Out of the Future
Chapter 20: Eye of the Tiger
It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge
Of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And his fortune must always be
Eye of the tiger. -Survivor
Max and Alec had just turned into the mixing lab, it was clear except for some very large metal boxes along the sides and
dirty pieces of paper scattered everywhere. There was a thin metal railing along the left side, where the floor took a steep
100-foot dive downwards. The dim orange lights gave off an eerie glow, making every shadow seem alive, but with the
transgenics eyesight, it didn't bother them. Rachel and Jesse were somewhere in the rafters along the ceiling, waiting for
Koiohla to pounce on Max and Alec, which had been their plan after all.
FLASHBACK
"What do you mean by 'bait'?" asked Alec when they had just gotten into the building.
"I mean you and Mom are going to be bait, there's probably a storage area or somewhere big enough for us to fight in around here," said Rachel scanning the Hall.
"So you want them to walk around, draw her attention, get her to a certain area, ambush, and kill her?" asked Jesse
"That's the plan," she said.
"So where do we end up once we have her?" asked Alec.
"That's what we need to find."
END FLASHBACK
"You think she followed them?" whispered Jesse so softly that Rachel almost didn't hear him.
"I hope…wait…look."
As Max and Alec got to the center of the platform, Rachel saw a shadow over by the corner where they had just walked out
of. Zooming in on the shadow, the two X-9's could see Koiohla's bright yellow eyes.
^^^
Peering around a corner, Koiohla could see them, her golden eyes scanning the area. Searching for any kind of trap, her ears listening for any sound other than Max and Alec, who were standing about sixty feet away from her. These transgenics were stupider than she thought. Fighting with each other to lead her here, to this exact spot. Koiohla looked up, and sure enough she saw them, two little X9's waiting high above in the rafters for her. Well if they wanted her, she wasn't one to disappoint. The X38 backed slowly into the shadows.
^^^
"So what are you going to yell at me now?" asked Max loudly.
"She's gone," whispered Alec
"What?" hissed Max.
"She was right behind us, you could feel it couldn't you? Max she's gone."
Max knocked him out of the way and walked a bit back to the shadowed corner that they had come from, and picked up some papers she pretended she was interested in, occasionally glancing at the space Koiohla had just occupied.
"You think she went around?" asked Max walking over to Alec.
"That's the only way in here, the other door is sealed shut."
"I've got a bad feeling about his."
"Kind of a spine-tingling, hair standing on end, limb's getting numb feeling?"
"Something's wrong," said Max dropping the crumpled papers and going for her gun.
^^^
"What are they doing?" hissed Rachel from high above.
"Rachel, something's not right," whispered Jesse.
"It should've gone without a hitch I don't understand."
"I think we under-estimated her, again."
"That you did kittens," came a steely voice above them.
"What the?!"
Rachel and Jesse looked up in time to see Koiohla's fiery golden eyes and the underside of her heeled boots as she lashed out
and kicked them down from their perch.
^^^
"What the?!"
Max and Alec heard Rachel's shout as they looked up to see the X9's plummet to the ground, they both hit almost simultaneously, rolled and were on their feet once more.
"Bitch!" cursed Rachel.
"I take it she surprised you," said Alec
The four of them stood together as Koiohla jumped and landed perfectly on her feet in front of them. There she stood in complete black leather wardrobe, Ebony hair loose around her shoulders, eyes glittering with amusement. A grey, metal choker locked around her neck.
"Pathetic Creatures," she drawled, "I still don't know why The Conclave had so much trouble with you, a scrawny girl and an idiot boy. It's nice to finally see you on my own 452, it's a pity Meszima couldn't have joined us."
"So you're just going to kill us?" asked Max
"That's the plan, to get rid of you for Cerberus."
"Why are we so important?"
"What's this?" asked Koiohla, "you want a bed time story before I send you to sleep? Cerberus want you dead before you lead the Transgenics against the Familiars, and give birth to that (she nodded at Rachel) can't be explained any simpler than that."
"And this Cerberus is some cheap knock off of Manticore?" asked Max.
"Cerberus is superior to Manticore, it can control its creatures and perfected Sandeman's work for the perfect weapon, 495 was the closest he got."
"And from the looks of it you're supposed to be Cerberus' 'perfect weapon' am I right?"
"Far from it, the X30 series have always has less than desirable results, but they have been corrected through four generations. The X40 series will be invincible."
"Well I certainly didn't expect that," said Rachel sarcastically, "Manticore thought the X7's were supposed to be invincible and well you saw how that went."
"Drop your weapons," demanded Koiohla, "they're useless against me, not that I'd like to see you try to use them but I won't feel it."
Faster than anything, she was in front of Max, who was backhanded and sent flying into a wall. Rachel hit the ground soon after being receiving a full roundhouse in the face, and Alec was grabbed by the arm and thrown into Jesse. As they crashed to the floor, Rachel was hoisted up by the neck.
"You may be Manticore's Perfection, but you are nothing to me," hissed Koiohla before throwing her at Max who went down again after just getting up.
Jesse regained his composure from being knocked down by Alec before running at the X38, he was a well trained fighter, but Koiohla blocked everything he sent at her. Jesse felt her kick his leg out before slamming her foot in his face.
Max and Rachel used the diversion to tackle Koiohla to the ground from behind as Alec pulled Jesse to his feet. The two female transgenics took this time to pound a way on Koiohla before she elbowed them in the stomachs, rolled onto her back, grabbed their throats and bashed their heads together. Tossing them each to a side, she flipped back on her feet and backed out of their reach. Koiohla tossed her jacket and laughed.
"Okay we had a plan to get her here, now what's the plan on getting rid of her?" asked Alec
"Her necks covered, our guns are useless…" started Jesse.
"Let's try anyway," said Rachel angrily pulling a gun on the bitch.
Rachel emptied a round at Koiohla, and she just stood there, taking it all, never flinching once.
"On second thought let's not try that."
"Don't you see how pointless this all is?" asked the X38, "I could kill you all right now."
"What do we do?" whispered Alec.
"I'm thinking," said Rachel
Jesse was about to say something when he caught a movement out of the corner of his left eye. Backing up behind the other
three, all waiting for Koiohla to make her next move, he glanced over at a very familiar blonde, just as the X38 lunged at them.
^^^
"Did you get his attention yet?" murmured Logan.
"Yeah, but the others are back in it hold on," said Asha, "okay."
"Tell him to get her over to the far right wall and then run like hell," he said glancing at the detonator he held in his hand.
When the four transgenics had gone into the factory, Logan and Asha had gone in after them just moments later. During the
hunt and fight with Koiohla, they were able to set a charge on the opposite side of the Lab.
^^^
Jesse got the message and quickly ducked under Koiohla's arm as she swung at him, Rachel grabbed her on the follow through and pushed her back, but was grabbed herself and they both went down. Koiohla was on top of her in seconds, trying to strangle the X9 female. Max took the opportunity to grab hold of her neck to try and pry off the metal ring surrounding it, which would leave her vulnerable. Koiohla headbutted Max, grabbed her arm and stood up swinging her over her shoulder, and kicking her in the back for good measure when she landed.
"This the best you got little girl?" asked Koiohla, blocking Rachel's punches, she had attacked her the moment Max had fallen. Throwing her arms aside Koiohla threw Rachel into Jesse to make room to fight with Alec.
"Get her to the right wall, my parents rigged the other side with explosives while we were fighting. They're over behind that crate to the far right," he quickly explained, "we have to get her over there, I don't know how much they did but it's better than nothing."
"How are we supposed to do that?" she said watching Alec kick Koiohla and getting hit three more times for his attempt.
"We aren't gaining any ground on her. I know you're stronger than this Rache, what's wrong you've never been this unfocused before. What's wrong?"
"I don't know, I-It's just not connecting, I don't know why."
"Rachel we need a good shot, we have to get her over there."
"I know," she said watching Max and Alec get thrown down.
"Together?"
"Jesse…" she started shaking her head.
"Rachel you're off, we do this together."
"Fine," said Rachel giving up, "on three."
"One."
Alec got kneed in the stomach and then in the face. He went tumbling back, trying to regain his balance.
"Two."
Max punched Koiohla three times and kicked her in the side, trying to inflict as much damage as she could. The X5 was thrown back into Alec a few seconds later, they both went to the floor.
"Three!"
With Max and Alec out of the way, Rachel and Jesse were free to double team Koiohla, but neither of them saw her slip her
right hand behind her back or the fingers that slide into six inches of solid steel.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Cliff Hanger.
Will Rachel be shish ka bobbed? Will Jesse be killed? Will Logan and Asha come out of hiding? When the hell is Koiohla going to die?!
Tune in next time for: Chapter 21: End Game