The Fiction Games

Chapter Twenty-Seven - No Retaliation

Bruce Wayne arrived inside the Golden Horn around the time Rick dashed off once again into the trees. He found the doctor staring at the start page of the software, slamming his fist on the coffee table. Wayne was surprised he didn't see a hint of green grow under his skin. "A little frustrated?"

"Set aside your humor," said Bruce Banner. "It might be the last thing you'll ever say."

Wayne laughed, but suppressed it when he saw the look on Banner's face. "The Capitolians developed their version of  Waynetech as precise as mine, except for a few bugs. Nothing is better than the original. You did your best, little guy, now let the professionals take the field."

Banner toppled over the chair, cursing while he obeyed Mr. Wayne, "Just remember. Next time you decide to get too close to one of those monsters, hope that I'm not around to end your misery."

Wayne reset his chair and wiped the blood off his hands. Dr. Banner tried to leave, but Wayne intervened, "Stay close, green bean. There's something else I must request from you."

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Rick counted the stomping of the sentinel, watched the leaves fall at his feet, heard the tree trunk beside him give a slight heartbeat. Any moment now, it would flatten the golden horn with its mighty foot, crushing whatever hope they salvaged from the past few days. The officer stared directly into the sentinels eyes, avoiding Michonne's.

"Be careful," she said.

Without looking at her, he nodded. And the world around him suddenly dissolved to a prison, wrecked with warfare, his face beaten to a pulp as he limped with his son off into the trees. He had lost all faith in that moment, laid lifeless while his son forced him to move. It was his son, Carl, who saved him. Now he thought of Carl for hope.

"Get out of here," Rick said to Michonne. "Find Hermione, Katara, Aang. They can protect you."

"I'm not going anywhere," said Michonne.

"Michonne, one of us must make it out alive. Carl and Judith need one of us to make it."

"Then give me the gun!" shouted Michonne. Rick found her voice cracking with anguish. "They need their father, not me."

"There is no time," said Rick. "GO!"

Rick whirled from his hiding spot. The sentinel's red eyes glowed, and the head shifted towards his direction. Rick did not hesitate to start firing his Blaster. First, the red laser beam collided with the robot's chest, then Rick realized his gun couldn't even pierce the armor. He started aiming for its head, like he would to a walker. 

The second laser struck its right eyes, causing a shower of sparks to fly from the red eyes. The sentinel retaliated, took a few steps back, squashed a row of trees, then gained stability. Its concentration did not break from Rick. 

"Hey, over here!" Rick waved his Blaster in the air, running into the clear view on the cornucopia meadow. 

Before he dove into the trees again, he saw the sentinel raise its hand, a circular orb of light illuminating from its palm.

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It wasn't his Invisibility Cloak, but it sufficed long enough to fool them. With the spell Mad Eye Moody used on him, Harry drizzled the spell, and he felt a clear liquid oozing all over his body, covering him head to toe like egg yolk. If he didn't move, he mimicked the interior of the hovercraft.

Soldiers streamed aboard with their weapons spinning in every corner of the ship. Harry held his breath; the slightest breath could falter his camouflage. He might able to take out at least one until he showered in gunfire. His hand shook with the vibrations from his wand.