Radioactive: Chapter Eight

Radioactive

Chapter Eight

~Welcome to the Circus~

A hush fell over the crowd as the spotlights fell on the center of the ring. A woman in scarlet red posed in the center, a red top hat covered her eyes just above a large red lipstick smile. She waited a beat before cracking her whip and whisking her hat off her head. Arms outstretched she welcomed the crowd. The scarlet ringmaster already captivated the crowd.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” her voice carried without any need for a microphone, “Children of all ages! The circus is about to begin! Welcome,” she paused for effect, “to the Greatest Show on Earth!”

She cracked her whip and the music from the band picked up. Lights shown on the upper rafters reviling the three trapezing sisters stood and waved on one of the platforms. On the others platform was another group of tight walkers. The elephants entered from one side and walked across to the exit on the other side. A pair of clowns ran back and forth in an exaggerated game of tag. There even was a man in a motorized little train filled with trained dogs in the other train cars. The ringmaster stepped forward toward the crowd.

“We have just a fabulous show for you today! A show of wonder and amazement, of laughter and joy! I present to you…the Island Circus!”

With a crack of her whip she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. As the introduction continued, there could be singing heard. Behind the preforming stage, behind the curtains the ring master walked through the different nooks and crannies. Different performers looked up from their warm ups and got out of her way. She looked different off stage. Her smile gave way to a serious scowl. She grabbed someone’s wrist and looked at their watch. The introduction lasted about five minutes. She had that long before she needed to be back out on the ring.

The ringmaster walked out of the main tent and toward the animal cages. Usually the cages were open for viewing but there was now a sign that said that the cages were closed for cleaning. A big man stood guard and got out of her way. The lions and tigers all stood up and walked toward her as far as the bars would let them. with a crack of her whip they retreated sensing she had other business to deal with besides them.

Near the end of the row of cages, there was an empty one. A woman clad in blue with a blue top hat turned to see the ringmaster approaching. Several other performers who weren’t scheduled to perform that month were standing around as well. The scarlet ringmaster cracked her whip and the crowd of people slowly began to scatter. They stayed within eye sight as to see what was going to happen next.

The ringmaster looked into the cage and saw the two people tied up inside. “What the heck is going on here? We have an honest business to run and I don’t have time for this nonsense. Narumi!”

The girl in blue stood up straight, “Reba, they were found wondering around in our camp!”

“Walking around like they owned the place, they did,” her partner, a boy with shaggy red hair walked up and smiled, “Going around saying they just wanted to talk to the Master.”

The ringmaster placed her hands on her hips and looked at two tied up in the cage. They were blindfolded and gaged. She looked back at Narumi and her partner.

“Give it here, Kotei,” she said with her hand out.

Kotei looked shocked, “I haven’t a clue what you are talking about!”

The ringmaster sighed with annoyance, “Narumi! Fill in for me! The introduction should be finished any second now! And for Pete’s sake Kotei, give me her wallet!”

“Yes, Ringmaster!” Narumi saluted and ran off in the direction of the main tent.

Kotei sighed and rolled his eyes, “Fine.” He reached into his pocket and gave up the wallet, “Can I keep the cash?”

“Was there any?” the ringmaster asked him.

“Kotei smiled, “No.”

“Well, you can’t return something that wasn’t there,” she pointed to one side, “Fine then. Now open the cage!”

Kotei opened the gate. The ringmaster let herself in and looked down at the two tied up prisoners. She looked to Kotei.

“Take off their blindfolds and gags,” she instructed.

Kotei did as he was told. He took off Kiri’s blind fold first. She recognized him from when he had bumped into her. Her brow furrowed into a scowl in the face of his smiling. After that, Kotei took off Kaiba’s blindfold and gag.

“I told you to keep track of your wallet,” Kaiba muttered.

Kiri turned her head, “Can we not talk about it?”

The ringmaster cracked her whip, “I happen to agree. Let’s get down business shall we? What do you want with the Master?”

“I never said that we were looking for any ‘Master’,” Kaiba said, “But I did say we were looking for a black wagon. I can only assume that this ‘Master’ lives in the black wagon we were told about.”

“We just want to ask a few questions,” Kiri stated.

The ringmaster leaned forward, “Well, he’s a busy man. If you Tower idiots even thought to call first and make an appointment I’m sure we would be more accommodating. But instead you walk into our home violating our personal space. Even five-year-olds have more sense than you.”

“You hear that?” Kotei smiled, “Even the kids around here don’t go running off to the wagons.”

“Shut up, Kotei!” the ringmaster shouted.

She paused and looked up. A man stood at the entrance to the gate. He wore a grey coat over his black shirt. His white hair fell on his shoulders from under his grey hat. On a strand of braided hair was a purple sphere. In his arm was a doll crafted to his likeness. Though it had no eyes it had shallow indentations of where the eyes would be. Its head was larger than its body.

The man looked at the scene with his purple eyes. He smiled and looked at the ringmaster, “What is going on here, Reba? Everyone seemed very excited for some reason so I decided to check things out for myself. Why do we have these two people tied up in the tiger’s cage?”

“Puppetmaster!” Reba stood up straight, “I didn’t realize that you were standing there.”

Puppetmaster walked in, “It’s alright; I’ll just invite myself to this encounter.” He crouched in front of Kaiba, “Hello. You’re that Kaiba kid aren’t you? Sirius’s son, right?”

“I assume you’re the one who lives in the black wagon,” Kaiba said.

Puppetmaster nodded, “I am.”

“Do you know anything about mutants?” Kaiba asked.

Puppetmaster smiled, “I think about three-fourths of the Island are mutants, unless I’m mistaken.”

“No, I’m talking about mutated others,” Kaiba explained, “There’s a case where there are creatures that strongly resemble humans but are different on a cellular level. Their appearance is different and their behaviors. I was told by a mutual friend that you might be able to help.”

Puppetmaster placed a hand to his mouth with thought, “Hmm, interesting. Sounds like you have an interesting predicament. Quite honestly, I haven’t any information to give you. Have you tried tracking down where these people came from?”

“Is that all?” Kaiba said.

Puppetmaster looked down at the puppet in his arms, “What was that? Oh, yes! I almost forgot.” He looked up at Kaiba again, “If you’re seeing genetic changes, you might be dealing with an Other who is turning humans into Others because of something they went through.”

Kaiba nodded slowly. It was an interesting thought. Puppetmaster looked up at Kotei and motioned to the ties that bound Kaiba and Kiri. Kotei untied the two hostages and allowed them to get up to their feet. Kiri got to her feet herself, even as she was offered a hand by Kotei. She looked at Reba. Reba had her hands on her hips. Kaiba straightened out his shirt and coat. He looked at Puppetmaster.

“Thank you for meeting with us,” Kaiba said.

Puppetmaster smiled, “Be sure to stop by anytime.”

Kaiba turned to Kiri and motioned for her to follow him, “Come on. We’re leaving.”

Kiri turned and followed Kaiba out of the cage. She stopped a moment to say hello to Puppetmaster then ran after Kaiba. Puppetmaster looked after them and smiled. Reba walked up to him and narrowed her eyes.

“You’re just going to let them go?” Reba asked.

“Yep,” Puppetmaster nodded.

Reba shook her head, “You’re too much, you know.”

“Thank you,” Puppetmaster said, “Well; we should get back to running this circus, shouldn’t we?”

“I agree,” Reba walked out of the cage, “I hope you’ll actually do some work today.”

Puppetmaster shook his head, “Don’t I always?”

Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Eight

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Eight

~Set~

After the Fall

It was just before dawn as Vicky ran through the resort. She carried a metallic box. She ran down some stairs to the main lobby of the resort. Vicky ran up to Fang with the box. She waited patiently as Fang finished talking with Jekyll. Fang took notice of her and motioned her over.

Vicky looked at the box, “You said that I should hand out two to every person that wants one. Puppetmaster didn’t want any and Miwa can’t use any. So supposedly there should be four vials in here but there are only three.”

Fang shrugged, “So someone snuck a third vial. It isn’t that big of a deal. Probably someone being a little over cautious or ambitious.”

“Oh,” Vicky looked down at the box, “I guess that makes sense.”

“There is movement on the eastern horizon!” someone reported.

Jekyll sighed, “They’re up bright an early.”

Fang started walking to the front of the building, “The sooner we can get this over with.”

Vicky looked down and the box and shrugged. She ran back upstairs and returned the box to its location. Fang was right. Someone could have just grabbed another one when she wasn’t looking. It wasn’t that big of a deal, right?

Outside Tempi stood at the edge of the desert. The rectangular box like shape she usually carried with her was stuck half way into the sand. She rested an elbow on the box. The sun rose hiding the enemy in its shining glow. Tempi reached into her pocket for a vial. She injected the Blue Gold into her arm and threw the empty vial in the sand. Tempi took off the brown covering on her package revealing the collapsed version of an enormous fan.

As the several different vehicles approached, Tempi took the fan and brought it back with an amazing strength. The fan opened it revealing a scorpion pattern on a white background. She yelled against the strain as swung the giant fan around. An enormous gust of wind picked up blowing sand up like a giant wave. Tempi brought the fan around again creating another wave.

Dante looked on through the windshield of the car. He held Ai in her seat with one arm, “Hold on!”

The first wave hit them. They could feel the impact of the strong gust of wind. Dante did his best to control the car they were in. The speed they had been going dropped drastically against the opposing wind. On top of that, the sand reduced visibility so it was unsure of how much farther they had to drive.

“Keep going straight,” Ai said. “Break, the second wave is coming.”

Sure enough the second wave hit them, pushing their progress back and blinding them some more. Dante hit the roof of his truck.

“Hey!” he yelled, “You care to help anytime soon, Sanya!?”

Sanya was outside in the back behind her sniper. She propped it up onto the cabin of the truck. As usual she had a smile on her face.

“Dead ahead,” Ai said.

“Aye!” she fired the sniper rifle.

Tempi brought the fan down into the sand, open end first, creating a wave in the sand itself. She used the fan as a shield as Sanya fired at her.

The wave of sand struck the three vehicles. Dante hit it like a speed bump. Sanya grabbed on to the side of the truck bed. She hit the metal bed hard when the truck landed again. She also cringed when she heard the truck being riddled with bullets.

Miwa stood a balcony firing a barrage of bullets at the coming threat. Yin covered her face as bullets struck the windshield of her car. As more and more struck the windshield she swore and opened the driver’s side door. The window broke as Yin baled. She rolled in the sand as the car swerved out of control without a driver. Yin covered her eyes in the brief sandstorm until she could see. The ground started to rumble below the sand. Yin jumped to her feet and looked around.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she whispered to herself.

Puppetmaster sat casually on top of a high ledge of the resort. He had his hand folded underneath his chin as he watched the scene below unfold. An amused smile crossed his face. He snapped his fingers casually then waited to see what would happen.

Shuppet broke through the sand in his monstrous form. Yin took a few uneasy steps before falling. She watched the monster sail over her and disappeared again into the sand.

Zathura looked in her rear view mirror, “What the—! Did you see that!?”

Ren smiled, “Cool. They’ve got themselves a sand kraken.”

Zathura glared at him, “And who’s side do you think you’re on!?”

Ren shrugged, “I’m just saying.”

Shuppet appeared again, throwing the swerving empty car that Yin had been in earlier. A bladed leg landed just in front of Zathura’s car. She swerved, only the left side mirror was torn off the vehicle. The car that was thrown headed for the resort. Zara looked up at the balcony where Miwa was stationed.

“Miwa! Shoot it down!” Zara shouted.

Miwa’s attention turned to the flying car. All of his weaponry focused on to the car. Seconds seemed to go by slowly. After a stream of bullets aimed at the car, it exploded blowing several people to the ground. Zara’s ears rang as she lay on the ground.

Shuppet burrowed into the sand again. The ground shifted as he traveled under the sands. Zathura and Dante looked around their vehicles.

“Where is it!?” Zathura asked Ren.

Ren looked around as well, “I don’t know!”

“Ragh!” Zathura groaned, “Here! Take the wheel!” Zathura let go of the steering wheel and opened the driver side window.

“What!?” Ren dove for the wheel, “What are you doing!?”

Zathura didn’t answer. She pulled herself onto the cars roof through the driver’s side window. Ren moved over into the driver’s seat. Zathura untied her two handed axe from the roof of the car and slid down to the hood. The ground shook and the sand started shifting. Shuppet emerged from the ground underneath the car, throwing it into the air. Zathura jumped off the hood, axe in hand, and into the air. She landed on the concrete and slammed her axe onto the ground. Shadow creatures leaped up from the point of impact as the car burst into flames behind her. Flying metal parts flew by her. Shuppet dove into the sand again.

Dante swerved the truck. He looked down at Ai. She looked calm for all that was going on but he could see that she was nervous.

Shuppet shot out of the sand. Sanya turned with her gun and shot at him. Shuppet used one of its bladed legs to defend itself before knocking the truck onto its side. The truck barrel rolled, throwing Sanya off. The truck came to a stop against a low wall.

Zathura noticed something in the corner of her eye. She moved suddenly, dodging and arrow. Zathura picked up her axe and spun, creating momentum. The axe cut a black scar in the air sending shadow shards at her attacker. Naru jumped out of the way and hid behind a block of the concrete. A shadow shard truck the block knocking a chunk off.

Shadow ran past Naru’s hiding spot. He out three daggers and threw them at Zathura. She ducked and dodged as Shadow ran at her. Zathura avoided the daggers and as Shadow ran at her she bent backwards avoiding a knife in his hand. She gripped her axe and swung it around. Shadow disappeared into the ground as the axe sailed at him.

Naru darted out of hiding. Zathura saw him and used her axe in an overhead attack. Naru avoided the attack by stepping to one side. When the axe struck the ground Naru brushed the handle. Ice coated the ice fusing the head of the axe to the ground. Zathura let go of her weapon and stepped back. Shadow jumped out of the ground and slashed at her back. Zathura screamed at the pain but then she gripped her axe and swung it around, breaking the ice that held it before.

Yin ran out of the sea of sand. She watched briefly as Naru was struck with the hammer end of Zathura. Yin turned suddenly. Chou jumped in from a large statue. Yin stepped to one side, Chou’s bladed fans whizzed by her face. She spun around, her fans catching the sunlight as she did. Vines shot up from the ground behind her. They arced up and curved down at Yin.

Yin grabbed her glaive and cut at one of the vines. She jumped to one side and slashed at another one. Yin darted forward, zigzagging through the vines and slashing any that she could. She felt something cut her cheek and her wrist. Yin caught a glimpse of the nearly invisible string. The vines were more for setting up the web of strings than really attacking her. She looked around quickly for the string user.

Kumo hid behind a thick vine. Yin raised her glaive to attack with it but it got tangled in the strings above her. She abandoned her weapon and threw out her hand.  Kumo was lifted off the ground and with a push of Yin’s hand Kumo was pushed back in midair and crashed into a column. To come to her brother’s aid, Chou’s fans glistened as she spun raising more vines. Yin’s weapon was released from its bind. Yin caught it and slashed as a vine. She raised her hand raising Chou into the air and threw her out into the desert.

Sanya dusted herself off. Chou crashed into the sand nearby. A shard of rock shot up from the ground, narrowly missing Sanya as she stepped back. She jumped to one side dodging a chain that was thrown in her direction. The sand exploded in a purplish glow. Deontay shot out his hand. A block of earth rose underneath Sanya’s feet. Caught off guard, Sanya swayed unsteadily. Hina threw a chain around Sanya. She pulled in the chain pulling the girl through the air and sending her crashing in to the sand.

Hina started to run up to her when suddenly the chains on her arms felt heavy. She fell to her knees. No matter what she did she couldn’t get up from her knees to stand. It felt like gravity itself was against her. She turned to see Deontay struggling too. Sanya rose from the sand, dusting off her gun. She aimed it at Hina, who was the closest. Hina strained against the downward pull, trying to move or do anything to save herself but there wasn’t anything she could do.

“See ya!” Sanya said just before she pulled the trigger.

Just before she did, a vine shot up from the ground behind her. It swung down at her, knocking her to one side. The gravitational force that held Hina and Deontay down was lifted. Hina looked around for who might have rescued them. Chou stood up from the sand. She smiled and waved at Hina before turning back to help her brother. Hina smiled back then looked at Deontay.

“We got this!” she said.

Deontay nodded, “If we don’t let her do that gravity bind thing again.”

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.”