"The dirt's giving me de ja vu," Cassidy said, walking next to me. The gravel and dirt moving beneath us gave us grounding, and of course, if Cassidy and her team were walking to go take down the Con Man, they'd remember the feeling. The feeling of the ground beneath them, determined to right the wrongs of their creator. And now we're in their shoes alongside them, only nothing is going to stop us.
Hopefully.
Naturally, our groups formed a triangle combined with the Scavengers regular triangle. Me and Cassidy in front, Blake and Banner on Cassidy's left, Flynn and Fraser on my right. Then on Blake and Banner's left was Felix and Finn, and then on Flynn and Fraser's right, Gunner and Griffin, with Seth in the middle and back of the triangle. He doesn't conform to groups much seemingly. But it kinda fits his brand so, not surprised.
"Well just shake it off, nothing like last time will happen again, especially since we have a whole squad ready to go," I assured her. She seemed to be uncomfortable with the whole situation, but seemed to keep composure. The way she walked was very confident, but in her shoulders and neck, they seemed weaker. Showing her intimidation and anxiety about it all.
A lot of the time, anxiety shows itself in odd places of the body. The neck and shoulders, and upper posture, show more anxiety in one's body. Even if it's only a slight difference or shift, it's still there if you're observant enough.
"We'll be okay," I relayed.
She turned to me as we walked, and quietly nodded before looking ahead as we walked down the road that was littered with trash, dust, and tiny pieces of cyborgs that varied in sizes and weight. The road seemed to still be busy, like it was a normal day, and our triangle cut through the crowd like a dagger, even though no one paid attention to our attentiveness in direction. I wouldn't expect them to, they have better things to do.
We just kept walking. We walked for what seemed like a day, but it really was only about an hour or two. And we finally came upon the intimidating building of the factory. We looked upon it and looked at one another, securing our fate in executing this fight that may be unwinnable, before we all walked as a unit right up to the front door.
"Alright, Blake and Banner, go with Fraser and Flynn to the left, and the other five of you to the right, right here is where me and Cassidy are going," I relayed, gesturing to the very front.
"Alright, what about the Puppet?" Flynn asked.
"They're guarding the back door, and I feel like if all of us go through the doors besides that one, it won't set them off and they'll remain docile until we arrive in our assigned quarters. Me and Morgan inspected the blueprints for the factory because that was also on file, and so the stairways to the upper levels, where the Con Man, I'm sure, works and keeps everything running, are guarded by the Puppet. So let's hop to it, let's go, let's go," I yelled, waving my arms upward and to my sides, sending off the nine members to their doors while I remained there with Cassidy.
"You ready for this?" Cassidy pressed, putting her hand in a balled fist and offered to fist bump me. I returned it quietly and plainly, with no enthusiasm, and took a deep breath.
"Is it okay if I call you Cass?" I asked sheepishly, smiling to myself about me just asking a random and out of nowhere question. Cassidy nodded, smiling from underneath her mask. I looked up toward the door that loomed over us. "It's now or never," I said, before giving the door in front of me a big push, and it opened with ease. Cassidy put up a stance, and so did I. I held a block of circular dynamite in my hand, as we carefully walked through the door, suspicious of what was around us. The factory was quiet and we heard no movement, before we heard the whirring. It was behind and above us. I didn't take the time to look up because I automatically knew who it was.
"Forward!" I yelled as both me and Cassidy leaped and somersaulted against the ground as a big weight dropped down where we stood before. Both me and Cassidy gained our footing and turned to see Chloe behind us, in all her bloody gorey. Y'know, bloody glory, but gorey? Yeah? N...nevermind.
"I see you've found our dwelling," the broken voice of Chloe muttered. I'd never heard her voice, but it was piercingly painful to hear. Like chalk being dragged harshly across a chalkboard, or nails on marble or quartz countertops, or shoes sliding harshly against a slick floor. And along with that, it was robotic, something I actually expected. I at least expected a clean robotic tone, but it was broken and marbled.
"Yeah, kinda hard to miss the place we were both pushed out of, of course the little sister is always willing to protect her momma, even if it's a building," Cassidy growled at Chloe.
"Well, at least we know you're of her blood, you're just made out of metal and chemicals, which is what a factory's made out of isn't it?" I said sarcastically, chiming into Cass's sarcasm. Chloe started bounding toward us, and Cassidy pulled an upward half layout as I slid between Chloe's legs. Cassidy got a pretty good nick on her head mask in the process using her wires, but it just merely scratched the surface.
"Oh come back here you little beetles," Chloe whined harshly. Her whine wasn't of pleading, it was of manipulation. One you'd hear from a super villain in an action movie. But that worked on neither me or Cassidy.
"Alright, come and get me then," Cassidy yelled to her as I met up with her and stayed put, as she ran to the side and through a corridor. Chloe followed her, seemingly forgotten about me as she chased after Cassidy.
I'll give Cass the fact she's really quick actually. Shockingly quick. Even though her arms and hands have been dismantled and her legs, her arms would drag her behind, but she's strong, so she makes up for it there.
I saw them dash around nearby walkways and corridors, Chloe swinging her hands and arms relentlessly at Cassidy as she jumps and dodges Chloe's swings. Unfortunately, Chloe actually hit a swing, sending Cassidy to crash into a wall. And that set me off.
"Aw c'mon, my little hamster doesn't wanna be chased anymore?" Chloe whined pitifully as Cassidy tried to push herself off the ground and run more. I ran over and leaped on Chloe's back, latching onto her and wrapping my arm around her neck for dear life.
"Cass, get out!" Cassidy finally rose and dashed away, as Chloe struggled to get out of my hold.
Something I didn't expect, was my new feet that I was granted latched onto the back of Chloe's back, getting a piercing shriek out of her from pain. That's new.
"Now who's the one that's stuck?" Cass yelled and chuckled at Chloe before I had no more strength to hold on any longer, so I backflipped off Chloe's back, my feet unclenching her back, before she turned to me, glaring at me from above. She had a lot of height and size on me, and that was her disadvantage from a tactical standpoint. I sat there, before taking a bomb from my belt and lighting it, tossing it up in her face as it popped, making her stumble back.
"Cass, now!" Cassidy ran from where she was standing directly to Chloe, latching on her back, putting one arm around her neck, and another on her eyes, shielding her vision. I stood and dashed at Chloe as she wailed within Cass's grasp. I hopped and locked myself around Chloe's hips with my legs before lifting her bib, exposing the inside wiring.
I took a quick look, seeing that all the human pieces are there and functioning, the heart and most likely the brain being the only human part of the experiments, and chips that were behind the heart that led to the brain. The controlling module.
I took another explosive, a smaller one and lit it, before pushing it in her chest, lodging it between the heart and control chips and panel, and jumped back off, letting the bib fall back into place and covered the wiring.
"Cass, off!" I commanded, and she hopped off. In my mind, I mentally chuckled because it was like getting a dog off a new toy they'd just been given. But I kept that thought to myself.
"What the fuck did you do to me??" Chloe hollered, trying to get within and behind her bib and get the thing out, but it was by remote control. Cass joined me by my side as we stood, seeing Chloe being silhouetted by the outside light pouring in from the door we'd opened to get in.
Cass put her arm on my shoulder, leaning against me and grinning from ear to ear, I'm sure. Yeah, probably the best tag team ever.
"Easy peasy," I said, shrugged and smiling, before pressing a button on my arm, and the explosive, promptly, blew up within Chloe. Her parts flew everywhere, the only liquid spewing out from her limbs was the chemical pumping into her system to keep her alive. Some of the liquid splashed on our feet, but we were far enough away for it to not be too messy. It was gruesome, but rewarding. I walked over to the pieces that laid where Chloe once was standing, and inspected the building of it.
"C'mon, we gotta go meet the others," Cassidy pressed, but I bent down and inspected the construction. The construction of limbs and the threading of chemical pumping was impeccable, but of course, where the heart and chip panel remained, it was poorly guarded. Possibly to have better access to the core piece of how to control the creatures themselves.
"C'mon," Cassidy pressed further.
"Okay okay, let's go," I said, before leaping up and bounding into a trot leading further into the building. Cassidy joined me in my trot swiftly. We passed a bunch of hallways that led to separate portions of the building, and none of it was purely open. We just stuck with the straight leading hallway, knowing it'll lead to the back of the building. Both of us were bounding into a run before we found a big metal door that was hard to get past, with a label that said "Max" above it.
"You think that's the Puppet's actual name?" I asked Cassidy, gazing up at the nameplate. I heard nothing from Cassidy and I turned to her. She was looking above herself and all around her, probably astounded by the inside of this factory.
"I don't know, but I'd figure the Puppet is behind this door, for sure, where are the others?" Cassidy asked, as well as just letting her gaze explore her surroundings.
Right as those words left her mouth, we heard pounding footsteps from down the hallway we just ran through, and there were Fraser and Flynn. Flynn dashed to me and threw his arms around me, and I did the same for him.
"How'd it go dude?" I asked excitedly, pulling away from him to be able to talk to him directly and not into his chest or shoulder.
"Eh, piece of cake," Flynn shrugged.
As the door opened, there was Ford, seething at the mouth. It seems salivation wasn't a hard thing for these cyborgs, they actually had chemicals within their body. But maybe the Con Man programmed them like that, who knows. It seemed like Ford had rabies, but cyborgs couldn't have rabies...could they?
As that thought dashed through my mind, the fucker started charging toward us, and we dove into the door and between Ford and the doorframe. Once we knew we were out of the way, Ford had landed on his side outside the door, hissing in pain. Then, he quickly got back up and dashed towards us again. Both me and Fraser looked between one another before leaping up in the air, letting Ford dart underneath us and crash into a nearby railing.
"So who's chipping away the legs? The hook's still a problem and he could swing at any moment," I asked Fraser. Without a word, as Ford prepared to charge again, he brought out a very sharp and longer-than-normal pocket knife, and I walked out of the way as Fraser ducked and slid underneath Ford, cutting at one of his legs. The slice sent Ford into an unbalanced state, about to topple over, but he got used to only his one leg.
Fraser stood up again as Ford stood there, glaring at Fraser.
"Come and get me buddy," Fraser teased him. This severely angered Ford, and he pathetically hopped his body towards Fraser. As Ford was right near Fraser, he swung underneath Ford's stance, it sliced his legs promptly.
That was a mistake. We should've gone for a hand first.
Ford started crawling at a shockingly quick speed, and started charging at Fraser. As expected, Fraser wasn't prepared for that, but a simple surgery of a hook for a hand is never something you should expect to have to do while one of the cyborg's legs is still active.
I ran after Ford and leaped on his back, chest first, and latched onto him covering his eyes. Ford kept crawling, but Fraser was able to leap out of the way and behind him without disrupting Ford's charge. I leapt off of him, and pulled out one of my swords.
"Hey dingus," I yelled, and as Ford was in the process of turning to face me, I swung down and chopped his non-hook arm, and it came off cleanly, spewing chemicals out the side of where the shoulder and shoulder blade would've been. Dumbass. Once that arm was off, I pinned his one arm left, and latched an arm around his neck. Ford started choking, and Fraser walked over and knelt down by Ford's hook, as it tried to swing around and hit him, but since it was pinned, it didn't move at all.
"You little rats, get off me," Ford hollered. His voice was hoarse, like he'd been a smoker for years, but he had more of a robotic and automatic tone to his words. It made him more robotic and empty-headed than he had credit to be. But nevertheless, we had to stick to the task. I pulled a rag out of my bag, and lodged it in his mouth as he tried screaming through it to be heard, and I kept him pinned.
Fraser had knelt down and cut the outside piece, and the arm itself was taken apart, but now, all that was exposed was the wiring, and the task of finding the initial wire to cut so that the life support is cut off.
"Wonder how hard the Puppet will be to fight, this was surprisingly easy," I admitted to Fraser. He silently nodded as he kept looking through the wires. I wanted to make another joke or suggestion or remark, something. But I didn't wanna disturb him working, and I kinda had my hands full at the moment.
"It's honestly really hard to find the initial wire, because I'd rather just cut one wire instead of several," he chuckled lightly. I chuckled along with him, before he made a victory gasp and cut the wire. Almost as if on command, Ford fell unconscious beneath me, his body taking more weight against the floor. I wrenched the rag out of his mouth and stuffed that and my sword back into my bag, before letting my foot off of his arm.
His lifeless body lay still, as expected. Even though a portion of me was hesitant to step in front of him, since he was facing toward the inner parts of the factory, where we needed to go.
"Alright, are you ready for this?" Fraser asked me, readjusting himself and joining my side, rubbing my arm. I nodded silently before taking a big and confident step over Ford's body. He walked around the body and joined me as we walked calmly into the dimly lit hallways, hoping to find some of the other people of the group preparing to face the Puppet, awaiting our arrival.
"Well, I'm glad y'all made it without a scratch," I concluded. Flynn nodded to me, before looking upon the door leading to the Puppet's chamber.
"We goin in or what?" he suggested. I shook my head, and he seemed to roll his eyes at my response.
"We're waiting for the rest of the group, we can't do this by ourselves," I explained. He groaned, followed by talking about how 'of course we're the first ones done, what a surprise'. Flynn always likes to charge headfirst into things without thinking, that's why I have to propose plans to keep him on task. Then both of us heard some more pounding footsteps coming from the other side, across from the hallway that Fraser and Flynn came from just a bit ago. There was Finn bounding ahead in front of Felix, as Felix walked calmly behind him. Fred ran over to Fraser and bumped chests with him.
"My man, you made it!" Fraser remarked before they did a dorky handshake.
"Of course, I ain't letting my brother down!" Finn said. I turned to Felix and he seemed a bit shaken. So he wasn't calm when he was walking, he was still processing everything. Oh no.
"You alright?" I asked. He silently nodded his head. "Got shaken up a bit?" I press, rubbing his shoulder with my hand and pulling him closer to me, almost offering a hug to him. But not quite, I just positioned myself close to him, keeping the offer for a hug open, but gave him room to breathe and explain.
"Yeah, I'm alright, just a bit shocked," he said.
"Why?" I remarked.
I felt the nerves crawling throughout my body as we stood in front of the door into this building. I heard Gunner, Seth and Griffin enter their door already and they seemed like they were fighting to the death, but I just stood there. Finn was hyping himself up, jumping up and down, a bunch of energy stuff. I didn't understand it. Finn, Cassidy, Fraser, Banner, everyone in the Scavengers but Gunner were all energy driven. They all needed external energy to get a job done. And I'm over here planning the takedown to each minute detail. So I'm using all my energy to stay focused rather than be hype to try and execute the plan in the first place.
"Dude, don't worry about it, maybe a simple plan will take us to victory," Finn tried to assure me. It knocked me out of my train of panicking thought, and I got his attempt at making me feel better, but on the same token, it still didn't make me feel better. Even though I wish it kinda did, there was nothing we could do about it now though.
I shook my head, followed by my shoulders, like the shaking shot through me like a tidal wave. And it felt more comfortable, comfortable enough to go inside and fight like we'd been instructed.
"We can't wait forever," I said, feeling a shiver go down my spine. I raised my foot and shoved the door in, and it gave way. I didn't have enough guts to push it with my hand and arm, not enough trust either. Then we saw him. Fred.
He stood there, his chains dangling from his limbs, his red eyes piercing through his mask and trying to kill whatever soul was left in either me or Finn, with just his gaze. It could've worked, but we were too dedicated to let it get to us too much. But I know deep down that it was terrifying, and it would make me and probably many others run away in terror.
He stood his ground, and didn't flinch when we took a couple steps into the building. His attitude, demeanor, and everything else was so damn unshakeable. Because he didn't move a centimeter, or anything close to that.
"What brings you here, peasants," his voice boomed. It reverberated off the walls, making us shake a little, but we kept it together.
"We're here for your boss, mister," Finn said, chuckling. I swear his childish demeanor annoys me so fucking much. I just wanna punch Finn, this old guy but mentally a little kid, in the fucking gut and make him keel over.
"Oh I'm sorry, but you've come on the wrong day gentlemen," Fred said smirking. He slowly started swinging his chains around in a circle in front of him, before speeding it up and slowly walking toward us. "I'd recommend running while you can," he snarled. Finn charged toward Fred and when Finn seemed about close to hitting him, Fred swung.
I covered my eyes, but when I opened them again, Finn was okay and in one piece, and on the opposite side of Fred, in one piece.
Thank god.
Fred was making a beeline for me, and Finn tried to deter him by attacking him from behind, but it seemed like he had eyes in the back of his head. Why, do you ask?
When Finn went to leap onto Fred's back, Fred, as Finn was close enough, whipped his chain and shot Finn across the room as Finn was in the air, him thumping into the wall and falling to the ground. Fred turned back to me, and terror ripped through my veins. I felt my muscles tense, and they didn't untense like I thought they'd naturally would. But the tenseness of my muscles caused me to move.
I started running, and I could hear his footsteps on my tail. Then, I heard Finn's yell.
"Blindly strike! Blindly strike!" he repeated a couple times. I didn't want to do what he suggested, but at this point, it was our only option. My only option. Because this monster was chasing me down, about to rip me to shreds. I kept running, before closing my eyes real tight, stopping and turning on a heel, and punching in a random direction. I felt a bit of liquid cover my hand, and it spilled over my knuckles and my wrist, followed by a grunt from the towering Fred that was just chasing me. My eyes flew open to see that I had punched into one of the chambers that held the three small bears. And the one I had struck was alive.
The little bear started climbing up my hand, proving the point it was alive. I got startled, and shook him off, sending him flying into the wall. I heard a little scream as he hit the wall, before falling aggressively onto the metal floor. He fell hard because of the weight of the metal in his body. I look over to Fred to see him looking longingly at the little bear. That bear was dead. The little one. But the big one standing in front of me, was still alive and kicking.
"It's in the chambers! Take 'em out one by one, remember?" Finn yelled, as his footsteps near me. I felt my chest heaving up and down, and I was doing my best to calm it.
And like a tsunami, it hit me. That's right. You hit the chambers, and if you kill whatever's in those chambers, it weakens Fred. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes before letting them fly open again to face my opponent. Let's do this.
I started running away from Fred again once Fred had gained his footing. I couldn't make an easy strike like that again. Not again. I couldn't be that lucky or that smart, simply because Fred would see it coming. So I had to plan out a strike, or rely on Finn to regain himself to help. His footsteps meant killing, and wanting to murder us and turn both me and Finn inside out for killing one of his. But now we have to kill all three. Just to make this beast fall to his knees.
I ran, and ricocheted off the walls every now and then, as Finn tried to figure out another way to strike. We just kept running, me and Finn. Occasionally, Fred would hit one of us pretty hard with his chains, which made it hard to make such a strike, especially with how big he was in comparison to us.
Every hit felt horrible. Everytime I fell down from getting hit once, I didn't want to get back up after it. But I knew each time I fell or got hit, that I had to or I would die on that floor. That floor of that wretched room.
"Felix, dude, use his chains," he whispered to me as he ran by me.
"How the fuck am I supposed to do that," I hollered, knowing Fred didn't hear Finn, but he could hear me.
"Hear what, huh," he smirked, still following both of us in hot pursuit. As he neared me, I saw Finn behind Fred, somehow he'd got around to where Fred wouldn't notice.
"This," I responded, watching as Finn took a strike from behind him. The middle chamber broke from behind, which is shocking. Finn's hand busted through Fred's chest, and grabbed the little creature in the chamber. I saw the glass and liquid fall, and Finn wrenched the creature out from behind Fred, making the little tiny bear get destroyed by the inner wiring that kept Fred together. Fred turned around breathily, staring at Finn. Finn spread a little smirk across his face before he trailed his gaze to the little bear he held in his palm. It started trying to move around, but the smirk disappeared from Finn's face when he realized he needed to crush the little thing. His eyes read regret as his fingers aggressively closed around the little robot animal, crushing the little bear with his bare hands.
This was inhumane, but if it means killing all of these creatures, then so be it. Because there was nothing we could do.
I ran up to Fred, and latched myself around his neck. He flailed his arms and his chains were whipping every which way, before Finn leaped forward and seized both chains that Fred had wrapped around his arms. He shook them, sending Fred off balance, and as I kept my grip around Fred's body, Finn wrapped the chains around his hands, before jabbing them into the final chamber, splitting it and sending liquid everywhere.
Fred cried out in despair as the final creature fell out of the chamber after getting stabbed with glass and chains, and fell to the floor unconscious. As my legs were wrapped around his neck, I swung sideways and then to the front and gave him a good knockout punch, sending him to the ground.
I stayed put atop him, holding my fist at the ready as he laid against the ground on his back, my legs still somewhat around his neck, and my arm reeled back to make another strike. Finn got off his knees from falling from so much running and brute force we had to use on the beast.
God damn it. I took the deepest breath I could muster before letting my gaze on Fred go.
I looked to my hands and they had glass shards littering the skin, blood running cold off my skin but it was still warm when it was beneath my skin. Finn got up begrudgingly from so much pain, and pulled a spare rag out. He knelt beside me, keeping one of his feet on Fred's arm to keep him pinned in case he came back alive again. Finn held the rag out as I held my hand to him, and he slowly wrapped it.
"I can probably take care of this myself when we get to a safe spot," I relayed. Finn nodded silently before finishing wrapping it. There seemed to be a smidge of regret in his attitude, but by how he held himself, he could hide it well from the others. I don't know if because we're built similarly, we have more of a spiritual connection, but if it's true, I certainly feel it. Because if there's any regret in Finn's system, I could feel it.
"You did good," he remarked. I looked up to him, but his focus never left my wrist as he continued. He finished quickly, letting go and still staying knelt next to me.
I nodded to him in thanks, before standing with him and walking towards the hall that led further into the factory. More dread seeped into my pores with each step.
Did the Con Man really have to use innocent little bear cubs, that are basically the size of my hand, as organs for Fred? Did he have to make completely different beings but make them connected to Fred? I'm sure that when Morgan saw those blueprints, he was utterly horrified. Because I certainly am. I just had to kill three, innocent, and simply living beings.
It's like killing a baby, truly. And I never thought in my years of being alive, that I would kill anything that comes close to being a baby. But here we are.
It's as if Finn read my mind as we walked, because I felt a hand creep up to my back and hold my shoulder blade. "It had to be done, Felix, I'm sorry," he sighed. I didn't say anything back. I didn't have the guts or stomach to. Because I felt like if I said anything, I might puke from how much stress it drove me to. So I just kept my mouth shut. It's for the better until we get to where the rest of the group is.
"Gods, I'm sorry bud," I said as Felix shuddered a little. "I'll let you go take care of your cuts while we wait for the others. When we have to face Puppet, I'll make sure you're guarded," I reassured him. He nodded slowly before walking over and joining Flynn. I followed his walk, and Flynn wrapped his arms around him, giving him a brief hug before kneeling down with Felix and unwrapping his cloth off his hand to tend to Felix's wounds. Felix seemed apprehensive about Flynn helping, simply because he rolled his eyes and locked eyes with me.
I looked at him and with a raise of both of my eyebrows, Felix sighed heavily. He didn't like people taking care of him, but I basically told him to deal with it, just by my look. I have that effect on people.
I didn't think the Con Man could be so cruel either. But he has been making a whole army for more than a couple centuries. He's been making one for years. But why would he make little creatures, literally with baby souls in them, I'd think, and put someone like that out into battle? To give the fighters sympathy for their opponent??
I heard one set of footsteps coming from the hall next to where Flynn and Fraser came from and I froze. No. Did we lose one of them...
I looked toward the hallway and so did everyone else. And I saw Banner with Blake in his arms, unconscious, and his body completely limp. . Oh fuck.
I dashed over to him, and Flynn joined me, followed by Cassidy. "What happened," I hollered at Banner. I felt bad a little while after practically yelling in his ear, but I was panicked. I wanted to know what happened to my brother.
I looked at Banner, and he nodded to everything that he was carrying on one arm that was near Blake's legs, and Cassidy took it quickly. Banner looked near in the direction of Blake's face, holding him firmly but gently, making sure not to crush him.. "He's just unconscious but Billy was a lot more aggressive than we expected," he relayed. Banner made his walk over to a nearby bench, laying Blake on it.
"But what specifically happened?" I asked frantically. Banner turned to me, took a deep breath and sighed.
It's been a while since we've been in a place like this. I worry about Blake. He's smaller and thinner than a lot of the people in the group. I know because I've had to hold him, shake his hand, hold his shoulder, etcetera.
He says he's fast, and I don't doubt that. But if Billy throws us something completely out of left field, he may be a goner. And that's what I worry about. Because at the very least, I have to protect him. But I'm going to act like nothing bad will happen and give him no indication that I'm worried, and try my best to protect him. Because he doesn't need to have another nervous individual going in on this.
As we entered the building, I didn't see anything. Of course I didn't, because the creature we're about to face took my eyes. And my face. But I sensed something in the corner, something hunched over and hiding something. And that made me hesitate. Billy wouldn't be hunching for no reason, and we certainly didn't get the wrong door. Blake reported that he saw Flynn and Fraser's beast come out of the building after Flynn and Fraser darted in earlier, which I wouldn't have caught.
I may not be able to see everything that happens, but I can fight without the use of my eyes. But I just hope that Billy will go a tiny bit easy on us.
"What do you think he's doing," Blake whispered to me, trying not to draw attention to himself from the creature. Then, I heard snarling from Billy. I threw my arm right in front of Blake, as I heard the footsteps near me and Blake. I stood still, the flight response going straight through my blood, but just feeling the freeze response in my body
I heard the unsheathing of a blade, and I heard its whirr as it whipped through the air. I ducked and pulled Blake down with me, and somersaulted forward, right past Billy. I heard Blake readjust himself from somersaulting just like I did, and we both prepared for the fight.
I heard the blade again, and I jumped out of its way, before I heard a thump nearby me.
"Blake," I hollered softly, hopefully. I heard a grunt, and realized Billy had struck Blake. No. No, no no no no no no.
I turned my attention to the big figure that was looming over me, probably preparing to strike me, before I pulled something I hadn't done in years. I leapt upward and executed a front flip, before opening my hand and burying my hand into his face.
"This is for taking my vision, my face, and now I'm taking yours. Fuck off, you monstrous asshole," I said, before pulling away violently, using my legs to be around his chest so I could pull back and not fall backwards. The wail from Billy was muted, desperate, but as I hit the floor on my butt, I scurried away from Billy as his body seemed to slowly fall to the floor and lose consciousness over time.
That was quick, but not without a cost. I called Blake's name again, and a grunt was a response, and I crawled over to wherever the grunt had come from, before feeling Blake's body lying still, but still breathing.
"Thank god you're still breathing," I remarked, before taking out a cloth I knew I had and using my other hand to feel around Blake's body. I felt his hand latch around my wrist, and he guided my hand to the front of his chest. "Did he get underneath a bunch of skin?" I asked.
"No," he stuttered and croaked, "just the ribs are damaged a bit," he groaned. How he knew it was his ribs baffled me, but I wasn't about to ask stupid questions. I had a wound to clean and make sure it was treatable for god's sake.
"Alright, don't pass out on me, we need to stop the blood flow," I said, placing the cloth on the slice wound, and pressing down on it hard. A little wince and whine came from Blake, from the pain, and I don't blame him. It was a pretty clean and damaging strike, even though it, thankfully, didn't reach his heart.
"Do you have enough strength to hold the cloth on you while I walk us to the other room?" I asked, somewhat gritting my teeth, but not fully to hinder my words.
"Yeah, I can," he stuttered. I nodded before pressing the cloth against his body and making sure his hand had a good hold on it, before picking up his body, bridal style, and making my stride further into the factory.
Please, God, don't let this boy die. Not in my arms. Please.
Once Banner was finished, he turned around and kept tending to his wound, and I knew I wasn't going to be much of help as Felix walked over after Flynn was done with him and joined Banner.
I peered over them as they worked, and Blake's clothes were stained red, dark red. "Did the heart get struck," I asked timidly. I was worried that it did based on how much blood was seeping through his clothes. Banner shook his head as he sat there, almost as if he was praying. Praying for Blake. I was able to breathe after I knew one of the most, if not the most important organ, wasn't the thing that was struck.
As they continued to tend to him, I heard the final three footsteps that remained absent from the group. Gunner, Seth, Griffin.
I turned my head to where Felix and Finn had come from, and from a separate hallway, there the three were. All looking happy with them being able to defeat Floyd.
"We've arrived," Seth said cockily. Because of what was going on, and no control over my attitude and actions, I shot him a death glare and he shut up quickly. His face clearly read 'what's up her ass', but he shook it off. Griffin noticed my short temper and walked over to me, stroking my shoulders and arms and pulled me close to him. I started to tear up, and I wrapped my arms around him in response, feeling my chest heave like it wanted to scream and cry.
"What's happening, chicken," he asked, petting my head with his hand. All I could do was weep. I was afraid of losing one of my brothers because I was in charge of protecting them. But of course when we have to split up as a team, they get hurt, and not on my watch. And there went the floodgates.
"Blake's hurt, and I can't do anything to help," I whined. I felt pathetic sobbing into Griffin as he just came from a battle that seemed a lot more complicated than what the rest of us had to endure.
"Charlie, he'll be okay. He's a resilient little dude, there's no way he won't be okay, and based on Felix's knowledge, especially with working with Morgan so closely, Blake will be okay," he muttered, comforting me as the last of the tears that welled in my eyes fell from my tear ducts. My cheeks dried up instantly, before I heard some simple breathing coming from Banner and Felix. It wasn't desperate, but it seemed more comfortable now. It was Blake, he was okay.
I pulled away from Griffin and trotted over, before seeing Blake looking up at me smiling.
"I'm alright, chief," he said with a pained smile. I couldn't help but feel a whine try to emerge, but it just came from my face.
"Don't scare me like that, scaredy rabbit," I teased. He smiled and chuckled, before that chuckle was followed with a pained cough. I knew that was coming, no doubt about it. He suffered a nasty fucking blow. The fact that Banner was able to take down Billy after just one hit from either of them was impressive. And without eyes, might I add.
"I don't think I'm suited for the fight though, you may have to go on without me to get past the Puppet," he groaned. I nodded, I'd already come to that conclusion.
"What happened to you all?" I asked the golden trio, spinning around to face them, since they never reported about their fight.
All of us looked among one another before pushing the door open aggressively, and it nearly fell off its hinges on both sides as the looming figure of Floyd came into view. Seems like the doors weren't used for awhile. Might take some WD40. His huge figure was daunting, but there were three of us, and one of him. I held my spiked balls out and aligned with my body, preparing to strike as Seth revved his chainsaw, and Gunner prepared his bow and arrows.
Floyd saw us prepare, and he prepared himself with his double sided scythe, holding it low enough to be aligned with our necks from his perspective. But that didn't phase any of us. Get past him to get to the group.
I charged forward first, and ducked underneath him as he swung forward toward me. I hit his shins on the way through his legs, as Seth leaped and went overhead with his chainsaw. It dug itself into his shoulder, but didn't cause enough force to lob off the limb.
Gunner held his arrow to Floyd, and Floyd saw the arrow and instantly charged, before I grabbed his ankles, making him fall flat on his face.
"Why does this feel so easy," I feel Seth chuckle near me. I chuckle and hold his ankles tight as I hear Floyd grunt beneath my hold, as Gunner lets his arrow go straight into Floyd's chest. The arrow lodged itself into where the ribs would've been, and the back of the arrow snapped open with a securing system.
After it activated, and I let go of Floyd's ankles, he started flailing around, trying to get to the arrow. His arms were still moving, and had the scythe within its grip, which could be deadly if executed improperly.
"Now what?" Gunner hollered from across the room. Floyd's grunting would've been smart mouthed sentences if he wasn't so focused on getting free, so we sat there trying to figure out what to do. But it was a tiny bit funny to see him flail around like a flopping fish on a boat deck. Okay, not a little funny, a lot funny.
Then I thought, Seth has a mechanism attached to the other end of his chainsaw. And I turned to face him, locking eyes with him after a couple seconds.
"Seth, load up your gun, and shoot for the shoulder you went halfway through," I ordered. Seth looked between me and the beast, and the look of realization appeared in his eyes. He nods and does as he's told, and aims it at the shoulder.
"You have so much ammo, you got this," I encouraged him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before opening his eyes again and pressed the trigger. The bullet shot through and thankfully dodged the flailing scythe in time, and disabled one of his shoulders. Because of the disruption of connection between his torso and arm, it made the scythe fling across the room and land with a clang on the wall. The thing was sharp enough to stick into the wall from the blade. Holy shit. I walked over to Floyd, who was still struggling to not grunt and trying to get free.
"Gunner, take care of the other arm please," I ask politely, gesturing with my body to the arm in question. Gunner let his bow and quill of arrows fall and he walked over, taking the arm and pulling it to the ground, pinning it there with his full body weight against the ground. "Seth, lock his head in place," I asked Seth, and he walked over and placed his arm around Floyd's neck, holding his head up and attentive. I strolled over and put my thighs and legs on his chest and the front of his shoulders, positioning myself above him.
I gazed into his eyes, and he tried to furiously shut them.
"You might as well relish in what you're seeing now, while you can," I said sincerely. All I got was a stinky and pungent grunt back. The smell reminded me of dead corpses rotting in a wine cellar. Yes, I've smelled that before, don't question it. I'm not sure where I got that smell from either, but I know what it smells like.
I whipped out my pocket knife and started making incisions, which caused some wails and whines to emerge from Floyd's pathetic body. It could've been gruesome, and bloody, but they weren't human eyes. So it shouldn't hurt, should it? I guess it did though, I mean he's still a creature.
I finally got the eye to pop out and I moved over to the other one. And that popped out way easier than the first. I pulled away, yanking both eyes out fully from their sockets. Slowly but surely, the consciousness and life left Floyd. It was both satisfying and horrible, but we couldn't stop and dwell on it. We had more ahead of us.
I waved Seth and Gunner off, and they let go. We got up and walked further into the factory, before I saw Charlie nearly in shambles. Her face just had unfortunate news written all over it. Please don't let it be too devastating.
"Well, I'm glad it was easy, easier than all of ours," I shrugged. That got a smile out of Griffin, and I whipped around to survey the damage and see who would go in against the Puppet. Because even though we had a good team, we still had some that were out.
Blake was obviously out, and mentally, Felix was not prepared, and he was tending to Blake anyways. So they two were out and Felix could watch over Blake while he regained some mental stability and Blake regained physical stability. Flynn and Fraser were in one piece, so were me and Cassidy, and the golden trio as well. I figured that Finn and Banner would accompany Felix and Blake back to proper health or stay with them long enough until we have to get Madelyn out of the Con Man's hands. That way, we'd have less people to worry about getting hurt, and a little more grip on what our plan can be.
"Alright, everyone but Finn, Felix, Blake, and Banner, go against the Puppet, so prepare yourselves. Five minutes, that's all I'm giving, everyone else, just keep tending to your wounds. You'll need it for the Con Man," I relayed. The rest of them nodded and prepared their weapons again before Finn walked over to me.
"Please let me fight, I'm in perfect shape," he admitted. I felt heat rise in my chest, but I tried to keep it down. "You don't have to put me in the group that can't fight, I can fight perfectly," he explained further. I knew he could fight fine. Not perfect, but fine enough to get by.
But him being ignorant about his fighting partner in the last fight, that made me snap.
"You were the one who almost traumatized my brother, my genius in my group, and Banner actually has empathy for Blake, whereas you don't. Not that I can visibly see. So this is your punishment, shut your fucking mouth, sit down, and be patient," I snapped. He quieted down immediately and sat down.
"You didn't have to yell at my man like that," Cassidy hollered back at me.
"Would you have said the same thing if Felix was being ignorant to Finn if he got injured," I accused. Cassidy went silent immediately. Good lord these Scavengers need to be put in their place every once in a while. They could do it to us and I wouldn't care, but good lord, they needed an ego check. "That's what I thought, team, assemble," I called to everyone else, and everyone stood attentively as they were asked and instructed.
I turned to the door that led to the Puppet's chamber, and kicked it slightly. It didn't move, and I went to kick it again before it fully started to open.
"Well, that was easy," I muttered underneath my breath. A bit too easy if you ask me.
The door was made of pure metal, and was galling horrifically. And there they were. The Puppet. Standing in front of us, holding their own sharp knives that were attached to the long metal wires that were attached to their back, that were flexible and swinging behind them.
Their structure was everything beyond impressive, and in the best way possible.
"What have you come here for," the voice from the Puppet bellowed. It wasn't deep or intimidating. It was robotic, automatic, monotone. And interrogative. No doubt about that. But even if it wasn't purposefully intimidating, the way that the tone presented itself, just gave off an intimidating aura. But we're not worried about that.
"We've come here to get back our friend that your boss unrightfully stole," Cassidy hollered back. The Puppet seemed unphased by Cassidy's confidence, and took a couple steps forward, still toying with the knives that dangled behind them.
"Oh, but he needed her for one of his experiments, we're making Mackenzie much better now by using your friend's parts," the Puppet smiled viciously. "In fact she's probably on the operating table right now as we speak," they snarled.
The anger that generated within me started to well up, and Cassidy ran and took the first swing. Seems like the anger got to Cassidy quicker. It's good to know that I'm not the only one with pent up rage from Madelyn being gone and taken. The Puppet dodged impressively, as Cassidy soared over them, before ricocheting off the back wall and landing on the ground. I prepared my dynamite, and held it up, not lighting it just yet, and Fraser and Flynn charged from behind me, either of them darting around either side of me.
The Puppet prepared themselves and let go of their knives, but Flynn and Fraser grabbed one on each side, leaning back and sliding harshly against the metal plates that made up the floor, and made the Puppet face plant immediately. Flynn and Fraser made it past the Puppet and made it on their feet smoothly. I finally lit the fuse and threw the dynamite ahead of me, and it landed straight onto the Puppet's back.
The Puppet shrieked in pain and shock, before shooting up off their stomach, sending Flynn and Fraser to the ceiling since they still had a hold on the Puppet's knives. They prepared themselves in midair, and clung onto the rafters, leaving me, Cassidy, and the golden trio down here to deal with the Puppet until Flynn and Fraser can come back down safely.
The Puppet glared at me, and its mask's eyes were still dark and simple slits for shapes, but a small bright red light shone from deep within the mask. It's as if it was stealing my soul out of my body. I heard a bit of machinery churning behind me, and as I turned my back to face the noise, Seth had cocked his gun chainsaw. I ducked, and Seth took a shot. The bullet hit the Puppet smack in the face. The Puppet fell backward, and since Cassidy was on the other side of the Puppet, she took a punch up in the air.
The Puppet towered over us, so if we were to get anywhere, we'd have to jump up in the air to get on these experiment's levels. The Puppet got shot back up onto their feet but very unbalanced from Cassidy's punch against its back, before Cassidy did a drop swing with her foot, sending the Puppet to the floor, and on their side.
The Puppet landed on their side with a grunt, and all of us kept a strong stance. Because we weren't sure if this fight was going to be as easy as the others.
"You really think I'll let you off that easy," the Puppet growled, looking up at me. A specific liquid started dripping from the bottom of their chin, with a blue liquid trail from their eyes down to their chin.
"Are you crying?" I said teasingly. It looked creepy, but odd, because I've never seen it before. On any cyborg.
The Puppet paused, before reaching to their face in panic, even though their face didn't read any panic, and wiped their finger in the trail of blue liquid. They started muttering 'no' to themselves, slowly at first, but then became rapid. Their panic washed over them like a monsoon, so I took a chance.
I took a swing at their face with my foot, and they grunted at the impact. And Flynn and Fraser dropped down from up above in the rafters, giving the Puppet two synchronized punches to the back of the chest. Each punch landed on the Puppet's shoulder blades, making their chest cave in from behind and smack good against the ground. Another grunt followed, and the liquid seemed to be spewing everywhere with every hit we gave them.
Griffin walked over to a puddle where the liquid had pooled before the Puppet got hit again, and Seth, Cassidy, Flynn and Fraser chipped away at them. I joined Griffin at his side, kneeling with him to inspect the mysterious liquid while the other four dealt with the Puppet.
"What do you think it is," I questioned. He didn't respond, rubbing his two first fingers in the liquid and bringing it up his face, sniffing it hesitantly.
"This isn't blood, remnant, or agony. What the fuck is this," he whispered.
"Beats me, maybe we'll find it later after we take down this son of a bitch," I snarled and smiled. That got a smile out of Griffin, so we both rose, and then we looked over to Flynn, Seth, and Fraser on top of the Puppet, holding its limbs down, while Cassidy was near the neck and head, keeping the head facing me and Griffin, and pinned.
"Wow you really said 'you're staying fucking put'," I joked with Cassidy. She chuckled, and I knelt down to the Puppet's level. "Now what do you have to say," I hissed at the Puppet.
"You're never gonna beat him," the Puppet croaked pitifully. Cassidy heard them take that slow response, and took a clean strike, knocking the Puppet out. I nodded, and rose again. That wasn't easy, but it was quick. I guess the other groups were just our warmups.
"Now, I'm guessing we just go up these flights of stairs and find the right hallway and just barge in?" she asked, looking at the different flights. I nodded to myself as she gandered at the view, and then turned to the rest of the team.
"Flynn, Fraser, with us, you other three, go," I said, referencing the opposite stairway while I made my way to the stairway closest to me, with Cassidy and the two foxes on my heel. I made my way up the two flights, and I heard the clanking of noises against the metal on the stairs, and hearing the others from the other side of the vast room.
The sounds echoed around the room, and when we finally reached the second floor, it was a wide floor with the other three just on the opposite side. They made their way over to us as darkness and nervousness overtook me. The silence was louder than anything I've heard from my team or in any place that I've been in before. It's like something could pop out from around a corner and scare the shit out of us, but nothing happens. We kept walking along the floor, the wide hallway that was presented to us, and the closer we got to the back wall, we heard a couple small and light-sounding clanks of metal from a nearby room.
I stopped, and the rest of my team did so, and it went quiet. I turned back to them and cocked my head, referencing the last room on the left side of the wide room. All of them silently continued to follow me, each of us taking hesitant steps as we heard clanking noises continue. Yep, we found him.
As we were right outside of the door, I reached for the handle and hesitated. Nope, you have to do it. You have to save Madelyn. Now.
I turned the handle and let the door fly open and peered inside before stepping over the threshold. Cassidy, Flynn, Fraser and Gunner stayed outside, and me, Seth and Griffin stepped in. There she was.
Madelyn was on an angled operating table, awake, but strapped down so she couldn't move. She didn't seem to be fighting against the restraints, and why would you? That's just wasting your energy.
"Oh goodie, you've arrived," the voice from the nearby hunched man croaked. He turned his spinny chair, and looked at each of the three of us that stood before him. "Charlie, is it?" he growled cunningly. I stood there, no words or anything coming from my mouth.
"Why don't you either shut your trap about names and explain why you wanted her sister, Madelyn, you dickwad," Seth seethed. That caused a chuckle to come out of the old decrepit man.
"Oh Sethy, I thought I taught you better when I trained you to not speak back to your general, Gordon," he smirked. I froze immediately. It was really him, the Con Man, in the flesh. And he had a real human name. Gordon. "Let's get some introductions out of the way, since you clearly fought your way in here to meet your hero," he said sarcastically.
"You are everything but my hero, you asshole," I growled. That caused a smirk to crawl onto his face, and it sent a tsunami of chills down my spine, as if I stepped inside a mausoleum and the place was crawling with spirits waiting to scare you speechless. Because that's what I was when I wasn't trying to insult and berate this man. Speechless. And I'm not sure how comfortable I was from being speechless from such a man before.
"Oh, but I created you, my dear, I created all of you, you should be thankful, otherwise you wouldn't have a soul at all," he pleasantly chuckled, as if he was Santa Claus talking to children about being thankful for gifts.
His voice darted between evil and corrupt villain voice and heartwarming fatherly figure voice. And it was concerning, extremely.
"Even if you created us, you also kept us captive, without even asking about our opinion on whether we wanted to be given consciousness," I stated harshly. You could say that about nearly anyone who was naturally born from a mother or even artificially created as a cyborg or even a robot that somehow magically gains consciousness and awareness.
"Well, why don't you stay, I wanna tell you my plans, for both you and your team, as well as your sister, her capture was incredibly easy, given that she's only a bit younger than the rest of you," he smiled, walking back over to the operating table. Madelyn's look upon the Con Man seemed intimidated and scared, and I almost lunged forward if Griffin didn't have a grip on my shoulder to stop me. I didn't lunge enough for anyone to see, but I think it's because Griffin anticipated it.
"Of course you know Mackenzie," he explained, directing our gaze into the corner of the room. Mackenzie, his copy of Madelyn, and the Failed Experiment of her, was slouched in the corner, unconscious. Like a body without any soul in it. Probably because there was no true soul in that monster. "I didn't want her to be in pain while I did this operation, but frankly I like to hear screams every now and then," he smirked, sitting down in his chair. "So I'm keeping Madelyn awake so she feels every incision, every removal of pieces. I was very innovative in letting her feel pain all over her body, like I did with the rest of you. Of course Mackenzie is better because I made her without it," he detailed.
I could definitely sense that all of us were getting cold chills as he continued to speak about what he wanted to do to Madelyn, as he detailed which pieces of her body he was going to remove and insert into Mackenzie. To make her 'better'. And I could see the panic set in on Madelyn's face, even if it was shielded in a certain way.
"Now I expected you imbeciles to show up and want to watch the show, but you would want to be involved, but that can't happen," he said, before whistling. From the shadows, two figures emerged. All of us turned our attention to the mechanics that whirred and noises of shuffling that came with it.
As they made their way to more of the light, it seemed like they just came out of nowhere from the shadows, as if they lived in the shadows even though they're made of metal and real parts. The first figure seemed like more of a copy of Blake and Banner combined, and then next to him was a copy of Finn and Felix combined as well. The imitation of Finn and Felix had purple pants and a purple bear mask that only covered his eyes. There was a vile smirk on his face, and he wore what seemed to be a basic kimono top, and held a silver and engraved staff. Then, the Blake and Banner imitation had long black rabbit ears, then glasses that covered his eyes, and a mask that had teeth. He also had a basic black kimono top with black jeans, and a double ended scythe.
They were everything beyond terrifying. And that's the scary part. Because I could tell Gordon took all of his twisted desires and put them into two cyborgs. Worse than the Puppet tha we just fought downstairs.
"Aren't they beautiful?" the Con Man said lovingly, as if they were his blood related children. "They've been around longer than the Veterans, I believe, I've lost count on ages at this point," Gordon said suggestively.
"As far as we know, we're older than your elders," the rabbit chuckled. I see Seth go to respond, but then immediately stop in his tracks. It's the first time he actually thought about what he was going to say. Best not to say any incriminating things since these idiots just spew anything incriminating. What isn't in their vocabulary that's not incriminating?
"We also help Gordon with his operations, he didn't call us just to unhand and capture you all to watch Madelyn's deconstruction, but he called us to help with certain removals and incisions, he calls us the Reapers," the bear said proudly. The rabbit nodded next to him in approval.
"Alright, I'm done with your rambling, and no I'm not interested in seeing my sister being ripped to shreds by your executioners-" I said before I got cut off suddenly.
"Reapers, ma'am," the bear said. I shot him a glare I'd only give someone if they wished for death. And apparently this idiot did.
"I don't give a fuck. Shut your mouths and hand her over, or else," I scowled.
"Or else what?" Gordon teasingly cooed. I grudgingly turned my head to face him, as he was just testing my patience.
"You're gonna die within your own home, you fucking pussy of what you call a villain, bitch," I seethed, before lunging for the Con Man. As I saw in the air, Gordon didn't move an inch and just looked upon me like I was his next meal, and as I flew through the air, the bear grabbed me by the waist and threw me against the back wall near the door we walked through. A grunt and groan emerged from my chest, and I held myself to try and recover. Someone must've closed the door and locked it, because damn, that fucking hurt.
Cassidy, Flynn and Fraser burst through the door, pushing past Griffin and Seth, Flynn and Fraser fighting the bear, and Cassidy, calling upon Griffin and Seth, go against the rabbit. I looked across the room to see the Con Man getting his tools at-the-ready, and that made my pain go away immediately. As if the pain just evaporated from my back and stomach. Not Madelyn, you motherfucker.
I pushed myself up, using the wall behind me to stabilize myself, and when I saw Flynn and Fraser push the bear against the wall and out of the way, I made a break for Gordon. I lunged toward him and I was pushed back again, because the rabbit's staff hit me back against the wall. I was stuck against the wall, just watching all of this unfold.
"You aren't going anywhere, sweetheart," the rabbit smirked. "I'm Braden, m'lady," he introduced himself, as if he didn't have me pinned against a wall with his staff scythe.
"You get off me, I'm not interested in men, you creep," I said, kicking him in the balls and pushing him off me. He froze from the kick, and as soon as he stumbled backward from the sudden impact he wasn't expecting, Griffin and Seth came from either side and locked their arms around each of his. He hung there, in a lot of pain, seemingly, because he brought his legs closer to him, as Cassidy stepped between me and him and knocked his lights out with one punch.
"Not my sister, bitch," she hissed, before turning to Flynn and Fraser who were dealing with the bear.
They had the bear face down on the floor, with Flynn sitting like a monkey on top of him. And Fraser looked upon me and the rest of us.
"Fraser, go get the other four, bring them up here now and check on all the corpses while you're at it. Flynn, you stay put," I groan and command in the same phrase. Fraser looks to Cassidy, who nods, and he sees himself out the door, hopefully coming back in a brief moment.
I looked at Gordon who was twirling a knife in his hand, a surgical one at that.
"Well, I never expected your team to take down my most prestigious fighters today," he smirked, sliding the knife along his lips and between them.
"Isn't it unsanitary to put your mouth on a surgical piece of equipment when you're going to use it on a patient?" Seth asked from the darkness as he dropped one of the rabbit's arms, causing a bit of a flinch to come from Gordon. He cared about his creations, but only if they're alive. Amusing. And if he created them and liked his creations. Also pathetic.
Griffin dropped the rest of the rabbit and Cassidy stood over him, looking upon his face, smirking. "Yeah, I don't think he's gonna wake for awhile," she said happily to Griffin and Seth, but said it loud enough for Gordon to hear.
"Well, in that case, I want to make it a fair fight between you and I," Gordon smirked, standing up from his chair and setting down the surgical knife.
Even though he was trying to show it as he walked toward me, his walk was extremely hesitant. He was scared. Scared. Because he didn't expect his whole protection service to be taken out within the span of two hours, roughly. It's shocking to know he was hesitant, though. And as he approached, his face came more into view.
His face was heavily chiseled and he lacked any true muscle. And the skin that he had remaining on his face drooped of age, his eyes had dark sacks under them, and his face seemed soft. He was an old man with a good build of body, but his face really showed his age. One punch to his face or his stomach and it's death's door for him. Even if we smack him good and hard, his brain might hit his skull enough for him to permanently go lights out.
"We don't want me to have an uneven fight against you, so why don't I bring in my other me," he said grandly, holding his open palm out and around him, before closing his eyes. Then, after a couple seconds, he completely lost control of his body, and fell unconscious to the floor. Everyone squared up, simply because they didn't expect it. His body just tumbled like his spine was ripped out of him, and now all he remained was a chunk of flesh. We looked around before we heard some footsteps coming from outside the door. The door burst open again, and there were the brothers.
They were autonomous like we found them before we interrogated and manipulated their blockage chips. And their dogs accompanied them. Then, we heard some more mechanical noises come from the other dark corner of the room opposite from where Braden and his brother came from. A door seemed to open, and it was a sleeping chamber. The background was an electrical bright blue light coming from the chamber, and it illuminated the silhouette of Layne.
Oh boy, here we go.
Layne rose out of the chamber, and they seemed to rise in slow motion, but it was still the same speed of everything happening around us. I looked upon what I thought was Layne, and Layne's body seemed to have gained more upgrades. The metal muscles were bigger and seemed more structured, the legs had better joints, and the connection point for the mind of Gordon hooking into Layne's body seemed more secure and protected than before. The mask didn't have a scratch on it, even though I'm sure there would've been some dirt. But there was no lick of dirt, grime, or anything that showed Layne had been in a recent fight or altercation.
"This a bit better?" Layne said, smirking, and walking forward while speaking. Cassidy leaps from overtop Braden, and lunges herself toward Layne, who ducks, and Cassidy sails over them, before latching onto the back of Layne, putting Layne into an armlock.
Layne seemed to not be bothered by that, and just sighed, smiling. Their posture didn't change, shockingly, and just stood there and cleared his throat.
"You all are pathetic. Boys, go ahead and show 'em who's in charge here," Layne sighed. The brothers followed the order that was given, completely controlled by Layne and Gordon combined. Flynn, Seth and Griffin double checked the Reapers who were sleeping soundly on the ground, before blocking the brothers' attacks. Forrest went for Griffin, who blocked it easily, and Fern lunged for Flynn as they swiped and swatted at each other aggressively and dangerously.
"Now to take care of you pussies, literally," Layne smirked, before raising their hands up and in front of him quickly, making Cassidy's grip get knocked loose, before Layne turned around, winded up and took a good punch to Cassidy's face. Cassidy reacted as expected, and fell back against the chamber Layne had emerged from, clutching her face with one hand.
"Well you forget you're dealing with two of us, pussies, by your definition," I smirked, before grabbing the back of Layne's collar, and hauled them to the floor. Layne was resilient and hopped right back up on their feet, before whipping around and facing me. He used natural karate skills that he either learned himself, meaning Gordon, or they were programmed into his natural code as a cyborg.
I tried to block every strike he gave me, but every now and then he'd get a hit or two and I'd return it. He blocked more of mine than I did his, but I was more concerned about getting a clean strike rather than if I was fighting dirty, which was what he cared about most. Because that's how karate training works.
I heard Cassidy grunt as she rose from the wall, and held her stance behind him. But unfortunately I was so distracted that Layne gave a good punch to my throat. I was knocked back and landed with my back flat on the ground. The wind got knocked out of me from it as I saw Layne and Cassidy fighting over me. Cassidy led Layne away from my body so I wouldn't get stepped on, and I clutched my throat, a burning pain emerging from my adam's apple. I could feel the pain and throbbing of it strongly.
I leaned back to see the upside down vision of the two bodyguard brothers fighting it out with the other three. Griffin wasn't struggling at all, but since Flynn and Seth aren't on the best of terms, it was hard for them to keep a consistent hit count going, so Fern had a lot of opportunities, and took those opportunities, to strike at both Flynn and Seth respectively.
I looked back down below me, and saw Cassidy dodge a couple more of Layne's strikes, and I took a gulp of saliva from my mouth, hoping it'd calm the pain. And it did, before the burn came back. Although I couldn't lay there the whole time while the crew was fighting for both me and Madelyn, we all came here for Madelyn alone. With the mission to free the rest of our kind from this corrupted and horrible man who gave us life unrightfully.
I let my eyes fly open, and with as much strength as I could, hopped back up onto my feet. I took a fighting stance, and right as I did, Cassidy went flying backwards while Layne's back was turned on me, and I executed a clean kick at the back of their knees. It made their knees cripple and he fell to them. I latched my arms underneath their armpits, and used as much strength as I could muster, to haul them over my head and backwards, slamming their neck onto the ground and making them crumple from the neck first, then down their body.
They rolled over into a ball, and reached for the back of their neck, before grudgingly pushing themselves back up and launching themselves into a cartwheel, kicking me in the face. That knocked me back, and I heard the door burst in again. I didn't have time to look to see who it was, because Layne hauled me up towards them, and whipped me around, putting me in a chokehold. The automatic response I had was to clutch their arm, but it was stronger and hard to keep my air supply running.
They stood there, holding me in a chokehold as I gasped for air, and the more I remained there, the more I wished someone would come and knock the bitch unconscious. The more gasping I did, the quicker my vision was fading. The quicker my vision faded, more darkness continued spreading in my vision like a virus.
Not again. Not like this.