(Collaborative post between Raptorman, Marra Mistborn, and Dedonus)

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“Orbital laser bombardment. I drew him into position. But it’s out of alignment now.” Archangel’s voice was level and matter of fact as she explained what had been done to cause the earth shattering strike that had temporarily banished the darkness. “I won’t be able to do that again for three hours nineteen minutes and twenty six seconds.” The metal angel had begun to turn, as if to aid her ally in the struggle against the man clad in bones when a sinister laughter, booming and sounding as if it was came through a sheet of phlegm sounded.

[color=C0C0C0]"That didn't sound good, especially since our 'big guns' are on cooldown at the moment."[/color]  Iron Knight was holding his own against the bone clad warrior, primarily due to the shields that the armored hero had activated and encircled himself with.  However, while being able to hold ones own against these maniacs at least an accomplishment, Iron Knight was not in a position to counterattack, as his shields prevented him from doing so.  Unless he lowered his shields and made himself prone to the skeleton's attacks, there was not much that the Iron Knight could do.

From the rubble and the shattered remnants of the street below the darkness began to trickle back upwards and as the shadows again coalesced and formed into a solid mass the laughter grew stronger and louder. “YOU CAN NOT FIGHT THE DARKNESS! I AM YOUR NIGHTMARE!” The voice joined the laughter as the shadows lapped over the rubble and began to hurl it upwards towards the metallic angel. None of the pieces actually struck her, but in truth they weren’t aimed for her.

One of the pieces struck something almost invisible where it hovered high above, the generator that was maintaining the field of false daylight that had trapped the darkness inside of it. There was a loud cracking sound and then a sputtering before the field failed and darkness once again reigned. But instead of the inevitable attacks there was nothing, the deeper pool of darkness simply melting away into the night on the whole. 

The skeletal man with all of his bone spears and weapons faded away into the night as well with one final volley of the spines. It would seem something of a victory until one realized that despite the battle, despite the level of destruction that had been brought upon the region of the city, despite the efforts of Archangel and the Iron Knight, the original series of murders, the spree of kills that marked Nightmare’s presence had gone unstopped. 

The metal angel’s thrusters ceased and her suit lowered until she was standing on the rooftop next to the Iron Knight. “This was supposed to work. What are we dealing with that he just ignored it all?” Her voice sounded troubled as the visor of her suit retracted to show the same face that had appeared on the screens during his earlier talks with her.

“My calculations are not wrong, but he survived and escaped. It does not make sense.” 

Iron Knight, since their targets had dissolved into thin air, deactivated his external shields.  [color=C0C0C0]"Well, that's math and science for you.  Sometimes, even though everything looks perfect on paper, the actual test might not go the way it was intended."[/color]  He began to pull out the 'bone' spikes from the torso of his armor as he tried to console his partner, [color=C0C0C0]"There must be other variables present that we failed to take into consideration when we made this plan.  Maybe analyzing these will help."[/color]  The Iron Knight held out his hands, which were holding the 'bone' spikes that he had just pulled out from his breastplate.

It seemed like the inaccuracies really bothered Archangel though and she shook her head. "I'm not wrong like this. There is something else at play here." One of the armored hands of her suit reached out to take the bone spines. "I'll run the tests on them and spend some time collating. At least the barrier was functional." Archangel gave a precisely engineered half smile.

[color=C0C0C0]"Hey, we're all human, right?  As Seneca the Younger once wrote: 'errare humanum est', or 'It is human to err'. You cannot beat yourself up over one failed attempt."[/color]  Iron Knight was about ready to ask if Archangel know how many times it took Thomas Edison to perfect the electric light bulb.  However, he decided not to do so, believing that little phrase was a little to cliche.  Placing his arm over Archangel's shoulder, the Iron Knight began to speak, [color=C0C0C0]"Maybe after you try figuring out what went wrong, we can discuss the problems you have been dealing with your suits.  Have I mentioned that I figured out a solution?  The last couple hours have been so crazy that I can't even remember whether or not I have already done so."[/color]

"You found a solution?" Archangel's face showed a flash of joy that seemed out of proportion for fixing a simple cooling problem. "If you send me the solution, I'll test it. Then perhaps we can get together and work on all of this?" 

[color=c0c0c0]"Well, it wasn't that difficult to figure out."[/color]  Iron Knight boasted, [color=c0c0c0]"A few changes here, some more there.  However, you'll have to wait until I get back to base to send you the solution, since I didn't break the data with me in this suit.  Once you have implemented those designs, just let me know and we can work on some of this stuff together."[/color]

With that being said, the Iron Knight launched into the sky, heading back toward the S.T.R.I.K.E. base.  Once there, he would transfer the data that contained the solution to Archangel's problems.  It would also give him an opportunity to repair his own armor and making some adjustments so that he would fare better in the next battle.