Eleanor formed a floating flame above her hand to see. Her big friend reverted to his translucent bioluminescent form, casting some light as well. He led her through the interior at a jogging pace, the main passageway as tall and wide as the entrance. Various smaller passengers connected to the main one, quite labyrinthine to behold, consisting of more conjunctions deeper into the structure. The pyramid often shook, dust and little stones fluttering about, and the echoes of battle reverberated throughout the infrastructure.
Eleanor occasionally saw dead anachronistic warriors, equipped like those outside. The now-dead warriors had taken bioluminescent fungus with them, stored in lanterns, most of which were broken. The bioluminescent fungus glowed white powerfully, bright enough to illuminate a radius of about twenty feet.
Most had been killed by bullets that pierced their helmets, or multiple gunshots through their body armour. Others did not wear helmets and had their skulls crushed in at the sides, blood and brains smeared on the floor.
So, there is fighting inside, too.
Eleanor did not know how to use firelocks, so she instead took a dead warrior's backsword.
Better than nothing else.
A while later, Eleanor found another surprise. As her guide led her, she saw thick copper cables running along the walls and flooring, sometimes entering holes in the walls or ceiling. All the cables were covered with dust, some buried under rubble, others torn.
The cables looked more like dirty, deformed, twisted ropes than actual cables, the insulation and jacketing rotted away long ago, revealing the eroded, deformed, split shielding. Though, the bunched wiring consisting of the core was still functional, a spark or zap occasionally appearing here and there. Eleanor even felt static electricity in a few places, causing her hair to stick out and skin to wriggle.
Her friend tripped on a cable, falling over with a grunt. Eleanor stopped by him.
"Ged beh vrau'hn' ahfah ral Tha'hh'ck Advoctem!" Eleanor's guide seemed to warn, pointing at a symbol carved into the wall. The symbol was a Schwarze Sonne, just like the one Eleanor saw in her dream so long ago. Tha'hh'ck Advoctem must have meant Black Sun in the beast's language. The two continued moving.
Soon, Eleanor and her guide could overhear gunfire farther into the pyramid. Firing weapons inside a massive, stony structure was quite deafening, echoing like crazy. The gunfire was slow and loud, definitely not modern. To make things worse, roaring, howling, hissing and growling also echoed, clearly not of humans or any animal Eleanor knew about.
Eleanor's friend made a growl that became a roar, and he charged into the blackness up ahead, his biological stealth systems deactivating. He quickly disappeared into the shadows, armed with nothing but his spear.
"Hey! Or do I have to go alone, now?" Eleanor called, but her friend ran like the wind.
Even sprinting as fast as a Big Sister could go, Eleanor could not catch up to him. She only heard his sixteen clawed toes clicking against the stone flooring for a few seconds, and he was soon gone. Eleanor figured he sprinted at about seventy kilometres per hour, much faster than any human could run, including herself. This whole time he had led her, he had not ran full-speed until now?
Well, up ahead, Eleanor could see muzzle flashes, lanterns filled with bioluminescent fungus, and glowing things moving around in the blackness. Seemed that a brutal, close-quarters fight was taking place in the main chamber, undoubtedly at the centre of the pyramid.
"Guess that's where I'm headed," Eleanor said to herself.
Once Eleanor reached the main chamber, she could see only patches of the area, as a vast majority of the chamber was just darkness. There were perhaps a dozen groups of warriors, illuminated by their glowing fungus, firing into the darkness when able, and then relying on bayonets or swords to fight beasts like Eleanor's friend.
Eleanor could hear the beasts running in the blackness, in constant motion, about half of them with their biological stealth system active. In the darkness, glowing eyes and nervous systems looked like ghostly undead creatures, rather frightening to behold.
The beasts relied on a simple tactic: surround a group of warriors, throw spears at them, then pounce upon them at the same time. Many pounced upon bayonets or swords, but nevertheless landed atop the warrior, proceeding to grab them by their helmeted heads and smashing them against the floor. Since the warriors wore so much armour, they were immune to claws and teeth, but were nevertheless pummeled and chewed on, only able to punch and kick back. Their helmets were soon ripped off, then the beasts clamped their jaws onto necks and thrashed the armoured men to and fro while growling. The largest and strongest beasts simply sunk their teeth into heads, crushing the skulls.
There was nothing Eleanor could do for the fearless warriors, but she had to move on. Very soon, her floating flame revealed several beasts, who suddenly appeared before Eleanor, but she neither flinched nor blinked. They aggressively barked and growled, so Eleanor threw explosive fireballs to the floor, and they ran off hissing. However, she constantly heard other beasts crawling all around her, probably wondering if they should pounce on her or not. They sometimes threw spears at her, or leapt at her, but she dove out of the way.
"Hey! Stop it, I'm on your side, right?" Eleanor yelled with some anger. Both her hands ignited with fiery Plasmids, and all the beasts surrounding her skipped away.
"Wak! Kaia hohtof arnaq jej!" one of the beasts shouted, standing tall and pushing over another beast who was about to jump. Eleanor had a feeling it was her guide. Upon his shout, the creatures in her area ran off and left her alone.
"Thanks!" Eleanor called with a wave, but her gratitude was interrupted when she heard a woman's scream amidst the chaos. Eleanor ran forth to see what was going on.
"Make it stop!" some woman cried, Eleanor following the direction of the scream.
Eleanor noticed something familiar floating around the other end of the chamber: a Tear. Then another, and another. Several Tears formed, but were flickering and jerking about in random directions. Eventually, the Tears jumped into one another, becoming spherical in shape. The spherical Tear vibrated and hummed with power, and cast enough light to reveal many silhouettes and dark blurs, of what appeared to be large men fighting the beasts and human warriors.
The large men were indeed big, standing at around two metres tall, and quite bulky. Once close enough, Eleanor's flames revealed how the men looked. Most had long hair, heavy beards, fair skin, and fair eyes. Each man wore a long leather duster-like coat, and over that a large steel cuirass like those worn during the First World War, the coat's collars rising through the cuirass's opening for the head. Each man also wore a Berndorfer helmet and steel-toed boots. Engraved and then painted black on the breastplate and sides of the helmet was the Schwarze Sonne, the symbols clearly showing what these men were about.
"So they are Black Sun..." Eleanor said to herself. Unlike the human warriors, who looked like Latinos or Hispanics, Black Sun soldiery appeared quite European.
The men wielded bolt-action rifles and pump-action shotguns, which they used with potentially lethal effect against both beasts and the anachronistic warriors who came to sight. All the soldiers had double-edged bayonets at their belts (the belt was worn around the cuirass) or already affixed to their rifles.
"AAAAAGGGHHH!" one of the soldiers screamed with great force, having a deep, loud, guttural scream that Eleanor clearly heard. He was repeatedly bayonetting, kicking, and headbutting multiple beasts and their claws, standing his ground quite well despite his bad odds. "All stand their ground! Defend the Enigma at all costs!" he continued.
He seemed to be a sergeant or something, as his armour also included spiked spaulders, and his helm had a veil of mail. He rammed his bayonet deep into a beast's chest, feeling its claws swiping at his helm and spaulders. He pulled the bayonet out and swung his rifle stock across the beast's jaw, staggering it, then lunged his bayonet into its sternum again. The beasts' hide sure could take quite a lot of punishment!
"At least they speak English..." Eleanor remarked.
As Eleanor moved onward, she saw one beast leap at a Black Sun soldier from behind, but the soldier spun around and fired his shotgun at the beast's face at point-blank range, blasting the front half of its muzzle off. He then pumped his shotgun and fired at a charging warrior, piercing multiple holes in the warrior's armour, but he continued charging anyways.
The warrior thrust his bayonet forth, the Black Sun soldier knocking it aside with his shotgun, then swinging it like a club into the warrior's head. A creature grabbed the soldier by the legs, pulled him down, crawled atop him, then began chewing on his neck while shaking him side to side. Another beast leapt at the anachronistic warrior, who caught the beast midair with his bayonet, but the two toppled over one another and wrestled.
Elsewhere, Eleanor saw a charging beast, shot several times by Black Sun riflemen, blood gushing out at every heartbeat, yet the beast continued running. Ever after three soldiers rammed their bayonetted rifles into the monster, it began snapping its jaws and swiping its claws at them, clawings a few faces open. Another rifleman sent his bayonet into the beast's mouth and then fired, killing the beast. A moment later, a thrown spear drove through a rifleman's neck and he spun to the floor. Then, another beast dove into the legs of a soldier, teeth locking over the leg, and the two wrestled frantically.
Eleanor looked to the other side. She saw a warrior, who seemed to be crazy, as he was shirtless and wore no armour on the body, only a helmet, greaves and gauntlets, skin adorned with scars and tattoos. He wielded a flintlock pistol in one hand and a battleaxe in the other, charging into the fray and screaming like a maniac. He fired his pistol at a Black Sun rifleman, leaving a big dent and hole in it, the rifleman leaning over but staggering backwards. The injured soldier then lunged his rifle, driving the bayonet into the charging shirtless maniac. The maniac threw his pistol at the soldier's helmet, grabbed the soldier's rifle while the bayonet was still rammed inside him, then began hacking at the soldier's helm and face, dashing out blood. Two beasts, charging from either side, tackled into the duelling men, bringing them to the floor and wrestling like mad cats. Multiple beasts dug their jaws into the shirtless maniac's shoulders and torso, chewing him open.
The fighting was fierce and up close, many men firing blindly into blackness with the hopes of hitting an enemy, but a majority of combat was face-to-face. There was not one second without screaming and battle, of both man and beast. The prospect of fighting mostly in blackness made everything worse, and quite unpredictable.
"Dear God! Does everyone want to kill everything else here?" Eleanor exclaimed, keeping her head low. She looked around, trying to regain her senses.
Rapture had some pretty brutal gunfights and brawls with Splicers, but the fighting down here was intense. No matter where she looked, she at least heard screaming and roaring, and where there was light, man and beast rolled around, clawing and headbutting each other. However, whenever a beast got its jaws around someone's neck, the fight was soon over, a few men having their heads ripped off their shoulders.
Blood ran in small rivers throughout the flooring, but Eleanor managed to sprint while swerving, skipping, and jumping through the action. She occasionally had to parry an incoming bayonet or sword, but never fought back, just in case. However, whenever a beast charged her, she used her telekinesis to hurl it aside. When multiple creatures dove at her, she simply teleported a short distance away, the beasts smashing into each other and wondering what happened.
The farther Eleanor went, the thicker the fighting became; there was just more and more things in the way. So, Eleanor used her teleportation to get past the action. She stumbled upon a dead anachronistic warrior, who wore a peculiar backpack. Sticking out the top of the backpack was an antenna, and static noises came out of the backpack.
"Radio?" Eleanor asked, hearing distorted comm chatter, but there was no time to investigate.
Perhaps a hundred feet ahead, Eleanor could see the spherical Tear floating around. The silhouettes of large machinery were also present, going up the walls and rising to the ceiling. A forest of cables, tubes and chains hung from the ceiling as well.
Most of the machinery appeared broken or offline. But, in the middle of it all, directly from Eleanor's sight, a strange contraption lie, resembling a sun with eight rays around it. The mechanical circular section was perhaps twelve feet wide, but the contraption's ray-like appendages were well over thirty feet long, and produced wild electrical currents with the semblance of Tears. Each appendage ended at some sort of immense Tesla coil-like thing.
Lying in the centre of the contraption, on her back, was a small woman, illuminated by a Tear-like aura that surrounded her body. She wore a blue blouse, blue coat, and a white corset. Her clothes and hair were dirty and messy, and she looked terrible.
Long, chain-like mechanical appendages grasped the woman by the arms, legs, waist and neck, holding her in place with her limbs apart. Strangely enough, most of the length of the appendages were actually raised and slithering midair, as if moving on their own. Other appendages, not grasping the woman, slowly wriggled through the air, clearly moving on their own.
Sometimes, the contraption's Tear-like electricity shot into the spherical Tear, then whipped down and shocked the woman, causing her to shout in pain. Whenever that happened, the writhing appendages moved with greater speed for a moment.
"Oww! Anyone there?" the little lady called, breathing rapidly and heavily. Then, the Tesla coils whirred to life, and despair fell upon the small woman's face. "Ohhhh! No! Not again!" she cried, and then a steady stream of electricity passed through her. She violently shook in her tomb of electricity.
Suddenly, two large spotlights beamed over Eleanor from above, blinding her. She shielded her eye, hearing loud, sharp, static and tuning sounds. KRRRK! KRRRCH! CHSHHH!
That was when the pain hit Eleanor, and with such intensity, she fell to one knee, dropping her backsword.
"Uugghh!" Eleanor cried, grasping her forehead as blood leaked out her nose, mouth and ears. Her eye sockets beamed yellow, like tiny lighthouses, and she could not even hear the echoes of violence anymore. She did, however, hear the young woman scream in pain.
KRRRCH! CHSHHH! KRRRK! SHHHRRK!
"Unknown interference detected at the Enigma!" a guttural, static voice spoke through some sort of radio or intercom, echoing throughout the chamber. "All available reinforcements, locate and abrogate the anomaly immediately!"
Aww, shit... Eleanor thought to herself, knowing that she was quite helpless.
The little lady raised her head, seeing Eleanor's difficult situation. The petite woman's hands shook, and a Tear formed just above Eleanor. Then, Eleanor's static difficulty seemingly got sucked up by the Tear, and Eleanor was back to normal. She quickly grabbed her backsword and stood up, left hand conjuring a mass of fiery Plasmids. The spotlights were still beaming upon her, much to her annoyance.
"HEY." a deep voice spoke heavily and loudly, yet was not shouted.
Eleanor noticed an immense man standing a short distance away. He was nearly seven feet tall, and quite muscular. He had short blond hair and a goatee. He wore no armour whatsoever, just trousers, steel-toed boots, and a sleeveless duster. Where his skin showed, there were many scars.
But, what made him truly unusual were mechanical eyeballs, metal jawbone, and everything from his elbows was just metallic skeleton and rubber tendon-like components. He wielded a large rifle made entirely from metal, absent of a magazine, but having two cylindrical extensions along either side of the barrel. He had a Bowie knife and machete at his sides, and a few grenades along his belt.
Well, the immense cyborg beckoned Eleanor, then turned to the side and ran off. A pair of headlights appeared behind where the immense man used to be standing. Eleanor heard the roar of an engine and screeching wheels. Some sort of large vehicle screeched out of the darkness, looking like a Minerva Armored Car doubled in size, and with much larger wheels.
Headlights beaming, tires screaming, the armoured car drove towards Eleanor, the driver surely intending to run her over! Eleanor dove out of the way, hearing the car swerve and then turn sharply, skidding around to a stop. Someone stood up for the Maxim machine gun turret, getting it ready.
Eleanor then heard huffs, and perhaps a dozen Black Sun soldiers fell seemingly from the darkness above, landing clumsily, but picking themselves up. They raised their rifles and opened fire, as did the armoured car's machine gun turret. They fired not only at Eleanor, but also at a horde of charging beasts. Bullets whizzing all around, Eleanor had no choice but to teleport away.
"Where did she go?" one of the riflemen exclaimed.
The two big spotlights wobbled around, then aimed randomly, illuminating various beasts and causing most to scatter. The armoured car drove aggressively while the machine gunner fired like a madman, driving into beasts and knocking them down, or simply running over them. The driver also drifted, so that the body of the car suddenly flailed and smashed into creatures. Wheels screeching, the vehicle continued driving around at high speed to ram into incoming creatures or drive after fleeing ones.
Eleanor reappeared in the darkness, seeing the armoured car scaring off many beasts, headlights revealing them and allowing the riflemen to pick them off. Eleanor unleashed a series of explosive fiery Plasmids akin to Big Sisters' Plasmids at the vehicle. Even after a few direct hits, the car continued driving as if nothing happened, but the wheels were smoking, and the machine gunner was still trigger-happy.
Hearing rapid footfall, Eleanor turned to the side, seeing the immense man running towards her. He quickly knelt on one knee, firing his metallic gun at her. Surprisingly, the gun did not shoot bullets, but instead shot bright green-glowing masses of something. Eleanor smelled roses, and figured that the rifle was implemented with ADAM, firing Plasmid-based projectiles. Her only conclusion was propelled unstable quantum mechanics.
Well, Eleanor skipped to the side, hit a few times and feeling the projectiles cut through her shirt and burst her skin open, blood gushing out. She cried out in pain.
You'll have to work extra hard to keep me alive today, sea slug!
Unleashing an electrobolt, Eleanor's Plasmid hit the cyborg in the face. He reared and leaned backwards, shaking on the spot, growling.
"AAAAGGGGHHHH-RRRRR!"
Heart beating hard, Eleanor charged the cyborg, throwing a fiery Plasmid at the cyborg just as his electrocution finished. He shouted aloud as he caught fire, hair burning away and clothes turning him into a torch. Surprisingly, he aimed his gun and fired at Eleany anyways, forcing her to teleport behind him.
He continued shooting while spinning around, shooting down a few beasts as a number of warriors fired at the Black Sun riflemen and then charged them. Eleanor grabbed the cyborg's gun and pushed it aside, and feeling the heat of his fire, she swung her backsword down to his skull. Another surprise; her sword hit something very hard and bounced off the man's skull. He staggered, but was still alive, and Eleanor's backsword had a big dent in the edge!
The cyborg punched Eleanor in the nose, and she felt hot, sharp pain erupt throughout the skull. The man then push kicked her back and opened fire upon her, but she teleported behind him again. He spun around with a spin kick, his heel hitting Eleanor across the temple, and she staggered, concussed. She swung her sword at him again, slicing across his face, blood spurting out, but he kept his skull intact.
He aimed and opened fire; Eleanor had no choice but to teleport away. He quickly spotted her in the darkness, shooting at her more. She darted away from the mysterious contraption, swerving amidst beasts and Black Sun infantry as the armoured car came back, driving after and shooting at fleeing enemies.
"Hey!" the cyborg shouted, running after Eleanor while shooting, sometimes carelessly firing into other Black Sun soldiers! However, she created distance, kept her head low, and ran like a Big Sister to avoid fire, several beasts dropping dead around her. Whatever weapon the cyborg had, its capabilities seemed to be anti-matter.
Surprisingly, the cyborg, despite his bulk and size, could run quite fast. Not as fast as the beasts, but Eleanor heard him catching up to her. It was only a matter of time before his accuracy was good enough to start shooting her in the back. So, Eleanor teleported above the cyborg, then used her psychokinesis to propel her downwards with great force, smashing into the man.
To Eleanor's surprise, the cyborg actually caught her and slammed her headfirst against the floor! Her little crash landing made her drop her sword, blood pouring out her scalp. Skull feeling like a broken war drum, Eleanor picked herself up, dazed and confused.
Ramming his rifle into Eleanor's sternum, the cyborg would have fired into her, but then one of the beasts landed on his shoulders, pinning him to the floor. Eleanor regained her senses, just in time to see a bioluminescent creature ram his spear into the back of the cyborg's neck. It was her guide.
"Good timing!" Eleanor stated, but then the armoured car screeched through the echoes of battle and blackness and rammed into the back of Eleanor. She hit the stone flooring instantly, whereas her friend ripped his spear out the cyborg's neck and jumped out of the way.
The armoured car drove in wide circles while the machine gunner reloaded. Eleanor's guide took the advantage, and, breathing heavily, ran after the car as it ran over a few other beasts and warriors. He leapt onto the back of the car, driving his spear into the vehicle, surprised that his spear simply slid off its armour! The gunner turned around, aiming his machine gun at the beast's face! Knowing the power of a machine gun, the creature swung sideways, launching himself off the car and sprinting away and machine gun fire followed him. Deactivating his biological stealth system, he disappeared in the blackness.
Dizzy and aching, Eleanor picked herself up, grasping her backsword and wondering what happened. She felt the floor shaking and grumbling. Eleanor looked up with a light gasp. The cavalry she had seen outside had finally arrived, horseshoes knocking against stone flooring like thunder, and many of the horses carrying lanterns of glowing fungus underneath their chests to light the way. The stampede of glowing horses frothed at the mouth, accompanied by men with lances, backswords and firearms.
Many horses leading the charge were shot by Black Sun riflemen, chests bursting open and gushing out blood, but some horses continued galloping despite being shot. Like their riders, the horses pumped with adrenaline, and did not stop. Moreover, guns designed to kill humans are not always enough to kill horses. The horses only fell if shot a few times at least, or if shot in the leg or head.
Taking up a vast space, the horses trampled Black Sun soldiers and beasts alike, or the breasts of the horses smashed them down. Some beasts countercharged, ramming their spears into the necks, heads, or legs of the horses, severely injuring the steed and toppling it, sending the rider diving to the floor. But then the next horseman simply struck the beast down! The horsemen spread apart, their warriors on foot who managed to survive running off to the sides and hoping not to get hit by their own cavalry.
Lancers couched their lances, driving them clean through beasts' bodies and brought them down. Lances that struck Black Sun armour failed to penetrate them, but the impact hurled them off their feet nonetheless.
Horsemen with backswords, using the speed of their mounts, swung with great force, hacking off arms and heads of Black Sun soldiers, and cleaving open the hides of the beasts. Horsemen with firearms used them, then slung their carbines or holstered their pistols to unsheathe swords and join in the fray.
Some beasts managed to jump onto horses, biting into them and bringing them down with their weight. Once fallen, multiple beasts would pile a horse and bite into it, others leaping upon fallen riders to prevent them from getting back up. But, the horsemen outnumbered the beasts, and many were able to fend off the reptilian creatures swarming downed cavalry.
Eleanor realized that some of the charging cavalrymen did not seem to view her as an ally, some leaning out their saddles and aligning a beheading. She raised her sword, seeing a charging horseman. This one wore a breastplate engraved with the face of a snarling jaguar, and he wore the pelt of jaguar. Unlike most other cavalrymen, he wielded an arming sword. He swung powerfully at Eleanor, assuming she was an enemy. She blocked his incoming swing and staggered from the blow. She parried several more swings aimed at her head from several other horsemen as they past her, one after the other, then swung her sword upward from below to knock away a lance.
The armoured car came driving back, machine gunner ripping through perhaps two dozen horses, firelocks shooting back at it but simply leaving small denting in its body. Many horses that saw the vehicle neighed and turned away from it, riders trying to control their mounts. The car even drove after fleeing horses, driving faster as the riders fired pistols at it. Catching up to horses, the car bumped into their back legs while steering side to side, knocking horses down while avoiding driving into them.
Eleanor regained her senses, sea slug doing its magic, her body regenerating. But, her one good eye widened as the horned behemoth came, each step shaking the flooring. The triceratops was still alive, the four cannoneers in the platform firing their swivel guns at the enemy. The dinosaur roared as it charged, beasts and Black Sun infantry running out of its way. Not even modern firearms were able to pierce the triceratops' hide.
Some beasts were too aggressive and too fearless, charging the dinosaur head-in, throwing spears at it. The dino's huge head withstood the spears, and smashed into the beasts in its way, knocking them down.
The armoured car returned, wheels screeching. Two cannoneers aimed their swivel guns at the car, firing at it. One cannonball bounced off the car's side and left a huge dent in it. The second smashed straight through the windshield and surely killed the passenger. The machine gunner fired as the car drove across the dinosaur's path, bullets poking holes in the dino's head and side, drawing blood. To their surprise, the triceratops turned and charged their car!
Eleanor sprang to action, hurling an electrobolt at the armoured car and shocking everyone in it; it subsequently slowed down. Electricity stopping the machine gunner from firing any further, the dino rammed its horned head into the vehicle's side and lifted it, causing it to tilt over and drive on two wheels.
After a couple seconds, the armoured car fell over, sliding on its side, a number of horsemen galloping around it and cheering its demise. In no time, beasts swarmed the fallen car, trying to dig into it and reach those inside.
"Who's next?" Eleanor exclaimed, then saw an old friend heading in her direction. Eleanor's mind focused as the cyborg ran toward her. He was no longer on fire from their previous engagement, but has been burned to a blackened crisp.
Just as he aimed at her, Eleanor performed a psychokinetic pull on his weapon but also threw her sword at him. Distracted by the thrown sword, Eleanor managed to make his gun fly out his hands! She caught it and started shooting at him with it, a pleased smile forming on her lips. Peculiarly, the man rolled sideways, avoiding the thrown sword and quantum gunfire, while unpinning a grenade and throwing it at Eleanor.
TELEPORT!
Eleanor reappeared elsewhere and continued shooting at the man, but stopped once too many horsemen galloped in her line of sight to engage with beasts being shot at by Black Sun infantry. She looked around, and then saw him. He threw another grenade at her while charging, unsheathing his Bowie knife and machete in either hand. Eleanor darted off to the side, as did a few horsemen, to avoid the blast radius.
Eleanor aimed her gun and fired, but it seemed to overheat and malfunction, and just stopped shooting. The cyborg would reach her at any moment. So, she threw the gun at the man and bombarded him with fiery Plasmids. He continued charging nonetheless, unable to catch fire again; there was just metal, bones, and crispy flesh. Eleanor noticed a bright green glow emanating out the cyborg's wounds, reminding her of the green lighting of a Vita-Chamber.
EVE running low, Eleanor summoned a telekinetic burst at the cyborg, hurling him off his feet. She quickly picked up two backswords from fallen warriors, one for each hand, then charged the cyborg. The two clashed, Eleanor spinning around while swinging her sword. With every revolution she made, one sword would swing high, the other low. This way, she cut into the cyborg's face and shins, as well as intercept his attacks with her own cuts.
Bending both knees but keeping one foot forward, Eleanor used her left sword defensively, to parry the cyborg's machete, whilst using her right sword offensively, cutting into his face and metallic forearms. She would also skip backwards or sideways to stay out of trouble. Though, no matter what she did, her attacks did little.
Damn! This thing's tough!
The cyborg kept performing huge, wide swings, and every time Eleanor blocked or parried, her swords gradually chipped away. She had to be in constant motion to avoid the Bowie knife, which was always ready to plunge into her or parry her own cuts. Concluding that she could not overpower the cyborg, Eleanor had to wait until her EVE recharged.
When enough EVE recharged, Eleanor cast an electrobolt out her fist, shocking the cyborg into helplessness. She then stepped forth, and, amassing a gravitational singularity, swung her backsword with as much gravity-powering force she could muster. Her sword blade snapped just above the hilt and the impact caused her to drop the sword, but the blow caused the cyborg to stagger and fall over. Eleanor's hand pulsated with pain.
Taking the advantage, Eleanor decided to do something different. Focusing all her remaining EVE, she levitated the cyborg, he swinging his machete and knife in the air like a bad marionette. She then raised her free hand, fingers outstretched, and then slowly curled her fingers inwards and pulled at the air.
The cyborg's head tilted back, and then everything inside of him slowly exited his mouth. Wires, loose teeth, sparks, some blood, and then shrivelled up organs gradually slipped out his mouth. Having gutted him, Eleanor dropped him, his burnt guts and cybernetic parts falling with him. The thing was finally offline.
Now that most of the fighting spread out, Eleanor could focus on the young woman in trouble. She ran towards the contraption again, seeing the Tear-based anomalies and electricity. The young woman shrieked, so Eleanor ran faster, skipping over dead people, horses and beasts.
However, fifteen Black Sun riflemen fell from above, landing clumsily, but still in Eleanor's way. They opened fire, so Eleanor hurled one of them with her telekinesis into another, knocking two down. She then ran to the side to avoid fire while hurling fireballs at them, and that was when a warrior galloped to the scene, firing what appeared to be a semi-automatic carbine. The riflemen fired back at him, but he did not seem to be injured by their bullets.
The warrior fired his carbine until the magazine was empty. His gun shot through the Black Sun armour, shooting nine of them dead. Slinging his carbine over his spaulder, the warrior galloped up close, jumping off his own horse while unsheathing a backsword. He landed atop one of the riflemen, pinning him to the floor, and then sliding his sword across his throat. The five remaining riflemen charged the warrior, intending to shoot at point-blank range, but Eleanor used an electrobolt to electrocute three, and then a psychokinetic blast to hurl two off their feet.
Without waiting, the warrior beheaded the three electrocuting soldiers in one swing. The two remaining soldiers thrust their bayonets at him, aiming for his unarmoured arms. He simply swung his sword upwards, cutting off one soldier's left forearm, then grabbing the other incoming rifle by the barrel, pulling it aside, and cut the soldier's head off. Before the dismembered soldier could react, the warrior sent another head flying off someone's shoulders.
She could not see his face behind his great helm, but Eleanor looked at him anyways, and he seemed to look back.
"What happened to your eye?" the warrior asked, surprising Eleanor, a cracked yellowish aura breifly appearing around the man.
"You can speak English?" she asked, then the two heard a woman scream, so the warrior ran off, armour clinking. Eleanor went with him.
The two reached the young woman soon enough, the two big spotlights pointing at either direction and motionless. The little lady remained entrapped by mechanical appendages while being electrocuted. The warrior sheathed his backsword, then threw his helm off.
"Elizabeth!" he screamed, running towards her.
"B-Buh- STOP!" the young woman cried out, but the warrior did not listen, and continued running. The woman cried again as the electrical shocks became unbearable. Every inhale she made was a wheeze, and every exhale, and scream. Teardrops leaked down her face.
"Don't damage the Enigma! Step away, now!" the voice from the intercom shouted again, but the warrior disobeyed, as did Eleanor.
Suddenly, several of the mechanical appendages lashed out at him, entwining around his neck and legs. He wrestled against the mechanical things, grunting and growling, but could not overcome them. Eleanor stepped in, using her psychokinesis to pull apart the mechanical things, freeing the warrior. He ran forth, grabbing the things trapping the girl and trying to rip them off her, but he just got caught in the stream of electricity. He shouted from pain.
Eleanor knew she had to act fast, but did not know what to do. She teleported a short distance away before several of those mechanical appendages could grab her. Eleanor then threw explosive, fiery Plasmids at the Tesla coils, destroying them one by one.
"The Enigma's constraints are being destroyed! All hands, evacuate! I repeat, all hands, evacuate now! Get out of there!" the intercom shouted.
Removed of its components, the contraption malfunctioned and broke down. The electric streams disappeared, and the mechanical appendages flopped down. The little lady sat up with a gasp, catching her breath. She wept quietly.
"Oh, god! Elizabeth!" the warrior exclaimed, grabbing the woman by the shoulder as she breathed hard, head and shoulders dropping. "Please, talk to me,"
"I'm...I'm...fine, really...I am..." the little lady assured between breaths. Once she controlled her breathing, she pointed at her back. "Take this thing out of me." One of the appendages was connected to her back.
"Oh? Yeah, I'll get that..." the warrior said, grasping the appendage attached to her back. "Uh...ready?"
"Yeah."
He ripped it out, the young woman screaming aloud. The warrior raised a hand apologetically. Even when her scream stopped, her grimace, furrowed eyebrows, closed eyes, wet face, and opened mouth clearly suggested agony.
"Huhh-uuuhhhhhh-uhhhhnnnn..." the poor thing wheezed, eyes leaking tears.
The warrior looked at the end of the appendage. It consisting of several long, flexible, tapering things. The poor girl's back had an inch-thick hole, and the flesh around it was burned.
"Oh god, Elizabeth...what did they do to you?"
"I...I...I don't...know...don't wanna talk... about it..." she whimpered. She sharply inhaled through her nose, and seemed to regain herself.
Eleanor walked to them, both of them looking at her.
"What happened to your eye?" the young woman asked, still looking horrible.
"I got shot in the face. But you saved me with that Tear, thank you," Eleanor said. The young woman nodded, but also looked surprised. "You must be Elizabeth. One of the creatures told me your name and led me to you. Just in time to have helped you."
"Yeam... And thanks, for...for helping me save her," the warrior mumbled. Eleanor nodded to him with a cute smile.
"How do you know about Tears?" the little lady asked Eleanor, then looking up at the spherical Tear overhead.
"Back in New York, I heard a man named Zachary Comstock mention Tears like Elizabeth's," Eleanor explained, and all of a sudden, the two's staring became unfriendly.
"Wait...who are you? What do you want, girl?" the warrior asked sternly.
"What do I want? I want to go back to New York," Eleanor replied.
"Are you with Comstock?" the warrior demanded, Eleanor's eyebrows furrowing.
"Hm? Yes, he helped me. My mother is with him. I caught them having sex," Eleanor answered, expecting a chuckle, she herself snickering, but the man stared at her like he was considering killing her.
What?
"Son of a bitch..." the warrior cursed with short breath, placing a hand on his forehead. He let his arm drop and flared at Eleanor. "You so much even think about taking her to him...and I will kill you, girl, even though you helped us."
Eleanor scowled, and she leaned into the man angrily. He did not relent.
"And you so much put your hands on me..." Eleanor spoke slowly, eyebrows furrowing, "and I'll make sure it's the last thing you'll ever do," she threatened. It was at this moment Eleanor realized that this man...looked exactly like Zachary, but had brown hair and green eyes. That revelation surprised Eleanor, her face showing it. The warrior remained stone-faced and unflinching.
Eleanor's surprised face must have done something to the warrior. His eyes lowered, and he slowly looked away. The little lady had painfully waddled beside the two, placing a hand on the man's shoulder, but she had already gotten his attention.
"Booker...please... Just calm down. Let's talk this over, " Elizabeth pleaded, tears still dripping down her face. The warrior's shoulders dropped.
"Okay... Now what? We stick with her, someone who works for Comstock?" Booker spat, Eleanor gave him a weird look.
"I don't work for Comstock. He helped me fight off the Pinkerton's. Were it not for him, the Pinkerton's may have killed me," Eleanor explained. Her words surprised Booker.
"The Pinkerton's are after him? Huh...serves him right. I hope they do him good," Booker remarked.
"Why is it that you...look exactly like him? Your voice is the same as his," Eleanor mentioned, Booker taking that as an insult.
"Pff-huh... Clearly, you've never seen the guy."
"Yes I did, actually. You're the one who's never seen him," Eleanor said. Booker dismissively waved his arm at Eleanor, then noticed Elizabeth looking up at the spherical Tear.
"What is it?"
"That Tear... It's different," Elizabeth said, intrigued.
"Hunh? How?" Booker asked.
"Well, it's... It's not a window. It's a...sphere? I think, I think... I think I can... Let me think..." Elizabeth said, raising her hands.
Trotting sounded. Eleanor and Booker turned, seeing a few dozen horsemen coming by, armours bloodied. The fighting had silenced, but echoes of bombs from outside lingered.
"We have done it. The Kondrikai and their Shadow Warriors here have fled deeper into the temple, and Black Sun are routed," one of the horsemen said.
This horseman was slightly more heavily armoured than the others. He also had vambraces and gorget. Sheathed at his sides were arming sword and Bowie knife. His breastplate had an engraving of a snarling jaguar's face, and he also wore the pelt of a jaguar down over his backplate, forelegs hanging down over his shoulders. He was definitely a leader of sorts, and Eleanor recalled parrying his sword during the cavalry charge!
Booker nodded to him.
"Thanks, Captain Hreira," Booker said. The man he spoke to chuckled.
"Nar'sheb mar'e! You've finally remembered. I would make you a ver'alor if you stayed in my army!" the warrior exclaimed. Booker chuckled.
"So, some of them do speak English," Eleanor remarked.
"English? You mean Angelski. A dialect of the Armanen, and the language of Black Sun. But both our enemies," the captain replied, then paused, as if thoroughly examining Eleanor. He then scanned the battlefield, seeing many corpses, but did not seem troubled.
"Elizabeth?" Booker called, seeing the petite lady now holding the spherical Tear.
"What is that, anyways?" Captain Hreira asked.
"It's a Tear. But...it's a...special kind of Tear. It's...contained?" Elizabeth mumbled, moving her hands around the Tear as if a crystal ball. She then looked around at the ancient machinery, Eleanor slowly walking around and also having a look.
"It looks like a..." Eleanor said, and then Elizabeth opened the spherical Tear.
The spherical Tear erupted powerfully, causing many horses to rear and neigh. The Tear opened in a fixed shape, expanding over the machinery until the entirety of the machines and their parts was enveloped. The Tear continued growing along the cables throughout the pyramid as well. No longer was the machinery ancient and ugly, but looked repaired, albeit with greyscale. The machinery seemed to stretch up into the ceiling and branch out into various narrow passageways.
"I...I can't believe it..." Elizabeth said, then closed the Tear. The machinery now appeared brand new, and the spherical Tear reappeared, floating on its own as it used to. The immense machinery hummed with life, electrical operations within glass and the Tesla coils illuminating the area.
The horsemen were confused, unsure of what they were beholding. Some echoes of cannon fire shook the pyramid.
"It's a...but... I can see behind so many doors..." Elizabeth said, lost in thought. "This is a, a..."
"A Lutece machine," Eleanor finished, crossing her arms, "from the past."