Chapter 121: Chapter 117

Maybe they should have taken the rumors seriously, ‘Firepike’ Roy thought grimly as the robots swarmed the air around the Firebrand gang’s little fort. Like the rest of the gang, he had expected the tin cans after having decided to make a stand against them. That’s why they had stocked up on pulse mines and grenades, and why they prisoners were kept alive for this long.

What they had not expected was for the robots to be actually flying in the air like a swarm of bloodbugs, or that the lucky grenades that were tossed into their midsts to do diddly squat when detonated. Neither did any of the Firebrands expect more bots suddenly materializing within the camp.

“As prisoners of the Nexus Severalty, the laws of the Nexus will be applied onto you,” the red-eyed robots with claws and spikes intoned monotonously as they began tearing into the raiders. “For the crime of slavery, the punishment is service in Blacksite Tleilax.”

There was barely anything to be considered resistance amongst the Firebrands. Those holding slaves to use as human shields were the first victims, the humanoid robots having uncloaked themselves before them to tear out their arms. 

Roy and his comrades emptied their mags and battery cells into the metal invaders, but it did nothing to even slow the things from pouncing onto the rest of the raiders. And then the swarm of flying robots dove into the fort, and the screams were smothered by claws and metal tentacles.

The raiders were bundled up quickly, and Roy screamed like everyone else as his arms and legs were torn out by uncaring claws. The smell of antiseptic and burnt flesh filled the air as the stumps were cauterized, and the shocked but still living raiders were tossed into the dark hold of some sort of airplane. Something must have been pumped into them, because Roy didn’t have the luxury of blacking out instead of enduring the throbbing, screaming pain throughout the flight.

When the shaking stopped and light poured into the dark room once more, the pile of helpless Firebrands were unloaded by the tentacled robots that were deaf to the desperate pleas for mercy and forgiveness. Cold metal claws punched into torsos, breaking ribs and puncturing lungs to haul the terrified cargo through the air. Every single raider, all ninety-two of them, were dumped into their own little cells barely any better than a slave pen. Once locked inside, round light panels on the walls shone softly, and Roy was astonished to see and feel his limbs regrowing fully. Old battle wounds and aches were also banished, and judging from the cries of surprise outside, he wasn’t the only Firebrand to undergo this miracle treatment.

Then a deep robotic voice filled the cell and hallway, and joy turned into despair. “Welcome, prisoners, to Blacksite Tleilax.” 

As the voice droned on, Roy’s cell slammed open, and a pair of strange Mr Handies floated in. Still dazed, he was utterly unprepared for the robots to zip right up towards him, and have their arms grabbing him by the arms and throat. Roy wanted to let out a cry, but a metal arm ending with a nozzle punched into his mouth, breaking teeth as it was shoved down his throat. As the raider struggled weakly, he felt warm, syrupy fluid being pumped into his stomach. 

“As occupants, you will be used to serve the intellectual demands of the Nexus Severalty. Due to the crime of slavery and/or rape, any and all rights are forfeit. You will live until the Nexus has no need of you, you will die when the Nexus deems it necessary to.” 

It lasted all of fifteen seconds, and then the nozzle was retracted, specked in blood. As he coughed and hacked on all fours, the robots floated out, and then the lights on the walls lit up again. Having his teeth and the scrapes at the back of his throat restored was little consolation to the utter helplessness Roy was forced to endure.

A shadow fell from the cell door which remained open, and the tentacled robot swam in to drag Roy out.

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“There is no parole, there is no redemption.”

Roy spent his first day as prisoner of Blacksite Tleilax being gagged and put on a slab alongside other prisoners, and had a bunch of grim-looking people in lab coats looking down at him. Then there was the loud and sudden whirring of machines just outside of his view. Roy endured the pain for god knows how long before he thankfully lost consciousness.

He awoke in his cell, whole in body and completely unscarred. Outside, there was a choir of agonized moans and the weeping of broken men. Then the cell door slammed open, and a pair of the weird Mr Handies entered again. Roy crumpled to the ground after suffering another force feeding, but at least this time there was no follow up to drag him off.

Even as he learned to acclimate himself to his small cell, there was no sense of time. Roy didn’t know how long he slept, nor did he have a rough estimate on when he would be fed. The former raider didn’t even know if he was getting two meals a day in the first place. He did count four feedings before the tentacled Sentinel came to drag him out, this time to be shoved into a metal sphere and crushed onto one end of it as the sphere shook and accelerated to unbelievable speeds.

Roy was back in his cell when he came to, his body not broken and pulped as he had remembered before he lost consciousness. Two more feedings passed before the next cruel ordeal, where the mouthpiece of something bulky was shoved into his mouth and Roy was locked underwater in a tub. The contraption gave him air…for a while. Then the mouthpiece began feeding him corrosive air, and Roy could taste the blood and melted lungs he coughed up as he faded out…

…and then awoke back in his cell again.

As much as he tried to cope and fortify his will, Roy’s mind broke during his fourth test, where he was forced to don some sort of power armor and its security features fried him repeatedly because he was strapped down and unable to get it off him. He awoke back in his cell, whimpering and curled up fetally in a corner, weeping whenever the feeding bots entered and screaming when the Sentinel came for him.

The occupant of cell E-51, the raider who once called himself ‘Firepike’ Roy survived nine more tests before his mental functions were deemed too impaired to be of use as even a baseline comparison. He was mercifully too addled to realize his last moments, shivering and staring blankly at the space in front of him as the needles drained him of blood even as a white Mr Handy expertly harvested his barely-functioning organs.

Very little remained of the man who was once Roy to be processed into fertilizer, though his fileted lungs would have the honor of being displayed as a teaching guide in the new branch of the Nexus’ Medical School in Providence.

Not that anyone appreciated that fact.

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