|
Chapter 4: Forsaken Flesh
The Viridian
Tower loomed overhead, casting it's shadow upon the four hunters. The sight of
it sent chills down Calmar's spine, he never wanted to return to this place.
Sixty floors, Thomas said he would be at the top, who knows what would be
waiting for them before that. The door to the tower opened with a high pitched
creak, a large lobby was before them, tables and chairs littered the open floor.
A light flickered, and a large monitor on the other side of the room came to
life, Thomas's face grinned at them.
"Welcome!" he said, his voice echoing throughout the
room. "I hope you enjoyed the last week, because none of you are leaving
here alive!"
"Enough pleasantries Thomas!" Calmar shouted
"What do you have planned?"
"Eager to die are you?" he laughed "Wonderful.
Let me explain how this works, the elevators have been destroyed, along with
some of the stairs. There are staircases on each side of the building, one leads
from the first floor to the twentieth, then you must switch to the other, which
will go all the way to the fortieth, if you survive that, the final staircase
will lead you to me. Simple right? You just have to get past my three best men.
One at each of your stops, the one with you right now was so looking forward to
it, I let him be first."
Calmar looked around, a huge man in dark body armor stood near
the corner of the room, his tall light green mohawk was the only thing keeping
him from being completely hidden.
"Allow me to introduce my best cyborg hunter, Alan Zephir!"
Thomas announced "He willingly had himself turned into a machine in
exchange for power, quite a bold decision, wouldn't you say? Enjoy the
torment." Thomas said, just as the screen went black.
"A cyborg..." Maria muttered "Why?"
"Maria..." Clint mumbled to himself
"I'll take care of this. You all go ahead." Maria
said, stepping forward.
"Are you nuts? He'll tear you apart!" Amy yelled
Maria glanced back at her, a look of determination that Amy
had never seen before was burning in her eyes. "Go, this is something... I
have to do alone."
Without saying anything else, Amy and Calmar hurried over to
the staircase. Clint hesitated, "Maria. Don't do anything reckless. I...
good luck." Clint dashed over to the door and the trio disappeared through
the doorway, leaving Maria to deal with the beast of a cyborg before her.
She looked back at Alan, who was now standing in the middle of
the room, staring at her.
"Friends abandon you did they?" he chortled,
"Oh well, I suppose I'll have to take my time then."
"Why would you do it?" Maria asked "Why would
you willingly become a total cyborg?!" she held up her Uzi, aiming at him.
Alan just laughed "Why? Why not? This is so much better,
so much more powerful! My old body could never be this strong!"
"That's no excuse!" she shouted "A person is
born with flesh for a reason! Becoming a cyborg is not something you should do
without just cause! Power is not just brute force, which is all someone like you
has and understands! You make me sick!" Maria opened fire, showering Alan
with a hail of bullets.
Alan didn't move, he simply held up his arm to protect his
face. "Well, aren't you a feisty one, makes it all the more
interesting." he said as the firing stopped. Alan held out his arm in
Maria's direction, his hand flipped open at the wrist, revealing an energy
cannon built into his arm. A blinding flash flew toward Maria, she barely dodged
in time, it struck the wall, blasting a large hole in it.
"You're a fool!" she shouted, running behind a
pillar. "A mechanical fool! How can you toss away your humanity like it
it's nothing?!"
"Because, it IS nothing. How hard is that to
understand?" he yelled back, firing another energy blast at the pillar,
bringing it crumbling to the ground.
"You're wrong!" she dashed out across the room,
firing at him. The bullets bouncing off his armor as if they were pebbles. She
dove behind an old reception desk just as a third blast struck her right leg.
"Got you!" he bellowed, pleased with his shot.
"You wish!" she ran out from behind the desk,
charging straight at him. The light reflected off something on the leg he hit,
he realized that it was instantly. "You're nothing but toaster with AI as
far as I'm concerned, killing you is the same as smashing any other piece of
junk!" Maria shouted
"You're one to talk, with a robotic leg you're no
better!" he laughed, aiming at her head.
"All brawn, no brain!" she fired down the barrel of
his cannon arm and rolled behind a table that had been tipped over, his arm
shorted out and exploded, sending shards of metal in every direction.
Alan screamed, falling to the ground. Maria walked up next to
him and took aim at his face. "You going to kill and unarmed man?" he
asked, doubting that she would ever consider it.
"As I said, you are not a man." she said coldly,
glaring down at him "It took me a long time to realize after getting these
legs... Clint helped me see it wasn't worth giving up hope. He said you're still
basically human as long as you have at least these three things: flesh, blood,
and a soul. Lose all of your flesh and blood and you're a cyborg, lose all three
and you're nothing but a machine. You are clearly mechanical in body, as for
your soul? I see no trace of it, your personality lacks compassion,
conscience... your soul has been lost."
"What are you..."
"Find it."
"What?"
"Find what you lost, what you abandoned when you took
this form. Lust for power is the cause, learn to care about more than power and
you may yet rediscover that which you have lost." Maria lowered her gun,
tears in her eyes. "Please, don't give up on being human so easily. Think
about what I said, I have to help my friends... if you ever realize your mistake
and find your soul, seek me out. I won't die in a place like this."
Alan stared at her, not knowing what to think. Maria turned
and ran up the staircase to join her allies, leaving Alan to contemplate what
she had said.
The stairs seemed endless, Maria had already forgotten about
Alan and was focused on finding Clint and the others. As she passed the
nineteenth floor she heard a gunshot come from the next floor. Maria swung open
the door, light flooding in the windows hurt her eyes after being in the dim
stairwell, but she could see the shadow of someone holding a shotgun standing
over a person laying face down on the floor, in a growing puddle of blood.
|
