The deafening noise of the battle was still ringing in his ears, off to His left he could still see Peli's Mechs raining death down on the clone army. James' own mechs, however, were a different story. Blasted into so many small pieces that you couldn't tell one from the other. Even now the nanobots were desperately trying to repair them, despite the impossibility of the task.
"Ahem."
James struggled to raise his gaze to the voice, every movement hurt, reigniting the burning pain in his head. Not good. Three figures stood above him, strangely familiar, and pointing pistols at him. James let his eyes slowly focus on the men.
"Ve vish to meet our maker, so to speak, before we erase you from existence" said the first.
"Ve would like to thank you for your contribution to ze war effort" added the second.
"And ve vere wondering how it must feel to know that you have defeated by the improved version of yourself?" asked the third.
Yup, they were my own clones, three of them, each not quite a mirror reflection. Was I really this conceited? Surely not. It must be some slip up in the genetic cloning process, surely?
"Your Mech's will repair themselves in a few hours and we will use them to aid the final Reich in our inevitable victory over our inferior originals." Said the first. For some reason he had his hair slicked back, and it didn't suit him.
"Ve know that you have genetically coded the mechs to your DNA, fortunately ve have sis covered." The second clone laughed. Either these were REALLY bad clones, or James really needed to examine his own mental state.
"Ve vish to know if you have any final requests before you are retired?" Asked the third. James decided after this war was done, he really needed to get the assistance of a shrink. James couldn't really be this stupid, could he?
"Some aspirin would be nice." He replied weakly. James became aware of a weak vibration on his wrist, a small blue flashing light barely visible through his blood stained shirt. It couldn't be could it? James remembered what Wotan had once told. If your alive, then there is hope. And this might just be enough. He forced himself to sit up, staring through his one good eye at the three clones.
"And whilst your at it a decent coffee might be nice." The three clones chuckled.
"Ve thought you might ask siz, so we are happy to give you your last request." said the first, bending forward with a small plasti-cup and bottle.
"Ve vould not vish for you to be retired with out one last request." said the second, setting all three in to giggles. The vibration on James wrist was definitely stronger now. Behind him the pile of scrap slipped slightly sending small pieces of metal scattering. The three clones looked up, trying to see where the movement had come from.
"You see, even now your nanobots work to give us more armaments to destroy your puny Blue clan." said the third clone.
James forced his breathing to slow, gently took a sip of the luke warm coffee and reached inside his jacket. The three pistols swung back to the now hidden hand. He slowly removed his hand, cigarette packet clenched between his fingers and popped one in his mouth. The three triggers pointed at his chest relaxed a little.
"I always thought these things would kill me, strange how things turn out, isn't it it?"
The three clones laughed. Only I would find that funny, I really need to employ a good shrink, thought James. A bit more junk slid behind him, the blue light now clearly visible on his wrist. Just a little more time thought James, I just need to stay alive a little more time.
"Do you guys want one?" he asked, proffering the crumpled cigarette packet to his mirror images.
"Ve do not smoke" retorted the first
"It is very bad for ones health" added the second.
"And now zat ve have dispensed with the niceties it is time for you to die" Said the third, pulling back the trigger on his pistol.
From behind James, an almighty noise shot out, as huge pieces of Debris crash to one side. There was a flash of light and in front of him three smoking pairs of boots.
He looked up at the half repaired novum hovering above his head. It struggled to keep itself aloft on the one working engine, a single Hyper amp still smoking and sparking, half of it's visual systems still hanging to the ground.
All that hard ware and it was a little drone that had saved him.
"Good boy" Said James slowly letting his head drop back to the ground. "Best thing I ever did, fitting it with an emergency defense circuit. Didn't see that one coming did you?" He thought.
The noise of the battle had subsided somewhat, this attack was over, for a couple of hours at least.
"You gonna lie there all day?" Asked Peli, his Aspis picking it's way across the battlefield.
"Just let me finish this cigarette and I'll start back." Replied James.
"Those things are gonna kill you, you know that don't you?"
"Mebbe, but not today." James answered back, taking another slow drag. The Faithful Novum stood guard, still sparking and flickering whilst the nanobots did their work. A strange day, but any time your still breathing, it's a win.
Submitted by James Blewitt#865153