Rising to his feet, Red shook his head to remove the fog. He glanced down at the chest that used to be at the end of the hallway. It wasn't until the ship shook violently from another explosion that he finally got knocked out of the smog.
Without sparing Derrin a glance, Red kicked the lid of the chest open. On top of his stuff was a sheathed sword. He handed it to Derrin without looking and focused on his things underneath it. Well, it was time to get started. Red wasn't certain how long Ayjax could fight the herald…or if he could actually fight the thing at all. The man seemed certain of himself, so Red decided to trust him.
Setting his guns off to the side, Red stared at the old coat underneath. It was his father's old coat. Now it was his. Despite the tight schedule, it made him nostalgic.
Only for a moment.
Grabbing the fading red coat, he spun the thing across his shoulders. In a few moments, he had all of his items stashed back into his pockets. His guns went into holsters attached to the cloak, and he was set to go.
The only item left was the Gearborn core. He reluctantly stuck it in an easily accessible pocket. Chances were it wouldn't survive the day. Red finally glanced at Derrin. The man had his sheath strapped to his hip and a serious expression on his face.
"Well, are we doing this or what?" Red asked.
Derrin nodded in agreement.
It seemed he was already focusing on what was to come. Red grasped the shockblaster in the right holster and pushed most of his remaining mist into the core. It was far less than he had hoped for, but it still had a little left over from earlier in the day. He'd get two shots, maybe three if he was lucky. That was definitely not a good spot to be in.
The deck shook as the pair raced to the ladder. An explosion rocked the entire ship, but Red was certain it wasn't from any cannons. Ayjax and the herald were definitely going at it. Red reached the ladder first, but Derrin put a hand on his shoulder.
"Allow me to go first," He said firmly.
Red shrugged, "Be my guest."
He didn't want to deal with what was up there at all. If this crazy lunatic wanted to go first, then it was his honour or something. Derrin leapt up the ladder like he'd been doing it his entire life. Red swallowed as the man's figure disappeared onto the stormy deck. He had no idea what was going on up there. Releasing the shockblaster, Red vaulted onto the ladder and threw himself up and out.
Lightning exploded across the night sky, lighting up the seething ocean. Water poured across the deck, drenching everything in sight. The faint silhouette of Ayjax's boat glowed as it launched attacks on the Gearborn ship. Gearborn rose across the deck in a very unorganised manner. A few fired back, but not enough to shake off the attack.
Landing on the deck, he was startled for a moment to find Derrin already neck deep in Gearborn. Three fallen robots littered the deck, and more were fast approaching. What the hell? Red ran after the man. Maybe it was a good thing to keep him around. A Gearborn slashed with his sword, but Derrin deftly avoided the swing. Swiftly kicking the robot in the chest, Derrin whirled and sliced another Gearborn clean in two.
Red couldn't help but smile, "This is great, I don't even have to do anything."
Of course, right as he said that, a blade nearly cleaved him in two.
"Bloody hell!"
He slipped on the wet deck boards and nearly tumbled over backwards. The swing whipped past him as he awkwardly tried to get out of the way. His shock blaster was out before he even realised. He tasted electricity.
The weapon fired at point-blank range into the Gearborn's chest. Its entire body practically exploded as it was launched backwards like a cannonball. Red gawked at the sight. There was a reason you never fired shock weapons in close range.
He turned back to Derrin only to find another four Gearborn slashed to pieces on the deck. How the man was doing that so quickly, Red had no idea. If he had been killing Gearborn like that, he would have run out of shots far too quickly.
Unfortunately for them, killing so many Gearborn in only a few seconds was a good way to draw attention. The ship had hundreds of them, and now a large portion of them were bearing down on them. They probably didn't even care at this point that the two of them were actually prisoners.
"Shit!"
Red glanced at the side of the ship. They'd managed to close the gap by half, but it wouldn't matter if they were slaughtered before they got there. Leaping over a fallen corpse, Red couldn't help but feel useless. He had one, maybe two shots left in his gun and had no other way of helping Derrin….actually.
He pulled the Gearborn core from his coat pocket. This fight would only last a few more seconds before they were overwhelmed by the incoming wave of Gearborn from both sides. Facing one or the other might be survivable, but definitely not both at once. It was time to cause a distraction.
Water drained down Red's face, soaking him to the bone. It didn't matter right now. Lightning crackled across the sky, briefly illuminating the stormy darkness. He was focused on only one thing. Hitting the hardest shot he'd done yet. Taking the core in one hand and his shockblaster in the other, he concentrated on only this singular task.
"Derrin! I've got the left side," He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Watch out!"
The core left his hand and hurdled at a massive group of Gearborn approaching him. His gun followed the arc, and he concentrated on only the flying core. Red tripped on a fallen Gearborn and slammed into the deck as the entire ship lurched sideways. He hit the deck with a thunk. Luckily, he didn't seem to be the only one thrown off their feet. In fact, the only thing that seemed to have remained standing was Derrin.
Red fired. A burst of electrical energy exploded outwards from his gun. The blast of lightning shot forward like a beam of divine judgment. Red held his breath as the core plummeted downwards. He missed. The core clattered to the deckboards.
Time seemed to freeze, and for a moment, Red panicked.
He'd failed. Now they were both going to die. A sudden overpowering smell of electrical energy enveloped him. It was powerful enough even to give the robots pause. His eyes locked on the core in the mess, and they widened. The core exploded.
He felt himself once again crash into soaked deck boards. His body felt like a giant had stepped on it. Something heavy crashed on top of him. All he could see was white. His eyes burned from the sudden blast of electrical power. Once his vision finally returned, it almost seemed like it hadn't. The place where the core had exploded was now a gaping hole in the deck. The armada of approaching Gearborn had been reduced to a blazing inferno.
Red pushed at the thing on top of him, and Derrin hit the deck beside him. Derrin let out a groan as he struggled to sit up. Somehow, the maniac had managed to retain his sword throughout the explosion. Red quickly glanced around them. The Gearborn that had been attacking them from this side were also trying to reorganise themselves after the blast. It seemed that for the moment their startling entry was overwhelmed by the blazing fire. They needed to go now.
"We need to go!" Derrin yelled.
"Damn it!" Red cursed, feeling in his pockets, "I lost my spoon."
The swordsman was on his feet a moment later. Before Red had even begun to move, a hand grasped him by the arm and pulled him up as well. He briefly paused to focus on the remaining energy in his gun. There wasn't enough for another shot. Cursing under his breath, Red tucked his gun back into his coat and then was forced to run after Derrin, who had already travelled a dozen feet.
A massive, hulking object slammed into the deck through the cloud of smoke. Derrin was forced to slide to a stop, and he brandished his blade abruptly. The Gearborn that rose from the smoke looked an awful lot like Ayjax. That was if Ayjax was made out of metal and had blades for arms.
"And where do you think you are going?" The creature growled in a voice that sounded more chainsaw than human.
Well, this was definitely not going to plan. Without even bothering to respond, Derrin vaulted at the Gearborn. The monster swung both his bladed arms at Derrin. Unfortunately for him, Derrin decided to utilise his mist for the first time. His sword glowed an eerie orange color.
Then, he was gone, leaving a long orange afterimage behind.
The Gearborn stumbled as its left arm crashed to the deck. Derrin landed behind the creature as it whirled on him. Red felt incredibly helpless watching Derrin fight while he couldn't do anything. He stuck his hands into his pockets, trying to find what he was looking for. Pulling out a wired device, Red couldn't help but sigh. It was such a waste of parts.
Derrin clashed with the now enraged Gearborn. With only one arm, the Gearborn should have been at a disadvantage. However, Derrin had used up most of his mist in that one super slash. He was now stuck fighting an enraged Gearborn while being down most of his power.
There wasn't much he could do here, but the faster the Gearborn went down, the better. The other weaker robots seemed to be keeping their distance from the hulking figure, but that wouldn't last long. At this point, he was out of options, and Derrin was a hair's breadth from being killed. One mistake would be his death.
Cursing inwardly, Red swung the device in his hand. A long span of intricate wiring connected to a pair of battery packs whirled in his hand. The Gearborn slashed downwards, leaving a massive gash in the deck. Derrin leapt backwards, his back hitting the side of the boat. He had spent days creating this, and it would now be gone in one second. Red could only hope that it would distract the Gearborn long enough for Derrin to kill the blasted thing.
He threw the mess of wires and battery packs at the head of the Gearborn. He had thought his aim was perfect right up until the moment that the mess of wiring crashed into the robot's legs. The battery packs twisted around the robot's legs, causing the monster to stumble momentarily.
"Hell yeah!" Red shouted, "Exactly what I wanted."
That was all a swordsman like Derrin needed. His blade cleaved the Gearborn's head off before it even registered what happened. Red leapt over the body of the Gearborn as it crashed backwards to the deck. One powerful threat was vanquished at least. Unfortunately, the rest of the Gearborn decided it was now time to continue their attack.