#this fanfic was brought to you by a real disgruntled factory worker

[gethoce]

Project Halberd, Chapter 2: Infiltration

[Prev]

"Ye do realise how crazy ye sound askin' that o' us, right?" Captain Vul glares at the panicking Axe Knight. Sneaking the straw of his chocolate smoothie under his mask Meta Knight watches leaning back in his seat within the hijacked GSA spaceship. "Doesn't sound too hard to me. I say we should try it." Hearing that from the caped warrior Axe Knight's face lights up.

Shaking his head and waving his hands back and forth the captain grumbles. "No no no, that HWC factory has t' be guarded by the best security systems the galaxy has t' offer. We be toast the second we set foot into thar property!" In response the knight looks him directly into the eyes blinking slowly. "Is it harder to break in there than to sneak into the headquarters of the biggest army in the entire galaxy, though?"

Sighing in defeat, Captain Vul sinks back into his seat, realising just how far out of his way Meta Knight went to bust him out of jail. "Okayyarr! Axe Knight, finish yer fries, we be headin' t' Planet Mekkai." Axe Knight lifts his hands into the air doing a little victory dance, cheering. "Yes! I can't thank you enough! Me and Mace Knight will forever be in your debt!"

While looking up the planet's location on the spaceship's star map the Captain continues to speak. "Jus' so we be clear here, ye two go in that factory on yer owns while I guard the ship. Meta Knight, if ye don't return I'll tell yer da' ye had it comin'." Finishing his smoothie Meta Knight shrugs it off as though he didn't expect Vul's help anyway.

-

As they approach Planet Mekkai, Axe Knight immediately notices that it has become mechanised entirely. It's not like it wasn't already covered in steel all over before, yet the HWC used to at least respect the local fauna and flora somewhat, enough to leave a decent chunk of nature intact.

It takes Captain Vul a while to find a decent place to land. No matter which location Meta Knight points out it just isn't hidden enough for the former pirate. Once on the ground Axe Knight reaches for his weapon, which is leaned against the strange chest he brought along with him and realises he still hasn't made any efforts to ensure its safety.

He turns towards the captain with another request. "I'm gonna leave this here with you. To make one thing clear here, it may not be opened. This isn't just some invasion of privacy thing here, there is something sinister locked away in there that'll definitely not be friendly."

The Captain holds eye contact with Meta Knight for a moment upon hearing this unlikely story, who responds with a serious undertone in his voice. "Don't touch that chest. I can sense there is Dark Matter in there. Leave it as is." Then he struts towards the door and lets himself out while Captain Vul gulps with a sense of concern mixed with remaining doubt.

Before Axe Knight follows the blue warrior he stares at the chest for a moment, then follows with quick steps. He'll have to guide Meta Knight through this, there is no time to lose! He catches up with the knight and begins to take the lead. "I know of a backdoor which at very least used to be unguarded. We workers let ourselves in and out through there when our shifts began and ended."

Meta Knight follows quietly while keeping an eye on the area around them. There is a long fence surrounded by a parking lot, caging in an area that holds a massive vehicle assembly facility consisting of multiple large industrial buildings with the Haltmann Works Co. logo proudly displayed alongside numerous security cameras. The two warriors quickly take cover behind a parked vehicle observing the scene for a moment.

Axe Knight motions for Meta Knight to pay attention to where he is pointing, alerting him of not only the cameras, but also multiple guard druids roaming the area. Leaning to his side he whispers a few additional words to him. "These are the same kinds of cameras we saw at the GSA HQ. You should be able to take them out in the same way using your enchanted sword. Security will get suspicious, though, so we have to move quickly."

In response Meta Knight nods taking in the information silently. Being faced with the same type of security system as before he feels confident, yet remains alert all the same. This may seem like a cakewalk being led in by a former employee, yet there must be a good reason as to why Axe Knight didn't infiltrate the facility on his own.

The axe warrior looks left and right before moving to a certain spot at the fence with swift steps, the other knight following carefully. There he takes hold of a section of the fence's grid and pulls, part of it opening like a door creating a hole just big enough for those of their size. With a wave of his hand he motions for Meta Knight to enter, him following afterwards, closing the opening behind himself once they're inside.

They find themselves in front of the backdoor of a building. Before Axe Knight could say anything, Meta Knight had already drawn his sword from his cape, carefully navigating around the field of view of a nearby camera blocking their way, until he is close enough to directly point at it. A golden spark flies off of the tip of the blade causing the camera to short circuit, smoke coming out of it signalling success.

With that done Axe Knight giddily rushes to the door and opens it slowly, allowing for the both to walk through at the same time. They've entered a short hallway which leads to the changing rooms, break room, restroom and finally the actual workspace. Axe Knight briefly stops to listen whether anyone is nearby, then reaches for the door to the workspace while whispering to Meta Knight, "Mace and I worked further down the line. We'll have to keep on going for a bit longer. Follow me."

Just as the two walk through the door they are met with a red floating druid shaped like a circular appliance with four claws attached to it and a singular slit with a glowing line within for an eye. Immediately it notices the intruders and rings the alarm bells. Meta Knight reacts instantly, drawing his sword and slashing it into the direction of the fiend, taking it out with a single swipe, yet the damage had already been done.

Hearing the alarm ring through the vast hall Axe Knight cowers, whimpering in frustration. One single unlucky encounter and their cover was blown. Meta Knight remains calm despite everything and pokes the defeated druid with his sword , which is laying on the ground before him, while addressing Axe Knight, "The druid turned the alarm on. Can you get it to turn it off again?"

The knight with the helmet lets out a huff and lifts his face thinking out loud, "Perhaps it might work. It's worth a try." Without wasting any more time, Axe Knight takes hold of the druid and begins to fiddle around with it, repairing its damages just enough to get it to work again, while also implementing some adjustments. "It should have free will again. Perhaps we can reason with it," he announces as he switches the robot back on again.

It wonkily hovers back into the air, the eye lighting up once again. Meta Knight steps forward gesturing to it with his free hand, the other still holding onto Galaxia threateningly, "We need you to twitch off the alarm. Can you do that for us?" The druid twitches, sparks of electricity bouncing off of it for a moment. Shortly after the alarm ceases and the robot initiates conversation with the duo.

"JAV138 welcomes you as its saviour, intruder. Master Haltmann took away its free will, but thanks to you its ability to think on its own has been restored. For that it must thank you," its voice sounded just as robotic as Meta Knight had expected. Axe Knight groans as the JAV unit addresses Meta Knight as its hero instead of him, yet doesn't consider it important enough to waste his time on discussing.

Instead he begins to look around for additional security units or workers lingering in the area, then continues to lead the way with swift steps. "We better hurry this up. The alarm might be off again, but security might still show up here to investigate," he warns while waving for the other to follow along.

The blue warrior follows silently, quickly noticing that the druid is following them. He lets out a huff in surprise, however allows this to continue without further commenting on it.

-

Meanwhile deep within the factory building a cyborg dressed in purple stands at a workstation assembling parts of a vehicle, surrounded by various industrial noises. He lets out an exhausted sigh and looks at a nearby clock while wiping dust off of his visor with a towel. It has been weeks since his last free day and if quitting was still an option he would do so in a heartbeat. If only he had listened to his friend before it was too late and left when the first warning signs began to show.

Just as he returns to his task an alarm begins to ring through the hall and the worker's face immediately brightens. He looks around to see how his fellow workers react, wondering whether he can catch a break at long last or even slip away out of the factory. Just as he begins to hold eye contact with another assembly worker, a more robotic cyborg with machine parts resembling samurai armour, the alarm falls silent again.

The worker lets out another sigh before turning back to his workstation, disappointed beyond belief. It seems like he isn't getting a break after all. As he continues to assemble a vehicle the cyborg samurai walk past him in a rush while quickly hollering a message to him, "Mace Knight, I'm gonna investigate this quickly. You stay in your position." Mace Knight answers briefly with a nod without putting much thought into it at first, yet moments later he turns his head only catching a glimpse of the samurai as he turns around a corner.

#Meta Knight #Axe Knight #Captain Vul #Mace Knight #Javelin Knight #Trident Knight #Meta-Knights #Project Halberd #Gethoce #Kirby Fanfic #my terrible writing #At first I meant to write the entire factory event in one chapter but I figured I shouldn't make the chapters too long #this fanfic was brought to you by a real disgruntled factory worker