She dodged another swing. This one hit the dead male sex toy and the bed behind. Half the inside of the dome was burning. Letha finally got the last of her armor off, leaving her in her skin-tight undergarment.
“I like this look,” Fireshot said, preparing for another strike. “But I still think ‘burnt to a crisp’ will suit you better.”
The gloved fist came, but she wasn’t letting it happen. She dodged and weaved, and came up on the outside of his arm. One of her forearms connected with his, the other slamming into the crook of his arm so that she bent his fist back toward himself as the liquid went off, spraying him in the eyes. He started to protest, and then the flames hit him.
Pushing herself off, Letha stared in horror as his face melted away to reveal a flaming skull. In moments, he was on fire completely, along with the rest of the room.
Letha grabbed the struggling, half-conscious woman, and the two struggled for the stairs as flames licked the walls behind them.
It wasn’t until they had both made it outside and Kale and Redwood had them that Letha finally accepted that it was over and they had escaped.
“Fireshot?” Kale asked, glancing back up at the dome, now lit from the flames within.
“Burnt to a crisp,” she replied, grimacing at the memory.
“And this one?” Redwood asked, helping the nearly nude woman to stand.
“Bring her with us. She’s one of our new recruits.”
They nodded and Redwood led the woman off, leaving Kale to check Letha over.
“That shield… the armor,” he said, “they were expensive.”
She nodded. “They were the cost of living, so I’ll take the hit.”
“A good trade,” he agreed. He led her around to the other side of the tower. Fireworks lit up the sky, and Letha realized it was already that time of night. She’d killed Fireshot just before announcements, and his death was confirmed when his picture appeared in the sky, followed by various other faces.
Everyone had stopped at that. The followers of Fireshot saw his face and realized they needed to stand down. Even before the fireworks were over, half of his followers had fled. The other half sunk to their knees, laying down their weapons to Letha.
“It appears we have ourselves an army again,” she said, watching this. “Get everyone rounded up. We’re taking back our base, and setting up this one as well.”
“Who’ll have it?” Brink asked as he came near.
“I want you all close,” she replied, but stared off into the distance, considering. “I’ll have to give it some thought.”
30
In Too Deep
Planet Kill, Ulric’s Territory
The automatons weren’t built for close combat. They were armed with blasters and could take heavy damage from rifles, but up close, their innards were no match for blades.
Pierce, Rodrigo, and the Dark Mark dropped down together, positioning themselves in the middle of the squad, rendering the automatons’ blasters useless at such short range.
Pierce sliced through one of them with the blade on the side of his weapon. Rodrigo cut through two at once with his charged sword. The Dark Mark planted her feet into two of them, knocking them to the ground as she dug her dual swords into their heads, shutting their systems down.
Two more took aim at Pierce, but he rolled out of the way in time, causing their blasts to take each other out. The three humans converged on the last of the squad and shoved their blades through its head as one.
Finally making it inside the bunker, Pierce was immediately met by a massive ledge, likely meant to dissuade humans from entering. Pierce leaped, not knowing how far the drop would be. The Dark Mark and Rodrigo followed suit.
The three of them landed on their feet and rolled to lessen the impact. In a swift motion, Pierce launched back onto his feet and rushed forward with no regard for what was ahead, ready to die, ready to kill.
Deeper in, they came upon a large open area full of computer servers and viewer screens. He edged up close to one and saw a volunteer consent request in the middle of being created. On one half of the screen was an image of a random person’s signature and their biometrics. On the other side was a consent form. Pierce reached out and touched the screen.
The biometrics and signature shifted to the right and overlaid the consent form. Fraud, exactly as Pierce had suspected. He had his smoking gun.
With the Dark Mark and Rodrigo standing guard, Pierce knelt and searched for the hard drive. A small glowing chip shone through a transparent panel. He used his elbow to break the glass and pulled the chip out, causing the computer screen to power down. All he had to do was escape with his evidence, but there was still one more thing to do before the job was finished. Destroy Ulric.
He pocketed the hard drive chip and brought his Bunker Buster up. “Let’s get the bastard.”
The three of them rushed forward, Pierce in the lead.
Around a corner, an automaton had been pre-positioned to slow them down. Pierce noticed in time and lowered his shoulder, avoiding the initial blast. He swung back up with his blade, slicing the automaton’s head clean off.
As they ran through the dark corridor, their feet landed on a makeshift floor that was a trap. The ground collapsed beneath them, and they fell several feet. Aside from wounded pride and bruised arms and faces, they were fine. They dusted themselves and began to climb back up.
Rodrigo and Pierce lifted the Dark Mark to their shoulders. She carefully stood, and they launched her back up to the corridor. Pierce lifted Rodrigo as far as he could, and the Dark Mark pulled him up the rest of the way. Then Pierce ran for the wall, kicked at it to get some height, and grabbed the Dark Mark’s hand midair. She pulled him up the rest of the way.
Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds.
A squad of automatons burst through a hidden alcove in the wall and lifted their weapons, but the Dark Mark reacted quickly and sliced through the front line’s rifle barrels. Rodrigo dismembered the heads of the entire front line with his charged blade.
There was another line of automatons behind them.
Rodrigo spoke without turning to the others, as he charged into the second row of the robots. “Keep going…” he yelled, swinging his blade wildly.
Pierce fled deeper into the corridor, the Dark Mark alongside him.
Ten feet in front of them, a row of four automatons lay in wait. Without a word, the Dark Mark and Pierce knew what to do.
In sync, they leaped off the ground and ran along the wall a few steps, then came down, the Dark Mark with her charged blade, and Pierce with the blades on the side of his Bunker Buster. They tore through the four automatons from either side. Their blades met in the middle, and their eyes met again.
Then she faced forward and continued running. Pierce caught up with her as fast as he could. There was another raised area in the ground ahead. This time, they both spotted the trap in time and leaped over it.
At the far end of the corridor, Pierce finally spotted Ulric. A throng of automatons surrounded him. He shot a glance back in their direction, then left through a small opening.
Pierce turned to the Dark Mark. “Thoughts?”
“You get past them and end him,” she said. “I’ve got this.”
“As long as you promise not to get killed,” Pierce said. “I’ve been wanting to catch up, if you don’t mind. Maybe we can get coffee or something after this?”
She sighed audibly. He knew better than to press it any further. Yet, this was the first time she’d spoken to him since they’d reunited. The sound of her voice almost broke his concentration. But he knew better. The fight wasn’t over.
They took off together. Instead of going at it together this time, Pierce jumped up and used a beam on the ceiling to launch over the machines while the Dark Mark drew their fire and engaged them directly.
Pierce fought the urge to make sure she was okay. All they’d accomplished and sacrificed was for nothing if Ulric got away.
> Pierce dove headlong through the small opening at the end of the tunnel. On the other side, the larger of the binary suns was beginning to breach the horizon. Its rays hit Pierce’s eyes, blinding him for a split second, just long enough for Ulric to bring his mechanical arms down hard on Pierce’s neck and back, knocking the Bunker Buster from Pierce’s hands. His weapon skittered across the dirt out of reach.
Expecting another blow, Pierce rolled to the left and out of the way of Ulric’s powerful boot smashing into the dirt. Blow for blow, Pierce couldn’t hope to match him. He charged in hopes of getting the warden to the ground where they could grapple. He could cancel out Ulric’s physical strength advantage there, and he had a chance of outmaneuvering him.
Ulric hadn’t expected Pierce go straight for him. He was caught off-guard, allowing Pierce to tackle him.
Ulric’s movements were quick, though, and Pierce fought to keep from being pinned, unable to get a good lock. Pierce was thinking in a way that an A.I. like Ulric couldn’t. He was planning on losing to win.
Pierce allowed Ulric to gain the advantage and flip him onto his back. Ulric hadn’t anticipated that the feint was a trick that put Pierce within arm’s reach of his Bunker Buster.
Ulric realized his mistake too late, and Pierce was able to snatch the weapon and swing it around, getting off a single shot. The blast went through Ulric’s left shoulder, severing his arm and sending it clattering along the ground like a soccer ball.
When Pierce went to take a second shot, Ulric had already stood up and was rushing for the scout ship. Pierce braced his elbows against the ground and fired two shots without taking the time to aim.
Ulric had managed to put some distance between them and was about to make an escape. Pierce wasn’t going to be able to catch up to him in time, and taking out the ship with his Bunker Blaster was futile. The weapon packed a hell of a punch, but the accuracy was about as precise as a BB gun. No way was Pierce going to be able to stop that ship.
“Dammit,” Pierce said. “Why didn’t I think to upgrade to a rocket launcher?”
Ulric was mere feet away from the hatch when the scout ship was obliterated to nothingness. The only thing left after the blast was some dust and smoke from the overheated ground. There wasn’t even a speck of debris. Only one thing on Planet Kill had that kind of firepower and accuracy: Pierce’s stealth ship.
Who was using it? Why didn’t they just do the same to Ulric?
With a touch of ironic timing, Pierce’s viewer screen popped up to his right. “Not now,” he groaned impatiently.
The message flashed again. And again. He wasn’t going to be able to fight Ulric in hand-to-hand combat with that thing distracting him, so he opened the message.
It was the same fan as before. The one who’d bid for him to spare Letha. The message revealed who was lending a helping hand.
“This one’s going to cost you two fucks with Beatrice,” it read.
Pierce couldn’t help but laugh a little. Fucking Dregg! He must have planted some kind of device on the ship when he’d taken him for his covert joyride. He was controlling it!
“Can’t use an off-planet weapon to take out a warden,” the message continued. “This one’s all you.”
Pierce aimed his Bunker Blaster at Ulric, but the weapon powered down. He’d used up his ammo. He was going to have to go toe-to-toe with him one final time. All or nothing. This was going to hurt like a motherfucker.
Ulric reached Pierce first and flung him onto his back. He followed with an array of blows to Pierce’s chest, arms, and face, pummeling him into submission. Then Ulric flipped him over and shoved his face into the ground.
An awful smell filled Pierce’s nose as Ulric smashed his face harder into the dirt, attempting to suffocate him. The stench smelt like shit and death. A familiar smell. Pierce remembered the first lesson Dregg had taught him. Colewort. It was poisonous to humans, which would have been useful had Ulric not been A.I., but there was a way to use this to his advantage. If he could get the colewort into Ulric’s open wiring, the built-in programming that prevented AIs from augmenting their physical bodies with any organic substances would kick in and initiate a shutdown sequence.
Instead of trying to push back against Ulric’s attempt to smother him, Pierce pulled his left hand out and grasped the leafy plant. He strained to reach his arm back to get the disgusting thing into Ulric’s shoulder, but the angle was too much. He slowly pulled his elbows and knees in, then rolled hard. Now he was facing up, and Ulric was on top of him. The suddenness of the motion made it possible for him to shove the colewort into Ulric’s open and dangling innards where his arm had been.
Ulric never saw it coming. His robotic body convulsed and shook as the protocols governing AIs activated. His mechanical face contorted, and he looked as if he might have been in severe pain as he fell back and dropped like a bucket of cement. Motionless. Frozen in a state of shock. With the smallest and least threatening object on the planet, Pierce had not only won, but he’d proven a universal truth. Anything could be used as a weapon.
As he lay there, panting, bruised and bloody, the Dark Mark and Rodrigo emerged from the underground tunnel opening. Pierce was too exhausted to say anything. He just met their eyes with an expression of relief that they’d made it out alive.
The Dark Mark rushed over and slid down next to him. She put a hand behind his neck and leaned in to kiss her husband for the first time in years. Pierce relished the moment, reminded of every kiss he’d ever shared with her, every smile and laugh he’d ever had the pleasure of witnessing. It was a gentle kiss, and it felt like home.
31
Fuck It!
Planet Kill, Letha’s Base
Returning to base with her new numbers meant easily taking it back, especially since many of her opponents here had fled at the sign that Fireshot was dead. When she had control of it once more, she called in her generals for a meeting. She also requested the presence of Aisha, Aero, and her other new warlord allies.
“We’re not stopping here,” she told those gathered around the main room. She pointed to the broken monitors. “Aisha, can you get these working again?”
“Of course,” the girl replied.
“Good. We’ll have a new monitoring system set up in no time,” Letha continued. “I want us to figure out who the big players are, the next Fireshots, and take them out before they get any power. If I find out anyone here is going down that route, you had damn sure better explain yourself and then quit immediately.”
“You can count on us,” Aero said with a broad grin. “Nobody here has been part of something as big as you’re discussing. Of course we’re going to stick by your side.”
Other warlords and their followers chimed in with their agreement. She had her army, her empire well on its way.
“Good,” she said, then noticed someone missing. “Trunk?”
No sign of him.
“Actually,” Aisha said, frowning, “I remember seeing him run after Grinder in the heat of the battle. Not sure what happened, exactly….”
Letha nodded, worried that her newest general might not be coming back.
“Roger that,” she added. “Everyone check your credits, your levels, and see what we can do to loot up and barricade the shit out of our fortresses. Consolidate around this base, and consider Pierce and his friends allies. Understood?”
The others nodded and indicated agreement.
“Dismissed, for now,” she said, then quietly to her generals, “Not you. We need to speak further.” She had to tell them that they’d come up with a strategy of attack, and to be ready to take initiative. She wasn’t going to build this empire by sitting around and waiting.
When they had left, she closed door, wondering when or even if Pierce would come striding in. It was entirely possible that he too would never make it back alive. With a sigh, she checked her stats.
Holy hell! The final fights, and especially the one with Fireshot, had given her a huge boos
t. She was the proud owner of five thousand credits and had passed into level twenty-six. Not only that, she was damn close to level twenty-seven, which meant she’d be able to upgrade her battle armor to a suit she’d had her eyes on for a while.
In the meantime, she was going to go see how Brink was doing with loot inventory. She might as well see what they’d scored before spending money on new equipment.
She found him with piles of low-level shields, rifles, and more. When he saw her, he held up a glove, like her shocker, but she saw it was the flame-throwing glove Fireshot had used.
“Holy balls,” she said, taking it and admiring the glove. “Someone went in there to get it?”
“I was curious, after the flames died down. I mean, it was his living quarters, after all.” Brink grinned, then held up a small box of other trinkets. “I found these as well.”
She leaned over and saw a dildo, a string of beads, a cock ring, and more.
“Oh my god, burn them.”
He laughed. “Maybe… but I think some of these are upgraded. I scanned them, see? The cock ring, for instance, grants plus fifty percent longer lasting, and the dildo has a warming feature that someone might find extremely enjoyable. Maybe they weren’t all his. That new lady…” He smiled and blushed.
“You have your eyes on the Noob?”
He laughed again. “Her name’s Belle, and yeah, actually.” He flipped the dildo around in his hands “I was thinking of trying this out with her, maybe. She seemed to be into the idea.”
Letha frowned. “I thought… I don’t know, I just never thought you’d want to try that.”
“Not everything works, but that doesn’t mean the desire isn’t there. Some don’t mind. She actually seemed to be relieved when she found out.” He shrugged, still smiling.
“I… I don’t mean to sound rude, but why would you come here if you knew you were impotent? You must have known how PK is so sexually charged.”
Planet Kill Page 28
