Chapter Text
Too much damage was sustained during the earlier fight that V1’s visual sensors did not pick up on anything in the darkness.
Only a single hit could be parried successfully before V1 was smashed into the far wall by an unseen force. A vice grip held V1 in place.
“Maaaaachiiiine…..” a voice saturated with malice hissed near V1’s head. Even with the voice so close, V1 could not see who it was. Only faint static flickers registered on the visual monitor. However, V1 did not have to see to guess. It was Gabriel.
V1 writhed under Gabriel’s grasp. Being in such a close range with Gabriel so soon was not the best strategy, but V1 just needed a little bit of blood to heal.
A small reward dripped on the blood-absorption plating on V1’s head. Gabriel was already wounded. V1 lurched towards the source of the blood, pressing the damaged visual monitor against Gabriel’s face, and quickly started lapping at the wound there.
“UGH!” Gabriel exclaimed in disgust, turning away. V1 twisted to follow the source of blood but was met with a hard punch. While the impact rattled V1’s thinking, head rebounding off the wall behind, V1 could still detect a source of blood from somewhere else on Gabriel’s body.
“YOU DO NOT TOUCH ME EXCEPT FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF SUFFERING BY MY HAND.” Gabriel’s voice boomed, echoes reverberating off nearby walls. Were they in a cave?
As if reading V1’s mind, Gabriel flung V1 toward a void in the cave. Twitching to life, V1 darted up to put more distance between them, but crashed into a hard ceiling.
Gabriel made a sputtering noise, and then burst into laughter, “YOU CAN’T EVEN SEE.” Gabriel mocked as V1 scrambled toward a different direction, clipping a stalagmite as it went. This made Gabriel laugh more, but was cut off when V1 sent bullets flying in his direction, one shot managing to hit.
It became a tense moment then, as V1 was able to target Gabriel better after each successful hit. Gabriel weaved through the shots but was frustrated with the accuracy. While V1 was still attempting to gain more distance, V1 found that further into the cave, the ground became friction-less, as though the ground was ice.
Gabriel’s presence was overwhelming. From previous fights, V1 knew that Gabriel exuded a bright light that became even brighter when enraged. V1 assumed then that the warmth coming off of Gabriel was due to the same light.
Gabriel rushed towards V1, and V1 maneuvered away, albeit with a delayed reaction time. V1 was able to sense Gabriel's location mostly from sound, and the warmth helped as well. However, something was different. Based on the previous data that V1 collected, the current fight was an outlier. Gabriel moved more slowly than before, and his breathing came out as harsh gasps.
V1 could still win this, but even with Gabriel’s reduced speed, V1 was having difficulty finding an opening.
Gabriel was relentless in his pursuit.
What had injured Gabriel so much? V1 felt the query become slotted in its “research later” portion of its brain. V1 stopped suddenly and listened for where Gabriel was. V1 could not afford to spend much time thinking before taking action.
“I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO, MACHINE, AND IT WON’T WORK,” Gabriel roared, his voice a lot closer than V1 was expecting, and approaching fast. V1 took a risk and threw a fist into the darkness. The punch connected, earning a little bit of blood, and a pained grunt from Gabriel. Seemed like it worked.
V1 did not have time to react before a hand pulled down its head and one of its arms was wrapped in a hold in front of it. The ground moved away as V1 was flipped into the air as Gabriel dropped underneath and turned.
Gabriel sprawled on top of V1, pinning V1 down with an elbow on its chest that snaked around the back of V1’s head. V1 found it difficult to aim at Gabriel at such close proximity while also effectively blind, but that did stop V1 from trying. The two struggled on the ground for a moment, but ended up with Gabriel still on top with V1 pinned.
“REJOICE, MACHINE” Gabriel cried out, breathless, “YOU WILL FINALLY MEET YOUR END AS I HAVE PROMISED.”
V1’s sound receptors suffered while Gabriel shouted. He was laying on top of V1 and spoke directly into its face. V1 could sense the wounds on Gabriel, and moved its hips and torso surreptitiously to press its body flush with Gabriel’s body. This action did not go unnoticed, and Gabriel smashed his helm against V1 in a headbutt.
Gabriel spoke again, “YOU ARE AN OBJECT,” his voice cracked, “I AM A DIVINE BEING.”
V1 had never installed a voice because there was nothing that it needed to communicate. It managed to pull its legs free to immediately wrap them around Gabriel’s waist to hold him closer. Where was Gabriel’s armor? V1 eagerly slurped and sucked at the wounds that marked Gabriel’s torso.
Gabriel, unable to pull away, growled in frustration. He struggled against V1 to try and shrug off the grip, but V1 held tightly.
In an unexpected move, V1 felt a hard choking force on its neck as Gabriel opened his mouth and began to clamp down.
While V1 did not need air to breathe, there was an efficiency in building decision-making processes near visual receptors. V1’s actions were based mostly on reactions to visual data. To summarize, as Gabriel was thrashing V1 by the neck, its command over its own body weakened.
V1’s legs fell open and its body fell limp. Gabriel pressed and pulled against V1, trying to rend it apart, but found that teeth alone would not do the job. This only made Gabriel try harder.
Gabriel grunted while he attempted to wrench V1’s neck from its body. The endeavor required Gabriel to use his entire body as leverage. V1 could feel Gabriel’s body flex against its plating over and over, the blood causing a slippery wet sound with each movement.
The sound of Gabriel’s breathing faded in and out as V1 struggled to remain conscious. V1 kept still as Gabriel continued rocking against V1’s body, fans whirring in protest from the heat. The steady supply of blood was barely enough to stave off the destruction to its wires and it was trapped in a loop of needing to heal itself, until its only goal was to keep itself pressed against Gabriel, and found itself moving in time with Gabriel’s motions.
Gabriel paused for a moment, breathing heavily around the bite that held V1 in place. V1 saw the opportunity to move and used all of its effort to try and free an arm. The strain of the movement caused a sharp whine to emit from one of its mechanisms, like a cry. Both arms remained pinned.
V1 could feel Gabriel take in a shuddering breath and go completely still. Undeterred, V1 tried to brush its fingertips against a small graze on Gabriel’s arm. Gabriel slowly released his bite on V1, but stayed close. V1 tilted its head slightly so that one of its plates rested against Gabriel’s face.
Gabriel’s words were measured and drawn out, in a calm tone uncharacteristic to him, “You mindless... Blood sucking… insect.” the last word was spat out like a hiss.
A forceful slam to the head was the last thing that V1 could remember before losing consciousness.