Chapter 24: Armageddon[Earth]

[Cybaster]

-Emily and Kirie-

"Got it." Emily nodded.

"Right! Leave it to us, Kylern!" Kirie answered in turn, and as Emily promptly shuffled upwards to the Invader and leapt into her seat in waiting, fingers drumming her shut-off Lightsaber hilt absently --- if Kylern said to leave it to them, well, who was Emily to argue with them? --- the Musha Red began swerving in a wide arc in the air above the water, the samurai-like Gundam peering vigilantly at the space beneath it as its left hand drew its "Tanegaishima" Anti-GN Field Shot Rifle, spinning it once in the air and over the Musha Red's head before nimbly catching it by the pommel and trigger; Tanegaishima was designed with countering the Fandom's GN-Drive using Mobile Suits in mind, and as such fired modified, armor piercing shells laden with miniature Phase-Shift Armor emitters and rocket jet thrusters --- this not only ensured maximum penetration, but also would go right through and neutralize GN-Particle Fields.

And even underwater, Tanegaishima would probably be able to do some amount of damage, at least.

Seeing the submarine launch some kind of Mobile Suit --- it was yet a vague outline from that distance in the water, but Kirie's astute eyes could see it well enough --- Kirie promptly lined up Tanegaishima, took a deep breath, and squeezed the trigger twice, sending two loud BANGs and two Shot Rifle shells searing into the water and towards Diablous' ZnO.

[Strike Zero]

- Diablous -

A double-edged attack, one from the surface and one from directly ahead. Diablous could see both coming quite clearly, the former not as much but well enough. However, as the MP-X and the Musha Red acquired their target locks, Diablous didn't move.

Even as the two suits fired in near-unison, the ZnO still remained fixed in position.

At the very last moment, as the powerful projectiles closed in, the green submersible unit suddenly snapped into motion, firing its engines and darting up and over the attacks easily.

Though both weapons were powerful -- Midori's MP Launcher and Kirie's Tanegaishima -- that did not change the fact that they were still operating out of their proper element; their shots were inevitably drained of speed and energy by the surrounding water. Though it wasn't much, the decrease in momentum would still be more than enough to allow Diablous -- with his extraordinary senses and the ZnO's sharp underwater mobility -- to dodge any shot fired at him as though they weren't even there.

Meaning that this confrontation would not be decided at long range.

The ZnO surged forward with tremendous speed despite its size and, when it had halfway cleared the distance between it and the MP-X, transformed into its monstrous mobile suit mode. Diablous let out a series of mighty roars as he began firing the ZnO's hand-mounted Phonon Maser cannons while closing in to deliver a vicious swing with the suit's massive left claw.

That was when...

- Hanzo, Gabriel -

The rumble as the Vosgulov was ensnared by the Valhalla's Protect Shade was far from negligible. However, Gabriel's only reaction was to chuckle, amused.

"My..." he murmured. "That warship certainly has a number of tricks up its sleeve."

Hanzo had to agree. First a Protect Shade, now a Plasma Hold? What more unorthodox devices could the unusual ship possible posses?

Gabriel sighed with a smile. "Oh well... I don't suppose there's much we can do about it here. Let's let the computer handle the rest and prepare."

"Yes..." Hanzo replied, nodding assent. "Let's."

The two turned and stalked off the bridge, making for their respective positions. The computer, meanwhile, responded to the Valhalla's rush by firing even more torpedoes despite their close proximity, a total of six in all, reasoning that the damage to the Vosgulov's own hull would most likely be minimal.

[Sume Gai]

-Valhalla-

The Submarine again launched countermeasures They weren't quite as effective at this close distance but they still manged to draw 4 away as the remaining two Turned to Strike the Valhalla from the port and Starboard flanks.

The APT waas deployed automatically and prevented a direct impact however underwater direct impacts weren't the only things that caused damage. The pressure waves from the Torpedoes could snap small ships in two and damage larger ones. The Valhalla's relative size was one of it's saving graces in this situation. Though the ship creaked in protest as the pressure waves tried to tear it apart it held. But for how long could that last?

Things had become tricky for both vessels both were sitting ducks like this, however, the Valhalla had a clear advantage, even if they weren't built for underwater warfare they had more Mobile units...

[Kylern]

-Invader-

As the fighting outside intensified it seemed it was time for them to get out there. So the submarine like variable attack craft was dropped down into the ocean through a special hatch and Ryder put the thermonuclear/hydro-jet turbine roared to life. "Time to rock an roll folks." With that the Invader roared forward and shot towards the enemy vessel while the others dealt with the mobile suits.

-Nowe-

The Ahead Knight Custom rocketed through the sky using the massive GN Sturm-boosters to push it ahead as fast as it could. Then without warning Nowe drew the machine's GN Zeihander and and swung in mid-propulsion. The combination force from the weapon and the boosters caused the area to resonate in a sonic boom type affect. It was an awesome move and he figured it would work later on.

[Strike Zero]

With Diablous preoccupied with his attack on Midori, there was no opportunity for him to intercept what was clearly the enemy's boarding craft. Thus, point defense was left to the ship itself. Two more torpedoes burst forth from the Vosgulov's belly as it attempted to intercept the slight Invader before it could break through into the vessel's interior.

[Sume Gai]

-Midori Ashita-

Indeed The MP-X wasn't made for this environment but that didn't mean it was outclassed by the ZnO. The Tesla Drive still provided propulsion just as it did in Air or Space and Mirror particles, while slowed, were not rendered ineffective as Beams might be.

Midori began to 'dance' left and right as the Phonon Masers were fired. Unlike most beams the Mirror particles would only cancel the sound based weapons rather than deflect it thus retaliating with the MPL wouldn't be as effective as usual.

Midori was tempted to meet the ZnO claw for claw in a test of strength and was her foe not a DSR she likely would have Instead she Drew the Shishioh Blade which was quickly covered by Silvery particles to enhance it's cutting power. As The ZnO closed and lashed out with it's claw the MP-X spun left (Diabolous' right), sword extended, both evading the grab and attempting to cleave the the Right claw arm in two from palm to elbow.

[Wedge14]

-Nena Trinity+Purple Haro-(-Hawaii base-Hangars-)

"You're leaving without us?" she puffed her cheeks, peering up at them from under long eyelashes. She only had a lukewarm interest on actually boarding the Phobos but since only the Honour Guard had been allowed onboard... That should include her shouldn't it? But then why was the Phobos leaving?

Now that Raven was recovering in the sickbay the two Trinities seemed to been grounded again. This was the second time in a very short timeframe and it had started to make Nena very angry.

The random soldier nearby shrugged. He was in the same unit as the trinities. "It's our main mission to protect lady raven." He took a puff from his cigarette, and slouched. He felt a bit at ease now that Garmin wasn't poking about doing random inspections.

But from the distance, someone with super sharp hearing jogged over. It was Wedge Fourteen! He must've just returned on that shuttle that landed. "And besides! I'm back here! So there would be no point in going to space!"

[Strike Zero]

- Diablous -

As Midori swung, the ZnO twisted to the left. The MP Sword, instead of the arm, struck the side of the ZnO's heavy shoulder armor and became lodged in place. The hulking green mobile suit then twisted again, attempting to wrench the sword from the MP-X's grip and, if successful, would proceed to strike at the modified GN-X again with a heavy swing from its right claw.

[Sume Gai]

-Midori Ashita-

Normally the ZnO's armor would be like butter to the capable blade alone much less with Mirror Particles covering it. The only reason the ZnO still had anything left of it's shoulder was because the Water slowed the slash to a less than 'lethal' speed.

Diablous might have had a good Idea had the weapon been a normal solid blade but he could not have realized the difference the mirror particles would make. The difference was friction, The blade was smooth and as Diablous twisted away the only thing he succeeded in doing was pulling himself free.

Midori however didn't let him get very far. She switched the Shishioh from a two handed Grasp to her left hand, flipped the MPL forward and opened up with a burst of Phalanx fire.

[Cybaster]

-Kirie-

"Midori, I'm on my way!"

As Kirie swung the Musha Red and dove it a bit lower, hovering above the water to Midori's right and Diablous' left upper side, the Musha Red lowered Tanegaishima quickly, paused, and took aim as Kirie squinted --- and then raised it again; With Midori and Diablous in close quarters like this well below the water line, Kirie frowned, sniping at the ZnO while it was exposed in shallow water was virtually impossible now --- which meant that Kirie would have to get in close anyway. And the longer Kirie took, the more danger Midori was in --- the ZnO was in its native territory, and there were too many tricks the Reaper could use to take Midori down in one single stroke.

Sheathing Tanegaishima altogether, Kirie narrowed his eyes in focus and dove the Musha Red --- its right hand drawing the Sankoumaru Jumonji-Yari Spear from its back, a weapon Kirie had missed using for quite some time, while the left sheathed Tanegaishima back onto its storage rack --- towards the Reaper, and slammed into the water as it quickly gained depth and charged with a fierce, fast jab at the ZnO's head...

[Kylern]

-Invader-

The fast transformable mech wasn't scared off by anti-ship torpedoes. The large objects closed in and the Invader unleashed several decoys and headed straight up with a twist to avoid being caught in their blast. "This isn't so bad now to just get in closer..." Ryder had his teeth grit while he slammed the throttle hard and the Invader charged right at the rear of the enemy sub.

"Now its my turn." With that Kylern took over the controls and went into wind up and then a drop down at the rear access area of the ship away from the main hanger where the aquatic units were stored. No he was in the back of the ship were he was picking up Rena's signal. Yes he was planning to invade the ship from the outside into the holding block despite the danger. He just had to make sure to get her into the Invader before the entire area flooded.

"Knock knock freaks! I'm coming to get you Rena!" With that the Invader tranformed into Gerwalk mode and used its underwater use laser guns to start burning a hole into the ship above the place where they were holding Rena. Once the hole was burned out they would open the sub get in there to save her. Kylern knew he could find her quick enough and was willing to risk this way.

[Strike Zero]

- Diablous -

Never short on the counter, Diablous was already springing into action and prepared a series of the ZnO's high powered missiles. They were ready to fire just as Midori finished priming her MP Launcher, and they did fire just as the MP-X unleashed its spray of Mirror particles. What resulted were a series of powerful explosions between the two mobile suits at point-blank range as the missiles were struck down. Diablous, however, had been fully expecting it and used the ZnO's hulking arms to shield its body from the ensuing shock wave and spray of shrapnel as it was pushed backwards.

That was when Kirie entered the water. And in response to the Musha Red's vicious charge, Diablous' only response was to growl and wait -- wait until Kirie had moved into appropriate range and lunged with his spear, and just as the powerful weapon was on the verge of splitting the ZnO wide open... the green suit snapped into motion. Diablous roared and expertly caught the weapon between the ZnO's massive claws at the pole just below the blade. Metal slammed against metal and the weapon ground to a halt against the hulking suit's iron grip. The tip of the spear had been stopped not an inch away from the suit's glowing mono-eye.

The armored Diablous gave yet another roar in triumph.

The fingers on the ZnO's left claw wrapped their way around the spear, Diablous jerked backwards, and the ZnO pulled on the pole-arm weapon, making good use of its fantastic strength and dragging the Musha Red in closer to it. Now in optimal range, Diablous slammed the palm of the ZnO's right claw into the Musha Red's chest and pumped off a series of powerful shots from its Phonon Maser cannon.

[Sume Gai]

-Midori Ashita-

"Kck, dumbass!" Midori didn't care whether that had been planned or just a move of desperation, letting torpedoes explode in your face was about the dumbest thing you can do in underwater combat. Unlike air, water didn't compress meaning the shockwave from an explosion was deadly even if you avoided a direct hit, No amount of armor would save you from being snapped like a twig if they exploded too close. Thus it was lucky that the MP-X and ZnO had some degree of distance between them else neither would have survived.

As it was Midori managed to react in the millisecond before the two attacks met. She triggered the Full Coat of mirror particles and her machine was enveloped milliseconds before the pressure wave hit. the wave sent it tumbling backwards and threatening to tear it limb from limb but Midori managed to escape in the same state as Diablous intact and still ready to fight. She leveled her MPL only to find herself in a similar position as Kirie was earlier. Risking damage to an ally by firing upon the enemy.

She'd have to close and because of the DSR's earlier counter she wouldn't be able to do anything right away.

[chiku_shou]

-Nena Trinity+Purple Haro-(-Hawaii base-Hangars-)

"Wedge!" she hadn't been able to exchange more than a few words with him, but his job had early on piqued her interest for real. Wedge was a member of the R&D department and was one of the first that got to test out all the new 'toys'. Otside the sonic boom made the walls of the hangar vibrate in response but it was only dully registered by Nena's brain.

"It is okay for you, but Nena is grounded... more so now because she doesn't have anything to pilot yet." She complained to the two men, ambiguously addressing both men at the same time.

[Strike Zero]

- Gabriel -

Gabriel stood alone in the dark hallways of the submarine, eyes closed, hands resting in his pockets. For the longest time he didn't move. He barely even seemed to breathe. Then, inexplicably, he sighed, his eyes opened, and he keyed the communicator he wore over his ear.

"It seems that your well-laid plan wasn't so well-laid after all, Hanzo," Gabriel said with but a hint of exasperation tinging his tone. "In the end, they've chosen to risk her life to get her back."

Kylern had been wrong on one assertion. Gabriel could sense him. Kylern was not as invisible as he would have himself believe. While it was true that his essence was different from all the others... that's all it was. Different. Darker... and more insubstantial, as though he were detached from the world. Truly it was as though Kylern were indeed a ghost. But even ghosts had their place in the world... and the world was plain to see to Gabriel's senses. It was clear that the Gundam Team was attempting a more direct approach to Rena's position, that they intended to avoid fighting the Reapers entirely.

And the possibility of not seeing any combat this hour irked Gabriel severely.

"So it would seem," Hanzo agreed, having too picked up on the Gundam team's plan in his own way. "What do you intend to do?"

"Leave it to me," Gabriel replied coolly. "For I don't intend to allow them to leave from here so easily."

He took a step back and leaned against the wall behind him, backing into a shadow. He closed his eyes once more. Focused... centered... and then...

***
The area in the crew quarters where Rena was being held was already starting to flood. Kylern and his comrades were being reckless indeed. If they weren't careful, their little princess would surely drown.

From out of nowhere, Gabriel appeared from a shadow in Rena's room and approached the young girl from behind, silent as a whisper. When he neared, he reached across Rena's shoulders and grasped her by the arm.

"Your friends have arrived," Gabriel remarked idly, glancing around the room before leaning in closer to the girl. "The certainly play out the parts of knights in shining armor to the letter, wouldn't you agree?"

[Cybaster]

-Kirie-

The Musha Red seemed to allow the ZnO to grab the spear hilt and pull it closer, and it was when it finally made its attack that the Musha Red retorted in kind --- with a swift motion the Musha Red suddenly spun and rolled sideways, still holding onto the hilt with its right hand, away from Diablous' incoming claw and as the Musha Red twisted, sending the claw soaring past its front chest armor, the Musha Red's own left hand moved and suddenly shot out, drawing the shorter "Nichirinmaru" Katana from its sheath in a backhand motion; Still holding onto its spear, Kirie gave a small exhale of breath as the Musha Red, in that advantageous position, slashed diagonally downwards with Nichirinmaru, sending the solid-round blade slashing towards the ZnO's outstretched arms.

[Kylern]

-Invader-

The ship would have flooded faster if it hadn't been for the smaller size of the variable fighter and the flood controls in place. Even as the Invader cut through steel gates closed up the places as the upper decks started to fill with water. But once he was right over the holding area the Invader used its hand area as a battering ram and the ceiling caved in near the cell.

"Don't you touch her!" The cockpit flew open and Kylern stared down the barrel of his canister rifle with it aimed directly at the freak. He wasn't a knight and shining armor but was clad in black slim fitting power armor with his face hidden by a dark visor. Behind the visor his sensors had painted the DSR with a laser point to make the explosive round sitting in the weapon blow the head off his target.

Behind him another figure jumped down and drew his own heavy caliber SMG to point it at the guy holding the girl. He had no idea what was going to happen but if they didn't finish this soon things could get even worse. "You don't want to hurt that girl man. We have your ship dead to rights and you'll be sitting at the bottom of the ocean. So give her up and lets make us a deal." Ryder wasn't as gun happy at his other world counterpart and was prepared to get the girl and walk away if they could.

[Strike Zero]

- Gabriel -

The man in the fearsome-looking power armor was daring, Gabriel had discerned that much. He had to be if he was willing to point his rifle at Gabriel while the Reaper still held Rena in his grasp. Either that, or he had simply underestimated Gabriel's reflexes severely. By the time Kylern had finished pulling the trigger, Gabriel would have already slid Rena's own head into the path of the high-sped bullet, and then it would not be pieces of his head scattering over the submarine's floor.

"You could not be more incorrect, good sir," Gabriel replied, addressing the man who had descended in order to join Kylern. "I dearly wish to cause this girl as much harm as humanly possible. Oh, how tantalizing a sight it would be to see her fine blood gush forth from her pale skin! I don't think my heart could take it!"

Gabriel's eye were wide, his voice breathless. He seemed to be on the verge of going mad in the face of the sickening image. But after a moment, he forced himself to calm, taking a deep breath and relaxing his body. He reached across with his free hand and traced a slender finger along Rena's smooth jawline. "But there is something that I desire more than this fair maiden. Much more. For there is passion of mine that goes beyond even the one for blood. So... yes. Let us make a deal."

The pale man smiled. "I will give you back this girl... so long as you grant me one thing in return. Would you care to hear what it is?"

- Diablous -

Against the rapid attack, Diablous quickly twisted backward, pulling his right arm out of the blade's path just in the nick of time. The Nichirinmaru, however, was successful in neatly severing off the ZnO's arm that still clutched the Sankoumaru Jumonji-Yari. Even minus an arm, Diablous was still not to be deterred. With a fearsome growl, Diablous aimed his remaining Phonon Maser at Kirie and opened fire several times, targeting the Musha Red Frame's torso and arms.

[Kylern]

-Kylern/ Ryder-

Kylern never took his eyes off his foe but his finger did slide over a switch on the side. Nothing happened but the weapon stayed focused on the enemy. The rifle was special in that it could fire several ammo types without changing clips and this guy wouldn't know that he did indeed have it on non-lethal ammo right now. This guy didn't seem to know the lengths Kylern would go to in order to get what he wanted and if that meant causing Rena a little pain to save her than he would.

Ryder didn't even notice what had happened as he continued to keep his weapon trained on the guy. And the words coming from him made both guy sick inside. This was a despised being who would burn in the afterlife if there was one.

"So what sort of deal? And no funny business either cause my friend up there isn't very happy right now." Ryder didn't want something strange to happen but whatever this man wanted couldn't be good.

[Sume Gai]

-Midori Ashita-

The MP-X was charging towards the other pair while they fought. she drew closer and closer wishing all the while that she could coax more power out of the Tesla Drive. Kirie manged to slice off one arm with his sword it was then Midori's thoughts flashed back to a few moments ago. When her own weapon slid effortlessly out of the ZnO's shoulder armor.

An idea struck her, again Midori activated the full Mirror Particle coat. The effect was almost Instantaneous. The Mirror particles now acted as a sort of 'lubricant' reducing the friction against the water much like high tech swimwear. The MP-X accelerated Drastically and Stuck one leg out as it charged. The end result was an underwater "flying" side kick which would strike the ZnO at almost the same moment it opened fire on the Musha.