Flesh vs Steel (Started)

Cancer

Mercury was first to step out of the bunker and into the corridor beyond. His movements were that of the quintessential action hero as he rolled from the opening of the doorway to that of a small access tunnel across the room. Cancer followed, his heart pounding. Since discovering what had happened with the EMP, he had been constantly on edge. What if he hurt one of his friends? What if he couldn't contain his power and just exploded everywhere? The possibilites were not something he wanted to consider.
A loud bang echoed from somewhere down the corridor. The whole group froze as one, poised to react to any stimulus. Slowly, Mercury edged up the corridor, keeping to the wall. Cancer followed, and was in turn followed by Zephyr, Koron, and Logan, with Leah gripping his hands so hard her knuckles turned white.
Cancer barely even registered what happened next. A SICAD stepped out into the corridor from an adjacent room, and had not taken more than a few steps before a bullet penetrated its armoured head, blasting apart the armoured carapace and embedding itself in the wall beyond. Mercury lowered his gun, his face the picture of menace.
They were about to go on when Zephyr's voice broke the silence. "What if there are more?" It was true, Cancer realised; and other androids in the area would have heared the gunshot and would now be racing to find them.
The thought had barely crossed Cancer's mind when SICAD's began pouring from the room from which the first had come, virtually clambering over one another in their desperate attack. As one, the group turned tail and ran, only to see a cluster of Beasts careening down the corridor towards them, their mismatched body parts lending them a Frankensteinesque appeareance.
"Into the tunnel!" Koron's voice carried over the din of the approaching androids before he disappeared into the access tunnel. Mercury fired off a few shots at the closing SICAD's before following.
A cry went up from behind Cancer; he turned to see the Beasts bearing down on a distressed Leah, her father desperately trying to make her run. Cancer bolted towards them and threw himself in front of the pair just as one of the makeshift attackers fired a crude projectile at the screaming girl. The metal shaft instead penetrated Cancer's leg, stopping dead when its tip buried itself in his femur. Cancer growled with pain and lahed out as the Beast's closed, covering the other's escape before finally stooping to enter the access tunnel, androids hot on his heels.

Mercury

Mercury fired off a few rounds at the SICAD's, then ran in the opposite direction. Mercury heard Cancer grunt in pain, and saw that beasts had joined the pursuit. "Come on Cancer, let's move!"

Mercury snapped his head ahead of him, noticing that Koron was shouting something about a security lock. Cancer reached out a hand for support. Mercury looked around for Zephyr, but to his dismay, she was in front with Koron. Mercury swallowed, he was forced to make a choice between breaking his morals and pride, or saving the life of another survivor. He felt a devil on his shoulder. "Let him die, what help is he to you. He'll only slow you down".

An angelic voice interrupted the inhumane suggestion. "Save him Mercury, now! Prove to yourself that you can overcome your own pride".

Mercury grunted in effort as he brought Cancer to his feet. He hooked his left arm underneath the cyborg's shoulders, and heaved him towards the worried Koron, Logan and Zephyr. "Hurry Mercury, come on!" Koron yelled, as the door began to decend. Mercury noticed a small, alternate maintenance tunnel, and sharply turned left into it. He threw Cancer to the ground and slammed the tunnel seal. Turning the lock mechanism, he spoke to Cancer. "Don't think I like you Beast, this was all in logic. That'd kid'd slow us down without you".

Mercury thought Cancer said thanks, but he wasn't sure. His attention was stolen by the fact that this room they had stumbled into wasn't a maintenance tunnel at all. A huge projector flashed continuously, illuminating mutilated remains and skulls that permanantly screamed. Mercury's eyes were stolen to the projector, and he was extremely shocked to see a familiar face flash upon it. "Err, Cancer, what are you doing up there?"

Koron

"Hurry Mercury, come on!" Koron shouted. He saw Mercury, with Cancer over his shoulder, turn towards another opening. "What are you doing?" Koron shouted again. The pair was lost from sight by the metal door closing shut. Koron punched it in frustration.

"There was nothing we could do for them," Zephyr consoled.

"There is always something that we can do," Koron said through gritted teeth, struggling to control his anger. "We are gonna find them." The rest of the group said nothing. "Okay, now that we got that sorted, arm up and try to keep up." With that Koron continued down the tunnel, followed by Zephyr then Leah and Logan.

The tunnel seemed to go straight for about two hundred meters when suddenly came a tight corner. Koron signalled for the others to stop and put his back to the wall. He peered round the corner when a blade came at his face. He recoiled back as a borg came round the corner. He recognised it as a close quarter combat model, equipped with two retractable blades sheathed in its wrists. At the moment the blades looked sharp, as if they had been used recently. It swung again, the blade clicking into place. Koron blocked it with his shotgun and it got sliced in half. He dodged the next slash and maneuvered himself behind it. He ripped off the armour plating, protecting its power source, and grabbed its central power unit and wrenched it out. The Borg bot fell silent.

Looking at the droid, Koron went to make up for his lack of ranged firepower. He managed to get the retractable blades out and, using the bot's parts, managed to make two guantlets housing the blades. Armed with these he felt a bit more confident in the confined space. Koron turned to the group,
"Okay, let's keep moving."

Cancer

Cancer looked at the projections in disbelief. His own image stared back at him, surrounded by scrolling text and numbers. He tried to read, but the words flew past too quickly, and he was unable to absorb the vast amounts of information.
As soon as it had appeared, the image vanished, replaced by that of another.
Cancer looked to Mercury. He didn't speak. Mercury walked over to the projector and accessed its memory, backtracking through the information to bring the picture back up. Somehow the picture looked darker the second time round. Cancer couldn't bear to look at his own face, so busied himself reading the scrolling blue text. Much of it was statistics, unexplained and unintelligable. Occasionally keywords cropped up, or a fragment of a sentence, each one providing some fractious piece of information. Cancer filed the information away, hoping that they might fall into place as part of some bigger picture.
'...as an active member of the Zodiac program...'
Cancer felt as if his crab tatoo was burning. Zodiac. What was it? What had it meant to him?
And most importantly, why was Mercury pointing a gun at him?

Mercury

Cancer was too busy to notice Mercury cocking his weapon, whatever Cancer was a part of, it certainly wasn't good. 'The Zodiac programme?', what exactly was that? Mercury knew the beast was up to something, and now he had an excuse to end this irritating feud with his inner demons. "So you're one of them? Wow, how did I see that coming" Mercury sighed in humour.

Cancer went to open his mouth, but Mercury silenced him. "I don't care what you have to say beast, your face is up there with all of those freaks, looks like a nice family you have there. Perhaps you were the ones who started this whole thing. But it really doesn't matter any more, you're dead anyway." Mercury braced himself to pull the trigger... when he heard the creak of an opening door.

Koron

Koron with Zephyr, Logan and Leah emerged out of the tunnel. Now outside he could see it split off left and right. He thought about taking the right route but immediatley thought against it as he saw the mutilated corpses of civilians. Koron, being a soldier, just stared at what the machines had done. Zephyr turned away, while hid the horrible sight from his daughter.

"We need to keep moving," Koron told them and started to move down the left route.

"How do we know that they have not gone this way?" Logan asked.

"We don't," Koron replied bluntly. The route took about 25 minutes but then they came across a building, a very big intact building. They continued to get closer to it when they found the body of a scientist. Koron lent down near the corpse and read the little badge that all scientists wore. It read 'Chief Science Officer' and then underneath it 'Zodiac Program'. Koron,unsure what the Zodiac Program was, put down the badge. They pressed on but then came to a set of thick double doors.

"There's got to be a way inside," Zephyr said.

"Check either side of the doors, see if there is a hidden console anywhere," Koron suggested. Koron and Zephyr searched while Logan kept watch. Zephyr found it and opened the doors. Now that they were in they went to work on finding out what this building was. Koron found a room. It was labelled 'Zodiac Control Center'.

"Guys," Koron shouted. They rushed over to him. Koron opened the door and saw Mercury pointing a gun at Cancers head. "MERCURY, what the hell are you doing?"

Cancer

"Mercury, what the hell are you doing?" Koron shouted, bursting in through the door at the far end of the room. Mercury faltered for a moment, allowing Cancer to step behind the projector and put some distance between them.
"The beast betrayed us, he was with them all along," Mercury sounded oddly controlled considering the weight of such an accusation.
Zephyr looked to Cancer, mouthing her question rather than speaking it aloud; Is that true?
Cancer shook his head, then spoke aloud to the group as a whole: "Whatever this Zodiac Program is, I have no memory of it. No memory of my role, my rank, my mission. Nothing."
Mercury seemed unconvinced, but lowered the gun.
"So read then, beast, and find out."
Cancer turned and began to filter through more of the information on the screen, fully aware that the others were scrutinising not just the scrolling blue text, but his every movement. He tried to exude calm, but knew he was failing.
Fragments of information scrolled past, but nothing that could explain his former purpose.
"Subject missing, presumed dead," Koron read aloud. Cancer immediately zoned in on the words, flashed up fleetingly in the top right-hand corner of the screen. A moment later, the information was gone. He heard Zephyr breathe a sigh of relief, echoing the relief he felt himself. He turned to gauge Mercury's reaction.
Cancer recoiled at the sight of the gun once again pointed in his direction. Mercury's voice came in a hoarse rasp:
"I've seen enough, beast."
He fired. Cancer winced, but felt nothing. He opened first one eye, then another. He was still alive, but there was now smoke curling from a bullet hole in the projector.
"Now you are dead," said Mercury, deadpan, "They will have heard that. Let's move."

Mercury

This, 'Zodiac Programme', what was it? Was it responsible for the rebellion? Mercury had so many questions, he was struggling to contains his explosion of stress. He tried to maintain his calm and collected look, but he could tell he was struggling. "We move west" Mercury spoke "something caught my eye about an access terminal for the elevator shaft to the surface, it's in a... science outpost I think" Mercury said.

The group pressed onwards, Mercury could tell the sudden chase had worn them out. He felt a tug on his collar.

"What the hell was that all about?" Koron hissed, clearly irritated about Mercury's actions. Well, irritated was an understatement. Mercury shrugged off the technician's hand and moved on, but was pulled back again. He spun and looked straight into Koron's face, the two glaring into each other's souls.

Koron and he stood off, the group continued unaware. The stare intensified. Koron huffed and looked to the right. "I don't have to tell you anything" Mercury laughed, before walking back to the group, leaving Koron wondering why his ally was being so anti-social.

Koron

"I don't have to tell you anything," Mercury laughed and he walked off. Koron wondered what had made him seem so angry, he also wondered why. Koron proceeded to walk towards the group. If Mercury's actions and attitude became a risk to the rest of the group, Koron thought, he might have to deal with him himself. Zephyr, Logan and Leah were scared of him, Koron could see that. Cancer maybe not so.

"What was that all about?" Zephyr asked.

"I don't know, Mercury laughed in my face and shrugged me off when I asked," Koron replied.

"What do think that Mercury will do?"

"I honestly don't know," I replied with a grim look on my face. I made my voice low for a moment, "I think Mercury has become quite unstable now, I fear for Cancer's safety."

"Do you think that Mercury will try to hurt Cancer?" Zephyr asked, voice equally as low.

"Like I said, I don't know but it may come down to a fight if something else happens like that." Zephyr walked away leaving Koron to rack his thoughts. If a fight did happen he would have to choose who to defend. He hoped that the choice would not present itself anytime soon, with anger still radiating from Mercury.

Cancer

Cancer's pulse felt too strong for his body, as if at any moment his veins in his temples might burst right open. Mercury had scared him. But the thought of what so nearly was scared him more. Was that all Mercury had intended all along? To scare him, to make himself look better at Cancer's expense? He couldn't be sure, but from now on he was going to keep a low profile.
Cancer walked a measured pace behind the rest of the group, who in turn walked a pace behind Mercury. He showed no indication that what had happened had affected him in any way, simply strode forth, ever the fearless leader.
Zephyr dropped back, falling into step with Cancer as he passed.
"He scared me, you know." She whispered, obviously wary of attracting Mercury's attention.
Cancer smiled beside himself: "Scared you. At least you didn't have a gun to your head!"
Zephyr nodded but did not smile. Cancer hoped he had not caused offence, but she sped up to rejoin the group again before he could say any more.
Mercury spun to face them all as the tunnel came to an intersection. His face was half-hidden in the shadows, making him appear all the more menacing.
"There's a bunker near here where we can spend the night. We will find it faster if we split up. Koron, take Zephyr and Logan that way-" He pointed off in one direction, "-I'll go with beast."

Mercury

"I'll go with the beast" Mercury said, trying to hide the adrenalin in his voice. Now, he could finally get this over and done with.

"I don't think that's a good idea" Koron interrupted.

"Really? Says who" Mercury retorted.

"Me"

"And me"

"Me too"

The group was against Mercury going with Cancer alone, they could most likely see the evil drenching his words. A new demon had awakened inside inside Mercury, and not even he could tell what it had sprouted from. "Fine" he spat in reply "I'll go alone". Mercury stormed off in the other direction to the group. Why couldn't they see what he did? Cancer was going to betray them, he was obviously a part of this 'Zodiac Programme' and just because Mercury wasn't as gullible as the rest of the group shouldn't mean he was treated like a monster. But he didn't care; in the end, he'd live, they'd die. Easy as that.

Mercury kept walking in silence along the steel streets, until he noticed a prominent building: the outpost. Mercury went to grab his reciever, but decided against it. He wanted to let the others find it themselves, spiteful as it may have been. He tapped the security code into the layered door, and watched as each layer slid across.

He quietly slid into the structure, and took a wander around. He found the armoury, which was practically empty, a grimy kitchen and a few bunk rooms. He exhaled deeply as he fell down on one of the beds, releasing the stress of his earlier thoughts.

"Welcome" a terrifying deep voice laughed. Mercury looked around frantically. The source stood in the window of the room. A nightmarishly muscled figure, standing so tall, his face wasn't visible. Its skin was dark, and plates of steel coated its abdomen and barrel chest.

The calls of Koron and the others filled the air. "Mercury!?"
Mercury ran straight past them and leaped onto the control panel, tapping in the access code, sealing the door.

"There's something outside" he whispered, fright dominating his face, a very uncommon event. A sudden crash stole their attention. The steel door was being broken down...

Koron

The door continued to shake, under the onslaught of whatever was outside. Koron unsheathed his blades and start scratching them against one another, sharpening them for the inevitable battle ahead. The door then suddenly stopped shaking. And broke apart. One part broke off and hurtled towards Koron. He dived to one side but felt the metal fragment cut into his cheek and split it open, the warm blood spilling out. A rush of adrenaline surged through him and he rushed towards the half-human, half-machine, blades shining in the light. He slashed downwards but the thing blocked it with its forearm. It then proceeded to swing a punch of its own and would of smashed him into oblivion if it were not for Cancer's intervention. He had ran forward and delivered a punch that would have felled anything else. The half-machine laughed, a loud metallic laugh, and pushed Cancer away, as if he were a pesky fly and nothing else. It then shoved Koron back using its forearm and the gauntlets he was wearing hit him clean on the head. Koron collapsed.

"Get out of here," Koron said weakly. He saw the insignia of the Taurus, partially hidden by a metal plate, realising too late what they had come across. The last thing Koron saw was Taurus reaching down and grabbing his neck before Koron's vision failed him.

Cancer

The giant cyborg had Koron by the throat, but Cancer found himself rooted to the spot by an overwhelming sense of- what, exactly? Cancer was unsure of just what the feeling was, but it rendered him utterly immobile.
"Cancer, do something!" Zephyr shouted. Cancer did not move. She shouted again.
"Deja Vu" he whispered. She screamed. He ran.
Taurus boomed with laughter as Cancer approached, tossing Koron aside and throwing a punch which Cancer barely dodged.
"Don't you remember, little one? Do you not remember how this always ended, will inevitably end? Pah!"
Taurus brought his fist down like a hammer towards Cancer's head. Cancer dodged, only to feel Taurus' fist sweep around and catch him across the jaw, sending him hurtling to land across the room next to Koron's unmoving form. The giant cyborg descended upon him; Cancer balled up over Koron to protect his body, taking the punishment himself. He felt ribs crack and flesh tear as Taurus assailed him, along with the familiar feeling of absolute powerlessness.
One blow landed on Cancer's temple. The world spun and he felt himself rolling, unsure of where he was. His vision cleared to see Taurus' heel descending towards his head. He threw up his hands, roaring in defiance.

Mercury

Carnage filled the station as the gigantic cyborg, bearing the sign of the Taurus, attempted to tear the survivors apart. Koron was already down, and Mercury was isolated in a world of contemplation; what could he do? Cancer was being thrown around, comparative to a ragdoll, but Mercury couldnot just throw himself into the thick of things; he would be destroyed in seconds. No, Cancer was not a match for Taurus... and then it all flowed into Mercury's mind.

"Somebodys gotta keep it safe while it's charging," the familiar voice of Koron echoed in the soldier's head. He repeated it ver and over again. "Charging... charging..." an empty appifiny was transpiring in the brain of Mercury.

"The EMP!" Mercury whispered to himself, in recollection. He turned towards the sound of cracking bone and grunts of agony. Cancer was truly struggling. Mercury's emerald green eyes examined the scene, when a USB slipped from Koron's pocket. Yes! He lunged into the room, firing three shots into the blood-stained shoulders of the intimidating beast, unaware if he was hitting flesh or steel. Taurus shifted his attention over to Mercury, his dark skin tainted with the dirty silver hue of protruding metal cracking the lactic acid from the muscles in his body; the cyborg was only just warming up.

"Hahaha! I love the satisfying sound of squishing blood and flesh!" the brutish voice echoed through the halls, a robotic reverberation coating the words. Mercury could hear the frantic screams and cries of Leah, cursing Logan's prescence. "What? A child hmm? Hahaha, I'll enjoy this."

The heavy stomps moved away from the soldier and towards the squeals. Full of desperation and rage, Mercury sprinted out of the barracks, and after Taurus, USB in hand. "Hey! You piece of cowardly shit!" the soldier yelled, hate flowing through his veins. The gigantic body turned, reached down and snatched Mercury from the ground.

"EXCUSE ME!" his voice boomed, accompanied by the apt smashing of glass as he spoke. Mercury grinned.

"Not you, him" the survivor corrected, pointing to Logan, clutching to Leah. Taurus turned his broad, horn tipped head. Mercury flashed the USB to Logan. EMP he mouthed. The father smiled.

The huge cranium flicked back to him, Taurus' luminous red eye gazing into his captive's soul. "Something funny?"

"Yeah," Mercury admitted, as he tossed the USB under the unsuspcting cyborg's hulking arm. "How you are about to be obliterated by the freak you crushed into a corner earlier". The tap of the keyboard was the sweet sound of victory in Merury's ears, as the enormous brute roared as the electricity pulsated and overwhelmed his body. Mercury dropped to the floor, but held onto conciousness to finally see the mystical phenomena that had saved his life previously, without him even knowing.

"My turn". A familiar voice choked through the hall, as a static coated figure appeared in the doorway of the barracks. The figure of salvation.

Cancer

Cancer's body crackled with electrical charge. He felt empowered, head swirling with the giddy mix of emotions.
"You!" Taurus spat, "You think you can defeat me? You cannot so much as scratch me!"
Cancer refused to reply, instead beginning a steady walk towards the giant cyborg. Taurus rapped his knuckles against his armoured chest, roaring in an attempt to strike fear into his opponent's heart. Cancer did not so much as blink. Taurus' face changed from a snarl to a look of abject confusion as Cancer continued to walk towards him.
The snarl returned, and Taurus brought his armoured fist down towards Cancer's head. Cancer caught the blow in one hand, turning it aside and continuing forward, his pace unchanged. Taurus tried again, throwing a fierce blow to Cancer's ribs, but which the smaller cyborg easily sidestepped.
Rage dripped from Taurus' voice as he yelled, an incoherent snarl which threatened to rupture Cancer's eardrums. He forced his face to remain steady, refusing the larger cyborg the pleasure of seeing Cancer in pain.
Taurus unleashed a flurry of punches, guided not by thought but plain rage. Cancer weaved between the blows, contorting his body to duck and dodge, but the assault proved too much to handle. One fist swept across his field of vision, disorienting him. A second caught him in the stomach, sending him flying backwards like a ragdoll.
"Now to finish you, weakling!" Taurus cried as he leaped across the room after him. Cancer rolled to avoid his fist as it fractured the stone floor, blasting chunks of rock in all directions.
Taurus' hand swept towards him, grabbing for his throat. Cancer ducked the attack and leaped, hitting the cyborg full in the chest. Taurus tried to brush him off, but Cancer clung on, charging the energy which surrounded him into a concentrated ball of lightning, which crackled and hissed around his fist. Without waiting, he struck the lump of Taurus' throat, blinding himself in a sudden flash of white and red.