S4E26: And Hell Followed

So I looked, and beheld a pale horse...

Plot Summary
Hood issued the same ultimatum that he originally gave the Sayan Squad: surrender immediately or be captured, He asked each of the fighters in turn for their response. Ketsueki Arachnos, Oneiros, and Terminos were quick to refuse his demand, as well as asserting that Hood was the true ferryman for the Sayan menace. Hood once again denied this, and turned to Kanako, Jack, and Lynna for their responses. All three refused his demands, and Ketsueki also proclaimed that they won't be conscripted or worse in The General's army. Hood told them that The General actually wanted to meet with the group that took down the Force Crystal mining operation on Earth-M745, then ordered his soldiers to capture the Squad as the Head's hangars opened up and dropships poured out.

The soldiers and tanks began besieging the Squad as soon as they landed, and the Sayan Squad were slowly pushed back as they dodged and sought some cover under the fire of the fortress turrets. Only the Anathemites and the defensive systems of the War Fortress III could make any dent in the assault. Remembering when she enchanted the non-Anathemites weapons to deal with threats of that level, Olyn retreated to the fortress' walls to enchant its turrets with Nihility, allowing them to deal more significant damage to the ground forces. She called for Oneiros and Terminos to join her, and the latter complied, linking himself to the turrets to increase their effectiveness.

In the meantime, Hood began taunting Jack about his actions on Baur. Jack refused to answer the taunts, however, not giving Captain Hood the satisfaction. Saiyo, meanwhile had been hanging by the walls of the fortress during the battle so far, unsure as to whether not she should join the fray with the rest of the Squad. However, witnessing Jack nearly get blasted by a tank spurred her into action, destroying the tank and joining the battle with her own augments. She then proceeded to charge the Head to get at Hood. Sensing a far more malleable target, Hood switched to taunting Saiyo, saying how Saiyo was treated as nothing but a load to the rest of the Squad and how she could "prove" herself by taking on the biggest threat around, if she could. Hood's taunts worked much more effectively, causing Saiyo to charge directly at the Head multiple times, only to get turned aside at the very last second by Jack. Realizing what Hood was doing, Jack playing along, telling Saiyo that she isn't even as powerful as Jack himself and that if she can't beat him she has no chance of beating Hood or the Head. The two siblings moved away from the Head as blue and red blurs to prove who is the strongest, their battle lighting up the area around them.

Without an easy target for taunts, Hood turned his focus back to the rest of the Squad when one of the troop leaders informs him that the enchanted turrets were dealing heavy damage. Hood commanded the troops to start focusing on the Anathemites in particular as The General's Head began taking out the turrets. With their path cleared, the troops started advancing again. Realizing that the fortress was no longer providing ground support, Mr. Owl orders the group to split up and move away to avoid being stuck with the fortress at their backs. When asked about Mr. Owl, Hood told the soldiers that he can be killed.

Ketsueki was one of the first to move away, moving toward Jack and Saiyo once their fight finished with Jack as the victor. Despite being down in the dirt, Saiyo was still attempting to resist even as Jack reiterated her weakness and inferioirty. To twist the wound even further, Jack finished by saying if Saiyo was "better" then James wouldn't have died. This was the final straw, causing Saiyo to depower and start crying. At this point Ketsueki arrived to scoop Saiyo into his arms with Oneiros and Lynna not far behind, yelling at Jack both for the fight and for the insults.

A light flashed next to the Head, signaling the arrival of Dr. X. Hood admonished X for simply being here, telling him that X already had his turn at capturing the group. However, X said he wouldn't want to miss the death of his long-time nemesis for the world. Hood conceded that attempting to capture them was no longer working, and so ordered his troops to kill the Squad instead, as well as deploying Cyem. X also unveiled a small army of Colossi that joined in the assault. Now pressed by an unstoppable force, Owl has the Squad retreat back to the Fortress, and into the basement where the rest of the Vulture crew were. Owl stayed behind, unveiling the device he brought back at the lab as the "C.L.S.," engaging the Emperor while the Sayan Squad entered the Fortress.

Hood would have none of it, however, and the Squad only barely got to the basement of the fortress before Hood obliterated the fortress proper with a orbital strike from all the guns on The General's Head as well as a huge blast of divine power from the White Father, leaving the fortress as naught but rubble.

In the basement, Amadeus and the rest of the Vulture's crew come to the Sayan Squad as Kanako and Oneiros struggle to hold up the ceiling against the mounting rubble and debris. Ketsueki verbally assaults Jack for what he did to his sister, and Jack argues back that he had no choice or else Saiyo would have killed herself trying to attack the Head, but Amadeus broke up the fight. He hurried the Squad to a vault nearby that lead the group to a secret escape passageway, equipped with hoverbikes to help them escape. Amadeus explained that Owl left behind a detailed escape plan should the fortress be compromised, and headed for a wall panel. The rest all quickly clambered onto the bikes as Amaedus activated a self-destruct code, causing the garage to collapse behind them to hide their escape.

Back on the surface, Hood joked with Cyem about how there isn't a fortress there anymore while X laughs over the destruction of his long-time enemy. While Hood and Cyem were exultant for their victory, they still suspected that some number of the Sayan Squad may have escaped the blast. X countered that even if they did escape the fortress' destruction, they had no food, no water, and no way to survive on the planet. Hood conceded the point, but reminded X that The General personally gave him the mission to retrieve the Squad dead or alive, and he wouldn't leave Paa until he had proof one way or the other. Dr. X balks at this, crying that he has no intention of staying on this planet this long. He also reminded Hood of an arrangement he had with The General to join his army. Hood replied that he will honor the arrangement and bring X to a place called "Eden" to meet with The General in person, but only after the Sayan Squad is confirmed to be killed. X relented somewhat, stating that he has some things to take care of and bring with him onto the Head which will take him about a week to finish preparing. Hood has him to get to it, and lets Cyem to oversee the troops as they pick through the rubble of the fortress, and then took the Head into orbit.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Dream a Dream (Pop It Don't Drop It edit)
 * 2) Ultimatum - Shawn's Got the Shotgun (DOOM II)
 * 3) Mission: Capture! - Illusion (F-Zero Climax remix)
 * 4) Dr. X - Inner Sanctum (Gex: Enter the Gecko)
 * 5) Mission: Destroy! - Surface Tension (Risk of Rain)
 * 6) Fall of the Fortress - Check Mate (Code Geass R2)
 * 7) Unwinnable Battle - Port Town (F-Zero)
 * 8) Victory - DarkBlade (The Enigma TNG)
 * 9) Ending Theme - Dream a Dream (Pop It Don't Drop It edit)

Trivia

 * The episode's title and header reference another line from the King James Version of the Bible, Revelation 6:8: "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him." In this context, the "pale horse" refers to The General's Head, with Mr. Hood as its rider Death.
 * This is very similar to Evil, as the line was additionally referenced in DOOM.
 * In another parallel to Evil, the episode begins with Shawn's Got the Shotgun, and both episodes see the villain scoring a major victory over the heroes.
 * This was the second episode to feature Captain Hood as the main antagonist after Gravity, but the first time he took on a central role in that position.
 * This episode was uncharacteristically run on a Friday.
 * The weapon Mr. Owl unveils in this episode was referred to as the "C.L.S." It stands for "Chainsaw Laser Spoon," and is an homage to the "super bootspork" weapon of Chex Quest, which SDM describes as "adorably insane."
 * SDM considered making the conversation between villains a solo, rather than part of the episode, but decided against it as he hoped to keep it short. However, the exchange took more time than expected.