Deadlocked: Machinations
When Ratchet returned from Ghost Station, he immediately went to see Clank. "Any news, Clank?" he asked.
"I have found a way to shut down the containment fields, and release all the heroes," Clank replied.
"Okay," Ratchet confirmed, barely seeming to register. "What about Twilight?"
Clank frowned. "I'm sorry, Ratchet. She hasn't been on the news reports since she won her own Liberator Tournament, and I can't locate her - or her battle bots - anywhere on the station."
Ratchet clenched his fist around his Omniwrench. After what Vox had said when he'd tried to recruit him as arena champ after he defeated Ace...
"Kill other heroes for money?" Ratchet demanded angrily. "I'll never do that! You're sick! The only thing I want back from you is my daughter!"
Vox chuckled a bit. "I'm sure you do want her...but are you sure she still wants you? After all, she's learned such horrible things about you..."
"She'd never buy that nonsense you've been broadcasting about me," Ratchet growled.
"Really?" Vox asked. "Then why would she be bonding so strongly with Ace? You've seen that yourself, haven't you?"
Ratchet hesitated. He had seen that. It was why fighting Ace had been so difficult...especially since Ace had said he couldn't tell Ratchet where she was.
"And of course," Vox continued, "she's bound to be crushed when she hears how you brutally slaughtered him in the ring...and she'll have no reason to doubt-"
"I didn't kill him!" Ratchet shouted. "He was alive when I walked away!"
"Not according to what Vox Media will say if you walk out that door," Gleeman pointed out with a grin.
Ratchet glowered. "I'm going to save Twilight...and I will end you."
As Ratchet walked out, Vox laughed. "You just signed your death warrant, kid!" he called out.
"You okay, Ratchet?" Al asked, turning from the computer screens to check on his friend, revealing his now cybernetic body.
"Al?" Ratchet asked, shocked. "You're alright?"
"Of course I am!" Al said disparagingly. "Dreadzone steals only the best...and they just so happened to have some of Twilight's prototype cybernetic prosthesis."
Ratchet managed a chuckle. "Well, that's a relief..."
Clank nodded. "At any rate, I have uploaded the plans of the interior facility of the Dreadzone station into your suit's nav computer. I've also included where the control system you need to destroy is located. And I've reprogrammed the transport shuttle to take you there...but it is a one way trip."
Ratchet nodded. "Then while I'm there...I need someone to find Twilight."
"You can count on us sir," Green, one of Ratchet's battle bots, declared.
"We'll search the whole station from base to top!" Merc, the other bot, agreed.
"Thanks guys," Ratchet said softly. "This place is going down."
Vox looked over the plans for the final event with a wide grin. Before long, Ratchet would make his move to try and free all the heroes. When he did, Vox would trigger the field traps, locking everyone into the Battledome and causing everyone to be equipped with a Deadlock collar automatically. He'd then send his 'desperate' message to Dallas and Juanita, putting the blame on the 'brutal challenger', along with instructions not to announce him by name, for reasons that would become clear, since Vox had taken steps to try and 'stop this', but 'the show must go on'.
Meanwhile, the bug he'd put in Ratchet's suit had already activated. When he next closed his helmet for access to the nav comp's HUD, he would be unable to open it, and the speech synthesizers that let him speak to people through the closed helmet would shut down. And then he'd face Twilight, who would be convinced that this was some faceless monster who had killed her father and her friend.
And of course, if things didn't go exactly according to plan...Vox already had something even better in store. And with Ace out of the way - Vox had been fooled for a moment, the sentimental fool had fallen under the filly's spell, so he'd ordered the fool killed after Ratchet finished the fight - there would be no one to stop him.
Ace groaned as he pulled himself together in the champ's quarters. "Ugh..." he groaned. "That was a lot more painful than I remember it being..." He staggered to the bathroom, where he was noisily sick.
Everyone who had ever seen him fight knew where he got the name Hardlight. He was able to generate multiple hard-light duplicates of himself, each one animated by a small portion of his energy. He frequently used that ability, both while a hero and in the arena. What he made sure no one ever learned was that they were more than just autonomous body doubles. If his main body ever got killed, he could transfer his physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual nature into any hard light duplicate still active, actually turning it into his original body.
It was never a pleasant process, but after the first few times it had happened during his early career, he'd convinced himself it was far preferable to staying dead. Which was why he left one of his duplicates behind in his room any time he went to fight in the arena.
However, it took time for him to fully infuse the new body, and even longer after that before he could manifest more hard light duplicates. Knowing what he did of how Vox thought, if he was to help Twilight, he wouldn't be able to wait until he could generate more hard light duplicates. He'd have to be a bit more careful.
"Still can't believe he shot me in the head," he grumbled as he donned his old Liberator armor, which completely hid his identity. "Gonna have to pay him back for that...and make sure Twilight gets out of here...Ratchet will take care of that..."
Now disguised, he grabbed his spare weapons and leapt into the back corridors of the station, heading for Vox's office, ready to intervene when the time was right.
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THIS GONNA BE GOOD!!
Good man, Ace.
Fuck Vox with a rusty pickaxe.
(P.S. I apologize for the vulgarity, but I felt it was needed to express my true and pure distaste for this loathsome character.)
Drek got turned into a chicken before being squashed. Is it alright if I imagine Vox as a grey smear?
Or is that too much of his matter left?
Vindictive of me, but I really despise greedy corporate bullies who break the law and kidnap for profit. Worms are worth more then they are. Hell, ordinary beach dirt that only clumps up when it gets wet is worth more.
relieved to see that Ace is alive. And glad to see just how fucked Vox is gonna be.
"You can count on us sir?" Green, one of Ratchet's battle bots, declared.
1. Meant to put a full stop.
I wonder if the inverse of the unspoken plan guarantee applies to the spoken plans of villains?
The plot has twisted.
yay ace is still alive
"And then he'd face Twilight, who would be convinced that this was some faceless monster who had killed her father and her friend."
In Lombax-shaped armor. And making gestures of peace.
"there would be no one to stop him"
Ignoring that insignificant little President of the Galaxy (and maybe Angela), in that situation, you'd have convinced Twilight that everyone close to her had gotten killed. In your game, which they were only in because you kidnapped them. She may even know that you tricked her into killing her father. What does she have to lose then? Why would she not trace her misery back to the source?
[it's revealed that Vox ordered Ace killed]
[it's revealed that even that has already gone wrong]
...You know, by this point, I'm kind of feeling sorry for Vox.
6344953
Nope. Inspired by watching the fight in the game.
YES! Frikin called it. Hope Ratchet can stay alive long enough For Ace or Clank to help.
Vox is going down.
You know...I hope when it come down to it, Twilight will tear apart the contract when she realized she has been tricked. I've seen so many people suddenly stumbled by the contract despite didn't care about it before...It feel stupid really. It only has value if you see it as having any sort of value. That and if it is intact.
Also...Vox is so screwed.
... I'm willing to call bullshit, really, I am, but I can't find myself caring because this is after all a Tat 'raising a filly' story, I mean, look at Deadpool, we have a Cthulhu and Jabberwocky, and a whole section was devoted towards finding Chrysalis a guyfriend.
... I still think Thirty-Thirty was out of left field.
Anyway, here we are, Vox is an asshole, Hardlight is... way overpowered, and Ratchet has to survive getting fought to death by Twilight.
Gee, what a happy world.
Welp, didn't see that coming with Ace. Makes sense with that headcanon- he could have gone into hiding in the main series with that logic as well. Anyways, I think at this point we're all just waiting to see it all come crumbling down- as well as the curbstomping of Vox!
There is a place beyond which fury dare not tread. Vox just showed me what it takes for me to reach that level of sheer anger. It is a place of calm unending, a true void where no emotion dare tread, and Vox just pushed me in to mine... There was a story on here that described what a human wizard who achieved this state looked like to half of a primarily unicorn Canterlot looked like briefly. Suffice to say, even behind a magical equivalent of Fort Knox, he made them all pale from brushing his finger tips just past the edge of it. I lack the crutch of magic, so instead I must rely on the crutch of science alone. I will find a way to reach across the entirety of the multiverse and demonstrate why you do not push a patient man to this.
6345065
It's not actually overpowered.
It's literally the 'extra life' ability of all video games. Or the equivalent of creating a 'save point'.
Also, the hardlight copies? Canon to the games. The 'using one to revive if killed' is all I added here.
6345163
I know they are canon, and YES, the save point IS OP, you literally come back to life whenever it's convenient.
... Anyway, you have to admit that the copies ARE kind of a stretch to transfer mind, memories and soul, I'm not complaining against the changes, let's just be honest that rival coming from it is out the left field.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
6345435
It actually is balanced more than it seems.
6344295 once agian. AW3SOME
Yes you have redeemed Ace Hardlight!!!!! starts singing the hallelujah chorus
'Hardlight' was earned? Is that how surnames work? I don't think so.
6345599
I doubt that was a Surname, what type of Superhero uses their surname? That would definitely get their loved ones killed.
6345647
Don't be silly; all superheros are tragically orphaned at a young age is a very plot-convenient way!
6345660
I never said parents, I said loved ones. Friends, siblings, lovers. Anyone that could be traced to anyone with that surname might be a target.
6345445
No, I get that it's balanced, what I'm saying is that going from hardlight copies of ones self to a +1 life from video games is kind of a stretch when you look at the realistic side of things.
As realistic as a series where a purple alicorn and her alien father participate in adventures across the galaxy of course...
6345718
Or as realistic as when Captain Qwark was able to cling to the outside of a spaceship and ride across several light years at hyper-light velocities by "holding his breath". (From the Captain Qwark vid comics in "Up Your Arsenal.")
Seriously, Ratchet and Clank games are the last place you want to argue about realism. How, exactly, is it different from a biological teleportation mechanism?
6345747
Because if I am not going to argue about something then who will?!
... And beside, it's something to pass the time.
In the immortal words of both Krieg and countless other Psychos, STRIP THE FLESH! SALT THE WOUND!
Is Ratchet going to have to pull a Darth Vader impression and go "Twilight, I AM YOUR FATHER!" or will he need to bring up foalhood blackmail to get her to listen to him???
Yay, Ace isn't dead... I guess that means Twilight has one Ace in her pocket when all the cards are laid out.
As for Vox... BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!!!!
THE FINALE IN THIS ARC OF THE GAME IS COMMING!
Ah, Ace. You clever, clever bastard.
I'm still concerned about the fine print of the contract Vox had Twilight sign. I have no doubt that it's going to come into play during the final battle.
The final battle of this arc is about to begin. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. I'm worried about that fine print... Vox will not survive once the President and her entrouge has arrived.
Twilight's a minor. Putting a minor in harm's way is illegal. Kidnapping is illegal. Most importantly, minors cannot sign legal documents.
Vox has absolutely no legal standing.
6346018
To quote Black Mage: "Bah! I'm tired of your empty contractual threats. What could you threaten me with that i couldn't stab and/or blast my way out of?"
Ace is probably going to be the one to put the final nail in Vox's coffin. Hopefully after having put some Hardlight boot up his a$$.
6348502 HA! Your puny phasers will be nothing compared to my RYNO VI Protosuit with dual Omega RYNO V's and shoulder mounted Dual Omega RYNO IV's plus dual back mounted alpha cannons and a single back mounted Supernova launcher. All of which are constantly reloaded by a matter converter using the atoms of my enemies after I completely destroy them!
6348603 ... You do realize that these are custom jobs... right? When I said "heavy" phasers I MEANT HEAVY phasers. If I wasn't a taur I wouldn't be able to carry these things. These things where originally on a FUCKING STARSHIP!!! Not to mention that they have enough power to last me a couple hours before I would need to recharge these things. On average of course. Now, let's go get Twilight back, shall we?
Um... I... have this exo-suit?
Dude, just leave the killing to Runner over there and enjoy the show. Shi's got it covered.
6346564 Don't make the acid to strong otherwise it would just melt his nerve endings, making him not be able to feel pain from that general region...
The trick is finding an acid strong enough to do some serious damage, yet weak enough to not melt the flesh instantly.
6345891 *Pulls out a Dagger of Sacrifice*
Blood for the blood altar!
6348646 Very well I will remain as back-up. HOWEVER! You also fail to realize that I said MY Protosuit. This thing is the size of Metroplex, with FULL_SIZED WEAPONS. I also have both the Empire and Republic fleets on speed-dial. And if that wasn't enough, The Catalyst owes me a favor. So if you do need my help, DON'T hesitate to ask. NOBODY HURTS TWILIGHT AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!
6348753 I was talking to Flame... I'm sure Runner wouldn't mind having allies along side hir as shi goes into a blood lust... (You do NOT want to mess with an enraged Chakat...)
*Wimpers in fear at the memory*
6348762 I suppose so.
Especially not Runner if shi is in heat.
I will just watch her back.
6348807 *Walks in* Hey guys what's goin-
*Sees Flame cowering in the courner, StarRunner with hir dual custom phasers, and Ember watching with popcorn*
Newp
*Turns right around and leaves*
6348824 I mean seriously, I could EASILY destroy hir and shi would probably just keep reforming in order to come after me. NOT something I wanna deal with for even a DAY, much less a week and a half. Of course if shi was after me for a different reason I might just let her catch me.
Besides, someone has to keep their cool and make sure shi doesn't accidentally set of the collars during her rampage.
6348843 Oh don't worry about the first one. The second one... depends... Third problem... well... how tamper resistant are they from the inside? After all, Talent TK and Magic TK are not the same thing... They have different mechanics. So all I would have to do is break all the wires surrounding the explosives in those collars, effectively isolating the explosives, THEN go nuts.
We've had to... deal with hir in the past...
6348859 First one to a thousand kills? and Twilight gets Vox. i'll even give you a hundred kill head-start
WAIT! Waitwaitwaitwait........wait. Dpenda on WHAT?