Mach & Company's Flight in Sharo

Machman managed to take down one of the souped-up swordy viruses, but the second immediately took its place and aggressively attacked the speedy Navi. On top of that, the first bladia exploded into a cloud of purple miasma. Machman was initially unaffected, but several warnings popped up on Mazer's PET screen, all of them indicated some sort of malicious code had come into contact with Mach's programming. Luckily for him, Mazer had coded in a new "debug" function in Aera's program the day before. Thanks to the Bladia, the group now had the perfect chance to see if it works. A small pop-up window opened in front of Aera, which showed a video feed of Mazer's face.

[Aera, I detected something in Machman's program; it may have been caused by the miasma. I don't want to allow this thing to develop, so now's the perfect time to use your second upgrade I was talking about.]
The debug function?
[Exactly. You can purify Mach's body at range, so just target him and activate the program.]
Okay, thanks Mazer!

She looked back to the battlefield, where Machman was actively engaging the Bladia. The virus attacked aggressively and prepared another strike, and Machman attempted to avoid the strike as he blurred into nothingness and disappeared. He then rematerialized high above the bladia, grasping a large iron ball. He took aim at the Bladia directly below as he drew his arm back and gripped the ball tightly. He didn't pause for long, for fear of allowing the Bladia enough time to counter, and hurled the heavy iron sphere towards the virus. The ball had enough force behind it to break through even the toughest armor, but it certainly wasn't enough to take down the virus.

Immediately after he threw the cannonball, a bright white ring appeared around his waist and hovered in place like a large hoop. The ring then split into two down its length to create two identical rings that traveled over his body, one down towards his feet while the other traveled up towards his head. As soon as they passed Mach's feet or head, they disappeared. Mach didn't entirely know what it was, but he didn't feel any different. He fired his thrusters and rocketed away in an attempt to avoid the inevitable counterattacks from the Bladia.

Aera saw the debug program go into effect, and then switched her focus to the Bladia. She raised both of her arms towards the virus as electrical discharges arced between them. Her power output raised sharply, and a long, dagger-like sliver of armor moved from her skirt armor and paused next to her right hand as it pointed at the bladia. Moments later Aera fired a bright bolt of lightning towards the bladia with a loud crack and a flash of light. The lightning bolt had more than enough electrical power to cover the immediate area with a web of electricity, so she didn't have to directly hit the virus to cause damage. However, Vector's dagger-like projectile did require relative accuracy, and it was hurled towards the bladia like a dark shard of glass, as if thrown by an invisible figure.

Machman teleported out of the way a fraction of a second before the Not-Swordy's blade turned the place he'd been hovering over into a line of shattered panels with its passing. The Navi reappeared above the Not-Swordy and proceeded to drop a Cannon Ball on the virus. The heavy iron ball hit the Not-Swordy's armor with a metallic thud as it dented and cracked the metal plates before bouncing off and making a crater in the ground next to it.

Machman was successfully debugged by Aera following his attack on the mutant Swordy, and decided it was time to be somewhere else as he ignited his thrusters and rocketed backwards. This took him out of the virii's reach, and gave both Aera and Vector clear shots at the virus that they immediately capitalized on. The virus, now angry, spun around quickly to face Machman with its sword already swinging. The black flaming Full-Blade flashed diagonally upwards from left to right with the Not-Swordy's spin, and unleashed a deep purple blade wave with its wild swing. The blade wave wiped away the energy blast and water blades as it flew through the air, just missing Machman, and finally struck Aera's forward Shield.

The mutant Swordy's Full-Blade, still pointed diagonally upward from its last attack, began to glow faintly as it stared at the group....

Aera frowned as her carefully aimed bolt of lightning was completely nullified by the attack, but then quickly realized the attack was still coming, and braced as the wave bashed into her shields. She had a sigh of relief when she realized the shields still survived and kept a nice layer of protection between her and the increasingly aggravated mutant swordy ahead.

Machman saw the recent developments, including the significant amount of damage inflicted by the cannonball. He saw the bladia's aggressive actions, and guessed the virus was near its limit, where it was the most dangerous, not much unlike a caged animal. It prepared a new attack, but he didn't care to see it used to much effect. As Aera fired a green bolt of regenerative data into his body, Mach addressed his two SPs quickly.
Get behind that building, and keep moving! This thing is not gonna go down quietly!

Aera nodded as her thrusters fired, which propelled her into a slowly rotating backflip up and over the antennae before she touched down behind the building in a small puff of snow. Her thrusters remained on and she started to skim over the snow as she attempted to put distance between Vector & herself and the bladia. Machman's thrusters also fired in a flash of cyan and propelled him even higher into the air, even after cutting out his thrusters occasionally to make him suddenly change direction or just drop out of the sky.
Mazer, requesting Magnum, Lavacannon, and PoisonMask chips!

Mazer quickly slid the requested chips into the PET, and Mach nearly instantly received notification of the battlechips' successful upload. After a few seconds, he then turned back towards the virus and pointed both of his arms towards the bladia as they both started to change rapidly.

{I've had enough of you.}

Both of his arms transformed into a pair of large, dark cannon-like barrels, each with visible rifling grooves on the inside of the large barrels. The gunmetal gray barrels were partially covered with red slide plates that snapped back to reveal a port for the projectiles to be loaded. A pair of shells materialized just behind the barrels before both of the slides slid forward with a metallic bang and slid both projectiles snugly into the barrels. Mach aimed carefully, since these were two of his most powerful chips, and he didn't want to waste them by missing.

He knew the bladia was capable of teleportation, and kept a close eye on it just in case it decided to jump away. If it did so, he waited for it to reappear before he loosed both cannons with a pair of rumbling booms and an equally powerful recoil from each. Mach grunted from the strain as the cannons pushed him a few feet further away from his target and left a pair of quickly dissipating smoke clouds behind. He didn't have enough time to determine whether or not the attacks hit; he knew if they didn't, he would have a ton of angry virus coming after him in an instant.

The cannons covering his arms disappeared as his arms reverted to their default configurations. As he did so, his wing thrusters went silent, and all of his lift was left to the vents on his chest and feet, which ramped up in intensity to account for the sudden drop in lift. The wings started to move towards Mach's left side as a large shield materialized over his left arm. The shield covered Mach's entire body and was rimmed with evil looking spikes. Though he couldn't see it, the front of the shield had a large face painted on it's curved surface. The painting seemed to come alive as the eyes blinked and the toothy maw snapped open and shut feverishly.

Aera, still armored by Vector's body, continued to fly quickly over the snow, but quickly looked up to see the spike-lined face floating in the sky. She then noticed an eerily red glow that emanated from the edges of the mask, as if there was a large red lightbulb behind the protective metal shield. The glow continued to intensify until the mask suddenly started to swing to one side and revealed Machman behind it. He rotated clockwise and momentarily showed his back to the virus before his right hand extended towards the ground. A massive red glow seemed to be enveloping is hand, and all four of his wings were lined parallel with his arm and rotated quickly around a central point just in front of his open right hand. The larger wings were rotating counterclockwise while the smaller wings were on a slightly further orbit as they rotated around his hand in a clockwise fashion, but all of them were performing the same function: containment of the massive amount of plasma that was held in the magnetic "cage" created by the wings. Aera almost smacked into the wall of the building as she looked up at Machman as he pointed the weapon towards the bladia. She could see his eyes were bright and reflected some of the red glow.

Not a moment later, Machman unleashed the energy stored up by his wing thrusters, which erupted forth in a single pillar of crimson energy before it split into a pair of smaller beams that rocketed towards the bladia. Even if they didn't have the strength to destroy the virus, the beams had more than enough force behind them to send the virus flying. The beams tore through the sky with a loud screaming roar before they quickly faded into a pair of flickering trails of immolated data that gently fell down to the ground like glowing snowflakes.

The spinning wings around his arm were white hot from the heat discharge, but they dutifully returned to his back as they rapidly cooled down. Shield in hand, he pushed his chest and foot vents to their maximum output and send himself zig-zagging towards the virus as he brought the shield to bear in front of himself.

Aera and Vector jumped off the roof of the bunker, and took cover behind the structure while Machman rose into the sky like a homesick meteor. All of this just in time for Machman to look down and see the Not-Swordy's attack execute below him. The blade flashed as the virus swung it in a lateral arc towards the space he'd just occupied, and a positively huge purple and black energy blade swept across the field below. The reach it had was easily twice the length of a normal sword, and swept across an area thrice as wide, leaving nothing but shattered and broken terrain in the wake of its passing.

The virus continued its slashing motion, and flashed the sword upwards in a new attack arc. A dark wave of energy erupted from the tip of the sword and surged forward as Machman returned fire with his LavaCannon and Magnum. The black blade wave hit the oncoming LavaCannon blast, and deleted it on contact. Unfortunately for the virus, the wave was travelling perpendicular to Machman's double shot attack, and only managed to wipe away one of the two cannon blasts. The Magnum attack hit the virus in the face, then detonated. The virus began to break apart until it then burst into a sphere of poison. When the cloud of miasma cleared, there was only two patched of poisonous terrain marking where the hellish sword viruses had stood.

Now that all was quiet once again, a faint blue glow emanated from within the door of the bunker on one side.

Mach managed to avoid the massive energy blade, and used his twin guns to bring down the Bladia in one final showdown. He saw the virus explode into a cloud of miasma and disappear, and luckily all three were outside of the blast range. Mach's battlechips deactivated as he floated down to the snowy floor below just as Aera, with Vector acting as armor, poked her head out from behind the bunker.

Wow, those viruses were really powerful. What were they?

Machman bent down to inspect a piece of battlechip data left behind by the virus. He inspected it briefly before he let it beam up into the PET.
I don't know. Whatever it was, it was no normal virus. Those things had massive combat capabilities, and seemed to be to be a lot more aware, and smarter than normal viruses. I'm just glad they didn't go after you two. How do you feel?

Aera looked down at her own body and made a slight shrug.
I didn't get hit during the battle, I actually recovered some energy during the fight.
Vector's eye opened just below the armor covering Aera's bust, and he responded in kind.
As did I, sire.

Machman nodded as he beckoned them closer and towards the door.
Good, good. You two were in pretty bad shape when I found the both of you.

As soon as Aera and Vector approached, Mach took a knee, and prompted them to do the same. They may still be under watch, and he didn't want to just nonchalantly idle around on the top of a secret base.
Okay, you two probably already know we are in a rather interesting situation. We are standing on top of some sort of base that is housing the craft we fought earlier. Whoever or whatever is in control of this base obviously has a lot of firepower to use. However, that craft is an object of interest to the Netopian military, and any information we can gather might be able to help them.
Why don't we just call for hel-- wait, the communications jamming from the craft, is it still active?
Yes, and it's rather strong. I think it may be the cause of my decoy malfunctions as well. Even if we tried to call in for backup, they likely wouldn't hear us. So. We have a choice here. Retreat and take our findings to the CAG, or stay around and try to figure out more about that aircraft and who may be controlling it. I'm not going to make the decision for all of us; I want to know what you two want to do.

The three were very quiet for a moment, so quiet that the only noise heard was the whistling of the air and the sound of snow moving against snow and metal as it was blown around in the wind. Aera then nodded and spoke.
I want to find out who they are, and why they attacked us. Maybe we could find out why they are so aggressive, and possibly help.
Vector also spoke up.
I agree with Lady Aera. I must know why they attacked us unprovoked, and any information we may find may help us bring them down.

Machman closed his eyes as he mulled over the opinions of his two SPs. A few seconds later he opened his eyes and spoke with a very stern, unwavering tone.
Alright. We'll continue to investigate, starting with that light coming from the door.

Mach and Aera slowly stood as Vector moved his body plates off her and reformed into his default configuration. The trio then moved carefully towards the blue glow from within the door to see what it was.

((ACTION:
Investigate light))

Upon landing and turning to face the blue glow, Machman discovers the bunker is nothing more than a covering around a heavy industrial lift. The lift makes up the entire bunker floor, save for the guide pillars in the corners. There is a single operation console standing out of the floor off to one side that has simple up and down arrows beside stop and start keys. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, but it was also notable that all of the keys were glowing caution-yellow from within.

There is a panel on the wall that appears to operate the door with a simple set of controls as well. The panel consists literally of open, stop, start, and close. The keys are glowing an assortment of colors matching their purpose, except the open key, which is currently darkened. The consoles are really user friendly... excessively so for a place like this, perhaps.

As for the blue glow... The glow turns out to be a lone BMD sitting in the far corner of the elevator. Accessing it dispenses a very large sum of Zenny... A very large sum of Zenny.

Machman accessed the Zenny data, and raised an eyebrow when he looked at the zenny total.
Hey Mazer, you're not gonna believe this, but that Mystery Data was holding a very large amount of zenny. This would more than double our current balance.

Mazer responded in kind, but instead of excitement over the little treasure trove they stumbled upon, he became rather agitated.
[... why would they store a mystery data holding that kind of money in a freaking elevator? Unless those super-viruses were going on a shopping spree, I can't find any sort of explanation here.]

Machman had similar feelings about this particular discovery, and took note of the different consoles, especially how color-coordinated and user friendly they were.
I don't know, but it seems the controls on this elevator are pretty dumbed down. You think they may be so those viruses could figure out how to operate the elevator?
[Yeah, for those viruses, or anyone who tries to sneak in. The zenny on top of the overly obvious controls makes this place scream "trap." I don't know about this, Mach. I'm getting a really bad vibe from this place.]

Machman crossed his arms and looked slightly down towards the ground as his brow furrowed. The more he thought about it, the more the situation seemed dangerous. Mazer's points struck home, and Mach trusted his theory.
You're right. However, I don't really want to leave without finding out more about this place. How about I send a drone down there... hm, the interference will probably make it inoperable before we could even close the door. Damn.

Mazer could see his Navi was frustrated with the situation, and was likely having similar thoughts of sending one of his SPs down instead. However, he didn't like the idea as much as Mach likely would have. He continued to think until an idea popped into his head. He scratched his head for a second as he mulled it over before he smiled and spoke to his team.
[I think I have an idea. I bet you were thinking about sending Aera or Vector down to investigate, but were afraid for their safety. I think we may have something to solve that problem, and that solution involves a .GMO.]

Machman raised an eyebrow and looked back to Mazer's pop-up screen as his two SPs looked attentively at the operator.
You thinking of using a Graphic Override as some sort of camouflage?
[A disguise, to be more precise. Vector has an incredibly adaptive body, and with some minor modifications we could have him be able to do some recon without being immediately detected. However, it would have to be something simple, since I can't just magically make new graphic models for you in 5 minutes.]

Machman looked over to Vector, whose single red eye was staring back at him.
I don't know, it seems pretty risky.
Before Mach was able to continue, Vector took a step forward and stood at a position of attention.
I shall do it. I can't allow yourself or Lady Aera to put in harm's way. Please sire, allow me to be of use to you.

Mach nodded slowly as he looked away. He didn't like the idea, but he had little alternative, and Vector wouldn't be easily swayed to reconsider.
... Alright, but what would we have Vector attempt to mimic? I doubt we can make him look like one of those viruses, plus there were two of them. Maybe one of the walls?
Aera looked over into the elevator, and noticed how dark it became without the glow of the blue mystery data. Her eyes widened as she made a realization.
Hey, what about a mystery data? There was one sitting in here, and they might get suspicious if the elevator comes down without the mystery data.
Mazer snapped his fingers and smiled.
[That's perfect! That shouldn't be too difficult to program in, and having it still there shouldn't cause too much suspicion.]
But what about the controls? Wouldn't it be a bit suspicious to see an elevator come down and open to reveal an inanimate object?

Mach's point didn't reach Mazer, as he was already trying to quickly create the graphic override and was distracted. Aera made her own suggestion.
How about we put something inside with Vector that could have possibly had it activate? Maybe we could make it appear that the snow caused the control panel to malfunction?
Machman peered inside the elevator and looked at the control panel as he thought about the idea. He then looked outside at the snow that piled up at the doorway, and nodded.
Hm... that's not a bad idea. We'll give it a shot, once Mazer is done.

A few moments later, Mazer finally spoke up.
[I think it's done. Vector, hold still as I activate it.]
Vector nodded as his entire body started to change color, from his dark blue and silver trim to a shiny, glowing sky blue. Vector looked down at his literally glowing body before he moved his arm to see the extent of the color change. Very odd.
[Alright. Now, try to form your body into a decahedron, just like the mystery data. Once you get into position, the rest of the override will come into effect and secure your body in place in a seamless formation.]
Yes sir.

Vector started to fragment, starting with his leg armor, and eventually turned into a small cloud of metal shards as he started to fit himself into place. In a few short seconds, he formed his body into a perfect decahedron before the seams of the armor disappeared. Mach and Aera were quite surprised with the change, if they didn't know any better, they would have thought a second mystery data just materialized in front of them. At least, until it spoke.
This is... very strange.
[Looks like it works! Now, you should be able to separate your upper and lower halves if you need to attack or work the console. The last thing I want you to do is try to slowly rotate horizontally in a counter-clockwise direction.]

He silently acknowledged and started to rotate slowly before he adjusted his speed and matched it to how he saw the mystery data move before. He looked rather convincing, at least to Aera, Mazer, and Mach.
Can you see out of that disguise, Vector?
Perfectly, M'lady.
Vector then started to float closer to Aera before he moved from side to side.
It appears I can still move with ease as well.
In one last test, the lower half of the decahedron moved down before a long blade thrust forward towards the elevator before it slowly slid back and the shape closed back up.
I am ready, sire.

Machman nodded and spoke to his SP.
Alright, Vector. Move into position where the Mystery Data was before, and keep rotating. I'm going to try and blow some snow into the elevator to possibly hint at a snow-caused malfunction in the control panel. Here we go.
Aera walked to the side as Machman's wings spread out from his back and pointed their thrusters forward. With a quick charge, they then kicked on at a relatively low power setting. However, they rather effectively started to kick up snow and pushed it into the elevator. He tried to angle the thrust to have the wind blow into the entrance at an angle, facing the wall with the console. He stopped after feeling enough snow as blown in, and looked at the now snow-dusted inside of the elevator. Vector received a light dusting of snow himself, but continued to rotate.
Alright, that should do it. You should be able to work the controls from your current position, and try not to make it obvious that you touched the buttons. Good luck, and stay alert.
I shall, sire. I will update you with as much information as I can.

A single shard of metal emerged from Vector's body and hovered towards the control panel before it gently poked at and exposed area of the "Close" button.

((ACTIONS:
Activate BMD.GMO
Vector: Position self in place of BMD
Machman: Blow snow into Elevator
Vector: Close door and head down
Mach & Aera: Wait
Vector: Attempt to gather info))

As soon as Vector positioned himself and the others had blown enough snow through the door to simulate Snow Terrain inside the elevator, the crew tried to send the elevator down with the door still opened. This is when they hit a snafu in their plans... The glowing yellow controls simply did not respond. If was only after Vector closed the door to the bunker using the wall panel that the elevator control panel changed from yellow to the standard colors seen on the wall console. The SP then had to float back to his previous position, and operate the elevator controls again before anything else would work.

Perhaps this setup wasn't as simple as it looked? Guide dangit!

Once Vector was back at the panel, the keys appeared not to be open and close, but up and down. Vector, of course, pressed down. The lift began its descent....

----

Meanwhile, once Vector had closed the door, a moment later and the two standing outside saw the glow panel on the wall change from blue to yellow as the elevator controls had previously been. If past experience with the elevator controls said anything, it would not accept input while the elevator was in motion.

The elevator door closed and he felt the vibration as the platform carrying Vector started to make its decent. However, immediately something started to go wrong; Mach noticed Vector's signal became weaker and weaker before it eventually disappeared.
Damn, the structure must be insulated from communication signals. I can't contact Vector from here.

Well, what do we do?

Mach looked around and was reminded of the other structures that bristled from the surface of the large caldera in which the pair stood.
We'll just have to wait for him to return. In the meantime, let's try to find out more about this place, starting with those structures lining the rim.

The pair concentrated on the buildings, and tried to get a more detailed look, even though the were a significant distance away. They were really trying to see if they were possible weapon arrays, and they didn't want to approach until they retrieved at least a little more information.

((ACTIONS:
Wait for Vector
Attempt to get better look at structures lining the rim))

The structures situated around the rim seemed to fit into two categories...

The first type seemed to be the all smoke-stack like structures. They were covered with ice at the moment, and not emitting any steam or smoke to speak of. Given what Mach had seen of them earlier, it was very unlikely they house anything other than empty space through which emissions traveled. There simply wasn't enough visible volume to stuff anything else inside them.

The second type consisted of what appeared to be short, unremarkable bunker-like structures. They were also covered with ice, but from this angle, it was easy to tell they weren't simply a geographical feature. They were numerous, easily numbering in the dozens. They were placed at regular and relatively short intervals all along the ridge line around the caldera. If anything was likely to house a weapon system of some kind, it would be these structures.

Looking down from the ridge line, the other structures were covered in snow. Closer inspection would be required to uncover any details. Too, the snow was beginning to pile upon the ridge line itself. It wouldn't be too much longer, minutes at best, before the smoke stacks and bunkers were completely hidden below a concealing blanket of snow. This location was ideal for covering the existence of this facility.

Mach and Aera's attempted recon was somewhat fouled by the snow, but their focus immediately shifted as they both heard the familiar rumble of the elevator starting up.
Vector?

Machman nodded, but his triple-barreled chaingun started to materialize under his right arm as he floated towards one corner of the elevator door.
Maybe, but then again, it might be another one of those viruses. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Mazer, have chips on standby. Aera, get on the other side of the door, and prepare that Magbolt, since we may need it.

Aera nodded silently as she went to the opposite corner of the door, and pressed herself against the corner to keep herself from being immediately seen from the inside of the elevator. Her internal capacitors began to charge up, and the electricity levels within her body began to rise rapidly. Machman also readied himself and was prepared to bring the full firepower of his chaingun to bear.

Meanwhile, inside the elevator, Vector tried to keep up his mystery data disguise though he stood mere feet away from this "Reaper Virus." He knew that if Machman and Aera weren't careful, they could be just waiting for a pandora's box to be opened. He had no way to contact them, but he devised a plan. As soon as the door would open, he would immediately fragment and shoot out the door before it fully opens, but he would also use the single shard hidden in the corner to strike at the figure's visor, and a second at the thin areas of one of its legs. Whatever he had to do, he couldn't let this thing get the jump on his comrades.


ACTIONS:
Machman: Prepare Rising Barrage
Aera: Prepare Magbolt1
Vector: Prepare to quickly leave the elevator as soon as the door begins to open, and strike the Reaper virus

Quote (Notice)

High Speed Combat Mode: This is a mode of play where turn splicing is mandatory due to a faster action/reaction feedback loop being required to put the player on-par with their opponent, typically a Boss. For this battle only, each turn will be divided into 3 segments. Characters participating in this fight will be allowed to use 1/3rd of their normal action count each segment. No more, no less.

As the elevator rose, the Reaper virus suddenly became more alert. It seemed to anticipate, perhaps eagerly so, a fight the moment the doors opened. It balled one hand into a fist, and punched the other hand with it before falling into a ready stance. Vector watched as the scanner brought up a little window tracking the processor clock cycle of the Virus. The numbers sped worryingly upwards as the elevator arrived at ground level.

As the door opened, the virus did several things at once. It charged the arm closest to Vector with electricity, which began pulling at the SP. It's other hand burst into flame at the same time. It then began to move at a high rate of speed towards the opened door....

It never made a sound.

-----

As Machman took up position against the wall just beyond the edge of the door frame, he heard the elevator come to a stop. The door to the elevator opened, revealing Vector's BMD GMO form spinning quietly in the corner of the elevat-- Something that wasn't Vector dashed blurredly into view. Whatever it was, it was human-shaped, moving rapidly, and giving off a data signature nobody on the outside understood. The name, the HP reading, status readings... all gibberish. Time itself seemed to slow down as a hand of fire, that belonging to the blurred figure all but flying through the door frame, reached towards Machman.

Whatever it was, it wasn't friendly.

((CLOCK UP! Turn Splice))

Vector couldn't believe how quickly the virus moved, it looked more like a dark blur than an actual figure as it quickly advanced on Machman's position.

{No...}
Vector again saw the Navis laying on the floor of the hallway, but as he seemed to approach, they began to change. The navi face down on the floor had no cloak, and her face was obscured by her orange, slightly curled hair. The futuristic Navi slumped against the wall had a blue mask, and large metallic orange spikes coming from the top of his head. The navi had Machman's face.
NO!!!

Vector's body nearly instantly exploded into a cloud of sharpened slivers of metal as they darkened to his normal color scheme. In the middle of this haze of blades was a single red glow, and it quickly flashed as bright as a camera bulb before a portion of his fragmented body burst out like a sharpened proboscis and hurtled towards the virus's body, and tried to pinpoint the seemingly unarmored upper arm of the foe's extended hand.

Machman's shields were up as soon as the door opened, and he felt a warm tingling come up from his feet to his core as Aera channeled some restorative energies into his body. He had barely turned his head towards the door as he heard Vector's voice, and it was then that he saw the enemy bearing down on him. The pupils of his sapphire eyes tightened as the fiery hand got closer to him. The barrel assembly of his chaingun started to spin as time almost seemed to slow down. He could hear the individual clicks of the mechanism driving the rapidly spooling weapon, and his engines primed up in a high pitch whine as he mentally commanded. He saw Vector's sharpened body plates slowly hurtling towards this unknown enemy, but knew the enemy was going to reach him before Vector reached it.

He then saw the flash of light and felt the force of his wing thrusters starting to shove him hard to the right. As soon as he started to move, he lowered his weapon to level it at the virus's midsection before he pulled the trigger. Everything still seemed to be in slow motion to him, he could see every individual round as they advanced out of the rotating barrels with their own individual flash. He then glanced over to Aera, and saw the flash of her eyes, even though she appeared to be almost entirely covered by a huge electrical discharge. He knew what Aera was about to do, and he wanted the enemy to face the full brunt of it. Time started to speed back up as 30mm armor-piercing rounds continued to erupt from his chaingun and continued across the entrance of the elevator.

Thankfully Aera was born partially of Machman's data, or she wouldn't have even seen what was transpiring outside of a bright blur. She had raised her arms as soon as she heard Vector's cry and pointed them towards the dark figure that advanced on Machman. Her capacitors were on the verge of overload before she drained all of their power into a single blast. She tried to follow the movements of the enemy as the electricity blasted forth from her body, and an invisible pulse of electromagnetic energy surged from her and towards the figure at several times the speed of sound.

((Boss Music))

As Aera healed Machman, Vector shouted and literally exploded into action. The BMD he had formerly pretended to be had fragmented into a deadly stream of shrapnel that went flying at the Reaper. However, instead of flying forth to cut the virii's arm to ribbons, Vector found the course of his attack altered. Not only this, he found ALL of his razor sharp plates, as well as his core, being dragged towards the Reaper's electrically charged hand. The gauntleted hand opened, and Vector found himself helplessly collected in a vaguely ball-shaped mass of magnetized metal plates stuck to the virii's right hand. Vector did no damage to the virus, but discovered that he, in turn, had also not suffered damage at this time.

As the Reaper virus exited the elevator, it found itself greeted by a storm of 30mm vulcan fire. It was committed to its attack, and took the full force of Machman's barrage right in what should be its left ribcage, just under it's extended arm. Mach took off with the start of his attack, and zipped across the space before the open doorway, maintaining the powerful gatling attack as he did so. Thus was he able to arrest the enemy's advance, and even began to push it back. The timing couldn't have been worse, as it pushed the target out of the path of Aera's EMP attack.

However, the Reaper was determined to strike back at its target. The ridiculously strong magnetic field was still crushing Vector against the virii's hand when it suddenly started to spin around. This act swept the focus of the super strong magnetic field across Aera, and plucked her bodily from where she stood. She thudded against the mass of plates that was the immobilized Vector, and found herself similarly helpless to struggle against the crushing magnetic forces that held them both in place. Her vision was also suddenly very messed up. It didn't last... The magnetic field suddenly switched off as the Reaper Virus completed its throw-arc, and the ball of SPs went flying at Machman.

Machman was moving fast enough to ordinarily evade being clobbered by an attack like this, but the virus had other plans and the apparent skill to back them up. Once it had released the two SPs in an improvised boulder throw, it fired up the Mag Coil for one last powerful magnetic pull... An invisible force grabbed Machman by the legs as he flew, and dragged him towards the virus... And face-first into the SP ball of Aera and Vector.

The trio collided at high speed. Machman took the impact to his upper body and face, and was knocked quickly to the ground. Vector, poor guy, wound up scattered across a decent area of the field in pieces, but was still functioning. Aera bounced up from the blow, and landed in the snow a handful of meters beyond Machman. Her vision had cleared by the time she landed, and she now found herself able to read the signals coming off the Reaper Virus just like Vector. The text at the top of her vision read:

[Type-M Network Scanner Version 1.09a
Status: Online]

Meanwhile, the Reaper Virus stood up from where it landed inside the elevator.... It wasn't done yet.

((Second 3rd of the turn))

Machman was slightly surprised to see his SPs turned into projectiles aimed directly at his face, and didn't have nearly any time to dodge. He hit the snow with a muffled poof, but almost immediately afterwards there was a loud pop, like a small explosion. Mach's chaingun jettisoned itself from his arm and flew a good three or four feet before it crashed into the snow and started to disintegrate.

As soon as the heavy weapon was jettisoned, Machman threw his right leg across his body as he flipped over and started to put his hands on the ground on one side of his body. The thrusters housed in his right boot kicked on and caused his legs to start spinning in an incredibly fast "windmill" like a break dancer. The thruster's burn was more like a burst, and caused only a handful of rotations, but the initial blast was more than enough to cause a visible, curved shockwave to form and blasted towards the Reaper Virus like sharpened wing. Mach used the rotation to quickly flip back on to his feet, and as he finished his final rotation, his right arm started to bulk up.

Large, yellow, metal plates rapidly materialized over his right arm and fist, all the way from his fingers to his shoulder. They slid together in a rapid flurry of sparks before Machman clenched his massive fist and swung his newly formed GutFist back to the ready position, which caused a little bit of the snow behind him to be kicked up. Machman was glaring at the virus, and one could see a visible crack in his facemask caused by the impact. Several shards of metal seemed to come out of nowhere and perched themselves on the outer limits of his shield as they added another layer of defense. One particularly long sliver of metal whizzed past Machman and flew directly towards the virus's head.

Aera blinked as she looked face up in the snow, and her eyes had developed a thin, green ring in the middle of her blue irises, just like Vector. She saw she was even further away from the fight than Machman as she stood, and formed a regenerative IV pack before she placed it midway down her back. She then forced herself to shrug off the aching pain and locked back onto the virus. Machman was standing directly in front of her, gutfist at the ready, and was blocking her firing lane. Her wing thrusters kicked on and lifted her from the snow before she gradually slid to the right to get a clear shot of the virus, but not so much as to lose visual contact due to the elevator's entrance.

((Boss Music))

The Reaper Virus was just getting back on its feet when Machman launched the blade wave at it. The humanoid virus apparently realized it had little hope of evading the wide projectile attack, and brought up its right arm reflexively. The virus projected a wall-like green defense field before itself a fraction of a second before the Sonic Boom arrived and slammed into it. The energy of the attack rippled outward across the surface of the field from the point of impact, but did nothing to penetrate the field.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it. The field itself absorbed some of the energy from the attack, and quickly concentrated it at the point of impact. Machman was just landing on his feet and beginning to assume his counter attack stance when the field suddenly collapsed. The Reflect beam struck his Shield instantaneously, triggering the Counter immediately and teleporting Machman away before he realized he'd been attacked.

Worse, the faster than light beam grazed Aera, who had landed a healthy distance behind Machman, just as she was steadying herself on her feet once more. As is the way with most on the receiving end of FTL weapons, Aera didn't even realize she was in the line of fire until after the beam had already hit her. Luckily, her emergency defense mechanisms responded to what would have otherwise been a fatal hit, and spared her. She was able to slap on the IV pack afterwords.

The virus was already in the process of launching its next attack when Machman suddenly appeared before it. The Navi threw his Counter punch, and wound up with a very unexpected result... Machman's gauntleted fist met the Reaper's flaming fist dead on. Their punches met knuckle to knuckle as Counter met Fire Hit. The gauntlet shattered as the flames blew out, leaving the adversaries in a bare-handed face to face stare-down.

...For all of two seconds before Vector's blade shot into the picture from over Machman's shoulder to strike the intended target. It hit the virus along the upper right hand side it its helmet at an angle, and made a small but noticeable groove shaped dent. The virus's head rocked back and to the left as the projectile glanced off with a metallic clang.

It was a lucky hit, as Vector was beginning to find it rather difficult to maintain control over his scattered parts. Aera attempted to circle a bit to the right, closer to the Poisoned panels, to get a clearer firing angle, but found her efforts thwarted by Machman. Neither Aera, nor Vector had a clear shot at the target as Machman was now hovering face to face with the enemy. An enemy who appeared to be charging its fists up for the next attack....

Machman was staring face to face with the Reaper virus, and he could see the reflection of his own face in the virus's dark helmet-shaped visor. His gutfist was countered by the virus's attack, and it looked very similar to a firehit... did this virus have the capability to use battlechip data like a SP? Mach didn't have time to think about it, his foe was right in front of him, which was the perfect spot for his next attack.

His left arm, positioned behind his body due to being in a mid-punch pose, was still available for use, and his left hand opened into a claw-like gesture as sparks jumped amongst his fingers and thumb. Mach slammed his left hand forward towards the virus and simultaneously swung his right arm back to thrust his hand further towards the virus for a nearly point-blank shot for the large, cone-shaped blast of visible EM pulses that looked like bright yellow rings that inundated the immediate area in front of him with data-rending electricity and magnetic fields.

While Machman engaged the virus, Aera switched to defense and activated her own defensive shielding to prevent herself from being forced to EJO. The pain of the virus's counter blast was intense, but she felt the IV slowly working to restore some of her energy. Vector wasn't damaged, but he was struggling to control the metal plates that make up his body. He tried to bring them back into their default configuration, and tried to keep an eye on Machman and the Virus, though he couldn't do much at the moment.

As the pulses erupted from his hand, several honeycomb-like structures materialized on his chest armor and lower arms. The structures started to hum and twitch as the small bee programs were roused from their storage-induced slumber.

((Boss Music))

Machman hauled off for his next punch as the Reaper quickly recovered from the glancing blow to the side of its head. The virus raised its left arm towards Mach as the Navi thrust his arm forward. Their open hands almost met in an arm-locking grapple. They only stopped short, their fingertips barely brushing one another, as the two fired identical Electric Pulse waves at each other. The EM waves, being the exact same frequency and amplitude, crashed into one another instead of passing each other by. The waves tried to reflect back, but ended up compressing as each combatant poured as much power as they could give into emitting more EM waves.

It became harder and harder for Machman and the Virus to maintain their attacks as the back pressure built. Their arms began shaking with the effort to maintain their EM attack, as neither dared let up for fear of being blasted off the face of the net. Eventually the EM waves reached critical density and the field erupted in the only direction it could find: outward, perpendicular to each attack. The ring-like EM shockwave expanded outward towards the floor, walls, and cieling. As it met each, it blew clean through them, effectively slicing the elevator and the bunker it rested in in half. Only the floor survived, and it became magnetized. The control panel for the elevator was ruined.

The two combatants were forced away from each other about a panel's width when the EM compression sphere went critical. The two landed in the snow, on their feet, facing each other with their feet planted firmly on the metal flooring below the frosty blanket when each acted quickly. Machman raised a honeycombed defense field as the Reaper Virus lunged at him like it meant to drive its left shoulder into the Navi with a flying tackle. However, on the third impossibly quick and blurry step, the Virus shifted its gait to a sudden half-step, and brought its right arm forward in, not a grand slamming swing, but a straight line jab. As it thrust its fist forward, a very short, broad energy blade ignited from a hidden emitter along the back of its hand.

The virus proceeded to strike one--two--three times with blurry rapid-fire stabs that only managed to connect with Machman's shields. The magnetic panels it now stood upon did not faze it in the least. The virus was subjected to the stinging pain of several swarms of bees that leaped from the outermost honeycombed shield for its effort. It didn't seem daunted by this, however, as it prepared to press the attack with a vengeance....

Aera raises a shield and recovers a little HP while Vector successfully pieces himself back together. Unfortunately, neither SP has a clear shot at the Reaper Virus at this time, as Machman is most assuredly in the way.

Machman reeled back from the blast, but was unharmed. Unfortunately it seemed the virus wasn't harmed either, but its data readout was garbled, as if it was scrambled somehow. Machman remained floating in the air even as the virus pressed on and started to assault his shields.

{Definitely using chips. Okay, lets see if it has a counter for this!}

Machman saw a slight green flash and heard a small zap as his energy was replaced by some spare energy given to him by Aera. She was hanging in there, but her body was still aching from the blunt impact from before. However, she knew she needed to provide at least some backup for Machman. She started to float towards the entrance of the damaged bunker, but paused as an increasing number of metal plates swarmed towards her and fastened to her body, while a few stayed behind as an extra layer for her shields. She smiled and stood fast as she thanked her loyal bodyguard.
Thanks, Vector.

Machman's thrusters primed for just a split second before he disappeared in a cyan flash. He then re-appeared nearly instantly with an identical flash, positioned left of the Reaper virus, and crouched towards the ground. Machman was wielding his saber, and its green-tinted cyan blade was already glowing at full power. Without hesitation, he delivered a rising diagonal slash through the virus's position in an attempt to avoid its assault and deliver a decisive blow, while at the same time he presented a short opportunity for his SPs to strike as well. A small section of his back lit up as a small IV pack materialized and started to slowly stream restorative energy into his body.

Aera was more than happy to utilize the opportunity as she took aim at the virus with her raised, armor-plated right arm before she fired a large, pale yellow bolt of electricity directly towards it. The attack had more than enough juice to cause some temporary paralysis, and the magnetic tether could throw the virus out of its rhythm. But it could be a double-edged sword; the virus may be able to throw Aera off balance with a violent tug, and she certainly didn't want that to happen. Her thrusters were at the ready to help keep her put.

((Boss Music))

The Reaper Virus lunged at Machman, left hand once again outstretched as it reached past, or rather through the defense field of Machman's Heavy Shielding. However, the Virus, hand and all, passed through empty space at full tilt as its target disappeared into thin air quite unexpectedly. Machman reappeared next to where the Virus should have been, and delivered a rising slash that connected with the fast-moving target's lower leg. The blade left a centimeter-deep groove across the side of the Virii's lower leg armor that curved up and backwards sharply as the virus moved past almost as quickly as the sword rose. An IV-Pack appeared on the Navi just as he completed his attack.

Vector, meanwhile, broke apart, flew over to Aera, and came together again as a suit of armor for Aera. He then reinforced Aera's shielding while she applied the IV-Pack to Machman. The now-armored Aera, her previous task complete, raised her arm towards the Reaper Virus and triggered her Magbolt as the Virus passed through the space Machman had previously occupied. The electromagnetic field pulled at the target, and accelerated the already fast-moving Virus towards her. A swirling green energy field sprang to life around the virus as it exited the bunker, only to be visibly lost in a white misty haze as the still-accelerating Virii's speed now flirted with the sound barrier.

The inevitable collision of Virus with electrically charged fist occurred as the haze of the compression wave washed over Aera. The Magbolt discharged as it came into contact with something solid... something solid that gave way as the haze, oddly filled with shredded leaves, roared past and dissipated. She saw the Reaper Virus clearly two hundredths of a second before the armored palm of its open and outstretched left hand impacted solidly against Aera's fist. The attack had connected. Electricity now coursed freely across the Reaper's body. The Virus would shortly be at their mercy, stunned out of its mind--

The Reaper Virus, instead of taking a heavy dose of damage, suddenly began to rapidly recover its health right before Vector and Aera's eyes. Its large clawed armored gauntlet suddenly closed around Aera's hand, wrist, and a little bit of her forearm in a steel grip as its HP counter continued to rise. The electricity began to sink into the Virus' body as it raised its helmeted head and stared at Aera's face through the black opaque visor. A glow shined up from the Reaper's right hand as a Navi-sized ball of light came into being against the bunker's outer wall just right of the door....

This was all unfortunately hidden from Machman's view....