Anti-personnel Mime

Declan watched as his spider double-barreled towards him clawed hands flexing and Chelicerae silently clicking together. He looked over his shoulder and yelled to the girls, “Watch what I do!” He then extended his arms forward and pretended that he was touching an invisible wall. The unslowing spider fiend smashed into the unseen barrier face first. Black blood dribbled down a non-existent wall as the spider-mime’s head exploded on contact with the faux wall.

He touched his temple and contacted them all via Headnet. “The trick is to imagine what you want until you know it is real, then you have to accurately pretend to do whatever it is you are creating. Essea provided the answer. You have to remain completely silent for this to work. I suspect that the second I make a sound my wall will vanish, so don’t talk whatever you do.” For some reason, he couldn’t help but look at Rah when he said that. Just to be safe he uploaded the video recordings of Essea trying to shoot her finger gun, and then ultimately succeeding so that they would see exactly what he was talking about.

Two more spiderlings stalked toward them, so Declan pretended to pick up a shotgun, pump it, and then went to where his “wall” was. He acted like he opened a door, stepped through, and fired at the closest of the creatures. A satisfactory smile crossed his lips as the spider’s head erupted in a spray of black gore. As he turned and aimed at the second spider he noticed that it now had a health bar floating over its head. That told him that he was doing something right. He pretended to fire two more rounds into the oncoming creature and watched it drop as its health bar bled empty in seconds. Declan went back through the opening he had made and shut the door. He gave the girls a “You give it a try now” nod, and they leaped into action.

Essea dropped to one knee and pantomimed placing something over her shoulder. Rah pretended to shove something into whatever it was the cyber-organic girl was shouldering, tapped Essea on the should and then covered her ears. The cyborg pulled a trigger as she aimed at the giant spider’s head, and Declan watched in awe as the arachnid rocked as if it had been struck by an explosion. Blood poured from the side of its face as the duo repeated their performance. Three shots later and the giant beast was on the ground dead.

Crowe was firing twin guns at anything that moved towards them, occasionally she would pretend to give them a spin or fan the trigger so that she could fire more rounds even faster. Sarahtaur was miming shooting arrows and the vampire had gotten it in her head to fire mortar rounds. Second Sarah stayed close to his side, wielding an imaginary flamethrower at anything unfortunate enough to come into her range. But, the one that both surprised and impressed him was the silent Sarah.

She was a literal ninja in the field. She tumbled, rolled, jump-kicked, and slashed opponents with twin, but invisible, katanas. Spidermorphed mimes lost their heads, arms, and spindled spider legs to her imaginary blades. She was a whirlwind of motion and wherever she went death followed. When the spider contaminated mimes were out of range her terrifying and unseen blades she would pretend to throw grenades at them, and Declan watched as groups of three and four spiderlings would fly into the air, bleeding, limbless, and more importantly, dead. She singlehandedly pushed the tide of horrors back; giving Declan’s team time to recoup.

Rah bounced next to him and yelled, “Hey, playboy, check this out!” Then she pretended to pull the cord on a chainsaw. She struggled to pull the start cord twice before she managed to get a good yank off. He could tell that she had managed to get the make-believe mangler motorized by the way her body started to shake. He couldn’t help but watch as her décolletage vibrated from the saw’s power, nor could he avert his eyes as she boobily bounced her way over to Sarah the mime and began pruning the limbs off of any spider wannabe that got too close to her or the mime.

Meanwhile, Crowe had foregone the repeating revolver and was now wielding what looked to be great-ax by the way that she handled her non-existent weapon. Occasionally, she would stop swinging and let out an un-vocalized roar of either triumph or challenge. Any foe stupid enough to accept her silent scream of defiance soon found their head rolling away noisily amidst all the chaos of the quiet confrontation.

Kristine wobbled over to him and rested partway on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Declan. I’m of no help here. I do not have an imagination, and therefore cannot affect our enemies.”

The Revelator shook his head, “Nonsense. You are extremely vital to us. Do what you can to let us know what is coming, and try to get Mother to open a portal for us to go. I know how to kill this world now.” He paused, swallowed, and wore a defeated look then he said, “Also, see if you can’t round up more of these mime folks. I hate to admit it, but they seem like capable people. I’d like to save at least a few of them.”

Kristine bobbed in the affirmative and pulled away from his shoulder slowly before hitting the gas and taking off at Ludacris speed. She was without a doubt the best vehicle he’d ever owned. He refocused on the battle, and could see that the vampire was now helping Essea load her bazooka, the mime Sarah and Rah were effectively weeding the numbers of the morphlings, as Sarahtaur fired an endless barrage of arrows into the more distant spiderlings. Declan noticed that the longer the spider-shifted mimes lived the bigger they got. Yeah, they were becoming the giant spiders that started this whole mess in the first place. He realized in a panic that he hadn’t seen Second Sarah and scanned the field of engagement for her.

Twirling around, he found her several hundred feet behind him facing a group of mimes that were all wearing black robes. They even looked to be the same group of cultists that had been attacking his hemovore, well, not the same group. He’d killed them all. These were this world’s variants although they looked to be in the same line of work as the others had been. They were nihilistic death cultists seeking the end of the world. Damn if he wasn’t going to give it to them, too. They were annoying the first time around. This batch of bastards were also mimes, and somehow that made it worse.

Second Sarah didn’t even give them time to blink. She pointed some pretend weapon at them and began to wave it back and forth as the cultists all made like Thich Quang Duc, the burning monk, and erupted into a wall of conflagration. She was wielding a flame-thrower! He watched as fire belched from a non-existent nozzle and melted the murderous monks into masses of charred flesh. Second Sarah was utterly ruthless and left her fire wash of the downed bodies until there could have been little left but soot and ash.

Declan could see her sweating from the heat, and could see a slight smile grow in the glow of the flaming friars. Satisfied that she had handled the situation she let go of the nozzle and ran back to Declan. She gave him a wave as she jogged up to him, wiped her brow, and shook the sweat from her hand as she approached. “Dang, that was hot!”

Her innocent wording sent him reeling. His Sarah had often said those exact words to him whenever he’d bent over or did some small feat of strength. Basically, the words rolled out of her mouth whenever he’d done something manly or that she could make into a sexual tease. She had done it in the same playful tone that her doppelganger had just done, and he was knocked out of breath but so small a phrase. Declan didn’t let it show that she’d just smote him with words on a world that no one spoke. He collected himself and flashed her a quick smile. “Thanks for having my back. I didn’t notice them.”

Second Sarah placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a playful wink, “I’ll always have your back, Dec. Just like I know that you’ve got mine.” Before he could say anything she hurried over to the bazooka team and took a position beside Essea and they began to fire off rounds in tandem. Rah and her mime counterpart had joined Sarahtaur and were riding her backfiring what he took to be lever-action rifles at anything that was still moving and wasn’t a mime. Crowe was now swinging two axes and had a trail of bodies behind her. She was so frightening a figure that even the monstrously enormous altered arachnids were backing away from her murderous rage in terror. Maybe I ought to call her Crowe-nan, he mused. He doubted she’d get the reference, but he knew that she’d have been flattered if she did.

Kristine buzzed in his ear. “Declan, Mother can now open a portal for you and the Sarah squad. I have managed to rescue about two hundred mimes of various ages and got them to the homeworld. Some could not go through the transport portal. I suspect that those that could not pass through were tainted in some way that Mother could not let them pass.” Then she paused as if taking a breath, “Pull the team back and you can earn your Apoc points.”

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“All right ladies, I would like to thank you all for spending time on this lovely world, but it is time to disembark. Mother has a doorway ready and waiting for us and I have a world to take out.” They all started back towards him, Rah taking the quiet Sarah by the hand and bopping her way back with her. She was still jiggly but thankfully wasn’t chainsaw jiggly anymore. He didn’t think his heart could take it if she was.

As he waited a shimmering blue screen opened behind him and he could see the launch bay through its glow. One by one the girls passed him by and entered the Portal. Centaur Sarah smacked his bottom playfully and as she stepped into the threshold said in a saucy voice, “That was a hella lotta fun, cowboy.” Crowe followed closely behind her with a look of utter satisfaction on her face; Declan almost asked her if she wanted a cigarette but thought better of it. Essea, Rah, and the mime came immediately after. “Dee-em, I wish to thank you for including us in this rescue mission. It was both enjoyable and enlightening.” The cyborg’s whole body was crackling with energy. She put an open palm up to her face, the tips of her fingers touching her lips, and blew him a kiss. An arc of electricity hit his lips and made his hair stand on end. In literal shocked silence, he watched her go into the trans-dimensional doorway.

Next, Rah leaned on his shoulder and very seductively asked, “Do we have any other, erm, power tools on your planet, 'Roué? I kinda liked the way you were looking at me when I was waving around my “weapon”.” She wriggled her nose at him and bounced into the portal before he could say a word. The revelator could suddenly envision her using a jackhammer on the station’s unbreakable floor and he was about to swoon when he caught himself. At least she didn’t do that boobily this time, he thought as she left. What was it with her and her boobs? There was just something about her that made him crazy. He belatedly ran his hands over his wild hair in an effort to get it to lay back down. The euphemism of what he was doing was not lost on him. That was when Sucking Sarah stood before him.

Sucking Sarah? He’d better come up with something better than that or Rah would be the worst of his fantasy problems. Besides, the luscious living vampire deserved more respect than that title implied. She reached over, wrapped her arms around him and then kissed his neck lightly. Before he could react, she gave him a slight nip, giggled, and flounced into the gateway. The mime version of his love simply gave him an appreciative nod and left him alone with Second Sarah.

She walked up to him and ran her hands over his chest, “Oh, Decky, fighting extradimensional monsters makes me all hot and bothered. Is there anything you could do about that before we have to go back home?”

Declan didn’t know how to react. Here he was, trying to be a stand-up guy and treat each girl as a person and not a sex object, and suddenly they were coming onto him like dip on a chip. Second Sarah saw the look of consternation on his face and burst into laughter. She bent over holding her stomach and gave out a gut-busting guffaw that almost made her vomit. When she caught her breath she placed one hand on his chest and kept the other at her stomach. “OMG, Deck. I can’t believe that you fell for that.”

“Um, fell for what,” he asked cautiously.

“I told the girls to do that to you when we were leaving. I think we all owe you a little grief, and I knew that this would help to lighten your mood.” She kept leaning on him but placed her other hand on her hip. “You are so stiff around us.” She looked upward for a moment, “Well, you are around them, anyway.” She raised her hand and put a finger in his face. “You treat them like yer gonna molest them or something.” She shook her head, “They all know about your Sarah, and they understand. Talking to them, touching them in a friendly and accepted manner, and spending time with them will not put them into your bed unless that is something that you want, and I know it’s not because you have never tried to touch me in any way.” She drove her finger into his chest, “You need to lighten up and spend time with all of us. Otherwise, what’s the point of having us around?” So saying, she strode into the shrinking archway. She had made her point loud and clear. Declan just wished that she had done it in a less teasing sort of way. Damn that girl! She was just like . . . Sarah. So much like her, more than any of the others, and it wasn’t her humanity that made it that way. Crowe was just as human as she was, but personality wise the others only showed hints of his Sarah from time to time. Second Sarah was practically the real deal. Still, there was something about her that made him recognize that she didn’t want him. He was very much in the friend zone with her, and he was fine with that. He was going to save HIS Sarah. He didn’t know how he just knew that he was. The others, though? They hadn’t taken Declan off the menu so far as he could tell, and now Sarah’s little lesson may have just opened some doors that had been firmly closed.

Kristine zoomed in from somewhere, he’d thought she’d already gone through the home gate, and stopped in front of him. “Orders, Declan?”

He considered his options. “I want this conversation to be private. Just between you and me. Can you do that?” The smoke from the flaming bodies wafted over to him and suddenly he wanted barbecue spare ribs for dinner. The little car bopped up and down in the affirmative. He prayed that she realized that he meant that Mother was excluded from their talk.

“OK, who all can hear us?”

The Faux Chevy listed to the left, “Just you, me, and the lamppost. If there are any Metamfiezomaio about they won’t tell anyone. I can promise you that.”

Declan decided to risk it. If Mother did find out his suspicions then she would most likely mind wipe him as he suspected that she had done in the past. Eventually, he would figure it out all over again and he would have to be smarter the next time around. His one fear? What if this wasn’t his first go around with being mind-wiped? If it wasn’t then he had to wonder if he was being smarter now than he had been in the past. Still, he had no choice. He had to trust Kristine. She was, at the very least, a separate entity than Mother and could make independent choices on her own.

“Kristine, there is no one I trust more than you,” he raised a hand to stop her before she could say anything, “But, I believe that if I tell you what I am going to say that I will be putting you in danger. Are you willing to hear me out?”

Kristine shimmered, and the red-head that he’d seen her become before now stood in front of him. “Declan, you can tell me anything. I am not afraid.” Her face was earnest, and even though he knew it was just an impersonation that approximated human expressions he felt it was sincere. She was there for him; he had no doubts about that.

With a sigh, he said, “I believe that Mother has been manipulating my mind, and maybe yours, too. I know that she has done it with the girls. She made them all happy that I destroyed their family and friends. No one is that understanding, not even my Sarah, and yet not only are they content to let me zip through dimensions destroying planets and people, but they also want to help me do it. That isn’t normal. Mother has scrambled their thought processes.”

He took a deep breath, “I think she’s done it to you too, on the planet of the Hemovores. Remember how you couldn’t store the images on the knife that the cultist had? I suspect she didn’t want us to examine it.”

The girl before him nodded, “That was odd. It never occurred to me that Mother might have been interfering.”

“Even if you did I doubt you would remember it now.” He buttoned up his jacket and straightened his cuffs. “Is there any way that you can filter Mother’s influence?”

She nodded, “Yes, but not right away. For now, do not let her into your head, give me some time to devise a way that she can make changes in you, but only changes that you permit. I can already do that to myself, and will make it look like I am still under her influence.”

He nodded grimly. “Don’t take too long, that is one less worry I want to have.”

“I’ll do my best,” she pouted.

“Next, I want weapons on hand in the station. I don’t want to have to ask her for anything. Then, build some military mechs, and give them the same filter as yourself. Let’s keep Mother thinking she is in charge as long as possible. I don’t want her making some sort of preemptive move on us. I want them completely loyal to me. No one else.” He couldn’t imagine any of the Sarahs causing him problems, but it was better to have it where he was in charge and didn’t have to worry about watching his back. After all, hadn’t he just noted that the Sarah’s weren’t all exactly like his lost love? There could be a rotten apple that made its way into the cider.

“Understood.”

“Oh, one last thing,” he said as he pulled up his HUD. “I don’t want any more uploads until we have this brain-washing business taken care of,” he licked his lips nervously, “To that end I want you to create manuals for me whenever Mother wants to upload information into my mind. I would rather study it, and learn the old fashioned way rather than worry that she is trying to do an end-run around our precautions.” He slid the screen of his HUD until he came to the Apocalypse Selection page and he began to type. His fingers pounded holographic letters:

All sentient and sapient beings on this planet suddenly become encased in an invisible box the moment I leave the planet. The box is airtight and utterly indestructible. It cannot be opened by any means, not by knob or key, not by raw power, and not any known or unknown means of force. The structure is airtight and after ten minutes the boxes will begin to shrink. They will then compress to a one-foot by one-foot cube or until the creature inside is completely crushed and dead. Once the contents of the container are deceased the interior of the box will heat up to 5,778 K thereby incinerating the contents, but the heat will not distress the area outside of the box.

He looked for an enter button, but only saw a tab that said:

THIS ACTION WILL COST YOU ONE APOC POINT. DO YOU WISH TO SPEND IT ON THIS APOCALYPSE?

Then a Yes/No tab appeared and he hit the Yes key. He looked at Kristine and said, “After, you,” as he gestured towards the gateway. With the rev of her engine, she was gone in a blink. He stepped through and wondered about the Apoc point demand.