Iridescent: Chapter Eight

Iridescent

Chapter Eight

~Fail Safe~

After the Fall

Miwa created a rectangular opening in the fence. When he was finished he turned and looked at Zara.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” he asked.

“No,” Zara stated.

Miwa sighed, “Well, this goes in to the ‘Crazy things to do before you die’ category. I never got to make an origami crane yet. Not those ones that just sit there, those flying ones that flap!”

Zara looked at Miwa, “Are you serious?”

“Very,” Miwa looked away, visibly unhappy.

“Well come on,” Zara motioned to what she was working on, “Get into the box.”

It was a metal box that Zara had managed to pound together with scrap metal that Miwa brought to her. Miwa walked over and Zara placed the box over both of their bodies. It was a little cramped inside but it was the best Zara could do with the tools available at the moment. She began to understand what Chaud meant when he said he needed more time planning and getting things in order. Miwa’s blue spots glowed in the darkness. At least they weren’t completely in the dark.

“Where are the peep holes?” Miwa asked.

“Could risk the turrets seeing us,” Zara said, “We’re depending on your memory.”

“Okay…” Miwa didn’t sound so sure, “Are you sure this will protect us?”

“Hey, Chaud does this all the time! It can’t be that hard right?!” Zara looked down at Miwa.

“He has an IQ of 130. What’s yours?” Miwa asked.

“130?!” Zara dodged the question, “Let’s get going.”

They shuffled their feet as they walked forward through the hole in the gate that Miwa created. The turrets turned their attention to the moving box once it crossed the threshold. Their laser sights were fixed on the foreign object but since it wasn’t human they didn’t fire and simply waited for further instruction. Since the system was out they had no secondary procedure.

“Ow! You stepped on my foot!” Zara explained.

“Sorry,” Miwa muttered, “There’s a robot coming!”

“We’ll be fine!” Zara whispered back.

“This is so not a good idea!” Miwa shuffled forward.

The small robot came up to the metal Trojan horse. It scanned its directions and determined that it was a box of supplies. It wasn’t supposed to blow up supplies. The robot turned on the spot and wheeled away. The missile launchers turned slightly as and aerial shot of the storage area was taken showing a box in the vicinity. The missile system was designed to be a little more cautious. It decided to count from ten and if the box was still there it would fire.

“Alright! Hurry those feet!” Zara urged, “Unless you want to die with your tail between your legs!”

“Hey, it’s a fear response! It’s like telling you not to be sarcastic! You just can’t help it!”

They hurried until they were under the awning in front of the door out of sight of the turrets and the small robots. More importantly they were out of sight of the second picture the missile system took of the sky. With the box, gone the missile system calmed down.

Miwa walked up to the door. Two lasers came out of his shoulders crating a door for him and Zara to walk through. Zara pulled a spray bottle from her bag. She looked at Miwa and nodded.

“This way,” Miwa led the way.

When Miwa came across any lasers Zara would use the perfume to expose the lasers and make her way through. Eventually, and slowly, they made it to the storage room.

“Here we are!” Miwa stated when they had entered the room, “What are we getting?”

“Anything,” Zara opened a panel and started pulling cords out disabling the pressure plate system.

Zara walked through the isles an opened box after box. She felt a little bad. After all she was essentially robbing the Tower. Zara told herself that she would pay it all back when the Island and Tower fixed itself. Right now, at the moment, she was doing all she could do to survive.

She opened one of the boxes. It was filled with medical supplies and she grabbed as much as she could.  Zara found another box full of ammo and guns. She grabbed two hand guns and lots more ammo.

“I need a hand,” Miwa stated, “literally…”

Zara wandered through the aisles and looked for him. She found Miwa sitting in front of a box. Zara unlatched the box and opened it. There were disks inside similar to computer disks. They were different colors. She looked at Miwa.

Miwa turned his back to her and sat down. His back opened up and the circuitry rose to the surface. He looked over his shoulder.

“Could you put them in the right slots?” he asked.

Zara shrugged and placed the disks in their respective slots. When the last disk was placed in its slot Miwa’s armor replaced the blue glowing circuitry. Miwa shook himself similar to how a dog would.

He looked at her, “Thanks! Now that I’ve been upgraded I can actually help more.”

“That’s great,” Zara turned and opened another box and started filling her bag with food goods.

There was a loud thud somewhere in the large storage room. Zara froze. She looked over her shoulder at Miwa. His usual blue lines turned red and he crouched low to the ground. He scanned the area on a low frequency.

“I don’t see anything?” Miwa reported.

Zara asked, “Are you in thermal reading?”

Miwa nodded. There was another thud but it was closer to their position. Miwa took a few steps back.

“Do you have like x-ray vision or something?” Zara asked.

Miwa looked at her, “Who do you think I am? Superman?

“Are you picking anything up on your other censors?” Zara looked at him.

Miwa nodded his head, “I can pick up anything.”

Zara grabbed her back pack and looked at Miwa, “Where is the Blue Gold?”

“This way,” Miwa said as he crawled away.

Zara followed him to a door. She hacked into the door and walked in. A chill went down her spine as she walked onto the cold room. There was another thud followed by another closing in on their location. Zara grabbed a box and left the room. She got out and looked at Miwa. He was looking at something, his tail between his legs. She looked up and saw and armored robot standing at the end of the room. The robot raised a hand cannon in their direction.

“INTRUDER ALERT! MUST ELIMINATE!” the robot cried.

“Can we run now?” Miwa muttered.

Zara darted down the aisle, “Way ahead of you!”

Miwa dashed after her moments before the cannon fired blasting a hole in the wall behind them. Zara looked briefly over her shoulder and saw the robot pursuing them.

“What way?!” Zara asked Miwa.

Miwa ran a head of her and darted to the left into a hallway. He slowed down so they ran side by side. They ran through a stream of lasers. Somehow they managed to stay ahead of the explosions that detonated behind them. The robot ran right into the explosions but didn’t at all seem fazed.

“I didn’t know Lynx made a successful mech!” Zara said breathlessly.

“Technically, it isn’t a mech,” Miwa explained, “It’s just a normal robot with an arm cannon. You know, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you don’t have an IQ of 130, do you?”

“Shut up and keep running!” Zara cried.

They somehow made it to the entrance and Miwa tried to get under the metal box. Zara looked at him with disbelief.

“Are you kidding me!?” Zara pointed back the way they came, “Did you forget about the angry robot?!”

“Did you forget about the certain death out there?” Miwa whipped his tail toward the path they would have to take.

“INTRUDERS! MUST ELIMINATE!” the robot cried.

“I’m gone!” Miwa ran out into the courtyard they had to cross.

Zara quickly followed. The turrets stopped the threat and started to fire upon Miwa and Zara. The robot barged through the door and tossed their box off to one side and ran after them. The missile system stopped the appearance of the box and the intruders and snapped a picture. It started a countdown to the next picture.

Ten.

“Don’t run in a straight line!” Zara shouted as the turrets fired at them, “And watch out for the flat robots!”

“We are so dead!” Miwa cried.

Nine.

Miwa jumped over a flat robot moments before it detonated. It was times like this that he was glad he had four legs. He could run a lot faster. Zara rolled out of the way of a blast from the armored robots and got to her feet as the turret caught up with her.

Eight.

Zara darted to her right to change her running pattern. Miwa was blown off his feet from a near direct attack from the pursuing robot. He scampered to his feet as the turret fired at him. His metal deflected most of the bullets luckily.

Seven.

The gate was so close yet with all the gunfire and explosions it was so far. Zara looked over her shoulder and saw a flat robot blinking a few paces behind her. It blew knocking her to the ground. The robot ran up to her.

Six.

Miwa turned. A Gatling gun formed from his back. He fired at the robot to distract its attention while Zara got to her feet. The turrets fired at the robots back trying to get at Zara.

Five.

Angered the robot fired a cannon blast at Miwa. He jumped to one side narrowly dodging the attack. The blast struck the gate they had entered engulfing what was left of the fence in flame.

Four.

“TARGETS MUST BE ELIMINATED!”

“Run!” Miwa cried.

Zara ran toward the fence making sure she kept her path unpredictable for the turrets. More and more flat robots reported to the area and were exploding left and right. With one hand, the armored robot fired at Zara with its own Gatling gun.

Three.

Miwa ran toward the gate. He had to avoid the small robots. The turrets were focused on him as well. With its other hand the armored robot fired cannon blasts at him. Miwa whimpered as the explosions seemed to surround him.

Two.

The two of them ran toward the half folded and melted gate. Fire clung to the metal like flees to a dog.

“You ready?” Zara asked as they ran.

Miwa was practically crying, “I want my motherboard!”

“Jump!” Zara called.

Both of them leaped over the fence. Zara could feel the flames licking at her heels. She landed awkwardly and rolled onto the ground. Miwa landed firmly on the ground and looked back at the chaos. The Gatling gun disassembled on his back.

One.

Click! The unidentified box was still there. Missiles fired off from the top of the building and into the air.

“We need to go!” Miwa looked at Zara.

“I can’t!” she rubbed her ankle, “I think I sprained it!”

Miwa walked up to her, “Get on my back! It’s about to get a lot hotter!

Zara pulled herself onto Miwa’s back. When Zara was situated he ran away from the facility.

The armored robot was confirmed to the perimeter of the facility. Therefore it could go beyond or fire beyond the perimeter.

“YOU ARE NOT ABOVE THE LAW! I HAVE CONTACTED POLICE! POLICE RESPONSE: 999999999999999999999999999999999999—”

The missiles that were launched turned around and landed on the facility. An enormous explosion rocked the neighborhood. The already damaged buildings began to crumble and fall. Miwa ran through the streets avoiding obstacles. Soon they reached a square safe enough to stay awhile. In the distance, buildings falling could be heard crashing to the ground and other buildings.

Zara lay on the ground and sighed. Miwa sat beside her. They sat in silence for several minutes just listening and thinking. Eventually, Zara turned to Miwa.

“You think they will take that out of my pay when this has all been fixed?” she asked.

Miwa dog shrugged, “If they have proof, maybe.”

“You wouldn’t tell anyone, would you?” Zara glared at him.

Miwa looked at her, “If you don’t tell anyone about the whole being a fraidy cat bit.”

“Not a word,” Zara looked back up at the grey sky.

Miwa nodded, “Deal. But you can tell anyone! Including Chaud…especially Chaud!”

“Alright, alright!” Zara waved him off.

“I wasn’t made for combat!” Miwa defended himself, “I mostly deal with surveillance and media control! Not explosions! That wasn’t ever in my original programing!”

“Miwa?” Zara got his attention.

Miwa looked at her, “Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

“Oh, sorry.”