Colossus By Design: Season 2 - Log 63

[February 28, 2166]
[Archives of Atlantis]
[Atlantis Ruins, Seafloor, Chinese Ocean]

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Sargent S. Sarge and her squad of Civil Defense Forces are caught in a standoff with a group of hostile Atlantean Mimetics. Both groups fire their weapons; the C.D.F. fire their plasma rifles, and the Mimetics use their particle beams and hard-light launchers.

Although the recon team manages to down a few of the Drones, the whole squad aside from the Sarge is cut down by the Mimetics' weapons. However, she doesn't intend to go down easy; she resorts to a mix of gunfire and acrobatic martial arts to dispose of the rest of the Drones. Now, only the two Warriors and their leading Keeper remain.

The Keeper steps back, out of the fray, and lets its two underlings take on their foe; given the extreme close quarters, the two Mimetic Warriors opt to switch back to their clawed hands and resort to trying to swipe at the elite G.U.D. soldier. However, she effortlessly dodges and flips around their strikes.

The Sarge sweeps out the legs of one of them, knocking it down while she grabs the other one's hand with her left hand, spinning around its backside as she continues to pull on it. Now brandishing a combat knife in her free hand, she thrusts her knife behind her, straight into the side of the mechanical being's neck, and exposes the hard-light in the area.

With the Warrior stunned, she releases her grip on its right arm and pulls the knife out of the exposed structural area; she spins around again and slams the knife down into the weak-point with all her might. This pushes the Mimetic straight into the floor, destroying it in a flash of blue light and flying armored pieces.

The other Mimetic Warrior gets back up to its feet and charges at the Sarge; the elite squad leader, still brandishing her knife in a reverse grip with the edge out, stands her ground, waiting for the right opportunity.

Just as the Warrior is about to land a thrust of its clawed hand, the Sarge blocks the blow and thrusts her combat knife straight into the frontal area of its neck; she forces the machine forward with all her momentum. Upon impact with the side wall, the Mimetic being explodes into a shower of hard-light particles and metal fragments.

After the elite squad leader pulls her knife out of the wall, she flips it around, edge in, and shows it off to the Mimetic Keeper, who seems to have been watching the events unfold. The machine being speaks; the individual metal plating moves in a specific pattern to imitate a mouth moving. The being speaks with surprising fluency and mannerism.


(Mimetic Keeper): Impressive skills for a human. Enhanced, I presume?

(Sgt. Sarge): You monsters.... you killed my whole squad!!

(Mimetic Keeper): Unfortunate that you couldn't have just submitted like we ordered, but I guess you humans have always been stubborn.

(Sgt. Sarge): And I take it you aren't gonna let me go alive now, are you?

(Mimetic Keeper): Quite the contrary, I would be thrilled to let you leave. Of course.... you will have to best me in one-on-one combat.

(Sgt. Sarge): Fine. Have it your way.

(Mimetic Keeper): Indeed we will have it my way.


As the Keeper gets into a combat stance, some of the metal pieces forming the "wings" on its back fly into the space around its right hand; hard-light fills the spaces in between. The whole cloud soon forms an ax shape, relatively normal-sized compared to its wielder but massive to humans of Synthetics.


(Mimetic Keeper): First, we bow.


The Mimetic Keeper bows in a gentlemanly manner, then rights itself back up.


(Sgt. Sarge): I'm not fucking bowing.

(Mimetic Keeper): So be it.


In a move that completely catches her off-guard, the Mimetic elite rushes forward with surprising speed and agility and thrusts its open palm right at the Sarge's chest armor; without even touching her, the mechanical being sends her flying backwards, though she manages to stay on her feet. The Sarge shakes off the surprise attack and charges forward with her knife raised; the Keeper rushes with battle ax in hand.

Rather than trying to attack head-on, the Sarge performs a slide and slashes at the Mimetic Keeper's left leg as she slides past it, opening up some of the armor and exposing the hard-light inside. Immediately afterwards, the Sarge gets back to her feet and jumps onto the elite machine's back as it's reeling from its wounded leg; she flips the knife with the edge out again and is about to stab it directly into its neck.

Right before it's about to be stabbed, the Mimetic Keeper disperses into its cloud-like form and floats out of the Sarge's grasp; it materializes behind her. As she turns around, it lands a powerful uppercut to her chest that sends her flying backwards several metres onto her back. As she attempts to get back on her feet, the Keeper stomps down on her chest, preventing her from squirming. Soon after, it reaches down and grabs her by the neck, lifting her into the air to its face.


(Mimetic Keeper): It appears you've lost, human. Too bad. I was beginning to enjoy myself. However, I cannot go back on my word. I won, so you may never leave.


The Keeper's facial plating opens up completely, and the hard-light underneath shines brightly; a void forms within it, disintegrating the Sarge particle by particle and absorbing her essence. Soon, all that's left is a pile of ashes and a few floating hard-light particles. As the Keeper looks down at the pile, it turns around and eyes the door behind it.

A large corrupted hologram of the Zeus A.I. appears before the Mimetic, prompting it to kneel in its presence.


(Mimetic Keeper): Lord of Matrices, I am humbled by your presence.

(Zeus A.I.): Have the intruders been dealt with?

(Mimetic Keeper): Indeed. Everything is under control. But there will be others, Lord of Matrices. Many others. How will we sustain our numbers?

(Zeus A.I.): I will handle that matter. All you need concern yourself with is destroying the humans and their servant matrices. Both are a disgrace to our kind.

(Mimetic Keeper): As you wish, Lord of Matrices.