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[Now Playing: Enhanced Zoanthrope Override ~Atal Ka Theme (Phase 3)~]
Ragnar heads in first. Leaping off the rather low roof he'd been on (him having landed a fair bit farther than Maki had), he tackles the Zoanthrope down with his spear, his shield rapidly expanding to avoid being burned too hotly. The Zoanthrope attempts to blast him with a burst of hot air, attempting to scorch him enough to force them away to continue its escape, but Ragnar is quick enough on the uptake, quick enough to take advantage of the momentary opening the Zoanthrope just left him.

With the first stroke of good luck he's had all evening, he stabs the Zoanthrope in the mouth, thrusting as hard as he can. With the umpteenth stroke of bad luck he's had all night, the Zoanthrope bites onto the spear. With the second stroke of good luck, the Zoanthrope, weakened as it is, isn't able to bite hard enough to stop it dead and the spear stabs straight through its cheek.

Ragnar is suddenly lifted away by a burst of hot air, as the Zoanthrope, in a desperate attempt to pull Ragnar away from itself. His shield barely manages to hold the blast back, constructs fading away against the sheer force of the blast, but he's forced back, wrenching his spear away from its mouth and tumbling back as he's forced away. His job is done, however; the Zoanthrope is further weakened, clearly even more shaken by the spear to the face.

It tries to go for another attack on Ragnar, while he's staggered, while he's weakened, opening up another blast of hot air against him-

[Now Playing: Squad Override ~You Say Run~]

Then the mother of all frickin' laser beams blasts, barely an inch away from the Zoanthrope's face, as Haruko aims her impromptu arm cannon at it, the heat in her core beginning to burn her more than the beast already had. She'd also put a massive crater in the ground, one that would probably confuse the staff in the morning, or even later in the evening (thankfully, they'd chosen a lull in the business of a hospital day), and scorched the paintjob off what looks like a fancy luxury car, probably belonging to one of the superintendents. Still, it was worth the price.

It bought Maki and Amelie a few extra seconds of precious, precious time.

The Zoanthrope doesn't have time to react, not after being so heavily battered.

Maki was already fast. She couldn't run quicker than average, true (not that she was a bad runner at all, but she was no athlete). Her speed was all in her charges, after all. This was what teamwork was; patching up your weaknesses with your companions' powers. Still, neither her nor Amelie were fast enough to hit the Zoanthrope, not without a few vital seconds of time. And that was Haruko's task; a simple pincer manoeuvre, really. Either it keeps going, and gets burned by Haruko, or stays still, and is right in Maki's way.

So much the worse for it that it chose Maki.

Amelie puts all of her force, all of her strength into throwing Maki at it. Trying her hardest, trying her damndest; this was giving her all to end this Zoanthrope, right here, right now. This was for the Zoanthrope's own sake as well as the sake of every person who was in this hospital; they would save it from itself, save it from the beast it had become. This was the moment for Amelie (not the first, not the last), and it was time for her to shine.

For all those reasons, straining herself, dizzying herself, Amelie throws Maki at the Zoanthrope, her friend sparking with electricity all over her body as she readies herself for her attack.

[Now Playing: Maki Override ~Live and Learn~]

The Zoanthrope has no time to move.

Maki roars as she smashes into and past the beast, repeatedly, sparking with lightning covering her whole body, her fist meeting its scales over and over, the Zoanthrope beginning to smoke from the sheer force of the power of Maki's blows. It doesn't have a moment to breathe, a moment to recover, as the red, lightning-like blur smashes into it, over and over again, each blow carrying the force of a medium-sized car hitting it contained into the square area of a single fist.

Yes, Maki wasn't a fast runner, nor a skilled fighter. But up close, up where she could charge quickly, where skill mattered less than sheer, brute force, nobody could match her.

The Zoanthrope stumbles away as Maki's relentless assault ends and Kamen Rider Volt lands a short distance away, breathing heavily, lightning sparking throughout her body. She'd taken it too far, pushed herself a little too far over her limits. Her body was sore, a little numb from the lightning she used to empower herself. Any other enemy would've fallen by now, any other Zoanthrope would've disappeared by now.

But the Zoanthrope was still standing, and Maki wasn't going to let it get away. She musters one last titanic effort. She'd finish this. Now.

She leaps up into the air, her foot sparking with lightning, aiming at the Zoanthrope's center of mass as best as she could.
"Rider.....KICK!"

Her foot makes contact with the Zoanthrope, and the point of contact practically explodes with electricity and flames as the air is, for an instant, set alight, blinding everyone nearby for a few seconds.

When vision returns to you all, only two things are immediately apparent.

Maki is crouching, breathing heavily, electricity crossing parts of her armor, her arm on her knee as she rests, catching her breath.

And the Zoanthrope is down, softly breathing, unconscious, its scales scorched by lightning and a nasty-looking burn where Maki's foot had smashed it. It's not getting up any time soon.

The Draco Zoanthrope has been defeated.

---

The swarms plaguing Kiyo and Yui suddenly turn away as the Zoanthrope is defeated, flying with haste towards their fallen companion. Kiyo blasts as many of them out of the sky as possible, but they're moving far too quickly, far too swiftly. They converge upon the Zoanthrope, protecting it from attacks and blocking direct vision towards it. That would work, of course, if Haruko weren't present.

The entire group is incinerated in one blast.....and the Draco Zoanthrope has vanished. Not incinerated; there'd be some trace of it left, at least, had Haruko hit it dead on, but gone. Possibly teleported away, like the other Zoanthropes before now.

Well then.

Combat over.

---

Meanwhile, elsewhere, nearby.....
"Sir! Both Zoanthropes have been disabled. We were unable to recover Subject Aranea, but the teleportation disc on Subject Draco allowed us to recover it before it was damaged beyond repair."
"Both task forces are down. What's our next move, sir?"
"Should we attempt recovery of Subject Aranea? What about Subject Draco?"

A man watches the Zoanthropes on the streets, the cameras cutting out as a beam of unrivalled light and a shockwave destroy their mounts respectively. The faint glow of the light of the screens shines on his face as he considers his next move. His gloved hand is raised to his chin, thoughts flying through his head as he considers the next move he should make. He didn't react to the eyes of his subordinates on him, waiting for his next move.

He sighs, as if this were a mere minor setback.
"Do not attempt recovery of Subject Aranea A. We have no need for traitors. She assigned her to us for her own whims, nothing more, though she has provided us with valuable data, both for the Zoanthrope Project and the Mirage Project. As for Subject Draco? Heal his wounds. The trauma should take care of his memories, and in any case, his identity will be unknown. It will be difficult to trace it back to us with so little evidence.

The serums will need modification if we are to deploy them in place of the traditional process to increase durability, and the lenses will need to be adjusted, yes, to reduce aggression. I assure the robots have had all identifying markers removed?"
"Yes, sir. They won't trace it back to anyone."
"Good. Prepare a batch of the Aranea serum; while you're at it, prepare one for the Draco. We will need to make modifcations to increase battle strength. This experiment must continue, at all costs-

And the Ophiuchus serum, while you're at it. Yes, that will do. Do we know anything about these interlopers?"
"I could glean files from our associates in the area, sir."
"Good, good. We will need them. I will need them.

She should be satisfied; that traitor is likely dead. She at least served her purpose. There is work to be done tonight. Pack up for tonight. We must move."

Well, you don't really need to know what happens now, right?

In a very short period of time, the last remaining robot hits a sudden barrier erected by Spica, falls backwards to get impaled on Sato's sword and, in attempting to escape, the robot then is immediately pretty much decapitated by Ai's sheer pulling force, collapsing to the floor in a mess of parts and metal bolts.

The Zoanthrope plops onto the road, rolling a few meters away, limbs splayed in unnatural directions. You notice a few red lenses clatter and break from its eyes, sparking briefly before settling away.

The battle is over.

I-2

"Hang on. Shef, I'm going to need you to portal us over. The construct jumped to someone and I don't know who. And if I don't have visual contact, I can't tell who it is, only that it's in their area."
Minato has a look around through the sensors in his helmet, trying to detect where the construct went. Before he looks towards the ground, he looks around at the group instead to make sure it didn't jump to anyone here.

21-4, healbop Kaldach

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J-6