The figure that slammed down into the ground didn’t look like old magic to me. Eight feet tall, it looked more like some manner of robot. Interlocking plates of dark steel and areas of oxidized brass, it did look ancient - that was true. Its right hand only had two large fingers and a thumb, whereas its left was just a long, pointed lance.
It was also covered with runes that glowed in that same pinkish tone as the eyes and wall scrawlings. Even with the upturned and peaked edges of the design—pointed horns like a scarab and thick shoulders pads—it was surprising to see there was something fleshy within there.
A small mouth with sharp teeth, and a neck of dull pink flesh. Nothing much, but the rest of the body was pure metal and roughly humanoid—if slightly insectoid in places.
As soon as it landed close to us, it stepped and lashed forward at Roxy.
My heart jumped into my neck as the shield around her burst, and she spun back across the ground from the impact.
The metallic monster went to jump and follow-up, but my grapple had already struck its foot, the expanding foam pinning it to the stone market square.
It turned to me, just as a magical arrow bounced off of its metal head. No damage. It had no eyes that I could discern, nor did it seem able or willing to talk with us. I was taking a stab in the dark, but I had a feeling that this was the thing—or one of the things—that had been dug up.
Twisting its leg, the hardened foam burst and split, their leg coming free.
Threat Level 143.
Overcharge ran down my gun-arm as I loaded in a Triple shot of Tazer. Instead of launching at me, it held up its right hand. The palm had a circle of pink energy, which began to glow like it was about to blast me with a beam. Just before I could act, Roxy slammed into it from the side.
“Motherfucker!” she growled, sending it sliding across the ground, but not toppling it. The super was now sporting a deep gash along her arm and across the side of her face, something slowly stitching back up as Belle empowered her healing spell.
I fired my payload, striking the flat-footed machine with all three Tazer cartridges. Blue and white light arced and flickered around it like lightning, before dissipating. It didn’t look any worse for wear, so it wasn’t electronically powered. I dropped the metal ball drum out with a thought and pushed in the High Explosive mag.
“You should move, Dubs.”
To my left, Roy. I hadn’t realized it, but he had carried the other two further back from the fight in the time it had taken me to fire and reload.
[No. I will assist.]
He nodded and took the produced plastic explosives from my extended hand. As Roxy rolled across the ground to avoid another lunge of the lance, the speedster passed behind the machine, slapping the handful onto the back and skirting away. The metal figure tried to spin and lash out, but Roy was just too fast.
A burst of green struck it, before an arrow bounced off of the plated head again. Ren was aiming for the small meaty part, I was sure—but the way it was hunched over made it a fleeting target.
As it went to turn back to Roxy, its foot slipped on loose gravel and it wavered—the green hue fading from it. The super used this opportunity to leap forward and punch it. Not only did it weather the attack, but grabbed her left fist. Her right hand then took hold of the lance, and the two contested their strengths.
For the first time in years, I felt uncomfortably small. Not quite fear, but out of place. It was holding its own against her. It might even have the edge. As my temperament cooled, Roxy looked to be heating up. The first time that she had found an equal to fight, and it just made her angry. I could see the flames flickering in her eyes, desperate to get out.
The metal right hand started to glow, the power held on its palm powering up to shred her held fist. I detonated the plastic explosives as I fired a HE shot into the knee joint of the machine. It buckled slightly, more from surprise than damage, and Roxy was able to push it away. The palm-cannon blew a short beam of pink energy into the ground by her feet, shattering the rock into a cloud of dust.
Before it had an opportunity to act, my synapses ran wild with Reflex. Quake shot struck it in the same knee, the pulse of V-Force bucking it further. Another Act of God painted it from the distance, and Roxy moved in.
Her left arm burst into lava in a near instant and she roared as she punched into it with an uppercut. Straight into the fleshy part. It burst and sizzled immediately, and the runes on the machine flickered before slowly going inert.
With her normal hand, she held her head, grimacing at the aftershocks of my Quake until they had passed. I stepped over to her, mostly resisting the effects.
[Are you alright?]
“Yeah, fuckin’ best day of my life.” She shot me a scowl, her face still bloody from the wound that stretched across her cheek. “Not often I’m on the wrong side of being punched to death.”
I turned my eyes to the empty machine, just as the remnants of the fleshy part fell out.
We exchanged a glance as the others came over. I had figured it was perhaps a humanoid or similar creature in there, like a suit of armor. But the part that had fallen out was…
“Is that a big ass maggot?” The super said, her grimace clearly showing her disgust.
I kneeled down, and Belle joined me, her eyes still fully green. It did look like a maggot. Almost like a two-foot long version of the wastesworm. Bulbous fleshy body, small circular mouth with tiny sharp teeth all the way around. At least, from what I could tell. Most of it had burned away and was partially bubbling in places.
“No idea, Gunquake,” our healer said. “Let me deal with healing up Rockslide.”
I was not surprised to see that the drone was hovering right beside the machine as I stood up. Slowly, it circled the odd metal figure and sunk below the chest area to get a better look at where the maggot had been held.
Ren sighed, her arms folded while her bow floated beside her. “It’s no fun when my arrows can’t help.”
I nodded and then gestured with my gun-arm barrel.
[Even Roxy’s lava didn’t melt this metal. Only gave it a little clean.]
“Fuck’s sake,” the elf murmured, shaking her head.
//Clara: I am unfamiliar with the construction, power source, or materials used in this machine.
//Clara: Without being there in person to check, here are my assumptions (to be taken with a grain of salt.)
//Clara: It appears to be wetwear. Technology that uses biological brainpower for computational purposes.
//Clara: Seemingly made specifically for these maggot creatures.
//Clara: It is like a piloted suit, but the maggot is not sentient. It only follows basic instructions.
Roxy groaned. “This is the fucker they dug up? A fuckin’ maggot mecha?”
[One that is impervious to most of our attacks. Did the League know?]
She shook her head, but wasn’t so sure. “I’m going to update them. If they’re not already glued to our trial, then this will get them shitting themselves.”
//253453: You need to try to smuggle this back home, Gunquake.
While we had been using our now-default encrypted channels, the message she had just sent solely to me was on an even more secure line. Even our names were obscured numerical values. After a few seconds, her message auto deleted.
//431912: Will do what I can.
Nigh-indestructible metal? Even if the rest of it was beyond our understanding or uses, if we could work out a way to forge with this odd material, then that… well, it would be good for several things.
“League has their big brains trying to dig up information based on what I’ve told them. Sent them a picture too.” Roxy sighed. “Other than that, they want us to continue.”
“What if there’s an army of these bastards?” The Captain said, looking rather sour.
[We know their weak point now. It shouldn’t take us long to devise strategies to disable them.]
While their murmurs weren't exactly confident over my statement, I turned my eyes to Ren, who had her head tilted to the side slightly - her gaze unfocused.
[What can your elven ears hear?]
She shot me a tired look before putting her finger to her lips. We quietened down, and she closed her eyes.
“There’s…” she turned on the spot, before pointing off to the northwest. “Something moving. Coming this way, I think.”
“More machines?” Roy asked.
“No. Smaller, more subtle.” Her mouth opened and closed. “Writhing.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
I raised an eyebrow and looked over, my lens magnifying slightly. It always made me slightly dizzy when that happened without me fully intending it to. As the rest of the group stared that way, the drone flew over.
//Clara: Hold.
//Clara: No visual…
//Clara: Wait, I see movement. It’s another maggot.
//Gunquake: It’s headed this way?
//Clara: Affirmative.
“So there are more maggots,” Belle said, trying to adjust the cable holding the crystal battery pack to her. “And they are… drawn to get into the machines?”
“The fuck is this place?” Roxy complained. “So if we leave this hunk of scrap here, some gross worm will eventually seek it out and then we have this problem again? We can’t exactly keep an eye on it as we progress.”
[I can try to disable it. First, what can you tell us about the magic used, Belle?]
“Old as anything, for starters.” She ran her tongue across her lips before her eyes switched from it to me. “You can probably sense it too, but there’s almost a different texture to magic from when Othea was steeped in it. Thicker, like molasses. As for the spells, I can approximate there are lots of wards that boost strength, durability, density, speed, and there’s something underlying that I can’t place. Probably whatever makes it function, as well as the beam weapon.”
[Interesting. How heavy is it now, Rockslide?]
Roxy stepped forward and tried to tip it, finding it much easier than when it had been active. I’d never seen increases in density as a spell or even as a useful boon before. At least we knew we could probably throw it over to the van when it was time to pack up.
While she had it tilted, I brought out a refill for my grapple. Rather than load it in to my gauntlet—which I couldn’t do myself anyway—I placed it into the smooth groove where the maggot would sit. It expanded as I removed my hand away and filled the space—swelling around the area before hardening.
“I doubt they can chew through that shit,” Roxy murmured, before allowing it to stand on its own again.
[It won’t last forever though, so we will need to wrap this up as soon as possible.]
“Alright team.” The super clapped her hands together. “Group up at the western doors. No more time for breathers. We know what we’re up against, so let's go kick the shit out of everything in our way.”
As they moved to follow her, I pulsed out a generous slathering of fuel from my backpack. After the sneeze, an Incendiary shot loaded in from my selectloader. It would probably burn for longer than the foam would last, and might be enough to dissuade or damage the maggots.
“I just want to say one thing,” Roxy said, as I joined the others. “You’re all doing great. We’ve never been pushed this hard, or had as much at stake. Keep kicking ass. This is just our beginning. Phoenixes... or some shit.”
“Speech energy running low?” Roy asked, a wide grin on his face.
“Yeah. This is a lot for me as well.”
//Clara: Next room clear.
Roxy gestured for the speedster to lead, and he pushed through, the other two following suit while she stayed back.
“I don’t like this, Dubs,” she murmured, once the group was far enough ahead. “Trial by fire is fuckin’ extreme for the League. They wouldn’t even send the S-Rank group for this… whatever it is.”
[We would have all died if it wasn’t for you.]
“Exactly. I’m so used to being the unstoppable bitch that I can physically feel my ego shrivel up. I got rocked because I was being sloppy.”
[We all have work to do on being better heroes. You’re being a fantastic leader, so go lead.]
She gave me a tired smile, some of her professionalism taking a backseat as I pushed the right buttons. The super turned her cheek to show me the healing wound. “Think it’ll scar? Scars are badass, right?”
I hesitated, not saying what I had intended in case the League had eyes on us. We’d go public when it was the right time, and not muddy our mission performance with our sop.
[A war wound or two shows character, but I’m sure it’ll fade.]
She seemed content enough with that answer, and with a gesture, we stepped into the next room. The other three had taken it upon themselves to try to seek out any clues or answers laying about, but it seemed mostly uninteresting. I felt rather…
Disjointed from the concept of my intended heroic role. Perhaps it was just the strange machine being much stronger than expected, but I was under the assumption that I’d be used to shakedown mutant groups and people hiding in the wastes. I supposed the clearest feeling I could grasp onto was that I felt like I was disposable.
As well as the fact that we were all being put at risk, and there was no choice but to obey - otherwise the League would split the group and fill the position with a different group.
We took a brief moment to discuss how to deal with another enemy like that. Disabling weapons and holding the core in place so that one of us could kill the maggot seemed like the best bet. Roxy helped me load a new foam cartridge into my grapple, and I gave the two remaining refills to Ren and the Captain. I then topped up my mags and selectloader as we prepared to breach the door.
I wondered where the rest of the populace had gone. Other than killing three maggots making a beeline for the inert mech, we saw nobody else as we traveled an empty street and went through three more blocky buildings. There were a few questions about how it had come to this still unanswered, but the glowing lines painted on the walls didn’t give us any clues.
“Diary here,” Roy noted, lifting up a book as we moved through what might have been a classroom of some kind. “It’s in a language I don’t understand.”
“Give it to Gunquake,” Belle said. “Try holding one of the crystals at the same time.”
I did as she suggested, bringing one out of my pack. The Captain held the book open for me, and I narrowed my eyes. There was a humming sensation in my hand from the crystal I held, and although it was getting brighter, it hadn’t changed color like Belle’s one. Maybe it wasn’t working.
My eyes turned back to the open pages, and my brow furrowed.
[I can now read it.]
“Just as I thought,” Belle said with a sly smile. “You don’t have Speak Languages, but Comprehend Languages. There’s a subtle difference, and it’s only because you have a vocalizer that you might be able to speak out loud.”
Roxy clicked her fingers. “We’re still moving. Walk and read.”
Once I dug around in my internal psyche, I could detect the magic allowing me this knowledge. I put the crystal away and could maintain the spell—at least long enough to get whatever information was present from the pages. Roy handed me the book, and we continued behind the strength super.
Interestingly enough, the first entry stated that the writer didn’t usually keep a diary, but a group of them had been ordered to do so. The reason wasn’t stated, but reading between the lines, I had a hunch it was to do with the mining operation.
At first, the recovery of the machines—and there were multiple—had been hailed as a success. Something to increase Blightwatch’s standing. Not long after the three ancient mechs had been dug up, the town received a gift of a special new food source. Not uncommon, the diary was eager to clarify, but it was the odd events that started to occur after this point in time that filled the next several pages.
[Oh no.]
“I just got chills,” Ren complained. “When it’s you saying that, it can’t be anything good.”
As I flipped through another few pages—almost dropping the book twice—I then looked up at the group, who had paused and were giving me looks that ranged from apprehensive grimaces to impatient ire.
[They were raising the maggots as a food source, and it slowly corrupted them.]
Roxy shook her head. “Gross. How were they farming them here? The wastes are’t exactly a good place for raising livestock.”
I hesitated before continuing, trying to read the room to see how much detail would be appropriate to labor them with.
[At first it was scrap and refuse. Once the madness started to set in, they started feeding them… each other.]
“The young, old, and weak.” Belle said, her bright green eyes staring off to the side.
Roy was leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed. “Take a few steps back from that. The little creeps were given to Brightwatch? Does it say who brought them?”
I shook my head. As if things could be that straightforward. That meant that someone knew about the unearthed ancient tech, and how to activate it. Would it be too simple to draw a line from here to the World Government? They’d certainly have the resources to have found the maggots and purpose of them, out of all the active parties that I knew.
Looking back down at the book, it was unreadable again. I pushed it into one of my side pouches. That was enough information for now.
[There are two other mechs that the book mentioned. I would move forward with the assumption that they are active.]
“Agreed.” Roxy nodded. “Two isn’t as bad as I had imagined. If we play things tight and cool then we’ll have no issue.”
“If they both don’t attack at the same time,” Roy murmured, before shrinking away from the glare we all gave him.
So it was decided that we’d head for the mines. Now that we knew the sentience of the enemy was almost ground level, I advised it would be unlikely the mechs would climb to the penthouse unless for sentry duty. In which case, we’d avoid it. Creatures with more ambition tended to ascend as high as they could, a physical representation of their belief that they were above others.
These robots just seemed to want to kill outsiders.
Possibly sentries for a long-lost civilisation? I could think of a handful of activities I could use them for, and my thoughts slowly drifted to questioning how easy it would be to contain the maggots. More than likely I’d need to be controlled by whatever parasites or magical power filled them. There must be a way to fake it, however.
The brief thought of dropping all three in the middle of Goldarch made me realize the importance of being here. If this had been set up by someone intending to go against the city, then stopping the mechs would be saving hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.
[Do we have updated mission parameters from the League?]
“Pending.” Roxy turned a raised eyebrow to me. “I’ve told them about what was in the book. For now, I think we should seek out the germination area and purge the maggots, avoiding combat with the metal assholes where possible.”
[Understood.]
She wasn’t looking for my input or approval, so I didn’t give it. There was no other option, really. After seeing what was here, destroying the threat was the right thing to do—as heroes—even if we got plenty of blood on our hands along the way. Goldarch would never hear of this. There would be no celebration or medal for our efforts. Hopefully, the League would be doing more than just stamping my application for the reward.
Still, thinking of crowds of cheering fans just made the current lack of population irksome. Knowing what we did now…
[I believe we will face heavy resistance in the mines.]
“The mechs?” Belle asked.
[Perhaps, but I believe all the occupants of the city have been recalled there.]
Roxy placed her hand on the next door and grimaced. “To fight or to be eaten? Actually, Clara, go ahead and see if you can spot the entrance, pull back at the first sight of hostiles.”
//Clara: Affirmative. Moving out.
As we continued moving, keeping an eye out between the blocky structures that now had a second floor, I fell into step with Belle. A pathway led around the outside, each layer of the rough pyramid its own micro-town in a way, but we kept on the ground floor.
“I’m reasonably convinced these crystals are Arcane Batteries, in a literal sense.” She held the rifle out for us both to look at the shard of material glowing green. “It’s a lost art—at least with such a basic material. These would be worth a great deal to any spellcaster.”
[Could we stick another ten on you?]
She smiled and shook her head briefly. “While the notion is amusing, there is a limit to how much reserve energy you have hanging around. A few more and my eyes would probably burst from my skull, at the least.”
[You have replaced the arcane energy with His, correct? Are the crystals that malleable?]
“Seems so.” She shrugged. “I’m sure Clara will be able to tell us more, but we can point a finger to your magic being arcane based, since you didn’t replace the stored energy.”
That was a possibility. It hadn’t felt as easy as she made it look, however. I had long suspected my magical prowess was either naturally low, or had been neutered when becoming a cyborg. Using Comprehend Language hadn’t hurt me like using a full spell had when fighting the lizardkin, so these batteries at least took some of the brunt of the effort away from my brain doing the deed.
I wondered how Clara would react if I asked her if I should start running a few of the batteries on my belt. Perhaps more important than that… I wondered if she had a way of knowing if we were being watched, so that we could steal all this ancient tech for ourselves.
Ren put an arrow down the road into a maggot writhing its way across the stone. No doubt there would be ones we had missed. We just had to keeping moving.
Just as I thought that, Roxy held her hand up as a fist, and we all stopped in place. Clara’s messages came through to us a second later.
//Clara: Visual on targets.
//Clara: Mine entrance being guarded.
//Clara: It’s hard to see over the… bones… and eggs?
//Clara: Estimated eighty hostiles.
//Clara: Additionally, twenty to thirty maggots.
//Clara: Oh, and one of the mechs.