Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 229
The infiltrator nodded and glanced at the guard beside her, who punched her code in as Chiyo punched in Haldt’s. The guns came online and appeared on the top of several towers scattered along the island that most people would simply assume were decorative. As the cannons primed, she pressed the all-clear button and the hangar gates began to open—massive doors for the shuttles and one smaller door deeper in the hangar in a stream of water for the carriers.
“All right, guys, let’s make this quick!” Kaiden hollered as he prepared to boost out. “The sooner we get off the island, the sooner we can make plans to take it back!”
Chapter Thirty-One
“These things are relentless,” Cyra cried as two more of the R&D department’s personal security bots fell to the Arbiter attack. A tech had his rifle snatched away from him by a retractable hook when an enemy jumped over the barrier, snagged him, and attempted to pull him away from his comrades.
Cyra and another techie hurdled their defenses to grab him and haul him back. She raised her pistol to shoot the droid and its eyes flared as it extended its cannon. In the next moment, something rocketed into it and hurled it away as the three techies collapsed and stared in shock. From behind, several dozen droids barreled down the hall and startled the techs and guards as they ran or bounded around them, forced their way through the barrier, and attacked the invaders.
Behind them, Professor Laurie walked calmly but resolutely toward them. “Cyra, everyone, we’re going,” he ordered.
“Professor!” she shouted, pushed to her feet, and darted forward to engulf him in a hug. “Where did all these droids come from?”
He disengaged from her spontaneous embrace and withdrew a small rectangular device from his jacket, which he attached to the wall. “Failed experiments or prototypes. I had almost forgotten about most of them, to be frank. It wasn’t until I smoked the databases and destroyed most of my tech that I remembered storing them in one of the extra rooms.”
“Destroy— What is happening professor?” Cyra asked as he began to scan through numbers on the device.
“We’re leaving. I…Aurora was able to temporarily cripple the flagship but at great cost. When it comes online again, I don’t believe we’ll have another opportunity to escape.” He finished working on the device and clicked a button. After a brief hum, a massive rectangular light covered the wall and in an instant, the wall dissolved.
Laurie took several small pods out and tossed them below where they burst into gelatinous-looking blue spheres. “Out of the hallway, everyone. Please aim for the bubbles as this is not the time for broken bones.”
“Professor, look!” Cyra pointed to one of the towers where the cannon was active.
“The cannons are online? Who activated them?” he demanded as several techies jumped out of the hole to the ground below. “Wolfson didn’t say anything about activating them. Sasha? The only other place is the hangar—” At that moment, a shuttle flew past the R&D building and another turned quickly to land at the ground to pick up the technicians.
“We have shuttles now, it seems,” he mused as he took Cyra’s hand. “And that answers my question as well.” The two leapt down as the bots continued their rampage in the building.
“Sir, more are coming!” a guard shouted as another wave of bots approached.
“Keep them busy,” Wolfson ordered but immediately reconsidered. “Actually, blast the bastards to pieces. And you two, get the armory open.”
“It’s in lockdown, sir. It needs your clearance,” one responded. The head officer nodded and handed the man his shotgun as they changed positions. He punched in his faculty code and let the scanner read his eye. At a loud clanging above him, he drew his hand cannon and fired it toward the sound. A droid that had tried to climb down the building landed in a heap beside him, shot through the chest.
The terminal light turned green and the doors to the warehouse began to open. “All right! Everyone get in here.” The six guards he was able to recruit along the way began to walk back, still firing. He joined the barrage with his hand cannon until the guard returned his shotgun, then fired with both as the team made their way in. Once they had all crossed the threshold, he fired at the terminal and forced the doors to slam shut.
“Everyone, get to work. Put all level three or below weapons to the left side for transport. Rig everything else,” he commanded as he strode forward.
“Do you think that door will hold them for long enough, sir?” one of the officers asked as another opened a crate of explosives.
“I doubt it, but don’t worry about that,” he responded as he walked deeper into the warehouse. “I made some personal acquisitions before the year started since I was gonna be trapped here and didn’t want to fall out of practice. It looks like I’ve found a different use for these big boyos.”
The guards all traded looks. “Big boyos, sir?”
“The skies are clear so far,” Kaiden said and monitored the viewing feed from below the ship. “There is still a shit-ton of bots, though. Christ, we could probably build an entirely new academy using droid parts.”
“Watch your ass, Kaiden,” Chief shouted as something rocked the ship. “Or the ship’s ass—stern, whichever.”
“What the hell was that?” He flinched as he urged the ship forward and began to serpentine in the air in an attempt to avoid another shot like that one.
“One of the mechs fired at us. We’re all right, but I need to tinker with the energy outputs and focus on the shield. Otherwise, another couple of hits like that and we’re through.” With that, the EI disappeared from his view and appeared inside one of the monitors on the ship. He had begun to shut off nonessential systems when his eye widened. “Kaiden, I detect known network codes nearby—Luke, Mack, Silas, and Raul.”
“Really? Where?” he asked as he primed the ship’s cannons. “It’s time for some real air support.”
“Is that the best you have, you son of a bitch?” Mack demanded as he hurled the Ark soldier into a pillar and actually forced him through it. The soldier tried to stand, but the vanguard snatched him up with the engineering claw, spun him around, and pounded him into the wall of the cafeteria.
“Mack, watch out!” Luke warned and threw his electrified rod like a spear at a bot that tried to sneak up on the vanguard. It landed to the right of its chest and the mechanical began to spasm while the two teammates began to put some distance between themselves and additional approaching bots, dodging orbs and darts along the way.
“Raul, Silas, where are you guys?” Luke called.
“I’m trying to not end up like Raul right now,” Silas answered over the comms.
“The comms are working now?” Mack asked and retrieved his tablet hastily to check it. A second later, an electrified spike drilled through it. “Bastards!”
“Yeah, comms work, and Raul’s been hit by one of those darts. Well, more than one, and he felt woozy with only one. He’s out and I’m pinned down with the engineers.”
Mack and Luke glanced back as more droids had joined the hunt. “We’ll help you, but we’ll also bring trouble of our own.”
“We’re all in this together, right?” the enforcer retorted.
Mack chuckled and checked his claw. “Sure enou— Holy hell!” A black, silver, and gray dropship flew directly over them and cannons aimed behind the two heavies who immediately picked up the pace when they began to fire.
“Howdy, gents,” Kaiden said cheerfully as he obliterated the droids behind them. “It’s nice to see some friendly faces.”
“Kaiden?” the titan yelled. “Damn man, good timing. Silas is pinned down and Raul is drugged.”
“Was that before the attack?” the ace asked jokingly before he banked toward Silas. “I see you, Sy… Wait, who are those guys in the armor?”
“Take them out!” the enforcer shouted.
“There’s no need to say it twice.” He fired at the Arbiter ranks, destroyed the mechanicals, and forced the soldiers to pull back, although a couple were caught in the cannon fire and blown to pieces for their trouble.
The ace opened the back and hovered close to the ground. Mack ran over and helped Silas carry Raul while Luke ran onboard. “Hey, do you have any weap—” Kaiden tossed him his machine gun and pistol. “Thanks!”
The titan handed Silas the pistol after he and Mack placed Raul on the bench. They fired at any approaching hostiles while the last of the engineers scrambled aboard and the craft made its escape.
“Nice ride, Kaiden.” Mack laughed as he walked into the cockpit. “It’s good to see a familiar face in all this mess.”
“My same thought,” the ace agreed as he flew off the island before he banked to the left. “We’re not quite done yet, though. I gotta make one more stop.”
“Where at?” the vanguard asked.
“To the ride’s real owner.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Arbiter bots continued to pound on the reinforced doors of the armory as the mech rolled up. With it was a group of Ark soldiers, curious as to why the droids seemed so obsessed by this one location.
“Do you think a group is holed up in here?” one of them asked.
“If there is, they have nowhere to run. Behind the warehouse is nothing but the bay,” another replied.
One of them held a tablet up, connected it to one of the droids, and rolled back the saved footage. “It looks like they were pursuing some of the guards— Wait, look at this. One of them—that big one without the helmet—that’s Wolfson.”
“The head officer?” another asked. “The chancellor wanted to speak to him, didn’t he?”
“He is a priority,” the other said and stowed his tablet. “Preferably alive.”
“Preferably?”
“I think the chancellor does not believe we will be able to take him in alive. It would be better to eliminate him if nothing else,” the fourth explained.
Two of the soldiers waved him away and approached the doors as they retrieved explosives. “We’ll see about that. Everything up until now has been nothing more than a glorified— What is that?”
The source of their confusion was a rumble. They could feel it even over the mech as it prepared to fire. It felt like something charging directly toward them from behind the doors.
The armory gate catapulted free and flatted any droid that wasn’t quick enough to get away. The mech fired but only struck a large shield. Behind the dust, three large mechs—all white with a blue Nexus stripe—stood in the opening. One raised its arm and fired a charged blast at the Arbiter mech. The head erupted instantly, and it fell to its knees and almost toppled on top of the soldiers. The Nexus mechs began to move forward. One took point with a large plasma blade that it used to swipe and hack through the droids that attempted to engage it while the other two fired on the mechanicals indiscriminately to leave small craters with each shot.
“What the hell are those?” One of the soldiers shuddered as she pushed to her feet. “I don’t remember a brief on anything like that!”
“Quit whining and take them—” The soldier didn’t manage to finish his order before a hail of kinetic rounds burrowed through his back. His shields and armor did almost nothing to stop them and rapid spurts of blood erupted from the wounds as he fell.
A figure emerged from behind the mechs, grinning madly with a chain gun in his hands. His beard and hair were matted with blood and one good eye scanned the battle. “More of you, eh?” Wolfson chuckled and held the trigger down. “That’s fine by me. You’ll keep me entertained while my team gets their work done.”
Back at the Animus Center, another group of Ark soldiers made their way into the mainframe chamber. One looked up from their tablet and pointed deeper into the room.
“Are they both back there?” another asked.
The scout nodded. “The codex will be in the main terminal. One of you can get that. The Master EI will be in its own chamber deep in the back. They only use it for larger Animus projects like the Death Match.”
“Understood.”
“You didn’t have to reply. I’m not the squad leader,” the scout muttered.
“It wasn’t me.”
“Me either.” The group looked at one another and shrugged or shook their heads.
“Then who the hell—” Four shots rang out a split second before four bodies fell.
The scout was stunned. In one infinitesimal moment, half his team was dead. In the next, someone dropped from above, dug a blade into one of the soldiers, and drew a pistol to shoot another. The remaining man was finally able to react and aimed hastily with his rifle, but he only managed to fire a single shot before the marksman yanked his blade out and flung it at him. It caught him through the visor and he stumbled and leaned on one of the servers before the attacker shoved his pistol under the soldier’s helmet and fired, letting the body fall as he turned to the scout.
He tried to reach for his weapon, but the sniper snatched his hand and twisted, breaking a couple of fingers in his haste, which made the scout retch as he was thrust into another server. “Why do you need the codex and Master EI?”
“Like hell I’m going to tell you!” He winced when another finger was broken. “I won’t break that easily. And you don’t have the time for torture, do you?”
Sasha tilted his head and placed his pistol under the scout’s chin. “You are right, I don’t.” His expression cold, he pulled the trigger and shoved him aside. He holstered the pistol and vented his rifle as he placed it on his back, although his pistol was instantly back in his hand when he heard the doors behind him open. Hastily, he aimed it upward once he recognized the newcomer. “Head Monitor Akello.”
“Commander? I got your message and wanted to help but, uh…” She lowered her weapon when she noticed the bodies littering the floor and looked from them to Sasha. “I guess you didn’t really need reinforcements, huh?”
“Actually, your assistance would be most appreciated,” he admitted and gestured to the central terminal. “I need to remove the codex. While I’m doing that, will you transfer the Master EI to a more manageable device?”
“The Master EI?” she asked, although she soon realized that this wasn’t the time for long explanations and simply nodded and moved toward the back. “There should already be a specialized EI drive for such situations. I have access to it. I’ll get it done.”
“Thank you. These grunts were here to retrieve them for some unknown reason and I don’t want to leave them here for them to use later,” he explained as he activated the terminal and began to eject the codex.
“I’ve received scattered reports and heard that they are abducting students as well.”
Sasha nodded grimly, although he did take a moment to look at the soldiers he had slaughtered. “If this is the best they can offer, no wonder they want our students instead.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
As the shuttle took them into the city, Laurie could not tear his gaze away from the colossus as if he expected it to reactivate at any time and turn everyone to glass in an instant. He looked into the case he had with him. Nestled within were a few different devices he’d decided were worth saving and two drives, each filled with all the data he could cram into them. One had almost two decades worth of research and tests, theories he had worked on, and experiments he had planned. The other was a replica of the Animus OS to restart the system once they hopefully returned.
It was oddly humbling to see all that work crushed into two small objects he could hold in one hand.
Cyra leaned over and placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned and smiled to thank her for the small kindness as he put the drives away and closed the case.
“Laurie, are you safe?” a voice asked from his tablet. His smile widened as he took it out.
“Sasha, it’s good to hear from you,” he responded and glanced around the shuttle at the other passengers. “I’m quite safe now. Shuttles are going around the Academy to pick up whoever they can.”
“That’s good to hear,” the commander admitted with a long sigh. “I’m at the Animus Center. A group of enemy soldiers came here to try to take the codex and Master EI.”
“Do what?” he demanded, his head tilted in confusion. “Why would they need either of those?”
“I’m not sure. I’m with the head monitor and we’re preparing to take both with us. I hoped you’d be able to shed some light on that.”
“I honestly have no real answer,” he said and crossed one leg over the other. “The codex has all the personal Animus information of the students. I’m not sure what they could do with that. It wouldn’t really be any different from simply accessing their private files. Unless they are on the same Animus update we are, but even then, it would be no better than statistics, really.”
“I suppose I’ll have to let you take a look once we meet,” Sasha reasoned. “As for the Master EI, from what I overhead of their discussion, they seemed to know what we use it for but didn’t know why their leaders wanted it exactly or weren’t willing to divulge what they did know.”
“I see. If you can, please bring me a helmet or tablet from one of the soldiers. I’m sure there’s something in there we can use. And once you bring me the Master EI and we have a powerful enough system to run it, I’ll dig into the guts of it to see if it's hiding anything.”
“Do you think that’s a possibility?”
“At this point, I feel that there are many things I’m unaware of—more than I used to think,” Laurie muttered. “And when it comes to the Master EI, I wasn’t the only one who designed it.”
The shuttle rocked slightly and he and everyone else looked out to see if they were under attack, but it appeared to be nothing more than a quick evasive maneuver to dodge some of the shots from below. The professor drew a sharp breath and continued. “One more thing, Sasha—we need to think about really evacuating. Not merely into town but a place that would actually make that colossus think twice about attacking.”
