After a few moments of mechanical spasms, the crustacean falls to the ground, seemingly inactive... only for a spark of energy to ignite a massive, blinding explosion... 《 MISSION : COMPLETE ! 》

FUCKING CACKLING. “YEAH, GET RID OF THAT EYESORE!”

With one last, resounding ping, all three Biometal in the room light up in unison, gems shining as a sort of greeting. Afterward, Model L begins floating toward Aile, practically magnetized to the presence of the other two Biometal on her person...

“I currently have nothing better to do right now than to be an ass and cause more negative energy to spread.”

Yanks his head back so he's looking up at the Wily Star. lmao.

“What in the copyright clusterfuck is floating in orbit right now?”

There wasn't much else it could do, other than guide @resistanceciel.bsky.social further through the halls of the base, seemingly tugging her, just the slightest bit, as if trying to move towards... Whoever it was trying to find.

《 @mergedlegacy.bsky.social @resistanceciel.bsky.social 》 》 Initialize Joint Starter... 》 Users added. (turn order) 》 UNKNOWN, Ciel, Aile. 》 Begin transmission...

And as the fluid makes contact, splashing onto and in between the cracks of the mechanical crustacean's optics, it sparks violently. 《 DAMAGE CRITICAL! 87% TOTAL DAMAGE! 》 And judging by the way it was moving, and the heat radiating off of it, that warning was warranted- it's gonna blow, and soon!

It received a taste of its own medicine swiftly, taking another hit to the opposite optic, rendering it practically blind... and while that helps the heroes, it doesn't help the mechanaloid, which is now frantically flailing its claws about as it stomps the ground! 《 64% TOTAL DAMAGE! 》

With a mighty crash, the mechanaloid lands atop Sword's shield, pushing the little star warrior into the ground... but not damaging them otherwise. After placing one of its feet back on the ground, it starts trying to stomp through the shield, over, and over!!!

All that damage accumulates, impacts stored in stasis until the moment of release- all hitting the lobster at once, resulting in its body being cratered into the ground. 《 OPTICS ERROR! MOTOR ERROR! 56% TOTAL DAMAGE! 》 But with a sudden plume of dirt, it catapults itself skyward, aiming to 》

He would have had to take cover, if not for the Kirbies! Their blow rendered the metal mass stunned, leaving it spasming on the ground as its systems rushed to recover!

Said nuisance was stunned from a strong blow, rendering it defenseless! 《MULTIPLE DIRECT HITS! 39% TOTAL DAMAGE! 》

《 CRITICAL HIT! 32% TOTAL DAMAGE! 》 The bot is stunned, stopping the revving of its engines as it collapses to the ground, spasming as its internal systems rush to recover from the attack. Now's your chance!

《 DIRECT HIT! 10% TOTAL DAMAGE 》 The mechanaloid is sent reeling back from the impact, sending its beams skyward before dissipating. It takes a few staggering steps back, before lowering its body. Its engines start revving. 3...

《 MINIMAL DAMAGE RECEIVED : 5% TOTAL DAMAGE 》 ...but it did the job, not only uncoupling from the car it was attached to, but clearly denting that claw, making it useless for grabbing onto anything. That didn't mean it wasn't dangerous, though- it swung said claw at Tron as she passed by!

《 INCOMING INTERFERENCE. UNCOUPLING. 》 The arm retracts from the train with a loud hiss, followed by the whip-like lashing of air before slamming back into place, claws clicking shut a few times before turning to the left group of Kirbies, activating its internal-claw flamethrowers.

jamcat Mun-ho, I've only just met your Kirby Quartet, and I think they're phenomenal already. /gen

As the lobster-droid kept trying to halt the train's advance toward base, the mechanaloid finally takes notice of the group attacking it, opening up one of its claws to fire off a massive energy beam, sweeping left to right to try and shake the hunters off!

《 MULTIPLE DIRECT HITS : 4% TOTAL DAMAGE 》 The mechanaloid slides to a halt, before firing off one of its claws like a grappling hook, forcing the train to begin screeching to a halt as it digs its feet and free claw into the earth below--

It's picked up four more objects on its radar closing in. Likely interference, which it would, of course, obliterate without mercy. It had to find that precious cargo. The signal had disappeared, but it was recent- recent enough to convince the mechanaloid to start ramming into the side of the 》

Tron pulls out her communicator to attempt alerting the fellow hunters. “EVERYONE GET READY TO EVACUATE!!! There’s some kind of shuttle closing in on you guys!! It’s carrying something big!!”

(Heavy Lobster got tired of not showing up in Kirby stuff so it said fuck it going to jump n shoot land.)

youtu.be/wyc6FV3pBDQ?... //HAVE TO AYYY HEAVY LOBSTERRRR

jamcat Hmm... still wanna throw Lobster at something, ngl. Any hunters still on the train, especially Rock, can in fact SCRAP this motherfucker.

The cargo has been retrieved by the #𝐌𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒. Normally, this would be a mission success... but there was one last shuttle that didn't clear out with the rest of the Maverick forces raiding the train. A carrier class shuttle of some sort? When the doors hissed open below, its cargo was 》

Incoming transmission! “This is Ciel! I was able to obtain what the Mavericks seemed to be after. . Nearly all of the ones inside the train have been dealt with, at least here in the back where I am! What’s everyone’s status and location?” #𝐌𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

Finally, it seems like things are calming down... ...well, except for that shuttle closing in on the front cars. That can't be good, especially since it sounded like there were other hunters up there. And whatever that shuttle is carrying looks big.

Only Rock, indeed... well, suppose this small Mechanaloid shall be known as 'Kitamura' from now on. Whatever it was, it was a mischievous little thing, that's for sure. Probably best for Ciel to look at it whenever Rock gets back to base...

There surely couldn't be. Most of the noise had died down out there, spare for the movement of the train and a few dying buster shots. Seems like it might be wise to try and meetup with whoever else is here, to see if the situation has been handled...

The Galleon in question looks up, visor flickering with half awareness... before opting to scoot off the train itself, rolling off into the distance, surprisingly in one piece. Is it possible for a Maverick to go Maverick? Tron might have just witnessed such a thing...

jamcat Ain't no way Rock wants to keep the spider that came from random robo-gore. 😭

Thankfully, the train had begun to slow at this point, brakes screeching against metal as the tides of battle finally started to turn. But, as Subaru could clearly see, this train-heist wasn't over quite yet. There was a large shuttle closing in, lining itself up with the train from above.

As the heavy locks slide open, slowly, painstakingly... something strange, yet familiar is revealed inside. A particularly shaped chunk of metal, with features vaguely reminiscent of a Reploid's face on the front, right down to the red marking. A Biometal..?

[[NC]] Tron proudly holds up a hoverboard. “I committed train slaughter for this!”

Inside the crate was... something otherworldly. Whatever it is- or maybe was, that was inside, had left wires and bits of metal like organic material, either like a spider's web, or something more... fleshy. Despite the alien interior, it seems the spider-bot was the only thing inside...

The rocket-wielding Galleon falls as the only platform beneath it is yanked away, and the Maverick below is unable to hold on, being sent directly between a railcar, and crushed beneath the train itself. Talk about mechanical gore... But hey! Free hoverboard!

Thankfully, she wouldn't have to press too far. She had finally managed to reach a car that hadn't been ransacked by the Mavericks, with one rather industrial looking container sitting in the center. Given Ciel was of high security clearance, she should be able to open it, and find out what all 》

The little pest is too small, and too fast once that camouflage is active. It's skittering all over the robot master to evade each attempt at wrenching it off of him, until it eventually gets crushed between Rock and the crate it was kept in. With a little fizzle, and some twitches, it seems 》

“Affirmative, miss. It's in a heavy-duty container, but given how they just about chewed through every other door on board, I wouldn't give it that much time!” The other staff work on slowing the train down, while the Conductor salutes Ciel. “Stay safe, miss. We'll handle things up here.”

The shield eats the explosion effortlessly, causing the two on the hoverboard to fly back a foot or two. The pilot above keeps trying to maintain balance while the one below, unable to use its other arm for anything else, fires wildly and inaccurately at Tron and Gustaf-

For the most part, things seemed quiet. Especially within the shipping containers. Whatever they were looking for might not be nearby- at least not on this car. ...but as Rock investigates, and eventually turns away, something imperceptibly clings onto him, before activating external camouflage.

The Mavericks keep up the pressure, but not to close in- to retreat. At this point, there were more skilled hunters on this train than there were competent, mass-produced mechanaloids, and they were all collectively aware of that much. They seem focused more on checking the cargo, too, 》

The Maverick hanging from the hoverboard clinks its buster against the ride, pointing out Rock to the driver. They seem to have a dispute, before deciding to focus on Tron. Seems like the enemy are finally wearing thin. ...at least, that's how it seems, for now. Best find the source of this 》

“What? Open the doors, quick!” After a moment, the heavy doors hiss open, revealing the staff and Conductor safe inside. “Ciel? Cripes, her I thought I heard Zero's saber out there... you must be somethin' else. But there's no time- we were cut off from the others in the back.” 》

Half of the spiral nails the Galleon's wing, causing it to spiral out of control momentarily, just barely keeping itself from colliding with the other projectile as it begins to radio... Someone. It was to fast, and garbled. Maybe encrypted? Regardless, it sent out a signal, despite it 》

The whole group is stunned from the electricity due to their close proximity, allowing Ciel to tear through them with ease. Once the way was cleared, it seemed like things were quieting down, at least up front. Whatever was happening in the backmost cars was still concerning, though... 》

Something spotted her mid-air, flying up to meet her before she can close the distance. It looks like... a Deluxe Galleon Wing. Only, something was off about it. The way it was moving was far more calculated, and precise, even making micro-adjustments whenever RiCO would do the same.

Sure enough, that bomb was a lot more bomb than their own, with some being torn apart directly in the blast, while others were sent flying. Seems that Galleon pair targeting Tron decided to pick on Rock a bit, too, with the one hanging beneath firing buster shots at Rock while its partner reloads.