icalos
patreon
Chapter 171 - A Familiar Face
🕑 Added 2022-10-01 12:05:03 +0000 UTC“Good evening, all you protectors of peace. This is Global Peace News and I’m your host, Brendan Baird, bringing you all the updates you need. And we’ve got breaking news! This just in, a group of unregistered non-standards was spotted skulking in the ruins of the Old World!"
“These non-standards are expected to be aggressively hostile and heavily armed, and should be treated with extreme caution. Concordat Security have informed us they’ve already dispatched a team of NSLICE enforcers to deal with the rogues. Still, this presents an opportunity for every citizen to do their part in protecting the peace. If you have any information regarding unregistered non-standards, please inform the nearest Concordat authority, and they will make sure to keep you safe.”
“I don’t know about you, but I for one can’t see any good intentions from someone poking about the ruins of the Old World, much less unregistered non-standards. We all know what happened on the Day of Sorrow, the mistakes of the past, when the world learned exactly how dangerous non-standards could be if not properly guided along the right path. And we all know the enemy is still out there, still plotting their next atrocity. Please, make sure to speak up! All that is required for evil to thrive is for the good to remain silent!”
“Which is why I’d like to give a shout out to our brave NSLICE enforcers! Our boys and girls in chrome have been working tirelessly to protect the peace! This month’s count has already reached twelve unregistered non-standards reintegrated back into society! These brave volunteers put themselves in the line of fire each and every day to ensure that you and I can continue to live our lives in peace. I for one will sleep soundly tonight, knowing the vigilant NSLICE enforcers are keeping watch in the dark.”
“We’ll continue to follow this story as we receive new updates. And remember: peace everlasting is the responsibility of all! Stay safe, speak up, and protect the peace! And now for a word from our sponsors.”
—————————————————————————————————————
Suddenly NSLICE-00P Beta started leaving the area, while Elise activated her helmet.
“Warning: This unit has detected hostile NSLICE units on approach. Recommendation: Please activate combat protocols.”
“Can’t you just hack them like before?”
“Sarcastic Response: This unit would prefer not to do all the work this time. Legitimate Explanation: This unit has detected additional organic signatures on-route. This unit recommends an open fight to demonstrate this unit is not a Concordat of Sorrow asset. So this unit will jam NSLICE communications and will leave hostile unit defeat to other friendlies. If Aurora Legion would like to make a non-zero contribution to this operation, that is.”
The team glanced at each other, then nodded and got into formation.
They did not have to wait long. A platoon’s worth of warbots flew through the air.
Elise’s robotic eye flickered, the warbots eyes flickering as well. The warbots responded immediately, opening fire with guns, missiles, and laser beams.
Saydaa’s eyes glowed and she waved a hand. The projectiles stopped mid-air, surrounded by red wind.. Saydaa waved her hand again and they shot back the other way, forcing the bots to take evasive action. At the same time, Voidspeaker fired a void beam that twisted and split into several tendrils, intercepting the lasers and draining them.
The other ranged heroes leapt into action. Nana opened fire with her chakra rifle, firing lightning element chakra bolts that disabled warbots on contact. Icy Rose launched a barrage of icicles, catching a few of the bots. Pink Star made a Miss Le Blank clone to fire beams of light back at the warbots.
Wonder Knight picked up the heaviest piece of debris he could find and tossed it up. Arvid took a swing at it with the flat of his blade, sending it soaring into the sky.
Suddenly the boulder exploded as the lead unit flew straight through it. The team opened fire at it but the other warbots gathered around it, taking the shots in its stead.
“Warning: Other units are fully robotic mass production units. Incoming unit is another cyborg, likely a super. Recommending caution.”
The NSLICE unit landed and spoke with a robotic male voice.
“Hostile non-standards engaged. Activating close combat mode.”
Kiyosuke and Chronolock appeared on either side of the bot, swinging a sword and a stun baton.
The cyborg tanked the blows without flinching. Blades extended from its arms and it spun in a circle. The two teens leapt back, the blow sending a gust of wind in their faces.
Wonder Knight rushed forward with Arvid. The NSLICE unit turned, bringing both its blades down from overhead. Arvid swung his blade in a high guard, catching both of the cyborg’s weapons while Wonder Knight ducked in and delivered a punch to the cyborg’s torso.
The metal dented slightly but the cyborg held.
Wonder Knight’s eyes widened.
And the cyborg fired a laser beam from its chest, sending Wonder Knight flying back.
Arvid grinned.
“A tough one, are you? Very well, allow me to get a bit more serious!”
Arvid pushed upwards, his blade glowing bright. The cyborg’s blades started to move up, unable to push against the enchanted blade. But the cyborg quickly retracted its blades, bringing its arms down as Arvid’s blade swung high. It extended the blades again, intending to stab the man, but he leapt back before they hit, bringing his blade down as he did.
The tip caught the cyborg’s helmet, breaking it apart...
And Aurora Legion gasped, their eyes going wide.
There stood a second Wonder Knight, half his head covered in metal and no expression on his face.
The cyborg Wonder Knight brought its hands together, firing a beam of light into Arvid. He blocked it with his blade, but as he was still leaping back he couldn’t brace himself fully and was pushed back.
Arvid was about to re-engage when Voidspeaker stepped in front of him.
“Wait bro! That’s Wonder!”
Arvid shook his head. He stepped forward as the cyborg attacked once more, forcing him back with a swing of the greatsword.
“He is not the Wonder Knight you know.”
“I know that but maybe he knew us in this timeline! Like our alternates! It’s just, we got to try bro!”
Arvid raised an eyebrow but then made a sad smile.
“...it is no small thing to strike down a friend. Very well, we will take of the others then, and leave him to you. Good luck, and be careful.”
Arvid and the other Nemesis members turned to handle the warbots. Aurora Legion gathered up to face the Wonder Knight alternate.
“Wonder, it’s us bro! Come on, don’t do this!”
The cyborg ignored him and rushed forward. Wonder Knight stepped forward. The two swung fists at each other. Wonder Knight grit his teeth as he smashed through the cyborg’s metal armor, colliding with an organic fist underneath.
“Void, that won’t work! If he never met Director Green, then he doesn’t know the name Wonder Knight!”
Chronolock appeared to his side, freezing the cyborg’s legs. Icy Rose lifted her hands, ice encasing the legs while Wonder Knight grabbed his arms. Pink Star placed a hand on Voidspeaker’s shoulder, gently moving him out of the way. She stepped forward, staring the cyborg boy in the eyes.
“Jason, it’s me, Amy. Do you remember me?”
The cyborg was silent.
Then his body lit up, sending a shockwave surging outward. Icy Rose and Chronolock cried out as they were knocked back. The cyborg stomped on Wonder Knight’s foot, causing the boy to grunt and let go of his arms. He thrust his elbow back into Wonder Knight’s side, knocking him back. The cyborg then turned forward to assault Pink Star…
Only to find a pink Teslida stepping forward, placing a hand on his torso.
Lighting surged through the cyborg’s machine parts. The cyborg stumbled back, attempting to regain control over its circuits.
Then an Icy Rose clone appeared and thrust a palm into the cyborg’s torso, covering it in ice.
Then a Captain Hot Devil clone appeared, firing a blast of fire into the cyborg’s stomach.
Then Pink Star stepped forward, wrapped in a Wonder Knight clone. She slammed her fist into the cyborg’s stomach.
The weakened metal armor broke, her fist impacting the alternate Wonder Knight’s gut.
As he flew back, Pink Star dropped the Wonder Knight clone on herself, the clone forming into a beam of light that shot forward, reforming in front of the cyborg. It brought an axe kick down, slamming the cyborg into the ground.
The clone shot back and covered Pink Star once more as she stepped forward, a smile on her face.
Then she started to beat the crap out of the cyborg.
“You! Stupid! Annoying! Sexy! Hero! If! You’re! Gay! Then! Stop! Being! So! Hot! And! Smooth! And! Cool! And! Kind! And! Heroic!”
The cyborg tried to rise, Wonder Knight not being so easy to bring down. But his cybernetic components proved to be a weak point for the otherwise durable super, sparks coming out of the damaged metal components and disrupting his movements. Pink Star exhaled a deep breath, a content smile on her face. She turned around, dropping her clone.
Aurora Legion just stared at her. She shrugged.
“Saw it in his eyes. He doesn’t know us.”
Her face turned dark.
“Didn’t even recognize me, at all. That was kind of annoying.”
The rest of Aurora Legion just gulped. Wonder Knight trembled slightly. Pink Star walked over to Elise.
“Can you hack him too? Make sure he doesn’t come after us anymore? I’d rather not kill one of us, even if he’s completely different.”
“Affirmative.”
“Then please.”
Elise walked over to the cyborg and got to work. Nemesis had already cleaned up the rest of the warbots, so the fight was over at that point.
Suddenly a group of people leapt out from behind the rubble, pointing guns at the supers. The teams eyed them warily. One of them stepped forward.
“...who are you? You have one of those bots with you but you’re clearly not with the Concordat.”
The team glanced at each other. Chronolock glanced at Elise, then suddenly started to grin and turned to the speaker.
“Obviously we hacked her. This stupid bot’s our humble servant now, reprogrammed to do anything we say. Isn’t that right, you stupid bot? Why don’t you show him who’s your master?”
Elise walked forward. Then she chopped Chronolock on the head.
“Ow!”
She walked over to Arvid.
“Mission Report: Master, this hacked and reprogrammed unit has terminated the annoying meatbag.”
The speaker glanced at his comrades. One of them shrugged. He turned back.
“Well, clearly that’s not a Concordat bot. Come along then, there will be more on the way if we don’t get out of here.”
Wonder Knight took a step forward.
“Just one thing, who are you?”
“We’re the Resistance. Now come with us if you want to live.”
—————————————————————————————————————
After the group left, NSLICE-00P Beta returned to the area. She knelt down by the damaged Wonder Knight NSLICE.
“Status Report: Executing Commander Elise’s orders. Beginning repairs…”
As NSLICE-00P Beta began to repair the damaged cyborg, a crow rested on a nearby building, watching the events unfold. It let out a single caw and then took off…
—————————————————————————————————————
“So what do you think?”
“I don’t like it. They’re running with bots for goodness sake!”
“I mean, they’re clearly not Concordat. There’s an entire platoon of broken bots attesting to that.”
“That’s not necessarily conclusive. The Concordat can spare a few bots. We can’t rule out that this is some convoluted play.”
“If it was, why would they have an NSLICE with them? That’s guaranteed to cause us suspicion.”
“Who knows what those jerks are thinking?”
“Well, looks like this talk is over anyways. What’s the word?”
A third voice entered the conversation.
“They’re clean.”
“Ugh, fine.”
“So that’s it then. Who are they, anyways?”
“Our only hope.”
Author’s Note:
Because what sort of post-apocalyptic hellscape with an army of evil robots/cyborgs is complete without a resistance!
And there's the second variant...err alternate. Aka a chance for Pink Star catharsis!
…Wonder might be slightly terrified of her now.
Why did Elise choose Arvid as the ‘master’? Well she is obviously not going to declare loyalty to anyone outside of Nemesis, so Aurora Legion’s out. Saydaa and Kiyosuke were both predicted as being annoying if she called them master. She’d go with Nana but then remembered being betrayed during combat simulations, so chose Arvid as the least annoying option.
Anyways!
Who are the Resistance? Where are the rest of the Aurora Legion alternates? Who’s speaking at the end and why is the team their only hope? Tune in next time, to find out!
