SMG4:// Exodus

Part 6: Enfant

AN: This Part is dedicated to Bromley, who gave me the best childhood anyone could have asked for. Sleep tight, pupper. 2011-2024 🐶

Ch 1: Among Eagles...

"You're the new member???"

I anxiously crack a smile. My upgraded Meta Arm sags at my side, much heavier now than yesterday. Susan Wojcicki leans apprehensively against the helicopter in front of us. Shaggy sits under the open bay door eating an even larger sandwich than last time. Waluigi stands behind me; he brought me down here. Today's a hot day; one of the first of spring. The sun drapes us all in lashes of heat as we stand her on the helipad next to the castle garage.

"So...," Matt raises the corner of his mouth, "Do you want us to give you a Junior Firefighter sticker or something?

"Like... lay off her, will ya, man?" Shaggy says inbetween bites of sandwich, "She's probably just going to keep morale up or something."

"What?" Matt shoots back, "is she gonna - like - play video games for the people who are leaving? There's no way she actually expects to be out there fighting!"

Everybody looks at me expectantly. My face gets hot with shame.

"I'm not fighting. I'm just doing first aid...," my voice trails off, "...and collecting field d-data..."

"Tari is by royal decree our teammate," Waluigi states, "She will be with us on all missions, albeit giving support from the side instead of actually containing the NMs. She will be in charge of directing evacuation out of the city, organizing first aid and triage, and reporting statistics back to E. Gadd so we can better understand our enemy."

"What's the point?" Matt asks shocked, "Either way, she's clearly in no fit state to actually be out there. Tari's going to be too much of a liability for us! It isn't any of our jobs to look after her and its just too likely she'll get turned into a steaming pile of purple shit as soon as she sets foot in the city."

"On the contrary," Waluigi glares, "E. Gadd says Tari's Meta Arm has been upgraded last night. The self-preservation capabilities already installed in the device have been updated and a great deal of new defense measures have been packed into the shell. Take a look..."

Waluigi walks up next to me. Before I have even time to think, Waluigi twitches sharply and I feel a violent jolt against me powerful enough to certainly have killed me. I open my eyes and see Waluigi's pinky finger bracing hard against a bright blue panel of hardlight erupting from my Meta Arm as high and wide around as the helicopter.

"Voila," Waluigi says dramatically, "Portable Epithelium!"

I get sarcastic applause from Matt. I don't register it; I'm too busy trying to hold in the tremendous amount of fear in my body.

"Her arm also works as a slightly weaker LIMEADe," Waluigi continues, "It draws Meme Energy from a tiny Star Power battery, so it's not nearly capable of being used for combat like Meggy Spletzer. However, it is useful for counteracting small amounts of NME and stopping Corruption at the source. Tari is more than perfectly capable of protecting herself and the people around her."

"I dunno," Matt shrugged, "Maybe it is just me being on a team with the three other most powerful people in the Universe... but in my mind, 'Useful' means 'Can knock down a Level 3 in one hit' - aka Matt from Wii Sports."

Susan shoots Matt an aggressive look, then sighs. "Smashing through the streets and leveling entire blocks might have worked the first few times but considering the sheer amount of people still in those big cities like NDC, we can't act like we won't have to watch our tails, so to speak."