Machine Story

Escape

Back inside the prison, Niall and Mya pushed through the few remaining guards before arriving at a heavily reinforced door. Atana looked at the durability of the door and was in awe. She had never dealt with a mechanism as complex as this before.

When asked by Niall if she could break open such a door, she happily replied, “Never done it before but I will do my best!” She got to work as Mya and Niall stood guard. While they were waiting, Mya decided to break the silence.

“Hey thanks for deciding to trust me. I know that wasn’t easy.” Niall looked at her for a moment then looked away. “I’m sorry for the mean things I said, I wasn’t thinking properly after…” he paused and Mya finished his sentence. “After seeing your sister back in the desert?” He nodded.

“You two must be close if you are willing to risk your life to save her.” Niall shook his head. “Actually, we made a pact to be sworn enemies. She would always be mean to me and in return I would annoy her for the rest of her life.” Mya’s jaw dropped. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why are you even saving her if you two are enemies?”

Niall raised his right index fingers replying, “Because, she would be so annoyed for the rest of her life knowing I saved her!” Mya smacked her face. “It's a genius plan!” Niall bragged.

Suddenly, they heard a click noise coming from the door. “I got it!” Atana shouted with joy. Niall rushed to help open the door. Once the door was pushed aside, Niall saw a person at the end of the cell. It was a girl who was small in stature leaving Niall to believe they got the wrong cell.

However, Mya ran to the girl's side, grabbed a hold of her and embraced her with a hug. “Samiya!” Without a doubt, this was who they were meant to rescue. This was the Queen of Corrinth.

She still had strength to move and talk despite being held in captivity for so long. “Thank you for coming to rescue me! I assume these two are the help that went out to find.” Mya nodded. “There are more of them outside who are helping us as well.”

Samiya took a quick assessment of both Atana and Niall. “You two are so different from the soldiers here.” Atana took the comment positively as she loved to stand out but Niall had a different reply. “Hey I know we ain’t as well-kept as your soldiers but…”

“No! That’s amazing!” Her response caused a confused look on Niall’s face. “I already know most soldiers here have their armor and weapons cleaned and well kept because they lack true battle experiences. If you have survived beyond the city without the use of your dominant hand then I must imagine you and your friends are quite strong.”

Niall had his chest all puffed out, taking in all the compliment Samiya was giving. However, Mya quickly interrupted them as they had to keep moving. They retraced their steps and found Viraaj and Paco holding their ground against a multitude of soldiers. With their combined strength they were able to deal with a good chunk of the reinforcements. Then Niall and Mya came swooping in to finish the remainder of the forces, giving Viraaj and Paco some much needed rest.

Once they dealt with the current wave, Atana celebrated, “Yeah we did it! We made it back here!” Viraaj and Paco turned to face the queen and bowed to her. Samiya got them to stand up and commended them for their efforts in holding on.

They had much to say but they knew now was not the time. If they didn’t use this time to escape now, more reinforcement would appear. So they halted their reunion for a more appropriate time.

“Sixteen!” Roop announced as he disarmed another soldier without causing him major injuries. “Twenty-seven.” Shaan calmly replied. Again Roop was in disbelief, he wasn’t sure how he was still behind even with his robotic enhancements. He demanded a recount but Shaan just told him to focus on keeping the guards at bay.

After holding their position for a bit longer, a guard was sent flying out of the prison entrance, before Niall appeared jumping out. He was then followed by Mya, Atana, Samiya, Paco, and Viraaj.

“Looks like that’s everyone, let’s get out of here.” Shaan began descending down the tower and Roop followed behind. Once they arrived at the bottom they regrouped to escape together.

“Finally, you all showed up! I was beginning to run out of tranquilizer darts!” Shaan exclaimed. “Who are all these extra people?” Roop wondered but there was no time to explain. They quickly made their way towards the exit hoping to make a getaway but they were met by Councilor Shen and a huge force of soldiers in front of them.

Roop, Niall, Shaan, Viraaj, Paco, Mya, and Atana all had their weapons out and ready for a showdown but Samiya stepped into the frontlines in order to converse with Councilor Shen. She wanted to know why he did all this and what his next plan of action was.

“Sibleon made us an offer that could save our future. If we surrender a majority of our population to him, he said he would let us live. So I decided that we sacrifice the people within the slums of Corrinth. There are more than enough of those filthy vermin, that should be enough to satisfy him.”

“What you're doing is wrong! Everyone of those people who live in the slums are people just like you and me. They have families and people they care about! You can’t just throw away their lives like that!” Samiya rebuked.

“You are an idealistic fool. This is about survival! We need to ensure that we live so we can rebuild this city and one day overthrow the Metadross! You can’t stand there and tell me you never considered sacrificing those low-life. I’m doing this for the good of our people!”

“No. You are a monster, willing to sacrifice the lives of others to get what you want. You are the true enemy here. I will not allow you to lay a hand on the people of Corrinth.”

Shen crossed his arm and began to laugh, “Ha! You and what army?” Right as he spoke, everyone behind Samiya stepped forward:

“As long as I draw breath, no harm will come upon the queen.” Viraaj pounded his chest

“Yeah, no one lays a hand on my best friend.” Mya concurred.

“I really don’t like this guy.” Niall said enthusiastically.

“You got a contest for this scenario?” Shaan asked Roop.

“Yeah, the first person to knock this guy out cold gets treated to dinner!” Roop announced.

“We got this everyone! Go team go!” Atana cheered.

“Yeahhhhhhhh!!!!” shouted Paco.

Samiya looked at everyone and shed a tear. “Everyone, thank you so much.” On the contrary, Shen was extremely aggravated and growing red in the face. “You are all fools! Your actions will lead you to your doom! Soldiers attack!”

The soldiers charged towards their target with all their might. All eight of the opposing warriors braced themselves to fight for their lives and not injure their own kind. However, midway through their advance, a Metadross sky scanner was spotted flying above them.

The presence of the sky scanner caused everyone to stop and focus their attention on it. It floated around before making its way to its intended target, Councilor Shen. As it hovered in front of the Councilor, his face began to be filled with dread. He ordered all the soldiers to move towards the entrance of the city. Sibleon had arrived.

He then looked back at the eight fighters who defied him, “You all got lucky this time, but you can’t save the people of the slums let alone yourselves.” After his final words, he disappeared along with all the other soldiers. Niall, Shaan, and Roop were about to pursue him but Mya held her hand to stop them. Tracking them down would have little purpose. Instead their top priority was to focus their efforts on saving the people of Corrinth.

As they were about to depart the prison and make their way towards the slums, someone came running for help. It was Anaya and everyone was happy to see her again, especially Samiya and Mya. However, nothing could prepare them for what happened next. “YOU CAN TALK?!” everyone shouted in unison.

“That’s not important right now! David needs our help, he got abducted by some mysterious person while trying to protect me!” As everyone began to come to terms with the fact that Anaya could speak, Samiya felt terrible that someone was lost in their attempts to save her. As she was about to tell Niall, Shaan and Roop to go find their friend, the three were already in a huddle trying to solve the matter.

Niall had three sticks covered in one of his hands. He told the other two that the one who picked the shortest one would have to go look for David. Shaan and Roop both chose their stick, leaving Niall with one. They all open their hands simultaneously to reveal that Roop got the short end of the stick.

“Aww man I knew I should have picked the one in the middle!” Roop complained. Anaya and Samiya looked at each other puzzled. “What a strange friendship they have,” they both thought. With that issue resolved, Roop went his separate way while Niall and Shaan joined the rest of the group to help save the people of Corrinth.