Face in the dark [I am here mix] http://forums.megatokyo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB8&Number=477588#Post477588 Tue Apr 09 2003 10:30 PM subject: Face in the dark [I am here mix] [!--OOC: "Face In The Dark" and "I Am Here" are two songs by an electronica group called [url=http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/135/energist.html]Energist[/url] that I like. I was hoping the songs would make good theme music for this post. But I just downloaded them, and they don't. The title stays, though. --] Echo idly watched the position indicator beside the lift doors while the girls marveled at the high-tech control room. In his mind he was running all sorts of diagnostics on his wireless networking systems. The drivers checked out ok, and all the hardware self-tests were normal. So it troubled him, as his eyes tracked the little light marking off the floors the lift was passing. Boy, that stupid light was going nowhere. Echo had a realization and sighed. "There's not much chance of us getting to use that lift. It's moving really slow." He spoke in a hushed voice, and the other two had to step closer to him to hear. "Oh?" Queslin had left her admiration of the dam control hardware. "Guess we'd better do *something* useful then, scout around, find someone to fight, see if we can get our 'net access back and contact the others..." The three surveyed the room for hints on to what to do next. Unfortunately, only the controls for the dam were here, no security monitors or other methods of finding out what was going on and where. "Hmmm, how 'bout that door?" Kitty chose at random. "Heh," Echo chuckled, "I was just about to suggest that. Beat me to it. But yeah, looks like it leads to an exterior hallway, and we might get better reception there..." Echo tapped the base of his skull. Queslin was ready to move out. This whole standing around talking thing was *not* how one behaved in an FPS game, and doing it in real life was making her nervous. "Err, let's get going. Echo, you wanna keep point? Kitty will be center, and I'll cover from the rear..." She brandished her RPG. "Hai." Queslin moved easily into a standard Unreal Tournament formation with Echo, keeping behind him by about 3 meters as he advanced cautiously toward the door. Kitty didn't quite understand what was going on, but she figured from their brief exchange that she oughta be somewhere between them, so she fell in step. Echo unconsciously drew the small energy weapon that hung at his side and plugged it into his wrist. He didn't actually have any intention of using it, it drained his batteries too quickly, but it felt more comfortable in his hands than it did bouncing quietly at his hip. He paused at the door to peer through its narrow window. Queslin and Kitty walked up beside him to look too. The hall on the other side was indeed pretty open to the outside. Running the length of the control room's external wall, it's glass ceiling came down at a steep angle from above the door they were peering through to meet with panes of glass that formed the far wall. No one appeared to be in it. "Let's see if we can't get our 'net connection working out there." Echo opened the door and they cautiously filed through. The effect of the glass hall was impressive. Above and in front of them, the night sky opened large and black, punctuated by stars and the occasional service light on the dam. A hint of the true dawn could be seen in the East, while the lights of Megatokyo created a false dawn in the South. Back in the direction that they had came, at the far end of the hall, was a door that led outside, to an access stairway up onto the roof. Echo looked at the other two, jerking his thumb toward it. Queslin nodded. They resumed their formation and snuck as quietly as they could down the hall. The door was only a few meters away when Queslin, in the rear position, sensed something amiss. The roar of the water underneath the dam made it hard to hear, but she could almost feel something, someone approaching. She stopped and looked around. Neither Echo or Kitty noticed, and kept going. "Echo," she whispered fiercely, "something's wrong. Someone's com--" The hiss of a katana as it began deadly arc told her [I]exactly[/I] where the person was. Behind her. Instinctually, her perception of time began to slow as she spun around and dove out of the way, hoping to get off an RPG shot in the process. Her arms and legs seemed to grow sluggish as her thoughts sped past them, heading toward the realm of picoseconds and light-inches, far beyond the possibilities of physical movement. She desperately willed her body onwards. A searing pain engulfed her entire body, blossoming thick and hot from her right arm. She screamed in shock. Something thumped to the floor, but it wasn't Queslin. She had dropped her RPG, that must be it. In her accelerated state, the lubricant felt like it was flowing out of her at a trickle. But as her head twisted ever so slowly around, something else stole her entire focus. Over her right shoulder she could now see what appeared to be a mountain, a giant mass of fur and muscle, glowing eyes and bared fangs. It had expertly snapped off the last stroke of it's sword, and was now perfectly lined up to make another one, straight through her head. Events froze as she panicked, accelerating her thoughts to their limit. The sword hung frozen in the air, less than a meter away from splitting her in two. Out of the corner of her left eye she could still see where Echo had been standing. She looked again, hoping to see help on the way somehow. Her heart crushed inside of her chest when she saw that he wasn't there. Had he not listened to her, just kept on going? Where was he? Did he really care that little? Could Kitty help? Despair wrapped thick around her mind, adding to the pain that already flowed cruelly from her arm. She focused in on the sword again, how the deadly edge shimmered with it's lethal promise. It was as though the dull light enjoyed the cruel pun of playing itself off of a razor sharp blade. The sword had moved almost a centimeter since she last looked at it. There was no hope left. It was very well cared for, an abstract part of her mind reflected. And suddenly she was covered in a strange calm, the kind that you experience just before you die. There was no sense in prolonging her misery, she thought. She let her perception of time speed up again. Just in time for the impact. The blow was, oddly enough, to her lower ribcage, and from opposite the huge werewolf. She suddenly found herself flying through the air and out of the path of the blade. Her attacker seemed to bend in two and fall to the ground as she flew past. The katana finished it's arc on it's own momentum, embedding itself in the concrete floor with the flash of a spark. ----- Echo was, of course, only half a meter away from Queslin when she finally let her mind slow down again. He had spun around upon hearing her warning, just in time to see a giant shadow descending on her from out of nowhere. His limiters clicked all the way open, the equivalent of dumping a gallon of adrenaline into his system, and another of nitrous oxide. Full, bus-tossing power consumption. As fast as he could he had sprinted back down the corridor. His heart wrenched when he saw the sword stroke and heard her scream. And he had watched in horror as her right forearm dropped freely to the ground, still clutching the RPG. He had had to run around Kitty, and that took him out of her line of sight. Now he was right next to her and in a full sprint. He slowed as best he could and butted his shoulder up to her lower ribcage, in order to lessen the impact that was to come next. He leapt with all his might. She folded quite literally in half over his shoulder, and he hated himself for the pain that would cause her. But it was better than the alternative. He swung at the wolf as hard as he could as they flew past, leaving it something to think about with a sickening [I]*crack*[/I]. Now he looked down at the ground flashing past beneath them. Thanks to his jump they were going more than 80 kilometers per hour, and Queslin was below him. She was going to take most of the impact of their landing. He let her slide down a bit, from slung over his shoulder into a more comfortable position, his arm wrapped around under her armpits. He then tucked, kicked, and executed a mid-air back flip that brought them around 180 degrees, just in time for his body to hit the ground instead of hers. The rivets and buttons on his jeans sparked a myriad of tiny flashes as they slid to a stop. Queslin lay on top of Echo in the stillness. He clutched her tightly in his arms, terrified. She was making a horrible noise, a coughing fit, caused by the shock she received when he tackled her, mixed in with sobbing at the pain in her arm. Something wet and warm was running all over his torso, soaking his shirt. She must've been in enough shock that she hadn't sealed off the oil lines in her arm yet. "Qu...Queslin?" he asked shakily. No response, only more sobbing. It didn't matter, he hadn't really expected an answer. He lifted her up by her shoulders, ever so slightly, ever so gently, to look into her eyes. They were squeezed shut with pain, and it looked like she might be going into some sort of programmatic shock. She was a robot like him, he reminded himself, and if he could snap her out of this software mode somehow, distract her long enough, she would survive. He lowered one of her shoulders back to rest on his, and reached up to brush some of her loose hair back behind her ear. Her eyes snapped open at his touch. Tears clung to to her lashes and her irises shone bright with liquid. Thoughts to distract her were momentarily forgotten as he fell into this fallen angel's eyes. God, she was so terribly beautiful like this. He lay frozen, calculations and thoughts of a distraction fled like light from an extinguished bulb, drawing away as fast as raw feelings could replace them. He'd always wondered what love -- he'd finally used that word -- felt like. Now perhaps he knew. He did manage three coherent thoughts however... The first was that this "love" thing was something he couldn't do without. The second, that he wanted to share it with her. The third was that she might go offline, permanently. Provided he didn't do something about it. That last thought prevented anything else coherent from forming for the time being. The images of her tear-filled eyes flooded through his circuits, etching themselves permanently. Without thinking he lifted his head up so that his lips met hers. The world spun quietly for the pair as ten seconds merged with eternity. The warm liquid that was flowing out of Queslin's arm stopped. A droning, crackling noise intruded into the pair's thoughts. A deep growl that could be felt through the floor joined it a moment later. Echo's head dropped away again. Queslin's eyes, which had closed again, this time in a moment of comfort, shot open as she began to shake in terror, visions of her attacker flooding her thoughts. Her memory forced images into her mind's eye, a mountain of muscled fur, glowing eyes, terrible fangs - she felt again the uselessness of resistance, the terrible, very human, knowledge that she was going to die. He hugged her close when she started shaking, for just one last second. Most of all, as Echo began to move away from her, towards the roaring beast she was now sure he would sacrifice himself to save her from, Queslin felt pain again - not from her arm, not even from her body, but from somewhere indefinably [I]hers[/I]. ----- After Echo had dashed past her, slamming Queslin out of the way and nearly breaking the wolf in two, Kitty had rushed bravely up to it and proceeded to whack it's prone form quite harshly with her pole. "Hidoi! Hidoi! Hidoi! Hidoi!" she cried. A crackling noise cut her off, and the growl that followed made her jump back with a yelp. She dashed toward Queslin and Echo. Echo carefully lifted Queslin off of himself and helped her sit up. Kitty was by her side almost instantly, hugging her. "Are you ok? Daijo-bu?" Kitty asked frantically. Queslin only hugged back. Echo ran his hand over her cheek once before standing. What he had just witnessed being done to this girl, his Queslin, was unforgivable. Lasers flashed from his eyes. Technically they were only laser rangefinders, and they were too weak to kill even a mosquito. But lasers nonetheless. He watched coldly from a battle stance as the wolf struggled to one knee, and then to a standing position. Echo's coolant ran like ice in his tubes. This bastard would pay. The werewolf stretched and grinned at him. His combat systems, assessing the situation with their usual emotionless, detached efficiency, determined that the creature's lycanthropic healing abilities must be amazing. He felt several things break when he had hit it. it snarled gleefully, reaching to retrieve it's sword. Echo began in a hard, even voice, The werewolf took a deep, thoughtful sniff at the air. It's Japanese was tinted with a German accent. Echo grinned briefly, a cruel, feral grin to rival that of the wolf in front of him. It popped it's sword out of the concrete with a *shink* and pointed the tip at Echo, only to clutch with a start at the still-healing bones in it's ribcage. Echo's face had resumed it's mask of calm rage. The wolf, normally unflappable, felt strangely unnerved by this tiny man's behavior. It could tell from smell of it's opponent that it was fighting a robot. But it couldn't read the extent of it's abilities. the creature snarled, raising it's sword as it flashed another, much harsher grin. It howled a battle cry and charged, swinging it's five foot katana in a great downward arc, a classic move that would cleave an unarmed opponent in two. Echo kicked off, launching himself straight at his opponent. What a stupid move the wolf thought, an unarmed fighter making no attempt at a defense, just charging right into the path of a sword strike. It had him for sure. At the last second Echo kicked off again, this time to his right, taking him around the stroke of the sword faster than the wolf had anticipated. He swung a knife-hand at the wolf's left shoulder. The impact produced a rapid succession of loud snapping noises. The wolf howled in rage and pain, dropping to the floor and rolling away to recalculate it's attack. I'm breathing too heavily for this early in the battle it thought. K'so, that hurt. Echo didn't smile at making the first strike. He just continued to circle. The wolf was waiting this time, much more cautious, wanting Echo to make a first move. He obliged it. At a full run he approached the wolf, dropping onto one hand in preparation for a low kick. The wolf's sword was headed toward him in another great arc, just like he wanted. He tucked his feet under him as he slid, and leapt over the wolf's head too fast for the katana to follow. He kicked at it's exposed back, sending it into the far wall with a [I]thud[/I]. Chips of stonework rained down on the dark gray fur of it's head. It's opponent liked to fight with tricks and fakes. Heh. It could hear the little fighter charging even now, jumping in preparation for another kick, flying through the air... [B]STRIKE![/B] The katana snapped out and caught Echo in the side of his extended leg, sinking into his synthetic skin and knocking him away, but failing to cut his titanium-alloy structural components. The SEVS unit rolled expertly and came to a stop in a crouched position. Coolant trickled from the long cut inflicted by the blade, but the flow stopped as constrictors sealed off the severed lines. No pain registered, his expression didn't change at all. The pair charged again, struck again, separated again. Charge, strike, separate. They fought for a time like this, both holding their own against the other, neither managing a decisive victory. The wolf was incredibly fast and strong, even for a were. And the first injuries that Echo had inflicted were already starting to heal, making the crackling nose that Echo had heard earlier. But as the fight approached five minutes, flesh was proving slower than servo, and bone weaker than titanium-alloy. The wolf's wounds were accumulating, and it was getting desperate. This charge it managed to keep Echo distracted with dodging a carefully-executed sword strike, and landed a decent kick to the 'bot's chest. Not hard enough to send him sliding away, as that was not the intention. But just hard enough to knock him onto his back momentarily. The wolf roared in triumph as it took a downward power stroke with it's sword. [I]*katang*[/I] The hilt vibrated in it's hands, and it looked to see the blade immobile, the tip caught between the bot's hands. "Endgame," Echo grinned, for the first time in the fight. He twisted his hands with a jerk and the tip snapped off. His left hand swept the sword clear as he gathered his legs under him. The right-handed blow that followed crunched decisively. The wolf fell to it's knees, gasping. Another punch followed, and something else broke. Echo felt a dark red heat rising in his stomach as he landed at least twenty more blows in as many seconds. All were intended to kill, and once he had run out of killing blows, he struck to do damage. The wolf lay in a tangled heap. Echo stood, unthinking, and walked over to pick up Queslin's arm, then back over to the two girls. The red burning in his chest subsided as his combat routine left high-priority mode and he became fully aware of the girls' presence again. "Holy shit," breathed Queslin, unable to fully comprehend that Echo was still here after facing the monster, still talking, still here to care about her. Echo misunderstood and looked over his shoulder. He was almost shocked at what he had done to the wolf. He couldn't bring himself to feel pity, however, and that shocked him a little, too. Did Mode 7A really make him this protective? Blood for blood, it mused for him. His combat routine finished relinquishing it's control, and he remembered that Queslin was hurt. He was on his knees by her side in an instant. "Ah--are you all right? I think I almost lost you there... You nearly shut down!" [!--OOC: All right, this is what you get when J.Random and Squee stay up all night on IM, egging each other on to further and greater quantities of angst. The post as I *had* been planning it for several weeks now was *supposed* to be at least a little fuzzier and less intense. So if you don't like it, blame him. Really. ^^;;;;;;;; Or not. M4d, m4d collaboration points to Squee, per usual, too. Several paragraphs here are more than half his idea (though often edited... gomen Squee ^^; ) --]