“Well, gentlemen, I believe it’s time for Plan ‘B,’” he said.
“What the fuck are you, Colonel?” shouted Hauser.
“There is no time to explain things right now, Captain. If you want to live, you are going to have to trust me. We have a mission to complete. Now let’s move!”
Hoffman’s men in the control center had seen part of what had happened and had sounded the alarm. The doors started shutting. They were locking the place down. Will destroyed the camera with a blast of laser vision.
“We need to get the rest of the Krelians out of their cells now!”
Will then ordered the Krelians who were already out of their cells to hold out their hands, and he quickly removed their bindings at hyper-speed with a little super strength.
They quickly moved up to the fifth level, where the rest of the Krelians were being housed, via the stairwell. As they started to head down the corridor towards the cells containing the rest of the Krelians, the concrete reinforced doors began shutting.
“Shit! Now what?” asked Hauser.
“Stand back,” said Will calmly.
Before proceeding any farther, Will shot a blast of laser vision at the nearest camera so that the Nazis couldn’t watch their progress. He then attached a small device on the camera cables, which then shut down all of the cameras in the facility. Will plunged his fingers into the first door like it was melted butter, ripped it off its frame, and threw it as if it was a feather away from him and his men.
Will then ordered Hess and Hammond to blow the primary elevator shaft on the fourth floor, as well as the stairwell on the same level, with the C-2 he had given them so the Nazis couldn’t come down to the level they were on.
“But Colonel, if we do that, how are we going to get back up and out of here?” asked Hess.
“We’re not going back up. We’re going down to where their ship is located.”
“What? Are you crazy? What the fu…” exclaimed Hess.
“Don’t argue with me! Just follow your orders. As soon as you two set the detonators, haul ass and rendezvous with us on the eighth level. We‘ll wait for you there before proceeding to the tenth level.”
Hess and Hammond hesitated, and then they replied in unison, “Yes, sir.”
Will then ripped the rest of the doors off of their frames as he had done the first.
As he came to the first of the cell doors where the Krelians were being housed, Erika stepped up and said, “If you rip that door off, it will set off a daisy chain of explosives that are linked to each room.”
“I’m aware of that. I have no intention of ripping the doors off their hinges.”
Suddenly, Will teleported inside of the first room, and a few seconds later, he teleported back out with one of the Krelians.
“Holy Mother of God!” exclaimed Serrano, crossing himself. The rest of the group was equally at shocked at witnessing this.
Will repeated this until he had all six of the remaining Krelians in the hallway. Will then snapped the shackles and handcuffs off of each of the Krelians, except for Tal‘pun, who had already removed his. Will’s men were even more stunned to hear him speaking to the Krelians in their language.
As they started moving towards the stairs to go to the tenth level where the ship was being kept, one of Hoffman’s guards woke up sooner than expected. He picked up his weapon and went after Will and his team. Will was in the lead on the stairs; Serrano and Tah’soon were bringing up the rear, but had not made it onto the stairs as yet.
Hoffman’s guard tripped on an object on the floor just before he opened fire. Serrano heard him and pulled Tah’soon out of the way and protected her with his body. One bullet grazed Serrano in the upper arm. As the guard opened fire on the rest of the group, Will was already moving at hyper-speed back up the stairs after hearing the first shot.
His body blocked the incoming volley of shots. He then knocked the guard back thirty feet with a blast of super breath, killing him instantly as his neck broke on impact. He then went to check on Serrano. Will saw that the bullet had only caused a flesh wound and was not life threatening.
Tah’soon stepped up to help Serrano keep pressure on the wound, which was bleeding profusely because some capillaries had been damaged. Will then cauterized the wound with a mild blast of pinpoint laser vision. He then ripped part of his damaged uniform and told Tah’soon to wrap the wound to keep it from getting dirty.
“You saved my life,” she said to Serrano in German.
“You’re welcome. By the way, do you speak English?”
“Yes,” she said, answering him in English,
“Good. I guess there’s no point in speaking German anymore.”
“Good point,” said Will after overhearing his statement. “Okay folks, let’s move out,” he said, reverting to English.
Will and his team moved down the stairs to the eighth level, and came to the locked concrete reinforced steel door, which Will removed with a light kick that sent the heavy door flying back almost forty feet. The explosives that Hess and Hammond had set in the elevator and stairs went off above their current level just as Hess and Hammond came into the eighth level room where they were.
Will used his super breath to clear most of the smoke and then to Erika he said, “Where are all of the scientists that were working on the spaceship?”
“They should be on the ninth level. Their quarters are located on that level as well. They heard the alarm but may not be aware of everything that has happened yet.”
“How many of them are there?”
“Fifteen that I know of,” she said.
“Where are they keeping the weapons?”
“I’m not sure, but I know they have a thick vault on the ninth level as well.”
Will nodded. To Tal’pun he said, “Several days ago I spoke with the Krelian High Council, and they told me that you had fifteen shoulder fired and fifteen hand held weapons.”
“That is correct.”
“Where in the ship did you keep the weapons, and were all of them in the same place?”
“Unfortunately, they were all kept in one secure storage container, and thanks to Valtor, our chief scientist, the Terrans were able to access it,” he said, disdain dripping from his voice, as he stared a hole through Valtor who was standing behind Will.
“They threatened to kill me if I didn’t cooperate!” shrieked Valtor.
“Then you should have let them! You know that minimizing our contact with the humans was more important than one life, or even all of our lives!” yelled Tal’pun.
Valtor turned away from Tal’pun’s wrath and said nothing. He knew the captain was correct. He had been weak.
“Enough, gentlemen,” said Will, “This is no time to place blame on anyone. We need to concentrate on getting out of here alive.”
Tal’pun nodded. Will then ordered them to head down to the tenth level.
Chapter 75
Front Entrance to the Eyrie
As soon as the alarms started sounding from inside of the facility, ten of the sixteen men stationed near or at the road blocks, got in their half-track vehicles and started driving towards the facility to determine what had happened. This included most of the soldiers Will had observed at the clandestine anti-aircraft batteries and machine gun nests surrounding the facility as well. As they got within fifty feet of the front entrance, they exited their vehicles and started running towards it.
As the first three made it to within twenty feet of the entrance, all of them were dropped in their tracks after being shot in the head. The rest of the group stopped and looked around in confusion as they had not heard the retort of the weapons that had been used to slay their comrades.
Three more of them suffered the same fate as they also tried to make it inside of the facility. They were stymied as to where the shots were coming from as there were no muzzle flashes coming from whatever weapons were being used against them.
Brunner and his team had finished eliminat
ing the rest of the sentries, snipers, and gunners on the mountain and were preparing to quietly skirt around the entrance when they heard the alarms going off. They figured the Colonel and the rest of the team were in trouble, and they believed they could best help them by not allowing the guards on the outside to make it inside of the facility.
The remaining four Nazis then ran back to their vehicle and had just made it inside, when they were all eliminated by Brunner and his teammates.
“I’m not sure how many more of ‘em might be headin’ this way. Let’s just wait here for a few minutes and see what happens,” said Brunner quietly into his throat mike.
“I’m betting that whoever is left won’t be coming because they don’t want to leave the road blocks completely unmanned,” said Wakefield.
“You’re probably right,” Brunner replied. “If no one else shows up in a couple of minutes, we’ll make our way to the road block and take them out as well.”
After a few minutes had passed, it appeared that Wakefield was correct as no one else had left their post to respond to the alarm.
“Let’s move out,” said Brunner.
Brunner, Wakefield and Becker then made their way through the woods until they came upon the remaining sentries, who were all together at the first road block. They quickly eliminated them and waited to make sure there was no one else around.
Chapter 76
The Eyrie, Sixth Level
Hoffman and his men began waking up and rubbing their necks several minutes later.
What the hell happened? How did that son of a bitch survive being shot at point blank range with machine gun fire? He moved so damn quick I couldn’t see him. What the hell is he? Hoffman remarked to himself in a jumble of thoughts.
“Colonel, what are your orders?” asked one of his men.
Hoffman had to clear his mind and think for a minute.
“He’ll be trying to release the prisoners and recover the weapons. Get your men and head to the tenth level. Kill them all! They must not get their hands on those weapons, that ship or those damn aliens! Schnell!”
Hoffman’s men moved towards the elevators, but they didn’t work.
“Take the stairs! They’ve done something to the elevators,” he ordered.
Hoffman and his men made their way down the stairs but had to stop at the fourth level due to the rubble that was created when Hess and Hammond set off their explosives.
“Scheisse!” Hoffman cursed. “Get all of the Stielhandgranate you can carry and head to the lift!”
Hoffman then picked up a house phone and dialed an extension.
After a couple of rings, it was answered by someone on the tenth level.
“This is Colonel Hoffman. There has been a breach! Fire the cannons from that ship at their previously selected targets. Now!” A pause. “Yes. All of them, dammit!”
***
As ordered, Hoffman’s soldiers stationed on the tenth level told the lead scientist who was working on the spacecraft to fire the photon cannons towards their selected targets in Europe and America. The scientist hesitated, and one of Hoffman’s men pointed his Mauser machine gun at his head.
The scientist then opened the bay doors at the end of the cavernous room and brought the photon cannons online. He selected the targets as he had been shown by the Krelian scientist and fired all fifteen of the ionized photon torpedoes that were chambered.
The Eyrie, Tenth Level
Will, his team, and the Krelians had made it down to the outer door of the tenth level. Will, instead of ripping the door off of its hinges, lifted it up while it was still in its frame and had the others go inside while he held it. Once everyone was inside, Will lowered it and then used his laser vision to weld the door in place in order to slow the Nazis down if they tried to get in.
Once on the tenth floor, they came up to a large hangar-sized roll-up door. As Will bent down to lift the door, he heard a gruff voice yell behind him, “Hände Hoch sofort!”
As the group slowly turned with their hands in the air as ordered, they came face-to-face with four Nazis who were all armed with the alien weapons - two of the shoulder fired and two handheld.
“Well, at least we know where four of the weapons are,” said Becker as he put his hand up along with the rest of his team.
Will stepped up and ordered the men to drop their weapons, but they knew that Will was not a real general and they refused.
Hauser looked at Will and said, “Colonel, you may be able to stop a few bullets, but even you can’t possibly stop a weapon that can vaporize a bomber.”
Without a word, Will stepped towards the group to draw their fire. He pretended to reach for the Luger that was on his side. As he did, all four of the guards shot at Will from twenty feet away. The blue-light weapons struck him center mass; its blinding light forced the group to avert their eyes but had no more effect on him than a baby throwing a pebble against an ocean liner.
The Nazis then stopped firing and were totally shocked to see Will just standing there. Will then used a low dose of laser vision on the Nazi’s hands, which forced them to drop the weapons. He then knocked them all out with a hyper-speed blow to the backs of their necks.
“Gentlemen, tie them up so they won’t give us anymore problems,” he ordered.
At first no one moved. They had all seen Will shrug off a fusillade of bullets, but they were even more dumbfounded to have seen him struck by the blue light weapons, which had no effect on him at all.
“Now, gentlemen,” he said.
Finally, several of the men moved towards the guards, found their handcuffs, handcuffed them behind their backs, and drug them into a nearby storage room and locked the door. Will then sealed the door with a blast of laser vision that completely welded the door shut. Will retrieved the Krelian weapons and gave them to Tal’pun and his men.
As Will made his way to the hangar door and was about to lift it up, he and Tal’pun heard the familiar sound of a photon cannon being fired in rapid succession. They looked at each other in disbelief.
“Colonel, what the hell was that noise?” asked Hauser.
“Shit! That sounded like a photon cannon being fired!” exclaimed Will.
“A what?” asked Hauser.
Without answering, Will then bent down and lifted the huge hangar door like it was a feather. As they entered the room, their entrance was met by automatic gunfire from eight of Hoffman’s men who were stationed on the tenth level.
“Down!” Will yelled as he blocked the incoming shots with his body. Will then used a blast of super breath to knock all eight of Hoffman’s men against whatever they were standing in front of, killing half of them, and knocking out and/or seriously injuring the other half.
Once inside the door, they saw the spacecraft sitting fifty yards away from them inside of a cavernous room, which measured two-hundred yards deep, a hundred yards wide and sixty feet in height. The spacecraft was sitting on a huge hydraulic lift that went through every level of the ceiling above it, which explained how they had gotten it this far underground. The ceiling directly above it was closed at the moment.
“Oh my God!” exclaimed Serrano. “Will you look at that!”
Similar exclaims, and a couple of whistles, were made by the rest of Will’s men. Will then stepped forward to look at the ship with Hauser next to him.
“Let’s find these scientists and secure th…”
Before he could finish his sentence, a shot rang out from thirty feet away. One of the Nazi guards, who had been hiding in the room when the alarm went off, fired a shot in their direction from his .45 caliber Luger. Will reached out and plucked the projectile out of the air a couple of inches from Hauser’s head. Will then directed a puff of super breath towards the guard, which slammed him into the wall behind him, killing him instantly.
Will then handed Hauser the bullet after cooling it with a quick blast of his super cold breath. “A souvenir.”
Hauser was shocked when he realized how clo
se he had come to dying. He held his hand out and Will dropped the bullet into his hand. “Thanks,” was all he could think to say.
Will then ordered a couple of the men to drag the guard’s body into a nearby room.
As they approached the spacecraft, one of the Nazi scientists came out of it with his hands up. Will asked him about the photon cannon he had heard being fired, and the scientist admitted that he had been ordered by Colonel Hoffman via telephone to fire all fifteen rounds.
Will then asked him what the targets were and the scientist told him.
“Captain, I need to stop those photon torpedoes from hitting their targets. You and your men need to secure the spacecraft from Hoffman and his men. You also need to make it to the ninth level and bring those scientists to the tenth level.
“Colonel, how the hell do you plan on stopping those things? They’ve already been fired. Shouldn‘t we warn London and Washington so they can evacuate as many people as they can?”
“There’s no time for that, Captain. Just follow my orders until I get back. Hess, Hammond, come here,” Will said. As they quickly approached him, he handed them a rucksack and said. “Take these explosives and place them thirty feet apart on opposite sides of the walls, and set the detonators for one hour.”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison, and then they turned and left to complete their task.
Will then went and spoke quickly to Tal’pun and explained where he was going.
“While I’m gone I will have my nanobots do some of the major repairs so we can get this ship out of here. I’ll leave my cruiser here to protect you and the ship. You‘ll have one hour to complete the repairs before the explosives detonate. There are materials and replacement parts on my ship to help you repair your ship that I picked up on Krelios. There is a piece of tyrilium to use as a patch for the hole in your ship. I will order my ship to give you access so you can obtain the materials you need.”
“I understand, Guardian. The rest of my crew will do what we can to facilitate the repairs as well.”
Shadow Warrior: Destiny of a Mutant Page 30
