Danton sighed for a second and tried to comfort Deanna. She
was now sat on the floor her knees brought to her chest, her arms wrapped
around them. He could hear her sobbing and wandered why the woman had left.
Deanna was unresponsive, she gently rocked forwards and back her eyes turning
red with tears. He shook his head to break away from the sight of Deanna. It was
now down to him to get them out if he could. He patted himself down to look for
the mechanist's tools he had taken from Coe and pulled out a screwdriver. He
examined the panel above and below seeking a weak point. There was an obvious
panel below him and steeped gingerly to the side, knowing the dangers of coming
into contact with wall of solid light.
Below him lay a matrix of crystals and beams of light. They reflected
in different crystals, changing their paths before exiting the box that the
crystals were housed in. He toyed with the idea of removing one or two to see
where the light would go, and found that removing one allowed the beam of light
to continue to the casing, which started to smoke a little. He then tried to
place the crystal in the field of light. It was like forcing it through
treacle, the barrier buzzing as it was being pierced. Eventually the crystal
was partially through but the light did not seem to part like falling water. It
enveloped the crystal leaving Danton no room to escape. He removed two more and
with the same difficulty forced them through. They reacted almost instantly
when the last one was placed. The crystals focused light, as he had already
seen and now they were doing the same to the barrier. A continuous beam of
light, much stronger than that below him now started to burn a hole into the
side of the control panel. It was a slow smoulder and with what he thought were
a few spare moments he tried to pry the rest of the crystals out, the beams of
light now causing them to overheat. With
the beam unwatched it had gathered power and had soon burned through the outer
casing and was now causing a fire inside the machinery. The barriers soon
dropped only moments before the contraption erupted in a violent explosion of
metal, rock and flame. Danton had at least a notion of what he was doing in the
back of his mind and was prepared for any event but Deanna had been face down
and curled up. She was caught in the explosion, her skin sliced by the debris.
She yelled out in pain and clasped at her wounds, her blood felt tacky between
her fingers.
Danton dived over to her to tend to Deanna's wounds but she
recoiled. She was angry that he hadn't warned her and blamed him for the
injuries she sustained but most of all, she didn't want him to notice her
blood. He didn't know how to react but the felt the blame in the pit of his
stomach. Part of it was from her but most was caused by his own guilt. He had
lost Raneaux and in his mind had nearly killed Deanna. He swallowed his emotions and turned his
attention to where had had been standing. The crystals had survived so were
pocketed for future use. The control panel completely destroyed but the beam
had not merely cut through it, it had also tunnelled its way through the cavern
wall to the other side. With a little coaxing, he convinced Deanna that this
was perhaps their best bet for survival and went in first. His idea fell short
as a few feet from the other side, the tunnel narrowed and he became stuck. One
hand lay in front while another was stuck behind him. Without thinking he
awkwardly reached for the cloak and tried his best to cover himself with it.
Deanna looked on in frustration before he completely vanished from view.
Seconds past and panic set in, the fear of going back to the chamber before was
nearly outweighed by the fact Danton had left her. She closed her eyes and
tried to breathe calmly. He still did not return. In the darkness behind her a
pale spindly hand hesitated over her ankle before grasping it tightly and
dragging her out.
Across the underground river Mhaast and Xera had started to
hear buzzing noises from the cavern behind them. Mhaast was a little
apprehensive, the fact that the automatons ns were still alive and the security
measures were still active meant that this place could still be in use. He told
Xera to stand back as he fiddled with his shoulder augmentations. A small hatch
opened from his left side and to Xera, a small cannon somehow, almost
impossibly folded out from the aperture. It moved with his head movements,
tracking his eyes to his intended target. He approached the shadows cautiously
and rolled a glowglobe across the floor for light. Five winged mechanical
insects were stabbing into the corpse of a dead monstrosity like he had seen
earlier. Upon noticing him they rose into the air and were greeted by a barrage
of pellets that had been fired from Mhaast's shoulder mounted artillery. The
shells burst into a brilliant flames a spectacular light show that melted the
metal of the creatures until they were nothing more than molten puddles. This was met by the synthetic shriek of a
woman which sent shivers down Xera's spine.
The woman covered in black hexagonal scales emerged from the
crack in the wall. Her body twisted and contorted in inhumane ways but her dark
orange eyes always fixed forward. With unnatural speed and obvious anger she
lashed out at Mhaast slicing into him over and over with her claws. Xera had
hardly any time to react, only able to fire off a few bolts of Shatterstone
before Mhaast's body blocked his aim. Mhaast soon felt himself slipping, his
augmentations were slowing him down. He had upgraded his body for a purpose, to
be faster and stronger than any human. He felt betrayed by his own body which fuelled
his anger. He was desperate to prove to himself that all he had sacrificed had
not been for naught and channelled his rage into his great axe. Moments later,
with his wounds bleeding onto the floor, the woman fell to ground. She had been
cleaved in two.
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