Chapter 29: Rhinestone Eyes
There is a certain amount of morbidity a mind can withstand before a person can go crazy. Luckily Murdoc Niccals was the type of man who simply did not care. He knew what he had to do and how to accomplish it, no matter the cost. It was that determination that had gotten him in the many favorable places in his life. His Cuban heeled boots clicked on the concrete ground as he climbed the stairs to the roof of the compound. The Android followed closely behind him, as a matter of protection and firepower. After she had been repaired from her previous battle, he told her that they were going on a reconnaissance mission. He programmed all possible targets which included facial recognition and threat detection. Murdoc's thin lips were set into a grimace. The metaphorical shit show was about to begin. He was a man on an island, literally and figuratively, and he was close to feeling a vague sense of failure. Close wasn't close enough and he had a plan that could possibly make a grown man cry. At the hatch, Murdoc put his full weight into the door and gave a mighty shove. With urgency he sprang out. His eyes scanned quickly around, when lo and behold, his old foe was right before him.
Without hesitation the semiautomatics went off raining bullets on the figure draped in black. Unfortunately the target seemed to be moving faster than the flying bits of metal. The Boogie Man had made the leap from the roof to the ground unharmed. Dodging the bullets, he had ducked in front of the gargoyle statue. Murdoc's teeth ground against each other in apt aggravation. The Android refilled her guns with blinding speed. The bullets hitting the statue made it almost disintegrate instantly. As the target jumped from the cliff side the robotic Noodle started to descend the stairs. Her calculated risk for the Boogie Man was one hundred percent and her programming wouldn't allow her to let him live as long as she still held her charge or until she was destroyed.
2D sat alone in his underground room. In his isolation, it had reluctantly become his home and it was the most familiar place on the island. Sitting on his bed, he nursed the beginning of a migraine. One of the useful reasons having Felicia around was so she could rub his throbbing temples. Her delicate fingers never pressed too hard and often soothed him enough that he could sleep without his pills. Sighing in discontent, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his aching head towards the window he saw the strangest thing. He wondered to himself, how anyone could want to go swimming in such a disgusting area? The person was swimming unusually fast towards a ship that was nearby. The blunette shivered in fear. There was no way he would ever go swimming in that water, especially because of that damned whale.
Two women were rummaging through the desk drawers in a panic. Missy shoved drawers harder and harder with frustration. Knowing Murdoc, there had to be a gun lying about somewhere. All the gun shots weren't easy to miss and Missy went into full panic mode. If there were guns involved, she wanted one and she wanted to find her son. Felicia had gone to the book shelf and started tearing through books. Stopping for a moment, Missy looked on. "What the hell are you doing?" Felicia saw the look of derision on her face as soon as she said it.
Throwing books on the floor one after another, she paused and warily said, "You know Murdoc is the type of guy who has hollowed out books. Tell me you don't think he does." She was pulling at straws, but it wasn't a shabby idea. Following suit, Missy started opening books. There were pages filled with mechanical lingo and some on anatomy and physiology. It was odd to think that Murdoc might have actually read them. Felicia was kneeling on the floor, grabbing books from the bottom shelf when she let out a scream of excitement. "Found it!" In a small book, Felicia pulled out a small derringer pistol. Holding it out carefully, she moved to her old friend. "It doesn't look like much, does it?"
Gingerly taking it, she practiced holding and pointing it. It felt unnatural to hold something that was lethal and compact. "It's better than nothing I suppose." Heavy footfall was moving at an alarming pace. The Android had run down the stairs in a matter of seconds, but it gave Missy's brain enough time to process danger and to flee to it. Felicia watched as her friend sprinted after the robot. She had never been particularly religious or faithful, but she said a quick prayer for her friend who had determination, but no plan.
"Don't get yourself killed." She whispered to no one in particular. Hearing more gun fire, the red head determined that it was time to find 2D and try to find safety.
Looking out into the ocean, Murdoc stared at the lone figure standing on the deck. Involuntarily very old memories began to seep into his present mind. The Boogie man was an old foe indeed. Of course he had to have a run in with someone else that he double crossed. He smiled to himself; it didn't matter if two enemies teamed up because he always came out on top in the end. Almost out of nowhere, the ground beneath him began to shake and he heard an explosion at the front of the compound. Murdoc made a move to look over the railing, but the menacing airplane that was flying in circle had started to open fire, namely at him. Things were getting more intense than he anticipated. Throwing his body down the hatch, bullets narrowly missed him. Adrenaline was pumping into his system as quickly as it was being made. Glass had broken free from the window frames and shattered like explosives. Pulling himself off the debris covered floor, he reared to go. Pulling the revolver out of the back of his jeans, it was decided that the time for action was right then. He ran down the stairs. The elevator would be nonfunctioning at this point and he didn't even begin to hope that it would work.
The blood pounding in his ears made the white noise disappear. His heart was pumping hard and his legs regrettably felt like limp noodles. There were so many things at stake, things like his life and that of everyone else he had unwittingly, with an exception or two, pulled into this scheme. He held his gun out and slowly moved through the hazy grey smoke. The last thing he needed was to rush around like a complete ninny and get himself shot, so he proceeded with caution. There was someone who seemed to be disoriented from the lack of clear vision. Straining his ears, he moved closer to his target. If his compound was being invaded, the least he could do was give them a bullet between the eyes. Getting right on their back, Murdoc put the barrel of the gun almost right on their scalp. His thumb pulled back the hammer as he prepared to shoot. An audible click made the person drop to the floor. "Don't shoot!" Letting out a breath he had been holding in, his temper flared.
"Wot in Satan's name are yeh doing?" Murdoc's fingers gripped her arms in a bruising hold. If she hadn't said anything, her brains could have been arranged in a lovely pattern on the wall.
"I was following the android. I thought she would lead the way and I could get Eli and run." Her legs had completely given out from the fear of getting lead pumped into her skull. Grabbing the derringer from her, he gave her a stern look that she couldn't see.
"So yeh run aroun' like a fuckin' nutter?"
Missy gritted her teeth. "Well if you put it that way…" She trailed off. Roughly pulling her against him, he led the way to the stairwell going outside. They stumbled around in silence as he positioned her behind him.
"It's not safe in 'ere. Follow my lead." The smoke thinned as they got closer to blasted door. The sound of gunfire increased the closer they crept to the open walkway. Murdoc peered out, but quickly pulled back because he had been greeted by bullets near his face. Missy had let out a horrified gasp. She hadn't been able to process so many actions at one time and thought that he had indeed been shot. His breathing was quick and shallow and his eyes darted around for some type of escape route. They wouldn't have a chance of getting out alive if someone was staking out the entrance. Pulling a small walkie talkie, his gravelly voiced issued an order.
"Take ou' the sniper near the front. Over." The waves of nearby gunfire stopped for a moment. Missy looked at Murdoc. Making an attempt to say something he clamped his hand over her mouth. They waited in anxious silence. A man's scream was heard before a gunshot cut him off. Pulling her along, Murdoc moved with unusual cat like grace on the sand. The sun and the brightness of the sand made Missy squint. Eyes watering, she tried to get her bearing as her husband made up a plan of action. As soon as she thought the action might have died down for a moment, she was proven wrong. The sound of an airplane was approaching and the bullets it shot were making connect to the ground around them. Murdoc tried to pinpoint where the plane was coming from; the sun had temporarily blinded him. Instinct told him it was better to just get away from that spot.
"Move it!" Murdoc grabbed her arm and made a run for it. A man of his age was not meant to run around so much and it was starting to take a toll as his lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen. Once more, he pulled the walkie to his mouth. He knew that the Android could see them. "Take care of it!" Changing directions he saw the lone ship. All he needed to do was get to the little boat and motor on over to the enemy vessel. Missy did her best to keep up, but found that she was getting easily disoriented.
"Where are we going?" Her hand went up to shield her eyes from the hot sun. Sweat trickled down the side of her face and back. Sand was in her mouth and shoes making her overall condition very uncomfortable. When he didn't answer, she rephrased her question. "What's the plan?" Murdoc's eyes were bloodshot and twitchy. "Yeh see tha' boat ova there?" He pointed with his index finger to the rickety row boat with an attachable little engine.
"Yes." She hoped they weren't really going to use it.
"We get on it an' take ourselves to tha' big ship ova there. Got it?" Her hope had been popped like a balloon. He held the derringer out to her. "When I say shoot, yeh shoot." Murdoc didn't have any faith that she knew how to handle a gun, but he was grasping at straws at this point. Pulling his own gun out in front of himself, he nodded his head towards the general direction they were travelling. Taking a deep breath, Missy got off her knees and kept pace behind her legally contracted husband. As they approached the dock, he saw that there were two people standing guard. Murdoc started firing shots like an old professional. If they were mortally wounded, he didn't know and didn't particularly care. The old boat was their one and only shot of getting to Eli, so Missy held no remorse. Jumping in, Murdoc pulled her along with him and started the engine. As the motor roared to life, an explosion in the air made the couple turn their heads. Missy sat down, feeling that somehow she would be safer that way.
"What was that?" She stared at the cloud of fire and ash. Maneuvering the propellers they speed off towards the ship.
"Whatever it was, it's gone now." His eyes never strayed from the ship.
The Android hadn't shot down the airplane. Her sensors were going haywire from all the movement of the intruders running around like ants. With no shortage of guns or ammo, she set out on an investigative mission. People that crossed her path were always shot. Her sensors showed her that the prisoners were in the building and they needed no immediate protection. The programming with the compound was shared with her internal circuits. Nothing slowed her down. Anyone that hid from her were inevitably found and executed. Blood covered her artificial skin and hair. Tracing the direction of the explosive, she headed in that direction. With no fear or apprehension she approached a ring of intruders. From the center gunfire could be heard. Taking up to shoot off the intruders, the android killed them on by one. When all of them fell away she approached the two people who had been fighting off the invaders. With human like action, she stopped short. The girl with the gun looked her doppelganger. The human girl tensed every muscle in her body, ready to pounce. The large man behind her had a bazooka strapped to his back. He was the one who took down the plane.
"Well I'll be damned girl." The Android didn't know what to do. Nothing had been programmed when it came to those two. It was obvious that she was designed after this girl, but she didn't know if she needed to kill them or take them to her master. A bullet went into her stomach. Her programming determined that they needed to be disarmed as quickly as possible.
A/N: It's nice to see I still have readers after all this time. Please let me know if it seems like my writing has improved or not, I've been determined to work on the quality of my writing. This chapter was based off of the Rhinestone Eyes video, with some modifications of course. Thank you to Blackheart Ace8 and melianatara for reviewing last chapter. You guys give me the fuel to keep going.
