Chris pushed aside the thick vegetative growth from her path as she neared her goal. It had been a long walk since she had to leave her Grossferd behind some miles away and take to moving on foot. As the rumored facility came into view she started to wonder if she should have told her mother where she was going, she had avoided the subject because her mother would never understand her need to fight this thing, this death machine.
She didn’t have to search for it however, as a shiny metal arm burst through a tree, nearly impaling her. Turning swiftly she charged the thing, a devilish smile on her face. Chris enjoyed herself, spinning and dodging the silver tentacles and knocking them aside, after all she didn’t want this battle to end soon.
To an observer it looked like a well choreographed scene but, that was until Chris decided to see how much damage a punch would do. Her fist slammed into the chest of the T-1000, the liquid metal satisfyingly parting as her fist sank into it’s core. However, when she tried to withdraw it, her fist stayed put.
“this isn’t funny.” She said, panicked.
With no other recourse she punched it instinctively where the temple might be but this fist was ensnared as well. Adding to her horror was that the silver material started to climb down her arms, coating them with itself. Chris screamed as the metallic being embrace marched closer to her core,constricting her movements as it went. In time she was entirely enveloped in a silver metallic coffin.
Chris hadn’t lived a long life but, in that crushing darkness what live she had, streamed through her consciousness. Her mother, her father, her brother and far more video games than she could easily name all showed the emotional highs and lows of her life but, one memory stuck out, or maybe it was a hallucination. In that short moment Chris saw something she had all but forgotten; she saw herself, looking upon two others of her likeness and in the silent darkness of the machine, she screamed.
It wasn’t long before a low muffle could be heard, if anyone were around to hear it anyway, and the silver cocoon started to expand, to grow or rather, to pop. Chris burst forth from the trap, her hair a furious red as she sent the metallic ooze flying in all directions. She jerked back and forth at once both recovering and searching for something to kill. Not finding a suitable object, the jungle became the vent for her rage, she tore apart trees, shattering them into splinters for what seemed like hours but, was only a few minutes. After her tantrum, her red hair cooled to it’s normal hue of blue and breathing heavy, she sat inelegantly on her butt to catch her breath. Looking at the ground, her head in her hands she noticed something, small silver droplets marching toward a larger mass, it was coming back. What had once been a fun fight was now something of abject horror, she wouldn’t fight it again, she couldn’t so she did what any human would do, ran for the hills.
____
On the other side of the world another battle was unfolding though it would be more accurately called a Rodeo. Thomas Veidt rounded up Vagrants, criminals and general ne’er do wells from the vehicle graveyard. None came willingly, forcing Thomas into fights he had no trouble winning but, found himself filled with sorrow and anger as a result. These people were not armed or, lightly armed, they could just leave why did they fight? Why did they force Thomas to kill them? Thomas reasoned that it was just as well, no point in leaving rats to slink back to thier nests. Still, it bothered Thomas to have so much blood on his hands, so much death. Others were starting to leave but one man still eluded him, and that would end today.
Rayford Stovall had dismissed Thomas as a petulant bird, unable to chase after him or his lovely troupe of dancing alligators. Thomas would approach, Rayford would open fire, Thomas would retreat and Rayford would leave. Today it was different, today Thomas would eliminate the stalemate.
It didn’t take much to stop the small number of CIWS trucks, just some wirebombs were enough to make them undriveable, to break the axle or blow off a wheel. Rayford sat examining the body of his once driver as Thomas decloaked nearby.
“Are you here to deliver the Pizza?” Rayford asked as Thomas ignited his beam sword.
“No, and you’ll leave this place.” Thomas shouted as he charged.
The two met in battle, the light from their identical weapons shined brighter than either alone, searing into their retinas as they vied for an advantage. Thomas would free this part of the world, he thought, at least for a little while and Rayford thought about how he should give the nice little girl a piece of taffy before bed.
“We should turn out the light, the children can’t sleep.” he said, much to Thomas’s anger.
“You crazy bastard.” Thomas ineloquently retorted, swallowing the guilt he had for ending the life of someone mentally unfit, choosing instead to trust in the justice or ridding at least one part of the world from dangerous marauders.
____
Chirs crashed through the jungle, fear in her eyes as she climbed upward, the silver menace following, not chasing but keeping pace. She couldn’t lose it, she couldn’t fight it and eventually it would catch her, envelope her again, and this time it might not let go. She wanted to see her brother, her family. She shot wildly back at the silver biped, slowing it but as the holes closed Chris knew, she wouldn’t be able to stop it. It would catch her, it would catch her, only in time. She let out an anguished scream as she ran, ever upward to the end.
_____
Rayford proved a capable fighter and, his gibberish was starting to wear on Thomas’ nerves. Deliberate or not it was a potent psychological weapon and it was taking it’s toll. Thomas was becoming more hateful more angry with each moment.
“you bastard….it’s people like you that made the world this way!” Thomas screamed. “I wouldn’t have to do this if you weren’t around!”
Rayford simply relied on his training, that infernal training that had robbed him of any sense of a true life, any ability to truly even feel that pain.
In that moment of two men, both unable to understand their own pain Thomas was struck. His arm was seared with heat as the blade tore into it, too fast for him to feel until it had happened. It was a deep cut, a deep burn too harsh for his suit to compensate for but not enough to sever his arm.
“I like midnight” Rayford said advancing upon the now retreating Thomas. “It’ makes rivers churn.”
__
Chris stood out in the open air now, looking out at what might have been a spectacular view if not for what she knew was approaching to take her life. The heat from the active volcano she was climbing punctuated that there was no longer anywhere to go. As the T-1000 approached she braced herself, like hell she wasn’t at least going to try to live, she wanted to see her brother, she wanted to see him throw the controller down in frustration, she wanted to know he’d be fine in the world.
She launched into a flurry of blows taking care not to let the blows sink in but, they did no damage, they didn’t even stun the faceless demon she was facing. Tiring she connected too hard, too deep and it began once more. The silver climbed up her arm as she frantically punched her own body in a vain attempt to stop it.
“No. no. no. NOOOOOO!” She said as she tried to pull her arm from it’s body. Chris instead sent them both toppling over the edge, tumbling into the steep crater.
__
Thomas slammed into ancient soviet vehicles as he was chased down by their inheritor, Rayford was surprisingly lucid at this point. No longer talking about things Thomas could not see. Thomas would not keep running though, he steeled himself with a grimace and swung his sword at Rayford wildly. Thomas had grown and while his soul had been constantly tested, his skills, even while injured had grown shaper and even in anguish was able to give the super soldier a equal match.
That is, until he tripped on a teapot; a small kitchen appliance. Thomas felt empty at the thought that his life would end here, to this man in such a pointless end as he fell hard on the ground. Rayford wasted no time pouncing on the unfortunate Thomas who in a desperate bid slice forward.
Life is ironic, it’s not often the most skilled events that allow people to continue. There is no way to stop the random events, no way to prepare for the stupid outcomes that happen in combat and as the blood flowed from rayford’s now gaping chest, Thomas realized the path his parents had left them, and just for a moment; He felt hate for them.
“Alouette, gentille alouette” Rayford said before he fell to Thomas’ side, blood still flowing from the partially cauterized wound.
As Thomas sat, his mission finally done, covered in the lifeblood of a man who was not aware enough to know his significance. He wept, he wept bitterly at what he had become, at what he had been forced to be. And finally, for the world that had made him.
___
Chris woke to the smell of her cheek searing against the rock, her vision blurred and the world spinning. She had been separated from the metallic being but, found herself in a hellish world, vaguely resembling the setting for a boss battle. Lava flowed all around her, it’s heat taxing her cooling systems. She tried to get her bearings but, was startled awake by the T-1000 as it advanced toward her, just like it had done before.
It seemed looser now, more flexible than before. The t-100 thrust it’s spikes from it’s body once more but they had lost their edge, slapping the lethargic Chris rather than stabbing. It was weakened! It was possible to hurt the thing, Chris realized as she took her fighting pose and her smile returned.
“C’mon you reject science project, let’s get started!” Weaving under it’s tendrils Chris bobbed left and right weaving back and forth until she reached it again, standing mere inches from it’s chest. She saw tendrils reaching for her, around her.
“SHINRYUKEN!” She shouted, delivering a flurry of blows into the T-1000, holes forming in it’s body quicker than it could seal them. The final uppercut sent the robot flying into a pool of lava and, as Chris watched the object of her hours of fear melt, she jumped a few times and showed it a peace sign, with a beaming smile; she was the winner.
Her smile faded though for a moment as the machined rose out in one last, failed effort to save itself and, she saw a face, her face on the being. Whether it was a reflection or whether it was the beings real face she wasn’t quite sure but, it was enough to ruin her victory.
GAME OVER
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