"Alright then, partner! Let's get this strategy meeting started!"
Heisenberg pulled the whiteboard closer with genuine excitement, gripping the marker tightly. He seemed downright giddy about it.
"I'm not your... wait, since we're teaming up, I guess 'partner' works."
['So? You do have a shot at winning, right?']
"Oh, you bet. First off, the real pain is the Lycan horde... but you wiped out most of them at the stronghold. My mechanical legion will handle the rest."
Mechanical legion... yeah, he mentioned they're made in this factory. And there was that one with the propeller engine attached... Sturm, was it? Down below.
"What's this mechanical legion of yours?"
['Buddies of Propeller Guy?']
"Nah. The mechanical legion... they're called Soldat—the steel army. They're mechanized corpse soldiers, different from Sturm. Cyborgs built from dead bodies as the base. Oh, and no complaints about morals, got it? They've got drills on their arms, and they can take down three Lycans in about a minute. Pretty romantic, huh?"
"Uh, yeah."
['Why do guys always love drills so much?']
He took off his sunglasses, his eyes sparkling as he explained, so I nodded along. Satisfied, Heisenberg grunted and pulled over a bundle of papers clipped with iron, slapping them onto the whiteboard. They were filled with designs for various Soldats.
"Soldat Eins with a drill on the left arm, Soldat Zwei with drills on both arms, Soldat Jet with a jetpack on the back, and then Soldat Panzer, fully armored with three electric drills on each arm—plenty of variety to choose from. They all share a weakness in the Cadou control core... but Panzer overcomes that, and they're smart enough to guard it with the drills anyway. Plus, I've mass-produced them, so numbers are on our side. What do you think!"
"Sounds like reliable allies."
['I'm not one to complain about using corpses, since I've done it too.']
Heisenberg nodded, looking pleased. Honestly, it's a twisted hobby, but compared to Miranda turning living people into monsters, or Dimitrescu and Moreau, it's not as bad.
"Right? Right. But even if they ganged up, they wouldn't stand a chance against Miranda, who can manipulate the Mold at will and change her form. I've got my own trump card, but whether it'd work is iffy. So, tell me what you guys can do—especially you, Eveline!"
We exchanged glances at that. What we can do, huh.
['Um... first, I can manifest myself to any creature that's ingested Ethan's cells.']
"I can Mold my limbs and arm them with fungus. It's at Eveline's will, though. The Mold's tough enough to destroy steel structures."
['And... during that fight with the shady goth, I could attack with hallucinations... I think?']
"Just found out recently, but chugging a ton of healing fluid lets me turn into a Molded Gigante. That's about it?"
['Yeah, pretty much.']
"What? So, Eveline, you can't manipulate the Mold yourself?"
['Unfortunately not. I can control the fungus inside Ethan's body, since my current host is Ethan. But back in my old body, maybe—now, no way.']
"I see... I thought it'd be effective against Miranda's Mold control powers, but hmm. Plan change, then."
With that, Heisenberg started drawing in metal from all around the room. Before our eyes, he transformed into a monstrous form like a mass of metal, a giant bike-like thing with cranes and circular saws on its back.
"Hey, hey, what's the idea...?"
"Just a warm-up before taking on Miranda. While I'm showing off my power, I wanna feel yours firsthand. Let's fight, Ethan Winters! Man-to-man, one-on-one!"
['I'm here too, so it's not one-on-one.']
"Oops, sorry, little lady. Forgot about you. If you guys are bodies of Mold, then I'm a body of steel! Gotta thank that bitch for this much, at least. Using the power she gave me to kill her—what better way to honor your parent!"
"Hey! Wrapping yourself in metal is cheating! We're flesh and blood over here!"
"You're gonna smash Miranda—this is barely holding back! Besides, you took down Moreau's freak fish and Dimitrescu's damn lizard, so don't give me that!"
['That's true.']
"Damn it, fine! Bring it!"
"No holding back—if you die here, teaming up was pointless anyway!"
Heisenberg's metal-formed hand grabbed me and hurled me out of the building into the yard. I shot Eveline a glance, transforming both arms into Blade Molded ones and bracing. I caught the descending circular saw with my left arm, sparks flying with a grating screech.
['If I wasn't here, you'd be dead!?']
"Is that all you've got, Ethan?"
"Hah! If this was enough to break me... I'd have lost to Dimitrescu ages ago!"
"Yeah, fair point!"
With that, I swung my right arm up, knocking it back. Heisenberg drifted his bike-like body, circling around me.
"Not bad. Impressive, Winters. But... can you handle this!"
"Eveline, come on!"
['Got it! Let's do thiiis!']
As falling steel beams came crashing down, I quickly doused the saw-gouged wound on my left arm with healing fluid. Catching them with both arms, Eveline merged with me, the Mold swelling. We formed the Molded Gigante and shoved the beams away.
['If you're a monster, then so are we!']
"Peel off that iron, and it's our win, right?"
"Bring it, Eveline, Ethan. I'm a warrior fighting for freedom!"
We caught the circular saws with both hands, forcing the rotation to a halt and snapping the arms clean off. As we followed up with an uppercut that sent the head(?) flying and swung down the arm hammer—the crane spun sideways, slamming into us. We flew straight horizontally toward the factory, with a bottomless pit ahead.
["'Ah.'"]
"Oh, crap. Well, there's water down there—you'll survive, right?"
"You bastard, think about the mass difference aaaahhh!!"
['Waaahhhh!? Ethaaaan!?']
As we plummeted, I desperately formed a blade on my right arm and stabbed it into the wall, but the Molded Gigante's weight wouldn't stop us. The blade slipped out, and we slammed back-first into the water at the bottom.
"What the!? A Molded...!?"
["'Chris!?'"]
Probably the factory's lowest level. Standing there, handgun in hand, was Chris.
"You know my name... who the hell are you!"
"Don't shoot! It's me, Chris."
Chris eyed my Molded Gigante form warily, but when Eveline separated and my normal self emerged, he frowned while keeping his gun raised.
"Ethan? What the hell is going on? That form...?"
"It's a long story."
['A really long one.']
"...I told you to stay out of this."
"You really think I'd back off after that? Miranda took my daughter and my wife."
"Tch! How do you know that...?"
"I know you didn't kill Mia. Heisenberg told me."
"Heisenberg?"
"Yeah. We're teaming up. To get Rose back."
Chris's face twisted in shock, then fury as he closed in on me.
"Teaming up with that guy? What are you thinking!? He's Miranda's lackey!"
"Then why didn't you explain things first!?"
['Yeah, yeah!']
"I figured if you knew, you'd get involved! Dragging civilians in complicates everything! But teaming up with Heisenberg of all people!"
"Heisenberg wants to kill Miranda. That's why we're partnering. You wouldn't tell me anything, so I had no choice. To get Rose back, I'd team up with a villain if I had to! The enemy of my enemy is my friend!"
Chris clammed up, looking guilty with a grumble. He thought for a moment, then spoke.
"...Fine. I won't say anything about teaming with Heisenberg. I'll tell my squad to stay out of your way. But this factory's dangerous—we can't leave it unchecked. We're planting bombs to destroy it. ...You gonna stop us?"
"...No. But wait until we've got the forces to take down Miranda. The Soldats... the ones made here—we need them."
"I'll see what I can do. You're fighting Miranda with Heisenberg and his legion? We'd like to back you up, but... Heisenberg and us are enemies. If you're fighting alongside him, don't count on our support."
['Don't want friendly fire from bad blood, right?']
"Got it. By the way, know a way back up?"
"There's an elevator over there. Best way back."
"Thanks."
"Miranda's strong. Don't underestimate her. ...I won't mention that form you had."
"Let me explain next time we meet."
"Yeah. As squad leader, I can't make uncertain changes to the op. We'll go separate ways, but good luck."
He gave us a glance, and we boarded the elevator he pointed out, heading back up. ...I'll keep quiet to Heisenberg about the factory getting blown up as payback for dropping us.
['Yeah. That's fair.']
Back on the surface, Heisenberg was back to normal, laughing as he apologized. But the alarms started blaring almost immediately.
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