Blood Obsidian

Issue 50

Hope falls silently in the dark ... - Part 8

Caitlyn ran and leaped toward Rayna, tears stinging her eyes. Not, this time, because she thought someone she cared about had died, but because she actually saw him die before her eyes. A good man. A brave man that could as easy have arrested her, that time after fighting Vezzpa, as what he did do. He had protected her and her identity, though he did not need to.

And here. People could say he was only performing his duty, but Caitlyn knew better than that. Chief Watson had run toward danger, not because 'duty' demanded it, but because that was simply who he was. Plenty of people considered themselves 'heroes', wearing gaudy costumes and wielding powers, but Chief Watson was the real deal. A true hero.

Before Caitlyn's attack could land, the flying platform drifted to the side, allowing Rayna to avoid the blow, and the next, and the next, Caitlyn's fists striking nothing but air. Yet, each time Caitlyn attacked, Rayna counter attacked, hitting Caitlyn with strikes as hard and as powerful as any she had taken before. Even so, Caitlyn continued to swing wildly at her enemy, throwing punches and kicks toward Fiend and failing to land a single blow.

"Mind if I cut in?" A robotic arm flashed in front of Caitlyn, missing her by millimetres, aimed toward Rayna. That, too, didn't land. "It took me a while to get back up here. Fuel for the rocket boosters ran out at around the twentieth floor. There are, literally, no gas stations half-way up a skyscraper! Absolute nightmare."

That constant, inane chatter sounded very familiar and, as she gathered her breath back, she noticed a few things about Machina's combat suit, beside the new colour scheme. Like the outsize gloves that looked so much like Kyle's gauntlets. Not to mention the 'PB' spray-painted on the combat suit's chassis, on the chest.

"Pho-Boy?" She gaped as the robot body threw out several punches, all of which Fiend evaded with ease. "What the hell?"

"Do you like the ride? A little tuning, a few extras of my own design and, viola, Pho-Boy two-point-oh. Or, as I like to call it ..." The robot pounced up into the air, bringing both enormous metal fists down toward Rayna's head. "... Pho-Bot. What do you think? Too corny? Too 'Eighties'? I'm flexible on the name, but not the colour scheme. Black and blue is so ..."

"Appropriate. Here, darling, hold this." Rayna had caught Pho-Bot's hand, placing a grenade in the oversized palm and then, with great ease, forced the arm to fold, the hand in front of the robot face. "Duck! Oh, you can't. You're in an exo-skeletal combat suit with no room ...inside."

Rayna had paused as the grenade exploded, its power made all the worse by the enclosed space within Pho-Bot's hand, the shrapnel from the destroyed, useless hand peppering and penetrating the robotic armour. Sparks exploded from the exploded hand and the entire combat suit staggered backward.

But Kyle had given Caitlyn time to calm down, to reflect on things. The Chief wouldn't want her to simply dive into this fight. Trooper Jane, too, would have barked at her about fighting smarter, not harder, but Fiend had hit all the right buttons. Of course she had. She had studied Caitlyn. She knew exactly what buttons to press. Instead, Caitlyn had to use her brain. Something she had neglected, yet again. First of all, she needed to take away Fiend's greatest advantage.

As Rayna focussed on Pho-Bot, beginning to rip the robot body to pieces, Caitlyn took a running leap, throwing herself high into the air, rolling in mid-leap until she faced downward, before launching the line of the suit material back toward the roof. The grapple gripped the surface and she yanked herself back down. Toward Rayna.

As expected, Fiend anticipated Caitlyn's attack, slipping away to the side, but Caitlyn wasn't aiming for Rayna herself. She had aimed for that flying platform and, even though she only clipped the very edge of the platform, Caitlyn's strength and momentum tore through the machine like paper, sending Rayna spinning away, out of control.