Chapter 34: Chapter 28

"Shit, they started way ahead of us," Carty cursed out loud, reaching for her helmet, "Ultis! Did your team managed to… Great." She nodded, waving away one of the soldiers who tried to treat her wound.

Chochmingwu strained in her bindings, trying her best to break them. The servo motors within her body gave a whining sound, one of the cogwheels in the damaged area of her body gave a screeching sound after each turn when the metal of the cogwheel was hitting the inner side of the metal skin of her corpus. The bento cursed slightly, feeling how the elastic "glue" substance expanded slightly before tightening once more. The Bento tribe called such substance a "restrainer". From time to time, her people had to deal with abnormals who had more than four limbs or with criminals from their own tribe. Even in the open air of the Ravaged Lands, the restrainer never fully solidified and could usually only be removed with the use of a special chemical solution. Of course, it was not the only way…

Chochmingwu gave a mechanical groan of despair while trying to sit upright, looking as defeated as possible. The mechanical insides within her body started shifting, allowing new devices to rise within her legs and arms. She just needs a little more time.

The water processing facility was a dull-looking building. In the days of the Old World, this facility merely supplied a single sector of the sprawling metropolis that served as home to countless people. Nowadays, this structure ensured the city's water supply, the pipes were rerouted, bringing water across the entire Belaz city, thanks to the hard and back-breaking work of the locals. The facility itself was a two-story tall building. The mighty machines that produced the water were stored within the stone grounds. Enormous, street-sized pipes, barely eaten with rust, ran from the sides of the facility, coming deep into the underground, where they spread into many more pipes that ran across the city, delivering water to the citizens.

In the days of peace, this was the most well protected place in the city. Dozens of abnormals stood guard at this place, some of the best engineers from the Ravaged Lands, including even some from the Bento tribe, were toiling away to keep the place working. This was a good deal for the Bento tribe, they received cheap access to water and had a place to train their young workers. There were many hazards below the city, a nest of mutants, an occasional infestation of insectoids, smugglers, and even some raiders from time-to-time. The engineers who worked here were just as adept at using weapons as they were at using their tools of trade.

Even now, the only path leading to the facility was blocked by mighty gates, capable of withstanding even plasma weaponry. The stone walls were built with the intention to protect this facility from all possible harm, a single metal walkway led to the facility, while it itself stood on a large island of calmness, nested within the pipes that were coming from its walls.

And now the reclaimers have dared to attack this place. I should have gone for the kill! Chochmingwu cursed silently.

"What is going on!" A new voice shouted, and from the clouds of smoke appeared a lean figure of another doggie. Like all others, she was clad in power armor, the markings on her armor indicated her to be a scout. On her shoulder she carried an oversized missile launcher, looking comically too big for such a frail body as hers.

"Greetings, commander," Carty saluted the newcomer, standing at attention while the doggie with extra artificial limbs let his helmet slip off his head and was busy pointing something at the facility. The device in his palms had a screen, and the bento could see how the doggie was frowning from time to time. The main gates of the facility were shut tight, but an explosion cracked the western wall, and a tingle of flames were bursting through the cracks. As Carty continued talking, her melodic voice changed to a professional tone, "All enlistees are captured alive, we even got ourselves a cyborg, although she is a shy one, it seems." Carty nodded at the prisoner.

I will gore her. Chochmingwu decided, thrashing in her restraints and imitating rage. Just a few more moments and she can get free.

"One of our soldiers is injured, but nothing a few days in the med bay won’t solve…"

"Enough with this, what is the meaning of that!" Tiny pointed at the flame coming from the facility, and the bento froze in place, unsure if she misheard the opponent. The wolfkin gave the missile launcher to one of the soldiers and pointed at the facility, "I made it clear that we were not to attack this place!"

"It wasn’t us," Carty reported, putting both arms behind her back, a stream of blood running down her wounded leg, "Captain Ivar obtained information that the enemies planned to use W-venom here…"

"What?!"

Chochmingwu felt horror. W-venom was one of the most dangerous chemical poisons. Upon coming into contact with water, the liquid substance of W-venom turns gaseous. The gaseous substance then dissolves everything in its path, stone, metal, flesh. The W-venom had a short "life span", in mere minutes after becoming airborne, it evaporated in the thin air. Pearl used to supply it to their neighbors, resulting in the rise of the cartel and the destruction of several countries. The stream of refugees coming to the city state was now partially because of the reckless usage of the W-venom. For, while fleeting, the liquid form of this venom possessed a truly dangerous effect. It spreads like wildfire across the surface of water, covering many kilometers if left unchecked. If it is revealed in this facility…

"We must evacuate the city now!" Tiny shrieked, clearly getting the same idea as Chochmingwu, "If they will…"

"Commander, everything is fine," Carty said quickly, and Tiny came to a halt, confusedly looking at the other scout, "Captain Ivar was well aware of this situation. His people had already stopped the flow of water that was going into the city. Ultis and her pack made sure to check and disengage the pipes even further before we started the operation. The captain tasked us with observing the situation from afar and collecting evidence from the cameras inside the facility. This is why I asked Sly to hack into the systems. No civilian is at risk of suffering the effects of the W-venom."

"But why would he…" Tiny asked, still confused, before Sly cut her off.

"Scout Tiny, an update," The soldier said, his voice tense, "Based on the video feed from the inside, the enemies weren’t planning to unleash the W-venom. The moment they became aware of it, they tried to disengage the device from the water production system."

"Figures, none of them wants to die," Carty said. She caught the look from Tiny, "And they also probably do not want to become mass murderers either."

"What caused the explosion?" Tiny demanded to know.

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"They briefly contacted Yasen, he told them to activate the device, they refused, then the explosion happened. According to the data available, explosives were pre-planted by the regulators," Sly reported, still looking at the device in his hands, "It’s hell out there. The device is about to fall into…"

Chochmingwu broke her restraints. While everyone was busy with the new development, four sonic emitters slid into her limbs, coming from within her chest. By creating strong vibrations around her bindings, the bento expanded them big enough to slide her metal limbs free, slithering away like a snake. When Chochmingwu turned away from the doggies, running toward the water processing facility, Carty noticed her and started reaching for the pistols on her belt. She heard curses behind her and allowed the prediction engine to guide her safe away from two shots of Carty, who intended to break her knees.

The bento jumped at the gate, helping herself with her free arm, and jumped toward the cracked wall, ducking into the burning flames. She poured all her energy reserves into her motor functions, overheating her mechanic muscles to the point of breaking, causing the very flames around her to become like long extinct leaves in the wind, moving slowly like cloth against the wind produced by an air conditioner.

Pain speared her brain. Chochmingwu wasn’t a new breed, her ability to operate at such speed was granted to her by terminals within her brain. Wohali tried his best to perfect the technology, but he warned her to never use it for more than two minutes straight. Her own body would break from overheating, from the strain that she was putting on machinery within herself. Her own brain might suffer a brain hemorrhage, unable to handle the stress of the world of superspeed.

But this time, Chochmingwu did not care about any of this. The people here, there were bentos among them. They took her in and, by the Sun Mother, damn her if she lets any of them die, not when she could help him.

She charged across the ruined corridors, evading the rubble that was falling from above, as if it were feathers in the air. The bento smashed aside one stone that was threatening to smash a running away engineer, the woman’s face resembled an image on a painting. Chochmingwu heard how the systems of her body screamed in warning, how teeny cracks appeared on her limbs, threatening to expand into caverns that would tear her asunder.

Hold still! Hold fast, do what you can do with the hand that fate has given to you! Chochmingwu thought, charging into one of the main halls. Here, the ancient machines, as big as a house, were producing the water through a technology that the regulators did not fully understand. Not even the Bento tribe fully knew the inside workings of these ancient marvels and the thought that one of people on her own side planned to ruin them for the sake of turning this place into a city of death… Angered Chochmingwu beyond all measure, pushing her to endure the red mist of pain that threatened to cloud her thoughts.

She saw wounded and dead people but ignored them all, focusing instead on six metal cylinders tied together and meant to be lowered into one of the pipes. The markings on them indicated that these cylinders were the latest anti-bacterial solutions meant to cleanse tunnel number eight, but her lenses noticed a wicked crimson liquid on one of the cracked cylinders. The databanks within her confirm that this was the dreaded W-venom. The pressure that the overcharged caused to her body caused her left lens to crack.

The bento grabbed the cylinder, hating herself for leaving injured and dying people under the rubble. If the doggies were right, the city was safe. However, if this poison spills here, it will eat away the machines that produced the water, the structure, and the people themselves. Chochmingwu pushed the cylinders away from the water in the pipe. She ran back toward the exploded wall, feeling one of her arms fall off. The bento ignored that, jumping away from the facility and throwing the cylinders at the solid ground away from the doggies. Without coming into contact with water, W-venom was almost harmless, unless someone drinks it, everyone should be safe. The doggies should be able to keep it away from the water, she prayed for it.

Chochmingwu’s throw cost her. Her remaining hand fell off, the metal body twisting in agony, despite the fact that the bento frantically tried to turn off the overcharge. Her remaining lens exploded, along with the majority of sensors in her body, her legs twisted themselves at an impossible angle, and a large crack ran in the middle of her steel head.

Chochmingwu was falling into a wide cavern that separated the water processing facility from the square. Her brain jar was about to fall from her head, not even the armor glass would endure a fall from this height without cracking. And with cracking, her nutrient solution will leak away, leaving only one possible outcome for her.

Flesh carver Wohali. I am sorry. She tried to send a signal to her master and found that she couldn’t, her communicator burned away along with many other systems in her body. Safe for a small camera in her brain jar, she was blind and deaf. Her brain jar was equipped with dynamics, but even now, Chochmingwu could not force herself to use her natural voice and her mechanical typewriter was disabled for good.

She panicked when something grabbed her, carrying her body to the walls of the water procession facility. Chochmingwu first noticed drops of blood and then saw the doggie’s figure that used the stone wall of the facility as a springboard to jump back across the cavern, carrying the bento’s broken body under her armpit.

"Hold on!" One of the doggies shouted, seeing that Carty was about to miss the jump and fall into the cavern. The male leaped forward, causing the second scout, Tiny, to curse and grab him by the leg, while the male grabbed the outstretched arm of Carty.

"Saved by a male," Carty said, hanging over the cavern, and Chochmingwu could only swear that the scout shuddered in disgust, forcing the next words out of herself, "Thank you for the help, Gin."

"I will murder both of you!" Tiny shouted.

"Sure thing, honey, feel free, just pull us out here, please." Gin said.

"You sleep alone for a week, you stupid, careless bastard!" Tiny shouted back, straining to pull out the trio. Sly hurried to help her.

"Oh, so the things between you two are serious after all. My congratulations, name the gir…" Carty said, and Tiny nearly let go of Gin before jerking him to safety with one mighty pull, roaring from embracement and anger.

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