:3 I need comments.

I think I'm done with chapter 30something. ._.

Chapter 35 – Julius: Insert Chapter Name Here

“All right, guys. This is how it’s gonna go down.” Commander 361 walked over to a massive screen, where the constantly shifting armies of The Swarm could be seen. He pointed a finger at one area of the screen.
“We’re going to deploy right here, 200 yards outside of the Scouting Wall. There’s plenty of cover over here, so combined with this invisibility projector–” He held up a small metal disk- “We should be able to make it through undetected.” Then he traced a line across the map. “We will continue along this path here, clearing out any enemy opposition we find. There shouldn’t be much in the beginning, since most of them are gathered by the gap in the Scouting Shield. However, the closer we get to our destination, the thicker the opposition will be. Try to use only your Light Edges. Your Gremlonium Grenades will be needed later. We will keep moving until we reach this area right here.” He emphasized that last word with a jab against the screen.
“This is where the gap in the Scouting Shield is. Keep in mind that there is absolutely zero cover over there; it’s just one huge clearing. We will hold off the attackers for as long as we can, while Core’s forces wipe out the ones who have made it inside. This is where your Grenades will be most useful. Use them to clear them out and create some breathing space. Core’s forces will join you shortly afterwards, where they will replace you and you can head into the fortress for some quick rest.” Commanders 361 then folded his arms behind his back. “Now, any questions?”

“Yeah, I do.” I piped up. “How’d they get through the main shield in the first place? And create the hole in the Scouting Shield?” I asked.

“Ah, yes.” Commander 361 though for a second. “I’ve forgotten that you weren’t briefed earlier on the situation. Apparently, they used some kind of negative energy, which more or less canceled out Core’s positive energy shield. As for the breaching of the Scouting Shield, that’s a recent update. We’re not entirely sure how that happened.”

“Okay.” Hmm. That was surprisingly interesting. I though back to how long the Gremlins had been trying to pierce the energy shield that they had mistakenly created in the first place. Under the temporary control of The Swarm, King Tinkinzar had betrayed Core and more or less turned the Clockworks in a death trap more full of death than they had previously agreed on. Then he’d created an energy shield that defied the laws of physics. Nothing, save for radio waves, could get in or out. How? Don’t ask me. Fortunately, The Swarm had been purged from Tinkinzar’s mind before it could cause even more damage. I suspected that if it had been allowed to continue sabotaging Core’s plans to create an army powerful enough to fight The Swarm, not even radio waves could have passed through the shield. There were still some other details I didn’t fully understand or know, but I figured I had the basics of the story.

Commander 361’s voice brought me back to reality. “All right folks, that’s about it. The entire battle plan has been uploaded into your programming, just in case. You guys all geared up? Of course you are. Now, let’s get moving. Head for Deployment Bay 6.”

A mighty cheer rose from the ranks of Crimson Guards. I suppose I would have cheered along with them, if I had an emotion chip. Then they rushed out of the door, heading for the Deployment Bay. I followed after them, Commander 361 not far behind.

In the Deployment Bay, everyone was standing in front of a massive hanger door, waiting for it to open and to rush out to aid Core. A loud voice appeared over the intercom.

Attention all personnel. This is Lord Mechron speaking. I would like to inform you all that in a matter of seconds, the Frozen Fortress will be touching down onto the Core. When that happens, the hanger doors will open, and most of you will leave to fight, including me. So, be ready to head out real soon and fight. That is all.

Right after he finished speaking, a low thud was heard, and the fortress shook. Then the hanger doors began slowly opening, and the first of many CGUs and Gremlins began to march out.

Commander 361, now at the head of our 100-strong squad, called out, “All right! Let’s get moving! We can’t let those other Crimson Guard get all the fun now, can we?” His men cheered, thrusting their fists up in the air.

We began to move, slowly at first, but steadily growing in speed. Soon, everyone was outside. There was little illumination, most of it being created from several massive lights on the Frozen Fortress. Fortunately, being a robot, I had built-in night-visions, and everything was illuminated in a glow of green light.

“When they said we’d have a lot of cover, they weren’t kidding.” I heard a CGU mutter. He was right. Towers and blocks and walls of metal surrounded us, protruding from the Core. This certainly would provide sufficient cover.

I watched as Commander 361 held the invisibility projector in his hands, and pressed a few buttons. I watched as a shimmering veil of energy drew itself over the entire group, which I assumed made all inside it invisible to anyone outside. He pinned the disc to his grenade belt. Meanwhile, other squads around us were doing the same. Fortunately, everyone could see each other, so we wouldn’t crash into each other while we were battling out way towards the Core. I supposed any enemies wouldn’t be able to though.

Now, stealth and silence were crucial. Commander 361 gestured with his arm, cutting it through the air in the direction we were to head. As we began a steady jog, weapons out and ready, I felt the ground rumble, a sea of crimson flowing forward like a wave of blood. The enemy would most likely feel us coming before they could hear or see us.

Behind us, the Frozen Fortress slowly took off into the sky again, disappearing into the higher depths of the Clockworks. It buffered us with wind, masking the invisibility shield thing shimmer and waver. Now we were alone, with only out skills, weapons, and each other to stay alive.

We kept going for several more minutes before I heard the sounds of battle up ahead. Metal clashing, weapons firing, bombs exploding. Resistance had been encountered. Stealth would no longer be as useful as it was, now that the enemy had located our position, but fighting an invisible army would be hard.

The noise became louder and louder. The battle was intensifying, the battle which I would soon be a part of. I shrugged my Darkfang Shield off my shoulder, graciously supplied by Lord Mechron, and held it in my left hand. My sword pulsed, the twin-colored blade glowing, as if sensing the coming battle.

Suddenly, we found ourselves in a massive clearing, with no cover at all. This was where the battle was. Hordes of Void creatures were launching themselves at the front line of our soldiers, who were holding steady. Black fought against red. A sea of blood attacking the darkness of death. Not that I could exactly properly see the colors; my night vision was still activated, so the Crimson Guards seemed more green and white than red. The Swarm army still looked black though. But I had no idea what the enemy was experiencing, fighting an enemy they could not see.

Firing optic laser.

The battle line was still some bit ahead of us. I decided to fire a few lasers, taking pot shots at the opposing army. During my short time on the Frozen Fortress, the damage the Knight had done to me had been repaired, and now I could shoot lasers without fear of blowing my head up. I watched as several Swarm soldiers dissolved into a fine black mist, or melted into nothingness. Not that it made much difference. For every one I destroyed, several hundred more took its place. Besides, the essence of the destroyed monsters would be used once more to recreate it. Felt like cheating, but The Swarm had to make do with what it had.

Suddenly, I heard someone nearby yell, “Incoming!” I looked up in the sky and saw several streaks of red shoot through the air.

I recognize those… I realized to my nonexistent surprise and horror. I’d seen many of those things in action before, so I knew their significance. If they certainly were what I thought they were, we were in for some major trouble.

I suddenly decided I was lucky enough to not have emotions, artificial or not. If I had, I would probably be curled up in a little ball on the ground, shaking in terror.

Sure enough, when the first of them touched down on the ground, everything shook and a massive explosion, which momentarily lit up the darkness and almost overloaded my photoreceptors, took up the place of almost half an entire battalion of CGUs. The sounds of battle were drowned out by the sonic blast unleashed by the doomsday bomb.

Where in Cradle did they get Crimson Flares?

Crimson Flares. Although the word ‘flare’ didn’t really seem to do them justice. Sure, they were sometimes used by Gremlins as signal flares, but most of the time they were used as heavy artillery, mainly designed to batter through just about any opposing structure, be it stone or metal. I had witnessed firsthand the power of these rockets, seeing just 2 of them completely obliterate several Spiral Knight fortifications during their very short siege on the Grand Arsenal, which they probably wouldn’t be resuming again soon. The Flares had certainly seen to that. But they were nevertheless incredibly potent weapons to use against infantry. With enough power to carve entire gouges in armies, they were probably one of the most dangerous weapons that Warmaster Seerus had created, ranking right up there with the Roarmulus Twins. Of course, this didn’t really mean much. Most of Seerus’ creations were powerful enough to level Haven in 5 seconds anyway. That was his job, to create weapons of mass destruction.

But where had The Swarm obtained them from? Was there a traitor within the Gremlin Empire? Had Seerus himself supplied The Swarm with Crimson Flares in exchange for being spared?

I watched as several more Crimson Flares descended, explosions dotting the battlefield here and there. Several of them hit the Swarm army, pools of shadow staining the explosion craters. Good thing they had lousy aim. However, something seemed a little off when I looked up to the sky, following the glowing trails of the Crimson Flares. There was something… Missing…

As the opposing army attacked with renewed force, more and more Gremlins and CGUs fell. I realized that the Crimson Flares must have knocked out the invisibility projectors, rendering most, if not all, of our army visible now. The disappearance of the shimmering shield of energy the projector produced must have been what made the view above look strange. Crap.

With us fully visible now, the Crimson Flares began hitting our forces with more and more accuracy. Nevertheless, we speed forward, cutting down the enemy. Over the course of several minutes, I had somehow moved myself up to the main battle line, where Swarm monsters pressed against me. CGUs all around me had their shields up, forming a kind of wall, and were stabbing out with their swords. Grenades were thrown, and small pockets filled with nothing were created in The Swarm’s army.

I stabbed my sword into a Void Gel, the two opposing damages my weapon afflicted making its rubbery body bubble. I stabbed it again, and then cut it in half. It dissolved and I was changing my target to a Void Zombie when-

Warning. Warning. Incoming projectile approaching. Warning. Warning.

I looked up in the sky. A line of red was painted across it, and was headed towards me.

Aw, no.

The Crimson Flare hit the ground some distance in front of me. The blast blew me away, and I flew backwards into the ranks of my allies. I knocked over several CGUs upon my impact, but they got back up without a scratch.

Several others hadn’t been so lucky. I had been fortunate enough to not have been completely destroyed by the explosions, but many CGUs near me had been shattered to shards of metal. More of them were lying around, scattered, with destroyed limbs, gears, wires, and the whatnot.

After muttering an unheard apology to the CGUs I had knocked over, I tried getting up. One of my legs slowly creaked and clanked, but the other was completely unresponsive. I didn’t blame it; it was torn in half. Vertically. Wait, was that even possible?

Anyway, the two pieces were barely hanging together, held to each other by only a few wires and a few pieces of metal. One of my arms was torn off, and the other was damaged beyond almost all repair. There was a gaping cavity in my chest plate, revealing shattered gears, and burn marks covered me head to toe. My Darkfang Shield was gone, but I had somehow managed to retain a hold on my double-damage sword, which was still gripped by my remaining torn-up hand. Amazingly, it had suffered little, if no damage.

“Ow…” I muttered.

Fortunately, there were plenty of Darkfang Gremlin Menders around, running around and healing everyone. They must have been having a pretty hard time though, with the wounded everywhere. When one of them came over to me, he was sweating profusely. His hood was off his head, revealing a young looking Gremlin with scruffy hair. I didn’t know that Gremlins of such young age could get into the Darkfang clan. That took years and years of hardcore training.

When he saw me, he raised an eyebrow. “You’re not a Crimson Guard.” He remarked.

“What of it?” I retorted.

“No need to get so defensive!” The young Mender quickly said, with a hurt look on his face. “It’s just the fact that Crimson Guards are the only Constructs advanced and skilled enough to fight The Swarm. Quite interesting seeing a normal Mecha Knight out here.” He flinched as another Crimson Flare exploded. Yells calling for Menders, competing in volume against the sounds of battle, filled the air once more.

“I’m not exactly what one would call a ‘normal’ Mecha Knight.”

“Yeah, whatever.” The Mender rummaged through a satchel he was carrying over his shoulder. “I can use my Wrench Wand to heal so of your more… minor, for want of a better word, wounds, such as those burns and dents. Might even be able to weld those pieces back together again.” He pointed at my leg that was almost completely split into two pieces. “But I don’t think I can replace an entire arm. You’ll need a completely new one. Or two. And a new legs as well.”

“Fortunately,” He continued, “I believe I have a spare Mecha Knight limb or two somewhere.”

He crouched down, lifted his Wrench Wand and murmured several unintelligible words, and tapped me with his Wrench Wand. It glowed momentarily and a stream of energy traveled down its crystal onto my broken self. Immediately, my burn marks began to disappear, wires melded back together, the pieces of my split leg even began to press and merge back together again. Simply amazing.

Then he studied the remains of my destroyed other leg and arms. “I’m gonna have to amputate the remains of these limbs, and then replace them with some new ones.” He told me. He didn’t have to do much work. When he touched them, they more or less fell off immediately. But when he took out some spare Mecha Knight arms and legs and tried to attach them, he frowned.

“What’s wrong? I asked him.

“It’s nothing. It’s just that these parts here don’t seem to be compatible with your limb sockets.” He scratched his head. “They should be fitting in rather nicely. You’re a standard issue Mecha Knight, aren’t you?”

“Um… I don’t think so…” I said slowly.

“Excuse me?” The Gremlin looked confused now.

“Can standard issue Mecha Knight fire lasers from their eyes? Do they have swords capable of inflicting both Elemental and Shadow damage? Do they wear armor capable of withstanding a Trojan’s smash?” I quizzed him.

The Darkfang Mender’s brow furrowed. “Lasers? Swords? How’d those get into this discussion?”

“I told you I was a special Mecha Knight.” I casually told him.

The Gremlin Mender looked at me blankly for a moment. Then an expression of dawning appeared on his face. “You can shoot lasers from your eyes? Like a Retrode? There’s only one line of Mecha Knight that could do that, along with having all the other stuff you said. Those prototype Mecha Bots that were supposed to have real emotions. But they were discontinued long ago. All the remaining models were destroyed. That’s what Seerus told everyone.”

“Well, they lied. Some of us managed to escape the purge.” I added, dark memories reemerging from the depths of my mind.

“Well obviously, or else you wouldn’t be here.” The Gremlin stood up and placed the Mecha Knight limbs back into his satchel. “Well, nothing else I can do for you.” He told me.

“Understandable. It’s not like they continue to make extra parts for illegal Constructs that everyone thinks are all destroyed.”

“Illegal?”

“Seerus has been sending men out to track down the last of us like fugitives. Killing anyone who we meet too. Doesn’t want any of us eventually getting caught by the Spiral Knights and learning confidential information.” The Gremlin took an instinctive step backwards. “Don’t worry, I’m under Lord Mechron’s protection.” I assured him. “Seerus won’t kill you for healing me. Anyway, Seerus’ project with artificial emotions was top secret; only the highest ranking Gremlins, along with the Darkfangs, knew about it. If the Knights learned about it, well…”

The Gremlin blinked. “Okaaay… That’s all very interesting. But I don’t think that Seerus needs to kill you guys anymore. The Knights already know about the emotions program.”

“What?”

“See, you guys were the prototypes for the Crimson Guards.” He explained. That was news to me. “All of these guys-” He waved a hand at the passing Crimson Guards, still in combat- “were built using many of the same techniques that were used to build you. They have real emotions and all that, just like you. Sure, a few changes here and there, but they are essentially just a new and improved you. With a new color scheme, mind you. Anyway, on the way to the Frozen Fortress, a group of CGUs had a chance encounter with some Knights. After beating them pretty badly, the Crimson Guards, under orders from King Tinkinzar, told the surviving Knights about how they, the CGUs, had 100% inartificial intelligence and emotions. How they could think for themselves. That kind of stuff, which made them far more superior to other Mecha Knights, and much, much, more difficult to defeat in combat. Sort of a warning for the Knights, not to mess with any of them again. Guess the King didn’t want to waste any CGUs fighting the Knights, when he needed them to combat the Swarm.”

“Commander 361 told me how he’d fought a group of Knights on his way to the Frozen Fortress.” I remembered. “Didn’t mention any details, just how they pulverized the Knights in literally two seconds.”

“Interesting.” The Gremlin Mender looked over his shoulder. “Well, I’ve been chatting with you a bit too long. There’re soldiers to be healed. Still don’t understand how they’ve got Crimson Flares. But they’re blowing everyone to high heaven. I’m gonna be pretty busy for a while.” He looked at me. “It was nice meeting you.” Then he ran off, probably heading towards another poor Crimson Guard or Gremlin who needed medical assistance.

Ghost bot?