Radiance Ch. 01

"Fuck acrobatics I'd settle for enough feeling in my feet to kick her right in the cunt about now" he replied nodding his head at the unconscious form of Doctor Chalmers, the Assaultron actually laughed, a surprising noise to say the least.

"Yeah well if it's any consolation I just dosed her with enough sedative to put an angry Deathclaw into a coma," Wisp said.

"What are these Deathclaws I keep hearing about?" he asked turning to look at the droids expressionless face, well if you could call it that.

"Another of the things I'll explain later and let's just say these fucks are going to have their hands full of them in about one minute, that will be our window and it isn't going to be open for long, so we have to make the most of it, I don't have time to explain the whole thing to you just that it's going to get real loud real quick around here and I'm going to need your help to get off this tub, so in short you help me I help you everyone wind except for those fuckers out there, sound good?" she asked.

"Sounds good' Number Seven replied finding that he could now stand on his own, as soon as he let go Wisp moved over to the Doctor and lifted her up, the assaultron turned and moved over to the frame that Number Seven had just been occupying and strapped her into it, "Let's see how she likes being strapped down" the assaultron spat with surprising venom in her voice.

Then it turned towards him, "Ahh one last thing lets get that off you, gonna need that ability of yours if we're going to make it out of here" Wisp said and before Number Seven could say a word the Assaultron leaned forwards and unlocked the collar before removing it entirely and smashing it on the floor beneath its metal foot.

Number Seven couldn't actually remember a time where he wasn't wearing the collar, every memory he had from this place he'd been wearing it, it felt strange not having it around his neck, almost like a part of him was missing in some way.

He reached up and ran his hands around his throat the indent where the reinforced leather had bitten into his skin was chafed and sore and imagined rather red, "That looks bloody terrible' Wisp said peering closely at the mark on his neck.

"Gee thanks, way to make a guy feel so much better about himself" Number Seven replied sarcastically and once again the Assaultron laughed.

"Your welcome, now let's get some clothes on you as much as I'd love to watch that surprisingly chiselled arse of your running around all wild and free it's not exactly going to help our situation, I took the liberty of bringing something to help you blend in, if only for a bit," she said heading to the door and retrieving a little white bundle from outside before handing it to him.

Number Seven felt his face flush at the mention of his chiselled arse and the thought of the assaultron watching it, though honestly if anyone had earned the right to take a peek it was whoever was controlling that bot, they'd done more good for him in the last two minutes than anyone else in the months or however long it was he'd been in this place.

He rapidly dressed in what he instantly recognised as scientist gear as it was a near-perfect replica of what Doctor Chalmers had on except made to fit his much larger frame, it also came complete with a surgical style mask that hid half his face, "So how do I look?" he asked looking at the assaultron giving her a little twirl.

"Honestly I preferred you naked, much more fun to look at" she replied and Number Seven shot her a scowl making her shrug.

"What? You want a girl to lie and tell you your ugly? Not going to happen brother, this girl knows fine when she sees it" Wisp replied and Number Seven felt his face practically begin to glow under the mask.

"That's a good colour on you suits you, the red I mean now not the white geek brigade garb" Wisp said placing her mechanical hands on her hips in a surprisingly human gesture, but before he could think of a witty or snarky response and an alarm began to blare above them and red lights began to flash on and off.

"Ahh there we go I do believe they're playing our song my new friend, so would you care to join me in a quick Foxtrot Oscar?" wisp asked holding out a hand to him, he raised an eyebrow at her in confusion and she let out a mechanical sigh.

"It means shall we get the fuck out of here post-haste she said sounding exasperated and he got it.

"Yeah let's do that" he replied.

"God your lucky your fit as fuck because your not too bright are you?" Wisp said with a giggle and Number Seven scowled at her.

"Well excuse me if I'm not up to speed on your brilliant plan, I just woke up bollock naked strapped to a table about to have fuck only knows what done to me while I was awake and out for the count only to have a crazy assaultron burst in and turn the world upside down" he huffed.

"Yup! Always a party with your new pal Wisp around, now let's go while they're busy playing with their new pissed off scaly friends and their plus ones" Wisp said opening the door which instantly filled the soundproofed room with the sounds of utter chaos from outside.

Screams, yells, bellows, snarls and a whole symphony of others noises assaulted them from every direction as they stepped out into the corridor, "What did you do?' Number Seven as Wisp lead him quickly away from the lab at a brisk run through the winding network of corridors.

"Oh, nothing much, just set every single cage and electronic lock to disengage all at once so all their little science experiments could get out, stretch their legs and you know, claw their smug fucking faces off," she said with a distinct note of mirth in her voice as they ran.

Number Seven wondered just what else was in this place as he heard the noises echoing down the corridors around him, the anguished screams and angered yells coming both through the walls and the travelling down the corridors, he glanced at Wisp as they ran, "Guess they didn't like my surprise after all, can't say I blame them though, having packs of what is most definitely angry mutated animals rampaging around exacting revenge for all the times someone prodded them with a pointy stick is not gonna be a good day for them" Wisp said noticing the glance.

"If it doesn't get us killed I'll call it poetic justice, if it does I'll call it fucking irony" Number Seven muttered as they ran and Wisp let out a mechanical sounding laugh.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, don't know if that quite applies to angry Deathclaws, but hey ho," she said and Number Seven glanced at her as they ran towards a set of doors that had 'Escape Pods' written on it in huge red letters.

"Deathclaws?" he asked in confusion.

"Oh yeah right they erased your memory too, look no time to explain, I only know what they are from the time I delved into their network, but I promise I'll try to fill in the blanks later, right now we have to get out," she said hitting a pannel not to the door.

It shot upwards with a hiss and led them into a narrow corridor, "Ok look for the one marked one eleven or one hundred and eleven if you want to be picky" she said.

"Why? What's wrong with the other hundred and ten?" Number seven asked looking at all the large metal tubes with what appeared to be a narrow capsule inside them behind glass.

"I hotwired it, no tracking, no sensors to show release and no fucking emergency locator beacon, trust me I've been planning this for a while now," she said as they began to walk between the tubes, the sounds of utter chaos still filtering down to them from above.

Suddenly a voice rang out, "Hey! You're not supposed to be down here! Who the hell are you?" it yelled.

"Fuck! Time to go to work!!" Wisp yelled and she rushed forwards as the first shot rang out, the bullet from the unseen assailant's weapon bounced off one of the metal tubes and began bouncing around like an angry was looking for something too soft to sting, Number Seven felt a wave of fear push up into his chest and he ducked between the pipes just as a yell and a grunt of pain followed by what sounded like a crackle of electricity sounded between the pips.

Slowly he stuck his head out and spotted Wisp about a hundred meters away holding a limp body in her hands, slowly he moved to join her and by the hole in the man's black security chest plate that fit her metallic claws perfectly he knew he was dead before he even got a good look.

"I know it's hard not but don't feel any sympathy for these bastards, they'd shoot either of us as soon as look at us and given all the time we've spent in the cages and all that's been done to us, this is the least the fuckers can expect in return" Wisp growled her electronic voice making her sound incredibly menacing.

Number Seven didn't know what to think, he just looked at the limp body with a trail of crimson leaking from it lazily down onto the deck plating to pool next to it, he felt sick to his stomach, he'd never seen anyone killed before, or had he? He just couldn't remember, suddenly a metallic claw closed on his upper arm making him snap out of the fuge and jump a mile, "Hey don't wig out on me now, we gotta fucking move, that riot upstairs against going to last forever and when the party starts to wind down, they're going to start looking for new dance partners and I do not fancy doing the cell block shuffle again, so lets fucking move!" she said pulling him along with her.

He just let her lead him, following like a pet on a leash as his brain tried its hardest to make sense of their entire fucked up scenario, some part of him kept wondering if this was some kind of test and whether he was still strapped to Doctor Chalmers table pumped full of whatever chemical cocktails she'd shot into his veins today, "Ahh there we are! Good ol one eleven, time for us to get off this boat!" Wisp yelled excitedly pointing.

He followed the blood-stained claw as it pointed at one of the metal tubes, sure enough stencilled onto the side of it in black numbers was 111, without so much as a by your leave Wisp pulled a large crank handle on the side of the tube and the glass allowing someone to look inside retracted with a near-silent hiss of gas, she shoved him into the tube before cramming herself inside as well.

The capsule was most definitely not made for more than one person, there was a kind of indent style standing seat for you to press your body into, kinda like being pressed into a foam packing mould, this came with a harness that crisscrossed the riders chest and waist to hold them in place, Wisp pushed him into the mould seat and buckled him in cursing at her slightly clumsy metallic fingers before the metal latch clicked into place and locked, she pressed into him tightly jamming his face against her breastplate, "Hold onto that chiselled arse of yours, here we go!" she yelled excitedly before pushing a button to their side.

It actually felt like the bottom dropped out of the world and number Seven swore he felt both his stomach and his balls bounce off the inside of his skull as the pod simply dropped, through the small gaps between Wisp's metallic body Number Seven could see the inky blackness filled with what he figured were stars but he couldn't really tell because of all the spinning, "Whooo yeah!!" Wisp yelled as the escape pod fired some kind of thrusters which caused Number Seven's stomach to pinball about as his centre of gravity fought to correct itself with the G Forces acting on him, his blood wasn't faring much better as it seemed to go to his head then his feet and then back making him feel woozy and light-headed.

"Keep it together Seven we're almost out of this, not long now" Wisp yelled over the roar of the thruster noise all around them, he managed to see that she'd wedged both her hands and feet into the corners of the pod's superstructure to stop her bouncing around inside it as they flew, somehow when she'd said escape pod he'd imagined that they'd been on a ship in the ocean, not a fucking skyship of some kind.

"We're dropping into parachute range now at 14 thousand feet, hold on to your balls!" Wisp yelled and like the hand of God suddenly reach down and caught them they were yanked upwards causing Number Seven to bounce about in his harness, then silence, no thrusters, no engine noise, no nothing, just the creepy whisper of the wind pulling them along, they stayed like this for what felt like hours but was actually minutes at the most, drifting like a seed on the breeze until out of nowhere the ground came up and kicked them in the arse, they much have landed on the edge of a hill or something because no sooner had they touched down than the whole thing began rolling and spinning.

Number Seven gripped onto his harness so tightly his fingers went white and he felt his fingertips punch into the gel lining of the mould, they rolled for what was about thirty seconds but felt like thirty hours, before with the huge metallic clang they hit something hard that stopped them dead, well it stopped the pod dead, not so much Number Seven because as the pod jolted to a stop he shot forwards and the last thing her saw was a huge red cross coming right at him before everything went black.