“Yeah?”
“Be sure to step back a little but go ahead and shoot.” Magellan fired an explosive shot, and the pressurized bullet erupted to release the gas around the nagas by the door. Lazar fired the explosive from his launcher. He dove forward and grabbed Kane’s cannon as Kaiden and Magellan stepped back. The blast not only knocked the mutants around it away but also lit the gas to create a bigger explosion and set three of the snakes ablaze. The four above, who had begun their descent, crawled quickly away from the flames and to the other side of the room.
As the burning creatures hissed and writhed in an effort to extinguish the flames, the three men raced through the fire and the now wide-open doors. They entered the hall and Lazar charged the cannon. The merc fired at the furious nagas. The thin irises of their eyes had sharpened to knife-points, and their frills opened to reveal white webbing with dark lines crossing between them as they bared their fangs with unhinged jaws.
The energy shot from the cannon caught one directly in its throat. The snake bit down on the blast as if to swallow and it exploded internally. The mutant’s eyes closed for a moment. Kaiden hoped it would collapse or shrivel in a death twitch, but its eyes snapped open again. It raised its head and glared at them. The mouth opened to reveal a substance pooled around the bottom of the jaw. It leaned its head back and spat the contents forward.
Kaiden grabbed the back of Lazar’s neck and pulled him down. The glob of fluid arced over their heads and landed on the floor. It rolled for a few feet before the film around it gave way and the fluid drained. A large hole appeared as it burned the metal beneath it.
“Acid,” Lazar stated and pushed himself up. “Or a really potent acidic toxin. Either way, you don’t wanna get hit by it.” He offered a hand to hoist the ace up. “These beasts seem more interested in a kill than a meal now. Thanks, kid.”
“We can tally the ‘thanks’ and ‘you’re welcomes’ when we get out of here,” the ace responded. Two of the other nagas reared their heads. “Shit!” he cursed as each spat a glob of acid.
Two shots rang out, and the vile projectiles erupted in the mutants’ faces. Magellan nodded, his expression serious. “Don’t go dyin’ when we just started the plan,” he reprimanded them. “Keep in mind who else is stalking around. He might get bored waiting if we dawdle.”
“Let him come,” Lazar grunted and switched the cannon out for his grenade launcher. His face stony, he slid in another round. “If he had stuck around, we could have killed him back there with the snakes.” He turned to fire and Kaiden stepped quickly out of the way as he pulled the trigger. The nagas in the back quickly sensed the approaching danger and retreated, but the three that launched their poison were caught in the blast. Kaiden held onto the wall as the explosion erupted and Lazar and Magellan took a step back as the force from the blast rocked the hall. The three nagas had left more guts and scales lining the walls and ceiling.
“I have one shot left,” Lazar informed them and put the launcher away once again. “I’m gonna save it for when your buddy shows his face again.”
Kaiden stepped away from the wall and observed the damage left by Lazar’s blast. “Assuming he hasn’t already left the building.”
“He won’t run, not now,” Magellan said confidently. “He’s found a new plaything.”
“Do you really think he wants to kill me that badly?” Kaiden asked as he checked his gun. “Was it because of the leg? I’ll buy him a new one.”
“My guess is that it’s pride,” Lazar muttered. “A hunter doesn’t like it when their prey sneaks away.”
“I haven’t figured out what makes him tick that way.” Magellan popped the chamber of his pistol open, removed three shells, and loaded it. “If we don’t take him out here and he doesn’t take you out, I suggest you disappear for a while, Kaiden.”
“I have to head back to school after this,” he replied. “But it’s crawling with former military personnel, security droids, and surrounded by one hell of a barrier. I think I’ll be good.”
“The hell? You going to a WC private or something?” Lazar questioned.
Kaiden shook his head. “Nexus Academy.”
Lazar gave him a bewildered look while Magellan chuckled. “So you’re an Ark kid? What are you doing running backworld gigs like this?”
“Well, besides making new friends and memories…” Kaiden swung as he heard another threatening hiss. The sharp exhale had almost begun to seem more like a demented screech. “I’m getting a head start on my tuition fees.”
“I admire the effort, but let’s hope your accumulated earnings don’t end up paying for your funeral.”
“Do you think there’s a coffin that’ll fit if I get swallowed by a naga?”
“Probably not, but they’ll cut you out. The cleaning bills will be a bitch, though.”
Kaiden laughed despite the situation. A little of the anxiety lifted and he began to feel that this was more like an Animus mission than the life and death scenario it was.
Lazar grabbed Kaiden’s shoulder and dragged him forward. The ace looked at him in surprise before something combusted and sizzled behind him. He glanced back as another of the acidic orbs melted into the walls and dripped onto the floor.
So much for the moment of mirth.
“Shake it off and keep moving.” Lazar pushed him away. “I’ve already lost two and don’t care to lose anymore. Plus, you want another shot at that bastard, don’t you?”
Kaiden nodded. “Right. Move down the hall and turn right at the end. That’ll take us to another open room—a hangar or something—and give us room to maneuver.”
“Are there ways to get out if things get worse?” Lazar asked. “We eliminated most of the shriekers, but you said there were still some hiding around the place.”
“Yeah, but without getting Chief back into the systems, I only have the original print to work from,” Kaiden explained. “There shouldn’t be any there, but they may have migrated or—”
“Look out!” Magellan yelled and spun to fire down the hall at an attacking naga. The shots knocked it from the air, but it landed and raised its head. The liquid gathered around the sides of its mouth. He looked behind the serpent and his eyes widened.
“Move and talk,” he shouted and turned to dash down the hall. “There’s more of them.”
“Did we invite the whole damn jungle’s worth of these things in here?” Lazar hollered.
Kaiden spun and fired down the corridor as two other nagas advanced behind the one that had leapt at them. As the first reared its head back to spit, Magellan fired into the underside of its jaw. The impact knocked its head back, and some of the glob was expelled behind it while the rest drained down the sides of its mouth. One of the mutants twisted to avoid the acidic fluid and the acid spiraling behind it. Three other serpents that approached from behind darted away from the toxin quickly, and it landed in the burning room behind them.
“Did you see their scales?” Magellan asked as he caught up to the other two. “Dark green and bronze and heavier than the first batch.”
“The big boys,” Lazar muttered. “The ones we killed before must have been babes or only half-grown. These guys will be much harder to deal with.”
As they turned down the hall, Kaiden fumbled for one of his grenades. “Not if I have…ah hell.” He held up one of his shocks. “They’ve been short-circuited. It must have happened when Gin slammed that device into me. It felt like I was punched by lightning.”
“Arc piston. I assume he learned how to adjust it.” Magellan slid his rifle onto his back and quickened his pace. “The first few poor bastards he used it on were quite literally fried, so count your blessings, Kaiden.”
“I’m on a baker’s dozen so far,” he replied. Double doors appeared directly ahead. “There! Chief, get the doors.”
A green light flashed on the wall panel, and they slid open. Kaiden skidded to a halt, turned, and fired at the pursuing nagas. “Chief, lock it when I get in.”
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br /> “Hurry up, Kaiden. We’re clear,” Lazar shouted. The ace continued to fire and ducked to dodge another venomous shot. He raced back to the doors as a stream of the fluid seeped toward the panel. “Now, Chief.”
He ran in a second before the doors closed and locked behind him. A static snap indicated that the panel had been melted by the spit. He raised his weapon and expected the doors to open after the panel had been destroyed, but they held for now.
“I’m not sure how long those doors will hold, but we bought ourselves a little time to get some distance—” Someone tapped him on the shoulder. “What’s… Oh.”
At least a dozen shriekers stood above them and eyed them curiously, and a couple bared their fangs.
“Where exactly are the other doors in here, Kaiden?” Magellan asked.
“On the other side of the room.”
“Fuckin’ great,” Magellan growled and aimed his cannon at one of the mutant beasts.
Chapter Fourteen
He perched on a ledge to the far right of the hangar. The dome wasn’t as accommodating as some of the other squats he had stayed in. There weren’t many ways to traverse the building—a few catwalks and a half-finished upper level. The few system ducts there were too small for him to crawl through, something he had noticed more and more throughout his misadventures. For a moment, he wondered if it was his gear or his girth. He slid a hand down the smooth path of his chest and stomach and snapped his teeth a couple of times before he opened them in a toothsome smile.
Nah, he was fine. You had to keep lean when your sport of choice could be so adaptable.
He watched as the party began to walk slowly around the edges of the hangar and kept a watchful eye on the shriekers. The door they had entered through wouldn’t hold for long. It might have been made of sturdy stuff, but naga venom would eventually melt through it all the same—that is if they didn’t simply sink their teeth into the metal and rip it from its frame. The nagas were tenacious and watching them hunt the shriekers and other mutants that had found refuge in the dome over the last couple of days had been a delight. He admired the way they coiled around their prey or attacked with quick, nearly silent bites. For such large creatures, they could be incredibly stealthy, just as they could be incredibly fearsome. The first time he saw one unhinge its jaw and swallow a whole echibara in one quick snap had been glorious.
They seemed to eat much more than their unmutated counterparts. The mutants always seemed to buck nature’s role for them—or perhaps their previous role. They weren’t quite right in the head, those freaks.
He took a moment to ponder whether he was a mutant and conceded that he hadn’t run across too many others like him. Maybe a handful—six or seven—but the times that he had were certainly memorable. Their fill of lager and meat, chicks for a good time, moderate slaughter—these were almost mini-vacations from his personal journey, times when he didn’t feel the need to kill, merely the desire.
Ah, dear Magellan. He focused on the bounty hunter. It was often said that a rivalry could feel like a warped friendship at some point and he’d begun to believe that a few months before. Magellan was the only constant in his life. They had conversations, and they met up at regular intervals and discussed the finer points of their respective careers. True, this was usually when he tried to rip the bounty hunter’s throat out while Magellan attempted to blast holes in him. He’d succeeded at least a couple times, he conceded as he traced his bionic leg with his bionic arm, but it was all a part of the spirit of their little meet-ups.
He cast his doubts from his mind. He wasn’t a mutant, merely spirited, unlike those bastards in the Star Killers. The generic name for a merc company should have been sufficient warning, but the Red Suns didn’t align with his interests and the Omega Horde wasn’t interested—which was ironic considering they had been the reason for his old company’s downfall. No, it wasn’t fair to put all the blame on them. The SK’s weakness—that pitiful, infuriating weakness—was in their blood. That was why he had to get it out of them, even the ones who weren’t there. It was obviously inherent, perhaps something in the bottled water they drank. He reminded himself that it was a good thing he never partook of the stuff.
Or was it partaked? Was that even a word? Partook—that sounded right. God, he was bored.
He looked at the gang once more as the youngblood, Kaiden, inched his way to the hallway door. Gin focused on the doors where cracks and melted surfaces appeared. What exactly was his plan here? Did he have one? Was he hoping the nagas would kill him faster than the shriekers? You have a gun, kid. If you want a quick way out, you should go with that.
Maybe he was broken. He could feel energy drain from him at the thought of one less person to play with, but the apathy left him quickly and was replaced by nonchalance. He didn’t like playing with broken toys, and as upsetting as it was to see one that looked so shiny and promising fall apart like this, it meant he could focus on Magellan again.
Or, at least, that’s what he wanted to think. The new kid had shown promise. It wasn’t like him to be wrong about something like that, and he didn’t hand out gold stars on a whim. The last time he’d had a gut feeling like this was with Magellan and that officer on the Mars colony. He’d cut his arm off and left him to die as he cursed Gin’s name…man, that one had fire. Soon after, he’d seen a news report that he had lived and instead of getting a regrown arm, he’d slapped a robotic arm in its place that transformed into a chain gun. That sounded like fun.
He really needed to pay him a visit again when he was done with his work here.
Two shriekers climbed along a grate above Kaiden. The boy saw them but didn’t flinch or aim at them. Instead, he held something up in his hand as if beckoning them. This was new.
One of the shriekers froze and another tilted its head, plainly curious. It leapt off the grate and crawled to the boy. Kaiden gave it whatever was in his hand. It sniffed at it and tried to bite into it. Was it bait of some kind? The interaction was enough to persuade the other shrieker to climb down, and a few others above Magellan and the other merc watched the activity. Kaiden offered the second shrieker a piece of the food or bait and finally lured more to him.
He placed the last pieces of the lure on the ground and backed slowly toward his companions. The shriekers seemed oblivious to the scaled death that currently melted and bashed their way into the hangar. The plan finally clicked for Gin, and he smiled. Clever boys. If it worked, it looked like he would have an opportunity to play.
Magellan was held near and dear already. Kaiden was still a wild card, but he had to give him his due, even though he would have been dead already if it weren’t for that flashbang—was that an EI? One that could be seen without a link, obviously. He didn’t remember hacking into the boy’s systems, an oversight on his part. Still, it was a rather interesting piece of tech, and he made a note to see if he could scavenge it from the kid when he was done with him.
As for the last contestant, he hadn’t quite made up his mind. The man seemed to have better survival instinct than the two he’d killed back in the observatory. He’d overheard him saying he wanted to avenge them, so Gin supposed they were his friends—or partners, at the very least. Maybe they were lackeys of his, and it was a bout of fool’s pride. He looked stocky and well-built, a man who could take a beating. At least he would provide some challenge and perhaps even a thrill, but he would be the appetizer, the warm-up to the other two.
He activated his cloaking tech, leapt from the ledge to the top of a stack of crates, climbed down quickly, and sprinted to a dangling crane in the middle of the room. It was an easy task to climb up and balance the middle of his left foot on the point of the hook. It provided the perfect place from which to watch the gambit play out.
Sure enough, the door gave with a crash, and the small group of shriekers that had gathered nearby jumped in surprise. They growled and snapped their teeth as two of the nagas immediately surged into the room. One sank its fangs into the chest
of one of the mutant monkeys. Two tried to pry it off as the other serpent launched a glob of toxin at the gathered group. As they moved out of the way, the remaining shriekers joined their brethren to attack the two nagas as six more appeared behind them. A clash between the two mutant species erupted in a chorus of furious hissing and demented shrieks.
The group used this opportunity to run behind and weave between the crates and tools around the hangar. Gin smiled and wondered which one of them had the idea. It spared them more battle, and there was now a good chance the mutants would be too busy to pursue them once again.
Now it was his turn.
The three ran beneath him, and Gin stood as motionless as possible. Without the proper equipment, they shouldn’t be able to see him, but they were supposedly experienced mercenaries. An abandoned crane swinging in a room with no breeze would look suspicious, and maybe one of them was superstitious? Either way, the big one looked like he had an itchy trigger finger and it would be rather embarrassing for him to be discovered because of his own mistakes.
He looked at his hand. It was transparent, almost completely clear, and a slight haze was all that was visible. With a long energy span, no notable dip when moving, and no noticeable emissions, this generator was fantastic. When he’d heard about it at the Tokio Station, he knew he had to have it. It wasn’t as hard to get an experimental piece as one would think, at least not there. A station focusing on scientific pursuits screened all their employees and all their onboard passengers. He made his way in on a distressed shuttle—one he had in fact distressed. The plan was simply to restock when they brought him in, but he’d found an even worthier catch. Things sometimes worked so beautifully in the great abyss.
What was he doing again?
Someone shouted above the rush of air as a door opened. Magellan hustled his two partners through the doors on the other side of the hangar. He waited for the bounty hunter to close them before he followed but as he turned, he could have sworn he saw the man’s eyes narrow in his direction before he pressed the button to slide the doors shut. That Magellan…it was almost impossible for him to see him in this state, but he wouldn’t put the possibility past him.
Animus series Boxed Set Page 103