I glanced her way then focused back on Raikidan. “Seda is ready to teach you now. It’s important you listen to her carefully. Fighting off even some of Nioush’s basic mind attacks is paramount.”
He stood up. “I have one last question. Why the hell are we doing this?”
I sighed and shook my head. “Because Raynn is a moron and likes to pick fights with everyone, but with us it’s personal. Raynn was part of our company in the military, until he was promoted to general. When he broke off, he assembled his own faithful group of misfits, and has been challenging us ever since. It’s as if he thinks there is some score to settle.”
“Fair enough.” He then left in search of Seda.
I sighed and went back to meditating, until a computer’s voice echoed through the room.
“Ten minutes until match start,” the computer announced. “Make final preparations and head to your team’s weapons bay.”
We grouped up and then headed through a set of doors that opened into a large metal room. The walls were littered with all types of weapons, along with tables and open cabinets scattered everywhere.
A communicator materialized on the side of my head, and I spoke as we all went about grabbing our weapons. “Aurora, give us some info on the battlefield.”
“I don’t have much,” Aurora said. “Raynn is really keeping things on the lowdown. From what I’ve been able to dig up, the terrain type will be standard, with no weather conditions, and the map type is called Random.”
I looked over a selection of carbine models on a wall. “Random? That’s a new one. Can I have some clarification?”
“That’s the thing, babe, I’m not sure.” She typed a few more entries with her keyboard. “There’s nothing in here giving any information about it, but I can make two conclusions. Either the map will be randomly chosen at the start, or the map will randomly change during the match.”
Choosing the light carbine model I preferred, I secured it across my back. “Okay, anything else?”
“No, I don’t—wait, hold on.” She was quiet for a moment. “That’s weird.”
“What’s going on, Aurora?”
“I just saw two of Raynn’s teammates who were supposed to fight walk by.”
I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t like the sound of that. “Go on.”
She typed on her keyboard some more. “The thing is, the two pods they were occupying are still in use. I think they switched out two of their members when I wasn’t looking.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Rylan commented. “Raynn must have been planning this from the start.”
I nodded in agreement. “He probably thinks it’s going to give their team a major advantage.”
“It just might,” Argus said. “Aurora, do you know who the new members are?”
“Afraid not. I’ve been trying to access that part of the network, but I’m locked out. I think their technician is behind that.”
Argus bought his hand up to his chin and mumbled. “I wouldn’t doubt it. If Raynn really did have this all planned out, he would have informed his technician to make sure we wouldn’t get in on his little secret.”
“We’re just going to have to make do,” I stated. “We’ve dealt with worse conditions. We’ll get over it. It just means we’re going to have to be on our guard until we can identify the two. The worst that could happen is we lose.”
Blaze crossed his arms. “I’d rather that not happen.”
I nodded. “I’m with you on that, but if it does, it does, and we’ll learn from it. Aurora, I want you to use the remainder of this time to see if you can hack that block.”
“I’ll see what I can do, babe. They have Ezhno as their tech. You can’t get any better than him.”
I smirked. “I beg to differ.”
When she didn’t respond, I figured she was too embarrassed. She was about as bad as me when it came to compliments sometimes.
I looked at the table next to me. Laid out on it were belts with four pouches, a handgun, and two finger guns. I opened the pouches and inspected the contents. One pouch was a first-aid kit. Another pouch was filled with smoke bombs. The third carried grenades, and the last one carried ammunition cartridges. That’ll be handy. I strapped the belt to my waist and then grabbed the two finger guns and tossed them into one of the pouches. They were close-range weapons, making them only ideal if we had close-quarters combat, but it was best to go out prepared for any possible situation. I also grabbed a mask just in case I needed to use the smoke bombs.
“Okay, Seda, any tips on dealing with Nioush?” I asked. “He’s the major issue in this lineup.”
“No one but me will take him head-on,” she advised. “The training I have given you all will barely be enough to keep you safe from his basic mind abilities. I would prefer to be the only one he takes on at any given time, but if he insists on focusing his attention on anyone but me, he is fair game to you all. Be warned, though. He is strong, and I am going to have my hands full with him, so do not rely on me to help you with the rest of his team, or if you take him on and cannot handle it.”
“Understood,” I said. “But if he gets to be too much, you must tell us.”
She nodded. “I understand, but I would like to request you not to take it personally if I don’t get that message to you in time.”
“As long as you try we’ll forgive you,” Ryoko said.
Seda chuckled. “Is there anything else needing to be discussed?”
“It’s hard formulating a proper plan without knowing what to expect,” I admitted. “So, we’ll just have to play it by ear until we get a better feel for everything. We might as well finish prepping ourselves.”
Everyone nodded and finished up. I was already set, or so I thought. Although I looked ready, I didn’t feel it. Something is missing… After a little thought, I realized what it was. Glad the system allowed for alterations like this, I closed my eyes and connected my mind with the mainframe. Thinking of the daggers attached to my physical body, I willed the code of the computer to materialize them and then pulled myself back to my virtual body. Looking at my arms and then my legs, I found it had worked.
“You look ready.”
I turned to find Raikidan behind me. I looked him up and down. “You don’t.”
He looked exactly the same as he had when he entered the room. He shrugged. “I don’t need anything.”
“Like hell you don’t. You need a weapon, like the rest of us.”
“I’m not good at using your guns,” he said. “I’ll just use fire.”
“Fire won’t be enough.”
“I beg to differ.”
I sighed and grabbed a supply belt. “Then take this. If anything, it’ll put my mind at ease.”
Reluctantly, he took it and put it on. Soon after, he grabbed a carbine model. It was a larger and heavier model than mine, but it suited him well. “How do you use this?”
I chuckled and shook my head. Of course, he’d choose something he didn’t know how to use. I moved closer to him to give him a hand, placing his hands in the correct positions as I spoke. “You want to hold it by the pistol grip with your dominant hand here and place your other hand under the barrel here.”
“You don’t hold it here?” he asked, tapping the second arm that came out of the bottom of the gun.
I shook my head and slightly smiled. “That’s the ammunition magazine.”
“Magazine?”
“It’s a type of cartridge that holds a large round of ammunition. In the case of this model, you get thirty rounds before you have to reload. So just trust me, you don’t want to hold that. The model you’re using isn’t equipped with a forward handgrip, so you have to hold it by the barrel.” He nodded and placed his hand back on the barrel. I pointed to the cylindrical object on the top of the gun. “This is a scope. It allows better targeting while shooting. Use it whenever possible, but don’t forget to stay alert. If you aren’t careful, you could become easy prey for the other team i
f you’re too focused on the scope.”
Raikidan nodded again and held the gun up and looked through the scope.
“Good. That’s exactly how you’re supposed to hold it.” He caught on fast. I had to admit I was a little impressed. Rylan made it seem like he was a complete failure at this. “Now, do you see that red dot in the center of the scope?” He nodded. “Use that to aim. Keep this next bit in the front of your mind. Guns have particular ranges they are best at. The accuracy of your shot is not only dependent on you, but your range. This means, even if you have your target in the center of your scope, you may miss or even hit him somewhere else. This carbine model you’re using is a medium-ranged gun, so keep that in mind. Now I want you to aim at something and pull the trigger.”
“The trigger is this, right?” He tapped the curved metal piece that was in front of the pistol grip. I nodded. He aimed the gun at the wall and fired a few shots. Lowering the gun, he grinned and then looked at me. “You’re better at teaching than the computer or your male companions.”
I backed away from him a little and looked away—my cheeks burning. “I just know carbines.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what it is.”
“One minute until match start,” the computer called.
“Looks like it’s show time.” I waved him to follow. “Let’s group up with the others.”
He complied, grabbing a pistol as a spare weapon on the way. Most of the others had basic gear, hand guns, battle rifles, even machine guns with belt-fed ammunition box magazines. Ryoko and Rylan were the only ones with weapons that deviated, the former sporting her typical railgun and the later equipping his high-velocity sniper rifle.
“I just found something of use,” Aurora called in. “There are no rules to this match, making it an anything-goes fight, so be careful. On the plus side, it looks like Raynn’s team needs a crutch, as this includes a limitless ammo feature.”
We snickered and tossed our extra ammunition away. The computer counted down the remaining thirty seconds of time. When the voice hit five, the room around us started to dematerialize. At zero we stood in a large field.
“Stay on your guard,” I ordered. “Seda, can you find them?”
She shook her head. “Nioush is shielding them.”
“Can they find us?” I asked.
“I am a Seer. That is the most basic ability. One thing none of you may know about Seers, we may not have the best offense, but we have been trained to be a good defense. It would not surprise me if some of the battles you fought in the past had a few Seers mixed in with the Battle Psychics to help shield you.”
I grinned. That made me feel better. Even if Nioush had higher battle experience, Seda was a much better defense.
“I will go look for Nioush.” Her hair began to stand on end and her body lifted off the ground.
She started to fly off, but I stopped her. “Seda.”
“I will not fail you,” she stated.
“That’s not what I was going to say,” I replied. “Prove Nioush wrong.”
She threw her hand up across her chest in salute and then flew off in search of Nioush.
“Thank you for doing this, Seda.”
“No, thank you, for giving me the opportunity to prove myself a worthwhile member of this team and our cause.”
Chapter Seventeen
There was no wind—no sound—only stillness. We scanned the area as we made our way slowly across the field.
Ryoko stopped and looked around. “Anyone else getting the feeling we’re being watched?”
The rest of us stopped and looked around. Looked like she was the only one, but her wogron senses were rather acute to such dangers.
“I am sensing movement heading straight for all of you,” Seda messaged. “It is hard to make out, so be careful.”
“Continue with caution,” I advised.
We continued on more slowly, alert to any possible attack.
“I’m getting movement,” Dan informed us. It wasn’t long before the rest of our visors were telling us the same.
“This can’t be right,” Blaze remarked. “I’m getting a reading of fifty.”
I narrowed my eyes. These digital sets didn’t malfunction. I then swore in realization. “Shit. They brought in Doppelganger.”
“Beautiful,” Rylan grumbled.
“Who?” Raikidan asked.
I threw my carbine over my shoulder and unzipped my grenade pouch to pull two out. “An experiment who can make copies of himself for a small amount of time. Cover me, Ryoko. The rest of you spread out.”
Ryoko held her gun in front of her body like a shield, and her skin hardened into diamond-shaped patterns. “Stay behind me.”
I fell in behind her and eyed her skin. I had seen her do this many times before, but it had been so long… I found it both strange and fascinating. The two of us took off, and gunfire erupted, sending bullets flying past us from the other side of the field. I pulled the pin from one of the grenades and tossed it. It exploded soon after it hit the ground, but the gunfire continued so I threw the second grenade.
“There are too many,” Ryoko shouted back to me as bullets bounced off her skin. “I won’t be able to hold as a shield for much longer at this rate. What are we going to do?”
“Ryoko, Laz, watch out!” Rylan’s voice rang through the communicator. Just then a rocket hit the ground a little ways off from us, and we jumped to the ground in an attempt to avoid being hit by anything. There was no question who had attacked us. It was her preferred weapon of choice.
Ryoko picked herself up and grumbled to herself. “I’m going to skin that cat.”
I took out a few smoke bombs and tossed them around, creating a screen. “Go find Mocha. She’s going to be trouble unless we get rid of her. Use this screen to sneak around.”
“What about you?” she asked, putting a mask on.
“I’ll be fine. Now get going.”
“Right.” She disappeared into the smoke, leaving me alone.
As I put my mask on, my mind buzzed. This game gave us unlimited ammunition, and that meant Doppelganger would fire off rounds without a second thought. I knew the original would hang back while his copies did the work, so theory would dictate he would be on the other side of this field, and that meant I could take him out, that is, if I could get close enough.
“Laz, how are you two holding up?” Rylan called in.
“I’m fine. I sent Ryoko to take care of Mocha,” I replied. “What’s the status on everyone else?”
“Argus, Blaze, and Dan took cover in your smoke screen. It looks like Seda found Nioush, and Raikidan is watching my back.” He chuckled. “Although I think Raikidan is getting antsy.”
“I don’t like sitting still like this,” Raikidan grumbled. “You’re too far away to be helpful.”
“This is what a sniper does,” Rylan responded. “We use range to help.”
“Well, a sniper is stupid,” Raikidan said.
“We are not! We watch out for our comrades from afar and protect them from enemies they can’t see.”
I chuckled. “Hey, old married couple, shut up. Raikidan, you’ll get your chance. Rylan needs you to watch his back since he’s useless otherwise.”
“Excuse me?”
I chuckled. “Inform me if anything new happens on the field.”
I cut the connection and moved forward. I took out a few more smoke bombs and tossed them about. I had no idea where this screen stopped, and I didn’t need to run face first into a cluster of guns.
Using my visor, I tried to locate a target. I was shocked by the numbers. “Aurora, I need you to do a little digging.”
“What do you need me to do, babe?” she asked.
“I need to know if they’re boosting abilities.”
“Hold on while I check.” The sound of her typing the keys echoed in my earpiece. “Yes, they are. I’ll do the same for you if you’d like.”
“No, I want our team to beat them the r
ight way. If we can, it’ll prove we really are better.”
“All right, if you say so. Also, I’m getting enemy movement close to you. Just a few yards, from what I can see.”
Without replying to her, I cut the connection and looked around. I didn’t need them to find me because of my voice. My visor caught movement and I fired my gun. My victim screamed in pain, and then it was quiet. That was too close; this smoke won’t help me. I’m going to have to risk being out in the open.
Gripping my gun tighter, I ripped off my mask and ventured out of the safety of the smoke. As soon as I did, bullets rained down on me. There was nowhere to hide, so I ran. Excruciating pain shot through my shoulder as a bullet passed through it. Glancing at it, I found a good-sized bullet hole oozing with blood. I gritted my teeth and kept going. A single bullet wound wouldn’t stop me.
I fired at every Doppelganger copy I managed to see. The bullets ceased to rain, but the sound of retaliating friendly fire kept me calm. Looking back, I watched Dan, Argus, and Blaze rush out of the smoke screen and come to my aid. I grinned and continued firing.
“About time you ladies decided to come out and fight,” I called out.
Blaze smirked and fired a few rounds of his shotgun. “We enjoyed watching you take them head on. It was quite sex—watch out!”
I turned in time to see a Doppelganger copy aim for me. I went to move, but knew I wasn’t moving fast enough. I prepared for the worst, but it didn’t come. Something pushed me to the ground and the sound of a shotgun rang through my ear. The copy in front of me burst into pixelated pieces.
I looked up at Blaze as he towered over me and grinned. “Looks like you’re of more use than I thought. I owe you one.”
He laughed and looked at me suggestively. “You sure do.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not even in your dreams.”
“I beg to differ.”
Tripping him without warning, I shot a Doppelganger copy that was aiming at him from behind and then stood up with a grin. “And now we’re even.”
He grumbled. “You’re no fun.”
A still figure in the distance caught my eye. Using my visor, I zoomed in. It was Raynn.
Destiny (Experimental Heart Book 1) Page 26