Meditat felt his body lowering as the hostages tried harder to grip onto his arms, regardless of the boosting of his arms trying to push them down. He took a deep breath, seeing that even after his warning, none of them even lightened their grip.
He sighed softly, and apologized, "I'm so sorry," before he increased the strength of his arms' boosts.
His arms glowed brighter with more powerful energy being pushed out, and he watched as the two hostages gripping onto him screamed in more pain. He winced in guilt, but he knew there's nothing else he could do to stop them.
The two hostages let go from the increase of power, and they fell to the floor, along with the other six hostages holding onto them.
Meditat sighed in bitter relief, and he transformed both of his gauntlets into arm cannons, intended to fire down on both of the twins, especially after their horrifying display of power that took advantage of all the fearful hostages.
However, before he could fully prepare himself, two more people grabbed onto him, specifically his knees. He felt their arms wrap around them in a hug, and his eyes widened in surprise as they pulled him down to the ground, using more of their body weight in the pull as opposed to the desperate clawing of the other hostages.
Meditat gritted his teeth as he was pulled to the ground, surprised by the sudden empowerment. He turned beside him to see both of the men on the floor, sitting to lower themselves as much as possible while gripping his legs to hold him from flying back up.
He observed both of them, noticing that their irises were red, as they seemed to be the ones affected by Peitho. However, the hostages didn't seem fearful, in fact they seemed entirely emotionless, making no sound as they complied with the actions as obedient mindless drones. The person inside them was sucked out, and replaced by an authoritarian command, one that forced them to pull Meditat to the ground.
Meditat tried to move his feet, trying to boost his feet more to fly back up, however the two didn't seem to let go regardless of how much power he put, for they were unable to tend to their own pains, giving their lives up to follow the command.
He turned ahead of himself, unable to move the two men, and his eyes widened as he saw both Peitho and Medea run straight towards him. With Meditat unable to move, they each placed one of their glowing hands on the back of Meditat's neck, an odd and uncomfortable move.
Their hands felt extremely cold, as though they were made of ice, which caused him to feel a sting.
Meditat's eyes blink once from the reaction of the sting, struggling to fight for freedom. His eyes close a second time, however this time, they don't open back up again. Instead, Meditat stops resisting, as he loosens his body, no longer struggling against the two hostages under control.
He stops trying to boost for escape, and instead he collapses on the ground lifelessly, as it seems he has been rendered completely unconscious in seconds. He hits the white floor of the top level of the Octagon facility, his head resting on the side. While his eyes and body continue to glow passively, he's no longer able to move his body, for his mind exits the real world and enters a new darker one.
The two hostages gripping onto Meditat's legs finally let go, and they stare at Meditat's body in silence. Their red irises then start to change color back to the original brown of their eyes, and once it completely returns, they both blink several times.
They then hastily pick themselves up on their feet, and look down at the sleeping Meditat, terrified of what they witness, as it seems their one savior is gone. They turn to the two twins in fear, as from where they woke up, it was as though they caused the defeat.
The rest of the hostages all on the ground after having been pushed down by Meditat slowly start waking up, sitting up on the floor and putting their hands on their heads as though they were disoriented.
Their yellow irises visually shift colors too, regressing back to their normal colors of browns and blues. They shake their heads as they seem to also be let off of the control, and they all turn to Meditat's limp body. The site of the body begins to regrow the fear within them, as they all get on their feet, stepping back as they realize that the horrifying monster they were trying to take down was the one man seeming to be trying to save them.
They then all turn to the twins and Cratus, who stand before the body, having seemingly finished the job.
Peitho stares down at Meditat's glowing body, and he orders the hostages, "All of you, get back into your corner, or next I'll make all of you jump out the window."
All of the hostages begin hastily running back towards the corner of the room where they originally were, abiding by the command in fear of death. From what the man seemed to imply, they all realize they did in fact take down their savior, making them all feel a terrible overwhelming guilt.
They stop in their corner, staring back at Meditat, just hoping and praying that he wakes up again.
Cratus steps between Peitho and Medea, and he looks down at the body as well. He comments, "I've never seen this before, I'm guessing he isn't just dead though."
Peitho shakes his head, and he explains, "Not dead, just asleep. Me and Medea have been practicing on strengthening our abilities for a while now in meditations, and we just forced Meditat into deep REM sleep. Right now, he probably thinks he's still conscious. I'd even bet he thinks he's defeating us right now, I'm letting Medea do the heavy thinking until it's ready to move him into the Purgatory. In this state, he won't be able to move his body, which means it shouldn't be too hard for someone like you to take him apart. I'll let you do whatever you want with him, just don't make it overly gruesome please."
Cratus tilts his head from side by side, stretching his neck. He then drives his right fist into his open left hand, and crackles his knuckles, preparing for the easy execution.
He responds, "I can't confirm on the last part, even with my rapid healing this man has ruined my perfect face for quite a bit. I want to make sure to do what he did to me tenfold. He also traumatized you all, so for that he deserves a brutal death, even if he can't feel it, I'll make sure it hurts."
Peitho turns his head to Cratus, and he informs, "Well, go at it, I can probably buy you solid hours, I'm sure you don't need that long though. I'm going to join Medea now. This is the first time we're doing something of this scale, I want to take part in it."
Cratus slowly begins to walk towards Meditat's body, and he strikes his open hand twice, as though readying to strike. He moves his hands to his side, getting ready to walk on top of the blue suit, already visualizing what he plans to do.
He states, "Well, whatever dream he's having in there, he doesn't deserve a nice one. I want his last moments to be in the greatest fears imaginable, so probe his deepest anxieties and make him live it to the worst extent. Then maybe the one good thing I can grant him is the death he'll desire."
Peitho nods his head, and he replies, "I'll make him suffer. We'll pull out once we sense that he's gone, until then, we'll be standing here."
He then looks down at Meditat's body, and seems to freeze, as though he fully immerses himself into the nightmare he created.
Cratus nods his head, and he looks down at Meditat's white mask and blue eyes.
The blue eyes stare back at him, seeming to still be active, as the mind still works. However, below the goggles, Meditat's true eyes are shut, as he's deeply unconscious.
As Meditat lays asleep, Orial shouts into his ear with great anxiety, "Meditat? Meditat? Sir? Are you there? Hello? Meditat, they're going to, Meditat, do you read me? Come on sir, wake up, wake up now."
However, Meditat doesn't wake up, and Orial watches through the lens of the goggles as Cratus stands over the body, and pulls his right arm back, ready to deal back the brutal beating that Meditat gave him in the elevator.
Orial scans Meditat's brain, finding him in deep REM sleep, with scans even indicating that he seems to be in the process of dreaming so quickly. It's clear that whatever the twins did, they put him into an instant dream, and he wouldn't be waking up so quickly either.
He lets out a soft sigh, realizing how dire the situation is, and how while he was trying to save the city, someone needed to save him from certain death.
He quietly states, "I don't know how much time I can buy for you, but you will wake up alive. I promise, Rohan."
Cratus lets out a great roar of rage, and throws his fist straight towards Meditat's lying body.
However, to his surprise, the knees of Meditat glow blue once again, and his body boosts forward against the floor. He slides away from Cratus, leaving his fist to embed itself into the floor rather than Meditat's body.
Cratus grunts in confusion and raises his head, seeing Meditat's body sliding down the room and towards the window, seeming to be escaping. He shakes his head, and pulls his fist out of the white floor, leaving a gaping hole under him. He stands back up to his feet, and complains, "I thought he wouldn't be moving! What is this, come back here boy, I'm going to saw your neck off with your own intestines!"
Enraged by Meditat's movement, Cratus begins running towards the body, trying to stop it from leaving the building.
Meditat's body successfully flies past the open hole left where the window once was, and it flies out of the Octagon building, leaving the lobby and the Babylonians behind in retreat.
However, while the suit initially escapes the building, it seems unable to keep itself up in the air for long, as it begins plummeting down to the ground below. The body descends down helplessly, still appearing limp as though the body is still asleep without any control over itself.
Below the body is the forest far under, as the Octagon is one of the taller buildings, and from the top floor is quite a fall. The fall in fact seems lethal if a landing isn't well executed, but there's no consciousness to make the landing.
The body falls down several floors, accelerating towards the ground. The lifeless blue and white hand stays loosely open as it passes the various floors, descending down towards its demise.
However, the hand suddenly seems to tense, and then clenches shut in a fist, as though the body is suddenly alive. The whole arm then moves over the over, seeming to be crossing, with even the shoulder stretching. The hand opens again as the whole body seems reanimated, bending its own body as its eyes stay up at the sky, watching the black void ahead.
The body then spins horizontally, throwing its back around to face the sky. The once blanketing cape now begins dancing violently in the winds of the fast fall, as the blue goggles stare down under the chainmail hood.
The body seems alive as the eyes target the ground under the trees, finding its landing spot. It spreads its arms and legs out in free fall for a few moments as it tries to analyze the best way to land. Once it does, it slowly starts moving its body, bringing its knee up and pulling its arm back.
The suit plummets to the ground, finally crashing down, causing an explosion of dust and artificial dirt to fly everywhere. The cloud of dust remains for a few moments among the dark green forest of the crash site, as silence returns.
The dust moves away, revealing the suit, which is positioned in a landing, kneeling down with one of its hands on the ground to mediate the pressure. The suit doesn't seem to have crashed at all, as it doesn't appear damaged, but instead in completely fine shape.
The suit slowly stands back up to its feet, appearing to now move once again, as though the man inside is alive. It pulls its hand from the ground as the cape glides behind it, and it turns to face the building ahead.
Suddenly however, another object crashes about ten feet ahead of it, causing another explosion of dust. The suit stands still without reaction, staring at the object as the gust of wind blows past the body.
As the dust cloud disperses, the man in the orange suit is revealed, having landed down on the ground as well.
The man stands up to his feet, his yellow glowing eyes staring under its stone orange armor. He takes slow and deep breaths through the glowing jaw, seeming to try holding back its own rage upon seeing the suit able to move again.
Cratus's hands close into fists again, and he glares at the suit, watching it face him without any sort of reaction warranting fear. The lack of reaction irritates Cratus, as he huffs and steps forward, his foot crushing the ground below as it leaves a mark in the dirt.
He then bellows angrily, "What does this mean, huh? You should be asleep dreaming about whatever the hell the boys up there are cooking for you, what are you doing up and about?"
The suit stares back at Cratus's body for a few moments as Orial tries analyzing the situation. As Cratus speaks, he runs hundreds of tests and checks on the suit, reading the power levels and system conditions.
To Orial's amazement, it seems that even in deep sleep Meditat is still exerting an adequate flow of energy into the suit, as the suit itself is still solid, and there's enough energy to keep all of the systems running and capable. The suit is still completely operational, however still missing the vital component of the man who should be piloting it.
While Orial has had the protocol to take control of the body for months now, he only ever used it once to help Meditat boost away from Dana during their fight when he wasn't able to execute the move himself on time. He'd rather let Meditat fight since he was the well trained combatant while Orial simply helped in his head, more of an overwatch than a soldier. But now, he doesn't have such luxury, as Meditat wasn't there at all to fight.
Orial contemplates using the suit's maneuverability systems to retreat from the mission and find a safe vantage point to land, perhaps until Meditat would wake up. However at the same time, he realizes that in doing so he'd be failing Meditat's mission against his will, and he knows full well that Meditat would rather stay in the dangerous fight than cower away. It would be wrong of him to make that choice for him, and so he concludes that he'd have to stay in the mission, even if he'd have to take it from here.
Orial connects to the suit's speakers that Meditat would normally use for himself to speak with his filtered voice, however this time Orial uses it to project his own voice.
The suit takes a step towards Cratus, and Orial responds in his male British voice, "Meditat is out of commission for now, but I am here to keep him protected from the likes of you."
Cratus tilts his head in confusion, surprised by the unfamiliar voice that suddenly comes out of the man he thought he heard every voice of. He stands straight, puzzled more than aggressive by the development.
He questions with surprise, "Huh...how many voices do you have? I thought you were more American than British. Or wait, what do you mean, are you saying you aren't Meditat then? Who are you, and how are you controlling his body?"
Orial, who controls the suit, stares down at Cratus. He then responds, "My name is Orial, I am an A.I created by Meditat who assists him during his ventures. Also, I am not controlling his body, rather I am in control of his suit's artificial skeletal system."
Cratus hmms, and he remarks "Hmm, Orial, you say? I didn't know I'd be crushing two this year, but I won't complain. So Meditat has his own little robot pet, huh? I guess that makes sense, if he couldn't tell us his secret then the only person he could trust was a computer program. It's sad really, how pathetic must he be to need to resort to a toy like you. Well, Orial, that's nice and all, my name is Cratus. And I'm going to be crushing that suit you're controlling, and the man underneath it."
Orial raises both of the arms, aiming them at Cratus. He then taps into the suit's weapons systems, and both of the gauntlets of the suit transform into the arm cannons, as he seems to be able to control them as well.
At the same time, both of the shoulder cannons pop out of the golden pads, revealing both the dart launcher and vents. He aims all of the systems right at Cratus, and charges them to fire.
The three rings on each cannon illuminate, and he argues, "I am no pet, nor is he pathetic. In fact, it's you all who are the pathetic individuals, massacring countless innocents during the night and then pretending to be kindhearted friends during the day. Also, you will not be crushing either of those two, I can assure that."
Cratus holds his arms out, almost as though inviting Orial without any fear. He wagers, "Oh, you have all his toys too, that's neat. I will admit, Orial, I do respect your master or whatever he is to you, besides my face is still not so pretty under this mask. But if humans are landfill, you are nothing but dust. So please, go ahead and fire everything at me, show me what your inheritance can do."
Orial glares at Cratus, sensing the strong demeanor from him. He takes the bet, and he fires concentrated beams from both of the arm cannons straight at Cratus's chest. At the same time, he also fires a beam from the shoulder cannon as well, trying to cut through Cratus's armor with all the concentrated streams he has access to.
However, while he fires with as much power as he can provide, none of the beams seem to penetrate through the thick stone armor. The red layer underneath begins to glow brighter however, as it seems to react to the heat, yet even then Cratus doesn't move nor seems bothered, as it only means the suit is helping him absorb all the damage, meaning none of it is truly fatal to him or even harmful.
Orial stops the three streams, and he observes that there aren't even marks on the orange pieces. Realizing that the first strikes weren't enough, he goes for a different approach, and both of the gauntlets transform into the plasma launchers.
He then pulls both arms back in a uniform manner, his back still straight as he only executes the proper move to begin charging the launchers. Purple and blue streams of plasma start emerging from the open barrels of the launchers, and they begin to start creating orbs that gradually grow larger.
At the same time, the many holes in the grid of the right shoulder cannon start to light up, as though he's charging the darts for firing.
Cratus's suit stops glowing after the beams stop, and he tilts his head to the side, seeming not even slightly bothered from the strike. He stands his ground, awaiting the next attempted strike with no hesitation or anxiety.
After reaching a stage that seems adequate, Orial throws both of the arms forward, releasing both plasma orbs straight towards Cratus. As the orbs begin moving towards the target, all of the darts readied in the shoulder cannon fire at once, sending a barrage of explosive darts straight at Cratus as well.
He watches as the barrage all strikes Cratus, erupting continuous explosions on the armor. During the strikes, the two plasma balls hit the target, and both of them release an incredible explosion, so much that it even pushes the suit back.
Orial holds his ground as the black boots dig into the dirt, with the shockwave of the explosion passing through him. The explosions all stop, and he keeps his head up, trying to assess the damages in hopes that it worked.
However, as the dust clears from the explosions, Cratus is revealed to be standing up, with not even a scratch on him. He just stands straight, staring back at Orial unmoved.
Cratus lets out a tired sigh, and he explains "I don't know if Meditat told you this, but none of those weapons have any chances of affecting me. I guess he wouldn't bother telling someone like you who couldn't even fight with him, I'm guessing all you're good for is a GPS and maybe if he really put in the extra effort he made you into a good watch to tell the time. Anyways, the only weapons he has that I can even feel are his armored fists, so that's the only way you could hope to do anything to me."
Orial puts the right foot back, keeping his eyes on Cratus. He then transforms both of the gauntlets into the armored fists, overlaying the white and blue gloves with the carbon fiber black gear while the rest of his gauntlet thickens.
He remarks as he stares at Cratus while computing for an attack plan, "For someone as condescending as you, you sure do fall into clumsy behaviors. Why tell me your one weakness then if you know what it could do to you?"
Cratus tilts his head upon hearing the question, and he shrugs his shoulders casually.
He then answers, "Well, I know what those fists can do to me, I've been taught that several times. However, all of those punches were thrown by Meditat, a man of flesh and blood, a true warrior that I can accept as an opponent. I know it's already embarrassing that he fights in that metal can of his but at least there's a man controlling that can. You? You're a bot made of nothing but software and code, controlling a metal body. You're nothing but a robot, and the only damage robots can deal are shooting giant laser cannons or guiding homing missiles. Meditat's only chances of fighting me isn't fighting like a walking weapon system, when he fights me he has to resort to using his inner man to get the job down. He has to get dirty and use real techniques, sure he's using bigger hands but at the end of the day he uses them to fight me the way real people fight, not using metal guns but rather the bodies they were born with. But you are not a man, you're just a robot. You don't have that flesh and blood that makes men who they are, that makes them capable of fighting the way Meditat would need to stand a chance against me. So yes, I did tell you my one weakness, because I know that you can't exploit it. Because you're just a robot, you're not strong. Men are strong."
Cratus then waves his hands and puts his hands behind his back, keeping it away from being able to fight with it.
He then offers, "But you can try to mimic for all I care. Come on, hit me, show me the best your programming can do."
Orial glares at Cratus after hearing the degradation. He then digs the boots deeper into the ground, and closes the carbon fiber hands into tightened fists, taking on the challenge.
He then leaps forward, and throws the right fist towards Cratus, aiming it straight at his face with the intention to knock him out.
Before the fist can land however, Cratus ducks under the fist and moves to the side, evading the strike with minimal movement. He steps back as he watches Orial turn to him, and run towards him again, throwing the left fist forward this time.
Once more, Cratus simply ducks below the punch, bobbing past Orial and turning around to face him from behind, his hands remaining behind his back.
He slowly walks backwards as Orial chases him, throwing a flurry of punches towards Cratus, trying to strike him at any possible opening, however Cratus easily evades all of them without seeming to try.
As Cratus evades every punch with simple ducks and spins, he chants, "Again. Again. Again. Again. Again."
Orial throws another punch for Cratus's neck, however Cratus strafes to the side, standing in front of the extended arm.
Cratus then brings his arms in front and grabs the wrist of the gauntlet, to which he spins Orial around, ragdolling the blue suit until it's in front of him. He then pulls Orial close to him, and his yellow eyes glare into the blue goggles.
He brings his left hand up, and places his pointer finger on his thumb, holding the other three fingers up. He brings the hand close to the white helmet's forehead, gripping onto Orial's wrist tightly.
He then harshly criticizes, "Your moves are so stiff, you pathetic ersatz."
He then flicks his finger into the white forehead, a simple move that seems to cause an explosive strike that throws Orial far back into the deep forest.
Orial flies through the forest, passing various trees with immense speed from the simple strike. The back of the suit then strikes one of the trees, causing part of the artificial bark to break, as Orial feels the suit taking heavy damage as well as the body underneath.
Every strike he took would hurt Meditat more, and if he wasn't being careful, one of those would end him.
But as the blue body breaks through the entire tree, causing it to crack in half on impact, Orial understands that he is at a major disadvantage against the current enemy.
For it was true that he was only a machine while the opponent was a man.
And the end of the fight would leave only the best man standing.