Invasion (Animus Book 10)

by Joshua Anderle

  He walked closer to the screen and observed the man he believed to be the leader of this invasion. “You are a member of the Arbiter Organization, aren’t you?”

  A prideful grin appeared on the man’s face and he stood a little straighter. “I am indeed. I am General Nolan Pocock, leader of our military division.”

  “Pocock?” he muttered quietly. It sounded familiar. “What is it that you want? Why have you attacked our Academy? You should know that this will lead to retaliation from the World Council.”

  “Eventually, I’m sure,” the man retorted. “We will be ready by then, and the council has to deal with their own mess so don’t expect their assistance anytime soon.”

  He didn’t bother to respond to the general’s statement but he could tell that he wasn’t lying or at least believed that the WC was too distracted to come to their aid anytime soon.

  “I should congratulate you on what you have been able to accomplish so far. Destroying our disruptor, holding off our attacks…you’ve even managed to disable parts of my ship.” Nolan looked at a tablet or some kind of device. Laurie had to guess as his face was lit up with artificial light. “That last part is most impressive, truly. We expected some kind of attack on the ship and planned for multiple tactics. Most of them had you playing a part, and I’m so glad you did. But even with that preparation, I didn’t expect you to do so much damage in such a short window of opportunity.”

  “Where is Aurora?” he demanded.

  “Aurora? Is that the EI’s name? Lana will want to know that. She is with us, Professor. You took our EI, so it’s only fair that we replace them with yours. And I must say, we’re quite grateful. She looks to be even better than anything we could have devised.”

  “She is my EI and is among the greatest of my creations and all EIs. She can’t be cracked or reconfigured to listen to you,” Laurie roared, his fists clenched.

  “Aurora herself, most likely not,” Nolan conceded but his grin returned. “Of course, we only need her system and her power. The EI as a construct is not that important, really. And that we can have.”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked but the man ignored him.

  “I congratulate you for what you’ve accomplished. But know that you have not won. If anything, this is a small intermission, I would say.” The general fixed him with a hard look. “When we resume, I can promise that the second act will be a tragedy. Of course, you can prevent it by persuading all the others down there with you in that Academy to surrender. What do you—”

  “That will not happen!” Laurie declared. “And I’m sure Chancellor Durand said the same thing. You may destroy this Academy, but you will not take it.”

  Nolan frowned, sat in his chair, and crossed his legs. “Not exactly the same but close enough.” He breathed deeply and shook his head. “Your courage is admirable but my patience is running thin,” he said and glowered to make his point. “We have no desire to destroy our Academy. We have a mission for humanity as a whole, and your students will play an important part although you may not.” He finished his statement and the screen shut off. Laurie’s lab fell into silence as the professor let his words sink in.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Is that the last of them?” Marlo asked and booted the shattered arm of one of the Arbiter bots across the floor.

  “For now, it looks like it,” Flynn confirmed and rested his rifle against his shoulder. “More can always come but the doctors and patients are what matters right now. How’s it looking, Amber?”

  “Pix was able to get in. My credentials are still good so they haven’t locked us out yet,” she informed them as she watched her EI reactivate all the airway systems. “It looks like the power is coming back on too.”

  “Good timing. Do you think you can make a connection with your mom?” Marlo asked. He set his cannon down for a moment to give him time to stretch his arms.

  “I’m trying to get through now, but I haven’t had any luck. I think her link is either destroyed or she turned it off to be safe from any potential hacking.”

  “Or propaganda,” the marksman added. “Did you hear what some of those bots spewed out there?”

  “It was kinda hard to over all the yelling and gunfire,” the demolisher said and ran a hand under his chin. “But I heard them talking about something—laying down our arms or something like that?”

  “They were acting so civil about it,” Flynn muttered and rolled his eyes. He walked over and knelt beside Amber. “Should we head back to the barrier?”

  She took a moment to think and eventually nodded. “Pix can handle the rest but let me grab one thing. The list of sign-ins will show who else is in there and who I can contact.”

  “All right. Marlo and I will scout ahead.” He looked at his large teammate, who nodded and picked his cannon up. The two walked out to make sure their path remained clear while Amber hurried to find the list. She took a moment to look at the room her mother and the others were bunkered in and saw a few dozen green dots. At least they were safe, but she wondered if they should risk taking them out of the relative safety of the ICU and into the battlefield.

  Genos looked at the hoverboard on the wall, took it down, and flipped the activation switch. He grinned as it began to hum and the lights glowed. “I believe I can make use of this.”

  Kaiden, who leaned against the wall of the confiscation office, looked at him and chuckled. “I’m happy for you, buddy.” He turned to Officer Haldt as the man entered the office. “So, you get in touch with Wolfson?”

  “Yeah. He thanked us for breaking orders. Now that’s a weird feeling,” he admitted. “He also asked why you didn’t try to call him yourself.”

  “Chief can’t make calls yet. He is still putting everything back together. Taking so many of those pulses has kinda messed with him— Say are my eyes crooked?”

  The security officer shook his head. “No. I hope that means something good?”

  “I’m worried something might have happened to me too and he’s not saying anything,” he admitted.

  “Guys, I’m getting strong energy readings heading toward the island,” Chiyo announced and looked up from her holoscreen.

  Kaiden, Haldt, and many of the others walked over to have a look. “More of those super bots we fought?” one of the officers asked.

  “No, although there are similar readings closer to the main gate. These are a little different. There are fewer spikes in energy with a more consistent but larger output than the normal bots.”

  “Which would mean what, exactly?” the ace asked.

  Genos took an engineer’s gauntlet from one of the boxes and studied the mods as he considered Chiyo’s description. “Friend Chiyo, would the color of that reading bleed into blue?”

  “It does.” She nodded and the entire group focused on him.

  He nodded and pulled the gauntlet on. “Then, if I had to make a guess, I would say mechs.”

  Everyone went quiet and some looked at each other as Genos turned. “Ah, that’s not good, is it?”

  “Do I need to tell you that they are not ours?” Kaiden asked. Several loud pounding sounds were audible from outside.

  “There are at least five coming in from the harbor and close to our position,” Chiyo stated.

  “Where is this warehouse filled with ships you need to get to?” Cameron asked.

  “And how badly do we need them, exactly?” the ace added.

  “All the ships we had prepped on the surface were destroyed during the initial attack.” Haldt sighed. “We should still have sufficient numbers in the main port. Those are all shuttles and water carriers so it would make rescue and evacuation much faster.” He scrolled across the map and pointed to a building that was about three hundred yards from where they were. “There’s a stairwell that will take us down to the hangar, but we’ll have to cut through here.”

  “Where those mechs just showed up.” Eckles sighed.

  “The tunnels are open now, correct?
” Jaxon asked. “Do you think we’ll still need to use the shuttles?”

  “The emergency tunnels and runways off the island are active now, but how many students will be able to get there while dodging the bots?” Haldt asked. “Not to mention that the tunnels would be useless if the mechanicals simply pursued. They have internal defenses but once they are compromised, the entrance hatches will seal and the pathway will lock down and erupt in a crisis like this. Hopefully, a good number of students will escape but it won’t be all of them.”

  Kaiden placed a hand on the officer’s shoulder and nodded. “You don’t need to say anything more.” The loud sounds from outside now included cannon fire. “Although I would like to hear some opinions on how we can eliminate those things.”

  “I’m trying to see if I can hack in, but it looks like I can’t access their system. Kaitō, what’s wrong?”

  “It seems the mechs are controlled by cracked EIs, madame,” Kaitō informed her. “That is probably why they weren’t a part of the initial invasion group. They don’t seem to have the same shielding that the normal droids do. That disruption emitter would have wreaked as much havoc on them as it did on our machines.”

  “What? They simply chilled in the lake in case the device was destroyed?” Cameron asked. “Dammit, man, that’s a kick in the teeth.”

  “My guess is that they hoped the loss of our tech would finally push us into surrendering. They do seem to want to take us alive, for the most part,” Jaxon interjected. “Now that it’s destroyed and that’s not an option, they have gone with a more forceful tactic.”

  “Like hell it’s going to work.” Kaiden sneered. “All right, we’ve restocked what we could and found some new toys. But we’ll have to think of a way to get through those—”

  “I shall take care of them,” Genos said. The others looked over as the Tsuna dropped the hoverboard onto the floor and opened the front door. “I shall try to be quick.” Before anyone could call out to him, he raced away.

  The group sat there for a moment in shock and silence. Kaiden broke that silence when he looked at Jaxon and said, “Let’s go and get your suicidal kin, yeah?”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Genos whipped around the harbor in search of his targets. He needed to get to the middle of the field and cause an obvious distraction. It had to be something to draw the attention of the enemies in the field so they would focus on him as a primary target and pursue him long enough that his teammates could make it across.

  He looked to the east and located his prey. A trio of mechs emerged from the water. They had begun to boot up and their shields weren’t online yet so they were vulnerable enough for him to do what he needed to do.

  With his gauntlet activated, he adjusted the hand into a clamp as he raced toward them and snatched a droid up along the way. It was a simple Fighter droid with a skinny frame and lightly armored with a basic laser rifle. The mechanical’s head spun as if it couldn’t comprehend the situation and he crushed its chest in his grasp. He kept the head and swerved around the mechs to get behind them as they began to stand and arm their systems.

  The Tsuna lunged off his board and onto the back of the mech in the middle. He scrambled to the top, tore quickly into the outer metal, and revealed a panel within.

  Once he’d exposed the panel, he opened a small port on the head of the robot he had taken. He deactivated his gauntlet, straightened his index finger to release a small set of prongs, and snagged a small cord from inside the panel of the mech. Carefully, the cord clutched in his hand, he placed the robot’s head onto the mech and slid the end of the cord into a slot in the port of the head.

  The mechs on either side began to turn toward him and he heard the whirring of mechanics working in tandem. The claw of the mech on his left began to fidget and he knew he was cutting it close.

  “Genos, what the hell are you doing?” Kaiden demanded over the comms.

  “Ah, friend Kaiden, it’s good to hear your comms are working now.” The mech swung but he held firm. “Just a moment, if you would. It is quite stressful at this time.” He peered into the mech’s panel again and withdrew some wires.

  “No shit! You’ll get yourself killed,” the ace snapped.

  Jaxon joined the conversation. “Where are you, kin? We will assist.”

  He uncurled his pointer and middle finger and blades emerged on the inside of them to create scissors. Deftly, he snipped a few of the wires and deactivated them. “I’m much obliged, but you are on foot and are vulnerable to the droids. I ask that you look after yourselves while I work on this.” He drew his access pistol and shot the device into the back of the droid’s head. The huge mechanical on the left began to reach up to grab him and he dropped onto the mech’s back. The attacking claw missed and he pulled himself up again and opened the screen on his tablet. He heard energy charging and looked at the mech on his right. It stepped back and turned toward him to aim its cannon.

  “Genos, I don’t know what the hell you are doing, but you need to—”

  “I’ve borrowed a strategy of yours, Kaiden, and I’m simply adding my skills to it,” Genos replied and pressed a button on the gauntlet screen.

  The mech he was on raised both its arms to either side. It had a cannon on each arm and they quickly began to charge. Both its comrades moved back once they realized what was going on but it was too late. The cannons fired into the two cockpits and the metal bodies teetered for a moment before they fell.

  “What did you do?” Kaiden asked, astonished.

  “I’ll fill you in later. For now, I need to finish my plan,” the mechanist informed him. “Kaiden, you are close, correct?”

  “We’re closing in—only about fifty yards away.”

  Genos looked in their direction. “That should be close enough. Please ask the officer with the cannon to be ready to fire when you turn the corner.”

  He climbed on top of the mech once again and over to the cockpit. Several punches with his gauntlet cracked the shielding and he could see the glowing core within. Above it, a small screen with a moving eye indicated the jockey EI controlling the mech. Not for much longer, of course.

  Kaiden and the group ran out of one of the alleys and the officer with the cannon looked inquiringly at him. “That should be enough. Please fire,” the mechanist ordered, pushed himself back to the top of the mech, and braced against it.

  The Tsuna moved his head to the side when an orb of red light careened into the cockpit. It was followed by a scream and a burning smell. When he looked again, the window had shattered and partially melted and the jockey EI was no longer an issue

  “Much obliged,” he said in thanks to the ace and officer. Working quickly, he ripped the panel out, caught a few of the wires, and connected them into the core. He then climbed inside and made sure to peer out onto the field for a moment to see if there was any immediate danger. Finally, he reached under the control board and pried it loose.

  With a broad grin, he looked around to determine what he had to work with. “Yes. Oh, yes, this will do.”

  “What is he doing?” Kaiden muttered. “He said he would create a distraction, not take out a few mechs for giggles.”

  “He is holding his composure incredibly well,” Chiyo pointed out.

  “And while I would usually appreciate that, I’m worried it will be for nothing if he gets himself killed.” His anxiety refused to abate.

  Jaxon looked at the downed mechs for a moment and could barely see Genos in the center of the last one standing. He would occasionally poke his head up but he seemed mostly preoccupied with something inside. “Do what he normally says when you run off to do something.”

  “What would that be? Stand by for a wave of hostiles?” Kaiden snickered.

  “Trust him. He will make it work,” the Tsuna ace replied.

  He looked at him in silence, then focused on the mechs and sighed as he took the cannon off his shoulder and held it in both hands “If he’s not done in a few minutes, I�
�ll pull him out of there.”

  “I don’t believe he’ll take that long. He works almost as fast as I do,” Chiyo assured him.

  “Friends, I’m ready. Prepare to run toward our destination,” Genos ordered on the comms.

  “Gotcha,” the ace acknowledged and stretched his legs. “Do you wanna fill us in now or is that still a rain-check?”

  “There doesn’t appear to be rain during this time. Do not worry, the weather does not affect whether or not I give you information.”

  “Considering the circumstances, I’ll let it slide.” He chuckled and spun to obliterate another droid while he waited for the command to sprint.

  “Distraction happening in ten seconds.”

  Genos hopped out of the mech. The boosters on the back began to rotate and its cannons pointed forward and began to charge. The Tsuna veered away on his hoverboard toward the building as the mechanical surged forward. The small droid’s head was still attached to it and waved in the wind as the mech surged into a wild run. It began to fire its cannons indiscriminately and destroyed Arbiter droids along its path. A couple of other mechs turned to it and fired. One of its cannons was blown off but the rogue continued to speed forward and fire with its remaining weapon. Other droids began to focus on the rampaging mech as it continued its onslaught. A leg was blown off but the boosters continued to power it over the field.

  “That is certainly one way to get all the attention.” Kaiden whistled.

  “Let’s go, Kaiden,” Chiyo demanded and leaned forward before she sprinted across the field.

  He followed quickly with the cannon held against his chest so he could focus on the goal rather than be tempted to fire at anything.

  The mech was finally stopped by another cannon shot. It fell and was approached slowly and cautiously by a few droids. A rapid beeping began and a red light flashed in the damaged torso. The droids turned to flee but the mech self-destructed before they could escape and obliterated them. Two mechs that emerged from the water were hurled back into the lake by the force of the blast.