eco-r1

 Helaron's Saga 26: Happily Ever After By the time we made it to the bottom of the mountain, everybody was out of the rubble and all injuries had been bandaged. A person whom I was sure I hadn't seen among the abductees earlier was also picking his way through the rubble, holding a severely dented helmet the right way round with one hand. "Veldron!" Polaron exclaimed. "Not in the mood, kid. Which one of you idiots exploded a lair on top of me?" "Uh, that particular idiot is dead." "You sure?" "He was decapitated. And riddled with bullets. And then he caught fire." "Oh. That sounds pretty dead." I went to find my team. I found Longtoo

 Helaron's Saga 25: Final Boss (2) River stared up at Clockwork. "What do you want? How the hell did you get up here so fast?" "The cyborgs you designed are not the best for combat, but they have amazing potential for speed," Clockwork said. "Ross, you have to turn yourself in. This can't go on. You've gone too far, don't you see? This plan, you've – " "Oh, what do you know, Clockwork?" River snapped. "You abandoned us! You abandoned the game! You just up and quit the villain business when you – what the hell is so funny?!" Clockwork had burst out laughing. Still giggling, he shook his head. "You just called me Clockwork. I'm am

 Helaron's Saga 24: Final Boss (1) "Hel, where are you going?" "To get my other goddamned sword. We can't let this guy get away." Longtooth nodded. "I'll find the Captain and meet you up there." Not if I got to River first, he wouldn't. I sped up. Nobody but Longtooth would be able to see him, surely – nobody else should be heading for him. But I needed to make some headway before he found the Captain. There was no way I could beat him for speed. My missing sword fell from the sky to dig into the loose earth at my feet. From above, CYBR's voice said, "You really gonna walk up this thing on foot?" "You here to give me a lift?" "Tha

 Helaron's Saga 23: Landslide A landslide right off a cliff. I'd survived worse. On pure reflex I drove my sword into the sturdiest part of the cliffside I could see as I fell. My shoulders twanged in pain, but I held on, even under the force of all the falling dirt, and tried not to breathe in more dust than I had to. If I was going to die in an enemy trap I was going to do it with my swords, dammit, not as some fleshy bag of unarmed broken bones at the bottom of a mountain. Although at this rate I'd just be a fleshy bag of armed broken bones, which isn't that much better. I instinctively kept a hold of my sword as the pressure changed to

 Helaron's Saga 22: running out of chapter names    What the hell do you say to a robot holding the corpse of her friend?    Nothing, as far as I could tell. We'd lost two of our number. It had been a long time since I'd lost a teammate. Even though both of the dead were villains, I couldn't help feeling that I'd failed them. I hadn't even been there to see my nemesis die.    We'd fallen behind the rest of the group as we lingered to watch Midnight's little death scene, but CYBR had increased her pace to catch them up. I jogged after her.    "CYBR? We'll get River for this. I'll kill him with my own swords."    "No," CYBR said calml

 Helaron's Saga 21: Dramatic Pause Dr River was going to die. Not even I was prepared for the scream of animal rage that tore its way from my throat. Everybody backed away, quickly, except the Captain, who put his arms around me. And I couldn't stop myself from sobbing, sobbing like some little fucking kid, into that man's shoulder. He wasn't my original Captain, but he was a good one, and he was there. The Count had only been there at all because he hadn't wanted to head for the exit by himself after we'd found him. I should have escorted him out then. He was my responsibility. He was my nemesis. I'd spent years of my life chasing him, f

 Helaron's Saga 20: Revelations Midnight was staring at Clockwork. I'd sort of forgotten that he was there. "How?" he asked. Clockwork smiled. "It's not hard to figure out, 'Midnight'. Your skin tipped me off quite quickly, and you do seem to know a rather a lot. Your ladyfriend knows; why are you surprised I know as well? I've seen this sort of work before." "But..." "Don't look so scared. I believe you're on our side. We should be set here; we need to get away from the explosion area and notify those on the other side. Anybody carrying a still-functional radio?" "I'm sure Seer is keeping an eye on us and can warn the others, but that'

 Helaron's Saga 19: The Cavalry "The basic problem with this design," Clockwork said from above us as the spider-thing stopped shooting and began to sway, "is that the whole plan is based on not allowing anybody to get on top. It assumes that it can keep enemies below even after falling out of the ceiling and it assumed that no attack can originate from above. For that purpose, a simple weaponised ceiling would have been better. But I guess people like us are prey to dramatic urges; I've lost more than one clockwork army to flaws left for aesthetic reasons." CYBR and I ducked out of the way as the spider-thing crashed to the floor. Clockwor