Greg watched the Technos form up a good distance away, wondering what he could do to help. His first idea was manipulating the battlefield, adding pitfalls and whatnot, but he'd already done a lot with his smoke today, and he wasn't sure he was up to do anything significant enough to actually make a difference. Maybe collapsing that mountain was a dumb idea… No, no, that was brilliant. The timing was just off. But what else could he do? The Technos barely even noticed his attacks! Greg paused. Maybe if he covered the entire battlefield in little balls? Get the Technos tripping all over the place? That'd at least help a little, right?
Greg sighed, turning to Lapodala. “What do you think I can do to help?”
“When we break their shields, eat them.” Lapodala growled vehemently.
Greg blinked. “Uh… kay? I'm not sure how effective that will actually be though?”
Lapodala grinned. “Oh, trust me, it will be very effective. Their shields may be able to keep your smoke out, but underneath is simple metal which your smoke can convert easily.” She hesitated. “Though it might be smart to only attack key areas to conserve your strain.”
Greg nodded. “And those key areas would be?”
“I- don't know… the head, maybe?” Lapodala offered tentatively.
“Alright… guess I'll see what I can do.” Greg muttered. He was beginning to think this wasn't his fight. Or at least, not one he could have a major effect on.
They didn't have any more time to talk as a moment later the Technos began to charge, rushing towards the battlements in a silent sprint, firing their weapons towards them while the aliens sent spells flying back at them. Greg flew out as he transformed into a cloud of smoke, blanketing the area in front of the battlements, creating a field of steel balls underneath it. However, the moment the Technos reached the smoke, their boots began to glow and they leapt over it, walking on air to avoid the potential pitfalls hidden underneath. Damn clever bastards.
Greg grimaced, switching to plan B, moving to surround the Technos with his smoke, individually so the aliens could still target them. He figured it might at least do something to interfere with the Technos' aim, but they didn't even hesitate. Thankfully, that wasn't the main point. It didn't take long before one of the Technos shields flickered underneath the aliens’ assault and his smoke immediately surged inside, seeping into the power armor and searching for something he could convert without too much effort, pausing as he found its power supply. He couldn't get his smoke into it, but Greg felt something… delicious lurking within, a part of him wanting to disregard everything else and focus on getting to whatever it was hiding inside it. But that wasn't reasonable, so instead he just dissolved a small space around it and yanked it out of the now dead power armor, tossing it towards Lapodala for safekeeping.
All across the battlefield power armors started to fail as power supplies flew through the air, Greg collecting as many of the delicious looking orbs as he could, getting close to four dozen of them over the next ten or so minutes as the Technos struggled to break through the aliens’ defenses. Of course, the aliens were doing work as well, killing ten times that number, but the Technos just kept coming. A seemingly endless horde continued to flow from the drill, replenishing the Technos ranks almost as quickly as they were taking them out, and the aliens were starting to get worn out.
“Fall back!” An order came from the rear of their defenses, the aliens abandoning the front and retreating behind a second set of defenses, where a fresh force was waiting to meet the Technos.
“Wait, my orbs!” Greg exclaimed, pausing for a moment as he realized he'd talked in his smoke form, before scrambling to collect the power sources, going to toss them deeper in, only to pause as he had a better idea, covering them in a dome of steel. “There, safe.” He announced in satisfaction, only for the Techno sprinting past him to flinch and whirl towards him. “What, never seen a talking cloud before?” A blade whipped out of the Technos arm as they swiped at him. “I'll take that as a no.” A small group of Technos split off, surrounding him and holding out their hands, a net of electricity surging between them, covering the entire area. “Hm, tingly.” Greg chuckled. “Can you guys not see me?” The Technos adjusted the net, so that it completely missed his cloud. “I'll take that as a no… can I use this?” Greg muttered as he flew towards where the fighting had resumed.
Greg spread his smoke out, covering the Technos again, but this time he started making random sounds to try and freak them out, which… kinda worked? The first few Technos reacted much like the ones from earlier, breaking off and trying to find whoever was talking, but the more he did it, the less of a reaction he got as they began to realize he wasn't actually a threat. He wasn't sure how much he'd actually done to help either. Sighing to himself, he went back to taking power sources, since he knew that at least took someone out of the fight, though he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep doing it as the strain started to get to him.
And so the battle continued to grind on, the aliens retreating deeper and deeper into the ship while the Technos continued to throw themselves at them, Greg doing everything he could to help out, little as that might be. As they retreated deeper, the space became thinner so fewer aliens were needed to defend it, but they also had fewer aliens to defend it, losing people to injury, death, and exhaustion as the battle wore on. At some point, Greg was relegated to the role of a mere observer, his strain building to the point where he could barely move, let alone dissolve the Technos’ armor. He watched as the aliens' defense grew weaker and weaker, while the Technos continued their assault with the same silent determination they'd had since the beginning, a grim feeling settling in his chest.
“I- think we need to start evacuating people to Earth.” Greg announced to the squad as they hunkered down in the strip building. “Everyone we can. Cause I'm not sure the ship is going to make it.”
Tessa sighed, having had a feeling it would come to this. Greg had been keeping them up to date on what was happening and it hadn't painted a pretty picture. “Okay, Bianca, you and Henrietta head to the fer- changed side, Greg, you handle the unchanged, the rest of us will head to Earth to get things set up. Bianca, can you open a portal for us first?”
Bianca nodded, going to open a portal to Earth, except… nothing happened. Bianca went pale, trying again, but the result was the same. She opened a portal to her subspace, rushing inside. “They're gone! My anchor points to Earth are gone!”
Greg frowned, turning his attention to his smoke on Earth. He quickly materialized a copy of Bianca, making it real and reaching for her mana, finding one of the anchor points they'd put down and opening a portal to the subspace and finding all the anchor points on the ship gone. “No, they're still there… but they've split the subspace somehow.” Greg grimaced. “We're stuck here.”
“No!” Meredith exclaimed. “We can't be trapped here! We can't!”
Victor literally began to cackle. “Ah, we're so fucked. I love it.”
“You- what?!?” Meredith growled at him. “We're going to die!”
“I mean, yeah, but like… so?” Victor shrugged. “The hell are we going to do about it? It's like the icing on the ‘how fucked can we get’ cake that's been baking for the last two years! First our technology gets taken away, then our society, then even our freaking planet, and now, finally, they're coming for our lives, and just like the rest, there's nothing we can do about it. Might as well just assume the position and enjoy the ride, you know?”
“Fuck that!” Casey cursed. “And fuck the Technos! Let's go fuck them up! I don't care how strong they are, if we all attack together-”
“You'd all die.” Greg shook his head. “Believe me, if I thought we'd stand a chance, I'd get you there, but it takes multiple aliens attacking at once to even disrupt their shields, and their weapons would vaporize you in an instant. They wouldn't even have to pause to destroy you. They wouldn't even have to acknowledge you! They could literally walk through you and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it! This fight is so far beyond our capabilities it isn't even funny.”
“Could- could we do something to support the aliens? Healing? Illusions?” Brittany offered.
Greg cocked his head. “I'm- not sure. I can ask? Fuck, I hope Lapodala is still alive…”
Greg's other self searched the battlefield for Lapodala, finding her huddled a good distance away from the frontlines, looking utterly exhausted and missing an arm. “Hey, so, I've noticed things aren't going particularly well at the moment… is there anything we can do to help? Like healing?” Greg asked as he flew over and materialized next to her, gesturing to Lapodala's arm. “Cause if we're all going to die anyway, we might as well give it our all, right?”
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Lapodala just stared at him blankly for a moment. “I don't- no, there's- they don't stop. They just- don't.”
Greg blinked. “Okay, so you're out of it. Can you point me towards someone who might have a better handle on things?” Lapodala waved vaguely towards a knot of people deep in conversation and Greg turned to smoke, flying over to them before materializing again, not up to walking at the moment. “So- Oh, hey, Indresta!” Greg greeted his combat instructor.
Indresta frowned at him. “What is it, Greg?”
“We want to help. The humans. But we don't know what we can do, because we certainly can't fight.” Greg explained. “We can heal though. Support you in whatever you do. We just need to know what that is.”
Indresta sighed. “We know, but there's nothing you can do. We don't need healing, we need mana, and the amount of mana you can exert is insignificant in this conflict. I wish I could tell you differently, but this isn't a fight you can participate in. At least, those of you who aren't immortal.”
Greg sighed, nodding along, having expected that answer, only the pause as the immortal comment tickled something in his mind, reminding him of the other immortal on the ship. She had to have some idea of how to help in this situation, right? Plus, wasn't what's-his-face supposed to have some kind of special ability too? If there was any time to put up or shut up, it was now.
The Greg back with the squad pulled up his network device, giving Tessa a quick explanation as he found Narita's contact info and teleported to her location. “Hey-” He froze as he found himself in the middle of some kind of stand-off, a group of… let's call them unsavory individuals surrounding Travis's group, only a wall of ice keeping them at bay, while Jake had an arm around Sophia's neck, a shiv in his other hand, threatening to drive it into her throat. “Oh, god damn it, we do not have time for this shit.” Greg groaned. “The fuck are you guys doing?!?”
“Don't move, or I'll kill her!” Jake snarled.
“Why?!?” Greg asked incredulously. “What possible reason could you have to kill anyone!?! Fucking- ugh, fuck it, I'm not dealing with this crap right now. Anyone still being an asshole in five seconds dies. Five.”
“I'm serious, I'll kill her!” Jake yelled.
“Sure you will.” Greg rolled his eyes. “Three.” He growled as he began to shift into Gigi. For this he needed speed.
“You-” Jake began, eyes widening as the wisp of smoke Greg had snuck over dissolved his shiv. “Wait-!” He cut off as Greg flashed towards him, the same shiv appearing in his hand as he drove it through Jake's eye.
“Zero.” Greg spat. “If you're going to kill someone, be decisive.”
“Oh, shit!” One of the men outside cursed, turning to run, but Greg was having none of it as he leapt over the ice wall, creating a rock in mid-air and whipping it at the runner’s back, the rock smashing into his spine with a sickening crack.
“Get him!” Another yelled, shooting some kind of bone spike at him, only for a sheet of ice to appear between them.
Greg shot Georgia a thumbs up as he moved to his next target, materializing a sledgehammer and slamming it through a dude's face, literally. Gigi may not be strong for a changed, but any changed was at least two or three times stronger than the average adult man. Georgia continued to keep the attacks off him as he mowed through the rest of the group as fast as he could, which with Gigi's ability, meant it didn't take much more than a minute before the entire group was down.
“Alright, now that that's done, let's get to the real issues, eh?” Greg commented as he transformed back into himself. “The aliens are fighting off the Technos, but it isn't exactly going well, so, since I'd rather not have everyone I know and love die, I was thinking we'd try and figure out some way to help them. Specifically Todd and Narita. No offense to the rest of you, just… not exactly your ballpark.”
“What- you just- you killed Jake!” Travis exclaimed.
Greg waved dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, come on, focus! We're all going to die if the Technos get to the mana core.”
“What is the situation?” Narita asked seriously.
“Well, the Technos are at least as strong as your average alien, and they seem to have an endless amount of reinforcements.” Greg explained. “I mean, obviously they don't, but there's a shit ton of them and the aliens are struggling. They're exhausted and injuries are starting to pile up. But apparently the biggest issue is mana. They've been casting for ages now and I'm not sure how much further they can push their mana pools. Not sure what we can do about all that, but hey, that's why I'm here. So come on, people, brainstorm!”
“Wait, why Narita?” Georgia asked.
“Guys! Death. Is. Coming! No stupid questions!” Greg snapped.
Narita frowned. “I- don't know if this is something we can change. A force this powerful is beyond our reach. It- may just be something we have to accept.”
Greg scowled at her. “Bad. That's a bad answer. No treat for you.”
Travis hesitated. “If- If we can gather enough mages with similar mana types, there might be something I can do…”
“Now that's a good answer!” Greg announced. “One treat for you. Later. When we aren't all dead. Motivation, you know?”
Travis gave him a weird look as Narita gave Travis a concerned one. “Travis, the amount of mana you'd have to control to have any effect could cripple, if not kill you!”
“If he's right, we're going to die anyway!” Travis retorted. “This is something I can do! I have to at least try!”
“What's the issue?” Greg asked.
Narita grimaced. “When Travis channels foreign mana, he takes in… impurities that he has to expel or risk being corrupted by them. If he takes in the amount of mana he's considering, the impurities could destroy him completely!”
“How?” Greg pressed.
Travis sighed. “Sometimes they make me mutate, sometimes they affect my mental state, and sometimes they start to actually attack my organs, shutting them down. I can flush them out, given time, but if they progress too far…”
Greg nodded slowly. “I see. Do you trust me?”
Travis blinked at him. “Not really, no?”
Greg snorted. “Fair. Do you at least not want to die?”
Travis frowned. “Yes?”
“Cool! So, here's my idea.” Greg announced. “If I can get my smoke into you, I can take care of at least two of your three problems, possibly all three if the mental thing is a mutation too, but in any case, I can keep you alive for whatever you're doing, and then after I can use your ability for you to flush out any of the remaining impurities! Of course, being connected to my smoke means I can kill you or make your life miserable in an innumerable amount of ways, but hey, what's life without a little risk, eh?”
Travis froze, glancing at Narita. “Could that work?”
“I- don't know.” Narita frowned. “Possibly? He is- uh, his smoke does give him a ridiculous amount of control over… physical objects. It's conceivable that he would be able to keep you from mutating and keep your organs working with it… but by that same note, he could do the opposite just as easily.”
“To be fair, if I wanted you dead, I'd just use a hammer or something.” Greg pointed out. “It'd be a lot less effort for me. Connecting someone to my smoke is hard. Honestly not even sure I'm up for it right now… but hey, not a lotta options at the moment.”
Travis hesitated for a moment as he considered the idea, before letting out a frustrated groan. “Fine! Put your damn smoke in me!”
“No homo.” Greg chuckled as his smoke surged towards Travis, meeting some brief resistance as Travis shot a glare at him, before it slipped in surprisingly easily. “Huh… are you actually really weak, or do I not get how this smoke shit works at all?”
“What- did you do it?” Travis asked nervously.
“Oh, yeah, it's done. See?” Greg replied, snickering to himself as he replaced Travis's eyes with some working models.
“Fuck!” Travis cursed, immediately covering his eyes.
“What? Don't like puns?” Greg asked, cocking his head.
Travis carefully peeked through his fingers, blinking a few times as his mind slowly made sense of the new sensory information. Thankfully the majority of his mana investment was mental, so it didn't take him too much time. “You- fixed my eyes?” Travis asked numbly.
“Well, more like replaced, but yeah, essentially.” Greg shrugged. “Do you not like it? I can put them back.”
“No!” Travis flinched away, as if somehow distance would keep Greg from taking his eyes. “I- I mean no, it's fine.” He coughed awkwardly, glancing at Sophia and freezing. “Beautiful.” He muttered thoughtlessly.
“Eh?” Greg wiggled his hand. “I mean, she's pretty, but- wait, what am I doing, people are dying.” He suddenly shook himself as his other self gave him a mental flick and he transformed into Bianca, creating an anchor point as quickly as possible and opening a portal to the battlefield. “Alright, let's go! We got a ship to save!”