A second lasso came out of the darkness behind Silver, this one crimson red and pulsing as almost blood like flecks dropped off of it and down toward the ground. Silver stepped forward, his lasso still firmly attached to the upper half of the Gorilla that Pinky had rendered legless.

"Okay Red, lesson for the day, everything's a weapon," he said, sliding his right foot forward as he whipped his lasso, forcing the Gorilla's torso up and into the air before he yanked it back above his head. He spun it rapidly before hurtling it forward toward a Gorilla the red lasso had gripped just before it could crash into Pinky. His lasso turned to silver at the last moment, the end spinning rapidly as it turned into a razor sharp saw that cut the torso to pieces.

I looked past Silver, skipping back from the ensuing carnage that his makeshift scattershot caused to see a lanky man with deep cocoa skin and a full beard. He was wearing a red and gold cowboy hat and a blood red vest covered in golden spikes gripping tightly onto his own lasso as his target was peppered with attacks. I quickly selected Silver and created a Squad Raid Group, though I still went ahead and highlighted the stranger anyway.

"Red Lasso. Level 14 Rodeo Vampire. Squad: "Good" y'know, for now."

"New Achievement! Raid Leader. You somehow managed to convince more than a few people to let you be in command of them. Baffling choice for them but good for you! This is a Gold Level achievement. Reward: You have received an A:Tier loot box."

Silver had told me he had seen a few of the Tenth Wave Augments during the start of Phase Two and while I had hoped he would have made friends with a few more of them, I couldn't exactly complain that he had formed up a small squad with at least one of them. It had been a long shot when I had sent him the message, but the Miscreant turned Guardian was more than willing to lend a hand once he knew I had a way to get him here. Though I was going to owe both him and his new protege an entire night's worth of drinks when all was said and done.

He yanked downward on the Gorilla he had captured before a bit of a scowl spread over his face.

"Damn, they ain't got nothin' I can stockpile," he grunted, his voice coming out in a deep bass that did not match up with his lanky form.

"An Augment's only as strong as their power against their natural enemy Red, gotta remember that," Silver laughed, winding his lasso back up as Pinky groaned.

"You boys are gonna steal all the fun. Although at least you were gentlemanly enough to let the lady go first," she said before turning toward me with a wide grin, her tusks erupting up and curving around her face. "Come on Loophole, charge me up."

<Duskbreaker: I need a minute to recharge, I'm getting into position for the next step.>

<Loophole: Perfect job man. Conserve your energy, we'll get to the prisons ASAP and break the lights.>

"Freak, help me out," I called over after closing my chat window and without hesitation he charged over, dodging as Red Lasso whipped a small portion of his target's now severed leg around and toward another Gorilla that had emerged out of nowhere.

"Now, normally I wouldn't hit a lady but-"

"Oh cram it Freak, we got things to do," Pinky said, shooting him a wink as she planted her feet and held her arms up in defense. "Manners are for dinner and a night on the town."

We both began to pummel her. Between my unpowered strikes and Freakenstein's heavy metal fists barrelling down on her, the appearance of pink sparks took no time at all and her grin got wider and wider as she continued to absorb our blows. Unlike Freak's noticeable stacked shield bars, there was no way for us to see just how built up her kinetic stockpile had become though I knew with her choker it was a rather large gauge to fill.

"You know, with the two of you and her, there's a joke about-"

"No, bad Angie," Jon said, cutting her off before I had to. "You've been doing so well lately too, don't make Loophole tell you to shut up again."

"But the joke's right there!"

"Appreciate it Codex," I said, rolling my eyes as I pulled a fist back and threw a 25% Gravity Punch just as my Stamina Injectors came off of cooldown. Pinky took the strike, then held up her hands before Freak could throw yet another strike.

"Thank you boys, now let me show you how a lady does-" she started to say before turning around and finding the last of the Gorillas going down. Silver and Red Lasso had each grabbed it by a separate arm with their lassos and, with almost little effort, tore it in half. "Aww…"

"Gotta be faster next time darlin'," Red Lasso said, his lasso coiling back up and… sinking into a hole at the center of his hand. His eyes glowed red briefly once the last of it disappeared and he nodded toward a hallway on the light side of the room. "I'm sure there's more than a few more for us to-"

The entire base seemed to shift and had I not known we were inside of Perry, I would have thought we were experiencing a high magnitude earthquake. Red Lasso lost his balance, his words cutting off as he stumbled forward, arms flailing out to the side, barely managing to catch himself before he fell forward on his face. Silver let out a guffaw of a laugh, waiting until the shaking slowed before he stepped forward and patted Red Lasso on the back.

"Next time try not to sound like so much of an ass, it ain't gonna get yah the ladies you think it would." Silver looked toward the hall that Red Lasso had pointed out and then toward me, catching as I materialized and used one of my last few Superior Stamina Injectors. "What's the plan Loophole? This is your show after all."

"We stick together and go in hard," I said, pointing over at Red Lasso, "You're going to lead the way, if you see the droids first then their levels will mark down to around yours. Silver, keep your lasso on him until we get into each of the rooms and Red, if you happen to feel your powers get disabled or your HUD dim, you shout it out so Silver can pull you out."

"Are you seriously makin' me fuckin' bait?!" Red Lasso asked, his arms crossing over his chest.

"Aw, can't handle it big boy?" Pinky teased and he shot her a look.

"Hell, she's level 15, why not have her go in first since she was all eager to get some act-" he was cut off as Silver smacked him in the back of the head.

"Manners Red, it's Loophole's show, if yah want your share of the drinks, you're gonna be the goddamn bait."

Red Lasso frowned, looking back at Silver before he deflated, waving his hand for me to continue.

"We are looking for where Tyrant is keeping his hostages. There's one room that we know of near Tyrant's main command center, but I have to assume there's at least one more since Duskbreaker's family aren't in the one that he's alerted us to. We know there's also at least two other Augments here," I continued to rattle off, ignoring the alarms ringing down the halls.

"This is weird… right?"

"Not now, Angie," Codex said.

"But… like… he actually has a plan."

"Not now, Angie!" We both shouted together as I worked to maintain my physical composure.

"Barracuda is probably still at Red's level, but he might have hit Level 15 but according to DuskBreaker, we're not actually sure what level Mr. Factory is at. We need to assume he's around Tyrant's level, so that guy is yours if we run into him Silver," I said and he gave me a sharp nod. "Otherwise, strike hard and fast. The droids shouldn't explode as long as we are inside of this base, but according to Freak, there's a core at their center, generally in the stomach area that causes the explosion."

"Brain's asked us to grab one for him if we can manage it, he's interested in any of the technology we can manage to get our hands on. Not sure the logistics since technically he should still be back in Cali, but I can still hear him from our Sub-Squad internal chat, I'll keep him looped in as we go," Pinky interjected.

"Speaking of Brain," I said, materializing a handful of the small EMP devices he had created. "These are one use each, so hold onto them just in case we hit one of those zones. If a door closes us in, anyone still outside use your EMP. We don't know for sure if it will affect the Dead Zone, but we won't know until we try."

"Swan just went unknown again. Her P.A.I. was telling me she wasn't thinking clearly which was almost definitely why she hasn't been responding to our internal chat. I'm pretty positive my guess about Tyrant's power is right," Jon said and I grit my teeth together as I confirmed his claim on my Friend's List.

"I know Freak's already good, but you guys all updated your gear, right?" I asked. Pinky reached up and fiddled with the neon green mask covering her eyes that almost made her outfit have a watermelon vibe.

"Still wish I had time to get it dyed," she complained.

"It'll get the job done darlin', change it later," Red said, adjusting as Silver hooked his lasso over one of his arms and secured it in place. "Now we got anything else or are we ready to move? I feel like we've been standin' around way too damn long."

"The prisons are the priority, we need to be able to break the lights so that Duskbreaker can get in and extract anyone inside of them, but we also need to find Tyrant's command room to keep him from escaping and to keep him from moving Perry too far from the shore. You guys just experienced it yourself, it takes him longer the farther he has to portal people and we just need to get them out of the Pangolin," I said before I took a long, slow breath, knowing what I had to say next. "And last thing... there's no surrender here... I... Look what he's been willing to do, the amount of the city's civilians that he's killed... He... We have to put him down, otherwise Axio will just use him again."

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"I'm sure that's gonna come down to me Loophole, so you just give me an openin' and I'll pounce," Silver said, reaching up and tipping his his hat.

"Save the innocent first huh? Well Silver you weren't lyin', he's one of them goodie two shoes," Red said with a slight shake of his head before turning and heading for the hallway. "Well at least I ain't gonna have to hear shit about killin' like fuckin' The Duchess keeps tryin' to do," he muttered, probably hoping it had been low enough that we couldn't hear him.

"Well he's an asshole," Freak thought into our internal chat and Pinky quickly raised a hand to hide a laugh that threatened to escape her. He held a hand forward as Red Lasso and Silver moved into the hallway, gesturing for Pinky to follow.

We didn't move slowly, but we also didn't go barreling through the facility, instead moving at a brisk jog, only stopping to check any room we came across. Unlike the first two rooms we had entered, most of the ones we found were either empty, or had just one or two droids still hanging out within them that were exceptionally easy to dispatch. We checked the wreckage of the first few and came up empty where the explosive cores should have been. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any prisons along the path we had been taking, nor did we run into either Barracuda or the elusive Mr. Factory.

Every so often we'd have to stop as the building around us shook once more, leaning against the walls of the small hallways to keep our balance. I kept my Friend's list open, watching to see if Swansong's status changed again to no avail. I was just about to suggest we turn and head back toward where we had started to try another pathway when we finally seemed to find one of our objectives. Our pathway had led us to a large open room with at least a dozen different paths connected to it and more furniture than really should have been necessary. But more important than the over decorated room were the large pair of doors that stood out like a sore thumb within the metallic monstrosity we had been fighting through.

"Boss room!" Pinky said with glee, the pink sparks from her kinetic storage still bouncing off her body. Even with the few rooms we had to fight within, with our team as stacked as it was, we had been making such short work of them that we had each barely had to break through any of our resources. Silver reattached his lasso to Red and we quickly closed the gap to the space.

There was no hesitation from Red Lasso as he kicked the doors open in a running kick, landing and rolling into the space as Silver moved to keep up with him.

"Powers on," he called back as he had done with each room we had entered. We filed in after him, coming face to face with a raised platform near the center of the room and a solitary door on the far side of the room.

The platform had a large chair at the center of it with a console set up that I could hear Jon whistling about in the back of my head. There was a furious set of clicking coming from the spot and we stood there, waiting for the man to acknowledge our entrance.

"You ungrateful, annoying little pests," a distinct voice growled. There was finally a break from the sound of clicking when the chair finally swiveled to reveal a face I had so far only seen through screens. "How dare you enter my-"

Silver's lasso went spinning forward, perfectly landing over Tyrant's head and cinching down around his neck. I couldn't help but scan him, needing to know for sure if TechWarden had replaced him with a duplicate in some way.

"Clockwork Tyrant. Level 67 Blueprint Subjugator. Squad: Droids R' Us."

"Please fella, we ain't come here to hear you give some pointless monologue."

"Let. Me. Go," Tyrant growled, his normally composed voice coming out in a tone that screamed indignation. There was a heavy, deep feeling that flooded the room and while it made every one of us shift into a fighting stance, Silver's grip only tightened. He whipped his lasso to the side, though the moment Tyrant's body started to get lifted from the chair, several bands immediately sprang up, securing him down to the seat as a sharp blade shot up at the edge of the platform, cutting Silver's lasso in half. "The rest of you, attack him. NOW!"

The weight became heavier in the air, but not a single one of us moved and I could hear Jon let out a whoop of a cheer in the back of my head.

"You can't control us Tyrant, we know how your power works and the game has more than enough gear in it to defend against Mind Control effects," I said, unable to suppress the smile that had spread over my face. Before he could react, a clear look of surprise spread over his face, I activated Echo Step.

I appeared directly in front of him, having moved just close enough that he had been right on the edge of my local area. I had a fist pulled backwards already and punched forward, ready to launch every last bit of power I could into the overwhelming series of strikes that I had used against that first Clockwork Egg, even knowing it would leave me exhausted. Duskbreaker had insisted he would be able to absorb them, as long as I took out Tyrant first so that he didn't have to worry about getting close to him, so I had been prepared to impart every last bit of damage I could at once on the man who steeply outleveled me. Even with the mask I insisted Duskbreaker go and buy, he couldn't bring himself to face the man that had toyed with him for days on end. Had it been me, I might have wanted to do this myself, but I couldn't blame him either.

My fist was just about to connect with Tyrant's face when the platform below me erupted, sending me flipping end over end backward and back toward the others. Freak jumped into the air, catching me with his metal and creating a temporary shield that took the brunt of the blow, allowing me to keep from wasting any of my limited remaining Time Bank. The platform started to adjust, moving inward and around Tyrant's chair.

"I never really did think any of you baboons would be foolhardy enough to try to attack me here, but I'm nothing if not a planner. I would never just leave myself vulnerable," Tyrant snarled, the platform knocking back both Pinky and Freakenstein as they rushed to try and get in close to him. "You might think you've won just because that foolish child Duskbreaker defected, but you've simply made my job all the easier. You come into my base, you destroy my things and even have the gall to kill one of my prisoners even though you call yourself heroes. You're no better than-"

A large wolf-like creature landed on top of the large Level 66 Clockwork Scorpion that had formed around Clockwork Tyrant. The wolf was wearing a recognizable grey cowboy hat and his claws came down with silvery wisps that struck the glass of the cockpit that Tyrant had enclosed himself in. Silver was almost scary to watch, his attacks landing with precision as he alternated between attempting to break the glass and knocking back the claws that attempted to wrench him off of his perch.

Clockwork Tyrant actually looked amused, clicking a few things within his cockpit as the walls around the room opened up. Droids began pouring into the room from all angles, everything from monkeys and gorillas, to kangaroos and at least one oversized Clockwork Frog. Thankfully, with Silver focused on the scorpion at the center of the commotion, the rest of us were able to put eyes on the newcomers first, leveling them down to our range as we each split up and started to get to work.

"I can't believe Silver's squad is literally a team up between a vampire and a werewolf… Monster Cowboys, now that's an anime I'd watch…" Jon laughed.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I activated Float Like a Butterfly, dodging a kangaroo as it tried to kick me toward a frog's metallic tongue spitting out to catch me. I moved behind it, throwing a 25% Gravity Punch as fast as I could and knocking the kangaroo right into the path of the frog's extended tongue. The kangaroo seized up as electricity coursed through the frog's tongue, holding in place until a pink blur crashed into the frog, bursting it into pieces as Pinky's tusks tore through it.

Without missing a beat, I jumped forward and just started pummeling the kangaroo, beating it with regular blows to conserve my stamina until it burst into pieces. Pinky never stopped moving, rushing past me and slapping my hand in an unintentional high five as she moved for another corner of the room that had more enemies still in it. There was a sudden rush of energy that passed through the air and all the lights went dark… for only a second before everything kicked back on.

I looked over to see one section of the room, the one leading back toward the doors we had come through had been split off by walls that I hadn't seen pop up, extending out from the scorpion at the center. Silver was still atop the scorpion, though I could see glass shattering away as his claws continued to move in rapid strikes.

"Who used their EMP? Is everyone there?" I asked internally.

"Sorry, the walls went up and I thought I saw my powers blip so I panicked and used mine," Red announced.

"Don't be sorry, I think it broke whatever shield was keeping me from gettin' in," Silver responded, even his internal voice sounding more feral than normal as he raised his fists up and over his head. A silvery looking coating appeared out of nowhere as it wrapped around his fists and, like a hammer, he brought it down once more. The sound of the glass shattering echoed through the room as his claws disappeared down and into the cockpit.

I turned just before another Kangaroo could attack me, having held still long enough for my Area Sense to activate which had allowed me to feel its approach. I immediately threw another 25% Gravity Punch knocking it backwards and through the only other door in the space. I hadn't even realized that I had gotten so close to it, looking through it and seeing the hall disappear off to the right.

The sound of electricity drew my attention back to the scorpion and I looked over in time to see Silver seizing up, his body coursing with electricity as his claws gripped onto Clockwork Tyrant atop the scorpion. Tyrant was smiling, a hand pressed firmly down on a button in one hand as his others smacked his side. The scorpions sides erupted outward, splitting the room into sections as they cut us off from each other.

Everything that happened next seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. I had already started to move to activate my Timekeeper's control, planning on backing us up to just before entering the room to reveal everything that we were about to experience when my entire interface went dark. There was a large wall at least 15 feet tall that started to erupt from the center of the room, and a gunshot rang out from the doorway behind me.

The bullet hit Clockwork Tyrant right in the side of the head, blood erupting from the otherside as his body went limp in Silver's hands. Silver, still in the process of being shocked, finally seemed to get overwhelmed and dropped to the ground as I stepped forward, unsure what the hell I could even do to help him. And then everything in the room went quiet.

I looked over my shoulder, trying to discover the source of the noise and finding nothing was there. I was warring with myself, unsure if I should try to help Silver or figure out who had just unceremoniously put Tyrant down when I heard Pinky shout.

"What the hell just happened!?"

"Are y'all okay?" Red Lasso called over the wall, "My powers are fuckin' disabled and the door over here is locked shut. I think Silver is good, I can see 'im breathing but he sure as shit ain't awake."

"Yeah, he looked like he took a bad shock," Pinky responded. "Loophole, you there?"

"I'm here. The gunshot came from this other doorway. I broke it open right before this trap got sprung… I'm going after it, maybe if I can get out of the Dead Zone I can get it disabled."

It wasn't the best plan by any stretch, but the only other option was to sit around and hope Silver woke up all while letting whatever mysterious force that had killed Tyrant get further away.

"Be safe, I'm going to see if I can get up this wall at all," Pinky called and without another word, I turned and ran for it.

I skidded around the corner, rushing along the bare hallway, my mind racing with the possibilities of who had done it and why they hadn't stuck around to take the credit or even press their advantage on us while we were trapped. Barracuda seemed like a possibility. If he had broken free of Tyrant's control like Duskbreaker had, I had to assume he was opportunistic enough to take that kill.

The pathway continued for another fifty yards or so before I came on a single door and I tested it cautiously. The door, to my surprise, was unlocked and I pushed it open slowly, taking in the room as it became clear. I could see Pinneedle, still hanging from the chains with three bullets in his chest and a woman I didn't recognize sprawled out on the ground in front of a microwave sized box. Her back was slowly rising and falling indicating she must have still been alive, but that barely kept my attention.

Because standing at the center of the room, wearing a shirt split into blue, gold, brown, and purple was a man I recognized all too well. A wicked smile spread over his face as he held a gun right to Swansong's head. I couldn't help myself as I highlighted him, just as I had highlighted Tyrant to make sure TechWarden hadn't sent out a clone to do his dirty work.

"Hydramental. Level 31 Elemental Everyman. Squad: Droids R' Us."

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