The Paradox Corridor

Chapter 17: Adjustment

Amazingly, the wall in front of them collapsed, as if it had been held up by stilts that had been taken down, and they flew right over it. They began to drop, and right before they hit the floor they hit a net, which collapsed under their extreme speed, slowing them down a bit. They began to fall through layer after layer of netting until the last net held up, bulging at the bottom, before bouncing them up a bit. James couldn't see clearly, his vision was blurry and it seemed like there were multiples of singular objects. He was confused. How did someone know when and where they were going to be thrown at a wall? How did they know exactly where to put the nets? He saw a figure running toward them. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision, and beheld his rescuer. It was a............fireman? What was he doing here?

"Are you okay?" asked the fireman.

"Y-y-yes?" answered James, to frightened to speak normaly. "How did you know where we were going to fall?"

"I cannot believe we were able to put up the nets as fast as we did, but we received a tip from one of the janitorial staff that said that those nets were all that stood between you guys and death." explained the fireman.

"Was he a c-c-custodian, by any chance?" asked Amber.

"Yes, yes he was. An old geezer, by the looks of it. Who knows. Or, maybe its that you all are lucky enough to have a guardian angel." he said, winking. Then he heard a roar from the Gal-Gatha.

"Right now though, we need to deal with that thing. Come on, you three. Andre and Jeremy will help you." Two doctors came over with bandages and sodas, the bandages for their many cuts and scars (surprisingly, that's all the damage they themselves had taken.) and the sodas for invigoration. The mixture of the caffeine and the Gal-Gatha's roars woke them up, and they ran outside to see what was happening. The other firemen, about twenty of them, were all tensed, waiting for the robot to attack. The robot jumped up, and landed in the middle of all of them with a crunch. They immediately began to fire water on it from all angles, tons and tons of water just pouring onto it. But for all their efforts, the firemen were doing next to nothing. It was so heavy that the water didn't even push it that much. It was much to heavy to slip on the water, and, when you looked at it from the outside, it was a pretty pitiful scene. James suddenly wondered,

"Why are the firefighters, of all people, fighting this alien menace? Where is the government?" His thoughts were interrupted when the robot knelt down on one knee unexpectedly. It did the weirdest thing: it looked at each one of the firefighters in turn, its beady red eyes looking straight through them. Then, it did something odd. It turned slowly to one of the younger firemen, and lifted it hand. It pointed at him, and the firemen all tensed, preparing for an attack. Then, the robot's hand began to glow, and it raised this hand to its chest. It thumped it's hand against its chest, and soon the whole robot began to glow.

"It it going to teleport again?" asked Andrew hopefully.

"Is it going to shoot at us?" cried one other firemen at the same time. Then, one of the firemen turned toward Andrew.

"Wait, teleport? It can teleport?!?" he asked, sounding afraid. The robot was shining now, its entire body looking more and more like a miniature star. Then, its hand began to crack. The darkness underneath began to seep out, and circled around the robot. The rest of its armor followed suit, until all that was left was the bright light and the darkness surrounding it. Then, the darkness flooded into the light ball of light, and the light was smothered. The ball of darkness hovered there for a moment, and then it began to stretch. It grew four shapeless legs and a tail like thing. A head seemed to unfold from the darkness, as if a curtain had been swept away from it. Then, there was a flash of (if its even possible) darkness, and there it lay. Sitting in the middle of their now cowering circle was a tiger, with black fangs, milky white eyes, and jagged viens all over it's ripped body that glowed dark purple whenever it's heart beat. To say the least, it was far bigger and evil looking than any normal tiger. It arched its back, turned back to the fireman it had pointed to, and growled. He promptly fainted. The tiger growled again, and this time it seemed as if it was laughing. It turned to another fireman, and the same thing happened; it transformed, but this time, it came out as a hideous looking skeleton-like creature. It groaned and lurched forward toward the largest fireman, who screamed and took a few steps back.