Arthur peeked out of the office door to see what was going on.
What he saw wasn’t what he expected. The security robot, Officer Gregory, had retreated to the door, guarding it. He couldn’t spot the others. As he watched, the robot would turn its head, its single eye sending out a beam of light that swept the room.
He ducked back before the beam could sweep over him. It wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. His friends had gone to ground in the cubicles somewhere, probably separated. With how effective Jemima’s gun was, he didn’t blame them.
His rising frustration at being trapped made it difficult to think. In search of something to occupy his mind, he turned to Dr. Muriler. Upon noticing his stare, he squeaked and pointed to a folder stuffed with papers.
“Intruder Detected,” Officer Gregory called out, and a bullet blasted the desk.
Arthur flinched away, and Dr. Muriler hunched protectively over his document folder. Neither spoke as they looked toward the door. The stomping footsteps that signaled movement didn’t sound out. A few seconds later, the searching beam started up again.
Dr. Muriler gestured towards the door. With a nod, Arthur peeked out again.
The beam swept over the right side of the room before it started heading back toward them. He counted in his head and realized it took about ten seconds for it to do a full sweep. That wasn’t a lot of time. Nowhere near enough for them to make it to the nearest cubicle before they got spotted.
No, they would need a distraction to force it to focus elsewhere. He looked around the room for something to throw. Several books came to mind, and then he spotted the bust. It looked at him with a stern expression on its face.
That would do.
Arthur waited for the red light to sweep across the room once more before crawling to the other side of the room.
When he picked up the head, he found it unattached from the base and lighter than he expected. A quick toss in the air made him confident he could throw it fairly hard. The question was, could he even hit the opposite wall?
The beam swept across the room again, and Arthur crawled back. He wanted to toss it against the right wall, or failing that, one of the cubicles. Then they could run left to the nearest cubical entrance.
It took another two sweeps before he felt confident enough to toss it.
When he did, how far it flew surprised him. The heat infusing his limbs seemed to invigorate this throw. A crash filled the room as the bust smashed against the wall. Arthur bolted, with Dr. Muriler following him, all the while stuffing the binder in his backpack.
As they slid into the cubicle and huddled by the desk, a boom sounded out.
“Desist!” Officer Gregory called out.
Arthur kept low until the beam started again. With a nod towards Dr. Muriler, he started crawling. The plasterboard walls blocked him from the robot’s searching eyes. They moved along until he saw something else.
Jemima had crammed herself into a cubicle. She caught his eye and waved. He waved back. For a moment, they caught their breath, listening to the hum of the air conditioning.
Ready to move once again, he looked at Jemima and pointed at the keyboard on the desk. She shot him a questioning look back. He then mimed tossing it before jerking his thumb in the opposite direction.
They waited for another sweep, and she hurled the keyboard over the cubical wall. It flew, and he heard it thunk into another wall. The beam flicked in that direction. Arthur crawled. Officer Gregory’s gun boomed.
He reached the first cubicle in front of the door and squeezed under the desk. When he looked to his left, he saw Augustus hunched around a desk. Dr. Muriler and Jemima were in the one behind him.
Not that he blamed them. Now they needed to find Captain Swordsman.
The man was nowhere to be seen. He turned and shot a look at Jemima, who shrugged. With a quick glance, he found a pen and a notepad. As quickly as he could, he scribbled out a note.
[Do you know where CS ended up?]
That done, he rolled up the crumpled-up ball of paper for her. She unfurled it before pointing behind them toward the right side of the room. Arthur sighed and gestured for the others to stay put.
He needed to fetch their missing member.
***
The journey to the other side of the room was harrowing.
He threw things often as a distraction, though he needed to be careful where he aimed. The last thing he wanted was to make one of his allies a target. Once, he’d thrown something directly up. While the pencil box lodged itself into the ceiling, he used the dust to hide when he moved.
A bullet neatly removed it from the roof and showered him with pencil bits.
When he found Captain Swordsman, he was hiding with his sword drawn. The blade’s glow was soft enough not to draw attention. They looked at each other and nodded. Arthur grabbed another notepad, and they started trading notes back and forth.
[We’re all gathered at the front. Come on.]
[How do you plan on getting past it?]
[Not sure.]
[My blade can’t stop it. The metal is too strong.]
[Maybe a distraction then?]
[Maybe.]
Arthur looked up as he waited for Captain Swordsman’s response. Like most office buildings, there was little to see. Only the occasional air duct and, of course, the sprinklers. He paused before he tossed an additional note.
[Hey. Do you know what the fire evacuation plan is?]
Even with the full-face mask, he could tell Captain Swordsman was giving him a look.
[Please don’t set my home on fire.]
[I’m not planning on it. Do you know or not?]
[According to the signs on the walls, everyone gets to the entrance room and starts climbing.]
Arthur frowned.
[There isn’t a faster way out?]
[I don’t get it either.]
With a shake of his head, he gestured for Captain Swordsman to follow him. It took longer than he would have liked, but soon Arthur was back in his original cubicle. Jemima and Augustus were in separate cubicles to his left, while Captain Swordsman took one to his right.
It took a few slips of paper to explain the entire plan. Once he did, his next one asked the important question.
[Anyone got a lighter?]
All he received for that message were blank looks, and he sighed. With careful movements, he pulled open a drawer and started searching. The first one came up empty, as did the next. The others scavenged around, and they all came up with nothing.
That was when he looked at Dr. Muriler, or more accurately, at his bag.
[You got anything in there that can help?]
Dr. Muriler nodded before he reached into the backpack and pulled out a glass vial. A cork plugged into the top of it, and it held a familiar-looking acid. Strong, but he doubted it would be enough to take the robot out. Not unless they wanted to sacrifice the entire stock.
Still, perhaps they wouldn’t need to.
[Hey, Dr. What would happen if you damaged one of those? Will it go off?]
The maybe gesture he got was good enough for him.
[Give it to here.]
A smile crossed his face at the idea of getting to cause some more property destruction. Dr. Muriler rolled the vial to him, and he hooked it with his cane to draw it the rest of the way. When it clinked, he paused, but the robot didn’t seem to notice.
He focused his sight on a sprinkler to the right of the group, but further than Captain Swordsman. The vial smashed against the spinnaker, green goo splattering against the ceiling. An alarm sounded out, and he nodded to himself.
A look over at Captain Swordsman, shaking his head, made him hesitate. There was a click, like the sound of a door lock, and Office Gregory took a step forward.
“Property Damaged. Lockdown started. Search and kill mode is engaged.”
Arthur gestured for Dr. Muriler to hand out the vials as the robot marched toward them.
It seemed they wouldn’t get to save them after all.
***
Two bottles clinked in his pockets as he crawled further into the cubical farm.
Their entire group had scattered, not wanting to be caught together. Captain Swordsman and Jemima had gone right, while Arthur and the rest went left. Even then, they stayed apart as best they could.
Captain Gregory wasn’t bothering with his gun anymore, choosing a more direct strategy. He walked forward and through the cubicle. Metallic arms punched desks out of his way. Arthur ducked a flying monitor.
He’d lost sight of everyone else in the confusion, doing his best to try to stay out of the way. His rage burned ever hotter as he watched the robot trample and rip a coat. He could have sold that for a fair price, too.
“All I wanted to do was get the information I needed and get out. Why did this have to be so difficult?” He thought, ducking low as Officer Gregory stood in the remains of a cubical.
The robot made a slow circle, its eye laser active, as though trying to figure out where to go from here. Arthur held his breath.
“If this thing doesn’t go away, I’m going to take this thing’s head and mount it as a warning to anyone who tries to mess with us again.”
From the corner of his eye, he spotted Augustus crawling along. He had two vials clasped in his mouth, causing Arthur to wince, hoping they wouldn’t shatter.
“Intruder Detected.”
Officer Gregory pulled his gun and pointed it towards the right side of the room. He fired. No screams accompanied the sound. Though he didn’t know if anyone hit would get the chance too. Footsteps started in that direction, and Arthur grabbed a vial from his pocket.
In as fluid a movement as he could manage, he picked it up and tossed it. Hard. It smashed against the robot’s back. A sweet scent filled the air as he ducked and rolled into the next cubicle. The footsteps stopped, and he waited to see what would happen next.
Officer Gregory tore through the one he’d vacated. Arthur could almost feel him on the other side of the wall. A physical presence ready to destroy him at another moment’s notice.
The sweet smell of the chemical grew stronger, and he heard the robot crash into another cubicle. Someone else was in range then. Though without knowing where the vial came from, he couldn’t tell who.
Still, he grinned. Any damage that the robotic blocker took worked for him. The other vial felt like it was burning a hole in his pocket. It wanted to be thrown. Well, he wanted to throw it. He threw caution to the wind as he crawled after the robot.
It wasn’t hard to follow.
When he saw it once again had its back to him, he tossed it as hard as he could. The vial smashed, adding to the pile of sizzling goo on its back. Before it could turn, another vial flew in from the side.
This one smashed into the side of Officer Gregory’s face.
“Vision Impaired.”
Arthur’s smile turned to one of horror as Officer Gregory pulled out his gun and fired blind. As he did, he saw Augustus move out of cover and toss both of his vials one after the other. They both crashed into the arm holding the gun.
Officer Gregory stopped firing, no longer able to control his fingers.
Augustus dropped and rolled, and Arthur followed suit. He moved in the same direction Officer Gregory had fired. He hoped that he’d find nothing. What he got was a sight that made his stomach churn.
Dr. Muriler was bleeding, and a sizeable chunk of flesh was missing from his side. When he looked at Arthur, he nodded and gestured toward the bag. When he looked inside, he saw one more vial and the folder. Nothing else.
“Crap!” Arthur swore and looked around. A coat lay nearby. He grabbed it, wrapping it around Dr. Muriler’s side. Somewhere nearby, he heard another crash. Captain Swordsman snuck into their cubicle, his sword glowing.
“How is he?”
“I need to get him back to the store. You said you couldn’t cut him before, right? The Armor was too good.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it should be weaker now. Hit him in the back. That’s where most of the acid is.”
Captain Swordsman nodded and moved off. Arthur watched him go before looking at Dr. Muriler.
“You need to go back home.”
The rat mutant squeaked and shook his head.
“I’m serious. We need to get you treated.”
Another squeak and a look that promised vengeance.
“Do you seriously think that I’m going to let them get away after this?” Arthur asked with a slight growl in his voice.
Dr. Muriler met his eyes and then shook his head.
“Damn right.”
As soon as he spoke the words, he heard something explode. Arthur stood, turning to see Captain Swordsman’s sword sticking out of the back of the robot. Jemima was there, too. Her gun pressed against a shoulder covered with the same goo.
Smoke rose from the robot, with black clouds wafting to the ceiling. To his utter irritation, that was when the fire alarm went off. A shrill Whoop Whoop Whoop that replaced the electronic beeps.
“The fire alarm has been activated,” He heard Delilah’s voice say. “All entrances are unbarred. Please head to the tunnel. Repeat. Please head to the tunnel.”
“Arthur, come on!” Jemima called as she moved to help Dr. Muriler.
“One thing first,” He said as he raised his cane and headed toward the robots unmoving body. “I have a promise to keep.”182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlH9OudAo3
