“Tommy doesn’t want us to kill any of these guys?” Layla muttered.
The mech’s missile launcher thundered and Layla ducked, rolling to one side. An explosion ripped through the street where she’d been standing. Dirt and pieces of churned asphalt pelted Layla along with the blastwave. Rolling back onto her feet, staying low, Layla emptied the cylinder of her revolver. She reached around her back and a speed loader with five .50 calibre rounds dropped from her pack into her waiting hand. Layla jammed them into the waiting cylinder, tossing the disposable speed loader, and slapped the revolver shut.
“Do you think you could say it?” The pilot said, “Do you think you could say your catchphrase for me, just once?”
“What catchphrase? I don’t have a catchphrase!” Layla said.
“Kung Fu Grip, bitch!” The pilot said, “That’s totally your catchphrase!”
“That’s not a catchphrase! I said that once, right before I crushed a guy’s skull in.” Layla said, “I guess it was memorable, but it was just the once!”
“There’s tonnes of merch with you saying it, people would go nuts!” The pilot said.
Layla took off running again, revolver in her left hand. Turning a corner, she sprinted toward the centre of the arena. As she got closer to the epicentre of the miniature nuke blast, damage got worse. Nuclear winds had scoured the streets. Briefly out of sight of the mech, Layla looked for a spot to ambush it. A two-story fast food restaurant overlooked what remained of the central marketplace. The front of the building had been sheared away leaving its interior open to the elements. Side whirring, Layla ran for the restaurant.
“Do you remember when you had the grenade launcher and you lured Donny Kohler into that grocery store? And you tried to blow him up but he was like ‘Nope!’ Because his suit absorbed the whole thing? It’s kind of like this, isn’t it? Like, unstoppable force meets immovable object!” The pilot said, “Or do you remember fighting that giant robot teddy bear after that weapon game? And using the thermite grenade on it?”
“I do.” Layla said.
Racing through the bottom of the destroyed restaurant, Layla retrieved a dense, black cylinder from her belt. A handle-shaped spoon ran down one side of the cylinder. Palming the thermite grenade, Layla vaulted over wreckage of tables and chairs that had been half-melted in the nuclear blast and ran up the stairs to the second level.
The mech piloted by Layla’s superfan pounded into the street, around the corner. Weapons swung at its sides. While it was full of wreckage, the pilot could see the street was empty. Holographic trackers swept across the front of his scarred canopy and illuminated potential hiding places before dismissing them as the mech’s bulky upper body moved from side to side.
“Come on, Southpaw! It’s not like you to run, right? You remember taking out that great white shark at the start of last season? You punched it in the mouth right through to its brain, pow! So badass.” The pilot said, “Or-, I guess you did run from that Abomination but only so you could lure it into a trap. Come on, show me what you’ve got!”
The tracking system picked up on some displaced dust and rubble. The mech’s canopy lit up in front of the pilot’s face with a series of glowing footprints. The pilot eagerly made his way toward the damaged restaurant. The ragged lip of the building’s upper floor jutted out like a balcony.
“I think I need a catchphrase too if I’m going to be memorable.” The mech pilot said, “I’m thinking something like, ‘Thanks for playing, bitch!’ Or, ‘Slay bells ring, bitch!’ What do you think?”
Layla slipped back into view on the second floor of the building, holding her heavy revolver in one hand and the thermite grenade in the other. The revolver fired and another bullet winged off the side of the mech’s canopy.
“You’ve got to let it happen organically.” Layla said, “Here, catch.”
Layla dropped the spoon from the side of the thermite grenade, exposing a red button. Thumbing the button, she lobbed it with her right hand. The grenade became hot in midair, its sides glowing and heating up until they were almost molten. When the grenade hit the side of the mech’s minigun it stuck as if welding itself in place. A blazing flash consumed the mech’s right side. Burning shrapnel erupted in all directions.
“Oh, man, what the heck was that?” The pilot yelled.
The mech wheeled, smoke pouring off the giant machine. Inside the canopy, the young man steering it blinked rapidly in confusion. The minigun looked mostly intact in spite of the blast but bits of burning slag dripped away from the weapon and its belt of ammunition. Holographic warnings blinked on the right side of the mech’s canopy. After a few moments of recovery, the pilot tried to fire the minigun but it only let out a rapid clicking sound.
“That sucks!” The pilot said, “You’ve made it way harder for me to win the money now!”
The mech raised the heavy missile launcher on its other arm. It cycled into place and fired, sending another explosive whistling toward Layla. Layla barreled forward toward the lip of the upper floor. At the last moment, she thrust back with her left leg and the mechanics in it locked up, launching her forward with an extra burst of power. The missile flew past and ripped through the ceiling of the restaurant behind her, exploding. The blast helped propel Layla forward even harder. The roof of the restaurant split in two and collapsed in on itself. Layla managed to control her jump and landed on top of the mech.
“Oh, what? What the heck?” The pilot said.
Layla clung to the canopy of the mech. Stunned, the pilot tried to raise his weaponised arms to scrape Layla off but the missile launcher was too big and bulky to reach and the minigun arm was too damaged. Layla held on with her right hand and reared back, pulling her left fist back behind her shoulder. She punched and rammed her fist through the front window of the canopy. The material was tough as solid steel but Layla’s mechanical fist, covered in plates of superhardened porcelain, broke through. The pilot yelled in surprise as Layla’s hand opened in front of his face. He threw himself back in his chair to get away but Layla didn’t grab at the pilot. She groped for the mech’s control panel and slammed her hand down on a large button marked ‘EJECT’.
The canopy of the mech split apart into several large sections and launched itself away from the mech in different directions. Layla’s mechanical arm was still jammed through the front window. She was picked up and thrown clear, riding the window back toward the damaged restaurant.
Before the pilot could react, his seat shot straight up. Booster rockers roared from under the seat and carried the pilot away. The young men let out a surprised shriek. The mech slumped with its canopy gone, looking like it had been decapitated.
Layla landed rough, almost crushed under the section of canopy her arm was jammed through. Her left side locked up and with superhuman strength she easily tossed the canopy portion aside. The ejection system carried the mech pilot high overhead and away from the fight. A distant, stunned yelling could be heard over the roar of booster rockets. Suddenly, a large parachute shot from the back of the chair. Billowing, it carried the civilian further away through the thick cloud of irradiated debris hanging over the arena. Layla stood and followed, racing down the blasted street.
The mech pilot’s chair landed on a flat section overlooking the crater created by Layla’s FatBoy nuke. It came down hard, dragged sideways before the parachute went flat. The pilot scrambled to get loose of the straps. Meanwhile, Layla sprinted to catch up. Left side whirring, Layla reached the chair as the pilot got upright and backed away.
“Oh, man, I know I should be pissed you destroyed my Slayer mech, but now you can check this out!” The pilot said.
Even free of the mech, it turned out the pilot was wearing a high-tech exoskeleton like the one Lyncher Lee had been given earlier in the game. Black struts crisscrossed the man’s chest, arms and legs. Out of the mech, the man was of average height and skinny but the exoskeleton would give him enhanced speed and strength. It wasn’t the suit that he wanted
to show off though, Layla realised. Under the exoskeleton he was wearing a padded uniform and he unzipped the front to reveal a t-shirt beneath it. On the t-shirt was an image of Layla in the style of the famous ‘We Can Do It!’ image, flipped to better show off her mechanical arm. Emerging from Layla’s mouth was a speech bubble with the same four words the obsessive pilot claimed was now her catchphrase.
“See! See, I told you I was a huge fan of yours!” The pilot said, “I didn’t even know you were going to be here and I still wore this, it’s my favourite shirt!”
As he spoke, the young man was moving toward Layla. His eyes were wild and he looked like he wanted to pounce and wrestle her, exoskeleton whirring. Layla watching him warily, standing slightly sideways toward him.
“Do you think you could say it for me? Your catchphrase?” The pilot said, “Just the once?”
The pilot lunged with a wild swing, powered by his exoskeleton. Layla turned and caught the punch easily in the palm of her mechanical left hand. Her arm barely shook in spite of the speed and strength of the exoskeleton. With a crunch, Layla closed her hand over the man’s fist. She twisted and the young man’s wrist buckled and broke. The pilot gasped as Layla released him.
The contest winner’s hand was pulverised along with the exoskeleton gauntlet covering it. Pieces of metal and bone threaded through raw and broken flesh that looked like hamburger meat. While he was in shock, Layla stepped in and punched him with a right across his exposed jaw. The young man immediately went limp and tumbled to the ground, unconscious.
“Kung Fu Grip, bitch.” Layla said.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A B-list actress in a spacesuit bounds across the dusty surface of the moon.
A spacecraft, miniscule compared to the planet behind it, cuts through the crumbled rings of Saturn. The dark cloak of the universe stretches into eternity beyond the arc of the planet.
The actress jogs through the bright interior of the shuttle. The ground curves ahead of and behind her as the spacecraft rotates to create the sensation of gravity.
Flying a smaller craft, the actress detaches from the main ship. She approaches a monolithic black something. It is neither object nor entryway but somehow something that is both.
An orgy of colours play across the actress’ face. Her pupils shrink.
The B-list actress finds herself in a large and almost featureless room. She removes the helmet of her spacesuit.
The young woman is old now. Shrivelled in a bed, with papery skin and thick nests of wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. Close to death, having never left the room.
A giant space baby looks out over the curve of the Earth. Protected from the vacuum of space by the womb of the universe, a shimmering amniotic sack that shields and nourishes it. The space baby lifts one chubby hand against the shimmer toward its former home.
“Transcend, the new fragrance from Androgynouso Fuentes-O’Shananan.”
Back in the Towers section, the contestants and mercenaries fled out the back of the parking structure. They left Ridley, his chest blown open by Klou’s railgun. The mech pursued them relentlessly with the German doctor at the controls. Its minigun howled across the garage and rattled off the concrete walls.
Bolt and Echo Three helped DFN as they ran, her leg dragging in its plastic brace. Miller and Ellis covered them with their useless weapons raised, and the robotic pack mule followed at the rear. Miller stopped the mule for a moment and removed a grenade from the equipment strapped to its side. The large, hourglass-shaped EMP device was still attached to the other side of the mule’s body.
“This is the last EMP grenade we’ve got but it won’t work while that mech’s armour is intact.” Miller said, “The larger EMP would-, it could wipe out a small city, but we should leave that for a last resort.”
“Fuck this, I didn’t sign up for this shit!” Ellis said.
“You knew this was never going to be easy! You took the money, just like the rest of us!” Miller said, “We all need to work together if we’re going to have a chance against Klou!”
Ellis was already backing off, into an alley that branched away from the road they’d found themselves on. He shook his helmet vehemently.
“Can’t spend shit if you’re dead!” Ellis said, “Fuck you, you and these fucking criminals are on your own!”
“You prick!” Miller said.
Ellis turned and took off running down the alley, his white-clad back disappearing from sight. It was no use trying to follow him. Frustrated and afraid, Miller gestured to the others to keep following her as they headed toward the massive arena wall curving in front of them. Off to the right was a construction site, surrounded by hurricane fencing covered in blue canvas. The entrance was open except for a boom gate which they circled around.
“We can take that mech down no problem we’ve just got to come up with a plan I can run rings around that thing.” Bolt said.
“My rifle won’t scratch it, but maybe I can distract it?” DFN said.
The exit from the parking garage that the group had used was too small for the mech. The hulking machine suddenly exploded through the wall instead, tossing chunks of concrete in all directions. Klou scanned the surrounding alleyways, clearly enjoying himself.
“Go, keep moving!” Miller said.
The four of them ran across the construction site as quickly as they could. The honeycombed start of another office tower, only a few stories tall at the time work on it had been permanently halted, stood ahead of them. A gigantic construction robot loomed next to the incomplete building, long powered down, multitudes of arms dangling from its sides and undercarriage. As a medic, Miller wasn’t an expert on battle strategy but an idea was starting to form in her mind.
“Okay, guys, I think I have a plan.” Miller said.
Klou ripped through the construction site fencing like wrapping paper. Building materials and earthmoving vehicles littered the enormous yard, overgrown with weeds. Canopy swiveling, a holographic tracking program appeared in front of Klou’s face. Footprints led from the entrance of the site to the half-constructed few stories of the building. Tattered plastic sheeting covered the front of the structure, flapping in the irradiated breeze. Klou raised his weapons in anticipation.
“You can run all you want, but you can not hide!” Klou said.
Suddenly, a blur of motion crossed the yard. The mech turned awkwardly as the blur disappeared behind a stack of building materials. Klou aimed his railgun at the pile but didn’t use it even though the weapon could drill a hole through the materials easily, stomping closer instead. The mech’s sensors picked up the sound of feet smacking the dirt and another blur shot out from behind the heap. Several lances of blue energy fired from the barely glimpsed figure as Bolt opened up with both of his stun weapons. Blasts dissipated harmlessly against the mech’s armour with splashes of blue sparks.
Bolt circled behind a large bulldozer with its stumpy legs and shovel half-buried in dust. Klou raised the mech’s minigun and fired, bullets hammering and ricocheting off the earthmoving vehicle. He fired the railgun as well. The spike ripped through the air and left a smoking hole in the inches-thick plate at the front of the bulldozer, tunneling through it and continuing across the construction site with a sonic boom.
“Whoa that was close!” Bolt leapt to his feet again and kept moving, firing his stun guns.
While Bolt drew Klou’s attention, the others made their way through the building that had been under construction before the city was abandoned. Miller helped DFN limp up the stairs while Echo followed. The construction site was rundown and shadowy. DFN carted her lightweight sniper rifle with her up the steps.
“We need to get into position, couple of floors up.” DFN said.
“I need-, I’ve got to go back down so I can hit him with the EMP grenade.” Miller said.
“Give the grenade to me.” Echo said, “Can do it.”
Miller hesitated, halfway up a flight of stairs with DFN. Her main wea
pon was slung against her side while her fist, of the hand not supporting DFN, was wrapped around their final EMP grenade. The pack mule that had been carrying the grenade was staggering along behind them. After a moment, Miller passed the grenade to Echo. The girl retreated back down the stairs, past the mule, to the bottom floor.
Bolt moved between the earthmoving vehicles, stacks of building materials and other bits of shelter in blasts of motion. Dual wielding his stun pistols, Bolt fired lances of blue light across the mech’s armour. Klou fired back, getting frustrated. Rows of bullets shredded the ground and threw clouds of dirt into the air but the mech was bulky and couldn’t move as quickly as Dozer had with his minigun when he’d managed to trap Bolt.
“Stand still, you little vermin!” Klou said.
Bolt disappeared behind a row of green portable toilets at the edge of the construction site and dropped to one knee. Feeling elated, Bolt couldn’t ignore that his feet were throbbing in his padded sneakers. Having used so much speed, Bolt’s enhanced metabolism was making him feel half-starved as well. Suddenly, a section of the portable toilet beside Bolt’s head exploded. The accompanying sonic boom threw Bolt to the ground. Klou’s railgun spike had ripped through the closet-sized bathroom without slowing and nearly torn Bolt’s head off with it. Klou followed up with the minigun moments later and the plastic couldn’t handle those bullets either, the rounds sawing through all four portable toilets at chest-level. Bolt, on the ground, was missed by the shots but bits of green plastic rained on him. Klou’s minigun reached the end of the row and then started to cut back in the other direction, firing lower. The chemical toilet on the end ruptured open and spewed blue water across the ground.
“Okay so this was a bad spot to hide I’d better keep moving!” Bolt said.
Rolling back to his feet, Bolt took off across the site. Klou’s holographic targeting system highlighted the moving figure and his mech swiveled at the waist, struggling to follow. The minigun tore up the fence in Bolt’s wake.
Kill Switch: Final Season Page 29