(Back inside the tower, during Infinity’s fight with Hunter and during Flare and the others’ escape, Infinity performs Shadow Quickstep repeatedly as the purple infinity sign on his mask glows with energy. While dodging Hunter’s relentless advances, he examines the tower by switching to the perspective of several masked shadow soldiers, coming to realize exactly what’s going on: he sees the soldiers getting attacked by a swarm of drones as well as Pulse, Proxy, and Mistrick being the ones behind that sudden gambit.)
Infinity: (thinking to himself) So that’s how it is.
(Infinity assumes control of the masked shadow soldiers, teleporting them out of the mess they were in with the swarm of drones attacking them. Some of them reappear around Pulse, Proxy, and Mistrick, adding reinforcements to the soldiers already firing at them, to the trio’s surprise.)
Proxy: (surprised) Now where did they come from?!
(The soldiers open fire, and Proxy is forced to form two energy barriers at both sides with several tech parts, gritting her teeth as she tries to shield herself and her teammates. Meanwhile, with the masked shadow soldiers gone, the drones continue swarming the area looking for targets, but then one of them gets taken out by a blast from none other than Hollow, whose Overdrive Surge has returned.)
Hollow: (sternly) Time to sort out this mess.
(The drones spot Hollow and immediately open fire, only for him to cancel them all out with an energy shockwave and then lunge at him. He takes several drones out one by one at high speed while simultaneously firing barrages of blasts at the others, destroying them all in no time with a dominant display of power. He glances at his energized fist, clenching it tightly.)
Hollow: (firmly) I’ve already let Gauntlet escape. I need to assist my master at once.
(He immediately runs off to assess the situation and deal with it. Elsewhere, Proxy notices that the drones under her control were taken out, and she attempts to piece them back together. However, she falls on her knees in exhaustion while attempting to do so, and the two energy barriers designed to shield her and her teammates from the soldiers start to fall apart, which Mistrick and Pulse notice with worry.)
Pulse: (worriedly) Pulse! You okay?!
Proxy: (panting heavily) The drones… are down… and I’m too tired… to piece them back together.
Mistrick: (urgently) Come close, you two. Now!
(Despite their surprise, Pulse and Proxy stand close to Mistrick immediately, who slams her palm on the ground and successfully teleports them out of the heavy fire and into somewhere else inside the tower; that’s another perk of her Mist Surge, which allows her to teleport to small distances anywhere within her mist. They continue running off in the hallway, albeit tiredly.)
Proxy: (panting) Man, that little ploy really drained the heck out of us.
Pulse: (grimacing) We only need Hunter to withdraw, and then we’ll be out of here. Just a little more.
Proxy: Hey, Pulse.
Pulse: Yeah?
Proxy: (still panting) You can deactivate Sync now. After all… I’m not using this buff anymore. You might as well save yourself the effort.
(Pulse nods and charges up her palm with green energy, reabsorbing the Sync buff. As a result, the entire mist is enveloped in a faint electric green aura for only a little while. However, some more shadow soldiers reappear after them and continue firing, forcing Proxy to create several small plasma shields, which only exhausts her further.)
Pulse: (gritting her teeth) They’re only gonna keep chasing after us!
(Mistrick gets close to both Pulse and Proxy and teleports them into another hallway. They continue running across the hallway, but suddenly, it’s none other than Hollow who makes a turn towards them and intercepts them. Mistrick quickly attempts to teleport herself and her teammates out of the way, but Hollow lands swift blasts at Pulse and Proxy, launching them through the air. He envelops himself in his electric neon red aura, ready to fight, and Mistrick too takes a fighting stance through gritted teeth.)
Hollow: (sternly) I won’t let you escape.
(Meanwhile, the fight between Hunter and Infinity continues, the two colliding with each other repeatedly at high speed. Hunter lunges at him with his dual glocks, only for Infinity to use Shadow Quickstep and reappear right in front of Hunter, blocking his gunshots with an energy orb. It explodes, and Hunter goes sliding.)
Infinity: Shadow Lattice.
(Infinity activates Shadow Lattice, and a 3D grid of rigid shadow filaments forms around the area, the lines anchoring themselves to the surfaces. Hunter grits his teeth but manages to find his way through the lattice regardless and lunges at Infinity. However, Infinity blocks his next gunshot with a shadow construct, one that was further supported by Hardening.)
Hunter: What?
(Infinity then applies Anchor, stabilizing his stance, and then he applies Tether through one of the shadow filaments, taking Hunter off guard, who’s yet to regain his balance. The tether pulls Hunter towards the shadow filament, which causes a mild knockback effect upon contact, knocking him off balance. Infinity then strikes his gut with a shadow tendril, sending him flying, but Hunter strikes the rest of the shadow tendrils with his glocks. Infinity raises his palm and charges it with energy, and the Shadow Lattice starts shifting, to which Hunter grimaces.)
Hunter: (grimacing) You’re into tricks, aren’t you?
(Hunter holds his dual glocks tightly and starts firing relentlessly at Infinity, who uses his shadow constructs to block the gunshots. However, that doesn’t stop Hunter, who maneuvers past the Shadow Lattice while firing at Infinity from all sides. The repeated attacks start to overwhelm Infinity, who keeps blocking them one by one, and the continuous usage of the shadow constructs blinds him to Hunter’s next attack. Hunter lunges at Infinity from the front, landing two powerful gunshots at his chest from his two glocks. Not only do these gunshots break Anchor and cause Infinity to lose his footing, but they also force him to deactivate the ever-shifting Shadow Lattice.)
(With that out of the way, Infinity attempts to block Hunter with his shadow tendrils, but he pushes them away by firing with one of his guns and then lands a shot at Infinity’s gut with the other gun, sending him flying. Infinity opens up a portal behind him and enters through it, a much more simplified version of his Eclipse technique, and then he reappears behind Hunter, getting launched with the same momentum. Hunter quickly turns and blocks the punch, getting sent skidding back. He regains his footing and glances at Hunter through gritted teeth.)
Hunter: (internally, through clenched teeth) His movements are faster now. I believe that’s what he’s normally capable of. Did he adapt to the mist, or did its effect start to weaken? Or is it both?
(Infinity reforms his shadow tendrils and swings them at Hunter, who lunges at him to continue the fight. Meanwhile, Hollow launches a barrage of blasts at Proxy and Pulse, and the duo attempt to jump out of the way, only for Hollow to strike Proxy in the gut and knock her into a wall. Pulse attempts a kick at his face, but he unleashes an energy shockwave that sends her flying as well. Mistrick teleports and reappears in front of Hollow, aiming a blast at him, but he easily cancels it out and kicks her in the gut, launching her through the air. Mistrick finds solid ground once again, glancing at Hollow through gritted teeth.)
Hollow: (firmly) You can always take my master’s side, accept his cause. (extending his hand) Abandon the flimsy principles of this world… and join us.
Mistrick: (scowling) Cut the crap. I couldn’t care less.
(The glowing red symbol on Hollow’s mask narrows, as if in disappointment, and he lunges at Mistrick at high speed. Given how tired she is, Mistrick struggles to fend off Hollow, and she gets sent flying despite blocking his punch. Proxy fires several blasts using her tech, but Hollow cancels them out with an energy shockwave. Before he lunges at Proxy, Pulse attempts to fire a green energy lance at him and potentially activate a debuff, but he cancels it out with his palm and then lunges at her instead.)
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Mistrick: (grimacing, thinking to herself) This guy’s relentless. We can’t take him!
Proxy: Hey, Mistrick!
Mistrick: (turning to Proxy) Yeah?
Proxy: Hear me out on this, will ya?
(Meanwhile, Pulse attempts to escape the confrontation with Hollow by running across the hallway and avoiding his blasts, but she’s simply powerless against his sheer strength, and he quickly stands in her way, landing a blast at her gut and sending her flying. He then lands a roundhouse kick to her face, causing her to crash into the wall, and then he slams her into the wall, grabbing her by the throat.)
Hollow: (bitterly) For how long will you allow Aegis to dictate your ideals? Is a tool really all you wish to be?
(Suddenly, Proxy forges a railgun and fires a narrow, rapid blast at Hollow from his right side, and he’s forced to block it with the back of his hand, shaking him just a little. This allows Mistrick to land a green energy lance at Hollow’s chest, sending him skidding back.)
Pulse: Debuff: Nerve Jamming.
(With that debuff, Hollow noticeably takes longer to fully regain his balance, and then Mistrick arrives from his right side as well, landing a mist blast at his face and sending him skidding back. Pulse then fires once again from her rail gun and sends Hollow crashing into a wall, further interrupting his advances. Pulse takes a stance alongside Mistrick and Proxy, and she sees the duo rather tired.)
Mistrick: (panting) Yo, Pulse! I need to be faster with my warping ability. Gimme a buff.
Pulse: I’ll give you two. (charging up her palm with green energy, grunting with all her effort) Buff: Jumpstart!
(Pulse fires two green energy lances at both Proxy and Mistrick, striking them in the back with the Jumpstart buff and granting them a much needed boost of stamina. Hollow immediately re-emerges from the rubble and lunges at the trio at high speed, given that the Nerve Jamming debuff has worn off. However, a Mistrick clone blocks his energized punch headfirst, sending him off balance, and it’s in that moment that Pulse prepares her next energy lance, panting in exhaustion but determined nonetheless.)
Pulse: (panting, yet gritting her teeth) Buff: Rapid Drive!
(Pulse strikes Mistrick’s back with the Rapid Drive buff, and upon receiving that buff, as well as the stamina boost of the Jumpstart buff, she teleports out of the area and out of Hollow’s range. Hollow sees them escape his range of attack, and the red symbol on his mask glows with rage. He slams his energized fist into a wall, breathing heavily in anger.)
Hollow: (angrily) Dammit! (muttering furiously while panting heavily) They’ll get away, and I can’t stop them anymore. Dammit!
(Meanwhile, Pulse, Proxy, and Mistrick reappear in another hallway and continue running. However, the former is too exhausted to run, and she collapses in exhaustion, but the other two catch her and help her up.)
Proxy: You okay?
Pulse: (weakly, barely opening her eyes) Just… go. I boosted your stamina. Now… use it.
(Proxy and Mistrick glance at each other with worried frowns, but they nod at each other. Proxy stays in front of Pulse and Mistrick, the latter supporting Pulse, who does her best to stay conscious and maintain the Expansion buff. Mistrick then starts teleporting repeatedly, barely a break in between, while numerous tech parts float around Proxy as she forges something. Meanwhile, Hunter continues his battle with Infinity, rapidly firing at him with his dual guns, but Infinity continuously blocks the gunshots while closing in on him. He swings his fist at Hunter for a punch, but he sends it away with a gunshot, only to be taken off-guard by a shadow tendril that strikes him laterally.)
Infinity: (internally) I won’t give you a chance to control the rhythm of this fight, Hunter. Face it. You’re on the ropes.
(Hunter attempts to gain distance from Infinity, but the latter launches a barrage of shadow constructs at him, forcing him to destroy them with his guns while trying to avoid them. However, the shadow constructs he destroys quickly reform, and one of them strikes him and drives him backwards across the floor. As the fight continues, Mistrick teleports with Proxy and rises from floor to floor while supporting a barely conscious Pulse as Proxy continues forging a cannon from her tech, adapting a purple aura to speed up the process. They keep going at it as fast as they can, and as Hunter and Infinity’s fight continues, Hunter jumps out of the way of the shadow constructs and attempts to fire several gunshots at Infinity from afar, only for him to close in with Shadow Quickstep and bypass the gunshots.)
Infinity: Wrong move.
(Before Infinity lands his punch, it’s none other than Pulse, Mistrick, and Proxy appearing out of nowhere and standing in front of him, the latter having fully prepared a cannon. Before Infinity could comprehend what happened, Proxy immediately fires a powerful blast at his chest through the cannon, sending him crashing into a wall. Hunter himself is surprised by that sudden intervention, especially when he sees how exhausted Pulse looks, but there’s no time to waste.)
Proxy: We’re outta here!
(Mistrick immediately teleports out of here once again, repeatedly warping from floor to floor downwards while Proxy deforms her cannon and places the tech parts back into her open backpack. Meanwhile, Infinity re-emerges from the rubble with an energy shockwave, and he immediately notices that Hunter has already left.)
Infinity: (thinking to himself) He left. How unfortunate. (sighing deeply, calmly) There’s no use going after him. I bet his team managed to secure the intel beforehand. No matter. It’s a setback, indeed, but I already got what I wanted. I’ve finally gotten to meet the Surge Beacon, and like I said… there’s always a contingency.
(Infinity deforms his shadow tendrils and calmly walks over to the stairs, going down with eerie composure, as if none of that matters. Meanwhile, Mistrick finally reaches the ground floor and goes down the stairs with Proxy and Hunter while supporting Pulse.)
Hunter: (only slightly stern) I thought I told you to withdraw early.
Proxy: (slyly) And I thought you told us that you’ve got this under control. We both thought wrong, I guess.
Hunter: (sighing deeply) You still got the flash drive?
Proxy: (pulling the flash drive out of her pocket, grinning) Safe and secure.
Hunter: (firmly) You three did well back then. I’m not sure the mission would’ve worked out if it weren’t for what you did.
Mistrick: (unbothered) Yeah, I know. (to Pulse) Hey, you can stop using your Expansion buff now. It’s over.
(Pulse weakly nods with her eyes barely open, and she reabsorbs the Expansion buff, getting enveloped with a faint green aura before closing her eyes and finally losing consciousness. As a result, the mist starts to shrink in size until it turns into a small black cloud in Mistrick’s palm, and she absorbs as she and the others reach the vehicle bay. She glances at the unconscious Pulse with a worried expression while gently supporting her.)
Mistrick: (frowning) Boy, she worked her butt off for us.
Proxy: Yeah. But we made it work out. That’s what matters.
Hunter: The usage of her Support Surge drains the energy in her soul. Given that she outdone herself back then, such an outcome is to be expected. But now that it’s all over, she’s no longer expending any energy. She’ll be fine.
(Proxy and Mistrick exchange glances and firmly nod at Hunter, then they head for the snowmobiles ahead. Mistrick heads for one of the snowmobiles and grabs the handle, while Proxy sits behind her, and Hunter heads for another snowmobile while setting the unconscious Pulse behind him and holding on to her. They all drive off out of the tower and hit the snow, finally completing the withdrawal.)
Proxy: So… now what? We’ve split up from the others.
Hunter: Now we find somewhere to settle for the meantime, and then we link up with the others, see where we can meet and figure out our extraction point.
Mistrick: (shrugging) Yeah, sure.
(Meanwhile, Infinity drops down to one of the lower floors to assess the damage, seeing several damaged drones and some mild damage to the surroundings, and he lets his masked shadow soldiers sort out the mess. He meets up with Hollow, who immediately heads for and kneels on one knee.)
Hollow: (his voice slightly shaking) Master, I failed you. I let them escape.
Infinity: Get up, Hollow. There’s no use rueing our shortcomings… not when our plan shall carry on. Now come with me.
(Infinity walks past Hollow and signals him to follow, and Hollow reluctantly stands up and follows his master as they leave the hallway and go up the stairs. The silence between them hangs for a while, but when they reach another hallway and arrive at a certain laboratory with a monitor, Hollow breaks the silence.)
Hollow: (muttering) Why do people refuse to accept our cause?
Infinity: Hmm?
Hollow: Those people know about Surges, how they were unfairly exploited because of their powers, but… I offered them the chance to stand by our side, and they vehemently refused. Those people have no true purpose, no sort of ideals to cling to. Why are they insistent on their refusal?
Infinity: (firmly) Don’t let your belief waver over this, Hollow. The refusal to accept change is a natural human tendency. They were born and raised as tools all their lives, and that’s all they ever know. They have to see the truth for themselves, and once everything falls into place, this truth will be laid bare for all to see. Our cause will be the new order, and the world will finally evolve to properly accommodate Surges.
Hollow: I… I understand… Master.
(Infinity approaches a wall and places his handprint on it, revealing a certain vault attached to the wall. He opens the vault by entering a certain passcode, and inside it is none other than the Catalyst, a green crystal of energy. He picks it and then heads for the monitor, his back turned on Hollow.)
Infinity: I have one more assignment for you, Hollow, a very important assignment. Get it done, and that’s our contingency plan sorted.
Hollow: (with conviction) Understood, sir! I won’t fail you! Tell me what I need to do!
Infinity: I need you to meet someone for me, that’s all.
(Infinity presses on a red button and opens the monitor, revealing a taken photo of none other than Ethan, smiling as he carries supplies for some residents, a photo taken from a distance. Infinity zooms in on Ethan’s face, and then he turns to Hollow, extending the Catalyst to him. Hollow firmly nods and grabs the green crystal, accepting his assignment. Infinity has his eyes on Ethan, and with Hollow going after him, it’s not looking good for the Ice Surge user.)
