Built Different [Cyborg Superhero ProgFant]

Roxy turned to face the two opponents coming from behind. Four maniacs with short-ranged bladed weapons weren't exactly high on the threat scale for the two of us. That wasn't the real problem in this situation. The super could sense it too, some indecision in her movement.

"This isn't… right."

[Correct.]

I fired a Nerve shot into the closest berserker. They dropped to the floor, flailing and screeching for a moment before becoming silent. The second opponent hesitated slightly, almost stopping in place. Their approach continued, even though it looked as though they were having second thoughts.

Another Nerve shot loaded into my gun-arm. Behind me, Roxy was still standing in place, waiting for her assailants to get closer. My next shot caused the merc to stumble, and they wavered in place before slumping to the ground. They were fighting it, but had more willpower than strength.

Roxy moved forward, avoiding the reckless lunge of one of the bladed weapons. She grabbed the figure, turning it around so that she could reach the second. Unable to resist her power, the pair flailed unsuccessfully until she hit both of their heads together. They dropped, unconscious.

I kneeled down beside the closest to me and pulled off their mask.

"Human…" Roxy scowled. "But that's not the whole picture, huh?"

The unconscious man at my feet was possibly in his early thirties. Covered in sweat. Even in this forced nap, he looked stressed and troubled. Probably due to the cable running into his neck. The installation appeared fresh.

[Clara. Scan them and see if there are any missing persons reported that fit their descriptions.]

//Clara: Understood.

"You're thinking they are civilians?"

I stood up and gave her a nod. Although I wanted to be wrong. My detective skills were rusty, but this ticked too many boxes. Gut instinct guided me to the uncomfortable conclusion. I gestured over to the doorway we had avoided.

[Whatever trap those barrels were meant to disorientate us. If they are civilians, then we'd get framed for their deaths. Either way, they're pumped with something that is making them violent.]

Roxy pulled a face as she removed the masks of the two near her. "It was the voices, right? Plant people could only groan, but these guys were… more vocal."

[Yeah.]

A trap in two parts, and a reminder that whoever was stationed here didn't have murder as their sole weapon against us. It made for an oddly designed fun house. I glanced around to see if there were any cameras catching us in the act, or maybe broadcasting our trials to the city, but could see none.

[We need a way of keeping them safe. Compassion is terrible for my adrenaline levels.]

Under the guidance of Clara, we disconnected the tubes feeding the four whatever rage juice had been forced into their system. Thankfully, the bladed appendages were just arm covers, and their hands hadn't been properly replaced. Belle was unable to teleport them anywhere useful. After dragging them back into the stairwell, I gave the super a shrug.

[This is just the start of the floor. Who knows how many others there are out here.]

She worked her jaw, clearly as unimpressed with this trap as I was. "What's your call, then?"

There was no easy answer. I could already tell by the fire in her eyes that she knew what I was going to say. In turn, I knew exactly which two words she'd respond with. Still, we had to play our roles.

[I will go on alone. You will save the civilians.]

"Fuck you." She threw her arms up in exasperation but had no further argument to add.

The simple truth of it was, four innocents were more important than Boss. Yet I couldn't ignore this bait. This opportunity. It burned her up to accept this way of thinking, but it was what a superhero should do. Roxy grimaced as I rained on her parade, but begrudgingly accepted the fun of being bloodlusted couldn't last forever. Shouldn't be encouraged.

"If that is your order."

[Once you have secured them all, you are welcome to return to my side. This isn't goodbye.]

She stepped over and pulled me close, giving my re-breather a brief kiss. "If you die or fall asleep because I'm not babysitting your dumb ass, I'll fuckin' kill you."

[Understandable. I won't let you down.]

The super relaxed her grip on me and gave the unconscious bodies a sour expression.

//Clara: Fire escape located at the position now marked on your map.

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//Clara: Nearby landing zone also marked, and emergency services have been called to that position.

Once again, a large portion of my power was down to how much of an efficient sidekick the techie was. As soon as the plan had left my vocalizer, she had put the necessary parts into action to make it successful. All this while, a group of mercs lay dead and rotting just outside our home.

I wavered slightly, the image of my bed blossoming in my mind. My body was exhausted after all. Perhaps I deserved a little catnap. That tired thought switched to Warlock, the kitten with the name of one of my dead brothers. A twisted amount of energy needled my core, clearing some of the brain fog.

Roxy lifted two civilians under each arm, like she didn't want to make two trips with the groceries. It would have been amusing under any other circumstances.

[Let me escort you to the exit.]

"Such a gentleman," she murmured.

Several minutes later, we had met no further opposition through the wards and corridors on this floor. My assumption was that there was a high chance of friendly-fire between the drugged-up blades and the silent plant mercs.

The fire escape was about halfway through the floor, and it was here I had to put Nerve into two new civilians. Clara zoomed her way through to the next staircase, and other than another set of barrel traps, there were no other figures waiting for me. The first four must have heard us breaking through the walls and run down.

[You'll be back in no time.]

Roxy just shooed me away, her brow furrowed. Duty of care meant getting them to the safe area, ensuring they got medical attention, and then seeing them off. With how stretched thin the emergency services were, it was likely to be more of a wait than normal. Still, it was six lives saved.

Two of them were people reported missing; the other four had no records. It was likely they'd been snatched in the last twenty-four hours, if not only this morning. Even if this just ended in my death, I had performed one last good deed. Goldarch was welcome.

It didn't really make up for the number of lives I had taken over the last five years, but I had given up on expecting any sort of penance. I walked away from the super and focused on getting to the next floor. Making my own doorway through to the stairwell to avoid the trap was a noisier affair as I had to use explosives.

I met the Natural Disasters on the other side. Bloodier and with more minor injuries than before. Clara had already told them everything, so there was no need to get them up to date with the proceedings. I didn't even engage in conversation past a few monotone phrases. Without Roxy here, I… had to pull my weight with any fighting.

The stars invited me to skip floors. Surely the most electrifying violence would be near the bottom? Sure, the basement would be almost too obvious a place to secure their kidnapped victim, but it was the best place for it. Instead, the appearance of drugged civilians had just soured that idea. Adrenaline be damned, I didn't want to miss out on something important.

Thus, the advent of floor ten was… worrying. Empty. The severe lack of violence was suffocating me. My boots echoed down the hallways as Clara scouted ahead for any signs of life. None. I was a ticking time bomb, but instead of exploding, I would just cease to be. For a day or two, at least.

[We might need to spice things up.]

I turned my aching eyes over to the drone upon its return. Despite my energy sapping away in the dull surroundings, I was sweating profusely. My left arm throbbed uncomfortably, in tune with my slowing heartbeat. If it weren't for my cybernetic limbs, I would be struggling to stand.

//Clara: I do not have any suggestions for things that are spicy.
//Clara: But your adrenaline levels are getting low, Gunquake.
//Clara: While muscle strength will bounce back, any mental exhaustion will remain.

[To be replaced with mania, no doubt?]

//Clara: Correct.

I stretched my arms out and gave a dull glare to the quiet corridor ahead. In my lens, the map popped back up, and I planned my route. There were few ways that I could build excitement in my current predicament. An abandoned hospital was the most neutral and placid place I'd ever been. I needed to find something to murder.

V-Force drives in my legs powered up, and I popped in a replacement foam launcher for my grapple. I burst forward at speed, breaking the floor with the power of my feet. My inertia took me through a thinner wall before my grapple pulled me down a different passage.

The speed was exhilarating and reasonably dangerous. Not exactly the same thing as fighting for my life, but it took no time at all to reach the next floor. I stumbled down into the ninth-floor lobby, my limbs humming with spent energy.

It looked empty.

//Clara: Want me to scout ahead, Gunquake?

[No. I'm just going to keep moving.]

I lifted my arm to fire the grapple at the doors opposite me, but paused. There was a… thread of magic somewhere nearby.

The Arena had shot most of my senses, but the blank hospital had allowed enough recovery to where I could now grasp at signals. Even if barely.

Instead of firing on all cylinders, I stepped forward cautiously. There wasn't enough information slithering through my magical detection… gland… to pick out whether it was something on this floor, or the one below. Size. Whether it was a person or a trap.

It could even be ghosts. I shook my head and held my eyes closed for a couple of seconds.

Things were potentially about to go downhill.

I relaxed and loaded a steel ball into my gun-arm. Ineffective against ghosts, but I had another gut feeling that the violence I craved would be delivered onto my plate before I knew it. Or at the same time as I knew it, as I was knowing it right now.

The drone buzzed around me like a lazy fly, as if Clara could read my mental anguish through the sweaty squeaking of my drenched tactical gear. All this to save Boss. Or at least confront him. Maybe kill him. All of this was just a distraction from the fact that I might soon be standing face to face with the man who made me.

Thinking about that distraction was distracting me from the increased threat nearby.

I pushed through the doors and into the widest waiting room encountered yet. Still empty. Rows of chairs lined back and forth like church pews. A wide desk sat just to my left. The thought of having to meander through several more floors of this tiresome scenery was maddening in itself.

My re-breather rattled as I exhaled.

Despite it being the daytime, I was hiding in the shadows once more. The entire was in a state of emergency, and here I was—in an emergency room, almost—stuck with the quiet. Aside from my own echoing thoughts and the buzz of the drone.

Still, it gave me time to think of a birthday present for-

My wandering thoughts froze up as a circle of bright amber flickered around me. An outline almost twenty feet in diameter. My legs buckled so that I could leap away, but I was a little too late.

The floor exploded, dropping me and several chairs down into the floor below. I hit the ground, but couldn't roll away from the blocky chunks of stone.

A woman stood above me, silhouetted against the cloud of dust circling my minor fall. Her round glasses caught the brief light glowing from the two magical revolvers held at the ready.

Now this was more like it.