by D. P. Oberon
Hazou scrambled in and immediately strapped himself to one of the many seats. The drill-tank tilted abruptly, its nose pointing down, and blasted into the underground city.
Hazou couldn’t believe that underneath the village lay a vast city. Spaceships flew out from underground moorings engaging J22s in dogfights.
A scrawny Mist-Reaver mech jumped from the edge of one of the underground levels and launched itself at them, grabbing at the drill-tanks as it plummeted into the well.
Their drill-tank twisted abruptly and Hazou felt like he was in one of those aero-coaster rides in Lunar Looney. Layer after layer of underground city flashed through the cockpit of the drill-tank. The Mist-Reaver mech roared and slammed a hand through the tank, ribboning it like cloth. Through the gap, Hazou spotted an underground city consisting of layers and layers of buildings against the wall with the glittering green lights. Huge platforms stored powerful looking aero-jets that evacuated.
Diaochan scrambled past Hazou and Wenqi and shot out both her palms. A blast of energy slammed into the mech making it lose its grasps on their tank.
Hazou breathed in relief. He couldn’t stop staring at the amazing view through the newly formed hole.
Outside, hybrids that looked like walking cats ran holding weapons.
“The Mist-Reaver is still after us,” shouted one of the triants. The drill-tank rattled as booming echoed all around it.
“Shit,” said Wenqi, gritting his teeth. His helmet clanked against the back of the seat.
They passed a bridge that spanned one part of the underground city to another. Huge elevator belts curved down revealing the faces of angry cat-like hybrids bristling with weapons. The hybrids fired their weapons at them.
Turrets shot at them rattling their craft. One bullet passed through the gap and took out a triant. But they kept going, even passing an underground market alive with trade. Everywhere Hazou looked, he saw hybrids of every shape and variety. Who would've thought? How long ago had the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers created this city? How many more of these existed? His fear intermingled with his curiosity as down and down they went.
Bridges crumbled and fell under fire. Another Mist-Reaver clamped onto their drill-tank, its huge claws only a hand span away from Hazou’s feet. Citizens that belonged to the underground city fled. But the People's Favor didn't hold back. She turned and spotted the new Mist-Reaver but shouted at the pilot to push the drill-tank faster and faster.
Outside, more and more of the China People’s Empire forces engaged the enemy. A part of Hazou couldn’t believe how quick the machine of war worked. The People’s Favor could start a war faster than Hazou could get the water utility activated at his inn.
Hazou winced as a hybrid mother holding a child was gunned down. He started to think of Nuan and Lizhang. The marvel of the city fled and he wished the damn drill-tank had landed already.
“Argh,” Hazou said, clenching his teeth. The drill-tank suddenly went down extremely steeply, worse than any aero-coaster he’d been on.
“We’re flipping in circles!” shouted Wenqi.
“Brace for impact!” Diaochan shouted.
The Mist-Reaver mech just managed to get its elbow into the drill-tank when it fishtailed wildly and skidded against a wall. It went so fast that it ripped gouges against the walls and crashed into the ground with such velocity the entire floor trembled.
The drill-tank screeched to a halt. The doors to the sides flipped open and the sound of gunfire, sirens, and people screaming flooded into the drill-tank. Gelfoam ejected itself from nozzles coating them from head to toe.
“Go, go, go!” shouted Diaochan, jumping out of the drill-tank. Her triants by her side protecting her.
Hazou felt like he was inside a volcano just as the lava was about to hurl itself into the air. A triant ripped him and Wenqi out of their seats and forcibly dragged them outside. Just in time as the Mist-Reaver mech came falling after and crushed into the drill-tank bifurcating it.
Diaochan faced the Mist-Reaver on her own. Even as the triants came to protect her, the People’s Favor had already jumped onto the Mist-Reaver. The mech was huge and Diaochan looked like an ant across its back. She slammed a grenade onto the mech’s back where its neck connected against the chassis and she flipped back. The Mist-Reaver caught her in a back punch. It didn’t even damage her—she absorbed the punch and landed on the ground. Electricity danced across the mech as the grenade short-circuited the mech. It tottered and fell to the ground.
“We’re at the lowest level,” Diaochan said to them. “The leaders of the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers are here. Dang Mao is here. Nuan will be close to him. Lizhang will be close to her.” Besides the somewhat noticeable breathing of her chest, Hazou wouldn’t have been able to tell she’d just downed a Mist-Reaver.
More China People’s Empire reinforcements landed behind them. Several razor-claw tanks rolled out from falling dragonfly transports and transformed into fortifications to create a defensive position.
“Let’s go.” Diaochan jogged into what appeared to be a major intersection. They took the only exit that led into a wide tunnel. The sound from the fighting dimmed as they went farther in. Everything was green here. The floor, the light, the walls; finally the tunnel ended at a rapidly closing vault door.
Hazou couldn’t believe what his eyes showed him.
A massive, bipedal tiger strode in that vault, its fur rippling with a chrysanthemum hue. Dang Mao’s face stared out from the beasts skull.
Hazou felt as if he had been hit. That’s when he heard the scream. The tiger held Nuan’s head. It looked like a toy in its palm and then it backhanded her. Nuan’s head swung wildly. She was tied to a chair.
The huge vault-like door slammed shut.
“What was that?” Wenqi asked. “We’ve got to get in. Nuan....”
“That’s why they call themselves the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers,” said Hazou. Most Chrysanthemums were orange around the China People’s Empire. The stripes on those bipedal tigers had been orange and black.
“They’re really tigers,” said Hazou. “Dang changed himself. That’s why they call themselves...”
“Move out of the way,” said Diaochan.
A huge razor-claw tank crawled to the front and then reversed until it hit the wall. It was a small space to fire anything.
Triants ran to the razor-tank and undid magnetic claws that connected to the vault’s door.
“Now,” Diaochan said. Electricity flared through the magnet and into the vault’s door. It remained shut.
“Open the fucking door!” Diaochan screeched. “Jingfei’s killer is in there.”
But whatever they tried, the door remained shut.
Chapter 26 - Traitors Traitor
Dang Mao’s rage knew no bounds. Had he just seen those two fucking cripples? Wenqi had new arms and Hazou, those clown eyes. “Argh!” He had spent all this time building up this rebellion to have it come to this. How did Diaochan find out? So the bitch’s paranoia paid off after all, he thought. He had been so close to mounting an attack directly against the People’s Favor. Strike preemptively. Everything positioned.
He knew what he would have to do now. He turned to face the four members of the Ten Divine Dragons who had been the original founders of the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers. Chaeyeon, Bopha, Kaloni, and Itoku. The People’s General, The People’s Caretaker, The People’s Educator, and The People’s Commissioner, respectively.
Their normally arrogantly sneering faces looked pale now. They had seen the savagery on the face of the People’s Favor. Just like her father, Diaochan had the propensity of extreme savagery. They all knew the People’s Favor didn’t tolerate betrayal. She didn’t tolerate a lack of discipline. They would all have to fight out of here or die. Capture would mean endless torture.
Each of Diaochan’s traitorous leaders brought their own securibots, eight of them total. Dang growled and walked toward them. His tiger’s shadow flickered across the multi-
level holo-display that spanned two levels high. It showed the entire map of the China People’s Empire, color-coded by regions that the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers infiltrated.
This had been the command room where they had orchestrated the worldwide infiltration of every single one of the fifteen empires. The Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers had some presence in each one. The huge boardroom table stretched out several meters away from the display. Twelve chairs arrayed themselves around the table each of them empty.
“We should negotiate,” said Kaloni, stepping forward.
Dang gave a low rumble as he got closer and the securibots flanked their leaders. Their las-sights orienting on him.
“That’s not very trusting,” said Dang, staring at the lights against his bristling fur.
“We should negotiate,” said Bopha.
“Agreed,” said Chaeyeon and Itoku together.
Negotiate with who? He wanted to scream. Diaochan is going to skin you, regrow your skin, and skin you again. If she catches you, you will be screaming for the rest of eternity. They knew it judging by the look on their faces. But denial was always best friends with justification.
“Cuff him,” Chaeyeon said. The eight securibots trod toward Dang.
Dang held out his hands. “What exactly do you intend to negotiate?” He already knew the answer.
“You killed Diaochan’s lover Dang; who else do you think she wants in here?” asked Chaeyeon. “She’ll exchange that for our freedom.”
Dang held out his hands compliantly. They had apparently thought this through considering the reinforced titancrete cuffs had his gene-id imprinted on them. As soon as they touched his fur, they wrapped around him like a molten serpent, binding his elbows all the way to his wrists. It was more of a forearm cuff than a wrist cuff. His huge ankles also received the same treatment and the cuffs solidified up to his knees. It felt like he’d submerged his limbs in a titancrete block.
The securibots still held him in their sights.
Dang said, “If you don’t let me go...”
“If we don’t let you go?” Chaeyeon said.
“I will rip out your vertebral column and hang you from those vents.” Dang looked up. A circular air-conditioning duct went across the left side of the room. Its vents faced downward.
Chaeyeon laughed haughtily. She nodded to where Nuan’s head lolled against the chair and his daughter who lay strapped to the table.
“And we shall rip out their vertebral columns and hang them from those vents,” Chaeyeon countered.
Dang laughed. It was too funny. Why would he care if she did that?
Outside, something pounded against the door. The four traitors nodded at one another.
Dang’s laughing boomed in the enclosed space. He was the one who had chained Nuan to the chair and strapped his daughter after injecting her with the serum. It was his ultimate revenge for his wife’s lack of honor. Slutting herself with that armless cripple. His maniacal laughter was cut off abruptly by a roar.
Dang slashed his hands, and the cuff blocks across his forearms split apart and their tiny fragments thudded against the ground. He tensed his legs and shoved outward; the pure strength and fury inside of his new body felt ecstatic.
Dang grabbed Chaeyeon with one hand and ripped upward. Her vertebral column splayed out like a writhing centipedebot and sent a spray of red ink into the air. The securibots fired at him. Their weapons were made to take down a xu-tiger, but he’d learned a few things. The armor beneath his fur tensed and the projectiles bounced off from him. A shot made it through and caught him off guard, but by then he’d jumped at Kaloni and Itoku and tore their heads off. Bopha ran toward the vault doors and cranked the emergency lever down. The lights began to swirl and the door groaned open ever so slightly.
Dang threw his hands. Super-heated claws flew into the air and severed Bopha’s hand. Dang’s tail spat a sticky webbing material that stuck itself against the emergency lever holding in place.
But the door still stood ajar.
Bopha trembled against the door as Dang walked up to him.
“No, I’ll give you anything,” Bopha said.
Dang grabbed Bopha’s shoulder and opened his jaws. Bopha’s scream lasted a surprising full minute as Dang chewed on his head. Slowly. His sharp teeth crunching through the brain as if it were chocolate balls. Human brains tasted oddly sweetish.
The securibots lay in parts all over the ground. Only his wife stared at him with those fearful eyes. He walked past her and then at the very last moment, he stopped and roared in her face. She screamed behind the gag. The blood from Bopha’s brains splattered her face. He used his tiger’s tongue to lick his wife’s face, coating her with Bopha’s blood. His rough tiger’s tongue scraped against her pale face like saw-paper. He positioned his jaws over her head readying himself in anticipation. Would Nuan’s brain taste sweeter? His eyes caught the movement of the door just as the scent of her piss filled the air. His groin stirred. Nuan’s fear always turned him on. Now her fear was pure unadulterated fear. His cock strained. He wanted to fuck her right then and chew on her face as he climaxed.
He shook his head to tear himself out of lust and rage haze. The wife bitch always distracted him from things he needed to do. Focus on the big picture, Dang, a voice told him. Imagine what you could be!
Somehow, the people outside slowly pried at the door There wasn’t much time left.
The Chao-chao plant lay in the middle of the boardroom table. He gently engulfed it in his palms and strode back to the huge holo-display.
Dang said, “Call the Greatest Scientist. Tell her the call is from the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers.”
Normally a call to the Greatest Scientist would take many levels and much planning for it to go ahead. But the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers had already built an alliance with the Greatest Scientist. Each empire always vied for their rivals’ secrets.
The China People’s Empire and the Austra Asian Empire were enemies. The Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers were enemies of the China People’s Empire. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, Dang thought.
The holo-display flared to life showing a nine-year-old. She wore a dress that had all the emblems of the sixteen empires across her neckline. Her dark hair edged her cheeks and curtained her forehead. It was difficult to see her eyes.
“Greatest Scientist,” Dang said, bowing low. “I have a gift for you.” This was his last mahjong piece. This was why he had played them all. A position as a leader in the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers? That wasn’t enough.
“Dang Mao, it has been a long time since our last discussion. What have you got there?” She pushed the hair out of her eyes and stared with open curiosity.
Dang slowly unsleeved the black velvet that draped over the field-sphere he’d activated over the Chao-chao plant. He wasn’t going to risk it being damaged a second time.
“This is the Chao-chao plant. It can hold super-dense water. A single millimeter cross-section can hold fifty liters. The plant grows fruit. And a single plant’s output has enough oxygen for a thousand people. This solves many of the issues that plague your seed-ship.” He stretched his neck feeling a tight kink in it. “Your nemesis, the People’s Favor intends to build her own seed-ships and destroy yours. This is a cornerstone technology that will enable Diaochan to do exactly that.”
Sanatani’s mouth pressed until it turned white. It was the only emotion she revealed after he’d threatened her life’s work.
She said, “Have you tested it?”
It was hard to tell if she played games. The child’s face hid much.
“Many times,” he lied.
“Can you send me a test specimen?” she asked.
“This is the original. It’s yours,” he said, trying hard not to reveal the trepidation. This was his gamble. He pulled forward the portal box that had sat dormant under the display and placed the plant inside. He didn’t enter the coordinates. He looked up at the Greatest Scientist.
“Wha
t would you like in return, Dang? Speak plainly.”
And here it came. A lifetime of hard work. He stared at the young child’s body that held the mind of a god. “I want a seat on Soldier X.”
“Each member of the Soldier X has been appointed by me personally. I’ve known each of them,” she said. “I’m giving you the coordinates.”
She gave them to him.
Dang inserted the coordinates into the portal box and slammed the button. The Chao-chao plant peppered into nothingness. Millions of miles from him, above in her own orbital facilities, the Chao-chao plant appeared in the Greatest Scientist’s own hands. A delightful smile lit her face making her seem like a real child.
“Thank you,” Sanatani said, staring up at him now with a smile on her face. “Step forward.”
He stepped forward and had to step down the step so that he stood right near the huge display almost entering its projection field.
“Who is that child?” she asked suddenly.
He cursed inwardly. Stepping down had revealed the mess behind him. He was so huge he had obscured the camera’s view.
His wife’s battered and bruised body, eyes wide with fear, and face covered in brain splatter stared out into the camera. His daughter lay comatose on the air pellet, her face red from the slap he’d delivered.
He decided that an embellished honest-lie would be the best. “We are stranded in our command center. I just rescued my wife from Diaochan’s grasp. She tortured my wife and child to get to me. If you could activate the portal and let us through?” Hurry up and open the portal you dumb snot-nosed child, he wanted to scream. As if to punctuate his thoughts, the door behind him rattled. If nothing, the People’s Favor was a persistent cunt.
Sanatani said, “Yes, I accept you as a member of the Soldier X. Though you will need to tell me how you learned of the program—it was meant to be Top Secret.” She pressed her hands in the air. “I will send you the passkey and the coordinates. And then the portal will be opened.”
He tried not to growl as he waited. Why did it take so long?