by David Aries
“My Brandon,” Casella said, tugging on my armor. “Whatever was that?”
“I’m not totally sure,” I replied as I looked up. “But I know who caused it.”
From the darkness above descended a machine the likes of which I hadn’t seen before. It was like a robot arachnid with outstretched legs closer to that of a famous eight-limbed Spider-Man villain rather than the hero.
“Hello again, everyone,” DD said, voice more robotic than I was used to. “I apologize if my speech sounds disconcerting; I am afraid this particular robot does not have the equipment needed to properly replicate the voice to which I have come accustomed.”
“So it is you,” I said while squeezing my axe’s hilt. “What happened to her not being able to place herself into another body?”
“Don’t be fooled; there’s no way she’s shoved herself into that piece of junk,” Trez replied. “I bet she’s controlling it remotely from her new home.”
“An excellent observation as always, Trez,” the new ‘DD’ said as her long metal limbs suspended her in mid-air and ignored the temptation to use the ground for support. “Knowing how ineffective the security personnel have fared so far, I thought it was best I handle things personally.”
“So we get to end this with a straight head-to-head fight?” I said. “I’m honored.”
DD giggled, although it sounded more like the titterings of a demon child through her new speakers. “You flatter me, Brandon. I must again apologize for what I am about to do. If you will allow it, I shall make your deaths as peaceful as possible. That is, of course, unless you have finally reconsidered my offers?”
“And the bomb? Where’s that play into all this?”
“Oh? So you know? I am afraid I am unable to stop it.”
“You mean you won’t stop it,” I corrected.
“That is what I said. This deal is open to you and your mates alone. If you do not wish to join the others, I suggest you accept my kindness.”
“Yeah, no thanks,” I responded as I powered up my shield. “Unlike you, we don’t abandon our friends.”
Vay laughed while aiming her sword at DD. “Well said, my king. Let's show this traitor what we can do!”
Chapter 29
The clock was ticking. We couldn’t afford to delay.
With a roar, I launched myself into battle. I jumped straight at DD, axe ready to smash her new toy to pieces.
She dragged herself up and out of the way.
I snarled at her the moment my feet touched down. “Are you seriously running? Get down here and fight!”
“Where would the logic be in that?” DD asked, her every word a robotic buzz coming from her new body. “Rushing this confrontation does not benefit me in the slightest. I see no reason why I should not hold my ground and concentrate on preventing your futile attempts to escape this pit, Sylvetty.” She shot one of her spare limbs in a manner similar to the chain on the sentinel’s flail.
Sylvetty squeaked as she used her huge wings to beat a hasty retreat away from the incoming robot claw.
The metal appendage shot over her head and slammed into the wall.
“See how easy it is?” DD said. “This position provides me with tremendous sight lines. I should have no problem defending this area for the next ten or so minutes… Faris.” She turned to the other side of the room and fired another arm.
Faris, who had been trying to climb up where a ladder had been pulled out of the wall, jumped away before she could be crushed by DD’s metal palm.
“I am afraid both climbing and flying are not permitted,” DD said before lasers bounced off her body. “As for your weapons, I regret to inform you they will not do a thing to me.”
Casella, Trez, and Akko stopped shooting.
Akko’s eyes widened as her dominant hand lowered. “What? Why? She doesn’t even have a shield.”
DD giggled. “Since when is a shield required to deflect such weak hits? Please do not compare this vessel to the cannon fodder you have faced so far. This body is special; it is made from an alloy your measly weapons could not hope to—”
The broken walkway flew through the sky, hitting DD square in the face.
It didn’t damage her, of course. The bridge fell back down, landing upturned like a tunnel.
Vay chuckled, throwing arm still outstretched. “I do not care what you are made of; I care that you refuse to fight. If you think you are so tough, get down here and prove it, before I make you.” She twisted her sword and pointed the tip at the glowing tube beneath her feet. “These wires power you, do they not? It would be awful if my hand were to slip…”
“That would be most unwise,” DD warned.
“Yeah,” Trez said. “For you.”
“Are you so sure? There is no telling what that tube may power. Even I do not know. It is possible severing it could disable my bond to this machine, but it is equally as likely to destroy the mechanism used to deactivate the bomb. Is that a risk you would be willing to take?”
Vay growled, flashing her teeth. Slowly, she withdrew her blade.
At the same time, I took my axe and rested it on a wire.
“Did you not understand what I just said, Brandon?” DD asked.
“Oh, I understood it clearly,” I said, ready to swing at a moment’s notice. “Basically, you’ll be in trouble if we destroy these things, as will we if we wreck the wrong one. At least, for the next couple of minutes. What about after that? What about if we don’t manage to save our friends? You reckon we’re still going to be careful when we have nothing to lose?”
Keith, Millith, Eret, Aya, Demi, Zolly, Bipp, Davalina, and even Rocket… they were almost as important to me as my mates were. Them dying was not an option. If they perished, a true victory would be eternally out of our reach.
“If we’ve got ten minutes to save the others, you’ve got nine minutes to stop us before all bets are off,” I told DD.
She giggled. “Now there is the man I admire. With one sentence, my unsurpassable advantage has been reduced to an overwhelming one.”
“That it has,” I said as I turned my axe from the tube to her. “Now come prove you admire us by giving us what we want: a fight to the finish. Winner takes all.”
“Very well. I suppose letting you die gloriously is the least I can do after all the time we spent together.” Without lowering her core, DD launched one of her extendable limbs into battle.
I braced, ready to meet the challenge head on.
Her arm raced past me.
Huh?!
Akko damn near jumped into orbit when she realized the metal appendage was coming for her. She raced away in an arc, hoping to shake the grabber off, yet it stuck to her like a snappy dog chasing a postman.
A last-ditch evasive leap to the side was the only reason she didn’t get nabbed.
“Hey, what gives?!” I yelled.
“Is there something wrong?” DD replied. “I am doing what you asked of me.” She fired another limb, also toward Akko.
My recovering mate squealed.
I jumped into the underside of the arm and knocked it off-target with a combination of my shield and axe.
“Leave her alone,” I said, growling.
“We both know I cannot do that. She is in charge of your group’s air supply. Once I eliminate her, the rest of you are sure to follow.” While the minority of DD’s arms held her up high, the rest shot out like the heads of a Hydra.
I grabbed Akko and got moving.
Five metal claws gave chase.
There wasn’t much room to maneuver, nor was the floor built for moving on. The tubes making up the area ranged from wires to pipes thicker than I was. Every other step unearthed a potential tripping hazard to avoid.
Did I let that stop me? Of course not. I skipped to and fro, leaving DD’s grabbers in the dust.
“These arms are more difficult to use than I first anticipated,” she confessed before swooping in again.
I ducked down low, sending th
e claw racing overhead. “That’s funny, because mine are working just fine!” I took the chance to demolish her appendage with my axe.
The blade bounced off without leaving a nick.
Before I could get frustrated, I was running away from another of her attacks.
“Have I not already informed you that your weapons will not work against me?” DD said, voice nice and calm in contrast to how her crazed arms swarmed over the area like living creatures. One shot into the air, snapping at a certain flying mate of mine. “I know I informed you that flying was unacceptable.”
Sylvetty made a quick return to the ground.
As for me, I left the floor to avoid a grabber that had almost gotten me by the ankles.
While I lingered in mid-air, two arms raced my way.
Crap!
I could fend off one, but not two—especially with Akko in my arms.
Which one should I—
Vay swung her mighty blade, knocking one of the claws off target. The other was handled by Faris who flipped onto its body and drove it down prematurely with her spear.
I breathed out as I landed. “Thanks for the save, girls.”
“No problem, stud!” Vay said with her usual cheer.
“Are you sure about that?” Faris said.
DD’s arms were quick to recover. It likely helped that they showed no signs of being hit in the first place. There wasn’t a lick of damage to be seen on either of them, just like when I’d used my axe.
“She isn’t hurt in the slightest?” Casella said, smoke drifting from her blaster.
There was another weapon that couldn’t seem to penetrate DD’s tentacles.
“Why do you keep acting so surprised?” DD said as her arms chased me down. “Must I again explain how your weapons are insufficient to defeat this machine? That it is made from a special alloy too resilient to be bested by tools made in a forge.”
“Special…” Trez began. “Oh, fuck no. Don’t tell me this bastard’s made from bevelinium!”
DD giggled. “I knew you of all people would be the one to notice, Trez.”
I growled as I hurdled over an arm that DD had swung out like a whip. Bevelinium, seriously? It was no wonder our attacks weren’t working. If I couldn’t break a pair of bevelinium cuffs, how were we supposed to destroy a robot made of the stuff?
“Dammit!” Trez said. “How could my home planet turn against me like this?”
“There are other planets where bevelinium could be found other than Free Bevis, yes?” Casella replied.
“Is this really the time?!” Akko squealed from my arms. “She’s trying to kill me!”
“There is no need to feel singled out, Akko,” DD said. “I assure you I plan on killing you all.” She had already turned some of her attention toward Faris and Vay.
The pair busied themselves fighting off the arms coming their way, which meant they didn’t have time to help me.
I snarled as I kept running left, right, left, right… anywhere that kept me away from the claws coming for my mate.
A trio descended upon me at once.
My instincts led me past the first two by a hair’s width, but number three wasn’t so easy. I threw up my shield.
The claw grabbed hold and ripped it from my arm, shattering the bracelet I was wearing in the process.
“Sweetie!” Akko squeaked.
“I’m fine,” I growled, arm still safe in its socket.
They’re getting faster…
The last thing we needed was DD getting better at using her new body. We were in enough trouble as was.
“Faris!” I yelled. “How long do we have left?”
“Less than eight minutes,” she replied before flipping away from an incoming claw while hugging her package.
“That’s it?” Casella said. “But… she’s still…”
Spotless. We hadn’t so much as grazed DD.
“How are we supposed to kill what we cannot scratch? And I will not accept the gigiamus as an answer,” Vay said while battling away arm after arm.
If Vay had caught me with one of those swings, I would have been ripped in half. Against DD? The most Vay could hope for was knocking her appendages away.
“Focus,” Faris replied. “Remember our objective.”
“We win if we get to the generator and deactivate it, yes?” Casella said.
“In theory,” DD replied before shooting a claw toward Casella. “However, I am afraid I will never allow that to happen.”
Casella squeaked and dove away just before she was captured. While still on front, she crawled and escaped into the walkway-turned-tunnel.
DD giggled. “Do you truly believe such a flimsy shield will protect you? If anything, all you have done is cornered yourself.” She fired her next limb, but not in a grabbing motion. Rather, she swung it like an axe, arm ready to crush the entire tunnel and anyone lurking within.
“Casella!” I yelled.
“Faris!” Trez cried out.
A blue glow more intense than the light coming from the tubes filled the area.
“Hmm?” DD said while turning toward it.
The railgun’s blast slammed into her body, driving her from the sky. She was launched across the room and drilled into the wall.
Trez laughed at the top of her lungs while gesturing abuse at the fallen DD. “Boom, boom, boom! How do you like that, you bitch?! Guess who took a battery from the gig!”
“Stop taunting,” Faris demanded, her powerful legs keeping her upright as the tarp rested at her feet. “Move!”
“Got it!”
Sylvetty and Trez made a break for it. The former shot straight up while the latter hopped to the closest ‘ladder’ and got climbing.
“Vay, with me!” I said as I let Akko down rushed toward where DD had fallen in a smoking heap.
I wasn’t naive enough to think the railgun had finished her off. We had to stop her from recovering so the others could—
Two robot arms shot upward.
“Girls!” I yelled.
Trez heeded my call and slid out of the way before she was flattened, but Sylvetty wasn’t so lucky. She was caught by DD’s claw and driven into the wall.
“Sylvetty!” I roared.
She grimaced as the metallic arm pinned her in place, putting God knows how much pressure on her body. And that was on top of how much damage the initial slam had caused.
DD giggled as she dragged herself back into the air.
Apart from some scorch marks, she appeared undamaged.
“Does this not bring back memories, Brandon?” DD said. “I seem to remember Sylvetty being caught in a similar predicament to this before—a robot squeezing the life out of her body.”
Sylvetty retched. Not only was DD weighing down on her chest, but she’d also popped her bubble.
DD had destroyed the thing allowing my nwori mate to breathe.
I snarled, the world ahead of me turning red. “Let her go right now!”
“And give you back the one best placed to reach the generator? You must know I cannot do that.”
“Then I’ll just have to make you,” I cried as I raced toward her.
“What a macho display,” DD said with an almost satanic giggle. “However, are you sure you are not forgetting something?” Rather than trying to stop me, she launched her arms to where I’d left Akko.
My heart pulsed. “No!”
Akko squealed. She could avoid maybe one, but not two by herself, and she didn’t even try. Her legs locked as she looked at the incoming pincers like a rabbit might at a pair of headlights.
“Little one!” Vay yelled as she jumped in and tackled Akko out of the way.
Just Akko.
The appendages slammed right into Vay, punching her clean across the room and into the wall.
“Vay!” I yelled.
My senses went gaga.
I twisted to the side and swatted away a grabber that came from my blind side.
“Are you sure you hav
e time to be worrying about others, Brandon?” DD asked as another claw came for my back.
I threw my entire body out of the way and rolled back to my feet.
Crap. That was even faster than earlier…
Was she seriously still getting stronger?
On the flip side, we were growing weaker.
“Shit!” Trez complained as she ran away from a claw that came dangerously close to grabbing her by the tails. “This is ridiculous!”
“Ridiculous?” DD replied. “In a sense, you are fortunate. Because of my need to protect this room, I am unable to utilize weapons such as projectiles and explosives. Just think about how brutal I could have been in another setting,” she said while kicking chunks out of us. “The defence of the Inner Core was hampered for the same reasons. However, there are two main differences between this location and that. One, this machine is stronger than a sentinel. Two, this machine is now smarter than a sentinel. Much smarter.”
As Trez took another step forward, the ground beneath her feet rose up.
It was one of DD’s arms. She’d been hiding it among the tubes.
Before Trez could get away, the metal snake pounced. It coiled around her and lifted her into the air.
“Trez!” I yelled.
She did her best to struggle, but the metal tentacle wouldn’t budge.
“And that makes three, including the two most likely to reach the generator,” DD said.
“Three?” Vay grunted as she stumbled to her feet while using her sword for support. Most of her armor was shattered and blood dribbled down her chin, but still her grin remained. “I didn’t hear any ten count.”
“Sweetie, your bubble!” Akko said as she rushed to Vay with a new air pocket.
Vay didn’t take it. She pushed Akko away from an incoming claw.
The metal limb stomped Vay into the wall.
“No!” I roared as I tried to get over there, but DD wasn’t making it easy. Arm after arm came for me.
Dammit, leave me alone.
Leave them alone!
While groaning, Vay stumbled forward. “Don’t worry about me, stud. I’m still standing.”
“Allow me to change that,” DD said as she delivered another hit.