Trials of Beta

Chapter Twelve: Madness Masking Reason

"There's too many of them!" Lunehhy shouted, firing her Bravace behind her into the on-coming wave of Evil Sharks and NanoDragons as HK-55 hurried to join her at the transporter.

          After the waterfall cave, everything had gone to the proverbial Nine Hells. At first, this cavern had only light scatterings of monsters, but the further they got from the way they came in the more monsters sprang up. The way back was lost, too many beasts to fight through, and maybe it was just Lunehhy's imagination, but they appeared to be guiding their movement to this transporter. Was it a trap?

          HK-55 swung her Soul Eater in a wide side-to-side arc, pivoting her waist as she decapitated several Evil Sharks in one swing, but it was for naught, as for every one she killed two more seemed to take it's place. They would be overwhelmed very soon. "HK! Hurry up! Get over here!" Lunehhy called again. There was a loud wailing sound, and Lunehhy threw herself to the side as one of the NanoDragons fired a searing beam of blue light from it's mouth, killing several Evil Sharks in the process and scorching the earth where Lunehhy knelt seconds ago.

          HK-55 hurriedly grabbed Lunehhy's hand and dragged/carried her to the
transporter, activating it with a wave of her hand. The two disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing elsewhere. This particular elsewhere appeared to be the entrance to a mining cavern.

Panting, Lunehhy grabbed her Simple Mailer and entered Beta's address. "We have to get Beta to send for help."

"No! We don't need that weakling!" HK-55 countered harshly. Lunehhy recoiled slightly from the Android. In the short time down here, she has become more harsh.

"Not just him by himself, but he can bring others down here, to clear this place. There's simply too many of them for us to deal with by ourselves."

"Maybe you can't, but I can handle things by myself just fine." HK-55 said before leaving out the door, leaving Lunehhy alone. Shaking her head, she opened the Simple Mailer and began to record her message.

"Beta! Please get this soon. We're in trouble. Come, quickly! Go to the Central Dome, and search for a cave near it. I left a capsule in that cave, it'll tell you how to get to us." She paused for a second, then added something else in as a last thought, "We're UNDER the Central Dome, in some sort of mine... Beta, get as- SHIT!!" She looked up in time to see the door open, and an Evil Shark standing there, but this was much bigger then any of the other Evil Sharks' she's seen thus
far. She drew her Bravace as the yellow Evil Shark crossed the short distance between it and her. She managed to get off a pop shot before it came barreling down on her like a fright train, smashing her dropped Simple Mailer in the process.

"Screw you!" She cursed as she dived under the swing of its blade arm, firing pointblank into its side as she sailed past it. Hitting the ground and rolling, she came up on her knees, firing into the beasts back as it turned around to face her. "DIE!" She screamed, squeezing the trigger as fast as she could, pumping round after round
of Photon bullets into it.

The beast bleed green blood, yet refused to go down as it shambled towards her like some undead zombie with a taste for redheads. She wasn't aware of HK's presence until after the Android bounded over her, bringing her Soul Eater up in an underhanded upper chop, cleanly cleaving the Evil Shark in two down it's center. The two halves of its body fell away from each other as HK turned to Lunehhy, narrowly missing being splattered with the creature's blood. At first the RAmarl felt relieved, but then something in HK-55's gaze unsettled her. "HK...?" She said attentively.

The Android craned her neck to one side, then sharply snapped it in the other direction, as if she were popping her neck joints, exception HUcasels don't have neck joints. "Dark Falz..."

"Huh?" Now Lunehhy was getting real confused, and more then a bit uncomfortable. "What do you mean?"

"You must die, to bring back Dark Falz, the God of Destruction." HK said, her grip on the Soul Eater tightening as her gaze fell on Lunehhy once more, her posture and tone suddenly very aggressive.

"What do you mean?! You're making no sense!"

"I must revive Dark Falz... And you're in my WAY!" With the speed and grace of an experienced hunter, HK-55 brought her Soul Eater up and rained it down on Lunehhy. Lucky for the RAmarl, her instinct took over while her brain fumbled with confusion at the situation. Bringing up her right arm, her Barrier automatically activated, the Soul Eater rebounding as it slammed into an invisible shield over Lunehhy's arm, knocking HK-55 off balance. Her other hand simultaneously brought her Bravace up, pulling the trigger twice. The first shot found its mark, slamming into HK-55's torso and staggering her, while the second went wide, burning a hole in the wall behind HK.

Instantly recovering from her initial shock of HK's assault, Lunehhy fled the room, firing offhandedly behind her to slow HK's pursuit, but it was all in vain.

Powerful artificial muscles in HK-55's legs propelled the HUcasel forward, paying no heed to the Photon bullets whizzing past her. Were she human, or even Newman, adrenaline would be coursing through her bloodstream, numbing out all other sensations. Of course, being an Android, HK-55 doesn't have a bloodstream, but she was designed with something like adrenaline in her systems, which would allow her to go into an 'overdrive' like state. Unfortunate for Lunehhy as the Android bull charged the RAmarl, the synthetic adrenaline pushing her beyond her normal limits.

Even before her brain could catch up with the rest of her body, Lunehhy found herself being bulldozed over by the rampaging HUcasel, Scythe held with the curved blade low to the ground. Slamming into Lunehhy from behind, HK-55 used her inertia to knock the lighter Human to the ground, where her Soul Eater could deliver the finishing blow.

Finding herself suddenly propelled off her feet, her Bravace thrown from her hand, Lunehhy immediately braced herself for impact, bringing up her arms to shield her face as the rough ground meet her full on, her bare left arm taking quite a scrapping as she landed. The silver pistol clattered to the ground a few feet ahead of her. Without wasting a breath's time, Lunehhy rolled her body over to the left so she was facing up, the sharp tip of the Soul Eater digging into the ground where she lay just an instant ago.

Not giving HK a chance to recover and strike again, Lunehhy pushed up with her right hand, planting her left and rotating on it as she swept kicked HK's legs from under her. The sweep was executed perfectly, bringing the powerful Android down on her side amid a cloud of dust. Lunehhy continued the sweeping motion, pushing herself up to her feet.

She cast a glance at HK, and then scrambled for her Bravace. Scooping it up in one hand, Lunehhy spun on her heel, bringing her Bravace to bear on HK as the other landed the crescent blade on her shoulder. It was either pure luck or divine intervention that caused the flat side of the Soul Eater's blade to land on her shoulder.

Taking advantage of this situation, Lunehhy allowed herself to fall forward closer to HK, jamming the barrel of he Bravace up under HK's chin. The two froze, the energy blade of HK's Soul Eater held just inches from the back of Lunehhy's neck, the Bravace pistol of the other stuck under the Android's chin. Both knew that if the other acted, they would both die.

Lunehhy's chest heaved, her breathes coming in ragged gasps. "Why? Why are you doing this?" She demanded.

"Because He commands me to." HK replied, her eyes locking on Lunehhy's in a melodramatic contest of wills.

"He commands you? What the hell does that mean?! It's that damn weapon, isn't it? You started to change after you found it!" Sweet dotted her forehead, tiny beadlets forming and running down her face.

"I was destined to find the Soul Eater. Kireek had to pay the ultimate price for his foolish blunderings." HK bent her knees slightly as she said, taking advantage of Lunehhy not paying attention to her lower body.

"Kireek!? You mean you're the one who killed him?"

"Of course. Just like how I'll kill you!" Snapping her head back just as Lunehhy's pulled the trigger, HK could feel the heat emanating from the Photon bullet as it buzzes just centimeters pass her face, clipping her chin in the process. Simultaneously she brought her knee up hard and into Lunehhy's crotch, falling backwards and dragging the Soul Eater after her.

The instant HK threw her head back Lunehhy pulled the trigger of her Bravace, but despite being closer then point blank, she still missed. She knew what would happen next, the blade of HK's Soul Eater would close and cut through her neck, decapitating her like the so many Evil Sharks this weapon has slain. But that wasn't going to happen, not if she could help it. Acting without thinking, Lunehhy ducked her head down as she dropped into a split, just in time to be kneed by HK. Immense pain filled Lunehhy and her vision flashed white momentarily, stars whirling before her eyes. But even this was better then the alterative.

HK fell away from Lunehhy, landing on her rump as the other winced and fell to her knees, stunned by pain. Springing to her feet yet again, HK didn't close in on Lunehhy as she should have, but instead let her be, fleeing the area and disappearing through one of the doors.