Hardman's Bar
By Hadrian Howell (Hardman)
Chapter 38
I could hear the voices on the edge of my hearing, through the pressure in my head and the stabbing, cold feeling of pain in my chest.
“Holy crap…”
“Wow…”
“Hardman…?”
“Hey, guys!, What’s going on?”
“Topman?”
“What?”
“Get over here!”
“Why, what’s… holy… what HAPPENED to him?”
“Nevermind him…”
“Hey… is that…?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, crap, he’s going to be SO pissed when he gets up again.”
“Hey, there’s Needlegal.”
“What’s going on?”
“Hardman just killed his best waitress.”
“W… wait, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Just take a look.”
I heard someone gasp.
“Wow, looks like a war zone in here…”
“Hey, Magnetman, get over here.”
“Why? What’s the probl- oh my god.”
“Yeah.”
“Is that as bad as I think it is?”
“Probably.”
“Is she…?”
“Well, she took a four ton tank to the face, and she’s human. What do you think?”
“Ouch. Yeah… okay…”
“All in favor of hunting down Wily before Hardman starts going on a rampage?”
“NO,” came two firm female voices. “We’re not leaving him here like this.”
“But he’s all damaged and stuff… Wily might be able to actually kill him like this.”
“Still, I’m not leaving him here.”
As the conversation continued behind me, I numbly ignored it, trying hard to think of a reason to stand up again. Sure, Wily needed his thrashing, and Hakushaku had to be dealt with, but how did any of that matter compared to this? How could I be asked to give a damn anymore?
And then, there was another voice. One I usually obeyed without question. “Okay, cut her out of that thing.”
“AUGH! STOP DOING THAT!”
“No time for complaining, Gemini,” Shadowman said, stepping past me. “We have to get her out of there.”
“For what?” Magnetman asked. “A proper burial?”
“Take a look,” Shadowman told the rest of them.
There was a silence. “Is she… still breathing?”
My head shot up. Through the bleared vision of pain and sadness, I tried to look at her. Gauntlet was already cutting away wires and cables with a shadow blade. “Come on!” he was saying. “If we move fast, we still might be able to save her.”
I need no more prompting, and my remaining arm took hold of Siegema’am’s shattered chest armor and started to peel it away, giving Gauntlet and now Needlegal more room to work with as they cut the various cords, wires, and bindings tying her into the black behemoth. I barely noticed when my hand went through the ammunition bins for the Siege Vulcans, spilling magnetized ammunition onto the floor around me. This wasn’t to say something inside of me didn’t recoil at the magnetic forces, but a much larger part of me was saving my friend.
“Magnetman, get those bullets away from here,” Snakeman said.
“No problem,” Magnetman smiled, picking them all up at once and moving them away from me. “You know, these are neat! I think I’ll keep a few around, just in case.”
“Just keep them stored away or something,” Sparkchan said. “Those things even made ME a little shaky.”
“Eh, lightweights,” Magnetman grinned, making two of the bullets orbit him for fun.
“Got her!” Needlegal shouted as Cassandra slumped out of the shell called Siegema’am. She picked the shallow breathing human up with ease. Then she stopped and looked at Shadowman. “Okay, now what?”
“We get her to a doctor.”
“We’re in the middle of a fortress! Where are we going to find a doctor in the short time she’s probably got?” Geminiman asked.
“And whose fortress is this?” Topman said, catching on.
“Wily’s, you idiot, what does-“
“No, DOCTOR Wily.”
“Oh this is the stupidest idea I’ve ever-“
“Let’s go,” I forced my voice to say. Everyone stopped and looked at me. “Seriously, let’s go. It’s her only chance.”
“You heard him,” Shadowman nodded. “Let’s go find Wily.”
There was a gate in one of the walls that opened up into a hangar, where some of Wily’s trademark doomsday machines lay in pieces and bits, like some kind of science fiction car junky’s garage. As Needlegal, Snakeman, Shadowman, Sparkchan, and Magnetman dashed ahead of the much slower moving me, Topman skated up behind me.
“Hey, big blue, I found something I think belongs to you.”
I turned to look, and in Topman’s hands was a large spiked ball I’d last seen smashing through Siegema’am’s head. It was completely undamaged. “Thanks, Toppers,” I said, opening up my chest to reload the cannon. “I seriously gotta look into expanding my ammo storage fer that thing.”
