Exo Saves The Day, Chapter 29

[gynoneko]

Wow, another chapter is already ready already! I realy enjoyed this one, and hope you guys do too. I know it is really close to the release of my last chapter, but I just coudn't stop myelf. Please leave me some feedback. We're getting close to the end!

1) How did you like this chapter versus the last one? Which is your favorite in the whole story so far?
2) Are there too many details / not enough? Do they balance well?
3) Are there any questions you have about the story, characters, etc? (any at all, I might not answer if it involves the story, but it might clarify things I need to define more)
4) Out of the entire story, what is your favorite part so far? What is your least favorite part?
5) Is there any part of my writing that distracts you?
6) Who is your favorite character?


-----------------------

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4.
Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8.
Chapter 9. Chapter 10. Chapter 11. Chapter 12.
Chapter 13. Chapter 14. Chapter 15. Chapter 16.
Chapter 17. Chapter 18. Chapter 19. Chapter 20.
Chapter 21. Chapter 22. Chapter 23. Chapter 24.
Chapter 25. Chapter 26. Chapter 27. Chapter 28.

----
Exo Saves the Day
Chapter Twenty Nine: Ferocious Ferrous Felne
By Gynoneko


We trekked up the dirt road a short ways, armed to the teeth, and ready for battle.  I led the way, followed by Joan and Annie, with Jen taking up the rear.  Of course I donned my full Exo gear, hat and all.  After all, I didn't know what to expect, but I felt that I was ready for anything as we marched head long into the unknown.

"Danny... something doesn't seem right about this" Jen said.  I got the feeling that she was probably right, but the constant repetition of Tera's cries for help, and the promise of seeing her on the other side of the trees overclouded my judgment.  I pressed on silently, ignoring her concerned comment.

The gate had just disappeared behind us down the trail when there was an unexpected beep and the hum of energy.  It was so quiet and so fast that I didn't notice it until it was too late.  As I walked forward, I felt a sensation like the hair rising on the back of my neck, followed by the feeling of being weighed down by something heavy.  Joan stopped abruptly, eyes wide with shock, and held out her hands to stop Annie from passing her.

"Don't move!" Joan told Annie.  I turned around to see Annie looking at the ground ahead of us with Jen behind them.

"What is it?" Annie asked.

"A high-frequency electro magnetic pulsating wave field" Joan answered.

"A what?" Jen asked looking around as if she was expecting to see a wall.

"An EMP field" she clarified.  "It fries electronics, computer, microprocessors... robots.  And Danny just stepped right through it."  Joan took a step back, putting more distance between her and the invisible gate.

"I what?" I asked, before I realized she was right.  My suit had shorted out and it now weighted me down instead of providing support.  "Oh shit!"

"Danny, are you alright?" Jen asked.

"I'm fine but... shit!" I cussed.  "My suit is fried!  I know I put EMP shielding in this thing."

"Wait, so you just fried your suit?" Jen asked.  She looked around at everything she was holding.  She pulled out her phone and glanced at her watch.  "Well I seem to be alright.  You said it fries robots too?  Then how are you two...?"

"We're not in the field" Joan said, still backing away as if she was retreating from a wild animal.  "Annie and I have EMP shielding, it was a requirement for our specs set by the military, but a concentrated field or beam could still penetrate our defenses."

"So it's like a bubble?" Annie asked.

"More like a wall" Joan clarified.  "Something is transmitting this to keep us out..."

"Or to keep someone in" Annie added.

"A robot?  You mean Tera?" Jen asked.

"Or a cyborg" Joan continued.  "Or just Danny's Exo suit.  Even cars couldn't get through this.  But everything on the other side would be fine, provided they don't pass through the wall."

I growled and cussed and complained all the while, cursing the field for destroying my suit, or me for walking right into it.  After I was finished mourning the passing of my suit, I started taking it off, disconnecting the various parts and the vest, leaving everything except the vest on the side of the road.

"What are you doing?" Jen asked.

"I can't wear this anymore.  It weighs a ton!" I complained.  "And of course my watch is dead too.  great!"

"And your phone?"

I checked my pockets for the bulge of a phone.  "I guess I left it back in the car."  At least I didn't need to get a new phone.

"Toss me your suit" Jen ordered reaching out to catch it.

"No.  If it passes through again it might cause another short.  There's a chance I can fix it as it is, but we'll just leave it here for now.  Besides, Tera is in there!  We need to get moving!"

"We can't go with you" Annie said.

"I'll go with you" Jen pipped up.  "Wait... will it affect my gun?" she asked holding up her semi-automatic pistol.

"No, you should be fine" Joan reassured.  "But you better leave your phone with us."

"Right" Jen said, and proceeded to give Joan her phone and watch.  She took a deep breath, and walked up toward me.  There was no visible change, no sensation that she passed through anything as she walked right through and stood next to me.  "Hey wait... what about your nano-bots?" she asked.  "Are they still working?"

"The signal faded momentarily when I passed through, but... they seem to be fine now."

"But how...?"

"Nano-bots are not always electronic or mechanical" Joan pointed out.  "Usually they are biological, and not susceptible to EMPs."

"Like microscopic bionoids?" Jen asked, looking closer at my face as if she was trying to see them.  Bionoids... the thought grossed me out.  Little man-made abominations of nature living inside me... I shivered and tried not to think about it.

"Let's change the topic.  Or better yet, let's get moving!" I suggested.

"Right.  You have to try to shut off the field emitter, if you can find it" Joan said.  "Annie and I will try to find a way around."

"Alright.  Good luck" I said and turned back toward the path.

"Good luck" Joan echoed.  Her voice was somehow more full of emotion than I expected, as though she were genuinely scared for me and Jen, and probably Tera.

"Don't go that way!" Annie interjected.

"Why not?" I asked.

"They'll be expecting you to come by the main path.  Take to the trees" she said, pointing to the small forest on either side of the path.

"Good idea.  Thanks."

Before I realized it, Jen and I had left Annie and Joan and were already approaching the edge of the woods.  I was nervous and scared, but determined to press forward.

As we came to the clearing, we beheld an unusual sight.  The area appeared to be a sparsely populated junk yard.  There were tall cranes brandishing over-sized magnets, rusted cars, rotting wood furniture, and an assortment of other things laying around.  It looked more like an old recycling center, with mainly wood, metal, and glass strewn about in no particular order.  I pressed forward, but Jen hesitated.

"Something feels bad about this, Danny" she said timidly.  She saw me continuing my pace, driven by the messages sent my Tera in my head, and tried to keep up with me.

"Tera's in here somewhere" I said.  "We need to get her out!"  I passed into the area, cautious that I was trespassing on what was probably private land.  "Stay behind me, you don't have on a vest."

She actually did stay behind, following very close and cautiously as we proceeded forward.  I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but I figured there had to be some kind of structure nearby where she was being held.

"Danny, I'm scared.  Something isn't right here" Jen reiterated.

Faintly, I could hear a tapping noise, almost like a banging of metal.  I focused my attention on it, and discovered it was timed to the messages Tera was sending me screaming in my head.  With every word, as it was transmitted, there was a corresponding bang.

"This way!" I said in a hushed tone.  Cautiously, we walked in the direction of the banging, keeping a weary eye out for guards, Leonis, 262, or even the man himself.  There was nothing.  Nothing at all!  The words Jen had spoken only moments before now echoed in my mind.  Something wasn't right, but I dared not turn away now, not when Tera was so close!

Finally, we came to it.  A large metal container with a door and a padlock lay in the heart of the junk yard, and the banging emanated from within.  Quickly I ran to the rusted object and pulled at the door.  The padlock was new, but it wasn't that big.  However, without my suit I couldn't just pull it off.  I dropped my gun and banged on the door, yelling to Tera trapped inside.

"Tera!  Tera!  We're going to get you out of there.  Hang on!"

There was no answer, but I didn't exactly stop to wait for one.  I looked around and found a straight metal rod in the rubble, and dived for it.

"Help me" I told Jen, who stood at a distance looking around nervously.

"Danny..." she said in a very nervous tone, almost like she was asking a question.  The pistol in her hands shook violently as she looked around nervously.

I ignored her, and grabbed the metal rod.  Ramming it into the space between the lock and the door, I pried at the lock, trying to break it open.  With all my strength, I pulled and pulled, and even put all my body weight into it.  The metal rod had started to bend, but just when I feared it would fail, the lock gave way and broke.

As I pulled away the lock, something else occurred to me.  This entire time, the same message had been sent, without any deviation.  Even the timing was the same.  Unless she was plugged into a power source, there was no way she could have done that without running out of juice.  But even more disturbing, there was no way she was able to send a message across the city while sitting inside a metal tube.  She hadn't even responded to me banging at the door.  Something was wrong, and this had trap written all over it.

Still, I pulled open the door, and peered inside.  An electric motor lay inside, pushing a stick with a wooden block at the end into the side of the metal cylinder.  It was making that banging sound, and some sort of wire ran out of it and out of a small hole in the bottom of the container.  Tera was nowhere to be found.  What's worse was I didn't hear the tiny snap of a line as I opened the door, at least not until Jen's voice screamed out in terror.

A noise from somewhere above me caught my attention.  I looked up just in time to see a rusted ancient car plummeting right on top of me.  Time stood still, and I realized these were the last moments of my life as the car got ever close.  My body froze, and I was unable to do anything to get out of the way of the oncoming doom.

Just as I was about to be turned into street pizza, I had the sudden sensation of falling.  The car started to veer off to my side.  I hit the ground hard with Jen laying on top of me (for the second time that day), her face buried in my side.  Less than a second later, the car came crashing down inches from her feet.  The sound was incredible, and deafening.

It took me a few seconds to register everything that happened.  Jen had risked her own life to save mine, and managed to push me out of the way of the falling car.  It was close, and my entire head was ringing from the impact.  As soon as I was capable of thought, I grabbed onto Jen to make sure she was alright.  She was dazed, but would be fine.

I got to my feet as quickly as I could.  It was a trap, and I survived it by the skin of my teeth, but who's to say there wasn't someone watching this unfold.  We needed to get out of there, and for a new plan, and fast!  I looked around and realized my gun was crushed under the debris, and Jen's was no where to be found probably thrown into the pile of rubble as she dove to save me.

I got Jen to her feet, and started hobbling toward the trees.  I pushed her ahead of me to try to cover her from anyone who might take a shot at us.  I owed her my life, and the least I could do was try to keep her safe.

"Run" I coughed, keeping her at a pace ahead of me.  "Get to the others!"

Without warning, a large rusty metal muffler came briefly into my vision, just in time for it to strike my chest, and send me hurdling toward the ground landing on my back.  It knocked the wind out of me for a second, but it was a great wakeup call, and I managed to get my wits about me.

I looked up as I scrambled to my feet to see something I never expected.  The rusty muffler was being wielding like a baseball bat by what looked like a rusty metal statue of a girl.  It took me a moment to realize the statue was moving.

I got to my feet and prepared for another blow.  I managed to dodge the first one, but the second hit me, sending me stumbling backwards.

"Die already!" the female statue hissed.

I recognized the voice.  It was rough, a little breathy, and made me want to clear my throat.  262 took another swing at me with the muffler, but this time I caught it in my hands.  I was sure without my suit, I would be toast against her.  For some reason, I was holding my own in terms of brute strength.  In fact, she was not much stronger than Tera, no where near as strong as Joan.  The muffler was about the extent of what she could swing at me, and I managed to pull it out of her grip and throw it to the ground.

"Give Her Back!" I growled.

"Never!  She's safe now.  Safe from you!"  I lunged at her rusted form, still not sure what it was, but they did say she was an expert in stealth.  Before I could reach her, she flipped back, and ducked behind a rust-covered canister.  Her rusty visage blended right in with the canister, and for a second I lost sight of her.  I was not going to let her get away!

I charged at her, or at least where she had been.  Somehow she was gone!  There was no female figure hiding, no rusty statue.  I looked around abruptly, and tried to find her.

A steel pipe struck me in the back.  My Xylon vest was still able to help defer the blow so it didn't hurt like I expected it to.  I grabbed at the pipe, but missed.  She wasn't there.  Another blow, this time to my leg.  Pain shot up my leg to my hip, and into my spine.  She hit me hard, and my kneecap felt like it could have been broken.

Another blow, this one to my neck, would have sent me to the ground unconscious, but she missed and stuck my shoulder, allowing the vest to offer me more protection.  This time, I grabbed a hold of the pipe, and followed the path up it to the steel girl that matched the look of the pipe.  She was covered in rust a second ago, but now she looked completely different.

I pulled the pipe away, and swung it at her, but missed.  Again, she flipped back and hid out of sight.  Again, she was no where to be found when I ran, or rather limped to catch her.

"I swear if you hurt her, I'll personally rip you apart" I yelled.

"She's in safer hands now than when she was with you.  How many times did she come close to death when you were around?" the body-less voice retorted.

I tried to use the sound of her voice to get a better idea of where she was hiding, but she was able to bounce her voice off of my surroundings, and I couldn't pinpoint her.

"You mean when I saved her life from Liberati's thugs?" I asked.  I heard a rush of air in my left ear, and dodged to one side to narrowly avoid a wooden spike that was thrown at my head.  I turned to face the direction it came from, but I still couldn't tell where she was.

"Or the time I stopped the MMR virus from overheating her?" I added.  "Or maybe the time I saved her from her other two sisters, one of which shot her!"

"What are you talking about?" she asked.  I still couldn't locate her but I kept trying.  "Don't try to fool me!  I can see your lies.  She's safer with my master than she could ever be with you!"  I walked closer to where I thought the voice was coming from, always on my guard.

Another wooden spike came flying at me.  I dodged to one side, only to take another one in my chest.  Thank God for that vest!  The plank shattered into a dozen pieces before it hit the ground, but it gave me a better idea of where she was hiding.

"I've risked my life to save her from everyone that has tried to hurt her!  I am risking it now just to try to get her back.  Please, let me see her!" I pleaded.

"Not in your life!  What is she to you anyway?  Just another sex toy?" she said with scorn in her voice.

"I love her!"

"L-love?  Ha!"  I had flustered her, and she lost her cool long enough for me to see where she was hiding.  I vague form of a girl that looked like half-rotten wood moved, and I took my chance to charge head on at her.  My knee still hurt badly from her strike, but I managed to get to a good speed despite it.  "Oh shit!" she gasped when she saw me coming.

Without making a sound, Leonis, the giant reflective metal cat, bounded out from behind the wooden boxes behind her.  I hadn't seen or heard the cat before now, but there she was.

"No Leonis!  I can do this by myself" 262 yelled at the cat but it was too late.  The monstrous feline landed right on me, and started clawing at my arms, my chest, and my face.  Pain filled my mind as I tried to push the heavy metal beast off of me.  Slash after slash, I felt my flesh rip at my arms as I covered my face and neck a best as I could.  Blood splattered across my face, and started to cover the beast.  My blood.  I felt a bone in my left arm snap as she batted at me.  The attack was relentless, and aimed to kill me.

I did the bet I could to keep the beast from biting at my neck, a killing move for cats in the wild.  Leonis never lost this instinct, or maybe she never really had it in the first place, but either way she kept trying to take my throat into her mouth.  I was covered in blood, unable to think clearly, and my thoughts went back to Tera, and my friends.

Jen was still in danger if they caught up with her, and Annie and Joan were vulnerable to the EMP field if they ever tried to help.  I had torn apart the still budding relationship between Jen and Jack.  Tera was still gone.  I could remember seeing her sleeping so cute and peacefully next to me in the bed, her charging cable still plugged in like a tail.  She was so soft and warm as she lay on top of me ready to make love.  But she was being pulled away from me.  She was lifted higher and higher, until she hit the sky with a clang.  The weight was gone.

I opened my eyes to see Leonis flying in the sky 30 feet above me.  The giant metal cat jerked uncontrollably, but very forcefully, as though she were barely able to move.  I realized a second later what happened as I glanced over to see Jen at the controls of one of the cranes.

She had turned the very same magnet that dropped the car on me toward Leonis, and sucked the cat up off me. And if you know anything about computers and magnets, well let's just say Leonis was not going to be pouncing on any unsuspecting heroes again.

Jen smiled at me, but her smile faded to horror when she saw me.  I tried to get back to my feet, but the pain was too much, and the best I could do was to get to my knees.  I looked up through my blood covered eyes at 262 who stood not 10 feet away shocked at the sight she had just seen.

"Give her back!" I growled.

"N- no" she said, taking a step back.

"I Love Her!" I said in a louder voice, finally able to get one of my feet on the ground.  She took another step back, but then reassured herself, and stood her ground.

"You- you can't!  She's my sister, and I must protect her from you" she said, almost as if it were some kind of chant or mantra.

"She's my girlfriend and I won't let you take her away from me!" I coughed.  I took a step forward as pain shot up my leg.  I did my best to ignore it, but I was frozen in place.  I wouldn't have been able to do anything to her in my condition.

"G- girlfriend...?" she said to herself.  Her face was suddenly revealed through the wood texture she wore, as though the wood melted away.  She looked confused and pensive.  I tried my best to move toward her, but my leg gave out, and I was left on one knee, huddled over in pain.

She walked up to me menacingly, with a wooden plank in her hand.  She blended in amazingly well with the wood except for her face with almost floated there in the wood texture of her body.  I put my right hand on the ground, to keep myself from falling over, or at least that's what I hoped it looked like.

"You will never see her again" she said as she lifted the jagged wooden plank over me and prepared for a killing strike.

I didn't give her the chance to strike.  I threw the fist full of dirt I had grabbed into her face, and she faltered.  The wooden plank bounced off the ground as she grabbed her face.

"Shit!" she cursed as she tried to clear the dirt from her face.  The unexpected shock broke her concentration, and the wooden texture of her body started to slowly melt away, almost like they were being pulled back into almost invisible seams around her body.  As the wood texture was sucked into the seems lining various parts of her body, her naked body was revealed.  She was quite beautiful, and busty, but I couldn't really enjoy her figure in my current state.  I notice now, however, that she had a body different from any of her sisters.  While Tera had no marks on her skin to show her true robotic nature, and both Joan and Annie had faint seams, 262 had something in between.  While she was capable of a fully realistic form like Tera, the seams were still there, hidden, and revealed whenever she needed to open a panel.  Or apparently also when she used her camouflage.

262 finished clearing the dirt out of her eyes, and looked at me with anger in her face.  I was hoping to use this opportunity to tackle her to the ground, but I was still stuck in my spot.  My only hope now was that Jen could do something to stop her.  The problem was, she was doing something and it wasn't working.  Jen had positioned the large magnet over 262.  While it sucked up and destroyed Leonis, 262 didn't even blink.  Like Tera, she was fabricated with little-to-no metal in her, meaning a magnet would have as much effect on her as it would on me.

262 grabbed another wooden spike, and took her position over me again.  This could be it.  She lifted the wooden spike up and prepare to strike.  Instead, she hesitated as she looked down at me.

"I should kill you for that last trick" she hissed.

"Then get it over with.  I wouldn't want to live without Tera anyways" I said.  This time I was serious about it.

"Why do you call her that?" she asked, still in position ready to strike.

"It's her name.  I named her that because it suited her, and she deserved a real name."

"A real name?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Yeah.  Surely your great master must have given you a name."

"I- I'm..." she faltered again, as though trying to understand why I named my gynoids, but he never named her.  "I'm 262, just as I've always been, as he's always called me!  Don't try to confuse me!"

262 got angry, and prepared her strike again.  I bowed my head, ready to take the blow, ready to have her turn out my lights.  Instead, the wooden plank crashed to the ground a few feet from us.  I looked up to see 262 staring in disbelief at her hand.  The sound of a gunshot in the distance echoed through my ears, and I knew Annie had saved my life again.

Before 262 could look up, another shot struck her in the shoulder.  She grabbed at her shoulder and cussed under her breath.

"Fuck!"  She tried to turn her camouflage back on, as tendrils of texture started to ooze from the hidden seams in her skin.  However, another shot rang out, striking her in the forearm.  The camouflage faded away again as she screamed out in pain.

She turned away from me, and started running as fast as she could to get away from her sniper sister.  She vanished into the woods just as Jen ran up to me from the crane.

"Oh God!  Danny!  Are you alright?"

"No" I mumbled.  I didn't know if I was going to faint or not, but I did know I was in severe pain.  That was about all I knew actually.

"Here, lay down, let me take a look at you."

"No" I repeated.  I did not want to lay down, I was afraid I was fall asleep and never wake up again.

"At least let me help you get to your feet" she pleaded.

"No" I said again.  I was afraid I had a broken kneecap, and walking was not an option.

"Is that all you can say?"

"No" I joked through the pain.  "Ouch!"

"Well at least you have your bad sense of humor" Jen replied.  Despite my protests, she still helped me to my feet, taking the weight off my left leg with her own.  We hobbled over to the crane operating station, and I sat down in it, leaning back for a second, but changing my mind when I realized I was sleepy.

"Need to turn off EMP generator" I managed to say through the pain.

"I'll go do that.  What's it look like?" Jen asked.  I shrugged my shoulders, which I realized instantly was a bad idea as more pain shot down my back.  "Great, I'll look for that" she said sarcastically.  "Don't you die on me now... I'll be right back!"

"No promises" I said.  She shot me a dirty look, which melted into a concerned one.  Before she left the little control cabin, she turned to face me.

"I don't care if it was a mistake" she said.  "It was worth it to make love to you at least once."  She then kissed my cheek and ran out to look for whatever it was that was generating the EMP field.

I tried my best to stay awake inside the cabin.  I tried to concentrate on something other than the pain. I tried to come up with our next move, the next plan of attack.  I tried to think of anything that would help us save Tera.  We didn't even know where she was.  I found the thing that worked the best was concentrating on the now-annoying false messages that were still echoing through my mind.

Even though we crushed the machine that was banging inside that metal tank to the beat of her messages, the messages never stopped.  The transmitted was not on the machine, it was somewhere else.

After what seemed like an eternity, Joan, Annie, and Jen finally made it back to me, this time carrying the extensive first aid kit we brought with us.  It was a last minute addition and boy was I glad we brought it. Annie gave me some tylenol and started disinfecting my wounds, which hurt like a bitch, while Jen started to feel my arms and legs for breaks.  Joan, meanwhile, whipped out something that caught my attention, a syringe and needle.

"What the hell is that?!" I asked defensively.  Again my fear of needles was going to get the best of me.

"Its an analgesic drug" Joan replied, preparing to stick me with it.

"What!?" I asked.

"Pain killer" she clarified, before digging it deep into my arm.  I screamed for a moment, but realized there was no pain there at all.  In fact, it was making the other pain fade away.  If all needles were like that, maybe I wouldn't hate them so much.

The girls worked on me for a bit.  Jen had determined my knee was out of place, but not broken, while my arm was broken.  One of the bones in my arm snapped and prevented me from twisting or really using my left arm.  Joan took over for Jen, who went to start dressing my cuts which Annie was disinfecting.

"I am trained in basic in-field first aid, just relax and I'll have this bone reset in no time" Joan said.  Despite the pain killer, it still hurt when she snapped the bone back into place.  And gain when she realigned my knee.  Luckily the painkiller kicked in again, and I started to feel loopy.

"Hey" I said in a sing-sony way.  "Shouldn't we go to the hospital or something?"

"We went yesterday.  We'll visit Dr. Hitomi again when we get home" Jen answered.

"Dr. hit on me?  Ha!  Hey, didn't you hit your head?" I asked.  Not sure where this was all coming from, but I was sure the drugs were starting to kick in now.

"Yeah, but I'm fine.  It wasn't a concussion" she answered while bandaging my arm.

"You should be in bed."

"I probably should."

The rest of the procedure was more of a blur.  I remember the painkiller wearing off slowly, and discovering my left arm in a splint and a sling, and my left leg was tightly bandaged with a supportive sleeve.

"Could someone turn that voice off please?" I asked.  It was the first thing I remember asking after the painkiller started to wear off.  We were still in the junk yard, and the sun was just setting.

"Voice?  Maybe we should send you to the hospital" Jen suggested.

"No... not like that.  The message.  The fake lead that led us here.  It's really annoying."

"Oh.  Well... let's see if we can find it."  Jen signaled to the others, and the 3 of them left me to rest.

I closed my eyes for a bit to get some rest while they looked for the source of the signal.  I actually was feeling much better than I expected to.  My arm was the most damaged, and the rest were mostly scratches.  Albeit deep scratches, but nothing that wouldn't heal on their own.  Everything I did hurt a little, and I was sure it would get worse as the medicine wore off, but I was knew I should have felt worse than I did.

After a few minutes, a voice woke me.  Annie was pointing up at the top of the crane I sat in.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I don't know... it looks different" Joan said.

"Like it doesn't belong" Jen added.

They were all looking up now at something above me, way above me.  I hobbled out of the cabin in great pain to see what they were looking at.

"Woah Danny, don't get up yet.  You're still badly hurt" Jen protested.

"She's right sir, please take it easy!  Let me help you" Joan said, before she came up to my side and helped me walk.  She sat me down on a metal box nearby and I looked up.

"Thanks.  Now what is it you're looking at?"  Joan pointed up at the top of the crane toward what looked like an antenna.  It was shiny and new, and had wires running down the side of the crane loosely.  The rest of the crane was dark, and looked 40 or 50 years old, so the metal antenna was like a sore thumb on it.

"Do you think that could be it?" Annie asked.

"It probably is" I said.  "Do you think one of you can climb up there and take it down?"

"Not it" Jen said jokingly.

"I'll do it" Annie said.  "I'm used to hiding in high-up hard to reach places."

It didn't take long for Annie to start climbing the metal structure.  Joan had a very real concerned look on her face as she watched her younger sister climb up higher and higher.

"Careful!  Don't fall!" Joan yelled.

"And here I thought that was a great idea" Annie yelled back, full of sarcasm.

Joan was still concerned for her sister, and watched anxiously as she finally reached the top of the crane. It took her a minute or two to disconnect the antenna, which was an instant relief as the messages finally stopped!  I could suddenly feel myself thinking clearly again, but also feeling somewhat lonely.

Annie made her way back down, antenna in hand, and only slipped once.  Joan of course freaked out, and almost climbed up to help Annie, but Jen and I talked her out of it when Annie regained her footing and made it down the rest of the way on her own.

The antenna was a good 5 feet long, and was very well built, with a lot of metal in it to strengthen the signal.  Annie brought it to us, much to Joan's relief, and presented it to me.

"So what are we going to do with this?" she asked.

"I have no idea" I replied.  "Put it on a walkie talkie?"  Jen giggled at the joke, but Annie just looked confused.

"I think it's too big for that."  Clearly someone needed to explain it to her.

"It was a joke hun" Jen said.

"I- I knew that!" Annie replied.  Joan smiled at her reaction, but I saw a light go on in her head.

"I have an idea" she started.  "If this device would be used to send a signal that strong to lure you here, couldn't it work the other way?"

"You mean, strengthen our signal to... uh..." I said, still clearly not over the medication.

"No.  Strengthen our receiving side to pick up Tera's real signal!" Jen clarified.

"Exactly" Joan beamed.

"Oh, I see, then we can use the strength of this to find a her, like it drew us" Annie added.

"Huh?" I asked.

"It's simple" Joan said.  "Just attach this to the laptop, and it will be able to see the entire city, instead of one block."

"Oh!" I said, finally getting it.  "But, we need Jack to do that.  I don't know how to hook this up to his computer."

"Danny... if this works, we can find Tera tonight!" she exclaimed.

"Assuming it isn't another trap" Jen added.

"I doubt it.  But we should probably head back to check it and have Jack hook this up.  Besides, you need to rest sir, those wounds aren't going to heal overnight."

It was settled, we were going to return to the lab, and head out again.  I was afraid I would be in no condition to go on another rescue attempt, but the thought of losing Tera terrified me, and I decided it would be worth any amount of pain or injury to bring her back.  Beside, it would be nice having her act as my nurse.

We went back down the hill together, Joan and Jen on either side of me, with Annie carrying all our stuff.  We packed everything back into the car, and made sure to collect my Exo-suit, which was not much more than a pile of metal and fabric at this point.  I'm sure I could fix it, but the extent of the damage was unknown.  I didn't have the strength to work on it now, so I was going to have to go without it until I had the time to mess with it.

I took the backseat this time.  Annie insisted that she stay with me, much to my surprise.  This time Jen took shotgun, and Joan, as always, drove.  I was feeling very tired, but was sure now that I did not feel in danger of dying in my sleep.

"Please sir... master" Annie whispered to me.  "Use my lap for a pillow, if it suits you."  She blushed at her own request, and I decided I couldn't pass up such an offer.

I lay down with my head in her lap, and closed my eyes, enjoying her soft skin and warm body.  I was in too much pain to really sleep, but the rest helped.  I listened to the others talk about 262, her unique camouflage ability, and the brilliant thinking by Jen to turn the magnet against Leonis.  Jen decided to call ahead to make sure everything was ok, and see if they could do anything to help me out.  By now the sun had set, and darkness was settling in.

"Hello?  Hello?  Are you guys there?" Jen asked over the phone.  I could't hear much on the other end, but there was something going on in the background.  "Are you guys alright?  What's going on?"

Finally a voice came on the other end.  It was Jack, but I couldn't hear was he was saying.

"Jack?  What's going on?  What wrong?" Jen asked.

Jack mumbled something on the other end of the phone.

"We're on the way back.  Maybe 10 minutes away.  Tera isn't with us... it was a trap.  Danny's been-"

There was a loud bang on the other end of the phone, and we all looked over at Jen.  I sat up again, trying to get a better listen.

"Jack!  What was that?!" she asked.  "A gun?!  What's going on over there?  Jack - Holy shit!"

Joan swerved the car out of the way of someone in the middle of the road, only to come within a foot of hitting someone else.  Standing before us in the headlights of the car was a customer service robot, the kind I usually repaired for a living.  Something about it looked off though.  It was walking stiffly, and didn't seem to respond to anything or anyone around it.  Well... anyone but us.  As soon as it spotted our car, it turned toward us and started walked for the door.  Another robot, this time a street-cleaning bot, banged at Annie's window as if to break in.

"DRIVE!" I yelled.  Joan slammed on the gas and drove forward, running over the service bot and 2 or 3 more that were following behind it.  We left the rest in the dust, but looking out the windows, I realized there were probably hundreds of robots wandering around town aimlessly.  Except it wasn't really aimlessly, they were all heading in the same direction.

"Oh God!  What are they?" Jen asked.  Jack answered but Joan spoke as well, drowning out his voice.

"Service robots, low-level bots and drones" she said.

"Someone's hacked them" Annie added.

"Jack!  Get out of there!" Jen pleaded over the phone. The phone went dead.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked.

"Jack said the robots have all turned against us... I mean us.  They are attacking the lab!"

Joan put the pedal to the metal and sped the rest of the way back to the lab, even running a red light.  Granted, there were robots wandering around everywhere, and there was pandemonium on the street as civilians and police tried to stop them.  They seemed to ignore everyone else, and only focused on us whenever we were near.

As we turned the corner toward the lab, we could see at least 100 robots of different models and sizes congregating on the building.  Andrea stood at the front entrance, her machine gun ready, and was announcing something loudly to the robots I couldn't make out.  She then open-fired on the oncoming barrage, her giant metal form lit up in the dark by the occasional tracer round as she fired her built-in gun Tom had only just installed.

The robots surrounded her and started to attack, but she fended them off.  Upon seeing our car return, she started to clear a path with her laser gun.

"We aren't seriously going in there are we?" Jen asked.

"Yes we are.  My parents and Jack are in there" Joan replied as she turned the car in toward the crowd of robots and started plowing them down.

My mouth hung open at the sight.  "Oh my God!  It's like that bad movie... 'Attack of the Robot Zombies'!"  Only this time, it was really happening, and we were in the middle of it all.

------
/Chapter 29
Chapter 30 here.

[liliwinnt6]

Damn, grave danger impacted!

[gynoneko]

Heh, I hope you are enjoying this so far. This is getting close to the end, but just wait till you see what happens next!

[gynoneko]

Did anyone like this chapter? Was there something I needed to change?