Chapter 10: Chapter Chapter Nine

“Have you made the modifications I requested?” Steiner casually sipped her tea.

“Yeah,” Sabine replied blankly. She was staring at a pair of flowers encased in glass on a shelf in Steiner’s office.

“Good. Do you like them?”

“What?”

“The flowers.”

“Oh. I suppose they’re pretty…”

“They are Vampire Orchids. I would not quite call them carnivorous, but it would not be far from the truth.”

“What do you mean?”

“They require blood or flesh to grow.”

“How are you growing them here?”

“Steiner Industries has no shortage of blood, nor flesh.”

“That’s…” Sabine returned to her seat in front of Steiner’s desk and stared blankly into her cup of tea.

“It would be irresponsible to simply discard the limbs of those who wish to augment, would it not? We transplant as many as possible, but what about the pieces we can not?”

“I suppose…”

“You have not touched your tea,” Steiner observed as she sat down. “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t want to do this any more,” Sabine stated.

“Do what?” Steiner smirked.

“I want to drop out of the tournament. I don’t want anyone else to die because of me.”

“You do not have a choice in the matter.”

“I always have a choice!” Sabine shouted.

“If you drop out, you will be executed,” Steiner grabbed the ornate golden teapot on the table and filled her cup. She wafted the mahogany nectar before taking a sip. “Without your skills, your crash will inevitably lose, leading to their demise.”

“No! That’s…That’s not fair!”

“How does that phrase go…?” Steiner’s lips peeled back, revealing her fangs. “Life is not fair.”

“Am I interrupting something?” Nyx asked as he entered the office.

“No. We were just passing the time before the match.”

“I see,” Nyx sat on the sofa. “What kind of tea is that? Can I have some?”

“Cinnamon Rooibos, and no, you may not.”

“Oh. Alright,” Nyx sighed. The trio sat in silence while they waited for Wolf and Nina to arrive.

“What’s the plan, Stein?” Wolf asked cheerfully.

“Do not call me that,” Steiner commanded fiercely. “We have some footage to go over.”

Steiner gestured to the blank wall, which began to play combat footage from one of the recent matches. It was the city battlefield, with four mugen on both sides. One group was stationary, while the other group moved in to attack. The attacking crash unloaded everything they possibly could on the stationary team, but could not penetrate the massive shield being generated by the three mugen in front. They retreated and regrouped to consider their options.

“They’re just standing there,” Wolf pointed out.

“Watch,” Steiner replied. After about five more minutes, the shield went down briefly as the mugen in the back was enveloped by a black vortex. It reappeared hundreds of meters above the battlefield. All of its limbs unfolded to revealed countless racks of missiles, which it began to rain down upon the battlefield. After about thirty seconds, the mugen stopped firing and slowly descended to the ground, which had been completely leveled, save for the dome protected by its crash. Nothing remained but a scarred wasteland.

“Oh,” Wolf observed. “Couldn’t Nyx just take out the missile guy?”

“Even if I spent all five shots, which is far beyond your price range, mind you, I doubt it would pierce that shield. The three pilots would definitely be fatigued, but…I don’t think it’s worth the effort.”

“That’s cheese!” Wolf cried out. “There’s no counterplay!”

“What if we used an EMP?” Nina asked.

“My intel suggests they are immune to EMP assaults.”

“So…how do we beat them? This is a suicide mission,” Wolf stated.

“Sabine has installed the necessary equipment to counter this strategy, however, she will be unable to fight afterwards.”

“So…are you going to tell us the plan, or what?”

“Of course,” Steiner sipped her tea. “Listen carefully, for I will not repeat myself.”

“This is fucking crazy, Sab. You know that, right?” Wolf spat angrily.

“Did you have any better ideas?”

“That EMP one sounded not too bad.”

“Look, they’ve gone all in on this. If it doesn’t work, it’ll be an easy cleanup for you.”

“I just want you to know that I don’t support this plan,” Wolf replied as the battlefield began to fizzle into existence. It was a lush, green forest. “How long do we have to wait for?”

“Nina, you’ve got a visual, right?”

“Affirmative.”

“We wait as long as we need to. When they make a move, we make ours,” Sabine responded. The group waited patiently for ten minutes before their opponent’s shield dropped momentarily.

“Now!” Nina cried out as the black vortex began to envelop the hostile mugen. A similar vortex appeared around Sabine. Her opponent arrived above the battlefield and began to unfold its limbs, with Sabine appearing in front of it just as it began to fire. Bastien’s limbs unfolded in a similar manner, but instead projected a small domed shield around the mugen. The missiles began to fly, impacting the shield and exploding inside the bubble. Sabine grit her teeth as her lifeblood was rapidly sucked from her arm. Bastien rumbled from the force of the explosions. After about twenty-seven seconds, Sabine couldn’t hold on any longer and the shield failed. The last chain of explosions impacted Bastien directly, ripping off his limbs and tearing open the hull of the cockpit. The remaining shell plummeted to the ground along with the scrap metal that remained from the hostile mugen.

“Sabine!” Wolf cried out as he rushed to catch Bastien. He dove to catch her, sliding through the dirt.

“I’m…fine. It’s up to you…” Sabine mumbled.

“Nyx, can you handle one of them?”

“I need to wait until their shield goes down,” Nyx calmly replied.

“You’re not going to shoot me in the back, right?”

“You insult me. My aim’s better than that,” Nyx laughed. “Just don’t stand right in between all three of them.”

“Looks like I’m doing all the work, once again,” Wolf’s face burst into an enormous grin. “More glory for me!”

Wolf sprinted towards the enemy crash. Once he had gotten close, he stopped a few feet in front of their energy shield. He stood motionless for a few seconds, then waved. The mugen did not respond. He began to moonwalk around the circumference of the shield. When he had made a full circle, he started to do simple dance moves in front of them.

“Can you stop fucking around?” Nyx asked politely.

“What am I supposed to do?” Wolf asked. “They’re going to bleed themselves dry eventually, right? I’m bored, bruv.”

Nyx grumbled under his breath and went back to waiting. Wolf continued to dance. After a few minutes, the shield sputtered. The second it fell, Wolf lunged, plasma blade extended, cutting clean through the frontmost mugen, splitting it in two. A blast from Nyx’s energy rifle simultaneously pierced the hull of the rearmost mugen, removing the cockpit from its chassis. A black vortex had devoured the last mugen, which appeared above Bastien. A large orb in its chest began to glow as it charged, preparing to fire.

“Sabby!” Wolf cried out as he rushed to Bastien’s remains. He used everything in his arsenal to arrive as quickly as he could. He managed to get there just as the hostile mugen began to fire. Wolf used his arm cannons to try to blast the orb out of its chest, which only partially worked. A small hole was created in the mugen’s hull, but the beam of energy still fired, blasting through Uragiru’s cockpit. Wolf managed to eject, but was sent flying from the blast.

The enemy mugen hulked over Bastien and started charging its laser again. Sabine reached under her seat and grabbed her revolver. She took a deep breath before unloading the cylinder into the hole in the mech’s hull. The orb stopped glowing and the mugen stood motionless for a moment before tumbling to the ground. Sabine climbed out of the wreckage and ran to Wolf’s motionless body. A massive chunk had been torn out of his lower left abdomen. There was a small pool of blood around his body, but he had stopped bleeding.

“Wolf!” Sabine cried out as she grabbed his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake. Wolf’s lips didn’t move, but a female voice began to emit from his body. Small white fibers were being woven through the wound, which seemed to be what was stopping the bleeding.

“Life support system activated. The damage has already been assessed and treatment is being administered by nanobots. Do you have any questions?”

“How is this possible?” Sabine asked. The female voice cut out and was replaced by Wolf’s. It was a recording.

“Augments, baby!”

“Fuck you!” Sabine sobbed.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand that question,” the female voice responded as Nina arrived with a doctor and two teslaguards. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“Is Wolf going to be okay?” Nina cried.

“The patient’s vitals have stabilized. Survival is guaranteed. Although the patient is unconscious, your words of encouragement will be recorded and played back upon revival.