“Stop throwing candy!” Lorenzo ordered. Liisa added: “You’re supposed to stop combat after exiting virtual reality. Furthermore, lollipops are an inefficient weapon to utilize.”
Lorenzo groaned, and facepalmed as Ritsu walked in, her attitude still agitated. “Keep observing quietly. Any further disruption will not be tolerated.”
Minerva swept through the devastated alleys of the simulated colony, and rounded the block to flank Mema-Ka, who at the time was making plans with Arrish. Elora blinked at the mention of the holy grail, not first realizing what he meant. That did not last long, as Horst then bounded off to confront Argent Wings with powerful concrete-cracking leaps while Raptor hoisted up Logic Diver’s battered chassis, and hoisted it up to his back with the support of the Multiple Arms system, like carrying a giant egg.
“B-Bweeh!” Elora yelped as she was lifted, but quickly realized the plan, and readjusted aim with the ABR once she was in position, covering Raptor’s blind spot.
Raptors then slid to the corner, the Markerlight readied for incoming movement, which turned out to be correct as Argo then rounded the corner, Gatling Gun spewing out death with every fifty thousand credit, custom-tooled cartridge at twelve thousand rounds per minute.
“No!” Elora screamed, and crouched down on her seat, hands on her head as she endured the horrible noise of bullets clanging against Raptor, and in turn reverberating on Logic Diver, akin to a bell. Raptor was unable to dodge due to the heavy load it was carrying. As a Heavy Frame, it managed to endure the assault, though it was left battered and full of circular dents due to major damage, as holes spewed out smoke. One of the Rocket Anchors was hit, halving the effectiveness of the system, and the central chassis had bent, causing a small risk to the Kattai nanomachines crunching the Frame in an improper angle instead of smoothly transitioning. However, Logic Diver was mostly spared from the fire, only incurring minor damage to the sides of the Frame’s armor.
Raptor fired with the Marker Light, and managed to hit Argo’s chassis due to the melee range of the encounter, marking the Frame for team Apple members and enabling better accuracy. Minerva acrobatically retreated after her assault, her speed unmatched in the war-torn arena, and Elora could only shiver as she heard Stella’s bloodcurdling scream, and muted her channel. “Engaging Argo! Raptor has taken heavy damage, but Argo’s marked!” She informed Team Apple’s channel, though Aurora had by this point muted Team Apple from her comms.
Griff then intercepted Argo as she was heading back, having placed itself at the crucial center of conflict, where the two fronts had conjoined. He sliced with the Trillium blade, managing to catch Argo by the tip of the Gatling Gun, severing the barrel in half. This was followed by a stab of the Multiform Rod’s spear, which struck Argo, heavily damaging the Frame’s chassis as it punched through the armor, nearly shattering her inner systems.
Horst, who had disengaged from the rest of team Apple, headed north to confront Ava.The Frame shot at Argent Wings with the Heavy Assault Gun, the bullets being sliced by the Vibroblade as Ava reacted with extreme agility. However, the heavy rounds still carried enough velocity that even when cut the split halves caused heavy dents in the Frame’s armor, bending one of Argent’s Cloaking Wings. Argent Wings returned fire with the Markerlights, which successfully landed on Horst. However, despite the attempt to flash Arrish (not like that, dammit), when Ava attempted her illusion tactics, Arrish’ sharp eye allowed him to follow the real one with the damaged wing past the duplicates, and parry the One-Winged Angle’s Vibroblade slash with the Bastion, cutting the shield in two and destroying it but giving Horst the crucial moment to counterattack as Argent Wings took a tactical retreat, like a hit-and-run hawk.
Meanwhile, on the western front, Bugatti had taken drastic measures, and given Sparks access to Cockroach and its drone control system. As a result, Guinevere may now control drones that are in the control range of Cockroach even if Guinevere itself is out of range. Then, he gave bold words to Stella, the Lilim’s scattered memories refocused as she was reminded not to
lose her way.The Steel Raven Lilim spread its proverbial wings: the Mother Goose was no longer walking forward, but instead taking longer strides, and leaned forward into a quarterback charge with the extended Bastion held before it right through the second megabuilding, scattering the pieces explosively. This was no clumsy colossus, but a terrifying titan, and it was coming right at Sleeping Thunder and the rest of team Apple.
However, Jake kept his cool under pressure, and activated the REAP system: tendrils formed from nanotechnology fired out and snatched Atty’s Plasma blade, absorbing the weapon technology into Angel Zero’s systems, fully replacing the Laser Blade. He fired upon Argo as the Frame was passing by, the heavy shots managing to connect on the Frame’s shoulder, causing major damage and punching a hole through the Extreme Boosters, disabling them. He then intercepted Mother Goose, as a cloud of obscuring smoke erupted around the giant Frame, blinding Stella while ensuring his own battlefield awareness was not hindered with Recon Drones. He managed to avoid the Shredder Shotgun blasts that came his way, only to be struck with the Bastion, causing the Frame to fall, leaving them open to a vicious slash of a Ripper Claw, rending the right arm and right leg of the the Frame and most of the torso chassis, causing it to creak as it fell apart, ending Jake’s mission in the virtual reality.
[Jake disconnected]
However, Stella’s rush wasn’t yet done, as Mother Goose launched a salvo of missiles at Sleeping Thunder, who also walked forward. The Arklight Thunder weapon system generated a low-yield electric field that detonated the missiles prematurely, reducing the damage by avoiding direct hits.
However, Aurora then prepared for a gambit that nobody could anticipate: she directed the rest of the electric charge to rearm Sleeping Thunder’s Particle Cannon back to full capacity: a risky maneuver that could easily blow up in Aurora’s face. However, she managed to give it just the right amount of voltage before its circuits were damaged, a calculation only someone capable of advanced engineering and out-of-the-box weapon design could accomplish. [Particle Cannon resisted malfunction]. Still, the Particle Cannon’s coils were smoking, indicating that the process wasn’t that safe. Still, it produced results, allowing Aurora to unleash a [Flash In The Dark]:
Sleeping Thunder, kept steady with stabilized legs, activated Thunder Fall, with all safety measures and inhibitors nullified. The first weapon to be unleashed was the full charge of the Particle Cannon, further overclocked into a devastating horizontal pillar of world-searing light:
The blast lasted for three seconds.
For the first second, Mother Goose’s Bastion held until it was destroyed.
For the next second, Guinevere’s Repair Drone jumped in to intercept the shot, followed by Mother Goose dropping the wrecked Bastion and attempting to block the beam with the palm of her free hand, destroying both.
For the third and final second, the blast had already began waning down, but not before leaving Mother Goose’s frontal armor plating melting from the aftermath, white-hot. The Particle Cannon, by the end, had also melted. [Particle Cannon malfunction]
This was then followed up with a power Moonbreaker railgun that punched through the melting armor, causing the Frame’s chassis to turn concave. Yet the mighty Mother Goose still held on, and raised it’s Rocket Hammer. The railgun itself also melted. [Moonbreaker malfunction].
Then came the Dragon Wing armor-piercing and incendiary missiles, which, akin to flaming serpents, exploded violently at Mother Goose, engulfing the giant Frame in flames and blowing open a hole in the Frame’s fortress-like leg armor, the Frame like a wicker man set ablaze in unholy ritual. Shiva then assisted Sleepy, delivering Marker Light fire in a double burst as Mother Goose pondered forward.
But the Frame still held on, the goliath yet to be bested by a barrage that would have taken down any other Frame. [Missile Launchers resisted malfunction.]
But of course, while Sleeping Thunder was primarily a long-range unit, it still possessed deadly Gatling Guns, the chambers spinning so fast when unleashing a storm of electrical bullets that the cylinders turned red, and nearly fell off. [Gatling Guns resisted malfunction]. The bullets had caused critical damage to Mother Goose’s exposed leg with assisted accuracy, and the Frame’s torso started to loudly creak and groan, unable to support the heavy upper body with one leg only. But Stella still held on, even during her fall: as the head of the hammer began to fall, Stella activated the rockets attached to the Weapon System, and it slammed right on the central head of Sleeping Thunder like a meteor from the heavens, staking its legs deep into the earth and flattening the core like a car in a compactor.
But just before impact and Aurora’s virtual death, Aurora had activated The Arklight Thunder’s Tesla field over maximum charge. It encased the arachnid Frame in a bright yellow bubble of arcing electricity, and the electricity spread through the damaged torso, reaching Stella. Her Lilim body was shocked by the insanely high amperes, reformatting the Lilim as Mother Goose exploded, taking Sleeping Thunder with it. Sleepy's heavy weaponry ammunition also detonated in a chain reaction so intensive and world-shattering that it actually caused the virtual reality itself, run by the most advanced computers in the galaxy, to stutter for a second due to lag. Shiva was caught partially in the explosion, blowing an arm and destroying the Multiform Rod that previously held it.
[Aurora disconnected]
[Stella disconnected]
However, even with Sleeping Thunder gone, her rage continued to linger in the battlefield like a wraith, its missiles seeking out team Mango like the grudge of a ghost.
The missiles flew towards the northern building, and sharply turned over it, the missiles having locked on to Cockroach through the obstacle thanks to Elora’s combat data. It was a moment that Bug couldn’t help but compare to the other time he came face to face with death in VR. Only now, it seemed so much more visceral, and
real as the HYDRA shells also came whistling down, the combined firepower of the missiles and shells carpet bombing his vicinity so heavily that the ground might as well have been made of perpetuating explosions instead of concrete.
But even in such a situation, as the Repair Drones blew up around him, and his Frame’s armor was broken down and scattered, Bugatti held steadfast against the calamity, his determination to survive like a flaring comet of passion. In the aftermath, the Cockroach was a mess: it’s limbs were scattered and bent out of shape, it’s exterior systems all smashed apart, and the entire area clouded by black smoke that slowly dissipated into the broken sky, leaving nothing but a multitude of craters in it’s wake. Yet, true to its namesake, the pilot and his core chassis surrounding him had managed to survive the near-impossible odds, his [Indomitable Will] having carried him through the Fire and Flames [Speed reduced to 1].
Argo was not as lucky: though Minerva was spared the wrath of the HYDRA shells, the Dragon Wing missiles nonetheless found their target, and after the [Genetically Engineered] [Clone] had dodged three super-speed missiles in a row the rest had caught up to her, resulting in the supremely fast Frame losing the arm holding the broken Gatling Gun as well as the left leg [Speed reduced by 4]. That was when Minerva realized who her opponent would be: a less-crippled Shiva.
