Rise in Revolution (Chapter Twenty-Nine)
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saladloveChapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Twenty-Nine
What Heaven Discards
Train Station Beta-3, Sector SOV. March 22, 2272. Time instance 842N.
“Remind me why we’re attacking today,” Kyir hissed to Seven as they peered around the wall of the building at the train station up the road.
“They’re sufficiently spread out and will regroup if we don’t strike,” Seven explained.
“I barely got Nine’s wings done. All he’s gotten in is a couple of test crashes.”
“Test crashes?”
“He means test flights,” Nine mumbled. “It’s just I kept crashing. I should probably not try to fly until I get more practice in.”
“After SOV,” Kyir explained.
“After SOV,” Nine agreed, reluctantly. “Are we ready?”
Kyir glanced around at their assembled forces. Most of them were still back in IAL, waiting for them to send a message through to disable the turrets so they could send a train to pick them up. The leaders of the rebellion- the Black Market- were there, as well as a few of the more useful members of the revolution.
They were maybe thirty strong, but it would have to be enough. Kyir gave Fall a quick nod and she forced a pained smile. He could see thinly veiled terror in her eyes. This was her first time in combat since being freed of the Mainframe and she didn’t have a lot of confidence in her abilities, being only a two thousand unit. She had been instructed to stay near allies and not to get cornered and she would be fine.
Presumably.
Kyir looked back at Nine and nodded. “Looks like it.”
“We’re ready,” Tanadin assured. “Let’s go.”
Kyir glanced behind him at where M and Zahnra were standing. Looks like they’ve seen the five thousand, too. Good. “Let’s do this.” Zahnra growled assent and flexed her claws. Kyir quietly reflected that he’d probably never get used to having an eight-foot-tall human-wolf hybrid with black fur and piercing purple eyes backing him up, but he sure wasn’t complaining.
Seven and Nine exchanged glances. “I bet I can kill more two thousands in that first group than you,” Nine said, grinning.
Seven raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see.”
With that, they charged forward, blades extended and guns blazing. Seven jumped to land right in the midst of one group while Nine briefly activated the thruster on his back to copy the action. Gunshots rang out and blades flashed and soon the twenty-something tightly packed two thousands lay dead. The rest of the revolution charged forward, swarming towards the rest of the train station’s forces- more two thousands, a half-dozen three thousands, and a five thousand, from what Kyir could see.
As Kyir passed Nine, he heard him ask, “How many did you get?”
“Twelve. You?”
“Ten!” Nine sounded offended. “How?! I have two gun hands!”
Kyir thought he caught a glimpse of Seven grinning teasingly, but he wasn’t sure, as he was quickly upon the five thousand unit as he flashed forward in an attempt to catch it off guard. His sword bounced off of its metal side and he darted away before it could really react, pausing to turn before repeating the action.
He almost ran right into M, but amazingly, the cowled figure moved out of the way despite the speed of Kyir’s passage. He was almost hit by the three thousand unit he paused by as he stopped, dumbfounded, but quickly flashed out of the way.
Nice going, Lu’ann. Just make a huge fucking fool of yourself while you’re at it.
He did stop momentarily, however, to watch Zahnra’s claws dig into a chink in the unit’s armor and rip its arm right off, circuits sparking and metal flying. M immediately shot a spike of something- ‘darkness’ wasn’t quite the right term, but Kyir didn’t know how else to describe it- into the opening provided, causing the unit to stumble and spark with further damages. Kyir charged forward and failed to damage it once more- damn five thousands and their stupid everything- but he didn’t really need to, as Zahnra finished it off seconds later.
Kyir grinned fiercely to his teammates. “Fuck yeah! I’m going to start shutting off these turrets- no way I can control them while the control center’s still active- and you cover me. Got it?”
Zahnra roared at a three thousand unit and charged it, completely ignoring him, but Kyir thought he could see a barely perceptible nod from M. He sheathed his sword and flashed over to a turret to start working, ignoring the combat going on around him.
Either everything left Kyir alone or M was protecting him very well, as he was never aware of anything trying to kill him while he moved from turret to turret, prying open control panels and shutting them off from within. He left them mostly undamaged, hoping that he could use them later, but he unplugged a few wires to ensure that the control center couldn’t reactivate them remotely.
He was only aware of the battle ending when his ears were assaulted with the sound of the rebels cheering and shouting. He growled quietly in annoyance and ignored them until he finished with the last turret, standing up and immediately looking for Gali. He found her kneeling by someone’s side with Scara and frowned slightly, making his way over.
Had he been anyone else, he might have cringed.
Jimmy had several bullet wounds to the torso and a bad gash on her chest that looked like it had been aimed at her neck. She seemed to be unconscious- hopefully only unconscious- and her shirt seemed soaked in blood. Gali clasped one of her hands in a death grip, shaking slightly, as Scara shuddered with the effort of healing Jimmy’s wounds and keeping her alive.
Devan quickly arrived as well and Scara slumped in relief. “I can’t do anything about that gash,” she gasped, “only the bullets. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, I can do it,” Devan assured, opening up his medical kit and getting to work.
Kyir turned and left them alone. Gali was in no state to carry messages. He considered flashing through the tunnel to IAL, but he decided against it- he didn’t have the energy to go that quickly for that long. He got M’s attention and asked him to do it and the mysterious figure left without a word, moving faster than even Kyir had dared to hope.
What is he?
Kyir sighed and sat down, leaning back against a wall and shutting his eyes to rest for a few minutes, even as Tanadin and Clash raced off to melt parts of the alpha and gamma tracks, making the beta station tracks- the one they controlled- the only way to and from SOV.
Fortunately, backup from ASQ was unlikely. SOV held thousands of seven thousand units. The idea that it would need backup from ASQ- a place that held similar numbers of cyborgs to IAL- was ridiculous.
And so very, very wrong.
~~~
Emma felt her heart leap when the sound of a train rolling down the tracks could be heard. She watched the train tunnel intently and grinned when a train rumbled its way into the light, coming to a halt in the station and opening its doors to let the rest of the IAL rebels out. Cheering could be heard as they poured from the depths of the train.
Tanadin wasted no time in calling for them to move out once they were ready. They sent Devan, Gali, and the wounded back to IAL in order to get them treated in safety, but everyone else moved out with the exception of a few left to guard the station with the instructions to damage the tracks if they couldn’t hold back the cyborgs. They couldn’t be allowed to reach IAL.
Not that that was Emma’s main concern. She gripped her sword tightly as they marched through the streets, destroying any cyborgs they came across easily on their way to the prison. Seven had tried to talk them out of assaulting the prison- after all, last time had been a waste of time for the most part- but Nine convinced him after insisting that SOV had a high-security prison and thus high-security prisoners.
Not to mention that control center would likely order all prisoners killed once the assault on the control center itself started. Emma shuddered at the thought of leaving them alone to die in their cells to the bullets of the cyborgs.
She wasn’t about to let that happen.
As they walked, Emma overheard Seven voicing his concerns to Tanadin.
“There were a couple of seven thousand units at the train station and there are likely to be a few more inside the prison. The control center is likely currently activating all of its three thousand units and, once its done with those, it will move on to the seven thousands. We have maybe an hour before that happens, and if even a few hundred of those are activated, we’re screwed. We can take out three thousands because their prediction software and dodging capabilities aren’t good enough to fight us properly, but against seven thousands, even Nine and I won’t be any kind of advantage- only a neutralizing force, and only against one seven thousand each. I’m more metal than most, and Nine has wings- that he can barely use, though- so we have a slight advantage over regular seven thousands, but not enough to take out more than a few at a time.”
Tanadin clenched her fists, her flames burning brighter in...fear? Determination? Emma couldn’t tell.
“Then we’ll just have to find a way to stop the control center from activating them, won’t we?” With that, they rounded the corner and the prison of sector SOV came into sight.
SOV’s prison was far larger and much better defended than IAL’s, with more turrets and two seven thousand units standing outside as if waiting for them. They immediately opened fire, as did Seven and Nine. A couple of rebels dropped, but one of the seven thousands was hit, unable to avoid the four well-placed bullets flying at him at once and choosing to take the one that would damage him the least.
Emma had originally questioned why they had given Seven one of their few guns- after all, he already had a gun in his hand. Watching the absolute precision that he had with it, though, all her doubts were washed away. She watched Seven and Nine charge into combat, shooting at the turrets as they went with blades extending from their arms to battle the other seven thousands.
Say what you will about cyborgs, but they’re a force to be reckoned with and an amazing thing to have on your side. Emma gripped her sword tighter as Seven and Nine engaged one of the cyborgs. He had his hands full keeping both of them occupied, even though Nine was also distracted with avoiding or stopping the attacks of the other seven thousand.
An extra bullet from Fall was what caused the cyborg’s final mistake. He jerked out of the way of the bullet and Seven swung, leaving him with nowhere to go.
He fell to the ground as he bled out through his neck, but neither Nine nor Seven payed him any attention as they turned to the other cyborg. She was quickly dispatched in a similar manner and the two cyborgs led the way inside the prison, at which point everyone scattered to destroy turrets and free prisoners as quickly as possible. Emma found herself running along with Tanadin and Kyir, the former she was grateful for and the latter she wasn’t so sure about.
She found herself worried that either of them would meet the same fate Clash had last time they stormed a prison, and ‘regular’ fire elementals- kirinax, Tanadin had corrected her what felt like months ago but was really only a couple of weeks- nor humans were known for their resurrection capabilities.
In short, Emma was very tense as they ran up the stairs and shot at turrets, and almost screeched every time a cyborg rounded the corner.
Tanadin paused as they reached a cell and her eyes widened- at least, they seemed to. It was hard to tell when they were made of blue flames.
“Xela?!”
The figure inside the cell looked up and stared with bright teal eyes, jaw hanging open in shock to show two fangs mixed in with her other teeth. She was maybe five feet tall and had short brown hair. She had darker skin but it looked much paler than it probably should have. Several theories as to why flashed through Emma’s head but the girl’s teeth made her very suspicious. She looked to be in her early twenties, and considering the fact that Tanadin and Kyir both seemed to recognize her, she was probably not a normal human.
The eyes kind of gave her that impression, too.
“Tanadin! Kyir! Girl I’ve never met but I’m happy to see anyway!” Xela jumped to her feet and raced over to the bars. She spoke with a lisp and Emma wondered if it had to do with her fangs.
“Holy shit. I can’t believe we found you in here,” Tanadin muttered, stepping up to the lock and immediately setting about melting through it. “I can’t…”
“I told you she’d be here,” Kyir snapped. “I knew Xela couldn’t keep herself out of Mainframe prison and I knew that if she’d be anywhere, she’d be here. Where’s your laptop?”
“It’s safe,” Xela assured. “I made sure of that. Couldn’t let the Mainframe get its grubby circuits on it. It’s out in ASQ, though. They transferred me to SOV prison immediately. Apparently I’m one of their most dangerous prisoners. Can you believe that? Me! Dangerous!”
Kyir snorted. “It’s because you’re good with computers, Xela. They don’t like that. You can fuck them up.”
Xela nodded and looked over at Emma. “Hello. Who are you?”
“My name’s Emma.”
“She’s a friend. She transferred to IAL and ended up getting us a cyborg, so we overthrew the control center, got another cyborg, and now we’re taking over the world,” Tanadin told her.
Xela stared. “Really? I’d love to hear that story.”
“Let’s wait until we’ve taken out SOV,” Tanadin suggested as the cell door swung open. “We stumbled across the jackpot with you.” She stepped forward and hugged her friend, stepping back to let Kyir highfive her.
Xela stepped forward and shook Emma’s hand. “I’m Xela. As you can probably tell, I’m a computer-oriented socially inept vampire with a lisp and a brain too fast for my mouth. Send help.”
“She’s a genius,” Tanadin translated. “She and Kyir are fucking brilliant.”
“Why thank you. What’s the plan from here?”
“Free the rest of the prisoners and take over SOV before they activate all the seven thousand units.”
“Oh. Well if you show me to the prison terminal I might be able to slow down their activation of units. No promises.”
Kyir grinned widely and whooped. “I missed you, Xela. You can solve ANYTHING involving computers!”
“I am the hacking master,” Xela admitted. “Let’s fucking do this. Payback for practically starving me in that prison cell. They fed me once every two weeks. Two weeks! And only a tiny amount of blood! What’s with that? That’s the bare minimum I need to survive! All this excitement has me woozy! Fuck!”
Tanadin barked with laughter. “It’s good to see you haven’t changed, Xela.”
Kyir jerked his thumb at the stairwell. “You find the prison terminal and get her working on that. Emma and I can keep searching for prisoners.”
Tanadin looked at him doubtfully. “How will you open the locks?”
“I can do that from the terminal,” Xela added. “Assuming I can get in. Which I almost definitely can. I sure hacked ASQ’s prison system and I can’t imagine they made SOV that different. It’s easier from the terminal itself, from a distance it’s sometimes-”
“Xela. Focus.”
“Right. Sorry. I’m just excited. Anyway, I can open the locks but the doors can only be opened from the outside, so you have to let ‘em all out.”
“We can do that,” Emma assured. “Good luck, Xela!”
“Thanks. Tanadin, lead the way!”
“I don’t know where I’m going! One of the cyborgs might. Let’s find them.” The two descended the staircase arguing about where the cyborgs were likely to be before Emma realized that Kyir had already turned and left. She scrambled to keep up, shouting for him to wait for her.
When she caught up, she swatted his arm. “Don’t leave me behind like that! You know I can’t fight anything off.”
“Boo hoo.” Kyir stalked through rows of empty cells and stopped by one that contained a demon, who jumped to her feet and bared her teeth when they stopped.
“Are you here to rescue us?”
“Yep. Hang on while my genius friend unlocks the doors.”
The demon roared in victory. “Excellent! Do you have something to get this collar off?”
“Look for a seven thousand unit answering to the name of Seven. Trenchcoat, hat, pasty white guy with a metal left half.” Kyir’s mouth twitched in an imitation of a smile as hundreds of quiet clicks could be heard throughout the building. He reached forward and opened the cell door. “Off you go.”
She howled with bestial joy and raced off down the hallway, tail striking the walls and creating gashes in the paint.
“Fuckin’ weirdo,” Kyir grumbled before turning and racing off down the hallway. “You get the left, I’ll get the right.” Emma nodded and glanced into cells they passed, pausing to open the doors if they contained a prisoner.
As she passed a cell she had thought empty, she heard rustling and a quiet, rough voice rasping something. She stopped and backpedaled to look through the bars at the figure that had risen to his feet.
He was about 5’4 and had skin slightly darker than Emma’s. He had black hair and two small horns curving out the sides of his head, pointing forward. Dark claws extended from his fingertips and shone faintly in the light from the hallway. Dark shapes she assumed were wings were folded against his back and shuffled slightly as he looked at her. His eye- with a shock, she realized that he had a rough leather eyepatch covering his left eye, or where it once was- was bright purple with a reptilian pupil trained right on her. He was hard to get a good look at in the darkness of his cell- the light fixture seemed to be broken- but he had an anti-magic collar around his neck with a blinking red light indicating that both the tracking and the magic suppression functions were working.
He stopped to let her look him over before repeating himself. “You’re not going to leave me in here, are you?”
“No. Sorry. I didn’t see you.” Emma reached forward and opened the door.
“Thanks.” A wolfish grin spread across the man’s face and he moved forward to step through the door, so quickly that Emma had to scramble backwards. He spread his wings once he entered the light and roared triumphantly. His wings were covered in glossy black feathers that caught Emma’s attention immediately. He was clearly a demon, but she had never seen nor heard of a demon with feathered wings before.
His roar grabbed Kyir’s attention as well and he turned briefly to evaluate him to check if he was a threat. He shrugged it off and started to turn back around before suddenly looking at him again, his mind finally registering what he was seeing.
“Cataclysm?!”
The demon had started to fold his wings but froze as he heard Kyir’s voice, head snapping up to identify the source. “Kyir!?”
“Holy SHIT!” A grin- a real, happy, excited grin- lit up Kyir’s face and he charged forward, almost knocking the demon down as he hugged him tightly. “Holy shit, Cataclysm you fucking piece of shit I thought you were dead! When you...when you and Corvus...I thought…”
“I thought you were dead!”
“Me?! Why did you think I was dead?!” Kyir pulled away from him to look at him oddly.
Cataclysm looked a little sheepish. “I just...I jumped to conclusions, okay?”
Kyir sighed and swatted at his shoulder. “You stupid fuck but by the gods am I glad to see you.”
Cataclysm grinned and flapped his wings. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you. I’d given up hope of getting out of here!”
“I’d given up hope of ever seeing anyone I ever gave a shit about ever again! We found Xela a few minutes ago, and now you! This is fantastic!”
Emma, meanwhile, was stunned into silence. She’d never seen Kyir like this before, and Cataclysm…
He was fascinating.
He was someone that Kyir actually cared about, he had odd feathered wings, and he was missing an eye on the same side that Kyir had his scar. He was shorter than she was and was a demon, who were normally quite tall.
Unfortunately, she didn’t really have time to think about it.
“I hate to interrupt this reunion, but we need to free the other prisoners.”
“Right.” Kyir hugged Cataclysm one last time and set off down the hallway, flashing between cells and opening them as quickly as he could. Cataclysm rolled his eye at his friend.
“Asshole hasn’t changed. Anyway, thanks for letting me out of there.” He extended a hand to shake. “Cataclysm.”
“Emma.” She shook his hand, being mindful of his claws. “I have a friend downstairs, a cyborg that goes by Seven, who could get that collar off of you.”
“No!” The violence of Cataclysm’s outburst made her jump. “No! It’s not safe.”
Emma frowned. “No, it’s okay. Seven’s perfectly safe. He-”
“Not him. Me.”
“You?”
Cataclysm shook his head. “Just...trust me. I’m keeping it on.”
“At least smash the tracker!”
“Tracker?”
Emma pointed at the light. Cataclysm cheerfully broke it. “I’d ask Geek how to make sure it’s gone.”
“Gladly.” Cataclysm spread his wings and flapped them a few times, flexing his claws. “But first, I’m going to see if there’s any cyborgs around that I can kill. I want some fucking vengeance.”
Emma smiled at him. “Would you like company? There’s a few cyborgs that are on our side that I should probably point out.” She patted the sword at her side.
Cataclysm grinned. “If you can keep up with the Furious Duo, then you’re more than welcome to come along.”
And with that, he raced down the hallway after Kyir. Emma wasn’t far behind, wondering, not for the first nor last time, what she had gotten herself into.
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Date: 2016-06-07 09:44 pm (UTC)Seven raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see.”
This seems like the bet between Legolas and Gimli XD
As Kyir passed Nine, he heard him ask, “How many did you get?”
“Twelve. You?”
“Ten!” Nine sounded offended. “How?! I have two gun hands!”
Kyir thought he caught a glimpse of Seven grinning teasingly, but he wasn’t sure
Definitely the same battle banter betting as between Legolas and Gimli ^_^
Jimmy had several bullet wounds to the torso and a bad gash on her chest that looked like it had been aimed at her neck. She seemed to be unconscious- hopefully only unconscious- and her shirt seemed soaked in blood. Gali clasped one of her hands in a death grip, shaking slightly, as Scara shuddered with the effort of healing Jimmy’s wounds and keeping her alive.
Devan quickly arrived as well and Scara slumped in relief. “I can’t do anything about that gash,” she gasped, “only the bullets. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, I can do it,” Devan assured, opening up his medical kit and getting to work.
Doing the best that I can Jimmy, bullet wounds are bastards to heal. Hold on, Devan will fix you right up.
“Tanadin! Kyir! Girl I’ve never met but I’m happy to see anyway!” Xela jumped to her feet and raced over to the bars.
Excellent first line from a new character XD
Xela stepped forward and shook Emma’s hand. “I’m Xela. As you can probably tell, I’m a computer-oriented socially inept vampire with a lisp and a brain too fast for my mouth. Send help.”
“She’s a genius,” Tanadin translated. “She and Kyir are fucking brilliant.”
I love Xela already XD She and Kyir are going to make an unstoppable team
“Look for a seven thousand unit answering to the name of Seven. Trenchcoat, hat, pasty white guy with a metal left half.” Kyir’s mouth twitched in an imitation of a smile as hundreds of quiet clicks could be heard throughout the building. He reached forward and opened the cell door. “Off you go.”
LMAO at Kyir's description of Seven XD
“Holy SHIT!” A grin- a real, happy, excited grin- lit up Kyir’s face and he charged forward, almost knocking the demon down as he hugged him tightly. “Holy shit, Cataclysm you fucking piece of shit I thought you were dead! When you...when you and Corvus...I thought…”
“I thought you were dead!”
“Me?! Why did you think I was dead?!” Kyir pulled away from him to look at him oddly.
Cataclysm looked a little sheepish. “I just...I jumped to conclusions, okay?”
Kyir sighed and swatted at his shoulder. “You stupid fuck but by the gods am I glad to see you.”
Cataclysm grinned and flapped his wings. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you. I’d given up hope of getting out of here!”
“I’d given up hope of ever seeing anyone I ever gave a shit about ever again! We found Xela a few minutes ago, and now you! This is fantastic!”
Huzzah for happy Kyir, I feel Kyir and Catacyslm's reunion needs music *puts on Thin Lizzy's 'The Boys Are Back In Town'* There we go much better XD
Emma, meanwhile, was stunned into silence. She’d never seen Kyir like this before, and Cataclysm…
He was fascinating.
And so Emma's crush on Seven fades away to fascination with Cataclysm XD
“Emma.” She shook his hand, being mindful of his claws. “I have a friend downstairs, a cyborg that goes by Seven, who could get that collar off of you.”
“No!” The violence of Cataclysm’s outburst made her jump. “No! It’s not safe.”
Emma frowned. “No, it’s okay. Seven’s perfectly safe. He-”
“Not him. Me.”
“You?”
Cataclysm shook his head. “Just...trust me. I’m keeping it on.”
Hmmmmmm.....is Cataclysm how Kyir got his scar I wonder?
Great chapter Tanadin ^_^
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Date: 2016-06-07 09:48 pm (UTC)it's just the bros
Team Furious.
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Date: 2016-06-07 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-10 12:56 pm (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: 2016-06-10 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-10 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-10 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-11 12:33 pm (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: 2016-06-11 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-14 12:14 pm (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: 2016-06-14 08:23 pm (UTC)