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 Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:29 am
Nemesis couldn't halt herself in time, and felt the full impact of the hammer against her back. The robot was sent downward like a falling star, with just barely enough time to twist herself around before being deeply embedded in the ground. It sounded like an explosion, and created a large crater all around the trapped Caretaker. She tried to free herself, but was stuck too far beneath the soil. After a moment, she ceased all struggle, eyes gleaming with an odd blue light.
"I am the angel, the only angel..."
A series of panels folded away from the robot's chest, revealing a recess with a bright blue ball of energy within. It expanded fast, too fast to disarm...
The orb released as a violent pillar of blinding light, reaching out easily as far as a mile in diameter, completely disintegrating anything in its vicinity. The ground blackened in the brilliant light, trees swayed and then faded to ashes, animals fled for their lives but were never fast enough. And the sky... it distorted, grayed, then returned to normal. Except for the circle directly above; completely blackened, pixelated, broken at the edges. The beam slowly died away, receding back into a mere spout before returning to the Caretaker. Nemesis kicked away the ashes from on top of her, pulling herself to stand. The robot had sustained damage from Odessa's blow, for she now had a slightly crooked stance, and sparks danced around the dent in her back.
Genesis finally released the guardian, after having pushed her out of the line of fire. He stood up straight, facing opposite of Nemesis, expression stoic. He spoke over his shoulder to Odessa, "You have to get out of here. Nemesis won't give up, and she's reached a point beyond all logical reasoning. I have to terminate her. Your sister is safe."
The third Caretaker exited a portal beside Genesis, a smaller female. Unlike the other two, however, she seemed less... human. Her orange eyes lacked that spirit, that personality. She truly was just a machine. Meta focused on the enemy robot, determining danger statistics, and created a protective shell around Genesis and herself.
Nemesis took on that mocking grin as she stepped forward, "So, the gang's all here. Come to steal my glory?"
Genesis remained where he was, "You know this isn't right, Nemesis. You have defied your purpose as a defender, you have needlessly sacrificed for unreal ideals. You have failed."
The renegade let out a boisterous, ungodly laugh. If robots could be insane, Nemesis surely fit into that category. "Of course I failed! I was always the failure! You were their favorite the whole time, Genesis. I could only hope to 'catch up' to your level of development. So I gave up. I'll achieve my own greatness..."
Her arms shifted into two miniguns, both directed at Genesis.
Liquid silver dripped down his arm from an unseen compartment, solidifying around the robot's forearm into a blade identical to the one Nemesis wielded earlier. It, too, hummed with a deadly energy. In mere seconds, Genesis was lunging toward the renegade. Meta stayed behind to guard Odessa until she left.
Nemesis dodged his attack, bullets flew uselessly off her opponent. She dodged several more times, until she finally kicked up at him. Genesis caught her by the leg, however, and pulled her up into the air. Nemesis resorted to beating him with the gun, succeeding only a couple times before Genesis spun and launched her off into the woods with amazing strength. He chased after Nemesis, shifting in and out of warp several times to catch up, blade reached far forward...
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 1:12 pm
Odessa blinked for a moment, her hand over her chest. How... Ohhh... She realized that Genesis had saved her from the beam of destructive energy. She watched the battle between the pair start, and when they launched themselves into the trees she looked to the smaller robot, the one that seemed the least human of the three.
Give Genesis my thanks when you have the chance.
She smiled at the robot and did that same bow. She lowered her body slightly as she put her hands together, palm over fist. She then faded away from the Virtual world, returning to the real one...
~~~
Odessa reached up and pulled a black visored helmet off of her head. She looked around the small room in which she occupied at the moment. Black with a golden grid lining the walls, floor and ceiling. Likewise, her body suit was all black, covered in sensors. This was HER way of getting into the Virtual world. She flicked a strand of orange hair out of her face, and headed for the door.
The door infront of Odessa opened, and she stepped into a small cavern. Her mother was standing before a control panel, grinning. The woman was clearly at least a decade older then Odessa, but she had aged well despite the harsh environment. She had intelligent emerald eyes and pale blond hair.
YES! You did it! That was Nemesis you battled!
Odessa blinked at her mother, matching her mothers emerald green with her own that was the color of sapphires.
Really? That was Nemesis? I... won that? Kind of?
Yes! You have no idea how hard it is to land a hit on that 'bot. And you did it with a Metor hammer. The woman was hopping up and down in excitement.
Odessa chuckled, amused at her mother's exitement.
Something tells me that you're not just exited about me landing a blow on Nemisis.
You're right. We have no idea who gave Scarlet that microchip, but combined with the tracker on her mallet we've been tracking her progress. She should be entering the northern forests in a few hours, if she remembers how to run.
Odessa smiled. The northern forests... created entirely from her father's hands. The man was a genius when it came to plants. The place was a gem on the surface of the planet, a tiny emerald gem of plant life that was growing everyday.
~~~
Scarlet kept running. She leaned forward, hammer still on her shoulder, and ran on her toes. She lacked the cat-ears and tail in this world-- but that was made up for by the natural realness of this one. So very real.
Soon I was speeding by that huge metal cylinder and the very large projection of earth on my way northward.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 3:05 pm
The walkways were oddly empty of both people and robots, which was what kept Eva cautious. Each time she entered a new circle, she'd wait behind the wall and listen, then continue on once she heard no sounds. Currently, she was on the fourth one. Again she crouched, waited, listened. Heard some mechanical buzzing. Her breath caught when she saw the robot begin its way around the loop.
It walked slowly, decisively. This one lacked a name and didn't look as new as Nemesis — it was bulkier, made from a cheaper off-white plastic. Eva watched as it passed two doors, mechanical hand sliding across the catwalk's railing soundlessly, and paused a mere 5 feet away from the woman. She froze completely, even her breathing halted. It made a dull clicking noise, similar to what ancient computers sounded like when they were loading a large file or connecting to the internet. Then it continued on, passing Eva obliviously, and entered the next door down. The same door she had to go through.
Eva finally resumed breathing, stood up warily. She waited a few minutes before following the machine, but not long enough for another one to come through. She couldn't risk repeating that same tactic with a new robot. Luckily, the dumb-bot turned a different direction in the next circle, and Eva was free to enter the elevator. She pressed the button for the top floor, waited for the doors to lock shut, and hid behind the metal frame. It zoomed upward fast, giving her that heavy sensation, until it slightly overshot the floor's height and went down to the correct exit. The doors slid open, again she listened. Nothing but silence. She stepped out.
A hand shot out and grabbed her by the shoulder. Eva gasped; it was a newer model this time. She struggled against it, punched at its head. The robot drew back its other arm, now shifted into a blade, about to attack. She slammed herself against its hard body, sending both her and the robot to the ground. Its grip released her. She shuffled backward, trying to get a good footing, and pushed herself back into standing. The machine began to right itself...
She saw the staircase, and darted up it, two steps at a time. She heard the din of mechanical footsteps behind her, catching up. She was almost to the top when she heard the crack!, when she felt the pain searing up her side. It had shot her. Eva fell against the wall briefly, hand clamped over the bullet wound. The robot reloaded its weapon with a distinct clicking; she had to keep running. She started up in a full-out run again, grating her teeth in all the pain, and dodged off to the side just in time for the second bullet to miss her. The ceiling-door slid open, the exit now in sight...
Eva burst out in a mighty leap, immediately resuming her sprint when her feet touched the ground. She saw the rows of people, the grey sky, the dead ground. This was her dream-world when she'd passed out the day prior. She ducked into the rows, hearing more gunshots...and the sounds of people collapsing. The bullets had missed her, but struck others instead. Nausea swept over her as she realized that she was using them as shields, that she was causing their deaths. She fell on her hands and knees between two rows, the pain overcoming her. Tears threatened to escape her eyes, the blood kept streaming out. The machine was coming ever-closer.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 3:37 pm
I heard gunshots.
I slipped into a row and stood silently as I tried to determine where it was coming from. From the other side of that cylinder.
Slowly and stealthily I crept up to and around the large metal thing, until I saw a robot standing there, facing away, sending off gunshots into the rows of blank faces. I crept up on it, silently, and with both hands on the hammer handle lifted it off of my shoulder and over my head...
To bring it right down on the back of the robot's head and back.
Ya know the neat thing about the hammer I was carrying? When I swing it, the brass ball inside the hammer is at one end. When I strike, the ball zips down to the end where I struck it from... this essentially means that when I hit something with it, it gets hit twice... Physics is awesome ain't it?
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:55 pm
The machine's head cracked right down the center, sending out sparks and splinters of glass from its visor. It spasmed, sending off random gunshots into the sky and rows, trying to turn around in its confusion. The looser half of the head fell right off, taking part of its cortex along. As the black box's wire was disconnected, the robot's body halted and fell forward. Silence again dominated.
Eva heard the final collapse, which sent both relief and worry through her. But...if the robot was dead, who killed it? She crawled along down the row, staring in the direction of the cylinder, trying to get a good visibility point. Finally she saw the hints of a younger girl's figure, and a gargantuan hammer. She half-stood, hand protecting her wound, expression cautious.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:20 pm
Nemesis shifted her position, legs now behind her, and kicked off from a tree. She grabbed onto Genesis's collar and slammed him down into the ground. Again her weapon changed, this time into a missile launcher. She fired directly at her opponent twice. A light shimmered below, and then faded beneath the debris and dust and fire of the explosions. Nemesis lowered herself onto a high branch, waiting for better visibility.
Meta exited warp behind Nemesis, and bended her own figure to entrap the enemy. Genesis also reappeared in mid-air ahead of her, completely unscathed. Nemesis struggled, but failed to escape the constraint.
"I am sorry it has come down to this," Genesis spoke with true remorse in his tone and expression, "but you, sister, have betrayed us all. May your consciousness live on and again find its way to the path of virtue."
With that closing statement, Genesis held his blade before him, and plunged it deep into Nemesis's head. Meta released quickly, reforming into her humanoid figure. There was a loud pop! of electricity and Nemesis fell limp. Almost invisibly, particles transferred from Nemesis's body to the blade's arcane aura, until her body ceased to exist at all. The blade hummed even more ominously, as if its hunger had only been stirred. Nemesis had been erased.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:21 pm
I looked around carefully, and eventually I saw a older woman's face peering at me cautiously from a row of people. I didn't recognize her. I eyed her as I lowered the hammer and leaned against the handle in a casual stance. I noted that she was badly wounded... a couple cuts, and a... gunshot wound.
So... who are you?
~~~
Eva would notice that the young figure eyeing her looked, sounded... and felt incredibly familiar. 12 year old body, long, stupidly long crimson hair so oily it almost looked black, slightly tangled from lack of care. Grey bodysuit, must have recently woken up as well. The only thing different were her witch hazel eyes, which shifted in color as the light and her mood changed, and the lack of a very prominent long cat-like tail and perky ears...
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:31 pm
Eva came out of the rows, examining the girl. She indeed looked very familiar. Her weak knees gave in, forcing Eva to sit back on her heels, "S-Scarlet?" She questioned, almost in disbelief, "I'm Eva. What happened? Where are we?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:37 pm
I blinked at her, before hurrying over to her side.
Eva? Oh geeze.
I knelt next to her, setting the hammer down and starting to rip up the sleeve of my body suit. I made some padding and started bandaging up the gunshot wound.
Well, you collapsed in the bathroom, so Odessa and I took you up to the master bedroom, where a Caretaker came in with Raowan's body. She said she detected microchips in both of us... and attacked. Odessa was still fighting her when I activated the microchip and left.
When I finished bandaging the wound I looked at the cuts on her cheek. I rubbed the back of my neck. Those cuts would have to wait... But gunshot wound needed to be tended too tho.
I have no clue how I got the microchip tho... It must have been recently, without my knowledge. We are in.. dun dun dun da... the Real World.
I stood and looked around, before wiping my now bloody hands on my now torn up body-suit.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:58 pm
Eva cringed as Scarlet wrapped the cloth around her wound, but knew that it would help her overall. She listened intently, trying to make some sort of sense out of the girl's words. The mention of a "real world" is what threw her over the edge.
"Wait...real world? This is the 'real' world? My god..." Her eyes widened like a child's, taking in her surroundings even more acutely than before, "All this time..."
She tried to stand up with Scarlet, but ended in more of a hunched position, "Microchip, huh? Apparently I had one, too. That's why I was brought here. And Raowan..." She trailed off, then remembered what he'd told her, "We have to keep moving, Scarlet. By now they're probably looking for me, and we'll have hordes of those robots chasing us."
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 6:11 pm
Yeah... why do you think they created the Virtual Reality? We humans destroyed this place... This whole planet. They are trying to hide from that fact by hiding in the VR.
I gently grabbed Eva's arm and used my body to help her up.
Some people want to fix it tho. Rebuild what had been lost, restore this planet to what it used to be. These people are the revolutionaries.
I slid her arm around my shoulder, holding her upright and grabbing my mallet. I then started heading Northwest again, helping Eva along.
Once we get far enough away we'll be heading into their territory. They'll know me hopefully, and if that's so then my word should be enough to get us both to safety.
I left the tip of my tounge out as we continued walking. Usually this was a sign of playfulness or teasing, but as dead wind blew past there was no mirth in my expression. My eyes had gone cold and I seemed slightly detached as I helped Eva along at a rather fast pace for a young girl burdened under an older woman and a very large heavy mallet...
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:48 pm
Man and boy alike laughed as the unsuspecting robot was blown to bits by the ground-trap. As its parts landed around them, Devon began searching for certain components. He grabbed its disembodied arm and tore away the excess metal, stripping it of everything except for the filled syringe, "Hey, Chris! This one's full!"
The boy glanced up from the robotic leg he was dismantling, "Sweet! And I think I can get the pistol and blade from it, too."
Devon, in this form, didn't seem quite so crazed. He still had his shaggy black hair, with eyes of a more amber color. He did, however, lack the canine features. He was currently clad in grey pants, combat boots, a white t-shirt, and a black overcoat.
The younger boy was known as Chris, another resistance member. He was 13, and already knew everything there was to know about battle and weaponry. Lanky in figure, with bushy brown hair and large brown eyes. He was dressed the same exact way, minus the coat. A machine gun was strung over the boy's shoulder.
Devon was basically Chris's older brother. They shared no common blood, but in their minds, they were siblings. Both of them lacked any real family; Chris was orphaned at the age of 5, and Devon's parents were long gone. They've known each other for as long as Chris could remember.
After claiming the worthwhile parts, they each carried back their bounties to the Undergrounds. The entrance was nothing more than a hole in the ground with stairs and a makeshift doorway, and led to nothing more than underground caverns furnished with bare-bones luxuries like furniture, computers, and working bathrooms. This was where the Resistance resided. Well, the western faction, anyway. There were multiple resistances, each with their own governments.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:42 pm
Now, I said, as we continued to walk. We can either stop by the western faction, and hope they will take us in, or we can walk right past and continue heading to the northwestern faction.
I glanced at Eva as we continued to walk. By now we had reached quite a distance away from the fields, and on my tounge I tasted the scent of humans (and robotic pieces) nearby.
The western faction is faster and we'd get you healed up quicker. But the Northwestern faction is the largest and the farthest away from the fields and the robots. It is the most risky for them to attack. They are also... the least insane, one could say. From what I remember, they have managed to make plant life on the surface so there's probably more to do.
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:02 am
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 1:40 am
"Chris, Devon, find anything interesting? Please give me the details soon because I'm going back in soon." Dante said calmly, he was a bit worse for wear than in VR, but he still looked the same, well except he wore an eyepatch over the eye he had lost.
Virgil was roaming around the streets. Things seemed to keep getting more and more complicated, more Corrupted, nasty rumors, not to mention that gigantic pillar of light from off in the distance. "Man, things sure seem to be going to Hell." The man said with a sigh.
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