The journey down to the floor containing the Containment Area turned out to be considerably more eventful than Chloe had hoped, mostly because apparently Divinity Inc. had decided that guarding this section required an absolutely ridiculous number of robots. The moment she and the gang arrived, they were all greeted by an entire squad of them standing throughout the wide corridor, all clad in sleek black armor with reinforced plating over their torsos and limbs, their glowing visors giving them the appearance of some kind of extremely serious military commando unit. Chloe barely had time to appreciate how cool they looked before one of them suddenly lunged forward, its fist snapping toward her face. Aww man, they look so cool!
She ducked beneath the punch, spun around, and delivered a perfectly executed karate chop directly to the side of the robot's neck. The impact rang through the corridor, and Chloe's hand stung and felt a bit tingly afterward. She shook her fingers before glaring at the robot. "Okay, wow, your neck is really hard."
The robot apparently didn't care about her complaint because it immediately followed up with a spinning kick, forcing Chloe to jump back. She landed with a flourish, lightning crackling faintly around her body, before deciding that this was actually pretty fun. These robots were fast, too, moving with the kind of precise martial arts techniques that made Chloe suspect someone had actually spent a lot of time teaching machines how to punch people in the face. One came rushing toward her with a flurry of strikes, and Chloe blocked the first, dodged the second, and then chopped downward onto its shoulder. Another rushed in from behind, only for Percy to intercept it with a single punch that sent the machine flying down the hallway.
Chloe glanced over and saw Percy calmly cracking his knuckles. "Nice."
Percy gave a grunt, guess that was just his way of saying "thanks". Anyway, another robot soon charged him, and he responded by punching it again.
Chloe couldn't help laughing as she turned back toward the rest of the fight. Liz was having a considerably more stylish time of things. She raised one hand, dark energy swirling around her fingers before erupting outward in a mass of black tendrils that wrapped around one of the commando robots. The machine struggled for a second before the dark magic tightened, wrenching its limbs apart and smashing it against the floor.
Then there was Z. A robot rushed toward her, throwing a punch. Z moved aside with almost insulting ease, conjured this shiny energy blade, and then swung it immediately. The robot's arm separated cleanly from its body. Before it could even react, she swung again, cutting through its torso, and then again,.
Despite the robots' impressive martial arts abilities, they really didn't stand much of a chance against the four of them. Chloe decided to make things interesting for herself, darting between the machines while throwing herself into increasingly ridiculous karate poses. She kicked one robot in the chest, spun around, and delivered a chop to another's helmet before proudly announcing, "Hi-yah!"
She wasn't entirely sure if that was actually how martial artists were supposed to sound, but it definitely made the attack cooler, so she decided it counted. She had just enough time to feel pleased with herself before another robot rushed forward. Chloe confidently raised her hands, ready to demonstrate her newly acquired mastery of the ancient and highly sophisticated art of hitting robots with her hands.
But then the robot uppercut her, and Chloe's feet left the ground as she was launched backward, her body flipping through the air while she stared helplessly at the ceiling before crashing onto her back with a thud. She bounced once against the floor and lay there for a moment, staring upward as the robot calmly approached and stood over her.
Of course, there was absolutely no way Chloe was going to lose to some stupid robot. That would be embarrassing. So, when the robot recovered and charged toward her again, she pushed herself off the floor just as it swung, ducked, and then drove her head straight into the machine's face with a loud CLANG!
The impact made Chloe's entire skull ring, but when she stumbled backward and blinked away the brief burst of dizziness, she found herself still perfectly intact while the robot's head had been thoroughly dented and partially caved in. Chloe stared at it for a second before grinning proudly.
Whatever that robot was made of, apparently her skull was made of something considerably better. Which was actually pretty impressive when she thought about it. Although... wait. Did having a really hard skull mean she had a thick skull? Chloe's smile faded for a moment as she considered that possibility. No, no, that couldn't be right. Having a thick skull meant being stupid, didn't it? And Chloe wasn't stupid! She was extremely smart, probably the smartest person she knew.
Well, okay, maybe Z was also pretty smart, but Chloe figured she wasn't that far behind Z. Oh, and Mom is pretty smart too, so there was that. Hmm, the more Chloe thought about it, maybe she's more like, the third smartest person ever.
Anyway, while Chloe was busy thinking about important stuff, the remaining robots didn't last much longer, especially once the full ridiculous might of their group descended upon them. Between Z, Percy, Liz, and Chloe's own highly sophisticated technique of standing there watching other people do stuff, the machines simply couldn't keep up.
Chloe brushed a few imaginary specks of dust from her hands once the last machine stopped moving, looking around at the wreckage with the satisfied expression of someone who totally contributed to the fight. Which, obviously, she had.
After making sure there weren't any more robots waiting to jump them, the group continued deeper into the facility until they finally located the room containing the independent generator Z had been looking for. Z took charge of the situation, assigning Percy to remain behind and watch over the generator while handing him a small wireless communication device. If things went wrong inside the Containment Area and they needed the power cut, Percy would be the one to shut it down.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
With Percy stationed beside the generator, Chloe, Liz, and Z continued onward toward the actual Containment Area, leaving the generator room behind as they entered the next section of the facility. Chloe couldn't help feeling a strange little thrill building in her chest as they approached. The deeper they went, the quieter everything became, and somehow that made the whole place feel even more suspicious. There was definitely something waiting for them ahead. Chloe didn't know exactly what it was, and honestly, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know, but she could feel that whatever happened next was going to be big.
It didn't take them much longer to reach the end of the corridor, where a pair of reinforced doors stood embedded into the wall. Above them, displayed in large lettering was a sign that read CONTAINMENT AREA.
Finally! They had made it. Sierra, Raenof, and Greg were supposed to be somewhere beyond those doors, and after everything they'd gone through to get here, Chloe wasn't about to waste another second standing around staring at a door. She took a step forward, already reaching toward the control panel to open the stupid doors. "Okay, let's go!"
Before she could touch anything, however, Z reached out and caught her by the shoulder. "Wait."
Chloe stopped and slowly looked back at her. "Huh? Why?"
"We should have one final discussion before entering," Z said.
Chloe stared at Z, then glanced at the enormous doors before looking back again. "What do we even need to talk about? We go in, find Sierra and Raenof and Greg, get them out, and then we leave."
"Perhaps, but there is one thing I want both of you to understand. If something goes wrong in there, if we become trapped, or if I am unable to continue, then you should leave me behind."
Chloe's cheerful expression disappeared. "What?"
Liz shrugged. "Sure."
Chloe's head snapped toward her. "Liz!"
"What?" Liz asked, looking unbothered. "If things go bad, we leave Z behind. Sounds simple enough."
"No! We're not leaving Z behind."
Z sighed. "Chloe, I am being serious. If the Containment Area is as heavily secured as we suspect, there is a possibility that one of us may have to remain behind to ensure the others escape. If that happens, you and Liz need to prioritize rescuing the others."
"But you're coming with us," Chloe insisted.
"If circumstances require—"
"Nope."
"Chloe, please just listen to me."
"Nope!"
Z stared at her, and Chloe stared right back. If Z thought she could shake Chloe's resolve, then the former administrator had a whole different thing coming.
There was no way Chloe was going to agree to leaving Z behind under any circumstances. They had come all this way together, and Z had helped Chloe a lot, including literally carrying her away from an exploding fake Administrator A. Besides, Chloe had decided that abandoning people was stupid, and she was pretty sure that was one of those things she was allowed to be smart about.
Eventually, Z let out another sigh. "You are remarkably stubborn."
"Yep."
"And reckless."
"Sometimes, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong."
"There's no convincing you, is there?"
"Nope, and you're not going to bring this stupid 'leave you behind' thing again, okay?"
Z didn't answer, which somehow only managed to annoy Chloe even more. Eventually, she folded her arms across her chest, puffed out her cheeks, and turned toward the doors with a pout. "Fine. We can talk about it later."
Z raised an eyebrow. "Later?"
"Yep." Chloe reached for the door controls again. "Right now, we're going in."
Liz shrugged and followed her, while Z gave Chloe one last look before apparently deciding that arguing any further would be completely pointless. Chloe considered that a tiny victory, although she wasn't entirely sure what she'd won, and turned her attention toward the control panel beside the containment doors. She stared at the collection of buttons, lights, symbols, and little screens for a moment, waiting for the machine to somehow explain itself. Okay, which one opens the door?
There were several buttons that looked promising, except they all looked equally promising, which was a serious design flaw if Chloe was being asked. She pressed a couple of them at random, but nothing happened. Then she pressed two at once, because maybe the machine required teamwork, but that didn't work either. Chloe frowned and began poking at the panel with increasing determination, tapping buttons seemingly at random while occasionally glancing at the doors as though sheer force of personality might convince them to open. "Come on, you stupid thing. Open."
She pressed another button, and that's when a light blinked red. "That's probably good, right?"
"It isn't," Z replied.
Chloe looked over her shoulder. "I knew that."
Z sighed and stepped forward, gently moving Chloe aside before examining the control panel herself. Z immediately began pressing a series of buttons, tapping one after another with practiced confidence before adjusting something on the small display and pressing yet another sequence. Chloe watched in silence as the panel beeped several times, lights changed from red to green, and then, finally, the doors slowly began sliding apart.
Normally, Chloe would have been incredibly impressed. She probably would have turned toward Z with a huge grin and said something like, Wow, Z, you're amazing! But Chloe was still mildly annoyed with her, so instead she simply crossed her arms and stared at the opening doors with an exaggeratedly neutral expression.
She absolutely was not impressed. Not even a little bit. Sure, Z had just effortlessly solved the thing Chloe had been poking at, but that didn't count. Chloe could have figured it out eventually.
Liz was the first to step through the opening. She crossed the threshold without hesitation, and Chloe watched her go, taking another step forward herself—
But then, Liz vanished. Chloe's eyes widened as she stared at the empty space where Liz had been standing only a moment earlier. "Liz?"