Grendel's heart fluttered as he watched the screen. Husky was approaching the black cages with steady movements—after all, Grendal didn't need a goblin emerging from the dark and clawing poor Husky to death.
No goblins so far, Grendal thought. I should probably explain what's happening to our contact in the cage.
The small screen floating a few inches above Grendal's left armrest was still there. He had to commend Tia's information-gathering skills—even if it was merely surfing through chat logs. It saved a bunch of his time.
On the stage, a screen opened up to the side of the map—a new chat log. Hopefully, the conversation went well. If the husk freaked the person out, or they didn't cooperate, Grendal wouldn't be sure what to do next.
User ID: 2244. ["Hello, this is Grendal. I'm friends with Tia, the person you were speaking to previously. Don't be alarmed. The white creature approaching you now is one of my husks."]
User ID: 5642. ["Pleasure to meet you, Grendal. The name is Guss, Guss Macklin. So, you say that the faceless creature is one of yours, mighty glad to hear it. From what I could see from over here, it did a number on those goblins. So what's next?"]
Grendal scratched his cheek and coughed into his fist. It was not his intention to make the fight so bloody. He didn't even control how the husks fought—it was a point-and-release mechanism, but now was not the time to explain that. He threw a glance behind him. Tia and her sister were still focused on their screens, sweating over their task, which Grendal appreciated. If a husk was lost, he didn't know when he would have the resources to grow it again.
He adjusted in his seat, focusing on his screens. What would they do next? Husky had finished approaching the black cages. So Grendal could finally see all three prisoners on the map. He took note of the other empty cages and sighed—people had probably been in those cages, but the filthy creatures had consumed them.
User ID: 2244. ["I need you to step back from the cage door. Can you tell your friend to do the same? When Husky breaks the locks, I don't want shrapnel or anything to injure anyone. By the way, Guss, which cage are you in?"]
User ID: 5642. ["Okay, will do. I'm in the Middle one."]
Grendal nodded as, on the screen, two of the prisoners stepped back. The third lay on the ground, unmoving. He was most likely unconscious, which Grendal couldn't do anything about at the moment.
"Okay, screw it. If that person gets hit with anything, it should, at most, be a minor injury." Grendal said, massaging his forehead. He commanded Husky to move forward and attack the cage door of the middle cell.
The husk walked towards the cage and slashed the wood, its golden claws cleaving right through it like butter. Grendal smiled. The wood wasn't as durable as he had assumed it to be. That or Husky's claws were sharp as heck.
Husky then backed away from the cage, allowing Guss to walk out. The man padded out of the cage, looking around with a hint of what appeared to be fear. Grendal couldn't blame him. There was a non-zero chance that the goblins were still in the area, and they wouldn't be much pleased to find their prisoners had escaped.
On the screen, Guss turned to the ginger girl's cage as Husky walked across the dirt floor over to it. He was saying something to her, but Grendal couldn't hear what.
There has to be an upgrade for the map that lets me get sound, Grendal thought as his fingers tapped the armrest.
The girl shook her head and pointed to the third cage as Husky's claws sliced through the cage door. They were talking about the unconscious prisoner. Grendal commanded the husk to go to the final cage as he directed his attention to the chat log.
User ID: 2244. ["Guss, what's the problem? We can't be too loud. The goblin captain is still in the camp. I don't know its exact location."]
User ID: 5642. ["The girl is saying that we should leave the man behind. I don't like the idea of that."]
Grendal frowned as he looked at the girl on screen. Selfish. People like that could be a problem down the line. Or maybe she knew how to make the hard decisions, but no matter how the situation with the man turned out, it was something to consider.
On the screen, Guss and the ginger-haired girl continued to argue. But that was a problem. The goblins Tia and her sister were leading back would be at the base soon enough, and he couldn't spend too much time on these guys. Grendal frowned, settling deeper into his chair. He would give them five more minutes.
The two on the map continued to argue for several minutes, and from the looks of it, Guss was starting to concede. In the end, he rested a hand on his cage, and a few seconds later, Grendal received a message.
User ID: 5642. ["Sorry for the hold-up. We have come to the understanding that deciding whether he comes with us isn't our decision. It's yours. After all, you're the one taking us in, and we have to work with you."]
Grendal rested his chin on the back of his hand and leaned forward, smiling. He was in control. None of them could get out of this situation without him. So, when it came to ensuring that the prisoners made it out of the forest, it was all on him.
If I were him, I wouldn't appreciate being left behind by my fellow prisoners, all because I was unconscious, Grendal thought. He leaned back in his chair and glanced over his shoulder. "How are we doing, Tia?"
"I should reach the clearing in about ten minutes." She said as a small bead of sweat trickled down her forehead.
"Okay." Grendal brought his attention back to the chat log. It was one more mouth to feed, but he wanted people. He needed them.
User ID: 2244. ["Okay, bring him with you. Husky will lead the way."]
The husk sliced the cage door open and stepped back, allowing Guss to enter. Once inside, he scooped up the unconscious man and carried him on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
Okay, I probably shouldn't get him angry. Grendal chuckled as he set Husky on the path back to the base. The two prisoners followed—the girl lagging behind the man with a conflicted look marred across her face.
Grendal sighed. Whatever she was thinking would have to wait. He had a base to protect and goblins to kill.
—
Tia's knuckles whitened as she focused on the screen. Her husk—the one Grendal had tasked her with controlling—was dashing through the forest with relative ease. It sored over logs and crashed through bushes, all the while staying at a steady pace. If it moved too fast, there was a chance the goblins chasing it could get distracted.
Almost there now, Tia, she thought. Grendal's base—her base was up ahead. When she zoomed out on the map, it seemed to be no more than five minutes away at the husk's current pace. "Grendal, I'll be here soon."
From the corner of her eye, Tia noted movement from the seat a few feet ahead. Grendal had hopefully finished his part of the plan and was ready to move on to the second. He called it the blitz.
Tia sent a command to the husk on screen, navigating it past a particularly dense group of shrubbery that would have otherwise slowed it down. She sighed as she continued to analyse the map—timing was everything.
The husk that her sister, Lucy, controlled should be at least thirty minutes behind. It had another four goblins on its tale. If they caught up before the goblins Tia was leading were killed, the consequences could be severe.
A subtle but rapid tapping stitched the tense atmosphere of the bunker. Lucy. Even now, her sister's annoying habit reared itself—it was as if her feet had a mind of their own. Tia wanted to hiss, to tell her to stop, but she couldn't risk getting distracted or distracting her sister.
Tia sighed and gave the final instruction to her husk on the screen as it launched through the bushes. The robot plunged into the dirt, kicking up dust and skidded as a metal rod tore through the air above it. A shrill scream sounded as the rod slammed through a goblin's chest behind it, pinning the foul creature to the floor.
Seconds later, the three remaining goblins sprang from the bushes. Tia panicked and urged the husk to get back to its feet. The tower would not fire again for a few seconds. A goblin lept towards the husk's figure but missed at the last moment, eating a mouth full of dirt instead.
Two more of the husks rushed in to back up Tia's husk. The first lunged on the prone goblin, while the second dashed past it. It tackled another goblin, slamming into its bell and tackling it into the dirt. A few feet away from the scuffle, the last of the goblins paused and looked on in confusion.
"It's gonna run," Tia said and commanded her husk to give chase. The husk raced forward, leaping over the cluster of combat in the way and charging down the final goblin. Tia smiled as the goblin froze like a deer in headlights. The creature was an idiot. It came to their base, looking to kill, yet it had time to freeze.
The husk's golden claws extended and slipped deep into the goblin's chest as it tackled the creature to the ground. After a few seconds of writhing, the goblin's arm slackened and slapped onto the blood-soaked dirt beneath it.
"Heck yeah!" Tia pumped her fist and slammed it down on the armrest. "Take that, you green-blooded, human-eating freaks."
"Tia," Grendal said with steel in his voice. "Focus, Lucy's group should be coming in soon. No mistakes."
With a meek nod, Tia lowered her head and directed her gaze to the ground, examining the stage's metal. She had been too excited the fight wasn't over. But still, she had taken that goblin with ease. Tia glanced up at the back of Grendals chair and frowned.
On the screen, the two other husks also efficiently dispatched their goblin targets. It took them little effort. With no weapons, what could the goblins do? So why run? Was Grendal just an overly cautious person?
Perhaps he was. But Tia wasn't—and weapons like this warranted a little boldness. A subtle smile came to her lips as she opened and closed her hands. The next fight would be over in a flash.
The minutes ground by, each second grating on Tia's nerves. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. Her sister's group was taking longer than Tia had anticipated—the quicker the fight started, the faster this whole thing could end.
"Come on, come on," she muttered, her gaze flickering to her sister. The girl's face was tense, made all the worse by the low light inside the bunker. Floor lights did not adequately light the room.
But that hardly mattered when the screen was all you needed to see. Tia focused back on hers and almost jumped out of her seat as Lucy's husk barreled out of the bushes.
Tia waited for her sister's husk to pass her own before she ordered it forward. The husk kicked off the ground, scattering dirt as it charged into two goblins. It knocked the first over and went in for the kill.
But before the blow could land, a second, chubbier goblin tackled the husk off its friend. They both collapsed to the floor—and in a second, the goblin was on top of Tia's husk, hammering it.
"No!" Tia yelled as she frantically scanned the map. She had messed up. The husk should have been able to effortlessly slaughter these goblins—at least, it seemed like it could have. "Help!"
A third goblin was about to leap in and make the situation even worse. But thankfully, before the foul creature could, Lucy—her beautiful sister—commanded her husk to slam into it, bringing it to the floor.
A few seconds later, a blur passed over Tia's husk, and then the goblin that had been brutalising it was a few paces away with a metal rod sticking out of its chest.
A smile tore across Tia's lips as her eyes sparkled—that tower, that beautiful tower. If she wasn't in this bunker, she could kiss it. Tia wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve and focused back on her struggling husk.
Her lips quivered as she watched the husk clamber to its feet. A crack ran down the middle of its faceplate as its poor arm sagged at its side. Blue blood trickled down the arm, splashing down into the dirt below.
"Tia," Grendal said, glancing back. His cold gaze washed over her, and she felt her chest tighten as dread coiled in her gut. "Return the husk to base."
"Y-Yes," She stammered, looking back at her screen and ordering her husk back to return.
Tia sighed as she leaned back in her chair. There were no words to describe how badly she had messed up. Grendal had told her not to lose a husk, and while she hadn't, her recklessness had come close to doing just that.
She watched as the fight on the screen continued, though it wasn't much of a fight. The husk outnumbered the goblins and slaughtered each of the disgusting creatures, spilling their guts and leaving them in a puddle of their sickening green blood.
When the fight was over, Grendel cleared his throat and stood from his seat. As he did, Tia's breath caught in her lungs as her heart hammered in her chest.
Please don't kick us out. Please don't kick us out. She thought.
He strode from his chair and slowly walked over to her, his gaze boring into her soul. Tia's throat tightened as he stopped before her, balling up his fist. "What in the Emperor's name was that?"