The world around Nicky laid in ruin. He was wearing his Pixel attire. The night was illuminated by various fires that enveloped many of the once bright buildings. The greenery of the city was wilting with death. The famed river of the town was the color of crimson. The small metropolis of Rivendale, which had once bustled with life, now was nothing more than a graveyard. Bodies surrounded him with every step. There were heroes and citizens alike that laid lifeless on the sides of the street. There had been a massacre that spread no one except for him. Why? The swelling feeling of panic grew within him. Was he the last one alive? He had no way of telling. Haley was missing from her usual place on his shoulder. The rate of his breath muted the pace of his running. He looked at his tightly clenched phone. He had twenty percent power left, all his apps were unable to open. That was an ominous sign. Something or someone defeated them all. Nicky had no help; he was on his own. Whatever monster inspired this destruction surely could not be far behind him. He had to keep moving if he wished to live.
He grabbed a light pole to help him turn the coming corner at high speed at which he was escaping. The second he let go, the pole crashed into the ground shattering the glass casing of the light. He immediately turned into an alleyway to further complicate his travel path in attempts to lose his unknown pursuer. He pushed over a trashcan as he dashed out of the segment unto a broken street. This street was much like the first: death and destruction in display on both sides of the pavement. Broken buildings, puddles of blood, and piles of lifeless faces decorated each side of the street. Instinctively he drew into the shadows as a hovering sound echoed behind him. A black orb had entered his vision. Unaware of him, the sphere continued down the street using its one lens to scan the world around it.
"Negative. Moving to the next intersection." A mechanical voice spoke of the floating piece of metal.
What was it searching for, Nicky? He held his breath as it passed by him. He softly stepped behind the scanner as he formed an energy saber in his right hand. With a wild swing, Nicky brought the sword down on the sphere, cleanly slicing it in half. His body moved on its own has he lept back from the sparks that left the exposed wiring. He wasn't in control of himself. His consciousness was but a spectator to the events that were happening.
"I've brought a little time, that's it." Nicky's voice filled the air
His vision went about the street checking to see if the coast was clear for him to move on. After double-checking all perspectives, he bolted down the road again, resuming his fast pace. The more he ran, the more annihilation he saw. He was going towards the epicenter of the disaster. Did this version of him have a key to stop it? After the seventh consecutive corner, Nicky began to slow down as he approached a large building. It was his first time seeing the imposing tower. Nothing like it existed in the current reality of Rivendale. What year was this? In front of the tower were two figures ricocheting off of one another in the air.
"Hold out a little longer, Bastion." Nicky's voice muttered as he charged forward.
A mechanical cried echoed behind him; without a trace of hesitation, Nicky quickly shot three energy blasts behind him. Each shot landed a kill shot in the "eye" of the black spheres that appeared on his tail. The figures in the sky become more detailed, the closer he got to the tower. The more he saw, the more he became worried. The two identities of the figures no longer were a mystery. It was an older Bastion fighting a mechanical humanoid. The hair on his head a mix of grey and black. His tattered costume barely resembled its whole self. He was heavily breathing as he slammed his gauntlets together to block an incoming strike from the automaton's punch. Bastion in a sonic boom flew into nearby rubble. The machine immediately gave chase to continue an assault on the hero.
With a tremendous clang, the machine was the one to be knocked out of the ruins.
"Rivendale is lost. But you will not leave this place intact," Bastion exclaimed as he hurled a boulder of rubble towards the robot.
The machine only responded by squaring its arms in front of it.
The robot first lasers from its palms to break apart the object before it reached its target. Bastion jetted forward to land a powerful hay-maker to send the robot crashing into a crater. Nicky dropped to his knees to brace himself against the quake that it caused. Bastion slammed down into the machine to continue his counter-attack. Dust ascended to the air with each punch; the mighty defender gave the mechanical foe. Nicky picked himself from the ground to resume his rush towards the tower. He had hope that he was going to make it, but there was one problem. The crater the two titans were battling in was in the way. It was too large to go around safely. Nicky mentally braced himself before sliding down into the battle scene.
The combatants of the battle relentlessly hammered at each other. Neither of them giving the other an inch to escape their deadly dance. At this range, Nicky could see the details of the machine threat. His conscious heart dropped, it was the physical manifestation of the blueprint he's been inspecting — Maximus in bolts and oil. The Defender Paragon had dented his exoskeleton. Sure there were broken components in the legs and shoulders, but the main functionality was undamaged. The machine demon's eyes narrowed in as it saw Nicky ran past them.
"New target identified. Preceding to engage both targets," Maximus's voice emulated from the mouth of the machine.
"Try it if you can!" Nicky exclaimed as he fired a burst of energy shots. It didn't do much to damage the plating of Maximus, but it distracted it enough for Bastion to overpower it with a gauntlet activation. The machine rolled following the direction of the attack before struggling to get up
"Activating motion stabilizers," Maximus commented as it began standing unfazed.
"Enemy tactic problematic. Bastion's defeat remains the priority." Maximus continued announcing as it spreads out both hands. A twinkle of a red sphere waved over the machine.
Bastion charged yet again; this time, his fist met an invisible barrier.
"Commencing: Auto Repair," Maximus stated as little machines crawled out from the wounds in its exoskeleton.
"No, you don't!" Bastion shouted as he helplessly beat upon the shield in attempts to break it. Nicky was speechless as he watched the machine repair any error in its system. The speed of repair was frightening. The malfunctions that Bastion caused in their battle were gone. It now appeared as if Maximus had just rolled off the assembly line. Bastion sprang away from the menace to adjust his stance. Nicky nearby Bastion's new position unlocked the phone in his hand to activate his last available app, the Beta program. It was his remote hacking tool. Was he trying to shut down the repairs on the inside? His fingers were nimble as he attacked the coding of the A.I.
"Software breach indicated, activating Trojan." Maximus indicated as its neck twitched. Nicky's phone began to heat up, releasing sparks with each new degree.
He held tight to the phone to finish the task, but it was in vain. The phone dissembled itself before his eyes. With its death, Nicky had no more tricks up his sleeve. This encounter was going to be their last. How long would Maximus toy with him and Bastion before killing them? Maximus charged forward to make contact with the weary Bastion. The large hero's reaction time was slow from his tiredness. His iconic gauntlets were barely able to protect him from the robot's powerful strike. Bastion gasped as he recoiled from taking the impact. In a quick move during his staggering, Bastion was able to catch a rocket-powered kick. He tightened his grip to crush the engine before throwing the machine away. The hero followed up with an uppercutting punch to send the automaton hurling into the sky. Bastion leaped up to outpace the ascending collection of parts. Nicky raised his arm to cover his mouth as dust scattered from the launch point. He could only helplessly watch as Bastion delivered a mighty hay-maker with his gauntlets. Maximus stabilized his decent with small thrust engines in his palms. Bastion fell towards the earth with his shield ready as Maximus pointing his left arm towards the hero above. A micro missile launched from the wrist of the machine. Nicky fell to his knees as he cowered against the explosion in the sky.
"I am Bastion! The 'Iron Sentinel' of justice! I am he who acts as a guardian for the helpless! I will not let cries of torment go in vain. I will stop you, no matter the cost!" The mighty voice of Bastion echoed as the man dove to the ground past the smoky remnants of the missile's hit. Bastion impacted the ground fist first in the cliche superhero pose. Seconds after the impact, a mighty sonic boom ringed throughout the crater. The landing swept Maximus off its feet in the resounding shock-wave. Bastion advanced towards his foe as a demon-possessed. He had found a second wind to continue what seemed to be a never-ending struggle.
Maximus faced an endless assault as it stumbled back again and again in vain attempts to avoid a single strike. Nicky skirted along the side of the crater in hopes of getting behind Maximus. Before he could, A thunderous punch propelled Maximus into the slope of the giant hole. Bastion slowly addvanced towards the now pulverized walking death machine. Maximus strode out of the impression
"Analyse, Hull damaged, forty-five percent integrity remaining. Switching tactics." Maximus cold autonomous voice echoed as it created an energy blade from its right wrist while simultaneously launching another micro missile from the left. The projectile only pierced the ground in the ground between itself and Bastion. There was no explosion. The tiny rocket only laid in the dirt. Both opponents rushed towards each other. An unbreakable blade met an indestructible shield as the two traded blows. Their footwork kicked the tiny rocket away. Once Maximus spotted it behind Bastion, the machine flicked its wrist to trigger the detonation. The resulting explosion blasted Bastion to his feet. Nicky rushed forward to cover the wounded hero. With a swiftly formed energy blade in hand, he deflected an attack from Maximus. He parried the next two attacks to lower Maximus' defense. Nicky closed in to strike at the A.I's exposed torso. He swung for the crakes formed on the left side. The blade pierced the metal flesh in a rough cut where a human heart would have been. Nicky released his concentration of the sword he ducked to dodge a well-timed swing. It was there Nicky meet head on a metal knee. The force behind the gesture sent him backwards. As Nicky stabilized his feet, he readied a finger gun to fire energy bullets towards Maximus. Maximus waved his left hand to create a small shield to block the blue projectiles. Bastion, now back on his feet, swung his fist to collide with the same protection. His fist pierced though to hit the torso.
"Checkmate," Maximus spoke, tightening the servos in his right hand to repair and capture the arm of Bastion. Bastion yanked his arm back, trying to release it. Maximus carried forward by Bastion's might was able to stab the hero center chest with the right-handed energy blade. Maximus released his foe's arm before grabbing his neck with the left hand. The robot lifted his opponent into the air, then took another stab at his foe chest, then another, then another. After three consecutive blows, he threw Bastion to the ground. Bastion was finally dead. His corpse's blood ran out from underneath unto Maximus's feet.
Nicky knew it was his turn to face the stone-faced terror. His feet marched forward to his likely death. His body in instinct fought against the foe. To him, it was a blur; every action Maximus made, Nicky reacted in sound speed. Every time he had been knocked away, he would close the gap again. Every time Nicky swung a blade mattered. All his movement had to mean something if he wanted any hope of surviving. A cube shotgun blast there, a barrier created to block a missile, like Bastion's fight seemed endless. However, unlike Bastion, Maximus appeared unfazed by any of Nicky's attacks. All he could do was try. Eventually, the ending of the story came. Maximus had parried a swing from Nicky, then with an uppercut sent its energy blade through Nicky's rib-cage.
"Don't despair, Human. No matter what you did, your calculated chances of success were point five percent."
Maximus spoke, hanging over Nicky as his eyes faded to black.
Nicky ejected himself up as he clenched the sheets on his bed. He was awake with a fast-beating heart. It was all a nightmare, or was it something more? His heart rate was rapidly pulsing as sweat came down his face — the luminescence of Haley was the only source of light in the room. He leaned his head back, against the wall, the terror that was Maximus still freshly engraved in his mind. The soft sound of his head colliding with the wall behind awoke the slipping pixie.
"Is everything okay?" Haley queitly asked as her eyes looked over Nicky.
"Yeah, it was just a nightmare," Nicky whispered in response. The smell of burning flesh and the pain he had endured felt still too real.
"You don't look okay; you're pale. What was it about?" Haley inquired.
"Maximus." He spoke slowly down his breathing. He saw the concerned look on Haley's face as he finished saying the name of the cursed invention in the blueprint.
"What happened in it." She had asked him
Nicky thought that telling her the events of the dream would help him press the memory out of his mind. He began to tell her everything he felt, saw, and heard. The look of concern grew more anxious; the further he accounted, the story to the end.
"I can see why you are so obsessed with the blueprint now. If something like that were to happen, in reality. I don't know what would happen." Haley confessed, sitting on Nicky's shoulder, shaking her head.
"That's why we have to stop its production, let's try to get some sleep." He told her as he laid back down. Haley flew back to her napping spot on his nearby dresser. He stared at the roof hopelessly, trying to fall asleep as the shock in his system faded away. His beating heart, and weary eyes could only obtain an uneasy sleep this night.
The morning came fast. Nicky took a deep breath as he rolled around in his covers, trying to avoid the sunlight. His eyes were heavy, and his head hurt. If it hadn't been for the ominous nightmare, he might have gotten some sleep. The images from it vividly occupied his mind. At least it was his "day off" as he called it. No classes, no work, he could spend the day as he wanted it. Which, of course, meant more time looking at the blueprint when all his roommates were gone. There had to be something on that insidious document that he could use as a lead.