"Guys! You know the drill!" Screams Alister.
Everyone places their hands on their ears, with Urth stuffing himself inside Zephyr attire in extremis and Eylventh keeping to its wings for protection.
Everyone is prepared but Melvin, who hasn't gotten used to the broken rib yet. It provides plenty of time for the mechanized devil to finish the job.
And so she starts the dreadful process of screaming.
...
And nobody dies.
Everyone is okay,
including Nil.
The moment she's about to scream, she's cut short due to her voice only going deeper and deeper, creating nothing but this growl that shakes the underground world. Curious yet appalled, they finally let go of their ears and looks at the mech, dazed.
" Nice? I guess we can't count on the bitch too?"
"I should have known. This old model was not suited to handle that ability."
The female robot's confusion can be felt. It's more so genuine curiosity of why her powers no longer work more than anxiety of the fact that her ace in the hole has been corrupted.
Meanwhile, Melvin places his hands on the ground and pushes himself up in one swing, ignoring the pain of his broken rib.
He takes the opportunity to dash at the robot, swinging that right hook like it's going to be it's last.
The commander of the machine sees this at the last second.
The swing is so destructive it detaches the head of the mech, sending it flying on the wall.
With no head supporting the body, the machine collapses on the floor and explodes in massive flames.
It leaves a trail of smoke flying towards the air...
The lady appears, seeming more so serious then angry on the outside.
"This. This is the reason why no one from the surface should have been able to come here." The lady states. "You people bring your vile machinations with you, and it ends up being an unstoppable mess. We already have enough to deal with as is, the last thing we need is a disaster from the other side."
She prepares her massive hands and claws the size of a boulder, almost reaching below her kneecaps, for a round 2 of sorts against the ginormous beast. Both animals had seen her true face, but the humans of the crew are the one baffled by her. Her body is as artificial as the mech she pilots. Her proportions are all messed up. Alister is grossed out by what he's witnessing, wishing he could have stayed blind. Riley's pupils are dilated, enchanted by this vision of the cyborg lady. Zephyr is taken aback too but is more so intrigued by how the mechanics of her giant hands work, as she prepares to do battle.
That woman is surprised when Melvin laughs her off, as if a chia pet kept barking its way.
"DoN,T gEt tWiStEd! NoT hErE fOr yOu!" Nil then points at Riley with vicious intent. "hErE, fOr yOu!!
"Really now. What a coincidence." Retorts the cyborg lady.
"This isn't a fucking coincidence, you hear me!? If you're gonna help, then-!"
The cyborg moves her ginormous left hand in the direction of Alister, cutting his sentence short before responding with "No. I'd rather not."
"Wh-What!? Why!?" Screams the hunter.
"You dragged this thing here with you down in the last floor. This is not my problem. I'd rather you all kill each other. I won't have to deal with outsiders that way."
"You son of a-!"
Alister can't finish his sentence before seeing the overwhelming threat in front of him charge with its right fist swinging once again. The hunter grabs Riley and dashes out of the way with his rapid movement, leaving Nil to create a whole in the wall.
His fist enters in contact with something veiny, like a root.
It sends shocks down its entire body, making the beast growl in pain and holding his whole chest while spinning around back and forth. The lady takes this opportunity to disappear.
As Alister drops the doctor by Zephyr and the pets, the blacksmith comes up with an idea.
"Alister! Grab me and throw me at him! I'm gonna try to deck his legs out!"
Alister quickly responds to that by grabbing the boy, who lets Urth off his attire.
While the monstrosity is stuck in his mental about what just occurred, Alister dashes at the swamp thing with Zephyr in his arms. They first target the left leg. Alister Goes around it and sends the young man flying towards that leg from behind.
Zephyr focus all of his energy in his right arm, as it starts to crack up and glow an intense orange aura. He plants his fist on the leg firmly, punching it while screaming a battle cry.
The leg indeed blows up, with the beast losing balance and falling on its left knee. This is enough momentum for Zephyr to run as quick as he can to the next leg, readying his second arm for an explosion. It does the same thing, now blowing Nil's last leg. It falls to the ground with a resounding BAM! Nil is amputated and cannot run, yelling in pain.
"Urth, Eylventh, come on you two! We have to get out of here!" Shouts the scientist while grabbing his two pets by force. Eylventh doesn't feel any safer around its master and just roars and fights out of Riley's grip to no avail.
Everybody runs towards the lady's current location, with the hopes that they can find a solution to the overbearing power of Nil until then.
Hopefully...
#
They have been running in what seems like forever now. the lack of food and water starts to kick in. Their bodies are not up to snuff with their latest threat, who by that point is well behind them. However, knowing how it came back stronger, who knows what destroying its legs might do to it.
Alister, mid-run, stops the scientist to punch him square in the face.
Riley falls back hard on his back.
"Argh! What in the-! Can't you wait until we defeat the thing to hit me!?
"No, I am sick and tired of these shenanigans. I almost became buddy-buddy with you, of all the disgusting people I could associate myself with."
"Oh mais ce n'est pas possible! We already had that discussion earlier, there is no point in-!"
"OH THERE IS A FUCKING POINT, RILEY! That point being every time I am reminded of your crimes, it makes my stomach turn. And I have to accept to be in the same category as you!? Sorry but no, fuck that!"
"Here we go again" drops Zephyr. "Look, we both have our vendettas against him, but we have to remain a team here! Why do we have to start acting up now!?"
"A team!? He sacrificed kids barely younger than you, and you wanna make a fucking team with this bastard!? Or did you drop your moral compass when you heard your mom was still alive?" That was a threat.
Zephyr clenches his fist whiles looking directly in the eyes of the assassin. He snaps.
"You better watch what you say about that, or I'll drop you dead, just like-!!" Instantly, the boy stutters and stops talking. He shuts himself by placing his right hand on his mouth, then takes a couple steps back. His gaze evades Alister, mortified by what he was about to say.
"What was that!? C'mon say it! Just like who, huh!?"
"Alister, for the love of all that is good, you did not pick the moment for this!" Interjects Riley while he gets up. "We are close to making that lady talk and discover something incredible here!"
"That is the last thing I give a FUCK about!
"You should care! Our job is not done! If you want to kill something, at least wait until we figure out what this girl has to say about this place! She holds the key to understanding the Bottomless Pit! I don't know if it's the lack of water taking over you, but we better start moving instead of throwing jabs at each other! That's what SHE wants! She told us right in our face!" Shouts the scientist, hoping to calm Alister down.
"Well good for her! She guessed exactly what I want! I want to beat the hell out of you!"
Alister stares at the scientist like a dog ready to bark.
"I bet what you want, is to take her, drag her in your lab and dissect her, don't you, you fucking disgrace?"
Doctor Riley J. Smith has no comment to this. They are operating on two different planes of thinking. To the scientist, after all they went through, after he restored Alister's eyesight, after the plea to run away from Alister, to stop this cycle. After the humanity showcased, this feels like regression. Something is bothering Alister, like the ego caught up to him in that moment and wants to disassociate from a bond with Riley he's oh so denying. The scientist has enough.
"You keep acting like a child, Alister. I'm going." Scoffs Riley while starting a walk. "There comes a time where you need to let it go. It's now." Riley does just that, at the dismay of the assassin.
The lady in question then appears behind Zephyr, without his knowledge. When he turns around and lets an audible gasp out of his mouth, the scientist and the assassin look at his direction. The scientist's march forward is halted.
"Riley J. Smith... 39 years old, background in medicine, neuro-chemical research as well as bioweapons. One could say you have traveled far and wide from multiple countries and even contributed to a few victims fall in the pit yourself. Impressive record."
Her voice is no longer filled with filters on top of filters. Quite a beautiful voice, but like the rest of her body, it is artificial intelligence imitating natural life.
"You see Alister, we discover something impressive, like her." States the scientist in a semi-sarcastic tone, while pointing at the cyborg.
"Shut the hell up! And you too, you doll! I don't like you singing this fucker's praises." Retorts the hunter.
"On the contrary, what I do is stating facts. Should I investigate your case instead, Alister Crow?"
"I don't need you reminding me how much of a fuck up I am."
"You're not a 'fuck up', Alister." Responds the woman.
The lady sounds menacing, taking everyone aback.
"29 years old with over 542 confirmed cases of murder on your back in the decade alone. Add the rest of your preys and we got a solid 689 kills. Once again, impressive." Reveals the lady.
In an act of desperation, Alister changes subjects on the fly.
"Ooooh wow let me guess! The kid's the unimpressive one here because he didn't kill anybody!? He didn't sabotage somebody's road to success!? He didn't betray his family behind their back!? Wow, stupid Zephyr! He's not a waste of space and a bastard like me and Doc over here! What a tragedy, isn't that right Zeph!?"
Zephyr can see the massive red flag daunting over the mysterious woman's data. He trembles, afraid of what she might reveal next. Riley J. Smith sees this happening from a distance and is puzzled at the thought that Zephyr, of all people, has something drastic to hide.
"Well that was a funny set of games, big girl. But now how about we switch this up and you play our game now!? We catched up to you, so now you gotta let us know what's at the end game, where you're going!"
They hear a roar behind them and heavy steps in quick succession. A giant golem is running.
"No no you gotta be joking, we just got rid of its legs!!" Shouts the young blacksmith.
The lady then constructs out of thin air this weird device, which looks the closest to a recorder, thanks to special magic of some sort that not even Riley is close to deciphering.
"This is Amy with a report. Subject name is Melvin Whitewood. Officially, should be 14 years old today. Turned into a cat named Nil that can throw pebbles with a submachine gun attached to its tail. After being transformed by Riley J. Smith into a mutation, it absorbed some of the light orbs to become stronger and therefore rival with our machines. Status on crimson red: Melvin Nil Whitewood must be destroyed."