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 Hunting Dragons

"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 Despite being fully recovered, he was still missing an eye, which had since been replaced by a fake metal orb.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. 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 crazy firepower!"

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.