by Mia Archer
“As opposed to vaporizing the occasional poor unfortunate undergrad who crossed you the wrong way?” I asked. “You’re a bitch, you know that? You’re selling out your own species by lowering those shields.”
She shrugged. “The aliens are out there and at this point someone is going to get in here and get their hands on that gun. I figure this way I have at least a fighting chance of that person being Fialux. Annoying you is worth more to me than humanity not being subjugated for however long it takes for a more powerful species to discover our newly interstellar world and take out the current conquerors.”
I raised my wrist blaster and fired it at the holoprojector. Dr. Lana, or rather her projection that was left behind after her untimely demise, disappeared. I knew that wasn’t going to be the end of her, not by far, but I was tired of hearing her.
“Come on,” I said. “It’s time for us to get our asses in gear. We’re in a race now, and we have to get to that weapon before Fialux and her alien army get to it and the planet is well and truly fucked.”
Everyone looked grim. At least CORVAC was pulsing in a manner that I took to be grim given the circumstances. Technomancer also didn’t look grim so much as she looked like her usual self. Which is to say she seemed utterly disconnected from the severity of the situation. Like she didn’t have a care in the world.
Which I suppose she didn’t. She was a technology empath who was about to step into one of the largest concentrations of technology in the city. In the world.
“Whatever,” I growled. “Let’s go.”
I stepped through the now open door and into whatever horrors Dr. Lana had waiting for us on the other side. We were on a timer, and I wasn’t going to let Fialux win this race damn it.
22
Woman Behind the Curtain
Nancy punched through the chest of a robot hunter-killer that looked like it’d taken more than a few of its design cues from the imagination of James Cameron. The thing’s red eyes glowed for a moment and then it went dead.
Not that I had much time to think about how she’d just saved my bacon. Or how she was able to punch through a solid hunk of metal armor like that without so much as bruising her knuckles.
No, there were more of the damned things moving in around us, and I needed to take care of them.
“Any luck on getting through to the system controlling these bastards CORVAC?” I yelled.
“I am afraid not mistress,” he said. “It would appear we have triggered an independently operated defensive cell that is set to go off when someone approaches one of the restricted areas.”
“Great,” I said, rolling my eyes as I blasted another one of those things with my wrist blaster. The blast went right through the thing’s middle and it went down, but there were more waiting to take its place.
“I would hazard a guess that things are only going to get more difficult as we approach anything of importance,” CORVAC continued. “Though I am making attempts to do more than get a map of this area.”
“You do that,” I said.
I watched him float off in his pulsing green sphere. One of the robots came near him, but as it got closer the thing simply shut down. At least he was able to remote into the things and disable them on a local level, even if he wasn’t able to do that trick without getting right up on top of them. Whoever had hardened these bastards had done a really fucking good job of it.
I hated when my enemies did a good job of hardening their defenses.
“Wheee!” Technomancer shouted as she shot past me.
I blinked a couple of times. The hunter-killer robot that’d been about to attack me also turned and looked just a touch confused. Or as confused as a hunter-killer robot that’d been programmed to destroy could look, which admittedly wasn’t very confused.
There were also hunter-killer dogs to go along with the humanoid hunter-killers. And apparently Technomancer had hopped on top of one of the things and was riding it while gleefully using the plasma cannon in its mouth to blast anything that came near her. Anything that got within touching distance got her golden touch and immediately turned to fight for her until it was destroyed.
That was a hell of a trick.
“I don’t suppose you can give me any idea how many independently operated gauntlets like this we can expect to run into?” I asked.
“I am afraid not mistress,” CORVAC said, his new orb pulsing with what I was going to say was irritation considering his tone of voice.
That was going to be interesting getting used to gauging his mood based on how he was pulsing. It always annoyed me when tech designers put that stuff into my wireless routers and printers, it always meant I had to dig up the fucking manual to figure out what the fuck was wrong with something, and I wasn’t looking forward to learning all of CORVAC’s various prima donna moods via a completely new method of communication.
I turned and fired on another robot just before it got to me. At least these things went down easy. This would’ve been a real pain in the ass if Dr. Lana had put a bunch of potentially indestructible robots in place to defend her home territory.
Then again that was the rub. Putting indestructible robots in place to defend your home territory meant you had indestructible robots all over your lab. That could go very bad if there was ever a rise of the machines sort of situation, or someone coming along and trying to do exactly what I was trying to get CORVAC to do.
As with everything in the villainy business, it was a matter of giving and taking.
And in this instance I was giving way better than I was getting because she’d populated her precious Applied Sciences Department with the supervillainous equivalent of a bunch of trash mobs in a poorly-designed tech themed MMO.
“Okay, so do you have any idea of how many of these high security areas there are?” I asked. “That might give us a better idea of how many of these gauntlets are waiting for us, and where we should be concentrating our efforts while we’re looking for that weapon.”
“I am afraid not,” CORVAC said. “It would appear that there is something in the system that is actively trying to prevent me from doing just that. Even then, based on what I have found so far, it is possible that we could explore this facility for weeks at our current rate and still not come close to exploring every nook and cranny within the facility.”
I let out another growl and floated down the hall just a little. There was a bend up ahead, and I could hear more clanking which meant there were more of these robotic assholes coming at us. Just fucking great.
“It is possible that it could take months or years to do a proper search, mistress,” CORVAC said. “Unless you are able to find someone who could show you where everything is.”
“I wouldn’t bother with that,” Dr. Lana’s voice said from one of the robots that took a swing at me. “You should give up. The aliens have a big army. They’ll be able to search the place much faster than you idiots could ever hope to do. I might just give them what they’re looking for since it’ll piss you off.”
“Would you like me to cut her off mistress?” CORVAC asked, though this time it was in my ear and not in his floating orb.
I smiled. At least he knew when it was a good idea to keep our conversations private.
“Let her keep on monologuing, and track where those signals are coming from,” I said.
“Affirmative, mistress,” CORVAC said. “It is nice to know that we are thinking along the same lines.”
“Of course we’re thinking along the same lines,” I said. “That’s what we do. Two peas in a pod, you and me.”
I rounded the bend in the hallway and sure enough there were more of those giant robot things straight out of the wet dreams of whatever copyright attorney worked for whatever company currently was pissing on the legacy of the Terminator movies.
Well if these robots could go down easily in close quarters combat then I figured it was time to see how easily they went down when it came to breaking out some of the big guns. I raised my
wrist blaster, let it charge up just a bit, and let loose.
The blast ripped down the hallway like a charge shot from one of the many video games that used that mechanic. It’s not like it was a unique game mechanic so I’m not going to try and single out any game in particular for that simile.
It also turned all the robots coming at me into toasted robot. Bits of their armor exploded and melted, and when it was all said and done there was nothing left of the fuckers but piles of slag that glowed faintly with the residual heat of my blast.
“An excellent shot mistress,” CORVAC said, coming up next to me in his orb. “I also believe I have the information you were seeking.”
“Great,” I said. “Oh Dr. Lana! Do you want to surrender now?”
“You really need to give up now, Night Terror,” she said. “You’re delaying the inevitable. Give an old hologram what she wants and let me witness your ultimate defeat. Knowing it was partially my doing will be such delicious revenge for what you must’ve done to me while I was still alive.”
I rolled my eyes as Nancy and Technomancer came up behind me. I noted that Technomancer was starting to gather a robot army of her own. The more the merrier. If she could keep them under control then I wasn’t going to begrudge her suddenly taking a specialization in a pet class for this little dungeon raid.
That’s how I was starting to think of the whole thing. Something told me Dr. Lana spent a little too much time socializing in MMOs and that’s why this whole place was designed like a cheap World of Warcraft raid knockoff, but whatever. That made it easier to get through the place so I’d take it.
And now it was time to teleport directly to the final boss so I could get the loot I was after.
“Yeah, I think I’m going to pass on that Lana,” I said. “It’s time to take care of business.”
“I don’t see how,” Dr. Lana said. “That was impressive destroying all my robots like that, but it’s not going to help you find the weapon.”
“That isn’t,” I said. “But getting you to talk while we were clearing out that hallway is. I’ll see you in a moment.”
“What?” she asked, a note of panic coming to her voice. “What are you talking about? I don’t…”
I hit the button on my teleporter and the world flashed white around me. Thankfully this place didn’t seem to have a teleportation jamming field running at the moment. Which was odd, but I’d take it.
I reappeared in a small control room facing a booth that was clearly designed to take a real time 3D scan of whoever was in the thing and send it out to a bunch of holographic projectors. And there in the middle of the thing was none other than Dr. Lana.
At least a version of Dr. Lana. Obviously it wasn’t the Dr. Lana I’d killed. Her molecules were spread to the solar winds and she wasn’t coming back, but this Dr. Lana was right there in front of me, and that meant I finally had someone I could take some of my frustration out on.
She turned and looked at me, wide-eyed, as she reached for a gun. I was faster though. I blasted the thing with my wrist blaster and then brought it to bear on her chest.
“Hello Dr. Lana,” I said. “Fancy meeting you here.”
23
Resurrection
Dr. Lana slowly raised her hands into the air in the universal signal of “please for the love of any gods you believe in don’t shoot.”
It wasn’t going to help her. I’d seen people use that to activate a secret weapon often enough that I wasn’t taking any chances. I fired off two plasma blasts that cut off her arms at about the elbows.
She looked at the cauterized stumps that had been her arms and then started screaming. Well then. I guess that answered the question of whether or not she was simply an elaborate hologram meant to make me think she was the real thing.
“Why would you do something like that?” she screeched. “That fucking hurt!”
“Yeah, and if past performance is any indication you’re going to be growing those limbs back before you know it,” I said. “What I’m more concerned about is…”
“How I’m still alive?” she asked, raising her nose high. “Well it’s an interesting story. You see…”
I fired another blast that hit her thigh and opened up a nasty hole there for a moment. Only for a moment before the wound cauterized again, gotta love those plasma bolts, though she did stumble against the wall of her holoprojector transmitter.
“What the fuck?” she screeched again. “I told you that really fucking hurts!”
“And I told you I really fucking don’t care!” I said in a mocking scream of my own. “What I care about is getting to that gun that will take away Fialux’s powers. You’re going to give it to me, or I’m going to keep putting holes in you. Got it?”
She smiled. Stood as straight as she could under the circumstances, which wasn’t very straight at all.
“Torture me all you want,” she said. “You’re not getting me to talk!”
I hesitated. She was acting all cocky and arrogant. Like she was taunting me to fire on her and end her suffering. It was tempting, but there was something I was missing here. She thought she had the upper hand. I’d learned I should always be cautious when it seemed like I was winning, but the person who was losing was acting cocky.
“No,” I said.
“No?” she said, clearly confused.
“No,” I said. “I’m not playing this game. Either you tell me what I want to know now or you’re getting a one way ticket to death without a stop at torture town in between. Got it?”
I decided to try and make it clear to her just in case she wasn’t getting the memo. So I fired a couple more times. This time at her feet. On a low setting so she’d still be able to walk, but still high enough that I was pretty sure it was going to get her fucking attention.
“Goddamnit!” she shrieked.
“Looks like you don’t have your healing powers anymore,” I said, watching the several cauterized holes I’d already blasted in her for any sign they were healing up. “Y’know that’s very interesting.”
I raised my wrist blaster to point directly at her head. Her eyes went wide, and then she went just a little cross-eyed as she stared down the barrel.
“I’m more interested in how you’re going to help me find that gun to fight off Fialux than I’m interested in how you’re still here,” I said. “Villains coming back from the dead are a dime a dozen here in Starlight City, but there’s only one of those guns, and you’re going to tell me how the fuck you got it to work.”
“Um, I’m sure we could work things out,” Dr. Lana said. “Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. It’ll be just like old times! Like back when you were still a student here! Remember what a good student you were?”
My only indication that there was something wrong was her eyes darting to the side. It was a classic villain blunder, but then again if ever there was someone out there who would commit a classic villain blunder I figured it would be none other than Dr. Lana.
I dove to the side at the last moment, which meant I didn’t have the pleasure of actually killing this version of Dr. Lana. The plasma blast took her straight in the head, and it looked like she didn’t have any shielding to protect her.
I came to a stop at the end of my roll and fired a couple of shots at the telescoping turret that’d come out of the ceiling to point at the back of my head. It wasn’t the kind of thing that would’ve actually been able to hurt me, my shields were working and the sensors on my suit were a lot better about noticing danger than I usually was which was the whole fucking point of having them place, but the reanimated Dr. Lana had no such luxury.
The formerly reanimated Dr. Lana, that is. The smoldering hole on top of her shoulders would seem to indicate that had been a short-lived reanimation.
“CORVAC!” I shouted. “Get your ass in here now please.”
“Affirmative, mistress,” CORVAC said.
A moment later he materialized next to me. His orb glowed fitfully as he took in D
r. Lana’s charred corpse, but it was nothing he didn’t already know about considering he could still see well enough through the video feed being pumped back to him by my contacts.
“I see you have been busy in here, mistress,” CORVAC said. “Though might I hazard to inform you that it is not a good idea to kill the woman who knows the location of the device you are seeking?”
“Well duh,” I said. “It’s not a good idea to kill her, but she was the one who pointed a weapon at the back of my head and tried to kill me first.”
“Ah yes,” CORVAC said. “So you have reverted to playground rules for determining how you go about your villainous business. That makes perfect sense.”
“Would you can it and see what you can figure out by hacking into that stupid console she was using?” I growled.
“Canning it now, mistress,” CORVAC said.
“Besides. She tried to kill me with one of her automated systems. It’s hardly my fault if she plasma blasts herself in the face.”
My only regret about seeing her getting plasma blasted in the face was her face had been melted away entirely too fast for me to enjoy the look of terrified surprise as she realized she’d killed herself.
“As you say, mistress,” CORVAC said in a tone that said he wasn’t buying what I was selling.
“I feel like you don’t believe me,” I said.
“I feel that you perhaps manipulated the situation somewhat so that Dr. Lana would put herself in a situation where she was firing a shot that would result in her killing herself,” CORVAC said. “I also think that you were enjoying blasting holes in her before you got to the point of her killing herself, but either way she is now expired and it no longer matters.”
“You’re damn straight it no longer matters,” I muttered.
CORVAC was silent for about long enough for me to tell that he was either having trouble getting into Dr. Lana’s systems or he was finding something in there he didn’t care for.