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 Despite being fully recovered, he was still missing an eye, which had since been replaced by a fake metal orb.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