The Adventures of Mavus Pt. IV

With Blackflame back in the ranks of Team Darkstar and the Inquisition, The Anti-New Militia resistance force advances their efforts to take down the New Militia and Calliope Ariandal. Tier 0 Metahuman Mavus Shaw continues working under college crush Junon Gareth on her missions to assist Darkstar.

Chapter 18 - Me and the Boys Going Dragon Hunting

"I've lost Sentry." Everybody stared at Sam. Ever since he had been healed by the boys in the other universe, his eyes changed from their cool silver irises to they regular brown. Junon told me that the silver eyes were from something called the "soul link". An ability where a mage would link their souls with either a creature or in rare cases, a region of magical power, giving them a crazy boost in power.

"What happened?" Jason asked. Sam looked at his mentor. Despite being fully recovered, he was still missing an eye, which had since been replaced by a fake metal orb. His missing arm had been restored too.

"When I was imprisoned by Calliope, she pulled Sentry out of my body, storing it in a rune. When she gave me the mark of allegiance, all of Sentry's essence was basically grafted into my body, making me capable of using 100% of his power." Everybody was silent, looking at him. Sam continued.

"When Mavus defeated me, I felt Sentry leaving my body, returning to The Capita along with the Corruption."

Lazarus put his hand on his chin. "There's still a chance that Sentry is in Ariandal's hands. With the power of a hellspawn hybrid, who knows how powerful she has become." Jason shook his head. "We need to get Sentry back. Calliope is already powerful enough as it is. If she soul links with Sentry too, she'll be unstoppable."

Trill interrupted Jason. "As much as it would make her insanely powerful, that won't work. Calliope isn't a Paladin reincarnation, meaning she'll either have to choose Seraphim or Sentry. She's already mastered Seraphim enough to outclass Sentry in power, there would be no reason to switch souls."

Kyrael didn't look satisfied. "Regardless, there's a chance that she could give Sentry over to one of her subordinates. We need to retrieve him." Amana stood up. "Then that will be our current objective."

As we left, Steel, the commander of The Pack approached Junon and I. "We're off on another hunt, an alpha dragon. Never fought one before, we could use your help, if you aren't too busy." Junon looked at him. "An alpha, huh?" She turned to me. "This is a good exercise for you, Mavus. You'll learn how to control your abilities to defeat but not obliterate your target." Steel gave me a nod. "I heard you're the superstar recruit, Maven of The Machines. We could use your powers!"

I joined Junon and Steel's Pack with a new revision of Main. Updated chest plate and rivets going down my torso, stronger and more reinforced plating and more a more compact appearance. Junon raised her eyebrows. "You've been busy!" I nodded, trying to look cool in front Junon, the dampened sounds of servos emanating from my mechanical body. It didn't work.

Main's latest revision wasn't just for show. My fight against Sam made it clear that my original method of fighting with overwhelming numbers was pretty pointless if the damage was all spread out. Like tickling a lion a hundred times. If I went into a fight as a single mech, and just regulated my power output based on the situation, my abilities would be much more versatile. If I wanted more numbers, I could always deploy units from mini pods that lined Main's shoulder compartments. A single unit also allowed me to focus all my concentration on one mech. Implanted in my systems was the energy drain pods, now miniaturized and ready for draining if I wanted, or could be deployed to maximize the power drain. There was also a huge advancement in my weapons system, but I guess I'll just let it all play out when the time came.

Basically, I became more of a Titanium Man ripoff than I ever was. I couldn't wait to impress Junon with my new mech. After this mission, she had to ask me out.

"Mavus!!!" A familiar voice appeared and I turned around. Oh what the hell, what were they doing here? Varen, Truman, and Khione appeared. Truman was waving at me. "Whoaaa you got a new look! That's awesome!" I turned to Truman. "Truman, this isn't just a new look, it's a revolutionary revision change that changes the entire notion of the way I used to fi-" Truman cut me off. "So cool!!!!"

Khione looked like she was about to throw up. I guess it was her first time drinking, the hangover didn't look too good. "Hey, Khione, how you feeling?" Khione put her hand up. "Not a word. Not a single word." Veran chuckled. "We heard from Junon that you two were going dragon hunting to get some armour resources for the soldiers!"

Steel put his hands on the ground. "My trackers tell me the dragon is not too far away. This type of dragon is a lightning type." "Whoa what? I thought all dragons were fire based?" Steel turned to me. "Nope. Dragons have different affinities too. The lightning type is particularly dangerous because they're real fast. Gotta gut em, but you gotta beat them until they're unconscious before laying the final blow. If you kill em right away, they self destruct."

Great.

We continued walking until a roar shook the ground. Steel turned to us. "Okay, here's the plan. First person to get the kill gets the credit."

Huh. What? Did I hear this guy right? Khione stared at Steel. "Sorry what? What about strategy? Tactics?" Steel laughed. "This is how we do things in the Pack! Everybody, let's go!" The people in the Pack cheered and charged. Varen joined in. "A true right for a warrior!" He brandished his broadsword and charged.

Khione, Truman and I stared at Junon. Junon shrugged. "That's just how Steel does things. What are you guys waiting for?"

Everybody circled and tried to get a hit into the dragon, but its quills kept brandishing, shocking everybody within its vicinity. I ran across the perimeter. Scanning for vulnerabilities. If I don't hit it with enough force, it will get pissed. If I hit it with too much force, Junon will be pissed. There needed to be a fine line.

My HUD indicated that the chinks in its armour were its soft spot, but I needed to hit it with a certain amount of force to cause unconsciousness. A taser wouldn't make sense, since it was a lightning type. Suddenly, the creature turned on me. Uh oh. It swiped its tail with shocking speed, catching me in my midsection, sending my mechanical body hurtling through several trees. If I had used a previous revision of Main, my plating would have been cracked from the sheer force of that tail. It had unbelievable speed, meaning ridiculous momentum.

I landed into a ditch. I got up, inspecting my armour. It had a few scratches and scuffs, but other than that I was okay. No cracks. I zoomed in on the scene. Varen and Steel were fighting side by side, as their weapons were long ranged. Khione was attempting to freeze the monster, but its electricity began to conduct through the ice, and Khione was forced to resort to blasts of frost, rather than a beam. Junon was circling the beast, shooting at it with a crossbow containing a flammable liquid. I guess she was trying to burn the creature down.

"Juno, send target markers to the dragon's vulnerable spots."
"Acknowledged."

My HUD lit up with a bunch of markers. If I drained the dragon of its electricity using my energy-drain pods, I could kill it without worrying about the dragon self-destructing. Perfect. But then I would also end up blowing up the dragon hide, which would make this whole mission worthless. Not so perfect.

Eureka! If I just needed to knock the dragon unconscious, I could easily do that the same way Junon always did to me during her sparring lessons. Aim for a place of lots of nerves near the central processing unit, then smack it with a ton of force. My repulsers should be able to handle that. But to find that place...

"Juno, scan nervous system and pinpoint vulnerability"
"Unable to accomplish task. Suggested action: reduce range."

Oh boy. I had to get in close.

I shot forward and unloaded several pods that transformed into my mech sentries. I needed to find its weak spot. The dragon destroyed the mechs easily and went straight for me again. I covered my body with my arms but the force caused me to slide backwards. Junon had already taken her distance and was running out of arrows. As for everybody else, they were either zapped unconscious or watching from the sidelines. I continued the scan as I tried to deploy more sentries, but it looked like it didn't work. At this point I was just wasting resources and energy. The dragon continued slashing at my mechanical body with its tail. Despite blocking and evading to the best of my ability, this dragon was insanely fast, and I found my armour beginning to crack and break off as the dragon continued its assault.

The dragon delivered a powerful upward slash and I managed to block it by crossing my arms, but the effort cracked my face. I grabbed the tail and began to pull, utilizing my new strength and propulsors to try to throw it around. The dragon began to activate its electricity, shocking and damaging my armouring, sparks flying everywhere.

I let go and sent the dragon flying into a few trees, but suddenly the dragon got to its feet and swiped at my face, a clean hit. My HUD indicated that the claws had cut through the plating and had exposed my ocular sensors. My vision cracked and doubled. The dragon swiped again, catching me across my chest plate, shredding it and sending me flying into the trees above. I activated my propulsors and unveiled my shoulder minigun, which peppered the thing with energy bullets. The dragon shot up and tried to bite at me, but I flew out of the way and bombarded it with an array of missile launchers from my other shoulder compartments. Everything glanced off its skin. Holding back was hard.

The dragon swiped at me with the same astonishing speed, sending my mechanical body hurtling into the ground. Junon went flying from the shockwave. I struggled to my feet as the dragon landed.

"Vulnerability found"

My HUD lit up with the dragon's soft spot, its throat. Bingo. I lifted my right arm, and unveiled several tractor beam pods, which latched onto the dragon, holding it up. The dragon began to shock everything, causing the pods to crack.

I expanded my left arm, transforming it into a large cannon, three slots glowing with green light. A repulser cannon. I aimed it at the crosshairs and fired, sending a green concussive repulser blast at the dragon, knocking it out.

Junon looked at me. "Not bad, Mavus!" I looked back at the dragon and prepared to finish it off.

Suddenly, my vision flickered. Not from the ocular sensors or anything mechanical. My vision flickered. I instinctively exited Main and fell to my knees. I could hear Junon shouting my name, and everybody else running to my aid, but their voices became faint. I yelled clutching my temples. It felt like my brain was expanding, pressing up against my skull.

Everything went black and silent.

"So... the metahuman who slew my right hand man, and defeated my lieutenant." A golden glow appeared. A woman with wings like an angel. White hair flowing down the side, and her eyes silver like the soul link. She wore armour with arcane lines decorating all over it.

I couldn't tell if I had a body or anything, it looked like I was in my subconscious. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"

The woman extended her hand. It was full of Corruption, the same voices and ghostly aura that Ernest tried to infect me with. "I am Calliope Ariandal, and I want you to join my ranks."

I wasn't able to move my body. The Corruption filling my mind with the voices. I screamed.

Chapter 19 - Junon Gives Me A Pity Kiss

I woke up screaming like a little girl.

Junon grabbed my shoulders trying to stabilize me. "Mavus!"

I stopped screaming. It was just a dream. I looked at her. Her eyes were wide and terrified. I realized I was still trying to grab at a fictitious entity, clawing what I thought was the Corruption away.

"Mavus, you're scaring me. What happened? What did you see?"

Junon looked like she was about to have a heart attack. I looked at my hands. No Corruption anywhere. I was clean. I looked at Junon again. Then at my surroundings. I was in the Fortress infirmary. Junon was beside me, her hands on my shoulders. She looked like she hadn't slept for several days.

"Mavus?"

Should I tell her about my vision? I didn't want her to carry any more weight on her shoulders. I couldn't tell her.

Okay, before you guys start flaming me, like "Oh my God Mavus, not this BS again. Haven't you watched enough TV to know that keeping secrets is just going to screw everyone over". Well at the time, I just couldn't. I couldn't. If you saw Junon's face, you would know. How was I supposed to tell her that Calliope was after me? After what she did to Sam? I'd be repeating history for her all over again.

No. She must not know.

"Nothing. I just had a crazy blackout, then dreamt that I was falling."

Junon didn't look satisfied with my answer. She looked out the window of the infirmary. "Look Junon, I'm fine. I just had a little blackout, nothing major. It's okay." Junon continued looking at the window. Then she looked back at me.

"You talk in your sleep, you know that right?"

Oh shit.

"Oh, wow, well that's a pretty big surprise. Hey want to hear this story about this one time I was sleep talking? I totally scar-"
"Mavus, you were shouting Ariandal's name."

My fake smile melted. Well that didn't work out so well. Might as well tell the truth then. "I saw Calliope Ariandal. She told me to join her, then I saw her extend her hand with a bunch of Corruption on it. It started to latch on to me and I thought I was done for."

Junon breathed in. She stood up. "I'm going to host a conference with Kyrael and Darkstar. Can you walk? I want you to tell them everything."

"Ariandal has created a mental connection with you." Lazarus responded, after I finished giving my testament. Jason turned to him. "This means she can control him? Infect him with the Corruption? Can't we just cut off the connection?"

Lazarus turned to Jason. "It doesn't work like that. Ariandal's magic is immense, and since Mavus doesn't have magic, it makes the connection so much stronger. She won't infect him, but she will be able to force a vision link. I think she's planning on driving Mavus insane to the point where he has to accept The Corruption."

The mood turned somber. Junon gasped.

Jason looked at his hand. "When I was infected with the Corruption, my remnant nature protected me. Maybe Mavus's metahuman powers could protect him." Trill shook his head. "The mental link doesn't work the same way as the Corruption. It's a spell that only depends on the difference in magical power of two hosts. This difference is immense."

He turned to me. "If we are going to cut his connection, we have two options. We either force Calliope to cut it, or... we kill him."

My heart stopped. "Whoa whoa whoa, hooooold up! Who's killing who now? The visions haven't been occurring lately. It should be fine. Besides, the visions are just going to drive me insane right? I'm already insane. Plus it's going to take a lot more than some random hallucinations of some crazy old bat to convince me to get on some black stuff."

Lazarus looked offended. "Okay, first off, Calliope is, er, was, my girlfriend. Don't call her a crazy old bat... even if she is crazy. Secondly, a vision link isn't just about making the victim go crazy."

I looked at him. "It isn't?"

Lazarus looked at me with sympathy. This wasn't good. He turned to Trill. Trill went up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "People who resist the vision link, continue to get hallucinations. The vision link feeds off the victim's life force." I stared at Trill. "Wait, what do you mean?" Sam got up.

"It means you're dying, Mavus. You either get infected, or you die."

Junon and I left the meeting without saying a word. She wouldn't talk or look at me. She kept walking to the barracks. This must be super hard on her. I didn't know what to say. Several members of the Inquisition acknowledged her, but Junon ignored them. She never does that.

We reached the barracks, where Junon stood by the door, avoiding eye contact. I went up to her. "Umm... you know, we can still cut the connection if we kindly ask Calliope to turn it off."

Junon looked at me. Her eyes were red. She gripped the notebook in her hands so hard that the papers crumpled. Those were some strong forearms.

"How can you be cracking jokes in a time like this... you're dying Mavus."
"I'm not cracking jokes! There's still a possibility to cut the link! Trill said so!"

Junon threw the notebook onto the ground. She was definitely tearing up. "There is no way. That option is never going to work! Why can't you see that? Why do you care so much about everybody else but yourself?"

I was speechless. She was right. I was basically screwed. Ariandal was going to keep giving me stupid visions until I died or became her puppet. There was no way we could just stroll up to her place and be like "Yo, Cal to the I to the P, mind cutting the connection for me while I continue to overthrow your empire? Thanks!"

"Junon..."

Junon began to sob. "Why... every time. With every guy. Why did it have to happen to you. Why did they have to get you?" Her voice was cracking in like a million different places.

Suddenly I realized that I was all that was left of Junon's past. Even if I was just a loser in her class, nobody else in this Inquisition or Darkstar was from her world. We were classmates from the very start, and even after the Automaton raid, and everything, we were still together. Now that I was infected by Calliope's stupid link, I was going to die, and leave her all alone. I was her source of hope, and now, that source was going to be put out.

I looked at Junon again. She was sitting on the ground, crying. The gust of wind, a small breeze went our way, causing her beautiful brown hair to dance with the current. The breeze caused my jacket to ripple. My jacket. The gift that Junon had given me, the very same jacket that she had told me given her hope. I wore it every single day ever since, hoping I would impress her.

I knelt down in front her. "I'm not going to die. I refuse to believe that I'm going to leave you alone. If Calliope won't cut the link, then I guess I'll just have to force her." I clenched my fist, causing the metals in the pebbles to shake, swirling around my hand. The metal extract sprinkled back on the ground.

"I'm a Tier Zero Metahuman, one of the best of the best. I'm not going down easy to the likes of that tyrant. Trill said it himself, there's still a way to cut the link. I'm not leaving this world." Junon looked at me, her chin quivering. It broke my heart to see someone who was always so stoic and enthusiastic about everything, even from when I first met her to my days working under her in the Inquisition, reduced to an emotional wreck. I continued.

"Back when I was still in isolation, no one knew what I was. No one knew I was Tier Zero. They all thought I was just some loser kid who did everything online. I didn't have many friends, but I was fine with that. Because I thought I had everything. Cool powers, cool robots. Nobody wanted the smoke.

"But when I met you in person, and actually got out there to help others under you, I began to realize that I didn't have everything. I didn't have a reason to stay on this world, until I met you. You're the reason I want to keep livi-"

Junon interrupted me, grabbing my face into a kiss. It felt like my brain was melting through my ears. Holy crap! I was kissing Junon Gareth! If only the boys back at school knew about this massive dub. She pulled away.

"Uhh..."

Junon looked at me, wiping her eyes. "That didn't happen. We're going to find a way to get you better. I'm going now."

"Okay." I said, my voice an octave higher than usual.

Junon got up wiping her eyes. Suddenly she turned around and kissed me again. Oh God! Two for Two! I can't believe it! And it only took my entire life at risk too!

"That didn't happen either."
"Okay."

Junon left for real this time, heading back to the barracks. My mind was still pretty much melted at that point. Fried. Short circuited.

Chapter 20 - I Basically Never Sleep Again

Everybody make way for the alpha male who kissed the hottest girl in school. Junon had kissed me, not once, but twice. That meant that she was my girlfriend right?

"No." Junon said. I stared at her.

"What do you mean?" Junon held the syringe. "This syringe is like an adrenaline boost, it will wake you up instantly if you ever have a vision, it won't stop the visions from happening. Unfortunately, it will mean you won't have a proper night's sleep until we figure out how to fix this."

Every night, I had the same vision of Calliope extending her crazy hand and trying to infect me with that black tar Corruption. I woke up instantly screaming like a little girl with a syringe to my neck and Junon's hair in my face. It was pretty hot. But at the same time, it completely wrecked my sleep schedule.

When Junon had told me about her plan to keep the visions from sucking up my life force directly, she told me that she needed to sleep with me. Her words, not mine!

"I need to sleep with you tonight and possibly every night after that... what? Why are you looking at me like that?"

I realized I was grinning like an idiot. Junon rolled her eyes.

"Not like that! I need to be in the same room to inject the syringe properly and cut the visions. Since I'm the only one who knows how to inject it properly, I have to be the one to do it."

I was still grinning like an idiot.

"Do you want to be the one sleeping on the floor?"

I shook my head so fast that I thought my head was going to fall off.

"It's settled, you'll sleep on the bed. You'll need it."

Junon decided to sleep on the floor. It made me feel really bad, but she reassured me she was fine. "I used to sleep on the floor all the time when I was on the run from the Automatons, this isn't so bad. Plus you're the one being haunted by visions."

The following days consisted of sleepless nights. It wasn't as bad as that time I woke up at 4am to go to that stupid meeting, but waking up in the morning was definitely not the best part.

"Morning Mavus!" Junon's beautiful face peeked over me. Sight to behold. I turned around and put the pillow over my head.

"Come on, we need to go over mission briefing. You already slept through our meeting, again. The least you could do is listening to briefing."

A fabulously dressed woman went up to us, unfolding a scroll. "I've written a letter to the house of Elmyrates of Imperium. They've agreed to allow their son to embark in a short mission for the Inquisition on the bounds that he is protected."

Junon took the scroll. "Thanks Alex." Alex nodded.

"So what exactly is this house of Elmo?" I asked Junon as we headed out to the chariot.

"House of Elmyrates, they are nobles of Imperium. Their son, Victor, is a telepath. I think if we get Victor to help with our mission, we should be able to help return Sentry, and break your link."

The chariot was about as stable as my grades during finals season. "But if they are nobles, why would they send their own kid to go on a mission? Sounds pretty sketchy."

Junon laughed. "That's why we had Alex do it. She is a bureaucrat and has a ton of connections. The nobles respect her as she has always been the diplomat for the Inquisition.."

"Definitely wouldn't have figured that out from her clothes."

Junon continued. "We're also not getting him to go on the mission directly, he's going to help Lazarus and Trill with a mental-spell that will link with Ariandal. Sending a child into the front would be wrong. We'll go to Imperium and safely get Victor, protect him, and bring him into the Inquisition."

The chariot kept rocking back and forth, causing my pencil to slip on the page, and turning my negative sign into the biggest 7 in the history of Solid Mechanics. Junon laughed. "You're still studying? You know college was like ages ago right?"

I pulled out my eraser to fix my equation. "Of course I am, this tuition money is going to be worth every single penny. And why are we in a stupid chariot anyway? We literally have technology outside. We're not in the 1300's!"

Junon picked up the pencil that had fallen on the floor. "That's just how people do things in Corinth. They're old fashioned that way. And what were you going to do without the chariot? Fly there in your robot body? You'd probably get a vision and crash land. I wouldn't be able to save you."

The driver beckoned Junon. "We're here."

I looked outside. I've never been in this side of Imperium before. It looked so beautiful, old buildings but magic everywhere. Everybody looked fancy. It wasn't just fancy, it was magical.

Junon saw me staring and laughed. "Welcome to Imperium Vox, home of the nobles."

Chapter 21 - I Get Nerfed

"You must be Victor! Nice to meet you!" Junon bent down and shook the kid's hand. He couldn't have been any older than 10. These were either some very trusting parents or the most irresponsible people I had ever seen, letting us take this kid on mission. They must have been really trusting of Alex for us to do this.

I looked at the nobles. The father introduced himself as Igor Elmyrates. He wore sunglasses and a bathrobe. It was pretty hard to believe these guys were nobles. Igor looked me up and down. He seemed to like my business casual attire.

"You are dressed quite cleanly young man. Where in Imperium are you from?"
"Canada."

Igor frowned. The mother, Meredith gave Junon a nod. "I trust that you will bring my boy back to me safely when this is over." Junon held Victor's hand. "We will. Thank you again for agreeing to this. Your efforts will greatly benefit our battle against the New Militia."

We left the mansion and walked down the streets. Victor really liked Junon. I guess she was great with kids. I hated kids, so it wouldn't have been a good wombo combo if I was tasked to watch over the brat.

Victor looked at Junon. "Are you part of Darkstar?" Junon smiled. "Yes I am! How did you know that?" Victor pointed at Junon's black jacket, which had a faint dark star on it. Damn I didn't even catch that. Junon ran her hand through his hair. "You're very perceptive! I am part of Darkstar as an operative for the Inquisition." Victor looked at her with intelligent eyes. "So you're a heroine?"

Victor then turned to me. Oh God, get him away. "Is he your friend?" Junon kept walking. "Yes he is. We will be protecting you from harm while we get you to the Inquisition. Once you're done with a short mission, we can get you back to mommy and daddy, okay?" Victor nodded.

That brat! He sent me back to the friend zone with Junon!

Something caught my vision. It looked like a person, no, multiple people. I opened my hand, and several shards from my pocket jacket accumulated into my palm, taking shape and transforming into the vision module of my sentries. I placed the module on my ear, and an HUD screen lit up. Juno's voice initialized the systems.

"Welcome back, Master Mavus, Commander of the Best Machines in the World"
"Juno, scan for hostiles"
"Five suspicious targets detected."

I turned to Junon. "We're being watched." Junon brought Victor closer to her leg. "Stay close, Victor. We'll deal with these guys."

I turned around and suddenly a masked person appeared out of nowhere. Before I could summon any machines or sentries, the bandit blasted me with a gust of wind at my chest. A metahuman. I was sent flying into a stand, breaking the wood. It felt like my back was full of needles.

His other four buddies surrounded Junon. My HUD lit up, performing automatic analysis of the group. One Tier 6 Wind-Type Metahuman, two Tier 5 Rock Types, and Two Tier 6 Melee's. I was about to shout to Junon to be careful, but she didn't need it.

Junon told Victor to hide behind the stand. One of the Melees tried to slash at her with a knife, but Junon leaned back, grabbing the guy's arm, and sending him at one of the Rock Types, impaling him. Before the other guys tried to react, Junon sent a side kick that launched the other Rock type into a food stand. The guy got buried in a bunch of potatoes. Watching her fight like that reminded me of those action movie stars who would fight multiple people at once. Victor was cheering from the back of the stand. I didn't blame him. She was so hot. But lethal. And hot.

"Hey, lover boy. I'm still here." The wind type bandit shouted. More shards exited my pocket and accumulated onto my hand, creating a repulser. I fired a blast at the bandit, who was taken by surprise, sending him into a building.

I turned to the melee guy who had just stabbed his buddy and was attempting to attack Junon from behind. I blasted him with my repulser, but he dodged the blast and started to close in on me. I quickly repurposed the glove into an iron knuckle and built several propulsors at the forearm, launching a powerful shovel hook at the guy. But he slipped past the strike, and kicked me in the chest with some crazy flying back kick. Badass and painful. I fell backwards. It felt like my chest was hit by a battering ram.

"Tier 6 Metahuman, Melee type, likely a strength and speed enhancer. Avoid melee combat."

Real helpful Juno. This guy wasn't giving me much of a choice. I built another hand gauntlet and repurposed it into a propulsor, aiming it at the ground to shoot me upwards and gain distance. The guy didn't give me a chance to escape, grabbing my leg, and hurling me into another stand.

I needed to make a mech sentry. Once I upload into that, it would be game over for these lackeys. The problem was that they were attacking me too often for me to focus on building anything, not even a little drone. I was limited to hand devices. It also didn't help that I was running on inadequate sleep. The simplest machines required way more time to build than usual.

I tried to get up, but the bandit kicked me in the chest, sending me back on the ground. Such disrespect. Suddenly, Junon appeared out of nowhere, and punched him in the face. Hard. The bandit went unconscious. The remaining bandits ran away.

Junon helped me up. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry Mavus, these guys had me outnumbered. I couldn't get to you soon enough."

"I'm fine."

Victor emerged from the stand and took Junon's hand, pulling it. "Miss, they took my necklace." Junon turned at the bandits, one of them was holding a gem attached to a braid. Freaking scum. What was their problem, robbing kids like that.

I turned to Junon. "I can catch them." Junon nodded. "We'll meet you up once you've taken care of those guys."

I took out my phone, which was where all the shards were coming from. The phone elongated into a spherical piece of metal, attracting all surrounding metals and metal extracts from the environment. Metal scraps swirled around me as I dissipated into green sparks, uploading into a fully assembled Main.

I turned around, my servos humming. "I'll get your necklace kid." Victor looked at me like I was the coolest thing ever. Which I was. Obviously. Junon smiled, causing me to momentarily trip. I restablized myself. "Necklace. Right."

I ran forward, activating my repulsers, and shot to the sky.

"Juno, where are those scumbags?"
"Searching for 'those scumbags'... Targets Locked."

I flew forward, and fired several small projectiles at their location from my back launchers. The projectiles expanded into three pronged appendages, releasing smoke. The wind type bandit tried to dissipate the smoke for his guys. I landed next to him. The bandit tried to strike me with a gust of wind, but against my heavy titanium alloy armour, it was useless. I grabbed his wrist, and threw him into a building, knocking him unconscious.

I went up to the rest of the bandits. The smoke dissipating. They tried to escape. Several shoulder compartments expanded, firing five containment pods which blocked their point of entry.

"Give the necklace back guys. I'll even consider forgiving you for kicking me in the chest earlier."

The melee and rock types began attacking my mechanical body, sending shards of rock and punches my way. Everything glanced off my plating. I caught the punch of one of the bandits. The bandit looked at me, clearly shocked.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.
"Nope."

I sent him flying with an uppercut. Propulsors on my back shot me forward to the other melee guy, and I head butted him, launching him into the side of a building. The other two earth guys began launcher boulders at me. One caught me square in the face, causing me to step back. I regained my composure, unharmed, I lifted my arm. The forearm expanded, revealing several "mini" miniguns, around 6 in total circling my forearm. The two remaining bandits were peppered with a wave of energy bullets, sending them unconscious.

I lowered the containment field. The pods retuning back to my shoulder compartments. The compartments closed, concealed in Main's plating.

Junon and Victor caught up. One of the bandits was still conscious, the wind guy. Junon went up to him and asked what they wanted from us. The bandit began to laugh. "We do whatever Boss Nigel wants. Riling you guys up, so you know who you're messing with." Junon looked confused. "Boss Nigel? Does he work with the New Militia?" The bandit coughed and chuckled. "We serve The Street Angels. The New Militia hired us. That's all we care about."

Junon looked at me, troubled. So Ariandal was also contracting people here too to join her cause. Not good.

Junon turned back to the bandit. "Well your operation failed. We beat you, and now-" She took the necklace out of the guy's pocket. "We're taking back what's ours." The bandit shook his head. "Ya still don't get it do you." He turned to me.

"That's some crazy robot armour you got there, Zero Tier. But it ain't gonna be enough to defeat the best of us."

I approached the bandit and grabbed him by the collar of the shirt with one arm. I pushed him against the wall, crushing and cracking it. "Bring it on, I'll take anybody who tries to mess with The Inquisition." The bandit chuckled, clearly unfazed. "Hey, I'm just telling the truth. You ain't enough against our best guy. But it's okay, no one can beat him. Even Lady Ariandal believes she might have trouble dealing with em. But it's all good. All we care about is the paycheque."

I pushed him into the wall again. "Who? What's his name."

The bandit turned to me, smirking. "Our boy? Aaron Sterling, the Giantkiller. You ain't got NOTHIN on him. He's a true Tier Zero Metahuman." The bandit snapped his fingers, and suddenly, he dissipated into mist. So were the other bandits. I let go as the bandits escaped.

Victor hugged Junon's leg. "Can we go now?" Junon smiled and knelt down. "Yes, it's all over now. I believe this is yours, Master Victor!" Junon put the necklace around his neck.

Aaron Sterling. The Giantkiller. Why did he sound so familiar?

Chapter 22 - Anti-Ariandal Sentry

"Juno, give me a full rundown on Main's systems"
"Acknowledged, generated complete Top Level Assembly"

Juno created a full top down assembly view of Main.

Ever since I moved into Junon's room, she had made it clear that she wanted to divide it up. One side for her stuff, the other side for my stuff.

So naturally, the entire room was half messy and half tidy. You probably have a good idea who was the neater one out of the two.

I decked out my entire side with my entire workstation. An array of holographic projectors, and computers. You're probably wondering why I'm going full Kyle Star. Well, not all things in movies are inaccurate. For instance, even if you have incredible intelligence, or insane technomancer abilities, setting up a work environment to manage all of your arsenal isn't a bad idea. My setup allows me to come up with better designs.

Sure, I can build anything I want, but the very smallest details, how a servo is mounted, or how a certain mechanism interacts with the entire robot, these small details dictate which constructs stand at the top. If it was true that even Calliope Ariandal found this "Giantkiller" hard to put down, it meant that I needed to put in far more effort into improving my mechs. It took everything I had to defeat Blackflame, and Calliope practically owned him, even with help from Lupine. This was before the mental link. Now that my sleep schedule tanked, I was even weaker than before, limited to only a few mechs at a time. Building massive constructs was just no longer efficient anymore.

In other words, there is no way in hell I'm going to lose to Giantkiller. I'm Tier Zero too.

I got to work. The smallest details, the repulser beams. Yes, I totally stole the idea from Titanium Man. But it could be improved. Rather than concentrating my metahuman energy into a path, which was currently how my repulsers worked, maybe I could concentrate it even more.

I closed my eyes, imagining a network of reflectors, concentrating not one beam of energy, but multiple beams, converging into one single point. I opened my eyes, and before me was a prototype of the weapon. This design should increase my repulsers significantly. I raised my hand to the computer screen, which scanned the prototype and began running simulations, comparing them to Revision 2. If this design works, it could mean a multitude of things. I wouldn't need to worry about creating multiple units to fire multiple repulser beams. It's all about efficiency folks.

Time to work on the guns. Then the missiles. Then the mechanical assemblies as well as Main's weapon transformation mechanisms.

I spent the entire afternoon working. Refining, analyzing, simulating, testing. Junon would occasionally come by to visit. I noticed her smile as I was completely engrossed in my work.

"Not giving up I see?"
"Nope."
"Even when your powers have been weakened?"
"Nope."
"Even when there's someone even stronger than you?"
"Nope."

Junon put a mug on my desk, which was now full of scrap metal and prototypes. "Coffee. You'll need it if you want to become the next Titanium Man." I smirked as Junon left the room.

Evening came, and Junon came by to ask me if I was going to have dinner with everybody else. "Hey Mavus, oh wow..."

I turned around. Junon had her mouth wide. I guess she saw what I was working on. There was no need to say anything. Revision 3 spoke for itself.

Main was completely upgraded, in every aspect, in every way. Its armouring was significantly improved, more sleek and it was made with a new alloy, which was around 20x stronger than the alloy that I had initially used, while also being the same weight. Main's plating had more "muscular" features, allowing human-like movements to become more intuitive. The lighting had been reduced, only two slits along the ribcage indicated power. There was no need to make it fancy; my propulsors would give all the lighting effects in needed when in action.

The armouring didn't just improve in strength, but its plating was significantly more efficient in storing my weapons. Missile launchers, micro munitions, miniguns, everything was still mounted, but transforming the armouring to equip them no longer took so long, it became instant. Changing the geometry of Main's limbs for stronger weapons became more fluid and intuitive, allowing Main to be a powerhouse in both ranged and melee combat.

The most significant upgrade was the fact that Main was much faster now. The propulsors that lined the limbs were significantly improved, moving at near the speed of sound was a matter of switching to Acceleration mode. This was what I had aimed to get after seeing Jason in battle. He was fast enough to get behind the enemy in the blink of an eye, and with Acceleration mode, I could mimic that.

Junon went up to me. "So is this supposed to be your Giantkiller killer?" I smirked at her. "Not just him. This will be known as the Anti-Ariandal." I already had a mental image of R3 in my head. I had developed everything myself, to the point where everything was implanted in my long term memory. I snapped my fingers, and R3 dissipated into scraps and raw resources. The next time I will Main to build, it would build as R3.

Junon looked troubled. "What's wrong?" I asked. Junon turned to me.

"You remember a guy named Adam Blair right?"

Junon had mentioned Adam before. He was one of the survivors of the Automaton Invasion, but was converted into a cyborg. Junon told me that he was killed off by some serpent thing, his body laid to rest. Whenever she brought him up, there was some hidden undertone, like there was something else going on between the two. It made me jealous.

I thought for a moment. I didn't interact with a lot of people in my class, since Trevor was the only friend I spoke to. I did interact with Adam during a group project. He never really contributed anything. He was one of those guys.

"Yeah, I remember you bringing him up. I also had him in a group project. Worst group member ever."

Junon pulled out her device. I leaned in. There was some weird encryption on it.

"What? Did Adam send this to you? What is this? French?"

Junon rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised you don't know what this is. But I encrypted it and it's a distress call."

I looked at Junon. "Distress call from Adam?" I didn't think Adam would have been alive, after everything had happened. All I know was that the Automaton invasion was catastrophic. It basically sent our society and civilization outside Corinth into a wasteland.

Junon looked at me. "Adam is alive. And he needs our help."

Chapter 23 - MVN vs. Plyth the Serpent King Part 1

"The distress signal was from Plyth's cave." Junon tapped on the device. "Plyth is known to have incredible resistance to fire damage, and his hide is known to be composed of one of the most powerful materials in Corinth."

I was staring at the ground of the chariot, handling my phone, which was composed of the nanites that would make up Main's R3 armouring. This was the perfect test to see how well R3 could handle in a real fight.

"We're here to retrieve Adam, if we are to engage, only engage the soul beasts that guard the cave. Plyth should not be engaged."

"A shame, but I shall follow the wise judgement of Junon!" Varen slammed his broadsword into the ground.

"Dude! You're going to break the chariot!" Truman shouted.
"Oh! My deepest apologies my dear elf. It's just the thrill of battle! Aren't you excited Khione?"

Khione crossed her arms. She looked at Junon. "Just how dangerous is this Plyth?"

Junon put the device away. "Plyth gave Blackflame trouble in Form 1, nearly killing him, forcing him to unlock Form 2. But I've received word that the Serpent King has evolved since then."

Khione looked at me. "You're going to fight Plyth aren't you." I looked up. "Yeah. It's time I gauged how powerful Main has become for our mission in Croft." Khione nodded grimly. "I will assist you, should the need arise. But I trust that you prefer to fight alone. Yes?"

I smiled darkly. "Yeah. It's time to blow this snake up. Do the one job Darkstar failed to do."

Junon cut me off. "Remember guys, the priority is still to save Adam!"

We reached the cave. Just as Junon had predicted, it was completely occupied by a ton of soul beasts. I held the R3 phone up, about to build, but Khione stopped me.

"I'll take these cretin. You should save your energy for the big fight." Suddenly, Khione took out her staff, and in a grand motion, a huge wall of ice froze the creatures in midair. Varen shouted, and charged through the ice, breaking through it and making an entrance to the cave.

We ran in, with Junon tracking the source of the signal. I caught up with her. "Why would Adam be back here again? I thought he died and got buried in the Fortress". Junon kept running, her expression serious. "I don't know. But if there is a chance that he is still alive, then we need to save him."

Suddenly a roar pierced the air. Tons of monsters emerged from the darkness. Khione began blasting the beasts, but her last spurt must have depleted her. She fell to one knee. "I'm out of mana. You and Junon will need to take care of them."

I held out my phone. Show time. The phone broke into millions of tiny fragments, which swirled around me, transforming into Main's parts. I broke apart into green sparks as the parts cladded together, the sounds of metal clanging on metal, parts assembling. The sparks dissipated as I uploaded into Main, the sides light slits on his now mono color full helmet lighting up green.

Junon drew her crossbow, and began knocking out the more lethal beasts. I stood forward, my mechanical foot crushing a piece of rock into tiny pieces. My HUD lit up with a ton of crosshairs, which merged into one giant target. My shoulders expanded into four prongs, each containing their own micro reflectors, glowing bright green. The beams fired together, merging into a single point, which my chest repulser blasted forward. My revised hyper threaded repulser beam incinerated all the soul beasts in a huge wide beam, their charred corpses, well, what was left of them hitting the ground.

"Junon, lead the way." Khione turned to me. "Go with Junon. Truman, Varen, and I will hold off the monsters." I nodded. I picked up Junon and my mechanical calves expanded, transforming into their propulsors, lifting us off the ground.

"Show me the way." Junon led us through several crevices, and tunnels. Junon's eyes went wide.

"Junon, what's wrong?" I looked at where she was staring. It was a body of a cyborg. He was definitely dead... And above it, was a massive serpent creature. Plyth himself.

"I'm an idiot! I should have seen this coming!"

I looked at Junon. "What do you mean?"

Junon continued staring at the body of our cybernetic classmate. "This wasn't Adam's distress call. This was Plyth's. He dug up Adam's body and lured us in here."

Plyth emerged. He looked nothing like what Junon had described. His hide and scales now looking more like armour and was pitch black as night, crackling with Corruption.

I unloaded a pod from my shoulder compartment, which expanded into a mini squad of 5 mech sentries, which had similar armour to R3. I commanded one of the sentries to pick up the body, and the others to cover and protect Junon. I spoke through one of the sentries. "I'll protect Adam, and give you cover. I'm going to take this guy."

I flew to meet the monster, and landed on the ground, hero style. I met the monster face to face.

"Maven of the Machines, you dare to face the Serpent King?"
"Nope. Just took your bait. Let's throw down and see who's the strongest!"

Plyth regarded me. "I am not the same beast Blackflame had fought before, in either Corinth or Croft. I have evolved, to be able to defeat his infamous Form 4, following Ariandal's request." Plyth's tongue slithered, as a demonic claw appeared, crackling with black corruption energy.

"Ariandal tells me that among the ranks of the resistance, stands a being who defeated the great Blackflame. She gave me a choice. Prove that I can evolve to the point where I am stronger than you, or be slain by your hands. My survival depends on the outcome of this fight. Losing is not an option."

Plyth began to power up, his black lightning emanating at a greater intensity. This guy was no joke. I could see why Junon didn't want anybody to engage this thing.

I spoke through the sentry. "Junon, I'm going to go all out in Main. I'll guide you and the others out of the cave through these units. We'll provide cover fire."

Junon nodded. "Be careful, Mavus."

I turned to face the monster, refocusing on Main. I began to power up. 100%. I ain't got nothing on Giantkiller? Please. It's time I showed everybody what I could do when I spend an entire evening on a single mech.

My new and improved thrusters elongated, turning bright white, and I shot forward with immense speed, creating a crater from where I initially stood. Plyth hissed, and also lunged. Two forces colliding in a titanic clash.