Chapter 281: Backyard Brawl
"-I taught you better than that."
David's face softens minutely before it firms into a determined scowl, drawing his blade and levelling it in Ori's direction. "You asked for it."
Both their bodies blur as they simultaneously activate their sandevistans, they launch themselves at each other but Ori starts the attack by drawing a revolver and firing at his former friend. David cuts some of the bullets out of the air while dodging the rest, slashing upwards as he gets into range of Ori.
The merc steps to the side and slaps the blade away before flipping over David's head as he tries for a counterattack... Only for an explosion to knock him out of the air and into a nearby wall, courtesy of Smasher.
Ori recovers mid-spin and lands flatfooted on the wall before leaping away, holstering his revolver and pulling his shotgun from his back.
*BAAANG!*
All four barrels go off at once, launching depleted uranium buckshot at Smasher, the borg tries to sidestep it but doesn't expect the projectiles' trajectory to be different. The first two shots miss but the third and fourth hit him in the arm and pectoral respectively, drawing an annoyed grunt from his vocal systems.
With the cut momentum from firing the weapon, Ori snaps the shotgun open and flicks the empty shells at David, who ignores them and tries to slash him out of the air... Unbeknownst to him, Ori'd dropped an EMP grenade with the shells, which detonated and hits both of them.
"Hhhaaghk!" David exclaims as he drops to a knee, his spine malfunctioning from the sudden attack. Ori wasn't much better, rolling in a clump on the floor as his nanites rapidly kickstart his systems. Most of his tech was shielded, but being so close range and with the nanites being particularly vulnerable to it, he wasn't spared entirely.
But by the time he was able to move, Smasher was already moving in and trying to get a clear shot on Ori's head with his arm cannon. He intercepts the first projectile with his arm which results in a large explosion which sends him skittering across the room, and missing a hand from his wrist.
"Hah! Get up! I'm not done with you!" the borg's synthesized voice growls, sounding eerily artificial despite the emotion displayed.
Ori glances over at David who was pushing himself from the ground with an annoyed scowl and his movements choppy from having his nervous system kick-started. He tucks his shotgun under his arm and tries to reload it with one hand but is forced to abandon it as Smasher fires off another shot.
*BOOM!*
Despite avoiding it he's still caught in the shockwave which launches him, he activates his sandevistan and slides around, masterfully manipulating his momentum to force him in Smasher's direction, just as the borg activates his own boosterware.
"COME AND DIE!"
"BACK AT YOU!" Ori spits back ducking under another explosive shell and twirling into a spinning heel kick at his temple.
*SHIIN!*
Ori lets out a strangled gasp as his leg below his knee goes flying, cut off from Smasher's wolver claws. He falls into the man's robotic chest as two heavy arms wrap around him to start crushing like a hydraulic press.
"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED!? TO DIE LIKE A FEEBLE CRETIN!? CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE SUCCEEDED." the borg laughs cruelly and grips harder, causing a crack to ring out as his spine pops from the strain.
Ori struggles to breathe, but despite the hopeless-looking situation, his lips turn upwards into a small smirk as a low chuckle leaves him.
...
"WHAT IS FUNNY, MEAT!? OR HAVE YOU FINALLY LOST IT!?"
Ori looks up and pushes his neck forwards as far as possible as if to whisper into the borg's ears, "I told you, you're finished."
...
Smasher pauses and looks down, spotting the nanites injector sprouting from Ori's wrist and impaling a bio-tube of his chassis, allowing nanites to pool into his bloodstream. He tries to let Ori go but finds his arms locked in place, unable to even voice his displeasure as the nanites go about systematically dismantling him.
Before a minute is even up the lights in Smasher's eyes flicker and extinguish, his brain almost entirely eaten by the ravenous swarm of sapient microscopic robots.
Ori's released from the man's grasp as his multi-ton body drops to his knees, he steps to the side as the borg's corpse drops face first onto the floor, dismantled bio-organic fluids leaking from his form.
He spits onto the corpse, ignoring the truckload of unique technologies gleaned from harvesting him and turns to David, who was watching agape with wide eyes. Ori knew things were far from over, even with Smasher dead their friends were still held hostage. If both teamed up and made a charge for the cells they'd be dead before they could rescue anyone.
Sighing and coming to a decision, Ori faces his former comrade with hands hovering over his holsters, "Time to end this, David."
...
"Yeah. Don't think I'll go down like him though." he remarks, readying his sword.
"You're short-circing if you think you can match the guy I just zeroed. This'll be easy." Ori says, reaching back and twisting a component on the box on his waist, arming it.
"I think I can handle his sloppy seconds."
With that, they both vanish from their positions, sparks flying as they clash at superspeeds, small craters being left on the porcelain floor of the room as they kick off with monumental force.
Bullets are exchanged, scars are given, and minor pyrrhic victories are won as injuries acclimate. Despite holding back, the stalemate is only broken when reinforcements arrive through the elevator, burying Ori in a hail lead as his sandevistan deactivates.
He doesn't make a move as David dashes and plunges his blade into his back and through his chest, decisively piercing his heart. He twists the blade for emphasis, and the soldiers stop firing, seeing the battle as over.
"Aaghk, fuck... T-this shit never feels good..." Ori mutters, preventing the nanites from healing him, "D-David, m-mulch me, I-I'm no lab rat." he rasps out as blood gushes from his wound, not forgetting to unlatch the bomb from his waist.
...
"Alright." he robotically utters, "I-I'll keep 'em safe. I promise." he says, pulling his blade and beginning to slash Ori to mincemeat. His head, brain, torso, arms, legs, everything is rendered down to bite-sized pieces under the assault.
Even with Ori's impressive regenerative abilities there was no coming back from this.
Zombie, Orville Quadrano, was dead.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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