Angel Monarch

Chapter 110: The Factory

The drone approached a large opening in the wall of the facility. The whole swarm was entering and with them move Clockwork's own drone.

The hole in the wall of the building was large, like something huge barreled through it in the past. When he finally went inside all he saw was machinery.

Conveyor belts zigzagged through the whole factory, they carried either metals, parts of robots or some sort of whitish blue crystals. Clockwork didn't know the exact purpose of the crystals, but putting together the pervious clues, he deduced that they gave the robots to semblance of a soul.

All the belts went different directions, he decided to follow the metal one. It led him to a couple of large crucibles, the metals were put in different ones. One carried gold, another copper, then there was one with something like iron or maybe steel. And about a dozen more that just looked the same.

The crucibles when full were carried away and poured into shapes. The gold was mostly used for circuitry, the copper for cables and those other metals for either armor for the robots or weapons.

Here they went to a different part of the facility, they got assembled into robotic arms, legs, chest, head or just a drone body. Clockwork realized quickly that this was one of the three assembly lines he saw at the entrance.

He also found the line of crystals again and got curious. After following the conveyor belt back to the source the whole group's turned white, these crystals they didn't just manufacture them.

At the beginning of the line there was a compressing unit. It had another belt running into it, but it was much wider than the previous ones...

It carried corpses.

The corpses of monsters, humans, plants, everything that has evolved... It was mortifying. Watching the dead creatures go into the machine, getting compressed and leaving it as tiny soul crystals.

After watching the process over and over again, Clockwork finally decided to leave that area. The mission was still far from over, they haven't found the Death Dealer yet.

The lines of crystal and robotic parts soon found each other. The next part was the full assembly, by the end of it the previous robotic soldiers were standing in attention. Some of them were different from the ones the group had fought, instead of sword arms they carried railguns, but something was weird about those as well... They glowed much more powerfully.

They used the soul crystals as power cells not just for the robots and drones, but for their ranged weaponry too. The power of those weapons could easily decimate everything's defense below corrupted.

The worst wasn't their weapons though, it was the quantity. Rows upon rows of robotic soldiers stood, waiting for something. There were possibly a thousand of them, maybe more.

Clockwork hid his drone behind a couple of pipes and watched.

The whole group held their breath waiting for what was about to happen. After maybe half an hour, they finally found the Death Dealer Mk3, but it was vastly different from the scouting report.

The scouts said, the mech was about 15 meters, with six different arms and four legs.

In reality it had eight arms and eight legs. The legs looked like a spider's and it gave the robot exceptional stability and agility. Where the eight legs connected a huge torso grew out and circularly the arms grew out.

Two were regular humanlike arms with hands, another two had railguns similar to the robotic soldiers, but a lot bigger and more powerful. Another four looked like hilts of a sword, they must have been some kind of energy weapons.

At the top of the creature was a head-like protrusion, it had those eye-like sensors all over it, giving the mech a view of everything around and above it.

The mech began walking through the lines of soldiers, inspecting each and everyone. The ones that it didn't found good enough, it just grabbed and tossed them at a large trash pile.

At some point Death Dealer walked a bit too close to the drone Clockwork was controlling. Its 'head' snapped to the spot where he was hiding, it seemed confused for a second, then the connection was cut.

It didn't attack or anything, the drone just simply died.

The room was deathly silent, the robot alone wouldn't be as bad as the devil. It was a too large and yes, its arsenal was truly powerful, but that alone wouldn't matter when fighting against all of them at once.

The army of soldiers though, made everything a lot harder.

"So... We will have to destroy that factory... Don't we?" Asked Lucy, here eyes like everyone else's was just staring at the spot where camera feed was.

"Unfortunately... It's not that simple... That giant robot lives in that factory, so if we try to destroy it... We have to fight it too..." Answered Sera, her brain was already trying to find a way to solve their problem.

"Yes, we not only have to fight the army of drones and robot soldiers, but the huge mech at the same time. How do we do that exactly though? Any ideas?" After Clockwork finished talking the silence returned as they all became thoughtful.

Eventually they agreed that they should think about it tomorrow. It was already night and after the two battles they were really tired.

Because Sera and Bea was sleeping while they waited for the drones to go back to the facility, they took the first watch.

On the highest floor of the building they looked out the window and just stared at the abandoned city. Contrary to what the others believed, they haven't solved the previous issue between each other.

After an hour of sitting in silence Sera finally broke and in a whisper said.

"Why? Why didn't you side with me?! Isn't she supposed to be your daughter too?!" Bea just looked away ashamed, she didn't answer for a long time.

"I did agree with you, but I also wanted to complete the mission... Also you have way less faith in Vicky, than me..." Immediately after she said is, she regretted it. Her had snapped to Sera prepared to get slapped in the face again, but there was only sadness and worry there.

"You... You know nothing!... The suffering we have been through!... You don't know... Because I never told you... And never will!..." There were tears running down on her face.

Sera stood up and looked down at Bea's hurt expression.

"This time you went too far... I decided to give you a chance, but it seems are values are vastly different... I would have rather scouted the place myself, even if there is a high chance of death, then let her risk her life! You on the other hand seem fine with putting her in danger!..."

Tears appeared in Bea's eyes as well. She knew what Sera was about to say next, so she didn't let her.

"Please... It won't happen again... I promise I will always make decisions, that won't put Vicky or you in danger..."

She was crying as she said it. If Sera didn't believe her she would lose both of them for good. Bea didn't know when exactly happened, but at some point she began loving Vicky as her own. She didn't want to lose neither her or Sera.

Sera's eyes were scrutinizing her whole being, looking for even a hint of insincerity. After a few minutes, she didn't find any.

"One... That's all you get, one more chance. But if you try to put her in danger, it won't just be the end of this relationship... I will kill you..." Saying those words hurt Sera more, than most wounds either physical or mental, but Bea needed to know how serious she was.

To her surprise Bea only smiled at her, she didn't seem the least bit offended about the deadly promise she just made.

"I vow to never hurt either you or Vicky and accept you killing me as punishment. If I cause harm to any of you, that means its not me anymore..."

After those words even Sera couldn't stop a small smile from appearing. It was exactly what she wanted to hear.

With a sigh she approached her previous spot and sat down. She put her arm on Bea's shoulder and pulled her close.

Read first at m-v le-mpyr

"I'm sorry for being like that... I don't even know what's going on... One moment I'm happy, the next I'm angry, then sad, then horny, then afraid... What is happening to me?!"

Bea had a tinge of red on her face, as she chuckled. Sera looked at her with suspicion and curiosity, there was something she wasn't telling her. Using her free hand Sera pinched Bea on the side... She yelped and looked at her.

"There is a very obvious explanation. You know what a woman's fertility cycle is, probably. When you evolve it changes, you don't bleed but your hormones still become weird, which causes you to be more emotional."

Sera looked thoughtful, then confused.

"But why does this only show now? The woman cycle supposed to be monthly."

Bea looked away a bit awkwardly, she had a face like when a doctor is about to convey bad news about a surgery.

"Yeah... That also changes... Instead of monthly... It will be yearly... And lasts about a month..."

Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open, then with a face full of surprise she just said, "WHAT?!"

That night Sera learned a lot about the inconveniences of being an evolved woman.