Genos searched the bottom of the ravine for his target, and when he located another of the hatches, he dove toward it.
“Thirty seconds until activation, Mister Genos,” Kaitō stated.
“Acknowledged,” he replied. He switched his gauntlet into the grip-claw and turned to face his attacker. It torpedoed toward him and raised a flipper to attack again, its mouth agape. He got as close to the bottom as he could as the creature approached, then pushed back with his hands as it moved to attack.
The creature struck his foot, but slipped off it and smacked the rocky ground once again. Genos ignored the pain and launched directly toward its face. The monster looked at him, its mouth open as it made a whale-like moan. He seized the opportunity and clamped one side of his claw into its mouth before he used all his strength to force the head down. It struggled against him, but he managed to thrust the claw into the hatch. The grip ripped through the creature’s face to connect and latch it to the hatch, and it wailed in pain and fury.
He unlatched his gauntlet from his arm and swam away as the beast thrashed in place in an effort to escape. The Tsuna held his side and forced himself to increase his speed when he heard Kaitō announce that the drainage would commence.
Far behind him, something opened with a massive grinding sound, and the water began to move. He thrust himself above the surface and up to the side of the ravine, managed to take hold of the railing, and hauled himself up as the once-still water slowly transformed into a raging river. Genos looked back as he lay on the hard floor and gasped ragged breaths as the water level dropped.
For a moment, he saw the creature. It now seemed disoriented and unsure whether it actually wanted to be removed from the hatch, but it had no choice against the force of the water. With one final cry, it was ripped from the gauntlet and carried away downstream. Its arms flailed wildly as it tried to right itself against the current before it vanished.
“Chiyo, my shield won’t last much longer,” Kaiden stated calmly as he fired uncharged shots at the pirate group that attacked them.
“Hopefully, we don’t have to hold out much longer. I think I can hear water rushing from the tunnel.”
He listened intently. In the raging battle, he hadn’t paid much attention, but now he too could hear the water drain with all the force of a waterfall. Genos had done it.
“Toss me Genos’ cannon,” he demanded.
Chiyo ran over, snatched the weapon up, and tossed it to him., and he closed the vent hatch and began to power it up. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Improvising,” he responded as he dropped the cannon and charged a shot with Sire. “Gather what you can of his armor and get in there. I’ll be right behind.”
She nodded, hastily recovered as much of Genos’ equipment as she could, and opened the hatch. Kaiden’s shield failed as she slipped down the tunnel. He fired one last blast from his rifle to scatter the attackers before he placed Sire on his back and drew his blade, dashed for the hatch, and closed it behind him.
“After them!” one of the pirates barked, and the remaining grunts rushed forward.
“Um…bastard locked it!” another yelled.
“Then unlock it!” The leader drew his heavy pistol and shot the seals on either side of the hatch. “Open it!”
The grunt turned the valve and forced the hatch open, and instinctively stepped back, his mouth open in silent horror. A cannon greeted them, held in place by a knife through the trigger guard. Its core was on the verge of overheating.
“Oh, shi—” The weapon blew and the explosion, funneled by the tunnel, enveloped all the pirates around the hatch.
“Genos!” Chiyo ran up to the Tsuna, who leaned against the wall and clutched his side. Kaiden set down the equipment she had passed him and knelt beside them. “How are your wounds?”
Both were caught off-guard by the clicks and other sounds coming from the Tsuna and had to wait for the translations from their EIs. “Painful, but not too deep,” Genos explained. He rolled his head to face them and pointed behind them. “Infuser, please.”
“Oh, right!” Chiyo gestured to Kaiden, who handed her the Tsuna’s breather. She checked the lining to ensure his infuser wasn’t broken and put it on him. The effect was almost immediate, and the Tsuna’s chest swelled as his breathing normalized. “Thank you. It’s much easier to breathe.”
“And to understand you. Hearing that joyless monotone from you was kind of depressing,” Kaiden joked and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get you some serum, eh?”
“I will certainly take some if you have it,” Genos said. Chiyo nodded, retrieved a small vial of green liquid, and applied it to his wounds. He leaned his head back. “Much better, thank you.”
“You know, depending on how the oscillation is for you, you might feel rough when we get out of this. You might get a chance at Dr. Soni’s blue stuff.”
“Kin Jaxon told me about that. He said it doesn’t work for Tsuna, and that we have to use something devised by the Mortis for heavy wounds.”
Kaiden thought back to the blue blob and grimaced. “Ah, right. That’s a damn shame.”
“You did a good job, Genos, but what happened?” Chiyo asked.
The Tsuna stood and stretched. “The creature attacked me. I don’t know what it was—probably a mutant of some kind. I’ll have to research it with Viola once we return.” He walked past his teammates to his equipment. “But do not worry. I took care of it.”
“Damn straight you did,” Kaiden said and thumped his friend’s chest cheerfully.
“You brought almost everything. Very kind of you considering you were under fire,” Genos said appreciatively as he began putting on his stolen DSC gear. “Although, may I ask what happened to my cannon?”
“I used it as a bomb to finish our pursuers off,” the ace stated, and rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t have any more explosives on me, so I needed to improvise.”
“A trick of mine?” Genos asked.
Kaiden gave him a thumbs-up. “I learned from the best.”
“I have a map. Kaitō was able to get one from the console,” Chiyo informed them.
“So we’re in a good place.” The ace looked around the canal. “How much time do we have left?”
“Probably only a few minutes— Wait, there’s no more timer. That’s odd.”
He folded his arms and shrugged. “Maybe there’s no more influx. We did have a late start, so maybe most other students have turned in for the night.”
“And you also mentioned that it doesn’t log us out in the middle of a fight,” Genos reminded her.
“True, but we aren’t in a fight at the moment. We should be considered out-of-combat.” She gave it some thought, shook her head, and looked at her teammates. “Should we continue?”
Kaiden and Genos exchanged quick glances and nodded. “We’ve come this far. How close are we to the core?”
The infiltrator looked at the map on her HUD. “It’s actually quite close—two klicks that way.” She pointed down the canal. “But you have to understand that even if they don’t know what we’re here to do specifically, someone will put two and two together eventually.”
“We might still be able to reach the core quite easily, but fighting our way back to the ship will probably be an issue.”
“I actually think it may be the opposite,” Genos suggested as he checked his heavy pistol and holstered it quickly. “Once I send the core into meltdown, it will cause various malfunctions throughout the station, along with overloading numerous systems and devices before they implode. I’m also sure the central systems that control any defenses will be located in the same area. Chiyo should be able to access those to assist us the rest of the way. But now that we’ve let them know they have enemies aboard, I’m sure they will mount defenses all through this part of the station.”
“That about sums it up,” Kaiden murmured as he considered all the ramifications. He snapped his fingers and looked at his teammates
. “Well then, since we’ve already kicked the hornet’s nest, why not stomp on it a few times for good measure?”
Chapter Twenty-One
“What do you mean, they are all dead?” Swarn roared and threw a bottle that Walker evaded with a tilt of his head. The captain completed his tantrum with a brutal kick at the corpse of the supervisor who had let the spies on board.
“There isn’t much to offer beyond that,” Walker replied dryly. “They no longer breathe air, their hearts have ceased to function, and they cannot obey your orders due to not being able to hear anything. Do you need more specifics?”
The captain looked at the other man for a moment, and his good eye flared with angry menace. He went to a cabinet in the back and slammed a fist against it so that it opened to reveal his armaments.
“What are you doing?” Walker asked.
“Sound the alarm and start the entire station on a search for them. I’m going hunting.”
“Do you think you have the ability to find them now? They escaped into the ravine. It has paths all over the station. You should rally the others and lead the—”
The other man turned and fired a shot from his pistol that skimmed Walker’s cheek. He didn’t flinch but slowly raised a hand to wipe the blood off a wound that had already been cauterized by the laser bolt.
“I cut my teeth as a bounty hunter, Walker, exactly as my father did. It’s in my blood, and is my primary talent.”
“Clearly patience is not,” Walker muttered and twined his fingers together. “Even so, why should I send everyone into a panic when you seem so confident you can find them? One man against three is not good odds. Three against more than three hundred is even worse. It would simply be in your favor.”
“I’ll find one, at least, but they won’t remain huddled together now that they are aware we know they are out there. My guess is that at least one of them will run a distraction while whoever is left continues to pursue their objective.”
“That’s suicide, no matter what decision they make. Running around this station alone is foolish. To run around and draw attention to yourself by causing havoc is asking for—”
An alarm blared shrilly over the speakers. Walker spun and stared at the remaining technician, who looked feverishly from one screen to another and scanned the reports. “Section B! There was an explosion in section B. I also have a report of hostile activity from section A.”
Walker looked at Swarn, who placed a blade in his belt and took a shotgun from the cabinet as he put his pistol in its holster. “I told you,” he grunted, with the first hint of satisfaction in his voice since he had barged into the office.
The other leader looked at the technician. “Send a signal to all troops. Give them the stolen IDs of the BAT-3 crew, and tell them to eliminate them on sight. After that, try to figure out what their plan is so we can cut them off.”
The technician nodded and immediately hunched over the console. The captain made his way to the doors. “Swarn!” Walker called, and the man stopped and looked back.
“I’ll give you the credit for your strategic guess, but let me tell you something in return that you might find interesting.”
“Hey! What’s going on? I received a report that—gurk.” The pirate was knocked cold by the butt of Kaiden’s rifle a second before the ace spun and fired a charged shot at two unprepared guards who entered from the hall that blasted them apart. Kaiden searched the unconscious guard and found some fragmentation grenades on his belt. Rudimentary, but they would help, regardless.
“According to the info Kaitō is sending me, they’re still running around in a panic. My guess is, it won’t take long for them to get their shit together. You have maybe five or six more minutes before they come for you like a bullet train,” Chief informed him.
“I won’t try to take them all on. I don’t know how many it will take to kill me, but I know how many they have.” He took the pirate’s curved blade to replace his own and shoved it into the compartment on his wrist. “I don’t think I can handle that many. All I have do is keep them all from heading toward Chiyo and Genos.”
“They gotta owe you a couple of beers by now, right?” Chief asked.
“Eh, most of these plans are mine, so it kind of negates that.” Kaiden opened the vent of his rifle and hurried to the next section. A pirate ran up to him from his left, and as he was about to pass, he drew Debonair and fired a shot into the side of the man’s head before he replaced it and closed the vent of his rifle.
Genos pulled the lever and opened the hatch above them. An alarm wailed as he poked his head out. “It would appear Kaiden has already begun.”
“He is punctual in that regard,” Chiyo reminded him. “Do you see anything?”
“No, but the doors above have all shut. I think any guards in here went to look for Kaiden.” He opened the hatch fully, climbed out, and helped the infiltrator up. They were in a small alcove on the side of the room. Cautiously, they snuck along the wall and looked out to confirm that they were alone before they made their way quickly across the room.
“Take a right. There should be a pair of doors that lead to the central station,” she directed.
Genos sprinted forward and stopped at the doors beside which a terminal stood. Large windows on either side allowed him to look inside while Chiyo unlocked the door. “There seem to be interior defenses here,” he advised her as he noted at least four turrets on the ceiling. “A few droids, as well.”
“I suppose they had to have some sense to keep those active. What kind of droids?”
“Guardians. About six that I can see, but I can make out a few bots in the back. They are hidden in all the wires and poles, but they look to be older-model Battle droids, maybe Havoc or Assault?”
“It looks like I get to finally do my job.” Chiyo unlocked the doors with a wave of her hand. “Being navigator is interesting and all, but I prefer to live up to my division.”
Genos nodded and gestured for her to enter. “After you, then.”
“Sir, there was a breach in the central station,” the tech informed Walker.
“With the core? So that’s their game.” He clenched his teeth and considered the thoughts racing in his mind. “Send whoever is closest to intercept them and have my shuttle prepared.”
“Sir?” the tech asked. “Are we abandoning ship?”
“We are being prepared for potential fallout. A word of advice…Jesse, was it?” The tech nodded. “You’ll live longer if you follow my plans rather than Swarn’s. Issue the commands and grab a gun. We’ll head to hangar seven.”
“Understood. Should I inform the captain?”
Walker shook his head. “Even that thick-skulled brute will understand what is happening here. If they compromise the core, he’ll see the explosions and power failures. If he wants his pound of flesh, he’ll be delighted by tons. For now, do as I say, and I’ll take you along with me. Would you like that?”
“Indeed.”
Kaiden fired three shots with Debonair and finally eliminated the large bastard who tried enthusiastically to cave his head in with a sledgehammer. He turned to the wall and kicked the grate in as he holstered his pistol. Quickly, he crawled inside the shaft and into the ducts.
“So the work of an ace is fifty percent ass-kicking, ten percent giving orders, twenty percent planning, and twenty percent crawling through ducts?”
“I would call it fifty percent ass-kicking, forty-nine percent making it look good, and one percent incidentals,” he joked. “Crawling through these things has become something of a hobby.”
“I’ve heard stranger.” Chief chortled. “It looks like they are finally regrouping and looking for you in earnest. You might wanna ditch the ID if you still have it. They are more likely to avoid shooting at a no-name than at the guy they are looking for.”
“Aw, hell, you’re right.” He squirmed an arm behind him to retrieve the ID chip from his helmet and crush it in between his fingers. “It’s a good thing Chi
yo blocked them or whatever it was she did when we left the hangar, or this would be a canned hunt.”
“It would make for a great Darwin Award.”
“Do you think we should contact them and tell them to do the same?” Kaiden inquired.
“I wouldn’t risk it. The comm link might be intercepted. Besides, they’ve made it to the power core. Chiyo’s doing her thing now while Genos is taking a metaphorical crowbar to it.”
“You know, for all the grief they give me for my tiny degree of ultraviolence, they seem fairly apt in that regard themselves.”
“You’ve noticed that too, eh?” The EI laughed. “Maybe it’s only semantics, and you simply prefer a personal touch.”
“I think it is most gentlemanly,” Kaiden agreed, continuing to crawl along the shaft. At a fork, he looked one way to see he was blocked by a spinning blade, but the other side was clear.
“So, since we have time to kill, how do you feel about this mission compared to all the others?”
“It’s been bumpier than normal, but I guess that’s to be expected with a new year and all. Things should be harder. Otherwise, I’ll continue to make everyone look bad.”
“It looks good on the eventual contract.”
“I remember telling you that I take the outside jobs so I can buy myself out of my contract.”
“You did, but I have plenty of time to think between games of solitaire and throwing and catching a ball against your cerebral cortex. What’s the point of buying yourself out of the contract if you’ll simply continue to do merc gigs?”
Kaiden stopped for a moment as he thought it over. “Well…I won’t be working for someone else.”
“You mean besides the person who hired you to do the job, which would by definition be working for someone?”
“It’s in the details. I can choose not to do it, and how to do it. That’s not the same in a chain of command,” he countered, resuming his uncomfortable and slow journey.
Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Page 17
