Fix My Mechanical Heart

[grey987]

Crookes was silent for a moment after Kiora spoke, before suddenly bursting into laughter. Evil, menacing and mocking laughter. "Whoever said that I still wanted to be at the top of the charts...?" he asked with another chuckle. Then, in a low and more serious voice, he said, "And you should be thankful that we're still in our mechs. Otherwise, you would have suffered a lot more." After that, he crossed his arms over each other and fired both his plasma cannon and grappling spear so that if Kiora dodged either way, she would be hit by either weapon.

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora smiled and darted backwards, sliding down into the alleyway as before and darting out of it and around the building coming up behind him and aiming for a kick to the head.

 

[grey987]

Crookes grinned as Kiora disappeared behind the alley; he recognized this trick as Shirley Rose had performed it on him during his second fight with her and Mark 3 years ago. Turning around as she approached him with a kick, he lifted his palm to block the strike before rotating it slightly so he could bring it down against her shin and slam her against the rooftop. "Already seen that one," he remarked casually before firing his grappling hook into Hollow's shoulder, bringing Kiora back up to her feet so he could clothesline her.

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora groaned as she hit the rooftop, but the clothesline didn't work, as she activated her boosters. "Well then you should know I am no Shirley, I am the queen for a reason." She said from the air. "If you want me, you have to catch me." She taunted, landing on the rooftop away from him.

 

[grey987]

"Oh, believe me. I will," Crookes snarled, grinning viciously behind the Wrecker's headpiece as he bent on his knees before leaping in the air towards Kiora, firing his grappling hook behind her and pulling himself forward with the wire. The first punch he threw after landing on the roof didn't work since she had moved away, but he wasted no time in rocketing towards the "Queen" and throwing another fierce blow towards her torso.

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora avoided the hit and grabbed his arm, twisting violently as she attempted to break his arm.

 

[grey987]

(Whoops, my bad! I forgot that I had a response due)


The Wrecker's armor squealed in protest at the pressure Kiora was putting it through, and Crookes yelled in pain as he felt his arm bend to the point where his forearm and shoulder nearly broke, kicking at her and rolling backwards before getting up to his feet once more.

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora moved away before he could kick her and she let out a growl. "Not so strong are we." She hissed, not even waiting before she darted forwards, her hands placed in a position to choke him.

 

[grey987]

Crookes quickly found himself being knocked off of his feet as Kiora's hands pressed into the armor around his throat, growling as he was pinned to the rooftop. "Bitch... You're no different... from me..." In the next moment that followed, he struck the side of his palm into her throat, rolling them both over before aiming a blow towards Hollow's headpiece.

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora groaned, her head spinning as she was flattened under him. But she held her hands up to his hand, pushing back before bringing up her knee to his groin.

 

[grey987]

Crookes cried out in pain when Kiora's knee landed into his crotch, and like what had happened once with Mark, his temper flared tenfold. With furious growls, snarls and yells escaping his throat all the while, he grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her up only to bring his fist hard across Hollow's headpiece, slamming his elbow into the side of it before grabbing at the mech's chassis, attempting to tear it open so that he could squash the actual operator.

 

[IceQueen]

(Automatic hit alert, you are getting close to basically saying you did something so I am going to move around it)


Kiora ducked behind his fist and kicked up again, trying to wriggle free of his grip. While he was trying to rip open her armor, she clawed at his throat, holding on tight and squeezing as she glared at him. "NO ONE HURTS MY FAMILY!" She screamed, her mechs mouth opening and letting out a horrifying screeching noise as she tried to bend his armor in to choke him.

 

[grey987]

(Sorry, but sometimes I can't help it if the dodging becomes too frequent.)


Crookes had gotten way too arrogant, way too unfocused, and that was what had cost him. A choking noise emitted from his throat and his hands flew to Kiora's, attempting to loosen their grip but finding himself unable to as he rolled onto his back, their positions flipped once again. The screech that came out from Hollow's helmet earlier had also served to effectively stun him due to his close proximity for it, his legs kicking out against the rooftop as the metal around his throat began to crush his windpipe due to the pressure being applied to it. He tried to struggle, but he failed.


Crookes had lost this fight. And a few moments later, the sounds of his struggle became quieter and the movement of his legs slowed, until they came to a complete halt. His hands fell away from Kiora's and his head lulled to one side, becoming completely motionless. It was almost certain that the amount of pressure applied to his throat had killed him.

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora was taking huge breaths as she waited for Crooks to stop struggling, and eventually he did. She could see blood pooling out of the neck of the mech, now that it was squished down to a small size. She stood up off of Crooks, and looked over at Mark, hurrying towards him. It had started to drizzle, soon the rain growing heavier. She set off a police signal beacon in the location of the body before lifting her boosters and heading towards the hospital.

 

[grey987]

As Kiora headed to the hospital with him slung over her shoulder, Mark stirred and woke up with a groan, feeling heavy rain hammer down on his hair, skin and clothes as his eyes slipped open. Looking down, he could see that he was inside the open chassis of Hunter and soaring through the air, looking lazily over at his fiancée afterwards. "Hey there, hot stuff," he mumbled. "Uh... Are we headed to the hospital? Because I was just taking a nap, earlier. I don't think I want to go back to a hospital."

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora didn't say a word, her mech beat up and bruised. There was still a bit of blood on her mechs face as she set Mark down gently on the rooftop as she sat down next to his mech. Softly weeping sounds could just barely be heard, as Kiora was crying inside the mech wordlessly.

 

[grey987]

Mark grunted lightly as he was set down on the roof, looking over at Kiora when he heard her weeping softly. He also took notice of the light amount of blood on her mech's helmet, and he looked quietly at her for a moment before asking, "Kiora... What happened?"

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora didn't say anything, the weeping continuing as she deactivated the mech control system, curling herself up into a little ball inside Hollow as she continued to weep.

 

[grey987]

Mark's gaze remained on Kiora for another moment longer, letting out a sigh as his eyes shifted upward to look at the dark and cloudy sky above them. He was weak, and didn't have much energy to do anything at this point. "Look... I don't know what went down while I was unconscious... but I just want to let you know that I'm sorry," he told her honestly. "Really and truly, I'm sorry for putting you into whatever situation you might have gotten into."

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora couldn't do anything totally helpless. She was starting to go insane, the blood pooling and the crashing on a windpipe between her hands. She let out thick irregular sobs as she curled up tighter.

 

[grey987]

As Mark listened to Kiora's sobs, he could tell that she was in extreme distress about something. It made him feel awful, knowing that she was this way just because he was dumb enough to make her come out of their apartment to go and look for him again, even though she'd reiterated time and time again that she didn't want him to do that. Something terrible had happened, and he was responsible. No one but him was responsible.


"Hunter... Do me a favor and close up the chassis as best as you can," he murmured, and his mech began to fizzle again as the severely damaged armor tried its best to close itself up. The result was an ugly heap of metal for an exterior, but it would have to suffice for now. That was until he remembered that the boosters were probably no longer functional, and he let out an irritable sigh. There was literally no way for him to get home unless Kiora carried him back home, because even trying to get back to ground level was dangerous for him at this point.


"Kiora... Sweetheart, I need you to be strong right now and help us get home, okay?" Mark said, trying to comfort his fiancée to the best of his ability right now. "My mech can't operate anymore, but yours can... We need to get home. We'll go home, relax, and never come back to this mech game again. But I need you to be strong for just a while longer. Can you do that for me?"

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora weakly turned on the mech system again, gently lifting up his mech into her arms as she lifted up her boosters and started to head towards home, her face stained with tears. She just barely got him back into the dock station before she collapsed out of her mech, sobbing weakly.

 

[grey987]

"Hunter... open cockpit," Mark said quietly, presumably the last order he'd ever be giving his mech as the mangled chassis slid open with ease, allowing him to step out into the garage before looking at Kiora with sorrow. It seemed like they were both hurt in either sense; one physically, and the other mentally. "Here," he told her, getting her up to her feet and slinging her arm over her shoulder.


"Like I've told you before, I won't ask you to talk about it if you don't want to. But I will tell you this; we're leaving this behind, okay?" he said, referring to their mechs. "We may have worked hard to get where we are, especially you, but we won't have to go through this again. We won't go back to this unless you decide that you really want to, okay? We're home, now. Everything's going to be just fine from now on." With that having been said, he began to make an approach towards the stairs with his broken lover slung over his shoulders, pushing through the mild pain he felt as he took them up the steps to their floor.

 

[IceQueen]

Kiora hugged Mark close as she listened to him, pressing her face into his neck. "I killed Crooks." she whispered softly into his skin, tears streaming down her face as she pressed her face into his skin. She couldn't find the strength to take herself away from him, or take him up the stairs. She could just cling to him for dear life.

 

[grey987]

Mark stopped in his tracks for a moment, looking over at Kiora in disbelief. She did... what? She actually killed Crookes? He never expected her to go to that extreme, but then again, it seemed like those two had a personal history of their own. Swallowing hard, he forced himself to continue up the steps with Kiora as he said, "It was going to happen to him at some point or another." He didn't want to press on the subject and make things any worse for her than they were now, so he kept quiet after saying that as he continued up to their room.