Psycho
Chapter Thirty Three
Slowly, Queen Chrysalis led the hulking stallion through the smoking streets of the Empire. Her son strode beside her, anxiously looking around every corner. Had she not caught the youth in her own magic, the Queen preferred not to think about what would have happened. She amused the thought that he found someone to care for, even if it was a pony. She scoffed as she ended her thought, gaining Carapace's attention.
"My Queen?" The changeling calmed himself long enough to ask.
"Do not concern yourself with my thoughts child, they are mine and not your own" Chrysalis raised her head and turned to hide her scowl.
In truth, she very much wanted to share her thoughts. She really wanted to snuff out this bond of his with this pony. The queen sighed with her thoughts. Reflecting back on her invasion of Canterlot, and how willing Celestia was to just forgive her of her actions... Her scowl molded into a saddened frown as her thoughts amassed in her head. With a quick glance down at her son, a smile crept onto her aged face.
A subtle humming filled the air, silent to the imposing psycho's ear but to the sensitive changelings it was like hooves on a chalkboard. Chrysalis furled her brow in a vain attempt to ignore the grinding buzzing in her head, the pain bringing her to gritting her sharp teeth. She could sense her child feeling the same pain, although looking at him made it more obvious than that. Finally she snapped.
"KRIEG! What infernal device in your unlimited arsenal is making that mind splitting noise!?" The Queen raged as her head snapped around to the large, confused psycho.
"Noise?" Krieg lifted his head to listen, but hearing nothing. "I don't hear any noise, and I'm pretty sure it's not my gear." The sane psycho responded, clearly glad he had gained control.
"You don't hear it Krieg?" Carapace turned beside his Queen, nervously kneading the ground. "I can hardly take it."
"Umm, no? What's it sound like?" Krieg asked, raising an eyebrow behind his mask.
"Umm, like... your axe? Sort of?" Carapace cringed a little bit as the sound got louder.
"My...axe?" Krieg lifted his head up to hear.
Carapace nodded hesitantly as he watched the large masked stallion lift his ears up. His own ears twitched as the buzzing sound seemed to get louder. The Queen clinched her teeth as she lowered her horn, expecting trouble. Krieg noticed and pulled the Maliwan Hellfire off his hip. Gripping the gun, he remembered Lilith giving him the weapon and a shield generator shortly after getting off the train. Said something about her firehawk days... Krieg shrugged the memory away.
Raising the gun up in one hoof, Krieg stepped up next to the Queen. He could now faintly hear the humming, although it sounded different for him. Stepping beyond the changeling queen and and her child, Krieg followed the faint sound down a scorched block of buildings. He quickly got his answer to the noise. On the far end of the lane, the psycho saw the massive constructor digi-structing a small army. For once, the psycho froze as he saw the numbers. His legs were like stone, but not out of fear of the bots. The psycho was froze for another reason, or the lack there of.
Fully expecting his hand to grip the hardened handle of his buzz axe, he remained calm as he watched the hordes of Hyperion bots from his position beside a burned building. Or remained as calm as he could, inside his head waged a one man battle as he shouted at himself.
Come on, where are you?
Silence was his answer.
Are you still in there?
Krieg knew the answer, unless the beast found a way to leap from his mind and into another...
Ok, ok. I'm sorry I kicked you out of control. Can you forgive me? And more importantly help save the city from Hyperion?
For once, Krieg was saddened by the lack of response.
"What is going on?" He asked aloud, not aware of how loud he actually asked.
"INTRUDER DETECTED" The loud monotonous voice ravaged the air with it's empty sound waves.
"Shit!" Krieg whispered as he rounded the corner he came from, running into the Queen and Carapace. Literaly.
"And what has my 'fearless guardian' quaking in such fear?" The Queen sneered as she picked herself up from the ground.
"Chrysalis, we gotta go. Now" Krieg didn't ask.
"And you think you are the one to give orders to me?" The Queen scoffed as she twisted her head. "In case you forgot, I am the Qu-"
"ATTENTION INTRUDERS. DIE"
"SHIT!" Krieg and both changelings shouted in unison as the split off to dodge incoming fire.
Krieg and Chrysalis weaved in and out of ruined buildings dodging fire from the loader peppering each door, wall, or corner they passed. As Krieg ran, he vaguely became aware of his guest running with him. As Chrysalis ran, she was fully aware of the lack of her child. Rage grew inside her as she thought what those monsters would do to him, but her rage was soon replaced with worry as she hoped for his safety.
Carapace had no idea what was going on. One moment he was watching his queen pick herself up from Krieg's tackle, and the next he is dodging gunfire and jumping walls and windows. Now he stood in a burnt out shack, what he presumed to be a tool shed of some kind, alone.
The changeling took a moment to look around, trying to find any kind of weapon. Not like gardening tools would do much against the metal monsters, but holding something as simple as a blade made him feel better. Shuffling around the charred ruins of the caved in roof, he found what looked like a sickle of some kind. The blade was stained black, Carapace guessed from the ash but failed in brushing the dark color off.
Grabbing the sickle by the scorched handle, Carapace was surprised at how well the handle held up. A few charred bits crumbled off at his grip but altogether held. With the blade in his possession, Carapace made his way out of the shed and back into the streets. Before setting off into the dangerous streets, the changeling had a decision to make. Loyalty, or love...
The changeling ran into the burning ruins, blade in hoof and seeking the only pony to ever matter to him.
"Queen! Get down!" Krieg shouted as a Bul Loader plowed through the wall both pony and changeling were hiding in.
The Queen vanished in green flame as the loader rammed through the smoke. Reappearing beside Krieg, she charged her horn with green magic and launched a blast at the loader. The Bul Loader unfolded into it's bipedal form just in time to block the magical attack with it's shield, but as the green magic made contact the shield seemed to wither and disintegrate. Krieg had an idea.
"Hit it again! I think I have a plan!" Krieg ordered.
With a wicked sneer, Chrysalis released a second blast of energy at the loader raising it's disintegrating shield. Krieg took the opportunity and raised his gun. Pulling the trigger, the loader spanned it's shield arm towards the barrage of flaming bullets allowing the Queen's magical blast to blast into it's side. The bot slowly melted into a smoking puddle. Krieg stepped up next to the Queen and raised a hoof up to her. Chrysalis turned her grin over towards the stallion with his hoof raised towards her, and with a sigh she raised her own and bumped it to his.
"You will tell NO ONE about this... So help me I wi-"
"DISABLING FIRST LAW. PREPARE TO DIE" The voice was followed by a single shot and a scream of agony.
"Blast it!" Chrysalis screeched as the bullet pierced her hardened skin and made it's way into her chest.
The queen collapsed as the green fluid began to stream from the wound. She felt her breath weaken, her whole body was getting weak. She cursed herself for being caught off guard, or would if she had the energy. Never before had she felt such pain, few creatures can penetrate a changelings chitinous hide. She watched as the loader took a step into the building, and she watched it fall before her own vision began to blur.
The psycho was speechless. This queen, whom he remembered being quite powerful in their previous fight. Then seeing her in action, even for such a short fight, she was one of the few people... ponies... whatever he felt he could in a weird way trust. If he couldn't even save her... He felt a twitch in his hand at the thought. He felt something he should be a kin to. He felt rage.
"You should run... run back to your hive in the sky... get your friends and leave..." Krieg began as his body shambled across the room towards the loader. "Because if you dont..."
The loader raised it's gun to kill the approaching psycho pony, but as the gun released it's deadly volley the arm holding it flew in the air. Krieg's buzzing axe ripped through the metal and wires as he screamed.
"THEN I WILL CARVE MY NAME INTO EVERY ONE OF YOU I SEE!" The psycho screamed as he charged into the streets filled with bots.
Axe in one hand, gun in the other, Krieg charged into the mass of enemies. His axe sang as it ripped through metal like flesh. His gun screamed as it ignited anything shot, reigniting many buildings. The psycho caught a massive loader armed with dual incendiary auto cannons, with a toss of his axe one of the cannon arms fell to the ground. Without thought, Krieg sprayed the War Loader with his Hellfire sub machine gun. The loader combusted into flames as Krieg rushed by, carving further into the mess.
A nearby loader fired a charged blast at the psycho, ripping Krieg's shields apart. Krieg only grinned in amusement as surrounding loaders were blasted with fiery explosions erupting from his body.
"LIGHT EM UP BITCHES! I AM ON FIRE!"
A loud explosion jolted Queen Chrysalis back to reality. With heavy breaths, she managed to lift her head enough to see the source of the explosion. Much to her surprise, one of the robots landed before her. Scorch marks covered it as it smoked. With a struggled grunt, the Queen managed to stand. She ignored the splitting pain in her chest, if the shot hadn't killed her then... She pushed herself outside, feeling a certain warmth of power flow inside her.
"What is this?" The Queen said aloud as her body began to feel rejuvenated.
The pain from her wound was all but vanishing. In her wonderment, the warmth of power lifted her face towards the sounds of screaming and gunfire. She watched the hulking stallion cleave through the hordes of metal monsters. Was this power she was feeding on... from him? Power radiated in the Queens veins, she felt it surge through her like a tidal wave. She grinned as she directed her new found power into a force of vengeance.
The queen strutted down the road, green flames wrapping around her body and leaving a trail of flaming hoof prints behind. Remaining bots twisted at their new target, as one raised it's massive cannons it was lifted up in magical fire and crushed. Chrysalis grinned as she stopped, surrounded on all sides. With a sadistic glow, her horn lowered towards the horde of machines. An eruption of pure magic beamed out of her horn, slicing through each bot it touched.
"Ahhh... to be me again... How I've missed this..." The Queen grinned as she stepped over melting and burning corpses towards the raging psycho, still cleaving his own path towards the creation before them. "First these monsters... Then I'm coming for you Jack."
"You like killing bugs? You really do? How about this. I hope you brought some raid, BECAUSE MY ENRAGE IS UP AND YOU HAVE JUST WIPED!" The psycho ranted as his shield began to recharge.
Axe buried in the remaining arm joint of an ultimate badass, Krieg ripped the buzzing blade from the offline bot. Now he stared down the behemoth that was the constructor. It's glowing red eye singled out on the flaming stallion, three auto turrets unfolded out and locked onto the ponies position. Krieg cocked his face as he grinned under his mask. The three turrets opened fire at the psycho as he leaped into the air and rolled to the side.
Unleashing a hail of infernal rounds upon the heavily armed constructor. The flaming rounds ignited the armor for a second but barely lasted. Krieg cared not as his torrent of fire continued. Circling the constructor, he was unaware of how close he actually was. The construct jumped in the air and crashed down, launching the psycho back into the pile of destroyed bots. The top hatch of the constructor opened up into a missile pod and unleashed a barrage of missiles towards the psycho.
Krieg raised his gun once more and unloaded the remainder of his clip into the air. One after another, the missiles met the fiery bullets and exploded in the air. Through the smoke, Krieg charged in. As the psycho reappeared through the smoke, he was abruptly launched back by a second barrage of missiles. The psycho landed on his back, his shields exploding in fire as he stood. He watched the constructor through the clearing smoke.
"ARMING NUKES"
"BOOM TIME!" Krieg shouted as he shot to a stand and vaulted up a burnt out house.
The constructor fired the first nuke in the air as Krieg peaked the ruined building. The fattened missile sliced the sky in a smoke trail as it turned to fall. The psycho leaped from building to building as the nuke fell and crashed into the first ruined home. The house exploded in a brilliant flare, Krieg never took the moment to look behind as he roof hopped away. Anypony who would have seen his grin could have told he was enjoying this.
Chrysalis watched the explosion with wide eyes, but snapped back to reality as she saw two more missiles in the sky. Looking between Krieg and the missiles, she formulated a plan.
"Beast! Come!" The Queen ordered.
Krieg snapped his head to the tall black changeling and immediately vaulted from his perch towards her. Landing next to the queen, Krieg grinned as he gripped his axe. Both nukes descended upon them, the first met with a powerful blast of magic fire. The second now homing in on it's target.
"NOW!" The Queen bellowed.
"BALLS OF STEEL!" Krieg charged towards the constructor.
The nuke altered it's course to take out Krieg as he charged towards the constructor, pulling out his own nasty surprise for the creation. Chrysalis charged her own magic as much as she could, due to her new found power was a lot. Krieg leaped into the air as his axe fell into the optics of the constructor. His fist jammed in the package of explosives into a gap in the constructors armor. Pulling out his fist, he gripped his gun and sprung off the massive bot. With a grin, he pulled the trigger. The flaming bullets found their way into the armor and ultimately to the large bundle of dynamite left inside the loader.
"MAKE WITH THE SPARKLY! LETS MAKE IT GO BOOM BOOM!" Krieg screamed as the nuke flew right by him towards the constructor.
Like clockwork, Chrysalis created a magical barrier around the constructor and nuke. In the split second before the bot's death, one could see it's eye glow. The bubble shield glowed bright with hues of red and orange. The both of them watched as the fire swirled in the bubble like an orb of fire. Both wearing grins of pleasure, one for the fun of it and the other for what this meant.
The shield fell as the Queen finally relaxed. She turned her head towards the psycho who was simply staring at her. She felt his heavy gaze resting on her, and to her surprise found herself hesitant to look away. This creature, she could tell it was no pony, but yet it still seemed to entrance her. She focused into his exposed eye, tracing the bloodshot veins of red inside the swirling white vortex. She felt her own cold heart beating against her chest and before long caught her head leaning forward. The psycho pony simply watched as the changeling queen leaned in closer, and closer. Chrysalis found herself lost in thought and yet screaming on the inside. She was genuinely curious as to who this masked stallion, creature was. As she closed in on the hard mask...
"STRANGER DANGER! STRANGER DANGER!" Krieg screamed, knocking the Queen away with his voice alone. The psycho watched her recoil with wide green eyes. Krieg rested his gaze back on the Queen, she was certain she heard a sigh.
"You are not deserving." Krieg drew in a breath as he turned his head. "Not like me..."
Chrysalis felt her insides sink at the strange sense of compassion behind the psycho's words, and could not tell if it was him speaking or some thing else. She watched Krieg begin to walk away before the raised a hoof to stop him.
"Krieg, wait..." The queen spoke with a softer tone gaining his attention. In a flash of green, she stepped forward towards him. "You may not know... but I have done many bad things... many ponies would probably have seen me die back there..."
The psycho watched himself step out from the smoke, almost wincing before remembering who he was dealing with. Warming up a smile behind his mask, Krieg wrapped a hoof around the pale, linen wrapped hoof before him. With a firm shake, he was about to speak when...
"ONLINE, INITIATING MURDER.exe" The ultimate badass loader just finished reconstructing from the remnants of the constructor, now aiming all six of it's automated cannons towards the duo. Krieg felt a twitch in his eye.
"BUT I ALREADY MURDERED MY EX!" The stallion screamed as he charged the massive bot, pushing the metal monstrosity into walls, doors, everything. Buildings collapsed as the psycho charged with his new makeshift dozer-blade. The queen simply sighed and followed behind.