by Pal, J
The queen screeched and flapped her giant wings, sending a powerful blast of air through the room. It knocked Morpheus backwards and me onto my bottom. Her thrashing sent Winnie flying, but he extended an arm, hooked onto the wall, and pulled himself away. The little guy must have picked up the idea of going for the eyes after watching me do it numerous times.
During her panicked thrashing, the queen stumbled backwards, rubbing at the wound with one of her forearms. She ended up putting all her weight on her left hind leg and accidentally stepped on her mate’s back. A sickening crack filled the room, and the “Disassemble” button lit up on my display. The queen screeched again. This time, she almost deafened us. Finally, she understood what had happened. The big girl had just killed her mate.
Miley reshaped her liquid-metal tentacles into a single appendage and speared it up towards the queen’s head. The newly made golem missed as the giant beast leapt off her mate. The attack pierced one of her wings instead, traveled through, and hit the wall behind her. The tentacle’s point spread, attaching itself to the wall before pulling Miley upwards. She slammed into the wing and pinned it to the wall. Then Morpheus aimed his left arm at the boss and doused it in flame.
Meanwhile, I had gotten back on my feet and ran to the domed room’s wall. Miley and Morpheus had the queen pinned—all of her attention was on them. The lab coat’s camo function made sneaking around easier. Now I needed to get in unnoticed and attack a critical point. Once in position, I activated the Pogo Heelies and launched myself into the air high above the queen’s head. When passing the apex of my jump, I latched onto the wall using my belt. My heart thumped in my chest as I hung above the queen. A single slip up, and I’d land straight on her head.
The queen looked up and saw me above her, Sonic Shotgun at the ready. Damn. I had made too much noise getting in position, and her keen eyes saw through the device at close range. She screeched again, thrashing intensifying. The platyhawk slashed her free arm blindly and kicked her hind legs, trying to keep Morpheus away. She tried stretching her neck to snap at me but, fortunately, I was just out of her reach. In return, the queen got a blast to the face. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the daze effect I wanted. We were too far from one another, and her bones were too thick.
Much to my surprise, the beast sacrificed her pinned limb. When it became clear that getting Miley and Morpheus off was impossible, she launched herself towards me using her hind legs. Miley remained pinned in place, ripping through the fabric that formed her wings. Again, the beast was willing to sacrifice her well-being to end me. She came at me, beak wide open. I scrambled upwards, firing the Sonic Shotgun at her again, but again, it didn’t do enough damage.
Then it hit me—her beak was open, and I had other weapons available! The Charge Launcher’s shield parted, and the barrel slid out. “Hurry the hell up!” I yelled at the gun, and the device followed my instructions, charging up in the blink of an eye. I noticed my energy bar drained partway too.
Did this mean I could burn energy to speed up the systems or overload them? “There is no try. Only do,” I mumbled to myself and watched my energy bar continue to shrink.
Morpheus and Miley had grabbed a limb each and were trying to drag the queen down. I supposed Kitty felt terrible that she had failed to keep the monster’s attention. But to be fair, I had only needed the stealth to get up high. My best source of damage against this monster was the Charge Launcher, and to hurt her, I needed her attention.
The muzzle glowed brighter than it ever had before, and my arm felt warm as the weapon overheated—the next upgrade would require cooling systems. I waited for the perfect moment. The queen snapped at me before she dropped. Then her muscles bunched up before she launched at me once more. I unleashed my attack when she opened her massive jaws again.
If Liam had already recovered, his Mega Brain would’ve likely done the math and told him I was an idiot and needed to retreat. We didn’t realize this was the queen’s all-or-nothing gambit. We had killed all of her children and her mate. She had likely realized that her chances of survival were nil. As a last-ditch effort, she wanted to take one of us with her. These creatures had long proven to us that they were smarter than they appeared.
The queen’s jump carried her much further than we’d expected or thought possible. I fired, and the projectile shot down her gullet, but her massive beak didn’t close as it continued to fly towards me. My muscles locked up, and a painful grip closed on my chest, watching my arm disappear inside the boss-class monster. The Charge Launcher charged up much faster than it ever had before firing once again.
I was sure the projectiles were ravaging the queen’s insides, but nothing deterred her. Kitty screamed through Morpheus, but her words made no sense to me as I watched the massive beak close on my arm just below the elbow. Then she fell, and a blinding pain ripped through my right shoulder.
When the monster fell, she took my forearm and the Charge Launcher with her. A heartbeat later, several syringes peppered my leg, shoulder, and left bicep, washing away the pain in my bicep and shoulder. However, the alarm from seeing everything below my elbow missing had my stomach churning and head spinning. At the same time, a burning rage burned through my body. I still felt a link to my weapon. It sat in the creature’s mouth, and she was about to swallow. So, using a mental nudge, I activated the Sonic Barrier Projector.
We didn’t observe any physical change, but the queen’s eyes bulged, and her beak opened. Then I got the Sonic Shotgun to fire too. We heard the boom through her massive maw, and she spat the weapon out before collapsing. Miley speared her through the neck, and my goggles confirmed her death.
Kitty opened up Morpheus and leapt out as soon as I got to ground level. She spoke so fast that almost none of her words registered. I did pick up more than a dozen “sorries” though. It wasn’t just the missing limb that alarmed me. Instead, it was the lack of pain and the already-closed injury. My brain didn’t want to accept that the limb was missing.
Liam scuttled over wordlessly. He collected the mangled and blood-covered mess that was my arm. I failed to keep the vomit down when I saw it. Kitty rubbed my back as I threw up breakfast and stomach acid.
“At least the Charge Launcher is okay,” I said, wiping my mouth. Neither of my friends replied.
Chapter Fourteen
Dismembered
“I’m so sorry, Matt,” Kitty said through tears as Liam took apart the nest’s core. She threw her arms around me, sobbing. “I lost my balance when she crouched, and Miley isn’t ready to go independent yet. I should’ve been controlling her—”
“It’s okay,” I told her.
“No, it’s not! I failed, and you got hurt.”
“It’s not your fault.” The pressure from her holding me helped alleviate the discomfort in my chest. “We had her, Kitty, and she knew it. The queen lost everything, and that was a last-ditch effort to take us out with everything she had left. None of us could have seen that coming.”
“He’s right,” Liam joined us, holding two McGuffins. His legs had reattached themselves, and all the bent metal bits were smooth and straight. Only scratches remained as a memory of the damage he had suffered. “We did everything as well as we could considering our numbers and weapons at hand. Animals are supposed to look for a way out when everything is lost or give up altogether. We couldn’t have foreseen her making a suicidal move just to take Matt out.”
“You and Miley had her pinned. If anything, she should’ve been going for you and trying to get free.” I gave her a little squeeze. “It’s not your fault.”
Kitty studied the wound. The half a dozen syringes lying on the floor around us had all emptied their contents in me. Pale skin had grown over the little nub that remained of my forearm. It looked ridiculous when I moved the limb, and I felt my stomach churning again.
“Are you okay, Matt?” Liam’s metal armor receded as he spoke, revealing more of his brain.
“Of course not,” I replied. “I lost a b
loody arm, and it hurt like hell.”
“Can’t we fix it?” Kitty asked. “Reattach it, maybe?”
“Doesn’t look like it,” Liam answered. “It’s pretty freaking mangled.”
“What the hell is wrong with you, Liam? There’s no need to be so—”
“Can we get out of here and continue this at a later time?” I asked, cutting the conversation short. Liam had not recovered from significant damage, and Kitty’s eyes kept wandering to the stump. Her pale face and quivering lip suggested she wasn’t okay. “This isn’t going to be okay for quite some time, and if you didn’t fill me with the Medi Gun’s drugs, I’d be worse off. We can’t deal with it while we’re here though.”
Liam peeled the Charge Launcher off what remained of my forearm. Neither Kitty nor I could bear to watch. She busied herself by fixing the little damage Morpheus and Winnie had suffered. Meanwhile, I took apart the two bosses. Out of habit, I reached for the first corpse with my right arm. The squeezing feeling in my chest intensified—this would take quite a while to get used to. Most jarring of all was to see it gone but not having pain accompany the discomfort.
Materials stored for creations and upgrades:
king platyhawk’s hide
queen platyhawk’s hide
queen platyhawk’s skeleton
king platyhawk’s claws
queen platyhawk’s claws
king platyhawk’s beak
queen platyhawk’s beak
biometal gland x3
boneplating
bone-growth accelerator
bone compressor
McGuffin x4
The list went on and on, listing several materials I already had or didn’t need, like optics upgrades and plasma absorbers. I planned on saving them for Kitty’s future golems or handing them off to the Menagerie.
“Do you think you can build a device to regrow the limb?” Kitty asked.
“I’ll try whip up some designs when we get back, but I don’t know where to start. None of us has the medical knowledge to ensure a device can pull off something that complicated without doing more damage.”
“What about asking Kn—” she fell silent, her eyes darting from side to side, “for help?”
I didn’t have an answer for her. The “bone-growth accelerator” sounded promising, but wouldn’t it be selfish using the device on myself? Fin could put it to better use. I made up my mind then. All the bone-upgrade materials would go to the Menagerie. We’d have to figure out something else for me.
We left the building without taking apart the telescope or its console. The queen had managed to shred it during the fight. None of us were surprised. We had expected such an outcome. Since my storage space had a limit, I prioritized the bosses’ parts. Besides, Liam had all the necessary materials for his 3D printer. Soon he’d have the ability to create most components. We’d need materials besides biometal of course, but I hoped those wouldn’t be too hard to find.
We froze on exiting the building. Liam had just sent the recon drone up to scout the area, and it had detected movement.
“Four figures heading this way,” Liam told us, extending his barrels. “Humans. I think. They’re sticking to the shadows, and it’s hard to tell for sure.”
“Remind me to use a thermal scanner when we upgrade the drone,” I said. More focused on the approaching force, Liam didn’t respond.
Kitty helped me strap the Charge Launcher onto my left arm before climbing onto Morpheus. Winnie helped me get into the raised seat but didn’t join me. Instead, he stood behind me, spikes ready to fire from the leather-covered arms.
“We should run,” I said. “I’m not in fighting form, guys.”
“It’s too late for that.” Liam hovered above us, ready to open fire. “They’ve split up and cut off our escape routes.”
“Don’t worry,” Kitty told me before raising Morpheus’s hood. “The golems and I have got this. We’ll disable them and escape.”
Refusing to feel helpless and not contribute to the solution, I prepared the Charge Launcher. Unfortunately, my coordination with my left arm wasn’t so great. I didn’t trust in my ability to line up the damn crosshairs.
“It can’t be the raiders, can it?” I asked. After we’d settled in our new home, a part of me had hoped they’d follow us into the new sector. Rajesh’s death needed avenging, and we had plenty to use against them. Unfortunately, we weren’t in a position to get into a big fight now. “They’re not stupid enough to follow us into a new sector, tight?”
Much to my surprise, Liam reverted back into his spider-bot form, and the recon drone flew back to join him. “We’re on the same side,” he said, using the sonic boom generator to amplify his voice. “You’ve met us, David, Caitlin.”
It took me a moment to recognize the names. Then they appeared from a side alley. David walked out of the building’s shadow holding his giant multitool weapon. Red metal covered his arms, shoulders, and chest. Caitlin followed him, carrying a massive firearm. A wire extending from its base disappeared under her top. They remained on guard when approaching us, but I stood up and waved at them—using my stump again—and their faces lit up.
“It’s you!” David rushed forward. The metal plating receded, and the multitool shrunk until it was no bigger than his hand. His sister followed him more warily. “Jay! It’s safe!”
Another figure emerged from the street opposite us—they’d been planning a pincer attack. I recognized the name before the face. It was Woofcano! His husky stayed close behind him. She was giant as always. If Liam had said one of the involved lifeforms was a canine, I would’ve assumed it was them sooner.
“That explains why it stinks around here!” Jay yelled.
“What are you doing here?” I asked when they got close.
“We split up when scouting, and I rounded up every cat and dog I could find,” Caitlin answered. “Before Jay could get back and rescue them, the birds got us. Maya tracked them to the observatory.”
“It’s a good thing you’re here,” Jay said. “Want to help us investigate this place?” He petted the giant husky. “Maya thinks they’re in there.”
“We just cleared the nest,” I told them. The pit in my stomach sunk further. “The only thing in there were platyhawks—the birds. I’m sorry, but everything they took from you is long gone.”
Jay’s shoulder drooped. Maya whined, licking at his face.
“We’ve set up a base nearby,” Liam interjected. “We’re not in the best shape and would rather not stay in the open. Would you like to come back with us?”
His offer surprised me. I had told Liam about Jay, and he had met the other two. We didn’t know how taken they were by the mind hack or how the limiters worked with them. I appreciated Liam inviting them though. We needed people, and all had agreed that Woofcano was someone we wanted. Considering his desire to rescue dogs instead of pursuing Alvans, it was safe to assume that the mind hack had taken with him. As for the other two, they felt like good people. We’d have to approach the subject of Alvans carefully.
Morpheus’s dome slid back, and Kitty stood up. “We’ve got plenty of food, soft beds, and hot showers. It’s safe, and we’d love some friends.”
Caitlin and Jay exchanged hesitant looks, but David stepped forward. “You were fair in the hedgehog nest. I like you.” He looked back at his companions. “Let’s go.”
Caitlin sighed audibly, and Jay nodded. We started our journey home, and they followed.
We maintained a slower pace when heading back. Liam flew over our heads, keeping watch, and Jay did the same with a cat. It was as big as an auranther and black as night, yet the feline didn’t shrink as it ran away from us. Watching Jay speak to it and then wave as the cat ran away put a smile on my face. I liked him and his power. It suited him very well.
Morpheus had reverted into his bike form and dragged the trailer behind him. Caitlin, David, and I stood in it together as we descended the hill using the serpentine roads. Kitty rode
her golem with the protective shielding down and struck up a conversation with Caitlin.
“It’s good to see a familiar face. What happened to the other two?”
“We went our separate ways—”
“They betrayed us,” David said, interrupting his sister. The little guy spoke through his teeth as he continued. “After fighting the hedgehogs, we went back to our base to rest. Leah was freaking out about almost dying and wanted to go to the Metalsmith straight away, but we only had enough McGuffins for three people.”
“She fought you for them?” Kitty asked.
Caitlin shook her head. “Leah drugged us. When we woke up the next morning, the McGuffins were gone, and so were they.”
“I’m so sorry,” Kitty said. David looked alarmed when she took her hands off Morpheus and turned around in her seat to face us. “It’s fine. Morpheus drives himself. You didn’t deserve to get robbed.” Kitty glanced at me for a second with worry in her eyes. “Did you tell them about the power upgrade service?”
“I’ll be honest,” Caitlin said, sighing. “We didn’t believe you. I was sure you’d lied to David so he wouldn’t fight you about the McGuffins. Only Leah had a System Assistant summon left and, considering her jumpy state, we kept the information to ourselves.”
“Maya and I found them not long after we met.” Jay joined the conversation. He’d been riding behind the trailer, bringing up the rear. “I told them about the upgrade too, but they didn’t believe me until I tried it in front of them.”
“What happened to your friends?” David asked. He shot Liam a wary glance. “I liked the big guy.”
Kitty looked at me questioningly, but I didn’t see the point in lying, so I told them the truth.
“I don’t know what they call themselves, but one of the groups attacking the Metalsmith ambushed us. We got distracted, and a mantis killed Rajesh. Our group dynamic fell apart not long after. Pallav thought it best if we parted ways.”
