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[color=tomato]"Go ahead, say something smart, dummy!"[/color]

[color=goldenrod][b]"Something smart, dummy!"[/b][/color]

[color=888888]— Finnegan Vanhorn & Mika Fang[/color][/center]

Ashley had called out for Cerise to dispel the protections Klava had (albeit literally) smacked onto the mech. Despite still being a bit shaken up by her mind-controlled twin nearly shooting her leg clean off, causing her to stumble back a few steps, she nodded to the Knight of Tomorrow and fired a dispelling melody in the direction of the mech.

[color=daa520]"Shit-!"[/color] Finn cursed to himself. Luckily for Ashley, he had been too busy holding Mika off to react quickly enough. He rushed to move it out of the way before-

[color=e4255e]"It’s down, hurry!"[/color]

With Cerise’s confirmation, Ashley aimed at the mech’s cockpit and fired a charged-up beam dead through the middle of the glass panel. The Timekeeper practically launched himself out of his seat and reached for Morning Dragon Fruit to shield her from the resulting detonation, willingly taking the brunt of it. He had a contract to abide by, after all. 

Even if it felt agonizing as hell.

The cockpit filled with technology and plasma, but it all dissipated an instant later. The mech had taken a bit more damage to its internals, but the pilots had both been damaged by the attack, albeit one far more than the other. 

[b][color=ffffff]"Oh!"[/color][/b] Morning Dragon Fruit’s screen displayed a nervous face. A squared off jaw of chattering teeth and trembling eyes cast a glow on Finn’s face. [b][color=ffffff]"Welp, you did good my boy. I don’t think we should let that happen again. Oh El-Ninio! Give mommy some reinforcement."[/color][/b] 

The demon no longer hid within the ceiling. It stepped down into the room with everyone else. The room quaked a bit as it lowered itself in. Not only that, but it peeled part of the magic damping metal the ceiling was made of and coiled it around the cockpit. [b][color=ffffff]"Where we’re going, we don’t need to look through our canopy glass."[/color][/b] MDF said ominously as the cockpit was sealed up. [b][color=ffffff]"Besides champ, you’ve got the best monitor in the house!"[/color][/b] And with that, MDF’s face switched to the view of the hidden cameras inside the room with them. [b][color=ffffff]"I’ll be your eyes, you continue to be my hammer of vengeance!"[/color][/b] 

Mika wasn’t about to let them close off the only avenue of attack that seemed to work. She turned around the corner and fired a soaring cat head at Klava, who backed off of Raven. With her partner having a few more seconds, Mika raced for the Behemoth and ran up its leg. She swung onto its arm and raced towards the cockpit. If she could break the canopy before it was all covered up, maybe she could have that fight with Finn that she wanted, and even put down MDF while she was at it. 

Just cause he was injured, didn’t mean he couldn’t see Mika coming. His face twisted into a scowl. 

[color=daa520]"Drop dead already!!"[/color]

Once she reached his line of sight, she was immediately met with a heavy blow from the Timekeeper’s weapon itself, the glass canopy completely shattering around her. She didn’t even have a chance to raise her claws. 

Her body became a spirit. She could have swam into the cockpit, but she didn’t. Instead, she floated off to the pillar she had initially come out from behind. Elroy finished padding up the cockpit as soon as she returned to normal.

Mika felt different than she had before. Her heart was pounding faster, and worry was creeping into her veins. With a growl, she pounded the side of the pillar she was hiding behind. 

[color=ff6347]"Ash- Orion?"[/color] She struggled to make legible sentences. [color=ff6347]"I-don’t-know-if-we-can-beat-it-now-what-do-you-want-to-do?"[/color]

Raven was taking shots at Klava, but she was skating around too fast to ever really get hit. She probably should have come in for a second attack at some point, but she didn’t. Instead she moves away, skating off towards the other end of the room. 

[b][color=6ecff6]"‘Scuse me."[/color][/b] She soared past Ashley. Moments later, Raven came running over and grabbed Cerise’s twin’s arms and forced them behind her back. 

[color=4682b4]"I’ve got this Orion."[/color] With Cerise’s help, she pulled out handcuffs and got them on her sister. [color=4682b4]"I have no idea how to help Cerberus. I can’t do anything to that mech or that monster."[/color] 

Meanwhile, Marrie wisely chose to stand back as the fiery explosion engulfed Sofron. Though the embers had not faded before he turned around and lunged for her. Of course there was a trick, even if he didn’t know what it was. The flames parted for his howling visage, causing his mouth and eyes to appear to be on fire. Again, Marrie was pressed for time, and needed to move sooner than expected.

She ran. Sofron punched a hole in the wall right where Marrie’s head used to be, but Marrie hadn’t turned around to look. Binky was keeping the other end of the hallway cleared out, so there wasn’t much resistance on her way back. Marrie even managed to take out another mook and recover some of her mana

[color=baddab]"Are you going to come back here or what?"[/color] Binky said, half amazed and half concerned but likely too quiet for Marrie to hear anyway. 

Marrie had arrived near the door, and both her and Sofron prepared their gambit. Marrie drew her pistol, and Sofron raised his hand. Marrie hand-loaded a bullet, and a Thompson machine gun appeared in the Baleful Butler’s grasp. She had just enough time to shoot before Binky pulled Marrie back into the room. Sofron got off a few rounds, but all of them hit the metal inner wall of the room the espers were fighting in. She didn’t get to see her handiwork, but she could hear it. 

[b][color=ffffff]"Gahhhh!"[/color][/b]

…Followed by the sound of ice freezing a man to the wall he was closest too. Sofron had used many expensive melodies, and that last shot of Marrie’s may have wiped out the rest of his mana. 

[b][color=ffffff]"Don’t just stand there, free me you imbeciles!"[/color][/b] 

[color=baddab]"He’s going to get free again."[/color] Binky swapped her magazines. [color=baddab]"We’re running out of ammo too. I don’t suppose you grabbed any last time you were out there, did you?"[/color]

But there would be no time to answer, as Klava came flying in with her katana at the ready. 

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[color=77BB99]"I’m not actually here. But it’s kinda cool to have my sick-ass banner up anyway, no?"[/color] 

[color=888888]— Bookman[/color][/center]

MDP looked a little uneasy when Himiko approached the table to speak with Fritzi, but the pounder placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and held his shield up. 

[color=bd71e8]"Hmmm, why am I here relaxing?"[/color] Fritzi sloshed her tea around. [color=bd71e8]"I’ve been anticipating a distraction, and am confident that our current forces will eliminate the Hand without my help. I’m here specifically for surprises like you, Himiko."[/color] After her brief but no less accurate description of what she was doing, she watched Himiko roll out her new identity with all the pomp and flair of a vtuber debut. Fritzi even clapped after Himiko finished her transformation and sat down. [color=bd71e8]"All the original names were taken, huh? Well, I’ll take that under consideration. But you know we’re not on an ivy league college campus right? I can call you whatever I want."[/color] She pushed her cup aside so that she had room to lean forward. [color=bd71e8]"Because I can make choices. I assume you can too. Escaping confinement had to be a choice, coming here had to be a choice, telling me that neither of us are willing to compromise or find common ground was also a choice. But there’s only one choice that matters, and it’s one you have to make."[/color]

Fritzi reclined in her seat. 

[color=bd71e8]"You’re either going to try and enter the Golden Trove, at which point I’ll have to stop you, or you can go away and enjoy your freedom until we decide we need to collect you."[/color]

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[color=tomato]"Let’s close things out, Jojo!"[/color]

[color=888888]— Oros The Mad[/color][/center]

Meanwhile, Oros observed all the different going-ons from the safety of her divining blade. She was positioned towards the back of the Golden Trove where there were fewer ways in. But you really didn’t need a divining sword to tell that things were getting chaotic. There was all the commotion at the front of the building, the dragon blasting their way through the side, the other dragon. It was a regular clown fiesta. 

[color=ff6347]"Finally!"[/color] Oros sheathed her sword. [color=ff6347]"I was worried goldieglocks would never show up! About fuckin’ time!"[/color]

[color=e3bbc6]"It gave us time to get ready, at least."[/color] Sharr looked at a computerized watch that was showing her a readout of some kind. [color=e3bbc6]"Looks like the mech is still holding up."[/color] 

[color=ff6347]"Glex isn’t going to get in our way this time, is she?"[/color] 

Sharr only laughed. [color=e3bbc6]"I think she has her hands full with Penny."[/color] 

[color=ff6347]"I guess not totally owning her was the right move then."[/color] 

[color=e3bbc6]"Alright, let’s-"[/color]

[color=ff6347]"Hold up!"[/color] Oros threw her arms up in the air. [color=ff6347]"Just wait a second, everyone will know what we’re planning if you say something now. Let’s just- Okay, it seems like it’s ending. We should have some privacy now."[/color]