Chapter Eighteen
KILLED BY LOVE
Felix gasps as she collides into his side again, forcing him to pick up speed, the ocean bellow parts in their wake as they race across it.
YOU KILLED IRENE
She screams and spins him towards the side of the mountain.
Felix collides into it before he can brace himself. He lets out a yell, something inside him snapping, chest flooding with pain.
He rolls to the side in time to avoid her fist. She strikes the rock which explodes in a shower of stone. Felix takes off back into the air. Irene leaps after him and catches his foot, he kicks at her head, but she holds on, grabbing his other foot, forcing him down towards the sea.
“Irene…” He struggles to speak against their tremendous momentum.
He spins and kicks her again and again, finally forcing her grip loose and flies off to the side, avoiding the water. She isn’t so lucky and plummets straight in, but as he turns to look for her, she streaks through the water like a fish and bursts out, right underneath him.
He catches her shoulders and using his thrusters redirects her away from him, into the mountain side. Irene crashes into the solid stone, dust obscuring his view as he hovers in the air.
Felix gasps for air, clutching at his side, his vision swimming, growing fuzzy.
“Irene!” He calls into the cloud of dust, “Please, see reason, you don’t need to do this.”
YOU HAVE GIVEN ME NO CHOICE.
Her words shriek through the air and she leaps off the mountainside, streaking straight towards him. Felix darts to the side but she extends and arm which clocks him and offsets his trajectory.
He spirals through the air but manages to right himself, just in time to parry another charge by Irene. Again, he redirects her suit back into the mountainside.
Felix wants to call out to her again, but he knows that would be of little use, she is hell bent on his destruction, and nothing he can think to say, could bring her back from that. A quote from some long ago movie floats across his brain.
‘If your opponent insists on waging war, then remove their ability to wage it.’
It had been some ancient martial arts film, that much he remembered.
“Ivor,” He says, “I need to disable Irene’s suit.”
I have been wondering sir, why you do not just attack? Her suit isn’t as durable or as strong as yours.
“I… I don’t want to hurt her.” He says softly, “Please, Ivor, there must be-“
Through the cloud of dust, Irene bursts out like a champagne cork and tackles him in the midriff again.
Try that sir. Ivor’s voice can barely be heard over the howling of the wind outside the suit as the pair spin through the air.
Irene is punching him, over and over, he ignores this and places his hands over her helmet, gripping it tight. There is a jolt of electric from his suit into hers.
The punching stops.
The pair arc through the air, their upwards force now cut, they hang suspended for just a second, then they start to fall out of the sky.
Felix’s suit is still functioning, but he doesn’t attempt to rectify their descent yet. Instead he grabs her shoulders and shakes her.
“Irene, please, snap out of this, listen to me!” he screams at the immovable suit.
Then her eyes click back on, her hands grip around his throat and a similar electric charge bursts from her palms.
The world becomes dark again, as his suit shuts down to prevent an overload. He can feel her wrap her arms around him as she spins them both around. He feels like he’s going to throw up, the G force getting so extreme he can feel it pulling at his skin.
Irene lets go just as the suit reboots. The screen comes back on, the side of the mountain fills it completely.
Before he can respond, something takes over his suit and his hand and leg fire off a blast before his screen darkens, he see’s a circle of light close behind him and then he slams into the ground, bowling over a whole mess of inactive suits in the process.
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***
Coughing, and gasping for air, he pushes through the throbbing pain and gets to his feet, though he’s unable to put weight on one leg. The suit compensates, allowing him to stand, but it still hurts like hell.
Felix tries to look around, noticing now that the screen is off, but light is still getting into the suit. He reaches up and works the helmet off his head. If he hadn’t been wearing this, his head would have been smashed in like a boiled potato.
Around him lies many strewn suits, he realizes she must have thrown him towards the hatch. He looks at his hands.
“Ivor, did you take over my suit there?”
Yes sir, in order to save you from colliding with the wall again.
“Hmm.” Felix is going to say something else but a sudden banging of metal on metal, echoes throughout the cavern, drawing his attention.
Dust and rocks dislodge from the ceiling as the banging strikes again and again. The hatch bursts in ward and Irene’s form eclipses the light.
THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE EISENMANN.
She screams the words in that high pitched, distorted voice, before leaping forward and lowering her altitude at a gentle pace.
SHUT IT DOWN NOW, AND I MIGHT NOT KILL YOU. OTHERWISE… I WILL SHUT IT ALL DOWN, AND BURY YOU WITH IT.
“Irene, please, lets talk about this.”
YOU CAN’T CHANGE MY MIND, YOU ARE EVIL, YOU ARE A TYRANT, YOU ARE EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THE PEOPLE YOU CLAIM TO DESPISE.
Even though her voice is digital now, there are varying tones to her words, those last few dripped with manic glee.
“This is the only way we can sur-“ He starts.
WRONG ANSWER
Irene dives straight at Felix, bringing down her fist on his head. He manages to jump backwards to avoid the brain damage, but a second strike connects with his torso, which drills him backwards, tripping, he falls to the ground.
She kneels, straddling his waist and rains fists down upon him, he protects his face with his arms, sparks shower over him with every collision.
MASS GENOCIDE!
Irene screams, his ears ringing at being so close to her external speakers.
“They can be reverted! You made that possible!”
She grips a hold of both his wrists, flips him round and locks them into his back, his face pressing into the concrete floor.
YOU’RE STRIPPING HUMANS OF THEIR FREE WILL, OF THEIR HUMANITY. MAKING MINDLESS SLAVES FOR YOU WAS NOT WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR.
Around them several of his suits land and aim their blasters at her.
“Stop.” Felix commands to them, “Don’t kill her.”
She squeezes his arms tighter and he lets out a cry of pain, his right arm snapping.
THIS WILL ONLY END WHEN WE ARE BOTH DEAD
“I’m not killing you Irene.” Felix cries out. “Please, lets talk about-“
EXTERMINATION BOMB ACTIVATED
Her system announces.
“What the fuck!” Felix shouts, when did she install that?
He uses his boosters to shift his body, tipping her over for a second. His hands break free and he blasts her in the side, sending her flying through another line of inactive suits.
“Ivor.” He shouts to the room, “Give me information.”
Dr Graves has installed a Kamikaze Protocol. The AI says. You have less than sixty seconds.
Felix rounds on Irene as she scrambles to her feet, he takes the moment to fly towards her, and grabs a hold of her helmet. He sends a low pulse of energy, more a static charge, into her system.
He steps back as her hands wrestle with the energy in her head.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
Irene’s scream is amplified so loud it blows the speaker, now when she speaks her voice is raspy and even more horrifying.
“I’m not sure… it should have shut down your systems.” Felix says, but it hasn’t worked, not completely.
Even though she has no features, he feels Irene stare at him.
YOU! DEACTIVATED!
She screams, sounding like an electric guitar being thrown into a shredder and charges for him.
She knocks him back but he keeps himself upright.
She punches at him, slashing and sweeping his legs, it’s all he can do to avoid the lethal attacks.
“Irene please.” He begs.
I. WILL. END. YOU.
She growls and accents each word with a strike.
Felix can’t keep this up, he has to stop her, but he is unable to disable her systems. He’d have to incapacitate her. He really, really, didn’t want to have to kill her.
He drops down and sends out a blast which knocks her to the side, he leaps and kicks at her legs, sending her to the ground. Felix kneels on top of her this time, his turn to bring the pain.
“Just stop, stop, stop it!” He wails as he strikes her.
Over, and over again.
He strikes at her arms, trying to break them, he strikes at her chest, and at her head, he hits her and hits her. Soon his hands inside the suit are wet and sticky, he knew they were covered in his own blood.
He readies another punch when he pauses, her suit isn’t moving now.
“Irene?” Felix calls out, there is no response.
And iceberg sinks in his chest.
No…
He scans her suit, she’s still alive, the suit is hibernating to repair itself and her.
He gasps for breath, chocking through tears.
He’d managed it, he’d incapacitated her… Now he just had to keep her from ruining everything.
“Get a reinforced cargo container.” Felix whispers as he collapses back onto his ass, sobbing.