Black Market Merchant

Lisa steadied herself on top of the Hunter Mech’s back as the Party Badger jostled to maintain her grip on the baby Hoard Mother’s torso. Partially blinded and enraged the leader of the Twisted hoard was not going to just let itself be beaten and pushed around. The baby Hoard Mother kicked furiously into the air with its cat paws while its long brontosaurus like neck was strung out trying to reach under itself and bite at the Hunter Mech.

Lisa stabbed and swiped vigorously with her katana at the baby Hoard Mother’s head each time it came in too attack. The baby Hoard Mothers neck was now stretched out to three times its original length. The head was snaking all around like an unmanned firehose trying to find an opening to strike from. The double alligator shaped mouths were more than enough to gobble her up whole in one gulp, but Lisa fended the Twisted off knowing that both Party Badger and the townspeople were counting on her. All she needed was some miracle to happen.

As the baby Hoard Mother came swooping in from the left, Party Badger called out her situation. “Lisa, I am getting system failures on all of my Mech’s limbs. Hurry up and get this thing to fall. I won’t last another minute!”

“I am trying!” Lisa called back after stabbing the baby Hoard Mothers lower mouth’s tongue. “If I left you now to attack the lower legs you’d be eaten in seconds. Can’t you press harder? We are so close!”

“I can’t squeeze out another volt of power.” Party Badgers voice groaned. “I just got another warning, the smokescreen I deployed is beginning to dissipate!”

Lisa looked back at the blue-grey smog and saw that it was indeed looking thinner. Then from the far left of the smog circle a lone Night Hound appeared to coming stumbling out from it. The nasty alien looking Twisted caught sight of them and let out a warbling screech.

“They are already starting to come this way!” Lisa called back.

Feeling desperate, Lisa ventured to stab at the underbelly of the Hoard Mother. The young scales of the baby Hoard Mother were nowhere close to being as strong as its adult form would be and yet the blade felt as if it was hitting a brick wall. Lisa’s katana only managed to break the top layer and draw an insignificant amount of blood before the head of the baby Hoard Mother came charging downwards to defend itself.

Lisa pulled her katana free before ducking just in time for the mouths to missed her by mere centimeters. If it were not for her Stage Two’s speed and strength, there would have been no way that she could have lasted this long. Punching angrily at the Twisted’s neck as it past by, Lisa got back up and aimed the tip of her katana at the chink she had made in the creatures torso.

This time when she stabbed at the small wound the blade penetrated deeply. The howl the baby Hoard Mother made was unbearable. Lisa was forced to let go of her katana’s hilt so that she could cover her ears from the noise.

The blade had struck deep into the liver and intestines of the baby Hoard Mother, and though not a fatal blow and not an injury the healing powers of the Twisted couldn’t handle, it was excruciatingly painful! Taking a risk, the baby Hoard Mother lifted its center hairy scorpion tail out from the ground and began to stab at the Hunter Mech. The first unexpected blow struck the Hunter Mech’s chassis to leave behind a basketball sized hole.

Lisa didn’t need to hear Tammy calling for help, she was already swinging down from the Mechs shoulders to defend from the ground. As soon as she landed the bone tipped tail was already coming back for a second stab. Flicking her blackened blade out to reach full length Lisa chopped downwards to deflect the tail into the ground.

In response to being struck, Tammy could feel the pressure from the center tail’s support being released and that the weight of the Hoard Mother was starting to lean backwards. Even though her Mech was crumbing and full of holes, she lifted the right leg of the Mech closer to the cliff by half a meter. The entire Hoard Mothers body wobbled unsteadily as it was then pressed back once more. The center tail then quickly disappeared back behind the giant Twisted and buried deeply into the rock sand to stabilize itself.

Hearing the quickening rustle of scales overhead, Lisa jumped straight upwards to strike her katana against the neck of the baby Hoard Mother before it bit at the Mech again. The blade didn’t deal much damage; however, the blow made the baby Hoard Mother choak some and pull back from its assault. Lisa then landed back on top of the Hunter Mech’s back and resumed her defense position.

Suddenly there was a loud crack!

Both the baby Hoard Mother and the Hunter Mech wobbled precariously as the ground suddenly jolted downwards. Lisa looked down at the baby Hoard Mothers hind four legs and saw that a crack had appeared on the edges of the cliff. The ground by the cliff was giving way!

“Keep pressing!” Lisa called. “If we can keep moving the Hoard Mother closer to the cliff the ground will give out before we could push it off.”

“What if we fall too?” Party Badger replied. Her left arm suddenly slipped as the machine’s arm motors were starting to wear out and the baby Hoard Mother nearly rolled free. Party Badger repositioned herself and regained control of the situation. “I don’t think I’ll be able to hold out longer than the ground will either.”

The ground shook and sagged once more and this time the noise came from three separate cracking sounds. From the right, nearer to the dam, the crack widened and a large boulder broke free. It tumbled silently down several meters before it struck the dam’s spillway and shattered into three separate pieces.

“I know you can do it!” Lisa shouted encouragingly. “I’ll keep us from falling with the Hoard Mother if the ground takes us with it.”

The baby Hoard Mother let out another deep rumble and numerous roars and screeches came answering from behind. Looking back Lisa saw that the blue-grey smog was nearly gone now, and the entire hoard was coming their way. It would be only a matter of moments before these reinforcements would swarm over them and save the Hoard Mother.

Lisa raised her katana once more as the head of the baby Hoard Mother came down to attack once again. Then from right next to them a horn blared out to surprise both Lisa and the Hoard Mother. The two of them looked over just in time to see a black and yellow mechanical figure come crashing into the back right legs of the Hoard Mother. It was the Mover Mech that was parked near the dam and from the open door of the cockpit Lisa saw that Hanna was the pilot!

…

“Hold him still!” Joan called out to Mary and Mrs. Donovan. They were helping to hold down Hugo who had woken up moments ago, so that Joan could finish stitching him up. “Sir, I need you still so I can finish suturing your lung. I don’t have the right thread for the job and need you still otherwise it might end up worse!”

Hugo pounded his fist angrily onto the cold concrete floor of the dam tunnel as he lay still. “I told you, my name is Hugo. How can I sit still when my guys are fighting out there?”

“Well, if you will give me some time you just might be able too.” Joan quipped. “Now hold still.”

Mrs. Goldsberry was watching nearby at the gruesome sight of Joan working on Hugo’s wound. She was not at all the type that enjoyed pain or blood. Looking away in disgust as Joan sunk her fingertips into the man’s shoulder to work on his lung, she noticed that Tilly was wandering around the tunnel by herself. This was very unusual; Tilly never left her daughters side.

“Tilly dear.” Mrs. Goldsberry called to the girl in her soft British accent. “Where is Jillian?”

“I am not sure.” Tilly’s timid voice replied. “She and the others were by the door just a moment ago.”

“By the door?” Mrs. Goldsberry repeated with concern as she looked that way. She saw no one there and asked, “Surely they did not go out there?”

Tilly shrugged in reply. They then both were distracted by the sound of Hugo’s yelling. Joan was fingering deeply into his body now and without any medicine to numb the pain, he was bound to yell.

“Gah! Are you finished killing me?” Hugo yelled.

“Shut up!” Joan ordered trying to concentrate. A second later she pulled her fingers out from him. “There, I did what I could, and you can move now. Though from a medical perspective I don’t think you should.”

“Well, I am going too!” Hugo snapped. He then sat up to begin slowly standing back up.

“I really think you shouldn’t move yet.” Joan continued. “You lost a lot of blood already.”

Mrs. Goldsberry approached Mary as the two others bickered. “Mary, have you seen Jillian and some of the other girls?”

Mary looked around and her brows drew closer with worry. “No, I don’t know, and I don’t see Hanna anywhere either!”

Mrs. Goldsberry pointed towards the tunnels exit. “Tilly saw them near there. You don’t think they could have tried going outside to watch the fighting?”

Mary’s eyes widened. “They better not have!” She then placed a hand on Joan before she could chase after Hugo who was now going for the exit. “Joan, Hanna and some of the girls might have left the tunnel. We can’t find them!”

Joan’s face turned from annoyed to worried. “We better go out and check. Mrs. Goldsberry and Mrs. Donovan, can you two check the rest of the tunnel, just to be sure?”

Both women nodded and the four ladies split up. Mary and Joan followed behind Hugo who had already opened the tunnel door and hurried into the powerhouse. Hugo was about to turn to go towards the defenders by the south and western fences when the two women caught up with him. As all three of them reached the sliding doorway the sounds of shouting from the dam drew their attention. Clair, Rachel, and Jillian were yelling at Hanna who was now running across the dam!

…

“I can go help them!” Hanna announced suddenly breaking the silence.

The four girls had been watching Lisa and the Party Badger fighting by the cliff in total silence up until now. The moment where Lisa and the Hunter Mech had tackled the Hoard Mother was just now happening. All three of the girls were stunned to her Hanna speak.

“What are you talking about?” Clair cried. She then went to reach out and grab Hanna’s hand. “Absolutely not! We are going back inside the tunnel right now!”

Hanna pulled her arm out of reach and took a step further out on to the dam. “They can’t push off that monster with that Mech being in such bad shape. I can tell from here its abut to fall apart. I can use the Mover Mech to help push the monster away.”

“I don’t care that you think you know stuff about Mechs or whatever. It is ridiculous for you to even think of going out there.” Clair argued.

Rachel stepped towards Hanna and held out her hand. “Clair is right. Even I know that it’s too dangerous to go out there.”

Hanna shook her head. “You don’t understand, I must go. Something is whispering for me to go, its faint but it’s saying, ‘Get in’.”

“Now you are just sounding crazy!” Clair shouted.

Clair then went to grab Hanna once more. Hanna pulled quickly away again, and Clair missed just brushing by Hanna’s sleeve. Then without saying another word, Hanna started running as fast as she could for the Mover Mech on the far side of the dam.

Hanna wasn’t lying about hearing something urging her to go though. There indeed was a small nagging voice telling her to get into the Mech. She hadn’t realized it before, but the voice had been speaking to her ever since she first saw the Twisted. It was only now that she was vaguely aware of it.

Clair yelled let out a shout and started to chase after her. Clair was faster and was about to catch her when Hanna jumped over the dead bodies of the electrified Twisted. Clair was mortified to realize that they were so close to so many dead creatures and stopped giving chase. She then yelled at Hanna to come back, but it was no use. Just then Joan appeared and passed by to chase after Hanna.

Hanna had just passed by the second pile of electrified and gun downed Twisted when two wounded Logos Cutters suddenly got up from the pile! One blocked Joan’s way while the other started chasing after Hanna, who hadn’t yet seen the creature coming for her!