“It’s not going anywhere.” Amber fretted, trying to get Chiyo to sit down. “Let’s wait for your leg to heal. It’ll take half an hour. Hour tops, I promise.”
“No, we need to go ahead and—” Kaiden placed a hand on her shoulder, breaking her train of thought.
“Like she said, it’s probably not going anywhere, and if it does, we know what to look for now,” he reasoned. “Rest up, and then we’ll go. You would look pretty ridiculous limping to face the all-seeing EI.”
“I’ll go slowly. The medicine can work as we travel,” she stated and shook him off, then tried to keep moving using the van for balance.
The ace shook his head and picked her up, an arm under her legs and one under her back. “What are you doing?” she hissed, trying to kick him before wincing with pain.
“Tough love, although this seems tougher on you than me,” he joked and placed her back on the ground. “Take an hour and let it heal. Even with the time loss, it’ll probably be faster getting there than limping all the way.”
Chiyo looked up and frowned before taking a deep breath and lying back. “Fine, but we’re going as soon as I can walk normally.”
“Fair enough. Snaps for tenacity.” Kaiden winked. He looked at the building Chiyo had pointed to. “At least we can see the finish line now.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“Not exactly a very fancy evil lair,” Flynn quipped as the group stood outside the entrance of the derelict building.
“I’m not sure if this Director can be considered evil or malicious. It is only following its programming,” Genos reasoned.
“Well, unfortunately, it was programmed to be a pain in the ass,” Kaiden grumbled belligerently, taking a moment to draw Debonair and check it before sliding it back into its holster. “And we’ll destroy it for that—fuck the messenger.”
“I doubt we need to destroy it. I’m hoping that I can find a way to access its systems and simply deactivate it,” Chiyo cautioned.
“Got this far and you won’t even let me have this,” he muttered, flinching slightly as Chiyo looked at him. “Fine, fine, we’ll do it your way. But if that doesn’t work, I’m finding a way to blow it up.”
“I would be impressed if you could,” she said, turning back to the entrance. “Is everyone ready?”
The group declared that they were and made their way into the building, stepping over the broken glass and metal of what was once the formal entrance. They walked into the lobby, Kaiden and Flynn on edge and awaiting an ambush.
“Still nothing here? Not even going to send a welcoming party to greet us, followed by a playful round of disembowelment and bullet-riddling?” Kaiden snarked.
“I’m beginning to take this personally. We not good enough for an extermination squad?” Flynn muttered.
“I doubt that this Director, whatever it is, is trying to whittle you down by attacking your pride,” Amber countered.
“It’s a pretty effective strategy, honestly,” Kaiden said, looking above him to see holes in the ceiling that gave him a view of the floor above, seemingly equally barren, “I was hoping for a more climactic finish to this than just spelunking,” he complained. As he took a step over a piece of jagged metal, a glowing, circular device popped up from the floor. The ace jumped back and moved to shoot it, but Genos fired first. The Tsuna hit the device with a pistol shot, attaching one of the RAAs to the device. The lights dimmed and it fell to the floor, spinning around for a moment before stilling.
“What was—”
“Typhoon mine. When triggered, it leaps in the air and deploys small explosives in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree arc around itself. They can be rather catastrophic to small teams like ours,” Genos explained. He put his cannon away but kept his pistol at the ready. “My apologies. I should have noticed them sooner, but Viola isn’t running at full capacity, and I suppose I wasn’t as aware as I needed to be. It would appear that we do have a few things to look out for as we continue.”
“No kidding. I know I said I wanted a climactic ending, but I meant that we win, not die from an explosive frisbee,” Kaiden gibed.
“If there are traps to look out for, maybe it’s best that you take point, Genos,” Chiyo recommended.
“Understood.” The Tsuna nodded. “It might be slow going, but I’ll do my part to make sure none of us are eviscerated.”
“It would be appreciated,” Amber said warily.
He walked to the front of the group, tapping on the device on his gauntlet. “Do we have a direction, Chiyo? I would assume that, considering the size of the building, we’ll be heading upwards?”
“No, actually. It appears that all the streams are converging on this floor, not above.” She looked around the room and tapped on her device. “But there are so many, it’s like several spider webs laying on top of one another. It’s getting harder to find a direct path.”
“Then we’ll keep moving until we find one. Not many places to hide here,” Kaiden declared. He began to walk forward before halting next to Genos. “Uh, you first, though. You know, I think you’ve proven that you can take the lead from time to time.”
“Certainly, I’ll do my best to confirm your faith in me,” the alien agreed. “Also to make sure you don’t activate another trap in your haste,” he concluded, taking point as he led the group deeper into the building.
“He’s catching on,” the ace mumbled as he followed behind.
The group combed the entirety of the floor, stopping in each room no matter how small to check for any sign or device that could lead them to their quarry. The Tsuna would have to stop occasionally to deactivate trip lines or explosives along the path. Kaiden noted that the mechanist seemed to be a surprisingly excellent shot with his little antenna pistol. He would toss pebbles into rooms to activate mines and shut them down with a flick of the wrist.
They came upon two large doors, the bottom of one bent back and both slipping from the hinges. Kaiden and Flynn walked over, slid down and through the opening, and bent one back to help the others through. They appeared to be in what was once a central conference room or lobby. Desks, chairs, screens, and other appliances and furniture lay scattered about on the edges of the room. For the most part it was empty, except that a few decorative pillars in a square pattern remained in the center of the room. The most unusual thing was that the walls were almost covered by graffiti.
“This is interesting,” the ace remarked, looking at the various designs and logos. “Some of these seem to be based on works of known artists—that crown logo over there looks like a Sire Midas job. That eagle-rabbit-fish thing seems like a Ludoviko design. ”
“Into street art, Kai?” Flynn asked, checking out a few of the designs.
“There’s a small scene in Dallas. Can’t really take off with all the suits paying to strip them away, no matter how good they are. They prefer that clean, soulless polish in the metro area.”
“I don’t recall seeing many of these paintings throughout the rest of the map,” Genos observed. “You think this may be a sign?”
“I do,” Chiyo affirmed, deactivating her tablet and scanning the area. “There is a confluence here. There has to be something linking to the Director, but I can’t see anything.”
“Maybe it’s hiding behind a stealth generator or something?” Amber suggested.
“In a wide-open area? Not a very smart use of that. Kaiden could simply spin in a circle and fire to look for it.” Flynn chuckled.
“Can I?” the ace asked, holding his rifle up and looking at Chiyo.
“Please refrain from that for now. I don’t think it will help,” She stated. “My guess is that the Director is in a different area. What I’m reading could be a command console or a linked node.”
“Maybe the Director is smaller?” Amber suggested. “I mean, I think we’re all thinking it’s some giant glowing being with a dozen eyes or something fantastical like that. It might not be much bigger than Chief, and could be floating around over ou
r heads maybe?” She looked up as if it were hiding right above her.
“Nah, when it comes to EIs, size matters,” Chief said, appearing above her and looking down. “Something with that much juice and power would have a large figure. From what Chiyo discovered, it looks like it was based on mainframe EI models. Those things can get massive, and are usually contained in their own separate unit. Like a super-sized version of an EI pad.”
“Well, I’m certainly not seeing the Wizard of Oz floating around here,” Flynn muttered. “And any console or computer I see is wrecked, so unless there is a— What are you staring at, Kaiden?”
The ace was near the wall on the far end of the right side of the room, looking at one of the logos on the wall. “It’s this emblem. It looks familiar, but it doesn’t seem like any style I know. I feel like I should know it, but I can’t put my finger on it.” The design was three lines connecting in the middle to create a triangular pattern. At the tip of each line was a different symbol—a circle with a line going vertically through it at the top mark, an octagon at the bottom left, and what looked like a spiraling branch on the bottom right.
“It’s the old symbol for the EI project,” Chiyo stated.
“Each line was supposed to represent a facet of what EIs were. Top means tech, left means adaptation, and right means evolution,” Chief explained. “The idea behind all EIs was to be the first in a series of projects that would create self-sustaining technology that would advance over time of their own accord.”
“Rather ambitious, but that isn’t exactly what happened,” Kaiden noted. “They bite off more than they could chew?”
“The concept of what would be the EIs started long ago, during the time the Asiton crisis happened,” Chiyo related. “I’m guessing that led to some restructuring.”
“Ha! No kidding.” Chief chortled.
Genos walked over to the emblem and placed a hand on it. “Friends, this wall is irregular, like the rocks from before.”
“What’s he talking about?” Flynn asked.
“He means it’s supposed to be a secret area,” Kaiden explained.
“Destroy it, Genos. Let’s see what’s behind it,” Chiyo ordered.
The Tsuna nodded. Taking position a few yards from the wall, he holstered his pistol and drew his cannon. “You may want to step back. Some blowback is to be expected,” he advised as he began to charge the cannon.
The group took a few steps back, but as the mechanist began to aim at the wall, they heard a metallic shriek. One that made Kaiden’s blood run cold. One he had grown familiar with over the year.
“Everyone, get back,” he yelled, spinning around with his rifle at the ready.
“What is that?” Flynn demanded. “Where is it?”
“Above!” Genos shouted. The ace heard the floors above crash and rumble. He moved back to the doors and away from the center of the room as the roof caved in and something crashed to the ground.
It was a machine, huddled into itself. Slowly, it began to transform, its body unlatching from its legs and its arms unfolding. When it stood to full height, its head nearly touched what remained of the ceiling. The head was circular and curved down the back, and held one massive, glowing white eye. It had a sleek design—a silver body with heavy armor. Kaiden could see a few cords hidden within, glowing with an almost ethereal light. One arm carried a cannon and the other a five-fingered hand, the ends jutting out into pointed claws. It stood on hunched legs. One step forward caused the ground to shake as it scanned the team.
“Take it down,” Kaiden ordered. He reached for his thermal container, feeling that there were only three left. Cautious, he gritted his teeth and held back from using them for now, deciding to wait and see what tricks this machine had to play.
“Is that an Asiton?” Flynn yelped. “Speak of the devil!”
“Not the time to be in awe, Flynn!” Kaiden barked. “Go for the head.”
Flynn, Kaiden, Amber, and Chiyo began firing at the droid, but their attacks barely seemed to register. The machine turned and charged its cannon, taking aim at Amber.
“Amber, get away,” Chiyo shouted. The infiltrator and the battle medic dashed to the side as it fired. They jumped at the last second, but the force of the blast blew them into the wall, cracking it as they impacted.
Genos stepped up and fired his charged cannon. The droid’s hand glowed with bright blue energy as it literally caught the blast, crushing it in its grasp and causing it to explode, knocking the Tsuna into the wall behind him
“Genos!” Kaiden cried.
Genos rolled over and got shakily to his feet. Amber and Flynn continued to fire at the machine, to no avail. Pieces of Genos’ armor were cracked, and the low light of his armor’s barrier was gone.
Kaiden looked over to see Amber and Flynn dodging a shot from the mech. Genos took shelter on the side of a broken slab of concrete, Kaiden quickly slid in next to him, “Genos, get out of here! You have no protection.”
Genos looked at his cannon, “My weapon is still functional, so I can continue to fight.”
“Even so, if we don’t take this thing out soon… Wait, that disintegration grenade—you still have it?”
Genos opened the compartment on his back, taking it out. “I do. It’s—no, it’s damaged! The activation switch is cracked.”
“Can you fix it quickly?” Kaiden asked.
“I can, but I can hear the holding pin on the inside rattle. Without it, the grenade will detonate in my hand.”
“Dammit, that would have been helpful,” Kaiden snapped.
Genos paused for a moment. “I think I have a solution, but I will need time. I know it is a lot to ask, but—”
“Already on it!” Kaiden shouted, hopping out of cover and firing at the droid. “Everyone, keep firing!”
“That’s a redundant order!” Flynn snarked, sending shots at the machine’s head. “I would be much more impressed with that if it weren’t trying to kill us,” Flynn shouted, sending shots at the machine’s head. They found their target, but it constantly spun its head, so the shots struck the armored side and were unable to pierce through, even at full draw.
“Chief, activate the battle suite,” Kaiden demanded. The EI nodded and disappeared into the HUD as he began the process. The ace decided to get close. The suite began to boot up as he took out the entire thermal container and hit the switch, activating the remaining grenades within. He sprinted at the machine as it turned toward him. Flynn and Genos resumed firing, trying to get its attention. It pointed its hand at them, and the energy surrounding it erupted and knocked them down. It fired several smaller blasts at Kaiden, which he was able to weave and flow around as he closed in.
As he jumped to the side to dodge another shot, he tossed the container at one of the exposed slots in the machine. He landed and rolled behind a pillar as the explosions went off. After another static cry from the droid, he looked around the post to see it collapse on one leg, the other shattered in the blast.
“I’ve gotten used to destroying your kind,” Kaiden muttered. “Looks like we’re good, Genos.” He seated his rifle against his shoulder, “I don’t know what your plan was. It was probably pretty good, but nothing beats good old-fashioned—”
The others recovered and continued to fire at the machine. He walked up to take a final shot to its head. Another cry sounded, and the droid’s body sparked with white energy that expanded and knocked them all back. Kaiden looked up to see that the machine had surrounded itself in a domed barrier. He fired several shots, but they wouldn’t break through. The machine’s chest opened, revealing a core that began to flash and a foreboding hum filled the air.
“What is it doing?” he asked.
“It’s going critical. It’s going to self-destruct,” Genos warned, his eyes wide and his hands trembling.
“We have to retreat,” Amber yelled.
“We won’t make it. The blast is nearly equivalent to a hydrogen bomb,” the mechanist explained. He looke
d at the team and began charging his cannon. “I’ll take care of it, friends.”
“What do you need us to do?” Kaiden asked, making his way over to the Tsuna.
Genos shook his head. “Just continue. Please do your best to finish this,” he stated. He fired the cannon blast at the barrier, ripping open a small portion of the shield. “I think it was indeed for the best that I kept this.” He held up the disintegration grenade, his thumb placed firmly on the activation key, “Not to be rude, but I think another would have gotten this wrong.” He dashed toward the opening, diving through as it began to reform.
“Genos!” Kaiden cried, watching as the shield closed on itself. Genos dodged a swipe from the droid’s arm, leaping off the cannon as it turned to fire, striking the shield. He latched onto the droid’s chest and let go of the button on the grenade.
All Kaiden saw was a bright flash of red. He was blinded for a moment and turned away. When he looked back, the dome, the droid, and Genos were all gone. A crater was the only thing that remained.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Genos…” Kaiden murmured, his eyes wide as he stared at the crater where his friend and the droid had been. He felt cold, like ice was forming in his stomach and coating his veins. His rifle nearly slipped from his grasp as his hand twitched.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, not registering it at first until it tightened. He looked back to see Chiyo touching him, with Flynn and Amber waiting behind her. “It’s all right, Kaiden. You’re too immersed. Breathe in and out. Genos is all right.”
He clenched his teeth, releasing out a long sigh, then nodded silently and rolled his shoulders as Chiyo let go. After one more deep breath, he rested his rifle against his shoulder. “I see what you were talking about, Flynn. That’s rough.”
Animus Boxed Set 1 (Books 1-4): Initiate, Co-Op, Death Match, Advance Page 89
