Terran Knights: Chapter 44

“Ready Cal?” Marco asked keeping a hand on his back.

“Ready as I can be. You seem sure and I like surety in men,” he gave a thumbs up and Marco laughed.

“Don’t worry. I liked Ben so I’d hate for him to lose his boyfriend.”

“Fiancé.”

“Really? Congrats,” Marco leveled his gun at the machine that presently had it’s back to them. “Alright here we go.”

Marco pulled the trigger the red bullet striking just beneath the head of the machine. In a surge of red light they were teleported right on top of it. It took a shaky step forward and they both held on tightly for balance and made sure that it wasn’t going to turn on them yet. Cal conjured his sword and spun it around.

Slashing at the arm hacked at the metal armor and the sword sliced through it quickly. Cal was sure that he struck a wire or two when the head swiveled around glowing again. Marco was quick to draw and point toward the former ceiling. They teleported there as the laser swept past.

“Alright that worked pretty well. Think we can get away with that again?” Cal asked.

“Maybe though I think this thing will get wise to us soon.”

“Only one way to find out.”

Marco nodded and put a hand on Cal’s shoulder then readied his aim again. Holding his breath, he kept the weapon steady and then fired again. In a red blur they appeared on the shoulder of the robot but before they could make a move, sections of the arm opened up. Half a dozen mini guns rose up and laser sighted onto them.

Thinking fast Cal created two clones who deflected some bullets but took the brunt of the attack for the pair of them. Marco flipped his gun around and fired dragging them away as the clones finally went down and the turrets tried to fire on them specifically.

They stumbled through a department store, singed clothes and clothing racks falling on them. Cal stood up and laughed, “Alright. So, it figured us out.”

“Yeah,” Marco looked at his gun and the red light was blinking slowly on it. “And I’m running out of ammo. If I’m lucky I’ll get two more shots off before I need to recharge the red.”

“So, a round trip?” Marco nodded. Grasping his sword Cal walked back to the edge of the department store and pointed at the arm of the machine. He could see the sparks of the damage he’d done but the arm itself was still moving in one piece. “It’s going to need a hard hit if we’re going to shut down the arm.”

Marco followed his line of sight and looked at his gun. The red was blinking but the other colors were glowing and ready to go. Watching at the ground level he watched the others working around the lasers on the ground.

Jack and Kathryn were on defense deflecting the lasers as much as they could but they were too powerful for Kathryn to properly reflect them back toward it . Two of the arms turned around and focused on the pair of them, the light glowing brightly.

“Heads up!” Seth shouted.

Both turned in time to watch Seth throw Sarah almost like a football at the thing. She flipped forward both axes extended as she slammed into the head of one of the lasers. The electricity flashed like lightning for a second and its arm recoiled backwards. Before she hit the ground, Jack was prime to catch her. The second laser went wide blasting off into the distance missing them.

Marco narrowed his eyes watching the arm flail around for a moment and going slack. It took a second but it seemed to be rebooting and after a few seconds it was back on the attack. “I’ve got an idea. It’ll be risky and there’s no good exit plan.”

“Great. Love it,” Cal clapped and Marco watched as the Taq-Law seemed to renew its focus on the four of them below.

Marco and Cal walked together to the edge and he gripped Cal’s shoulder raising his gun. Narrowing his eyes he tried to line up a good shot but it was moving enough to cause some issues. Taking a breath though he fired and they moved in a blur of red. Instead of landing on the shoulder they landed near an elbow. Cal called his sword to life and Marco swore as the turrets came to life.

“Alright remember that no exit strategy thing?” Marco asked and Cal nodded calling his clones to defend them. “Here goes nothing.”

Keeping his hand on his shoulder Marco aimed at the shoulder, the shot easier now, and fired. They moved forward and landed at the shoulder in a swift go. Before the turrets could readjust he spun the barrel again landing on yellow. Turning toward the open circuits he fired until the gun clicked and felt the arm spasm underneath their feet and began to sink, the turrets dying as well.

“You’re up Cal!”

“No need to tell me twice,” he brandished his sword and hacked constantly at the open circuits, cutting up wires and machinery like he was a chef and these were vegetables. After the fifth or sixth cut the arm jolted and with a sharp tearing sound they both sank. They rode on the arm like it were some sort of life craft hoping for the best.

Crouching down and holding on for sheer life they both plummeted to the ground. Crashing they bounced forward and into the waiting presence of their allies. Getting to their feet Marco stared at the Taq-Law with it’s missing arm and smirked. “One down, one to go.”

Before any of them could add to the comment they could hear a new humming. Turning back toward the Taq-Law its chest had opened up revealing a giant glowing blue spot. The machine took a step forward sending a rumble their way.

“What the fuck is that?” Seth mumbled somewhat awed.

“Nothing good,” Sarah turned to Kathryn. “Can you make a shield?”

“I don’t know.”

Jack shook his head. “Something that big. There’s no way you could make a shield strong enough.”

Marco nodded, “We gotta run. Now!”

They turned and ran sprinting as far as they could away from the machine but it was too late.  The hum hit its fever pitch and finely fired. Silence stretched as the laser fired, as if sucked away any other sound or light could coexist in the same space. The mall was engulfed in light and heat before exploding sending a shockwave across the entire city.