[center][h3]Development Hell[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Midgar Sector 06, the City of Glass
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Macaron, Clara
[b]Word Count:[/b] 5970 (+6)
[/center]

[color=Aquamarine]”Ok. So. What in the goddesses’ names is a meme,”[/color] Midna found herself asking, once again having not understood half of what was being said, and feeling herself getting a migraine as a result. 

What she did get, or decided that she got, was this: Zanzo was a negligent leader who was all baseless ego, while Monsoon was some low life dressing up might makes right in pretty language, and she had absolutely no issue in beating the smug attitudes out of them.

[color=Aquamarine]”Best start praying boys, because the strongest are right here, and we’re here to protect the weak from the likes of you,”[/color] she announced, before pointing a massive orange glowing finger in the two’s general direction.

As she did this, she popped open a portal and summoned both the volcano fragment and the sun on a stick, which should have left her unwieldy using a two handed weapon in one hand and having no grip on her steed’s fur for support, if she hadn’t thought of a new bit of spellcraft on the ride over.

[hider=midna level up]
Midna level up: Quad Wielding: Midna taps into the fused shadow a little more and is able to summon a second pair of arms, these attached to her body in the same palace, and featuring the same style, as Orendi extra set (with the princess tapping into that spirit to gain familiarity with that particular body plan). 
[/hider]

Lines of power like a mix between runes and circuitry flowed down the back of the princess’s neck and then over her burn scarred chest, before out from beneath each a small replica of her head mounted shadowhand formed. One of these grabbed the scruff of her steed’s neck for support, while the other gripped the base of the volcano fragment’s shaft, letting her properly wield the fire axe at the same time as the fire loving mace it synergised so well with.

Geralt grimaced as Zanzo summoned a quartet of Strikers, because of course these people not only had Strikers, they had a small army of what looked to be genuinely dangerous ones. After having his ears assaulted by the inane driveling of two madmen who thought themselves clever, Geralt drew his steel sword and sighed as his hand made the Sign of Quen in the air. “So, we’re killing them both?” He asked bluntly, his voice flat. “I think I’m okay with that.” 

“Either way, baddypons get proper beating!” Tora added.

The attitude on display from Geralt didn’t sit quite right with Macaron. “W-well, we don’t have to kill them…”

“Hah! As if simpletons like you could ever step to a natural genius like me!” As Monsoon ran toward him, he pulled his paired cleavers from their scabbards on his back. The two dual bladers met in a flurry of steel and sparks, but from the outside it became painfully clear that one wildly outclassed the other. Zanzo looked like total amateur, his impractical weapons wielded with the finesse of clubs, and in quick succession he got repeatedly blocked, parried, sliced, stabbed, and finally -after Monsoon caught his cleaver in a sai’s hook-shaped crossguard- disarmed. “What!?” The next instant Monsoon whipped around to sweep Zanzo’s legs out from under him, then descended on him with both blades downward for a dual stab.

Instead the red-armored Murasame appeared to absorb the attack in a guard stance, then pivot and launch upward with Vajra Counter. Though the parry left Monsoon off balance for a split second, he’d been expecting something like this and managed to defend with his sais in time, but the force of the upward slash still carried both him and Murasame into the air. At the height of its arc the follow-through threw Monsoon back, at which point the sniper Vigilant -having manifested behind Zanzo to take aim- nailed him in the chest with a high-speed shot. Monsoon fell, as Zanzo got to his feet, the magician Skywave appeared behind him to drop an AoE heal on him. “That’s more like it!” he said, getting to his feet. “Now where were we?”

Gritting his teeth, Macaron ran toward him and leaped into the air to come down with a might slam. “Paying for your crimes!” Before he could bring the hammer down, an enormous blue rectangle got in his way, and with a shove the massive Roadblock pushed him off. Strong Macaron might be, but against energy shields like this his fists wouldn’t be of much use.

[color=Aquamarine]”and learning how a summoner really fights”[/color] Midna boasted as she dashed past Macaron, raising her mace and then thrusting it forward commandingly, her darknut at Roadblock, the enlarged giant of a knight sliding across the ground on one knee and clashing shield to shield with the bulky exosuit. 

As bulwark met bulwark the princess had her steed leap up onto the lowered flat of her knight titanic blade, and use it as springboard to leap over Zanzo’s first line of defense. Doing so led her to realize that Zanzo had retreated the moment his shield went up, running backward to give himself some distance. Roadblock ran out of time and vanished, but Midna knew it was only a matter of time before it -and the other Strikers- reappeared. 

[color=Aquamarine]”Is that how it’s going to be? Fine then, if it's a hunt you want, it's a hunt you’ll get!”[/color] 

Though she led the charge to chase him down, Macaron followed right behind, and to her surprise she spotted Clara in tow. It would be a touch late to balk at fighting alongside children now, but she hadn’t exactly taken the girl for a fighter, so she made sure to check that [color=Aquamarine]”You can handle yourself in a fight, right Cara? If not, you’d be better hanging back”[/color] 

“I’m not afraid of them!” the girl insisted. “A-and it’s, um, Clara.”

[color=Aquamarine]”Ah. Sorry for doubting you Clara”[/color] the princess replied, sounding faintly embarrassed by her misspeaking.

As the three of them closed in, Zanzo’s first Striker finished its cooldown and reappeared. The hooded markswoman Vigilant hit the scene with a flourish of her snow-white cape, but rather then open fire with her rifle she unveiled her Frost Lock, hurling an icy cluster right into the middle of the group. It burst in a shower of diamond dust and froze Zanzo’s earthbound assailants to the floor. “Hngh!” Macaron grunted. His brute strength allowed him to break free, but the same couldn’t be said for Clara, her bare feet entombed in ice. “Clara!”

Clara squeezed her teary eyes shut and doubled over, crying out, “Help me, Mr. Svarog!”

The air around and over her shimmered, then burst, sending up clouds of dust as a massive, dark figure uncloaked. At least ten feet tall, clad in dark blue armor and black clothes, the hulking robot crouched around her protectively, but the tranquil fury of his vividly red eye shone on Zanzo. [url=https://i.imgur.com/tUCKNX8.png]The robot[/url] laid one hand on Clara’s head, gently hugging her close, and from the palm of the other shot an orange laser that struck Vigilant -and therefore Zanzo- full in the chest. “Agh!” he gasped, watching Svarog vanish almost as suddenly as his Striker. “You…!”

“Nice shot!” As the ice behind him timed out, Macaron ran toward his target. “Let’s get him, but watch out for a counter!”

[color=Aquamarine]”Lets”[/color] Minda agreed at his side, having launched herself off of her steed when it got frozen solid inorder to keep moving. With the beast now free, she portaled it in and out of her home realm to bring it back to her, and then surged ahead.

[color=Aquamarine]”I’m tired of your running! Initiates! Roots!”[/color] she shouted, summoning some of her own strikers. Masked and hooded in purple robes, the cultists rose up and then bowed down, sending psychic energy surging through the ground till it erupted around the scientist in the form of glowing vines that reached out to try and restrain both his mind and his body.

[color=Aquamarine]”Now, what will you do?”[/color] the princess murmured as her obscured eyes darted to and fro, seeking his counter, so she could make one in kind. 

Right away Zanzi recognized both Midna's use of Strikers and what she intended to do with them. As the initiates' psychic roots sprouted around him, he summoned Murasame again, but not for defense. Istead the crimson exosuit dashed forward and raked across the Initiates with a powerful Crescent Moon slash. The sweeping strike instantly redirected their aggro away from Zanzo and toward Murasame itself, though all the Strikers would time out before anything else came of it. Well, except for Midna’s shadow hand darting forward grabbing the sword wielding striker in-order to crush it within her grasp, the princess having anticipated a counter striker summoning, but not quite the speed that this particular one could move at.

That left the playing field even, and both striker summoners wounded by recoil, but Zanzo had more cards up his sleeve, and he needed to use them fast as Macaron charged in.

With Roadblock still on cooldown, Zanzo pulled out Skywave to drop a Graviton Cluster on his incoming foes. Macaron quickly found his approach stymied yet again, but as he pitted his strength against the gravity well an idea came to mind. "Two can play at that game!" He activated a special feature in his mechanical arms and hurled down a thrumming purple orb that burst into a Gravity Well, trapping Zanzo in a vacuum, too.

"I want to help!" A moment after Clara said this, Svarog uncloaked directly in front of Zanzo and slammed him with a downward hook punch before vanishing again.

[color=Aquamarine]”Nice hit Clara”[/color] Midna praised the girl, from where she had also been sucked into the vortex. From within its confines, she raised up her shadowhand above her head and started inflating a sphere of magic, readying it to be unleashed as soon as the gravity well ended with a cry of [color=Aquamarine]”Now eat this: twilight volleybomb!”[/color] 

Zanzo watched her bomb build up with wide eyes, his hands clamped to his cheeks as Macaron’s Gravity Well jerked him around. “Gyah! Where in the world is is–aha!” As the glimmering green-black sphere of runic darkness careened his way, he pulled out Roadblock in the nick of time to absorb the blast. Both vortexes came to an end a moment later, but the giant yellow exosuit stayed out, its giant shield deployed. While Macaron initially assumed it could only exist for a moment as it performed a single technique, its continued presence made him realize that this must be more like a guard stance, allowing Roadblock to defend for longer as long as it didn’t take another action. Of course, Zanzo seemed happy to wait behind it, barely clinging to the pretense of wielding his cleavers as he waited for his all-important strikers to return.

“Think fast!” The big man scooped Midna up ([color=Aquamarine]”Wait what?”[/color])  and hurled her like a baseball, up and over Roadblock’s shield to put the Twilight Princess behind the exosuit’s summoner. If they could pincer this guy, they could stop his cooldown-conscious keepaway.

The princess stopped crying out in surprise about halfway through the toss when her brain caught up with what was going on and she used her levitation to stabilize the head over heels spinning. Focusing on that meant she wasn't able to also rotate herself the 180 degrees needed to face her foe however, as the princess landed facing away from him.

[color=Aquamarine]”Spears! Behind me!”[/color] she shouted as she started her pivot, summoning 2 of her 4 chilfos facing the correct direction. The frozen undead rose up bearing their icicle spears held first in a princess guarding X cross as Zanzo hurled his cleavers at Midna, before being brought down to stabbing angle as they closed in on their foe. 

Though the Seekers’ strategy seemed sound, the now-unarmed Zanzo curled his fingers with one hand in front of his face and the other by his side in a devious pose. As his adversaries converged on him from both sides, he leaped into the air, then called upon Vigilant. Once he grabbed hold of his own Striker, the sniper fired her rifle straight downward, not to hit anyone but to launch both her and Zanzo even higher into the air. At the apex of his leap she vanished, but before he could begin to fall he replaced Vigilant with Skywave. The witchlike exosuit caught Zanzo in a bridal carry and began to slow-fall, allowing Zanzo not just to stall for time out of Macaron’s reach, but seize Skywave’s aether lance to rain down explosive orbs.

“What the…that’s gotta be cheating!” Macaron exclaimed in dismay as he shielded himself with his arms, already very tired of Zanzo’s strategic guile.

[color=Aquamarine]”Oh no you don’t!”[/color] Minda shouted after him before summoning a scaled up darknut. It raised its shield up to protect itself from the rain of orbs, while crouching down and settling its sword over its shoulder, such that the tip touched the ground behind it. Then in a very Macaron inspired move, the princess stepped onto the end of the sword, and was promptly catapulted into the air after the insufferable scientist by her undead knight with a cry of [color=Aquamarine]”Now get back here!”[/color]

Faced with his bombardment, the princess used her levitation and rudder-like flygon tail to adjust her flight path, narrowly weaving around explosive doom. Given the improvised and unpracticed nature of this, however, she wasn’t exactly confident in performing some kind of arial fly by, and instead opted for the much simpler strategy: flying right at Zanzo to headbutt in the gut.

The sight of Midna hurtling toward him put a dampener on the mad scientist’s leisurely descent with Skywave. “Oh my- guh!” Given how his Striker was holding him his attacker struck him more in the side than anything. Still, the force of the blow not only roughed up his ribcage, but also knocked him out of Skywave’s arms, and the exosuit promptly disappeared. “WAAAAAAGH!” Zanzo wailed, flailing wildly as he fell until Murasame appeared. The crimson swordsman grabbed Zanzo around the middle with its sword arm and fired its Strafe Hook into the ceiling, allowing it to lower both to the ground safely. The moment the taskmaster touched down he struck a daring pose with a grin of utter confidence, as if he hadn’t been screaming like a little girl seconds ago.

Of course, Macaron wasn’t about to let him stay on his high horse. He came at Zanzo with massive swings, forcing him to dodge and duck like crazy. After the second near miss Roadblock manifested to cover Zanzo as he retreated, and though he walloped Macaron with a mighty haymaker, the engineer did not lose his head. He shook out the stars and put up his guard to absorb the next two blows. Then Macaron struck back with a full-power slug that actually sent Roadblock flying backward. It vanished just in time to not hit Zanzo, though the look of sheer terror on his face as he covered his head made it clear that wasn’t intentional. “H-hah hah, hah hah hah!” he laughed, semi-convincingly. “Try all you want, you’ll never…” He bent backward until his chest faced the ceiling, his hands held up like claws, to reveal Vigilant taking aim behind him. “REEEEEEEEEACH!”

Like an experienced boxer Macaron dipped out of the way, and Vigilant’s charge shot screamed past him to hit Clara instead. Or it would have, had Svarog not uncloaked in front of her to take the shot with his own shoulder. Then his red eye blazed with pure rage at the attempt on Clara’s life, and he raised his palm. [b]”This is the plan.”[/b] A purple laser blasted forth, and when it hit Zanzo it arced between him and Vigilant, dealing one hundred and fifty percent damage total.

As the humans (and invisible machine) had duked it out down below, Minda had buzzed overhead, propelled by the wings of her vibrava who was holding onto her back, only to release and drop her like a bomb as it passed overhead. 

The princess plummeted down, but with more control and planning this time, resulting in her shooting out her shadow hand as she approached her target, slapping him flat onto the ground. [color=Aquamarine]”Finally got you!”[/color] The nature of her magic prevented her from concussing herself with Newton’s third law, but the resulting angle still prevented her from catching Zanzo before he slipped out of her attempt to grab him with her shadow hand.

[color=Aquamarine]”What are you made of, soap?”[/color]

Unfortunately for the scientist, he was still in close range, and low on summons, while the latter the princess most certainly was not. Volcanic fissures cracked on the ground infront of him as he tried to get space, before bursting up with thermal energy as her vibrava swooped down and unleashed its earth power, sending him stumbling back onto the tips of two chilfoss spears.

The undead drove fixed him in place for a second, before smoothly stepping back right in time for the princess’ mechabear to come charging in, delivering a headbutt that knocked Zanzo away. Macaron joined Midna shoulder-to-shoulder as the two gave chase to keep the pain train rolling. When their dazed target hit the ground, they closed in, and as he sat halfway up Zanzo realized he couldn’t afford to hold back any longer.

“Come!” he yelled. “BLODIA!”

His final Striker manifested behind him, looming overhead, for it was massive. Though only its top half had appeared, it still dwarfed everyone in the room, and the shadow its body cast over the Seekers thanks to the molten core behind it brought Zanzo’s imminent beatdown to a screeching halt. [url=https://i.imgur.com/7U4Uydd.png]Blodia[/url] was a titan of vivid red and shining steel, and the fist that it raised to bring down on its foes was as tall as Zanzo himself from pinky to thumb. Momentarily frozen in surprise, Macaron barely cleared the way in time, and Svarog uncloaked to pull Clara to safety himself. The immense punch fell with the weight of a collapsing building, destroying the alloy floor to expose part of the lava lake beneath the room. With a tremendous creaking, Blodia raised its fist, then disappeared to leave Zanzo standing alone. Though by now, everyone knew that the head of R&D never stood alone.

“You’re finally beginning to realize, aren’t you?” he taunted them. “There is but one master of machines, and I am it!”

[color=Aquamarine]”Good thing you aren't one, because I am sick of playing your game of cat and mouse!”[/color] Minda shouted back, as she ditched her melee weapons, and pulled out what she should have used in the first place: a gun.

Specifically the Therian Viral Rifle she’d stolen back in the subway from one of the cat snipers. 

The princess floated in the air, four hands all gripping the long barreled weapon to support it as she raised the scope up a mask-covered eye, and took aim at the head scientist, before squeezing the trigger. 

With an ever so soft sound the futuristic air powered rifle launched its biochemical payload at the man.

She missed. Macaron hadn’t expected the summoner-warrior to pull out a gun, but if she meant to take potshots at Zanzo she was going to need cover. Especially since that meant a shootout designed for pinpoint marksmanship. Therefore, despite the threat posed by Blodia, Macaron began to chase down Zanzo once more. He could use another Gravity Well to pull his enemy in, but the constant gyration would make it almost impossible for Midna to shoot him, and Macaron didn’t want to interfere. That meant he needed to make his way into melee range once more. Large size plus desk job meant that his calisthenics really weren’t the best, and after so much exertion already Macaron’s movement speed was suffering. That meant Vigilant showed up with time to spare and zeroed in on Midna. As the sharpshooter’s scope glinted, the Twilight Princess was faced with a split-second decision: take the shot or get the hell out of dodge.

Instead of an enemy marksman, however, the striker found itself narrowing in on a princess who seemed to have just finished angrily hurling her gun at them with her shadow hand. Vigilant’s rifle thundered, but when the muzzle flash died down, Midna had disappeared from her sights.

Meanwhile, the hurled weapon flew over both Macaron and Zanzo’s head, but the sound of it impacting with the ground never came, as instead the princess pulled herself out of the rifle’s shadow, and then caught it before it could hit the deck. She smoothly brought the rifle up again, aimed, pulled the trigger- and completely failed to shoot the scientist in the back. Though she gave him a good scare.

Instead dart whizzed past his ear and then, because no one had taught the princess gun safety, struck the larger target currently charging towards him instead. The syringe embedded itself into Macaron’s arm, and discharged its payload into his bloodstream, the biotechnological substance flooding through his veins, swiftly saturating throughout his entire body.

It left him feeling rejuvenated and re-energised.

Midna never had worked out which glowing green substance was for healing and which was for harming after all. 

Of course, that gave him a scare too. “Whuh!? …Oh.” He blinked, realizing what had happened. “Thanks, miss!”

[color=Aquamarine]”I mean to do that!”[/color] 

He swung at Zanzo, who narrowly avoided it but just about stumbled backward into Midna in the process. Realizing he was surrounded, the man threw caution to the wind and started summoning. Murasame appeared to slash at Macaron with a three hit combo, but on the final overhead swing the engineer clapped his palms together and caught the blade in his hands. Skywave manifested behind Zanzo to face Midna, immediately using Optics Jammer to fire off a shockwave and render the Twilight Princess blind. Then he rounded on Clara, who’d just arrived to help. With the effects of Promise, Not Command still active, he couldn’t see her and not try to hit her. Roadblock arrived and let loose its right hook, the gigantic fist careening toward the little girl’s terrified face.

Then it stopped dead, and Svarog uncloaked to reveal he’d caught Roadblock’s slug in his left hand. Pulling the arm closer, he overclocked his other hand and brought it up below the exosuit’s elbow joint to deliver an upward palm strike and break it. Then the purple laser blasted out of his palm and through the arm, a critical hit thanks to the Mark of Counter Roadblock gained by attacking Clara, and blew the arm straight off. A split second later the feedback reached Zanzo himself, and his right robotic arm exploded off at the elbow, punctuated by a shrill cry not of pain, but fear.

He got more feedback a moment later when an oversized wolfos (summoned by a cursing princess who was hunkered down beneath her darknut’s sheild) lunged forwards and snapped its jaws around Skywave, canine teeth digging in while it savaged it like a small bird.

With all three Strikers rendered vulnerable, Macaron had an idea. He pushed Murasame off, causing it to stumble into Zanzo, then jumped up and dropped a Gravity Well on top of the whole gang. Unable to despawn while still being hit, the Strikers and Zanzo bumped against one another until Svarog snapped his fingers. [b]”Analysis complete.”[/b] He unleashed Shrew Bombing, firing a bevy of micro-missiles from his back to deal a boatload of damage to the mad scientist. Only then did the Strikers disappear, their master bearing all their wounds.

Desperate for a way out, Zanzo called on Blodia. The red mech’s giant fist descended on his position, scattering everyone as it cratered the floor. Though the head of R&D had sustained a lot of punishment, it looked like things would be going back to normal until Sandalphon’s voice reached Midna.

“I’ve completed my analysis as well. I’m giving you a heads-up display of the exact status for all of Zanzo’s Assists. In his current mental state, I predict he will use them the second they come off cooldown. Good luck.” Sure enough, little blue bars with Striker icons appeared in the corner of Midna’s vision, lighting up when they filled completely. With that, the scales were tipped even further in her favor. The final round was about to begin.

[color=Aquamarine]”Well, those are strange”[/color] the princess said, waving a hand over where the icons looked to be as she picked herself up from where she and her knight had been blasted back too. Their appearance having come at just about the same moment as her vision returned had certainly made the experience even more bizarre, the princess briefly worrying something in her eyes had broken until it became clear what they where.

[color=Aquamarine]”You two …. Or three?”[/color] she wasn’t sure what the robot that kept appearing and disappearing around Clara was, be it summon, tool, or person, [color=Aquamarine]”seeing these?”[/color] 

Of course, the others weren’t connected to Sandalphon, and even if they were, the concept of a heads-up display would take a lot of explaining to convey to someone like Midna if she couldn’t intuit it based off what the Archangel said. Macaron glanced between her and Zanzo, who this lull in the battle expressly benefited. “What d’you mean?” he asked, cautious about a potential trap he had yet to notice. “If you’re seeing something we’re not, you’ve gotta let us know. He’s on his last legs, we’ve gotta finish this before his helpers get back!”

A moment after he said this, the progress bar marked with a reticle icon filled up and turned green, flashing with the warning text [i]ASSIST OKAY[/i]. That very moment, Zanzo summoned Vigilant, and this time she used her Overdrive. She spun her rifle like a staff above her head, then couched it by her side with a vibrant blue flash. When she opened fire, her next three trigger pulls split the room as fully-charged railgun shots. With Promise, Not Command depleted, she expressly avoided firing at Clara, instead landing a brutal bodyshot on Macaron before she aimed the next two at Midna. And all the while, the other four progress bars floating in front of Midna’s head continued to fill.

[color=Aquamarine]”Oh goddesses”[/color] the princess cursed as she hurled herself out of the way of the first shot, and then scrabbled on all six like some kind of bug to try and avoid the next, only to get caught in the foot and feel like every bone in it broke at once.

[color=Aquamarine]”Ffffffff-”[/color] she bit down the swear word, as she instead flicked a hand and piled up a load of container crates for cover. Then she hurled her broken interdimensional axe in Zanzo’s general direction via shadow hand as a fake flanking attempt while she instead pulled out and, intentionally this time, shot Macaron with her Therian Viral Rifle.

[color=Aquamarine]”I can … see when his summons are about to activate”[/color] she explained, not entirely understanding how Sandalphon’s whole thing worked, and having falsely assumed that her talking to them meant she was connected somehow. [color=Aquamarine]”I’ll call them out by weapon. Sword, shield, that kind of thing”[/color] she decided as she tried and failed to shoot herself with the healing rifle, and then just gave up on her foot for the rest of the fight.

Healed a little and too big to take cover, Macaron pushed toward Zanzo. “I’m all ears, then!’

Then Midna checked the order their issues were coming in while trying to formulate a plan. With Vigilant back on cooldown, next up would be Skywave in about seven seconds thanks to a shorter cooldown, followed by Murasame in eleven and Roadblock in fourteen.

[color=Aquamarine]”How do you feel like going for a drive?”[/color]

“A drive?” Having taken cover alongside the Twilight Princess, Clara’s eyes were wide with worry.

In response she snapped her fingers, and portaled in her the warthog, her 4x4 scout jeep complete with mounted minigun turret [color=Aquamarine]”Seeing as you seem to be tired of running, let’s skip that bit and go flat out to get in his face.”[/color] 

She and Clara jumped into the Warthog, although the little girl was quickly forced to make a concession. “I…can’t drive.” If there had not been holes in the floor that dropped straight to lava, Midna might have tried to give her a crash course as she was, ironically enough, the only one of them who could comfortably use the modifications made to let the imp sized princess use her vehicle (namely a booster seat in all but name and extensions to the pedals).

[b]”Then hold on.”[/b] 

As Svarog uncloaked behind the vehicle, an orange shot blazed overhead and destroyed the crates to clear the way. He then clamped his metal mitts down on its rear bumper, and gave it a mighty push. The Warthog zoomed forward, its occupants holding tight as their ride bounced along, but it lasted only for a moment; Svarog had calculated the exact strength necessary to make the vehicle stop right next to Macaron. Though initially shocked, the engineer understood what was going on and jumped aboard, plopping down behind the driver’s seat to get the Warthog the rest of the way.

Time was precious, and Zanzo made the most of it. Right when Skywave came off cooldown the airborne exosuit appeared to use her Optics Jammer on Zanzo, healing him with the shockwave. Macaron put the pedal to the metal as fast as he could, planning to ducktail the Warthog to smack Zanzo non-lethally without running him down, but according to Midna’s heads-up display, Murasame would come off cooldown right before the vehicle would make contact.

[color=Aquamarine]”Sword incoming!”[/color] Midna shouted in warning, before she pulled out all the stops and most of her remaining energy to ward it off. An oversized wolfos and mecha bear were summoned to run alongside the slowing vehicle as physical barriers on either side of the vehicle. At the same time she reached out and warped her shadow hand around the hood of the car as additional armor, before finally summoning her darknut to stand with one foot in each of the front seat’s legroom, shield raised prepared to block a strike from ahead or above.

Just as predicted, Murasame appeared, but not to strike. He flashed into existence already in counter stance, ready and able to take a headlong collision with the Warthog before dishing out a massive strike in return. With the vehicle slowed down and its occupants pivoting to defense themselves, however, Murasame just sat there waiting, its counter never triggered.

“Good call!” Macaron stood up in his seat. Clara threw her arms around his shoulders just as the engineer jumped, forcing Zanzo to dodge backward or be crushed. Unfortunately for him, the former head of R&D was too close for Zanzo to get away. “This one’s for me!” Macaron unleashed Love Top, shmooving forward with a big hook from either side. Midna could see Roadblock’s cooldown poised to end right after her ally’s second blow.

[color=Aquamarine]”Shield's incoming”[/color] she called out in warning. Too pained to have been able to move herself into the fight, she had instead directed her darknut to step down from the vehicle and approach, leaving it in prime position for her to help. [color=Aquamarine]”Macaron, flank him”[/color] she shouted and then, if the big man juked to the side as she hoped, would have the undead knight swing its massive blade at the Zanzo to force him to use his block.

Her plan worked beautifully, as Macaron backed off just as Roadblock appeared, and as Zanzo used his striker to block Midna’s evil-looking summon, the engineer lent his strength. Together their might proved to be the last straw, and Roadblock’s shield shattered the exosuit stumbled then disappeared, leaving just one striker left: Blodia, incoming in two seconds.

[color=Aquamarine]”Giant fist! It's all he’s got left!”[/color] 

When Blodia appeared, both arms raised for a gigantic double punch, the team was ready. Svarog uncloaked, and next to him dropped a huge robotic [url=https://i.imgur.com/rAkUCSa.png]hand[/url] hard enough to dent the floor. It immediately picked itself up and floated off the floor, its fingers twitching open. On the other side, Macaron braced himself. When Blodia struck, both Macaron and Svarog caught the fists in a terrific display of strength, slowing them to a stop and then holding them in place. Blodia tried to pull its arms free, but it couldn’t move, and neither could Zanzo. As if on queue, Sandalphon’s arrival in the other half of the fight led to a huge burst of healing, shoring Midna up more than enough to deal the final blow.

[color=Aquamarine]”I want you to know”[/color] the princess said as she pulled out a plain longsword and grabbed it with all four hands [color=Aquamarine]”That I don’t really know who you are. Or what you do. Or really why we’re taking you down”[/color] she jerked a head, causing her initiate strikers to appear and root the man down, doubly ensuring he wasn’t getting away  [color=Aquamarine]”But you're incredibly annoying, so that makes this personal anyway”[/color].

She raised up the blade, and brought it down hard, cleaving into the trapped man’s remaining robotic arm as he tried to protect himself, severing it in the process. Then she did the same for one of the legs, then the other, before finally raising her weapon while standing the now entirely unable to escape man- and then proceeded to smack his head with the flat of the blade several times till she knocked him out cold.  

Macaron winced. “Oh, jeez. I mean, I know he’s a real scumbag, better than most people really, but still.” Since he hadn’t been the one to take the reigns, though, he figured Zanzo ought to be grateful that the violent twilight goblin didn’t go all the way. The mad scientist’s defeat put an end to his onslaught of Strikers, though his continued life meant that’d still be a factor in the future. Speaking of which, Macaron didn’t really know what to do next. He rubbed his head. “What now? Sure, revenge felt good and all, but Vandelay Technologies isn’t any different. Even if Zanzo’s gone, Kale will just find another yes-man with big ideas and no conscience.” Clara didn’t say anything, but just held tight to Svarog’s leg as the big robot stood in silence.

[color=Aquamarine]”I think we’ve also got people punching Kale as well, so presumably, by right of conquest, we’ll be able to claim the company. Or something. Look I’ll be honest I am here to help Tora get everything he needs to save a friend of ours. Everything else? Well you can ask her”[/color] the princess pointed a finger over at their restorative savior, who by that point had long since vanished.

[color=Aquamarine]”or. not.”[/color] 

“That’s…interesting, I suppose. Me, I’d hope we could find Roxanne Vandelay and convince her to come out of retirement, at least for as long as it takes to get the company on the right track again. Kale’s…well, he’s achieved record fame and profit, but it just isn’t right. Or sustainable!”

The princess was mostly thinking about what to do with torsoboy, muttering to herself about how she bet he’d do a Crow if she freed him, but she was paying enough attention to respond with [color=Aquamarine]”I well if you think it’d help, you can fill everyone in on the details once we group up again.”[/color] 

With that in mind, she remembered, rather late, that they had only been dealing with one half of the problem.

[color=Aquamarine]”I hope their guy wasn’t as annoying as ours”[/color]