Final -V- IC

"Ah, shit."

The barrage of explosions overcoming Iphie's hijacked ship signified that she had overstayed her welcome. While she had taken great pleasure in seeing the chaos she showed amongst the fleet commanders, as the vessel rolled and lurched, peppered by 'friendly' fire, the purple-haired girl prepared to make her leave.

The airship was rocked by one last attack, one that required Iphie to electromagnetically maintain her balance. The strength of the blow prompted her to beat a swift retreat, but as quickly as the counterfire came, it eerily stopped. Still wired into the ship's sensors and command systems, she saw the enemy ships backing away, moving into a defensive posture, still keeping her rogue ship encircled. She tensed herself, sensing a move; at this, she began untangle herself from the ship's systems. As she extricated herself, a message over the ship's intercom told her exactly what it was.

The voice of Mary, the elder of the three sisters, and the more familiar of the three. In better times, she would have regarded the voice as a friend, but now, she simply clicked her tongue in annoyance at the voice. The ship shuddered at the impact of the red, imposing-looking mecha, but Iphigenia was not yet phased. Still, she readied herself for a fight.


"Why, if I disappeared, my companies would be lost without me," Iphie retorted, using the same channel of communication. "Just like you."

All the while, Iphie planned her escape, glancing at the positions of nearby ships and objects. "And I've never been freer. Perhaps you've chosen the wrong corporate management style? You never were good in your business classes, Mary~" The purple-haired girl continued to rile Mary up. "And when this is all over, Heavyware will be part of Courtlandt. Your mistake."

Although Iphie was busy shittalking, unfortunately she didn't actually have a plan for Jin-Sun or Runa. It was more along the lines of a certain few others' style. She'd have to wing it.

"Afraid not. I'll try to jam her systems."
 
"Valentine will surely have her hands full with that mongoloid of yours inside," Mary retorted. The mecha shifted its stance, widening the legs it stood upon and hunching ever slightly. "I won't lie. I only hope she can keep up with monsters like you." The crimson machine emanated an aura of doom, and beneath its feet, the ship shuddered. Something was coming.

"A model like myself has no need for the corporate world. I only see it through that my sisters, and my father before them, succeed like no others can. There is far more riding on this than you realize, Courtlandt."

The image of the mecha was instantaneously replaced by a dart of pure black for the briefest of moments. Runa's singularity arrow flew through empty air where once the mecha had stood before sliding into the hull of the ship with little resistance, flying out the underside. Not even a breeze of wind heralded the manifestation of the mecha beside Jin-sun, as if it had teleported.

With beam-saber raised, Mary's red mecha swung down upon Jin-sun, the heat of the blade -even in that fraction of a second- was enough to turn the cyborg's armor a gentle orange color.


"Mars?" Valentine paused, stopping a few dozen feet from the pair. She appeared pensive for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Aha, so that's how you made it past the shield. Quite clever. I'll admit, none of us considered that as a possibility. No matter. We've prepared for this sort of intrusion." Valentine shot Kyouko a glance, temporarily stunned by the blatantly innocent demand.

"Listen," she began, "We're aware as any other how our methods appear. But we're also not going to sit idly by while the world runs its quiet arms race until oblivion. Ever since the War, we've been building and building. Deadlier and deadlier. Bigger and bigger. While governments are content with letting us corporations run rampant in our research and development, the streets become choked with the threat of home-grown cataclysm. No one says it, but each of us is ourselves prepared for a war, come today or tomorrow." Valentine extended her arms. "Think of this as a preemptive strike, one that can cut the head off the looming beast... at least for a little while. If you so let us."
 
Sophistry? No, there was definitely truth in this. Governments ceding to the interests of megacorporations, as pointlessly heavy arms become more accessible to ordinary civilians. The world was intent on building a powder keg underneath them all, as black markets for tank-busting weaponry flourish. Even if mutual destruction was a deterrent to countries, on an individual scale, death may be preferred instead of life. Perhaps Heavyware was Machiavellian. The ends justified the means. The unveiling of a titanic army that no others could challenge, that could turn 'mutual destruction' to 'one sided slaughter', may in fact serve to force other corporations, other PMCs, to disarm. In a way, that may bring a period of peace.

But Tian Gui's sense of justice wasn't that lenient, and the world he fought to realize wasn't one that existed underneath the looming threat of a massive mecha.

Even as she extended her arms, he kept his fists clenched, pulsating with power and passion.

"I understand the truth behind your words," he acquiesced, "The world is indeed spiralling out of control. At this point, humanity possesses enough firepower to end the world a hundred times over. A single spark would bring about the end. Perhaps your goals are noble. Perhaps your ideals are genuine. But Valentine…"

White breath hissed from vents within the golden mask.

"I've already made this clear. We could have come to an agreement, but you chose to strike first. Your machinations may allow the world to breathe a little easy, but at what cost? Do you plan on using this beast to force all others to disarm? Do you plan on consolidating all military might into a single company? Your company? Do you think that you could save the world with death threats and the might to carry it out?"


"There will be a human cost in your crusade, Valentine," he said, "And though that cost may usher in a period of tranquility, I, at least, will not turn a blind eye to it."

The air shimmered around him, Flamestone resonating with his soul.


"The time for words has passed. Now, show me the strength of your beliefs."
 
Kyouko went silent for a bit. She only understood partially what Valentine was going on about, or rather, she wasn't too sure what to make of it. Sure, one could hear everywhere how humanity was slowly killing itself. Not to mention, history repeated itself over and over again, making it clear that even now the human kind was ultimately too comfortable with their life-style and could push it further to the edge.

Regardless, as far as Kyouko understood the Sisters wanted to unite the world with the power of their war machinery. But wouldn't conflict only breed more conflict? "Oh don't give me that crap!" Kyouko finally spoke up, giving the adult woman more of her innocence. "I have seen enough of your kind! Justifying their greedy ambitions through some excuse called 'greater good'! That might work to delude yourself and those who find it convenient in supporting your cause! But not us. You're a villain! At least have the guts to stand to that. Not to mention, if your fears become true, that heroes like us exist to carry all of humanities sins and fight for a better tomorrow!" Getting into a fighting-pose it seemed like talking was pretty much nearly done.
 
"Monsters?" Jin-Sun seethed, cursing under his breath as he cartwheeled to the side, only just narrowly avoiding the mecha's red-hot blade. "Don't even start with that bull." He hissed as he pulled himself upright, leveling his blade as he began circling around the mech, trying to think of how best to approach it.

"In case you forgot, Valentine's directly responsible for me. And that poor girl you kept locked up in Russia. Not to mention that third cyborg. You're going to cut people up against their will and turn them into your personal hit men, but then you're going to call us monsters? Go to hell."

Jin-Sun aimed the Wire Spears in his hips, and fired them in between the mecha's legs and into the ground past them, reeling himself in to zip towards the mech's underside and cleave it with his blade.
 
Runa sighed. "That would've been so cool if it hit. Oh well." She flew in to join the fight against the mecha. "I have no clue how we're supposed to fight something this big."

She buzzed around the steel colossus, keeping close to its body and looking for something that looked like a hatch or other likely way inside. If it's manned, the pilot has to board somewhere, and that would be the best place to try for an attack. "You guys ever stop to think you might be building too big," she asked. "I mean, what's the point in something this size beyond shock and awe, anyway? Seems like an awful waste of resources on some level."

Her attempts at actual attacks are likely less than effective, trying to pry things open, simply punch her way through, or shove tendrils of flesh into gaps or other mechanisms in an attempt to tear them apart from within.
 
"I see you took your business ethics class in college very seriously, Mary," retorted Iphie, dryly. As much as she wished to fling further ironic statements at her former peer, however, prudence dictated otherwise as she came to the aid of Runa and Jin-Sun. Being unable to tank any of the mecha's blows whatsoever, however, Iphie kept a wider berth around Mary, playing her game from the second line.

Having no love for fighting aboard an airship at what was probably 40,000 feet above sea level, the purple-haired girl wished to end the fight with a single, decisive blow. Kneeling down, she picked up a spent shell casing, likely from one of the CIWS systems the airship employed. Turning over the heavy piece of metal, she tossed it once into the air. It wasn't exactly an armor piercing material like a proper shell, but it would do.

"Runa, Jin-Sun, if you can, keep her in place. Distract her, whatever, I dom't care. I'm lining up a shot."

Scrambling to obtain line of sight with the bright colored mecha, she summoned up her reserves of energy, the air crackling around her as the smell of ozone permeated the air around her. The tips of her fingers snapped with electrical energy as her eyes locked to Mary's mecha. Tossing the shell casing up into the air as if it were a ball, Iphie let it fall to eye level before she blasted it with electromagnetic energy. Caught by the beam, the chunk of metal was instantly propelled forward at several times the speed of sound toward her target.

"Just don't stay too close to her."
 
"As if world domination could be brought to the negotiating table," Valentine jeered at Tian-Gui, "It shouldn't come as a surprise that all of this was kept under wraps for a reason. No one simply let's you seize control. You take it where you see the chance. And in our case, for noble reasons," she said, capitalizing on the titan's empathy.

"You're right," Valentine began, crouching into a stance in tandem with Kyouko, "We're certainly the villains here. This is world domination after all. No hero ever seeks that prize. But if that's your ideal, then we're fated combatants. The heroes and the villains, squaring up against one another. You Final Five... I suppose it stopped being like a comic book when the previous title-holders showed up."

Valentine was silent for a moment, frozen in her fighting stance. The sounds of rumbling pipes and electric cable behind the walls echoed through the passageway.

"Even if you win here, I won't be the last. Are you confident you'll have enough energy to continue on to the next boss?" Valentine didn't wait for an answer, bursting into action. The green aura seeping from her armor thinned and surged out, appearing as if fans of light propelling her body. Valentine's dash slowed abruptly into a low stance on the ground, catching her feet as she spread her stance and leaned backwards. Extending her arm, the green light funneled into a spearhead at the tips of her fingers before suddenly firing out as a beam.

Even if they dodged aside, the beam would seem to terminate where they once stood before just as quickly splitting off like the head of a spiked mace...


"Perhaps that was a bit harsh, yes," Mary sighed, lifting her beam saber from the gash it had created in the hull. It was a wonder that the ship still stayed aloft after the punishment it had taken. "Still, you ended up exceeding expectations, even beyond those of the later models Carrie had created. I'd say that's monster-like."

Mary's tone was characteristic for what the Final Five knew of her; apathetic, quiet, and nonchalant. The expediency in which she moved with each attack by the heroes was uncharacteristically rapid and violent. As Jin-Sun reeled in beneath her, the mech bent at the knees before launching upwards several hundred feet. Tossing the beam saber down, it spun twice before embedding itself near Jin-Sun to hit or otherwise dissuade him from that position. As she came back down, quickly snatching up the weapon again, an arm swung around in an attempt to swat Runa from the sky.

"It's about min-maxing firepower, ability to fit in all environments, and not being too-big of a target. Do you like it? I designed the chassis myself. Didn't want something so bulky and industrial-looking as the flagship." Her mech turned aside just in time to catch the flash of a miniaturized railgun projectile launching. Crossing both arms, the electrified scrap slammed into a manifested shield of some sort, though ultimately pushed the robot back with a several-foot slide. It seemed no worse for wear.

"That people like you exist is the sole reason weapons like this are necessary. Who on Earth knows how many others out there tout powers to contest with entire fleets? Monsters may be the wrong term, I suppose. You're all more like... Catastrophes... waiting to happen."
 
More words could be exchanged, more thoughts could be shared, more sophistry could be spewed, but nothing would change. They were individuals. They could never come to the same agreement without compromises, but their goals were both too strong to be compromised.

Hero and Villain. Lawkeeper and lawbreaker. Their beliefs set them opposite of each other. Their ideals ensured that there was no way but forwards. A collision course that manifested itself in a catwalk that provided no room for evasion.

And, for that reason, instead of moving to the side as an ominous light gathered around Valentine, Tian-Gui surged forward, charging straight into the obliterating beam. Green energy smashed into the golden armor, vapours that spilled from the initial impact converging back onto the armored titan. The catwalk shuddered under the impact, boots grinding into it, but slowly, one step at a time, he overcame the propulsive force. There was some issue with reining in the power that Valentine projected, but he overcame that too, forcing her attack to work against itself, the energy being converted and fed to bolster his constantly crumbling defences.

Inside the suit, veins burst, jolts of agony resounding as Tian-Gui remembered once more that he was walking into this fight injured.

But outside the suit, he stood strong, withstanding the blast. One step at a time, he marched grimly towards the Thremont woman, his own answer ringing amidst the beam's roar.

"I'll continue on, even if nothing is left. Isn't that the same for you, Valentine?"
 
Jin-Sun grunted in frustration as Mary's mecha proved itself to be incredibly agile, evading his swipe with ease. As he continued to reel in, his eyes widened as her blade came hurtling down towards him. The cyborg ninja quickly retracted his first Wire Spear and shot a second one out in a perpendicular direction to the original, twisting out of the way of the blade. As he flipped himself back upright, Jin-Sun glanced up at Mary, irked.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. You don't get to turn this around on me." He snarled, leaping forward to slam his blade down against the mecha's barrier. "Not after you people kidnapped us and cut us open!" Jin-Sun roared, disengaging for a moment before diving right back in, repeatedly assaulting Mary's barrier. "You ever consider the concept of innocent until proven guilty, either? Especially considering you assaulted the Final Five first."

As he attacked, Jin-Sun switched on his telecomm chip on, zeroing in on Iphie's frequency.

"Iphie, I'm keeping her occupied. Flank her, and try again, go for center mass. We'll see if her barrier can stand two hard hits simultaneously."
 
"Tch."

Clicking her tongue in irritation, Iphie witnessed Mary's abomination of a mecha tank her electrified projectile. While it was by no means the most optimal of her attacks, with the projectile itself being made of rather soft scrap, it still annoyed her to no end. Granted, the sheer momentum sent her back several feet, but simply pushing around a mecha with high-energy attacks wasn't exactly going to do.

"That sounds like a basis for tyranny. Isn't that even the plot for X-men? You're making that a reality, really?"

Throwing a sarcastic jab at her opponent, the purple-haired girl glanced about the deck for a more viable means of attack while she still had the liberty to do so. At the moment, Jin-Sun was getting the brunt of Mary's attention, but that wasn't going to last forever. Spotting what appeared to be some steel piping for water, Iphie quickly slid over to metal. Creating a long arc between her fingers, using her foot for leverage, she created a makeshift art cutter to cut away at the pipe. Maintaining an electromagnetic field at the same time to fend off the sparks, she wrenched away the makeshift metal projectile-to-be from the melted cut.


"Understood. I don't have much more 'ammunition' or energy for more tries, though. Two, maybe three shots at best. Give me a distraction and we'll try for the best."

Holding the piping in her hand like a spear, she waited for the opportune moment before trying again. Aiming for center mass as suggested, she threw the metal projectile like a javelin. At the same time, she created another, stronger electrified field between it, propelling this object too at several times the speed of sound, a flash and a blaze of ignited oxygen trailing behind it.


"Jin-Sun, incoming."
 
Before Kyouko could even decide if she was to dodge their opponents attack or nullify it Tian already jumped into action, being so stupid heroic to simply charge and take it head on. "Stupid!" Shaking her head the blonde simply started to rush forward as well. If Tian kept Valentine focused on himself, as his wounds would ultimately not matter, then the brunette would use that chance to strike back. "It doesn't matter how many adversaries we have to face..."

Though, still mainly human and with the distance she had to cover her efforts could at most be called admirable as she tried to pull a punch. "WE KEEP GOING AS LONG AS WE HAVE TO!"
 
The arm collided with Runa and sent her flying with a nice, meaty crunch. She tumbled through the air, blood streaming from cracks in her armor, only regaining control of her own flight when much further away. "Owww. You damn jerk."

Runa was out of ideas, as this whole fight felt out of her league, particularly coming back from whatever happened on Mars. She'd have to thank Kyouko later for at least not being nearly as tired or hungry as she should be, but was left with little to really do to deal with a colossal mecha.

"Can I help somehow," she asked Jin-Sun and Iphie. "Like be a distraction or something? Ah, screw it, I'm going in, too." She again focused on a fixed area, forming a thin rod of degenerate matter with sheer gravitational force. Wielding it like a sword, she swooped in to add a third attack from another angle.
 
Under such a suit, of course the unbroken spirit of Tian-Gui would never cower in the face of danger. He'd take it straight on. But perhaps, that was indeed his greatest weakness, invincible as one might believe him to be.

So was his downfall.

Valentine Thremont's suit surged with green energy, coursing across the surface of the obsidian metals like circuitry, calculating some incomprehensible equation. Tian-Gui stopped. Dead. Stopped. His armor was not his own, as it seemed to work against his own will to move. It locked into place and shuddered with the same green energy that he had previously absorbed, seeming as if to be trying to escape. The armor crushed in on his body as it tried to resist, fighting with greater force than was necessary... for a moment.

In a flash of light, the armor at Tian-Gui's chest exploded outwards like a claymore mine, revealing his exposed skin. The energy escaped his suit and coalesced before his body...

Forming into a pike...

Just as suddenly as it had escaped, the green spear launched into Tian-Gui's chest, piercing his exposed flesh in a burst of blood. Tian-Gui was instantly downed, but alive and conscious. With the brute incapacitated for the moment, Valentine could direct her full attention to Kyouko. Seemingly unimpressed by the 'mere' girl's bravery, she extended a palm to catch Kyouko's punch...

Only to have the suit around her arm cracked and broken! Valentine cried out in pain as Kyouko's freakishly powerful punch shattered the very bones in her arm.

"What in the hells was that? Who the hell are you?!" she growled, cradling her broken arm as she dashed back to gain some distance.


The mecha dismissed each of Jin-Sun's blows with a wave of its hand, manifesting transient red barriers to block the slices of his sword. Each of them danced about one another, Mary remaining on the offensive even against such a tiny combatant; the characteristic Aurorum-color of his blade was evidence enough of the cutting power it possessed. One false step, and the leg of her mech was gone. Still, she slipped in a few swipes at him as well, super-heated blade carving ruts into the hull of the ship with each pass. With three enemies, she had to do more than dance, however.

As the two girls each unleashed their own simultaneous projectiles, Mary forced her mech to duck low, practically becoming prone on the ground. Like a beast on all fours, the mech surged forth, its head slamming into an airborne Jin-Sun and knocking him back several hundred feet. Quickly rising back to its feet, the mech's beam saber turned off for a moment, becoming a simple rod of steel in its hands.

A red aura grew in density around its chassis in tandem with a green aura that coalesced inwards, as if being absorbed by the mech. Four cylinders upon its back burst into life, unleashing a series of pulses that funneled into the form of a linear homing laser. Two each set their sights upon Runa and Iphigenia, malicious and tenacious in their quest to vaporize the two girls.
 
"God damnit, stop being so cool," Runa shouted at the mech as she sped off to escape the oncoming energy beams. There really was only one thing she could do, and that was try to keep ahead of them, and take as many sharp turns as she could while weaving around through the ships and other vehicles still within the flotilla. Any luck and she'd be able to shake the beams off, or at least force them to hit one of the Thremonts' own ships.
 
"Gah!" Jin-Sun grunted as he was headbutted hundreds of feet through the air, tumbling through the sky before managing to deploy a wire spear, reeling himself in and ziplining from ship to ship as he tried to make his way back towards the melee. The moment that Iphie and Runa came back into view, Jin-Sun frowned as he watched them being chased by homing lasers. Well, shit. His blade couldn't exactly deflect a laser.

As Runa zipped by, laser tailing her, Jin-Sun noticed a VTOL hovering nearby. With a grin, he deployed a wire spear, latching into the VTOL before he gripped the wire by both hands, making good use of his augmented strength to hurl the VTOL directly into the path of the laser, taking care of Runa's problem for her.

"Help Iphie!" He yelled out to her, rushing forward to reengage Mary in melee, blade outstretched towards her while her beam saber was deactivated.
 
"WE. ARE. JUSTICE!" Kyouko yelled upon the sudden surprise of Valentine. To an extent the brunette was just as surprised but in the grand scheme of things she couldn't afford any hesitation. With Tian now behind her, Kyouko wasn't even allowed to take a look at how he fared. But she was certain that the unsinkable Titan of the Final Five wouldn't die that easily.

No, right now, the young Hero had an advantage. An advantage she needed to press on! "NEUANFANG!" With Valentine moving back, Kyouko used her one-trick pony power to change her velocity to be around what it was just mere seconds ago. There was no need for acceleration that way and she could close the gap rather swiftly to aim for another punch.
 
Once again, the purple-haired girl made a sound of annoyance as her shot grazed the top of the mecha. For a lumbering piece of equipment, it was nimble enough to avoid a projectile fired at several times the speed of sound, and if she wasn't engaged in a fight to the death with Mary, she might have properly respected such an engineering feat. But right now, it downright pissed her off.

She didn't have time to simmer in it, however, as Mary fired off a series of laser pulses in her direction. Unlike Runa, Iphigenia didn't have the luxury of aerially dodging or having the attacks intercepted for her. Confined to her location on top of an airship, there was no good way to avoid the shots except to take cover. Dashing for the backside of the vessel, magnetically keeping her balance, she slid behind a thick bulkhead as the ship was pummeled, taking the blow for her.

Unfortunately for her, that also meant that the airship was going down in flames.

"Runa, I'm going to need your help—" Iphie keyed her mic, the sounds of the airship breaking up in the background. "Do it now!"
 
It was surprise, more than pain, that showed in Tian-Gui's face as his armor burst apart, golden pieces scattered before dissolving in red smoke. It was determination, more than pain, that showed in his face as his two hands, three fingers broken, grasped onto the strange green energy and yanked it out, another spray of blood coloring the catwalk. And it was elation, more than pain, that showed in his face as Kyouko rushed forwards, continuing the assault tenaciously.

Everything hurt, and all the fractures that he had patched together were bursting apart again, impossible agony frying his nerves. But through that haze of pain, the raven-haired hero of ShanHu grit his teeth, clenched his fist, and slammed his hand into the ground. Flamestone raced from it, the magical ore spiralling two dimensionally through the catwalk, outpacing Valentine's retreat before erupting skywards into a massive golden wall, cutting off her escape.

Smouldering blue eyes locked onto the armored woman, filled to the brim with challenge.

"Don't run away, Valentine. Aren't you willing to fight for your ideals too?"
 
Two explosions rocked the skies surrounding the malformed ship's deck. The VTOL and bulkhead door each took the two red beams of energy simultaneously, leaving their targets unscathed, but no doubt winded or singed by the proximity. Mary's mech stood at the center of it all, proud and yet unharmed by the entire ordeal. Setting the plasma blade alight once more, she spoke out as if all else was merely an appetizer.

"I've not felt exhilarated like this before, but it seems push has come to shove. Lest I slip up, things end here!" she shouted. The mech's winged back glowed red, lifting it a dozen feet from the surface. Like a savior rising to heaven, the black machine seemed as if it were blessing its audience with glory. A sound like an earthquake rocked the air, as the flagship beyond shifted into motion. Several panels of immense size moved aside at its chest as the glass-like orb hidden beneath them was revealed. Like the crimson of the black mecha, the chest-piece of the flagship burned hot until a surprisingly thin beam of light shot forth into Mary's machine.

Bestowed with an aura that melted the steel structures nearby, the mecha had become something akin to a walking sun. Even as it hovered above the airship below, a small circle of metal glowed yellow just beneath. The plasma blade extended in length tenfold, becoming a tower of death. With a flourish, the mecha cut swathes in the air, rending ships in two as their internal machinations detonated and began to float helplessly to the earth.

The three heroes would face a gauntlet to deal the final blow.

Through near-misses that burned their skins seconds later, and the use of a slowly dwindling solid ground beneath their feet, they would reach the mecha, and before they too could be turned into slag by its aura, finally fell the hellish machine.

...

Mary's mecha lost its air and began to fall, wings pitifully attempting to keep aloft. All about them, the ravaged corpses of immense ships churned and burned, periodically bursting from within as energy sources leaked and mixed to form a volatile, superheated concoction of destruction. The majority of the fleet yet remained unscathed, maintaining its dominating presence in the high atmosphere. The mecha crackled with black sparks, teetering on the edge of wholesale obliteration. Mary laughed from within briefly, the heat of her failing vehicle already drawing intense sweat from her face.

She said nothing more. No final line. No one last quip. Mary fell with her mecha to the air below the airships, culminating in a spectacular display of unnervingly evil-looking energy. The mecha detonated, unleashing a spire of blackness that stretched high into the atmosphere and far down to the earth. Nothing more was left than a dissipating ash of metal and a sickening haze.

All that was left... was to catch up with the other two.


Valentine's back pressed up against the flamestone wall, her senses dedicated wholly to the two of them. She did not flinch or fall into any further of a despair; what worse could there be than for a tiny girl to destroy your bleeding-edge armor with a single, nonsensical punch? Valentine frowned, arm still limp.

"To have these sort of things... Powers won not by the progress of fellow man- by our collective effort... They are independent, no... They are simply not beholden to the rest of the world. Mary couldn't have said it more perfectly. You all, all of you, are monsters in the truest sense. Unnatural. Antithesis to the real. No one should have such a thing," he monologued. For all her protesting, she could do little. What possessed these punches from Kyouko that could bypass her suits systems? Was she so single-minded in countering Tian-Gui that she overlooked something far more troublesome? No. They knew hardly anything about Kyouko in the first place. She could not have planned. Perhaps that was what had angered her so much.

As Kyouko rocketed forth again with a speed unbecoming of someone who hadn't even taken a step forward, Valentine simply raised her other god arm. She sealed her fate there, rendering her useless, but saved her chest or head from the nameless power Kyouko possessed. Valentine's body flew backwards, crashing through the flamestone wall, and sliding across the catwalk unceremoniously. Valentine laid there, the impact prompting a quick, pitiful cough that brought blood with it. A smirk escaped her lips, hair falling upon her eyes.

"To fight for one's ideals... against such an unfair power. That is too much to ask for. I will be a coward instead. Crush me if you like, or keep being that heroic figure you both seem to worship. I've lost the hope that I had... for everything I wanted." Valentine fell quiet, appearing to go unconscious. Her chin turned aside.

The catwalk was silent, save the hum of engines beyond.

What lay before them... the final boss.


As the group coalesced in the long steely halls of the flagship, the interior seemed peculiarly empty of workers, automated or otherwise. Even in those locations which seemed far more suited for habitation than the average maintenance path, all was quiet. Perhaps evacuated, perhaps indicative of the efficiency of the fleet.

Their travels led them to the height of the beast, a location near the crest of the flagships distinct 'head'. A final hallway lay between them and the engine room; a throne, as far as they were concerned. Three hundred feet of postmodern symmetric architecture lay between them and their mission's end.

As they swung open the last doors, far too extravagant for anyone who thought of themselves as an enforcer of order, they were met with an immense room, clear glass panels making up the entirety of the far wall. Towards the ceiling, a machine that looked as if a gyroscope and an oversized caltrop were met together hovered, exuding pure energy from the perfectly shaped steel ball at its center.

A set of two manor staircases led up to a platform that overlooked the room and rested close to the glass wall, and upon the velvet-carpeted platform, a single coffee table and armchair sat...

And upon the armchair sat a peculiar figure. Setting down his teacup, the man unfolded his leg from his other knee and turned to the gathered Final Five. An expressionless, but no less dignified and casual stare seemed little interested in their presence. To him, they appeared like any other guest, spoken to with respect.

"To be quite honest I wasn't actually expecting you all to make it here. Maybe my daughters dissuaded my fears all too well," he said, standing. His voice was truly electronic; there was no modulation to a flesh-and-blood voice beneath the mask. "It's a good thing I nevertheless stayed here. I made the right choice."
 
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