Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Chapter 17

POV: Eve

Eve was stressed. She knew she wasn't the most inclined for combat. But her reflexes were higher than the others. Plus, she had brought gadgets to play with while on a mission here. She could re-do her mental checklist right now, but once she'd started, she wouldn't stop re-checking just to ensure she didn't lose anything. Far behind her was the cataclysmic reaction of those damned Metal-Eaters. An entire several floors worth of station just crumpled overhead on top of them all. They were split up now. So much for sticking together.

She checked her map; Gree was still moving while Eve had paused. Genesis was moving quite fast as well. They all needed to get to the single area they needed to be in. That being the giant hole being mined out of the station. What even were they doing? This operation was large - they didn't need all that metal anyways. They had no reason to hold all that metal scrap from what she saw earlier. What were they building? She didn't even begin to have any suspicions about what it was. Perhaps it was, in part, those fighter ships? There was an awful lot. Not only that, but the total amount of material this station had would be overwhelmingly large. You could build one or two similar ships to their main ship out of it.

Ah, she's overthinking again. "C'mon, snap out of it. Keep moving to join up with the others..." She pulled off her rifle from her back. It was an overtuned weapon, thanks to her tinkering. She kept on running, moving through corridors and hallways with strange things behind doors she's seen along the way. Whatever was there was definitely not something she was looking for. The further she went, the more things became unfamiliar to her. What appeared to be common hallways then turned into blasted-apart walkways. Fighting had been done here for whatever reason.

Actually, the more she moved, the more she realized she was heading in a direction that led toward a possible science wing of the station. She picked up her pace; perhaps something here would help them? Maybe even one of the artifacts? It was wishful thinking for sure, but hey - a girl could dream. If she could get her hands on a piece of legendary ancient tech before one of those other eggheads at the Lab could get their hands on it...the thought made her quiver in joy. She didn't even notice she was going off the path to the hole, or perhaps a route that'd bring her to it.

Instead, her eagerness to figure out what they were researching here took the front of her thoughts instead of the mission itself. The holes in the station were fewer here. The Metal-Eaters didn't nest around here for whatever reason. In fact, if it wasn't for the damage done by battle, this would be the nicest-looking place they've seen. But, of course, that just meant whatever was here would be good. Right? She slowed down her pace once she hit the research wing properly.

Looking around the place, she found...nothing interesting. She moved between rooms and opened up several closets and desks that she could find. She was taking quite a bit of time in doing so, putting her out of the range of her other teammates. But everything that she did find was something that could have been more useful to her if it wasn't outdated. Anything of use was already pulled out of this place long, long ago. What was left was so out of touch with what was left at the Lab that it didn't matter if she plucked it. It was old tech that had no more place in today's space. She sighed, right. Her intellectual greed flared up. She flips out a scanner from her armor.

Turning it on, she looks at the screen, which pings with dots. This was something akin to a final sweep for anything worth a damn. It worked by cross-referencing the technology level of anything at the Lab with things out on the field. Usually, it'd be easier for her to visually see objects. Still, she wanted to ensure they could clean this wing out. But something actually returned a positive. It was a rather big mark too. Something on the same level as some of the tech at the Lab was around here. Not only that, the dot was layered. There was more than one thing there.

"Excellent! I'll just grab it and head off to the big hole..." She puts up the scanner and starts to quickly run to the location. She passes by things, heading straight to the blip on their scans. She even uploaded it to her scouter for more effortless movement through these winding corridors. Moments later, she was in front of some blasted-open doors. These were...recent? Yeah, they were recent. There was some warped heat coming from the torn-apart metal at the edges of this. How did she not hear these doors being destroyed? There would've been a terrible screeching noise. Was the noise insulation of this space hulk better than she thought?

Walking in, though, she looks around. The massive room looked like a medical facility - or some kind of medical research facility. Several tanks full of some fluid, either it was a type of preservative, or it was medical fluid. The same type of regenerative fluids that help mend truly broken bodies without the need for surgery. She's seen them a lot at the lab; handy those things are. Works on pretty much everything and everyone that has flesh. She wondered why there were so many of these actually still operational. They needed an energy source to actually be used.

While walking around, the signal got stronger to the point she found a single tank. This one was thinner than the others. But the main thing here was that it had someone who looked like they should be from myth. A mermaid? In space? That didn't seem right. The person in question was also rather...large. They were bigger than Eve was; from head to tail tip, they were probably 7'4" long. Their scales were a smattering of blues and golds, while their hair was the same coloration with gold flecks within it. She appeared to be in zero gravity in the chamber. Her body was relatively thin. She didn't even have humanoid ears but had fins sticking out of her face, elbow, and lower arms. What a curious thing...

Plus, the scanner was beeping noisily about the tank she was in. Nothing else was having the same reaction, but the entire tank and the machinery around it were. Now that she looked at it, it didn't even seem like a tank-

There was a whirring noise, and a very visible gun turret appeared on the top right of the machine. The barrel glowed red for a moment before it fired a single shot upon Eve, who rolled backward to dodge what had come her way. The blast left a smoking hole in the floor. The Mermaid's eyes opened, revealing a dark blue hue to them. She flashed a shark-toothed grin and her entire tank started to rumble. "I knew I'd catch one of the targets. Looks like Ovis was right! I just had to wait here." Her voice was rather sultry and attractive to Eve - no, no, none of that. Push those tendencies away. There was a battle about to happen.

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Eve flipped her rifle off her back and held it in her hands. The 'tank' was really just a super boxy mecha. As it rose to its monstrous height, Eve realized she was probably out of her league. The machinery she was in front of was gigantic. At least 20ft tall with massive, mechanical arms covered in weaponry. The only real 'weak point' was the tank the Mermaid was in. It quickly got covered in a couple of metal bars like a ribcage to hold the tank in place and protect it. Eve didn't like this.

"What's wrong? Afraid!? You should be after what you did you bitch!" The Mermaid's face wasn't seen, but some severe vitriol poured out. Eve ducked behind one of the tanks the moment the right fist of the machine pulled back, then shot forwards. The ground she stood on rumbled as it dented inwards, getting pulverized by the weight and force of the machinery behind it. "Don't run! It'll only hurt for a bit!" The massive Mech started to move on segmented legs akin to a human's. Except they were stubbier and shorter. The Mech was a little slow, but its range was enough to be a danger.

The fists never stopped. Eve couldn't have any sort of cover now. She had to forcibly dodge every strike of those fists using all the energy she could muster in her legs. Her laser rifle heated up as she poured her own Ki into it. From it came a blue glare that fired off with speed towards the Mech. The shot burrowed into it, but the machine kept working as intended. "Ha! It'd take more than a beam rifle to destroy my creation! Go! Crush her!" The fists of the mecha blasted apart some of the fluid tanks just from the force of grazing some of them. The Mermaid had to make it harder on Eve. "I, Kelp, will take you down!"

Several turrets were formed on the arms and top of the Mech. They all heated up with red lasers before firing off wherever Eve's feet would take her. Eve grimaced. She can't believe she'd have to use one of her creations against something like this. She brings a hand into her armor and pulls out a spherical object colored dark purple with a single gold button on the top. Eve infuses her Ki into the thing before pressing the button on top.

She tosses it with one hand while she unloads a rapid-fire burst of ki-infused lasers from her rifle at the machine in the same breath. The lasers burn holes in some of the surface material. Still, it hardly does any actual damage to the function of the mecha. But the orb? The orb glows ominously. Kelp didn't even notice it. Her machine was too busy trying to slam its fists into Eve as she ran. Eve wasn't safe either. Lasers started to glance against her body, leaving smoking flesh in its wake. Even if she had to defend with some of her ki, she wouldn't hold up under any sustained fire.

An explosion rocked the room as Eve got far enough. A bright blue burst came from underneath the Mech when it was about to step closer to Eve. A mass of the Mech flew up into the air; it had lost its right leg and right arm. The chunks thrown off of the machine made the mermaid scream on the inside. No doubt the shockwave had pummeled her as well. Eve wasn't Scott-free, though. Shrapnel had pierced some of her body, mostly along her arms and legs. Her torso was OK, thanks to the armor, but...

She really hurt.

On the Mermaid's side, Kelp brought the turrets back when the smoke cleared. They swiveled around before pointing at Eve. Eve went into a roll to dodge the oncoming burst fire before returning fire with several more shots. The Mermaid was irate, "HOW DARE YOU!? GET BACK HERE!" The machine was crawling with its left side, the massive arm moving forwards to sink its fingers into the floor and pull it towards Eve's location. However, the turrets never stopped firing. Eve dashed around the room, trying to get some cover as she took potshots at the turrets themselves.

Bit by bit, the turrets were dismantled with well-placed shots, exploding into pieces. As fewer shots came Eve's way, she only got more accurate, being able to take her time to pop off yet another beam that pierced another turret. She had to finish off the Mermaid's mobility, though. She moved quickly after shooting off more turrets, leaving the area around them a broken, hissing, sizzling mess. She took out her dagger, infused it with ki, and extended her ki several feet from the dagger itself. It buzzed and hissed like fire in its new shape. She brought the weapon down on the joints of the mecha's right side, stabbing and melting the joints into slag with her strikes.

She had disabled it. She moved back, panting heavily. Her body was covered in burns and cuts from all the explosions and laser fire she had to endure from Kelp. "Damn...that took more out of me than I thought..." Thankfully, she was weak. All she had going for her was subpar metal. Eve might've lost if that mecha had some solid metals to it. But with the words Kelp said earlier, it must mean they know they're there. She flipped out one of her medical injectors. She stabbed it into her neck, hissing as the cool feeling of regenerative fluids surged through her body.

She tossed the spent case aside. "I'll just leave you here, bye!"

With that, Eve ran out of the destroyed medical science wing, aiming for the mined open hole in the station...