12 Miles Below

Chapter 34: Crucible

My preparations saved me. The rifle was already in hand and primed to shoot. At this range and speed, I didnt even know which one to target, so instead I pointed in the general direction and hoped it would be enough. My rifle snapped onto the nearest target, the automatic aiming deciding for me. A single burst of bullets was all I managed, but it was enough.

One automaton collapsed on the floor, skull already in pieces. Its partner landed far more gracefully, one hand already sweeping out for me. I tried to dodge to the side, but Journey took control and had me walk backwards. The relic armor easily overpowered me. It felt almost like a tight sarcophagus for that fraction of a second. The disconnect disoriented me and I stumbled down on the ground the moment the armor released control, rifle slack on the shoulder strap. I must have let it go.

Knife. I reached my hands for my boot, only to get violently slammed back down twofold. One for Journey attempting to overpower my motion, and the second for the automatons hand - too close for any escape movements - catching my throat and throwing me down.

The automaton hadnt wasted its chance against a prone target. Already its long hands fully wrapped around my throat, its knees pinning me down on top of the breastplate. A terrible metallic groaning was coming from the suit, and red flashed over the HUD, indicating hull damage. The monster was slowly bending the neck plate. No shielding could prevent a direct force like that. But Journey held against the strangle - I didnt feel a thing.

My hands shot out to grasp at the things wrists. Last time I had been like a child trying to pry off this sort of grip. The creature was powerful enough to break past relic armor. There was no way a regular human could compete against that might. Those violet eyes again, staring down into my soul.

But it wasnt me that moved the armor. The armor moved itself. My motions were just direction. And Journeys strength wasnt human.

The gauntlets gripped the wrists and then crunched down, breaking the ceramic armor in chunks. I pushed. The thing's hands were pried off, inch by inch. The relic armor stronger than the machine.

It seemed the automaton realized this in the same instant I did. It shrieked in fury, pulling its hands away. The move caught me by surprise and the wrists escaped my grasp. Those mechanical hands rose and dove straight down. This time, it wanted to stab and claw at the armor instead.

I rolled free and tried to scramble away. That attempt got stopped midway, as the thing gripped my ankle with one hand. The other hand raised for an attack while it dragged me backwards into range. Somehow I had enough presence of mind to go for my knife again.

The blow hit my armor right before I could take the knife, knocking me like a rag doll to the side.

Warning, low shields. The suit announced. It had taken too much damage in this scuffle. The spikes had whittled it away already, direct damage like this was mounting up. Those attacks were no joke. I would have slid a distance on the ground, but the thing still had a grip on my ankle. Its arm lifted again and wailed down on me. Hard.

My left arm reflexively shot up to protect my head. Journey overrode the command, twisting my hand around and opening it into a grab. The move was violent, but Journey caught the automatons attack, catching the things wrist again, stopping the attack cold. The automaton seemed almost shocked.

Notifications scrolled through my HUD, biometrics flashing red on my left hand. Fractures, bruising, muscle contusions.

It tried to rip its hand free. Journey didnt let it go. I closed my hand, retaking control. The mangled machine wrist crumpled further under my grip. It spasmed, black metal now bending as the relic armor squeezed. The creature screamed out, a mix of terror and anger combined.

My right hand finally found the opening and grabbed my knife hilt. The enemy saw the weapon come out. It let go of my ankle, trying to escape now.

Not going to happen, you bastard. My grip was iron. No amount of pull the creature could muster was strong enough to break it.

I yanked the captured arm towards me, interrupting its escape plans. Only then did I let go of my grip, shooting out for the next target: the ribcage. Journeys armored gauntlets wrapped around one of those fake white bones. My knife flew at its face simultaneously, the snap hiss of the blue edge activating midway into my lunge. I screamed death.

Oh, it tried to dodge. Tried. But Journeys grip was a vice, and the ribcage offered a perfect handle to hold against letting me pull the creature even closer. The blade sunk into the thing's throat effortlessly, digging up into the skull. Again and again I stabbed the thing, screaming incoherently the whole time. The violet lights vanished, the creature slumped over me.

A quick shove got it off of me, where I could roll over and stand back up. That was the wrong thing to do since a spike speared out and struck me squarely into the chest plate. The blow knocked me down again on my back.

Warning. Shields offline. Journey said. It almost sounded annoyed, despite the monotone.

With a grunt, I grabbed the machine body and flipped it over, making an improvised cover for me. Another spike flew out and struck the corpse, but couldnt make it through. I lifted my head up to check the current fight and felt elation at the sight.

The spider had made a terrible mistake. Once two more of its minions had dropped out to hunt me down, it was a losing battle from there. It had gambled hard and lost just as badly.

Father had sliced up three, the fourth had retreated under the safety of the spider. He must have turned the tides before the spider could order a retreat. I could picture it looking like an even fight at first until one of these creatures got greedy and Father instantly destroyed it and sped through the rest with the opening.

He couldnt quite get at the final minion, as the skittish spider was now playing exceptionally safe, for good reason. Its attacks shot out to force him away, while the last remaining automaton prowled under, looking for a chance to get a hit in safely.

The barnacle tried firing another spike down at me. But now that I was paying attention again, I could hide from the hit behind the dead automaton. I needed to shift the advantage to Father somehow.

A plan came to mind almost immediately. Simple solutions and all that. The only reason the oversized spider was keeping Father at bay from killing that last minion was because it was free to use those arms.

I knew how to effectively remove one arm from the fight. A simple Catch 22 for the critter.

The only thing needed now was a window of time where the automaton minion would try for something, expecting the protection of the legs.

It wasnt a long wait. These machines were greedy even when they knew the situation couldnt allow mistakes. I saw the minion move for an attack. In a flash, my rifle was up and aiming. Not at the minion - at the spider. The creature saw the motion and reacted immediately. Shielding itself first from the possible bullets.

Leaving the minion wide open and undefended.

Father didnt need to be told anything. Without the spider to cover for it, the screamer had little chance. In seconds, hed cut the automatons throat. Exploiting the falling body as a springboard to leap up, he lept into the air, giving him a perfect firing angle on the barnacle. The turret wasnt quick enough to change targets from me to the imminent threat in time.

A knife flashed out. The spider realized the problem and reacted a moment too late to save the turret. In a split second it seemed to realize there wasnt time, so instead it went on the attack, looking for a trade.

The knife struck squarely into the barnacles single violet eye, blinding it. At the same moment, the spiders sharp legs flew out and stabbed at the midair relic armor. Father saw the attack coming, long sword slicing up to meet the strike. It wasnt fast enough, the limb too quick.

Relic armor shields screamed and crumbled. The strike tossed Father backwards. He hit the ground and leaped back on his feet unsteadily. Damage was significant, but the shield had prevented the worst. I saw on the HUD that Winterscars shields were offline now, same as mine.

The automaton charged after him, another two limbs flying out to sweep him off his feet while he was still recovering his footing. The creature knew this would be the only chance it had.

My rifle was locked on and already firing. It hadnt tried to use its legs this time, opting to rely on the thick armor instead. It wanted Father dead, even if it had to trade eyes for it.

My bullets hit their marks. Three violet eyes shattered on the things exposed side from three quick trigger presses. Journeys aiming was perfect, accurate and quick. But the automatons attacks were just as rapid and precise. They reached out for Father, wide scything swings with terrifying power behind them.

He jumped clear over the first, sword flashing out. Sinking in, letting the automatons own motion sever the appendage wholesale.

The victory came at a cost. The spiders second followup attack clubbed Father right out of the air a moment later.

It sent Father speeding backwards again, this time a nearby building halting the momentum with a terrible crunch. He fell straight down from there, hitting the ground. Winterscar reported a laundry list of broken bones flashing over my display.

Father groggily tried to get back on his feet and faltered backwards into the building wall instead.

I continued raining down fire the whole time. The attack had opened the spider up to some damage but not enough. The legs once more making my bullets useless. Our last enemy closed in on Father, chittering all the while in that strange machine tongue.

He stayed slumped down to the ground, staring at the advancing enemy. I could only hear ragged breathing over the comms.

Get up. Please, get up. I continued to shoot at the spider, trying to stall it.

I I cant win this one I heard him over the comms. Body is giving out. Pushed too far. Run, hide. Ill buy you time. With a grunt of effort, he rose again, Cathidas long sword still somehow clutched in his hand despite everything. He brandished the sword like a torch now, warding away the violet dark. All precision and stance gone. The spider growled in response, wearily circling its prey. Far out of reach of that swinging weapon, not yet confident enough to charge in.

Ejecting the old clip, I slammed a fresh one into place on my rifle. I kept the weapon aimed and ready, searching for an opening. Not going anywhere. Were almost done wit-

Damn you boy, do as I say! He screamed through the comms, glaring at me from the distance. Move! Get out!

The spider charged, gibbering out with incoherent fury. Father turned and silently met its assault head on. Hed always been floating right on the edge, drugs and relic armor keeping that edge at bay.

With the additional broken bones, ripped muscles, and offline shields - hed tipped over that edge. And both of them knew it.

I had to step up to bat; I needed an alternative plan. Or I needed to change the victory conditions.

The rifle barked at the spider, forcing it to defend. It turned slightly to hiss at me, considering if it should rip a hole in me first or finish its original target.

Get to shelter in a house and start patching yourself up! I called out, Ive got an idea on how to hold it off for now! Lies, of course. I had jack-squat for a plan right now.

But Father didnt need to know that. My only aim was to get him out of the fight first. Ill figure something else out later. Wed killed off the army of minions. The thing was already damaged and missing limbs. Wed almost won already.

Theres no way Im going to let it somehow snatch victory somehow after all this. Wed worked too hard for it. I needed to placate Father somehow, pull him out of the fight and deal with this thing myself.

A chuckle passed through the comms. You dont have a plan.

Scrapshit. Ill figure it out, we can wi-

A probing limb flashed out, striking out at the family armor. Father dodged, twisting around and slicing out. The movements were clearly off now, imprecise. Wavering, but still kept lethal enough by sheer muscle memory. The longsword bit down, the tip cutting through ceramic armor before the spider withdrew.

It snickered. The creature circled around, taking only safe attacks. Slowly exhausting Father. I could tell this was the new plan. It was almost playing with him now.

The spider had only four limbs. The thing needed three at minimum to stand. One to attack or defend with.

But not both at the same time.

I know what we can do. I said.

No, you damned fool, you need to-

Another probing strike shot out to catch Father. Again it withdrew too fast for him to counterattack.

But not fast enough to defend against me.

Bullets zipped through the cold air, directly into another violet eye. Another burst flew out to take an extra bite, but the spider was quick enough to shield itself from that. It snarled at us, taking a step back. Realizing I was still a threat.

Okay. So Id get about enough time to snipe one eye with each attack. We can do this. You just have to keep it busy and stay alive, Ill take out its vision bit by bit. Once its blind, we can really work this thing down. I can carry you back home the rest of the way, you know I can.

That that could work. He took a step forward, sword ready. The spider took another step back, then tried a quick half spear. It hadnt even reached Father before the leg retreated to ward off my bullet fire.

It screeched angrily, understanding the plan wed come up with. It couldnt get to me with Father in the way, not without opening itself to a possible crippling blow. We had it in a checkmate. The machine glared balefully at me, hatred easily readable in its stance.

Father advanced methodically, step by step. Like a half dead revenant, come back from the grave. Sword trailing behind him, conserving his strength to strike with it only when he needed to. The metal tip scratched the floor behind him with an eerie noise.

The spider retreated, scuttling behind a building, trying to break my line of sight. A pitiful plan. I jogged forward to keep it in vision the whole time, the rifle never leaving my aiming position. It hissed all the louder.

In desperation, it tilted itself down. The dome-like body now looked like a round shield. Using the barnacle and its own thick armor to protect itself. The eyes were out of my sight now and it struck out at Father. The odd angle did a number on the creatures agility, limiting how it could attack.

Father didnt go for the limb. The spiders main body was in reach, and the old warrior was going for the kill, ending the fight as quickly as he could.

He bolted over the attacking limb, far more limber than I could have guessed, slicing through a section of the creatures main body. Swinging the longsword in a long vertical arc right through the barnacle wholesale.

The creature screamed and scuttled backwards again before another cut could be executed.

Cathidas blade hadnt been long enough to damage critical parts of the machine but black oil dripped from the carved out section. The barnacle turret hadnt been as lucky, splutting and eventually going dark. We had it spooked now.

Out of options, the creature went completely berserk in a last ditch gamble. In moments it had sprinted above Father, stabbing down furiously at him with every limb it had from every direction it could. Once more going for a trade of blows.

My rifle barked out, taking eye after eye out. Not even three seconds had passed and Id already broken all the eyes in my vision.

Its blind on the left! I called out. Father responded by shifting over to the creatures left, forcing it to turn around again to continue the attack. He moved with efficency, struggling to avoid each lethal hit of the creature. My gun continued to snap out eye after eye, until it clicked empty. There were still four eyes left to go.

Scrapshit. No. Not now.

Instantly, I gave up on the rifle, letting it go limp in the strap. There wasnt time to reload, I had to keep up the pressure. I drew out my pistol.

Warning. Target is out of range. Journey chimed. At this distance, the pistol would not do a lot of damage. It didnt matter. I aimed and unloaded all ten shots in rapid fire.

Four eyes at the start, a single eye left after all ten rounds had been spent. Id narrowly missed the last one.

With a curse, I tossed the pistol aside and went for the next rifle clip, moving as fast as I could.

A grunt of surprise passed over the comms. Warning. Winterscar chimed. Fatal internal damage detected.

I froze and glanced up, catching what had happened.

Father had been skewered clean through the stomach, a dodge too late. Relic armor and all. Even wounded, his sword was already swinging down with vengeance against the attacking limb. The spider didnt wait to have its fourth leg cut apart. Instead it flung him off with a derisive swipe. The sword only made it halfway into the limb, before hed been thrown away.

He flew off, low to the ground, skidding to a stop, a trail of blood left behind. Emergency life support activated. Three minutes estimated to hemorrhagic shock. Winterscar called out, voice still monotone. First aid required. Loading medical module.

Father tried to get up, but only collapsed back down on the pool of blood spreading beneath him. R-run, His voice drifted over the comms, desperate now.

Run.

Run?

If I ran, I could make it back to the surface. I had relic armor now; I stood a chance of survival alone. Father knew that. I hadnt even reloaded the rifle, but it would be worthless in this fight. Id be down to using only my knife for this. And he knew I couldnt beat this thing with a knife.

I took a step back, caught between the terror, anger and fear. He was going to die in three minutes without aid. Winterscar was keeping him stabilized from the messages on the HUD but it showed up as a temporary solution with a time limit. If I killed this thing fast, I could make it to Father in time. The armor would show me how to save him.

I couldnt possibly kill this thing by myself. Let alone within the next few seconds.

No winning move. Despair flooded into my heart. The creature snickered again, turning the last good eye in my direction. It approached, ignoring Father, already marking him as a non-threat.

What if I ran? I could just turn right now, and Id live. He was going to die in less than three minutes. And hed ordered me to run too.

I need to run.

I need to run.

I need to run.

Cathidas knife flared to life in my hand.

Ive run long enough.

My shaking hand stilled. The spider approached, leg tip sharp enough to puncture through metal. Sharp enough to kill me in one hit. In response, I took a step forward, taking the stance Father had taught me through blood, pain and trial. A breath in and out, to steady myself.

The ancient occult knife in my hand slowly rose up to face the enemy.

I am Keith Winterscar, Relic knight of House Winterscar.

And I will honor my vow.