Part 43

Anita's HP is low. And when I say low I mean that you would have to tunnel to the center of the earth to find her ma health. That's her level 3- the best Wanzer I can get for her right now. Luckily, she's a small target, but the AI likes to negate that by flying into every land mine or other trap it can find.

This will not be easy.


I thought we'd be seeing more of him here.

Yeah. Guess he thinks he can finish the Society off alone. When you think about it... We're really not that different.

Too bad all your similarities are also your worst traits.

Think it'll come down to a fight again?

Count on it.

Too bad, really. Maybe one day we'll be able to see eye-to-eye with him.

Maybe one day you'll shut up and let us get to the level.


I'm picking up an aerial warship on radar.

Looks like the gloves are off now.

That proves it. We're getting closer to their very core.


More of the usual. Luckily it doesn't last very long before the fun part begins.


They're beginning a bombardment!

Are they crazy? They'll hit their own forces, too!

That ship's staying at high altitude... You won't be able to reach it with your Vernier alone.

Guess it's time to play chicken!


Or I could just stand under this barrier. That should work. Dammit Anita stop running into those bombs! It's not that hard! Just float under this secure peace of scenery and-


warship!

Could it be...?

Yes. Big surprise.


Give it up. Even with the Guardians behind you, you still don't stand a chance.

Why are you doing this?

"If I didn't answer that question the last sixteen times you asked, why would I do it now?"

You of all people should know what the Society's defeat means for the world!

The world? The world can go to hell for all I care.


Woah! Anita mysteriously got replaced by Rook for the rest of the update! I simply can't explain it. Just as I can't explain Anita getting blown up repeatedly by falling bombs in this section!

Stop lying to yourself and listen to Albert for once!

Rook... oh, what the hell do YOU know? I can take care of my own affairs. Just don't get in my way again!

Be thankful I did the Rook path. In the other version I had a MY BUSINESS joke.

Brenda! I don't want another fight. Can you pick me up?

Sure... just gimmie a second to dodge that warship.

WHAT? Wait!

P.S: Rook refuses to go through the rest of this level. It doesn't actually matter because there's very little EXP. Except this entire level is about retreating so him leaving makes no sense, especially considering he goes back to the left whereas you move to the right.


So you dash left and Genoce chases you for a while. For no reason at all, you can't actually hurt him here.


Eventually the evil god of glitchy screenshots swallows him and you can escape.






Throw it in the pile with the other ones.

Couldn't track the warship, though... It's like it just vanished into thin air.

If it ends up being able to teleport I will snap. I will just snap.

Genoce, on board a Society ship... Suppose that means he's one of them now.

...Pray he doesn't find Miss Royce. We must stop this ship...

Why? You never presented a compelling reason to care about Lady Forehead. But anyway...


A Brazillian military base?

Uh... what about one?

Colgare houses a high-level Society computer complex. I'm hoping to pick up a few tidbits here.

Like the location of their headuarters?

Exactly! So we're going to do a bit of hacking...

Excellent! I can fall back on a series of "movies don't understand hacking" jokes. We'll start by downloading this virus to their mainframe! That wavelength is hacking into Air Force 1!

How? I don't know the first thing about computers.

No sweat! If you hook up a data cable to mainframe, I can access it from the carrier.

I'll see what I can do.

Good luck!


Contact me as soon as you find it. I'll guide you from there.


Generic base environment!


Hey, Tuxedo Ted! Is this the level you were talking about? Because I'm about to DESTROY IT!


This place is a shitty maze, but if you reach this room, go to the upper-right as shown. It's pretty clear sailing from there.


What now?

It's... a really tall arcade cabinet?

Get out of your Wanzer and hook up the data cable.

I'll take care of the rest!

Roger.

"B-Brenda? It... it's not working."

"What? What's wrong?"

"It's not working!"

"Well what's happening?"

"I don't know. It's not working! I think it has a virus!"

four hours later...

"Oh, I found this power cord. Should that be plugged in?"

* sound of head banging on desk *

Damn it! We've wasted our time!

What?

This thing hasn't got the clearance we need. Everything about the Society itself's locked down tight.

What now?

Fall back. We'll have to try our luck at Via Blanca instead.

What about general data?



I'm not about to leave empty-handed.

Just a sec... Aha! That battleship we ran into earlier is the "Rio de Sambo". Seems it's connected to a facility located at Galtsa. That help any?

Perfect! I'm heading back now.






Huzzah!


Guys? ...We've already planned an all-out assault there. I don't know if we'll be able to get in before our forces level the place...

Damn! Can't you postpone the attack?

It's too late for that now.

We'll manage. Well, we can use the assault as a diversion. If we attack first, the Guardians will lose the benefit of surprise. That'd place them in a tight spot.

So instead we'll pull off a delicate information raid while the building is being bombed. Hell yeah!

What about us? ...... We don't have a choice, do we? Fine. Bring on the Guardians.

I'm sorry.

Welp, rather than just sit here and wait, why don't we take a crack at that Rio de Sambo? No sense in leaving a weapon like THAT flying around.

I love the name. It's so... festive!

That means tracking down that facility in Galtsa.

It's worth a shot.

Alright. I'll lead you there.

But first, it's SUPER HAPPY GRIND TIME!








Equipment purchased: Vernier 5, Dash 4, LASER 4!!!!, Armour Vest 5 for on-foot (you'll see why), upgrade for attack power in LG4, Espada 4 for Anita.

The new laser actually has really low attack power initially, but the higher number means it still does more damage due to the "armour class" factor.