The spear had been made almost two decades ago, buts its design and functions had been constantly improved ever since. Slipstream had made it early in his career in order to fight opponents from his original flying board. While the controls and power source were both in the shaft, the head held almost all of the weaponry. Nearly five years ago it had managed to pierce through Frankenstein’s hide. He had improved himself significantly since then.
Mach let the information fill her mind. She forced herself to focus only on the weapon; she couldn’t afford to let her mind wander like she had with the sculpture at home. The first thing she needed was a new power source.
“My backpack,” She croaked out. “And help me get my right arm out of my armor.”
“What are you doing?” Hawthorne asked. “We need to get out of here.”
“She’s right, the best mechers in the city are up there fighting him, we can’t do anything.”
Mach shook her head. “One of my weapons was shut down. His field couldn’t get to the power source. I can pierce his armor.”
Hawthorne and Burnout stared at each other. She was too weak to fight them if they wanted to drag her out of there.
There was a screech of metal and they looked at Mach between them. She was trying to force her arm to move in spite of the damage to her armor.
Burnout sighed. “How do we get your arm out?”
Hawthorne shot a glare at Burnout, but didn’t say anything.
“The lock is along my armpit. I cannot access its release. You’ll have to burn through it.”
“Mach, this is crazy! You can’t expect him to-”
Burnout pressed his hand where Mach instructed and a blue light began to shine from his palm.
“He can do it,” Mach said. “You’re almost there, I can feel it loosening.”
There was a loud pop and the armor started to slide off of Mach’s arm.
Burnout and Hawthorne lowered Mach’s arm to let the armor fall off and onto the floor.
Mach fumbled around near the small of her back until she found a small hole she could grab onto. She gave it a quick yank and a series of pops sounded from around her armor.
“Emergency eject. Never expected to lose both arms before I could get to it. I need to get to the back plate.”
This turned out to be more complicated than it sounded. The chest and back plates were both locked in by their connections to the rest of the armor. They managed to get the legs off easily, but the broken arm couldn’t be extracted normally.
Burnout stared at the mangled wreckage of her arm. “I can’t burn this one off, Mach.”
“We need to get you to a hospital,” Hawthorne said. “They’ll be able to cut it off without hurting you.”
Mach stared at her arm. She had been forcing herself to ignore it, but whatever had been numbing the pain was not working anymore She fought the urge to scream.
She spoke haltingly. “Not…whole…arm. The latch…is wedged. Force it open.”
“Mach-” Hawthorne started.
“Please. I can’t…do it alone.”
Burnout held up his hand and a blue flame appeared around it.
“No.” Hawthorne willed a seed from her vest. “Let me.”
She placed the seed near Mach’s shoulder. A small sprout grew from it and forced its way into the creases of the armor. Hawthorne gently flexed her fingers and it began to pull the armor on her arm up and away from the shoulder.
Mach quickly yanked the chest piece and it slid out from the shoulder.
Burnout helped her get the back plate out from under her and set it and her backpack in front of her. Her helmet and arm were the only pieces of armor she had left.
Hawthorne said something, but Mach’s mind was already focused.
She pulled an oddly shaped tool out of the backpack and began to work at the back plate. The power source was buried under several layers of metal and circuitry on both sides of the armor. But the access panel was easy enough to remove. She clumsily lifted it out of the armor and slipped the glowing disc out of the armor.
It was undamaged. Frankenstein’s field shouldn’t affect a power source this big, but he could have improved it in the time he was silent.
Another loud crash rang out above them. The fighting was still close.
Mach grabbed the spearhead and let the information flow again.
Slipstream built the spear when he was still living- Irrelevant.
The first person the spear was used on was R-Skip.
The spears piercing ability is controlled by adjusting the power output between lines-There.
Mach began to pull on the necessary wires. The head’s secondary battery could hold the charge for the time she needed, but it would take a few minutes to charge once it was connected.
She reached into her back pack and pulled out the rail gun. The chamber was too small to fit the spear head, but if she placed the shaft in the barrel, the projectile should be able to launch it along the path she chose.
The spear’s shell was reinforced with alloys she’d never heard of, but her power made it clear it could survive the launch, if not the impact.
She would only have one shot.
The others’ voices began to filter back in.
“She’s been like this for twenty minutes. We can’t wait any longer,” Hawthorne said.
“It is finished.”
Their heads jerked toward Mach.
She twisted a few of the wires together and slipped the spear head into the gun barrel. Air began to swirl around the cave as it was drawn into the weapon. The spear began to glow a bright blue.
“Mach, what did you-” Burnout started.
“It will pierce his skin. But firing is an issue. My armor was meant to absorb the recoil.” As she spoke, Mach began to load one of the two rounds she had left into the rail gun’s barrel. She flipped the switch and felt the rotation of the round start. “Hawthorne, could you manipulate my discarded arm and pull the trigger. If we brace it against the ground, your plants should be able to hold the aim steady.”
Hawthorne nodded and scattered some seeds on the armor. They began to grow into and around it, lifting it until it was aimed at the sky above.
“How will we know where he is?” she asked.
Mach pulled a small round device from her pack. “He thinks I am dead. I will prove him wrong.”
She drew her arm back and threw the orb at the hole above them. “Cover your eyes.”
Almost too late, the three shut their eyes against the bright light. There was a pause in the crashes from above.
Mach adjusted the fingers of the arm to grip the weapon. “You will have to aim quickly. He will not hesitate once he sees the weapon.”
The crashes resumed, more fervently than before. And they were getting closer.
“This isn’t a very good plan,” Burnout said.
“You’re the one who helped get the first arm out. We could’ve just carried her away from all this.”
Another loud crash, and two figures were thrown over the hole. The arm quickly swiveled towards their origin.
“He’s here.”
The giant’s shadow blocked out the sky above them. The arm pulled the trigger.
A blue and white streak emerged from the gun’s barrel and shot into Frankenstein’s shoulder. A loud roar echoed through the tunnels.
Frankenstein laughed.
His right arm fell to the ground at their feet, leaking a clear fluid.
They looked up at him. It was as if someone had scooped out his flesh from the edge of his neck to the bottom of his rib cage. A perfectly smooth curve remained.
And still he laughed.
One of the mechers that had been thrown over the hole earlier appeared, swinging something at Frankenstein’s wound. But the monster swung his remaining arm and batted him away.
He stopped laughing. Instead he just smiled down at the trio below him.
“Well done.”
And then he vanished.
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