There weren't many things more uncomfortably confusing than being woken up from a much-needed nap way too early. My eyes wouldn't blink. An empty, unthinking space filled up the majority of my skull.

Unfortunately for me, existence felt a lot worse after seeing Clara's injuries and hearing that my brother was here.

She gave me some basic facts as I pulled on my goggles and coat. Our protective dome was down. Communications were being blocked. Her injuries should be ignored. I had been woken up from my coma early, for which she was apologetic. Lastly, I needed to ignore her condition. She was fine.

I didn't have the mental faculties to determine how much of that last part was a lie. As I stepped toward the door to leave our medical room, I watched her sink down between two rows of shelving with a laptop clutched to her stomach.

Withdrawn and mostly functioning on autopilot, I pushed out into our home area.

Dusk had hit the world. An amber hue mixed well with the thick smoke filtering through the area. It looked like hell. In a way, it was.

The box of dome tech was spread across the ground like paste, internal circuit boards and wiring splayed across gravel and grass alike. To my left, Clara's working office was half caved in. The ruined parts of one turret lay atop the damage, dark smoke billowing from splits in the main body of the stationary weapon.

My tired eyes switched away to the dark figure on the other side of the area, just to the right of our main house. The last turret squealed as my brother snapped it in half, as though he was decapitating the devices. Empty shells lay strewn across the ground, and his dark armor sported rows of bright silver indentations. Our defenses had put up a token effort.

I moved toward him. A slow gait that ramped up into a sprint. The last thing I wanted was a full-blown battle in the middle of our home. My right arm hummed with V-Force as I approached.

Chevalier discarded the large turret of the inert machine and turned his helmeted gaze toward me.

"There you are. I expected a warmer welcome."

I leaped into the air, firing a High Explosive shot at him as I lashed forward with a punch. Metal rang out against metal, and he took a step backward. His own plated hands came in and grabbed me, undeterred by my attacks. The knight shifted his weight, turning with my momentum before throwing me back toward the center of our buildings.

My body bounced across the dry dirt. I rolled before spinning back up to my feet, just in time to meet his own punch launched at a speed I hadn't expected. With my arms crossed, I barely absorbed any of the impact. It would have broken ribs if I didn't have the metal replacements. Instead, dull vibrations echoed through my internals.

Boots slid across loose gravel as I slid back fifteen feet until my back found the side of the Meteor. Air left my lungs sharply. I was way too exhausted for this.

Reflex ignited my lagging synapses, and I ducked to the side just in time to prevent my head from bursting open. Chevalier's fist struck the vehicle, leaving a wide crater in the metal plating of the tracks.

I snapped a Foam shot onto his foot as I rolled away from his follow-up; the shot delaying him just enough so that I could avoid his grasp. Chamber spat out the empty shell. My entire body felt like it was on fire. With pain. With anger. With the need to perform the task given to me in life.

Chevalier was my hard-counter. Nigh impervious to most ammunition types. Whatever he had run off to do after the Arena, he hadn't wasted any time in preparing for his revenge. While I had run myself ragged to an even further degree on a wild-goose chase, he had repaired his suit and rearmed himself. Somewhat literally, as he had no melee weapons - just fists.

"A little slow to open the door when I came knocking," he said as he broke his foot away from the solid foam. "Not quaking in your boots, I hope?"

[Just catching up on my beauty sleep.]

We both moved again. I deflected his first punch, stepped to the side of the next, and then struck him in the face with a Foam shot, covering his visor. Before I could take advantage, he lashed out with a kick, sending me rolling across the ground again.

A fine mist of dust washed over me as I pushed myself up. Things were looking rather-

His fist came down, striking me in the head. My brain rattled around. I could taste blood in my re-breather, somehow. While my ears rang, Chevalier lifted me up into the air with one hand, to reveal he had discarded his helmet.

It was him. I could tell by the eyes. Once a gruff man with a heavy brow and wide jawline, the years of testing and modifications had changed him. Wires and ports ran into his skin. Tattooed circuitry covered the left side of his face, while the right was pocked with the scars of sustained injuries over the years. But he had the same green eyes that I did.

"I could kill you right now, you know?" He grinned. "But there's a reason I'm going to take my time."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[Misplaced bravado and overconfidence?]

He threw me to the ground instead of responding directly. As I went to move away, his thick metal boot came down to press on my chest. Not enough to crush me , he was just pinning me in place.

"Your little group of oddities tends to hang around you like flies around shit." He gestured toward the city with a thick finger. "Once they turn up, I'll kill them in front of you first. In a way, I'm glad that they weren't here already. I get to reduce you to nothing but a head on a stick. The perfect audience."

[I've never heard anything so ignorant and flawed.]

Chevalier increased the pressure on my chest. "Your vehicle is here, and they're currently babysitting one of the Directors. Even the muscled bitch would take five minutes to leap her way here… that's a really long time for you, brother."

[This is just the warm-up. You're already dead on my screen.]

In reality, my lens hadn't provided with a single digit of information since I had woken up. There really was some technology my brother had brought disabling communication. That meant Roxy and the others probably had no idea what was happening… only that the dome had been breached. Knowing them, that would be enough for them to come and help me. No further context needed.

All I had to do was not die. My track record was decent enough.

"So much ego, even as you are crushed and hopeless." Chevalier removed his foot and reached down again. "That's the Bard I knew. All words."

He grabbed hold of me and lifted me slightly before tossing me to the side. I collided with the side of the Meteor again and fell flat on the ground. This was all a bit much for me. Whatever mania had overtaken me at the hospital had all but receded, but my energy levels were still subpar. In fact, I'd say my chances were only a degree or two higher than if Clara had let me sleep through the murder attempt.

I pushed myself up to my feet despite the agony. Even with cybernetic limbs, it was exhausting for my brain to persist. A shell clicked into my chamber from the workshop not so far away, but as the dust cleared, Chevalier had put his helmet back on. There went his one weak point. Maybe I should change tact.

[Were you aware that they have our father kidnapped?]

He paused and exhaled loudly into his helmet. "Do not call him that. Were you so easily manipulated by doctored media? You must be desperate for closure."

[Are you not?]

"It doesn't matter to me how I was created. Everything I am now is because of my own efforts."

[A real self-made man, huh?]

He formed a fist and raised it at me. "I can tell you are just stalling for time. If you have an idea that can beat me if your pals all join forces, you are again sorely mistaken. There's more than one way to skin a cat."

That just made me wonder where Warlock was. A thought that steeled my resolve. Chevalier darted at me, and I fired a Flash shot directly into the ground. I rolled across the dirt as his swing narrowly missed me, before pelting him with another shell that did no damage.

I stepped away to create some distance. The workshop was still too close; I needed to draw him away from where Clara was hiding out. As the knight turned to me, a flap opened up on his chest. Before I could react, a dart burst out and struck me on my left shoulder.

My arm immediately felt numb. A tranquilizer dart? Seemed overkill when he was already beating the hell out of me.

With most of me being metal and cybernetics, it wasn't exactly a terrible malady. Reduced my options, however. It would make manually loading my gun-arm a difficult prospect.

As Chevalier stepped toward me, I raised my gun-arm and fired a Tazer round into his face. Electricity danced around him in bright blue arcs, but he didn't stop.

"You know, I always wondered how that arm of yours worked." He grabbed my gun-arm and pulled me close. "Something stinks about that warehouse over there." The knight turned his head to look over at where my reloading-tech was located.

Before investigating further, he tilted his head as he held me in place. As if I were a disgusting bug.

"It's a shame it was you out of all of us who survived. All mouth and no action. Look how far it got you? Mouthless and slowly taken apart by your betters." He shook his head slowly.

With his left hand, he pulled my hood down. My bulletproof helmet tech was already over my balaclava, for as good as it would do against the knight. He tapped it gently before turning to look at the warehouse again.

Rather than worry about another problem, my eyes went over to the workshop door, as it opened slightly. With no way of telling her to stop, I watched in panic as the dizzy techie stepped out. She didn't even look in our direction. Instead, she darted over to the side of the grass before bee-lining it toward the house.

Chevalier caught the shimmer of movement from my metallic head covering. He turned to see the woman run up to the front door. "Ooh, the first little rabbit to bop on the head."

His left arm came up, and a panel opened. A small rocket loaded into a launching mechanism leveled toward the house. With all my might, I pushed it away with my own left. I strained against his overwhelming strength.

"Careful," he growled. "It's a waste if nobody is around to hear it."

The trouble with having a numb limb was that it was a double-edged sword. I could stop his arm from aiming directly at Clara, because I couldn't feel that I shouldn't. Trouble was, I also couldn't feel the pain.

My limb shuddered before shattering. Crumpled under his power. Chevalier shook my grip away and fired the rocket. The small missile darted across the gravel and garden before connecting with the front of the house. The explosion blew hot air and shredded wooden panels across the area. Flames engulfed the large cavity left, showing the interior of the kitchen and scorched living room.

Cold-blooded rage flooded through my system. Reflex and Overcharge crackled intensely as I twisted around at the knight. Where the extended loader still stood out from his arm, I grabbed before it could close.

Jettisoning all the power I could through my chamber, I fired one of my last remaining Sanguine stakes into the recess.

Chevalier swung out in reflex, growling in pain. I hit the dirt a dozen feet away, rolling over my limp arm and up to my feet. Murder still on my mind, I reveled in the sight before me.

The stake had wedged its way into his arm like a nail gun. In through some of the weaker internal plating. He flexed his fingers stiffly, still maddened within his helmet.

"Motherfucker. This is paltry compared to what I'm about to do to you. I'll just kill you before the others even show."

[That boat has already sailed. You failed.]

Clara's actions made sense now. Something had broken, but I hadn't realized until it was fixed. It was almost enough to smile, had I the capacity to.

There was a dense pulse of magical energy behind me, as green light flashed around our ruined homestead.

Immense heat washed through the area as Roxy stepped out of the teleportation circle.

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