Chapter 26 - Unfaithful Order

Unfaithful Order
Sora was bleeding, her open wound leaking a red liquid, her eyes squinting with pain. As her blue flame flared, her complexion and form began to change. Her skin turned paler, her hair and clothes turned jet black with a blue tint, following Black's own original black and blue colour scheme. The grey metallic floor also began to change, a black and white checkerboard pattern fading in.

"Are you really a Vocaloid?" asked Black, nodding at the sword in Sora's abdomen, with a frown. Sora did not respond, falling to one knee, and began to breathe heavily. With a lurch, she coughed up blood onto the floor. Black did not attempt to help. With a smirk, she turned back to the pods, taking her cannon off her back and fitting her arm inside.

White entered the cell block. Noting all immediate cells were empty, White put a hand next to her mouth and called, "Hey, any guards here?" as she jogged onwards. There was no response. As she reached the far corner, she noticed the cells were occupied, recognising Reisen, Tewi and Keine all tied up and battle weary with closed eyes. Then she passed a cell with Akiyama Mio inside. She was similarly tied up with her eyes closed but was not injured in any visible way. "Yo, Mio," greeted White, "You need a little more practice in pretending how to being unconscious. You don't need to hold your breath." Mio opened her eyes in furious embarrassment. "I'll get you out in a moment, I need to find Sakuya." Suddenly, a cell door opened to her left, Konata walking out. "Wow, I think you really need lessons," commented White, raising an eyebrow.

"You're helping us?" asked Konata, with her black eye closed. Her clothes, hair and face were a mess, covered in dried blood.

"You don't trust me?"

Konata went up to the cell to the left of her own. "We know who you are but we don't know your allegiance." She slid something down the side of the cell door and swung the door open with no effort.

White went up to her, "I see." Sakuya was in the cell, tied up but uninjured. However, unlike Mio, she was not faking her unconsciousness. "Is she okay?"

"She was gassed. No physical injuries, I think," explained Konata, slicing the binding ropes with a Subtle Knife blade, "What do you need her for?"

"It's a long story but we need her time slowing abilities to intercept the HMS Thunder Child. We know Marisa will die on board on course for the DeLorean."

"So you met up with Haruki and Naluri?" Before White could ask, Konata continued, "They passed through here to try to save Reimu."

"Reimu? What? Here?" questioned White, genuinely confused.

Konata realised that Naluri and Haruki had not managed to explain everything, implying time really was of the essence, "Take her. Find a way to wake her up. We'll deal with everything here." As White took Sakuya on her back, Konata spoke up, "Be careful though. Dealing with the DeLorean's time travel is dangerous."

White readjusted Sakuya's position on her back and sighed as she paced away, "No promises..."

"Alice," brought up Ælious, looking back at the military aircraft catching up to them, "Can you outfly it?"

Alice was clearly struggling with the weight, "If I go any faster, I might drop you." She was holding onto Ælious' left arm with both hands. Ælious would have used his Hammerspace to contain the still active portal generator, a orange rimmed portal above them, through which a sleeping Naluri could be seen on a SOS Thunder Child. Haruki had moved out of sight, must likely to check up on Lynette. This portal was needed to maintain communications without the risk of the HMS Thunder Child intercepting and to allow for Sakuya to pass through when ready.

"Let me help," prompted Ilse. Her body suddenly split at the pelvis, her lower body falling. It suddenly curved back upwards and spun round the three of them multiple times. After it circled round, her pelvis reattached to Ilse. Without warning, Ælious felt himself lifted up and pushed against Alice's front, their bodies pressing very tightly together, their faces uncomfortably close. Ælious could feel string or wire securing them together. Alice's were now free, Ælious still holding onto the generator with one hand. "I need you to be my spotter," requested Ilse.

Ælious moved his head to the side to look towards the aircraft, allowing Alice to look ahead. "You're going to take on the fighter?" he asked Ilse.

"Might as well," she answered, "Alice, just concentrate on getting to New York. We will take care of the fighter. Yes?" Her arms and legs detached from her body, twirling in the air towards the fighter. Ælious could see strands of light reflecting off the wires connecting Ilse's body parts. The fighter did not avoid her incoming limbs that circled round its wings, tightening the wires. Ilse spun the aircraft very fast in an anti-clockwise direction, letting go of the plane entirely. The fighter spun round before stabilising with no change of pilot sensitivity. "The pilot's not human," she realised as the aircraft launched both its missiles at the three of them. Ilse grit her teeth, withdrawing her left arm. Each of her legs wrapped round each of the missiles. As the missiles resisted her attempts to redirect them, her free right arm circled round each missile, tying the two together. As the missiles continued to fly towards them, Ilse placed her hand on the flaming rockets on the back of the missiles, her ceramic body resistant to the intense heat. A small magic circle surrounded her hand, the missile propulsion freezing and sputtering before failing completely, the missiles falling towards the empty fields below. Ilse quickly undid her grip on the missile. Using her left hand, she drew a line with her finger from her third eye to her empty right eye, moving her blue pupil to her right eye. Her clothes darkened to black and shortened, her blank third eye disappeared, her hair reverted to its original appearance and a black headband covered her blank left eye as she changed form.

Lynette looked up at Haruki's calling. Suddenly, someone smashed into the ground in front of her. Nathan 'RAD' Spencer stood up straight, his large bionic left arm very prominent against his figure. "Yo, young lady," he greeted with a salute. He walked past her up to the entrance of the penitentiary.

"H-Hey!" cried Lynette, taking hold of the back of Spencer's top. She tried to pull him back but did not have the physical strength to, only managing to grab his attention. "You can't go inside."

"Why not, I'm- Are you not wearing a shirt?" exclaimed Spencer.

"What?" uttered Lynette with surprise. She was still not wearing a shirt, her burnt one had been left on the HMS Thunder Child as she had not being willing to redress in front of Santiago. However, with her distracted, Spencer was able to crash through the front doors and ran inside only to run into a circular magical barrier. It unexpectedly began to push him back outside, out the building and over the ledge in front of the Penitentiary to the lower plaza below by the dock. "Haruki!" called Lynette, "Block the entrance!" She was flying over the plaza, the circular magic barrier directly in front of her. One SOS Thunder Child landed next to the Penitentiary, smashing through the ledge and stairs up, also blocking the entrance.

Haruki leaned over the deck of another SOS Thunder Child further above, "You need help, Lynette?"

"... I think I'll need it," Lynette answered, unwillingly tightening her grip on her rifle. Spencer flipped back onto his feet and clicked his tongue with annoyance. He pointed his bionic arm at the deck of the Thunder Child blocking the entrance, the hand shooting and grabbing onto the edge, the hand connected to the arm via a thick cable. Spencer pulled himself up to the ship and jumped on board. As he was about to attempt to make his way the roof of the building, Lynette tackled him back off the Thunder Child. Landing on his feet, Spencer was not in the mood any longer. He launched his claw at Lynette. She tried to avoid the claw by flying up, Striker Units not being relatively agile. However, the quick claw caught onto the Striker Unit on her left leg. Spencer took hold of the joining cable with his normal right hand and pulled strongly. The Striker Unit fell off her leg, destabilising her balance. Spencer once again grappled onto the deck of the Thunder Child and pulled himself but there was a sudden echoing rifle shot which dislodged the claw, causing Spencer to crash into the side of the ship. The recoil from Lynette's rifle forced her to wave side to side with her single Striker Unit to recover her stability. Spencer was really losing his patience. Jumping back up to his feet, he raced round the ship instead.

Lynette was not prepared for a sudden turn. "Haruki!" she called, wobbling around ungracefully. An orange portal from the Thunder Child above her opened up below her. She deactivated her Striker Unit, her Scottish Fold cat ears and tail disappearing, causing her to fall. Gathering speed, she fell into the portal, the momentum launching her out of the downward blue portal generated by the same Thunder Child, directly into the back of Spenser, toppling him forward onto the ground once more. Spencer flipped onto his back, forcing Lynette to roll off, her Striker Unit coming off, and grabbed her head with his claw, Lynette unable to escape.

Black felt something cold wrap round her left ankle. Her leg was pulled backwards with great strength, Black unable to react in time. As Black slid across the floor, she rolled onto her back to see Sora tugging on the chain connecting the two, with a look of fury on her face. Sora was showing no physical movement sign of pain, despite the still bleeding wound and sword in her abdomen and a trail of blood flowing down the edge of her lip. Black pointed her cannon at Sora and pressed the trigger just as another chain from the entrance door took hold of it. However, Black was able to resist the pull of the second chain, the cannon target unchanging. Sora dove to the side, still holding onto the first chain. The huge purple energy beam hit the natural metallic room wall, while managing to hold, still dented from the impact and turned red hot. However, the still slowly spreading checkerboard floor cracked from the attack's shockwave, indicating not just a change in pattern but a change in material, from metal to stone. Black rolled over again onto all fours, stamping on the chain with her right foot, breaking it. She quickly rose to her feet, looking at the pods again, but realised Sora would not allow her to damage them. Turning her attention back to Sora, chains began to appear on all six walls, targeting the bleeding Sora. However, each chain was intercepted by another, destroying each other. More and more chains shot across the room, far too many to count, Black losing track of the chains which were her own. On the other hand, Sora was completely unnerved, keeping her eyes completely fixed on Black. A long katana faded in by Sora's side, which she drew, Black recognising it as her own original sword. Sora had inherited it when Black had given her original powers to her. Showing finesse with a blade, Sora made her way to Black, cutting up the chains blocking her way. The purple flame over Black's eye sparked as the chains directly surrounding her burst into purple fire. Making use of The Unwritten Law, Black turned her back to Sora and pointed her cannon at the pods again, pulling the trigger. The cannon was suddenly hit from above, smashing it through the checkerboard floor, diverting the cannon fire through the floor to to the floor below. It took Black a moment to realise Sora, behind her, had smashed down another arm cannon, Black's original and once again inherited, on top of its Insane counterpart. But Black made best use of it, using her free left hand to grab the handle of the Insane sword in Sora and gave it a sharp twist. Sora gasped in pain, her wound opening wider, blood flowing out faster.

"You have plenty of weaknesses after all," grinned Black as she violently pulled the sword out.

With her form change complete, Ilse had a elegant white gunblade in each hand, unable to summon any other weapons in this form.

"Gunblades?" brought up Ælious with a raised eyebrow, "Umm... They're not exactly the best of weapons."

"You have fought a fighter jet before, yes?" Ilse asked. Alice noticed her speech patterns were changing but did not say anything."

"No?" answered Ælious.

"Me neither," Ilse replied simply. Ælious did not attempt to respond. Ilse shot her arms out once more, her leg wires wrapping round the head of the fighter. Suddenly, she heard a faint metal clicking. "Alice! Drop height! It is loading its gatling gun!"

Alice flapped her wings downwards, diving quickly as the fighter began firing off rapid rounds of bullets. "I can't avoid bullets for long," noted Alice urgently, "Especially, if can't see the shooter!"

"I need a view of the top of the fighter," grit Ilse.

"Get ready then," said Ælious, wrapping his free right arm round Alice's and Ilse's waists. He kicked off the air, performing an Void Instant Movement upwards, the three instantly moving to a higher altitude. The fighter was not expecting this and did not immediately react, still firing downwards, giving Ilse her required view of the fighter top. Her arms closed in on the fighter, lodging the gunblades between the cockpit window and metal chassis. She wedged the blades further into the gap and then quickly fired off several rounds from the gunblades, the blades lining the shots perfectly with no need for personal aiming. The shots entered the cockpit, piercing the insulation round the window, though keeping the pilot out of harm's way. However, a metallic howl echoed through the air with no reaction from the pilot. "That's Starscream," realised Ælious. The jet took a sharp turn upwards and began to transform, metal plates moving and clanking across the vehicle, forming a new entity, a large transformer. Starscream called out in rage as he fell down towards the three.

"Should I speed up?" questioned a tense Alice, who had still not looked backwards.

"No, don't," answered Ælious, watching the incoming Transformer, "Ilse's wires are stuck in Starscream." During Starscream's transformation, Ilse had not managed to undo the hold her legs had on the aircraft, the wires being caught inside Starscream.

Ilse withdrew her arms and upper legs. She dropped the gunblade in her left hand and took hold of both wires joining her upper legs with the lower legs, which were still in contact with Starscream. As the gunblade fell towards the ground below, Ilse voiced her own opinion, "Speed up Alice. We do not have time to waste... Yes?" With the gunblade in her right hand, she cut the two wires, separating the three from the Transformer but severing her legs at the knees in the process.

Alice immediately broke the sound barrier, Starscream falling past them, shouting in pain. Ælious could see white water vapour being emitted by the Transformer. He realised that with her wires inside Starscream, Ilse had managed to freeze his internal systems. Unable to give a vocal response, all Ælious could do was place a hand on Ilse's shoulder.

Lynette tried to pull off Spencer's claw off her face to no avail. Spencer did nothing, conflicted at what to do. "Look, girl," he said clamly, "I don't want to hurt you. What are you all trying to do?"

"To save lives," growled Lynette, "People will die if we don't hurry."

"Who-" Without warning, there was a very loud boom of a bass guitar from inside the Penitentiary. The Thunder Child blocking the Penitentiary entrance suddenly moved away from the building, pushing both Spenser and Lynette across the crumbling ground. As the ship was capable of hovering, it kept its upright position. As Spencer rolled back onto his feet, a powered band amp was placed on the ground not far ahead of him with a clunk. Looking up, he saw Mio behind the amp with her bass guitar on her back, which was plugged into the amp by a cable. She had a hand on the cable head, ready to pull it out at any time, essentially putting Spencer at gunpoint.

"Don't move," Mio warned. She had successfully used this method to single handedly move the Thunder Child.

Next to Mio was White with Sakuya on her back. Lynette got back to her feet, noticeably without her shoes, and went up White, breathless. "Good work, Lynette," comforted White, completely ignoring Spencer, "Where's KC?"

"She's in the security hub past Reimu!" called Haruki from a Thunder Child above, "Reimu's in a critical state. It's not safe to get KC back for now."

White sighed, "We need to get Sakuya awake. Pronto."

"White," groaned a voice behind them. White turned to see Konata walking out the Penitentiary with Reisen on her back. "I need her eyes open," Reisen continued, her own eyes half open. Lynette forced open both of Sakuya's eyes and purposely looked away, as did White. Reisen struggled to widen her own eyes, which began to flash bright red. Unable to maintain a constant red glow, Reisen shut her eyes tightly and grit her teeth. After a second of concentration, she opened her eyes quickly, her eyes glowing a crimson colour. Sakuya suddenly gasped.

Sora collapsed lifelessly onto Black's back who just threw her off onto the burning ground. The floor of the entire room, as well as the connecting room, was entirely covered in purple fire, heating up everything in its flames. Black turned to the pods again, looking at Len's pod in particular, the furthest from the car, which was next to Luka's pod. She gave Len's pod a sharp kick, cracking the glass and causing gas to hiss out the tank. With one more kick, the glass cracked completely, exposing Len's Append body. With a grin, Black drew back the sword. Suddenly, Len opened his eyes and grabbed Black by the throat. He pulled her towards him and held her wrists tightly, his android strength preventing her movement.

At the same time, KITT ejected both his front seats, one striking something invisible above him. Tear gas flooded the inside of KITT, flowing out of his now open sunroof. "He's all yours, Sora!" he called.

Sora flipped back onto her feet, her inherited powers giving her immunity to the purple fire. She leaped onto KITT's roof, her physical abilities unhindered by her normally fatal injury. The invisible person above KITT had collapsed on top of his roof with the combined impact from the seat and the tear gas. Sora could somewhat see through the tear gas, making out the shape of a man. With a sharp elbow to his forehead, Sora knocked the man out. This sudden movement made him visible and apparently also caused Black to pass out, the purple fire, her Insane cannon and sword fading away. The chains and the checkerboard design also began to recede.

"So, this is Yuri?" asked Sora, looking at the bald man. He had a circular metal object on his chest that Sora recognised as a Cloaking Device from the Perfect Dark universe.

"Yuri Prime," nodded Len, stepping out of his pod, holding the unconscious Black in a princess' cradle, "What Magneto was to Yamaha, Yuri is to Gensokyo. We consider Yuri to be the ultimate human mind controller, barring any gods. But, as you can see, he's not the most intelligent of people. He underestimated all three of us." The three had been communicating digitally with each other to seamlessly cooperate against Black and Yuri. While Yuri could hover, he could not fly so the only place he could avoid the purple fire but still observe the battle was to stay above KITT. With KITT's close proximity to the pods, Yuri would not risk Black firing her cannon at the pods for his own sake. "By the way, are you okay? That's not healthy looking damage."

Sora looked down at the still bleeding gash in her abdomen. "It's fine. It's a self-repair mechanism, similar to human blood in more ways than one. While my outer shell isn't as strong as yours, my innards are adequately protected. It allows me to do some convincing acting too. Hmm... The difference between us is similar to the different models of KITT." The original model of KITT, Knight Industries Two Thousand, possessed a Molecular Bonded Shell chassis that was almost completely impenetrable while the KITT with them, Knight Industries Three Thousand, had a Nanotech Skin that was weaker but was capable of repairing itself as well as allowing him to change appearance for disguises or otherwise. "By the way, how's Miku?"

"Leave me here for a while," stated KITT, "I'll need time to recover her data. Go and rendezvous at the Thunder Children. I can't move anyway. My tyres have melted to the floor."

Alice slowed to a stop over New York, reaching the city very quickly. The Statue of Liberty was in its normal position, indicating the HMS Thunder Child had not yet passed.

"Ilse... Are you okay?" inquired Ælious, now capable of speaking his mind.

"What happened?" asked Alice, scared at the potential answers she could receive.

There was a moment of silence as Ælious expected Ilse to answer, "She sacrificed her legs."

"What?!" cried Alice with distress.

"It is fine," sighed Ilse, "I feel no pain. It feels weird but that's it. It is fine..."

"Wait, I realised something," began Ælious, "How are we going to get into the Thunder Child?"

"You are a swordsman, are you not?"

"Yeah, but I can't cut through metal."

"We've got Subtle Knife tips," called White through the portal above them, "The problem is the amount of time you'll have to get in and out. Sakuya's not in a good condition. Lynette flew through the portal with her Striker Units and a barely conscious Sakuya on her back. After a small amount of difficulty readjusting to the change in gravity direction, Lynette flew next to Alice. Sakuya did not have the strength to say greetings, with one eye half open. Lynette passed a Subtle Knife tip to Ilse, not yet realising Ilse's loss of feet.

"Ilse, sorry to pile things on you," urged Ælious, "But I'll need your arm, detached at the shoulder, holding the tip. And to let go of your grip on me. And to hold the portal generator."

Ilse did not question Ælious' requests, realising his intention. As she did all tasks at once, her pelvis circling back round the three of them, there was a distant splash, quickly followed by a thunderous roar as the HMS Thunder Child burst out the water far to the south as it made its attempt to bypass the Atlantic barricade.

Meanwhile, back on one of the SOS Thunder Childs, Naluri woke up with a start.

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