Synth

The moment Kei shifted the gun away from the door to point the barrel directly at TO’s head, TO used their now free hands to activate their armor. While they wouldn’t be able to move or see, or even hear anything that happened outside their armor, which wasn’t loud enough to be heard through their helmet, the armor would still protect them from most damage. They still felt the bullet, felt the pressure, and felt themself shift back as the force of the bullet spread out over their body. Their knee exploded in pain once more, and TOs cry echoed in the helmet.

“My knee is fine,” they hissed though grit teeth, doing their best to ignore the pain and accurately count down three seconds. With no chip to sync up to, the armor would dissolve away back into their bracelet after those three seconds passed, and TO would be able to move and act.

In the darkness and silence of the armor, three seconds felt like fifteen minutes. Still, As soon as the armor dissolved away TO grabbed the pocket welder, pushed themself up, and rolled towards Kei. Something gave way in their knee as they twisted, but they didn’t know what precisely happened. It felt like both a tear and a crack happening at the same time.

My knee is fine, my knee is fine. MY. KNEE. IS. FINE

Judging by the way Kei rubbed their ear and shook their head, their eyes squinted shut in pain, it seemed they had no ear protection. Before, TO had taken shelter behind the wall and didn’t see how Kei reacted to the sound of the gunshot.

The precious seconds of opportunity they had lengthened.

As soon as they were close enough, TO reached out and with their claws extended, they dug the sharp-edged blades into Kei’s leg-

-They could feel their claws slice through the skin, feel the warm gush of blood on their naked hands. My knee is fine! It’s just paint!

-and dug in as fiercely as they could. Kei’s feral scream of pain echoed in the room, turning into a growl as they turned and aimed the gun at TO again.

Click. The warning that their opportunity was nearly up was clear to them, and TO twisted back, pulling Kei’s leg from under them and knocking the other synth to the ground. Kei’s gun went off with another deafening bang, which hurt TO’s ears at such a close range despite the translators doing their best to protect them. The bullet rushed just over TO and embedded itself in the floor at TO’s back, sending fragments of stone up into the air.

Two bullets down. One to go.

Kei fell to the ground, smacking their arm against the stone floor. Finally, the gun fell from their grasp and landed on the floor nearby. Kei reached for it but as they did TO took the welder up, and held it to Kei’s leg before turning it on.

There was no blood, thankfully. Still, the scream that Kei gave them ran through their body and down their spine, causing them to momentarily pull the welder away, the pressure on the switch loosening and cutting the flame. The next thing TO felt was the heel of Kei’s foot striking them in the head. They cried out in pain as their vision went white. With a second strike, and retracted their claws from where they grasped Kei’s calf, covering their head with their forearms. Kei scrambled away from TO, stumbling to their feet, their now injured leg causing them to limp painfully as they pulled themself to the other side of the room.

“You said you had no weapons.” Kei said, panting as they got their breath back and suppressing groans of pain.

TO forced their eyes opened. Their head throbbed and their eyes hurt now, but even so, they had to see what was around them, to plan, prepare, and adapt.

“It’s not a weapon.” TO hissed, “It’s a tool.”

They turned on the welder, the blue-white of the welder illuminating the room and making TO squint as they threw it at Kei. TO was unsure if the other would dodge it or try to catch it, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that it distracted Kei long enough for TO to roll over the well-worn stone floor-

-There was blood on the floor; theirs and Kei’s. Not blood. PAINT. Blood and bone and the tearing of Kei’s flush under their nails. It’s only paint. My knee is fine.

-and pushed themself towards the gun. There was a single bullet left, enough to take a single life, and TO couldn’t let that life be DH’s. They got close and reached out, their fingers wrapping around the handle of the gun as they pulled it forward and grasped it. As soon as their fingers wrapped around the grip, they felt a weight on their back, and turned around just in time to see Kei press the welder into their shoulder, through the thin membrane of their wing. The scream that left TO was alive and hurt as it ripped from TO’s throat. They brought the gun back in a practiced swing and slammed the butt of the gun into Kei’s head. Though Kei dropped the welder, they grabbed onto TO, their claws digging into their back, ripping through fabric and skin. The sharp points of pain were nearly something that TO could overlook thanks to the symphony of pain to which they were an unwilling audience to, their body singing in agony as they did everything they could to keep that gun from Kei. They twisted again, attempting to roll and get Kei off their back, but they could only manage to half roll on their side before the soloist of their agony, their mangled knee hit a climatic crescendo as something snapped and the pain momentarily overtook them.

In the moment of pain, Kei pushed them onto their back, and drove their elbow into TO’s stomach, before straddling them to hold TO in place. TO gasped and coughed, their grip on the gun loosening giving Kei the opportunity to wrestle it from TO hand. Claws out again, TO swiped at Kei’s face with their free hand, aiming for the eyes. If they could blind the other synth, they’d win for sure.

A flash of fear flickered over Kei’s face as they saw the glint of light against TO’s claws, and they turned away just in time, avoiding a slash to the face and receiving instead a long tear at the base of their right ear. They screeched in a mix of pain, rage and frustration before they dug into TO’s hand with their claws. A strange numbness ran from hand to elbow as Kei hit something in their hand, and they let go of the gun. The moment their grip loosened, Kei snatched the gun away.

Click. The gun was ready to fire its last shot.

Kei brought the gun to TO’s face, but TO reached up and pushed back, keeping the gun pointed away from their face. TO reached out with their other hand to attack, to claw something, but Kei grabbed it and held their fingers in a painful grip as they strained to get the run where they needed it.

“I don’t care about the others!” Kei Shouted, “I’m going to end you!” they strained against TO’s grip, slowly aided by gravity as the barrel of the run turned towards them. “My only regret will be that you won’t see what I’m going to do to your friends.” Their good ear pinned back, the other ear hanging limply at the side of their face. There was something entirely disconcerting about how Kei’s ear just hung there, loosely swinging with their every movement. Watching it made TO want to vomit, made them want to run away. It looked just entirely wrong and despite the face that TO’s first instinct was to look at another synth’s ears, they were now desperate to look anywhere else.

“Y-you have one bullet left” TO groaned as they struggled, their strength threatening to leave them, “You... you won’t be able to take both of them. You’re injured. If you surrender now-“

Kei growled again, the gun inching its way to the proper angle for TO’s face. “I don’t care!” They shouted again, “But I want you to know that I will make them hurt! I will fight them and cause as much harm and pain to them as I can! I will rip them apart, tear your precious mate’s ears off! The last thing your mate will see is your corpse as they die, and If I die after this, I-DO-NOT-CARE!” The gun crept closer as TO’s arms burned from the effort, their own body screaming out in agony as their strength seeped away. “Just die knowing that I will make DH suffer.”

“No!” TO cried out, a combination of pain and desperation as they drew on the last of their strength to push the gun away. Still, TO could tell that it wasn’t enough to save them; it was only enough to prolong their demise.

The door swung open.

“NO!” TO shouted, now trying to pull the gun back towards them as Kei jolted, turned and aimed for the door. It didn’t matter, TO was too weak, and Kei’s movement was so sudden that the synth was able to just pull their hands from TO’s grip as they fired the gun.

The last bullet hit Mark, who was already rushing towards Kei, using all the strength in his good arm to push himself forward. TO couldn’t see how he got hit, but they could see Mark’s expression of shock as his good hand went to his side. Mark had already built up the momentum in his chair and continued forward as he rammed into TO and Kei at the same time, twisting in his chair and striking Kei in the side with their powerful tail, knocking Kei off TO and to the floor as their chair turned and fell over.

The only thought in TO’s mind was DH. Even as Mark’s blood dropped to the floor, a bright red in contrast to the drying blue that already stained the stones, the only thought that went through TO’s head was, “It’s not DH,” accompanied by a rush of relief.

Still, they weren’t out of danger, and Kei could still hurt DH.

Nearby, the pocket welder lay on the floor. TO reached out and grabbed it, clutching it in their hands and turning it on as they turned to face Kei who was only just picking themself up from the ground. Blood dripped from their ear and their leg, and around their thigh a great hole had burned through the fabric where TO had pressed the welder against them.

“You want me dead?” TO hissed through grit teeth. “Try it,” they said.

Kei looked over TO, their eyes lingering on the welder for a moment before flicking to Mark, who lay on the floor, groaning softly. As Kei’s hand tightened around the gun, the rage drained from them, replaced with a desperate, panicked flicking of their ear.

“Come on.” TO said, their finger ready to flick the switch and hold the powerful flame against the first part of Kei’s body that they came into contact with. If Kei waited much longer, maybe DH and GiDi would show up, and then they could easily handle an injured synth. Most likely, one of them would show up with a multi-gun, and Kei wouldn’t last two seconds.

After everything Kei had done, TO was certain that Avery would understand if Kei wound up dead.

Another moment of thought, and then Kei lunged. They didn’t lunge for TO though; they moved around them quickly as their injured leg would allow and got to the other side of Mark and the chair. TO growled as they reached out to grab them, but they couldn’t reach and couldn’t pull themself over Mark or his chair.

“Trip them!” TO shouted at Mark, hoping he could at least knock them down with his tail, but Mark didn’t move and Kei rushed past him and into the hallway.

TO lay on the ground, watching the doorway as though Kei might somehow return to fight them, but soon they heard the limping footsteps fade off, and they knew Kei had run.

Kei had run away, TO was still alive, and DH was safe. The moment this thought went through TO’s head, it was as though all the pain and exhaustion from the ordeal-

Blood and bones and blood and bones and blo-

-my knee is fine my knee is fine my knee is not fine-

-rushed back, overwhelming them. Their vision went white, their ears rang, and the world around them spun. They wanted to vomit, but they couldn’t; there was nothing left in them to throw up. They gagged, an awful, bitter burning rising in their throat as their stomach felt like it was tearing itself in two.

Finally, the world went black.