Fortnite: Project Mecha

Chapter 22: A Crushing Defeat

There was a very brief moment where the Imagined stood there uselessly, like a lamppost on a road with no cars. Then she remembered that she was needed elsewhere and she ran towards Command Cavern before it was too late to do anything to help. Death was not an option for any of them.
Although help would be coming in a minute, because there were suddenly three IO guards stood a hill on the very outskirts of Camp Cuddle. They had Ranger ARs that were trained on her exposed head, not that she even knew where her helmet was anymore... she'd have to ask the Origin when they saw each other again.
The Imagined wasted no time laying the guards to rest, starting with smacking one guard across the head with her Striker Pump Shotgun. He cried out before slamming into a tree and falling apart into the cubes. They glowed like a ghost, and she imagined the man still watching her beyond his temporary grave. He'd be back before they knew it.
"Who's next?" the Imagined yelled cockily, pulling out an LMG. She hadn't used the weapon yet; she was excited.
Her heart beat with each of the bullets fired from the weapon, beating the first IO guard to a pulp and dealing a significant amount of damage to the third. He clutched his forearm and he grunted like a pig, squealing as she threw the LMG at him. And that was that... she needed to get moving.
"Don't leave yet. The party's just getting started." Slone appeared as well. Finally, a challenge.
"This takes the cake." the Imagined picked up her LMG and reloaded it in one motion.
"Pun intended?" Slone began to circle the Imagined, her afro bouncing up and down slightly.
"Of course."
"Well, it's not very good."
Slone revealed a knife from the back of her belt. The blade was sharp but not clean, the blood of previous kills still laced across the alloy with little flakes of rust on the end, which could possibly be considered a stupid move but it was actually clever. If the knife itself didn't kill her, the blood poisoning surely would.
"I know that you know what the Seven's big plan is. We could do this the easy way, or I could stab you and then stalk you until you succumb to the rust." Slone's voice sounded steady, but her eyes were angry. She could sense that things may not go down her way.
"The hard way is more dangerous." the Imagined stated atonally, not alluding to the fact that a safer option would be preferred.
"I thought you Seven people liked dangerous." Slone began to close in the circle a little, the space between them thinning like the bottom of a decaying bridge.
"I thought you IO people did as well." the Imagined mocked Slone.
She had to say it, it was just so easy... although maybe saying it hadn't been the best idea. Slone thrust her rusted knife at the Imagined. She blocked it and deflected it back. The knife fell to the floor. The Imagined and Slone ran to get it. It was right there, but just out of reach for the pair.
The Imagined was surprised to found that she reached it first. Like a tortoise to a hare. But tortoises are often slow and the Imagined didn't allow herself enough time to throw away the knife. Slone reached for it. The Imagined pulled it away. It was almost gone. Almost. Nearly...
And the next time Slone reached for the knife, the Imagined dropped it and it rolled off down the hill.
"Do you want to play games with me, Imagined?" Slone breathed tiredly.
"No!" the Imagined cried, "Do you know what I think?"
"I'm think that you're about to tell me something." Slone raised her shoulders angrily.
"You'd be correct, and- um, it's pretty important." the Imagined lowered her gun.
But lowering the gun wasn't enough. The Imagined knew that if she was to really get through to her, she had to disarm herself completely. It'd leave her exposed like a baby animal without its parents, but it would be good if it paid off. And because of this, the Imagined laid her LMG to rest on the ground.
"Slone, you're clever. Really clever. Surely you're clever enough to know that what the IO is doing is wrong?" the Imagined found herself to sound as if she was pleading for something.
"Ethics aren't exactly my priority when dealing with you, all seven of you." Slone deflected the comment.
"That's not what I mean! Innocent people are getting caught in the crosshairs!" the Imagined cried, thinking of people like the prisoners at Condo Canyon.
"If it wasn't us, it was only going to be someone else." Slone groaned. The Imagined would be lying if she said that Slone's voice didn't sound slightly defeated.
"But what if that wasn't the case?" the Imagined questioned, "You saved Skye and Plague. There's got to be enough good in you to care about the people."
Slone scowled, "Say that I did. That I cared about your precious loopers. What would you want me to do?"
"Your tech is extraordinary. You could use it to help people instead of being selective with your choices." the Imagined complimented.
It was people like Aura and Brite Bomber who the Imagined Order valued so much that made the Imagined consider the fact that she could get through to the IO Doctor. Maybe it was a cringe line used by villains in movies, but in truth the Imagined and Slone were the same. They were both just women, fighting for a side in a war that had been forced on them by powers out of their control, expect that the Imagined was trying to fight off the IO and Slone was helping them. Even so...
What if Slone was simply misguided?
Slone's eyes defrosted from their cold and harsh appearance as she tilted her head, "My tech is only a work on progress. I'm not being selective."
"You're also not saying no." the Imagined commented. And she smiled warmly.
Slone smiled back. When she smiled, the genuine smile she didn't use often, she was actually pretty rather than conceited-looking. It was a shame that the higher ups at IO didn't approve of such happiness. Slone had a smile that could influence a million more.
And then it all came crashing down on top of Slone, figuratively and physically, in the form of a large blue mech foot. The silence was only interrupted by the distant humming of the overhead machinery. The Imagined gazed where Slone had once stood. She was not standing there any more.
"Do you need a hand? Or a foot?" the Paradigm blared out over the mech's loudspeaker.
It was good to see her again in whatever form she was in, whether that be scary blue bear mech or just as herself. But the Imagined couldn't stop thinking about Slone and how close she'd gotten. It would have benefited all of them. But she couldn't say all that to the Paradigm now, so the Imagined merely responded with an awkward double thumbs up.

***

"She heard me. Ok, battle squad, you ready?" the Paradigm clenched the mech's fista aggressively.
"Ready!" Mothy started.
"Ready." Raz added.
"I'm ready!" Lynx cheered.
"That makes four of us." Drift finished.
"Good. Ok, I'll explain what's going to happen." the Paradigm moved the mech forward and the Imagined dived away below, "Has anybody told you about the Collider yet? Actually, that doesn't matter. I'll give you a rundown anyway... so, the Collider. It's run by IO and it's the massive glowing tower thing. It looks dangerous and it is dangerous, but not in terms of it being a weapon. It's kind of like a rocket, except it's due to flip the island back over."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Mothy asked. It was a fair question.
"Not for us. On the other side of the island, there's no Sanctuary or other Seven bases. On the other hand, the IO will regain access to their facilities." the Paradigm began to speed up the mech.
"So there's a threat." Drift pictured the expansive IO complex in his mind.
"Yeah. We need to get moving, now! There's no time to waste!" the Paradigm shouted.
And then the mech was bounding across the fields towards the lake where the tall plasma beam the Collider was waiting.

To be continued...