It was all just the heat of the moment, an automatic reaction with little thought, but the heat was about to become a firework show with the might of a blazing inferno and lightning storm.

In a split second, a green laser met the red glowing grenade and suddenly the air was flooded with a collision of the two colors. The entire vault shook as sparks flew in every direction. Crates shattered, shelves full of explosives loosened and either fell to the ground or caught on fire. Many of the explosives had already been agitated from the previous explosions and now, with one desperate throw, one quick mistake, caused a chain of events, a direct example of the butterfly effect. From one explosion, came two more, of which hundreds more followed until everything went exactly the way it was described.

Alice ran as fast as she could, desperate to escape and hoping as hard as she could that she'd survive this, but suddenly she felt a burning force smash into her back and she feared the worst. Launching forward into the air and out of the vault, it was almost like she was flying, and then she heard it. A blaring screaming, a loud crackle, like a thunderbolt had just struck right behind her, and just as suddenly as it happened, she hit the ground with a ringing in her ear. The Technician wasn't so lucky, still far inside the vault, he could only see fire and lightning as he was consumed in the chaos.

[Battery: 60%]

Chase continued fighting the giant robot, but he had already managed to take out a leg and a blaster, but the cannon on its head still posed a threat as it had damaged about half of the entire facility. The ground was shattered and loose pieces of debris were falling and flying. He bounced off one of the buildings and was just about to stab the mech at its head with his sword when a giant red and blue inferno erupted from one of the vaults and sent a massive shockwave that even managed to disrupt him in midair, causing him to crash onto the ground. But the mech was also affected as it was slammed against a building.

"What in the—” Chase was so disoriented from the shockwave that he barely registered the massive explosion. Through shaky lenses, he stared at the column of fire that completely consumed one of the vaults, an inferno of different-colored flames, with cinders flying in all kinds of directions. Miraculously though, the other vaults were fortified enough to handle the sudden blast.

The flames reflected in his visor, although he managed to stabilize himself, he was frozen in place, the explosion and the destruction bringing back troubling memories. Stuck in place, Chase didn’t see the beam of energy that smashed into him from the giant mech. Digging further into the ground, he tried to get back up. No distractions, he pleaded for his body to cooperate, to not freeze from the hot reminder right next to him.

However, he couldn’t help but take another glance at the plume of flames, and that was when he saw a small figure that was lying right outside the explosion. "Alice," Chase grimaced. Turning back to the giant robot with renewed determination, he made his final moves. Charging up his blade, he dashed forward and sliced off two more of its legs before jumping up and stabbing the cannon, the electricity coming from his blade pierced the cannon, causing it to explode right on top and Chase jumped into the air with the explosion, landing on his feet.

[Battery: 48%]

With the mech defeated, Chase rushed over to the burning aftermath and crouched beside Alice. "Alice, are you okay?" He said. He scanned her body and checked her vitals.

[Heartbeat: Detected]

[Status: Stable/Minor Injuries.]

He let out a breath of relief, but took notice of several burns and open wounds that seemed to move, to close themselves, and heal on their own with significant speed, a light green glow softly dancing on her body. But before he could think any further, Alice stirred.

"Ow. Everything hurts." Alice groaned.

"That's what you get for ignoring my orders yet again. What did I tell you about keeping your distance?"

"You told me to keep an eye on him. And he went inside the vault."

"You know what I meant," Chase sighed and looked back at the giant plume of smoke and fire raging where the explosives vault used to be. "What did you do?"

"Um, well...I may have thrown a grenade at him."

"You threw a grenade?"

"Well, I didn't even activate it, the Technician's the one who probably blew it up. Which I guess caused all this." Alice protested. Chase sighed again, and tried contacting Marcus.

[No Signal.]

The explosion must've disrupted radio signals, and it was a miracle that they survived.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"But hey, look at the bright side! At least we took down the Technician, that makes up for all this, right?"

Chase looked back at the raging inferno, staring at the flames, with a sense of unease and doubt.

Alice looked back at Chase's masked face and followed his gaze, his sense of unease getting to her too. "H–he is gone right? There's no way he could've survived that…"

"I'm not sure. The Technician isn't normal. He's unlike any human or machine…"

The two stayed where they were, watching the flames, expecting the Technician to just walk out unscratched and ready for revenge. But nothing came, the flames simply danced in the night air, and with a storm on the horizon, the fire will most likely be put out by next morning. So, with a last deep breath, Chase helped Alice stand and the two started walking away with a solemn tension between them. He still wasn't convinced that the Technician was really gone, but there was no point sitting around waiting for him to strike. Although Alice wasn't too injured, she still wasn't safe here, and it's time they left.

Unfortunately, things wouldn't be that easy. Suddenly, Chase felt an alarm go off in his mind as he turned around to see a green beam of light heading straight for them. Reacting quickly, he pulled Alice in close and shifted his body to tank the blast with his back as a shield. The two tumbled forward from the impact and fell to the ground.

Alice groaned again.

Chase lifted himself up and turned around to see a flaming figure limping its way toward them. The thing's body was scorched with several bits and parts missing, the face was cracked, wires were poking out, and angry flames surrounded the rest. The last tethers of his lab coat that he had before were completely burned away, and all that was left was a broken robot with malice glaring from his central green orb.

"I knew it." Chase stood his ground and walked in front of Alice, his hands set on his sword at the ready.

[Battery 40%]

Thousands of the small broken down robotic metals created by the Technician from various machines started crawling from several areas around them, all leading up and seeping into the Technician's body, repairing all the damages. Then the Technician opened up his arms for them to change into the green and black colors, shifting and reshaping. Chase could see the metals crawling around like insects as the Technician's arms transformed into minigun barrels and raised them toward Chase. The Technician said nothing, only glaring as he fired sprays of lasers at a rapid pace.

With a boost of speed, Chase reacted by unsheathing his sword at the same time, blocking and deflecting as many lasers as he could, even absorbing their energy.

[Battery: 36%]

[Battery: 40%]

[Battery: 34%]

[Battery: 39%]

Lasers flew in all directions, thousands coming at Chase and some still burning him, but hundreds also bounced off his blade and landed either at the sides or even reflected back at the Technician, who hardly even noticed what was happening until one of the shots hit him in the face, causing him to pull back. "Argh!!" He cried out.

Chase still held out his sword which was burning red from all the lasers, he was breathing hard but with an opening, he didn't waste another second. Chase sheathed his sword and grabbed the last Shocker he had and threw it at the Technician with enough accuracy to have it land right underneath him.

Chase had been saving the device for a good opportunity, it had been effective last time it actually worked but he couldn’t afford any wasteful uses. Now seemed to be the best moment, especially if he wanted more time to get Alice out of here, as much as he wanted to take the Technician down now, he knew he wouldn't be able to, not yet at least.

Chase turned around from the Technician and picked Alice off and ran to his motorcycle, which was parked at the entrance of the facility. However, he couldn't help but not notice any sort of discharge that the Shocker would normally set off when it blew up. Looking back, his heart sank with dismay, the device had landed under the Technician's feet but it laid there with a blank light, and the Technician didn't even do anything. “No…” He could hear the Technician laughing in the distance, and he couldn't help but think that the grenade simply failed. Marcus did mention that they were prototypes, which meant that the devices would be prone to malfunctions.

"Hey! You know I can still walk!" Alice protested.

"I'm faster," Chase said bluntly, but as they almost reached his motorcycle, a blast of energy zipped past them and blew it up. They were both sent reeling backwards from the hit. Chase's alarm went off again as he reacted to an incoming energy blast, unsheathing his sword, blocking and absorbing some of its energy through his blade and into his core.

[Battery: 55%]

Chase sheathed his sword again, as Alice struggled to get up. “Stay clear, Alice!”

“Wait! The car!” Alice fumbled with something in her pocket, taking out car keys and pressing a button that sounded a beep from the distance. In a few moments, the silver car came rushing in towards them on its own. “Woah, this thing really has its perks.”

“I don’t think so,” The Technician sneered and fired barrages of blasts. Chase tried blocking the shots, deflecting some, but one large laser zipped past him and hit the car with a loud clang. He cringed at the sight, not wanting to see their last escape plan be destroyed. However, when the smoke cleared, the car was still fully intact with a clean shimmer that looked like the pink barrier that Chase had to deal with during the gem robbery.

“Quick! Get in!” Alice shouted as she made a run for it into the car.

Chase held off the Technician’s shots before sending a final electric slash that smashed into the robot. Sheathing his sword, Chase dashed over and on top of the car right as Alice started pulling out.

He watched the Technician get back up, although he wasn’t following them. Instead he noticed the giant robot he destroyed turn into the green and black metals, crawling their way into the Technician as he started to writhe and transform, spider-like legs sprouting from his torso and digging into the ground with a crunch.

Chase could feel sweat actually form and fall on his body, as a burning feeling creeped through his thumping heart. The Technician wasn’t going to run this time. They were never going to get out of this so easily. And he couldn’t help but glance at his battery level.

[Battery: 15%]