Miller and DFN crossed one floor of the building that had been under construction. Reaching the edge of the level, DFN fell to the ground with Miller almost dropping her, setting up a position to shoot from the lip of the building. DFN set her rifle’s stock against her right shoulder. Unraveling the cord from its scope, DFN plugged the gun into her artificial eye.
“It’s still too far away, and such a tiny target, do you really think you can hit it?” Miller said.
“One shot, one kill.” DFN said.
Below them, Bolt looped across the vast, dusty yard. The mech’s minigun blazed behind him as he made his way back toward the cover of the building. The railgun fired, setting the air alight with a thunderous boom. The spike tore through the lower section of the half-constructed building. Following the magnetic discharge, the railgun cocked upwards and exposed its X-shaped muzzle.
Waiting for her moment, DFN calmly measured the distance between herself and the mech, aimed, and fired. The recoil was minimal against her shoulder. A single round sizzled out of the barrel and hissed toward the ten-foot-tall mech. The armour all over the mech, including its reinforced canopy, was impenetrable for such a small calibre round.
The mech’s targeting system picked up the single muzzle flash and displayed its source on Klou’s canopy. As far as Klou could tell there was no impact. He smirked and shook his head.
“Is that really all you have got? Honestly.” Klou said.
Klou raised the railgun again, aimed directly at the sniper and Miller standing behind her, a portion of the canopy zooming in on the pair. If he wanted to leave the arena a free man, he had to get rid of these people already. The railgun recharged and there was a massive magnetic discharge designed to propel the railgun’s next spike. DFN, however, had not just aimed for the mech but aimed for the X-shaped muzzle of the railgun. Her single round had been fired straight down the barrel of the weapon. The bullet was small but, stuck in the side of the barrel, blocked the railgun spike’s progress. The result was instantaneous. The spike tipped up and ripped through the side of the railgun barrel creating a massive, concussive backlash. Exploding, the weapon sprayed components in all directions. The magnetic eruption wrenched the mech and its arm backward, damaging the mech’s armour and exposing some of its internals. The railgun spike, blown sideways, slammed into the side of the mech just under its canopy, impaling the armour and tearing it open like tinfoil. Klou looked down, stunned, as some of his controls erupted with a shower of sparks.
“It worked!” Miller yelled, “Now we just need the EMP!”
Miller looked over the lip of the building, searching for the other contestants. The mech stumbled sideways but Klou raised his primary weapon instinctually. The minigun erupted, hosing the construction site. Both Miller and DFN were forced to take cover. Bullets drilled through the dangling sheets of plastic and planks of wood around them.
“How dare you!” Klou said, “I will show you all!”
Under them, on the ground floor, Echo Three stepped out of the entryway. She tore the ring pull out of the EMP grenade Miller had given her and paused. Her axe was dangling loosely from her other hand. Klou stomped from footpad to footpad and fired wildly in all directions, making it far too dangerous to get any closer.
Echo lobbed the EMP grenade gently into the air, and then grabbed her axe with both hands. Sweeping around with the axe, Echo hit the grenade as it came back down and sent it sailing across the construction site. Klou didn’t even notice as it flew toward him. The grey cylinder hit the dirt and spun to a point between the feet of the one-armed mech.
The grenade exploded into a crackling sphere of bright orange light. Energy wrapped itself around the mech and invaded gaps in its broken armour. Inside the mech, Klou went rigid. Orange lightning shot out of the busted controls and filled the mech’s canopy as well. The mech’s minigun died instantly along with the rest of its systems. As the burst of energy faded the mech remained frozen like a one-armed statue, minigun raised in defiance. Klou’s black left arm clawed at the canopy and he slumped in his seat, motionless.
Miller and DFN returned down the stairs where they met with Bolt and Echo Three. Together they advanced on the frozen mech, weapons raised. Smoke wafted off the hulking suit in thin curtains. Klou remained limp where he was strapped into the chair. As they got closer they could see his eyes were open but drool was running out of his open mouth, pooling rapidly on the shoulder of his white lab coat.
“The mech is fried and so is Klou.” Miller said, “The EMP didn’t kill him but it turned that sick brain of his to mush.”
“Go team!” Bolt said.
xXx
Pilot screaming, the mech suit chasing Digger, Homer and the others stampeded down the street. Its minigun thundered into surrounding eaves. Electricity coursed out of its lightning gun, scorching buildings and causing windows to implode. The woman in the pilot’s chair was still blind following the kamikaze attack of Tommy’s drones. The mech seemed to be helping her track the contestants and mercs but she could only fire wildly into the street.
“Over this way!” Cho said.
The four of them took cover behind the corner, away from the mech’s weapons. The pack mule moved behind Cho and Tommy, high-stepping awkwardly but quickly. Digger grabbed Homer by the shoulders and shook him.
“Righto, mate, time to switch on the superpowers!” Digger said, “I know we’re out of the magic juice but I reckon you can still do it! You stopped that bloody knife before without taking anything. If that stuff was just an anti-suppressant, well, then the magic was inside you all along.”
Homer didn’t reply, the boy staring at him with two wide eyes as gunfire howled in the background. His legs seemed to be struggling to keep up as Digger and the others ran. Digger wasn’t sure if Homer could do anything against the mech with or without his drugs but he didn’t seem like he was even trying. The mech rumbled around the corner with its lightning gun blazing.
“Okay, don’t melt my face off or nothing, but-” Digger started.
Digger hauled around and slapped Homer across the face. There was a resounding smack of flesh on flesh as Homer’s head whiplashed backward. Digger winced but there was no response from Homer except a look of hurt and betrayal as he reached up to rub his cheek. Digger jabbed his hand back at the mech but Homer did nothing. Growling with frustration, Digger turned the boy back around and kept running.
“Here, take this!” Tommy said, “Armour-piercing rounds should at least slow it down!”
The journalist hurriedly loaded an M32 grenade launcher that he had retrieved from the robotic pack mule and passed it to Digger. The Australian grinned as he took the drum-loaded launcher. Tommy removed a couple of gun-shaped objects from the mule as well and passed one to Cho.
“Cho, we can use this climbing equipment to slow it down too!” Tommy said.
“Good thinking!” Cho said.
“Alright, let’s see what this baby can do.” Digger said.
Turning on the mech, still moving, Digger aimed low on its chassis. The blinded pilot fired wildly into the ruins. Digger squeezed the trigger and the grenade launcher erupted, a whistling projectile sailing into one of the mech’s legs and exploding. The fireball momentarily consumed the mech. Projected by the mech’s speakers, the pilot screamed in confusion and rage. When the blast cleared, an orange hole glowed on what would be the thigh of the mech’s right leg. Digger fired again, hoping to hit the mech’s other leg and maybe knock them out from under it, but his aim was too low. The grenade buried itself in the ground at the mech’s feet, tearing a huge crater out of the earth and hurling a billowing cloud of dust and asphalt into the air.
“I can still hear you!” The pilot said.
The pilot raised her forked lightning gun. With a crackling roar, blue streaks of electricity fired from the weapon. They scythed down the street leaving burnt, glassy tears across the road and buildings. The air stunk of fried ozone. Digger threw himself sideways and ran for cover.
The others scattered except for the robotic pack mule carrying their EMP device and other supplies. Lightning roasted the mule and after a moment it overloaded, blowing the bot apart. Pieces of the robot and their supplies were flung across the ground.
“Damn it!” Cho said, “Nguyen, stay low! I’ll hit it from the other side.”
Cho’s grappling gun was long with a large drum. Its ‘smart’ grappling hooks were small and attached to thin cords with incredible tensile strength. Cho fired a loop of metal cord around one of the mech’s legs. The grappling equipment had been brought along to scale walls between different sections of the arena in case the passageways had been closed. The smart hook, folded up like a missile, swung around the mech and drew the cord tight. Cho fired again and a second hook buried itself in a nearby wall.
Tommy followed Cho’s lead and lassoed the mech’s other leg then attached it to the opposite side of the street. He was forced to retreat as the mech’s lightning gun started blazing again. Cho fired and looped another length of cord around the mech’s leg and its right arm, the superstrong cord drawing the two limbs together. The pilot’s face was scrunched up as holographic warnings flashed across the cabin around her.
“What the hell is going on out there?” The woman yelled.
Digger fired another armour-piercing grenade into the mech’s side, and then again in the same spot. Blasts rippled across the mech’s armour. The mech was tangled in cords fired by Tommy and Cho. Staggering sideways, a crater appeared in the mech’s side where Digger had just hit it. Digger had to retreat as the mech’s lightning gun crackled and fired another sweeping sheet of lethal electricity across the street. The forks of the lightning gun were starting to glow white-hot even when it wasn’t firing, like they were about to melt.
“That lightning gun is about to overload!” Digger said, “And the suit is compromised! Hit the lightning gun, if we can cause it to backfire the mech is toast!”
“What about the pilot?” Tommy shouted.
“She’ll be right! I’m sure the cockpit is insulated for that kind of thing!” Digger said.
Tommy Nguyen and Cho both snuck around with their grappling guns. The mech wheeled in place and fired its minigun, the barrels spinning and burying a bunch of rounds in the dirt and sidewalk as its arm was tied down by metal cord. It ripped one of the hooks nailing it to a nearby wall free. Attached to a hunk of brickwork, the hook and cord whipped around like a flail. Tommy and Cho fired. A loop of cord wrapped around the blazing lightning gun, tangled in its conductive forks. A second loop attached the gun to the mech’s left leg, strapping it down just like the minigun.
“Come here and fight me, you shits!” The pilot said, “Stop hiding!”
Pulling its minigun free, the mech fired into the surrounding ruins. In spite of the warnings, the pilot squeezed off a burst with their overheating lightning gun. It shot straight down, turning dirt and asphalt around the mech’s feet into glass and then backfiring. Electricity moved along cords tangled around the forks of the lightning gun and was conducted back into the mech. The mech was enveloped in a cloud of crackling electricity.
“It’s working!” Digger said.
Lightning made its way inside the craters created by Digger’s M32 and set off a couple of brilliant flashes. As the mech overloaded, the cockpit filled with sparks. Stunned, the pilot screamed and disappeared behind a curtain of blue lightning. There was a flat, meaty explosion. Red and brown gore splattered the interior, coating the inside of the reinforced canopy. The mech went still and slumped, weapons and all other systems dying.
The mercenaries and contestants emerged from cover. Digger shielded his eyes and studied the fried mech with its exploded pilot. Tommy looked sick.
“What the-, fuck?” Tommy said, “What happened? I thought you said she’d be fine!”
“Well, I don’t know, must have been some faulty shielding.” Digger said.
“Faulty shielding!” Tommy said.
“What happened to not killing any of the civilians?” Layla’s voice floated over the ruins.
The lead mercenary emerged from behind one of the buildings in the direction she’d disappeared. There was no sign of the other mech or its pilot. Despite the fight, Layla looked no worse for wear.
“It wasn’t my fault!” Tommy said, “An-, accident, apparently.”
“Yeah, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men aren’t putting that bitch back together again.” Digger shrugged.
Layla had come racing back after taking out the other mech pilot in case the others needed her help. She slowly wandered around to the front of the fried mech, studying the canopy. Tommy had sacrificed his drones but the camera mounted to his shoulder continued to record everything.
“Someone left that kitty cat in the microwave too long.” Layla said.
“What?” Tommy asked.
“Sorry, guy back there, really got me overthinking about the need to quip at shit now.” Layla said.
Meanwhile, Cho was squatting over the wreckage of the pack mule. A burnt section of its torso and spindly legs were scattered across the ground along with the supplies it had been carrying. The hourglass-shaped EMP device was in one piece but part of its casing was cracked and scorched.
“Got a problem here, guys.” Cho said, “All the rest of our stuff is fried, including the EMP.”
“So it’s worthless? Shit, we were so close!” Layla said, “All we needed was that EMP and we could end this.”
“There’s still the second one with the others. We’ll just have to double back to get it, and bring it here.” Tommy said, “Of course, that means we’re low on supplies and I don’t know if they’ve got any surprises left.”
“Nah, what are the chances of that?” Digger’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “I’m sure it’s all smooth sailing from here on out. Absolutely nothing to go wrong.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Choking grey clouds of industrial smog strangle a city. Skyscrapers ascend into a blurred mass. The sun rises but it’s nothing but a murky disc burning in a poison sky.
In the streets, hordes of commuters bustle along sidewalks and raised walkways. Unwashed, grey masses of humanity, wheezing through gas masks and makeshift facial coverings. Neon signs blink ‘ATMO LEVELS CRITICAL - STAY INDOORS’. One older woman collapses, rolling into the gutter on her back with limbs stuttering like a dying cockroach.
A young woman slips into a well-lit lobby. Lines from her rebreather and goggles are left behind by smog as she pulls them off her face. Removing a metal canister from her handbag, she places the plastic mask attached to one end over her nose and mouth and inhales deeply. Visions of snow capped mountains, blue skies and rolling meadows swim across the young woman’s face as her eyes slide closed.
“O2 - Air the Way it Was Meant to be Enjoyed.”
“Looks like our Slayer mechs have become the slayed, Rick.” One of the commentators said.
“Pretty sure that’s slain there, Fred.” The second man said.
“However you cut it, I’m afraid our contest winners were no match for the combined might of our remaining contestants and the intruders we believe were sent in by People for the Ethical Treatment of People.” The first said, “Our sympathies go out to the families of the winners of our ‘Become a Slayer on Slayerz’ contest in partnership with Nutrition-Os cereal. Also, a reminder that Slayerz is not liable for anything occurring within the arena occasioning loss of limb, irreversible brain damage, or gruesome death.”
“Right you are, Fred! Back to the contestants and other parties in the game, and our intruders’ numbers are definitely starting to dwindle.” The second commentator said, “None of our rebel contestants taken out by Slayer mechs but two more mercenaries bite the dust. Dr Klou might still be with us in body but not so much in mind, herr doktor not coming back from that EMP grenade.”
“Experience must pay though, Rick, because our last season runners up, Layla ‘Southpaw’ Jackson and Thao Seong are still in t
he running!” The first said.
“I’m confused, Fred, is it Thao Seong or Tommy Nguyen?” The second said.
“Ix-nay on the Ommy-tay, Rick.” The first commentator said, “I believe that’s still a matter for the courts!”
“Whatever his name, he, Southpaw, and just a couple of the intruders are left from an original team of twelve, seems like the Slayerz arena was a little tougher than they expected! At least one of the intruders has decided to cut his losses but he is still in the arena.” The second man said, “Meanwhile, Boche and Uzi have been lying low since taking a small nuclear blast to the face, could be anyone’s game, Fred!”
“Anyone’s game, Rick, and with the closest intruders having lost their EMP device it’s nowhere near over yet!” The first man said, “Let’s take a look!”
Boche / Uzi Kahneman
Bolt / DFN Jefferson
Dr Klou / Echo Three
Dozer / Taka
Homo Superior No. 11 / Digger Dundee
Juan Sanzeros / Ludd
Kali Badami / Tanai Den’atsu
L.L. Bitters / Rick O’Shae
Lyncher Lee / Frankie LaPalma
Macbeth Madaki / Junior Du Preez
Marcus Halligan / Luthor Crispee
Quickdraw Quilton / El Carnicero
Sunni Skyez / Alucard
Talons / Dr Martina Hart
Wilhelm Schrei / Mahmet Adani
RINGERS
Kinghit Karson / Sheb Loowey
Professor Kong / Thorg Bearfucker of the Bloodpuncher Clan
Valkyrie Vale / Ninjanette
In the control room, deep below the arena, Zachariah hunched over a desk at the front of the room. The main screen filled his entire field of vision, reflecting back on his face. His mouth twisted in a rictus grin. Snatches of the three Slayer mechs’ failures and defeats replayed on the screen.
“Sir? Even without the special suppression net checkpoints and the trucks-, uh, the mechs failed.” One of the technicians said, “Should we send out some teams to recover the injured civilians and the-, uh, body of the third?”
Kill Switch: Final Season Page 30