Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 245
“I’m sure she will. She said it wouldn’t take her long,” Cyra interjected.
“Only one person?” He frowned as he considered this. “What, will she pick it up from someone?”
“Kind of.” She shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck. “See, this teleporter is old and uses older keys that are hard to find, even without all the stuff that has been going on. We tracked a pair to some Vice Ghouls out east. They run droid construction and tech cracking, things like that.”
“Vice Ghouls? Those guys aren’t exactly friendly when it comes to people messing with their business,” the ace muttered. “She must be exceptional if she was willing to take them on alone.”
“Well, you have seen her work,” she responded.
He gave her a confused look and she gestured around them as if to ask if he’d noticed that someone was missing. The truth struck him and he almost felt weak at the shock it brought.
Chapter Nineteen
Chiyo had made her way inside the main building at the center of the stronghold and tried to locate the leader’s office as quickly as possible. Although the premises were empty, she knew she was on the cams. Hopefully, her change of armor would fool them for long enough to not raise suspicion if anyone even manned the security systems at all.
She finally located the target destination and began her search for the blue micro-vault Laurie’s informant had described, although he had mentioned this information was two weeks old. It was a detail she now regretted not taking more seriously. In her eagerness, she could have put herself in danger for nothing.
Although the sound of the battle that raged outside made her feel that she would at least assist in pushing this violent gang out of the area—rather violently too.
“Uh, madame? On your left.” Kaitō’s avatar turned to the side and nodded. She glanced in that direction and noticed the vault partially obscured by a cloth beside the desk.
Quickly, she crossed the room and removed an auto-pick to work the lock. “Much appreciated, Kaitō,”
“Of course.”
Chiyo knelt and set to work. “How are things going out there?”
“I suppose I would say splendid, given what we are trying to accomplish. We have lost eight Raiders and nine Assassin droids but on the plus side, they are not military units so they shouldn’t cost us anything.”
“Except the marketeers the ghouls stole the droids from might come calling…if they were left alive.” She focused, continued her efforts on the lock, and allowed herself a small smile at a couple of promising pops. “Well done. I’ll be out in a—” A loud, frenzied scream was followed by several others, undoubtedly from the Vice Ghouls. Under the circumstances, it wasn’t too unexpected, but if they had simply been fighting up till now, why did they suddenly sound so frightened?
“Miss Chiyo, there are—” Kaitō’s avatar vanished for a brief second before it reappeared. “I lost connection to my droid…reestablishing.”
“What is going on, Kaitō?!” she asked as the vault finally unlocked. Several small cases and containers lay within and she simply snatched all of them and placed them in the storage compartment on her left leg. She rushed from the room and raced through to exit the building but stopped in shock as she viewed the scene in front of her.
Large, gaunt droids—all black with white eyes—lumbered through the field. They hacked and slashed at anything in their path with long blades on their arms that glowed a burning red. The Ghouls were shoved to the ground and their skin shredded as the demented fiends touched or clawed at them. The other droids attempted to fire on these terrifying new arrivals, but their efforts seemed futile. Most simply ignored the damage and stood again or continued to attack. They either tore the other mechanicals apart or thrust their hands into their chests to deliver a surge of energy and overload them so they exploded.
Chiyo looked hastily at the gate. Four of the dark droids covered the distance between it and the armory and wreaked destruction on fleeing Ghouls along the way. It seemed she wouldn’t escape the same way she had snuck in. She followed a cautious but hasty route toward a small airfield a little farther away with several rusted hangars. Hopefully, there was something there she could use.
“Madame, I’ve reestablished connection to a new droid host. I will join you momentarily,” Kaitō promised.
“What are these? I’ve never seen anything like them,” she asked as she skirted the massacre as inconspicuously as she could and chose the closest hangar as her destination.
“They are Reapers, madame, a model of droid long obsolete. All were thought to be destroyed along with their schematics,” the EI explained. “There is something wrong with their programming and OS. They always malfunction when it comes to distinguishing friend from foe and they are very difficult to destroy.”
Two Vice Ghouls with shotguns successfully felled a Reaper and continued to fire at point-blank range while it struggled to stand. It popped its blades, spun them while still in a seated position, and sliced through its attackers. When the blades slowed, a number of holes were visible in its chassis but it continued to move. “I can see that.”
“I will join you as soon as I am able—” A loud crash was immediately followed by static, and Kaitō went silent.
“Kaitō? Kaitō! Are you all right?” Chiyo cried, hurried to the back of the hangar, and yanked the door open.
“I am here, miss Chiyo.” The EI reappeared in the display. “I’m sorry I worried you. I was attacked by a Reaper and had to separate from the droid once again before a surge could shut me down.”
“It’s all right, Kaitō. I’m merely glad you’re safe,” she said calmly as she entered the structure and looked around her. A crew shuttle stood in the far corner and she raced toward it. “I’ll need your help to get this shuttle running.”
“Understood. I’ll get it unlocked.”
The door on the back of the shuttle slid open and she scrambled in, and it closed behind her. She pushed quickly to the front and began to power it up, but the screen asked for clearance to activate flight controls. “Hack the system and get us airborne, Kaitō.”
The fox avatar nodded and disappeared from the display. She began to activate everything else needed for takeoff when she heard a loud thud behind her. The infiltrator turned as the door to the shuttle was ripped apart and her breath hitched as she took her submachine gun out. “What does it look like, Kaitō?”
“This ship is not in good shape, madame. I don’t think—”
The door finally gave and Chiyo fired as soon as she had a clear shot.
The Reaper surged forward and while the laser fire from the submachine gun inflicted visible damage, it didn’t stop the terrifying machine. It continued to shamble toward her, almost as if it was toying with its prey before the feast.
“Chiyo, I cannot hack into it. You must get away,” Kaitō shouted.
The gun overheated and the infiltrator recoiled as the Reaper’s blade swiped overhead. She vented her submachine gun and holstered it, drew her pistol, and pushed deeper into the cockpit.
“Madame, run now!” Kaitō yelled.
The Reaper tilted its head as it continued to advance. It emitted a hiss, followed by a series of high-pitched shrieks with an electric drone woven through them. The mechanical attacked and Chiyo fired at the cockpit window behind her and flung herself through the aperture. She landed in the hangar but before she could find her feet, two more Reapers appeared in the entrance. They saw her immediately and began to advance.
“Kaitō, are you still connected to the ship?” she asked and backed away as she held her pistol ready.
“I am, madame, but I do not think we should still try to use it while—”
“Activate the thrusters and aim at the droids,” she ordered and prepared to fire as the Reapers on the ground began to run toward her. The mechanical that had attacked her first tried to jump out the door but the craft took off and it fell inside. The shuttle powered into the two oncoming enemies and pinned them to the front before it burst out of the doors of the hangar and careened into a tower at the edge of the camp.
The infiltrator steadied herself, took a deep breath as she put her pistol away, and drew her SMG and closed the vent. “How many droids do we have left, Kaitō?”
“Our forces have been mostly decimated, madame. We have only four Assassin droids, two Havoc droids, and a handful of Troop droids,” the EI replied.
“Are you able to identify how many of those Reapers there are?” she asked.
“I believe there are fifteen remaining. The Vice Ghouls and droids combined were able to eliminate about six of them, along with the three you destroyed now.”
“There were less than thirty of them? And they’ve done this much damage?” She was aghast but put it out of her mind as she moved to leave through the back entrance of the hangar she had originally entered through. “Are the Vice Ghouls still around?”
“Allow me to access the thermals of your helmet for a moment.”
“Go ahead.” She moved her head from side to side and kept her eyes closed once Kaitō activated the thermals. A soft beep let her know he was finished.
“I count twenty-one remaining people within this settlement. Most are headed toward the main gate. Somewhat fortunately, they are distracting the majority of the Reapers. However, the crash of the shuttle was surely noticed. I picked up at least three headed in this direction.”
“Is there no way to hack them? Even to shut them down?” she asked and hurried across the lot in search of another shuttle.
“Not with Reapers, unfortunately. Their defect stems from their original purpose, which was to be unhackable droids. The cost of this was the failure of their ally process. They cannot be hacked or commanded.”
The infiltrator frowned. It seemed like an interesting challenge and probably a little ahead of its time for such a massive failure. Of course, she realized it was probably something she needed to research much later when said droids weren’t coming in search of her.
“If we cannot find a ship to get us out of here, I’ll find another exit and call for evac once we get away.” She hesitated and glanced at the camp. That would leave the Reapers roaming the area and how long would it take before they reached a populated town or city? She could alert the military once she escaped, but that would give them far too much time to scatter if they did respond and attempt to wipe them out.
“Kaitō, is there a supply of explosives or power units in the camp?”
“I saw some kind of munitions room in the main building when you retrieved the chips, madame. Why?”
“Use the remaining droids to lure the Reapers there,” she stated and began to head back.
“Madame, I’m not sure that will work. These Reapers are more durable than guardian droids. Even a massive explosion isn’t guaranteed to destroy them all.”
“We can’t simply leave them to go out and attack innocents once they’ve left the base,” she stated and pushed into a jog. “Besides, you said they were already after me.”
“They could simply be investigating, Chiyo. I admire your concern, but those chips are more important, as well as your life. They can be dealt with at another—on your left!”
She rolled to the side seconds to avoid a sizzle and whoosh of air above her. On one knee, she aimed her SMG as the Reaper retracted its blade and its claws crackled with electricity. How had it snuck up on her? It was over seven feet tall, and she had to fight back the instinctive surge of panic. She fired and the droid raised one arm to shield its head against the barrage of shots. It advanced and brandished its opposite arm with its blade unsheathed, quickly heating up.
Chiyo scrambled to her feet and skipped back hastily as she retrieved a nano grenade from her belt. She pressed the switch and lobbed it at the Reaper when her weapon overheated and she opened the vent. The grenade erupted and thousands of small silver nanos covered the droid. They weren’t the overwriting model, however. The mechanical attempted to brush them off and even placed its electrified claw on itself in an attempt to electrocute them. Instead, they simply began to glow as they drained its energy. It took several steps closer to her, the blade began to still, and the red glow disappeared. It hobbled a few steps and collapsed to its knees before its head lowered and it powered down.
That was one more disabled but unfortunately, it was the only nano grenade she had so she had to rely on her original plan. “Kaitō, did you get those droids back to the base?”
“We lost another Havoc droid. I am trying to bring them together, however— Chiyo, more are coming.”
A thud against the wall of the hangar she crouched behind was the only warning before a blade thrust through the metal and began to slice a hole. She sprinted away down the alley between two hangars but heard the Reaper’s metal legs pound behind her. Without slowing, she shut the vent on her SMG and twisted to fire but had barely enough time to react to the Reaper’s blade being launched at her. She was able to duck under it, but the side of the blade knocked against her shoulder and she lost her balance, tripped, and tumbled into the center of the hangar area. Her attacker surged forward and drove its electric claws into the ground as she rolled away, but the shocks still reached her. She bit her lip as she forced herself farther away from the electrified area.
She stood and her disguise failed, shorted out by the electricity. The pursuing Reaper was still behind her and another looked down from where it perched on the edge of the second hangar. There was no way she could outrun them so she would have to think of a plan to either subdue or escape these bots.
Blasts shattered the momentary silence and Chiyo raised her arms over her helmet and uttered a surprised gasp. Two shuttles outfitted with cannons swept in. The doors opened and a dozen droids dropped out in blue armor. They turned to the recovering Reapers as their arms transformed into cannons and fired in unison at the one on the ground. Their combined blast was enough to destroy it and the other leapt from above with its blades at the ready.
The blue droids moved aside as it landed and lashed out. They fired wiring from their palms to bind the Reaper’s arms and yanked these to the sides. The mechanical’s arms began to snap and groan before they were yanked out of their sockets. It staggered as several droids aimed their cannons and fired as one.
Chiyo was surprised and relieved, but a new concern took hold. Who were these droids’ creators? She watched one of the shuttles bank toward the gate as the other began to make a landing and noted a familiar symbol along the side of the ship.
A blue circle—or, as they preferred, an Azure Halo.
Chapter Twenty
Nolan walked into his private quarters and instructed Aurora to shut the windows and activate the glow strips as he removed his jacket and shirt and tossed them aside. He walked over to his alcohol cabinet, removed a bottle of wine, and looked at it before he replaced it in favor of a bottle of vodka Damyen had gifted him some time before.
He sat in his comfortable chair and sighed, opened the bottle, and took a sip from it.
“It doesn’t take you too long to unwind, does it, General?” He almost spat the alcohol out but managed to yank the pistol from the underside of his desk and aim it at the corner where he had heard the voice. Dario stepped out of the shadows and held his hands up. The dim white light illuminated the sinister smile on his face.
“Dario?” he responded but didn’t replace his sidearm. “When did you arrive?”
“I’ve been here for a while, General,” he replied and lowered his hands. Nolan didn’t like the way he used his title. It was obviously mocking. “Ever since you departed, actually. It’s been rather amusing to watch you work all this time.”
“Merrick sent you?” he asked. His visitor simply nodded and Nolan’s gun hand trembled slightly as he asked his next question. “To kill me?”
“Why would he want that?” the assassin asked and walked to the side as if to circle him. “You’ve been quite useful to him and shown yourself to be a capable warrior and very loyal…at least formerly.”
“What are you implying?” He sneered. “I have followed the master’s orders to the letter.”
The other man chuckled and nodded. “Certainly, I suppose there was no explicit order to not destroy an entire city in a tantrum—although that might be in conflict with the order to head directly to Nexus and retrieve the serum. And to not draw attention to yourself.” The general frowned when the man chortled quietly. “I thought that was a silly order myself, considering.” He gestured around the room to indicate the vastness of the ship. “And yet, if there was any other way to be more unsubtle than flying the largest craft in the world, you certainly found a way to do it.”
Nolan sucked a breath in through his nose and lowered his weapon only slightly. “You’ve reported to Merrick?”
“On occasion. There wasn’t too much to report until the last couple of days. You’ve done well. You picked the bomb up, assisted in fights with the golems, and checked held territories on your way to the Academy. A solid A so far, General.”
“You keep dancing around my action to use the cannon to destroy that city the other day,” he stated and his gaze followed the other man, who continued to pace slowly around him.
“I wanted to see if you would simply say it was a preliminary attack or something and make it sound nobler than I did.” Dario stopped in his tracks and ran a hand through his hair. The gauntlet on the hand lit up. “Or were you simply having a little fun?”
The general looked at his gun. He knew what that gauntlet indicated and he glanced furtively around him for any signs of the man’s nanos. Could they already be on him? Inside? He wondered if he should point the gun at Dario or himself in this situation.
“No answer, my friend?” his visitor asked.
He lowered his gun fully and looked at the assassin. “What is your game, Dario? If you’ve simply been sent here to spy on me, what is the point in showing yourself? Have you become bored?”
“Only one person?” He frowned as he considered this. “What, will she pick it up from someone?”
“Kind of.” She shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck. “See, this teleporter is old and uses older keys that are hard to find, even without all the stuff that has been going on. We tracked a pair to some Vice Ghouls out east. They run droid construction and tech cracking, things like that.”
“Vice Ghouls? Those guys aren’t exactly friendly when it comes to people messing with their business,” the ace muttered. “She must be exceptional if she was willing to take them on alone.”
“Well, you have seen her work,” she responded.
He gave her a confused look and she gestured around them as if to ask if he’d noticed that someone was missing. The truth struck him and he almost felt weak at the shock it brought.
Chapter Nineteen
Chiyo had made her way inside the main building at the center of the stronghold and tried to locate the leader’s office as quickly as possible. Although the premises were empty, she knew she was on the cams. Hopefully, her change of armor would fool them for long enough to not raise suspicion if anyone even manned the security systems at all.
She finally located the target destination and began her search for the blue micro-vault Laurie’s informant had described, although he had mentioned this information was two weeks old. It was a detail she now regretted not taking more seriously. In her eagerness, she could have put herself in danger for nothing.
Although the sound of the battle that raged outside made her feel that she would at least assist in pushing this violent gang out of the area—rather violently too.
“Uh, madame? On your left.” Kaitō’s avatar turned to the side and nodded. She glanced in that direction and noticed the vault partially obscured by a cloth beside the desk.
Quickly, she crossed the room and removed an auto-pick to work the lock. “Much appreciated, Kaitō,”
“Of course.”
Chiyo knelt and set to work. “How are things going out there?”
“I suppose I would say splendid, given what we are trying to accomplish. We have lost eight Raiders and nine Assassin droids but on the plus side, they are not military units so they shouldn’t cost us anything.”
“Except the marketeers the ghouls stole the droids from might come calling…if they were left alive.” She focused, continued her efforts on the lock, and allowed herself a small smile at a couple of promising pops. “Well done. I’ll be out in a—” A loud, frenzied scream was followed by several others, undoubtedly from the Vice Ghouls. Under the circumstances, it wasn’t too unexpected, but if they had simply been fighting up till now, why did they suddenly sound so frightened?
“Miss Chiyo, there are—” Kaitō’s avatar vanished for a brief second before it reappeared. “I lost connection to my droid…reestablishing.”
“What is going on, Kaitō?!” she asked as the vault finally unlocked. Several small cases and containers lay within and she simply snatched all of them and placed them in the storage compartment on her left leg. She rushed from the room and raced through to exit the building but stopped in shock as she viewed the scene in front of her.
Large, gaunt droids—all black with white eyes—lumbered through the field. They hacked and slashed at anything in their path with long blades on their arms that glowed a burning red. The Ghouls were shoved to the ground and their skin shredded as the demented fiends touched or clawed at them. The other droids attempted to fire on these terrifying new arrivals, but their efforts seemed futile. Most simply ignored the damage and stood again or continued to attack. They either tore the other mechanicals apart or thrust their hands into their chests to deliver a surge of energy and overload them so they exploded.
Chiyo looked hastily at the gate. Four of the dark droids covered the distance between it and the armory and wreaked destruction on fleeing Ghouls along the way. It seemed she wouldn’t escape the same way she had snuck in. She followed a cautious but hasty route toward a small airfield a little farther away with several rusted hangars. Hopefully, there was something there she could use.
“Madame, I’ve reestablished connection to a new droid host. I will join you momentarily,” Kaitō promised.
“What are these? I’ve never seen anything like them,” she asked as she skirted the massacre as inconspicuously as she could and chose the closest hangar as her destination.
“They are Reapers, madame, a model of droid long obsolete. All were thought to be destroyed along with their schematics,” the EI explained. “There is something wrong with their programming and OS. They always malfunction when it comes to distinguishing friend from foe and they are very difficult to destroy.”
Two Vice Ghouls with shotguns successfully felled a Reaper and continued to fire at point-blank range while it struggled to stand. It popped its blades, spun them while still in a seated position, and sliced through its attackers. When the blades slowed, a number of holes were visible in its chassis but it continued to move. “I can see that.”
“I will join you as soon as I am able—” A loud crash was immediately followed by static, and Kaitō went silent.
“Kaitō? Kaitō! Are you all right?” Chiyo cried, hurried to the back of the hangar, and yanked the door open.
“I am here, miss Chiyo.” The EI reappeared in the display. “I’m sorry I worried you. I was attacked by a Reaper and had to separate from the droid once again before a surge could shut me down.”
“It’s all right, Kaitō. I’m merely glad you’re safe,” she said calmly as she entered the structure and looked around her. A crew shuttle stood in the far corner and she raced toward it. “I’ll need your help to get this shuttle running.”
“Understood. I’ll get it unlocked.”
The door on the back of the shuttle slid open and she scrambled in, and it closed behind her. She pushed quickly to the front and began to power it up, but the screen asked for clearance to activate flight controls. “Hack the system and get us airborne, Kaitō.”
The fox avatar nodded and disappeared from the display. She began to activate everything else needed for takeoff when she heard a loud thud behind her. The infiltrator turned as the door to the shuttle was ripped apart and her breath hitched as she took her submachine gun out. “What does it look like, Kaitō?”
“This ship is not in good shape, madame. I don’t think—”
The door finally gave and Chiyo fired as soon as she had a clear shot.
The Reaper surged forward and while the laser fire from the submachine gun inflicted visible damage, it didn’t stop the terrifying machine. It continued to shamble toward her, almost as if it was toying with its prey before the feast.
“Chiyo, I cannot hack into it. You must get away,” Kaitō shouted.
The gun overheated and the infiltrator recoiled as the Reaper’s blade swiped overhead. She vented her submachine gun and holstered it, drew her pistol, and pushed deeper into the cockpit.
“Madame, run now!” Kaitō yelled.
The Reaper tilted its head as it continued to advance. It emitted a hiss, followed by a series of high-pitched shrieks with an electric drone woven through them. The mechanical attacked and Chiyo fired at the cockpit window behind her and flung herself through the aperture. She landed in the hangar but before she could find her feet, two more Reapers appeared in the entrance. They saw her immediately and began to advance.
“Kaitō, are you still connected to the ship?” she asked and backed away as she held her pistol ready.
“I am, madame, but I do not think we should still try to use it while—”
“Activate the thrusters and aim at the droids,” she ordered and prepared to fire as the Reapers on the ground began to run toward her. The mechanical that had attacked her first tried to jump out the door but the craft took off and it fell inside. The shuttle powered into the two oncoming enemies and pinned them to the front before it burst out of the doors of the hangar and careened into a tower at the edge of the camp.
The infiltrator steadied herself, took a deep breath as she put her pistol away, and drew her SMG and closed the vent. “How many droids do we have left, Kaitō?”
“Our forces have been mostly decimated, madame. We have only four Assassin droids, two Havoc droids, and a handful of Troop droids,” the EI replied.
“Are you able to identify how many of those Reapers there are?” she asked.
“I believe there are fifteen remaining. The Vice Ghouls and droids combined were able to eliminate about six of them, along with the three you destroyed now.”
“There were less than thirty of them? And they’ve done this much damage?” She was aghast but put it out of her mind as she moved to leave through the back entrance of the hangar she had originally entered through. “Are the Vice Ghouls still around?”
“Allow me to access the thermals of your helmet for a moment.”
“Go ahead.” She moved her head from side to side and kept her eyes closed once Kaitō activated the thermals. A soft beep let her know he was finished.
“I count twenty-one remaining people within this settlement. Most are headed toward the main gate. Somewhat fortunately, they are distracting the majority of the Reapers. However, the crash of the shuttle was surely noticed. I picked up at least three headed in this direction.”
“Is there no way to hack them? Even to shut them down?” she asked and hurried across the lot in search of another shuttle.
“Not with Reapers, unfortunately. Their defect stems from their original purpose, which was to be unhackable droids. The cost of this was the failure of their ally process. They cannot be hacked or commanded.”
The infiltrator frowned. It seemed like an interesting challenge and probably a little ahead of its time for such a massive failure. Of course, she realized it was probably something she needed to research much later when said droids weren’t coming in search of her.
“If we cannot find a ship to get us out of here, I’ll find another exit and call for evac once we get away.” She hesitated and glanced at the camp. That would leave the Reapers roaming the area and how long would it take before they reached a populated town or city? She could alert the military once she escaped, but that would give them far too much time to scatter if they did respond and attempt to wipe them out.
“Kaitō, is there a supply of explosives or power units in the camp?”
“I saw some kind of munitions room in the main building when you retrieved the chips, madame. Why?”
“Use the remaining droids to lure the Reapers there,” she stated and began to head back.
“Madame, I’m not sure that will work. These Reapers are more durable than guardian droids. Even a massive explosion isn’t guaranteed to destroy them all.”
“We can’t simply leave them to go out and attack innocents once they’ve left the base,” she stated and pushed into a jog. “Besides, you said they were already after me.”
“They could simply be investigating, Chiyo. I admire your concern, but those chips are more important, as well as your life. They can be dealt with at another—on your left!”
She rolled to the side seconds to avoid a sizzle and whoosh of air above her. On one knee, she aimed her SMG as the Reaper retracted its blade and its claws crackled with electricity. How had it snuck up on her? It was over seven feet tall, and she had to fight back the instinctive surge of panic. She fired and the droid raised one arm to shield its head against the barrage of shots. It advanced and brandished its opposite arm with its blade unsheathed, quickly heating up.
Chiyo scrambled to her feet and skipped back hastily as she retrieved a nano grenade from her belt. She pressed the switch and lobbed it at the Reaper when her weapon overheated and she opened the vent. The grenade erupted and thousands of small silver nanos covered the droid. They weren’t the overwriting model, however. The mechanical attempted to brush them off and even placed its electrified claw on itself in an attempt to electrocute them. Instead, they simply began to glow as they drained its energy. It took several steps closer to her, the blade began to still, and the red glow disappeared. It hobbled a few steps and collapsed to its knees before its head lowered and it powered down.
That was one more disabled but unfortunately, it was the only nano grenade she had so she had to rely on her original plan. “Kaitō, did you get those droids back to the base?”
“We lost another Havoc droid. I am trying to bring them together, however— Chiyo, more are coming.”
A thud against the wall of the hangar she crouched behind was the only warning before a blade thrust through the metal and began to slice a hole. She sprinted away down the alley between two hangars but heard the Reaper’s metal legs pound behind her. Without slowing, she shut the vent on her SMG and twisted to fire but had barely enough time to react to the Reaper’s blade being launched at her. She was able to duck under it, but the side of the blade knocked against her shoulder and she lost her balance, tripped, and tumbled into the center of the hangar area. Her attacker surged forward and drove its electric claws into the ground as she rolled away, but the shocks still reached her. She bit her lip as she forced herself farther away from the electrified area.
She stood and her disguise failed, shorted out by the electricity. The pursuing Reaper was still behind her and another looked down from where it perched on the edge of the second hangar. There was no way she could outrun them so she would have to think of a plan to either subdue or escape these bots.
Blasts shattered the momentary silence and Chiyo raised her arms over her helmet and uttered a surprised gasp. Two shuttles outfitted with cannons swept in. The doors opened and a dozen droids dropped out in blue armor. They turned to the recovering Reapers as their arms transformed into cannons and fired in unison at the one on the ground. Their combined blast was enough to destroy it and the other leapt from above with its blades at the ready.
The blue droids moved aside as it landed and lashed out. They fired wiring from their palms to bind the Reaper’s arms and yanked these to the sides. The mechanical’s arms began to snap and groan before they were yanked out of their sockets. It staggered as several droids aimed their cannons and fired as one.
Chiyo was surprised and relieved, but a new concern took hold. Who were these droids’ creators? She watched one of the shuttles bank toward the gate as the other began to make a landing and noted a familiar symbol along the side of the ship.
A blue circle—or, as they preferred, an Azure Halo.
Chapter Twenty
Nolan walked into his private quarters and instructed Aurora to shut the windows and activate the glow strips as he removed his jacket and shirt and tossed them aside. He walked over to his alcohol cabinet, removed a bottle of wine, and looked at it before he replaced it in favor of a bottle of vodka Damyen had gifted him some time before.
He sat in his comfortable chair and sighed, opened the bottle, and took a sip from it.
“It doesn’t take you too long to unwind, does it, General?” He almost spat the alcohol out but managed to yank the pistol from the underside of his desk and aim it at the corner where he had heard the voice. Dario stepped out of the shadows and held his hands up. The dim white light illuminated the sinister smile on his face.
“Dario?” he responded but didn’t replace his sidearm. “When did you arrive?”
“I’ve been here for a while, General,” he replied and lowered his hands. Nolan didn’t like the way he used his title. It was obviously mocking. “Ever since you departed, actually. It’s been rather amusing to watch you work all this time.”
“Merrick sent you?” he asked. His visitor simply nodded and Nolan’s gun hand trembled slightly as he asked his next question. “To kill me?”
“Why would he want that?” the assassin asked and walked to the side as if to circle him. “You’ve been quite useful to him and shown yourself to be a capable warrior and very loyal…at least formerly.”
“What are you implying?” He sneered. “I have followed the master’s orders to the letter.”
The other man chuckled and nodded. “Certainly, I suppose there was no explicit order to not destroy an entire city in a tantrum—although that might be in conflict with the order to head directly to Nexus and retrieve the serum. And to not draw attention to yourself.” The general frowned when the man chortled quietly. “I thought that was a silly order myself, considering.” He gestured around the room to indicate the vastness of the ship. “And yet, if there was any other way to be more unsubtle than flying the largest craft in the world, you certainly found a way to do it.”
Nolan sucked a breath in through his nose and lowered his weapon only slightly. “You’ve reported to Merrick?”
“On occasion. There wasn’t too much to report until the last couple of days. You’ve done well. You picked the bomb up, assisted in fights with the golems, and checked held territories on your way to the Academy. A solid A so far, General.”
“You keep dancing around my action to use the cannon to destroy that city the other day,” he stated and his gaze followed the other man, who continued to pace slowly around him.
“I wanted to see if you would simply say it was a preliminary attack or something and make it sound nobler than I did.” Dario stopped in his tracks and ran a hand through his hair. The gauntlet on the hand lit up. “Or were you simply having a little fun?”
The general looked at his gun. He knew what that gauntlet indicated and he glanced furtively around him for any signs of the man’s nanos. Could they already be on him? Inside? He wondered if he should point the gun at Dario or himself in this situation.
“No answer, my friend?” his visitor asked.
He lowered his gun fully and looked at the assassin. “What is your game, Dario? If you’ve simply been sent here to spy on me, what is the point in showing yourself? Have you become bored?”
