NOVPUBThere was no signal to begin the battle, and no orders were given. As the Chimera moved from the throne room into the large courtyard, and they got a better look at the monster, every gun began to fire. The Chimera was made from the corpses of dozens of creatures, with parts attached with little regard. Copperhead tails flailed in the air with cave bear head attached to the ends. A large reptile had donated six stumpy legs that strained to move it along, with smaller legs, some mechanical, pushing from behind. Dwarven shields were held by arms and tentacles, with more piled on the main body. Everywhere, rust and corrosion were dissolving the parts and gluing them to each other. An enormous beaked head was front and center, the end of a cannon-like weapon sticking out of it. Behind the creature arched a long reptilian tail dotted with spikes of shining metal and a nob on the end.
The Scavengers were quick to fire their broadside of cannons. They'd pre-aimed their weapons, anticipating the beast's location, and couldn't miss. The sixteen-pound cannonballs, propelled by a double load of explosives, slammed into the side and front of the creature. The heads bellowed in anger as legs, tails, and other pieces were turned to bloody pulp and torn away from the main body. The Deep Rock Engineers were only a half second behind the Scavengers as they opened up with high-powered rivet guns, bazookas, grenade launchers, and experimental weapons no one would let them fire back at the outpost.
The exception was Boom Boom. He took great pride in his wife's shooting ability and had delayed shooting his rocket launcher to watch her fire the great brass cannon she'd salvaged from the Iron Queen. Her shot was far deadlier than the other cannons. Boom Boom and Narwal had spent time testing the old cannon and finding the limit of how much cataclysmite they could load into it. Her shot was perfectly on target, hitting the head of a gigantic bear mounted on a long, reptilian neck. The bear's skull exploded, sending foul-smelling, rotted brains in all directions. The heavy, dark steel cannonball hit the metal beneath the flesh, knocking the Chimera back a foot before ricocheting off.
And because he was watching that shot, Boom Boom saw the long reptillian tail open up the knob at the end, revealing three glowing red eyes that swivel in their direction. One armored arm grabbed Narwal as he lunged forward, his shoulder knocking Whale and Annie to the floor only a fraction of a second before all four pirate cannons were destroyed by blasts of plasma that sliced through them. Four of the Orcas' crew were killed in the blast. Stumpy and the rest of the Scavengers lived, but with second and third-degree burns and broken bones from scattered pieces of cannon. Boom Boom's quick tackle and the heavy steel pavise let Narwal, Annie, and Whale crawl from the wreckage with only fractured bones and minor wounds.
Milo could see that the tail began recharging at a rate far faster than the Snake had. Plasma flared again across the battlefield, but this time, it came from Milo, using the charged eye taken from the Snake. The blast hit the end of the tail, cutting through flesh and melting the Shiny Steel casing beneath and destroying the eyes. Each one exploded, sending out tendrils of plasma that turned parts of the Chimera to white ash. Eight ratkin, hidden entirely behind several sections of steel plates, began pedaling fast to recharge the strange and terrible device that Tallsqueak was using.
Milo still didn't know what the creature was. He strained to identify it, but no hints came, not even a name. The System was utterly silent about what they were fighting. And it was odd that they'd received no quests and not one snarky comment at all. It was unnatural. As the Engineers blasted the creature with continuous fire, he pulled on his goggles to take a better look, and everything changed.
The goggles connected with the Chimera, ignoring the fleshy parts and only looking at the broken and corrupted metal beneath all of it. It was like looking at the worst sections of the habitat. Systems were broken and not working, energy flows were clogged with corruption, and weapon systems struggled for control as they were wielded by inferior organic parts. The thing was a broken wreck of magi-tech components, but still insanely dangerous and unpredictable. Even as he watched, he saw a repair system move three more red eyes to the tail and begin emergency repairs, metal shifting to where it was needed. Deep inside, he sensed a dense core that was issuing commands to the rest of the machinery. The machine noticed that the ratkin were forming for a charge, led by Brutus, Rosie, and Buttercup. They were timing it to give the Engineers a few seconds to reload, but the charge never came. The beak head swiveled in their direction, releasing a barrage of caustic flame that swept over the three large warriors in the lead, forcing them back as they blocked with their huge shields, and sending everyone else scurrying for cover. Luckily, the flamethrower had a short range, and most of the ratkin might have survived without the intervention of the brave guards, but it would have been a close thing. Without their shields, Brutus, Rosie, and Buttercup would have taken horrendous damage or died.
Brutus stepped to the front, held his shield high, and yelled out: "Shield of the Guards!" A large, spectral shield appeared, reflecting the fire and heat back onto the Chimera, burning off all of the smaller limbs and charring the larger ones on the front. Brutus held the Shield for six beats of his heart, then started to slump, his mana and stamina exhausted. Gendifur caught him and pulled him back. The girls followed their mother the second time she yelled at them to retreat. The'd taken little damage, and only at the end when a few flames leaked around the shield, but the girls were hurting and angry that all the fur on their shins was burned off where their armor didn't cover. They stared at the Chimera, plotting their revenge.
No one was prepared for what happened next. A crystal pedestal rose from the center of the Chimera, spreading a blue glow throughout the cavern, and every living thing quit moving, frozen in place, with a flat, deep mechanical voice roaring in their heads; the noise seemed low and distorted. Their thoughts slowed and became ponderous, and a primal panic rose in each person - except for Milo, who was experiencing something quite different. He could barely move, but as his thoughts began to slow, his brain sped up, outpacing the effect. He was alert and functioning as the core reached out to him through his goggles and entered his thoughts. Immediately, he split his overmind and then split them again, allowing the creature to communicate with only a part of his overmind, guarded by the other three.
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[Multiple organic threats. Multiple sources of corruption. Corruption is omnipresent in all life. Repair facility available. Organic spare parts available.]
[ANALYSING. ]
A second pedestal rose, this one adorned with four of the green eyes. Milo saw two blank holes where other eyes should have been. Possibly the ones stored in his workbench. The green light moved back and forth over the city, exposing every person, no matter where they were hidden, scanning and cataloguing them.
[Cybernetic-Hunter-Independent-Multitasking-Eradicating-Roving-Automoton-7 is in danger of being overcome by corrupted organic creatures.]
[ANALYSIS ONE: Mutations occurring in the local Ratkin population. Deduction: Exposure to corruption. Local population will be purged.]
[ANALYSIS TWO: Violent tendencies detected in local dwarvish population known as 'Engineers', along with useful repair capabilities. Madness and extreme violent tendencies in dwarvish subspecies known as 'Scavengers'. 'Scavenger' population will be eradicated based on evidence of exposure to corruption. 'Engineer' population will be subjugated, used for spare parts and repairs, then released back to their local biome once purged of corruption. A permanent repair station will be established to support CHIMERA7.]
[ANALYSIS THREE]: Mobile-Interactive-Liason-Organism is present with Engine Scanning and Repair tools. 'MILO' will be reprogrammed and utilized to liaise with reprogrammed 'Engineers' to effect repairs to CHIMERA7.]
[Begin Download]
Through the link, Milo saw lines of code pouring into his isolated overmind, in a language he couldn't understand, but that the goggles could translate. The core was trying to put controls in him, to make him an extension of it. It was likewise planning to do the same to the Engineers. Milo knew it wouldn't work. Kill them? Easily, or drive them insane. But the code was looking for another type of creature, something much simpler than them, mechanical, and already using this language. The flow paused and became erratic as something else occupied the Chimera's attention. Milo took the opportunity to do what he did best and dove into the information flow, returning to the core, slipping inside, and began to hack into the operating system he found. It was slow going, with so much of it corrupted into looping, chaotic structures as if the machine were constantly arguing with itself.
While Milo was mentally analyzing and fighting the core, two other creatures used their own special skills. Rosie and Buttercup were unique. Not only did they have the Fiendish Resistance and Heros in Training skills, they were little girls who had just seen something bad hurt their Daddy, along with giving them painful blisters. And now this thing was telling them to 'Be quiet and behave.' That wasn't going to happen. Their angry young minds shredded the compulsion and rejected it, and they charged forward, leaping atop the Chimera. Nothing in its analysis had prepared it for this, and the sudden change took the machine core by surprise. Buttercup took a two-handed swing with her heavy halberd, bringing it down on the top of the blue crystal, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Rosie sliced the green crystal off at its base, threw it to the side, and began to dig at the top of the machine with her claws, tearing out strips of metal. Buttercup broke her halberd on the hull, then joined her sister, digging with her claws.
The Chimera was slow to react; its core, infected by corrosion, wasn't only affecting its judgment but also its processing speed. Like a wounded animal, it panicked. Four huge copper tentacles were deployed, grasping its attackers and throwing them in front of the machine.
[Primary Objective: Eradicate corrupted mutant ratkin!]
The tail unfurled again, repaired with three ruby eyes fully charged. Two tentacles with blue eyes focused on the girls, slowing their reactions. The tail poised above them, ready to unleash the fury of three plasma beams. Gendifu screamed but couldn't move. The tail fired...
Straight into its own hull and hitting the spot where Rosie and Buttercup had stripped off layers of armor. The armor was superheated and dissolved, and the magi-tech and mechanical components exploded. The flamethrower tried to fire but retracted the weapon first, causing an internal explosion. The loud explosion scared the girls, and they ran to Gendifur. Everyone else felt their thoughts slowly begin to move. Milo did what else he could to jam the core's actions and retreated to his own mind. He was very angry, thinking on a primal level.
They watched as an angry Milo, fully covered in bone armor, walked to the machine, taking his time. A pulsing red orb was held in one hand and the Mace of Armageddon in the other. He leaped to the top of the machine. Below him was the heavily armored core that housed an injured cybernetic brain. He slammed the mace down onto the core's armor again and again, releasing channeled force into the wounded metal until it cracked open, revealing the artificial brain beneath. He transformed the Mace into a small screwdriver that he put on his belt. As sparks flew from the any core at his feet, he held up the red orb, charging it with mana and stamina until it was near to overload.
Even now, the core was reaching out, trying to take him over and repair the machine. Force and engineering runes appeared, similar to the runes the machine had used to control the plasma bursts, as Milo created a similar matrix. Milo put the eye six inches from the exposed core and released the overcharged energy beam at point-blank range.
The blast eradicated the core and burned out all of the corruption infecting Cybernetic-Hunter-Independent-Multitasking-Eradicating-Roving-Automoton-7.
Parts and debris were scattered all over the city, but the blast was otherwise mostly contained. Milo was blasted into the ceiling two hundred feet in the air, cracking the rock. As he came down, Brutus raced to catch him as he fell, leaving a trail of smoke behind him. Brutus caught him, then tossed him into the fountain to put out the flames, and shook his head. Milo was burned and broken, and one arm was missing up to the elbow. He picked up his soggy bundle and ran back to Gendifur. A horde of dwarves and ratkin were making sure the Chimera was dead, reducing it to component parts and taking no chances.
Gendifur got Milo to wake up just long enough to pour several potions down his throat. Georgie ran up, worried. Milo petted his lizard and, in his delirium, could only think to say:
"Lassie, go to tell the sheriff that Timmy fell down the well." The faithful lizard nodded once and ran off. Milo passed out.
