14
I was the one with the world at my feet
Got us a battle, leave it up to me
What it is and where it stops nobody knows
You gave me a life I never chose
-Metric, "Blindness"
Jade
The height was making her dizzy. In those brief moments she allowed herself to peak at the urban sprawl below, the buildings blurred by in a monotone wash, with brief flashes of factory and hovercraft lighting. Combined with her present, impossible to compensate situation, the sensation was roiling uncomfortably in her stomach, like a flighty creature trying to escape.
Stop panicking, Jade urged herself again, fingers digging into the cockpit seat she occupied. Why she couldn't momentarily resign herself to the ominous inevitable which lay before her when she had already confronted so much uncontrollable turmoil, she could not understand. Whether with wolves, Major Fiske, SWATbots, or now Dr. Ivo Robotnik himself, she knew, in the deepest, truest facets of her soldierly being that she was capable of remaining calm in the face of adversity. Maybe not agreeable or graceful, but she could be rational and reactionary.
Slow breaths, in and out, like long-distance running. But it felt like she hadn't breathed since…
Pealing streaks of red. Flashing. Searing. A cry, a face collapsing. Reaching out. But gone. Too late.
Jade had never looked death in the face before, but now Quan was ingrained in her mind's eye. Always and forever, he would be there — the enemy man she barely knew, but who had claimed to be her father's friend. A man who had revealed her father's disappearance as a hidden betrayal.
The towering structure ahead wasn't helping to calm Jade. It seemed poised somehow, like a waiting predator bent on intimidating the low buildings beneath it. Massive, coiling cables were burrowed into its base, snaking away in every direction and connecting with arcing generator structures. Electric blue lighting pulsed along several curved, platform-like projections, designating them as docking areas. She tried to remember the historical timeline — how many standard months it had taken Robotnik to demolish the palace center which had stood for centuries, and then rebuild his own monstrous superstructure atop its ashes.
All with the citizenry he enslaved and robotocized… Would that be her own fate, after her interrogation and torture were done, she wondered?
As her transport pod rose, dwarfed a thousand times over by the sloping steel fortress which dominated her windscreen view, Jade noticed the autopilot was bringing her near an upper platform.
The panicked impulse to attempt another hack on the flight controls rose again but she stayed her hands. There had been no breaking through the locked piloting interface when she first sat down, and if she had to guess, the only way of tripping the autopilot now would involve physically removing fuses somewhere — a task which could perhaps be accomplished with more time, a craft schematic, and most importantly of all, the skills to manually pilot the ship thereafter.
Mid-flight, and several thousand meters in the sky. She had none of those resources, nor the skill to fly. Though that frightening reality should have paled her more, the hopeless thought was somehow sobering. She made herself exhale and mediate on it, long and slow.
From a distance, as if watching herself through a monitor, Jade found it almost relieving, to know that there was so little left to personally lose now. Her choices had been stripped away by a barrage of circumstances she would have never anticipated, as caught up with keeping her brother safely inside the academy as she had been. When exposed to the unexpected truth belying Orin's allegiances, she in turn had tried, fought, and ultimately lost. She would never allow herself to completely slide into any personal apathy, if only for her brother's sake, but there was a vague kind of solace in her incapacity.
She laughed then, a bitter, foreign sound in the craft's cabin, as she watched the flight deck come into full view. Two columns of perfectly aligned SWATbots were positioned to the far left and right of the large rectangular platform, their red viewports making them look like intermittent runway beacons. Deep and recessed, the landing area extended several ship-spans into the fortress itself, with a wide length of a blast doorway along the interior wall.
More SWATs. As if I could get away now? Jade thought, amused and at the same time growing numb to the fate before her. She was never supposed to step through the surveillance recordings she reviewed and walk the labyrinthine streets so far below. Always viewed from the safe distance of the academy, she had been able to, however childish the impulse, blur the lines of reality and simply imagine Robotropolis as an abstract idea. Like another ghost story which had grown more complicated and horrific with the passage of time.
Her ship bobbed. The dipping sensation made her hands fly to the inoperable steering column, however she could only watch as the flight path leveled and then slowed. Drawing nearer to the blast door, she tried estimating the number of SWATbots awaiting her arrival. The flanking robots began to resemble the portrait of a readied firing squad.
The fear of stepping out and facing several hundred, burning laser bolts gripped her. Better than robotinization. She recalled the explanation then, how the transformative energy destroyed a being's central nervous system by quickly burning through millions of microscopic nerve endings in what amounted to the pinnacle of physical pain.
A low whine faded beneath her as the transport's landing arms deployed and its engine turbines angled towards the flight deck. Settling more lightly than expected, the cabin controls grew dark under the immediate loss of power. The circular hatch reticulated open once again, letting in a burst of howling, chilly wind. Ahead, through the windscreen, the bland continuance of steely blast door remained shut.
Jade paused, torn between remaining in the small craft she had absolutely no control over or facing the unit of seemingly unmanned SWATbots outside. Would they target her, like they had Quan, once she moved before them? She chose the former option, deciding to wait on an eventuality she could not predict but certainly would not hasten.
Minutes passed, the high-altitude cold creeping into her limbs. She buttoned her jacket front, tucking her hands into its pockets, and let her thoughts wander to Orin — wondering mainly about his location, how his leg was fairing, and if he was being brainwashed any further. Would Fiske tend to him personally, or would his "recruiter" be the one feeding him freshly spun war propaganda?
What I'd give to see Fiske's face now, in the midst of complete failure, she wished half-heartedly.
She would give just as much, perhaps more, to see anyone else's face at the moment, she realized in the empty, pregnant calm which followed her flowing distaste for Swiftjustice Squadron.
The inaction on the landing platform was becoming unnerving. Jade leaned as far forward on the control console as possible, depressing buttons while she craned her head to the see the full extent of the SWATbots positioned on either side of her. Distracted and counting them quickly, she worked her way up the contingent to her right.
She stopped short near the tail end, eyes darting forward. Emerging from the now-open doorway and flanked by his own group of robotic soldiers, Robotnik approached. She hadn't known what to expect really, but an immediate audience with the most reviled man on Mobius certainly wasn't near the top of the list. Being drug away by unyielding, metallic monsters had seemed more likely.
But he was there, fully intent on her craft and walking briskly, his snapping, tawny cape like a flag amidst a storm of grey. The flaring, upturned armor at his shoulders and boot tops appeared decorative rather than protective, and she could not comprehend any practical reason for the almost theatrical, scarlet jumpsuit with yellow banding.
What stayed any additional derision, what gave her further pause, was the sheer size of him. There was descriptive reporting and video yes, but seeing the man with her own eyes — a head taller than his already towering android companions, while also broad shouldered and thick through his chest and middle — was fairly intimidating. There was his titanium arm to account for as well: the appendage he had supposedly exposed to robotinization energy in a mad fit for physical power and more tangible research.
Jade tried to find some weakness in her stern captor as he neared, fighting to recall any crucial, possibly manipulatable piece of intel to further her cause during questioning.
Because as soon as he realizes you know nothing about Fiske's inner operations, you're likely dead or worse… She pushed the brutal thought away, grasping for mental purchase.
His name, Robotnik's real name. What was it…
He came to stand several meters in front of the windscreen, the eerie, crimson glow of his cybernetic eyes pinned to her own, his fists clenched at his sides. Arching a prominent brow, he seemed to address both his distaste for being made to wait and for her very existence in the same challenging gesture.
Again, she felt uncertain and wary to leave ship, though her hesitation was now born from a discrepancy in character. Almost congenial, and at the very least civil, Dr. Ivo Robotnik had sounded much more pleasant over a comm line than he now appeared in person. This man — this war lord and technocratic despot — looked withheld yet battle eager. She felt foolish now for allowing his seemingly innocuous words to lead her to any impression other than those hard-proven truths.
Why did I give up my sword? she seethed anew. No matter how strong the giant of a man may prove to be, not a single material on his person could withstand an ionized energy blade.
Instead of lamenting further, for it appeared she would not be able to stay onboard forever, Jade stood as tall as permissible in the cramped cabin and turned to leave. Bridging the divide between artificial safety and danger, she stepped onto the landing platform and froze. She couldn't pull her gaze from the SWATs stationed ahead of her. The silent row remained in place, but their viewports were activated. Just like they were for Quan… before he...
"As admirable as my infantry are, if you elect to delay your transfer any longer, Lieutenant, I will allow them to engage." Robotnik snarled, making her attention whip to his burning gaze.
Something had changed in his voice. Or maybe it had simply been withheld from her notice back at the relay tower. She didn't doubt now that he would annihilate her for something so trivial as loitering; the barely restrained tension in his arms told her as much and more.
Step more lightly, she warned her rebellious nature, This one's probably worse than Fiske.
Forcing her legs to work and then finally standing before him, she made herself look up into his inhuman eyes, biting her lower lip to keep back any vitriol. The explanation for the loss of his organic vision, she could not recall, but she whole-heartedly believed the artificial black and red replacements were intentionally off-putting. Like steady, expressionless bird eyes, they pierced her careful facade.
The quick sweep of that vision over her entire body felt violating, almost possessive in its assessment. It was gone as if it had never been before she could protest, and then he was turning on his heel, making for the blast door with his personal guard clanking quickly to keep pace.
Jade stood for a moment, confused by her captor's dismissal. Wasn't this the moment for him to gloat and posture and threaten, not just, leave? She was expected to follow, she knew, yet it was somehow more difficult to willingly walk into captivity than to claw and fight against it. A struggle would have felt more appropriate, argued the raw, less-proven part of her soldierly mind.
A low hum, like a thousand swarming insects taking flight, echoed from either side of her — the SWATs coming online. She knew the sound, had felt and experienced the electrical vibrations in both an interested programming capacity back home and now in the field as well.
"My patience is at its end. One more command, here," Robotnik pointed to what must be a control on his robotic forearm, "And they will fire at will." He had turned back to her, standing poised mid-hangar.
Holding her breath, heart hammering too hard to not be heard, Jade tried keeping her steps measured and slow. You'd be dead already if he didn't need you for something, she thought, trying to bolster her confidence. Anything to think less of laser fire and Quan and potentially never seeing her brother again.
Anger was always more grounding though, an outlet for her fear.
"You'd murder an unarmed prisoner?" She spat before she could think, accusing him with both fists balled in her pockets, her neck tilting back to glare into the stern visage of Dr. Ivo Robotnik. The realization was numbing and out-of-body, as if she were still watching her actions from afar.
"To expedite the termination of an uncooperative, antagonistic invader, yes." He replied with equal fervor, looming as large and dangerous as the structure he had built, stepping nearer.
She remembered then, the name slipping into thought. "Then the horrible rumors and histories don't do you justice, Julian Kintobar. You're just another militarized terrorist who's worse than expected."
His artificial gaze had constricted on his true name, lips twisting in disgust, but the last of her attack seemed to give him pause.
"Another? Perhaps your disappointing commander, Major William Fiske then? I'd be flattered to find equal favor in your eyes, Lieutenant Ashwin, if not for your leader's complete and utter failure against my legions this morning. A pity really, the number of soldiers he was willing to sacrifice."
He was grinning and malicious, an expression which twisted Jade's insides more than his boiling anger. Teeth holding her tongue in place, jaw tightening, she exhaled deeply and imagined staring ionized energy into his self-satisfied face.
"No rebuttal? No defense for your precious Swiftjustice compatriots?" He sneered openly.
You can't deny any complicit involvement with Fiske, reason argued. It was the information Robotnik seemed most intent on; the only value she could supply as a prisoner. Jade tightened her arms across her chest, straight-jacketing back any wayward responses.
"No matter." he warned, stepping close enough to touch, robotic arm reaching. "The answers I seek are already as good as mine."
She flinched away, head turning as the cold slither of steel grazed her cheek. It was reactionary, an action she hadn't expected and gasped at. He drew a trailing line from cheek bone to chin, the contact lasting less than a second before he withdrew sharply. Something like an inhalation, and he was then turning again, cape whirling in his wake. Quicker and more forceful than before, he beckoned over his shoulder with unrestrained malevolence.
"The SWATbots remain ready to fire, Lieutenant! Do not dawdle."
Far more confused and conflicted than any moment previous, Jade found herself walking somehow, eyes darting from SWAT to SWAT until she was finally behind the closing blast door. Safe in the most unsafe of locations.
Following several strides behind her captor. Journeying towards a fate largely unknown. Watching her life collapse like a dying star, she felt she was viewing it all from far, far away.
A/N: Our shortest CH thus far but I thought I'd keep the update train rolling. Fan squeals are like cookies and comments are candy. ;)