The ace smiled as he released it. Flynn took it firmly into his hands. “I’d usually say something snarky at this point, but I saw how quickly you took out those bots and a few of those initiates. I’d have to say that you are quite adequate.”
“You’re ever so kind, partner,” the marksman jeered in a mock southern accent.
“Is he mocking us?” Chief asked, his eye furrowing in the HUD.
“I can’t tell. His accent sounds pretty close to yours, honestly.” He snickered.
Chief rolled his eye. “Ha ha. Since we’ve got a couple minutes of peace now, I should let you know that since Honor is now in play, we have the current total of initiates available for display.”
“What are we looking at?” Kaiden asked, and a small scoreboard appeared in his visor.
Total Initiates: 103 / 300
Teams Represented: 48 / 100
Current Time: 7 Hrs. 22 Min.
“Wait, there’s one hundred and three initiates remaining and forty-eight teams? How does that math add up?”
“Forty-eight teams represented, meaning there’s still at least one member on a team. The remaining one hundred and three initiates don’t all have their teams still complete.
“Those guys won’t last long,” he mused.
“No kidding. Two more just bit the dust.”
“Not to mention it’s been over seven hours. Once that headcount gets lower and a bit more time passes, they’re gonna start deleting rooms and all that.” Kaiden looked at the door. “They might have already started.”
“Then we need to carry on,” Genos stated.
“Right.” The ace nodded. “Flynn, Amber, which way to the elevator?”
“It should be down the hall and to the left unless things have switched around,” Amber said.
“Quite possible,” Chiyo agreed. “But it’s an easy fix—or easier when compared to everything else.”
“We’re going to head down,” Kaiden said.
“Is that offer to join you still available?” Flynn asked as he switched out the magazine on his rifle.
He looked up in surprise. “Of course, but I thought you said you wanted to do your own thing.”
“Well, we’re down our big gun, and the numbers are beginning to bleed out. Best we can hope to do once we get up there is maybe take care of the scraps or hope we run into a few different scenarios for Amber to grab some Motes. But, if it turns out you are right about your little theory, I honestly think it would be kinda boring to go and play clean-up instead of watching you take on an omniscient EI.”
“I would certainly have to agree with that.” Kaiden chortled.
The marksman slung his rifle over his shoulder. “What do you think, Amber? Should we tag along?”
She took out her submachine gun and nodded. “I’ll stand by for when you two inevitably take your hits doing your little super-soldier tag-team bit.” She looked at Chiyo and Genos. “Plus, it will be nice to tag along with a couple of people with their heads screwed on straight for a change.”
“So, is she insulting us or is she merely being passive-aggressive?” the ace pondered.
“She’s being insulting passive-aggressively,” Flynn stated firmly.
The Tsuna moved his hands around his neck. “My head seems to be aligned just like anyone else’s.”
“Is he being funny or naïve?” the marksman asked
“He’s funny because he’s naïve,” Kaiden answered.
The two laughed, Kaiden nudging the other man playfully as the group set off to the elevators—and to hopefully bring an end to the test.
Chapter Thirty
“This is the slowest elevator I have ever ridden,” Kaiden grumbled, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor as the cables continued to whir just outside the caged box that constituted their ride.
“’Service’ is a relative term here,” Amber joked.
“We seem to be in a rather disadvantageous situation should anyone attack,” Genos noted, looking around the rickety and slipshod container. “Even weak weapons could reach us through the cage.”
“We’ll get down there eventually.” Flynn shrugged, leaning against the side of the box. “Like I said, I doubt there’re gonna be too many threats down here. Most initiates are probably up top, and whatever is left over down here, the five of us can take on no problem.”
“You are forgetting the primary reason we came here,” Chiyo stated. “If the Director EI is here and we find it, I doubt it’ll let us take it over or disable it without recourse.”
“It can try,” Kaiden challenged. “Everything it has sent our way has been more annoying than deadly.”
“What if it summons another group of those mohos?” Genos asked, tapping the remainder of his helmet. “We did not fare too well against them.”
The ace coughed and looked sheepishly to the side. “True, but… Um, we don’t have to worry about lava this time around.”
“Unless it warps some in,” Chiyo pointed out.
“Would you stop that? I’m trying to keep all this bravado going, and you are not helping,” he grumped.
“Just remember to hold yourself back, mate. This is new for all of us.” He knocked a hand against Kaiden’s shoulder. “You’ll get your chance to take out your big bad EI—assuming we find it, of course.”
“What should we do if we don’t?” Amber inquired. “Not to spoil the mood, but we should have a Plan B.”
“I suppose we’ll either have to come back here and make our way up to the building proper,” Chiyo suggested. “That or see if we can find an entrance out of the cave and onto the island, and head back that way.”
“I should have left a trail of some kind.” Flynn sighed.
“You really think it would still be here?” Kaiden asked.
The marksman looked at him, a little startled. “That’s a good point. We didn’t see anything change when we were making our way through the first time, but it could all be totally different now.”
“It could, but I have a plan to track the EI,” the infiltrator revealed.
“Do you, now? Wanna share or would that compromise the situation?” the ace snarked.
“I can, but it involves a lot of explanation of EI systems and theories about the Animus overlay.”
“Pass.” Kaiden grinned.
“Same. I’ll take your word for it,” Flynn muttered, looking at the back of the elevator and the rock wall visible through the cage as if it were a much more interesting object to study.
“I would like to hear your plan, friend Chiyo,” Genos said tentatively.
“Same here. I like to know what the plan is before heading into a potentially dangerous situation.” Amber glared at the ace and the marksman.
“That’s because you’re boring.” The ace snickered.
“Why do both of you think it’s smart to pick on the medic?” Amber huffed in a show of annoyance.
“We don’t, but hey, laughter is medicine too,” the marksman reasoned.
“See how much good it does compared to serum when your arm gets blown off,” she warned.
“I’ll be sure to take notes,” Kaiden retorted.
Amber sighed and shook her head, turning to address Chiyo again. “So what are you thinking, Chi?”
The infiltrator activated the tablet on her wrist. “When we get down there, I’ll send a directive to all of your EIs to search for— Wait, do you hear that?”
The ace looked up and listened intently. Over the creaking of the elevator and hum of machinery, he heard the sound of rushing air. It was faint and sounded like it came from the distance, neither above nor below them.
“That sounds like something flying at high speed—too small to be a ship or plane, but maybe a drone?”
“Too fast,” Flynn countered, taking out his sniper rifle. “That’s a rocket.”
Kaiden looked over as the front of the elevator finally descended past the rock walls and revealed a city below them. It was a re-creation of
a metropolis, but he couldn’t discern which city. The terrain was post-apocalyptic, the streets broken and cracked and vehicles and buildings abandoned and in various states of dilapidation. As he looked at the new scenery, the marksman raised his rifle and fired. There was an explosion in the sky as he shot the missile out of the air.
“Hostiles? Where?” the ace demanded.
Genos leaned against the fencing. “Initiates—a team of three below.”
“Assholes. At least wait for us to get out of this cage before you try to blow us up.”
“Attack of opportunity, Kaiden. They’re gonna take it.” Flynn tried to take aim at the three. “I can’t get an angle at this height. Everyone back up and wait until— Oh, bloody hell. They’re gonna shoot the elevator line at the bottom.”
“Everyone get close to me,” Kaiden ordered. A rocket launcher fired as the other four initiates surrounded him and he pointed his barrier downward and activated it. An explosion rocked the elevator, and it slid down for a moment before catching. The ace tried to look up to see if they would be fired at again before hearing a vicious snap as the elevator went into freefall.
The barrier broke their fall before it snapped into pieces. Kaiden and Flynn rolled forward and kicked the elevator’s doors open. Another rocket flew toward them that the marksman shot down as soon as he had visual. The soldier grabbed a thermal and activated it, throwing it at the trio of initiates. They scattered before it went off, buying the group some time to recover.
“Is everyone all right?” Flynn asked, going back to help the other three.
“I’m okay, what about the women?” Genos asked worriedly as he pushed himself up and took out his rifle.
“I’m okay, but Chiyo…” Amber fretted, as she looked at the infiltrator.
“My leg. I didn’t land properly. It’s broken.” She gasped, wincing as Amber tried to help her up.
“Kaiden, Genos. Give us some cover fire,” Flynn ordered. The Tsuna nodded as he went to assist Kaiden, who was already engaging the enemy team.
“We’re exposed here. We have to move you,” the marksman explained, taking her other arm over his shoulder.
“This will help with the pain until I can treat you properly,” Amber stated, injecting a vial of painkiller into her neck through a tear on her underlay.
Chiyo nodded, clearly dazed, and the two of them dragged her behind a broken van as the other two continued to fight.
“Genos, charge your cannon,” Kaiden yelled. His teammate nodded, dropping his rifle and switching weapons. As he began to charge it, the ace took out another thermal, not activating it before as he tossed it to the left of two of the hostile initiates. They didn’t seem to notice that it wasn’t armed as they both dashed to the right to get away from it. Genos saw his opportunity and fired a charged blast at the two. One looked up just in time to see the glowing orb barreling down on them.
They were both caught in the explosion. Kaiden watched as their forms melted and disappeared in the now-familiar white flash.
“Dammit!” He heard the remaining enemy curse. The ace ran over to the unexploded thermal, watching as the soldier rearmed his rocket launcher and turned to shoot him. Kaiden slid down and snatched the grenade, pressed the button to activate it, and held it down to let the explosive cook.
As the soldier lined up his shot, his rocket launcher was knocked away by a quick shot from Flynn’s sniper rifle. Kaiden used the opportunity to lob the grenade at the enemy. He tipped backward, trying to get away, but the device went off right in his face. The explosion blew him off the pile of debris that he was standing on and he crashed to the pavement, his helmet and armor broken. Blood seeped from him as he lay on the ground for a moment before he de-synced.
“Good riddance,” Flynn sneered as he walked over to Kaiden. “Good moves, mate.”
“Nice shooting,” the soldier responded, pushing to his feet. “How’s Chiyo?”
“Amber is looking her over now.” The marksman looked around for a moment. “Don’t see anyone else. This sure isn’t a cave system anymore.”
“No kidding,” he murmured. “This is sprawling. It looks like it goes on for miles. How the hell are we gonna find this thing in here?”
“I guess we should have listened to what Chiyo was thinking,” his companion admitted. He held up his rifle and flicked a thumb behind him. “Go ahead and check on her. I’ll keep watch.”
“Appreciate it.” Kaiden jogged over to the others.
Genos was already there, kneeling beside Amber as she ran her stim ray over their teammate. “You doing all right, Chiyo?” the ace asked, concern filling his voice as he saw the shape of her leg.
“I have something to deal with breaks and fractures, but I’m tending to her moderate injuries first,” Amber explained. She took off her broken helmet, revealing her sandy blond hair and tanned skin. Her hair was matted to her skin, and she was sweating profusely, but she turned to smile at him. “Don’t worry. I’ll make her good as new.”
“Thank you, comrade Amber. Your healing skills are invaluable,” Genos proclaimed.
“It’s what I do.” She beamed. “’Comrade’ Amber, huh? You Tsuna seem to like your titles.”
“It is a sign of respect to place a title on an individual when speaking to them. Most of the others have used it sparingly or not at all to better integrate, but I find people like it,” he explained.
“So comrade Amber and friend Chiyo, hmm? When do I get the friend title?” she teased as she deactivated her stim ray, put it away, and took up a small orb.
“I did not want to be presumptuous. Our personal interactions have been minimal,” the alien said in apology. “But I am always happy to make new friends.”
“Go ahead and consider me friend Amber from now on, you little periwinkle cinnamon roll,” she teased. Turning back to Chiyo, she placed the orb above the infiltrator’s tibia and pressed the switch on top. Blue liquid drained out of it, sliding down and around Chiyo’s leg.
“Is that what I think it is?” Kaiden asked.
“Mom’s ‘proprietary’ blend?” she questioned, “Kind of. It’s a new thing we’re trying. It’s basically her serum combined with that goo the Mirus are fond of.”
“Oh, right…that.” Kaiden shivered. “The toxin sponge or whatever? How will that help a broken leg?”
“Those little goo balls have a number of uses. It basically soaks into her leg and creates tiny tendrils around her muscles and through her bones, resetting and repairing them. What should take weeks of healing with modern tech and medicine, we can heal to a useable level in about thirty minutes, depending on the break and assuming she doesn’t push herself too hard.”
“That may not be up to me, depending on how this goes.” Chiyo pulled out her wrist tablet and tapped a few buttons. “Thank you for your help, Amber. This would have been a rather embarrassing way to end things.”
“I wanna see this play out,” the medic assured her. “We’ll be ready to go in no time.”
“Let’s hope we have a place to go,” she whispered and typed on her tablet for a moment before looking at Kaiden. “Please bring Chief out if you would, Kaiden.”
“You heard the lady. Get out here,” he ordered the EI.
“This might be a bad time, but I want to note the irony of the most cautious member of this team being the one who’s getting banged up the most,” Chief stated as he formed over Kaiden’s shoulder before floating down toward Chiyo. “Sorry, darlin’. If life were fair, Kaiden would be eating his meals through straws for several years instead of you having to take the brunt of his mistakes.”
“Yeah, sure, find a way to make this my fault.” He sighed. “I was the one who saved us from the fall, you know.”
“It’s inconsequential. I should have been better prepared for the crash,” she said dismissively. “I need you to do something for me, Chief.”
“What do ya need? I should warn you that my bedside manner could use some work and that I’m a shit we
t nurse.”
Kaiden chuckled as she shook her head. “Noted, but not needed. I need you to link up with Kaitō to boost his abilities.”
“What for? I can handle whatever you need me to do.”
“I’m searching for specific lines, energy readings, or transfers. I’m going through a long list. I’ve been doing this on every floor we’ve been on and found nothing. I’m guessing the EI is masked to some degree, but by searching and focusing on specific targets, I can find a trail,” she explained. “I need to use my personal systems, which are linked to Kaitō, but I would like you to help by adding your power with his to hasten and expand the search. So unless Kaiden has been upgrading you with hacker talents or coding mods—”
“I’ve tried, but he doesn’t read my Christmas lists,” Chief snarked. “All right, I’ll tango with foxy. Opening a line.”
Chiyo nodded, continuing to work on her tablet as Flynn walked over. “Everything all right over here?”
“Looking much better.” Kaiden nodded. “Nothing roaming out there looking to dine on our fleshy bits?”
“Not even trash mobs. This place is barren,” Flynn noted, scanning the horizon. “Not exactly well-defended. Maybe it’s a hiding-in-plain-sight tactic?”
“Maybe again, this could all be a—”
“Chiyo, wait,” Amber shouted. The two men looked back to see Chiyo standing. “Your leg still needs time. You could break it again.”
“I’ve found it,” she declared. Kaiden saw her full smile for what he realized was probably the first time since their Co-operative Test. “The Director is here.”
“How can you tell?” he asked.
“I’ve found a stream line. It’s faint, but it seems to travel all through this area—and, I would guess, through the whole map, but the farther from the source it is, the more it’s hidden.” She limped over to the side of the van. “It leads to that building.” She pointed to a partially ruined tower in the distance. “It may be the Director itself or something connected to it, but whatever it is, we now know for certain it’s here.”
Animus series Boxed Set Page 88