Terran Knights: Chapter 19

The air boomed as an explosion rocked the ground. The blue light flooded the block setting off car alarms and tearing down powerlines. The factory collapsed rocking the ground.  Cal slid out of it and bounced against the ground twice then rolled to his side groaning.

He was wearing his armor and yet his whole body ached. Pressing his forehead against the ground he pressed his sword into the street to get back up. Looking up he watched as headlights covered him in their bright white and then swerved around him and kept going down the street.

From the smoke of the building he could see the glowing shape of the Taq-Law that he’d come to handle. He thought it would be just a regular one of the scouts they’d been dealing with and he could take it out before getting dinner with Ben. That wasn’t happening now. A red light shot out and scanned him slowly and he watched the Taq-Law approach from the smoke.

It was walking on two digitigrade legs, looking very much like a satyr. Its face was smooth except for the red dot where the scanner came from. Both arms had pulsating blue blades that had a soft whirring to them and glowed in the low light of the evening.

“Human imbued with celestial power. Threat nominal. Termination essential to establish foothold,” it said and came forward. Its blades let out a soft blast of steam and then jutted forward and began to spin rapidly until they became a drill of blue light. It sprinted over to him and he barely brought his sword up in time to deflect one of the drills.

The other slammed into his side and he shouted in pain before being driven to the ground and down on his knees. Gritting his teeth, he grasped the sword with both hands and swung slashing at the chest plate of the machine. It recoiled slightly and Cal dove out of its range ending in a stumble holding his side.

The Taq-Law turned to face him and crouched leaping forward again. The drills whirred as it moved and Cal looked over his shoulder. He moved to block again but his side twanged with pain and his weapon dipped below par. His vision suddenly swam with blue and the drill was deflected up into the air.

Cal watched as a purple blur moved past him and his head turned in time to watch Seth punch the arms of the robot away. His final punch struck the robot like a fierce uppercut sending it flying backwards. He hopped back in front of Cal and glanced back of him. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he grunted and tried to stand but felt hands around him and looked at Kathryn. “You guys have good timing.”

“We felt the stones and came over as soon as we could,” she said keeping her arm around his side. “Come on. Seth will watch our back.”

“Seth’s watching our backs?” Cal said sarcastically through his pain.

“Yes. We had a good talk. Trust him and let’s move,” Kathryn said quickly and pulled him along.

He regained his footing but nodded, “Fine by me.”

The pair of them retreated while Seth backed off following the two of them with his fists in the air ready to fight off any further attacks. The Taq-Law stared at the three of them as if curious and the drilling of its arms increased in speed as it lunged now as Seth.

He raised his arms trying to deflect as best as he could but the blows were hitting harder than he anticipated. Instead of backing off he took his hits and dished them back out as hard as he could. It was a back and forth that wasn’t working his favor. After a solid hit from another drill he slid backwards across the ground and fell to his knee panting.

“This thing hits really fucking hard,” he mumbled and looked around. People were standing around them holding up their phones and recording or just walking dumb struck. The rumors of the robots and the armored fighters was taking place in front of them and he couldn’t really blame them anymore. Forcing himself to his feet he punched his hands together and raised his arms.

The robot had kept pace with him and closed the distance faster than he realized. He blocked its first two attacks on just hard reads on where it would go but each hit blasted his arms back. Thrusting a spinning arm at him it struck him in the chest and took him off his feet sending him flying backwards. Seth fully expected to crash into the ground and braced for that moment.

Hitting the ground hard he shouted feeling his body shout back. He didn’t get up, instead resting against the ground. He felt the robot coming forward and could hear the blades on it’s arms whir faster. Opening an eye, he hoped that Kathryn had gotten Cal far enough away or even better that Kat was running back toward him. Wincing he ignored his pain and tried to get up again.

 “Nice work. Let’s tag out!”

Turning his head, he saw a blur of red and yellow and felt the rush of energy that suddenly shot through his veins. He watched Jack and Sarah stand over him with their scythe and axes brandished. Seth let his head fall back down and sighed hard.

“You’re timing is uncanny,” he mumbled. “Give me a sec to catch my breath.”

Jack rested his scythe across his shoulder and looked around them. There was a sizable crowd of people around them and he grinned but then frowned. “Everyone! Don’t stop and watch! It’s dangerous out here! Go back to your homes!”

People were shocked that he even addressed them and listened lowering their phones, running back home. But the majority stayed where they were and continued using their cameras. Jack looked around and sighed glancing back at Sarah. “I tried right?”

“Yes you did babe. But we’ve got this thing to deal with now.”

He nodded and faced the Taq-Law that was presently scanning the two of them. “Humans imbued with celestial power. Also marked for termination to establish foothold.” The arms rotated again and it lunged at them. It thrust its arms at Jack and he hopped back and forth trying to block as best as he could.

Sarah stepped in swinging both her axes one glancing off the drill and then the second into it’s shoulder. The head swiveled to face her, flashing red and then blasting her away with a shock of energy. It quickly faced Jack and pressed its hand to his chest blowing him away.

Rolling across the ground he was stopped by a pair of hands. Looking over his shoulder Seth and Cal were there helping him to his feet. Kathryn and Sarah joined them standing shoulder to shoulder. Getting up eagerly he shouted, “Alright team, let’s go to work!”