Cleopatra 2525: Echo of a Hero
By Tyval
Chapter 5:


   " Target Cleopatra-termination imminent," the Betrayer mechanically
said as his clawed steel arm headed for Cleopatra's head.


   Cleopatra screwed her closed eyes tighly and silently prayed that it
would painless.


   " Not today you walking junk pile," a steely male voice said.


   Cleoptra's eyes flew open, her mouth dropped open in suprise. The
most magnificent man she had ever seen in her life was holding the
Betrayer off the ground by his wrist as easily as she could hold a
ragdoll. The nude man's other fist then shattered the robotic face.
Dropping the now harmless robot the man faced the other 5 Betrayers who
seemed to be in shock at this sudden turn of events.


   The man lashed out, his bare foot smashed the head of another
Betrayer, a back-fist took out the second. The third Betrayer swung a
clawed arm. The man caught the arm and with a quick twist ripped the arm
from the robots body. The man then ducked the wild swing of the fourth
robot, his counter kick went right through the robots body, shattering
its back-bone. 


   The robot flopped on the ground for a few seconds while the man
finished off the fifth robot with a crane strike to the robots control
center. The man then stomped on that robots head, crushing it. Another
quick kick finished the one armed Betrayer. 


   Cleopatra was stunned. Betrayers had the strength of 20 men, and were
usually very tough to kill even with a laser. But this man had just
destroyed 6 of them in less than a minute with his bare hands and feet.
Walking over to a control panel the man punched a button. A closet full
of various uniforms opened. Selecting one the man began dressing.


   " What year is it?," the man asked as he buckled a belt around his
pants.


   " 2-2525," Cleopatra answered.


   " My God! That long," he said as he stared upwards longingly," Sorry,
you must be as confused as I am. My name is..."


   " Questar," Cleopatra answered. 


   " Oh, you know who I am?," Questar saked. 


   " I'm from the same time you are," Cleopatra answered," I was frozen
just like you were. My names Cleopatra."


   " Cleopatra? Hmmm, your name sounds familiar, if fact I think I've
heard of you too," Questar smiled," You were a, uh, dancer. I think some
of the girls caught your act." 


   Clepatra blushed as Questar looked at her nude body. Cleo liked
women, but she wanted Questar too. Questar finished dressing by snapping
on a pair of titanium steel gauntlets. Questar was also aroused by the
sight of Cleo's nude body, but the sounds of battle were all around
mweaning that time was in short supply.


   " Those weren't friends of yours," Questar said looking at the
smashed Betrayers," What are they?"


   " Ummm, you remember that movie Terminator," Cleopatra said as he
nodded," Well, it happened. Those things are called Betrayers, they're
the spies for a whole group of super-robots called the Bailies. They've
driven mankind underground and rule the surface. I've become part of one
of the few groups still trying to take the surface back. Ohmigod! Hel
and Sarge! We've got to save them!" 


   " Computer," Questar said," Where are this girls companions?"


   " Squuueeeee! Welcome back Questar," the electronic feminine voice
said," The young ladies companions are in Tara's chambers along with
another young lady."


   " Status?!," Questar ordered.


   " All three women are alive and relatively unharmed at present. All 3
are ccccclllliiikkkkk, semi-concious. Status on enemy forces. Currently
136 active, correction, 130 after your recent little skirmish. 78 of
them have the final remaining 23 allied robots pinned down near the
arsenal. The rest are scattered throughout the compound. Warning! Two of
them are converging on Tara's room."


   " Computer! If the girl and her friends have any weapons return
them," Questar ordered, then looked at Cleo," Return their clothes too." 

   
   A brief hum and Cleopatra's clothing and equipment materialized in
frnt of her. 


   " You'll have to catch up with me, I can't wait for you to get
dressed if you want to save your friends," Questar said as Cleopatra
hurridly began dressing.


   Questar ran out into the hall. Three Betrayer's rounded the other
end. The Betrayer's fired, but their shots just bounced off Questar's
telekinetic shield. Running towards them, Questar then ducked and rolled
forward. Springing upwards from the floor Questar smased the heads of
two of the robots, then spun around and kicked the head completely off
the last one. A quick stomp finished it. 


   " Wow! You're even better in real life than the news reels I used to
watch," Cleopatra gasped as she exited the lab.


   " And you can get dressed fast," Questar grinned at the former exotic
dancer.


...............................................


   All three women were slowly coming around. Raina brushed her hair
from her eyes as she managed to sit up. Hel crawled over to Sarge.


   " A-are yo okay?," Hel asked.


   " Nothing feels broken," Sarge said," But I've got the worst headache
in the Underground."


   " Know what you mean," Hel replied," Feel's like I got hit with neuro
club."


   " Sarge, Hel," Raina called," What happened?"


   " I think your friends the Betrayers did this," Hel sarcasticlly said
as she saw the now chotic room. 


   " They're not my friends," Raina replied harshly," I don't have any
love for those mechanical toys. All they did was bust me out."


   " Targets designate Hel and Sarge sighted. Operative Raina also
located. Beginning termination of targets Hel and Sarge. Operative Raina
to be terminated if she resists," a Betrayer said as he entered the room
followed by a second Betrayer. 


   The Betrayers trained their blasters on the helpless Hel and Sarge.


   " Looks like this is it partner," Sarge sighed," I guess we failed."


   " Wait a minute!," Raina shouted as she stepped in front of the
Betrayers," We had a deal! You free me and I take care of them any way I
want to!" 


   " Operative Raina," the Betrayer said," Stand aside or become
termination target."


   Raina turned and looked deep in the eyes of Sarge and Hel. The two
women were prepared to die for what they believed in.   


   " No!! I won't let you kill them!," Raina cried, shielding Hel and
Sarge with her own body," I love them!"


   " Activating termination of targets Hel, Sarge, and Raina," the
Betrayer said. 


   Raina bravely faced them, sure of her own death. Raina closed her
eyes and didn't see 2 strong hands grab the heads of both robots and
smash them together.


   " What the hell?!," Raina's eys flew open.


   Raina saw Cleopatra standing beside a tall handsome man who dropped
the now lifeless bodies of the 2 Betrayer's. Instinctively Raina lashed
out with her psionic power. Questar merely smiled.


   " Your'e psi bolts are strong, maybe as strong as Kestrel's were, but
I was always at least 3 times stronger than she was," Questar smiled as
Raina's psi bolts shattered against his shields. 


   Questar probed the dark haired woman. He could kill her or shatter
her mind with a single psionic blast of his own. The women watched as
Raina strained with all of her willpower against Questar in a silent
unseen battle. Questar learned everything about her and his eyes grew
wide with surprise.


   " All the bad things she did," Questar whispered loud enough for the
women to barely hear," She has a blood clot in her brain that's the
cause of all of it." 


   Questar advanced on Raina who tried to back away, but found herslf
against a wall. Questar held out his arm, palm up.


   " S-Stay away from m-me," Raina quivered," Please! S-stay away!"


   " It's okay," Questar smiled in a soothing voice," The Raina that was
willing to risk her life for her friends is the real you. I can help you
Raina. It's the blood clot, It's pressing against the nerves that
control your perceptions, your conscience if you will. Your powers only
made it worse, made you do things that weren't really you."


   Raia screamed as Questar placd his palm on Raina's forehead. Hel,
Sarge, and Cleo all flinched. Raina gave out a second piercing scream,
then slumped unconcious to the floor. Cleopatra handed Hel and Sarge
their clothes and equipment.


   " What did you do to her?," Hel demanded as she strapped on her wrist
blasters.


   " She'll be okay," Questar answered, as he found some of Tara's old
outfits for Raina to wear," She was never evil. She had a blood clot in
her brain that twisted her. It took some finese, but I destroyed it. She
should recover in a few minutes, better than ever in fact. In fact her
powers may even be slightly stronger."


   " I take you really are Questar then. Cleo, you gave us another
scare. but once again you've come through," Hel said as she gave Cleo
that odd high-5 move that Cleo had taught them.


   Raina moaned as she regained conciouness. She was holding her head in
both pain and relief. Opening her eyes slowly she saw the smiling faces
of Hel, Sarge, Cleo, and Questar. Hel knealt down in front of her and
brushed Raina's hair back.


   " Welcome back Raina," Hel smiled softly and lovingly.


   " Oh Hel! I'm so sorry," Raina cried as she embraced Hel tightly. 


   Tears streaked Raina's lovely face as she whispered ' sorry' again
and again. Sarge and Cleo joined in and it became a 4-way hug fest.


   " Excuse me, we are in the middle of a battle here," Questar sighed.


   Questar had destroyed 12 Betrayers and Cleo had gotten 2 more on
their way to this room. That left 113 Betrayers unaccounted for. Questar
went ahead and gave the women a few more minutes despite his impatience.
Raina dressed in the clothes that Questar had given her. Except for a
slight tightness in the breasts(and Tara had had a good bust in her own
right), the outfit was a close fit. 


   Hel and Sarge each handed Raina their hand blasters, they knew they
could trust her now. Armed and ready they were now 5 in number.


   " What's the plan?," Hel asked Questar," This is your facility, you
call it."


   " It's simple, we do the one thing that they won't expect," Questar
said grinning, he was in his element now," We attack. Getting to the
arsenal is almost as important as I am. There are weapons in there that
could make a big differance."


   With Questar in the lead they set out. A squad of 5 sighted them in
the next corridor.


   " We don't have time for this," Questar said as he smashed them with
a wave of psycokinetic force.


   " Whoa! Now I'm really impressed," Cleopatra said," But if you can do
that, why did you destroy all those others with your hands?"


   " Where's the fun in that?," Questar grinned," Besides, the worst
thing that could happen to me is for me to get lazy."    
  
     
..........................................

   
   If the Betrayer's were human they would have been sensing victory.
The other robots and drones were pinned down and slowly being destroyed.
There were only 46 Betrayers left, but only 12 of the battle robots and
6 of the flying drones still stood between them and the feared arsenal. 


   A mockery of a smile came to the Betrayers face as another Mechas 4
robot went down. The high-tech weaponry inside, despite it's 500 year
vintage was as good or better than anything their 5 centuries had
produced. The mock smile was destroyed as Sarge blew a hole right
through his electronic brain. 


   ' The Bailies aren't as smart as they think they are,' Questar
thought as pyrokinetic flame came from his hand and slagged 5
Betrayer's,' Putting their 'brains' in their heads is just like a
target.' Hel, Sarge, Raina, and even Cleo were soon taking a deadly toll
on the Betrayer's as well. Caught in a crossfire now, the Betrayers
fell. Slowly but surely the tide of battle changed until every last
Betrayer was little more than scrap metal. 


   The remaining 8 Mecas 4 robots stood at a ragged attention as Questar
opened the door to the arsenal. There were only about a dozen or so
unaccounted for, but Questar wanted the fight over now. Questar walked
straight over to one particular solitary weapon.  


   " I'm sorry guys," Questar said to the few remaining robots on his
side," You fought so hard for me, this is such a shitty way to repay
you. I'm only glad you're non-sentient."


   A tear formed at the corner of his eye as Questar pulled the trigger.
The ECM ray deactivated every electronic brain in the entire complex.
The emergency lights came on as even the controlling G.O.L.D. computer
shut down. The Mechas 4 robots collapsed into heaps.


   Questar looked sadly at the four women before him. ' I only hope I'm
worth it,' Questar thought as he saw the hope in their eyes.


   " Let's pack up," Questar said," We've got a whole planet to free."