Part 79: Chapter 79 (Battle) - With The World On His Shoulders [Chapter 1]
Update 79 (Battle) - With The World On His Shoulders [Part 1]Yup, this is a doublepost. There's so much god damn talking at the end that it needed its own post.
Day 8! Give it up for day 8 of the final map!
Last time, our man Javier made a fantastic start on the secondary front, whilst we tried to stop Von Bolt from having any money whatsoever whilst we prepare to launch a million bombers at his Grand Bolt. That's still basically the plan, so let's get it underway.
Our infantry are just finishing off the final few captures now. For the rest of the battle, they'll be dealing with any oozium that get close to our properties.
Gordon does some more damage to this anti-air.
Even weakened, Cassandra can finish it.
On the other side of the battle, Petra and Andromeda will be doing the same thing. Petra finishes an infantry...
...and Andromeda heads over to finish that one off. We're slowly thinning the crowd of infantry. Little pests.
Anyway, it's bomber time! Lucy, take to the field!
"You thought there was going to be a final battle without me?" Lucy says. "The Queen of the Skies is here - and that Grand Bolt looks like nothing but target practice!"
So, we still have these last few infantry to clear out down here before our copters can head back up. Klara takes on the first one, finishing him off.
And Fliss and Fleur begin recapturing. Fleur's got one already!
And that's how we'll leave things for now. All we really need to do at this point is push ahead up north and wait for Javier to smash those crystals.
Von Bolt's going to do his best to be annoying about it, though, so we'll see how it goes.
Ooh, this is a milestone.
This Dick Captures A Property: 71
That's the last property Black Hole will ever capture in this campaign. 71 properties total.
Everything just kind of shuffles around. The only active threats are the recon and anti-air coming down on the left. We'll have to get rid of them before they harass Dave and the other infantry.
Let's see how Javier's getting on. Most of the enemies have been cleared out, so unless he really manages to fuck things up, we should be OK.
Especially now that he's got his third com tower captured, so he graduates from "a bulky boi" to "god incarnate". The rest of this map should be cake.
Our rockets, Dymek, slam the cruiser and down it.
Lowell blasts the artillery, too, almost destroying it.
Meanwhile, it's time to assault this crystal, so Valeria makes a start.
On the naval side of things, Lena/Kurtz continue poking things, this time going for the aircraft carrier. They do discover the sub, though! If it doesn't move, we can finish it off next turn.
And I'd really like Matilda to go for the crystal, so of course she decides to finish off this useless artillery. She's in carrier range, too.
This is how our forces gather at the end of the turn; the black bomb's on its way to weaken these ships, but I don't know if it's terribly necessary. Eva moves off the port so Javier can deploy another cruiser - Karin.
"Kurtz! I heard you needed some backup." she says, a little smugly.
Kurtz nods. "For once, I'm glad to see you. Me and Lena are doing our best out here, but we've still got a sub running around."
"Alright. I'll get right on it, then." Karin replies, readying herself to move out.
We'll see if Kindle has anything to say about this. She might say "CO Power".
Ah ha ha! Beg for mercy, rat!
I hate being right.
So yeah, everything on a city takes some damage, and that crystal is healing up her submarine and carrier. How annoying.
Rather unsurprisingly, the carrier blasts Matilda, doing around 4 damage. That's going to slow down our crystal-destroying massively.
We'll worry about that next turn, anyway.
Now let's deal with this anti-air, probably the biggest threat on the map right now. Gordon lands a hit on it.
Lucy begins heading up to the right, away from that anti-air, whilst the other anti-airs arrange themselves like so - Cassandra goes back to heal, too.
Meanwhile, Rin, Alfonse, Eduard and Anton are heading down to deal with this oozium. Fighting oozium on any kind of defensive terrain is a losing battle, so we really want to kill it on the road.
Our gals down below are doing a sterling job, in the meantime. One less property for Von Bolt! Let's keep it going!
Diana and Klara will have to team up to finish this loser off, but that's no trouble.
With that infantry eviscerated, the challenge just dropped out of this map - and it wasn't a huge struggle before, anyway. Victory on the primary front is practically guaranteed now. Capturing all of Von Bolt's properties would just be adding insult to injury... which is why we're going to do exactly that.
My man Von Bolt is going to be very upset about all of this.
His units just shuffle around a bit. That mech's a bit close, but he's surrounded by units that can one-shot him, so...
Von Bolt does realise that anti-airs are the best counter to my bomber strategy, though, so he deploys another one of those. I'll have to be careful with Lucy.
It's Javier time, baby.
So, the submarine fled again. Kurtz/Lena watch as Eva lands a brutal hit on the carrier from across the battlefield. Battleships!
The rest of my units do marginally more useful things, though, like "actually doing the mission objective". Lowell lands a hit on the crystal!
Valeria follows up again. They probably haven't done much damage between them, though. We need some heavy hitters on this.
Lena/Kurtz just go for the carrier again. They're not really contributing as much as Eva, though.
Ah, but who can contribute as much as a battleship?
Our other tank, Jacquelyn, goes for the crystal too. We're slowly getting there! I wish I could check the damage being dealt.
But of course, how many times do I have to say it? Never trust a tank...
...to do a bomber's job.
BOOM!
Well done! Now we can strike one of the Grand Bolt's weak points! We have to hurry. Keep shattering those crystals!
How are we doing on the approach to the Grand Bolt, my dude?
Bomber production is underway, Von Bolt's funds are being taken as we speak, and Rose is handling the front line. We're doing good!
We're not out of the woods yet. But things are looking promising.
Another cruiser joins the cruiser party, as Karin heads up to rendezvous with Kurtz and Lena.
"Have no fear, soldiers of mighty Javier! I, Raynald of Châtillon, have arrived, and I will put the infidels to the sword with but one thrust!" Raynald roars as his cruiser crusades out of the port.
Ingo shakes his head. "Man, Raynald never changes... what an oddity that guy is."
Kindle's still desperately trying to kill any of my units, and failing.
She brought Matilda from 8HP to 4, and now halves it again with another shot. Still not a kill, though, and now she's at 2HP, Matilda will retreat next turn. Really, Kindle did me a favour here.
And that's all. Back to the Front Where Stuff Actually Happens!
Fliss and Fleur are still merrily taking Von Bolt's properties. He's down to about 8k a turn, and it's only going to dwindle from there.
With their job done, Diana and Klara are heading up to back up my frontliners. Oh, yeah, that oozium, too...
I don't even need all my soldiers - after Anton and Eduard weaken it, Alfonse is able to finish it off in style.
"One down! Whew, those things are disgusting." Alfonse replies, shaking his head.
Anton nods. "But we just need to hold them off from our properties. Hopefully the big one over there will be destroyed soon enough."
"Have faith in Lucy, and my dude, and Rose." Alfonse says, giving a devil-may-care grin. "They've got this - I know it!"
So yeah, as predicted, this mech isn't long for this world. A freshly-repaired Cassandra, even on 8HP, can massively overkill him.
And this fucking APC keeps going back and bringing infantry units to me, so I have Lucy get rid of it.
On this side, Gordon chases down the anti-air and gets rid of it.
The recon ended up fleeing down here, so Petra chases it down. I don't know where it's going, exactly, but things don't just drive around on my watch.
It's... not quite a kill, though. Still, that recon's not a threat to anything now.
And I have MOTHER FUCKING MONEY, so we deploy 2 bombers!
Lucy, from Orange Star, and Matilda, from Green Earth, are joined by our Blue Moon bomber gal, Zlata, and our Yellow Comet bomber gal, Peregrine.
"Reporting for duty! Ready to move out into the field!" Zlata says brightly. "I've made a few tweaks to this bomber - I should be able to keep pace, even with you and Peregrine, Lucy!"
"Sounds marvellous to me!" Lucy cries.
"I'm ready for action too!" Peregrine says. "The three of us have this fucking 'Grand Bolt' on lock!"
My units are ready for anything. The oozium isn't even remotely a threat, and Von Bolt's got little else on the field right now.
As such, we don't really need to be concerned.
...wait, fuck-
also, why are his lines here still "old weak von bolt"? They couldn't write new ones for this particular battle?
So yeah, we're about to get Ex Machina'd.
I was hoping my two bombers would take the hit, but he goes for this group here, catching Lucy, Peregrine and some of the ground units in the blast.
3 damage isn't that bad... except I have a bomber in anti-air range and I can't move it this turn. Lucy's gonna get shredded unless I can find a solution. A full-HP anti-air is always going to one-shot a 7HP bomber.
I get to spend a whole turn worrying about that whilst we see what Javier's up to, anyway.
Firstly (and it's about fucking time) this carrier is dropped by Eva. Thank god for that.
My units run around for a bit, and eventually our cruiser crew find the sub. It's, uh, not going to be contributing very much to Kindle's war effort.
Selena is deployed as a submarine, finally in the battle.
"Lena, I'm here!" Selena says. "...Goodness, the battle's almost over."
"That may be so, but I'm happier fighting with you than without." Lena replies. "Let's make this the final push! Nothing is going to stop us!"
Kindle has reached our favourite part of any battle...
...the "enemy can't do anything so the turn just ends immediately" phase. Perfect.
So, the worst part of this anti-air? It's right next to a goddamn oozium, so if I move someone over to weaken it, I'll just get that unit destroyed. I can't initiate on this thing, but without weakening it, Lucy's dead.
Andromeda? Or Lucy?
A difficult choice.
...And yet.
What did I say before?
"A full-HP anti-air is always going to one-shot a 7HP bomber." The solution's obvious, then.
We need to change those HP values.
You are quite a foe.
There we go!
That's 1 HP for Lucy, -1 HP for the anti-air, and a 10% defence boost - that should let her survive this.
I still have absolutely no goddamn idea what this recon was doing, but Petra finishes it off, anyway.
Another property down. Fliss and Fleur are hard-carrying this battle right now. Von Bolt gets much harder if you let him deploy stuff like medium tanks.
The nice thing about Ex Machina doing 3 damage is that one use of Black Wave and one turn on the airports has fully restored Zlata and Peregrine, so it's like it never even happened.
So... let's just hope Lucy pulls through.
"Lucy! You're really fucking good at worrying people, aren't you?!" Peregrine shouts. "Hang in there!"
"I... d-do this all the time!" Lucy replies, watching in fear as the anti-air opens fire.
"But my dude and Rose have my back! I never have to worry!"
"Thank god for that." Dave says, looking up and sighing. "Thought she was a goner for a moment."
Meanwhile, Javier's still got a few annoyances left to clean up.
The black bomb explodes, weakening the sub, but also doing damage to Lena/Kurtz.
"H-hey, who's detonating those things?!" yells Lena as the cruiser is caught in the blast.
Vanessa winces and picks up her transceiver. "Sorry! Hang in there - you can join up with Karin's unit in a moment."
"Good thing, too." Kurtz sighs, shaking his head. "Yeah, Vanessa's a very different ACO to my dude and Rose, huh?"
One of our mechs, and no, I am not going to put in the effort to figure out which one Alina maybe? fires the final silo at the enemy units. They're really getting the royal treatment.
Selena moves up to observe the battle, as does Raynald, whilst Karin takes the kill.
Kurtz/Lena, with their 1HP, don't do much to the black boat, but also, it can't do much to us, so...
Dymek and Eva have started moving up so that they can rangedify the crystal to death. Now we just need some units to head up and murder the rightmost crystal. Fred in the battle copter probably can't do it on his own.
Javier also deploys a black bomb, because why not.
Kindle has a blessedly brief turn.
Back to the cool people squad! Nobody gives a shit about Kindle anyway.
We steal more properties from Von Bolt. The oozium is beginning to move in, though, so we may not be able to nab all of them safely. We've definitely got enough of them to put the financial hurt on him, though.
"Nobody attacks my friend and gets the fuck away with it! Eat this, shitlord!" Peregrine yells as she decimates the enemy anti-air.
Lucy breathes a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Perry! I'm going to refuel, and I'll catch up with you later!"
Lucy does just that. It shouldn't take too long - once she reaches 8HP she can move out again, since later on we'll have Hawke's Super CO Power to heal her up to full.
Andromeda murders the infantry who was getting too close.
Zlata, with no anti-air threats on this side of the map, just goes in and starts killing shit.
Gordon helps by weakening some of the other units. Always good to have a bit of backup.
Our copters return to begin refuelling, and Cassandra and Petra need some time to repair, too. We're taking the defensive for a moment whilst my units are in rough shape. The infantry can cover any oozium or mech that comes close, at least.
Von Bolt has very little to do today. He can't do squat about my bomber with his funds.
And indeed, he deploys a couple of foot units, and keeps his anti-air on the far right side of the map. I would too - that thing is fucked if it comes any closer.
Back to Javier-town, then.
Dymek finally smacks down this final enemy, and with that, it's just a straight rush to the crystals now! What a clean run of the second front that ended up being.
Of course, it's going to take a little while for the AI to get its shit together and destroy these crystals. Eva makes a start on the left one, though.
Fred makes a start on the other one, whilst Von Panzer, Valeria and Lowell catch up to help.
I'm not even going to show Kindle's turns any more. She can no longer do, well, anything.
So for the primary front, we continue to nab any buildings we can. Von Bolt's down to 5k per turn, and it'll be 4k once we get this final property. The other two will be in oozium range, so we'll have to leave those be.
Freshly-refuelled, Diana can start helping out up here now, and destroys this infantry.
Lucy can't do much, but Peregrine and Zlata absolutely can. Peregrine crushes this APC because a) it's there and b) it's not in range of the anti-air.
Zlata splats this infantry. She can't get at the weak point here until the recon moves out of the way. Oh, and also the crystal needs destroying, but that should be done next turn with the number of units in range of it.
Gordon attacks the artillery from the north this time - this gets him out of range of both the oozium and the mech. The mech could do some fair damage if it gets to initiate, but their low movement massively holds them back and we can do shit like this.
Andromeda's in a forest on the right, hoping to lure the anti-air into attacking her. Meanwhile, our infantry squad, minus Dave again, are preparing to fight another oozium on the way.
Alright, Von Bolt, have a fun turn with your piddly funds.
Amazing. So, there's some bad news - the anti-air's now preventing Peregrine from moving in on the rightmost weak point, and there's enough units in the way that she can't get at it to initiate. There's some good news too, though: the oozium on the left moved onto the base, meaning Von Bolt blocked HIMSELF from deploying anything there this turn.
Yeah, my man's not really a tactical genius without a clone of my dude to help him.
Right, Javier, I'm almost in position. Please get these goddamn crystals broken.
"This one's from Yellow Comet! Have a taste of the Vanessa/Dymek combo! HYAAAAH!" Dymek yells, firing his rockets at the crystal. It's a direct hit.
The crystal shatters amid cheers from the soldiers. Lena and Selena congratulate each other delightedly, whilst Kurtz and Karin argue about who contributed more. Vanessa tries to steady her breathing. "Right... one more crystal to go, and then we're done here. Keep it up!"
Von Panzer lands a hit, then Valeria, and finally, Fred rolls up.
"I tell you, this is gonna be satisfying. Everyone in the Allied Nations has proven themselves to be a hero, and I'm just... so grateful to have met you all. But that doesn't mean I can't be a hero too! Eat this, Von Bolt!"
The final crystal shatters, and the Grand Bolt's weak points are completely exposed.
Wait, they won?!
Commander my dude! I am happy to report an overwhelming victory on the second front!
Not a single soldier lost. Everyone's present and accounted for! ...Even if Dimitri's heavily wounded. Everyone... EVERYONE? JAVIER, YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD! YOU GOD AMONGST MEN! YOU DID IT! Vanessa, that was a sterling performance. I'm delighted. Heh. Thanks, Rose. Told you that you didn't have to worry - now crush that Grand Bolt for me, would ya? I think I can manage that. What do you say, my dude? Oh, this battle is over. No more holding back!
So yeah, we've got Javier back and we're primed for a Tag Power. We'll need that later, so for now, let's just keep pushing ahead.
Since I can't recapture all the properties, I decide that it might be worth nabbing the com towers down here to empower Javier when we switch to him during the Tag Power.
That anti-air's still a problem, so I hope to lure it with Andromeda again. She can kill this infantry in the meantime too.
And this recon refuses to move, so Zlata removes it for us.
Gordon can take out this mech, also. He's doing some work on this left side of the map, honestly. Big respect to my man.
Petra, Cassandra and Diana team up to destroy this oozium. They'll be heading up the left side of the map to clear out any more enemies that might threaten Zlata, like an untimely anti-air.
Rin, Alfonse and the other infantry do the same thing over here, with Alfonse nabbing the kill.
And since she can't head to the right, Peregrine just goes for this weak point instead. As you can see, it's got the same defensive properties as oozium, so we can't actually one-shot these weak points with bombers. Each one's gonna take two hits.
But, yeah. Like I said, the battle's basically done. The rest of this is just a formality.
Well...hhh...let me have a taste...hhh...of your soul...
I need to stop opening my mouth.
Thankfully, he misses all three bombers with this, and hits Cassandra's squad instead. Annoying, but not completely ruinous. Ex Machina just doesn't have the same bite that Sturm's Meteor Strike does. Maybe if it worked like Lightning Strike, and hit everything on the field except infantry...
But, uh, let's be thankful that's not how it works. That sounds awful.
The anti-air finally takes the Andromeda bait, and attacks her. It's moved into a position where we can take it out, which is ideal.
Well, let's make Von Bolt regret not hitting my bombers during that little Ex Machina, shall we?
Fliss makes a start on this com tower.
I moved Gordon up to initiate on this anti-air, and uh... he's out of ammo.
That doesn't happen often in an Advance Wars map.
"Argh! I'm all out!" Gordon yelps. "Hey, Cassandra, you're nearby, right?"
"Yes, I'm with Diana and Petra. We'd move in, but... systems are down. I'm afraid we can't do anything."
"Ah, right. Well, no worries. I'll, uh... just..." Gordon replies, but he trails off. What is he going to do?
...You did better than I expected.
Dual Strike, obviously! A nice Tag Power should give us the power and turns to do some real damage.
So let's first do some damage to everything and heal my poor units. Lucy is fully healed too, now, so she moves up!
Zlata can initiate on this weak point despite the oozium being, like, right there, since I can move her out of the way on Javier's turn.
Peregrine slaps this infantry for the crime of existing.
Andromeda can't quite get a kill here, but she does enough damage to make it a non-issue.
"Perry... I fucking end, win, defeated the anti-air! It shouldn't be able to down, harm you now!" Andromeda cries.
Peregrine nods. "I see ya, Perry! Show those shit-kickers what real soldiers look like!"
That's about all we can do with this turn, so let's switch things around.
Like so. And hey, wanna know a fun fact about the Tag Power that makes Von Bolt even more of a joke?
Look at Cassandra and the girls on the left. The Tag Power gives THEM a turn back, too, despite eating Ex Machina last turn. They only get one action whilst everyone else gets two, but man, that's fun.
Also Klara murders this infantry. He was annoying me.
Andromeda finishes off the infantry properly, now. If she'd have killed it last turn, she could have sat on the base this turn to prevent Von Bolt spawning anything, but ah well.
It then occurs to me, as I move Gordon the fuck away from the anti-air, that I don't need to move Zlata out of the way of the oozium now. With my copter/anti-air squad back in action, I can use them to destroy the enemies over here.
So instead, I weaken the oozium.
Cassandra charges forward. "We're here to help, Zlata! This oozium won't be an issue for much longer!"
"Thanks, Cassandra! You really do strike like a morningstar, don't you! It's so cool!"
"Oh, well..." Cassandra replies, blushing a little. "I just do what needs to be done. This is the final battle - let's leave the talking for later."
Petra battles with the anti-air, doing a decent amount of damage.
I then remember that I was supposed to capture this com tower before Javier's turn, so, uh, I do that real quick. That should jack up his power a fair amount.
With the extra com tower boost, this miiiight be a kill..?
It was not. I vent my frustration by having Lucy destroy the first of the weak points.
BOOM! One down!
We can make a start on the second one, too. And man, even with oozium's defensive properties, Javier does an insane amount of damage.
And that's all we can do this turn. But, uh... yeah, provided nothing goes wrong on Von Bolt's turn, we're done next turn.
And it didn't! The anti-air we didn't kill decided not to fuck with Zlata and just stayed away. How nice.
Peregrine finishes off the second weak point.
BLAM! Two down!
The rest of my units do a bit of murdering to improve my power score, and then it's time to just finish this. Zlata, if you would?
"I'm not really one for speeches, but I guess I'll say what needs to be said. The love that these soldiers share has pulled us through. Not just for each other, but for our country, too! The power of forgiveness saved the Director, and Hawke and Lash! The power of friendship gave us the strength to carry on, even after losing Minerva, and Abelard! And finally... you wanna know the real reason you lost? Sure, my dude and Rose helped, and all the great COs, and all the amazing soldiers, but at the end of the day..."
Zlata opens fire, dropping a payload of bombs on the final weak point.
"Our tech... IS JUST BETTER THAN YOURS!"
And with that, the final battle is won! We did it once again!
Hey, check it! Von Bolt's power is fading! Holy shit, we pulled it off! The war is over... Surrender, Von Bolt! You're done! No...hhhh... No...! Hhhhhh... Must...hhhh...live...hhhh... Dude! What now?!
Look! The fragments of that giant oozium are pooling together! What on earth...? It's trying to repair itself!
Oh, man! Not good! What are we supposed to do now?
The chair! Break the old man's chair! Lash...?
I think she's right. Do you see the bizarre device he's riding on? He's using its power to repair the Grand Bolt! If we don't destroy it right now, that blob will reassemble itself! Works for me! I'm gonna bust it up good! ...No! Wait. I'll do it. But that chair looks like... ...Hhhh... W-wait... Are you...hhh...really planning...hhh...to take...hhhhhh...take my life? Huh? This...hhhh...device...hhhh...is my life-support system... Hhhhhhhhhh! It is...hhhh...the only thing...hhh...keeping me alive... Hhhhh... Without it...hhhhh... I will...hhhhh...die... ...As I suspected. Oh, god. Unh... Don't listen to him, Jake! Unless you...hhhh...destroy my chair... My oozium will...hhhhh...return. My obelisk will...hhhhh...return. The desert will...hhhh...spread... All life will...hhhhhhh...perish... But if you...hhhh...destroy the chair...hhh...my life...hhhh...ends. Can you...hhhh...do it? Can you murder...hhh...a frail old man? ..... ...I don't know if I could either, Jake. Don't feel bad. Hehh hhh hhh... You...hesitate. Hhhh... Are you...hhhh...afraid? Do it! Hhhhh... Do it if you dare! Hhhhhhh hhhhhnnn hhhnnnnggg! Destroy the chair...hhhh... Take my life...hhhh... I would never hesitate. You have threatened all that is good in this world. Frail and old you may be, but capable of great evil, too. You little-- To live...hhhh...is to take...hhhh... How many plants...hhhhh...animals... Hhhhhh... Have you taken...hhhh...in your life...? You...hh...and I... Hhhh... We are the same... Hhhhh... We take...hhh...that we might live...! You selfish old crank! Now... Hhhhnnnggh... What will... Hhhh... You do...? Hhhnnnnggg... Will you... Hhhnngg...kill...hhgggg...me...? Hhhnnnggg!
Jake has a choice. And since the thread already voted...
... Jake? ...I can do this, Rachel. I'll destroy the chair. I'm glad to hear you say so, Jake. I thought you to be...soft. I thought I would have to deliver the blow myself... Take this gun. Show me your courage. End this war. Hhhnnngggh!! Hhhnnnggghhh! W-wait! Hhhnngghh... No...! Hhnngg! You... Hhnngghh...! Can't...! You will... Hhhnngh...! Destroy it...? Even after... Hhnggh...! My story...? ...Yes. I will. And I won't hesitate. Like I will do it for the friends who fought by my side. And for Omega Land... I won't hesitate, old man!Amazing. The PG-13 version of "I won't hesitate, bitch".
Jake... what remarkable conviction. I take back anything I ever said about you. Hhhhnnngggghhhhh! Noooooooohhhnnnngggghhhh!A gunshot rings through the air.
... Wait, you-- Hhnnnngghh! Hhnnngggg...? Hhhh...? You...hhhh...missed...? Hhh... You missed...hhhh...me...hhhh... I didn't miss. I shot the chair. You'll have to live out the rest of your life under your own power. I want you to live. I want you to pay for your crimes. You don't get to die while the rest of us clean up your mess! Hehhh hhh hhh... Such arrogance... What do you...hhh...want...hhh...? Shall I...hhhh...sweep some streets...? Yeah. Sure. Whatever. I don't really care what you do, as long as it's useful. I'm going to make you create something new for every one thing you destroyed. That's the real way of things in the world... Welcome to natural selection, chump! Goddamn, Jake! You're right--this feels like the best solution. Sturm never got properly punished for what he did... but Bon Volt will pay back everything he did in full! You...hhh...disrespect my...hhhhhhh! Name? How...dare... As Jake says, there are punishments beyond death. I'd have had you killed, so I'd count yourself lucky that it wasn't me taking the reins. You're a vile parasite...but perhaps you will make yourself useful. Hhh... I won't...hhh...be lectured...hhh... By some kid...! Hhhhhhh! Hhhhhh! You should have...hhh...killed me... Now...hhh...I will take you all...hhh... with me! Hhhhnngggghhh!...RUMBLE...
...RUMBLE...
The base is shaking! Dammit, we need to move. Black Hole and their goddamn self-destructing bases, every goddamn time... It's gonna collapse! Everyone! Evacuate, now! We're missing Hawke! Hawke! Come on, man, let's split! I still have...one last job. Here we are. At the end of everything... And all I could do was take... I am no different than this old man... Jake... I wish I had met you...before. Wait, Hawke--no, you can still...you can still find your ambition! There's hope for you! Jake! Rose! Come on! The base is collapsing! You'll be buried alive! I...I won't leave Hawke! He can do better than this! I KNOW he can! NO! Hawke! He's in there! Hawke is still in there! No! Let me go! He's still--The base collapses as Max comes charging out, Rose under one arm, and Jake under the other, both still fighting him furiously to get back inside. Eventually, though, all that remains is rubble and dust - with Hawke buried somewhere beneath it.
But hey, we pulled off the final map with an S-rank. Nice and satisfying!
Thanks, Hawke and Javier. That definitely doesn't kill the mood of the ending or anything. Also, aren't you dead, Hawke?