Reprise, Chapter 14
The cannon charged up. Tendrils of green light seeped through the holes, wrapping around as its power increased. Mosee stared into the light completely frozen.
“You have got to move!” Albatross started to get up but Mentine swatted him away with her syringe arm, sending him flying into a building just like his druid companion.
Mosee was stunned. Pain, confusion, fear, and sadness kept her immobile. With a high pitched scream, Mentine gave the charge one final push before releasing the energy beam onto her mother.
When Mosee opened her eyes, she was still alive. The massive robot was looking down with surprise. The one lying on the ground, however, was not Mosee.
It was Leramor.
“Boss!” Mosee knelt down, her eyes welling up again. “Boss, I’m so sorry. It’s going to be okay.” She tried healing him with her magic, but couldn’t make it happen.
“Hey, it’s fine. You did your job.” Leramor looked up at her with a weak smile. He was burnt badly, and his chest was slowly opening up to show green light.
Naishin ran over and scooped him up. “I will care for him. You have to keep the others alive.” She grunted and darted into the inn with Leramor in her arms, dripping both green and red blood along the way. Mosee looked back to the street as Benli emerged in his normal form from the building he had crashed into.
Albatross rose, wiping the blood from his mouth. “You have to get it together, Mosee. I know how difficult it can be to believe in the Light when the world around you goes dark. My own personal light died just days ago with my wife.” He gripped his axe. “When it all gets dark, the Light is all you can see. Don’t deny it now. Look around and find your Light now, or all of these people will have their own extinguished.”
Mosee stared at him as he talked, then looked around. There were people looking on with fear and concern, but her eyes focused on one woman. An Orc woman, guarding the orphans of the city. She looked as they cried, fearing for their lives. All at once, her hands and eyes erupted in a bright, flowing light.
“Get in there, boys!” Mosee threw a shield to Albatross and a heal to Benli. The two men grinned at each other and darted in for battle.
It was still difficult for Mosee to persevere, but she did. She kept an eye on the two as they hacked and slashed at the robot suit’s legs, without much success.
Benli transformed out of his bear form and snorted, dodging another swing of the syringe. “This isn’t working,” he called out. “We need another plan.”
“Mommy, these men are bullying me!” Mentine screamed. “Do something!”
Mosee squinted as she watched Mentine’s attack patterns. She seemed to only be attacking with her arms, besides the occasional kick. Her legs were unarmed.
“Boys!” She yelled, stopping her heals. “Her only weapons are her arms! Break those off, and she can’t attack.”
Albatross roared his confirmation, trying to go for another leap off of her knee. She saw this coming and stepped back, causing him to roll behind. He looked up at her from the ground and rolled again as she tried to stomp on him. She laughed like a kid on a playground, stomping down while he rolled back and forth.
Benli flew in, tackling her from behind. She stumbled, leaning forward towards Albatross. He leaped up and slashed with the axe, successfully breaking off her syringe arm. As it hit the ground it shattered and spilled the synthetic fel blood onto the ground.
“Don’t step in that!” Mosee called. “It’s not stable, and will kill you!” Albatross jumped back out of its path, running around and avoiding it. Mentine was screaming, waving the small nub around in the air.
“You meanies! I’ll get you!” She began firing off small beams from her cannon, until she was knocked down by a dual tackle from Benli and Albatross. She landed on her shoulder, shattering it and disconnecting the cannon. The core on her chest cracked and started leaking the synthetic blood on the ground.
“We’ve got to finish this.” Benli growled at Albatross, turning back to his Tauren form. “Go get Mosee, so she won’t have to see this.”
Albatross nodded and ran over to her, standing between her and the scene as she turned around with sadness.
“I’m sorry about this, Mentine.” Benli looked into the cracked dome where her head was. She looked terrified and erratic. “I don’t want to do this, but I have to.”
Mentine began crying, the amplification in her voice turning off. “Uncle Benli, please, no.” Her sobs intensified. “Please, Uncle, I don’t want to die. I didn’t mean to.”
Benli let the quiet tears fall from his eyes. “I know you didn’t mean to. But we have to make sure you don’t do it again.” He held his hands up and began charging nature energy. “Please, don’t fight anymore.”
She screamed. “No, please! Uncle, don’t do this! Please, I’ll be good! I’ll be a good girl!”
Benli closed his eyes, unable to take it. Mosee began sobbing and Albatross put a hand on her shoulder in consolation. The Tauren lifted his hands into the air, preparing to release the energy bolt.
“Wait!” A hand grabbed Benli’s wrist. He stopped his charging and looked down.
It was the same Orc woman that Mosee had noticed.
“Don’t do this. Look at her.” The woman motioned down to the crying girl. “She couldn’t hurt anyone if she wanted to. You beat her, you won!” She jerked her arm back, looking at Benli with anger. “A child would never do this of their own accord.”
Benli stared into her eyes, stunned. “You saw all of that, right? Everything that just happened?”
The woman slapped him on the face. “Of course I saw it! I’m not blind! But clearly, I can see better than you.” She motioned down to the core. “Ever since that thing drained, her aggression left. Whatever that was, it was controlling her.” She stepped back to avoid the fel blood and suddenly, Benli noticed.
Albatross and Mosee both stepped back and looked at them. The woman was right.
Mentine’s sobs quieted. “T-thank you, miss.” She lifted her intact shoulder to wipe her eyes but remembered she had no arms left. Her crying got louder again.
“Quiet, child.” The Orc knelt down, reaching in through one of the holes and wiping the tears from her cheeks. “You’re going to be okay.”
Mosee ran over, squeezing in between Benli and the woman. “I can’t believe it’s really you.” She was now crying again, smiling in between sobs. “I can’t believe my baby girl is alive. Let’s get you out of there.”
As she started putting her arms in, she noticed something. There was a metal ring around where Mentine’s neck should be. Her crying stopped and her face looked like stone.
“Mentine...” She leaned back. “Is... is all of you...”
Mentine turned her head to her mother. “There’s nothing else, mommy. This is me.” She lifted the nub again. “I told you. I am Fel Titan Beta.”
Mosee sobbed again, and Benli scooped her up and let her cry into his shoulder. “He took my little girl!” She was screaming, torn between sadness and rage. “He took her!”
“Mommy, look. I can do cool things now.” Mentine tried using the nub to lift herself up, but struggled. The orc and Albatross both went to her aid, helping pick her up. Mosee turned her head to her tall, robot daughter.
Mentine smiled and pulled her arm nub in, replacing it with a skeletal robotic arm. It sparked a bit, obviously incomplete, then turned its palm up and waved at her. Mosee smiled, wiping her tears and hopping down out of Benli’s grip.
“That’s more like my little girl.” She ran over and hugged her leg. Mentine bent over just a bit and placed her skeletal hand on her mother’s back.
“Who are you, by the way.” Benli looked at the woman and smiled. He placed a hand on his hip.
The Orc woman turned to him and let a small smile of her own spread across her lips.
“I am En’roma.”
~ End of Chapter 14 ~
