Thankings to all reviewers, as per usual, replies are at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 12: Death on one side, Death on the other.
I watched disinterestedly as the scenery flew past the car window. It was hardly the most interesting of sights, especially when compared to what lay within the destiny.
Manticore had again insisted that I come with him. He seemed to want to drag me with him on outings twice as much as any of the others. I'm still not entirely certain why, maybe it was because I had a better chance of killing someone if a fight broke out.
Hydra and Hawk were also with us, they seemed similarly disinterested with their surroundings, and no conversation topics seemed to be springing forth from anyone's head; except mine.
"So let me get this straight, we're going to see a program called 'The Oracle' who can see into the future, and ask if she'd mind telling us the times and locations of future Demon attacks right?"
"We're going to ask her if she can help us," corrected Manticore, "she doesn't see everything."
"Alright, this brings me on to my next question. If the Destiny can deposit us at any location throughout the world, why do you insist on emerging from it at such great distances from our destination?"
I noticed a grin emerge on Hawk's face from the rear view mirror, the look on Hydra's face suggested that she'd asked that question herself numerous times and been exasperated by the answers.
"I find driving relaxing." Said Manticore with what sounded like irritation in his voice. Obviously he'd been exasperated by the same question more then once.
Anyway, after about an hour's silence that nearly drove me to insanity, stepping out of the car into the cold air and healthy noise of Boston's night life felt like stepping into an air conditioned room during a heat wave.
I donned my sunglasses so as to hide my shadowy eyes and cast a look around me. The closest building to us was a dilapidated apartment complex. This was the kind of place where you expected to see pestiferous children spray painting assorted crap onto walls and fresh urine staining the floor every five meters.
As it turns out, I was right. The place smelt like a toilet that had been left un-flushed for a year. Many of the floor ties were missing and only one light out of every five seemed to work.
"Nice place." I said to no one in particular.
After a few minutes of wandering, we arrived outside a nondescript door. Manticore and the others seemed content to stand outside it instead of doing what any normal person would do and knock.
"Is she expecting us?" I asked once the question had occurred to me.
"Yes." Hydra said plainly.
"I'm guessing there's a reason why we aren't…"
I was cut off suddenly as the door opened. We suddenly found ourselves face to face with a short, Asian looking man who gestured for us to enter, after we did so he said,
"The Oracle will see you shortly, please have a seat."
Doing this was a slightly more difficult task. The room was filled with dozens of assorted children's toys, and a surprising amount of spoons. Anyway, these things occupied all of the available seats, and finding a place to move them seemed like an equally difficult task.
In the end I decided to stand. Again we waited in silence. Hawk looked surprisingly tense, as if she was expecting something to smash through the door and start shooting at us. At the time, I shrugged it off as paranoia.
I was wrong.
*******************************************************************
Things were worse in the dock.
Squid shaped machines, which I would later discover were called Sentinels, were continually emerging from a curiously placed hole in the ceiling. There were about fifty of them, and about twelve of us.
I saw Meridian taking shelter behind a piece of fallen rubble, taking the occasional pot shot at passing sentinels. I inhaled deeply, tried to banish the images of an untimely demise that had found their way into my head, and rushed out into the battle zone.
I dived behind another piece of fallen rubble and quickly looked around for a potential target. Annoyingly, most of the machines seemed to be concentrating on the seven or eight people on the far side of the dock, which was my weapon couldn't reach. I also decided that running over to help would only result in me dying sooner rather then later.
Soon enough however, I found a sentinel that was within range of my fire. The creature seemed to be staring at Meridian, like a predator staring at its lunch before striking. This wasn't the case for long however as both myself and Meridian torched the beast.
This seemed to attract the attention of the sentinels on the far side of the room, about ten of them quickly turned to face us before flying quickly in our direction.
If there was any doubt before, it had now vanished, I was going to die, there was no way we could take them all out before they ripped us limb from limb.
I considered running back the way I came but realised that they could just follow me. In the end, I decided that the best thing I could do was take out as many as I could before I died.
They were about halfway across the dock when it happened.
The deafening, unmistakable sound of gunfire shook the whole room. I looked on in awe as I saw the line of sentinels that was moving towards me be ripped to shreds and fall to the floor by what I could only describe as two huge robots with huge guns. On closer inspection I noticed that there were also drivers.
The remaining sentinels charged for the whole in the ceiling. Most of which were shot down by the aforementioned gun wielding machines. Only two managed to get away.
A cheer emerged from the throats of those in the dock, myself included. The small number of people spread out over the huge space made the noise seem ridiculously quiet however.
After this had died out, Meridian slapped me lightly on the back.
"That should be all of them," there was weariness in her voice mixed with triumph, "come on, we need to report to Commander Locke."
"I'm not actually in the military." I wasn't sure if 'military' was the right word but I was too tired and confused to care
"Well you'll still need to return the gun." She replied with a grin.
I spent a few seconds staring at the weapon in my hands before hauling myself to my feet and following her to the exit.
To be continued.
Right, now for some replies
Agent Josie/Angel-of-lightness: Thankings, looked dead you says she/you did? Odd, oh well, thankings to thyselves for reviewing. I would say something else…So I will,
'Ahem'
Every time I think of you, I think of suicide. (That's a phrase, not a statement. It's only happened twice.)
Tai Wilson: Enjoy the Animatrix. It's not really as good as the films but its good all the same. Anyway, thanks for reviewing. I have no suggestions for writer's block unfortunately.
Nithke: Thanks, it's always nice to see new reviewers. Hope you liked the rest? Damn it that's all I can think of to say, I suck at replies.
Chapter 12: Death on one side, Death on the other.
I watched disinterestedly as the scenery flew past the car window. It was hardly the most interesting of sights, especially when compared to what lay within the destiny.
Manticore had again insisted that I come with him. He seemed to want to drag me with him on outings twice as much as any of the others. I'm still not entirely certain why, maybe it was because I had a better chance of killing someone if a fight broke out.
Hydra and Hawk were also with us, they seemed similarly disinterested with their surroundings, and no conversation topics seemed to be springing forth from anyone's head; except mine.
"So let me get this straight, we're going to see a program called 'The Oracle' who can see into the future, and ask if she'd mind telling us the times and locations of future Demon attacks right?"
"We're going to ask her if she can help us," corrected Manticore, "she doesn't see everything."
"Alright, this brings me on to my next question. If the Destiny can deposit us at any location throughout the world, why do you insist on emerging from it at such great distances from our destination?"
I noticed a grin emerge on Hawk's face from the rear view mirror, the look on Hydra's face suggested that she'd asked that question herself numerous times and been exasperated by the answers.
"I find driving relaxing." Said Manticore with what sounded like irritation in his voice. Obviously he'd been exasperated by the same question more then once.
Anyway, after about an hour's silence that nearly drove me to insanity, stepping out of the car into the cold air and healthy noise of Boston's night life felt like stepping into an air conditioned room during a heat wave.
I donned my sunglasses so as to hide my shadowy eyes and cast a look around me. The closest building to us was a dilapidated apartment complex. This was the kind of place where you expected to see pestiferous children spray painting assorted crap onto walls and fresh urine staining the floor every five meters.
As it turns out, I was right. The place smelt like a toilet that had been left un-flushed for a year. Many of the floor ties were missing and only one light out of every five seemed to work.
"Nice place." I said to no one in particular.
After a few minutes of wandering, we arrived outside a nondescript door. Manticore and the others seemed content to stand outside it instead of doing what any normal person would do and knock.
"Is she expecting us?" I asked once the question had occurred to me.
"Yes." Hydra said plainly.
"I'm guessing there's a reason why we aren't…"
I was cut off suddenly as the door opened. We suddenly found ourselves face to face with a short, Asian looking man who gestured for us to enter, after we did so he said,
"The Oracle will see you shortly, please have a seat."
Doing this was a slightly more difficult task. The room was filled with dozens of assorted children's toys, and a surprising amount of spoons. Anyway, these things occupied all of the available seats, and finding a place to move them seemed like an equally difficult task.
In the end I decided to stand. Again we waited in silence. Hawk looked surprisingly tense, as if she was expecting something to smash through the door and start shooting at us. At the time, I shrugged it off as paranoia.
I was wrong.
*******************************************************************
Things were worse in the dock.
Squid shaped machines, which I would later discover were called Sentinels, were continually emerging from a curiously placed hole in the ceiling. There were about fifty of them, and about twelve of us.
I saw Meridian taking shelter behind a piece of fallen rubble, taking the occasional pot shot at passing sentinels. I inhaled deeply, tried to banish the images of an untimely demise that had found their way into my head, and rushed out into the battle zone.
I dived behind another piece of fallen rubble and quickly looked around for a potential target. Annoyingly, most of the machines seemed to be concentrating on the seven or eight people on the far side of the dock, which was my weapon couldn't reach. I also decided that running over to help would only result in me dying sooner rather then later.
Soon enough however, I found a sentinel that was within range of my fire. The creature seemed to be staring at Meridian, like a predator staring at its lunch before striking. This wasn't the case for long however as both myself and Meridian torched the beast.
This seemed to attract the attention of the sentinels on the far side of the room, about ten of them quickly turned to face us before flying quickly in our direction.
If there was any doubt before, it had now vanished, I was going to die, there was no way we could take them all out before they ripped us limb from limb.
I considered running back the way I came but realised that they could just follow me. In the end, I decided that the best thing I could do was take out as many as I could before I died.
They were about halfway across the dock when it happened.
The deafening, unmistakable sound of gunfire shook the whole room. I looked on in awe as I saw the line of sentinels that was moving towards me be ripped to shreds and fall to the floor by what I could only describe as two huge robots with huge guns. On closer inspection I noticed that there were also drivers.
The remaining sentinels charged for the whole in the ceiling. Most of which were shot down by the aforementioned gun wielding machines. Only two managed to get away.
A cheer emerged from the throats of those in the dock, myself included. The small number of people spread out over the huge space made the noise seem ridiculously quiet however.
After this had died out, Meridian slapped me lightly on the back.
"That should be all of them," there was weariness in her voice mixed with triumph, "come on, we need to report to Commander Locke."
"I'm not actually in the military." I wasn't sure if 'military' was the right word but I was too tired and confused to care
"Well you'll still need to return the gun." She replied with a grin.
I spent a few seconds staring at the weapon in my hands before hauling myself to my feet and following her to the exit.
To be continued.
Right, now for some replies
Agent Josie/Angel-of-lightness: Thankings, looked dead you says she/you did? Odd, oh well, thankings to thyselves for reviewing. I would say something else…So I will,
'Ahem'
Every time I think of you, I think of suicide. (That's a phrase, not a statement. It's only happened twice.)
Tai Wilson: Enjoy the Animatrix. It's not really as good as the films but its good all the same. Anyway, thanks for reviewing. I have no suggestions for writer's block unfortunately.
Nithke: Thanks, it's always nice to see new reviewers. Hope you liked the rest? Damn it that's all I can think of to say, I suck at replies.