Chapter 50 - Dead Wreckening

Dead Wreckening
"Ilse! Cirno!" gasped a surprised Rokiahi, as Ilse pulled her onto level ground. Rokiahi's trigger finger twitched dangerously leading Rokiahi to fearfully put the shotgun away into hammerspace. Ilse did not seem to notice. The room had turned mostly white, most surfaces covered by ice. The passage upwards was blocked by mangled metal plates and beams. However, the most interesting new addition to the room was a large block of ice by the stairs with a big man frozen inside.

"Fatman," Rokiahi recognised.

"You know him?" asked Ilse.

"Yeah, demolitions expert, keen skater. Did he do this damage?" Rokiahi questioned, nodding to the lift and the passage.

Ilse nodded, "For his size, he was certainly a nimble one," she admitted.

"But he was no problem!" thumbed up Cirno with gleaming blue eyes, "He was struggling to avoid the big hole so it was easy to defeat him! The explosions surprised me though."

Rokiahi noticed Cirno's speaking had become more fluent over the past year, "So what are you doing here?"

"When our armies begin to fail, we civilians have to do our part, yes?" noted Ilse with sincerity.

"Who are you with?"

"North High. We have not heard anything from Yamaha for a while," answered Ilse, "I have been trying to get a hold of Sora but she is not answering."

"She was with us in Japan but she got into a fight with Black and Lynette."

"Lynette, huh..." repeated Ilse, "The Anti-Nine really are not what we were before, yes."

"What happened?"

"Sora's with Yamaha," explained Cirno, who was staring at the Alien, who appeared to have gotten used to the 'Little One' moniker Rokiahi had given it. Little One stared back from Rokiahi's shoulder with a growl, "Ilse and I are with North High. But the rest of The Anti-Nine are with Gensokyo."

Rokiahi paused for a moment, "Even Naluri?" She knew the answer to this question but wondered whether it was public knowledge.

"Yes," came an answer from Ilse, "I am even hearing rumours that she's in charge, yes? You hear anything about that?"

"... From rumours," lied Rokiahi, "It can't be true."

"By the way, was not Void meant to be with you?" inquired Ilse.

This was the question Rokiahi had been dreading. She gulped, "... Yes. ...But she... didn't make it."

"Why? How?" Ilse cried in despair. Seeing that Rokiahi was unwilling to talk, she grabbed Rokiahi's neck with her right hand and dangled her over the lift hole, "What did you do to her?!" she threatened. Little One shrieked out and leaped at Ilse's face, sharp teeth bared. Ilse caught the Alien with her left hand, eyes fixed on Rokiahi. She pointed the Alien at Cirno, who was clearly tempted to freeze the animal, her habit of freezing innocent frogs ever-present. "What did you do to her?!" Ilse shouted once more.

"I-," Rokiahi coughed, holding onto Ilse's wrist, "Couldn't save her. It was my fault."

Ilse paused, "What did she die doing?" she asked in a clam voice.

"She- She died to save me," struggled Rokiahi.

Ilse paused for a second time before dropping Rokiahi onto the frozen ground. Rokiahi fell onto her back, gasping for air. "It would be disappointing," began Ilse, "For Void's wish to be lost, given the heavy price she paid to save your life. Are you aware of Sasaki's Will?"

Rokiahi was still lying on the floor, "No," she shook her head.

"It will take too long to explain fully but in short, it was a time-travelling Sasaki's final will before she was erased from space. She said: 'Live and learn.'" Ilse offered Rokiahi a hand up, which Rokiahi took, and pulled her back to her feet, "Live and learn, Rokiahi. You cannot do anything if you're dead. You can do anything if you're alive." Ilse did not let go of Rokiahi's hand. "I will take Void's place as your guardian. I do not know what you're doing here but I will get you to safety, yes? Are you fine with that?"

"Y-yeah."

"Let us get going then," Ilse placed Little One on Rokiahi's shoulders. Little One gave an angry bark at Ilse before silencing.

Ilse and Cirno went up to the frozen entrance to the room, opposite the staircase. Ilse gave the door a strong kick, the thin ice shattering. She pushed the door open, a white mist forming with the ice warming up from the incoming air. The three of them walked into a huge circular room, the front door of the castle towering over on the opposite wall. This was the main room of the fortress, elaborately decorated with old European designs, multiple security full body scanners and x-ray luggage conveyor belts lining the room from one side to the other in front of the main door, similar to an airport terminal.

But there were two people in the room. Solace and Alice Raymour were sat on two different luggage security belts, facing each other but looking in Rokiahi's direction, the noise obviously catching their attention, their yellow eyes a little unnerving. There was silence for a moment as Ilse and Cirno returned Alice's and Solace's stares. Solace was wearing armour of some sort that Rokiahi recognised from the minidisc. However, instead of grey, it was a shade of dark pink, similar in hue to Sasaki's own shirt.

"Today is a sad day for The Anti-Nine..." commented Ilse, her voice echoing through room.

"'The Anti-Six' doesn't quite have the same ring to it," agreed Solace with a retort.

"...What has been going on outside?"

"Not much actually," answered Alice, "The Writer's got everything under control." This was the first time Rokiahi had heard of confirmation of the Writer's existence from a Gensokyo loyalist.

"The Writer?" repeated Cirno.

"The Writer decides what happens in the universe," elaborated Solace, "Isn't that right, Rokiahi?"

Ilse and Cirno turned to Rokiahi. "Who is the Writer?" asked Rokiahi in a determined voice.

Solace and Alice exchanged glances, "Didn't Naluri tell you she was one pulling the strings?" responded Solace.

Rokiahi's fists clenched and teeth gritted, "She was not the Naluri I knew. Who's really in control?"

"I don't know if you've been told, Rokiahi," brought up Alice, "But you and Naluri follow The Inconvenience Theory, and slip in and out of this universe constantly, making it impossible to mind control either of you." Rokiahi recalled Haruhi's vague explanation of this ability.

A thought occurred to her. Naluri had demonstrated her ability to tap into hammerspace, accessible only by their owners. What were the chances of someone else having a hammerspace with the same items? Though as she thought, she recalled only seeing Naluri summon the Bullstopper bullet and the hoverboard. Then she recalled Naluri's comment about the hoverboard. Naluri had remembered talking about reverse engineering the board back in their own world. It was a military secret in their own world, they would never have discussed this to others, even after Doomsday. And if Alice and Haruhi were right about Naluri being unable to be controlled, only the original Naluri would know about it.

"Rokiahi?" asked a concerned Cirno.

Rokiahi blinked, realising tears were running down her cheeks. She wiped her eyes with her arms, "She knew about our history before Doomsday that no one else would know..." spoke Rokiahi. Suddenly, she remembered something else that happened in the same conversation and lowered her arms. "But she couldn't remember anything about the time we spent together during The Second Year. She was speechless. Even though she acknowledged Doomsday and how she went missing this morning," Rokiahi argued, "That was not Naluri!"

Ilse was frozen in realisation, "The Daughter of Liberty..." Cirno looked at Ilse in shock before looking at Alice and Solace for confirmation.

"Who?" inquired a confused Rokiahi.

"Long story short," explained Ilse, "Naluri had a future version, like Sasaki, but unlike Sasaki, she died of her wounds before she could fade from space. She and Sasaki saved us all a year ago but Naluri made the ultimate sacrifice and became known as The Daughter of Liberty among the people who knew of her deeds. She would not know of events during The Second Year if she was brought back this morning." Ilse was too looking towards Alice and Solace, "But... how? How did they bring her back?" Everything suddenly made sense to Rokiahi: the DeLorean, the violent minidisc, Doctor Doom, the Daughter of Liberty, Naluri. Except for one thing.

"Why is she doing this?" questioned Rokiahi.

"I thought she told you," brought up Alice, jumping off the conveyor belt, "The world needs to change, to unite as one."

"The world is not united if you oppress everyone," argued Ilse.

"Who's being oppressed?" replied Alice, "Gensokyo has imprisoned no one. And has no casualties, even minor, out of battle zones. North High and Yamaha's violent resistance to the peaceful solution is causing the suffering."

"Says the faction that started the fight!" called Cirno, "Your 'battle zones' cover the world, an excuse for eradicating those that have a different view!"

Alice sighed, leaning back against the conveyor belt again, "Rokiahi, do you know Naluri's Legacy?"

"No, I don't," answered Rokiahi.

"Before the future Naluri was erased, she left us her Legacy to follow: Acceptance. Don't blindly follow your instincts. Try to see the whole picture before you reject it. A united universe is a peaceful universe, where we work as one. Rokiahi, you need to see Gensokyo for what it really is."

"She already knows what it's really like!" shouted Cirno.

"Gensokyo is continuing the peaceful ideals of The Second Year!" shouted back Solace, getting to her feet, "North High and Yamaha destroyed the peace by betraying the world's will! Live and learn! To not accept what works is foolish!"

"It is difficult to argue against your flawed observation, yes?" admitted Ilse, "If you are so peaceful, why do you not grant us passage?"

"A fundamental part of peace is keeping an eye on those that will cause trouble," noted Alice, "I'm sorry but we need you to stay here."

There was brief pause before Ilse's left hand shot across the room towards a barely noticeable control panel by the huge door.

Solace reacted quickly, running towards the hand to stop it and a superhuman pace. The hand whooshed past Solace but she grabbed the barely visible wire connecting Ilse's hand to her wrist, successfully stopping the hand in midflight. Solace took hold of the wire with both hands and gave a strong tug, pulling Ilse off her feet.

Cirno placed her hands on the floor with a determined look. Huge ice shards grew from the ground at potentially lethal speeds with loud cracking sounds. More shards shot up, forming a rapidly elongating line of shards from Cirno towards Solace in front of her.

Solace rolled to her left, avoiding the ice, which passed her, freezing Ilse's wire. The shards continued on their way, freezing several security gates and up the large door before stopping.

Before Solace could recover from her roll, Ilse's left hand separated further into fingers and wrapped more wires around Solace. Ilse, on the other side of the ice wall, pulled back her wire. The smooth wire slid through the hole it was stuck in, pulling Solace into the ice wall with a slam. However, Solace was not phased by the impact and attempted to pull back.

Ilse was once again thrown off her feet towards the ice wall, unable to match Solace's brute strength. The ice wall suddenly shattered, Alice charging towards Ilse, angel wings outstretched and a lance made of solid white light round her right hand. Ilse immediately dived to ground onto her back, passing under Alice. She detached her right arm, which flew round Alice, also wrapping wires round her. With her wings constrained, Alice fell to the floor. Alice was clearly having more trouble with Ilse than Solace was. Ilse's wires were wrapped tightly round Alice, tying her legs together and her arms across her torso. Ice was also slowly spreading from the wires across Alice's body. Solace was however moving unhindered, dragging Ilse across the rough broken ice.

"Rokiahi," requested Cirno, "You need to get Solace's Super Driver off her!"

"Super Driver?"

"The armour suit. It spreads any force she gets across her body-" Cirno was suddenly struck in the face by an invisible force, knocking her backwards. Rokiahi reacted quickly, covering her own face with the Impact Dial in her left hand. Solace's long range invisible and silent punch hit the Dial, which absorbed the shock. But it was immediately followed by another punch straight in the abdomen. Rokiahi fell forwards in pain. Master Chief, Gordon Freeman, Sam Fisher, they were all dangerous humans with the skill to prove their superiority in their own worlds. Rokiahi, thanks to her hammerspace, could beat them. But superhumans with superhuman skills were another story. They were more than dangerous. They were lethal. Back in Japan, Rokiahi had fled from Misaka as soon it was safe to do so. Solace's faster than light speed punches were particularly of concern, practically undodgeable.

Rokiahi coughed in mild agony, her insides feeling a little scrambled. However, this was nothing compared with the DeLorean impact from earlier. Solace had not managed to stop Cirno enlightening Rokiahi. She understood the Super Driver was spreading the usually concentrated force of the wires so that to Solace it felt as though she was just in breathable water, still with ease of movement. But would she get rid of it?

To throw the punches, Solace had let go of Ilse's wire. Ilse quickly retracted her left hand, concentrating on the downed Alice. Unexpectedly, Alice unsummoned her tied wings before summoning them again. Since the wings grew from her back, they slipped through the gaps of the wire that tied her, once again giving Alice the power to fly again. Alice took flight, flying towards the security gates. She weaved through the gates with fast speed but twitchy movement, probably from her freezing body. Alice quickly tangled Ilse's right arm wire with multiple knots.

The room's temperature was quickly dropping, frost covering the walls and floor. Cirno flew into the air, nose bleeding, blue ice projectiles circling around her. The flightless Solace threw a punch from ground level. While the punch was directed again at Cirno's face, the punch hit one of the solid ice blocks, which cracked but the punch ricocheted off, hitting the wall instead.

Cirno grinned at this, more and more blocks forming, spreading further and further away from her, following set patterns in the air. Solace was not amused, spinning on the spot and throwing an invisible kick upwards instead. The kick smashed through several blocks of ice before hitting Cirno in the chest. Cirno recoiled with the strike. While it wasn't as strong as the punch from earlier, it was clear the kick had considerable more power than the punch, it was just slower to use. Annoyed, Cirno circled round the ceiling, forming even more blocks, quickly filling the room. All the walls were soon covered in a centimetre of ice, their breaths producing white water vapour.

Ilse refused to let her grip of Alice go but with her arm wire tangled and almost pulled to its limit, she was finding her mobility options were being limited as she was pulled towards the first security gate. Alice landed awkwardly on the ground most of her body frozen, before wrapping her wings around herself. Ilse could feel Alice's surroundings heat up but was more concerned about whether Alice had something to cut her wires with. Not prepared to take the risk, Ilse quickly undid her hold.

This was a good move on Ilse's part as Alice opened her wings to reveal she was holding a sharp light arrow, the ice melted away. As Ilse's right hand frantically flew through the security gates to untie Ilse, Alice summoned alight bow and took careful aim of the arrow at Ilse's tightly wrapped wires in the second security gate away from her. Ilse only had a moment's thought before Alice fired. As she right hand flailed around the air, she took hold of one of Cirno's ice blocks and held it in the arrow's path, just as Alice was hit by a fast moving block on the side of the head, knocking her over. Alice's arrow pierced through the ice block but as it passed through, it bent at a sharp angle, coming out of the block as fast as it went in but in a different direction, shooting past Ilse. The arrow continued on its way, entering more of Cirno's descending blocks before striking dangerously close to Rokiahi who was still on the floor, Little One on her back.

Rokiahi, a little unnerved, knew that ice, as well as water, only refracted light, instead of stopping it. She was just glad the arrow didn't travel at the speed of light. Seeing that Cirno was distracting Solace and making her look up, Rokiahi decided to take the chance.

She shot the grappler at Solace's front. Because of the Super Driver, Solace was not sensitive to small impacts, Even if she noticed, she would have to guess where the hit came from. Rokiahi slid across the ice towards Solace. Just then, a hardhitting block of ice struck Solace on the back. While she did not flinch, Solace immediately looked towards Rokiahi. Of course, her first guess would be the person she couldn't see. Solace stamped on the grappler cable and pulled it off before diving out the way of Rokiahi's sliding path. Rokiahi quickly summoned the Sony Ericsson and pressed two buttons. Two spikes extracted out the bottom of the phone. Rokiahi stabbed the phone into the ice on the ground, the phone releasing a huge electric charge. Ilse, Rokiahi, Little One and Cirno was all unaffected due to being make of ceramics, dressed in rubber, standing on rubber and in the air, respectively.

Both Alice, on the floor, and Solace, in the process of rolling, were hit by the electric shock. Alice immediately took to the air but Solace slipped, the Super Driver unable to protect her from non-impacts. Solace growled, twitching from the electricity. She managed to stand up, the phone's electricity spread over the entire ice surface, dampening its full surge. Solace drew back a leg and released an invisible kick, the phone shattering into pieces but unexpectedly, a line of fire shot from Solace's feet through the phone's remains and up the wall a fair distance. The nearby ice instantly melted, putting the fire out with the water in the process. Solace's kicks were so fast that the friction could burn ice.

"Alice!" Solace called, "You take care of the ice fairy, I'll take care of the doll."

Rokiahi continued to slide until she stopped at the opposite wall. Her plan to incapacitate Solace failed but Solace continued to ignore Rokiahi. If Rokiahi was in Solace's shoes, she'd get rid of the hammerspace user as there was no way to predict what they had in their hammerspace. Or was Solace planning to use Rokiahi for something else? Regardless, Rokiahi could tell the Super Driver's feet were magnetic, Solace keeping a normal non-slip stance on the ice, thanks to the metal floor below it.

Solace ran towards Ilse, who had just untied herself from the security gate. Her form immediately began to change, her clothes adopting a blue colour scheme. Furry ears grew on her head, and blue third eye appeared on her forehead. Ilse, in her fox form, jumped out of Solace's way with impressive nimbleness, Solace smashing her close range punch into the security gate that crumbled from the strength. While Ilse still slipped around on the ice, even on all fours, she had very good control of where she was heading, her eyes noting the positions of all nearby ice blocks. She slid round Solace in a wide circle, making best use of Solace's difficulty of smashing through the blocks. As Ilse came between Solace and Rokiahi, her left foot detracted from her ankle, flying as low as possible towards Rokiahi. Rokiahi realised what Ilse was trying to do and took hold of the foot, keeping her own head down so Solace couldn't see with Ilse in the way. Ilse pulled Rokiahi across the ice towards her.

Alice was not finding it easy to navigate through the ice blocks, her wings needing considerable room to flap, especially at the fast speed the blocks were travelling at. As she was hit in the shoulder by another block, she wrapped herself in her wings again. She fell a short distance before expanding her wings again, pushing away all the nearby blocks. Summoning her lance, she flapped her wings in one single powerful push, making use of the free space she had given herself. With lance outstretched, wings tucked in, Alice shot through the air towards Cirno, knocking aside all blocks in the way. Cirno threw her arms at Alice, huge ice shards forming in midair in a straight line towards the ground, essentially an air version of her previous move. Alice barrelrolled to the side, continuing her path towards Cirno. The agile Cirno dived down to dodge. But predictably, Cirno had left the area she was hovering ice block free so she wouldn't get hit by her own blocks. Alice flew into the free space and making full use of the void, flapped her wings once, shooting straight downwards, faster than Cirno could descend. Alice unsummoned her lance before she grabbed Cirno by the neck but she saw Cirno's bleeding nose.

Solace realised how hindering the floating ice blocks were. She placed her hands down on the ice and began to do what could essentially be described as the Pommel Horse. Swinging her body and straight legs round her arms, hands alternating holding her up, she span round on the spot. Suddenly, lines of fire shot across the walls and floor as she began to kick out. Ice began to melt frantically, water running onto the floor. Ice blocks melted instantly as her kicks made contact. Nearby, Cirno's massive leaning ice column, that had hit the floor a moment earlier, struggled to stay standing as the temperature of the room began to rise. Ilse was suddenly struck in the side by a kick, bowling her over towards the front door. Rokiahi, still with her head down, let go of Ilse's foot before she would be pulled off course but Rokiahi's slide ended prematurely anyway, with the ice below her melted. Her rubber uniform did not slide well on metal. Thinking fast, she summoned Gordon's shotgun, shot one end of a grappler cable at it and threw it towards Solace. Solace, who was not concentrating on Rokiahi, did not see the shotgun coming, which landed beneath her. Before she could react, she placed her hand on it. The Super Driver's magnetic grip attached to the metal shotgun, causing Solace to slip, metal more than capable of sliding on metal. Solace splashed into the shallow water, stopping her kicks. While most of the fire was put out by the water, several of the security conveyor belts were still on fire. With Solace's magnetic hold of the shotgun, Rokiahi was pulled through the water towards her. Solace noticed this and quickly tossed the shotgun aside. Rokiahi did a combat roll across the last few metres, Impact Dial above her head to protect from Solace's punches. But as she was coming out of her roll, she was punched in the abdomen by another invisible punch. With the wind knocked out of her, she toppled over, facedown in the water. Gasping, Rokiahi rose her head to see Solace attempting to move away from her. Rokiahi quickly summoned the Gravity Gun, it dropping in the water. Still charged from the museum lightning, it unleashed its static in the water, catching both the soaked Rokiahi and Solace. As Solace fell to the floor, Rokiahi tried to pull herself to Solace but could not find the strength. Suddenly her wrist was grabbed by a colder one and she was pulled towards Solace with a strong heave. Ilse placed Rokiahi's hand on Solace's foot, Rokiahi absorbing the Super Driver into her hammerspace.

Alice's phobia was triggered. In fear, Alice kicked Cirno downwards, the ice fairy hitting the ground with force. Crazed, Alice raised her hand above her head, hundreds of light arrows appearing above her, all pointing down. She lowered her hand, all the arrows shooting down at once. Cirno, now barely conscious, waved her hand over her head, making an ice bridge over herself. Like the nature of fibre optics, arrows that entered the ice were stuck inside, bouncing of the sides until they hit the ground at either end.

Ilse had adopted her pirate form, eyepatch over her left eye, with gunblades in both hands. She was about to raise a gunblade at Solace when she was struck in the back by an arrow, the arrowhead passing through her torso. As Ilse stumbled, Solace dived under the security gate she had punched earlier. Ilse, taking hold of Rokiahi's jacket, threw Rokiahi under another gate for shelter, just as another arrow struck her in the left calf. The arrow cut the wire inside, Ilse's left foot falling off. Ilse toppled over, only to be hit by another arrow in the right shoulder.

Alice, summoning her lance again, charged through the bridge, showering the area in ice particles and landed above Cirno. She took Cirno by the collar. "I really don't want to do this."

Cirno spat blood in Alice's face, "This is how terrible Gensokyo has become," she responded.

Alice wiped the blood off her face and looked at the stains of read on her hand. Enraged, she picked Cirno up and slammed her down on the nearby burning conveyor belt. Cirno screamed in agony as she began to melt, her hand taking hold of Alice's neck. Seeing this, Rokiahi was horrified and scrambled to her feet towards the huge tilting column of ice. The bottom of the column had become weak from Solace's fire kicks. Rokiahi summoned Sam Fisher's frag grenade with her left hand and pressed it against the column. The grenade immediately exploded, the Impact Dial preventing any damage to Rokiahi, and destroyed the base of the ice. The column began to collapse.

But it was too late as Cirno's arm lost strength and turned into pure water, putting out the fire and leaving only the clothes of once proud ice fairy. The column smashed into the ground, mixing with shallow warm water and dousing the entire room with water. The water level immediately increased to knee height, the water being sucked into the hole back in the elevator room. Alice was only person to not grab onto something in time, swept towards the hole. She expanded her wings, only to have a wire wrap round them and tie her up. Alice fell over, facedown in the water. Ilse, still with two arrows in her chest, pulled herself towards Alice as Alice unsummoned her wings and resummoned them, repeating her earlier trick. But Ilse got there quickly, stabbing Alice's right wing into the ground with a gunblade. Ilse held Alice's head underwater with her right hand and aimed at Solace with the gunblade in her left. A furious Solace ran full pelt towards Ilse, the water low enough to run in. While Solace typically didn't deal with gunwielders, the blades on Ilse's gunblades made it particularly obvious where Ilse was aiming and hence making it easy to dodge.

As Alice's left wing stopped struggling, Ilse untied her and pulled the gunblade out of her wing. The flowing water carried the motionless Alice out of the room into the elevator shaft. Solace roared, circling round the now dualwielding Ilse. Ilse's left leg had completely fallen off, her foot essentially having been the knot at the end of the string that stopped the beads falling off, hence Ilse was not in nimble condition. The room's temperature began to drop again, ice coating the walls once more. Solace slipped over, a bullet chipping her left shoulder. As she rolled over near the elevator room, Solace swung a kick, hitting Ilse in the side again but what accompanied by a loud cracking noise. The unstable Ilse fell over onto her hands, giving Solace the chance to kick her once more in the chest, with another cracking noise. As Ilse rose a gunblade, Solace punched the weapon out of her hand.

Rokahi attempted to scramble over to Ilse but the ice was making it difficult.

Solace made her way towards Ilse, striking down Ilse with an invisible punch every time she tried to move. She stood over the vulnerable Ilse, with no mercy.

"Look what you have turned the world into," murmured Ilse.

"Terrible, isn't it," agreed Solace, raising her leg into the air. She smashed it down on Ilse's torso, which finally shattered from the physical abuse. Rokiahi slid to Ilse, who was completely still. Her new guardian was already gone. "You're a terrible person, Rokiahi," commented Solace with a sad sigh, "You could have stopped six deaths in past hour alone and yet, you're willing to sacrifice them for your own benefit." Solace picked up the Gordon's shotgun that had not been washed away and pointed it at Rokiahi. "Naluri was right. You need to change."

Rokiahi shot her grappler behind Solace. Solace turned to see the grappler attach to the still frozen Fatman in the elevator room. Making use of Solace's distraction, Rokiahi touched the shotgun, sending it back to her hammerspace, shot Solace's foot with the other end of the grappler cable and gave Solace's ankle a strong kick. Solace fell forwards, slipping on the ice and was pulled towards the elevator room. Fatman's block of ice slid into the elevator hole, pulling Solace even faster towards the hole. Solace grabbed onto the slippery edge of the hold but it was clear she wouldn't be able to hold it for longer.

"Eight deaths, Rokiahi," growled Solace, "Eight." Her grip slipped. There was the sound of a splash followed by claps of thunder. The lower floors had been flooded, with electricity flowing freely from the museum.

Rokaihi walked slowly towards the front door. As she passed the broken security gate, she slammed it to the ground in rage. Little One, who had been taking refuge on an intact security gate followed behind her with concern. Rokiahi pressed the button to open the front door, ice cracking off it as it slowly slid open.

As they stepped back into open air, they were greeted by the sounds of grinding metal, a bipedal machine with a massive chainsaw on its front end, known as Lil' Slugger, was cutting through the Ebon Hawk, which collapsed into two pieces.

Rokiahi was not in the mood. She fired the grappler at the end of Slugger's chainsaw and then shot on the ground. As Lil' Slugger had been leaning slightly forward to cut the Ebon Hawk, the pull of the grappler cable made it topple forwards. Rokiahi ran towards the side leg of Slugger, as it attempted to stand back up, and placed the Impact Dial at it. The Impact Dial, with the power of several of Solace's punches and a frag grenade, shattered the leg forcing the machine to fall over once more. Rokiahi climbed up the vehicle to the glass cockpit. Inside the cockpit was Doctor Fetus, essentially an intelligent human fetus in a glass cylinder. Summoning the shotgun, she shot the glass, blasting a hole in the window. She then tossed the shotgun away, as it only had one shot, jammed by the chaff grenade from before. Little One scurried into the cockpit and shrieked at Doctor Fetus. The high pitched wail shattered both the cockpit windows and Doctor Fetus' own cylinder. Doctor Fetus cowered, breathing heavily, as Little One stared at him.

"Leave him," ordered Rokiahi to Little Slugger, kicking the controls of the Slugger. Several panels broke, the chainsaw whirling to a halt. "There's been enough damage today." Regardless, Doctor Fetus passed out, seemingly from suffocation. There was little Rokiahi could do, Little One had used up all the oxygen in the oxygen mask tank.

Rokiahi jumped down from Lil' Slugger. "Naluri!" she shouted, "We need to talk!"

"About what?" asked Naluri, walking round the back of Lil' Slugger into Rokiahi's view. Misaka, Yuri and Lynette followed behind her. "I'm all ears."

Rokiahi looked towards Naluri as Little One jumped on her shoulders, "Maybe it's time you started using them."