Strike 64- Phosphorescent Dance
When Lightning Strikes- Phosphorescent Dance
By the time that the heroes Gunvolt and Copen had entered the elevator at the base of the tower, the entire bridge behind them looked like a battlefield. Heroes from across Equestria were clashing with villains that tried to prevent the two of them from infiltrating the tower. Now, they were inside as the floor under their feet began to move upward. Their view of the chaos on the ground was beginning to shrink the higher they went into the air. With each passing floor, they were getting closer and closer to the beating heart of Sumeragi as well as the one who runs it.
“Okay, Cody,” the adept was the first to speak as he looked back towards his friend as Lola was resting on his shoulder, “Now that we’re in here, do you and Lola happen to know what we need to do now? We just left several of our friends and teammates to fight against members of my personal Rogue’s Gallery, so I really hope you have some kind of plan.”
“Lance, don’t try to overthink it,” Cody cautioned him as Lola whispered something in his ear. With a nod of his head, the adept’s friend looked back towards him and began where he left off, “Besides, we already have a plan since Nova is not the only priority here. The tower itself is still a weapon pointed directly at Equestria and as long as that’s still functional, Nova can basically use the planet as a giant bargaining chip.”
The Azure Striker paused a bit when hearing that. Lance was so focused on saving Lumen and Aurora that he didn’t even take that possibility into consideration until after Cody just told him. “Damn, you’re right,” he cursed, “Now I feel like we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
“Now now, it’s not like a hero to be all doom and gloom,” A familiar voice spoke up as the space in between Lance and Cody began to shimmer. After a few seconds, the shimmer began to dissipate as Sombra stood between them, “Besides, your friend did say we already have a plan, didn’t he amigo?”
“S-sonya? W-What are you doing here-?”
“She was the one who contacted Masked Matterhorn about the tower and told us that Nova had a series of targets that he wanted to wipe off the map with it,” Cody explained further, hoping that doing so would clear up some confusion, “She was actually hidden the whole time and used the fighting on the bridge as cover to help make it easier for Lola to override the elevator controls.”
Sombra herself nodded in response, before looking back at the Adept, “Now, I know that we all have different… methods for what we do, but we can both agree that the bastardo Nova is a threat to everyone,” the vigilante explained, before conjuring a screen with a free hand as she smirked, “Fortunately, I happen to have a plan where we can not only stop him, but also disable this tower. Yet, it can only work if we all work together on this one and we have little margin for error here. With that in mind… would you like to hear what I had in mind, Amigo?”
“Well, it’s not like we have any other options and it’s too late to turn back now,” the Azure Striker replied, before looking towards the vigilante, “Let’s hear it.”
As soon as he said that, the small screen that Sombra created began to morph and transform into the layout of the tower itself, with a second screen focusing on the top of the tower. “Now, we already know that once we step out of here, we’ll be in el vientre de la bestia,” Sombra explained, “Nova is not messing around with security up there to the point that not even a cucaracha would get past the defenses he has put in place. Literally.”
A short security clip of what looked to be heavy duty turrets emerging from the walls by the door to Nova’s chamber and opening fire on a bug that somehow got in proved her point. “Damn,” Cody cursed, “This tower’s no joke. How the hell are we going to deal with that?”
“Simple,” Sombra smirked, “The plan works in three steps and each one of us is assigned a different role,” The vigilante had most of the diagram on the tower collapse, before focusing on the top as three other screens came up. “First things first, security. If I get access to the security station, I can take control of the tower and shut down it’s weapon systems and defenses with an EMP. However, in order for that to work, I need access to the Sumeragi network.”
“Woah, slow down there,” the azure striker interjected, “How were you able to get all of this, yet you don’t have access to their network?”
“I intercepted Sumeragi’s communications earlier and tried to get access to their network when I was getting the doors open. However, it’s being protected by a firewall that I cannot crack with just brute force. Which is where your compadre comes in,” After saying that, she turned to Cody and handed what appeared to be a SD card, “His target is the server room on the same floor. If he can place this into the central terminal, it can create a backdoor that I can access. With it, I can gain control and activate the EMP.”
“Okay, that… sounds simple,” Cody replied, before looking back to Lance, “Though, you said all of us would have a roll. What will Lance be doing?”
“I was getting there amigo. Se paciente,” the vigilante sighed, “When the EMP goes off, it’ll disable all the defenses leading up to Nova. Allowing for the hero here to storm his office and confront him face to face. Mándenlos al infierno, amigo.”
That definitely seemed like a good plan. Yet, Lance had one question left on his mind, “Your plan is good… though, are you sure that you really want for me to do that. Nova’s-”
“-No longer the friend that we once knew,” Sombra quickly interjected, “In my mind, Noah is dead… and the person that he is now is a threat to all of us. He even plans on erasing the facility that Aster is in… No way in hell am I going to just stand by and let him.”
Now approaching- Firmament
“Well, it’s showtime, chicos,” Sombra smiled as the elevator began to slow down, waving a hand as she began to cloak herself and disappear from view, “Let’s go. Everyone’s counting on us.”
The moment the doors to the elevator opened, Sombra was quick on her feet to bypass the two guards that stood at the door, leaving them for her companions to destroy. Each one of them had a job that they needed to do and very little time in order to accomplish their tasks. Time was of the essence and given everything that was at stake, failure was not an option. Even the slightest of errors could result in major consequences and if one of them screwed up, it would make the tasks of everyone else much harder.
Though, as the vigilante carefully navigated her way throughout the compound, she found it relatively simple to bypass some of the security measures put in place. Mainly because her camouflage hid her presence from the security cameras that were scattered out everywhere. In her mind, she had two ideas as to how the defenses system worked. It was either orchestrated by a machine or someone would have to be watching the feeds and activate the defenses from the room itself.
Once she got closer, Sombra soon realized that it was the latter of the two. When she found the door to the security room, two shadows were on the other side of some painted glass that she couldn’t see through. The sliding doors were etched with the Sumeragi logo and there was a keypad on the door. At first, she was tempted to just access the keypad and quickly get inside. Though, she then spotted a ceiling camera just inside the door as an idea began to form in her mind. Perhaps spying on them for a bit could provide some information for how Babel Tower’s weapon systems work.
“Hm, let’s see who’s waiting for me on the other side of the door,” the vigilante smirked, swiftly hacking the camera to take control as she got a look at who was inside. Right by the door, there were two earth pony stallions that were dressed in Sumeragi armor. Yet, these two did not wear any helmets and she could easily see their cutie marks. The first one had a mane and tail that was both violet and a moderate cyan with magenta eyes, grey fur and a scissors cutie mark; while the other stallion in the room had a violet mane and facial hair to go with their gold eyes, medium gray fur and the comb cutie mark on their flank.
Though, as Sombra listened in on the two of them, the first stallion wasn’t exactly thrilled with their current predicament, “Dear Celestia, we’re so high up! H-how high do you think we are right now? We have to be above Equestria’s atmosphere right now, right?”
“Well, everypony down on the ground looks like ants up here, so yeah… we’re very high up,” the second stallion answered, “Why, do you have acrophobia or something?”
“Agro what?”
“Not agro. Acro,” the violet bearded stallion retorted, before letting out a sigh, “You know, fear of heights?”
“What? Of course not!” the first stallion quickly replied back, “If I had a fear of heights, I wouldn’t even consider doing security duty, Comb.”
Sombra personally grinned at that. That stallion’s slip up gave her a clue as to the identity of their companion. A simple search algorithm using the list of names that the Maretropolis PD had on file along with the image of their cutie mark could piece together who they were. For now though, she kept on listening.
“Trim, why exactly are you bringing this up? I don’t recall you complaining like this the last few times we had to do security duty,” Comb told the other stallion.
“I get that,” ‘Trim’ replied, “Though, I hate just sitting around. I mean, before the boss chose to be with Sumeragi, we would directly work for her and actually got the chance to contribute to whatever plans the Mane-iac was doing. Now, we’re just stuck here doing late security duty shifts. I know that she said that things were going to be better, but this,” the stallion then gestured to the rest of the room, “Is not exactly what I had in mind.”
“Hey, at least it beats getting our flanks kicked and then getting thrown in jail,” Comb tried to reason with him, “Besides, everypony else has to do their fair share too.”
By this point, Sombra had a positive on the two stallions. According to police records, their names were Quick Trim and Comb Over. Both of them had been arrested before by the police department as hench-ponies that worked for Mane-iac. They would perform burglaries and steal valuable items that the villain needed for whatever diabolical plan she was working on next and they were rather good at it too. That was, until they were caught and arrested when the Power Ponies foiled the Mane-iac’s plan to unleash a ‘Hairspray Ray of Doom’ on the city. Though, she couldn’t find any information on what happened after they were locked up.
Quick Trim just looked back at the earth pony, before letting out a grin, “Funny you say that… You know who I never happen to see get assigned to last minute shifts like these?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“Unconditioner,” the stallion replied, “Never seen his flank actually be in here and doing something for once. I bet you twenty bits that he’s in his quarters right now trying to figure out how to make his mane the way it is without actually washing it.”
“Mhm.”
“You know, I was put on monitor duty for six weeks? Six weeks?! Then, I make one bucking remark to Unconditioner about that Nova guy and how he looks two young to be in charge of a criminal organization and the next thing I know. Bam! Last minute security duty. All while Unconditioner takes my monitor duty and I get to sit here bored out of my mind because there’s no way in bucking tartarus that anypony would be foolish enough to sneak in here without setting off any alarms.”
That just had Comb let out a deep breath, before looking back at Quick Trim, “You can’t be too sure. Blow Dry said the same thing about the Power Ponies stopping Mane-iac last time and then we all got thrown in the slammer for it,” the stallion told him, “Why don’t you go take a break and blow off some steam? It’s still going to be a while before the shift’s over and it’ll give you the chance to get some coffee.”
Quick Trim rolled his eyes, before looking back at the stallion, “Yeah, coffee would be good,” he replied, trotting towards the door. Though, he soon turned back around as he looked back to Comb, “Hey, what’s the code for the door? I know that each facility has one that changes every hour, but I don’t want to end up locking myself out.”
“Should be 52483,” Comb told him, before looking at one screen at a terminal that the stallion was operating to verify, “Yeah, the next code change happens in half an hour. You have time before the next code comes in.”
Now that was something Sombra found useful. Not only that, but the information about the security pads would be something she would have to keep in mind when Copen reached the server room. For if he messed up, the whole entire building could go into lockdown. Now all she needed to do was wait for the doors to open and slip in without either of them noticing. Once both stallions were dealt with, the vigilante could take control of the console without having to worry about anyone disrupting her work.
As soon as the doors opened, she stepped through at the same time Quick Trim stepped out of the room. When the doors closed, Comb sighed as he returned his attention back to the console. Sombra was glad that her cloak was still effective right now as she carefully walked past the door and looked around. Though, her attention was focused on what looked to be a storage closet on the other end of the room. One that was held tight by an electronic lock.
“Hmm. What if…?” She thought to herself, before quickly moving her fingers and executing an override hack. In a matter of seconds, the door opened up. Which was enough to catch the attention of Comb as the stallion stepped away from the desk.
“What the hay?” he asked, trotting over to take a closer look as he looked to see if there was anything by the closet, “I thought we got this issue fixed last week. Do I really have to call maintenance again-?”
Just as he was about to turn around, Sombra chose to act. Grabbing the stallion’s mane, she slammed his head against the door with enough force to knock him out cold. Moments after, the vigilante stuffed him back in the closet and locked the closet before walking over to the main console. Once she was in, the vigilante could reach out to Copen and see his progress.
Unfortunately, just as she was about to override the console, she heard the doors unlock and open up again, “Hey, Comb? I’m back-”
“Mierda!” Sombra cursed under her breath. The vigilante knew that Quick Trim would eventually come back, but she did not anticipate him arriving so soon. With his friend gone, the stallion would think that something’s wrong.
“Comb? Hey man, where are you?” The stallion said as he looked around the room, “Comb? Comb, stop messing around! At least say something, dammit.”
Despite her situation though, what Quick said just now gave Sombra an idea for how to get out of this mess. Quickly, she activated a new program and placed in several different snippets of audio from what the vigilante overheard Comb say earlier. What she had in mind was a bit of a gamble… but if it paid off, it would allow her the chance to prevent the earth pony from alerting anyone that something was wrong.
Just as the program was finishing up though, Quick grit his teeth, “Comb, I swear to Celestia, if you’re sleeping on the job, I won’t hesitate to-”
“Well, here goes nothing,” Sombra sighed, before she began to speak, “Hey, Quick, a little help here?”
When the vigilante spoke those words, two things happened. The first was that there was a change in tone and pitch, making her voice match that of the stallion that she had already knocked out. Secondly, she redirected the output of the voice to have it come from the other end of the room. Originally, she had her doubts about whether or not this will work.
Luckily for Sombra, the earth pony seemed to have fallen for it, “Comb? What the hay are you doing over there?”
The vigilante smirked. Now she was getting somewhere. Though, she had to continue playing pretend if she wanted for this to work, “I thought I heard something and went to go look-”
“Really? What did you hear? A ghost?” Quick snickered as he trotted towards the closet door.
“J-just shut up and help me get out of here now, will you? This is uncomfortably tight.”
“Fine fine,” the other stallion grumbled, before approaching the closet door as he began to fiddle with the lock that kept it together, “But you better have an reason why you would be-”
The moment the doors opened, Quick was taken aback by the sight of his friend in the closet. Yet, instead of being awake, he was knocked unconscious. He was trying to calm himself down, but nothing made sense. “W-what the buck?! Comb, snap out of it! What happened-”
In that moment, Sombra took it as an opportunity to strike, “I think your friend,” she spoke, disabling both her cloak and the speech program at the same time before the stallion could act, “should be the least of your concerns.” With a quick twist of her wrist, she struck the back of Quick’s head with the stock end of her SMG. The force was enough to knock him forward and have him hit his head on the door, before his unconscious body fell to the ground.
“Well, I’m glad that’s over,” the vigilante replied, before closing the door to the closet that had Comb inside and opening a new one up to put the second stallion in. It was difficult at first, considering that Quick had some heavier armor on compared to his colleague, but eventually, the vigilante got him inside and locked him in.
“Now then… let’s not keep los chicos waiting,” Sombra thought, before she approached the terminal and got to work. Once she was in, she softly tapped the com piece in her left ear and began to speak, “Sombra to Avenger. What’s your status?”
The moment the doors to the elevator opened, Cody and Lola hastily made their way towards their destination. By using some clues in the environment around them as well as a map that was on the SD card that Sombra provided him, the two of them were quick to hurry over to where they had to go and reached the entrance to where they needed to go. The server room that contained the Sumeragi Network that they needed to help Sombra gain access too. Only then would they have a chance to actually disable the tower and stop whatever Nova and Sumeragi were planning.
Yet, when they found the entrance, both of them began to realize that getting inside wasn’t exactly going to be easy by any means. The door was locked from the other side and protected by a keycode pad to prevent someone from just barging in. When Lola tried to access it, she couldn’t get a read on what the actual entry code would be. Such a thing gave Cody the impression that either one of two things was happening. Either different members of the organization had a different code or the code to get in was changing every so often.
The only way to know for sure was to hear back from Sombra. Fortunately though, he didn’t have to wait long. “Sombra to Avenger. What’s your status?”
Cody almost chuckled at that. Before all of this began, Lola told him that he should try to use a different kind of hero name. After all, being called an ‘Adept Slayer’ might be too intimidating now that Lance had recruited a few onto his team. At the time, Lola told him that it should sound heroic. Make people feel calm and safe around him if he were to arrive on the scene.
Since then, he went by the name Luminous Avenger. Similar to how Lance was referred to as the Azure Striker, but enough to make him stand out. Sombra must’ve caught on if she were calling him that now. “Avenger here,” he replied, “I’m outside the door to the server room. Lola tried to see if there was a way to open the door, but no luck.”
“Aye yae yae, is she in a hurry or something?” they heard the vigilante speak, “I’m already settled in and from what I’m looking at, the codes on the door rotate frequently. If you give me just… one second…”
The screen on the control panel nearby Cody soon changed colors to violet as her skull emblem was now visible. The keys on the pad were now moving by themselves as a five number combination was being inputted without him even touching it. As quickly as this was happening, the colors on the screen reverted back to what they were before, now glowing green as the words ‘code accepted’ was now on the screen and the door to the room was unlocked. “Okay, you’re in.”
The moment that the door was open, the luminous avenger was quick to get inside. Though, he also cautioned himself. There was no telling if there was anyone inside the room or not and Cody did not want to run the risk of getting caught. If he slipped up now, their plan would be in jeopardy and Sombra’s position might be compromised.
As he looked around the room though, he found what looked to be several different workstations spread out in a wide area. Yet, there didn’t seem to be anything that closely resembled what he was looking for. “Sombra, are you sure this is the place? I’m looking around here and there doesn’t seem to be anything that we can possibly use.”
“Really? How’s that-... Hang on a second,” the vigilante said. The sounds of keys clicking and papers being shuffled around, before Sombra got back to him, “Hmm… now this is interesting.”
“What? What’s interesting?” Lola herself now spoke up as she appeared on Cody’s shoulder.
“I’m looking at a blueprint for the room that you’re in and it appears to be much bigger than what you’re seeing,” Sombra explained, “There’s more than likely a cuarto escondido somewhere?”
“A… what?”
“She means a hidden room,” Cody answered this time, before looking around the area, “Which would also mean that there should be some kind of switch around here to open it.”
“Exactamente mi amigo,” he heard the vigilante say in agreement on the other end of the line, “Look around and see if there’s anything you can find-”
Attention- Babylon Tower locked on to new target. Engaging weapon systems
Before Cody could say anything, the whole room began to violently shake as anything that was not nailed down began to get tossed up all around the room, “What the hell?! Sombra, did you do something?!”
“No, I didn’t!!” Sombra immediately interjected, before letting out a curse, “Dammit, there must be some kind of algorithm that’s controlling the weapon systems automatically! I can’t even-!!”
The vigilante did not even have the time to finish her sentence as the tower fired off another blast. The recoil from it was enough to knock Cody off of his feet and have his face hit the floor. Yet, as quickly as it started, the violent shaking soon ceased as the avenger just laid there on the floor
“Avenger, are you okay? Avenger, respond-”
“I hear you, I hear you-” he grit his teeth, before propping himself up off the floor using a nearby desk as Cody took in a deep breath. Though, as Cody was getting up, he noticed something on the ground that felt out of place. One of the tiles on the floor was colored differently from the rest and a Sumeragi decal could barely be seen over it. He had a feeling that there was more to this than meets the eye, but wanted to be sure about it first, “Lola, can you come take a look at something?”
“What is it, daddy?”
The avenger got up, leading her over to the tile that’s on the floor and pointing at it. “Can you check and see if this leads to anything? I’m thinking that this might be the switch that we are looking for.”
At first, Lola hesitated as she looked at Cody. Though, after a few moments, she moved herself closer to the floor to take a better look, “Daddy, there’s something under here. It looks like… a metal plate and some wiring? But… why would this be here?”
Cody had one possible answer for her question, but before he could say anything, he needed to test a possibility that emerged in his mind. Without answering Lola’s question, he went over and stepped on the tile. Near the back of the room, the wall began to split apart, revealing a chamber that had an air-sealed door and numerous working machines on the other side. For a moment, he felt relieved that he found what he was looking for.
Yet, when he stepped off the tile, something different happened. The walls that were split open immediately began to close, concealing the chamber that they recently found. “Huh, so that’s how that works.”
“How what works, daddy?” Lola asked.
“It looks like this switch and the chamber its hiding is something that’s operated by two people,” the luminous avenger explained, “One person would stand on this tile, which possibly has a weight sensor underneath, to open the chamber while someone else goes inside.” As he said that, he looked to his right to find a filing cabinet that was up against the wall. Thinking ahead, Cody walked over and began to push it over to where he just was.
The weight from the cabinet was exactly what he needed, for shortly after he placed it over the tile, the wall began to split again as the avenger walked on over. “Sombra, I figured out how to get into that room. We’re about to enter the server room.”
“Copy that. You got no movement going on outside the doors. You’re in the clear.”
As he opened the door, the first thing that he could feel was a frigid chill all around him. The air all around them was cold to the point that it felt like they were in a giant freezer. Something that Lola herself didn’t quite appreciate. “Brr!! W-why is it so cold in here?!”
For a moment, Cody looked back at Lola with just a raised eyebrow. He thought that the answer to that question was plainly obvious. Then he remembered that Lola had not been in something like this before and just let out a small sigh. “Sombra, did you want to explain this to her or should I?”
“I think she’s waiting for an answer from her papa, amigo.”
“Of course,” he said, before looking back at Lola as they kept looking around for the central terminal, “Keeping a lot of machines in a room like this is normally dangerous because all of these machines produce a lot of heat. So, server rooms like these are kept at low temperatures on purpose so that way they can provide connections across an entire building without having anything overheat.”
After looking around for a bit more, both Cody and Lola found what they were looking for. A terminal in the back of the room that just so happened to still be operational. “Lola, watch my back,” Cody instructed her as he took the SD card and inserted it into the proper ports, “Sombra, I found the terminal and inserted the chip.”
“Perfect. I see it now,” she told her, “Give me a minute or so and I’ll have access to the network. Stand by.”
The luminous avenger nodded as he just waited for Sombra to do what she needed to do. A percentage bar was now on screen, showing the vigilante’s progress as she began to connect herself to the network. However, about thirty seconds after they started, Cody couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong. There was movement outside the doors to the facility and a shadow along the windows as he looked around the room. Which was enough evidence to prove one thing.
He was most certainly not alone. “Sombra, you said that there was nothing outside, right?”
“Yeah, just before I started patching myself in-”
“Will you still have access even after I take this chip out?” the avenger quickly followed up.
“Obviously,” she replied, before she slowly began to piece together why he was asking this, “Avenger, what’s going on?”
The moment that he saw the terminal screen reach 100%, he immediately ejected the chip and put it away, “We got a party crasher. I’ll be right back-”
“Avenger, WAIT-!”
Before he stepped out of the server room, Cody had disconnected his comline and had his weapon drawn. Immediately, the wall hiding the room closed off behind him and everything that was scattered on the floor was pushed away. He had a feeling that someone was watching them… and was really hoping that it was just a security guard or a drone. However, what was waiting for him were neither of those things.
“So, thou are the trespasser?”
Immediately, Cody had his gun pointed at the origin of the voice. A tall bipedal figure with combed back yellow hair, darkened skin dressed in what looked to be Sumeragi armor. A face mask covered his mouth and it stretched out across the sides of his face. What really gave it away though was the pitch black eyes with it being golden in the center.
They were not just an adept, but a Sumeragi Adept like the ones their allies were fighting on the bridge. “For a second, I expected the azure striker to be hither. Not thou.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not him” Cody shot back, “Though, who would you be?”
“I am Carerra,” the figure spoke, unfolding his arms as loose pieces of metal began to float off the floor, “I was ordered to protect here from intruders. Yet, I hast no interest in following orders. I only seek to face a formidable foe.”
“That’s weird,” Lola now commented, “If this guy was supposed to be protecting this place, then why only show up now?”
“I can think of one possibility,” Cody narrowed his eyes, his gaze still focused on Carerra, “You used this place as a trap. Let us come in on the thought that no one was around to stop us. Though, if we were to leave, you would ambush us. Doesn’t exactly sound rather honorable of you-”
“Like thou are one to talk about honor,” the sumeragi adept retorted, violet energy forming around his arms as their eyes began to glow, “Yet, the time for talk is over! If thy strength is just as firm-set as thy words, then thou shall be the perfect opponent to fight!!”
At this point, Cody knew that he wasn’t going to be able to walk out of there without a fight. “Lola, prepare yourself,” the avenger told her, “The only way we’re going to get out of here is through him.”
The moment the doors to the elevator opened, Lance quickly took off in the opposite direction of both Cody and Sombra. He was careful to not just run and attack anyone that he encountered on site, but instead focused on being out of sight for the time being. If the security on the way to Nova’s chambers was as heavy as Sombra described, then he needed to make sure that they didn’t catch him. If they did, it was more than likely that the entire building would go into lockdown and that his position would be compromised.
As the adept hid from sight, he would listen to the chatter going on between his comrades, keeping his ears open in case he was needed. Though, as he waited, something unexpected came up, “Avenger, wait-! Grr, Mierda!”
He didn’t need a translation to know what exactly Sombra just said. And something told him that something wasn’t right. “Sombra, what’s going on? Is something wrong?”
“Well, Gunvolt, I got good news and bad news,” the vigilante told him as she let out a sigh. Yet, something with her tone told the azure striker that he was not going to like this, “The good news is that Copen got me the back door into the network. However, the bad news is, it sounds like someone caught on to what he was doing. He disconnected his com line before giving me any further details.”
“Crap,” he cursed. This was not good, especially considering the current situation right now. “Does that mean we need a change of plans?”
“No, it won’t,” that statement caught the adept off guard. Especially considering that it was Sombra who was saying it, “I know this is going to sound heartless, amigo, but he already completed the task I told him to do. I bet he can handle himself against whatever found him. Now it’s our turn. I just need to make sure we don’t have any surprises involving the BFG that Nova has aimed at the planet right now.”
That was a valid point. Even with Sombra taking control of the security room earlier, she didn’t have the backdoor to the network until after Sumeragi fired another blast. Even then, there was a lot that they were still unaware of regarding the nature of Babel Tower and did not want to take any risks. If they made a mistake, the whole planet would have to pay the price.
“Well, damn,” he heard Sombra curse, “That is going to complicate things.”
“What’s going to complicate things?”
“Even if I used my EMP to disable the tower, it won’t be able to disable the weapon systems because they’re running on a secondary power source in Nova’s chambers,” the vigilante told him, “To make matters worse, he already has the base of the League of Vigilante Justice as his next target.”
That was definitely a problem. In his mind, he wasn’t sure if Chrysalis and the League knew about what was happening or just didn’t care. Nova was a serious threat and if he and Sombra didn’t do something, he was going to wipe them off of the map just like with Power Pony HQ. Yet, just merely contacting them was not going to work.
Though, that’s when a thought came into mind. Something that he had to ask the vigilante, “Sombra, quick question. Can you tell what kind of systems or programs that Nova is using for that weapon? If we can’t shut it down directly, then we should find a way to mess with the systems he’s using to control it.”
“That’s… hmm,” For a brief moment, Lance thought that he lost contact with Sombra. Her sudden silence was a bit off-putting at first. Yet, just as he was about to say something, the adept finally heard her voice come back on the other end of the line. “Yeah, that might actually work out perfectly.”
“Did you find something?”
“Yeah, actually. Listen to this,” the vigilante explained, “Even though Nova is using a completely different power source for his weapon, the program that’s being used to operate it still runs on the network. Even better, it’s using a GPS system to find its targets.”
At first, the adept felt lost at the flood of information. Though, the more that he thought about it, the more that some things began to click into place, “So you’re saying that you can mess with the program from where you’re at?”
“I can do far more than just mess with it, amigo. I can modify practically everything to the point where I can seize complete control from him. I can even put a virus into the program to make it to where anything he tries to do backfires. It’ll be fun to see how he reacts when he realizes that his newest toy is taken from him.”
Sombra’s words were encouraging to say the least. Though, there was one thought that the adept still had on his mind, “This definitely sounds good… but wouldn’t Nova notice something is wrong the moment you try to seize control?”
“Not if something else has his attention,” Sombra grinned, “I’m going to do it after I set off the EMP. Ready to make a break for it, GV?”
“Ready when you are,” Lance told her as he readied his weapon and prepared for what happened next.
“Alright then, rambler,” the vigilante told him, a short five second countdown appearing on his com-bracer as it began its countdown, “Let’s get rambling.”
Once the countdown had reached zero, what felt like a massive shockwave went off throughout the entire station as the window shutters slammed shut and everything went dark. The security gates that guarded the way forward and the mechanical robots that were patrolling with the guards that were on duty had now powered down. Something that blindsided the guards as they were trying to make sense of what was happening. A few of them were even trying to contact their colleagues to see what was going on, only to realize that their means of communication were not working either.
As for the azure striker, he did not waste this opportunity. The moment the lights went off, he took off from his hiding space and bolted past anything that was in front of him. The adept didn’t have to use his powers in order to see where he was going, for emergency floor lights were illuminated across the ground. Something that looked to be a safety measure put in place in case of an emergency. To him though, it just showed him the way forward and led him directly towards his intended destination. Though, he would need to hurry and make his way there before power was restored and the security systems with it.
“Sombra, how long until the power comes back?”
“Roughly thirty seconds,” the vigilante replied back, “This is supposed to look like a temporary setback, not a permanent problem. Just keep on going and you’ll be back before those tontas realize who got past them.”
That was all he needed as he kept on running down the hall. When he saw the entrance to Nova’s chambers at the far end of the hallway, he placed two fingers on his forehead and transmitted himself inside before the door could close shut. Lance was relieved to have made it before his only chance at doing so was yanked away from him.
“Alright, I’m in.”
“Excellente, amigo. Now, according to the files I’m seeing here, there looks to be some kind of device inside that room. Try and see if you can find anything that could give us an idea as to what it is.”
Originally, Lance thought that such a task would be easier said than done since he could barely see anything. Though, as he looked around, there was only one source of light in the room that the adept could see. It looked like a small blue block from a distance… but as the azure striker approached it, that small block turned out to be a screen to a terminal. He couldn’t tell if this was a computer or something else. Yet, there was something that was on the screen.
01010011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01100010 01101111 01100100 01111001 00101100 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00101110 00101110 00101110 00100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110 00101110 00101110
“Okay, Sombra?” he said, looking around the room for a moment, “I think I found that terminal you were mentioning. Though, there’s something on the screen. Looks like some kind of code in binary since it’s only in ones and zeroes.”
“Hmm, that’s odd. Unless… Hold your com-bracer to the screen, I’m going to try something,” Lance was going to say something, but instead chose to just follow through as he did what Sombra asked. For a moment, there was a purple glow on both the terminal and his bracer, before the vigilante spoke, “Huh… that’s a new one.”
The adept was a bit surprised when he heard that. Nothing usually catches Sombra off guard, so hearing her say that was not exactly encouraging, “What’s a new one?”
“This isn’t just an ordinary message in binary… from what I’m seeing, it’s an audio message. Something that you don’t normally see in this format since it most involves converting sound files instead of just standard text,” Sombra clarified, “Here, listen.”
Somebody, please… help me…
The moment he heard that, Lance felt as if his blood was beginning to freeze. That was Aurora’s voice that he heard just now, and she was begging for someone to save her. “T-that’s Aurora,” he said, before looking back at his bracer, “Sombra, is there anything that we can do? Anything we can tell her-?”
Before he could finish what he was saying, the lights immediately came back on and the shutters retracted from the windows. The terminal that the adept found was only one piece of a much bigger machine. One that had Aurora and Lumen trapped inside, both of them in a state of comatose. The adept wanted to break them out and free them from their captive states.
However, there were some more pressing matters. “Well, this is a surprise,” he heard the all too familiar voice of Nova from the opposite end of the room. The leader of Sumeragi slowly clapped his hands as the azure striker turned around and aimed his weapon directly towards them, “I know that heroes always tend to make an entrance when they arrive on the scene. If I knew you were coming, I would’ve had a surprise waiting for you.”
“What the hell have you done to her!?” the azure striker demanded. Not averting his gaze from the leader of Sumeragi and as he kept his weapon drawn.
Nova though, just let out a sigh as he looked back at the lightning adept, “What is it that makes Sumeragi’s crown jewel a threat, hmm? Why yes, the weapon is a piece of the tower itself and I do control it,” the leader of Sumeragi smirked, turning his wrist as he lifted his hand towards the machine in the room and a purple glow began to form from his hands, “Yet, all of this would not be possible if it weren’t for that girl inside Project Nyx.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” the lightning adept grit his teeth.
“For a hero, you’re rather impatient,” Nova retorted, “This contraption allows for me to gain control of the abilities to those that are linked inside and add them to my own. Both her and that breezie that just so happened to be with her at the time. Here, let me give you a demonstration.”
Without warning, Nova turned his other hand around and pointed two fingers towards the ceiling as the floor underneath Lance began to shift. Without warning, the tiles on the ground began to move in an attempt to crush him against the ceiling, forcing the azure striker to back away. Shortly afterwards, he had a clear shot and fired a dart towards Nova. However, the attack didn’t connect, resulting in it being deflected back at him by a barrier that surrounded the other adept.
That was also when he saw it. Hovering over Nova’s left shoulder, there looked to be a reflection of Lumen. However, the color of her body was pale in comparison and now looked nothing like the cheerful self that she was. It was a copy of her, and Lance felt disgusted when seeing it. “Using the powers of others and treating them like your own? That is beyond sickening.”
“You may see it as such, but I see it as essential,” the leader of Sumeragi continued, “My Septima, Psychokinesis, was already powerful to begin with. Yet, when you add the girl’s ability to possess and control machines, it allows me to take full control of this station. All I have to do is just snap my fingers and cities crumble. Plus, with the Muse from your fairy friend, it enhances my power to levels in which rival the rulers of this world. I’m a god amongst mortals and when all of this is over, I’ll be the one leading the people of this world.”
Though, the azure striker was not intimidated by that statement, “Last chance. Let Aurora and Lumen go, or I’ll show you that even a self proclaimed god-king can bleed, Noah-.”
“I’ve come this far and will not be deterred by the likes of one such as yourself,” Nova snapped, the violet energy that was once around his hand began to expand around his entire body, The adept was now floating off the floor, his septima radiating off of him as he glared at the hero, “Whoever you thought I was before is dead! I am Nova Tsukiyomi, and I will make my vision for Sumeragi a reality… starting with you!!”
The azure striker had seconds to move out of the way as Nova accelerated himself towards him. His opponent was inches away from grabbing his throat by the time that he moved, but the lightning adept knew he couldn’t stay in one place. With Nova attacks and the power to manipulate the entire chamber that they were in to his will, Gunvolt had to keep moving if he wanted to stay alive. Of course, the harder part was trying to figure out how exactly to beat his opponent.
Because of the powers that he stole from Lumen, any attempts to attack Nova from a distance was too risky. The barrier from Lumen’s powers would take any shots that he would fire and send them directly back at him. Something that wasn’t ideal, since he couldn’t actually harm Nova with his powers until he tagged him first. If he were to have any shot at beating him, he needed to remove the psychokinetic adept’s protections.
Unfortunately, that meant that the only way for him to figure out how to do so was to get up close and personal. A risky move since that would mean he needed to find a way to find a way to do so and the azure striker did not know the full extent of what his opponent was capable of or what he could do with his septima. It was also dangerous to think that this fight was going to play out like the original boss fight against Nova in Azure Striker Gunvolt. More than likely, the adept he was facing would have a different set of tricks that would make beating him rather difficult.
Still, given everything that was at stake, the azure striker had to take that risk. If doing so could help him find a way to disable Nova’s shield, then it was a risk he was willing to take. “Okay, here goes nothing,” he thought to himself, channeling his septimal energy throughout his body as he began to run towards his opponent.
Nova though, did not seem impressed. “Really? A frontal assault? What makes you think that something like that is going to work?” The psychokinetic adept taunted as he raised up his arm. From his hand, several rings of septimal energy took form as they were fired off towards the azure striker in pairs of three. “Try to jump through this!!”
At that moment, Gunvolt did not say anything. He didn’t move out of the way or make any attempt to avoid Nova’s attack. Instead, he pushed forward as he jumped up and air dashed through the first trio of rings. Two more ring sets followed suit as the lightning adept tried to keep moving forward to get in close proximity to his opponent. Once he leaped through the second set and landed on the ground, Gunvolt began to channel his septima around him and prepare himself for what he was going to do next.
As the third trio of rings came towards him, Lance set off his ‘Crashbolt’ in front of him before placing two fingers to his forehead. In the blink of an eye, he was directly behind Nova. Something that the Sumeragi leader did not realize until it was too late. “Why you-!”
“ASTRASPHERE!!”
In a matter of seconds, a thunderous ring of lightning went off around the azure striker. The spheres of electricity that orbited around him was enough to break through Nova’s defenses as he pressed the advantage. Quickly, he tagged Nova a couple of times before activating his flashfield to try and weaken the psychokinetic adept as much as he could. It would not take long for Nova to reactivate his barrier, so Lance had to take this opportunity now and make it count.
Yet, as quickly as the opportunity came, an outward blast of septimal energy from Nova forced the azure striker to backpedal away. The repulsion of septimal energy was enough to destroy any tags that the lightning adept had placed on him as his shield began to reform. “So that’s how you want to do this, huh?” he grit his teeth, before looking back at Lance as several psychokinetic orbs began to take form around him.
At first, Gunvolt thought that Nova was going to launch the orbs at him. Yet, what actually happened was completely different as the orbs began to pulsate with power. “Well, two can play at that game!”
“Oh sh-!!” The lightning adept did not have much time to react as several bullets of pure septimal energy were fired towards him. Several grazed his left shoulder as Lance tried to avoid what was coming at him. Whatever Nova just did, it was a variation of his powers. He knew that the Sumeragi leader can fire off orbs of septimal energy and have it explode from the original game, but what the adept just witnessed was something completely new.
To make matters worse, since the bullets that were fired were of septimal energy, the azure striker couldn’t block them with his Flashfield. The only choice he had left was to try and avoid them the best he could, while trying to take as little damage as possible and keep moving. If he stopped for even a second, he would be a dead adept lying on the floor. Though, he could not keep running forever.
Though, it was he was repositioning himself that an idea began to form in his head. If Nova’s attacks can bypass his flashfield… and the shield around him was created by septimal energy, if he could find a way to send the psychokinetic adepts' attacks back towards him, then it can theoretically bypass his own shield. Use his own powers against him to create an opening and capitalize.
“Do you think that staying on the run like that is going to help you?” Nova snapped, having another pair of orbs form shortly after the first two faded away, “All you’re doing is just delaying the inevitable-!!”
As the orbs of energy began to pulse again, the azure striker took his chance. Switching his active bolt clip to Dullahan, he held down the trigger and charged his weapon before taking aim. Before his opponent could prepare to attack, he released his grip on the trigger and fired as the projectile collided with it’s target. On contact, the orb that Nova conjured exploded and the backlash from that blast was strong enough to break through his protections and knock the leader of Sumeragi down onto the ground.
“And you don’t seem to know when to keep your damn mouth shut,” the lightning adept retorted.
With not a moment to lose, he raced back towards his downed opponent and switched his clips back to Orochi. Yet, instead of firing his gun, the azure striker took another approach and instead armed himself with a different weapon. Some time back, Lance made some modifications to some of the gadgets that Spike had given him originally a long time ago. Mainly, the contraption that Humdrum gave him that allowed for him to channel his septima into the form of a blade. Even though it was useful at the time he gave it to him, the adept felt that it needed to be changed into something that can harm a villain, but not kill them.
Back to the present, as Gunvolt channeled his power through the same contraption, it now began to expand at both ends and took on the form of a bo-staff that had lightning coursing through it. If attacking from range was not going to work, then getting up close and personal would more than likely catch his opponent off guard. With Nova getting back to his feet, the azure striker swung the weapon forward as it struck his opponents face and caused him to stagger. This created another opening for him to exploit as he continued to hit Nova several times.
However, the leader of Sumeragi was not going to just stand there and let this thrashing continue, “Come, Ame no Murakumo!”
In the blink of an eye, Lance felt something collide with his weapon. An unsheathed glaive that was silver in color and took the form of a katana, one that was controlled by Nova’s septima. “I-if you think that I will stand here and let you undo everything I have created… then you are truly mistaken.”
“Never really thought you were just going to let me do as I pleased anyways,” the azure striker shot back, before snapping his fingers. Instantly, a crashbolt landed between both adepts and separated them, before Gunvolt dashed back in to continue his attacks. This time around though, his opponent was quick to defend himself using his weapon of choice as he blocked or countered any particular attack that the lightning adept tried to make.
Not only that, but Nova didn’t exactly just stick to using his glaive. In fact, his glaive not only strengthened his septima, but also how far his powers can reach. He wasn’t just firing off shots of psychokinetic energy towards the azure striker in the hope that they would hit him. Instead, the leader of Sumeragi was using his glaive’s power to create variations of his earlier attacks to ensure that they would hit him instead. Even going as far as to cut through sections of the floor under Gunvolt’s feet to keep the hero moving so he could eventually make a mistake.
For the azure striker though, his goal was to keep up the pressure on his opponent and make sure that his opponent did not gain the upper hand under any circumstances. Even though Nova had a new weapon and a newfound set of skills, if he kept up the pressure, the adept could force the leader of sumeragi to end up making a critical mistake. In doing that, he would secure himself a chance to try and take him down.
“You are starting to become a nuisance,” Nova glared at him, his septima beginning to glow around him and expand as he repositioned himself on the opposite side of the room, “If you’re doing all of this just so you can die more painfully, then allow me to speed up the process!”
“If this is what I think it is…” the azure striker thought to himself, before looking down to see that his skill cards from earlier had finished recharging. He had a feeling that Nova was going to do something big and if that were the case, then he needed to counter his attack with something stronger. Something that could knock the psychokinetic adept down on the ground and would not be easy for him to recover from.
“Ruler from above / Hunt your sworn nemeses down / Leave them no quarter.”
“I knew it!” Gunvolt grinned. He had a feeling that Nova would use an attack like this once he was pushed back into a corner. The leader of Sumeragi was merely saving his strength during their last few clashes and now saw this as the opportune time to use it. Of course, this did not mean that the lightning adept should let his guard down. If anything, it was more than likely possible that there was something different with this attack now that Nova had one of his glaives unsheathed.
With a flick of his wrist, the psychokinetic adept began to summon a series of four septimal orbs that moved inward around the azure striker. If Lance remembered this correctly from before his displacement, each of these particular sets would have them move in a particular direction. They would either all move diagonally in the form of an X shape or two would move horizontally and two would move vertically towards the ceiling and floor in the shape of a plus sign. This would repeat five times, with the fifth set forming an orb that would immediately chase after him on the ground.
Despite this, there were a few common factors to this attack. The first was that each set would try to converge on him from all potential angles and in a particular pattern, with no two directions being repeated back to back. Another was that like with many of Nova’s other attacks, he could not use his Flashfield to defend himself. His only real option for being able to survive this attack was to stay on his feet and continue to move since you can outmaneuver them as they converged.
Of course, that was in theory. Trying to take the same strategy from the game and put it into practice though? That was going to be much harder. Yet, he still had to try, for there was no way that he was just going to let Nova stop him. Not after everything that he and his comrades did to get him to this point.
Before he had the chance to think, the septimal orbs began to manifest around him. The first set moving in the diagonal X shape around him. As they closed in, he dashed forward, luckily able to avoid them potentially hitting him as they collided and disappeared. Next set was the plus sign that took form from both horizontal and vertical directions as he was forced to jump in the air to avoid the attack. The next two combinations followed the same pattern, with the X being first and the plus formation swiftly coming in afterwards.
The final combination was exactly like the first and third, diagonal in an X shape pattern. Though, as the four septimal orbs converged in the center, a massive sphere took form and began to pursue the azure striker. The adept anticipated this and waited for it to close in on him, before leaping into the air and dashing behind it as the sphere was going towards his opponent. Yet, something did not feel right.
“Did you really think that’s all there is to it?” he heard Nova ask as the leader of Sumeragi prepared his glaive and channeled his power into it, “If this attack were that simple, then there would be no point in me using it!!”
Before Gunvolt could react, the psychokinetic adept swung his glaive forward and struck the sphere that was chasing the azure striker just mere seconds ago. Not only did this send the attack back towards the adept, but it caused the orb to become rather unstable. If it were to get too close, it could blow up in his face and severely injure him.
Though, instead of backing away, the azure striker pushed forward. A move that caught Nova off guard as the lightning adept unleashed the counterattack he was planning. It wasn’t exactly the most ‘ideal’ circumstance, but if this were to get him one step closer to freeing Aurora, then it was a risk he was willing to take.
“Sacred sword agleam / Barbarous and bathed in blue / Cleaving right from wrong.”
In a matter of seconds, Nova was struck by a giant claymore of electricity that sent the leader of Sumeragi crashing into the window overlooking the world. The amount of shear force from Gunvolt’s attack was enough to knock him down to the ground from where he was floating in the air. As the lightning adept regained his footing, he took a moment in order to catch a breath first. The battle just now almost tired him out, but he didn’t want to assume that it was over just yet.
“Sombra, can you hear me?” He looked to his com-bracer and asked.
“Amigo, are you alright-?”
“There’s something I need you to do,” the adept quickly interjected, looking towards where Nova was, “Try and get a hold of Aurora, no matter what. Let her know that I’m here.”
“I… can try, though, I’m going to need some time.”
“Take as much as you need.” He said, before dismissing the bracer and turning back to Nova, who was slowly beginning to rise back up to his feet.
“You insolent pest! Do you really think some trick like that is going to lead to you beating me?” Nova taunted as he held his glaive. Though, as he placed his hand on the handle, two more glaives took form on his left and right. “Kurohyō! Yatagarasu!! To me!”
“Nova, what are you-!?” As the words left his lips, the lightning adept realized what his foe was going to do as his eyes widened. If Nova was going as far as to bring out all three of his glaives, then he was no longer going to suppress his septima. His septimal power was now skyrocketing as the leader of Sumeragi glared at him.
“Your power is nothing against what I can control! So allow me to give you a proper demonstration!!!”
Before he could react, a vibrant burst of light filled the room and blinded the azure striker’s vision. The lightning adept could feel the floor under him disappear and hear the sound of shattered glass, but it was hard for him to make out what exactly was happening in that moment.
When he felt himself land back on solid ground, Gunvolt slowly opened up his eyes. As his vision was returning to him, the azure striker began to realize that something was wrong. He was no longer inside of Babel tower in the room where Aurora was being kept, but standing on a platform that was almost elevating above the entire planet. If it were any higher, the azure striker would find himself in the vacuum of space. Yet, despite the fact that Gunvolt did not know where he was… the adept was more concerned as to where Nova was.
“I’ve told you that I’ve come too far to be deterred by the likes of you.”
Those words sent a chill down the azure striker’s spine as he turned around. Standing before him was a giant monstrosity. A bipedal figure towered over him, the right half of his body was white while the other half was the color black. Two additional arms extended behind them on both sides, with a shielded core around the chest as the figure had their arms folded. Immediately after seeing it, Lance knew what it was.
This was Nova’s true form. When his septima was not bound by three glaives that kept it in check.
“This godlike form is the physical representation of Sumeragi’s conviction! My ideals given form as the heavenly emperor. My power will purge everything that is impure from this world and destroy aberrations like you!!”
Immediately, Nova’s two additional appeared on the sides of the platform that Gunvolt was standing on, before they both transformed into mechanical drones. The one that he called Kurohyō turned into a black colored drone with crimson claws as it resembled a panther, while the one that was named Yatagarasu was now a white drone that hovered in the air.
“Just my luck,” the adept grit his teeth, his pistol at the ready. With him cut off from any form of backup and outnumbered, fighting Nova’s new form was going to be a major pain.
Back at the security station, Sombra watched as things began to escalate much faster than she anticipated. Not only was Lance locked in his battle against Nova, but she had not heard back from Cody after he patched her into the tower’s network. She had no idea what was going on or even if the luminous avenger was still alive. Something that irritated her extremely, for she hated being in a position where there wasn’t anything that she could do to help.
Yet, just as she was thinking that, she could hear a voice patch in on comms, “Sombra, are you still there-?”
Once she immediately heard Cody’s voice, Sombra immediately interjected, “Avenger, what the hell?! One moment I’m talking to you and the next thing you know, you go silent for god knows how long!”
The vigilante heard her friend groan on the other end. More than likely because his ears were ringing after her abrupt outburst. “Look, I’m sorry. Lola and I had some Sumeragi weirdo show up just as we got you connected. If we didn’t do anything, they would have destroyed the only way for you to connect to the network,” she heard the avenger say, before they asked a question, “Do you want us to group up with you or-?”
“No, not yet,” she immediately interjected, “We got something else that we need to take care of. Something that could potentially help Striker.”
“… I’m listening.”
“He told me that he found a giant machine where Nova’s keeping that girl, the one that Striker calls Aurora, hostage,” the vigilante explained, before looking at one of the camera’s that was stationed outside of the tower, “We’re going to see if we can get her to help us and help Striker fight him on an even playing field. Because right now, he’s going to need all the help he can get.”
“Weren’t you telling him earlier to ‘send him to hell’?” As the luminous avenger was speaking, Sombra noticed something on the exterior cameras of the tower. Something that really did not look good at all, “Because I was getting the impression that you thought he could handle Nova by himself-”
“Amigo, have you looked out the window recently? Because I think what’s going on outside tells a much different story.”
There was a brief pause for a moment or so, though the vigilante had the feeling that her friend would soon notice what she was talking about. “What the-!? Is that… Nova?”
“Given how I can faintly pick up Striker’s signal from up where that thing is, I’m going to say yes,” Sombra told him, “Though, this gives us a window of opportunity to work with.”
“How so?”
“Well, there’s a few steps we need to take,” The vigilante smirked as she pulled up two holo-screens and began to start working, “First and foremost, with Striker occupying Nova, there’s nothing that could block me from stealing Nova’s admin credentials. Most of the tech in that room, including the machine that holds the girl, require admin clearance in order to access it.”
Just from that alone, the avenger soon began to piece things together, “So with him being occupied by Gunvolt now, he wouldn’t notice if you jailbreak your way in?”
“Exactamente,” Sombra nodded her head, “Though, that is only the first step. For step two, we need to find a way to access that machine in there and talk to the girl inside. I have an idea for how we can do that. You still have your little friend with you?”
“Did somebody call me, daddy?” the voice of Lola could be heard from the other end of the com line.
“Yeah, she’s with me,” the avenger answered, “Though, why did you ask?”
“Because she’s critical to step two,” she explained, “For this to work, we need to have someone talk to Aurora and tell her that we are here to help her. So, it needs to be someone that she trusts. It can’t be me since… well, I believe we didn’t exactly start off on the right foot when we first met.”
“Why not daddy though? He’s friendly with mommy,” Lola now asked.
Sombra anticipated something like this. So, she tried to answer her question to the best of her ability, “Well, the way that we’re going to try to reach out to her is rather specific. Earlier, when I was last in touch with Striker, we found out that Aurora was hooked up to the machine. The only way that she could really communicate was through one of the computers that was hooked up to it.”
“And we can’t just force it open?” Copen asked.
“Doing so could either hurt Aurora or alert Nova of what we’re trying to do,” the vigilante quickly retorted, “However, what I can do is change the security protocols for the machine and the other tech in the room. Doing so would effectively create a ‘window’ for Lola to go in and try to talk to her.”
“W-what’ll happen afterwards?” Lola asked, worry and concern were present in her voice.
“That… even I don’t know,” Sombra replied honestly, “It’s uncertain how hard wired your ‘mother’ is to that machine, but we have little room for error. We need to show her that she’s in safer hands now and no longer will be in Nova’s clutches. If we can do that, then we can move onto the last step.”
“That step being?”
The vigilante smirked at that, “What do you think about finding a way to handicap Nova’s overall power considerably?”
“… Count me in,” the avenger replied back, “What do we need to do?”
“First and foremost… gimme one second,” she told him, before swiping a few more keys and getting a notification on one of her holo-screens. Something that made her grin, “Perfecta. Like taking candy from a baby! Nova’s probably too busy to notice that he now has the same clearance level as the cannon fodder grunts that make up his army.”
“Heh, that’ll show him,” he replied back, “What’s next?”
“Are you still near that server room?”
“Yeah, we haven’t left yet. Why?”
“Well, for this to work, I’m going to need to have use the terminal inside,” the vigilante explained, “In order for researchers and other members of Sumeragi to gain access to what they consider ‘classified’ information, they need to submit their requests to be approved by the administrator. One such set of requests involve something listed as ‘Special Projects’ in the directory. If you send me the specific requests regarding that, I can approve them and grant you access.”
It took some time for the luminous avenger to find what he was looking for, though eventually, Copen was able to follow through, “Alright. I think I found it.”
Shortly after he said that, a new pop up screen emerged on Sombra’s end as she began to read through it. Though, there was something that confused her. “Project Nyx? I thought the girl’s name was Aurora.”
“It is,” the avenger answered, “Though, that’s the name of the vessel that she resides in. Striker and Aya Brea from M.I.S.T. found it during a mission on a Sumeragi Facility and took it back with them. The whole project was designed to be one where Sumeragi could create their own synthetic adept for them to control, but things… didn’t turn out the way they wanted it.”
“Ya veo,” the vigilante commented, before pressing another button and dismissing the screen as she approved the request with the newfound admin clearance she was ‘borrowing’, “Alright, access has been granted. Time for your little friend to do her thing.”
“You heard her, ” Copen told his companion, “Your time to shine, Lola. Make me proud.”
When Lola took her first steps inside the domain where her mom was, she found herself in nothing but a deep void. An enduring abyss of ones and zeroes that passed by her as the AI ventured further into the unknown. It may have looked scary, though, nothing was going to stop her from finding the one that she seeked. She, her dad and every hero that came here had come too far to stop now and Lola was not going to let them down.
It took her some time, but as she floated through this digital sea, the AI found something that caught her attention. A white oval that was in the shape of an egg that drifted among the void. Was this what she was looking for? Was that where her mom was being kept? There wasn’t any sign of anything out here in this empty abyss, so maybe it was what she was seeking.
Carefully, she drifted towards the shape and touched it gently with an outstretched hand. As she moved her hand back, a warm glow was felt as it began to expand outward. As it did, the sea of ones and zeroes began to evaporate around her. Everything was now the same color as the shape she found, yet there was now something different in the place of the shape. Something… or someone that Lola recognized.
“Mommy?”
To Lola, the person who she was looking at was no doubtedly the one that she called her mother. It had to be. Her appearance was the same as she remembered and there were no changes to her appearance at all. Though, she didn’t respond to her original comment. If anything, Aurora was quiet. Almost as if she was unaware of the AI’s presence.
“Mommy? Mommy, please... say something,” Lola said, before tapping the girl’s shoulder in an effort to get her attention, “Mommy? Mommy!!”
“Ugh, what happened…?” Aurora groaned, nursing her head as if it were splitting in half. “Lola, what’s going on? I can’t remember anything past what I had for breakfast.”
“Mommy, don’t you remember? You were taken by the bad guys,” she told her, trying to get her to realize what was going on. Though, she quickly thought of an idea as she turned around and spoke up, “Hey daddy!! Can you hear me?”
“I can hear you Lola,” Copen’s voice now echoed throughout the datascape they were in, “Did you find her?”
Aurora decided to respond, noticing she was a pony again. “Yeah… oh wow, it’s so weird feeling disconnected from my body again.”
“Well, that’s the thing,” the luminous avenger said, “Sumeragi went on the offense this morning and Nova kidnapped you while everyone else was fighting his minions. From what we can tell, he hooked you and Lumen up to a machine in order to hijack your powers and add it to his own.”
“I… is there some way I can get out? I can’t feel my body.” Aurora grew nervous.
“There is. Lance is fighting Nova right now in order to try and get you out of there, but the deck is stacked against him right now,” Copen admitted, “We were hoping that you could help us find a way to even the playing field for him, because we don’t know how long he can keep this up for.”
Aurora took a moment to think it over. “What does this machine I’m in do?”
“Well, it… how should I put this,” the hero on the other end asked himself, before finding a way to continue, “This machine allows him to use your powers to have full control of the facility we’re in. This includes the weapon systems, for he’s used them to destroy various different locations. He used you to wipe Power Pony HQ off the map in the blink of an eye and hurt many others.”
“What… would happen if the body in the machine didn’t have… a soul?”
That had Lola shiver a bit, looking back towards Aurora with a face of concern, “Mommy…?”
“Aurora, what are you even suggesting?” the avenger now asked, unsure about what Aurora’s idea was.
“I can disconnect from my body permanently! It might weaken Nova!” Aurora explained, which had shocked Lola. To her, she thought that by doing this, her mother would disappear. Something that she didn’t want to happen since they were here to save her. Though, after hearing this, Copen had a much different response
“That… could actually work,” the luminous avenger thought to himself, “If we do that, we can sever his control from the tower. That would definitely handicap him.”
“D-daddy? Wouldn’t that make Mommy… go away-?” Lola then asked. A question that the avenger did not anticipate, but did his best to answer
“Not exactly, Lola. She’ll be like you in a sense. Only instead of being with me, she’ll be with Lance instead. She’s not going away, Lola. I promise,” shortly after he finished, the avenger began speaking again. Only this time, it was directed to her mother, “Aurora, do what you got to do. Once it’s done, come find Lola. You can stay in my gear until he gets back.”
“Okay…” Aurora cleared her mind of doubt. She felt out for her body, and began to shut down her internal organs. “Gah! Ow, ow, ow! That’s my spleen- gah! Buckets of buck this hurts!” She shuddered at the spike of pain before trying again. “No- aaah! Aaarrggghh! Got the right org- gahnn! Oh dear Celestia I’m going into shock! N-now or never!”
She waited for a minute as she felt her body weaken enough for her soul to disconnect from it entirely, leaving her a free spirit once again.
Once Aurora was free from her body, she found herself in what looked to be an empty room. Yet, the damage to the floor and ceiling gave it the look that a battle had taken place. As she turned around, Aurora found herself staring at the machine that she was once strapped to as it began to short circuit and break down. All while her former body looked to be in a deep sleep.
As she continued to look around, that was when the spirit noticed something along the glass. A holo-screen, with several blaring messages on it. “EMERGENCY!! PROJECT NYX NO LONGER OPERATIONAL! ORBITAL PLATFORM COMPROMISED! SEPTIMAL LEVELS OF MASTER NOVA DROPPING CONSIDERABLY! SUSTAINED DAMAGE WILL RESULT IN CRITICAL FAILURE OF ALL SYSTEMS!”
“I guess that’s good…” Aurora voiced quietly, looking longingly at her dying body.
“ORBITAL PLATFORM INTEGRITY AT 72%,” another notification popped up on screen, “CONTINUED DEGRADATION WILL RESULT IN ORBITAL DESCENT. PREDICTED LANDING ZONE, BALTIMARE.”
“Less optimal.” Aurora was glad she no longer had a heart, because it’d be racing right about now. “Lola!? Where’s Lance, I need to get to him so we can get out of here!”
It took some time, but eventually, Lola faded through the giant door on the other side of the room as she caught her breath, “I’m here,” she said, before noticing the look on Aurora’s face, “Daddy told me that his friend is fighting the big bad guy outside right now. Follow me!”
“Wait, outside?” Aurora tilted her spectral head.
The longer that the Azure Striker had to stand his ground and fight against Nova’s newfound form, the more that it felt like he was in a losing battle. Not only was he outnumbered three to one because of the two drones that Nova had on both sides of the platform that he was on, but there were very few changes for him to actually harm his opponent.
The core at the center of his chest was his target, but it had a protective shield that could only be lowered while he was attacking both of the drones with his septima. Only problem was, both of the drones were actively trying to kill him by either pushing him off the platform with powerful gusts of wind or injure him with outstretched claws.
“Is this really all that the ‘Azure Striker’ can do? For someone who was able to effortlessly beat several of Sumeragi’s greatest Adepts, I expected more of a challenge!”
The adept could only grit his teeth, before dodging another attack as Nova tried to flatten him with an outstretched hand. “Dammit, this is getting nowhere! If I don’t find a way to turn this fight around-”
However, just as he anticipated another pair of attacks from the drones, something… different happened. Both of the drones began to stagger and malfunction, before their metal husks dropped onto the edge of the platform.
“What-?! How is this happening!?!” He heard Nova demand as Gunvolt looked back at him, “They’re not supposed to malfunction like this!! Kurohyō! Yatagarasu!!”
Despite calling the names of his glaives, nothing happened. Instead, Nova’s anger was beginning to rise as he looked back towards Gunvolt, “You bastard!! You sabotaged my grand design!! You RUINED EVERYTHING!!!”
“What the hell?! What are you even talking about-?!” the hero asked, barely dodging another attack as he now noticed that the core was unprotected.
“Project Nyx just flatlined!! It’s nothing more than a lifeless corpse and you were the only one in my chambers!! You were just stalling so that way you could destroy my life’s work without it going UNNOTICED!!”
“W-what?” the adept thought to himself in disbelief, “N-no. No, that can’t be right. Aurora wouldn’t do something like that.” He remembered how overjoyed Aurora was when he told her that they had a body for her and in his mind, he would never think Aurora would want to give it up.
“I am through with toying with you!”
In a matter of seconds, the titanic being unfolded its arms as the two arms behind him began to charge whatever septimal energy that they had left. As it took form, Gunvolt could not believe what he was seeing. It was a burning sphere of septima that was as big as Equestria’s moon.
“Nova, are you insane!? If you unleash that, you’ll destroy Equestria!!” Yet, his words fell on deaf ears. The Azure Striker needed to do something now, for if he didn’t, the entire world that was his home could be destroyed.
In that moment, he placed his weapon away and began to focus all of his septimal energy as lightning began to crackle in his hands. He knew that whatever he did, he would expend whatever septima he had left, so the lightning adept had to make this one count. It wasn’t just Aurora and Lumen that depended on him, but everyone that he knew. Cody, Lola, Aurora, Sombra, Aya, Katy. Everybody was counting on him. If he were to fail now, then he would let everyone down.
As he was channeling his strength though, something was happening. Something that the Azure Striker did not seem to notice. The septimal energy around him was not cyan blue like before. Instead, it was a mixture of various colors as it began to rapidly expand.
“What is this!? Where are you getting all of this septimal energy from?!” Nova demanded as the solar sphere he was conjuring began to grow.
Then, he heard the words, “Let praise be unleashed-”
“Don’t you DARE finish that-!!”
“-As blades of lightning cleave sky-” The energy that circulated around the lightning adept now slowly began to take shape around his right hand.
“Do you think I’m just going to let you-!!”
“-yielding great glory!”
“Alright, THAT’S IT!!!” Nova proclaimed as he readied his attack, “Clamator-!!”
Unfortunately for the leader of Sumeragi, he was not able to finish that sentence. For the azure striker beat him to it.
As the adept threw his right arm forward, a glorious blade of septimal energy came forth, tearing through the construct that Nova created and striking the core on his chest, shattering it upon impact. Seconds after the core was broken, Nova’s form began to crack and tear apart at the seams. It began to brightly glow as this septimal power grew unstable and the platform that he was on was beginning to crumble.
Yet, before he had the chance to think about how exactly he was going to get back to Babel tower, the glowing light from Nova consumed his vision and he felt the surface under him give way.
Only for him to hit solid ground underneath him moments later. “Ow, what the-?!”
As the adept opened his eyes, he found himself back inside Nova’s chambers again. Only this time, the entire room was in disarray. He barely had the energy to stand as the azure striker had trouble getting to his feet.
While he was getting up though, he heard something from his com-bracer, “Avenger to Striker, are you okay?”
The voice of Cody had him let out a sigh of relief as he looked back at it, “Y-yeah… Though, I think I u-used up all my septima. My everything hurts right now.”
“I hear you,” his friend replied, “Try to come back to the elevator with Sombra and I so we can get out of here-”
“Uh, Cody… a-are you forgetting why I c-came here in the first place?”
“Not at all. In fact, someone wants to say hello,” the avenger told him, before the call got disconnected. For a moment, the adept thought that his friend might’ve messed up somehow as Lance was trying not to lose his balance.
Then, he heard a voice. “Hey, listen! Is this thing on!?” Aurora yelled, and the Azure Striker almost forgot what her voice sounded like, what with the new body having different vocal cords.
The sudden statement almost had Lance fall to the floor as he looked back at his bracer. Right on the home screen, he saw the face of Aurora as a filly again, “A-Aurora, i-is that you?” he asked in disbelief.
“The one and only! Sorry I gave you a heart attack.” She nervously apologized. “But we better hurry! This place is unstable! And in space!”
“I-I can’t go yet,” he shook his head, before looking back at the machine, “L-Lumen’s still inside there,” The adept tried to conjure some of his septima, but all he got was tiny little sparks, “D-damn it… A-Aurora, I’m going to need some h-help.”
“On it like- oh who am I foaling, that isn’t funny…” Aurora phased out of his bracer and into the control panel seamlessly. There was silence for a period, then the metallic doorway began to open. The spirit quickly returned to her shelter within Lance’s bracer. As the doorway opened up, Lance first saw the broken down form that used to be Aurora’s body. Though, as he inspected the insides of the machine, he found a structure to the right that took the form of a bird cage.
As he opened the cage, the adept let out a sigh of relief as he found Lumen inside. Fast asleep as he carefully placed her in his hands and put her inside a pocket inside his coat. “O-okay,” the adept let out a sigh of relief, before he began to make his way for the exit, “Now we can go-”
However, as he said that, the adept heard another set of footsteps that were dragged across the floor. Followed by an all too familiar voice, “A-and what makes y-you think… I-i’m going t-to let you leave here alive!?”
As he turned around and tried to pull out his weapon, a hot surge of energy struck his hand as his gun was knocked away. The Adept was forced to the floor as Nova stood over him. Covered in scars from their battle and blood coming down his face. With a twist of his hands, he forced Lance to the ground as Nova’s knees pushed into his chest and his hands grabbed hold of the azure striker’s throat.
“L-Look at you,” he taunted, the grip on Lance’s throat tightened as the lightning Adept’s vision was getting blurred, “A p-powerful hero, now lying here… helpless… hopeless.” Nova grinned as it became harder for the adept to see. His eyes rolling to the back of his head as it was impossible for him to get air into his lungs.
“W-when I’m done with you… I-I’m going to e-enjoy watching everything and everyone y-you love burn to the ground-”
The loud bang of a gun going off reverberated throughout the entire room, and Nova flinched backwards as blood fell onto Lance’s face from his forehead. As his body fell backwards onto the floor, his hands and septimal energy was released from him as he scrambled back up. Only to see the body of his former friend lifeless on the floor.
“N-Noah?”
Aurora shifted out of the Azure Striker’s gun, see through eyes widening in shock. “I… I didn’t mean to kill him! I thought I’d hit his leg, but he moved a-and th-the bullet h-h-hit something and then j-just…!”
Lance wanted to say something to Aurora at the time. To ensure to her that it wasn’t her fault. However, it was just as he was going to speak that the whole tower began to violently shake.
“Lance, I don’t know what the hell you’re doing, but we got to move! This tower’s coming down NOW!!” Cody’s voice blared through the comline on his bracer, just as Lance was getting back up, “I’ll come back over and drag you out of there if I have too!”
As he slowly began to rise to his feet and get his equipment, the azure striker tried to do his best to make his way for the exit with Aurora trailing behind him as the empire of Sumeragi began to crumble and fall.
End Strike 64
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9840417
Did you see the ChessMaster move? A lot of OC’s in the same Equestria, a lot of gods, deities, and otherworld beings. It was a powderkeg waiting to explode. I think only one made it through and it was Griffin the Griffin, and by making it through I refer to the fact it was the longest one and one of the few which shows us the future.
Is there romance in this story?