Courage and Justice

Fandom: 9
Characters: Scientist and 7
Word Count: 1,597
Warnings: None

I no longer hear the screams. The battle has been moved further away from the city to protect what few citizens survive. The army tries to lure them into open fields to prevent casualties, but they have only succeeded in spreading their reign further. Now even more countries must suffer our mistake. I have become vexed. My blood boils at the sight of decaying flesh and hollow eyes slowly losing their light. Children await the cold, unforgiving embrace of the bloody offspring of War known as Death, for it has become their only comfort. It is a slow, painful wait, because they starve as we all do. The machines have made it very difficult to acquire fresh food. We live on what we can find. Many die of disease even when they manage to stave off starvation. I have surpassed my depressed and insane states of mind, but I cannot succumb to the apocalyptic assimilation of my fellow humans. I cannot allow myself to become so numb and empty. I am not so blind that I do not realize I have entered the stage of death known as anger. However, my rage, defiance, and moral outrage at such inhumanity will make the true savior this time around. Yes! I was too blinded by my own ego to think that intelligence could solve this problem! It will take courage and bravery to survive in this new world! I have crafted a pure doll which will shine amongst the others as she leads them to victory over the machines. Agile, strong, and skilled, she will be a brave warrior in this frightening world. I hold her out, my pale, skeletal fingers expanding before her stiff, upright form as a lotus blossom from the feet of a goddess. She holds my greatest hope thus far, like the spear in her hands, and I can feel it pulse into her as I press the button for a seventh time.

7 swung down from the broken rooftop of a bleak building and slid down the drainpipe to the ground. She landed nimbly and rolled over to a dirty tire. She looked around before using her spear to vault over the top, landed inside the tire, and scurried into the hollow rim. She pushed her helmet up, giving a short grin as she listened to the Beast scratching at the door of the warehouse angrily. She had it trapped, but not to the point that she could destroy it at her own leisure. She had only stopped here to make sure it was truly contained long enough to make her escape. She tried to calm her breathing, but the smile returned to her face as she let the adrenaline pulse through her. In truth, she had only stopped to savor the feeling of her rapidly pounding heart as it pumped the golden chemical through her body. It was all that kept her alive, and it was all she had in this life to give her joy. In some small way, she knew she had only stopped to give the Beast a chance to free itself, so that the game could begin once more.

When the sound of the Beast's scratching had ceased, however, her smile faded. She had not expected that the Beast would actually find its way out. She clambered to the top of the tire and peered over the edge cautiously, searching for any sign of her foe. She knew it could be quiet when it needed to be, and she couldn't take the risk of letting it catch her off guard. She lowered herself once again, hoping to wait it out in hiding, but as she turned to back up into the rim again the Beast struck! She had been surprised, but did not allow herself a cry of shock. She rarely allowed herself such a luxury during battle. The Beast's claws descended on her, but she rolled out of the way just in time. It struck the rim of the tire instead, and the swipe ripped it nearly in half. 7 stumbled out from between the jagged edges of rubber, and sped across the empty landscape in search of shelter. Not only to hide, but also to collect herself and turn the tables as she had so often done before in such situations. She scaled the side of a flowerpot with apparent ease, nearly running up the full length of the smooth surface, and clawed the rest of the way to the top. She knew the Beast had seen her drop inside, so she was prepared when its paw shot into the opening. Her spear flashed as it pinned the paw to the side of the flowerpot, but this only served to further anger the larger creature. It jerked its paw back, taking the flowerpot with it, and she tumbled against the walls roughly as the Beast tried to shake its foot free from the heavy pot.

7, becoming somewhat irritated at the unstable battleground, shot up the side of the flowerpot once more and landed daintily on the handle of her spear momentarily. She crouched, coiling the "muscles" in her legs which were, in truth, actually coils and launched herself off, using the force of her momentum to shake the spear free as well. It was a difficult move, and she did not quite make it to the top of the flowerpot so that she had to claw her way out the same as she had been required to claw her way in just moments ago. She scowled at such a lack of effort on her part. That was time she couldn't afford to lose. By the time she finally hit the ground again, the Beast was back on its feet as well. It swiveled its head around to glare at her and she let a small gasp escape her lips. She was sure it wasn't heard through the thick bone of her bird-skull helmet, but she hated it when the creature managed to scare a sound out of her, a matter of pride she supposed. She turned and used her superior speed to get a head start. She did not glance behind to see if the Beast was gaining, but she tried a few evasive maneuvers, just in case. She shot in and out of cans, cars, overturned wagons, and other assorted junk in hopes to lose the creature. She took a sharp right at the corner of an empty house, shot through one of the large doorways, out the other, and continued on until she could feel herself growing weary. It was only then that she allowed herself to turn and check for any traces of the Beast. It was not following her. She couldn't be sure when she had lost it, but it was no longer in the vicinity – she hoped.

7 sighed in relief and jabbed her spear into the ground. She removed her helmet and placed it atop the blade as she rested. She was wiping an arm across her forehead when she noticed her surroundings had become suddenly rather familiar. She took a quick, furtive glance in every direction, spotting several landmarks. Great, she had headed towards the twins' hideout without even thinking! That was brilliant! In all the excitement and adrenaline she hadn't even noticed she was putting the very lives she had been attempting to protect in danger! She hoped the Beast truly was gone this time, for at this realization all the adrenaline poured out of her, and she sat down heavily for a moment.

"Damn!" she exclaimed, disappointment in herself rising like a bitter taste in the back of her mouth.

How had she been so careless? She snatched her helmet from its perch and flung it back upon her small head. Taking the spear roughly from the ground as she went, she sped off to make a patrol of the area again. This time she was more cautious, remaining in the shadows and always beneath something. She would speed hastily through the open when her own life was on the line, but she would not endanger the lives of the twins with her arrogance and pride.

Once 7 had decided there was nowhere for the Beast to hide, that she had not checked, she ceased her search long enough to find a suitable place for communication. She dropped to dirt level, took the blade of her spear in hand, and angled it towards the grand library in the distance, bouncing off the rays of the sun in a series of short and long flashes. She hoped one of the twins was on the lookout. Sometimes, they missed her messages because they were both too enraptured with their studies to bother looking out the window from time to time. She continued her message until she received a response from 4, who indicated that she would be sure to let 3 know of the danger. 7 sighed in relief as the communication was terminated, and got to her feet with a slight groan. Today had been somewhat rough, and she needed to find some place to hide from the Beast before night fell. After a workout like that, she wouldn't have the energy to fight in the dark. She rubbed her lower back as she moved slowly away from the twins' sanctuary and thought to herself that she was probably beginning to grow too old for this heroic stuff. She popped her neck with a smirk – but not quite yet – and took off into the sunset to find shelter.