Chapter 5 - Rescuing the Recon
Alpha-X turned to see Anode rush from 32's lab, rushing up the stairs quickly, leaping multiple steps at a time. Fidget sent his hand into AX's shoulder, turning and bolting after Anode at a quick pace, leaping up the stairs. AX ran after them, stopping in front of 32's lab as he came from the room. 32 set his hand lightly upon his shoulder.
"I know you don't trust him, but I want you to take the kid back to where he came from. The journey shouldn't be too rough, seeing as how Lizzy and her recon unit are under heavy fire. That's probably where all the enemies are sure to be right now. Just make sure to keep the kid safe."
AX nodded sharply, running past and up the stairs, Enzan came running out of the room after him. 32's hand stopped him, a small disk sliding forth from his gauntlet. He handed it over to Enzan, who looked to the reploid and then nodded lightly. 32 gave a small smile and pushed the kid forward, sending Enzan stumbling from the force. Enzan went bounding up the stairs, letting 32 return to his lab.
He dropped down into his large cushion chair, pulling himself in under his computer, tapping lightly on the keys, schematics for first version of X appearing on the screen. Off to his right, the sound of sneakers rubbing against the floor was coming from the room with the stasis tanks, was heard to none but 32.
A female Reploid with dark green armor plating, with a light silver jumpsuit underneath, lay crumpled upon the ground. She had blood-like ruby hair, which lay about the base of her neck and eyes of a hardened brown. Her face was adorned with a twin pair of red stripes, each placed vertically upon her cheeks, going from the base of her eye and down to her jaw. Her small mouth was slightly agape, with fluids slowly trickling forth from it on to the ground. The other two members of her unit, Panic and Piro, should have easily survived that last explosion. Lizzy pushed herself off of her stomach and sat down, lifting her hand and wiped the fluids from her lip. She shook her head lightly, glancing around. She got to her feet, setting her hands on either side of her mouth making a funnel-shape and then called out loudly, "Piro? Panic? You two still alive?"
A golden Reploid off to Lizzy's left, lay upon the ground, multiple cracks in his shiny armor, and a helmet with slanted spikes inclining off the back. The eye-covers of his helmet, as well as his wrist guards, glittered a soft azure color in the slightly dim light. Beneath the golden armor was a dark grey jumpsuit, and in the center of the golden armor was a shiny metal plating to cover over a special system designed especially for him, and him alone. Panic winced slightly, pushing himself into a crouch. He groaned in pain, the armor on his right leg cracked, leaking fluids out on to the ground. He regained his composure in time to leap into the air, the second of the two D-1000 robots slamming into the ground where he just was. He landed on its back, whipping out his beam saber, snarling loudly, "I'm here, Lizzy! I'm taking this robot do-OOF!" Panic went flying off the back of the second D-1000, the first one slamming its clamp into his back.
The final member of the unit, a Reploid with a dark red jumpsuit, surrounded by a slightly dark grey armor. This reploid had no helmet, like Lizzy, but his hair was a shimmering black. His armor was slotted with green gems on the tops of his knees, the center of his chest, and his wrist guards were also green. Around the center gem was a golden casing to protect it. Piro leapt upward, morphing his hand into a sledge hammer, slamming it forward into the face of the D-1000 that Panic was just on top of. The robot tipped slightly, digging into the ground, a massive indent in its face. Piro morphed his hand back, sliding into a battle-ready stance, leaping backward as the other D-1000 came down to hit him. He landed and opened fire with his buster, running backward as he fired. He stopped and smirked a little, "Yeah, Lizzy, I'm alive."
Lizzy withdrew a long cylinder and spun it quickly over her head before tossing it into the air like a baton. She spun around and caught it behind her, igniting the twin axe-heads, turning her head to stare at the twin robots, an evil grin on her face. Multiple parts of her dark green armor were cracked, but the fluid had stopped leaking from her mouth. She leapt into the air, bringing the axe up quickly, drawing the blade skillfully through the face of the robot that had slammed into Panic, sparks exploding as Lizzy landed. She dashed forward, deactivating the twin-axe, dirt kicking up from the burner on her boots. She came to a stop next to Panic, who pushed himself to his feet, morphing his hand into his buster. He leapt up on to Lizzy's shoulders, leaping higher into the air with her help, the gears within his buster activating, rounds spitting from the mouth of the gun, round after round imbedding into the robot's hide, tearing through its armor. Piro flipped across the ground, the D-1000 unoccupied by Panic and Lizzy attacking him. He spun around and leaped backward, his buster releasing multiple shots into the face of the massive robot. Piro landed beside Lizzy, who greeted the reploid with a face-full of plasma, firing point-blank into its face.
Alpha-X's feet padded along ahead of Enzan's, making a loud, metallic, clink with each and every step. Enzan ran as quick as he could behind him, keeping up as well as any human could when following a reploid. Enzan suddenly stopped, leaning against a wall, breathing heavily, his chest contracting and restricting quickly. AX stopped a few feet ahead of him, his hand reaching up to the side of his head, his fingers lighting tapping the sensory unit, opening a channel to Fidget and Anode.
"Anode, have you arrived at Lizzy's location yet?" His voice was tinged with concern.
"No, AX. We're not quite there yet." Anode responded almost immediately, with Fidget's response quickly following, "I can hear the sounds of battle, AX!"
"Just make sure you two get there in time to help them if they need it, got it?" AX asked, both of them replying simultaneously, "Of course, AX."
Enzan lifted his head from its position on the wall, staring up at the tall reploid. AX turned his head and glanced back at the kid. He turned around and walked over to him, speaking lightly, "I know you don't have the endurance of a Reploid, but we can't rest any longer. We have to get moving, and now." Enzan nodded lightly and pushed away from the wall, running ahead of AX, who shook his head and followed after him quickly.
32 tapped away a little quicker on the keyboard at the monitor before him, the soft breathing of a human coming from the side of the room, under shadow. The schematics of X were spinning around on the screen, he pushed off and slid to the left stopping before the next monitor, touching a few keys lightly, nodding in satisfaction, "Axl, you're going to be finished ahead of schedule. A few more days and you'll be done."
He kicked off and slid back in front of the monitor with X's rotating designs, "But you, X, you're going to be.. At least a week, maybe more. I just can't seem to get a few fixed flaws in your designs to correspond with your systems. Maybe I should reverse the corrections.. Light probably had the same problem."
Enzan came to a halt in front of Dr. Faern's laboratory building, falling against the big metal doors. AX stopped beside him, lifting his hand and rasping it against the door loudly. The sound of banging metal and the cursing of a slightly older man vibrating off the walls. The metal doors drew apart, revealing Faern standing in the doorway, "Enzan, you're ali-" Faern's voice caught in his voice as he noticed AX's stature beside Enzan's. A slight smirk crept across AX's lips as he stepped past the exhausted Enzan and the flabbergasted Faern and into the half-wrecked lab. AX stepped over a few dozen Mets running about the floor. Enzan forced himself to enter into the lab, tipping his book bag from his shoulder and on to a table. He pulled his laptop from the bag and set it down, setting the disk he received from 32 on top of it, which caught AX's attention, "What is that?"
Enzan tried to catch his breath before responding. "32.. Gave it to.. Me.. As we.. Left.." AX stared at it for a moment and then nodded, shrugging off his thoughts. Faern perked a brow at the sudden change of Enzan's voice, it being much lower than it usual was. He shook his head, taking the disk up into his hand and heading over to the main computer, leaving the laptop for later.
Anode's boosters activated, sending him thrashing across the landscape, Fidget running along behind him, yelled after him, "Watch the dust, dammit! My optics aren't meant for your afterburner, you ass!" Anode only laughed and sped along ahead, morphing his hand into a buster, setting it out ahead of him. He fired off a rapid fire volley of plasma into a row of grenadiers ready to let loose a dozen grenades. Fidget leaped into the air, activating his beam spear and dropped down upon the center reploid, cutting through two of the other bots. He dashed aside as Anode dashed past, strafing the reploid row, cutting down the last few of the attackers.
"Fidget, activate your visor and check the situation down there." Anode ordered, pointing off to the side of the building. Fidget deactivated his beam spear and crouched at the building's edge, staring down, his visor sliding down over his face.
Lizzy leapt backward, followed closely by Panic. Piro dashed to the side, morphing his hand back into a sledge-hammer. He jumped upward, kicking off the side of a building, landing on the back of the face-dented D-1000, slamming the sledge-hammer down into it's motor, forcing it to combust and explode right in front of him. Panic came sliding across the ground, his saber withdrawn. He came to a stop, and made a clean slice along the bottom of the massive Reploid, massive explosions erupting along the bottom. Panic dashed forward, with Piro diving off the top, as Lizzy came rushing in, leaping over the Reploid, landing lightly on the top and leaping once more. She came down with a crash upon the second D-1000, bringing the axe down and cutting straight through the back of it's massive body. Panic let loose a volley of shots from his gatling buster, the hot plasma coating the bottom of its form.
"Piro, get out of here! The front-lines is no place for snipers!" Panic's voice roared over the massive explosion of the crippled first D-1000, sending dust flying across the battlefield. Piro sustained the explosion, morphing the sledge-hammer into a buster, and aiming, "Not a damn chance, Panic."
Lizzy leapt from atop the D-1000, two Reploids from above landing on its backside. A brown reploid with a beam spear activated landed with a thud, cutting downward through the metal plating before leaping from its back seconds after Lizzy. The second Reploid hovered above it, its silver plating shimmering in the sun. This particular Reploid aimed its buster carefully, before firing a massive shot of energy straight through it, the entire blast enveloping the body of the Reploid, melting through the armor and cutting into the circuits and programs, the robot imploding from the inside out. Lizzy and her group, as well as Fidget, lost sight of Anode after the explosion. As the smoke cleared, Anode landed a few feet away from them, smirking slightly.
"Hey, Lizzy. Did you miss us?"