Stepping over the mangled and molten machine he just destroyed, Matt calmly walked forward towards another giant door.
He had gone through dozens of these hoping to find the bastard that murdered Astrid and he had a feeling this one was the right one.
He didn't stop for a moment even as a scrapper lunged at him from behind ready to tear off his emotionless face with its buzz saw jaws.
Alas it's surprise attack was in vain as all it received was a rusty iron bar that penetrated through its mouth and exited through its spine. Making it stop dead in its tracks and fall dead on the floor.
Calmly stopping in front of the door and pressing a strange metallic stinger to the keypad next to it, Matt waited for it to register and open up the entrance.
He didn't have to wait long before hearing multiple mechanical locks opening and a grinding noise as the heavy metallic door slowly slid to the side.
Taking his first step into the devil's chambers, Matt left behind the mess of twitching machines, burning blaze and scrapped parts he was the cause of, expecting to do the same thing to the devil he was about to meet.
Mind realm :
"FUCK ! He got inside ! What am I going to do…" Pacing back and forth on the white snow, the scientist mumbled incomprehensibly trying to find a way to salvage the situation.
The two Astrid's looked at her strangely, both extatic and sorrowful at their current situation.
"Matt almost never acts like this but when he does it always turns out the same way…"
"What do you mean? Oh wait, it's obvious how to get out of this mess ! I just have to use you as a bargaining chip and-."
"Hahahaha… You've already killed us, he won't believe a word coming out of your mouth whether they're true or not."
"And what we mean by it always turns out to be the same, is that right now he has as much feelings as your machines do, and he will only focus on achieving his objective… In this case, ripping you to shreds."
"Shit, shit, shit ! Why did it have to turn out like this!? I just woke up a few centuries ago and had to build myself and my equipment up again just to take revenge on that cunning bitch that was accepted in the Valhalla project! And it turns out she's already dead and didn't come back like they had planned… " She threw a fit, kicking snow around like a child and throwing around random insults, her previous haughtiness and elegance having been slowly chipped away by the unending complications her vengeance faced.
Once again, a green light enveloped her, calming her down and giving her a moment to silently think this through.
" Do you want to make a deal? " she asked, now back in her calculative scientific mindset.
" Another one? The one we have already turned my life upside down and caused me to pretty much die. Do you think I'm stupid you bitch ?" Berserk Astrid angrily said
"Then let's call it an extension, I save you and you save me. "
"Sure." Cold Astrid answered this time, giving off a sinister smile, "Let's do that."
"Don't forget that I can kill you again if you don't hold your part of the deal."
…
After all the hardships he went through, Matt finally reached his goal.
As he initially expected, the devil seemed to be some kind of AI as the house sized room he entered was completely made up of strange servers.
'I have seen different kinds of servers in my previous life, as well as in that maze-like room where Astrid…
Anyways, these servers or computers or whatever the hell they are don't look like a machine at all.
I mean… they are machines but the way they twisted and fuzed together along with those black and red pulsing cables covering them made them look more like electronic walls of flesh.
One old school computer stood out from the rest as it was inlaid within the machine flesh wall facing directly the entrance of the room.
But contrary to what you would expect, its screen stayed turned off and nothing changed after Matt's intrusion into the room.
"And here we are… Honestly, I would have liked it if you turned out to be human so that I could see you regret and hate yourself as I torture you for all the things you have done... But this is what you are, a disgusting machine… Let's get this over with…"
Taking a dozen blaze containers he had collected after his battles with the machines, Matt placed the biggest ones next to the walls and threw the rest of them at the giant computer letting the viscous liquid flow everywhere and seep into the electrical components.
Remembering all his sweet memories he had with Astrid, he took out the lighter he had made for her when they were still little children playing around within the safe confines of the dome.
The little blaze container had small letters engraved in it and a tinily written sentence following them.
'A+M, happy together forever.'
He had retrieved it when it fell out of her mantle after she died and he still couldn't believe how quickly his life turned to hell, he just wanted to forget, but he couldn't and never will.
He took a small breath before throwing his, or rather her lighter, into the newly formed puddle of blaze and making it instantly catch fire, the flames spread at incredible speed through the entire computer as it gave off an ear piercing electric screech.
"MATT!"
A voice appeared behind him at the same time as the screech, at first he thought this was just an illusion, there was no way she could still be alive, he had seen her die, her pulse, her breathing, her blood, they were all gone.
But along with the voice came the hurried steps, the ragged breathing, the drumming of her heart and the sound of her tears dripping onto the floor.
Matt turned around as quickly as he could, so that he could see her, once again.
Catching her as she jumped into his arms, Matt couldn't believe it, he squeezed her within his arms to confirm she was real and not just an illusion.
Sobbing uncontrollably, both rejoiced at being reunited, being alone for too long, an eternity too long.
*Sniff* "H-how… How can you be alive?"
"Haha *Sniff* The demon kept me barely alive a-and *Sniff* brought me back so that I could save her."
"Her ? So you want to help her after all she's done?"
"No… But I've promised to save her… And she can still kill me again, she replaced all my blood with small robots… I don't know what to do. But it doesn't matter… I-I was able to see you again."
Both stayed locked in each other's arms, leaving the growing fire almost completely consume the computer as the heat and ear breaking screeches became more and more intense.
Matt did a quick peck on Astrid's forehead and walked away towards the central computer.
Even though Astrid didn't want to let him go, she knew that to stay with him she had to let him save that bitch… and her.
"What are you going to do ?" she asked
"You told me she wanted you to save her life right ? She didn't specify what she meant by that…" He followed his words by inserting a small device into one of the old computers ports, but nothing happened.
"If you want to live, get into this storage."
The screen suddenly lit up with a loading bar that slowly filled up. 1%... 2%...
But suddenly, the bar and the whole screen glitched out and the charging sped up, 3%... 17%... 39%...
Matt could feel the fire growing and growing as the heat started to cook his skin. Parts of the computer fell onto the floor as the thick corruption cables holding some of them together had completely burned away.
81%...98%..99%...
☬༒[̲̅1][̲̅0][̲̅0][̲̅%]༒☬
He took out the storage drive moments before the screen shattered and melted from the heat. He ran towards the exit where Astrid was waiting for him and jumped out just in time before a burning server almost crushed him and blocked off the only way out.
On the other side of the door and laying on the ground, Matt laughed with joy and trepidation as he lifted up the storage drive containing the devil. He had locked up his greatest foe yet and as promised, kept it alive.
For now... And now, he felt very, very tired.
1505 words
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Hope you liked this chapter !
Quick question, are you for or against lemon, because I am in the middle of doing one and don't want to use it if there are too many brittle souls reading this story.
Thanks for your votes in advance :p