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

by Joshua Anderle

  Lazar fired his grenade at the killer. It exploded and engulfed him in flames.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kaiden raised an arm to shield himself from the explosion. A part of him knew that was the purpose of his armor, but the blast was powerful enough to make the gesture instinctive.

  “Do you think that got him?” Lazar asked as he slid one of Kaiden’s defective shock grenades into the launcher and hooked it to his holster behind his waist.

  “That would be surprisingly anti-climactic,” Kaiden said. He raised his machine gun with both hands. “Not that I would mind.”

  Magellan said nothing as he fired ten shots into the flames. “He has that barrier, remember?” he muttered. “My rounds haven’t hit anything, which means—” His eyes widened, and he shoved Kaiden and Lazar aside. Quickly, he drew his pistol, aimed upward, and fired. A jolt of electricity flared from the gun and the force of the shot knocked him to the floor.

  His companions stared dumbfounded at the pistol’s power but clenched their eyes shut as the shot erupted in a shockwave on impact with something to create a shower of sparks. Kaiden rolled and retrieved his Tempest. His aim snapped from one side of the room to the other as he searched for their target.

  “You came to play, I see,” Gin shouted. The man used the cages in the room to pull himself up. Parts of his armor cloaked and decloaked at random. The barrier energy around his chest and arms fizzled and a loud hum emitted from the generator on his back. “All that sass from such a little gun. Is that a voltaic blaster, Magellan?”

  Kaiden aimed and squeezed the trigger from his sitting position. The killer sprinted to remain ahead of the laser fire. He slid to his knees so the shots went over his head and flipped backward as he drew the Yokai.

  The Tempest overheated and the ace vented it quickly. In a split second of shock, he realized that Gin’s gun was one developed by Nexus technicians—how had he got his hands on one? The moment of speculation vanished as the killer aimed at his head. He pulled the trigger and the spike spun in the weapon, but he turned quickly and fired at Magellan. The missile barreled at the bounty hunter but collided with Lazar’s metal gauntlet.

  “A fellow aug—nice to meet you,” Gin quipped. Lazar glared at him, lowered his arm, and raised his cannon with a shot already charged in the chamber. He fired the bolt and Gin spun to dodge the blast and threw several small orbs as the shot slammed into and destroyed the wall behind him.

  “Flashbangs!” Magellan warned. He lowered his hat and looked away as Lazar shielded his eyes.

  “Chief, darken visor,” Kaiden ordered. The EI complied, and the ace looked away as the orbs erupted in several large flashes of light. His ears rang and he grimaced in frustration.

  “Sorry, partner. I would have activated the dampeners, but the systems still aren’t—Kaiden! Fall back and raise your gun!”

  He did as Chief instructed and something thudded into his Tempest. The force of the impact knocked his weapon into his helmet and something scraped along the face of his mask.

  A cry of pain was quickly suppressed and Magellan called Lazar’s name. Kaiden regained his equilibrium and shook his head to clear it. Lazar had two more spikes in the gauntlet that shielded his face and one in his left arm. Magellan seemed unharmed, but two spikes pinned the bottom of his jacket and one of his sleeves to the ground.

  Kaiden cursed at a barb embedded in his weapon. “Quick thinking, Chief, thanks.” He tossed the machine gun to the side and drew Debonair as he scrambled to his feet. Gin now stood in front of the hole in the wall.

  “It’s a bit busy in here.” He chuckled. “Let’s open the floor up to keep this going.” He stepped back through the hole and bent forward. The ace fired three quick shots as his target leapt up and out and the rounds sailed through the hole and ripped through the interior of the dome in the distance.

  “Dammit!” Kaiden cursed. Something tore and Magellan rushed passed him, the bottom third and arm of his coat ripped. The bounty hunter vaulted through the hole and hurled a grappling hook up the side of the wall. The hook attached and yanked the man upward. Kaiden ran to Lazar, who tore the spike from his arm with a pained hiss. The ace plastered the remainder of his flesh adhesive on Lazar’s wound. The merc leader’s face twitched in pain for a moment, but as the liquid settled, he rolled his shoulder and yanked the spikes from his gauntlet.

  “Go and assist him,” he bellowed. Kaiden nodded and flung himself down beside the hole and rolled onto his back. Cautiously, he inched the top half of his body through and aimed Debonair upward. Magellan and Gin fought against the side of the structure. The killer had cut his adversary’s hook wiring and the hunter was held in place only by what appeared to be a blade on one of his gauntlets. The murderer kicked at his rival and tried occasionally stab him with a jagged, curved blade. Kaiden couldn’t get a clear shot. Magellan mostly dodged the attacks as his rifle was still slung over his shoulder. He blocked one of Gin’s kicks with his knee and managed to draw his other pistol. A shot sounded, and the two combatants disappeared in a fog of poisonous gas.

  The ace cursed again and scrambled to his feet. “I can’t get a shot,” he yelled to Lazar. “They are heading to the roof.”

  “Then let’s get up there,” the merc responded. He tried to close his fist a few times, and while his hand still worked, it responded slowly.

  “Are you all right?” Kaiden asked as his companion retrieved his cannon and stomped to him.

  “I’ll make do,” he grunted. “Up the stairs. I ain’t losing this freak.”

  “Roger.” Kaiden nodded as they sprinted to the top of the dome.

  Gin grinned from ear to ear as he attempted another strike on his pursuer, this time aimed at his shoulder. Magellan released the blade on his gauntlet and disappeared under the poisoned smoke. The killer tried to deactivate the spines on his fingers but they wouldn’t respond to his mental commands. “What exactly is in this little concoction, Magellan?” he asked. “My arm doesn’t work properly, and my leg feels a little heavy… Oh, I guess there’s a soft touch of chlorine?”

  The bounty hunter responded with two bullets to the man’s chest. The force was enough to dislodge his arm from the metal plating and impel him a few feet into the air. He slammed his artificial leg into the wall to keep himself from falling and ran his good hand over his chest. Pieces of his armor crumbled and fell and he felt the small layer of foam from the safety orbs within. He winced. “I see you’re not in much of a mood to talk.”

  He dug his knife into the wall as another shot whistled past his ear. In a smooth motion, he used the knife to balance himself and pulled his leg free to thrust up the side and reach the edge of the roof. He pulled himself quickly to safety as Magellan fired three more rounds. Each chipped away the metal of the roof’s edge.

  “So damn feisty,” Gin muttered. He flicked the fingers on his artificial arm, and after a few attempts, the spines finally receded. “That was a neat trick, Magellan, but you’re gonna need more than home remedies to keep me down…although that stuff really fucked my filters up.”

  His barriers, thankfully, had regained some of their energy. Lazar and Kaiden burst through the door onto the roof. “And we’ll keep it going, by the looks of things, ” he mused and turned his attention to them. “Keep me entertained until Magellan gets here, would you?”

  The ace fired Debonair, and the killer responded with a small circular shield that absorbed the shots. “You gotta try a little harder.”

  Lazar roared, raised his cannon, and charged a shot. Gin cocked his head, closed his fist, and punched the barrier toward them as the merc was about the release the trigger.

  “Lazar, don’t!” Kaiden cried, but his warning came too late. He jumped back as the bolt smashed into the barrier only yards away from them. The blast blew the merc leader back, and the cannon shattered as he slammed into the rooftop. Kaiden was knocked to the edge and lost Debonair as he flipped over the side of the roof. Frantically, he managed to grab t
he ledge before he fell.

  He hauled himself up and reached for Debonair but a sharp pain stabbed through his hand. Blood dripped to the metal floor from where a spike protruded through both the top and bottom of his hand. Kaiden gasped and winced and pushed the pain aside. He rolled to his pistol, snatched it up, and raised it but was knocked onto his back by a boot to his head.

  “You’re decent, kid—top one hundred, I can safely say.” Gin held his pistol aimed Kaiden’s head as he stomped on his chest. “But this is the second time I have you beaten and under my boot. My guess is you’re not as good at this as you like to believe you are.”

  The ace tried to respond, but the killer slammed his boot into his stomach. “Does your little EI have anything else up its cybernetic sleeve?” he asked and waved his pistol from side to side. “I want to see what it’s capable of and what I can potentially do with it.”

  Something smashed into the man’s hand and knocked the gun away. Gin gripped his hand in pain as one of Kaiden’s shock grenades rolled along the ground.

  “Fuck off and die, you creep,” Lazar yelled and pounded a shoulder into the killer’s back to thrust him away. Lazar dropped his launcher and hauled out his machine gun, but it wouldn’t unfold. He slammed it against his leg. “Come on…activate, you piece of—” The weapon came to life and he hip-fired at Gin, who darted behind several of the generators and boxes lining the roof and flipped over the end of the roof across from them.

  “You slimy, cowardly bitch,” the merc roared. Kaiden grunted as he sat up and took a deep breath as he placed Debonair on the ground. His expression set with purpose; he wrapped his hand around the spike, clenched his teeth, and snarled in pain as he managed to pull the metal only partially out.

  “Is this thing lined with barbs or something? It’s barely budging.” He groaned.

  “You’re thinking about it too much. It makes you hesitate,” Lazar stated and grabbed the prong in one massive hand. “Just do it.” He ripped the spike free, and the ace yelped in pain. “Hang on, kid. I can heal that quickly.” He tossed Kaiden his machine gun and popped the thumb on his gauntlet which emitted a small flame. The merc spun the segment beneath it and the fire gained intensity to become a jet flame. “I got some surge rejuv, but it requires me to heat the wound first. I gotta cauterize it.”

  “Go ahead.” Kaiden raised his hand and peered over the side of the building. “But make it quick. I don’t want this guy to get the drop on us again.”

  “Try not to bite your tongue off,” Lazar warned. He held the wounded hand and ran the flame over the top. Kaiden tried to choke back his pained screams, but as Lazar turned his hand and applied the flame to the other side, a brief bellow escaped before he tried to calm himself with deep breaths. The merc flipped the top of his thumb shut and adjusted the setting to its original position. He retrieved a vial of silver-white liquid and applied it to the wound top and bottom. The relief was almost immediate—a similar sting to the adhesive Kaiden had applied to his leg, but it was certainly less than what he felt as the spike was ripped out from his flesh and the wound flambéed.

  “Thanks,” he said through clenched teeth. Lazar helped him to stand, and they both jumped at a crash behind them. Magellan limped up the steps to the roof.

  “What happened to you?” Lazar asked.

  “I blocked a kick from his metal leg which smashed mine to bits,” he growled. “I was knocked back down, barely caught myself, and took some shots, but I think I only hit him once or twice. Where is he?”

  “He disappeared over the side,” Kaiden informed him. “We had to do some emergency surgery. He hasn’t shown his face since them.”

  “He’s baiting us,” Magellan huffed. “Biding his time for something.” He staggered and his teammates helped him up the remaining few steps.

  “Are you in any shape to fight?” Kaiden asked as he handed Lazar his machine gun.

  Magellan pointed to his leg which was wrapped in some sort of black cloth. “I’ll be better in a few minutes. It needs to set. We will finish this.”

  “What do you think he’s waiting for?” the merc asked and looked around. “His barrier has come back. Do you think his cloak is back on too?”

  “Not good enough for us to not see him. He might be translucent, but the shot drains his systems’ energy and staggers the recharge. If his barrier is already up, that thing is better than I was led to believe.”

  “It’s not good enough to create big barriers, but he— Wait, that noise.” A loud, ringing screech echoed on the wind—one Kaiden was familiar with. It made his blood run cold.

  “Finally. I began to wonder if that stuff was useless.” The trio turned as one. Gin sat on a large generator above them and seemed to ignore them as he looked up at the sky. As Kaiden retrieved Debonair and aimed at the killer, he noticed a brown liquid coating the generator he sat on.

  “Chief, what is that?”

  “Scanning… Oh, that’s not good. That’s a liquid constituted of mutant pheromones, Kaiden.”

  “For all mutants?”

  “No, for—”

  The wind kicked up as another cry rang out. Kaiden’s eyes widened as he saw something that, until now, he was only familiar with in the Animus.

  “Oh, two of them.” Gin chuckled. “I wonder how many will gather in a few more minutes.”

  Two large creatures soared toward them, red and black in color, with beaks like scythes and hardened feathers that glinted in the light of the setting sun like scales.

  Devil birds.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kaiden stood and stared, wide-eyed, as the flying mutants approached. Several shots rang out as his companions fired at Gin who flipped over the generator. The ace saw the Yokai still on the ground and ran to snatch it up. He shoved it haphazardly in Debonair’s holster.

  “You are not getting away,” Lazar shouted and raced behind the generator, only to be knocked back by a kick from the killer.

  “Oh, of course, I’m not. I have no intention of leaving. This is getting spirited,” Gin quipped. Magellan raised his rifle and fired directly at him, but he blocked it with a hard-light shield barely bigger than the palm of his hand. “Tch, you’re getting predictable Magellan.”

  The bounty hunter responded by launching two small spikes from his gauntlet which struck the man in the leg. They activated and shocked him, and he laughed and danced around. “Ah! Ow! Neat party trick.”

  Magellan removed the rifle’s magazine and slotted in a new one before he drew the gas pistol and fired the remaining two shots at Gin. The shots exploded at his feet and again enveloped him in the gas.

  “Kid, call the dropship,” he ordered.

  “What?” Kaiden balked. “Those devil birds will tear it out of the sky!”

  “Not if we keep them distracted,” the bounty hunter retorted. “Look, you lost your Tempest, Lazar lost his cannon, and his launcher has no ammo. My rifle is down to its last two mags which is twenty-four shots. We ain’t got enough to take those things down ourselves and deal with Gin. The guns on the ship aren’t exactly top-of-the-line, but they should be enough to at least take those big bastards out of the sky if not eliminate them completely.”

  “We can head back into the building,” Kaiden said and pointed to the rooftop entrance. “Fight him where he doesn’t have room to maneuver.”

  “Neither will we,” Magellan countered. “He’s already started to toy with the two of you. Do you really want to see what happens when he gets bored?”

  “I thought you said we would finish this.”

  Magellan growled, grabbed Kaiden by his chest armor, and pulled him close. “Do you think I suggest this out of cowardice, kid?” he fumed. “As long as I can still walk and he keeps fighting, I won’t leave unless he’s dead or I am. But I won’t ignore those flapping beasts. Now call the dropship. If she bitches, tell her I’ll pay for the damages and ammo.”

  The ace looked at Lazar who now scrambled to his feet and muttered curses.
Gin had still not emerged from the gas. Kaiden nodded silently and retrieved the small beacon device from the slot on his shoulder. “You should have kept this with you,” he said as he broke the covering and pressed the button down until it blinked with a blue light.

  “It was more important that one of you had it,” Magellan stated. He opened his Volt pistol and removed one large, battery-like cartridge from it and slid in another. “This is meant to be used on droids or guys like Gin who use a lot of tech, but it has plenty of power behind it. It might be enough to make those devil birds think twice about—”

  Something shimmered on a box behind the bounty hunter and a blurred shape appeared for a moment. “Magellan, move,” Kaiden shouted. He pushed him aside as Gin leapt into the attack and aimed the killer’s own pistol at him. Without conscious thought, he pressed the trigger to coil the shot.

  The spike gouged into Gin, and he decloaked and tumbled to the surface. He flipped a couple of times before he managed to drag his metal hand along the roof to stop his slide.

  “Shooting me with my own gun?” the killer inquired. He wrenched the spike from his rib, and a trail of blood spurted before it was covered by a foam-like substance released by his armor. “How rude.” His voice had lowered and no longer held the delighted tone it had maintained up until now.

  One of the devil birds landed on the edge of the roof as the other circled above the group. Gin looked at the mutant. “It’s ironic. Now, I wish I hadn’t called these things here.” He glared at Kaiden and Magellan as his body became transparent again. “I want to take my time with you, kid.”

  The bounty hunter fired his pistol, the beam of electricity aimed directly at the killer. It struck the underside of the devil bird instead of the man and released another shockwave. The creature squawked in surprise and arcs of electricity danced up its body. The other screeched in the air and swooped down to dive-bomb the men on the roof.