Protector of Men Ch 66

Kesia was having a hard time staying in her chair. So much was going on outside – and so little within – that she felt useless in the fight. She couldn't even do her own job; still she could only see fragments of them every now and then. Thank god they had opened a door! Though it was a little quieter, the danger was still eminent. Something weird was going on… something that had never happened before.

"Trim," she asked into her headset, "Is that last one still gone?"

He took a few seconds to respond; she could hear him giving orders to Kemp in the background.

"Yes," he finally responded, "Still gone."

Only minutes before Trim had exterminated the fourth sentinel, Purgatory breathed a sigh of relief as they went after the fifth and final squid. The threat would soon be a memory, and perhaps Purgatory would live after all. But something had happened. Something strange.

The last sentinel scanned its dead comrades on the ground, completely ignoring Purgatory and their volleys of fire. Bullets crashed into its metal hull, but not enough yet to bring it down. And instead of attacking, the sentinel scurried off, sending pulses of electricity as it went.

"It's crying," Alias had said, and it was an unusual observation indeed. Sentinels couldn't cry. They were machines, they were designed to kill. But it was eerie. Everything had become very quiet since then; they hoped that Stotte would carry through with their promise. Perhaps with a well-placed EMP… too risky. And Stotte hadn't even contacted them yet. So Trim was left waiting in the cockpit, his eyes beginning to burn from watching for so long. It had been a long day, but only four hours had passed. Four hours had ended up an eternity… and it wasn't over yet.

A light began to blink on a screen below him, and he almost jumped out of his chair at the sight. The sentinel was back. But it had reinforcements.

Oh, fuck.

"Cover!" Zandra screamed as she ducked under another of the twin's blows. Just in time he sidled to the right, barely evading the other twin's swinging arm. Neo and him were sparring against one, while Zandra took the other. But Shade was nowhere to be found, and it worried her. Where had he run to? Soon after he had left Zandra took the opportunity to attack, a fight had erupted again. It was tiresome, and it was almost useless, but it was better than their previous situation. Where is Shade? She kept thinking, her thoughts not completely focused on the battle at hand.

Somehow they had wound their way down the dank hallways into a somewhat brighter area. Above them lamps swung ominously, casting a gray glow about the halls that though it illuminated the area, made the troupe feel as if things were darker than ever. But they truly were.

Zandra didn't see the twin pull out a second blade from his pocket, her thoughts were so mixed up. She took no heed of his arm then, coming to punch her in the side… it was too fast – she didn't even recognize the puncture of flesh, the break of her skin that could be her undoing. But she finally realized something was wrong when the Twin stopped and smirked for a moment, and she felt the pain begin to grow.

"Touche," he whispered, wiping his now bloody knife onto his pallid hand. He licked her blood, and smiled again. Zandra almost doubled over; the world began to go slower as the pain intensified. She looked down, and could see wetness – the wet of blood beginning to soak her shirt. She was confused – stabbed? But how? What? Neo and Cover didn't realize what was going on – the other twin had so cleverly kept them occupied while the One became injured. And that was their plan. It would all work out in the end. Things continued to move slow for Zandra, but this wasn't the right kind of slow. The world began to spin around her. Stabbed? But… it's not real? She tried to cover her wound with her hand, but found it too painful. Pain? That wasn't supposed to happen. The twin continued to smirk and readied his weapons for the final blow. Zandra watched as he looked to his brother, saw what she thought to be a wink between the two – probably the simultaneous recognition of her downfall… this was it. It had come to this. She could only stupidly stare at the twin as he twirled his knives one last time, of course, showing off before he would kill her…

Shade only had a few seconds left, and he arrived right in time. Swinging his chains like nunchakus he hit the twin on the side of the neck right as he began advancing on Zandra, sending him in a crumpled mess onto the ground. Zandra stood shocked in front of him; he couldn't tell whether it was because he had just saved the One, or because of the injury he had just seen. But the other twin stopped fighting to look at his broken brother, and quickly turned to Shade with rage in his eyes. But Neo had the program's arms tied behind his back before anything else could be done. He sneered, but didn't fight.

"Zandra," Cover called as she suddenly fell to the floor. She rested her back against the wall, her hands cupped under her side as if catching her own blood as it poured out. She looked confused, and soon both Cover and Shade were at her side: Cover examining her wound, and Shade holding her head. Zandra looked to Neo for guidance. Why?

"Zandra," he suddenly said, letting go of the twin. The program tried to attack, but with a swift kick to the chest the twin soon joined his brother in unconsciousness. Neo came to the ground before her, his eyes searching everywhere.

"What…" Zandra started, her voice cracking a bit, "Why…" Words were finding themselves scarce in her mind.

She's the one! Neo told himself, this shouldn't happen. She's dying.

"Kemp!" Kesia screamed down the loading bay, "Now!" The door was wide open, but it was hard to hear anything in the din of the fight. Explosions rattled the ship; Purgatory was experiencing hell – perhaps a taste of eternity. But hopefully not yet.

"No!" Trim screamed from the cockpit, "Kemp! Get out there!"

Alias could see Kemp venturing bravely out into the pipeways with her EMP gun in hand. It was a deadly job, but no one else could do it. And she shouldered the task: her exact words had been 'Rather it'd be here than in that shithole dreamworld,'. But things were moving too quickly… too many… not enough time…

"Trim how many are there?" Kesia shouted into her headpiece, still sitting at her operator's chair. Though she was able to stay put, she found herself turning towards the cockpit every few seconds. She expected them to come any time.

"Trim!" she shouted again after a few moments. Another explosion rippled through the ground, Kesia could see a flash of white light coming from the open bay door. Trim grunted.

"Damnit Kesia," he said angrily, "At least thirty!"

She stopped breathing. Thirty. This was the end. Yet another explosion groaned, this time Kesia could see licks of fire approaching the door to her right. You can only pray, she thought, that Stotte comes…

But it wouldn't be so easy.

"Trim!" Kesia could hear Alias shout, "Use your ammo well!"

He took a second to answer, Kesia felt a bang on the hull of the ship and had to hold onto the screens so she wouldn't fall over. She scrunched her eyes shut. No, no, no… she kept repeating… this isn't happening…

"Alias, we don't have time!" he replied, his voice sounding different again.

"You have to!" she yelled as another bang echoed through Purgatory, "We're running out!"

"Neo, what's happening?" Shade asked, his eyes full of concern. Zandra was slipping, and they were doing nothing. Stillness pervaded the chateau walls.

"I'm looking," he responded stonily, and placed a hand on her gaping side. She looked at him blankly, a flash of realization passed over her face, but it was soon gone. She looked into oblivion again, her eyes unfocused and uneven. Shade held his hand in hers, perhaps she just needed to know someone was there…

Something was wrong with her code, something was different. And it wasn't just a stab wound. It had to be something more. He focused harder on the code, using his intuition to see what the error was. Zandra put her hand down on her lap and closed her eyes, everyone became more tense.

"I can try," he repeated, remeniscent of a time so long ago… but no. He had never saved anyone's life. He had only terminated. You can change that, he told himself, willing himself to work harder. His jaw clenched and he focused more. Cover and Shade watched in silence as the air around them buzzed with energy.

Zandra realized that she had something in her pocket – what is it, I wonder? She faintly felt its outline on her leg… what could it be…

She wasn't aware that she was slowly coming back, slowly gaining more consciousness again. But soon enough she made a small movement and reached into her pocket, loosely holding what she had found. But the job wasn't over yet – Neo still sat with his eyes closed, his hand against her side. Something was still wrong.

Time was still of the essence.

A/N – BLAH! Fight scene is hard. This is the worst writers block I've have in a long time. But after this, I think things will be easier. Do you want me to continue with Ravaged? With revolutions coming and everything, I don't want the whole storyline to be on the wrong track and have everyone abandon it.

Just wrote a really sad part that I didn't expect. And once I knew it was coming, I didn't expect it to be as sad as it was. :(

Aqua_Phoenix1 – haha! You'll never know. Jk. I think Shade is a mixture. He's not your stock 'trinity', but he is a pillar of support, I think. I think everyone's more dependent of each other than they think/want to admit.

Zuma – tell your parents there's bad stuff in every form of entertainment! Bad movies, bad books, everything. Just because it's there doesn't mean you'll be tempted to read it, and just because you find something distasteful doesn't mean it affects you. I hope you get to stay on!

Microchips – good! Heh…