Chapter Three
From beyond the broken wall, a creature emerged. A long alligator-like face protruded below the three reptilian eyes set upon its head. It stood—massively built and at least twelve feet high—on two scaled legs and brandished four clawed arms. Its nails were pointed cones coated with dried blood and muck.
Everyone watched, appalled, as several more of these creatures stalked into the port. They glanced around the gathered group. One of them bent to take a pair of corpses into its long mouth, revealing hardened teeth as it snapped down and devoured the flesh. A single arm, hanging on by sinew, eventually fell off and landed near its feet.
There was silence for a moment, broken by the clinking of armor and the heavy breathing of the mutants, along with one last snap of the jaws from the one that had dined on the corpses.
“It’s the damn bayou stalkers,” a Vice Ghoul ganger finally cried. This was soon followed by all the other members of the port turning their attention away from the Nexus trio and firing at the mutants as a group.
One creature shrieked as three others lowered on all six of their limbs and dashed into the crowd. They swiped their claws and snapped at the remains of the murderous inhabitants. The lasers, bullets, and explosive shells seemed to have almost no effect as the beasts continued to devour the remaining forces. Others soon joined the carnage as another group of stalkers snaked into the chaos.
“What are those things?” Kaiden exclaimed.
“Bayou Stalkers. Mutated crocodiles. Normally, they stay away from massively populated areas, but all the blood poured out around here must have attracted them,” Chief informed him.
“Those things are getting shot by everyone here and it ain’t doing shit,” Luke yelled.
“How do we take them down?” the ace asked.
“Gotta shoot them in the belly or down the throat. Their hide is way too tough for conventional rounds. Kind of a pain as they scurry around with their belly down when attacking.”
“What about Marlo’s Tesla cannon?” he inquired, looking at the demolisher.
“Not sure I wanna get their attention,” Marlo admitted, moving back a few steps.
“The ship’s flak cannons?” Luke suggested.
“I can try, but I’m running out of rounds,” Genos responded.
Kaiden gritted his teeth. “Save them for now. They’re focused on the hostiles. But they’re wading through them faster than we were.”
“And your score continues to trail ever downward,” Chief chirped.
“Honestly, I’m cool with it considering the circumstances,” Kaiden responded. “Jaxon, what’s your ETA?”
“Izzy, Raul, and I are headed to retrieve the device. The others are activating the outer defenses and heading to the rendezvous point,” Jaxon stated. The three ran through the hallway, having only taken out two gangers along the way. The rest of the building appeared to have run outside to deal with the intruders and the current stalker threat.
“Might wanna change the plan. The mutants are swarming all over the port. The others will probably get eaten on the way,” Kaiden advised. “Holy hell. That guy just got ripped in half. Maybe being eaten is preferable?”
The Tsuna ace pursed his lips, thinking over the options. “Genos, can you prepare for individual pick up?”
“I can but I’ll need destinations and that will leave Kaiden, Luke, and Marlo with no support,” the mechanist cautioned.
“We’ll have to make it quick and play it close. I’ll send the others to the rooftop and blast a hole in the wall on our floor for extraction,” Jaxon replied.
“Guys, Marlo just said he spotted one of the stalkers climbing into the building. I would start running rather quickly,” Kaiden warned.
“What? You’re afraid of a few deformed crocs, Kaiden?” Cameron snickered.
“You’re not out here seeing what they’re doing, you ass!” he snapped back.
“I can take on an overgrown— Shit!” Cameron cried, gunfire blasting over the comms.
“Cameron? What’s happening?” Jaxon demanded.
“It’s here. It smashed through the wall,” the bounty hunter yelled as he and Silas fired shots into the beast’s body. The monster roared and made a large swipe at them. Chiyo rolled under its reach and pressed a button on her console.
“We need to leave,” she shouted as two turrets descended from the ceiling and began to fire on the stalker. The beast roared again, crouching back before leaping up to clutch the turrets in its claws and rip them down, casting one to each side as the initiates left the room.
“Chiyo! Where are you?” Kaiden asked.
“Second floor. The stalker is right on our heels.” She activated a few more turrets as they ran, the creature not fazed at all as it continued its pursuit. The infiltrator yanked out her submachine gun and fired behind her as they ran in a full sprint down the hall.
“Can you make it to the roof?” Jaxon asked.
“We’ll be a snack for this thing before we get there,” Cameron protested. He fumbled for a grenade and threw it over his shoulder at the monster. The projectile exploded and released a large net that wrapped around the pursuing beast. The stalker struggled against the tightening binds for a moment before it simply dug its claws through the webbing and shredded the net.
“Come down to us. We’ll help you kill it,” Kaiden suggested.
“I’ll take you up on that,” Silas answered. He flipped a switch on his gun and fired at the floor ahead. Small ballistic rounds blew it to pieces and gave them a quick exit to the first level. They dove into the newly formed hole one by one, landing on their feet or in a roll, and continued their sprint. They heard concrete smashing and the warping of metal as the stalker pried the hole apart, making it large enough for it to descend and continue the chase.
“Take the left hall,” Chiyo shouted. The three turned quickly and ran into the hall, the open entrance of the building a little over a hundred yards away. “Kaiden! Behind you.”
“Luke, Marlo! They’re coming,” Kaiden shouted. The three turned and raised their weapons as the others ran toward them. The stalker gained ground. As they aimed, it paused and bent low before leaping into the air, sailing at the fleeing initiates.
“Take it out,” Luke roared. The three fired as the mutant was mid-leap, and the others dove to the ground. Explosive rounds, plasma charge, and the heated metal of Kaiden’s shotgun all blasted forth and tore through the exposed underbelly of the stalker. It shrieked in pain as green blood sprayed over the walls and onto the initiates’ armor.
“Roll to the side,” Silas shouted. The trio rolled away as the beast crashed between them and slid a few feet to the edge of the entrance. Kaiden ran up and put a few more shots into it before looking up. “You guys all right?”
“Better when we get out of here.” Cameron grunted and pushed himself up.
“Better when there’s no more of those things around,” Silas said flatly.
Kaiden helped Chiyo to her feet, looking at the enforcer. “Yeah, about that. What’s that old saying? Out of the frying pan and into the fire?” There was a loud boom and the group looked around to see what had exploded. “What the hell now?”
“Fire,” Marlo shouted. They ran out of the gate to see a building ablaze and fireballs falling from the sky, igniting the wooden boards and buildings around them.
“Oh, good, more bullshit,” the ace muttered. Flames erupted beneath the stairs and around the field in long streaks, following a trail. “What’s going on?”
“There’s oil along the ground,” Chiyo stated. “There must have been a blown tanker.”
“Or it was the busted tanks of the guys with the flamethrowers,” Luke suggested.
“Safe bet,” Kaiden concurred.
“Guys, I think the stalkers are running out of appetizers,” Marlo said, pointing at the field.
The mutants were devouring the remnants of the port. Kaiden couldn’t see any other mercs or gangers running around. He v
ented his shotgun as it dawned on him what was next. “Genos, can we get an extraction?” One of the stalkers looked at the group, releasing an airy hiss as it moved slowly toward them. “When you got the time…” The ace closed the vent and aimed his gun at the monster, the rest following suit as more of the stalkers crawled toward them. “Now would be good.”
As the stalker in the lead made its way to the base of the stairs, baring its teeth, blasts erupted around it and the other beasts. The ship descended to the group’s left, hovering a few feet in the air. The door on the side opened and Genos reached out. “Hurry.”
Kaiden waved, ordering the others ahead. Chiyo took the Tsuna’s hand and he pulled her in. Cameron and Luke leaped aboard as Silas, Kaiden, and Marlo fired at the beasts to keep them at bay. The enforcer turned to jump on board, Luke pulling him in as Cameron fired out the door. The demolisher fired one more charged shot. His plasma blast actually succeeding in hurting a stalker as it burned off the arms on its left side. He handed his cannon to Luke and scrambled in.
“Kaiden! Come on,” Cameron called.
He fired his last shot and could feel his gun overheating. Glacially calm, he took a thermal grenade from his belt and activated it, jammed it into the barrel, and tossed the gun into the center of the group of mutants. He swung into the ship, Luke and Silas pulling him in as Cameron slammed on the door switch to close it.
“Get in the air, Genos,” Kaiden yelled.
“Certainly, hold on,” the Tsuna replied. He pulled on the levers and the ship lifted straight into the air, a couple of the initiates toppling over with the sudden ascent.
The ace ran to the cockpit, looking out in time to see his gun, with a heated plasma core, explode in a massive discharge of energy. A couple of the stalkers leaped away in time, but the ones who were caught in the blast let out a final dying roar as their skin melted or their bodies blew apart.
“Teach you to try to take my score,” Kaiden whispered to himself.
“Kin Jaxon, are you prepared for pick-up?” Genos asked.
“Affirmative. Third floor on the right side of the building, far end. Making an exit point now.”
The Tsuna guided the ship around the building. He and Kaiden saw a breach appear in the wall in an explosion and cloud of dust. The mechanist steered the ship to the breach and opened the opposite door. “Welcome aboard,” he said cheerfully as Izzy, Raul, and Jaxon stepped in.
“Got the device?” Kaiden asked, walking over to greet the trio.
“Was there any doubt?” Izzy asked, pointing a thumb at Raul, who held a big black case. “You guys made it pretty easy, since almost everyone was trying to kill you.”
“That was the plan,” Kaiden replied.
“Was going pretty well until those scaly monsters showed up.” Marlo huffed his annoyance.
“Gotta admit it made our jobs easier…until they decided that they wanted to chow down on us too,” Luke said with a shrug.
“Could have done without that surprise appearance.” Cameron scowled. “Didn’t that thing have enough prey out there?”
“You must be really unlucky…or smell delicious.” Kaiden chuckled, earning a roll of the eyes from the bounty hunter.
“How much time before the dreadnought gets here?” Jaxon asked. Chief appeared in the middle of the ship.
“Well, it would have been another minute or two before reentry. But it looks like we’re gold. It stopped descending for some— Uh oh.”
“What’s up, Chief?” Kaiden asked, watching as the EI’s circle widened and the lines around his body began to wiggle frantically.
“Something’s wrong,” Chiyo said. She opened her holomonitor and looked at the readings. “There is a huge energy spike. A massive collection of power coming from above.”
“The dreadnought. Crazy bastards on that thing have a plasma cannon, and they’re going to use it.”
“Are they locking on us or something?” Silas asked.
Chiyo shook her head. “They don’t need to. It’s a tempest-class cannon. When it fires, it creates an explosion at the point of impact and wipes out everything in a massive area.”
“They’re going to glass us?” Raul cried. “Piss-poor losers, aren’t they?”
“Time to fly, Genos,” Kaiden ordered. The ship accelerated, leaving the port and flying across the bayou around it.
“How long until they fire?” Jaxon asked.
“Forty seconds,” Chiyo informed him.
“I have reached the top speed of this ship. But from the readings Viola is giving me, I don’t think we will be out of the blast radius in time,” Genos said fretfully.
The human ace walked to the cockpit and sat in the co-pilot’s chair. “Any way to give this thing more juice?”
“I don’t think liquids will help. I’m having Viola turn off all non-essential systems and reroute the power to the boosters. But if we funnel too much power at once, we could risk overheating or possibly blowing the engines,” the mechanist explained.
“Can your EI keep it on the edge?”
“Viola is tasked to capacity at the moment. I’m trying to work out the energy delegation myself.”
“I’ve got your back—or I should say Chief does.” Kaiden opened the connection to the Ship’s console. “If you wouldn’t mind, Chief, get in there and make sure we don’t explode.”
“On it. Let’s get this fat bitch to sing.” Chief sounded inordinately cheerful. He disappeared from the room and reappeared in the console screen. “Give me a moment to get situated.”
“I swear to God, if we fry because you’re doing EI warm-up stretches…” Kaiden threatened.
“I’m calibrating, dumbass. Ten seconds till we’re boosting.”
“Seven seconds until they fire,” Chiyo stated. “We will have a lead, but the blast expands quickly. Best of luck to us all.”
“This will hurt like hell if we’re caught,” Raul muttered.
The ace looked at another screen, switching the view to a camera on the back end of the ship looking at the port far in the distance.
“They are firing,” Chiyo announced.
He watched as a large red beam shot down from the sky. It continued to pierce through the port before a large wave of bright white light erupted into a dome around it. The light quickly expanded around the base, swallowing it and the bayou in its wake.
“Ready. Boosting,” Chief declared.
“Hold on,” Genos shouted. The ship accelerated sharply. Kaiden was drilled into the back of his seat and he could hear the group behind them fall to the floor. He pushed himself up to view the screen again and saw the explosion taking up most of the screen, gaining on them.
“It’s almost…right up…our ass,” he stammered against the force of the acceleration.
“Our speed is continuing to increase,” the pilot yelled. “We should be able to make it to the end point.”
“Keep up that optimism,” He ordered. The explosion had now almost swallowed the entire viewscreen. The ace gripped the armrests of his seat and gritted his teeth. He could feel his heart beating against his chest.
“We’ve reached the max speed. Any more and we’ll turn into a shooting star,” Chief yelled.
“Because we’ll be glorious?” Kaiden asked sarcastically.
“Because we’ll be a ball of fire flying through the sky.”
“We are almost there,” the Tsuna shouted.
The temperature of the ship was increasing. The force nearly crushed Kaiden’s chest. He looked out the cockpit window to see they were reaching the end of the bayou.
“Genos!” he hollered, looking for reassurance.
“We’re here,” the mechanist replied.
The ace pulled himself to the console again and watched the explosion taper off and dissipate. He leaned back and saw a Mission Accomplished banner appear. Cheers erupted behind him. He smiled as the ship decelerated and clapped Genos on the shoulder. “Good work.”
“Same to you,” the alien
responded, his breath shaky and his hands clenched firmly around the controls. “I must say, it’s odd to run a mission where you are not the most destructive thing in it.”
“Makes you appreciate the times I am, huh?” Kaiden joked.
The pilot chuckled softly. “Honestly? Quite so. At least you don’t direct it at us.”
He laughed as the world began to disappear, turning to white as the mission completed and they flew back to reality.
Chapter Four
“Commander, it would appear that—”
“Tell him I’m busy, Isaac,” Sasha grunted, continuing to type out his report for the board.
“Too busy to make time for friends? Nonsense,” Laurie said with a hint of mocking disdain in his voice as he made his way into the office.
The commander grimaced, peering at the visitor over the shades of his oculars. “Laurie, I’m being completely honest here. I have several reports to finish, messages to sort through, and I have to make preparations for my League team. So if you don’t mind—”
“How is that going, by the way?” the professor asked as he sat and crossed one leg over the other. “Things have gotten rather quiet on the League front since the end of the Co-op Test. I’m wondering how my pool is shaping up.”
“Your pool? You didn’t make a team this year,” Sasha reminded him.
His visitor brandished an EI pad and brought up an image of a crisscrossing board with various symbols on it. “It’s a little fun on the side for those of us who didn’t make a team. We’re taking bets on who will gain the most points. We each took turns choosing a faculty player and at the end of the year, we tally up the total points of all three members and see who won.”
“So you created a League based around those already playing in the League. That’s both meta and roundabout for you, Laurie.”
The professor smiled as he deactivated the pad and put it away. “After some time, I did regret not participating. I figured this would be a fun way to partake in the festivities in a less intensive manner.”
Animus series Boxed Set Page 65