His Heart Is Steel, Part 12
Mar. 10th, 2013 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadedjadaSummary: We look into the universe from which everyone’s favorite mechanical monster first originated. A meeting is placed and a plan is set, as we begin the series of events and inner turmoils that cause the once lovable Pollo to become the evil, vengeful villain known as Mechakara.
Characters: Linkara, Spoony, Iron Liz, Insano, the Nostalgia Critic and...someone else. (dun dun duuuun)
Warnings: Death. That's right, Death. For realzies.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, all characters belong to their rightful owners.
Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, and part 11. Enjoy!
The Nostalgia Critic was exactly as Linkara remembered him. Loud, angry and surprisingly kicking a lot of ass. His trademark outfit...white shirt, black jacket, hat, tie...was just as it was before, albeit looking more than a little disheveled. His glasses looked broken, and his face was covered in soot. All the same, he seemed to have all the energy in the world in him, and was putting it to good use as the metal drones surrounded him. Machine gun in his arms, he mowed down as many bots as he could, stopping every now and again to pull a grenade out from the ground behind him, and throw it down on the enemies below. He even seemed to be enjoying himself just a little, with the way he was shouting up a storm.
“EAT LEAD, WALL-E! YEAH! YOU WANT SOME OF THIS???”
Linkara was crouched down just underneath him, watching him from behind. He and the others had maneuvered around the rubble to get closer to the action. Luckily, the bots were paying them no mind. The Critic was a big enough threat on his own. Still, the old psycho couldn't keep it up forever. He needed their help.
“Alright guys,” he whispered, turning to face his crew. “We need to spread out to form some kind of...hey, where's Pollo?”
Liz looked around in alarm. “Did he get hit?”
“Nah, that wouldn't happen.” Spoony said reassuringly. “He probably just fell behind.”
Linkaras brow furrowed in concern. “Yeah, okay.” He said finally. One thing at a time, after all. He'd have to worry later, if they still couldn't find him. “Look, I'm gonna try and get up to the Critic. You guys get to the side of the barricade and cover us. Start when I start, okay?”
And with that he began to climb up the pile of rubble, over tables and chairs, careful not to go near anything sharp or splintery. The Critic was too preoccupied to notice him, even when he was near the top. There were blasts coming every which way from the Paola-bots, all of which were being avoided. “WOLVERIIIIINES!!!” bellowed the Critic, as he threw down yet another grenade. Hiding from the bots' view behind a wooden plank, Linkara looked hesitantly about for an opportunity to attack.
He got it.
Two or three Paola-bots were working their way to the side of the barricade, around where the Critic was focused on. Critic didn't see them. He wasn't even facing them. One of the bots held an arm out, and a gun popped out of it. Its eyes fixed and glowing red, it carefully stood up and stepped forward, and the gun in its arm began to glow...
“CRITIC!” Linkara shouted. He stood abruptly, and suddenly all eyes were on him. In an instant, he whipped out his magic gun and blasted the bots beside them. They flew back with the incredible force. Two other bots stood up and he blasted them too. He stepped in front of the Critic, who at this point had become suddenly very distracted from the battle.
“Linkara??” he yelled incredulously.
“Hi Critic. NOW GUYS!” was his answer. Liz, Spoony and Insano immediately sprang into action from the sidelines, shooting at the Paola-bots near the bottom. Now it was really a battle, with bullets and lasers and energy blasts flying every which way. Linkara was quick to dodge, shooting everything that got too close for comfort. His good old magic gun was always incredibly effective against these things. His blasts could knock away five, even ten at a time. But still they kept coming.
“I'd quit gawking and start shooting if I were you.” Linkara shouted to Critic over the gunfire. “These guys can pack a punch, case you haven't noticed.”
“But...but...but...” the Critic was still flabbergasted. “What the Hell are you guys doing here?? I thought you were all holed up in fucking Minnesota!”
“Look, we'll explain everything later, okay? Right now I could kinda use your help!”
Critic opened his mouth to argue more when a blast flew past them, barely missing his head. At this he seemed to concede Linkaras point, bending down to reload his machine gun. Soon they were all mowing down bots like nobody’s business. The Critic and Linkara rained Hell on them from above, with the others annihilating down below. The rain still poured down hard, and at some point Linkara felt his hat blow off. But it didn't matter. They were winning.
“If only our fans could see us now, huh?” Critic exclaimed in excitement. “If this shit doesn't make up for the whole negative Pokemon review thing, I don't know what will!”
Linkara was just about to retort when he saw something approaching. Something that made his blood run cold.
A large, hulking abomination of a machine had become visible through the smoking metal rubble, moving steadily towards them. It floated, like Pollo, but with a black rubber hoverboard attached to its bottom, one that emanated steam. It was black and dark blue in color, and on its sides were red rubber arms with large gray clamps at the ends. Its head looked akin to a demented version of Mike from Mystery Science Theater, with a jaw that flapped lifelessly and a bright green light for one eye. From below, Linkara could hear the collective gasp of his crew-mates. From beside him, a mutter of “what the Hell?” from the Critic. He of course didn't know what it was, but Linkara did. They were looking at a being he himself hadn't seen in years, but heard enough descriptions from those who had to recognize it without a doubt.
They were looking at Spoonys' robot Burton.
Linkara was on the ground in a moment, scrambling to get lower behind the pile. The Critic immediately started firing his machine gun, but he knew it would do know good. Burton was completely immune to regular bullets. Only weapons of energy could so much as make a dent. Careful not to slip, he turned to look down at the others. Liz was still shooting at the last few Paola-bots left, but the other two were in utter shock. “Spoony! Insano!” he called out, “Fall back, the both of you! You don't have to do this! We can fight him off with just three of us!”
Spoony didn't need to be told twice. He was off towards the truck in a heartbeat. Insano, however, stood there for a moment before shaking his head, and holding up his ray gun pointedly. He wasn't going anywhere. Not with a score to settle.
Linkara turned his attention back towards the top of the barricade. To his dismay, Burton had elevated himself up over them, so that he was face to face with the Critic. Size wise, the robot was large enough to meet his head, and reach down to around his knees. Still he kept firing, taking a step back in hesitation. From where he hid, Linkara could see the machine eye glow. The Critic was going to get blasted. He had to do something.
As efficient and powerful as he was, Burton was a coward. Seeing how outnumbered he was would surely send him back the way he came, regardless of what orders he had been given. Linkara looked back again. The other Paola-bots were gone, and Liz and Insano were attempting to head up to them. Burton was unaware of everything except the Critic. But it was a large hill they were on, and the ground was slippery from the rain. The two were clearly slow in climbing. Time needed to be bought.
Linkara held his gun as steadily as he could and aimed right at Burtons' head. One blast would be all it would take. Would it kill Burton? Maybe, maybe not. But it would sure as Hell knock him back far enough to make an impression. And then...
Linkara froze.
Burton had the ability to scan and identify blasts he'd been hit with. All bots did, but it hadn't mattered before as when Linkaras magic gun hit something, it was dead. But Burton was different. Burton could survive. And if he did, he would immediately go and report the guns' excess to PAOLA. That would mean PAOLA knowing about magic. That would mean PAOLA wanting magic. That would mean PAOLA wanting his gun.
Linkaras' heart was pounding as the possibility made him tremble. They were going into PAOLAs base in just a day or two. And what if something should happen? It wouldn't be too hard for PAOLA to take what was right in front of it, not if it was really, really wanted.
The Critic looked down at Linkara with annoyance. “Well, what are you waiting for?? Shoot the fucking thing! I'm not doing jack shit here!”
Linkara looked back. Liz and Insano were some ways up the hill now, still too far behind them to be of any help, but close enough that they could see the situation. Specifically, Insano could see the situation, could tell everything that was going on. And the look on his face said it all.
“Hurry up!” Critic shouted, stumbling a bit as he stepped back again, in danger of losing his balance.
He couldn't do it. God help him, he simply couldn't do it. He dropped the gun beside him. “I'm out of ammo!” he shouted, and he knew Insano heard.
“FUCK!” was the Critics' response, as he tried firing again. It was fruitless. Linkara looked around the ground desperately. He needed a grenade. He found one. Quick as he could he picked it up, pulled the tab and threw, with the best aim he could manage.
He missed. The bomb flew past the two of them and exploded behind the hill, just as the blast finally shot from Burtons eye, hitting the Critic square in the chest.
“NO!” Linkara screamed as the Critic fell tumbling down to the bottom.
He immediately stood up, gaining the robots' attention at last. Blinking back tears, he pointed his gun. Before he could shoot, however, an energy blast hit Burton from behind him. Insano and Liz had finally made it up. Burton took one look at the lot of them, analyzing that they were packed with weapons he was vulnerable, and promptly turned back down the hill. He was gone as quickly as he came.
Linkara didn't look behind to see what his two crew-mates were doing. He just ran down the hill, as fast as he could go without slipping, to where his old boss lay twitching in the mud.
“Critic,” he said softly, kneeling down beside him and lifting his head up. “Critic...oh my God, no...Critic...”
The Critic coughed, clutching his abdomen. His white shirt was singed, and his glasses were knocked off. He struggled to speak. “Linkara...” he gave a small laugh, “Now that the...battle's over...would you mind...telling me...how you got here?”
For a moment Linkara was at a loss for words. “We...we're here to stop PAOLA, Critic. Once and for all. We've found its base, it's near here. We're going to go and destroy it, but we need you're help.”
“PAOLAs...base...is here?”
He nodded solemnly. The Critic gave pause before answering. “That would have been...useful information...ten or so months ago...”
Linkara laughed, in spite of himself. “Listen, you have to get up now, okay? Just...just walk it off or something. Burton will be back with reinforcements soon...”
“You can...get away from the robots...” Here the Critic coughed, and pointed over some ways behind the barricade, to what looked like a metal roof on the floor. “Under there...an underground tunnel...leads to my house...robots...won't find you there...they never...look underground.”
“Critic...you're a genius.”
“Damn straight.” The Critic laughed before coughing again. “There's...supplies...at my house...things...you can use...to fight...PAOLA.” At this he started breathing very heavily, “I think...that's all the help...I'm going to be able to be, Linkara.”
“No! Critic, you're going to be all right! Just hang on!”
But the Critic only shook his head, and smiled. “I'm glad...you came here. Showed me...you were still alive. Made...all the shit I did...worthwhile.”
Tears were now rolling down Linkaras' face as his breath shook.
“Tell me something.” The Critic whispered, his energy fading rapidly. “The...Nostalgia Chick...did she...make it with you?”
This was almost too much for Linkara to take. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he nodded. “Yeah, she made it. She's fine, she's...over at your place, right now.”
At this Critic smiled softly and closed his eyes. “That's good...listen...if you see her...tell her for me...tell her...tell...her...”
He stopped. His head slumped, and his breath shuddered to a still.
He was going to have to tell Chick himself.
Linkara just knelt there for a while, sobbing by his body. Not since that fateful day building the base had he so ached with grief. Lord only knows how long it was before he finally stood up and looked behind. Iron Liz was standing above him, holding his hat in her hands. He walked up to her to take it, and saw that her eyes were tear-filled as well.
“Where's Insano?” Was the first thing he said.
“Over getting the others. Apparently Pollo was back at the truck all along. They'll be here any minute now.”
Feeling numb, Linkara pointed over to the metal roof. “There's a...there's a tunnel...”
“I heard.” answered Liz with a half smile. She reached over and touched his shoulder, her face solemn. “We shouldn't tell the others. Joe, Lisa and Marzgurl. They don't need to know the Critic was alive just to also know he died. We should lie about it.”
Linkara nodded in agreement and wiped his face. A useless gesture, seeing how they were still soaking wet with rain. “I'm...gonna go ahead of you. Just tell them...show them how to follow me, okay?”
Liz looked slightly confused, but agreed. Like a zombie, Linkara walked past the Critic and over to the tin roof, lifting it up and tossing it aside, he saw that there was indeed a hole there. He crawled in quickly, hearing the voices of his companions behind him. He didn't want to wait for them, even if it made no sense. He just couldn't look at Insanos' face again. Down at the bottom, he was surrounded by darkness, seeing only a faint light in the distance to guide him.
“I'm sorry, Critic.” He muttered under his breath.
And with that, he headed to their new base.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-03-11 02:30 am (UTC)I love how you've made a story that was originally about Pollo's turn to evil and made it about everyone else in this universe as well.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-11 02:35 am (UTC)But don't worry! All of this becomes very crucially important to Mechakaras' backstory by the end. It all ties together, you'll see!
no subject
Date: 2013-03-11 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-11 02:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-11 02:42 am (UTC)How long ago was this started, because the first part says Feb 13 of this year.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-11 02:47 am (UTC)...Yeah, part 2 took me a really really long-ass time. :s
no subject
Date: 2013-03-11 04:28 pm (UTC)I also love how he asked about Nostalgia Chick...just because. So sweet and sad. I'm glad Linkara didn't tell him. Too much indeed!
I also love how you're paying attention to so many of the other characters and not just Pollo, even though he's the focus. Its all fascinating!
no subject
Date: 2013-03-11 04:55 pm (UTC)Also, can I just say that your profile pic is hilariously apropos? Like, that was seriously my laugh of the day. XD
no subject
Date: 2013-03-11 05:00 pm (UTC)Hehe, well then, you're welcome. Gotta love it.