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Earth, The woods near Collairnach Village
Padraic chased his sister, Oona, through the forest, her laughter leading him further and further from the village. At nine, he had better things to do than chase his sister down, but if Mam found out she'd gone missing, there'd be Hades to pay, and he'd be the one with the empty coin purse.
"Oona!" he yelled in dwarvish. "Mam said to stay close. You have to come back!"
The echo of her mocking laughter was all the answer he got. With a glance behind him, he followed, hoping to catch the four-year-old dwarf-child before his mother realized they were gone.
Tough and sturdy, dwarf children seldom worried about what they might encounter in the forest, but the recent killings had everyone on edge. So far, none of their people had been taken, but as his mother said, that didn't mean it couldn't happen. The monsters had killed a dwarf in a neighboring village, after all.
He ran along the path, dodging giant fern leaves and leaping over boulders. Finally, he stopped to listen. Oona had gone quiet.
That made him nervous. The child was never quiet. Her chatter and laughter filled their cottage from the moment she woke until she drifted off to sleep at night.
"Oona?" he called out.
The sharp snap of a twig behind him spun him around, but the forest was empty. Eerily so. Even the birds had stopped their chirping conversations.
Nervous, he called out again, louder. "Oona, that's enough, now. Mam will be ragin' that you've run off like this."
"Paddy!" The child's scream jerked him into a sprint, his short, muscular legs pumping, fists clenched. He burst into a clearing and skidded to a stop, his feet scraping the leaf mold from the soil in two ragged furrows.
A metal monster, no taller than Padraic, with a square head and bulbous, bright eyes, held Oona by the arm, its spindly metal fingers pinching cruelly into her flesh.
"Let her go," Padraic said. "Or I'll eat the head off ya and spit it into the ocean."
"Step again, and I will slit her throat as I did the dark-haired woman." The creature's voice was a cross between an ungreased wheel and gears grinding. It hurt the dwarf boy's ears, but he refused to flinch.
"Let her go, or I'll get me Mam. You won't like that, I'm thinking."
A rusty laugh issued from the thing's mouth. "And who will make us wait for your return? No. You will take a message to the Not-Hive. She will surrender herself, and we will give back this young one."
Beyond the creature, a face peered through the leaves.
Mam, he thought with relief.
She held her finger up to her mouth, then pointed to the silver monster and mimed talking with her hand.
Padraic nearly sagged with relief. Mam was here. It would be all right. He just needed to keep the thing's attention for a few more minutes.
"So, I'll agree to take your message to this...Not Hive, was it? Who is that, then?" Padraic asked, desperate to keep the creature's eyes on him and away from Mam's silent approach. She had a gold net in her hands and a dagger sheathed at her side. Padraic wasn't sure a dagger would work against... whatever this thing was. But he trusted his mam.
"They call her Tessa Graham. She has much to answer for. Bring her to us and we will release your sister."
"I'm just a kid. They might not do what I say. But let my sister go, and I'll take your message."
The creature ground its teeth. "You will do as we say or the child dies. You are not– Aargh!"
With a flick of her wrists, Mam flung the net over the creature. Oona strained away from it, letting the metallic netting fall between them. The thing didn't let go, though, and Mam whipped out her dagger, bringing it down sharply on its wrist. The knife struck true, lodging in the joint. Fluid spurted, black and green, and the creature let out a horrible, keening sound.
Oona jerked away and ran to Padraic as Mam pulled the net tight. "Run, now. Get your Da."
Padraic stared at her. "I'm not leaving you here alone with that thing."
"I am not a thing. I am Reaper516 and filthy Earthers will not capture me." It clawed at the netting with its good hand, ripping a hole in the metallic fiber and squirming through. It swiped at Mam's leg, leaving four bloody furrows from hip to knee.
Mam screamed, wrenching her blade from 516's arm and stabbing it between its jaw and shoulder, where the neck would be on a dwarf. It was a killing blow, but 516 screeched louder and jerked away, a trail of dark fluid streaming down its barrel chest.
Mam pulled her arm back, the blade wet and glistening. She stabbed again, but missed as 516 hopped back and stumbled for the trees.
At the clearing's edge, it turned. "Tell the Not Hive that we are here, and we will bring justice to the evil queen and all who protect her."
It disappeared into the trees as Padraic ran to his mother. "Mam, are ya all right?"
"A little scraped, is all. Let's get us home."
He scanned her face, noting the pallor and her tight jaw. "Let me help you, then. Oona, stay with us, now. Don't run off again."
"I won't Padraic," the child promised, tears streaming down her round cheeks. The trio limped through the forest, the trip taking far longer than Padraic thought it should. They hadn't gone far when his father pounded up the path, face white, beard streaked with sweat.
"What's happened to you, then? Bridey, are ya all right?"
"Not but a scratch," Mam said. "But I'd be glad of your arm Tarig. Paddy's a bit tired, I'm guessing, holding his old mam up this way."
A branch snapped in the trees, and Padraic glanced over his shoulder. Something rustled the brush and a glint of silver shone between the branches.
"Let's get back to the village," Tarig, Paddy's Da, said.
"I'm with ya," Padraic replied. "But soon as Mam is mended, we got to send a message."
"To who?" Tarig's frown squeezed his eyes nearly shut as he pulled Mam's arm around his shoulders and helped her along.
"To the Not Hive, whoever that is."
Earth, Barren Caverns
Reaper 578 trundled through the broken maze of concrete and metal – all that remained of a pre-evacuation manufacturing base – a burlap sack dragging the ground behind him.
Gaia had consumed most of mankind's buildings, their factories, resorts, and offices. Their homes. But matter cannot be destroyed, only changed, so the detritus had to go somewhere.
This was somewhere, one of many, where the evil goddess had stashed the remnants of mankind's influence upon the planet. Here the reapers had mined the wreckage of a lost civilization for what they needed.
First, they built a small army of reapers. Not too many, just enough to wreak havoc upon the surface dwellers. To get Gaia's attention. To force her to come and defend her people. Her favorites.
578 gnashed the double-band of barbed wire that served it for teeth. Humans should be the apex species on Earth, but Gaia had decided otherwise. She had banished them, and now she would pay.
The robot rummaged in a pile of metal castoffs, finding a teapot and a set of rusted garden shears. A head and hands for a new reaper.
Stealing chips and other components from the Fae and the Vampires to make new soldiers hadn't been difficult.
Tech broke down all the time. Gaia's favorites had barely noticed. Stupid creatures.
No, getting the raw materials had been a minor issue. Easily overcome. Giving the new reapers' minds to program was another story. That meant making or finding nanocytes. They'd long since run out of the supply the HDL had placed with the First Four in the crate.
But the makers were wise. They had procured a small but vital supply of replicating nanocytes. Bless the makers, for with their help, all was possible.
578 held up the teapot. Dented, but intact, it would make a good housing for the last reaper. They would build it, and with its help, move on to stage two.
Reawakening the machine. All they had to do was find it.
