Extraction Point

"You feel that too?" asked Christina as she and Derek roamed through the halls, "The effect is getting stronger."

They had broke into the laboratory through the front entrance, and were backed up by soldiers. However, upon the sudden feeling of weight earlier, the soldiers had to back out due to feeling unwell or not being able to use their Rad-A.

"It's like our Rad-A is being suppressed," mentioned Derek, "There must be some kind of dampener machine Baretti Kiritojin had invented up there, and the girls are using it to their advantage."

"We'd need to find the machine fast then," said Christina, "I feel worse and worse every time we get nearer to the center of this laboratory. I don't even know if Critical will work in this factor."

"Your hammer increases the chances right?" asked Derek.

"Of course."

"You're lucky you have a weapon to boost your Rad-A in these types of conditions. I can't even activate my Mist body any longer."

0.18 seconds. That was the reaction time for Derek Arnold. The moment he saw the duck flying across the hallway, he held out his hand in front of Christina to shield her.

KABOOM!

The floor gave in and collapsed, causing Derek and Christina to fall through, crashing into a room filled with vials and tubes.

"Was that a duck?" asked Christina, bewildered as she got up, feeling for injury.

"Yeah," explained Derek as he dusted his uniform, "That bastard Sophia Kanzaki....

She stained my uniform....."

"Please focus on the real matters at hand," glared Christina.

Just as Derek was about to defend himself, more ducks walked off the floor from above, raining down into the room. This time Christina and Derek leaped toward the side of the room, far from the ducks. Yet, the ducks began walking after falling onto the ground, as if they had a mind of their own.

"This shouldn't be possible from her normal Rad-A," whispered Derek.

"You're right... The ducks shouldn't be alive," replied Christina, "Is there a way to get back up there?"

"It's easier with my Deep Mist Rad-A, but..." explained Derek as he held out a gun, "Because of this dampener, we're going to have to improvise."

Christina grabbed onto Derek's shoulder as he shot the gun, a hook shooting out and clipping onto the hinge of the broken floor. The grappling hook recoiled, and as they rose back up to the floor above, Christina noticed a new batch of ducks walking towards the hole of the floor. Behind her was Sophia Kanzaki in her duck suit, releasing the ducks from her hands!

"Gahk!" groaned Derek as Christina used him as an object to jump from.

As Christina hopped onto the floor, she took out her sledgehammer and knocked all of the ducks back at Sophia, which quickly exploded. As the smoke cleared and Derek and Christina held their footing, Sophia showed off her new duck suit that had more defensive options.

"Do you like the improvements?" asked Sophia as she posed in multiple stances, revealing her new armor on the duck suit, "They're almost indestructible!"

"Her Rad-A shouldn't be capable of such improvements in so little time," said Derek, "There's something that enhanced them. Like... radiation steroids."

"Radiation steroids, huh?" asked Christina as her hammer began to glow, electricity sparking at times, "Sophia Kanzaki, I'll show you that even with my Rad-A dampened and your Rad-A enhanced.. I'll take you down."

—

Christina was heavily injured as she panted, one knee on the floor. Derek was behind her, leaning against the wall with marks of explosions on him. As the smoke cleared once again, Sophia had revealed that she didn't take an ounce of damage once more.

"You like those ducks?" asked Sophia, holding a tiny duck about the size of her fingernail in her hand, "They're small, but capable of exploding with the same radius as a normal one. It's a shame that the mini-ducks take longer to create though."

"If only my Rad-A hadn't been dampened," glared Derek.

"Captain Arnold," stated Christina, "Please remain patient and level-headed. I said I will take her down. I do not go back on my word."

Christina charged once more towards Sophia with the last of her stamina. As Sophia carelessly threw more of her exploding ducks towards Christina, Christina had whacked them to the sides of the walls with her hammer. The ducks either flew into different rooms and exploded or created new holes for more ducks to fly into.

Either way, as the smoke cleared, Christina jumped out and remained charging forth. This time though, Sophia threw another batch of ducks. As Christina whacked those ducks away, she didn't realize that there was another set right behind.

Bang bang bang!

Christina fell to the ground.

"Gee... what a great shot!" she yelled, feeling the bullet wound as she looked behind.

"I tried my best, alright?" Derek yelled back as he pointed his gun down.

The ducks exploded by the bullets shot from Derek, but they weren't in radius of Christina. She was saved. Christina quickly got back up and rushed once more, the blood leaking from her hip.

She swung her hammer as Sophia held up her arms in an attempt to defend.

KRRRAKKKKK!

Sophia was knocked away, her armor being absolutely destroyed and torn into pieces by Christina's critical hit! As she fumbled onto the ground, Sophia got up quickly, with a few minor injuries. Even with the charged critical hit, Sophia's duck suit was still capable of defending.

Sophia merely smirked and started running in the opposite direction, "I've just got to wait for my duck suit to regenerate. It should take a few minutes and I'll be back in action!"

She turned to the left after turning right into another hallway and crashed into a window, in hopes of evading Christina and Derek's search. As she prepared for landing onto the ground, she was blinded by car lights.

SLAM!

The car immediately stopped. Inside, Rachael and Zora looked ahead in shock.

"Mr. Zora, I think I hit somebody..." gasped Rachael as she put her hands up in the air.

"....I'm not letting you drive again," sighed Zora in disappointment, still getting adjusted to his injuries.