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

by Joshua Anderle

  “Just a moment, friend. It is quite stressful right now,” he responded as he reached into the mech’s panel again to yank out some wires.

  “No shit. You’ll get yourself killed.”

  The mechanist uncurled his pointer and middle finger, blades emerging from inside them to create scissors, and snipped a few of the wires and then deactivated them. Drawing his pistol, he shot the device into the back of the droid’s head. The mech on the left began to reach up to grab him and Genos dropped onto its back. The attacking mech’s claw missed as he pulled himself up again and opened the screen on his tablet. He heard energy charging and looked up see the mech on his right step back and turn his way, aiming its cannon.

  “Genos, I don’t know what the hell you are doing, but you need to—”

  “Merely using a strategy of yours Kaiden. I’m simply adding my skills to it,” Genos stated and pressed a button on the gauntlet’s screen.

  The mech he was on lifted its arms to either side and the cannons on its arms began to charge rapidly. Both mechs moved back once they realized what was going on, but it was too late. The cannons fired right into the cockpit of both mechs, taking them out and causing them to crash to the ground.

  “What did you do?” Kaiden asked, astonished.

  “I’ll fill you in later. For now, I need to finish my plan. Kaiden, you are close by, correct?”

  “We’re in the trees on your left.”

  The Tsuna looked in that direction. “That should be close enough. Please ready my cannon and fire at the cockpit on my mark.”

  He climbed back on top of the mech and over to the cockpit, then punched down several times. As the shielding cracked, he could see the figure inside reach for a pistol on the side of their seat.

  “That should be enough. Please fire, Kaiden.” He pushed himself back to the top of the mech and braced against it.

  Genos moved his head to the side as he saw an orb of red light smash into the cockpit. A scream was immediately followed by a burning smell. He looked to see that the window had shattered and partially melted. The jockey on the inside was no longer an issue.

  “Much obliged,” the mechanist said, thanking the ace as he reached in and grabbed the corpse, tossed it out, and climbed in. He sat in the jockey’s chair, making sure to peer out onto the field for a moment to see if there was any immediate danger. Satisfied, he reached under the control board and pried it loose.

  He studied it, noting what he had to work with. “This will do.”

  “What is he doing?” Kaiden muttered. “He said he was going to create a distraction, not take out a few mechs for giggles.”

  “We did collect quite a few points for it—both Valor and Motes since he’s applying his class,” Chiyo pointed out.

  “And while I would usually appreciate that, I’m worried it will be for nothing if he gets himself killed.” Kaiden huffed, resting the mechanist’s cannon against his shoulder.

  The infiltrator looked at the downed mechs for a moment, barely seeing Genos in the cockpit of the last one standing. He would occasionally poke his head up, but he seemed mostly preoccupied with something inside. “Just do what he normally says when you run off to do something.”

  “What would that be? ‘Stand-by for a wave of hostiles?’” Kaiden snickered.

  “Trust him, he will make it work.”

  He looked at her in silence, then back at the mechs, and sighed. As if he needed to keep himself busy, he moved the cannon off his shoulder and held it in both hands “If he’s not done in a few minutes I’m pulling him out of there.”

  “I don’t believe he’ll take that long. He works almost as fast as I do,” she stated calmly.

  “Friends, I’m ready. Prepare your accelerators,” Genos ordered on the comms.

  “Priming,” Kaiden acknowledged, stretching his legs. “You wanna fill us in now, or is that still a rain-check?”

  “There doesn’t appear to be rain during this time. Do not worry, the weather does not affect whether or not I give you information.”

  “I’m getting him a list of slang terms and idioms to study over break.” Kaiden chuckled.

  “Distraction happening in ten seconds.”

  He hopped out of the mech. The ace could see the boosters on the back begin to rotate and the mech’s cannons pointed forward, charging up. Genos took off on his hoverboard, heading toward the building as the mech lurched forward. Kaiden could see the small droid’s head still attached to it waving in the wind as the mech hurtled ahead. It began firing its cannons indiscriminately, blasting tanks, droids, mercs, and other mechs along its path. A couple of other mechs and a tank turned to it and fired. The tank shot off one of the cannons, but the mech continued to speed forward and fired with its remaining cannon. Other droids and vehicles began to focus on the rampaging mech as it continued its onslaught. A leg was blown off, but the boosters continued to power it through the field.

  “That is certainly one way to get a lot of attention.” Kaiden whistled.

  “Let’s go, Kaiden,” Chiyo demanded, leaning close to the ground before sprinting across the field, her suit enabling her to speed across.

  He followed quickly, holding the cannon to his chest as he raced after the infiltrator.

  The mech was finally downed by another cannon shot to its chest. It fell to the ground and was slowly approached by a few droids. A rapid beeping began to sound as a red light flashed in the cockpit. The droids turned to flee as the thing self-destructed, blowing them away and causing a few mechs to stumble back.

  Kaiden and Chiyo slid into a doorway held open by their teammate. As the explosion went off, the Tsuna slammed it closed. A few pieces of metal smashed against the outside of the door.

  “You certainly like your explosions, eh, Genos?” the soldier asked merrily. He straightened and tossed the Tsuna his cannon. “Good work. I’m not sure if that was resourceful or crazy, but it was the spirit of it that I appreciate.”

  “It was, admittedly, more spontaneous than I would have liked. I had planned to simply activate the self-destruct sequence of a mech in the middle of the field that was too preoccupied with the battle to notice me, but they kept being destroyed,” the mechanist confessed.

  “That and a Tsuna in armor riding a hoverboard isn’t exactly inconspicuous,” Kaiden jeered.

  Genos tapped the neck of his armor. “Admittedly, that could have been an issue. Fortune favors the bold, as they say. Quite apt in this situation.”

  “So you do know idioms,” the ace said, his tone almost accusatory.

  His companion shrugged. “I have learned a few. Chiyo has been most helpful.”

  “Getting there little by little, right?” Kaiden said mirthfully. “That mech went on a hell of a killing spree. The best part was that we got even more points for all its destruction since it was your handiwork.”

  Genos nodded. “I had hoped so. Considering the difficulty and the time we spent out of action, I wanted to make up for it if possible. Turning lemons into lemonade.”

  “Now you’re simply showing off. Keep at it.” The ace beamed under his mask, giving the mechanist a thumbs-up. “I noticed that the mech didn’t really seem to care who or what it was attacking. It might have taken down a few other initiates.”

  “Yes, that was a possibility. The pilots and jockeys do not use their own vehicles or mechs, so all of them were flying enemy colors. I tried to work it in such a way that it wouldn’t attack anything that broadcast a friendly signal, but beyond that, I had no way of knowing who was friendly and who wasn’t.”

  “I would think any soldier or engineer worth their salt would know to get the hell out of the way of an out-of-control mech.”

  “True, but I don’t think they were exactly prepared. I do not know if that is a factor considering the honor system. It was not my weapon, but it was my hand that caused it to go out of control. But in all honesty, it doesn’t matter to me.”

  Kaiden pulled his rifle and cocked his head at t
he Tsuna. “That’s surprisingly cold of you.”

  “I agree, but those out there are not my team. You are,” Genos declared. “And it was my mission to get us across. I couldn’t let the potential collateral damage slow me down.”

  The soldier rested his rifle against his shoulder “That’s the kind of team spirit that’ll serve us well in this test.”

  The mechanist took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling, thinking for a moment. “Also, I don’t believe any of our friends were in the field or in those vehicles. I don’t believe any of them have the training or know-how to commandeer or use them effectively. Maybe kin Jaxon, but he would be intelligent enough to not stay in such a chaotic place or would display some sort of open signal to indicate that he was friendly.”

  “To be fair, considering how much he’s worked with us, he might not even consider it chaos anymore. Maybe not normal, per se, but maybe like a more than moderate threat?”

  “Kin Jaxon does not share your predisposition to wild fights.”

  Kaiden rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, I remember your little talk during the Co-op Test.”

  Genos rubbed the back of his helmet, “In your favor, he has used more talents in gunplay and martial skills.”

  “I have noticed I have a very particular effect on people,” he admitted. “But we’ll talk personal philosophies and being a potential volatile influence on intergalactic beings another time. Let’s get our bearings, shall we?”

  He turned to take a good look at where they were. It seemed like a regular hallway—metal walls and flooring with steel beams along the sides.

  “Doesn’t look like much,” he muttered and looked over to see Chiyo on her holoscreen. “Guess we should be on our way?”

  “Not picking anything up. No cameras, turrets, droids, or comms,” she stated.

  “It’s an empty hallway, so maybe the good stuff is farther in?” Kaiden wondered aloud, not quite sure he believed the evidence.

  Genos walked past him to their teammate. “No vital signs? Can you switch to radar?”

  “There’s nothing here,” Chiyo declared. “But there is something blocking my scans. I can only get a readout of this room. If there were any sort of tech or connection anywhere nearby, I should be able to see it, but I’ve got nothing.”

  “How long is this hallway?” Kaiden asked, peering into the darkened space. “You don’t think this is one of those never-ending paths or a maze or something, do you?”

  “Could be.” She shrugged and deactivated her screen. “From what they told us about this place, and from the vids we saw, it could turn into and be almost anything.”

  “Kinda anticlimactic that we simply got the long walk then,” Kaiden grumbled. “At least out there, we had stuff to kill. Maybe we should go back.”

  The others looked at him incredulously. “You are joking, right?” she asked.

  “I’m just saying,” Kaiden protested defensively and looked back at the door. “Sure, it was hell out there, but we can at least— Where’s the door?”

  The mechanist and infiltrator looked up and saw that there was nothing but a wall behind them. “It’s gone,” Genos whispered in shock.

  The ace walked up to the wall. “This is an ever-changing place of doom, and the best it can do is make a door disappear?” he growled, kicking the wall.

  “Friend Kaiden, are you hot?” the Tsuna asked.

  “Oh, I’m damn livid,” he fumed.

  “No, not metaphorically,” Chiyo said. “I feel it too. The temperature is rising.”

  Kaiden turned toward them, feeling sweat on his brow and forming on his body under his armor. “Yeah, I’m starting to steam, but these suits are insulated, right? We’d have to be in the bowels of a volcano or something to actually feel anything. Wait, what’s that?”

  He pointed behind them. A light was enveloping the walls, ceiling, and floor of the hall, racing toward them. They braced for an attack or impact but the light simply moved past them, then the room changed.

  Instinctively, he covered his eyes against the light for a moment. After he opened them, he saw that they were in a room of fire and magma, standing on a path of red stone as geysers bellowed around them.

  “Correction, this is Hell.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “Jävlar,” Wulfson cursed. He watched as Kaiden and his team began to make their way slowly along the fiery path, their guns at the ready as they traversed the new domain. “What kind of rotten luck is that?”

  “Is it any worse than where they were?” Laurie questioned, pressing his wine glass against his cheek. “At least now they will probably grow to respect the danger they are in.”

  “At least before, they couldn’t trip and fall to their deaths,” the security officer muttered. “They’ll make it. I’ve got a thousand credits on it.”

  “You’re betting? With whom?” the professor inquired, then heard a grunt from Raza in the corner. “I wasn’t aware the Sauren traded in credits. I thought it was normally tech, weapons, and knick-knacks. Things like that.”

  “As our trades expand and this ‘alliance’ of yours between the Mirus and Tsuna ends with a unified currency, we have acknowledged that it is an acceptable payment,” Raza hissed, “We have taken more jobs and made more deals with the payment of credits, accruing them for our various clan war chests.”

  “And you use it to gamble?” Laurie smirked. “The mightiest hunters of the galaxy have such relatable vices.”

  Mya scooted her chair over and leaned toward Sasha. “Would now be a bad time to ask to change the view to my team?”

  Sasha nodded, but he reached forward and picked the tablet up off the table, switched it to a view of Mya’s team, and handed it to her as he continued to watch the main screen.

  “The path seems stable and clear. The environment has changed, but it is still only a hallway. It shouldn’t be an issue for them to get across,” he reasoned.

  “You might want to take a closer look at the details, Commander,” Laurie retorted. “The environments all got an upgrade this year as well. They aren’t merely generic placeholders anymore. All of them have a story to tell.” He took a sip of wine from his glass, then shot his colleague a toothy grin. “And this one is rather dirty.”

  Sasha looked at the side of the screen. “Expand menu,” he ordered. The test details enlarged, focusing on the specifics of what was happening on screen. “Go to environment details.” The display moved quickly over the team’s initiate files and class descriptions and stopped at the description of the level.

  The commander leaned forward and read the screen, sucking a harsh breath in through his teeth. “So it won’t be a simple walk then.”

  “Mauna Loa? That’s one of the Hawaiian volcanoes, aye?” Wulfson asked.

  “Yes, one with unfortunate inhabitants, as well,” Sasha confirmed.

  “Inhabitants? What kinda freaks would live in a volcano?” the large man blustered, earning an eloquent glare from the commander.

  “Depends on the kind of ‘freak.’ Maybe one that was bred for it through unnatural means?”

  Wulfson raised a bushy eyebrow. “You mean like a… Hmm, that’ll make for a much more difficult trip.”

  “But much more sporting,” Laurie declared. “I suppose we’ll get to see how all your training has come together. And we’ll see if you nearly blowing up my lab last month was worth it.”

  Although he wanted to rebut the professor’s snide remark, he leaned back and stroked his beard, thinking about what Kaiden had to face. “Ey, Raza,” he called to the Sauren, who barely moved his head to look at the security officer. “Might want to pay close attention to what’s coming up. It could make your list of things to hunt while you’re still here.”

  “Good Lord, it’s hotter than the taint of the sun in here,” Kaiden grumbled as they continued to advance along the path. “Be careful, the path is getting narrower.”

  “I can see the exit, but we still have some way to go,” Chiyo in
formed them. “You all right, Genos?”

  “I’ll be fine, assuming we can get through here fast enough,” the Tsuna said, his voice quiet and slightly strained.

  “I was able to get some healing injectors from those mercs I killed when I landed if you need one.” Kaiden tapped his supply box.

  “Thank you, but it won’t do much good. This sort of immense heat isn’t good for my body. My suit is supplying hydrating liquids for me, but it’s burning through it fast.” He reached into a pouch on his waist for a small tube of purple gel. “If I might have your assistance for a moment, Chiyo, I need to refill my immerse gel supply in my suit.”

  “Of course. Keep watch please, Kaiden.” She turned to help, and he popped open a compartment on the back of his suit and handed the tube to her.

  The ace stopped and looked around. He peered out into the distance to the edge of the path. The end was still a few hundred yards away, but they were closing the distance. He only hoped it didn’t lead to an even worse location.

  Casually, he watched as the lava flowed downstream. He saw some of it gurgle and ebb, moving like a current of glowing slime. As he looked ahead down the other stream, he noticed something in the magma.

  “Hey, Chief, what is that? A rock?” he asked quietly, leaning forward as the object moved slowly closer.

  “I mean, you’re walking on rock, so that’s a definite possibility,” Chief pointed out. “Kind of a weird detail to add, though. A single rock simply riding the lazy magma river.”

  “Stupid question, but are there things we should worry about in here besides the lava?”

  “A few potential problems, like eruptions or armor getting compromised leading to heat death.”

  “I’m talking hostiles.”

  “Not too many animals dig living in a volcano. Some sea life lives underneath it, and some bugs live around it. I mean, there is— Oh, shit.”

  Kaiden hastily readied his rifle. “What is it?”

  “I should have thought about it right away, but usually, the maps are just a grab bag. But if this place is based on—”