Seventeen
Castle Grayskull
Eternia
19 September 2017
Feeling slowly returned to the Sorceress' left arm. Servos whined as she moved her arm about to make sure everything still worked. Falcon ran diagnostics on the servos, linkages, and shield projector. The projector had not been seriously damaged by the explosion, so repairing it took very little time. Sorceress moved toward the pulsing nimbus to observe the battle.
Adrian was involved in probing the weaknesses of the larger machines. He sailed away from the unit he had been tormenting as it connected with a solid slap. It tried to follow up by blasting the Guardian with its cannon, but the damage the Xenomorph had wrought to the joints of the left arm effectively neutralized that weapon.
The enemy machines paused when the creature transformed into a man encased in power armor. A pod behind the right shoulder rose into firing position and belched fire and smoke. Rockets rippled from the launcher and roared across the battlefield, exploding a spray of flechette needles into their designated targets.
A dense pack of Servators took significant damage, but none of it incapacitating. Several rockets targeted the large machine Adrian had initially assaulted; the effect from their needle spray was – unimpressive. Adrian had hoped some of the needles would find their way into already savaged joints, but the odds were too remote for that.
Nearby machines took shots at the Guardian. Instead of trying to hit him directly, they shot up the ground around the dodging armored man, forcing him in the direction they wanted him to go.
Over the edge into the bottomless moat.
Even Teela heard Adrian's surprised cry through the Sorceress' open helmet as he plunged into the abyss. She shuddered, remembering her own trip into the moat years ago. On that occasion, Teela had suffered a broken arm. Adrian was a lot better protected.
Sorceress opened her mouth to suggest that Colonel Markson engage the enemy, but the man was already on top of it.
Detonations from explosive rounds, small grenades and the odd RPG reverberated across the battlefield. Two big machines toppled under the fusillade. Suddenly the area of forest with scattered armor plates the machines had discounted as irrelevant became very relevant. With no further fire coming from the castle, the machine force turned to deal with the new threat.
"Enemy units heading into the trees," Sorceress reported. Hearing her, Colonel Markson warned his people to watch out for a flanking action. A heavy firefight broke out among the trees shortly thereafter.
"I think it's that time," Adrian said from the moat.
Sorceress agreed. "You might want to take cover," she advised Teela, closing the faceplate. Once clear, Falcon reverted to her full-sized battle form.
"That's much better. While I enjoy fighting with you in combat mode, this is what I was meant for," the AI cooed. "Time to see if the new system works."
With a sigh, Sorceress declared. "If it doesn't, at least I lived long enough to see Adrian go over the edge."
"Hilarious," Adrian shot back. "Now I know why there are no comedians on Eternia."
Time to open up a second front, Sorceress thought grimly.
The first indication that the machine army had something new to worry about was a disk, hurtling out of the open mouth of the castle. Zipping to the southwest, a big machine shuddered as its left arm was amputated at the elbow and it took some serious damage along the left side. Power distribution to the left side was badly compromised. Its sensors registered something weaving its way among the trees. By the time the machine's brain identified the object as one of the disk weapons from Guardian Falcon, it was too late to do anything about it. With power even more seriously reduced to its left side, the machine hobbled around, trying to turn away. All it did was position itself perfectly for the incoming deadly weapon to slam through the torso with its razor edge.
A moment after the first disk zipped out to the west, a second one soared out of the east, the second weapon slicing cleanly through an enemy at the waist. Like its companion, disk two wove on its way, flipping and turning through the trees. The return vector took it slamming at an angle through another hulking machine.
Guardian Falcon stepped through the pulsing nimbus, arms raised to retrieve the returning weapons. Total time for the attack: ten seconds. Three more hulks in the disks' path toppled to the ground. Sorceress stowed the disk weapons and reached back to pull out the psionic lance clipped diagonally across her back.
Servators and Demons turned their attention to the new threat. Power signature scans did not register anything standing on the jawbridge. The machines switched to their secondary protocol. The designated lead demon flipped through the known silhouettes for all six primary targets, the shadow of Guardian Falcon settled over the image. There was a seven-percent difference in size, but the shape conformed to established parameters.
PRIMARY TARGET IDENTIFIED: GUARDIAN FALCON
INITIATE PRIMARY DIRECTIVE: DESTRUCTION
"Looks like Adrian was right," Falcon mused. Enemy units not engaged with the colonel's soldiers paused to analyze the new threat. Compared with the available data of the Transfer Station 437 system encounter, the enemy units took a few seconds longer than average to analyze and resume the attack.
Falcon erected a defensive shield arc to block incoming energy bolts, the energy barrier rippling with each impact. Instead of simply blocking and deflecting the enemy fire, Falcon absorbed the energy into her regenerating capacitor. Power was replaced as it was expended, leaving only the physical impact to deplete the shield.
Sorceress lined up the lance, intending to make her next attack. Adrian's warning stayed her hand. "Don't fire off an EM wave!"
"Why? We need to know if they are resistant to electromagnetic attacks," Sorceress countered.
Adrian advised, "Then make targeted attacks. You set off a wave and you'll kill all the electronics Colonel Mark's people have."
Sorceress still did not understand until Falcon elaborated. "Pulse rifles. Comm systems. Frost's second greatest love in the universe. All have electronics that will be destroyed. Do that and you'll get our allies killed."
Sorceress hung her head, took a deep breath to calm her nerves and refocus on the mission. Opening her eyes again, Sorceress eyed the icon to narrow the blast focus and power output. "Engaging."
A blue bolt of energy exploded from the crystal set in the end of the staff, passing through the barrier shield, and splashed against the targeting machine -which took the blast dead on, and continued firing.
The next strike splashed through a small collection of Servators. All of them stopped dead in their tracks.
"Servators are vulnerable to EM strikes. The big ones are not," Sorceress reported.
Adrian grunted. "As expected. If they are a new form of Shadowdemon, that's a logical addition."
"Above you," Sorceress warned.
When War Wing had rolled over the lip of the moat and plunged into its depths, the AI had quickly found a suitable ledge large enough to land on in battle form. Most of the ledges were too small, which would have forced Wing to expend energy hovering out of sight. Instead, the battlesuit was able to lay on its back, waiting for the moment to re-engage the enemy.
At the Sorceress' warning, Adrian looked up and spied two big machines peeking over the lip of the moat, evidently trying to find out if he was permanently out of the fight. They found out the hard way that a Guardian was not that easy to kill.
While waiting on the ledge, man and AI had used the time to adjust the power output on the plasma rifle. During Falcon's initial attack, the AI passively scanned the big machines to get a reading on the nature of the refractive coating. Results were more miss than hit, as the passive system had its limitations, whether it was installed in a battlesuit or a capital ship. Passive systems were designed only to record general information. Specifics required a full directed scan.
More accurate information was acquired by the AI when Adrian launched his Xenomorph assault. While Adrian attacked the vulnerable spots, the AI amassed readings on the composition and thickness of the refractive coating. Wing determined that it could not withstand a focused blast from the plasma rifle, as the energies washing over it would scour it away in moments. Any deflected energies would be negligible and last for a maximum of a second or two before the blast wave boiled away anything in its path.
Adrian gave the peeking enemy long enough for their sensors to adjust to the darker area in which the suit lay, separating its form from the rock, before he raised the rifle in a two-handed grip, targeted carefully between the machines standing too close together, and squeezed the trigger on the stick in his right hand.
Two demons had trained their sensors on the shadowed ledge War Wing lay upon, their positronic brains rapidly cycling through the different frequencies of the light spectrum looking for their quarry, assuming it was still man-sized. They could not have been more wrong.
Pitch black turned to white-hot eye-tearing light the instant Adrian fired. Rare plasma energy belched from the muzzle of the blaster rifle, fanning out into a tight cone plowing into the death machines. Adrian aimed between them meant the blast would do damage to both.
The gamble worked. Both demons had a half-circle carved out of them as the white-hot energy beam quickly scoured away the refractive coating, and then vaporized all structures in its field.
War Wing blasted out of the moat as the dead machines toppled backward. Choosing the nearest target at random, War Wing soared over the west end of the battlefield and came crashing down with all his weight straight onto the head of the targeted Shadowdemon. It was no contest. Armor cracked, support structures never meant to deal with this kind of force buckled and crumpled as the suit's right foot plowed downward until mangled metal built up enough resistance to halt the obscene assault. Wing's foot came to rest in the upper chest area, but the damage had been more than done. Thrusters roared, trailing edge wing vents vectored thrust, and the Guardian leaped off the target; landing in a crouch ahead of the falling demon with shield raised horizontally to ward off any attack.
Sixteen Shadowdemons dead.
Over the tac net, Adrian overheard a brief conversation between Corporal Frost and another soldier.
"What the hell was that?" the unknown soldier exclaimed.
Frost's chiding reply was immediate. "The man plays BattleTech and doesn't recognize Death From Above when he sees it?"
Adrian took advantage of the further delay as the enemy tried figuring out who and what he was. He aimed the point of the shield at targets some thirty yards downrange. Panels in the sloped surface near the top snapped back, revealing a hidden rocket launcher. Two missiles belched from the tube in gouts of smoke and fire. The first one arrowed for a collection of Servators and exploded ten feet away. A cloud of flechette rods slammed into, and through, the knot of machines, dropping all seven.
His second missile detonated, flinging its load into a Shadowdemon. The machine reeled from the strike but did not fall.
"Missile One, damage assessment good. Missile Two, not so much," the AI reported.
"Maybe this will impress you," Adrian growled, releasing the final missile in the 3-round magazine. He ignored the countdown timer for the fabrication system -the time to replenish the spent munitions.
Missile Three, equipped with an Etherium penetrator tip, punched through the chest plate while the demon still struggled to recover. Once through the tough armor, the explosive warhead detonated. The explosion was spectacular on the outside. On the inside, however, vital internal structures were savaged by exploding gasses and shrapnel with nowhere to go. Another death machine joined its companions in the dust.
Seventeen down.
Fighting in the forest grew in intensity. Many of the Servators initially sent into the trees to root out the enemy were recalled, joining a growing force just west of the jawbridge. A half dozen units continued the pursuit, confident they will complete the mission.
Explosions rippled along the enemy's defensive perimeter. Private Jackson caught a piece of a detonation and was flung backward in a spray of shrapnel from a disintegrating chunk of armor plate. Numbness spread throughout his body after crashing to the ground, stunned. Wetness spread across his abdomen. Then the intense pain flared like a supernova in his gut.
Two alert soldiers scrambled over to the screaming man, hooked their arms under his and dragged him away while King Randor and Private Jacobs covered them. The king had yet to fire his weapon. He aimed and squeezed the trigger, but nothing happened. Sidestepping to keep up with the retreating group, Randor frantically turned the pulse rifle side to side trying to figure out what was wrong. A Servator closed in for the kill when the solution dawned on the king.
Safety!
Thumbing the selector level off SAFE, the weapon burst to life. A line of small explosions raced up the approaching machine from crotch to neck. Randor turned and dashed after the soldiers, not waiting to watch his target fall. Several more enemy robots appeared out of the thick foliage only to be quickly cut down by the Eternian king and Private Jacobs.
The group reached the clearing where Randor had practiced earlier without further opposition. He was not surprised to see Skeletor and Evil-lyn already crouching among the crates of equipment.
"Help him," Randor ordered his old friend.
Skeletor simply stared at the moaning soldier while Jacobs and the others worked to stem the flow of blood with field dressings. Evil-lyn looked sick. While she had always had aspirations for greater power to match her ambitions, this kind of down and dirty battle turned her stomach. Catching a glimpse of the terrible wound in the man's abdomen, she knew he would not survive even if these people had had a surgeon on hand. Most magic-users had basic healing skills. Some studied healing as a primary skill, especially if one had a particularly strong aptitude for it. If she and Skeletor combined their power, they could probably heal the soldier enough for him to survive long enough for a surgeon to finish the job.
Only Skeletor had no inclination to do so. While she hated performing acts of goodness, no one should have to suffer and die as this man would without immediate treatment.
"Do something," Randor growled at Skeletor. "You and Evil-lyn can save this man's life!" He caught the arrival of his wife and children out the corner of his right eye.
"Then I will owe that Earthman a favor. Again," Skeletor spat.
A cloud of anger cracked through the king's usually calm exterior. His family gasped when Randor grabbed a fistful of Skeletor's leather robes and jerked him nose-to-nose hole. "No! You will owe ME! Which will irk you even more. Now do something good for once in your miserable life!" He shoved the man away and waited, fuming, eyes practically boring holes in the Lord of Snake Mountain.
The pair stared each other down; neither man willing to give an inch. At last, Skeletor muttered, "We need time to work. Evil-lyn," he snapped.
Skeletor and Evil-lyn set their staffs aside and knelt on either side of the soldier. The other soldiers moved away, unable to do anything more.
Randor took his children a safe distance away to have a private discussion. "I want the two of you to stay here and help with the wounded." He had seen others making their way slowly toward the clearing from the east.
"Father, we can help in the fight," Adam pleaded.
"Did anyone see your swords on Etheria?"
That was an odd question.
Adora nodded. "One of the Guardians, several Val-kyrie, and I'm sure a number of the colonel's people saw them. Why?"
"We never put it together, well, your mother did, but if they see the two of you with the same swords He-man and She-ra wield, they may just figure out your secret," Randor explained softly. "Besides, you aren't equipped for a fight like this. You were never meant to."
The king would not hear any further protests. He gestured to Private Jacobs and inquired as to the colonel's current location. When she received the answer, the pair set off back into the forest. Queen Marlena touched the faces of both her children, smiled serenely, and set off after her husband.
Reluctantly, the twins returned to the fallen soldier and the magic-users trying to save his life. After an intense few minutes, man and woman leaned back on their haunches, exhausted. Evil-lyn removed her helmet, revealing close-cropped white hair, and wiped the beads of sweat from her face.
"He'll live," the witch said to no one in particular. "He still needs a surgeon, but he'll survive to reach one." She sounded just as tired as she felt.
Skeletor was also exhausted but hid it better.
Frost ducked as a line of explosions rippled across the ground in front of his sniping nest. The enemy was finally getting a clue as to where the sniper fire originated from. Plates of armor set out to create the box recess at the edge of the shallow ravine took the brunt of the attacks, but they would not last long against the punishing weapons of the larger machines. The nearest ones ripped up the ground, keeping him ducking for cover while the smaller Servators moved in for the kill.
A rhythmic thumping drew the corporal's attention to his left. "Crap," he hissed, pulling back the railgun. He snapped up the pulse rifle laying nearby and flung himself against the opposite bank, weapon aimed at the approaching noise. "Need a little help here."
A blast from War Wing's blaster drowned out all other noise momentarily. "I can't get to you," Adrian answered.
"Just blast the damn things," Frost growled.
"Wing and I adjusted the rifle's output to maximum. You wanna trust that armor will hold up?"
"So, dial it down."
The AI answered, "We had to bypass safety protocols in order to make the modifications. It isn't like we can flip a switch or adjust a dial on the rifle's output on the fly."
"Sounds like a design flaw to me," Frost snapped.
A Servator dropped into the ravine, aiming through the opening at the man hiding within. A quick burst from the man's pulse rifle cut the machine down. Another machine landed with a thump. Frost blew it away with two grenades to the chest. He swallowed hard when a third machine appeared. He ripped it up the center with explosive rounds. As it toppled, the head snapped to the right, perforated by an Etherium-tipped arrow.
Frost snapped the rifle's muzzle skyward as a familiar figure jumped into the ravine just outside the nest.
Grinning, Anyssa touched a stud on the handle of compound bow clutched in her left hand. The weapon compacted itself into its portable shape, about the size of a large purse. "You called for assistance?" She hooked the bow to the back of her belt and caught the rifle Frost tossed at her. She turned to guard the entrance, noting the bag landing nearby, full of ammo mags and spare grenades. Without looking, she slipped a hand into the bag and pulled out two grenades to replace the ones Frost had just expended.
Grinning, Frost picked up his favorite toy, braced it on the bipod legs, and resumed firing.
"That was impressive. Modification to the beam saber is ready," Wing reported.
Adrian aimed and fired a blast along the tree line, careful to avoid grazing friendlies. Unfortunately, it meant also not taking out very many enemy machines. It did remind them who the more dangerous foe on the field was.
After his brief conversation with Frost and seeing Anyssa successfully sneak across the open field to the corporal's sniper nest to back him up, Adrian returned his attention to the immediate threats. Just in time. A demon launched itself into War Wing as if it were a defensive lineman going trying to make a tackle. The Guardian skidded backward a few feet but remained upright. Adrian grabbed his attacker firmly and spun several times to build up momentum, flinging the death machine away like an Olympian hurling a shotput. He did not give the machine more time to recover than getting back on its feet. War Wing launched itself at the target, the beam saber handle snapping out of the right forearm into the waiting hand. Metallic sounds of the collision echoed across the field, Wing landing inside the firing arc of the cannon arm. Holding the arm at bay with a taloned hand, Adrian thrust the emitter end of the handle against the junction where the armored chest plates met and pressed the activation stud. Seconds passed without any outward sign that the saber had had any effect. Suddenly, the ruby blade burst through the machine's back. The demon jerked and shuddered from the surge cascading through its body. Adrian shut the saber down and threw his vanquished opponent aside.
Eighteen down.
Private Jacobs led the king to where Colonel Markson was hunkered down behind a thick curve of tree. The colonel still could not get over how some trees grew straight and tall like on Earth, while others grew like curly cues. At the moment those curled ones offered protection beyond the line of armor plates, as the battle had moved farther east. King and private dropped down under cover next to the colonel.
"What's up?" Markson demanded, dropping the spent magazine from the rifle, slapping in a fresh one. He cycled the bolt to charge the weapon. "We're kind of busy here."
"I'm useless out here," Randor said. "However, I can maybe help inside the castle."
"Those robots Anyssa called Servators are massing for a charge at drawbridge," Jacobs added.
"Jawbridge," the colonel corrected her. "I think they call it that." He called for an update from anyone who had a visual on the ramp. He received several replies backing up the private's assessment. "Falcon, you're about to have company."
"I see it," came the Sorceress' reply. "We can handle it. I think."
"That didn't sound encouraging," Markson said. Jacobs, who also heard the reply, nodded. "Okay, Your Majesty. You're on. Jacobs, you go with him. What side of that mass of robots is War Wing on?"
Jacobs bit her bottom lip, thinking. "East side between the formation and the rest of the machine army."
Gunny Apone dove over the tree ahead of laser fire from several Servators. When the barrage of laser bolts ceased, all four popped up and blew away the three robots that had been chasing Apone.
The colonel said to Jacobs, "When you get into position, wait for the assault to begin and follow them in. When you make your run, have War Wing run interference. That shield of his can deflect just about anything. You stick with the king like glue. And be careful firing inside that castle. You piss the Sorceress off and I'll let her have her way with you!"
Jacobs acknowledged her orders as King Randor nodded his thanks. The pair crouched and took off west to get into position. Queen Marlena saw the pair moving back toward her and paused until they darted past before following them.
"That was a bit harsh," Apone said when the pair was out of earshot.
Markson shrugged absently. "Maybe. But she won't like anyone shooting up her home."
"I think the robots would have more to worry about making the Sorceress mad than Jacobs and the king."
"Either way, it'd be fun to watch."
Scowling around the ever-present cigar stub in his mouth, Apone lamented, "Too bad we're stuck entertaining company out here."
Adrian spotted the king, queen, and Private Jacobs darting through the trees toward the bridge. He wondered what was up when the AI threw up a window of the mass of Servators gathering behind him. With the jawbridge still lowered, there could only be one reason. The trio did not have the firepower to blunt the coming charge at the castle. Not with only two pulse rifles.
Jacobs contacted the Guardian and informed him of what the king intended to do. Adrian did not like the plan. While the armed pair would check their fire inside the castle, the Sorceress would still have a difficult time unless she planned on funneling the machines in where they could be handled more easily. Falcon was not standing in the mouth of the castle, so the enemy was going to make it inside.
Before he could decide what to do, the charge began. It sounded like a stampede of wild horses. Wild horses made of metal weighing several tons. Despite his distance from the massed charge, Adrian could feel the vibrations radiating up through Wing's structure.
Other machines in front of him took notice. Adrian kept them busy with near-miss blasts from the plasma rifle and the secondary guns in the head and collar. Once the stragglers disappeared into the castle, King Randor's trio made their move.
Wing had to dive across the landscape, twisting the shield to bring the neutronium-skinned side to bear. Energy beams deflected harmlessly away. Unfortunately, he could not protect them as they pounded up the ramp and across the bridge, fortunately, Corporal Frost was on the ball. He poured darts into the enemy as fast as he could pull the trigger – the rifle was not designed for burst fire – giving the machine yet another front to deal with.
The trio made it safely across the jawbridge into the castle.
Adrian snapped the left arm around, twisting the forearm to level the rocket launcher at the approaching Servators. Two rockets spat forth, exploding in showers of flechette shafts, cutting down a mass of robots. Using the thrust pack between the splayed wings, the Guardian shot to his feet looking for the next target.
"I could use a little help in here," Sorceress requested. While her voice sounded strong and steady, only someone who had worked with her for the past six months would recognize the underlying concern in her voice. Someone like Adrian or Colonel Markson.
Switching channels with a glance at the appropriate icon, Adrian said, "Colonel."
Before the man could say anything further, Markson countered, "We got this. Go help your girlfriend." He shot a glance over the fallen tree he used for cover to make sure he wasn't lying.
Adrian snarled, "She's not my…" His sentence devolved into a guttural growl. "Shuddup!" he snapped when the AI chuckled.
Gunny Apone snapped off a burst at a Servator, dropped back under cover next to the colonel. "They teach you that in OTS?"
"What?" Markson asked, failing to pull off innocence.
Both men reloaded their grenade launchers and swapped partial magazines for full ones. A brief roar of thrusters, followed by the quieter blast of a smaller flight pack, marked the liftoff and transition of War Wing converting from battle to combat modes. Apone spotted the Guardian then transforming into the Xenomorph before darting into the castle's left eye socket.
"Poking the hornets' nest. Sooner or later, you get stung."
"You really think he'll shoot me in the back in the next exercise?"
Apone nodded. "With live ammo."
The colonel's confidence slipped a bit. "Seriously?"
Apone shrugged absently. "Accidents have been known to happen."
Markson pondered that for a few seconds. "He wouldn't dare. Hammond would never allow it." The Gunny's steady look said otherwise. "He'd dare. Think it's too late for me to put in for a long vacation?"
"Only if it's to someplace even the Sorceress can't portal him to."
"Damn."
They had no more time to debate the subject as the battle heated up once more.
Sorceress converted Falcon to combat mode for two reasons. First: battle mode was too big to maneuver around in the main chamber without damaging the ring of statues, the giant magic screen, or anything else. Second: Servators were too small to try to take on using a fifteen-foot battlesuit in a confined space. Living inside a castle whose interior existed in another dimension without apparent limits, thinking of the main chamber as 'confining' disturbed her.
The sea of clanking metal men stormed across the jawbridge into the main chamber. They spread out to either of the ring of statues searching for targets. Only Teela and the Sorceress stood in opposition to them.
Sorceress deployed the magic staff once more. This time, she extruded the duplicate falcon cap and separated the staff into two pieces. Teela quickly lost her sword to a robot grabbing the blade, yanking it from her hands and snapping it in half as if it were nothing more than a toothpick. Sorceress shouted to get the girl's attention and tossed one of the staff halves across to her.
Teela stared at it in confusion. How could a blunt-edged weapon like the capped staff have an effect on robots with enough armor to blunt a sword strike?
Seeing her daughter's confusion, the Sorceress hurled her half of the staff directly at the nearest invader. The weapon tumbled end over end, slamming into the robot's chest. Chest armor was no match for the magical weapon. The Servator shuddered and spasmed from system overloads. Sorceress recalled the weapon before the robot toppled to the ground.
"Trust me," Sorceress said to Teela.
Turning to face her enemy, Teela fended off the first machine to rush her. She spun away from a left-handed strike that would have impaled her. She carried through, using momentum to slice the staff horizontally across its back. Teela spun away as her foe collapsed. A second machine darted in on whining servos, aiming for Teela's weapons instead of her. A solid punch to the falcon cap sent the weapon spinning out of her hand. Teela cried out from the pain, feeling as if her wrist had been broken. Taloned fingers gripped the edge of the shield strapped to her left arm and tore it off before a palm slamming into her chest sending her sprawling.
Teela scampered backward to get away, unfortunately bumping into the left end of the grand staircase after ten feet. The Servator switched its right hand to the blaster and took aim to finish its opponent off.
People talked about steeling themselves in the face of imminent death. Facing it bravely. Going out with dignity. Teela had faced dangerous situations more times than she could count and survived every one of them. He-man had saved her in many of them. Some, she'd survived because of her own ingenuity. Right now, at this moment, terror chilled her to the bone. So many things left unfinished. Especially where her estranged mother was concerned. All Teela could think about was how strained their relationship had become at the moment.
"Mother," Teela whispered, voice cracking. She stared into the soulless red eyes analyzing the best place to shoot her dead with one blast.
Teela winced at the cracking of metal plate, mistakenly thinking it was the blaster discharging. The robot shuddered, rising inexplicably off the floor. She stared in amazement at the twin blades protruding from the machine's chest. As the predator turned prey floated up to her left, Teela saw for the first time the black shape standing behind the deadly machine. Twin silver orbs stared back at her, framed above a box-like mouth filled with razor teeth.
Adrian, in the Syngenor form, snapped his arm back, withdrawing the blades. He waved Teela out of the way, snapped out another pair of blades from under the carapace of his left arm and turned to face a trio of robots. No one, not even the enemy machines, had witnessed Adrian's arrival. Now they had a more dangerous enemy to deal with.
King Randor and Private Jacobs crept through the pulsing nimbus, pulse rifles probing ahead for any trailing machines. All had their attention focused on the Sorceress and Teela. Two machines turned when the king sprinted across to the alcove near the throne dais and the magic mirror. King and private cut them down with brief bursts of explosive rounds.
Teela quickly lost her sword. A Servator trapped the blade in its taloned hands, savagely yanked it from the woman, took it in both hands and snapped it like a toothpick. With only the shield to defend herself, Teela would not last long against the pressing mass of machines. Falcon divided her double-capped staff into two pieces, tossing one to a visibly confused Teela. Her puzzlement ended when Falcon took down two enemy machines with it.
Randor slithered around the corner and along the wall toward the grand staircase. When Teela lost the staff section in the process of being knocked to the flagstones, it gave the king an opening to take out a few more machines without risking her life or damaging the ring of statues. Randor planted the extended butt stock of his rifle firmly against his right shoulder and took aim. He took several slow breaths to steady the weapon, chose his moment and gentle started to squeeze the trigger.
Movement in his peripheral vision to the left stopped Randor from firing. A pair of silver orbs appeared in the darkness, quickly followed by a fearsome creature covered in boney carapace armor. Swallowing hard to control his fear, he snapped the rifle around, not knowing if the creature was friend or foe. A taloned hand slapped against the side of the barrel, holding it well away from target acquisition. The other hand rose, and the monster placed a long talon against its box-like mouth of razor teeth signally for the king to remain quiet. Not entirely knowing why, Randor nodded and lowered the rifle. Was this an unknown denizen of the castle the Sorceress brought in to help defend the castle?
The creature crept up on the unsuspecting machine preparing to kill Teela with its extended blaster. In a flash, claws snapped out from under the carapace of the creature's right arm, slamming through the back armor as if it were tissue paper. King Randor watched the thing lift and discard the Servator like it was a mere toy. There had to be more than met the eye regarding the new arrival. Cute, you snuck in a Transformers reference! :D
"It's about time you got here," Falcon scolded, forming up with the creature to brace for attack. "I was getting lonely."
The Syngenor growled something at the Guardian, raised its claws and bracing for attack.
Beauty and the Beast fended off the next wave of enemy robots with relative ease. It appeared they were being careful of causing damage to the interior, as well, although the enemy's caution was probably for a different purpose.
Suddenly, Falcon was roughly shoved aside, annoying her, but all she could do was stand by and watch as the machines turned their attention to the most dangerous opponent in the chamber. Syngenor collapsed to the floor under the weight of a growing pile of Servators engaging in an old-fashioned game of dogpile.
Falcon fired a blast of magic from her left hand, flinging a machine across the chamber. It crashed to the floor and skidded to a screeching halt near the massive screen. The machine struggled to regain its feet only to be blown back down by a short burst from Private Jacobs' pulse rifle. Falcon swung her shortened staff as if it were a baseball bat, smacking drones away to the left and right in a vain attempt to get to her companion. Frustrated, the Guardian backed away, racking her brain for a way to help without causing undue damage to the surrounding structure. Even the AI was at a loss for suggestions.
The mound of struggling, writhing metal men bulged once. Twice. Something buried within appeared to be straining to get out. Another bulge, the biggest yet, swelled for several seconds before settling, but slightly larger than before. Abruptly, the mound exploded outward. Servators flew all over the place, bouncing off the stony structure of the grand staircase, the ring of statues, and skidded across the flagstone floor. The cacophony of raining metal smacking stone had barely died down when it was replaced by a new, horrible sound.
Standing in the spot where the Syngenor disappeared under a sea of metal men was a larger creature, corded muscles rippling under green skin. It threw its head back on a thickly muscled trunk of a neck and ripped off a roar that reverberated around the chamber. Falcon dialed down the volume from the external speakers while Teela, Randor and Jacobs clapped hands over ears in a vain attempt to reduce the vibrations hammering their eardrums.
"Now they've made him mad," Falcon stated unnecessarily.
A Servator threw itself at the new threat, getting hammered to floor by a forearm slamming down on its head. The Chud lashed out with a sideswipe of its left arm. A Servator head flew away, bouncing off a statue. Another machine tried to tackle the beast, as if the pair were engaged in a football game. It managed to make the creature actually take a step back, then got torn limb from limb for its trouble.
Arms lashed out like organic pistons punching heads from shoulders, plowing sizeable dents into chests, crushing vital internals. Where Adrian the Syngenor was like a scalpel taking on the enemy, this creature form was more like blunt force trauma. After twelve failed attempts, the Servators backed away to re-evaluate their plan of attack.
Adrian viciously kicked destroyed robots out of his way and walked toward Falcon. A flash of dull gray metal flickered in the corner of his round orange eye. He had hardly turned his rat-like, point-eared, head in that direct when Falcon was assaulted by a charging machine.
Sorceress grunted from being driven into the wall, her breath whooshing out into the helmet. Momentarily stunned, she temporarily could not fight off the attacking robot. The AI instantly took charge, raising her arms to fend off the sharp talons searching for soft spots to dig in and rip Etherium alloy plates from the suit's internal structure. The center of the six-pointed star on the chest flared, a whine indicative of an energy weapon powering up, preceding the white beam of raw power that blasted from the capacitor in the star's center. The beam slammed into the Servator, boiled through the chest and cut through the torso in seconds. Recovering her senses, Sorceress flung her assailant away. Unknowingly, the machine sailed straight at Adrian, who batted it away with his right arm – where it bounced off a statue already sporting chips of battle damage.
An uncharacteristic wave of anger flared up in the Sorceress. Returning the external speakers to the default setting, she snarled, "Watch the statues! They're priceless."
The small mouth of needle teeth worked as if Adrian were attempting human speech with organic apparatus totally unsuited or designed for that purpose. Instead, what emerged was more akin to a scoff. He roared in pain when the Sorceress slammed the flat side of the abbreviated staff's bird cap against his left bicep. Hard.
"I mean it!"
Servators fanned out and prepared for their last push to secure the castle. With their initial numbers severely reduced, it was now or never. Guardian and creature repelled every attempt to take them down with magic or brute force, punctuated by bursts of explosive rounds from a pulse rifle.
Adrian eventually reverted to human form, encased in War Wing's combat power armor form, bladed weapons deployed on his arms. Falcon got knocked to the ground by targeted fire from several energy weapons. Grabbing her right hand, Cobra yanked the woman back onto her feet, where she slammed the edge of the left arm's transparent shield into the face of a charging machine while he stabbed the wide blade on his left arm into the chest of another behind her.
One Servator observed the actions of the defenders, analyzed their defensive tactics and engaged the formulated counterattack. Adrian found himself hard pressed to destroy the machine as it kept deflecting his blade strikes away. Seeing his dilemma, Falcon retrieved the abbreviated staff, tossing it across to him. Despite the blunt edge of the bird cap, the offending machine amputated its own arms on it trying to land a solid strike. Adrian buried it in the machine's chest, finishing the fight.
Tossing the staff up in the air, Falcon fired thrusters in her boots and leapt at a charging Servator, catching the staff and landing brutally, carving the death machine in half from the tip of its head down almost to the waist.
The last few machines fell to blades and staff in short order. A small number attempted to retreat toward the open jawbridge, only to be cut down by bursts of rifle fire from Jacobs and Randor. After minutes of intense fighting, the sudden silence somehow seemed more deafening.
Helmets broke open in pieces and retracted into the collars of their suits. Adrian and the Sorceress were breathing heavily, trying to calm racing hearts. Beads of sweat streaked their faces. Adrian briefly thought about a nice hot shower, while the Sorceress envisioned a soaking hot bath.
"Well, that was fun," Adrian commented, tiredly.
"We need to discuss your ideas of 'fun,'" Sorceress scolded.
Sudden clattering and clanking drew their attention to the far side of the ring of statues. A surviving Servator made a surprising mad dash at Adrian, despite being hobbled by a damaged left foot. A white object impacted the machine's left shoulder, neck, and head. Red lights in the eyes winked out and it toppled to its right.
Nonplussed, Adrian stared at the dead machine, then turned his gaze in the direction from which the other half of the Sorceress' staff had sailed from. Teela stepped out of the shadows, hand raised toward the weapon. It refused to return to her hand -she had no affinity for magic.
"Thanks," Adrian said, impressed by her marksmanship.
"Just returning the favor," Teela replied. Taking a firm grip on the handle, she yanked hard on the weapon. It easily pulled free of the limp of dead machine, sending her stumbling. Despite being the size of a double-bladed battle axe, the staff was light as a feather. The weapon jumped out of Teela's hands, zipping across the chamber to the Sorceress' outstretched hand. "It's extremely well balanced."
"Well, if it's too heavy, you lose power on the swing," Sorceress explained, haltingly. It wasn't any better an explanation than her previous claims of things being 'a kind of magic.' She placed the handle ends together, where they fused back into one double-capped staff. It further compacted down into a plain white metal rod about twelve inches in length. Snapping it over her shoulder, the rod slipped into a pair of clips that lowered it into place along her spine.
Tapping the com device clipped to his right ear, Adrian requested, "Colonel, what's your status?"
Markson responded after a momentary pause. "We're just finishing up out here." His comment was punctuated by an explosion and a burst from a pulse rifle. Little more than a minute passed before he announced, "All secure out here. We're just making sure there's nothing playing dead out here. I take it you are all secure in there?"
"We are," Adrian answered.
Private Jacobs ran over from the jawbridge at the same time the group heard the jaw ratcheting closed. The hollow boom echoed about the chamber. "The bridge rose on its own," the private report unnecessarily.
The royals and Guardians exchanged confused looks.
"Spirit," Sorceress called out. When the disembodied red head appeared, she continued. "What's happening?"
"The castle is going into lockdown. An unknown force is approaching from the east."
Adrian replayed that to the colonel. Tense moments passed before he reported back. "Confirmed. A whole mess of machines headed this way." A pause. "Why'd you raise the bridge?"
"We didn't. The castle is locking down," Adrian said.
Sorceress slid her hand up under the feather hair and tapped her earpiece. "Get under cover. We'll see what we can do. Can you hold out?"
"Take cover where? The ravine? It's not set up for an attack from the east. We're low on ammo and have run out of grenades," Colonel Markson said, tersely.
"Follow me," Sorceress said, turning away.
She strode toward the grand staircase, bypassing it and walked up to the wall. Sorceress raised her right hand; a flare of magic caused an outline for a pair of doors to materialize. The doors swung inward to reveal another large chamber beyond. As the woman strode into the room, she changed from power armor to her falcon costume, with Falcon hanging around her next in medallion form.
The others followed the Sorceress, with Jacobs sprinting to catch up.
The chamber turned out to be some sort of command center approximately fifty meters square. A gigantic screen hung on the east wall – straight ahead. To the left and right were smaller screens and control stations; some on the floor, while others were on raised platforms.
Sorceress pointed to the square platform on iron supports in the center of the room. "That's the primary command station." She walked around the platform straight to round one about five feet in diameter and a foot thick. Sorceress stepped onto the platform, but nothing happened.
Adrian took the platform steps two at a time. King Randor followed, checking to make sure the safety was set on rifle before laying it on the seat of the lefthand control station. Wing retracted the armored fingers to make it easier for Adrian to manipulate controls.
"I recognize these controls," Adrian muttered.
"How? Where from?" Randor asked.
"Long story," Adrian said. He dropped into the seat and slid forward on the track. His eyes searched the three panels of the U-shaped station for the main power panel. He finally spotted it on the main board in the far-left corner. Nothing. He pressed the large square button twice more with the same result. Shoving himself back, Adrian tapped a touch pad on the upper right side of the cover panel at the end of the left-hand console. Locks disengaged and the drawer popped out. Pulling the drawer all the way out, he found exactly what he did not want to see. A tray full of burned crystal rods.
"Anything I can do to help?" Randor asked.
Opening the drawer on the other side, Adrian replied, "Pull the burned crystals." He shoved himself out of the chair and moved to the identical stations to the left and right. They were slightly smaller backup consoles the main one. The numbers fell rapidly in Adrian's head while he opened the trays on the auxiliary to get at any intact crystal rods available; fortunately, most were intact. How old they were was a different matter. All he could hope for was for the crystals to hold out this one time.
"They're closing in," the colonel advised. He ordered everyone to keep their heads down.
"Where did they come from?" Adrian muttered.
Sorceress answered, "Teela thinks they are the group that attacked Palace Eternia."
"And we still don't know where the force that attacked Snake Mountain went," Adrian mused. He finished removing all the serviceable crystals, dropping them on the seat for the main panel.
"Now what?" Randor asked, moving back to the left side.
"All crystal colors have a specific shape. So, you just plug them into whatever slot it fits," Adrian explained, plugging several rods into their slots. Seeing that, Randor set about filling the tray on his side.
"I don't mean to rush you," Sorceress said, delicately.
"Then don't," Adrian returned. "We're going as fast as we can. What's happening out there?"
Teela somehow managed to link into their com system using one of the few functional panels along the edge. "The enemy machines are marching closer. Looks like they are taking ranging shots at the ravine."
When Randor and Cobretti fitted their last crystals, the trays lit up. At least the power source was still functional. The men slid the trays back in until they clicked. Adrian reached across and pressed the main power button. Nothing.
"Sorceress. Anything?" Adrian requested.
"No."
"You're sure?"
"I'm standing on the platform, and nothing is happening," Sorceress snapped. "Whatever you're going to do, I advise hurrying up. The enemy almost has the range."
Randor raised an inquiring eyebrow. His unspoken question clear. Now what?
"Nag, nag, nag," Adrian growled, shoving himself up. He moved over to the right side of the console. "Maintenance 101. When in doubt, hit it with a blunt object." With that pronouncement, Adrian lifted his left leg and slammed the heel of his foot against the side of the console. All panels suddenly lit up. Returning to the seat and sliding it forward, he noted the column of light out past the platform.
"Platform is active," Sorceress said, awed by what she was seeing. The interior surface displayed a complete picture of the landscape outside. Smaller windows popped up on the curved surface for her selection -she only had to turn to face in the direction they displayed. But while she physically faced east, her view was aimed to the north. When she mentioned this to Adrian, he told her to try the touch-and-drag technique plus the size adjustment for images one could do on a smartphone. Sorceress touched the view pane for the eastern image and indeed was able to drag it around in front. Manipulating it proved to be just as easy as when Gabe showed her how to work a smartphone. "Good call."
Smiling, Adrian replied, "I occasionally have them."
Her blithe remark issued from the hidden speaker in the console at the same time it came through his earpiece. "Yes. I can no longer count them on one hand."
Randor snickered, sobering when Adrian shot him an annoyed glare, but grinning when Adrian looked away.
Spotting a curious set of controls on the right, Adrian took a closer look at the label for the pair of buttons and row of switches.
DEFENSE SHIELD
ENERGY PROJECTORS
"This looks promising," Adrian said, pressing the button for the shield.
"DEFENSE SHIELD ACTIVATED" the computer reported loudly.
Up on the main screen, a window opened on the right side, displaying a wire graphic of Castle Grayskull. A dome slowly rose from the outer edge of the moat to cover the castle. Someone out in the ravine noticed the formation of the shield and reported it.
Adrian frowned. While the other button would activate the projectors, he saw nothing to indicate how to aim and fire them. Fortunately, the Sorceress saw how to do so.
"That's a pretty shield," Colonel Markson commented, "but it won't help us much."
"Then perhaps this will excite you," Sorceress answered. A display panel appeared on the left of the window she observed. It duplicated the panel Adrian found, and either by instinct, or a memory from Cirandar, Sorceress knew what to do. She touched the pad to activate the projectors.
"ENERGY PROJECTORS ACTIVATED," the computer announced.
Above the towers, two elongated crystalline octahedrons took shape. Recessed stretched octahedron depressions on opposite sides from each other marked the emitter ports.
"Well, there's something you don't see every day," Frost said, awed by the shield and projectors.
"Let's hope they're more than ornamental," Apone growled.
Globes formed around the Sorceress' hands. With the orientation to the north, her left hand controlled the west tower projector and her right hand the eastern projector. Tentatively, she reached out a touched a black spot in the display representing an enemy machine. On the display, a spear of red/orange energy lanced down across the image. The targeted Shadowdemon did not so much explode as simply cease to exist. Two more taps eliminated two more enemy drones.
Ignoring the wave of hoots and hollers from cheering soldiers over the tac net, Sorceress muttered, "This is going to take a while. Unless…" Before Falcon could offer advice, Sorceress touched the screen and slid her finger across the line of marching robots from right to left.
The beam lanced out across the intervening distance, blowing up a Shadowdemon before tracking along the skirmish line. Brief fireballs marked exploding machines. Clouds of oily black smoke billowed into the sky, punctured in places by flames.
While the Sorceress blew the enemy formations to pieces, Adrian scanned the skies for the enemy transports he knew to be lurking out there somewhere. Projectors in the edge of the console produced two smaller rectangular screens. Adrian manipulated the right-hand screen, magnifying the image of black dots. They resolved into ugly blockish black shapes that could only be the dropships that delivered the enemy machines.
"Enemy to the east, eliminated," Sorceress reported.
"Their delivery vehicles are trying to break away," Adrian said.
"We'll see about that," Sorceress stated, pulling up the image from the command console. Now that the way was clear, she utilized both octahedron projectors. Red/orange beams stabbed out across the sky; one connected, the other just missed. A brief adjustment pegged the targeted dropship. Explosion rippled across the area in rapid succession when bathed by the beams. In seconds, all six craft were reduced to clouds of smoke and debris raining harmlessly to the ground.
"Seven ships to the west," Adrian reported. "Looks like they have reconsidered delivering their troops."
Sorceress grunted, dragging the screen in front of her. "They won't get away."
Seven ships attempting to deliver the remaining forces used in the assault on Snake Mountain executed sudden violent turns no organic being could have made, creating G-forces no living being could have survived. Twin beams of energy stabbed out once more. One swept across two ships, exploding them with just several seconds of contact. The other beam missed when the pilot of the target craft threw his craft into a violent roll maneuver no living being could have pulled off. Even a Val-kyrie pilot would not have been so bold. The beam quickly adjusted and met the craft as it struggled to gain altitude. It literally flew straight into the raw energy and vaporized. The others fell in short order due to their heavy loads slowing them down.
No other threats presented themselves. Evidently, the ships that delivered the initial attack force had returned to whatever starship had brought them to Eternia.
Sorceress touched two icons on a small display.
ENERGY PROJECTORS DEACTIVATED.
DEFENSE SHIELD DEACTIVATED.
Sagging with relief, Adrian shoved his chair back. "Okay, Sorceress. Tell me you didn't enjoy that."
As the Sorceress stepped off the platform, it shut down. Walking around the right side of the command platform, she replied, "I did not enjoy that."
Taking the stairs two and a time, Adrian bounded down the floor and swung around to cut her off. Surprised, Sorceress stumbled to a halt. "Look me in the eye, say that again, and make me believe you," he demanded.
Sorceress spent many long hours practicing the 'poker face' dispensing advice over the years. Masking her emotions and projecting the air of neutrality became the norm for her. While her time spent on Earth had brought those suppressed emotions closer to the surface, and even caused a wicked sense of humor to develop, she could still drop into the emotionless air of neutrality in an instant. Like not. Looking Adrian straight in eye, she repeated, "I did not enjoy that."
Marlena joined her husband at the foot of the platform stairs, watching the exchange with interest, as did Teela. The Sorceress stepped around Adrian and continued walking toward the entrance to the command center. The left corner of her mouth lifted slightly; a barely contained smile. She had taken a certain amount of enjoyment in dispatching the enemy machine force, but would never admit to it.
Sorceress made it halfway to the entrance, suddenly stopping dead in her tracks. Eyes wide as saucers, gasping in shock, her left hand clawed at the medallion Falcon had reduced herself to. The cause of her shock was a damaged Servator lunging across the floor straight at her, pointed talons of its remaining right hand aimed at her throat.
Air pressure from something flying by in a blur of motion ruffled the Sorceress' feather cape. Adrian and War Wing reacted without thinking. The AI formed the winged flight pack, firing the thrusters even as Adrian lunged at the speeding machine. The Etherium blade sprouted from the left forearm projector, plunging into the drone's chest, stopping it dead in its tracks and driving it backward. Adrian twisted the blade, doing maximum damage, before yanking it free. He turned to regard the Sorceress, dropping the robot in a dead heap.
"You died in my arms once," he said, a haunted look flashing briefly across his eyes. "Never again."
Private Jacobs appeared in the doorway, tense, weapon tracking, but relaxed when she saw all was well, She had seen the Servator making its way toward the command center and gave chase even though she knew she could not catch up.
Adrian walked past the private without a word.
"What was that all about?" Queen Marlena asked the Sorceress.
The question shook the woman out of her stunned fugue. In short, choppy sentences, Sorceress related the tale of her being rescued from the palace only to succumb to King Hiss' poison moments after entering the castle. Adrian had been carrying her at the time. Although the castle separated the Sorceress' mind from her dying body, lowering it into the Pool of Power to repair the damage, and later reunited the two, the experience had left an emotional mark on both of them.
Randor, Marlena and Teela followed the Sorceress back out to the main chamber. The doors to the command center closed automatically behind them.
Grabbing the handrail in white-knuckled death grip, the Guardian of Castle Grayskull surveyed the carnage while waves of nausea and exhaustion crashed down upon her. She took in the scene in one pass – and promptly passed out. Fortunately, Adrian had been standing close by to catch her so she didn't hurt herself in the fall.
Slipping one arm across her back and the other under her knees, Adrian hoisted her up, shifting the woman to a more comfortable position. Trembling uncontrollably, Sorceress revived slightly and moaned, throwing her left arm up around Adrian's neck. She clung tightly while he walked up the stairs in the direction of the Sorceress' private chambers.
Teela followed the Guardian at a discrete distance into the chamber she rarely visited. She watched from the doorway as he walked around to the other side of the bed and laid her mother on the satin sheets. He whispered something to her, though Teela could not make out the words. Eventually, the Sorceress let go so he could straighten up.
Adrian pulled off first one boot then the other. Setting them on the floor next to the bed. Placing the trembling woman's hands on her stomach, Adrian turned to unfolding the fur covers from the foot of the bed. He tucked the first one up around her neck and shoulders. He would have sworn the bird costume changed in the pink nightgown he had heard about as he covered her up. The second blanket came up to her chest. After a few minutes, the air under the blankets heated up. Gradually, the Sorceress stopped trembling and settled into a peaceful slumber.
A weary Adrian walked over to the stone table, turned the chair sideways and sat down facing the bed. Wing reduced himself to a medallion before Adrian collapsed in the chair, arm braced on the table to hold his head up.
Cautiously, Teela entered and walked over to stand next to the bed. At her question, Adrian explained how operating the suits, especially Falcon, took a lot out of them. While Falcon enhanced magical ability, there was still an upper limit one could channel even with the AI's help. The Sorceress explained it as a loss of heat energy, which explained the trembling as if she had spent time unprotected in a freezer.
Adrian's shapeshifting ability did the same thing to him. Although there wasn't a mirror handy, he knew he looked as pale and drawn as the Sorceress did.
Corporal Frost appeared in the open door. He gazed around, taking in the sights of a chamber he thought he would never see the inside of, taking full advantage of the opportunity. He had to clear his throat several times, loudly, to get draw Adrian's attention.
Making no attempt to hide his irritation, Adrian snapped, "Either you have something stuck in your throat, or you want something."
Chalking his friend's mood up to exhaustion, Frost ignored the tone and said, "The castle is disposing of all the robot wreckage inside and out. We set aside a few of the Servators for Gabe's team, but Colonel Markson needs help with the big ones."
Adrian sighed loudly. "And he needs a Guardian to drag a few selected wrecks inside before they disappear."
Frost nodded, mutely.
The corporal beat a hasty retreat when Adrian finally shoved himself up from the chair. Following his friend, Adrian paused behind Teela. "You thought I was going to undress her, didn't you?"
It took a moment for Teela to realize the question had been aimed at her. "What? No! Of course not." Adrian waited expectantly. After a full minute of uncomfortable silence, and Adrian's tired gazed boring into the back of her head, Teela's shoulders slumped in resignation. "Yes," she finally admitted.
Issuing a derisive snort, Adrian stomped away shaking head, muttering, "Women."
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