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Chapter 22
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The stillness of the moment, while immensely funny due to Eilrach’s arrival, was not destined to last. Cordax’s limp body fell out of the bookshelf it was forced into, the noise bringing the room back into the fray, and I knew Eilrach wouldn’t last long against the impossible force he was up against.
However, I was not about to let that get in the way of taking out this clown once and for all. Looking about the room, I took inventory of everyone I knew was present: Cordax, Winger, and the unconscious form of Renner took priority, while the Chronicler staggered back up to his feet and the projection sphere housing AI was nowhere to be seen.
Evidently he insisted on being a disappointment at every opportunity.
Regardless, I was trying to devise a plan for how to rush everyone out of the room and divert Monopoly away from them, even as the big brute was swinging wildly at the now significantly more mobile Eilrach, when I realized I couldn’t locate the door.
Every room has a door, so I began looking in the spot where it should be only to see more wall. This was absolutely intolerable; I had designed this room with the purpose of being able to get inside it, and now it couldn’t be exited except through the gaping holes in both the ceiling and window. I would’ve preferred the other Tott got out of the way first, so I could glare at the window hole more efficiently.
I know, I know, ‘OTHER Tott?! Isn’t one of you too much?’ To which I reply, why didn’t you notice how I’ve been pronouncing AI’s name when I’ve spoken it? I bet that’ll stop you from being so clever.
So, other Tott. Right in front of where I was standing, another Tott stood, calmly glancing about at the conflict with little interest. I moved my hand through the projection in front of me, causing a number of things in the room to briefly flicker - most notably, the body of Renner, revealing a large metal portion of the ceiling lying under the masking hologram of his head. The wall behind me flickered, too, and noticing that Cordax was not flickering, I quickly scooped him up and dashed out the briefly exposed door, Monopoly too infuriated with his conflict to watch me escape.
“No, don’t care.” I immediately responded to the excited inhale of AI just beyond the doorway. “Just tell me where everyone else is, Al, so I can get Cordax to safety.”
“Oh, of course!” AI gladly chimed, creating a second projection to illustrate where everyone else was, much to my immediate and repeated motions to not. “Racie was the first to slink out, and after the armor stunt, Renner found his way over here as well, and he and Winger have proceeded downwards to find that gooey fellow and, presumably, the guy that got eaten by him as well. And you have Cordax, so I think that’s-”
“-Go Go GO!!” AI shouted as a series of loud thuds suddenly approached, and I barely had the time to spin away from the wall exploding, the additional hologram having alerted Monopoly to the presence of the door. His head was flaming and orange, and his fists swatted at the floating sphere above him, which immediately projected numerous spheres to hide amongst its clones. “Did I mention I can scan rooms and people? Because I can! It’s a really cool feature!!”
Really cool for me, because some of the spheres disappeared to allow for a couple of fake Tott-carrying-Cordax projections to appear, each splitting in different directions while I bolted as best I could down a darkened hall. Furiously, Monopoly picked a path and tore down it, the group of spheres swirling through the air to keep up and add extra projections.
Eilrach and the Chronicler appeared around the bend a moment later, the former seemingly disappointed that the fight had ended and the latter struggling to catch his breath. “Bleaurgh… I can’t… oh gosh… didn’t think… being alive meant… so much pain…” He collapsed on his hands and knees and almost looked like he would start eating the carpet.
As Eilrach and I both glared at him with a surprising level of synergy, more sounds of Monopoly’s rampage echoed throughout the building. “Here,” I slung Cordax off my shoulder and onto the ground. His eyes flickered briefly. “If he comes, grab us and run. I’m going to be busy for a moment.”
Those of you who have been paying attention so far may recall I cannot close the eyes of my wooden form, but they dimmed all the same as my attention drifted elsewhere. I could feel the elevation change as I looked about, the dim hallway devoid of life but filled with distant noise, as dozens of people shouted and rushed in all sorts of directions.
Evidently my casually observing things was unwelcome, as someone behind me loudly coughed. “Excuse me, what’s the holdup? We’re in a real rush here.” There was a pause. “𝚂𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗,” A voice crackled out that I didn’t know I had. “𝙾𝚑 𝚠𝚘𝚠, 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚜. 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍’𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘 𝚜𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖 𝚒𝚗 𝚒𝚝.”
Renner’s angry, snarling face appeared in front of me - or perhaps I should say he grabbed me out of the air and bared his teeth angrily in front of me. “GHID?!” He hissed, Winger looking over his shoulder in surprise. “WHAT are YOU doing HERE?!?!”
“𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚖 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.” I replied, trying and failing to wriggle out of his grip. “𝙻𝚘𝚘𝚔, 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝, 𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝? 𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚢-”
“Oh for the- THAT’S WHAT WE’RE DOING!!” He practically screamed. “Now get out of the way so he can take back over!!”
Very generously I minimized my presence until the original system present slowly worked its way back into things. I spoke a quick word to him, and after he floated through another pair of doors and a very dense door which Renner cracked through with his stupidly fancy robot clothing, he floated directly next to a security camera, which I politely took over.
Even though I could not communicate after that point, I knew the pair had the situation handled. I let my presence fully fade, the scene growing dark as I watched Renner pull the tarp off of a large, wicked-looking machine, its eyes and elongated head glowing a bright yellow.
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