[Time Left to Deactivation] part 1
[Time Left to Deactivation: 20:200:03:14:12]
Leather stretched and strained as I hurtled down the dark corridor, heavy boots screeching rhythmically as I jettisoned around corridors. My footfalls echoed the pattern of my pulse, the one-two cadence that screwed power into my body. The tinny scent of ozone filled the long halls periodically, as the monsters chasing me fired futile charges of electricity at me. The traps and control points meant to corral their human subjects had no effect on me that I could discern, other than the smoke and arced lightning that effervesced across my leather outfit.
I had been running for a couple of hours and my pursuers showed as little signs of tiring as I did. I thought over the route I had taken, all the twists and turns they forced me down, and realized that they had in fact managed to lead me down a dead-end corridor some 20 stories up. The vibrations of heavy feet cascading after me meant there had to be several dozen of the machine-things after me, far more than I could comfortably take by myself. Tonight I could take no chances, I realized. I ran.
I found myself in a dimly lit corridor leading to a wide, colored window. Instantly the mechanisms in my helmet focused on the brilliant design that would have been breathtaking during the day, if there were any left to admire it. Humans were not allowed on such a high level under any circumstances any longer. The needles on the various gauges told me what I already had figured: the window was not made of old glass, but of the alchemically treated substance that was more like a clear metal than its fragile predecessor. If I had a little bit of time, I figured I might be able to smash out a panel, I calculated. The gauges in my helmet indicated it might take three and a half minutes. The rumbling in the halls grew louder. The gauges shifted, telling me that I had approximately 20 seconds.
[Time Left to Deactivation: 20:199:23:54:42]
My pulse accelerated violently, jerking my limbs for a split second as the world around me slowed. I searched the tiny hallway for another option until my only real option found me. I felt a sympathetic vibration in the way my pulse was humming, slowing my pace down but allowing me to keep power to most of my functions going at full pace. Fender was here to get me out.
I glanced at the dull window and instantly a reticle swooped down in my visor to indicate Fender’s location just outside, waiting on the wall. Sparks visible down the hall told me I had but scant moments while slight variations in the sympathetic pulses in my heart communicated information that Fender was broadcasting to me.
Yes, I already know what it’s made of, I snapped at Fender and instantly regretted it. My pulse was starting to speed up again, this time involuntarily. The broadcast continued unabated while I stared down the hall, ready to confront the things as they careened around the corner. As Fender described the portal’s weakspot, however, I regained control of myself and spent the next milliseconds broadcasting my plan to Fender.
Even with the weakness in between the colored shades of stronger-than-glass, it’d take considerable energy to smash my way through the window. The gauges indicated instantly that it would require between 12 hours and 3 days of my life. I wondered for an instant if my body could handle that much energy at once but knew at once that I had no choice. I’d never unwound 12 hours of energy at once, and just running at double-time down these halls was screwing up my boots and starting to tear my outfit in places.
Arcs of lightning lit up the dark hallway, precursor to the monsters beyond. The air felt heavy and metallic. I needed some fresh air. I unlocked my limiters, set my heart racing fast enough to see my lifeline diminish several hours every half-second. My body groaned and joints screamed as I raced toward the window, painfully cognizant of the time passing glacially. I kept an eye on the gauges and pressure indicators every millisecond, allowing my consciousness to skip the time in between, so that I didn’t have to experience all three days. I kept it together more or less, though my body was shuddering with such violence that I thought my heart would vibrate through my chest at any moment. It’s a great testament to my father’s skill that I experienced almost no lasting damage whatsoever.
[Time Left to Deactivation: 20:197:18:46:22]
At the last moment, I leaped at the monumental window and expended the last burst of kinetic energy through my leg, sending it crashing through the stronger-than-glass and hurtling myself into the moonless night. I realized at that second that I had forgotten about the inertia I’d have as I traveled through the window, the energy that would send me away from the building and away from Fender, toward the ground ready to grasp at me greedily.
Luckily Fender had already readied his actions, firing his wincing cable around my arm with impeccable timing. My energy sent flying until I had nearly reached the end of the length of the cable, when Fender tugged at the line, slightly altering my trajectory. I swung around and smashed into the side of the building, halfway through another window some floors down.
I was mostly undamaged, though my leather outfit was torn and my helmet was beyond repair. I spent a few groggy seconds trying to make sense of smashed gauges and twisted indicators as Fender crawled along the wall to retrieve me. As he lifted me onto his back, I twisted off my helmet and threw it down, watching as it fell onto the streets below. I focused my eyes and saw as it fell down among the remnants of the ruined window, among a throng of the electric zombies staring at me from so far below. The factory, my objective, was visible in the distance. Scant city blocks from here; we could make a run for it if we could just make it past those things down there. An inaudible whine communicated to me that Fender knew and understood. He descended quickly, with a speed as though we were plummeting freely. I kept both hands on him, exhilarated.
[Time Left to Deactivation: 20:197:06:12:20]