User:Trocyte V./Vortex

Vortex is the [tba] mission in Plants vs. Zombies: Infinite Generation and the [tba] overall. It features the debut of Tass Ilo's first use of the Voltaic Armor.

Synopsis
While digging deeper on PHASMA's experiments, the player character receives help from a certain quirky researcher.

Objectives
[tba]

Transcript
(Cutscene. Tass is working on a new device in his laboratory; the camera pans to reveal sixty trinkets resembling the Metalbottles from the Vortex Trials, which are neatly slotted into a folding case hanging on a lab wall. The case itself is unfolded, revealing six panels of ten bottles each arranged in a cubic net.

''Suddenly, the bottle resembling the Magnet Metalbottle rattles to life. Curious, Tass goes to investigate. Upon getting a closer look at the bottle, a light shines from the essence contained within, blinding him, while an otherworldly voice suddenly rings out in Tass's direction.')''

???: Hmph! For my counterpart, you seem awfully feeble underneath all that bravado. And you call yourself a man of science?

(Tass rights himself, and seems to immediately recognize the voice as a Phasmid communicating through the bottle somehow.)

TASS: I take it you're part of PHASMA as well? I gotta say, for someone who's just one of the many that just barge into my lab and judge my work, you're an excellent demotivator.

???: Well, I hope running your mouth was worth it, because that lab of yours will be mine very soon. I am you, after all.

TASS: Over my dead body!

(Tass reaches for the bottle, but it suddenly shocks him in a burst of energy, sending him to the floor and knocking over a pile of documents.)

???: Ciao.

(The bottle returns to its inert state. Tass gets up, visibly infuriated.)

TASS: Grrr... now they've made it personal. And here I thought I could help crush this new invasion without lifting a finger...

(Tass picks up the panel containing the Magnet bottle, detaching it from the rest of the case. He then rummages through his desk's storage until he finds a more conventional briefcase.

Without the camera revealing what exactly the contents are, Tass takes them out and quickly leaves his lab with both it and the panel in tow.)

(Gameplay. The player spawns in a breach within PHASMA's headquarters, near where the R&D department would be in the prime universe. Marius speaks into the player's comms.)

MARIUS: From what 7707 has been reporting, these so-called Another Frames seem to be the least of our worries if PHASMA ever gets a solid grip on the other worlds. There's plenty of documents talking of unspeakable horrors done to live victims and world-wrecking weapons in their hangars, and I wouldn't doubt for a second that it's all just a casual intimidation game in their eyes. Get into their version of our lab. We need to know what we're up against if we lose this war.

PLAYER: Understood, commander. I'm heading inside now.

MARIUS: And one more thing: About an hour ago, lead arms researcher Tass Ilo was reported missing from his post, along with some private personal effects. We suspect he's heading to your location, but he is severely underprepared and will not last long. Send him back, if you get the chance.

[...]

(Cutscene. The player is mobbed from behind by a horde of Another Jegans. The player is about to properly engage them when two GN Rifle shots ring out from further back, immediately incapacitating two of the Another Frames.

''With the crowd slightly thinned, the source is visible: a blue Pale Rider Cavalry. Though a more traditional frame, the audible whirring of a GN Drive is enough to tell that its specs have been obviously tuned up far beyond what one could call "unprepared" - and it saving the player character's hide makes it incredibly obvious who's in the suit.)''

PLAYER: Marius told me you weren't geared up for something like this.

TASS: LEAF would kill me if they knew I was.

(Tass reveals the contents of the briefcase from earlier: a device resembling a Metal Driver, but with brighter accents and a crank on the side.)

TASS: I always told them the Vortex Trials were all about combat telemetry - but I never said what I actually planned to do with it besides make more guns and armor.

(The Another Jegans continue to growl and hiss at Tass. The device is mounted onto the Pale Rider Cavalry's waist, and is automatically secured.)

TASS: Only that it was still in the name of science. Now... shall we begin the experiment?

(Tass takes out two bottles from a holster - one being the Magnet bottle from earlier, and a white bottle with the impression of a wisp embossed into it - and unscrews the caps. The letters "I/M" are visible on the caps, just like the matching Metalbottles.

The bottles are then inserted into the Metal Driver-like device.)

'''[IDOLON! MAGNET! BEST MATCH!]'''

(Tass turns the crank on the device, causing the machinery to begin whirring. The inserted bottles start pumping their essence into the receptacles.

Blue and white beams begin to flow out of the device, making angular 90-degree turns and splitting until they form the shape of an oversized plastic runner containing half the parts to a suit of armor - one in front of Tass, one behind him.)

[ARE YOU READY?!]

TASS: Let's ride!

(The tubes disappear, and the armor moves towards Tass's Infinite Robot until it clamps snugly onto its chassis, with visible steam puffing out of the seam lines.)

'''[THE FERRIC DRIFTER! MAGGHOST! YEAH!]'''