Three Square Meals Ch. 143

"We're going to be fighting some of the most powerful bad guys in the galaxy," Alyssa said with a wry smile. "If you're able to protect us from their psychic bullshit, you're always going to be my star player."

Helene beamed at her in response. "In that case, I'm happy to stay out of combat, if that's what John wants."

"Sounds good to me..." Alyssa said, but her brow was now creased with worry.

"Is something wrong?" Helene asked, watching her matriarch with concern when she saw her expression darken.

"Yeah... it's Irillith. I'm not sure how much longer she can last," Alyssa said, feeling the waves of terror radiating from the Maliri hacker. "We better hurry!"

They picked up the pace and sprinted down the ramp, bouncing off the walls as they ran full-tilt around the corners. When they reached the lower level, Alyssa skidded to a halt and stared in shock at the wall blocking their path. It was covered in a mural like many of the walls in the pyramid and Mael'nerak sneered down at them, as if mocking their attempt to save their friend.

***

John sank to his knees and took a deep breath, trying to steady his rapid pulse. Ever since Mael'nerak's construct had launched its ambush, he'd been forced onto the defensive, fighting just to survive its determined attempts to murder him. He tried to block out all the surrounding distractions, from the throbbing ache in his arm, to the clanking robot in the distance.

He felt himself calming, his mind shifting to that zen-like state he'd spent many years meditating to attain. With sharper clarity and focus, he could sense that stifling blanket over his mind, and visualise it actively suppressing his abilities. The flickering candle that represented the psychic potential burning within him seemed so far away, hidden in a claustrophobic shroud of shadows.

Reaching out with his will, he stretched towards that light, struggling against the cloying inertia that tried to hold him down. It felt like his early forays into the Astral Plane, with his truculent guide weighing like an anvil around his neck. The more he strained, the heavier that load became, making even the slightest movement impossible.

Sweat ran down his brow with the exertion and John pulled off his helmet to escape the musty air inside. He panted for breath, then slowly exhaled, readying himself for another attempt. He heard bursts of gunfire nearby and knew that Dana must have joined the battle, sharply reminding him of the urgency of his task.

Pushing aside the distractions, he tried again, straining with everything he had to break free of the psychic inhibitor.

***

Tashana ran full tilt from the robot, her legs pumping furiously to keep her one step ahead of the unending stream of energy bolts following in her wake. Even though the robot was charging after her, its four sturdy legs kept it very stable, and the incoming fire was alarmingly accurate. She'd already lost her shields, and the melted crater on the back of her right pauldron was testimony to the power of that weapon.

Her sharp ears picked up more shots being fired behind her, but instead of the deep thrumming of the robot's pulsed cannon, she immediately recognised the distinctive bark of a Punisher railgun. They were followed by a steady percussion of hyper-accelerated rounds slamming into the robot's armour, each deep crack sounding promising, rather than a high-pitched squeal of a ricochet. Tashana realised that Dana must be shooting the robot in the back, because it wasn't deflecting her shots with its portable shield. She decided to try to keep it distracted for as long as possible.

The Maliri gunslinger risked a glance over her shoulder to check it was still keeping up the pursuit and was shocked to see that it was right behind her. Its arm came crashing down in a huge overhead strike, the snarling chainblade whistling towards her head. Tashana dug in hard with her heel and flung herself to the side, narrowly avoiding the sword as it crashed into the ground she'd been standing on only seconds ago. Rolling into the dive, she kicked off the deck plates and sprang to her feet, making an abrupt turn to her left as she started running again.

The robot hadn't anticipated her charging directly towards it, so Tashana caught it by surprise as she ran between its two front legs. Servos whined all around her and the massive machine reared up, then slammed down to squash her beneath its body. The Maliri had been waiting for that opportunity and took advantage of being out of its line-of-sight, to skip to the side when she saw it rise up. The floor shook with the massive impact, but Tashana was already in the air, bounding up onto its back.

She aimed at the faint lines in the armour covering its back, knowing that was where the robot had stored its gun in a concealed compartment. Holding down both triggers, her twin pistols vibrated in her hands as they pumped round after round of full-auto fire into the massive robot. Armour plating buckled outwards as she blasted the weak point over and over again, then the 10mm rounds began to punch through, ricocheting inside its torso and making some very promising cracks and thumps. She would've loved to launch a fiery sprite into its internals, but the oppressive weight of the psychic inhibitor field made that impossible.

As Tashana was relishing turning the tables on her pursuer, the robot ratcheted its torso to the right with several loud clicks, then released the lock. Whipping around at incredible speed, it backhanded her across the chest, with a blow that felt like she'd been rammed by a truck. The whirring chainblade clipped her boot, its serrated edge flipping her into a spin as she was sent cartwheeling away.

***

Dana's heart lurched as she watched Tashana sail through the air and crash to the floor. The robot sprang up with surprising agility for a machine of it size, then stomped around to charge after the Maliri it had batted aside like an annoying bug. Tashana struggled to her knees, dazed and disorientated after the rapid spin and the heavy landing, seemingly oblivious to the approaching danger.

"C'mon... get up!" the redhead muttered under her breath.

She opened fire on full auto, wishing she could hit the damaged back from this angle, but settled for aiming at its hip joints. The robot was forced to slow down as the barrage of incoming fire kept knocking it sideways, the railgun rounds punching into its flank or careening off at crazy angles. A lucky hit pierced straight through a weakened armour joint and ripped apart the upper actuator in its right rear leg. The robot juddered and made an ungainly hop, before the leg twisted awkwardly and it toppled over onto its side.

"Fuck yeah!" Dana crowed, ejecting her spent magazine and slamming in a new one. "Eat that, you metal bastard!"

The robot thrashed to right itself, then brought its arm around to protect its body from another salvo. Although its torso was now twisted to face Dana, the tentacle arms repositioned themselves to train its cannon at Tashana. Kneeling on the ground she had no chance of dodging and it blasted her in the back, the impact sending her sprawling with a startled shriek of pain.

As Dana looked on in horror, the mechanical behemoth continued to advance on Tashana, its chainblade now raised to execute a coup de grace. She fired at it again, but all her rounds were harmlessly deflected by the shield, ricocheting away with an eerie thrumming sound. Switching to the Tachyon barrel she hit it with a stream of pulsed beams, the defensive field undulating wildly as it tried to fend off the azure storm.

The protective shield shorted out with a defeated whine, then the tachyon bolts sprayed over the robots torso. Seeing they weren't having much effect, Dana quickly switched to her rifle's punisher railgun while ejecting her spent magazine. She slotted in a fresh mag, then renewed her fire, slamming round after round into its remaining right leg.

The robot's heavy cannon swung around in Dana's direction and she cursed as it returned fire, the energy bolts lighting up her Paragon suit's shields in retaliation. Despite being involved in a ferocious gunfight with Dana, the robot showed no sign of stopping as it limped towards Tashana, intent on finishing her off while she was down.

"John! Help me!" Dana screamed in alarm. "It's going to kill her!"

Her desperate cry pierced John's thoughts, instantly shattering his concentration and sending his heart rate skyrocketing. His eyes snapped open and John took in the nightmarish scene before him, with the blood streaked killing machine dragging itself towards its next victim.

Calmness and serenity were replaced by a savage fury, the thought of that malevolent construct harming the lovely Maliri girl more terrible than he could bear. John focused his will inwards, then held out a commanding hand towards the flickering torch that danced elusively in the shadows of his mind. It blazed to life like wildfire, the eager flames banishing the shadows that had tried to suppress its brilliance. Instead of John reaching out to touch the torch, it came to him, soaring out of the darkness to be reunited with its master.

Kyth'vindathys returned to his gauntlet with a resounding clang, the runeblade bursting into sapphire flame as it surged with eldritch power. John leapt to his feet and strode towards the behemoth closing on his wounded Lioness, the archaic weapon blazing brighter with every step. While his right hand clutched the sword, his left arm tingled as sinews wrapped around the reforming bone, before being sheathed in strong flesh and smooth skin.

John slashed the air before him, unleashing a telekinetic blast wave that smashed into the robot with enough force to lift it off the floor, and send it careening across the room.

"Dana, tend to Tashana," he said quietly, striding past her towards the machine.

She looked at him wide-eyed and nodded. "Yeah... okay!"

The robot flailed around until it regained its footing, the cannon held by the tentacles now trained squarely on John. It opened fire, pouring high-powered bolts towards its target. A spinning hex-shield absorbed the succession of energy blasts, the blue hexagons repairing faster than it could damage them. Realising the weapon was useless against John, the robot lined up a tentacle arm in his direction and launched the claw.

John's body had already fully regenerated, his severed forearm back in action with a healthy replacement. Activating psychic speed, he smoothly sidestepped the splayed talons as they rocketed past, then reached out to grab the extended cable. Before the robot could react, he yanked it towards him with all his strength, making it topple forward onto its multi-faceted face.

The hulking automaton almost seemed to react with shock as it was tipped over, its limbs jerking forward in a futile effort to protect itself. While it was disorientated at being up-ended, John broke into a sprint, his psychic abilities accelerating him to incredible speed. His two-handed slash slammed into the robot's shoulder, Kyth'vindathys cleaving through the joint with a tortured screech of metal that almost sounded like the machine was in agony.

"That was for the hand," John muttered, skidding across the deck before turning back towards his dismembered foe. His broken ribs had already healed, but he vividly remembered how much breaking them had hurt. "Now, let's settle the rest..."

***

"Tashana!" Dana called out, as she skidded to her knees beside the wounded Maliri.

"My back!" the gunslinger hissed through clenched teeth. "Holy fuck that hurts!"

"Hold on... just let me take a look," Dana replied, grimacing as she looked at the wound. "I think you're okay... it looks like the armour took the worst of it."

"It's burning!" Tashana protested, writhing on the floor in pain.

Dana deftly unlocked the clasps holding the chestplate together using the emergency release, then tugged away the scorched backplate. It only took one glance and she saw the problem immediately.

"Those shots to your back took out your suit's main thruster. It also ruptured a fuel line and with all the damage to the body armour..." she said, reaching inside to wipe away the boiling hot liquid. "The fuel heated up and melted through your jumpsuit. Let me get some medi-gel on that burn until John or Rachel can patch you up."

"Thank you," the Maliri said gratefully, before letting out a moan of relief as Dana applied the cool gelatinous substance to her burnt skin. She sat up and reached for her discarded pistols with trembling hands. "Where's the robot?"

"It's just working out a few things with John, man to machine," the redhead replied with a wry grin.

Movement caught Tashana's eye and she saw the robot's battered chassis go sailing through the air before landing with a thunderous crash and tumbling across the floor. It had already lost both arms as well as both tentacles and crashing into the ground ripped off its damaged rear leg in a shower of broken parts.

"Looks like that's going pretty well," Tashana said, holstering her pistols and sagging with relief.

"Oh shit..." Dana whispered, in a voice laden with dread.

"What is it?" the Maliri asked, immediately noticing her unsettling tone.

When there was no reply, she turned to look quizzically at Dana and found the young woman looking upwards, her frightened face a vivid picture of dismay. Tashana couldn't help but follow her shocked gaze and gasped when she saw the octagonal capacitors. Electricity was now pouring off them in a seething storm and jagged bolts of lightning arced between the massive machines.

"How long till it blows?" she asked quietly.

***

"Get back, Helene!" Alyssa said, waving her towards the ramp. "I'm going to try blasting my way through!"

The teal-hued mermaid retreated in a hurry, trying to give the blonde as much space as she required. When Helene turned back to watch, Alyssa's arms were already surrounded by eldritch runes, the glowing script moving in languid circles but gathering speed. Backing away several paces, Alyssa raised her fists and pointed them at the wall that was blocking them from reaching Irillith.

A beam of light appeared in a dazzling flash, the beam as wide as a dinner plate as it seared Mael'nerak's image from the mural. Alyssa narrowed her eyes and frowned in frustration, then the beam tripled in width as she channelled more power into the blazing column. The roar as it blasted the wall was deafening, with rivulets of liquid metal dripping down the surface to pool on the floor. She intensified it even further, the shaft of light so bright that it hurt to look that way as it pounded into the wall.

Just as suddenly as the beam had appeared, it winked out, leaving behind a glowing halo where it had burned through the metal. Heat radiated out from the steaming rent, making it hazy and indistinct as they both stared at the molten remains.

"Goddamn that metal's tough!" Alyssa exclaimed, glaring at the obstinate wall.

"You managed to melt a hole through it though," Helene said optimistically.

Shaking her head, Alyssa's brow furrowed with worry. "I had to use a ton of energy to even do that. When I blasted Larn'kelnar's shuttle with a beam that size, I melted a hole straight through several layers of hull plating. It'll take me forever to reach Irillith at this rate and she's running out of time."

Alyssa could feel Irillith's mind breaking down, her thoughts becoming even more crazed and incoherent. She had read the autopsy reports that had been unearthed from Valada's tomb and knew that if she didn't reach the Maliri in the next few minutes, there was a dreadful possibility that Irillith might turn her gun on herself.

Helene closed her eyes and reached out with her mind, trying to make contact with the terrified Lioness. The big problem she had, was that Helene had no idea exactly where her friend was located, so it felt like fumbling around in the dark and hoping to bump into someone by blind luck.

"I can't find her," she was forced to admit, looking at Alyssa in anguish. "There must be something else we can do!"

There was a shining radiance in the teenager's eyes that hadn't been there before, and her full lips turned up into an enigmatic smile. "Calm yourself, hope is not lost. There are still other possibilities we can explore."

She raised a hand, her slender fingers tracing an oval in the air. As if mirroring her actions, a glowing elongated disc appeared before their eyes, stretching until it was their own height. Before Helene could say a word, Irillith burst through the dimensional gate and crashed into Alyssa's open arms. The Maliri was in a wild frenzy, clawing at Alyssa's face as she fought to free herself.

"Quickly, Helene... shore up her mental defences!" the blonde urged her, jerking her head back to avoid Irillith's clutching hands.

Helene blinked in surprise, then rushed to do as she asked, reaching out with her empathic abilities to the terrified Maliri. This visit to Irillith's subconscious revealed her mental condition to be in a shockingly different state to before. Huge chunks of the chalk cliff face had toppled over into the raging ocean, leaving behind only the broken remnants of its foundations. Towering waves crashed over the shoreline, dislodging chunks of rock and washing them out to sea.

Fearful for her friend's rapidly decaying sanity, Helene was desperate to intervene, but she had no idea how to repair the dreadful erosion to her mind.

A radiant figure suddenly stepped into view, appearing as if from nowhere. *Trust your instincts, Helene,* she urged the Abandoned girl. *John has provided you with all the tools you require. Simply envision a way in which you can assist Irillith.*

*But what should I do?* Helene asked the woman, bewildered by her explanation.

*Help her... in whatever way feels most comfortable to you,* Athena said, her tone warm and full of encouragement.

The Abandoned girl looked at her in amazement and asked in a hushed voice, *I can do anything I want?*

*In this place, the possibilities are endless... for those with the strength to bend it to their will,* Athena replied, giving Helene a knowing smile. *And John does love to lavish all of you with such extravagant gifts.*

Helene looked at the ravaged coastline, then darted an anxious glance back at her mysterious advisor.

*Go on... I believe in you.*

Athena's calm belief in her bolstered Helene's confidence and she dove into the waves, letting them sweep her to shore. Instead of being dashed on the jagged rocks, the surging water placed her gently upon the beach, letting Helene step away as the tide parted beneath her feet. She turned towards the waves, which splashed playfully around her, as if in enthralled by her presence.

*Roll back please,* Helene politely requested, and watched as the sea drew backwards, the waves crested with white froth in its eagerness to obey.

Scattered over the sandy seabed was battered debris from the cliff that had collapsed under the tide's onslaught. Helene crouched down beside a worn chunk of rock and gently caressed its surface. She could feel the memory contained within, of Irillith lying in John's arms for the first time, feeling a profound sense of contentment that had eluded her all her life.

*These are precious,* she said reverently, rising to her feet. *Could you put them back where they belong, please.*

Athena watched in silence, marvelling at the sight of Helene subverting the debilitating Mists and turning them into a force for healing. The seas washed over the shore, returning the ragged boulder to the place it originated from, quickly followed by all the scattered remnants that had collapsed into the ocean.