Escape from Metal

Gwen couldn’t keep Connor awake while she was flying the transport. Even if she could the entire camp had to know about them and what they were doing by now. There was a high chance of them having some form of a contingency plan if something were to happen.

Right now, she had to focus on getting to the tower and quickly some of the Tripods were starting to move away from the rioting crowds and towards them.

The next moment a stream of bullets flew by the front of the transport.

“Crap, what was that.” Gwen said unconsciously flinching as she flicked the transport away from the bullets.

Quickly peering over the windscreen of the transport. She saw a Tripod staring directly at her and from the looks of it, it was preparing to fire again.

“I hope you’re strapped in Connor.”

As it fired Gwen increased the transports thrust to the maximum it could sustain within the atmosphere. Gwen’s quick thinking allowed her to stay just ahead of the shots of the Tripods’ six gattling guns. This time instead of firing all six gattling guns. It was firing them in alternating short bursts.

Gwen’s maneuvers were throwing all the cargo in the back around, one cargo box nearly hitting her in the head. She looked over once at Connor to see how he was doing but he was completely limp and wasn’t moving at all and if she was going to help him, she would have to do it soon.

That’s when she changed her strategy and her course. She was now heading straight for the top of the tower. As fast as she could without killing them on impact. The slight reduction in their speed was making it easier for the tripod to target them. With each burst it was getting closer and closer to hitting them.

Just before she could brace for impact the Tripod hit the transport. It didn’t matter now, they were already on a course for the tower.

The transport was barreling towards the tower at immense speed and before Gwen could blink, they had already crashed into the side of the building. Even with Gwen’s spontaneous survival abilities she still felt that, and it hurt quite a bit.

She immediately started thinking if she had felt the impact on that level how Connor must have felt. She tried to unbuckle the safety system, but it was jammed. Gwen quickly took stock of the situation.

The transport wasn’t going anywhere after a crash like that. The console wasn’t responding, and sparks were coming from the electrical systems among the dangling and loose wires. The impact had crushed the nose of the transport. Had they been going any faster they would have been crushed too.

From what Gwen could see the transport had hit one of the upper floors of the tower and had hinged itself inside it. With its nose wedge inside the tower and the back of it dangling dangerously over the edge.

Gwen started forcing the seat securing system which was a metal rode that extended on both sides of a seated person and would then be placed in front of the person horizontally. After a few seconds it gave way a broke off.

Gwen carefully navigated through the transport to Connors seat, trying not to put any more weight on the ship or unbalance its fragile equilibrium. When she reached Connor, he was slumped in his seat and wasn’t moving.

She gently put her left hand on his jugular. Nothing. She tried again. Gwen sighed a sigh of relief as she felt a pulse. Weak to be sure but it was there and right now that’s all she needed.

Gwen ripped some of the material sheet covers from the passenger seats and wrapped it around her hand. She took a breath and hit the cockpit’s glass windscreen. Nothing, not even a scratch. She hit it again. The glass didn’t even have the slightest hint of a tiny scratch on it.

“Must be bullet proof or something.” She whispered to herself.

Then a light appeared in her vision. The same place where the other two had been except this time it was green.

“Well, I hope this helps me.”

She hit the glass again. The entire front windscreen shattered as she hit it. She hadn’t put nearly as much effort into that hit. Yet she managed to break the glass.

Gwen took off and threw the makeshift material bandage.

She quickly but as before carefully walked over to Connor. Once she got to him, she slung both his arms over her shoulders and walked with him towards the broken window. He was a big man and from when she picked him up last time, she could feel he was heavy.

Now however something was different he felt as light as a feather, she couldn’t help but wonder what these lights meant and why when they were there, she could do impossible, neigh unimaginable things.

Her train of thought was quickly interrupted by the sound of metal grinding on metal. She was on the nose of the transport now and technically in the building. Their weight was the only thing keeping the transport still staying there and if she didn’t get off quickly enough it would catapult them backwards as it fell.

Without a moment’s thought she leapt and just like that the transport fell down. Gwen still clueless as to how she could move such a heavy man, never mind jump with him.

Right now, though. She had something else to focus on, she had to get her bow back. She thought as she laid Connor down gently against the wall of the tower.

The woman who had enslaved them had to be waiting for her in the uppermost floor. Gwen quickly ran to what she assumed used to be some sort of stairs but now were almost unrecognizable from the transports impact.

Gwen stuck her head into the shaft and peered up, she estimated that she was at least two floors down from the highest level.

Images of Aisha dying flashed in her mind. She wished she could feel in that moment. Even if the emotions would be pain anything was better than feeling nothing.

Aisha and Gwen had met shortly after the rebellion had occurred. They didn’t get along well at first. Gwen usually didn’t talk much and was more focused on figuring out a way to help those pursued by the machines or trapped in the decaying structures.

Aisha on the other hand wasn’t as suited for facing down fearless killing machines or traversing the unstable terrain of the planet. She was the one that was usually building something. Eventually as Gwen started trying to rescue more people consistently, she started making gear for Gwen.

At first, she made armor, but it ended up being too bulky and clunky to move nimbly. The armor did do exactly what it was supposed to protect Gwen from a direct strike, from the hunters but she could not use her bow efficiently.

She later would change the bulky armor for hyper-resistant weaves. Which she then made into clothes for Gwen. These wouldn’t save Gwen from a direct strike from hunter or any conventional firearms, but it would offer her a good balance between protection and agility.

Gwen never successfully rescued someone. The machines were far too many in the early months after the rebellion. Time and time again they would catch up to her, outsmart her or overpower her. They never left anyone alive.

Gwen started to develop strategies and plans to outthink and out fight the machines. She would stick to difficult areas to navigate, monitor the area from high points and set up traps for fallback areas.

She later set up lookout towers with basic necessities such as food and water. As well as backup gear. From these points she could monitor the surround areas for days at a time.

This almost worked a few times and just as she almost perfected the process. Until a new threat started appearing. Humans and machines hunting together. Gwen thought it was a ruse at first, that the machines had built look alike people.

Gwen would later discover that these were indeed real people who chose to work with the machines. After all the machines had done to them… it sickened her.

It became near impossible to extract anyone safely. The machines were everywhere even after their numbers were cut down after the initial rebellion.

One hunter in particular seemed to have become invested in hunting Gwen. She never did learn what her name was, but she knew exactly how she looked. She always wore a white cape with red interior. Blue eyes that seemed to make her maniacal expressions even more sadistic and black hair that only seemed to enhance her terror as she ran towards a person.

This woman had stopped most of her rescues. She and her constant companion, a basic hunter unit. On their own the basic hunter units weren’t too serious a threat for a trained fighter but when directed by someone with intelligence and strategy they became lethally effective.

That’s when Aisha started developing a weapon for Gwen, preferably something she already knew how to use. After some discussing with Gwen, she settled on making a bow. Ideal for place where ammo was not exactly plentiful, and it would be a lot easier to use than the knife she had been using all this time.

The first bow’s she made along with their ammo weren’t too great. They either lacked the velocity needed to damage any of the machines or the arrows weren’t strong enough to withstand the force. So, she eventually made one that worked magnetically, the bow was lined with a couple of magnetic rings where the arrow passed through perfect for accelerating heavy metal arrows. The bow would fire reinforced metal arrows. With varying utility, depending on what you wanted them to do smoke, small explosions or even grapple like extensions. The bow was all Aisha had left. She was the only one that helped her all those months and now she was gone.

Now Gwen was going to get the bow back and find the man responsible for Aisha’s death. She knew where he was, she saw Jake getting rescued by the remnants of the rebellion and she knew where their base was.

That is why she couldn’t fail. Not for memories sake or sentimentality but for justice.

Without another thought Gwen leapt up towards the top floor. Bounding on the walls as she went up. In the moment she wouldn’t think anything of it but later she would wonder how she could jump several meters at once and how she knew how to without thinking about it.

With one finally bound Gwen launched herself through the smoke rising from below but instead of landing gracefully she was met with closed metal doors. There were barely a few centimeters space to stand on the ledge.

Gwen ran her fingers along the door and found a slight crack in the door. She forced her fingers in the door bending the edges as she did and with one movement, she ripped the door open. Sending the two halves bounding down.

Once she stepped inside and cleared the plume of smoke that was trailing into the room. She saw something she wasn’t expecting. The room she stood in wasn’t some sadistic person dungeon, lined with weapons and the heads of her enemies.

The room was carpeted in velvet and red wood floors. Which melted into a dark black wall. The rest of the room was mostly bookcases and paintings with a elegant chandelier hanging in the center of the room.

At the end of the room was a bed with matching sheets respective to the rest of the room but to Gwen’s dismay there was no one here.

It’s then that Gwen spotted a faint light coming from a adjacent room. She carefully walked over as she leered into the room. There were buckets of paint and canvases scattered throughout the room with a single desk at the end of the room. With a wall sized window behind it.

“You’re lucky he’s not here today.” A woman’s voice sound from the desk, with a faint small streak of smoke rising from behind it.

She slowly turned around in her leather wrapped chair. It was the same woman that captured her alright, but no longer was she wearing her rugged expedition clothes and the expression of cruelty had long since disappeared from her face.

She was now adorned in a thick coat of what Gwen assumed was synthetic animal fur and a dark dress. Now she wore a face of calmness and vanity.

She gently put out her cigarette and put it in the pile with another dozen or so.

“You afford all these luxuries while everyone else is dying from hunger, you truly are a tried-and-true slaver.”

“If he was her, he would’ve have doubtlessly gotten injured and who would paint for me then?”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“I really wish I could but to be frank I just don’t care. I’ve been watching you closely since you have gotten here. If I’m being honest, I’m quite disappointed you took so long to attempt an escape with your capabilities.”

“What do you know about me, you’re just a slaver.”

“Oh, I might be a slaver, but I know enough to recognize when someone has been cybernetically enhanced throughout their entire body. What I don’t know is why the machines did that to you. I also know that if I tap into the correct frequency, I can control you just like the machines would have.” She said as she opened a drawer from her desk and took out a device that looked much like a walky talky.

“Say a device like this.”

“Listen lady, your days of enslaving people are over and I’m getting my bow back.”

In a flash Gwen had dashed across the room at inhuman speed. The carpet piled up at the back of her ankles and half of the painting stands and buckets of paint had been knocked over but mere meters from the slaver she stood. Unmoving and silent.

“I did say that this would work, didn’t I? Now I don’t have just the tripods, but I have you too. I didn’t take too much to figure out what frequency the machines had set you to operate on. Oh, and if you’re wondering why, you can’t talk your jaw has cybernetics too.”

“Where was I oh yes. The tripods operated on a frequency very close to yours so all I had to do was send out pings occasionally and see if I got a ping back. Once I did it was easy enough, just wait for you to attempt you’re daring escape.” She said putting extra emphasis on the ‘daring escape’.

“With you and the Tripods by my side no one will dare defy me and I can finally escape this place.”

“Now, let’s see what you can do.”

Without a moment’s thought Gwen was snapping the painting stands and crushing the paint buckets between her hands like paper.

Gwen guessed this is what it emotions where like. You saw what your emotions made you do. How they made you destroy things you once cared about. The only difference was she wasn’t feeling anything she could just watch as her body moved by someone else’s will.

Then she abruptly fell to her knees. She turned to face the woman. She stood there in shock as the device she was using to control her lay in pieces on the ground. Slowly peering behind her she saw Connor holding a pistol variant of the coilgun. Connor although standing was leaning against the wall and was grasping his side.

“Never build ladders in an impregnable fortress, lady.” Connor said.

“I’ll take that under advisement, but you will have to discuss it with my Tripod.”

In an instant the entire back area of the room where the slaver was standing had been eviscerated and looming over them the Tripod stood tall as a mountain. Its red glaring eye staring at them. The slaver quickly hopped on top of its head as the Tripod lowered itself for her to climb on.

“Now that we’ve had our fun, crush them.”

The Tripod rose on its two hind legs as it lifted its front leg high in the air.

“I won’t let you use anyone again.” Gwen huffed through her teeth.

The Tripods leg came down with tremendous speed and power. Gwen instinctual rushed forwards to meet it head on.

This might be her end she thought as she held out her hands ready to try and stop the Tripod with all the might she had.

To her surprise when she opened her eyes, she was still alive and more importantly holding the Tripod back.

The metal moaned in protest as it was struggling against Gwen. She could hear the hydraulic systems inside the Tripods leg struggle to comply with its orders.

She couldn’t believe what she was doing, she was holding back a machine’s weight, that weighed hundreds if not thousands of tons.

“Did you not hear me, I said crush her.” The slaver screamed at the machine.

The increased pressure on her was great and the floor around her started to crack as it succumb to the Tripods force.

“Connor get out of her.”

Without a word Connor disappeared into the adjacent room.

“More.” The slaver screamed.

The Tripod put as much pressure as it could on Gwen. A second orange light appeared next to the original one. Gwen knew she would have a chance, only one or she would die her where she stood.

The building however was not as resilient as she was and the middle of the tower started cracking as it slowly started to angle backwards. Gwen bit down on her teeth and groaned as she took a step forwards.

“What? She’s not supposed to be… can’t be that strong not even with the enhancements.” The slaver said with a look of awe a shock on her face.

“You biggest mistake was letting me realize I was underestimating myself. Now, I know I can escape from you.” Gwen said as she took another step forwards. With each step she took the floor sank around her feet and cracked.

Without warning the machine increased its pressure on Gwen immensely and she started losing ground. Bit by bit she was pushed backwards. The more she went backwards the more the breaking tower started leaning backwards.

Gwen just could not compete with the sheer weight of this machine. She didn’t entirely understand how she was still alive to begin with against this titan but even if it could not directly crush her it could definitely throw her off the tower. Gwen had severe doubts that she could survive such a extreme fall twice.

Gwen kept being pushed back through all the painting stands and past the paint buckets and eventually her back touched the back wall of the room. Seconds later it started cracking from the force of the Tripod. The tower had reached its tipping point any more pressure and the top half would tumble backwards, Gwen along with it.

She knew she need to do something, but she was at her limits. She was holding off a literal destroyer of worlds. There was no one motivating her like she used to read in books as a kid. No one in dire need of saving that only she could save. She stood there alone.

Gwen closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

A moment later her eyes flashed open. As she looked straight at the eye of the machine. She pushed back the machines leg an arm length, which had been near crushing her chest as she was pushed against the wall.

Then she took a step. Her leg might have been shaking and it took a tremendous amount of effort on her part, but she took the step. As she took that step, she knew it, she wasn’t the only one that had reached her limits. The Tripod was also straining itself to put any more weight on her.

The only difference was Gwen had a will, a will that was stronger than a machines cogs and wires could ever be.

With that she took another strained step and another. Very slowly she made her way across the room but when she was halfway across the room one of the lights in her vision disappeared and she collapsed to her knees.

Only one of her saving grace lights remained and suddenly she could feel the machine really crushing her this time. It would only take it a few seconds to completely squash her.

Without warning the floor below her finally gave way.

“Finally, hopefully we can salvage something from her body. The slaver pulled out a communication device from her belt. “All enforcers prepare to secure the gi…”

The slaver was cut off as a figure leapt out of the cloud of dust and landed on the top floor of the tower.

Gwen’s eyes met The Slaver’s. Cold dead eyes looked at The Slaver more empty than her eyes could have ever been.

“Crush her, crush her now!” The Slaver yelled in a panic at the Tripod.

The Tripod repeated the same one-legged crushing blow stance as earlier. When its leg met Gwen’s hands a almost supersonic boom silenced the area.

No one moved not The Slaver, not the rioters and not the enforcers. They all stopped and looked at the Tripod and Gwen

The Slavers eyes were wide with anticipation as she waited for the dust to clear. When it finally did her pupils narrowed as she panicked.

Gwen’s cold empty eyes stared back at her.

“You almost…killed my friend.” She yelled at The Slaver.

Gwen sprang several hundred meters into the air, taking the Tripods leg with her as she flew through the air. Using her momentum, she made a backflip like motion and landed on the top of the tower once again.

The Slaver stood in awe as she watched half of the Tripods now severed leg fall to the ground. Creating an almost deafening sound as armored metal met the metal floor.

Connor then appeared with another transport between Gwen and her line of sight of the slaver. Hovering several meters from the tower.

The side door on the transport opened as Connor yelled. “I found another transport on the lower levels of the tower quickly jump in.”

Gwen was not going to argue so she quickly hopped in the transport while The Slaver was still dazed from Gwen’s display.

Gwen quickly hopped in the co-pilots seat next to Connor. She set the transports thrust to maximum and angled it towards the dome. A few seconds later they came bursting through the dome of the slavers.

Freedom at last.

“Hey girl, don’t you want to pilot to anywhere else, I just want to rest my eyes.”

“Are you feeling alright Connor?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. You know there’s this Spire I know of. Where at the right time of the day you could see the perfect sunset. I would have liked to take my daughter there. You know she would be your age when we are taken. She’s probably long gone by now but…”

“I think that would be really nice. Thank you, Connor. I am sorry to hear about…” Gwen stopped talking as she looked over at Connor he wasn’t breathing. She checked his pulse no pulse either.

“Thank you, Connor.”

Gwen had been piloting the transport for about ten minutes when suddenly its engines gave way. Must have been damaged when they burst through the weak metal dome. Gwen tried her best to make a safe crashing landing, but her world went black as soon as she hit the ground.