by S Mays
Two petite women and a very large man approached them as they boarded the craft. They were outfitted in the same body armor and carried a few light weapons.
“Miss Ford, I’m told we’re going to accompany you to the drop site and help recover items from the compound. I’m Hoss, and this is Valkyrie and Mercury,” the man said. The two soldiers nodded.
Sverre looked at the three of them, confused. He pulled Izzy to the side and whispered to her, “Look, I understand why this three-hundred-pound slab of beef is coming to help carry things. No offense, but those two girls look like they weigh about a hundred pounds each.”
“Better look again, bucko,” Izzy said, chuckling.
In the place of the two small women now stood a pair of werewolves, one with black fur and the other with white. They loomed above Sverre.
“Looks can be deceiving, little one,” the white-furred werewolf said in a Russian accent. They both reverted back to their human forms and boarded the craft.
“How-how come their suits didn’t just rip to pieces?” Sverre asked.
“Adaptable nanotube fibers. They can stretch about two hundred percent before they tear. As long as the action isn’t instantaneous, they can adapt. In the case of something like a bladed weapon or a bullet, they constrict in that spot, stopping the object from penetrating. That’s one thing to be cautious about. Someone slowly pushing a blade in is going to have an easier time getting through the armor. Otherwise, it can stop most conventional firearm rounds.”
“Miss Ford, we need to get moving,” Hoss shouted over the sound of the engines that had begun to whine.
“So, you comin’ with me to find your fortune?” Izzy asked, climbing into the rear seat of the craft through the side door.
Sverre paused, looking over each person in the craft. He jumped through the door.
“I’ve got nothing better to do.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
The flight to the Farm was shorter than he would have liked. He spoke with bravado, but he was worried about what they would find. He still thought of himself as a novice in combat, and now he was going against the people he still considered to be the good guys. Not to mention, he was friends with some of them. He’d had to absorb a lot in the past year, and it turned out there was another side to the story that he’d been given by the Order. They might be the good guys, but the enemy wasn’t evil. He wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. The citizens of Xibalba had seemed like decent people. The truth had to be somewhere in the middle, and maybe the Order had a lot to answer for.
“Full stealth engaged. Power down any devices,” the pilot shouted into the back. The side doors closed, and the craft went completely dark. The pilot’s visor lowered as his instrumentation also faded. Sverre started to speak, but Izzy put her finger up to her mouth and shook her head. The whine of the engines faded until the sound of the wind outside the aircraft drowned them out. Sverre looked out the window to see a clearing in the forest below them rising up to greet them.
They climbed into the back of the robotic transport and set out. “Alright. We’ll park MARV about a mile out from the compound. You three stay with it. Sverre and I will scope it out, then head in. We’ll radio once it’s clear.”
The transport was nearly silent despite the thick underbrush through the woods. The robot at the helm used its arms to clear objects that might make too much noise when trampled. A pair of saw blades within the pincers clipped vegetation as they went.
“It’s clearing a getaway path,” Izzy whispered to Sverre. “It’ll be slow going on the way in, but we’ll come out like bats out of hell. It’d be nice to use the road in, but we’d risk running into the numerous booby traps that might be on a separate system from the main compound.”
Izzy reached into a pocket and handed a small, rectangular plastic device to Sverre. “I call this little baby the Izzy Special. Use this to disable their system. Just find any terminal and plug this into a USB drive. If it doesn’t have a USB, pull out this small cable and plug it into the ethernet port. If it don’t have that, flip this out for the headphone jack. If you use the ethernet, wait until the light turns green, then plug the ethernet cable back in. It’ll copy itself to that terminal, then use their network to send information off-site until it’s turned off.
“If all else fails, you can hold down this button for twenty seconds and it’ll start hacking their wireless system, but that’s the last resort. It’ll take a few minutes that way, and you’re more likely to trigger any system alarms. I’ve got pretty much every trick I know — combined with my special sauce — in this. It’ll disable their outgoing communications except for what we co-opt, take down their security, stop their cameras, erase all camera footage from the past few hours, turn off any sentry bots and turrets, then search the entire network, find weaknesses and disable their firewalls. Then it’ll download whatever it can find. If they manage to get ahold of it, it erases itself as soon as they analyze it.”
“How can you be sure this will work?” Sverre asked.
“Hasn’t failed yet. The Order has the best security on Earth, but they can’t hold a candle to what I can do,” she bragged.
The transport crawled to a stop. The three soldiers exited quickly, posting up in hidden areas around the vehicle. They motioned that it was clear.
“Okay, let’s get moving,” Izzy said. She hefted the huge gun onto her back and started trudging through the brush. Sverre dismounted and followed her.
“You know, I could carry that for you,” he offered. After a few minutes, she was breathing heavily. The gun might be made of lightweight materials, but it still weighed quite a bit.
“No, I’ve got it. I’ve gotten soft in lockup, is all. I need to get these flabby muscles goin’ again,” she panted.
“You just don’t look like you’re used to this line of work,” he said.
“Why? Because I’m short and fat?” she shot back.
“No! No, that’s not what I meant,” he backpedaled.
“No, that’s what you meant. I get it. I might have a little extra booty, but I’ve been doin’ this for years. Still kicking. Don’t even have any scars to show for it. I’ve seen more guys like you buried than I care to try to remember. It hurts. Those guys were my friends. I might not run as fast, or be able to swing a big hammer, or body-slam a full-grown man, but here I am, and there they are.”
“Okay, fair enough. Sorry I brought it up. I’m a jerk,” he admitted.
“I’ve met much, much worse. You’re not so bad — just green. If you live long enough, you might actually become dangerous,” she joked. “Okay, hush up. We’re getting close.”
They marched up a small hill, crouching low as they crested the top. The Farm was in view, although still a few hundred yards away.
“Okay, sit tight,” Izzy whispered. She pulled out a pair of goggles and slipped them on. Crawling toward the Farm, she tapped the side of the eyewear. She repeated the procedure for several minutes, then returned to Sverre.
“Weird. The laser grid is up, but the magic wards are down. Looks like the tremor sensors are down too, but the motion detectors and sentry guns are functioning. The freakin’ front door is off the hinges. And I mean the blast door, not the decorative one. There’s two guards at the front door, looks like two more inside.”
“How are we going to get by all of that?” Sverre asked.
“Piece of cake.”
She pulled a small disk out of her pack and set it on the ground near the top of the hill. Retrieving a threaded rod from her pack, she set it in a hole in the center of the disk. The disk started to rotate, causing the rod to drill into the earth. A hum emanated from the disk as it dug firmly into the dirt. Grunting, she hefted the gigantic sniper rifle up onto her shoulder and walked it over. Standing beside the disk, she shrugged the gun off her shoulder. It fell for a few inches, then stopped, hovering directly above the disk. It spun around slightly, wobbled, then stopped in midair, levitating a few feet off the ground
.
“What the hell...” Sverre asked, amazed.
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
She pulled three cartridges from her pack and slipped each one into a receptacle in the gun. One on each side, and one on top. She made small adjustments to the gun, appearing to nuzzle it from Sverre’s vantage point.
“Are you making out with it?” Sverre asked.
“No, I’m programming the targets into it. Now I’m making out with it,” she said, turning toward him and licking the gun seductively. “Get ready. In about ten seconds, I’m disabling everything down there. I want you at the front door about three seconds after that. We don’t want the guards to dig in or have a chance to activate the alarm. Okay — go!” she whispered.
“What? Now?” he asked, confused.
“Yes, now!” she hissed.
He took off running down the hill at breakneck speed, hopping over bushes, rocks, and other obstacles. At the top of the hill, Izzy finished counting, then tapped the button on the side of her goggles again. The gun came to life. The right cartridge clamped down. The gun fired sixteen rounds in the first second and a half, rotating quickly to pinpoint its targets almost faster than the eye could follow. The rounds struck each of the laser grid projectors and motion detectors, shorting them out with small shells designed to disable electrical components.
The right cartridge released, and the left engaged. The guards had just raised their guns at the approaching Sverre, yelling at him to halt or they would fire. Their fingers had started to pull the triggers when several darts appeared in their exposed skin. They both collapsed instantly. Sverre was now about twenty yards from the front door, having cleared most of the front yard. Two automated sentry guns mounted at the opposing corners of the wooden front porch now swiveled toward him. “Izzyyyyy!” he screamed, his legs pumping furiously.
The left cartridge disengaged from the rifle as the top one clamped down.
“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” she said, watching the action below. Two armor-piercing rounds shredded the left sentry gun, which collapsed, sparks raining out of it. Two more pierced the one on the right just as it fired. Dirt exploded near Sverre’s feet as the round shattered the earth inches away from him. He dashed up the steps just as the two interior guards emerged. His leg delivered a bone-crushing blow to the head of the guard on the right, removing his helmet and knocking the man unconscious. He caught the rifle of the man on the left, swinging his free fist just as three darts appeared in the man’s hand and neck. The guard crumpled to the floor.
Sverre hunched over inside the door, catching his breath. No one else approached, which was a relief.
“Cutting it a little close, weren’t you?” Sverre said when Izzy finally showed up a minute later.
“You know I took out twenty-one targets in about eight seconds, right? This guy here — that’s your guy, right?” she responded while tapping one of the guards with her foot.
“I’m beginning to think I was a decoy,” he grumbled. “Where’s your gun?”
“Up on the hill. It wouldn’t do any good in here, and I can use it to cover the entrance,” she said. She held a finger to the side of her goggles and turned her head from side to side. Sverre squinted while looking through the doorway and noticed the barrel of the gun on the hill was mimicking her movement.
“Enough jibber-jabber. I radioed the crew. They’re on their way in. You head down to the armory and see what’s down there. I’m going down to the research floor,” she said.
Izzy secured the unconscious soldiers with tie wraps.
Sverre sprinted down the hall, turning in to the first stairwell he came to. The elevators could act as holding cells if activated, complete with the gas they’d used on him that night they had captured him. The stairwell doors would remain unlocked in an emergency unless manually locked remotely or at the door itself. Fortunately, they were unlocked. The armory was on the next floor down.
The armory was stripped bare except for a few basic weapons like batons and stun guns. Things anyone could pick up from the internet. He wasn’t sure how the Underworlders ever retrieved anything of value from the Order. They were so organized that of course there was nothing left, despite what Drake had said. He felt a presence behind him and whirled, one hand drawing a handgun, the other on the sword on his back.
“Relax, friend, it is only me,” Mercury said.
“How’d you know where I was?”
“I followed your scent, of course. Plus, you have a tracking device built into your armor.”
“Drake likes to keep tabs on his operatives, I guess.”
“But of course. It looks like the weapons have been cleared out, but we’ll take these trinkets they left. It’s to be expected. Their armory is the first area they secure.”
“Looks like it’s a bust, then,” Sverre said.
She chuckled. “No, there are always things worth much more than simple guns. With the proper blueprints, we can make our own, or even improve on their designs. With Izzy’s help, we can hack into their secure servers and find weapons depots, troop movements, and strike dates on our facilities. If there are any arcane texts, our people can counter their spellcasters with that knowledge. In any facility like this, there are objects of power that can’t be moved as quickly as a rifle.”
She held her hand to her earpiece. “Izzy has accessed a direct terminal in the research laboratory. She’s uploaded the full facility schematics to our computers. She is asking for you to meet her downstairs. I’m heading to the garage. She says there are some rare parts in their inventory.”
“On the way,” Sverre responded.
“We’ve hit the mother lode,” Izzy shouted as soon as he entered the room.
“Looks like they haven’t moved much out of here since the last time I was here,” Sverre said, joining her at the terminal. “I figured it was old junk. No one ever came down here. Jess said no one knew how to get the equipment working again after her dad died.”
“No one until now,” Izzy said, typing furiously on a keyboard.
“Can you get them to work?” Sverre asked, peering into the container.
“I think so. If we take one of their manufacturing machines with us, I’ve got enough from these files to duplicate the process of making them. There’s one thing I’m not sure about, though: how they link up with their user. It’s supposed to be a very personal process. It’s almost symbiotic in nature. A user has to bond to their weapon, and the weapon will assume a form that complements that user’s combat style or nature.”
“So, you can’t just make a sword for someone who wants a sword?”
“Not that I can determine, but anything can be improved or cracked with enough time,” she said.
“What do you have, Miss Ford?” Hoss asked, lumbering into the room. He was followed by Valkyrie. He was sweating profusely.
“I need these two machines loaded up, asap.”
Hoss strode over to the large manufacturing machine, estimating its weight. It was the size of a twin bed. Picking up one end of it, he raised an eyebrow and nodded at Valkyrie. She shifted into wolf form and grunted as she picked up the other end. They carried it out of the room, struggling with the weight.
“Are they going to be okay?” Sverre asked.
“Mercury’s guarding their route and can give them a hand. MARV is parked just outside the front door,” she said, tapping at the computer on her wrist. “About ready to hit it?” she asked, finishing up.
“We’ve only been in here like ten minutes. Did we even get anything?” Sverre asked.
“Hon, we probably got close to a billion dollars’ worth of information and gear out of this one, mostly due to that God Particle machine. More importantly, we might have gained a major weapon that we can use to arm some of our high-level soldiers. We’ve got to hightail it before reinforcements arrive. Strange, though — I’ve never seen an alpha facility with so few troops in it. I expected at least a dozen guards, if not more.”
“I might have had something to do with that,” Bilford said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The old man was dressed in dark, silver-embroidered arcane robes and carried a large staff which was engraved in glowing runes. In his other hand was a small chihuahua. It was anyone’s guess as to which was the most dangerous weapon.
“Chewy!” Sverre exclaimed.
Bilford set the wiggling chihuahua down. He scampered to Sverre, his tail wagging furiously.
“I thought I’d never see him again,” Sverre said, picking the dog up. Chewy licked his face furiously.
“He’s missed you over the past few months, but I’ve made sure he was well cared for,” Bilford explained.
“Sorry to break up this reunion, but you need to get out of our way, old-timer. We’ve got places to go,” Izzy threatened.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Bilford said, setting his staff in front of him.
“We shall not pass?” Sverre asked, stifling a smile.
“Something like that,” Bilford replied, a twinkle in his eye.
“It wasn’t a request, wizard,” Izzy said, pulling out a small submachine gun.
“Good. I’m afraid I don’t do requests,” Bilford said, yawning.
“Sverre, you need to move him, or I’m going to put him down. The timer’s ticking. We’ve got two minutes to get out of here,” she demanded.
“Bilford —” Sverre started.
“Relax. There is no one coming. As I was saying, I’m the reason there are so few guards here, my boy. I have been expecting you.”
“How could you be expecting me? I didn’t know I was coming here until a few hours ago.”