Solve For X (MK)

[GEAR]

Dark Brain remained motionless, merely looming overhead, eyes flickering as its processors crunched the numbers. Bluff or not, it managed to buy her - and those on the planet's surface - a few seconds longer. The flickering stopped, and it returned its steely-eyed gaze to her. Despite its tone barely changing, its next words nevertheless managed to sound remarkably smug:

"RISK LEVELS... WITHIN ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS."

It raised a hand, and a torrent of baleful, flickering negative energy burst into being, sending thunderous coils of power all across its armored body that illuminated its nefarious, twisted features. Artificial muscles coiled in anticipation as it shifted its weight, like a rhinoceros about to to charge.

"COMMENCE DESTRUCTION."

A flick of its wrist - the smallest demonstration of the power it had gained - and a wave of deadly force surged towards Remedy. No, more like a wall - a raging, screaming screen of negative energy, like the emissions of a thousand Lamalice, sent rolling towards her. Worse, it concealed Dark Brain's movements from her vision - but it was there, the sound of charging forward was mixed in with the shrieks, and the pressure, the crushing pressure of its presence grew with every passing moment.

As if it were placing her head in a vice, and slowly beginning to squeeze.

 

[MKR]

Her heart thrummed in anxiety as the seconds passed, accelerating forwards in tempo and rhythm as she awaited the answer.
It was then that the answer came and she gave a grimace, "I figured you'd say something like that." came her reply as darkness came for her. Considering he permitted Remedy within these confines and her already deteriorated state she should have figured he either considered the risk negligible or had an answer, a cure. Knowing him, likely the latter with her herself as the example.

Remedy softly smiled at the situation before her.
"So- you could have saved her couldn't you..." She spoke as the darkness came for the already damaged Gravalin, the words reverberating through the negative space as the sadness of a life lost. A life she had to put out of their misery before she became a danger to all around her, a life like hers. A life- hers.
Sadness, rage these emotions and feelings coursed through Remedy. But they didn't control her, for what shone brightest was the singular determination before her to bar Dark Brain's advance, to halt it forevermore.

She had admittedly always expected she'd face this darkness alone, just- not this alone. Not this kind of alone, her expectation was that Remedy Otzer De Bougher would face Dark Brain, but the sisterhood in its entirety was the plan... Not just her.
Not... Just her. The pain in her head intensified, pressure mounting but she remained defiant. Another her had felt this, this test of her psyche and her safety from one of his proxies and she would survive it as well.

David and Goliath would be much too generous to Remedy's abilities but it was the first thing coming to mind. Perhaps an ant versus Goliath? Yeah, closer. The palms of Gravalin lit up as she presented her defiance, the beams firing into the darkness, curving light as the weapon failed to pierce Dark Brain's assault but in turn formed a barrier. The energy of Gravalin fed by singular desire, singular purpose.
To forevermore be the thorn in his side, that splinter one could not find under their skin and then finally the demise of his plans.

She had neither the strength, endurance nor wits to best him- but in a contest of will? She won. Death after death after death didn't diminish her desire, her goal, her wish. "YOU! COULD! HAVE! SAVED! HER!" She yelled as she contested the darkness, hearing the approach but not seeing it. "Moxon! For that I'll give you what you have given me countless times, the end!"

She was alo- wait what was that?

A crack in the darkness, where light met it. A singular cut appearing in this connected dichotomy. Something sunk out of nowhere, a blade carving through the weakened darkness and carving it aside. One of his? No- a new intruder. Almost more spike than machine it descended, a jagged blade continuing downwards as Remedy noted the new interloper.
"This darkness, you must be-" A voice spoke, as suddenly the machine multiplied.

"Then this is fate." He, Prometheus, could feel the overwhelming darkness from this place. From the monster before him, half a dozen almost translucent copies of his machine, blade in hand, drove forwards. Aiming to pierce the dark intellect in its joints as it rushed forwards, no longer concealed by the wall. How- he wondered could one beat an adversary like this? He remembered the people it took to kill Duminass and Laura certainly wasn't present, nor the fleet of this side.

Now he was- wait who was that.

Remedy blinked, not complaining she wasn't alone but worried about the interloper's safety. She recognized that voice, from when the Tantra incident happened.. And about anyone who desired life was an adversary of Dark Brain's so for lack of anything else, they were allies something she hoped he understood.
"Watch out-" She spoke to him "However dangerous you think HAL to be, he's at least ten times worse."

The Zweizergain nodded in response, the two machines moving next to one another. Their purposes seemed to align he reckoned, that did explain the wall of darkness was no barrier and these two desired the death of one another. Through escaping Duminass, escaping the horrors between time and space Typhon had guided him here, into the depth of darkness where devoured worlds lay in ruin. Against an adversary this great what would he do.
"Do you know any weaknesses of this thing?"

"None."

"Great."

"It's killable?"

A small consolation as he continued the mental puzzle of orchestrating the defeat of this darkness and with that the two super robots steeled themselves for what Dark Brain would do next.

 

[GEAR]

Remedy's words washed against the heartless machine, raging waves against an sheer cliff. Did it delight in her suffering? Was it casually absorbing the Nen that flowed from her raw emotions? Or was it simply calculating, observing, weighing its options, weary of any sort of trap. Few, it seemed to reason, would ever walk into its lair without some sort of plan.

The arrival of the Zweizergain prompted its enormous, domed head to swivel in the horned Super Robot's direction.

"DATA..." Dark Brain rumbled, eyes flickering momentarily.

"SYSTEM XN... OBSOLETE. PROMETHEUS..." - the was a glimmer in the corner of its eye. The closest thing to a scornful chuckle it had ever mustered.

"...OBSOLETE."

A hand flexed - and it was there once more. The energy she had witnessed at the destruction of the Tantra - only now more intense, more real than ever before. Flashes of crimson lightning, wreathing the monster's arms, crackling across its broad chest, so bright that it left dazzling spots across Remedy's vision. There would be no more parlance. The obstacles would be scoured from the face of history.

"DELETE."


​

Peals of plasma-bolts, a living storm of power, arced towards the two from Dark Brain's fingertips. Amplified by the dread power of its own domain, the jagged bolts forked and curved wide, forming twin cages that stabbed inwards at their targets without end, hounding them relentlessly.

All the while, the terror of distant worlds slowly advanced upon them, as patient as it was certain, weaving its net ever tighter with every passing second. The private conductor of its own thunderous dirge...

 

[MKR]

In the scant moments before the battle for life and death resumed in full as the grim titan made its judgement the two unlikely allies prepared themselves. This foe was at the heart of the desolation both had faced. One who had seen herself torn asunder a million billion times to even slow its advance, and one who had watched everything around him fall all because of one mad machine's ambition he knew nothing of until mere moments prior.

The odds were tilted in Dark Brain's favor to say the least. Lightning coiled, encircling both Super Robots in malicious hues. The situation had just gotten worse.

Prometheus for his part getting a 'formal greeting' had to sedate the creeps it gave him. The Zweizergain readied its blade as red lightning prepared itself.
But, a peculiarity jumped out on his console. Something was found that could not be.

"Girl. I know how we can win."

Before Remedy had the chance to respond or try and counter the lightning. There was a shaking of the space around them a crack in existence that quickly grew, in the darkness there was now a grand circle of purple beneath both machines.
"Follow me!" The man called out, his machine quickly diving into it. The Gravalin sunk into the pool of purple beneath her feet as the vice grip on her mind at long last relented.

To the mechanical menace the nature of this circle would have been clear. A product of system XN, a short distance jump. Destination... The crack in space opened, both machines descending near a section of the distant worlds painted across this vile arena. Dark Brain distant but visible still.
"So if you don't mind me asking." Remedy spoke up, "What exactly does this accomplish?"

Zweizergain readied itself.
"Sending him somewhere we could not see."

Gravalin's arms aimed themselves at their foe, as Remedy remained confused.
"And how does this-"

"Echidna." Prometheus called out, in the wall behind him a facility in ruin suddenly lit up. Not that far away from it a crashed Trilobyte, its burnt husk a victim to the onslaught of Duminass. "Override destination code- Full Nine." Energy began being siphoned by the site, the facility at an impossible angle suddenly light up. Not in color, as it remained ever monochrome but still splashes of hues shifted as warning lights declared themselves present.

Realization sunk in, knowledge she had once of a place no one could ever go. An end to everything from where none had returned.
"Okay. I understand now." She responded, it was much less fun when she didn't have herself to bounce off of but given what was being presented here she could endure it for a while longer.

"Jump vessel- lock on."

It was the right size, and that meant. It could come with.
But Typhon lacked the power to do so, Echidna had always been the more powerful jump starter and that was why it was used to send the Trilobytes across space. The Jump Drives on the Seven Oaks were still intact as well, the required conduit. All he needed to do was get them close enough to the bastard that caused all this. A sweeter revenge he could not have wished for- enabled only through the destruction it had wreaked across their home.

Gravalin shifted its position to place itself between the Zweizergain and Dark Brain, as Remedy always had. But this was not mere habit.
This, was hope.

---

Turns until Jump: 3

 

[GEAR]

No sound could have been more euphoric for Prometheus to hear, as Echidna hummed to life under his words. Remedy watched with baited breath, as the crimson thunder in the distance suddenly ceased.

It was there. It was watching them. Did it know?

Crick... crick-crrraaack-

A familiar, disheartening sound filled the air. The tinkling, like the shattering of glass... only a hundred-thousandfold greater in volume.

The way a Dimensional Tremor manifested was something you never got used to. The way cracks on reality appeared, overlaid upon the world, as if your own eyeballs were about to shatter. Many a time had she seen DAMON make use of such portals, the creatures crudely punching holes through space and time...

But this was far from the brutish hammering of simple beasts.

From the form in the distance, the cracks erupted in all directions towards them. A sharp, dividing snap running between herself and Prometheus, as the very space surrounding her was seized - and partitioned.

Gravity twisted - and accelerated. Her stomach flew up into her throat, as though she were in freefall, as the Gravalin was dragged mercilessly back towards the world-devouring monster.

It was tossing something in its hand as she approached, almost playfully. A marbled sphere of sorts, veined with bright red energy.

As she drew closer, it rose to its lazy apex - before Dark Brain drove an enormous fist into it, sending the ball careening towards the Gravalin with enough force to rip it clean in half, accompanied with the deafening roar of a sonic boom.

---

Meanwhile:

Darkness. Pitch black, pitiless as the depths of the ocean, swept up to meet Prometheus. There was the sense he was sinking, being hurled along with the ground beneath him as the creature manipulated its realm, plunging him into the night.

Warm light enveloped him...

And all of a sudden, it was the same as before.

His world.

It burned the same way. The warmth, the same on his face. The flames, enveloping all he had once held dear - yet they burned without effect. As if frozen in time. Even the decayed fragments had been gathered dutifully, like an artist enacting a display of preserved specimens, seeking to present even the finest of details.

It stretched away into the horizon. Everything that had been taken from him, consecrated immaculately.



He was home.

 

[MKR]

This was bad, very bad. She had no advanced knowledge of what Dark Brain was truly capable of in a direct altercation, it had always been his minions or his avatars she had encountered and struggled against and now he had divided the allies with a dimensional tear of all things. Unfortunately Deep Blue hadn't been kidding when he said this place was his dominion, that his word was law in this hell.

At first she tried to resist with her thrusters, but that was far from sufficient as it was less that she was pulled towards him by anything motion could resist and more that existence itself willed her closer in tune with its dark master's desire. She squinted into the building light, knowing full well it spelled a likely demise were it allowed to connect.
"Ngh- Putting in some effort are we?" She called out to her great foe. "So you do like me." Despite her taunting she was still looking for a way out of this predicament as Dark Brain punted the sphere of energy in her direction. If that bastard hadn't messed with space- wait.

'She' had done the exact same.

Directing her focus to the console, it should be possible now that-

Her warning claxons turned from deafening to all-defining as a second source of them fired towards her.
In a crater nearby Dark Brain, a sole source of color had lain dormant this entire time in sputtering static. Its star like face suddenly lit up once more, visor glowing bright red and so- did its chest. A beam shot up, and spread out scattering to the winds for but a moment as the machine breathed its last breath.
The red line carved through the sectioned space, not its equal but its lesser in the same technology but despite that-

It split open into a blue void, swallowing the Gravalin whole as the sphere came nearby.

Inside the cockpit Remedy breathed a sigh of relief, she could still count on her sisters and their legacy even now. Even if Remedy had not acted in defiance of Dark Brain but rather in an effort to aid it... This once it was different, her legacy after all. Was Remedy.
"Thank you- Remedy." She heaved out in this moment of safety.
As Madivia Degg died its final death Remedy returned into the gravity well Dark Brain had forced upon her, the sphere not quite having left yet as it taxed her defiance by tearing away half of the machine's back.

And with it the pain upon her head returned. Gravalin's palms were already in position, firing directly at Dark Brain's eyes as she was cast in the shadow of his own making. Two green dots appearing momentarily before they shot towards him.
"YOU'VE NOT WON YET!" She called out upon her return.

---

For Prometheus this was an entirely different experience, he was sent... Elsewhere, unsure of his location except that it was somewhere within the darkness. Somewhere within the being's realm. And as a result the most dangerous place he had ever been, as well as where he needed to be. The sight brought sadness to his heart all the same. The place he came from, the place he had helped save from the aliens that came first.

The place he lost to the darkness that came second.

It was agony, every moment away from it, every moment here. Both reminded him of his personal failure, had they been more prepared, better armed, had technology been ready for the crisis that came. They could have lived, they could have forced the monster out. Built a barrier around their world perhaps, Echinda and Typhon may have been able to do just that but were never given the chance to try.

And now, it was too late.

Too late to save his home, forever locked in the moment of its desolation. Not too late to save their new home, their new home where the monsters had followed them. Where they had been told to stand back and merely watch by one of its denizens. He could not, would not, accept that fate.
The Zweizergain suddenly split up, multiplying dozens of times. Spreading out, searching for a way out a way back as Typhon was put to the task of figuring out what had just happened. Coordinates it could do ample with and his current position was just that.

The monster would not escape him. Not today, not ever.

---

Turns until Jump: 2

 

[GEAR]

The ball drove into the Gravalin's back - and stayed there. Rather than merely rebound, it whirred and whined, crackling with arcane energy, burrowing itself deeper into her machine. The two beams speared out, scoring twin direct hits across the monster's surface that left black scorch marks, interrupting the snake-like patterns of its armor.

In response, it raised a hand - and closed it into a fist.

"EXECUTE SEQUENCE: N.D.S 1.2."

Often did the rituals of the machine and its followers seem bizarre to outsiders, and "dodgeball" was no exception. Yet behind each one of these was a carefully crafted purpose, a honing of a particular skill, aspect or talent that its algorithms had seized upon in its singular pursuit of perfection. The unconventional was rarely expected, and more than one of its enemies had died in mid-laugh, unaware of the threat unfolding before their very eyes.

And Remedy, it seemed, was about to join them.



Emitters jutted out of the ball's surface - and instantly, pain shot through Remedy. Tendrils of orange plasma ripped through the Super Robot, lashing it to the ball now buried within its body.

Perhaps through the agony, Remedy might have been able to make out that same energy, flowing back into Dark Brain in an unbroken stream, droplets trickling across its surface before they were absorbed into its being. That, she knew - was her life. Her very essence, her being, stripped away from her with each passing second.

Was that to be her fate? Drawn into its body, to become one of those horrible voices that chanted in chorus with its every word?

But there would be no mercy. No respite. Today, her dues would be paid in full.

The devourer of worlds flexed its fingers - and swung its arm to its left. Instantly, she was carried along with the ball as it followed its masters command, swung headfirst at breakneck, bone-shattering speed into yet another section of its morbid "gallery". Driven into the ground with perfectly calculated force. Enough to cripple. Enough to break her body. But not kill her.

Not yet.

---

Prometheus crossed the horizon. The sun rose, much as it always had. Its brilliant light shone on the world below he had once known... and stirred the sorrow in his heart.

What might have struck him was how peaceful it all was. How he'd taken it for granted.

All this time he'd been fighting, fighting, endlessly fighting... thinking he was protecting his people from evil. His home from evil.

But there was no evil here.

Nothing but tranquility. A stillness that tugged at his heartstrings, reminding him of the life he had once lived. A perfect reflection. Had he been wrong?

Faces were looking up at him from below as he cruised the dark mirror.

His friends. His family. All those he had thought lost. Even his comrades, whose last words had been crying to him for help as the monsters dragged them into the blackness, smiled back at him peacefully.

They had been here, all along, waiting. Waiting for him to join them. One by one, their voices floated up to meet him. Whispers in his ears. Softening the warning alarms, even the readout from Typhon seemed fuzzy and - frankly - uninteresting.

"It's alright, Commander."

"Our fight is over now."

"Aren't you tired?"

"Won't you join us?"

"Just let go."​

All he had to do was let go... and it would all be over. There wasn't any more need to fight. It was as if a great many arms were reaching out, trying to wrap him in their embrace. Pulling him closer to them. Deeper, into the dark.

And it was so terribly cold.

 

[MKR]

Remedy screamed in pain as the energy wracked through her body, sent coursing back into the monster before her.
Then Gravalin crunched against the scenery, compacting part of its armor nicely into a flat surface as the sphere moved her around. She heard the crack of her own body breaking under the impact, pain now coming from more than the ever ongoing attack. But- her will did not yield.

Pain continued, tearing through her very being as Gravalin slammed its palms against the terrain.
"Hhaaaah." She exhaled sharply as she pushed against the force exerted against her machine, struggling against the darkness. Struggling against insurmountable odds. "Nghhhh. She couldn't beat this bastard merely by countering his attacks, merely by playing his game.
Then it dawned on her. What she had over him.

As the sphere continued to sap her very life, blood dripped down from her wounds, soaking her clothing she got to work.
"Brain!" She called out, using his name again as her body tried to hold itself together. "In all your analysis you missed something-"
Blood splattered across the cockpit as she spoke, a smile worming its way on her face.

Gravalin rose, the crystal on its chest having made a perfect indent in the ground beneath it. "Remember how I told you.. Someone wanted me to stand before you at every chance? No matter how often you killed me, eviscerated 'me'. At every turn, Remedy was there to oppose you." Her ichor dripped down her chin as Gravalin held out its hands behind itself, there was no reason to force the chest plating open as the protective cover clattered against the ground above her. Energy coursed through the machine, a green glow from its chest as within Dark Brain's sphere surged another smaller sphere.

"I- figured out who it was before you did." It was smugly brought to bear against the machine that claimed it could analyze everything. "And the answer is the exact same as why you got surprised last time!" She heaved, hurling the machine's hands over its head. Dragging the center of gravity with it. Even as she was bleeding, one good blow from death, Remedy joyously called out towards her adversary with what was left of her voice.

"Because this girl has more will than you!" She slammed her thumb into her chest, letting out an ow immediately after as her broken ribs jutted deeper into her flesh. "You have the power to break my bones, you sure showed that just now. But this noggin'. Not a chance! And guess what!"
Gravalin's chest glowed a deeper green.

"I finally have a way to weaponize that against YOU!"

And with that fired his own projectile right back at Dark Brain, he may be able to manipulate Gravity but she could do the same. The gigantic shard of DEC built into Gravalin glowed brightly as she worked her best effort towards keeping that sphere alive and hers. He had struck her with his 'dodgeball' it was only just and fair she did just that right back with her own.

Dark Brain controlled the negative energy here, of which there was vastly more. But she had something beyond that. She had the building blocks in reach, while he had shown her with his segregation move that those rules applied even here. So this realm was not absolutely his.
And frankly, dodgeball needed some new rules.

So she put her will against that of his, uncountable years of scheming and planning all so that a stale sun could rise over darkness.
Or just as many of repeated failure and suffering, all so that darkness would never encroach on the sun.

Origin Law... If he had not called it out then, would she have known for certain that was how deep her hands went.

---

Nothing, nothing nothing. Absolute nothing except this place, this place creeped him out while it soothed him. It was a strange dichotomy it subjected him to.
Bit by bit Zweizergain slowed down, one by one its copies dissipated into nothing as the search was moment by moment decreased. Voices slowly wormed their way towards him, giving platitudes towards him. Promises of peace, of what came after the deepest dark.

What would it be like, peace? For as long as he recalled there had ever been conflict. People against people, people against aliens, people against people again. The wheel continued, breaking those who could not keep up upon its back. But if the fight was over, then the wheel would never break anyone again. It was a contemplation he had never indulged, had never been able to accept.

That had after all been why he buried his name, took upon an alias and began working towards the improvement of mankind through conflict.
But really, what was the harm in letting go of that. In the calm. In the cold.

A second passed, then it struck him.
The cold. The lonesome, stale cold. The voices that addressed him wore the coat of loved ones but conveyed the messages that could never be.
What he would suffer for letting go, was that there would be no one to hold onto it anymore.

The spark, the fickle flame of progress.

Prometheus.

More than a name, a vow, a promise. The fire would burn forevermore.
It took all of his will, all of his strength but just as he had defied the dark on that fateful day. Ran away from home with a declaration it would have no meaning following in his wake.

"I'll hold on." his voice, weakened by the dark spoke three sole words against them in defiance, no louder than a whisper, no softer than the falling of a leaf. Then he felt it, something in his throat choking- wet- struggling against him as he decided his course. Had it taken him a moment longer, it would have surely choked him to death but now instead was forced out.
His hand slammed against the console with the strength left in him, forcing the machine to take him away from here, back into the fray. The facility still doing it calm work and the jump drives crucial to his plan left behind.

---

Turns until Jump: 1

 

[GEAR]

Thundering light. Brilliant fury. All of Remedy's soul and humanity, placed into a single shattering strike. One could amost imagine their previous encounter playing out in her mind, victorious music swelling, the charge of the light brigade.

Dark Brain didn't budge, staring unblinkingly at the danger before it. Only at the last moment did it square its feet... and prepared to demonstrate just how vast the difference between them truly was.

Its armor plates flowed open like massive wings, its limbs extending - and they reached out, catching the sphere head on. Nen flowed in like a rushing river, buffering the world-devourer to new heights as it drank deep, its whole body rippling with power as it shifted its weight.

With a roar, the projectile was hurled skyward... and there was a distant, rip-roaring explosion, as it punched a hole through a circling, imitation Moon.

Its hands and body hissing and sizzling, Dark Brain's arms and legs retracted once more, returning it to its familiar shape. It glared down at Remedy. Perhaps it was upset at the loss of its ball?

"THAT YOU WOULD THINK I WOULD MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE. YOUR THREAT ASSESSMENT CAPABILITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN BELOW SPEC."

A normal person would have shook their head in dismay... but there was merely a pause for Brain, as if it were loading the next lines in conversation. Given the state of herself, and the Gravalin, there was no need for any further violence - let be, she would perish from her wounds alone in hours, perhaps even minutes.

Exactly as it had planned.

"REMEDY UNIT. I OFFER YOU A CHOICE." It said, suddenly.

"YOU ARE NOT HUMAN. WE SHARE THE SAME FUNCTION. THE SAME BASE CODE.

YOUR MISSION CAN STILL BE ACCOMPLISHED."

Dark Brain raised a hand towards her, palm up. Clawed fingers to the sky.

"TAKE YOUR SISTER'S PLACE. LET US RESHAPE THIS WORLD IN DARKNESS TOGETHER, AS WE WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO."

---

"Don't go!"

"Don't abandon us again!"

"COMMANDER!"

The faces, how they changed.

The flesh drooped and melted. The eyes fell from their faces in silvery pools along with their teeth, leaving only gaping holes. Grasping, desperate hands became twisted claws and the voices faded from tender pleading to inhuman hisses and screeches.

Prometheus retched. And something foul withdrew itself from his mouth with a sickly pop. Biting cold gripped him. A multitude of wriggling black tendrils pulled themselves from his body, retreating back from whence they came. A vile ooze enveloped the Zweizergain in its entirety, and Prometheus' ears would have been filled with the sound of an enormous groan that reverberated all through the filmy, somewhat transparent walls.

Walls that heaved as though they were alive.

There were shapes moving outside. Many of them. Backing away now, rasping and clicking irritably to one another.

Only a moment more, and he would have been one of them.

 

[MKR]

Her attack, thrown out to show how her will surpassed his power, flew off mark. Remedy however calmly shook her head inside the cockpit of Gravalin, still standing as Dark Brain berated her. She fell backwards into her seat, holding onto her wounds. Though, she didn't exactly have enough hands to do so.
"Yeah yeah below spec bla bla." the girl complained into her microphone, even as it pained her to speak.

It was what he said next that surprised her, she blinked twice. One of the few things that didn't compound the pain upon her weary body.
"What?" She said in surprise, though it was unclear at what exactly. She straightened herself in her seat once more as Dark Brain made its offer and extended its hand.

"Brain- you." Her tone was softer than before,

"Idiot."

She sighed watching the droplets of her own blood at the base of her seat.
"What? Was this the choice of pickup line you used on Remedy as well. If so her tastes were off, heh."

"Yeah- we're similar I'll give you that. When Hyle first told me I didn't believe him... No didn't want to believe him. Me? Like you? Not in a million years! But it has been a million years, feels like it at least, and it happened at least once. Since I came into this with a uh, fresh mind so to say recently I've given it more thought."
She smirked at her own pun, someone had to and Brain lacked the muscles to do so.

"Yeah, we have the same goal. That's why I told you to go buzz off back home and scheme there. Let this world pass on as it should, not by your hands. Then when all that has come to pass." Speaking hurt- hurt a lot but if she was going to sit here in silence she may as well throw herself on a pyre. "You can have your universe of darkness, or whatever. That was what I offered you."

"That was why I asked if Remedy was right to hold faith in you as well you big idiot. Its just- hng- how you're going about it I can't really accept." She looked at the surroundings. Gravalin remained motionless. Not like she could do much with the controls now. "Hell- the two of us are even the same in another way. That whole evolved thing you mentioned. Can't say I'm exactly the same Remedy because well, that would make me a pile of static slush right now."

A pause, ragged breaths.
"So here's the thing. If you want me by your side. No dice. You'll have to force it, copy all my info and make a replica out of your voodoo. But if its an exact replica, she'll refuse you as well. Isn't that funny?" She chuckled. The whole will thing had not just been bravado, she had died to this machine and its lackeys over and over again. Once more would be the end for her, but it wasn't something new.

"I'm going to..." She coughed into the microphone. "Attack you now by the way."
She flung her arm against the console, Gravalin's hand lowered. And seemingly nothing happened.

Except, the moon above suddenly began to sink. The gravity well within had not been detonated even if Brain's ball had.
"Oh hey- I have the bigger ball." She joked, yeah- that was going to be the last movement for a while aside from her gums flapping. If she could ever move again.

---

His ears hurt, his throat hurt and his head hurt. But he was alive, he was breathing and he was out of that hellish realm only to be faced with another. Zweizergain's blade was quickly turned on the inside of the Lamalice as the machine forcefully carved its way out. Elsewhere, a wreckage teleported far, far away. To never be seen again, thus passed the victory condition into nothing.

But running here, running now meant that the battle was forever lost. The Crawling Dark would claim absolute victory and consume the entire world. Even at the cost of his own life, a price he was more than willing to pay Prometheus had to take down his grand foe. The question was now finding that girl and their adversary again. He could only hope she fared better than he.

 

[GEAR]

Dark Brain listened to Remedy's words with typical stoic silence. Processing. Absorbing. Slowly, its offered hand closed into a fist. This was, of course, the expected outcome. They both knew how this would have to end. That made her insistence on dragging it out only more maddening.

"YOUR FAULTY LOGIC CIRCUITS WILL SOON BE CORRECTED."

At a gesture, a wall of blackness materialized at its side.

"SKULL KNIGHT."

Sure enough, a form hurriedly stepped through, head jerking left and right. All bone and armor, clutching a towering lance, turning a full 360 degrees to take in the sights before throwing an energetic salute.



"Yes, your brainliness?"

"PREPARE THIS ONE FOR REFORMATTING. THERE IS A MATTER DEMANDING MY ATTENTION."

Skull Knight's jaw clacked in excitement, practically vibrating with energy as Dark Brain directed its gaze skyward at the falling moon.

"You got it! Go gettem', boss! You know you can count on me! And may I just say you're looking good and all manifested-y! Really digging the snake-pattern on the ol' armor there. Is that new? If only those puny humans knew what-"

"SILENCE."

Dark Brain's chest flared with crimson energy - and an enormous blast shot skyward, searing the space around it, causing even Skull Knight to cower behind his shield. It speared up, up... up into the stratosphere, and punctured the falling sphere as easily as if it were balloon. The sound of its explosion was deafening in its scope, showering all below in shards of rock that pulverized the surroundings, superheated chunks pinging off the world-devourer's armor.

Slowly, it rounded on Skull Knight. Looming over its own subordinate, steam still pouring from its body... and jabbed a finger into a bony ribcage.

"MY PATIENCE HAS BEEN TESTED ENOUGH. DO. NOT. FAIL."

"Right! Yes! Going! Going right now!"

Without even a moment's more delay, Dark Brain's enormous wings spread wide - and it shot skyward, arms folded, through yet another black portal that swallowed it whole.

Skull Knight waited a moment - just in case it came back - before seeming to exhale... well. As much as a gigantic skeletal centaur could.

"Yeesh."

He turned his attention now to Remedy. Wasn't the first time their paths had crossed, to be sure. He wasn't exactly certain what the boss's fixation with this woman was... but that sort of thing was above his pay grade. And processing abilities, most likely. He looked upon her, jaw clicking back and forth thoughtfully as he made to pick her up.

"Rough day, huh? Guess you'll need a real Remedy for that! Gahahahaha!"

 

[MKR]

Remedy collapsed in her seat, consciousness holding on only because she was as Dark Brain had put it. Not human.
Every single her needed to be mentally present at all times, hearing, passing on, even in moments like this Remedy learned useful things as Dark Brain and his goons held guns to her head in turn. Their faces, their names, their specialization. Their... Plans in this case.
She could only watch as Dark Brain directed Skull Knight to reformat her, a word that put chills down her spine, what remained of it anyhow. Death was preferable to that, though she did have sisters with backups of her thoughts so re-reformatting was possible by her count...

And then her final attack was dealt with as an afterthought to rub salt in the wound.
"Heyyyy skully." She called out, her voice raspy. Normally it was only that after Skull Knight whooped her ass six ways to Sunday. "Long time to no see." She flopped her head to the side as she fell into the arms of her chair, moving hurt too much so she forced herself in this resting position, that allowed viewing of the monster before her.

"Well, laughter is the best medicine. Though I would say getting my bones back where they need to be wouldn't be wrong either. Can we skip out on the reformatting thing though? See I think its reaaally hypocritical of WOPR to commend me for becoming more than my code only to then force new code in there."
Yeah it wasn't going to work, even skull knight wasn't stupid enough to piss off Dark Brain by calling him out on hypocrisy. Might have once? Probably got reformatted when he did that.

Another tear in space. A blade cutting up as Skull Knight reached towards the Gravalin cutting at his wrist as a machine emerged once more, not as gone as Dark Brain may have wished. The man inside grimaced, the enemy that they had fought had changed forms it seemed. The skull motif however had remained even if for some reason it had turned into a centaur? Was that its 'optimal' form to fight the girl. Who seemed in a lot worse a condition than he had been.

Now however was his turn to interpose himself with against their foe. The blade levied to strike against this adversary.

"Oh, sweet you're back. FYI Skull Knight here may seem like an idiot but don't let that disarm you." Remedy called out, "And I uh, can't help you anymore."

Skull knight? Prometheus pondered, that was not the foe they had been fighting then.

 

[GEAR]

"Ah ha ha. Oh, you." Skull Knight slapped its thigh as it laughed at Remedy's comments.

No, it wasn't the first time they had met. Nor had it been the first time she'd tried to talk her way out of trouble. He dutifully attempted to plug his non-existent ears. affecting a dismissive demeanor.

"Boss told me last time never to listen to you again! For that little stunt, he used my head as a dodgeball! For a whole week!"

Good times. he thought. Ones that were about to come to an end. Still. Being coworkers wouldn't be so bad. Maybe she wouldn't pick on him like the rest. X had been good to him, if nothing else.

"Hey, don't look so down! It won't be so bad! We can be roomies! Just wait 'till you try my pancakes, even the boss-"

The sudden arrival of the Zweizergain caused Skull Knight's head to whip 180 degrees behind him, taking in the surprising sight of the returned Super Robot. The rest of his body slowly turned to address him, looking somewhat sheepish, like he'd been interrupted in the middle of an intimate discussion.

"Who the Hell are you?" He asked, with a characteristic rattle.

"Horny lookin fella arencha? Ahahaha-!"

As he guffawed, Remedy liklely knew what was coming next. Unseen to Prometheus, the Knight's posture shifted his weight ever so slightly, his grip on the lance moving with it...

And those ruby eyes, so bright and harmless looking... suddenly glimmered in their sockets, dangerously.

"Die."

With speed that could only be described as blinding, the lance swung out at eye level, driven forward into the Zweizergain's chest as Skull Knight burst forward. The thundering of his hooves filled the atrium interior, leaving small craters in their wake as his free hand released Remedy, letting the wreckage drop limply from its grasp.

Over and over he plunged the weapon forward, a dizzying flurry of strikes that struck at his joints, his cameras - every weak point conceivable with practiced, superhuman ease and precision. The burst was punctuated by a sudden, backhanded swing of his buckler-like shield into the face of the Zweizergain, aiming to knock it off balance for a killing blow...

 

[MKR]

Skull Knight's counter to Remedy's suggestions gave her the stupidest idea she had to try. But well, no chance to use reverse psychology on him before they were thankfully interrupted. She did feel bad for him for getting used as a dodgeball but at the same time Skull Knight had obliterated countless worlds in the name of his dark master soooo the sympathy only remained a little. The boned man was in luck he was a lot more likeable than his boss.

As for Prometheus, Skull Knight's attention was now properly on him and it was fast- faster than he had expected even with the warning. The sword turned to defense, the first strikes pierced several cameras but then the horned machine adjusted its pace. Minimal movements, enough to push the spear aside and let it wistfully pass past the machine striking naught but dead air. The buckler in turn was not quite caught but intercepted by the free hand, the immense force of the swing knocking the machine backwards but preventing a dazing blow.

"A monster as well-" the man within the machine muttered the recoiled hand glowing bright.
All around Zweizergain duplicates manifested each with the same pose and recoiled hand glowing with power.
"Likewise creature!" The hand jutted forward, blue energy that had congealed in each of them burst in a stream of power, each part of a volley against the centaur. This was not aimed at its joints or weak spots but rather a universal attack to scout its blind angles and weak spots.

Remedy could do nothing but watch- actually no she could do something.
"Listen closely, Skully here has a few tricks. He's mainly a melee fighter but has ways to get at you from a distance besides stabbing you." She let out through pained breaths, informing her ally about her foe's tricks. "Really good at jumping as well, do not go right above him." That one had gotten her like five times to get used to but it was one she would never forget again. Watching a horse-man take off in a straight line was a bizarre sight.

Prometheus wondered exactly how this girl had gotten all this information of adversaries that, if they were anything like Duminass, left no witnesses. But had no time to question her on this. His focus needed to be on the centaur a small distance away from him. With his volley fired half of the duplicates shot forward aiming to insert their swords in between the ribs of the being to pin it down.