Final Battle

Anna boosted toward the enemy. The timer started depleting faster. The enemy braced for impact, watching closely. Anna lowered the visor and fired the flare. It came out of the barrel and hovered in place instead of moving forward. The moment Anna was past the flare, it ignited, bright enough to light up the entire back end of the battleship. His arms covered his head as expected. Anna tossed the flare gun and swapped hands with the knife.

She got close and managed to stab his arm. When she pulled the knife out, his arm started leaking. It wasn't oil or water. This was a strange fluid that eventually froze in space. He backed away while still covering the face of his robot. His other two arms pulled out some kind of container and used a spray of some kind on the broken hull. He began holding it as if he were in pain. But, why would he do that if he is just a pilot in a giant robot?

A momentary lapse in combat was quickly overcome by more slashes with Anna's knife. He barely managed to dodge until she made contact with him for only the second time.

She managed to sever an arm from the elbow. More of the strange liquid came out. He backed away again and used the same canister to cover his arm where it was severed.

Then, Anna saw the truth. His arm, his real arm came floating out of what Anna thought was just an arm of a giant robot. He wasn't in a robot. He was in something akin to a suit. He's a massive living being.

She tried to slash at him again. He dodged and fired off a weapon that destroyed the flair. Anna's advantage was disabled.

Her next slash was met with an angry hand that caught her hand. And another, and a third. He held her mech's arm in his hands. She was at his mercy. Or so he thought.

Her mech's thumb was still free. She pressed the button on the knife. The engine fired up and started pushing both parties toward the nearby battleship. He let go of her hand for a moment to adjust, but that was the exact moment she needed.

She let go of the knife and it flew into his abdomen. The thruster still going at full, he was taken toward his ship. He must have been in a lot of pain. That could be the only explanation for his delayed reaction.

That delay in reaction was what Anna was hoping for.

Wolf's plan was hopefully about to come to fruition.

The enemies thrown at him? He assumed it was a desperate attempt to get a hit in. In fact, he wasn't the target.

Luring him out here where he thinks she is just trying to run away? Another part of the plan.

Wolf was inside of that battleship before. He knew of some automated procedures that are activated when certain parameters are met. Such as, holding the ship steady in position. Automatic adjustments are made by the thrusters. So when several multi-ton robots are thrown at the hull on one side… Sure, the ship is much larger, but only a certain micro degree of degradation in the ship's current position will set off the thrusters.

A thruster like the one that Anna's rocket-propelled knife had just put the enemy leader directly inside of.

What she didn't know, was that the degree to which the ship had adjusted was so close, but it didn't quite make the cut.

However, when the rocket-propelled blade had run out of fuel and Felik finally removed it as well as taken care of himself, he used the inside surface of the battleship's booster to push off, thus activating the booster. The battleship righted itself, ended his life and the battle.

Several enemy robots witnessed their leader's end. They retreated and as far as Anna could tell, so did the rest.

Anna still had a bit of forward momentum from when the rocket knife first activated. She was headed toward the outside hull of the ship. Her timer was down to fifteen minutes. She wouldn't have enough fuel to safely return through Earth's atmosphere. She had to hope that she could somehow get inside the ship and then hope that there was some kind of re-entry shuttle that she could use.

Anna used a tiny bit of fuel to move her toward what looked like a hatch door. Her timer went down by one minute, dropping her down to thirteen minutes of power. There was a lever next to the door. It opened large enough for the massive enemy leader. She went in and found another lever. The outside door closed and the inside door opened. She had access to the battleship.

The first thing Anna saw inside the ship was a large odd-looking creature. Its height came up to about the knees of the mech. Easily larger than an elephant. It seemed to flutter its arms a bit before it ran out of sight.

Anna's mech peeked around the corner of the doorway. Nothing but hallways and doors. No organizational signs at all. She ran down the hall to the left. If time wasn't a factor, this would be the moment for more caution. But she wasn't afforded that right now.

She passed a few more rooms that had more of the strange creatures in them. They only seemed curious or frightened. Never angry or upset.

Twelve minutes of power left.

Anna turned a corner and felt a thump on one of the mech's legs. Looking down, she had bumped into one of the creatures. It was very round with an almost grey-blue skin. It started to back away and maybe attempt to speak. Once more, sounds that Anna couldn't recognize as anything intelligible.

Again, the creature seemed frightened. Anna reached forward and it covered its eyes. She helped it stand up. To its surprise, it wasn't attacked. Anna could see the reliefs wash over it. She pressed a button and spoke.

"You wouldn't happen to have some kind of repair bay for a power source or atmosphere entry shuttle, would you? That is if you could even understand me…" She spoke through the mech's speakers.

The creature responded with more unfamiliar sounds. It began to tug at the mech's legs and happily lead the way. Anna reluctantly followed to the unknown destination.

Eleven minutes of power left.

The unlikely pair came to the hangar. It was mostly empty. A large ramp led up to an arch, taller than the mech. The creature brought her right to the base of said ramp.

As the creature was about to step onto the ramp, an unusual sound began to pitter-patter against Anna's eardrums.

"Water?"

Looking up, the arch became the border of a black pool of liquid. It looked intimidating, but the creature was indicating that it was the destination. Anna cautiously moved closer to the black liquid.

Nine minutes of power remaining.

She put an arm of the mech through the black liquid and pulled it back out. There was no trace left of liquid on the arm. It wasn't any less of an arm than before it went in.

"Phew. Okay. Let's do this. Not much else I can do in this position anyway."

As Anna was mentally preparing, the servant reached up and plucked something off of the surface of the mech without her noticing.

Anna moved the mech through the black pool.

Eight minutes of power remaining.