RP: ISC Phoenix [Interlude 5] - The Making Of

[Lamb]

Enzo, already knowing exactly what to do in order to save his future ability to make money, was quick to gather his airbike and make the climb on it towards the SS Raider with Uriel. Like Uriel, he intended to secure new hardware for his airbike from the ship's stores. Whether it was fixing the cracked engine case, or replacing it entirely, Enzo intended to be astride an airbike and armed to the teeth when next they encountered enemies.

 

[Luca]

Luca had to take a step back from Uriel to take in everything he was saying. The sheer rage, singularity and vengeance hiding underneath and throughout his tone of voice was enough to make the usually fearless captain flinch. Luca could respect singularity and determination, even if it was borne of rage.

The captain didn't know who exactly Uriel was referring to, and he was not at liberty to guess: "He's all yours - would you mind backup?" It was a sincere question, and Luca wasn't sure whether it was the sort that would push the Elysian's buttons or be given a simple yes/no.

Luca turned around to Aerin and looked at her sleek body up and down in the power armour, he raised an eyebrow, having not seen such a sleek piece of hardware before, save for mass-produced Mindys and Daisys of Yamataian and NMX stock - and they bored him - this was an exception to he rule. He took her hand and gave it a kiss before filling her in, "This is a little ridiculous to be a coincidence, but I'll take all the help I can get. Long story short, you see this statue over here?"

He outlined it on a map, "Its going to go kaput and we'll take the blame somehow unless we get there soon. Your ship, the ..." Luca took a moment to lean his head and get the name of it, "...Raider, can take out the Anti-Air and shuttle guns as we get in."

He then heard Beau mentioned by Zeta. Luca thought that it might've been a little premature, but it was worth scampering up that avenue for help. He flicked his communicator open and punched Beau's number in. The phone rung for but a few moments.

"I'm a little busy right now, who is this?" The sounds of a panicked street could be heard, with footfalls audible from the communicator, "Calm down, remain - oh I give up. What do you want?"
"Beau, those police boats in the bay? Send 'em back to land. They're in danger, and in the Zeroes' pockets."
Beau took a moment to register who it was, but latched on immediately, "But the Zeroes will kill me if I do."

"I don't think you got the memo, but they pissed in my coffee this morning and twisted the knife with an elaborate plot that'd take too long to explain over the phone. I just destroyed their base of operations in return and I'm going for their leaders next - they're more worried about me than one guy who disobeys orders."
Beau, having heard the explosions, and seen some of the fight unfold in the briefing and in the news, "But why?"
"I don't want them getting in the crossfire. My fight is with the Zeroes only, and they have their own boats." Luca folded his arms, but he was getting his way, "Look on the bright side, when they sink you can turn them into an artificial reef or something, good for tourism!"

Beau chuckled before continuing and he could be seen smiling on the other end of the line, "That's the Hero I know. I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks a plenty. Give the Zeroes hell. This city is no longer theirs."

Luca then gave a coy grin to Beta and said: "I think our chances have just improved."

-

"So, what's it like being a clone?" Asked one lowly person to another higher being, checking that everything was in place as the SS Raider hovered over Prime City. The view from where he was allowed him to view the ship almost front-on as the wind blew through the scaffolds and buffeted against the copper plates that composed the statue, "Is it awkward, weird, or-"

The recipient of the previous question turned around, grabbed the questioner by the neck and slammed him against the wall, staring into him with dark brown eyes, "I have only been 'alive' for a few hours, and yet every time I see this man who I'm supposed to be, I feel like nothing more than a facsimile, a copy, an empty shell - paling in comparison to the original!" And then, with a flick of the wrist, the neck was broken and the limp body was thrown to the floor, "You didn't get the right jacket either."

Someone else was watching from afar, and he grinned, "Let's put on a show for the cameras, shall we?" He clicked a few buttons and pressed a big red one just to be on the safe side, "You've got a lifetime of good reputation to destroy in a few minutes."

"We're rolling now? Oh, uh ... Hi, my name is Luca Pavone! ..." An unconvincing performance, but the model was perfect for the Zeroes' campaign.

-

Meanwhile, the real Luca and the ISC Phoenix Team had gotten onto the SS Raider and armed himself. He took the time to reload and restock all of his weapons - making sure he had the right tools for the job. Covertly, the little Ernie robot had managed to sneak on and disguise itself as a suitcase. One of the Origin Crew had picked it up and left it near the armoury where everyone was suiting up, presuming that it belonged to the Phoenix Crew. However, nobody owned a Pink Suitcase with an orange glowing eye.

In addition, the crew's resident Nekovalkyrja had come aboard, but, like a cat, she had fallen asleep and dropped her twin handcannons - presumably all tuckered out from her killing spree, and recovering from sore wrists and bullet wounds. She groaned something about a 'Pink Suitcase' before falling asleep on some couches in the lounge, far away from the armoury and out of the fight.

He would've liked to swing by the Crimson Kestrel to retrieve his WIND armour with GUST attachments, which was currently hanging in his bedroom - but the time constraints and this extra element of surprise meant that he had to continue as he was to maintain the momentum.

He did take a moment to pick the squashed bullets out of his jacket, and he refused to suit up in an Impulse. He felt as though the resistance wouldn't be unlike what he saw earlier - and he was able to survive it with quick wits, not bulky armour.

"Smith, how's it hanging?" He asked as the Raider flew towards the statue in the bay lazily, "A bit low, somewhat to the left?"
Below, the pilots of the Raider could see marked police boats lowering their guns and moving away, and the Zeroes keeping their guns pointed up - if you were able to listen to them, there was one hell of an argument going on down there.

Either way, the Zeroes opened up fire with low-end HEX beams. The shafts of light snaked into the sky, and some struck the hull - they were not as powerful as legitimate models, but the Raider was still being stung. The retaliation from the Raider would be to shoot at the boats with the Point Defence weapons, which was more than enough to put holes in the boats, sending them sinking to the bottom of the bacteria-rich ocean.

It didn't take long for it all to be cleaned up, and the damage to the Raider was minimal, and fixable. Maybe a few more point-defence weapons wouldn't have been amiss.

"Smith, you know how there comes a time in every man's life when the ball just drops?" He smiled, and checked his watch. Just on schedule, "Where he realises that it's time to knuckle down and prevent a huge calamity or make the next big breakthrough?"

"Now's that time." The bays of the Raider opened and a small patch of earth surrounded by metal, dotted with greys and whites of building material and capped with a half-finished statue in the middle of it could be seen below, "See you below, Mr. Smith."

-

He was the first one to leap out into the open air, at least two hundred feet off the ground above. If there was one advantage to having a Yamataian body, it was the ability to always land on your feet with that mild gravity control. He landed with relative grace, and looked up to discern his surroundings...

Artificial turf below over dirt below, steel and metal framing to contain it all in an island, construction materials, particularly copper plates and Durandium frame metal were strewn around. Within the scaffolding, coverings to protect against the weather had been erected, not to prevent bullets from reaching whoever waited inside, but to prevent sight.

And its what Luca didn't see that scared him the most. There was no 'welcoming party' outside the boats, nobody waiting for his and the team's arrival, nobody to cut him down here and now and put him amidst the wreckage to enforce their plot. He drew his HHG warily and advanced towards the scaffolding. He could hear a familiar voice several storeys up, and possibly within the half-completed statue.

"...as you can see, I'm planting these explosives because I hate Nepleslia, I am in fact a double agent sent by the NMX years and years ago to destroy Nepleslia and you all fell for it like fools! Huhuhuhuhu!"

Well, the problem with listening to your own voice on playback is that it never sounds as you hear it coming out of your mouth. Once two and two were put together though, Luca almost broke the grip of his HHG in palpable rage. The gloating droned in his head as his face turned as red as a beetroot and veins came to the surface. Teeth ground, irises contracted and the muscles buckled as the truth came together.

The very fact that his image - let alone his body could be perverted so severely was as a slap in the face, a shame to the brand, an insult of the highest calibre with all of the pain to go with it. He knew that the Zeroes were going to trash his reputation, but the documents never said how. Obviously, this part of the deal had been spoken rather than written. When the truth dawned, it dawned in fire.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" He made chase up into scaffolding, holstering his HHG to be able to climb and clamber his way through with all the more ease to crush this impostor, "COME OUT AND FIGHT ME YOU FAKE!! YOU'RE MINE AND MINE ALONE, NOBODY FUCKING TOUCH HIM!!" Luca's mindset of vengeance would be on a similar tree to Uriel's, but on a very different branch.

Uriel's vengeance was in Justice, Luca's vengeance was in Revenge.

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert followed along closely behind Luca. He gave a short nod and slowed down as Luca said not to touch the clone, "You got it Boss." He started sweeping around looking for other hostiles or traps.

 

[Moogle]

Seiren had been the first to admire the well-designed piece of machinery that was Aerin's Impulse, but didn't linger too much on it. He had a brilliant modification to make to his own machine, and not a whole lot of time to do it in. Once he was on board the Raider, he set to work quickly, partially dismantling the shoulder of his LEAF and the handle of his new Electrolaser Rifle and using the scraps and his handy dandy Vial to piece the two together. Minutes later, the thing was complete. Sure, it could only fire directly forward, and sure, it was stuck on Heavy unless he changed it manually, and sure, there wasn't any power going to the left arm, but who cared? He had a shoulder mounted gun that shot lasers!

Clearly, his priorities were elsewhere when the fake Luca's rage sounded.

"Uh oh. That doesn't sound good," the inventor mumbled, attaching a parachute pack to the back of his LEAF before noticing a pink object in the corner of his eye. It wasn't exactly inconspicuous, given the metallic grey and green color of his surrounding. Seiren walked over to it, giving it a prod.

"Who the hell carries around a pink suitcase?"

 

[Jimmy]

At Seirens prod a small hatch slid open on the front of the hexagonal case and a small mechanical “eye” peered up at the Yamataian. It blinked up at him, the orange glow of its light clicking on and off as it seemed to snap a picture.

“You are one of Primary Buddy Luca Pavone's subordinate vassals. Ernie has been informed of you.” Came mechanical voice from within the suitcase. “Ernie would like not to be carried, nor did Ernie select Ernies current case option.” it said, almost defensively before huddling back into its protective case, the hatch sliding closed again. Obviously whatever it was was kind of shy, or maybe it had something to do with the unusual device it was equipped with.

 

[Blackbird Lore]

Uriel was going to opt for a rightfully massive tool of war, an Elysian-styled Impulse, but when someone decided to use the Raider to destroy the boats, it was no longer a necessity- mass destruction was no longer on the itinerary. Man and Neko were nothing to fear when they lacked those hulking mechanical coffins. He likewise would go to war without one.

Taking advantage of his wings, the Patrician plummeted gracefully, dropped toward the statue like a feather. He lilted this way and that, the currents of air at that height doing as they were wont to do. Even so, Uriel possessed the skill to overcome it and land safely on the highest point of the statue, crouching like a space-age, white-winged batman seeking his prey.

 

[Kai]

Aerin Grimaced when the hull of her precious ship was struck and marred by such lowly weapons as those on the miniscule boats below. Whoever forgot to turn the shields on will be getting a pay cut and desk work... she thought, none too amused. However, time was short, and already folk were disembarking her ship to bear down upon the statue below.

For her part, she grabbed the helmet for her Impulse, but as for weaponry chose nothing more than a couple of SEP II's, which she hooked up to her custom armor's power supply, before hopping out of the hangar herself falling from the side of the ship and down to land gracefully on the turf, looking around to see if there was anything for her to do. For the moment, her SEP's were set to stun- No need for a CEO to go around killing people, at least not for now, anyway.

She then spotted Luca swearing like a sailor and yelling as if trying to frighten a bear, while storming his way toward the statue. Perhaps off that way there might be something more interesting to do... the CEO figured, and followed after him at what turned out to be an easy pace, assisted by her suit as she was.
"I'm coming with you Luca~!" Aerin called after the angry man in an almost singsong voice, completely at odds with his current wrathful mood.

 

[CadetNewb]

That...that all helped to clarify things to Smith and explain just what was going on.

On the other hand, did he even need to know? No, probably not - he was just working for Pavone after all. Failure however, meant that the Nepleslian wouldn't get paid, and that would be an issue. He wondered though; did he actually care what happened to the Phoenix and crew? After another splash of water across his face, Smith looked up to see himself in the mirror again, shortly thereafter making his way down to where the others were at.

Now that he thought of it though, Aerin did seem to develop a liking for the man, and keeping his first boss happy was always a good idea. Plus, no matter how he looked at it, the Origin Rep had to admit that he owed the two.

Aerin had more or less given his younger siblings a sanctuary, mostly untouched by the brutality of the Kikyo Sector. Plus, she gave to Smith a job. A livelihood. There was also that White pill too - the reasons why the woman had it on her and handed it to Pavone be damned!

And then there was Pavone.

If it weren't for that man, Smith would have never run into that person. He didn't like Nekovalkyrja in the slightest - the younger ones were often sex crazed killing machines. Meanwhile, the older ones that were officers simply looked down their noses at everyone else, believing themselves to be some sort of master race. And they were sex crazed too.

And if they were free of the Star Army, they'd still be sex crazed killing machines that thought of themselves as superior. Of course, that was possibly generalizing, stereotyping, or whatever it was. There was also a word that started with an 'R' but that didn't come to Smith's mind at all. Rocket? No. Moving on, if it weren't for Pavone, he wouldn't have met this person, and start grappling with this Nekovalkyrja quandary. It was...baffling, scary and fascinating all at once, to say the least.

Yes. He would help Pavone, and by proxy Aerin too. But only because the man was tossing Smith back into a dirty world he was familiar with. Only, at a different angle, and in a different light. They made a strange difference, he had to admit. One that was worth seeing. "Well," he replied to Luca, now wearing one of his spare black business suits.

As Smith's glasses went dark, he adjusted his tie.

But, all this still left a question unanswered; what role did Smith play in this group?

 

[Lamb]

While the landing was starting, Enzo was still hard at work. In the hangar bay of the SS Raider, he'd made sure to discreetly remove a nosecone from a nearby shuttle and affix it to his air bike in place of the cracked engine case. The result was lighter, and more thickly armored. Enzo was still busy as they arrived putting the final bolts through the new device with an unlit cigarette perched between his lips.

His coat hung off to one side, along with most of his pistols and his belt. He'd donned a protective apron in the meantime and sat humming a soft tune as he prepared a welding torch which had also been discreetly borrowed from the engineering section.

 

[Jimmy]

Having lost interest in its current conversation, their was a humming come from the machine as though it were in deep thought. Suddenly it literally transformed from a case into a dwarf, or a spindly headless droid one, anyway. It was vaguely human shaped, although one about four feet tall with thin struts for limbs and a small orange glowing sensor cluster sticking out of the upper chest, the exterior of the case forming what almost looked like a thin suit of armour.

The little robot waddled on slightly clumsy feet on the smooth floors of the hangar and towards Zeta, one of the few in the room that hadn't seemed to jump out at an indeterminate but unhealthy distance from the ground.

Fearlessly it strode in front of the woman and peered up at her with its sensor cluster, there was a small whir as though it was taking a photo before it spoke.

“Ernie has been informed by the one you call Echelon that Secondary Buddy Miss Zeta Five is the most reliable of Primary Buddy Luca Pavones entourage. Ernie requires assistance exiting the aircraft safely at this altitude in order to prevent Primary Buddy from being endangered.”

The little robot looked down at the wobbling device attached to a certain part of its body between the chest and the knees, almost embarrassed.

“Ernie would also request assistance dealing with needless cosmetic fittings.” it said, peering back up at her.

 

[ShotJon]

Zeta boarded Raider with others. She gave Aering mean looks under her helmet. Although the help was welcome the attention she gave to Luca was not. Zeta was sure her feeling did not make much sense but she just was not happy about that woman being around.

She still had a lot of Origin ware and offered it to the team and Zeta was happy to use it. She changed her regular backpac for Assault one and hooked her Vulcan to it. It will gave her much more speed and she could loose the armor anytime.

When they got there there and fighting began she started to be worried about Luca. After hearing that strange and very familiar voice she knew she would be angry and Luca's place too, but she hoped it won't make him do something too stupid even for him. She just wanted to go to him and talk to him, when strange droid approached. She listent to him, but then when he asked her in removing something and she looked in its crotch her eyes went wide. He had a strap-on mounted.

"I am not going to touch that bloody thing!" Zeta said as it woobled when droid moved. "I can give you a lift down though. We are staying close to Luca though so we will go into toughest fight." She said to the small droid.

 

[Luca]

All of the bombs were in place, and the faker had his finger on the button, he was looking at the button long and hard, and with a sadistic grin on its face as it addressed the camera. "...so to all of you from me, I wish you so long, and thanks for th-"
"NO" The cameras that were taping the faker's performance would be rudely interrupted, "YOU" by the genuine article being heard offscreen, accompanied by hurried foot falls and the faker blinking into the camera and looking towards the source of the noise.
"FUCKING" A fist, followed by an arm, followed by one very aggrieved Luca Pavone came into view.
"DON'T!!" The fist connected with the faker's chin. However, instead of punching the overgrown faker out in one big, climatic blast as intended, the ID-SOL had other ideas. One of its overgrown hands was wrapped around Luca's waist, and crushing him in a vice-like grip.
Welp. That worked out. Luca got a good look at the thing that was impersonating him. Seven feet tall, almost as wide and muscular enough to have trouble touching his index fingers together across his chest. The hair was a definite dye job at the last minute, and the eyes were a few too many shades towards crimson. The chin was cloft, and the overall face was too intimidating and mean to be personable on first glance. The jacket was also too big and ill-fitting to be the genuine article.

"Look who's here!" The ID-SOL looked back at the camera with the captain in its grasp, "You have your beloved hero, now powerless to stop what's inevitable."
"Oh can it, Sunshine. I've heard it a million times before." The ID-SOL's head flicked back to Luca and he growled in response to the term of endearment.
"You are in no position to talk. As you can see," He held up the detonator in his other hand, "I've got all the cards in my hand this time. I win, you are going to lose. Simple as that."

Step One: Get their attention.

"If that's the case, can I have some last words, then?"
"Humour the audience, if it will make your death any more pleasant. Speak into the camera. Speak into the very audience that will crucify-"

"I gotta say," Luca's lungs were under severe stress to maintain the breath to talk "They really messed up the body structure when they made you, Sunshine." The ID-SOL's eyes flickered and a scowl crossed his mouth.

Step Two: Reel them in.

"Indignant banter will only make your death seem all the more petty." There was a crack in his Composure, somewhere in his tone of voice and the fact that his grip tightened on both hands - Luca was gunning for it.
"I'm not seven feet tall, and those sideburns are atrocious! You look like a stunted ID-SOL who just came tumbling out of the vat and they stuck some crap from the costume store onto you! You couldn't impersonate a Nepleslian Space Marine properly!"

Step Three: Make them dance to your beat.

Luca could hear a rib or two of his cracking as the ID-SOL's grip tightened even further on him. He could also hear the cracking of plastic and metal in the ID-SOL's other hand, which wasn't being paid attention to. Those cracking ribs were masking that sound quite nicely. Who knew that calcium cracking could make the right sounds?

"For all intents and purposes, you're a shadow. A pale imitation." A few more ribs cracked, Luca could feel his left arm starting to break and his face turned red, "All you're fighting for is fighting for the sake of evil. Well, what IS Evil supposed to be? Is it someone you need to appease to feel better about yourself? Do you hold peer meetings to check up on progress every Sunday?"
"Wait, what are you...?" The ID-SOL was genuinely confused for a fleeting moment before he blinked and resumed his routine of rage, "All hot air escaping, that's all!" His face flicked to the camera in desperation as he lost face to the Captain.

Step Four: Destroy their plan completely and tell them they suck.

"After a while I started to wonder, between the NMX, the millions of Crime Syndicates and unhinged scientists I've had to put down - there's just a common thread that's bugged me." It took every remaining ounce of Luca's will to keep his eyes focussed on the ID-SOL, and away from the detonator, "Are you all just trying to prove that everything is worth nothing because you can't find anything of value in yourselves?"

That's when the Detonator had been crushed into an unrecognisable mess of electronics and plastic in the ID-SOL's other hand. "GARHGH" He threw Luca away like a rag doll after one last squeeze that broke his left forearm. Luca tumbled across the ground for a moment and his limbs fell against the concrete, but he regained his footing and stood up using his remaining arm - his left arm wobbled about unnaturally thanks to the break between his wrist and elbow, and he knew that he'd have to fight one handed with his off hand.

Step Five: Kick the son of a bitch.

"I thought so. Looks like I'm going to have to put you down, like the rest of them."

-

Meanwhile, the one Zero that'd left the Faker to his fate had decided to flee and leave it to its fate. It'd failed, big deal, the one Zero figured he could save his own skin in lieu of this disaster. He figured that he could rebuild, the gang would just have to stop flying their colours for a few months, then they could creep back in, just as they've done many many times before.

But, Karma is a fickle bitch to those that'd live their lives by her, right or wrong and to think that they could dupe her into providing everything for nothing. There had to be a break in the cycle somewhere - and that break was now staring him down from a considerable distance. The Archangel of Justice was staring down upon the wicked and unrighteous in the death throes of its carefully laid plans.

"Just call the chopper, the act's sunk, but I can still make the fireworks happen!" He ruffled through his coat and pulled out one backup detonator, "Just get me off this damn rock first." The ETA was twenty minutes - way too long, "No. No, you get here NOW ... Fuck off!" He threw the phone away in disgust.

"Fuck it all," He opened his coat to reveal a sawn off anti-armour weapon hiding in the loosest possible sense of the word. He fired it indignantly into the scaffolding below him and caused one hell of an explosion followed by the sounds of collapsing wood and metal, "There. They can't follow me now... I hate waiting, brr, its cold." He reloaded the oversized undersized weapon with another shell and snapped it shut, looking about himself and at the SS Raider above, knowing that this weapon would only scratch the paint on that thing, "Now, where the hell is that feather backed imbecile?"

The answer would shock him if he knew.

-

"WHY DO YOU FIGHT?!" The ID-SOL roared as he threw a power drill at Luca, who sidestepped it casually, "WHY DO YOU TAKE ARMS AGAINST THIS SEA OF TROUBLES WHEN ITS ONLY A DROP IN THE OCEAN, A GRAIN OF SAND IN THE DESERT, WHEN ONE DAY YOU TOO WILL WHITHER AND DIE AND ANOTHER PRETENDER WILL TAKE YOUR PLACE, JUST AS A SNUFFED CANDLE GETS LIT AGAIN ONLY TO GO OUT IN TIME, JUST TELL ME WHY!!"

"Because I fucking can, Sunshine - Plus, I don't think you got the memo -" Luca ducked under a flying sawhorse, courtesy of Sunshine. He consequently put weight onto his broken and cracked ribs and ached slightly before standing back up and raising his right arm and struggling to get his left hand into position, "- The Yamataians had Soul Backups and Body Transfers figured out a long time ago, remember? Did you think they were giving out milkshakes when you asked for a brain?"

"You must've asked for a thick one, Sunshine!" He pushed a button and a piton fired into Sunshine's chest and stabbed him - going right through the fake Stone-Thread singlet. The genuine article would've absorbed the attack. Then with another press, thousands of volts of electricity surged through it and sent Sunshine falling to the floor.

"Alright guys, finish him off, I think... I think I'll... urgh..." Luca had failed to realise the importance of internal bleeding, it was only starting to catch up to him, "Someone..." He fell on his knees first and tried to remain standing, but his vision started to blur and he felt light headed, "Medic... anh..." He then rolled over to his side and he gasped for breath, incapacitated and vulnerable. Curse that oil-drinking shithead.

Sunshine was still fried by Luca's attack, and the pitons withdrew, leaving a nasty entry-exit wound. The team was welcome to dispense their final marks, and the cameras were still rolling.

 

[Moogle]

Meanwhile, in a completely un-climactic location, Seiren was bugging out about how not only the suitcase could talk, but could turn into a robot. With a. . . THING strapped to its groin. Off around the corner, he could hear the thing asking Zeta about said thing, and then her subsequent freakout.

"Why in the world? . . you know what, this is why I carry around a Utili-tool. For every situation," The inventor mumbled, whipping out his handy metal tool. Sliding next to the little robot, he showed the machine the tool before reaching down and unscrewing the obscene object that dangled from a robot.

"Why people would put one of those on a robot I'll NEVER know," he mumbled as the last screw came off.

 

[Jimmy]

“Ernie is grateful for Zeta Five's assistance.” said the little robot still looking up at her with its one "eye".

As Seiren approached it examined the utili-tool closely with what was obviously a zooming lens but made no move as it was applied to the unwanted appendage. “Ernie requests Seiren be careful.” the little robot said, sensor pod focused intently as the utili-tool worked.

“Ernie expresses bewilderment at such unpurposed peripherals also.” Ernie replied when the work was done. “Ernie must return this equipment to Ernie's previous owner.” it said, pulling the thing out and opening one of its armament compartments to accommodate it.

The robot turned back to Zeta. “It appears Ernie is now prepared to initiate security operations, by your leave miss Zeta Five.”

 

[ShotJon]

Zeta got held off by this all. Luca was long gone and she was still on the ship talking with some droid. That was bad, she quickly caught it under the arms and held him tight.

"Let's go Ernie!" She said and jumped out of the ship. She had to let her Vulcan back in the ship to carry the small droid. BUt that was still okay she had her claws and Peashooter loaded with Sabots.

Unlike Luca, Zeta had her PA on so she could literaly fly up. Scaffolding was gone now, but it would not stop her. With her armour, Ernie was not even that heavy. She flew up and went inside the statue, following Luca. It was all done, when she got ther, she quickly put Ernie on the ground seeing Luca down.

"Bloody hell! Boss!" She shouted and ran to Luca.

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert heard Zeta yell something from where he was searching for any other goons or bad guys. He activated his comm and said. "What's going on up there? Is everything ok?" He doubled back to the stairs to make it up to where Luca went. He burst into the room and took everything in a single glance. "Is he ok?" he asked as he stepped inside. He then noticed the camera recording the whole thing and turned it over so it wasn't recording the whole scene.

 

[Lamb]

As they all entered, Enzo was the one who left. He tossed a casual glance about the hangar bay before revving his newly modified air-bike and kicking the transmission into gear. His right hand wandered over to the SEP II on his hip while his left hand yanked back on the throttle and the bike jumped from the ship into an amazing dive.

The bike made its descent quickly, with Enzo's hair and coattails trailing losely behind it, and a rain of blasts from the SEP leading the way to a scorching demise for the already wounded ID-Sol below. It was only in the very last second that Enzo pulled up from his dive and the bike swept away from the ground. This time, the vagabond set his sights on Uriel's target, the Zero boss.

He fired a warning shot just for fun before whizzing past the lone man and pulling to a halt just out of reach. Enzo kept his hand on the accelerator while he lit his cigarette, in case he was fired upon.

"Yous." He said out of the corner of his mouth in a puff of smoke, "Yous where da moneys is, pal. Wanteds on tree planets, so's I understands."

 

[CadetNewb]

A man in a black business suit and black tinted glasses worked his way up the ladder, across scaffolding and so on as he went higher and higher. The scoped and silenced rifle slung over his back occasionally dangled and slapped him, but it didn't matter. Anyone watching could see he was in a hurry, but not that much of a hurry - it was as though this man already believed everything was going to be fine but wanted to be there nonetheless. Wherever 'there' was of course. Despite all the shouting and the taunting and the crackling of bones up above, that was what he likely thought.

As he started to near, the fighting above knocked over a barrel, which then rolled his way - the man merely stopped it with a foot and pushed it off to the side before continuing up, ever close to Luca Pavone and his poorly made imposter. The ranting, the taunting, the rage; this man heard it all on his way up, obviously, and couldn't help but shake his head - it was all ridiculous, even absolutely insane like something out of an action flick. It was even cheesy too.

By the time he was on site and hefted himself up and out of the final ladder, Zeta had already arrived to see to the badly injured Luca. "I suppose the hurry on your end couldn't have been helped," he dryly remarked, referring to how Pavone had rushed ahead of everyone else. He then walked over to the imposter, and making sure he was out of reach, casually pulled out his 10mm out from under the suit coat he wore.

The camera could see this 'Agent' aim his weapon towards the ground out of view before firing a trio of rounds into what was assumed the downed imposter. "A pity you didn't go for the head properly Mr. Pavone. Punching it doesn't work as well as giving it bullets." the Agent spoke to the unconscious Luca. It was obvious he was making sure to finish what Luca and the 'Hoverbiker' started before his sunglassed gaze turned on the camera next. The man tucked away the smoking pistol before leisurely walking over to turn it off.

Smith then silently came over to where Zeta knelt beside the man before kneeing as well, now reaching into his suit again to pull out a very small syringe. "We should get him moved into the Raider's medbay soon Miss Five," he suggested. Removing the cap, he then jabbed the little needle into the side of Luca's neck, administering the little stimpack - even if it didn't wake him, it'd still help with the healing process and numb the pain if he did.

"We really should move now. I would have set the bombs to a timer as well as a second and a third set of detonators," He told Zeta.

 

[Kai]

Aerin was amazed- astounded even, that despite being only a few feet behind Luca the whole time, she had missed everything. Apparently entranced by his loudmouthed taunting, she figured he'd had everything under control, or at least, from what she'd known of him she assumed he would have control. In the end- she was right. Well, mostly, anyway. Luca did indeed finally get everything under control, even if at cost to his own well being.

When Zeta landed on the scaffolding, and then Smith popped up from the sides, She realized the gravity of the situation- although Luca was a Yamataian and could heal himself from the injuries, the fact that he had collapsed meant that he was in at least enough pain to warrant treatment, if not more.

"I'll take him" She spoke up, kneeling down (not a very far distance) and picking him up after Smith administered his stims. "My suit's faster and my shields better, he'll be safer going with me, Besides, I know the way better."

With that, the CEO took off, and was soon in the PA bay, and then rushing off through the hallways to the medbay, placing him in one of the beds and getting her medical crew to work immediately.

 

[Blackbird Lore]

Uriel smiled. It was a vicious expression. Just when he thought the moment could not have been more perfect, Enzo of all people clinched it. The Archangel made his move.

As before, he swooped down, slowing his descent with his wings until he was positioned directly above the lying, conniving, dishonorable, godless bastard who had orchestrated this evil scheme. The smaller Nepleslian crumpled beneath the 'feather-backed imbecile'. This was no time for mercy, this was a time for very clear, very decisive action. With two quick and clean thrusts, Uriel's Hippeis Xiphos sliced neatly through the boss's shoulders. His arms would be useless henceforth. Uriel kicked the detonator from his limp hand with no more effort than a child kicking an inflated rubber ball.

"Your feather-backed imbecile is right here, heathen, and he's come to pass Judgment. I'll grant you one minute to say your final words before your Sentencing." A third stroke of steel cleaved through muscles just beneath the Zero's buttocks. "Think not of escape or retribution. I will deliver you to Hell quite soon."

The Elysian glanced toward Enzo. "You'll have to give up on this one, Mr. Bortelli. He has already indebted his life to me."

Back to the Zero. "Your sixty seconds start now."

Tick tock. Tick tock.