The Facility (Almost Perfect Part II)

Several hours past, and they had reached base camp. The facility, based on gaige's maps of the area, was a few miles east up the mountain they were at the base of. She assumed her mother chose this location because it was secluded, as opposed to doing so for dramatic flair. Hanna Ashe had not been interested in Dramatic flair. Some evil scientist she was.

Gaige was busy setting up the equipment while the others did what ever it was couples did in their free time. It was to late to do anything right now, but at first light they would be setting up the scanning network. Tadatomo's contact would arrive in an hour or so too to deliver more information.

Gaige wondered who this contact was. It couldn't possibly be a normal human given how dangerous it was around here. That and secluded. The nearest town was a few miles south east of there, in the opposite direction of the mountain. The mountain did not seem to draw people towards it anymore than a volcano might.

Tadatomo entered the small bomb shelter which had been provided for them to use as a base of operations by his contact in this area. The bunker lay in a forest in the shadow of the mountain upon which lay their objective. An abandoned facility, though presumably not so abandoned any more. The red-haired man set down the equipment he was carrying and began unpacking. Laura moved to assist Gaige in setting up her reconnaissance devices and monitors. Tadatomo's contact was due to make contact in an hour, to provide some final intel before they moved out. Tadatomo finished deploying his security monitors for the bunker's surroundings and turned to Gaige and Laura. "Security systems are online. The bunker is secure. I will return outside and await my contact." Laura jumped up and approached him. "Can I come too? I want to meet this mysterious contact of yours." Tadatomo shook his head. "Don't worry, he will need to come in to upload his intel. I will go alone. I do not wish to draw unnecessary attention to our position. You help Gaige. I will be back soon."

Once the hour had passed, Tadatomo stood up and slowly reached for his gun. "You're late." A low, raspy voice responded from the foliage. "Indeed?" Tadatomo spun and drew his gun as the other person did the same. In front of Tadatomo was a hooded figure pointing a sleek handgun at him. Tadatomo's gun was pointed right back at the figure. The figure tugged on his hood, revealing a black-haired man with a scar running down one side of his face and a shaggy beard. The man's purple eyes were locked on Tadatomo's, and a small smile broke out over his rugged features. "Being late throws my enemies off. You know how it is. How have you been, Tada?" Tadatomo smiled back. "As you know Rook, one has to keep busy. Care to come in?" Tadatomo gestured to the door and headed in, holstering his gun.

In the bunker, Laura stood up and fixed her grey eyes on the new person. Tadatomo made the introductions. "Gaige and Laura, meet Rook. Rook, meet Gaige Ashe and Laura Fisher." Rook bowed politely to the female humans. "A pleasure, ladies, but we have work to do."

Gaige watched in interest as Tadatomo shot Laura down when he went to meet his contact. She gave her red headed besty a sympathetic look. "Seems like he wants to hide that part of his life from you. Could be worse. He could be a jellysquid intent on invading our world.." Gaige said trying to cheer laura up. An hour or so passed, and she heard the door open. Gaige looked up to see a stranger come in with Tadatomo, who introduced them to each other. "Excuse you I am pure female cyborg awesomeness." She said, extending her robotic hand to shake his. She gave his hand a a tight squeese for good messure, a playful glint in her cybernetic enhanced eyes.

Gaige sat back down and slid out of the way of the laptop. "Upload your findings, Rook. Then you can explain how it is you found the facility and why. Just to satisfy my curiosity you see." She said. When he was done telling them everything he knew, Gaige would begin to explain the plan she had devised to destroy the facilty using its own self destruction sequence.

Laura looked glum, but chuckled when Gaige cracked a joke. After Rook and Tadatomo arrived, Laura stepped forward to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you! May I ask why you're called Rook?" Rook smiled as he moved to shake hands with Gaige. "Because Castle was taken." He grasped Gaige's robotic hand and felt the crushing power of it, but didn't outwardly display his discomfort. "I understand. My apologies miss." Gaige released his hand and stepped over to the laptop that was set up for him. Rook followed her over, subtly rubbing his crushed hand as he went. He nodded at the order and sat, pulling out an isolinear optical chip containing all of his reconnaissance on the facility and its inhabitants. "Understood." Rook inserted the chip and the computer beeped in response.

"Upload in progress. Well, as for the why, Tadatomo contacted me because I was in the area and damn good at what I do. I used to run recon for Regno Nero, so I was able to dig up some info about the area. Tadatomo bailed my sorry ass out during a job, so I kinda owed him one. Once I got a rough location, I was able to sweep the area and located the abandoned facility that wasn't so abandoned any more. I infiltrated and got as much intel as I could before I had to bail." The laptop beeped to indicate the upload had completed. Rook stood up and bowed to them all. "My apologies, but that is all I will be able to contribute to your mission. I'm no good in a fight and I fear I may slow you down. I will remain close by though, and inform you of any activity out here. Farewell, and good luck." Tadatomo nodded and shook his hand. "Understood. Thank you Rook." Rook nodded and left. Laura waved. "Bye Rook! Nice to meet you!" Tadatomo and Laura then turned to Gaige and awaited her instructions.

Gaige nodded. "Very well thank you Rook. Just keep in mind if you tell anyone what you seen here i will have to hunt you down and kill you. Its not worth the paycheck." She said a look of utter seriousness on her face. But then she grinned. "I'm only joking but I will break your legs." She said with a laugh. She waved at the man as he left and turned to Tadatomo and Laura. "Nice guy. Kinda handsome. Anyway enough of that lets check out the data."

Gaige quickly scanned over everything in the files, an advantage of having a computer in one's head, and nodded. She looked at the others. "He got us allot, including some data on the facility's self destruct sequences. Well. Who wants to go take a look inside right now?" Gaige asked. It was late, but there was no time like the present to get started. They needed a head count on who was in that facility besides Vyn and atleast one other pefect human.

Rook left, and Gaige went about business again. Tadatomo studied the data that Rook had provided. "That's why he's one of my best sources." Gaige studied it herself, then roused the troops. Laura picked up her beloved Crescent Rose and saluted Gaige. "Reporting for duty fearless leader!" Tadatomo smiled and nodded, grabbing his own gear. "Laura has informed me about the sensor nodes and the surveillance system. I am ready." The two red-haired fighters headed towards the door. Laura gave Gaige a thumbs up. "We'll be back before you know it!" Tadatomo nodded and the two left.


Tadatomo and Laura returned to the bunker, having completed their task. Tadatomo set Kurato down on the table and moved to Gaige's console to inspect their work. Laura set crescent Rose down beside Kurato and joined the two, resting her chin on Tadatomo's shoulder as they peered at the screen, waiting for the results of the scan to come through.

Gaige waved when they returned. "Well done my minions the grid is online and..." Gaige activated the scan. She quickly looked over the details of the occupants, all showing normal life signs atleast. There was nothing out of the ordinary, not counting the fact that it was filled with perfect humans. Well, two of them. And a human. "That's strange i wonder why there's a human here. I'm not even sure if its an advent the scanners detected no powers... Maybe an old experiment of mothers?" Gaige wondered.

She shrugged. "Well who ever that is they can't be much of a problem to deal with. Vyn on the other hand, is going to be a problem. At least the other perfect human is weaker, and... Leaving...." Gaige trailed off. She looked at the others. "So, game plan. I say me and Laura take Vyn, Tadatamo you sneak into the facility and blow set off the self destruct sequence and get back to us when you can. All in favor say I."

The two red-heads watched patiently as the information streamed in from the scans of the facility. The power of the two perfect humans was considerable. The more powerful of the two had to have been Vyn. Tadatomo stroked his chin thoughtfully when Gaige highlighted the third human. Or... was it a human? Gaiged addressed the anomaly and Tadatomo nodded. "Intriguing. Given the delicate nature of the situation, as well as the emotional instability of your sister, we must assume that nothing is as it seems." Laura nodded too. "We need to be careful. But I know we can still do it." Gaige suggested a plan to them, with Tadatomo focusing on locating the self-destruct device, while Laura and Gaige engaged Vyn. Tadatomo nodded again. "Aye. I recommend you lure Vyn outside. If Kaytlyn's device is damaged while in use, there is no telling what might happen." Laura raised her hand in excited approval. "Aye! We'll have your sister out of there before you can say family reunion!" They waited for Gaige's signal to get going. This was going to be tough.

Gaige nodded. But it occured to her she was not strong enough to fight Vyn head on. Tadatomo and Laura were near enough the same in power and they could almost match Vyn two on one .She would just hold them back. "No scratch that Tadatomo, your much stronger than I am. I'll go into the facility instead, you help Laura with Vyn. Besides now that i think about it once i can access the computers in there i can remotely set off the self destruct sequence, so i can be ready to leave." She said.

Gaige stood up. "Alright with that said, lets go get ready and get some sleep. We'll head out at first light." Gaige said. She crossed the room to the make shift weapons rack and started checking her guns and gear. tomorrow would be interesting.


Gaige hid crouched on the mountain side outside the facility. There was no sign of activity around the front entrance, but that would like change soon. They just needed to knock. Gaige turned to the other two and nodded. [color:e100=#blue]"You know the drill, go knock and lure Vyn out. I'll take care of anyone else who comes along with her. You only need to distract her long enough for me to blow the place before anymore perfect humans get out of their cryopods." She said. She activated her Valkyrie combat suit, but kept the vizor up. She handed Tadatomo an explosive device"This is more show than effective, it'll make a big boom and get the attention of the poeple inside so why dont you go use it to knock?" Gaige said, smiling.

Tadatomo nodded in understanding. "I was about to suggest the same thing actually. You would be better able to counter any unexpected issues with the self-destruct sequence." They retired to bed, cycling night watch just in case.


They stood outside the compound, as ready as possible for what lay within. Gaige activated her suit and tossed Tadatomo an explosive device and told him to knock. He nodded and proceeded to set the device on the front door. Laura took a deep breath and drew Crescent Rose in Gun Mode. Tadatomo returned and drew Artemis and Apollo. "Detonation in 15 seconds. Brace yourselves." Laura crouched low to the ground and aimed her gun at the doorway. Tadatomo simply widened his stance and aimed. The explosion went off with the force of a frag grenade, but with ten times the loudness. The door was gone, and they waited for the onslaught.

Day in, day out the facilities systems stayed on lock down. No amount of specialists helped. The pods stayed sealed. The red head paced back and fourth in the control room staring at the scientists and technicians as they tried to break her mothers security or and find a safe way to open the cryo pods. Meanwhile, she faught every urge in her body to destroy everything in sight. There was a chaotic war inside her. She was free of that wicked woman, but she wasn't free of the damage. She wanted to destroy new york, as her mother planned. Sometimes when she couldn't control it, she started rampaging through the facility. The first time it had happened she'd destroyed the west wing before she was stopped with a tranq dart packed with more sedatives than her body could handle.

Stopped. She didn't stop herself. No the only one capable of stopping her in that state was Zackary. He stood by the door, watching her. But he wasn't just watching for her next rampage. Since she'd arrived, and found him here, locked inside waiting to die of starvation they had become friends. She'd wanted him gone initially, but he insisted on sticking around. And the company had been nice. And he'd proven to be very resourceful, helpful even. He wanted something too. Or he wouldn't be helping her unleash this army, and stopping her from destroying it or rushing off to die fighting in new york. Which she didn't want to do to begin with. Fuck her mother.

The door hissed open and the only other perfect human currently mobile walked in. Altaria. She had fled the original facility like Vyn. Zackary had found her, hiding out in a small town in sweeden. She was... Problematic. Zackary didn't like her. But she was one of them. Altaria spoke. "We have guests. They-" the building shook with an explosion. Vyn cursed. She walked over to a monitor and switched to the front door camera. It was gone. She spotted a pink suit of armor hanging around. "Its her. Zackary if someone comes in, put them down. Altaria back him up. I'm going out to hopefully make her go away without needing to kill her." Vyn said. She vanished from the room so fast the windows shattered.


Tadatomo moved quickly. Gaige counted down the seconds until the door blew. Silence followed the explosion, and she waited. As soon as Vyn appeared she would move. She barely had time to react as the red haired girl shot out of the facility, she flew up and hovered above them, elegant golden wings singing in the wind. Gaige, not one to be outshone activated her energy wings and flew  up to meet her. She laughed to herself. this was quite a sight. Two of hanna ashe's creations standing before each other, opposites in every way. Vyn looked so like Gaige she could be looking in a mirror.

"I can only assume your here for a fight. You wont win. So go home." Vyn said. Gaige shook her head. "I'm not going to just go away. Not until I fix what she's done. Not until I save you." Gaige said. Vyn snarled back. "I don't need saving! I need to be left alone before I lose my temper." She replied. " Then your going to get pretty mad, because i'm not leaving until your safe, and this place is gone forever. I'm going to end what she started today. I don't want to fight you but I will. So just let me help you." Gaige pleaded.

"I don't your help. You can't fix everything, why do you even care! Just get out of here, Sister. You and your friends don't stand a chance, fancy suit or not." She said. Gaige shook her head and looked at the others. "I tried. Don't go to hard on her, I'll be right back." Gaige said. She took one last look at Vyn and shot for the door. Despite Vyn's speed she clearly hadn't expected Gaige to Accelerate so fast. By the time she moved to intercept, Tadatomo and Laura were in the way and the fight began.

"I don't know why you're so agitated. We'll find a way in eventually."

Zachary Gillam spoke almost lazily as he leaned against the door frame, arms folded and staring into space. His rescuer and de facto friend, Vyn Ashe, was pacing furiously. Zachary chuckled. "If you want the floor tiles re-arranged that badly, we could just have Altaria headbutt it some." Then, as if summoned by the very mention of her name, the other perfect human entered the room. Zachary's gaze returned to the floor as Altaria spoke. She started to announce an intrusion but she was cut off by a low rumble coming from the front gate. Zachary followed Vyn to the camera console and saw the same pink armor that Vyn did. "Well, this is a thing." Vyn barked orders for them. Zachary looked at Altaria with disdain. "Just try not to get in my way." Zachary sealed the door after Vyn left and went to find a good spot to keep over-watch on the main control room.


Tadatomo, Laura and Gaige didn't have to wait long for the opposition to arrive. There was no mistaking Vyn Ashe. She looked so like Gaige, there was no way it could be anybody else. Tadatomo gripped his handgun tightly as the two Ashe siblings exchanged dialogue. But they knew it wouldn't be as simple as talking their way in. Gaige looked at Laura and Tadatomo and they immediately knew what was to come. Gaige powered past her sister at high velocity, taking her by surprise. Just as suddenly, Tadatomo and Laura moved to position themselves between Vyn and the facility, attempting to block her from pursuing Gaige. Tadatomo drew Kurato and Apollo and Laura deployed Crescent Rose into Scythe Mode. Tadatomo stared defiantly at Vyn. "I am sorry. We cannot allow you to interfere. Whether you know it or not, what your sister is doing is for the greater good." Laura nodded in agreement. "That's right. No matter what, we will stop you." The two red-heads prepared themselves for the storm.

Vyn glared at the two red heads that blocked her path. She considered barging right through them but had a feeling this was something she needed  to deal with now. Gaige wouldn't get far, not with Zackary protecting the facility. Still she looked at the duo, and despite her words, she didn't want to kill them. But they were not going to stop her. And if they had to die, she would live with that guilt.

Vyn dropped to the ground and went into a crouch. She considered them both. The man looked like someone who was used to a fight, he would be tough. She didn't underestimate the girl either. She crouched further, then lunged forward aiming for the girl first.  Vyn shot past her so fast it created a sonic boom, and she lashed out at laura with a back hand as she passed. She twisted around in mid air before hitting the bunker wall feet first, shattering the concrete, then Jumped off blowing a crater into the wall as she launched at the man, also aiming a back hand at him.

Vyn flipped and opened her wings, slowing her as she touched down on the ground and spun around to observe the duo and see what, if any, kind of impact she'd had on them.


Gaige sprinted through the facility, following the map towards the main command center. She rounded a corner to find the door, and a woman waiting. Clearly a pefect human. She didn't waste any time and lunged at Gaige who dodged out of the way. The woman hit the wall and before she could react Gaige attached a disk to her chest and kicked her through a stairwell door. There was an explosion and she turned to Grin at the door. She loved the simple things. "If that's the level of defense you people have to offer this is going to be to easy." She said, drawing out Oblivion driver. Gaige approached the door, and pulled out a breach charge. She quickly attached it and stepped to the side. It should easily blow the door off the wall but it wouldn't hurt anything in the room. She stepped into the room right after the boom, gun ready....

Tadatomo shifted into Hyper Mode, and Laura did likewise. The man's appearance didn't change at all, but Laura became sheathed in armor made of large red rose petals. Vyn made the first move. She charged with such sudden speed that the two redheads were unprepared for it. Vyn reached Laura and backhanded her with force and malice. Laura got sent hurtling through some trees, but her armor protected her from most of the environmental damage. Tadatomo saw this and reacted with concern. "Laura!" But he knew she was alright. He tried to deceive Vyn into thinking he was distracted. As Vyn passed, he dodged the same backhand that had struck Laura and fired a spread of 30 shots from Apollo that spread over a small area around Vyn but lacked accuracy. Laura stood up and waited for her opportunity to strike.


Zachary smiled as he watched the small monitor which displayed the view from a camera positioned outside the door to the main control room. Altaria had been her usual hot-tempered self and charged headlong at the intruder, receiving what she deserved for such an action. The perfect human had been kicked into the auxiliary stairwell and blown up. Soon after, the door to the control room had been blown in and the pink-suited warrior strode in, rifle held at the ready. Zachary lined up a shot with Burning Hammer, his own rifle. He lay on his stomach on a walkway overlooking entrance to the control room. He fired, his shot aiming for the electromagnetic pulse mine he had concealed in a crate beside the entrance. The mine went off, release an EMP blast that would mess with the systems in Gaige's suit, but due to the Mechromancer's superior engineering, the interference would only fuzzy up her displays slightly, and make her suits movement slightly sluggish. Zachary then moved invisibly and silently to his next spot, for the next phase.

With a flick of her hand the 30 shots fired from apollo diverted around her harmlessly. She lunged at Tadatomo and drew back her arm to punch, but falling short she struck the ground so hard it created an explosive shockwave as strong as a cero. She lept upwards and over tadatomo and landed down behind him and, if he was hit by the shockwave, aimed a kick at his back. She didn't ignore Laura either and lashed out at her with a barrage of near invisible bolts of Psionic energy as strong and fast as bala. They were a distraction however as she ripped a tree out of the ground behind laura and attempted to swat the girl like a fly.


The shot rang out and Gaige tracked the noise to the source but then her suit was hit with electromagnetic interference. She ducked back out the door and took cover by the wall. The effects were minimal however. She hacked into the camera system and took a snoop around while she was at it. The static interference was minimal. The camera's showed her herself, and she instantly turned and shot it to stop who ever was in here with her watching.

She searched for the person with the cameras, and found the shell from the fired bullet up on a walkway. No sign of the shooter. She continued looking through the facility security. Then she hacked the camera system farther, and disabled it. If her opponent had been using it, it would take a while to boot back up. She also hacked the lights and turned them off, and in the momentary darkness she burst into the room, and spun, trowing a remote camera straight up onto the ceiling. She slid into cover and hid. The lights came back on, and she used the camera to look around the room.

She spotted a shadow behind a crate, and enemy or not she pulled out her shotgun, stuck in a clip of micro rockets and emptied the gun into that crate. Either she'd hit something or lure out a shot from her opponant which would allow her to zero in on him or her before they could hide again. She hated playing games of cat and mouse.

Tadatomo didn't like the way Vyn dismissed his volley with a single sweep of her hand. He liked even less the way he braced himself for the punch that she chambered, only to be taken by surprise when the punch hit the floor in front of him. The force hit him square and sent him flying backwards. Vyn then appeared behind him and smashed him in the back with a kick that sent him skidding along the floor with a grunt of pain. Laura surged at Vyn, but the red-haired warrior was assaulted by psionic shots. She used her Deflector by spinning her scythe to deflect the bolts, but was then smashed to the ground by a tree from behind.

Tadatomo stood up and dusted himself off, ignoring the bruises and pains he had already accumulated. He looked to Laura who was doing the same. She looked back at him, and he nodded. "Storm Flower!" Laura nodded. She sped towards Vyn, throwing a Devil Rose Thorn at her. Then she changed direction, speeding around Vyn, using her Petal Knockout to pepper Vyn with punches and also keep her distracted from Tadatomo and at a distance. Tadatomo, meanwhile, began charging his Burning Nova. All or nothing.


Zachary witnessed the devastation caused to the boxes. He spoke over a mic into the facility-wide audio channel. "Impressive. Your box-killing skills are remarkable." He left the mic down on a console and kept moving swiftly, waiting until Gaige locked on to the location of the mic and turned towards it. He then stepped out of the shadows, rifle aimed at Gaige's back. "Not another move. Explain to me why you have come here, Gaige Ashe." He waited calmly for an answer, ready to fire at a moment's notice. "What is it that you think you can accomplish here? Speak quickly."

Vyn looked between them. She moved to attack Tadatomo only to have a javalin thrown at her. It got to close for comfort. In response, she punched it to destroy it. There was a sonic boom as fist met Javalin and the force pushed Vyn away. to end up shreading the length of her forarm. Blood splattered her face. She let out a scream of pain. Even if she was already healing, that really hurt. Vyn turned on Laura and charged right at her, smashing through her fists with blasts of psionic power. Before Laura could react Vyn caught her by the throat and slammed her into the ground with enough force to smash a crater into it. She raised her foot and went to slam it down on Laura's chest, but hesitated at the last second. She pretended to slip and slammed it down next to the girl instead. The shockwave sen't her flying away, and Vyn turned and charged at Tadatomo.


Gaige shot back a quick reply. "Killing useless lumps of carbon is what i do, so why don't you come out and let me finish it already." She said. She moved again, pulling out her shield pod, ready to drop cover at a moments notice. However the son of a bitch appeared behind her. Gaige froze when he spoke. And raised her arms slowly. "I came to get my sister and put an end to this place and people like you. Your not going to control her anymore. No one will, I'm ending what my mother started today." she dropped Reverence and turned around slowly to look at him. "I don't know who you are or how you know Hanna but you can leave, or you will die. I'm not going to let you hurt her anymore." Gaige shot left and threw her shield pod between them. It popped open and would deflect any bullets as she surged forward and drew out Xion and shot around the shield pod. The best way to fight a man with a gun was with a sword gun. Gaige fired a bolt of plasma at him and slid past, slashing at his leg with the now heated weapon in its sword form. She dashed back, and slashed at his back.

Laura began to panic when she saw how Vyn dealt with the Devil Rose Thorn. Vyn repelled it using her own arm, shredding herself in the process. She then blasted her way through all of the fists as Laura frantically threw them. Laura gasped as Vyn reached her and grabbed her by the throat. She felt all of the air rush out of her as Vyn lifted her by the throat and slammed her into the ground, making a large crater. Laura lay in the crater winded, broken up and in massive amounts of pain from what she was sure were several broken ribs. Tadatomo gazed in shock, but the look Laura had given him indicated that he needed to complete his attack, no matter the cost. She gazed up at Vyn, gasping for air as Vyn looked down at her and raised her foot for a game-ending stomp. Laura squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for her doom. But it did not come. She felt the ground exlode underneath her and she was sent flying through the air. She hit the perimeter wall and slumped to the ground with a groan.

Tadatomo fixed his gaze on Vyn, staring directly into the red-heads soul. "You'll pay for that. Come on." Vyn charged directly at him, and he released his attack. The giant ball of light zoomed forward and caught Vyn coming in. The ball hit her square in the chest, setting off a cataclysmic explosion of light. Tadatomo used the cover to Blur over to Laura. He checked on his love, making sure she was still with him. Laura was unconscious, but stable. He drew his guns and readied for what was next.


Zachary raised an eyebrow at what Gaige had to say. "I don't know who you are, or what you think your achieving here, but you've got most of your facts wrong. I'm not about to let some random girl in a shiny suit waltz on in claiming to be Vyn's sister. You know nothing about me. I was trapped here as a subject of Hanna's. She abandoned this place and left me in stasis, forgotten. Vyn rescued me, and I'll be damned if I'm going to betray her trust now. I will protect her to the end, and if that means ending you, then so be it." He waited for the fight.

It arrived immediately. Gaige dropped the shield and sped to the side, firing around the shield at Zachary. Zachary smiled and dive-rolled to the side, firing off a couple of shots of his own. Gaige then slid past him and hacked at his leg as she passed. He reacted with lightning speed and sent a ferocious uppercut Gaige's way with the butt of his rifle. He then used his thruster boots to ascend to a walkway. "Armor-Piercing." His rifle responded immediately, and Zachary began laying down a stream of semi-automatic fire at Gaige.

Vyn didn't quite make it to Tadatomo before she was turned into the a human pinball with wings. She smashed into the forest right through a tree, and she felt it. She absorbed the essence of the attack. Her body started to glow so grossly incandescent. She jumped to her feet and started to throw a tantrum of energy, ripping up trees with her power and blasting them, casting destruction all about. She fired more than one tree at Tadatomo, along with several balls of light energy as she suffered through the pain of the burns caused by the energy attack she'd been hit with. The wounds were healing rapidly though, even the flesh of her arm was starting to nit itself back together.

And then there was calm. She looked Tadatomo directly in the eyes, and moved. Appearing infront of him her foot shot up at his chin as she did a backflip kick. She landed back on her feet and lunged at him with a punch aimed for the gut, and swept a leg out to trip him. She tried to grab him by the wrist and spin, throwing him away from the entrance of the facility, seperating him from laura. If she managed it, she would go after him and try to deliver a boot to his back as he was falling.


The butt of the gun caught her in the helmet and sent her sliding away, but besides the mild blurred vision from the blow, she was fine. Gaige raised her shield and blocked the shots as Zackary luanched into the air on jet boost. She dashed under the walkway, one of the bullets hitting her shoulder plate. It pierced, grazing her arm but she kept going. She slashed at the walkway under him quickly, the heated blade dicing the metal so that it would fall out from beneath him. "Vyn is my sister, unfortunately for her. I just want to help her. If she frees the monsters in this facility, she'll be starting a war she can't win. I'm taking her home, and your not going to stop me." The plan was already set. She just needed to get this guy out of the way first. Gaige fired another shot from her plasma sword as she closed on him and slashed with it.

Tadatomo reached Laura, only to be distracted by Vyn screaming and throwing a massive tantrum. The ground shook as energy blasts flew all over the place and trees uprooted and smashed everything. Tadatomo covered Laura from the riotous environment by removing his coat and using it to shield her. He turned to the maelstrom and the source thereof. Vyn was irate, but then she suddenly stopped and stared at Tadatomo with an eerie calm that chilled him to the bone. Then, his fears were realized. Vyn sped at him too quickly to counter. She caught Tadatomo with a back-flip kick under the jaw, sending him into his own back-flip. He righted himself in mid-air, but he then received a hard punch in the gut as he landed, followed by a leg sweep, landing him on his back. He felt an iron grip on his wrist catapult him from the ground through the air. He tried to slow himself, but he was too late. He met a thunderous kick from behind, impacting straight into his back. He shot into the ground hard, making another large crater.

Tadatomo rolled over onto his back, taking inventory of his damaged bones and limbs. He was in a bad state, and he knew the fight would not last much longer. He dragged himself up to one knee, surveying the damage. His shirt was ripped and he had cuts and bruises all over. That's not to mention the internal injuries. He looked up at Vyn wondering what else they could possibly do. Vyn was far too strong. He looked over the lip of the crater at Laura, who had come to and was also looking worse for wear. She wore the same expression of hopelessness as he did.


Zachary scored with a glancing hit. She's fast!, he thought. Then he felt the walkway begin to collapse, probably because of Gaige. He swiftly fitted a Transphasic Module into the under-barrel attachment of Burning Hammer, and dive-rolled off the platform, using his jet-boots to soften the landing. He reacted just in time to duck a shot from Gaige, and shot the Transphasic module on the ground behind her, teleporting him to it as Gaige went in for a slash. Gaige had said something while the platform was falling, something that he had to know more about. He waited for her to turn around before releasing his rifle and raising his hands.

"Wait. That's enough." Zachary heard a scream that echoed throughout the facility, accompanied by a deep rumbling. The last time Zachary had heard that cacophony of noise, was when Vyn had gone on her rampage in the west wing. Zachary's face expressed his concern. "We can shoot this room up all day to try and kill each other, but by the sounds of it your friends don't have the time. When she loses it, Vyn is damn near unstoppable. I can disable her without hurting her, but first I need to know. Can you actually help her? I have nothing personal against you, and I want to help Vyn as much as you seem to. But I must know if I can trust you."

Vyn stepped down into the crater and looked at the man. He was barely standing. She grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up. She flew up off the ground and looked him in the eyes, holding him. She could kill him, easily, but she knew there was no going back. Despite her lack of control, and the increasing strength of her grip she managed to release him and drop him onto the ground. "Stop getting in the way." She said and turned, flying towards the facility. She needed to stop Zachary before he killed Gaige.


The guy dropped his gun and surrendered, but he had questions to ask. "Of course I can. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have a plan." She flinched at the sounds of explosions outside. She hoped it wasn't going to badly. "I-." Gaige opened her mouth to continue when the stair well door burst open and the woman from before shot out at high speeds. She aimed a punch at Gaige who danced out of reach and slashed back with her sword, catching the woman across the arm. Zackary shouted something at the woman, and she fired a blast of explosive energy, screaming that he was a traitor.

She tried the same thing on Gaige, but she was to fast and dodged. However she misjudged the womans movements. A powerful kick hit her chest, and it was followed by an explosive blast similar to Gaige's melta charges. Gaige landed on her back, winded by the blast. The woman moved and tried to crush her skull but Gaige rolled out of the way, the foot smashing a crater where her head had been. She tried to escape, and she was caught in the side with a kick that sent her bouncing into a wall. The woman charged up another blast and fired the wave directly at her. With the last of her strength Gaige dived to the side, the blast hitting the wall and melting it to slag.

She landed on her front. Before she could move a foot pressed down on her back, and then there was an explosion. Pain ripped through her legs, the armor standing little chance against the force of the melta blasts. Gaige screamed in agony, the pain causing her to black out momentarily. The kick to her side that sent her flying into the wall woke her back up. She couldn't move, her body wracked with pain. There was no getting away this time. No back up. The woman raised her hand and grinned as the energy blast that would finish her charged. She stared back defiantly. She was not afraid.

Tadatomo looked up when Vyn landed in front of him. He choked as Vyn lifted him by the throat and rose slowly into the air. He felt his feet lift off the ground, and he prepared himself for his fate. But it was not to be. Vyn warned him to stop interfering, and released him. He fell to the ground with a thump, and he could only watch as Vyn sped towards the facility. Then the facility disappeared along with everything else.

Laura woke to see Vyn heading towards her, en route to the facility. She did not appear to detect Laura, or at least didn't care about her. Laura decided to seize the opportunity to delay Vyn, if even for a little while. She suddenly sprung up and fired Crescent Rose into the ground behind, while kicking off the ground simultaneously at max speed. The result was Laura pelting towards Vyn with such velocity that it was unlikely that she could react in time. As Laura reached Vyn, she caught her with the blade of her scythe across the midriff. Laura used her outrageous momentum to catapult Vyn away from the facility with unmitigated force. She then prepared for the riposte.


Gaige was about to respond, but then Altaria burst into the room. She attacked Gaige, who dodge out of the way. Zachary shouted at Altaria. "Wait! Altaria! Stop it! But the perfect human shouted straight back. "Don't speak to me, traitor!" Without warning, she blasted Zachary off his feet with a melta blast, sending him crashing into a wall of consoles. He hit the wall with a lot of force, slumping to the ground in a heap, out cold.

Zachary was startled awake by the sounds of Gaige screaming in agony. He shook the cobwebs out as he stood groggily and looked around. Gaige was lying against a wall, her legs completely mangled. Altaria was charging a final attack to finish Gaige off. Zachary had one chance. He drew Vindicator and aimed at Altaria. "I've been waiting to do this for a long time." He fired. The slug shot out, propelled by a matter/antimatter reaction, and claimed the Perfect Human. Altaria's head exploded as the slug impacted and passed through to the wall. The headless body fell to the floor with a squelch. Zachary ran over to Gaige. "I'm sorry. This is beyond my skill to heal, but I will get you out of here."

Vyn was about half way back when she noticed a red blur flying towards her. Vyn tried to dodge but Laura was faster and caught her with the blade of her sight around the midriff, dragging her away. Laura swung her scythe and launched Vyn away. She landed in a tree, went through it and hit the trunk of the next one. Vyn was back on her feet in seconds, but spent a few seconds trying to figure out which way the bathroom was. When she snapped out of her daze, she glowered and shot towards Laura and Tadatomo. This time, they died. She ripped the forest out of her way as she moved, and fired a massive powerful blast of energy at the two pests.


The woman's attack was almost ready, then her head exploded like a melon and her body dropped like a sack. Bits of brain and bone splattered across her vizor. Gaige managed a wheezy laugh, "No need to lose your head lady." Gaige said. Then she passed out. Suddenly Zackary was next to her, trying to help. "I'm ok. its just a flesh wound." She tried to move and let out a gasp. Ok, not a flesh wound. She couldn't actually move her legs.

She disengaged her valkyrie suit and reached down to her belt for the storage device for her overdrive. She avoided looking at the mess that was her legs, and activated the suit. She let out another scream of pain that was quickly muffled by her helmet. She passed out again, but the nanites in the suit began healing her.

Laura dropped next to Tadatomo, checking on him. He came to and stood up groggily. "I'll live for now. Where's Vyn?" A loud crunching of trees answered that question. They both looked to see Vyn hurtling towards them, rage in her eyes. She launched a massive attack at the two. The attack was too fast and too powerful to outrun. They held each other and closed their eyes. "I am sorry, Laura." Laura said nothing, but rested her head on Tadatomo's chest. They braced themselves for oblivion. But it did not come. They opened their eyes. A humanoid shape had landed in front of the blast and was absorbing it into their sword. The figure then slashed towards Vyn, launching the energy back at Vyn in the form of a dark slash. The light from the attack highlighted the mask and red female samurai armor of the new person. Laura cried out in surprise. "Clara! You're here! You saved us!" Clara Firestorm turned to them and bowed.

"Not just me." A gloved hand landed on Laura's shoulder. She turned and almost burst into tears. "Liv!" She tackle-huggled the blonde Arrancar. Liv laughed and hugged her back. "I'm sorry I let you do this alone. But we're here now. We'll take care of it." Clara landed beside them. "You must hurry. Liv, take your friends and go. I will hold her off. Go now!" Liv nodded and her and Laura supported Tadatomo, who nodded weakly. "Thank you." Clara nodded. Liv and Laura began to leave. "Come on you pair of schmucks." The trio left.

Clara turned to Vyn and charged forward, using her Portal Catapult to vanish and then emerge at blistering speed behind Vyn. Clara led with an upward vertical slash, taking her past Vyn. She then kicked off the ground and came back from the other side with a horizontal slash across the legs. She then slid away through the air, then sheathed her weapon and switched to her Martial Blade, preparing for the attack. "Whether you know it or not, Gaige and her friends are trying to help you. I will make you see the light, young one."


Zachary watched as Gaige went about starting to patch herself together. "I will leave you to look after that. I understand what you came here to do, and while I disagreed initially out of fear for Vyn, I know what you are here to do is the right thing for Vyn. All of the others stored here are like Altaria. Releasing them would only screw everything up more. This place should be destroyed, as you say. I will prime the self-destruct sequence. When I am done, we will detonate it and leave." Zachary saw Gaige morph into a different suit and lose consciousness again. He then left to complete his task.

Vyn wasn't expecting the attack she fired to suddenly come back, and blocked with her wings. Once again she was sent flying but this time she righted herself. She screamed in rage and rushed towards the new attacker, who shot towards her. A portal opened and she vanished, and suddenly Vyn was struck behind with a blade, the steel slicing through her flesh. The attack knocked her over but she rolled and tried to punch the woman who moved almost as fast as Vyn. She missed and the blade sliced across her legs, staggering her. The woman spoke and Vyn screamed in response, jumping at her with decreased speed. She punched at the womans face and pushed forward following it with a knee to the gut.


Gaige woke up. She wasn't sure how long it had been, but Zackary was gone. She had regained enough strength to move and get to her feet. The suit was supporting her entire weight, and thankfully she had planned for such an event because she was still able to walk. Barely. With allot of pain. She made it about halfway across the room before she staggered over to the wall and managed to keep standing. She walked into the next room and found Zackary. "Since i'm still alive, and concious I want to thank you." She said. "Now please hurry up because I don't know how long i can keep standing." She said.