Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 2

Siege

Adam's hands trembled against the bars. Inside his head his heart pounded sending waves of anger like red-hot heat down his back and pulsing all over his body. Inside the cage Vicky's piteous cries echoed inside his head as she pressed herself up against the bars with a soft moan. Other than her muffled cries, all he could hear was the constant ringing that had risen up inside his head.

A buzzing against his left arm went almost unnoticed.

Words echoed from the implant by his ear: SOS activated.

He couldn't have spoken at that moment even if he wanted to. He was so anger that his high brain function had almost completely shut off.

He stepped back for the cage staring at the mechanized lock that kept the cage shut.

This was going to be loud, but he didn't care. He was already here anyway, and they could just try to stop him.

He paced back one more step before racing forward and slamming the heel of his prosthetic leg into the metal casing of the mechanical lock.

The augmented limb whirred with mechanical power, and a loud bang erupted around the room as the lock shattered. He grabbed the door with one hand and wrenched it back in anger making his body into a machine.

The door was nearly ripped off its hinges, but he ignored it kneeling down and reaching out. Vicky crawled into his arms resting her strange alien head on his shoulder.

"It's alright, you're safe now."

She mewed and he stepped back turning on the spot. Vicky stuck to his heels as he marched out towards the nearest door. The repurposed steel-eye prosthetic, sensing his elevated heart rate, whirred with power as he stored up the waiting energy.

Overhead sirens began to blare, and red lights flashed causing his skin to pulse with a hellish cast.

The door before him was thrown open and the two Tesraki from earlier ran into the room followed closely by Sunny despite the attempts to keep her at bay.

"What are you doing!"

"You can't be in here!"

He ignored their warnings, grabbing one by scarf he wore, clasping the other around the throat and hoisting them into the air choking and sputtering. At their backs Sunny's eyes were wide in surprise. She scanned the room quickly eyes falling on Vicky.

Her eyes widened.

Adam snarled and hurled the two Tesraki back with the strength and power of a creature twice his size. They hit the ground hard one of them rolling to slam into a wall . The guards that accompanied them lifted their weapons, Adam darted forward grabbing the barrel of one of their weapons, and violently bending it until the barrel was a twisted mass of unusable metal.

He kicked another one to the side and hurled the next one against the nearby cage.

Sunny grabbed the last one who was just beginning to respond and hurled it across the room with one of her powerful arms.

Adam kicked open the next door. It wasn't quite necessary as it ripped the doors nearly off their hinges as he charged into the room. All around them a chattering rose up from massive cages all around the room.

He paused in the opening looking around with wide eyes at the strange scene before him, at all the strange and unusual creatures that he saw. He stopped by the nearest cage eyes scanning over the label as the creature stared at him from the inside. He recognized the face of an Iotin, but the body was covered in a thick layer of fur like the Tesraki. The creature tilted it's head at hi in curiosity and confusion.