Once the discomfort passed, he stood once more and pressed another button on the device. A small chip ejected from the slot on top, which he slid into a compartment on the back of his neck. He waited, a little concerned when nothing seemed to happen immediately. A moment later, he looked at his hands, which were now darker than before. He turned to the mirror and smiled.
He had to admit, Egon did have a nice smile, even if it wouldn’t normally have the devious edge it presently did. That, he acknowledged, was something he would have to work on.
Gin exited the bathroom and paused when he saw Egon’s faculty card and oculars on the dresser. This would be the first test. He picked the oculars up gingerly and turned them on.
“Good evening, Dr. Fallon,” the EI greeted him in a monotone. It was merely a basic skin, a wireframe face with no distinguishable features. His chosen identity seemed to be a man with rather spartan tastes, but the OS certainly signified that this was a professional-grade EI.
“Good evening…” His mind scrolled quickly through the dossier he had compiled for the tech as he tried to remember the EI’s name. “Uh…Kaydik, could I ask if anything seems off to you?”
“In what way, Doctor?” Kaydik asked. “All vitals seem normal. Are you unwell?”
He smiled smugly. Not even the man’s own EI could tell the difference. “Yes, I’m fine—a little exhausted, perhaps, but otherwise fine.”
“That is understandable. You’ve had a long day. I recommend a good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast in the morning. You want to be prepared for whatever tomorrow brings.”
Gin nodded, removed the optics, and turned them off. “That sounds perfect.”
Chapter Two
The Assault droid’s focus was effectively diverted when an explosion shattered the fifth floor of the factory. A large figure used the opportunity to block its view and crush it under a heavy armored foot.
“Get a move on,” Luke bellowed as he swung his hammer to clear his path of two other droids. He scowled when a large contingent of the mechanicals issued from the entrance of the factory.
“A bigger group of bots is on the way. They really want us to join the hive mind or something,” the titan exclaimed, raised his arm, and activated a shield as the enemy opened fire. He slung his hammer onto his back and readied his hand cannon to return the favor as a laser torrent bore down on him.
“We have more to worry about than a few jobbers.” Silas chuckled as he, Marlo, and Raul took position beside him and immediately joined the attack.
“Nice shield.” Mack landed in front of the group and generated a large barrier to block the barrage that threatened the group. “Mine’s bigger, though.”
“Not bad.” Luke chuckled and ventured a few more shots with his hand cannon before he vented it. “How long can you keep it up?”
“None of them have any charged blasters or anything with much punch, but they will probably—wait, was that innuendo?” Mack questioned airily as he fired his hand cannon to good effect against the approaching horde.
“You guys need to back up like Sy said. Soon, the bots won’t be the problem here,” Kaiden huffed over the comms. Blasts and static discharge could be heard in the background.
“You’re still in the building?” Silas asked. The group made a slow retreat toward a hill as the swarm of droids pursued relentlessly. A few of them managed to break through Mack’s barrier. “I thought you said you wouldn’t be long.”
“I have the blueprints and I’m on my way back, but there are way more droids than I thought there would be,” the ace responded. More gunfire and muttered curses followed as if to prove his point.
“It’s a droid factory,” Raul pointed out dryly and fired a few hasty shots at the enemy that broke through the barrier. “There will be a hell of a lot of them.”
“Honestly, I thought most of them would be gunning for you after that little stunt,” Kaiden admitted.
“Wait, were we bait?” Marlo asked as he released a charged blast from his cannon and obliterated a group of attackers. A few others on the perimeter of the blast were stunned and the surge deactivated them briefly.
“No, you’re being helpful,” Kaiden countered. “Although you could have been more helpful. A for effort, low B for quality.”
“Look out—Havocs!” Mack yelled when a group of about a dozen Havoc droids spilled out of the factory. Dark red eyes glowered at the group as their cannons primed. “My barrier won’t last long against those.”
“Marlo, you have that upgrade for the cannon, right?” the ace asked above the sound of Sire venting beside him.
“Yeah, but the Havocs look shielded.” Marlo looked at the vanguard who nodded. “Yeah, they’re shielded, so the normal blasts would be more effective than—”
“I’ll take care of that. Get ready, I’ll be there in ten.” Kaiden went silent before they could argue.
Silas and Raul leapt over the crest of the hill with Luke on their heels. The vanguards remained on the summit. Mack and the trio behind him continued their volleys at the bots while Marlo smacked a switch on the side of his weapon to prime it. The barrel spun and parts inside the muzzle shifted to different areas as an orb of light formed in the chamber. “It’s almost ready to go, Kaiden,” he shouted into the comms as he raised the cannon.
The Havoc droids immediately launched a concerted barrage that destroyed the shield. Mack stood in front of Marlo and created a concentrated barrier in front of them both, but it was immediately pounded by the havoc droid’s blasts and numerous lasers from the others. Some of the smaller mechanicals had run up to the two and now battered on the outside of the barrier.
Luke surged forward down the hill, swept the droids away with his hammer, and raised his personal shield to extend the defense.
“Step back behind the barrier,” Mack instructed, although he struggled to maintain it. “Keep your shield up.”
The titan nodded and walked back slowly. When he passed his teammate, his shield immediately disappeared, and its hexagonal pattern merged into the larger barrier. “I added yours to mine,” Mack explained. “It strengthens both,”
“You have a few impressive tricks,” Luke complimented him. “I don’t get to work much with other heavies besides Marlo. The three of us should go on a mission sometime and do some real stomping.”
“That sounds great,” the vanguard agreed and tried to add another layer to their defense. His efforts were obliterated faster than he could secure them. “Let’s try getting this done first, yeah?”
“I feel ya. How are you doing, Marlo?” Luke asked.
The demolitionist propped his cannon up. “I’m ready, but what am I supposed to do, Kaiden? I told you that it—”
“I’ll take care of their shields now.” He’d no sooner finished his sentence when a large surge of electricity sparked between the massed Havoc droids. It neither damaged nor deactivated them, but their shields were drained, and their fire stopped momentarily.
“Good one,” Marlo exclaimed and aimed his cannon. “You two, fall back. This will be a little unruly.” Luke and Mack nodded and scrambled behind their large teammate as he fired the weapon. He’d selected a wide beam rather than a blast, which swathed across the droids to either slice through them completely or melt them into twisted chunks of metal. Even the Havoc droids fell, one after another in quick succession, to the infernal ray.
The demolitionist stepped back as the beam weakened and the group covered him as he made his way behind the ridge. Kaiden joined the fray when he sprinted out through the hole in the wall of the factory and onto the battlefield.
The cannon finally lost its charge, and Marlo ducked out of sight behind the ridge and vented the massive weapon, turning it onto its side so he could open the core. “I’m done for now. That beam is powerful, but it overheats the core badly,” he explained. “I still have my hand cannon, but the big gun will be out for a while.”
“More are incoming,” Raul warned. “Kaiden, get o
ver here. You’re in the way of my shots.”
“Thanks for the concern,” the ace muttered sarcastically and unleashed a charged shot at a trio of Guardian droids before he sprinted to the group. “Mack, I’ll have Chief send you an algorithm. Can you make a shield using it?”
The details appeared on the vanguard’s HUD. “Uh… Yeah, not a problem, but this won’t block anything but—oh…” Mack turned to the group. “Everyone, get down.”
“What are you doing, Kaiden?” Silas demanded as the ace slid down the hill and stopped beside him.
“Something Genos taught me,” he stated cryptically as the vanguard created a dark-blue barrier around them.
“It’s ready, Kaiden.” He nodded to reinforce his words.
“Good. Hit it, Chief,” Kaiden ordered. A large blast spewed a wave of white energy that passed over the shield. Loud cracks and pounding noises followed before it went silent.
“What was that?” Marlo asked as the shield deactivated.
“EMP. The factory was comprised of numerous smaller cores instead of one larger one, so I used a couple of them to set it off,” he explained and checked his weapon. “The shield I had Mack set up should have prevented it from messing with our equipment. Our heavies are all still standing instead of toppling from the weight of their armor, so that’s a good sign.”
“You know how to do that?” Silas asked incredulously.
“Not really. Genos does, though. He’s given me pointers from time to time and still had to walk me through it.” he admitted and placed a hand on the side of his helmet. “Speaking of which, I should probably check in with the other teams before the big guy arrives. How are you doing, team B?”
“We’re in the hanger,” Jaxon answered. “We should arrive shortly unless team C was able to finish faster than we hoped.”
“I haven’t heard from them yet, but I don’t see the Colossus yet—” Rumbles and rending sounds in the distance could only signify destruction. The group peered over the summit and froze at the sight of the massive, bi-pedal machine that now stalked toward them, crushing trees underfoot. “Well, shit.”
“That thing is huge, even from this distance,” Luke shouted and looked disconsolately at his hammer. “Maybe I could crush a toe?”
“If you wanna take a run at that thing, be my guest,” Raul muttered and stowed his rifle. “I, for one, will simply leg it in the other direction. It might be far away now, but it covers more ground in a step than we can in a full sprint. Distance is our only advantage.”
“I’m not that worried about it trampling us.” Kaiden took a few steps back as he pointed to the giant droid. “I’m more worried about those big-ass guns.”
As if to prove his point, the mechanical raised an arm, its hand replaced by an enormous cannon that aimed unerringly at the group.
“Well, it’s been fun, guys.” Silas sighed but was immediately shoved by both Kaiden and Raul.
“Scatter,” the ace ordered. The group broke off in different directions as the Colossus charged its weapon.
“Team C, we request help if you can,” Kaiden called over the comm link. He froze at a massive rush of air and glanced back. A massive orb glowed in the threatening cannon. “Now would be good.”
“We’re still working on it, Kaiden,” Izzy responded. “Genos and I have almost reached the core, but it’s been tricky. There is substantial reinforcement in the area around the core and trying not to die from the radiation has also been a concern.”
“Can you shut the cannon down or something? The other thing can wait,” he demanded.
“We only have partial control of the systems, Kaiden,” Chiyo explained. “Even with Otto and I working together, we can only access it for a few moments before control is ripped away. The security in this machine’s systems is incredible.”
“I’m glad you’ve found something that challenges your interest,” Kaiden huffed. “But if I could make a slight request, I would prefer not to feel what it’s like to be ripped apart atom by atom. I find even the thought definitely uninteresting.”
“I’m in, but only for movement,” Otto interjected. “Let me try something.”
The ace glanced back as the dark sky illuminated, the energy of the Colossus’ cannon almost like an artificial sun. He braced himself, but the robot moved its arm fractionally upward as it fired. The orb careened overhead to land more than a mile away, but the force still hurled him, Silas, and Raul back. Kaiden collided painfully with a tree and lost sight of his companions, temporarily blinded by the blast.
“Are you still alive?” Otto asked tentatively.
The unnatural glow of the charge had dimmed and only a few hundred yards away, a crater had been gouged by the blast. “Yeah, by barely a couple of football fields. What did you do?”
“I changed the direction slightly. It was the only option,” he explained. “Chiyo and I are doing everything we can to stall this thing, but like she said, the security system is a real pain.”
“And yet she makes it sound like it’s fun.” Kaiden stood and shook the dust off, then froze at the sound of slipstream engines above.
“Are you guys trying to kill us? Cameron demanded over the comms. The ace squinted at the three fighter ships that rocketed over him and toward the Colossus.
“It’s good to see you guys finally pulling your weight,” he joked. “Only three ships? Weren’t there five of you?”
“Amber’s in here with me,” Flynn stated. The ships on the left and right banked to either side to surround the giant mech before they opened fire. “Julius is with Jaxon. He said Cam seemed ornery.”
“We trekked through miles of jungle, took on a squad of mercs, and are now laying siege to a big-ass robot with three small fighters,” Cameron retorted. “I think I’ve earned the chance to— Shit, look out!”
Dozens of small compartments opened on the mech to reveal turrets that fired immediately. All three aircraft took evasive maneuvers to avoid the barrage as the enemy continued to advance.
“How are you doing, Genos?” Kaiden asked fretfully as Silas limped over to him.
“I’ve reached the central chamber and sent Izzy to disconnect a few couplings while I try to deactivate the back-up. If it works, it should deactivate the machine,” the Tsuna explained.
“And if it doesn’t?”
“It would still momentarily power down but would reactivate and probably send a surge of energy through the body that would fry all four of us.” He sounded both calm and unbelievably cheerful.
Silas placed a finger on his helmet. “You’d better not mess this up, Izzy,” he warned.
“Build me up here, Sy,” she grunted as she yanked a coupling apart.
“I’m hit,” Flynn called. “Ejecting!”
“We need to get over there,” Kaiden stated.
“And do what exactly?” Silas asked and frowned as he looked around “Where the hell did Raul go?”
“According to the map, somewhere that way.” The ace pointed into the distance as he increased his pace. “If Flynn and Amber make it to the ground, they’ll need cover.”
“So what? We annoy it?”
He shrugged. “Or be bait.”
“Great.” Silas clicked his tongue dismissively but jogged beside his teammate. The three heavy fighters were already on the field and tried to destroy a few of the turrets. Their efforts only made the guns swing around and fire upon them. Flynn and Amber crash-landed in small pods and Kaiden and Silas each ran up to one to help the occupants out.
“Are you all right?” Kaiden asked Flynn.
“I can’t believe Cameron outlasted me.” The marksman sighed and his quick glance studied the Colossus. “That’s a big beasty.”
“You’re right.” The ace nodded but a shadow fell over the party to quell a light-hearted response. The truth was a little more sobering. “And it’s also about to step on us.”
“That’s a damn shame,” Flynn said nonchalantly.
The group once aga
in braced for death but for some reason, their enemy stopped in mid-motion. Everyone used the opportunity to race out of its path.
“Was that you, Chiyo?” Kaiden asked.
“Indeed. The system becomes easier to bypass as Genos and Izzy disrupt the machine’s power source. Most of the tasks seem to focus on sustaining the Colossus.”
“I shall be finished momentarily,” Genos interjected. “Those of you within the machine might wish to hold on to something in case of impact or potential disintegration.”
The mechanical’s turrets stopped firing and the gargantuan foot descended a few paces from the group. For a moment, it twitched and sputtered as if it battled against some sort of restriction before it went still.
The group exchanged glances and studied their adversary cautiously.
“Well, we’re not getting shot at anymore so that’s an improvement,” Cameron stated. “Is anyone dead?”
“We’re all good down here.” Luke looked at Kaiden, his expression seeking confirmation.
“What about y’all inside?” the ace asked. The only response was dead air.
For a moment, he worried that the Colossus would reactivate, but Flynn tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the mech’s shoulder. He zoomed in with his visor and smiled when he saw Genos scramble out and help Izzy do the same.
“Kaiden, are you there?” Chiyo asked, her voice slivered with static.
“I am,” he replied with a broad grin as a banner scrolled across his visor. Mission complete.
“Good job on not dying,” he said with a smile.
“Same to you.” He heard her laugh as she signed off and they were desynced.
Chapter Three
Laurie took the final sip of wine and sighed as he handed the glass to one of the door guards, waved his hand to dismiss him, and drew a deep breath. He placed his hand against the scanner. After an affirmative green light flashed above the door, it opened, and he entered reluctantly. This was the third meeting he’d had with the board this month—three times more than he usually tried to have in a year. Never was his real preference, of course, but even he understood necessary evils.
Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Page 25
