Laboratory Stand and Four Problems

“I brought the guys, Lilianna!” shouted Richard as he returned to the same room as Lily and Zhelya.

The men he had called from the stairs were sent to the second laboratory, so they were ready to protect the two main entrances already.

Each lab was a long room full of different workbenches and devices used to test and modify the priority projects sent from other sectors.

These prototypes were now either thrown around or overcharged to be used as mines by Zhelya though.

Other than those, the robotic assistants she could touch had been programmed to bash enemies as a secondary measure.

Even then, there was, in theory, still a difference in force between the defenders of the two rooms.

Either way, none seemed to be too focused on that, and the bashing on the glass was growing in strength, so they lacked the time to move around now even if they wished to.

“Everybody is in position?” asked Lily while checking if her pistol was well-charged and ready to fire.

“The scientists are away, most of them at least” Richard answered while looking at the cat-eared lady moving through the benches around the lab.

“She said we needed help and started to run around, but I have no idea…”

“I see, then… Hey, Zhelya! What the hells are you doing?!”

The bashing noises on the outside made it hard to hear, but the frantic scientist still turned to the shouting as she heard it, although her answer wasn't that easy to understand.

“IEDs! EMP ones to be specific.”

“You’re making explosives! Are you freaking crazy?!”

“Crazy is what we need now, soldier boy!”

Before they could react though, many of the glass panels broke and shots could be heard from the other lab.

Drones started to charge toward the defenders while droids climbed the building, marking the start of their holdout.

“Stop looking at me and fire, cuties!”

One of Zhelya's devices was thrown as she hurried even more toward Richard and Lily, creating a blue flash and taking some of the robots charging at them.

As she did so, both the detective and the security chief opened fire, mowing through enemies as the cargo robots charged too.

Dozens of drones and droids of the same outdated style as the ones from before were pouring into the lab in defiance of the stream of lead going against it.

Miniaturized self-propelled projectiles and pulses of energy kept on hitting the coming wave with explosives supporting them, but it was clear that the enemies were slowly but surely making their way closer to the defensive forces.

“How long can we hold out, soldier boy?” A mature-like voice made its way over the gunfire and destruction while another explosion of blue light turned a new batch of drones into fried scraps.

“Five minutes before I get no ammo and more five due to panic?”

“That’s why that old man should have given up on his old ways and packed a bunch of droids with energy guns. More ammo and less bulk.”

Just like Lily was saying, weapons like her pulse pistol could carry more ammo since said ammo was energy-based.

It was also a more advanced weapon in general, but that much was beyond the point.

"The damage is smaller and I teaching everyone how to aim this finicky toy is way too much, you know?

“Energy weapons are much funnier to modify too, so you should accept little flower's advice.”

“Crazy scientists like you are the reason why most don’t use weapons easy to blow up, you know?!”

These words left Richard’s mouth as he bashed down the first droid that got too closed.

As more of these were approaching though, he soon signaled his companions to start retreating.

Dozens of machines were already on the floor by this point, but there was no sign of them stopping at all.

As more time passed, the ruined lab saw more and more cases where Richard was forced into melee and Lily had to dodge attacks, but it was still too soon.

“You said ten minutes, didn’t you, sweetie? Why’re they closing into me before even five?!”

“It was a guess, ok?!”

“I think we can still hold a little more, but we’ll need to use the lobby in the end…”

Lilianna threw the first battery of her gun away and swapped it with fast but clumsy movements, dodging a couple of charging drones in the process.

By her side, the butt of Richard's gun was starting to wear down with the number of strikes he had dispensed now that his focus was on melee.

“That door won’t hold more than a few seconds.”

“A few seconds are more than nothing!”

“Can you lovely ones focus on keeping these things away from me?!”

A third and last clip was finally loaded on the smart rifle and, weird as it was, the advancing robots were starting to give some leeway by now.

Even with the pressure lowering though, the IEDs and most ammo were soon spent and the trio was forced to retreat before the ten minutes mark.

“I should have fled with the other ones…” said the scientist as she watched the bashing of the metal door held in place by Richard.

“I told you so, you dammed dumb genius!” countered Lily as she heard the stupid words of the so-called chief researcher.

“And I should’ve called the two guys from the upper floor…”

“You didn’t even notify them?!” countered again the detective, now against her nominal drinking buddy.

The metallic door was bending and breaking on Richard’s back, but luckily, the other room seemed to be holding for now.

They could see the flashes slowly moving closer to their room too though, so it was a matter of time.

Without many other weapons, the cat-eared scientist powered her VR collar and her last device, a low-range high-power taser.

“Can we hold long enough?” the detective asked while reloading her pistol one last time.

“A few more minutes should be ok, but more is…”

The door was starting to bend and Richard himself was starting to receive wounds due to it, so it was a matter of time.

Before Lily could answer him though, the sound of flesh tearing and some shouts came from the neighboring room.

“AAAAAAAGH!!!”

“What the hells is this thing?!”

“Just keep firing!”

As the panicked voices from the four men reached them, it also became easy to notice that their firing rate was lowering and that something abnormal was on that side.

Almost at the same time as that, the sound of something big flying close to the building and rhythmical explosions from outside the windows, although they couldn't be sure of what was causing those.

“Let me correct myself… We’ll be done very soon.”

“I’ll go see the other room, you two try to hold this one as long as possible, and…” Lily started to order, but her words were soon cut by the scientist.

“I don’t think you should go there, little flower. I can almost assure you we failed here and you probably think so too, don’t you?”

“But Amy is…!”

“That cute pink girl seemed to know much more than she was telling, so I’m pretty sure she has some secondary plan to this case. Dying here too would only make her work be in vain.”

“And if she doesn’t?!”

“Then she wasn’t that much and there’s nothing we can do…”

“I’m not letting someone behind like this!”

“All you’ll achieve…”

“Hey, cat, the exit is right there. You can go whenever you wish, but our young lady here already made her decision.” Butted in Richard while still tanking the steam of strikes coming to the door on his back in a sudden way that even took the detective by surprise.

“Richard? Why you're…?”

“I’m the guy holding the door, it’s not as if I could stop you, right? But flee if you see it’s unwinnable, please.”

“Got you!”

She gave a final head nod and then ran away, leaving the other two members of the right-side defense behind, with one of them still in complete confusion.

As she left the room, a dull thud and something like the EMP explosions from earlier were heard, but it didn't matter for Lily at the moment.

When she entered the second lab though, the situation of the other group was worse than expected.

“What is this thing…?”

Lilianna’s words were full of disbelief as she saw the massive circular drone with four arms fighting the very wounded guards still in the room.

There was a man with two crushed legs leaning on the ruins of a bench and powering through his pain to keep his weapon firing.

Another one had a limping arm and was trying to move one of his comrades away from their foe.

Only the fourth of them, their captain in fact, seemed to be in fighting condition, even if barely.

Even before the detective could fully react to the situation though, this fourth man was hit by the thick robotic arms of the massive drone.

His rifle was broken in pieces and the rebound was almost enough for a second strike to connect, so the man was instantly put out of commission.

He seemed to still be somewhat alive though as the power armor had made its work well enough.

On the good side, the number of other enemies on this side was almost zero, so it was just a matter of holding the big one long enough.

“Here goes nothing then…” the woman in a tattered dress and power armor said while charging toward the drone with arms. “Cover me, you all! I’ll take the big one.”

Her first few shots easily hit the metallic ball, but it took little damage from this far as her small pulse gun lacked the punch.

It was enough to grab its attention away from finishing the wounded guard off though.

“I’m here, you pile of scrap!”

Just as a new target was acquired, the ball robot rolled towards the detective, slamming two arms at a time to the ground in rapid succession and almost taking care of its new assailant right there and then.

If it wasn’t for a well-timed roundoff followed by an aerial flip that landed Lily right on top of the robot’s arms, of course.

Noticing the intruder right away though, the big drone started to spin, gaining speed and, although she managed to drop some point-blank shot while she could, throwing Lilianna off.

“Guh!” she cried as her acrobatics failed to mitigate the whole strength of the attack, damaging both her body and her landing site at the closest window.

“This thing is…”

“Are you fine, girl?!” One of the officers shouted while firing at the few drones still in the room as to cover Lily.

“Don’t worry about me! Take your friend and retreat, so I can do the same.”

Her orders came as the spinning drone charged again, forcing Lilianna to hastily roll away a few times.

“Damned be!”

Her movements were enough to avoid a direct strike, but the debris being thrown by them was still enough to cause some damage.

It was clear that she had an advantage in mobility, but it was hard to guess if her stamina and ammo would be enough to finish her foe off.

Either way, she kept on fighting.

Combos of cartwheels, spins, flips, round-offs and other acrobatics kept the damage to the female’s body to a minimum while the big drone ate more and more bullets from both Lily's pistol and the supporting guards.

With less than a minute of fighting having passed by, the drone was already starting to glitch in its movements, the damage to its body pilling up.

On the other side, though, Lily had blood coming from some parts of her armor, one of her legs was limping and she had a destroyed eye.

In Lilianna's eyes, they were even.

“It’s been a long time since I have to fight something, you dammed thing, so let me give you a last taste...”

She was close to her limit and was willing to bet that her enemy was too, so it was time to finish this fight.

Just like many times before, the drone with arms aimed its movements and started to charge while spinning its arms in a last attack.

As he came closer, Lilianna also forced herself to move forward, closing the distance between them both even faster.

And then, just before the impact, most of the detective's remaining strength was used in a perfect switch flip from above the drone.

The drone was unable to stop its momentum and ended in a crossfire between the remaining wounded guards and the almost fainted Lily.

And then, as the small pistol cried for a reload, the massive drone finally stopped moving.

“And that’s… done… for…”

But before anyone could celebrate, and while more drones approached the broken windows, Lily's consciousness blacked out.