Battle

Austin/Vector's P.O.V.

We all went over to the central pillar of light in which V.E.R.A. was in, thinking of a way to have the Bionic Blade to roam the castle looking like Enigma without her code getting corrupted. We knew that we couldn't use any more of Parker's shielding code or else his battery will be drained (or something like that).

"What about - nope," Parker stopped himself, looking down at the floor.

Giga turned her head towards him. "What was your idea?" She asked monotonously. "At this point, any idea can lead to anything, even the bad ones."

"Well, what if I help you with this?" She raised an eyebrow and nodded for him to continue. "My vehicle is a Quadra-disc, which carried all four of us one time with little to no extra energy used for compared to when I ride solo. I wouldn't mind if you needed a sort-of usher throughout the palace."

That might not be such a bad idea, I thought to myself. It might work.

"I couldn't ask of you to do that," she commented quickly after. "Your team needs you for the first distraction. Besides, there's a possibility that we may have to put the second distraction into action sooner, so it might require more battery/energy usage. And the Sourcerer might become suspicious and inform Megabyte about it."

"But we've had missions done with only two of us before," he assured, "so there's a greater chance that Megabyte won't even notice us not at the fight."

"Did you at least crunch the numbers?"

"Ehhh, 50.1% versus 49.9%..."

"Rounded, that's practically polar opposite outcomes with the same odds. Do you really think now is the time to mess around with such chances?"

"But that's the calculation done without hope. With hope, morality and the chance of us succeeding is much greater."

"Do you wish to be hopeful or realistic? We all have secrets and possibly our lives on the line."

"You're a bionic super hero on roller blades that fights baddies that have weapons when you don't have any physical ones of your own a majority of the time, and practically every other day, us Guardians go on some sort of secret-and-life-risking mission," I butt in. I look at the two nerds and smiled, despite the fact they can't actually see it. "Hope is our greatest weapon sometimes," I jokingly deadpanned while shrugging.

Parker let out a snort while I could just sense Trey's eyes rolling. "Blunt, but correct," Giga commented. She sighed and turned back to Parker. "Since I don't wish to argue, I'll agree to this. But you better know what you're getting into, Googz, 'cause I, for one, don't want to see anyone else in anymore danger, especially with your identities at risk."

"And yours too," he added, tilting his hand towards her.

"Right... mine too." She trailed off and looked at the holo-hanger. "If we wish to initiate the plan, then we must act now." Without turning to him, she asked Parker, "Are you sure you wish to do this?"

He looked at the holo-hanger as well. "100% positive."

I watched the two jog over to the hanger and get lowered down into the "battle air-grounds". My eyes followed Parker's Quadra-disc carry him and the Bionic Blade beneath the castle, opposite of the area Tamra's waiting behind the stalagmite-looking things - or is it stalactites? Well, I was never really good with science.

"Well," Trey overcame the humming noises from the ship, "that just leaves us. But..." He looks over at the two Matrix kids, who were getting told by the automated V.E.R.A. voice on what not to press (so basically everything). "... what do we do about them? It's bad enough that they're on this ship, but we're going to end up leaving them behind as well."

I thought for a moment. "V.E.R.A. can probably look after them," I suggested. "She can protect the ship with them inside of it, but that only means we have to work faster just in case something does go wrong with our decoy for the decoy."

"We should act as soon as possible," V.E.R.A. stated, "for the longer we allow Megabyte to contemplate and prepare for our arrival, the stronger the defense systems could become during their upgrades. As well as risking exposing our plans and the safety of the Matrix family, both captured and carry-alongs."

The oldest Matrix kid jumped out of his seat and ran up to Trey, pulling on his arm-gear. "Is there anything we can do to help? Please, please?" He begged.

I felt someone else's little hands pull on mine. I looked down to find a doe-eyed DJ. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" She stretched the 'e' over-exaggeratedly. "We want to help save Mommy and Daddy!"

I sighed and crouched down to meet their height - well, more specifically, DJ's. "You guys will be able to go on your own adventures when you are older and more experienced like your dad," I said, being met be sad pouts from both of the siblings.

"You'll be able to see first hand at how the weapons work and the ship's maneuvers, since V.E.R.A. will controlling the Codec," Trey added, cheering up the Matrix kids. "So, the sooner you strap into your seats, the sooner the action will begin, with you two in the pilot seats."

The two kids blinked once and then grinned like it was Christmas Day. They then immediately went over to the control station and practically launched themselves into the seats. I smiled to myself and turned back to Trey as V.E.R.A. strapped them in. "You're pretty good with kids, D-Frag," I complimented, leading the both of us to the hanger.

He shrugged. "What can I say? All that time teaching elementary school kids basketball for college credit every weekend teaches you a few things on motivating children. It reminds me of my little brother, too."

"What happened to him?" I accidentally asked.

His tone of voice shrunk slightly but noticeably. "Leukemia. But he's in a better place now."

I cringed and mentally slapped myself. Of all people, I knew what it was like to be asked personal family questions, so I tried not to pry. And it was kinda obvious that I hit a sensitive spot on Trey.

I changed the subject. "Well, since it's just you and me against an entire army of sentinels, I definitely know I'm going to be better at fragging them," I joked, smirking a bit. "You are a little rusty from missing our first mission with that Hexadecimal."

He scoffed as we were lowered down in the hanger. "As if," he retorted. "I may be rusty, but that doesn't make me incapable of showing you how to frag."

"How 'bout we make things interesting?" I offered. He turned towards me to show his full attention. "If I win, you're driving me to the skatepark anytime after school, for the next month."

He nodded slowly. "Okay," he agreed, "but if I win... you'll let me set you up on a blind date."

Where did that come from? I thought to myself. But I shook his hand in agreement anyways. "Deal!" I let go of his hand and immediately ran off the hanger, diving downwards onto the sky-field. "Eat my holo-codes, Basketball-Boy!"

"Not until you eat mine, Skater!" I heard him playfully yell at me from a distance.

I laughed as I called out my hover board and Trey called his turbo jets. "Hey V.E.R.A.! How's the distraction-explosion going?"

"T-minus twenty seconds til I 'drop it like it's hot'," she said monotonously. "Nineteen..."

I heard Trey's faint chuckle from the built-in communication system in my helmet as I dropped down to the front of the castle.

"... eighteen..."

"Code disruptor at the ready!" I called out. Translucent red code formed quickly at my words around my right wrist to create my weapon.

"... sixteen..."

"Frag fists at the ready!" My teammate called out, punching his fists together to form his weapons.

"... fourteen..."

"I'm in position," Tamra whispered. "Going off-grid now." 

"... eleven..." 

A pit grew in my stomach after I heard the beep noise that signaled Tamra's disconnection. But I knew that was for the better in case that Sourcerer or Mega-butt tries to find her so I just focused on what I had to do.

"... nine..."

"We're ready as well," my little buddy hastily announced. "We'll stay on just in case."

"... six..."

"Good luck everyone," I whispered to both myself and everyone else, despite no one being on the line. It was more of a reassuring action towards myself.

"... three..."

"You too, Austin," I heard Trey reply, hearing him smile before returning to his original serious state.

"... two..."

My cheeks flushed pink in slight embarrassment that someone actually heard but I shook it off and stared at the floating pitch-black-and-dark-purple structure in front of us.

"... one..." 

From the Codec, a little sky-blue ball of code no bigger than a baseball was spat out, falling in the inside territory of the fortress where all the ships were. My heart skipped a beat as I held my breath, anxiously awaiting for the bomb to activate and initiate our not-so thought out plan. Then...

Pch-oom!

A bright, electric blue explosion set off inside the virus's base. A gigantic hole bore right in the middle of the wall, as well as the doors of the castle. Sentinels swarmed out of the palace and all around me and Trey. Within seconds, our "backs" were pressed against each others' as the sentinels formed a tornado-like shape, blocking any possible exits. 

I held my armed- er, arm, and pointed it directly in front of me. "Code disruptor, rapid fire lock!" I called out. At my command, my wrist-blaster fired multiple white-tinted-red balls of energy in a line so fast, it looked more like a beam that just thousands of spheres firing one after another. 

"Trey, down down!" I yelled quickly as I carefully moved my arm into position. I saw him fly downwards below me. "Hoverboard, activate 360-spin!"

Using my other arm, I positioned and held my blaster arm steady as I spun around in my spot in the air. My eyes caught blurred "stills" of sentinels getting fragged after my third spin - or was it my seventh? - and lifted my arm slowly after each row would disappear, eliminating my top half of the swarm.

"Turbo jets, extra blast pulse!" I heard Trey call out, eager to test his new jets.

From below me, I caught a blue streak of energy circling around the bottom half of the tornado, eliminating every sentinel it passed. 

"This is awesome!" I exclaimed in sync with my teammate. 

"It appears to be that your newly given upgrades have increased your ability to frag a humongous quantity of sentinels in such a short timespan significantly," V.E.R.A. complimented as I got closer tho the final spiral. Thank gods, I thought to myself, I'm getting a little dizzy. "Especially you, Trey. I am proud to say that your frag-bot count has changed greatly; you are beginning to catch up with the others, according to this counter I installed in Room 0."

Trey chuckled. "Along with the sound of fragging these heaps of nega-code, it's music to my ears."

I scoffed. "You may be catching up, but you're still not gonna beat me, D."

"Oh we'll see 'bout that, V!" He retorted as he punched the last sentinel. 

I rolled my eyes jokingly. Despite Trey not being able to see me, I felt like he knew I did since I heard him scoff back. "Code disruptor, away! Hoverboard, deactivate 360-spin!"

I dropped my arms limply to my sides and my hoverboard pulled to a rough stop, causing me to get propelled off the board. "ScHiSt!" I yelped out, my voice cracking in the end. My hands flew upwards as I helplessly reached out for something to keep me from falling.

But instead of falling and falling and falling until I end up fragging in the end, I fell into a pair of strong arms. I looked up to see Trey's helmet and bulky chest plate in front of my vision, the light from the Codec blinding me a bit. My face burned out of embarrassment and I muttered a call for my hoverboard. Carefully, I slipped out of his arms and onto the board.

He cleared his throat and distanced himself from me. "I hope that we gave Enigma enough time," Trey thought aloud before flying upwards to the ship.

I sighed as I watched him board the platform, waiting for me to get on as well. My eyes wandered back to the castle. The castle that kept a real-world and online-world heroine, my best friend who was practically my little brother, and the girl of my dreams as they risked their lives and put themselves in more danger than I ever did.

"Me too," I whispered to myself before following Trey into the light.