D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Hunter ---

Just as Hunter was leaving the second last office on the floor still bereft of a keycard when she heard something approaching. It was a consisted, thunk, screech, thunk, screech in an even rhythm. Knowing it had to be something, or someone approaching Hunter quickly considered places to hide as she removed herself from the world's notice.

The only spot to hide in the offices was under the desk and if she was suspected of being around they'd check for that. Admittedly she was probably safe but that was no reason to get lazy.

Instead, Hunter leapt to the ceiling and used her 'height' to her advantage, pressing against both hallway walls to hold herself on the ceiling. Hunter was careful to place her fingers and tail tip in between the light strips to avoid casting shadows if she was forced to drop her technique.

So Hunter waited, breath held and invisible to the world without issue until the sound finding came into view. It was a large robot, the largest they could make it and still fit in the corridors. Even as high as she was, right on the ceiling and pressed tightly against it too, the thing's was only a short distance from making contact with her.

Perhaps if it's broken right leg was still working she wouldn't have been safe. Her technique is good but having someone directly walk into her? That would cancel it.

The broken leg trailing behind it seemed to be an issue with the knee joint. It was capable of standing on the leg, but needed to pull that foot forward instead of stepping and it was the cause of the scraping noise and ever step left behind a dark trail on the ground. Hunter wasn't sure what it was without getting closer but it bubbled for a few seconds after making contact with the ground.

It made it seem like even the working leg was in poor condition.

The chassis on the rest of the robot wasn't in good condition either. It was littered with holes large and small that revealed an underlayer of dense metal weave likely designed to absorb and spread out the impact from particularly nasty blows.

In a few places though, even that was worn away having instead been replaced by something that looked a bit like cotton that had been stuffed into the holes to keep the internals safe. It was a bit sparse in a few places and made Hunter wonder if someone had done this, or if it was all automatic.

The head was in shockingly good condition. It looked more like a helmet or a metal mask that had bright search lights shooting out of the front. They weren't too obvious in this brightly lit corridor but in the dark it would be much clearer.

The mouth was just a thin line and there was nothing to indicate the thing had ears though Huter imagined it would have sensors for that despite the apparent absence. It was just meant to look generally humanoid for some reason, the details weren't important.

The chest cavity though… that looked quite important. One of the largest holes was right where you'd expect the armpit to be on a person. The metal weave there was intact but very thing with a few holes in it and allowed you to see much of the robot's insides. Worse it revealed a pulsing and sparking core that glowed with a bright white light and seemed one bad day away from exploding. Not good.

Not good at all.

Hunter froze in place, halting her analysis as the robot paused one step away from where she was. If she had her abilities it would have found her. It's gaze turned slowly left, creaking and shuddering as its head moved in sharp bursts as it took in the area nearby before turning back the other way as its eyes froze on the door.

Hunter glanced at it and realised in her haste, and desire not to be loud when shutting the door it hadn't quite clicked into place. It was shut yes, but not completely and this robot had been able to notice as such. The robots hand snapped out and pressed on the door allowing it to open. The robot turned and looked inside.

Hunter knew she hadn't been perfect when putting things back, pretty good, but not perfect.

The robot glared into the room lights in its eyes intensifying as it started what looked to be scan starting from the top of the room to the bottom. The beam of intense light canvased the room from top to bottom three times before the robot poked its head in and scanned the left side, then the right side of the room as well.

Hunter could feel her chest burning slightly from having to hold her breath so long. The stress of keeping up her ability getting to her, but she knew she needed to wait it out, allow the robot to move before she relaxed.

Finally, when the robot was done with its scan a rumbling happened then it marked the door with its thumb, trailing the black gunk over it and putting an O on the door before leaving it as it was, hands clearly not capable of closing the door itself. The robot moved back to the centre of the hallway and returned its march. Thunk, screech. Thunk, screech one after the other.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It's head moved around, looking over the other doors in the hallway but it seemed she had shut all of them properly as it kept moving, slowly, but it was moving until it finally left the corridor… and turned left? *The robot has a keycard! Or at least it can get in some other way. I certainly didn't hear it crash through the door. Hmmm… do I want to risk following it?

I don't have the time left of my ability to do it now but if I wait for it to come around again or a second one comes? Then again how long will that take?* Read new chapters at empire

Hunter was about to drop down and finally relax a bit when her finely honed instincts picked something up. A quiet whirring sound, exceptionally so. Hunter reinforced her hold and quickly let out a the she was holding then took in a big breath and disappeared again. It was pushing things, she needed time to rest her aura but that quick break was better then pushing on past her limit.

She was rewarded for her caution when a few moments later a moderately sized robot came around the corner. Unlike the humanoid one before, this new robot was essentially a box with a camera built into its frame that constantly scanned things. The bottom was open and it currently had two wipers sticking out.

They gathered up the black sludge on the ground and pulled it inside the robot as it moved forward cleaning up after the first one. Though Hunter had no doubt it was connected to the same system as the first.

I wonder if it was designed that way? I big monstrosity to take up attention and then a small nearly silent cleaning robot to come behind and catch anyone who left their hiding spots thinking they were safe. Perhaps someone repurposed the cleaning drone for that duty later on? It's hard to say but it looks to be in much better condition.

The cleaning wasn't in perfect condition. It looked nice and shiny of course, but it had a few scratches on the corners of its black casing. The top had a slight dint in it that seemed to have been made by something heavy falling on it. Hunter looked for more signs of age as the robot moved to the marked door. It retracted its wipers and pulled out a bristle attachment and started vacuuming the room.

Hunter wanted to scream at the thing for taking its sweet time as she felt a pausing pain through her temples as her ability stretched.

Deciding to risk it, Hunter let herself down and quickly backed away to the corner the robot had come from and released her hold on the ability. She waited around the corner until she heard the vacuum attachment turn off, then remained still for quite some time longer as she heard it start up its wiping again, mostly hidden under the soft whirring of its motor.

*Do I want to risk following it? I'd bet the little one can get into the restricted area as well… but I've still got a good amount of this floor to explore and I'm not sure if I want to be locked inside that area with those robots. Perhaps if the compass indicated the drake piece was in that direction I would be more keen to risk it.

Hmm… I've only got a few moments to decide and I can probably stretch my powers enough to make it through the door. Not sure how much further though. The big robot was slow, and the second one was just insulting. I can still feel a bit of pain from pushing myself even if it's fading fast and there was no real damage…*