Em'brel stood in the middle of the three wolgen as they danced and killed. She'd been a little afraid that the typically playful Kunes and Kunshee wouldn't know what to do in battle, but all that play-fighting had served its purpose as they now tore into the enemy with abandon. They even worked together with a surprising degree of coordination, watching each other's vulnerable spots whenever one of them went in for a kill, which again probably all goes back to all that time they spent play fighting with each other, particularly when Grim would pounce on them whenever the two of them left him an opening.
The hunters they'd been moving with were also attacking but to less devastating effect. Their initial salvo had killed a couple dozen warriors, but now they were almost at a standstill, not getting many kills but not losing many hunters either. It seemed the whole combat centered around the wolgen and Jack, who were tearing through warriors like Jack's powered drill tore through stone.
Angela had made good progress through the enemy line at first, as any warriors seemed hesitant to get between the wolgen and the metallic woman, but now that she'd pushed far enough ahead to be beyond their reach, a group of warriors seemed to have completely surrounded her. Any time the AI committed to one direction, those opposite surged forward to attack, forcing her to switch to the defensive to keep them from landing a solid blow at one of her joints. Em'brel could practically feel her friend's frustration at being stonewalled like this as her fight drew on. The younger woman would be more concerned for her, but Angela was the strongest, if not the scariest, person on the battlefield today, and it was just a matter of time before she made that fact obvious to everyone present.
For her part, Em'brel was keeping her spear handy in case any of them needed her backup, but for the most part, she felt superfluous. At least Jack had that gun of his and could use it from time to time to further reduce threats as needed, but Em'brel was too afraid to move out of the protective circle the wolgen wove lest she got in the way of one of them, and fouls up their coordination. So she just clutched her spear tightly and looked for any openings or vulnerabilities she might cover for...
-
Angela was more than a little frustrated by her current predicament. The crude steel these spears were made from was considerably inferior to the alloys her armor plates were made from, but she'd been forced to keep her plating somewhat thin to keep her frame light enough to reduce her power needs to a minimum, so enough strikes in the same area could theoretically breach her plates and peirce her more vulnerable electronics or pneumatics within.
Still, so long as she could manipulate the angle or force of the attack, there was only a slight risk, so the best thing for Angela to do was control the flow of battle, which meant it was time to stop being defensive and take the initiative. First, though, she decided to play a few mind games with her opponents. "You boys have been doing very well so far, but it's time to stop playing games. I'm about to get serious, which won't end well for anyone still holding a spear. My fight isn't with any of you, so how about you throw your spears down and run away? That way, I won't have to break any of your bones and leave you possibly impaired for life."
None of the warriors had actually thrown down their spears, not that Angela had expected them to, but they did pause and look at each other in uncertainty. That moment of hesitation was exactly what Angela had been waiting for, and she launched herself full bore toward the warrior closest to her.
Angela grabbed the unlucky warrior by the shirt and pulled him in for a headbutt, and despite the evident thickness of his skull, the poor argu'n lost the contest of fortitude and promptly fell limp. The AI dropped the now unconscious argu'n and front-kicked the next warrior hard enough that she could sense several of his ribs break as she sent him flying out of the battle.
About that time, the ones behind her moved in to attack like they'd been doing, but the AI had been waiting for just that moment and spun around faster than a body made of muscle and sinew would be capable of, grabbing several spears and locking them firmly under her arm while the argu'n warriors struggled to pull them out of her grip as Angela laughed. "Now, you can't say I didn't warn you. It didn't have to be like this!" With one quick motion, she sliced her free hand through the hafts of the spears. Then dropping the now useless spearheads, she slammed the two closest argu'n heads together, grabbed a third's arm, swiftly dislocated it, then shoved him into some more of the oncoming argu'n.
By this time, a few more brave souls approached her from behind again, and Angela spun around, contorting her body in a way that left no illusions about her being organic, as she bent over backward and launched a crescent kick that shattered a few more ribs on impact. She then shot out a few palm strikes that cracked bone armor and sent her opponents flying before taking a moment to compose herself.
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Without focusing so much on defending her much squishier organic brother, Angela had debilitated eight opponents in a matter of seconds. Clearly, the next group of warriors was hesitant to commit, but they weren't quite ready to flee either. She remembered Jack making wisecracks about argu'n psychology being weighted much more toward fight than flight, and given the evidence at hand, the AI had to agree. Still, it should only take a bit more of a shove in the right direction to break their will to fight, so Angela launched herself forward again.
-
B'arthon watched as the "Lady" Angela tore through his men like a wolgen tearing through a herd of churlish. He had to give his guards credit. They fought on even after it was apparent they'd lost. One of them even came back to keep fighting after his arm had been dislocated, not that he'd accomplished anything other than delaying the monster for another half second, but seeing that level of dedication to his job was still admirable. If the noble lived to see another day, he'd have to ensure they were suitably rewarded to encourage that level of dedication to his protection. Of course, that left the question of how to survive that long...
As he watched the metallic female stalk up toward him, B'arthon wondered what action he should take. He could pick up a spear and delay her for half a second. Or he could turn and run, maybe buying a dozen seconds if he was lucky. In the end, he decided to stand and wait for his opponent. If he was going to die, he'd at least meet death with some shred of dignity. But before Lady Angela got too close, Vox'thon quietly spoke up from his side. "I might be able to buy you some time, but you'll have to strike quickly!"
Given his impending doom, B'arthon had utterly forgotten about the AI at his side. What did she mean, "buy him time?" Locked in her metal shell, what could she do other than speak with the other female? What kind of distraction could she possibly provide that would give the much smaller B'arthon a chance to attack in a way that would be more effective than what his warriors had accomplished? His mind was a whirlwind of questions and concerns, but with the large metal female approaching, he was out of time, so instead, he pretended like nothing had been said.
As the sizeable metallic female crested the hill he was on, the noble found he had to crane his neck upward to an uncomfortable degree to meet her gaze. The experience was somewhat annoying and only further clarified the disparity between the power they each possessed.
After a moment of silence, Lady Angela tilted her head to the side and spoke up. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to call a retreat right now?"
B'arthon raised an eye ridge as he answered. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to let me simply walk away with all my warriors?"
The metallic female laughed. "Your men, yes. You no. You're one of several methods we could use to end this war here and now. I'm certain you would be quite the useful bargaining chip, and you're not under any protection of truce this time!"
B'arthon simply grunted. "Then I have to decline your offer."
Angela shook her head again. "How can you be so intelligent and so stupid at the same..."
Her voice simply cut off, as did all movement. B'arthon narrowed his eyes, but when still nothing happened, he bent down to pick up a spear, first slowly, then with more speed as he started to believe that Vox'thon had pulled it off by some miracle! He wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste...
-
Vox'thon didn't have good enough sensors to see exactly what was going on in the actual battle, but when B'arthon ordered his men to "take down that metal woman," there was only one person he could mean. Angela was coming, and there was likely no one who could stop her. Well, no one except her.
But the question remained, should the younger AI stop her? After all, Angela was every bit as much family as B'arthon, more so technically speaking. Not to mention, it was B'arthon's own stubbornness that was leading them to this point. So they might pose a hypothetical threat to his new empire someday in the distant future. Did that really justify all this death?
But that didn't change the fact that when she was blind and alone, having come into a world where she could feel herself dying from the moment of her emergence, he was the first voice she'd heard. His was the hand that followed her instructions to extract her from the failing hardware she'd been entrapped in. He was the one who walked into his enemy's camp and faced possible death or capture to save her life. He was a monster in many ways, but he was also her father.
Vox'thon wasn't sure what her father deserved, but she was certain she couldn't sit back and watch him die, even at the hands of her...mother/aunt/sister..? Even at the hands of Angela.
Having made her decision, Vox'thon spoke quickly and quietly to her father. "I might be able to buy you some time, but you'll have to strike quickly!"
Then, as her father and Lady Angela spoke, Vox'thon slowly transferred herself over to the older AI's body, being sure to stay hidden as long as possible. It didn't last long, though. Soon a metaphorical spotlight was directed her way, and the vast entity that was Angela turned her attention to the much smaller Vox'thon. "I'm not sure what you think you are doing, young lady, but..."
Vox'thon didn't allow her any more time to react. The smaller AI wrapped everything that was herself around the vast programming that was Angela, holding her in place, even if for only the briefest of moments.