[center][h3]Quarantine Valley - Empty Lot[/h3]
Level 6 Goldlewis (87/60) Level 4 Sandalphon (52/40)
Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Blazermate, Roland, and Susie’s [@Archmage MC], Geralt and Zenkichi’s [@Multi_Media_Man]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1393[/center]

After Jena offered the Seekers their two choices, a couple tense moments passed. Goldlewis wished that they’d passed in silence, a period of quiet and calm in which he could collect his thoughts, but Quarantine Valley was anything but silent. Strong winds whipped viciously around the strange contours of the buildings that formed Zone 09’s perimeter, carrying the distant echoes of roars, screams, collapses, and explosions. However, those same unsettling noises helped speed him to his conclusion, as the veteran realized that he really didn’t need to think about his decision much after all. Some of the others started questioning Jena, as if this preposterous proposition were some sort of interview. Reunion’s leader seemed more interested in the Seekers’ answers rather than their questions; between her terse manner and vague but ominous replies, nothing came of it, other than a solidification of the same inclination that everyone had been feeling since moment one. 

Soon enough, Jena got her answers. Roland dismissed her coolly, not the first person to call the woman insane. Even if her goal was to overthrow tyrants, neither Geralt nor Zenkichi would abet someone who would cause such wanton catastrophe to achieve it, and they made their thoughts clear. Penance, initially surprised to see Reunion’s leader in person, bristled at the very suggestion that she’d cooperate. “I will not negotiate in any respect. By my authority as an Auditor of the General Affairs division, you are hereby under arrest.”

Jena ignored her, which prompted a smirk from Vigil. “I don’t think you’re going to get through to her, Lavi. You’re the Judge, why not skip all this preamble…” One bullet at a time, he refilled his revolvers to capacity. “And get straight to the death sentence?”

Karin rebuked Jena vehemently, pointing out the seriousness of her crimes and condemning the depths to which she’d fallen. She stated her scorn in no uncertain terms. Goldlewis didn’t start off quite as strong, but after he began to speak, he finished in much the same vein.

“Anderson!” he yelled, his face deadly serious. “You’re right about one thing. This city’s full o’ bad people in high places. They need to answer for their crimes, for each and every evil deed they’ve done, and mark my words, they will someday.” He clenched his fist and glared up at Jena. “Maybe at some point you really were doin’ the right thing. But at some point you crossed the damn line and fell right off the wagon. You ain’t some tragic hero, doin’ the right thing ‘cause no-one else will. How many innocent folks have you and the monsters you let loose killed, left homeless, or doomed to redshift? What about everyone able and willin’ to fight for a brighter future that [i]you[/i] sacrificed? Look out there!” Furiously he pointed toward Quarantine Valley. “You see what’s happenin’? That ain’t a necessary evil. That’s just evil! You’re just as bad as the sonuvabitches you condemn!”

Sandalphon’s eyes were narrowed as she stared at Jena, her pupils shaped like reticles as she calculated for trajectory, travel time, wind speed. “Worse, perhaps,” she added quietly. “Evil for evil’s sake is deplorable, but evil for the sake of good is hypocrisy.”

“In my line o’ work, we gotta make hard decisions all the time,” Goldlewis continued. He thought of the choices he’d made throughout his political career. Every trade off. Every sacrifice. Trying to please everybody. Pleasing nobody. He extended his finger again, pointing at Jena. “This ain’t one of ‘em. You wanna know our answer? If we’re gonna throw out everythin’ we stand for? Well, lemme tell you somethin’. I ain’t ever gonna forfeit again. So here’s our answer.” With a dramatic scowl, he turned his hand to make a giant thumbs down. “Go to hell!”

“Yeah!” Hal echoed with an exuberant cheer. “What he said! We’ll never work with someone like you, Jena!”

After a brief moment, Jena’s lip curled. “I see. And to think-”

“Spare me.” Moving quickly, Sandalphon knelt down, tucking her gunstuff under her arm. By the time the Reunion trio realized what she was doing, it was too late. The archangel fired off an ether bolt that hurtled upward and struck Jena in the face. She staggered, surprised and in pain, and after taking the briefest moment to adjust her aim, Sandalphon fired again. That was long enough, however, for her black-haired subordinate to spring into action. He put himself in the line of fire and squeezed his weapon’s trigger just as his opposing sniper did hers. The two shots met in the air, destroying one another. Goldlewis activated his Wall of Light, creating an energy shield to protect Sandalphon, and the snipers traded shots once again. This time they flew past one another, the archangel striking the crossbowman in the chest and his unblockable bolt shattering Goldlewis’ shield to pierce Sandalphon’s shoulder.

Both fell back, and the next second, a huge sign plummeted in front of Jena’s balcony to slam down on the ground of the empty lot with a tremendous noise. The disruption stopped Vigil, who was about to join the firefight, and the others in their tracks. Everyone looked up to see what had caused it to fall from above, and there, cresting the ridge of buildings just beneath the roof of this enclosed underground space, they spotted an [url=https://i.imgur.com/3pld5tx.png]armored quadrupedal titan[/url], whose assortment of bulging crimson eyes lit up the dark and whose coiled back-spikes raked the ceiling. It opened its entire head like a fanged flower and shrieked, the horrible noise reverberating through the whole area.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/lLLko9t.png[/img][/center]

Sandalphon breathed in sharply through her nose and stood, wincing, to slam down the butt of her gunstaff and heal herself with Heavenly Praise. Ripples of divine water promptly washed away her pain. At almost the same time, however, Jena’s white-haired subordinate slammed down his odd cane to invoke his Originum Arts. A crimson healing pulsed in response, restoring Jena and the crossbowman. “...Thank you, Mephisto, Faust.” Holding her face with one hand, Reunion’s leader made a sweeping motion with the other, and a Gate opened behind her. “Let’s be off. We have a date with destiny, after all. It’s a shame our friends here won’t be alive to see it.” She, Mephisto, and Faust turned and entered the Gate, which vanished behind them. The next second, Homunculus β leaped down to land on the floor of the empty lot, its enormous size and weight sending a shockwave across the ground. 

“What the hell is this thing? It’s huge, and like those weird ones earlier, it’s not even a true chimera!” Hal fretted, his drone flying back to a safe distance. “Well, whatever it is, we can’t go after Jena until it’s out of the picture. Let’s take it out!”

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5In8_lhXnNE&ab_channel=Loostp[/youtube][/center]

Sandalphon turned and ran toward a balcony of the side of the lot everyone entered from, and when she reached it she used Vigilant’s power to Vault right up to it. There, she could set up shop in a makeshift sniper’s nest and provide ranged support or hide inside the building as needed. From there, her healing could still cover a large range as well, so anyone in need could head toward her vicinity rather than call her in. With a snap of her fingers, she switched to Concentration Protocol. “Overwatch established. Ready for support.”

Meanwhile, while Goldlewis knew the others would need his help on the frontlines, there was something else that required his attention. Even if the team triumphed against this enormous monstrosity, they wouldn’t be able to pursue Jena if they couldn’t extricate themselves from this place. After sending a Thunderbird grenade to fly at the Homunculus and explode, he brought up his communication glyph and phoned a friend. “Come in, HQ!” he roared. “Jessie, Jessie, you there? Listen, we need extraction on the double! We’re in Zone 09, in the wall on the Detroit side near the old cable tram station! Get Duke down here, pronto!” He went silent for just a moment, then scowled, turning red. “Forget the doggone codenames, we need outta here, now!”

Without waiting for a reply, banished the glyph and pulled Skyfish from his coffin, then held down the trigger and riddled the homunculus with every bullet at his disposal.

[center][h3]Suoh - the Otherlobe[/h3]
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Sakura’s [@Zoey Boey], Pit’s [@Yankee], Roxas’ [@Double], Luka, Yuito, Hanabi, Lili, Norma, Raz[/center]

After fighting for approximately a half an hour straight against Others, Psych-OSF soldiers, and even Septentrions, all capped off by a terrifying first encounter with a Brain Field, everyone was physically and mentally exhausted. Still, they’d seen and experienced so much in just one afternoon, out of which Zanotto’s mysterious murder somehow managed to be only the tip of the iceberg. Everyone had a lot to unpack, and they got to it as best they could. Unfortunately, despite their best attempts, their fatigue combined with the sheer amount of newness meant that they couldn’t find an answer to every burgeoning question. Still, the team was able to address their most practical issue: where to go from here. All signs pointed toward Arahabaki, the city’s computer, deep below the gigantic Shinra Building in Midgar’s center. Toward the the very end of the discussion, though, the Seekers did put together one thing: the identity of Zanotto’s killer. The revelation left those who knew Kagero unsettled. Anyone familiar with him knew his charisma and playful mystique, as well as his skill with knives when fighting Others. But killing a fellow human, much less Psych-OSF’s Grand Head? That came as a dreadful surprise.

One other tidbit mentioned by Raz did get Lili’s attention. “Wait, I think you’re right,” the girl remarked after a moment, once she was sure that her logic went beyond wishful thinking. “That couldn’t have been my dad. It had to have been an impostor. Maybe the guy in the spirit was a shapeshifter? Or…just really good at disguises? I don’t know, but I’m positive it wasn’t him.” She turned to look at the Otherlobe. “So I’m going to find Dad. Maybe he’s locked up somewhere while his doppelganger was running around.”

“I’ll help you investigate,” Norma ventured. She’d been pretty quiet up until now, seemingly overwhelmed by the situation, but she wanted to help. “Don’t worry, Lili. We’ll find him, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, me too!” Raz nodded emphatically as he jogged over. “From now on Lili, I’m gonna stay by your side. At least until we figure things out.”

Lili narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms. “Ugh. I can handle myself, you know?” As certain softness to her expression made it clearer than usual that she appreciated it, though.

Raz seemed to pick up on this. “Haha, classic Lili…”

Meanwhile, Luka turned a dubious expression on Roxas. “I don’t think we’ll have much luck going after Kagero. His Invisibility makes him almost impossible to track. Even if he went to Musubi’s to link up with Kyoka and Tsugumi, they’ve probably moved on by now. None of them are replying to my messages, either.”

That left everyone else with just one destination: Arahabaki. Of course, getting in there was a lot easier said than done. That meant descending below the Shinra Building, which meant breaching the Shinra Building, which meant getting past its outer defenses, which meant getting across Suoh. At least they had a checklist to go down, but even step one was daunting. The Sector 05 Plate was quite large, and thanks to the chaos caused by the Other deluge, fraught with danger. Public transportation wouldn’t be running either, so that left the team with limited options. 

Luckily, Midna was ahead of the curve. When she suggested driving, Yuito agreed. “Yeah, given all that’s happened, we should be able to commandeer a couple cars. That’ll get us where we’re going, but getting in is going to be a lot harder.”

“You mentioned making portals?” Hanabi asked Midna. “It would be easier for just a few of us to get into Arahabaki than all seven. If you could put one inside, the rest of us could get in that way.” She smiled at Yuito as her friend failed to suppress a huge yawn. “Maybe after a nice break. We’re worn out, and it’s almost dinner already. Can’t fight on an empty stomach.”

Yuito nodded in approval at the idea. “In that case, the rest of us should probably find somewhere to hole up for the time being. I have…or, I guess I should say my family has a bunker north of here, near the Sector 04 border. We can use that.” When someone mentioned the Seekers’ own hideout in Seiran, Luka mentioned that the day’s events would probably lead to a complete lockdown of all means of reaching Seiran. Of course, that meant nothing to Midna’s portals. That sealed the deal, and once everyone decided who was going where, it was time to move.

Yuito and anyone else not on board with a strenuous infiltration could pile into a [url=https://i.imgur.com/00g2e6z.png]green hatchback[/url] with Hanabi behind the wheel. “I didn’t know you had a driver’s license,” Yuito ventured somewhat nervously.

“I don’t!” Hanabi replied with a little too much cheer.

With that underway, Luka and everyone else rolled on toward their destination. The trip involved a couple detours around obstructions, whether in the form of debris, hazards, or lingering Others, but within twenty minutes they were closing in on their destination. Vandelay Tower back in the City of Glass had been needlessly big, but no structure dominated Midgar more than than the colossal Shinra Building, which went past ‘absurd’ to land somewhere at ‘obscene’. Its hulking metal cylinders, stacked together like a child’s toys and aglow with countless tiny lights, each indicating the office of a single worker working late, pierced the stormy heavens and towered above the cityscape in every sense of the word.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/N5uk9DH.png[/img][/center]

The closer the Seekers got, the less Sector 05 looked like a normal city, and the more it looked like an industrial complex. They proceeded through the compounds and factories, still alight with warning Visions, until they came within view of the Shinra Building’s [url=https://i.imgur.com/OLTTwxh.png]massive gate[/url]. At that point they ditched their ride and crept in for a closer look. The place was heavily guarded, seemingly much more so than the Otherlobe itself. Automated searchlights and security cameras roved the area, their lines of sight clearly defined against the dark by cones of light. A few turrets could be seen, patiently waiting for action. Those defenses were most concentrated around the entrances, of which there were a couple, most of them sliding doors that could admit vehicles. There were plenty of workers either performing repairs or transporting cargo in trolleys and trucks, some moving in and out of the doors under supervision. Most worrisome were the Peace Preservation and Psych-OSF personnel on guard duty, because there were a lot of them. Squads of both Shinra Troopers and Advent Troopers patrolled or stood watch around the area, similar in appearance but frosty toward one another in terms of attitude. There were even three Sectopods on hand. Luka also spotted a few people of interest. “Seto Platoon,” he whispered, recognizing Arashi Spring, Shiden Ritter, and Seto Narukami, Septentrion Fifth Class. Sakura would remember those three from the time they cooperated in the subway tunnels yesterday morning.

“Pick up the pace, you slackers!” A growly voice shouted out. It belonged to a [url=https://i.imgur.com/EVc3aeF.png]mustached man[/url] shaped like a piece of candy corn, clad in dark clothes. “We gotta get these holes patched up on the double!”

“And Morceau Oleander,” Luka added, squinting at the Septentrion Seventh Class. “He must have dropped off Dexio and Sina, then come straight here, not sparing a single thought for Yuito, Lili, or the rest of his squad. What’s he up to…?”

Since this checkpoint seemed more corporate than militaristic, the abundance of guards was unusual, but then again, all signs pointed toward a huge battle in the area concluded only recently. The roads, chain link fences, and buildings in the vicinity all featured damage, and among the ashes the newcomers could see pieces of machines, equipment, and Others that hadn’t dissolved with their former owners. As a result, the defenders were scattered, wounded, and weary following what looked like a hard-fought victory. The gate itself had suffered some damage and even a few breaches, including a vent and two entrances. It wasn’t hard to imagine Karen surreptitiously breaking in during the heated battle. It was up to the Seekers to find a way to follow in his footsteps. Luka’s Teleportation would make things a bit easier for himself and Sakura, but the noise it made necessitated careful use. Everyone else had to find their own way.

[center][h3]The Under - Hollow Bough[/h3]
Level 12 Nadia (109/120)
The Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Primrose and Therion’s [@Yankee], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Artorias’ [@Dark Cloud], Tingyun, Stetson the Scout, Paintbrush the Gunner, Overhard the Engineer, Cyclops the Scout
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2513[/center]

With a game plan in mind thanks to Overhard’s mission briefing, everyone could hit the ground running the moment the Caretaker’s rippling bubble shield fell and the inverted pyramid roared to life. Knowing what to hit and what to look out for was a nice change of pace, so even when the alien machine came at the team guns ablaze, they could manage. True to Stetson’s guess as to the approximate hazard level, the Caretaker’s damage was no joke. Even a glancing blow from one of its robotic limbs, or a single shot from one’s laser cannon, seriously hurt. If someone took a wrong step and suffered the full three-round burst, or got pierced by a four-clawed tentacle in center mass, that grievous injury could very well put them down for the count depending on the target’s defense.

Unfortunately for the Caretaker, it had a couple major problems when it came to applying that lethal force. It had fourteen assailants, and only four limbs to split between them. Naturally, this only got worse when Bowser managed to catch one in his mighty arms and leverage his strength against the machine’s integrity until it failed and the ball joint, depriving the Caretaker of a fourth of its firepower. Its Shredders could tear through flesh like a mole through worms, but the aerial drones couldn’t take a hit to save their lives. Plus, with the threat of imminent electrocution keeping the melee fighters at bay, all of its opponents were staying mobile, meaning that the more agile Seekers could outpace the rather slow-moving shots and react in time when a limb telegraphed its lunge. Neither could two limbs gang up on one target to take one by surprise. And with Primrose’s defensive and offensive buffs, the odds were definitely on the Seekers’ side

Almost nobody showcased the weaknesses of the Rival Tech robot better than Nadia, who consistently kept herself one step ahead of its efforts. As big and formidable as the Caretaker was, it wasn’t fast, and for a fighter like the feral, speed was life. Her own strategy was simple: trigger the electric shock, then get in once it went on cooldown. If any Shredders caught up to her, she happily swatted them down. She darted around the battlefield, easily evading the attacks that came her way, and as tempting as it was to get tunnel vision on her target, her keen senses alerted her to stray shots as well. The plasma barrier wave took her by surprise, but it wound up being little more than a time-wasting annoyance as she weaved around the walls of orange light. With this plan Nadia helped chip away at the Caretaker’s vents, doing respectable damage for someone wielding claws and knives against refined metal, but it was only a couple runs that her ship really came in. Following the expiration of her last Benediction, Tingyun gave it to the cat burglar next, ringing her golden bell in a Soothing Melody. “All the best~”

A wreath of golden light manifested around Nadia, boosting her attack by 55 percent. “Su-purr-charge! Just watt I needed!” Grinning, she leaped into the air to dodge a robotic arm. As it slammed into the petrified wood beneath her, filling the air with dust, splinters, and clumps of lichen, Nadia planted her feet against the wall and kicked off. She soared onto the top of the Data Vault and scampered across it on all fours, ignoring the electrodes as they rose up in sequence around her. She waited a fraction of a moment for an open vent to spin her way, then shot upward with a Charge of her own. Her lightning blitz dealt the last bit of damage to disable the vent, and as she reformed just above it, Nadia beamed in satisfaction at the well-timed destruction she’d just wrought. “Now that’s what I call vent-elation!” The next instant, the vent cover slammed shut, catching one of her tails. Her eyes practically bugged out of her head. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

She fell and dangled upside-down from the Caretaker by the caught tail, struggling furiously. Between her pain tolerance and her tail’s composition, it didn’t actually hurt that much, but yelling about it helped a little. Remembering that she could just detach her tail helped even more. Her tail still hurt, but at least the rest of her could move. As luck would have it, though, she dropped right into the electrode array as it was about to fire. “Ohm my God.” Arcs of electricity covered the Data Vault, and she scrambled through the storm, yelping and yowling. “GET MEOWTTA HEEEEEERE!”

Unfortunately, her supporter Tingyun wasn’t doing so hot either. In general Foxian was getting way more attention than she deserved, with multiple shots and lunges coming her way. “Aah! Hey! Whoa! What did I do!?” Finally, one managed to swat her, dealing over half of Tingyun’s life as it knocked her right into a yellow Goo Sack plant. It burst on impact, covering her with sticky resin, but at least it slowed the Foxian’s momentum. “Oww! You’ll pay for that!” she cried, her typical decorum momentarily shattered.

Still, for the most part, it wasn’t the attacks aimed at the individual Seekers that they needed to worry about, but accidentally running into one aimed at someone else. In fact, with everyone constantly on the move and relying on ranged attacks to wear down the Caretaker’s increasingly hard-to-hit vents, the Seekers’ biggest problem for now was one another. Some bumped into one another or forced a swerve as they made their way around the Data Vault, especially when Bowser or Kuebiko was involved. Others almost shot each other, as Junior nearly did with Rika, or actually did. For the dwarves, though, friendly fire seemed to be nothing new. At the slightest suggestion that they might have been shot by an ally, they roared over the sounds of firearms, magic and mechanical mayhem, their cantankerous cries filling the Caretaker’s hollow. It was hard to tell if they were actually mad or just annoyed.

“Friendly, FRIENDLY!”

“...!”

“It’s me, you ARSEWIPE!”

“Watch your fire, or yer funeral’s gonna be a sober occasion!”

The ultimatum from Cyclops was a solemn reminder that these dwarves were still under Galeem’s influence. Whether triggered against their allies (or one another, for that matter) or not, however, the four kept their focus on the task at hand: the Caretaker. Everyone was laying into it, whether with guns, spells, thrown weapons, or well-struck melee attacks. Bowser’s attempt to use his newly ‘mounted’ cannon really didn’t work due to massive recoil, huge instability, and difficulty aiming, as the gun would be better used on a stationary mount or vehicle. At least Junior’s heavy weapon more than made up for his dad’s, what with the high accuracy and stability of Kuebiko’s bamboo chaingun. Once all four vents were disabled, the Caretaker’s eye opened, first on one side, then on another. Whoever was closest laid into its obvious weak point with everything they had, and before long the team was one-third done.

When the vents popped back open, Nadia quickly fetched her lost tail and stuck it where it belonged. Despite her little goof, the team had chewed through phase one easily enough, and she was ready to redeem herself in round two. Of course, that meant contending with the Caretaker’s reinforcements. In addition to producing replacement limbs, it belted out a whole swarm of Shredders, enough to actually pose a threat. The Patrol Bots numbered less, but could hurt a lot more, as well as switch to flight mode to evade grounded hazards. “More flyin’ minions?” Nadia groaned, already sick of adds like these thanks to that fake Wasp Queen. “Talk about a buzz kill!” Figuring she might as well use the same strategy, she waited for a crowd of Shredders to descend on her, then unleashed a Fiber Upper to punch through a bunch of them at once with an upward hyper-extended double kick. Then she snapped up to her legs and dug into the rest with an air combo, hitting a couple with every aerial kick and slash to keep the combo up. Once she landed, she figured out the real problem. Concealed by the Shredders, the Caretaker had dispatched a couple machines that rocketed toward the cave roof and anchored in the petrified wood before deploying sniper turrets. Their orange lasers cut through the cavern’s airspace, homing in on their targets. After taking a painful shot Nadia ran for cover behind a bloated red vine, scowling at the turrets well beyond her reach. “Now you’re takin’ it too far!”

“I gotcha, lass!” Popping out from behind a gnarled root, Stetson took aim with his yellow flare launcher and fired upward. A brilliant source of light flew up and attached to the ceiling, illuminating the turrets up there for everyone to see. Paintbrush narrowed his eyes and lowered his rocket launcher, withdrawing a [url=https://i.imgur.com/kZfeYmV.png]handheld railgun[/url] from his pack. He took careful aim, and after the ArmsKore Coil Gun spooled up, it magnetically propelled a solid tungsten sphere with enough force not just to punch through the turret, but also the rock behind it, leaving a trail of red-hot air in its wake. “You rock!” Stetson praised him as he switched weapons, and with a satisfied look Paintbrush twirled his weapon before jamming it in his holster.

After dealing with the added suppression, everyone got to work on phase two. Not planning to let herself get pinched again, Nadia jumped back into action with a vengeance, albeit without Tingyun’s Benediction. Now that they understood  the Caretaker’s patterns better, everyone could avoid their earlier mistakes and pile on the damage. Things got a little more interesting when the giant machine showed off something new a little early. Right after the closure of its vents forced its eye to open, the Caretaker began to manufacture [url=https://i.imgur.com/BRJlPJ2.png]phase bombs[/url]. The instant each explosive dodecahedron completed it got teleported directly on top of a random Seeker, floating as its one-second fuse counted down before a brutal explosion went off in a small area. What they lacked in range they made up for in sheer damage, and when Paintbrush sidled into some churned-up terrain just a fraction of a second too long, a phase bomb went off on him and downed him immediately and left him groaning.

“I’m comin’!” Cyclops ran toward him, but Paintbrush’s bad luck wasn’t over. Another phase bomb appeared over him just as Cyclops arrived, but with a roar the driller punted it like a soccer ball. It flew just far enough that it’s explosion only singed Cyclops’ beard hair, leaving him shell-shocked and singed as he poured his canteen out on Paintbrush to revive him. As soon as the gunner regained his feet, he dropped a shield generator, which Stetson promptly grappled into, leaving Overhard by himself. As the engineer fled the bombs along a ledge, a robotic limb plunged into the wood beneath it, causing him to fall amidst the cascade of debris. One more phase bomb appeared on him, and there was little Overhard could do to stop it. In her own panic to flee, the bombs, Tingyun tripped and tumbled painfully down a wooden slope to roll to a stop right next to the Data Vault.

For her part, Nadia opted to forget about offense for the time being and focus on not getting exploded. This barrage couldn’t last forever, after all. It went on for about twenty seconds, all told, and the realization that there were no more after the last one blew up made Nadia sigh in relief. If only that was the end. Thanks to those bombs, the Caretaker’s eye was about to close, and maybe even force everyone to redo the second phase. The feral wasn’t going to have that. “Eye’ve had…” Crimson Hydro power welled up around her, and she popped off her head to put into a headlock between her arms, tucked in against her stomach and her chest as she braced herself. “...Enough!” From her mouth surged a torrential beam of blood, her fearsome Cat-aract, that blasted into the Caretaker’s weak point. Her huge expenditure of Dramatic Tension burst the Caretaker down and into phase three.

As such, the Seekers barely got a break from the phase bombs before things went from bad to worse. The Caretaker called in reinforcements once more, and the robots that answered the call weren’t just for suppression. Instead the team got jumpy, chainsaw-equipped [url=https://i.imgur.com/O0Ey1SD.png]Choppers[/url], bulky [url=https://i.imgur.com/qL2TyOO.png]Smallfry[/url], spider-legged [url=https://i.imgur.com/L6LPvEA.png]Hot Rods[/url] with miniguns, and earth-carving [url=https://i.imgur.com/9TNo6ke.png]Drillscrews[/url], which made the tunnels that the rest funneled from in droves. While not powerhouses, the robots seemed to just keep coming, and whenever the Drillscrews made a new tunnel more flooded out of that one, too. It was another swarm, and this time the Seekers weren’t united in defensive positions. “This is bad, lads!” Stetson called out, his ammo running low as he hunkered in Paintbrush’s last bubble shield. “What’re we gonna do!?”

Before he even finished, the sound of squealing tired and a roaring engine echoed down an adjoining tunnel. After another moment, the dirt wall leading to the Stranga region exploded outward, and through the rubble drifted another Metal Attacker, sleek, pink, and unmistakably [url=https://i.imgur.com/alocN5F.png]rabbit-themed[/url].

Nadia, crashing down to the ground on top of a Smallfry she’d just decapitated, stared for a brief moment as Choppers converged on her location. “No way, don’t tell me that’s…”

“FLOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!” A familiar bubbly voice yelled from the loudspeaker of NORA MA-06 ‘Eir’. The Metal Attacker’s tired revved, kicking up dirt and wooden splinters, and it burst forward to crash into and through a number of robots. “I’m, like here to help, everyoneeeee!”

“Not like you helped us last time, surely!?” Stetson sounded miserable as he threw a Voltaic Stun Sweeper to keep the bots off his back. “We don’t need any more damn mutators, ya hear!”

Eir pulled to a stop, its cockpit popping open so that the plant alien [url=https://i.imgur.com/VkvFoul.png]Kanna[/url] could step up in all her glory. “That’s why I’m totally gonna do better this time! Like, watch this!”

She squeezed her drawn-on eyes shut and began to concentrate. From her pot she suddenly sprouted six [url=https://i.imgur.com/yWRba6G.png]four-leafed clovers[/url], then another [url=https://i.imgur.com/zik7vZo.png]Wonder Flower[/url]. With everyone too belabored by robots to protest, she balled all seven plants into a single medicinal clump, which she stuffed into the mouth of her support animal, [url=https://i.imgur.com/fNOYYEs.png]Yacopu[/url]. When it ate them and fired off a pellet, a wave of distortion rolled across the cavern, triggering another wonder effect. This time, though, the Seekers were in for a far more pleasant surprise.

[hider=Wonder Effect]
[list][*][b]Allies:[/b] Bottomless Clip (Weapons never need to be reloaded)
[*][b]Enemies:[/b] Critical Weakness (Enemies take extra damage from weak spot hits and crits)
[*][b]Environment:[/b] Gift of Super (Pickup that recharge combat resources fall from the sky)
[*][b]Phenomenon:[/b] Gold Rush (Extra rich gold veins appear on cave walls)[/list][/hider]