Two years…. Two god damn years… It took me two years in updating this chapter for Transformers Infinite. Jesus Christ… Now I know that this story would be a bitch to get through. Though it looks it, the blame isn't on me per say. I had a couple of chapters finished and needed to be edited by FictionFan1024 do the editing and adding particular scenes. Unfortunately, FictionFan, otherwise known as Henry Cerro, sort of give up on fiction writing and moving on with his life. Now I know that real life matters then fictional life. Hell, I've been trying to find a real life job for two years and sadly can't because of requirements I need to pass or jobs that fit my description, but was given to someone with far more credibility. Argh… Finding a Data Entry position in my ally is hard to come by, especially finding one where I can work close to home and now stay at home. But considering what's been going on with the whole COVID-19 pandemic and everyone considering either stay at home or file for unemployment. Yeah… This is complicated to move on with life. Still, with all the free time on my hands, I think it's good enough of an opportunity to post chapters from every story as much as a possibly could. And this chapter is no exception.

Now I have to be doing the edits and scene additions, but hey, at least I am able to handle it well. Yes, I am hoping to find someone to replace FictionFan in the help of this story. But finding someone with the lax schedule, let alone who likes Transformers and Bioshock Infinite, isn't easy. But I won't be abandoning this story. No, I don't want to go down that path. I will still continued to update this story as much as possible. Yes it will be slow. Yes it will take time. But at least I won't give up on it like many of my other stories. Plus this needs to be done because I have another Bioshock crossover story that needs to be connected to this one. So, yeah… I have to get this out of the way. It's not an easy one, but it needs to be done. Hoping that all your patience has finally paid off.

Now let's see what happened at the last chapter after two years of absence. Hmm… I don't have much of reviews going on, but I have over 250 hits so it looks good. Though I don't know if anyone is responding to my work. Hell, the recent reviews were many years back, and they were completely negative. Seriously, if they don't like the concept of the story, don't read it. Don't tell me to go and kill myself or anything. Just don't read it and move on another story. As for the rest of you, I hope you read this chapter and review. Just don't give me hate reviews, okay. The fact that there are those that like to pan me are very annoying.

Speaking of which, let's proceed with the next chapter, where Booker and the Skystrikers head to the Hall of Heroes to find the Shock Jockey to get to the First Lady airship. But heading there would be difficult to manage. Will get be able to get in? Let's see for ourselves.

Chapter Notes

Now this one will take place outside of the Hall of Heroes, complete with soldiers, Bucking Bronco, and a hell of a lot of fighting going on. Also, on the intro scene, Fink introduces Bishop to his team. Now I had to look into the guide I bought years ago to see the looks of each of the soldiers and add some of my own, including back-story, weapons, and the occasional weaponry that Bishop currently has. If you don't know what I mean and want to know more, look at the previous chapter on what I'm talking about.

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime or Bioshock

Chapter 11: Hall of Heroes

Back to Fink Manufacturing, Fink, Flambeau, and Gregory Bishop were descending the elevator down to the lower level of the factory, getting to the team Fink put together for the colonel to lead. As they were getting down to the floor, Bishop remained quiet while Fink explained to him about the reason for the team to create.

"Now I know you are a lone soldier," Fink said to him, "But it's best that you need to have some help in handling these new metal foreigners. Given that they are working with the False Shepherd, we have to take the risk of not only stopping them, but also disposing of the wicked snake in the grass."

Slate nodded and was still unsure about all of this. "Still feeling cautious about bringing a team in." he said to Jeremiah, "I feel that experience in the field needs to be the main quality in this group if we are heading straight to battle against them."

Fink gave a bit of a smile and tipped his hat. "Oh trust me," he continued, "They are ready for battle. I've been researching the best soldiers that can help you with this threat with years of experience and achievements in their line of work. I even gave them more of the prototype weapons you possess along with other weaponry that fit their criteria. Truly the best of the best."

Bishop turned to him and said with a serious tone, "So you say. But I think it's best I see for myself if they are battle ready against these foreigners."

Fink gave off a bit of a sigh and said, "Whatever eases your conscience."

As the elevator made the descent, it soon approached the main lobby of the factory. The main floor is a huge room with high ceilings where huge gears were cranking from above. In the middle of the main floor was a huge golden statue of Fink with his pocket watch opened to see the time while two golden zeppelin airships circled the statue. Of course the view of the elevator was showing the statues back while the front would be for workers to come in, letting the statue look down to them like ants.

Gregory looked to this statue and couldn't help but to chuckle for a little bit. Fink soon enough turned to the colonel and asked, "What's so funny?"

Bishop took a breather and said to him, "Oh, nothing Fink. It's just that it's typical of you to have a thirty foot golden statue of yourself in front of the masses."

Fink just raised an eyebrow before clearing his throat and said, "Well, everyone needs a leader to lead them to prosperity. It shows greatness to those that will have a better future here."

"Really?" Greg said back, "Sounds like having your own statue would give your labor class the feeling of smallness, and inadequacy. Looks like it ain't working."

Fink gave a grunt as the elevator stopped at the main floor of the factory. As the door opened, the two walked out as the colonel looked around to see the view. He could see gears on the side moving to the rhythm of clanks, a clock over the statue that is ticking away, and over the clock is a green lighted sign that says, 'Fink MFG'. All around, they could see soldiers on high alert with the staff checking on inventory or transferring products. However, under the sign were four soldiers sitting and waiting for someone to come for them.

Bishop looked at them and said, "Those four waiting around. Are they my team?"

Fink gave a quick nod and answered back, "But of course. What you see are the best of the best I can offer. War Veterans and skilled soldiers at their finest."

Gregory looked to this team and didn't look impressed. "Right…"

The three then approached the group as one of the teammates looked up to see them heading to their position. His reaction was to stand straight up and gave a quick salute before giving out a quick say.

"Colonel on the bridge!"

The other three quickly did the same and gave off the same salute as the first team member. Bishop looked to the four and could see they are presented well.

The first one is a man in his thirties with a clean cut and parted hairline dressed in a blue uniform with what look like X's on his one sleeve that go down his arm, representing the number of enemies he killed. He was carrying a carbine that was modified to compete against Cybertronians with a modified pistol in his holster.

The second one is a female soldier with blonde hair in a bun and her uniform consisted of two straps with sniper rounds in an X formation and a belt around her with pockets filled with personal gadgets. She has two Bird's Eye sniper rifles on her back, one that is ordinary, the other modified to eliminate the metal foreigners. The one thing that caught Bishop's attention is an eye patch on her left eye, marking her as a wounded soldier, but is still standing and ready to serve.

The third soldier looked like a younger soldier, but was loyal to the Prophet. With short brown hair and overgrown sideburns, his uniform consists of a bulletproof vest and a strap of bullets across his body and shotgun shells on his belt with goggles covering his face. He was sporting a China Broom Shotgun and a modified machine gun capable of switching between regular bullets and energy projectiles.

Lastly, there is a burly man in his fifties with salt and pepper hair and a curly mustache that is wearing heavy armor with the exception of his helmet is on the floor and his modified Barnstormer RPG. The one thing that made him special is the names that have been etched on metal shoulder pads and sleeves, all of whom look like names of Asian people.

Gregory looked to them and was starting to see how good they look. "Hmm…" he said, "They are not bad. However, presentation is nothing as I don't know who they really are."

Fink walked next to him and said, "But of course. After all, a leader does need to understand his teammates and how they run things. Here, let me introduce you to your team.

The two started to walk to the first team member and gave the introductions. Moving to the first one, he explained to him who he is.

"This is Benjamin W. Hall, an honorable soldier who was awarded the medal of honor after holding the line against the Vox Populi when his unit was eliminated. Those X's on his arm represent the number of Vox soldiers he managed to took out with a Carbine and about fifty rounds. With his precise shooting ability and strategy, he managed to take out enough Vox that they all fallback. Quite a brave one if I do say so myself."

Benjamin gave a salute and said to him. "Sir! It's an honor to fight alongside the man who defeated the Foreigners from the Stars."

Bishop sighed and told him, "Please, don't say that. I don't want to remember what occurred back then. And no calling me sir. Call me, Bishop, you got it?"

Benjamin nodded and responded with, "Of course, sir! Er… I mean Bishop."

He soon sighed as he and Fink proceeded with the next soldier.

"This young lady here is Penelope Walker. She is the top sniper expert within Columbia's Military. While she lost her one eye in a Vox ambush, she is very sharp with her one good eye, taking out insurgents within miles. Why, this one time, she took out an undercover Vox sympathizer from Emporia all the way to Battleship Bay by eight to ten miles at the least. She is quite an sniping expert."

Bishop looked to Penelope and was impressed by her records. "A sniping expert, huh? That's quite a resume you got there. Really impressive… You certainly have a bright future ahead of you." he said with enthusiasm.

The sniper expert heard that and smiled, knowing that she got a recommendation. "Thank you, sir. I mean, thank you Bishop. I can assure you that I'll be assisting you against the metal foreigners and the False Shepard." she responded back.

Fink soon showed him the next soldier and explained about him.

"This young lad is Williams Miller. He might be a little small like the rest of the soldiers here, but what he lacks in size, gains in ability. He is a scout who can run as face as he possibly could while taking out Vox rebels in quick fashion. Whether it be a machine gun spread or close shotgun range, he can get the job done."

Bishop checked on Williams and told him, "A scout, huh? I seen plenty of scouts in past battlefields. Sometimes, they are used as cannon fodder. You're not going to be a liability in this team, are you?"

Will stood at attention and said to him, "No, si- Bishop. I stand by my prophet at the highest regards. My speed can help me get through with bullet barrages and the weapons I possess can help me survive the most vicious firefight. I am at your service!"

Fink soon approached the heavy soldier and told him of whom he is.

"And this… heh, heh… This is Taylor Clark. He is the best demolition, explosive, and down right destructible man that ever walks this Earth. His grandest accomplishment is that of the Boxer Rebellion, where he sneaked into enemy territory and blew up the defenses. Plus, he has a sure hatred with those Orientals, killed so many of them, that he lost count."

The colonel approached him and was very concerned about him. He soon notices the names on the armor plating and asked about it. "So… Clark… Mind telling me what's with all these names you have on your armor. Is that some form of memorial or something."

Taylor looked to his platting and answered the best way possible. "These are the names of the Orientals I killed during the many battles. Each name I weld in the memory that I will remember for all time." He soon looked to Bishop and continued by saying, "As the boss says, I have a pure hatred for these squinty eye bastards. And from what I heard, one of those flocks of black sheep is one of them, who turn into a complete monster. I am yearning to kill someone as dangerous as that, so I can embed the name into my armor to remember her final moments."

Bishop heard him and smirked, realizing that he has quite a soldier to handle the job. "You got guts, I give you that. I am hoping you handle that one for me and the team. Welcome aboard."

Once the introduction was out of the way, Gregory looked on with an impressed expression and now was comfortable with them. Turning to Fink, he said, "I gotta say, Finkton. You've certainly given me some fine men. To which I'm very grateful." However, looking to the group, he noticed that there were four of them. "Still, you did say that there were five of them here. Yet I see only four."

Fink noticed that too and knew that he was right. They were missing one more of the group. "Yes," he said, "You are right about that." He soon turned to Flambeau and asked, "Mr. Flambeau?"

Flambeau walked to them and told them what happened. "He'll come." the assistant said, "He called to let me know that he's running a little late. Saying that his body needs a little tune up before getting back on the field.

Bishop raised an eyebrow and was confused about it. "Tune up?" he asked about it.

Fink turned to the colonel and explained about it. "Yes… That… See, Charles and a team were caught in a Vox ambush a few years ago. And although they survived, poor Charles didn't get so lucky; one of the rebels was carrying a Barnstormer. He was completely mangled and the doctors said that he had a few days to live. So to relieve the pain, Comstock's highest generals took him to Bettermen's Autobodies to give him a second chance."

John raised an eyebrow and heard those words, "Bettermen's Autobodies? You mean that company that gives the sick and elderly those metal monstrosities that would make them horrific? That sounds pretty aggressive, turning a soldier into a Handyman."

"Whether you like it or not, the Autobodies have saved countless lives in the past." Fink continued, "Sure there needs to be some adjustments within the bodies, but all those people living today have far better lives than what they were; Carles is no exception."

"By stuffing them in metal suits?" Gregory asked, "Well if I have to choose between a monster or a burial, I would rather be six feet under."

"Oh… But you haven't seen him if you did." Fink retorted. Bishop was about to continue to banter about it until he heard a loud and distorted voice.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!"

Fink heard this and knew who that belonged to. "Ah…" he stated, "Sounds like Charles is here."

Gregory looked up to the direction of the voice to see what was all the fuss was about. That's when the glass on the wall shattered as something big and bulky came out of it. It then landed on the side of the statue, hanging on it like a gorilla until he jumped down to the main floor, right in front of Bishop. The colonel got startled by it as he backed away, enough to get a good enough look. He could tell that he was truly a Handy as his metal body was big and intimidating with huge monstrous hands and colossal feet that acted as a pair of huge gentlemen shoes. There was clothing that covered the body up, but it was raggedy and torn after a long time wearing it. The only thing that was human about this Handyman was his face as it had scars from his recovery and a baldhead, all of which connected to electric wires that glowed on the back. But the most disturbing part of this Handyman was a glass container on his chest that had his heart actively pumping to keep him alive while it was floating in a strange liquid like substance.

Looking on in shock, the colonel didn't know what to say next. "Holy shit! Is that Charles?!"

Fink gave a smirk and answered back, "Indeed he is. Thanks to the Autobody he possesses, he now has imaginable strength and far superior destruction. A bit of a brute, I know, but he would do nicely in handling the foreigners from the stars."

Bishop looked on in a state of disbelief, as he knew that deep in his head, he believes that this mission of his is going to get really interesting.

Meanwhile, at Soldier's Field, a lone hallway was vacant as no one was around. Just then, an elevator door started to open up as someone with a pistol came out to scan the area. That person was none other than Booker DeWitt as he noticed that it was empty and turned to the door to let the others know that it is clear.

"Area is secured. You can come out now."

Right on cue, five more individuals came out as they looked around the area. They were of course the Skystrikers: Sari, Jack, Raf, and Miko and Elizabeth as they were leaving the elevator to join the Detective. Sari looks at him and says, "You know we can take care of ourselves Booker. You don't really have to protect all of us."

Booker shrugged his shoulders and said to her, "I know… But I need someone to look after the girl in case something happens to me. She is our top priority after all."

"And so is our end of the bargain." Sari said back, "My team and I have to find our friends in this town as well."

Booker crossed his arms and grunted to himself. "Hmph… Whatever you say Miss" he argued, "But one thing at a time. Personally, with a city as immense as this, it will take some time to find what you are looking for."

"Which is the reason why we need that air ship." she then retorted, "To make our search a little easier."

"Got it." Book said, "First the girl, then your friends."

As the two were arguing, Jack came up in the middle of them and interrupted their little talk. "Um… Hate to interrupt this little conversation, but I think you guys need to see this."

The two looked at the Technorganic and were curious at what he was talking about. When they turned, they could see something they didn't expect. They entered what looks like a long hallway that's split in two sides with a rectangular wall that's in the middle. On the left side, there's a bunch of counter windows that look like either ticketing, or Veterans benefits. On the right were the restrooms for people to relieve themselves. There were two golden statues of soldiers saluting on each side and Columbian flag banisters hanging on the walls and ceiling. In the middle of the room was a rectangular wall that has promotional posters on both sides and there was a Motorized Patriot display in front of them. However, the place looked defaced as a golden statue was toppled over on the right side, red paint splattered across the billboards and signs, and the Motorized Patriot display had its glass shattered and someone wrote a sign over it that says 'Tin'.

Everyone looked to the scene in front of them as Miko whistled and said, "Boy, we certainly missed the party. What happened here?"

Booker looked stern as he took his pistol out. "Don't know…" he said, "But I got the feeling we got trouble coming. Keep a lookout."

The group slowly walked down through the left hall as they checked to see if any threat was close by. As they were walking, Jack looked up to one of the promotional billboards for the Little Soldiers Academy. Someone wrote something over the ad as it read out loud, 'A Righteous Wind is Coming'. The Technorganic looked at this and was a little nervous. "A Righteous Wind, huh?" he said, "Why do I get the sickening feeling that it's not anything good."

The group continued to walk down the left hall as Miko looked to Elizabeth and was curious about her. Back in the elevator, the girl did something quite unimaginable. She opened a portal to another world! It was something she and the others didn't expect and they had never seen someone do that before. Sure she almost brought back the Songbird, but it was still cool in the Predacon hybrid's eyes. But as she saw that portal, there is something that bothers her. With Elizabeth opening portals then there's a strong chance that maybe she opens portals to other worlds, most likely her's and the team's world. Could that be possible? As she was thinking about it, she could hear the captain's voice next to her.

"Something bothering you, Miko?" Sari said to her.

The hybrid turned to her and was a little off guard. "Oh, Headmistress!" she said, calming herself down, "Sorry, I was just thinking about what just happened back at the elevator."

"You mean when Elizabeth opened a portal that nearly got us killed?" Sari asked her."

"Yeah, that's right!" she answered, "I've been thinking about that. Elizabeth said that these 'tears' she said are windows to another world, right? Well what if she can open our world. You think she could do that?"

That really caught the captain off guard as Sari pondered it through and through. "Hmm… It's possible…" she said, "That energy rift she formed is very similar to that of Elicia's device back at the Unit: E lab. So, it's strongly obvious that she might do that."

Jack heard this as well and was pleased with the news. "If that's the case, then maybe there's a chance to finally get back to our world. It would save Elicia and her team the time to rescue us, giving they're going through one dimension to the next."

"But we can't just ask her completely." Raf stated, "She will get suspicious about where we came from."

Sari listened to the two and decided to speak to her about her abilities. Walking next to Elizabeth and asking in a clear tone, "Hey Elizabeth, can I ask you something?"

The girl looked right to the captain and said, "Sure thing, Ms. Sumdac. What is it?"

"These tears that you were performing" Sari continued, "How long since you've been doing that?"

The girl blinked for a little bit before answering as much as she could. "I really don't know…" she answered back, "I guess I learned about it for a really long time. Ever since I was born."

"So you have experience with this type of ability?" Sari kept giving her questions.

"That's correct." Elizabeth kept on answering, "So, why ask me such trivial things?"

That's when Sari decided to ask straight away. "Well, since you know how to open these tears of yours, is it possible to open tears to other worlds?"

That question took Elizabeth by surprise, as she didn't expect the captain asking that type of question. Twirling the thimble on her pinkie, she explained about it as much as she could. "You could say that. When I was young, I started altering random objects I can use. Mostly books, toys, and other types of things. Then one day, I decided to concentrate hard on expanding my abilities. And just like that, I was able to open a hole into a different world, at first I was scared. But then when I observed the world, I was fascinated by this unknown world that I've opened up. So I worked hard and studied the scientifics and physics, looking into books and calculating equations. If I could open up the tears to other worlds, then I can go wherever I wanted, just so I can find what I'm looking for."

"And what would that be?" Sari soon got curious.

"I… I don't know." Elizabeth thought, "My family, I suppose. I never had much of one for as long as I can remember and no one have ever come to me. The only person that's close to a family is Songbird and he had been my protector for so long."

Miko grunted and remembered about the bout in Monument Island. "Yeah… Some protector…"

Sari looked to the Predacon hybrid and gave a look to keep quiet before turning back to the girl. "Is it possible to open these tears to other worlds, just so you can enter and never turn back."

Elizabeth though turned her head away and had depressed eyes. "I wish I could…" she said, "But I'm afraid I can't. At first I was able to open some of these tears but every time I do it, there's always something that got me so scared that I would close it immediately after all that hard work. The last time I did that, some bizarre contraption with flashing lights nearly ran me over. I guess that my powers are weakening every time I grow older. Don't know why."

Sari blinked and was a bit surprised that Elizabeth said that her powers were weakening. Thinking that, she decided maybe it won't be a good time in asking her to open one to the team's world. As they walked down to the other side, they approached a walk around wall with a poster of the Hall of Heroes in front of them with the Columbian Authority sticker plastered on it. Below it looks like a bunch of crates with a lighted lantern shining above. Elizabeth then spotted something sticking out and immediately pointed to it.

"What's that?"

Raf saw it as well and approached one of the opened crates to see what it is. When he picked it up, he noticed that it was another one of those vigor bottles with what looks like a cowboy riding a horse as a lid. Looking down at the box, it has a horse logo with a title that reads out loud.

"Bucking Bronco... " Raf said, "Hmm… Must be another one of those vigors in Columbia."

Elizabeth heard it and soon realized what it is, saying, "Bucking Bronco? I read about those. They are meant to lift anything up into the air, whether they be people or inanimate objects. Sometimes it is used for children to play. Other times it's the perfect weapon when stopping criminals.

Miko then remembered what happened to them not too long ago and said, "Hey, didn't one of those undercover agents use it on us back at the ticket counter? I bet that can be very useful."

Booker looked to the bottle too and thought the same thing. "Might be effective when we're in a battle." he said before requesting the bottle, "Toss that over to me, Rafael."

The super soldier complied and threw the vigor bottle right to the detective. As Booker caught it, he examined the bottle thoroughly and pulled the horse and cowboy cork off the top. Taking a quick sip, he waited for a few short seconds until the vigor kicked in, doubling over in pain and dropping the bottle. Looking to his hand, he noticed that it was chipping and breaking apart, showing his blood. Turning to his other hand, it too did the same as sparks danced around both hands and bits of blood gushing out. As soon as it started, it stopped and his hands went back to normal. Taking a deep breather, he grasped his hands for a few quick seconds until the vigor was in his system. The others looked on in awe while Elizabeth was surprised by what she witnessed.

"Incredible!" Elizabeth said, "I heard that drinking vigors could be a kick in the mule, but never seen it actually happen."

Miko looked at her and said with a cocky expression, "Girlfriend, we are still trying to get used to this city the moment we came in. This is still a lot to adjust to."

Sari then approached DeWitt and checked on him. "Are you alright?" she asked.

DeWitt turned to her and said, "I'm fine… It's just that I'm starting to get the hang of the after effects of these Vigors. Just give me a second to breathe."

Sari smiled and decided to give him some breathing room. Just as they were waiting for him to get back on his feet, they could hear someone in a booming voice from afar.

"Fellow Columbian soldiers! We are gathered today on these fair grounds to embark on a dangerous mission."

Jack was the first to hear that as he shushed everyone around him. "Guys, be quiet." he whispered to them, "You hear that? Sounds like its close."

Sari heard it as well and said, "Indeed it does. Everyone stay together."

The team split and went around a wall divide to see the exit leading to the outside. As they were walking through, they could hear this person yelling out something.

"You are all familiar with Cornelius Slate. The legendary soldier of the Orients who followed Father Comstock to Hell and back. Well Slate has betrayed our prophet and our holy duty to Columbia. He has sided with Daisy Fitzroy and her Vox vermin, smuggling weapons to help aid them in their revolt. He even recruited his own band of men and has taken over the Hall of Heroes, turning it into his base of operations. He has become a traitor to Columbia and would prefer to die in the hands of the devil than that of an angel. Well if death is what he wants, then that's what he'll get!"

As soon as the group was outside, they were at another section of Soldier's Field with a huge building floating above and a huge statue of Comstock on top with his arms opened. There were two buildings on the ground level where they are and a Gondola station at the end with a brightly lighted title that says, 'Gondola to the Hall of Heroes'. However, blocking the path were Columbia's military, with two turrets set up at the Gondola entrance and soldiers on the roofs. There were also soldiers on the ground at attention as the general of the group gave them a speech of some kind.

"Once we storm into the Hall of Heroes, we will show those that follow the traitor what happens when they turn their backs on Father Comstock! And when we strike, we will teach Cornelius Slate a lesson! Now, I know you've all come to think of Slate as some kind of war hero. But let me be abundantly clear… CORNELIUS SLATE IS NO HERO! Ah, he's been living down in Finkton so long that the man has gone native. If Slate had his way, the damn Coloreds and Potato Eaters would be up in Comstock House runnin' Columbia - or in yer homes, copulating with yer wives!"

The group hid behind the huge stacks of boxes and crates, watching the event unfurl. Miko looked to this and grunted, saying, "Well, you're right on this one guys. Comstock's little boy scouts are here."

Raf looked to the opposition and could tell this is bad. "Looks like an army getting ready to attack. I'm seeing armed men on the ground and rooftops, two turrets near the gondola station, and I got a bad feeling that more are within those buildings."

Booker saw this as well and could tell their way to the Hall of Heroes is blocked off. "Needless to say, our way to the Shock Jockey is cut off." he said to the team, "And the only way through is to fight them off. How to handle that many men, that's the question."

That's when Sari came up with an idea and told Booker about it. "Say, Booker, you have that new vigor in your possession, right? Can you use it on those troops on the ground?"

Book turned to the captain and realized that she did have a point. "You know what, you're right." he said to her, "What better way to test the Bucking Bronco then by using it on some unexpecting fools." To that, he lifted his hand up and focused hard in activating it. Soon enough, his hand was chapping up as an energy life field came up the palm of his hand. Seeing it fully charged, he looked to the line of men all at attention, focusing on the general. Seeing them distracted, he decided to toss his new ability right at them. With a quick throw, the energy hit the ground between two of them and was pulsing, letting the wood splinter fly out.

The team watched on and could tell that nothing was happening as the Predacon hybrid grunted. "You've got to be kidding me!" she said in disgust, "You had a clear shot in attacking those beatniks and it didn't do shit?! Seriously Book, you really have lost your edge."

The detective turned to her and argued back. "Hey, I had that vigor at full power. There was no doubt that Bucking Bronco would work by now. And one more time if you didn't listen to me, It's not Book. It's-"

Before he could finish with what he was saying, there was an explosion of air close by. Turning back, they could see the group of soldiers launched off the ground and floating in the air as the general was caught in the blast.

"Sonuvabitch! What the Hell?!"

The group looked on as Miko saw this with a wide smile. "Sweet! Now that's what I'm talking about." she said before turning to Sari and saying, "Excuse me…" With her body glowing yellow, the servant outfit that she wore got torn in the process to show off her Predacon armor, spreading her wings, she flew up and headed straight to the opposition that was floating from the aftereffects from the Bronco. Sari saw her leave and knew what she was planning, trying to stop her.

"Miko, wait! Don't do it!"

But the girl didn't listen as she extended her claws and with a few quick swipes, tore them apart in half, killing them in an instant. The general though was left unscathed as the Bucking Bronco wore off and he dropped to the ground. Enough time to see his fellow comrades get torn in the air, by the purple and pink demon. Turning to the left, he could see Booker and the rest of the Skystrikers standing there with blank stares as he pointed right to them.

"It's them! It's the False Shepherd and his flock! Eliminate them!"

Soon enough, everyone else turned to the group and readied their weapons for a battle. The team watched on as Sari hand palmed herself, realizing Miko made another terrible mistake. Jack then looked to the group pointing their weapons to them and said in an awkward tone, "And here comes trouble. Great…"

They all fired their weapons as the team got into cover behind the crates on both sides. As the bullets started to fly, Sari turned to the detective and said, "Well, looks like you got your fight DeWitt! Jack and I will handle the opposition on the roofs. Raf, stay with the detective and provide backup for him. Protect Elizabeth at all cost, got it?"

The super soldier turned to her and gave a quick nod. "Understood!"

Booker then switched his vigors to Murder of Crows and was ready to keep the guards distracted. "All right, here goes nothing!" he said as he got out of cover and waved his hand, summoning an army of crows right at the group. The military wasn't prepared for that as the crows surrounded them and pecked them off bit by bit. As they were trying to get them off their backs and shooing them off, the team took that opportunity to strike now.

"Skystrikers!" Sari said in her battle cry, "Attack!"

Soon enough, the group got out of cover and charged in to begin the attack. Both Sari and Jack activated their thrusters on their metal boots and jumped up, letting the little boosters launch them up to the roofs while Booker and Raf charged in from the ground and got their weapons out to begin the fight.

Sari landed on the roof of a bar establishment called 'The Fellow Tavern' with a billboard of the place and lighted lamps that resembled a pair of huge rifles with the light acting as the guns being fired. Getting on the roof, the first group of soldiers turned to the captain and pointed their weapons to her.

"Hands in the air or we'll shoot!" said one of them.

Sari looked to the weapons they were holding and had a devious smirk underneath her faceplate. "Okay…" she said a little sheepishly, "Whatever you say officer."

Slowly, she lifted her hands up to surrender. But what she was really doing was closing her optics and was performing her POM. As she lifted her hands up, the guns the soldiers were carrying started to shake around and were immediately pulled from their hands and floated up in the air. The Columbian soldiers were caught by surprise as they looked up to see their weapons in the sky. They jumped up to grab their weapons, but they're so high up that it was impossible to get them. One of the soldiers looked to Sari and knew she was causing it.

"Hey!" he yelled to her, "Drop those guns! Right now!"

Sari heard that and smirked a little wider underneath her mouth guard. "If you insist…" she said as she waved her hands to behind. Upon doing that, the weapons flew to her and went behind all, falling through an open crevasse and down to the Sodom Below. The soldiers looked on in shock and didn't know what to say about this. Sari though looked to them and said in a sly tone, "What? You said to drop the weapons."

The soldiers then switched to their Billy clubs and pistols as one of them said, "That's it! You're dead!" Half the group charged in while the other half pointed their pistols to her. The Captain deployed her energy blades and was ready for the next battle. "All right, who's first?"

They all started to charge in and swung their clubs right at her. She immediately blocked them off with her blades followed by a series of kicks to knock them down. The group soon recovered and went back on the attack. Sari soon decided to get some breathing room and turned on her energy skates and skidded back to avoid the swing. Pretty soon, a chase got started as the soldiers were running after the captain as she skate across the floor. Looking back, she smirked and joked to them on their failure.

"Sorry, boys. But you need to be faster then that to catch up with me" she said in a cocky tone.

One of the soldiers decided to stop chasing and use another method to take her down. "Forget chasing after her! Just fire!"

They soon got their pistols out and fired multiple shots right as her. She soon went on the defensive by getting her boom shield up and deflecting the shots. But she needs to focus on taking them out more then holding them back. Looking at the group, she noticed that they were ten of the, then they're all lines up in a triangle. Seeing that, she got a smirk on her face and knew where this one is going.

"Time to go bowling for Columbia troops."

With her skates in position, she soon started to speed up to them and powered up her shield to knock them down. The soldiers soon saw this and immediately alerted to scatter.

"Damn! This one is too fast! Everyone split up! Hurry before-"

But it was too late as she knocked them all down and they either fell off the roof or hit the wall, knocking them unconscious. Stopping completely, she surveyed the area and fist bump into the air over her success.

"Strike!"

Meanwhile, with Jack, he jumped up to the second floor balcony at the ticketing building and spotted the same soldiers with their machine guns and carbines pointing at him. "Stay where you are, boy. Don't do anything you're going to regret." Jack's response is to arm up his energy sword and shield and did a quick stance. "Sorry…" he said to them, "But I take orders from my captain, not you."

The soldier heard that and decided to give the order.

"Fire!"

The group fired right at the techno organic as the bullets headed straight to him. Getting his shield up, he deflected the bullets and protected himself. But he was using his defense, while he needed to go offensive. Getting his boasters up, he launched himself and flew to the air. The soldiers pointed their weapons up and continued to fire away while Jack kept his shield in position where the bullets were flying. Coming back down, he headed to the first soldier and got his sword out to cut the weapon the enemy was holding in half. He then used his shield to hit the guy to the head and knocked him out. He then moved to the next Columbian soldier and did a corkscrew in the air, doing the same thing from the previous one. One by one, he jumped and flew around, getting to one officer after another, disarming them and knocking them out. When he got to the last one, he did a somersault while acting as a ball and headed to his target. Coming back down, he opened himself up and extended his legs, using them as a torpedo kick. He soon hit the soldier in the head and knocked him down on the floor. The moment he knocked him out, he looked to the passed out guard and felt very cocky.

"Like I said before, I don't take orders from you." he said with a serious smirk.

In the air, Miko was flying high as her wings were spread out. When she was up, one of the soldiers was at the Gondola station and gave out the orders.

"The demon took to the air! Arm up the rocket turrets! It's time to clip its wings!"

One of the soldiers nodded and gestured to the others to start them up. Just then, two turrets were turned on and turned to the location of the Predacon hybrid to fire. The turret is the familiar automaton that usually carries an automotive machine gun. But these two turrets came complete with Barnstormer cannons that can take down a couple of drop ships. Taking a quick aim at her, they fired and two rockets flew high in the air and towards her. Miko looked down and saw the rockets, flying by to avoid them. Once she was clear, she looked down and was a bit upset over it.

"Whoa!" she screamed, "Watch it! You almost got me killed! Then again, every racist bigot is trying to kill me and my friends. So in that case…"

Her eyes soon started to glow crimson yellow and mouth was steaming with smoke.

"Let's battle!"

She then dives down and gets ready to strike back. One of the soldiers saw her soaring down to them and yelled, "The demon is going to attack! Fire! Fire! Don't let it strike back!"

The rocket turrets continued to fire back at the Predacon hybrid as the rockets flew towards her. She quickly gilded with her wings and avoided each shot with ease. Soon enough, a group of Beast soldiers with RPGs joined in and took aim, firing at her. Soon enough, the sky was clouded with multiple rockets in the air. Still, Miko kept on soaring and spinning in the air, avoiding each shot any way possible. By the time she was close by, she took a deep breath, as her throat was incredibly warm. She soon spat out a fireball as it headed straight towards the group. The soldier watched on in horror as he warned everyone of the coming threat.

"Everybody, hit the deck!"

The group ran as fast as their legs could, but it was to no avail. In a matter of moments, the fireball hit the ground and exploded on impact, wiping out most of the soldiers and destroying two of the rocket turrets in the process. By the time the smoke cleared, there was nothing but burnt flesh and charred metal scattered everywhere while Miko landed gracefully on the ground. Looking at this mess, she smirked and joked around at her accomplishment.

"Hmph…" she stated, "Lesson learned boys, never bring rockets to a dragon fight."

Meanwhile, in the middle of the courtyard, both Booker and Raf and holding their own against Comstock's men as they used their weapons to hold them off. Booker used his shotgun he took from one of the agents back at the boardwalk and ran to a skid while shooting the first soldier in the chest, forming a hole through it. Getting back up, he got his back to a closed midway tent and peeked to see two more guards fast approaching. He would normally use his shotgun to perform some quick close combat fighting. However, he had another option in mind. Tightening his fist, he charged up his vigor and waved it to the opening. There, he activated his Bucking Bronco ability and the floor gave out an energy wave. As soon as the wave hit the two soldiers, they were lifted up into the air and were floating high, leaving them completely vulnerable to an attack. Pulling that off, he got out of cover and ran towards the two, giving them two shots with his shotgun and killing them in an instant. By the time he was done, he turned to the right and saw a couple of more guards aiming their machine guns at him.

"Stay where you are, False Shepherd." said one of them, "No sudden movements now!"

Booker listened to him and decided not to do what he said. With a quick wave, he summoned an army of crows to attack them. The soldiers were caught off guard as they were overwhelmed by the black birds. Seeing them distracted, he switched his vigors to Devil's Kiss and lobbed a flame ball at them. It soon exploded and engulfed them in flames as the birds were caught in fire to increase the damage.

As he was fighting half the soldiers, Raf was handling the other half. He used the Carbine he required at the ticket counter and got into cover, peeking out from time to time to get some decent headshots in the process. Getting back into cover, he checked his clip and could see that it was low. He needed some more ammo, otherwise he won't be able to live through it. By the time he checked his ammo, he felt something not right and turned to see the doors into the Ticketing building burst open, as more soldiers came out of it. Seeing that, Raf told the detective what he found.

"Booker!" he yelled, "We got trouble!"

DeWitt turned to see the soldiers charging through and could tell that there's more of them where they came from. And giving that Raf was close to them, he was certainly going to be a goner. With quick thinking, he switched to his Bronco vigor and flung his hand at the group. The wave of orange/brown energy came out of the floor and headed to the reinforcements. That wave hit them in a plume of smoke and they were in the air for a brief period of time. Seeing them in the air, Raf took that opportunity and took his Beretta out, firing a couple of shots at them. Each shot hit them in the heads and chest as they fell down dead when the Bronco's effect wore off. Once they laid lifeless, Raf approached them and discovered that they had ammo for his carbine. He then rummaged through the bodies to gather up as many bullets as possible.

During the battle, Elizabeth stood behind and watched the battle from afar. Seeing the Skystrikers and Booker fighting the military was actually enjoyable in her eyes. The first time they fought, she was completely scared of them and feared for her own well being. But after explaining why they killed those agents at the ticket counter, she understood why those men wanted to take her. Why they would sacrifice themselves in order to take her back to Comstock. To them, they treat her like some angel destined for greatness, whatever that is. Which could explain why she was locked in that tower for so long. These people, this team, is freeing her from her imprisonment, to get her out of Columbia and head to Paris. And to that she is grateful for all of it. So given the situation, she decided to follow the team so that they can take her to Paris safely. Sure the fight is violent sometimes, but as she said it herself, it's something she would get used to.

As she was watching from afar, she noticed a small pack of birds slowly gliding down to the other side where the tavern is located. At first, she thought it was still Booker that was using the Murder of Crows vigor. But then, the crows gathered together and a person materialized, a person that had that KKK like uniform and a coffin strapped to his back.

"You shall not escape the Lady's right hand!"

Seeing this, she knew it was a Zealot and saw him heading straight to Raf, who is still gathering up carbine ammo. Seeing this, she alerted him of the coming danger.

"Raf!" she screamed, "Crow!"

Raf could hear that and turned to see the Zealot soldier just in time as he raised his sword up to deliver the killing blow. Under quick reflexes, he took a curved bladed knife he took from a dead female soldier and blocked the first strike with ease. The two held on to their blades as sparks flew off the sharp ends and the two stared at each other.

"You will not defeat me, Mexican." the Zealot said to him, "We Zealots are immortal by the eyes of Lady Comstock."

Raf smirked about that and responded by saying, "Really? Cause the last time I checked, my team killed one of you guys. So basically, you're not as immortal as you said."

The Zealot looked pissed beneath the hood as he pushed the sword to him as a way to force the kill. Raf quickly jumped back and did a flip to get away from the attack. Landing on the ground, he deployed his other curved blade and got into a battle stance to fight. "I hope you're ready to join your friend."

The two got into a stair as they walked in a circle, not taking their eyes off each other. As soon as the stare down was over, they both charged in and began their attack. Raf started with a quick swing to the side while the Zealot turned to crows and scattered to fly past him. By the time they gathered from behind, the enemy appeared and made a quick swing from behind. The hacker managed to turn around and block the attack before pushing the Zealot with his sheer strength and pushed him to the ground. He soon pinned his target and got his sword out to go to the chest. But he quickly vanished in crows and one of the blades only got the wooden floor. Raf managed to pry it out before the Zealot quickly appear from above and came down with his sword in position to go for the top of the head. The super soldier managed to roll out of the way and avoided the attack, then charged in to use both blades for some quick slices. The Zealot managed to go Jedi and deflected each attack with his sword. Already, the two were evenly matched, as they didn't want to lose to each other.

Elizabeth watched the fight and could tell that it was an even bout. However, she knows that he cannot do it alone and is in need of some help. Looking to the others that are handling their own group of soldiers, she turned to the one person that is close by.

"Booker!" she screamed to the detective, "Raf is in need of assistance!"

The detective turned to see her before looking to the super soldier battling the Zealot. Seeing this, he decided to help him and charged up his Bucking Bronco.

Back to the fight, Raf and the Zealot continued to fight each other as their blades clashed in grand fashion. The Zealot was bringing the sword down to the head, but Raf used both blades as an X formation to block his attack. Sparks started to come out of the weapons as they held on with all their might. Quickly, the super soldier used his strength to push the Zealot away and he staggered back. The hacker saw this and took the advantage, charging in with two blades on the ground to take him out. But the Zealot pulled the cheap move and waved his hand to send an army of crows to attack the intruder. Raf saw it coming and covered himself up to protect himself from getting mauled by many beaks. Peeking, he noticed the Zealot gone and didn't know where he was. Knowing that he needs to get out of this, he waved his blades around to eliminate them. As he was about down, a backhand came out of the blue and knocked him down. The super solider shook off from the attack and tried to get up. But as he did, a the point of the sword came out of his face and caught him by surprised. Turns out, the Columbian soldier distracted him long enough to take him down. With Raf down on the ground, the Zealot pointed his sword down to his chest and wasn't impressed.

"Hmm…" he said in a distasteful manner, "Not so tough now, huh? And to think you were going to kill me. No, any last words before I send your Mexican behind to Hell?"

Raf looked to him with a deep stare and responded in a Spanish tone, "En primer lugar, capullo."

The Zealot looked to him strangely and was confused, saying, "What? What did you say? I don't speak Spanish you crazy little-"

Before he could finish, something hit him and lifted him up in the air. Raf looked at him in confusion and turned to see Booker with his hand out that had the vigor effect. "Any time pal!" he said to him, "I can't keep him up for so long!" Raf gave a quick nod and took his Heater shotgun off his back and aimed it at the floating Zealot, saying what he meant.

"It means you first, asshole…"

Pulling the trigger, it fired an exploding shell that spread in the air and right to the Zealot, burning him to death until he was completely crispy. With the burnt body dropped to the ground, Booker approached the super soldier and offered a hand. Raf looked up to him and grabbed his hand, saying, "Thanks." As soon as he got up, Raf dusted himself and picked up his curved blades to put them back to his compartments. "You'll thank me when we leave this city." Booker said, "I still need to help you and your team find these friends of yours."

As soon as the battle was over, Sari, Jack, and Miko regrouped with the others as the captain checked on them.

"Everyone all right?" Sari asked.

Raf rubbed the back of his head and said with a little embarrassment, "I'm fine. With the exception of one of those crow guys knocking me down, I'll manage."

Miko though slapped the back of her friend and said, "Come on Raf, we beat them! That's all that matters! Got to say, that was much easier than the other battles in this city. It's almost like they weren't expecting us."

As soon as she said it, they could hear Elizabeth's voice in the distance. "That's because they weren't preparing to fight all of you."

Everyone turned to her in confusion as Miko said, "Huh…?"

They soon saw Elizabeth looking at a prep table and told everyone, "Come here."

The group decided to head to her and wondered what she was looking at. What they saw were files, a map of the Hall of Heroes building, photos of what looked like previous attacks, and a picture and Wanted poster of a middle aged man with a bald head, graying beard and curved mustache, and a golden badge/eye patch over his left eye. Booker looked to all of this before turning to Elizabeth and asked, "What is it?"

Elizabeth looked to all the information she discovered and explained everything in detail. "It looks like these soldiers were preparing to raid the Hall of Heroes before we showed up. From what I could gather, someone was putting an uprising of his own and has a small band of loyal followers. They seem to have taken the Hall of Heroes and turned it into their own headquarters or something."

The team heard that and realized why the Columbian military was here in the first place. The captain soon noticed the Wanted poster that was on the table and picked it up. Inspecting the poster, she read out loud, "Cornelius Slate: Wanted for treason and sedition."

Booker heard this and was surprised by the name. "Slate?" he asked her.

Sari turned to him and answered back, "Yeah, that's his name. You know him?"

DeWitt shrugged it off and said, "You could say that. I actually know the fella back in the day. A good friend. Seems he's still got a knack for making enemies, even to this day."

Raf turned to follow some of the files and noticed some additional information. "Says here that he used to have been a high ranking general for the Columbian military, loyal to Comstock. But when he retired, he went off the radar for some time before resurfacing as an insurgent. It says that he claims that the prophet's words are false and he's a fraud to the people of Columbia. There are actual rumors that he is joining forces with Daisy Fitzroy to expand the uprising."

Elizabeth turned to him and remembered that name.

"Daisy Fitzroy?" she said in surprise, "I've read about her in the gazette. She's the leader of the Vox Populi who wishes to burn Columbia from the sky."

Miko shrugged it off and said, "Huh… Someone that likes to blow stuff up for a living. Guess anyone wants a hobby."

Sari heard this and decided to continue with the objective. "Maybe…" she said to her, "But I do believe it's best to avoid her and her uprising. And the sooner we leave this city, the better. Let's get to the Hall of Heroes and get that Shock Jockey."

Booker looked to the two buildings the Columbian authority went into and decided to check them out. "You know, we should check the buildings first before we could continue. After the last fight, I'm going to need some ammo in case things get hairy."

Sari turned to him and was a little confused by that statement.

"You wish to search for ammo before getting into the Hall of Heroes?" she asked, "You know that Slate is a friend of yours, you think he would just welcome you with open arms."

Booker looked at her strangely and said to her, "If I know Slate, he's always difficult to tell which side of him is the fool and which is the hero. Couldn't even figure out which side he's in myself."

Hearing this, Sari gave a deep sigh and decided to trust him. "All right," she said, "Better safe than sorry I guess." She soon turned to Raf and asked for a favor. "Raf, stay with Booker and Elizabeth. They might need a little backup after that last attack."

Raf turned to her and gave a quick nod in agreement.

The captain then turned to Jack and Miko and said, "The rest of us will go on ahead and head to the Hall of Heroes, to check and see if the area is secure. Move out!" The two gave a quick nod as they moved on ahead and used their rocket boosters and wings to fly off the boardwalk and in the air through the two saluting soldier statues. As they left, Booker turned to the two and started the search. "All right, let's search for some munitions. Gonna need plenty of them if we are to head to the Hall."

Raf looked around and noticed a green building with a billboard at the corner that was 'The Fellow Traveler' and pointed to it. "We should check that building over there. Looks like a perfect spot to find some ammo." Booker looked to the building as well and decided to follow his advice. "Hmm… That's a start." he said as the three approached the building.

By the time they'd reached the building, they noticed the doors were busted down and bullet holes on the glass windows. They looked at this and were weary on what's inside. Booker took his pistol out as they slowly walked inside. When they got in they looked on in surprise as Elizabeth had her hands over her mouth and said quietly, "Oh god…"

Inside is what looked like an actual restaurant with a micro bar for people to get alcohol. But inside, they could see that there was a scuffle as tables were turned over and dead bodies were everywhere with blood on the walls. Booker looked on with a cold stare as he turned to tell everyone to be with him. "Stay close… We don't know if we're walking straight into a trap." So the three walked through the restaurant as they carefully made sure that there was no ambush. By the time they reached the end, Booker lowered his weapon and realized that there's no threat.

"Looks like this place was attacked before we've even got here. Those Columbian soldiers we've faced must've targeted this place first before proceeding to the Hall of Heroes. Wonder why?" he asked, wondering about it. Raf looked to one of the dead bodies while Elizabeth decided to get to the bathrooms on the right side just to get the bad taste out of mouth. As Raf was investigating the corpse, the radio sparked to life as someone was on it. But it wasn't the news reporter that they've been hearing, instead it was a woman with a southern accent spewing out propaganda.

'Who is this Prophet? Who is this fraud, this charlatan, this salesman of snake oil? What you saw today, brothers and sisters, was just the beginning. Zachary Comstock will hear our voice! His temples shall burn, and his idols of gold will melt and run in rivulets through the streets of Columbia!'

The radio soon switched back to some music as Booker listened in and made an interesting conclusion. "Hmm… I'm going on a limb here and guess that that's Fitzroy."

Raf looked to one of the dead bodies and was in agreement. "Sure looks that way. Looks like these people were her Vox soldiers. They must've been using this tavern as one of their weapon depots, but it looks like Comstock's men got to them. And judging by the battle scars, they were fighting and were overwhelmed."

Booker looked to the aftermath and said, "Comstock certainly showed no mercy to these poor souls. Can only imagine what he has plans for Slate."

"The way I see it, nothing good…" the super soldier said.

"Raf! Can you come here? I think I found something." said Elizabeth in the distance.

Raf quickly turned to the hallway and decided to check on her. "In a second!" he said before turning to Booker, "I'm going to see what Elizabeth wants. Think you are alright by yourself?"

Booker shrugged it off and said to him, "Go on ahead. It's not like these folks aren't going to get up anytime soon."

Raf gave a quick nod and headed to where Elizabeth was located. Meanwhile, Booker looked around and spotted a crate of machine guns next to the opened kitchen door. Seeing this, he approached the box and gathered what he could to be prepared. But as he was getting some munitions, he peeked back into the kitchen and noticed a pair of legs dangling. Curious, he headed in there to see for himself.

Meanwhile, Raf walked on ahead to find Elizabeth. Turning to the left, he looked at the hall and called her out. "Elizabeth?" He soon heard her in one of the bathrooms as she said, "In here." Looking to the first room, he slowly walked in and saw her standing there looking at something.

"What is it you want me to see Elizabeth?" he asked her.

She soon pointed to the wall on the bathroom wall and answered back, "Over there."

He turned to what she was pointing at and saw two things. Firstly, there was a body of an officer that didn't make it sitting under the restroom sink and the pipe was leaking water on his corpse. The second one is what she was pointing at. It looked like an Arabic language written in blood, mostly from the dead officer, on the wall. Raf looked to this writing and asked her, "What is it?"

"It's a Vox code," she said to him, "Something the Vox Populi used to encrypt messages to their brethren."

"And why are you showing me this?" asked Raf out of curiosity.

Elizabeth turned to him and explained it a bit more. "Don't you get it? The Vox Populi has secret compartments within the buildings they occupy to store weapons and munitions. To make sure the Columbian Authority doesn't find them, they set up these messages to let other members know where their stash is located. Which means there has to be one somewhere within the tavern."

Raf was now interested, as they do need more weapons to get by. "Hmm… Convenient…" he said with sheer delight, "Now if we know how to translate."

Elizabeth smirked and told him, "It's all right, I can do it. I've spent years deciphering codes to help me out if I found a way in escaping my tower."

Raf turned to her and was surprised by this type of news. "Seriously?!" he said in shock, "First you can unlock doors, then rip tears out of thin air, now you can crack codes? Is there something you can't do?!"

"Oh, you might find out that there's more to me than meets the eyes." she said as she walked away from him and got a closer look at the code on the wall. Skimming her eyes through the code, she figured out what it means as Raf looked on in wonder. He never thought that she was good at translating codes. He also wondered if her experience would make her a grand hacker. But he immediately shook that thought as he knew that she's there for Booker to take to his client. Nothing more. He had to stop thinking of Elizabeth too much, otherwise it would jeopardize the mission. But the more he thought of her, the more difficult it was.

Shaking that feeling, he asked her, "So… What did you find?"

Elizabeth checked again and managed to decipher the code. "Looks like it is some sort of message on where the secret room is located. It says, 'Tip the hat to the Vox'. Must be something we need to do to open this room."

Raf heard that and was curious about where to find this said object to open the secret room. Looking to the dining area, he couldn't see anything that looked out of the ordinary. But turning to the left, he could see the women's restroom and decided to check it out. Slowly walking to the area, he checked to see if there's anything that could be noticeable with Elizabeth following him. By the time he entered the room, he checked to see if there's something that could be of use. When he turned to the left, he spotted something that didn't look right. It was a standing coat rack with a top hat on one of the hooks. Scratching his head, he was confused by this and said, "Odd… What's a coat rack doing in the women's restroom?"

Elizabeth saw this as well and started to piece some things together. "Maybe that has to do with the Vox code. Try tugging the hat, see what it would do."

Raf turned to her and was curious by what she said. Approaching the rack, he touched the hat and noticed that it was bolted tight. Just then, he decided to pull it as it tipped forward to him. By the time he did that, they could hear the sound of something opening very close. Turning towards the noise, he saw a piece of wall next to the toilet stall opening up to reveal a small hallway with lanterns illuminating the way. The two saw this and found out that they had found the secret entrance to the Vox's stash.

"Huh… Tip of the hat…" Raf said in what occurred.

"Indeed…" Elizabeth responded back.

The two then decided to check inside and see if there's anything that could be useful.

Back to Booker, he noticed the kitchen was busted open and checked inside to see if there's anything useful. So far, he could see a crate filled with machine guns, which means plenty of ammo to spare. "Nothing to waste, it would seem." he said as he started to take the clips out to add it to his arsenal. He then spotted a shotgun with shells and took them out as well to get more ammo for the gun he acquired. By the time he searched through the rest of the kitchen, he spotted something that sickened him.

On top of the standing cutting board was a dead police officer that looked like he got shot in the chest with a puddle of dry blood on the wood and a knife pierced through the police cap on the top right corner. Seeing this, he was appalled and could tell that it was bad.

"Poor bastard…" he said, feeling a bit of sympathy, "Didn't even see it coming. Wonder what happened to you?"

Looking around, you noticed what looked like a Voxaphone hung on the pantry by another knife. Rubbing his chin, he deduced that it must've belonged to the dead officer. Approaching it, he took it off the knife and looked on to see what was recorded in there. Mashing play on the recorder device, the record started to spin and he had what appears to be the voice of the recently deceased officer explaining something of interest.

'Got a tip that the Vox were hiding contraband guns in the Fellow Tavern. Didn't find 'em, but - funny thing - we found some old uniforms under the floorboards from the Boxer Rebellion. Took guesses as to why they were there, but-'

Just then, the recording was interrupted as the sound of the door was opened in the background of the recording followed by footsteps. Booker heard that closely as the officer was looking to see who came in.

'Who's there? You're Slate, right? Sir?'

Booker blinked as he knew what the officer was saying. "Slate…?" he said to himself as he heard the sound of two revolvers cocked and ready to fire. The officer was in an immediate panic as he demanded to stop what he's doing.

'Put the guns down!'

It was then that he heard two shots coming from the recording as the poor officer was killed in cold blood. The man, who is Slate, approached the Voxaphone that was still recording and picked it up, delivering a message in a raspy voice to a certain prophet.

'Did you hear that, Comstock? That is the sound you have never heard - the sound of a soldier's end. Come to your "Hall of Heroes". Prove me a liar.'

The recording soon ended as Booker heard it. Listening to the incident he understood that it wasn't too good. "Sounds like Slate wasn't too kind with Comstock. Looks like he's expecting him to head to the Hall of Heroes where they could duke it out. Or better yet having Comstock's men go down there and take care of him. Could only imagine what would happen if they came in. They could be walking right to a-"

He soon stopped what he was saying as he realized what's going to happen. Slate is expecting someone to head to the Hall of Heroes. The Skystrikers are heading down there to retrieve the Shock Jockey and make sure everything is in the clear. If they get anywhere close to the building… "Oh no…" he said as he knew they could be walking into a trap.

Meanwhile, The Skystrikers were flying through the hair, reaching the Hall of Heroes to scout ahead. Passing the two golden soldier statues saluting, they could see the building from a distance, which is hard to miss as there was a statue of Comstock with his arms held out wide. They soon reached the Gondola station and gently landed on the gondola itself. By the time they were on the ground, they looked up to the building and was amazed by the architecture of the museum. It had three stories to the sides while there were five more additional floors in the back with a huge sign that said 'Hall of Heroes' shown in the light. Of course the one thing that got their attention was a huge statue of Comstock behind the building, to make it very intimidating.

The three looked up to the building and were amazed by the sight of it. "Wow… Look at this place. It's huge!" Jack said, "I couldn't believe that this is a museum."

Miko though looked at the Comstock statue over the Hall and wasn't impressed by it. "Hmph… A museum with a so-called god watching over it. And I thought Trump had an ego when he was president. This one really takes the cake."

Sari listened to the two and told them to get back on track. "All right you two," she started, "that's enough. We have to scout ahead and make sure everything is in the clear. Keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Just because Booker said that he knows this Slate, doesn't mean he would take kindly to intruders."

The two turned to their captain and nodded in unison. Slowly, the two walked off Gondola and onto the docks, heading up the stairs to get to the main square. What they didn't know is that trouble is coming their way.

Up on the extended balcony that goes around the Hall of Heroes, someone was on crow nest duty and was sitting by, eating a sandwich he made and listening to 'The Bonnie Blue Flag' by Pork Miller. He was wearing what looked like an old Columbian uniform from the old war with an old American flag circle draped on his right shoulder and had graying hair with long sideburns that went down to the sides of his face. As he was enjoying his meal, he looked down to the courtyard and noticed three individuals walking up the steps to the boardwalk. Taking the binoculars off the table, he took a closer look at the three approaching the museum. "The hell…" he said to himself as he noticed three young youths, two of them covered in metal head to toe, while the one that was oriental had wings and a tail, all of which were made of metal.

Confused by this group, he turned to an old fashioned ham radio and turned it on, tuning the frequency to a certain channel. When he got to a frequency, he contacted his leader. "Cornelius Slate. This is Alexander. I've encountered three intruders walking to the courtyard."

The man on the other line, who is Slate, heard that and had a really good guess.

"So, Comstock brought more of his Tin Men to arrest me. He is quite the fool if he thinks a few can take my army."

Alexander heard him and told him that this wasn't the case. "Actually sir, these aren't Comstock's men. But they do look like tin to me. One of which has wings and a tail. The other two's tin is far different than the others. What should I do?"

Slate was quiet on the other end as he told him the exact answer.

"Tin Men are still Tin Men, no matter how to slice it. You know what to do when they enter our fair grounds. Eliminate them."

Alex heard it and gave a quick salute. "Yes sir, Cornelius Slate sir!" he said as he turned off the radio. Approaching the side of the table, he picked up a Bird's Eye sniper rifle and loaded it up to fire. He then smiled at this and was ready to take the three down. "Time to go to the shooting gallery…" he said with anticipation.

Returning to the Fellow's Tavern, Raf and Elizabeth were walking through the lantern lighted hall to see where it would take them. By the time they reached the end, they were amazed at where they are. From what they could understand, they were in what looked like a wine cellar under the tavern, but it seems like the Vox Populi was using it as their weapons depot. There were red banisters decorated around the walls and shelves of wine barrels, weapon racks there looked empty, preferably because the Vox had a stand off with Columbian soldiers, and a table in the middle with a lone weapon and ammo and a poster on top of it with a face of a woman and a title that says, 'Daisy Fitzroy hears your voice'. There were two other things that got their attention, The first is another huge poster like flag when they descended down the stairs that had a man with war paint and a title over it that says, 'The Vox Populi reclaimed this place'. Another is what looked like a sign from a Carney shooting gallery that was suppose to say, 'Shoot the Vox!', but it was splattered with a lot of white paint and there's a metal head of Comstock with a bullet hole over it and a small sign hung on the head that says, 'Tyrant'. The two looked around and could tell that this is the place.

"Well now… Judging by the look of this place, I say the Vox was making themselves at home." Raf said, getting to the conclusion.

"It does seem that way." Elizabeth continued, "I've been hearing that the Vox was planning something big for Columbia. It looks like this is one their secret hideouts that they use to plan their huge attack."

Raf stepped down the stairs and kept looking at the sight. "Why do I get the feeling that whatever they are planning, cannot be good?" he asked as he looked at all the red banisters within the room, "Why are there so many red banisters in the area?"

Elizabeth looked to this too and thought of something. "I have a theory." she said, "Though I never been out of the tower for so long, I heard a thing or two about the Vox. From what I could piece together, the goal of the Vox Populi is to take back the city and would kill Comstock's flock to do so. My guess is that these red banisters meant that they are going to paint the town red with the blood of their enemy."

Raf heard that and was a little disturbed by that part. "Huh…" he said in a silent voice, "Disturbing visual…"

He started to look towards the table and spotted the weapon lying on the floor. He soon picked it up and inspected it while the girl approached him. Looking on, he could tell that this is a sniper rifle for shooting at long distances, but it looks modified. There were small red banisters wrapped around the back end and front of the gun while red pain was splashed on what's metal. It also had a small air canister on the side and connected to the nozzle of the gun and an upgraded scope that can zoom in and out. Elizabeth looked to this and remembered what it was.

"Hey! That looks like an Bird's Eye." she said in realization.

Raf turned to her and was silent by this. "An Bird what now…" he said to her.

Liz turned to him and explained about it. "The Bird's Eye. It's a sniper rifle Comstock's men use to shoot at long distances. It's very useful when it comes to taking out enemies that are attacking far away. But it looks like the Vox modified it to make it more deadly."

Raf looked to the gun and was pleased with the upgrades. "Looks like they added the air canister to increase the sniper rifle's damage while adding a modified scope to zoom in and out to get a closer look at the enemies. Seems like a potent weapon for firing from the farthest of distances. It could really come in handy." To that end, he took his machine gun from his back and looked to it for a few seconds. Given that he has his trusty pistol, a carbine, and the newly required Heater, he had too many weapons to count already. So shrugging it off, he tossed the machine gun away and strapped the sniper rifle on his back. He then looked at the box of sniper rounds on the table and picked it up as well. He then looked around the area and spotted ammo for the heater as well. Since he needed more, he approached the table counter and decided to gather up all the ammo necessary.

As he was salvaging ammo, Elizabeth looked to him and decided to ask him something. "So, Raf…" she started to say, "Is there a Mrs. in your life?"

Raf answered as he was checking for more ammo. "Mrs.?" he asked in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

Elizabeth crossed her arms and gave a bit more information. "You know… A wife. A girlfriend. A certain love interest. Do you have anyone that is worried about you?"

Raf heard that and stood like a statue, surprised that she would ask something like that. He looked a little sweaty as he tried to give her a proper answer. "Oh… Yeah… A girlfriend… Sorry Elizabeth, but I'm afraid I don't have anyone that would interest me."

The girl heard that and was surprised by the unexpected news. "Seriously?" she asked him in shock, "But you should really have one. I mean you have quite the looks for a certain female counterpart to hold on to."

Raf raised an eyebrow and told her that it wasn't the case. "Quite the looks, huh?" he argued, "Even so, I'm afraid that there won't be anyone that would be with me, especially with my age."

Liz blinked and asked, "Your age? What do you mean by that?"

He could tell that she was getting suspicious and would want some answers. Sure he had a body of a full-grown man along with the physic, but his age was that of early teens. That is something that he didn't want to let her know, especially what he had to go through during that time. But he can't keep it a secret for this long, as she wants to know more. Taking a deep sigh, he decided to let it all out. "Well…"

But just as he was about to say it…

"Elizabeth! Raf! Where are you?"

The two looked up to hear Booker's voice from upstairs through the tavern. Knowing this, Raf looked to her and told her, "We'll speak about it later. Right now, Booker needs us. Let's get going."

The girl nodded as the two walked back up the stairs and through the narrow hall. Once they were back to the bathroom, they went out of the bathroom and turned to the right to see Booker standing there a little confused. "What are you two doing in that bathroom?" he asked thinking of something disturbing, "Nothing too aggressive, I hope."

The two soon turned red in the face, as they knew what he was talking about. They soon shook it off as Raf said, "No! Nothing! We were just looking for supplies."

Booker peeked from the side and wasn't buying that at all. "In the bathroom…?" he asked before getting back to the task at hand. "Never mind, we got a situation in our hands. I found a dead body of a police officer in the kitchen and a disturbing message, regarding Slate."

The two looked to each other for a moment before looking back as asked together, "Really?"

He nodded as he continued with the problem. "Yep. Seems like Slate is setting up an ambush for any poor saps that comes to the Hall of Heroes, Columbian military or not."

Raf raised an eyebrow and was a little quiet over this. "So…"

Booker turned to him and continued on with the conversation, "So, I got a bad feeling that your friends are going to be walking into a trap."

At the same time, Sari, Jack, and Miko continued to walk down the boardwalk and into the main courtyard. When they were in the middle, they were in awe of what's around them. Surrounding them were four statues of golden soldiers giving a salute with the angel that resembles Elizabeth having her arms open for them. There was a small statue of Comstock on the side kneeling to the Angel of Columbia, but his head was knocked off and laid there on the floor. The statue of the angel, though, was the worst of wares as it was vandalized with paint that looks like she was a street whore complete with dots for nipples, red lipstick on the lips, black eyes, and a bizarre… something on her hips, and her right wing was torn off. But at the base of the statue, there was a lighted sign that was supposed to say 'Hall of Heroes', but that too was vandalized as well. Some of the letters were jumbled up and tied to metal strings as the O was fizzing in and out while someone painted a red W next to the other words. Now it looks like it said, 'Hall of Whores'. The Skystrikers looked at this and were quiet by all of this. Then Miko whistled at the sight of the courtyard.

"Wow…" she said, "How artistic. Didn't think Slate is a painter."

Jack looked at the statue and was nervous than fascinated. "My guess is that Slate has some serious demons." he said with worry.

Sari though remained confident and told them that they have to continue. "Regardless, we cannot expand our search for the Autobot and Decepticon signals without that airship. We better hurry up and scout ahead for that Shock Jockey if we are to reach the First Lady in time." She soon looked around and noticed a bunch of dead bodies scattered around the courtyard, mostly police officers. Checking the body close by, she looked on and said, "Looks like we're not the only ones that reached the Hall of Heroes."

Jack looked to her and approached the body as well, seeing the body on the floor.

"Hmm…" Jack started to say, "Columbian officers… Comstock must have sent them to issue an arrest for Slate's warrant. Guess it didn't work out well for them."

Sari nodded and said, "And after what we encountered below, Comstock was trying to send in a strike force to take Slate out by force. He seems desperate in arresting him." She then checked on the body and noticed a gunshot wound to the head as well. "Poor guy didn't even make it this far. Got shot in the head, clean and simple."

Jack saw this as well and knew what it meant. "You're not saying that these officers were taken out by…"

By the time he was going to say it, Miko sensed it coming from a mile away. She quickly rushed towards the two and yelled out loud, "Sniper! Take cover!" She soon brought them down to the ground as the bullet flew past them.

Up on the balcony, the sniper saw what happened and cursed to himself. "Damn it!" he said as he cocked another bullet into the gun, "I missed! I never miss…" He soon fired another shot and three scattered.

"Keep your heads down!" Sari said, "Don't let him get a clear shot on you!"

Soon enough, they took cover behind the two golden soldier statues in the front and blocked the sniper's path. He grunted as he got into a new position and got his sights set on Jack. He pulled the trigger and the bullet fired straight at him. He felt that coming and deployed his shield to deflect his bullet. Then he opened his free hand and fired his blaster right at him. The sniper got down as the energy projectiles whizzed on by, feeling a little overwhelmed by these three. But he didn't want to give up as he came out of cover and fired a few more rounds at them.

Back down at the tavern, the three heard the sound of sniper shots from far away. They turned to the direction of the sounds and knew where it came from.

"Sounds like Slate's men have spotted your friends and are attacking them." Booker said as he knew that it was really bad.

Raf heard that and he could tell that this was extremely grave. Elizabeth knew this as well and turned to Raf to say, "We have to help them!"

Raf nodded and turned to Booker to say, "Let's get up to the Hall of Heroes and assist them!"

Booker heard him and said, "This way!"

Soon enough, the three left the tavern and headed straight to the Gondola entrance that would take them up to the Hall of Heroes. But unfortunately, there was no gondola waiting for them. Booker grunted and said, "Great… There's no gondola here for us."

Elizabeth thought of this and said; "Comstock's men must've shut down gondola access to the Hall of Heroes. Must be because of what's going on with Slate."

Booker looked around and spotted the skylines that are connected from the lower level to the Hall. Course, there were a lot of crates hanging on the lines, making it difficult to hang on. "Looks like the skylines are the only way in reaching the Hall. Got to find a way in clearing those crates if we are to get there."

Raf looked to the control console that operates the skyline and said, "Those look like the controls that operate the freights hanging on those skylines. Let's see if that will work." He soon approached the console and saw a lever in the middle of it. Pulling it back, the whistle on top blew as the freights started to move to the left. "There we go…" the super soldier said in complete accomplishment.

Elizabeth then looked down to her side and spotted another Skyhook within the toolbox. Smiling, she picked it up and pushed the lever, letting the bladed end spinning a little bit. "This is going to be fantastic!" she said as she was getting excited about riding the skylines for the first time.

Raf looked to see her with the contraption and was a little weary about it. "You sure you know how to work that thing?" he asked.

She turned to him and answered, "But of course, I read the blueprints of these Skyhooks back in my tower. I always dreamed of riding these skylines since I was a little girl. And now I can get my chance!"

"Just try not to fall off by accident." Raf gave her fair warning, "The last thing we want is for you to fall to your death. It would be a bit embarrassing explaining to Booker's client about that."

Elizabeth crossed her arms with a cocky grin and said, "I'll have you know that I can take good care of myself. You'll be surprised by the many talents I can do."

Booker overheard them and asked Elizabeth for a quick favor. "Speaking of talents," he started to ask, "you think that keen eye of yours could find some ammunition lying around? We sure could use it when there's trouble."

Elizabeth looked to the detective and was a little unsure about it. "It'll take some scrounging, but I do my best." she answered the best she could, "Munitions are tough to come around and there are many ammo types that need to match whatever weapon you are carrying."

Raf shrugged it off and said, "Well it could come in handy incase we run low. Last thing we want is to be on empty while the enemy shoots at us."

Once the last of the freights left, the crossing sticks rose up and the bell rang, claiming that they're clear. "Line clear!" Elizabeth said. Booker saw this and decided to go. "Let's get to the hall and aid the others." So the two jumped up to the rails as the hooks magnetize and the two rode it out. Raf though had his jetpack with him as he fired it up and flew in the air, following the two and getting to the rest of the team as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Skystrikers were busy with their own trouble. With the sniper within the second floor balcony and them in trouble, it was a complicated time for them. Jack peeked to the side to see the sniper, only going back as the bullet ricocheted off the golden statue and taking a breather. "Okay," he said, getting a little annoyed, "Now the sniper is really starting to tick me off! His camping strategy is making things difficult for us!"

Sari turned to her student and nodded. "You are right, my Gakusei, it is really starting to become complicated for us. We need to take that sniper out and fast before more of them come out."

Miko thought of a plan and told them about it. "I got an idea, but I'm going to take a serious risk."

Sari turned to Miko and said, "I'm all audio receptors. What you got?"

Back at the balcony, the sniper looked through his scope and was getting impatient. "C'mon… C'mon… Come on out you tin metal bastards. I ain't got all day."

Just then, Miko flew up with her wings flapping and joked around with him. "Hey, snipey. You are looking for someone to target, try me on for size."

The guy saw her flying up and was a little confused. "What the…" he said as he shook it off, "Never mind. Tin men are tin men no matter how they look or what gender they are. You're going down!"

Getting his sniper rifle out, he aimed it right at the predacon hybrid and fired the first shot. She saw it and flew around gracefully with ease as the bullet whizzed on by. She looked back to the bullet flying away and was cocky by that shot. "Really?" she said, "Is that the best you can do? You're better then that!"

The sniper was getting annoyed as he loaded a new shell and took aim, firing again. But she flew down and had her head down to let the bullet miss her by inches. She laughed it up and kept on joking. "Missed by a mile!"

Now he's getting angry as he couldn't take the mocking. "Oh, you want to play games?" he said as he couldn't take the pressure anymore, "Then let's play games!"

Dropping his sniper rifle, he approached one of the crates and pried it open with a crowbar next to it. Digging into the hay piles, he took something out and Miko looked on in surprise. What he was holding with two hands is a Peppermill Crank Gun, which is the old school version of a chain gun with a handle on the side to help operate the weapon. Miko looked on and knew that she wasn't expecting this at all.

"Scrap…"

He started to turn the handle as the end of the gun began to spin. Soon enough, it immediately fired multiple bullets right at the hybrid. She panicked and flew around in multiple directions while the lines of bullets flew after her. She was getting overwhelmed by this and didn't expect an attack like that. "Okay! Definitely the worst plan I was thinking about!" she said with complete fear, "Anytime guys!"

The sniper kept on firing as the bullet shells laid on the floor. "Keep flying, missy," he said with sheer confidence, "cause I will be the one that would clip your damn wings down like the pigeons and crows I use for targeting practice." He continued to shoot and shoot, hoping to hit her. What he didn't know is that she was merely distracting him. That soon changed when a couple of energy bolts came from the blue and hit him twice, knocking him down and smashing through multiple crates in the process. By the time he was knocked out, Miko gave out a sigh of relief and looked down to see her friends and teammates with their hands opened up and the blasters armed. She then flew down and was a little sheepish while Sari looked to her in a cold stare.

"Miko," she started, "that was a good plan. But next time you execute it, make sure that any opposition doesn't have any more weapons in their arsenal."

The hybrid crossed her arms and gave a quick huff over it. "Well I didn't know that he had a gun that could turn me into Predacon meat. I thought for certain that it was supposed to be just a sniper rifle."

Jack sighed and reminded her of what they've been through since day one. "More than meets the eye, Miko." he said to her with a sly grin, "Always remember that."

Miko glared at him and pulled a raspberry with a bit of a fiery spark coming out of her tongue. Sari could see the childish play and decided to break it up again. "Okay kids, grow up." she said in a motherly tone, "None of us didn't expect this one bit. But we got out of this and now we have to focus on getting to the building to see if the Shock Jockey is around. Let's hope that taking out one of the snipers didn't get anyone's attention."

The group walked on down the path and passed the vandalized Hall of Heroes statue and under the bridge, getting closer to the building. But as they were nearing the museum, the three stopped and saw a group of Columbian veterans kicking down the doors and rushing around the sides as more snipers came in through the balcony. They all aimed their weapons right at the three as one of them shouted.

"Freeze, Tin Men!"

The three were very quiet and weren't expecting that to happen. Jack slowly turned to Sari and asked her that it was a bad choice of words.

"Uh… Sensei…?" he started to speak, "Under future missions, don't say things that would come true. We all learn that the hard way."

Sari blinked as she said in a quiet tone, "Yeah… Dully noted, my Gakusei!

The soldier then lifted his hand up and gave the order. "Fire!"

The three stood their ground as the veterans fired their weapons at them. Sari and Jack deployed their shields as the bullets were deflected. Sari then told the others to get back. "Fallback!" she yelled as they backed off with their shields protecting themselves. They soon got back to the statues as they just simply got into cover fire with Jack and Sari firing their energy orbs at the enemy while Miko spit out fireballs at them as well.

Up on the balcony, a couple of snipers got into position and aimed their sniper rifles at the three that were easily distracted. "Target in sight." said one of the snipers, "Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes." The group waited until they saw the so-called whites of their eyes. When they saw them, they slowly pulled the triggers and were about to fire. But just as they were about to fire, one of them got shot in the head and laid there dead. The other three heard this and turned to see their dead comrade. "What the-" he said as he was cut off by a shot in his own head, followed by two more of them. They were all killed by those shots in a matter of moments.

What they didn't expect was that Booker, Elizabeth, and Raf made it in time and could see the other three getting attacked by Slate's men. Raf himself saw the four snipers about to fire on his friends as he got his newly acquired sniper rifle out and aimed them right at the four. Lowing his rifle, he gave a deep sigh and was lucky he saved them. "Phew… That was a close one." Raf said with a bit of relief.

Booker got to his side and armed his machine gun at the ready. "Don't stop now!" he said to him, "Looks like we got more trouble coming. Move out!"

The three rushed to the team's aid as they were going into cover fired with energy blasts and fireballs. As they approached them, Miko looked back and was a little upset. "Took you guys long enough." she said with a bit of anger, "What was the hold up?"

Booker looked to her and explained, "We stopped at a bar to drink and be merry."

Raf then armed his carbine and took aim. "Let's just focus on surviving this and joke about it later." he said as he took a few precise shots and shot each veteran in the head.

Booker looked to him and decided to let this little issue slide. "Right, I'll take care of it."

He then charged up his Murders of Crow vigor and waved his hand, sending a flock of birds right towards the veterans. They were all caught by the unexpected attack and tried to chew the birds away while pecking on their flesh. With them preoccupied, Sari looked to this and knew this was their shot. "This is our chance team. Let's take them down before they could attack again! Fan out!"

Quickly, everyone separated and went to different sections of the boardwalk and began the attack while Elizabeth stayed to observe. Sari deployed her energy skates and glided through the boardwalk, jumping on railings and grinding. Deploying her blades, she quickly jumped and attacked in the air, using her blades to cut the veteran's weapons in half before using her surface end to hit and knock the men down.

With Jack, he went to the left side and saw a bunch of men recovering from the crow attack and saw the teen in front of them. Jack armed his sword and energy shield as the two took out their own swords to begin their attack. He went left and right, swinging his sword in both directions to attack them and dodged their own. Seeing this isn't getting him anywhere, he noticed a Dollar Bill vending machine and used his POM to pry it off its foundation and caused it to fly towards them. Both of them turned to see this and jumped in separate directions to avoid the projectiles. Course, that in turn caused one to go head first into a box crate and the other one falling off the short stairs, both of whom were knocked out in the process. Once the men were down, he encountered a few more men as they fired their machine guns at him. He quickly got his shield fully charged as he deflected the incoming bullets. Then switching his sword to his blaster, he fully charged it to fire and knock out the remaining men.

With Raf, he saw a couple of more snipers on the balcony and used his sniper rifle to take them down quickly. By the time he did that, another veteran came from behind and attacked him when he had his eye on the sniper scope. But Raf was too smart for this and knew it was coming. He quickly rolled out of the way and turned mid role to see him standing there with his sword clenched tightly. He soon got his curved blades out and decided to fight him head on. "Big mistake pal." he said as he charged in and ready to fight him. He started to spin his body around and used the blades as a saw to slice and dice the veteran. He soon backed away and used his sword to block each and every attack. When Raf was done spinning, he got a little dizzy and was trying to hold his own. This gave the veteran an opening and got his sword ready to strike. Raf managed to block off the attack, but was still recovering from his spinning top of death move. He started to back away blocked the sword strikes with two blades. But ultimately, he tripped and fell on his back, with the soldier pointing his sword to him and felt accomplished. But looking on head, the hacker could see a small crane that was holding a platform wooden boxes. Seeing this opportunity, he took aim and threw one of the blades towards the holding platform. It was then that it started to cut the rope holding it together and it started to fall with the contents in it. The veteran soon noticed a shadow getting closer from above him and looked up to see it heading down towards him. Before he can react to it, he was immediately crushed while at the same time, the super solder rolled out of the way before he too was crushed. Once that was over with, Raf got up and dusted himself off. Looking at the body that was underneath the platform and boxes, he said, "You should've stayed retired when you had the chance."

Miko was in the middle of the boardwalk and is having a field day with veterans around her. With her claws extended, she sliced the clubs and guns the enemy was holding while using her tail to knock them off their feet. Once she brought them down, she was immediately bombarded with bullets as she used her wings as a shield to block off the projectiles. Looking up, she could see the remaining snipers at the balcony, focusing their attention to the hybrid. She was getting a little pissed off as she spread her wings and flew to the air. "You want to pick a fight with me?" she asked as her mouth was smoking with each word, "Well you know the old saying… Play with fire, you're going to get burned!" She took a deep breath and spewed out a line of flames right at the group. The snipers saw this and scattered, as the flames hit one section of the balcony to the next, dousing the place in flames and burned the railings and columns. The snipers made a quick escape as the Predacon hybrid stopped her attack and was pleased with the result. "Hot enough for you?" she said with a sadistic glee.

As for Booker, he was using his machine gun to take out those in a further range and mowed down a few of them. The rest of the Veterans though got behind cover and protected themselves from the assault. But Booker knew they made a mistake as he started to lob some Devil Kiss grenades and they went over cover, blowing them up and burning them to death. He felt pleased with what he had done, but it wasn't far from over as there were more of them charging in with their clubs. DeWitt used his machine to take them out, but when he pulled the trigger, he realized that he was empty and he was out of clips. Looking to this, he groaned and said, "Shit…" Still, he didn't give up as he used his Murder of Crows vigor and summoned more crows to distract the charging veterans. They were caught in the swarm and tried to get them off, but Booker threw a fiery grenade at them and that exploded, killing a few of them and burning the crows for some extra damage. He soon used his shotgun to pick off the remaining men. By the time he took care of that, more veterans came from the farther end and fired on him using their machine guns to take them out. Booker felt that as he ran straight to cover, using the magnetic shield to deflect the bullets. Getting behind one of the soldier statues, he checked his machine gun and wished he had a way in getting more.

Not far from him, Elizabeth was watching on and could see that Booker was in trouble. He is in desperate need of some help and she has to act on it. Looking around, she spotted a nearby dead body one of the Skystrikers took out and decided to check it to find additional ammo. Rushing to the body, she checked the pockets and compartments for any extra munitions. It seems very creepy doing this, but she has to help out in any way possible. Looking through, she finally felt something and took out a box of machine gun ammo that could be of some use. Turning to him, she yelled out loud, "Booker! Ammo!"

He soon heard her and looked to ass her holding an ammo box. The detective waved to her and said, "Toss it here!" With that said, she threw it to DeWitt as he grabbed it in midair. He soon reloaded a fresh clip and used his Bucking Bronco vigor to lift the soldiers up in the air and started to shoot them, killing them and causing them to drop to the floor. Seeing them dead, he looked at the girl and said, "Much obliged." Elizabeth smiled and was pleased that she could help.

So far the fight was just about over as there were a few more veterans to take out. Already, the Skystrikers were just about finished as they thought they had it in the bag. But when Elizabeth observed the fight, she spotted someone coming out of the front doors and marched towards the outside with two more veterans carrying volley guns. Seeing the person decked in metal and a tank filled with vigor, she knew what it is and warned everyone about it.

"Look out!" Fireman!"

Everyone turned to her and then at the three men as the Fireman was charging his vigor. "Turn back now, or we will take some drastic steps!" he said.

The team looked to this as Miko gave a deep groan. "Oh great… Not another one! What do we do now!"

Sari saw this as well and decided to continue with the plan. "Now, we keep pushing through. We have to reach the building at once."

The Fireman though heard that and charged up to push them back in a wall of flames. They all got into cover as the flames missed them, burning parts of the boardwalk. The two other veterans loaded their volley guns and fired their grenades right at them. The grenades rained down on them and exploded, but none of them didn't get near the team as they were safe.

"Not going to be easy…" Jack said looking at the situation in front of them. "With the Fireman and those two in the way, it will make our trip a bit more difficult."

Booker looked to this as well and figured out what to do. "I got an idea. But I'm going to need an assist." He soon turned to Raf and asked him, "Raf, you have ammo in that Heater of yours?"

The super soldier took his Heater out and loaded an exploding shell into it. "I do now!"

Booker smirked and charged his Bucking Bronco in his hand, saying, "Then let's finish this!"

He quickly got out of cover and waved his hand to let the wave of levitated energy hurling towards the three. They were immediately caught by it and levitated in the air, failing to get back down. Course the effects don't last long as the detective turned to Raf and said, "You got one shot, kid! Make it count!"

Raf made a quick nod as he rushed on ahead and headed straight to the three men in the air. Getting close enough, he slid and positioned his Heater and took aim at the Fireman. Once he saw the tank in the back, he fired one shot and it hit the tank, creating a massive explosion that nearly rocked the boardwalk and blew the three up in bits. The battle was soon over as the team got out of cover and observed the damage they've inflicted. Seeing the charred flames of the balcony and pillars and the dead and unconscious bodies scattered around, they knew that they got the leader's attention.

"Okay, that is some way in welcoming us to his home." Miko said with the most obvious of expressions, "If Slate doesn't know we're here, he does now."

Elizabeth looked to this as well and was worried about it too. "And if he knows we're here, then there's no telling what's in that building."

Booker then approached the front steps of the Hall of Heroes and decided to take the risk. "Let's get into the building and get that Shock Jockey. We can't leave without it."

Sari then turned to him and asked of Slate. "And if your friend decides to show his face?"

Booker gave a deep sigh and said to her, "We'll see when we get there."

The group soon headed up the steps and approached the doors that would lead them into the museum, hoping they would get the Shock Jockey and leave quickly. Of course, what they didn't know was that more trouble is coming their way.

Deep within the Hall, a lone man was sitting in his office with his back turned to observe the view of the floating city. At the other side, a few snipers that have survived Miko's assault hurried to his aid and explained to him of the situation.

"We tried are best Cornelius, sir. But these tin men are nothing like what we faced before. They have weapons that are far advanced from ours and skills we know nothing about. We're sorry for our failure."

There was a bit of silence on the other side as the man spoke in a raspy voice. "Tell me… Is he there with them?"

One of the snipers blinked as he was confused with what he said.

"Who?"

"The one called Booker DeWitt. Is he with them?"

The sniper gulped a little and said to him, "Yes sir, he's there with them. I believe that the one called DeWitt is in cahoots with the new Tin Men and has made their way into the Hall. Again, I'm sorry for what happened and I promise that it won't happen again."

The person standing there turned to him a little and said, "No… It won't…"

That was when he soon took out his hand cannon and fired a clean shot right to the sniper's face. The other two backed away to the side and watched as the one in the middle fell to the floor and died in the process. The two then turned to see the leader putting his hand cannon away and was a little irate.

"It's bad enough that Comstock has his tin men under his command. It's worse that DeWitt has his own, and not just that, but the ones that are familiar."

The second sniper turned to him and asked, "Run that by us, sir."

The person turned to them and responded back, "Isn't it obvious? Those three that are with DeWitt are the Tin Men from the stars, the same ones that came to Columbia. The same ones that are in that exhibit honoring Bishop. They are back! And if they find out what has happened to their comrades, there will be hell to pay."

"So what are we going to do, sir." asked the third one.

The person was in deep thought as he came up with a clear order.

"Alert the veterans throughout the hall! Tell them to arm up and prepare for battle!"

He walked out of the shadows and it was a bald man in his sixties with a gray beard and twirled mustache and a gold badge patch on his left eye and wearing a dirty looking uniform that's the same as everyone else. That man is Cornelius Slate, former veteran and leader of his own revolutionary group.

"It's time to die a soldier's death!"

So that will end of Chapter 11. Again, it's been two years since this chapter was updated. I'm glad I got this chapter out of the way. But I have many more to get through. It will be a pain in the ass, but I do believe that I can handle it. I'm hoping that Henry would come back, but I find it highly unlikely. Still, I'll work through it as much as possible. Stay tune for the next chapter where the team enter the Hall of Heroes and find the Jockey, but not before Slate will stop them. We'll they be able to get out of this? Stay tune and find out for yourself. Please Review. #WherearetheGoodCartoons