Traitor

The convoy creeps through the outer streets of the city, engines low, headlights cutting across cracked pavement. Every turn feels like a risk. Tires skid as Thorn slams the brakes, something steps into the road. 
          Cinder. 
          She stands with her arms crossed, her silhouette stark against the dim glow of his headlights. 
          “Cinder!” Thorn leaps out of his truck, boots pounding the asphalt. “What’s going on?” 
          The rest of the team climbs out, their steps hesitant, guilt pressing heavy in their chests. 
          Cinder doesn’t answer. Instead, she raises a pistol and aims it straight at Thorn’s head. 
          The team freezes. Thorn’s hands lift slowly. 
          From the shadows of a crumbling building, a figure emerges. Helrix. His stride is smooth, deliberate, the smirk on his face cutting sharp in the dark. A cluster of androids follow close behind, their weapons gleaming. 
          “I can’t believe you abandoned one of your own,” Helrix says, voice silk and venom. He slips an arm around Cinder’s waist, pulling her close like a prize. 
          “Helrix,” Thorn growls, his jaw tight. “We don’t have to keep doing this.” 
          “I think we do.” Helrix glares. 
          “We could all live in the same place, together. With the cannon, we could be all safe from the Skelloids.” 
          Helrix tilts his head, pretending to consider. “Hmm.” His grin widens. “No.” 
          His gaze fixes on Rubble. “You’re a traitor,” he spits, each word edged with venom. “Siding with the humans. Tainted by emotions. Do you want to be one of them, or are you just broken?” 
          Rubble doesn’t answer him. Instead, his eyes move past Helrix to the crowd of androids gathered behind. Their faces are hard, but their stances waver. 
          “We were made to survive,” Rubble calls out, his voice steady, cutting through the storm of tension. “But not like this. You don’t have to take the scraps Helrix throws you. I know you want more. You can come with us. You can be free.” 
          A few androids shift uneasily, their optics flickering. Murmurs ripple through the group. Heads nod, tentative but visible. 
          Helrix’s eyes narrow. He turns on them, his voice rising like a blade. “Free?” he scoffs. “You think they’ll ever see you as more than metal?” His glare sweeps across the crowd. “Look at him. The humans cast him out the moment he looked like you!” 
          For a heartbeat, silence holds. The weight of choice hangs in the air. 
          Then Thorn moves. 
          In one swift motion, he bats the gun from Cinder’s hand. It clatters to the pavement. He slams a boot into her chest, kicking her down, and his spear snaps open with a hiss of energy. 
          The moment triggers the androids to attack. 
          Twitch dives headlong into the chaos, his frame flickering with glitching bursts of energy. He darts toward Thorn, movements jerky and unpredictable. 
          Dosei steps into his path, spear raised, feet planted. “Not happening.” 
          Twitch blurs forward, fists flying in a barrage of rapid punches. Each blow slams against Dosei’s guard, driving him back a step at a time. Sparks snap with every strike on to his spear. 
          Dosei grits his teeth, surprised by the android’s raw speed. He adjusts his stance, spear steadying in his grip. 
          Twitch lunges again, jittering like a corrupted signal, hand ready for another strike, but Dosei drives his spear upward in a clean, precise motion. The blade pierces beneath Twitch’s jaw, the force snapping him back with a crack of energy. His body jerks violently, systems stuttering, before collapsing in a heap, sparks fizzing out across the ground. 
          Clank barrels forward like a freight train, each step shaking the ground. 
          Norio braces, spear leveled, but the massive android swats it aside with raw power. Norio stumbles backward, crashing to the ground. 
          Clank is on him instantly, fists raining down like piledrivers. Norio rolls, stone cracking as one blow smashes through where his head had been. 
          Norio twists and slams a desperate strike into Clank’s face. Metal dents under the impact, but Clank only laughs, a hollow, booming sound. 
          Still pinned, Norio’s eyes dart to his fallen spear. Fingers scrape across the ground until he seizes it. With a surge of strength, he drives the blade deep into Clank’s arm joint. 
          The machine roars, wrenching the weapon free, sparks spitting across the battlefield. 
But Norio doesn’t retreat. He lunges in barehanded, every muscle straining with grit and fury. His hands claw at Clank’s neck plating, fingers hooking into seams. With a shout that rips his throat raw, he pulls with all his might. 
          Wires snap, sparks burst, and Clank’s head jerks loose, tilting grotesquely to one side. 
          He collapses, his bulky frame crashing down in a deafening thud. 
          Norio staggers back, chest heaving, his hands blackened with grease. 
          Cinder sneers, eyes burning at Halo. “You’re so weak.” Her spear hums alive, red lightning crawling up the pole in jagged bursts, snapping in the air like fire. 
          Halo’s own weapon answers, orange arcs crackling down the length of her spear until they blaze at the tip. Her grip tightens. “You’d rather see us all die than share the same land?” 
          “This ends now,” Cinder spits, lunging forward in a vicious flurry of jabs. 
          “Fine by me,” Halo snaps. 
          Red lightning streaks through the air as Cinder’s spear slices just past Halo’s face. Halo twists aside, countering with a burst of orange arcs that sear across the street. Their weapons collide, sparks explode, light detonating in a thunderclap that blinds the battlefield. 
          Cinder presses hard, her strikes wild, ruthless, each blow meant to kill. Halo matches her, step for step, every movement sharper, quicker, driven by fury. Red against orange, the two storms circle, spears colliding in an unrelenting rhythm. 
          Grinding her teeth, Cinder slams her spear into the ground. A surge of red lightning rips outward in a fiery wave. Halo vaults over it, twisting midair, charging her spear with raw orange current. She lands hard, driving the crackling tip into Cinder’s chest and blasting her back across the street. 
          But Cinder only laughs, sparks racing across her body as she whirls her spear in a cyclone of red arcs. “You’re not strong enough!” 
          Halo’s jaw sets. Rage flares in her chest, her whole body igniting with light. She charges, spear gripped in both hands, orange lightning flaring brighter than ever. 
The clash meets dead center, spear against spear, red against orange. Sparks rain down in sheets, the ground splitting beneath their feet. The noise rises into a roar, power surging until neither can tell where one current ends and the other begins. 
          They stagger back, both chests heaving, eyes locked, neither willing to yield. 
          Cinder smirks. Her free hand dips to her side. A gun flashes into view. She levels it at Halo’s heart. 
          “I’m tired of this.” Cinder growls. 
          She pulls the trigger and the shot rings loud. 
          Halo flinches, eyes squeezing shut, braces for the pain. 
          But it never comes. 
          Her eyes snap open. 
          Cinder lies sprawled on the pavement, weapon slipping from her fingers. Smoke curls from the barrel of Thorn’s revolver as he lowers it, his expression hard, unflinching. 
          In the distance, sparks of blue light flicker. 
          “You’ve been nothing but a tool,” Helrix snarls at Rubble, his voice sharp as a blade. “And now, you’ve outlived your use.” 
          Helrix’s shield on his forearm hums alive as he lashes out with a barbed-wire coiled spear. Rubble meets him head-on, his own spear sparking, blue arcs slicing the dark. Their weapons clash in a burst of light. Helrix absorbs the current with his shield and snaps it back, sending Rubble’s own electricity back at him, cracking across the air. Rubble dodges, sparks singeing his clothes, then strikes again, blue lightning hissing against Helrix’s guard. 
          The battle rips through the street. Boarded-up buildings splinter, walls crumbling as sparks ignite dry wood. Fires lick upward, casting jagged shadows as their weapons collide again and again, sizzling arcs filling the night. 
          Helrix slams his shield into Rubble’s chest, crushing him against a wall. Rubble’s spear skitters across the ground. 
          He kicks Helrix back, but Helrix relentlessly attacks again with his spear. Rubble catches it in both hands. The barbed wire cuts deep, metal tearing his skin, but he doesn’t let go. 
          Electricity floods his body. His eyes blaze bright blue. 
          With a shout, Rubble channels every ounce of current into the weapon. Sparks erupt from the coils, arcs snapping over the top of the grip and toward Helrix’s hands. He jerks back, forced to release it. 
          Rubble seizes the spear, flips it, and drives it forward in a lightning-charged strike. The tip punches through Helrix’s skull plating in a blinding flash. 
          Helrix collapses to his knees, systems shrieking, sparks bursting from his frame. Even broken, he smirks, voice distorted, glitching. “You think this ends with me?” 
          Rubble staggers back, chest heaving, electricity still crackling faintly along his arms. 
          Helrix twitches, muttering fragmented lines of old programming. Then his body seizes, systems failing, and he topples face-first into the concrete with a heavy crash. 
          The street falls silent. 
          The other androids scatter, scrambling into the city, fleeing without direction. A cold wind stirs, carrying leaves that skitter across the cracked pavement. 
          No one speaks. 
          The team climbs wordlessly into their vehicles. Thorn lingers, staring at the steering wheel, his face hard in the glow of the dashboard. He glances up, catching sight of his team in the rearview mirror, bloodied, mud-streaked, but strong. His people. Good people. 
          He exhales, nodding once to himself. 
          The truck rumbles to life, and together they drive back toward Ossamaris.