The soldiers had been at the forefront of the attack, and I had been in no mood to tangle with them physically. By the time I had began my walk through this facility they were nothing but some stripped corpses, forty bodies now a loose collection of burnt muscle and exposed bone. They were lucky, I was trying to kill them quickly.
The scientist that pawed at my uniform as I strolled by was not. I brushed away a half melted hand as the being screamed silently, the air stolen from his lungs by the fire, and his vocal cords now all but useless. Bits and pieces oozed off of him, and I wasn't sure if they were the fused remains of a lab coat or actual flesh. Some of the ones in the back had survived, managing to avoid the worst of the heat through luck or good instinct.
I could tell because I could actually hear them scream.
The technique wasn't all that hard. Fire was a weak expression of ki, nothing compared to the raw intensity of an energy blast. I had purposely kept the attack as a low stopping power, high volume means of killing my enemies. Effective on crowds, and startlingly easy to adjust its killing power based on the foe in question. It was incredibly energy intensive if you wanted to use it on an enemy in the same general field of power as yourself, and it was useless on someone actually stronger than you if your goal is direct physical damage.
It was a fantastic tool for fear though, and fire had a way of ringing alarm bells in almost every sentient. It was instinctual to fear it, even if you knew it couldn't hurt you. Most beings didn't make an effort to acclimate to it, even at our level and beyond. It was great for confusing the senses and distracting focus, and so long as I maintained a connection to it, it would never run out of fuel and never fail to stick to an opponent I wanted it to.
What surprised me was the sheer simplicity of it, and the fact I've never seen it used before, but then again why would any of the main characters from Dragon Ball actually use that kind of ability? Even I couldn't deny it was unnecessarily cruel and unusual as an ability that would see most of its use on civilians or the weak.
Even my crewmates would resort to atomizing people before trying something like this. They preferred simple cruelties. Instant gratification of whatever sadism colors their fancy. I thought of things more along the lines of killing the will to fight before killing the rest.
Alarms were blaring far before I left the room, and I felt scientists running in every direction away from me and further into the bowels of the ecumenopolis. Not all of them though. Some ran into locations I hadn't felt before, rooms I knew didn't have inhabitants until I had forced them inside. Purpose colored their energy.
It'd be prudent to go after them first. So my feet took me through a room on my left, and I saw a line of rectangular chambers on either wall, the pale lighting illuminating the cold metal of what looked almost like oversized coffins. It was like a computer lab had a bastard child with a morgue. Each one had a terminal I assumed controlled whatever was inside, and each terminal exploded into a useless slurry of electronics as I walked by. I made sure my fire touched every piece of exposed machinery, hopefully ruining whatever plans they were trying to set into motion. I wasn't nice enough to allow someone else's hail mary to come to fruition just because I was honestly curious about it. I counted just about thirty of the containers before I came open another steel door, this one thankfully more human in proportion.
With a casual kick the hardened metal buckled and heaved, before another one tore it off its hinges and sent it careening into the wall opposite of it. The scientist I was looking for was there, typing furiously into a terminal before looking at me in spite once it chimed at him. This room only had one container compared to the dozens in the one I had just been in.
He was another of the indigo aliens I had seen a few of lately, a fat balding creature of hanging jowls and hunched posture. A civilian through and through. A picture of a more average lifestyle. The sedentary nature people feel free to appeal to when they feel safe. I felt a small spike of jealousy at the idea of such blissful ignorance.
"You might kill us, but you can't stop whats coming for you and the rest of your monstrous kind!" He yelled, before attempting to bring a fist down on a particularly large red button. His completed the swinging motion, but his hand and most of his arm never followed, the appendage now held in my own as he fell back screaming at the sudden loss of a limb.
"Sorry. Buttons like that make me nervous. I can't have you putting me at a disadvantage this far from reinforcements, now can I? Think of it as a compliment, one of us thought of you as a serious enough threat to justify taking a limb over seeing you press a button."
I knelt by him, flash burning the wound closed as he shrieked in renewed pain. I gave him a few moments to regain some clarity, making sure he was focused on me before I spoke.
"So what exactly were you planning here mister-" I tapped my scouter, the device coming to life with a few almost happy beeps as it read the man's name tag and translated it into a language I could actually read.
"O'Pep? This place seems pretty interesting. I'd like to have something a little more concrete than 'sciency shit' for my bosses when I get to reporting it."
The alien groaned into his wound, grasping the stump to his chest as he looked me in the eyes, before smiling. I raised a brow at the vindication I felt brewing in his chest, before glancing at the only container this room had as the metal buckled just like the door I had knocked down seconds earlier.
"The red button was just the door release."
Metal hands grasped either side of a yawning abyss of steam and smoke, the machine pulling itself from the now open container was as complex as it was simple. A walking black square over twice my height with flickering lights on its belly and an ominous clicking sound emanating from the steel of its body. It looked like a brick with rubber arms and legs, but the way it moved was smooth and had an air of danger. A robot. A big damned robot. I had hoped it was bombs or new weapons.
"Squadron Droid activated." The machine boomed, taking one massive step in my direction.
I took a step back. Robots concern me. No energy to sense, no real method to tell how dangerous it is before you have to fight it. It could be absolutely worthless, it could be as powerful as any member of the Ginyu force, hell it could be something out of the good doctor Gero's playbook, a completely unstoppable force of nature I would need decades of training to compete with.
I half smiled, half scoffed in annoyance.
And that was the problem with robots. You didn't fucking get to know how dangerous it was until you were already dancing with it. When it rocketed towards me on flaming legs I was both relieved and pissed. I twisted away from a grasping limb, my hands coming around one of the robot's arms and spinning it into the far wall.
I was out the door and down the hall in the same movement, throwing a few blasts down every hallway and into every room I could find. I didn't need more of those things on my back, or any other surprises for that matter. When the machine finally recovered it smashed through one of the concrete walls, its metal fist coming to meet my face with unfortunate speed. I let the blow send me flying backward, before I scrambled to my feet and turned to my exit, sending a barrage of energy blasts in its direction.
I moved, my hand coming up to tap my scouter again as I melted a hole in the massive blast door marking the entrance to this sight. I kicked away the slag blocking my escape and heard my communications return just as something slammed into the small of my back, sending me flying down the tunnels that had been my playground the past week or so. I careened off a stone wall, sending chips of rock and dust in every direction before I forced myself upward with a snarl. My fist slammed down again, sending more of the matter in the air in a makeshift smokescreen.
Relieved I could follow its movement, escape if I fight became untenable. Pissed because it was weak enough I knew I had to try fighting it.
"Dennis to Belk. Reporting on level 682 of the fortress complex in sector 9-B."
I turned, raising my sword at the shape that walked through the dust clouding my view. The sound of concrete buckling under its weight was anything but subtle. Its movements followed my own even through the storm of debris scattering all around us.
"Speak." Belk replied, sounding he was particularly unhappy to be hearing from me.
I straightened my back, listening to my joints pop as I leaned into the palm of the hand that I now had braced against my spine. Not exactly lethal, but it still smarts. Damned thing was strong.
"Looks like the locals have some robots to throw our way. I'd be on guard with all the sneaky shit they've been trying to pull." There was a pause, and I hit the dirt as a laser beam left a trail of melted rock where my position used to be.
"Keep an eye out for more surprises, Dennis." I smirked, rolling away from a stomp I was pretty sure would break a few ribs. I tapped the scouter again, putting it back into rest mode and killing one of the last few sources of light around me.
I didn't care too much about my commander, and I might kill him someday, but I did feel like we were making progress with each other. Eventually, time would tell if things could work a little more amicably between us.
My sword flickered out into the rubber covering one of the things legs, the limb 'bleeding' a sort of black liquid I figured was a coolant, the stuff sticking and freezing to the back of one of my hands. When I slashed deeper I felt the tell tale signs of resistance in the metal of one of its joints, the limb holding up far more effectively than the rubber of its skin did.
I considered my options as we fought, putting the lid back on my emotions now that I was in a more comfortable position. My focus sharpened as I considered this latest foe of mine, wrapping a thin layer of ki over its body so I could keep track of it in the dark.
Obviously I couldn't expect a fear response, and I doubted I could get it to bleed out. I warped my ki, massing it into a blob on my right side and letting the machine decide it's next course of action. The squadron droid's lights blinked at the change in my energy, but otherwise kept track of me, even through the dust and dark of the tunnel I walked us deeper into with every exchange of blows.
Not fully ki based sight then. No better than a scouter. It could still see me in the dark though. Probably body heat. I didn't have a solution to that while I was here.
My arms crossed in front of my chest in time to catch a hammer blow, and the weight of it set my teeth chattering. I extended my senses, trying to see if any other threats were nearby. Unless there were more robots I could afford to be a little wasteful.
My ki bloomed, my energy burning through my body and bleeding out of my system with concerning speed. When the robot swung its arm at me again I reached out and caught its digits, crushing the highly durable material like paper mache. As it tried to pull back I reared a fist, sending it directly into the center of its block-like body and grabbing as large a handful of the electronics inside as I could. The robot shuddered and stilled around me, but I didn't stop tearing pieces out of it until I was sure it wasn't getting up again. When I was done I collapsed on my knees, panting with the exertion. I grimaced when I finally took the time to self-assess. It'd take hours to get back to full fighting power.
With that in mind I flew to the ceiling again, betting on the common instinct of sentients not to look up, especially in the dark. Soon I was just another one of the crab-like vermin scuttling about, taking my time to move back towards the surface, and the open air of the battlefield. Apara was probably awake by now, and I could use some company while I rested off the day.
I'll admit I dragged my feet a little bit on my way out, making sure I wasn't too weak before I had to make my report to Belk or whoever he told me to. I purposely avoided a few patrols over wiping them out, doubling back when I had to. Eventually I was up one floor, then two, then five, before after around 10 I was back in what could be considered friendly territory.
I stepped through an open wall, breathing in the sights and sounds of the city these people made of a world. Smog and artificial light, black clouds as far as the eyes could see and not a star in sight. We've been to prettier places.
I hummed at the sight of yet another block-like machine streaking through the sky, the metal thing half on fire as it mindlessly exchanged blows with one of my comrades. I recognized him as one of the Naldinnians.
When I stepped into the air, lifting myself into the sky to get a better view I caught sight of more crew members, and more robots, the sky practically raining black coolant and metal parts as a wave of enemy reinforcements began to pour through buildings we had already mostly secured.
"Hmm."