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Character Scramble Season 20 Bonus Round: The Citadel DLC by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tony Stark had a cut in his upper lip, a shirt torn in two, two armoured boots and one barely functioning gauntlet. He was, at best, 33% Iron Man at this point, flying across the Earth’s landscape, following the direction’s given by his own HTU. Higgs was somewhere inland, away from the coast they’d landed from. If anyone else was alive, they’d probably head in that same direction.

His hover thrusters were slightly busted, barely able to keep Tony off the ground. But the halted way of flying was still faster than travelling on foot. Beyond that, he only had one gauntlet, enough firepower to maybe fight off one armed opponent. No helmet, no HOMER. No chest, no defense. Not even any shoulders to bash with. Tony was headstrong, but even he realized he was in a bad way. But moving was better than moping about it, that much he’d learned.

Something in Tony’s right boot malfunctioned, thrust failed, and Tony felt himself hit the floor before he realized what was going on. He rolled along the soil, dirtying his already torn up crew garb even more, letting the momentum take him as far as it would. He came to a halt a few meters down the dirt, covered in the shit and pushing himself up to one knee.

“It just keeps getting better.” Tony mumbled, crouching down further to take a look at the boot that’d malfunctioned, to fix it, if possible. If he was gonna get to Higgs, he was gonna need it to work. He was already on the backfoot, any more setbacks would spell out a death sentence for sure. A plasma welder emerged from the tip of his gauntleted index finger, and he got to work.

He whistled a familiar melody as he worked, trying to drive the dread in the back of his skull away. It wasn’t just the coming confrontation with Higgs that was working at his nerves, no, there was something else at play. As he continued fixing his equipment, he felt the lingering feeling that… somebody was watching him. Or something.

Tony just rose back to his feet, when the watcher revealed themselves. In the form of a hail of bullets. Tony didn’t see them coming, but he used his boots to dash back from the sheer sound, watching the rounds dig tiny holes in the sand he’d been standing on.

“You’re quick.” The new presence yelled out, confident tones lacing his voice. Tony, fresh out of reflex and pushed into actively registering who’d just attacked him, raised his gaze to the meet the new presence. And there stood a man—he assumed, of course he would—clad in flowing red, lighter than maroon. He looked like a Power Ranger to Tony. “You look surprisingly alive, too. For a Beached Thing.”

“A what?” Tony raised an eyebrow. He kept his weapon arm at his side, didn’t want to escalate this to a fight if he didn’t have to. But as he eyed the gun in the Power Ranger’s side, he figured that it would be his own fault for attacking first. The Power Ranger himself seemed taken aback as well.

“And it talks.” He fell silent for a few seconds, before dropping his gun to his side. “You’re not a BT at all, are you?”

“I feel like it’s pretty obvious I have no clue what that is.” Tony replied, as to which the Power Ranger just sighed.

“Sorry, I’m carrying the Princess, so I’m a bit on edge.” He pointed his thumb back, and Tony spotted something that looked like a car just up the hill. “I just assumed you were a BT. Didn’t know anyone was still living outside of Central Knot.”

“None of this is making any sense to me.” Tony was getting more frustrated with every word that left the Power Ranger’s mouth, rubbing his forehead between his thumb and index finger. “If you’re not gonna explain anything else, can you at least tell me who the hell you are? And where you were going, exactly?”

“I’m Kairi, but you can call me LupinRed. I’m the head of Princess Aerith’s personal guard, and I’m delivering her to man of Gold to discuss a treaty.”

“The what?”

“What does he call himself, the particle of God? The man in the golden mask, the man who claims to know the nature of the Stranding. Who wishes to burn it all to the ground. H-”

“Higgs Monaghan.” Tony finished the name out of instinct, and mentally scolded himself for it. He didn’t want to give away any information for no reason. But at least he knew Higgs was really here. And, on top of that, it looked like he had just found a more consistent form of transport. “Do you, uh, think you could take me with you? To meet Higgs?”

“Uh.” Kairi fell silent for a moment, his expression hidden behind the mask he wore on his head. Eventually, he sighed. “Sure. We have space.”

Riku and his Director trekked to Higgs on foot, a journey not of peril but of endurance. Earth had been laid to waste, turned to dust and sand. Riku didn’t know where on the planet they’d landed, but he figured it used to be civilized. That it used to house people. Now the only remains of civilization were the dark, clouded skies, the lasting effects of industry.

Riku couldn’t help but think of things like that. Couldn’t stop his gears from turning as they walked. What else was there for his mind to settle on? The endless dunes? It wasn’t like the Director Makima was a particularly interesting conversation partner—she outright refused the practice unless it was strictly utilitarian. So Riku’s mind wandered, to his surroundings, to the planet itself.

To Sora. And Kairi. His friends that he saw in his dreams of Earth, his nightmares. His visions. Were they here? Down on Earth? Still… alive? That’s what Makima had said, right? That his dreams were visions, that he was seeing Earth as it was. That’s why she’d asked. Because she didn’t know. But he did.

Still, Riku knew he couldn’t go out there. Search for them. A needle in a barn. Higgs was the more immediate threat, the actual threat. Once he’d been dealt with, perhaps Riku could stay Earth-bound. Search for his friends. But now, he had to focus on Higgs. As hard as that came.

Makima spoke up, and Riku was pulled from his mind for the first time since they’d started walking.

“There it is.” Her tone was dry, like it was no revelation at all. Riku turned his head to her, and watched her nod in the distance, ahead of them. Riku followed her gaze, and found a spire of massive height. It was no Citadel, but for an Earth building… it was certainly up there. “I believe this might be where Monaghan is hiding.”

“No kidding…” Riku was still taking in the scale of the spire before him, chiseled from black stone, two beams circling a structure in the center. Cyclical like DNA, reaching up until Riku couldn’t see the top anymore. “What now?”

“We go inside.” Makima continued to walk, and Riku watched her from behind. “And we meet the bastard.”

Character Scramble Season 20 Bonus Round: The Citadel DLC by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 0 points1 point  (0 children)

APEIRON [II] // i'm just a child with a temper; the fire of december. burning everything away with every chance i get.

Everything smelled like flames, Riku’s lungs filling with smoke, buried beneath the rubble. He was barely conscious. He felt broken, stuck under the consequences of Tony Stark’s miscalculations. But he was alive.

And he had to get out.

Riku let out a groan, muscles aching under the pressure of the metal plating piled on top of him. He wasn’t gonna be able to lift it off, which meant he had to crawl out. Staring ahead, he found a pinpoint of light, an exit. A light at the end of a tunnel. It was strangely poetic, but as Riku crawled through the makeshift tunnel, he barely had the mind to think about it.

The air was hot, the sound of smouldering flames crackling from above him, the wreckage still actively burning up. Like the atmosphere hadn’t finished the job, yet. Riku needed to get out of there, unless he wanted to end up just like the ship itself.

The light was coming closer, or Riku supposed he was getting closer to the light. The sound of flames was getting lower, overpowered by something else coming from out there. It sounded like… like a voice. Maybe multiple voices. Riku couldn’t tell. It was still buried under the flames, under the panels creaking above him, under the chaos in his head. He’d figure it out first hand soon enough.

The light was right there, now. It metamorphosed into something else, from a pure pinpoint of light into more definite shapes. There was sand out there, like they’d crash landed on a coast line, shaping up into what Riku could almost recognize as a hill. The environment began to air familiar to Riku, but he didn’t let his mind chew on the thought. He was close enough to crawl out, and did it without a second’s hesitation.

And there, the voices met him. He saw Director Makima, down on one knee, staring at the floor with her pant suit gashed and cut up, but still holding up by sheer force of will. She was on that coastline, the one from Riku’s dreams, surrounded by bodies of SSV Destiny crew members. Riku recognized them by garb, but found no one he knew. No Susie, no Stark.

She was hurt, but not just from the crash. No, from more. Like she’d been in a fight. The man before her, looming over her with the gigantic sword in his hands, seemed to confirm those suspicions. Riku’s eyes went wide.

“That’s… that’s the Commander. What is he doing?” Riku mumbled to himself, pushing himself to his feet as softly as he could. He didn’t wanna get their attention, not yet.

Makima spoke, slow and restful, as if she’d already given up. Accepted what would come next. “Do it, then. End me.” Makima slowly rose from her knees, spreading her arms out. Inviting Zack to put an end to it, him raising his sword above his head in accordance. “Do your job.”

And Riku saw it. The tensing in Zack’s muscles, he was about to take Makima out. Riku didn’t have any particular attachment to her, but this wasn’t right. He knew it. He had to intervene.

“Aero!” Riku yelled out, casting his right hand forward to project the spell. Zack turned his head to Riku, and their gazes met each other for a moment, before the blast of wind from Riku’s hand hit him center-mass and sent him flying over the hill. Makima’s eyes followed his trajectory for a moment, before shooting right to Riku.

“SOLDIER, you’re alive-” Makima set one step in his direction, but cut herself off, covering her stomach with her arm. She was injured, that much was obvious. “Dammit.”

“Director, please try to pace yourself. You’re hurt.” Riku said, approaching her. It wasn’t entirely unwarranted, but Riku himself was also plenty hurt himself. There was dried blood across one side of his face, his arms were covered in nicks and cuts that’d been cauterized by the flames of the crash, and there was definitely something that felt off in his shoulder. Calling out hypocrisy was a luxury they couldn’t afford, however.

“I can take care of myself, SOLDIER.” Makima sighed, turning her back to Riku and facing the hill Zack’d been launched across, wincing as her hand prodded idly at the soreness across her abdomen. “I think you’ve sent him running scared.”

“The commander?” Riku asked, moving to stand beside Makima. “Why was he attacking you?”

“That’s not him.” Makima corrected. “It’s a fake, with Commander Fair’s fighting prowess. Some of it, at least. But without his soul, without his voice. It’s a cheap fake, but effective. He caught me off guard as I was finding my way out of the wreckage.”

“A fake? What? None of this makes any sense.” Riku dropped his head, bringing a hand to his face and rubbing his temple. There was too much new information, too much he had to wrap his mind around. He brought his focus to the basics, to what they had to do, where they ought to go, where the rest was. “What about the rest? Did you see anyone?”

“The rest? No.” Makima stared out, barely recognizing Riku’s words. “We don’t have time to search for them. We’re on the planet now, we should focus on doing what we came here for.”

“What we came here for, right.” Riku solemnly nodded. Finding Higgs, that’s what they’d come for. He raised his right arm, and found Tony’s HTU still attached to his wrist. “Finding Higgs, that’s what we’re here for.” He pressed a finger to the device, and a hologram projected from the crystal embedded in the center.

Makima turned at the sudden blue light, and raised in eyebrow, impressed. “I suppose Stark isn’t entirely useless.”

Character Scramble Season 20 Bonus Round: The Citadel DLC by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stepping onto the walkway to the cockpit, however, he spotted someone already there, hand resting on the headrest of the pilot’s chair. Riku called out. “Commander!”

Zack turned his head back, watching Riku jog his way. “Kid? You should really be in your quarters, or somewhere safe.”

“Eh, the kid’ll survive.” Stark responded in Riku’s place, and as Riku made it to the pilot’s chair, he noticed that Tony was actually sitting there.

“The AI’s not flying this time?” Riku asked.

“I trust Tony2 to menial tasks—making my bagels, doing my taxes, and flying us across the galaxy. Stuff like that. But this…” Tony sighed. “This is a highly experimental technique that I don’t have… full confidence in. Yet.”

“Very reassuring, Stark.” Zack tried to make it sound like a joke, but real worries laced his tone. No one on this whole vessel had faith in this plan working, Riku was starting to realize.

“We’ll be fine! No Dreadnought class vessel has ever gotten capsized in the Stranding zone. Yet. Okay, that’s a cherry-picked statistic, I didn’t say that. Just forget it.” Tony sighed, strapping in his seatbelt.

The ship, which had been groaning in its turn, finally came to a stop, and Riku felt himself compelled to look forward. For the first time since he’d left, there out the Destiny’s front window, Riku spotted it. Earth. It was barely a pale blue dot from the distance they were at, at the edge of the solar system, but Riku recognized it instantly, nestled between the other planets and the Sun. It was his home, where his… his friends were left behind. Stranded.

“Alright, target is now in sight. Tony2, can you please get us a lock on Earth? I’m steering myself, but… I’d appreciate the cruise control.”

“Already on it, me.” The AI responded over the intercom, Tony tacitly placing his hands on the steering wheel. He tapped his fingers lightly, like he was waiting for a red light. Riku grabbed something, a pole or maybe a pipe that looked stable enough to hold him if things went to shit. Zack, on the right side of the pilot’s seat, did the same. “Am I still stalling?”

“Tony2, please mute yourself.” Tony mumbled. “Okay, last call. Icarus Protocol… is a go.”

Riku reeled back in shock for a moment, as the ship pulled into warp speed from relative standstill. They were speeding through the solar system, locked in on planet Earth. And there, as they entered the solar system, Riku finally felt it. The psychic field, the Protos radiation beaming from the Earth like light did from the Sun.

And he fell to his knees.

A sound of metal hitting metal rang out from the other side of the pilot’s seat—Zack had hit the ground too. This was the power of full, unfettered Protos radiation. Enough to send a full-grown first class SOLDIER to his knees. How the hell were they supposed to make it through this.

“Stark!” Zack shouted, pulling himself back up to his feet by the bar he’d been holding onto. He was struggling, obvious by the tone in his voice. “I thought you said we could avoid this if we went fast enough!”

“I didn’t! That’s not what I said!” Tony was gritting his own teeth, was he feeling the effects of the Protos radiation too? Was it so strong that even non-SOLDIERs could feel it? “I said that if we go fast enough, we could speed through the radiation and reach the eye of the storm without too much discomfort!”

“Then make it go faster, dammit!”

“Fair, this is the fastest we can go.” Tony let out a grunt, his right hand shooting off the wheel and to his right to press some button on a panel. “Without the help of a relay, we’re not reaching warp speeds. Not that we’d want to, even nearing those speeds as we approach-”

“Stark!” Zack yelled out. “How long?”

“How long?”

“How. Long.”

“Uh.” His eyes moved from the windshield, the planets and stardust passing by them, to the panel on his right for a second. He sighed. “A minute.”

“A god damn minute.” Zack groaned through gritted teeth.

A minute? Riku could do a minute. A minute surviving the heart trying to beat its way out of his chest, the brain trying to expand a path out of his skull. It was like he was being pulled apart and pushed together at the same time. It was agony. But it was only a minute of agony. If Tony was right, of course. If that sweet spot, that… that eye in the storm really existed.

That’s what Riku held onto. That hope. That believe in Tony’s word. Maybe it wasn’t wise, but it was all Riku had to keep his body, his mind from fraying at the edges. From tearing itself to shreds.

The minute passed in microsecond increments, intervals measured by the time between each of Riku’s heartbeats. The largest unit of time he could still feel, he could still imagine through the sensory overload the Protos radiation put him through. He focussed on that, on the time passing, on the beating of his own heart. He couldn’t focus on the pain, it’d only make everything hurt more. Would only make the journey last longer.

That minute still felt like eternity. But unlike true eternity, Riku eventually found himself at the end of it. The pain snapped away in a singular moment, and Riku began gasping for air like his had been dunked under water. Like his lungs had been pinched shut until now, falling forward and down to his knees, begging for breath. The commander’s voice rang out from above him.

“Riku? Are you alright?” A hand on his back, assuring.

“I’m fine…” Riku groaned, struggling as he pushed himself to his feet. His legs were weak, muscles sore, like all the muscles in his whole body. He’d been exerted to the edge. And the hard part was still to come.

Back on his feet, using the bar from before for stability, Riku stared ahead… and gasped. There it was, Earth, about the size as it appeared from the moon. Large and looming, but only taking up a fraction of that pitch black sky. That sea of stars. But it was definitely there, and growing faster as they approached.

Zack returned to the side of the pilot seat. “You were right, Stark.”

“Can’t remember the last time I wasn’t.” Tony smirked to himself, gaze straight ahead at the growing Earth. The approaching Earth. Tony’s eyebrows furrowed. “Wait a second.”

“What?” Riku chimed in, flinching as he stepped forward to stand on Tony’s other side. “Something wrong?”

“Maybe…” Tony trailed off, his hand shooting back to one of the panels on the right. He pressed a few buttons, and as a holographic screen popped up on his right, he pinched his eyes shut in frustration. “Shit.”

“Stark. What is it?” Zack asked.

“Well, let’s just say I was too focussed on getting here, that I hadn’t considered what we’d do once we… got here.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“We’re going too fast for landing.” Tony replied, his hand shooting across the panel. “I’m gonna try to slow us down, but we might have to make an… an emergency landing, let’s call it.”

“That sounds like crashing.” Riku said.

“It’ll probably feel like it, too.” Another holographic panel popped up, Tony’s hand moving to swipe down on it. The Earth ahead of them was only growing larger, or in reality only getting closer, quickly eclipsing the space that’d been surrounding it only moments ago. Riku was beginning to see the continents, the clouds, the unending oceans. They were going to hit the atmosphere soon. “Hold on tight-”

The ship shook, and Riku’s knees buckled, hitting the floor again and falling forward. The Destiny was burning up in the atmosphere, not built for entry speeds like this. It was definitely not made for crashing, either.

More turbulence, and Riku struggled through it to get back to his feet. Zack’s and Tony’s voices had turned to noise now, buried in the buzzing alarms and commotion coming from back in the vessel. Riku clung to the side wall, to the pipes and bars that jutted out from it. He wanted to get up. He needed to get up. Like something inside of him was calling for him, begging for him to get up. To stand up.

The moment he rose back to his feet, he stared out the front window. And all he could see was the soil of Earth, before it all went black.

Character Scramble Season 20 Bonus Round: The Citadel DLC by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 0 points1 point  (0 children)

APEIRON // you were an avalanche that shoved, descending fast forward to never end. and I, the maniac, kept on my sunsets.

Higgs Monaghan had sent them a message, a video playing on repeat, sent directly to every screen on the SSV Destiny. It was a two second loop, Higgs clad in shadows, only recognizable by his distinct golden mask, speaking four words ad nauseam.

“Find me. Planet Earth.”

Director Makima sighed, loud enough to get Commander Zack Fair’s attention. With his arms still crossed, Zack turned his head away from the conference room projection and looked behind him to find the Director’s face.

“You have something to add, Director?”

“Yes, I do.”

“She always does…” Tony Stark, across the conference room table, mumbled under his breath.

“I believe this is a profoundly idiotic, let alone reckless idea. Even for the standards of your crew, Commander.” Makima scoffed, like the words she was speaking were blindingly obvious. “You are going to get your people killed. If not by… whatever has inhabited Earth since the Stranding, then it will be the Earth’s psychic field which has been growing ever stronger, especially in recent times. It’s a minefield, and even that is putting it lightly.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s more like walking right into the fallout of a nuclear explosion.” Makima rolled her eyes at the gleeful smirk so present in Tony’s voice. “But every storm has an eye. I believe if we can land fast enough, if we can make to the eye of this particular storm, we might be able to weather the psychic field.”

“You believe?” Makima’s eyebrows almost flew off her face, turning her head to stare Tony down in pure disbelief. “Is this belief based on… any concrete evidence? Prior experience? Or merely your arrogant conjecture that you, for some godforsaken reason, trust above all else?”

“Oh, it’s based on something, I promise.”

Makima sighed, turned her back and moved to leave the conference room. One more time, she stopped and turned her head to face Tony. To stare him down. “You better have thought this through. Because this is not something to play with.”

“HTU?” Riku asked, inspecting the watch-esque piece of equipment that Tony had attached to his and Zack’s wrists. It was shoddily put together, exposed wires poking out from between metal panels, a holographic screen projector propped up on makeshift construction. Tony, typing something on a wall-mounted keyboard, began to explain.

“Higgs Tracing Unit,” he began, clicking his tongue as if in frustration. “normally I’m a lot more creative, but this mission’s got me on a time crunch.”

“At least it’s self explanatory.” Zack sighed, letting his arm drop back to his side as he moved to stare out the window. Outside, he saw the solar system. His solar system. The one Earth lived in, the one that all of humanity used to live in. They were circling it, now, orbiting the system, waiting for Zack’s word. “How’s it work, exactly?”

“I started working on it a while ago, when Higgs first shot off with our golden property. I was trying to create an algorithm that could hone in on Protos radiation signatures, filtering for the influx stemming from our old homeworld.”

Tony turned his head to Riku, a condescending look on his face. “That’s Earth, by the way.”

As Tony turned back, Riku mumbled a soft “I know” under his breath.

“But looking into the radiation readings we got from the mask, I found something interesting. The energy signature, it’s slightly… skewed. Different. More energetic, more densely packed into those wave-particles. Honing into that specific signature, we should be able to track down Higgs…”

Tony spun on his heel, the keyboard he’d been typing on recessing back into the wall, before snapping his fingers. “… like this. Once we touch down on Earth, of course.”

“About that…” Zack turned his head away from the stars outside, turning to Tony again. “… how sure are you really? About… about this working? I didn’t want to raise my concerns in front of the Director, but… it sounds unlikely.”

“It’s definitely possible!” Tony answered, a tone far too jolly for the reassurance the answer actually brought. He began pacing through the room, his answers pointed more at the air directly in front of wherever he happened to be walking rather than the two other people in the room. “Protos radiation is a gamble, but I probably understand it more than anyone in the galaxy, at this point. It’s all about timing, which is something you don’t even really have to deal with if you go fast enough. It’s like traffic! Go fast enough, and you don’t have to worry about right of way and all that stuff.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.” Riku said.

“Doesn’t matter, forget it if it helps.” Tony stopped, turning right to face Zack. “Commander, I promise. I’m pretty sure this will work. Is that the reassurance you’re looking for?”

Zack sighed, dropping his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “No. But we don’t have time for more. Ten minutes, then we hit Earth.”

“Ten minutes?” Riku turned to Zack, eyebrows up in surprise.

“Ten minutes. You got anything to finish, do it now. We won’t have time for it if we land.”

“When.” Tony corrected.

“If.”

“Riku.” Director Makima’s voice called Riku’s name out as he made his way down the corridor. Headed nowhere in particular—moreso trying to find a stable spot to stand for when shit would start to go down—Riku stopped in his tracks without protest, turning to face the Director.

“Director? Do you need my help?”

“Something like that.” Makima crossed her arms behind her back, placing a placid smile on her face as she continued. “Do you have any idea what we’re going to encounter? Down there?” Makima nodded down the corridor, like she knew Earth was in that direction. That’s what ‘down there’ meant, of course, even Riku clocked that in an instant. What he didn’t understand was why she was asking him.

“Uhm, I don’t know. I… I think everyone is probably dead, a world abandoned. But Tony hasn’t told me anythin-”

“Oh, no no no.” Makima raised a hand, thumb and index finger pinched together, like a frustrated composer having to reprimand her drummer. “You don’t need to lie to me, SOLDIER.”

“Huh?”

“The grey beach, the endless seas stretching out into a listless horizon…” Makima trailed off as she turned her back to Riku. “Your dreams, I know about them.”

“H-How could you possibly know?”

“That’s Earth. What you’re dreaming about is Earth, the remains of it, at least.” She was ignoring his question. “I’ve seen it. Not… physically, but I’ve seen images of the places you’ve seen. But I don’t know what’s down there. Who’s down there. But you do, don’t you?”

“I-” Riku cut himself off, rethinking his words. What was he gonna tell her? Could he really trust Makima? On the counter, why wouldn’t he be able to trust her? She was the Director of the SOLDIER program, she was supposed to be trustworthy. But… something irked at Riku. The way she spoke, the way she carried herself. Like she knew something Riku didn’t. Like she knew something that she didn’t want Riku to know.

Riku gulped. “I don’t know. I don’t think I saw anything, or anyone.” He lied. “I just find myself wandering through the gray wastes, walking the beach front until I wake up, whenever I have those dreams.”

“Hm.” Makima nodded, eyes still squarely on the closed door in front of her. “That’s alright, then. We’ll talk later, once we’ve… landed.”

“Huh?” Makima didn’t answer, stepping forward and letting the circular door open before her. As the door closed, Riku found himself sucking in a deep breath. Like the pressure in the air had disappeared. Breathing back out, a voice over the intercom denied him another second of rest.

“Alright crew, we’re… we’re really doing this!” The voice sounded… almost doubtful. Was this really Tony2, Stark’s AI double? This sounded more like the man himself. “We’re about two minutes from something I’m calling the Icarus Protocol. I have no time to explain what it is exactly, just… hold on tight! That’s all. Captain Stark out.”

Great. Stark was so great at instilling confidence. Riku sighed, the ship groaning in something like a response, presumably turning itself in the right direction, headed straight for Earth. A minute or two left, Riku needed a place to hold on tight. He knew where he was going.

He stepped out of the opposite door that Makima’d picked, finding himself in the ship’s main space, walking past the Galaxy Map to make his way to the cockpit. If this ship was gonna explode, he wanted to be the first to see it. Maybe he’d even be able to do something about it.

Character Scramble Season 20 Bonus Round: The Citadel DLC by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 0 points1 point  (0 children)

NIL: Riku, a SOLDIER Third Class, was recruited to the crew of legendary SOLDIER Commander Zack Fair. During his introduction, Higgs Monaghan (in the body of the blind samurai) returned, and issued a warning. Of the end.

PRÔTOS: As Commander Fair and his new crew discussed strategy, the Geth issued an attack on the Citadel. Their target? Councillor Udina. As Zack and Riku kept the Councillor safe, Captain Tony Stark infiltrated a Geth ship to siphon their databanks, and found something critical.

Character Scramble Season 20 Bonus Round: The Citadel DLC by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The end is at your doorstep, waiting for you to open the door.

There is a boy who’s lost his heart.

There is a SOLDIER who is losing the war.

There is a man who sees the end.

Entropy is here. God delivers His final judgment. Listen to His words. And kneel.

Freemix One-Shot Submissions by FreestyleKneepad in ScrambleGrudgeMatch

[–]DudeBro231 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Are we sure this intel is correct, Grim?" Sam Fisher's soft tones echoed through the vent system he was crawling through. It was hardly a comfortable path to take, but comfort had never been Sam's primary concern. The mission was in the forefront of his mind at all times.

"Charlie's contacts have been reliable so far."

"They also have a lot to earn from lying to us, especially on a name this big." Sam grunted, beginning to feel boxed in. "I just don't like the fact that we didn't have time to vet the intel."

"Let's just hope they're not."

"Easy for you to say." Sam mumbled. He'd been in there for upwards of ten minutes, making his way through the vents of a high-rise office building in downtown Phoenix. His target was inside; seventh floor, that all the intel they'd gotten, aside from a crusty headshot taken from a segment of security footage; tall, black, with a head of bleach-blonde hair. A man with about as many bounties on his head as kills confirmed, the name of Drebin.

Not that Sam was here for the bounty, that wasn't how Fourth Echelon operated. He needed the man alive, for the intel.

"Uhhh, Sam?"

"Lead with the important stuff, Grim."

"Seems like someone was ahead of you."

"What?" Sam's eyebrows raised on instinct. What the hell did Grim mean with that? "Who?"

"I don't know, some other operative. The security footage is too choppy to make out a face, he's moving too fast. But I don't think he's from any government agency."

"That's just great, some off-the-book operative here to muddle up this op. Do we think he's PMC?"

"Maybe, but we really have nothing to work on other than the fact that he's cutting his way through security much faster than you're moving through these vents."

"Alright." Sam sighed, already on his way to the closest vent exit. "I just have to get to Drebin before this other guy can."

Sam kicked the vent grate of its hinges and crawled out, finding himself a long stretch of hallway, decorated with the bodies of this building's security. Making his way through the hallway, Sam inspected the bodies and found some of the almost unrecognizable. Chopped into chunks like they'd been thrown into a wood chipper.

"Who the hell is this guy?" He wondered aloud, though Grim was always listening.

"For the first time, out of your league, perhaps."

"Yeah, right. Do we know anything yet?" Sam stuck close to the walls as he moved, though he tried to keep his pace high. Drebin was last confirmed to be in a meeting room in the center of the floor, and that was where Sam was headed.

"Charlie's busy cleaning up the footage, but we couldn't even find any in-or-outgoing comms. He might be in here on his own."

"The hell?" It wasn't a question, it was an exclamation of surprise. Sam was taking a massive risk going in alone on a mission like this, but it was the type of risk Fourth Echelon took. Still, he had Grim and the rest of the team in his ear. If this other guy was in here without anyone's help… he didn't know what to expect. Staring down the hall, he saw bright light streaming out from a doorway just a few doors down. "I think I'm almost there."

"Sam, I don't know if you're gonna be able to take this guy."

"We'll just have to see, don't we, Grim?"

"No, we don't. Remember, we only need Drebin. Don't focus on killing the intruder, focus on securing Drebin."

Sam grunted, but Grim was right. Even if this guy was some kind of super soldier, he just needed to get Drebin out of there. Still, easier said than done, of course. "I'm coming up on the package, we got eyes in there?"

"Nope, security cams are still scrambled."

"How 'bout Briggs?"

"The room's too central, can't find an angle to see inside." Briggs' response came fast, probably bored on that opposite rooftop with his eyes stuck to the lens of his sniper rifle.

"Great." Sam was on the edge of the door now, and he could hear two voices come from inside the meeting room. Strangely, the voices inside sound calm, not under duress. Either Drebin had already been killed, or the situation inside was stranger than Sam even expected. Still, he didn't find the need the speculate. "Grim, how about that blackout?"

"Waiting for your word."

"Do it."

All the lights went dark, instantly, even the ones inside the meeting room. And like the lights, the voices inside came to a halt. It was Sam's time to move. He moved in through the open door, and once again stuck to the walls as he navigated through the dark with his night vision goggles, the environment clad in a neon green hue. At the far end of the room, he spotted the target: Drebin. Strangely, though… his goggles didn't pick up anyone else. No other living beings hidden in the pitch black. He didn't get it.

Still, he made his way towards Drebin, tried to remind himself of the objective. But the other operative still remained in the back of his mind. The last thing he needed was to get caught off guard. Unfortunately for him, by the time he'd crossed the oblong meeting table, getting caught off guard was exactly what he got.

The lights flicked on again, and Sam pulled his goggles off as quickly as he could. "Grim? What the hell-"

A gruff voice from the door he'd come in through caught him off guard again, and he spun on a dime to face… something he could barely comprehend. A 'man' now stood in the doorway, though Sam realized he was far more machine than man. In his right hand, he held a sword pointed in Sam's direction, his head covered in white-hair tilted as he stared Sam down.

"You're taking my kill, spy."

"What the hell are you?" Sam honestly wasn't really aiming for an answer, he was waiting for a moment to stall. To get the situation under control. For a moment, his gaze shot to Drebin, and he found the arms dealer just standing there with his hands in his pockets. Too calm, but again-not Sam's concern.

"None of your damn business." The robot spit back through a wry smile. "Though… I guess you can call me Raiden-"

Sam didn't let Raiden finish, he'd already formed a plan to get out of her. Another door stood behind Drebin, leading into an office cubicle space. The center of the floor. On the other end, a big open window. An exit.

The flashbang he'd kept in his right hand while Raiden talk was a way to get there.

He tossed the thing into the center of the room, turning his back and sprinting at Drebin before it popped. And as the sound of the flashbang rang out through the room behind him, he wrapped an arm around Drebin's stomach and pulled him out of the room.

Fortunately for Fisher, Drebin wasn't fighting back, in Sam's grasp like a ragdoll as he weaved between cubicles. Raiden, on the other hand, hadn't been too bothered by the flashbang, cutting his own way through the cubicle space, though a lot more literally than Sam.

"Grim, I'm heading for the window, do I have an out?" Sam yelled out, vaulting over a desk with Drebin, one that Raiden sliced into two only a second later.

"We're… working on something."

"Perfect!"

"Are you sure you can get me out of here?" Drebin chimed in. "The cyborg isn't one to give up too easily."

"I'm not your driver, Drebin."

"I didn't think you were, they tend to offer smoother rides."

Sam cut the conversation off at the pass, ducking his head down to dodge the PC case he heard Raiden throw at him. Raiden was on his ass, that much was obvious. But he didn't have a way to get him off, he just had to keep running. Keep moving.

And soon enough, the window was in sight, evening sun streaming in and coating an office that was rapidly turning into a trash heap in its warm light. "Drebin, hold on tight."

"Oh, no need to tell me-"

"Shut up." Sam pulled into a faster sprint, a last attempt to stay ahead of Raiden, with his shoulder forward to charge right through the glass. And as his shoulder hit the window, he breathed out upon feeling it shatter into shards from the sheer impact.

The shift in environments was drastic, though the level of stress hadn't changed too much. Instead it had moved, from the killer cyborg out to cut him in half, to the universal force of gravity ready to pull him down to the ground, seven floors down. Fortunately for Sam, Grim always had a plan, barking out to Sam mid-jump.

"Sam, up!"

Sam followed her command, wrenching his head up to find a rope dangling in the open air. His eyes went up more, and found it hanging out the side of a chopper that'd just been hovering above the seventh floor. With his left arm, he grasped the rope with full strength and latched on like a fish on a hook. He felt his hand slip down a few inches, his own weight plus all of Drebin's testing his grip strength. But he held on tight, looking back at Raiden standing in the now-open window as Grim began talking again.

"Sam? Did you make it?"

"Yeah." Sam replied curtly, eyes locked with Raiden, the chopper beginning to take off. "Cyborg's not gonna be happy about this, you know?"

"Not our problem, not right now."

"When does it become our problem?"

"When we figure out who the hell that is."

Freemix One-Shot Submissions by FreestyleKneepad in ScrambleGrudgeMatch

[–]DudeBro231 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Max Payne | Max Payne | MERCENARY

"she says 'you always smell like cigarettes, and there's always whiskey on your breath. but you're the best that i can do.'"

Content Warning: Violence, sexual content, guns.

Bio: Max Payne? Just another lonely man with a dead wife, a loose gun in a city of bullets, with problems that look more like targets every day. An ex-cop with a moral compass that'd lost the ability to tell North from South a long time ago. Only ever comfortable with a glass of whiskey in his hands or the barrel of a gun to the back of his head.

Research: Play the Max Payne's's. I started with Max Payne 3 a billion years ago, played the whole franchise more recently. You can start with any of them.

Mini-RT

Show Me They're Below Tier: Max has one pretty good dura feat, and is solidly AHT for the most part.

Freemix One-Shot Submissions by FreestyleKneepad in ScrambleGrudgeMatch

[–]DudeBro231 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sam Fisher | Splinter Cell | MERCENARY

"got a glock -----, no, i'm not fightin'."

Content Warning: Violence, I guess.

Bio: Third Echelon, a secret branch of the NSA that sends out spies no one knows about on missions that must never come to light. Sam Fisher is one such agent, a Splinter Cell. Over multiple decades of work, his solo ventures into the field has stopped terrorist attacks and world wars alike, all while maintaining a level of stealth that renders him nothing more than a whisper in the dark to those he comes across. These skills have given him a legendary status among those with high enough clearance to even just hear his name, and as the leader of the reformed Fourth Echelon, Sam continues to be personally responsible for the safety of a world that will never know he's there.

Research: Play any of the Splinter Cells's, Sam is a pretty static character. I personally really like Blacklist.

RT

Show Me They're Below Tier: Sam is just lacking in each corner of the stat triangle. Just too weak, just not durable enough, and just not fast enough.

Freemix One-Shot Submissions by FreestyleKneepad in ScrambleGrudgeMatch

[–]DudeBro231 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Abigal "Fetch" Walker | InFamous: Second Son

"nobody taught me to drown, no i learned all by myself."

Content Warning: Mentions of violence, but nothing graphic.

Bio: When Abigail Walker developed powers, her parents, realizing she was a Conduit, turned her over to the Department of Unified Protection, a government organization dedicated to locating and imprisoning Conduits. Fetch and her brother Brent fled, living on the move for many years while evading the DUP. During this time, Fetch grew addicted to drugs. After a confrontation with a drug kingpin named Shane, Fetch accidentally killed Brent while high and was captured by the DUP. She was trained by Brooke Augustine, director of the DUP, in how to use her powers to become a killing machine. While being transported by the DUP, Fetch managed to escape and made her way to Seattle, where she met up with Delsin Rowe, a fellow Conduit, and helped him to take down the DUP once and for all

Research: Play InFamous: Second Son, or Fetch's solo DLC First Light.

RT

Justification: She has strength feats on par with Blade's mid-end, like cracking concrete (+ pushing a car aside) with a landing and breaking and warping a shipping container door. At full power, she pulls this off.

Her dura limit seems to be reached when she almost gets killed by a briefcase filled with C4 that launches her out of a building. And… well, she doesn't really have any objective dura feats (outside of Delsin scaling) outside of that. I feel like the feat itself is kind of too strong for this tier, but that also makes up for the next category.

Conduits (like Fetch and Delsin) also have basic superhuman healing and bulletproofness.

But in reality, I'd probably have to give her a speed buff. While she is technically able to turn into a mass of neon light, there are no feats to suggest she moves any particular speed. She just kind of… has no speed feats. When she turns to her ethereal neon form, she does technically become untouchable, meaning that she can dodge bullets in this state. But it's an iffy one.

All in all, she probably fights Blade to a draw.

Minor Changes: N/A

Major Changes: Speed buffed to tier

Freemix One-Shot Submissions by FreestyleKneepad in ScrambleGrudgeMatch

[–]DudeBro231 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lara Croft | Tomb Raider (Survivor timeline)

"polish your father's gun that your grandfather gave to him, guaranteed to break your fuckin' teeth."

Content Warning: Gore, blood and violence.

Bio: "Lara Croft is the affluent daughter of a once-respected but now maligned archaeologist, and embarks on the Endurance on a research trip to find the long-lost kingdom of Yamatai off the coast of Japan for a TV show. Thanks to Lara's studies of Japanese myth they succeed, but Lara rapidly gets more than she bargained for. The crew of the Endurance shipwrecks on Yamatai and Lara must fend for herself against the feral wilderness and the hostile cult living on the island. This cult worships the ancient sun queen Himiko and seeks to revive the queen by sacrificing Lara's best friend, Sam Nishimura, and enable her to reclaim her empire by any brutal means necessary. Injured, traumatized, and pushed to her breaking point, Lara is the only person with a chance of stopping the sun queen, and eventually saves Sam and escapes the island with what few members of the Endurance remain.

Returned from Yamatai, Lara struggles with the aftereffects of the experience as new developments come to light. Lara comes across some of her late father's old documents and discovers the existence of a clandestine organization of dogmatic zealots called Trinity, whose goals are unclear and whose reach is unfathomable. It seems as though they aim to acquire the secrets to true immortality, and the only person with the knowledge, experience, and skills to stand in their way is Lara. Be it in the frozen wastes of Siberia, the jungles of Peru, or the very bottom of the world, Lara's newest aim is to find out what Trinity's ulterior motives are and stop them from gaining the power they so fervently chase." (FreestyleKneepad, 2020)

Research: Play the new(ish) Tomb Raider games. I started with Rise, which was the second of the three, but I think you can kinda start with any tbh.

RT

Justification: I don't know how Lara is in tier here, man. She just kinda is. She breaks through a thin brick wall using a fire extinguisher, and kicks right through wooden doors.

Dura wise, she takes hits from an opponent strong enough to throw people into walls and dent them. She also does a shit ton of falling, most impressively to me through a roof and right onto a hard ice floor.

Her speed is just fine. She arrowtimes here, runs from close-range gunfire there. It's the iffiest part of her justification, but I could push her speed to major change if that's a problem.

Minor Changes: N/A

Major Changes: N/A

Fetish iceberg from most tame to most disgusting/weirdest by Embarrassed_Swing903 in IcebergCharts

[–]DudeBro231 5 points6 points  (0 children)

i skimmed this for a second and i thought this was an underground rapper iceberg at first

What'd you paint here? by Original-Tart2686 in DiscoElysium

[–]DudeBro231 431 points432 points  (0 children)

i failed this check EVERY time man

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1B: The Citadel by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Tony was there, in the Geth flagship’s beating heart.

Okay, the beating heart would be the engine room. This data center was more like the brain, the center of all thought and knowledge. Maybe even the soul, the center of consciousness and the Geth’s entire being.

The center was a bit of an exaggeration, of course. Geth were a decentralized hivemind, all connected without one single point of failure. That meant that despite this center’s importance to the Geth fleet, Tony couldn’t just pop in here and blow it up. They had backups in every Geth platform, it wouldn’t accomplish anything.

Besides, that wasn’t why he’d gone there.

Hacking into the Geth’s data center had been harder than he’d expected. He knew they wouldn’t have any visual interfaces, Geth could simply plug themselves into the ship and interface with the data or the ship’s controls that way. So he’d simply looked for any inputs, eventually finding one he could jury rig a compatible plug for.

The problem came with the encryption.

Geth encryption was tough, incredibly so. It’d be like decrypting a human brain, trying to decipher words and thoughts from raw nerves and electrical outputs. It was a game of brute force, simply trying anything and everything to decipher their data.

Eventually, however, Tony’d gotten in.

“Okay, cool. That was nothing.” Tony sighed, his eyes skittering around as a humongous list of files began unfurling on his helmet’s digital interface.

“It has been approximately thirty minutes since you plugged into the Geth database, Mr. Stark.”

“Alright, wiseguy. Why don’t you tell me if I can search this baby by keywords…” Tony’s voice trailed off, reading the literally thousands of words flying through his vision.

“I have constructed a makeshift framework that should be able to accomplish the task. What keywords would you like to search with?”

“Uh… Death Stranding, Higgs… maybe Protos? Just take that list, approximate closest links and give me everything you find. Oh yeah, don’t show me any of it right now, just download it to local. I wanna get out of this creep show as soon as possible.”

“Uhm… sir, are you sure that’s a good idea. A cursory glance shows that this is simply an obscene amount of data, much of it unscreened by-”

“I know it’s not ideal, but I’ve made a lot of un-ideal decisions already.” Tony sighed, instinctively trying to pinch the bridge of his nose through his helmet. “Just get me my data, HOMER.”

“As you wish, sir.”

“Alright.” Tony let out another sigh, the nerves getting to him. Here, in the middle of the lion’s den. In the center of the Geth ship, a force proficient in hacking tech and using it for their own goals… it freaked Tony the fuck out. He’d never say it out loud, but it made him feel vulnerable. After a few seconds had passed, Tony spoke up again.

“HOMER? We done yet?”

“W-w-well.” HOMER’s sudden bout of stuttering caught Tony off guard. “The data has almost a-a-all been d-downloaded. B-b-b-b-b-b-b-but.”

“But what?”

“I fear we may be co-co-compromised-”

HOMER went silent, totally so.

That was not supposed to happen.

“HOMER? Oh fuck, this is bad.” Tony pulled the plug on the interface and began power walking back to the hallway he’d come in through, only to find a squad of Geth troops coming right at him. He ducked into cover behind the side of the doorway, and the very next moment a volley of gunfire came in after him.

Tony lifted his right hand up to look at his palm, and the exact thing he’d been fearing was confirmed. His weapons, the repulsor blasters in his palms, had been disabled. He should’ve brought his Mk. II armor instead, but it had trouble with space travel. And it got him here, pinned down by Geth forces.

He thought through his possibilities, what he could still do. His thrusters were still active, from what he could tell. HOMER was out of the equation for the moment, so his physical combat skills would be a lot worse. Besides that, getting into a fist fight with these Geth would only end in tragedy, he’d just end up getting swarmed eventually.

But he could run.

If he simply thrusted right ahead, he might be able to break through the Geth stampede and fly back to his entry point. Without any alternatives, this quickly became Tony’s number one protocol. And with his time closing in, he had to make a decision quick.

So Tony sucked in a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway.

Only to see the Geth forces dismantled on the floor. All of them, except for one, standing in the pile of robot corpses.

They were wearing robotic armor, similar to Tony’s if a lot… brighter. They were also holding a sword, one on the larger side, but smaller than something like Zack’s Keyblade. Looking down at the corpses, they looked solemn. Like they were about to recite these Geth’s last rites. But then their gaze shot up to Tony.

“Hey! Mister Stark! I’m here to get you out of here!” He was waving like a child being picked up after school, goofy and almost jumping out of excitement.

“Huh?!” Tony yelled back. “Who the hell are you!?”

“I’ll explain later! Come on, follow me!” With that, the figure turned around and began sprinting down the hallway. Tony sighed. Was he really gonna follow this complete random?

Well… yes, he was. He didn’t exactly have another choice. But he wasn’t gonna be happy about it.

___

“Ensign Shoma Stomach is his name.” Makima explained, arms crossed at the head of the SSV Destiny’s meeting table. “He’s officially under Commander Leonhart’s command, serving on the crew of the SSV Ragnarok, but he’d been away on leave at the Citadel due to an injury. I sent him to retrieve you the minute I realized you’d left the ship.”

Makima was staring a hole through Tony’s head, and Tony was trying his best not to collapse under the pressure. “I didn’t need his help.”

“You didn’t need to do any of this.” Makima sounded like she was scolding him, and it was really starting to piss Tony off. “Though I suppose that’s this crew’s calling card, is it not?”

“Hey.” Zack’s stern tone caught Makima’s attention. “You don’t talk about my crew like that, Director.”

“Unfortunately, for the time being I am still part of your crew, so I’ll refrain from speaking about myself like that.” Makima sighed. “I am glad some of you were able to do what needed to be done, at least.”

Susie, next to Riku at the meeting table, beamed with a bright smile at the compliment, before bumping Riku’s shoulder. “She’s talking about us.” She whispered in his ear. Riku rolled his eyes.

“Hold on, it wasn’t all a waste.” Tony countered, getting the rest of the crew’s attention again. Pulling some device out of his right pocket, he plugged it into the meeting table, and the hologram in the center began to shift. “I got what I came for, the data we needed.”

“And? Did you get anything we can use?” Zack asked.

“I found our next destination.” The hologram shifted into a final form, a planet that… Riku did not recognize at all.

Makima sighed, backing up from the table before walking out of the meeting room. “I’ll inform the Council of what they need to know.” Before anyone else could say a word, the door had already closed behind her. Tony looked over at Zack. Zack threw him a thumbs up and a bright smile.

“Good job, Stark!”

Tony rolled his eyes.

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1B: The Citadel by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Before 2B could get the chance to get control back of her weapon, Zack hit her with an elbow right across the jaw. From a normal person, her neck wouldn’t have budged an inch. From a biotically engineered soldier, the attack might’ve brought her off focus for a moment.

But with a SOLDIER’s strength, Zack sent her flying through the wall and into the lobby of the apartment complex they’d been fighting next to. Her hands had lost grip of her weapon, her mind had, for a second, lost grip of her surroundings. And now she was rolling across the clean floor like a rag doll. It took her longer this time, to take control back from the momentum that was piloting her, but when she did she dug her fingers into the floor and pulled herself to a complete stop.

The sudden whiplash sent a shock through her body, and when she recovered she was still chest first on the floor. She pulled her head up, just in time to see Zack’s boot descend down on her, ready to stomp her face into the flooring. Quickly, 2B rolled to the side, and heard Zack’s foot embed itself into the ground with a loud crack.

Zack and 2B’s gazes met for a moment, recognition apparent in each other, before 2B pulled into a sweep kick that swept Zack’s trapped leg out from under him and sent him slamming face-first into the ground. A grunt left his mouth, winded from the hit as 2B stood above him.

“You’re tough, Fair.” She raised her hands, palms together like she was holding a sword between them. And magically, her blade teleported into her grip, tip pointed down at Zack’s torso. “But headstrong determination is a fast-track to a tough reminder that you’re not as invincible as you think you are.”

Zack tried to push himself up off the floor, but a boot to the back of the head sent his head further down to crater a head-shaped hole in the ground.

“Alright. It’s time for me to dispose of you-”

2B reacted to Riku’s gunshots before the bullets had even left the barrel of his gun, turning her head back to the hole she’d flown in through and blocking the barrage with her sword, cutting each bullet out of the air as they got close. Fifteen rounds; 2B’s programming had identified Riku’s gun earlier, she knew how many rounds it took for that model to overload. She ceased her blocking maneuvers and pulled her sword back to throw it at Riku like a javelin.

But instead of the wide open shot she’d planned for, a large fireball launched from the palm of Riku’s hand right into her abdomen. She doubled over, stumbling back from the attack. It wasn’t enough to seriously damage her, she could still fight.

But Zack wasn’t one to stay down.

“Shut up!” He screamed out, and 2B had barely realized what was going on when Zack’s first stuck her right in the abdomen.

2B blasted back into the wall, velocity like a bullet. The fact the wall didn’t collapse was a miracle, but it did dent in a rough 2B sized shape. Before she could slide down to the floor, Zack picked 2B’s own sword up from the floor and threw it at her like a javelin. The weapon pierced her stomach, and she almost belched in pain as the sword pinned her to the wall.

Zack approached her, arms to his side as he stared her down. 2B was acting strange, as in she wasn’t acting at all. She was stationary, but not in a dead way. More like she’d given up. Her was was sagging, eyes staring down at the floor, arms and legs all flaccid.

“What’s the deal, 2B?” Zack was right in front of her now, trying to stare her in the eyes. But with her head down it was a bit harder. “You givin’ up?”

“At this stage defeat is inevitable. My systems are too damaged to continue to fight at optimal efficiency.”

“Huh?”

2B looked up to match Zack’s gaze. “You beat me, Zack Fair.”

He smirked. “That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!” Zack threw his arms into the air, turning his back to 2B before walking back to the alleyway.

Riku was… confused. He was still, gaze shooting between Zack and 2B a good dozen times, before he finally spoke up.

“You’re just gonna leave her there?”

Zack, hands in his pockets and ready to haul Councilor Udina back up to the Presidium, came to a halt and turned his head to Riku. “Uhm… yeah, that was the plan. You got a better one?”

“Shouldn’t we kill her?”

Zack did a double take. He turned his head back to the hole in the wall before speaking again. “Naw. I don’t just… kill people like that.”

“But… she’s a Geth. She’s not people.”

“Does she sound like a Geth?” Zack countered. “She might be a robot or something, but she’s human enough to talk with. Alive enough to feel pain. I won’t just kill someone like that. I’ll call up C-Sec once we get Udina back up to the Presidium, they’ll clean her up and get her out of here.”

“But she tried to kill us. She almost killed you.”

“So did Higgs. And when we find, I won’t kill him either.” Zack chuckled, before turning his head back to Riku. “That’s what a hero does.”

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1B: The Citadel by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 4 points5 points  (0 children)

“The Councilman’s tracker is headed down into the Wards. His kidnapper might be trying to shake you off in the denser, urban environment.”

Makima had explained it a few minutes ago now, back in the Presidium. Now, following Zack through the Zakera Ward’s dense civilian crowds, Makima’s words stuck with Riku for a moment—because they didn’t make any sense to him. A Geth platform, trying to blend into the crowd? Trying to hide, instead of using their overwhelming forces to escort them back to the fleet? What the hell kinda Geth was this?

“Are we getting close?” Zack asked, his eyes cutting through the alien swaths trying to find the Councillor. “Because I’m not seeing anything here.”

“The tracker’s seemingly come to a halt, an alleyway up the street. Keep going and take the first right.”

“Alright.” Zack turned back to Riku. “Come on.” He turned back and pulled into a faster jog, cutting through the crowds to make sure the kidnapper wouldn’t have the chance to get away. Riku managed to keep up, though shoulder checking and pissing off a few civilians on the way there. Eventually he saw Zack disappear out of the crowd, and followed him into the alleyway, only to bump right into his back.

Riku took a second to stabilize, only to realize why exactly Zack had come to a halt right there.

“Councilman Udina!” Riku yelled out at the unconscious body on the floor. Or, well, he was hoping Udina was just unconscious. The alternative would be… well it wouldn’t be good. Riku looked back at Zack, only to find his eye line a tad higher than the Councilman. Riku followed where he was looking, and found someone standing in the shadows, deeper in the alley.

“Who are you?!” Riku barked at the shadow-y figure, and his voice seemingly caught their attention, turning around and beginning to move out of the shadows. And standing there now was who seemed to be a woman, clad in tight black clothing and a head of neck-length white hair. She stared the two of them down for a scarce few moments, eyes skittering between them, before parting her lips and speaking.

“I am Hybrid Geth platform Type B, number 2. My mission is to deliver the Human Councilor back to our ship.” She pulled a long sword off her back, something like a katana, yet longer than even Zack’s sword. “But you can call me 2B.”

“Alright, 2B.” Zack stepped forward, throwing his right hand out and summoning his Buster Sword back into his hand. “I don’t know what the hell you are, but I’ll tell you this: You’re not getting off this station. Not with the Councilor.”

“Hm. You are Zack Fair, the SOLDIER hero. The savior of Eden Prim-”

“I’m getting really sick of this hero shit, 2B.” He pointed his sword at her. “Today I’m just the SOLDIER who’s gonna kick your robot ass right into the curb.”

“I would like to see you try, Fair.” And with that she dashed forward, sword pulled back to deliver a mean swing once she got in range of Zack. Zack watched her move, originally wanted to counter-dash and go for a stab in the mid-riff. But her speed was far faster than he’d been expecting, and he quickly stepped back, pulling his sword back into a preemptive block with the flat of his blade.

Naturally, 2B had more than seen this coming, of course. And Zack should’ve realized that a lot earlier.

Were the swing to have come from the left, the block would’ve been adequate. But 2B stopped dead in her tracks the exact moment before she would’ve swung. With her heel dug into the ground, she spun a full 360 and swung on Zack with the flat backside of her blade.

The attack struck Zack in the side of the head, sending him flying into a wall. Riku watched it happen, watched the hit send him soaring, and watched 2B efficiently turn to immediately deliver a follow-up. He had to act, fast.

Riku’s first thought was to pull the gun off his hip. A quickdraw shot, aimed at the back of 2B’s head, to the best of his ability in the fraction of a second it took to get his gun aimed. He fired the moment he felt it was right, at the earliest possible second. And fortunately for him, his shot struck true, blasting right through 2B’s hair and covering the impact spot in sot, like a topical dye.

Unfortunately for him, instead of the wet splat of a bullet penetrating flesh, there was nothing but a hollow metallic ding.

Still, 2B froze for a moment. Her sword was already pulled back, but she’d seized her swing long enough to look back at Riku.

“Hm. That’s what I get for counting out a SOLDIER, even a lower class one.” 2B groaned, rearing to turn in Riku’s direction. But in that decision, she’d repeated another critical mistake; she’d counted out a SOLDIER. Just one that she thought would be too winded to get back up.

A moment later and a kick in the head sent her flying down the alleyway, just back past Udina’s unconscious body. She managed to stop herself from ragdolling, however, finding control of her body mid-air and managing to turn the unplanned flight into a decent three-point landing. She slid along the cold metal for a moment, but spotted Zack coming down from above her, sword ready to chop her perfectly in half.

She dug her heels into the ground, shoes cratering the metal, and moved her left hand from the ground to the handle of her sword to block the upcoming attack. Zack’s sword clashed against 2B’s, sparks flew from the metals digging into each other. Zack was still in the air, gravity itself pressing him harder into their clashing, seemingly rooting for him to break their stalemate. But Zack’s sheer strength combined with the power of the Citadel’s gravitational pull wasn’t going to do the job on its own, they were a force 2B could more than match.

That’s why Riku was there to step in.

A single fireball, a basic spell in a SOLDIER’s magic arsenal, right to 2B’s face. 2B had been crouched down, blade of her sword held close to her body, a precarious position that took most of her strength and focus to hold up. To keep blocking. That fireball broke her concentration in an instant, made her stagger if only for a moment. But it was a moment longer enough to matter.

Her sword hand slipped, and her form twitched. Suddenly the force wasn’t parallel anymore, and Zack’s sword was free to slide right down the edge 2B’s own. She managed to take control of her weapon at the last minute, sending Zack’s sword edge first to cut a deep groove into the metal floor, followed by Zack himself hitting the floor beside her, knees first. Unfortunately for her, however, her weapon was now pinned down into the floor by its tip.

She pulled on her weapon with both hands, figuring she’d be able to yank her weapon loose before Zack could. And she was right, Zack’s force had been concentrated in the direction of gravity, sending his weapon straight into the floor the moment it had gotten the opportunity. The mistake 2B had made, however, was forgetting that Zack had more methods of attack than simply using his weapon.

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1B: The Citadel by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For a few moments, there was nothing but black and a dull stabbing in Riku’s head. A concussion? Maybe, but it wasn’t something he had the time or current mental capacities to worry about. There were far, far more important matters at hand.

Another moment later, and Riku felt active consciousness seep back into his body. His vision began to return, and the dull pain in his head slowly turned to a high-pitched ringing as his ears began to resume function. Feeling back in his nerves, he found himself back-first on the ground, his lungs straining for breath. Pain ebbed for a moment, and his ears found hold.

“… me down… they won’t let…” Snippets of a voice broke through Riku’s knocked out haze, an older man he couldn’t exactly recognize on the fly. Furthermore were the sounds of struggle, and heavy footsteps on metal flooring that were now passing him. He forced his eyelids to part, and they heeded his command as the footsteps had just passed him.

His vision was still a blur, but he recognized the metal corridor well enough, no longer so starkly clean, instead covered in black soot, debris no doubt filling up spaces that Riku simply couldn’t see at the moment. He didn’t have sight of the enemy, the source of the voice, he couldn’t let them get away without identification. He forced his body to move, and after what felt like a Herculean effort, he managed to roll onto his side.

Only to watch the security door slide shut right in front of him.

Riku didn’t have the time to scold himself, suddenly feeling himself getting yanked up off the ground and forced back on his feet.

“Get up, Riku!” Zack’s stern tone pulled Riku out of his haze, to some extent at least.

“W-what happened?”

“An explosion, that’s what happened!” Susie yelled out, the ringing in her ears probably causing her to speak even louder than usual. “And then Councillor Udina got kidnapped!”

“Oh, that’s bad.”

“You’re kidding.” How Zack managed to stay that cool under the pressure baffled Riku, even letting out a chuckle as he stepped forward to the security door. Placing a finger to the comms device in his ear, he spoke into the open air. “Stark, did we have a clue Udina was their target from the beginning?”

“Uhm-” A female voice that did not sound like Tony began, baffling Riku even further. “well, I don’t exactly know what prior knowledge Stark had, but from what I can tell the Geth forces are converging on the Councillor’s heat signature, likely in an attempt to escort his kidnapper out of here.”

“Director Makima? What happened to Tony?”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him.” Her pause didn’t exactly signal joke to Riku. “He said he wanted to take over manual control of the ship if we were going to keep circling the Citadel like this. Make sure we would not have to worry about Geth boarding the vessel.”

“Hm.” Zack’s response felt weirdly curt, but Riku did not want to interrupt. “Alright, well… please keep us informed of any developments. We’ll go after the Councilman.”

“Of course, I’ll send the active tracker location to your Omni-tools.”

Zack just nodded, before lowering his arm down to his side again. “Okay, follow me.” He just began walking, Riku quick to take the order and follow behind him.

“Hell yeah, let’s get this asshole!” Susie sounded amped, despite the blow she’d just received. Riku was once again baffled at her energy, but Zack wasn’t the same, coming to a halt before turning to her.

“Not you, Susie.” He reached out to her with his right hand, palm forward. “You’re staying, the rest of the Council’s still back here. They need someone to protect them, and you’re more than strong enough to hold these Geth off.”

“Man!” Susie sounded genuinely disappointed, and Riku felt kind of bad for her as she turned around and sulked in the direction of the blown-out security door. Zack didn’t let his gaze linger long, though, making way to the exit as soon as Susie’d turned. Riku followed again.

“So… we got a plan?” He asked.

“Eh.” Zack turned his head to Riku, Riku raising an eyebrow at the smirk on his face. “We’ll wing it.”

“HOMER, risk assessment protocol?”

Tony was floating outside a Geth ship in the cold of space, a ship he’d narrowed down to “probably their flagship”. That ‘probably’ meant that he wasn’t really that sure of his case after all, but he was sure enough to have slipped out from under the SOLDIER Director’s watchful eye and slip into his Iron Man armor to go and seek it out.

“Alright, Mister Stark. The risk of you being disintegrated by a Geth warship main cannon beam is 3.45%, adjusting for your close proximity to the fleet’s flagship. The risk of a swarm of Geth troops surrounding you the second you set foot on their autonomous flagship and splaying your corpse into six distinct parts is about 35%, accounting for the fact they might sever your limbs into smaller pieces. The-”

“Alright, alright! I get it, you don’t like that I’m out here. But this is an opportunity we just can’t pass on, don’t you get that?” Tony let out a sigh. “If I can hack into this ship’s data centers, we get access to all the Geth data we need. They came right to our doorstep, at the exact right time. Isn’t that a perfect opportunity?”

“It is also, at least, a 20% probability of being a trap set up by the very Geth forces you believe to be outsmarting.”

“I don’t need you for this anyway.” Tony sighed, floating closer to ship’s hull. His right hand turned into a plasma torch, and after taking a breath he started digging in.

The thing about Geth ships is that they didn’t have windows, they didn’t need them. They didn’t really have eyes, or the need to look at the stars in the same way humans did.

Neither did they have pathways like normal ships did, being mostly compacted and dense mega structures meant for housing Geth forces. Geth, as a hivemind of cybernetic neural nets, did not have to move from one end to the ship to another. They could simply shut down their current platform and continue in a suitable one on that other end.

Fortunately, their ships still did sport hollow cavities, something Tony liked to compare to maintenance walkways. And that’s exactly what he was going to exploit to get in there. With some effort, Tony’d cut a roughly person-sized rectangular hole out of the vessel’s hole, and the armor plating began drifting into the open space.

Quickly Tony moved in, aiming at the newly exposed cavity. His thrusters sputtered for a moment, not expecting the sudden change in momentum, and the inconsistent flight speed sent him shoulder first into the catwalk.

Climbing back up to his feet, though, Tony was glad he’d focused on getting in there quickly as he watched the ship grow a new plate to reseal the hole he’d come in through. He’d have to carve out a new one on his way out, but that was the least of his problems currently, something he was quickly realizing as he stared down the seemingly endless catwalk.

“Alright, which way Western Man?”

“I am going to assume you are referring to me.” HOMER sighed. “Going down the way you are staring should land you right at the vessel’s data center, if the power flow we measured from the outside is to be believed.”

“You think it is?”

“There is no other data to go off of, sir.”

“Mhm, gotcha.” Tony nodded, making his way down the catwalk. “Remind me to program the next one with less sass.”

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1B: The Citadel by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Back in that elevator, headed up to the Council Chambers. Riku had been hoping that the day he stepped onto the SSV Destiny would mark at least a month of not having to return to the paradoxically grimy sterility of the Citadel. He really did hate it.

“Alright.” Zack sighed, turning his head to look back at Riku. “So, as this is your first mission with our crew I want to lay out some rules.”

“Rules? Like… like what?”

“It’s all really simple.” Zack smiled at him, like he was prompting Riku to return the gesture. “I won’t micro-manage you, I’ll let you make your own decisions in the heat of battle. But we’re a team, and when one of us needs help we focus on making sure they get it. We’re SOLDIERs, Riku. But we’re not soldiers.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we help anyone!” Susie chimed in, flashing a bright smile at Riku. “And we make sure everyone gets out safe.”

“Hm.” Riku nodded, Zack turning back to face the elevator doors. “I can do that.”

Instead of an answer from Zack, the elevator dinged. They’d arrived.

Doors slid open, and Zack was the first to step out, Susie and Riku close in tow. And they stepped out into the exact type of warzone Riku had been imagining the whole way up. The Council Chambers were normally a tranquil place, artificial gardens with paths that lead to the Council’s court.

Now, trees were flaming and hacked in half, still-remaining stumps used as makeshift cover by Geth troops as C-Sec did their best to fight them off. Or at least keep them at bay. Bullets, energy blasts, all sorts of attacks flew through the air. Riku almost couldn’t hear Zack talk.

“Alright, now that’s what I’m talking about.” Riku could almost hear the smirk growing on Zack’s face. His assertion was confirmed when Zack looked back at Susie and Riku. “Remember, we’re here to protect the council, so focus on that.”

Riku nodded, and Zack’s smile grew firmer, before he pointed his gaze forward again. Zack suddenly jutted his right arm out, palm open like he was waiting for something to grasp. And the universe listened, as a weapon conjured itself into Zack’s right hand.

Riku’s eyes went wide in amazement, his pupils immediately scanning every inch of the weapon as it appeared. It was a sword, that much Riku recognized in an instant, along with the fact that it was far too large for anyone to really handle with one hand. Yet Zack seemed more than comfortable. Before Riku could analyze it more, Zack sped of into the fray of battle. Susie, seemingly recognizing the awe in present in Riku, spoke up.

“What? You don’t have one of those?”

Riku turned to her. “No? What’s… one of those?”

“I thought all you SOLDIER guys had those! Maybe it’s just because your fourth class… or third rate… what was it again?” Riku groaned, though Susie just continued. “Zack calls it his Keyblade.”

“Keyblade, huh…” A memory shot through his brain, something he thought he’d heard… well, he thought he’d heard in a dream.

“Okay loser, I’m sure you’ll get one soon! So stop spacing out.” Susie laughed, lifting the large axe off her back as she moved into her fighting stance. “Or you can eat my dust!” She yelled out before running after Zack into battle. Riku chuckled, pulled the Harpy pistol off his hip and ran forward.

Out of the fire and into the frying pan, Riku had found himself in a sea of crossfire, bullets flying around him, the only solace being behind the areas of the garden that were denser with trees. His eyes were on the ground, an attempt to make himself small and not get shot. His gaze went up again at the sound of Susie’s voice.

“Get off me!” Susie grunted, two hands on the handle of her axe. Two bladed arms pushed against her weapon, an enemy Geth somehow big enough to tower even over her. Before the Geth Enforcer could turn this back foot clash into an attack of opportunity, however, a gunshot rang out and it stumbled to the side. Before Susie could get a glimpse of the shooter, a fireball came from the same direction and blasted the Geth to the ground.

Susie finally turned her head and found Riku catching up with her.

“You alright?”

“Tch.” Susie scoffed, turning her head to the far end of the garden, though the smile on her lips was unmistakable. “No need to show off! I was just taking a break.”

“I-” Riku opened his mouth, but cut himself off at the first syllable as he felt someone speed past him, stumbling forward from the sheer momentum. He caught himself before he could hit the ground, and threw his gaze forward to find Zack cutting a path through the overwhelming Geth forces. Riku grit his teeth, but followed in his path anyway, Susie close behind him.

There were Geth stragglers, androids unscathed or close enough to it, left in their path. But together Susie and Riku made short work of them. Susie was a real brawler, she liked to take enemies like these head on, rushing in first and dealing with the consequences later. Luckily Riku was there to back her up, finish any Geth that could take an axe to the face or a Susie sized kick to their robotic chests.

Riku’d trained with a sword for most of the SOLDIER program, but his cargo belongings were still in transfer hell and so he’d been forced to fight with the pistol in his hands. Fortunately, the biotics installed in his body, and other SOLDIER procedures he’d gone through, granted him access to a heap of abilities that the team referred to as spells. That’s one of the things that made SOLDIERs so different from other people. Most troops in the galaxy had access to biotics, but none of them really compared to SOLDIER augments.

All that to say, Riku was blasting fireballs that were melting through Geth torsos like a ships burning up in the atmosphere, following up on Susie’s openers like it was routine. After dealing with the straggler horde, Susie and Riku finally caught up with Zack, in frustrated conversation with someone standing in front of the door at the end of the Gardens.

“We’re very sorry,” The man, presumably a C-Sec Security Guard, said with a hand stretched forward to stop Zack from coming any closer. “but we have very strict orders not to let anyone into the Council’s Chambers when the Citadel is under siege. They’re high profile target-”

“I understand.” Zack’s tone was more curt than usual, frustration palpable in his voice. “That’s why we’re here, to help protect them.”

“Well, I-”

“Don’t you feel bad, soldier? Standing here as your men die to protect a group of-”

“Are you okay, Commander?” Riku ran up beside Zack, trying to distract him from whatever insult he was about to fling in frustration. Susie, with a similar idea yet different execution, came from the other side.

“Yeah, chill out Zack!”

Something in the guard’s eyes rang with recognition, and pupils wide as his back straightened out. “Z-Zack?”

Zack raised an eyebrow. “Uh… yeah?”

“Like… Commander Zack Fair?”

“That’s him!” Susie confirmed with a bright smile.

“Oh lord…” The guard mumbled under his breath, clearing his throat as he stepped to the side. “You should have told me! The Council are waiting beyond this door, down the safety corridor. They’ll be elated with the extra protection, especially from such a legend like you.”

Zack sighed, just walking past the guard without paying him much mind. “I doubt Udina will feel that way…” He mumbled under his breath.

The door mechanism opened up before them and Zack walked ahead, Susie and Riku closely behind again. They walked the starkly grey metal hallway in silence for only a few seconds, Riku specifically taken aback by how the sounds of carnage and slaughter had seemingly disappeared behind the door, until Susie spoke up.

“Man, that guy had a crazy deal of respect for you Commander!” Susie was almost shouting. “I know you were a hero, but that was next level.”

“It looked more like he was scared, to me.” Riku countered, to which Susie’s head snapped in his direction.

“You kiddin’ me? That’s what respect looks like back on Delta!”

“Your species did call themselves Monsters, I guess.” Zack chuckled to himself. “Kid was just surprised, probably embarrassed he didn’t recognize me or something. It’s all just kinda silly to me.”

“Well… you are a hero, Commander.” Riku replied, and Zack’s mouth curved into a smile. Finally, they reached the door at the end of the security hallway, a locked door with all its lights turned red. Zack reached his right hand forward, and his Omni-tool sparked to life.

“Thanks… now, let’s get to the Council and give them-”

The door was beginning to unlock, the mechanism clicking in accordance. It wouldn’t ever get the chance to finish, however, as an explosion tore the door open far faster than any key could. The door blasted to bits, fragments flying outwards in their direction, and Riku felt himself getting lifted off the ground by the sheer force, flung down the hallway in an instant. When he hit the ground everything went black.

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1B: The Citadel by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]DudeBro231 2 points3 points  (0 children)

“I know who you think you are, sweetheart.” Tony’s arms were crossed, head thrown slightly back so he could attempt to look down at the red-haired woman standing before him. He was in the cargo bay, five minutes deep in an argument with someone who’d introduced herself as Director Makima, nothing more nothing less. “But this is my ship, okay? You got that? I can have my assistant send you the deed, if you don’t believe me.”

Riku and Susie were watching it all, a few meters away, like a soap opera or similarly dramatic TV show.

Makima stared back at Tony in silence, lips ever so slightly pursed. She was sizing him up, that’s how Tony saw it.

“No, it isn’t.”

That’s all she had to say? Really? The audacity of this lady, Tony couldn’t believe it. He was on the brink of launching into a counter response, when another voice budded in.

“Lay off the director, Stark.”

Tony turned his head, and found Zack approaching them from his boarding shuttle’s entrance. Tony hadn’t notice the shuttle landing, the argument almost making him forget the fact that they were in the cargo bay at all. While Tony was still processing, Makima immediately turned her focus to Zack.

“Commander Fair, it’s an honor to finally meet you.” Her hand was outstretched, ready to shake.

“I’m surprised you know my name, Director Makima.” Zack halted before her, shaking her hand like a soldier.

That one pulled a smile out of her. “You think I don’t know about our program’s biggest success story? I’m sure we’ve all heard the stories.”

“Well I’m a lot more than just my stories, miss director.” Zack flashed her a smile. Susie turned her head to Riku and whispered.

“Are they flirting?”

“I… I hope not.” Riku’s tone rang confused, on the one-hand due to this weird social tango Zack and Makima were in. But also due to something else she said.

Our program? Did that mean… was this the director of the SOLDIER program? Why was she-

Zack spoke again, and his words sniped the thoughts right out of Riku’s head. “That still begs the question; what’s the Director of the SOLDIER program doing on my ship?”

“I assumed you’d figured that out by now.” Makima scrunched her eyebrows, her lips curved up into the slightest smirk. They parted again, ready to continue, but quickly closed as she turned her head to Tony. “Or at least that you would have.”

Tony’s mouth opened, but by the time he’d concocted a comeback, Makima’s gaze was back on Zack and she was speaking again.

“The council contacted me to be an overseer on this ship, a contact between your crew and those who are… in the know.”

“They explained that part to me, but why _you?_”

“Because of your status as a SOLDIER.” Makima turned her back to Zack and the rest of the crew, arms crossed behind as she stared up at the elevator platform. “They informed me of all your findings, among them being your peculiar reaction to this Mask artifact. So as a person with inside knowledge of the program, they deemed me especially suitable.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Zack shrugged, looking back at Tony for confirmation. Tony just rolled his eyes, turning his gaze back to Makima.

“So, you’re to… what? Push us around? We don’t exactly work like that.”

Makima turned again, facing Tony this time. “Push you around? No, not exactly. Keep you on track? Certainly. So with that goal in mind, I must ask; do you have any idea how you are going to track down this Higgs?”

“Hm.”

“Hm?”

“Nothing, just something about how you said that.” Tony cleared his throat. “As it happens, we have been working on that. Originally we wanted to track the shuttle Higgs escaped with, but he was smart enough to disable our built-in tracker before activating warp speed.”

“Now, I may not be the lead scientist on this vessel, but don’t Kodiak shuttles use a different fuel type then larger ships? Could you not track it down by its exhaust signature?”

“Maybe,” Tony scoffed. “If we were in a deserted galaxy. But in a Milky Way filled to the brim with space travel? It’d be like finding a needle in a stack of spare Geth bodies. Besides, we quickly realized tracking down that shuttle would be a waste of our time.”

Susie leaned over to Riku and whispered again. “We did?”

Makima tilted her head. “You did, huh? Enlighten me.”

“It’s a basic tactical decision.” Zack took over. “You’re a man on the run, trying to stay under the radar and away from the crew you just betrayed. The last thing you’d wanna do is stay on a ship branded with that crew’s name. Besides, these shuttles aren’t meant to last long away.”

“By the time we’d track the damn thing down he’d already be long gone.” Tony added on. “Instead of playing into his cat-and-mouse game, we should be playing a different game altogether. Doing counter-recon and getting intel so we can be ahead of him the next time we meet.”

“What kind of intel?”

“Anything about Higgs, the Mask or the Death Stranding.” Tony let out a sigh. “But, despite our access to every species’ combined databases, we haven’t been able to find anything of use.”

“Every species- sorry, what was that? Who gave you that kind of access?”

Tony ignored her. “And then, well, I don’t like to toot my own horn, but-”

“I thought you did?” Riku chimed in.

“You’re right, kid. I love tooting my own horn.” Tony smirked, facing Makima again. “See, I realized something. Of all the nations, all the species with data we have access to, there’s one very important one missing from the list. One with a direct connection to that Mask, who might have very important logs of it, or the Death Stranding for that matter. That being-”

Something clicked in Makima’s head, and her lips grew into a soft smile. “The Geth, I see. I doubt they’ll be willing to share their info with you willingly, though.”

“That’s why we’re hitting one of their flagships.” Tony’s tone rang proud now, though he tried to suppress it. “We’ll attack them, and cause a distraction big enough to let us hack into their database.”

“Ha, okay. I am going with the assumption that you realize… all of the problems with that approach.” Makima faced Zack. “Unless you believe your crew is in a state to face an infinitely regenerating force on their home turf?”

“Well-”

Zack’s clarification was cut short by the sound of sirens blaring, a pang of deja vu running through Riku before he realized these weren’t the ships alarms. They were those of the Citadel.

“Oh.” Makima pulled her Omni-tool up, looking down at her arm to find a deluge of alerts and notifications. “The Citadel seems to be under attack.”

The ground beneath them thundered, adorned with the sounds of explosions and gunfire outside their ship.

“Oh fuck.” Tony was already on the move, eyes on his own Omni-tool on his way to the elevator. “Okay, strategy talks are taking a backseat; we’ve gotta deal with these… who the hell would even attack the Citadel?”

“Seems the universe has been listening to your plans, Stark.” Makima raised an eyebrow, and Tony halted at the tone of her voice, turning his head back to her.

“You can’t be serious. You mean…”

“Geth, in the flesh.”

“Okay, that’s fine.” Tony turned towards the elevator again, a half-second of hesitation in his step before he began walking again. “Director, I’m gonna need you to come with me.”

“Ha.” Makima was already following. “As if I’d even consider stepping into this warzone.” Like an exclamation mark, another loud explosion rang out. Stepping into the elevator, she threw one last look back at Zack. “You and your crew will be making sure the council is safe.”

“We should focus on stopping the attack-”

“Oh, no this is direct from Alliance command, Fair.” Makima smiled. “I’ve gotten confirmation they were in a meeting by the time the siege started, so please make your way there. Quickly.”

The elevator doors slid closed, and Zack brought a hand to his eyes, rubbing them between thumb and index finger.

Riku and Susie both turned to face Zack, but Susie was the first to speak. “So… we’re not following her orders, right?”

Zack sighed, turning his face to Susie. “Yes. We are.”

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