Mecha Origin

Chapter 4

He's kidnapping me.

Kind of sexy.

Also, super scary, because where the hell was he taking her? And what had happened back there?

When Eve came to her rescue with the handsy dude - the crazy-hot dude with skin-tight leather pants, a duster to put hers to shame, and more metal parts strapped on than a barbecue - she'd been so embarrassed. Here she finally had a hot guy paying her attention and all he wanted was her costume jewelry.

Things got really confusing when Viola began shooting at him. Which wasn't as nuts as Susan, with her weird contact lenses, insisting on seeing the gear thing she had strung on her chain. Then trying to steal it, just like Aggie's steampunk hottie.

Which reminded her. . .He's stealing me!

"Put me down," she stuttered as he jostled through tables going through the ballroom.

"Nope." He swiftly ducked, and something exploded. The air filled with smoke.

"I'll give you the damned necklace if you just put me down." Because her life wasn't worth whatever he thought she had.

"About time you were reasonable," he grumbled. He dumped Aggie on her ass, which earned him a glare. One he didn't even see since he was scanning the room. She could hear Rebecca yelling, "Aggie! Someone save my friend."

I'll save myself. The price was a stupid hunk of metal. Aggie fumbled with the chain, attempting to yank it over her head, but it got caught on the strap for the goggles of her costume, which, in turn, got caught in her hair.

"Stop moving." A knife appeared in his hand and got near, maybe to shear her hair, or possibly her throat. Neither option would work.

Aggie gasped. "I don't think so. Give me a second to untangle it."

"We don't have a second or even a tic of a gear." He rose on his haunches, only putting himself high enough to fire his weapon over the table. The reply was many blue streaks of light that made a snapping electrical sound as they zipped by.

"What is going on?" Aggie huffed as the chain refused to get uncaught. She pulled the goggles down to better deal with the snarl.

"You are wearing it," he said, his expression impatient." Give the gear to me and this will all be over."

"I'm trying."

The disdainful curve of his lips said not hard enough.

She finally wrenched the chain and goggles from her head and held out her hand to give the gear to him. "Here. Take it."

A bolt of blue seared past, literally, taking a furrow of skin with it from her cheek. Hot liquid poured down her face and pooled on her jaw to drip. The shock had her raising her hand to feel the injury. The hand holding the damned cog that was the cause of this giant mess.

His eyes widened, and he yelled, "No!"

But she ignored him to press her fingers on the throbbing spot, the gear dangling loosely, hitting her wet and wounded cheek. Sticking to the torn flesh.

"She's human. Maybe it won't - " he muttered.

The skin on the side of her face began to burn. Sizzled to the point she screamed. Screamed a whole bunch especially once she realized it was the gear that heated and became hot enough to blister her skin. Even worse, flesh and scorching metal fused, the pain of it intense.

Distraction came in the form of more blue lights shot at them. Deadly zaps that narrowly missed.

Ignoring the searing pain, through gritted teeth and in a tone that had no patience left, she snapped, "Would you do something already, tough guy? Shoot them. Call for help. Something? You have a gun. Don't tell me it's just for show." Was he like a bloody stormtrooper? Famous for heavy weapon fire and no fatalities?

"You wish for me to act?" He bared his teeth at her before standing and going into full Terminator mode. He didn't just shoot with the gun in his hand. Something began firing out of his arm. His wrist to be more precise. She could see the barrel of the gun poking out of his metallic-looking hand. Not a glove. Not a costume. A metal part attached in such a way it could mean only one thing.

"Ohmygod," Aggie whispered. "You're a cyborg." A killing machine. An impossibility in the flesh. . .er metal. And she'd been a b***h to him. I am lucky he didn't shoot me.

Because he certainly took some glee in firing. A faint smile hinted at his lips. She couldn't see his eyes behind the goggles. Yet, he didn't cringe from laying waste to the room, ignoring the screams.

Please don't tell me he shot some of the guests. They were such nice people.

He wasn't the only one with a weapon, though. The blue zaps continued, along with streaking balls of light that hit the far wall and burned a hole through it.

The edges smoked. An alarm sounded, and a robotic voice told them to exit the building.

She would love to. She just didn't see how that would happen without them getting shot first.

The steampunk cyborg ducked down amidst the tables. A tickle in her throat had her coughing in her hand as the smoke thickened.

"There are enemies blocking the entrances," he stated.

"Your enemies. Maybe if I just give them the gear thingy - " She went to touch her cheek, only to halt at his scoffing laugh.

"Go ahead. Stand up and make your deal. At least then you'll stop being a distraction."

"Meaning?"

His lips pressed into a grim line. "You probably won't survive."

Not exactly the most hope-inspiring words.

The room lit with a bright flash.

A strange smell filled the air, and someone shrieked, the high-pitched alien consonants interspersed with "eh."

"What is that?" Aggie asked, distracted enough to let him tug her to her feet.

"The Piktin. That last blast was something to distract the weapon on her head."

A reply that made no sense until Aggie turned her head and noticed the strands of hair on Susan's head wavering and dancing, visible blue lightning skipping between the filaments.

"She was shooting us with her hair?" Aggie exclaimed.

"It is a fine feature to have. If easily distracted. Come. We don't have much time."

Cyborg dude dragged her, and that was when she noticed he held up his left arm, which shimmered. The strange-looking space, an almost visible heat wave, flashed as something hit and bounced. Then blinked again and again.

It caught her as she saw past the blurry spot that they were being shot at. Yet nothing hit.

"Holy cow, you're using an invisible shield," she muttered.

His smartass reply? "Only invisible to those like you."

The smoke thickened as he dragged her across the room, the back wall a smoldering, sparking ruin. A sudden swirl of choking ash got sucked out as a door opened, the glare of fluorescent light a beacon. Aggie practically charged to the seeming haven, which turned out to be an employee hall running behind the ballroom.

Just inside the door stood Mina Carter, an author, and yet she looked anything but with the gun held in her hand, her expression fierce. Nothing like the smiling woman Aggie had met earlier today talking about her travelling lizard book.

"Thank you so much. You wouldn't believe - "

"Save the talking for later and hurry up," Mina admonished waving a gun.

The rebuke and lack of shock on Mina's face proved enough to snap Aggie from her surprise at discovering yet another author who was more than she seemed.

They cleared the doorframe, and Mina slammed the door shut behind them, blocking some of the smoke.

"My thanks for your aid." Formally said by her cyborg, yet about as sincere as the gun he held pointed on Mina.

"Don't thank me yet. I'm still debating if I should have left you to get pulverized. I am sure you're aware the Siyborghs are forbidden from being on this planet, as are your living metal tech parts."

A statement that made no sense to Aggie, and yet her cyborg assailant understood.

"I am very much aware, which is why I'll be departing shortly. Unless you're planning to stop me?"

"I'd rather you piss off."

The threat made Aggie exclaim. "Don't make him mad! He has a knife."

"Mine's bigger." Mina winked. At Aggie's O'd mouth, Mina laughed. "Don't be so serious, Aggie. He won't kill me. No one touches PISS."

"I should hope not," Aggie muttered as they ran through the hall. The siren in here seemed louder because of the tight walls.

"You misunderstand," Mina stated. "PISS stands for the Protection of Indigene Slow Societies."

"Which often gets confused with PISS OFF, the Pretentious Ideologist Secretive Society of Pompous Heirs," Cyborg dude added.

"Are PISS OPH still around?" Mina asked.

"Don't know. It's a secret," he said with a shrug.

Aggie didn't get why they both laughed. But she did know one thing. The sudden impact in the wall, which resulted in a spot starting to char and bubble the paint, meant one thing. "We're in danger."

"Indeed, you are, which is why I'm here." Mina led the way to the far end of the hall where they ran into another door and a staircase. "My job is to keep alien s**t away from my sector on Earth. Which means you and that thing" - Mina cast Aggie a glance over her shoulder - "need to go."

"My ship is nearby," he announced.

"Are you bringing the woman?"

"Only if you're making me keep her alive," he said.

"No killing innocent humans, if you don't mind," was Mina's tart reply.

It took a second for Aggie to clue in. "You're talking about me. I am not going anywhere with him."

"Yeah, you are." Mina held out her hand. "Give me your phone."

"No." Aggie shook her head, only to gasp as Mina yanked the name badge wallet from around her neck. She pulled out the phone from its pocket.

"Give it back." Aggie reached for it, only to have Mina dance back, pushing against the wall as a wave of excited people skipped down the stairs.

Aggie didn't see anyone she knew but felt bolstered by witnesses.

Once again, she reached, only to have the guy grab hold of her hand, the metal fingers warmer than expected. Strong too. She cast him a glare.

He didn't budge.

"Code?" Mina asked.

Aggie shook her head. "Not happening."

"Hold out her hand." Mina glanced at the cyborg dude who didn't say a word, just yanked Aggie's hand forward.

Mina pressed Aggie's finger to the pad and unlocked it.

"What are you doing?" Aggie asked.

"Making sure I lay a trail."

A trail that would imply she'd left of her own free will.

Glancing up at the big guy beside her, she couldn't see going anywhere with him ending well. Not at all.

The shrill scream of the smoke alarm proved unrelenting, but it didn't mask the wave of sound as people clomped down the stairs in a rush to get out. People who could help her escape this insane situation!

Aggie opened her mouth, only to find her yell cut off as the steampunk cyborg once again threw her over his shoulder.

The bounce as he jogged down the single flight of stairs stole all breath. The best she could do was grab hold of his buttery soft duster. He shoved through the door and began taking long strides away from the hotel.

Away from witnesses.

"Hel - " She never finished the word as he flipped Aggie upright and fixed her with a stern glare.

Women learned one rule very young - If you worried someone would hurt you for screaming in a place you might be heard, then you'd be hurt worse when no one could hear.

She heaved in a breath for an epic yodel just as a group of people came running their way.

He picked her up and kissed her. Kind of. He plastered his mouth over hers and stole her voice - and her breath. Literally. Being terrified didn't mean there wasn't something hot and sexy about him kissing her.

"Are you done?" he grumbled at one point, lifting his mouth only long enough to speak.

Aggie almost said no, before she realized he didn't address her.

"Just about." Mina kept fiddling with the phone. Aggie, from her vantage point off the ground - the better to kiss the tall cyborg - could see the screen.

"What are you doing?" Aggie exclaimed hotly. "Shouldn't you be calling the cops?"

"I'm covering your disappearance."

"What?" Aggie gaped. So much for getting any help from the woman. Aggie was caught between a cyborg rock and a spiky-haired short place.

Mina's expression held no remorse. "Sorry, Aggie. PISS doesn't like messes. It is my duty to ensure compliance by all non-Earth visitors." Her gaze veered to the cyborg. "As such, you are to leave the planet at once and remind your people that Earth is off-limits."

"Trust me when I say we have no interest in a backwards world." The disdain clear.

Mina wasn't done. "I assume that" - a pointed look at the side of Aggie's throbbing face - "is the only gear that found its way here."

"Only one I know of, and no longer your problem. Happy to be of service disposing of it."

"Hold on a second. You can't be seriously sending me off with this guy," Aggie exclaimed.

"You should have given it to him." Mina took his side. "Now, if you don't mind, I must go PISS on everyone." Gun held high, her smile vicious, Mina ran back toward the hotel with its wailing sirens and wave of excited sound.

Not Aggie. She got dragged through some bushes. Not willingly. She dug in her heels. He lifted her with just an arm around her waist and strode like she was a squirmy piece of luggage by his side.

He didn't even react to the elbows she jabbed him with. "Let me go," she huffed. There was no point screaming. No one would hear her over the noise.

No reply. They scraped past some branches before he released her. She whirled and crouched, because that would totally give her no advantage. She was a reader, not a fighter. But it felt better to pretend she was the heroine in some flick. "I'm not going with you." Announced without a tremble of the fear quivering inside.

He ignored her to play with something on his belt.

Was he going to remove it? Were his pants next? Had the accosting and kidnapping come to the point of seduction?

His pants stayed on. But she did get an eyeful.

Her mouth gaped wide enough to impress. Her lungs locked. Her voice literally ran away. Wonder filled her, and when she finally relaxed enough to find air, she could only say, "Wow."

Seriously wow. In a lumpy field with tufts of grass, humps of dirt, and strewn rocks, from nothing something appeared. A really big something.

It's Mega Egg!

Aggie blinked. and yet the giant object remained. As did her first impression of it being an egg, a sphere shape standing upright against what seemed like the laws of gravity. The tips slender and rounded, yet perfectly balanced on crouching metal legs that adapted to the humped conditions. The outside appeared scaled with dark bronze metal plates bolted into place, overlapping down from the top. The effect odd, yet strangely beautiful.

What a steampunk dragon would lay if they existed and had eggs.

The scales tapered at the bottom and the tip. The top part was a dome shape made of a slick material.

None of it made in the USA she imagined. She doubted it was stamped China or even Russia. Try alien.

Which might explain the thing's sudden appearance. "What is that? How did it just poof into existence?"

"That is my ship."

"Can't be a ship. It has no wings."

He snorted. "Primitive way of thinking." Rather than explain what that meant, he dragged her to the riveted metal contraption.

As they neared, the bottom opened, the smoothness unfolding like the petals of a flower.

A ladder descended.

Panic screamed at her. Don't get in that ship!

If she did, she could expect to get scrambled. Have her bacon cooked. He'll cream me - which, for some reason, brought hot pleasure instead of icy fear.

She had to escape before he got her aboard his egg. She struggled and huffed, "I am not getting in that."

"You will. And we must board quickly." He didn't drag her. He grabbed and flipped her over his shoulder, once more resorting to cave-man style. Did his kind not believe in letting women walk?

The rustling of branches drew her attention, and she twisted her head to see. Shadows made it hard to discern, and yet foliage moved. "Um, cyborg dude, I think we have company."

He jostled her as he climbed, the heavy tread of his boots loud as he hit each rung. She got to see Susan emerging from the forest, her hair a whipping blue storm that immediately began firing.

"Faster!" Aggie yelled, suddenly keen on seeing the inside of a cyborg's ship. It beat dying from laser bolts.

"Grab my gun and shoot," he advised.

She eyed his hip. Then eyed the approaching Susan with her lightning-bolt hair. Movement turned her attention in time to see Viola emerging from the bushes, no longer sporting a tiny ray gun but some bazooka-type thing. She raised it and aimed.

"Oh my god she's going to blow up your ship."

"Not today," he grunted as he climbed past the lip into his mega egg. He flipped Aggie to the side, and his foot stomped a big pedal on the floor. The bottom of the dome shuttered. She could no longer see Viola and Susan, which meant she could only panic and imagine what was happening outside.

Any minute, a giant bazooka-sized explosion would hit and kill them.

The cyborg didn't seem perturbed. He ignored everything happening outside in favor of playing with some machinery. Tons of it lined the room. Primitive-looking stuff that had dials and gauges, cogs and pistons.

He began turning dials left and right, flicking some switches. Things began to chug. Hum. The floor under her feet vibrated.

The mega egg rocked as something hit it.

"We're gonna die," she moaned.

"You will if you're not quiet," he retorted, racing to another machine and pulling a lever.

"I highly doubt your mega egg can withstand Viola and her bazooka."

"We'll be fine for a few more shots. The shields are full strength. Get up to the top and strap in."

"Why?"

"Because we are about to leave."

On the one hand, a great idea. It beat burning or exploding into bits. On the other. . . "Where are you taking me?"

"Busy." He ignored her to run around, playing with more buttons and yanking rods.

The vibration grew more intense. Things began to hiss and whistle.

It might be prudent to do as he said and strap in.

"Where am I supposed to go?"

He pointed.

Looking in the direction indicated, she sighed. A ladder. Great.

Grabbing the first rung, she hauled herself up, finding it challenging, given she still wore the tight corset and pants, not to mention the boots. As for the coat? She shed the weight at the bottom rather than try and carry it. Not even halfway up her climb, the ladder vibrated enough to make her teeth chatter.

She clung tight, waiting for it to subside, but it appeared to be getting worse.

"Move faster," he complained.

She wasn't surprised to see him just under her. "I'm trying," she grumbled. "Would it have killed you to have stairs installed instead?"

"Such a waste of space."

She didn't know if he meant the stairs or her.

With a noisy sigh, he climbed over her and somehow managed to tuck her under an arm as he kept moving upward. His non-metal arm, she observed, displayed an impressive strength.

The top of the ladder spilled them into the nose of the egg. A clear dome gave her a view of outside. Including the firefight.

Viola fired at the ship. The giant gun recoiled, the massive ball of lightning terrifying to see. Yet not having much impact. It spattered against the scales and dispersed.

"What is this thing made of?" she asked.

"A mixture of metal alloys," he replied. "Yet it isn't the exterior keeping us safe but the shield. But it can't handle much more. The energy is dwindling."

"We're doomed," she announced.

"Are you always so pessimistic?"

"When the conditions warrant it."

"We aren't dying today."

Maybe they wouldn't because, "Look, Mina's back to save us!" Indeed, the petite author had returned, double fisted and firing like crazy, knocking blue electrical hair zaps out of the air.

The elation proved short-lived as a blue zing struck Mina in the shoulder, sending her to the ground.

"Oh no!" Aggie pressed her hands on the glass.

The vibration of the egg increased, and a cloud emerged in a ripple, knocking evil Susan into the bushes and staggering Viola.

A shrinking Viola.

Aggie gaped. "We're moving."

"Your powers of observation are basic," he noted. "Strap in."

"Where are we going?" She whirled to see him seated in a chair.

"Somewhere we can remove the cog from your body."

Her eyes widened, and she reached for the side of her face. Felt the ridge of metal sticking out of flesh.

My flesh.

Her scream was rather loud.