Maxwell sits at his desk, the wind from the fan overhead flowing through his cream fur, his golden-retriever-like ears twitching from the sound of the welding torch in his hand. He exhales, staring through a magnifying glass with his blue eyes at a small motherboard set atop the table. After a few moments, he pushes himself to his paws and grabs a pair of tweezers from the table. He uses them to gently lift the motherboard from the wood, turning to a spherical robot with a green heart printed above a large camera. He reaches forward, lifting the upper half, revealing electronic components inside each semicircle. He places the motherboard inside before grasping a screwdriver from the glass tray beside the machine, grabbing a few screws with the same hand. He holds the motherboard in place as he lifts the screws to the holes in the corners, using his fingers to screw them in slightly before releasing the board and flipping the screwdriver in his hand. He quickly tightens the screws with one hand, using the other to insert wires into the motherboard. He then backs away and presses the semicircles against one another, watching as the magnets pull the shapes together. Maxwell pulls himself to his paws, pushing the chair aside as he approaches an opening in the floor. He hops over the edge, kicking a scalpel by mistake, causing it to fall into the hole with him. The tool lands between the cracks in the tiles, pointing upright as Maxwell lands on the tiled white floor of a lab beside it, a ladder behind him. He stretches, his eyes locking onto a large machine in the corner. The machine consists of a heavy base, two long spikes protruding from the top, creating an arch. He approaches it, exhaling, before reaching for a control panel and clicking on a small icon.
He stares at the screen, watching as text begins to appear on the surface.
“Operation Stargate remains stable and ready for testing,” it reads. Maxwell looks up at the machine once again, taking a deep breath. A faint buzzing emanates from his pocket, prompting him to reach into it and pull out his phone.
“Front door,” the phone reads. Maxwell turns away from the machine, hurrying to the ladder and gripping the rungs. He pulls himself up, climbing back into the upper level as he turns to the door.
A tall, brown Variant stands outside the door, the majority of his body consisting of cybernetic replacements. He watches as the entrance before him opens before looking down at Maxwell.
“Maxwell, long time no see,” he remarks, stepping through the doorway.
“Yeah, it’s been a few months,” Maxwell replies, stepping aside to allow them to enter. “I think I finally got it working in theory, I just need the illusionite.”
“I got it right here,” he replies, lifting a bag from his pocket, holding it out to Maxwell, who quickly grabs it. “This stuff is pretty sacred, can you tell me why you needed it?” Maxwell quickly makes his way over to a safe, inserting a code before pulling the door open to reveal a small disk.
“I’m sorry about asking you to get this stuff, but it’s a crucial part of the machine you asked me for, and you're more willing to go out there than I am,” Maxwell replies, taking the disk over to the table, where he sets it under the magnifying glass. He opens the bag, reaching his hand inside and pulling out a fistful of white powder. The man watches as Maxwell funnels the powder into the disk, covering the top. He clicks a button on the side and takes a deep breath. After a few moments, the disk begins to glow, the dents in the metal smoothing out.
“This should be able to repair your suit whenever it sustains any damage,” Maxwell remarks, turning to him. He practically jumps from his chair, approaching the man with the disk in his hand. “Daric, we are so close to fixing everything. I’m building something huge, and we are closer than ever before.” he places the disk against Daric’s chest, watching as it latches onto the metal. Daric grins, looking into Maxwell’s eyes.
“You really are the brightest of us. I can't even begin to fathom how you built the rest of these parts,” Daric remarks, tapping the metal on his chest.
“You’re still not ready to face Maroon, you need more weapons, and I need to make the machine I just gave you faster,” Maxwell adds, watching as Daric turns to the door.
“I know, you don't gotta worry about me. It's kind of flattering that you care so much, though. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were into me,” Daric adds with a chuckle, closing the door behind him. Maxwell watches as the door shuts, exhaling.
Daric steps away from the building, looking down at his arm, watching as black wires emerge from a dented section of the metal, spreading new metal over it. He begins walking forward, taking a deep breath as he looks down at the grass, then up at the forest. His nose twitches as he turns to an opening between the trees to his right. He then turns to the left, his gaze locking onto a purple hand sticking from the darkness. He inhales sharply before a blast af flame tears through his abdomen, throwing him to the floor. He gasps as he hits the dirt, looking down at the large hole in his body just below his chest. A variant steps out from the darkness, her messy fur a mixture of purple and white, an unkept mohawk atop her head. A manic grin remains plastered on her face as she steps closer, fire flaring around her hands.
“Daric… It’s so nice to see you again,” she mutters, her voice laced with sarcasm. “I was worried we wouldn't see each other again after last time… but when I saw you in the street, I just knew you were doing something important.” Her gaze flickers down to his abdomen, watching as metal is slowly spread over the wound, hundreds of black wires stretched throughout his exposed insides.
“And it seems I was right! You definitely couldn't do that before,” she adds, taking another step forward, watching as Daric pulls himself upright.
“Maroon! I’ll kill you!” Daric shouts, reaching for his hip, pulling a crude knife from its sheath.
“That’s adorable,” Maroon remarks, lines of fire spreading over her body, stopping before it reaches her clothes. She leaps forward, swinging her flaming fist at Daric, watching as he leaps back. She swings again with her other fist, Daric’s hand catching her before he slams his head against hers, denting the metal as she stumbles back. Black wires quickly spread over his forehead, smoothing the metal as he leaps forward. He ducks as she swings before jumping into the air, the top of his head crashing against her jaw, throwing her back once again.
“You're unskilled! Untrained!” Daric shouts, swinging his fist and striking her between the eyes. Maroon catches herself as she steps back, the cuts on her face quickly pulling themselves back together. Her arms then burst into flames as her gaze locks onto him.
“I don't need to train, I don't need skill. I have the only thing I need,” she begins, taking a step back. She then lunges forward at incredible speeds, grasping his arm and striking his face with her other hand before he can even react, then pinning him down, her knee smashing against his back. She rips his arm clean off, throwing it aside, the limb crashing against one of the trees before she lifts her knee and slams it back down, tearing through his back, sending sparks flying into the air.
“Power!” she shouts, grasping onto his neck and throwing him aside, sending him crashing against the same tree she threw his arm into. He hits the floor with a thud, black wires flailing from the opening in his shoulder, frantically spreading metal over the wound.
“Your technology is nothing next to me,” she remarks, reaching up, pressing her claws against the skin in her arm. She pulls her claws down her arm, creating large gashes in her flesh, causing blood to run down from the wound, dripping onto the floor. She continues walking forward as her skin hastily pulls itself back together. She kneels before him, still grinning as she reaches forward, grasping his other arm. Her fist bursts through his shoulder before she rips away the limb, tossing it aside. It crashes against the door of Maxwell’s house. She places her paw against his chest as he tries to stand, pinning him against the trunk behind him.
“So why don't you,” she begins, her hand tearing through his chest before she grasps onto the warped metal on his back. “Go hang out with your boyfriend!” she shouts, swinging him around, throwing him with all her strength towards Maxwell’s door. The door starts to open before Daric hits it, slamming it shut. Maroon sprints towards him before striking him in the head, smashing his skull against the door. She strikes him repeatedly before grasping his skull and ripping away the metal, exposing the bones inside.
“You're…” Daric begins, prompting her to look down. “Immature.” Before he can finish, Maroon stabs her arm through his head, his limbs going limp. She rips her arm up, tearing through his skull before she kicks him through the door, splintering the wood. His body flies into the building, crashing against Maxwell as splinters of wood cover them. Maxwell looks down at Daric, taking a shuddering breath as he grasps the floor beneath him, his claws scraping against the wood. He then reaches up, grabbing his mouth and exhaling, staring at him for a moment before a loud, manic laugh comes from outside the door. Maroon swings her arm, throwing large clumps of fire onto the floor in front of the entrance, blocking the exit.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“I am genuinely surprised you've managed to last up until now. Not a single one of your machines led me back here,” Maroon remarks, slowly beginning to walk across the porch, leaving trails of fire as she runs her hand along the wood. She glares at Maxwell through the window with a grin, freezing in place. “Until Daric came to visit you. He did the trick everyone does, where they announce themselves in hopes of avoiding casualties other than themselves, and usually, I just can’t help but go for it… in the end, it leaves more people to pick off.” She begins walking once again, trailing more fire across the wood before reaching another window, freezing once again. “But this time… I decided to wait, to follow him. I’m glad I did, because he led me straight to you, and now, I can watch and see what happens when the last doctor alive is killed.” She starts to walk once again, passing by the window as Maxwell looks back down at Daric, tears forming in his eyes. The fire starts to grow, slowly spreading into the house. He watches as the fire turns purple, quickly turning the wood into ash as the concrete beneath it cracks, allowing molten metal to seep from within. A loud crash echoes through the building, the ceiling lowering as the concrete supports start to crumble, the air around the purple flames heavily distorted. Maxwell watches as Maroon reaches the door once again, having walked around the entire building. She raises her paw before kicking the metal frame around the doorway, causing the ceiling to fall, landing at an angle, crushing the front of the house. The roof blocks the exit and shatters all the windows. Maxell looks up, watching as the flames spread across the supports on the ceiling, dripping molten fire around him, quickly turning the wood around the drops black. Maxwell looks back down at Daric, taking a shaky breath before gripping the machine on his chest and tearing it off. He watches as the plack wires retract from Daric’s body back into the device. Maxwell looks back up, watching as the dripping fire grows closer to him. He flinches as the wooden beam above him snaps, sending splinters raining down on him. The ceiling dips further before Maxwell stumbles to his paws, looking up at the many crates being held to the ceiling by ropes, the fire growing closer. He looks down at the floor, lines of fire covering the now blackened surface. A loud snap tears through the air as a rope snaps, sending a large crate swinging into the wall, a faint hum emanating from within. He takes a step back, his eyes widening as he stares at the label.
“Laser weapon failed prototypes” is written on the surface. The entire box shakes, glowing red. Maxwell ducks as a laser shoots from within, spraying like a hose being squeezed shut. The red laser rips through the wall behind him, creating a thin line for sunlight to seep through. Another laser shoots from inside the crate, rapidly launching smaller beams of light that rip into the other crates and eat at the ceiling. A much straighter laser then spears from the surface before sending a thin red shockwave through the air, ripping the crate open. Maxwell leaps out of the way as a large cluster of machines falls to the floor, being thrown in every direction, causing the lasers to spin around the building, tearing apart the walls and ceiling. He leaps towards the large opening in the floor that leads to his lab as a laser rips through the floor, causing a large section to fall into the layer below, taking the round machine with the green heart down with it. Maxwell hits the floor just before the opening, turning to the window to see Maroon. A laser then tears through the wall, slicing through trees and ripping apart the grass before it passes through her shoulder, severing her arm, causing her to stumble back. She turns, glaring at Maxwell through the window as flesh begins stretching from the open wound. She stares at him, her face contorted with anger as she clenches her jaw.
“Fuck! Ill kill you, you-” she begins, Maxwell’s hearing being cut off by the sound of buzzing as a laser rips through his ears, severing the upper halves. He collapses to the floor once again, his hand reaching up to grasp his ears, blood running down his head as Maroon raises her arm. His ears ring as Maroon swings, sending a burst of flame flying towards the building. Maxwell reaches forward, grasping onto the edge of the opening in the floor. A laser then flies through his wrist, slicing off his right hand before a ball of fire crashes through the window, skidding across the floor behind him. He watches as his hand falls through the opening without him, blood squirting from the end of his arm as he looks down at the device in his left hand. He presses it against the skin on his chest, taking a deep breath.
“Bypass organic protocol,” he mutters, unable to hear his own voice over the ringing. He gasps as the black wires pierce his skin. The ball of flame behind him bursts, creating a much larger fireball that throws Maxwell into the wall with incredible force, burning his skin and most of his fur before he peels off the wall, his backside completely torn apart. As he falls, another laser rips through his left arm, severing it at an angle, turning it into a triangle shape as he falls through the opening in the floor. He hits the ground, the scalpel piercing through the side of his head, spearing into both of his eyes, causing his vision to go black almost instantly as a crate lands on top of him, snapping his spine and forcing his head into the floor, completely shattering his snout as he blacks out.
The circular robot hits the tiled floor, bouncing as it’s thrown into the open room, rolling towards Maxwell. As it rolls, the button on the green heart is pressed, causing the camera just below it to activate. Small rectangular hatches on the sides flip open as thin robotic limbs extend from inside. It uses the limbs to stop its momentum, the camera locking onto Maxwell as the black wires attempt to cover his wounds with metal. A faint hum emanates from the bot as it lifts off the ground, the end of the thin limbs breaking apart to create ten needle-thin appendages on each arm. Green pulses of electricity spark beneath the robot, twisting to act like legs as it scurries closer to Maxwell, shoving one of the limbs under him. It quickly sticks five of the needle-thin appendages into the holes on the surface of the device on the chest, chirping as the wires in his skin stop. The android pulls away as the wires retract back into Maxwell’s body, rippling under his flesh as they work. It scurries away, approaching a drawer. It turns as Maxwell begins breathing once again, the light on its camera flashing green. It wraps two of the electric appendages around the legs of the drawer before it starts to drag it closer to Maxwell, another appendage sifting through the parts before pulling out a pair of glass eyes with blue pupils, as well as a metal rod. It hurries back to Maxwell, one arm carefully scanning his eyes as the other grabs the rod from the electric appendage and places it below the crate, twisting to force space between it and the floor. It props up the crate with the rod, carefully dragging Maxwell out from under it. It watches as metal is slowly wrapped around Maxwell’s torso, creating a crude but functional metal chestplate before spreading metal over his ears. The robot then turns to Maxwell’s right arm, reaching over to the drawer and pulling a prosthetic hand from within. It watches as the exposed bones are infused with steel, the bleeding wound being sealed off with metal.
The wires then stop, and the system powers down as a faint beeping emanates from the device on his chest, indicating that it has run out of power. The robot’s camera flashes red as Maxwell’s breathing becomes erratic, a faint hiss coming from his body. The robot quickly rushes to Maxwell’s head, turning it to its side before extending the needle-thin appendages into the gaps between his eyes and his eyesockets, severing both the eyes and the scalpel lodged inside his head. It then pulls his eyes out, quickly pushing the glass ones into their place and dropping the damaged ones onto the floor. It scurries over to the drawer once again, pulling a metal welding helmet the same shape as Maxwell’s head from inside, placing it over his face, and setting the prosthetic hand just above the stump on his arm as the hissing stops. The robot then shoves its hand beneath Maxwell once again, inserting its needle-thin appendages into the holes in the device. It lowers itself to the floor, the electricity beneath it retracting back into its body as it powers down.
After a few moments, the wires begin moving, allowing Maxwell to breathe again as electricity flows down the robot’s arm. The glass eyes are pulled into place, quickly shutting as they power on. They then shoot open, flickering around, the pupils shaking as Maxwell attempts to move, his bones cracking. He glances over at his right arm, watching as the black wires emerge from his skin, causing him to shake while they connect the hand to his arm. He then glances at his other arm, watching as the decimated limb is rolled into a blade-like form, pain shooting through his body as the wound is sealed with metal. He then looks down at his snout, watching as the mask is pulled onto his skin and wrapped around his face, as his snout is pulled apart and reconstructed to fit the mask. The scalpel in his head is pulled fully into his skin by the black wires, allowing blood to seep from the holes before the wounds are filled with metal.
After a few moments, his snout cracks into place, causing him to gasp. The robotic hand clutches the ground, scraping against the metal as it starts to push against the floor, slowly raising Maxwell to his knees. He struggles to lift himself, feeling as if he now weighs ten times what he used to. He looks down at the robot, watching as the electricity around its arm grows weaker. He struggles to stand, scooping up the robot in his arm. He then takes a step forward, his paw crashing against the ground with enough force to crack the tile. He then takes another step, then another, slowly making his way towards the large machine in the corner of his lab. He turns back, eyeing the now-empty drawer, noting left inside except a metallic tail. He returns his gaze to the machine in front of him, taking another heavy step, his joints scraping together as he moves, cracking the next tile as his step lands. He hits the control panel with his left arm, continuing past it as his weight bends the metal step leading up to the machine. He pulls himself through the archway, stopping beneath it as he exhales.
“Start the machine,” he demands, the screen flashing green. With a hiss, a track extends from inside the machines, creating a circle around him as energy flickers beneath the rails. He holds his breath as the arch starts to spin around him, a loud hum emanating from the metal. He watches as it builds speed, the ground shaking as a loud crash echoes from the floor above. Maroon drops from the opening, a thin, bone-like arm in the place where the old one used to be. She turns to him, her eyes glowing red as the archway becomes a blur, throwing around strings of electricity. Maroon steps closer before raising her arm, her palm bursting into flames as Maxwell steps back, stopping so as not to back into the spinning arch. She then swings, sending a ball of flame that bounces off the spinning archway, pulsating with energy as it hits the floor. Maxwell closes his eyes, clenching the robot in his arms before he vanishes with a loud crash. The ball of flame on the floor then bursts, ripping apart the machine as energy is shot in every direction, the arch being flung into the wall at incredible speeds. The metal is flattened against the barrier, causing the concrete to shatter, sending cracks throughout the foundation.
