CHAPTER 8
Cain Labs, Building Complex W, Michigan; United States of America
18:57 March 10th, 2151
As Shandor listened intently to the COM, awaiting the confirmation code from Lafteroth, Midnight couldn't shake the chills running up and down his spine. More Eternals... more trouble. So far, they didn't seem aware of the attack, or of their brother's peril. Which was good in his book, but he knew the stories... that all the Eternals had some kind of psychic communication. Despite his lack of believing in some way of communicating that wasn't vocal or mechanical, he never could shake the horrifying thought from his mind.
Suddenly, Shandor nodded and clapped. "She's got 'im!"
The purple-robed Reploid held out his hand. "Lemme talk to her." Shandor took a small oval device out of his ear and gave it to Midnight, who inserted it. "Lafteroth, you really did get him?"
"Yeah..." she replied, but her voice sounded a little shaky. "I just didn't expect... that..."
"Expect what? Did he put up a fight?"
"No. Well, not exactly, but--"
"Wait... I'm detecting movement..." he reached out with his ESP again, feeling and searching, before coming to a horrible realization. "Lafteroth, get of there NOW!"
"What? What's going--"
"MOVE IT!" He ripped the device out of his ear and gave it back to a confused Shandor. "Get ready, brother: the other Eternals know..." Before the black-haired Reploid could reply, there was a rustling in a row of hedges roughly 10 yards away. He wheeled on the plants, bring up his rifle and training it on the approximate area.
"Sense it," he whispered to Midnight. However, just as the robed Reploid began to search with his mind, a dark blur erupted forth from the bush. It moved with lightning speed, and in just under a second was in front of the two Locke brothers. The red-and-blue armored Reploid brought up his boot and struck Midnight in the chin, sending him tumbling back. Then it backhanded Shandor with the strength of a city bus smashing into the Locke 'bot, knocking him off his feet. A grey blur came a moment later and was soon standing beside him.
"Are they disabled?" Coal asked, his arm formed into his buster.
"Yeah, they're--" Tome never finished the sentence as a sudden glow surrounded his body. His eyes, looking around in confusion, finally settled on an equal glow emanating from Midnight, just before he was hurled through the air by an unseen force, landing several yards away. Coal turned and fired, but the shot dissipated in mid-air. Suddenly, Shandor was back on his feet, the rifle blazing. A few shots struck the Eternal about his chest but didn't seem to do any serious damage. The grey-armored Reploid's other arm formed into a buster, both firing at separate targets. Midnight caused them to go flying off course while Shandor seemed to just dodge and absorb the attacks. Quickly realizing he was out-matched, Coal began to feed power from his core into the rest of his body.
About 300 percent should do... he thought, and cut off the sudden rush of power at the appropriate level. Then he sprang into action. Thinking quickly, he knew that Shandor was more likely of a target, so he engaged his dash thrusters and rushed the black-haired Reploid. Just as Shandor began to pull out his orange beam sais to take a few swings at Coal, the grey-armored Reploid jumped over his target. Landing behind him, the Eternal swung back with his elbow, striking Shandor at the base of the skull. While that would have been fatal to a human, it only hurt really badly with a Reploid.
Shandor let out a guttural growl and turned to face his assailant, but caught a fist in the face when he tried. Stumbling back, he felt his legs get swept out from under him with a scissor kick, and he landed flat on his back. Glaring daggers at Coal through his feral yellow eyes, he brought up his beam sais to block any other attack... only to find that one of them was gone. Looking about frantically, he noticed Coal stand over him, clutching the glowing beam weapon in his hand. Shandor couldn't see the twisted grimace behind the closed helmet, but the Reploid's eyes looked down at him with disdain and, in a small way, pity. With a slight pull-back, Coal brought the weapon down...
...but he was stopped, as a crackling purple field surrounded his hand and quickly encircled his entire body. His eyes shifted and saw Midnight back up on his feet, clutching his staff and projecting the damned aura. "I will enjoy ripping you apart down to your cursed core!" he screamed, and Coal felt a great amount of pressure on his body that increased with every passing second until it felt like he was going to be smashed into a little cube of steel... then it reversed, pulling his form outwards until he thought that he was going to have every limb and appendage torn from his torso. Finally, it seemed to stop, and then it got to its worst: it felt like every molecule in his body wanted to go in a different direction, and they were trying their hardest to realize that wish.
He was helpless to the forces that bound him... or, rather, that were doing the exact opposite. Just as he was about to despair, he received a burst transmission:
PUSH THE ENVELOPE.
Coal recognized the code: it was a signal, from one Eternal to another, telling them to pass the 400 marker. For an instant, he questioned his brother's judgment: to do that would be to abandon the sharp edges that defined barbarianism from humanity, ally from enemy... then he felt the searing pain one only felt when his shoulder is about to be wrenched free from it's socket, and thought to himself: Yeah, he's on the mark for this one.
The core safeties clicked off, and power flowed freely through the grey-armored Reploid's "veins". He stopped the swell at about 460, and he no longer saw shades of being, no black and white; only grey. He no longer knew the difference between a friend and a foe, who deserved to be attacked and who didn't. But, after only a moment, he knew the guy who was trying to rip him apart was definitely somebody who needed to be attacked.
Suddenly, a red-and-blue blur flashed past him and smashed into Midnight, breaking his concentration and causing him to drop Coal. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the grey-armored Reploid realized that the person who helped him was his brother, but for now all he knew was that he was helping out. As his feet touched the ground, a blast hit him in the back. Turning around with a snarl, he saw Shandor with his arm formed into a smoking buster. Coal lunged, pinning Shandor down, but the black-haired Reploid swung up with a beam sai, making Coal roll off in order to avoid the dangerous weapon. Righting himself, Shandor swung his left fist and struck the grey-armored Reploid in the side of the helmet. Recovering quickly, he dove under his opponents legs and grabbed Shandor's long black hair, yanking it as hard as possible.
Meanwhile, Tome struggled against Midnight, dodging psychic blasts. Somehow he had managed to shake the Locke 'bot enough that he couldn't just form fields wherever he wanted, which brought his advantage down by a lot. His own arm already formed into a buster, the red-and-blue armored Reploid fired vainly at his robed foe but all his shots were ultimately blocked by a telekinetic barrier. Realizing that his current tactics weren't working, he dashed forward, bum-rushing the enemy. However, he smashed painfully into the barrier, yet didn't allow himself to get knocked back a single inch. Instead, he kept pushing, even charging his buster and using that to try and burn through the invisible wall. After a moment of agonizing struggling, he felt it give way, and swung wide with a right hook, catching Midnight in the jaw and sending him tumbling back. Tome was quickly standing over him, buster pointed down, fully charged and waiting to be fired. But in a flash of determination, the purple-haired Locke used all the psychic power he could muster to push Tome straight up into the air.
At the same time, Coal was kicked high by Shandor and sent flying. The two brothers recovered in mid-air but continued on their trajectories. As they passed each other in the sky, they exchanged high-fives before exchanging targets: Coal fought against the robed "magician" Midnight, while Tome beat on the raven-haired Shandor. Both fights seemed equal, yet the Eternals weren't wearing out: their cores saw to that. Despite the injuries they suffered, a broken servo in Tome's left arm, a couple shattered cybernetic ribs in Coal's chest, they continued to fight with the same enthusiasm as when the fight started. Midnight was getting tired from using all his energy and Shandor couldn't keep up the fight due to a broken right wrist.
Just as it seemed the Locke 'bots would give in and fall, two shots rang out. The Eternals froze and collapsed, their eyes rolling into the backs of their heads, small blue sparks fleeting over their forms as they lay on the ground. The white-haired Lafteroth stood nearby, a smoking gun in one hand and a limp Taggs thrown over the other shoulder.
She smiled widely. "Man guys, you obviously didn't have the same first experience as I did. Looks like you did things the hard way." Midnight, despite resisting, couldn't help but crack a smile, while Shandor just flipped his sister off and struggled to his feet. He pulled a scuffed and slightly-damaged device from his pocket, winced as he used the wrong wrist, switched hands, and pressed a small blue button on the remote. A minute passed, and a helicopter began to descend from the night sky. As its skids touched down on the ground, Lafteroth first picked up the three Eternals and roughly dumped them into the bay. Then she returned and helped her brothers get into the chopper and from there into some seats. After Midnight and Shandor had been buckled in, she poked her head into the cockpit and gave the pilot a thumbs-up. Returning the gesture, the pilot pulled back on a lever, and the helicopter rose into the sky.
Its next stop: Maverick Hunter HQ.
