All the growls cut off as the sound of breaking rock shattered the tension filled hallway.
With a roar, Brone threw himself over me, using his frame to shield me from any raining debris. White hot tears blurred my vision.
We were all going to die.Brone was built tougher than any other model but even a Tank Class couldn’t suspend the weight of a whole building on his frame. All of us were about to be crushed, and I couldn’t watch. I slammed my eyes shut, willing the end to come quickly.
A second passed. Then another…and nothing. My eyes shot open. Brone’s frame remained above me, his bright blue eyes boring into mine, acceptance and a sliver of fear flickering in his gaze.
I saw the truth on his face.
His processors had informed him of the truth.
Him. Me. Core. Caliber. Chaos. Fuse.
All of us here in this hallway were about to die.
Brone
This was it. The moment I learned if cyborgs got to go to heaven.If we did, hopefully Torque was already waiting to greet me.
My eyes were locked on Nara’s. I watched as a flicker of acceptance flashed across her face, and my heart cracked under the weight of my failure.
The female I had wanted to call my own, the three cyborgs she held dear, Fuse; I hadn’t been able to save any of them.
I could only pray that the rest of the rebellion made it out safely.
I blinked. I blinked again…and there was nothing. I didn’t feel the weight of the rebellion’s strong hold slamming down on top of me, I didn’t hear the crush of my frame, nor the sound Nara might make when my heavy body landed on top of hers.
My processor’s last thought wasn’t that in my last-ditch attempt to protect her, I delivered a killing blow instead.
Was I already dead? Is this the human hell? Would I spend eternity trapped in this one moment? Forever staring into the eyes of the female I wanted to love knowing that I had failed her…that I had failed them all?
“Need a little help in here?” an unfamiliar voice rang out, and I shot to my feet.
Spinning my frame, I positioned myself between Nara and any potential threat. At the sound of the voice, Nara’s cyborgs and Fuse had made a move, huddling close to me and forming a protective barrier around her.
If they wanted to get to Nara, they would have to go through the four of us first. My eyes zeroed in on the threat and shock rolled through my circuits. A female’s head was sticking through a hole that had been dug out from the wall of rock cutting us off. Her blue eyes met mine, a smirk dancing on her lips.
“Who the hell are you?” I growled.
“The fucking cavalry, big guy. Here to save the cyborg rebellion’s ass.” Her smirk grew wider.
Fuse clapped my shoulder. “Brone. The injured female.” I whipped my head back around the moment Nara released a shallow gasp.
“Get Dax! Now!” I could play twenty questions with the new smirking female later.
The female moved back and a moment later Dax’s green head popped through the hole. “Yes?”
“The upgrade, do you have any on you?” It was the only thing that could save Nara. My processors knew it was a long shot. We couldn’t get back to his lab and there was a slim chance the Science Model walked around with it in his pocket.
“I do!” His hand reached through the gap, an injector with a swirling silver vial of liquid attached grasped in his fingers.
I walked over, taking it carefully from his hand.
“Where?”
His eyes narrowed, his tone serious. “In the neck preferably. If not, then her arm will do. But be warned. The change that occurs in the body causes intense pain. Be sure, Brone.”
I nodded.