Animus Boxed Set 1 (Books 1-4): Initiate, Co-Op, Death Match, Advance

by Joshua Anderle

  “All of you are in a party?” Kaiden asked.

  “We’ve been together long enough that the system did it automatically, but since you went flying, you didn’t get in,” Jaxon explained.

  Kaiden looked to Flynn and Jaxon. “Doesn’t that mean we have to share points?”

  The two looked at each other incredulously for a moment, then turned back to Kaiden. “You’re really going to bother with that right now?” Flynn fumed.

  “I’m simply…curious,” Kaiden said with a shrug,

  “We’d share points anyway since everyone pitched in to take this thing down—if we get it down. If it makes you feel better, you’ll probably get a few extra points for dealing the killing blow,” Jaxon grumbled.

  “I’ll take it,” Kaiden chirped, giving them a thumbs-up and accepting the party invite.

  “Super, now move!” Jaxon commanded, his tone acidic.

  Kaiden leaped up and ran at the droid. His companions fired behind him, trying to keep the death machine occupied.

  He fired the grappling hook at the top of the droid’s body. It connected, and Kaiden took Debonair out as he hit the button to ascend. He fired at a turret trying to gun him down, the lasers hitting the barrier for a moment before he passed through, then hitting their mark and burning through the guns.

  “I’ve made it,” he called, only to see all turrets on the deck turn in his direction. “Oh, shit!” he yelled as he rolled away from the oncoming fire.

  “Activate your barrier,” Chief shouted.

  Kaiden did so, placing the device in front of him. The barrier popped open as a curved shield, giving him some protection from the blasts.

  “It’s still damaged from the fall. You don’t have long.”

  “Scan for a hatch or doorway,” Kaiden commanded.

  “Look down.”

  Kaiden glanced at his feet to see he was standing on a circle with a line through it. “That works too.” He examined it and found a lever off to one side. Holding his breath, he grabbed it and twisted quickly. The doors opened, sending him down the hole.

  “Well, this is an interesting development.” Laurie looked amused rather than concerned.

  “Why is there a hatch on a killer robot?” Wulfson asked.

  “It was meant to function on its own or as transport. Plus, it would allow for easier internal repairs,” Laurie explained. “There was supposed to be a barrier in place to block unauthorized personnel, but I never implemented it into the artificial version.”

  “It would appear that the soldiers have won, assuming Kaiden doesn’t get lost in there or somehow trips and knocks himself unconscious.” Sasha deadpanned, though a definite twinkle in his eyes betrayed his satisfaction.

  “That would be a riot.” Wulfson guffawed.

  “It certainly would, but there are other things he should worry about,” Laurie admitted.

  The commander and officer turned to stare at him, both with a look of curiosity.

  Laurie rolled his eyes as he placed his drink on the table. “It’s the weak point of the whole design. I wouldn’t simply leave it unprotected.” He spoke reasonably, folding his hands as a rest for his chin. “Kaiden has a bit more to worry about than some wires on the ground, I can assure you.”

  “Damn, it’s dark in here,” Kaiden muttered, moving through the interior of the bot.

  “Activating night vision,” Chief stated, Kaiden’s display becoming green and his surroundings clearer.

  He was in a bare hallway. A few sparkling lights shimmered on the wall, but nothing indicated a power source or weapon function.

  “Hey, Flynn, Jaxon, anyone there?” Kaiden whispered.

  “Speak up a bit, mate. Rather loud out here,” Flynn answered.

  “You in?” Jaxon asked.

  “Yeah. Not seeing any power core, though. It’s kinda barren in here, a little unnerving.”

  “You’re probably on the top level,” Silas stated. “It’ll be further down, in the middle or toward the bottom. You need to—” His voice cut out.

  “Is the connection spotty?” Kaiden asked, tapping the side of his helmet.

  “Not in the Animus. He just took a plasma bolt to the chest and got reset,” Jaxon informed him.

  “Dammit.” Silas cursed, coming back onto the comms. “I’m down to my last life.”

  “That’s unfortunate,” Kaiden lamented as he continued down the hall, looking for a ladder or another hatch.

  “Don’t risk it. Just try to sneak by,” Jaxon ordered. “That goes for the rest of you. If you got a life to spare, get your ass back here. If not, we’ll try to manage while you get around.”

  “Rather pragmatic of you,” Amber chirped.

  “If this doesn’t work, it’s all we got. We can’t afford to play around much longer. Time is running low, and we still got ground to cover,” Jaxon admitted.

  “Well, if any of you make it to the end zone before me, see if you can set up some streamers and confetti for my arrival.” Kaiden chuckled.

  He heard Flynn laugh. “Sorry, I didn’t choose a party bomb as one of my gadgets. Maybe next time.”

  As Kaiden continued to laugh, he heard something tap against the metal. “I hear something… Going silent.”

  He turned the comms off as he put Debonair away and took out his Raptor. He aimed it down the hall, waiting for something—anything—to come out.

  He was greeted with a shot to the chest, causing him to stumble back. He looked up quickly and fired several rounds, connecting with something before sparks flared up.

  Kaiden paused for a moment, then lowered to a kneeling position, waiting for return fire. Nothing happened, and after a few minutes, he rose again and crept down the hall, where he found the body of some sort of droid—a round body with a blaster on top and four legs, like a miniature version of the massive machine he was inside.

  “What the hell is this, Chief?” he asked, and a white scan line cascaded across his display.

  “Defense drone, certainly not the only one. Be on guard. It’d be rather silly to get this far to die to one of these little bastards.”

  Kaiden looked up and down the hall and discerned a ladder leading down. He moved to it and slid down, his Raptor never leaving his hands. He was now in a larger room with hallways crisscrossing and boxes containing machines and tech littered about.

  “Think it would help to take some of these out?”

  “Nah, you’d have to use your ballistic rounds or thermals to make a dent in those shields. Best to save those for the core or any more drones.”

  Kaiden nodded in agreement. “Can you scan for an energy reading or something? Tell me if I’m getting close?”

  “Sure thing,” Chief acknowledged, Kaiden saw a white circle onscreen spinning for a moment before a white arrow pointed downward. “One more level down and we should be good.”

  “That’s something of a relief…” His voice quieted as he heard more tapping—a lot more.

  “Seems you got their attention.”

  “For once, I’m good without it.” Kaiden grimaced and ran down one of the adjacent halls.

  “Can’t tell how many there are, exactly, but it’s enough to be a problem.”

  “Grand.” Kaiden muttered a low expletive when he heard the drones move closer. “Hope the others outside are holding up.”

  “This is just the fucking worst!” Cameron roared his rage, taking shots at the small robots that had begun dropping from the belly of the gigantic machine.

  “Guess it decided to answer our infiltration with some back-up,” Izzy grumbled, walking backward and destroying a couple of drones.

  “At least they are much easier to destroy,” Luke shouted with a swing of his hammer, smashing a few and knocking others back. “And fun too!”

  “Better than dealing with that damn laser,” Marlo growled, firing a blast from his Tesla cannon. “Speaking of which, it hasn’t fired another shot since Kaiden showed up. Anyone know why?”

  Amber f
inished healing Raul before switching to her sub-machine gun and firing at the swarm. “I’m not sure I care as long as it doesn’t do it again.”

  “Best guess, his ballistic rounds caused it to malfunction for a while. Now that he’s in there, it’s probably juggling with interior defenses and dealing with us,” Jaxon explained, venting his gun.

  “Wonder how he’s doing.” Flynn lifted a finger to his helmet. “Hey, Kaiden, how are you faring in there?”

  Kaiden’s back was to a wall, constant streams of laser fire coming from both hallways next to him as the drones advanced.

  He held two fingers against his helmet. “I’m fine,” he muttered sarcastically. A rocket rushed passed him from the hallway on his right, slamming into the wall and cracking it.

  “Oh, good. Rockets, that’s fun.” He sighed.

  “Actually, that’s helpful,” Chief said.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Look, the wall was damaged.”

  “Think it could be a way out?” Kaiden asked.

  “Also a way down. How many ballistics do you have left?”

  Kaiden looked at the auxiliary indicator on the side of his gun. “Five shots.”

  “That should be enough. Take out the wall, use the scorpion wire to grab onto the side, and blast a hole in the side below. Should take us straight to the core.”

  “Better than being here,” Kaiden shouted and fired an explosive round at the wall, blasting it apart and revealing the sky outside. He ran and jumped through the hole, firing the grappling hook behind him and holding on.

  “Care to give me a target, Chief?”

  “Onscreen. It’ll take a couple shots.”

  Kaiden saw a blue ‘X’ appear on the side and about twelve feet below. He aimed and fired two rounds, busting through the exterior. Cautiously, he tried to swing over, but if he let go, he wouldn’t make the jump. It was too sheer.

  Kaiden activated the comms. “Cameron. How do I descend?”

  “You have to hold down the drag button,” he replied.

  Kaiden pressed down on the button, the line loosened as he descended, and he began to swing himself over as the drones fired at him. He’d barely touched the new entrance he’d made, and the line disappeared. His foot slipped, but he caught himself on the edge, climbing up and moving out of the drones’ line of sight.

  “The grappling hook disappeared. What happened?” Kaiden asked over the comms

  “Drones got Cameron. Since the grappling hook was his, it left with him. He’s on his last life now too, and we lost Marlo as well,” Jaxon said.

  “Son of a bitch. You make it?” Cameron asked as he resurrected.

  “Yeah, I’m on the level with the core,” Kaiden answered. He heard tapping on the exterior of the machine. “Are the drones walking along the side of the machine?”

  “Yep, I take it you made those holes?” Flynn asked.

  “You bet, but I didn’t take into account that these things were climbers. I’m heading to the core.” As he turned to run, he heard a loud whirring sound in the machine.

  “Shit! The laser’s back online,” Jaxon shouted.

  “Y’all git. I’ll meet you guys in the end zone.”

  “Roger,” Jaxon shouted as the line went silent.

  Kaiden ran down the room he was in to a door in the distance. It didn’t take long for laser fire to begin shooting past him. He serpentined through the room, blasting the door with a ballistic round to open it, only to be greeted by another group of bots blocking another door.

  “Damn, there are a hell of a lot of these.” Chief growled his displeasure.

  Kaiden heard a rocket behind him and rolled. The thing passed over him and slammed into the other room, destroying the bots and opening the next door.

  “Guess they have their uses, though,” Kaiden jeered. He ran into the next room and stopped short at the sight of a giant cube, metallic and glowing blue, with a large number of wires and connections attached to it.

  “This the core?”

  “Good guess.”

  Kaiden heard a loud clack and turned to see a cannon activating on the ceiling. The drones entered the room and began to fire, and he dived behind a console as the lasers and rockets fired in his direction.

  “Don’t think we’ll be walking out of here.”

  “We can at least take this metal bastard down with us.”

  He could hear the cannon charging up. Calm now, he took off his belt and activated the remaining thermals, tossing them under the core.

  “Don’t die just yet. If you die before the thermals go off, they’ll disappear.”

  Kaiden looked up to the cannon and could see the energy form. He blasted it with his last two ballistic shots, shifting it to point up slightly. He dove as it fired, and it blasted him over to the other side of the room and directly into the path of the drones.

  He winced as he turned to look at the grenades. He heard the final beep as they began to explode and the drones began to fire.

  “Good thing we got that checkpoint, huh?”

  “No kidding.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  As Jaxon crossed into the end zone, he looked back at his party. One-by-one, they made it in, some cheering, while others slumped over in exhaustion.

  He heard someone call out to them and turned to see Silas waving. “Good to see you guys make it.”

  Jaxon nodded before reaching his hand out for Silas to shake. “Thanks for your help. You been here long?”

  “A little less than ten minutes,” Silas admitted, taking the ace’s hand. “Wish I could’ve been there with you when you took that damned thing down, but I saw it blow up from a distance. It was a wonderful sight!”

  “Agreed.” Jaxon looked over to see Cameron walking over. “I would never have believed seeing a virtual being blow up could be so satisfying.”

  “I also made sure to destroy the tiny drone that killed you, Cam,” Luke said, lumbering over.

  Cameron removed his helmet, revealing tanned skin and close-cropped red hair. He gave his titan teammate an annoyed look. “Thanks for letting that out into the open.” He sighed.

  “Oh… Uh…it’s the thought that counts?” Luke asked sheepishly, and Cameron rolled his eyes.

  “Marlo also got taken out by a rocket, and Izzy got caught in the final laser blast. They make it back yet?” Jaxon inquired.

  “Right here,” Izzy shouted.

  They turned to see Izzy and Marlo hustling to the inside of the end zone, a few other soldiers entering with them.

  “Oh, God, I’ve run a lot today!” Marlo groaned, taking a seat on the grass next to the group.

  “Fortunately, my checkpoint wasn’t too far back. I ran into the big guy on my way here,” Izzy explained, resting on her knees for a moment to catch her breath.

  “Good to see you’ve made it,” Flynn congratulated them, walking over to the rest with Amber and Raul.

  “Guess that means we’re all accounted for,” Amber stated before looking back at the jungle. “Except for Kaiden.”

  “Is he on his way?” Flynn asked, looking at Jaxon.

  He shrugged. “Can’t tell. He left the group.”

  “Maybe it’s because we finished?” Flynn asked, crossing his arms.

  “No, a little after the killer droid exploded. I guess when he resurrected.”

  “Maybe it was a mistake?” Silas suggested.

  Flynn and Jaxon looked at each other, remembering one of their last exchanges with Kaiden before looking back at the group.

  “Points, probably,” they said in unison.

  They heard a loud noise behind them and looked outside the end zone. A missile headed straight for them and slammed into the outside barrier of the wall.

  “What the hell? Why are we getting shot at when we’ve crossed the finish?” Cameron yelled.

  “I don’t think they’re shooting at us,” Jaxon said. He pointed at the tree line a half-mile away from them. There was a soldier in
camo light armor, a long jacket, and a wide-brimmed hat running toward them, followed by dozens of mercs and armed bots firing at him.

  “Move your dumb ass,” Chief roared as Kaiden dodged and weaved through the various shots and blasts coming his way.

  “Positive encouragement only, Chief,” Kaiden retorted, firing a few shots back with Debonair as he reached the limits of his running speed.

  “You lost that privilege when you decided to go through a merc base on your last life.”

  “Thought I could get some last-minute points. Didn’t think they would call in reinforcements. Or have a warehouse full of bots, either.”

  He heard a pair of rockets shoot his way and rolled to the side, staggering to get up as the blasts went off before continuing his sprint.

  “Only a little over a quarter-mile till we cross into the end zone,” the EI informed him.

  Kaiden looked up to see a giant translucent green wall. “Think they’ll stop chasing us after we pass through?”

  “They should. Otherwise, we’ll have to deal with a bunch of soldiers, all pissed off that you brought a battalion to their medal ceremony.”

  “It’s more a horde than a battalion.” Kaiden looked up to the ridge to see a line of said soldiers form along the edge of the end zone.

  “Oh, good, a welcoming committee.”

  Kaiden scoffed. “Would be nice if they— Oh, shit,” he exclaimed as he saw over thirty soldiers arm themselves and point in his direction.

  “Hit the dirt.”

  Kaiden threw himself to the ground as he heard gunfire and projectiles fly by him in the direction of his pursuers. He heard pained yelps, cursing, and the sounds of singed and punctured metal behind him. It soon went quiet, except for the sounds of burning and static discharge.

  Kaiden stood up and looked back to see that the mob chasing him was now quite thoroughly quelled. He began to walk over, waving as he recognized his group. “Appreciate that, guys.”

  “Consider us even now,” Jaxon replied, holstering his weapon.