Re: The Fatal Conflict! (GBS2G7) (Round 2: Robo City!)
01-02-2011, 10:07 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.
Kargrek narrowed his eyes. "Robots?" The word of course meant nothing to an ancient barbarian; it would have been many centuries before anyone on his world had even had the knowledge or ideas to need the word for speculation or fiction, much less to create the thing itself. "Metal men" was confusing but understandable at least, and sounded inconvenient. "Without souls", though, was pretty unambiguous. It meant these "robots" were monsters, abominations, and probably servants Rella, or more likely Zaire himself. He raised his axe and his voice in a fighting stance and battlecry as the first steel dragon rose into view; it didn't seem too threatening: Kargrek had taken on a good few dragons over the course of his life and a few more since his death, so making them made of metal and breathing bursts of light didn't seem like a big deal. He wasn't even able to help with the first one; Simphonia and Kaja took it out quickly and efficiently, slightly to the barbarian's disappointment.
But then when a whole roost of them soared into the sky, almost-human voices screeching nonsense and numbers and threats, bright flashes of weaponized light bursting out of their wings and mouths and exploding against the metallic building everyone had appeared on, Kargrek knew standing to fight would mean death in short order. Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed Bellona around her waist and barreled towards a stairwell he'd spotted. More explosions and yelling came from behind him as he fled, but he didn't bother to turn around; either the others would get themselves killed and he'd know when the survivors were teleported away, or they would win or more likely flee and it would have no bearing on him.
His gauntlets didn't grant Kargrek much increased running speed; all the strength in the world couldn't make his legs longer, so there was something of an upper bound to what anything short of time dilation or nerve enhancements could do. Still, they did give him the ability to make leaps that would have shamed a man-sized frog. It was only a few jumps before he had crossed the roof and began speeding down the stairs, the gladiatrix protesting loudly. It was several flights down before he turned off the stairway; before he did, they encountered several many-legged metal constructions ascending or descending: with no room to swing the greataxe and an armful of Bellona on the other side, he was forced to dispose of them with flying kicks that bent and broke their chassises and by rights should have left his ankles shattered. It might have been impressive to his captive audience, were she not still fuming.
Once Kargrek did leave the stairs, he found himself in a large and dimly-lit room, full of man-height rectangular prisms of matte-black plastic; they had glowing edges and occasional flickering lights elsewhere on their surfaces, but nothing in here seemed to be screaming or beeping or attacking. He set the woman down gently and coughed awkwardly.
"I'm sorry for the indignity," he muttered, looking slightly down and away. "It's just, I can cover more ground than you, and..."
The barbarian, quite out of his element, trailed off, not looking up to see whether Bellona was still giving him a withering glare.
Kargrek narrowed his eyes. "Robots?" The word of course meant nothing to an ancient barbarian; it would have been many centuries before anyone on his world had even had the knowledge or ideas to need the word for speculation or fiction, much less to create the thing itself. "Metal men" was confusing but understandable at least, and sounded inconvenient. "Without souls", though, was pretty unambiguous. It meant these "robots" were monsters, abominations, and probably servants Rella, or more likely Zaire himself. He raised his axe and his voice in a fighting stance and battlecry as the first steel dragon rose into view; it didn't seem too threatening: Kargrek had taken on a good few dragons over the course of his life and a few more since his death, so making them made of metal and breathing bursts of light didn't seem like a big deal. He wasn't even able to help with the first one; Simphonia and Kaja took it out quickly and efficiently, slightly to the barbarian's disappointment.
But then when a whole roost of them soared into the sky, almost-human voices screeching nonsense and numbers and threats, bright flashes of weaponized light bursting out of their wings and mouths and exploding against the metallic building everyone had appeared on, Kargrek knew standing to fight would mean death in short order. Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed Bellona around her waist and barreled towards a stairwell he'd spotted. More explosions and yelling came from behind him as he fled, but he didn't bother to turn around; either the others would get themselves killed and he'd know when the survivors were teleported away, or they would win or more likely flee and it would have no bearing on him.
His gauntlets didn't grant Kargrek much increased running speed; all the strength in the world couldn't make his legs longer, so there was something of an upper bound to what anything short of time dilation or nerve enhancements could do. Still, they did give him the ability to make leaps that would have shamed a man-sized frog. It was only a few jumps before he had crossed the roof and began speeding down the stairs, the gladiatrix protesting loudly. It was several flights down before he turned off the stairway; before he did, they encountered several many-legged metal constructions ascending or descending: with no room to swing the greataxe and an armful of Bellona on the other side, he was forced to dispose of them with flying kicks that bent and broke their chassises and by rights should have left his ankles shattered. It might have been impressive to his captive audience, were she not still fuming.
Once Kargrek did leave the stairs, he found himself in a large and dimly-lit room, full of man-height rectangular prisms of matte-black plastic; they had glowing edges and occasional flickering lights elsewhere on their surfaces, but nothing in here seemed to be screaming or beeping or attacking. He set the woman down gently and coughed awkwardly.
"I'm sorry for the indignity," he muttered, looking slightly down and away. "It's just, I can cover more ground than you, and..."
The barbarian, quite out of his element, trailed off, not looking up to see whether Bellona was still giving him a withering glare.