TO never realized that the different sections of the city had immense walls separating them. Well, maybe not all the districts, but at the very least, the security district had walls. All the buildings on the edge of the security district lined up with the border, and the gaps between the buildings were closed off with sections of tall metal wall.
“You gonna climb it, or trick ‘em into shooting a hole through the wall?” Vik asked as TO maneuvered the spider-bot between buildings and towards the fence. It was faster for them to jump from wall to wall in the narrow allies, but they couldn’t change their direction in mid-air, so doing so made them easy targets.
“Whatever comes first.” TO said as they suddenly shifted direction along the side of a building, dropping several feet and avoiding a laser blast. They realized they had done that too much in the last few minutes, and next time the enemy would likely account for the drop.
“They’re converging on you.” Vik said, “They might just open fire and scatter their shots around you. How many more hits do you think you can take?”
“Unknown.” TO’s clipped voice said, sounding more cold and robotic than normal. They were responding automatically as their focus stayed on avoiding shots from the other vehicles in pursuit. Another shot fired, and TO froze this time. As they suspected, the laser blast missed them, shooting too far down. As the laser charged for a second shot, they dropped again, this time landing on the ground just behind a dumpster as the shots hit the wall. The powerful claws of the bot pulled the strong metal lid off the dumpster and held it over as TO rushed to the wall.
“Clever, but that lid won’t protect you that much.” Vik said.
“I know.” TO said. They didn’t want it to protect them, they wanted it to hide them, at least for a minute. Even if the enemy still knew their location, the added coverage would be useful.
Another shot, but this one went through the lid and slipped between the moving legs of the bot. TO kept the lid a little off center, so that hopefully the shots fired wouldn’t hit their proper mark. They just needed a minute to maneuver and climb. When they were only a third of the way up the wall, the security vehicles clustered around them, taking aim.
“Use one of your drones and crash into the vehicle in the center of the main cluster.” TO said as they stilled the bot, waiting for the shots to fire.
Vik thankfully did as asked, and just as the lasers were about to fire, the drone nearest to the security vehicles crashed into the windshield. The vehicle went off course in a spin as its laser went off and several other nearby vehicles were hit. Just as that happened, TO dropped the garbage lid. The remaining vehicles, expecting TO to drop or move suddenly to avoid the fire, shot at the lid. A half-dozen laser strikes shot the lid to pieces and worked holes through the wall itself. Immediately after the lasers had fired, TO let the bot drop until they were over the now weakened area of the wall, and pulled apart the remaining metal with the large, powerful claws. This was thankfully what the spider-bot was made for, and it took only moments to create an opening which they could maneuver through, making their way from the security district to the entertainment district. Teetering on the edge of the hole they made between one district and the next, they planned their trajectory, jumped, and landed atop a nearby building.
The security district had been blissfully devoid of pedestrians, but the same was not so for the entertainment district. As was the case back when TO and DH had gone there for their date back before everything fell apart. The roads in the entertainment district were a cornucopia of lights and noise dedicated to providing pleasant stimulation to the senses. The stark difference between the two districts was even visible in the wall behind them. On the security district side of the wall, there had been nothing but plain metal reaching up into the sky. On this side, the metal was reflective, and made the district seem so much bigger than it really was, and extended this peaceful facade of joy and merriment. Even as it arched up into the sky, the wall disappeared as it simply reflected more of the sky.
Well, it was very easy to see the wall now. The hole that TO had torn in the wall now looked like a black rip in the sky. From further above, the security vehicles appeared one by one, ready to continue their pursuit.
“How’s your fuel holding up?” Vik asked.
“Unsure.” TO said as they continued along, jumping from rooftop to rooftop of businesses that brought life to the district. At first, a few spectators on the ground seemed to think that the bot was part of performance but that illusion shattered once the security vehicles came into view
Many civilians hadn’t seen a construction bot before, but everyone knew what a security vehicle looked like, and that was enough to get people running away.
“Well, I don’t know how much further you intend to go.” Vik said. “But if the bot powers down, you're stuck out there.”
“I don’t need to go much further!” TO snapped as they checked their map, checked their trajectory, and jumped across the road. They truly weren’t too far from where they had to go now, and they hoped they could make it.
Maybe they’d avoid further climbing if they could. They could scurry along the rooftops now, continuing their process of dodging and feinting.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Or maybe not. They just thought that when the security drones circled ahead of them. To avoid the coming laser fire, TO let the bot drop between buildings where they continued along. It would take longer here, and there was a greater chance that the bot would lose power. At least there were no civilian vehicles here, and all the pedestrians were long gone. The only other traffic on the road were the strange carriages, pulled by mechanical seahorses and driven by AI.
AI that Vik had control of.
“Change of plans!” TO said, “Get one of those carriages to me, and get ready to take over control of the bot.”
“Understood.” Vik said. “I’ve got control of one a few blocks away.”
“How quickly can you get it here?”
“Three minutes.” Vik said after a few moments of silence, “I think.”
“Alright. Standby.”
TO took another strange turn, not bothering to follow their path on the map and instead using the last drone they had to look around at their external environment. After a few minutes, they finally found what they were looking for. They remembered looking for DH that night, watching the streets as their carriage brought them through the narrow side-streets of the entertainment district. Many of the bars had these canopies overhead to protect their patrons against the rain and to provide this comfortable closed-off feeling as they ate and drank.
For TO right now, it would provide some cover from above.
“Take the controls.” TO said, “Follow this road down, and don't stop no matter what.” They didn’t wait for a response from Vik, there was no time. TO unfastened Pearla from the straps behind them, and braced themself against the door as her weight fell on them.
They checked the drone and their windshield once more before they pressed the button for the door. TO and Pearla fell out onto the road as the spider-bot moved on. TO wrapped wings and arms around Pearla to protect her head as they rolled into the street and under the canopy.
Sound once more assaulted their poor ears. The bot made this awful whirring noise as it moved, and the security vehicles gave off this deep, thrumming sound as they made their way through the air. TO was happy to note that the sound was moving away, that the security vehicles were following the bot and didn't seem to notice the two fall out of it.
“TO!? TO, are you ok?” Vik’s voice came through their communicator. The projection showing their movement on the map, and the drone’s footage had flickered out with the sudden, unexpected movement, but once TO was still, the projection came back on.
“I’m ok.” TO said. “Now, make the bot climb to the rooftops, and make its way to the interior. Let them shoot it, though; that thing needs to be destroyed entirely, along with the communicator inside. They can’t know that it’s unarmed right now.”
“... So the remote-controlled bot draws attention away from you, leads them on a chase to a juicer target; the government building perhaps, and an explosion destroys all evidence. Meanwhile…”
A sudden noise from behind them sent a shudder through TO, and they turned, standing crouched between Pearla and the new threat… Only it wasn’t a threat, it was a carriage.
“Mx Tio.” The ServAi sitting in the driver’s seat said as it stood up, “I am here to pick you up. Shall I help you with your luggage?”
It took TO a moment to realize that they meant Pearla. They listened carefully, and could hear nobody else around them. The security vehicles were long gone now, and no pedestrians had returned to the streets. The one problem they had not exactly solved yet–getting Pearla into the carriage–now seemed to be fixed.
“Let the nice ServAi help you.” Vik said over the communicator, “He’s got a good carry limit; he can manage a Nagarajin, no problem.”
“Alright.” TO said, stumbling to their feet. The ServAi was at their side in a moment, a steady robotic arm helping to steady the shaking TO.
“Get her in first.” TO said, gesturing to Pearla. The ServAi hesitated a moment, then nodded. They strode over to Pearla and picked her up as though she weighed nothing, and carried her to the carriage.
“Set her inside.” TO said, “On the seat.”
“As you wish.” The ServAi said. They did exactly as TO asked, then came back and offered an arm for TO once more.
“Allow me to help you, MX. You appear to be inebriated.”
TO gave a sudden bark of laughter, but they let the bot lead them to the carriage. It wasn’t until the door shut behind them and the carriage moved that TO felt their wings relax, felt their ears flick forward, and felt the way their shoulders and jaw suddenly relaxed all at once.
For the moment, they were safe.