Fun, Fun, Run

Silk was greeted by a nurse holding a gun and bullets strapped around her. She was surprised for a second but didn't seem to care why he was there but just accepted it. This wasn't uncommon on the battlefield as veterans knew just to accept all the help they could get.

"Sir," she shouted. "We have another one."

The floor was filled with guns and knives. It seemed to be a standard kit for a scientific based society from what Silk could tell. The guns were sleeker than back on Earth but still fired bullets.

"Well, bring the new recruit over then." An older voice shouted back.

"Follow me," she said gruffly. They walked past veterans and what looked like newbies prepping for the battle. This sight was all to common and against a foe like this it was unlikely any would survive.

A weathered man covered with scars and an eyepatch was there to greet him. Silk winced at the sight, he was a walking wreck of a body.

"You pity me?" the old man asked.

The old man was strapped into a chair which was providing life support. The machines he was attached to were literally forcing him to stay alive.

"I do pity you," Silk responded.

"Don't say such insolence," the nurse shouted hitting him with the back of the gun.

The old man smiled. "Nurse, leave us. He is right to pity a man like me," he looked Silk right in the eyes. "I pity him more," his face turned cold.

The nurse turned reluctantly and left them.

Silk went up and inspected the old man more closely to his horror. The man was more patchwork than anything else. The machine wasn't just keeping alive but keeping his body from literally rejecting itself.

"The Patchwork Man," Silk marvelled.

"You know my name?" the man said without turning. He couldn't see so turning was unnecessary.

"Of course. The first successful experiment." Silk looked him up and down, "If you can call this a success."

"I know of you as well, Silk," he said. "Your future is clear to me but also not. You are an aberration that time wants to deny but can't."

Silk laughed in response. "Yes, writing yourself out of time does that. From five minutes ago I'm pretty sure I wrote myself back into existence but lets not get into that mess."

The Patchwork Man frowned. "I can't see a way we can win this. Not even the catastrophe of an android could save us."

"I admire you," Silk said. "One of the good demons so don't be so pessimistic. You said I have a future so that's a good start."

"You know as well as I you have travelled through time. What I perceive as the future may just be your past."

"Like I said, be optimistic." Silk said pulling the Patchwork Man's mouth into a smile. "Why haven't they breached the walls of the hospital yet?"

"They're afraid." He responded a bit unnerved by the smile thing.

"What of?"

"The bullets rewrite DNA. Immortals became that way to escape death so any chance of death and they will run. Yet they can't run from this, they can't allow the android to be finished either catastrophe," he explained.

Silk frowned. "The android is the start of a great war, many innocent people could be saved if we let them in."

"I know that, they know that and you know that." The Patchwork man said. "You and I know something else though. Genocide cannot be allowed to happen; it is never right. If the immortals succeed here my whole species will burn."

"So many more would survive though." Silk said not quite meaning it.

"The immortals could return back to the edges of the universe but they would come back to quash any civilisation that could threaten it."

Silk smiled, "So I just have to save everyone. No, we have to save everyone."

"Yes, that is our burden for at least today." The Patchwork Man smiled. "It has been a while since I shared this burden."

"Ditto," Silk responded.

"Ditto?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter." Silk took a chair and moved it in front of the Patchwork Man. "I presume there is some escape mechanism in this hospital. I expect it is a circle engraved somewhere central or maybe two or three on the edges. Strocker should have learnt to prepare contingencies."

"I advised him to do as such." The Patchwork man grinned widely. "There are three. One on the roof, one in Strocker's office and the last one is outside on the main entrance."

"Outside with the immortals." Silk said checking his pocket watch. He had about half an hour before the android was finished. "I need a squad of your finest personnel and a distraction."

"You have them," The Patchwork Man responded. "Just leave the distraction to me." He took a deep breath and shouted, "Guards!".

Three men and the nurse from before came in. "Take them," The Patchwork man said. "Try to keep them alive. Some of the more eager immortals are on the upper floors."

"Thanks," Silk said with a nod. "You four follow me."

"Yes, sir." The three men saluted with rifles at side.

"Why is this teenager commanding us?" The nurse asked.

The Patchwork Man's head tilted ever so slightly. "This man's looks are deceiving. He has fought in greater battles and will fight in greater still. You have the honour of fighting at his side so take it."

The nurse looked confused but seemed to accept it. She had great trust in the Patchwork Man.

Silk blushed at what the Patchwork Man had said. He had done things in the name of survival but hadn't really thought about the impact he had. It wasn't just him of course, there was always someone powerful next to him. Thinking about it this was the first time he didn't have someone else to give the heavy lifting to. The Workshop had powerful characters and Phoenix and Crusher were powerful flames next to his candle. Was he out of his depth?

"You haven't moved sir." One of the soldiers pointed out.

Silk snapped out of it. Taking a deep breath he prepared himself. "Good to know," Silk responded and started moving to the lift. The enchantment at the entrance would have to wait for the distraction to enter full swing. "At times like this I wish I had learnt how to fire a gun," he muttered.

This did not do much to bolster the men's confidence.

The lift slowly started to raise but the atmosphere in the lift was still uncomfortable.

"What are your names?" Silk asked.

"My name is Emily," the nurse said. "The three soldiers don't use names. Immortals can weaponize names to kill you loved ones with a flick of their fingers."

"Emily's a good name. I'm Silk and that's as true a name as you're getting." The lift shuddered to a halt.

"This is the wrong floor," the soldier with blonde hair said.

"Behind us," the big nosed one said pushing him to the back of the lift.

The ceiling on the elevator was torn off to reveal the face of a lizard. The blue tongue flickered out taking the big eared one and eating him so quickly Silk couldn't react.

Activating an enchantment Silk crudely created a wave of pressure to push the lizard away.

It succeeded and the lizard hit the wall of the shaft.

It looked at them with disdain and opened its mouth, "you will regret that puny mortals."

Suddenly gravity flipped, up was down and down was up except they appeared somewhere different. It was an operating theatre. They stood on the ceiling.

"The hell is this?" the big nosed one asked.

"Immortals. Physics doesn't matter to beings that powerful. What they will is what happens." Silk said.

The far wall shimmered.

"This is insane." The blonde soldier panicked.

"Yes and I suggest we look for a exit," Silk said trying to keep his voice from showing how scared he was. He had only faced immortals as Filum and only then when they were trapped and helpless. "We should start with that door."

The wall that was shimmering changed back to the nightmarish scales and pounced.

Silk instinctively activated his enchantment to create a flame and he made it massive while pushing the soldiers and nurses out of the way towards the exit with the air. He drop-rolled so the lizard just missed.

The lizard glared at Silk and ignored the other three. It warped almost instantly into an old man.

"You survived two of my attacks but there will not be a third time," the now old man said. He started chanting an ancient spell of power.

Silk charged and readied a punch. The old man dodged without skipping a beat in his chant. Silk continued the attack but the old man didn't seem to care about the attack.

"I hate it when they do this." Silk spat. Chanting was a slow way to cast but Silk couldn't really comment. He got the pen from his pocket and started writing on the air.

The old man nodded in respect at this. Fighting head on was how a sorcerer should face their opponent.

Silk wrote quickly constructing the spell as he went. He had to make some assumptions but Silk could only hope that he was correct about the ancient spell. The ancient magic had different roots then Silk's magic so he opponents spell was hard to predict.

The old man stretched out his hand and a blue torrent of fire emerged. Silk jumped to the side but the fire followed, his enchantment also followed him.

The old man appeared behind Silk and kicked him viciously to the side. He was knocked to the ground and his pen clattered from his grip across the floor.

Blue flames circled Silk like a snake not letting its prey escape.

He felt the rib where he had been kicked and it was definitely broken. He had to be more careful, his healing capabilities weren't at the same level as they used to.

Gunshots started filling the room. Bullets froze in the air by the old man's stare, the bullets turned to face the original shooters.

The fire pounced on Silk but he blocked with the enchantment he had written in the air with the pen. The enchantment seemed to dissolve in the fire. The flame paused.

The old man looked disconcerted, "you cannot corrupt this magic. It is one of the most ancient and powerful of spells."

Silk smiled, "Ancient does not mean better. Ancient means old and old magic becomes outdated for a reason, because something new and better comes along."

The old man put all his attention on Silk. The bullets dropped down to the ground harmlessly instead of being propelled into the Soldiers and Emily.

The flame changed colour into a purple and started writhing on the ground. The shape of the enchantment Silk had written started growing around the flame. A connection between Silk and the flame appeared.

"What have you done," the old man demanded to know.

"You know how your magic can't hurt you?" Silk asked

"Of course. All magic needs that clause." The old man said. Realisation appeared on his face.

"Well that's not true anymore." Silk said and ran to where his pen was picking it up. "Run!" He shouted at the soldiers. As he headed for the exit. The Connection between the flame and Silk shattered and fire swelled trying to engulf anything. Silk was no longer a target, everything was.

The old man let go of all his magic. Gravity returned to normal and the flame dispersed. Silk and the soldiers were already gone.

"I concede," the old man said defeated. "He was an interesting fellow." He had lost his appetite for this chaos so left with no trace. Where he was, he was no longer.