Dorothy stirred, waking up very slowly. She opened her eyes and blinked multiple times, trying to make out the room. She felt horrible.
What… happened? Everything… is… such a blur…
She became aware of a beeping noise and looked for the source. She found that someone had taken off her comm. In its normal place were IV lines. She struggled, trying to move, grabbing the comm link from the side table. She looked it over.
"Distress… signal… Roger??? But why is… where's…"
Dorothy was confused and it seemed like the entire medical bay was in chaos. She heard the watch beep again and this time, Big O's name appeared.
"Big… O… you're saying… you need to… help… Roger?"
Dorothy shook her head, trying to focus. She felt nauseous and her chest felt like someone had kicked it hard, multiple times. She began taking off the IVs and wires attached to her. She slowly put her feet on the cold ground, taking the covers off of her. She was wearing her white night gown.
At least I don't have to worry about being half-naked… Roger can be considerate when he wants to be… the louse…
She walked slowly out of her room and began the long journey to the hangar.
***
Beck was walking from the barracks into the hangar, changed into his pilot suit. Marcus and Anna were safely tucked away inside, sleeping, while Yumi finished running checks on Big Fau. He walked onto the catwalk, approaching Big Fau, annoyed.
"Yumi, any word on Crow Boy?" He yelled as he fired his grappling hook and rode up to the cock pit.
Yumi appeared from the control unit, shaking her head.
"No, no word. He's not answering his comm. Last word we got was that he was with Dastun. But Dastun's mobilizing the mecha units right now and another platoon is giving chase to the guy who hurt Dorothy."
Beck groaned. "That stupid moron! Doesn't he know she's alright?"
"Well, she's not out of the woods yet, Jason. It was a bad poison."
"Still, we need him for this. A purple event and he's nowhere to be found. When I see his sorry ass…"
"Jason, he's going through a lot right now. I know you're upset…"
"Upset? Upset??? I am FURIOUS with Crow Boy right now! This is his pet project and half of the time, I'm the one leading the projects or missions…"
Yumi raised an eyebrow, putting her hands on her hips. "More like spewing a lot of hot air…"
"What? What did I do now?"
"Quit talking out your ass, and get Big Fau ready to go! He's been a bit chipper since I told him it's someone he faced previously."
Yumi gave Beck a quick kiss on the cheek before climbing onto the lift and descending down to the catwalk.
"BE CAREFUL! I LOVE YOU!" she called out to him.
"DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO SAY THAT OUT LOUD IN FRONT OF EVERYONE? IT'S EMBARRASSING!" Beck yelled back as Yumi giggled. Beck climbed into the clock pit, the doors sealing behind him. He had barely crossed his arms as the joy cons descended, and "CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD, YE NOT GUILTY," scrolled across his screen.
"Yumi was right. You are happy," observed Beck as finished firing up the main systems, "Come on, let's go see what Birdie is up to."
Yumi ran back to the control center as the catwalk retracted and allowed Big Fau to walk out, the hanger doors opening ahead of him. He walked down the tunnel and outside, heading towards the landing strip where Big Duo was, standing. There was a gentle summer rain falling. Seebach was outside the cockpit, with his helmet off, enjoying the rain as Big Fau walked up to him, stopping next to him. Big Fau's cockpit opened, and Beck jumped out.
"What the hell are you doing? First Crow Boy disappears and you're getting rained on!"
Seebach smirked to himself. "Enjoying a bit fresh air. I've been looking at the images. These guys look a bit different than before. Different coloring at least. Sheila thinks they might be stronger than what the records have."
"You shut your mouth! Don't be bringing that bad juju upon us, especially without Crow Boy."
"You still haven't been able to…"
Beck held up his hand, shaking his hand. "It's just us for right now. But we'll make do. We should try to stop them from advancing any further from The Wastes. At least keep them in the ruins. You think can fly me over there?"
"That won't be a problem. I was gonna suggest it anyway. With this cloud cover, we could get the drop…"
Beck climbed back into Big Fau, yelling, "I'm NOT doing that maneuver."
Seebach laughed, climbing into Big Duo. "But what if I buy the first few rounds?" He fired up Big Duo, Big Duo slowly ascending into the air, gaining altitude.
"Not. A. Chance. Birdie!"
Big Duo took off, circling around as Big Fau fired two hip anchors in his direction, wrapping carefully around Big Duo. The chains began to retract on Big Fau until he was attached linear with Big Duo. Big Duo rose in the sky as Beck called out over the comm, "Faust and Draco units are taking off. If you managed to get hold of Pilot Griffon, tell him I'm gonna kick his ass when this is all said and done!"
Yumi and Sheila, watched as the Bigs took off from the base, shaking their heads.
"Good luck you two," Yumi whispered quietly with a smile to her face.
*****
Roger was furious. He was giving chase to Sampson, but he had a head start. They were moving away from the docks and now into the outer edges of the city. The MPs were behind Roger, but their cars were no match for the Griffon and its speed. However, with the addition of the obstacles from the city streets, the Griffon was being tested in trying to close the lead with Sampson. Roger shifted into gear, avoiding a car pulling out into traffic.
"I'm not losing you, not this time…" he growled.
Sampson made a hard right and Roger reacted a few seconds later, swerving, but straightening the tail of the Griffon. A few MP cars crashed into each other while others served to avoid the wrecks and continued pursuit.
He's trying to get out of the city. I need to cut him off!
Sampson veered hard, this time to his left. Roger followed, drifting into the turn and continuing his pursuit, with the MP behind. A draw bridge came into view, with the warning lights blinking. Sampson kept driving, quickly clearing it as the arms came down. Roger gritted his teeth and sent the command for the machine guns in the front to come out and fire, shooting them down. The bridge began to pull up, but Roger floored it, shifting the car into five, and hitting the turbo. The Griffon rode up and cleared the gap, landing on the other half the bridge, riding it down quickly to the other side. The MPs who were behind Roger came to a stop, waiting for the draw bridge to lower.
However, Roger realized that Sampson was heading for the Electric City bridge. Having spent many nights both as an MP and working late as an Negotiator, Roger knew this sector of the city well. Instead of following Sampson, he turned, going up another street that ran parallel with the one Sampson was on.
You bastard! You hurt Dorothy. I won't let you get away with this!
****
The doors to the control center opened. Angel walked in.
"Sorry, I had to get Lizzy to the barracks. Did I miss anything?"
"Beck's annoyed that Roger isn't here and they're one unit short of making this an even fight," said Sheila.
Angel shook her head. "Roger's in pursuit of that Sampson fellow. Dan got a hold of me. He may have an antidote to help Dorothy get better. Apparently, it's the true antidote."
Sheila and Yumi raised eyebrows and looked at each other, then looked back at Angel. "Has no one told him?" asked Yumi.
"Told him what?"
"Dorothy's fine. She had a scare, but she needs rest. She's not out of the woods, but she's expected to make a full recovery."
"Are you… Wait, why is the Omega unit moving on its own???"
All three now approached the control unit window as Big O started to descend into the Prairie Dog. Angel turned to the control staff.
"Cease that operation immediately! Get a hold of Pilot Griffon and ask what's he doing with summoning the Omega unit!" yelled Angel.
One of the staffers shook his head. "It's not him. This is coming from the unit itself. He's moving on his own!"
Angel looked horrified as Dr. Plebanski ran into the control room, clearly out of breath.
"Where's… Dorothy?"
All the women looked at each other, then looked at Big O, the realization dawning on them what was happening at that moment.
"Roger's in trouble. That would be the only reason why the megadeus would move on his own. He probably contacted Dorothy through her comm, because he needs her help. Dorothy has to be in so much pain right now and that would be one of the few reasons why she would be doing this to herself," gritted Angel through her teeth, "GET THE BACK UP OMEGA MACHINIST HERE ON THE DOUBLE!"
The controller nodded and began calling the Smith residence.
****
"YOU ASSSSSHOOLLLEEE!"
Big Duo had cut the chains holding Big Fau to him off and now Big Fau was falling. Beck straightened out the joy cons, as Big Fau continued to fall at a high speed, landing on top of Robespierre foot first, crashing into the sand.
"BOMB'S AWAY! DIRECT HIT!" shouted Seebach.
"WHEN THIS IS DONE, I'M GONNA BLAST YOU AND CROW BOY INTO ANOTHER RESET!" roared Beck. He moved Big Fau off the robot, and looked around at Carnot and Fouche, readying their attacks.
"Well, we made an entrance! Big Fau! ACTION!" and Big Fau's eyes flashed, assuming his fighting pose.
"Let's not be upstaged by the old man, what do you think, buddy? BIG DUO, ACTION!" and Big Duo fired the afterburners, closing in on the fight below them.
Big Fau moved delivering two fist cuff saw punches to Carnot and Fouche, pushing them back into Big Duo's line of fire. Big Duo swooped down, firing a volley of machine gun fire before ascending once more. He turned around, seeing Robespierre getting to its feet behind Big Fau. Seebach aligned the crosshairs on Robespierre.
"I don't think so. You should stay down!" Seebach yelled and he descended once more, firing another volley. Robespierre stumbled and fell down into the sand once more.
Beck grimaced. "Watch it with the damn lead, Birdie!" he yelled as he moved the joy cons back, pushing Fouche back and over a dune. However, Carnot caught his returning arm in its jaws and began to deploy its phonosonic wave, trying to blow up the arm. Beck sneered.
"Tch… Crow Boy told me you had thing for arms, but unlike him, I'm on the spicy side! Big Fau, show him what you're made of!"
Beck deployed the fist saw cuff on the arm, struggling to move as the phonosonic machine was starting to cause stress on the joint. Seebach saw Beck struggling.
"Come on, Big Duo! Time to help the old man out!"
Big Duo flew around firing a missile at Carnot. The missile found its target, slamming into the side Carnot's head, briefly disabling the phonosonic machine. Beck slammed the joy con forward, Big Fau's eyes flashing as his arm came free, bits of metal from Carnot's face flying in the air briefly before being gobbled by the sand. Carnot fell back.
"Like I told you, SPICY!" Beck yelled.
"Jason!" Yumi came across the comm, "Watch out for the other two behind you!"
With Carnot disabled, Beck maneuvered Big Fau around. Robespierre and Fouche had met up and were now charging up an electrical attack. Beck tensed up.
Not good.
"Hang on old man!" yelled Seebach and he fired more missiles at the enemy robots, disabling them and stopping their attack, "Way to go, Big Duo!"
Big Duo flew over Big Fau, Beck shaking his head. Big Fau stepped back.
"This isn't over, Birdie! These guys are lined up with each other. Let's keep it that way and finish this before they recover!"
"Right! Big Duo, MEGATON MISSILE!"
Beck smirked as he few controls in Big Fau.
"Alright, let's immobilize, Big Fau. DEPLOY ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCE FIELD NOW!"
A bright bluish light deployed from Big Fau and moved forward. Invisible to the eye at first, it could only be seen by the waves it was making in the sand and periodic electrical shocks. The attack slammed into the trio of megadeuses, immobilizing them. Beck then turned around, running as fast as he could away from the blast radius, but the sand was making his escape difficult.
"Damnnit, come on, Fau! If we don't get out of here, we're gonna be crispy, and I'd rather not miss the Sun Festival!"
The legs on Big Duo deployed. Seebach hit a few controls.
"We're only deploying one. These rockets are expensive and… well… we need to be sure this works, buddy. Targets lined up! Sheila, am I clear?"
Sheila, who was monitoring the battle, looked over at Yumi. Yumi shook her head.
"Beck's still within in range. Deploy now and I'll guide it from here. That'll give you time to pick up Beck and get out of range," Sheila said,
"You heard the wife, Big Duo, let's go! SHOWTIME!" and Seeback deployed one of the Megaton Rockets.
As the rocket flew downward, Seebach banked hard to his left, descending downward. Beck saw him coming on his radar and fired two hip anchors. They wrapped around Big Duo, and they cleared the giant sand dune, flying west towards the city. As they descended down the dune, a loud explosion was heard followed by a shockwave that sent sand flying into the air. Big Duo dropped Big Fau on his feet, who skidded to a halt, both megadeuses feeling the shockwave. Big Duo landed, bracing himself along with Big Fau. Finally, the shockwave died, leaving a cloud of smoke and haze. Although the rain had stopped earlier, the clouds remained, making it hard to see the outcome.
"Are you two alright?" asked Yumi across the comm.
"We're fine," said Beck, wiping the sweat off of his face, "Seebach, can you get a…"
But Beck didn't finish as a beam of light hit Big Fau squarely in the chest, a loud explosion making contact. Big Fau fell to the ground. Seebach returned fire with Big Duo's eyebeams in the direction of the blast.
"JASON!" cried out Yumi.
"I'm… fine!" Beck said, with static on the line, "I got level 4 damage above the cockpit, but we're alright!"
Beck maneuvered Big Fau to his feet while Seebach scanned the area.
"Old man… gotta a question. You said these robots combined at some point, right?"
"Two of them did. It was called Bonaparte. Why you ask, Birdie?"
"What did you call it when all three combined?"
A large shadow emerged. Carnot, Fouche, and Robespierre had now combined into one body, slightly taller than Big Duo and Big Fau. Seebach and Beck gritted their teeth.
"A bad day from hell," Beck replied, getting Big Fau in his fighting stance, glaring at the enemy ahead of him.
******