The team split smoothly with Simon striding for the cavern with Kate, Nick, and Charlotte while Malcolm drew Penny, Imogen, Hogarth, and the stunned Jane with him. The ape roared in defiance and leapt at Malcolm. Jane covered her ears in shock. It landed in front of him, its iron knuckles slammed into the floor hard enough to crack the black surface. Hogarth attacked and his hammer of steel slammed into the silverback. Weird threads sliced the air and struck the metal ape but did no damage. It took Malcolm a moment to realize they were poison filaments from Imogen. She slipped around to get a better angle, her quills quivering straight up on her bare arm. Hogarth moved to stand beside her and the ape pounded the floor.
Penny started across the temple, following the Baroness. Malcolm trusted that Hogarth and Imogen could handle the ape and he ran to support Penny. Just then, two odd-shaped metal stars suddenly bounced on the floor around Malcolm. He grabbed Penny and ran for cover behind one of the tall pillars. He covered the engineer, but after a moment of silence he looked back. The metal stars had failed to go off.
“Ha! They’re duds!” exulted Penny.
Malcolm shook his head at her exclamation.
Penny hefted her stovepipe blunderbuss and took aim on the column the Baroness hid behind. A shot shattered it. The structure rumbled and bits of ash drifted down from above.
“You’re going to bring the roof down on us!” Malcolm shouted. “An engineer should know better!”
Penny’s angry countenance when she turned to him spoke volumes. Her fury wasn’t directed at him. His gut wanted to tell her to blast the Baroness to kingdom come no matter the risk, but thankfully, Penny flipped the weapon across her back once more.
A ratcheting noise sounded and one of the Baroness’s mechanical arms transformed into a new contraption. Instead of a hand, three gun barrels with twice the bore of Malcolm’s quad Lancasters trained on them. The Baroness laid down a murderous swathe of gunfire and chunks of stone flew up into the air.
When the barrage ended, Malcolm spun out of cover and returned one of his own. Penny stepped out with him. In her hand, she held the wee sonic pistol. Penny was a walking means of annihilation in her own right, but most of her weapons were as harmful to her as to her enemies.
She darted as close to the Baroness as she dared with bullets flying and unleashed a sonic wave aimed not directly at the pillar obscuring the Baroness, but near it. The noise and pressure built until Penny collapsed to the floor on her hands and knees with blood dripping from her nose and ears. Malcolm could only spare her a glance as the Baroness fled from her refuge, holding her head. He shot at her fleeting shape. Her rapid-fire gun arm lifted even though she wasn’t looking at him. Malcolm dove to the floor. She tossed two more of the star-shaped objects, forcing Malcolm to roll farther away. Strangely, these failed as well.
On the other side of the temple, the ape ran at Hogarth. The muscled man performed an uppercut with his hammer, clapping the steel jaw of the ape shut with a clang. When a huge metal forearm lifted, Imogen closed the distance and flung quills out. The steel-plated chest deflected them all.
Jane screamed as a thick fist slammed into the pillar beside her. Her arms rose in front of her. A bolt of lightning cracked in the confined space. It struck the ape’s head and skittered over the metal armor, making its yellowish brown color glow a bright copper. The bolt discharged into the wall. A roll of thunder echoed in the chamber. The gorilla stood as if stunned.
Imogen dragged the terrified Jane away. Her mechanical eye rotated over to Hogarth. “I only need to hit something flesh and I can slow it down.”
“Yes, miss.” The manservant breathed heavily and roared at the beast again, careening his hammer off its armored pauldron. He pounded the same spot over and over in a maddening onslaught. The sound clanged like a team of men driving pilings. The ape’s steel shoulder plate began to bend and a tuft of fur popped out. Imogen stepped up. Her bare arm snapped out and a volley of quills embedded in the monster’s flesh.
The ape weaved on its feet. It raised a fist to crush Hogarth, but then the silverback stiffened and fell over in a great tumult that sounded like an armory collapsing.
Meanwhile, Malcolm scrambled for Penny, who had regained her senses. The back of her hand smeared the blood across her face. She got to her feet and held out a pair of dice. “Cover your eyes,” she cautioned as she brought her goggles down. She tossed the dice. A bright light filled the front of the temple.
Penny didn’t wait. She was running toward the Baroness even before the flash faded. But the Baroness wore her own goggles. Thin protective membranes now lifted from the lens on her eyes. Penny’s steel-and-bone fan flicked open.
Just as the Baroness trained her gun on Penny, Malcolm steadied his Lancaster and shot the woman. The shell hit her high and wide, sparking off the armor. It didn’t strike flesh, but it did jerk the Baroness aside. Penny darted past the Baroness and her fan sliced cables and tubes running to her mechanized-gun arm. Black and green chemicals spewed, and the arm dropped limp.