Deadly Dusk

Saga: AotD arc

Prerequisites: Completion of previous missions in arc

Summary: The perspective switches back to Mimic at the starting city as the sun sets. The Hive Mind attacks the city as soon as the sun is no longer visible, leaving Mimic to run for cover and fend for himself. There are multiple routes through the level via use of Mimic's special abilities, particularly through usage of his explosive attacks to destroy barriers. Later on in the level, Mimic gets chased into a building several storeys in height - he ends the pursuit by running all the way to the top, planting remote bombs along the way, then leaping off the roof and collapsing the entire building behind him to take out his pursuers. Eventually Mimic finds a car to escape with, but is stopped short by a now-possessed Psi, who totals the car and forces Mimic into a boss fight. Afterwards, with Psi now back in control and both of them without a means of escape from the city, the two head for a nearby mall complex and barricade themselves in to buy some time.

Script:

[The camera fades back in outside Mimic's nightclub. He's waiting for Psi to return, but the sun is rapidly fading in the background.]

Mimic: Hmm... Little guy's been gone a while. That's a bad sign.

[Dark clouds begin to gather in the sky, blocking out the setting sun. At the same time, nearly all the lights in the city dim and flicker before dying entirely.]

Mimic:...and that's even worse. Gotta wonder what's goin' on now.

[Mimic heads back inside the nightclub and makes his way to the rooftop. A crowd of Hive Mind shrieks is heard before he gets there, and his new vantage points reveals said crowd in the background pursuing fleeing groups of normal citizens. Some of them spot Mimic and head towards the nightclub.]

Mimic: Well well. Looks like we got us... a blackout.

[A ba-dum-tish is heard in the background. No other responses.]

Mimic: ...me without an audience is like king without his people. [Pauses, then shrugs] Eh. I'm not much of a people person anyways. Got my own ass to save.

[The player has a choice of progressing along the rooftops, or falling back down to the streets below. While the choice of enemies doesn't differ terribly much besides the manner in which they confront the player, efforts are rewarded with a treasure box if they can reach the end of the rooftop parts of the level without being knocked or pulled off in the process. At the end of both paths is a bottleneck - the player can't advance further along the rooftops without jumping down to ground level, and at ground level is a mass of car wrecks with an oil tanker propped up beside it which can't be jumped over.]

Mimic: Explosive materials laying idly around unattended? I wish I brought a cigar.

[A brief prompt shows to explain how Mimic's explosive attacks work, then instructs the player to blow the barricade away using one - preferably the point-blank time bomb, to allow time to avoid the blast. Once the explosion clears the debris away, the camera pans to reveal a horde gathering someplace offscreen, who have now obviously taken note of the explosion and are rapidly running in Mimic's direction.]

Mimic: Hmm. In hindsight, probably should've seen that comin'. Time to go.

[Mimic runs past the barricade and into a nearby building, with the horde tailing not far behind. The player assumes control again inside, tasked with ascending to the higher floors of the building and outrunning their pursuers. Every so often at strategic points in the building, Mimic will slap a timebomb on the background wall outside the player's control as they run by, without interrupting the pacing heavily. Eventually the path ends with a window, which Mimic leaps through at the earliest opportunity. The camera pans back to the horde, now left behind, then zooms in on the nearest timebomb until it clearly displays "00:01" on its display. The camera pans back to an extreme closeup of half of Mimic's facemask, with the other half of the screen displaying the exploding building in the distance. Mimic lands in a carpark outside, with just one intact car still within. He gets in and starts it up.]

Mimic: A car that comes with it's own set of keys. Must be my birthday

[Mimic drives off. He runs over a few Hive Mind on the road on the way to the city outskirts - one of which happens to be the recently-possessed Psi. Shortly after disappearing offscreen, his telekinesis effects catch up to the car, and it stops moving.]

Mimic: ...that's wierd. The tank's full and everything. No reason a car should just stop in the middle of--

[The car abruptly lifts off the ground, throwing Mimic out of the seat. Psi then throws the car further down the road, causing it to crash and explode offscreen. Psi walks onscreen to confront Mimic as he picks himself up.]

Mimic: Ugh. That's what I get for not wearing a seatbelt. Say, you look familiar. Well, familiar not counting the "covered in black stuff" shtick.

[The camera focuses on Psi for a moment, and an image of Psi is briefely overlayed onto his Hive Mind form to display the similarities.]

Mimic: Now I remember. You're the little wolf kid I asked a favour from earlier.

[Psi growls at Mimic angrily in response to the "kid" comment.]

Mimic: Doesn't matter. You busted up my new ride before I could. That and trying to kill me of course. That calls for payback. I don't take I.O.Us

[Boss fight begins. Psi initially attacks by levitating groups of Hive Mind blobs into the air and throwing them simultaneously or in rapid barrages. The blobs travel straight back to Psi and are re-absorbed rather than chasing the player down further - Psi will sometimes exploit this by launching some blobs past the player and attempt to get them hit on the way back. As the fight progresses, the payload for this move also steadily increases, starting at a mere 3 and escalating to the dozens at near-defeat. Psi is protected by a spherical shield of Black Life until after he throws a barrage, so damaging him is a matter of both dodging his shots and getting in close quick enough to keep him off balance - setting up landmines in the meantime is the best way to keep Mimic's combo time extended.

Psi, being covered in Black Life, regenerates health over the course of the fight, but having low base health to begin with, this doesn't drag the fight on terribly long. After a few successful combos by the player, Psi levitates into the air, and in addition to his usual barrages he gains some variety in his throw trajectories as well as a physical swooping move to punish players camping right near him for a vulnerable opportunity. Eventually Psi gets fed up and starts throwing physical objects at the player one by one - one of which being a section of gas piping still in use, causing a gas leak.]

Mimic: That looks flammable. Only one way to find out.

[Once the leak is ignited with one of Mimic's explosive moves, Psi's Black Life shield evaporates, and his steady regeneration is replaced by a constant health drain. In addition to being constantly vulnerable, his Black Life attacks experience a drastic decrease in power. As it visibly evaporates from around his body, he eventually gains small aspects of his default moveset shortly before passing out.]

Mimic: That was anticlimactic. Wonder why he stopped.

[Mimic approaches Psi's body, but Psi wakes up and sits upright with a loud gasp before he's reached. He is visibly and understandably tense.]

Mimic: Woah, slow down kid. You're safe now.

Psi: Stop calling me that! I'm 18, damn it!

Mimic: You're welcome. Tell me what just happened.

Psi: ...the light. They hate it. It makes them vanish or something. I don't wanna talk about it.

Mimic: Alright. Our chance to escape's already passed. so the best we can do for now is pick a spot and wait it out. That mall over there looks like our best bet.

Psi: "Wait it out"? We should be out there fixing the problem ourselves!

Synn: Yes Psi, because that worked out really well the first time, didn't it?

Psi: ...

Mimic: Whatever, I'm going. Make your own mind up if you have to.

[Mimic walks into the mall, leaving Psi behind.]

Psi: ...goddamn it.

[Psi reluctantly follows, closing the mall's shutters behind him and ending the mission.]