Forced the hand

"Huh?.."

The arrival of the night plunged Island into darkness as Crey struggled to inhale air but the fire and hot burning smoke were overwhelming his mouth and nose making breathing hard.

His eyes were fighting to remain open as the impact of this sudden explosion had yet to subside but it was enough to delay the pain he was about to suffer. The dark, cold night and the distant sound of the Droid, charging its hand cannon again to aim at him, all seemed illusionary to him at this moment.

'I need to….'

Crey mused as he tried to resist but couldn't find any strength in his body. It was like he was impaled to the ground amidst the burning wreckage of the tower. Familiar helplessness and pain began to hover over him as he lost his consciousness. After all, he was going through this kind of familiar experience after a long long time.

**************************

Alarms and gunshots were blazing all around, accompanied by panicked shouting and chaos of guards all around. All these sounds were too distant and uncertain until finally, he heard a few faint messages close in his ear.

"Charges set?"

"SET!"

"State of Body?"

"BREATHING!"

"Damage? "

"Half of the right arm was blown off in the previous explosion. And there are several second-degree burns on the body. 'AS-3' is currently in a semi-delusional state."

"Administer shock to…."

"Permission….."

"....."

Even this half audible vague conversation, couldn't pull out the child from his daze. He was currently lying in the middle of burning cargo, with fire slowly beginning to lick his wounded body, only due to the armor he was wearing he was still safe.

'What is this? I am not dead….yet. Damm it, I need to….'

The child pondered trying to pin down his confusion when suddenly the black Exo-armor he was wearing released an electric current that traversed through his body reviving him with shock. The child called 'AS-3' woke up with a start, his breathing heavy and body tingling with numbing pain after adverse electric shock.

"Huff…huff…huff."

*some static*

"AS-3, can you read me? "

"Yes, yes. I-I can read…you. "

"Target is still alive. Remember its important mission, you have already botched up so if you want to protect your merits you need to finish it before Target evacuates. Can you do it? Over!!"

The child, still drunk in pain and agony, suddenly got into his senses completely as he looked at his right hand from his helmet. The arm above his elbow had been cut off but there was no expression of pain on his face.

"...And yes, do remember to find and bring your half arm back so we can reattach it otherwise prosthetics are waiting for you. Hmph!"

With an unnatural calmness as he answered back,

"I can do it. Get ready to evacuate…." He said in his high-pitched voice while bringing his armor to tie his half arm to halt the bleeding,

"Target will be down in five minutes."

A black armor dashed out of the overwhelming smoke cloud and soon disappeared like a shadow, transversing unnoticed through the panicked securities. The fluttering ghost danced among the unaware guards with weapons, a glint of dagger flashing intermittently, killing and dropping bodies left and right.

***************************

"I need to…."

With a sudden trigger, Crey stood up immediately to sit up. There was a blank look on his face as he looked at his right leg which was impaled by sharp iron debris while he was blasted off by Cannon of Droid when he was distracted by the sudden tower fall.

"If that's what you want…."

Crey muttered as he pulled out the iron piece stabbing his leg effortlessly. There was not a flicker of pain on his face, as he stood up to face the Droid who was aiming his cannon at him. In the next instant, it fired and Crey, showing unbelievable agility with his one injured leg, evaded right to avoid the projectile.

The shell exploded just beside the Crey with fire spreading out up to ten meters, swallowing him in the fire haze. But instead of settling, Droid once again charged his cannon to aim in fire and smoke as it could still pick up life signatures inside the smoke cover. Though it showed difficulty in aiming since it couldn't lock down on rapidly shifting life signatures.

'Target locking down….'

The black droid directed its cannon at the left but then began to wave it around as it wasn't able to pinpoint a location. The droid slowly began to step back to take a clear shot at a flickering position of the target inside the smoke, when suddenly it tumbled on some wreckage on the ground.

The humanoid steel monster trembled but with a quick AI response managed to avoid its fall, by shifting its center of gravity by stabbing its large blade on the ground to act as an anchor.

It was at this opportunistic moment, Crey emerged from the smoke like a patient viper with his bleeding hand holding a sharp metal piece. He came up like a phantom and leaped out to reach to the head of the Droid, and in one clean movement severed the head of the droid.

The A-Class Robot froze in its place with its right blade impaled on the ground while Crey touched down beside it. The geometrical Robo head rolled away on the ground like a metal ball and only after then Crey winced out loud in pain,

"It hurts...ouch, ouch!!"

Crey gazed down at his folded leg which was losing blood rapidly. He clenched his teeth as he also caressed the ribs below his chest, where some of them had broken after he was slammed into wreckage. If not for his quick reflexes to protect his head, it would have been the end for him.

"Arghh…Honestly, it was my fault as I was distracted in the middle of the fight. That alone calls for death."

Crey was about to stand up after a soft rebuke when unexpectedly he heard the sound of engines revving, chill went down his spine, as an enormous silhouette overshadowed him. Amidst the light from the burning fire, this dark shadow was akin to open jaws of death.

Crey looked sideways to find the headless droid just behind him with its blade raised high, ready to strike him down. He gulped nervously as he realized that 'He had miscalculated again!!'

The blade began to come down on him but with an injured leg, Crey had no chance to dodge this one. He clenched the metal piece in his hand helplessly as he waited for his end.