The control room of Regiment headquarters had fallen into chaos. The technicians and officers hurriedly repaired the damage incurred by Moonface’s attack. They were making progress, much of which seemed for naught, as the leadership couldn’t work out what to do. All they did was bicker in the conference room.
Bravo was particularly vociferous against engaging the assistance of other organisations to find the enemy, while Spirit insisted that a mirror be found with which to contact DWMA. The other generals wanted to remove the two men from the decision-making process for their incompetence. Rodrigo stood in the corner and shook his head with dismay, while General Vasuman chuckled.
“Is this a time to laugh?” growled Rodrigo.
“Oh, it’s just absurd, isn’t it?” chimed Vasuman. “The world’s about to end, and all we can do is point fingers. It’s just absurd.”
The shouting grew so loud that Rodrigo almost didn’t hear the beep on the intercom nearby.
“General Rodrigo, we have a problem,” said a nervous technician. Rodrigo was sure he could hear a Scottish accent in the background. He and an intrigued Vasuman left the room, and the other generals soon noticed their departure and followed. Their jaws dropped when they saw Eriol standing in the control room, his sun-shaped staff in-hand.
“Lord Lamperouge, you mean to make an enemy of us at a time like this?” exclaimed Rodrigo.
Bravo stepped forward and donned his Arms Alchemy. He clenched his fists and proclaimed, “Let me deal with this joker.”
Eriol gazed at a screen nearby. A widget started to beep on the console.
“Uh, Generals … Sirs, everyone in the hangar is walking away,” said the technician. Upon a command from Vasuman, he brought a feed from the hangar to the main screen. The repair teams in the hangar had halted their work, and had retreated to the edges of the chamber. Then a group of six marched across the hangar toward the one remaining stealth craft.
One wore a black long coat over a crème cardigan and checkerboard skirt.
One wore red trousers, a yellow jacket, and bobbed to the beat in his head.
One had a green and gold shirt with a star on the chest, and a red scarf.
One had a blue shirt with a crucifix.
One boasted a green suit plated with armour, the face of a wolf emblazoned upon his chest.
One marched in a pink suit, holding a shimmering star-shaped wand above her head.
“What the Hell are they doing?” exclaimed Bravo.
“What I gathered them to do,” said Eriol, an infuriating grin plastered on his face.
Everyone watched as the stealth craft lifted away from its moorings and flew into the sky. Only Rodrigo had the presence of mind to say, “Get all communications up. I want to know where they’re going.”
“So we can bring them back?” asked Bravo, sighing with resignation. “They obviously know where Shaula is.” He glanced at Eriol. “Right?”
“Aye, laddie,” said Eriol.
“And they’ll need all the support we can give them,” said Rodrigo. To the technicians, he ordered, “Find out where they’re going, and evacuate that area.” He gave Bravo a reassuring pat. It did little to assuage Bravo’s nerves, as the man could not deter the mental images of another Victor incident. He stood there, immobile, and waited for the Regiment’s systems to be repaired.
There’s no more planes, so they’re on their own, he thought. And they’re going to bust everything wide open now. No way can we cover this up now.
Eriol moved to Bravo’s side and said, “You should take a page out of Sakura’s spell book.”
“Oh yeah? And what would that be?” asked Bravo, his arms folded.
“Just tell yourself, ‘You’ll definitely be alright,’” said Eriol. “Works like a charm for her.”
Bravo rolled his eyes and wondered aloud, “Pray the day never comes when she eats those words.”
* * *
The jet pierced through the skies. It pitched as Astrid twisted the yoke, and directed the plane southward to Sydney. Her GPS readout indicated an ETA of half an hour. It wasn’t that much of a hassle to pilot the plane, but Nathan rasping in her ear made it a lot harder than she wanted.
Finally, after the umpteenth time she’d refused, Nathan marched back to his seat with a growl.
“Bitch,” he murmured under his breath. Everyone else in the cabin could hear it though.
Soul turned to him and chuckled, “Your girl’s a bitch too, huh?”
Maka flared her nostrils and slapped him. Soul quickly retaliated with a slap of his own, and before long the pair were roughhousing beside Nathan.
Sakura looked at the pair in dismay, and wondered how they could ever work together. She turned to Xiaolang, who fought to suppress his snickers, and said, “We don’t act like that, do we?”
Xiaolang stroked her fringe and said, “Of course, not.” And he kissed her cheek.
“Cute,” said Maka with a faux sneer. Sakura poked her tongue out at her.
Maka’s expression softened and she said, “Good job distracting those guards before.”
“No problem,” said Sakura, saluting with her Star Wand. She cocked her head to the side, and then said, “Maya says thanks.”
Soul turned to Nathan and asked, “So, dude, why’s Valkyrie such a bitch?”
“Oh, she keeps poo-poo-ing my awesome ideas,” complained Nathan.
“What are you? Six?” asked a disbelieving Xiaolang.
Nathan went on, “And I had an awesome idea for our team’s name too.”
“No, you don’t,” yelled Astrid from the cockpit.
“It’s awesome!” cried Nathan.
“For Christ’s sake, Nathan,” Astrid exclaimed. “We are not calling ourselves ‘The Avengers!’”
“Why not?” cried Nathan, while everyone else in the cabin fell over laughing, except Maka.
“Could you be serious for one minute, Grant?” she chided. “We’re going into a battle that could very well affect the fate of our world. Not to mention we’ve disobeyed direct orders, which could get us all demoted or imprisoned. This is hardly the time to be naming … whatever this is.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed at her and he said, “Oi, sheila, is it comfortable sittin’ down?”
“Why does that matter?” asked Maka confused.
“I’m just surprised the stick up your bum doesn’t get in the way,” retorted Nathan.
At that, Maka filled with so much rage she almost shut down. Astrid and Sakura exploded with involuntary laughter. Xiaolang tried to repress his own chuckles, but Soul wore his merriment right on his sleeves.
“Oh, burn! Epic burn, Albarn!” he proclaimed.
Maka’s nostril’s flared again, this time at Nathan. She shot out of her chair and glared at him.
“I don’t need Soul to kick your ass, Grant,” she snarled.
Nathan stood to meet her. “Mc-Mac, I could suck the life right out of you.”
Maka stuck her nose right in his face. “Suck me, then!” A split second later, utter dread filled her and she backed away. “I shouldn’t have said it like that!” she cried, absolutely red-faced. The whole cabin erupted with even more laughter. “Shut up,” pouted the blonde as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Sakura sobered first and said, “It’s alright, Maka. I understood what you meant. And I agree, Nathan’s a big meanie.”
“The biggest,” said Maka, letting out a brief chortle.
Soul breathed back the last of his laughter and said, “Well, if we’re thinkin’ team names, Eriol did call us ‘six teenagers with attitude.’ Why not call ourselves the Pow–”
“NO!” screamed everyone in the cabin, to which Soul chuckled gleefully.
Xiaolang, still pink in the face from laughter, and said, “You know what? I think a theme song is better than a name.” He turned to Soul. “Soul Eater, I hear you’re good with music. Why don’t you come up with something?”
“Sorry, Bruce, I left my fifty-piece orchestra in my other pants,” exclaimed Soul sardonically.
The group laughed a little longer. Even Maka joined in.
“But Lee’s right, we should have a haka,” said Nathan.
“What’s a haka?” asked Sakura.
“The New Zealand footy team has this dance they do before every game,” explained Nathan. “It’s a traditional Maori dance meant to scare the enemy into surrender, and they call it a ‘haka.’ Maybe we should have one.”
“Well, Soul, get on it,” said Maka with a grin.
Soul grew nervous, and quickly retorted, “Only if I can draw Maori tattoos on your face.”
“I’ll die first,” snapped Maka.
Sakura snapped her fingers and exclaimed, “I know!” She stood and proclaimed, “This should be our haka!”
She stomped the floor twice and clapped. She did it again. Everyone recognised it, and joined in. Before long, Sakura and Nathan were singing Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You.’ The rest quickly joined in.
The group was so caught up in the song that they didn’t notice the beeps from the radar. Astrid heard it first, and interrupted the song. She ignored the protests from her teammates and pointed to starboard.
“We got incoming,” she announced. The others found viewports and glanced to the right of the plane. Three dots on the horizon quickly turned to metallic birds.
“Homunculi,” exclaimed Soul.
“Strap yourselves in!” yelled Astrid. She didn’t wait for them, however, and pitched the plane left. The others tumbled inside the cabin as Astrid dove downward then upward in an effort to shake the pursuing monsters. Yet they persisted as irritating beeps on her radar, fixed upon their prey like starving eagles in the Andes. A klaxon sounded, signalling a lock-on alert. “We’ve been targeted,” Astrid announced.
“Sakura, can you shield us?” asked Maka.
Sakura nodded and cast out the Guard Card. She held her wand out to the aft, where Astrid said the enemy missiles were certain to hit. The incoming assault struck Sakura’s force field, protecting the jet from harm, but draining her. Her legs shuddered with fear.
“They’re flanking us,” exclaimed Astrid.
“Oi, Bruce, don’t you have any shield magic?” asked Soul.
Xiaolang shook his head. “Only very short range. Maybe I can use some fire or lightning, but I’d need a clear line of sight.”
Maka shouldered Sakura and whispered to her, “You’re fine, Sakura. You just need to focus more. Don’t be afraid.”
“They’re too powerful,” exclaimed Sakura.
Astrid glanced back and saw Sakura come up empty. She looked at the radar and saw the enemy homunculi fire from three directions. She quickly unstrapped herself and marched to the back of the plane.
“Astrid, who’s driving?” asked Nathan.
Astrid looked at Xiaolang and said, “You need a clear line of sight, I’m going to give you one.” With a grunt, she wrenched a lever at the rear of the ship, and the aft hatch blew open. The sudden blast of air sucked them out of the jet just as the homunculi’s missiles hit, ripping the plane apart in a cloud of fire and smoke.
Xiaolang acted quickly, and summoned a bolt of lightning from his sword. He cleaved two of the homunculi apart. Sakura sent out a blast of fire from the Flare Card, which disintegrated the third. Then she looked down, and saw the eastern coast of Australia rushing up to meet her.
“Sakura, use the Flight Card,” yelled Xiaolang over the wind.
Sakura caught his meaning in an adrenaline-fuelled stupor, and procured the Flight Card.
“Become a majestic bird to carry us, Flight,” she proclaimed, touching her wand to it. The Card morphed in a flash of light into a four-winged leviathan of the skies. Sakura caught onto the down behind its crest, and grabbed Xiaolang before soaring downward to catch Nathan and Soul.
Astrid and Maka were closer to the ground, and looked up to see the otherworldly bird incoming. Astrid glanced at Maka and yelled, “Having fun yet?”
“Do you have to ask?” retorted Maka.
Soul and Nathan caught them and pulled them safely onto the bird’s back. Sakura then held out her wand and resonated with the Flight Card. At her will, the bird pulled out of its nosedive, seemingly without inertia. Then Sakura summoned the Gale Card, which gave Flight a good boost southward.
Nathan pointed ahead, just off from Flight’s course, and yelled, “That’s Centrepoint!”
Sakura willed Flight toward the spindly tower just on the horizon, and the bird obediently thrust forward. It gained altitude over the houses and high-rises that pockmarked the northern reaches of Sydney. It crossed the vast gap of Sydney Harbour, and encircled the needle-like Centrepoint Tower. The six of them gazed at the central turret, and spotted a lone figure in a spiffy overcoat, looking right back at them.
“Let’s go,” said Astrid.
Flight vectored toward the tower. When they were near enough, the group leapt off the bird and landed on top of the central turret. Moonface held his arms out wide and exclaimed, “Welcome to the grand opening of the Ultimate Gate!” The broach on his collar and the gibbous shape of his head told them he was a copy.
Nathan looked past him to the strange device at the base of the spire. It was cylindrical, with a mass of wires and cables emerging from it. The cables snaked their way up the spire like technicoloured moss.
“Where’s the Silver Key, Slenderman?” he asked. Moonface just shrugged.
“Where’s Shaula?” barked Maka.
“Making meals of this metropolis,” replied Moonface. “All for the opening to a new world order.”
“That ain’t gonna happen,” snarled Soul as he transformed into a scythe in Maka’s hand. Nathan and Astrid activated their Arms Alchemies, and stood at the ready. Sakura raised her wand, and Xiaolang cocked his sword.
“Moon!” chortled Moonface. He subsequently split into twenty copies, each of which drew swords from the sheaths on their hips. They chirped in unison, and then charged forward.
The group raced to meet them.
“Get past them and get the key!” yelled Astrid. She leapt into the air, and spun to cut two airborne Moonfaces to ribbon. She landed, but had to defend herself from three others that came after her from behind.
Nathan blocked the blows of two clones with his gauntlet and countered. He then deflected blows from another to his right and ran the Moonface through with his lance.
Maka swung Soul’s scythe form around her body, knocking one Moonface off balance while swatting another off the edge of the roof. She brought the scythe blade down through another, completely bisecting the monster.
Xiaolang blew a trio of Moonfaces off the roof with a windblast, and lopped the sword-wielding hand off another. He unleashed a volley of punches at the homunculus copy before slicing it with an uppercut.
Sakura unleashed a flamethrower from her wand, incinerating a quartet of Moonfaces. She summoned the Gaia Card into her body, imbuing herself with strength to break the kneecap of one Moonface with a single kick. She delivered a few more roundhouse kicks, before finishing the creature off with the Blade Card.
Moonface kept replicating. Yet, with each round of fighting and replication, the group drew nearer to the spire. Moonface appeared to grow nervous and fatigued. Sakura took the chance and summoned a forest of vines to ensnare his copies. She then leapt over the mass of vines and approached the device at the base of the spire.
“Sakura, is the key there?” asked Maka.
Sakura activated the Blade Card and slashed the device’s housing open. She peered inside, and her heart skipped a beat. There was no Silver Key, but a timer three seconds from zero, attached to a dozen bars of plastic explosive.
“It’s a bomb!” she screeched. She activated the Guard Card without a second thought. The bomb detonated, the sonic boom impacting against Sakura’s force field. The tower shook violently, throwing the others off balance. The spire tilted suddenly under the force of the blast.
Sakura flew backward into Xiaolang’s arms. Her head spun and her ears rung. With help from Maka and Xiaolang, she managed to regain her footing.
The crumbling spire pitched backwards. Like a felled tree, it toppled, crashing against the upper roof of the turret on its way down into the shopping mall below. They heard a deafening crash, followed by explosions below. Their hearts skipped beats at the thought of all the civilians who had just died.
The remaining Moonface clones, still enthralled in Sakura’s vines, laughed hysterically.
“How delightfully devilish of me,” the copies chanted in unison.
Astrid dismembered one of the copies, which didn’t even flinch, and looked straight into its face.
“Where’s Shaula and the Silver Key?” she snarled.
“Blondie there is the one with the soul perception,” retorted Moonface. “Ask her.” The copy pursed its lip, as if remembering something at the last minute. Behind them, another crashing sound echoed from the ground below. A voracious roar followed it.
Nathan and Maka moved to the edge of the turret and looked down. The six-limbed behemoth left them speechless. It stood at least seven stories tall, armoured in shimmering gold scales. Eight black eyes with luminescent blue irises crowned a maw bearing many rows of sharp teeth.
“What the Hell is that?” exclaimed Soul.
“The perfection of Doctor Butterfly’s homunculus engineering technology, combined with Shaula’s soul harvesting device,” explained Moonface giddily. “I mean, seriously, suggest a superior soul-stockpiling system!”
Enraged, Astrid cartwheeled around the immobile Moonface copies, slicing their heads off as she moved. When they were all gone, she turned to the others.
“He’s still here somewhere,” she said. “Nathan, Sakura, you two find him. We’ll take care of that thing!”
The rest of the group nodded, and Soul bellowed, “Let’s kick some ass.”
Maka, Xiaolang, and Astrid leapt off the turret and headed straight down. Gravity accelerated them, and their blades, toward the monster’s head.
We have to end this quick, thought Astrid.