Super Robot Quest G

1427, November A.D. 2072
Approach to the Yukimura Institute

"FINALLY!"

The pilot exhaled, letting go of the control interface to wipe some sweat off of her brow. The controls - and she was still grumbling at how Sheol tried to make the whole control scheme some freaky interface directly into the brain or something, ew! - were fairly cheap bioplastics, but she could put up with that. They were about as sturdy as a high quality arcade machine - at least she thought so - but they held up for now. They were probably gonna break at the end of the engagement, but, eh, it only had to last that long.

Then the Titanosaur could be put back to cruise control. The old man had some weirdass grand word for it, but as far as she was concerned, it was cruise control - she let the kaiju cruise, and she held control!

Her hand brushed past once pale skin that was now decidedly scaly in texture, and her eyes went back to viewing what was left of the final checkpoint leading up to the Yukimura Institute.

Not that there was much of it left.

The urban center behind the Titanosaur looked as if a kid had stomped through their building block set, with squat, blocky buildings tilting to their side and with a few on fire (she didn't remember setting anything flammable - must've been that tank she kicked like a rock for…one of them, she just didn't remember). A trail of wrecked military vehicles dotted her path like breadcrumbs on a trail.

Guntrucks torn in half, their guts belching fire and smoke to the open air in addition to ammunition cooking off randomly. Helicopters with their rotary wings bent at pathetic angles, guaranteed to never fly again as their windshields were cracked and caked with the blood of the pilots unable to get out. The tanks whose turrets were ripped apart from the hull entirely before being thrown as impromptu weapons.

All sights that warmed her shriveled little heart. Friggin' Union.

But one sight that made her frown…"Since when do the normies get to have giant robots that ain't Mercury?" she wondered out loud. One of the tanks wasn't a tank at all - it had turned into a giant robot with a big ol' gun on its arm and tried to take her head on. Still stupid, but it lasted a few more seconds than the rest of them did. She was sure its head was somewhere over the horizon - it might get to the Institute before she did.

Still a nasty surprise though. And as she let her consciousness slip into the kaiju's awareness - the one part of the interface Sheol didn't bother pretending to listen about - she could sense the other kaiju she had sent ahead. Not well, mind - she could only 'see' in terms of emotions and vague shapes this far away from them, but what she saw told her enough.

The sight of a flying dagger spewing fire all around, dragonflies circling around and preventing the swarm from devouring its prey-

-the great prowling beasts were clawing past exploding icebergs, chasing after the great beached whale-

-a man of metal, NOTMERCURY standing in their way as it reared its fist-

She winced as the connection severed, rubbing her forehead. "Ow," she complained. It always hurt when she did that - and she felt the impact of someone punching her in the face.

"Okay. That's it."

Both hands gripped the controls. The Titanosaur growled and huffed, as if trying to buck her control, but it yielded. As always. And its attention was turned forward.

Ozawa grit her teeth, multiple rows of fangs glinting in the natural biolight. "If you want anything done right…"

---

1436, November A.D. 2072
The Siege of the Yukimura Institute

Battle!

The impact of a charging kaiju slamming into the Perseus's raised guard sent bone-jarring impacts up Xiu Ying's arms. "Tch!" She bided her time until she could feel the momentum bleed away from the charge – and that took a frightening five seconds and deep furrows plowed into the earth courtesy of their legs. Oscar was already bracing their legs as she leaned forward, and Perseus's crossed arms swung forward, forcing the kaiju back.

Battle is joined!

Oscar was already unveiling the gunports in both forearms as Xiu Ying guided Perseus's right fist, already reared back for a punch. The kaiju was in the midst of trying to recover from the broken momentum of its charge as a concentrated mass of steel and kaiju mesh slammed into the creature's nose. Another impact shuddered up their arms, joined by another as the roar of the fore-mounted cannon echoed, granting an even bigger impact to the punch and providing enough recoil to bring back its fist.

The kaiju had just finally broken through the next to last layers of the ad hoc defensive weaponry, and had finally met the angry road block known as Perseus. That had been about five minutes ago. It was just a little bit ago. It was forever ago. Time began and then began again just as it was ending as Oscar's perspective overlapped with Xiu Ying's, one action bleeding into another as both consciousnesses fed into a single entity, a pulsing, shifting mass of metal and repurposed flesh.

The second sent a mental command through the mother vessel. Perseus felt a slight nod from elder sister, and the earth heeded their commands.

The second kaiju was mid charge when the massive infrastructure panel they were fighting besides raised forty-five degrees in a jittering rush of metal and hydraulics, emerging in a cloud of uplifted roots and dirt. Unable to stop its momentum, the kaiju was already sailing through the air, yet it was already attempting to brace itself to land.

"Gotcha!"/"Gotcha!" Two voices raised in unison and tempo as both arms lifted to the sky, and cannon fire flashed brightly as high explosive rounds impacted the softer belly of the kaiju. A shriek of pain echoed wildly across the battleground as chunks of flesh and acidic blood fell to the earth.

It was Perseus. And its desire to fight had been fulfilled-!

Oscar hissed as the Theater's feedback fed him pain shooting up his left arm, as the first kaiju's teeth snapped onto the Perseus in a vicious chomp. A muffled roar was shaking up his limbs as the creature made its displeasure known, heightened only by the fresh burn marks pockmarking its face from the Perseus's weapons. "God, this thing's ugly!" This close to the Perseus's face, the maw of the burnt kaiju looked like an oversized crocodile sized up to what he imagined as T-Rex proportions-his eyes widened as he felt rapidly rising heat building up where their arm was serving as a chewtoy. "Zhang-!"

"-shield!"/"Up!" Perseus responded to its wills, and clenched its fist as its right foot braced against the impact. Before the great beast's maw could spew out its wicked flame, it abruptly found its jaw widen as its shield unfolded. Perseus felt a strange sensation as it heard the beast's jaw crack from the shield's expansion, and the stream of fire was blunted, the metal already beginning to char and crack from bearing the brunt of the heat.

Disconnect! It hoped its wills could comprehend, especially as the other kaiju was already scrambling to its feet, and charging at speed-

"Disconnect!"/"Right!" Small charges detonated along Perseus's left forearm as the shield began to disintegrate from the heat, and they yanked their arm back just before the creature's distended jaws slammed down, crunching through the shield like a stubborn jawbreaker. Even as they turned, however, they were too late to do anything about the second kaiju's charge.

Xiu Ying felt the wind knocked out of her gut as tons of like-sized angry lizard crashed into them, knocking them onto their backs and creating an impromptu irrigation ditch as the kaiju began to slam its claws into its chest. She forced their arms into a guard position – and she felt Oscar sluggishly catch up to him, just in time to catch the next blow with their forearms. Both of them winced as the kaiju's claws dug deep into the barrels of the left forearm cannons, leaving a jagged edge behind.

"Pegasus! I need a fire support mission!" Oscar yelled as both he and Xiu Ying forced the Perseus's knee upwards, jamming straight into the kaiju's gut. It didn't seem to faze it much, as despite the numbness creeping up their left knees, it only slowed the kaiju down a little. "Yes, damnit, on top of us-!"

A wash of energy screeched directly over them, slamming directly into the kaiju and forcing it off of the Perseus. Streams of the concentrated energy blast seemingly refracted against the protective scales, the kaiju practically rolling away almost like an armadillo to favor presenting its tougher hide, and tiny miniature beams curved all around it, digging small, sharp lines into the earth around them.

"I can't give you many more of those!" Diana's avatar momentarily appeared in the corner of their eyes, and a smaller display of the Pterawings – and a shrinking cordon of Seekers stubbornly holding the flying monstrosities at bay – forcing the Pegasus further and further back from their air space. The dropship itself was now sporting a hundred little gashes along its prow, and the bridge's reinforced viewport had jagged cracks running down the center. "They almost have Mercury online, but they need more time!"

"How almost is almost!?" Xiu Ying snarled. Another signal later, and the next charge by the kaiju was blunted by the timely raise of another infrastructure panel. Perseus was already backpedaling as fast as its bulk would allow, its remaining forearm cannons raised as claws violently scraped their way through the panel. Clearly the creatures could learn, which was unfortunate.

"Depends-" Diana's avatar flickered, and for a moment another silhouette seemed to merge with her. Then she resolidified, "-depends on if I can keep the infiltrators out of the hangar bay."

Oscar mentally nudged Xiu Ying, and with a nod, both of them willed Perseus to thrust its arm upwards, palm extended – just as an extended claw swiped forward, knocking the blow aside and forcing the kaiju to overextend. Perseus, almost ahead of their input, was already grabbing onto the creature's head in time to forcefully bring its snout directly against the knee with a bone-jarring crunch.

"Grab the pilots-!" With a lurch, Perseus leapt backwards, getting some distance between themselves and the somewhat battered kaiju, the hull momentarily glowing blue on their left side as one of the last remaining prototype cannons fired a dissipating stream of Aeon particles. Their left forearm was starting to spark and smoke, the gunbarrels all but useless, and the timer in the corner of their eyes helpfully reminding them that yet more was coming. "Get the pilots to lend a hand-!"

"-they already are-!"

"-with Mercury!" Xiu Ying finished. Both pilots glanced at each other, and nodded in mutual thought.

"They need time?"

"We'll get it to them."

They spoke as one. "ARC BLADE!"

The scabbard loosened from its back, and with a flourish Perseus brought its bright blade to bear. If one could have seen its face, its lips almost looked as if they were curled upwards. The sword forged of impossibilities would aid them through this.

"Let's cut them up, Perseus!"

With a sudden lurch, Perseus surged forward.

Perseus would not bow down so easily.

---

"Tritonium plates set!"

The corridor light up with rapid bursts of flame, the crew served weapons now healthily augmented by the additional dull roars of autocannons. One of the strange new machine armors the new additions had come in with all had some weapons on them. More had already run out - but they were clearly more than happy to lug around the big guns Keiko had managed to scrounge up.

Even as the infiltrators continued to press forward - and seriously, how many were there!? - they were now finding it incredibly difficult to make any ground. And that gave Sendo time to actually focus on finishing the repairs to Mercury. The familiar and comforting form of the black, white and blue giant was hunched over, but it already looked considerably healthier than the nasty surprise it had run into before.

"Capacitors One through Five, inserting now!"

Keiko grudgingly admitted that though they probably could have held, the Steeds the pilots had ejected with were making it more and more of a sure thing. Some of them were even managing to help install the parts into Mercury at Sendo's direction - she hadn't known he was a former maintenance chief in the MEF until mutually shared profanity between pilot and wrench guru asserted a rough rapport. The corridor couldn't also take everyone, so they were the ones hooked to elevation wires and inserting by hand the capacitors into Mercury where they would have been massively slowed down due to some of the maintenance machinery having been wrecked in the fighting.

So…they were very helpful.

Even if they were Marines.

"Doc!" Sendo yelled out. "Everything's set!"

"Understood, Daichi." Dr. Yukimura's voice came in quietly. "Begin Aeon Particle charge."

At once, the room's color seemed to bleach away, replaced with an overwhelming white and blue that bled into all corners of the hangar. The tall, hulking form of Mercury V seemed to slowly stand straighter, the dull blue plates beginning to glow brighter and brighter-

The lights began to spark, then explode one by one, arcs of electricity surging through the ceiling and raining shards of glass down onto the people below. "Abort, abort!" Dr. Yukimura ordered.

"We can't!" Sendo was already trying to rip out wires from the console, but was abruptly sent flying back as a nasty surge nearly cut up his chest. "Mercury's takin' everything we've got!"

"Ms. Diana-!"

"Roger! Engaging emergency power-!"

Red lights further down the corridor began to flicker to life, yet the hangar itself remained bathed in shadows. The Steeds were already switching on the high beams from their alternate mode, the hallway further illuminated by additional gunfire as they fought off another wave.

"Check right, check right!"

"Box them in! Don't let 'em among us!"

"I'm out! I'm out!"

"Changing!" Keiko was already slamming in a fresh box of munitions into the Steed's smoking chamber, stepping back as the mechanoid racked the charging handle and was already stepping forward to add its fire to the orchestra. I have to get me one of those. Discarding that thought, Keiko tapped her communicator. "Diana, Doctor, please give me some good news."

"...I have bad news, and worse news," Diana told her bluntly.

"Bad first."

"The Pegasus has been pushed back to just the airspace over you. We're fighting the Pterawings as much as we can, but-" Diana paused as she seemed to look over something. "-I'm down more of the Seekers and there's rooftop fighting at this point. I think there's less, but this is not sustainable and I'm having problems getting firing solutions against the ground kaiju." Diana's voice sounded a little tinny, as if she were speaking through two radios. "Until main power's restored, I also can't get you any tactical info."

"And the worse news?"

Doctor Yukimura responded. "The third kaiju is on approach."

Keiko's blood ran cold, even as the light flowing into Mercury brightened. "Sendo! Hurry it up!"

"I'm tryin'! Just make sure the punk's ready to go!"

"I wil-" Keiko paused. "...Hiroki's still at the launch pad, right?"

The resulting silence was more deafening than the gunfire right next to her ears.

---

"Hoooo yeah!" The Falcon Mobile was already corkscrewing its way through the flying kaiju-lites, and Hiroki's hand on the stick was already twisting ahead to bank right before the next flying mob could get on him. The nimble fighter was mostly known as the cockpit for Mercury-

-but it was still a fighter jet!

The Falcon Mobile's nose brightened as a stream of Aeon particles speared its way through one of the flyers about to chomp down on one of the weird jets. Another simply disappeared as he slammed through it, his cupola momentarily darkened by the various guts he'd just smashed through. And-

"Hiroki." Diana's avatar appeared, her arms crossed and looking rather…cross. "Why are you out there?"

"Hangar went dark, doors went open, and I was a sitting duck," he replied glibly. Pushing the stick forward, he forced the Mobile into a dive - and blinked as he saw another giant robot ramming its sword straight through the arm of one of the kaiju. "You all have another one!?" he exclaimed, a gleeful grin crossing his face. "Awesome!"

"Hiroki-"

"One sec!" Rockets let fly from the wingtips as they scattered around the second kaiju, explosive wisps of super-charged frozen air momentarily freezing the ground solid and slowing the kaiju's motions. Just enough time for the giant robot to yank its sword away and pull back from over extending. "What is that?"

"The Perseus. Now, can you please not get shot down while another kaiju is approaching!?"

"You sound like Keiko, you know."

"She's also mad, by the way."

His face fell. "Aw, crap."

---

• [] Perseus
  • [] Focus on the two remaining kaiju. They have their number, though there's no telling what effect the third kaiju will have on them.
  • [] Break off, draw the third kaiju's attention. We need to slow it down as much as possible at this critical juncture.
  • [] Write-in
• [] Pegasus
  • [] Focus exclusively on the Pterawing swarm. This close to Mercury's activation, we cannot allow any interference.
  • [] Focus on fire support for the Perseus, even if there are risks involved with friendly fire.
  • [] Focus fire on the incoming kaiju, even if that may draw attention to the Pegasus.
  • [] Write-in
• [] 25th Air Wing
  • [] Focus exclusively on the Pterawing swarm. This close to Mercury's activation, we cannot allow any interference.
  • [] Form up around the Falcon Mobile and protect the Mercury's pilot. We do not need to stress how disastrous losing him would be despite his enthusiasm.
  • [] Write-in

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