Ch 9 – The Crawling Night Part Four – Finale

note: Finale as in last of The Crawling Night arc.

The dying echoes of the deafening booms reverberated against the alloy walls, leaving behind a ringing din, both a physical one and one from the damage caused by the noise.

Mandarin molded himself harder into a corner, his shield expanded to cover as much as his body as possible. His breath quickened but he consciously kept it steady. He needed to stay calm and focus. Find the enemy!

He internally cursed at himself. From Antauri's description of the noise it had seemed to be something from the forest - not something capable of shooting at them. This was something else. He had assumed scuttling meant bug (well, organic bug) and now he was getting shot at.

Something silvery dropped down from a back row of servers, larger than him, hitting the alloy floor with an ununiformed series of dull thunks! as each individual leg contacted the scuttled over to him, eventually clambering like a spider over the vertical side of the servers that hugged the wall as it neared him.

Mandarin dashed away, aiming to flank it and attack but this thing apparently could turn the top part of its body independently to some bottom part that its spidery legs were connected to. As he moved to flank it it merely spun, keeping up with his movement. He kept moving, not knowing what the thing was capable of, especially if he attacked its front. He stared into its glowing yellow optical situated on what aesthetically looked like its head, a small bulbous form that bulged slightly from the main form and swiveled with the top portion. How did something this big get past Father's security and protection charms? This thing wasn't one of Father's. It wasn't designed like Father's other projects. (So it was not Father's thus he did not feel obliged to maintain it in relative working condition.) He smirked at that thought. He didn't have to hold back.

When given the chance he managed to charge it several times. Some of his hits did damage but the thing had not fire again yet. It just followed him. Its yellow unblinking "eye" unnerved him. Becoming enraged, Mandarin jumped straight toward the "head" with his sword outstretched ahead of him.

The thing jumped and landed on the next row of servers with a sound of metal moaning as it was bent. Sparks flew.

Mandarin stood his ground, staring into the yellow "eye," and increased his system's venting rate. Mandarin motioned to jump away again with more of a plan in mind this time.

The bulb of its head glowed at a seam that cut the metal part in half horizontally except for curving above the yellow eye, the seam now noticeable with the glow and the unit sparked.

Mandarin recognized the possible danger and dashed out of the attack he had just launched. A blinding light lit and obscured the room, the grey haziness remaining in his vision.

The first thing he noticed was sour bile burping up into his mouth.

He must have been hit!

He clenched his jaw and tried to move but he still could only feel numbness overlaid by tingling. He tried to flick his tail or move his hands but he still couldn't feel if his body was responding. He needed to move before the machine caught up with him or, if he was moving and simply couldn't feel it, released another bolt to keep him down. It may release another bolt anyways, he corrected himself, to still him permanently.

The haze and static in his vision was starting to clear when he finally heard something moving beside him. Blinking rapidly he could make out his arm. When he flexed his hand it responded numbly. He dragged his arm into his body and stumbled to support himself. He needed to get up, he warned himself. Vision clearing he could see both his arms below him, elbows locked, trembling as they tried to support his weight and lift himself off the floor. In the corner of his eye he saw dull silver. His head still hung limply but his gaze went to the side to find bulb on the thing too close, inches from him, its absurdness of the bulb emphasized by his angle. He braced himself but it sat there, still, the yellow eye glaring at him.

The seam gingerly warmed into a green glow.

Mandarin flinched heavily, his body not responding properly causing him to flop onto his side. From the floor he glared at the thing.

The top part of the head above the seam rolled into the main body, revealing a protruding encased cylinder. Swirling came from inside and two metal parts silently slid out and unfolded with a series of deep clicks, suddenly ending with four fingered claws. Outstretched, coming towards him, the cold metal of the arms gleamed even in the dim light and sparking electronics.

Shhunnnk!

Mandarin stared at the thing for a moment and then found the slightly bent strip of alloy that had been embedded into the main body through the opening and down through unknown components. The strip had exited and pinned it into the floor. The thing suddenly jerked, writhing as if it had shook off its shock. Its spidery legs scraping against the floor, scraping away the tiles' polish with deep grooves, its internal parts screeching as they failed to properly work and finally stilled. Dark oil and blue, minty-smelling hydraulic fluid seeped out and pooled around it, edging towards him, threatening to stain his fur but that didn't hold his attention for long. Mandarin stared at Antauri who stood above him still gripping onto the alloy strip with both hands. There was a determined look on his little brother's normally sleepy face but it was wavering, twitching between grimaces. Because of Antauri's stance gravity caused thin trails of blood that held a strange metallic sheen that you didn't see in human blood crawl slowly down his left arm from his shoulder to pool at his bent elbow. "What was that?" He croaked out, not sure really what to say.

Antauri suddenly jerked and pulled his stare from the thing. He all but flopped down next to Mandarin. "How bad are you hurt?" His good arm gingerly reached for Mandarin. His gaze looked over Mandarin, glanced at his shoulder then returned to Mandarin.

"Help me up."

Antauri glanced back at the thing. "I need to get the Captain."

"No! We must move from this area first." Mandarin pushed himself up. He was still wobbly but wasn't actually damaged, he concluded. A stun ray. "Do not leave teammates alone with a downed enemy. They may not be actually down." He swallowed and activated his receivers which blinked red on the ends. [a/n: ear] "And there may be more enemies nearby. Where is the entry point?"

"I am fine."

"Don't play tough," he grabbed Antauri's good shoulder in an attempt to still him.

"I am not playing. It is just a graze."

"That is significant bleeding for 'just a graze.'"

Antauri turned against Mandarin grip to expose the angry cut running part way down the back of his shoulder.

Noting to himself to be a little gentle, Mandarin pushed Antauri towards the door. His brother resisted at first but soon understood and they were quickly out into the hall going towards the stairs.

"Medlab?"

"Yes. I need to stop the bleeding."

"Is it actually bad? The pain is starting to subside."

"You have probably unconsciously deactivated your pain sensors because you should be feeling that gash." He glanced at it. "Dizziness? Light-headed?"

"No."

Mandarin smirked but it fell. "The Captain had better be up by now," he growled.

A disembodied shadow slipped over the top of the door frame and darted haphazardly away in the opposite direction.