“Maybe not to us, but I’m guessing that normal citizens probably thought they were absolutely terrifying when they were fired upon,” Silas commented solemnly.
“Also, a lot of them had explosives inside them, which caused a lot of collateral damage. So keep on your toes,” Chief admonished. “But they weren’t the worst of it. There were a good number of cracked security bots too.” The junkbot model disappeared, replaced by a picture of a sleeker droid on treads with a cylindrical body and two arms. Small lasers in the middle of the palms were surrounded by a trio of prongs for fingers, and a round dome had an elongated “V” design in the middle.
“They’re only hacked security bots. Most of them aren’t armed well enough to do too much damage,” Silas pointed out.
“Those lasers are essentially tasers. They’d do more damage if they fell on you.” Cameron snickered.
“They are cracked, not hacked, idiots. If they were hacked, that meant that they were under the terrorists’ control, which they weren’t.” Chief’s color shifted towards red as he chided them sternly. The model turned around and zoomed in to the back of the droid’s head, showing some sort of circular device stuck against it. “A small group of sleeper agents was able to get into the factory that housed and repaired these things and placed these devices on almost seventy percent of them. When they were activated, they went wild and destroyed anything in their path. That device is called a killer switch. It disables the ability for the droids to distinguish friend or foe and sent excess energy to weapons systems.”
Jaxon stared at the model before looking at the others. “Wouldn’t that merely cause them to overheat?”
“Eventually, but they’d probably still have a few hours of function before their power units melted or shutdown…enough to cause plenty of chaos,” Flynn explained.
“Aren’t there fail-safes for that kind of thing?” Cameron asked.
“Yeah, now there are,” Kaiden said as he switched out his thermals for shock grenades. “It was because of incidents like these that they either installed power buffers or hooked up weapons to separate, smaller power units so it couldn’t happen again—or, at least, to potentially stop it from happening.”
“The best progress always seems to come from tragedy.” Silas sighed.
“Five minutes until we arrive,” the voice over the speaker warned.
“Anything else we should know?” Kaiden asked the EI.
“That’s all I can tell you,” Chief said as the holograms disappeared.
Flynn leaned forward. “What do you mean, that’s all you can tell us?
“The first four waves comprise those enemies; the fifth wave is unknown.”
“Odd. In this kind of historical reenactments, we shouldn’t have to deal with anything except what was there,” Silas protested.
Jaxon placed two fingers on the side of his helmet. “Meno, could you please tell me of any potential hostiles in the Houston Incursion of 2097?” The Tsuna was silent for a moment before looking up. “My EI has told me nothing different from what Kaiden’s has.”
The other three followed Jaxon’s example quickly, coming up with the same result.
“Anyone else getting a little uneasy?” Cameron asked.
“Could be something new the Academy is trying,” Flynn suggested, his face serious for once as if disquiet had momentarily stolen his humor.
Kaiden rapped his fingers against his arm. “I remember talking with Sasha. He said that the board actually upped the difficulty of this year’s Division test. Maybe they’re mixing things up this year?”
“Commander Sasha Chevalier?” Silas inquired.
Kaiden nodded. “Yeah, he’s the one who actually brought me here.”
“No kidding? That’s a hell of a recommendation, mate,” Flynn said, impressed.
“So I’ve heard. Pretty nice guy, but he’s got a cryptic way of speaking.”
Jaxon placed his arms on his legs and rested his chin on his closed fists. “I wonder…do you think this may be some sort of test from him?”
Kaiden removed his mask. “How do you figure?”
“None of the four of us were able to find this map, but once you loaded in your EI, it appeared. Perhaps you have some maps and scenarios available that we do not,” the Tsuna explained.
The others exchanged glances for a moment before looking at Chief, who in turn, spun around in place before fidgeting for a moment. “Why am I being picked on so much today?”
“You know anything about this, Chief?” Kaiden asked.
“Hell no. I mean, it could be possible. But it would be extremely unusual. You gotta remember, partner, I’m technically a normal EI. It’s the implant that’s unique.”
“Something could have been loaded on the implant that transferred to Chief when you integrated,” Silas theorized.
“You know, I already thought the whole implant thing was weird when you told us in the first place. But if this becomes a normal thing, I would recommend you ask for your credits back.” Cameron huffed his annoyance as he sat again.
“You guys saying you want to abort?” Kaiden inquired
They looked at one another before shaking their heads. “Nah, I think it’s rather exciting, to be honest.” Flynn spoke for all of them.
“Two minutes until landing.”
Jaxon stood and grabbed a rail on the ceiling “We have the de-sync buttons if anything bizarre happens. I would like a chance to test myself against a unique challenge.”
Cameron followed suit. “Could be fun, but next time, I get to choose the map, all right?”
Flynn and Silas nodded as they prepared for landing.
“Fine by me.” Kaiden stood. “Just be forewarned that I’m not exactly the quiet type.”
“We noticed,” the four said in unison.
Kaiden grimaced before placing his mask back on. “Add a melody, and you jokers would make the goofiest-looking quartet.”
“Hey, Cameron, that could be a potential class switch,” Silas jeered.
“I’m better at making others sing,” he shot back.
“Hitting the LZ in one minute.”
“Get back on in here, Chief,” Kaiden ordered, and the EI appeared in his display almost immediately.
“Yay, home sweet home.”
“We’re definitely going to see Laurie after this.”
“Maybe we can finally get that upgrade.”
“Hopefully a few answers too.”
“Damn, in all that talking, we didn’t go over your skills.” Chief looked disgruntled.
“If we get a breather, I’ll take a look.”
“I would save it for the end.”
“Why’s that? You seemed so excited before.” Suddenly, the dropship bounced from side to side and the five soldiers clutched the railing, trying not to fall.
“Taking heavy fire, prepare for immediate drop!” the voice on the speaker cried.
The exit ramp unfolded, and Kaiden could see a hail of gunfire and dust kicking up in the streets below.
“Everyone, deploy,” Jaxon shouted as he ran off the ramp and leaped out of the ship.
The others followed, Kaiden the last one out a few scant seconds before another blast punched a hole into the side of the craft. It spiraled through the air before crashing a few hundred yards away.
He landed thirty feet down, his armor absorbing most of the impact, and quickly unholstered his Raptor and joined the others returning fire at the enemy.
“To answer your question, it’s because you probably won’t have a breather.”
Chapter Five
“They seem pretty damn happy to see us,” Silas yelled, taking hip shots at the crowd of grunts and junkbots as he moved to the cover of a crumbling pillar.
“Trigger happy, definitely,” Kaiden called back, firing scattered blasts, and he leaped around the field in an effort to avoid the incoming shots.
“Where the hell are we?” Cameron shouted, hunkering behind a half wall and blind-
firing over the top.
“It appears to be a mostly destroyed building,” Jaxon stated. “My scan says that it was under construction when it was attacked in the initial strikes.”
Cameron peeked over the top of his wall, only to launch himself back as several bullets whined over his head. “That’s not good for us!”
“No kiddin’. I doubt this thing was all that stable before getting attacked,” Kaiden observed, taking aim and firing at a few hostiles trying to shoot at them from a building across the street. “Someone with a gun with better range, take those guys out!”
Cameron crouched and moved next to Kaiden. Carefully, he fired three shots at three targets, and all fell. “Where’s Flynn?”
“Probably doing the ghost thing.” Silas set aside his hand cannon and drew his machine gun.
Cameron continued to pick off other targets that made their way into the opposite building. “I thought he was going to trade his generator in.”
Kaiden saw four enemies in the street fall in rapid succession, then another two dropped across the way as Cameron vented his gun. “Finally putting in some work, I see,” Kaiden called on the comms.
“Yeah, sorry about that fellas. Wanted to get a better angle and some more height,” Flynn answered over the link.
“Where are you?” Jaxon asked.
“On the roof of the building next door. Leaped out of the open window in the back of the room,” the marksman answered.
Kaiden looked back to see the window Flynn had mentioned was a missing chunk of wall. “Is that an Aussie thing? Windows are merely huge holes in the wall?”
“Eh, maybe ‘window of opportunity’ would be a better explanation,” Flynn suggested.
“Also an awful pun.” Silas snickered.
“Cameron, can you make it over?” Jaxon asked.
Cameron looked at the opening, “Yeah, I’m traveling pretty light, and the jump isn’t that far. I can make it.”
The leader nodded. “Then go. Silas, Kaiden, and I will move to the street and continue the battle there. You and Flynn provide long-range support.”
“On it,” Cameron acknowledged, moving quickly to the spot in a crouched position before leaping out.
“You two ready?” Jaxon asked. The building rumbled then shifted, and the trio staggered before regaining their balance.
Silas emptied his gun into the approaching enemy ranks. “Better than staying here.”
“Dying by rubble isn’t a good look,” Kaiden agreed.
“We’ll make our way out the back. We’re only twenty-two feet up so we’ll descend from here and funnel any enemies that follow, using the alleys to trap them as we make our way to the main road.” Jaxon explained his plan and his companions nodded agreement.
The building shifted again, and Kaiden steadied himself on an uncompleted pillar. “We’d have to be fast. There are still other routes they can use, not to mention that they could shift their focus to the snipers.”
“Or the building could merely topple on us while we’re stuck here,” Silas added.
Jaxon nodded. “Agreed, let’s move.”
The trio sprinted to the end of the room, firing at the walls to knock them down as they ran. The barriers crumbled and the three jumped out, looking around as they landed to check the perimeter. They were in a back alley with derelict and broken buildings surrounding them.
“Looks like we got—” Kaiden’s words were cut short by the rapid fire of Silas’ machine gun. He turned to see a junkbot fall, riddled with laser fire.
“You were going to say lucky?” Silas asked as he held his gun at the ready.
“I was going to say a small break, but that was obviously wishful thinking,” Kaiden concluded.
“Wait…do you hear that?” Jaxon asked.
Kaiden listened intently, hearing a small beeping that grew more noticeable. Not getting louder so much as the inclusion of more beeps, each adding to each other to increase the sound.
“Oh, shit.” Silas gasped.
Kaiden looked over to see a group of junkbots behind them. They occupied the first floor of the closest building, holding the pillars and pressing against the corners.
Kaiden’s eye grew wide. “Chief, didn’t you say some of these had explosives in them?”
“I did. Now I’m saying run.” The EI yelped, a sound that definitely resembled panic.
The three sprinted down the alley in the opposite direction of the main street.
“Flynn, Cameron, you need to move. The building we were in is about to blow.”
“Slight problem with that,” Flynn relayed as he holstered his sniper rifle and looked over the edges of the structure they were holed up in. “The building next to us is destroyed, and the one across from us is too high and too far to jump to.”
“I can help with that.” Cameron fired his grappling hook over to the next building.
Flynn watched the magnetic hook attach to the wall. “Will that support both of us?”
Cameron wrapped some of the extra wire around his gauntlet. “Maybe, maybe not. You wanna wait here so I can throw it back to you?”
A massive explosion threw Flynn to the floor. He turned to see the previous building topple, falling towards them.
“It appears we’re going to have ourselves a leap of faith,” he shouted as he pushed himself up and ran towards Cameron.
“Grab my hand,” the bounty hunter shouted as he clicked the button to retract the cable. Flynn grabbed hold, and they went sailing through the air while the remains of the exploded building slammed into their previous perch.
“Shoot out the windows,” Cameron ordered.
Flynn obliged, drawing his pistol and firing at the glass of the window they rocketed toward. Cameron disengaged the magnetic hook and they landed prone on the office floor of the building, both skidding and rolling for a few feet before coming to a stop.
“Apparently, the answer is yes.” Cameron groaned as he stood up, rubbing his shoulder.
“Well played, mate.” Flynn groaned irritably, using a wall to help himself up. “Quick thinking there.”
“You guys all right?” Kaiden asked over the link.
Cameron continued to roll his shoulder as he opened a map of the area. “Better than we could be, but I think we went in the opposite direction to you guys.”
“We’ll double back in a bit,” Jaxon acknowledged.
“How many we got left?” Flynn asked.
Cameron scanned the map. “Says here that was the end of wave one.”
Flynn unfolded his sniper rifle. “Well, that’s a bit of good news.”
“You wanna hear the bad news?” Cameron inquired.
“Isn’t there always?”
“Either this map is loaded with some coincidental wave patterns…” Cameron showed Flynn his map, revealing a large horde of enemies splitting into two groups and heading to the different locations of the separate team. “Or they are adapting to us.”
Flynn walked over to the busted window, where he crouched down and took aim down the street. “Well, we did want a bit of fun, didn’t we?”
“You guys catch what Cameron said?” Kaiden asked.
Silas and Jaxon nodded. Jaxon placed two fingers on the side of his helm. “We’ll do our best to make it back to you, but it will probably be a slow crawl for now.”
“Copy. We’ll be here,” Flynn answered lightly.
“Certainly can’t say he doesn’t remain calm under pressure,” Silas noted.
“As long as he has a little nook from which to pick off targets, he’s happy,” Kaiden agreed. “I think it’s almost like counting sheep to him.”
“We need to find a place to hunker down. We’re surrounded by alleyways and could be swarmed if we stay here.”
“Probably shouldn’t risk climbing up a building if they can blow the thing up,” Silas remarked as he looked at the surrounding options.
“We should remain on the first floors. Take a few out and then move on to the ne
xt one,” Kaiden suggested as he pointed to the broken windows behind him that opened into a hotel.
The other two agreed, and they entered the lobby quickly. As Kaiden moved to take position behind the desk, he noticed that the monitor was on. Cracked and flickering, but on.
“Hey, Chief, think you can find anything useful in this place?”
“Like what? It’s a hotel. You looking for a deal on the premier suite during prime vacation days?” Chief jeered.
“I was thinking they might have some security turrets or droids you could activate to give us a little help,” Kaiden explained.
“Huh. That actually isn’t a bad idea, partner. This stuff is a century old…probably won’t have anything close to what we consider good security, but I’ll take a look,” Chief acknowledged before disappearing from the display.
“Good thinking. Another gun would be helpful, and if we can find some security droids, all the better,” Jaxon said
“It might take him a little time to find them and power them up. This place doesn’t look to be in great shape,” Kaiden warned.
Silas took aim at the entrance. “Hopefully, he gets back soon. Here they come.”
A hail of bullets immediately followed his warning. As Kaiden peered over the lobby desk to fire, a laser shot past his head, burning his mask. “Son of a bitch. The cracked bots are here.”
“I noticed,” Silas retorted, firing directly at one of the droids before ducking behind the wall. “Tough bastards.”
“I got something for them,” Kaiden shouted as he retrieved a shock grenade. He primed it and tossed it at the oncoming horde. Within seconds, it detonated and sent a storm of electricity surging through the group. A few mercs were stunned and then gunned down by Jaxon and Silas, while the droids and junkbots fell to the ground.
“What happened?” Silas asked.
“Since the cracked security droids already had their power units overcharged, the shock pumped more juice into them, causing an overload,” Kaiden explained hastily as he shot down a couple more grunts attempting to retreat. “The junkbots are flimsy, fortunately.”
“How many of those do you have left?” Jaxon asked.
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