Black Coats: Volume 1

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Arctus switched his sword from his left to his right hand, a little store that his earlier attack did not work and only ended up causing pain and loss of feeling in his left arm. Before he had regained his composure and recovered Lima was already fleeing the battle and there was now some keyblade wielder around who, from what he heard. also knew Karina. Was there anyone who didn't know her? He sighed. It didn't really matter right now. There was still another battle going on with Little Miss Hothead and someone else using fire magic.

"Alright, techno-freak. What'll we do about you?" Arctus shifted gravity on himself to 'fall' in the direction of Echo before shifting it once more to fly up into the sky to get the high ground advantage. Once Arctus was several dozen feet above Echo he returned his own gravity back to normal and as he began to fall he called on his magic to rain down a barrage of small comets onto Echo as he dived down adding his own sword strike into the mix hoping to either pelt Echo with his magic or cut him down with his blade.

 

Of course they would run. It was the smart thing to do, but Kiara wasn't too fond of that. She would rather have finished the battle herself instead of watching her disappear. Still it made their job easier and the pod was kept out of Nequa's hands a little longer. Glen however wasn't making things easy as he explained his situation and asked about her power around fire. "A gift from the old man when he brought me here. Don't worry about it." Kiara responded to the fire comment a bit impatiently. The battle wasn't over and here he was worrying about how she could use fire. He was as useless as ever. At least eventually he got his focus on the right thing, and it seemed Kiara and Aeira had the same general idea.

"Look, you know how horrible Nequa is. If she gets that pod it is going to be horror on all of us. Here and in the realm of Light. You haven't learned your lesson from encounters with her, Vanitus and Aux? She is only building an army, do you want everyone to die. It is better one die than everyone else. It is a sacrifice good soldiers are willing to make." Kiara snapped at him. She didn't care about his worry, they had to keep the damn thing away from Nequa, kill her while she was weak, destroy her army before it grew any more. "For now we have another issue." Kiara looked back at the fight Arctus picked up against Echo.

"Oh no, don't think you get to steal the glory now." Kiara smirked a little bit as she turned and charged back towards Echo, as Arctus rained meteors down on the boy. Taking her whip and infusing it with fire once again she lashed out at Echo trying to knock him prone. If they could make quick work of this then they would be able to get through and put an end to it once and for all, and this kid didn't seem so strong. In fact he seemed like the easiest to deal with out of any of them. ​

 

As Echo looked upwards at the comets, small lock-on targets were formed on the incoming projectiles. His attention focused back on Kiara and Arctus who were preparing their attacks. "Adjusting for multiple targets. Rerouting trajectory," he spoke, holding his keyblade in a guarding stance. As he did, one by one the comets hit his keyblade before deflecting in the direction of the oncoming attackers. He was parrying Arctus' own attack back at him. From the corner of his eye, he deflected another comet at Kiara to parry her whip from harming him. He stood his stand as the comets has run out and flung back at Arctus and the rest of the team.

"Stand around and do nothin'?!" Finlay yelled. "We are at a distinct advantage! It's seven to one! We should be bargin' into the lab! Do I hafta spell it out for you?! We came here to get ridda her once and for all!" Finlay could feel his broken fingers begin to twinge in pain as he grew more upset. "Whot's it gonna take for you to realize how important this is?!"

As Finlay spoke, a cyan colored portal quickly opened behind the pod. From it, a woman with long black hair came through the portal. She wore mostly black and white clothes accompanied by combat boots and a pair of thick sunglasses over her eyes. She had a few scratches on her face, and looked like she meant business. She looked around the group before taking off her glasses to get a look with her own dark eyes. "Someone start talking... Where's Nequa?"

Back at Lea's Hideaway​

"On the contrary hombre, unlike the blonde diva, my goals are not so trivial. You fought an opponent who was untrained in the art of the blade. On assault from multiple targets would easily destroy her..." He smirked as heId his keyblade aloft. "I, on the other hand..." Tango held his arms wide open as six keyblades were summoned in a fiery blaze. "Embrace that challenge..."He flew his arms towards Luther and Melus causing three keyblades to attack the woman and another three to attack the man. Tango summoned one alone as he attacked Lea head on, the red haired master, quickly guarding with his own.

As Tango's blade pressed against Lea's, the blades clash created sparks. "I must tell you Senor Lea, I am quite relieved to know I finally receive a challenge. When jefa Nequa informed me you were of the great and mighty Order, I couldn't accept this assignment quick enough..." All six of Tengo's keyblades in the meanwhile fended off against Melus and Luther so they would not interfere.

 

Unfortunately Kiara's whip never made purchase as one of the comets from Arctus's attacks was deflected into the chain of her whip, throwing it off course. It was just a kid, but of course he wouldn't make it easy for her. It would take some time to figure out she supposed since his fight style was so different from everything else they fought. The kid seemed off though, like he was every bit the robot all those parts made him seem to be. It was weird. That being said nothing about this was normal, especially with the old familiar faces showing up.

Speaking of before Kiara had a chance to attack again she heard a voice and turned to face the woman who was supposed to be leading her friends to becoming masters or something like that. "Yue. What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be running that test or something? Either way, Nequa is in there, she is apparently weak right now and waiting for that pod you are by." Kiara gave out a quick explanation before turning back to Echo. "But first we have to deal with this kid." With that she launched herself at him, this time using a fire ball to block his view of her attack before dodging left and attacking from the left side. ​

 

Yue's head turned as she absolved all the new information. Her attention remained immediately on the pod, wiping away any excess cold on the outside to reveal Mizu's face. She quickly pried open the pod with her bare hands as she felt Mizu's face. It was still warm, which was a good sign. Yue gently tried to shake Mizu awake to no avail, so she felt her pulse. After a delayed reaction, she sighed in relief. "You're still alive... Thank god."

Echo at this time, parried away Kiara's fireball. As Kiara came at him from the right, he barely managed to avoid the attack before standing at the door again.

Zulu's face twisted as he watched the monitors of the laboratory exterior on a cascade of screens. "No no no no!!! The mean one is here!" he exclaimed rushing back to Nequa's side as she laid on an operation table. "The boy can't face off against that many opponents. He can only adapt to so much power before things become too much for him!"
Uniform in the meantime was outfitting his severed arm with an upgraded metallic arm. "Then put me back in there!" he grunted. "An eye for an eye... And someone owes me an arm."
Zulu began to pull at his hair as he turned to the old soldier. "Do you hear your own stupids?! Your arm hasn't finished calibrating. you'd be a sitting duck!"
"I don't take orders from you kid!"
"I'm nine! You're eleven! Learn your place infantry!"
Uniform held up Zulu by his collar as he yelled at his face. "You miserable-"
"Enough!" Nequa yelled, slowly sitting up. "Put the kid down Hughes."
Uniform grunted as he released the boy back to his feet. Zulu rushed to her side as he tried to examine her vitals. "No no no master... You are to weak. This body will fade within the hour. You've used up all the mana from this girl. We need your replacement."
"Screw the sister... Just hook me up to the back up already."
"Are you sure?" Zulu asked.
"Yeah... but before you do, just let me deal with the problem outside."
"Unacceptable!" Uniform yelled. "Lima is a deserter, Zulu is responsible for you transfer, and our only guard dog is a technical slave! I am the only choice!"
Nequa sighed before turning to him. "No. You're done."
"Beg your pardon?" Uniform asked baffled.
"I mean you can consider that new arm of yours as a severance package. I mean you have failed EVERY thing you were assigned. You failed to find Juliet's source of power, you failed to guard the lab... and you failed the red society. Never thought I'd have to kick one of my own babies out but.. here we are." Nequa was almost sympathetic in the way she was letting him go. "I'd put you out of your misery but... I dunno, something about killing an old man seems too much like euthanasia for my tastes."
Uniform gripped his fist before swallowing his pride. "Master Nequa, please reconsider-"
"Leave." She interrupted. "Now."

Uniform exhaled as he looked up in anger. "I will prove my value to this society."
Nequa nodded as she lay back down on the table. "That's great buddy. Just do it somewhere else."
Uniform beat his chest with his metal arm as a gust of wind vanished him from the room.
Zulu returned back to the room. "Your new vessel is ready..."
Nequa sighed. "That's great, now tag out the kid already."

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A large voice boomed in front of the building via sound system. "That's enough Echo, return to Base."
Echo blinked twice before nodding. Like a lightning bolt he ran away from the battle and the area. At breakneck speed he ran without stopping until he was out of sight.

The lab doors open as Nequa strolled out silently. She cracked her knuckles as she stood in her purple armor. She was now out in the open without any protection. She raised her hand up and flicked her two fingers towards herself telling people to 'come at her.'

 

A retreat? No this was something even better as Nequa stepped out shortly after the kid disappeared. "So you are finally done hiding behind those pathetic guards of yours? Good to see. I look forward to this." For so long Kiara wanted to deal with Nequa, and now here she was standing in front of her. "This will be fun." A smirk was on her lips as she got ready to put everything she had into this fight. She wanted to make sure that Nequa was dead, indisputably dead. She had held off long enough at this rate. Turning to her team she smiled a bit. "You might want to stay back." She warned as the small ball of fire started to glow hot and grow bigger, the power from it could be felt in the air as Kiara started to channel her limit into one attack.

The blast she sent at Nequa was strong enough that it sent Kiara stumbling back a couple steps, but the place that Nequa was, and the area around it was soon quickly engulfed in her flames. Before it all fully had time to settle down, Kiara went diving into it, knowing that the flames wouldn't hurt her as she looked through the haze to start her assault on Nequa, using quick strong attacks in rapid succession in the area that she was pretty sure that Nequa was in. It might have been over the top and brash, but Kiara wasn't going to lose this time. ​

 

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Arctus avoided the attack that had been redirected at him, using his sword to knock away one of his own comets. "No one hits me with my own attack." He tightened his grip on his sword but their opponent fled before he could follow up with another attack. He was replaced with some armored woman in purple who Karina seemed to have a bone to pick with. Arctus raised his arm to shield his face from the sudden burst of heat that came from the wall of fire she summoned to surround the armored woman. "I like it. No retreat." Arctus jumped in after Karina and into the arena of flame and charged in after the girl to join in on the assault against their new opponent.

 

With the impressive explosions and oncoming assaults that were prepared, a large burst of smoke and flames surrounded the area where Nequa stood. The dust settling, Nequa walked away from it quite scathed. But under her torn and scorched armor there wasn't flesh. Instead robotic parts and circuits sparked as he body twitched and glitched as she walked. Before even managing to walk two feet, the robotic replacement broke down and fell to the ground.
The booming voice of Zulu echoed in as he chuckled uncontrollably. "Oh such fun with fire and explode-y things! HA HA HA HA!!" He voice turned serious once he had his fun. "Time to send in the rest."
A lever was activated as at least a dozen of the Nequa robots came into view. "I wanted to save these for another time... but I can't have you interrupting any further. Say hello to the Nequabots!!"
The Nequabots lined up and raised their palms, pointing them at Kiara, Aeira, Arctus and Vallus. They fired from their palms, powerful bursts of Thunder, Fire and Blizzard spells. Like rapid firing machine guns, they continued their assault relentlessly.

Yue clenched down on her teeth. Rin was still inside and her safety was still in jeopardy. She looked to anyone not involved in the Nequabot assault. She spotted Koa and Finlay.
"You two! Watch Mizu. Make sure nothing happens to her!"
"Whot?!" Finlay argued. "Are you insane? I've already got enough kids to babysit, I'm not taking another-"
"It wasn't optional!" Yue barked, her voice almost demonic. The command was disturbing enough to silence Finlay as she charged into the fray from the left side. Two Nequabots spotted her and began blasting spells of fire and ice. With some quick evasion, and some dark abilities, she slowly phased through the two bots passing her keyblade through them. As she did, the Nequabots glitched and exploded from one fell swoop. Yue charged through the doors and into the lab, shutting the door behind her. 10 of the Nequabots were still attacking the rest of the group. Though they without keyblades, they still provided powerful magic.



Back at Lea's Hideaway

Tango and Lea continued to battle each other with skill and Vigor. Lea kept looking back at Melus and Luther out of the corner of her eye to make sure they were alright.
"Your attention is slipping! You should be focusing all your attention on the battle in front of you. Or are you worried about the younger ones not being able to hold their own?" Tango questioned.
Lea looked back to his opponent. "On the contrary, you keep underestimating them. They're more powerful than you realize."
Tango chuckled. "And that is exactly what I hoped for..."
Lea's eyes shrank as this could mean his downfall.
"You see a very special ability of mine is that I am able to use keyblades from the opponents I have struck down. As such I absorb their fighting spirit. Along with anyone else I face during battle. Your two friends are not making my strength weaker senor. Oh no... They are only making me that much more powerful!"
With impressive skill and speed, Tango continued to strike Lea with such powerful fury, that all the flame user could do was block his attacks. Eventually Tango's attack struck through Lea's keyblade, snapping the mystical weapon in half, causing Lea to fall backwards. "Such an unfitting end to an accomplished master. The honorable thing to do was to strike you down... But according to la jefa Nequa, you have come back as a nobody before. We can't have that happening to you again. " From his pocket, Tango pulled out a small purple disc the was the side of his thumbnail. "Doesn't look like much I know. Nequa used much of her magic to supply me and a few of my associates with this VOID DISC."
Lea's eyes widened. "So that-"
"Correct. It is a pocket gateway to the void. a realm that exists outside light and darkness. Lost forever in the lanes between." Tango tossed the disc to Lea as it stuck to the master's arm. The disc melted into a dark purple as it enveloped Lea's body, slowly causing him to fade.
"You were a worthy opponent... But your time is over. Compliments of myself... Ignicio De la Vega..."
Lea remained silent, closing his eyes as he faded from sight,. His shattered keyblade also vanished from sight in a trickle of light.

Tango let out a whistle as his keyblades returned to him. "Gracias for your unwilling part to play. I sadly must depart. My job here is done." He turned to leave the two, completely lacking any remorse for his honorable action.

 

One after the other her comrades followed her into the battle against Nequa, and while Kiara wanted the killing blow she wasn't going to turn down the help. However even after their on slaughter of attacks, Nequa still managed to walk out of it like it was nothing. Moments later, Kiara spotted why. Instead of seeing scared flesh and smoldering hair, there stood a body made of metal and circuits that soon collapsed. She stared down at the hunk of metal for a moment as a voice blasted over a speaker.

Looking up she noticed several more of the robots come out as the voice laughed at them. While it was pissing Kiara off even more, she realized her mistake in using her limit when she did. She was feeling the exhaust wash over her even as she knew she still had a battle at hand. This wasn't going to be good, she knew that much, as suddenly spells where flung at them. Kiara was forced to jump back and go on the defense as various magic hit her, some harming her and others healing her. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Yue getting inside the labs, Kiara just hoped she could handle this on her own as she took another step back trying to dodge some more of the magic. Flames wouldn't be enough in this case, it wouldn't hurt them. "Yo metal boy, I need you to help deal with these guys." She called back to Koa. Taking a few steps forward Kiara made an effort to go back on offense to give Koa an opening to help, but it was clear that her energy was starting to fail her at this point and she was barely hanging on. ​