Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 254
The detonation shook the cavern and some of the metal pillars gave way as the energy unleashed collided with the shield. At first, it seemed to hold up, but cracks formed and several soldiers began to take steps back.
The assassin frowned and shook his head. “Perhaps I may have been off on where this needed to be deployed. I thought it was fifty feet back but it might have been fifty feet up,” he commented as more cracks slivered along the barrier. Three soldiers began to run away from the shield and up the stairs and he motioned for those in the back to grab them. “Don’t run off yet,” he stated as his gauntlets flared to life. “We still have a job to do. There’s no point in dying now.”
Dario released hundreds of his nanos along the shield. They landed around the cracks and began to repair them rapidly. The explosion had still not completed, and more cracks began to appear while others deepened. He continued to direct more nanos to maintain the protective barrier, surprised at how many he had to forfeit. It really was an impressive bomb.
Finally, the chaos subsided. The room was dark as the artificial lighting had been destroyed and dust whirled in the air. He waited a moment to see if anything large fell, but aside from the sound of the metal walls crackling and small to medium pieces of rubble that fell from the ceiling, it appeared the worst was over.
He instructed his nanos to form into several spheres and illuminated them as he deactivated the shield. While he released the bright orbs throughout the room to give them a path, some of the soldiers tossed lighting sticks around the area.
“There, not too bad now, was it?” Dario asked as the soldiers who tried to flee were pushed forward.
“Sorry, sir, we let our nerves get to us,” one of them apologized.
Dario waved him off. “It’s all right. It was something of a mistake on my part, anyway. Now then, let’s see what became of the door, shall we?”
The soldiers nodded as the assassin formed one more sphere and let it guide them down the walkway and to the previously locked and impregnable door. Once they were close enough, he chuckled. “It’s rather stubborn, isn’t it?” he remarked. The door had been blown open but not very wide. While the gap was certainly enough for two or three people to slip through at once, given how large the explosion was, it had still held on remarkably well.
“You three—” He turned and pointed to the soldiers who had tried to run. “If you would like a chance at redemption, take the lead. Remember, everyone, we’re looking for the serum or at least the blueprints or recipe. Make sure to search carefully.”
The group nodded and the trio looked at one another briefly before they walked past the assassin and through the door. Others tried to follow, but he held a hand up to stop them, seemingly waiting for something. One of the soldiers inside retrieved a light stick to peer into the darkness but two red lights appeared only several yards ahead. He uttered a surprised yelp as the light darted forward and a large blade skewered the soldier’s chest. His two teammates stepped back hastily and fired their weapons at the mechanical. It turned so its shields blocked the laser fire and swung its blade to hurl the body of the soldier into one of the others as it leapt forward. The heavy metal body crushed the third man beneath it before the non-bladed arm formed into a cannon and fired at the others on the ground before either could recover.
“Hmm. A Reaper droid,” Dario commented and beckoned two spheres over that he reformed into spears. “I thought they would still have some tricks and traps waiting for us in here.”
The Reaper turned and the soldiers behind him prepared to fight as the large droid ran to the door, moving much quicker than a machine of its size had any right to. It raised its cannon and prepared to fire as the assassin cast both spears out. One struck the mechanical’s shoulder and the other the barrel of the cannon. He snapped his fingers dramatically and the spears detonated to destroy the cannon arm and blow off the other arm and a third of its chest.
He hummed merrily as the five remaining spheres gathered around him and he walked inside. The broken droid raised its head, opened its mouth, and fired several kinetic shots from a gun within. Dario formed a small shield and blocked the shots. “Cute trick,” he muttered and created a buzz-saw-like blade with his nanos. “But you’ve outstayed your welcome, I’m afraid.” The saw began to spin rapidly as he lowered it and bisected the head of the Reaper as it finally stilled.
“Well, that was satisfying.” He chuckled and his tablet vibrated with a new message. Still smiling, he took it out and looked at the notification, then nodded as he put the device away. He turned to face the soldiers and completely ignored a loud thud behind him. “All right, ragazzi e ragazze, it appears we have less time than I originally thought.” More noises from behind indicated that something was approaching. “So, your job is to fan out and find our objective,” he explained, created several bombs, spears, and blades with his nanos, and turned away from the group. As he walked forward, red lights closed in. “And my job will be to keep you alive.”
Another Reaper droid leapt out from the darkness and swung its blade at Dario, who parried it with two blades of his own and pierced the mechanical with three spears. He smiled as he held a hand up with his thumb and middle finger pressed together. “It’s ironic if you think about it.” He snapped his fingers and blew the Reaper to pieces as he simply continued his walk into the abandoned facility.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Nice of you to join us!” Cameron shouted to several of the jockeys who landed nearby to help them keep the droids at bay. “Nice entrance too.”
“They are almost here,” Raul shouted and looked across the bridge. “Only a few more minutes—what the hell?” The gate to the Academy began to close and the massive doors slid together.
“Dammit, where’s the gate control?” Mack demanded as he formed a large shield around himself and attempted to prevent the gates’ closure. His effort was to little avail, however, as his shield held only momentarily before it snapped under the pressure and Luke hauled him back.
“Contact Kaiden and Chiyo. One of them should be able to fix it,” Jaxon suggested, vented his rifle, and switched it out for his machine gun as the droids fired lasers toward him. He ducked to avoid it, but one of the shots did strike the shields around his shoulder. He retaliated with a spray of kinetic rounds that felled two of the attackers. The other jumped away but his head exploded from a shot by Cameron, who nodded to his teammate before he placed his fingers against his helmet commlink to connect to Kaiden. “Hopefully, they can do it quickly,” the Tsuna ace murmured to himself as he selected his next target.
“Commander!” a soldier shouted and pointed to the gates. They had begun to close and the army was only several minutes away. Sasha grimaced but didn’t slow as he activated his comm.
“Any shuttles that can break through, come to the bridge for a quick pick-up,” he ordered and turned to the soldier. “Do not slow your advance. We’ll climb over the damn thing if we have to,” he stated. His determination inspired those around him to increase their pace as they advanced on to the gate.
Two more droids fell as a round of lasers drilled into their backs. Kaiden had eliminated seven so far and he roared as he threw another thermal at more of the advancing horde. One simply snatched it out of the air and flung it up. These bots were a nuisance. Where he towered above on his hacked mech, Genos caught the explosive and hurled it again to eliminate the mechanicals. He adjusted his seat on his metal mount and the group continued to push through toward the administration building.
The ace smiled as he fired a blast at the droids’ feet. It hurled them back and provided enough time for him and his team to get around the corner. Now that the enemy had reached them, they had actually moved back from where they had dropped in and had to weave through the grid-like pattern of the buildings for cover and distance. Chiyo stopped and turned with her SMG and pistol at the ready. The ace followed suit and charged a shot. When the bots appeared, the two teammates fired as one and destroyed their pursuers before they could respond.
“Look up!” she shouted. Kaiden did so and immediately located three of their adversaries perched on the ledge of one of the buildings preparing to fire. He swung his weapon to target them but several small explosions detonated around the mechanicals. Two fell over the side and a couple of jet jockeys soared overhead and waved at the group.
As Kaiden returned the gesture, they spun quickly in an attempt to dodge a sniper shot. One was hit in their pack, which ruptured and exploded in the air in short order and thrust the other one out of the sky. The ace grimaced and told the others to keep moving as he hurried to check on the jockey. Chiyo followed and Genos made sure to hold the line.
They reached the fallen man, who sprawled helplessly while a droid’s leg crushed his chest and as Kaiden raised his weapon, it fired into his helmet. Chiyo fired first and the impact forced the droid off the fallen jockey, but it recovered quickly and moved almost spiderlike to weave around her shots and retaliate with a sustained volley. The ace grabbed her and pulled her down and the lasers streaked overhead. He fired and managed to remove the droid’s legs. As the mechanical landed heavily, it pushed up and aimed at them once more. He dropped Sire and yanked Debonair out to deliver three rapid shots into its head and it fell it decisively.
He stood and helped his teammate up. “Thank you,” she said and vented her machine gun.
“Kaiden, Chiyo, are you there?” Cameron called out over the comms. “The gate is closing…closed—whatever!” he stated frantically and sounds of battle were evident over the link. “The reinforcements are almost here. We need to get it open and the terminal isn’t working.”
“It must have locked out,” Chiyo surmised. “They probably still have master control.”
“If worse comes to worst, we can simply blow the gate, but I’d rather spare the ammo and time though,” Kaiden stated.
She nodded. “Blowing through it would take too long if it’s even possible with the arms we have.”
He looked at Chief in his HUD. “We need to get it open. Where to, Chief?”
“Keep heading to administration,” the EI answered. “We can access the master controls there.”
“Can you hack into it?” Kaiden asked.
Chief’s orb shook in lieu of his head. “Probably not, but Sasha can get into it—or, rather, his chancellor code can. Even if they reset the system, they can’t change or erase his codes. I’ll fetch them from him.”
“That sounds good.” The ace gestured for Chiyo to follow. “Let’s keep going. We’ll get those gates open, Cam,” he hollered into the comms and switched to Genos’ link. “We’re heading to the administration building. We have to open the gate first and will need cover while we work.”
“Understood, friend Kaiden,” Genos responded. “I’ll make a path.”
The two moved along a slightly convoluted route and used their knowledge of the Academy’s layout to their advantage to dart hastily around corners if they were set upon by any more droids. Opening the gate took priority right now, although after the last attack, he made sure to keep an eye on the roofs as well.
As he and Chiyo turned to the right, a trail of lasers from above seared down the path they had previously run through and a fighter banked away above before it elevated once more. Kaiden was thankful but he also hoped he had actually waited until they were out of the way rather than it simply being a happy coincidence. Things had become hectic.
They reached the plaza with battles all around and the administration building only a hundred yards from them. “Chief, do you have the codes?”
“I do, and the chancellor slash commander asked for you to hurry if you would,” the EI responded.
“We’re working on it. How close do you need to be to access the system?”
“Get inside and head to the second floor. The console is on the fifth floor, but that will be enough for me to cast in.”
“Gotcha.” He looked at Chiyo, who closed a holoscreen.
“We should have assistance. Make a run for it,” she told him.
“All right.” An explosion made them both turn as Genos and his mech lumbered into the plaza. “Assuming Genos doesn’t destroy that assistance. Let’s go.”
They sprinted to the doors, which were fortunately already destroyed so they didn’t have to wait for them to open. Several droids located them and tried to fire or intercept, but hacked mechanicals attacked and distracted them. The two teammates hurried inside, raced to the stairs, and ascended at a run as several Scarabs fired at them. They drew their pistols to deal with the annoying small bots.
As they reached the second floor, Chief nodded to Kaiden and disappeared to access the master system. A group of droids entered the building. Most were normal Arbiter bots but the ace noticed a couple of the enhanced bots among them. He leaned cautiously over the railing and let the HUD scan them and lock on.
Chiyo reached down to retrieve her shocks but he held a hand out to stop her. “I got this,” he said quietly as the shoulder pads of his power armor opened and small missiles engaged. She crept back as he leaned away and fired the missiles up before they quickly adjusted their trajectory to the floor below.
The projectiles pounded into the targets with a series of impressive explosions. Kaiden peered down but saw nothing but parts. One of the enhanced droids sputtered, only the head and part of the torso still together, but it soon deactivated. He thought back to the time they had fought the enhanced droids during the invasion and how difficult they had proven. Now, he had disposed of them in a single attack and decided he needed to keep this armor.
“Got it,” Chief declared. “The gates are open. Let the people in.”
The main gate unlocked with several loud clicks and the two sides of the barrier began to draw apart. Mack, Luke, and Cameron whooped and several shuttles flew in over the island’s walls to rain laser fire from the sides of the vessels as soldiers within went on the offensive. Sasha was amongst them and as the gates opened, the first few soldiers of the army below him made their way in, followed by the couple of hundred behind them.
It was their turn to invade now.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Sir! There’s an assault ship approaching,” the dropship pilot called to Sasha and pointed out the cockpit window. “But it’s covered in graffiti or something.”
“We’re expecting them,” he stated and fired at one of the sniper droids on the roof. “Take us in close to the assault ship. It will be nice to finally have his assistance.”
“Whose, sir?” one of the soldiers asked.
Sasha fired another shot and eliminated a bladed droid that snuck up on one of the downed jockeys. “You’ll know him by the hollering.”
“We’re finally here!” Wolfson bellowed and placed one leg on the railing as the assault ship flew over the Academy walls. “And not a moment late. It looks like the real fighting has begun. Bring us in.”
“We’ve flown all the way here and now, he wants to act like the captain.” Zena sighed. “Bring us into the fray. So far, we haven’t been shot at by the military but the enemy will probably realize we aren’t on their side soon enough. Let’s eliminate all we can in the confusion and get the foot soldiers deployed.”
“Right, we’ll throw the ropes,” one of the grunts acknowledged and hurried away as several other Fire Riders began to tie the ends of long black cables onto both railings of the deck.
“Ropes?” the head officer asked and watched in bewilderment as the grunts worked hastily.
“Yeah. Kaiden blew up their little hover chamber on the underside of the ship,” Zena reminded him. “We couldn’t repair it in time and didn’t have the right parts anyway. This method might be antiquated but it gets boots on the ground, doesn’t it?”
The giant laughed and hefted his shotgun in both hands. “I like the ingenuity and never cared for the fancy stuff anyway.” He took a few steps back and smiled. “I have my own way down, though.” With that, he uttered a roar, charged, and leapt over the rail to drop over seventy feet to the island below.
“He couldn’t wait for thirty seconds?” Zena sighed as she snatched her machine gun from the bench and strode to the railing. “Come on, boys and girls! We can’t let those military types have all the fun. We’ll earn our keep today.”
Genos leapt off his mech a split-second before an orb of blue energy pounded into its side. He landed and spun as the mech walked back and a second blast destroyed its chest and toppled it only several feet away. It really was a pity, but he probably could have had more use out of it if he had been a little more aware.
He was even more disgruntled when three others entered the plaza as he had no more nano grenades. While he did have his cannon, he would have to get close to do any real damage. Before he could approach, a loud bellow distracted him and something drove into the shoulder of one of them. A figure in heavy armor simply grasped the head of the mech and pulled with seemingly inhuman strength to rip it out of its socket. He took a thermal grenade canister and threw it down the hole, then vaulted off as the two others turned and swung their massive arms in an effort to land a blow.
The large man landed and dispatched two droids with his shotgun before he raced away as the mech exploded and demolished its fellows in the process. Genos, despite his bewilderment, was impressed.
“I am Baioh Wolfson, head officer of this Academy!” the newcomer roared, took an ax from his belt, and used it to slice cleanly through the neck of an Arbiter droid. “And I’ll make you kuks rue the day you tried to take our Academy.”
“Ah, it is Kaiden’s mentor,” Genos muttered and charged his cannon. “Such a magnificent if reckless attack makes sense now.” He fired a blast at an enhanced droid that advanced on Wolfson, but the mechanical was felled by a heavy shot from above before his could even connect. He gaped when a massive assault ship flew in. It appeared to be an Omega Horde vessel but with many odd markings along the hull.
