A Beast with a Smile

A humming from the black marbles of death seemed to match the tense aroma of the room. I didn’t like the look on Archy’s face. It resembled the same expression he had when he saw Ore back in the Devil’s Den, but now he gave it to two cryo-pods and two steel crates.

“I like to believe that I am a fair man, so I’ll give you a choice. Option one: I open up the crates and let you deal with your old toys. Option two: I open up those two cryo-pods and show you what I’ve been working on for the past four years,” Atom offered, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows.

Archy knew what was in those pods. The defeat in his sunken sockets told the whole story. He turned and in a blur he notched and fired a deadly pointed stick at Atom.

Clank, it cried as it fell hopelessly to the steel floor. Atom’s mouth widened with joy as he pressed a button on the control pad. The alarm rang again and hazard lights flashed as the doors to the pods opened, releasing a thick white fog into the room. Through it I could see faint red lights outlining the body of a human. The other was covered in the same lights outlining their hidden form in blue. One of the arms raised and in an instant hurricane winds filled the room, disintegrating the fog.

“That’s not possible. How did you do this? You’re a twisted devil, you know that?” Archy choked, backing away from the two figures made of smoke and in armor meant for the gods.

“How am I a devil for returning my children to the world of the living? If anything, I should be cherished for not going up to that little commune you worms call a home after what you did to my children. Pyre was only twenty years old and Icarus was barely eighteen and you ripped my family apart! For what!? For a false sense of freedom?” he ragged and punched the glass with a tight fist.

“I raised those girls since before they could walk. I got to watch them betray me, an act that I have forgiven, then I got to watch their skin be peeled off of their body, as their bones withered into ash, and as their final breath was a howl from the demons that clawed their way out of their mortal prisons.”

His lips quivered as his body began to shiver. Archy looked even more defeated. He didn’t even bother to notch another arrow and stood in the path of the two misty giants.

Pyre and Icarus must have sensed Atom’s woes and began their attack on their old friend. Prye held out her hand and fire spun around in a vortex until it shaped into a fireball. She tossed it like a baseball player.

I didn’t think that Archy would stay there and embrace the flames; I don’t think anyone did. He stood in the fireball’s path and let it hit his chest, igniting his shirt into an uncontrollable blaze. He fell to his knees, holding his chest and coughing from the black smoke of charred t-shirt.

“Archy! What are you doing? Fight them,” Clark and I shouted down to him.

He looked up and shook his head, his face still full of dread and failure. Icarus shot a blast of air at the ground and expanded her golden wings. She was flying towards Archy, most likely for the killing blow, but I wasn’t going to let that happen.

I jumped off of the railing and managed to grasp the edge of her steel feathers, pulling her down violently to the floor with me. She hissed when her body dented the floor after I made a forced crash landing. She floated back to her feet and blasted me with a whirlwind of cold air. I stepped to the side to dodge it, but I wasn’t quick enough. Where it touched, the skin pulled tightly like when I stick my head out the window on the highway.

The female scientist that Archy called Mrs. Hopper hid behind a desk next to where Icarus had landed. She was motioning with her eyes to look at something unnatural planted on the temple of both girls. A small square object blinked rapidly.

Mrs. Hopper mimed her closed fist crashing onto her opposing palm.

“Archy, aim for the square thing on their temple. I think it’s how Atom is controlling them,” I commanded, hoping he wasn’t too badly injured to shoot his arrow.

He shook his head, then fired three sparkling arrows at the girls. The first flew straight at Icarus, who blasted it with the same hurricane air that she treated me to. As the heavy wind touched the tip of the arrow, it began to spin in a tight spiral, forming visible lines as it cut through the air and cemented itself in the breastplate of Icarus’ armor. The arrow exploded and unleashed a netting, covering her entire body in fine white lines. The second made a beeline for the metal square, but it would never make it.

Pyre was quick to her sister’s aid. She had managed to catch the arrow in her blazing hands, inches away from the blinking light. It burned into ash instantly. A demon like grin spread across her dark face.

“Forgot one,” Archy said as the final arrow planted itself in Pyre’s back, exploding into the same netting trap.

She howled in shock and began to claw at her back. I sprinted at the two holding two clenched fists, hoping my plan would work. I smashed their two heads together, perfectly on the implants and watched as the blue lights faded away with the fractured glass. Both fell to the ground dazed.

“I feared this would happen,” Atom said.

Sorrow had filled his lungs, “Guess the second option will have to do.”

He pushed another button and the crate slowly opened and a tiny square bodied person ran out. It was smaller than Clark and it had a thousand red eyes plastered around his square head. He had a wide chest with a slim cylinder torso that attached to four legs.

“Aww! It’s so cute,” Clark adored from the railing.

“Titan! Kill them. Get the little one first,” Atom commanded.

“Yes, master,” the thing replied, marching towards Clark.

Clark began to laugh from the top step. It was obvious that he thought that the killer robot couldn’t do him any harm with it being barely 3 feet tall, but Archy looked scared and prepared for a long fight.

The bow had disappeared, and a long electric sword had taken its place in his hands.

“Clark arc,” Titan began before an icicle split his body in two.

Clark’s hand was solid ice and his expression was just as cold. The voice was only shut off for a few short seconds before it turned back on like a dying toy.

“...her. Prepare to die.”

His body began to rebuild itself; pieces began to slide out of the crate, jumping onto the robot, adding to his height and firepower. By the time the pieces were done, the robot had gained an extra four feet and stood tall with a long sword that flowed with black liquid and a shield that reached to the top of his square head. They were both made out of the same as the black marbles that hung from the ceiling.

Titan was able to meet eyes with Clark without having to tilt his head back. He swung the sword and my heart skipped a beat.

The landing fell with the five-year-old grasping onto the railing and crying as he plummeted in front of us. Archy charged at the titan while I raced to the knocked-out Clark.

With his sword raised, Archy prepared to erase his creation. Titan raised his blade, perfectly parrying Archy’s attack. Archy’s sword turned into an electric goo immediately after the contact. He stood still in disbelief as the dark blade swung for him. It would have taken his head off if he hadn’t rolled back towards me and Clark.

“Don’t let the blade touch you. It takes away our powers like everything else in this godforsaken place,” he panted with sweat dripping off his brow.

“Yes, Archy. This place is meant to fix the mistake I made when I let all of you walk out of the facilities alive. I was feeling merciful. I didn’t want that much blood on my conscious, but that was before you decided to set off a nuke. Trust me, I will never make that mistake again,” Atom shouted.

His face was filled rage.

The shield grinded on the ground as Titan advanced toward us.

“Kill...kill…kill,” he repeated with every step.

The rain had yet to stop outside the massive tower and it was strangely empowering. I closed my eyes. I could feel the droplets gravitating toward me, pressing themselves against the glass, trying to get to me. When my eyes opened again the rain had frozen in place, floating like someone had hit pause on the remote.

“Scarlett, move!” Archy shouted as the dark blade came crashing down in a furry.

I threw Clark to Archy and prepared for my body to be split in half. A different sound came: the sound of glass shattering into a thousand pieces as the rain turned into liquid bullets. It shredded through everything in the room, turning metal into swiss cheese and shattering the black spheres above. Silver blood, black ooze, and deadly water mixed in a massive puddle that covered the whole floor.

The sword rested gently above my head on a wave of water. Titan fell onto his back sparking and sputtering until his voice box gave out. His metal body was covered in holes and broken internal wires were now external, sparking all over the mini water puddles.

Archy looked at me with wide eyes and Atom did too.

“What?” I asked with a muffled voice.

“Scarlett, look at your hands,” Archy responded, pointing at my palms.

White armor had covered my entire body and I realized there was a screen covering my face. I was wearing a helmet.

“This is crazy.”

“Crazy indeed, Ms. Archer,” Atom said through the broken glass box he stood in.

The water lifted me up to the ledge and I walked into the room.

“Your reign of tyranny ends now,” I said while walking towards Atom

“You call it tyranny, I call it order. Peace! Every town that I took control of saw no crime, no adultery, no racism, no violence, and no secrets. There were no cheats, no scammers, no crooks, just people living out perfect lives. The only case of murder was the bomb that scarred the land beneath us,” he said, backing up towards the two bald people.

“Perfect lives? How could you say something like that? You strip people of free will, of their own consciousness. There’s no creativity, no ambition, no love, and no purpose in life! Everyone is just following the orders you’ve given them like they were programmed machines. And what about Elly? Your son bashed her skull in on a nail. She would be dead if I… if I hadn’t revived her,” I barked, not able to hold back my rage.

He looked shocked like he didn’t know the evil dwelling within in son. He backed up into the elevator and pressed a button that dropped a door between me and him.

“She’s in a prison now, free from endangering herself or anyone else. Unlike you, Ms. Archer. You have a choice to make. You can break down this door and destroy everything that I have created and end my so called tyranny, but leave the reason you’ve traveled so far to die, or you can save the girl from the self-destruct sequence I just triggered and let me escape to enact my revenge another day,” he smiled through the glass, already knowing my choice.

An alarm began to blare, and the room flashed with red lights.

“See you soon, Ms. Archer. Oh, and happy family reunion to you!” he laughed as he descended out of sight.

The chair holding the two bald people also began to fall below the floor through a hatch, which closed as soon as they were through, leaving me and Elizabeth alone in the room.

I ran over to her and ripped her out of the seat, then ran back to the others. Her helmet was still strapped tightly to her head. Clark had woken up and was smiling with anticipation. When he saw me, he jumped from the ledge? Dr. Hopper was standing with Archy. Her leg was wounded from the water blast and the two girls were strapped together, their skin half human half shade.

“You saved my sister!” he yelled, running up to me.

“Not yet. We still have to escape this room before self-destructs.”

“Need a lift?” Woodrow said on the mind coms as the roof ripped apart and the ship floated above us.

We climbed up the rope and flew away as the top floor imploded.

“Who are you?” Elizabeth mumbled, looking up at me. I removed her helmet and flowing locks of dark red hair fell freely.

Tears filled my eyes, as I answered her, “I’m your mom.”