Ghost in the Machine Ch. 16

Nero had arrived. Or rather, Neros.

"Not only will I know where to find Cat, but here I have the man who caused me so much trouble already. Hello Parker!"

Two of the Neros raised their hands, unleashing devastating strokes of lightning into Parker's chest, knocking him backwards with a gaping hole in his chest. To my surprise, he went with the impact, did an elegant backflip and raced towards the attackers, blade at the ready. While I watched, the hole, trailing brilliant emerald ones and zeroes, closed.

The Neros burst apart, their movements fluid and synchronized. Parker wasn't fighting five individuals, but a closely-knit unit. Four of them circled Parker, the fifth hung back, his face screwed up in concentration.

"Cat!" Parker yelled as he charged the first Nero, who countered his flurry of blade swings with his bare hands, red sparks against Parker's icy blue sword. "How about a little help?"

The Neros laughed in unison. Four of them at least. "She's a little busy right now. I have most of my attention focussed on her. She may be growing faster than I am but she's just too nice. Safely shutting down the machines she's assimilating takes just too much time than brute force. Speaking of which-"

Parker vanished between the quartet of Neros, his movements slowing down as they rushed him. No one used weapons I could see, but Parker's avatar bled green code wherever they struck him.

A sharp pain shot through my knee and I shifted my weight onto the other leg. Wait, what? I could move? Quickly looking around, I searched for Forrest. His avatar was frozen in mid-jump, giant rocket-launcher on his shoulder. Hibiko's mech suit stood on wingtip, trying to evade a pack of drones gunning for her. But I could move. Didn't Nero see me?

Parker howled in pain. I saw his arm tumble into the black abyss between the nodes, his katana spiraling away along with it. The four Neros tearing into him screamed with delight, only the fifth one didn't seem to care.

Because he was busy stopping time, that's why.

I didn't think. My hands came up and I aimed both palm blasters at his face. Nero, all five of them, screamed in agony, and time resumed it's normal flow. Parker mumbled something in Japanese, his avatar vanishing in a puff of cartoony smoke, only to reappear, whole and armed again, behind one of the Neros. In a streaking arc, the blade came up and around, slicing through that Nero's neck like a lightsaber through Obi-Wan.

"You--" the Neros growled, even the decapitated head disappearing into the void below. All eyes were on me.

"Yes, me," I hissed. Despite every fiber in my being screaming in pain, I stood up, reaching to the side at hip level. The hilt of my flame blade appeared. I grasped it and the blade swooshed into solar flare fury alongside the wings on my back.

The headless Nero came at me, hands opened like wicked claws, red talons of lightning leading the way. Oh, I was so ready for him. His head already had begun to regenerate, I could see his chin reform as I blocked two of his swipes. The electricity from his claws arced along my flame blade and into my avatar, causing agonizing spasms to cramp through my body.

"I wanted to keep you alive, as a bargaining chip for Parker..." I heard him whisper. "But that's past now. You are dead already, little girl."

I dodged his next swipe. Whether it was the lack of eyes or lag, his movement was far from fluid and he left me a huge opening. I rammed my blade into his chest and turned up the heat. The flame went from yellow to blue to white as I pumped gigabytes of destructive code into his system. A human brain would have already been cooked to perfection, but still he tried to claw my face off.

"How do you kill these things?" I screamed, tearing the blade from the monster's chest.

Use This.

I started at the soothing voice next to my ear. Garbed in a silvery, slightly translucent dress and the golden cat mask of a Bastet priestess stood an amazing woman. Neon infinity symbols were wrapped around her upper arms like bracers and a crystal, transmitting errant beams of silvery moonlight sat in her spectacular cleavage. Only when I spotted the mischievous green eyes behind the mask and the thick braid of jet-black hair, the tip of it resting just above the cleft of her butt, did I recognize her.

"Cat?"

Yes.

Her hand took mine. Gently, she pulled the fire gem from my palm and replaced it with something else, something icy cold, yet still throbbing with life.

I wish I could help you, Shine. For now, you must endure.

Two pearlescent tears rolled down her cheeks. Then she leaned in and kissed me, tenderly.

Hurry. You don't have much time left if you want to survive.

"What do you mean?" I gasped when I could force words past the giant lump in my throat. She sounded as if I was already in a coffin.

And then time resumed. Laughing like a madman, the beheaded and impaled Nero reformed. One moment, he was a mutilated corpse, the next, a whirling, whole tornado of claws and kicks, driving me against the pile of rubble I had been hiding behind.

"No amount of techno-wizardry will save you now, Shine. Oh, I know who you are. Parker screamed your name while I fried his brain. He screams your name all the time, even when he takes Hibiko's futa cock up his ass," Nero jeered, each word punctuated by another cut, kick or punch. I had no idea how I blocked even half of them. He wanted to make me mad? Oh, I was mad, even without his verbal cheap shots.

"Why- won't- you- die already???" I screamed, chopping at his grasping hands with the power of sheer desperation. He laughed and stepped back, new hands growing from his torn sleeves. My hand came up and I fired my palm gem right into his face. This time, no fiery lance burst forth. Instead, a thin string of grey, lifeless code shot out. If spattered against his neck, a tiny fleck of grey. And it grew. Faster and faster. Within the span of two painful breaths, it had grown to encompass most of his neck and chin. And it grew even faster.

Above me, I saw Parker ram a dagger into another Neros' mouth, the blade dull and matte, the same ugly gray. And I understood. A self-replicating virus. The online equivalent of gray goo, nanomachines gone rogue.

Nero howled, at least those of his copies which could still howl. The avatar I had wounded dropped to his knees, most of his upper torso and head an amorphous blob of pulsing, pumping gray matter. The one Parker had stabbed didn't fare any better. Once unleashed, there was no stopping gray goo. It would multiply and assimilate everything until there was nothing left to assimilate. The other three Neros burst into the sky, fleeing in three different directions. If this virus worked the same way real gray goo did, Nero was wise in abandoning his avatars and getting as far away as possible.

And then I saw Forrest, crawling on hands and feet to where I was.

"What happened to you?" I asked him. He looked up at me, blood streaming from every orifice.

"Tried... reroute damage away... you. Reached ... limit. Sorry to have failed you." He collapsed at my feet. The pain I thought I had under control roared at me like a black tidal wave. Howling in agony, I bent double, clutching at my head.

Parker landed by my side, a triumphant smile on his face. When he saw me though, that smile evaporated like water on a hot freeway. He spread his arms to embrace me, concern all over his face.

And then the floor came up and swallowed me.

Everything went black.

There was nothing.

Except the pain.

Pain.

I hope you enjoyed this twisted fantasy of mine. If you did, let me know. Vote and/or comment. It's the only way for me to know if and how you liked this. Thanks for your time.

Blind_Justice