Screee… tink

Screee… tink

“Do you have to do that?” Slink asked from behind Shaggy.

Shaggy said nothing as his claws screeched through another bunch of bronze pipes. When they finished gliding through the metal, his heavy claws bumped against the next pipe before scratching through. Shaggy finished clawing through the pipes and turned his head in the narrow passageway.

“Yes. We are trying to do as much damage as possible to this thing. So I’m going to cut through every damn pipe I can see in this jungle gym.”

Slink scoffed and kept his energy pistol at the ready. “Well, you’re going to call every one of those needle-bots straight to us.”

“Which will free up our allies to take down this damn bot even harder.”

Shaggy grinned as he stepped past a steaming pipe and easily sliced through it. Whatever nasty steam was in it rushed out into their narrow hallway. Slink and Shaggy both covered their mouths and noses from the smell and hurried forward. It wasn’t the first steam pipe that Shaggy cut through. The others had also emitted a nasty smelling gas that made Shaggy and Slink retch.

“Damn it, Shaggy. Can you at least not hit those? That shit is disgusting, whatever it is.”

Shaggy agreed, but shook his head. “Nope. Those are probably the most important pipes. I have to figure all of this tangle of pipes does something.”

Slink sighed and scanned their surroundings. Probably looking for needle-bots. Shaggy joined him and took in the narrow spaces and jumble of pipes and cog-wheels. The hallways they were traveling were clearly not designed for humans to squeeze through. They jutted out at odd angles and twisted in weird directions at random. Shaggy and Slink had started by trying to go down into the giant robot’s neck and then to the chest. But the place was a labyrinth of pipes, metal wheels, and random shutters.

Shaggy spent much of their travel time breaking through barriers that got in their way. Which he was happy to do. Aside from breaking stuff and being on the lookout for more bots, there wasn’t much to do. A sudden flash of blue and a shout of excitement from Slink brought shaggy around again. He had to scrunch his shoulders a bit to turn around, dragging his claws against everything as he did.

“What? What happened?”

“Nailed a little bastard that was over there.” Slink said, pointing into a tangle of pipes.

“Now who’s calling them to us?” Shaggy snarked.

Slink went pink in the ears, but he still defended himself. “Hey! If you, breaking everything in sight, didn’t send them running. Me killing a few won’t either.”

“Sound logic.” Shaggy nodded as he turned back around and kept moving.

He thought they were still moving downward. But the robot’s constant rumbling and the dark environment didn’t help much with directions. He called over his shoulder as Slink took another potshot at a random bot in the distance.

“Are we still following your snake? He was just ahead of us, right?”

Slink slotted a small battery into the base of his energy pistol as he responded. “No. Larry took off into this metal quagmire to find Vlad. I think we’re still in the neck. But I have no way of confirming that.”

Shaggy nodded as he let his claws slice up pipes again. “What about Curly?”

“He’s off with the others. Ren’s got them moving toward the ‘brain.’ Although that presupposes that Cog built his bots to have the same anatomy as humans.”

“Best guess we can make, really. I guess we could also assume that this thing is like a car. With an engine stashed somewhere.”

“Why only one, though?”

“Huh?”

Slink coughed before he continued. “Ahem Why assume that Cog only gave these things one engine? If we are talking about a giant robot, it would need multiple power supplies, right?”

Shaggy thought about it for a bit before nodding. “Ya ain’t wrong. Maybe this thing has a few backups. But for now, let’s hurry and grab our vampire. Maybe he has a better idea about how to shut this thing down.”

“I was thinking about that.” Slink said as they kept moving. “You’re going to cut our way outside and grab Vlad, right?”

“Yes…” Shaggy answered, confused about where this was going.

“So why don’t you just cut our way down?” Slink asked.

Shaggy grunted in momentary confusion. As he did, he idly swiped his hand through more pipes. He looked at his hand before glancing downward at the metal floor. He didn’t think there was any reason not to try. Although, he also didn’t want Slink to know he hadn’t thought of that.

“Didn’t think of that, did you?” Slink asked, bemused.

Shaggy grunted and spun on the spot. Pulling back his two clawed hands, he thrust them downward into the floor. He felt the metal tug against his hands a bit, but it gave easy enough. With some slight body contortions, Shaggy spun around in a crouched position. Cutting a hole in the floor. As he did, a noxious smell filled the hallway. Once the hole was complete and before he could do anything else, the metal section he cut out was lifted into the air.

Slink gagged as Shaggy felt a wave of liquid hit his legs and shoes. The stench of fetid flesh and old blood filled Shaggy’s nose, and he was momentarily stunned. Slink was still retching as Shaggy backed away from the hole he made. Chunks of something hit his legs as he moved through the quickly dissipating water. It was being flushed further downward as the robot moved. As he looked down in the dark, Shaggy was reminded of what Cog used to power his creations.

“What... gruk… What is that!?” Slink asked as he gazed at the floor.

Shaggy swallowed the bile in his throat as he answered. “It’s dead people, Slink. Cog uses dead people as fuel.”

“Oh god!”

Slink tried to push past Shaggy and he let himself be moved away as he stared at the chunks of corpses. Hands, feet, arms, and legs all shifted slightly as the reddish-gray liquid drained away. Whatever Shaggy had cut into was clearly full of corpse slurry. As Slink passed him, Shaggy grimaced as what he had to do flashed through his mind.

“Cover your nose and keep moving!” Shaggy called as he jammed the claws of his left hand into the floor.

Slink didn’t answer as he picked up the pace. Shaggy followed as he dragged his clawed hand through the floor. Four long claws pierced the metal floor as his thumb-claw scratched it at an odd angle. Water sprayed behind him as whatever he was cutting into disgorged its contents into their hallway. Splashing water and bits of fingers and toes swept across the floor before Shaggy turned forward and kept moving. However, the smell was getting worse.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Slink choked from up ahead.

Before Shaggy could answer, the tinkling sounds of little metal needles striking metal filled the hall. The chittering and clacking of the needle-bots grew. He could see the tiny little bastards creeping closer through the mishmash of pipes.

“Something they clearly don’t like! We got incoming, Slink!” Shaggy called as he kept his left claw down and kept moving.

“Shit!”

Slink’s energy pistol filled the hall with blue light. Little blue balls of energy slammed into the wave of oncoming bots. A few bots jumped at Shaggy but were summarily sliced in half as he kept moving. Up ahead, Shaggy saw Slink draw his second pistol and start firing wildly. The close quarters meant that the boy rarely missed. But he was slowing down as he tried to shoot and run.

“Keep moving, Slink.”

The boy didn’t answer except to slow down more. Shaggy was about to shout again when he spotted a large orange snake slither its way through the pipes. He almost laughed as Slink increased his speed dramatically. The boy had slowed down to unleash his largest snake, Moe. Shaggy chopped a charging needle-bots in half as he kept an eye on the large orange snake.

The damn predator seemed at home as it weaved its way in and out of the pipes. Once it found a target, Moe would use its body like a whip and crush the bots in half with its sheer weight. A few bots went after the enormous snake, but it seemed to evade them with ease. Shaggy kept clawing the floor for another twenty feet of hallway before he wrenched his hand out of the floor and focused on running.

The blue streaks of Slink’s energy blasts were still filling the darkness ahead. So he chased those as Moe slithered along the pipes next to him. The needle-bots followed along, jumping and trying to jam their needle-like appendages into Shaggy and Moe. Shaggy made sure to do as much damage to the surrounding environment as he did to the small robots. He used their bodies to crush pipes and jams gears as he ran.

Shaggy slowed as he spotted Slink ahead. Standing at T-junction, the hallway splitting as the pipes crawled alongside. Slink shrugged at him and Shaggy waved a hand to the right. It was better than standing around. More and more needle-bots were showing up, and the boy was far squishier than Shaggy was.

As Slink turned down the right hallway, Shaggy came to the junction and stopped. Turning back around, he saw a mini-hoard of the tiny silver bots crawling over each other to get at him. They were dashing through the slop of body parts and water as they approached. Shaggy could see ears and fingers jammed onto the ends of the needle-bots appendages. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so macabre.

Moe stopped on a pipe next to Shaggy’s head and looked down at him. Purple tongue licking the air.

“Get out of here. I got this,” Shaggy growled at the snake.

The large orange snake seemed to nod as the oncoming wave of needle bots got closer to Shaggy. He had enough time to set his legs and lower his center of gravity before the metal wave hit him. He felt their little weapons got to work on his tough skin, but he ignored it. Instead, he kicked and flailed around, throwing off the robots as they attacked him. Occasionally he’d feel his claws catch on something metal, but they’d soon slice cleanly through and he’d go back to flailing.

They crawled over his body and a few tried to work their way into his pants as he slammed his body into the nearby pipes. Metal shards and broken cogs went everywhere as Shaggy felt trickles of blood seep from his skin. His healing closed the wounds almost as soon as they opened. But that didn’t stop the blood from covering his body. His naked torso was almost slick with it.

Finally, after what felt like hours to Shaggy, he kicked the last of the little bots into a wall. He watched the skinny little thing burst into pieces as he panted heavily. His health was fine, but his stamina had taken a hell of a hit. Shaggy ran a hand through his hair and felt little bits of metal crash to the floor. He wanted to laugh, but his body was sticky with blood and he felt really gross.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Dude!” Slink voice said from his right.

“Hey Slink. Did I get them all?” Shaggy asked, sucking in a lungful of air.

“A few came after me and Moe, but we handled it. You good? You’re covered in blood.”

“Noticed. But I’m fine. Little bastards could barely get through my skin, but when they did, they made it count.”

Shaggy leaned against a wall and got his breathing under control. He watched his stamina meter go up as Slink cautiously kept watch. His two pistols sweeping around. Moe curled his way onto the slim boy’s shoulders and carefully wrapped around his neck. Slink didn’t seem to mind as they took a well-deserved break.

“Any word on Vlad or the others?”

“I haven’t focused on Curly. But Larry has found something. But I don’t think it’s Vlad.”

“Can’t you talk to them?”

“I have to focus and we’ve kinda been busy.”

“Fair. Want to do it now?”

Slink seemed to think about it before he slowly nodded. Shaggy saw Moe tense as Slink closed his eyes and focused on his connection with the others. The pale boy’s eyes fluttered under their lids and Slink seemed to sway on the spot. Although, Shaggy figured that could just as easily be the giant robot they were in. A few minutes later, Slink came back to himself and smiled.

“Okay, the others are fine and are taking things slowly. But they think they’ve found the brain.”

“That’s fucking great. So they can stop this thing?”

Slink merely shrugged before he went on. “Meanwhile, Larry has found what looks like that engine we were talking about. It’s right where the heart would be and it’s fucking massive.”

Shaggy nodded. “Then that’s where we are heading. I’ll cut to the outside from there and the three of us can take out the engine.”

Slink nodded and closed his eyes again for a few seconds. When he came back to himself, he pointed down the hallway and took off. Shaggy followed along and watched Moe slither into Slink’s shirt. The boy almost tumbled as he... reabsorbed his snake, but Shaggy gave him an arm.

“Glad to see that’s gotten easier, at least.”

“Yeah, still feels so good, though.”

“Don’t want to hear it.”

“I’m just saying.”

“La-La-La I’m not listening.”

They both smiled as they kept running through the narrow and twisting spaces. Slink used his connection with the Larry to easily lead them through the giant bot’s inner workings. Every now and again, Shaggy would have to claw or punch their way through. But soon Shaggy spotted a small green snake in the middle of their path. He thought it was weird, though. It didn’t seem like they had gone up or down within the bot, though.

Slink picked up his little snake and turned to Shaggy, grinning. To Shaggy’s confused look, the boy merely smiled and pointed into a room. It was slightly ahead and just off the hallway. Shaggy ducked his head in and whistled at what he saw. Two large silver machines were side by side, pistons pumping, and a gray and red liquid sloshing through both machines. He had no frame of reference for what kind of engine he was looking at. But the soup of body parts churning through both machines and then being whisked away through the robot made him think of a heart.

“So we were right. He’s using some weird body soup as fuel and this engine is pumping it through the robot.” Slink said smugly.

Shaggy grunted. “That’s great. But does that mean we were right and Cog has backups somewhere else?”

Slink shrugged and looked around. The room wasn’t that large, but that was because pipes of all shapes and size were nestled around the twin engines. Like a web of metal, the pipes twisted into and out of the engine, carrying the disgusting river of sludge. Shaggy grimaced as he looked back out into the hall. Another nest of pipes met his gaze, but still he pointed at it.

“That should lead to the outside, right?”

Slink looked at where he was pointing and nodded slowly. “If the engine is the heart, then directly opposite would be the ribcage and then the chest.”

Shaggy nodded and dove forward, arms extended. “Time to get our angry friend back then.”

Shaggy clawed and dug his way through the pipes. Behind him, Slink and his little green snake kept watch, but nothing bothered them as Shaggy dug. Eventually, he hit a bronze and silver alloy that was a little rougher to cut. Instead of using both his claws, Shaggy gripped his right wrist with his left hand and pushed. It was a difficult cut, but he managed to slowly slice a large square out of the metal. Once he was done, the piece fell away and Shaggy was staring back out into Cog’s Realm again. The dark sky and the showering magic filled his vision as he stuck his head out. Below, he could still see the city.

“What the fuck took you so long!?” Vlad screamed.

Shaggy turned his head to the right and spotted his friend about ten feet away. Still stuck to the giant robot’s chest. Shaggy could see more claw marks where Vlad had clearly tried to climb his way up. Shaggy put his arm on the edge of his cut out space and grinned.

“I can leave your ass out there if it’s like that.”

“Shaggy…” Vlad said warningly.

Shaggy merely grinned as he moved closer and held out a hand. “Come on, grab my hand.”

“Move closer!” Vlad called, trying to reach.

“I could, but that would mean more digging and cutting. Can you wait?”

Shaggy saw Vlad’s pale face go even paler. The vampire was clearly torn between waiting and wanting to get inside.

“What about your super speed? Just zip your ass in here.”

Vlad shook his head. “I’d been weightless for a few seconds and in that time I’d slip a few feet before I could catch myself. I can’t run up the side of things. At least not without a running start.”

Shaggy groaned as he clawed his way sideways. He shouted through the hole as he worked.

“Looks like you’re waiting then! Slink see what you can find out about that engine!”

“Got ya, Shaggy.” Slink’s voice said behind him as he dug.

“Where are the others?!” Vlad shouted.

“In this thing’s head, probably trying to find a way to stop it.” Shaggy called back as he tossed a few pipes over his shoulders.

“Good plan.”

“We thought so.”

Shaggy grunted as he quickly dug closer toward his friend and then started on the tougher outer metal. Once his claw was through, he heard Vlad give a small shout.

“Whoa, Shags! Too close. Go a few inches the other way.”

Shaggy growled as he dragged his claw back. “Sure thing, your lordship. Would you like anything else? Maybe I can get you some lemonade? Maybe peel you a grape?”

Once he had cut out another square, Shaggy jammed his head outside and glared at Vlad. From up close, he could see that the vampire was clearly sweating and seemed in pain. Upon further inspection, Shaggy noted that Vlad’s fingers were freaking bleeding. Tight-lipped, he reached over and grabbed his friend. Vlad went limp as Shaggy dragged him inside. Once safe, Vlad collapsed to the floor and sighed heavily.

“That was hell on my damn stamina.”

Shaggy crouched down. “I bet. You gonna need a minute?”

“As many as you can give me. I had to keep switching hands and digging my nails in to let my stamina come back. The wind wasn’t helpful either, nor were Korrigan’s witches throwing random spells at this damn thing.”

Shaggy nodded. “Well, we should have a way to bring this big fucker down, at least. Then we can go back to looking for Cog.”

Vlad grinned. “Sounds good.”

They shared a brief smile before the floor beneath them jerked wildly. Everything around them went silent as the cogs stopped moving and the pipes stopped hissing. Shaggy glanced worriedly at Vlad before he rushed off to the engine room. Inside, Slink was picking himself off the floor as Larry slithered under his shirt.

“What did you do?!” Shaggy asked, alarmed.

“Nothing! I didn’t touch anything. I think…”

Slink trailed off as the ground beneath them tilted dangerously. Shaggy swore under his breath as he grabbed Slink and ran back out to the hallway. Vlad was standing as their entire world kept tilting dangerously.

“What the fuck?!” Vlad shouted.

“The robot’s falling!” Shaggy said as he looked for something to hang onto.

The hallway was going sideways as Shaggy looked around until he spotted the hole that he had made in the chest. Judging by the way the bot was falling, the hole would face upward. All they had to do was survive the fall. Shaggy dismissed his claws and gripped the edges of the hole, and held one with all his might.

“Hold on to me!” Shaggy shouted as the bot was almost fully horizontal.

Slink didn’t ask questions as he jumped up and grabbed Shaggy by the waist. Vlad took a few precious to sigh as the bot finally tipped over. They all went weightless as the bot rushed toward the ground. Shaggy felt Vlad dig his nails into chest, but he ignored it as he focused on maintaining his grip. He knew the tilt, and the fall were going to be the easiest parts.

With an otherworldly amount of noise, the giant metal bot slammed into Cog’s city. The force sent a jolt go through the whole robot. Shaggy felt his arms absorb the jolt and then both of his arms pop loudly. He gave a cry of anguish as all three of them fell into the hallway wall, now the floor. Slink and Vlad rolled away as Shaggy smacked his head against the metal wall and groaned.

“Dude, your healing is so fucking broken.” Vlad panted as he lifted himself up.

Shaggy grit his teeth as his arms slowly popped back into place. “Yeah? How about next time you do that shit?”

“Is this thing wrecked?” Slink asked.

Shaggy rolled his head to look at the young boy. “Don’t know. One of us should go up and look.”

“On it.” Slink called after looking at Shaggy and Vlad.

The teen crawled up the still stagnant pipes and cogs. Vlad and Shaggy shared a look before they joined Slink in climbing. Shaggy did his best to ignore the pain. No one knew what was outside the bot. Players, being what they were, would probably be on their way right now to claim the spoils of a giant robot.

A tired Vlad and a wounded Shaggy were far behind Slink as the young boy pulled himself from inside the robot. Shaggy crept through next and turned to help Vlad through as Slink drew both his pistols and looked around. As Shaggy yanked the vampire out of the robot, a young woman’s voice came from behind him.

“Sebastian?!” said the shocked voice.

Shaggy pulled himself to his feet and stood as Slink stared at the young blonde girl. She was about Slink’s age and so were the other people around her. A few were dressed as wizards and mages, while others were in heavily armored tactical gear. They were standing just beside the robot’s chest, looking up at Slink. Slink looked gobsmacked as his voice came squeaking out.

“Lindsay?”

“What the fuck are you doing here snake-boy?” Said one of the rifle-wielding men behind Slink’s friend.

Shaggy started to put things together as a myriad of emotions flashed through Slink’s face. These were the assholes that had ‘tricked’ Slink into playing the game. Shaggy shared a grin with Vlad before they both nodded. Ignoring the peanut gallery, Shaggy grew his claws and stood up.

“Hey, Slink! We aren’t done yet.”

Slink jolted as if surprised before he turned to Shaggy and Vlad. Shaggy saw Vlad inspecting his own dark nails and doing his best to show off his fangs. Meanwhile, Shaggy flexed his large claws. They both ignored the kids standing on the ground and looked at their young friend. Slink smiled at them as he raised both his pistols.

“Right! We have to get to the head and check on the others.”

“Sounds good.”

“Lead the way, boss.”

Slink started running across the robot’s fallen body. Shaggy and Vlad joined him, both flanking him as Slink called back over his shoulder.

“We’ll talk later. I got shit to do!”

Shaggy almost cackled as he heard the other kids’ shouts and questions. But they ignored them as they headed for the white building that served as the robot’s head. Vlad rushed forward and patted Slink’s shoulder before he turned into mist and vanish. Shaggy easily kept pace with Slink and started running backward. He examined the young kid’s face for any signs that he was upset. But instead, Slink just gave him a wide smile.

“Shaggy?”

“Yeah?”

“This game is fucking awesome!”