Loud clanging sounds come from further in the room as DmgCtrl dives to the side avoiding a massive green beam of energy. Thrusting his arm forward a small beam of energy sparks up and flies at the source of the massive green beam. A box with two legs is struck and shakes.

[You hit the Watcher for 5 points of energy damage]

[You stun the watcher for 0.5 seconds]

The watcher's lights flicker red, and DmgCtrl takes the chance. With a roar, he jumps to his feet and charges smashing his left arm into it. As his palm makes contact with the outer shell, an electric blue burst fires off and the robot's light flicker red again.

[You hit the Watcher for 5 points of energy damage]

[You hit the Watcher for 10 points of physical...

[You stun the...

Reaching over his should, he grabs the hilt of his blade and yells, "Metric Ton Slash!"

A third of his endurance bar drains as he swings the massive blade over his head and down onto the Watcher leaving a red streak down its center.

[You deal a critical hit, you hit the Watcher for 360 points of physical damage]

[You defeated the Watcher]

[Your party earns 1200 points of Combat experience, you gain 1000 points from the party share]

[You earn 1200 points of Two-Handed Weapons experience]

Without skipping a beat, DmgCtrl turns rushes towards a tall staircase. On the other side of the staircase, grunts, energy pulses, and the clang of metal on metal resonate.

DmgCtrl: Just hold on! I'm coming!

Nova: I'm down to my last stim and Burk forward shield is about to go.

DmgCtrl: Just one more second!

Jumping on the staircase takes two massive strides, jumps and yells, "Metric Ton Slash!"

On the way down, he sees Burk. The sleek lines of her battle armor are scratched where the shields have begun to fail the Watcher has been able to make contact with metal. The blade of her gun is pressed up against the undercarriage of the Watcher as it's pressing down on her. Machine against machine.

Burkhard: What are you doing!

DmgCtrl doesn't get a chance to waver or change direction, his blade hits the Watcher and cuts clean through to Burk weapon.

[You deal a critical hit, you hit the Watcher for 360 poi...

[You deal a critical hit, you hit Burkhard for 360 points...

[Burkhard is incapacitated]

"Butes!" yells out Suki outside of party chat.

A large red line indicating where DmgCtrl landed his hit glows, then fades. The Watcher steps on Butes's body and it bursts into voxels leaving behind a small crate. DmgCtrl doesn't hold back, he pulls his sword into a vertical cut and slices at the Watcher.

[You hit the Watcher for 40 points of physical damage]

[You endurance is low. Two-Handed attack speed is now a third of the normal rate]

Thrusting his palm forward, DmgCtrl hits the Watcher and attempts to discharge his shock attack.

[Out of energy]

The Watcher crotches and its lights begin to glow bright red.

Nova: It's going into cannon mode!

DmgCtrl: I know! Shoot it!

Nova: I'm out of ammo.

DmgCtrl: What!?

Pulling his sword out to attempt a thrust, he feels the weight of the blade dragging his movement. The lights get brighter. His sword swings down. A few feet. Lights go red to bright yellow. A few inches. The lights shine white.

Metal hits metal as the beam tears through DmgCtrl.

[You hit the Watcher for 5 points of physical damage]

[Watcher hits you for 5000 points of energy damage]

[You are incapcitated]

[Watcher hits you with a finishing move]

[You have been despawned]

[Respawning at Hajima Station]

Nova: Sorry guys!

Burkhard: Just make sure you pick up our stuff so we don't lose all three items.

Nova: I'll try!

Burkhard: Pop your shields and get those items. I dropped my sword cannon.

Party chat is going by as DmgCtrl sees the familiar lights of the Respawn sequence. Another wipe and They've only made it to the first phase of the raid.

Of course, it didn't help when Butes, pushed them to attempt a five-man raid with just three!

Opening the inventory screen he checked to see what dropped during the last battle.

DmgCtrl: I dropped my chest piece!

Nova: I got them both!

Burkhard: Can you get away from them?

Nova: I took out the last Watcher with a Charged Shot.

Burkhard: Nice! Hurry up and get out of there.

Nova: On it!

DmgCtrl steps out of the respawn area and find Burkhard outside of her mech suit.

"Decided to change your street attire?" DmgCtrl prompts.

"This? I just picked it up with the last of my Altera account money."

"Looks very, you."

Burkhard looks down at her oversized coat hanging down to her knee-high wrapped boots. Shoving her hands in the pockets she sneers at DmgCtrl.

"What are you saying?"

"Nothing, just curious if that coat would reach my waist if I tried it on."

Burkhard's cat ears flatten out as she crouches into a pouncing stance.

"Ha! Bring it you kitten."

Nova: I got the stuff. Heading back.

Burkhard's ears slowly climb back up as she walks over to her suit and brushes a panel to open the pilot's compartment.

"Let's head back to the Terminal entrance. Suki won't be able to get back on her own."

DmgCtrl grins and calls out, "Thought we agreed to go by our character handles when we were online."

"Just get your bike out and let's go. We need to prepare for that run again."

"You're the boss, Butes."

"And don't you forget it," Butes responds as she gets into the mech. "Alex."

Alex chuckles and pulls up the interface to get his bike out when three dots appear on his screen. Underneath them, it says, Incoming voice transmission from Carrots.

Grinning, Alex accepts the call.