Rise in Revolution (Chapter Thirty)

[tanadin]

 Oh boy. Ohhh boy. Ooohhhhh boy. I hope you didn't unbuckle your seatbelts. Ohhhh boy.

I was feeling kinda weird when I wrote this and my beta didn't get to look it over so there might be issues and/or it might be kinda weird, sorry about that.

Chapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldriel-RiR-map-594639189

Chapter Thirty

Dark Side of Lightning

SOV prison, Sector SOV. March 22, 2272. Time instance 842N.

“It’s no good,” Xela sighed, taking a step back from the console. “The damn thing’s been hardcoded not to be able to affect anything outside the prison itself. I could surpass that if I had a few hours, but from what you’ve said, I don’t.”

“Twenty to forty minutes,” Seven told her. “Do you have a workaround?”

“Well, if you could get me safely to any other Mainframe-controlled terminal that can communicate with the control center, I think I could delay the activation of the seven thousand units. It’s probably too late for the three thousands but I can buy you some time.”

“How much time?” Tanadin asked, frowning.

“Dunno. Longer if I can keep working even after I get it set up. That way I can stop any of the control center’s attempts to circumvent what I’m doing. It’ll be a pain in the ass but I can do it.”

“I’ll take Xela to find a terminal,” Tanadin volunteered. “I’ll grab a few people and take them with me. Seven, do you think you can handle taking out the control center?”

Seven nodded.

“Good. Xela, let’s go. We have some seven thousand units to delay.”

Xela grinned, showing her fangs. “I’m so fucking ready.” She followed Tanadin out of the room and the sound of her asking people to come with her could be heard.

Seven looked over the prison terminal one last time before leaving the room to gather up the rest of the rebels.

He had a control center to take.

~~~

Emma held the hilt of her sword so tightly that her knuckles went white, but she paid them no heed. Approaching the SOV control center was nothing like approaching IAL. There were three thousands patrolling the area and two to six would occasionally appear out of seemingly nowhere and attack the group. They took losses every time and seeing the corpses left on the ground behind them sent shivers down Emma’s spine.

Without Tanadin- her usual person to cling to-, she found herself drifting closer to Seven and Kyir, near the front. This also brought her closer to Cataclysm, who was the only one in the crowd still wearing his magic suppressant collar. Seven had asked to remove it but he had once again denied the offer. He had, however, allowed Seven to turn it down to about half power, limiting whatever Cataclysm was afraid of but still allowing him to fight, albeit not at full power. Emma found looking at his wings interesting and calming, giving her a distraction from the certain death all around them.

She blinked in confusion when Cataclysm glanced backwards at her and nudged Kyir, whispering something. Kyir shot a glance at her and seemed to struggle not to laugh as he responded, causing Cataclysm to growl and nudge him harder, almost throwing him off balance. Kyir snorted but didn’t respond in kind, apparently focusing back on the control center.

What was that about?

They paused once they reached the edge of the city as Seven raised a hand to stop them, evaluating the control center ahead for a few seconds before raising the infamous building-destroying weapon at it.

“Hey, Seven, I’ve got an idea.”

“Hmm?” Seven glanced at Kyir curiously.

“Put as much power as you can into that. Use your shield battery. You’ll do a lot more damage that way.”

“That... seems like a terrible idea.”

“There’s a cyborg charging station down the street, chill your metal tits. Just blow up a shitton of the control center, recharge, and we might not even have anything to fight after that if you hit it right.”

“I still don’t know if this is a good idea,” Seven mumbled.

“Uh, Kyir? I’m not the one holding the weapon or charging the blast and I have warnings popping up on my screen.” Nine crossed his arms, the iris equivalent of his metal eye spinning. “This is a terrible idea.”

“It’ll be fine!” Kyir protested. “Do you or do you not want to trash the control center?”

Seven hesitated.

“For fuck’s sake, man, just do it!”

“Tana did tell me to trust you, so...okay.” A quiet hum filled the air, slowly rising in pitch, as Seven charged the weapon. The launch of the orb was met by sparks and smoke as the circuits overloaded in the weapon, frying it completely. Seven dropped it, nuding the now-useless metal out of the way.

Nine tensed as a figure suddenly appeared on the wall of the control center, metal gleaming in the sun as one of its arms swung up.

“GET DOWN!” Nine bellowed, leaping for cover just as the gunshot rang out and the projectile exploded.

The explosion itself didn’t reach the rebels, but the shockwave did, knocking people over and causing the rest to stumble. The aven in the crowd had their wings wrenched open and were blasted far backwards, vanishing in the streets and buildings of SOV.

As soon as it had passed, Nine and Seven moved out of cover, Nine shooting Kyir a glare.

“I told you that was a terrible idea! You fried the weapon!”

“Yeah, yeah, fucking sue me! And I didn’t fry shit! Seven fried it, it’s just my fault.” Kyir crossed his arms once he was back on his feet.

“God dammit. Take Seven to the recharging station and then meet us back here, alright? And let’s get some people to go find the aven, they’re all over the damn city.”

Emma had to stifle a giggle at that.

~~~

Geek was pretty sure that this assault was a terrible idea.

On the second attempt, weapon fried, they’d had to just charge in like they had in IAL. There were more turrets and high-powered cyborgs this time, so they were losing far more than they had previously. She cursed under her breath as she stayed back away from the main fighting, only shooting blasts of magic in when she knew she wouldn’t hit any of the other rebels. Vel’kex was more daring, going into melee briefly before getting far away from all units to avoid anti-magic blasts. Geek shivered as she saw another demon get struck by one of the pulses and looked away as cyborgs advanced on him, ignoring his screams of agony that were suddenly cut off.

How many will we lose today?

Her head whipped around at the sounds of screaming as the nine thousand unit- the cyborg that had shot the energy bolt out of the sky earlier- charged into the battle, immediately targeting some of the more powerful members of the rebellion.

Shit. Geek spread her wings and took off, flying as far away from the nine thousand unit as she could while still remaining on the outskirts of the battle. If that thing saw her, it would undoubtedly target her. She shot a magical firebolt at a two thousand unit and grinned when it exploded in a satisfactory manner. Vel’kex tailed her and shot several blasts at a three thousand who had taken aim at Geek, forcing it to switch targets.

It’s good to have a minion.

Geek folded her wings and landed a ways away from Sadie, intending to help but finding herself incapable for risk of hitting her. She cringed as the other demon took a bad blow to the wing, the crack of the bone audible even from twenty or so feet away. Sadie roared in victory as she took down the last cyborg around her and, without taking in the threat, leapt into another group.

Geek’s eyes widened as Sadie quickly vanished from her sight, blocked by metal limbs and flashing swords. Geek shot several magical blasts but it wasn’t enough- it couldn’t ever be enough unless she killed Sadie along with all the the cyborgs. She took off once more, flying overhead to try to see if her friend was still alive. She finally caught a glimpse, but what she saw wasn’t good.

Sadie was almost entire soaked in blood- both her own and other’s- and was clearly fading fast. She had forced some kind of magical barrier around herself, but it was cracking and threatening to break. Geek shot more firebolts into the mass around Sadie, doing nothing but catching the other demon’s attention. She looked up and the two demons’ eyes met, and then Sadie did something that scared Geek more than anything.

Sadie grinned a wicked grin.

And blew the place to hell.

A massive blast of demonic energy and black flames rocketed out from Sadie’s body, seemingly disintegrating Sadie and everything in a fifty-foot radius. The shockwave of the blast threw Geek high into the air and out of the way, and as she tried to regain flight, she desperately looked for any signs of her friend.

Nothing.

Just a charred crater where she had once stood.

Geek folded her wings and landed on the blackened ground, shivering as she felt the demonic corruption of the area wash over her.

She had only ever seen such a thing occur once, and it had been when another demon she’d known had intentionally ruptured their core and released all of their energy at once, destroying them and their opponent.

A shiver ran down Geek’s spine and she moved away from the area.

She hoped that wasn’t what had happened, but she couldn’t think of an alternative.

A two thousand unit charged her and she dispatched it easily, an angry growl clawing its way from her throat.

So the Mainframe wants death? Then so be it.

Geek took off once more and flew over the battle, raining death from above with Vel’kex at her side and fury in her heart. Demons had fallen here today, and she was determined that Sadie would be the last.

She heard the dying scream of a fire elemental and she folded her wings, diving towards its killer and destroying it quickly. She tried to get a better look at the elemental but had no way to recognize who it was. She quietly hoped it was no one that she knew and fought on. She almost took Tac’s head off when all she registered were the younger girl’s metal hands but stopped herself, barking for her to be careful and blasting a three thousand coming up behind her.

Geek once more found herself at the edge of the battle and turned to engage a cyborg once more, but she realized, with a chill, that she was far closer to the nine thousand unit than she would have liked. She started to back away, but his head whipped around to his left and raised his arm, deliberately aiming at someone who had clearly made a bad decision.

Geek followed his gaze and paled. She opened her mouth to shout a warning just as the energy blast fired from the nine thousand unit’s arm and blasted a hole through Shawn’s chest.

NO! I won’t lose anyone else today!

Geek panicked, pointing a claw and calling upon the power of the Nethernomicon as she barked multiple garbled incantations at once, panic overcoming her training and desperation trampling thought.

And yet.

A bolt of green energy lanced outwards from her claws and struck Shawn as he hit the ground, causing his body to pulse through several shades of green before the light faded, leaving him seemingly unchanged.

And yet.

Slowly, as if he had only fallen unexpectedly, Shawn shakily got to his feet. He shook his head as if dazed and, apparently not noticing the gaping wound in his chest, grabbed his shotgun off the ground and fought on.

Geek stared for a good several seconds before Vel’kex roared in pain and brought her back to reality. She turned and helped him dispatch his attacker and mentally filed the incident with Shawn away to deal with later. The middle of combat was no place to wonder at what she had done.

Remembering the nine thousand unit, she looked around to locate it and saw something quite odd.

He and Seven both stood perfectly still, staring at each other and not daring to even breathe. They remained that way for several seconds before the nine thousand unit leapt into action, blades flashing down on Seven.

Seven’s left arm came up to parry the blow but one of the nine thousand unit’s swords deviated from its path and swung around to hit Seven’s side. He stared to backpedal, apparently anticipating this, but the nine thousand unit was faster. His sword bit into Seven’s right side as his other blade moved and stabbed him through the right side of his chest.

Seven dropped to the ground as the nine thousand unit pulled back and swung in an attempt to take his head off, barely missing. His next strike was blocked as Seven activated his shields in a last-ditch effort to save his life, clearly realizing that he couldn’t possibly win against the hulking metal monster attacking him.

As Seven’s shield began to fade, the nine thousand unit started to swing again, blade descend-

Geek’s firebolt blasted the ground in front of the nine thousand unit, forcing it to back up and blocking its line of sight to Seven. She swooped forward and scooped up the damaged cyborg, spreading her wings and taking to the sky. Her wings screamed in protest at the sudden addition of Seven’s weight and threatened to give out, but adrenaline and magic spurred her on, forcing her to keep flying away from the battle.

She heard Nine’s voice shouting for a retreat and risked a glance behind her as she landed roughly on a roof, almost falling as Seven’s weight dragged her down. The rebellion quickly retreated back into the city and, surprisingly, the cyborgs didn’t follow. They remained behind to guard the control center while the nine thousand unit turned and walked back inside, its job clearly done.

Geek shook her head and picked Seven back up, flying down back towards the rebels and shouting for a medic and a mechanic.

Kyir and Nine were with her in seconds, Scara not far behind. The healer looked exhausted and about ready to pass out, limbs shaking as she approached. Her intake of breath was shocked and not optimistic when she caught sight of Seven, who Geek had set down on the ground.

Interestingly, he seemed more weak and annoyed than pained. He mostly ignored Scara as she set to work healing his wounds, focusing on the stab wound in his chest first. Kyir looked over Seven’s metal side and remarked on the fact that it seemed undamaged, although his trenchcoat would need repairs.

“What were you thinking?” Nine demanded. “Fighting a nine thousand unit by yourself?”

“He would have….used missiles on us if we...both engaged him.”

“Yeah, well, you could have- oh, hell.” Nine stepped forward to keep Scara from falling too badly as she suddenly lost consciousness, her energy finally dipping below the point of remaining awake. He called Fall over and had her find somewhere to let Scara sleep for awhile. “Shit. How are we going to heal you now? That’s our only magical healer, and Devan’s back in IAL...not that bandages would do shit anyway…”

Seven considered that, trying to sit up and only stopping when he noticed it made his wounds worse. “You could...try the nanobots.”

Nine frowned. “Nanobots? What- OH MY FUCKING FUCK THERE ARE NANOBOTS!”

“What?” Kyir demanded. “What are you talking about?”

“We’re in SOV! There are nanobots used to heal the wounds of a cyborg’s human side, usually used during the process of turning one into a cyborg but they can be used to heal battle wounds as well.”

“Why didn’t you mention this before?” Geek demanded.

“We don’t remember shit until we’re reminded to remember it!” Nine grumbled. “Fall! Do you know where to find the nanobots?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“They can heal.”

“They can? Oh! Yeah! They can!” Fall stood and started to move, but Nine’s voice stopped her.

“Wait, hold up. You knew they existed?”

Fall shuffled her feet. “Well, yeah. I just...didn’t remember what they were for.”

Nine sighed and held his face in his hands. “Cyborgs are stupid,” he decided.

“Very,” Kyir agreed.

“They’re mostly confusing,” Geek muttered. “As a matter of fact, Nine, I have a question.”

He shrugged. “Shoot.”

“Seven and the nine thousand unit were just staring at each other at first and not fighting. Why?”

“Oh. Well, the prediction software has a calculation setting, where it calculates what an enemy is likely to do and what you can do to counter it, what they’ll do in response, etc. It’s usually not used against regular opponents like humans because they’re really unpredictable but it’s useful against other cyborgs- that are driven entirely by logic- and in big fights. They were just calculating what the other was likely to do, it’s just that the nine thousand is superior in every fucking way and therefore kicked his ass. Any questions?”

Geek shook her head. “Not really.”

“I have one.” Kyir turned to glare at Fall. “What are you still doing here? Don’t you have nanobots to get?”

“Shit, sorry! You guys were being interesting!” She turned and scrambled off, Kyir making a shooing motion at her as she went.

“Hurry up with those, will you? If we lose Seven there’s going to be hell to pay.”

Geek raised an eyebrow. “From the rebels or from Tanadin?"

Kyir grinned, an almost evil expression. "Both. But mostly Tanadin."