Voynich Shift - Season One (COMPLETED)

Leonis, 1:1, 2:14 - Roach Hotel - Parkercide

From the safety of a rooftop, Parker watched the yellow-eyed R.R.O.A.C.H. Number THREE searching the streets for him below. Once he noticed he was being watched by hidden cameras, Parker knew he could avoid detection by a couple of different means. He could either destroy the cameras, which he had done a few times already at this point, or he could simply steer clear of them. There was one very important aspect Parker noted about the electronic surveillance devices...their manufacture. They appeared to be quite old and antiquated...Mid-eighties he imagined.

Actually, Parker hoped that this was the eighties. It would be a lot more difficult to stay invisible if whoever was observing him used twenty-first century technology. Because at any moment some sort of drone could buzz by. Thankfully, so far, none had, lending credence to his thoughts on the subject.

Nevertheless, this surveillance, these machines, all brought up a point, who exactly was chasing him? And why on this Earth would they want him dead?

Parker felt Broadway flinch in his arms at the sound of a woman's scream echoing from somewhere out in the dark city. The two of them were not the only living things in this god-awful New York, apparently. "Okay, bud, back in the bag...let's go see where that came from."

"Mew."

Parker sailed down the steps until he reached an expansive room filled with a dirty floor of cracked tile and cracked mirrors. In his Multiverse, this was the lobby of a very grand hotel. Unfortunately, the interior that existed in this reality bore no trace of its stately past including any shelves of expensive liquor. Parker took a slow deep breath, lifted his bag, and whispered to its furry occupant as he neared the exit. "Okay, looks clear. Get ready, I'm about to run, Broadway." He slowly eased the door open with his shoulder.

R.R.O.A.C.H. Number Three unexpectedly thumped around the corner forcing Parker to jump back inside the building. He softly pulled the glass and wood door to just as the killing machine stopped outside, and then jutted its frightening face inside. Parker held his breath as the opening door pressed up against him. He hoped Broadway wouldn't make any noises.

Another scream echoed between the buildings and Number Three backed from the doorway.

Parker was beside himself. "I hate those damn machine bugs! I want them all destroyed and then, when I find out whoever came up with whatever this is...I'm beating an ass!"

From nowhere, a woman sped by at a rapid clip and shot past the hotel entrance with Number ONE in hot pursuit. She kept looking over her shoulder at the monster behind her, her dark hair streaking behind her.

Parker growled at what he was witnessing. This time the damn machine was equipped with a pair of buzzing chainsaws attached to its armored housing. "Okay that is really demented!" Parker said under his breath. "...definitely going to be an ass kicking at some point!"

Easing his head outside to look around, Parker noticed Number Three was strangely nowhere to be found. "Okay, something's up." Parker prepared himself to run.

"Go!"

Parker pumped his arms and legs as hard as he could, attempting to gain on the fleeing woman and her pursuer. "Damn...she's....fast...."

An electronic roar from behind was all Parker needed to know he was no longer the pursuer, but the pursued. "Crap!" he exclaimed and took a sharp left down 8th and then a right on 49th.

The sputter of machine gun fire and the sound of projectiles whizzing by his head made Parker's blood run cold. "You...wanna...play...games!?!! How...about...this?" Up ahead Parker saw the familiar signs and accompanying handrails of the subway's underground entrance.

As more shots rang out, brass casings clattered to the concrete by the dozens, bullets splattered into street signs and the rusting bodies of abandoned cars. The streams of hot lead dislodged chunks of concrete from buildings and barricades, but none seemed to make contact with their intended target.

Parker ducked, weaving left and right desperately attempting to avoid the deadly hail of gunfire.

Nearly exhausted, he gritted his teeth and poured everything he had left into one last burst of energy. Parker jumped as if he was trying out for the Olympics' long jump competition and sailed over the opening in the sidewalk.

Unit Three let loose another volley of bullets.

A mist of red ejected outward from the bullet impact with his side and Parker was spun around in midair. This 180° turn sent streaks of blood splattering over the hood of an overturned taxi as Parker flew into its windshield. The safety glass exploded in a spider web of shattering glass.

The R.R.O.A.C.H., unable to stop at its current rate of speed, flew face forward into the sign-covered, concrete upper lip of the subway entrance with a massive boom. The rear part of its elongated metallic body continued forward at an angle in a rapid and tumultuous journey down the stairs. Its spindly legs desperately gripped at the hand rails only to have the metal poles uproot from the concrete and follow the beast in its somersault into the darkness. The machine generated a digital scream and kept firing its weapons as it rolled end over end...