“Agreed, although I must admit I would actually like to see something come through here,” Genos huffed. “There is something rather unnerving about walking around in such a dark, empty space.”
Chiyo raised one of her hands and rubbed the top of her opposite arm as if to dispel goosebumps. “It’s uncanny, I’ll admit, but it’s better than laser fire and bullets coming at you from all sides.”
“That’s become our native element,” the Tsuna jested.
They came to another split in the path and the infiltrator continued directly ahead, so the others followed. “The less of a mess this is, the quicker we can finish and the higher the score. Like Kaiden said, it’s best to use tactics as long as we can, especially with our time running low.”
“While we’re on the subject, what happens when we run out of time?” Kaiden asked.
“What do you mean? It’s self-explanatory,” Genos stated.
“Immediately booted out? Do we start in the same area or at the exact same moment when we begin again?” he questioned.
“Indeed, the exact same spot,” the Tsuna confirmed. “You would even have the same ailments you did when you left, as Julius explained about Otto yesterday.”
“That’s a potentially costly mistake.” Kaiden chuckled. “I’ll do my best not to lose an appendage before we leave.”
Chiyo raised a hand, and a hush fell over the group. She pointed above and toward the catwalks. Several droids with jagged bodies and large round heads that illuminated their surroundings paced above.
“Oh, well, that’s different. I don’t think I’ve done a mission with those before,” Genos admitted. “A first.”
“Those are Watchbots,” Chief stated. “They aren’t a mortal threat, but they make one hell of a noise if they see you. I suppose they had to have something down here to look around.”
“Can we take them down from afar?” Kaiden asked, holding up his rifle.
“Only if you want to set the rest off. They have good audio sensors too, so you would definitely not want to make a big explosion around them.”
“Aren’t you helpful?” Kaiden snarked.
“Like I said, they usually aren’t well armed, but it’ll probably bring this whole place down on you very quickly,” the EI warned. “I’m not sure you can get past all of them without alerting a few, and it only takes one.”
He sighed and exchanged glances with his companions. “Okay, we have a ways to go before we’re directly beneath them, and maybe there’s another of these hallways that will take us around. Let’s keep mov— Genos, Chiyo, get ready.”
“What is it?” the Tsuna asked as he drew his cannon and scanned the area ahead.
“See the shadows on the wall over there? Something is waiting for us or coming this way.”
“Should we run or wait to engage?” Genos asked, his cheerful demeanor switching quickly to a serious one—a habit implanted by his training.
“Let’s leg it. We can cover more ground while we aren’t under fire and make it as close to the central chamber as we can get. If we have to fight the rest of the way there, so be it, but it’s better to increase our chances as much as possible.”
Genos nodded. “All right, I’ll take point. Chiyo, tell me the directions over the comm.”
“Understood.” She nodded and raised her sub-machine gun.
Kaiden followed quietly behind him and tried to identify what lay ahead. They paused at the next corner and peered around it to see a group of Havoc droids—not in the greatest shape—wandering along the bottom path only a few yards from them.
“If we stay here, we have no choice but to engage,” Chiyo stated. “What do you want to do?”
“Do we have another option? I’m all right with a fight, considering how far we’ve already come, but any shot down here will definitely alert those Watchbots, and then every pirate in this place will know we’re here.”
“I saw a hatch a few hundred yards back,” Genos mentioned. “We could see if that leads to an alternate location and go from there.”
“It would be better to try that than have to go all the way back and start from square one.” Kaiden placed a hand on the Tsuna’s shoulder. “Lead the way, Genos.”
They raced down the hall, the mechanist moving much faster than one who spent most of his time flying instead of fighting would be expected to be able to. The metallic clacks and shifting figures of the Havoc bots faded behind them. At least they didn’t have to worry about pursuers for now. They turned into another hall that led away from the approaching enemy. Genos pointed to a small hatch on the side of the wall.
“Allow me.” The ace approached the hatch, twisted the valve, and grunted as he forced it open. A stream of water sounded from deep within. “It’s a steep drop,” he advised them as he looked down the hole. “I can’t tell if it’s a slide or a tube or literally only a hole.”
“The shocks in our armor should be enough to disperse the fall as long as it isn’t over a hundred feet,” Chiyo advised.
“Do you guys wanna risk it?” he asked, glancing at his teammates. “The other options right now seem to be to double back and try to find a different way around or barrel through the droids down here and almost certainly alert some or all of the bastards above.”
“This seems to lead to a waterway or sewage system,” Genos noted. “I don’t think there would be anything of great concern in there.”
“I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for surveillance,” Chiyo promised.
Kaiden glanced at his teammates once more, and both nodded quickly. He placed his rifle on his back and peered into the hatch. The rush of water now competed with heavy marching treads behind them. The Havoc droids had obviously followed, but whether by accident or because they knew there were intruders was anyone’s guess at this point.
“It sounds like the droids are coming this way,” she warned.
To hell with it. He leapt into the hatch and allowed the water to carry him as his companions followed suit, and they ventured deeper into the station.
Chapter Seventeen
When Genos exited the waterway, he fell into a pool of water and muck and climbed out quickly, his visor blurry and armor heavy. He grimaced at the sludge that covered him and tried to remind himself that he was in the Animus. What a disgrace to allow something so vile to coat him. For a moment, he missed the waters of his home.
“Are you all right, Genos?” Chiyo asked and helped him to steady himself.
“Yes. Just give me a moment to get my bearings.” He tried to clean part of his armor, at least. “Where are we?”
“Some sort of facility. Most of the lights are out, and there’s leakage everywhere. I assume this was used for tests or monitoring the station’s systems, but that’s only a guess.”
“Where’s Kaiden?” he asked.
“Right here.” Kaiden grunted, coming over and shaking himself off. “This place is disgusting. Is this the trash area?”
“Feeling a bit ill after the ride, as it were, friend Kaiden?” Genos asked.
Kaiden looked around. They were in another chamber of some kind, the walls a faded red, which stretched on for hundreds of yards. There were halls running everywhere, offering them the opportunity to go in almost any direction. “I think I would have preferred fighting my way through the station at this point. This looks like where they dump the bodies.” He sniffed the air and retched. “Smells like it, too.”
Genos nodded. “It is certainly a change of scenery.”
“I’m not sure if this is better or worse than where we were,” Chiyo mused. “How vast do you think this place is?”
“Chief, scan it, please,” Kaiden ordered.
“What are you looking for?” Chief inquired.
Kaiden shrugged. “Anything other than muck and parts. See if you can find an exit.”
“Scanning... Done. There are a couple of options, but one looks to be covered in debris, and the other will require you to splice your way in.”
Kaiden nodded. “Agreed. I guess we’ll take that one and see where it leads. After that, we’ll— You hear something?”
The trio froze as a shriek split the air, and Kaiden caught something out of the corner of his eye. He quickly took aim and fired, hitting something flying through the air and causing it to crash to the ground.
The three ran over to it and discovered a small creature that resembled a tiny pterodactyl with pink eyes and flesh that had yet to fully develop scales.
“It’s a…baby mutant of some kind.” Genos picked the carcass up and studied it. “Could this be a devil bird?”
“Oh, sweet Jesus.” Kaiden sighed. “How are there devil birds down here at what might be the bottom of a space station?”
“This was a science station. They could have run a study on mutants, among other things. When the scientists were driven out, whatever specimens they had may have been set free.” Chiyo looked at the others as a small snapping sound echoed in the large space.
“We’re in a hunting ground.” Kaiden cursed and readied his weapon.
Genos drew his new rifle and activated it. “We need to move.”
“What do you want, Swarn?” Walker hissed and tried to stare the other man down as his bodyguards paced the room.
“I want to know when I’ll be paid,” the captain answered. He stormed into the DSC leader’s room with open contempt and impatient growls. “Me and my men have run your little scams for months, and now we were screwed by one of your clients, which left us high and dry.”
“I would hardly call them scams,” Walker growled. “They have brought in a considerable amount of money for us, but we are pirates. You can’t expect a warm reception every time you go out.”
“I’ve left the operations to you because I expected results,” Swarn shot back, and slammed his hands on the table.
“And I’ve kept the position because I get them. I also have time scheduled for potential mishaps like this one,” he retorted, and brushed his white locks out of his face. “If you’re that strapped for cash or lust that badly for blood, I could—”
The conversation was interrupted by a tiny light that flashed on Walker’s desk.
“What’s that about, Walker?” the other man asked.
“It’s from a tracker we implanted in one of the mutants down below,” Walker muttered and stared at the screen. “Normally, it would simply stop moving, which would mean the creature died. But this one has been obliterated, so it seems that the beast might have been killed by an energy blast or at least deliberate fire.”
As the team raced through the chamber, a sharp buzz echoed off the maze-like surroundings. Kaiden spun instinctively and grimaced at two orbs that rocketed toward them. “Get down!” he shouted and fired at the globes. He hit one, which exploded and made the other one erupt along with it. The liquid within spattered and melted through everything it touched. Genos dove toward Chiyo to shove her out of the way of a falling beam.
“Chief, scan for hostiles,” the ace ordered, the butt of his rifle against his shoulder as his gaze searched the area.
“I don’t need to. There’s one above you—nine o’clock,” Chief warned.
Kaiden’s eyes widened when he saw a spotted brown creature that resembled a Bayou Stalker, which peered back at him with large, sickly-green eyes. It was smaller than stalkers he had faced before the Deathmatch, but it was at least seven feet tall, with broad shoulders and long, muscular arms and legs. The body was mostly covered in scales, with hardened flesh along its neck and underbelly. Several large, deep scars traced its arms, and chips in its claws made it look like they had serrated edges.
It roared at them and leapt from the pile of metal it stood on. The ace rolled back before it landed, but the claws sliced his coat and armor. He pushed to his feet and fired several shots in a quick burst. The monster’s skin crackled and seemed to glow and burn for a moment, but it simply hissed in response and charged. Kaiden, who was used to this dance by now, sidestepped the stalker’s downward swipe and switched to ballistic rounds. He fired two shots to the chest that knocked the reptilian alien back, and it shrieked in anger. He smirked.
“Kaiden, two more!” Chiyo warned. He glanced back as two more stalkers barreled toward them on all fours. One was black with a white chest and the other a murky red, colors he’d not seen before. He fired a few partially-charged shots, but the beasts serpentined around them. The group had to get away. Kaiden knew they were at a disadvantage, fighting these creatures in such a confined space.
“Get out of here!” Kaiden yelled as another stalker came up beside the others. Kaiden fired a few shots at the ground around them, which caused them to step back, but more importantly, it kicked up water, dust, and metal to create a makeshift screen. He took out a thermal and tossed it at their feet, then sprinted away as the stalkers recovered. The grenade detonated, flung debris all around, and the beasts shrieked.
Chiyo and Genos were closer to the door. He pushed himself to run faster, swung his rifle on his back, and drew Debonair.
Something snagged his foot, and he was flung to the side. The black stalker had wrapped its tail around his ankle.
“Kaiden!” Chiyo called, fear in her cry. Genos turned and fired his cannon at the creature, and Chiyo added to the volley with her sub-machine gun. The monster hissed and spat acid globs at them in response, and the duo was forced to take cover as the area around them began to melt.
Kaiden pushed to his feet, ran up to the stalker and leapt onto its head as it thrashed. He raised Debonair and aimed at the monster’s eye to fire a direct shot. As it cried out in pain, he retrieved a second thermal and shoved it into the mutant’s mouth. The blast went off behind him as he leapt off and the force almost knocked him down, along with raining the beast’s guts onto him. He broke into a sprint again and checked his armor as he moved to make sure nothing was damaged.
The other stalker landed in front of him and blocked his escape. It stared down at him and its mouth twitched as it bared its claws.
The ace backed up and drew Sire, but before the beast could strike, it was attacked from behind. Genos straddled it and clung on desperately.
“Now is not the greatest time to take pointers from me, Genos!” Kaiden said as he tried to aim at the mutant but not hit his teammate.
“I’m winging it!” the Tsuna called and struggled to retain his hold on the stalker. “The underbelly! Shoot it!”
“Going for the stomach! Hang on!” Kaiden dropped to one knee, and aimed carefully before he pulled and held the trigger, waiting for it to charge. The beast had finally sunk a claw into Genos and tore the Tsuna off him.
“Gotcha!” the ace shouted as he let the bolt fly. It slammed into the creature and drilled a hole through it before exploding, which flung all of them back.
Genos and Kaiden landed hard and looked to where the beast lay on its back. A claw reached weakly toward them before it fell sagged and lay still. When Kaiden took a closer look, he could see clear through the beast. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that one.”
Stomping, thuds, growls, and shrieks could be heard in the distance.
“More are coming,” Genos muttered. He tried to keep himself steady, but panic had crept into his voice.
“Chiyo?” Kaiden called. He glanced around and saw the infiltrator working on the door.
“I’ve almost got it!” she replied and punched the buttons on the terminal. “I’ll need your help, though. I can unlock the door, but you’ll need to force it open!”
Her teammates exchanged a glance, nodded, and ran over to her. They each took one of the edges and waited for her signal, and she finally nodded. She drew her gun as the two began to pull and create a small gap that slowly grew wider.
The sounds were louder now, and closer too.
“Get inside, you two!” Kaiden commanded and continued to pull.
�
�Chiyo, you first,” Genos stated, and she backed through the narrow gap, keeping her gun at the ready. The Tsuna glanced at Kaiden, who nodded, and the machinist released the door and readied his weapon. He turned to the area in front of them and his eyes widened at the number of mutants headed their way.
The stalkers spewed acid at the trio as Genos ran through the doorway. Kaiden drew Debonair and fired at the acidic orbs but couldn’t manage to hit them. He dodged what he could as he dove after his companions, who immediately worked to force the doors closed.
The ace dropped his pistol and grabbed Sire to cover them. The orbs struck the closing doors and splattered the liquid all over, and he jumped back to avoid the burning saliva.
Chiyo and Genos finally got the doors closed.
Kaiden couldn’t help but laugh when he realized that they had survived the sudden attack. He glanced at his teammates. “No one the worse for wear?” he asked.
Both shook their heads, and Chiyo stated, “This won’t hold them long,” as Genos walked up to the door.
“Maybe not,” he mused and activated the pointer finger on his gauntlet. A small flame appeared, and he dragged it from the bottom of the crack in the door up to the top to seal it.
“Better, I think,” he stated and examined his handiwork.
A reply came in the form of something pounding on the other side of the door.
“Are you sure about that?” Kaiden asked.
“Yes. Well, mostly,” Genos admitted as he put his cannon away. “It is enough to keep them out, but I still recommend we move with haste.”
“I’m happy to follow that order!” Kaiden said, and the three raced down the dim hall and farther into the station.
Chapter Eighteen
He was perched on a ledge at the far right of the hangar. The Tessa laboratory wasn’t as breathtaking as some of the other squats he had stayed in. There were few ways to traverse the building aside, from a couple of catwalks and an upper level that mostly seemed to function as storage. The few system ducts were too small for him to crawl through, something he had noticed more and more throughout his adventures. He wondered if it was his gear or his girth, and slid a hand down his smooth chest and stomach. Satisfied, he snapped his teeth a couple of times before he left them open in a toothy smile.
Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Page 14
