Chapter 17: The Crush — Part 11

Toni, however, stood her ground, her eyes enraged and defiant. Some indescribable power from within deflected the blast, and rather than try to break her will, Spunky turned its focus back onto Bamboo. The auxiliary weapons had cut through Yap’s shields and armor, so Spunky’s main cannon should have made short work of Bamboo’s bender suit. The main cannon was nearly fully charged when Spunky hovered over Toni toward the twin of his former owner. Spunky fired on Toni several more times, and the girl fell to one knee and screamed in pain and fear. Spunky fired two more shots at the girl until Joanie dropped between the child and the bander, her glyphs fully protecting Toni and giving the girl a chance to recover.

Spunky turned in an instant, dodging Joanie’s counterstrike and targeting Bamboo with its main weapon. Glyph, knowing Spunky’s intentions, readied its shields for the worst and knew that whatever defenses it had at its disposal, Spunky would best them in the next blast. Glyph had seen Spunky blow a six-inch hole straight through two miles of mountainside, and doubted that he could save Bamboo by shielding him. But Glyph had to try, and Glyph could not imagine letting Bamboo die alone. Glyph’s triple layers of energy fields built up to the visible range, each taking on a rapidly spinning geometric pattern across its surface.

With sadistic joy, Spunky dispatched the main cannon, the horrific power of it swallowing all of Bamboo’s perceptual range. Yap stepped between Spunky, Bamboo, and Glyph, raising a single hand and focusing her will and emitters toward the simple goal of survival. The blast hit her hand square on, but Yap countered with a harmonic field that deflected the assault with near perfection back onto its owner. Even as the blast reflected back onto Spunky, her fingers began to melt away, and Yap screamed in a mix of pain and rage, shoving her second hand out to replace the first. Spunky had not anticipated the return of the blast back onto itself. In taking the full force of its own blast, Spunky was blown back, glowing brightly as its metal structure heated first to red, then to a vicious glowing blue, and finally to a pale gray and white. The remains of Yap’s left hand smoldered at her side, her eyes streaming with pink fluid. Her other hand, charred so badly that its mechanical substructure was exposed for all to see, closed into a fist as Spunky’s energy beam dissipated. When the brutal flash of the blast cleared all eyes, Spunky was nowhere to be found.

“Did you kill it?” Joanie asked.

“I doubt it.” Yap said, her voice affected by leaking fluids. “I’ve got the coordinates this time. We should move out quickly.”

Blue tried to stand three times, but it looked as if his neck were broken, so Yap and Ren soothed him, the android put an arm over his shoulders, holding tightly so she could maneuver his body in the Snap. Joanie carried Kamau under her arm while Pablo helped Toni to walk in close to Bamboo and the others. Within moments the party Snapped, leaving Ambria and her allies behind for a darkness that was neither merciful to the injured now forgiving of errors.