Part 7: The Tough Get Wounded
[Year: 2006
Time: 3:58pm
Location: Inner Compound, Black Sallee's Bistro, Conrod Straight, Thredbo, Australia]
Kepler and Kate fired their weapons in a hail of fire and ice at the beast and his body exploded in bloody frozen shards and burning pieces. A few more surrounded us from the other sided and effortlessly lifted the tonnes of kitchen appliances to completely expose our hiding spot.
Deune sprang out and tackled two of them and threw one far away before wrestling with the other in a battle of mechanised brawn against brawn. It was the most incredibly heroic thing I have ever seen. He actually managed to grasp and lift the beast up over his head and throw him across the room!
I took out my staff and extended it from it's compressed, travel size and formed several dillation spheres around Kate, Kepler and the rest of us who were in the hole and were paralysed in fear and shock. I caught one of the beasts but the others were smart and stayed away. I used my palm-laser to cut into some of them but that merely scratched their armor.
"Hey! A little help he- Argh! Get... off... me, you stupid- whatever you are!" Deune yelled out. One of the beasts had jumped on his back and was trying to tear his head off while Deune was holding back two of the others.
Kate fired at the other two around us and I used my palm laser to cut one in front of Kepler in half.
Kepler rushed to Deune's aid and used the sniper rifle that he had as a short-barrel to punch several huge holes right through the legs of the assailants. They collapsed but grabbed onto Deunes legs and actually started chewing into them!
"Argh! Get off before I stomp you into the ground!" Deune managed to throw off one of the beasts and broke the arms off the other one, then started dealing with the one on his back.
Kate shattered the two on Deune's legs but since their 'teeth' or whatever was there, were embedded in Deune's legs part of the freezing process shattered his legs.
"Dammit, no!" Deune cursed as he felt his limbs disintegrate as he lost his balance and landed on his hands and knees. Despite this he heroically managed to fend off attacks from the one close to him. This unfortunately left him open to attack by the other one he threw away.
Kate realised what she had done to Deune and froze where she was for a moment before aiming and firing at the other creature above Deune. It shattered above him, unfortunately leaving an open space for the distant one to begin mauling Deune's face.
He fought bravely but the beast tore at his face. Tungsten teeth dug deep into his chest and shoulders. Deune screamed in agony as it bit through the armour plating and into vital biological parts and organs.
The attacking extremely deranged figure that we no longer called human or even cyborg was relentless in its assault. Remnants of a skull hung off it as bloody tendrils dangled from a mechanised internal frame.
Oil and blood spilled everywhere.
Kepler shot more and more holes into this one in particular until it fell apart. She then abandoned her rifle and ran to Deune's side while Kate and I looked around for any more attackers.
There were none left.
That smoker seemed to have disappeared. Did he escape?
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Kepler was in tears when she looked down to the man she worked with and whom she loved so dearly. She was completely devastated at the state he was in.
His body was torn and broken...
...both the mechanical and internal organs were torn and shredded beyond recognition..
His face was bloody and a section of his right cheek had been torn away...
Deune did all he could to stop screaming... but he started crying instead. He was thinking of not seeing his sister again.
Kepler desperately cried at his side and caressed one of his bloody hands to her cheek to reassure him he was okay.
"Yo- you're okay now...uh, this isn't a problem, just get- get back up and- and...!"
"Kep, this is a real pain, hah- urg,"
"Stop... please stop trying to talk, please,"
"Man those things can tear right through the armour we had. Just what are they made of?"
"Would you please stop trying to talk?" Kepler continued crying at his side while the seconds ticked away.
"You know, you look so adorable when you cry," Deune ran his fingers through Kepler's silky hair.
Kepler rubbed her cheek against his firm arm that gently caressed her head. She kissed it tenderly.
"Don't... don't you dare give up on me now..." Kepler gently pounded her right fist on a part of his chest that was whole.
Kate and I quietly told the soldiers to get a cyborg medic and mechanic here at one.
Kate did what she could with the advanced cauteriser and other tools she had in her field medkit that Sydney had given her before we set out. Sydney taught her basic things and also about treating and cleaning wounds, but that was for humans only. She was not prepared for how much damage titanium and tungsten teeth cause when they dug into flesh and Chobum plate.
Her analysis kit had highlighted just how much internal damaged was caused by such ferocious mauling. She couldn't bear to read them out, even as they were holographically projected beside Deune. Kate felt more pained at seeing Kepler crying by his side than seeing Deune's torn chest and what stubbles were left of Deune's legs.
Kate struggled to hold back the tears because she also liked Deune like a big brother, since he acted like that around her.
"Please, please hold on Deune."
Deune kept awake by running his fingers through Kepler's soft creamy hair.
He recoiled and gagged as he coughed up blood and some other fluid. Despite that, he struggled to speak.
"K-rgk, *cough cough* Kepler, I've always loved you. You know that, right?"
"Yes, yes I know. Please just hold onto my hand, honey." Kepler's smile was stifled by her sobs and tears.
Her heart was glad but also terribly hurt at seeing her beloved in such a terrible state.
Kepler grabbed Kate's shoulder violently and yelled in desperation,
"Save him, please!!! Save him!!"
With this, Kate broke down in tears.
"I can't- I just... I don't know what to do!" and dropped what she was holding and cried on Deune's side.
Kepler weakly tried to help in fixing up what she knew, but there was so much torn out that it seemed impossible to save him.
I stepped forward and offered a simple but cruel solution.
"Deune. I can save you. Do you want me to temporarily stop your time?"
Kate and Kepler looked up at me, their tear-streaked faces reflecting the desperation in Deune's eyes.
"When you freeze me, you can fix me up, right?" Deune asked.
"Yes, but I must freeze you here and now. You will not move until you are whole. I can't wait for cyborg anaesthetic to come. The one in this kit isn't strong enough for you, so when I freeze you in time you'll stay here as well as stay fully aware of the pain of-"
"I know... Just do it then. You must enjoy freezing me like this huh?" he smirked, despite forgiving me before.
Kepler knew the initial pain cybernetics cause, but to do so many repairs and have them done relatively all at one, would prove to be even more than a toughened fighter like Deune could handle.
"D, are you okay with this? I cannot move you, but I will stay with you and help you recover."
Deune stroked Kepler's cheek gently, "I can take this. You're the best, Kep."
Kate gazed down at Deune's legs and where they ended at just under the knee joint on the left and just in the middle of the where the calf muscles would be on the right.
"I'm sorry. I am so sorry," she cried to Kepler and Deune. He reached out and pulled Kate close and whispered how he forgave her. Kepler smiled.
"Stand back please. It's time to freeze." I configured my staff to create a sphere of long term space dillation that would preserve and protect Deune while allowing the doctors and mechanics to help.
I moved my staff around him and created a vortex of energy and manoeuvred it in such a way that I would contort and form a sphere, then a squashed ellipse. It was basically a contained Quantum Singularity for time and matter.
I moved the ellipse close to Deune and above his body.
Kate and Kepler kept their eyes on Deune and said their farewells because it would be a very long time until he would ever come out again.
Kepler kissed Deune very tenderly on the lips and Deune returned in kind. He also squeezed Kate's hand before nodding to me.
Kate and I took a step back and Kepler held onto Deune's hand until the very last minute and slowly let go.
"Thank you... everyone," were his last words before I encased him in the time dilation bubble. His body... locked in time just as a VCR tape is stopped, ejected and put in it's case... and nothing changes from that moment on.
His smile preserved for as long as necessary.
I modified the field to allow for people to work on fixing him while the field only slowed Deune's personal time. People could perform years of surgery between his heartbeats.
I handedmy staff to Kepler.
"Press this to disable the field when he's well."
Kepler held my staff like a newborn child. She gazed at it fondly for a moment, then looked up at me.
"I will," she said looking over at Deune, smiling there on the ground... waiting to be awoken by the kiss of his shining princess in armour plating.
Kepler closed her hand around the staff and continued to cry softly.
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Author's note:
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Sorry, yes I had to. "Knight in shining armour", not this time.
Despite all my other puns, if you didn't get this one...
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