Dark on the Waters [Dark Data]

[Proto Man]

The dust settled once again.

Proto Man picked himself up off the ground once again.

How long had he been doing this? Which year was this? The days, months, and years had all blended together in his databanks. Three? Six? Had he been here forever?

His gun hummed as he built a charge without being aware of it. He lifted his head up and stared into the smoldering horizon. The base of the Copper Eye lay just another thirty yards or so before him.

Wrong. He shook his head. This wasn’t the Dataverse.

The Temple of Artemis?

No, he was alone. Mickey and Belle weren’t here, and those were ninjas that lurked in the smog and haze around him.

A figure came shambling into direct sight. It clutched a curved short sword in one hand, and one of its legs had been replaced with a slightly rusted iron rod. While it would have looked human through a veil of shadows, in the light one could see the parts where its body had been mechanically lashed together with sutures and a mechanized soldering gun.

Darkling… Nebula!

Proto Man swung up his buster arm and blew off the monster’s head before it had lurched within striking distance. By the time it had crumbled to the despoiled earth, the android was already advancing past it toward the factory.

The preteen machine managed to get close enough to nearly see through soot-stained windows of the structure before he was beset by another wave of shambling, reanimated darkling creatures. Half-pirate and half-insect, the skittering creatures lunged at him from all angles—piling their festering and corroded bodies on the small-statured machine. One of his knees buckled as he tried to press forward against the pile. Claws and swords crashed against his body, leaving scrapes against his armor and threatening to tear apart his less densely covered extremities.

Y’know, Fella, you weren’t the best at doing this by yourself, or did’ja forget that fact? The mouse’s jovial tone was a nice contrast to the message itself.

“Shuddup, Mickey.” Proto Man groaned as he snaked an arm free, jammed it forward into the chest of a darkling, and released a thorax-shattering burst of energy. “I can’t be haunted, I’m a robot.”

This is text-to-voice, you nitwit. Unless I became a psychic or you have a viral infection. A beat later, the mouse started to laugh his unforgettable laugh—that goofy, infectious chuckle that made it impossible for Proto Man to keep a straight face.

“I was hoping you’d show up as a ghost to lead the way,” the machine replied as his sword screamed to life and sawed through a trio of darklings just in time for more to arrive and add themselves to the Liberator’s general calamity. “You know, tell me where to aim and stuff?” With something almost like a growl, Proto Man threw off a half dozen darklings and broke into a sprint toward the factory. This time, he got close enough to spit on the window when he had to turn around and deal with more company.

You can’t face them all. Why are you trying? You got pals back there who will help you.

Proto Man got off a trio of shots before four bodies dropped onto him and started hacking at him.

“Where are they at now?” The machine shouted as a broken sword raked against his arm. A jagged claw grabbed at his shoulder and nearly tore off a chunk of it before a headbutt and shotgun blast dealt with the screeching darkling. “Off chasing thugs and brigands, when the source of the evil lingers in eyesight. They’re in it for vengeance and glory, not justice.”

What do you call charging through mines into a hoard of enemies? Sounds like glory houndin’ to me, pal.

The red robot scowled as he sidestepped a thrusting attack. Rather than let his foe recall, he grabbed them, pivoted, and crushed their body against the solid façade of the factory. When the first bone-crunching thud left twisted light in the beast’s eyes, Proto Man wrenched them back and brought them crashing back into the unyielding surface.

This time, the reanimated darkling slipped back into whatever horror world it inhabited, and before its peers could collapse back onto Proto Man, he was on the move. His gears and joints hissed steam as he leapt up and grabbed the ledge beneath one of the massive building’s many windows. A beat later, he swung himself up—and then straight through—the glass obstacle. As he started to drop, Proto Man activated the thrusters beneath his feet. They managed a pair of bursts before they failed, but even those few moments were enough to let him land safely on the floor.

Eyes adjusting to the structure, Proto Man scowled at the scale of the industrial operation. Enormous vats of slag radiated heat and light as a web of conveyor belts carried carcasses and raw materials to and fro through the vast room. In the distance, he heard the almost rhythmic thrum of machinery. His sensors, albeit clearly inhibited by something he couldn’t deduce, made him aware that there were dozens of workers and crewmen in the surrounding area. For the moment, there were no sirens or klaxons, but despite that, Proto Man knew that the welcoming party would be here soon.

If you die, I’m telling Minnie.

The red robot failed to hide a faint smile.

“I tell her about our trip to that island with the sirens last summer,” Proto Man whispered as he made for the nearest batch of darkness he could find in what was otherwise a massive, light-filled room.

…You’re a butt, I hope you know that.

“Name calling doesn’t fit you,” the machine joked.

You sure you got this? You could have told me, and I would have joined you.

“You have Minnie to look after,” Proto Man whispered as he lifted the Proto Buster and started to charge a shot. “I’ll look after everything else. After all…” the machine strode out into the chamber and fired the concentrated blast up at the nearest conveyor belt. As the rain of shattered darklings and broken machinery started to descend upon him, crewmen started to materialize as if from nowhere, eliciting a grin from the robot.

“Hope rides alone.”

1063

[Koehler]

Jutting spikes, cloaked in a dense, noxious fog offered little of a sign of the threat on the ground; the explosive landmines that were primed and ready to eviscerate anyone unfortunate enough to fail at this game of high-stakes hop-scotch. Cole, thankfully, was ready for such an occasion. Tying a torn piece of cloth from his clothes around his mouth to try and limit the amount of the noxious gas he would inhale, he began to nimbly jump from spike to spike, using his strength and speed to maintain his momentum across the large gaps in-between each pillar. The fog made it difficult to judge the distances between each massive spike. He attempted to maintain his direction towards Nebula Space utilizing his liberator aide, which blipped quietly, yet more rapidly the closer he got to his objective.

It took several minutes to cross the lethal terrain, eventually using Protoman’s makeshift flare through the fog to make it the rest of the way, almost slipping a few times but quickly recovering by using a Seele Schneider as a climbing claw to keep himself anchored. The sword, however, flickered as he got closer.

Fortunately, he had enough time to make it out of the fog and overhead a Protoman standing alone and fending off a swarm of a veritable array of Darklings pouring forth from the entrance to the many smoke-spewing factories beyond that denoted Nebula Space. While in mid-air, he transformed his Seele Schneider into its bullet form, it still flickering but retaining its vibrantly oscillating aura, loaded it into a hastily conjured magnum, and fired at the closest enemy, outright annihilating one of the Darklings as he adroitly landed behind Protoman, both guns at the ready.

“You should stop flying off ahead like that. I’ve got your back, just focus on getting us through.” Cole commented, taking aim and firing away before he could get a response from the red robot. He ignored the oppressive feeling of Nebula Space bearing down on them, instead electing to rapidly deal with the encroaching swarm in an adaptive manner. They were the same Darklings they had been dealing with up to now, so he knew best where to hit them or at least how to fend them off.

Two corrupted crewmen, a corsair, and three of the makeshift machines from before charged at the Quincy, but were met with an accurate hail of gunfire through the head and torso to cut them down before they could even get close enough to mob him. The machines simply rebuilt themselves, but as they did so, Cole charged ahead at them and unleashed a quick sequence of kicks and punches to send them flying back, using quick, short bursts of speed to add momentum to his swings to do so. For a couple of them, he noticed that he outright bored a hole through them.

Well that’s intriguing… Fumetsu noted quietly.

“I guess Fukaku’s training did more than I thought.” Cole replied, readying his stance again to keep up the defense.

Protoman, he noted, was having a slightly easier time cutting his way through the Darklings ahead of them, cutting through them with his sword with finesse, slicing them apart before or even as they rebuild themselves and simply swatting away the accompanying crewmen. It was a challenge for Cole to keep up while maintaining effective cover fire.

After a time, he reverted to using his Seele Schneider, sacrificing one of his magnums to more easily saw his way through the Darklings in a similar manner to Protoman.

Cole links up with Protoman as the two proceed to weave a path of destruction towards the entrance and the factories ahead of them.

590

[Nebula]

Deep within the bowels of the massive scrap-recycling facility, the commander of Nebula's operation in the Deeps was busy at work. In his clawed fingers, tools of all sorts were grabbed, put to quick use, and haphazardly discarded. Computer terminals arrayed around him, their monitors cracked and encrusted with soot, ash and grime, flickered weakly with schematics and blueprints. The entire room was lit only by the reddish glare of molten steel, bubbling in vats around the edge of the room, and the erratic sparking of exposed wiring and poorly-tuned machinery.

"Gah! Blast it all, it isn't working!" he snarled, bashing aside a horrid amalgamation of twisted parts and wreckage on his 'operating' table. "Useless, all of it! Broken scrap! I can only do so much with this garbage! I need the DNA, not just the fucking WRECKAGE AND PIECES!" His snarling was interspersed with an angry smash on the table, denting and horribly mangling it beyond any use. "Worthless, utterly damn useless, ALL OF IT!"

His raging was interrupted further by an alarm going off. "WHAT THE FUCK IS IT NOW?!" His snarling visage turned toward a mostly-functional monitor as it crackled to life, displaying the face of one of the so-called foremen of the salvage and reconstruction efforts.

"Uh, sir, we've...got intruders. Those Liberators or whatever they're called." An explosion sounded in the background, and a shower of busted, molten scrap went sizzling past him. "They're wrecking the place."

"Yeah, I can SEE THAT!" the Darkling fumed. "Where the hell are those two mercs we hired to keep those fools busy?"

"They flew the coop, boss. Eleven Ninety-Five saw them headed for their ship, just a couple minutes ago. Right before these goons showed up." The foreman ducked under a stray bolt of energy. "We...could use some backup here."

The eyes of the darkling blazed red in his rage, and he swung his head in a frenzy, reducing the console to flaming scrap as his hammerhead smashed into it. "GAH! IMBECILES!" He stormed off, snatching up a huge anchor laying near at hand as if it was made of paper. Resting it on his shoulder, he loped off, hopping among and over the scrap and molten vats of slag, to an upper level. "Command terminals, online!" he snapped, and all at once the scene lit up. Lights flickered on overhead, numerous consoles and terminals came online. "Security feed from salvage warehouse Zero-Nine-C, viewscreen three." The monitor in question flickered and fizzled, before the static gave way to a live feed of the scene at hand.

"Hrmm...only two of them inside so far...this could work..." He grinned, his mouthfull of razor sharp scrap-chompers glimmering and sparking as they raked against each other. "Yeah, this could REALLY work!" He turned aside and smashed a button, activating an intercom to broadcast his voice through the entire facility.

"Attention, everyone! We have some guests! Make sure to tend to their every need!" he barked, before trailing off into a cackle. "And as for our guests...please, do make yourselves right at home! And don't hesitate to get torn apart and leave bits of yourself all over the upholstery. The more DNA you leave around, the more copies I can make! Gahahahaha!" He slammed the button again, terminating the broadcast, and turned his attention to the computer terminals again. "Now, let's see here..." A rapid onslaught of typing, the manic strength in his frenzied key-clicking cracking and outright shattering a few keys, soon brought up the security features for the plant, and filled several more of the monitors with additional security feeds, from inside and outside the plant itself. "Three more still outside...good, good."

"Heeeere we go....sending in the Scrappers!" And he slammed down a fist on the Big Red Button.

* * *

Swarms of robots and workers of the factory flooded the room to try and just slow down and stall the two who had breached the walls. Some of them living flesh and blood, others the completely mechanical mass-produced troops of Nebula, still more of them the frenzied, cobbled together monstrosities of scrap and spare bits of broken creatures. Their only advantage was numbers; they lacked even proper weaponry. Industrial tools were all they had. Huge drills, saws, even laser cutters and torches were all mixed in with chunks of scrap, oversized wrenches and lengths of pipe.

Amid all the clamor, the entire room was suddenly bathed in noise and flashing light. Bright, pulsating golden light, and a harsh klaxon screeching from unseen speakers. Panels and doors in the far walls slowly began to grind open, hinges caked in rust and soot straining to move, and gears which had nearly fused together groaning and crying in protest at being ripped from their stationary rest. Within the resulting openings could be seen countless eyes, flickering and gleaming bright red, set in just as many countless faces, hooded and cloaked.

Skeletal-thin bodies of rusted scrap bolted out into the light, leaping and lurching with arachnid quickness. Jumping from scaffolding, to wall, to the rim of a vat of slag, to the ceiling, back to the ground. Like a tide of vermin they bolted and surged forward. Toward the pre-teen robot and the quincy, already inside. Toward the windows and doors, crashing and slashing through them to swarm outside, for the three still yet to make an entrance. Even for their own comrades, cutting them down if they didn't move out of the way. Covered in ragged cloaks of something, stained everywhere with splotches of oil, blood, and who knew what else. Far too many claws and teeth glittered in the pulsating lights, and they screeched in wordless voices, brandishing tools hanging at bandoliers wrapped and spiraled around their gaunt bodies. Tools for ripping, tearing and holding; claiming limbs and pieces of foes, torturing and flaying, taking samples back for study.

To a madman bent on recycling anything he set eyes on, everything was scrap once it was disassembled, after all.

The Darkling has taken (slightly) direct action, and unleashed his Scrappers on you. They are extremely fast little terrors, and their primary goal is to rip you apart, and take any pieces of you or any blood they spill from you they can get back to their boss for analysis. They have all sorts of nasty 'collection' tools, things designed to cause as much damage and spill as much blood as possible, so feel free to get creative. They are surprisingly durable despite their skeletal appearance, but not particularly competent or strong, relying more on savagery and speed to do much of anything.

Unfortunately, by letting them free the boss man has also opened the doors deeper into the recycling complex, making a fairly straight path right to him, with just the obstacles of the incredibly unsafe working environment here and all the workers that operate it in the way. Should be easy to get through, right?

Everyone has one week, with no word limits. Go nuts.

[Blink]

The sound was the first hint of what was coming. Blink's pointed elf ears perked a bit when the crunching, metallic noise begin to hit her senses. It sounded like a metals were being grinded or fabricated, as if someone was sliding two opposing metallic materials against each other roughly. It came right after an ominous announcement blasted over the public intercom system of the factory they were standing in front of. The voice had suggested they get torn apart and leave their blood laying around so copies could be made. It wasn't the first time Blink had to recognize a mad man in two sentences, but this would in particular sounded particularly villainous. The crunching noise, which started out low, was getting louder and louder.

"That does not sound good," Blink said out loud, taking a couple cautionary steps back. She was standing in front of the Darkspawn Factory with Cloud Strife and The Vision, who both moved in front of her defensively, ready for a fight. She didn't know if they were doing so because she was a female (she doubted that, as Vision likely didn't see gender), or because they knew she was their ranged attacker. Whether it was out of bravado or strategy, she appreciated being further away from that hideous noise.

"Metal beasts," Cloud said out loud. He held his Buster Sword in both hands, so it tilted forward towards the factory. Sure enough, as he said it, Blink could start to make out the silhouettes of the monsters as they scrambled out of the second and third floor windows of the building. "They look weak, but there's a lot of them."

"The numbers are too much in this open space," Vision chimed in. He looked around, as if studying their surroundings. "We need to get inside and rendezvous with the others before we are separated further." He turned to look over his shoulder at the young mutant. "Claire. Can you teleport us inside?"

She nodded her head. "I can get us closer, at least." She brought her hands up and began to channel some of her emerald energy into her fingertips.

"Whatever you do, do it fast!" Cloud encouraged. He was watching as the beasts, which were moving so fast that they almost seemed to trample over each other, began to leap from the factory towards the open plaza in front of it where the trio were watching.

The first thing Blink noticed was how much energy she had to put into her hands just to create a portal. When she channeled the mutant powers she had been born with, she would typically go into an almost trance-like state, which allowed to see all around her and determine where and when to put her entrances and exits. But now, inside this strange Nebula Space, her power made her feel heavier. She couldn't see as far as she usually could, not to mention it felt like she was taking much longer. "Claire, now!" Vision shouted, knowing they were running out of time before being overrun.

As if on cue, Blink's hands separated and formed a portal right in front of them. It blocked the sight of the incoming army of machine-creatures and instead showed them the doors of the factory, left slightly ajar. The portal didn't travel far, only about twenty meters, but it would get them around the monsters. "Go!" she commanded, and followed her comrades through it.

She was the last one through the portal, closing it just as one of the beasts was leaping towards it. Cloud had been first. He slammed through the factory doors and all three bursted into the building. Vision let Blink run by the doorway and then slammed it shut. Inside, they found instant chaos. It was large, open lobby area. Proto Man and Cole had already made their way inside. Proto Man was standing on a reception counter blasting away at the monsters who were bold enough to get close to her. Cole was slicing his way along the side the room utilizing a blade that Blink had not recognized.

"Time to get started." Cloud said in his usual monotone voice. Despite that tone, he had an underlying sense of excitement in his voice as he ran forward and joined the fray. 

Blink turned to see Vision had already bolted in the opposite direction to join the fray. This left her alone at the entrance. She turned back to look at the action, but her vision was instantly blocked as she felt the weight of one of the metallic critters land on her. She grunted as she was sent backwards into the bulkhead, using both hands to pry the thing off of and throw it to the ground in front of her. Her green eyes flickered as she studied it. Though all of the little monsters looked to be robotic in some way, each one was unique. This one was shaped almost spider-like, except it moved around on four little claw-like limbs instead of eye. It had a bright red eye in the middle of it, with a small little saw whirling around on an antenna above its body. "What in the world..." she muttered, looking at it. She wiped away a mark on her cheek and realized it had cut her. She grimaced as a little blood ended up on her finger. "Oh, you little..."

It lept forward at her, but this time she was ready. Blink stepped sideways and brought her arm upright, summoning a green energy dagger at the same time and slicing through the little metal arachnid. It hit the wall in pieces, but left a bigger problem for her. She looked up as she had cut it, realizing that several of the little monsters were scurrying along the ceiling. Three of them dropped at the same time, all intending on landing right on her. She jumped backwards as she put up an energy shield and pushed them away as they tried to get to her.

"There's too many of them!" Someone shouted.

"We need to move further in!" Came another voice.

All of creatures had different weapons, but they were designed for the same purpose. To cut, slice or stab. Whoever sent these things wanted the Primes dead, and they wanted it messy. Blink began to back up towards the center of the room, being stalked by more of the little scrappy monsters. She bumped into someone else and turned before realizing all five of them were together, surrounded by the mob. "Oh, this is just great..." she mumbled, spinning her dagger in one hand to prepare for another attack.

Everyone is in the first room of the factory, surrounded by the scrappers! Let's get 'em!

[The Vision]

While the Vision knew that using Claire's innate mutant power was the best solution, he instantly regretted the decision as he ducked and spun to avoid getting hacked at by the mechanical pirates. In an effort to try and gain some leverage on the increasingly chaotic battlefield, Vision lifted himself off the ground.

> set.selfvalue density 0.0134%
Shifting...
> run "gazerbeam.exe"
Engaging optical heat generators...

The Vision's eyes flared. His programming was protesting loudly, due to the dangerously low levels of solar energy. Nevertheless, twin beams of heat shot out from his eyes.

ERROR
Aerosolized particles of (4) metals detected
Interference with suspended molecular bonds detected
PHYSICAL COHESIVENESS COMPROMISED

The Vision screamed, and reformed his body, falling once more to the floor. He painfully rolled out of the way to barely avoid a scimitar.

"What's wrong?" Cole asked him, helping him while cutting down a nearby hostile.

"There are airborne metal particles interfering with my electronics," the Vision grunted, "I cannot alter my density for extended periods of time."

Cole glanced at Blink curiously. The mutant shrugged.

"Don't look at me, I don't get it either."

"I cannot fly," the Vision translated.

"That's not good," Proto Man grunted, blasting off a scrapper's head.

"It's not just him," Claire said, pausing to embed her glowing dagger into one of the constructs, then kicking off of it to perform an airborne flip, "When I opened a portal here - ggh! – it felt... heavy."

"Heavy?" Cloud asked, holding two machines at bay with his oversized blade.

"I don't know, like something was holding me down," Claire said, throwing a succession of daggers and shredding a machine to pieces.

The Vision finally managed to get systems up and running. Standing up, he summoned Mjolnir, just as a machine tried to rake its rusty claws against Vison's forehead. Ducking, the android thrust the hammer forward at one of the scrapper's four kneecaps. He leapt forward, performing more calculations in his head.

> set.selfvalue density 503.4530%
Shifting...

The Vision's body suddenly became five times its weight as he slammed into the robot, ripping through it with his sheer weight.

> reset.selfvalue density
Resetting...

The Vision felt his weight return to normal as he landed.

"Perhaps," the Vision speculated, smashing his hammer into the skull of another Scrapper, "The portal between the two dimensions is causing fluctuations in base physical forces. Such a phenomenon is especially evident in scenarios with two dimensions with differing laws of phys-"

"English!" Claire screamed, tearing into another machine.

"The portal's messing with us!" Proto Man explained, his computer making the same conclusions as the Vision's, "We're grounded."

"I can lower my body's density very temporarily," the Vision reported, "But sustained density decreases will damage my physical integrity."

Cloud made a spinning slash, hacking three mechs in half. But his sword was large and difficult to maneuver, and quickly he found himself being swarmed. The Vision threw Mjolnir at the constructs, ripping through a line of them. He chased the hammer as it dissipated into code, throwing fists around to clear some room for the swordsman.

It took too long for the Vision to realize they were fighting a losing battle. As the Liberators did their best to tear through the surprisingly sturdy mechanical creatures, the remaining Scrappers seemed to reconstruct themselves slowly out of their own remains, growing larger and deadlier. The Vision phased his body quickly to let an enormous chainsaw pass through him, still suffering some damage to his physical integrity for allowing the Nebula particles pass between his own.

As he reformed, a canine mech lunged at him from behind, catching him unawares. The android yelled, feeling rusty fangs dig into his shoulder. While the Vision tended to the surprise attack, the robot in front of him had drawn a scalpel. The Vision grunted as he felt the scalpel swipe into his arm. He threw a hyperdense fist into the dog behind him, knocking it off. The dog was now attaching some nearby scrap to form two more heads, additionally increasing in size. The humanoid in front of him was examining the scalpel.

"Error," it hummed, "Organic material not found."

The Vision watched it curiously as the machine drew its chainsaw again.

"Synthetic Prime identified," the machine continued, "Commencing search for main CPU."

A riddle of bullets rattled off the machine's exoskeleton, causing it to look for the source. The Vision used this distraction to launch forward.

> set.selfdensity 503.5103%
Shifting...

The Vision crashed into the Scrapper's legs, knocking it onto its face as Vision flew past him. Looking up, the Vision nodded at Cole, who returned the gesture before looking horrified at the chainsaw-scalpel robot.

The Vision himself watched as the Scrapper gathered more scrap around it, forming a strip of shrapnel and wrapping it around makeshift wheels. Now on tracks, the robot aimed a minigun it had built into its head at the Quincy.

Cole instinctively rolled out of the way as the barrage of ammunition blasted his way. The Vision launched towards the minigun, attempting to mount it and tear it off. Though he managed to disorient the Scrapper's aim, the minigun was proving too difficult to destroy. The Vision, with a defiant grunt, summoned Mjolnir again and jumped off. In his descent, he slammed the hammer downwards into the minigun, crushing it and sending bolts of electricity running through its body.

The Vision turned around, seeing the other Scrappers gather again.

> relay audio.feedback
> relay audio feedback
> relay audio feedback

The Vision ran this command five thousand times in the same of four seconds, then opened his mouth solemnly. Those watching could have sworn the Vision appeared very royal in that moment.

"Stop."

The one word transformed into a shrill noise as the Vision's speakers nearly destroyed themselves with sonic energy. The impact hit the nearby machines like a truck, blasting them all back and shredding a few of them.

Claire nodded with an approving look on her face. "Black Bolt. Nice."

The Vision stumbled for a bit, then recollected himself. That should slow them for a while.

1016 words
Using "lastwords.exe" for 1 SP
I am currently at 2/5 SP!

Also, Vision is now unable to talk for thirty seconds!

[Cloud Strife]

Cloud slashed with his blade, bisecting a trio of mechanical monstrosities. Things just seemed to get worse and worse today. He was getting tired, physically and metaphorically. As the trio fell to the ground, their bodies oozing a black, oil-like substance, another line of pirates came storming towards him. The mercenary leapt backwards and then, as he dashed forwards, transitioned into a spin. His blade caught the creatures, slowing his spin and launching them across the factory. Without much time to spare, cloud found himself on the move again, parrying blows from several other machines as he moved backwards to rejoin the circle of liberators.

‘They’re producing too many.’ Cole panted ‘We can’t take them out fast enough.’ He spoke as he sliced through multiple darklings.

He was right, it seemed like a few of the conveyor belts that shipped the parts had been taken out, probably the young robot’s doing, but were already undergoing repairs. But the group couldn’t get to them. Not with the limitations that this damned world had suddenly placed on them. Cloud wracked his brain for a plan, sure that the others were doing the same, but it was a difficult thing to do mid battle. Trying to defend, attack, and come up with a strategy at the same time was not an easy process of multitasking. 

Cloud swept his buster sword from right to left, catching a group of robot amalgamations as they leapt towards him. They fell to the ground, bisected by the man’s blade, unmoving and lifeless – not that they had any sort of ‘life’ to begin with. Mechanical grunting and the sound of an engine firing echoed from behind a set of double doors that lay at the opposite end of the complex. The group of liberators barely had time to notice it as they continued to cut down the machines that surrounded them. Like a stampede a, large, hulking machine burst through the double doors. Taking out a small group of darkling machines as it charged towards the group. 

‘Guys!’ Proto Man yelled, first to notice the monstrous machine. ‘Guys watch out!’ He exclaimed as he dove to the side. The rest of the group followed suit, narrowly avoiding the charging beast as it tore through the horde, and then the entrance to the complex. Cloud got to his feet and then turned to watch the door. IT didn’t have very good control of itself yet, it was probably just assembled and needed to get it’s machinery adjusted. IF they were going to take it out, it had to be soon.

‘we need to destroy that thing.’ Blink spoke as the squadron of primes formed a line. The newest darkling arrival had taken out most of the smaller enemies, but that wouldn’t last long.

The ogre stomped back through the entrance, the metal parts of its face that mimicked muscles were angled, mimicking aggression and anger. It charged again. Cloud stepped out in front of the group and, with his right hand, drove his blade into the ground and then reinforced it with his left shoulder. The beast slammed into his blade and, while not immediately, knocked the mercenary and his defenses backwards. Cloud, gripping his buster sword, flew backwards and slammed into a large chunk of conveyer belt. Proto Man and Cole charged towards the stunned machine as blink landed on its back and began plunging her daggers into its metal carapace. Vision was materializing his strange hammer.

The blond opened his eyes, vision blurry from the impact, and stumbled to his feet, his buster sword made a great crutch. His comrades were battling the beast, keeping it low to the ground with each consecutive blow they landed. One after the other, they struck the machine, scratching, scraping and slicing away metal from it’s body. The creature began to vibrate, the sound of small explosions firing off within its body as it began to transform. Small exhaust holes opened along the creature’s back and began letting out flame and smoke. With a large, metallic, growl it threw the liberators backwards.

The mercenary sprinted, blade in hand, towards the machine. His fellow liberators impaling the machine’s limbs with their weapons, hoping to hold it in place. Cloud let out a loud scream as he threw his arm back and then thrust it forward. The metal on the ogre’s chest held for a second, a slight wailing sound emanating from within the machinery, before finally giving way to the man’s blade. They stood there staring each other down, darkling impaled on Cloud’s blade. The beast’s red eyes stared into the blonde’s blue eyes. It screamed at him, soot and embers flying, from its maw, onto his face. The muffled voices that filled his head started to become clearer as his ears began to stop ringing.

‘Cloud… Cloud finish it, we can’t hold it for long!’ A voice screamed, over the ogre’s own screaming. He couldn’t tell who it was, but they were right. Cloud drew his blade upwards, metal whining as it gave way to the buster sword’s sharp edge, and sliced right through its head. Cloud took a step back as the other liberators removed their weapons from it’s body, allowing it to fall. It crashed to the floor, the ominous glow from it’s eyes fading as it died.

The group took a second to catch their breath or, for those of them that didn’t breathe, at least get a small amount of rest. Cloud let out a loud sigh as he sat down. Before long, Vision’s hand came to rest on his shoulder. Cloud looked up at the android, who was motioning for him to look towards where the ogre had come from. A horde of machines was spilling out, like a flood, into the complex before them. Cloud sighed and then lifted himself from the ground.

‘Well,’ He spoke, as he grasped the handle of his buster sword. ‘Back to work.’ He finished as the second wave charged towards the liberators.

[Koehler]

The liberators cleaved their way through the ensuing horde of increasingly mangled mash of Darklings and cobbled-together machines. For every ten they down, thirty seemed to step off the production lines to take their place, more tangled than the last. They were increasingly resembling less machinery and more wandering scrap heaps with guns, claws, and haphazard construction equipment welded on. When they were felled, even by the dozens, engineers came out of the woodwork, through the hectic scrapyard, bounding over conveyer belts and nimbly dodging foundry equipment that continued to hum along, collecting scrap to deliver

The larger ones gave them more pause, due to either sturdier construction or simply because having more of the smaller ones fused together somehow made the larger masses of scrap more threatening to handle. These giants of disfigured steel and machinery towered above the rest, but for their power, they were often slower and clumsier.

After a time, the Liberators resorted to a more standardized approach to handling them, so they could continue to make progress through the labyrinthine foundry. Cole and Blink danced around them with ease, evading their slow and often telegraphed attacks and handling the floating mines, wandering scrap monsters, and the occasionally bold engineer with speed and finesse. Vision would then follow-up, oddly silent, Cole noted, and finish off those that were either too stubborn to stay down or which otherwise withstood the initial duo’s blitz.

With a path forward, the last two liberators went as a pair, surging ahead from the flanks to strike the center at the behemoths that were left open. Vision kept them preoccupied, expertly deflecting blows and countering with sound strikes of his hammer or carefully placed beams from his eyes. When in range, Cloud opened with a flash of lightning and Proto Man followed it up with a charged beam from his arm cannon to melt through the core of it, weakening it and allowing the trio to them proceed to slice or shred the towering automaton apart piecemeal. It was messy, dicey even, with more than a few close calls for any of them, but it was effective enough for such a spontaneous tactic. Cole wasn’t even sure if it was something they came up with or if they simply fell into it naturally, managing to coordinate on some level through the continuous stream of adversities they were facing together.

All the same, it was a slough for the Liberators, who had to force their way into the foundry complex inch by inch. Cole could barely keep track of what was happening before he had to evade a hapless strike from a scrap soldier, dance past a sentry gun, or weave his way around messily thrown around conveyers, welders, and furnaces.

“How are they making so many of these things?!” Cole exclaimed aloud, trying as hard as he could to focus on his breathing, but finding the effort to be in vain. He was panting for breath, every muscle was sore from overuse, and he assumed that they had been fighting for what seemed like a day, maybe even two. Cutting down yet another scrapling among dozens more that were shambling in his direction, he still found the strength to go on, taking every half-second he could buy for himself to try and sustain his assault.

”Ah, how surprising that, in provoking the hive of such an infestation, they would then seek to destroy you.” Fumetsu chided Cole in his usually calm demeanor.

“Just keep knocking them down!” Blink shouted back over her own personal tide of scraplings, and though her teleporting ability was effectively reduced, she was showing that she wasn’t short on clever tricks. She threw others through portals into welders, where they were fused to the conveyors or to other, half-constructed scraplings. Other times, she found the opportunity to nimbly dodge and have them fall through into compactors, where the factory then proceeded to recycle their own creations before they even were destroyed. The constant portal creation, alongside the ever present need to call upon her weapons of energy, was taking its toll on the Liberator.

The others were in a similar state. Constant fighting, with little time to rest or even catch a breath was beginning to wear them down. Proto Man was slowing in his movements, his attacks becoming weaker with every use of his cannon and every swing of his blade grew more sluggish. Cloud was similarly bogged down, wading through scraplings and slicing them cleanly, but slower now than before, and breathing more heavily with every exertion. Only Vision seemed unaffected by the constant combat, bashing through scraplings with a deceptive ease, but even Cole could tell that the strain did not leave him unaffected, it was simply harder to see beyond the oil smears and dents.

After what seemed like an eternity of fighting and wading through increasingly large piles of broken machinery and dead engineers, surging ahead to eliminate the behemoth scraplings and then regrouping to push forward with what little vigor they could muster, they had made it through the first level, around the bends and twists of the foundry floor. They had found themselves in one of the main corridors leading to the interior of the complex, and the Liberators hastily constructed a barricade of scraplings and whatever else was heavy that they could get their hands on in such short notice while still fending off the relentless tide.

After another few agonizing moments, they had blocked their exit, all to gain a moment of respite.

Cole leaned against the wall, sliding down to the floor, as his gun in one hand weighed heavily and flickered while the sword in the other hummed with an irregular pattern. Blink was much the same, with a hand against the wall to keep her steady and standing, she was panting heavily. Cloud used his sword as his support in much the same manner.

“Can we agree,” Cole started between breaths, wiping the sweat off his forehead only to find his hand smeared with oil and rust, “to not ever do that again?”

“Seconded.” Blink quickly replied.

“We need to press on.” Proto Man seemed almost demanding, starting to walk ahead until Vision stopped him with a hand on the preteen robot’s shoulder.

”They have likely entrenched themselves, waiting for us, given the lack of resistance we are now facing. It would be prudent to prepare.” Fumetsu advised Cole.

“They’re likely waiting for us right now. We’d be going into a trap.”
“So? Stay here then, I’ll clear the way.”

Cole moaned as the red robot continued onwards anyway, despite the warning. Vision paused, looking at the three of them and nodding before following behind Proto man, hammer at the ready.

“Ugh… what do they make these robots out of?!” The young Quincy groaned in protest, but managed to force himself to a stand once more.

He looked to the others, who seemed similarly irritated, but had all managed to catch their breath again.

“So… One more time, I guess?” Cole asked rhetorically, nodding to the two of them and then walking despite the dull aches and pains he felt with every step. His walking turned to a jog as he tried to catch up to the two robots. Behind him he heard Cloud and Blink following.

“Hey, wait up!” Cole yelled ahead, trying to catch their attention.

1232 Words
The Liberators continued to advance through the horde at a snail's pace, at first, before managing to barricade themselves on the other side of a corridor leading further inward. After a moment of rest, and some banter, they continue on to whatever lay ahead of them.

[Proto Man]

He had never had a formal education. You didn’t need one when your brain was a wifi-enabled computer device that could stream the entire wealth of human knowledge and history into your databanks.

Even so, he’d spent a period of time attending school during his self-imposed exile from Light Laboratories. He’d learned all about the senseless violence of the 19th and 20th centuries. When the group of Liberators shattered—quite literally—through the doorway that led into the adjacent chamber, the scene there reminder Proto Man of those history class stories. In an instant, the skittering horde of darklings opened fire from their positions, raining a hailstorm of energy blasts, bullets, and all other variations of improvised projectiles.

The preteen machine felt a sharp sting as a superheated nail clipped his left bicep.

A hand grabbed at his shoulder, and the next moment, the group had fallen back behind the relative safety of the steel walls of their previous room. With the trap sprung, the bulwark in the opposing room continued its onslaught. The walls behind the group groaned and wheezed as they were assaulted. The reinforced sheets of metal would fail momentarily, and when they did, the quintet would find themselves either forced to retreat or pinned into a killing field.

“Plan?” Someone shouted over the cacophony of industrial warfare raining upon them.

Proto Man knew they had to keep pushing until they reached the core of the infestation. They might not see it his way, but if they tried to take this the slow way, they would be worn down and overwhelmed by the fel horde. He had seen their past foes among the growing crowds of darklings, and there was no telling how many of the corpses that littered the halls behind them would soon be reanimated. Their only chance of success would be to pull the plug on the entire operation.

Reached a hand out, the preteen machine summoned his shield and shut out the sounds for just a brief period of time. In that silence, he quickly tapped the requisite sources of power needed to super charge the bulwark. The shield glimmered with light.

Now or never.

“Fall behind me.”

Spinning to face the entrenched defenders, the red robot charged into what should be a killing field.

The metaphor used in that old human struggle had be ‘No Man’s Land.’

That war had never faced the Proto Man.

Shield shining like a star as energy crackled across its surface, the machine pushed forward, his teeth clenched as he strained his body to advance against the combined ordinance. Within seconds, the world before him was a living inferno of heat and lights. Shrapnel shrieked all around him, and the air itself scalded his exposed flesh. At first, he was almost frozen in place by the oppressive force of the industrial onslaught, but after that initial hesitation, he found himself advancing against the entrenchments. In his robotic non-heart, he knew that these defenses had to be in place to protect something of great value. He just had to reach that something. Failing that, he had to make sure the others did in his stead.

Behind him, those same others filled into place and used the cover as best they could. Bolts of lightning and bullets screamed over Proto Man’s shoulders. For his part, he slung his buster cannon forward and fired indiscriminately, spraying the enemy line with fully automatic bursts of energy.

When he saw the splinters, he knew his time was short.

Even charged, the Proto Shield couldn’t withstand this onslaught.

As that single splinter blossomed into a superheated spider web, Proto Man could only hope that he had moved his crew far enough. Shadows moved in his peripherals, but shield sundered as he glimpsed to the right.

A wave swept him up, and for a brief moment, the preteen machine lost his visual connection with the outside world.

When the sights and sounds of the battle came rushing back into his skull, Proto Man lifted his head and saw lights and bursts of heat all along the enemy battle lines. Weapons once trained on the red robot now swiveled left and right to contend with the primes that now released hell upon the darklings and their entrenched positions.

Proto Man checked the condition of his buster arm and charged to rejoin the battle.

Somehow, someway, the Liberators had done it again.

Proto Man used Tier 1 Super Defense – Proto Shield (1 SP) / Total SP at 8

[Nebula]

Onward, they pressed. Past the last desperate line of defense the corrupted machinery and soldiery of the factory had cobbled together. Ahead of them, one last barricade loomed, blocked by a hastily welded mish-mash of scrap and the remains of armored corpses. Ramshackle and far from the sturdiest of barriers, it only really served as an obstacle to slow down, rather than stop, the Liberators while the living defenders continued to harass and attack them. Improvised industrial tools, primitive firearms, bolts and streaks of laser light and superheated gouts of molten metal slowly died down, growing intermittent and sputtering as the hands responsible for firing and maintaining them were lopped off and smashed to scrap.

A frenzied whirl of activity exploded and died down all in the span of a minute, defenders realizing it was a losing fight and scattering. Kicking and throwing each other down, trampling fallen and still-alive allies as they scrambled away. Crawling among pipes and machinery, disappearing into shadowy crevices and into hazes of boiling steam and scattered slag. Up the walls, down below the floors, screaming and screeching in defeat and contempt, the few still in one piece bolted and fled, leaving only the barred doors in the way.

And under a combined onslaught...they didn't last a minute, crumbling and breaking down to reveal the final objective. An open courtyard, some hundred meters across maybe. Smack in the center, among a disgusting pool of oily, bloody water choked with corpses and broken mechanical bodies, rose the command tower of this place; the headquarters of the Darkloid in charge. Filthy purple and black smoke belched from pipes emerging from walls and the ceiling, red light flickered and violet lightning crackled and sparked in the windows. The doors to the structure, over a small bridge, lay wide open. One even hung crazily on only one hinge, bashed off in some fit of rage.

Even from this distance, the noxious smell of intermingled rust, the blood of both machine and living creatures, rotting meat and decaying matter was pervasive and heavy in the air, hanging about the central building in a perpetual haze. Harsh, guttural laughing echoed from the open doors, the same voice that had spoken over the loudspeakers before. "Looks like ya made it through alla the dregs!" And then heavy footfalls stomped on the metal, as a huge figure loomed in the shadowy interior, marching out into the smoke-filled light to be seen. Hulking and broad, standing nearly ten feet in height, and with eyes blazing like bloody lanterns, he squared off in the doorway, glaring at the liberators with a deranged grin.

"Made a real mess of my factory, ya did. Got a lot of good footage of ya, and some real nice analysis done. A good DNA sample and I could recreate each and every one of ya!" He cackled, and with a flourish a weapon appeared in his hand: a massive anchor, like something an old-time battleship would use to halt itself in the water. Nearly as big as he was himself, it dented the ground as it crashed down beside him. "So, let's see how many o' them sample I can get hold of!" Hefting the massive implement like it was made of paper, he cackled with mad delight as he hopped up, flipped forward and dove into the ground as if it was made of water; the rusted, metal metal flooring rippled like disturbed oil as he did. Moments later, the huge shark-fin adorning his back broke the surface of the ground, cutting through it like water as it bolted right for the group, the ground splashing and foaming like the sea as he charged for them.

Time for the final obstacle and challenge here. The Darkloid in charge: Metal Shark Player.


He's deranged, crazy, and out for blood. Loaded with no shortage of brute strength and wicked animal cunning.

Proficiencies: Physical Strength, Ranged, Area Attack, Ranged Materialize, Homing, Debuff
Powers: Basic Super Jumping, Burst Movement, Super Speed, Integration, Mimic, Hive Mind, Advanced Enhanced Senses, Insight, Survival
ATK: 5
DEF: 4
SPD: 3
TEC: 4

His primary tactic is to dive into the ground and swim at high speed through it like water, with his Integration power. He will leap out to make vicious attacks with his teeth, bare hands and the massive anchor he wields, which is appropriately massively damaging though highly unwieldy.

He features additional tricks and traps, such as being able to hurl smaller anchors which bounce like rubber, sport wickedly sharp blades, or even explode in either shrapnel or incendiary blasts.

He is able to summon scrap-made clones and copies of defeated creatures, including any and all of the other Darkloid bosses from the other verses, as shields, decoys or to use their attacks to assault you. And any one of you he gets a solid bite on with his teeth, he can summon a scrap-made copy of you, too.

Everyone has one post, up to 1200 words, no time limit. Enjoy the insanity.

[Proto Man]

“Almost there,” Proto Man whispered beneath his breath as he shrugged off a slobbering half-goat, half-pirate darkling. A burst of energy silenced any rebuttal from the monster as the machine set his sights on the very large goal in front of them. With the others, he pressed forward as the army of twisted machine creatures routed. As the metaphorical sea parted in front of the group, they made their way through a final expanse of corridors and forge chambers before the factory yielded to the world around it.

They had reached the end of their journey through the twisted corruption that had befallen the Vasty Deep. A pool of water stained so thoroughly with oil, blood, and grease that it could have easily turned into a towering inferno wreathed a foreboding spire that spat smog from an assortment of pipes that jutted from its rusted obsidian hull.

The preteen machine scowled as the giant shark robot spoke about collecting their blood and using it to create perverted revenants of the Liberators. This was the creature responsible for the corruption of the Vasty Deep and the armies of twisted darklings that had overwhelmed Blue Fish Island and nearly razed the Saboady Archipelago. This was the source of the horde.

The arch demon.

A cursory scan revealed the entity to be something called a Metal Shark Player. There was a brief, fleeting moment where the preteen machine thought that to be a ridiculous moniker, and then he recalled the title given to him by his creators.

“Plan?” Cloud whispered as the group of Liberators steeled themselves against the anchor-wielding behemoth.

Proto Man lifted his arm canon and scowled. “Burn it down,” he muttered as he set his sights on the ‘Darkloid’ and the command spire he guarded. The files on the Liberator device indicated that the tower functioned as some type of link between this verse and where Nebula took shelter.

“Break the tower, break the link.” The red robot reiterated as he turned and looked up at his fellow machine. The Vision, who seemed to be running his own set of scans and subroutines, gave a soft nod before turning his focus to the courtyard.

“We have superior numbers,” the android intoned as he swept their surroundings. “Unless he is able to rally his underlings.” The Vision set his sights back on the enemy commander. “This is a wide-open space. We will be able to work together, but he will also have the room to maneuver with that weapon.”

“He won’t,” Proto Man replied as a blade of energy hummed to life from the mouth of his arm cannon. He turned to Cloud’s visage before shifting his focus to the mercenary soldier’s weapon. “Cloud and I will engage him up close. Try our best to prevent him from having the space to attack everyone… the rest of you can strike from range.”

“It won’t be that easy,” Cole muttered as Metal Shark Player, his toothy maw stained with gore and machine grease, suddenly jumped forward and vanished into the ground as if it were made of nothing.

“What the—” Someone said near to Proto Man, who found himself backing up as he tried to keep his eyes everywhere at once.

There!

Twenty yards out to the left, a corroded shape poked above the solid earth before slipping back beneath the soil.

“I think he’s traveling through the ground,” the machine shouted as he kept backpedaling from the group. “Split!” He barked as a fount of black earth erupted just a few feet before them. The Liberators, already slinking back, likewise shattered in different directions as the towering metal shark-monster and his massive anchor ran roughshod over the scene. One of the Liberators—Proto Man couldn’t see who—took a glancing blow and was sent bowling forward. The Vision, having taken to the sky, quickly processed the initial shock and retaliated.

A dazzling unibeam roared through the bleak sky down onto the head of Metal Shark Player, who dropped to a knee.

Proto Man moved forward to capitalize on the moment, but it took him a split-second too long to notice the play before it unfolded.

Lifting his head, Metal Shark Player flashed a toothy grin before lashing out with his anchor. The red robot summoned his shield as fast as he could, and even then, the metal bulwark crashed to piece as the unorthodox weapon tore him from his feet and threw him like the child-sized entity that he was. Standing up from beneath the continued heat and force of the unibeam, the Darkloid coiled his arm and swung.

The Vision winced, but the anchor never came close.

A gore-stained Buster Sword intercepted the would-be attack.

“I’m glad ye are all fearless in the face of ya certain destruction,” the shark beast boomed as bullets of Cole’s weaponry clanged against his chest and shoulder. “It will make your failure all the sweeter when I sch—”

The monster’s words were cut short by a wad of white webbing that smacked his tooth-filled snout and adhered like liquid cement.

Up in the sky, the Vision lowered his outstretched hand as he fly back and started to plot his next maneuvers. “We have moved passed the required quota of villainous banter.” The android declared somberly and without the slightest inclination of wit as his purple skin and green adornments all started to turn a shade of blue. Throwing his hands forward, he released a gust of frozen air at the Darkloid.

Unable to tear away the webbing with the threats around him, Metal Shark Player hurtled the anchor in the direction of Cole. With the gunslinger diving to the wayside, the titanic beast turned and lunged at Cloud, who angled to defend himself until the pouncing warrior slipped right under the ground. With quick reflexes, Cloud inverted the Buster Sword and thrust half of it down into the polluted earth of the courtyard.

Not even a heartbeat later, Proto Man saw the movement in the soil. “Behind you!” He barked to Cloud as he activated his own firearm and rushed forward.

Bursting up from the ground behind his sword-wielding adversary, the Metal Shark grabbed a fistful of the soldier’s spikey blonde hair. Bladed digits started to sink into the man’s skull, but a shotgun-shaped burst of energy and a pair of red gazerbeams fell upon the predatory fish-android. Wounds leaking some sort of greasy dark sludge, the Darkloid released his vice grip from Cloud and lunged backwards—his webbed snout barely concealing a smirk as he casually vanished back into the solid surface.

“You are at a disadvantage on the ground!” The Vision declared as he started to slowly rotate—his senses at their peak as he tried to deduce and properly anticipate the ambush tactics of their foe. “

“Do I look like I have wings?” Cloud barked as he wrenched his sword free. Fresh blood oozed down from the sides of the warrior’s scalp. “He can’t fight us all at once.”

As if on cue, Proto Man’s sensors picked up lifeforms all around the periphery of the courtyard.

“Of flipping course,” he muttered, channeling his inner mouse.

[Cloud Strife]

‘Wings would actually be handy right about now.’ The mercenary thought to himself as he wiped blood from his face, only for it to be replaced moments later. Surveying the area, unable to spot his foe, the mercenary decided it was best to not stay in one place too long. He felt as though he’d been placed in a glorified shark cage, with the shark. His two android companions and Cole, the latter following the former’s lead, all began blasting at the blackened soil as the blond hopped from place to place. Maybe there was a pattern that he might be able to figure out, that was just wishful thinking. The trio of primes had laid waste to the ground and it was far too difficult to see any pattern.

‘Alright, we’ll do this the old-fashioned way.’ Cloud muttered to himself as he looked to his liberator companions. All three were aiming at the same spot.

‘There you are.’ He thought as he grabbed his blade with both hands, lifted it above his head, and launched himself at the spot. Before the trio could fire, Cloud landed and plunged his blade into the earth. A moment of nothing followed, he’d caused his comrades to hesitate and cease fire.

‘Behind you!’ Someone’s voice echoed as the metal shark appeared from the ground and swung his anchor.

‘Got you.’ the machine snarled.

‘Not quite.’ The mercenary grinned as he lifted his blade from the loose dirt and spun around to parry the incoming attack. Pins and needles shot through the entirety of his arms as the shark’s weapon connected with his. A metallic ringing filled his ears as he was pushed inches into loose dirt. It wasn’t long until the firing resumed though, and a barrage from the trio connected with the robot’s backside. Small amounts of black ooze trickled down the monstrosity’s backside as it began to disappear into the ground. A grimace on it’s face as it disappeared, leaving only a small, blackened spot, in the dirt. 
With numb arms, cloud spun around as more life forms flooded into the courtyard, encircling the group of Primes. The blond bisected a trio of their enemies, only to have three more take their place. He sliced through another three of the corrupt machines as his other liberator companions decimated the larger group of robot monstrosities.

‘Distracted?’ the shark’s voice laughed as he launched himself out of the ground at the mercenary, catching him off guard and biting down on his left shoulder. Cloud let out a pain filled scream as blood began to flow from his torso and back. Cloud could feel the android's jaw tighten around him as the seconds passed, if he didn't do something, his shoulder would become minced meat.

‘Go for the eyes.’ The mercenary thought as he lifted his free arm and began to slam his fist into the robot’s face. Each strike sent waves of pain through his body, but he'd rather keep his shoulder in once piece rather than the alternative. After a couple more seconds, Cloud slammed his fist into the robot's eye, causing him to let go and take a couple of steps back. With the flash of a tooth filled grin, their adversary retreated back into the soil.

‘What happened?’ Blink asked, appearing next to the mercenary.

‘The fucker bit me.’ The mercenary winced, anger in his voice, as his own blood began to stain his clothes. ‘Weren’t you watching?’ 

‘It doesn’t look too bad.’ Blink replied as she looked at the man’s wound, poking it in retaliation to his rude response. ‘Besides, it seems like it’s already healing.’

‘Yeah.’ Cloud flinched. the liberator aids that they’d received really were life savers, without them, they’d probably have been dead long before now. Cloud sighed as a disembodied, distorted, cackle filled the room. The squadron of primes readied themselves as they noticed a metallic spike rising up out of the ground in front of them. Cloud readied his Buster sword, anticipating another lunge from Metal Shark Player.

‘Wait, is that me!?’ Cloud queried, stunned as a robotic copy of himself formed in front of them, complete with its own Buster Sword. The robot charged them, Blink dive-rolling to the side as Cloud locked blades with his clone. Cloud counter attacked, but the machine just sighed as it continued to parry his strikes.

‘I’m not that annoying, am I?’ He asked as he leapt backwards, turning to face blink. She shrugged and gave him a disheartening smile. He turned to Proto Man, who only turned away from him to deal with another robot.

‘The data suggests that yes, you are that annoying. Cloud.’ Vision spoke as he fired a unibeam at the mercenary's copy, who proceeded to roll out of the way.

‘Thanks Vision…’ The blond spoke, his words carrying a depressed tone, as he dropped his head.

‘Who cares, just get in there and kill it!’ Cole yelled before firing a barrage of energy shots at the fake.

Cloud lifted his head to look at his machine counterpart. It was just a clone, and clones can never stand up to the real thing. The man dashed forward, striking the metal mercenary with his right shoulder, knocking the fake off balance. Cloud transitioned into a spin and, with his blade extended, cleaved the machine into two pieces. The red glow of it's eyes faded as it died. He stood over the machine, looking at its lifeless body. It really did look like him, it even mimicked his clothing with flexible sheets of metal. To be honest, he was just glad that it wasn’t a copy of Vision or Proto Man, those would have been harder to deal with.

‘Well… that takes care of that.’ He smiled, confidence replacing his previous tone of depression.

‘Actually…’ Blink mumbled as she tapped his shoulder. Cloud spun around, only to find not one, but three more copies of himself making their way towards the group.

‘OH, COME ON!’ The mercenary yelled, followed by another disembodied cackle from Metal Shark Player.

[Blink]

Of all the things that could have been running Nebula's Army in the Vasty Deeps, Blink wouldn't have put 'Giant Shark Monster/Robot Thing' even in her Top 10. Nothing that had happened to her since she arrived on the crazy sinking island had made sense. This was supposed to be a simple rescue mission in the middle of nowhere. Somehow, she ended up neck deep in an actual invasion of the Omniverse and was fighting a real life Villain-Monster-Thing. Her life was never one that you would call normal, but even to her, this was absolutely bonkers.

Cloud Strife and Claire Ferguson were standing in front of three scrap-metal copies of the former. The Vision was the closest to them, but he was focusing his energy on tracking the Shark Thing that was literally swimming through the ground under them. Around them was chaos. The open courtyard was filled with other metallic monsters that Cole and Proto Man were focusing on disabling. "We have to focus on the Shark Guy!" Blink called out, though was certain only Cloud was close enough to her to pay attention to her words. "The rest are just here to annoy us." It did feel like the lesser monsters were more of a distraction then any real threat.

"Use your range!" Proto Man directed, surprising Blink with his ability to strategize (and community) mid-strike. He had just lept backwards to avoid the shark fin whirling past him on the ground. "We'll fight down here. You and Cole go up top!"

Cloud stood in front of Blink, cutting her off from the staredown with the three Metal-Clouds. He held his Buster Sword in front of himself, slightly pointed forward. "I'll handle these guys," he told her. "Make sure you aim for his eyes."

The purple-shaded elf-girl nodded at him as their eyes met. Then she spun around to focus her gaze on the other blonde male. "Cole!" She called out. He had just backflipped to avoid a melee strike and used his hands to propel himself back to his feet. That was exactly the kind of acrobatic stuff she had come to expect, and admire, from the young gunslinger. "Portal!" She summoned some of the green energy into her fingertips as she ran towards him, putting a small fuchsia gateway up behind him that led to a higher point. He nodded his head and quickly backed up into it, letting it vanish behind him as the monster he was fighting tried to flash at him and found nothing.

Blink put another portal down, this one right under her, and fell into it. She was getting used to the restrictions on her teleportation powers here in the Nebula Verse. She had to compensate for the time and energy it took to create a doorway by only keeping the range of entrances and exits at a minimum distance. She appeared on a small pipe that was protruding from the factory. On the opposite side of the courtyard, Cole's portal had led him to a ledge on the command center, giving both of them vantage points of the chaos. They locked eyes and nodded at each other. Cole brandished his pistols. Blink summoned a fistful of her chaotic emerald energy in one palm, and a matching dagger in the other.

The shark fin splashed through the ground strangely, moving smoothly through it like it was liquid. It made a beeline for Vision, who was seemingly distracted by one of the spider-like contraptions bouncing around. But as soon as the Shark Thing lept from underneath him, Vision spun around as if expecting it and lept out of the way. It was the perfect bait tactic, as the robotic Aquatic Boss roared loudly as he attempted to chomp down on the android, and found nothing.

Cole unloaded his pistols into the Darkloid. Blink began to throw daggers at it, much slower then Cole's guns but seemingly doing solid damage. All of the shots and slices banged against its face, but didn't seem to hinder its vision. "Ye gotta be trickier then that to catch me!" It taunted and suddenly threw two small objects in opposite directions up towards the snipers up top.

Before she had to deal with the attack, she could see Proto Man moving in front of the Shark Darkloid and preparing to blast him in the chest while he was distracted. From teleport's view, though, everything got blurred out by the small anchor-shaped object being hurled her way. She looked to the left and noticed another pipe jutting out of the exterior of the factory, and quickly lept towards it. She ran along the bulkhead to give her some extra height before jumping. The anchor exposed into shrapnel just before impact, pushing against her back as she attempted to land. She barely managed to grip a smaller pipe near her head to stop from falling. Across the courtyard, Cole had just dealt with a similar attack and avoided it.

She looked down, the Shark Creature still above ground and vulnerable as Vision and Proto Man faced off with it. Cloud had just finished dealing with his trio of copies and was approaching the fight from behind the big guy. Once again, Claire locked eyes with Cole, and they both nodded.

Cole and Blink are on high grounds, on opposite sides of the courtyard, to strike from range. Vision and Proto are facing the Shark Guy, and Cloud is coming up behind him. There are still annoying monsters around, lurking.

[Koehler]

“Of all the things it could’ve been, did it have to be a metal land shark?!” Cole shouted in exasperation, mostly to himself as the sounds of battle drowned out his complaints. He had just narrowly dodged another of those hulking anchors that the Metal Shark had thrown so casually and frequently that he was growing increasingly irritated at it.

And he never seemed to run out of them either! How many was he carrying?!

Keeping his range from it was certainly a challenge onto itself, as he ran along the catwalk and leapt over the railing, hurtling down towards the enormous scrap piles below and the small lake of oil that was pooling underneath them. Above him, another anchor slammed into the catwalk he was just on, metal groaning and crunching under the sudden pressure, as the anchor then exploded in a shower of sparks and flame.

Cole caught one of the pipes hanging off the side, and swung himself upwards again, shifting his momentum as he jumped from pipe to pipe and fired at Metal Shark, applying boosts of speed for jumps that were too far across. He also sacrificed one of his magnums and grabbed one of the silver hilts on his belt, forming the blade as he ran and charging it up as quickly as he could force it.

Below, after Cloud had dealt with the mimicries of himself, the metallic shark struck at him and threw him back several meters when he blocked it, launching the anchor to do so as it sprayed shrapnel across him. He followed with a wide swing against Protoman to throw him off-guard as he jumped and burrowed under the ground again before the Liberators could counter him and so he could avoid further fire from the ever-elusive Blink and Cole. This time, however, there wasn’t a fin to keep track of him as he moved.

”He’s tricky, and we’re forced to fight in his own backyard…” Cole thought, swinging up and climbing onto a part of the catwalk that wasn’t currently on fire or barely hanging on by rusted hinges and screws. He looked around, searching for the fin, finger ready on the trigger to fire in a split-second.

Protoman was similarly still, scanning the environment as the others quickly recovered or repositioned themselves for the next round.

It all happened in a moment, the shark leapt up nearby one of the scrap piles with no warning or sign, grabbed one of the wrecked canes and then, perplexingly, fused it to his arm in one swift motion. The crane stretched out past his arm, and at the end of it was a wrecking ball that Cole swore grew twice in size and spikes in a flash as the whole ensemble was attached. Metal Shark quickly swung back around with it and struck at the Vision in the air while simultaneously throwing a volley of anchors at the other Liberators, each one varying between incendiary and explosive shrapnel to keep them off guard.

Cole didn’t take a moment to think, leaping off the catwalk towards one of the scrap piles, propelling himself forward with careful bursts of speed while firing away at Metal Shark. Behind him, the catwalk again exploded in a shower of metal and sparks.

Protoman was firing at the Metal Shark at the same time, rolling past exploding anchors and gouts of flame across the ground. He was followed with Vision’s lasers as he barely dodged the makeshift flail their enemy wielded with reckless abandon, while Cloud charged ahead. Blink took up another advantageous position, throwing daggers and teleporting out of harms way when he got around to striking at her.

Cole landed harshly against the scrap pile as he surveyed the setting, and then dashed along it, keeping balanced despite the uneven footing. He focused on his blade as it glowed and compressed into a single shining, iridescent bullet. Loading it into his magnum, and spinning the barrel, Cole considered his options as Shark flailed again and copied Protoman’s buster, firing a beam of energy at the Liberators and then burrowing out of harm’s way again. Cole kept an eye on the fin, as he moved, following it and keeping pace, leaping from pile to pile as he did so.

At the last stretch, and on a guess, Cole jumped up and sped ahead with a sudden burst of speed, taking aim.

The tall robot shot up into the air, seeming unawares of where Cole was at the time.

He had kept track of how Metal Shark moved, how quickly and in what ways he moved, but more importantly, he knew how high he jumped each time he came out of the ground.

Cole aimed and fired with a resounding bang. A streak of light shot out from the barrel at a blazing speed and struck its target, though not where he intended. Metal Shark managed to twist in the air, but was still struck in the arm, as the bullet sawed through and struck the spiked flail. The large metal ball shattered under the sudden force, crumpling and falling into pieces.

Metal Shark grunted in pain and threw an anchor at Cole, shifting in the air as a copy mimicked his movements for but a moment and shot out another anchor as well, both still very real. Cole managed to dodge one in mid-air, propelling himself towards the ground and rolling out of the way of the second just barely, but still getting sliced repeatedly by the shower of shrapnel behind him as the anchor slammed into the ground.

“Ugh, damn.” Cole grimaced in pain, slamming his fist into the ground once before getting back to his feet, “I missed.”

955/1200 words.

[Nebula]

Down from his dive he went, cursing the entire way, until he hit the ground and splashed through it to vanish beneath the surface. For nearly half a minute he was gone from view, not even his fin breaking the surface to announce his presence.

"Did we...did we get him?" Cloud ventured to ask after several seconds of the lull in activity.

"Negative." The aerial Avenger responded, his gaze fixed intently on the ground and slowly sweeping across it. "He is still active, moving under the earth."

"Where?" Proto Man was scanning the area himself. "I can see something moving, but...seems like there's a lot of them." Too many, moving too quickly, for him to get a solid lock on the actual target.

"Well, well, well, you're all tougher than ya looked!" the deep voice of the Darkloid suddenly boomed, as the earth exploded up in a geyser, rock and mud spraying and fountaining into the air and splattering the filth-encrusted terrain like water and foam from the sea. The giant mechanical shark leaped up out of the newly-bored hole in the earth, easily clearing a dozen feet before coming to rest there, stopped and hovering in place. His back now sported a pair of flashing silvery wings, flapping so quickly they were little more than a blur. Small rocket engines glowed and roared along his back to further keep him aloft.

He was covered in signs of damage. Countless dings and dents, scorch marks burned into his metal hide. Slashes and tears, spewing sparks and leaking disgusting oily sludge. One of his eyes had been twisted and smashed in its socket, now staring off at a crazy angle. But he seemed anything but put off by it all. He didn't even seem to notice it. "Time ta kick this fight into round two!" he cackled, eyes flashing red. And even amid an onslaught of fire directed his way, he just roared with laughter, eyes blazing with a bright red glow.

"Grragh....HAAA!" And suddenly oily black smoke belched out from every tear, scratch and breach in his body. Rolling out in thick, inky clouds, it spread out to cover the battlefield. With a deep, almost sub-audible rumbling hum, it rolled across the ground like a solid wave, taking over everything as it went and blotting out sight.

Within moments, only the errant flash of weapons, the crackle of lightning, and the sputtering glow of fires from the trash heaps and foundry work of the immense, corrupted factory could be seen. Cloying, suffocating blackness hung over everything else, releasing horrible smells and stench with it.

And somewhere among the disgusting mess, the metal shark boomed his raucous, insane laugh as he bolted back into the fray. Echoing madly, as he seemingly circled around the courtyard, dropping surprise after surprise. Blades, shrapnel, incendiary blasts; suddenly tipped over towers of scrap and refuse, tech-zombies crawling and screeching out of the ground. Like the world had suddenly been plunged into a nightmare.

Among all of the chaos, there came a sudden sound of metal on metal, screeching horribly. Sparks flew, and metal groaned and screamed in protest. The scene was illuminated in a number of flashes of light, flickering bursts of sparks and energy, revealing the hulking, damaged form of Metal Shark Player battering wildly against the Vision. Massive anchor against massive, mimicked anchor. Lasers flashed and the adaptoid's entire arsenal of tricks was brought out, met only with brute force and the insane, aggressive laugh of the Darkloid.

....until suddenly it was all over. With a shrieking crunch, the copied maritime weight was torn in two by a swing from the genuine article. The razor-point of it struck the Vision in the stomach, gouging into his metallic frame and goring through him. Surprise was evident on the android's face, even as the giant metal shark spun around. Once, twice, three times, before launching the anchor-impaled avenger at the ground. The impact was like an artillery shell, smashing and pulverizing the robotic hero between massive weight and unyielding earth.

He lay there, dazed and disoriented, struggling to recover from the impalement and battering. Then came a dull red glow from the anchor. Sections of it split open, revealing concealed blades as they burst out, further skewering and damaging the Vision's body, before detonating in a truly massive blast. A crater was bored into the earth, and the filthy smoke and smog was blown away by the force of the blast.

When the smoke and haze of the blast cleared, there was almost nothing left of the hero to be seen. Scattered bits and chunks of his metallic body littered the area, smoking and charred from the devastation of the explosion.

"AHAHAHAHAHAARR!" Metal Shark Player's laugh boomed out, echoing over the sudden silence. "That's one of ye crazy heroes down!" he cackled, brandishing another anchor as he produced it seemingly from nowhere. "Four more ta go!"

And he charged back down to ground level, the aerial upgrades falling and rusting away from his back as he did. No sooner had he touched down than he was immediately set upon by a renewed assault. Gunfire and bursts of energy tore at him, and he dodged and dived among them, whipping his anchor around to batter some away. No longer just directly taking them, clear hints to the observant. The fight was wearing on him, his energy reserves running low, especially after a crazy stunt like the one he'd just pulled.

A crash of metal knocked him off-kilter, as the massive blade of Cloud's buster sword struck him in the back. "WHAARG--" He staggered, the impact sawing through his fin to cave in and crumple it against his backside. Painful and humiliating. "Why you little--!" He was cut off mid-snarl by the barrel of an arm cannon suddenly pressing against his chest.

He didn't have time to do more than register it was the smaller android before him, charged buster to his chest, before the blast went off. The charged energy bolt struck directly with an explosive impact, hurling the Darkloid back and blasting a hold through his chest. He rolled and flopped back, end over and, ass over teakettle, through the muck and dust until he came to a halt, facedown in the filth.

"Ar...hahahar....that's the way ye do it..." he rasped, slowly shifting and forcing himself up, only to be met with another blow to his head. A shattered eye went spinning away from its socket, bouncing and rolling over the ground as he flopped over onto his back. "Good, good...time to go all out..." he all but whispered, as his body sank into the ground.

For another handful of seconds, all was quiet.

Then...the entire makeshift arena started to shake. The central command tower took it the worst, shaking and buckling under the sudden quake and literally tearing itself apart. Huge chunks of it broke loose and fell free, the entire thing listing and leaning horribly. Within the entire mass was a glow of dark, violet flame. The more it fell and shattered, the brighter the fires grew. Until it was nothing more than a pile of rubble, engulfed in the fires of Nebula.

"....we had to have got him now," Cole spoke up.

"If only we could be so lucky..."

The piles of rubble started to shift and move, twisting and rearranging, pulling themselves together. Forming into a single, cohesive mass again, though violently jamming together and shifting shape, texture, even material as they did so. Into a grossly overgrown, hulking imitation of Metal Shark Player. At least from the waist up.

Every instance of damage was mirrored on his gargantuan state, nearly three stories even from the waist up as it was. Every gaping wound and tear in his battered form belched tongues of violet flame and electricity. Broken and smashed servos and gears, severed wires and circuits, visible through the tears, connected by lines of energy to keep him functioning.

"Alright, ya blasted fools!" he roared, voice amplified to match his new size, and shaking the very ground with its volume. "Let's just finish ya all off!" And he brandished a newly massive anchor, sporting blades of condensed junk, as he swept it in a scything arc across the arena.

Metal Shark Player unleashed a smokescreen to obscure his attacks, then mimicked the Flight power. He assaulted Vision, and nailed him with T2 Super Attack: Cluster Charge. The Vision has died. He will be missed. But the explosion blew away the smokescreen. Player then got nailed by a point-blank charge shot from Proto Man to put some hurt on him.

Metal Shark Player has used T2 Power Up: Stormalong; new stats as follows:
ATK: 9
DEF: 8
SPD: 7
TEC: 4

He is now a huge, immobile target. He is anchored in the ground at the waist in the center of the area, where his command tower once was. His hugeified state makes his reach cover a huge area, and able to easily reach anywhere in the arena with his thrown attacks. But he's on his last legs, making a desperate gamble to finish you all off.

This is the last round. Everyone has one post, up to 2000 words. Deadline is Tuesday, May 15, at 11:59 PM EST.

[Proto Man]

One moment, the group of Liberators was fighting somewhat victoriously against the Metal Shark Player, who appeared to be slowly wilting under their combined front.

The next moment, said metallic fish monster was a hulking colossal of junk and Vision was gone.

Not dead.

Gone.

The other android had literally been reduced to dust and ash by the excessive force of the Darkloid.  Proto Man had caught glimpses of the machine’s remains as they flittered through the clouds along with the rest of the smog and pollution.  The only thing that told them apart from the rest of the aerial detritus was when they sparkled—tiny, rainbow flecks that shimmered just once before vanishing from the world.

Just like that, Vision was a memory.  Certainly, he would be reanimated in the Nexus.  Proto Man knew that slain primes always came back, one way or another.  The only long-term solution was the send them away, like he had done to Scylla and Gilgamesh.  The preteen machine doubted that the Metal Shark Player had bothered with the intricacies when he was ripping and tearing and exploding poor Vision.

In the background, the Metal Shark Player had been rambling and ranting about how he was going to kill them all.  In the process of becoming a living pile of garbage, the commander of the infested soldiers had assimilated the Control Tower.  That made the task of destroy them both that much simpler and streamlined.  There was a line about ‘fools’ in the background, and the next thing that Proto Man knew, his perimeter sensors were screaming at him.  Never one to ignore the giant red exclamation points on his HUD, the machine spun and saw the massive, junk-infused anchor start its sweep across the remnants of the courtyard.

Proto Man didn’t have time to spot the rest of the Liberators.  His knees and ankles flexed, and a beat later, he had hopped up into the air as high as the hydraulic joints and rocket-enhanced boots would let him.  Despite his reflexes, he still got splashed with chunks of black earth and shards of junk sheared away from the anchor.  

As gravity took over, the preteen machine ran through a list of feasible options—his CPU flexing its might to figure out the best course to deal with this threat.  Scans of the Metal Shark Player showed that the giant form was accompanied by increases most of its physical capabilities, despite the fact that it was anchored into the location of the former Control Tower.  If Proto Man and his allies could just close that gap, they could likely neutralize the monster’s range, although who knew what type of nonsense he could pull even if they were staring him right in the eyes.

The red robot landed with a thud on the ground and slung up his Buster Cannon.  Metal Shark Player slung the anchor up over his head and brought it swinging down toward a Liberator.  Proto Man couldn’t tell who it was, because the entire courtyard at this point was thick with pollution and cinders.  When the anchor collided with the ground, the machine felt the vibrations from thirty feet away, but his focus remained on the sneering visage of the junk monster.  The face of a jolly ole killer.

Proto Man had a special way to deal with killers.

With a whoosh, the charged burst screamed from the Proto Buster and collided with the side of the Metal Shark Player’s head.  Proto Man, eyes protected from his shades, watched with a scowl as the explosion tore apart half of the beast’s cranium.

Roaring all the way, the Darkloid slumped backwards—his head a pyre that belched dark smog as it whiplashed to the ground.  On impact, the heap of junk twitched a few times before falling still.

Behind Proto Man, he heard a ripple that heralded the soft footfalls of Blink, who stepped out in front of him and tilted her head.  “Can’t be it,” she whispered.

“I know,” the android remarked somberly as the Metal Shark Player suddenly jolted upright.  His sneering asymmetrical maw, filled with teeth made from over a dozen different sources, formed into a callous smile as he focused himself on the pair of primes.

“Fools.”

The anchor came swinging down at them.

Rushing forward, Cloud Strife got in the way and hoisted up his Buster Sword.  The timing was enough to save them being crushed, but after that initial ‘huzzah’, the blonde soldier’s arms and legs started to wobble.

“Fools.”  The Darkloid laughed as he reached out with his other arm to squash them all.  Before he could, a succession of bullets crashed into his head.  A few careened off, but there was enough there to pull him from his task.

A grinning Cole felt rather full of himself until the anchor came veering toward him.  The marksman turned and ran, hoping he could distract just long enough for something desperate.  Before setting his focus on the gunslinger, the Metal Shark Player batted away the three primes on his other side.  Blink went rolling like a ragdoll, but after a few yards, she simply vanished down into one of her portals.

Cloud and Proto Man didn’t stop until they smacked into one of the remaining walls of the factory.

“I think he might be immortal,” Cloud remarked as he yanked himself free from the now fissured surface.  He had lost the Buster Sword somewhere along his unwanted flight path, but before he could step forward, he felt a small hand on his wrist.  “You okay, Blues?”

“I’ve been running diagnostics,” the robot said, even if he was uncertain that the man would understand the term.  “Probability and a bunch of other stuff that I know Vision would love.”

The blonde furrowed his brow.  “Okay, and?”

“I got a plan.”

“Nice, what is it?”

Proto Man smiled.  “Do you trust me?”  He asked, prompting a confused look from his acquaintance-turned-battlefield ally.  “Seriously.”

Cloud nodded his head.  “Of course I trust you.  We have to do what we have to do in order to beat this monster.”

“Excellent.  Take my hands,” Blues extended both his hands.  When Cloud delayed and gave that same confused look, Proto Man scowled.  “You said you trust me, c’mon!”

The man gave another nod and clasped his ally’s small, metal hands.

“Grab on to something,” Proto Man said nonsensical, his youthful face painted with a faint smile.  “This might be a bumpy ride.”

Before Cloud could ask a question or point out the obvious, he felt something jolt through his entire body.  In front of him, the machine was suddenly enveloped in a blinding yellow light.  The tiny fingers clenched tighter onto Cloud’s palms for a brief second, and then they were gone.

As the light faded and his vision and heartrate normalized, Cloud immediately looked around for a sign of his ally.  It was only after a few moments that he glanced down and saw that his hands were red.  Cloud lifted his right hand to his face and flexed his metal-encased fingers.  A glance down showed that his chest and feet were likewise sheathed in red armor.

But it wasn’t just any armor.  Flapping gently in breezes that didn’t exist behind Cloud was a yellow scarf.

“Proto Man?”  The soldier asked as he turned around.  In the distance, he heard gunshots and bombastic cackles from the fish monster.

It’s weird, isn’t it?

Cloud twitched and glanced around.  The voice had come from inside his head.

Calm down.  I’m going to run some diagnostics, and I don’t want you to freak out.

The man, unnerved but willing to trust the robot, gave a slow nod as words and pictures started popping up around him.  No, wait… not around him.  They weren’t floating there in the sky.  A hand reaching up didn’t obscure the stream of text as it descended passed him.

Just about done.  I’ll make sure the HUD’s not overwhelming for you.

“Why are you in my head?”  Cloud asked.

Just think of my as your user interface as you navigate the Proto Suit.

“Am I wearing you?”  The man inquired as he lifted a hand and flexed his fingers.

Yes and no.  We’re technically the same consciousness, but I thought this was a less jarring way to handle it.  Everything I am is in the suit.  Here… point you hand out to our left.  Your sword is there, you should be able to pick up its shape, if I’m not mistaken.

The soldier turned his head and held out a gauntleted fist.  Even though there was thick pollution hanging low over the terrain, he could detect the sword out there—its shape distinct even in the obscured vision.  Before Cloud could ask what else he was supposed to do, he saw the gray blur hurtling straight at him.  It was only quick reflexes that allowed him to duck and snatch the handle of the Buster Sword before it skewered him.  

“Neat trick.”

Ferromagnetic Manipulation… it should make for some fun fighting a monster made up of metal parts.

“What now?”  Cloud asked as he lazily swung the sword around.  It felt even lighter than it ever had.  Had it been damaged or manipulated in some way… or was he just that much stronger?

We’re going to destroy Metal Shark Player.

“Just like that?”  The man said with a laugh before he felt another jolt of electricity course through his body.  “Okay,” Cloud added, a rare smile spreading wide across his features.  “Just like that.”

Elsewhere in the courtyard, the Metal Shark Player cackled and guffawed as Blink and Cole frantically tried to elude his onslaught. Both of the primes were agile, but they were only made of flesh.  Eventually, they would run out of strength, and their organic meat suits would fail them.  Once they died, they would be a powerful addition to the Darkloid’s horde of recycled monsters.

As he hoisted up the anchor for another punishing sweep of the courtyard, the Metal Shark Player felt something smack against his back.

“Not dead yet?”  He barked as he turned to confront the other two primes.  “Just one of you now?”  He sneered at the distant little prime, who clutched his oversized sword in one hand like a toy.  “Did the robot die peacefully?”

Before the Metal Shark Player could enjoy his trash talk, the man lunged off the ground with enough force to rocket toward him.  The Darkloid didn’t know how his foe had become so fast, but it didn’t matter.  He would die just as hard as the others had.

The Metal Shark Player swung the anchor at the approaching gnat of a prime.

Instead of squashing his foe, the anchor exploded as Proto Cloud literally rammed through it en route to the now mortified visage of the Darkloid.  With a swift motion, the cyborg soldier slashed off the top of his adversary’s cranium before landed gently on the ground behind him.

Disposing of his early possum theatrics, the monster turned and growled.  In the distance, parts of the factory crumbled as they were willed to the Darkloid, whose skull continued to patch as he seethed toward the armored prime.

“Impossible,” the Shark Player growled as he held up the broken stump of his anchor.  The weapon, also slowly regenerating as fresh ‘junk’ torn from the factory worked to restore its shape and form.

“A good mouse taught me a nice life lesson,” Proto Cloud replied, following prompts on his screen from his user interface.  “He said ‘nothing is impossible if you set your heart to it, by golly!’”  The man flashed a warm smile as he lifted up his other arm, which converted into a Buster Cannon that immediately started to build a terrifying charge.

Buster Sword in one arm, Buster Cannon in the other, the Proto Cloud released his terrifying, righteous fury upon the Metal Shark Player.

1998 words, according to MS Word

Proto Man and Cloud Strife have fused (refereed to as Proto Cloud).

Prior to attacking, Proto Cloud used Proto Man’s T3 alt form, the Prodigal Son.  Stats as follows:

21 ATK
9 DEF
8 SPD
9 TEC

Costs: T3 for the rest of the round = 8 SP + 2 SP (Fusion entire Round) = 10

Cloud SP = 0/3 (Spent 3) / Proto Man SP = 1 /10 (Spent 7, earlier used T1 SA and T1 SD)

[Cloud Strife]

The charged blast rocketed forth from the Proto Buster and collided with Metal Shark Player’s shoulder, completely vaporizing it. Impressed with this new destructive power, the newly formed Proto Cloud watched as metal parts from the destroyed factory flew towards their mechanical adversary.

‘How?’ The gigantic machine snarled at them as black ooze fused the scrap metal to his shoulder.

The scarf-wearing android said nothing in response, he just waited as the mechanical monstrosity fixed itself. But their respite wasn’t an extended one and, before they knew it, Metal Shark Player was back in action and whipping his anchor at the, now, trio of liberators.

We can’t let that anchor hit anyone else but us

‘I know.’ The mercenary responded as he began their dash. Four times faster than he was before, he made it to the anchor in no time and, with an outstretched arm, caught the anchor mid swing. Small gusts of air emanated from the collision as the force of Metal Shark Player’s blow was rendered useless. The cyborg mercenary slammed the anchor into the ground, sticking it in place, before leaping onto it and sprinting towards their opponent.

You have a plan?

‘Just be ready with that pheromone manipulation trick.’ The blonde ordered as red blips began displaying on the visor of his helmet. 

Ferromagnetic Manipulation

‘Yeah, that.’ He responded as they reached the metal shark’s hand. Proto Cloud spun in a circle, swinging the Buster Sword, and cleaved right through the Darkloid’s wrist. The monstrosity reared back as the Proto Cloud resumed his dash up the robot’s arm. A red blip on the right side of his HUD prompted the mercenary to launch himself into the air as the shark’s second hand attempted to squish the him.
Now?

‘Now.’ Cloud responded to the disembodied voice of Proto Man sounded throughout his head as he launched his blade at Metal Shark player’s other shoulder. The Buster Sword sliced, through the robotic shark’s shoulder like butter, severing it. Cloud smiled warmly as he stretched out his right arm. The blade halted in it’s tracks and flew back towards the mercenary, who snatched it out of the air before landing on the dirt below. The Darkloid’s severed limbs began to twitch as they came to life. Metal Shark Player willing them to his body for repairs.

Finish him

‘No, we’ll let him have a little fun.’ The blond responded, watching the metal limbs reattach themselves to Metal Shark Player.

But we could end this now

‘He almost crushed my head, and he bit me.’ The mercenary barked ‘Besides, look at what he’s done to this verse. All that death and destruction.’ The blond finished. Proto Man didn’t respond as cloud lifted his weapon, he must have struck a chord. 

‘Time for ye to die!’ Metal Shark Player roared as he launched his newly refurbished limbs at Proto Cloud. A frown swept across the mercenary’s face as two large red blips displayed themselves on his visor. The outline of the mechanical shark’s limbs rocketing towards the fused pair displayed a perfect path through the onslaught. Cloud ducked to the right, avoiding the anchor, but moving directly into the path of the Darkloid’s balled fist. An electric shock caused the soldier to jump, involuntarily, into the air as the fist devastated the section of ground they had previously occupied.

‘What the hell was that?’ The mercenary questioned as they landed, once again, on their opponent’s limb.

We are one person now, we may talk separately, but you were moving too slow. Don’t get cocky.

Cloud let out an annoyed Hmph, as a barrage of energy blasts slammed into Metal Shark Player’s torso, leaving holes that leaked black liquid and smoke.

‘Just hurry up and finish this asshole!’ Cole interjected as he narrowly avoided a strike from the oversized Anchor. Proto Cloud hopped down onto the dirt as the anchor flew towards him again, with a swing of the buster sword the armor-clad mercenary deflected it. Again, and again, the Darkloid threw anchor and fist at Proto Cloud, who just dodged or deflected the attacks. The fusion’s new-found power had outclassed their opponent in every way. Sparks flew, illuminating silhouettes in the thick fog, with each parried blow.

‘Fine!’ Cloud exclaimed as another electric shock surged through his body after he deflected another attack. It was time to end this. The fused pair flipped into the air above the anchor, landing on top of it, a grin on the mercenary’s face. The cyborg leapt from the anchor and began spinning horizontally, mimicking a whirlwind, as they rocketed towards Metal Shark Player’s abdomen. Before the corrupted machine could respond, the fused liberator sliced clean through it’s abdomen and landed on the other side of the factory. 

A couple seconds of silence passed before the whining of metal scraping against metal rang throughout the battlefield. The top half of the oversized machine began falling forwards as it separated from it’s bottom half.
  
‘You know, Blues’ Cloud began as he swung his weapon back and forth, trying to remove flakes of metal and oil. ‘I still think Cloud Man would be a good name.’ 

Trust me, Proto Cloud is much better.

[Blink]

You would have thought that at this point in her Omniverse career, Clarice 'Claire' Ferguson would have learned not to be surprised by things anymore. It seemed like every time the young mutant known as Blink ended up on some adventure, things just got excessively weirder and weirder. A free-for-all deathmatch, a raid on an island militia, a hunt for a werewolf and a museum heist felt like a good list of interesting-but-increasingly-strange list of encounters. Then she fought a Metal Shark Thing and felt like she had hit the peak of lunacy. But now, here she was, shocked and awed once again as she hung off the side of the factory staring at Giant Metal Shark Thing (yes, now he was giant) getting his ass kicked by Proto-Man-And-Cloud-Put-Together. She could not have come up with this story on her own. It was too ridiculous to make up. She had to see it to believe it.

At first when the Darkloid of the mysterious Nebula's forces in the Vasty Deep multipled his size, Blink was understandably concerned. But that didn't last too long. She was able to zip in and out of her portals with experienced placement, avoiding the trouble long enough Proto Man and Cloud to figure out what they wanted to do. That turned out to be combining into one crazy-strong guy that proceeded to take it to Metal Shark Guy with ease.

She was watching all of this from the side with the blonde gunslinger Cole. They were standing amongst some jagged metal debris and piping on the side of the factory building, which was  the only structure that seemed to survive the giant robot's evolution. The other building, the command center, was gone. Blink had to teleport herself and Cole to safety so they could see this all unravel while also avoiding the other annoying robotic contraptions that were still scampering around the courtyard. "You ever feel like you're so very small and unnecessary?" Blink asked, seemingly half-sarcastic.

"Yes." Cole answered simply. "More and more lately, it feels like." They were admiring Proto Cloud backflipped in the air, his leg strength so strong that it looked like he was practically flying. "You?"

"Never more then right now, at this moment," she said back. "We fought so hard to get here. We had to give this everything we had and we still barely got here. And this those come in here and just mop up this whole thing like its no big deal." She felt a twinge of guilt as she recalled her fallen friend. "Meanwhile Vision gets vaporized and we're still clawing along, like insects." It wasn't the first time she had dealt with loss in the Omniverse, and her short time here had taught her at least that if Vision still wanted to be here, she would see him again. It still made her sad, an unusual sensation, to think that he worked so hard only to fall short at the finish line. And she barely did anything compared to him.

"We're a lot more useful then insects. For starters, they couldn't get out of here without us." Blink turned her head from the fight to look at Cole, who was grinning after his response. She appreciated that he didn't seem to be letting the feeling of helplessness hold him down. Or he was hiding it very well, for her sake. Either way, she felt the positive vibes. "None of this is going to matter," he waved his hand towards Proto Cloud as he geared up for a big strike against the Giant Shark. "If we can't get a way out of here. So let's find it."

Blink looked down at the ground, where a good collection of the assorted scrap monsters had gathered. They were all looking up, starting to climb or otherwise prepare to jump towards the duo up top. This must have been the leftovers from the battle earlier, as they seemed to be a random assortment of metallic creatures that were too weak or small to have been decimated earlier. "You're right," Blink finally said. She began to wave her hands in front of her, gathering some of her jade energy in her fingertips. "We have to get the fuck out of here!"

Cole brandished his pistols and spun them expertly in his hands, deliberately showing off for her. She grinned at him. "That's more like it." He returned the smirk.

"I'll get Cloud Man, or whatever the hell you call that thing," Blink told him. "You find the way out!" She opened a portal underneath them, blocking the view of the robots that began to climb their way up the side of the factory. It led to the spot directly behind them.

"Got it!" Cole then jumped down into the gateway and rolled onto the flat surface, starting to unload his pistols into the vulnerable contraptions from behind. Blink immediately closed the portal and then looked away, up at the sight of Cloud and Proto Man fused together.

Blink began to summon more and more energy into her lanky, fuschia frame. Her body started to highlight with the jade energy that she still did not completely understand. Her eyes lit up, the green amplified as she put more and more power and effort into the power-up. As she watched the fusion of her companions prepare to slash through the Giant Shark Player's body, she allowed all of the sadness, guilt and feelings of helplessness transform into anger and determination. Even in this realm, which suppressed her natural powers, she could still tear through the restrictions and manipulate time and space. She could literally manipulate matter itself. And here she was, relegated to the role of Escape Plan.

I am no one's sidekick.

She lept off the edge of the building and teleported forward as far as she could sustain herself. The weight of the restrictions this place put on her powers began to push heavy on her, but she surged through it and teleported up higher. The Proto Cloud fusion had just slashed forward and all the way through the Shark Monster. Blink put her arm out at the same time and erupted in a thick beam of violet and emerald energy. It absorbed almost her whole arm and blasted one single shot, mimicking the power of the darkchip she had gotten earlier. She landed gracefully near the fused warrior, pleased with herself. As far as she was concerned, she participated.

The blast was overkill and completely not necessary, but Blink would be damned if she had let someone else finish the fight without her.

Blink used Energy Surge (Tier 1 Power-Up, 2/4/7/3) to enhance her speed and teleportation as much as the Nebula Verse let her, and will maintain it through the round (2 OP). She also Energy Cannon: MASSIVE Shot (Tier 2 Offensive Super Move) (2 OP), which with only 2 ATK is useless but it made her feel better =P. Assuming our OP was set when we entered the Nebula Verse, we still have a few left.

She left Cole to find an escape route while she heads over to try and ferry Proto Cloud out quickly. Totally cool if Cole wants to do whatever, though!

[Nebula]

The towering terror of technological trash toppled over, with a screeching groan of metal rasping and grinding against metal. Sparks flew and jets of filthy oil and slime spurted from the severed spine of the mechanical monolith, making the cut slick and foiling efforts to patch it before total collapse.

With a colossal crash, the massive behemoth hit the ground face-first. The entire factory complex shook and trembled from the impact, a distant section of factory collapsing with a dull rumble. The haze of smoke and dust in the air parted only briefly, with a manic shriek from the giant shark as he struggled to get up. He managed only to force himself up, propping his torso up with one arm, before a massive bolt of energy struck him in the back. It tore through the layers of scrap and trash metal to hit against the actual hide of the mechanized creature beneath, and detonated in a spectacular blast, throwing him back down to the ground.

Surprise and a complete inability to defend himself had left Metal Shark Player wide open to the blast, and the second impact of such a scale seemed to take out what little structural integrity he had left.

Sparks and jets of dark flame crackled and sputtered out of every visible crack and joint of the giant darkloid. "Ggghrk.... You.... Y-Y-Y-Yo-oooouuu—" His voice crackled and faltered, rising and falling in volume and clarity. "You th-thin-in-inkkkkkk this is ov-ov-over- think this is over?!"

Despite literally falling apart, huge masses of junk and armor falling away, the monstrosity forced himself up again. Cables and strands of rubble and junk lashed out of his body, anchoring to the ground and slowly hauling his frame back up. "No, n-n-not-not-not—" His words were cut short as something in his chest detonated, spewing out a plume of dark violet fire and greasy smoke, throwing him backward. A hastily-spawned spike of junk caught him, keeping him from flopping back down the ground.

One eye, glowing bright red, leered at the liberators. And in a voice filled with static, he barked one final statement at them. "Nebula...ain't done...yet!" And then there was nothing but fire and thunder, as the entire body of Metal Shark Player exploded.

The blast seemed to rock the entire island, and the entirety of the haze of disgusting smoke, oil and smog of the corrupted verse was blown away. Clear light shone down, distorted and tinged with purple it might have been, but it was sunlight still. The entire courtyard where the darkloid had been fought was little more than a crater, smoking and burning with huge plumes and pyres of dark violet flame.

With the aid of Blink's preparation, her and the fused entity of Proto Man and Cloud had managed to escape the blast, emerging mostly unharmed. Ears ringing from the sheer sound and force of it, but intact and alive. Their fourth ally had not fared so well.

Cole had indeed found an escape, tearing through the last few remaining scrap monsters to get to it. And while he had been working to blow it open and secure it as a quick escape route, Metal Shark Player had given up the ghost. And the gunman had taken the darkloid's last bite -- literally. One of the giant shark's many teeth had hit him, thrown like a bullet from the blast, tearing into and clean through one arm, pinning the severd appendage to the smoke-stained wall of the factory, beside the escape route he'd located. The man himself was still alive, though in clearly terrible shape, peppered in an array of other small chunks and flecks of shrapnel and still-smoking wreckage.

The most obvious thing was that became relevant was that not only had the air and light cleared, the oppressive nature of the corrupted pocket verse had weakened. The weight and suffocating presence, dampening and weakening the powers of those within it, was fading.

The next thing after that was the island still shaking and rumbling. And the sky getting progressively more and more dark and twisted. The light filtering through grew darker with it, taking on an ugly reddish-purple tinge. And from behind, there was a flickering light of purple fire. Vaguely humanoid in shape, with a gaping, shark-like maw filled of teeth, and red eyes leering angrily at the four heroes as it hovered over the remains of the battlefield; right in the center of the pocket verse. The gaping jaws spread wider, releasing a shrieking roar, as the ground under it started to dissolve and give way.

This pocket of Nebula space was collapsing, without the anchor point to sustain it.

And with that, Metal Shark Player is defeated! Blink, Cloud and Proto Man escape the resulting explosion with only the most superficial of injuries. Cole was not so lucky, and has lost an arm and otherwise been heavily damaged by shrapnel and debris; he's alive, but it will hamper his ability to fight and his efforts to escape.

The limits on your powers and moves have been lifted for this final round. And it has one simple objective: escape! The place is dissolving behind you, from the center outward, and falling apart in front of and around you. There are still a few of the remaining darklings that worked the factory left, and they will suicide themselves against you just to try and slow you down and let the destroying pcoket verse take you with it.

One post, up to 1000 words. Deadline is Tuesday, May 22, at 11:59 PM EST.

[Proto Man]

The Metal Shark Player was gone. Formerly a fearsome darkloid commander, the monstrosity had been humbled by the combined might of the four surviving Liberators. With the machine’s death, however, the entire verse had started to destabilize. In the aftermath of that first explosion, Blink and Proto Cloud found themselves quickly separated as what remained of the factory started to erupt—pieces of machinery and stockpiles of fuel and sundries exploding as they were torn apart and engulfed into the twisting nothing of the Void.

“Which direction is out?” Cloud spoke a loud as he rolled once before popping back up to a vertical position. He glanced back to where Blink should be but found no traces of her, even with his cybernetically augmented senses and scanners.

“Straight ahead,” Proto Man shouted from a few yards behind Cloud. The soldier furrowed his brow and glanced over his shoulder to see the preteen machine jogged to meet him. “What are you waiting for? Run!”

“What are you waiting for?”

“Cole. The gunslinger.”

“What about him?”

Proto Man craned his neck. With the pocket verse destabilized, his scanners had borderline rudimentary functionality. Even if they didn’t, he was certain he could somehow use the little piece of Liberator tech on his wrist to track down the gunslinger. Hacking wasn’t needed, because he had already managed to triangulate the whereabouts of their four ally, and something was off with it. “I think he’s hurt. He’s not moving fast enough. He needs help.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Not a chance,” Proto Man barked as he lifted his arm cannon and leveled it with the man’s chest. “Try and I will send you rocketing out of this verse without a second thought about it.”

Cloud, even though he couldn’t see through the android’s visor, knew well enough to just nod his head and resume his retreat back into the Omniverse proper. With the blonde soldier safe for the moment, Proto Man started running to the location of the fourth Liberator. As he had feared, he found Cole limping feverishly away from the ruins of the factory. The man’s left arm was extended behind his back, squeezing the trigger of his handgun in little more than a desperation attempt to stave off the surviving darklings.

Proto Man had two seconds to wonder where his friend’s other gun had gone, and then the preteen machine saw the bloody stump where Cole’s right arm had been. “Fiddlesticks,” the robot rasped as he sprinted forward. With a few bounding steps, he got next to the wounded Liberator, planted his feet, and released a spray of machine gun-style energy bursts from the Proto Buster. A few howls rose from the darkening wreckage behind them, but that couldn’t be the focus right now.

“Can you run?” The machine asked Cole, whose skin was nearly devoid of any color. Sweat and blood and grim covered most of the young man’s face, and his clothes had been reduced to tattered shreds that loosely clung to his form.

“I… I think I’m going to die here,” Cole whispered as he blinked to clear out the momentary haze. Behind them, he saw for the first time the revenant of the shark creature at the center of the verse. For the first time, Cole saw that the pocket verse was steadily collapsing into nothingness. “It’s getting faster… the collapse.”

“Oh, for the love of criminy, shut your mouth,” Proto Man groaned as he eyed the man’s stump. It was still bleeding, and in his initial stupor, Cole had been unable to treat it. “Hold still,” the machine whispered as he summoned an energy sword.

Had he been a little clearer of mind, there was a chance the gunslinger may have been able to react quicker. Instead, he barely managed a yelp as the preteen machine gently grazed his stump with the energy blade, cauterizing the exposed tissues and bone in a matter of moments. “Oh fu—”

“Language!” Proto Man barked as he deactivated the sword and stepped up into Cole. The man’s final syllable was lost to him as he was scooped off his feet and dumped over the shoulders of the child-sized robot. “I apologize if this wasn’t your image of a victorious withdrawal,” the robot added as he set his sights on the edge of the pocket verse and started to run. Unlike the battered Cole, Proto Man hadn’t lost many steps.

He only had to hope that he hadn’t lost too much time in going back to retrieve the young man.

757 words

[Blink]

When Blink appeared out of the last portal, she had thought that maybe something went wrong and she ended up in a new place again. She had scrambled forward, feeling weak after using so much of her already-limited power, and looked around to figure out her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that Proto Cloud, the combined fusion of the swordsman Cloud and the robot-boy Proto Man, was not with her anymore. The second thing was that the Nebula Verse around her seemed unstable, almost like it was glitching actively in front of her eyes. She was on a beach, at least that was what she assumed. It looked very similiar to the first beach she ended up on when she originally got into the crazy battles, but she could literally see the ruins of the factory she was just at from where she was standing. They were supposed to miles away from each other.

The next thing that Blink realized was that she felt a lot lighter. Previously it felt like gravity was much harsher while in the Nebula Verse, and so her teleportation energy was weighing her down and making it feel like she needed much more effort to even walk. But now, even after coming out of a series of portals and using as much of her power as she could, she still felt alright. Not a hundred percent, but whatever was restricting her mutations seemed to have disappeared.

That meant they were successful. It had to. With the Darkloid dead, the verse was coming apart. Which led to an important question: What now?

The sound of water splashing hit her pointed ears and she spun around to face the noise. Coming out of the ocean, which sparked purple lines of electricity, was a familiar sight. Three of the darkling pirates were scrambling towards her, as if they had just risen from the sea itself. What used to be a corrupt version of actual privateers now looked more like dead husks of darkness, moving entirely on their way with no thought behind it. They were so far gone into the darkchips they had used that there was no way actual people were in there anymore.

Blink zipped forward to meet them. She teleported right in front of the one in the middle and caught it off guard. When she slashed it with her dagger, she could feel its weakened state collapse immediately. These things were practically zombies. As that center one hit the sand with a single jade cut through its chest, the other two conversed on Blink. She threw a spinning roundhouse against one and connected with its head, using the momentum to jump into a fancy side-flip and land at a new, awkward angle for the other one. She slashed at that pirate husk through his neck and then turned to bring her other hand, now holding a similiar energetic green blade, down to stab the kicked creature in its chest.

These darklings were shadows of what they used to be. They were this world's last attempt at revenge against her and the other liberators.

She stood up as she thought about her fellow survivors. She was sure that Proto Man and Cloud, in their powerful state, were still alive. She hadn't seen Cole since he went to find an escape plan. "Alright, time to get out of here," she decided. She took one last look at the ocean, which continued to flicker in and out of whatever reality she was standing in, and then moved to travel inland again, after her friends.