The ground begins to tremble as a large section of the floor to my left lowers, then I hear the mechanisms of the floor groan as they attempt to lift the object. Since I’m standing in the center of the arena, I side step to the right and begin to walk backwards, not daring to turn my back on whatever is rising from beneath. The round metal top appears first, followed by huge red eyes. I know instantly what I’m fighting, but I’m overwhelmed by its size.
The battle droid in front of me is one I’ve never seen before. It stands several stories high, thick heavy metal encasing its body. The eyes are what I’m most concerned about. The eyes of a battle droid are usually black, devoid of color. This one has bright red eyes that dilate and contract as if it’s thinking. I try to reflect back to Devlan’s workshop and hazily remember seeing a set of these eyes lying around in the pieces of scrap.
I grip the Dimachaerus in both hands, feeling my arm begin to twinge and heat up. As I squeeze my right palm against the handle, a blue energy wraps around each blade, interlacing like a river. The droid stands there, staring at me, perhaps waiting for me to make the first move. The audience begins to chant my name. I decide to take the initiative and lunge at the monster, raising the Dimachaerus as I throw my body forward into the air. Its eyes narrow at my approach; it lifts its right arm and knocks me sideways into the barrier.
I scream at the pain I know is coming, but I’m not badly hurt. The clothing I’m wearing has deflected the energy. I shake my head and get back on my feet as the droid advances, a larger-than-life Dimachaerus high above its head.
I stand and wait until it’s practically on top of me before I dive to the left. Its Dimachaerus slices into the barrier, radiating electricity up the weapon and into the droid. The metal beast shakes violently, but recovers.
The tiles around us begin to separate and we’re both hoisted into midair, balancing precariously on the pieces. As I’m leaping from one tile to another the monster swings at me again, but I jump down to a section of tiles below just as the Dimachaerus hits the tile I’d just been on, splitting it into two. I continue skipping across tiles, then leap for one above my head as the droid comes around again. As I pull myself up, the machine hits the tile, sending it careening towards the barrier, forcing me to jump. It makes contact, but I land squarely on my feet. The tile I’m now on moves erratically, so I hop on over to another one.
An idea pops into my head, and I take the palm of my hand, laying it flat onto the surface of the tile, trying to push the energy through my arm and into the metal. I shove down with my feet and find myself surfing across the air. The crowd goes wild at my move. I dart between the droid’s feet and come up alongside its back. Dimachaerus in hand, I vault myself onto the droid’s back, slip slightly, but manage to grip the metal collar at the base of its neck. I take the Dimachaerus and shove it hard into the small gap between its head and shoulders. Sparks begin to fly as the energy from the weapon makes contact with the machinery inside. I shove harder, hear popping noises, and feel the metal head loosen from its spine.
I picture Vladim in my head and plunge the weapon further down, severing the spinal column.
The droid begins to drop to the ground. As the floor tiles begin to assemble to catch the mass as it falls, I dive below them, sliding down one tile as it’s rising to floor level. I land in the holding area, slamming my back onto the concrete floor. I’m severely winded, and slowly roll over, pushing myself up into a stand. Fighters stare at me from closed cages and I hear feet approaching from my left. I drop the Dimachaerus and pull out the Levin gun, run to the lift and push the button to lower myself to the Care Room just as a handful of Regulators enter the holding area.
The Care Room is empty of people, except those in the cage. I make my way over to them and tell them to stand back as I shoot the lock. Pointing to the Emergency Exit that I see on my right, I yell at them to go through it. Terrance is the last one out of the cage. I put my arm around his waist and we run towards the exit as the elevator opens up and Regulators pour out. The other lift begins to descend, carrying another handful of Regulators. I start firing at them, striking two in the chest as I keep pushing Terrance to the exit. They fire back, forcing us to duck as bits of plaster are disintegrated by the Regulator’s Levin guns’ blasts. Two columns in front of me explode in half as weapons fire hits them.
All the others have made it through the exit except Terrance and me. We are forced to take cover in a small room just a few yards from the exit. I continue to fire, striking three more Regulators. I look at the pillars that have been damaged, and figure that if I can bring them down, the floor above will collapse on top of either the Regulators or Terrance and me.
I decide it’s better than nothing.
I take two shots at each pillar, disintegrating the remaining plaster and metal rods supporting the floor above. Part of the ceiling begins
