Annihilation
Partnerships
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The red-robed, moustachioed black King chess piece rotated on his pedestal to meet the voice and was surprised at whom he saw. "Drillman! It has been so long my friend..." Then his head suddenly turned to crossly address someone that wasn't there, apparently his operator. "No! I will not jack out! Run yourself if that is what suits you!"
"Kingman, what are you doing here?" Drillman continued with little good spirit in his voice.
"I have been taking Request Board jobs around here to make ends meet. Something odd is happening today though. There was news of chess pieces running rampant. I had to check that out for obvious reasons, but as soon as I get here, you, of all navis are the only one I find here. I was hoping you could tell me what is going on."
"So you're saying the white chess pieces have nothing to do with you? Yet I find you right here anyway. How convenient." As he spoke, Flamechick rushed onto the platform from the other side. She took a combative stance but Drillman signaled her to hold. "Hang on, we got some catching up to do."
Kingman glimpsed over his shoulder at the girl that flanked him. "Is she with you? Who is that?"
"Flamechick. Long story."
"Like your new armor?"
"I'm an Official now and got upgrades. Shorter story. Now you want to tell me where we can find Blackbelt? Or do you want to let our tracking software do that for us?"
"Blackbelt? You mean Sam? I was hoping you could tell me. I have not seen him since before the Gamma battle, I have been stuck with Nijubu this entire time!"
"Really?" Drillman narrowed his flashing eyes at the suspect claim.
Kingman breathed a heavy sigh. "He has my PET! I have little choice in the matter. His Acid Hackers split up and he has been wandering the countryside barely looking for new work, using me to earn minor income from lowly Request Board errands. It keeps me charged and him fed, so we put up with the situation even though I would much rather be back with Sam and he would much rather be back with Desertman. If you are tracking his PET signal I doubt you will find him when you get there. The lowlife coward will probably abandon the PET now that he knows Officials are on their way to capture him."
"So wait...you really don't know anything that's happened with Sam since the Gamma incident?" Drillman shook his head in disbelief. "He never even tried to contact you?"
"I am telling you, no! You say you are looking for him too? Why? What has he done?"
Drillman was silent for a moment. Then he spoke with some regret. "He's in a lot of trouble. And whether or not your story is true, I'm afraid we're going to have to take you in until we know for sure."
"Splendid!" Kingman responded enthusiastically. "Official custody with you as a contact sounds much preferable to continuing on with Nijubu. Speaking of whom, he has been notably quiet. I suspect he has already fled the jack-in point. The sooner you transfer me to Official HQ, the better."
Just then, a white Knight landed on the platform with a resounding thud, catching all three navis' attention. This time, instead of rotating back and forth in place, the horse's head pointed directly at Kingman and it stayed locked in place.
"So that thing definitely isn't one of yours?" asked Drillman.
"I have never seen it before. Why is it staring at me?" Kingman replied, unnerved.
Another thud sounded from behind, alerting the navis to another Knight stationed at the other end of the platform, also staring directly at Kingman. At the same time, a Rook slid silently along the main walkways, making a series of right-angled turns onto the platform where it situated itself at another end the same distance away as the Knights. A Bishop weaved its way onto the platform from another path, zigzagging its way to a similar position. Meanwhile two Pawns slid panel-by-panel into their places and pointed their small swords at Kingman as they settled in. Quite soon, the platform was surrounded by fourteen chess pieces including eight Pawns and two each of Rooks, Bishops, and Knights.
"Okay, this is creepy..." Drillman voiced what everyone was thinking. He got his drills spinning, ready to start breaking them at a moment's notice.
"I guess this means our controller is about to show himself..." Flamechick concluded, fire igniting on her hands.
The navis tensed. The Pawns raised their swords in unison, but then crossed them over their chests and bent forward, as did the Bishops, in a gesture resembling a bow. At that moment, another piece appeared on the board, trailing behind it the telltale afterimages of a StepSword-style speed boost.
"At last, We have found you." Smirking violet lips set on a pale round face spoke with a haughty deep feminine voice. Long blonde hair spilled out from beneath an elegant golden crown and over a large neck ruff connected the royal purple robe she was wearing. In her left hand she held a finely-crafted metal sword with the tip of the blade hovering down by where her feet would be if she had any instead of a circular pedestal the same shade of white as the objects that surrounded and saluted her. It was a navi that looked for all the cyberworld to be a female version of Kingman.
"Friend of yours?" Drillman had to ask.
Kingman couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at the chess-woman that was intently locking eyes with him. "Me? You were searching for...me?"
She batted her eyes and giggled. "But of course, darling. We have been tracking you for quite some time. We knew you were last seen in this area, and a simple sweep search was all We needed to finally bring you out of hiding. We are Queen Majesty, and your destiny lies in Our court. Come then." She held out her free right hand palm-downward, as if she expected him to come over and kiss it.
A flabbergasted Kingman remained stationary as he tried to make sense of the situation. "Erm...You were tracking...? You want me to...um...? Destiny...er...Darling!?"
Drillman and Flamechick stepped between the royals and Drill pointed a missile at the Queen. "Lady, I'm afraid he's already been taken into Official custody. Of course, since this chess piece rampage was all your doing, so have you. Stand down."
Queen Majesty didn't say anything in response, but made a disgusted face at the navis as she turned her palm upwards and snapped her fingers. In an instant, the fourteen white chess pieces simultaneously swarmed in to attack. Drillman met the assault head-on, his drills making short work of one Pawn right off the bat, but two more sword strikes and a Knight's shockwave followed in retaliation. Flamechick knew her fire wouldn't work on the chess pieces and she was out of loaned chips that would, so she dodged through the Pawns and Bishops crowding her and tried to take out the Queen instead. She launched a fireball from each hand once she thought she had a clear shot, but a Rook moved in to intercept them. She went for broke tossing the IceWave chip Hoshiko had sent her just before the attackers caught up and swarmed in.
With a flick of her wrist, Queen Majesty's sword severed and deflected the snowflake projectile before it reached her, and muttered "Worthless, irritating rabble." Before disappearing in a streak of light.
Drillman burrowed underground to escape the five chess pieces that had surrounded him and resurfaced in a more advantageous location. He put his missiles to work mowing down what looked like a concentrated clump of hapless pieces back in the spot he left them, but once the Knights leapt and the Bishops slid diagonally out of the way, his salvo only took out one Pawn while giving another three pieces their chance to get behind him and counter-attack, joined a second later by the same Knights from before.
Moe was pounding the console with his fist in frustration. "Aghh! This is ridiculous! There are too many of them and they're impossibly coordinated!"
"It's like any time our navis attack, it just sets her up for a perfect counter." Hoshiko observed. "Are we that easy to predict?" She struggled to maintain her strong act in spite of feeling more useless than ever for having run out of chips that would be of any help to Flamechick.
Drillman went into wormhole-jumping mode in his best effort to keep the chess pieces guessing where he was coming from, but still found it difficult to aim an attack at any one piece without drawing out the punishment of another. As he flew over the middle of the platform, he spotted Kingman, still stationed in the spot where he started, merely twisting around to keep track of the crowded battle taking place on all sides. "Hey Kingman! Planning on doing anything here?" Drill called out impatiently.
"Do what!? I have no operator at the moment! Do you want me to run? Because that is all I am capable of without any chips!"
"Well, the Queen bitch is after you, so maybe if you run and we keep these things distracted, we'll have a chance to-HRRK!" Drillman was cut off quite literally by Queen Majesty's sword when she appeared beside him in mid-flight and sliced through his thin abdomen, sending two halves of the orange armored navi tumbling to the ground. The legs quickly evaporated away, but the upper-body remained functional enough to shakily turn onto his side and aim his Drill Missiles, but that was of little concern to Queen once her servants moved in to keep the fallen Official busy.
One more hyper-accelerated step later and the Queen was standing right in front of the bewildered King. She ignored the din of battle around them and smiled warmly at her black and red counterpart. "Now that that the plebs are not bothering us, are you ready to come along with Us?"
Kingman may have been lacking any useful strategies at the moment, but he did his best to salvage what little dignity he retained. He straightened himself, narrowed his eyes, and prepared to engage the threat with the only weapon he still possessed, his words. "What do you want with me?"
"We want you by Our side. Your potential is being wasted. You are far too brilliant to be the tool of some shiftless rogue or the property of that sham of a government body. You were created to rule! We shall rule, together!"
She was sincere, yet subversive. Kingman could tell she had no intention of hurting him, but everyone else was a different matter. She probably wasn't going to take no for an answer, but either way, would that be the correct answer? "Can we talk about this in a more quiet and civil manner? One of those Officials is my friend and I would prefer it if they were not being attacked."
Her smile fell slightly. "Our apologies to you for the fortune of your 'friend'. It would be preferable had they not stuck their filthy common noses in Our affairs, but being Officials, they will not stand idly by and lose their arrest. Therefore it is not possible to stop attacking them until you are safely with Us."
Kingman sighed. "I see. Then tell me...if I had the choice right now to resign myself to the Officials' custody or to your proposal, then what would be the fundamental difference?"
Queen Majesty returned a puzzled look. "Did We not just explain? They would imprison and exploit you."
"Yes, and I could imagine. It is not an attractive prospect. You, however, I do not know beyond what you have made of yourself here and now, and all I see is a violent, prejudiced, arrogant maniac! How do I know submitting to your bold demand will not be even worse than going with the Officials? Even if not worse for me, then however many other innocent navis you deem to step over to get what you want?"
The Queen leaned back into her ruff, eyes wide with shock. Her voice rose to an overbearing shriek. "No one...NO ONE has the gall to address Us in such a disrespectful manner!" Then in the blink of an eye she was leaning in again, her expression much softer than before. "Yet you do not fear status or power. You know you are above that. That is why you are perfect. That is why I need you."
Now it was Kingman's turn to go wide-eyed. "Did you just say 'I'?"
She responded with a short, sultry laugh. "In answer to your previous question, We have no proof to offer you save what you will discover once you are in Our court. Yet We can promise you will find more answers with Us than with them."
"Ah...how DID you find out about me?" Kingman asked, his curiosity piqued. "Does...Samuel have something to do with this?"
Queen Majesty gave no more words in response. She simply smiled and held out her hand palm-downward again. Kingman looked down at it, then back to her expectant eyes, and to either side where a legless Drillman and weaponless Flamechick struggled valiantly to make it through the perfectly-coordinated regenerating chess piece elite guard. He closed his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts, putting his advanced strategic mind to use understanding the problem that seemed to only have one solution. To his disappointment, he returned again and again to the same answer. There was only one move he could make, and just like in the worst possible match of chess, that move was determined from the very beginning.
He opened his eyes, took the Queen's hand with his own, and bowed down to kiss it. At that instant, Queen Majesty's chess pieces stopped attacking Drillman and Flamechick and immediately moved into formation around the couple. To Kingman's surprise as he stood back up, he could see his red robe turn violet, his white moustache turn blonde, and his black body turn white. He had received new code transferring registry of his PET, and his system was accepting commands he could not reject.
"White Queen takes Black King. Checkmate." She said with a devious grin. Then, before anyone could say another word, all sixteen white chess pieces teleported out of the system together.
"Damn it...so...close." Drillman choked out while trying to prop up his beaten torso.
Flamechick staggered over to him, tattered and bruised with black smoke rising from her wounds. "I'm sorry. We were completely unprepared for that. Are you okay, Drillman?"
"Agh! I lost my target AND my lower body! Do I look okay!?"
"That's enough Drillman." Moe's somber voice interjected. "Jack out. You both need repair and a recharge." The navis returned to their PETs and their operators began to pack up. "It's not a total loss. Our trackers have some data to go through. We know where Kingman was jacked in so we'll dispatch a local Malwaukee Official to check it out. They'll probably only find an empty PET abandoned there, but it belonged to Blackbelt at one point so there might be some useful information left on it."
"That doesn't make me feel much better." Drillman's pained voice responded from his PET. "Tell me we know where King and his new girlfriend escaped to."
"We have an address, but it could be a proxy. We'll check it out as soon as you're operational. With any luck we can still track them down."
"There...that makes me feel better."
"Uh huh. The service lab will more so. Let's go."
Hoshiko looked at her navi on the PET screen remorsefully. "This was all my fault. I could have prepared more..."
"Don't worry about it. Flamechick turned out to be pretty tough." Moe reassured her. "This mission was only meant to be a learning experience for you anyway."
"Ah...right. I guess I should put together a fire folder now." She pondered on how she could approach that problem as they made their way out of the server room.
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