Chapter 165 - The Beast & The Machine part 1

*(mood song: "Alex Lahey - On My Way")

Erik woke up with a clarity of mind he had never experienced before, he felt the cold metal floor under him, as well as everyone present in the room, from the Yaksha that had fallen asleep next, and on top of him, to Inky also sleeping on the floor nearby.

Erik: 'what the hell' he concentrated suddenly everything seemed to light up, he could see the electric pulses inside the submarine walls, even the nervous systems of those around but... this time his head didn't hurt or felt nauseous, it just took some concentration 'this... is amazing...' he concentrated on Inky and could see three other smaller lights inside her, and two I side himself 'our daughters...' a bright smile emerging on his face 'better start thinking of names in advance..'

But as he was thinking he was interrupted by a knocking on the door, he looked up, and at the kitchen entrance stood Timberly.

Timberly was sweaty: "came to grab a bite after working out but... are you guys alright?" she noticed the Yaksha "and why are those things here?"

Erik slowly stood up, waking the Yaksha in the process.

Yhana: "Venerable one! you awake! we glad!" the others also seemed happy, but they soon noticed Timberly and hid behind Erik.

Timberly: "oh, so they talk now"

Erik: "Yeah I'm fine, don't know how they got here, must have been Rose's idea"

Timberly: "they are so small... can't they even fight? we are not going sightseeing after all..."

Erik patted Yhana's head, calming her down: "Rose must have her own plans I guess"

Erik then stood up and grabbed Inky in a princess carry.

Timberly: "okay... but why were you two on the floor?"

Erik sighed: "an... special diet plan from Rose, it was quite challenging but... I feel lighter and faster now-"

*smack!*

Erik easily stopped a jab from Timberly with a lightning fast kick.

Timberly whistled impressed: "Wow, you really got faster"

Erik raised an eyebrow: "was my word not enough? that punch felt quite slow by the way"

Timberly: "really? what about this!"

*smack!* but it was blocked once again.

Erik: "Now... if you excuse me, I need to take Inky to bed, the cold metal floor ain't a place to rest" walking away to his room with the Yaksha in tow.

Timberly watched them go and walked into the kitchen with a wide grin: "now this is interesting... I'm slow huh~ just what did those two eat? need to ask Rose later-"

But the submarine suddenly seemed to start slowing down from its previous high speed pace, its thrusters reversing and taking the vessel to an abrupt halt.

Timberly lost her footing and hit a wall with her shoulder: "what? did we arrive?"

-- minutes earlier in the armory --

Jana and Jennifer were examining Antalya's steam cannon and the boiler systems that used to contain the green cubes, now in Rose's possession.

Jana: "Seems quite basic in essence, thick metal and great steam pressure... a weapon only a commander could have even lifted, it seems crude compared to miss Rose and teacher Erik's designs..."

Jennifer scoffed: "How can you belittle your ancestor's efforts like that? there must be something more to this weapon! it's a relic left to us after all, we just haven't- wha?!"

The submarine abruptly stopped, disturbing their pace as they almost lost their footing due to their slimy skin, thankfully having five tentacles their footing was quite stable, and thankfully the huge weapon was properly held in place.

Jana: "...seems like we have arrived teacher..."

Jennifer was excited: "quick! let's go to the control room!"

Jana: "yes!"

--- Control Room ---

All stood seriously surrounding the hologram table, while on the side screens a dark underwater mountain was seen.

On top of the hologram table, a hologram made up of floating blue particles showed a huge mountain range with a humongous metal door to one side that even dwarfed the small representation of the submarine beside it.

Rose: "there it is, the industrial facility..."

Erik: "... are those doors to scale?"

Rose: "yes"

Erik: "but they have no power?"

Rose: "that's right"

Erik: "...how are we gonna open them then?"

Rose rose an eyebrow: "easy, we won't, there are smaller personnel doors, once the power is restored then we can just open and close it as we see fit."

Erik nodded and looked once at everyone: "everyone gear up! we are going down there"

Everyone nodded as they moved in the direction of the armory, their feet and tentacles clamoring over the metallic floors of the submarine.

Half an hour later, the octopeople army stood on a protective semicircle around the door while the battle bots advanced at the front, twelve of them carrying a large metallic square device, the generator.

Meanwhile, the Yaksha stayed at the submarine along with Amanda, the submarine's weapons ready for anything as its radars scanned the surroundings constantly.

Erik was wearing his power armor, along with a railgun on his back, a big sodium rifle in his hands, and a big chainsword on his waist.

Inky was to his left, in her power armor and carrying a sodium launcher and two vibro swords.

To his right stood Rose in her bulky power armor, and carrying a big glowing mace.

Beside her stood the towering Timberly on her power armor, her huge spear and tower shield in her hands, along with a big railgun on her back.

Jana and Jennifer meanwhile swam behind them carrying rifles and one vibrosword each, fighting wasn't their forte but the coming alien ruins were too exciting to pass by.

The surroundings were dark, the only light coming from the submarine and the lights on their helmets, his power armor left huge footprints on the muddy floor while the only sound was his own breathing along with the currents outside.

Slowly they reached the door, and Rose was the first to gasp in surprise.

In front of them, the twelve meters tall service door was ripped open, the meter wide steel doors full of carved ridges and pieces thrown on the floor along the thick layer of mud that covered most of them.

Rose: "... seems like something went inside..." she got close and observed the claw marks "the cuts are oxidized and corroded... rusticles are also eating the metal..."

Erik: "So... do we go in?"

Rose: "it seems to have happened long ago judging how even these alloys have started to degrade, the problem is..." she pointed at smaller claw marks to the sides "i would rather this was recent, whatever that was... it reproduced, and seeing how they can destroy this door... don't get hit..."

The bots released ball shaped drones that quickly went in, starting to scan the interior.

Timberly: "so it's dangerous..." her face grew determined "I will go in first, everyone stand behind me-"

Rose: "oh no you won't"

Timberly: "if we are attacked... then only I can take it, it's something I must do..."

Rose: "haha~ don't get so cocky, as long as you reactivate this place... I can make tons of new bodies..." her mace lit up the surroundings as the plasma made the surrounding water bubble "my bots and me will take the front-"

A bot then came forward, with a big launcher rifle resting on his shoulder.

AI 2137: *I can act as bait if you desire my lady*

Rose: "hmmm that could-"

Erik: "Nah, I have a far better idea, we will sound them out outside" he tapped the power armors neck to activate comms "Amanda, aim all guns to that entrance door"

Amanda: *Understood, all guns in firing position* the submarine turned sideways as all the railguns aimed at the door hole.

Rose raised an eyebrow: "...that... might attract nearby predators... what will we do then..."

Erik shrugged: "the future is now, if we die inside then it's all over anyway..."

Rose: "...fine, good point" at that moment five of the twelve drones that had gone in earlier flew back out "and there seems to be a monster nest in there..."

Erik: "alright, time to throw some stones at this nest" he aimed his rifle and fired three explosives charges inside.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

The silence ensued for a moment, but just a moment as roars soon followed, weapons were loaded and aimed as the roars slowly got closer and closer, faint and barely hearable at the beginning, but a cacophony of roars in no time.

Erik: "all guns aim at that hole! be ready!"