Golden Gate Empire: Dreams of Grandeur [IC | PG-16]

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

 
Suddenly, the two hooks that had dug into Kai's back had dragged her down into the abyss, the sound of clanging chains accompanying her forced descent. She fearfully looked over her shoulder in anticipation for the worst, and sure enough, she saw that her whole body being pulled into what looked like an ocean of molten steel below. Kai was almost certain that she'd died, either from her flesh deteriorating from the infernal temperatures, drowning due to her lack of ability to swim or even from bones and vital organs being ripped away for her attempt to save herself. But no; instead of any of that happening, a fourth threat to Kai's life presented itself in the form of a lone isle of sorts embedded with spikes. Needless to say they penetrated her body in several places, but there were no lethal blows and her healing factor would keep her from bleeding out. However, she wasn't safe from danger... far from it. In truth, this was only the beginning.

 

...

 

Meanwhile, in the real world, Rawal would see that Kai had taken no action to save herself from the throw that his Ur-Ghlaak had made, and yet, as he unsummoned the other creatures that he'd summoned in battle, he'd see her body moving slower and slower through the air, and eventually start travelling less horizontally and more towards the ground. Whatever it was that caused its descent, whether it be divine intervention or otherwise, Kai would've technically been rendered out of bounds if it had happened just the slightest nanosecond later. After she softly landed on her feet, Kai stepped forward. And then she took another step. And then another. And another. Kai would continue on until she got close to Rawal, who may find that the rest of her was lolling around akin to a zombie.

 

There should be no mistake; the Mass Madness Spell that Rawal cast on Kai was still inflicted upon her. But it was evident that she was fighting through its effects...

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

 

A few more arrows and the turret had come online. Jack did a quick run-through over the systems of the turret, seeing how much she can learn about their function before she needed to use it. She found a camera hooked up to the turret for aiming, and brought up the camera's feed to her HUD. This working out well so far. However, it wasn't to last. Jack looked up and spotted the Administrator, or at least saw him disappear. Jack held her head for a moment, blinking rapidly to clear away distortion. He was real. The damage he caused was real. This is all real. Jack reminded herself, shaking her head out for a moment. She felt a light vibration in the floor, like something very heavy being dropped. Or rather, something very heavy jumping away.

 

Jack completed her run-down of the turret's systems. A lot of the technology she didn't understand at all, which was to be expected. However, the weapon's function gave her an idea. Taking four more arrows, Jack inserted them near the turret's gun. Truth be told she had infected the turret with enough nanites to take it over for as long as she needed to, but she had a different idea with these nanites. The nanites generated by Jack's suit existed in a more quantum state, which allowed them to phase into technology and run through the circuits along with the system's energy. That's how the nanites took over whatever Jack wanted to hack. However, most of what the nanites did was on a more automatic state; they ran through a system's circuits naturally once to give a map of the system, which was translated by Jack's suit into functions. From there Jack could send commands and the suit would translate those commands into how the energy would need to flow within the circuits in order to achieve those new commands. It was complex, but it worked. All of this is to say that Jack did not normally have any direct command over the nanite's direction, and to do what she was doing now took a lot of effort to force them to a specific path.

 

Jack led the nanites she fed into the system into the turret's firing mechanism; grouping them together tightly with the energy that would be converted into the weapon's main attack. If Jack's theory was correct, the nanites should travel with the weapon's beam and insert themselves into whatever's shot. While this functioned the same as her bow and arrow; the turret would be firing four arrow's worth of nanites in one shot. If the alien had the technology to remove Jack's nanites from his pole arm with the rest of his suit, then it might work better to beat his tech with numbers rather than precision.

 

However, that wasn't a solution to the problem at hand: Where was the alien? Jack remembered the system she had scanned, and knew there were three other turrets outside the control room that could be taken over. Either way, Jack didn't want to be standing still while there was an invisible alien prowling around. Jack looked around, and decided the best course of action would be getting better coverage for the room. Firing her tethers towards the ceiling, Jack would engage the motors on her suit to pull her in, but doing so to swing and throw herself towards the North East passage. If she can get this one, she would have a good chance at covering the room. She just needed to get there.

[Hälō]

"Ah, right. That's a thing we're doing isn't it? Forgot that the mythical snake monster was just a brief detour in our happy fun mortal combat."

 

As XIII watched the other girl, her perfect lips curled into a slight frown. Lace knew for certain that she didn't want to kill Bethany, but would she be able to stand against her ice powers without fighting at full strength?

 

Hearing Bethany sigh, Lace proceed to analyze the abilities Bethany had displayed in the battle against Merl. Though the storm Bethany seemed to be able to generate was troubling, what she really need to watch for was her potential to freeze her opponents and the spear of ice that she was able to summon behind the snake demon...

 

"Alright, superhero, let's get right to it." Bethany's voice suddenly shook Lace from her trance, and was quickly followed by a icy wind that shot forward towards the white haired swordsman. As the winds washed over Lace, her form would flicker before vanishing to reveal that they had struck an afterimage left behind from Lace's Helter-skelter technique.

 

"Superhero..." Lace repeated Bethany's words silently from behind one of the black pillars that surrounded the pool were the cauldron had been resting in the center of the room. What did she mean by that? They both were more than human, right? Why was Lace the superhero...

 

Lace's eyes narrowed slightly as she glanced down at her right shoulder to see that it was frosted over in a thin layer of ice. Is this what they meant when they said someone was "given the cold shoulder"? She pondered this for a split second, her breathing silent.

 

"Doesn't matter..." Ripping her thoughts away from Bethany's words and the cold shoulder she had been given, Lace focused herself on the battle, causing her demeanor to visibly harden. "I can't allow myself to be frozen, and I can't kill her either..." She noted to herself as her combat instinct kicked in and her mind began mapping the battle field to formulate a plan. "There!" Her grip tightened around her blade as XIII decided on her next move.

 

Without a word, Lace broke from the shadows of the pillar, using her unconstrained speed dash to towards Beowulf, which was on the opposite side of the room. As she moved towards her weapon, Lace drew he straight sword and slashed the air with it's glowing blade, sending four crescents of razor sharp energy moving towards Bethany at varying angles. This was a test of Bethany's ability, and with any luck she'ed either reveal any defensive techniques she had up her sleave to block or a new trick to stop Lace from seizing an advantage...

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Of course, by the moment the Administrator ignored her in favor of Jack, Angelica almost erupted in anger and went ahead to recklessly attack him. However, she managed to restrain herself at the last moment, and gave her best effort to calm herself down. She had been too annoyed and irritated throughout the whole gauntlet, and it was taking its toll on everything. It's not even the first time she had to calm herself so she could focus on her goal. Relishing fully on her pride was fun and all, but there's a time and place for everything.

 

As the Administrator disappeared, Angelica used her thrusters to fly away toward the southwestern area of the room. She kept note on the spear that was still stuck on the wall. She considered on utilizing it somehow, but her hunch felt that it might not be the best idea with the very low probability that it could even backfire on the Administrator. She sent out another two of her tassels outside of the control room area, finding things that they could latch into, and using them to melt and control some parts of the outer wall, she formed several salvos of missiles using them. The missiles were made by nanititzed scraps and whatnot, and so Angelica had full control of their trajectory. She was unsure about whether as nanites they would be able to harm the Administrator's armor, but the explosions and sheer number might weaken it decently. And furthermore, with some luck, she might even be able to continue attacking even after the missiles hit due to their nature.

 

That was her contingency plan though. Right now she was trying to second guess who would be attacked first. There were three directions where the turrets came from, and Angelica was in a different position from them. Sooner or later, the Administrator would either attack them or attack Angelica, and so the android readied herself to prepare a strike for when any sign of attack could be registered by her sensors. Plugging herself in towards the wall, she focused herself so she would be capable of firing an immediate series of lasers towards which direction the Administrator would appear next, and if he ended up appearing to attack her instead, she might be able to use the excess energy on a localized blast to temporarily mess with him while she herself retreated.

 

The moment he revealed himself by attacking, Angelica started to launch her series of shots towards the rough direction her sensors noticed his movements in. Any direct hit might shed some more light on the nature of her adversary here.

 

---

[Tesability Black]

~Rawal's POV~

"...why won't you stop while you still live," Rawal snarled as he watched his opponent slow then catch herself in the air, slowly walking towards him in an attempt to reach him while his words remain without translation.

This girl keeps reminding me of him. I can't even be on another world without being reminded of that cursed man, can I? Shaking his head of the demons from his past he'd prefer not to be reminded of, Rawal turned his head towards the white Ur-Glaahk, nodding towards it before the unusual bipedal creature lunged forward, grabbing Kai once more before launching her back once more.

Disorient her and make sure she keep being pushed back towards the line.

Well, someone's pushy today.

I do not want to hear your sass, Talis-Eye.

Creating telepathic bursts all around Kai to make it near impossible to tell what direction she was heading towards, Talis-Eye used their power to not only push Kai back towards the line to force a ringout, but also spun her in her place in the air several times to keep her from having a good idea of which direction is forward and which way she should go...

~Talis-Eye's POV~

And I had hoped to have an ally on the outside, the Eyebeast thought only to themselves, main eye facing away from Rawal to allow an annoyed look to appear on their face. Even the best-laid plans can find themselves with a dagger in their backs...

[Dad]

Underground Network

 

Above the Administrator, Jack took to the ceiling, and made her way over to the northeast turret.  What would have spelled doom for the Administrator was relieved when Angelica decided to move away from the Pyrus Staff that had been driven into the wall behind her.  A bit of breathing room was exactly what he needed, in order to derive a plan.  

 

The biggest problem was neither Angelica nor Jack.  Rather, the power still running through the entirety of his facility somehow managed to be the biggest inconvenience he could face.  The only way to assure victory now, was to cut off the power for the entire building.  But is that what Angelica or Jack expected of the Administrator?  He couldn't risk making a mad dash towards the control room.  Rapid movements would give him away, not to mention doing so was very obvious and extremely reckless.  There had to be another way.  He knew his ship better than anyone else.  So if he could reach the power supply. .  .

 

The Administrator dropped from the wall, snatching his Pryus Staff from the wall, and purposely revealing himself.  The turrets slowly rotated onto his position, and locked onto him.  He snarled beneath his mask, before retreating through the lower entryways from which Jack and Angelica climbed up previously.  There were not turrets left active on the floor below; they had already been locked out.  Now it was a waiting game.  If Angelica and Jack chose to chase the Administrator, they would have to hope they didn't get lost, or worse:  surprised.  If they let him run free, he posed even greater risk if he reached the power supply.  The end result would be the same.  Either Jack and Angelica would die, or they all would.

 

He smashed his Pyrus Staff's blunt end into the ground of the metal shaft below the Control Room, so that it echoed up to the floor above.  He taunted Jack and Angelica, as he began sprinting towards the center of the Network.  

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

 

There was a loud slam in the room, and Jack paused in front of her turret to see the alien grabbing his staff. Her turret rotated onto his position, but he was too fast and quickly made his escape from the room they were in. If these turrets were too slow to track him, then they were of no use to her. But where was he going? Jack stood there for a moment, holding her breath for any sign of movement. Moments later, there was a loud banging from what sounded a floor below them. He had the upper hand in the fight; there was no way he was just running away.

 

"Get off the floor," Jack told Angelica. Whether she listened or not, Jack pointed her active laser turret's beam at the space where Angelica stood. The beam lanced out, filled with an entire host of nanites. The beam struck the floor and melted through much of the metal, but the result was as Jack wanted; a big wave of bright red circuit paths exploded across the floor from where the laser had hit. Jack shut down the nanites inside the turret and the machine powered down again, but she was too busy scanning any systems in the hallway below. As many nanites as Jack had just pumped into the system, they would still be spread too thin to really take control of any turrets or major defenses, but at the least she could use any sensors that she could fine. With luck, Jack was able to find a camera and fed its feed to her HUD, watching as the alien sprinted down the hall, but to god knows where. Jack shut down the nanites she fed into the station, and the bright circuit paths all vanished.

 

"He's running away," Jack announced. walking over to the hall that he had fled down. "He had the upper hand against us, so he's not retreating. It's either a trap, or there's something in this hell-hole that he wants to use against us. Probably both." Jack looked around and back at the turrets. "You made those shitty dog-bots, right? Make something with those turrets if you want; he seemed scared of that sheet. Either way, I'm gonna go after him."

 

Jack paused at the doorway and looked back at Angelica. "And just so we're clear, your ass is mine once this piece of sheet is dealt with. And before you get any bright ideas with those lasers, remember," Jack held up one of her arrows as if to make the point more clear. "Any of your toys are my toys." 

 

Jack jumped down to the path that she knew the alien had taken, and began to sprint in that direction as quietly as she could. He had a head start, but with any luck she could reach his hiding spot before the trap is set.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

 

Kai continued her slow, zombie-motion forward path for a brief moment, as the Ur-Glaahk rushed her position and tried to once again grab her and throw her away again. This time, however, it had missed its mark, with Kai soaring over its tail in a single, powerful bound, before landing on her hands and feet, standing back up and continuing on her merry way in the same zombie-motion as before. It was here that she was barraged by psychokinetic pulses that were presumably aimed to keep her back, but she powered through them, albeit resulting in a more zigzag path that she would've ultimately taken.

 

...

 

Between her one-track mind of pressing forth and the severe multitude of psychokinetic pulses raining down on it and trying to throw it off, it almost seemed as though Kai would wind up walking straight past Rawal anyway and keep going. But all of a sudden, she caught peripheral vision of him again just as she made one last turn, and as she realized she did indeed inadvertently walk right past him, the blood vessels in her eyes thickened, and the irises and pupils shrunk to the point that they were barely visible. She hadn't moved a muscle for about five seconds since then, but out of nowhere, Kai charged straight for Rawal, picked him up from behind and soared six hundred feet or so into the air with him in tow. Finally, Kai turned Rawal around and looked him straight in the eyes.

 

"You really expect me to die to someone or something else while you take the funking credit for it?! Tch, you really are a weak-minded piece of sheet!" Kai spat as she pointed her shotgun right at Rawal's gut, while still holding him by the chest area of his robe with one hand, "Now then, there's one thing I want to ask of you before I shove you into the gates of hell itself and one thing only. What... the hell was that... that you cast on me... and what was it supposed to do?"

 

No doubt Kai's trigger finger would get closer and closer to actually pulling the trigger; and trying to resist the temptation was strenuous on Kai now that she was falling further and further into insanity. But she staved off on that temptation for now, if only on the off-chance Rawal would be willing to give out that one critical piece of information that she needed to know. Of course, that was assuming he'd rather spit it out already over taking it with him to whatever grave would be dug for him...

[Tesability Black]

~Rawal's POV~

It was mostly momentum that lifted him off his feet, the sudden rise from behind into the air as the halfbreed behind him grabbed him from the back of his robes as he rose higher and higher into the air.

He was guided by someone other than the Eyebeast and that unnerved the Shaper, though he did not struggle to avoid falling early.

...rip...

Uh, oh.

The minor sound of fabric from the combined weight of himself and his gear was already starting to become heard before Kai turned him around in her grip and tried to look him dead in the eyes while speaking words he did not understand. She shifted her grip, holding him with one hand and shoved one end of her strange Thorn Baton into his stomach as she continued to speak, still not understanding a word being said. Why is Talis-Eye not telling me what's being said? Did I accidentally create a limit in their abilities?

While he felt no point to the weapon, he did hear the thunder earlier, and even that much sound at point blank could inflict a lot of damage.

...rip...

...rip...

...Rip...

...RIP!

The front of his robes ripped themselves from him, a handful of extremely thick and padded cloth remaining in the angel's hand as he fell from her grasp, falling at a fast pace. Thankfully for all, he was still wearing what looked to be an undershirt and pants, so no one still saw what he actually looked like without clothes. He braced himself for the fall, steeling himself to meet with the blackness of death...

...but he didn't connect to the ground.

Did you really think I would let you die that easily?

Rawal's descent was slowed as he felt several gusts of winds wrap around and past him, aimed towards the half-angel above him in an attempt to push her past the upper limit of the arena...

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

"Tch, he's running away."

 

Really annoyed seeing what the Administrator ended up doing, Angelica had to calm herself down again before she could give pursue. Or would that really be the best way to approach this? It's best to know where he's going next first after all. Before she could do anything about that though, Jack's voice reached her sensors.

 

"Get off the floor,"

"Eh?"

 

While at first she dismissed Jack's order, she then noticed that her opponent fired a blast towards her position just in time for her to dodge it. That was annoying.

 

"He's running away. He had the upper hand against us, so he's not retreating. It's either a trap, or there's something in this hell-hole that he wants to use against us. Probably both. You made those shitty dog-bots, right? Make something with those turrets if you want; he seemed scared of that sheet. Either way, I'm gonna go after him."

 

Angelica pouted. Did that wench just insulted her dogs? Yet another mark for the big book of "why Jack should get the ass-beating of her life". She presented a fair point however, and Angelica begrudgingly followed her instruction. Using some of the hidden nanite missiles to connect herself into the turrents, Angelica proceeded to study them and gave them some mobility, and turned them to the rough shape of canines, just to spite Jack's lack of taste in cutesy constructs.

 

"And just so we're clear, your ass is mine once this piece of sheet is dealt with. And before you get any bright ideas with those lasers, remember,  any of your toys are my toys."

"And any of yours are mine too. You're worse at this than my siblings."

 

Saying that, she let Jack to have a head start while Angelica got herself a few bots to follow her quietly, while she herself decided to go on the same general direction as them, just outside. She still had the turretdogs and missiles on standby and watching, and she would notice it fast the moment there were any oddities going on.

 

---

[Dad]

The Network

 

The Admin could hear Jack and Angelica chasing him.  That was all he could have hoped for really.  There was only one place he could be sure he had the biggest advantage.  And as he entered the center of the Network, he stopped, before two enormous blast doors.  He stood before them, looking the doors up and down, as he awaited Jack to be in his visual range.  Once he was sure she could see him, he slammed his Pyrus Staff into the ground twice, as tendrils lashed out from beneath his shoulder pads.

 

Beneath the staff, an almost invisible circular lock opened, drawing the staff just slightly into the ground.  The tendrils on the Admin's shoulders were injected into the walls on either side of the blast doors, as the Pyrus Staff was locked into the ground.  With the three locks prepared, the Administrator slowly raised his helmet, revealing just his jaw line and mouth.  He almost appeared to be--

 

The locks clicked, as he spoke an unintelligible language, and dawned his mask again.  That was when the entirety of the Network began to rumble.  The doors creaked opened with heavy dragging, as alarms blared--loudly--throughout the facility.  The Administrator withdrew the Pyrus Staff from the lock on the ground, and the tendrils on his shoulder retracted.  He turned his attention to his left wrist, where he moved his fingers over a holographic panel, silencing a single set of alarms.  They were replaced with more shrill alarms, as Angelica and Jack would notice the light around them shrinking, and minimizing itself to the point where only the Blast Doors entryway had shown light now.  Behind Angelica and Jack, the walls were slowly closing, the shutters and vents creaked shut, and there was now but one direction for the contestants to go:

 

The Missile Bay.

 

The Administrator crossed the threshold of the Missile Bay, not looking behind him to see if Angelica and Jack followed.  It wasn't as if they had a choice.

 

---

 

The Missile Bay

 

The floor was miles wide.  Stepping into the Missile Bay was like entering a football stadium.  The walls were vast, and incredibly tall; they towered more than two-hundred feet high.  Above them, large metallic doors were just barely opened.  If Angelica and Jack observed the exit doors above, they would see that the Missile Bay was several miles below ground, nothing but darkness above.  The cavern in which they had escorted to in order to reach the Network, was more extensive than even the Grand Canyon, and it still managed to hold the entirety of the A.W. Underground Network.

 

The stone floor of the Missile Bay was lined with large rounded blast plates, and there were one-hundred and eighty four of those blast plates in total.  Each one could be removed remotely to reveal a shaft for a missile that was as tall as the Missile Bay itself.  The weapons below these metal plates were not simply missiles, nor were they nuclear warheads.  Rather, they contained a special brand of alien tech that would do far more damage in a shorter period of time.  Their explosive package did exist, and its radius was enough to wipe out small cities at a time.  However, their design was far more intricate than that.  

 

The walls were lined with black lead, a sign of appreciation for Earth's few valuable precious metals.  At the highest four corners of the Bay, an enormous floodlight would provide ample vision for the three combatants to use.  And finally, at the most northern end of the bay, a single command console awaited the Administrator's touch.

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qumSPlU_fWw

 

Jack's running slowed down to a walk as she spotted that the alien had stopped. He seemed to be looking down in Jack's direction, but turned to face a large door in front of him. Slamming his staff into the ground, tendrils lashed out from under his armor and injected into the walls. He removed the mask of his helmet, and appeared to speak into something. Security; he was opening the gate. Jack readied her bow, and without a word knocked an arrow, a few more in her off hand. As she began to pull the string back, the lights began to dim, and the walls behind Jack and Angelica slowed closed with barely any sound. The lights around the door that the alien crossed through remain brightly lit. He was herding them in there.

 

Jack watched the alien move slowly, and prepared to fire a shot. However, she lowered the arrow a second time. No, they weren't a good position; the walls behind them were closing, and if she started the fight now they wouldn't have room to fight. Jack growled under her breath. She needed to get in that room first, and figure out what she can do from there. However, Jack kept the arrows in her hands, placing two in each palm, the points sticking out from between her fingers. For now, she needed to get into that room.

 

Jack ignored what Angelica would do, and began to sprint towards the opening of the blast doors. She didn't have time to check for other security or traps, though she was certain she would be running straight into something. Either way she didn't have a choice, and she figured the best way to trigger a trap was to do so knowingly. Jack sprinted through the threshold of the doors, prepared to raise her arms above and behind her to fire the tethers at the place on the wall above the massive blast door, so that the moment she entered the room, she would be pulling herself up and onto the wall.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"sheet!"

 

Angelica was frustrated that she had lost any way to regroup with her bots and missiles now as the walls behind her started to enter lockdown. With how fast the entire thing was closing in on her, she had no choice but to continue her pursuit, She followed Jack and the Administrator with much zeal and frustration as she was forced to enter the tunnel earlier, and as Jack thethered herself as soon as she entered the next room, Angelica only chose to just break in - revealing a gigantic, miles-wide space beyond it. Only darkness seemed to exist above them. Below them, under the stone-like floors, Angelica's sensors detected an overwhelming amount of warheads stored. For a moment she wondered just what was the Administrator thinking about doing now, and...whether she was capable of utilizing those warheads for her own purpose. It was interrupted however, as her sensors also picked up something peculiar on the far north side of the room. It seemed like...a switch? From this range she couldn't confirm anything so Angelica went to jet as fast as she could towards the thing. Her blaster was readied - as soon as she was in range and capable of identifying the object truly as some sort of switch, Angelica would fire a blast towards the system, hopefully avoiding setting off whatever was it hooked up on.

 

---

[Dad]

The Admin

 

As he entered the Missile Bay, the Administrator was pleased.  He hadn't used this facility in a long time.  He had to make sure the sealing doors far above the initial blast doors were open and ready for use, if he was going to be launching anything this evening.  However, before he could open the sealing doors near the surface world, the Android, Angelica, made a quite daring move.  She swooped in as fast as she could, and destroyed the local command board for the Missile Bay.  This would have been more in her favor if there were no other ways to arm the missiles below.  But now, unfortunately for all three of the entities inside the Missile Bay, there was no way to open the sealing doors at the surface level except by manual force.  And that required use of the Administrator's own armor.

 

This meant that any missile launched would explode before it reached the atmosphere, and would cook alive everything inside of the Network.  That was unfortunate, but the Admin didn't seem to mind.  He turned on a dime, glaring beneath his helm at the android.

 

"Fool," he clicked with his tongue.  He snarled at the android, paying no attention to the flying Jack.  "I will bury you alive in this place."

 

With a swipe on his right wrist, the Admin's console appeared again.  He walked to the center of the missile bay, standing beside a single rounded plate.  He moved his fingers carefully, as a single, armed missile emerged from the ground.  The shell of the missile was made with an otherworldly black metal, deeper, and darker than anything on earth.  Its physical warhead package was small, compared to that of nuclear warheads.  But the Administrator seemed confident behind the power of this payload. 

 

"A single Archburgh missile is enough to turn your largest cities to molten rubble.  What do you think it will do when it hits the sealing doors above?"

 

The Administrator placed a palm against the side of the missile, tendrils from his armor latching into pre-placed sockets in the missile's shell.  

 

"You Earthlings.  You don't think very much, do you?" he said, removing his hand and withdrawing the tendrils to his suit.  An alarm began to blare, as the four floodlights in the corners of the missile bay began to flash in ten second intervals.  "Because you don't think, I'll explain it to you."

 

He placed his Pyrus Staff into the center of the Missile Bay, where it latched into the ground, and anchored itself in place.  Slowly, one by one, each missile hatch on the floors of the Missile Bay opened, revealing one hundred and eighty four Archburgh missiles.  "When this missile reaches the sealing doors, some miles above, it will detonate.  The explosion will cause the Archburgh missiles at your feet to detonate in response.  Their combined force will turn this Network into a container for the sun.  You will die here.  I will die here.  And the ending result of the removal of the Network will result in a chain reaction so large, that I cannot possibly predict the blast radius.  Everything immediately above and beneath the Network, will be reduced to ash."

 

The Administrator brandished his wrist blades once more, and challenged Angelica this time.  "Come.  Let us have one last, glorious battle."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Of course it wouldn’t be that easy, Bethany lamented, this girl she was facing had reflexes and speed to spare. While Bethany was just...Bethany. How would she compete with that?
…
By being utterly ridiculous and stupid, that’s how.
 
She saw the attacks coming at her; they were extremely telegraphed and obvious. Unfortunately she couldn’t do anything like make walls of ice...well, she didn’t think she could anyway.
 
But she did have one thing. One thing that she picked up from raising her kids.
 
Absolutely bonkers imagination.
 
Creating an ice spear; Bethany thrust it into the wall, above her head. Grabbing onto it she pulled herself up and out of the way of Lace’s attack. The ice was stuck in the wall, fairly securely, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep her balance for long.
Thus she jumped from the ice as soon as the attacks went under her, pulling her gun out to fire the last three shots in the clip at Lace.
 
Lace cursed under her breath upon seeing Bethany draw her gun. She had been so focused on the girl’s ice powers, that she had forgotten about the pistol she was totting at the start of their battle with the snake demon.
 
“Damn,” She hissed, having just touched on to Beowulf's hilt when she saw the flash of the pistol’s muzzle in the corner of her eye. With little time react, XIII followed through with her dash, and rolled over her blade as she plucked it off the ground.
 
Bethany now in her sights, Lace dashed forward with both her weapons drawn, bracing herself as two more shots followed the first. A flash of crimson painted the air as the second shot flew true and found it’s mark on Lace shoulder as she began weaving side to side to avoid the bullets in a high speed sprint towards Bethany.
 
Luckily this wasn’t the first time someone had tried to shoot her. Having been killed by gun fire twice, Lace was no stranger to this kind of pain….
 
Managing to avoid the path of the third shot, Lace ignored the burning in her shoulder whilst whilst approaching Bethany with a downwards stroke from her monstrously heavy broadsword.
hough it would appear to be simple tactic, Lace intended to release a shockwave with her slash to shattered ground at Bethany’s feet when she dodged, then follow up with sweeping swipe from her longsword.
 
Holy moley she actually hit her! Bethany had honestly expected her shots to all miss. But at least she knew now that the girl could be shot…
Little good that would do since she had no more bullets left. And to grab another clip she’d have to give Lace an opportunity to attack.
 
Speaking of attack...As Bethany landed unsteadily back to the ground the swordswoman slashed at her. Bethany managed to hop out of the way, or rather stumble, but the shockwave knocked her to the side in the process.
 
As Lace attacked with a sweeping motion; Bethany countered by launching one of her ice spears right at the girl’s blade. She followed it up by blowing an icy wind right at Lace. Attacking from this close was risky but Bethany knew that any farther and she risked completely missing the attack.
 
XIII’s lavender eyes followed Bethany with cold efficiency. Her battle instincts having taking complete control, she now allowed herself to be lost in the flow of combat. Responding quickly to her opponent’s counter, Lace quickly hoisted Beowulf over her head and drove the large blade into the ground between the two girls whilst Bethany’s icey wind began to blow over her.
 
A mystical cold crept over hand, causing Lace to quickly release her grip on her broadsword and pivot to the side so that the more of her tiny frame was shielded from Bethany’s mage.
 
 “She’s not making easy to avoid killing her…” Lace found herself thinking as twirled her straight sword into a reverse grip and rolled out from her cover whilst scooping of a piece of the stone debris that littered the ground.
 
Skillfully throwing the stone towards the other girl with her superhuman strength, Lace noticed that the cold from Bethany’s magic still clung to the parts of her body that had been touched by the wind… “Let’s not find out what prolonged exposure does.” She noted before shooting forward to close the small cap between them.
 
Lace blade glowed a vibrant blue. Narrowing her eyes in concentration she would appear to let loose a wide slash towards Bethany, but would in actuality be performing a two crossing slices aimed towards the other girl’s shoulders and chest. She had used this technique a thousand times in her many lives, but she could count the times that she had attempted to use it non-lethally on one hand…
 
Bethany took the rock to her shoulder and gasped out in pain. Yep, that was bad, that was pain, that was a really bad idea to let that thing hit her.
 
Unable to think about her mistake for long Bethany found herself facing yet another attack from the other girl.
 
Gritting her teeth, Bethany summoned her hail from before. They did say the best defense was a good offense, right? Though Bethany wasn’t quite sure who “they” were and why they were apparently an expert on the subject.
 
In either case Bethany decided she could do nothing to dodge the attack and so she sent three ice spears in rapid succession towards Lace.
 
This really sucked. Bethany didn’t want to fight like this. She just couldn’t afford to pass up the opportunity to strike it rich. So many lives were in her hands that, even though she just wanted to surrender and end it, Bethany found herself trying harder to defeat this opponent.
 
Without a second thought Lace brought he left hand over her face to shield herself from the first of the icicles. A cold pain traveled up her arm as the frozen projectile pierced her palm and its tip appeared through the back of her hand.
 
Despite this she kept pushing forward. Using the two strikes that she had originally intended for Bethany to shatter the second and third icicles in two strokes of light.
 
As the hail storm began to swirl around them, Lace felt shards of ice begin to angrily beat at her pale, doll-like face. Nonetheless she kept her eyes trained on Bethany’s.
 
Pain was just her vessel warning her of damage. She wouldn't allow it impede her progress. Not when she was finally on the path to tracking down XII...
   
Following through with her last slash, XII thrusted her straight sword forward towards Bethany’s shoulder rather than opting to aim for the much bigger target that was her torso. As her vision was completely overtaken by the hail, she couldn't help but curse herself for holding back. It was clear that Bethany was playing be no such rules...
 
Vanishing in a flicker of movement, Lace reappeared with her feet planted on the ceiling directly above Bethany and her storm. Allowing her left hand to hang at her side with the icicle still lodged in it, Lace harden her gaze whilst hastily sliding her weapon into its scabbard.
 
Though it wouldn't stay there for long. Quickly redrawing and swiping her blade in a frenzy of wild sword stroke, XIII released her own hail down upon her opponent. One of razor sharp crescents.
 
Bethany wondered about Lace’s reaction. Sure, she as a superhero, but she didn’t even flinch at the crash of icicles. There was more to this girl than at first, or even second, appeared. Which did not bode well for the entirely human girl.
 
The thrust that Lace sent was easy to dodge. Which of course meant that she got clipped by it.
 
Hissing in pain Bethany pulled her fist back...only for Lace to vanish.
 
Looking around wildly she only just noticed as the crescents of doom came falling upon her. With no real way of blocking so much she did the only thing she could think of.
She ran like heck.
 
As she reached the farthest end of the room Bethany turned back around and began forming more icicles. This time she didn’t let them loose and instead had them hover there. One. Two. Three of them.
 
She aimed them towards Lace...Was this even the right thing to do? Lace clearly was fighting hard for some reason right? Sure, Bethany had a “noble cause” but what if Lace did as well? Was it really for her to take that away?
 
“Lace! What are you here for? What are you fighting for?”
 

[Tesability Black]

(Permission was granted to go ahead and launch Kai out of here proper.)

 

~Rawal's POV~

Rawal landed safely on the ground, boots connecting without too much effort before the elder looked up. With the front of his thickened robes torn off, the thinner clothes that he wore under this for comfort were now exposed to the world's view. He wasn't sure how he would get these repaired or replaced, but he had to do something soon.

Even with this in the back of his head, he could see Kai being forced up higher and higher, eventually crossing a boundary formerly unseen, the limits of the arena.

A smirk of relief cross his face under his peppered mustache, glad to see one source of unpleasant reminders out of his face for the time being. "About damned time," he muttered under his breath.

~Talis-Eye's POV~

Don't be comfortable just yet, Shaper, Talis-Eye thought to themselves as they floated back to the ground next to Rawal, a deceptively-gentle smile on their face.

"We believe it is time to go," they asked in an Earthen language while projecting the translation to Rawal. The robed man nodded to them, a worn look on his face.

I don't need him dying just yet, they thought to themselves before lifting up Rawal slightly and levitating both of them close towards the edge of the barrier, waiting until the go-ahead was given before finally leaving.

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

 

"A single Archburgh missile is enough to turn your largest cities to molten rubble.  What do you think it will do when it hits the sealing doors above?"

 

Jack looked up at the sealed doors, and back down at the missiles. Angelica had the Administrator's attention, and this left Jack free to climb higher on the walls and use her tethers to get around to the Administrator's side of the room.

 

"You Earthlings.  You don't think very much, do you?" he said, removing his hand and withdrawing the tendrils to his suit.  An alarm began to blare, as the four floodlights in the corners of the missile bay began to flash in ten second intervals.  "Because you don't think, I'll explain it to you."

 

God, for an intelligent alien, this thing sure is stupid. Jack thought to herself, continuing her movements to get into position as the Administrator continued to rattle off. The noise and the lights only made her advance harder to notice. Once Jack was around on the other side of the room, some distance up the silo, she latched on the wall with all six tethers, staring down at the administrator from where she was mounted. Shifting around, Jack leaned against the silo wall with her back to it, knees bent, feet planted firmly, and arms pointed backwards. There was no room for mobility; she couldn't grab her bow and take any shots on the Administrator, and there were no ledges for her to stand on.

 

There's really only one way to go about this, huh.

 

Detaching the tethers, Jack entered a free fall, working as quick as she could to generate arrows and place them in her right hand between her fingers. The closer she got, Jack fired tethers off from her left arm, latching them onto the wall but keeping the line slack in her fall. Jack would soon impact with the Administrator, aiming to plant her arrows into the alien's helmet, and hoping that the alarms and lights were enough to keep him from noticing her descent.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"A single Archburgh missile is enough to turn your largest cities to molten rubble.  What do you think it will do when it hits the sealing doors above?"

 

"Please don't ask me to answer your homework."

 

And then he ended up just telling them everything about how it worked, the madman. The hell were his bravado from before? Now he's just content with taking her and Jack down with him by using these missiles. Not on her planet would Angelica let something like this happen. And hey, the missiles could probably serve her well if she managed to take it over. The administrator himself was definitely getting on her nerves though. Last, glorious battle? What the hell were he thinking? The nanites on Angelica's body turned dark as she prepared herself, and her tassels formed a ring behind her as a sword materialized before her. It was just in time as Jack went for a free-falling attack on the Administrator. Then again, by that time, Angelica's already in her self-absorbed mindset to properly adjust to the addition of the situation.

 

"All bark and no bite. I thought you had something remarkable with the air of superiority you had but in the end you had to resort doing something that'd get you killed to. You're getting pretty desperate. Sad!"

 

Myriads of wires extended from her body as each of them attempted to find any opening to take over the controls of the missile bay, and access to the individual missiles itself as Angelica brandished the Ohr before the Administrator (and Jack). Going with what the Administrator said, at least one of them would go off anytime soon. If she could disable the payload before it went off, then it should serve no problems while she or Jack would dismantle the system piece by piece.

 

"I am Superbia, the embodiment of being a cocky jabroni - I'll demonstrate to you that my pride and cockiness isn't just for show." And then Angelica started to rain beams of light at the Administrator and the control mechanism around him.

 

---

[Dad]

The Church of Jubilee

 

As Kai soared out of bounds, she was intercepted by her designated helicopter.  Still succumbing to the madness spell placed on her previously, she would need to be restrained.  With Kai now eliminated from the proceedings, Rawal was the victor.  Thanks to clever use of his many "companions" and Kai's overzealous behavior, he managed to secure a place in the second round.  

 

Mere minutes after his victory, a second helicopter touched down inside the church's empty grounds.  Rawal was assisted with boarding, and escorted back to the hotel.  Their trip would take approximately one hour and forty-seven minutes.

 

---

 

Golden Gate Hotel

 

Xavier had resumed his place at the bar after Paul and Kendrick had taken his shifts over the past few days.  It was good to be back in the North Tower bar.  He shined an empty glass with a clean rag, and stacked it high among the other glasses on the top shelf.  Four flatscreen televisions were mounted in the upper corners of the bar, while two back to back central televisions hanged from the ceiling.  Each of them displayed varying match-ups of the current competition.  He watched, amused, at the ending of the second match-up between an angel and a magical old man.  The things he was seeing today would've frightened him as a child.  Now it was so commonplace, that it was almost unheard of for someone "gifted" to not be among the normal people of the world.  They were everywhere now.  Paul shook his head, chuckling to himself.  

 

The angel had been thrown out of bounds.  "That's one way to go about it.  Let's see.  Three, two--"  Paul was cutoff by the sound of fireworks coming from the hotel's theme park.  "Hmm.  I was off."  Just then, the Golden Gate News Hosts' voices rang out across the bar in unison, declaring Rawal the victor.  "Rawal, huh?  That's a weird name.  Wonder where he's from.  Sounds  Russian.  I bet he's from Russia."  Paul couldn't have been more wrong.

 

His guests cheered, celebrating a victory for Rawal.  Only two bouts remained.  And things were getting tense.

 

---

 

Golden Gate News Room

 

As the broadcast cut back to a livestream of the battles between Angelica and Jack, and Lace and Bethany, Victor Skye and Yasmine Janine talked among themselves.  "Whatddya think?" Victor asked, pointing at Angelica and Jack's battle with an alien creature.

 

"I wanna know how an alien has been living down there for God knows how long, and why he wants to nuke our planet," Yasmine responded.

 

Victor rubbed his bald head.  "I hope they figure something out.  I hate seeing people die."

 

Yasmine shrugged.  "We get paid whether they live or not.  But the alien kept pointing to the really big doors above them.  Who screwed that up?  I didn't catch what happened."

 

Victor shook his head.  "I dunno.  I just hope this one ends with the contestants alive, like the last one.  They really are trying to kill each other, aren't they?"

 

Yasmine nodded.  "Mhm.  That's the name of the game."

 

---

 

The Network

 

The warhead was primed, and the Administrator stood his ground.  While Angelica yammered on, he prepared a vice-grip for her.  "For an Android, you talk too much."

 

She leaped, and a flurry of lazers crashed down around the Admin.  He rolled behind the single Archburgh missile, as the lazers glanced off of the otherworldly metal.  As he turned, however, he was met with a diving Jack, with arrows in her hand.  "Working together now, are you?"  The Admin was tackled to the ground.  The Administrator had been taken by surprise, and Jack managed to crack his guard.  They struggled, but Jack pinned one of the Admin's arms with her knee, and jammed an arrow into the top of the Admin's helm.  There was a spark of electricity, but the Administrator's helm had been cracked.  Just not cracked enough.

 

Steam hissed from the point of puncture, but there was no blood.  Jack would have to attack the same spot at least twice more if she wanted to outright kill the Admin.  But that wouldn't be necessary.  The steam hissing from the Admin's helmet was from his filtration system.  He had trouble breathing in Earth's atmosphere.  There would only be a matter of minutes before he was out of his own air supply.  He kicked Jack off of him, and tossed her over the Archburgh missile into Angelica's line of fire.  

 

He rolled from behind the Archburgh missile, and snatched up the Pyrus staff.  The tip of the staff spread into an anchor, and with all of his might, the Admin hurled it at Angelica.  It sparked brightly in flight, as he attempted to infect Angelica again, and shut her down.  If successful, he would only have to deal with Jack. 

[Mr. Hyde]

 

The trip back to the hotel was long...and somewhat boring.  He was glad when they landed back on the ground, but something was rustling around in the back of his mind.  Why didn't he kill that thing?  Basabth had halted his assault on the bio weapon, but it felt like he should've killed it...just to make the world have one less eyesore walking among it.  Louis looked at his attire...not a single scratch among his clothing, nor his flesh.  By all means, it was a successful fight.  However, that didn't mean it wasn't a boring fight.  

 

"Geez...they made me compete in this thing to fight such lackluster abominations like that...what is the organization even thinking..."  

 

"Maybe they just want to test your patience..."  Basabth interjected into his thoughts.  

 

"Maybe you're right...I might as well have some fun today though."  Louis shook his hair back, as they walked back inside the Golden Gate.  If he made the correct turns and took the right elevators, he knew the place in and out by now, he would end up at the west tower bar.  He waltzed in with a dreary look on his face, and headed towards the bar.  The bar tender was surprised to see a contestant enter so early.  

 

"One bloody mary...and make it snappy." He said, as he flopped onto the counter.  The bar tender gave him a strange look.  Louis replied with a sour tone.  "You saw what I did to that pile of sludge...judge my drink, and you'll end up worse."  

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"For an Android, you talk too much."

 

"Thanks, I take pride in that. Now die."

 

Jack's attack was a direct hit, and Angelica could notice that steam leaked out of the crack in his helmet. Did he have trouble breathing in Earth's atmosphere? Requiring the assistance of a suit to stay alive...that was just sad. Angelica figured that with how much more advanced his technology was according to him, his race should have figured out a way to release themselves from the constraint of the organic body. Ah, having a full metal body was something to be proud of. As she was watching the Administrator while continuing her firing, the Administrator tossed Jack towards her line of fire. So far not a problem, but then he tossed his spear at her again.

 

...Ah. He really was desperate.

 

Rather than moving to dodge it, this time Angelica simply moved aside and stretched her right hand after calculating the projectile's trajectory. Following that calculation, her palm was then pierced and broken apart by the spear, but at that point, her tassels and masses of nanomachines were ready. Locking the spear on her destroyed palm, she utilized the masses of nanomachines to maintain control over the area against the opposing, stronger nanites. Her tassels continued to supply more converted nanites from other places to her right arm, and gradually, the spear was covered by nanites. Using the new mass to keep control of the structure, she turned the entire thing around, and now the spear had its tip facing the Administrator.

 

At this time, what Angelica was building had been finished. It was a makeshift harpoon gun with the frame formed by the Administrator's nanites. She had her tassels control the mechanism of the gun, leaving them free for the most part from the opposing nanites' influence.

 

"If I had a nervous system, what you did earlier would have hurt like hell. I don't know by how much though, so I guess I'll let you find out how painful getting pierced by a spear would be!"

 

With her exclamation, the spear was fired back at the Administrator, twice as fast as before as Angelica used her boosters to make it go even faster. The moment the harpoon gun fired, she detached her arm from her shoulders, just as the opposing nanites almost reached that point. She made sure to keep her distance away from the blackened metal on her side.

 

---

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

 

Jack landed on top of the administrator, knocking him to the ground. As much as she caught him off guard, her arrows had not met their mark. The two of them wrestled for a moment until finally Jack was able to pin his arm down with her leg, jamming one of the arrows into his helmet as hard as she could. There was a spark of electricity and steam ruptured from the break.

 

"Scream for me," Jack hissed erotically, licking her lips. "Cry for me, bleed for me!"

 

Jack felt her body shift as the administrator shoved her off, lifting his leg and kicking her in a high arc from the platform. Jack tried to use her remaining tethers still anchored to reel herself back in, but she was going too fast and the anchors broke free from the wall, zipping back into her suit. Jack flew through the air and one of Angelica's lasers clipped her left leg. In a burst of smoke and debris, Jack was sent into a spinning tumble into the ground. Her armor took the brunt of the damage, though she could feel burns on her leg from the hit. Much of the suit in the leg was still functional, but not at full capacity. Jack growled under her breath, but she only had herself to blame.

 

Jack got up from where she was to see Angelica catch the alien's spear and prepare to launch it right back at him. Seeing the spear aimed right at the alien's torso, Jack cracked a smile and couldn't resist.

 

"Hey, you alien funk, why don't you stick around?"

[Yui]

---

I'm pretty sure that fight was the closest I'd ever been to dying, Mango mused to herself. I guess Dr. Stewart was right. I'm not cut out for this kind of thing. Maybe the next me will be better at it. As Mango looked out the helicopter window, she could see the Golden Gate Hotel returning to view. Her stay in the Xiang hospital had been far shorter than the staff of the place had expected. It was just a matter of sticking her in a new vat of sludge for a while and letting her body cool off. She was returning a bit later than her opponent, no doubt about that, but Mango was coming back all the same. As the helicopter landed, Mango uncermoniously got out and entered the hotel proper. Her first stop was her room. Now that she was out of combat, she could dress up a bit fancier.

 

By Mango standards, anyway.

 

Once she was done, Mango looked at herself contentedly in the mirror. Red poncho, black boots, simple yet cute. Getting the hazmat suit on was a bit more tedious than Mango was up to dealing with right now, after having nearly died today. As she turned to leave, however, a beeping sound came from her bed. On it was a phone. Her phone, which had a large metal hoop attached to the side, meant to allow Mango to hold the phone by sticking a finger-saber through it. It wasn't every day she got a phone call, partly in due to how few people knew her number in the first place. Though, a bit of friendly conversation would do her some good right now, she figured. And so, the living weapon answered the phone, before sticking a finger through the hoop to help hold it, then put the phone up to her ear.

 

As she started talking, she left the room. There wasn't anywhere in particular that she was aiming to go, but she wanted to do some walking. "Hi there, this is Mango." Mango greeted once she was out the door to her room.

 

"Hello, Mango."

 

"Oh, Dr. Stewart! Hi!" As Mango took to aimlessly wandering the Golden Gate Hotel, her phone conversation continued.

 

[spoiler=The conversation]"I saw your fight."

 

"Yeah, I lost. Sorry..."

 

"Don't be. It's good enough that you're alive. Dr. Kepler is hesitant to call Experiment XRT-41 a success after a fight that one-sided, though."

 

"Yeah..."

 

"The fight inspired a small breakthrough on our end though. Namely, that Louis boy's water-based attack, and how easily it won him the fight. I've proposed that your successors have their cooling sludge inside of their body rather than outside. On which note, how would you like to help us test a theory regarding precisely that?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"We'd like to ship you some pills that will deploy substances similar to your sludge directly into your bloodstream. In theory, each one should last twelve hours. If they work, you won't need to keep the cooling sludge over your body. It would let you touch people, as well as removing the...'unique' smell of the sludge that you've been carrying around with you."

 

"That's amazing! Can we even do that!?"

 

"That's what I'd like to find out. Would you care to help us test it out? If the pills work, XRT-41-F, and all the XRT-41 line after her, can have their cooling sludge mixed into their blood, either naturally or with the same pills. It would be a huge benefit."

 

"Sure! But...what about all the sludge I brought with me to the hotel?"

 

"If the pills work, feel free to have it shipped back to the lab. I'm sure Dr. Kepler will find a use for it, resourceful man that he is."

 

"Got it!"

 

 

"Oh, and Mango, one last thing. Keep in mind that these pills would still be entirely experimental. If they don't work properly, the effects could be fatal."

 

"Got it. I'll be careful, Dr. Stewart. Bye now." With that, Mango hung up the phone, and pushed open the door in front of her. It was a room she didn't recognize. It seemed to be some kind of bar. She'd seen them in movies before, but had never been to one herself. Was she even allowed to drink alcohol? Technically she was still underage, but physically she was definitely old enough to drink. Physically, she was actually getting pretty old by experiment standards, let alone fully mature. It was just hard to tell under the sludge and the scales. She certainly didn't feel old though, especially not right now. She was elated. That phone call alone seemed to have lifted a massive weight off her shoulders. Mango felt like if she jumped out the window right now, she could spontaneously grow wings and fly.

 

Of course, Mango also understood genetics well enough to know that such a thing happening was actually impossible.

 

Mango took a moment to assess her surroundings. Bar over there, with a bartender behind it - as bars tended to have - and the guy he was serving right now was...Louis! The cause of the breakthrough! What a coincidence! Mango just had to share the good news! As such, she tucked her phone away in a pocket in the front of her poncho, before happily making her way to a seat near Louis's, but not too close. She seated herself where there were two spots open between her and her recent opponent. Didn't want to accidentally slice him or anything, after all.

 

"Hey there," she excitedly greeted. "You won't believe what happened! Your big win inspired the guys that made me with these pills they're going to mail me, and if they work, I won't need to keep covering myself in this sludge! I can wear normal clothes if they work, and touch living things without getting them sick! This is a huge step forward for the experiment I was made for! So I guess...thanks for almost killing me." Despite the words coming out of her mouth, Mango was in no way sarcastic right now. She was happy. The tone in her voice and the look on her face told volumes about that.

---

[Dad]

Sergei

 

"Did he cooperate?" Sergei asked over the satellite phone.

 

On the opposite end, Ace was standing on the Xiang battlegrounds, where Mango and Lous' bout had ended nearly an hour ago.  "Yes sir.  In fact, he was ecstatic.  He something about meeting Yin and Yang, and how it made him want to better understand human life.  A philosophy I'm envious of."

 

Sergei nodded, a smile brimming on his jaw.  "Excellent.  Make sure he has any and all accommodations met.  I want him to be comfortable."

 

"Of course, sir.  And, sir, I hate to be rude but--may I be honest for a moment?" Ace asked, as the Jiangshi behind him was assisted with boarding the helicopter.

 

"Of course, Bradley.  It's understandable that you may have questions."
 

Ace sighed.  "Well, sir.  I don't understand your goal here.  Why do you want to see the Jiangshi?  It seems dangerous, all things considered."

 

"You're right, Bradley.  But, that is what I have you and Geno for.  To assure the safety of our guests and our neighbors and friends.  As far as why I want to see the Jiangshi, it's a bit more complicated."

 

Ace stepped onto the helicopter, cautiously eyeing the creature, who's face he could not see beneath its tag.  

 

"It's not that I wish to see the Jiangshi.  Rather, I want to reintroduce him to our world.  He is an ancient creature, with knowledge of many things, living and dead.  If we can learn from him, study him, and help him," Sergei said, turning to the West Tower security feed. A helicopter was taking off, likely to meet and pick up Mango from the checkpoint.  That meant Louis was already on his way.  "Then perhaps he can help us."

 

Bradley nodded.  He was more comfortable knowing what Sergei had in mind, than being stuck in three hour flight with a creature he'd never seen or heard of, even in his line of work.  "It's a bit vague sir, but I think I understand."

 

Sergei chuckled.  "Not to worry.  The plans I have for him are simple, but effective.  When you touch down, bring him to the Western Tower.  I'll take care of the rest."

 

---

 

The Network

 

A gruesome end.  The Administrator had been struck down by his own weapon.  The anchor punched cleanly through his armor, and latched into the ground behind him.  He felt no pain, because of the shock of having had his own attack turned on him.

 

". . . well . . .played, Android," it said, spitting blood into its helmet.  ". . .maybe your systems. . .aren't as outdated as I assumed," it said with a hacking laugh.  Angelica had successfully reverse the Administrator's attack, only losing her hand in the process.  It was fortunate her hand had come off, because the gentronytes would have infected her core systems immediately, had it not.  But with a powerful reverse throw, Angelica launched the Pyrus staff back at the Administrator, punching a gaping hole into its armor, and opening a cavity in its chest.

 

His helmet crackled, as his visual processors started to fail.  "Yujon no kyil.  Damn it," it said, clicking its tongue.  Reaching its hands for its helmet, the Administrator attempted to lift the helmet from his head.  He was going to die anyway.  He may as well die with something interesting to look at.

 

Unfortunately, the helmet was jammed, locked onto his neck guard.  Perhaps it was the hydraulics system that Jack hit.  It wasn't a good idea to put it in the helmet anyway.  The Admin instead reached for the Pyrus staff, gripping it tightly.  "A fitting death," he admitted.  "I will be anchored to this place, as a reminder of what could have been."

 

Jack wasn't through with him yet, of course.

 

"Hey, you alien funk, why don't you stick around?"

 

He smirked beneath his helmet, his hundreds of teeth invisible behind the pitch-black visor.  "I think I will."  And he laughed.  It was a frightening laugh.  Not because it was twisted, or alien, nor gurgled in blood.  But because his laugh was human.  Because he was almost human.

 

"Angelica," he said, now wheezing.  He was starting to feel the pain, even as his body went numb.  "Model T-EN4, Seraph."  Beneath his helmet, he sneered at her.  "Your creator was a fool.  But he was a brilliant fool."

 

His last words.  The creature fell silent, his hands on the Pyrus Staff loosening and drooping onto his side.  Having not been able to fire the Archburgh missile, it sat primed, nonthreatening.  And now, all that was left, was for Jack or Angelica to return to the Golden Gate Hotel, victorious.

 

---

 

Golden Gate, West Tower

 

Louis arrived shortly before Mango.  They had both found their way down to the bar on the first floor, just past the main lobby.  They were talking among one another--or rather, Mango was talking to Louis--when Sergei came along, and walked behind the counter.  "Harold.  Why don't you head on home?  It's been a long day," Sergei said, patting the employee on the back.

 

"You sure, boss?  This place is gonna get busier in about half an hour," Harold replied.

 

Sergei laughed.  "If you only knew.  Don't worry, you'll be paid for your full shift."

 

Harold wiped his hands with a dish cloth, and shook Sergei's hand.  "Thank you, sir.  Have a good night."

 

"See you Tuesday," Sergei said, shaking Harold's hand.  Sergei then threw on an apron, and tied it tight behind his back.  He picked up a clean dish rag, and began wiping down the bar.  He served a Long Island ice tea to a fair young woman on the stool, nearest the ice maker, then turned to Louis and Mango.

 

"Your battle was quite something," he said with a smile.  "Did you enjoy yourselves?"  After washing his hands, Sergei refreshed Louis' drink.  "Oh, Mango.  Your package from Dr. Stewart was delivered.  There was one slight complication, however," Sergei said, setting his dish rag aside.  "Granted, we do not have reason to suspect you of any wrong doing.  However, the package must be inspected for any illegal substances.  If you go and see Rachel on the bottom third floor in the North Tower on tomorrow, she can return that package to you."

 

It was then, that Sergei's phone rang.  "Please excuse me," he said, turning to the side and pulling out his phone.  "Bradley.  How is your trip?"

 

"We're touching down.  I'll be down with the Jiangshi in five," Ace replied.

 

"Great, I'll see you soon."  Sergei slipped his phone back into his pocket.  "I have a surprise for the both of you.  It's actually for more research purposes than anything, but I think you'll like it."

 

---

 

Ace

 

"Sergei," Bradley said, as he returned to the West Tower bar.  Bradley opened a palm towards the Jiangshi.  "Here he is."

 

Sergei cautiously and calmly walked towards the undead being, noting him to be, strangely enough, stench free.  "Forgive me for staring," Sergei said, marveling at the Jiangshi's presence.  "I am Sergei Nikolaev, the owner of this establishment, and creator of these battles that you witnessed."

 

The Jiangshi paused, its head steering past Sergei, as it sensed Yin and Yang once more.  Sergei stepped aside, smiling.  "Yin.  Yang.  They are not at ends, at this time.  Why is this?" it asked.

 

"There are many reasons," Sergei said, chuckling.  "But for now, we should get you to a room.  There's a lot we must discuss.  Bradley, would you mind?" 

 

He nodded.  "Follow me, please."  The Jiangshi followed without question, as Bradley showed him to the Northern Tower.

 

Sergei was grinning from ear to ear, excitement flooding into his veins.  "The Jiangshi are an ancient race.  They could open new doors for advancement in medicine, and better understanding of magic.  They could bridge the world between man and the gifted, like yourselves.  It really is quite something."

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0gfQG1B2yE

 

The Administrator gurgled out his last words, taking his fall as he finally died. Jack wasted no times for theatrics, and as fast as she could pulled out her bow, knocked the arrows in her hand, and loosed them in Angelica's direction.

 

"Now that we no longer have any distractions," Jack breathed, slinging her both over her shoulder firing out all six tethers to either side of her and reeling them in half-way to form six electrical whips. "Could you please at least pretend that what I'm about to do hurts? I'm getting very blue-balled here, and I'll be damned if I don't have somebody screaming for mercy at my feet."

 

Jack broke out in a sprint in Angelica's direction, whether the arrows landed or not, following her attack up with a large slash from her whips.