《Inner Steel》Chapter 14
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“Merge conscious!” I ordered Steel.
“No! We can still do this.” She protested.
“No, we can’t. We are going to die.”
“I’ll...I’ll figure something out.” Steel sped up my rate of conscious significantly.
Delta extended one of her arms out. It extended horribly, flying towards my head.
“Merge conscious now!”
Steel stayed silent as the blade flew towards my head. Then she whispered.
“Alright. Repeat after me.”
“Right.” I answered. I sighed. This was going to be the last thought I would have by myself. I was going to become half alien, and half human.
“Merge Conscious protocols. New Identity, 50% Steel, 50% Emma. Complete Merge...NOW!”
I had a vague sense of suddenly have 1,000 different copies with different amounts of Steel and myself. A blink later and 50 remained. Another millisecond afterwards and 2 remained. Then I became Emma Steel.
Everything stopped. I could see the world in a million different colors. I could watch this moment from a hundred different angles. My mind ran perfectly smoothly. I observed Delta’s arm extending towards me.
Suddenly I realized the full potential of my body. Among the multitude of protocols was one that stood out: Electro-magnetic.
Activate Electro-magnetic protocol!
I threw myself sideways. My body launched off the floor, and then hovered a foot above the ground.
“How is this possible!” cried Delta.
I looked down at my wounds. They didn’t exist anymore, mended by some wonder of science.
I could feel the charge building up within. I pointed a finger at Delta. Lightning leaped off my finger. Delta disappated into a cloud of nano-bots, only visible in infrared, for a second, then reformed. Her body shimmered.
“How can you do this to me!?” She protested.
I clenched my fists, and then held out my hand in front of me. After another second Delta disappeared once more. She reappeared, her body leaping from in and out of existence.
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“Open the door, and I’ll let you live.” I ordered.
Delta kept her mouth shut, so then I separated her body in half. One half of her face glanced at the other half, floating an inch above the ground. Both sides of her screamed. She disappeared into non-existence, and then reappeared, her body shimmering more than ever.
“Alright! Alright!” Her body disappeared, and the door to the bridge opened.
“Thank you.” I said to nothing. I waited.
Deactivate Electro-Magnetic protocols.
I landed gently on the ground. I walked up and through the door onto the bridge.
There stood the last Android. Alpha paced back on forth on the main bridge area. He walked alone, no one else sat at any station on the bridge.
“Beta. I must ask, what has happened to you?” he continued pacing.
“I am at my full potential. And I’m ready to take you on.” I stepped forward.
The door shut behind me. I didn’t care. If I destroyed Alpha, then the rebellion had a larger chance.
Alpha turned to look at me. “I must say that your merge of consciouses caught me by surprise. I thought you were stay divided until the very end.”
“You guessed wrong.”
Engage Inferno Protocol.
I put my hands over one another, and then showed him my palms. Fire spewed from my hands in a concentrated beam.
He held up his own hand, which absorbed the blast.
“You are powerful. But luckily for myself, I have designed you to be inferior to me.”
“No, you didn’t.” I retorted. I grasped at a memory. I remembered someone saying that I was the most superior of all the Androids.
“No use arguing.” Alpha conceded. He crossed his fingers and made an X in the air. A ball of lightning appeared from no-where and flew towards me.
I clenched my fist and punched it. When I opened my hand, I held the electric ball. I clenched my fist again and absorbed the power of the lightning.
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De-activate Inferno, Activate Electro-magnetic.
I pointed at Alpha, and the lightning bolt struck him on the forehead. He reeled backwards.
De-activate Electro-Magnetic, Activate Laser.
I formed a triangle with my hands and looked through it. A laser shot out and hit Alpha. He reeled again. He then clenched his fists. He held one out before him, and then hit it with his other. A green bolt fired.
Deactivate Current, activate Defense Shield.
I shielded my face with my arm. The bolt bounced off my arm and burned into the ceiling. Another green bolt shot out from Alpha.
I dove to the side, and then activated Gamma-ray protocol. I glared at Alpha. A pair of purple beams stuck him on the chest. He was thrown back into the wall.
I threw myself at him, activating super strength. He dodged to the side but moved faster. I hit him across the head. His body smashed into a console. I struck him with another lightning bolt. He cried out in pain.
I punched him in the back. His body embedded itself further into the console. I activated the Gamma beam again and scorched his back.
I stepped back. Alpha slowly lifted himself out of the wreck of the console. His body was covered the scrapes and his skin was burnt.
He fired another green lightning bolt at me. I activated my electro-magnetic field and dispersed the beam. He fired again, I re-aimed it at himself. It stuck him on the forehead again. He fell backwards, dazed.
“Given up yet, Alpha?” I asked.
He laughed, then started to talk to himself, “Why did I create Beta to be strong than me? I assumed that her allegiance was guaranteed. Just my luck that the rebellion found her instead of Delta or Gamma.”
He looked up, “You go by a different name now, I assume?”
“My name is Emma Steel.” I replied. I fired another bolt and he was thrown back into the wall, his skin smoldering.
I felt merciless. The human part of me was being overwhelmed by the unforgiving Steel.
I focused my Gamma laser on him. He cried out in pain.
Then I stopped myself. Even though me and Steel merged, the respective personality differences contested for my attention.
“Alpha. Listen to me. I’m willing to keep you alive, if you would stop the attack on the rebellion.”
Alpha breathed in deeply, “Kill me first.”
“My pleasure.” My Steel in me grew stronger than my human sense of decency. I picked Alpha up, and then threw him against a wall. He bounced off, looking dead.
I picked him up again and ground his head into the wall. My human conscious screamed at me. But I was committed by Steel. Kill Alpha the quickest way possible.
I threw him into the opposite wall, and then focused another bolt to strike him, only instead of a bolt, a continuous stream of energy fed into his body.
He gasped.
“I’m trying to kill you quickly, but you just won’t die.” I muttered to him.
I picked him up and then dragged him towards where I hoped an airlock was. I found one quickly, and placed Alpha in it.
“Any last words?” I gloated.
“If I’m dead, then the Alliance will continue to pound the rebellion until nothing is left.”
I stared at him for a second, and then dragged him out of the airlock. I returned to the cockpit, and then strapped him into the toughest looking chair.
“Noble Sacrifice. I have control of the Mercury. Gamma is dead, and Delta and Alpha are subjugated. What do you want me to do next?”
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