Chaos in the City of Progress 2/3
“The
boy activated the Z-Drive and, in a moment, grew old. Deeply marked by the
experience he just lived, that only he had the power to prevent”
«Interesting! More. Food.»
The eyes of the robotic head were reduced to
two small slits, and though the corners of its iron mouth remained motionless,
that unnatural look showed some sort of perverse pleasure.
The creature had distanced itself from the
two newcomers and was preparing to attack.
The cables exposed on its chest, intricate
as the most disorganized cobwebs, shone with a dim blue light when they were
crossed by powerful electric shocks, visible to the naked eye.
«Help...» whispered a voice.
A weak invocation, almost imperceptible,
which went unnoticed as the smoke of a match lost in the wind. No one had heard
the voice of the man tangled in the cables.
The robot raised its left arm and pointed at
Ekko a big gun. To it was connected a tube of hard plastic, attached itself to
the cylindrical container mounted on the back. First he fired a large, sharp
harpoon, then a block of debris and wreckage, coarsely compressed among them.
The boy rolled to the side to dodge the
first attack, then rushed bravely to intercept the second, rejecting it with
his bat as the most experienced batsman. A drop of sweat marked vertically the
white hourglass tattooed on his face.
Meanwhile, the fire continued to flare up in
the house behind the mechanical monster, completely indifferent to high
temperatures. Its long, spiky shadow loomed colossal on the square, making that
figure even more threatening.
«Food. Too. Much. Raw. Roast!»
The automaton pointed its left arm toward
Jinx and instantly fired an explosive shot. The same that had thrown away Vi a little
earlier.
That attack could not be diverted.
Ekko barely had time to turn the head: his straight
hairs were pushed back by the shockwave that followed the blast, while the thin
body of his friend was devoured by a sea of raging fire. The gentle curves of
her had disappeared behind the thick blanket of smoke that enveloped the scene
like a curtain of compassionate mercy. Glimpses of smoky cloth were drilled by
the flames, as ruthless as the monster which had created them.
But the boy would not lose another person he
cared about. Never again.
He activated the Z-Drive and, in a moment,
grew old. Deeply marked by the experience he just lived, that only he had the
power to prevent. He would not live in a time without her.
«Food. Too. Much. Raw.»
Ekko lunged forward with all his speed.
«Roast!»
Jayce barely had time to protect himself
with his hammer, to avoid being hit by splinters of concrete, darting in all
directions. He looked toward the explosion, worried about the youngster who had
boldly moved against it to save his friend.
Nothing to do: the smoke was too thick and
could not see anything. Meanwhile, it grew louder the sound of many police
sirens approaching. Along with them, a mass of black clouds were piling up just
above the small square, driven by a light wind that blew away the smoke caused
by the explosion.
A few meters away from the small steaming
crater which was opened in the ground, Ekko was staring at the robot with eyes
full of anger.
Jinx closely clutched in his arms, he was pressing
thoughtfully her head against his chest. When she lifted up her red, big eyes
noticed, that Ekko was crying.
«Did you see that bang? Or did the dust
entered in your eyes?» she asked, showing a serene and amused smile.
He laid her gently on the ground. Continued
to tighten her back with one arm while with his free hand he used wisely an
iron pin to free her from the handcuffs that were blocking her wrists.
«Yes...»
whispered Ekko, wiping tears away: «Stupid dust. And
stupid you, who have agreed to help that madman. I told you to stay away from
him. He is everything wrong with Zaun».
«You all right, boy?» shouted Jayce, to
overcome the uproar of a not too distant thunder.
Ekko ignored him.
«Go get Fishbones» he said, turned to his companion:
«He asked me to take you away from here».
«But then you can hear him too!» said Jinx,
ecstatic, happy hopping towards her beloved rocket launcher.
«What is this? Are you running away? We had
a deal!» said Jayce incredulously. He had made an agreement with the young
Ekko, but he did not seem inclined to honor it.
«Sorry, poster-boy. This is not my town. And
remember I told you that Viktor was plotting something here in Piltover, so I'd
say we're even.»
«Food. Enough. Speak.»
In front of the two, the robot had finished
reloading his weapon. The cannon fired again, to intercept the missile from
Jinx directed against it. The bullets clashed against each other and broke into
a thunderous explosion. When the dust of the explosion was gone, the two boys of
Zaun had disappeared.
«Damn brat!» swore Jayce. But it was no more
time to think about the young punk.
«Vi!»
Caitlyn had run at the side of Jayce and the
wounded friend. Vi had managed to remove the harpoon that was in the side, but
was bleeding profusely.
At that
moment came a bunch of tracked drones, followed by an even larger number of
agents
of Piltover, that surrounded the perimeter and were awaiting orders.
«Take her away, sheriff. She needs medical attention.
I can deal with this pile of junk by myself.»
Tightening
his grip on the hammer, Jayce got ready for battle. Meanwhile Caitlyn had
helped her
friend
to get up and was carrying her toward the group of agents that ran in their
direction.
«We need a doctor!» Shouted in chorus a
couple of them.
The hero of Piltover tore off from the belt two
small mechanical spheres, which threw one on the right and the other on the
left of his opponent. The balls lifted up in the air and generated an intense
beam of electricity. As he had done many times before, Jayce fired an orb of
electricity whose speed and size increased exponentially as soon as came into contact
with the energy beam.
The shot found its mark, but the robot had
not even a scratch.
He was calm and still. The right arm raised
and the barrel mounted on it hot and steaming. Somehow, the creature had
managed to dissipate the energy before being damaged.
«Effort. Useless.»
«Useless? Now we shall see. Open fire!» ordered
one of the policemen to his team, which had already surrounded the mechanical
monster. Several bullets sliced through the air and clashed against the exoskeleton
of iron and steel. The robotic head made a noise, attributable to a grim laugh.
Inhuman. Lifeless.
After a loud “BANG” those vibrations turned into acute shrieks of pain and
anger.
Caitlyn had managed to wound the automaton,
firing a precise and powerful shot in the chest of the man on who was mounted
the machine. The bullet severed some of the cables, from which began to flow a
purple liquid with blue reflections.
The exoskeleton moved jerkily, like a puppet
maneuvered awkwardly. The man’s hand touched the damaged wires, and the head
mounted on the mechanical tentacle struggled in a violent frenzy.
«Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!» shrieked the
artificial abomination. It shoot a volley of harpoons at the cops of Piltover,
who did not stop target it.
For many of them, the hooks were lethal.
Dozens of bloody puddles widened in silence.
It began to rain as the creature threw a grey
bullet, perfectly round, in the middle of the square. As soon as it touched the
ground, a thick blanket of fog enveloped the area for tens of meters.
Far away,
Caitlyn was biting her lip and cursed through clenched teeth: out of the smoke
screen she could see nothing of what was happening inside. She also tried to
shout the name of Jayce, but no one answered.
...to be continued
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