Rise in Revolution (Chapter Sixty-Eight)
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saladloveLet's finish this.
Chapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Revolution
First ring, Mainframe. April 24, 2272. Time instance 842N.
Emma jumped through the smoking hole in the wall in time to see an explosion blast another hole in the wall across. She waved for Shawn to hurry up and charged across the sand, shouting for her friends to wait.
Tanadin turned and stared at them in surprise. “How did you guys get here?” she demanded.
“We walked! I brought the visper in and we’re cleaning up the third ring.”
“You did. What.” Cataclysm stepped forward.
“Jimmy, Gali, Mars, Fall, and I took out the emitters. We have backup.”
Geek grinned. “Good! They can take care of themselves while we destroy the Mainframe.”
Emma nodded, raising Nightbane. “Let’s finish this.”
Seven and Nine led the way into the first ring of the Mainframe, the rest of them not far behind.
The first thing Emma noticed was that it was dark. Unlike the outer rings, the first ring had no interior lighting. The sunlight streaming in from the hole in the wall lit up part of it, but the room- for it really was just a giant room, made a maze by terminals, consoles, and whatever the hell else was in those boxes everywhere- itself was dark. Screens hummed faintly as they glowed in the darkness, lights, buttons, and dials glowing different colors and flickering on and off.
The whirr of the computers was oddly calming, quietly clicking and humming as they continued processing and directing, not seemingly having registered their presence at all. The ceiling was slightly lower, here, and Nine mumbled, “There’s a second floor. The primary terminal is up there.”
“Should we just start destroying what’s down here?” Emma asked, waving at the humming machinery with Nightbane.
“No. The Mainframe can be used for other things. Destroying it would be a waste,” M said immediately. The cyborgs agreed and they stepped in.
Which proved to be a mistake.
The moment they crossed the threshold, angry whirring and footsteps broke the silence and the red lights of inhuman cyborg eyes lit up the darkness. They were larger and higher up off the ground than a human cyborgs should be, and immediately the Steelwings reacted, stepping back and staring.
“So,” Nine said slowly, “there’s something we didn't remember until just now.”
Kyir groaned. “What is it?”
“The first ten nine thousand units are made from an alien race, the last planet the creators of the Mainframe took over.” Nine grinned sheepishly. “And I have no idea how to fight them other than the usual.”
The nine thousand unit charged them, steel jaws opening and flames pouring from its mouth. The rebels scrambled away from the hole in the wall and let it pass through to the outside, where it turned and surveyed them.
It was a good nine feet tall, with a reptilian head and long arms ending in metal claws. It had wings similar to all nine thousand units’ wings and a tail that was originally meant to counterbalance it but now had blades running down the sides. It was bipedal and stood upright, and didn’t look like it was meant to have wings but its Mainframe apparently hadn’t particularly cared. Natural horns curled up from its head and guns of various types readied themselves to fire.
“SHIT!”
The Steelwing three thousand unit immediately began firing, the seven thousand units and demons taking off to support from the air. Emma charged in, glad that she was registered as less than dangerous, and swung, biting deep into its torso before it noticed and slammed its elbow into her, knocking her to the ground. It raised its foot to stomp on her but Cataclysm dived into it, knocking it off balance and buying enough time to Emma to get to her feet, groaning.
So Geek’s necklace didn’t prevent bruises. Good to know.
As the first nine thousand unit stumbled, damaged, the second one charged out of the building and slashed at the three thousand. He turned and fired but wasn’t fast enough to save himself, his body flung across the sands and hitting hard, unmoving.
Emma flagged down Cataclysm. “Pick me up! Do some flyby passes so I can hit them with Nightbane.”
“I don’t-”
“Trust me!”
Cataclysm looked into her eyes, at their furious, determined light, and nodded, grabbing her and taking off. He dove down to the damaged nine thousand unit and Emma swung, taking off its arm. Nightbane hummed in her grip almost happily, making Cataclysm shudder as he pulled up from the dive.
Emma flinched as Tanadin took an energy bolt to the chest, but her friend just got up and kept fighting, her elemental nature once again saving her from death. The injured nine thousand unit went down and two more came from the building, guns blazing and jaws open.
One of them swung down at Seven, who raised his right arm up, face frozen in concentration. The blades slammed into his arm but, remarkably, held, doing no damage. The nine thousand seemed confused, pausing long enough for Seven to jump forward and stab through its torso. It roared and batted him aside, slamming him against the wall. He groaned and got to his feet, shaking it off, before engaging the cyborg once more.
Once they had taken down two of the nine thousand units, the final one fled back inside, leading them into the maze of terminals. They followed, reluctantly, coming into a clearer area in the center. The nine thousand unit shot at them from the base of the stairs, careful not to hit the terminals, and sliced an unfortunate seven thousand unit in half. Geek quickly dispatched it and Jase shapeshifted momentarily into some kind of large, unfamiliar reptile to shift it out of the way before they raced up the stairs to the second floor.
This room was more open, empty except for terminals lining the walls and a door on the far side. Six alien nine thousand units opened fire as they ascended the stairs, taking out more cyborgs and almost killing Nine as a bullet struck next to his head. He shuddered and was about to start strategizing when Shawn motioned for the zombies following him- their number now reduced to three- to move ahead and into the room.
The nine thousands shot at them long enough for M, Kyir, and Jase to get into the room, distracting their fire so the others could get in. Tanadin and Seven fought back-to-back, keep an eye on each other as they avoided death and struck at the final bastions of the Mainframe’s defenses. Tanadin concentrated a beam of bright, blinding flame, striking a nine thousand unit in the chest and making the metal glow white-hot. She sank to the floor, exhausted, but the nine thousand unit’s circuits were fried enough that it was easy to dispatch. Dare helped her to her feet and made sure she didn’t use too much energy as they took them down, cyborg by cyborg, until the room was silent and only the humming of the computers and the breathing of the rebels could be heard.
Emma’s heart pounded as they exchanged glances and approached the final door, a deceptively simple entrance into the heart of their enemy. This is it. This is it. This is it.
The rebels paused, letting Tanadin step forward and, with a deep breath, turn the knob and let the door swing open. They filed inside, looking around the small room that housed the primary terminal.
To the right, a staircase wound its way to the roof, but in the center of the room, against the wall across from them, was the primary terminal. Its screen was dark but lit up as they approached, keys glowing with green light.
Tanadin indicated for Seven to step forward and he did so, putting his fingers on the keys and typing in a command. It asked for a password and he raised an eyebrow, but M moved past him, pushing him out of the way and typing it in. It accepted it and he clicked a button on the terminal. The keys flipped over to reveal a different keyboard, this one made up of unfamiliar symbols and letters.
M typed in a command and hit what Emma assumed was the confirm key. Unfamiliar letters flashed onscreen before a translation appeared below them.
Final shutdown sequence activated. Mainframe powering off.
The screen went black.
M nodded, once, and turned towards the staircase. It was oddly silent as they followed him to the roof, stunned. Just like that, the Mainframe was disabled. They were free.
Around them, in the outer circles and even in the area between the first and second circles, explosions wracked the Mainframe. They barely questioned it, however, as M stepped up to a terminal that rose out of the roof. He typed a command in unfamiliar letters, speaking as he did so.
“Well, that didn’t go quite as well as we had hoped.”
The rebels exchanged glances. “What do you mean? We won,” Emma told him, frowning. What is he talking about?
“I don’t mean the rebellion.” M pressed a button and the terminal sank back down into the roof. He turned to face them, standing up straighter as his yellow eyes glowed ever so slightly brighter. “I meant us.”
And then, unbelievably, he raised his hands, hooking hidden fingers on his hood and pulling it down, revealing what he was for them all to see and leaving them wondering how they hadn’t seen it before.
“We who made the Mainframe.”
END OF PART ONE
