06-27-2017, 06:58 PM
This battle would be troublesome. X's armored shell could only withstand so much punishment, and though the fetishes weren't doing much even when working together, they were still altogether much faster than the android.
That was to say nothing of Hornet Man, which was near-impossible to track conventionally and almost impossible to hit without firing randomly. The X-Buster's meager bolts wouldn't do much individually, even assuming he could hit more than a couple at a time. The other creeping shapes lurking in the brush may also turn out to be an issue, but they were not as immediate as the Darkling before them.
Kelly seemed to have some sort of plan forming, but it still demanded that X provide cover in the meantime. Hornet Man was already wising up to the splaying volleys of Buster shots, moving vertically and erratically in response. The trees and foliage proved ample cover to dart between as well, quickly making X's macabre strategy a wash. The android needed something new, something to distract the maverick sufficiently. His processors began to add up all the variables around him, and started to piece something together.
Ignoring the dents and scrapes amassing on his titanium armor, the blue bomber began to shove his way through the dancing totems. They were helpless to stop his movements, weapons clunking uselessly off the futuristic armor. The tiny bodies of the fetishes tried to bar the sole death-carved path, even tripling up into totems, but X merely knocked them aside with large swipes of his heavy limbs. Two more whistling sounds cut through the evil cacophony, and the bulky robot earned two violent scars up his shoulder blades in an attempt to dodge.
Vulnerable, but for the moment clear of danger, the android whirred about for a sign of Kelly. There was a humanoid shape slipping between the titanic trunks of the corrupt hemlocks, but there was no telling if that was the psychic or something completely different. X trusted that the human could handle himself temporarily, and began to charge both X-Busters in engagement of his own plan.
"Hey- Blast Hornet!" Mega Man X called out, choosing a familiar name on a whim, "Why are you doing this? Why would support an organization like Nebula?!"
"You know nothing of this world," retorted the buzzing voice of the Darkling, barely audible over the drone of its wings. The voice seemed to come from everywhere, a sign that the maverick was constantly on the move, not letting anyone get a lock on. "Omni, the Smiling One, is a foolish tyrant. The worlds he links together are in constant war. Nebula shall unite everything, and remake the Omniverse in our image!"
X had briefly considered such thoughts about the apparent god before, but gave them no heed now- not compared to the nonsense Honest Man spouted. The fetishes began to gather around the Maverick Hunter, eager for an easy target. X only spoke with more volume, hoping to drown out the hum of his charging weapons, "And you think a world ruled by sheer darkness is perfection?! You are wrong! You are just being used!"
The droning of wings intensified, and Hornet Man's voice with them, "You do not need to understand! You shall be destroyed, and remade in our likeness!" The whistle of the stingers rung out again, and the fetishes threatened to swallow X under their numbers.
Now-!
The android ducked and pointed his X-Buster ahead into the ground. A mass of plasma erupted from the arm cannon and promptly slammed into the tainted earth, creating an explosion of light and dirt. Fetishes were scattered into the air, one of them sniped backward by the flying silver cone.
But X saw no second cone. Following that hunch, he immediately whirled around with a sweep of his servos, not even focusing with his camera crosshair before releasing the second blast.
Too late, Hornet Man appeared in the path of the destructive plasma missile. The Darkling managed to fire his own remaining stinger just before the charged shot made contact, throwing his insectoid body into a tree. X mechanically grit his steel jaw as the venom-tipped projectile struck true, piecing the android straight in the chestplate. Numbness crippled X's center of mass, and he failed to keep himself standing. The machine toppled backward, automated systems desperately working to counter-act the toxin.
What was left of the fetishes quickly got to work, rapidly hacking and pecking away at the downed Liberator. X could only wait momentarily with the resolve that Kelly's own intentions could be fulfilled with this suitable distraction.
That was to say nothing of Hornet Man, which was near-impossible to track conventionally and almost impossible to hit without firing randomly. The X-Buster's meager bolts wouldn't do much individually, even assuming he could hit more than a couple at a time. The other creeping shapes lurking in the brush may also turn out to be an issue, but they were not as immediate as the Darkling before them.
Kelly seemed to have some sort of plan forming, but it still demanded that X provide cover in the meantime. Hornet Man was already wising up to the splaying volleys of Buster shots, moving vertically and erratically in response. The trees and foliage proved ample cover to dart between as well, quickly making X's macabre strategy a wash. The android needed something new, something to distract the maverick sufficiently. His processors began to add up all the variables around him, and started to piece something together.
Ignoring the dents and scrapes amassing on his titanium armor, the blue bomber began to shove his way through the dancing totems. They were helpless to stop his movements, weapons clunking uselessly off the futuristic armor. The tiny bodies of the fetishes tried to bar the sole death-carved path, even tripling up into totems, but X merely knocked them aside with large swipes of his heavy limbs. Two more whistling sounds cut through the evil cacophony, and the bulky robot earned two violent scars up his shoulder blades in an attempt to dodge.
Vulnerable, but for the moment clear of danger, the android whirred about for a sign of Kelly. There was a humanoid shape slipping between the titanic trunks of the corrupt hemlocks, but there was no telling if that was the psychic or something completely different. X trusted that the human could handle himself temporarily, and began to charge both X-Busters in engagement of his own plan.
"Hey- Blast Hornet!" Mega Man X called out, choosing a familiar name on a whim, "Why are you doing this? Why would support an organization like Nebula?!"
"You know nothing of this world," retorted the buzzing voice of the Darkling, barely audible over the drone of its wings. The voice seemed to come from everywhere, a sign that the maverick was constantly on the move, not letting anyone get a lock on. "Omni, the Smiling One, is a foolish tyrant. The worlds he links together are in constant war. Nebula shall unite everything, and remake the Omniverse in our image!"
X had briefly considered such thoughts about the apparent god before, but gave them no heed now- not compared to the nonsense Honest Man spouted. The fetishes began to gather around the Maverick Hunter, eager for an easy target. X only spoke with more volume, hoping to drown out the hum of his charging weapons, "And you think a world ruled by sheer darkness is perfection?! You are wrong! You are just being used!"
The droning of wings intensified, and Hornet Man's voice with them, "You do not need to understand! You shall be destroyed, and remade in our likeness!" The whistle of the stingers rung out again, and the fetishes threatened to swallow X under their numbers.
Now-!
The android ducked and pointed his X-Buster ahead into the ground. A mass of plasma erupted from the arm cannon and promptly slammed into the tainted earth, creating an explosion of light and dirt. Fetishes were scattered into the air, one of them sniped backward by the flying silver cone.
But X saw no second cone. Following that hunch, he immediately whirled around with a sweep of his servos, not even focusing with his camera crosshair before releasing the second blast.
Too late, Hornet Man appeared in the path of the destructive plasma missile. The Darkling managed to fire his own remaining stinger just before the charged shot made contact, throwing his insectoid body into a tree. X mechanically grit his steel jaw as the venom-tipped projectile struck true, piecing the android straight in the chestplate. Numbness crippled X's center of mass, and he failed to keep himself standing. The machine toppled backward, automated systems desperately working to counter-act the toxin.
What was left of the fetishes quickly got to work, rapidly hacking and pecking away at the downed Liberator. X could only wait momentarily with the resolve that Kelly's own intentions could be fulfilled with this suitable distraction.
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