ORIGINS PART 44

Azura Isle
50 minutes after the shut down of the maelstrom



The group keeps heading down the hallways with Adam as guide through the radio.

Marcus has not said a word concerning Radio's presence yet as she lurks behind him like a dog behind its master.

Anya gives her a doubtful look now and then. She knows something is wrong but does not have the courage to confront her strange behavior and neither the time.

At the Sovereign they connected and all those hours in the lab caused her to see Radio as someone close. She was so bright, so untouched by the hazardous world around her.

The sight of her now is overwhelming and the child is only a stranger she can not understand.

A distant sound of water is the only thing that meets the gears before they enter the dead silent surroundings in front of the tower where Adam is being held.

The courtyard is untouched and a fountain sprays water over the astounding constructions.

"Not good," Cole utters quietly, referring to the silence.

Marcus is the first to step into the sun.

He breathes in the air and looks towards the sky.
The soft click of a new magazine being attached to his lancer awakens something on the other side of the courtyard.

The distinct sound of a missile being pushed into a barrel before being wind-up gets the gears in position.

"Mortar!" Anya shouts as they assemble in the corridor.

Radio does not retreat from her position out in the sun.

Her body is hesitantly preparing for war and her mind is dissolving by the threat.


I believe this is the end


The beastly smile of a locust is peeking behind the edge but the gears can't get a clear shot at it before a missile is fired and flies through the soft summer weather.  

"Fuck, Rad! Get in here. We need to bypass that mortar safely!" Marcus commands with his famous calculating look as he is about to lay down a brilliant plan, but the time runs out.

Bloodmounts and armored grenadiers run down the stairs coming for them.
An arrow from a torque bow misses Baird by the centimeter and blows up on his side.

It was the last drop for the sickness lurking inside Radio.

The subject runs into the firefight with nothing on her mind except vanity and vengeance.

The mortar shots crash behind her as she dodges an arrow and then grabs the leg of an unfortunate and foolhardy bloodmount.

The touch is loaded with amperes and volts enough to kill a berserker.

Before the monster is even aware of the stroke of death it is already dissolving into nothing but blood and armor together with its rider.

The other grubs, now covered in blood from their squad mate, still feel superior with a mortar on their side and they all fight for a chance to break the child.

The gears are running tactically over the garden, laying down fire where they can while having to worry more about their life than the deranged subject in front of them.

Baird watches the performance with the bloodmount and shouts in Radio's direction while reloading his lancer

"Why don't you take out that mortar while you're at it?"

No response is heard as another missile is flying through the air and crashes beside him. He covers his face before uttering  "I guess not."

"Radio, stand down. More grubs coming your way!" she hears through her new radio, but does not bother.

She slaughters whatever is coming in her way and delivers attack after attack over the horde.

The child turns to Marcus during the intense firefight and watches over him.

She knows his position all the time with his radio like a magnet to her system.

A boltok shot is heard before a last grub falls headless on the ground.

"Go, go, go!" Marcus shouts and points in the direction of the higher level.

They make a run for it but the mortar is getting on to them before they reach their target.

Marcus throws himself away from the explosions in the sky chasing him.

He watches Radio's figure before closing his eyes from an unnatural bright light consuming him.