All alone in the pharmacy sat Max; sharpening a knife, readying himself for what was about to start. As the clock reached twelve, he raised his head towards the entrance, waiting for the rest of his team to arrive.
Noel stepped into the pharmacy, just a few minutes before midnight. Apparently she was the second to arrive after Max. Strange, she was already rather late. With her she carried a sledgehammer she had procured from the monoshoppe. She rose a brow at Max when she saw him fiddling with a small knife. “
"You’re bringing a knife against a robot?” She was somewhat astonished. Nariko wasn’t exactly going to die from blood loss. To her, that knife seemed about as useful as fighting the thing bare-handed. She sighed, hoping the others would bring more useful tools.
"Well, atleast it's something." Alice spoke up, appearing at the door behind Noel.
"So what's the plan? Cause I doubt sitting around here long is gonna help, obviously." She asked, looking over to Max as she kept a tight grip on her cutlass.
"We draw the robot out and deal with it, right?" Zachary appeared just after Alice had asked the question with his bow and what remained of the arrows from before. He looked around at the 'team' he was now a part of.
"Kept ya waitin, huh? I wouldn't be too surprised if she's already suspecting an attack on her given how we attempted dismantling one of her 'sisters', but we'll still need to find a way to lure her out of the room and beat her."Zach paused.
"At least, that's what I figure.""That's the easy part." Said Max, as he stood up, sliding his knife in his gun holster. He took a step towards the others with an aura of competence and urgency before continuing.
"We simply state that Aleecia is waiting for her outside. Nariko and her companions don't have access to the camera's during the night of carnage correct? Then that means that she will have no way of knowing whether Aleecia is actually waiting."“If she doesn’t come out, we’ll need to wait for the rescue team. Monokuma can open the door for us.” Noel chimed in. She had given up on talking sense into her teammates’ weapon choices.
“I don’t think Nariko would want to endanger Krista, so between the choices of fighting in there or fighting outside, we might be able to force her then. “ She sighed.
”So, does anyone have any bright ideas yet on how to wreck it?” She said cynically.
Zachary took a look around and noticed the same thing Noel had about their current arms. They were not well-equipped, sadly. Unfortunately, Zachary only really knew how to use a bow effectively, and he honestly didn't even know this place had sledgehammers. He should really pay attention while he randomly explored.
"...Well, it seems the majority of us are limited to the assumed weak points in the chassis she posses in terms of targetable areas, which means... we could try to have one or two of us draw the aggression from her while others focus on these points." after saying such, he realized it sounded like a general approach to fighting a tough monster in an MMO. Of course, they weren't going to just lose some gold or time if they died here.
"I'm not exactly fit for leading a squad into a serious battle though, one of you guys surely has an actual plan...right?"While the infinites talked among themselves, they could hear a certain Russian spy's voice come on through a paper cup.
"Ayy babe, we're all in position. I'm under you right now but it ain't no thang." Support team had positioned Denis in the intercom room, surrounded by a plethora of cups with strings attached to them. It was a crude system, but Denis was able to get Intel from support team and relay it to all the other teams. Since they knew Attack team was going to set up in the pharmacy, one cup was placed there. There was another set up like this in the dining room, but in a pinch, Denis could use the intercom to report a message to everyone.
"So now you have to save the other babes, maybe have a baby shower in a few months ehh?" Denis appeared to be asking the team to move towards Nariko's lair.
"The bear, babe, and politician should be waiting for you there."To say that Max was irritated by Denis' speech would be an understatement, he was starting to wonder whether the spy could actually hold a normal conversation at all. There's a time and place for jokes, and this was
not one of them. But max was not gonna let the crude announcement bother him for long, he had to answer Zachary's question.
"I have a plan, but we don't have time to explain it all right now, team R is waiting for us; Just follow my instructions and we'll beat Nariko." Max started walking towards the exit and held the door open for the rest.
"What are we waiting for?""Nothing, nothing. Let's get this over with..." Alice said to Max, before walking out of the room.
If Max was confident enough in his plan that he felt it didn't need to be explained, then power to him. Zach hoped that they wouldn't end up in a bad position because of it. "Lets hope this doesn't end in death or confetti." he sighed as he exited the room.
Noel was about as confident in Max's unexplained plan as she was in the tiny tool he was packing. Yes, she was talking about the knife. But if it came down to it, she'd just have to be sure it wasn't her neck on the line.
”I guess time's up, so lets do this.” she sighed about simultaneously with Zach. Honestly, she wouldn't mind confetti on the robot’s ‘death’. It'd be like a piniata; a mechanized, murderous piniata. With some luck there'd be candy as well.
She then opened the door of the pharmacy, letting everyone through before closing the door behind her. The walk to the morgue was almost dreadeningly short.
When they all got in position, they could see Rika and Cyrus at the other end of the hallway with their back to the door. Monokuma was running like a spring hair towards their position.
” Looks like a lot of the distraction teams are fighting already. Like bees valiantly protecting their hive.” Dr killgood was doing some mock panting before standing up straight.
”But we have to break into this hive and get all the sweet goodness out of it we can. And no, I'm not referring to Krista, I'm referring to my sweet, sweet daughter.” Monokuma gave the keypad a light tap, and the doors to Nariko's room gradually started to open. As they did, it revealed what could only be Nariko's carnage class chassis. Like Alexandria, the lower half of its body was that of a horse, but it got much stranger going up. Eight long, spider-like arms protruded out of it's back. Each one held a pitch black katana. Nariko's torso didn't have any arms attached to her shoulders, and the head was a cluster of a hundred or so eyes. Nariko spread out her arms, blocking the entire pathway. The group could see Krista behind her, chained at the ankle, unable to move from her spot by the wall. Nariko did not seem to be making any sudden movements. Monokuma had wisely chosen to slide in beside Cyrus and Rika to stay out of Nariko's line of sight.
Zachary sighed in relief upon seeing the hideous form of the Carnage Chassis.
“Oh, thank god it wasn’t anything scary. If it had been a skeleton or skeleton-like, I admit I might have fled in fear.” he told the group in a tone that made it very difficult to discern whether or not he was telling a joke or being serious.
“Well,” he turned to Max.
“About that plan...”Max nodded to Zach, “I want you to watch closely and fire at Nariko’s knees once you see an opening, the rest of us will provide that opening.” Over in a corner of the intersection stood a few buckets of water and a defibrillator which Max pointed towards. “Once we impede Nariko’s movement, we throw those water buckets at her and shock her to death. Do you think you can manage that?” He aimed the question at all of them.
Of course, Nariko wasn't going to just sit there and listen idly while the infinites discussed how to destroy her. The carnage sister broke into a charge as soon as Max finished his question. Fortunately, her close proximity didn't give her a lot of room to build up speed. But her arms were in motion, swinging all over the place. Her onyx blades circled her entire body in crescent swings. This created a barrier of blades that would mince anything that was foolish enough to stand in it's way.
"Oh, bloody hell- Move, move!!" Alice told the other three, taking sight of Nariko's approach as she quickly stepped back and broke off into a sprint to the carnage sister, intending to hold her off so the rest can work on the plan.
But who's terrible idea was it to talk about eliminating a target when they're right beside you?
Noel wasn’t stupid enough to charge on a robot bringing the whirlwind of death. Oh no. They needed a different plan.
“Back up! Retreat, damn it! Get to the intersection and spread out!” The reporter barked the commands, then started to walk away from the spider-centaur-samurai-bot. They would have a much better chance of success at the intersection. The other hallway was far wider, to start with. They could actually attack her from different sides there as well. Also, if Nariko got too far away from her room, there was a realistic chance the rescue team could sneak in without being spotted. All in all, it was the best option they had by a county mile. Whose idiotic plan involved charging after seeing this?
She wasn’t certain if Max’s plan was all that good. Especially now that he had stated his exact intentions. However, they did indeed need Zach to cripple the enemy before they could make their move. Getting close was a death sentence to be sure.
Not desiring a cruel fate of becoming pulp at the hands of a spider samurai, Zachary was already backing off when the thing started to rush them. He didn’t feel like it needed to be said that spinning blades of death were likely to inflict death to those they captured.
“I’m pretty sure there’s a saying in the military about plans never surviving first contact with the enemy!” he shouted.
“Survive, then worry!”Luckily, Zach was one of the people who enjoyed playing CoD games story modes. Man they had cool quotes.
Alice weighed maybe just over a hundred pounds and held a single curved sword. Nariko likely weighed at least half a ton, and had eight swords. No matter how you looked at it, it was physically impossible for her to stop the robot from charging. Alice was instantly forced on the defensive by Nariko's harrowing blows. The recon found herself bouncing between strikes, nearly getting decapitated on several occasions. Some of the swings came so close that her skin got cut. This was especially true for her legs, which she couldn't fully protect. Had Alice not tried to circle the carnage sister she might have fared worse. Nariko might have had the weakest carnage class chassis, but she was still in the same league of robotic monstrosities that killed the infinite knight. The only reason Alexandria was so easy to deal with was that they had the advantage of surprise as well as knowing her kill switch. They had none of these with Nariko.
The blade typhoon kept on spinning, though Nariko's hooves moved with purpose. She appeared to be running straight for the buckets and defibrillator.
But while Nariko and the others were busy with everything, Max had silently positioned himself away from the attention of Nariko, who was seemingly targeting the defibrillator and buckets while slashing at Alice. That Recon was as crazy as she was brave, and it gave Max the perfect opportunity to observe and assess what the carnage chassis was capable off.
“Zach, stand behind me, now’s your time; I’ll create your opening.” He whispered while keeping his eyes locked on Nariko. With a simple move, he took hold off the tip of his knife and got ready to throw it.
“Move Alice!” Alice only had a small window to dodge, but Max was confident in her abilities, and so he threw the knife at Nariko’s front right knee, forcing her to guard it with some of her blades and leaving the other knee semi-exposed. And in his final move, Max took a step to the side, revealing Zach who had hopefully already nocked his arrow.
Throwing caution to the wind and hoping this plan of Max’s would end in their victory, Zachary fearlessly stood up, bow in his hand and arrow ready to fly just as the cop had moved out of the way, hoping it would strike true.
Perhaps what the reporter had been most surprised about was that Nariko seemed intent on destroying the water and the defibrillator. That meant that she did see those tools as a threat! As she rushed over, she was forced to drop her hammer in order to secure one bucket of water and the defibrillator. That was all she could really carry away on her own should their attempt at stopping her fail right now.
As soon as Max told her to move, Alice quickly rolled out of Nariko's way, leaving an opening for the cop's knife. Noticing that the carnage sister was charging to the tools needed to destroy her, the recon quickly grabbed one of the buckets of water with her free hand.
Unfortunately, the vortex of blades surrounding Nariko knocked aside Max's dagger like it was nothing. Even Zachary's arrow was deflected before it could strike the robot. Their projectiles weren't heavy enough to provide much resistance. It was not like when Alice charged the thing and used her whole body to deflect incoming strikes.
While Alice and Noel were able to secure a few buckets of water, Nariko would get what remained. She used one of her swords and thrust it under the handles of the two remaining buckets. Once that was done, she lifted the buckets off the ground and turned around, charging down the hall. She seemed to be ignoring the infinites, continuing to swing her swords like a fanatic. But when she passed under a sprinkler head, one of her upper most arms would take a swing at it, soaking her and the floor under the sprinkler. If the attack team's goal was to get Nariko to move away from the morgue, they were succeeding. She appeared to be heading into the intersection.
Nariko’s actions were odd to say the least. She had completely doused herself in water and was now running away from the morgue. Wasn’t the plan going a little too smoothly right now? Also, with the robot doused, the water seemed unnecessary. However, with the floor wet like this. It was possible that the shock would conduct to others who she didn’t wish harm. Noel decided to lower the bucket to the floor. Instead she rushed back to where she had left her hammer. She probably couldn’t swing it well while holding the defibrillator, but that wasn’t a concern at the very moment.
Zachary’s attempt at disabling the robot had failed, but it seems they had managed to succeed in moving her away from the morgue.
“Well done, team?” he had let his guard down and had said this rather quiet-like, so only someone next to him would have even heard it. Really, he was confused. Why did this damned robots do random stuff like this? It made it hard to predict them, and they were already at the advantage by being murder robots.
The archer resigned to the fact that this must have been some sort of trap. It likely had something to do with the water the robot was throwing about the place, but that could also be a diversion too. Ah! Too much thinking!
“Try your best to not get wet.” he quietly tried to warn his allies as he readied another arrow. Unfortunately, without someone providing an opening, it seemed his bow wasn’t even going to do what little it possibly could. Tfw no tank.
"Right. Atleast now the other team can start on the rescue." Alice nodded, setting the bucket of water in her hand down before walking over to where Nariko had fled.
"However, we still need to destroy her. So, anyone got ideas?"While everyone stayed by the morgue, high and dry, Alice was walking towards the robot. Nariko had turned around to face the infinites, and wasn't swinging her blades anymore. All of her arms were spread out, as if to block access to the hallway from the intersection. Save for her right upper-most arm, which sheathed its sword. Once her hand was empty, Nariko hopped with her front legs and plunged her fist into the ceiling. When her front hoofs slammed back into the earth, the hospital shook. But more alarming than that was the giant black cable she had pulled out of the ceiling. The lights behind her flickered as Nariko yanked on the cable. Once she was satisfied with where the cable was, the carnage sister placed as many of her swords as she could fit around the cable and attempted to saw through it. The infinites could see sparks leaping off of the cable as Nariko sawed through it. Meanwhile, the water on the floor was making a bigger and bigger puddle, to the point where they may not have a dry place to stand in a few minutes. There wasn't much time to deal with Nariko's trap.
Zachary wasn’t bright enough to understand exactly what Nariko was doing, if it was beyond attempting to electrocute the A-team. However, he felt uneasy as he watched the robot sawing through the cord. It could be misplaced, but his gut said that that was bad. Perhaps they should stop her? Only, his bow was kinda ineffectively as long as she wasn’t distracted. It was very likely she’d just cut down anything he fired at her. He couldn’t hurt her like that. So, then, what should he do?
Wait, I might not be able to do any damage, but perhaps someone else can? If playing the tank is what my team needs, then…
Zachary advanced. He didn’t have to, what with him having a bow and all, but it’d be best this way. He switched his role. He still had arrows left, albeit a limited number of them, and he’d use them not with the intent of harming, but distracting or irritating his target. If Nariko shifted her attention to him, then others who could do more damage with an opening could do some work. Hopefully. He’d really need to be careful, though. He didn’t have enough arrows to blindly fire, and if he wasn’t threatening what little weak points his arrows would actually harm, then she’d probably just ignore him.
“Here I am!”Zachary fired an arrow right for the robot’s knee. It wasn’t going to miss.
Meanwhile, max was trying to come up with a different plan, but as his brain continued searching, Max kept bumping into mental walls. Nothing seemed to stick, and a certain dread took hold of his body as he realised that his mind became empty and numb. It started to look like they had lost, Nariko was going to win and kill not only krista, but his entire team as well.
And then Zach fired his arrow; with no clear intention but to fight, a hopeless battle with an unbeatable opponent. And yet it inspired Max; screw logic! Screw the plans! All he had to do was fight, fight without thinking, fight without fear, fight with courage. If his brain couldn’t find a way, his body would. If his body couldn’t find a way, his team would. And so, Max picked up his knife, and when Zach released his next arrow, Max would be charging after it, right at Nariko.
Noel was shocked as Nariko revealed her odd plan. Surely, it would kill them all, but the robot would not survive it either. That said, she had many spare bodies. Ultimately, this setup only allowed really one mode of action. Nariko had left herself much more vulnerable. And her teammates were already attacking. Noel hang back a second longer than they did, waiting for them to draw her attention. Then, she started rushing herself. She dropped the defibrillator and prepped the hammer for a large swing. There was no time for hesitation or caution, it was hammer time. Nariko was going to become scrap metal.
Seeing Nariko using their plan as a trap meant that there was no other way to hurt her for Alice, as the recon backed up from the carnage sister, silently hoping that someone could figure out what to do at that point. Then, as the rest of the group suddenly charged at the robot, she realized there was only one way to destroy Nariko now. Fight. So, charging at the carnage sister after Noel, Alice went in for a strike.
It seemed like Zachary's gambit was spurring on the other infinites to act. She was able to deflect his arrows with a single blade. But then Max jumped in with his dagger. His reckless attack was blocked with two katanas. Nariko was not going to let such an easy target pass her up however, and retracted three of her sword arms to stab at max. But her katanas were batted out of the way by Noel, who was coming in at full speed. With one arm on the cable, and her last remaining Katana weighed down with buckets of water, there was a momentary opening for an attack. This was something Alice took full advantage of , and drove her sword into one of the joint's on Nariko's legs. The robot seemed to creek and groan like a howling beast, and stumbled backwards. The infinites jumped backwards as the carnage class chassis flailed its weapons. Nariko was still a threat, but they could see her leg wasn't working quite right. Her leg occasionally spurt out blue hydraulic fluid. It wasn't much, but the infinite's morale increased knowing that the monster could be harmed. If it could bleed, it could die. They just had to keep on fighting, and hope the other teams were successful.
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