Debbie pinned Dr. McManace to the wall, but he put up a fight. She threw her weight against him as the entire room rumbled with the force of a thousand dashing wildebeest. She had him pinned by the neck with her left arm by the time the rumbling stopped. It became far too quiet far too quickly.
She panted heavily as the doctor stopped moving. He cast his glance upward, to the right, then square behind the women. Debbie was too shaken to ask him what he was looking at. Then, she heard the door open.
There was a disturbing twinkle in his eye. Debbie thought she could see something reflected in that insane look, but she didn't want to take her eyes off of him.
Without taking her eyes off the mad doctor, she said to Yvonne, "What is it?"
Yvonne turned around slowly as Debbie kept her steely glare on Dr McManace. The doctor simply grinned with an unusual amount of pride, the remains of his restraints hanging down like vines off a dead tree.
Yvonne screamed, and time seemed to slow down. Debbie turned around to see what Yvonne had screamed at. Dr McManace struck her on the chin, throwing her head back. He threw Debbie against the wall and sprinted as fast as he could, getting far away from danger. He shot through the door as fast as a bolt of lightning, leaving the women as easy prey.
Stars danced in Debbie's field of vision. She blinked quickly, clearing her vision, but she wished she was blind. Standing in the threshold was a hulking cyborg dressed in 18th Century French clothing, complete with a replica powdered wig. Debbie tried to remember her high school history classes and only one name came to mind: Maximilien Robespierre. The man responsible for the Reign of Terror.
And Debbie was terrified.
She screamed as Robespierre grabbed Yvonne by the neck in a super strong robotic hand and lifted her several inches from the floor. Yvonne's face went white with terror, then purple as she struggled to breathe. Her mouth worked furiously as she tried to call out for help, and she clawed against the cyborg Robespierre's metallic grip.
And all Debbie could do was watch.
Or, could she do something to distract the Cyborg of Terror?
What would Alex do? She thought, panicked. Looking around, she found a wastepaper basket filled with crumpled up sheets of paper. She grabbed it and heaved it at Robespierre's head. It bounced off without leaving a mark. Maybe it skewed his replica powdered wig, but no damage was done.
[SFX: metallic 'clink' of metal on metal]
Robespierre let go of Yvonne and she tumbled to the floor, landing in a ragged heap at his feet. She shuddered a few times as she drew in large, desperate breaths.
At least she's alive, Debbie thought, thankful.
Then, she noticed that Robespierre was looking directly at her.
"Come get me, you stupid robot!" she yelled, grabbing a nearby coffee mug. She tossed it at the cyborg, and it smashed against his face. Ceramic shards flew everywhere, and cold black coffee dripped down his face. The cyborg was too well made. Debbie thought that if she accidentally spilled coffee over SCOT, the artificial intelligence Alex had created to keep them all safe, he would probably short circuit.
Robespierre took one lumbering step toward her and opened his mouth, releasing a large jet of white fire. Debbie ducked as the stream flew over her, melting the super expensive equipment. She looked up, heart thudding in her chest, and cold with fear. Robespierre's dead robot eyes glowed a vile red as he advanced with his slow, determined, robotic walk.
Debbie sought refuge behind an office chair. No sooner had she done it than Robespierre unhinged his jaw and spewed forth even more of the white fire, and the chair fell victim to it, leaving behind a melted clump of plastic, metal, and singed synthetic fibers. Debbie shuffled back, kicking with her heels as she did. She grabbed anything that came in her way and threw it at Robespierre, hoping to deter him.
Sirens and smoke alarms blared all around.
She pushed herself up, turned around and ran out the door, drawing Robespierre into the hallway. She stopped dead in her tracks as she noticed the figure at the other end, bowing its head toward her. Its bare shoulders were hunched, and if it hadn't been for the charging ports implanted in various parts of its body, Debbie would have assumed that it was an ordinary person. A really ripped ordinary person, but still.
He wore a black hood with two eye holes cut into the fabric, and a massive executioner's ax strapped to his back.
"Oh my god," Debbie squeaked.
"Bonsoir, Mademoiselle!" said the executioner. Debbie jumped where she stood. She hadn't expected him to speak, let alone with a French accent! His voice was grating and metallic, and had an odd sort of echo to it, as if he was speaking into a metal bucket.
"Come with me," the executioner said. "Do not put up a fuss, and your head will not meet my ax."
As if to illustrate his threat, the French-sounding executioner cyborg hefted the ax off his back and held it in front of him in both hands. It was almost as long as Debbie was tall, and the head of the ax was so sharp that it shone in the hallway light. The executioner smiled. That smile was not entirely human. It stretched unevenly across the face and the jaw was way too low to be of normal proportions.
Debbie shook her head, starting to back away.
"Mademoiselle does not wish to come with me?" the executioner said, taking a step toward her. "What a mistake. Mademoiselle and her friend are very much wanted alive by Monsieur Naysmith."
"What does he want us for?" she demanded, taking another step back.
"That is not for me to say," said the cyborg, weighing the ax in his hands and looking down at it with glowing red eyes. "You will find out if you. COME. WITH. ME."
"Never!" Debbie screamed.
Then, she ducked as the ax swung toward her. The head was buried in the wall behind her with a loud, metallic thunk, making a massive dent where it landed. The cyborg executioner glared at her with its vile red eyes and opened its disproportionate jaw unnaturally wide like a snake preparing to eat its prey. It howled at her, but no white fire came out.
Instead, the roar was deafening. Her hearing went fuzzy again, and it wasn't helped by the persistent blaring of sirens and smoke alarms. The bitter electrical tang from Robespierre's white fire still stuck in her nose.
The executioner reached out for her, but she ducked, using the handle as leverage. She brought her knee up between the cyborg's legs… and was rewarded with nothing but a "bang!" and a numbing pain in her right knee. She staggered back, clutching the axe handle for support, as the executioner reached for her again. It garbed her by the hair with a vice-like grip and pulled her upward so hard that she was standing on her tip toes.
She screamed with pain and fear.
"You could have made this easier," said the executioner. "Instead I have to take you by force!"
The executioner slammed Debbie's head against the wall just a few inches shy of the ax head. Once again, Debbie saw stars, but this time she was ready. She pushed herself off the ax handle and, ignoring the head rush, she brought up her feet and landed a double kick in the executioner's middle. She kicked with all her weight, and the executioner flew backwards, surprised. If a cyborg could be surprised.
Panting, and still a little dizzy, Debbie took advantage of the cyborg's stunned few moments and ran as fast as she could down the hallway. She skidded to a halt when a familiar-looking cyborg appeared out of nowhere. She looked around, desperate for something to throw at Robespierre, but there was nothing to hand.
Robespierre made a sickening, guttural sound as he opened his mouth. Unlike the executioner, who had moved his lips and mouth when he spoke, Robespierre's jaw hung open. Debbie could see the white metal teeth along the jaw, and some of the inner mechanisms that powered Robespierre.
"You will come quietly," he said, also in a French accent. "There is no escape. If you wish to live, you will cooperate with us."
"No," Debbie said, her voice catching in her throat.
But she found herself suddenly feeling weak and heavy. All this running and fighting was beginning to take its toll on her, and now more than ever she needed Alex. She wanted to feel his strong arms around her, holding her and protecting her from all of this. If Alex was here, she would be able to help him instead of fighting on her own. And Yvonne! She couldn't even save Yvonne.
A single tear rolled down Debbie's cheek as she thought of poor Yvonne, crumbled up on the floor, barely able to breathe.
"You will not be harmed," said Robespierre, holding his robotic hands out in a reasoning gesture. "On this, you have my word."
Debbie looked down at her burned, soot-stained clothes, and held a hand up to her head. She could feel a massive bruise forming, and she would be lucky if she didn't have a concussion after all of this.
"I think it's a little late for that," she said coldly. "Tell Naysmith to come out and face me like a man, instead of sending his tinker toys to do his dirty work for him."
At that, Robespierre fell silent. His eyes stopped glowing red, and he seemed to power down. His arms hung limply and he collapsed slightly, so he looked like he was standing hunched over. The powdered wig on top of his head tilted at an angle, and the 18th century jacket it wore crumbled a little. Debbie found it a little funny that Riley had gone to the trouble of actually manufacturing clothes for a cyborg.
Then, suddenly, Robespierre's head snapped up and his eyes glowed green. He stood erect with his robotic shoulders back and chest puffed out. He tilted his head to one side and opened his mouth. This time, when he spoke, a very familiar voice came out, and the overall effect was of a Bluetooth speaker amplifying someone's voice as they spoke into a microphone.
And that voice belonged to Riley.
"Oh, Debbie," said Riley-Robespierre. "Why do you have to put up such a fight? All you have to do is come quietly so Alex can rescue you. Isn't that what you want?"
"No," Debbie said, shocked. "You want Alex! You want to lure him here! I won't let you!"
Riley laughed through Robespierre's mouth-speaker.
"This will be so much easier," he said, "if you just admit to yourself that you have lost. You're tired, you want to rest. I can give you rest. And Yvonne. I'm sure she's perfectly happy, curled up, in a burning room, inhaling smoke and possibly suffocating."
Debbie's blood ran cold as she thought of Yvonne, her newfound best friend, dying alone.
"You're bluffing," she said.
"Maybe I am," Riley replied, "maybe I'm not. There's no way to tell, really."
"Then why would I go with you?" she asked.
"Because you have no other choice."
Robespierre's eyes glowed red again and he stomped toward Debbie. She ducked out of the way and skirted around him, running as far as she could away from him. She tried frantically to remember the way she had come in, but her head was too full of cyborgs and white fire and executioners to recall anything useful.
Robespierre picked up speed, his every step reverberating off the floor beneath her. As fast as Debbie tried to run, she found herself being thrown up and down by the force of Robespierre's massive steps. She cried out in frustration as she came up to what looked like an exit. When she threw open the large black door, she found only a brick wall staring back at her. Tears streamed down her face as she turned around to find Robespierre advancing on her.
Then, out the corner of her eye, she saw something. It was small, red, and looked incredibly useful. A fire extinguisher.
Debbie knew how Alex had taken down the super soldier. He had blasted Ethan right in the face with a fire extinguisher until it had been tapped dry. Seeing a bright red fire extinguisher, Debbie had an idea.
What would Alex do? She thought bravely.
She made a beeline for the fire extinguisher, her stockinged feet hitting the cold floor painfully. If a constant cold jet of carbon dioxide could kill a super soldier, it could disable a cyborg. The Robespierre cyborg clomped its way toward her, shooting a long metal whip at her. It grabbed her round the ankle and yanked, pulling her to the floor. Her chin hit the cold ground, sending a sharp pulse through her jawbone and teeth. Her hearing went fuzzy for a moment and blood rushed through her head.
Then, the cyborg Robespierre started to drag her backward.
Thinking quickly, Debbie rolled onto her back and began kicking at the cyborg's hyperextended arm with her free foot. No matter how hard she kicked, Robespierre was completely unphased. She tossed and turned as Robespierre pulled her towards him. The metal tubing opened up and wires began to pout out, wrapping themselves around Debbie until she resembled a mummy.
With her arms pinned to her sides and her legs immobile, Debbie stared up at the blank ceiling, feeling dejected and like a failure. Once again she found herself wishing that Alex was there to save her.
The wires tightened, and she began to feel cold as her blood supply was restricted.
I'm sorry, she thought, thinking only of Alex. I let you down.
[SFX: 'click']
She felt the wires go slack as Robespierre released them, leaving her lying like a caterpillar in its cocoon in the middle of the hallway. His grim face looked down at her, eyes glowing green as Riley took him over.
"Now I have you," said Riley. "I must say, you look rather good all tied up. I wonder if Alex will feel the same way when he comes to rescue you like the brave, noble knight he is?"
Riley's cold, metallic laughter rang through the hallway as Debbie silently prayed for Alex to do just that…please come rescue me Alex.