Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 265
Chapter Six
Luke swung his hammer against the beak of a devil bird. As it was forced back, Mack plunged from above, shoved an orb of energy into its face, and let it erupt. The explosion hurled the mutant into the dirt.
The vanguard landed next to the titan, but before they could so much as acknowledge their victory, another familiar screech made them both curse. The two heavies spun and located two more of the winged beasts that approached with single-minded determination.
“Good Lord!” Mack shouted and reached to his hip for a core replacement for his suit, only to discover none remaining. “How many of these are there?”
“There must be a nest nearby,” Luke suggested and twirled his hammer. “I didn’t think they traveled together—or not this many, at least. Then again, I can’t say I know much about mutant migration.”
A couple of Resistance soldiers were flung aside and landed in a tangle of limbs behind them. They turned and realized that an Omega vanguard, his heavy black-and-red armor coursing with white energy, barreled toward them.
Mack punched his fists together but his teammate stopped him from engaging. “Take a break and recharge. I got this one.” He ran a few steps forward and activated his bounce pack to launch upward as he raised his hammer above him. With a shout, he descended on the Omega but the energy around his opponent’s armor coalesced around his arm as he swung his weapon to meet the hammer in the air. The explosion was unbearably bright, and Mack shielded his eyes for a moment and heard Luke yell.
“Shiiiiiiit!” The titan careened past him on a direct path to the downed soldiers, who had barely recovered and managed to roll quickly to the side to avoid being injured by the falling heavy.
“Are you all right?” Mack asked. When his teammate pushed out of the dirt and shook his head, he pointed a thumb at the enemy. “Do you still want me to recharge or should I get in there?”
Luke waved him off. “Your turn. Take it.”
He rolled his shoulders and raced toward the enemy vanguard while he pooled energy in his palm. The Omega clapped sharply and his energy flared as he braced himself for the attack. But instead of striking the merc, Mack jumped and launched the energy to the ground to flip the man without warning. As he landed, he spun and thrust an arm through the shield of the merc’s power core and yanked it out. His opponent swung an arm to knock him back, but the effect was evident almost immediately. The shields vanished and he struggled to move.
Mack tossed the core up and caught it. “Thanks for this buddy,” he said, drew his arm back, and delivered a punch into the Omega’s helmet that felled him. He tried to see if he could use the core as a replacement for his own but the earth seemed to tremble as something heavy landed behind him. He looked over his shoulder at a devil bird that opened its beak and pushed into an attack. Reflexively, he flung himself aside and the mutant’s attack struck the downed Omega instead. The man was lifted in its giant maw and his armor began to buckle under the violent thrashing of the spiteful beast.
“He’s having a hell of a bad day,” Luke muttered as he stepped beside Mack and helped him up.
“How much longer do we have to deal with these damn things?” the vanguard asked as he removed his core and replaced it with the Omega’s. “Did Cameron give you an ETA?”
“I haven’t heard from him. Maybe Flynn knows some—” A large explosion interrupted the titan. The two turned and gaped at a massive hole that had appeared in the building Cameron and his team had entered. In the next moment, several figures leapt out of the aperture.
“Are those our guys?” Mack asked.
“Their armor is something other than black-and-red so I’ll go with yes.” Luke raised his hammer. “Let’s get over there.”
“Flynn, we’re out!” Cameron shouted over the comms and yelled in his helmet to be heard over the sounds of metal and debris still raining from above. “Call the shuttles in.”
“I already have, but you might notice something is stopping them from getting into the base,” the marksman responded. He blasted the wing of a devil bird with several bullets that ruptured on impact. They coated the wings in a liquid that quickly hardened, ensnared the creature as it began to bend over, and forced it to land as the wings grew heavier and heavier.
“I guess we’re gonna have to meet them halfway unless we can clear the air,” Cameron muttered. He looked around, caught sight of an enemy sniper climbing one of the towers, and took aim and fired. The shot dislodged the enemy from the ladder and a smaller devil bird flew past and snatched his leg to haul him higher. The bounty hunter’s attention was dragged from the mutant, though, when he noticed two large turrets on the still intact towers. They appeared to be in working order but offline.
“Indre, Otto, can either one of you get access to those?” he asked, marked the position on his HUD, and sent it to them.
“Well, we jumped out of the closest thing this base may have to a central command station,” Indre pointed out. Her machine gun had overheated and forced her to open the vent as she switched to her pistol.
“I’m only looking for a yes or no, not sass,” he retorted.
“I think I may have another way,” Otto announced. “I’m sure at least a few of those codes are for this base. If I can get to the console that controls those guns—”
“Great—good idea, go!” Cameron shouted and Izzy and Indre ran to the hacker.
“You heard the man.” The battle medic took the lead and her two teammates followed her across the field.
“Cam, we have bots,” Raul warned and both men turned to focus on a group of assault and trooper bots that emerged from a partially wrecked warehouse. They began to fire on the devil birds and Resistance members alike and thus only added to the chaos.
Raul and Cameron found cover behind a large piece of metal that had buried itself into the ground, possibly from their recent escape, and prepared to fire along with several other soldiers. But as he was about to pull the trigger, a large flash erupted behind the droids and many mechanicals at the rear launched skyward or exploded. When they turned to attack their new assailants, many were crushed by the swing of a hammer.
Luke activated his gauntlet shield to block the incoming fire as he tossed his hammer up to catch it by the hilt in his left hand. He pressed the trigger and drove the head into the ground. The impact released a wave of energy that not only catapulted the bots in front of him away but also the metal Raul and Cameron were hiding behind. The bounty hunter flung himself back to avoid decapitation by the metal that had been made lethal by the force of the strike.
“All right, we’re here,” Izzy announced when they reached the first tower. “Get up there, Otto.”
“Why? The console is right behind you,” he said and pushed past her to locate and unfold the screen from its perch on the base of the tower.
“Oh…well, that works too,” she muttered and kept watch while Indre joined him. “How long do you think it will take to sift through all those codes?” she asked the hacker.
“If I had to make it shuffle through all of them, up to ten minutes—assuming it doesn’t lock me out,” he replied. “However, I noticed a series of codes that all begin with the same combination—OB9. My guess is a designation for ‘Omega Base Nine’ or something similar. There’s no reason to create complex passwords for a base they probably planned to burn, so if I am right and narrow it down to only those codes… Ah, wonderful.”
A loud click above drew a small smirk to his face. The three looked up as the turret began to activate and Otto commanded it quickly to focus on the devil birds. It turned, targeted the injured one Flynn had previously shot at, and fired two large blasts.
They exploded on the back of the creature and savaged it. The beast shrieked briefly before it collapsed, and the turret turned to find a new target.
The trio was shocked at the destruction wrought by only two shots. “How many of these are there?” Izzy asked Otto.
He looked around. “There’s one over there and another at the corner from what I see.”
She smiled and held her weapon up. “Follow me. We’ll be out of here in no time.”
Chapter Seven
Marlo unleashed a blast from his cannon, but it was intercepted and blocked by the shield of an enemy heavy. He moved back and opened the vent of his cannon as he drew his heavy pistol. Two sniper shots streaked past his head and he grinned when they struck a couple of approaching droids. He gave himself a moment to watch them sputter from the impact before they fell.
“Nice shots, Flynn,” he commended and looked toward the approximate area of the marksman’s hiding place. “But close, don’t you think?”
“For someone with my skills, there was more than enough room,” his teammate boasted. “By the way, the heavy still has you in his sights.”
“I know.” He turned and tossed his cannon at the attacking heavy. The unexpected action surprised his enemy and he staggered as he tried to catch the hefty weapon. The demolisher used the opportunity to sprint forward and clothesline the Omega, which effectively dropped him and knocked the cannon out of his hands. He aimed his pistol quickly and fired three shots, careful not to hit his weapon nearby. “I kind of enjoyed it when we were all focused on the devil birds.”
“Good things don’t always last,” Flynn muttered and scanned the area anxiously. “Amber, how are you and Julius holding up?”
“Very well, actually,” she replied as she helped to soothe a massive burn on the leg of a military soldier. “We found shelter in one of the buildings near the gate and they haven’t bothered us.”
“Huh?” The marksman realized that his response might have sounded negative and quickly explained himself. “I mean good! But usually, you medics are the first they try to focus on.”
“Trust me, I’m aware,” she agreed. “A few did target us at the beginning of the battle, but Julius deployed some kind of mist around our position and it has wrecked anyone coming through it.”
“None of our guys, right?” he asked quickly.
“Of course not,” Julius replied and released a little more of the chemical from the barrel on his arm. “The mist is actually a virus I designed, and I made sure to inoculate everyone on the team before we began.”
Flynn put his rifle down momentarily to think. “I don’t remember having shots.”
“It was in the water we used to toast with before we began the mission,” his teammate explained.
Amber and the soldier she was treating looked at him. “I wondered about that,” she told him. “It seemed out of character for you to suggest it.”
“I assumed he was finally getting into the team spirit of things.” Flynn sounded distracted as he shifted his attention to focus through his scope and find new targets.
“I always have team spirit,” Julius retorted and watched calmly as an enemy titan saw him and immediately surged into an assault with a large plasma ax. The large man encountered the rather muddled cloud in his quarry’s vicinity and in one motion, dropped his ax and collapsed at the biologist’s feet. “I am a medic. It is my job to keep the spirits of my team among the living.”
“And that has what to do with creating a virus that seems to…I don’t know, cover a person in smallpox and instantly kill them?” Amber snorted.
He looked over his shoulder and into the warehouse behind him. “It does nothing of the kind and simply causes massive simultaneous muscle spasms which leads to momentary heart complications. Most live.”
Amber helped the soldier to his feet. “You explaining it so calmly is rather disturbing.”
Julius turned to observe the fighting. “If it helps, I simply think of it as removing threats. I can heal and assist in fighting and both help. As I said, I made sure this wouldn’t affect our troops, at least in small doses. If the truth be told, I didn’t intend to create this virus. It happened by accident while working on a chemical to increase stamina and strength. There were a few failures there.”
“I assume a fair amount of screaming was involved,” she snarked as she folded her arms.
“Not by me,” he responded. “As for the test subjects… Well, the sound of scientific progress is not always pretty but it is always sweet.” Once he was sure they were safe for the moment, he walked into the warehouse. “We seem to be all right for now. Do you need any help treating the wounded?”
The battle medic looked at the group of soldiers waiting for treatment. A few shook their heads and one even sent a private message—Please no. She chuckled quietly. “I’ll get these guys up in no time. You go do you.”
He shrugged. “I suppose I have other trials I wish to run while we’re here, but they are in early development so I’m not sure if I have the proper antidotes.”
The soldiers shuddered and Amber merely slapped the side of her helmet in annoyance. “Keep manning the door, Julius.”
“The second tower is online,” Otto called rather unnecessarily as it quickly found its first target and launched deafening blasts at the massive mutant birds that still circled the base. One of the creatures saw its companion fall and tried to dive at the weapon, but the first turret locked on and fired before it could strike. The remaining mutants saw the force they were now up against and began to back off, while some flew away from the base.
“They are beginning to have second thoughts,” Izzy shouted on her comms. “Let’s get to the next one. Cam, the devil birds have started to leave.”
“I noticed,” the bounty hunter answered and tossed a cartridge of ballistic rounds to Raul while Mack strengthened the shield defending them. “I’m hailing the shuttles again, so keep it up. They should be here—” Shadows above them triggered an immediate fear that the birds had simply circled and doubled back but instead, three large shuttles cruised overhead. In the distance, he could see more on the way. “They didn’t want to wait around, did they?” He chuckled and switched his comms to the team line. “Listen up! We have what we came for and the shuttles have arrived. Get to evac.”
They didn’t need a second invitation. The team, comprised of Nexus students and military, headed to the shuttles that descended to hover at various intervals. Spread out, they could pick up as many as possible as quickly as possible. Their bays opened and a few Azure Halo droids emerged to assist in the fight, which gave the soldiers room to breathe as they boarded. Others lingered around the sides of the ships to defend them while the wounded or soldiers with broken armor were the first to enter.
Flynn leapt off his perch and strode to Amber, taking quick shots with his rifle as he walked beside her. He was able to assist the soldier she supported to one of the shuttles. As Julius helped the other wounded out of the warehouse, a frantic Omega raced toward them with a long blade. The botanist snatched the pistol from one of the soldiers, shot the assailant in the chest, and felled him instantly.
“No weird purple goop for him?” the soldier asked rather cheekily.
“Occasionally, simplicity is the best option,” he answered and guided the man to one of the shuttles.
More craft began to land. Marlo let one last beam rip from his cannon to obliterate a small line of droids and drive back a rather tenacious devil bird. He turned, made his way to a shuttle, and picked up a smaller soldier who struggled to board. Casually, he swung her in and sat on the edge to open the vent of his cannon.
“Third tower online,” Otto shouted but continued to work on the holoscreen as the third cannon activated and joined the others in their assault on the devil birds.
“If we’re good, then let’s go,” Indre ordered.
He held a finger up. “One moment… There!” With that, he shut the holoscreen, took his pistol out, and joined his teammates to jog toward the shuttles.
Raul and Cameron dove into a vessel as Luke knocked away the last of the close droids and Mack shoved with his barrier to scatter any enemy troops who came too close. As soon as the two heavies made it in, their shuttle took off, ascended, and almost skimmed the walls before it pushed to a good distance away from the mutants and turret shots that continued.
“Is everyone heading out?” Cameron asked.
“It looks like we’re up and away,” Flynn acknowledged. “Nice work everyone.”
“Should we leave them with working turrets?” Amber asked.
“That’s not a concern,” Otto replied and eased back in his chair.
“Someone get a hold of those turrets,” an Omega shouted. “Train them on those ships before they—” The weapons, as Otto had programmed, turned to face the base. As no devil birds were remaining, they now acquired a new target.
“Oh, shit!” The massive guns began to fire and the mercs attempted to run out of the base or inside buildings for protection, despite the reality that it would do little good. A couple tried to gain command of one of the towers, only to find themselves locked out and a curious countdown on the bottom of the screen.
“They’re rigged to blow! Get your asses out!”
As the shuttles settled into their homeward flight pattern, Otto and a few others watched on his holoscreen as the massive turrets erupted and large chunks of the weapons battered and crushed much of the remnants of the camp. The hacker merely whistled quietly in satisfaction as they returned to base.
Chapter Eight
“Teams one, three, four, and seven have finished their missions. Two and six are preparing, and team five is about to begin.” Sasha placed the tablet on General Hartman’s desk and leaned back in his chair. “So far, things have gone smoothly, although we’ll have to wait for the debriefings to confirm that.”
“No fatalities?” the other man inquired and took a sip of water.
“I would have considered that pertinent information,” the commander replied, entwined his fingers, and rested his hands in his lap. “The Resistance has bolstered their ranks, freed the other Ark Academies during these last few months, and they have tasted blood in the water. They won’t lose more than they already have, not to Omega hangers-on who don’t know when to quit.”
