He brushed past the Overseer and stepped down off the platform. Leigh was already running toward him. She gave him a hug over the metal of the armor skin, and Archer gently hugged her back, surprised by how much of the sensation he could feel through the outer nervous system.
“You did that… for me?” she whispered.
“You think I’d let you go that easy?” asked Archer. “You’re my attendant. Who would cook for me if I let you die?”
She let out a small, half offended laugh and pulled back slightly. She was crying, and brought one of her hands up to where his cheek would have been, outside the armor skin.
“Please…” she said. “Don’t get yourself killed. Promise me that you’ll come back, if it’s clear that you can’t win.”
I have to win. It’s the only choice that ends with any of us surviving.
“I promise,” said Archer. “You should head back to our apartment. I’ll need you once this is over.”
She nodded, and pressed a kiss into the space underneath his view screen. Archer’s heart ached for her, and it took a force of will not to follow after her as she walked off.
Ada was watching him from next to the platform, and Archer waved her over impatiently as soon as Leigh was out of sight.
“What did you do to get fired, anyway?” he asked.
“My job,” she said. “The Overseer ordered me to put Bart back in his armor skin. He’s barely capable of talking, let alone fighting. Needs a shunt in his skull to drain the fluid, at the moment.”
“Damn it,” said Archer. “We’ll have to manage without him, then. I’m putting you in command of the Watchers and what’s left of the Metal Squad. Can you work up a strategy that will give us a shot?”
He said the words loudly enough for the nearby Watchers to hear, and know who their new commander was. Ada nodded slowly.
“There’s only one strategy that even makes sense to try,” she said. “You head into the coal district, but stay close to the wall. If you can lure fabricants within range and then destroy their fingers with your Frequency Claymore, we might be able to do some damage with basic ballistic weapons.”
“Good,” said Archer. “Also, check the status on Vivian’s armor skin. If it’s near operational… put her in it, and send her out alongside me.”
He closed his eyes.
Did I just order her to command Vivian on a suicide run?
“Got it,” said Ada. “We should start immediately. The south gate took a small amount of damage during the chaos last night. It’s probably the most important position for you to secure first.”
She turned away from him, stepping back into her role of command with the ease of a practiced soldier. The nearby Watchers didn’t seem very perturbed by the fact that a woman due to be executed was now giving them orders, and snapped to attention.
Archer felt some of the weight of the situation roll off his shoulders, but only some of it. Having Ada back changed everything and nothing. It would still take a miracle for him to retake the coal district, and another one to hold the breach for long enough for it to be repaired.
I don’t have a choice in this. I need to find a way.
Once at the south gate, he carefully scaled up one of the ladders to stand atop the inner wall. Peering out over the compromised district instantly dashed all of the hope the past hour had nurtured back to life.
Dozens of buildings were aflame, some of the fires large and actively spreading through the streets. Ten or more fabricants were visible, patrolling the district. Archer knew that if there were ten that he could see here, there were probably ten times more spread out through the rest of the outer city.
Worst of all, there were still people, some of them hiding, some of them scrambling to get out of the line of sight of the mechanical monsters. Archer felt a deep, cold, anger burning in his chest. Those were his people, smogs who’d already done enough hard living without having to suffer through this.
He wasn’t sure how they were going to win. The plan Ada had suggested might have been reasonable if only a few fabricants had made it into the city, but all it would take would be for a few to attack him at once, and Archer would be overwhelmed by their numbers.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do?” he muttered.
“Is that rhetorical?” Trevor appeared beside him, arms folded, a shit eating grin on his face. “Or are you asking me?”
CHAPTER 43
“You’re back?” asked Archer. “Just like that?”
Trevor furrowed his brow and held his hands out to the side.
“I couldn’t stay mad at you forever,” he said. “Besides, I’m already dead. Jealousy is rather unbecoming of my legacy.”
“Trevor…” Archer shook his head, feeling an odd mixture of emotions as he looked at his brother. “Why? Why did you leave?”
“What? Is now really the time for explanations, little brother?”
“Yes.”
Something a bit like pride flashed across Trevor’s eyes.
“The fabricants,” he said. “The Rogue AI. They’ve been talking to me. Trying to recruit me, in a manner of speaking.”
He smiled, and shrugged his ethereal shoulders.
“Let’s just say that in the end, I decided to turn them down,” said Trevor.
Archer considered, appreciating the insight, but still needing more.
“That’s not what I meant,” he said. “Back when we were kids. When you became a Metal Knight. Why did you leave me and mom in the coal district? You never did anything for us, never even tried to visit… Did you just not care?”
He’d been wanting to ask the question since the very first time he’d seen Trevor’s ghost. It had been too large of a thing for him to come right out and ask, and he’d also been afraid of what the answer might have been. But Archer needed to know, and he suspected that this was the last chance that he’d ever get to obtain an answer.
“You know why,” said Trevor. “They’re doing it to you, too, with our mother. Why do you think they were so eager to take on the task of moving her into the citizen’s district? They probably suggested it before you’d ever even climbed into an armor skin.”
“Why wouldn’t I want what’s best for her?” asked Archer. “She’s our mother, Trevor.”
Trevor closed his eyes and smiled.
“That’s what I thought, too,” he said. “At least at first. They were blackmailing me, Archer.”
“Who?”
“Tensmoth,” said Trevor. “Did you really think I was on such good terms with him as to always side with whatever his political agenda was? He was constantly looking for leverage over me. If I’d brought you both with me, I’d be making his threats that much more meaningful. The safest place for you and mother was in the coal district.”
It’s true. It fits perfectly. And yet, it still doesn’t make up for all of those years I spent hating him.
“Are you satisfied?” asked Trevor. “Can we move on with tackling the crisis at hand, or do you need a tissue?”
“Fuck you, Trevor,” said Archer. “What’s your plan?”
“I’ve figured out how to do something that might turn the tide of the battle,” said Trevor.
“What?”
“Weaponize myself,” said Trevor. “Take out your Frequency Claymore.”
Archer pulled it off his back, holding it in both hands. Trevor’s expression became serious, and resolved.
“After I do this, I won’t be around anymore,” said Trevor. “For real this time.”
“Do what?” asked Archer. “I’m not looking for you to suicide just so we can-”
“I’m already dead, Archer,” snapped Trevor. “Look, all you need to know is that this will turn your sword into something that can hurt the fabricants on a very large scale. You just need cut into their commander with it, the one that looks almost like a human.”
“The Knight Fabricant,” said Archer.
Trevor nodded.
“You’ve done good,
little brother,” said Trevor. “You’re exactly what this city needs. Take care of Vivian for me. And kill Tensmoth, if you get a chance.”
“Trevor!” Archer tried to pull the sword back, but whatever his brother had intended to do appeared to have already been done. Trevor was nowhere to be seen, and the Frequency Claymore had a new, resonant quality to it. It felt tingly in his hands, and the electricity that normally pulsed up and down the length of the blade was more rhythmic than usual.
“Archer!” Ada’s voice cut into his ear over the speaker. “Archer, are you in position!”
“I am,” he said, slowly exhaling breath and emotion. “Ada, the plan has changed. This is going to be a direct strike. We’re not picking them off one by one.”
“Do you know something that I don’t, Archer?” she asked.
“Yes.”
He was already scanning through the coal district, and slowly walking down the wall to give himself a full view of the area. It took him a couple of minutes to spot his opponent.
The Knight Fabricant stood in front of the breach, sword already held in hand, like an ancient warlord surveying a city in the midst of being sacked. There were a couple of fabricants in the area around him, but beyond that, he was open, as though tempting Archer to move against him.
This is it, then. I can’t lose this time.
“Have the Watchers focus on distracting the fabricants,” he said. “Don’t worry about killing them. Just keep them off my back.”
“I’ll do it,” said Ada. “If you promise me you won’t do something that gets you killed.”
“I already made that promise to someone, and I fully intend to keep it.”
Archer leapt down from the inner wall, feeling a thrill of excitement as the fall picked up speed. He landed on top of a concrete building that he recognized. It was the recruitment office he’d been in only the week before, back when he’d been living another life.
He hopped down into the street and was almost immediately assailed by a fabricant approaching from a nearby alleyway. Archer swung the Frequency Claymore, swatting aside the first of the fingers to zoom toward him.
He feigned a step forward and then spun, slicing two of the fabricant’s scorpion legs free from its body. Another one was on him before he got a chance to finish the first. Archer spun, trying to knock away the fingers as they descended on him, a black cloud of nano weapons.
“Keep moving!” shouted Ada, through the speaker. “The Watchers can’t fire with you in the way!”
Archer tried to push forward only to find a third fabricant blocking his way. An attack from behind swept his legs out from underneath him. He rolled, dodging, keeping hold of the Frequency Claymore and hoping for the best.
One of the fabricants moved to respond to the patter of gunfire from the wall, running down the street with insect like speed. Out of the two remaining, one was immobile from Archer’s first, leg sheering attack. The other was facing off against him, blocking Archer’s way to the Knight Fabricant.
He twisted his claymore into a sweeping block to fend off another finger attack. A few of the nanobots made it past his guard, sparking with electricity against his armor skin like unusually painful wasp stings. Archer ignored them and hurled himself forward at his opponent.
The armor skin’s assisted strength allowed him to jump high enough to pass by the fabricant’s humanoid upper body as he moved through the air. Archer decapitated it in midair, smiling at the precision of his strike. He landed, and was immediately attacked.
The Knight Fabricant had been watching his approach, and met him with a barrage of powerful, and precise sword attacks. Archer fumbled through blocking them, angry that his skill had improved so little since the first encounter against his dangerous opponent.
Strangely, though the Knight Fabricant had no mouth, it seemed to Archer as though it was smiling. It was toying with him, the last capable warrior left defending Tempus, and enjoying every second of it.
I’m not going to give up!
Archer felt hot anger bubbling to the surface. He let out a roar as he brought the Frequency Claymore down in an overhead strike, remembering what Trevor had said. If he could just land one hit, get past the monster’s guard a single time…
The Knight Fabricant caught his slash on its sword and twisted. The Frequency Claymore was ripped from Archer’s hand, flying off in the direction of the wall. Archer stumbled backward, falling to the ground, practically at his opponent’s mercy.
Surprisingly, rather than feeling fear, or anger at his impending doom, Archer felt a sudden curiosity take hold. The fact that the fabricants were attacking now, after the breach, didn’t seem like the full story of the why behind the partial destruction of Tempus. There was more to it than just that, and Archer knew it.
“Why now?” he asked. “If you wanted us dead, you could have dropped nukes on us. You could have dropped fabricants over the walls. Why…? Why do you kill us now?”
The Knight Fabricant spoke, though the words came not through sound, but boomed within Archer’s own head.
THERE IS NO LIFE, AND THERE IS NO DEATH. LET GO OF THE ILLUSION AND ACCEPT THE INEVITABLE.
Archer could only stare at the thing, the man shaped monster that stood in front of him. He was terrified, of his own death and of the consequences of his failure. He pulled himself back to his feet just as the Knight Fabricant began its killing charge.
He managed to dodge the first slash, pressing forward with a hard punch to the jaw that would have dropped any human back in his street fighting days. The Knight Fabricant held its weapon in two of its four hands, and the free ones pushed Archer backward before he could get in a follow up strike.
Time seemed to come to a standstill for a horrifying moment. The Knight Fabricant took advantage of the room it had been given, pulling its hideous sword back and rushing forward. Archer dodged to the side, but not fast enough.
The point of the Knight Fabricant’s weapon dug through the metal of Archer’s armor skin, and then through his flesh, skewering him across the edge of his abdomen. He screamed as the sword tip continued out the back of his armor skin. He knew that it was over.
Archer saw his mother in his mind’s eye. He thought back to the last time he’d seen her. It had meant so much to him that she’d recognized him, even if it had only been for a second. Memories were so much more tenuous and fleeting than he’d ever realized.
Will anyone remember me? Or Tempus? The massacre that’s about to take place here?
“Archer!” Vivian’s voice cut through the air like a warning siren. Archer managed to summon the energy to glance away from the Knight Fabricant, who had begun lifting him into the air on his sword, to see Vivian standing a short distance in front of the wall, holding his Frequency Claymore.
She was limping on one side, from where the techs had failed to repair her armor suit enough to give her full mobility, but it didn’t matter. Vivian pulled the sword back over her head and heaved it into the air. The sun gleamed off its shining edge as it tumbled hilt over blade in a slow arc, heading straight for Archer and the Knight Fabricant.
He reached his hands up and said a silent prayer, having barely enough energy to even do that much. His eyes tracked the sword as if in slow motion, and when it came within his reach, the hilt was pointed toward him. Archer caught it.
The Knight Fabricant seemed to realize the danger and desperation in what was happening. He moved to pull his sword free. Archer stepped forward, sliding himself along the serrated edge of the monster’s sword. The pain was almost enough to knock him unconscious, but he couldn’t miss his chance.
He swung his Frequency Claymore with all the strength he had left. He pictured Trevor’s face as the blade made contact with the Knight Fabricant’s neck. Light exploded into Archer’s view screen. It wouldn’t have mattered if he’d had his eyes open to see what happened next. He was unconscious before he hit the ground, the medical sensors in the armor skin flashing red and screaming out in wa
rning.
CHAPTER 44
“It’s okay… I’m right here.”
He heard Leigh’s voice, soft, saintly, and perfect. As far as Archer could figure, it wasn’t evidence either way, of him being alive or being dead. But, the searing pain from the wound in his stomach, on the other hand, certainly was.
Leigh…
It took him a moment to blink his eyes open, the lingering paralysis of sleep holding for a couple of claustrophobic seconds. He was back in Karen’s medical office, again. Leigh was sitting in a chair that she’d pulled all the way up to his hospital bed, one of her hands resting gently on his shoulder.
“Twice in one day,” he muttered. “So unlucky.”
“It’s been days since the battle,” said Leigh. “We actually weren’t sure if…”
She trailed off, but there was no need for her to finish. Archer knew that if the pain and exhaustion he was feeling indicative of anything, it was of him having danced with death.
“The city…” he said. “What happened?”
“You did it,” said Leigh. She squeezed his shoulder. “You went out there and did exactly what you said you were going to do, and so much more.”
It took him an embarrassingly long time to look over at her. Leigh was crying, softly and silently. Judging from her expression, they were tears of joy. He was about to push further and get details when the door opened, and Ada stepped through.
A broad, genuine smile came across her face as she walked over to Archer’s bedside. She nodded once slowly before saying anything.
“I knew that there was something about you, from the very beginning,” said Ada. “Something that we could count on.”
“I need the details,” said Archer. “Is the breach still open…? The fabricants… and how the hell did you get me back into Tempus?”
“You were fighting with the humanoid fabricant,” said Ada. “The two of you were locked in a death struggle. Vivian threw your Vibrational Claymore to you, and you managed to land a solid hit. After that, it was like someone flipped a switch.”
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