“I’m not sure we can. We still don’t have a clear target,” she reminded them. “However, if we can at least divert their attention away from Mirai, we can buy time until more is uncovered. If we are able to smoke them out, that would put many more eyes on them. With my father’s significant resources and connections, he would have no trouble amassing a force to deal with them.”
“I’m sure he’s working on things at his end. Whatever else might be an issue for him, he hasn’t climbed to the top by being weak-willed or idiotic.” The ace held onto a railing as Genos banked the ship. “We need to slow them down and I think we can accomplish that. After all, no factory means no production.”
“We certainly have other factories available, but it would still be a shame if we lost this one. And it doesn’t take a lot of information gathering to know that Kaiden seems to like his missions messy.” Dario cut another piece of cake and popped it into his mouth. “My, this is delightful.”
“So, I’ll have another shot at him, then?” Yvette asked and strapped her armor on.
“I’ll handle the boy myself. I’ve yet to have a proper ‘shot’ at him myself, you see.” He swirled the wine in his glass before he took a sip. “He intrigues me.”
“I have a vendetta.” She hissed angrily and glared at him.
“You have a boyfriend locked in prison. And once this mission is over. I’ll assist you to break him out, on my honor,” he promised.
Yvette moved her hand to her blade. “He’s my leader. He—forget it. Have your fun. But you’d better keep your promise. You’ve only coasted on it until now.”
“My dear, you’ve seen me work. You’re the spirited kind, and if you thought you could actually force me to obey your whims, you would have done it by now.” He tapped his fork against the plate. “Besides, that Tsuna is with him. He’s the one who helped to apprehend your friend, isn’t that right? I’ll need him dealt with along with all the others he’s brought along. But leave Kaiden to me and leave Gendo’s daughter alive.”
She turned to head to the cockpit. “Understood.”
Dario took another bite and looked above him. The translucent ceiling of his ship revealed the stars hurtling past as they flew to the facility. “How long until we land?”
“One hour and twenty minutes, sir.”
“More than enough time to finish my dessert, then,” he noted happily. “I wonder if I should prepare a grand entrance of some kind for our meeting.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chiyo studied the data she’d recovered from the neurotech device. There wasn’t much, however. She and Indre had combed through every detail, but she had hoped there was something she’d missed. Better yet, that it would be something that could lead to whoever worked behind the scenes and formulated this plot—something that would banish the feeling of doubt that had plagued her ever since she first cracked the drive from Lexsys.
“Have you had any sleep at all, Chi?” She turned as Kaiden walked up to her and offered her a plastic cup. She took it and inhaled the aroma of the coffee.
“I’ve had a couple of hours, but sleep was never much of a necessity for me,” she responded and took a sip gratefully.
“You’re supposed to hack into robots, not act like one,” he quipped and sat on the bench beside her. “Unless method acting is a part of your training.”
“It’s a potential side effect of using the technician’s suite too much, actually. It causes issues to the limbic system of the brain that helps control emotions.”
He eyed her cautiously. “Seriously?”
“No, not really,” she confessed and took another sip. “Although it can lead to a coma.”
“Let’s try to avoid that too,” he suggested and closed the port window as the early morning sun began to rise. “So, you’re all right with the current plan?”
“For how little of a plan it really is, yes.” Chiyo put her cup down and leaned back. “I hope Indre won’t be bothered that Operation Infiltration has become such a by the numbers mission.”
“I think she’s simply happy that it rhymes.” Kaiden chuckled. “After all, I don’t think anyone can get mad that the mission has a higher chance of all of us coming out unscathed. Unless something happens that botches the attack, of course.”
She pointed to the hologram. “There is a possibility. We don’t know what kind of force we’ll have to deal with. Even after we make our way in, we’ll have to fight our way out.”
“That’s not much of a deterrent, to me or anyone else.” He glanced at the door that led to the bay. “Maybe to you and Indre because you prefer the cloak and hacker approach. But I hope it’s too late to take it back.”
Chiyo laughed. “Not much seems to shake you, Kaiden. What if there’s a fleet of Goliath droids in there?”
He thought about it. “That might actually be helpful. It would make destroying the place a cinch.”
“Some kind of invading alien force?”
“You realize we’re traveling with aliens right now, don’t you?” he reminded her with a smirk. “That kind of thought lost its luster about eighty years ago.”
“Fair enough.” She stretched and turned the device off. “I want to thank you, Kaiden.”
“You already have, even before we took off for Vox.”
“I know that you’ve used your personal funds to help,” she replied. “Not to mention doing Julio’s little errand and any other promises to get the ship.”
“He’ll have to pay to fix my jacket,” he grumbled. “But it’s all good. I don’t have a contract anymore, so the creds are mine to do with as I please. I have good gear and still have room and board until graduation, so helping a friend out seems like a good investment.”
Chiyo smiled and looked at her tablet with the Nexus logo background “You already seem to know what you want to do. I’m curious, though. Why do you stay at the Academy?”
“I can still learn things and can always get better,” he explained. “There’s also the fact that it looks good to have it as something to brag about. It will help to bring in good gigs in the future. I need to actually graduate to be able to brag, though.”
She nodded. “I see you do have some business sense.”
“Besides, I’ve grown fond of all of you,” he added, leaned his head back, and smiled. “Think of how bored you’d be if I wasn’t around.”
The infiltrator chuckled. “Among other things, I’m sure.”
“I’d be happy to risk a horrible death for all of you, assuming I don’t actually die a horrible death. I can only do that once.” He grinned.
“Morning, friends,” Genos announced over the comms. “We are approaching our destination. However, there doesn’t appear to be a facility.”
Kaiden and Chiyo looked at each other with concern. He immediately turned to the window and opened the blind. They looked at the landscape below.
“It’s barren?” she whispered.
The area was a desolate, ravaged city with no noticeable life around. “It’s a junk town,” he confirmed.
“Did I have the wrong coordinates?” she wondered aloud.
“I doubt it, but let’s go to the cockpit.”
“Greetings friends,” Genos said cheerfully as the duo entered. “I don’t see anything that resembles the hologram friend Chiyo showed me. That is a pity. I very much looked forward to the potential destruction.”
“Genos with a bloodlust. That’s either very exciting or concerning,” Kaiden quipped.
“I checked the signal again. It’s definitely here.” Chiyo looked out the window. “But I don’t see anything that looks like it and nothing here seems to have active power of any kind.”
“Underground,” he responded and narrowed his eyes in an attempt to see better. “Or they are using some kind of device to cover their emissions somehow.”
“Might I butt in?” Chief asked. “I can’t detect anything up here, but between me and the fox, we should be able to trace powerlines that migh
t go through the ground.”
“That is a good idea, madame,” Kaitō added, speaking from Chiyo’s tablet. “Even if they are using a central core, once we get close enough, we would still be able to detect the general area even if they can hide it from scans.”
The trio looked at each other. “I’ll get suited up,” the ace said. “Genos, try to land on the most stable structure available.”
“By the looks of it that would be the street,” the pilot replied.
“And please try to not scrape the ship. I’m already planning one risky mission. I’d rather not have the next one be returning the craft.”
“I repaired as much as I could,” Flynn said and handed Jaxon his chest plate. “Most of the repairs are replacement parts. I didn’t have time to adjust the color.”
“You did fine work, Flynn.” The ace thanked him and placed it on the bench. “I didn’t know you had skills in armorcraft.”
“It’s not my forte, but as an ace, you probably know that every class has to have a wide variety of skills to help them out in the field. And us marksman don’t usually have the luxury of dropping our armor off in the middle of a mission.”
“And I got my babies working again,” Indre said enthusiastically and held her drones up. “Although oh-one makes a weird static noise.”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” Kaiden assured her and holstered Debonair.
“It’s begging for death,” Chief stated.
“And it can have it once we’re done here,” he muttered in a low enough tone that the agent wouldn’t hear.
“Damn humanist.”
“So, this base is either hiding inside a barrier or is underground. That’ll complicate things,” Flynn commented.
“It simply means you won’t be able to have a perch,” the ace responded.
“Which means we won’t have long-range support,” Jaxon added.
“Which means you’ll have to get out of your comfort zone,” Indre teased.
Flynn waved her off. “You saw me both at the Ramses building and at the arena. That’s not the handicap you think it is.” To accentuate his point, he pressed a switch on his rifle and shortened the barrel.
“Just remember to raise hell,” Kaiden ordered. “We’re here to tear this place apart while Chiyo and Indre try to find any data they can. If nothing else, we’ll leave a message of our own for these assholes.”
“And be safe, all of you,” Chiyo interjected and the group turned to her. “I don’t like going in as blind as we are.”
The ace smiled as he activated his rifle. “You told me you believe in your friends before we left right? You haven’t changed your opinion, have you?”
Jaxon rubbed the back of his neck. “I did lose at the arena.”
“That was supposed to be an inspiring moment, Jaxon.” Kaiden groaned.
The infiltrator smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I still do. That hasn’t changed. But remember what you told me about who this might be. It could be bigger than we realize.”
He took a moment to look at her before he gave a confident smirk. “That simply means we need to leave a bigger impression.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Holy hell, there are a lot of power lines,” Chief gasped as the team ventured deeper into the junk town.
“Madame, I would hazard to guess that some of these simply lead to auxiliary stations or devices,” Kaitō added. “Only a few will possibly lead us to our destination.”
“Is there any way to differentiate their paths and what they might be connected to?” Chiyo asked. Flynn paced behind her and his gaze searched constantly for possible snipers.
Chief’s eye began to spin. “I think I have one. Get on your knees, Kaiden.”
“Could you word that differently?” his partner requested.
“Hump the floor.”
“Good God, I’ll kneel. Please don’t make it sound worse.” He complied and focused on the artificial light of the lines through Chief’s vision. “What are you doing? Can you see something special if you’re clos— Whoa!” He raised his hand instantly to his head and almost doubled over.
“Kaiden! Are you all right?” Chiyo asked and knelt beside him to offer her support.
He took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, but it’s…you know that feeling when you stand up too quickly? Imagine that but way worse.”
“Sorry. I should have thought about feedback to you now,” Chief apologized. “I have a reading, though. It’s fairly obvious, but see that fat one on the side there? That travels to a massive generator, one that needs to disperse energy constantly or it would implode on itself. That’s gotta lead to our mystery facility.”
The ace stood and rubbed the back of his helmet—not that it made any difference, but the motion helped him think. “You can tell all that from a closer look?”
“It’s the emission. Pumping that much energy will cause tiny amounts to pour out, even if it’s properly insulated. Most devices wouldn’t pick it up, but the implant is rather sensitive, considering its connection and all.”
“I’m a living barometer now?”
“I think you’d be closer to a wattmeter,” Indre informed him cheerily.
“It’s weird either way,” Flynn added.
“Even if we follow the line, I assume it’ll be hidden once we reach a certain point,” Jaxon pointed out.
“Certainly. But once we find that location, we can proceed from there. If it is hidden behind a barrier, we can find a way to access it. If it’s underground…” Chiyo looked ahead, deeper into the town. “I’m sure there’s an elevator or stairway that will lead us there in one of the buildings.”
“Perhaps a teleporter?” Flynn suggested.
Indre shook her head. “That gives off a distinct reading so there’s no way to hide that. It would defeat the point if they have gone out of their way to keep this place a secret.”
“The line goes on for several more blocks. Keep your guard up,” Chief warned.
The group looked at each other and nodded. Those who didn’t already brandish their weapons drew them as they continued their search.
“It looks like the trail ends here.” Kaiden surveyed the area. Six buildings sprawled around them with several behind those and a few more in the distance. “It looks like the line goes straight down. Whoever said underground lair wins the pool.”
“So should we fan out and start looking?” Indre asked.
“I’ll let you know if I find any suspicious bookcases,” Flynn offered and began to walk to the buildings on the left.
“Hold on for a moment, friend Flynn,” Genos called and removed a device from his belt.
The ace frowned at what looked like a metallic bug of some kind. “Uh, what is that?”
“It’s a seeker. It targets devices between certain ampere that I set,” he explained and pressed a button. The device floated up and then away.
“So it’s a flying wattmeter,” Indre quipped and looked at Kaiden. “It has you beat there.”
“I didn’t see it find the line we were looking for,” he retorted and folded his arms.
“Correct. All that energy would have made the variables quite wide and confused the sensor. It would have simply flown around in circles.” The mechanist followed the device, which headed toward the buildings on the right. The team fell in behind him. “But I assume that wherever they are hiding their entrance, there is some kind of terminal or switch that needs to be activated to access it, which uses much less power.”
“That’s nifty,” Indre admitted. “I should consider getting one. I generally use power tracers.”
“We engineers mainly use it to assist in construction and repairs. It just so happens that it is helpful in tracking in these kinds of desolate areas,” the Tsuna explained. They entered the second building. The seeker flew to the back of the first floor and attached to a shattered picture in the back of the room. Genos walked up to it, removed the device and deactivated it, and set it to one si
de before he pulled on the picture. “It’s bolted in.”
“A cover?” Jaxon asked.
“A safe assumption, kin.” He activated his gauntlet and extended the claw, gripped the side of the frame, and pulled. The picture came off and he tossed it on the floor. The team stared at a scanner now visible where the artwork had been.
“I wonder if every henchman has to rip that off to get in.” Flynn chuckled.
“I assume they have a device that causes the portrait to move,” the mechanist responded. He glanced around the room and dragged a finger along the wall, then examined the dust. “And I also assume it’s been some time since anyone has come out, at least this way.”
“How will we get in?” the marksman asked and peered at the scanner.
Kaiden held a thermal grenade up. “I have an option.”
Indre pushed his hand down as she walked past him. “Save it for whatever is inside. I’ve got this.” She stopped in front of the device and retrieved a circular pad which she held up to it. After a moment, the scanner illuminated, and a part of the wall slid up to reveal an elevator.
Kaiden stowed the grenade. “Well, that’s certainly more subtle, at least.”
“So this would be the point of no return, then?” Flynn inquired and took a moment to check his rifle once again.
“I’m almost certain they are at least aware of our presence,” Jaxon pointed out and glanced at the ceiling. “If they haven’t actually tracked us all along.”
“We already agreed that this would get loud really quickly,” Kaiden reminded him. “And I’m not climbing in vents this time.”
“If they are tracking us already, we shouldn’t waste time looking for another entrance,” Chiyo stated and pointed at the elevator. “But we don’t have to be obvious in our strategy either.”
Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Page 79
