~ Sanctuary ~

Chapter 4

As soon as we crossed through the doorway, we were met with a warm sensation, and with a chemical smell filling the air. So, warm, but toxic. That's totally not suspicious. The sudden chemical kick dissipated the longer we stood there, and it became less disorienting. But it was still uncomfortable.
"What brings you travelers here?" the booming voice said. The voice gave me the feeling that the person used to work at a pub part time, but I waved the thought away quickly. I looked around the room, seeing a ton of bookshelves and regular shelves, storing mechanical parts, chemicals and unknown substances in vials, and weapons hanging on their hangers. As I looked toward the bookshelf, I saw a man with a royal, almost electric blue bunny mask with white accents and rosy cheeks leaning against the bookshelves, holding one open in his hand. He looked logistical, like he was the one who invented everything. And if he had to wear glasses, he'd be wearing circular ones.
He looked similar to what seemed like the Toymakers inventions from downstairs. Maybe they model them after the people who run the Toymaker business, I mean it's plausible. As I looked across the room, there was a desk positioned right in front and facing the door, with an auburn brown bear headed figure, with a housekeeping slash maid looking lady sitting on the desk he was posted at. He had his fingers interlocked and his elbows resting on the surface of the desk, holding his head up to face us. Like we're at trial and we need approval from the judge, and he's the judge.
That's when I realized the man sitting at the desk was Franklin, the man who tore the Scavengers apart. The one who tore Cassidy, Banner, Fraser, and Finn apart. I'm not sure why but a sting of hurt shot through my chest, but I tried to not let my body show it. The last thing we want to show these assholes is weakness.
"You all seem shocked at our establishment," Franklin said with a grin. I could tell by the tone of his voice, it's very obvious he was proud of what he built up. Stuck up dickwad.
"Yes, how've you been able to maintain such a fine establishment?" I asked politely and with a hint of sarcasm laced within it.
"A lot of bargaining and good work was done for our boss," the woman said. She had a chicken head like me, but with the trademark rosy cheeks and a bright and more pronounced color like her other workmates presented. She also had more of an elegant structure, and seemed to be a lot more carefully built. Almost as though she was specially transported out into the world and wasn't just dumped out of a chute when she was done being created in the factory.
"Hm, I'm sure, your boss is the Con Man I assume?" I question. They both nod proudly, and the bunny man stood up and put the book away before going over to the shelves with the tools and weapons on it. He seemed to be very well versed in how weapons work, and seems to be a professional with them. And he also seemed to be the organized one in this office. But since he's so well versed in where everything is in the office, he might also be the cause for the absolute disarray of the mess that's scattered downstairs. A mastermind at work, I guess.
"Yes, he's our contractor to be specific," Franklin announced. His words snapped me back out of thought. "By the way, this is Charlotte, my dear housemaid and I adore and love her dearly," he said endearingly, looking toward her with pride. It made me throw up in my mouth a little, but I kept that reaction, recoil, and thought to myself. Franklin lets his hand run along Charlotte's body, creepily, and it was just uncomfortable for everyone in the room. Seemingly the one that wasn't bothered by it was the rabbit that looked similar to Charlotte and Franklin. He didn't seem phased and just kept inspecting his weapons that were set up on the shelves. And after Franklin was done being infatuated with Charlotte, he turned back to me. "My other comrade is Benjamin, my brother, he's the one that makes all the toys that we sell to other cyborgs, whether it be because they need protection, or better weapons, what have you," Franklin blabbered. He seemed real proud that he's able to work with Benjamin, and I wouldn't call it far-fetched that if they got business deals with anyone other than the Con Man, he'd take all the credit when Benjamin isn't in the proximity. He seems shady like that.
Benjamin placed the shotgun he was holding back on the shelf, and turned to me and Griffin.
"What Franklin is trying to say is, is that I'm the one to consult if you're wanting a specific kind of weapon or protection service, Franklin's just the one to go to for pricing and bargaining," he shrugged. His demeanor was very relaxed, and very casual with everything he said. Oh, so they actually do offer services to the masses of their kind, and it isn't just special to the Con Man. Interesting.
"So, with that being said, what're you lot here for?" Franklin interrupted Benjamin. Benjamin didn't react, didn't seem offended for being cut off, and walked back and went back to organizing the ammo and putting everything away and putting it together neatly.
Even though that distracted me for a bit, I turned back to face Franklin, who was very questioning as to why we were there, seemingly. His body language had questions written all over it.
"We were curious about the old Scavenger's attempt at a revolution, we heard about it through a couple cyborgs, but we wanted to hear your infamous take on it, since you stopped them from storming the factory, besides they probably would've failed anyway," I said, straining my reaction. I tried playing on their side, and covering up the part that I know the Scavenger's traumatized side. But I needed to get answers out of them somehow. So befriending them is probably the best option at this point.
Benjamin perked up, and so did Franklin, and even though Charlotte seemed confused, she seemed curious as well. So she doesn't remember getting so defensive about Cassidy's jabs on the battlefield that Cassidy and her team fought for their life on? Huh, must have a glitch in the memory bank. What a ditz.
"Oh that was quite a day, wasn't it Benj?" Franklin said sarcastically, referencing Benjamin, and Ben seemed to be giggling to himself about it as well. But more silently, not as prominent as Franklin's laughing and chuckling was. "That was quite a day, actually. We got a call from the Con Man about a plan he heard about through the grapevine of cyborgs he had scattered among the world he ruled over," Franklin started. He seemed very well versed and happy with the story he's telling, because his attitude and body seemed the least tense he'd been since we walked in.
"And what was that exactly?" Griffin queried. I could tell Griffin was getting a bit defensive, but he held himself a lot easier than I would've.
"When we got the call, all he said was "prepare your fleet of protection services that you can activate, I'm sending the experiments out after these hooligans, give me the coordinates," and hung up. And so we did as we were told," he began saying. He was telling it like an actual fairy tale story, it was a bit odd, but if that's what he needed to continue, so be it. "When we made our way through the roads, we heard the clanking and footsteps of the poor Scavengers, and we knew the coordinates," he continued.
"I brought out my immediate recall that's installed here," Charlotte said, holding out her arm as her recall system to the Con Man was brought out of her arm, before retracting back into her delicate structure. "Why don't we call him here! I'm sure he'd love to meet our new friends," Charlotte said cheerfully, looking toward Franklin pleadingly. My blood ran cold, they're really calling the Con Man here, now?
I maintained composure as he nodded and she pressed a couple buttons on the recall system before it retracted again, and she situated herself, letting Franklin continue the story he was telling about the takedown.
"So, after we sent those coordinates, we found a place on the roof near the upcoming roads to post and watch the festivities unfold," he said brightfully. "And as soon as the experiments showed up and ambushed the Scavengers, it was a dog fight. Cassidy was always the little whore fighter. She kept her ground for long enough, but of course she was taken down, what a surprise," he said, laughing the entire time. Charlotte and Benjamin cackled along with him, and I couldn't help but want to yell at them. Cassidy wasn't a whore fighter, otherwise nobody would be afraid of her in that case. But I kept my trap shut.Why am I getting defensive of her?
"Eventually all of the creatures fell except for their golden bear just like this old man," Franklin said, nodding toward Griffin. Griffin nodded back, more in reference to understanding what Franklin had said, and I couldn't tell whether that was a smart move or not. I felt like Franklin meant it as a jab, but Griffin seemed to be taking the jab really well. Like it didn't even phase him. I looked between him and Franklin for a short bit before focusing my attention on Franklin again, giving him the floor.
"And they went over to you all, asked you for parts and you willingly gave them up, which I applaud you for, they went for a good cause," Franklin said endearingly once more, but it was going to Griffin. "Where's your bunny friend that was with you?" he asked, seemingly leaning his body to see if Griffin had brought Seth along. Franklin seemed extremely curious, but Griffin remained composed, and sure of his position.
Griffin shrugged, before saying "probably at a bar, fuckin a chick or somethin', he's always been a ladies man." This made Franklin and Benjamin chuckle, and Charlotte seemed a bit more uncomfortable with it, because her laugh sounded forced. Like she was uncomfortable with the thought of men fucking a girl. I couldn't tell whether it was her being jealous of thinking about it, and wanting the girl to be her, or uncomfortable with the thought of a man ruining her like that. I couldn't decipher which. But it doesn't matter. It was a pretty good cover for Griffin to try and befriend Franklin and his crew, especially with dissing his brother. I mean he did it with me, so it was bound to be apparent to strangers too, even.
"Anyway, then of course, we had to have our own reward, and eventually, once all the parts were harvested, the Con Man showed up," Franklin smirked, his tone seemingly finalizing his story.
As soon as he said those words, confidently and announcing, we heard a shut of a door from below. And chills erupted through my system. Shit.
There were following footsteps, and they seemed sure, steady, and purposeful. And we turned to see a similar copy of Madelyn's fox head in white, except with yellow and purple being the accent colors instead of pink. And behind him, he had two bodyguards with him, one with a purple and white bear head, and then a male white and pink fox head, both accompanied by dobermans with little bow ties.
At least whoever this is has a bit of fashion sense that they can afford.
"You said we had visitors?" the purple and yellow fox said. The voice was robotic and metallic, if there ever was such a thing. As if he was talking through an old radio microphone.
"Yes sir, these are our new friends," Charlotte said happily, as she hopped off the table and ran over to the fox, as the fox cradled her in his arms, in a type of more sensual embrace as she stood in front of them.
"Now don't get too handsy with her, Layne," Franklin grunted. Hm, so a soft spot for Franklin, interesting. The fox, who Franklin had just called Layne, held their hands up as Charlotte trotted back over to Franklin's desk and sat back down, letting Franklin's hand sneak around her and keep her close to him in a symbolic way.
Again, I feel like I could throw up. But I kept my tongue and my stomach at bay.
"Now, who are these new friends we have, hm?" Layne said. Their voice rang like a bell in a church, but it gave me an uncomfortable tickle up my spine. It was unusual, I'd never felt any form of hair standing on the back of my neck, but if it feels like a poisonous spider is crawling up your back every so slowly, its legs almost digging into your skin, then that's what I was feeling. And I didn't like it. But there was not much anyone could do about it. Not Griffin, Madelyn, or me.
"Well, we never got to introduce ourselves, but I'm Charlie," I said, extending a hand. They extended theirs and shook mine, which made the spider up the spine feeling even worse. But when I felt like I could flinch from the chills, I stayed put and strong with my grip and demeanor. "And my comrades here are Griffin and Madelyn," I said, nodding my head to each of them, since they were posted behind me.
As soon as Madelyn's name left my mouth, Layne let go of my hand, dropping it like a mic, and made their way over to her. She seemed to have made her way, halfway into the room we're in, and they walked right past me and Griffin to get to her. She seemed uncomfortable, but I made a hand motion to comfort her. Like a wave, almost as if to say "breathe, it'll be okay, we're right here, act natural." And she took a deep breath and let it happen. I knew she wanted to be more secure, but if we could evade suspicion from Layne, that'd be great. Especially if they're in direct communication with the Con Man.
"Well, what a beauty you all snagged yourself," Layne said, extremely interested in her, and looking to me and Griffin in appreciation. I felt my mouth open and grit my teeth, but the mask blocked Layne's vision from seeing that. I saw her tense up, and the thought immediately shot through me when my eyes caught sight of Layne from behind. I felt bad for not paying enough attention to Madelyn's distress, but seeing his construction was crucial. I saw Layne's back, and his layout was more complicated and intricate than anything I'd ever seen on a cyborg before.
His chest had a locked core on the front, representing his heart and how that runs, but on the back, he had a connection of wires that went into the back of his head, with extending wires wrapped neatly into a single cord. It seemed like some sort of connection, because the mask didn't cover the whole head.
Because there was no head to be covered by a mask, it was just the front of the mask that was there to give the figure a face. And of course when a human resembling body has an animal face, it's disorienting. But everyone had that.
"If you guys couldn't figure it out, this is him himself, the Con Man," Franklin said, proudly. My spine immediately spasmed before I rectified it, acting like I just had a sudden cold chill. Layne kept surveying Madelyn, and it obviously made her uncomfortable. I hated seeing her that way, and I could feel myself wanting to scream at him, but that might give away our position. So I tried staying calm, and kept my eyes mostly locked with hers. Trying to telepathically tell her that I was with her, and we weren't going anywhere.
He kept circling her, and at one point, he ran his hand across her shoulder. She flinched again, because she's not used to contact like what she was receiving from him. I wouldn't blame her, because I'd react the same way. Men are disgusting, royally disgusting. I wanted to reach out to her and tell her it's okay but I couldn't even do that. All I could do was use my eyes to call out to her.
Her build was exactly like a human, as I've described before. Her tattoos were dark and black single outlines, they didn't have any color. Seems like the Con Man wanted to do some tattoo practice on her, and then just shot her out with the stark tattoos on her pale skin.
Her head looked exactly like the same paint job as the Bodyguards that Layne was accompanied by, which I noticed. I turned my attention to them as Layne stalked Madelyn. Madelyn could handle it for a bit, as much as it pained me to not keep her calm through my locked gaze. I just needed to survey everyone in the room, and the two bodyguards were the only ones who I hadn't done that with, just to be sure I covered all my bases.
There was the bear and the fox. The bear wore a white suit, with a handgun in a holster on his waist, and his head was white with light purple and hot purple accents, mainly on the muzzle. And of course the suit had an underneath purple shirt, and it was well put together. His doberman sported a blue bow tie, and as dobermans are bred to be, he held himself well.
The fox on the other hand had more bright colors in his attire. A hot pink shirt underneath a white tux, with a coral tie, and his head was white with hot pink and baby pink accents. The difference between him and Madelyn just seemed to be gender, and color theory or presentation. Which was odd to me. But I tried to pay no mind. Both the bear and the fox had similar pale skin, similar mannerisms, just different gender and color theory.
I turned my attention back to Madelyn, who was still quite uncomfortable. And Layne seemed to have taken her hand in his, inspecting it. That set off an inner nerve. A protective one at that. So I had no choice but to snap, simply because Madelyn simply didn't have the words to tell Layne to stop.
"Sir can you please step away from my sister, she's clearly uncomfortable with being looked at like that," I said. I hesitated, not realizing whether they went by sir or ma'am or anything like that. Pronouns are strange.
Layne looked at me slowly, before stepping away and walking toward the desk Franklin was sitting at, and his bodyguards came out from behind us and posted themselves near Benjamin. Layne leaned his weight against Franklin's desk, his hands steadying him before his hips were secure. It's as if Layne was trying to get a vantage point in the room, even though there wasn't going to be any fight that transpires here. We promised Cassidy that that wouldn't happen.
"Sorry, didn't know that she was still running," Layne slyly muttered, but loud enough for all of us to hear. So it was the Con Man, speaking through a different figure. Lovely. "What're you here for, hm?" they questioned me, leaning more toward me in curiosity. The lean seemed more intrusive, interested in me, but in a menacing way.
"I was just curious about the Toymakers' story about the Scavenger takedown back when they tried to start a revolution, more or less just let them share their story, and Charlotte called upon you," I referenced. My attitude was forced but I didn't care. We just had to get by somehow. Layne looked back at Charlotte, and she started swinging her legs back and forth as she was still posted on the desk. Layne's gaze locked on Charlotte, and her body language just demonstrated she liked the stares that Layne was giving her. But before Franklin could sick his inventions on them, Layne turned back to me, and then to Madelyn again.
As Layne laid eyes on her, she made her way over to Griffin and pressed herself against him, and Griffin wrapped one arm around her and kept her close to him. I could tell Griffin gathered how valuable Madelyn truly is, and just like I'm protective of her, he should be as well. Layne turned back to me with a bit of an eye roll, and his demeanor just spoke as if he wanted something from me. As if he wanted to rip me apart as well. But we're not gonna let that happen. If anyone was going to be ripped apart, it's going to be Layne, and I'll make sure of it.
"So, why did Franklin stop, hm?" Layne finally said after a bit of striking silence, and turned and looked at Franklin.
"Well you arrived sir! You deserved a dramatic entrance," Franklin said, complementing Layne. Layne nodded before looking at him again expectantly. Franklin seemed to fold underneath Layne's gaze as well, and he got a little stuttery before he could make out his words and continue the story he was presenting us. "Anyways, he gave us the payment we requested for the job, and thanked us, and then let us have what we wanted from the Scavengers. The Scavengers were our workers, sometimes still are. They know that we're capable of bringing them down, so they work for us when it comes to harvesting parts," Franklin shrugged.
"It's very helpful actually, that way we don't have to go out and risk our own machinery to get mechanical parts for our toy making," Benjamin said matter-of-factly. Franklin held up his hand a slight bit and Benjamin quieted down, even though he was wanting to continue his sentence.
"Benjamin is a brilliant inventor, and if I didn't already have a full staff, I'd offer for him to come work in the factory with me, but he's clearly needed down here with his toymaker brethren, with no replacement," Layne said proudly. Benjamin nodded, taking the compliment, and silently went back to studying his book he'd pulled from the shelf, a different one this time, and Layne turned back to me. "It's a pretty straight-forward story, lil lady. What I'm concerned about is how you found out about these amazing inventors, who told you?" he accused, making it casual.
He's trying to get answers out of me, and it's not really working. I can see him trying, but he'd have to try harder than that with me. Because I can come up with words and lies pretty quickly on the spot.
"Heard through the grapevine, just like you did about the attack," I casually accused back. He sat up, and I could tell he had an impressed smirk pressed on his face. Whether it was impressed with my lying skills and he knew all along, or impressed with my comeback skills. I hope it's the second one.
"But Layne here gave us a lot of money back then, and also lent us some of his invention blueprints that never went right for him, and I've completed some, but not all. They don't always pay the bills, but they do help in making our toys better for the community of the cyborgs outside the factory," Benjamin said.
"Benj, if you don't shut the fuck up, I'll shut you up myself," Franklin hissed, raising from his seat. Benjamin immediately shut up as he was told, and cowered near the shelves, clinging onto the book he was holding.. There's a reason not a lot of scientists talk, it's because they're misunderstood a lot of the time. And clearly, Franklin gets annoyed with it. Which isn't fair to Benjamin, but there's not much we can do about it.
"Okay Frank, let's rest on the threats, he was just sharing a bit of knowledge and his interest in building and inventing, let the man live a little," Layne said, leaning his head to the side, and being very casual with conversation. Franklin looks to Layne, and as soon as his gaze lands on Layne, Layne seems to get more angry and causes Franklin's chest to sink. and then back at Benjamin, clearly giving him Franklin gave Benjamin one final death glare before going and sitting back down at his desk.  "You obviously caught them at an unusual time, do you wanna come back and maybe consider making a deal with them on some of their toys?" Layne offered toward me. This caught me off guard, because I didn't expect a kind of proposal like that, but he is a businessman after all. So you'd figure he'd want to propose a business deal.
"I'm good thank you, I just wanted to hear a bit of storytelling, haven't heard some in a while and it's a good story anyhow," I said smiling. Layne nodded, before standing up and brushing himself off.
"Alright, well I personally think it's smart for you to go ahead and leave, come back sometime alright?" Layne said, aligning his hand with my back and walking me toward the door, practically ushering me to the exit. Griffin still had Madelyn on one of his arms, and Griffin walked toward the door with Madelyn with him, and Layne behind me.
"Well, thank you all for your time, it was nice to meet all of you," I said cheerfully. My attempt at trying to be cheerful upon exiting led nowhere. Nothing was said, and as I turned back to the door to say goodbye, Layne gave me one last look up and down, and shut the door aggressively in my face. I could've sworn there was a sort of scowl on his face. But it doesn't matter. I just turned to my team, a little disheartened, and just sighed.
"If that's all we could get out of them today, we didn't get much. We didn't learn anything except what they really make out of the toys that they claim to make for other cyborgs," I sighed again.
"We still got a bit of information though," Madelyn said encouragingly, although her voice was a bit shaky as she spoke. She seemed to be forcing a smile underneath her mask ,so I knew she was trying. "Honestly, he muttered something I wasn't fully comfortable with, but I also didn't understand it so I think some of that uncomfortable feeling within me tied with that," she added.
I stayed silent to let her speak, and she took a deep breath before she did. Good, good. Getting her bearings.
"He held my hand and ran his hand along my waist, and he muttered something like "shocked you're still running" or "it's good that people of your blood can run alike". Didn't really know what that means, in all honesty," she shrugged. I sighed again and held her hand, holding it gently.
"Yeah I wouldn't worry about it, it's not anything probably, just him not noticing that he spoke and that you heard, did you give him any sort of sign that you had heard him or reacted in any way?" I asked her. I held her other hand, both our hands interlocked, as she took a deep breath again, followed by a sigh.
"No, at least I tried not to as much as I reacted to his touches. They seemed purposefully intrusive, unfortunately," she whimpered slightly, but had a clear tone of voice. I nodded, and embraced her, making sure she felt the squeeze of comfort I could attempt to give.
"It's okay, I'm not gonna let him hurt you, okay?" I said silently. It was loud enough for her to hear, and she hugged me back, which felt nice. I stood there hugging her and eventually let go, knowing we needed to move, and check on the team.
I pulled away from her and walked down the stairs gently, with Griffin and her following me promptly. We met back up at the first floor we came in on, and I snapped. My snap was a certain code that I used a lot, anytime we were in trouble and needed to hide as a team, we'd hide. But when I checked that the coast was clear, the snap was to signify everything was safe. And if the other four idiots were smart enough, they'd hidden and tried not to be detected by the newcomers.
Flynn, Felix, Seth and Blake all came out of hiding after I snapped, and they looked uncomfortable. But nonetheless, we had other things to worry about, I'm sure.
"Dude, what the hell? Could've given us a warning maybe?" Flynn whispered, clearly annoyed.
"Sorry, I would've given away our position if I had given you all any kind of warning," I pressed, keeping my voice at barely a whisper. "Let's get out of here so they don't suspect us," I said sourly, as I charged for the door. I heard shuffling from my team, and eventually the team came pounding after me. Once we all made it out of the building, I looked around and there was no sign of the Scavengers. Fuck.
But why? We told them to wait out here, and that we'd be back out eventually. Maybe the new visitors scared them away.
"Where are the bitches who were supposed to be on guard??" Flynn screamed, trying to see if whatever he was saying would reach the Scavengers, if they were hiding nearby. I shook my head, looking around and walking into the opening right in front of the Toymakers' office. I didn't know where they headed off to, and they were gonna get a talking to if we tracked them down first.
We continued to look around, curious and frantic as to where the Scavengers could've gone, until I saw something move from between buildings. My eyes immediately darted over and focused on whatever had moved and tried to make out whatever was in the place between the buildings, within the shadows.
I couldn't make out what it was, but only it was tiny movements, like someone adjusting their standing position or shifting their weight from one foot to another. So I didn't wanna walk over and find out. If anything, that was a death sentence. The old saying "Curiosity killed the cat."
The dust around started to settle, and everything nearby went quiet, unlike how usual cities are like. Our surroundings dimmed, both visually and audibly. And it caused hairs on the back of my neck to stand up straight. It was uncomfortable, and I turned back to my team, and they seemed unsettled too. We reached for our weapons slowly, keeping our hands nearby said holsters and holders of our weapons, making sure that we didn't "disturb the peace".
Out of nowhere, machinery whirred from above, but it wasn't any machinery that was familiar. And the machinery was some that I'd never heard of before. It wasn't a breaking-down cyborg in the middle of a salvage pile, it wasn't one that sounded like us or the Veterans walking or moving naturally, this was pure monster machinery. As the process of elimination flashed through my brain, it hit me.
No. It can't be.
I closed my eyes, trying to figure out whether this was just a dream or not, and just as I heard, one thump after another, representing all of the experiments. This is not a dream. I heard Madelyn yelp behind and beside me as I kept my cool, keeping my eyes closed and waiting for the final drop to come. The thuds came slowly but surely, and once I was sure the last one had landed, I opened my eyes to the competition we had before us.
Of course the Con Man couldn't help but take the chance to harvest more parts, wonder what he's after now. More like who he's after.
Please God, if there even is one, don't let me die. Don't let my team die. Let's go.
More machinery started to whir as the final thud came. My eyes flew open to be met with my counterpart and Cassidy's, Chloe. I looked to my left, and there was Billy, Blake's counterpart, and Fred, Felix's counterpart. On the other side, was Mackenzie, Madelyn's counterpart in the flesh, and then Ford, Flynn's counterpart, and finally Floyd, Griffin's counterpart. I found out the names of each of the experiments on our way over here.
"Team, prepare yourselves," I said. Everything went silent. Dead silent. "It's about to get messy."
As soon as I muttered those words, and they rolled off my tongue with a bit of resistance, Chloe pounced toward me. Her claws were sharp, sharper than you'd expect them to be, and they were lethal. One lethal cut in an artery or important vessel and I would be gone. My dodging training came in handy, as her hands swung relentlessly towards my smaller and more nimble body. Her mask was unnerving to stare at as I dodged each of her swings, and her feet were just as horrible and dejecting. Her coat was splattered in blood, which didn't surprise me. I'm sure she's torn a couple other cyborgs apart in her day, and they haven't bothered to change the clothes she sported.
She attempted to execute a swish left followed by trying to execute an overhead smash with my body. But I ducked as soon as she swung, and slid underneath and between her legs as her hands made their way to the ground, making her hands and arms ricochet against the dirty ground. The actions kicked up some dust, which got in Chloe's face, and it let me get all the way past her from under her.
I regained my secured footing, and saw Griffin and Seth fighting off Floyd, and Floyd dwarfed them, majorly. Just in sheer size, Floyd dwarfed them. Madelyn tried to figure her way with whips against Mackenzie, and even though me and Chloe are somewhat similar in size, she still towers over me in a certain way, just like Mackenzie does with Madelyn. All three of our doppelgangers seemed to tower over us, but that just gives them a disadvantage in certain areas of fighting. Flynn had a fair fight with Ford, if not that, an advantage over Ford. Fred was having some trouble against Felix, which made a smile creep onto my face. Because it just showed that Felix had a superior skill when it came to dealing with Fred.
Billy and Blake were the same, an exactly even fight. But as I scanned the crowd, I didn't see the infamous puppet that Cassidy spoke of. Hopefully they didn't send them out to us too.
As soon as my quick scan over the battlefield was complete, I whipped my head to face her, and Chloe was already back up and ready. She was more clunky than me and had a lot less room for error than I did. Meaning she could protect herself easily even if she messed up a move during a fight. I'm able to make a mistake and it doesn't affect me too horribly, but if I make a big enough mistake, it could easily be lethal for me.
She moved like random parts of metal were just stuck together, and the Con Man called it a day. She quickly glared back behind her at me, and turned around to start a charge. I turned on a heel and started running as she chased after me over a short distance, and right before she had me, I launched myself up in the air, accompanied with a backflip. Chloe tried to follow me, but because she used a lot of her boost running, she didn't have much area to go when it came to going upward.
As I flipped and came back toward the ground, I pulled a key from a grenade, and plunged it into her bomb she held in her hand. She had similar weapons and skills that I did, which wasn't a surprise. I tucked and rolled away as Chloe threw her bomb in the air, and there was a pretty nasty explosion from above, with embers and pieces of fabric and powder flying in the air, making the air more dusty than it already was. I landed smoothly, but my heel caught the ground and made me tumble back, landing on my back.
Her eyes trailed back to me, and held her hands out by her side and a little bit below her waist, exposing her blades for fingers as she slowly and menacingly walked over to me.
"Flynn! Make yourself goddamn useful and help a girl out," I hollered to wherever. Almost as if on command, Flynn drew one of his katanas from his bag that he wasn't using and threw it to me. It came from behind me, and I caught it with ease. As Chloe came bounding toward me and threw her hands above her and almost into me, I held the sword perpendicular and executed a successful block of blades. I sat there, leaning on my back, feeling the weight of this cyborg against me, almost blocking my breathing.
I knew this wasn't a fair fight based on strength, and it's gonna take a lot more than I thought to defeat this beast. I took a deep breath, and with as much strength as I could muster from how much I was already forcing up, I flung her off of me with the sword. I took a strong stance once she gained her own footing from being pushed back, and she came at me. I jumped, and swung the sword towards her spine, since it was the slightly exposed part of her machinery. And if I knew anything about fighting, aim for the most exposed part of machinery, because it will most likely be the thing that takes it out quicker.
Nothing happened when it came to her, and I landed in a tactical stance behind her.
Another jump and a good swing or plunge and this fight between me and her will be over. As she took the time to recoup and seemingly try and figure out a plan to take me down, out of the corner of my eye I saw black and gold, which was Griffin and Seth against Floyd. Floyd had Griffin pinned. Oh no. Not now.
I looked at Chloe and she was charging, so I leaped and threw the sword in her direction like a spear, and it hit her in the head, causing her to go astray. Got you distracted for a bit. I watched Griffin and Seth's fight and they were still struggling. Floyd still had Griffin pinned, with Seth on his knees. I charged and took the leap of my life, grabbing Seth's chainsaw from off his back. I turned it on midair, before forcing it against Floyd's power cord, or whatever cord was on the back of his neck.
It made a nasty dent in the cord as it made contact, and it made Floyd reel back from shock, unlocking Griffin from the death hold that Floyd had over him. I rode Floyd like a cowgirl, not letting go as his hands came around to try and capture me and slam me down in front of him. Another upside to being small. You avoid bigger creatures being able to put their hands on you.
'Flynn, Blake, a little help here," I hollered again from up on Floyd's shoulders. I felt Floyd almost topple over, and I looked down to see Blake swinging away at his feet. I leaped off the back of Floyd and ahead of him as he fell backward and landed on his back, knocking him unconscious. I landed and gave Blake a high five, and went to go tend to Griffin and Seth.
"Are you all hurt? Are you still functioning?" I asked frantically, kneeling down to their level. Seth nodded, and Griffin nodded silently too. "Okay, well I need you both to start swinging instead of holding your punches and jabs if you're gonna survive," I said. I hoisted Griffin to his feet and helped Seth afterward. "I know you're a bunch of old farts, but you're Veterans, your all's fighting is far better than this, so make it happen," I cussed. They both nodded silently like soldiers, before I turned to Blake. Billy was charging at Blake from behind.
I wrenched the sword out of Blake's hands and held the sword perpendicular to Billy's sword, blocking his direct hit. Blake didn't flinch, and whistled. Almost as if on cue, Flynn was there and delivered a blow to the back of Billy. Something I told them to do was train with a whistle. Flynn and Blake fought against me during training, and something they adopted quickly was the whistle. It knocked Billy to the side and immobile for a bit, but not unconscious.
Flynn looked to me and Blake, before re-gripping his sword in his hand.
"You guys need to stop pulling your punches," he muttered to me.
"Oh shut your trap, you don't seem to be doing too hot yourself," I snapped. That shut him up, based on the raising of his eyebrows, and I looked over to Felix and Madelyn. Madelyn seemed to be struggling, so I turned to my other members of the team to address them some more about a fighting plan.
"Flynn and Blake, fight off yours, and keep an eye on Chloe while I go and help Madelyn, and Seth and Griffin, keep Floyd unconscious please, it'll make this situation a lot easier for all of us," I seethe, before running toward the fight of Madelyn and Mackenzie.
Mackenzie did a professional twirl of her double sword, and nearly plunged it into Madelyn, but with the remaining sword I had in my hand from Flynn, I blocked it. Madelyn ducked out from my block, and whipped her sharpened whips against the ground with purpose. And the whips hit Mackenzie right in the shins, knocking her unsteady. I pushed her blade off of mine, and charged for her head, pushing her weight backwards so she'd fall on her back.
I took the sword, twirled it in a situated and trained way, making sure I had a firm grip on it. Mackenzie recovered from being on her back for a long amount of time. My heart was pounding in my chest, as if it was about to pop a vessel. Mackenzie hopped up on her hind legs, and her extra hand with a human skull came into view. Its teeth snapped on its own, and the red eye glared at me. Mackenzie's tail whipped around violently, as she charged at me, raising her blade up above her to do a downward strike. My breath hitched as I prepared to fight a little bit more.
I rolled out of the way as she crashed into the dirt ground from the speed of her charge, and Madelyn was at my side quickly with her whips. She ran and started chipping away at the paint that decorated Mackenzie. And unfortunately it was only the paint she could chip away, because it didn't seem like any of these creatures had a weak spot, and Mackenzie's attitude was dangerously filled with hunger. Hunger for carnage. Pure, utter, carnage.
Madelyn looked like she finally had it covered after my help, so I turned back to where Chloe laid, and she seemed to be forcing herself up. I could respect these creatures' stamina, because they all put up a fair fight between everyone. So for her,  Let's go again.
I swung my blade and it hit her, ricocheting off her head, and that just seems to rile her up even more as she charged straight at me. The hit didn't seem to affect her, so I adapted. I developed a stance, and as soon as she leaped, I dropped to the floor like I was going under a limbo bar, watching her sail over me and crashing into Floyd's body, keeping him unconscious. I got back up from doing the limbo under Chloe's hurling body, and readjusted, keeping my posture steady as I glared at Chloe and Floyd. Now stay down.
Suddenly, another whirr from nearby came. But it was higher tech. I looked all around me, then finally directly above me, and there it was. The Puppet.
The one experiment that was different from all the others just like Cassidy explained, and truth be told, it was quite a piece of machinery. Its' legs were thin as knives, sharp as them too, and it led up to an androgynous build of a body above. The chest was the most thought out and detailed of all the parts on this creature. They floated above me like a spaceship before causing some upbringing of dust from the ground from the wind it generated. They dropped down elegantly, knives on little spindles connected to their back, dangling by their sides.
The hands and arms were obviously not human, but they were built and sculpted like a woman's hands with good muscles built onto it. They had two masks on their waist, one that cried tears of sadness and one of deranged and demented joy. And the creature's hair was short, and jet black, with a mask covering their face, and the mask had no mouth or nose. Just calm and simplistic slits for eyes. And it's as if the creature didn't need help with its mechanics, because it walked like nothing bothers them, and held themself confidently.
I just stared at their sculpt, encapsulated by the creature. And it seems all the other creatures slowly got up and responded to this specific cyborg, facing it almost as if the cyborg standing in front of me was giving them commands. To stand. To fight.
All of the cyborgs were standing, awaiting directions, which astounded my team. It astounded me too, but panic set in as more time passed by. This'll be a dog fight.
I closed my eyes once more, and tried to think of what the plan might be. And all I could think was to charge. There was nothing else we could do, no strategy to come up with. And my body felt like it wanted to charge, and there was nothing else my body or mind could conjure to counteract the sudden movements. Fuck.
"Charlie, alert!" I heard a familiar voice say. The moment someone says "alert", I know to just be on guard. I did so, holding up Flynn's blade in front of me, still having my eyes closed as I felt a huge weight on my body, pushing me back and my feet struggled against the ground. I tried to hold my ground, but the strength was above mine. I heard a whip sound nearby, and all I could manage to do was wave my blade aside, sending the weight to pass me by.
I opened my eyes again and looked back to where the weight had gone, to see the Puppet standing there, glaring at me. This time, I charged. I ran as hard as I could and used all the strength in my limbs that I could generate to raise myself in the air. It seemed the Puppet noticed and thought ahead on this tactic, and flew up and caught me, then threw me to the ground from above. My body slammed harshly against the ground, rocking me a little as the Puppet slowly lowered itself to the floor.
I painfully regained my footing, keeping my feet pressed against the ground, facing them. I heard more machinery behind me, followed by some shuffling and blades against blades. I didn't flinch though, I was afraid to. Because if I saw what was behind me, it might throw me off. And if it threw me off, there was no going back. This time, the Puppet charged. Its non-existent feet plunged into the ground, leaving tiny holes in its wake, as it approached me and made a well executed sword swish to my back, tearing my shirt on the back and leaving cut marks.
"Oh you bitch, that hurt," I muttered.
I mustered up more strength as I charged and leaped sooner, making my position and form a little less sure, but I slashed toward the Puppet's back, and I got some headway. When I went to land, I did a backwards somersault against the ground, since my form in the air wasn't as well executed. It made my head rush with pressure, but as soon as I was upright again, it went away with time.
The Puppet looked back at me and stayed still, calmly still. Finally, their back was facing toward everyone else, and all the beasts my team was fighting had the upper hand. Worry set in underneath my skin, and when I turned my full attention back to the Puppet, they were no longer there.
I looked around frantically, trying to find the creature, and I felt the liquid of blood dripping down my back and pooling at my waist. Oh boy.
I couldn't help but consider the blood dripping down my back, but that wasn't my greatest concern. I looked to find Madelyn, but she was nowhere to be seen, but then I heard a yelp from up above. Mackenzie and the Puppet perched on the roofs of the town we were fighting within. And they had Madelyn. I felt my face mold from concern to utter fear. No..no no no not now.
"Good fight, lil missy, but we'll be taking this, we kinda need her," I heard a familiar voice announce. Right as that voice finished, Layne emerged from behind the roof, and patted Mackenzie on the arm. Mackenzie nodded to him in adoration, and kept Madelyn in a sure holding lock of her arms.
"You asshole, give her back," I yelled, my voice raspy from the surrounding dirt being kicked up from the fighting.
"I don't think I will, she's a rare piece of tech, I would love to use her to update Mackenzie's system to stop you lot from trying to ruin my plans of making my own population," he sneered. Now I understood why Cassidy was in such pain after they were defeated. She felt like something was taken from her and her team. And now that has fallen upon me.I let out a guttural and deep scream, almost as if metal glazed my vocal chords, as the three who had Madelyn walked calmly back behind the roof.
"Charlie, look out!" I heard Blake holler. I held up the sword I had in my hand and it easily blocked Billy's attempt at a strike, making Billy go at a standstill.
"You all, give my sister back, or so help me..." I trail off, pushing Billy off, and it threw his balance off easily. Rage ripped through me like an animal, and I couldn't stop the flood of my screams of carnage, rage, and mourning. I just lost my fucking sister.
Billy fell on his back and Blake delivered an overhead smash from his hammer, before looking at me in hopefulness.
"Charlie, this fight isn't over, we'll save her, just get your head back in the game," he pleaded. I looked to him, in hope, before I heard some machinery moving from behind me. And eerily close to me.
I looked back at Chloe and she was already charging. No going back now.
I took a deep breath, and let out a shrieking note, making her stop and roll to the ground, clutching the sides of her head with her knived hands, sending her tumbling. My shrieks were pretty lethal and painful for those who are not used to hearing it. And thankfully, my whole team was used to it, so they weren't taken down from it like Chloe was. I turned to Blake and he ran back to help Flynn with Floyd and Ford, which shockingly he kept under control. I ran with Blake and as I ran, I let out a guttural scream with more volume and that caught the beasts' attention, enough for them to turn their attention to me and Flynn delivered a blow to both of their stomachs.
Flynn turned to us and looked around, seeing Seth still on death's door and on his knees, with Griffin beside him assisting him. I waved my hand, to go help Felix with Fred, but right as we reached him, he just pushed Fred to his back.
I looked around frantically, as they all started to rise again, and panic set in.
We're not gonna win this fight. We're nowhere near good enough underdogs to pull this off. They're all connected by program.
"Go against your copy, everyone now! If one of us goes back down, retreat!"
I charged toward Chloe, as she charged toward me. I could hear the aggressive strikes and hits that everyone was attempting around me. It was a fight to keep ourselves alive, we're not fighting to win, we're fighting to survive. But that's what we've done in the first place. Just fighting to live some sort of life. Yet this is what we were training for.
As I reached Chloe closer and closer with each bound of our feet, I took a leap of faith. Sailing over her, I tried to execute a flip to land on the other side. But that didn't happen.
I just felt pain rage through my lower legs, and it threw off my gravity. I flipped multiple times in the air, the sword flying away from my grasp, as I landed flat on my back, knocking the wind out of me. I realized that Chloe had calculated that I was going to jump over her, and reached up to attack me instead of charging ahead. These monsters adapt quickly after fighting with their opponent for a while.
I felt liquid slowly crawling through my esophagus, and I couldn't help but cough as air filled my lungs, and I heard the clank of a sword nearby. That sword was the one I was holding, as I heard big footsteps nearby. But they weren't coming toward me. I closed my eyes, wincing in pain, as I looked down to see blood, everywhere. But panic didn't set in, just dread. Overwhelming amounts of dread.
Fuck.
And just as I thought no one was going to bother me as I lay there motionless, Chloe walked up to me. Looming over my helpless body, and she could've made the final strike to end it all. Just as she was about to, I saw Flynn sailing through the sky and knocking her over, his feet charging at her jaw. It knocked her to the side and she ran off, clutching her face. I heard a wail crumble out of her before Flynn ran to my side.
"Ah shit, Charle, what did you do??" he whimpered loudly. His whimper was more of a wail and whimper combined, his voice shaky and concerned. I knew he cared and I reached out my hand to grasp his bicep.
"It's okay, just a scratch," I coughed, as Blake, Felix, and Seth and Griffin joined me at my side. "Where are the Scavengers??" I tried to holler, raising my head to try and look around, but my voice didn't travel far. I expected an answer from a Scavenger nearby, knowing they fucked up on protecting us, but nothing came. I set my head down against the ground in defeat as pain continuously ripped through my body.
"Once they sensed Layne nearby, they steered clear of the area, probably. Cowardly fucks," Seth seethed, keeping his spit mainly in his mouth.
I didn't start thinking about them, no matter how cowardly they were. They had more of a team to work with if we were ambushed like we just were. I heard machinery nearby, and all the boys surrounding me tensed up, but became untensed when the creatures we'd just been fighting walked away easily.
But Madelyn. Madelyn was my only worry. What if they experiment on her? What if they brainwash her? What if they tear her apart for parts, naturally killing her? They're probably looking for her very robotic inner system that's running her natural human body.
Madelyn has always been the myth of her town, she was a human, who ran on cyborg parts and mechanics from within, just not on the outside. And because of the tech that was within her, it made her run seamlessly, almost as if she was just human. But that's what scared me. The second she'd go down in the future, if we were ever stuck in a situation of her degrading and deactivating, we'd have to take her apart ourselves to harvest her parts. We wouldn't go out and hunt on her last day, even though it's horrible to keep her safe during her last day.
It sounds gruesome, but we wouldn't want someone else profiting from the salvage, and even though we wouldn't wanna turn in her parts, the Doctor and everyone around us are constantly after the parts. But she's too valuable to die gruesomely against groups upon groups of cyborgs in a salvage pile.
My thoughts started to jam as pain wrenched through my lower half. And I felt my face cringe as the pain was really unbearable.
"You're bleeding pretty bad boss," Felix muttered, rubbing my shoulder. Griffin's hands came from beneath me and picked me up, cradling me.
"Let's get her to the Doctor," he said calmly.
I felt darkness overwhelm my vision as I felt my body gradually go limp as Griffin walked with me in his arms.
Madelyn, stay strong. We're coming.
Everything went black.