The Blackdash Saga

Rex_Blackdash 2021-09-07 21:44:21 UTC #69

Chapter Twenty: Spoons

Kieran looked frantically between the entrance to the medical center and the two Resisters who were standing next to him. "If that's an automaton, I'll need a weapon." Kieran warned the others.

The Resisters looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Kieran could read their faces. They weren't sure if he could be trusted yet, but they would probably need the help. A few seconds passed before the male Resister shrugged and handed his spare pistol to Kieran. Kieran grabbed the weapon and aimed it at the door.

He could still hear the noise. The sound of metal hitting stone. The only difference between then and now was that it had gotten much louder. Kieran wiped the sweat from his forehead, and his finger tightened on the trigger of the pistol.

A minute passed, but it felt like an hour to the Resisters. The sound was getting quieter now. Whatever was out there was moving away. Kieran relaxed slightly, but only slightly. He had been trained to never let his guard down, even among friends.

The male Resister's breaths were shaky, and after a few seconds, he leaned over to his friend. "What do you think is coming?"

At once, the scraping stopped. Kieran shook his head. That was the wrong move.

The scraping started again, but this time it was much faster. Whatever was out there was running. The other two Resisters shook with fear, and even Kieran had trouble calming himself. In the end, he did, however. He had trained for moments like these.

He squinted and waited for whatever was out there to turn the corner.

Another minute passed, but nothing came. Kieran tilted his head. He didn't hear anything either. When had the sound stopped?

The male Resister whispered to his friend again. "Where did it go!?"

As he said that, a figure turned the corner and ran straight for the three Resisters. Kieran identified it as a pacifier, so he pulled the trigger of his pistol multiple times. A barrage of bullets flew straight for the Pacifier. It expertly evaded the gunfire from the weapon and covered the distance between the Resisters all in a few seconds. Kieran frowned. That was nothing like a pacifier. They were slow and easily dismantled, this was too fast to even hit...

When he realized that the automaton’s target was him, Kieran jumped back and fired another round at the automaton. It dodged to the side and ran in the direction of the other two Resisters. They were so frightened that they didn't fire at it. (Or move in general)

Kieran tried to warn the other Resisters, or at least tell them to get some cover, but it was too late. The automaton had already disarmed and incapacitated them. Kieran was the only one left to fight. If he fell, then the wounded would be vulnerable.

This was when Kieran noticed that his original observation was incorrect. Even though it looked similar to a pacifier, it actually had severe changes in it's appearance. It must have been a new model, because he had never seen any automatons with claws before.

The automaton advanced towards Kieran swiftly, faster than he thought was possible. It attempted to grab Kieran's arm, but he stepped to the side at the last moment. He raised his pistol and fired a few shots at the automaton's chest. It took no notice of this and continued its attack on Kieran.

Great. Pistols were completely useless against these things. He would have to change his strategy.

The automaton put its claw on the pistol, and Kieran struggled to keep his weapon. He soon wondered why, though. It was useless against this enemy. What was he going to do? Bash it to death? He let the weapon go, so the automaton threw it into a corner and advanced on him again.

It grabbed Kieran's arm, so he landed a kicked to the automaton's face. It staggered backward, letting him go in the process. Kieran chuckled, realizing that he had just cracked the automaton's green eye with his kick. "You aren't so tough!" He shouted to his enemy. It took no notice of his remark and came at him again. Kieran dodged another swing from the automaton and shoved his enemy away from him. It staggered backwards.

Kieran moved out of the medical center so he could draw the danger away from the wounded. The automaton quickly righted itself and followed him out, oblivious to his plan. This thing was persistent if anything.

The automaton didn’t engage Kieran this time. It just stared at him. Kieran squinted. He moved behind the automaton, but it’s head followed his movements. Creepy. What was it up to now?

Kieran ran towards the automaton and lunged straight for it. It didn’t move at first, but then at the last second, it ducked and grabbed Kieran's leg. He gasped before falling down to the ground.

Kieran's head hurt again. Great! Now he had to combat the automaton and a headache.

Kieran winced and closed his eyes as the automaton swung him into a wall. It must have been analyzing him earlier. Now it knew what he was going to do. It jumped straight for Kieran. He rolled to the side, but the automaton had predicted that too. When it landed, it jumped to the side quickly and was on top of him in an instant. Kieran only had enough time to hold out his hands and grab the automaton's arms. Just as Kieran thought that it couldn't get much worse, the automaton's claws began to spin, kicking up a slight breeze.

Kieran winced. This automaton was stronger than he thought. He felt like he couldn’t push it back, but he had to before his strength was completely spent. With a shout, Kieran pushed with all of his strength. If the automaton had an expression, he guessed that it would be surprised. He pushed the arms away from his face, but he didn’t stop there. He continued pushing until the claws were spinning in front of the automaton’s head. "Predict this!" Kieran shouted through gritted teeth. He pushed the claws into the automaton’s head, shattering it’s green eye in the process. He kicked the automaton away so the glass wouldn’t cut him.

Without wasting any time, Kieran reached into his bag of equipment and pulled out a box. He opened it to reveal his spoon. He took the silverware and pressed a small button on the front and back of the handle, and then he threw it at the blinded automaton's feet. It heard clattering, so it jumped towards the spoon, mistaking it for Kieran. Kieran covered his ears and waited for what would come next.

The spoon detonated, and the automaton was engulfed in flames. The blast knocked Kieran back into the medical center. A few seconds passed in silence before Kieran sighed with relief. In truth, he wasn’t sure if he would have survived that. But when in doubt, he learned to place his trust in his spoon.

Suddently, the mountain shook. Kieran realized that he should have thought about detonating something in a small corridor before doing so. Oh well. It all happened so fast. Now all he had to do was hope that the mountain didn’t fall down on top his head.

The mountain shook again, but this time it was much more violent. Rock pebbles showered down onto Kieran. "This is not good..."

He shut his eyes, fully expecting to be crushed by the mountain in the next few seconds. He wasn't, however.

Kieran was relieved to see that the medical center was mostly unaffected and nobody was hurt. Well, any more than they already were... The only downside was that they were trapped now. The mountain had caved in on the entrance. Kieran wasn’t just going to sit around until he suffocated, though. He had to find a way out. He stood up and walked over to one of the vacant beds. First he would sit down for a moment...

When he sat down, he heard a clicking sound. He froze. If he wasn't in a hospital right now, he would have suspected a bomb. But that wouldn't make any sense unless these Resisters wanted to blow their wounded up. He took the chance and stood up.

Nothing happened. Kieran turned around to inspect the bed. He figured out that it wasn't broken, so something else caused the click. He pressed on the bed and it clicked again. This was very odd. Kieran pressed down on the bed twice in quick succession, but this time the wall behind the bed slowly moved to the side, revealing a ladder leading down. Well, he had just solved the suffocation problem. Now he wondered if he could use whatever this was to escape.

Rex_Blackdash 2021-09-07 21:46:05 UTC #70

Chapter Twenty-One: Pure Skill

Marcus listened to shouts echoing through the mountain. It was coming from the medical center. He pointed towards a Resister. "You! Go find out what's making all that noise!"

I smirked. I knew I heard something!

The Resister nodded and quickly hurried off in the direction of the sound.

I looked at Marcus, and his face was a mix of emotions. If there was an automaton at the medical center, then his planning was most likely for nothing. Their enemies would have surrounded them. My face on the other hand had only one emotion. Kieran was in the medical center, and if an automaton had somehow gotten there while he was resting... I wasn't sure if I would know my way without him. He was my mentor, and he taught me almost everything I needed to know in order to survive. If he was gone...

I chuckled to myself. What was I thinking? Kieran would survive. He was the most resourceful man I knew, and if anyone could survive a surprise automaton attack in their sleep, Kieran could.

We all jumped back as an explosion shook the mountain. Its origin was definitely the medical center. Marcus furrowed his brow as the Resister he sent came running back. "Report!" Marcus shouted. We could all tell the urgency in his voice.

"The medical center... It's gone!"

Marcus raised his eyebrows and took a step back. "Gone?"

"Yes, sir. From the looks of it, it just collapsed in on itself. Don't know what caused it to do so."

I gasped. "Kieran, no!" I felt like sinking to my knees right there and crying. Was my mentor really gone? It couldn't be true!

Marcus looked down. "I had friends who were recovering from the battlefield..." He took a deep breath and turned to address the Resisters in the room. "I don't have an inspirational speech for you all right now," His sadness turned to determination in an instant. "But even if we are saddened by this loss, we can't let our friends down by losing this base. They signed up to fight the Empire, and they did their job well. It's our turn now to show the Empire our determination."

A cheer erupted, and I laughed to myself even in the sadness. That guy really did have an inspirational speech for every occasion. He should write them down some time.

"The Empire must have infiltrated the mountain somehow," Marcus began. "My guess is that their first target was our prison. I think that we can safely assume that Autofficer Blake is now free and he has taken over command of this operation. If you spot him, disarm him and capture him if possible. I know that casualties are inevitable, but I want to minimize the damage done here as best as I can."

The assembly of Resisters grumbled, no doubt wondering why Marcus wanted the enemy alive. They would just escape prison sometime in the future and cause more trouble for the cause. Even though they had their disagreements, the Resisters trusted their leader enough to follow his orders.

I admired Marcus for his ability to command. His ability to keep in control under all of the pressure was amazing! I only wish I had that skill. If you put me in command of an army of Resisters, I would just smile at them, wave, and then run away.

"My guess is that the airships outside are all a diversion because no army came out of them yet. We should move our forces to the back of the mountain in order to stop the Empire's advance if they did in fact come from there."

The Resisters followed their orders and took cover behind tables or walls (Or anything else they could find). I hid behind a wall with Jaiden, nodding at him reassuringly. He nodded back. "We can win this." Jaiden said with a smile on his face and determination in his eyes. I tried to smile too, but I didn't see how we could make it out of this alive.

"Sir," Autofficer Gray turned his head to Griffin Blake. "One of the new automatons just went offline. According to the intelligence it gathered, it was in the medical center when it was destroyed."

"How was the unit destroyed?" Blake asked Autofficer Gray.

"It appears to have been crushed by the mountain, sir. Kieran threw some kind of deadly explosive weapon at it. It collapsed the ceiling onto the automaton."

"Well, I suppose this new model wasn't as strong as you thought..."

"It seems that way, sir."

"No matter." Griffin waved his hand in the air. "With the destruction of the automaton, the Resistance closed off the way to their wounded. Kieran has been trapped as well." He chuckled slightly. "How many times have I told you to be careful with explosives..."

"Sir?" Autofficer Gray said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh... Never mind." Griffin said, realizing he was thinking out loud. "I was just thinking about... Never mind."

"Well, you're right. Even in the automaton's destruction it served the Empire."

The two smiled for a moment, taking in their inevitable victory. "This might mean a promotion for both of us." Griffin said. The two Autofficer stood there for a few seconds before another Autofficer walked up to them.

"Are you two alright?" He said, startling the two out of their moment of glory.

"What?" Griffin reached for his gun holster by instinct, even though his weapon was gone. (The Resisters took it when he was captured) "Who in Aethasia are you?"

"Oh, me?" Said the new guy. "I was just assigned to this mission because of my pure skill." He drew his pistol and scanned the room through his scope. "The boss wanted me to watch your backs, old timers." He placed his pistol back into his holster and extended his hand. "The name's Jim, but you can call me Autofficer Jim if you want to be professional about it."

Griffin frowned. He wasn't even that old. "You can't be serious." He whispered to Autofficer Gray. Gray just shrugged. Great! Now he had to keep track of a trigger-happy Autofficer that didn't seem to have any experience. Or respect, for that matter.

Griffin reluctantly took the young Autofficer’s hand. Jim shook it for a moment before batting it to the side. "Right, now that that's over, where's the battle I was promised!"

Griffin sighed and rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long day.

The first of the automatons that came were Bombardiers. Every Resister shot at the thick armor of the automaton, but most of the bullets from the pistols and rifles were deflected. By the time the bombardiers were destroyed, everyone was reloading their weapons. That was when the pacifiers and troubleshooters moved in.

The pacifiers stayed in front while the troubleshooters provided support with their mortar arms. By that time, many of our Resisters were wounded or attempting to put out a fire that was on their clothes.

I was the first one to reload my pistol. I rolled out of my cover, fired a volley at the automatons, and then rolled again so I was behind a table with Marcus.

I got at least four pacifiers, but I knew that I wouldn't have been so lucky if they had been spread apart more. The pacifiers were acting as a physical shield for the Troubleshooters. I would have said that it was a genius plan if I wasn't dodging fireballs.

A bullet flew over my head and hit the nearest pacifier. It fell, but the other automatons compensated for the breach in the shield. I looked for the origin of the shot. It was Liam! He returned from his sabotage of the airships!

He rolled to the side in order to dodge a mortar, and then he lunged behind the table we were hiding behind.

Liam smiled. "Marcus, I have urgent news! The Imperials are going to attack the mountain from behind!"

Marcus rolled his eyes. "I couldn't tell..."

Suddenly, the Imperial's attack stopped. No more gunfire, no more mortars. Liam tilted his head. "I'm not that intimidating, am I?"

Marcus shook his head.

I looked through a hole in the table. (This cover is great for stopping bullets. Trust me.) They had stopped because Griffin Blake was now in the room, and he commanded them to cease fire. He pointed towards our table, and the automatons stepped to the side as if to let someone-or something pass.

I gasped as I saw the Autolizard charging straight for us.

Rex_Blackdash 2021-09-07 21:52:08 UTC #71

Chapter Twenty-Two: Thin Ice

Marcus and Liam jumped to the side just in time. I wasn't as prepared as them. The only thing I could do was close my eyes and hope for the best. Just as The Autolizard was about to tear through the table I was behind, someone pushed me off to the side. I heard a grunt, and when I opened my eyes I couldn't believe what I saw. Jack was the one who had saved my life. I was confused. Why would he risk his life to save me? He hated me.

The table had shattered and now Jack was sprawled across the floor. He wasn't moving. I feared the worst, but when I ran up to him, he was breathing. He slowly opened his eyes and managed to cough out a word. "Run!"

I hesitated. I couldn't just leave Jack here, but he was right. I saw the Autolizard, and it had its fog-green eyes on me. I looked back at Jack once more, and then I bolted to the doors of the mountain.

When I got outside, The Autolizard wasn't far behind. I frowned, unsure of what to do. Then, my mind wandered to that day when I was alone with Marcus.

I smirked as a plan formed in my head. If I brought The Autolizard to the patch of thin ice next to the mountain then maybe, just maybe, its weight would be too much and it would break through. I only hoped that The Autolizard didn't have more absurd powers like the ability to climb walls. If I was lucky, I could damage the Autolizard. Well, either that or make it angry. If The Scarlet Man was with me, I might be able to destroy it once and for all. I had to try. For The Resistance. For Kieran.

So I ran. I ran for the thin patch of ice.

Liam and Marcus watched in horror as Rex ran out of the mountain flailing his arms wildly. They looked at each other with their eyebrows raised. "Who knew he could be such a good decoy!" Liam said with a smirk. "Should we go help him now?"

Marcus shook his head. "Nah, he looks like he has this under control. Besides, we have other matters to deal with." Marcus directed Liam's gaze towards Griffin Blake and two other Autofficers. One looked like a trigger-happy Autofficer that didn't seem to have any experience. No, he actually looked like a madman! He didn't seem to care if he shot a Resister or the wall.

"I'll take Blake and you take the other two." Marcus said.

"Hey, that doesn't seem fair!" Liam said. "That one looks like he could take the Resistance on by himself. But if you say so..."

As gunshots exploded around them from the battle, the two Resisters pulled out their swords and charged towards the group of Autofficers.

The three imperials were surprised to say the least. Griffin Blake spun around and retreated back towards the prison cells while the other two stayed to block the path. The youngest Autofficer spun his weapon around in some futile attempt to threaten the Resisters. "Just try to get past me." He taunted. "My name is Autofficer Jim, and this is Autofficer Gray. We will stop you, and I will not-"

He continued to talk on for quite some time. He seemed to be distracted by his own "pure skill" as he stated it. Marcus looked at Liam. "You got this under control, right?"

Liam nodded. "Should be fun."

Marcus ran towards Autofficer Gray and rammed straight into him. Both men fell to the floor. Jim was so startled by this action that he dropped the pistol he was spinning around. Taking the opening Marcus supplied, Liam charged into Jim. Marcus got to his feet again and charged towards the prison past automatons and Resisters alike. Autofficer Gray recovered soon after and ran to protect Autofficer Blake.

Liam and Jim wrestled over a pistol that was on the floor. The Autofficer punched Liam in the gut, but the Resister ultimately gained the weapon. He rolled away from Jim so he was at a safe distance, and then he aimed the weapon at the Autofficer's chest. Jim's eyes opened wide as he realized his defeat. He raised his hands into the air immediately. "I give up."

Suddenly, the mountain shook violently and Liam lost his grip on the gun. "What was that!?" He shouted to himself. The doors to the mountain were open, and Liam could see that two of the airships had taken off. They must have been launching cannonballs at the mountain!

Liam grabbed the pistol again and turned back to Jim, only Jim was now gone. He sighed. "Great."

Marcus slowly walked towards Griffin Blake, maneuvering himself in front of the big hole in the wall that was the Autofficer's only exit. (He was pretty sure that the hole didn't used to be there.) "Give up," Marcus said. "There's nowhere to hide!" Griffin had his arms behind his back as if he was in control of the situation, but he had a look of fear in his eyes, and his head darted around the room for other possible options. Marcus slowly moved towards the Imperial. "Call your automatons off, now!"

"I- I-" The Autofficer stuttered. When Marcus got a few feet away from Griffin, the mountain shook. He stopped to steady himself.

Griffin's fear quickly diminished, and he didn't seem to be affected by the shaking as much as Marcus. It was as if he was prepared for it. "I will not." He quickly moved his hand from behind his back, revealing a pistol. He fired the weapon.

Marcus jumped to the side, but the bullet still hit his leg. He gasped as he fell to the floor. Autofficer Gray entered the room shortly after that. "Time to go, sir."

Jim ran in a few seconds later. "Let’s get out of here!"

Both Griffin and Autofficer Gray sighed. He survived. "Fine," Griffin said. "Call back the IIAs, and then let's go before this entire mountain comes down on top of our heads!"

Crack!

I could tell that the ice I was running on wouldn't hold for much longer, especially since The Autolizard was right behind me. After a few seconds more of running, I decided that I was deep enough in the middle of the ice that The Autolizard wouldn't be able to run away quickly enough if it broke. I pulled out my sword and spun to meet The Autolizard's gaze. We stood there for a few seconds just staring at each other. The green gaze of the Automaton was kind of unnerving, actually.

Overhead, two of the imperial airships were bombarding the mountain. I gasped.

I was afraid. Afraid of what might happen to my friends. Afraid of what might happen to me if the ice broke. I was worried that my plan wouldn't work. If The Autolizard wasn't destroyed by this, then I wouldn't know what else to do. The Resistance itself may very well depend on the outcome of this battle. Something as powerful as The Autolizard couldn't be allowed to stay functioning. It could probably take down the entire Resistance by itself. I had to succeed.

And with that in mind, I charged forward with my sword raised. The Autolizard charged too. I dropped down to my knees and the ice slid me under The Autolizard. I stood up again and jumped onto the Automaton's leg. From there, I climbed up onto it's back.

In Jefferson's Camp, I remembered Kieran saying something. He told me something... There was less of something behind the automaton's head. I looked there and my face was instantly blasted with hot air. It was a heat vent, and by the looks of it, there was no armor protecting it. (The heat was soothing, actually. I was freezing.) The Autolizard immediately tried to shake me off. At first I had a good grip, but then I began to slip. The ice underneath The Autolizard looked very brittle. If I fell now, I might break through.

I couldn't hold on for much longer. I tried once more to climb up, but I just kept falling more and more. Just as I was about to lose my grip, I heard a gunshot. The Autolizard roared as if it was in pain, and I winced, wishing that I could cover my ears.

I used this diversion to scramble back up to the heat vent. I scanned the plains of snow for the origin of the gunshot, and I thought I saw someone in a white outfit escaping the scene, but the figure was gone so fast that I wasn't sure. I was just thankful that he came, whoever he was.

The sound of ice cracking came to my ears, reminding me of what I was doing. I looked back down at the heat vent and raised my sword to strike it. I closed my eyes, hoping that this would work. And then I opened my eyes and plunged the sword into The Autolizard.

The automaton made a hissing sound as fog poured out of the heat vent. It blasted into my face and I gagged. The Autolizard's head sagged and rested on the Ice. That was too much for it to handle, however. The ground cracked one last time before shattering. I saw The Autolizard fall, but I didn't. Was I floating?

I looked up to see that someone had grabbed my arm right before I fell into the pit. When I looked at who saved me, I couldn't believe who I saw.

"Kieran! You're alive!"

Kieran chuckled. "What, you think that a mountain falling on top of me would kill me?" He pulled me out of the pit and I smiled at him. "It's good to see you again."

"You too, kid, but we shouldn't get all mushy while standing on top of unstable ice."

My eyes widened. "Oh, right!"

Liam squinted. He was pretty sure he placed the bomb on one of those airborne airships, so if he detonated this right...

Liam grabbed his detonator, waited for the right moment, and then pushed the button labeled "detonate". The airship on the left immediately erupted into flames. It lost control and began to spin. Liam smiled. "Yes! That's one down..." The airship tilted slightly and spun towards the second one. It crashed into the other airship and both of them plummeted towards the ground.

Liam nearly jumped into the air and shouted: "Yessssssss!" But he didn't because that would have drawn all of the automaton's attention to him. Instead, he settled with: "Two out of three isn't that bad."

When Liam was done admiring his work, he spun around and ran to aid Marcus. On the way there, he noticed that the battle was dying down. The Resistance was winning by a lot. Without leadership, the automatons got weaker.

When Liam got to the prison however, his friend was lying on the floor and the three Autofficers were escaping through the tunnel. "What happened?" Liam said urgently.

"Griffin caught me by surprise..." Marcus said. "You have to catch them... Don't let them escape!"

"We can let them go this time!" Liam said to Marcus. "Their superiors will probably punish them for this loss anyways."

Marcus sighed. "You're probably right."

The two Resisters heard a cheer coming from the main room. They frowned. "Help me up." Marcus said to Liam. Together, the two entered into the main room to find that all of the Resisters were cheering. Marcus shook his head. "I can't believe this." The two Resisters looked at each other and smiled. "We won."

One week later...

I sat on a snow bank that was overlooking the mountain. It had been a while and I still couldn't believe we won that battle. Ever since the attack we've been working on repairs. And since The Empire knew this base existed, we were also working on defenses.

We excavated the medical center as soon as possible so we could move the wounded there. We had minimal losses, and everyone was glad to hear that.

Jack turned out to be okay. I thanked him for saving my life and he actually got close to saying "you're welcome."

I really enjoyed the friendship that the Resisters of this mountain shared with each other, and I was so happy to learn that Marcus accepted my request to stay here with them permanently. They said that I really made a difference, and without me they may not have won. It was probably all flattery, but I would like to think that it's true.

I watched the sun set as another day went by. Like all of the others, it was good. My friends made sure of that.

"Congratulations on your victory." A soft voice said behind me. I jumped up and turned around. Standing right in front of me was a man dressed completely in white. I was going to ask who he was, but I think I already knew.

"You're The Scarlet Man."

He nodded. "I am. The color of my Snowmoors outfit usually throws people off, though."

I remembered seeing a man in white during my fight with The Autolizard. "You saved my life."

"I did, didn't I?" Replied The Scarlet Man.

"Why are you here?"

"To see you."

I blinked. "Me? Why me?"

"Why not you?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but I found that I didn't have anything to say.

"Rex, you did well during the battle of the mountain."

"Thank you, but I couldn't have done it without your help."

"You underestimate yourself."

I looked down. "What happens if I need your help but you aren't there?"

I felt his hand on my shoulder. "I will always be with you."

When I looked up, The Scarlet Man was gone. (He didn't even make any tracks in the snow! How does he do that?)

It felt like a burden I didn't know I was carrying had been lifted. I trusted The Scarlet Man's words, and I found peace knowing that the Great Engineer would be with me always. I smiled. "Thank you."

The End

(Later, Rex found out that The Scarlet Man wore his Snowmoors outfit because (and I quote The Scarlet Man)"It's extremely fuzzy and comfortable.")

Rex_Blackdash 2021-09-07 21:53:52 UTC #72

Epilogue:

The last airship lifted off from the ground. The Autofficers and the IIAs were the only imperials to survive the battle. Griffin Blake stood watching the mountain as it slowly shrunk away into the distance. He had one thought going through his mind. "How did we lose?" Griffin wondered out loud. "We had the advantage. We surprised them and outnumbered them. It just doesn't make any sense..." Another thought came to mind. "Emperor Lucky will be most displeased with me..."

"Us." Autofficer Gray stated as he walked up to Griffin. "I'll take as much punishment as you. What are we going to do? We can't go back to Lucky with the results of the battle. We would surely be sent to the Fogworks."

"You're right," Griffin thought for a moment. "We would have to cover up our mistake, or..." Griffin smiled deviously. "Or make it seem like it wasn't our mistake." Both of the Autofficers turned their heads to look at Autofficer Jim. They looked back at each other, and then they both smiled.

"Both Autofficer Gray and myself were..." Griffin searched for the right word. "Incapacitated by the time the real battle started. Autofficer Jim was actually in command of the entire imperial force that attacked the Resistance's mountain."

Lucky furrowed his brow and stayed silent for an entire minute at least. It seemed like longer than that to Griffin. He hoped that the Emperor couldn't see the sweat on his forehead. When Lucky wasn't looking, Griffin quickly wiped it away. He couldn't believe that he was in Lucky's court lying to The Emperor himself.

"Take Autofficer Jim away!" Lucky finally commanded with a wave of his hand. Two pacifiers walked through a doorway and immediately and grabbed Jim by the arms.

"What? Hey! You believed them? The loss wasn't my fault!"

Griffin scowled. "Don't give the blame to someone else, Jim. You know what you did!"

"Honest, it wasn't me! It was-" The doors closed, interrupting Jim's plea.

Griffin and Gray quietly sighed in unity, and then Lucky turned his attention to the Autofficers. They held their breath.

"You are excused."

The two Autofficers bowed and hastily exited the court.

"That was close." Autofficer Gray said.

"That was the easy part."

Griffin and Autofficer Gray stood in front of the room labeled "Autofficer Hunt". Griffin swallowed.

It’s not as though Hunt were a more dangerous man than the Emperor. It was that the Emperor needed to be at least partially lenient. Otherwise, everyone in the Empire would be in the Fogworks. Hunt, on the other hand, didn’t have such a wide view. He would be more displeased than the Emperor was.

Autofficer Blake grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. He and Autofficer Gray shuffled into the dark room. The only things in the entire office were a single chair, a single desk, and a single figure directly in front of them.

Griffin cleared his throat. "Sir, we...we failed to capture the base."

The figure slowly stood up and walked towards the Autofficers. He was wearing a set of armor complete with an intimidating helmet. Griffin and Autofficer Gray seemed to shrink before him.

Autofficer Hunt examined them for a moment before speaking. "No matter. My plan is set in motion, and my spy within the Resistance is helping me immensely." The door behind Blake and Gray opened and another figure walked into the small office. Autofficer Hunt looked at the new person. "Do you have the item I asked for?"

The figure bowed. "I do, sir, just as you requested." He returned to a standing position and walked into the light.

It was Jaiden.

The End.

Again...

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Rex_Blackdash 2021-07-30 00:33:57 UTC #73

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