Episode 46: Unite or Die

[Andrew Bullock]

A loud whistle was heard coming from the conference room entrance as Vince was about to disclose his identity. While he didn't hear what Vince was saying, he had an idea of what he was about to tell the Admiral, because the one who told Lars Lion about what was going on was Apollonir himself.

Speaking of which, him and the other Soldiers were walking around him for the sole purpose of making sure he was not attacked while he was inside of this facility. Considering he is responsibilities for massacres on Vestal and Earth, it would be a crazy wonder if someone in the room wasn't thinking of getting out of their seat and shooting at him on the spot.

"Good evening," Andrew prefaced. "Before you all get upset, let's get some things out of the way. Yes, I was responsible for the Pack situation. Yes, I killed a lot of people on Vestal. I regret the actions on Earth only. With all of that being said, I'm here to help you. That's all."

[Maria Zenovia]

"Hmph..." Maria sighed once again. 

Nero was an annoying individual; regardless of playing a role on a good or bad side. He is not to be trusted no matter what role he plays; knowing him he will gain another 'genius idea' once missions already begin and that idea will include doing something that will bring everyone's lives to a risk in some way whether it is the ridiculous planning with BT System or attacking the temporary allies to gain something out of it. Possibilities are endless. However, if he does not cooperate he will be taken out by Hurranians very quickly or will be sniped 'by accident'. By that logic Maria could easily order someone to burrow his thick skull with an armor-piercing round, but everyone here needs all power they can get. Still, he does not have a shard of power necessary to take out Legendary Soldiers who would turn him into dust seconds after he would try to pull something, so Maria knows they are more-or-less safe... at least until Hurranians are gone. Then that lunatic might attempt escape and do more crime. As if death was not already overwhelmingly present these days. Arguing with him would be a fool's job and Maria was not going for that one.

"Is anyone else arriving?" Maria asked out loud.

[Andrew Bullock]

Apollonir turned his head towards Andrew. He caught him smirking, thinking that what was going on was funny. Frosch decided to chime in before Apollonir had to say something.

"Don't antagonize anyone here, pal," Frosch warned him. Of course, the warning fell on deaf ears, because what he was doing was inherently antagonizing.

"Spit them out," Oberus called for.

Andrew had to work hard to keep his laughter in. He settled for a hint of chuckling, because this was sure to piss someone off.

"Good question," Andrew excitedly commended. He tossed Hades out in front of him to summon him. Since this would obviously get some people riled up, the Legendary Soldiers put their hands out towards everyone else to signal them not to attack.

"I heard there were a lot of monsters within the Silver Knights, so these two shouldn't be too bad, should they?" Hades used all three heads to create a big dimensional gate. Akane and Torahu came out of it first with Clayf following behind them. He had an unconscious Makoto in his right hand and a beaten Ahrangi in his left.

"Lars Lion, he's all yours. He ain't listening," Clayf signaled. He threw both of them on the floor. Ahrangi returned to ball form and turned gray.

[Alana Cortese]

Nero's appearance there was not going to go ignored by Hydranoid. After everything that has been done to him, he absolutely refused to sit there and be subjected to this. He appeared in monster form in that room all on his own.

"Stand down, Hydranoid," Excedra ordered him.

"Shut up! You have no idea what I've been through because of this bastard!" Hydranoid shouted. He menacingly pointed towards Nero. The Soldiers stood there to see what he was about to do. As soon as Hydranoid showed any more aggression, they were going to take him out.

"Do as he says, or face our wrath," Apollonir angrily commanded.

"To hell with that. I don't give a fuck. I'd rather die right here than to team up with him!" Hydranoid solely focused on Nero now. The Legendary Soldiers didn't bother him in the slightest. "You think you're just responsible for the Pack situation? You disgusting little fucker! Do you have any idea about what you made me do!? I pledged my loyalty to you, and what did you do!? You robbed me of my soul, treated me like shit, forced me to kill thousands, AND you're running around here with that knockoff of me to shit on my name even more!"

"Excedra," Apollonir called him. He nodded to him to give him the order. Excedra appeared in monster form immediately.

"Elico used to be my friend, and you took him away from me. I had to look at him today when the Hurranians revived him. I was beyond embarrassed. You're about to answer for that RIGHT NOW."

As Hydranoid was about to move to attack him and Hades, Excedra's eyes lit up and stared into Hydranoid's soul. Hydranoid's own eyes lit up in this same color. What he was doing was using an ability only actual Excedra's can utilize, meaning a user of Misfortune 13 cannot replicate this ability due to not being an Excedra at the base level. If a lower level Hydranoid is being rebellious, an Excedra can evoke the Hydranoid's fear of the upper echelon of their race and throttle it to unbearable levels. Because of this, Hydranoid's body was involuntarily shaking, and he found himself kneeling without having any control of his movements.

"Impossible...You...you can't..." Hydranoid grunted.

"I just did." Excedra had all of his heads move towards Hydranoid to bite him in unison, immediately sending him back into ball form.

Alana was speechless at the whole display. She was beyond angry, because she felt the same way as Hydranoid, but she couldn't quite form the words to express it. It was so sudden. The outburst would be astronomical, and would probably get her in harm's way like it did for Hydranoid just now. Why were the Legendary Soldiers defending this man?

"It was you..." Alana realized. She finally lays eyes on the one who did this to her. He made her do all of the actions that would later culminate into her depression. He was the reason why it was so difficult for her to be accepted by society again. He was the reason why she couldn't see Noland and Allen for a few years, all because this lunatic wanted to play scientist and experiment on people. "You...stay away from me..."

Her mental issues from before started to take hold on her. She was getting ready to get out of her seat and get the hell of there. She genuinely feared that something else was going to happen. She didn't want that pain again.

[Allen Silva]

Allen could clearly see where this whole debauckle was about to go, and it wasnt good. The legendary soldiers had Nero's back, and Hydranoid had already been taken out of commision by Excedra's ability. Now to make it worse, Alana was mere moments from going absolutely postal and ruining this whole thing. And with the world, if not the universe, at stake, Allen had to take action before things got out of hand.

Allen stepped in front of Alana, blocking her path to the one who caused her pain." Look, i understand that your mad at him. You have every reason to hate him for all of existance. But for now we need to let clearer minds prevail. If i let you try to beat him senseless now, earth could be doomed to absolute anihilation. Trust me, i want to beat that dumb face of his for everything he put all of us through, but we cant right now." Allen was basically pleading with Alana to put her feelings aside for the mission. He only hoped that she would respond and calm down." After we take Noland back, and knock that Vestal freak down a peg, you can do what you want regarding Nero. Short of killing of course."

[Damian Knight]

All of this commotion was music to Damian's ears. He could listen to this happen all day. He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table as he waited for them to continue with their bullshit.

"And you all were thinking that I was the biggest piece of shit in the room," Damian analyzed. "I might be the biggest asshole you've ever met, but let's take a moment to go over what you're about to do here. It's bad enough that I have to team up with all of you goons, but now here comes mister badass over here with two of the worst enemies you Resistors have ever faced and just drops them right in front of you with a smirk on his face."

Helios popped up on the desk to add in his own opinion of the argument. He wasn't about to stand, considering the Legendary Soldiers were primed to start beating people in here.

"You all make me sick, every last one of you," Helios spat. Apparently, he wasn't beneath talking shit to them. "You think arguing with this one is going to get us anywhere? Nah...you're just wasting your time. That's what he wants us to do. Just think of the plans we could be coming up with while we're over here being children. See, what you need to do is..."

Despite what was said before, Helios launched himself in Andrew's direction and stood in monster form, giving no fucks about the consequences. "KILL HIM!"

[Jamal Armstrong]

Tec immediately stood in the path of Helios before the Legendary Soldiers could have a crack at him. He let Helios run into his back so he could halt his advance.

"Very mature, Helios," Tec sighed. He then looked directly at the Legendary Soldiers. While his actual face couldn't be seen, he was very disappointed with what they've done. "Legendary Soldiers, I'm going to say this in the most respectful way possible. This is some bullshit. I get that we're dug in right now, but this is ridiculous. Look at everyone in here. You will not find one person who's glad to see this man right now. You heard what he just said. He's responsible for countless lives on both Earth and Vestal, and that's excluding the ones he messed up because of what he's done. Do you honestly expect for us to just forget about that and fight alongside him not knowing what kind of villainy he's planning next?"

Jamal cut his eyes to Damian while Tec was giving the Soldiers a piece of his mind. He reached over to Damain's feet and forced them back down to the floor where they belonged.

"Come on, man. We're not at home. You can't just do that," Jamal reprimanded.

[Vince Hardy]

"There are plenty of people in this room that aren't all smiles about seeing any of you Spartans either," Vince interjected, countering Tec's point. "And before you bring up Andrew's past transgressions, yes, they are heinous crimes. There's no getting around that, but him and the two kids with him wouldn't be in here if they didn't have a role to play."

Vince sighed that this brigade was what they could manage, but it couldn't be helped. If it were up to him, he'd have a magic button at the desk that would make everyone who isn't an adult grow up to become one, because expecting a bunch of children to get this done was asking too much.

"Now, I understand that some of you do not agree with what just happened here, but it's in your best interest if you stay in your seats and cut the commotion. As I recall correctly, every single one of you were taken out of the fight very easily, leaving Noland and I to fight Dasia ourselves. Speaking of which, I might as well let you know that he's now dead, so I would think that having those three in here would be the least of your worries since you're fortunate enough to still draw breath thanks to his sacrifice."

[Xavier Turano]

"Oh no..." Hearing that come out of Vince's mouth was devastating to Xavier. The countless failures of his to stop Dasia were stacking up against him. He could hear the anger and devastation in Vince's voice when he broke the news. The sound of a grieving father was all too apparent and sad for anyone else in this room to continue with their outbursts.

"No...I...I'm so sorry. This is all my fault..." Xavier lamented. Blaming himself was understandable since he made almost every creation that caused the events leading up to this point. He found it fitting to hang his head down in shame, because there was nothing better he should be feeling right now for having his creations - which were designed to improve lives - take lives away instead.

"Trust me. We know," Clayf shamelessly added.

"Clayf!" Oberus gasped.

"That's why you lot need to shut the fuck up and listen before we end up the same way. That lady has to be stopped before someone else gets killed, so if you want to act all tough and try to stop us from doing that, then go outside and offer yourself up; otherwise, let's make something we can all understand: peace, not war."

[Markus Hederick]

Maria was very quiet as all of this went down. This was odd, as she most likely would've thrown someone out already, especially at a time like this. Something was clearly wrong with her.

Hydra was also still this entire time. She would've disciplined Hydranoid for getting rowdy, but she chose not to.

Then, their bodies started vibrating. This was done to possibly let whoever was around her know that something was taking place in their bodies. These weren't Hurranians this time. The culprits were the last ones to share their power with them, which can only be two entities...

"Allow me to join in on this peacemaking venture of yours," Maria requested; however, it wasn't her voice saying these things. It was Markus talking through her.

"Before you all talk, there's something urgent that you need to hear RIGHT NOW, but I need to transfer my consciousness over to you first. Just so you know, Noland and Drago are ALIVE, but...something's wrong with their bodies. Some darkness took them over."

[Vince Hardy]

Vince was so close to smiling about them still being active, but he had to hear the word "but" before he could. Now there was no question in his mind what could've happened to them when there's an implication of them turning evil.

"..." Vince took a deep breath and exhaled without saying a word about what he just heard.

"Your blood pressure is reaching dangerous levels, Vince," Lars Lion warned him. "Will you be okay?"

"Oh, I'm fiiiiiine," he lied. The look on his face showed it. He was pissed.

"Apollonir...you too..."

"No comment," Apollonir responded. "Just...wait for him to get in here."

"Yep. They're pissed..." Clayf said in his head. "How do these descendants live with that power flowing inside of them. They don't even care that their own power can hurt them...just like Gorem and I can with ours... Damn."

[Markus Hederick]

It only took a couple of seconds for Markus and Gargulion to transfer themselves over to the Mirage Tower. They split from Maria and Hydra without delay, as she will likely wear him out later for not telling her that he had given some of his power to her for this purpose. They popped up behind her chair. Gargulion returned to ball form and on top of the desk before Markus gave everyone what he came there for. He walked around the room as he began talking, not wanting to get called a creeper for standing behind Maria the whole time.

"I'm going to make this quick. Noland and Drago only suffered a clinical death at the time they were taken. When they were taken, we hitched a ride in their shadows when Dasia took them. We were put on Vestal. The Hurranians planned to let them die so they could perform an autopsy on them and learn about their 'Ultimate Warrior Gene.' I prevented them from dying and recorded everything Dasia and the Hurranians were saying. Here it is."

Markus played the recording on his BrawlX in its entirety. He allowed everyone to hear about them betraying Kyuki, withdrawing from Earth and Vestal, the plans for the BT System and the Alternative, their alterations to their overall battle strategy, the plan to get Diablo 2 up to Diablo 3, the mentioning of Kyuki having the 'Therion System', and - most importantly - the warpath the Hurranians were going on when it comes to Kyuki.

When the recording ended, there was absolute silence in the room. Markus nodded in approval of that, because it meant that everyone was attentive to what had been said.

"I had a volcano in Hawaii erupt to kill her when we escaped. I doubt that'll be the end of her though," Markus further explained. "After that, Noland turned on us. He told me he wasn't allies with anyone, and that he was going to allow us to deal with the Hurranians while he gets revenge on the humans for what they did to him that day when Kendrick was shot."

[Lydia Andersen]

Situation was not to Lydia's liking. She was not surprised though. Considering the past and present of every single one of these people and Bakugans it was to be expected that fear, anger, anxiety and disgust would kick in. Each one of them had personal hatred towards someone else in this room for various reasons. The most-hated one was definitely Nero and for a good reason- it was safe to say that he murdered many, directly and indirectly, that he performed disgusting experiments and made decisions that would scar all those who survived his madness for the rest of their lives. No one wanted him there; not even those who brought or invited him in there- he did not even show remorse for what he had done. Who could ever trust a person like that? However, in the end every person here will stare in the face of death, with or without Nero. Even if he would turn his back on everyone doing it during the fight would mean end to him by Hurranians' hands as well and if he did it after the victory he would not stand a chance alone against the world; not even with that mobile tin can. Lydia did not have personal hatred for Nero or anyone in there; she did not even want to be there fighting by their side. And why would she? She is probably the weakest brawler to walk this planet. She has nothing to offer as a brawler, as a human or as a monster. Why not call for one of Seven Angels or Mighty 5 instead? They were all-round better than Lydia as brawlers and they are not cowards in the face of war. That is right, Lydia is a coward. Not by her choice, but by her nature- sight of violence makes her very sick and once in fight half of her concentration is turned towards calming herself down. In other words, she is a liability on the battlefield.

"I will be waiting outside." She declared silently, opened the door and left the Conference Room. She obviously had not intentions of listening out to what these people want to say- there is no room for her opinion anyways in there. She will give those people some time to finish their quarrels and once they decide to actually think of plan Alex will probably explain it to her on the run; at least she is good at memorizing things. 

She walked all the way to the roof where she leaned against a wall on that cold weather. "Ahh... if only everyone could see the bigger picture." Angelight stood near Lydia and complained on what was going on. Lydia did not say anything to her for a minute, but she suddenly spoke up. "Sad truth on human nature... seems Bakugans share it as well." Lydia said. In a way that sentence was a nice way of insulting both humans and Bakugans as illogical beings. "Ugh... what am I even thinking...?" She said shortly after the last statement and put her hand over the forehead as if she was measuring the temperature. "Do you feel well?" Angelight inquired. "I feel... odd. Nevermind." Lydia responded and tossed that topic away.

[Markus Hederick]

Markus didn't pay any mind to Lydia excusing herself. Regardless of whether or not she was capable of listening to what was going on, he was going to say it anyway, because these people needed to hear it.

"Maybe I'm not the person that needs to be saying this after what I've been doing to certain people lately. Hell, I know at least two of you who are thinking about what right I could possibly have to be lecturing you about teamwork, but I ask that you hear me out anyway," Markus started. "I didn't get it until I had to listen to those bastards plot our destruction. You know this as well as I do. If we don't get our acts together right now, we're all dead. You can sit there and think we're better off without each other as much as you want to, but each of you know you're no match for them by yourselves. We HAVE to work together now. There's no other way out of this. The BT System is going to be back with whatever the Alternative is. While she's continuing to amass her forces, we're all sitting here trying to kill each other...AGAIN."

"No one's saying that we have to be friends in here. What we need to do is realize that Dasia is a bigger threat than any of us are to each other. She's using that key as a divine conduit to gain godlike power that no one here is able to match, and she's about to upgrade the damn thing. Is it really that outlandish for any of us to join together against a common enemy who is after all of us? Does anyone in here think it's better to target any of our enemies in here who are clearly in the same boat as you are? We're all here to fight her. Why do we have to sit here and fight each other!?"

[Vince Hardy]

Vince nodded in agreement with EVERYTHING Markus just said. He agreed with it so much that he had to add his own tirade into the mix as well.

"I believe everyone's starting to understand how grave our situation is after hearing what we just heard," Vince guessed, considering the absolute silence that was in the room after it was played. "It doesn't matter where you place yourself in this situation. At the end of the day, Dasia is interested in you and everything you hold dear to your heart, and she plans to take it all away. She did it to some of us already."

"Knowing that, we need to let go of our pride and accept that we can no longer tolerate the behavior we've seen in here. You realize that this entire time, the Hurranians have been building themselves up in power while we continued to tear each other apart. We WILL NOT win this way."

"Just look at the Legendary Soldiers for example. You think they liked what they saw in each other when they first met? Back then, the different attributed worlds in Vestroia hated each other, but these six put aside the colors of their skin to survive against the same enemy we're fighting now. We have to put aside our differences, ladies and gentlemen. We've lost doing whatever we wanted to. I don't know about all of you, but I don't want to lose anymore, because we're not going to get another chance to get this right. This is the end of the line. It's either work together or be killed."

With that being said, Lars Lion levitated to the center of the conference table. She had an ultimatum to give everyone. "What's it going to be, everyone?"