Evading the Megamouth's Mandible

"Subject spotted!" A slate warrior shouted. "Subject must be captured alive! Attack!"

"What? Already?" Calice panicked.

The two slate warriors hid behind the two crusader droids. They blasted purple firebolts at her. She swung her hands in the air, firing turquoise lightning back at the projectiles in different directions. Calice flung her arms about so fast that she somehow created an electrifying shield.

Okay, Calice saw the turquoise barrier absorb the laser fire. So I can make shields too. That's helpful.

She fired a crackling thunderbolt at the squad. The crusaders jumped across the walls towards her. One of the slate warriors rolled out of the way while the other was killed off by the attack.

Whoa, what? Calice almost dropped Misuna.

She fired balls of lighting at the jumping robots, simultaneously struggling to block their oppressive fire. The remaining slate warrior took a voltaic baton off his belt, throwing it at Calice like a spear. The robots dodged it, letting the extending high-velocity weapon dart towards her. She jerked her body away from the baton's path. The baton slid past Calice's face by an inch. She could feel the sudden wind blow in her face as the weapon nearly hit her.

A droid somersaulted to the ceiling to unleash a powerful kick. Calice used her arm to block it with a turquoise shield. The shield electrified the droid, forcing the robot to slide across the hallway floor. The other droid pounced from the wall, bashing its head against hers. She fell, dropping Misuna. Calice rolled away, almost getting stomped on by the tall machine.

"Sorry, Misuna!" Calice took a glance at Misuna while blocking the droid's firebolts.

Calice jolted at the crusader droid, touching its chest to electrify it. When she moved the droid away, the remaining slate warrior surprised Calice, smacking the butt end of his white rifle at her face. She winced, falling on the floor again. The soldier fired at her. Calice quickly sped up to the slate warrior, killing him with a powerful surge of electricity.

"Okay, I think I am starting to get the hand of these powers," Calice took a breather, rubbing her face from the slate warrior's attack. "Ugh, tired. I wish I had a boba!"

"Damn it, Calice," A voice spoke. "Don't feebleminded kids like you know how hard it is to make those droids? "

Calice jolted back to Misuna. General Hernamidos walked towards them with a cigar in his mouth. Two White Death guards stood beside him.

"You," Calice growled, letting aggressive sparks of electricity jump about her. "You are the one who killed my parents."

"Ooo, now, I'm so sorry," Hernamidos chuckled, coughing on his cigar. "Heh, you see, I took your parents for being pieces of trash on a playground. So I just had to throw them out!"

Calice growled, jolting at the general with incredible speed. Hernamidos covered himself with his cape, making Calice abruptly bounce off.

"Ouch!" Calice fell.

Hernamidos flicked his ticking cigarette at her. Calice shielded herself from the explosion. Through the smoke, Hernamidos slammed the shield down with an aerial kick from his jet-powered shoes. She fell, rolling away from being stomped on by the metal shoes. Calice rushed at Hernamidos again with her electrifying speed, only to ricochet off the dark cape yet again. She bounced off the ceiling and finally onto the ground beside Misuna.

"Aiya, that hurt! I keep forgetting about the capes," Calice complained.

"You know," Hernamidos brushed off his shoulder. "You aren't the first person with powers I fought. Now, I am going to say this once. Surrender peacefully, and I will be taking my corporal back."

"She doesn't belong here," Calice carried her. "You can't have her."

"Corporal Jiyang belongs to me. She is property of the Global Federation of World Justice."

"No. She's not yours to keep. Misuna is a person who deserves to be loved and cared for. You and your Reaper Squad don't care about her at all."

"Oh, brother," Hernamidos groaned. "Blah, blah, blah. Sounds like democracy. Well, I gave you one chance. That's too bad. Guess I gotta topple the ferrous wheel."

He pressed a button on his wrist. Calice looked behind her to see three droids. One of them wasn't a regular Crusader robot. It had a muscular body made of large cube-shaped segments and it was taller than the normal droids. The strange robot stomped his way towards her, gazing at her with its big red eye. Like the crusaders, it had the rabbit ear antennas on its head. Its arms faced her with their quadruple blasters.

Okay, that thing's huge, Calice thought. But it's just a bigger version, right? I can still shock it!

She fired lightning from her left hand. The turquoise thunderbolts bounced all around the big robot. The droid stomped its way to Calice unaffected. The other two droids jumped behind it to protect themselves from the lightning. Calice focused all of her energy on the buff droid, groaning as she tightened her arm to its maximum. The droid still walked to her with ease.

Huh? Calice stopped in exhaustion. I wasted all my energy on it!

Hernamidos chuckled at Calice's fruitless efforts. The big robotic soldier fired its arm blasters at her. Calice created a shield, defending herself from the droid attack. Hernamidos drew his pistols, firing at her. Calice swiped her arm behind her to make another shield. The White Death guards spun their white staffs off their capes, blasting white lasers at the shield.

Great, I'm surrounded! Calice struggled to maintain the shield. How do I escape?

The shield began to crack with every laser impact. Calice frantically looked around the metallic hallway with her aching head for a way out. There were only two. One was occupied by the big droid and the crusaders and the other was occupied by Hernamidos and the White Death.

Aiya! There's no way out! Calice felt trapped. Wait a minute.

She looked at Misuna's belt. It contained many strange gadgets similar to the ones she saw from Kumiciel's belt. There were boxes of needles and shurikens along with holsters for pistols and red crystals. Her eyes gazed at a group of metal spheres beside her weapons. Calice took one. She pressed a button to hear the glowing ball tick.

Hmm, I can use her detonators and jolt away, Calice thought. Don't mind if I borrow these.

She threw the detonator at Hernamidos. The general and the White Death guards covered themselves from the smoky explosion. Calice then took another from Misuna's belt, rolling it at the big droid. The droids were covered in smoke. The smoke soon dispersed. Hernamidos and the other droids looked around to see Calice and Misuna nowhere to be found.

"What?" Hernamidos stammered. "Seriously? Did we just lose her? You idiots! Find her!"

***

"Gosh," Calice hid behind a large tank in the hangar. "I can finally rest a bit."

She leaned Misuna beside the enormous vehicle. Calice sat down, stretching her hurting limbs. Her hot head felt as if she used too much of her power.

Okay, now how do I get out? Calice forced her dizzy head to peep out from the big tank.

The large hangar doors were closed. She could see slate warriors marching around a group of black dropships. She saw the crusader droids being loaded onto the hammerhead gunships beside the strange robotic tanks.

I could steal a dropship, Calice scratched her sweaty head. But there are so many of those slate warriors, and the hangar is shut tight.

She then spotted Dacos with two crusader droids, walking to the slate warriors. Calice could tell that he was unhappy, shouting at the soldiers. Soon, she heard the hangar doors slowly slide up with mechanized grinding. Several hammerhead gunships flew in. Calice noticed that some of them carried armored cages full of crying Vulpi. As the droid aircraft landed, the slate warriors ran about the landing area. An armored door behind Calice made metallic noises. Calice quickly took Misuna behind the tank's posterior, looking to see the doors open. A few Reaper Squad commandos marched out with two of the new muscular droids.

There are more of those big droids? Calice then looked at the slate warriors dragging the handcuffed Vulpi out of the cages, lining them up. My parents tell me stories of how the Federation mistreats the Vulpi. Those poor foxes. Ugh, I wish I could help, but I don't have the power now, especially with those beefy bots. And I have Misuna on my-

She noticed a big shadow looming over her. Calice looked up to see another muscular droid looking at her. She sensed that it may have been the same one she first saw earlier. The massive robot fired its arm lasers at her. Calice grabbed Misuna and made a run for it, not wanting to exhaust her powers. She dashed for the nearest dropship. The slate warriors grumbled with the Reaper Squad, firing at her.

"Woah! Pay attention to the fox freaks! That's our priority. Load them into room GI325," Dacos exclaimed. "Leave her to me. I will handle this. I'm not gonna mess up. Megachasmoid X2 with me."

One of the big droids with the Reaper Squad nodded, stomping his way towards Calice. The slate warriors forced the weeping Vulpi to walk into the large hallway. Calice jumped about, trying to use tiny portions of her power to escape the other Megachasmoid.

Almost there! Calice felt relieved to see the dropship with an open ramp a few feet away. I can just-

"Jump it!" Dacos yelled as he ran towards Calice.

The Megachasmoid beside him compressed the springs on its large metal feet, releasing the tension to propel himself into the air. The droid landed right between Calice and the dropship ramp, making the ground shake.

Almost dropping Misuna, she trembled before the enormous robot. Calice ran away from the dropship, heading for the next nearest one with an open ramp. A slater warrior emerged from the platform with a glowing shotgun. Again, Calice tried to conserve her power, speed jumping bit by bit. When she was close enough, she used all her strength to jump away from the Megachasmoids, tackling the slate warrior into the dropship.

The slate warrior was electrified. Calice felt her entire body sweating. She felt her muscles hurting with intense tensions.

"Aiya! I am so sorry, Misuna!" Calice picked her up. "I forgot. You okay?"

Misuna still didn't reply as Calice placed her in a chair behind the cockpit.

"We will be out of here soon, finally," She sat at the controls. "Only if I can-"

"Going somewhere?" She heard someone say.

She looked back to see Agent Dacos face his hand at her. Calice felt a gust of wind slamming her head into the controls.

"Preparing liftoff," The dropship's voice control said.

The dropship opened its four wing thrusters, releasing booming turbine power that lifted the warcraft up. The Megachasmoids fired at the dropship as it flew higher and higher.

"Shields at 60%," The voice control continued.

"Close the hangar doors!" Dacos yelled at his wrist gear.

He turned to the cockpit to see Calice punch him in the face. Remembering Shien's moves, she cornered him near the open ramp with a volley of punches. Dacos quickly swiped his leg to make Calice topple onto the ground. The agent powered his fist with whirling air. Calice rolled away, almost getting smashed by the aerial punch. She could feel a surge of air erupting from the cracking impact that made the entire dropship shake.

"Ugh, another Kung Fu person," Dacos faced his hand at a group of pipes, summoning one to be a staff. "Seriously, how many people I fight have Kung-"

Never give your opponent time to react, Calice recalled one of Shien's martial arts lessons, surprising Dacos with an uppercut. Never thought I had to use them. Thanks, Shien.

Dacos spun his staff, doing his best to fend off Calice's Kung Fu.

"Warning. Shields below 50%. Shields at 34%," The two heard the voice controls speak.

As the two continued to brawl, Calice glanced at Daco's bent knee, taking the opportunity to crack his knee with her foot. Dacos winced, dropping his staff. With the last bit of her strength, Calice gave Dacos one final kick at his chest, sending him out of the ramp to fall back into the hangar on top of a Megachasmoid.

"Shield status critical," The voice control said. "Shields at 13%."

Calice rushed back to the cockpit, seeing the hangar doors slowly close more than halfway. She quickly took the joysticks, pressing on pedals and doing her best to make the aircraft speed forward. The dropship dashed for the shrinking daylight.

"Come on! Come on!" Calice clenched her teeth, forcing the joystick forward and stomping her feet at the pedals.

Less than a quarter of open daylight remained. Calice held her breath as she forced the dropship forward with maximum speed. A Megachasmoid blasted a right thruster off the dropship. Calice felt the aircraft wobble clumsily through the tiny opening. The dropship zoomed through the tiny opening. The metallic door scraped the top of the warcraft, emitting an irritating screech.

"Shields at 2.7%," Calice heard the voice say. "Please refrain from utilizing dropship for battle until shields are fully regenerated."

"Yes! Oh… oh my god!" Calice cheered in Mandarin, wiping off her sweaty face. "We made… it, Misuna."

Misuna still didn't reply.

"Okay, so," Calice breathed hard in rhythm to her pounding heart from all the jolting around. "Let's find… find a way to reach my goons. I hope… I hope you all are okay."

***

"Um, what happened?" Dacos rolled off the Megachasmoid, watching the hangar doors shut tightly.

"You tell me, agent," General Hernamidos looked down at him with a cigar in his mouth.

He stood with his White Death guards.

"Oh, eh, you see, I uh," Dacos scratched his head, unable to explain what happened.

"You lost them, didn't you?" Hernamidos growled.

"Well, I mean, kinda?"

"Damn it!" Hernamidos punched his agent in the stomach.

"Ow!" Dacos fell on the cold floor. "That's the seventh time you did that!"

"Heh, hard to believe you can do the math! Tell me! How could you have freakin lost them? You had the Megachasmoids at your side!"

"But you see, eh, I meant for her to… to get away!" Dacos nervously chuckled. "I did that on… on purpose! You know, I wanted to figure out the rest of… her plan."

"You idiot!" Hernamidos hit Dacos on the forehead.

"Ugh!" Dacos felt his head spin on the ground. "Eight times! I… I wish you would… stop doing that…"

"I wish you could do your job!"

"But hey!" Dacos jumped up to point at the general. "Where were you? Huh? How come you didn't come to help?"

"I had to inspect the new delivery of fox devils! And where would your goddamn brain be?"

Hernamidos heard beeping within his cape.

"What now?" The general took out a small blue circle from his holster.

He activated it, throwing it on the floor to reveal a life-size hologram of Supreme Herald Fanghui dressed in his red, elegant robes.

"General Hernamidos," Fanghui crossed his arms. "It was about time you picked up. I was getting quite worried. Perhaps you had a reason for your splendid tardiness in giving me the status report of the Ironclad Eagle."

"Hail, Fanghui!" The general saluted with the others. "My deepest apologies for the delay. We seemed to encounter some… minor setbacks…"

"Oh really?" Fanghui raised an eyebrow. "Please! Please! I would love to hear all about it."

Hernamidos coughed on his cigar. He took off his cigarette, looking at Fanghui's different colored eyes. Fanghui's eyes seemed to examine him very closely. The general didn't know what to tell the Supreme Herald.

"I mean, um," Hernamidos scratched his head. "Everything, everything is under control, Supreme Herald."

"Your hesitation and physical gestures suggest otherwise," Fanghui frowned. "Even with your mask, I can still see sweat drops leaking from underneath. Let me make an educated guess. The experiments with Calice have been compromised, and perhaps your Corporal Jiyang has failed you yet again, as I always knew!"

Hernamidos coughed on the nicotine again, startled that Fanghui nearly read his mind. He was silent.

"Your silence indicates the truth within my guess. I do find that most disappointing," Fanghui glared. "Would you be so kind to share the details?"

"Okay, then," Hernamidos felt embarrassed, wiping off the sweat under his mask. "Calice took Corporal Jiyang and escaped. But I will get them back! I promise. I will hunt them down myself!"

"Slow down, General," Fanghui replied. "Don't always think everything will go the way you want. Your faith in Corporal Jiyang has clouded your mind. You have given her multiple chances, but she continues to deviate from the Kneapexist vision. There's a time to hold onto something useful and a time we must let them go. She has gone too far down the rabbit hole to be of any use. You will need to eliminate her before our enemies use her."

"But, she's one of my most talented-"

"We have discussed this before. Indeed, she is very skilled in the Reaper Squad arts. However, her trend in sparing civilians has increased over the years, towards a point she wouldn't fight anymore. Trying to fix her will no longer do any good. Like I said, you have tried and failed too many times. There's no worth in trying to change her. Let it go, general."

"F… fine…" Hernamidos grumbled unhappily.

"And of Calice," Fanghui scratched his chin. "She has powers now?"

"Yes, the experiment was a success."

"Good, at least High Envoy Cirvez would be pleased to hear that. Now we can use ZNA transfusion safely to make empowered allies."

"I can still search for Calice though! You have my word! I will find her! She has exceptional voltaikinetic powers that could help us."

"But you haven't even killed Dr. Isrina Niang yet. We still must deal with our remaining adversaries as soon as possible. And please, may I remind you? You must focus on making sure the Ironclad Eagle runs properly, as well as the production of the new Megachasmoids. Don't forget your duties as the head of the Ironclad Eagle."

Hernamidos groaned.

"Because I see your struggle to eliminate our old rivals and run the facility simultaneously, I will send you more reinforcements with good commanders to assist you-"

"No!" Hernamidos yelled. "Don't trouble yourself, Supreme Herald! This is my responsibility. Look, I have this playground under control! I will find Calice and our rivals!"

Fanghui scowled at the general.

"Don't get cocky," Fanghui warned. "I have known you for a long time. You always think you're invincible, and can control everything. One's hubris often leads to one's demise. Focus on the Ironclad Eagle's operations for now. You must not leave it unguarded. And I think you should take a rest from finding our enemies for now. I will send-"

"Dammit, Supreme Herald! I will find them myself!" Hernamidos stomped on the device. "Dacos! Mobilize the Megachasmoids! Tell the Reaper Squad to move their asses!"

***

"I sensed he would do that," Fanghui looked up to see the large room lighten from the blackness. "Hernamidos was always a stubborn one. Always think he has everything within his grasp even when he doesn't."

"Supreme Herald. High Envoy Hoon-Jing and Thalamoid have requested reinforcements against the Vultau masters in Hualien," Jin Feilong spoke in her cybernetic Mandarin. "They say the masters have trained the Taiwanese pigs surprisingly well in their Vultau arts."

"Interesting. Then you and I will take the honor in surprising them."

"It would be my pleasure, Supreme Herald. But what should we do about General Hernamidos?"

Fanghui turned away from the conference table. He stood in front of a young lady wearing a green shirt and a gray skirt, covered with a dark blue overcoat. She had dark blue hair and eyes. Next to her was a buff gray robot. Standing eight feet tall, the four-eyed cyborg held a strange rifle with pincers at its end.

"Captain Kyrinna Takoizu," Fanghui spoke to the girl in Japanese. "Overseer Amitonyx and I have done our best to train you in the most advanced swordsmanship of the Shin-Kaminari and martial arts against the Niangs and the best of the Vultau. You and Azuroid must assist Hernamidos in stopping our dangerous enemies. Do not forget the secret task High Visionary Joltiarre has given you as well. I know you have been entrusted deeply with many vital tasks, but it will bring your father great honor, and you shall have the vengeance you seek. I truly look forward to seeing you in action."

"Wakarimasu," Kyrinna replied in the same language, bowing her head before Fanghui.