The people avoided their strange little group. Actually, they ran away from them, screaming their blessed lungs out.
Kayla took the first shot. With a war cry, she crouched, and took off, soaring into the sky, then coming back down with her fist readied.
Sharp spikes shot up from the monster's thick skin like porcupine spines.
"Kayla, watch out!"
Kayla pulled herself back in time, barely avoiding gashing her hand against the spines. How am I supposed to fight it then? she thought in frustration.
The monster grinned a slobbering grin and shook its head. Black spikes were thrown at the two cybers and Data 7. They jumped away in time and the spikes missed. One of the spikes stuck onto a nearby tree; there was a sizzling noise and a tiny black hole appeared on the tree.
"Careful," warned Cybersix, "The spikes are poisonous!"
"Well, isn't this peachy?" complained Kayla, "It's untouchable."
The monster roared and lunged at Cybersix, who toppled back. Kayla tried to intercept, but the monster flung her aside. Data 7 tried to jump onto the monster's back.
Kayla pulled Data 7 back by his tail. "Don't try it," she said, "You'll be badly poisoned."
Data 7's instinct kicked in before his reason and he scratched Kayla's arm. Kayla winced and released his tail. "You could've said thank you, instead."
"Split up," ordered Cybersix, "Maybe that'll distract it."
Kayla nodded in agreement. "I'll go this way and get it's attention. You and Data 7 go that way."
She jumped onto a building and whistled. "Hey!"
The monster looked up, bored. Kayla hurled a rock at it, ripping off a nice chunk of its hideous skin.
"Catch me, ugly!"
In the blink of an eye, she was gone- already a block away from her original position.
While the monster was looking the other way, Cybersix motioned for Data 7. "Come on!"
They ran in the other direction and had quite a head start before the monster noticed that they were all gone.
"DESTROY CYBERSIX. DESTROY DATA 7," it rumbled.
It lumbered after Cybersix and Data 7 in a clumsy, but effectively fast manner. Buildings and walls did not matter to him; he simply strolled through bricks and cement, unfazed, in a straight line, bulldozing anything that got in the way.
Kayla was doing what she did best; she ran.
She loved to run. Loved to feel the wind whooshing against her face, the ground barely touching her feet, the pedestrians screaming and scrambling out of her way. She always wanted to fly, and this was the closest feeling to flying. She was always grateful for her power and speed at those moments. Hardly any creature could rival her speed. In Africa, she enjoyed chasing cheetahs, her speed almost matching that of the fastest -natural- animal of the earth. They always ran from her, sensing something dark and unnatural.
A man with a newspaper and donut screamed girlishly and scrabbled away from the black blur that was coming towards him. The black blur shouted back, "Get out of the way!"
The man looked at the vanishing blur and wondered if it was a dream. Suddenly the blur came back, whizzed around him, then left, shouting, "Thank you!"
"Wha-?" He looked down.
His donut was gone.
Kayla finally stopped fifteen minutes later. She paused and brushed away her hair. She looked back.
The monster wasn't there. She was all by herself, on the other side of town.
"Huh?"
Meanwhile, Cybersix and Data 7 were running away from the monster. It was huge, ungainly and moved with the grace of linedancing elephants, yet it was incredibly fast. It had paid no attention to Kayla whatsoever and had headed straight for Cybersix and Data 7, as if they were leading it by a leash. Cybersix panted; they had been running for a very long time but they simply could not shake the creature away.
Cybersix nearly crashed into a wall because she was too busy looking back at the oncoming menace. "How do we stop him?! He just keeps coming and coming!"
Data 7 did not answer. They continued to run, and so did the monster. They turned in a tight corner, which gave the monster enough time to ram Data 7 nearly off the building, head first. Data 7 roared in pain, as he scrambled to regain his footing.
"29!" screamed Cybersix, rushing to aide her friend. She grabbed Data 7's paw. Her brother looked at her and she smiled weakly. "It's okay."
The monster used the lost time to his advantage and knocked both her and Data 7 off. They both landed on the street and the monster jumped down to follow them. They got up and ran away, faster, to get away from the monster.
"Kayla, where are you?!"
Jose watched the chase from his computer. He cackled as he watched his red dot get closer and closer to the two blue dots. "You're mine, Cybersix!"
"Uhh..boss!"
Jose waved the Fixed Idea away. "Not now, dumbell!"
"But boss..."
Jose growled and grabbed at his hair. "WHAT?"
The Fixed Idea pointed to another blue dot. "How come three?"
"Huh?" Jose looked at the map of Meridiana. There were four dots: one red (the monster) and three blue...not two...three. "Huh? Why are there....three." Jose's voice took a cunning and suspicious tone. He glanced back at the two moving blue dots. They were headed to the clothing factory. "You!" he snarled, "Get the car. We're going to take a little trip."
Cybersix looked up ahead. They were already approaching the city limit. She saw a factory up ahead. "Maybe we can hide in there," she pointed.
They ran and leapt to the factory. Cybersix darted in, followed by an out-of-breath Data 7. She closed the door and barracaded it. She panted, trying to catch her breath.
There was a loud thump at the door. The monster was trying to break in. It threw itself against the door again, and Cybersix strained to keep it closed. She was sweating- she never knew she could sweat.
Something touched her shoulder. Cybersix's eyes darted about. She raised her arms to protect her, fearing the worst.
"Cybersix?"
Cybersix opened her eyes. It was just Kayla.
"Kayla!" Cybersix was angry, as she tried to keep the door closed. Kayla helped her sister and pushed herself against the door. "Where have you been?"
"Running away, like I was supposed to," said Kayla, chagrined. She grunted, as the monster slammed again. "It took me forever to find you!"
"Oh. Then...how did you get in here?" Suddenly the monster was still. Cybersix cocked her head to listen for movements. But there was nothing.
Kayla looked at her strangely. "The back door."
"Back...door?"
There was a great crash and roaring. They turned around. The monster had found the back door.
Just then, Jose, his Techno, and his Fixed Ideas, who were armed with guns, rocket launchers and bazookas, arrived, safely behind the monster.
Jose pointed a childish finger at Cybersix. "Ha ha ha! You can't escape us now, Cybersix!"
Kayla was reaching for the bolt of the door behind them. Cybersix grabbed her arm. "Stay," she said, "They've spotted you anyway. I need your help."
Kayla paused. She looked back at Jose, at the Fixed Ideas, at the monster. She sighed. "All right," she said, "But this is a mistake."
"After this, you can leave if you want. I promise I won't say anything." Cybersix was sad at the thought of Kayla leaving, after she had just found her, but she knew that it wasn't Kayla's style to stay.
Kayla took out her katana and narrowed her eyes.
Jose shouted, "GO!" and the monster, still slobbering, hurled itself at the three figures.
They leaped up and away, Cybersix landing on a wall before jumping again, Kayla on a catwalk and Data 7 landing very near Jose. He growled at Jose, who backed away and signalled to his Fixed Ideas to protect him.
Meanwhile, Kayla was trying to figure out how to kill the monster. She had her katana in hand and was more than ready to fight. But she kept glancing at Jose...no matter what, she couldn't let Jose know that she was, and is, one of Von Reichter's failing cybers.
Even if it meant sacrificing her own life.
Even if it meant sacrificing Cybersix's.
The good news was that the monster seemed to completely ignore Kayla, who was still uncertainly hiding in the shadows. He was fighting with Data 7 and Cybersix, who was defending herself with all her strength. He slammed her against the wall and tried to smother her. Data 7 bit his fist, which was not covered with spikes, but it barely penetrated the monster's thick hide. It grinned a hideous grin.
"DESTROY CYBERSIX. DESTROY DATA 7," it rumbled.
Why wasn't it fighting me? she wondered. Why do I go unnoticed? Then she saw Jose grinning with a small remote control in his hands.
The monster has a tracking device! she realized, And it's locked on Cybersix and Data 7.
"Cybersix! Stop fighting with the big ugly!"
Cybersix looked up with irritation, as she was pounded onto the ground. "Are you insane?"
"Trust me!" She swallowed. "Leave everything to me."
Cybersix threw the monster off and walked over to Kayla. The monster was too busy attempting to bat around Data 7, who dodged expertly the monster's huge hands. "What are you..."
"The monster's got a fix on you and Data 7, and only you and Data 7. Everything else it ignores. Let me fight it, by myself."
"No!" She was angry, but fearful. "I won't let you do that."
She grabbed Kayla's arm, but Kayla brushed it off. "I appreciate your concern, but I told you, don't worry about me."
"But...you could die."
Kayla smiled confidently. "One of my mottos is, 'never let them get you today'."
Cybersix hesitated. "If you think you can stop it..."
But Kayla was already gone.
The monster roared and turned around. But his narrowed, doctored vision could not see any living things besides Cybersix and Data 7. But there! A small moving thing darting here and there...that was what hurt him!
Kayla had slashed through his hide with her katana. She could not touch him with her hands, but he was not indestructible. She dove from her position on the high catwalks and struck again. The monster roared and tried to deduce what was hurting him so much. He reached this way and that, but he could not comprehend anything that was not alive that could hurt him so much...and the only things that were alive were Cybersix and Data 7.
Meanwhile, Kayla was frustrated. His skin was very thick, and armored with spikes...though she had hurt him, it was obvious that her inflicted wounds were nothing but mere annoyances. But maybe if she struck again...
With a war cry, she swooped down and slammed her katana through the chest of the monster. The monster screamed, shrilly. Finally it saw its assailant, and knocked it away.
Kayla shouted as she slammed against a wall and curled up in pain. Her skin was punctured by the spikes, but thankfully, they were only small pricks, nothing fatal. No blood flowed.
Pissed at being hurt, Kayla snarled and got up wobbly. She nearly slipped from the water. Water? She turned back and realized that she had crashed into several tanks of water, causing them to leak.
Hmm...
She grabbed a couple of the barrels and shot up again, soaring past the monster. She dumped their contents all over the monster. It growled, and shook itself, shaking droplets everywhere. Cybersix watched, confused. She had no clue what her sister was up to. Frankly, she was getting quite concerned.
Kayla smiled wickedly. "Bye bye," she said sweetly and blew the brute a kiss.
Then she jumped up, up, up to the high ceiling and with a mighty cry, she sliced open three wires. She landed on a catwalk behind the monster.
Like a black snake, the wires came slithering down. The monster was still confused and turned in circles, still standing on puddles. But Cybersix was laughing her blessed lungs out, finally understanding.
Jose was horrified. "No, you MORON! Get away! Get away!"
The monster looked up.
Jose smiled encouragingly. "Good, good, come this way. THIS WAY!"
The live wires came down.
The instant they touched the monster's wet skin, electricity rushed down and around the monster, like manacles of lightning. There was electrical crackling, sizzling, and a smell of smoke, as the monster shrieked and flailed wildly.
It crashed to the ground, electricuted, occasional bolts still snaking around here and there.
