The Hallowed Cure, page 9
Hex had just put my squad in a pincer. The two Hallowed at our rear carried laser rifles, like Kodai’s old rifle Baku, which would cut through even our armor with little issue. I put up a token argument for appearances, but Hex would have none of it. Which was fine.
Everything until we got to the spot where we were going to place the AP gas bombs was out of my hands anyway. I’d done my part to navigate this possible clusterfuck of a mission. Now it was up to Caitlyn, Mia, and Saul to do theirs.
As we descended the gentle slope of the underground parking garage, we passed legions of gleaming autocars. The people all
sheltering in place above us owned these vehicles, but they weren’t going to come down here and drive off while there were Mutes waiting somewhere down here. What surprised me most was the lack of damage to just about everything.
A few cars had been knocked into each other, but the damage was minor, like it had been accidental. I caught a few busted pipes overhead, but it looked the Mutes had managed to avoid knocking down most of them. Even the giant Class One must have squeezed its way through here somehow, and the clearance down here wasn’t great. Yet it had been cautious not to wreck everything.
That sort of casual respect for the city was yet another sign that these Mutes—Skye’s Mutes—weren’t the same we’d dealt with back in the war. Could they really think just like humans? If so, their life beneath Cloud Nine, being experimented upon, must have been an absolute hell. After all that, even if Skye was willing to make peace, would the rest of her new horde go along?
When we reached the very bottom of the garage, we found a very large hole that the Mutes had knocked into the wall. They’d tunneled into the understructure, just like we’d expected, and the tunnel was big enough I suspected the Class One was responsible. We could walk five abreast into its maw.
Hex raised one armored arm in an L-shape to call a stop, then pointed. “Lincoln, plant a bomb.”
Hex turned expectantly. Lincoln didn’t move. I gave it a moment to make sure Captain Hex understood what was happening, then nodded to Lincoln.
“Set up your bomb where Captain Hex suggested. Reese, set yours down as well.”
I caught Hex’s glower through his helmet bubble, but he said nothing as Lincoln walked over and set the heavy AP gas bomb down at the entry to the tunnel in the parking garage. Reese set down her bomb, freeing her to use Godhammer if needed. Hex hadn’t ordered Reese to set down her bomb.
Yet my squad wasn’t about to follow his orders. Lincoln stepped back into formation facing the two Hallowed behind us. We were still surrounded, but with Captain Sato in our squad, Hex had to know
we’d give as good as we got if he started a fight down here. I itched to raise Baku and blast a hole through his scowling face behind that helmet bubble, but made myself calm and still.
“What happens now?” I asked calmly.
Hex looked past me and beckoned to his Hallowed. “With me.”
As I watched, the two Hallowed who had been walking behind us with laser rifles stomped around our squad and took up position with the rest of Captain Hex’s people. What was he playing at? He’d just given up his advantage by putting his whole squad in front of ours.
Hex’s voice crackled across our shared channel. “The first bomb is in place. Moving into the tunnel to drop the second. No hostile activity thus far, over.”
Captain Walsh responded. “Roger. Stay safe in there, over and out.”
We had our plausible deniability. Now we just needed our ambush to go off without a hitch. Once his people were all assembled, Hex turned to me.
“I don’t trust you, Sergeant Riven, nor do you trust me. Yet the fact remains that there are hundreds of civilians in the towers above us who could be devoured if we screw this mission up, either through carelessness or infighting. I don’t want all those deaths on my conscience. Do you?”
I covertly checked for our backup. Still nothing. I needed to keep him talking. “You have a conscience?”
“Despite what you may think,” Hex agreed. “The weather station was nothing personal. I followed orders, just like you. Now as to your attack on Cloud Nine, where you and your terrorist allies murdered a number of men and women simply trying to protect us—”
“Nothing personal,” I reminded him calmly. “Next time, don’t kidnap my friends.”
“And there’s the rub,” Hex agreed. “The C0 is not your friend. It is a thing, and that thing wishes to devour everyone above. So I need assurances from you, Sergeant Riven, and your squad, that you are willing to take the steps needed to remove this threat from Dios permanently.”
“You mean kill Skye,” I challenged.
“My point exactly,” Hex said.
Hahna stepped forward. “You have my word, obviously. Our intent has always been to remove the C0 as a threat. We wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
What might have actually been genuine respect crossed Hex’s features. “And are you in command of that squad today, Captain Sato? I got the impression you were taking orders from Riven.”
“This C0 is a threat to Dios unlike any we have seen since the war,” Hahna said calmly. “We can only end that threat by working together. I trust Sergeant Riven to accomplish our shared goal.
Together, we will stop the C0 and its horde from hurting anyone else.”
Good for her. Captain Sato was saying exactly what Hex needed to hear. Also, she wasn’t lying, not technically, because she wasn’t any good at lying. She was just omitting some facts.
Hahna had just assured Hex our goal was to remove the Class Zero as a threat, which was our intent, but was letting Hex interpret her words however he wished. He thought we were on board with murdering Skye outright. And why would he think anything else was possible, given what he knew?
Hex nodded to Hahna. “I’ll trust you to watch our backs.” He turned to face the tunnel. “We’ll take point. Sergeant Riven, keep your squad twenty paces back and cover—”
Hex twitched, his armor going stiff at the same time the armor of his four squadmates did. My own arms clenched as my own armor stiffened up as well. A moment later, I lost my balance, and I gritted my teeth as gravity took its course. Yet I barely felt the impact with the ground.
Lying paralyzed in my own armor was more than a bit disconcerting, for me, and I’d been expecting it. I imagined it must be freaking some of Hex’s squadmates out. They had no idea what had just happened to them, but probably assumed it was a Mute attack.
They feared death.
A shadow knelt over me, one that quickly resolved into the woman I still loved. Mia smirked as she slapped a small magnetic
device on my armor, then stood and walked out of my line of vision.
A moment later, my armor unclenched. I could move again!
I pushed up, testing my weight, and found no issues with my Hallowed armor. Caitlyn and Mia finished slapping the signal inhibitors on the rest of the rest of our squad. Hex’s squad remained paralyzed below, their comms severed. I hoped they weren’t all screaming right now.
Hallowed armor was networked, both to the other suits in the squad and to Nine. That helped us coordinate in battle. It also made our armor highly vulnerable to wireless hacking, if someone who knew how to exploit that decided to give it a shot.
And Caitlyn Alexander knew a lot about Hallowed armor.
I snapped my helmet sideways, then pulled it off. All our comms and external speakers were dead now, so that was the only way I could communicate with anyone else. “Nice job.”
“She’s a genius,” Mia agreed, and pointed to Caitlyn. “Or maybe Cloud Nine’s engineers are still too cocky for their own good.”
“Or they didn’t expect a former engineer to turn on them,” Hahna said calmly.
Hahna stood behind me with her own helmet in the crook of her arm. Trust Captain Sato to put a negative spin on things. I sighed and took one more look at the tunnel ahead, worried I’d see Mutes pouring toward us and Captain Hex’s now completely helpless squad.
Yet nothing emerged. They continued to wait for us to come to them. Caitlyn, with Mia as her bodyguard, had snuck into the parking garage without being detected. And just as we’d expected, Captain Hex had stopped to place our first AP gas bomb at the entry to the Mute tunnel.
I glanced at my squad. “Stack Hex’s squad by the AP bomb. I’ll get Hex.”
Mia, Lincoln, and Prescott all hurried to get the job done. Lincoln lifted the first of Hex’s paralyzed squadmates in both hands and walked him toward the bomb like a big laundry basket. I couldn’t hear Lincoln through his helmet, but I could see his lips. He was probably apologizing.
Mia, by comparison, merely grinned at her own captive Hallowed, silver arms gleaming in the lights. Prescott carried hers facing away from her, tucked under one arm like a disobedient child.
I walked over to Captain Hex, knelt beside him, and gripped his helmet. I snapped it sideways, carefully, removing it as I’d removed so many helmets like it in the war. Hex could move his neck and head now, but not his body. His own armor now imprisoned him, thanks to Caitlyn’s clever hack.
Hex stared up at me, calmer than I expected. “So what happens now?”
He was throwing my own words back at me. Clever of him.
“We’re going to go make peace,” I told him, as convincingly as I could.
Hex frowned. “You’re joking.”
Hahna stopped beside me. “Oh, do I wish he was. Yet thanks to Miss Alexander, Riven actually believes he can negotiate a peace treaty with the Class Zero and its horde of Mutes. I’ve told him that’s impossible, but he needs to see for himself. After it goes bad, we’ll assassinate the C0 ourselves.”
Hex glared at me. “And then we all die when its maddened horde boils out of this tunnel?”
I frowned. “That’s not the plan.”
“I get what you have against me, Riven, but my squad’s done nothing to you. All they wanted to do is protect Dios. They don’t deserve death, and neither do the people in the towers above.”
Hex’s genuine concern for actual people surprised me, though maybe it shouldn’t have. Perhaps good and evil were just never as black and white as I liked. Or perhaps Hex was just appealing to my conscience, since he didn’t have one of his own.
Caitlyn walked to my other side. “We need to hurry. They’re still a good ways off, and it won’t be long before Lindsay demands a status update.”
I checked our status. My squad now had everyone from Hex’s squad rested next to the bomb. I picked up Hex, cradling his armor in my arms, and nodded toward Hahna. “Get everyone going. I’ll catch
up. Reese, you keep carrying the other the AP bomb. I want our armor unencumbered.”
“Aw shucks!” Reese said. “That thing is heavy. ”
“And you’ve got a melee weapon,” I reminded her before turning the others. “Mia, Caitlyn, stay well behind our armor. Be ready to run if Reese drops that bomb. Prescott and I will cover your retreat until the AP gas takes down any attackers.”
As I carried Hex over to the bomb beside the rest of his paralyzed squad, Hex chuckled. “You’re insane, you know that? No one makes peace with Mutes.”
I glanced down at him. “At least I don’t work for a mass-murdering bitch monster who, oh right, had her own father assassinated.”
Hex’s eyes narrowed. “Jack Griffyn committed suicide.”
I glanced after Hahna, who was already leading my squad off, and smirked. “And here I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.”
[ 10 ]
ALL IT WILL TA E IS ONE BAD DAY
I settled Captain Hex by the rest of his squad, clustered around the AP gas bomb. I then took a firm grip on his armored hand and carefully wrenched off his armored glove. I knew he had a paralytic dart launcher built into his arm somewhere, but he couldn’t dart me through armor.
I detached the detonator for the AP gas bomb and tucked it into Hex’s now free hand. While he still couldn’t move his arm, he could now push a button. Which he no doubt thought was weird.
Hex frowned and stared down. “What’s this?”
I knelt at his side. “Your insurance policy. If all goes well, you’ll never see us or those Mutes again. But if you have company, activate the gas bomb. That should paralyze anything that tries to eat you. Walsh and the others will be down here to rescue you before the gas wears off.”
“I could trigger it right now,” Hex said.
“And I’d hold my breath, and you’d be out the only way to save your squad. Take the L and enjoy a few hours of sitting on your ass.
I’m the one who has to do the heavy lifting today.”
Hex scowled. “Do you even know what they were doing to those Mutes down there?”
I paused as I sought to walk away, even though I shouldn’t. My squad was almost out of sight.
Hex continued. “They were only monsters, true, but even monsters deserve some level of humane treatment. What was going
on in Cloud Nine’s lab was as far from that as possible. I’ve seen animal testing that was handled more humanely.”
I glanced down at him again. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy.”
“And I’m saying it’s impossible,” Hex said calmly. “Even if that abomination you call Skye decides to go along with your charade, the Mutes with it are little more than maddened husks. You don’t endure that amount of agony, for that long, and come out the other side sane. Any treaty you negotiate will be nothing more than a massacre waiting to happen. All it will take is one bad day.”
I walked over to my helmet. “Thanks for the encouragement. Try not to die.”
I snapped my helmet into place and hurried after my squad. So long as we kept the signal inhibitors Caitlyn had rigged up attached to our armor, we should be immune to the broadcast she’d used to lock up our Hallowed armor. I still had no idea how Caitlyn had rigged it up, but I also didn’t have any idea how Baku worked. That wouldn’t stop me from using Kodai’s rifle to melt a truck.
And with Hex’s squad down, all we had to do was make peace with a horde of insane Mutes.
Hahna led them as I’d suggested, with her on point. Lincoln and Prescott followed her and Reese, carrying the big AP bomb, walked behind them. Caitlyn followed close behind with Mia flanking her protectively.
I decided to play rear guard, just in case something came at us from behind. It was easier than trying to run past everyone, and since I wasn’t using Dismay any longer, there was no need for me to be up front to fire. Also, no risk of me incinerating my squad by mistake.
It wasn’t long before the earthen and concrete tunnel broke into the understructure. Skye’s Class One had melted a hole right through it, using acid, revealing a maze of towering canisters, pipes, and gantries outside. Its complexity remained as daunting as ever.
The metal ceiling of the understructure stretched away above us, making me feel as trapped as it always had. I forced my eyes away before I could again remind myself that the entirety of Dios was up there, just waiting to fall on my head. If everyone collapsed and we
got buried down here, I’d suffer a real long time as my body alternately devoured itself for calories and also regenerated.
The metal floor beyond the break in the wall was covered in what looked to be thick slime, and canisters to either side had been forcefully bent out of the way. So either the big Class One had gotten tired of shaping itself into whatever was needed to squeeze past obstacles, or the Mutes suddenly got in a real big hurry for some reason. Where were they headed? Where could they go?
As we started down the path of the slime trail, Reese moaned.
“Oh god, that smell! Why?”
Mia glanced at me and offered a faint smile. “I’d keep your helmet on.” She looked a bit green too, but she soldiered on without complaint.
Caitlyn focused entirely on the path ahead. She took each step confidently without looking down, but there was something odd about the way she moved. It almost seemed like she was sleepwalking, or what I assumed was sleepwalking. I’d never actually seen anyone do it.
I didn’t like how distant she looked, so I flipped on my armor’s external speakers. “Caitlyn?”
She didn’t look at me.
“Everything all right in there?” I asked.
After a very long moment, she glanced at me. “They’re waiting for us.” Her voice and eyes remained distant, like she was staring at an augmented reality screen I couldn’t see.
I remembered Caitlyn had inexplicably known Amber was still alive despite Amber being on the other side of a burning Avian beneath a pile of debris. “And you know this how, exactly?”
She looked ahead again. “Just trust me.”
I did. Or ... I really wanted to. Still, Captain Hex’s stupid words were bouncing around in my brain, dredging up new doubts. I was convinced this was the right move, but what if it wasn’t? If I’d screwed up by ambushing his squad and leaving them behind, I’d just split our strength in half.
And if Skye had gone insane, and her Mutes did overwhelm us, I’d just signed Captain Hex, his squad, and everyone in Hatten
Towers up to be ripped apart and eaten. That was a lot of weight to carry when all I had to go on was Caitlyn’s word we could negotiate.
Yet here I was, putting us all at risk, and my friends, despite knowing all that, were trusting me to make the right call.
We walked perhaps another ten minutes, picking our way through the quite obvious trail of bent metal and slime the Class One had left behind, before we came to yet another hole in the wall of the understructure. This one looked to lead ... up? Where the hell had Skye’s Mutes gone?
Prescott whistled softly. “They aren’t beneath Hatten towers at all.
They made a big show of climbing under there as a distraction, then used the understructure to slink away undetected.”
“So … that’s good?” Lincoln asked. “I mean, it means they’re not holding anyone hostage.”
It might be good, maybe. Still, where had Skye and her horde of Mutes gone? We hadn’t walked far enough to get out of Hatten, but I did know we weren’t beneath the towers any longer.
