ManaGun - Stage 03

The two Agents shot them down, well practiced from all the bats and ghosts they had to defeat before this showdown. Glass rained down all over the ground with each shattered scientific projectile and Charlie and Marcus chased down the dancing couple with managuns in hand.

The pattern repeated itself, with the two of them only able to get a few shots before they'd have to focus on shooting down projectiles. Charlie wasn't even sure that they'd done any damage but she kept diligently firing alongside Marcus. Eventually, the Lord and Lady's wild spinning stopped and the two of them looked at Charlie and Marcus with irritated expressions.

"Such irritating gnats, my Lord." Lady spat out venomously.

"Clearly they are too simple to take hints. Perhaps it is time to become more forceful, my Lady?" Lord suggested.

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting, my Lord?" Lady crooned as she melted against Lord.

"I am, my Lady. Let us show them our lightning tango!" Lord replied enthusiastically.

The two villains stomped on the floor simultaneously and the green lightning from the machines around the room shot right for their feet as the music changed. Charlie and Marcus fired at them with no visible effect as the lightning travelled up Lord and Lady's bodies. The strange electricity burned away the clothes they wore as they began as a passionate dance together. In a bright green flash, they danced together in new outfits, sickly green formal gowns that revealed exquisite bodies and handsome faces.

"Of course they're hot." Charlie muttered under her breath as she continued to fire.

Lord and Lady's dance began in earnest once their clothes had changed, a frantic yet smooth dance with very hard steps as the lightning formed solid platforms below their feet. They rose into the air and literally danced together on the lightning as the electricity balled up and shot out at the two Agents.

"That's not even a tango! That's a waltz, you posers!" Marcus shouted in an oddly offended tone as he shot down the lightning projectiles that were sent at them.

Charlie couldn't help but snicker at the angry declaration as she did everything she could to help. She and Marcus moved around the room as Lord and Lady danced, shooting down everything that could harm them as best they could and firing bullets at the two villains whenever they could get an opening to.

It was exhausting and Charlie got shocked a couple of times but managed to remain in the fight. Marcus was having a better go of it thanks to his higher rate of fire but he seemed just as frustrated as she was. Their bullets basically just bounced off the lightning that surrounded the two dancers. She couldn't help but wonder if their struggle was in vain as she reloaded her gun.

"Pathetic insects!" Lord shouted with glee as he and Lady began to spin in place in mid-air.

The lightning swirled around them, drawn from the machines as it coalesced into a bigger and bigger ball. Marcus fired away to try to dispel it like he'd done against the previous projectile but Charlie could tell it was pointless. Fear filled her as she frantically wondered what to do. An idea suddenly sprang to mind as she observed the lightning that was meant to be their doom.

"Shoot the machines!" she yelled as she pumped an entire clip into the machine in her immediate line of sight.

It was a gamble born from desperation but somehow, it worked. As the machine crumpled under the barrage of bullets, the lightning that shot from it formed into a blue ball and shot into the massive ball of energy that Lord and Lady had accumulated and completely destroyed it. Lord and Lady themselves fell to the ground in an ungraceful heap. Charlie laughed out of a combination of the sight of their fall and relief.

"Great job, Charlie! Pour it on!" Marcus shouted as he reloaded his own managun.

Charlie reloaded her own gun and joined him in the onslaught against Lord and Lady. For the first time since the battle started, they could see a clear effect that their mana bullets had on the two villains. Charlie wanted to shout in celebration but their victory only lasted a brief moment. The green lightning was drawn back around their bodies and they launched back into the air.

"You disgusting wretches!" Lady screamed at them, her beautiful face twisted into an ugly mask of pure rage, "You'll pay for that!"

"Sorry, I left my wallet at home!" Charlie quipped on a whim.

She heard Marcus laugh next to her as Lord and Lady started their electric dance again. It took a moment to realize that the steps to this dance were different from the previous one. No lightning balls formed this time, so there didn't seem to be any immediate threat.

"Forget the show, let's just go for the source!" Marcus said as he levelled his gun at another of the machines that supplied Lord and Lady with lightning.

As soon as he pulled the trigger, the two villains dashed into the path of his bullets with impossible speed. The second that his bullets hit them, a bolt of green lightning shot out and hit Marcus square in the chest. He screamed in pain, which caused Lord and Lady to laugh maniacally together, but remained standing with his managun at the ready.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked.

"Don't worry about me, just be careful! They're countering our mana bullets somehow!" he shouted.

"Your pathetic weapons are no match for our boundless grace, fools!" Lord mocked them as he and Lady resumed their dance around the room.

Charlie grit her teeth as she watched them twirl about menacingly. They weren't attacking but they were impossible to damage. Even Marcus seemed at a loss for what to do. It wasn't like they could just stand there forever. She tensed with her gun at the ready and accidentally fired a shot at the chandelier. To her surprise, Lord and Lady completely ignored the stray bullet.

"Huh, guess they don't care if we're not aiming for their precious machines." Charlie remarked.

"So what's left then, rookie? We can't shoot them and we can't shoot their power source." Marcus asked.

"We can shoot the chandelier." Charlie suggested with a grin.

Marcus grinned back and nodded. They aimed together at the mass of cables and chains that held up the mad science chandelier then fired everything they could. To Charlie's relief, Lord and Lady just kept dancing between the front of each of the electric machines while laughing.

"Having trouble keeping your aim steady?" Lady mocked as her laughter grew in pitch.

Charlie and Marcus paid her no mind as they fired away. The chains and cables chipped away under their onslaught of infinite ammo until they finally snapped. The chandelier fell to the floor with a thud so loud and heavy that Charlie was amazed that the floor hadn't been punched through. It still left a sizable crater and knocked every one of the electrical machines askew. More importantly, the snapped cables had killed the flow of electricity.

Lord and Lady had dodged the chandelier as it fell but couldn't avoid the pull of gravity as they lost the green lightning that kept them afloat. They landed harshly on the ground in a tangled pile that left the two Agents ample time to fire away at the villains. Shot after shot was unloaded into them and after a few moments, Lord made a disgusting guttural sound before his body stopped struggling. Lady screamed in horror.

"MY LORD!! NOOO!!" she shrieked at an inhuman volume.

Lady managed to pull herself up from Lord's body and pulled a knife out from inside her dress. She let out an enraged howl and charged Charlie and Marcus with her knife held high. She was an easy target and fell before she could reach the two who had slain her love. Her knife clattered to the ground as she slumped onto the ground. She weakly tried to say Lord's name again before she let out her final breath.

The manor had finally been conquered.