Chapter 52: Lock Down and Pocket VS Amplifier

'You seemed to have been in a sticky situation,Valerie.' Zel said, reaching out a hand to his beautiful friend, who instead rolled her eyes and grabbed onto his hand. Then, she was warped into the pocket domain before the destroyed moon collapsed upon the space that Valerie was residing in as she is no longer resisting it with Lock Down.

'How did this happen?' Zel asked, 'I tried to contact you, but...'

'She is not Jozzor.' Valerie said, 'most likely the assassin identified by Zero there, and her artifact is a tricky one to deal with. That's what knocked out the communications, and.....cracked the moon.'

'How are the two things possible are the same time?' Zel asked, looking up as he took the two of them away from the center of the newly formed moon. Up near the surface, Miss D was still anchoring herself to the ground as she seemed to be communicating with others. However, it doesn't seem to be working from her expression.

'I don't know, but I have some suspicions.' Valerie said, 'her artifact seemed to be able to enhance certain.....attributes.' Thinking back to all of the things that Miss D was able to do in combat, there truly are no other explanations. Initially, it appeared to be some sort of telekinesis ability, but then it wouldn't explain why she can somehow knock out the specifically designed communication system by Infinity.

Thankfully, Zel also memorized each of the locations that the fights will be taking place during the rehearsals, meaning that he was able to find Valerie even without being able to communicate with her directly, adding on the fact that the moon is now shattered, and she being at the center of it, that's how he was able to find her.

The prosthetic eye is certainly useful in this situation.

'What's the plan?' Zel asked, as he brought the two of them closer towards Miss D on the new surface of the moon, 'If the assassin is here, that means Jozzor is elsewhere. We are played by Hong Fu.'

'That is to be expected.' Valerie said, no longer worrying about the lapse in their plans and simply focusing on the present on what they can do, 'that only means that we will need to take her down even more.'

'How so?'

'If Hong Fu is confident that this individual is strong enough to take on our specially set trap for Jozzor, that means she is also among the strongest there.' Valerie explained, 'we have to take her down here and now!'

Zel nodded. What Valerie said makes total sense, and now he has a fearful respect for the fighter in front of him. In terms of raw combat ability, he is among the weakest, but what he lacks in attack power, he makes up in mobility and utility.

'Let me know what you want to do.' Zel said, and Valerie pulled him closer to explain her plans.

'Hong Fu that bastard.' Miss D cursed underneath her breath as she gave up trying to contact the others. They have also brought along some high end communication device, but it appeared that those were also jammed on the other end. Great minds think alike, and cutting off communications often offers direct tactical advantages in battle between the two groups. Miss D was able to do it by simply amplifying the effects of her interference generator.

Of course, it is unlikely that anyone on the other side can do the same. But Infinity also has plenty of toys. Hong Fu knew that Jozzor will be targeted, and that's why he asked Miss D to prevent to be him and vice versa. Her smaller stature made the entire process a lot easier, though the scaled up version of a rocky and a scaled down version of a human girl is still rather comical. Thankfully, Elmyra didn't exactly spend a lot of time looking at the minute details of the two of them beyond the appearances when dividing up the group into their individual fights.

Hong Fu foresaw the ideal grouping from the perspective of the bearers to be Jozzor, Miss D and Vindy and the rest. In response, all he had to do is to free up Jozzor somehow, slotting in Miss D as the powerhouse and the disruptor of the coalition's plans. The rest of the match ups are comfortable, and it appeared to all be fifty-fifty from what Probable told him, which is to be expected from fights between artifact users.

Probable and preparation can only do so much on a macro-scale, and it is up to each of the individuals to win their respective fights.

For Miss D, winning is a given. A clause in a contract, a task already completed before she even began.

It took a combination of Brakagi going all out and Hong Fu and Vindy's ambush to take her down for good, and she won't let it happen again.

Miss D makes plenty of mistakes, but she never repeats them. Out of all of the abilities granted by the amplifer, the amplified mind of hers are the most dangerous one.

She immediately noticed when Valerie suddenly disappeared from the center of the chunks of the moon, and it is evident that there are another artifact user nearby, possibly with spatial manipulation based abilities similar to that of Jozzor's. There is not a single chance that Valerie's behind her own disappearance, as it makes no sense for her to hide that part of her abilities.

Plus, she is supposed to be Jozzor, who will be impossible to lock down with the power of a single artifact user.

'Now.....where are you.....' Miss D hopped off into the air and spins slowly in the low gravity environment and scanned all around. She expects Valerie to come out attacking once again with her telekinetic abilities from her blind spot, so she made sure to keep moving all around while amplifying all of her senses.

Then, the space in the corner of her eye is twisted slightly with lights illuminating from Chang E, the sun, being bent and twisted. Then, a hand reached out towards Miss D.

Sensing danger, Miss D jabbed hard on the ground and flew off to the side. However, she felt a tug on her right hand, as if it was clamped underneath a massive rock at the bottom of a cliff. It was jammed in place, and Miss D's sideway momentum sent herself spinning around as the tension in her hand continued to increase. Then, she felt a sense of numbness before a sharp tearing pain emanated from her right hand.

Miss D looked down towards it, and saw the fabrics of her space suit being pulled thin, as her right hand is stubbornly held.

No, she can't even move it, not the hand, nor the individual fingers. There are no sensations coming from anywhere lower than her wrist, and now the connecting soft tissues are the only thing keeping the two of them together.

'What is this?!' Miss D pulled yet again, and the skins and muscles are ripped wide open due to her strength, with only the tendons remaining connecting her wrist to her hand. Knowing a follow attack is imminent with her pinned down here, Miss D bit down on her lips and raised her left hand. Amplifying the speed and strength, she cut her hand clean off. Then, she stomped down onto the ground and sends waves of materials flying forward, as the bubble of warped space disappeared with the hand returning back into it.

Ever since that moment the hand appeared, Miss D has lost sensation in her right hand. The severed right hand appeared to have been frozen in space and time before the warped bubble disappeared, and now it followed it's original horizontal momentum and grabs onto Miss D's breast. The sensation of getting groped by your own severed hand is not something that Miss D ever imagined she will feel, but life hasn't exactly been normal up to this point.

Thankfully, the physiological enhancements that Anozee performed to her meant she would not have lost her hand forever. The battle suits have been programmed to preserve the tissues to the best of its ability, and it is doing a fine job so far. Hiding behind the cloud of rocks surrounding her, Miss D roughly attached her right hand back, as the suit opened itself up and stitches itself back together. Then, the entire right arm is locked up to enable the immediate commencement of healing. The muscles and skin tissues are fine and all, but the tendon and pain rehab is going to be a bitch, even with the level of enhancements she has.

Thanks to the distraction of a ripped off hand, Miss D hasn't had much time to reflect upon what has just happened. Though just as she began to revise her battle strategies and plan her counter attack, Zel's pocket domain appeared yet again as the same hand reached out as before.

'Got you!' Miss D said, spinning around and throwing a projectile quickly into the opening. It was one of her exploding bubble gums, and a light flashes from within the warped space before two humans are popped out from it.

It was Valerie and another heavily augmented human male, that being Zel.

Valerie doesn't seem fazed by Miss D's counter attack, and she simply reached out a hand and started to form a prison around Miss D. She has seen this tactics before, artifacts that is able to attack from a distance often takes certain channeling time, and it is in these times that they are the most vulnerable.

The dusts that she stirred up in her movements are still moving around with her at the center, and she quickly spotted that certain clusters of dust particles are frozen in place while the others kept on going.

Thinking back to all that has happened, and it all became clear to her. With a cold chuckle, Miss D knew what she had to overcome, and subsequently what she had to do. In essence, Valerie's abilities are activated in similar ways to Brakagi, and the effects are just certain regions of space being locked down, where nothing can move. It's almost like those pieces of space are being isolated out and frozen in time and space.

It isn't really telekinesis per say, and this ability is obviously best used for defense, where Valerie would be able to select regions of space to lock down, and that was what she did when Miss D slammed the moon on top of her. However, when it comes to attacks with this power, it's fair to assume that the activation criteria are similar with her needing to take time to project while attacking from the distance, with possibilities of instant activation in close range.

That should be how her artifact works, but how can Miss D counter such an absolute defense?

You cannot overcome an artifact, but you can work around it. There is no chance for Miss D to force through the regions of space that has been locked down with brute force, and even if she can find an opening and land an attack on Valerie, that human male with the slippery portal ability is likely going to interrupt.

That means she will need to get rid of the safety first. Her first target would have to be Zel.

Putting some of her attention towards amplifying her foot steps, Miss D ensured that every step she has taken on the surface of the planet is enough to bring up dusts and rocks from the surface merely from how much force she is able to put into the ground. That should give her a simple visual on where about Valerie's regions of lock down are. Then, she need to get Zel out of the fight before attacking Valerie head on.

'Here she comes!' Valerie said, reaching her hands out and prepared to lock her down, but Zel shook his head.

'Don't worry about me.' He said, before charging forward towards Miss D at the same time, 'set up an ambush!'

Miss D certainly wasn't expecting this, and she charged forward even faster as her entire body glows of artifact energy. She threw a few projectiles forward at blinding speed, but all of them are swallowed right up upon contact with Zel's body by the pocket domain and disappeared. That's one of the many new abilities that Zel has gained from his extensive training.

'You have lost!' Miss D declared, as she stopped hard in her tracks and slammed the side of her foot into the ground as layers of rocks peeled off the surface and rolled towards Zel like a crushing wave. He immediately warped himself into the pocket domain and avoided the attack as he moved through the chunks of materials and circled to where Miss D was standing.

Valerie looked on at the crushing wave of rocks and Zel that disappeared as she prepared to lock down Miss D the moment she appeared.

Then, her eyes caught sight of a tiny projectile flying towards her, and she locked down everything in front with haste as that projectile blew up. A screen of smoke then formed in a cone in front of her, and because of the fact that all of the region is locked down, she has now blocked her vision out completely! Knowing the danger of not being able to see, Valerie quickly dissipates the region of lock down and stepped back, but a figure emerged from the unlocked smoke, and a boot crashed into Valerie's stomach!

Miss D emerged from the smoke and landed a critical hit on Valerie's torso! Then, a light flashes on the bottom of Miss D's foot before the impact between her torso and the boot is amplified. Valerie felt as if her stomach has been punctured as her body folded around. A loud crack was heard from around her ribs, and she felt a poking sensation into the corners of her lungs as the nanotechnology enhancements in her body immediately kicked into action!

How is she so strong...Valerie had wind knocked out of her as her vision began to blur. The pain killers have already kicked in, but the drones left out a portion of the sharp pain in her internals just to keep her conscious and fighting. Valerie screamed out in anger like a wounded beast and counterattacked.

With her fighting instincts barely keeping her conscious, she reached out and grabbed onto Miss D's ankle, locking it down with her body before pulling her along as the impact sent her body flying backwards.

This is an extension of the technique that Valerie used to lock herself down. However, in this iteration, she is able to lock things at distances relative to her, instead of to the planetary body that they are on, or to another reference frame.

'You are a stubborn one, aren't you?' Miss D said, as she initially planned to send Valerie flying away while Zel was stuck in the pocket domain. But the attack and the disengage right after isn't as clean as she would have wanted. The similar sensation of numbness came from her now locked down ankles.

'You will not get out of here!' Valerie declared as her entire right arm glowed with bright orange lights pulsing from the center of her palm, 'artifact avatar mode...'

'No you won't!' Miss D raised a fist overhead and knocked her out cleanly before Valerie was able to unleash her full power. The channeling of her artifact was cut off half way, and her motionless body finally started drifting away as the Lock down on Miss D's ankles have finally been released. Her jaw bone where Miss D landed the hit cracked in half cleanly, and the beautiful face is no more.

'Shit!' Zel spun himself around quickly and caught onto Valerie's body as he reached out a hand from inside the pocket domain and grabbing onto her body. Then, he warped Valerie in before a few projectiles from Miss D were launched to his location. Thankfully, the nearly instantaneous warping meant none of her follow attacks would have landed, and a few explosions went off in real space around him.

'Valerie! Valerie!' Zel said, grabbing tightly onto her shoulders and calling for her name. He then commanded the scanning from both his personal interface and his prosthetic eyes, 'vitals, search!'

There is heart beat and very faint breathing and the healing process have already begun. But from the shape of her ribs and her stomach as well as a cracked jaw...she is in no position to fight anymore.

Neither is Zel in any position to fight. Other than trapping her in the Pocket domain temporarily, there is nothing he can do feasibly. Plus if he did that, he will then not be able to return to his Pocket domain without being attacked by her. Right, he had to retreat with her and get her treated right away.

It is borderline impossible to physically damage the bodies of those that went through the double enhancement procedures, unless...those attacks are enhanced by artifacts. That explained the ribs and the jaw...Valerie isn't going to be happy after she woke up, but thankfully she will still wake up after all of this is done and dusted.

Looking back at Miss D who stood victoriously on the small moon, Zel bit down on his lips and headed back towards the ship. He needed to report the results of this battle, and the fact that Hong Fu has played all of them like a fiddle. This battle is far from over, and there are only so many tricks that Hong Fu can perform before he eventually have to face the enemies head on.

In the meanwhile, Miss D rests in place and waited patiently for Jozzor's pick up. The battles on the other two places was going on at the same time as her fight with Valerie, and she wondered if they would have similar results to here.

No, they must have, after all the work done by Brakagi and Hong Fu.

Reaching into her side pocket, Miss D helped herself with some lolipops.