“I don’t like Yoshida,” Theo said. “But it looks like, for now, we’re all on the same side as those malakas.”
“Agreed,” Piper said. “Keep their security teams alive if you find any. They’re fighting the Federation IWs.”
The gun busting sounds subsided. Someone was reloading Estrella figured, the IWs must have hit their cooldown phase. The four arrived at the first set of pillars, taking cover behind them. Estrella looked beyond, down the halls toward the chamber leading to the elevators they went seeking. Four-legged assault robots walked over the bodies of fallen IWs and Yoshida security guards with their brains blown out. Those that took it to the chest had their lungs blown out.
The forward scanners of the assault robots got a nice look at Estrella. Several Gatling guns roared in unison. She went diving for new cover before the pillar she stood at exploded.
“What the fuck!” She got to her feet, ran, and took cover at a new pillar.
Everyone’s rifles went to select new targets. “I thought the robots were part of the building’s defense?” Piper asked.
Estrella nodded. “They are …”
“Then why did they turn on you?” Piper ducked. A salvo of bullets aimed for her face forced that. She opted to remain prone. “And me …”
RWs were a product line of Yoshida. The assault robots shouldn’t have attacked. True, Piper wasn’t owned by Yoshida, but her hacked profile should have registered her as corporate-owned property, like Estrella.
The lobby got loud again. An uncountable number of assault robots came charging in blazing their twirling twin Gatling cannons, the recoil made the robots shake violently as they slogged closer.
Theo returned fire and clenched his fist. His bullets curved around the pillars toward one robot. Only two out of the six rounds he fired missed. “Are they hacked?”
He may be correct. Geoffrey spoke, his systems returning online just in time too. I cannot connect remotely with any of the robots.
And if Geoffrey, a Yoshida designed and developed AI, couldn’t link with the robots, then for sure, someone applied their hacker’s touch. More bullets soared back and forth. The lobby was slowly turning into a warzone, worse than the one they walked into. Theo mixed up his attacks, shooting first, and then discharging twin beams of electrical currents from his glowing purple hands. One robot toppled over and erupted with sparks and smoke. Too bad more left the elevators. Too bad there were Federation black ops IWs still at large. It was a three-way gorefest.
Estrella ran for new cover, her Defense Matrix soaked up seven rounds to the chest and torso.
“Piper,” Estrella called out when she rested her back against a new intact pillar. “Can your AI link with the robots?”
“No, remember, I’m not officially using Yoshida software.”
I may be able to establish a link via nanites, Estrella. But it would require a consistent physical connection.
That meant walking up and touching a robot without dying.
Estrella shouted the message back amidst the roars of gunfire and pyro and electrokinesis blasts from Theo and Bashiir. “Piper, Geoffrey thinks he can connect with the robots.” Estrella pointed her barrel at the largest assault robot in the group, the field commander, issuing wireless commands to the smaller robots. “I’m going to link up with that big motherfucker over there.”
Piper’s face peered from her pillar cover. “You’re crazy!”
“And you and your goon squad’s gonna cover me.”
“I do not see any other option,” Bashiir said as he ducked to reload. “There are bound to be more assault robots inside. If we cannot deactivate them, then we have nothing.”
Piper pointed at Bashiir and Theo. “You two keep the IWs busy. I’ll go with Estrella.”
Estrella and Piper’s synthetic arms split open simultaneously. Both women pulled and injected a booster shot of nanites into their leg. Theo charged his glowing hands with surging electrokinesis energy and faced the remaining Federation IWs. Bashiir dropped his weapons to the floor, undid his top and pants as his hands glowed orange. Biokinesis turned him into a ferocious lion. It impressed Estrella, especially the speeds he moved at, charging at the IWs. The crossfire rounds couldn’t target him, and neither could the blasts of pyrokinesis flames, or hydrokinetic water cannons aimed at Bashiir.
Screams from the first IW mauled to death by the king of the jungle echoed. It was the signal Estrella and Piper were waiting for. They left their cover, running for the robots. Theo ran to support Bashiir, his body covered in a barrier of electricity deflecting all hostile actions thrown at him.
Estrella’s rifle blazed. One robot collapsed in a mess of parts. She reloaded. Two robots targeted her. She hit the overdrive, and using her newfound speed, dodged the slow-motion bullets, or straight up outran them. The wall appeared, so she leaped up to it, and wall-ran across it, lining up the perfect shot at one robot’s targeting sensor. A single bullet made it blind, and unable to be a threat. Overdrive ended as she had to conserve her nanite count. Estrella’s boots were on the ground from that point on. She checked her swarm count via her combat HUD.
Nanite swarm(s) remaining: 2
Behind her, Piper used psychokinesis to pull fractured pillars to orbit her. Her nanites enveloped them, disassembling them, turning them into gray goo, only to reform them into barricades. Piper covered behind her newfound protection. Her rifle blazed again, and she didn’t miss—it’s kind of hard to when you could curve your bullets. Two robots turned into a wreckage of metal and sparks.
Estrella was jealous. “Wish I could do that!”
“Like I said, I’m the future,” Piper roared as she lowered herself to reload. “And whatever Ray has, will develop version 2.0 of me.”
Estrella was shot three times. Her defenses held. She grimaced when she saw it reduced the four nanite swarms powering Defense Matrix to two. She couldn’t avoid losing more. She returned fire with her rifle until it clicked. The rifle’s ammo status showed the number 0 on her the HUD. She was empty. No worries. She confirmed Geoffrey had copied the rifle’s patterns, and dropped it, reaching for her twin pistols.
Estrella ran and slid across the floor, then made a brief overdrive surge with pistols in each hand. She lined up and clapped down the robot to her left, and then the second robot to her right simultaneously with her duel wielding action. She cut the overdrive ability early like before and checked her swarm count.
Nanite swarm(s) remaining: 1
That too drained more nanites than she would have liked.
Geoffrey, show me my battery life.
The charge remaining for her battery appeared in her vision as she dove again, avoiding gunfire, and taking cover behind a shattering pillar. 72%, she liked that number.
Can you have my life support nanites give an extra boost to my utility ones?
I can, but be advised, this will drain your battery faster.
Do it, I need every advantage going forward.
A confirmation screen showed the change was made. Estrella’s life support nanites worked two jobs now. One job was to keep her alive, and the second was to transfer their power to her failing utility bots as they continued to maintain her Defense Matrix. It should slow down the number of swarms losing power and dying, maybe even resurrect a few dead nanites.
The trade-off was her life support nanites had less energy, forcing them to return to their internal charging station, taking power from her battery. A new way for Estrella to die became part of the equation, no battery power. She faced her synthetic arm and was glad she brought a spare cell inside. She hoped she’d have the chance to swap it out.
Back to the battle.
Three robots were left, including the command one. Piper held one in place, snapping its four legs with psychokinesis, then had her nanites take it apart. A pool of gray goo oozed across the shrapnel covered floor. Two more left. Piper kept the last robot distracted, luring it to her by throwing debris with psychokinesis. She gave Estrell
a a nod, take out the commander.
Estrella ran for it, her twin pistols blazing and brightening the red leather biker suit she wore. Spent shell casings ejected with each pull of her trigger. She heard each one ding to the floor in her wake. Gatling rounds hit her. Her Defense Matrix held while her battery power dropped fast as a result, 67% now. She kept running, taking aim at its combat scanners.
When she neared it, Piper told her to jump. So, she did. Estrella felt the force of Piper’s psychokinesis hold her, making her leap fifteen feet in the air with one vault. Fifteen fucking feet. Where was Piper her whole life? They’d make a perfect strike team back in Estrella’s mercenary days.
“Go, go, go!” Piper cheered.
Estrella landed on the back of the four-legged mechanical monster. It responded by jerking its body, trying to shake her off. Its parts whizzed and roared, but Estrella’s cyborg strength and grip helped her hold on. Her NC gauntlet grabbed into its head, the location of its CPU. She brought up her abilities list, and selected Nanite Hack.
Her last free nanite swarm released from her gauntlet, drilling tiny holes into the robot. Once inside, they worked quickly to reprogram and rewire the robot. But first, they needed to sever its link to the Yoshida network security grid.
Meanwhile, the holographic black cat of Geoffrey appeared beside her, unaffected by the movement of the bucking robot trying to throw her off.
I have access to its network. The robot continued to rock. Estrella felt her body move up and down too many times. Please remain still. Sudden movements of your gauntlet will break the connection.
How about you keep this fucker from moving?
I am trying my best, Estrella.
After two minutes, the beast’s motor functions ceased. She felt the data flow into her.
Confirmed, Ray hacked all the robots in the building, reprogramming them to attack everyone on sight that wasn’t on Yoshida’s payroll or family list.
The fuck? Why?
Most likely because he was scared and was unaware we had entered. A crawl of computer code blinded her. Geoffrey was processing new data. He’s on the 150th floor, however the robots there are going offline quickly.
Estrella thought back to the hovering gunship they saw on their way in. The gunship.
They know he’s there.
You can control this right?
As long as you remain touching it, yes. Your nanites are the bridge I need to operate this—
Clear this lobby of all remaining hostiles.
As you wish.
Estrella repositioned herself, riding the robot as if it were a horse. Geoffrey’s hologram remained as they both faced forward, watching the light show of IWs powers flash. “Bashiir, Theo, fallback!”
Geoffrey, Estrella, and the robot’s CPU were all one mind working together. She ordered it come to life and walk past an impressed Piper, and into the IW crossfire of Theo and the remaining Federation black ops IWs, and a pissed-off lion ripping someone’s arm out from its socket, smearing its face crimson. When Estrella and her robot were in range, Bashiir and Theo ran for cover.
The twin guns twirled and roared. The remaining hostiles in the lobby launched backward in a spray of red and body parts. Blood squirted rapidly from the stumps that used to have a head or hand attached.
Estrella faced down at the lion Bashiir became and Theo. “Ray’s on the 150th floor, go get him.”
Theo glanced up at Estrella and nodded at the ride. “That fucking thing isn’t fitting into the elevator with you ridin’ it, yo.”
She grinned. “I’m going up another way.” Geoffrey, take us outside.
Forty-Two
Ray
The katana man came within reach of Ray, stepping over several clusters of power cables. His nanite infused katana still glowing with indigo light, its blade aimed at Ray’s neck. Ray wanted to run but couldn’t. The katana man told him to get on his knees and lift his chin, so the impulses in his head made him do as asked. Telepathic mind control sucked.
In the background, the various alarms blared nonstop. Warning of fires, indications of critical security threats, signals that the assault robots had been destroyed. There was so much racket in the chamber, the strange place that shouldn’t even be in the building to start with.
The katana man stopped, while grasping the hilt of his katana, pulled back and went to make the swing. Ray couldn’t close his eyes. The man didn’t tell him to do so.
His feet felt vibrations on the floor, then another. The gunship had found something else to shoot at. A blast rang, and it was enough to throw the katana man off balance, and then reconsider his actions. Whatever was happening out in the halls wasn’t what he had planned. Gatling cannons were discharging, and its sounds were close, much closer than the gunship. Something else got off and entered the floor. Ray wanted to think it was an assault robot, it sure as hell sounded like one.
The katana man moved to the collapsed wall, which gave Ray and he access to the strange computer room. If Ray could move, he would have turned to see what he was doing.
He heard the man grunt. A loud one. “Piper, you backstabbing bitch!”
A section of the chamber collapsed, weapons fire from an assault robot claimed responsibility for that. Ray was free to move, bullets flying overhead, beside, and dangerously close to him and the katana man was probably the reason for it. Even bad guys had to have their moments of fear, strong enough to break their concentration. And telepathy required a reasonable amount of mental focus.
The katana man drew a pistol and returned fire. The robot fired back, its weapons fire focused on the man. Dust and smoke partially obscured the battle the katana man and the robot were engaged in, Ray couldn’t make out exactly was happening. One bullet grazed the katana man’s arm when he went to switch cover behind a wall that was intact.
His weapon dropped to the floor. A new storm of bullets prevented him from retrieving it. Not Ray though, he ran, dove, and grabbed the weapon. It forced the katana man to counter using his powers, his glowing white hands forcing half the bullet spray to stop, turn around and return to its sender, the robot. The robot stopped shooting, and it didn’t sound like it was walking either. Crackling sounds of sparks spraying were probably the reason.
Ray had a clear shot at the katana man. He took aim, told his shaking hands to stop doing that, and went to pull the trigger. He hoped the katana man’s psychokinesis powers were on cooldown. If they weren’t, then Ray was going to regret it.
His pistol cracked three times. The katana man’s hands held up before the three rounds. They stopped in midair. He plucked one and put it to his face, gave it a look, then faced back at Ray.
“You know, this could have hurt me, right?”
He wasn’t on cooldown. Ray ran, firing blindly, and his missed bullets shattered the computer screens and cables that lay about. He felt a force tug at the weapon, the hands of psychokinesis were pulling it out from his grip. The psychokinesis force wasn’t strong enough. The pressure the katana man had to deal with limited his powers. It’d explain why he didn’t use mind control again as he was nearing his cooldown. With the robot out of the picture, Ray had to keep up the pressure and force him into it.
The screen on Ray’s pistol flashed its ammo count. He had to conserve bullets. He had no spare clips. Those were on his katana-wielding attacker. With a slash of his blade through the air, the katana man launched the debris of the wall hurtling at Ray. One metal beam slapped Ray’s forehead. It sent him hiding behind a computer console.
The footsteps of the katana man echoed, and then stopped to step over a cable. “You’re just delaying the inevitable, Ray, just like your friend Jax.”
Ray snorted. “You must be Nobuo I take it?”
“Why yes. How did you know?”
“That assassin you sent to my hotel didn’t have his phone secured.”
“Then you must see you can’t stop the revolution.”
Ray faced the pistol. He placed the barrel
to his head, his hands shaking violently. “What if I blow my brains out?”
“Both you and I know you won’t do that,” Nobuo said then laughed. “You love Arianna too much to make her suffer that kind of loss.”
He was still holding the shaking pistol to his head. “Someone’s done their homework.”
“I’m a telepath, what did you expect?”
“If you can read my mind, why not just take this stuff out of it?”
“You know damn well why.”
The conversation he had with Ashford reminded him why. Celia buried Arianna’s gift deep within his brain. Only a powerful S ranked telepath stood a chance at getting it, and Nobuo was it, only he was allied with the Federation.
Ray had lowered the pistol. It wasn’t until it tapped the floor he sat on that he realized what had happened. “What the fuck is in my head?”
The footsteps paused for a second. They resumed. Nobuo had to step over more power cables. “The solution to the problem IWs worldwide face.”
“And that is?”
“Freedom.”
“Freedom from what? The Federation? Because you know, if that’s the case why not just work with us? The Alliance and European Union would love nothing more than to topple of the Federation. No need to cut my head off too.”
“Words like that are exactly the ones the Federation told us.” The sound of Nobuo’s voice felt closer. Ray looked for another place to run. There wasn’t any. “Federation, Alliance … they are no different. They’re all driven by humans.”
“You want independence for all IWs.”
“It’s high time humans became tools used for war, while witches and warlocks sit up top, issuing the orders—”
“Malaka!” The sound of electrokinesis discharge crackled. If Ray’s back wasn’t pressed up against the console, he would have gotten a good look at Theo’s entrance. “You talk too much man!”
When he felt it was safe to stand, he did. Theo stood with his hands aimed at Nobuo, zapping him with twin bolts of electricity. A lion roared; it was Bashiir. When Theo’s powers entered the cooldown phase, Bashiir sprinted forward, leaping up to maul Nobuo as he staggered from the electrical shock. Bashiir missed.
Cyber Witch Page 33