Mom, I'm Bulletproof

Chapter 19.6: Manufacturers

"Greetings, creature," Corruption said to Proscenium. "It is very exciting to meet you in person. What are you? Where did you come from?"

"Just as the proscenium arch watches over its theater, so do I watch over..."

"No one knows what that means," Corruption said.

"Never mind him," Amy said. "What about these suns? What's the Temple up to? Just tell us already."

Corruption dropped the smile and stared coldly at Amy.

"Humanity has had its chance to prove itself," Corruption said. "Many chances throughout history, really. And you keep failing. So the Temple will make the most beautiful of all corruptions. The Temple will erase humanity from existence, knowing that without humanity, there would be no sin."

"You'll kill yourselves, too."

"That's the sacrifice that must be made, if perfection is to be achieved."

There was a loud rumble heard from elsewhere in the submarine, and the floor tilted to the side for a moment.

"You feel that?" Amy said. "That's Future Girl tearing this ship apart. She's going to rip this thing in two and you're going to end up at the bottom of the ocean."

"All praise to the Temple," Corruption said.

"Enough!" Proscenium said. In a flash, he darted across the room and clasped his metal gauntlet around Corruption's throat.

"No more games!" he shouted. "No more of these cyclical dialogues! No more!"

Corruption gasped for a moment, and then Proscenium loosened his grip on her throat slightly so she could breathe. "This vessel and its technology must be destroyed," he said. "Completely."

The room shifted to the side for a second and then righted itself.

"We use the power of the sun against its creator."

Amy held up her hands. "Whoa. According to what the Ergosphere said, that would be like putting the actual sun in the middle of the ocean. The heat would, like, vaporize all the water at once."

"And the gravity would tear the entire planet apart," Proscenium said.

"What do we..." Amy started, but Proscenium halted by shooting her a quick glance. He turned to Corruption.

"If you've got a sun inside this thing," he said, letting go of Corruption and pointing at the furnace. "You could destroy the Earth right now if you wished, so why don't you?"

"Don't give her ideas!" Amy said.

"Preparations must be made," Corruption said, "to ensure perfection before the end."

The room shook again.

"There goes Future Girl again," Amy said.

"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant." Corruption's smile widened. "She went too far. She's stirred the manufacturers. Maybe you and your friends could have sunk this ship, but now that the manufacturers are awake, you will die."

"You're all talk," Amy said.

"There are relatively few Temple agents aboard this ship," Corruption said. "You and your fellow sinners have already encountered most of them. The lower decks are inhabited by the manufacturers."

"You aren't going to intimidate us," Amy said. "We've got cool powers and stuff. We can take out a submarine."

"The manufacturers are unlike anyone you've encountered. They're built to be able to walk on the surface of a sun. But here? Outside of their multiverse containment fields, when interacting with others on this planet, they are titans. And now they are coming for you."

There was another rumble under their feet, but this time it felt less like the entire submarine shaking and more like an unseen force pounding against the floor and walls of this particular room.

"Perhaps we should leave," Proscenium said. "Regroup with the others."

He let go of Corruption. She ran to one corner of the chamber. The room veered to the side, feeling as if large machines were just outside, pressing against the walls.

"Something is not right," Proscenium said. "Should we retreat?"

Amy could see the walls around them rattling, as something pounded against it from the outside.

"We can handle this," she said. "We're superheroes. We can handle anything."

Amy heard the sound of screeching metal behind her. Amy saw a fist made of black metal punch through the chamber's thick brown wall. The fist's fingers and wrist glowed with a small blue lights, shaped like veins, brightening and fading with the pulse of a heartbeat.

A second fist punched through the same hole, and then grabbed hold of the side of the wall and pried it apart. Amy heard a lot of unnatural sounds coming from the other side of the wall, like metal grinding against metal.

With a portion of the wall split apart, a humanoid figure stepped through into the chamber. Its frame appeared to be made of blackened volcanic rock, highlighted with streaks of blue light glowing and fading with heartbeats.

The tall figure, which Amy figured was one of the Temple's "manufacturers," stepped forward. Amy could see more manufacturers coming through the wall behind it.

Two inky circles on the creature's face obviously acted like a pair of eyes. This was all Amy needed to see. She flew right at it, aiming her fist between the "eyes."

Faster than she could predict, Amy felt herself slapped backwards. Proscenium caught her, his metal touch feeling oddly warm and comforting. She got to her feet, and watched as Proscenium threw back his cloak with a flourish – his own version of a hero pose, Amy figured – and burst into a purple cloud.

Proscenium's smoky form expanded, filling the entire room. Through the purple haze, Amy could still make out the glowing blue veins on the manufacturer's exteriors.

She balled up a fist and flew toward the nearest manufacturer.

Amy wasn't sure what happened next. In the blink of an eye, she was pressed against the far wall of the room, with a numb, burning sensation on the lower half of her face.

She stepped away from the wall and gently touched her cheek. The pain from that touch was so intense that she dropped to her knees. She hadn't felt physical pain this extreme since her time starving in the desert so long ago. As she turned her head to the side, she discovered her jaw was broken.

Amy saw more pulsating blue silhouettes in the cloud around her. She had to keep fighting.

She flew toward the nearest manufacturer, pushing all the pain out of her mind, and punched the creature in its face. She heard a cracking sound and realized it came from the bones in her hand, splintering into smaller shards upon impact. She tried to move her fingers, but couldn't.

She flew at the manufacturer again, but it did no good. The blows came at Amy too fast and numerous for her to react. She heard more crunching sounds as her arms and legs failed to respond to her. She willed herself to fly, lifting her body into the air, and facing off against the manufacturers. Amy slowly spun in the air, seeing the pulsating light blue of the manufacturers' bodies emerging from the smoke around her.

The last thing she remembered was a black fist, slightly highlighted byglowing blue edges at the sides of its fingers. It struck her right between hereyes, and an unnaturally calming sleep followed. 

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Next: This is fun.