One of the storage rooms in the back of the Salvage Area ignited into a monstrous ball of fire. The explosion was big enough to consume the rest of the storage rooms and damage a good deal of the Salvage Area. Paperwork now covered the room, most of it flaming. That was only the beginning of their problems.
The retort chamber went up next. The men and women who were closest originally had their backs to it, sheltered behind their shelving units. Now humans and shelving unit alike were tossed easily, their defensive positions gone in the roaring blaze. The originally chilly room had now become a furnace, smoke quickly filling it.
Gabriella, Noah, and Kurt instantly ran back to the Salvage Area to check on everyone. Halsey remained behind as Malik stuck by Nusaybah’s side. The captain could see the black fog making its way down the short hall to the cyborg treatment center.
“Go help them. I’ll stay with her,” Malik said. Joe looked down at him before shaking his head.
“No, I’m not gonna let you hold this position by yourself.”
Their discussion was interrupted by a small metal ball rolling down the main hallway. As it got closer white smoke began to seep out of it.
“Everybody get your masks on!” Halsey commanded over the intercom.
***
Gabriella entered the Salvage Area again, setting down her pulse rifle. The storage rooms were now a wall of flames that was growing nearer. Next to what used to be the retort chamber were three bodies. Even from her distance, she could see the jagged fragments of metal jutting out of a few of their backs. Gabby could also see their faces in the warm abundance of orange light: One of mine, two of Khalid’s.
Sgt. Neeson focused on the living now. Many of the others were injured to various degrees but there were some able to help. Paul’s head bled profusely and yet he was in the midst of checking on another soldier’s leg. Noah and Kurt were quick to help.
“Everybody get your masks on!” they all heard over the intercoms.
We’re trapped like animals, Gabriella realized with crushing terror. That realization quickly formed into anger. With her mask on, she spat all of it at the first possible target.
“Patrick, are you fucking sleeping up there?!”
“No one showed up on my scanners, so fuck off! They must’ve come from inside!”
“Sergeant, I’m coming for you guys!” Saskia cut in on the channel. “Hold tight!”
“Doesn’t mean shit if we can’t get out of here! They have us pinned down!” Gabriella argued.
Saskia did have the third pulse rifle with her, but it was impossible to know how many soldiers awaited them in the office area. They were betting on time they didn’t have and variables they couldn’t calculate.
“Where the fuck is Will?!” shouted Noah over the intercom.
Caught up in the storm in which they were now trapped, Gabby had forgotten their supposed trump card. You piece of shit, she thought furiously, only to hear gunfire in the other room. Halsey’s voice came over the intercom:
“Here they come! We need suppressing fire!”
Kurt picked up his pulse rifle and ran off to the other room without an order. Gabby decided to join him.
“Noah, you help here and bring everybody up to the treatment center!”
Gabriella thought on how the mission had crumbled to pieces in a matter of minutes. Heroes of a rebellion doomed to die or, worse still, become prisoners. Jacob…she ran forward into the fight with watering eyes. It's going to be all right. We’ll get through this she recounted. I was weak then, but I’m not now. We will not lose this fight!
***
Zaneta rested her head on her father’s chest as his commander and wife talked off in the corner of the room. Talk of how the procedure had failed, of compensation for the UNR’s failure, and Marconi’s future. Will watched it all intensely.
His ears picked up something else now: the rumble of an explosion down below. Something’s happening. Will looked over at his earpiece on the desk. I’ve been a fool. He put it back where it belonged, and sure enough there was a volley of yelling directed at him and the dire situation below. He still took one last look at the video footage, wishing solemnly there was time to download it or even find more.
Will headed for the door and grabbed the handle. An explosion from behind it knocked him off his feet and onto his back. The metallic door had taken the brunt of the blast, now in pieces scattered all over the room.
“Get up off your ass, soldier.”
That voice, no. Emerging from the smoke and walking into the room was a daunting figure. It stood well over Will and didn’t appear human at all. That was until Will spotted the eyes glaring down at him as if he were a roach.
“Commander, I-I heard you were back, but what have they done to you?”
The vague info from Gabriella’s source had said Kane no longer looked like himself, but this was something Will had never seen before. He began to rise to his feet only to feel blood dripping down his side. In his shock he’d failed to notice a metal shard of flaming hot door sliced into the flesh close to the armpit. Watching Will pull it out, Kane laughed.
“Isn’t it obvious? Fate decided that I live on, so I asked them to make me into something even worse than you.”
The enormous being was on Will quite fast despite his size, and Kane began to land punch after punch on the super soldier. Will was caught off guard by the burst of speed and failed to block the first two. He attempted to stop the left incoming fist, but Kane’s right one knocked him on top of the desk with a well-placed uppercut. The simple wood was smashed, and Will found himself dazed.
Instead of rushing to strike back, Will sat up slowly. Part of it was never having been hit that hard before, but he was also full of remorse. The only reason this shell of a man stood before him was because he’d betrayed his commander; and then in his cowardice he had failed to even finish the job.
“Kane, I—” the giant kicked Will in the face midsentence.
“Don’t you dare!” the general roared.
Kane lifted Will by his worn coat and hurled him into the telescreen. The image of his family was shattered in an explosion of sparks, and the cyborg hit the wall hard enough to knock a chunk out of it.
Will sat there in the glass, his face bruised badly. Kane kneeled down and picked him up by his head like a doll.
“What is this? Did they condition you as a pacifist or is it just that I’m not as easy an opponent as Luis and Valerie?”
Will put one hand on Kane’s, gripping hard as if to pry himself free. In his other was a grenade which he slammed against the side of Kane’s head. Though Will’s hand was shredded, it did the trick and Kane released him.
Will leaped back over to the remains of the desk, grabbing his rifle. Now ready to fight, Will analyzed his foe. The grenade had done absolutely nothing to the commander, who laughed once more at the sight of his gun. The brute reached for something on his back with his right hand.
It appeared to be an artillery gun with a barrel of seven feet in length and four-inch caliber. The feed system crept up from his lower back and attached itself to the weapon before the cannon itself attached to his right arm. It all took under a few seconds.
“More than enough to take out tanks,” Kane taunted.
He aimed the titanic weapon Will’s way. The sheer noise of it going off would’ve deafened most in the compact room. Most also would’ve been dead at that range, but Will dodged. The shell struck the remnants of the telescreen and blew down the wall entirely.
Will opened fire in return, aiming at Kane’s eyes. This was easily stopped by protecting his eyes with his left arm.
Kane rushed Will again, and once more he’d underestimated his speed. Before he could get out of reach, Will was kicked right in his chest. The blow sent him through the wall behind him and into the next room. The motion sensor lights above activated upon his entry and made the arrival of Kane all the more frightening.
“Running with them has made you a pathetic piece of shit
. That much is clear.”
Kane effortlessly smashed his way through the hole, leaving little of the wall. Will’s chest was in pain but intact, and he surmised without the armor he wore over his shirt he may have been hurt more badly. And by a single kick, too. He’s beyond me in strength.
Kane stomped on the gun, sending bullets all over the floor of the room. Will looked at his options, now in an even smaller room than before. The only thing in it was a Primetech MRI scanner off in the corner, useless to him.
“I guess this will never end until we destroy ourselves,” Will said as he placed a hand on his sword. Kane eyed this closely.
“What made you think you had any other choice, Will?”
“Another time, Kane. Right now I have to help my friends.”
Will wasn’t out of the game. It would take scrupulous timing, but that was often a prerequisite for his antics. Nimbly, he rolled at Kane’s feet, just as he had lowered his arm to fire. Will used both his arms and a staggering amount of strength to aim Kane’s weapon downward and shoved it into the floor itself. Kane tried to pull it free, but the shell left the chamber.
Will had no time to pull away and was knocked back by the explosion, landing on his face. Before either could register the extent of the damage, the floor beneath them gave way.
In the office area below, the fourteen UNR cyborgs saw the ceiling high above them fall apart, bringing rubble down on the whole room. Sgt. Flemming stuck close to the file cabinets as large debris rained down on the area, but a few smaller chunks clocked him in his head. On top of all the noise, a cloud of dust consumed everyone and everything.
In the hallway and cyborg treatment center, they could all hear the commotion going on. Halsey and Gabby both nodded their heads. They both understood plenty well. This was their chance. Their only chance.
***
Will was on his feet fast, his body aching but functional. His HUD quickly saw through the barrier of dust, spotting targets all around the room. By the way they moved, their HUDs had also spotted him. Where to strike first was the question. Will spotted the ideal target behind him.
A male soldier equipped with an assault rifle with a M320 Grenade launcher attached was his selection. If his fight with Gabby at Clincho had taught him anything, this was where to start.
The cyborg ran up to him and in his fear, the soldier hesitated. Will elbowed his chest while grabbing one of his wrists tightly. The UNR troop screamed in pain as he expected, but something was out of place. The blow he landed would normally shatter bone into splinters, but these bones didn’t snap: they bent. Metal, probably maraging steel. These are no ordinary soldiers or even typical super soldiers. Watching the soldier he’d just pulverized crumple to the floor, it struck him: these are the new WP-III models McGinley told us about.
“Take him down!” Will heard behind him, and he knew he was done for. He’d devoted too much time to inspecting the soldier. The sound of boots approaching was coming from every which way.
That was when Gabriella and Kurt ran into the office area firing shots with the pulse rifle. The soldiers who could still shoot, few of them as there were, followed suit with bullets. The room became a maelstrom of death for either side.
Amidst the fighting, Will noticed several holes in the floor. From the debris? No, these holes were perfectly square. Emergency shelters in case of an attack like ours used for a bait-and-switch. Brilliant. It also raised questions about the layouts provided by Gabby’s source. Deal with it later, Will told himself.
“Watch where you step!” he yelled as he took on a UNR soldier hand-to-hand.
As Gabby took down yet another opponent, she saw a gargantuan shape rise near the center of the room. It stood taller than anything else but had a general human shape. The figure looked around and halted upon seeing Gabriella. She knew who this was despite having never met him, and the same went for the commander.
Sgt. Neeson charged up another shot, but Kane’s artillery cannon didn’t need ten seconds. His sights were without flaw, and the shell was primed to go. The last Neeson goes down tonight. Kurt saw what was about to happen and rushed in.
“Sergeant!” he cried.
Will put the showdown to an end, striking Kane’s arm with a large steel beam. The shell still left the chamber in Gabby’s direction, but Kurt tackled her to the floor and remained on top of her. The round hit the cabinets and exploded.
Kurt yowled as he felt pieces of hot metal pierce his back all over. Gabriella threw all of her attention to her soldier, the large man struggling to get to his feet.
“You can do it, Kurt, get up!”
He grinded his teeth and only got as far as his knees. His back was covered in spreading blood.
“Sarge, go! Just go!”
Gabriella froze. There were far too many wounds on him to deal with right there in the middle of a fight. Judging by his inability to stand, a lot of them were much deeper than what she could see.
“Just hold still!” she said in denial, reaching for one of the bigger ones jutting from his shoulder. She grabbed on to it, and Kurt collapsed to the floor. He cursed as he balled his fists tightly. Gabby saw all of this but couldn’t accept it.
Will tried to strike Kane again with the beam but this time he grabbed on to it. His powerful hand crunched down on it before ripping it from Will’s grasp and tossing it across the room.
“Will, move!” yelled Noah.
Will leaped away from the general. Kane refused to pay the others any mind, keeping his eyes on Will. It was a mistake he’d regret. Rolling to his feet were several grenades, courtesy of Noah and Halsey. The bang sent Kane toppling into one of the bunkers they’d used earlier. He landed with a loud thud.
“Let’s go!!” Will said. Joe saw the purple bruise on his face and knew there was no time for discussion.
Halsey and Noah ran over to Gabriella and Kurt, both mortified by what they saw. Kurt knew there was only one way to make his commanding officer leave him. He pulled out one of his grenades and held it close to him. The recognition of its presence was in Sgt. Neeson’s eyes.
“Take the pulse rifle.”
Though Kurt didn’t give the order to anyone in particular, they all knew to whom this order fell. Noah picked up Kurt’s weapon. He served up what smile he could to his friend.
“I always knew I should’ve been a canary,” Kurt joked.
“You wouldn’t make the cut, man. You’ve always been a damn glue bag,” Noah said as he fought back his sorrow.
“Thanks, asshole.”
The two gripped hands for the last time.
***
Will spotted a group of four troops running to block off their exit and moved to stop them. In the settling dust, he saw just the object for the occasion. Sgt. Flemming was the only one who turned around in time to see it coming.
Will grabbed onto the MRI scanner and pushed it as hard as he could. The damaged machine held together as it rammed through Thorton’s desk and sandwiched three of them against a wall.
Flemming managed to leap over it as it came at them, but as he prepared to land on his feet, Will was there to catch his legs. Thrown off balance, the troop’s head hit the floor hard.
Will then tossed him across the room, back toward the center. Flemming hit the floor, rolling as his gun flew out of his hands. Though he wasn’t hurt beyond a few scrapes, he stayed on the floor. The targets began to slip away with Will the last to go. How the hell is he still so fast compared to us?
Going in he’d assumed he’d be up to par with a super soldier. After all, he was in fact a cyborg himself now. This battle had shown him there was still a gap between he and his men and the esteemed 144,000. As the last of the targets slipped away, Flemming was graced with one more shot. It was cheap, but he didn’t give a damn.
In the chaos, Malik was carrying another soldier on his back, so very close to freedom. A straggler, not bad. Nighty night. Flemming fired the non-lethals as ordered and watched the man go down in mid-run.<
br />
Flemming stood as General Kane emerged from the bunker he’d been knocked into. First thing he stared at was the sergeant, who was quick to look away. The giant walked over to the hallway leading outside. With that cannon of his, he let loose with more shots, yelling in frustration. Flemming couldn’t see from where he stood, but he heard the roar of a monster-like engine come to life and then fade away. Kane finally lowered his weapon, which told him enough.
The sergeant had a whole lot of concerns to bring up, though he struggled to find the courage to even open his mouth. He took a few steps in the commander’s direction, and Kane regarded him without a word. If anything was to be discussed, Flemming would have to speak first.
He swallowed hard and prepared to speak as one more explosion went off at the rear of the room. Only the sergeant’s attention was drawn to the scene. A few of his men had been close, some even blown back, but none were hurt, thankfully. Look at them stare at that pile of shit, he thought as the UNR troops gathered around what used to be a man. Flemming was about to join them when Kane’s cold voice was heard:
“Sergeant, get the live ones ready for transport.”
Chapter 12 - Pursuit of the Damned
October 22, 2065 - Rock City State Forest, New York
Inside the speeding Seraph, Noah kissed Saskia before fully securing himself in his seat. At present, they were in the Rock City State Forest veering past trees and mowing down smaller ones. The previously packed vehicle was much emptier now. They’d lost eight soldiers, four of them captured and four dead. Only one of Nusaybah’s six-man team was with them, Hamza, and he said not a word. One arm was mangled from the retort chamber explosion, but he didn’t whimper. He only stared as if nothingness lay before him.
Gabriella considered comforting him, but felt she had no right to. She looked at Will, intent on going off on him. The sergeant couldn’t bring herself to do it. Will had a similar look on his face to what Hamza had, the only difference being that he made eye contact with Gabby.
“I saw Malik coming up last. I wanted to go back and get them, but I was too late.”
The King's Move Page 10
