The Suite Life X

26 - A Chaotic Duel

The two Hunters were greeted by a carefree, high-pitched voice upon stepping out.

"Whee!"

The Maverick didn't even seem to notice their presence, floating along happily amongst orbs of electricity.

The two exchanged looks, not quite sure how to proceed.

"So, um, you wanna try and talk to it?" The boy asked.

"Uh..."

She hesitated for a moment before realizing just how tired she was and shrugging. What did she have to lose?

"Hey. You!"

The robotic power suit stopped in place at her shout.

"Stop being a mad-lib and doing evil...things. Otherwise, we'll have to smash you to pieces. Comprende?"

There was a moment of uneasy silence.

"I think you were going for 'Maverick'..." Zack whispered in correction, mostly to fill in said silence.

"...I'm no Maverick. I'm not a mad-lib, either."

The twin raised an eyebrow while London seemed more visibly taken aback. "You're not?!"

"No..."

The girl blinked before turning to the shorter teen. "Is this that 'gaslighting' thing people keep talking about...?"

"Ahem." The throat clearing noise actually came from Alia, realizing that this wasn't really going anywhere. "Can we move this along, please?"

"Then why are you here?" Zack asked, getting things back on track.

The formerly silent creature seemed to perk up, his words giddy and childlike. "Master told me to eliminate all Hunters as part of his glorious plan!" He did a little spin in the air as he said the last part. "He brought me back and let me play here again 'till you got here."

Master? the twin thought, though he said, "Sorry, but playtime's over. We're Hunters, and we're here for a reason, so can we just get this over with?"

"Exterminate!" Man-O-War proclaimed with the most cheerful of voices as its orbs circled around it.

"So...this isn't that 'gaslighting' thing..."

"London!" the voices rang out from both of her friends, prompting her to just shrug her shoulders and get ready. "Whatever."

---

The battle started out smoothly enough, with London dealing out long-distance hits and Zack attacking whenever their opponent wandered too close.

In fact, the only problem, if it could even be called that, at the start was what the very insane robot was spouting off during all this.

Mostly, it was weird nonsense such as "Did I do that?" and "Spicy mustard!" upon hitting one of them and getting hit, respectively. Unfortunately, it had to steal another catchphrase upon hitting London at one point.

"Yay, me!"

Predictably, this lit a fire underneath the girl, to the point that she forgot how tired she was and doubled down on firing her weapons.

"Now I know you didn't just steal my legally binding catchphrase, you alien freak! You're going down!"

From that point, Zack might as well not have even existed for how little attention she paid him. She was shooting with abandon and hitting whatever exposed area she could.

The twin wouldn't say it, but his stomach was dropping (at least metaphorically speaking) as things wore on. She was completely taking over the fight now...

...and no amount of screaming her name was getting her attention. Not him, not Bailey screaming into the comms, not even Axl in the background doing the same could grab her attention.

He knew he could be stubborn (many post-scheme lectures from Cody, his mother, Carey, Mr. Moseby, and many others) drilled that fact pretty deeply into his skull. She was on a whole other level, though. Absolutely nothing and nobody, however, could deter London Tipton from whatever she wanted to do.

As their foe began to further take damage, it began speeding up its pattern and teleporting around. Attacks became more erratic and hard to track, ruining the girl's aim entirely while making her take more damage.

Zack was debating dragging her away kicking and screaming when he started warping around for electrified ramming attacks. She very narrowly dodged the first two attempts.

She wouldn't get lucky a third time.

A near direct hit sent her flying off the building.

"NOOOO!" Snapped out of his indecisive stupor and forgetting about the Maverick entirely, he frantically dove off the building in hot pursuit without a second thought.

He raced to the ground, using Speed Burner for a necessary burst of speed to catch up with her.

He caught her before she hit the ground, but his adversary wouldn't leave him alone.

The second Man-O-War came within range, Zack didn't so much as fight it as much as he near animalistically tore it apart with his claws (not that it was a very difficult task to do so considering its already weakened state).

The deed done, he stared at and numbly picked up London's battered, lifeless...

No! He wouldn't let himself think that way. That thought pattern sounded way too much like she was... She would be okay...

As if things couldn't get any worse...

"The Maverick readings have disappeared," Alia reported. "Is everyone alright?"

Silence.

"Zack...?" She was getting nervous, judging by the sound of her voice.

Unfortunately, Bailey would pick up on this. "Zack, are you guys okay?"

"I-I am..." Even he knew he sounded as if he'd just witnessed a car accident.

The farm girl's voice broke upon putting two and two together, but to her credit, she attempted to remain professional. "And London...?"

How badly he wanted to lie. He wanted just as much for the usually seemingly invincible darker toned girl to hop out of his arms and grumble at him for picking her up like that when he could walk just fine or complain that she was about to finish the Maverick off herself.

His mouth wouldn't work regardless of what he wanted. "She..."

"I...see." Alia's words were gentle. "We'll deal with the orb after we pick you up. Hang in there."

Soon, they both vanished from the spot, with Zack unaware of a faint buzzing sound as well as his friend's eyes glowing the faintest bit red just as it happened...

---

WEAPONS ACQUIRED

Triad Thunder (X): Sends three triangular orbs of energy around the user before discharging them upwards and to the sides in a triangular pattern.

Lightning Rod (Zero): The user plants his saber on the ground, and lightning immediately strikes wherever it is.

Rebound Shocker (Axl): The user unleashes a ricocheting shot that electrocutes and goes through enemies.

Thunder Beam (Cody): A beam of electricity that splits upwards, downwards, and straight ahead.

Electro Snatcher (Zack): The user shoots a spear of electricity forward that does damage as it traps enemies in its grip and pulls them in close.