“What the fuck are those?” Winter scoffed as she used binoculars to look into the distance. She had grabbed the pair attached to, and being used by Lilian, and had taken the man’s body with her as a byproduct.
“I don’t know, but we should get a closer look as they approach the perimeter.” Lilian said with struggling breaths. “Let me go!”
Winter clicked her tongue, and acquiesced. Something wasn’t right. It had been bad enough that Winter had walked in on Joshua treating Lucina as… well, a princess, but even after that he had continued to dote on the Metronian royal.
“Somethings shitty, and it isn’t your attitude today.” Winter sniffed. Both her and Lilian had very similar circumstances, as the two had learned while getting to know one another working under Joshua.
Both had been Judgment users before the Trial of Damocles had began. Both had a problem with non-loyal Judgments, who seemed to be much more docile under Joshua.
However, whether that had to do with X or not had still yet to be determined by the two.
Both had then subsequently tried to eliminate Joshua, although their current situation as employees of their murder target spoke volumes about their astounding lack of success.
In fact, it was impressive that they had both failed in the same fashion. Oh, and then there was the whole bit about employment.
While Lilian had become somewhat of an espionage specialist, Winter was a full-blown attack unit, and, when combined with the forces of her clansmen, the unit was unstoppable.
Or, so Winter liked to believe. The two of them had forged a strong friendship through shared failures and shortcomings.
“Oh, why don’t you go suck Master’s dick.” Lilian said, responding to Winter’s initial insult and straightening his collar.
However, Winter smiled. “Maybe I will. Don’t knock it till you try it, Lilian.” The transgender man shuddered in his boots.
“No thanks. It was mortifying enough having a dildo shoved down my throat when he was interrogating me. You can count me out for the real thing.”
Winter shrugged, turning back to the forest and said, “Oh well, more for me then.” Earning her a laugh from Lilian.
A few more minutes passed while they waited for the last of the cargo to be loaded onto the aircraft. “Seriously, what are those?”
Lilian said, all hint of playfulness gone from his voice. Winter took out her own binoculars and looked in the direction that Lilian was looking, and what she saw made her hair stand on end. Lilian might not have known because he had never seen the tech before, but that was a 5t34l model.
It was a spider-shaped robot that was popular in her… former industry. The bots made almost no noise, so it was a popular option for assassination when dealing with a less technically defensive target.
The only problem was: there had to be thousands of those things, and they were moving at a good pace through the jungle to reach the airport.
“Fuck! It’s an attack!” Winter cursed, hitting the button on her AR menu, instantly alerting every other Strafe family member in the vicinity to come to her position.
“By who? It can’t be the Warrior King. His daughter is with us.” Winter cocked an eyebrow at the man who caused the Warrior Princess to be boarding the ship with them, but held her tongue.
“It can’t be the People’s Queen either.” Winter said, eyes narrowing at the swarm as it approached. “They despise technology, and the very idea that machines could be sentient beings.”
“Machine King then.” Lilian clicked his tongue. “He looked like an asshole at the party. I’m glad to see my sense for these things hasn’t faded.”
Winter looked down from the watchtower and saw her clansmen on the ground. She hopped out of the structure, free falling to the ground, where her power armor absorbed the impact of her descent.
“Get your weapons and protect the ship! The Machine King is attacking us!” There were shouts of assent, and soon the members were protecting the airport’s perimeter.
Lilian had finally scrambled down from the watchtower, lacking the fancy power armor that Winter had access to. He looked at the barrage of fire coming from the Strafe family, and could only whistle in appreciation.
Yes, the Strafes were a dangerous bunch that had a history of trying to rise against the government, but as far as killing efficiently went, Lilian didn’t think there was a better group of people.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Well, maybe one person. Lilian idly thought, before a laser beam whizzed past his head, startling him into jumping almost three feet off the ground.
“Starlord’s rotten taint! Winter, are you trying to kill me!?” The Strafe leader looked mildly apologetic to her credit, but she pointed past Lilian.
He turned his head, and felt a shiver go through his spine when he realized that she had shot a unit that had broken away from the main force, and had lunged at a distracted Lilian.
He shot Winter a thumbs up, and went back to the airship, where they had finally finished packing all their belongings onto it.
“What’s wrong.” Joshua yawned as he walked out of the cargo hold, and stretched his back out.
“The fucking Machine King is attacking us!”Lilian shouted, and instantly Joshua’s eyes became alert.
“I thought this might happen.” Joshua said, As X appeared behind him. “What did I tell you about expecting the worst thing to happen?”
“... your unexpected prophetic prediction has been noted for future complaints.” X said, a slight pout on her face.
“Well, enough of that. X, lag spike.” Joshua snapped his fingers, and instantly. The surrounding area became a whole lot quieter with a distinct lack of gunfire.
“Come on everyone. Let’s go! I want to be back in the Metron Kingdom in time for dinner!” Joshua shouted, causing the Strafe family to quickly head back, giving the Paladin their fair share of thanks.
---
The Machine King laughed maniacally when he saw that all his units had been ‘lost,’ and that the paladin’s aircraft had left unimpeded. “Perfect! All according to plan!”
A nervous Barett Secela walked in behind Sovix, and knelt. “The country is almost ours, my king. Is there anything left for this one to do?”
Sovix turned around to face the prince, a wide smile on his face. “Of course, my boy! There’s always something for you to do!”
Sovix pulled up a map on his AR, and then shared the image with Barett. “I need you to get your ass down to the airfield, and collect those bots. They’ll give me the information I need to end the paladin’s rise should we ever cross paths again.”
---
Being with Lucina had tired me out more than I thought. I was currently sitting in a passenger seat, with Lucina on my right and Winter to my left. Viina was sitting across from me, and Lilian was sleeping soundly with his girlfriend’s head on his shoulder.
Everyone was asleep, including our pilot. However, that was just another advantage of the Judgment system, and it’s autopiloting when combined with a predetermined destination.
I was the only one in the room who had yet to succumb to slumber. However, as I drifted further and further into unconsciousness, I could see X appear before me, a worried look on her face.
Why are you worried? It’s just sleep. I thought, trying to reassure her that everything was ok.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. I smiled reassuringly. Don’t worry, it’s just… sleep. Just…
My mind ceased, and then booted up again. When I came to I was in a field that seemed to stretch forever. It was windy, and a million clouds overhead boomed with thunder, blotting out any ray of sunshine that should have existed.
The wind picked up, and I turned my head to the left, where I saw a massive form clad in green armor.
He was about as big as- my mind clicked as I breathed, “Starlord.” The being picked up a lance I hadn’t noticed, and pointed it at me.
The lance was gold in color, and crackled with electricity. “IT’S IMPRESSIVE THAT YOU STILL HAVE ACCESS TO RATIONAL THOUGHTS, HUMAN.”
The being’s voice boomed, echoing through my ribcage with every word. I clutched at my ears, and felt blood coming from them.
The Starlord cocked his head. “I AM THE STARLORD OF PLASMA, MEITHAS. ALEXSTASIA WAS WARNED ABOUT PLAYING FAVORITES. DO NOT SEEK HER COUNCIL OFTEN. IF YOU DO, YOU AND YOUR FACTION WILL PAY. AM I UNDERSTOOD?”
I nodded, tears forming in my eyes from the pain of listening to his voice. “GOOD. THEN TAKE WHAT WILL TRANSPIRE TODAY AS A WARNING OF WHAT COULD HAPPEN IF YOU FOREGO THE RULES OF THE TRIALS AGAIN. I AWAIT YOUR PRESENCE IN THE FINALS.”
He was gone as soon as lightning struck the earth, and I was snapped back into reality. I looked around, and found everyone still sleeping.
X can you hear me? Instantly the Judgment program appeared in front of me, the worried expression from before still on her face.
“Yes. Your heart slowed to dangerously low levels. Are you ok?” I nodded.
“I’m fine. More importantly, is there anything wrong with-” It was then that the airship hit something, sending me, and those around me flying across the cabin.
The others were asleep, so their bodies were loose, but I had no such luck. My shoulder slammed into the reinforced wall, snapping my collar bone like a twig.
“Fuck!” I screamed, holding my arm to my side. “X, go check out the situation, now! Un, start working on my recovery. Three, make sure the others aren’t injured!”
The three did as asked, and I sat on the floor, just praying that Meithas hadn’t just done me extremely dirty. Was that a subspace?
“Master.” X said, appearing before me once more. “You might want to see this.”
I reluctantly got up, and followed her to the crow’s nest, which was a small see-through dome on the top of the ship. When I looked out, I was floored. There was a massive city in the distance, with tall skyscrapers, and what looked like several floating islands.
“X, where the hell are we?” She looked out at the city, and took a moment before she responded.
“We’re in the middle of the Charlotte Abyss. In your world’s terms it is the Atlantic Ocean. We’ve crashed at the ruins of New York City.”