"Are you sure that you are fine?" Ulrica asked when Annie and Virginia walked inside the hall that led away from the arena, escorted by the guards. Ultis and her mercenaries came from the lifts in the other side of the corridor, the mercenary leader spared a glance at her fighters, saying nothing. The slave collars were put back on the fighters, even their arms were locked with iron restraints now.
"Eh, just a few cracked bones, cuts, maybe head damage," Virginia joked, while everyone walked into the next room. This was a hall with trophies. The remains of the famous fighters were frozen in the ice for everyone to see. The ruined weapons were placed on the stands. And there, in the special harness in the middle of the room, stood the power armors of Virginia and Annie. Reassembled and fixed, they were placed for everyone to see. The worried Ulrica took a step too close to the trophies, and one of the guards hit her across the head with a rifle butt.
Virginia made a step forward, walking closer to see her power armor. The same guard that hit Ulrica came from behind the wolfkin with fur of a rust color and hit her as well. Virginia stopped in her place, looking back at the woman.
"Do it again. Please." She asked, and the guard smiled. She made a quick movement, aiming the rifle butt in the space above the right eye of the wolfkin.
Virginia moved, jaws snapping. The rifle cracked in her teeth, as did one of the guards' arms all the way down to the elbow. The woman screamed from pain, while Virginia spit a stream of blood and bone into her face with a bored expression. The rest of the guards froze in place for a moment, shocked that the slave collars were not working. The people jumped when Annie tore aside the metal restraints on her arms, noticing that cameras across the room were no longer working.
"Hey." Annie said to the guards, turning toward them, "How about a game? Do you feel that you can shoot me, before I bisect you with my claws," She critically checked her paws, ignoring the pain. One by one, her claws slid out, while the shocked guards looked at her, "No? No one feeling lucky? But I am over here, so far away from you… A shame. Drop the weapons then."
One of the guards raised his rifle up, aiming at Annie’s head. She made no movement, still looking at her own paws. Instead, it was Ultis who shot the man in the back of the head. The scout gestured to the mercenaries, and they took aim on the guards, making them drop their weapons. With an annoyed expression on her snout, Ultis gestured to one of the mercenaries to help the injured guard with a ruined arm.
"What?" Ulrica asked in confusion, while Ultis took her cloak from the shoulders, dropping it over the naked shoulders of the Ice Fang.
"Apologies for the deception, lady," Ultis said nervously, bowing to the Ice Fang courteously and backing away immediately from her, "Alright, friends. Suit up and let us proceed with the plan," She and several other mercenaries walked toward the lift that led directly to Hilda’s balcony. This lift was supposed to be locked for anyone, but the ones whom Hilda admitted herself. Yet with a press of a button, the doors slid away, allowing Ultis and her group to step inside the lift, "Time for a change in management, I feel." She said this as the doors closed.
Annie walked toward the power armors, taking her own. She forced herself to accept help from Virginia, after Virginia noticed that Annie could barely use her paw. While her armor was charging, Annie allowed herself to smile encouragingly to Ulrica as her helmet slid on her head.
"I told you, lady, didn’t I? We are all going to get out of here alive," She helped Virginia put on her own helmet, looking at the mercenaries, "Keep our cousin alive, ok?" They simply shrugged, spreading across the room and preparing to defend it from the attackers.
Her lenses activated, cameras within her armor activated, giving her full field of vision across the room. Power armor felt a bit more tight than usual, some adjustments will be made later. Her pain receded, but the armor warned about internal bleeding. Annie ignored the warnings, stomping toward the elevator alongside Virginia. The time had come to end this. The codes that Ultis installed into their armor worked and the lift allowed them to enter. Doors closed behind them, and in total silence, they reached the upper floor.
They were greeted by two dozen of the arena’s guards, who were pointing their weapons at the wolfkins. Ultis stood on her knees near the throne of Hilda, her eyes bound together with mechanical handcuffs. Roll was pressing the barrel of his pistol against her head. Several mercenaries were also disarmed, while others joined Roll and aimed their weapons at their former comrades. An armored warrior with a black cape over her shoulders rested her arms on the hilt of her sword. Hilda herself was sitting on the throne, relaxing her head on one of the massive pauldrons.
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"You expected this to end any other way?" Hilda asked with minor curiosity.
"Why, I for one hoped that you would have a change of heart." Annie smiled into her face.
"Don't have one, to change one," Hilda said flatly, "Did you really think I wouldn't notice what you lot were doing? Did you really think that it would go unnoticed that Ultis hacked into the systems of my arena during the debacle recently?" Hilda shook her head in disbelief, standing up, "I am the arena. Everything that is happening here, everything that is going on, is known to me. I overheard what she was saying to her mercenary," Hilda nodded to Roll, "and now he is my loyal follower. I merely allowed the bitch to go on with her plan to try and usurp my position. Did you really think that no one ever tried to usurp my position before?"
"You seem to lost some of your guards." Virginia pointed out the obvious.
"Lives can be easily replaced. By allowing you to go this far, I found the vulnerabilities in the arena’s systems. All you have achieved is providing my guests with entertainment and helping me improve my arena free of charge."
"We don’t work for free, honey," Annie smiled, walking forward unafraid of the guards, "Your life will suffice as a compensation."
Her eyes widened when she felt how her armor had turned into a dead weight and all systems were shutting down. Hilda came closer to the struggling to move wolfkins, reaching with her large hand and grabbing them by the shoulders.
"And now to your last service." Hilda jerked them into the air and threw both of them from her balcony.
They crashed into the arena, splitting stone and clumsily rolling around. The kinetic absorbers were off, yet the armor itself provided both wolfkins with a modicum of protection, saving them from more grievous wounds, although Annie spit blood, feeling how broken bones were sticking into her organs. Her right paw was on fire, she landed on it during the fall. Struggling to stand up, she saw how Hilda nimbly leaped from her balcony, landing on the floor and sending stone and dust upward. Tremors from the fall of her enormous body reached the pair as they stood with their backs to the hill in the arena.
"Dearest guests!" Hilda threw her arms up, enjoying the greetings of the crowd, "Apologies for the wait. For your enjoyment on this night only, I myself step into the arena to match my wits and mettle against our champions!" She mockingly pointed at the wolfkins while the crowd was shouting for her to kill them. The west wall of the arena slid into the ground, revealing fifteen slaves tied to metal poles. Before them stood guards, aiming weapons at the slaves, "To make things more interesting, for each hit, received or taken, a slave will die! Please place your bets on the result! And now," Hilda pointed her right palm at the wolfkins, and Annie saw a bright circle on the metal palm. She dodged to the left while Virginia started to move to the right, "Let us start."
Lightning left her palm, spearing the hill behind the wolfkins and splitting it in two with a thunderous sound. The hill, already cracked during the previous battle, came apart in the shower of stone and dust, forcing the wolfkins to dodge the torrent of stone that came at them like an avalanche.
Hilda moved forward. The movements of her foes were slowed by the useless metal they were wearing and by the wounds that they had suffered. Their opponent, on the other hand, was fresh, she was clad in the best power armor money could buy. Her moves, slightly wasteful, hint at her being a retired warrior, one who has lost her edge by now. Yet as Annie dodged the downward punch and barely slid away from the push of Hilda’s shoulder, she understood that this woman was still in her prime. The lenses of Hilda’s helmet traced every move of the wolfkins, Virginia’s attempt to sneak on her from behind was stopped when Hilda turned her torso around like an automaton. She clenched both fists above her head and slammed her hands into the ground where Virginia stood just a moment ago, collapsing the stone floor and revealing metal beneath. Immediately after she turned her torso around without producing a sound, her fist nearly tore away Annie’s head, only missing by some miracle. Just like the power armors of the Wolf Tribe, Hilda’s armor also had in-built cameras and who knows what else. Annie started to suspect that the only flesh that was remaining in the body of her foe was the head.
Virginia and Annie broke away from Hilda after she tried to step on Annie. They charged all the way toward the slaves and the guards, releasing claws. They end up crashing their bodies against the invisible shield that protected people within from the chaos of the arena. Hissing from pain, Annie clumsily turned to the enormous woman that followed after them with the grace of an industry walker. Like a piston, the hand of Hilda crashed against the unseen shield, missing Virginia. Opening her fist, Hilda allowed lightning to shoot away from her palm into the shield, splitting against it and shooting behind her in the arcs. Annie cursed upon seeing the burn marks on her and Virginia’s armor.
"I really think it counts for five," Hilda turned from the shield to face the wolfkins, pointing her finger at the damaged areas of their armor, "Show me some sport. Fight back. The show is still young."
"No, you moron," Annie chuckled, sensing how her power armor began to charge after receiving a command from outside. They have bought enough time for Ron to lock Hilda away from access to the mainframe of the facility. Virginia straightened herself, and both wolf hags looked at their foe through reactivated lenses. While the systems of their power armor were busy connecting to a wide network of countless power armors closing in on this location, "The show has just been canceled."