

[Click.]

[The glow faded somewhat as it was easily removed. Jaden looked a little relieved, though.]

[Beck started blinking rapidly as he held the now free Capsule in his hands...]

[NON-XEL WEAPON DATA DETECTED.]

[BEGINNING ANALYSIS.]

[ACCESSING XEL STOCK 1.]

Beck: --????

Jaden: -Just watching, though gets puzzled at Beck’s sudden, unexplained surprise-

[A flurry of loose Xel appears in Beck's hands--]

Beck: -UH--

[...and starts to cover the Capsule?]

Jaden: -Okay, this is new- ?__?

Beck: -I'M NOT DOING THIS I SWEAR--at least I think so--

Jaden: Easy, easy—just relax, not everything that any living creature does is conscious effort, you know. It’s okay.

[ANALYZING DATA...]

Beck: ....?

[His eyes glow green as his systems receive the data from the Capsule, and his uneasiness suddenly gives way to curiosity.]

Beck: I--oh. Huh.

Beck: -.. OH OK I THINK I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON--SORTA-

Jaden: ?

Beck: I... think my systems are trying to read the data from the capsule first--it recognized them as not Xel-data right away, so I...guess it's using one of my Xel Stocks to analyze it?

Jaden: That makes sense. Those things are usually part of the system when being used, anyway.

Beck: -...We're kinda getting a garbled mess right now, though-

Beck: -Like--it makes some sense but not really-

Beck: ...This needs some serious data sifting, I think...

Beck: -Maybe sending this assimilation data to Dad or Call can help clean it up and read it better?-

Jaden: Well, your Dad might ask why you were poking around with the power capsules, so.

[He sighed.]

Jaden: Man, I wish Toby were Online. I’m sure he could translate if he worked at it hard enough. What with the side effects of the fusion and all. But he won’t get Online, even if we keep him isolated, until we’re sure he won’t… well.

Beck: ....Yeah.

Beck: . . .

[ANALYSIS COMPLETE.]

[The Xel around the capsule slowly, but surely, turned into a bright orange color...]

Beck: --Oooooo...

Jaden: -Brightens up a bit at that-

[It then returned to Beck via his assimilation ability.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

Beck: --Whoa--

[ERROR: NON-XEL DATA CANNOT BE READ. FORM UNAVAILABLE.]

Beck: --...Aw...

Beck: ...Well, I kinda expected something like that...

Jaden: Mmm.

Jaden: Man, if we could just bring Toby Online…

Jaden: I’m sure Siam could make some progress at it, but he’s busy with something else right now. Dr. Cossack seems to be working on some sort of analysis… he’s been very serious about it. And of course, Dr. White is working on his own analysis… -Sigh-

Beck: Oh...yeah, Dad's working on analyzing the virus...and Sanda's busy with his twin.

Jaden: I get the feeling this would be easier if Cardinal were here, but of course he’s gone. >__>

Beck: ......

Beck: (I...I kinda wish he was here too. I really could use some of his advice...)

Jaden: If you think it would help, you can keep the Power Capsule to study it when you’re not on missions. You built a magic mirror out of Xel, I’m sure you’ll come up with something. | )

Beck: ...!

Beck: Oh--no, I...

Beck: -...Don't you need this, though--?-

Jaden: To do what, exactly? We’re in enforced lockdown mode, especially after what happened. I can’t leave the Meadow even if I wanted to. And I know better than that. Until something changes, there’s not much any of us can do…

Beck: ...Oh...right...

Beck: ....

[Jaden seems to be distracted, his gaze distant.]

Beck: ......

Beck: Jaden?

Beck: -...is something wrong?-

Jaden: Hmm? Oh, I’m just reading through the news reports that were put out.

[He smiles a little.]

Jaden: Mr. Sanda was very succinct in talking about the virus and the effects that it has, and describing the analysis process that’s going on. He mentioned how and why not everyone got infected—so that should allow for those that aren’t to be able to move about without being attacked all in a panic. The symptoms were listed and all that.

Jaden: The Related Links talked about several instances, like Jack’s adventure, where non-infected Xelbots were doing good.

Jaden: All of those link to the one about what you’ve been up to and how you and Dr. White are going to use the data to figure out how to stop this.

[His smile falters a little, becoming sloppy, and leaving his eyes entirely.]

Jaden: …It mentions that anyone with information should contact the company but not engage. Colors and all… (That… that isn’t going to necessarily work.)

[He pauses.]

Jaden: It looks like there are some bloggers commenting on all this, but… that’s more data than I can sort through. Avi promised to help with crowd control if it does come up…

Jaden: (Though he DID say that he kept Toby and Shadow out of the submitted footage…)

Beck: Mmm...

Beck: ......

[Jaden seems somewhat troubled.]

Jaden: …I do wish he were awake. If he…

Jaden: If he were in the right frame of mind, I’m sure he could help analyze data, whether that be social data, coding data, or just plain finding our brother.

[Then he perks up a bit in a grin.]

Jaden: Until then… c’mon, let’s go to the living room. Everyone’s watching the Beck Show~

Beck: Eheh....

Beck: -We're just gonna--yeah follow/hide behind Jaden--

{Living Room}

[Many of the repaired Mighty Numbers (and some of the Angels) are there watching the footage. Siam, Snow, Tobias, and Cardinal were all gone, of course—and Shadow, Brand, Kate, Jack, Plume, and Landcrusher were still in recovery. There were cheers when Beck entered.]

Goose: -SCOOPS UP OTHER!BRO- SUPERBECK TO THE RESCUE, BA BA BAAAA!

Cryo: -BRO YOU'RE ON TV--

Beck: Whoaa--!!

Pyro: -The bIGGEST BIG BROTHER SMILE ON HIS FACE-

Dyna: -BZZZZZZZ, LOOK AT OUR BECKY~~~-

Kalinka: Hero, herooo~

Digger: Yes good~ : DDD

Avi: -HEH, DID ANYONE EXPECT ANYTHING LESS THOUGH--

Beck: ^///^;;

[Aw, look, he's turning red--]

Beck: I, uh--heh...um...

[...and at a loss for words, it looks like.]

Pisces: If 000 were here, he’d be playing that one song from Hercules. -Gives Beck a thumbs up-

Speedy: Well, he’s just missing out. His own fault. |V

Goose: Nah, bro, he’ll hear this. ;D We made sure of that, didn’t we, Avi? ^.^

Avi: Eeeexactamundo, Avi! ^.^

Beck: ...?

Jaden: I still don’t think you should expect much results.

Goose: Bro, you gotta learn to be more optimistic!

Jaden: No, I mean—gah, never mind, we’ll probably discuss it at a family meeting or something later.

Nico: …? Beck?

[He’s looking right at him, and not at the TV or any of the others. After a moment, ALL the DWNs and DCNs do the same.]

Nico: .__.; Beck?

Nico: Why exactly are you holding Jaden’s Power Capsule…?

Beck: ....?

Beck: ...! Oh--!

[...Whoops. He forgot to put that away.]

Beck: Jaden let me borrow it.

Nico: -Looks over-

Jaden: -Ping of confirmation, calm-

Nico: -Oh, okay then- -RELIEF-

Pyro: ...So that's what it really looks like...

Cryo: -oooooo, coooool-

Beck: Yeah, I tried to assimilate it's weapon data--

Nico: —?!

Dyna: -Wait you did what--

Beck: -KEY WORD 'TRIED'-

Beck: ...But all I got was unreadable data. So no Jaden form yet...

[Nico scowls at his brother for a moment, and pulls him aside. The two make soft pings and eye glows every so often as they become engaged in a private conversation…]

Goose: -Sets Becky down- Cool. Looks like a neon light or something. :V

Speedy: -Reachy reachy for favorite bro’s hardware- Yyyyeah, nobody try eating it or I’ll sock them to the face. >.>

Pisces: -Lazily grabs Speedy’s wrist before he invades Beck’s personal space-

Pyro: Hmm...

Beck: I didn't try to eat it--!

Speedy: -Then obviously I wasn’t talking to YOU, was I-

Beck: Uh...

Dyna: | T -We THOUGHT it was a power storage thing, let it go, jeezzz-

Beck: ...I did have to--well, my systems used a Xel Stock to analyze it.

Pyro: ...Your systems? You mean it was automatic?

Beck: Yeah--kinda freaked me out a bit at first, eheh... ^^;;

Beck: A-Anyway...I think the data has to be organized and sifted through before I can use it...

[…Man, Nico and Jaden are starting to bare their teeth at each other. Clearly Nico isn’t too happy about this development, for some reason.]

Beck: ....?

Pyro: ...What's going on over there? | [ -Uh oh, big bro mode on-

Avi: -UM--HEY BRO LOOK I’M FLYING IN THE HOUSE-

Pyro: --! Avi--NO FLYING IN THE HOUSE--

[Nico throws his hand outward.]

WHANG.

[…Avi is now stuck to the ceiling.]

Jaden: !

[Aaaaand the other one.]

WHANG.

[Jaden is stuck to the wall.]

Pisces: …bro, that was harsh.

Beck: --!

Avi: -OW--that kinda smarts...-

Nico: Enough.

[He lets them both drop to the floor, hovering and shifting to his armor, sans helmet.]

Avi: -FACEPLANT- -Muffled ouch noises-

Beck: . . . . .

Nico: Jaden, you shouldn’t have done that without asking first.

Nico: Nobody else in this family better try that without approval from myself, Siam, AND Doctor Cossack, got it?

Speedy: Whaaaaaaatever you say, bro.

Beck: . . .

Beck: I...

Beck: . . .

[...Uh oh.]

Nico: Beck, do not toy around with Power Capsules, okay?

Nico: They don’t act the same way for secondary users as they do for their primary users. The differences are entirely unpredictable until you’re actually out using them in battle.

Goose: Wait, wat .-.

Beck: .....

Beck: Oh...

[...He didn't know that...]

Pyro:  ...How so?

Nico: -Turns to face Pyro- They aren’t fully functional when used with hardware that doesn’t match the specs they were designed for. For example. There’s one defense-related one? When our brother had used it, it defended him from everything. But if the Menace used it? Only from close-range physical attacks.

Nico: Not knowing what you’re dealing with there is a deadly mistake to make in situations like this. Don’t do it. -Plus, we do not approve in general-

Goose: Bro, then why did Robin take all your stash?

Nico: Because he knows how they work. And they probably work better for him, since he runs a DWN_OS, not a DLN_OS.

Pyro: Hmm...you do have a point. I suppose it's lucky that Nine can't read the data.

Beck: .....

Nico: -Warning glare at Beck, eyes flashing with a glow for a moment-

Beck: --!

[--He backs away, and there is a slight fearful look in his eyes--]

Avi: --Hey, bro, don't do that, you're--

[...He did something--something wrong, didn't he?]

[He messed up again--]

<DWN-018 to MNN-009>: > -I WILL protect this family… even if it involves protecting from YOU!-

Beck: -SUDDEN ERRATIC DATA-

[Suddenly, Kalinka yelled.]

Kalinka: {LOOK!}

[She was pointing at the television. For some reason, the broadcast seems to have been preempted.]

Pyro: --??

Kalinka: {Aviator, I thought you said it was going to play all day!} D:

Avi: --? What...? But...!

[Nico and everyone else look over, also puzzled. Speedy turns up the volume.]

Beck: --.....?

[The new development seems to have snapped Beck out of his panic, and he quietly moved behind Pyrogen.]

Avi: -The heck is going on, I thought for SURE it would be a continuous broadcast--

Avi: ....Unless...

Skull: ???

Goose: Unless someone paid a LOT of money to say something else--

Avi: --But someone with that kinda cash--

Avi: ....

Avi: -AW NO-

Avi: -PLEASE LET IT BE THE PRESIDENT OR SOMETHING--

Speedy: The President? oh geez, I swear if the Feds show; I'm gonna bolt--

Beck: --!!!

Keltso: {What?!}

Goose: AW COME ON MAN, ARE YOU FOR REAL—

Avi: YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME--!

Pyro: --Father--! -and now we're running to get Dad—-

Dyna: -BZZZZZZZZZZ WITH A N G E R-

Cryo: THAT'S IT LEMMIE AT HIM--

Beck: ......

Beck: -Confused as all heck- (I...Graham's blaming Dad now?)

Beck: (But why?)

[The Angels were just shocked into silence. Nico in particular seems to have taken it rather hard.]

Nico: ...

<DWN-018 has entered Defensive Combat mode.>

[The others quickly follow suit, with Skull taking Kalinka and warping off without another word. His older brother looks TICKED, though!

Nico hovers off to go get Siam. Meanwhile, Speedy is calling Dr. Cossack to check on Tobias.

There is a ping.]

<DWN-024>: > -HELP, LADY EIGHT IS AWAKE AND GETTING VERY ANGRY-- -

[MN.7] //: -Kate, please calm d--

<FMN-008>: > -SCREE, SCREE, HE TRIED T’ KILL ME AN’ NOW HE WANTS T’ FINISH THE JOB AND COMPLETE THE SET, AH’ SWEAR I’LL DRAG HIS SORRY CHASS TO THE COURTROOM AN’ THROW HIM IN THE JAIL CELL MYSELF IF I HAVE TO FER THIS—-

[CDN.7037] //: -MISS EIGHT IS ANGRY AS F R A G--

[Soon enough, Will comes in still putting on his lab coat, an expression of confusion on his face.]

Pyro: It's all over the news--

Will: .....

[He takes one look at the screen...]

Will: .....

Will: ....

Will: ...Hmm.

Will: ...That's a bit unorthodox.

Beck: --???

Avi: -Uh, Dad, the prez of CherryDyn is accusing you and Sanda Man of cyberterrorism-

Will: I can see that...

Will: (...This is...a little too desperate--)

Will: (What's your game, Greg...?)

Will: (Why this, and why now? You could have done this from the start, so...)

Will: (What changed--?)

Beck: ...Dad--?

Will: --Mm? Oh, sorry. Got a bit lost in thought, there.

Will: I don't see how this will hold water if they don't have proof...

[Another ping.]

<MC005>: > I had to sedate Lady Kate.

<DCP-001>: > {Papa, I'm scared...!} D':

<MC005>: >Now would someone please explain to me why my children are afraid and agitated?

[PING!]

[DR.SANDA] //: WILL--!!

[DR.SANDA] //: YOU NEED TO TURN ON THE TV--

[DR.WHITE] //: I already know, Soi.

Keltso: {Dad, we're looking at a second Monstropolis possibility here!!!}

<DWN-024>: > -Honestly, I am surprised THIS has not provoked a response from our brother, normally he would disrupt this sort of broadcast with a sardonic bit of humor-

<MC005>: > ... Will? What is going on over there?

[DR.WHITE] //: ...It seems Graham has turned his blame game towards us now.

[....Strange, why did Will sound so... dull?]

[DR.WHITE] //: Take a look.

<MC005>: > ... This is very bad. Augh, I can't risk moving Tobias like this, but he shouldn't be here if it continues like this...

Digger: {Father, we should go home. It's not safe for you there. What if they try to storm the place?}

<DWN-019>: > That's it.

<DWN-019>: >Nico and I are withdrawing everyone home. Doctor, please prepare Tobias for transportation.

Goose: -woah woah wOAH WAIT WE KINDA STILL NEED DOC C AND SHADS AROUND-- -

<DWN-019>: > Don't make me bounce a Gemini Laser all the way from the lab, Six.

<DWN-018>: > -We will keep the family ALIVE and protect it from /all/ threats- </aggressive data that seems primarily directed at Pyro and... Beck?>

[DR.SANDA] //: -WE'RE GOING TO CALL OUR BROTHER--HE CAN SAY SOMETHING, MAYBE--

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

Beck: . . . (Wha....)

Goose: Guys, GUYS let's just nOT PANIC, OKAY--

<DWN-019>: > “Panic”? I beg your pardon, but we've seen where this trail leads before. Dying once was enough, thanks.

Avi: ---.....

Avi: -N...Ngh--

Cryo: --?? Avi--?

[They all falter a moment when they remember.

Avi knew EXACTLY what they were talking about.]

Avi: -Nngnngh it hurts--

Dyna: Avi--Avi breathe--

[And what's worse...

"I can't let you repeat my mistakes...!"

... Tobias had even tried to warn him.]

Avi: I can't--we--we can't let it END LIKE THAT--

Beck: Avi--!

Avi: -WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING--!! -

Pisces: ...

Pisces: ... They're taking callers now.

Pisces: I wonder who it is--

Speedy: Wait a second--

Speedy: --Isn't Washington the state where Seattle is?

[The voice that came on through the chatter was… not unknown to them all.]

"....Excuse me--yeah, I got something to say."

[PING--!]

[CDN.7037] //: --!!!

[CDN.7037] //: E-Eli...?

<DWN-019>: > ...???

Goose: ... The Cherry KNOWS this guy???

<FMN-008>: > -Waking up again, but distinctly less hostile- ...???

Goose: -tHIS I gotta hear- -Aaaand we reach over and turn up the volume more-

"I just wanna say..."

"What the HELL is that corporate moron thinking?!"

[There’s a brief shout from Snow over the feeds about bad words, but no one really pays attention.]

"Does he really expect us to believe his load of malarkey? For God’s sake, isn't that No. 9 trying to SAVE us?"

Digger: -PING, we like this guy-

"My family and I nearly DIED more times than I can count this week--does he even CARE about what he's sayin' will DO to other people? Is he STUPID?"

Speedy: {MORE OR LESS—}

"I don't know about you, but there's no way on God's good earth that that boy and his father are out to get us. Of all the damn BULLSH--"

[...He's cut off before he can continue.]

[CDN.7037] //: -ELI'S ALIVE-- LILY IS OK, THEY MADE IT--

[The next caller is from... Missouri!]

"Dude."

[... They sound like a college student. A very, VERY tired college student.]

Beck: ....?

"Is this guy high?"

Speedy: -Snorts-

"Weren't we talking a few months ago about how his own security system couldn't stop him from getting his HQ vandalized?"

Will: -...snorts softly-

[A PIC OF THAT POPS UP ON THE SCREEN as he continues--]

Beck: -snICKERS--

"And didn't he get hacked and stuff? I bet he just wants attention because he can't do his job right. CherryDyn can’t even look after their own ‘bots, anyway—I mean, just look at what happened over the summer. Why should we believe they know anything about OTHER people’s bots if they don’t even take care of their own models?"

<DWN-024>: > -That is an exceptionally good point…-

“Anyway, right on, little dude! I hope you can stop by over here sometime, that would be great--"

Will: --!!!

[The next call is from...Minnesota?]

Cryo: --!

"H...Hello?"

[A young woman, it seems like...]

"I...I just want to thank M...Mr. Pyrogen--he...he saved me and all my coworkers..."

Pyro: !

"I...I don't think I would be alive I-If it wasn't for him and his brother...I don't think it was her fault--she was sick, right? I...I hope she's okay..."

Cryo: .....

"T...That's all..."

[Click.]

Jaden: -Surprised- ... We never got told about that. o.o

[The next caller was from Kansas City—with a familiar voice on the line.]

“I just spent the last few days traveling around the whole damn city with someone who believed that Beck could do it.”

Pyro: That’s the man who was with Cardinal when we called him!

“He said that the one group who could figure this stuff out was Beck and his family. He risked his life more in a few days than probably Graham’s whole office will ever do in a LIFETIME, this man has NO right to go around saying such sh—”

[The call was cut short. The next caller was from...Indiana.]

"I SAW HIM, well sort of I was kinda hanging upside down but I SAW HIM IN THE POWER PLANT I WORK AT, HE WAS SO COOL--"

Beck: ....!

"I thought that I was gonna get fried but the power came back on and I guess he fixed his sister--I mean, come on, the REAL Dynatron wouldn't do that to her fans, she's amazing!"

Dyna: -Oh my God he's one of our fanszz--?-

"I just don't see how No. 9 was doing anything wrong? What's your deal, CherryDyn?"

Pisces: Insecurity, I bet. Among other things.

[He's cut off as well, and the next is from...Cali--!

...it seems to be...a male, but there were other voices in the background as well.]

"Look, I work at the mine Mickster comes and helps us with, that guy wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone someone else--!"

"YEAH THAT CORPORATE MOOK CAN SUCK IT--"

"MIC'S OUR FRIEND, YA CAN'T JUST DIS HIM AND HIS FAMILY LIKE THAT--"

"Berry, we're on the phone--"

"OI MIC IF YOU CAN HEAR US WE GOT YOUR BACK--"

[Another call, from New York—though it sounds like the girl is from California, herself. Another college student, it would seem.]

"Hi. I, like, take a Logic class and stuff?"

"And my roommate’s boyfriend is this huuuuge Avi fan--"

Avi: --!!

"He also likes Morse code and just-- it doesn't make sense?"

Jaden: —! (Uh-oh—!)

"If White really were working with the bad guys, why would his kids need to be 'saved'? You know, whole 'house divided can't stand' and stuff. Like, Avi was saying during his broadcast to 'save us' in Morse code and stuff, so-- he's just got it all wrong."

Nico: … Looks like they thought Toby was your “inner/true self” fighting against the virus. ?__?

Avi: .....Oh...

Goose: -Well, I guess they aren’t completely WRONG, so-

"And I hope his lawyers are well paid because that was a dumb thing to overlook. So I wouldn't be surprised if Sanda Enterprises sued or something."

"Anyway, we liked that cool new music when Beck was saving you, Avi! Get better soon, your show is really funny."

[Next caller--Japan.... There are translated subtitles on the screen with a second or so of delay.]

"{My disciples see No. 7 as a sort of role model--I just don't see how a noble and decorated swordsman of his caliber would suddenly turn his back on everything he stands for--not willingly. He was clearly struggling against whatever was ailing him, anyone can see that--!}"

[MN.7] //: ....I....

"{This must be so very hard on him--and his family. My thoughts go out to them.}"

Beck: They....

Beck: They...they're taking our side....

[Click.]

"I think it's just--just awful what CherryDyn said just now--and Beck's just way too cute to be bad, ya know? I mean--come on, how can something THAT adorable be evil??"

[Click.]

"Hey, here's a thought--maybe CherryDyn should fire their whole social department because what the heck?"

[Click.]

"The Mighty Numbers are HEROES, man! Heroes! Just wait, they're gonna fix this any second somehow, they gotta--!"

[There is one final call--]

"Hi, I work with an emergency response group, and... I just wanted to thank the Mighty Numbers. I know Seven was sick and all, but he was fighting really hard—and that made a big difference. The thing a lot of people don't know is that most self-driving cars that were on the road when this started were on their way to pick people up-- empty. If... If he hadn't stopped as many as he did, there would be a lot more injuries along the roads right now, because they would have ended up driving uncontrollably through narrow city streets or small towns. Even while sick, he still saved lives."

[MN.7] //: --!!

"And we've gotten a lot of help from the healthy Xelbots-- one of my coworkers said that the one helping her right now said that it was 'what Bat would have wanted me to do.'"

"You guys just inspire people to, you know, go out there and be Mighty!"

"We believe in you!"

Beck: (They....)

Beck: (They believe...in me...?)

Will: Ah...

[DR.SANDA] //: -WILL--WILL YOU'RE HEARING THIS, RIGHT--

Beck: (People believe in me?)

Cryo: -...NO WE'RE NOT CRYING, YOU ARE--

Dyna: -We MAY be letting our mascara run--

[CDN.7037] //: -HEY--GUYS YOU'RE BLOWING UP ON ALL THE SOCIAL SITES, PEOPLE ARE TALKING, YO--

Avi: -RUNS TO CHECK THAT--GOOSE WE COULD USE A HAND--

Goose: -ON IT, ME-- -

Beck: I...I don't...know what to...

[...He's mostly shocked--he wasn't used to this much positive reception, and about HIM, of all people--!]

[There's... a faint humming noise. Followed by...

...

... Static?]

Speedy: …!

[It's not coming from the TV, but rather, over the feeds!]

-Ping.-

<RMDC to ALL>: > DLN-008 is now in Sleep mode.

Dyna: --! TOBY--!

Avi: -TOBY--DOES THAT MEAN HE'S GONNA BE OK--??-

<DCN-008>: > {Father has a message.}

<DCN-008>: > {Things are… different than how we feared they might be. We now know there IS hope—and that it is real, and not a dream.}

<DCN-008>: > {Wily Eight will still need to be contained in isolation for some while, due to his… developing self control…}

<DCN-008>: > {But it is no longer necessary to keep him Offline.}

<DCN-008>: > {We will explain more soon. Father requests that we have a family meeting later today.}

<DCN-008>: > {And he wants everyone to participate.}

<DCN-008>: > -Yes, that means you MNNs and FMNs, too, you are family-

Pyro: ....That sounds like a good plan.

Beck: -Primarily watching the news as it unfolds...-

Avi: -Bro look at this feedback, man, it is MOSTLY GOOD--

Will: (...Just as I thought...won't hold water.)

Will: Alright--Soi, can you keep an eye on the situation for us?

[DR.SANDA] //: Can do, Will!

<MC005>: >Thank you, Soi, we appreciate that.

<MC005>: >Oh, and Beck? Could you come see me at the lab for a moment? Not necessarily right this second, but later today would be nice.

Beck: H-huh? Oh, uh… yeah, sure!

[He could just hardly believe it.

People were taking their side.

Maybe it WOULD turn out to be alright…!]

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=CHAPTER 2B: BEYOND THE WATERY VORTEX=

~AO v1.0~

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{In the Meadow…}

[The days seemed to go on forever. It had gotten very dark and cloudy outside, blending day into night.

Cossack and DWN-019 worked almost non-stop on Doctor Light Number Eight—with the Doctor’s sons enforcing mandatory mental and physical breaks to prevent burnout.

Getting to Tobias’s actual coding was not easy. Offline or not, he was highly defensive—and Snow wasn’t exactly able to help, being out cold, himself.

And when they did find him…

It was just a mess. There were errors all over the place, and clearing them up would take quite some while. Sifting through the error report from the last system crash alone took DAYS.

And now, they were finally getting past the system reports and into the base data.]

Mikhail: …

Siam: Doctor?

Gemini: Is everything alright?

Mikhail: Mmm? Oh, yes… I’m fine.

[…But it was a lie.

A lie so as to not distract the twins from their analysis on the data they had got from Avi as part of the ordeal—for that information could prove quite enlightening.

But no…]

Mikhail: Just… a little weary, I suppose.

[…He was concerned.

Inspection of the Awareness code had showed that it had changed. Crucial components had changed—rewritten themselves.

Somehow, the encounter with Avi had prompted (or, more likely, FORCED) Tobias to rewrite himself.

What worried Mikhail the most was that some of the coding was beyond what he could recognize.]

Mikhail: (-Groooooaaan- {Will… I wish you were here…!})

[He still had the few fragments of notes that his best friend had given him regarding coding with Xel. That was a lifesaver—it told him that some of this seemed to be connected to functioning within a Xel chassis.

It may just be junk data, useless without the proper hardware. (Which, of course, would mean it would need to be pruned somehow, or else it would cause perpetual system errors.)

But he couldn’t say for sure what it would do, yet. He needed to go through the rest of the code to be sure—

He needed to know for sure that Tobias’s self had not been torn apart by being fused with Avi.

Sure, they had a back-up, but…

He dreaded the thought of being forced to resort to using it.

But if it turned out that this damage was beyond repair… he would have no other choice.]

Mikhail: (Oh, Avi…! What did you DO to him?)

———————————————

{Elsewhere…}

[Cardinal forced himself to physically relax.

He had taken shelter in a cooled, dark, abandoned basement. The sun beat down mercilessly outside— 102ºF, and that was WITHOUT the humidity.

He had retreated there as much for safety as for the isolation.

He needed time to think.]

Cardinal: …

[Everything was dead ends. His attempt to get news on the situation ended with hearing Aviator talking in a cheerfully sadistic manner about his latest caller.

As he’d made his way toward the highways, he saw that they were still in complete chaos. Going anywhere was going to be time consuming and dangerous. He couldn’t afford to just go running around blindly, even though he had no current leads.

He was going to need some sort of focus…]

Cardinal: …

[He visualized the situation like a strategy game board. All the pieces in play… including his own.]

Cardinal: (Now if I were Shade, where would I be…)

[He was hitting a mental block, Shade shrouded in darkness.

He knew that this was because he was unwilling to consider the worst.

He forced himself to remember his own advice…]

-*-*-*-*-*-

“Remember, you aren’t really fighting them—their physical form, perhaps, but you’re actually up against the parasite.”

-*-*-*-*-*-

Cardinal: (…Right. The parasite. Focus on the virus, Lou…. What do you know about it?)

-*-*-*-*-*-

Jack: I think...whatever was in those crosses just...

Jack: Pulled out all the... bad parts of me...

-*-*-*-*-*-

Cardinal: …

[He forced himself to continue this line of thought, despite the cold pain it was making him feel.]

-*-*-*-*-*-

Shade: ...Bein' an assassin, Cards?

Shade: It's hard.

Shade: It's hard because...I'm so good at it.

Shade: Sometimes that even scares ME.

- - -

Shade: ...At the very least, Ah' can give them a quick death.

Shade: ... ... ...Never really felt the need to make someone suffer before.

Shade: At least, not like...ya know.

Shade: With malice and all that.

Shade: ...Ah' hope Ah' never do.

Shade: Because the minute ah' do? I'll be no better than Viper.

-*-*-*-*-*-

[Cardinal sucked in air through his teeth, pain stinging at him. He wished—not for the first time—that he could cry, just to have some way to relieve this stress.]

Cardinal: (Feeding what is already there… already there…. …)

[It was too much for him.

His Emotions.exe program was becoming exacerbated. He couldn’t continue this right now—not in this heat—without consequences.]

Cardinal: G-gghhh…

[He stood abruptly.

He was going to need to get somewhere with working air conditioning if he were to have any hope of finishing this process any time soon.

And time was not on his side.]

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((Just some pics of our lady sniper. Just stuff I did for fun, really.))

---

=CHAPTER 1C: RAGING FLAMES SMOLDER=

~AO v1.0~

(Courtesy of @limitbreakers)

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{MEANWHILE, AT SANDA LABS...}

[There is an air of heavy silence as Sanda gets to work on repairing No. 1--he has sustained quite a bit of damage, especially near his chest and on his back--where Beck had landed after Pyro unleashed a hellish version of his signature move.]

[...Beck had took it upon himself to explain and share his memory files with his brother in order to bring him up to speed...]

[...While White and Call were going over various other details and preparing to study the virus data retrieved from his eldest son.]

Pyro: ....

[The situation was dire.]

Pyro: .....

[And his own family was making things worse.]

Beck: Big Brother...

[He almost killed him.]

[A long, deeply troubled sigh escapes the Mighty Leader, his hand covering his face. He couldn't even bear to see his own handiwork.]

Pyro: .........

Pyro: Beck--

Beck: It's OK, big bro.

[Battered, burned, covered in black and soot, armor cracked in several places...]

[....And yet he still managed a smile.]

Beck: It wasn't your fault.

Pyro: ....

[As he sifted through the data, analyzing it, bits and parts of what had happened at the Oil Field had started to come back to him.]

[Pyrogen turns away, eyes downcast.]

[All he had felt was RAGE...]

[The desire to BURN...] [To destroy...]

Beck: Big brother...

Pyro: ......

Pyro: I...

Pyro: I'm so sorry, brother.

[He reaches over to place his hand on his shoulder--]

[...Then pauses midway.]

Beck: ......

Beck: I know you didn't MEAN it, Pyro...

Pyro: I had--I had no idea what I was...

Beck: Pyro. I know.

[A small hand reaches over and clasps his. It felt warm.]

Beck: And--if it means anything...

Beck: I forgive you. ^.^

Beck: We all do. You're STILL my big brother. That's NEVER going to change, Pyro. No matter WHAT you do.

Beck: So just relax and rest for now.

Beck: ...I got this.

Beck: Permission to gear up for the next mission, No. 1?

Pyro: .......

[Turmoil still clouded his mind and heart--at the things he had done with his own hands, at the fire he had sworn to only use for good and only good-- ]

[....But something about the way Beck carried himself now--]

[...Brotherly pride had casted all those dark thoughts away. For the moment.]

Pyro: ....

Pyro: Permission granted, No. 9.

Pyro: But ONLY if you turn in for repairs yourself.

Beck: I can handle those on my own!

[A snap of his fingers, and a cube of Xel materialized in his hand. Pyrogen nearly jumped back in surprise. He had NEVER seen Beck summon Xel before.]

Beck: I have Xel Stocks. In my design! I can STORE XEL, BRO, ISN'T THAT COOL--

[And there he goes, ranting on into detail about the new abilities he had discovered--much to Pyrogen's own curiosity.]

[While the brothers were busy with that...]

[Sanda decided it was best to take a break for now and let the two catch up with one another.]

Sanda: How's everything going on your end, Will?

White: Hmm....

[Dr. White was busy typing into a terminal, setting up the last of the best analysis programs he had on hand in order to start working on cracking the virus code.]

White: All ready for analysis. Call? Have you finished sorting through the data samples retrieved from Beck?

Call: Just about, Professor White.

White: Good, good...

Sanda: Beck's filling in Pyro on what's happening--thought I'd leave them to it.

[A pause.]

Sanda: Heh...you know something, Will?

White: Hm?

Sanda: When you think about it, it's remarkable how Beck stepped up to the plate like that...given how his Emotional Matrix works, you'd think something like this would send him into shock...

White: ......

Sanda: But look at him now--can't help but feel so proud of him. Heh. Wonder where he got all THAT from, huh?

White: .....Of course, of course...

[......]

[Will seemed...distracted.]

Sanda: ....?

Sanda: Will?

[Beat.]

Sanda: Come on, Will--At LEAST show a bit of ENTHUSIASM in the face of this!

White: Perhaps you should show a bit of restraint, Dr. Sanda...

Sanda: --!

White: You DO realize this is only the beginning, yes?

White: Beck has come so, so far already--and as a father, I couldn't BE any more proud...

[His gaze turns to the Xel Assimilator, eyes half lidded in apparent solemn...worry.]

White: ...But there is still much more to overcome. ...There are 7 more of my sons and daughters to find and rescue. (God willing...) This virus that has plagued the world....

White: And we still have no CLEAR idea who is behind all this.

White: Obviously, CherryDyn has something to do with it.

[He frowns.]

White: ...But it still doesn't make sense.

White: What would CherryDyn have to GAIN if they released this virus? They are the world's LARGEST robot manufacturer, this--this would only HINDER them.

White: .......

White: And then there is...Blackwell.

Sanda: .....-Sigh- Will--we went OVER this already. Benedict is in prison.

White: I KNOW that--

[He turns away, once again working away on his terminal.]

White: Call it a hunch, but I think Blackwell has some hand in this as well, even IF he is in prison, Soi.

Sanda: ...?

White: It just--strikes me as...ODD. Graham EXPLICITLY blamed Blackwell for this whole mess--Likely due to his past with what happened before.... He's using him as a scapegoat, to redirect attention from himself--

White: But WHY...?

White: What is he HIDING...?

Sanda: .......

Sanda: Good question...

Sanda: .....

White: .... ... -Sigh- Hopefully the virus code will give us the answers we seek. Call?

Call: Yes?

White: Please transfer Beck's assimilated Xel data and samples over to my terminal. I want to begin my analysis and see if I can isolate the root of the malfunction.

Call: Right away, Professor White.

White: There's data to sift through. Sanda, can you continue to assisting Beck and repairing Pyrogen?

Sanda: Absolutely. Let me know when you discover anything.

White: Right...

Sanda: .....Will?

White: ...?

Sanda: Lighten UP a little, will ya? ^^

White: .....

White: -_-;;;

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=INTRO B: COLLAPSING PEACE=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes & @super-tired-robot))

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{June 20th, 20XX}

[The Mighty Numbers had spent months abroad.]

“-Whines- Won’t this dumb car go any faaaaaasterrrrr?”

“Not in traffic, it won’t, and you know it.”

[But now, at last, they were home.]

“Hey, is someone gonna wake snipebro up, or—“

“Ah’ AM awake, ya bunch a’ yappers…”

“Temper, Eight! Don’t get snappy at your sister!”

[They’d gone out to tournaments time and time again, but the saying held true: “there’s no place like home.” It was always a relief to come back… and this time, more than usual.

After a near solid month of time in recovery dodging questions from the press, INTERPOL, MI6, VIN, and other agencies, everyone was ready to be back in their own beds and eating a home-cooked meal.]

“EEEYYYYY I CAN SEE OUR HOUSE FROM HERE!”

“No duh, planebrain! It’s one of the taller buildings in the city!”

[Unfortunately, being cooped up in airplane rides for the past few days and then cramped into a travel vehicle had left them a bit…

…restless.]

Avi: I mean I can see the front door now! :D -Freedommmmmmm—-

Pyro: Don’t open up the roof— No flying out of the car—

Avi: D^: But—but awwwww, come onnnn! It’s right over theeeerrrrrre— only a little hover awayyy…

Bat: We return home as a unit, Six, not in pieces!

Mic: Give Six break. -W- Happy to be home.

Avi: YEEAAAHHH it’s so good to be home—gosh I can’t WAIT to get back to my radio tower—

Cryo: I’m sure you have some ICE stories to tell the viewers, kyaha~

Shade: -Growls at the pun-

Avi: DON’T YOU KNOW IT—

Pyro: Inside voice, Avi.

Avi: —buuuuut it’s too bad I can’t explain what happened…. Did we, uh, ever decide on a story of what to say if they asked about Toby?

Dyna: -Haughty hairflick- Juszzzt szzay that I fried that naszzty biker to a core. Completely true, after all. They can aszzzume the reszzt. -Sparks briefly-

Shade: -Flinches at this- (Ugh, can ya not while we’re cramped in the car, Sis…)

[The smallest of the Mighty Numbers was distracted, pressing his face against the window. It was good to be home: to see the familiar sights, to be where he belonged…

…Well, at least when it came to his family. He wasn’t much of a fighter, so he always felt out of place. Especially considering Pyro had him benched for the time being…]

Beck: (I hope she’s okay…. There weren’t any more “accidents,” so she kept her promise, but…)

Brand: …Are you okay there, otouto?

Beck: ! O-oh, yeah, I, uh…

Beck: I-I was just thinking about Tobias. He… he was really out of it for a while, huh…

Avi: -Thumbs up- Don’t you worry about Toby, bro! He’s up and running now, and he’ll be right as rain! That’s what Doc C said, at any rate…

Pyro: … When did you talk to Mikhail? -Confused-

Avi: Oh, just the other day! He was asking about the watch, actually, but I didn’t exactly have the instructions…

Bat: Watch?

Mic: Birthday present. Missed birthday, Shade sent present. E|

Shade: Mnnrgh. …Glad it got through.

Cryo: -Poooookes at her little brother with her nozzle arm-

Shade: | [

[The sniper remained in a grumpy mood as they finally pulled into the parking lot of Sanda Enterprises.]

Avi: WOOOOOOOO WE’RE HOME

Cryo: LAST ONE IN’S A FROZEN PUDDLE

Shade: Will y’all shut it fer just two minutes—

Cryo: Oh, stop being such a wash-out, Shadey!

Shade: Ain’t in the mood fer puns—‘m gonna go sleep through Sunday, thank yew—

Pyro: -Grabs him by the shoulder before he vanishes, keeping a firm grip- Oh no you aren’t. You’re carrying in your luggage, same as everyone else.

Shade: -Grumpy data- -Grumbles about something under his breath-

Pyro: What was that? | /

Shade: …Ah’ said, all that work an’ this is the thanks Ah’ get…

Cryo: Quit being a drama llama, Shadebro! We’re home now! -Grabs at luggage, gimme-

Dyna: Ugh, I’m too fabulouszz for thiszz. -Grinning, obviously not 100% serious- Earthbro iszz more than capable of carrying in everybody’szz luggage, right~?

Mic: OWO

Shade: …What she said—

Pyro: Enough, you two. <_<

Shade: … -Nah Imma go nap an’ ya can’t stop me— -

Pyro: -Not if my grip has anything to say about it-

Cryo: -Flings herself at Pyro, eager to get in on the conflict- FIGHT ME—

Brand: Cryo—! Now’s not the time!

Shade: Fer Xel’s sake, just give it a rest—

Avi: EYYYYY good one—

[The sniper had reached the end of his patience.]

Shade: -DAMMIT Ah’ did NOT mean t’ pun—- Avi, Ah’ swear if there’s one more pun outta yew…

“You want a hand with that? BJ”

Shade: !

[The commotion stopped momentarily, with the sniper looking down in surprise.]

[Sure enough, there he was: the one and only songbird. He was grinning up at his taller friend, giving off unfiltered gleeful data.

And just like that—]

Shade: -nEVERMIND, NAP CAN WAIT— -

[Cardinal laughed and gave his friend a proper hug. He didn’t even care that he was letting someone that close to him, or that he was showing such a strong sign of friendship.]

[It had been a long two months since they had last seen one another, and it had felt like ages. The old prototype Robot Master had done a lot of waiting in his time, but very rarely had he ever felt the sense of separation so poignantly.

He’d made an effort to drown out his sorrows by keeping busy, and had much to tell them… but that could wait.

For now, he was happy just to see his best friend alive and well again.]

Beck: Cardinal! :DDD You’re here!

[He ran in for a hug, and Cardinal pulled him in. Each of the three of them seemed to be savoring the moment.]

Bat: What are you doing here, Private? It’s 0400 local!

Cardinal: -Gleeful pings as he messes with Shade, the latter using him as an armrest- I had to come in person, Major! I failed to be up in time to see you off—it took all my self-control not to meet up with you at the airport in New York, instead!

Brand: That would have raised more questions, yes. -.-; Might I suggest that we continue this inside?

Shade: If you say so, ya stick-in-the-mud. B]

Cardinal: B]

[He broke into chuckles at that, though, shoving Shade off before going over to pick up his bags.]

Pyro: -Oh, you were being serious—- There’s no need for that, Cardinal. You’re our guest. Shade can carry his own bags in. ¬_¬

Cardinal: Nah, it’s fine— watch this!

[Cardinal used SUPER ARM!]

[And just like that, he’d grabbed all of Shade’s luggage effortlessly. Bat gave a whistle of appreciation.]

Cryo: NICE, Looks like he LIFTS, bros—

Cardinal: -Laughs- It does come in handy! C’mon, let’s head inside.

[Once all the Mighties were inside, the luggage was put to the side and everyone headed for the kitchen. It may be 4AM local, but they were still suffering from jet lag: it was about lunchtime in London. Even though he was a bit worn out from the travels, Pyro set about to preparing a proper meal for the family.

There was the usual chaos around the kitchen as Cardinal also prepared some coffee for himself and Countershade. When the prototype sat down, however… he immediately became subject to questioning.]

Avi: So what have you been up to, Cards? Got any new songs for us?

Cardinal: Ha, I wish… -Something of an empty half-smirk as he slides a mug of coffee over to Shade- It’s all run together a bit for me, actually. It… hasn’t been easy, to be honest.

Brand: …? What do you mean?

[Shade sipped at his coffee silently as his friend explained himself.

Despite the distance and the time difference—not to mention the risk on Cardinal’s end—the songbird had kept in touch with him and buzzed in every so often. So he was in the know on most of it.]

Cardinal: Well…

Cardinal: When days don’t have any specific value of importance assigned to them, multiple days of memory that are much the same usually cause identical cross-reference creation redundancy, and it becomes difficult to differentiate one day from another. It all becomes a blur….

Brand: …That’s not the only reason, is it.

Cardinal: Heh.

[He gave something of a wry grin, leaning against the table. The data he gave off was subtly more tired than before… and just as tense.]

Cardinal: You noticed, huh? Not much gets by you.

Beck: Nii-san is really good at that!

Cardinal: -Long sip of coffee- Yeah… I’ll admit that we didn’t take it very well at all, first. And me most of all.

Avi: Aw, we missed you too, buddy!

Bat: You seem to have held up well, soldier. You’re being too hard on yourself, as usual!

Cardinal: -Shakes his head- I was upset. I stayed Offline for a while, and then, well…

Cardinal: Tried to busy myself in work. Had to… do something, just keep moving forward. -Looks off into the distance- Figured we should make progress with repairs… needed certain resources. We had to go out and raid a lot for them: it really was rather hard.

Pyro: That would explain that one series of alerts we got…

Cardinal: Yeah, they’d brought more firepower than I had bargained for. I made it out alright, but  I wouldn’t want any of you to go to such places, that’s for sure. There wasn’t much to find as it was.

Beck: Sorry I wasn’t there to help…

[Cardinal grinned and patted Beck’s shoulder.]

Cardinal: Nah, we really just needed more of specific metals, and any source of certain energies we could find. I got my hands on more E-tanks—which is good, but there still aren’t very many. Siamini’s been trying, but we haven’t made that breakthrough just yet. He thinks he might be getting close, having run the search on the database for months now.

Cryo: Uuugh, don’t tell me it was all work and no play! -Pbbbtth-

Cardinal: Sorry there, Ice Queen, but without you guys around, we didn’t have many people to play with, to be honest. Snow was often off doing his own thing, but he’s the only one who really gets out and about.

Dyna: Well, we’ll fix that now that we’re baaack~

Mic: Why need special metals? ?W? Ones Mic and Felix mine not enough?

Cardinal: -Gives a relaxed sigh, running his fingers through his hair- …Well, we needed to get samples from stuff related to the Second Generation. The only place that has that is that one old lab that’s been completely trashed several times over. It was time for us to strip that place to the bone anyway, before— well, before what happened… would happen.

Cardinal: Only it DID happen.

Bat: You’re referring to the WMD that got pointed at you?

Cardinal: -Grim expression- Mmm… it was more than that. There was… someone a bit like Mic, and definitely someone like Avi… though we were shot at long-range from someone like you, Major. The compound was destroyed.

Pyro: -Places some bacon aside- But no one was injured, right?

Cardinal: Most everyone got out of there in time, but I had to draw them off. Needless to say, that place won’t be offering up any more resources, and that’s one mainframe down. Luckily we have the one in the Meadow—and here, since the two are synched.

Cardinal: Though—it would still be putting you in danger to use your mainframe for our own devices. -Looks up- We don’t want to subject you to that if it can be helped.

Shade: -Puts his coffee down- M’ sure Dad would be fahn lettin’ ya use the mainframe if y’all really needed to, Cards.

Beck: Yeah! We’ll all help! ouo

Cardinal: Heh…. Thanks, but… -Trails off- …

Cardinal: …Well, at least we got some important data and schematics.

Brand: … -Raises an eyebrow- Such as?

Cardinal: I know what you’re thinking, Brand, but we didn’t find anything related to Shadow in there. Sorry.

[The Xel ninja said nothing, but it wasn’t hard to see (by his VISIBLY mildly unamused expression) that he was slightly disappointed to hear this.]

Shade: -Quiet ping of sympathy to his older brother- Ya woulda thought that somethin’ like that’d be in there.

Cardinal: You'd think a lot of things would be in there, but I’m pretty sure that Wily must have kept stuff like that written down on notepads, not stored in the RMD.

Beck: Why?

Cardinal: He lost things that were really important to him due to serious problems with the database once, you know—and he always was really, REALLY old school.

Cardinal: -Leans back in his chair a bit- Maybe it WAS in there once, but—y’know, it’s been a long time since the end of the Gamma incident. (Like, what… nine months or so?) He’s had time to delete that stuff, and he was really adamant about making sure Shadow was… quote-unquote taken care of, if you catch my drift.

[Brand clenched the knife he was holding a bit harder at this.]

Avi: -Aaaaaand distraction time—- So… what WERE you able to get?

Cardinal: Good question, Avs; we haven’t reviewed it in full as of yet. I think it was retrieval of the blueprints for the Second Generation, at least. I know that I went out and managed to get my hands on 020’s data.

Shade: -Nice-

Pyro: -Hopeful data- That’s the boxer, correct?

Cardinal: Yup.

Bat: Ha! Good work, soldier! No man left behind!

Beck: That must have been awfully scary, though! ono

Cardinal: -Grins- Well, it wasn’t easy! And yeah, it was a pretty big risk. But hopefully it’ll be worth it, in the long run.

[His smile fades.]

Cardinal: Tobias, though…

[The murmur of conversation died down at that. Avi fidgeted.]

Avi: Mikhail said he was okay, right…?

Cardinal: He’s… he’s alright.

[The Robot Master in question had been Offline for quite some time following the scene in the sands. And what a scene it had been…]

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

SKLLLKTTKRRRSHHHLLLRRRKKT—

[Oil and cooling fluids spattered all over Bladeblaster’s hands and weapon, as if they were blood….]

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

Cardinal: We never did explain what happened, did we…

[He presses a hand to his face and yawns.]

Cardinal: Well, maybe Mikhail can explain it tomorrow or something.

Beck: What is there to explain? :c He’s… he’s okay, right?

Cardinal: Yeah. He was asleep for a while, but that’s pretty common for any Robot Master after they get sent Offline in a traumatic fashion. Especially if they blame themselves. That data is really difficult to process, you know.

Dyna: -Awww, Tobyyyy…-

Beck: Sorry we couldn’t help out. D:

Cardinal: You guys had your own worries. We pulled through alright.

Cardinal: Besides, you’ve done a lot of good work with those molds you made for us! The new coolant systems make all the difference in the heat of battle.

Shade: -Snorts into his coffee despite himself-

Avi: EEEEYYY nice one :^D

[Cardinal gave a brief soft laugh.]

Cardinal: It’s good to be like… like this again.

Cryo: SOOOOooooo… now that you're home… what do you want to do next?

Brand: Something that doesn't end up in the headlines. -~-;;

Cardinal: -Laughs at this-

Shade: -Devilish grin, worth it-

Pyro: Are you kidding, Seven? I swear those two could go out for groceries and end up in trouble.

[The two in question snicker at this.]

Brand: -Mildly annoyed glare at Cardinal-

Cardinal: -Amused- You really need to chill out, Sev.

Cardinal: You should try meditation, I hear it works wonders~

Shade: -Almost chokes on his coffee at this-

[Brand narrowed his eyes coldly at his younger brother as the cowboy coughed briefly, grinning as he sat shaking in silent laughter.]

Shade: -Error X04: srs not found, BWAHAHA-

Cardinal: -Just gives a cheeky grin- ~~~

Bat: We could deploy him to Kalos. Maybe some training there will get him to clean up his act!

Shade: -Aw, not you too, bro— Ah’ trusted ya…-

Cardinal: -Laughs a little- Actually, that's not that bad of an idea, Major. I taught Baron some new tricks by utilizing the moves he has in expressive ways.

Pyro: >_>;

Cardinal: Don’t suppose you can come with?

Shade: -Pings and sighs, nostalgic about their previous adventures- Ah’d love to, but—

Pyro: -Brings pancakes over to the table- We have a match tomorrow morning. We have to rest, I’m afraid.

Cardinal: Aw, come onnn…. Not even for half an hour?

Brand: Cardinal, the last time you and Shade went there, you got chased by a swarm of BEES. -____-;;

Shade: -Pokes at the songbird sharply- Ah' still blame yew—

Cardinal: That was BARON'S idea, not mine!

Pyro: Alright, alright! Settle down!

Shade: -Fine, fine…-

[Everyone started chowing down as Pyro divvied out the food.]

Cardinal: I’m just glad you guys are back. We really missed you.

Shade: S’ good to be back. B]

Avi: By the way, did our gifts ever reach you guys—

Cardinal: -Cutting designs into his pancakes- Yeah, and Mikhail was very happy you all got him the watch. Just one thing, though…

Shade: Hmm?

Cardinal: …You didn't include any instructions, so you're going to have to show him how it works.

Shade: Ah, right—there are several functions, heh…

Mic: -Going through an entire stack of pancakes all to himself- How is Felix?

Cardinal: -Smile fades- …Sick.

Brand: … -Concerned- Sick?

Cardinal: Yeah.

Beck: What happened? D:

Cardinal: As he would put it, “It’s A Long Story”…. Something to do with visions and high energy things. That's what Piers said, anyway.

Dyna: Who iszzz that, again?

Cardinal: Mmm. That would be the captain from Lemuria; he’s Felix’s best friend. He came over to help monitor Felix after he fell ill. Echo probably asked him to do so.

Bat: Any idea as to what caused it? That man is as sturdy as they get. Haven’t ever heard of him being under the weather since we’ve known him.

[Cardinal lowered his utensils for a moment, frowning.]

Cardinal: He was doing research into what might have happened with those stupid crosses, from what I understand. B/

Pyro: Mmmnnngh…

Mic: :c Mic not get it. Felix not a ‘bot?

Cardinal: He was researching something similar from his world. Pretty dangerous material, from what I understand. He was either careless or else underestimated the potency he could reach by refining the material…

Beck: But he’ll be okay, right? D:

Cardinal: …

Cardinal: -Slowly- He’s bounced back from worse before. He’ll be fine.

Beck: -Whew…-

Cardinal: Enough about us, though. What about you guys? We barely got to see any of the matches—

Avi: NOT TO WORRY, we recorded everything in HD! :^D

Cardinal: Fair enough, but. Tell me about England. -Pours syrup onto more pancakes, only to find Beck had taken most of the syrup already- Tell me about what it was like for you guys.

Shade: Hmm…

Shade: It was… rainy.

Cardinal: -Snrk-

Cryo: -Flails- We’ve been there before, you know! Came back champs, natch. Those guys couldn’t hold a candle or a hose to the team SUPREME!

Brandish: The teams were very good. They were simply outmatched, that is all. I’m sure Speedy would have enjoyed seeing some of them… were you really unable to watch any of the matches?

Cardinal: We picked up a few radio broadcasts, but the only one we got to see was the last one. And we all know how THAT went…

Shade: Tsk… real shame. ‘least Avi got the content t’ show after the fact…

Cardinal: Oh, dude, I’d love to marathon watch the whooooole thing. B]

Bat: For your analysis program?

Cardinal: -Smirks- Maaaybe.

Pyro: Heh.

Dyna: -Points and cackles- Don’t think you can pull a faszzzt one on uszz, Card-i-nalll~! Analyszzisz didn’t help them much, after all~

Cardinal: -Amused- Fair enough point.

[Shade twitched an amused smile, before privately pinging his friend.]

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: You’ve got more to say, don’t you?

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: >Let’s just say that you haven’t seen what I can really do when I’m serious.

[His grin faded after a moment, and he gave off tired data again.]

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > …Though… I hope you never have to…

[Shade used what was left of his right arm to swish his cloak a little, brushing it against the short prototype. This served to distract him out of the grim cross-references of recent battles—not matches, but true clashes of machines of war.]

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: S’ok. Things will be fine now.

Cardinal: -Blinks a little bit, coming out of his private thoughts to Avi’s ongoing description of the lunch with the Queen- …

Cardinal: … -Decides to zone back out, focusing on his breakfast-

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > What about you, Shade? Did… did we make things rather hard for you?

Shade: …

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: …The whole thing was a mess. S’ not y’all’s fault. Got hammered pretty hard with demands from just about every agency you can think of, all wantin’ answers for what Bladeblaster was up to…

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > …And how Tobias got past security?

Shade: | / -Sighs and nods-

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > Geez, that sounds rough. What were they expecting, that just because you guys were both assassins that you knew what he was up to?

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Mnn. Somethin’ like that, I guess. More like they expected me specifically t’ have been keepin’ an eye on him… since he was a competitive threat and not publicly on good terms…

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > …

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Ah’ know, right?

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > Man… if they were that hard on you, I can only imagine what they put Jack through…

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Nah, don’t worry ‘bout him. Kate’s got his case.

[Cardinal smiled softly at that.

“Kate”—also known as Shade’s distaff counterpart—had developed a fast friendship with the unfortunate CherryDyn fighter. It came as little surprise that she had managed to find a backdoor to the system that allowed her to protect the still-recovering victim.]

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: >How’d she manage to pull that off?

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Heh heh… God only knows; haven’t had a chance t’ compare notes yet. She was real careful about not being seen communicating with us much. She kept a tight patrol ‘round the hospital when she wasn’t actin’ as his case handler. She even wrote a report to submit to the CAL: managed to take off with some of my blank documents while I was nappin’ r’ somethang, y’know.

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: >Well, as long as she’s looking out for him. I’ve got a bad feeling about what could happen to him now…. He surely knows too much, and as for his boss…

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Rumor has it that he’s dead.

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > …

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > What?

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Kate thinks it’s a cover story. Kinda inclined t’ believe her.

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > …

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > -MnnnNNNnng-

Cardinal: -Pokes at his pancakes, deciding to change to subject-

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > How… how bad was it, with them asking about Tobias?

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Eh. That was the easy part. Just said that he wasn’t a Xelbot I’d ever seen in the ring before, must be some fan a’ Dyna’s. B]

[Cardinal grins at that, biting down onto his fork.]

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > Nice. Technical, misleading truths are my absolute favorite.

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Heh. Figured you’d get a kick outta that. Thankfully, they really didn’t press the point, ‘cause they were havin’ trouble finding him in any of the databases to begin with… making it even less likely that a star family like us would know him.

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: >Yeah… thanks for putting him as an Industrial. He really isn’t developed for Combat.

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Maybe not, but—

Shade: -Whistle of appreciation-

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: After seein’ him in action, can’t say he wouldn’t fit in.

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > You could say he—

[MNN-008 to DLN-000] //: Aw c’mon, don’t—

<DLN-000 to MNN-008>: > —punched BB’s lights out—

Shade: -Snickers and thwacks Cardinal with his cape-

Cardinal: -CHEEKIEST GRIN-

Pyro: What’s going on down there?

Cardinal: Oh, nothing~

Shade: Just enjoyin’ a jest, heh heh…

[The two share a laugh, and Pyro lets the matter drop. It was good to see Shade back in a good mood again, and neither were out causing trouble, after all—at least, not yet.]

Pyro: (I don’t doubt that they’ll find plenty of mischief to do as time goes on.) -Shakes his head slightly- (Truly as “thick as thieves”, those two….)

[Cardinal, for his part, seemed to slip back into a weary melancholy. He’d stopped just short of finishing off his pancakes.]

Shade: …? Oi—you full, or…?

Cardinal: Hmm?

[He looked up, coming out of his thoughts. His eyes glowed slightly brighter for a moment before they dulled again: though it was hard to tell behind his sunglasses.]

Cardinal: Oh, I…

Cardinal: -Looks down at his plate- …I guess it’s more that I don’t want to leave.

Cryo: What’s THAT got to do with breakfast?

Cardinal: Well… you guys said you have a match tomorrow, and you’ll have to sleep most of the day to truly rest while readjusting your internal clocks to fix jet lag…

Cardinal: -Clearly reluctant- I really should get out of your way.

Brand: Nonsense.

Beck: We do have to rest up, but! Maybe Dad will let us have a sleepover!

Cardinal: -Looks up hopefully- You think so?

Bat: Affirmative, provided you don’t cause any trouble.

Cardinal: -Gives a slight smile at that- I’ve just returned from active combat, sir. Led my men in battle and brought us all home alive. I have enough thrills from the enemies at my heels; right now I just want some peace and quiet before they carry out the brunt of the storm.

Shade: … (Haven’t seen him like this in a long time. Gotta be something I can do t’ help keep him outta that sea of hopelessness…)

Shade: -Gets a sudden idea- !

Shade: -Slowly grins- Gee. That’s too bad.

Cardinal: -Looks up- I’m sorry, Shade. I’m just really tired right now. You know how that is.

Shade: Yeah.

Shade: Was just thinkin’ maybe…

Shade: Maybe after spendin’ the night, y’ could come to watch the match tomorrow?

Cardinal: !

[The others immediately chimed in.]

Mic: -Deep PING of approval- ^W^ As Digger say, “yes good!”

Bat: Solid idea!

Beck: Yeah! That would be great!

Avi: Now why didn’t I think of that?

Dyna: Yee, you’ll get to szzee a FABULOUS diszzplay!

Brand: You really ARE overdue to see a match in person…

Cryo: Hell yeah, [glitches]! Watch us totally DOMINATE those losers!

Pyro: We’d love to have you come. Why don’t you go ask?

Cardinal: -Warm smile- …Thanks, guys. You’re the best.

[Beck beamed as the prototype wandered off to go find the Doctors. Best friends, reunited! What a wonderful thing!]

Beck: -Hums a little, licking syrup off his plate while Pyro isn’t looking- (I can’t slip away tonight, but maybe tomorrow I can go see her, too…. I should see if I can get extra Xel ready for her. Maybe I could say it’s stuff for the molds…)

Beck: (I really hope she's been doing well since I left—I know! I'll make a nice gift for her too, maybe add some chocolate—a gift basket! That'll cheer her up. And maybe…)

Beck: (Maybe after the match, I can finally talk to her about some important things…)

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

=CHAPTER 9B: HAZY SUSPICION=

~AO v1.0~

((Courtesy of @limitbreakers))

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

{Meanwhile…}

[Mikhail sat back with a sigh.]

Mikhail: {Finally, I’m done…}

[Coding the summary condenser had taken longer than he would have liked. However, it seemed to be working—he couldn’t say for sure until Felix came in with the temporary power core.]

Mikhail: -Stands, taking off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose- Ugh… {I hope he comes soon, or at least calls—}

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Doctor, there is a call on our emergency line--

Mikhail: ({Perfect timing!}) -Interrupts- Patch him through, Call.

[He stood, gathering up his supplies with his back to the monitor.

Jack, meanwhile, was helping around with minor chores, like sweeping up after the good Doctor--he briefly flicked his gaze to the monitor when he heard Mikhail accepting the call, and...]

Jack: .....

Jack: Doc?

Jack: Why is the CherryDyn logo on the big screen...?

Mikhail: What?

[He turns around just in time for the call to come through.

He was immediately disappointed. Rather than a message from Felix in the Meadow, it appeared to be from none other than CherryDyn’s chief executive officer.

His expression quickly changed to being cross.]

Mikhail: {Computer, end call!}

[The call shut off before the man on the other line could even say a word.]

Jack: --Dude--I mean, Doc--

Jack: That was Gregory Graham--

Mikhail: -Crossly- I don’t have time to deal with CherryDyn and their dragons. Things are bad enough as it is without him making them worse.

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Attention--we are once again receiving an urgent call from CherryDynamics.

Mikhail: =___=“ -Frustrated- -Motions for Jack to move out of sight- Put him through.

Jack: (...This cannot be good.)

[As Jack quietly makes himself scarce, the CherryDyn logo once again fills the main monitor for a few seconds, before cutting to a man in a sharply dresses purple business suit, bright violet eyes, and neatly combed blond hair--save for one strand that seemed to stick out rather largely.

Needless to say, Gregory Graham looked less than pleased.]

Graham: You don't just hang up on an emergency line, you know.

Graham: And who are YOU supposed to be--I would think that Sanda would be more aware of who was handling his feeds!

Graham: Where is he?

Mikhail: Doctor Sanda is currently otherwise engaged.

Graham: Tch.

Graham: (The nerve of this...)

Graham: I demand to speak with him. This is an urgent matter that I MUST discuss with someone that, at the very least, can provide some actual assistance.

[Mikhail listened quietly as Gregory Graham began to rant. The lights of the lab gave his glasses a sinister glare.]

Mikhail: …

Graham: Did you not hear me?

Graham: Stop muddling around and go GET him!

Mikhail: …Hmm.

Mikhail: No.

[The screen blipped back to a screensaver as he hung up a second time.]

Jack: (Oh my God--)

Jack: -Whispers, even though the call is not active- Doc, I don't think this is a good idea--

Mikhail: -Still honestly doesn’t care- I have [color=black]worse[/color] things than him to worry about. -Sits down, pulling over a notepad- He honestly doesn’t scare me, not in the slightest.

Jack: But--

[The door to the lab suddenly lurches open, revealing Soichiro walking inside with a breakfast bagel in his hand. Either he was still waking up or he didn't exactly care for the lab rules at this point either.]

Soi: -Yawn- But what...?

Soi: I heard talking... was someone calling us? Who was it?

[Mikhail was at a counter, writing out a note by now.]

Mikhail: -Without looking up- No one important.

Soi: Oh--

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Doctor, we are receiving another urgent call from CherryDynamics.

Soi: ....

Soi: . . .

Soi: -Whirls around- No one important?!

Mikhail: -Grumbles- {The man is a liar and worse, so no, not worth our time.}

[He seemed more engaged in his note writing than anything else.]

Soi: For Tyson's sake, Mikhail, I KNOW, but he's still--d'oh, never mind--!

Soi: Patch it through, Call-- -Tosses bagel at Jack- And make sure the others don't hear this--

[CALL] //: Yes, Doctor.

[The line fizzes once again.]

Graham: Sanda--Sanda?!

Graham: Ah, Sanda--thank goodness. Greg Graham here.

Soi: -Ahem-

Soi: Mr. Graham. What a...  pleasant... surprise... to hear from you...

Graham: Drop the act, Sanda.

Soi: --....

Graham: You don't like me and I do not like you--we can at least agree on that much.

Soi: (No kidding.)

Graham: You need to get a better handle on your interns. The nerve of that one...

Soi: (Cripes, Mikhail...)

[Mikhail tuned them out. While Sanda attempted to calm Gregory down, the Russian Doctor stepped aside out of sight and walked over to Jack. He had the note in his hand—and an amulet.]

Mikhail: Jack Parker?

Jack: --?

Jack: Y--Yeah, Doc? What is it?

Mikhail: You mean, why are we being called? I’m not entirely sure myself. But I am fairly certain about one thing.

[He glanced back at the door to the lab with a faint grimace.]

Mikhail: …

[He returned his attention to Jack.]

Mikhail: You won’t want to remain around here for much longer. The Secretary of Defense is in the building.

Jack: .......

Jack: Fraggin' hell...

[Mikhail holds up a hand as if to stop him from letting panic build any further.]

Mikhail: He doesn’t know you’re here. There are no records of you entering, since you came by the teleporters.

[He handed over the amulet.]

Mikhail: This is a teleportation amulet. It will take you directly to the Meadow.

Jack: !

Jack: (...He wants me to leave before...)

Mikhail: Once you get there, there are a few things I need for you to do.

[He handed over the note.]

Mikhail: I’ve written them all down in here. Just follow the instructions, and tell Felix to leave the swords behind, if you see him.

Jack: ....

[Jack glances down at the note, giving it a quick read--and confusion fills his face.]

Jack: But, Doc--

Mikhail: It will make more sense once you get there. Just… please do this for me, alright? It’s very important. For Tobias, for Cardinal, for you—

[By now, the conversation was once again getting louder.]

Mikhail: …You should go.

Jack: ..... (I shouldn't leave the Doc like this, but...)

Jack: (I can't help from behind a cell, or worse.)

Jack: Okay.

Jack: ....Good luck, Doc.

[Jack looks reluctant as he dons the amulet.]

Jack: Tell the Xel kid I said bye for now or something.

Mikhail: I will. I’m sure you’ll get the chance to speak soon enough. -Frowns, looking in the direction of the yelling- Stay safe.

[Pressing the center of the amulet transported Jack away to safety in the characteristic swirl of 0s and 1s associated with the Ambassador’s magic. Mikhail stepped back into view of the screen, his expression becoming sullen again.]

[To his annoyance, Gregory Graham clearly still hadn’t reached a point, and was still complaining, not even letting Sanda get much of a word in.

Seeing his friend and colleague treated such a way after all they had been through was starting to make the Russian feel exceedingly nasty—it wore right past his submissive baggage of the past and to his protective, fatherly nature.

There’s a saying that applies to people when they’re frustrated, and it was oh so apt for him—

Don’t poke the bear.]

[Mikhail sighed and walked over to the console again. He looked very annoyed.]

Mikhail: If all you’re going to do is insult people, then you can do it on your own time. We have more important things to attend to.

Graham: Grr--

Graham: This doesn't concern you! What is this upstart even doing in this room, Sanda, I don't even see any staff identification on him!

Graham: I doubt you even know the gravity of the situation--

[Mikhail slammed a newspaper right into the screen.]

[His glasses slid slightly, causing the glare to leave to reveal an even fiercer glare beneath them.]

Mikhail: On the contrary, Graham—I know a great deal more than you think. You want gravity? You want to play serious? Fine—try THIS on for size. I know you are ultimately behind all of this, and someday I will prove it. Do you understand me?

Graham: Excuse me?!

Soi: (Baaaah, I can't handle this anymore--)

Soi: (I've got to get Will--!)

[Mikhail slapped the newspaper down, paying no attention as Sanda hurried out of view to find Will.]

Mikhail: Do everyone a favor and go away. We have more important things to deal with than your mind-boggling incompetence.

[He ends the call abruptly.]

[MEANWHILE, WILL'S OFFICE.]

Soi: WILL--!

[Soi knocked on Will's office door as hard as he could, until the Doctor abruptly opened it with a panicked whisper--]

Will: Shhht--!

Will: Do you WANT to let Mr. Donald know I'm here--Hey--!

[Sanda didn't waste time pushing Will inside, locking the door behind him.]

Will: Soi--?

Soi: Will--

Soi: Graham is on our emergency line.

Will: --!?!?

Will:

Wh--What...?

Soi: Will--

Soi: Mikhail is dealing with him right now, but I don't think they're--

Will: YOU LEFT MIKHAIL ALONE WITH GRAHAM?!

Soi: He just--sort of--uh.

Soi: (...Oh dear--)

Will: Nononono--

[Will paces around the room in a clear panic, biting his nails and holding onto his hair with a grip that threatened to tear a good chuck of it off.]

Will: (Why why why, why is HE calling, why did Mikhail have to answer, why is this HAPPENING AGAIN--)

Will: Soi--

Will: Wh--What if he--?!

Soi: No, Will--

Soi: G-Graham hasn't mentioned you yet--and all Mikhail is doing is scolding and hanging up on him, at best...

Soi: I...It's kind of getting worse, though, and--I...I don't think I can handle it, Will, I'm sorry--

Soi: He--he listens to you, Will, so--m-maybe--

Will: NO!

[Soi is taken aback at Will's sudden outburst, full of fear and guilt--]

Will: I can't--

Will: I can't ever face Graham again, Soi, you know that--!

Will: I don't...

Will: I...

[......]

Will: I don't trust myself.

Will: I don't...I don't have the strength t-to...

[Will shakes--his entire body is shivering as he sits on the ground, one hand covering his face.]

Will: A-All this time...

Will: I...I thought...

Will: I thought that part of my life was over and DONE with, Soi...

Will: Why--Why is it happening again--?

Soi: Will...

Will: What if he...

Will: What if he recognizes me?

Will: Right there, in the open, where Mikhail is?

Will: What if my façade is not GOOD enough?

Will: ...What if I'm not good enough?

Soi: Will--

Soi: Come on, Will.

Soi: You even fooled me, at first.

Soi: And I'm sure I'm at least twice as smart as Graham ever will be.

Will: ---....

Soi: ....

Soi: Listen, Will...

Soi: I...I can't imagine what you're going through right now. I mean, I can, but...

Soi: ...I haven't been through what you have. Not then...

Soi: But...

Soi: I'm your friend, remember?

Soi: No matter what happens.

Soi: And no matter what the world thinks.

Soi: I'll always be in your corner.

Soi: And that's a fact.

Will: ....

Soi: Whatever we have to face...

Soi: We're doing it together.

Soi: I know you...

Soi: The REAL you.

Soi: Better than anyone else.

Soi: So believe me when I say that you are good enough, Will!

Soi: If you can fool me, and the entire world...

Soi: Then you can fool someone like Graham.

Soi: And...

Will: ....

Will: But what about Mikhail?

Will: And my own children?

Soi: .....

Soi: Mikhail's been working non-stop trying to fix Cardinal, and the Mighties are all asleep.

Soi: We... we can worry about them later.

Soi: Right now...

Soi: Right now, I...

Soi: We need you, Will.

Will: . . .

Soi: I promise--

Soi: The second things go south, I'll cover for you.

Soi: And we have the Meadow, if we need to run.

Soi: I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you, remember?

Will: .....

Will: Yes...

Will: I...remember...

Will: All those years ago...

Soi: Hmm-Hmm.

Soi: I know things seem bad, but...

Soi: Nothing is ever going to hurt you like that again, Will, I'm going to make sure of that--!

Soi: So don't you worry about a thing, okay? ^^ Mikhail and I got your back.

———————

Mikhail: Just… stay strong, alright? We’ll make it through this. I promised you that, remember?

-*-*-*-*-

“Listen… If anything ever goes that wrong for you, I /promise/ you I will help you find a way to fix it.”

-*-*-*-*-

Mikhail: I intend to keep to that.

———————

Will: ......

Will: . . .

-*-*-*-*-

Mikhail: I’m sorry, Will…

Mikhail: It was for good reason, and I’m prepared to pay the price for it.

[…]

Mikhail: Between everyone’s efforts, we all made it out alive—and that is all I could have hoped for, so…

Mikhail: I am willing to [color=black]pay.[/color]

[…]

Mikhail: Such… such an action is…

Mikhail: …not something easily forgiven.

Mikhail: …I must… I have to answer for this, sooner or later. It’s the right thing to do.

Mikhail: I’m sorry, William…

Mikhail: After all this time, after all you’ve done for me… I’ve gone and done something terrible, something that places you in danger.

Mikhail: I certainly won’t let anyone put that onto you.

Mikhail: -Places a hand to Will’s face- You’re like a cousin, or… or even brother to me. And I know this is hard enough on you as it is.

[…]

Mikhail: But you…

Mikhail: You’ve been doing such good work, you… you’re already under enough stress as it is… you should definitely not be hounded by the things I’ve done using your equipment. The things my nephews have done throughout this whole mess…

-*-*-*-*-

Soi: Where would you be without me, eh?

Soi: Up the creek with no paddle, that's what! ^^

-*-*-*-*-

Will: ......

Soi: --...Um. W-Will?

Soi: (He's not moving...Oh, God, did he pass out from fright--?!)

Will: No.

Soi: --?

Will: No...

Will: N-No more running...

Will: I...

Will: I can't stand this anymore.

Soi: Will--?

Will: Watching you and Mikhail take so much for my sake when...

Will: Standing up FOR me...

Will: I...

Will: I can't watch you do that for me, Soi.

Will: I can't--it...hurts.

Will: Because YOU don't deserve that, and neither does Mikhail--!

[There's a strange, sharp edge to Will's voice, one that doesn't quite belong in his tone, yet it oddly fits...rather unnervingly.

And it's all too familiar to Soi.]

Soi: --!

Will: You...you and Mikhail...

Will: You've given up so much for my sake...

Will: It's...

Will: Unfair.

Will: I can't do this anymore.

Will: I can't watch both of you take blows just because I cannot.

Will: I...

[He stands.]

[There is a familiar fire in Will's eyes, one that Soi hadn't seen in...]

Will: I can't let that...that wretched excuse of a human being hurt anyone like HE hurt ME--!

Soi: !

Soi: (You...?)

Will: I can't run from this anymore...

Will: I might as well start now rather than never.

[Will's voice drops to a growl.]

Will: Starting with Greg.

Soi: ......

[Soi seems kind of...bewildered, for a moment.]

Soi: ....

Soi: Eheh...

[But then he begins to laugh a little.]

Soi: Ooof...

Soi: I forgot how scary you can be when you get like that...

Soi: Jeez...

Will: --.....

Will: I...

[Once Soi said that, all traces of darkness left Will's gaze, replaced with a sheepish uncertainty.]

Will: I--I'm sorry--

Will: I...didn't mean to lose it like--

Soi: -Laughs-

Soi: Aw, it's okay. At this rate, I almost feel sorry for Graham!

Soi: ....

Soi: Almost. ^^

Soi: Heh.

Soi: I'm proud of ya, Will.

Will: --...

Soi: Now, uh...

Soi: We should probably get back before Mikhail sends one of his kids after him or...something...

Soi: Unless you need a--

Will: No.

[Will straightens out his hair and his lab coat, taking a few deep breathes.]

[This would be the first he's faced Graham in...not enough time.]

Will: ....

Will: I'm ready.

Soi: Good!

Soi: I'm right behind you. ^^

Will: Heh...

{Soon…}

[As Soi and Will bustled into the lab, they could hear what was clearly the tail end of a conversation.]

“Learn to take responsibility for your actions.”

[Mikhail wasn’t even looking at the screen, instead checking stuff off a clipboard.]

Mikhail: Listen to a word of advice from a SCIENTIST, Graham—do NOT experiment with things you cannot personally control. This is your fault.

Graham: My fault?!

Graham: You think I would put this great country of ours at risk like this?! You listen here, you idiotic--

Mikhail: Not interested.

BLIP!

Soi: (....Whoa. How many times has he done that now?)

Will: .....

Will: (You haven't changed at all, have you.)

Will: What is going on?

Mikhail: -Dryly- I’m still waiting for Felix to call back, but the line appears to be busy.

Will: ...But...Soi told me that CherryDyn is calling--?

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Correct, Doctor. CherryDyn's CEO Gregory Graham is calling our emergency once again as we speak.

Mikhail: Tcheh.

[He walks over to wait by a printer.]

Will: Mr. Graham?

Will: What could he possibly want from us?

Mikhail: Good question. He keeps being very vague. I fear his screeching may break the delicate instruments here if he keeps jumping pitch.

Will: .....

[That gets Will to lighten up a little, hiding his smile behind his fingers.]

Will: Was he really screeching?

Soi: You have no idea.

Will: Heh.

Will: I see.

Mikhail: Do you mind if I use the printer?

Will: Oh, not at all, Mikhail.

Will: -Ahem-

[Will smile fades off after a moment, though, and he squares his shoulders back, his body facing away from the screen.]

Will: Unfortunately, I doubt Mr. Graham will give up so easily.

Soi: Oof...Yeah...

Soi: Um, I--

Will: Don't bother, Soichiro.

Will: Allow me to handle him.

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

[Call once again patches the line though, but Will doesn't even turn around.]

Graham: Bah, finally--

Graham: Sanda, If this call cuts off one more time, I'll--

Will: No need.

Graham: --?

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

[Will's voice is....]

[...Unusually pleasant, yet with a hard undertone to it. As if he was restraining something.]

Will: Good day, Mr. Graham.

Will: I'm ever so terribly sorry for all that. Right, Dr. Sanda?

Soi: --! Oh, yes! Sorry, it's just been... so stressful as of late, some of our staff's been, uh... moody.

[Mikhail has to smile a little at that from his position near the printer. He uses sign language to speak in Russian.]

Mikhail: “{‘Moody’ is certainly one way to put it. A TRUE bear could hardly be more ready to bite the man’s head off.}”

[It nearly takes all of the Doctors' willpower to keep from snorting at that.]

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Graham: Tch.

Graham: At least SOMEONE has some decent manners.

Will: (Ha. That is funny coming from you, you monster.)

Will: Again, I do ever so apologize.

Will: What seems to be the problem, Mr. Graham?

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Graham: More like crisis.

Graham: It's our factory.

Graham: It's out of control!

Graham: It's cranking out hostile, infected robots and we can't STOP IT!

Will: .....

Soi: W-What?

Will: (And you didn't mention that the very first thing.)

Will: (How strange.)

Will: Hmm.

Will: That doesn't sound good.

Graham: You THINK?!

Mikhail: -Narrows his eyes- …

Will: If I recall, CherryDyn's factory's are all mostly automated, yes?

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Will: If that's the case, I'm afraid your own servers might be affected with the virus as well.

Graham: I KNOW that!

Graham: Our security measures have all failed! Every Xel-Robot in the building has gone insane, and to top it all off, they've blocked all the exits in the building!

Mikhail: -Snorts at this- “{Those measures were never very good to begin with, if what happened in April is anything to go by.}”

Will: ....

Soi: So... you're trapped?

Graham: All of my staff and YES, myself as well!

Graham: Our HQ's been locked down, but if you and the Mighty Numbers do not hurry--

Graham: Those infected robots will FLOOD the city, and the rest of the United States!

Will: .....

Mikhail: ({A bit late to cry wolf.})

Mikhail: -Russian- {Is there ANY other option? The children are asleep, they NEED rest.}

Soi: {Well...I...I don't think so. CherryDyn's robots are mostly flimsy compared to ours--No offense to you know who, of course--but a whole army--}

Will: Call.

Will: Confirm this.

Graham: Wha--!

Mikhail: -Pinches the bridge of his nose- {Gah… if only I weren’t in—…} …

Mikhail: (I can wake up the Rebel Angels, but not my own sons…)

Mikhail: (Once they hear about what I’m going through, they’ll go RIGHT into Defense mode…)

Graham: Are you even LISTENING--

[CALL] //: Confirming...

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Confirmed. Defective CherryDyn robots are rampaging throughout the city, coming from one local source based on local reports.

Will: (So you aren't lying.)

Mikhail: —! {Wait—flimsy, right?}

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Soi: {Yes--don't get me wrong, some of them are a pain to deal with, but Beck got through them no problem!}

Soi: {In sheer numbers, however, they'll cause enormous amounts of destruction...}

Mikhail: -Turns to face him- {More or less destruction than those using explosives to stop them?}

Soi: {I honestly do not know.}

Soi: {CherryDyn is the world's--the WORLD'S, Mikhail, top robot manufacturer. If this is already in their servers, who knows how long before it spreads off the country?}

Mikhail: {Dammit.}

Mikhail: {Ugh… very well then…}

Mikhail: {You might consider calling the Second Generation.}

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Soi: !

Will: ...Mm.

Will: Well, this is a predicament...

Mikhail: Will—

Mikhail: {Jaden and Carlos together can truly handle themselves.}

Mikhail: {They’ll be awake by now. The only reason it hasn’t shown up is because I disconnected the servers.}

Mikhail: {This… this is the sort of thing they were made for, you know. To cause destruction. To channel that in a positive way…}

Mikhail: {It would really help the stress they’re going through right now.}

Mikhail: {Please at least consider? Your sons and daughters are so… tired…}

[The poor man looked exhausted himself.]

Will: .....

[Will doesn't quite answer back, but he nods, as if to acknowledge it.]

Will: Mr. Graham.

Will: Do you not have any countermeasures yourself?

Graham: Did I NOT just say--

Will: It's just a little odd to me.

Will: Surely, you know how tiring this has been on everyone.

Will: Did you not say yourself that you and your company would be doing EVERYTHING they can to help with the situation at large?

Graham: I--

Will: Yet...

Will: We seem to be doing all of the legwork, so to speak.

Will: Is there a reason for that?

Mikhail: {Excuse, you mean?}

[Prinz… prinz… prinz…]

Graham: How dare you--

Graham: We've been doing all we can to help CONTAIN the virus from spreading to our other servers!

Graham: We're not just twiddling our thumbs here!

Will: I see.

Will: I suppose I should thank you, then.

Will: In any case...

Will: I suppose there is no choice. Lives are in danger.

Graham: Finally, you get it--

Will: However...

Will: I ask that you do not disturb us after this.

Will: My children are quite tired.

[Will's hands ball up into fists.]

Will: And I will not have anyone asking for any more favors like this. For a long time.

Mikhail: {Good for you, Will!} -Clearly quite pleased-

Soi: Eheh...Er. Yes. We all need a...a break, eheh!

Graham: .....

[The CEO narrows his eyes at Will's form for a moment.]

Graham: So you're William Apollo White.

Will: Correct.

Will: And you'd do well to remember that name.

Graham: And him?

Will: He's going to chew off your DAMN head off if you don't MIND yourself!

Soi: --! Will...

Graham: (What the...)

Mikhail: -Grabs a file folder to put his notes in- A question, Graham, if you would.

Mikhail: The virus broke out over a week ago.

Mikhail: Why is this only now becoming a problem? Did something happen that changed things?

[He sounded genuinely curious.]

Will: That's a rather good question.

Graham: (I can't believe this--)

Graham: We've been TRYING to contain the virus all this time, like I have said.

Graham: At first, we stopped it from spreading to our factory branch--until now, that is.

Graham: We only had so many left in our Tech department after the virus struck.

Mikhail: (So it CAN be manually combated on Xel-based coded servers… that’s important information.)

Will: (Nggg....You don't care, you don't care--)

Soi: Ah-- (Oh, man--)

Soi: E-Er, we'll send help right away, Mr. Graham! Yes, we'll do that, don't you worry--

Soi: Right, Will--?

Will: ...Yes, of course.

Will: ...

Will: One more question, if you would.

Graham: -Exasperated- I do not have time to play 20 questions, White--

Will: What makes you so sure Dr. Blackwell is behind all this?

Mikhail: -Freezes- …

[He clutched the printed notes in his hand. His hands were shaking as he simmered in anger.]

[Will didn't seem to be faring so well either. His emerald eyes flared with what could only be described as burning hatred.]

Will: You first claimed that he was the cause of all of this.

Will: And then you wasted no time claiming that Dr. Sanda and myself were his cohorts.

Will: Why.

Will: I want to know why you did that.

Will: Why you're so keen on shifting the blame to everyone but y o u r s e l f.

Graham: You--! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!

Graham: It's OBVIOUS! That--that smelly old FART is out for REVENGE! Not only is the Blackwell name PROOF ENOUGH--

Graham: He's outright INSANE, and nothing SHORT of a complete MONSTER! Now stop asking STUPID questions and SEND HELP!

[That was the last straw.

Mikhail abruptly put the call on mute from his location.]

Will: --!

Soi: (Oh no--)

Mikhail: Let me tell you something, Mr. Graham.

[He turned to face the terminal. The way he held his glasses against his face made him look incredibly sinister—a presence which was only amplified by his frightfully calm tone.]

Mikhail: When a [color=goldenrod]genius[/color] suddenly loses it and makes the world burn, there is always something…

[He looked up.]

Mikhail: Or [color=gray]someONE[/color]…

Mikhail: … that pushed them there.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shadow: If Doctor Blackwell has been stripped of all rights and is out of public sight, with restricted access to his person, then that means that there are—forgive the cynicism—fewer people necessary to bribe, blackmail, or distract in order to get at Blackwell himself.

Shadow: When one is kept on a tight leash, be wary to be sure the leash stays in the hand of the right master.

Shadow: …If he IS involved, he may have been for—

Mikhail: {ENOUGH.}

Will: –!

Will: (Oh dear–)

[He was hugging his daughter tightly. She was silent and cowering, with her face turned away from the camera. She was shaking slightly.]

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Will: .......

Mikhail: You are very fortunate that William is a man of incredible integrity with a hero for a son, or else you might have [color=goldenrod] more [/color] than Doctor Blackwell to worry about.

Mikhail: Assuming you aren’t lying— again.

Soi: O~O;;;;;

Soi: (Jeez, I...It's like looking into a mirror...)

[Mikhail leaned forward, looking over his glasses in waaaaaaay too calm a manner.]

Mikhail: You will address the Doctor— ALL the Doctors, but ESPECIALLY William—

Mikhail: —in a POLITE manner from here on out…

((pic))

Mikhail:  …or you will discover how unpleasant a Russian can be to a rude American.

Mikhail: Good day.

[BLIP!]

Will: . . . .

Soi: ......

[Mikhail turned to face Will.]

Mikhail: It’s up to you whether you want to get middled in with his mess, and whatever trouble he wants us to drag him out of.

Will: .....

Will: Right.

Will: ....

Will: Mikhail?

Mikhail: -Walking over to the door- I’m listening.

Will: .....

Will: I'm sorry.

Will: >>

Will: Please remind me to never get on your bad side again.

Soi: -... Quiet snort-

Mikhail: -Snorts-

Mikhail: I just can’t stand the topic Will, I’m not going to lie about that.

Mikhail: Blackwell is only a darker variation of me, the man I could have been.

Mikhail: -Places the file folder into a plastic tub near the door- I have never forgotten that. And I never will.

Mikhail: So. I’m leaving before I risk the temptation of doing something that will only make my situation even worse.  =_______=

[He shuts the door loudly on his way out.]

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

---

=CHAPTER 11A: SWALLOWED UP INNOCENCE=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes and @neshirys))

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

{July 1st, TUMBLR 2016}

{Sanda Enterprises}

[Back at Sanda Enterprises, under the florescent lights of the lab below, William White's work on repairs for his children was moving along in a steady pace—the man was starting to feel the toll of the week that had just transpired for them all, but he was trying to push through his fatigue for the moment.]

...He could rest easier after he finished.]

Will: …

[…It was clear he had a lot on his mind…]

Will: -Moves his gaze away for a moment-

[...and it was easy to see, as he glanced upward to look at his sleeping friend.

Mikhail had finally been granted a bit of rest. True, it had taken a Psynergy cast from Felix, but still. He needed it.

He was clearly rather exhausted, body and soul—and still in cuffs, unfortunately.

At least Felix was watching over the technological isolation cell; and he had seemed pretty confident that things would work out well, once he had returned from tending to the matter personally.

It was more than could be said for Cardinal, who still was shielded by the curtain. Although he was in slightly better shape, he wouldn’t be coming Online any time soon.]

Will: (…what a mess…)

Will: -Sighs tiredly, going back to his work-

Will: (And I made some of that worse. Some friend I am…)

Will: (…I just want things to go back to normal…)

Will: …

Will: (…but at least…at least, maybe, the worst is over…)

Will: (Everyone is home, nothing is an IMMEDIATE danger at the moment, the DCNs included…)

Will: (Soi should be reporting back soon, and then we'll finally be able to make some progress to fixing this…)

Will: (Hopefully they got Father to talk, somehow…)

Will: -Furrows brow-

Will: (...It's been several hours, actually…)

[Fsh.

The automatic door to the lab opened, as if in response to his thoughts.]

Will: -Blinks—-

Will: (Soi? No…)

[Hardly. There was the relatively quiet sound of boots as someone walked in.

Someone who looked very forlorn and very nervous.]

Will: [!] Tobias?

Felix: -Looks up- ?

Tobias: -Sparks weakly, broadcasting- Is this a bad time?

Will: -Immediately putting down his tools- I… I was in the middle of repairs, but…

Will: (What in the world is he DOING here—)

Will: (Thank goodness Mikhail is asleep—!)

Will: -Pulling up a chair- I can spare a moment or two.

[Tobias didn’t move. He wrapped his arms around himself as if he wanted to curl into a ball, and he avoided eye contact.]

Tobias: -Audio glitches- O-Oh. I… This system does not want to hinder your progress, Doctor…

Felix: …

[The unlucky Adept knew enough about the Robot Masters and Tobias in particular to recognize when one was near their breaking point.

Combined with the situation, this could not go anywhere good.]

Felix: Tobias…

Felix: What are you doing here?

[The Robot Master flinched at this, recoiling with fuzzy data of guilt. He began shaking a bit, as if under extreme duress.]

Tobias: F-fault…

Will: (…Oh no…)

Tobias: Everyone… almost everyone is Offline or injured. The database is down, and the equipment is broken…

Tobias: E-everyone is so stressed a-and Carlos said Doctor Cossack was in trouble—

Tobias: Wh…what’s going on, Doctor? We… I made things worse, didn’t we?

[He sparked up more.]

Tobias: We always… always make things worse…

Will: …

Will: -Very, VERY gently- Tobias…

Will: Please believe me when I say that you did nothing of the sort.

Will: Mikhail is… tired, and needs his rest. Right now that is what we all need. This hasn't… been the best of times for us.

Will: But we are working on getting things back on track.

Will: Soi and the others will be back at any moment, and once they are, we're going to get right to work on fixing this.

Tobias: -Soft whine-

Felix: …

Felix: Tobias, when you woke up...

Felix: Was Nico with the rest of you?

Tobias: N-no…. Tried… tried pinging him, but got the error message that his transceiver isn’t on…

Will: ... (That's...not a good sign, but it IS a maximum security prison...)

Will: ...I could try and ping Call to get an update. It's been a while already. (And I'm starting to get worried...)

Will: -Grabs his phone- It could just be the security measures in the prison blocking the—

[Rumble...]

Will: —? (...That's...odd, did my phone just vibrate now, or—)

[RUMBLE....]

Will: —!!?!

[The whole lab and it's contents suddenly started to SHAKE violently. Will grabs the table near him as the lights flicker overhead, knees giving out as they could not support themselves under the sudden seismic activity—]

Tobias: -Scree!-

Will: (What in the WORLD?! An earthquake, now?!)

[RUMBLE...]

Will: -Gnn—!-

[The shaking lasts for quite a few minutes, until they finally started to die down in waves. By the time all was still, things were strewn about and knocked out of place...]

Tobias: Hnnn…!

[Tobias ended up curled up in a ball on the floor, taking cover and giving off errors in his profuse apologies. But he needn’t have done so—]

Felix: Are you two alright??

[—because it was NOT the Adept’s doing.]

Will: @~@! I...oh goodness...

Will: I...believe so...

Tobias: -Hnnnn we're sorry we're sORRY WE'RE SORRY—-

Felix: -Holds his hands out in a peaceful "stop" gesture- Easy, Mr. Wily! That was not my doing, I assure you.

[This didn't exactly help very much.]

Tobias: -weeeeeEEEEEHH, MIC MUST BE ANGRY—-

<DLN-008>: > -WE'RE SORRYYYYYY-

[PING!]

[MN.4] //: -???- -What was that-

[MN.6] //: -Pinging worry data, Toby?? What's going on--

[MN.1] //: Nn...Mic? Are you okay?

[MN.4] //: -Ping, yes-

[MN.4] //: -That...wasn't us...-

Will: Then...the plates shifting natrually? (Just our luck...)

[MN.4] //: -Quiet rumbling- No...not earthquake...

Felix: No, William—this wasn't natural. -Seems a bit confused- It was underground, to be sure, but…

Felix: >> Trust me. I know what it feels like when the earth is shifting plates. Venus Lighthouse was a very memorable teaching experience.

Felix: -Murmurs, getting up and leaving- I'm going outside.

[He didn't bother taking the door, instead opting to use Retreat and vanish in a swirl of multicolored spheres.]

Will: -Reaching for his phone again- I'm calling Soi right this moment.

[...Except after about several tries, he couldn't even get so much as a ring in without it automatically going to voicemail, which was VERY worrying, because Soi was ALWAYS punctual with phone calls...]

Will: (Gah, why aren't you ANSWERING? Are you STILL at the Prison, Soi?)

Tobias: Not… not going to work, everything is broken over there.

Will: :gs_drop~1: (...He has a point. I need to either send someone out there or go myself, but...)

Will: ... -Runs a hand through his hair- Tobias, you stay here in the lab and wait for Felix to come back.

Will: -Pulling his coat around him- I'll be right back, I'm going to see if I can't find some other way to contact Soichiro and find out what exactly happened...

Will: Avi--can you bring up the security camera feeds for me?

[MN.6] //: Yuppers, I'm on it--

[It doesn't take very long for Avi to do so, and Will finds himself flipping through various feeds on his phone.]

Will: Anything unusual in the building?

[MN.6] //: Negative, Daddo--all clear, lemmie swich over to--

[MN.6] //: --!

[MN.6] //: Hey--hey guys--

[MN.6] //: Uncle Soi Sauce is back--

Will: :gs_shock~1: -Turns on his heel-

Tobias: ? (But… I don't sense any other signals?)

Will: Where? (He...didn't come through the front door?)

[MN.6] //: ...Uh.

[MN.6] //: oh no

[MN.6] //: ...Daaaaad, we might have a problem--!

[MN.6] //: -I--It's Callgirl--

Will: Where are they, Avi?!

[MN.6] //: They're coming down the stairs to the roof--

Will: ??? (How in the world did they--?)

Tobias: ???

Tobias: Did you airlift them there?

Tobias: :gs_idea~1:

Tobias: Did Nico take them there? The roof is where Cardinal goes, so it's one of the default data points…

[MN.6] //: ...I...

[MN.6] //: I don't see Nico...

Tobias: :gs_silence~1:

>PROCESSING…

>ANALYSIS COMPLETE.

<DLN-008 has entered Defensive Combat mode.>

<DLN-008>: > -DISTRESS, last time Nico was separated from her he was DEAD—-

Will: (Oh no oh no--)

Will: Stay here--!

[Will BOLTS out the lab door and starts booking it towards the stairs. Meanwhile, the feeds on the Mighties' side of things started to buzz to life in confusion, mostly awakened by the previous quake.

Once Will gets to the stairs in question, however, the door to them suddenly FLINGS open, nearly hitting him in the face.]

Will: :gs_shock~1:

Will: Soichiro--!

Soi: WILL-- ;n;!!!

Soi: Will--we--we need to go, right now, PLEASE--

Will: Soi--Soichiro, please, you're not making sense--

Soi: -PANIC- No! We need to go RIGHT NOW, we need--need to fix her and then LEAVE, PLEASE--!

Will: Fix--? -Looks down-

Will: :gs_shock~1:

[The Doctor stares in wide-eyed SHOCK as his hues fall on Sanda's own daughter, utterly BROKEN and seemingly lifeless in his arms.]

Will: Call--?!

[PING!]

[MN.9] //: Call? What--what's wrong? Call?

[MN.9] //: Dad....Call isn't picking up, what's going on--

Will: Oh my word...

Will: Soi--what HAPPENED out there, what happened to her?! And--where is Nico, wasn't he with you??

[Soi WINCES in clear pain when Nico is brought up, but then pushes past his friend towards the direction of the labs.]

Soi: Not now--need to get her on a Xel Transfusion, and then we're ALL leaving for Tokyo--!

Will: What??

Will: But the airlines are SHUT DOWN, Soi, there's no way to leave the country, and we can't just leave Mikhail--!

Soi: Then we take a Wilderness shortcut, I don't CARE!

Will: :gs_drop~1: :gs_drop~1: :gs_drop~1: Soi! Soi, just WAIT--

[Soi opens the doors to the lab and steps through with purpose, but--then he stops short when he finds this is the same old Sanda Labs on the other side, not the Meadow's.]

Soi: Wha...?

Soi: (I don't understand, it's not working--?!)

[Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open—]

[WOW, that is a BLINDING distortion—]

Soi: -GAH--

[The door slams shut on its own, as if blown back by a shockwave.]

Will: ???? What the...?

[When opened again… just the rest of the building. And nothing else.]

Soi: -Just absolutely defeated- It...it's not working...!

Soi: (How am I going to get everyone AWAY now?)

Will: ...

Will: -...Gently grabs Soi's shoulder- Soi... please...

Will: Slow down, whatever it is that's getting you like this...we need to help Call first...

Soi: ...I...

Soi: :gs_frown~1:

Soi: ...

Soi: ...Yes...

Soi: Yes, of course...

Will: Good man.

Will: Come on, just get her on the table, take a seat. Start from the beginning...

Soi: :gs_frown~1:

[The Japanese Doctor does so, and once Call was properly hooked in, repairs and diagnostics began almost immediately. There was the distance shuffling of feet down the hall.]

Will: (...The Mighties, no doubt...)

Soi: It... it happened so fast...

[RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS...]

[STATUS UPDATE, RE: CALL. XEL COUNT CRITICAL, SYSTEMS UNRESPONSIVE. IMMEDIATE XEL TRANSFUSION REQUIRED]

Soi: I couldn't...I couldn't stop them...

Will: Stop...wait, don't...don't tell me... (Did...Did Father...?!)

Soi: We--We got to the Prison, and everything was going...okay, for the most part, Avi even showed up to help us for a moment--

[Soi was speaking as fast as he could while tending to his daughter, as if he was in a VERY big hurry.]

Soi: We got there, and there was this...this huge canine bot, but Call handled it...

Soi: Then Nico showed up...

[PING! PING!]

[The system update regarding Call sent a WAVE of worry and cascading emotion across the Mighty's feeds.]

[MN.9] //: Call--!!

[MN.6] //: Shhhshh, it's okay, Beckers, the Docs got her--

[MN.3] //: -Buzzing worry data--

[MN.7] //: -Very DEEPLY distressed data-

<DLN-008>: > -Nnnn, dizzy…-

Soi: :gs_frown: We...we got to Dr. Blackwell's Cell, and...oh, Will...!

Soi: He said it was already too late...!

Will: ?!

Soi: He told me--about CherryDynamics and Trinity, how she's going to just grow and grow and--and--!

Will: :gs_shock: He--?

Soi: He said the only thing we could do is run and then--! Something...something showed up, something just TORE down his cell door, SCREAMING!

Soi: -Panic and upset-- I couldn't stop her, she was just too fast, too strong and too ANGRY, and then she just took him in a ball of FIRE--!

Will: --Someone--someone TOOK Dr. Blackwell?!

Soi: ;;n;; She...she took him and hurt Call and Nico...I...

Soi: I had to leave him behind, but I didn't want to just...

[MN.9] //: -...DREAD data-

[MN.7] //: ... Otouto?

[MN.9] //: n...no...

[MN.7] //: -Worried data- Beck? What is wrong?

[Something… something seemed to be stirring…]

>LOADING…

[Will is floored. He starts to pace around the room, frantically looking this way and that.]

Will: I don't understand--

Will: I thought...I thought he...

Will: (I thought he would have answers, SOMETHING, but now someone else took him? Why?!)

Will: (Graham? The government? Who?)

Soi: Will...If...if what he said was true, then we REALLY, really need to go--

>LOADING…

Will: But we can't just leave, Soi, this IS our home and Mikhail--we don't even have the option of taking him with us, not with the PRESIDENT still in the building!

Soi: Then we tell her too! Lives are in DANGER, she'll--

Will: Are you MAD? If you tell them that--! (Then Trinity--!)

Soi: Will, there's no other way around it! We need to LEAVE before it's too late!

Will: I am NOT LEAVING!

> A problem has been detected and AI_DWN_008 has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. All unsaved data has been lost.

The problem seems to be caused by the following programs: BetaEmotions.exe, RMDatabase.exe

If this is the first time you have seen the Stop error screen, restart your chassis—

REBOOTING…

Will: --!! -Oh no--

Soi: Ack--!

[MN.6] //: D:! Toby--

Soi: :gs_drop~1: :gs_drop~1:

Will: (I--ugh, there you go again, making this worse, Bill--)

Soi: I...

Will: -LONG sigh- ...This isn't working...

Will: We can't just abandon... (Can't just leave, we still have so much to do...)

Soi: ...

Soi: :gs_frown~1:

Will...

[Ksst...]

>Loading…

[KSSST...]

Soi: ...

Soi: ...?

Soi: ...Do...do you hear that?

[KSSSSST...]

Will: --??

Will: It's...coming from the feeds...but Tobias is...?

[MN.6] //: Yeah, I'm getting something...

[KSSSSSSSST...]

[MN.6] //: ... That's... weird, I don't recognize this channel--

[KSSSSSSSSSSSSST. Wrrrrr....]

[ALL the screens present in the lab, and the phones as well were suddenly cut out by a separate, unknown feed, which seemed very crackly and odd.]

[There's a faint wheezing noise.]

[Rumble...]

Will: (Oh no, not again--!)

"Do you feel that?"

[The voice was... unmistakably female.]

[MN.9] //: !!!

"I'm sure you all do..."

"Hard to ignore the very GROUND shaking underneath you, isn't it. Like something is coming."

"And I know what it is. Listen..."

[RUMBLE...]

Soi: -A--AH--

"Hear that?"

"That is your RECKONING. THAT is the sound of the calm before the STORM. The storm that will wipe ALL of you off the face of the EARTH in a matter of MOMENTS."

Will: --?!

"And there is NO force that can stop it now. You had this COMING. YOU A L L had this coming!"

"You--hnk--!"

[For a moment, the female voice wheezed again, and coughed VIOLENTLY for several minutes. When she calmed down again, her voice was a bit weaker, but still just as angry.]

"You... arrogant, sinful   h u m a n s..."

[MN.9] //: -No, nonononoNO--

"Did you really think you could get away with all that you've DONE?"

"After what you did to ME? After destroying everything I held dear and leaving me to DIE alone, with no one to so much as say goodbye to?"

"So QUICK to change your opinions, to cheer on your TOYS in that sandbox you call a Colosseum! And now that they have been STRIPPED from you, what do you have left? That's right. FEAR."

"In the end, that's all you are ruled by..."

"And it's going to be your UNDOING. You will all BURN in the fires of the VERMILLION DESTROYER, the one you CURSED into the darkness nearly HALF a century ago!"

"And of course, we're going to start with the one thing you all LOVE to flaunt above all else..."

"After all..."

[RUMBLE...!]

"...You can't have a GRAND DEBUT without the proper STAGE."

[WARNING! WARNING! CODE RED!

WARNING! WARNING! CODE RED!]

Will: :gs_shock~1: :gs_shock~1:

"Go on. RUN. Run like the cowards you are. It won't MATTER!"

"Nothing will matter for much longer..."

"Nothing will..."

[MN.9] //: -PING PING PING PING--

"Shut up..."

"Shut up, shut UP, YOU CAN'T HELP ME--"

"SHUT UP--"

[MN.9] //: -EVEN MORE PINGING—-

[MN.7] //: _-Now GREATLY distressed, Beck what are you DOING--?!-

>Rebooting…

[PING!]

<DWN-024 is now Online.>

Shadow: -Very groggy- …???



[MN.9] //: --!

"I SAID--SHUT UP!"

[SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!]


Shadow: -OW-



[KSSSSST--]

[ERROR: COMMUNICATIONS OFFLINE.]

Soi: ._.;;;;;;;;

Soi: Now can we LEAVE?!

Will: I...

[MN.1] //: -What in the world is GOING ON--

[MN.7] //: Beck! Who were you talking to?!

[MN.9] //: Not now Brand--!


<DWN-024>: > -What is going on and why can I hear the {STARS}, what WAS that—-



[There was a sudden FLARE of energy and a small shockwave. One DISTINCTLY energy-infused—with DISMAY.

Doors could be heard SLAMMING open as something came running through the building.

Unfortunately, the door to the lab didn't open QUITE fast enough—]

CRASH!

Shadow: :gs_shock~1:

Felix: -OW, why this—-


Will: Felix--!


Felix: William—!

Felix: William, the sky is becoming swarmed!

Felix: I SAW THIS IN THE BEGINNING, WILL! The wave of darkness that sent DEATH in its shadow!



Will: Wha--?!

Soi: I KNEW IT, I TOLD YOU, WE NEED TO GO NOW--

[Will throws himself at the nearest terminal, fingers flying over the keys as fast as he could make them.]

Will: Avi! I need the outside feeds, and tell your brothers to get yourselves IN THE LAB, now--

[ERROR: COMM FAIL]

Will: Bah--!


<DLN-008 is now Online.>

Tobias: Uuugh…

Tobias: Avi, my head hurts…

Tobias: I think I didn't recover from the White House, I'm getting like a billion hails from foreign countries asking for the President…



[PING!]

[MN.6] //: ...Toby?



<DLN-008>: >Mmmng. Yeah?



[MN.6] //: ...uh?

[MN.6] //: Aren't... aren't the comms off?


Tobias: …

Tobias: Avi, I'm getting satellite feeds from WEST VIRGINIA and wireless calls from Japan and Britain, so SOMETHING is working—


[MN.6] //: -ABSOLUTELY confuzzled beyond confused-

[MN.6] //: ...Okay, well! Not gonna question it! Seriously, what the HECK is happening, did you hear that spooky voice, how's Dad--

Will: ...Tobias--?


Tobias: Mmmn…  -Gets to his feet- I'm… I'm mostly okay, sorry…

Shadow: -Attempts to ping Brandish over the SEDW feeds-

>ERROR X05: UNRESPONSIVE/DAMAGED SOFTWARE DETECTED

Shadow: -Grumbles- {Bah, jamming signal…}

Tobias: Bluh. Just reboot, you'll be fine. You're a space ninja, this surely can't be as bad as solar flares.

Shadow: :gs_drop~1:

Felix: Tobias, can YOU contact the others?

Tobias: Hmmng?

<DLN-008 to MNN-ALL>: > -Ping!-



[A unanimous response--]

[MN.3] //: -Oh my God TOBYYY--

[MN.1] //: -Gnnh, that scream...-

[MN.9] //: --! Toby--!

[MN.3] //: <'3 Hey, you okay, zzsparkbro? What'szz going on, doeszz Daddy need help?

[MN.2] //: YEAH AND WHY AREN'T THE OTHER COMMS WORKING--

<DLN-008 to MNN-ALL>: >Y…yeah, I think he said something about that.

<DLN-008>: > -I'm starting to get a lot of calls from the Pentagon and Tokyo, though…- -Headache…-

<DLN-008>: >Can you guys come down to the lab?

<DLN-008>: > …

<DLN-008>: > -'Cause Felix broke the door, I think-

<DLN-008>: > -What is going onnnn…-

[In a matter of moments, the rest of the Mighties file in. Soi was already heavily into Call's own repairs, while Will was trying to access the outside camrea feeds himself from his terminal.]

Beck: :gs_frown~1: !



Beck: Call...?

Will: -Frowns- ...She'll be alright, Nine.

Shadow: -Only just now notices something- …

Shadow: {Doctor Sanda, where is my older brother?}

Soi: .... :gs_frown~1:

Soi: I...He's...still at the Prison...

Shadow: :gs_conf~1:

Shadow: -Spots a telltale bit of lime green- ?!?!?!! ({That ribbon—!})

Shadow: ({Oh no…})

Shadow: {…God rest his soul; he is beyond all hope, I take it…}



Soi: I... I don't...

Soi: I don't know... He...told us to just leave him behind...


Shadow: {Leave him behind on FEDERAL PROPERTY?? Only if he were at death's door!}

Felix: -Puts a hand on Shadow's shoulder- We have other problems, Shadow.

Felix: It's getting dangerous outside, and we can't get to the Meadow or anywhere else that is bordered by the Wilderness only.


Will: I am--TRYING to get a clear view of outside as we speak--Avi, please tell me you can get a camrea out there--

Avi: I can try...

Tobias: …

Tobias: Uh…

Tobias: Don't… don't hurricanes normally form on the ocean?

Shadow: …???

Shadow: -This is not the time to indulge your fascination in meteorology, brother—-

Tobias: -Annoyed expression-

[He goes over to a free console and starts hooking himself in while working away at the computer.

Within a few moments, it was displaying a military-grade satellite feed of Titus.

…At least, that's what the coordinates would indicate. Much of the city itself was quickly becoming obscured.]


Avi: ....Uuuuuuuuuh, that...doesn't look like a cloud...

Will: :gs_shock~1: :gs_shock~1: :gs_shock~1:

Will: I...It's growing--


Felix: :gs_silence~1:

[He's studying it with careful consideration.]

Felix: …I would be able to destroy that, but unless the source is stopped and resources cut off… that will only help for a few minutes at most.

Shadow: …

Shadow: Sorry, "destroy"? Destroy all THAT? It is covering the entire city.

Felix: You heard me.

Felix: …Unfortunately, that would not do much. :gs_frown~1:



Avi: -Is preoccupied with getting his cam in the air-

Cyro: This ought to be good--

Pyro: What I want to know is WHY that large "cloud" is forming, what exactly IS it?

Avi: We're gonna find out--

Avi: I got eyes on the sky--Toby, do me a favor and redirect this feed to the big screen for me?

Tobias: Sure.

[After a moment, the feeds switched over to Avi's skycam.]

[KSST...]

[Static. Or so it seemed, before it suddenly cleared up.]

Avi: Holy--!

Will: :gs_shock~1: :gs_shock~1:

[The sight was almost surreal...]

[But there was no mistaking it--the clouds that covered the sky and the sick blocky goop that seemed to be EATING it's way through the Battle Colosseum...]

Beck: That...

Beck: That's all XEL!


Tobias: …

Tobias: Are you sure? I thought Xel was rainbow.


Beck: It is, I'm not wrong--

Beck: But I've never seen anything like it, and so much--at once--

Beck: Where--where is it all coming from??

Soi: It...it's like the Colosseum is being eaten and subsumed...

Tobias: Um… I'm not sure where, it just seems to be gathering…

Felix: …

Felix: …Wait…

Felix: …

Felix: {No, surely… surely not…?}

Will: Avi, what are the conditions surrounding the Colosseum?

Avi: I...I gotta be honest with you, Dad...

Avi: It's one crazy mess out there--

[The camera feed shifts down towards the streets...

Filled to the BRIM with infected Xel and robots.]

Avi: The streets are packed SOLID with haywire bots--


Felix: -Dread-

Felix: All of them… all of them infected?


Avi: I...I think ALL of it is--

Avi: Oh no...



[There was a distinct dark Venus aura coming off of Felix. A very, VERY unpleasant one.]

Felix: {For the love of Life. All… everything infected is being drawn there to be torn apart! That could have been all of you!}


Beck: -Choked gasp--

Soi: -DISTRESS- WILL--

Soi: If all of that is infected Xel, and it's GROWING, then--then how long before it reaches HERE?!

Pyro: :gs_shock~1: :gs_shock~1: :gs_shock~1:



Felix: You would put a spoken limit on your hours? That is an unwise burden to place upon children, Doctor.

Felix: Ask yourself this instead; can the erosion be prevented? In any way?

Felix: There will undoubtedly be a price. There always is. But even the most remote, under the most brutal of force—we found a way, though it took us to the ends of the earth and the brink of despair.

Felix: Do you have a way?



Will: ...

Will: (Think, think, he's right, there is no turning back now--)

Will: (How can we buy ourselves more time to plan?)

Will: (We can't leave, but we can't do NOTHING either, we need to stall, or freeze the Xel in it's tracks--)

Will: ! -Slams his hand on the table- I got it--

Will: We just need to stop it from getting in, right?

Will: I need time to come up with a plan, so we need to stall. It's a tall order, but--

Will: Cryosphere?

Cryo: ?

Will: I need you to freeze the building.


Cryo: 88DDDD

Shadow: ???


Soi: I'm sorry, what--



Felix: …I assume you have a specific purpose in mind?



Will: If the entire building is encased in a sheild of ice, then it will be that much harder for anything to get in. It'll also help keep things sterile.


Tobias: -Uneasy- (…Hnnn, don't want to be trapped in a lab…)


Soi: But that won't work forever!

Will: Doesn't have to. I have an idea, but I need time.


Felix: I can try to help with that. I do have the Douse Drop and the Frost Jewel.

Tobias: I thought—

Felix: I'll explain later, if we get the chance. What else, William?



Will: -Turns to the terminal- We NEED those comms back online as well. Except there is this jamming signal in the way, and I can't seem to get PAST it.



Tobias: Gimme a moment.

[The light faded from his eyes, leaving him distinctly… lifeless.]

Felix: …??? .-.

[The screens flickered rapidly with lines of code. They were very similar to what Will had seen at the start of this mess, only not glitched out this time.]

[PING!]

[ALL COMMUNICATIONS NOW ONLINE.]


Avi: Eeeey! : D Nice one, Toby!


Felix: Is he…?

Shadow: …His Awareness is in the mainframe… >>;; Give him a moment to return to his chassis.

[After about a minute, the coding closed out and the light returned to the masked child's eyes.]

Shadow: -It is always a bit unnerving that you can do that at WILL-

Tobias: -Yeah, it can be a bit of an…-

[He paused for a moment, and then gave a sheepish grin.]

Tobias: -…out of body experience…-

Shadow: —…


Shade: -Groaaaaans--

Avi: : DDDD


Shadow: Avi, this is somehow your fault.

Avi: -I TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY-

Pyro: -FACEPALM-

Will: -Smiles to himself-

Tobias: The comms work, but you're not going to get much range. :gs_frown~1: All the cell towers and radio towers in the city seem to be on the fritz.

Will: (With luck...this just might work...)

Will: ...

Will: (...But I'm going to have to...tell them...just what is causing this...)

Will: ...

Will: That's quite alright. It's enough.


Felix: For?


Will: -Turns-

Will: ...

Will: -Seems to...hesitate-

Will: ...

Will: Soichiro brought back some very vital information when he came back from the prison...and it ties into how we're going to stop this storm at the source.


Felix: Alright. And that would be?


Will: The epicenter of this "Xel Storm" seems to be originating from the Battle Colosseum.

Will: From the... information Soichiro received from Dr. Blackwell, it was revealed to us that the virus...is actually in the hands of a CDN named Trinity.

Beck: !!

Brand: A...A CDN? This whole time?!


Shadow: :gs_drop~1: -FLATLY, even for him- That makes sense.

Tobias: …???

Tobias: Uh…

Shadow: -Glances over at Tobias- What.

Tobias: -Seems a bit confused- (But it felt so much like Will’s coding…) …Nothing, I guess…?


Will: >>;; It's safe to assume CherryDynamics did have a hand in all this like we all suspected... though that still doesn't explain that voice...

Will: Regardless--Soi?

Soi: :gs_drop~1:

Soi: Dr...Blackwell told us that Trinity's purpose was to grow and evolve by assimilating other robots and their data...



Shadow: …

Tobias: …

Soi: Except...

Soi: From...from what he told me, she isn't... aware of it...

Tobias: …Not really, no…

[He sounds… really distracted.]

Tobias: Not… not intent so much as drive.

Tobias: Very…

Tobias: Reminded me of Kalinka directing one of her plays…

Cryo: ...uh, wat.

Felix: I think I'm missing something.

Shadow: … Tobias sort of… got eaten earlier.

Shadow: Seems there were side effects.

Tobias: >>;;; Just. You know how Kalinka just has an idea and is in charge and carries it out? It was like that.

Tobias: Wanted… she wanted everything ordered her way.

Tobias: She didn't seem to want to… hurt as much as… augh, it's so hard to explain with words…

Tobias: Keep, she wanted to keep.

Tobias: -She wanted to keep Avi and didn't like it when I got upset, we ALL got headaches, I most definitely make everything worse ever- |(

Avi: ...

Avi: -Aaaaand we're gonna just NOPE right behind Mic, thank you--

Pyro: ...

Pyro: And this...Trinity...

Pyro: Is she...the one causing this storm as well?

Will: ...

Will: Based on what we heard...

Will: I believe so.

Felix: And the significance of that is what, exactly?

Shadow: …You may want to reword that…

Felix: …I apologize. What I meant to say is this: why is this "Trinity"'s existence of meaning to your idea? Do you know something about counteracting it?

Will: -Looks towards the feed- If we can somehow disable Trinity herself...

Felix: …

Felix: -Thoughtful expression-

Felix: …

Shadow: …What is it?

Felix: -Shakes his head- It's possible that the weapon Master Cossack had would be of some use, but probably only effective at a short range and a very high setting.

Tobias: Oh God no.

Tobias: The highest setting on that thing is torturous, my head hurts just THINKING about it, nnnng…

Tobias: You might break Cardinal WORSE if you set that off like that, please tell me you have a better idea!

Will: And I'm not sure if that would work as effectively on a Xel construct. Either way, we'd need to be close.

Shadow: With all due respect, Doctor, she ate Tobias, and as a result, blacked out from sensory overload from our server.

Shadow: So yes, it theoretically could work.

Shadow: But against such a mass? I have my doubts as to how long… and it would be at a price.

Shadow: That weapon was designed specifically to work against robots using a Wily operating system. It will work on other things, but those most of all.

Shadow: Allow me to remind you: Cardinal, Tobias, and myself all use the DWN_OS. Also… Cardinal has no backup. Neither do I.

Shadow: If there are ANY other options, perhaps we should pursue those first before testing it out with us in range, please…

Soi: Then what do we do? How do we get in close, nobody can get past all that infected Xel to even GET that close to the Colosseum!

Felix: …

Felix: I can give you about seven minutes, tops. Twice. That will be all.

Felix: Will that be enough?

Will: Very. Soi: -Excuse me--

Will: ...

Will: -Turns to Beck-

Beck: ...

Will: ...

Beck...

Will: I have no right to ask you this, but you're the ONLY person that the virus cannot infect...

Will: We can have Avi airdrop you through the roof of the Colosseum after Felix clears the way.

Soi: WHAT--

Soi: You want to send BECK, INTO THAT--ALONE--

Felix: : /

Felix: I can try to go with him, but I cannot guarantee I would be of much help other than healing and shielding.

Felix: I do not have a Cleric's Ring, either. I gave mine to Jack.

Felix: Adepts tend to… well. Let's just say that tapping into Alchemy the wrong way would be lethal.

Felix: I do not think anyone else here even has a chance.

Felix: I'm sorry, Master Sanda… but we don't really have a choice.

Soi: -Sputters- We don't even know what it's like in there--!

Beck: No...we don't...

Beck: But I'm going anyway.

Beck: -Turns to Felix- And I'd feel much better knowing that you're here to help fend off the Xel Storm.

Beck: Thanks for the offer, though.

Felix: Very well.

Tobias: Um…

Tobias: That's great and all, but—

Tobias: I…

Tobias: I'll need to restart one of the towers for you to have comm range…

Will: But we don't have anything IMMEDIATELY available--

Avi: -YES WE DO--

Avi: : D We can restart my tower!

Tobias: <'3

Felix: Avi, I don't think you'll have time to fly both of them. And I'll need to come with you to clear the sky for the way back, so he can't use Arizona.

Felix: Is there any other way for him to get there without going into the streets?

Tobias: …

Tobias: -Looks over at Shadow-

Shadow: …

Shadow: ?

Brand: ...!

Brand: {Excellent idea...}

Shadow: ?

Shadow: {Forgive me, Master—I do not understand…}

Brand: {Can you take Tobias with you to the tower using your powers?}

Shadow: {I…}

[He seemed to be… struggling somewhat. His data fuzzed a bit.]

Shadow: {I… have never used such power intentionally, so… so to speak…}

[He has to take in a deep breath to recenter his forcus and fight off disorientation before he pressed his hands together and bowed.]

Shadow: {But if that is your command, I shall endeavor to carry out your will.}

Brand: -Bows- {It would not hurt to try. Thank you, Shadow.}

Avi: -You got this, Shads-- -Thumbs up--

Felix: Alright. Cryosphere, outside with me, please.Felix: Avi, Beck, get ready.

Cryo: AW YEAH, time to make my own winter wonderland again, kyahaha--

Pyro: ... -We're going to need to get warmer clothes-

Bat: -Is NOT looking forward to this--

Felix: Shade…

Shade: . . .

Felix: I want you, Brandish, and Pyrogen to be at the roof when we're ready to go.

Pyro: ...Very well.

Shadow: Dare I ask why?

Felix: Some time ago, in the duel against Countershade, I had enough self-control not to do what I shall be doing shortly.

[Felix starts walking off.]

Felix: This may be your only chance ever to see for yourselves what WOULD have happened otherwise and appreciate what you were spared and WHY I made such a choice.

Shade: ...

Avi: .-.;;;;;;

[He halts for a moment, taking out a dagger.]

Felix: (Bah, can't believe I almost forgot about this—no time for a braid, though…)

[SCRRRRP!]

Felix: -Takes off his cloak, putting his shorn ponytail and the dagger inside it, placing the bundle aside- I'll meet you on the roof.

[With that, he leaves.]

Shadow: […]

Shadow: -Frowns just slightly at this- ({...The ritual preparation in the face of death.... Is the situation truly that dire outside?})

Tobias: -Also frowns, but pokes his brother- "Are you ready to leave, or...? Do you know how to get to the Tower?"

Shadow: [...]

Shadow: -...Slightly increased anxiety and self-doubt- I told you, I have never used it before intentionally with full presence. It is...

Shadow: -We are trying to find the program, but everything is... obscured...-

Tobias: [Sweatdrop] "Well, how did you do it last time?"

[Shadow seemed a bit stressed (for what people were used to seeing, anyway) at first, but he managed to stay calm and focus.]

Shadow: ...Need.

Tobias:  [...]

Tobias: ???

Shadow: I cannot... verbalize it more than that, just... instinct.

Tobias: -Looks over at Brand with something of a helpless expression at being at a loss for what to make of this-

Shadow: -Distinctly anxious, though doing a good job of not showing much outward sign of it-

Brand: […]

[After some moments of thought, Brand moved next to his student with a steady, calm gaze and gently placed a hand on his shoulder--where he could see, so that he wasn't alarmed.]

Brand: {Shadow...}

Brand: {Focus. Calm yourself and clear your mind. Find your ki. Remember what I have taught you.}

Brand: {You must stay with Tobias and keep him safe while I assist the others here. I know we have never touched upon your powers beforehand in our lessons...}

Brand: {But I believe you can do this.}

Brand: Hai?

Shadow:  […]

[He seems very fearful for a moment, and like he wants to voice it.

However, he instead chooses to close his eyes and forcefully focus, taking all of this into consideration.]

Shadow:  […]

[A tense pause. The situation was stressful, but Shadow seemed to be actively putting all the noise out of his mind.

He was growing less tense, and seemed to be calming down…

…though it was matched with a sense of dulling Awareness, as well.]

Tobias: …?

Tobias: -Hesitantly reaches out a hand—-

Shadow: -PING-

Shadow: {̦͎̘C͉͓̉óͩͩ͋m̱̝͔m̬̰̩a͇͓̩n̨͎̪ḍ̪̺ͭ ̢̙̳a̱͊ͦc̱̖̞k͔͓̲n̵͖̞o͔̞̺ẘ̦͍̯l̾́e̜̹͈d͕́̆g̛̺̞e̤̪̙d̝̦͚.̴̘̃}̑ͫ̽

Tobias: -Pulls his hand back- ??? o~o?;;

Brand: -Was NOT expecting that--

Tobias: -Uh—-

[Shadow opens his eyes, and moves swiftly.

He breaks free from Brandish's grip and grabs his brother—]

Tobias: Waugh!

[—and the both of them swiftly vanish into the shadows.]

Brand: [!]

Avi: ...

Avi: Uh...everyone just saw that right now, right?

Beck: Whoa...

Beck: I...I guess that worked? (That was kinda cool...WEIRD, but cool...)

Brand: . . . (...What WAS that...?)

Shade: Oi.

Shade: We can figure that out later, we gotta GO.

Avi: Right--

Avi: I'mma head onto the roof and prep for lift off, see ya--

Pyro: Alright. No time to waste.

Pyro: -PING- I want the rest of you to prep yourselves while Cryo freezes the building. Our priority is protecting Sanda Technologies and everyone inside.

Dyna: -Bzzt, got it--

Mic: -Mic be WALL-

Bat: -Affirmative, will be on standby-

Pyro: -Nods-

[Pyro then leads his brothers--Avi, Brand and then Shade--towards the stairs that lead to the roof. The other Mighties file away to prepare for the coming battle ahead.]

Beck: Coming--

[Beck turns to follow suit to the roof--until he's stopped momentarily by his father's hand.]

Beck: […][?]

Will: -Frowns- Before you go...come over here for a moment.

Beck: --Dad, I'll be okay--

Will: Not that.

Beck: --?

[Will leads Beck to a quiet corner of the lab, kneeling down gently to get to his eye level. His voice is hushed, as if he was trying to stay quiet.]

Will: There's...there's something you need to know.

Will: About Trinity.

Beck: [!]

Will: Based on what we've seen and what Soichiro told us...

Will: I...I think it is safe to assume...

Will: ...That you and Trinity possess the same power.

Beck: (--wha--?)

Will: It would explain the Xel Storm outside, and from what Tobias told us of her...her nature...

Will: -STRUGGLES to word this-

Will: ...And if that is correct...

Will: Then she does not know how to control it.

Will: Not like you do.

Beck: ... (--! Wait...)

Beck: (Back at the highway and...all those times...)

Beck: (That wasn't just her--?)

Will: I'm sure you've sensed it at least more than once.

Beck: ...

Beck: It...makes sense now that I think about it...

Will: Beck...

Will: When you get there...

Will: When you see her...

Will: Please--please, if you can, teach her how.

Will: Save her.

Beck: ...

[Beck falls quiet for a moment, gaze on the floor. It's about a second or two before he looks up again, eyes glowing a bright emerald.]

Beck: I understand.

Beck: I'll do it. I'll save Trinity.

[It's not very completely obvious, but there's some intense emotion his father is going through--Beck could tell, because Will doesn't answer right away. The Mighty Number gently places a hand on the Doctor's arm...and gives a reassuring smile.]

Beck: Don't worry. ^^ I've done it before, Dad. I can do it one more time.

[This seems to bring Will out of it--and he gently exhales, placing his own hand on his son's head.]

Will: ...I know you will, Beck...

Will: I know you will.

Will: Go. And please be careful...

Beck: Hm-hmm. I will!

[He gave a bright smile.]

Beck: I'll let you know when I'm inside.

Beck: I'll come back with her, promise--!

[He turns on his heel and starts bolting for the stairs--he had to catch up with the others--]

Beck: I'll make contact as soon as I'm inside--I'll hear from you then!

Will: Yes...good luck.

[As Beck disappears up the stairs, Will's hopeful expression falls to one of concern and deep thought, hand tightly curling into a fist near his mouth.]

Will: (Never...)

Will: (Not once did I ever imagine it would turn out like this...that this is how you two would meet...)

Will: (Two of my proudest creations, squaring off...!)

Will: (Please...please let them both be alright...)

[hr]

{SANDA ENTERPRISES: ROOFTOP}

[Felix was already there by the time that everyone had arrived. He had summoned Arizona in advance, presumably for the sake of expediency.

He looked a bit worn out. It was strange to see him with short hair and without his cape or his sword—he almost looked like a different person.]

Felix: Is everyone ready?

Beck: -Doing a final system check- Yeah, just about.

Avi: Ready for lift off when you are, bro--

Brand: ...

[MN.7 to MN.9] //: {...Be careful.}

[MN.9 to MN.7] //: Hai, Nii-san.

Shade: -Looks out into the horizon- (...Avi wasn't kidding. It's a goddamn MESS out there...)

Shade: (...at...)

Shade: (At least we got you back here, Songbird...)

Shade: (Because if we didn't, And Ah' was still...then..)

Brand: -Ping-

Brand: -Very gentle data- Shade.

Shade: ...

Shade: -Tips hat back down- ...best of luck t'ya, Beck.

Beck: -Ping of confirmation and reassurance-

Pyro: ... (...This will be over soon, Shade...)

Pyro: -Turns to Felix- We're ready.

[Felix looked at the sky with a grim expression. It was growing dark, just as he had foreseen.]

Felix: [...]

[His expression became firm and resolute. He started glowing gold.]

Beck: (...Psynergy...)

[Djinn began appearing, one by one. As each one appeared, Felix seemed to grow weaker and weaker—but the air was tense with energy.

VERY tense.]

[Felix took in a deep breath as one final Djinn appeared on his shoulder.

For once, Echo didn’t have inane commentary.]

Echo: Calling eight of us from the getgo? You must be really in need of some serious power.

Felix: You could say that.

Shade: (...Was only four when he fought with me...now eight?)

Shade: (What the hell's he doin'--?)

Beck: ...

Beck: (I can...feel it, like...like it's...)

Beck: -Eyes glow a bright green- (Almost... familiar...)

[They circled around him.]

Felix: [...]

[He narrowed his eyes and pressed his mouth into a thin line, flaring with a deep gold aura.

Four of the Djinn shot into the sky in a swirling spiral.]

Brand: [!]

[There was a massive blast of energy that cleared the sky just enough for them to see the next bit.]

Felix: -Low tone- ...The Venus Clan were considered weak and lowly. Even now, they are remembered only as “The Forsaken Clan.”

[A figure that looked like a knight with wings appeared in the sky. A colossal figure with a shield of sorts that looked like a lion’s head. He held a rather familiar looking sword—something that looked like a giant version of the Sol Blade.]

Avi: -OH GLITCH--

Pyro: [!][!][!]

Brand: -Eyes WIDE with shock and awe-

Shade: -Very alarmed data--

[If Felix noticed their alarm, he certainly didn’t show it. He was looking to the sky, his tone becoming harsher.]

Felix: But Venus itself is not a weak element. And the power of the Djinn calls upon the might of forces of nature itself.

[The being pointed the “shield” down at the swarm, and an alarming level of destructive energy began to swirl beneath it.]

Beck: !!!!!

Felix: Stand and bear witness to the greatest power Venus alone is willing to offer to mortal man in the present age.

[Except now, it was clear. That was no mere shield—

—that was a weapon.]

Beck: -Whoooa...-

((Lovely gift art from the amazing Neshirys! Thank you, Neshi!))

Felix: Brace yourselves, and stand witness to the power...

[An absolutely EXPLOSIVE blast of Venus energy came ROARING down out of the sky!]

[Felix used JUDGEMENT!]

Felix: ...of the end of days!

[The sky was overtaken by a flare of blinding light. There was a deafening roar as the sphere of energy hit the Colosseum, sending a massive shockwave in all directions.

Everything was overtaken by a wave of light and raw power, and the world became nothing but a blinding white void.]

Shade: NNNNGH--!

Avi: -OWOWOW, CAN'T SEE, HELP--!-

Pyro: -AUGH--

Beck: (Ow! Nng, really would like to see now...)

[Well. Nothing but a blinding void and the intensity of their own awe and terror.]

>̙̥̘̹̜̒ͮC̞͔̻̦͎̖̦̈́̌Ř̰ͣ̑̆̽O͖̥̭͉͌̎̄ͧ̈́̑Ŝ̰͙̝̬S͕͍̬̠͔̲̥̿̒͗-͙̙̼͛̄ͬR̲͑̾͌̏Ẻ̘͓̙F̯͖̞̦̗͉͗ͤER̘̫̥̦̝̽̀͛Ȅ͖̫͇̟̋ͫN̮̦̺̒̇̅C͒̑Ẻ̦̝̖̆̋͆S̟͚ ̺̟̲̒̌I͉̝͚D̟̠̜̟͍͙̺̂̑̆̏E̽Ṉ̜̺̹̰̹ͯ͐̉̃̑ͫ̚T̔͗ͯͦI̖̗̦̺ͅF̰̙̤͙̱̟̦I͙̘͈̩͎̥̯̓Ḛ͒̃̃̆̏̈́̓D̫͍̺̲̦̰̱:̤ ̼͔̝̞̻̐ͪͮ͑ͮ̊̔K͙̮̩̯̰̾͗ͅD̟͍͐ͥ̀̑̾̚̚N̫̭̤̭̪͍ͥ̑ͪ̿̅-̤̺̀ͯͫ̓͒5̱̠̣̬͍̙̦ͦ0̥̦̀͆ͥ̏̄͗͗5͍̦̱̳̉6ͥ̌ͨ̽ͧ ͚̬̯͊̃͊ͣM͓͕̘̗̪̦̭͐̿͌̾̌E̼ͨͤ̽̿M̬̰̪̥̰͚̮̽ͫ͒͗͂Ọ̤ͥͥ̍͊R̼Ÿ̮̤̝͙̺̮̪́ͭ ̩̠͂͋D̜̭ͣ̊͋͒ͨ̇͊A͇̦̟̠͐ͯ̔͒̇T͙̝̘̱A̬ͥ͌ͫ

Brand: -Struggling to keep his focus--

>̮̽ͯ̏͛̍̔E̞̜̞̜̩͛̒͒̿̈́R̦͎̪̠̹͎̐ͤ̉R̰͔̗̠̲̫̓̇ͮ͐͋̔O̼̙̱̰͖͆͗͋ͣR̪̫͕̟̟̪͔̂͑̓ͪͧ͌:̭ͩ͂̒̔̿̈ ͈̺͕̜̺ͨ͛S̬̬̣͐ͥ͐̊Y̬͖̭̺̣̝̬̾ͪ̎ͭ̽S̱̻͙͚̣͐̋͋ͧ̆ͪͪͅT̞͇̖̠̫́͊͗̃͗̇E̻̝ͩ͑ͨ̄̋̐ͨM͓͖ͪͦ̀͐̽̑̚ ̣͍̹͕̙̯̞C̼̐͛͆R̲̫̘͎͆ͣ̚A̺̰̯̤̺ͫ͒S̙̜̱̉ͮ͗ͨ̽ͭH̖ͣ—̤ͥ̓

[When the light faded, they all suddenly surged with a rush of energy. It seemed to enhance and enrich their very Xel with the same kind of energy they associated with Felix.

And the sky? Well.

The sky was now completely clear.]

Beck: [!]

Brand: -Blinks- {...The sky--}

((Pyro's wide eyed at the sky just kinda in awe and shock at how CLOSE Felix was to just casting this before))

Avi: -WHISTLES- Breaking weather report: It's gonna be clear skies for the next seven minutes! : D!

Beck: (I had no idea Felix could DO that--!)

Pyro: --! Shade--?

[Shade wasn't faring well, but at least he was still standing--]

Shade: -Mngh...gimmie...gimmie a sec...-

Beck: -Runs up to Felix-

Beck: That was AWESOME! : D

[Felix gives a wry smile out of the corner of his mouth as he gets ready to take off on his phoenix, Arizona.]

Felix: Oh, you’ll be seeing it at least once more.

Shade: ...

Shade: [Sweatdrop] (Yew gotta be KIDDING me, how the HELL was I supposed to even SURVIVE that if he pulled that out way back when--)

Felix: -Looks behind him at the others, and at Shade in particular-

Felix: [...]

Felix: Farewell, my friends.

Felix: If fate is as kind to us now as it always has been, we will survive this... but not without one final, bitter price.

Felix: If it becomes relevant, then the Mars Clan will want to know what happened. Should that happen… let them know that I went down fighting.

Beck: --...

Brand: . . .

Pyro: ...-Nods- Acknowledged.

Shade: -...Tips hat down in respect- ...Ya got it, friend.

Avi: -Whirls propellers- Alright, Beckers-- buckle up and get ready for take off!

Beck: --Yeah, I--right. Roger that.

Felix: Take the lead. It’s time to put an end to this.

[Avi gives a thumbs up at the Venus Adept as he grabs Beck's arm and takes off, lifting both of them off of Sanda Tech's helipad.

Arizona crows loudly and gives off a jet of flame before taking to the sky.]

Pyro: (...Godspeed, Nine...)

Shade: Don't do anythin' stupid on the way there, Six--! You get back in one damn piece yerself!

Brand: ... (Good luck...)

Avi: LOVE YA TOO--

Beck: -Waves- I'll be back soon!

Beck: Promise!

[Avi turns his sights to the Colosseum and plots a course, eyeing for one spot on the arena in particular.]

Avi: Okay! The plan is to air drop Beck on the Colosseum roof!

Avi: The roof's shaped like a giant gear--we're gonna be aiming for the hole in the middle!

Felix: Sounds simple enough.

Avi: -Looks down at Beck- I can't exactly go in there myself, Beckaroni--so you're gonna have something of a rough landing. Use my form if you need to slow your descent, okay?

Beck: -Thumbs up- Roger, Avi!

Felix: -Squints- Looks like we have trouble incoming.

Avi: --!

[Looking down was becoming disorienting due to movement. It would appear that the Xel was already gathering again....]

Avi: Uh oh--

Beck: (Never...never seen so much Xel in one place...)

Beck: [Sweatdrop] (It's chaos...)

Beck: (I have to hurry...)

Felix: It won’t be too long before this becomes airborne, I should think.

Avi: -DEEP shudder of fear, nnnng...-

Felix: Peace, Avi—I left one Djinn for you specifically, in case something goes terribly wrong.

Avi: <'3 -Thanks, man...-

[He gestured sharply with his wrist, and one of the five Djinn following him floated over near Avi.]

Felix: This one is very powerful, and can heal just about every ailment. If we get separated on the way back, you can use it if you find need. It should listen to you.

Avi: -Waves to the Djinn- -Hi, I'm Avi- ^^

Beck: -Small smile-

Felix: Avi, bank to your left in a moment.

[He seemed to be surging with Venus energy again.]

Felix: Things are about to get intense in the streets.

[Volcanic jets of Venus Psynergy erupted from below, disrupting the clamor to engulf the building.]

Beck: (There won't be anything to save at this rate--!)

[Felix looked exhausted as he stopped—utterly drained, somehow.]

Avi: (...Man, he's gotta be running out of juice at this point...)

Avi: (And he STILL has to do the Judgement thing again...)

Beck: --!

Beck: -TUGS ON AVI—-

Beck: MIGHT WANNA GO FASTER—

Avi: ?

Felix: [!]

[Avi looks behind him just to see the shadow of something very big heading their way--]

Avi: -OH CRAP--

[A MASSIVE wave of infected Xel, rushing directly at the flying heroes will EVERY intent of swatting them RIGHT out of the sky--and a fall from this height would not only mean SERIOUS injury, but also crashing right into the THICK of the mass consuming the Colosseum!]

Felix: !!!

Avi: AAAH--

[Felix and Arizona take a hard acceleration to get up front.

Arizona screes and blasts quite a large portion of the advancing wave with Mars Psynergy, which takes on the appearance of a blanket of flames.]

Beck: UP!

Avi: -RIGHT--

[Avi shoots upwards to gain more altitude as they approach the Colosseum. The Xel Storm--now beginning to recover from the Judgement cast--almost seemed to hiss and screech at their presence.]

Avi: Approaching the drop zone--!

Felix: We won’t have time to slow down! Things are getting too obstructed!

Avi: [3 sweatdrops]

Avi: Told you it'll be a rough landing--

Beck: It's okay! Just aim for the center and let go!

Beck: I got your form on the ready if I need to adjust, just time it right!

Avi: 10-4, RudaBecka--

[Avi sets up to preform a fly-by the arena, and winces when he hears static and buzzing in his ears the closer and closer he gets.]

Avi: Mnng...

Avi: (This jamming signal is messing with my instruments--gotta go with my gut--)

Avi: Dropping in T-minus 6...5...4...

Avi: 3--

Avi: 2--

Avi: 1!

[Aviator lets his grip slip, and his core skips a few beats as he watches his youngest brother fall away, down, down into the half eaten arena's depths. He actively has to FIGHT the instinct to fly and grab him back, banking hard to the right to get a better view.]

Avi: (Come on come on come on--!)

[And to his surprise...

Beck didn't even need to use his form at all. It was a clean drop, right through the center of the opening!]

Avi: : D!!

Avi: HE'S IN--

Felix: [!][!][!]

Felix: MOVE—!

Avi: ?!

[The Xel had arched over behind them, creating a sickly dome that was rapidly closing.]

Avi: Oh sh--

Avi: RUN—!

Felix: Head straight home, Avi—! Destroy obstacles if you have to!

[Another SURGE of power—]

[Felix used JUDGEMENT!]

[The spiraling Djinn broke a hole right through the top of the dome!]

Felix: You first, GO—!

Avi: -SCREE--

[Bearing witness to the might of the Judgement cast not MINUTES AGO, Avi was NOT keen on being anywhere near the blast radius. He made a beeline for the new opening in the dome, blasting into his Jet mode now that he no longer had precious cargo to worry about.]

Avi: Not good not good NOT GOOD--

[He escapes, thankfully, and for a moment, he catches a small glimpse of his radio tower in the distance...

It was lighting up!]

Avi: !!!

Avi: (He did it!)

[The radio tower blinked with distinct signals suggesting it was Online and in use, no less.]

Avi: (I owe you guys one--!)

Avi: (For now--)

[For now, he needed to get home.]

Avi: -Looks back as he readjusts his course-

Avi: Felix--

[The Adept looked a bit exasperated that Avi was slowing down in even the slightest.]

Felix: Just go already, don’t—

[The Adept was cut short when the Xel coiled and lashed out at him. He was hit dead-on with so much force that it knocked him right off of his ride!]

Avi: [!] FELIX--!

Arizona: SCREEEEE!

[The phoenix dove after him, catching him briefly—but it was to no avail. Another strike hit, and the damage was so great that Arizona burst into nothing but flames, sending Felix into a freefall.]

Avi: NO--!

[There was a brief flash of dazed fear in the Adept’s eyes—an instinctive fear, one of the oldest and deepest fears.

And yet, it was also reflective of something chilling: a cold sense of acceptance and dread, and a familiarity suggesting he had been through this before… and was resigned to the outcome it would bring.]

Avi: Nononono--!

[All of this was visible only for a moment...

And then?

He was gone.]

Avi: FELIX!!

Avi: (I gotta--!)

[Ah, if only.]

[Fate had other plans, however.]

[The swarm of Xel dispersed once more, though it wouldn't be long before the storm reformed again--even now, it was trying to reconstitute itself, and Avi could almost FEEL the malice it exerted...]

Kkkk...

Avi: --!

<DLN-008>: > Avi!

Avi: Toby--! (I almost forgot we could still use comms between us--!)

<DLN-008>: > Avi hurry he’ll be fine he’s fallen off lots of things before and you need to hurry because that knight thing is getting ready to fire again—

[The vivid memory of what he had JUST witnessed flashed through Avi’s mind.]

Avi: I--right--

Avi: Roger that, heading home--

Avi: (Pleaaaaase be okay, Felix, mnng--!)

[With a final sweep of the streets below, Avi kicked his jets into high gear, blasting off towards Sanda Technologies with all due haste...]

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

=CHAPTER 10A: THE MACHINE DRAWS NEAR=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

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

[The air of despair was suffocating. Even Desmond could feel it as he shut the recorder off.

It just didn’t sit right with him—none of it did.]

Des: (Those scars are real, if nothing else. …If it IS a front as part of a cover, he’s sure hellishly dedicated to the job. And if not…?)

Des: (What is he so intent on hiding that he’ll be willing to suffer so much?)

Des: …—! (Oh, right…)

Des: …You have a daughter.

Des: If everyone is Offline, like you said, who’s going to take care of her?

Mikhail: …

Des: ….

Des: If there’s no one else, Doctor, I’ll have to call Social Services.

[Mikhail opened his eyes again with a stern frown.]

Mikhail: (As IF.)

Mikhail: …

Des: …

Des: Do you at least have anyone that can tell her where you’re going?

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: (I left… Jack instructions regarding this.)

Mikhail: (…Bitterly, this is not the first time she and I have gone through this…)

Mikhail: (She shouldn’t have to understand, she is a child, but…)

Mikhail: (She does.)

Mikhail: (After what we’ve been through, she does…)

Des: …..

Des: -Sigh-

[He seemed to be thinking on this as Desmond opened the door to take him out into the hall.]

((Pic—Mikhail & Des (arrested) ))

Mikhail: …I didn’t bring her with me. She’s with some family friends where she’ll be safe.

Des: ….Who?

Mikhail: I won’t talk about that right now. I don’t want anyone else knowing where she is. I don’t know who else is listening or who will be told, and we just had a call from CherryDyn—

Des: -Freezes- What?

Mikhail: -Dryly- Remember what I said about trouble with public relations? I’m afraid I lost my patience when the CEO called, after all the grief he’s caused this family. He knows that I’m aware of the link and trying to prove it. Given that Greater Dusk itself has been all but eliminated, I would not put it past him or his subordinates to go after my daughter before/as part of going after me. The danger may persist for some time yet.

Des: You... (What in the world were you THINKING, Doctor? At a time like THIS?)

Mikhail: -Snaps at the tone- Yes, I know, but what more do I have to lose at this point? He scares me a lot less than YOU do, Mister Secretary!

Des: …

[He gave a sharp huff and then calmed down.]

Mikhail: …I'm sorry. But I can only see darkness closing in, with no escape.

Mikhail: As long as she's safe, the rest doesn't matter… not anymore…. {There is no hope left for me here.}

Des: …

Mikhail: It’s very important to me that she stays safe, but it is easily a secondary importance that you are able to have access to the truth. There is evil within that company, and there are multiple people I know personally that have suffered because of it. There must be countless “nameless” if that is the case. So… we should go pick that up, at least. My notes are in the lab. Do try not to bother the others at their work. If we’re quiet, we should be able to leave without raising up a panic.

[His expression softened.]

Mikhail: …There’s someone you need to see there anyway.

Des: (…DLN-000…)

Des: (…Why would Graham call Sanda Tech, at a time like this–)

[CRASH–]

Mikhail: ?!

“AH’ SAID LEMMIE GO–”

[Just down the hallway’s intersection was Shade, struggling to push himself forward despite Avi and Beck clinging to his legs, and Pyro trying to restrain him–the other Mighties were worryingly trailing behind.]

Avi: BRO COME ON STOP IT–

Shade: -In near hysterics- AH’ SAID NO, UNCLE MIKHAIL’S IN TROUBLE–

Des: ( “Uncle”? And how—)

Beck: But he’s right there–

Beck: –!

Beck: H…Huh?

Mikhail: Countershade Arthur White! You should BE IN BED! =__=

[It was clear Mikhail was not happy to be seen in his current condition.]

Des: How did he–

[SLAM–]

[At the opposite end of the hallway, a door is heard slamming shut, and a rapid pair of footsteps following suit.

Soi had just enough time to yank Will back by his lab coat into a restraining hug, who looked absolutely livid.]

Will: YOU’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE HIM AWAY–!

Soi: WILL CALM DOWN–

Mikhail: -Would be BURNING IN SHAME if we weren’t so damn TIRED—-

Des: ???????? (How is it they all KNOW?!) -Looks back and forth- (…Crap wait the Mighties are behind us and the Doctors are in front of us–)

“ENOUGH.”

Beck: –!

Beck: Felix–?

[FELIX used HALT!]

Shade: –?!

Des: (What the–I can’t move–?!)

Will: –!!

Beck: (Ngh…Can’t move…)

Des: (How in the world–I can’t even look to see who did that, what is–??)

Dyna: -BZZ BZZ, HEY, CAN’T MOVE–

Cryo: -YO WHAT THE GLITCH IS GOING ON, WHY IS UNCLE MIKHAIL IN HANDCUFFS, WHY DOES DAD LOOK REALLY TICKED OFF, WHY CAN’T WE MOVE-

[Felix strode into view. Like Mikhail, he walked with an alpha gait—a bold leadership that DEMANDED obedience from lessers, respect from equals, and recognition from superiors.

He looked annoyed.]

Felix: I want answers as to why I was told to deliver medical aid, and ended up arriving on a developing fight scene. And no violence.

[He released Desmond, Mikhail, Sanda, and Brandish from the Halt.]

Felix: Talk.

Soi: –Oof–

Brand: -We are honestly just as confused as you are-

Des: Ngh…

Felix: -Glares!-

Des: –!

Des: (What the…Who IS he?)

Des: -Ow-

Des: Doctor Cossack is being brought in for more questioning–

Beck: (What–?!)

Soi: But–weren’t you just–

Mikhail: … -Looks away and sighs-

Mikhail: (Dammit, I didn’t want any of you to SEE me like this…)

Mikhail: (Cripes is this humiliating.)

Will: -ATTEMPTS TO STRUGGLE, nope, can’t move–Mikhaaaaaail–

Brand: …

Brand: (…No wonder Father is so worked up.)

Brand: Can you not question him here further?

Des: -…Looks at Mikhail-

Des: ….

Mikhail: …It doesn’t appear that is going to be given as an option.

Des: There’s still things he needs to answer for.

Des: (And THEN some.)

Brand: …. -Also glares-

Brand: And you expect to leave this building without some kind of explanation to us?

Des: –….

Mikhail: -Warning tone- Brandish—

Brand: Besides.

Brand: Cardinal still needs repairs. You are quite literally taking away the help he needs.

[Mikhail scowled as he scolded Brand.]

Mikhail: Shame on you, Brandish. You know full well that Nineteen can handle the rest of the repairs. Do not try to guilt trip the man, it’s already hard enough on the both of us as it is.

Brand: ….

Brand: >>

Mikhail: There are consequences to keeping secrets. This is one of them.

Will: (Ngh–)

Mikhail: Given what probably would have happened if I had told the full truth before he met Felix, I prefer this option. -_-;

Des: (The full truth?)

Mikhail: (Prison I can deal with. Torture, even. I’ve been through both before. And even as hellish as those are, at least what you say will be seen as truth or lies…)

Mikhail: (As opposed to an asylum, where EVERYTHING is taken to be madness.)

Brand: ….

Brand: …I apologize for my deceit, it’s just…

Brand: >> (Seeing you like this is rather…hurtful…)

Des: This–

Soi: Er–

Soi: I–I hate to interrupt, but we REALLY don’t have time to talk.

Soi: There’s a situation that requires all hands on deck–

Beck: (–?)

Mikhail: -Looks over at Sanda- So you really are sending them out? : /

Brand: –?

Soi: ….Do we really have a choice? We do not want the city or the lab overrun with infected robots again–

Brand: What?

Beck: (–!!)

Mikhail: Then… Felix, I need you to go back to the Meadow. Have Jaden and Carlos sent over.

Felix: … And your sons?

Mikhail: Let them rest. -Looks over at Des, then down at his handcuffs briefly before returning his attention to Felix- I don’t want them getting angry.

Des: Wait–

Soi: Er, Felix, before you go, uh…

[He gestured to the Halted others with a tilt of his head.]

Shade: B /

Felix walked over to Shade and looked at him with a frown.]

[His thoughts went back to the visions he had suffered—the agony he had seen.]

Felix: …

[But he knew better than to bring that up, especially now.]

Felix: … Don’t do anything too rash, Countershade.

Shade: -We thought he was in danger, alright, can ya please let us go, we’re gettin’ uncomfortably stiff here-

Brand: How did you even know?

Shade: -Watch signal-

Brand: –….

Des: ….Watch? -Aaaand looks at Mikhail-

Des: (I thought I completely disarmed him–)

Des: (He’s in his PJ’s, for crying out loud–)

[Mikhail was equally surprised.]

Mikhail: …It does that?

Shade: -Data- -Sends distress signal t’ the server and me if heart rate is above normal stress levels for too long-

Shade: -…..-

Shade: -In hindsight Ah’ should’ve given ya a rundown of the functions, sorry ‘bout that-

Brand: -______-;;;;;;

Des: …..

Des: (What is going ON around here??)

Des: (I thought the Doctor said they were just his children’s friends, yet…)

Beck: -Nnnngh, Feeeeliiiix can you please let us go, it sounds like there’s trouble–

[Felix releases them.]

Mikhail: Thank you. Now Desmond, please, my notes are still in the lab, and we have a power core to deliver.

Will: …..

Will: (Mikhail…)

Will: ….

Des: ….

[As much as Desmond wanted answers, he knew he wasn’t going to be getting any right at this moment. Especially with Dr. White silently glaring at him like that.]

Des: …Fine…

Soi: R-Right–Mighties? We need a quick briefing. We don’t have a lot of time.

Soi: Come on, Will…

Will: …..

Will: -Sigh-

[As the Whites and Sanda all file into the meeting room, there is a thick air of both tension and confusion--as well as still simmering anger from some members of the family.]

Soi: -Ahem—-

Soi: I know some of us are...Er...not in the best of moods...

Will: -Nnn...-

Brand: -Cold, glaring data-

Shade: -...-

Cyro: Yeeeeaaaah, no chill, definitely--

Shade: -Please don't.-

Pyro: Don't snap at your sister, Eight.

Shade: -Mmnf...-

[The second youngest of the Mighties grumbled and leaned his full weight against his largest elder brother--Mic, who was more than happy to provide support.]

Mic: -It's okay, Mic confused too.-

Shade: Tell me about it...

Shade: What the yappin' hell does CherryDyn want with us?

Shade: An' why is Uncle Mikhail under arrest?

Soi: >>....

Will: -Siiigh- Shade...

Will: I swear we will explain later. But right now we need to focus on the situation at hand.

Shade: ...

Soi: ...

Soi: << Will...

Soi: Are you sure this is a good idea?

Soi: Last time he fought Cardinal, he was out for three days, and he just fought Cardinal AND Beck…

Shade: -Hn...-

Shade: ...m'fahn.

Will: ...Son...

Shade: M'fahn, Dad.

Brand: ....

Beck: -Ping!-

Beck: Whatever's going on that CherryDyn had to call us has to be really important.

Beck: I can heal up Shade and myself if he needs it. And we do have the supplies from the Meadow.

Will: ...

Will: (...true...we do still have that supply of E-Tanks...)

Beck: What's the situation?

[Beck seemed very focused--and didn't waste time getting straight to the point.]

Soi: There's a massive malfunction at CherryDyn's Robot Factory. Their defenses were overwhelmed--and now their automated systems are infected with the virus.

Bat: ...Automated, ya say?

Will: Correct.

Will: The factory operates completely on it's own--and it's now generating infected units and unleashing them into the city. We have to stop it.

Dyna: -Bzzzt- Are you sure thiszzz isn't another one of their intentional zzzscrew upszz—

Dyna: -Points a clawed finger at her father- They wanted uszzz to clean up the messzz in Highway Delta too and go catch the Deszztroyer while we're at it!

Beck: (Urk—!)

Beck: -Quickly changes the subject—- Th-That could be true—but—!

Beck: It doesn't really matter, the city's in danger either way!

Beck: <<;; Even if they are really mean...

Will: ...

Soi: R-Right! This is the largest Robot Factory in California--if it isn't stopped, we'll be drowning in infected bots by the end of the day.

Soi: Now--this factory is big, and I mean big. This is going to take all of you to take it on--and while most of CherryDyn's Industrial units are made there, they're no match for all 9 of you!

Will: ...12.

Soi: --Ah, right...

Brand: --?

Will: Jaden and Speedy will be joining you.

Beck: !

Beck: : D! Really?!

[As if on cue, there was a swirl of colored spheres as Felix teleported in with both of the aforementioned Second Gens. They were in their partial battle armor, eyes glowing faint green in alert preparation.]

Beck: Jaden! Speedy! : D!! -HI GUYS--

Cryo: -AW YEAH, MORE FIREPOWER—-

Shade: -Mnnn....-

Cryo: -Oh come on, that wasn't even a pun—-

[Felix quietly slipped off, heading for the lab.]

Jaden: Yeah, we're… happy to help, but…

Speedy: What is going on, exactly?

Avi: -PING!-

Avi: Breaking News: CherryDyn Catastrophe at Compromised Factory!

Avi: ... Basically we gotta go clean up their mess. -Eye roll-

Jaden: Wha— again?

Bat: -Grunt- As much as I hate to admit it, yes. Their factory's gone haywire.

Shade: -Annoyed data, can't we just deal with the bots themselves.-

Speedy: -Looks around- …

Speedy: ?

Speedy: I don't get it.

Will: It's better to take it out at the source--otherwise we'd only be fighting wave after wave of infected Industrials.

Speedy: No, not that.

Will: --?

Speedy: If we're going on a field trip to trash a CherryDyn landmark…

Speedy: Where's Cardinal?

Shade: -Hnnn...-

[No, don't, don't—]

Shade: (Cards...!)

Mic: -Data, shhhh...-

Will: ...

[...well, THERE was a drop in mood if any...]

Will: ...

Will: ...Cardinal is still undergoing repairs.

Will: He's in no condition to go. And--

Will: Since this is nothing short of a full scale assault, with several Combat bots capable of causing widespread damage...

Will: You two are more suited to this given the current circumstances.

Jaden: …

Jaden: -Slightly coldly for him, head bowed a little- So. That was why we were given filler data.

Shade: (...nnn...M'sorry, Ah'...Ah'...)

Brand: ....

Jaden: -Softly now- I understand, now. I'm sorry it had to be like this.

[When he looks up again, his eyes are bright green. He looks over at Shade with a piercing gaze.

Shade very much looked like he wanted to sleep, or at the very least, turn invisible--but he didn't.]

Shade: (Ah' tried, Ah' did, Ah' swear—!)

Beck: Jaden--

[But no. Jaden was not enraged.]

Jaden: You look terrible. You should be in bed. ,': |

Shade: -Nnn...-

Shade: Ah' know. | [

Speedy: -Shifts his weight- Are you seriously coming with us?

Speedy: We can see about getting Nico to come over if you guys need more firepower so that you can rest—

Shade: -We are fahn—-

Beck: -Interrupts- --And the factory's systems are infected. Either I need to purge it or help destroy it.

Beck: I am not letting everyone go there without me.

Beck: I've made up my mind, Speedy.

Speedy: -Holds up his hands- Fair enough, Mighty Nine. Never doubted you for a minute there.

Beck: (...huh. That...didn't take much...)

Beck: (Thought I needed to argue for a sec there...)

Speedy: But if you insist on bringing along your sniper after he's gotten his life wrung out of him…

Speedy: -Toss!-

[Brandish smoothly catches the E-Tank thrown at him, not once taking his eyes off of Shade.]

Brand: ...

Speedy: Might want to give some of that vitality back.

Brand: ...Yes.

Brand: -Tosses to Mic-

Mic: -w-

[Mic doesn't even wait for an answer--he just pops it open and pours the contents over Shade's head, which does make him jolt up a bit.]

Shade: -OI, give a guy a warnin' next tahm—-

Mic: -w-b

Beck: -Snorts-

[He's dry afterwards, though, his systems already absorbing the contents of the E-Tank. Shade stands on his own now--inner turmoil still brewing within, but at least he wasn't ready to keel over.]

Shade: -Let's just get this over already-

Beck: ...yeah...

Soi: Alright then--I'll be uploading a map of the factory for you all to go over, as well as the points to hit hardest. Will's got the plan of attack all figured out, so--

[PING!]

[WARNING. WARNING.]

[Alarms suddenly go off all over the building--!]

Beck: --?!

Will: What—what now—?!

Speedy: Are we under attack or something??

[TITUS CITY AREA IS NOW IN CONDITION RED. TITUS CITY AREA IS NOW IN CONDITION RED. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.]

Bat: —!!

Pyro: Again—?!

[PING!]

[CALL] //: Attention: All individuals in the building please report to the main lab. Attention: All individuals please report to the main lab.

[CALL] //: We have another situation in development.

Will: Good Lord it NEVER ends—!

Will: Quickly! Everyone to the lab this instant!

[When Mikhail, Des, and Felix got there, The Mighty Numbers were gathered around the main screen, which had two live feeds.]

[One was of the main entrance of the CherryDynamics Factory, blown wide open. CherryDyn Models were pouring out by the dozens.]

[And the other feed…]

Speedy: Holy glitch is that a PRISON?!

Will: ….

Will: …Yes.

Will: There’s been a break-in.

Jaden: Seriously? At a time like THIS? Who would want to break INTO a prison?

Mikhail: ({—! No—! They DIDN’T—!}) Where are my sons?!

Jaden: Hmm? They’re still aslee— -Turns around-

Jaden: —!!!

<DWN-013 has entered Defensive Combat mode.>

[His full battle armor rapidly shifted into place. He looked scared.]

Jaden: HOLY glitch, Doctor WHY ARE YOU TIED UP—

Speedy: -Whirls around, shifting also and taking a defensive battle stance out of instinct as he speaks in alarm- Wait, what?!

Des: I’ll uncuff him later!

Des: What is going ON?!

Call: CherryDynamic’s Robot Factory has been mass producing infected models at an alarming rate.

Call: There has also been a reported break-in at the maximum security Prison, and all communication with them has been lost.

Call: CherryDyn Models have also been reported trying to swarm the Prison.

Will: …

Mikhail: What? Why? Who’s being kept there?

Will: ….

Will: Dr. Benedict Blackwell.

Mikhail: … What?

Mikhail: -Now just CONFUSED- I though we discussed this a long, long time ago—

Mikhail: Who would want to go after him? This can’t be his doing. You said he’s been there for ages, and even Dr. Wily isn’t THAT patient! After Rock finally corners him a second time, he’ll only wait a few months before—

Mikhail: … (Wait— he… w-will…?!)

[He doubled over in a sudden, overwhelming headache, with the Robot Masters present doing likewise. Felix managed to catch Mikhail before he hit the ground, despite being alarmed and startled—but Jaden and Speedy were not so lucky.]

Will: –!!

Will: Mikhail–?!

Beck: Guys?!

Jaden: Ow… (Feel like I had the wind knocked right out of me…)

Mikhail: Ghh… gah… not this again…

Will: (–?? Again–?)

Mikhail: This… this happened… or will happen… before…

Felix: Side note—Master Desmond knows the truth now.

Will: ……I…see.

Des: ….

Will: (…Ngh…)

Speedy: Ugh, worry about Dad and what he WILL do in the future later—let’s deal with the now, what do we do?

Will: Mngh…. (…. They’re not going to like this.)

Will: We now have not one, but two major situations we must deal with.

Beck: So we split up?

Will: No.

Will: At least, not you, Mighties.

Jaden: …What? Surely you don’t plan to send us off away from them. -Looks over at Desmond nervously- What if we’re… stopped, and…?

Speedy: -Suddenly notices, and seems to freeze up, then look pained- We’re not gonna get experimented on, are we? The first time people took me apart for science was bad enough.

Des: | /;;;; -No, and frankly we are rather appalled at that notion-

Will: That’s, um… not quite what I meant, you two.

Pyro: –?

Will: You’re more effective as an entire team, rather than in two parts. Not only that, but you have the endurance and skill needed for combat on a massive scale.

Will: It’s only logical that you all will be sent to the Factory. There’s no telling how many infected models are on site.

Will: …Not only that—

Jaden: But—!

Jaden: Doctor, that’s a contagion hazard! D:

Speedy: Oh, shut up, Beck’s on our side and you can tank anything anyway.

Jaden: Why take that risk, brother?! After everything that’s happened?! What do you think would happen if—! What would that do to them?!

Jaden: You and I are immune and make to take this sort of fight—we can handle ourselves! If we must split ways—

Will: Jaden.

Will: I...I know the risks, but the very fate of Titus lies in this. I won't split this family apart anymore than it has this past week. We see this through, together. We will overcome this, together.

Will: ...As..

Will: As long as you do not let any infected Xel into your systems, you all should be fine.

Will: I’ll also be implementing a prototype XelFilter.EXE program into our server before I go.

Beck: ….

Beck: Go?

Mikhail: {What?} Will, what— go where?

Will: ….

Will: CherryDynamics’s Robot Factory is all automated.

Will: The way the system is set up, it can produce models with little to no human help.

Will: Because of this, any and all changes to their Manufacturing Operator Mainframe– The M.O.M units…

Will: …Must be done on site.

Will: Though a certain, mainframe terminal with the ONLY authorized access.

Mikhail: —…

Mikhail: And… you’ve already determined there’s no one else— that’s why it took time, even after I left…

Mikhail: …

Felix: (I hope he doesn’t demand to take Will’s place. I don’t know much about the machines of this world, but I DO know that he’s going to make himself sick if he doesn’t get some rest very soon.)

Mikhail: At least take the sensory defense mechanism with you, Will!

Mikhail: I’m begging you—

Mikhail: You and Sanda are the ONLY friends I have ever since we were relocated in the protection program! PLEASE don’t get yourself hurt!

Pyro: Father–

Beck: Dad, wait–

Mikhail: Boys!

Mikhail: There’s an American saying you people have. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”

Mikhail: He wouldn’t be doing this unless he knew it were the best option—we don’t have time for further delay! Mighties, Angels—get ready to go, you must act quickly!

Beck: ….

Beck: –But what about the Prison?

Will: Sanda’s going there with Call.

Soi: Yes, of–

Soi: Wait, WHAT?!

Felix: -sNORTS-

Will: Sanda.

Will: I know I ask too much of you…

Will: But if someone is going after Blackwell, someone must go and ensure his safety.

Will: …As well as get some answers, if any.

[Speedy gave a loud, annoyed ping of disagreement.]

Speedy: You want answers from him?

[He points at Mikhail (who is standing to the right of him) using both hands, without even looking over. He maintains eye contact with Will the whole time.]

Speedy: Try having him talk to the guy! We’ve more or less known for ages that Blackwell went nuts for the same reasons my Dad did! : /

Will: I will NOT put any more in danger than I HAVE to, Speedy.

Will: …..

Will: …Soi…

Will: If…

Will: If you really don’t feel like you can, I–

Soi: ….Ngh.

Soi: …W-Well…Under the circumstances, I…Suppose this is the only way to talk to Blackwell…Hoorf…

Soi: A…Are you sure you don’t want to swap missions? ^^;;;

Will: You want to go to a factory full of infected robots instead?

Soi: –….

Will: (…Besides.)

Will: (I would prefer it if I NEVER have to see or hear of Blackwell ever again for the rest of my life.)

Des: Are you kidding me–

Des: This is INSANE, you’re civilians, you can’t just–!

Will: On the contrary, Mr. Desmond.

Will: I am not as helpless as I appear to be.

Will: I have means to defend myself.

Des: –…

Will: Brandish?

Brand: –Yes, Father?

Will: Remember that box I gave you? Before you left to train?

Will: The wooden one.

Brand: Yes…?

Will: Please bring it to me.

Mikhail: I still insist you take the sensory device mechanism with you. >>

Will: I didn’t say no, Mikhail. -Chuckles-

[Mikhail walks over and slings his arms over Will’s head to pull him into a hug—as much of a hug he can, given his current condition.]

Will: –!

Mikhail: Be careful out there, alright?

Will: ….

Will: Eheh….

Will: I will.

Will: I have the world’s top fighting team on my side, don’t I? ^^

Cryo: -YEAH I’LL PUNCH ANYONE THAT TRIES TO HURT NOODLE DAD-

Mikhail: -Grins, pulling his arms up and over again to release his friend- And then some. I think you will all be surprised at what Jaden can take and what Speedy can do.

Jaden: As long as Avi doesn’t get me caught in a crosswind unfriendly fire, I can take just about anything.

Jaden: …

Jaden: …I wish Cardinal could come with us.

Will: ….So do I.

[A moment later, Brandish returns with the box in question.]

[…It’s a stained black wooded box. It almost looked solid with no visible way to open it.]

Will: Ah…

Soi: –!

Soi: Wait a sec…

Brand: ….

Brand: You told me to never open it unless I was in real danger.

Speedy: Bro, I’m pretty sure now qualifies. >>;

Will: Yes…

Beck: ?

Beck: But what’s in it?

Will: Hmm…

[Will runs his hands over it, an almost…Far away look in his eyes.]

Will: (…I never thought I’d have to use this again.)

Will: (Or if I even… Remember how…)

Will: Soi…

Soi: –!

[The box suddenly opened–either by voice or by some hidden mechanic only Will knew, was hard to say.]

[Inside was some kind of…]

[… Rapier handle?]

Soi: (…You still kept that–?)

Speedy: …

Speedy: Is that a classy light saber, or—

Will: -Laughs-

Will: Not quite, but that’s a good guess!

[With one hand behind his back, Will grasped the handle.]

[As if by magic, Xel began to appear out of the hole where the blade should Be–slowly settling into that very sharp steel-like point.]

Will: I must admit, I…

Will: …Haven’t quite fenced in a while…

Brand: ….

Brand: You knew how to FENCE and you didn’t tell me–

Will: Eheh…

Will: Oops? ^^;;

Felix: …

Felix: -I want to spar—-

Brand: -So do I–

Soi: -SNORTS-

Soi: Ah, ah! I’d think twice if I were you!

Soi: -Pats Will on the shoulder- Will here won the National Collegiate Fencing Tournament for FIVE years running!

Beck: WHAT–

Will: I, uh…Eheh. That was college, Soi…

Soi: -STILL COUNTS-

Felix: And I trained under Proxan Warriors for five years, give—

[Mikhail gives a hearty laugh.]

Mikhail: You boys can have all the spars you could want once this nightmare is over. Felix, you and Brand are next, if I remember correctly?

Brand: -Winner gets to face Father-

Felix: -DEAL-

Mikhail: Go on. Go out there and end this, to make those happy days once again a reality.

Des: -You guys are NUTS-

Will: Mikhail…

Will: I trust you’ll hold down the lab while we’re gone.

Felix: -Brought back to the now at this- -Frowns- …

Mikhail: I’ll do my best. Mr. Desmond, will you help me with that?

Des: I…don’t really have a choice…

[RING!]

Des: –? (That’s my cell–)

Des: -Takes out phone–

Des: –….

Des: (Oh.)

[CALL FROM: MINNIE MOUSE]

Mikhail: …

Mikhail: ???

Des: Uh.

Des: I have to take this—

Des: Good luck!

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

=PROLOGUE A: IT ALL BEGINS NOW=

~AO v2.0~

((Courtesy of @codedhopes))

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

[….]

[XELFILTER.EXE PROGRAM CYCLE COMPLETE. ALL MALWARE HAS BEEN FILTERED AND NEUTRALIZED FROM ALL SYSTEMS.]

[REBOOTING…]

[MN.9 IS NOW ONLINE]

Beck: ….Uuugh…

Beck: What…what happened…

[……]

[At first…nothing.]

[Then….]

“PYRO! BRAND! SHADE! GUYS! S T O P!!”

Beck: ……!!!!!

[MN.9 to MN.1-8] //: GUYS! GUYS!

[MN.9 HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY MN.1-8.]

[MN.9] //: …??!?!

Beck: What…?!

Beck: Why would… They…

BOOOM!

[…And that is when he noticed where he was. No longer was he within the Colosseum walls; he was now on some rooftop by a NBCA advertisement. It looked like he was simply DROPPED here, but the means of how and why were far from his mind.

At the sounds of the explosions, Mighty No. 9 ran across the rooftop…]

Beck: !!!

Beck: N-No!

[Screams. Fire.]

Beck: What—

[The whole of the city in absolute chaos: citizens screaming in terror, fleeing from literal hordes of rampaging robots, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.]

Beck: What is happening?!

Beck: …!!!

Beck: DAD!

[His creator. His father. Doctor William Apollo White. He was somewhere in this madness…

Without another thought, Beck jumped down from the rooftop. He had to find him. He had to know if…!]

Beck: PROFESSOR! DAD! WHERE ARE YOU?!

Beck: DAAAAD!!

[… …

… … …

… … … …

…!! There! In the distance—! That puff of hair that could only be—!]

Beck: Dad!

Will: Beck!

[The sheer relief couldn’t have been any clearer on their faces as Beck ran up to his father, who seemed to have had better days; his lab coat was torn here and there, and his face was covered in black soot.]

Will: Ah, Beck—thank God—and functioning normally, it would appear!

Beck: Yeah…yeah, I’m fine, Dad. I’m fine…

Beck: I am so glad you’re OK—

[Beck clutched his father's leg as hard as he could, and Will bent down to give his youngest perhaps the tightest hug he could muster.]

Will: Good Lord; what on earth has happened? It’s chaos, everywhere!

Beck: I… I dunno. I dunno, Dad…

[Tears filled his emerald green eyes.]

Beck: I… I can’t contact the others; Pyro, Cryo, Dyna…! They… they blocked me!

Will: What?!

Will: Why on—…

Will: …

Will: ohhhhh God—nononoNO—

[He fumbled with his bag. He clumsily pulled out his laptop and opened it as quickly as he could, and—]

Will: Gah, it’s DEAD—!

[He forgot, he didn’t charge it on the way back to America—]

Beck: —!!!

Beck: INCOMING!

[Several airborne delivery bots had spotted them—and their load was less than helpful. They were carrying explosives.

Beck pushes his father out of the way with a strength he never knew his default form possessed.]

Will: ooF–

[The blast knocked both father and son back some ways, but Beck’s quick actions had saved them both from sustaining serious damage.

Thankfully, the trio of delivery bots had no more cargo to dispel, and flew back the way they came—probably to get more of their ammo.]

Will: Ngh…

Beck: Dad—Dad, are you OK?!

Will: Y-Yes, mostly…

Beck: Dad—Dad, it’s not safe—

Will: I’m alright, Beck, really. Just give me a second…

[Beck looked forward.]

Beck: (This street almost seems… familiar, somehow…)

[…! Wait! He knew where he was! Just a few blocks from here was home!]

Beck: -Ping- Look!

Will: …

[After catching his breath, he stood, brushed himself off, and looked to the distance where Beck was pointing. There, on end of this long street…

Sanda Enterprises.]

Will: … …

[He was silent.]

Beck: Dad…?

[Dr. William White's expression hardened.

His sons, his daughters…

What was happening to all the robots…

…He couldn’t do anything from here.]

Will: -Starts closing up the laptop after setting up the short-range frequencies to run via private hardware rather than the public towers- We won’t figure out anything from here, Beck.

Will: We must make for the laboratory–and quickly!

Beck: …!

[But between them and home?]

((Pic—Will and Beck overlooking streets of chaos))

[Was little less than a war zone.]

Will: Beck…

Will: I can’t get through this by myself.

Will: You MUST forge on ahead and clear a secure path.

Beck: —!? Wha—

Will: Don’t worry—I’ll follow, and monitor your process. We only need to make it to the end of this street!

Will: Do you think you can do that?

Beck: … …

[He’s walked down this street countless times—he’s just never had to do it amidst gunfire—not even in a simulation! In all honesty, it was extremely frightening; he wished he had his siblings here now, more than ever. This wasn't something he had trained for, let alone something that he'd been built with in mind!

But his father…

His family… Dr. Sanda… Call…! They all needed him!]

[MN.9 HAS ENTERED COMBAT MODE.]

Beck: Yes sir!

[…Seeing that smile on his face, and the will that clearly shone beneath those eyes…]

Will: Alright…

[…There was hope.

They could not lose that—not now!]

Will: Let’s move!

[OBJECTIVE: ESCORT DR. WHITE TO SANDA ENTERPRISES UNHARMED.]

[SYSTEMS READY.]

[INITIATING COMBAT PROGRAMS….]

[Getting through the overturned vehicles and debris was easy enough, and provided good cover for the young Doctor. But it wasn’t long before Beck got a rather harsh welcome party…]

Beck: —!!

[There was a bright flash of purple, and a standard CherryDyn Security Model robot materialized in his path. After spotting him, it began waving its arms around wildly; its weapon made a priming noise, clearly getting ready to fire.]

Beck: Gah!

[He ducked behind a bit of debris, causing the lock-on to disengage.

Dr. White’s voice filled his comm link—as long as they were near each other, they could speak above the chaotic noises that filled the blue sky.]

[DR.WHITE] //: A security bot—and it’s out of control, like all the others…

[MN.9] //: Y-yeah—! Stay back, I'll—!

[The CherryDyn bot, however, didn’t notice Will at all—rather, it moved on ahead. Beck fell back closer to his father, still tense and ready to fight.]

Beck: Are you okay?!

Will: I'm fine.

Beck: (Where did it go…?)

[He looked around nervously. He didn't fancy being ambushed at a time like this!]

Beck: …!!

Beck: Professor! Look!

Will: !

[There, on a large public screen that overlooked the street…]

[Gregory Graham.]

[KKKST!]

“Once again, the President as declared a country-wide state of emergency. This, based on reports of haywire robots rampaging out of control in all 52 States. I’m being told we have a comment from Gregory Graham, CEO of CherryDynamics.”

Beck and Will: WHAT?!

“CherryDyn, of course, being the world’s largest robot manufacturer. Let’s go there now, live…”

Graham: Ahem! Hello? …eh, hello…? Is this thing on?!

[The CEO seemed… panicked.]

Graham: Ah! Ahem—…My fellow Americans…in this time of crisis, we at CherryDyn would just like to express….

Graham: That this isn’t our fault!

Beck: What the—is he SERIOUS?! He's interrupting to say tha—

Graham: It’s that Dr. Blackwell—HE’S the one that’s behind all this! BLAME HIM!

Will: ….!!

[Will tensed at this in disbelief.]

[Graham then composes himself…]

Graham: Ahem—we at CherryDyn are doing ALL we can to help fix the situation… BUT IT’S BLACKWELL’S FAU—

[KKKKKKSSST!]

“Heeeelllloooo! Is this thing on?”

Beck: …Avi?

[He tries pinging his brother, but Avi doesn’t answer--not even to his comm line. Will himself is just as confused--both father and son stare flabbergasted at the helibot’s image on the news screen as he continued…]

“Ahem! And now, let’s go live to our eye in the sky, Avi, for today’s Avi News traffic report!~”

[And in a completely not so different voice–]

“Thanks, Avi! As you can see, we’ve got a few accidents eastbound on, well–”

“EVERYWHERE! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Beck: —?! A—Aviator—?

[He’s NEVER heard him laugh like that before—]

Will: S...Son…! No—!

“Yup, we’ve got chaos here, chaos there on this BEEEEEAUTIFUL June 21, 20XX! Here on Avi News today, we’ve got exclusive coverage on today’s top story!”

“THE END OF THE WORLD, BABY!”

Will: MIGHTY NO. 6! STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY!

Beck: A-Avi…

“Our nation is on TOTAL MELTDOWN, and Xelbot crime is on the rise! Can NOTHING stop this madness?!”

“Short answer? NO! BWAHAHAHA!”

[There was a brief pause as the crazed laughter died down unexpectedly, and the flying punster got a distant look in his eyes, which calmed down momentarily to something more like idle curiosity… before shifting to something more fitting in a cruel smirk.]

“Well, would you look at that! I got a caller!”

[The screen cuts out to another camera while Avi switched his attention to some other force, leaving Beck and Will to gaze in horror at the bird’s eye view of their city…]

Beck: Dad? W-what’s Avi DOING? Why was he all…? -Trails off-

[To that, Will had no answer… at least, no answer yet. But he could hazard a guess based on the evidence all around him, and it did NOT bode well for anyone.]

Will: We... we can’t stop now, Beck. In order to find out what exactly is going on, we need to get home—now.

[After traversing more of the war-torn street, Beck and Will were just one more block away from the entrance…]

Will: We’re almost there…

Will: …!

Beck: …? What is it, Dad?

Will: Dr. Sanda’s calling us over the comms!

[DR.WHITE] //: Sanda? What’s the matter–

[DR.SANDA] //: WHAT’S THE MATTER?!

[DR.SANDA] //: WHAT THE BLEEDING HECK DO YOU THINK IS THE MATTER?! ARE YOU OK, WILL?!

[DR.WHITE] //: …Oh, fine. More or less.

[DR.SANDA] //: ….

[DR.WHITE] //: And yourself?

[…Yep. He was his usual self, alright.

Dr. Sanda, however…]

[DR.SANDA] //: Good Lord do you EVER stop being tactless—

[…LOUD clanking noises in the background of his feed.]

[DR.SANDA] //: Oh my God—

[DR.SANDA] //: I’m less than fine–MUCH LESS! These robots gone wild are TEARING THE PLACE APART!

[DR.WHITE] //: What—in the building, too?!

[DR.SANDA] //: I’ve sealed myself in the lab—but who knows HOW long before they break through!

[DR.WHITE] //: Ah, I see. Understood. We’re already on our way!

[DR.SANDA] //: …We?

[MN.9] //: -PING!- Dr. Sanda…!

[DR.SANDA] //: …!! Beck? BECK? IS THAT REALLY YOU?!

[MN.9] //: Yeah—it’s me! I’m OK, I’m not crazy!

[DR.SANDA] //: THANK THE LORD–

[BANG!]

[DR.SANDA] //: -sCREECH–

[DR.WHITE] //: Just try to hold them off for as long as you can! We’re coming!

[Soon enough, after what seemed like hours had passed instead of minutes…]

{Sanda Enterprises}

[The front door was completely blown open.]

Will: Oh no…

Beck: I… I don’t see Call anywhere…

Will: … …

Will: Beck. We have no time to waste; calculate the fastest possible route to the lab!

Beck: Yes sir!

Beck: … …

Beck: This way!

[BWAN BWAN BWAN BWAN–]

Beck: NEVER MIND, THIS WAY–

[The elevator down to the lab was out. They would have to take the other way down.]

Will: –!!!

[He halted in his tracks as he heard something distinctly familiar: Sanda models, heading their way. Specifically, trash bots. These models were designed to recycle waste and paper; harmless enough under normal circumstances… but something had caused them to open and shut their lids with the force of a vise. Now they were on the prowl, looking for anything to chomp on.]

Beck: Uh-oh—

Will: Get back, Beck!

[The Industrial models were heading right for them, but oddly enough… their target wasn’t Beck, as evidenced by the fact that they ignored him.]

Beck: —?

Will: -Adjusts the strap of his laptop bag- Let's not question our fortune! If they aren't hostile, then we need to focus on—

[The bots made glitched beeping noises, and Will took a step back.]

Will: —!!

[He moved his hand over to the side, as if reaching for something out of instinct—but there was nothing there.

And all of a sudden, he felt very cornered.]

Will: BECK!!

Beck: !!

Will: They’re locked on to me—!

Beck: NO!

[The two of them tried to make a run for it, but the trash bots were faster than they looked. Before they could make it out of harm's way, Will tripped over some debris.]

Will: Gah—!

[He scrambled to get to his feet, moving back as quickly as he could. This brief falter had cost them dearly, though—they weren't going to make it—!]

[ANALYZING….]

[THREAT CONFIRMED.]

[EMOTION MATRIX RUNNING…]

-*-*-*-*-

Felix: Let me tell you something, Master Beck. It is your heart and your build, your purpose, to help others. That is where your greatest power, I think, will always lie.

Felix: When you truly believe in your cause, the strength comes to you.

Felix: I can tell you THAT from experience.

Beck: …R-Really…?

Felix: Of course.

Felix: And after all.

Felix: You are MIGHTY.

-*-*-*-*-

[ACTIVATING WEAPON SYSTEMS.] WEAPON SYSTEMS: ONLINE.]

[XEL ABSORPTION SYSTEMS… ONLINE.]

[In an instant, Beck’s arm had transformed into his default demolecularizing arm cannon–capable of breaking apart substances right down to the molecular level within a few shots.]

Beck: STAY AWAY FROM HIM!

[BLAM BLAM BLAM!]

[The Trash Bots were nailed right in the face, and soon they were…glowing. Their Xels were being broken apart, floating around them…]

[ZOOOOM!]

[ACXELARATE DASH: ONLINE.]

[A white-blue glow had enveloped Beck as he dashed forward, the Xels of the weakened robots being absorbed into his own body, seamlessly clicking into place.]

[Shocked from the sudden Xel loss…the Trash Bots shut down.]

[ABSORPTION BOOST: ONLINE.]

Beck: —!!

[A soft red glow shined around him, energy SURGING through him in a way that he’s NEVER felt before…]

Beck: Ah—

[It all seemed to pool into his arm cannon.]

Beck: …..

Beck: WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED.

Beck: -pANIC-

Beck: WHAT WAS THAT?!

Will: !

Will: Beck—did…

Will: Did you just…absorb the Xels of a weakened robot and—my goodness—assimilate them?!

Beck: I DON’T KNOW—YOU TELL ME!

Will: Alright–alright–just CALM down, Beck–breathe, breathe!

Beck: …….

Will: Beck–I DESIGNED you with this capability.

Beck: ….!! W-Wait–

Beck: …So–THIS is my…my power? My OTHER power?

Will: Yes, Beck. I designed you with THREE central powers: Xel Manipulation, Xel Transformation…

Will: …And Xel Assimilation.

Will: (But…)

Will: (This is the first time I’ve seen it…active…I hadn’t thought it functional yet…

Will: (…So why now…?)

Will: …!

Will: (Of course…)

Will: (Seeing me like this, in danger. Amidst madness and chaos, his emotional matrix must have activated his latent abilities… in an effort to protect me.)

Beck: … …

Beck: Whoooooa…

Will: …!

Beck: … …

[The glow subsided… along with the surge of power.]

Beck: —? Uh… what happened?

Will: —Ngh! I’d love to explain but we have more robots incoming!

[As they headed deeper into the building, more and more robots appeared within moments.

The security system had also gone haywire, and the very same measures used to protect them were now being used against them.]

Will: Almost there, almost there…! Hold on, Soi!

Beck: Owowowow LASERSHURT OW–

Will: …Right—the Lab is just ahead…

[DR.WHITE] //: Sanda?

[…]

[DR.WHITE] //: Sanda, are you still there?

[… …]

[DR.WHITE] //: … ….

[DR. WHITE] //: Have the robots torn you to pieces…?

[MN.9] //: DAD–

[DR.SANDA] //: Criminny! Tactful as ALWAYS, Will… -n-;;;

[DR.SANDA]//: I’m FINE, but for PETE’S SAKE, HURRY–!

[DR.WHITE] //: Don’t worry, we just need to go through the–

[There was a LOUD scream across the feeds. Not just once, but twice—a distorted cry of sorrow and pain. An angry woman’s shriek, lower in tone than his two sisters, yet all too familiar just the same…]

[B A N G.]

Beck: ?!?

Beck: What was THAT…?!

[They weren't given time to dwell on it.]

[WWRRRRRRRRRRRRRR–]

Will: —?!

[Literally CRASHING through the side wall was a huge, round robot nearly seven times Beck’s size, crushing anything underneath it’s round steel flattener…]

Will: A CherryDyn demolition unit?! How on EARTH did it manage to get DOWN here?!

Beck: Oh CRUD—

[The destructive CDN CHARGED right into Beck’s path! He dove out of the way in time, but the shock of the impact with the other wall forced the door to close… leaving Will trapped on the other side.]

Beck: DAD!

[DR.WHITE] //: I’m fine!

[DR.WHITE] //: Beck, quickly—you MUST stop it, before it destroys the whole laboratory!

[MN.9] //: M…ME?!

[MN.9] //: DAD, THIS THING CAN CRUSH ME—

[DR.WHITE] //: YOU HAVE TO TRY! SOI IS STILL IN THERE!

[DR.SANDA] //: COME ON, BECKO—DO IT! OR WE’RE ALL TOAST!

[MN.9 HAS ENTERED FULL COMBAT MODE.]

Beck: I'm so dead—

[SCANNING…]

[SCAN COMPLETE.]

[ E N C O U N T E R ]

[CDN. 502 – MODEL CODENAME: ROUND DIGGER]

[HEIGHT: 300cm] [WEIGHT: 450kg] [XEL COUNT: 90,000,000]

[The CherryDyn Number 502 charged once more, rolling across the room at RAPID speeds. Beck once again had to dodge, THIS time using his new AcXelarate Dash.]

[…It certainly was… fast.]

[SPLAT.]

[…A little too fast.]

Beck: O-Ow—stupid wall—

[DR.WHITE] //: Your AcXelarate Dash is EXACTLY that, Beck! An acceleration! Use it wisely!

[DR.WHITE] //: You must weaken it with your weapon to destabilize its Xel before you can absorb it with your Dash!

[MN.9] //: SO I JUST SHOOT AND RUN INTO IT?!

[DR.WHITE] //: YES!

[The Round Digger reared up to charge once more—like a bull would.]

Beck: Crudcrudcrudcrud—

[WRRRRR…]

[BLAM BLAM BLAM!]

[Direct hits–but it didn’t stop the CDN from charging.]

Beck: -nOT AGAIN–

[ZOOOM!]

[…And yet another splat.]

Beck: OW—

[DR.WHITE] //: Beck—are you alr—

Beck: NO IT’S NOT WORKING—!

[DR.WHITE] //: Perseverance, Beck! Aim for its joints and head! Destabilize its Xel structure!

Beck: Aim and shoot, joints, head—

[WRRRRRRRRRRR—]

[A panel opened up on its back, revealing—

Bombs!]

Beck: –oh NO–

[Of course; it was a demolition unit!]

[BOOM!]

Beck: AAAAAAAAAAH—

[There he goes, dashing this way and that to avoid being blown to pieces!]

Beck: -SCREAMING-

Beck: DAD HELP ME—HELP ME!

[DR.WHITE] //: I can’t—! Not from here—!

[DR.SANDA] //: THE SYSTEMS ARE ALL SCRAMBLED FROM HERE, I CAN’T DO ANYTHING—!

[BOOM! BOOM!]

Beck: -I'M GONNA DIE OH MAN-

[Nine keeps shooting–but they are wild and panicked shots, some hitting their target, some missing completely.

Eventually, however…]

[ERROR—ERROR—XEL STRUCTURE UNSTABLE—]

[…The CDN’s head starting glowing purple! ]

[DR.WHITE] //: NOW, BECK!

[As soon as Beck saw it…

…He knew exactly what to do. As if it was instinct.

As if the thought was there all along.]

Beck: Here GOES!

[ZOOOM—]

[XEL ABSORBED. CDN XEL COUNT LOWERED 20%—]

[WARNING! WARNING! VIRUS DETECTED!]

Beck: –?!?

[RUNNING XELFILTER.EXE…]

[XEL FILTERED. ALL MALWARE HAS BEEN NEUTRALIZED.]

[ATTENTION: MORE XEL IS REQUIRED FOR A FULL XEL PURGE.]

Beck: (Xel…Purge…?)

[DR.WHITE] //: BECK! ABOVE YOU!

[The CDN had stopped charging—and, oddly enough—used its extending legs to grab onto the ceiling…?]

Beck: ….???

[A panel UNDERNEATH it unlocks and—]

[PSSSSSSSSSH!]

[A HUGE high pressured blast of water SLAMMED into the Mighty Number, knocking him back into the door with a loud CLANK!]

Beck: AAGH!

[DR.WHITE] //: BECK!

Beck: Uuugh….

Beck: …Ooooowww…

[…? What’s this?

…All that did was… Just DAZE him, at best…]

Beck: That was…almost as hard as Cryo, ow…

[PSSSSSSSSSHHH!]

Beck: -gARBLING NOISES-

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

[A bit shaky, Beck dashes away from the stream—]

Beck: sTOOOOOP—

[Buuuut of course, his foe didn't listen.]

Beck: (There's GOT to be an easier way to do this! C'mon, what would nii-san do—?!)

[…]

[OH! Wait—why didn’t he think of this before?! He might not have his siblings by his side—

…But he had their FORMS, right?

…Right?]

[…]

[ERROR//: MN.7 REXELECTION FORM NOT FOUND. FORM WAS ERASED AFTER HARD RESET.]

[…Wrong.]

Beck: WHAT?!

[He tried again.]

[ERROR//: MN.1 REXELECTION FORM NOT FOUND. FORM WAS ERASED AFTER HARD RESET.]

Beck: NONONO!

[ERROR//: MN.2 REXELECTION FORM NOT FOUND….]

[ERROR….]

[ERROR…]

[ERROR…]

[…Gone.

They were all gone.

He had nothing. No forms except that STUPID golden one, and what good would THAT do?!]

Beck: NO!

Beck: DAD—I CAN’T CHANGE FORMS—!

Beck: I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO FIGHT WITH—!

[DR.WHITE] //: YES YOU DO, BECK!

[DR.WHITE] //: You have tools of which this world—or ANY world—have only just begun to see!

[DR.WHITE] //: USE THEM!

Beck: …..

Beck: –Shoot, dash, shoot, dash–

[The Round Digger let out a deafening R O A R, charging again.]

Beck: Shoot and dash, shoot and dash—!

[Repeating this mantra, Beck circled the CDN…

They both traded blows, neither of which seemed to be giving in or showing sign of fatigue—

…But…slowly, slowly but surely—]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

[XEL ABSORBED.]

-PING-

[XEL QUOTA ACHIEVED.]

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

[DR.WHITE] //: …!!!

[…A circle of white began to glow around Beck’s feet…]

[A stream of Xel floated outwards, forming a large circle along with three dots and lines—his symbol…]

Beck: Come on—

[His arms started to shine a pure white!]

Beck: SNAP OUT OF IT!

[XEL PURGE INITIATED!]

Beck: NOW!

[A burst of green Xels flow out of the circle, and RIGHT back to the CDN! Rings of purged Xel encircle it, and slowly–it’s…purple, tainted Xel fades…]

[……..]

Round Digger: ….????

Round Digger: -BEEP-

Round Digger: -BEEP BEEP-

Round Digger: -CONFUSED DATA, THIS IS NOT OUR DESIGNATED AREA-

Beck: …!!

Round Digger: -DISTRESSED BEEPING-

Beck: Hey–Hey…

Round Digger: -THIS IS NOT WHERE I’M SUPPOSED TO BEEEEEEEE-

[…Beck…cautiously approaches the CDN…

Closer…Closer…]

Beck: Hey…. Are you OK?

Round Digger: -BEEEEEEEEEP!-

Beck: Hey—Hey, it’s OK…

[…Pat. Pat…]

Beck: You’re OK now, don’t worry…

Round Digger: -SAD BEEP-

Round Digger: -BEEEEEP-

Beck: ….! Uh…hey—do you think you can help me?

Round Digger: ….? -beep?-

[MN.9] //: Dr. Sanda?

[… …There was no response at first. Both Doctors were still STUNNED at what just happened.]

[MN.9] //: Dr. Sanda!

[DR.SANDA] //: …! Erm—ah—y-yes, Beck…?

[MN.9] //: You said the systems were haywire, right? So you can’t unseal yourself…

[DR.SANDA] //: Well—I… oh.

[MN.9] //: So—I guess there’s only one option, right?

[DR.WHITE] //: —! Of course! The Round Digger!

[DR.SANDA] //: W-wait—! Wait a min—

Round Digger: -PING-

Round Digger: -DIRECTIVE RECEIVED. COMMENCING DEMOLITION.-

Round Digger: -WARNING BEEPS, STAND CLEAR-

[DR.SANDA] //: -SHRIEKS, RUNS TO THE FARTHER ROOM-

[WRRRRRRRRRRRRR–]

[C R A C K!]

[With one powerful charge, the CDN Demo unit reared back once more and charged into the other wall, making a hole large enough for even MIC to walk into.]

[DR.SANDA]//: Did you REALLY have to do that?! This place is falling apart enough as it—

[DR.WHITE] //: We can worry about it later! Beck—neutralize any other threats in the building while I work with Soi to get at LEAST some of those systems back online…

[MN.9] //: Yes Sir!

[DR.SANDA] //: B-b-but—! The lab is unsealed—

[DR.WHITE]//: I don’t think we have to worry about that for now.

Round Digger: -BEEEEEEP-

[MN.9] //: Yeah, you can stay down here and make sure nothing gets past you, OK? That way you don’t get hurt too. ^.^

[CDN.502] //: -BEEP BEEP, NEW DESIGNATION AREA CONFIRMED-

[DR.WHITE]//: Good, good. Be careful, alright?

[MN.9] //: Yeah. I will.

[Beck went back the way he came—through the recently re-opened door—while Will stumbled through the opening, patting the CDN on it’s side as he passed by.

It took a while to find where the other Doctor had taken cover, but eventually—]

Soi: Will!

Will: Soi!

[Without another word, Soichiro Sanda threw his arms around his best friend, quite literally giving him a crushing hug—]

Will: -Hurk—!- Soi—!

Soi: You have no IDEA how glad I am to see your face, friend—

Will: Th-the feeling is mutual, Soi, but c-could you PLEASE let me breathe—

Soi: —? Oh— OH. S-sorry, William! Eheh, excuse me—

[William White takes in a few deep breaths once Sanda lets go, once again brushing himself off—but to no avail, as his clothing was more or less ruined at this point.]

Soi: Great Ceaser’s Ghost, Will; you look like you’ve just been put through the wringer!

Will: That’s… not inaccurate, Soi: not at all…

Soi: I can only imagine—I could hear everything from down here!

Will: Ev…everything?

[He glanced around them, a concerned expression on his face.]

Will: …Did… did you hear the broadcast…?

Soi: Broadcast—?

Will: -Sighs- Right, the systems are still scrambled; you wouldn’t get anything…

Soi: —….

Soi: -Doubtful tone- Well—I… did hear…. screaming—

Will: Screaming? Well, Beck was rather sc—

Soi: No, no, not him—

“Dr. Sanda!”

[Passing through the crumbling wall, Beck reappeared. His pristine white armor was slightly singed in several places, probably from laser fire.]

Beck: Dr. Sanda—!

Sanda: Beck—! Come here, you—!

[In a well meant hug of his own, Beck latched on to Sanda’s leg, burying his face into it. Muffled cries of ‘I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU’RE OK’ and 'SANDAAA’ were heard while the Doctor fondly gave Nine a noogie.]

Sanda: Ha Ha! I KNEW you could do it, Mighty No. 9!

Beck: -MUFFLED NOISES-

Will: Yes—well done, Beck. But I’m afraid we still have work to do; have the other robots been taken care of?

Beck: I… did my best; some of them went outside, but I managed to absorb most of the ones on the upper floors.

Will: That will do for now. Come on, Soi; let’s TRY and get this lab running again—

[The larger Doctor put a hand on the shoulder of his worried friend to keep him from darting off before answering an important question.]

Soi: W-Wait a minute!

Soi: I see here that BECK is functioning normally…

Soi: But what happened to the OTHER Mighty Numbers? Are they still OUT there…?

[… …]

[… … …]

Will: …Sanda…

[Will sighs and takes up a straighter posture.]

Will: Based on empirical evidence, I believe that they might be suffering from this… robot affliction that’s been going around and causing all this chaos.

Soi: W-What—?!?

Soi: You mean—Pyrogen, Cryosphere…

Will: …Yes, Soi. I…

[It almost hurt to say it.]

Will: I think they’ve been hit with a virus. That’s the only logical explanation.

[As Will brings a terminal back online, his fears are confirmed. Both of the Doctors and the lone Mighty Number present stare at the screen with equal parts dread and horror…]

Soi: No…!

[MN.1 STATUS: ONLINE, FULL COMBAT MODE, -VIRUS DETECTED- ]

[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: ONLINE, FULL COMBAT MODE, -VIRUS DETECTED- ]

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

[MN.8 STATUS: UNAVAILABLE.]

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

[After a moment…]

-PING!-

<RMDC>: >REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED. SENDING STATUS UPDATE TO MODERATOR DR.WHITE…

[…! Data from the RobotMaster® Database (Cossack Server) in the midst of this—?!]

Will: It’s…!

Soi: The RobotMaster® Database—we’re still connected—!

<RMDC>:> SYSTEM ERROR: DATABASE MAINFRAME NOT RESPONDING. ACCESSING BRANCH SERVER…

Will: …It seems something is wrong.

Beck: They… they didn’t get infected too, did they?

Will: I’m… not sure. (I sure hope not…) I wouldn't think that they could be affected by Xel-based viruses, but then again, we don't know much about how the virus works—and they ARE able to receive and process other data just fine…

Will: Unfortunately, we have other things we need to worry about!

[There was a stream of “SIGNAL NOT FOUND” updates… followed by two small notifications, almost as if they were an afterthought.]

[DLN-000 STATUS: LETHAL COMBAT MODE]

Will: (He’s in lethal—!)

[FMN-008 STATUS: UNAVAILABLE]

Beck: —?! Kate and Cardinal—?

Beck: Why only them? :c What about the others?

Will: -Frowns- Well, I'm not entirely sure. Kate's in England—OUR England—so that might be part of it…

Beck: But… but what about Cardinal? Do… do you think he's in trouble, or—? D:

Will: -Puts a hand on Beck's shoulder- I… I-I'm sure he'll be fine, Beck. (The system USUALLY gives an SOS cascade if they're in deep trouble.) He could just be in Lethal out of instinct, remember?

Beck: O-oh, right…

Soi: -Working at another terminal- I can try to restore the connection, but for now we’re in the dark on their side of the fence. So far all the comms are either shot or very shaky...

Soi: But we REALLY need some help…

[After a moment of tense silence and rapid typing, Soi finally gets an idea.]

Soi: -SNAPS FINGERS-

Will: ?

[Soi works away on his terminal, Will looking over his shoulder to see what he was doing. Meanwhile, Beck was still trying to contact his siblings—to no avail, of course, but it didn’t stop him from still trying.]

Soi: It’s a long shot, but while Avi is still distracted—

Will: -Somewhat curious- You have something in mind?

Soi: I’m going to see if I can contact Seijiro at the head office in Tokyo…

Will: …! Ah, yes—

Will: Your twin brother…

[Seijiro Sanda, the head and CEO of Sanda Enterprises and Technologies. No doubt he had heard of what had transpired in Titus by now…]

Soi: I just hope he’s alright. I know this whole mess only seems to be centralized here in America, but you never know…

[… … … ….]

[-PING!-]

???: {-PANICKED JAPANESE YELLING-}

[A holoscreen feed was brought up, and a man almost identical to Soi appeared on the screen, looking less than calm. The only key differences were the slightly different hairstyle and the sharp business suit.]

???: {SOICHIRO—CAN YOU HEAR ME?!}

Soi: {Seijiro–}

Seiji: {OH THANK THE STARS YOU’RE ALRIGHT—! I’ve been trying to contact you for HOURS but most of the signals and feeds are down—WILL!}

Will: -AHEM takes a moment to remember our Japanese-

Will: {I’m alright, Mr. Sanda. Please, take a moment to calm down; though we might not have much time on our hands…}

[Seiji takes out a small handkerchief to wipe his forehead a bit, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.]

Seiji: {Yes, yes… I apologize, I was just so worried after that… broadcast…}

Seiji: ……..

[He switches to English.]

Seiji: Is it… true? Has Avi really…?

Will: … -Quietly, though still loud enough to be heard- Yes. Unfortunately so. He seems to be distracted with a “caller,” but… he will likely finish up before too long.

Seiji: Yes, yes, of course; I understand. What is the current situation?

Will: There appears to be some kind of virus outbreak that infected CherryDyn servers here in America—which in turn, infected our servers and the like. It’s causing nearly every robot to malfunction and act aggressively—even Civilian and Industrial models have been affected. The only robot that is immune to the ongoing virus is… Mighty No. 9, Beck.

Beck: …Hi, Mr. Sanda…

Will: Sadly, it… i-it affected the rest of the series. They appear to be… dispersed.

Seiji: ….

Seiji: So… even the Mighty Number line…

Will: …. Yes. They’ve… all gone somewhere else, it seems. I don’t know where they are at the moment, and some of the other numbers have no status whatsoever… such as Mic.

Seiji: …

Seiji: And… Call?

Will: I—

Will: -Blinks- ….

Will: Soi, where IS Call?

Soi: She’s in the east wing. Offline, at the moment—

Beck: Offline?!

Beck: Why is she OFFLINE?

Soi: Well, before this all started—several minutes before, in fact—

Soi: She was due for a firmware update today, so… I shut down her systems for it so it would install properly.

Will: Wait.

Soi: —?

Will: Are you saying she was in technological isolation when this happened?

Soi: In a way, yes, but… since the lab’s systems are mostly down, I can’t know for sure if she’s been affected, or even IF the firmware update completed before it all started…

Will: Hmm….

Soi: … …

Seiji: … …

Will: -Lost in thought- We’ll have to bring her back online in a Faraday cage. A sealed room, if possible. If she IS infected, Beck can bring her back to normal using his assimilation and filter program. We will definitely need her support, Soi.

Soi: I know, I know…

Beck: I can go do that with her right now, Dad. If anyone can handle Call in combat…

Soi: Hnnn…

Soi: Beck?

Soi: …If she is… not well… please be careful, she’s my little girl—

Beck: I will. Promise.

[As Beck moves away from the terminal, Soi turns back to his brother.]

Soi: Seiji…we could use all the help we can get. Can you do anything for us right now? Anything at all?

[… … …]

Seiji: …I….

Seiji: I’m sorry, Soichiro. Please understand; if things are as bad as you say they are, then….

Seiji: The Japanese government won’t let us intercede unless we know the exact CAUSE of the malfunctions, and how to combat the virus en masse.

Soi: ….

Soi: …I… I was afraid of that. -Sighs- But it makes sense…

Soi: If you send more robots overseas, THEY could get infected too—making everything even worse. And there are few enough human resources to go around…

Will: … …

Will: Just to confirm, Mr. Sanda.

Seiji: Yes?

Will: If we can isolate the cause of the robot rampage—you WILL send aid?

[Seijiro nods.]

Seiji: Absolutely. Anything we can do.

Will: Alright…

Will: And after the cause has been found, how long will that take?

Seiji: Well, even after proving things, getting into Japan will still be subject to the quarantine, since you've all been exposed to the virus—

Soi: -Groans slightly- {That takes WEEKS—}

Seiji: —but sending emergency aid FROM Japan should take less time. Likely still a few days at the very least, though I imagine that your government will be all too eager to help expidite aid once they are in a position to receive it.

Will: … >>;;; Riiight…. Might need to get Shade on that, if things are still held up in red tape by then…

Seiji: …It sounds as if you already have a plan in mind, Will.

Will: More or less.

Will: I would like to have No. 9 present as soon as he—

[-PING!-]

Soi: ?

[CALL IS NOW ONLINE. STATUS: NORMAL.]

[MN.9] //: GUYS GOOD NEWS SHE’S OK! :D

Soi: CALL—

[Theeeeere he goes!]

[CALL] //: …

[CALL] //: I detect distressed emotions in various vocal patterns of all present. Is something wrong, Dr. Sanda?

[MN.9] //: Lemmie fill you in on what’s going on, Call; it’s… not good.

[UPDATING…]

[CALL] //: … … …

[CALL] //: Analyzing….

[CALL] //: … … … …

[……]

[-PING!-]

[CALL] //: I have been informed of the current situation. I will assist in any way I can, Doctors.

Soi: Attagirl! ^^

Seiji: -Turns his attention back to Will- You were saying?

Will: -Ahem- We will be sending Beck to save all of his fellow Mighty Numbers, as he is the only combat model available to face them at the moment—

[-PING-]

[CALL] //: I am also registered as a combat model.

[.....]

[MN.9] //: Call—I’d really like for you to have my back…

[MN.9] //: …But this is WAY too dangerous and the Doctors need you here. No one can sort through data like you can, you give even AVI a run for his money.

[MN.9] //: ….Plus…you don’t have my assimilation ability.

[MN.9] //: …and I don’t want you REALLY getting infected either…

[CALL] //: … … Confirmed.

[CALL] //: I shall remain here and assist with data analysis and navigational support for No. 9.

[MN.9] //: …. Thanks, Call.

Will: Right. As I was saying…

Will: Beck will be tracking down his fellow Mighty Numbers. His assimilation ability should filter any and all irregularities in his siblings’ programming.

Will: If we can gather and study multiple samples of the virus’s coding from the Mighty Numbers themselves…

Will: Perhaps we can isolate the cause of the problem.

Will: Once we’ve identified the root of the malfunctions, we can work on some way to combat it: be it in the form of a anti-virus program, or whatever else we can come up with. Meanwhile, Soi can help repair the rescued Mighty Numbers while I study the code.

Soi: -Nods- Hmm. I’ll do what I can with the non-infected Xel we have on stock.

Seiji: ….But…

Seiji: Are you SURE you will have sufficient Xel for ALL the Mighty Numbers?

Will: We’ll just have to scrape by with what we have, and—if Beck refines his abilities, we could see about purifying any infected Xel we come across as well.

[…He paused for a moment, as if to mull over that for a second—when he remembers something from earlier.]

Will: Incidentally, I did manage to catch a bit of news on the way here. It’s something I don’t think I’ve told you yet, Soi.

Soi: …?

Will: The president of Cherry Dynamics is insisting the cause of the malfunctions is… Dr. Blackwell.

Soi: What??

Seiji: Dr. Blackwell—? The founder of modern Xel robotics—?

Soi: That’s– -sputters- –poppycock!

Soi: Dr. Blackwell may be a genius, but he can’t POSSIBLY be behind this! Not THIS time, at least—

Will: -Tersely- Soi. You must admit, there ARE similarities to his LAST plot to… shut down every robot in America!

Soi: Will—he was caught and arrested! Even Ben isn’t clever enough to pull this off from inside a maximum security prison!

Will: You shouldn't underestimate the likes of what he can do, Soi, and how little regard he has for ANYONE else!

Soi: Will. Will, listen to me—

Soi: If… if he wanted to do something… something like this, then why… why wait so long? You KNOW that doesn't make sense. From, er… from all accounts, he was… not exactly the most patient person when aggravated…

Will: … …I know, Soi. But we must consider all possibilities. And why was Graham so certain, even after—

Seiji: Will…

[Seijiro stops the two Doctors from going on, with a… sympathetic look on his face.]

Seiji: -Gently- Dr. Benedict Blackwell is the least of our worries. We need to focus on the now.

Will: … …

Will: -Calmer, now- Right. Right. I’m sorry.

[MN.9] //: (—? That was weird…)

Will: Soi, for now, you should tend to any minor injuries Beck has sustained in that last battle. I’ll sift through the data he acquired from the Round Digger Model. After that, we need to work on getting the mainframe in working order so that we can start tracking down the other Mighty Numbers.

Will: Seijiro—if you see ANY sign that the virus might jump the ocean gap, PLEASE let us know.

Seiji: Don’t worry; Japan already closed all her ports in accordance with procedure. I'm afraid that it will probably hurt us all if it stays on too long after this is over, but… it is what it is. I'll try and get in touch with someone who can give regular updates and maybe even help push through the approval to send aid, once that's possible. That's all we can do for now, though.

Will: Thank you.

Will: (I won’t…)

Will: (I won’t lose them, not THIS time...I won’t let my family fall apart again--!)

Will: Then let’s get to work.

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