Scrapped Stories

Re;birth Apocalypse [Original] Ch. 22: Industrial Incidents

The metal and glass shards underneath me start moving towards Clubs as it starts absorbing the parts. The bottom of my feet had turned to the charcoal bone while all the glass ran across it, so I wasn't bothered by what would probably be a very painful experience. I will a small chunk of metal to me, converting it into a shield and sword, preparing for Clubs' next move. The machine stumbled back, the shards of glass and metal attaching to it, creating a large upper body with a long arm sprouting off from the side. It slammed the limb on the ground, as the thing moved like a whip or snake. Clubs' head twitched as its eyes lit up, sparks flying as it spoke through the glitches. "W-W-W-W-Welcome to L-L-L-" A spark flies off as its eyes turn red. "H-Hell!" I look down at the two weapons in my hands, quickly realizing that they would not be enough to stop this thing's onslaught. "Well...Shi-" I'm immediately slammed by the long tendril of a limb, sent flying back to the side as Clubs kicks off the ground in chase. I straighten myself out, kicking off the ground with my right leg, using the boost to get enough air to throw the shield towards the charging beast. The shield snags Clubs in the joint where the long tendril attached to its body, getting stuck in the crack. "Yes!" The shield immediately merges with Clubs' body, becoming like a spike rising from the shoulder. "Dammit!" I land on the ground, rolling out of the way as Clubs charges past. I look back to the beast as it turns around. "I knew robots would take over the world one day, I just KNEW IT!" I leap into the air to avoid Clubs once more, taking the sword in my hand as it morphs into a rifle. A pillar of metal flies up to me, turning into a platform underneath my feet, allowing me to prepare a shot. Clubs launches its tendril arm towards the platform, catching the bottom of it as it absorbs it into its body. I dive off of the platform as it snaps closed like a flytrap. The metal adds a large spike to the end of Clubs' tendril arm. I look around at the piles of metal and glass on the ground, trying to find something that'll work. I create a wall of metal in front of me, just as Clubs throws its spiked limb towards it, breaking through the wall and launching me back into the wall of a factory. I cough up some blood as the Apocalypse Caller slams into me, digging its spiked ball into my body, causing the wall I'm pushed up against to break. I'm quickly shot across the factory floor, sliding over to a ledge leading to a large river of molten steel below. I slip off of the edge, grabbing the edge of the platform, dangling off of it. I look down to the river of molten steel as Clubs enters the factory, sparks flying from its main body, as the metal gathered seems to start pulsating. "A-A-A-Ad-A-Ad-Ad-Admit one to ri-ri-ri-" Another spark flies from its head. "D-Die." I reach for the platform with my other hand, just as Clubs steps on my currently hanging for dear life hand. My grip starts to loosen as Clubs drags its foot along my hand, causing me to forcefully pull away. My hand slips out from underneath its foot, as I plummet towards the river of molten steel below. The intense heat hits me, rising in the steam as I quickly approach the river. Clubs steps away from the edge, its long tendril-like arm scraping along the floor as it walks. An explosion comes from behind it, a large splash of molten steel flying into the air, landing on the platform. A fair amount of it gets on Clubs' body, the molten steel melting a bit of the cold steel of its armor. Floating just above floor-level past the edge of the platform, was a single figure. Their body had various sections of charcoal bone, with the most noticeable feature of red streaks in the white hair. My Anti Drive Vitality, having shielded me from the temperature of the molten steel, allowing me to fly out from the pit. My eyes glared with red flame. In an instant, Clubs' body was hurled into the wall behind me, causing a deep dent to form in it. The long tendril arm shot back at me, but it exploded out into a liquid state before it could touch me. The melted arm landing on the platform behind me, as Clubs leaped at me once more. I easily glided out of the way, Clubs slamming back into the platform, stepping onto the melting steel of its arm. The liquid absorbed back into its body, reforming an arm not as long as before, but still a fairly sizable length. Clubs slams me with the arm, sending me flying back into the wall, which I kick off of as I hit it, delivering a punch right into Clubs chest armor, cracking it as the metal completely shatters. The shattered metal quickly returns to Clubs' body, forming into wings on his back. A long tail forms behind the wings, which strike me with a tail swipe. I crash through the wall to the right of the entrance, breaking into a larger room with conveyor belts and lots of machinery pressing plates of steel. I land on one of the conveyor belts, quickly half floating half running along it. Clubs flies through the same hole I came through, the wall breaking apart even more as the metal absorbs into Clubs' body, forming the long tendril arm again. I look back as Clubs slams its arm down onto the conveyor belt, breaking it apart. "Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me!" I do a half flip into a dive as I aim for another conveyor belt, missing it and landing on the floor. I start making my way towards another door, just as Clubs tears apart the conveyor belts, absorbing them into its body. I break through the locked doors with a single punch, noticing a single conveyor belt running along the floor, a single person standing at it with a nailgun in hand and no signs of having heard anything going on. I quickly throw myself down the stairs, approaching the person. "Hey, sorry to interrupt your work, but you should probably get out of here. Things are...things are bad." The person didn't respond, continuing to work on whatever was in front of them. I look over their shoulder, but nothing was on the conveyor belt, in fact, the conveyor belt wasn't even running. The person just stood there, motioning their hands like they were building something. I turn the person around, just as the sounds of destruction get louder behind me. "Look, you need to get out of here. Before it gets here!" The person had pale grey-ish hair, half short with the other half swooped over. They were wearing a grey uniform, which looked like a grey shirt under a thin grey denim coat that could pass for being a shirt as well. Their pants and shoes were also grey, the entirety of their outfit was dusty and dirty, and looked to had never been washed. They wore a spiked collar around their neck. It was difficult to tell what gender they were from looks alone. Their eyes were dull yellow, with one of them having a scar running across it, the eye a lot more pale than the other. They might have been blind in one eye. The person looked up to me with a blank expression, an explosion going off behind us. "How can I help you, sir?" This person seemed off, it felt like they were almost not here. As if I was talking to myself, all the stress having gotten to me. "Who are you, and why are you here at this factory. This place has been abandoned for a long time now." The person stared blankly at me, answering in that same monotone voice. "I am Gen. I have been assigned to this workplace." I see the tendril-like arm reaching into the room from the doorway. "No time... We've got to go!" I grab Gen's hand, pulling them out of the room as Clubs bursts through the wall. I point my hand, palm outwards, towards Clubs, firing off a blast that caves the ceiling in on top of it.

We make it outside, having ran far from the factory. I give myself a moment to catch my breath. "We...should be...fine now." I glance over to Gen, noticing that they were breathing normally, or...quietly so I couldn't hear it. How could they run so far and not be out of breath? "Gen...we should get you out of this nation. Do you have any family? Friends? Anyone who might be looking for you?" Gen looks to me, tilting their head. "I do not understand your question." I sigh, kicking aside some scrap metal and glass. "What am I going to do..." I notice that I'm still in ADV, I exhale as I drop out of it. "Ah...that's better." I turn back to Gen. "So...why don't we-" A bang goes off in the distance, the factory where we left Clubs most likely. Just as we were about to turn away, a large wave of pressure shot past us, the wind sending scrap metal and glass into the air. The small outline of the factory in the distance had suddenly vanished without a trace. "What...happened?"

End of Chapter