Mindgames, chapter 5

Continued from:


Claire DeLattre could only watch in horror, trapped within her own cybernetically enhanced body as the Warlord controlled it like a puppet. It was her voice that spoke cruel, biting words to her best friend and former lover Olga Yezhov, better known as the Soviet Superwoman. The psychic Cold-Warrior activated her energy disrupting power generator, transferring power to the dreadful device that Claire had hoped she would never have to make use of again. Everything was so surreal, like she was watching herself in a motion picture, unable to stop anything from happening on the screen. The white flash flooded the room within energy and for a moment Claire was unable to see anything. The flash dampeners in her cyber-optics engaged automatically and there was Olga, a few feet away, standing in a defensive posture. According to the bio-rhythmical data streaming in she was already rapidly beginning to lose her incredible strength and invulnerablities. Claire wanted to shout to her, warn her, but it was completely futile. The Warlord was completely in control of every her function and unlike Ilsa Hauppman who had employed cocktails of chemicals and brainwashing to keep her in line, the Warlord's grip was unbreakable. Diamond-coated, titanium blades slid down from her right forearm as she lunged at the Soviet Superwoman with blinding speed.

***

Olga still had some of her speed and strength remaining, though it was slipping from her fast. She dodged to the right of the incoming blade and retaliated with a right hook. The blow caught Claire heavily in the side of the face and spun her around. She had pulled the punch. Her only intention was to knock her old friend out until she could get her back to Polygirl. How did Ilsa still have some sort of control over her? Perhaps something that the Guardians had missed? Olga couldn't worry about it now. The fact remained that Claire had reverted back to her original programming somehow and raged at her with lethal force. The cybernetic assassin recovered from the blow faster than she had anticipated and was already moving back towards her with incredible speed. Olga dropped into her Systema training. It focused primarily on controlling the six body levers: elbows, neck, knees, waist, ankles, and shoulders, through pressure point application. Grendel swung her blades in another deadly arc. The amazonian Russian ducked down, almost dropping completely to the floor and slammed her boot heel directly into the cyborg's kneecap. There was a popping sound from the joint and Claire staggered backwards. Olga also let out a grunt as her foot collided with the metallic joint, her imperviousness all but gone. Any blow that Claire landed on her now had the potential to be fatal...

***

Grendel heard herself growling in frustration as she backed up from her opponent. The blow to her knee had been solid and apparently unexpected. Either the Warlord had thought her strength all but dwindled by now, or he hadn't anticipated her maneuver. Whichever it was Claire was confused that he hadn't accessed and initiated her combat programming. Housed in her partially cybernetic brain she had literally been uploaded with dozens of fighting styles that she could access dependent on her opponent. Something suddenly occurred to her. The former resistance fighter attempted to access that digital information and confusingly found that she could quite easily. All the data was there, intact and apparently unable to be accessed by the psychic. For as powerful a psychic as he was, the Warlord seemed unable to directly contact the digital portions of her brain or he was unaware of everything she had available to her internally. Thinking fast, Claire began to transfer more and more of her combat functionality to her internal memory, placing it in a state of dormancy. It wouldn't stop him from controlling her higher motor skills, but it would keep him from using any of her advanced weaponry against poor Olga.

***

The Soviet Superwoman flipped herself back up on her feet and made a dash for the nearest exit while Claire was momentarily hobbled. What she had in mind now was a desperate move and she knew it. Grendel was already coming up behind her fast. No chance to escape. Her timing had to be perfect. Grendel lunged forward, razor-sharp blades extended and as she lunged Olga turned and grabbed hold of her by the arm. With all the force she could muster, she slammed her other gloved hand hard into Claire's throat and pushed backwards with all her weight behind it. The blow came unexpectedly and hard. Grendel was thrown off balance and slammed down onto the cold, concrete floor with Olga bearing down on top of her. The Soviet Superwoman suddenly let out a sharp yelp of pain. The blades that originally intended to be slammed into the base of her skull had missed their target, instead slashing deeply into Olga's left thigh. Hot blood gushed forth down her leg, saturating her costume. Grendel quickly took advantage, taking hold of the arm that had grabbed her and with it she flipped the massive woman over, changing positions with Olga now pinned underneath her...

***

Claire continued to shut down her primary and secondary weapon systems. She could see herself on top of Olga now, poised to strike downwards with her blades. As they descended towards the struggling woman's head, the instrument's of death suddenly retracted and pulled themselves back into their housing. Grendel could sense a pause, as the Warlord was coming to the realization that perhaps the control he was exerting was not 100%. Olga watched in confusion as Grendel looked at her cybernetic arm, a sneer crossing her lips. Claire brought the titanium and steel fists down into Olga's face several times in frustration, bruising her flesh and spattering her with blood. Grendel raised her other hand in front of Olga's face, palm extended. The gun port also failed to open and brought a howl of frustration from Grendel.


"You think you're so clever I imagine.", Claire heard inside her own head, "All you've done is robbed Olga of a quick death. Now you'll have to endure as I beat her to death with your own hands. Then I'm going to have you kill Clemence for daring to thwart my plans."


The Warlord brought another heavy fists down into Olga's face with a sickening crunch. The Soviet Superwoman was still struggling, but her life-signs were growing weaker by the second. Claire's mind raced. The Warlord had to be nearby to exert this kind of mind control, just like she had with Clem. Claire had no way to actively scan the room however as the Warlord was masking herself somehow as she had been on the roof. She might have been able to switch to thermographic vision, but the Warlord would have to be looking directly at her. Another blow rained down on the Russian super-soldier. The Warlord was deliberately beating her to death slowly and painfully. Claire could hear that she was speaking through her voice again, spewing out a torrent of vitriol at her long-time friend, using her own cherished memories against her. There had to be something...


There was that strange metal object embedded at the base of her brain-stem. The Warlord had some kind of cybernetic implant of her own. Claire accessed her internal radio and began to scan for the device on over 1,600 channels. After a few seconds of waiting she received a signal back and rapidly began attempting to communicate with it through a variety of protocols. The answer back was completely unexpected and gave her pause. It was a highly-explosive, cortex bomb with a radio receiver for remote detonation. Suddenly it all made sense. Yuri was back from the dead, but in a female body...a blonde haired, blue-eyed one. He had even mentioned handing Clemence over to Ilsa Hauppman when he was finished here. Ilsa must have had a hand in it somewhere and had the bomb implanted because even she was wary of the psychic soldier's abilities and powers and wanted a fail-safe. Claire couldn't help but notice the irony that Ilsa's own fearful device was perhaps the key to saving Olga. The French cyborg began to cycle through all of the possible signals to relay to the device as she watched herself continue to pummel the woman she once loved. Olga was drifting in and out of consciousness from the savagery of the beating. Claire wasn't sure how much more she could take.


"That's an interesting device implanted in your brain-stem." Claire thought to herself, hoping to communicate with the Warlord. "Looks like I just discovered the frequency to arm it too."


Grendel watched as her body suddenly stopped it's vicious attack on Olga, her fist still hovering in the air.


"Give me back control of my body or I swear to God, I will paint the walls with your sick brains bitch."


***


From the darkest corner of the warehouse, the Warlord stiffened up at Claire's words. The idea of dying again, in a manner that caused such catastrophic damage to the brain was a bitter pill to swallow. Catherine wasn't sure if she could even manage to switch bodies a second time so great was the exertion the first time. There was no way she could lose to this bio-mechanical abomination! There had to be a way to still claim victory. She had come too close to be robbed now, at the end. She needed more time. Catherine's eyelids fluttered upwards as she relinquished control of Grendel's body. The cyborg woman shook her head and blinked a few times, the sensation of being completely in control of her faculties overwhelming her momentarily. Claire leaned down and began to check on her bloodied friend. Olga was dazed and confused with Grendel crying openly and attempting to help her now, speaking in broken fragments of French and Russian. Catherine had only a few seconds to remedy her situation before her enemies were upon her. First she reached out with her telekinetic abilities and located the cortex bomb. The blonde woman took a deep breath, her trembling hands touching the sides of her head. The veins on her temples throbbed and a trickle of blood began to run down her nose, sliding down over her plush lips. This had to work, she had no other option. Claire was a killer who would detonate the bomb to keep her friends safe...or Ilsa would detonate it for failing here today. She had to be rid of it. The Warlord closed her eyes and pushed inward with her powers.


There was a sound like a faint popping as the bomb crushed slightly inwards on itself under her telekinetic assault. Catherine's eyes flew open. She glanced over at Grendel who was helping the unsteady amazon to her feet. Claire began to look around the warehouse, trying to locate her. She must have realized that the signal had gone dead.


Catherine smiled a bloody grin as she reached out again with her mind...

To be continued...

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Once again a tremendous thank you to my good friend Nathan not just for creating this image, but also for his time and all the great ideas he had to make this a reality.

Soviet Superwoman, Warlord & the much mentioned Genocide, as well as the writing, all belong to me.

Grendel and Clemence are both creations between myself and Nathan.

All of this takes place in