by Drew Hayes
“Looks like we had the same idea,” Tori remarked as she surveyed the surroundings. “I dug out a big hole in a place like this not too far away. Mine was a bit larger, though, so if you wanted to sleep in shifts tonight, we could stay there.”
“I’ll think about it.” Beverly had clearly warmed to the idea of taking on robots with Tori’s help, but it seemed outright trust was still a point yet to be crossed.
Tori could hardly blame Beverly for the wariness—part of her wondered if reaching out like this would culminate in getting stabbed in the back. If so, then there wasn’t much to be done about it. Succeeding in this environment was going to require risk; that was obvious. She’d either have to take heavy chances with strategy fighting the robots or by trusting one of her fellow apprentices. This way, at least, seemed moderately less likely to get her killed. Since Beverly still appeared on the fence, Tori decided that it was time for a show of good faith, or as close to one as she could manage under the circumstances.
“Well, if you decide to take me up on it, at least I’ve got plenty of rations there. We wouldn’t have to haul anything over from your cache.” Meal bars and bottles of water weren’t the world’s best olive branch, but Beverly nodded in appreciation at the offer, so Tori counted it as a small victory. At least her fellow apprentice wouldn’t think she was trying to mooch. “Oh, and I had a scroll of some sort in mine too. My powers have nothing to do with magic, so I didn’t bother opening it, but if you can get some use out of it, then it’s all yours.”
“Are... are you sure about that?” Beverly’s large eyes widened even further, visibly taken aback by the unexpected display of generosity.
“Look, I’m not pretending to be a saint here. If I thought that thing would give me any kind of edge, I’d keep it for myself, but it’s useless in my hands. Maybe even dangerous. Better I hand it off to the person I’m working with instead. At this point, giving you a leg up helps me too.” Tori leaned slightly outside the small cave, scanning the area for any sign of movement that might indicate a robot attack. They’d run into a few copper-cored ones on just the walk over—pesky things seemed to be increasing by the hour.
“It might not be useful for me, either. The amulet has been confusing enough to try and figure out.” Beverly gestured to her neck, though whatever lay there was buried under the dark fabric of her apprentice costume. “But I’ll take a look at it. Highly doubt it could make things much worse.”
Beverly walked over to her own metal box and undid the latch, flipping it open to reveal the remaining contents. She’d gone through more food and water than Tori had—which made sense since she couldn’t spend half her time in the form of living energy—but Beverly didn’t reach for any of the foodstuffs. Instead, she dug down to the bottom of the cache, eventually coming up with a small leather case. With a quick motion, she popped it open, and then held it out so Tori could get a good look inside.
“Mine didn’t have a scroll, but it did have this stuff. Couldn’t make heads or tails of what it was or how it was supposed to be used, though obviously it’s some sort of high-tech toolbox. Since we’re pooling resources, you can have it, as long as you can use it.”
Tori suppressed her desire to drool as she stared at the array of instruments before her. Most of the assortment laid out in the leather box was familiar to her, things she had lower-quality versions of in her own lab, but a few were new even to her. The only part that struck Tori as odd was that this was clearly a case meant for someone to tool around with advanced technology, yet the desert they were in was barren of materials.
The whirring sound of a passing copper-cored drone echoed across the landscape outside. Beverly checked over Tori’s shoulder to make sure it wasn’t getting close, her eyes already glowing their telltale green. For Tori however, the sound was not the harbinger of battle about to commence; it was a wake-up call correcting the misassumption she’d made only seconds prior. There were, in fact, tons of raw materials out in the desert, provided one had the combat acumen to procure them. That drone and all its siblings were stuffed with all manner of electronics Tori could twist to her own designs.
“I think I can get some solid use out of those,” Tori said at last, accepting the case and snapping it shut. “Let’s swing by my cave to drop this off and let you look at the scroll. After that, I want to get back into the field while we’ve still got daylight. If we work hard enough this afternoon, we may be able to kick the shit out of this place tomorrow.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a plan,” Beverly remarked. A coy, half-fanged smile danced on her lips as she remained partially shifted to her green dragon-form.
“Calling it a plan seems a bit grandiose; it’s more of an outline. But it all rests on laying the groundwork today.” Tori slipped the case down to her side and peeked carefully out of the cave. So long as she was carrying those precious tools, shifting to fire-form was out of the question.
“Given how little there is to do here, I’m going to take the wild guess that this groundwork centers on fighting robots,” Beverly said.
Tori shook her head then stepped back out into the sun’s burning light. “Not fighting. Hunting. There is a very key difference. You see, from here on out, we’re going to use every part of the robot buffalo.”
Chapter 22
By the time evening fell, Tori and Beverly had managed to down six of the silver-cored robots and a dozen or so more coppers. It was rough going at first as they gained a better sense of how to combat the spherical enemies as well as how to work together. During the first two battles, there were times when their attacks overlapped, each nearly striking the other. Those were tenuous, dangerous seconds during which their fragile alliance easily could have shattered. The need to win, however, drowned out any petty squabbling that might have occurred, and by the time their opponent was down, all thoughts of dissolution were driven from their minds.
As the day wore on, coming closer and closer to dusk, their teamwork grew stronger. Each woman began to understand the other’s natural attack style, and they soon fell into a rhythm. Tori darted in and out, zipping around to draw attention while Beverly charged in and smashed the most pivotal pieces of the robot’s anatomy. By the time they killed their sixth silver-cored robot, they were functioning like a well-calibrated machine themselves, tearing through the last opponent in only a few minutes.
Much of a roll as they were on, neither wanted to press their luck as the sun began to set. Surprise was the element that had given them the most edge in their fights. With Tori standing out like a beacon against the dark sky, that aspect of battle would be turned against them. Better to hole up, rest, and conserve strength for the next day’s fights.
They made it back to Tori’s cave just as the last specks of sunlight were fading from the horizon, covering the desert in a blanket of stars and darkness. It would have been an easier and faster trip, if not for the fact that Beverly was forced to spend it hauling most of the mechanical remains from one of their silver-cored opponents across the desert. When they finally reached the cave, she set it carefully down outside, and then shifted from her green dragon-form back to the lovely, weary young woman Tori had first met.
“All right, that’s four of the damn things. If you can’t work with that, drag the next one yourself.” Beverly made a show of stretching her back and arms, despite the fact that they weren’t really all that tired. She was still learning about her dragon powers, but her green form seemed almost impervious to fatigue.
“Should be plenty,” Tori assured her. “With this much raw material, I think I can whip together a useful tool or two by sunrise. How about you? Going to take another crack at the scroll?”
“Maybe after dinner.” Beverly had already opened the scroll stuffed in Tori’s cache, though there hadn’t been any effect that they could discern. After a few minutes of study, Beverly came to the conclusion that whatever magic lay amid the arcane runes burned into the parchment would require some sort of activation. Since
daylight had been dwindling, she put it away as a project to look at during her time on guard duty.
With night upon them, both women turned their attention to fighting hunger and dehydration by downing most of the remaining supplies stashed in Tori’s metal box. If they wanted to last another day in the desert, it would mean either relocating to Beverly’s hideout or hauling over her supplies. Each could easily go without the food and water for a day if needed, but constant combat would take its toll unless they were properly sated.
“What’s your deal anyway?” Beverly asked as she dug into her third meal bar. It seemed the slender woman either burned a lot of calories while in her dragon-form or possessed the not-so-super ability of having a tapeworm. “You’ve got a really cool ability where you turn into fire, but you want to spend the night tinkering around with busted robot parts?”
For a brief moment, Tori contemplated hiding her plans for the salvaged components, concealing her true abilities from this woman who might end up being her competition. That idea was quickly tossed aside, primarily because Beverly would quickly see Tori’s talents when her devices were used but also because lying seemed a poor choice. Ivan appeared to have a lot of friends in the guild; if Beverly made it to full member status along with her, Tori could use a few comrades of her own. That sort of relationship was built on trust, though, especially among villains.
“I’m actually more of a tech-head than a fire-user. Right now I’m working on a meta-suit, and I’ve been inventing more or less since childhood. Truth be told, I really don’t like using my powers this much, but Pseudonym wouldn’t let me bring any of my gear.”
“Living off the land seems to be the theme of this weekend. Well, sort of.” Beverly took a long draw from a bottle of water, emptying it out and setting it aside. “I guess I can see why you’re supposed to be a big deal, though. Having those powers and the smarts to build your own tech... that’s a hell of a combo.”
“My teacher is the big deal, not me,” Tori quickly corrected. “And the only reason I got him was that no one else wanted me. My attitude is seen as ‘problematic’ and ‘uncooperative’ and other shit like that. I mean, I still think I’m awesome, but I doubt anyone else in the guild really believes that. Not yet, anyway.”
“Thuggernaut thinks pretty highly of Pseudonym, that’s for sure. As strong as my teacher is, I get the feeling he’s a little wowed by yours,” Beverly said.
“He is something of a legend.” Tori finished choking down her lone meal bar, the texture roughly akin to what she imagined eating Styrofoam would be like. “But tell me about Thuggernaut; I’ve only gotten to meet him in passing. Is he really as strong as he looks?”
“More,” Beverly replied. “That first night when I ran into Thuggernaut, I thought I was going to kill him. After a couple weeks of training, I realized that the only thing holding him back was him trying not to seriously injure me. I’m really lucky he took me on as an apprentice, otherwise I doubt I’d have even this much control over all this... stuff.”
“I don’t mean to pry, and if this is overstepping, I understand, but I have to ask. Since you seem to view these powers as more burden than blessing, why not just take off the necklace?”
Wordlessly reaching up to the top of her costume, Beverly carefully undid a clasp and pulled the neckline open, exposing the top of her sternum. Her dark skin was smooth and flawless at first, but then a pattern began to glow with silver light. In moments the symbol, which ran up around her throat like a necklace, had lit the cave with a soft, candle-like glow.
“Nothing to take off. The moment I put the necklace on, it fused with me. Thuggernaut’s brought me to every person he trusts in the magic division, and none of them have any idea how to separate me from it. Like it or not, for now, I’m stuck with these powers. If I want any shot at my old life back, it means getting them under control.”
Tori nodded her head at the three torn-apart robots resting just outside the cave door. “Seems to me you’ve got things pretty well in hand.”
“Being the dragons is the easy part; it’s keeping them at bay that’s tough. Every time I get scared or mad or surprised, I can feel them pushing to get out.” Beverly bowed her head. The intricate silver tattoo faded away, plunging them once more into darkness. “I’m making progress, though. There was a time I couldn’t even get it to disappear, which would have really cut down on my wardrobe options.”
“Not to mention swimsuits would pretty much be out, unless you could dig out one of those giant frilly dress ones from the thirties,” Tori added.
“Yeah, that shit was not happening. I don’t do frills or ruffles, no exceptions.” Beverly glanced out the opening of the cave, taking in the soft night sky. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad I ran into you today. This has been a lot easier with someone to watch my back.”
“Imagine how we could have torn through this if everyone worked together,” Tori replied.
“Wish in one hand, spit in the other.” Beverly’s eyes began to glow, this time scarlet instead of their usual emerald green. “If you want to bed down, I can take first watch. My red dragon has solid night vision.”
“Thanks, but I’d rather get to work.” Tori stood from her sandy seat and walked over to the cave’s rear where the case holding those precious tools was stashed. “I’ve got too many ideas whizzing around in my head. Even if I wanted to sleep, I doubt—”
The explosion was far enough off that neither woman thought they were under attack, though they did both react immediately to the threatening sound. Tori dropped the case, her body turning to flames before the metal even hit the soft, sandy floor of the cave. Beverly’s body lengthened and grew, covered with bright red scales as she took on the only one of her forms Tori had yet to witness. Both peered out the narrow doorway for a few seconds, waiting for more explosions or the sound of approaching enemies.
After a few minutes of peace, Beverly leaned out, sniffing the air carefully as she scanned the thick night. Eventually, she pulled herself back in and shed her inhuman-form, an expression of worry draped across her face.
“There’s a faint scent of smoke coming from the southwest, but it seems pretty far off. Nothing approaching, as far as I can tell. Best guess is that one of the boys decided to try and do a little night-hunting to grab more cores.”
“Let’s hope so.” Tori shifted from living fire to perfectly normal-looking young woman, although her brain was still shooting adrenaline through her system. “Well, I wasn’t anywhere near sleep before, and now it’s definitely not happening.”
“No kidding.” Beverly’s eyes still glowed with a faint red light as she made her way across the cave, lying down with her head against the rock wall at the rear, gazing directly out the entrance. “I may stay up for a while and watch you work. Just until my nerves settle.”
“Feel free,” Tori told her. “But fair warning, when I get in the zone, I’m not very chatty.”
Beverly reached out to the nearby metal box and plucked the scroll from its depths, carefully unrolling it between her narrow fingers. “Somehow, I think I’ll manage.”
* * *
Lance limped through the desert, only his myriad of insect helpers supporting him. His leg was probably broken; enough high school football had taught him the basics of what such injuries felt like. He couldn’t manage to put even the smallest amount of weight on the limb, so that was also a dead giveaway. The swarm of dragonflies and bees pushing upward on his left shoulder acted as a makeshift crutch, giving him what he only prayed would be enough mobility to complete his escape.
All those sentries and scouts he’d positioned around the desert and none had given Lance adequate warning. That robot had come after him like there was a target on his chest, turning so many of his conjured minions to ash under its laser blast. Those that survived served as a smokescreen to cover his escape, which was more falling off the top of a mesa than any daring plan to make himself scarce. Whatever that robot was, Lance knew from the momen
t it arrived that he wasn’t going to be able to win the fight.
The silver-cored ones had been challenge enough; he’d had to practically choke their interior electronics with swarm after swarm of insect sacrifices to shut them down. This one didn’t seem keen on letting anything get close, not even a seemingly harmless bug. Lance couldn’t imagine how any of the four apprentices were going to be able to take it down. If the other three were that far out of his league that they could dispatch something that powerful solo, what was the point of making him train alongside them?
Lance would have slowed down as the realization struck him if he could have afforded to. Tori had been right from the beginning; they were supposed to work together. It was the only way any of them had even half a hope of stopping something that strong. Lance cursed himself for not listening then turned his attention away from the mistake and on to what could still be done.
Raising his right hand, Lance conjured a handful of assorted flying bugs and tossed them into the air. There was a day left yet. If he could find Tori or one of the others, maybe he could convince them to team up with him. True, he was injured, but his power had never been physically-based in the first place. Even if they demanded some of his orbs in exchange for working together, it would be worth it.
By Lance’s reckoning, that robot he’d fought was either a gold or platinum core. If it was platinum, that was bad enough, but if it was gold, then they were in a world of shit. A gold-cored robot doing that much damage meant he hadn’t even seen the final opponents, and with the way they seemed to exponentially grow in difficulty, Lance wasn’t sure he’d survive a platinum encounter.
With his bugs on the wind searching for those who might be allies, Lance focused on limping along as fast as he could, desperately searching for somewhere he could lie low until sunrise.
* * *
Ivan sat in his living room, a glass of sweet tea in his hand as he watched the evening news. Beth was asleep upstairs, worn out from her long day, and Rick had snuck out his window only a half hour prior. It was always tempting to bust his son when he clumsily tripped through wards and traps that would have incinerated him had they not been keyed to leave him alone, but Ivan resisted. He had, after all, once been that age, and the trouble he’d gotten into was far worse than anything Rick was likely to manage. Ivan followed him on occasion, staying to the shadows and keeping watch to make sure intervention wasn’t needed. Usually, all Rick did was sneak over to a friend’s house or to the parking lot of a local gas station where he would hang out with the same friends. All teenagers went through some form of rebellion; at least Rick’s was largely harmless.
