Otto's fingers were a blur on the keyboard as he monitored all 3 screens in front of him. He'd always been able to process information faster than others - it came with the genius level intellect. However, recently he'd been picking things up much faster than normal. About 8x faster than normal, to be precise. Unbeknownst to him, this was the added benefit of having a brain for his head and now for all his limbs too - including the four mechanical ones laying dormant in their hiding spot.
One one screen was a paper for his class, on another was a half-finished message thread - Peter, Harry, MJ something about meeting up later - and on the third was a single, unassuming window pulled from a port authority database.
At a glance, it looked like the least important of the three. Anyone who walked in would have immediately been confused by Otto's sudden interest in the sea. Otto's eyes rapidly flicked between all of the screens. He typed out a sentence on the paper and then tabbed over to the chat to reply.
Yeah, maybe. Depends how much I've got left to do.
Back to the paper.
'...demonstrates a decentralised processing model-'Part of him wanted to put on the harness, hook up a few more keyboards, and see how efficiently he could really get all this done. But it was too risky. He didn't have a secret cave to work in - he had a messy dorm room with a half-broken lock.
All the while, the third screen updated. A live satellite feed capturing a large area around where Otto had encountered the KRAB before. Side by side with this was a variety of stats and information - tide charts, buoy readings, current vectors, weather overlays. He'd been caught by surprise before, and he'd made it a personal objective to never let that happen again. If he couldn't outmuscle the competition he'd have to outprepare them.
He went back to the paper.
'...semi-autonomous processing across multiple nodes-'And then to the group chat once more.
If I finish early I'll swing by.
Then finally, back to the third screen again. He felt a jolt through his body staring at the information in front. It wasn't anything so obvious as seeing the KRAB breaching out of the water, but to Otto it was more than enough evidence.
A stretch of current data was showing information that was way off. A slight deviation, like something had displaced the water just long enough to be noticed, then vanished again. It was large - Otto surmised it was either a whale or his target.
But then, the movement repeated. And not in a random location either. It was moving in a straight line, along a path. Otto leaned back in his chair, one hand still idly finishing the final lines of his paper while the other pulled up a wider map. The data expanded outward, connecting points most would have missed.
"Gotcha." he murmured to the empty room. The KRAB was heading somewhere, but where? He twiddled a pen inbetween his fingers before clicking it twice and attacking the keyboard once more. He pulled up shipping routes and furiously scrolled through them.
There were a few in the danger zone, intersecting along the trajectory of the mechanical beast. He looked deeper into their route, calculating their current speed against the path of their hunter.
A larger vessel, slower moving. Would intersect the projected path within...Otto's eyes flicked to the clock.
"Forty minutes?!"The paper was finished, unbeknownst to his conscious mind. He allowed his fingers to hover over the keyboard once more - having a small mental battle with himself as if the outcome wasn't obvious.
Otto stood from his chair and moved over to the harness. It was time to hit this guy where it hurt.
He was going to have to act fast if he was going to beat the KRAB to its dinner. Sure, he could swim faster than it. Much faster. But it wouldn't be fast enough. At this rate he'd reach the ship well after the KRAB had slaughtered the crew and made off with its equipment. He had to find a faster way of getting there, one that didn't involve swimming.
A crowd had formed around one of the long streets of New York. This wasn't an unusual sight in the city that never sleeps, but the crowd hadn't formed for a marching band or a protest for once - they had formed for an entirely different kind of spectacle.
Shouts and jeers of
'It ain't halloween yet pal!' and
'The street performers hang out at times square bozo!' surrounded Otto as he executed his impromtu plan. He was muttering calculations under his breath, a muddle of numbers and corrections.
"Don't worry guys!" He finally shouted back.
"Nothing to see here!This only brought on more insults.
He slowly edged backwards step by step, pushing against the tensile strength of the tentacles holding him back. All four of them were shot deeply into the tall buildings around him and were being pulled taut like a rope as he stretched backwards with all his might.
Finally he was as far back as he could go. Otto wasn't sure if the tentacles could stretch any further, but he sure as hell knew he couldn't take another step without slipping and falling flat on his face. He wrapped his arms around the upper two tentacles for safety and took a deep breath.
"Uh, don't worry everyone! I'm a trained professional!" He shouted to the crowd, unconfidently.
"Trained dumbass more like..." He then muttered to himself. A few people in the crowd stepped back. Most, however, took out their phones and started recording.
All at once he released his grip on the tentacles and jumped into the air. The tension snapped forward all at once.
Otto shot across the street in a blur, the world compressing into a single, violent line of motion. Wind tore past him, the ground vanishing beneath his feet as he soared through the air - propelled by the use of his crude slingshot.
Even as he flew through the air - looking down at the people becoming ants below him - he was still calculating his trajectory. He glanced up again towards the water and the docks - his eyes twitched left and right. His calculations were off. A very minor error in terms of the maths but in terms of his landing point a major variation.
He made a split second decision. Taking even less than that to adjust his aim. A tentacle shot out, piercing through a water tank and spilling liquid all over a roof. The metal appendage wrapped around the side of the tank and then just as quickly went loose and altered Otto's flight path.
Perfect, trajectory corrected. He soared through the air for a while longer, climbing higher above the concrete jungle and then eventually the black water of the ocean.
What Otto hadn't accounted for when formulating his plan was the landing.
If he landed on the ship then his calculations - with their amendment - were perfect. This would be a personal victory that much was sure, but it posed another set of problems. The first being the velocity at which he'd land. He was more durable than your average robotics student that was for sure, but still hitting metal from this height and speed would definitely hurt. And that's not even taking into account his mechanical limbs and the impact they would have on the ship. Sure, he could wrap himself in a coccoon of them and save himself a few scrapes and bruises - but he was almost certain turning himself into a cannonball would just plummet him through the ship itself.
Now the ocean, that may have been a bit more preferable. It minimized damage to the ship and any potential crew, but it posed the new issue of just how deep he'd plummet below the surface. This was valuable time that might be wasted.
There was no time to weigh up the pros and cons - and even if there was he was left with no options to alter his fate. There was no handholds, no buildings to cling to. At best he could use the ship itself as a last ditch attempt, but this ran the risk of damaging its hull or worse - capsizing it entirely.
He wasn't sure whether to breathe a sigh of relief when he hit the water and sank down like a torpedo into its icy depths. He was encased in darkness, his low-light vision adapting within the first few seconds. Just long enough for him to realise he was diving against his will straight towards a giant exosuit - the KRAB.
He repayed the favour from last time, catching the beast by surprise about as much as he'd been surprised by this twist of fate. Otto threw his tentacles forward, gripping onto any handhold on the KRAB he could find. He used his adversary to slow him slightly, and then flipped forward, carrying the giant through sheer momentum and throwing him as hard as he could to the ocean floor.
The loud thump at the ocean floor sounded out his victory - and for a moment Otto allowed himself to celebrate this small win. He followed through the motion, stabilising himself with a quick spread of his limbs - anchors biting into the seabed to bleed off the last of his momentum. Of course, it would never be that easy. A glowing pair of eyes rapidly arose from the depths, coated in sand and heading straight for Otto.
One massive claw tore free of the sand, snapping forward with enough force to split the water itself. Otto moved on instinct—his body twisting sideways as a line shot out, catching the ocean floor and dragging him just clear as the pincer slammed shut where he'd been a second earlier.
His momentum was shortlived though as the other claw rose up and collided with his spine, sending him tumbling through the water to the seabed below.
For a moment the KRAB floated, staring at Otto, before turning its attention back to the surface and swimming off in the direction of the ship.
"Not on my watch, asshole." He said to himself.
He pushed off immediately, propulsion kicking in as he shot upward after it. The KRAB wasn't retreating - it had barely even acknowledged Otto as a threat. The ship above loomed larger now, its shadow swallowing the faint light filtering down.
Otto angled upward, closing the distance. The water grew brighter, pressure easing slightly as they ascended, but the KRAB had the advantage now. Its bulk cut through the water with long, efficient, strokes of its claws that carved and pulled through the water faster than Otto could keep up.
He had to adjust. One limb shot past the KRAB, latching onto the underside of its chassis. Another followed, securing him in place as he was dragged along in its wake.
"We're not finished yet, buddy."The KRAB barely even noticed. It continued to accelerate faster and faster as it neared the ship. The surface broke above them in a violent surge of displaced water. The ship's hull towered overhead as the KRAB breached just beneath it, one claw slamming into the metal with a deafening clang that reverberated through both machine and water alike. It began to climb, digging its huge sharp claws into the sides of the ship and pulling its huge mass up towards the deck. Water cascaded off of the exosuit as it hauled itself upward, the horrible noise of metal grinding against metal piercing through the noise of the waves.
One final heave and the KRAB pulled itself over the edge, crashing onto the deck in a thunderous impact that sent containers rattling and men stumbling back in shock. Otto released just before the landing, flipping free and hitting the deck, sliding across the slick metal. He came up quickly, eyes already locked onto the towering machine as it rose to full height.
Floodlights snapped toward them as the crew began to panic and retreat, sprinting away to the the extremities of the ship. They had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Otto was their last hope. The KRAB didn't even acknowledge them, it just began to slowly turn on its axis until it faced him head on.
For a moment, the chaos and the noise fell away. Otto couldn't hear any of it - the crew, the ship, the alarms, the ocean - none of it. The only thing he could hear was the pumping of blood in his ears, his own heartbeat deafening him from the world around.
"Alright." Otto took up a fighting pose, raising two fists and four more clawed tentacles pointed towards his opponent.
"Round two. Ring the bell, Apollo."
Ezekiel,
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Emma,
vue2026,
Morden Man,
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