"Teleport will begin in 1 minute."
Thudding footsteps could be heard as 3 people made their way to the center of the designated teleport room. The two on the sides were heavily augmented, with no trace of humanity showing. They were practically war machines, with their minds controlled and their memories wiped. In the center of the two was Dr. Jovan, with extensive upgrades of his own. He was taller, with most of his body replaced. His menacing aura had grown as well, since he now had the power to tear others apart himself, and not just psychologically. He smirked, looking at his metal hands as he grabbed the teleport device. "Why didn't I do this sooner?" The two guards next to him hooked their arms into his before the group of three were sucked away across the void.
................................................................................................................................
Back at the Diamond Dogs' temporary encampment, E-30 once again sat at the base of the watchtower. A stream of metal bugs marched between him and the pile of metal next to him, repairing the damages with a patchwork of welded metal. E-30 watched as the Diamond Dogs got to work in the distance, returning the mine to proper order. Deep below, a team of them were working to move the wyvern body deeper into the cavern he had battled in, while sealing the entrance to avoid the inevitable smell of rot.
He looked down at his body, watching the bugs try their best to fix him. Only now, he could see more and more imperfections than before. His body, which was once a glistening image of mechanical perfection, was now a structural abomination due to the repeated use of the random metals he had been acquiring. Dots and splotches stretched all over, metals forced to fuse with other dissimilar metals. All of his systems were functional, but he could tell the integrity was less than normal.
He let his head hit the tower behind him as he looked up to the morning sky. 'I've only been in this bizarre world for a few days, and I'm already falling apart. Fight after fight after fight...'
As much as he craved his freedom from his former cage, he knew it was only a matter of time before something bigger came along and completely destroyed him. Even with the strength he gained, the world around him seemed to scale up as well. 'I used to be worried about thugs and guns, now I have to worry about fantasy monsters killing me.'
Here, he had no true goals. He had no knowledge of the world outside this little bit of forests. He had no access to technology that wasn't his own body. The negatives of his situation added up, opening his mind to a solution.
E-30 could not stay. "If I stay, I'll die. If I can get back to my world, I would be much more capable of defending myself in the familiar environment. I just need to avoid the Doctor." With his mind made up, his resolve grew stronger. "I was already going to go get the device anyway, I might as well use it to escape this hellhole."
He got to his feet and climbed to the top of the watch tower. It wasn't much taller than the trees, but he was still able to spot the huge mountain in the distance. Despite the distance, he could still see the city and castle attached to the side, defying gravity. He climbed back down the tower and immediately ran off, focusing on the general direction of his destination. 'I won't bring any metal with me. It'll only slow me down, and using it will only weaken me more. Once I'm back on Earth, I can find good metal to use.'
E-30 had only been in the forest for a few days, yet he already moved much faster through the foliage, expertly dodging and climbing the impediments that always seemed to aim for him. Greens and browns blurred while his speed continued to increase. As he got closer to the mountain, its menacing presence seemed to grow larger, dominating a portion of the sky. Eventually, he stopped running when he came across a dirt road. Following it with his eyes, he could see that it lead to the mountain. The other way went over a hill and disappeared. He shrugged "I guess I'll follow the path."
Before he could, he heard the sound of something walking on the path. He quickly hid on the side of the road, which was covered with a thick and dense canopy of leaves, making for some of the best cover. Coming over the hill towards the mountain were two creatures with a familiar form. They were horses, wearing the same gold armor as the ones that had chased him during his first encounter. He listened in, hoping he would hear them reveal something, but they continued marching along in silence. 'Hopefully, they're just on patrol. If they know I'm coming, this is going to be much harder.'
Once the two guards were farther down the road, E-30 emerged from the foliage. 'I can't use this road. Someone else might come along.' He crept to the other side of the road and entered the forest again, breaking into another sprint. He needed a path up the mountain, and he knew what he was looking for. Not too far away, the river that he jumped into was roaring in front of him. It was much closer to the waterfall than the place he had left the river before, so the water was much rougher. Rather than getting in, he went alongside the river, guiding him closer to the rocky slope.
Slowly, the deafening sound of the waterfall replaced the ambient noise, signaling his arrival. He looked up past the flow of water to the structure anchored to the rocks. 'I'll be completely exposed if I climb, but I have to take my chances.' He mentally created an image of what he needed, and his hands were transformed into climbing spikes, like he had used to climb the wyvern. Steadying himself, he leapt up, soaring through the air until his spikes pierced the mountain in a shower of pebbles. With this, he began his journey up the steep incline.
As he climbed, he made sure to drift to the side, toward the castle peeking over the edge. 'I really don't want to try and sneak through the town if I don't have to.' Soon enough, he was right under the edge. He peeked over, scanning the area for any patrols. There were a couple of guards in the distance, but they were facing the toward the main entrance, and the town leading up to it. Much closer to him, the window that he had previously jumped from was high up on the castle walls, but within climbing distance. He pulled over the edge and crept to the wall, quickly beginning his climb before someone noticed. Much faster than his previous climb, he made it to the familiar double casement window. 'I hope it's unlocked...'
He tried pulling the two panels open, but they didn't budge. He could have tried breaking them, but he didn't want to leave signs of forced entry. He climbed sideways, looking for another window to try. The next window he tried wasn't locked and allowed him to enter. He was in the castle once again.
'But not the same room.' He noticed at he glanced around. 'The right room should be nearby though.' E-30 opened the doors to the room just a bit, peeking through the crack for anyone outside. Down the hall, there was a door with a sun on it, along with a pair of unicorn guards walking down the hall in his direction. 'Okay, I'll wait for them to pass by and-'
He was cut off by a flash of light between him and the guards. The light cleared, and a pit opened up in his soul. In front of him was Dr. Jovan.
E-30 could only see his back, but he could immediately see the huge difference. The Doctor was no longer a relatively weak human. He had become just like his creations, just like E-30. Flanking him were two larger cyborgs, who were acting like guards. Luckily, they hadn't been facing in the direction of the doors behind them. E-30 watched as the three beings scanned their new surroundings, only to focus on the two horse guards in front of them. The two gold covered guards stared with wide eyes, before jolting back and lighting up their horns.
Just like the large unicorn being he originally met, their horns glowed as they pointed them at the trio of cyborgs. Right before his eyes, he saw a bubble form around the newcomers, trapping them. The large cyborg on the right lifted an arm to try to punch through, but was stopped by the Doctor. Surprisingly, the three of them got to their knees and surrendered to their captors, while the Doctor still held a spherical device, just like the one he used. E-30 was perplexed as the bubble was lifted off of the ground, while the two horses took them down the hall and out of sight.
He closed the door and leaned up against it. He couldn't believe what was happening. "He made another one... he made it to get here, to find me! He was right in front of me! He's..."
E-30 stopped as he realized what this means. "If he's here, then he can't intercept me on Earth!" He quickly rushed out of the doors, silently sprinting to the door with the sun. He tried opening the door, but it didn't budge. "Fuck it!" He bashed his shoulder into the door, trying to force his way in. Still, the door remained undamaged from his attempts. "They probably removed the teleporter from the room." he reasoned. "I doubt I'll find it, but I can still try to take the one HE has. They'll definitely confiscate it and store it."
He took off in the direction the group had gone, stopping to peek around every corner. Unfortunately, he hadn't expected the castle to be filled with so many connected halls. He quickly became lost, since he had no idea which halls the group had taken. Every once in a while, he ducked into a room to avoid passing guards. Soon, E-30 noticed that the guards were going in the same direction. 'They're probably going because of a situation, and I bet that situation is Jovan.' He continued down the halls in the same direction as the guards. Since it was day, there weren't any shadows for him to try and hide in, so he was uncomfortable at how exposed he was.
Against the odds, he arrived at a large set of doors, where the guards he had been loosely following entered. Of course, he couldn't just go through the doors as well. He followed the wall along the outside of the large chamber, reaching a smaller door. He opened it, revealing that it was a broom closet of sorts. He ducked in, closing it behind him and leaving him in darkness. E-30 pressed his ear against the back wall, and faintly heard voices. 'I need to see.' He extended his thin arm fang and slowly pierced the wall with it. Just as it poked through, he pulled it back, revealing the tiny hole he had created. He crouched down to peer through to the other side.
The room he was looking at was large, with stained glass windows going from the floor all the way to the high roof. Through his limited vision, he could tell that he was near the front of the chamber, before the windows dominated the walls. At the end of the room, sitting on a throne at the top of a staircase, was the large unicorn he had first met. She was clearly in a position of power, and the crown in her billowing hair told him she was their queen.
Down at the base of the staircase, the Doctor and his two guards were sitting on the floor with chains decorating their arms and legs. Around them, multiple horse guards stood and watched them vigilantly.
E-30 once again tried to listen in on the conversation, while the queen was talking. "-your intentions?" He listened as Dr. Jovan began talking.
"I am not the same as the being you may have met previously. We have no intentions of harming you or your people. We are here for the sole purpose of capturing the dangerous criminal that escaped us. Please understand this mission's importance, and help us. We can be allies, rather than enemies."
E-30 immediately recognized the way Jovan was talking. He sounded the same way when he was tempting E-30 with the promise of a new body. He hoped the queen wouldn't be swayed to the Doctor's side, but E-30 hadn't exactly done anything to cause her to doubt the story being told. He listened closer as the Doctor continued.
"If you would like, we can share resources with you, as a show of good faith. Not that I am belittling you, but I'm sure there is something you might want from us." The queen looked on in thought. Then, in a flash of light, the teleporter that the group had used appeared in front of her.
"You claim to have created this device to crudely teleport between worlds." The portion of Dr. Jovan's face that E-30 could see twisted into anger for a moment, before hiding it. "Does it also allow return trips?"
Dr. Jovan nodded. "Yes, it does. However, most fleshy bodies are torn apart in the transition. I can help you by-"
"That won't be necessary." The queen interrupted. "We will have no issue with teleporting like you do. I wanted to be aware of its capabilities, to be sure that you won't steal something and disappear without a trace." With that, she made the device disappear once again. "On the matter of the dangerous individual you are pursuing, I believe that we can work together. You will not do anything that I am not aware of, and hopefully we can build trust to become better allies. Agreed?"
The Doctor smiled. "Agreed." At that moment, the chains on him and his two guards disappeared. Their heavy feet thudded as they stood up.
E-30 backed away from his peep hole and sunk to the floor in despair. Now, both his chasers and his captors were on the same side. There was no doubt in his mind that Dr. Jovan was planning something sinister for the horses, but it didn't matter if their primary objective was capturing E-30. 'He'll probably wait until after he has me to throw them away.'
"I'm so dead..."