308: Happy

[Author note: I noticed someone in the last chapter said they were excited to see audience reactions, which I... didn't really put in this chapter >_<. But I figure it would be cool to have some, in fact really we need at least some kind of reaction and I feel bad for not including that now lol. So now I put in a final bit from Jian/Hanwei pov, then added a bit of Nic in the crowd after that. Just wrote it in like 30 mins so lemme know if there are mistakes but yeah, hope you enjoy ^_^ if you were one of those who read this in the first hour after the chapter came out, then have another look to see.]

An Assembler combat bot leaned around a corner, guns glowing red in the dark. Its minigun spun to life and a spray of gunfire lit up the tunnel, illuminating the chittering horde pouring toward it. The thumping boom of its .50 joined.

Each scream of the minigun toppled the bugs in droves, while the .50 punched huge holes in anything it hit. The bot fired in short, staccato bursts, starting and stopping, steam and smoke rising from the barrels in the pauses. Dead bugs piled up before it as minutes passed, but it couldn’t last.

One last, seconds-long wave of gunfire pushed the bugs back a few precious metres more, then the bot’s guns clicked empty.

The Assembler bot shifted, stomping away from the tunnel, retreating through the mines to where the lines were stronger. From the darkness behind it came a sussurrus of hissing and clacking, the bugs pressing forward. Another kill-zone lost.

Legal dropped the feed and considered. It had established a strong defensive line via these choke points, spreading all through the mine. Each tunnel had a bot positioned there, beating back the invaders. In some of the closer tunnels the bugs’ corpses had so clogged them that they were unable to push through, and at first Legal and its bots had successfully pushed them back, seen them erupt only in deeper tunnels, gained room to retreat.

They’d need that room. Ammo was running low and with that its bots were forced into a gradual retreat. Bit by bit it was having to give up on chokepoints, all the bots being pressed toward the central chamber. The Assembler was working hard, full flow, pumping out more rounds every minute. Transports flowed between the Assembler and the bots, delivering fresh rounds, but the output was not matching up to expenditure, and the Assembler’s supplies, low to start with, were now critical.

A dog-sized insect came skittering towards where Legal stood on the ridge, outside the security door. Flanking it were two combat bots. They were the final line of defence. The bug cantered up the slope, watched by Legal and the other two impassively. The moment the creature reached the top one of the bots stepped out, lashed a heavy leg and knocked the creature flying. It smashed against a wall and fell dead, joining a pile of its fellows.

The creatures were increasingly slipping through the chokes. Legal couldn’t let them reach the Assembler, but it and the bots couldn’t hold them forever. Something had to change. Fortunately, Legal had a solution.

The Assembler had been at work on explosives, alongside bullets. Now, enough had been made. It calculated that with the bomb, the bulk of the tunnels could be collapsed. All of the openings the bugs were pouring from. There was risk of a ripple effect damaging the base itself, but at the current rate the base would soon be overrun regardless.

A squad of droids—the last that remained—came forward to stand beside the bulk of Legal’s large form. Each carried an Assembler-made assault rifle, fully loaded. One had the bomb strapped to its body. Legal left the other two combat bots in place, holding the ridge at the top of the pit.

Would they hold? It hoped so. It was forced to alter its orders. Now, bots running out of ammo were commanded to stay in position, hold those choke points a moment longer. It needed time to loop around and plant the bomb. If the explosives had been ready sooner, it would have done this from the start. But alas.

They moved forward and immediately encountered bugs. As the combat bots at the choke points fell, running out of ammunition and giving their lives to slow the tide, the swarm began to spread into wider areas of the mine.

The droids stayed tight around Legal. Three circled the one carrying the bomb, protecting it. They moved in the mech-suit’s shadow, firing between its legs and around its bulk, while Legal crushed everything small underfoot and blasted anything large from a distance.

###

‘Was that a barbarian weapon?’ the Patriarch asked, staring down into the Arena in confusion, one Jian mirrored.

‘You Nara are using those things?’ he spat, faintly disgusted.

Hanwei’s lizard eyes slid over them. ‘Of course. The Nara use anything of use. Their weapons are very effective, especially when used at a crucial moment of surprise.’ His gaze returned to where his sister was rising into the air in a blue bubble, across from another bubble containing Nicolai, then traced across the arena.

‘It didn’t seem very effective to me,’ muttered Jian irritably.

‘It would have been. It was, in our tests.’ Hanwei brows pinched together, seeming oddly uneasy and confused. ‘How could he have dodged them? All of them, until the last. It makes no sense. It shouldn’t be possible.’

Jian shrugged, uncaring, annoyed. ‘Probably he just knows some trick about the weapons we don’t, I doubt he did anything fancy.’

Hanwei looked down at the audience in the rings below, emanating doubt. ‘The barbarians feel otherwise.’

That was something of an understatement. The cheering from the metal-men spread through the audience was ridiculous in scope. Their roars were dominated by a manic chant: “Bullet dodger, bullet dodger!” He didn’t know what it meant and he didn’t want to know.

###

The last time he’d won a Tournament, he’d appeared right in the middle of the lobby, reward in hand.

This time he appeared in the typical waiting room. He raised his hands, turned them over suspiciously. Empty.

A turn of his head brought his surprise into view. A part of the wall had become a small square opening, the inside shimmering with multicoloured lights. He saw a small, slim box resting there.  Like when he’d won that private stake against Jian.

Only back then, this little hole had been open and the wall had informed him that as it was his first time, the Duel Arena tax was waived. This time, there was a barrier of pale energy covering it. There were several paragraphs of glowing text on the wall above.

Congratulations on winning your second Tournament!

Several accusations of cheating have been levelled against you. House Morvain has requested your reward be held pending investigation. It will become available following the end of their investigation (assuming no evidence of cheating is found), or after five days, whichever comes first.

In the event you are found to have gone against Duel Arena Tournament rules, you will receive no reward.

Thank you for your patience.

After glaring at the wall and the irritating message he turned to face the door. This was another recruitment attempt from yet another People House, as heavy-handed as usual. He anticipated someone would be along in a moment.

But the door did not open. It seemed he’d have to seek them out. He had no intention of leaving here without that Permit. Pressing the door open he was met by a wash of sound, the Duel Arena’s lobby packed and busy as usual.

Threat Analysis pointed out he ought to get Legal. When dealing with Morvain, seeking the deliverance of that Permit, it was likely to come in useful. Doubtless Legal would be very happy to do so.

He was reaching for his Mark to open the portal when some Cyborgs noticed him, and there was a sudden rush of movement, accompanied by a pouring of messages over Local.

Suddenly he was surrounded, and he reached for the Blade, for a weapon, but before he could get ahold of it one of the dozens of people around him had seized his hand.

‘Fantastic!’ frothed a red-faced corporate-type manically, thrashing his limp hand up and down. ‘I’ve never seen the like! You dodged them! You dodged them!’ He let out a cry of overjoyed laughter, clapped Nicolai madly on the back.

His hand was seized a dozen times more as the crowd of excessively excited people around him vomited their glee all over him. Some of them gave him the distinct impression they had made quite a bit of money betting on him, but many just seemed overjoyed purely at what he’d done.

By and large he disliked the press, disliked the people, disliked the attention. And yet somehow he began to find their overwhelming happiness towards him strangely endearing. The gifts he received didn’t hurt, either.

A man was spat out from the surging crowd. Starz.

‘There he is, there he is,’ the Cyborg gibbered. Nicolai endured the jerky handshake with resignation. ‘I’ve never seen it, never seen the like of it! You didn’t even use a Zerker! That clips already my best seller!’ The man slid closer, voice rising to be audible over the excited people all around. ‘Champion, or maybe I should say double Champion, I don’t suppose you have any words or wisdom to share? Any… advice for people looking to follow your example?’

From Starz gleaming eyes, Nicolai knew the man saw an opportunity for another “Post-Tournament interview with the winner.”

‘I might have some words or wisdom,’ he uttered tonelessly. ‘Firstly…’ he paused, a little taken aback when the word rang strangely loud and clear, given a sudden pocket of silence as those around went quiet, eyes fixed with worrying intensity upon him. He shrugged. ‘When dodging bullets, the key is to not get hit.’

The laughter that rose just about filled the lobby. Nicolai was 99% sure that it had not been that funny.

He saw a familiar figure, moving quick through the crowd in his direction. It was Xuejing, and beside her walked a man who must be closely related. Same dark red hair, same finely-boned features.

The pair stopped some distance away, staring at the Earthers packed tight around him. It was clear they wanted to speak with him. Xuejing’s eyes flicked uneasily from him to the man beside her. Some of Nicolai’s crowd of well-wishes spotted them, and immediately started jeering.

‘There she is, the loser…’ ‘Nice try, but not nice enough!’ ‘Trying to use a gun against a gunslinger, hahaha?!’ and so on. Xuejing, surprisingly enough, seemed unbothered by this.

This broke Nicolai out of the strange uncertainty that had settled upon him. He wasn’t sure what the Nara wanted, but he was sure he’d rather find out than stay here. He slithered free from them all with a sinuous twisting of his body. ‘Must be off,’ he called out, and moved quickly away. He received a barrage of suspiciously friendly calls from behind, and barely managed to avoid breaking into a run. He pinged Starz, connecting briefly over Local.

‘I’m awaiting my complimentary recordings,’ he said. The Cyborg chuckled, said some more shit and sent them over.

The Nara pair watched as he came, then the man moved aside, leading Xuejing towards a small alcove set in the wall. Nicolai followed.

‘That was well fought,’ said the man at length. He glanced at Xuejing. Lowered his chin half an inch. ‘From both.’

She all but collapsed with relief.

‘I am Hanwei of the Nara,’ the man continued, ‘Xuejing is my sister. We come with a request.’

‘Go on,’ Nicolai replied, curious. Quite a different reaction from the defeated party, compared to his last victory. Though, the Mask pointed out that was likely at least partly due to the method of victory.

‘Would you be willing to spar with me, now and then?’ spoke Xuejing, the words bursting from her. Hanwei’s eyes flicked at her but then he nodded. That, apparently, was the offer.

‘When you reach Tier 2, I have a similar request,’ murmured Hanwei, and the man’s eyes fairly burned with hunger.

Nicolai’s mouth quirked in a hidden smile. These people spoke his language. ‘So long as I have the time… I would be delighted.’ Fighting skilled opponents was always of value.

Xuejing grinned wide, Hanwei nodded, face impassive.

‘Beyond that, the Nara is also always interested in acquiring outside talent,’ he added. ‘Have you ever considered joining a Clan?’

‘No,’ he replied. Did he feel the faintest urge? Perhaps the Mask might’ve, had it not been uneasy about how precisely these Clans functioned. As to the rest of him, joining an organisation and acting honourably and honestly within them was not really his style.

Hanwei merely nodded. ‘What about working on a more contractual basis? Occasionally we could use a little extra muscle.’

That was more like it. ‘If you can afford my fees, I’m always open to work.’

Xuejing made a wry face, and Hanwei looked a little sour. ‘We’ll have to see how much you charge. For now then, farewell.’ He nodded his head, turned to move away.

Xuejing, however, did not move. The man cast a curious glance at her. She stared back. His lip quirked in a smirk, and he turned and left.

‘You were happy,’ she said to him.

Nicolai tilted his head at the non-sequitur. ‘What?’

She swallowed. ‘When you spoke to me, when we fought. When you chose not to end the fight. I was wondering why?’

Nicolai thought back. He’d been pleased because the Dark had wanted him to strike, been pushing and pushing him. But with a simple draw of Angelic energy from the Blade, he’d soothed it. And he’d realised that he didn’t want the fight to end there and then, like that. He wanted a real fight.

And that he could have that fight, and at the same moment the realisation had hit him that with the Blade he was perfectly in control of himself. The Mask pressed close to him, and his mouth opened.

‘I realised I had control. I have somewhat solved my… problem. I am evolving. Becoming a perfect… being…’ And now that he had the Dark in his grip, his desire was to plumb the depths of the Zero-Twelve state. To see how well he could fight. To see what he could become. ‘A new man,’ he murmured. ‘So to speak.’

The words meant a lot to him, but as he gazed into her confused eyes he saw they meant little to her. Until, that was, those eyes lit up, as did her face. ‘I see!’ she cried. ‘You… you’re like me? I guess. A little, anyway?’

He thought of what he’d seen in her, the smile she wore while fighting at her best, the sense that she, too, was able to become deeply wrapped in the glorious, edge-of-the-knife embrace of the fight, the flow of life and death. Perhaps they were more alike than he’d thought. Perhaps hidden within her was a need to murder everything within reach. Perhaps not, said Psychology. 

‘I think I am. A little.’

‘And you solved your problem?’

He smiled, and the Mask smiled, and the H-gram smiled. ‘I have. Somewhat.’

She nodded, eyes turning distant. ‘Good, good. That’s very good. I am so glad to hear it. Then I, too, can solve my problem.’

He lowered his head in a slight bow, to one a little like himself. ‘I wish you luck.’

‘Thank you!’ She was wearing the biggest smile, and she bowed so low she almost bent double. ‘Farewell!’ She dissolved into the crowd.

Nicolai slid back into the waiting room before someone else could approach him. Through Local, he knew that there was someone looking for him. Gregory, an individual he’d very briefly met before.

But that could wait. In the waiting room he reached for his Mark. He wanted to track down a Morvain representative, and he wanted Legal beside him when he did.