Interlude 1.C (Colin)

Colin sat at his desk, the skeleton of a helmet in front of him. Multiple wires connected it to his personal computer, where the last few checks were just finishing."-due to a recent experiment involving hero Julius, a member of the swiss guard, who has the power to transform any 'thing' into a specific alloy of bronze. His power is not Manton limited, but more than that, it can affect even non-solid materials like smoke, fire, and even parahuman constructs. Following this we've-..." Listening to a recent lecture on recent discoveries, Colin was trying to distract himself from recent events.He had already sent the message that the device was ready. To Dragon, not Blackwall, though she would probably relay it.Colin could not fully understand why Dragon decided to trust her, even help her.Then again, he did not fully understand why Dragon had not left him after what happened. Why Dragon had decided to continue being his friend.Colin glanced at the window, towards the city. There was a light drizzle of rain hitting the weak force-field that protected the glass. Dragon was busy, so he was alone with his thoughts.Which was unpleasant.He glanced at the helmet in front of him. Debating if it was worth it to try to install a contingency against Blackwall. A small bomb would probably be enough. He'd heard that Blackwall had taken down one of Dragon's suits, but he did not know the details. Dragon couldn't talk about it, and Miss Militia wasn't answering his messages.But no, this was the line of thought that got him into trouble in the first place. Dragon had assured Colin of Blackwall's skill, and he'd witnessed it himself. She would probably notice any tampering.When Blackwall had sent him instructions on how to improve upon his prototype… Colin had found it incredibly enlightening. Not only had it been helpful, but she had written it in a concise way that made it easy to understand and replicate the process. No Tinker that he knew of could do something like that, not with gear that was so specialized. Which gave credence to the fact that Blackwall was no Tinker, but a Thinker.Less dangerous in a fight, maybe. Much more dangerous in every other way that mattered.Colin suddenly heard a faint whirring sound. Like a processor's fan. He went to grab his nanothorn knife and placed his back to the wall.The door opened, and she walked in.The first thing that Colin felt was envy. Blackwall strode in without a care in the world, her clothing still stained with blood and hanging where her left arm had been torn off by the Siberian. Now a rough-looking metal prosthetic was attached there. The handle of a blade was glued to where the 'hand' should have been. The blade was weirdly dark, almost pitch black.She had clearly replaced all of her skin and limbs with mechanical equivalents. Even her eyes were abnormal. She glanced at Colin and waved with her right arm, voice clear from behind the respirator:"No alarm has been triggered. Nor did I harm anyone, be at ease."Blackwall walked forward towards the helmet. Colin did not back down, knife still pointed in her direction. She observed the weapon, eyes widening in surprise… or maybe fear? Her pitch black eyes with drops of red were unsettling."Get what you need and scram. I should be in isolation. Talking to you puts me even more at risk."If his words reached her, Blackwall did not seem to care."I came here because of the emotion-protection, but that knife is truly a wonder. Is there any chance of a trade? The technology behind it for something you need.""No." He would not have this invention in the hand of a villain, no matter what Dragon said. Colin was getting nervous now.Blackwall merely nodded and walked to the helmet, detaching the numerous wires. She analyzed it in her hands, then moved the back of her shirt down, exposing her nape. There, Colin spotted two interface ports, one already in use.She connected the helmet to the other."No malware. Thank you, Armsmaster." Without saying anything more she began dismantling the helmet, pulling pieces off with inhuman strength an precision."What are you doing?!" Colin almost jumped to stop her. But he did not. She was extremely dangerous and Colin was not wearing his armor."It is incredible work, but many elements are redundant to me. Emotions I can't feel. Thought patterns that I don't have. One must always minimize failure points so that- Ah, there. I'm done."What she was left with was less of a helmet and more of a single plate, meant to go on the back of her neck. She raised her hair out of the way and placed it just above the ports. Grabbing a hand-drill to the side, Blackwall showed no hesitation as she pinned the metal piece by drilling into her neck.Insanity."Do you have a towel for the blood? I don't want to dirty your workshop."Colin could not speak. He gestured for her to stand back from her desk, which she obeyed without any fanfare.He grabbed a rag he used to clean the desk and threw it at her. She whispered a 'thanks' and began drying the blood from her neck.His heart was beating hard in his ears. A lot about her was highly distressing to him, most of all the calm that she was showing. Colin tried his best not to think about the Siberian. About Hero."You've turned your body into a Tinker machine…""I have. I would not suggest it, if you value your humanity." Implying that she did not value her own…"Do you sleep?""I have a downtime of about ten minutes a day. Mostly to clean debris from my implants. I don't sleep, nor do I produce waste."Colin's envy grew with each word. He had not realized how… inefficient his human body was. And how little he cared for it.For a heartbeat, he considered asking Blackwall about helping him do the same to his own body, but a face surfaced in his mind and put a stop to it.Dragon.Why had he thought of her?Would she find me hideous, if I were to change?Where was this fear coming from? Maybe the isolation had taken a bigger toll on Colin than he expected…He decided to distract himself by trying to engage in conversation with the monster in front of him."You have not told me what your objective is.""Did I not? I'm rather sure I shared it with Weld, at the time."Right, Blackwall wasn't really up to speed with Colin's situation."...humor me." He decided to not explain, and ask anyway."Save the world."The quickness with which she answered. The resolve hidden in those three words… And the sheer certainty that the world needed to be saved. Any single one of those things would have shaken Colin, but combined?He began to understand why Dragon was taking a gamble on Blackwall.Maybe… Maybe Colin should as well."Listen-"But before he could continue, his attention was diverted to an unusual noise. A faint tapping sound. Colin knew this laboratory like the back of his hands, familiar with every possible permutations of noise that it could produce.This wasn't one of them.And it was close.Blackwall had noticed as well, and unlike Colin she did not hesitate. She burst into action, unholstering her gun from under her arm.A vent exploded outward from behind the two, with enough force to embed it into the wall. Colin dodged out of the way, but a dust cloud blinded him for a moment. Without his armor he was helpless. I need to get to my helmet.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.When the dust cleared, Colin stared wide-eyed at the new arrival: pale, white limbs began moving down. Connected by a chain. Followed by the torso, split into two, then the head. It slithered forward, falling to the ground and picking itself up piece by piece. The hands, with long segmented fingers, grasped at the head and upper torso to move them, placing them in the correct spot.Mannequin.Fuck.Before Colin could do anything, Mannequin had already decided on a course of action. Blades sprang from his wrists and legs, whirling in a deadly pattern. The helmet was near Colin, within arm's reach, but Mannequin was too fast. It would take a precious few seconds for the helmet to boot up, and meanwhile he'd be blind and defenseless."Buy me time!" Colin decided to gamble on Blackwall, yelling for her help.Blackwall obliged.With monstrous swiftness she stepped into the range of the serial killer, blades brushing against her clothes. None managed to even graze her skin. She punched with enormous strength, hitting Mannequin right in the lower torso and sending his body flying backwards.It didn't do any damage. It wasn't meant to.Now she had some space. Blackwall pressed at a trigger on her left arm with her right hand. The pitch-black blade began glowing, a bright red that warped the air around it by the heat alone. The humming of micro-vibrations began filling the air."It came here to choose you, Colin."The sudden mention of his real name rattled him.What did she mean?The Nine…No. It was not possible."No… No! I did it to save lives! I'm nothing like you!" He shrieked towards Mannequin as he placed the helmet on top of his head. Darkness enveloped his vision for a moment."I agree." He heard Blackwall respond, but could not see what was happening. The sound of fighting was making Colin anxious.When finally he could see again, what he saw was inhuman:Blackwall moved with impossible swiftness and grace, dodging each of Mannequin's blade without trouble. Each time she parried one of the blades, she also took a step closer and attempted to counterattack with her own sword. Unfortunately Mannequin's chassis was extremely durable, and even Blackwall's own tech could do nothing but leave a black burnt scratch along the pristine white texture."You are a victim of things you nor I can understand." Blackwall spoke, not to Mannequin but to Colin. "But what you did… It was monstrous, in a way. Inhuman. You have to recognize that… No, I can see that you already did."Mannequin clearly was displeased by their conversation. He jumped forward, blades ready to shred anything they touched. The Mad Tinker was keeping up with Blackwall, using his own dexterity and uncanny limbs to move like a bundle of chains rather than a person.Through the combat analysis of his helmet, Colin saw each move that Blackwall made and how it matched what his algorithm would have suggested. There was no effort in her movement, no exhaustion.Just pure brutality.White limbs moved to slice at Blackwall from two sides. She dashed forward, dodging the attacks by crouching beneath, using her right arm to steer and slow down her slide. The left arm moved upwards to cut at the shell. Where the blade met the armor smoke began to rise. Still not enough to breach the armor.Mannequin did not relent, showing impossible agility in the air as his feet also turned into whirling blades. Blackwall narrowly dodged in between them, dancing around the attacks.Landing and then jumping back, Mannequin did not let up as a hurricane of attacks continued to rain down on Blackwall. She dodged each, and for every attack that missed her a new black cut appeared over Mannequin's armor.Eventually she changed tactics. At last, she grabbed one of the limbs. It almost slipped away, but not before Blackwall pinned it with the red blade, aiming at the gap between the segments rather than the armor itself.Mannequin simply detached the limb and jumped backwards, unbothered. The blades retracted as another section opened up: a rifle. It was pointed at her head.Colin shouted: "Dodge!"There was no need.A shot rang out. But from Blackwall.Blue fire enveloped Mannequin's upper torso.Another shot. Then another. And another. Each was followed by a blue explosion.Mannequin moved to dodge with uncanny grace. Somehow moving in the air. He was focusing on evading while also moving towards one of the windows. To escape.Colin couldn't let that happen. He ran forward.An alarm began sounding out within the structure.Mannequin's whirring blades began to spin even more rapidly as Colin neared.Colin held the nano-thorn knife in his hand, but the combat algorithm in his helmet told him the truth of it: he would be sliced to pieces before he could reach Mannequin.Luckily the algorithm wasn't all knowing. Namely, it couldn't yet predict Blackwall.Another bullet, with impossible accuracy, hit the spinning blades, creating a blue explosion that blinded Colin and Mannequin both. Neither was too bothered by this, both Tinkers relying on sensors more than sight.But Mannequin hesitated. A hint of fear, his desire of self-preservation slowing down the tinker.Colin had no such fear.He screamed in rage and agony as his knife met the ceramic-like shell. Where Blackwall's blade had failed to penetrate, Colin's own knife slashed apart the armor like butter, meeting no resistance. He roared in anger and fury as he kept stabbing and slashing…The smoke dissipated.On the ground laid the remains of the Mad Tinker. Life support attempted to turn on and keep him alive, but they failed, the nano-thorn having inflicted too much damage. Colin's algorithm had allowed him to aim at every important system within the Mad Tinker's chassis, thanks to Dragon's help in adding ways to analyze enemy tinkertech.Colin himself had not not come out of it unscathed. Looking down, a long gash ran through his arm and close to his chest.At some point Dragon had begun screaming through the microphones in the room. Colin hadn't noticed due to the deafening beating of his heart in his own ears.Blackwall walked up to him and gave him some first aid."The wound on your arm is deep. You could have permanent nerve damage. But your life is not in danger."Colin glanced up and looked into the pitch black eyes of the… villain? He wasn't sure anymore. He wanted to thank her… but even when humbled, Colin's pride still managed to get in the way of normal human interactions."Colin, help is coming. Please be careful, Mannequin may have left traps in his body or in the vents. Don't move!"He knew as much, but a reminder didn't hurt. Besides, Colin would never tire of hearing Dragon's voice. Only now, hurt and feeling like shit could he finally admit as much, at least to himself.Blackwall looked to one of the walls. Was she looking into one of the cameras?A silent exchange seemed to happen between her and Dragon.Blackwall walked towards one of the windows, the one reinforced with a force field.The field fizzled out. Which should have been impossible, except by a manual command from Dragon. The glass shattered.She did not look back before she jumped out, disappearing into the dark ocean below.