Tod knelt in the dust and sand and began his work, periodically looking back over his shoulder. The footsteps of the twins echoed out of the tunnel, but no sign of them showed itself. Good enough, he thought as he finished and once more began to run. His limp already much lighter than just a few moments before.
As if on cue, the twins turned into the last segment of the emergency exit tunnel. He turned back, looking over his shoulder as he ran, and flashed the LED light at them. So that they would have no problem spotting him.
Tod looked away from them, and began to sprint for all he was worth. A few weeks ago, he wouldn’t have been up to the task. His death the only possible outcome in this situation. But whatever had been happening to him, whatever had started to fix his mind, had made him so much stronger and faster than he had ever been before. Even with his newfound speed, he found himself straining hard, breathing deep and fast as the muscles in his legs burned and threatened to cramp. He leapt over a waist high rock and heard it just before he landed.
The single shot fired from the pistol he had rigged as a booby trap rolled over their little corner of the vast desert wastes. As he landed, he looked back to see both of the twins looking down and to their side. To the place among the rocks where he’d hidden the handgun. One of them had hit the tripwire and set it off. The single shot, the only bullet it carried, fired harmlessly into the air near them.
He did not stop running.
As their combat algorithms seemed to sense an escalation of force, the twins sprouted a few more weapons from their arms and their legs. If this didn’t work, then there was no way Tod would survive. They would eventually run him down, as he couldn’t run forever. And then they would kill him.
He didn’t know what to expect, but he’d had something in mind. What actually happened was far different and smashed the world in a sudden flash of light brighter than the sun. Tod found himself tumbling end over end, screaming as he sailed through the air, vision whited out and his ears ringing painfully as some angry monster roared directly into them. Heat flowed over him, causing pain where it touched and a rough wind tore at what little remained of his clothing.
Finally he came to rest face down in sand and stones. Bloodied, battered, and momentarily blind and deaf. He moved his arms and legs to check if he could still feel them, but couldn’t tell if they were there or not.
Overlord had struck.
Targeting the single gunshot that his simple snare had activated when the twins stepped on it. A great beam of searing energy plunged down from orbit, hitting the precise spot of the discharged firearm. And utterly obliterating the twins.
After a few minutes the roaring in Tod’s ears subsided and became an annoying ringing somewhere in the background. Slowly, his vision let go of the torrent of blinding white and merged back to the moonlit desert he’d seen as he fled from Varg and Virgil.
He sat up, wiping the blood from his face and running his fingers along the edges of a new gash in his forehead. As he played with it, it was already beginning to close of its own accord. The kukri blade he had carried lay some meters away from him, and he was glad that it had broken free from its sheath. Holding onto it and landing on it would have sucked a lot worse.
Tod looked back towards where Overlord had struck, seeing a smooth section of desert with the occasional partially molten rock. Parts of the vitrified sand still glowed red hot and hissed in the cool air washing over them. A series of cracks began to sound as the sand-turned-glass broke from the thermal shock of molten ground beneath and cold air above. There was no sign of the twins until Tod forced himself to concentrate and look closer.
All this time he’d thought that Overlord was just some boogeyman that people used to scare others. Listening to Price had partially changed his mind, and now, seeing the effects of that same weapon system, he had no doubts.
A small pool of some liquefied metal stood near the center of the blast zone. All that was left of Varg and Virgil. Tod shook his head in disbelief. Something seemed out of place on the edge of his vision and he looked, still sitting as he did so.
A large truck sat there, dark and motionless. The same that Price had told Reiji and Tod about when he tracked down Gavin. Pouring through recent data streams from surveillance satellites that still kept an eye on everyone and everything, despite there being only one man on all of Lexington who could do anything with that information. He’d told Reiji all he needed to know.
Tod played events back in his mind as he looked at the truck. There was only one thing missing, and he was pretty sure he knew where to find it.
FLAWLESS. That was the only way Reiji could describe his technique. Gavin’s blade couldn’t move without it being knocked aside and a storm of blows raining down upon his exoskeleton.
Unfortunately for Reiji, that meant very little in the way of winning this fight. The combat exoskeleton that protected Gavin was impervious to such weapons. And the man was far from helpless in the battle.
Clearly outclassed with the blade, Gavin had managed to use his heavy executioner’s sword as a prop to close the distance between the two warriors. Feinting a massive blow and rushing forward to strike at Reiji with his body.
When it came to fists and feet, the exchange of blows, Reiji was surprised to find that the older man wasn’t completely helpless. Reiji’s advantage narrowed further when the fight came to grappling range. More than once he’d found himself scrambling to adjust after being tripped or thrown.
And that was something of an accomplishment for Gavin. Reiji had rarely faced an opponent that he couldn’t throw around like a ragdoll in a real fight. The few times he had, he’d been more than happy to poke his opponent in the eye or bite a chunk of flesh out of their arm or neck. But two combat exoskeletons worth of advanced alloys kept him from the dirty tricks he liked to use.
Gavin moved forward once more, knocking a stack of heavy wooden boxes over where they shattered on the ground, spilling their contents. Reiji struck him twice with precise blows, each blade striking opposite sides of his opponent’s neck. With a blade designed for this type of combat or against an opponent without armor, the fight would have been over. Exactly as had happened over a dozen times before in the past few minutes.
But the blades were incapable of piercing the armor, and so they did nothing to stop Gavin’s charge. Reiji side-stepped at the last second, delivering a roundhouse kick to his foe’s abdomen. The kind of blow that would have knocked the wind from a man if it didn’t outright break his ribs. Steel rang on steel and Gavin had a hold of Reiji’s leg, pulling him down while spinning away.
Reiji rolled onto the ground, trying to break his fall and move with the impact. He continued moving just enough to miss the double overhand blow of the executioner’s sword as Gavin swung it down. Onryo would stop the blow, of that there was no doubt. But the Cent-Sec pilot that Reiji had killed inside of another combat exoskeleton wasn’t far from his thoughts. The armor would stop the blow, but the blow might still kill the man inside.
Reiji kicked out as he rolled, striking the heel of his foot into the side of Gavin’s knee. An unarmored man would have found himself falling forwards as his leg snapped, but the exoskeleton held its shape and Gavin remained unharmed. Unbalanced, but unharmed.
Blades flashed again as Reiji regained his feet. Gavin’s strike missed its mark and cut deep into a wooden crate, lodging there for a split second. Reiji found himself striking automatically with the blades he clutched in his fists. Realizing the futility of the attack, he stopped and instead struck with a straight push-kick to the side that knocked Gavin from his feet and into the base of a stack of crates.
The box at the base shifted and the others on top fell on him. Of course that won’t finish him off, Reiji thought as the boxes began to move. The instrument of his salvation so often over the past weeks was beginning to piss him off. The combat exoskeleton Onryo, the same type that now protected his enemy. Without whose protection this fight would have been over long ago.
>
Vengeance delayed was supposed to be more gratifying, but Reiji was of a very different opinion. Immediate punishment of all transgressions was far preferable. It left no doubt in the minds of others what would happen if they crossed him. Being forced to wait showed weakness. Something to be exploited by one’s enemies. Each second that passed with him being unable to end Gavin’s life was like a hot knife driven into his eye. Painful. Intolerable.
Gavin seemed to have the right idea though. If the blades were of no use, then why bother using them? Onryo dropped his weapons as his foe emerged from the stack of ruined crates. Electronic equipment that was identified in Reiji’s vision. He ignored it, focusing on his enemy.
Striding forward, the Oni picked up a long segment of heavy wood and smashed it over Gavin’s head as the other combat exoskeleton regained its feet. Purely a distraction that served its purpose as the man raised both arms to block the attack. The wood shattered without effect, but Onryo shot in beneath his opponent’s arms, securing a grip around his waist.
With a violent motion, Onryo threw the other exoskeleton to the ground. It landed with a thud that echoed throughout the chamber. A fraction of a second later and Onryo had secured an uki-gatame, pinning Gavin to the floor with a knee on the chest. Immediately the Oni began to rain blows down upon his foe, landing repeated punches about his foes head and chest.
Each punch that landed sang out clear and loud, like a bell ringing in the chamber. Damage reports flooded into Reiji’s vision, warning of compromised integrity of Onryo’s hands and forearms.
Gavin threw up blows of his own, but they missed their mark, falling short of Onryo’s head and face. The man began squirming beneath the Oni, trying to dislodge him from the dangerous position.
Onryo trapped one of Gavin’s flailing arms and Reiji smiled beneath the glaring anger of the Oni’s face. He stuck with a sharp blow of his forearm to the back of the other combat exoskeleton’s elbow. There was a loud crack and Gavin screamed from within his exoskeleton. The arm was bent about thirty degrees in the wrong direction. There was no doubt in Reiji’s mind that the other man’s arm was broken.
Finally, Reiji thought as he resumed punching Gavin’s exoskeleton. Progress.
Gavin violently shifted his weight back and forth, just enough to break Reiji’s balance. He kicked upwards with one of his feet, catching Onryo just below the jawline and knocking the Oni off of him.
Both exoskeletons scrambled to their feet and there was a moment’s pause in the fight as they faced each other and began circling like wrestlers of old. As he moved, Gavin reached down to his bent arm, gripping it firmly with his good hand. With a grunt followed by a roar of pain, he wrenched it back into place, metal, flesh, and bone all popping in unison.
“Much better,” Gavin’s voice spoke through his exoskeleton’s external speakers. Reiji said nothing and continued moving, looking for an opening to resume his assault.
The sound of heavy-booted feet on a metal grating filled the chamber and someone began to yell.
“Reiji,” the voice began, reverberating throughout the huge room. “I found it!”
Price. Reiji recognized the voice. But what was he talking about?
Both men looked up as Price appeared on a catwalk nearby the arena of broken and smashed cargo the two found themselves fighting in. The man was running as fast as he could on the narrow path, carrying something large and metallic. Shaped like an enormous blunderbuss beneath a swaddling of something like leather, Reiji thought.
As the man ran, he reared back, clearly preparing to throw whatever it was that he carried.
“Price!” Reiji’s voice erupted from Onryo’s mouth. “What are you doing?”
The man paused as he ran and uncovered the object he carried, pulling away what looked to be oiled cloth. The outline of the object suddenly popped into Reiji’s vision and Onryo began to provide a detailed description.
“A sonic disruptor,” Price yelled. “Fighting another exoskeleton without a real weapon seems a bit tedious, don’t you think?” He lifted the weapon above his head, arms quivering with the effort.
“Here,” he continued. “Catch!”
Reiji yelled for the Coms-Officer to stop, but to no avail. Price rushed forward the last meter or so to the edge of the catwalk and attempted to hurl the weapon to Reiji with an overhead toss. Something caused him to nearly trip and the weapon went flying off course, landing almost directly beneath the catwalk with a dull thud.
Almost instantly, both combat exoskeletons began moving towards it at full speed. The weapon was highlighted in Reiji’s vision and identified as fully functional and equally compatible with Onryo. Best of all, it produced its damaging effects based on sound-waves and vibrations. It was unlikely to set off Overlord. Reiji doubted that this far beneath what amounted to a small mountain, other weapons would even activate the system. He doubted that Overlord would expend the power to try to flatten the mountain to get at the person using a firearm as well. But nevertheless, it was something that he could use.
Something that would be able to kill the man inside the other combat exoskeleton without having to first rip the suit to pieces. And price had just thrown it a great deal closer to Gavin than he had to Onryo.
Reiji cursed as he ran, leaning off to one side and scooping up an object to hurl at Gavin. It struck him in the side of the head, but had no real effect. The other combat exoskeleton was going to make it there first. Onryo would have to immediately disable the weapon or his opponent in a fraction of a second, or Reiji would now be facing a legitimately armed enemy.
Gavin leapt the final few meters, reaching down with his right hand to the weapon. Reiji could hear it snap into place on the other exoskeleton’s forearm. Gavin seemed to move in slow motion as Onryo closed on him. Reiji’s would-be victim turning and raising the weapon towards the Oni.
Reiji leaned back as far as he could without falling back and launched a kick that barely hit the lower lip of the weapon as it activated. Knocking it upwards where it discharged as Onryo finally tipped over backwards. There was a strange absence of noise, a weird silence that enveloped the entire chamber for a split second as the sonic disruptor fired. The frequency it operated on would be far too high for human ears to detect, Reiji thought in a moment of strangely placed clarity.
Something far overhead burst into pieces amidst a shower of sparks and the Zen state passed, slipping from Reiji’s grip as he slid beneath Gavin and launched a hard kick upwards with both feet into the exoskeleton’s groin. Gavin was thrown backwards into the air with the force of the blow, but still tried to swing the weapon around for another shot.
Onryo rolled left and got a view of boxes and crates shattering under the impact of the sonic assault. The weapon bored a neat hole through them as easily as a laser would have. Impressive, Reiji thought as he imagined what it would do to a man. Even inside a combat exoskeleton, the unfortunate person would likely be liquefied. If the suit managed to survive the attack, the effect would be like turning it into a can of soup.
The Oni shoulder rolled to the side as another blast emerged from the weapon, sending debris flying away from its path and shattering whatever it hit. What the fuck had Price been thinking? Reiji wondered as he just barely moved out of the way of another assault. He could have given the weapon to Reiji before he descended from the installation above and into the bowels of the earth.
Better yet, Price could have given him a useful weapon. A set of projected forcefield blades to wield in the fight, or an assault-cannon loaded with armor-piercing rounds. Something to make short work of Gavin and his suit.
But Reiji had been in such a hurry to get down here and find the man, even if Price had offered, he wouldn’t have waited. Wouldn’t have listened.
After the Coms-Officer had explained to Reiji that the man he sought was directly beneath his feet, he’d demanded to know how to get there. Leaping into Onryo, he’d emerged from the APC at a sprint, followed by the shouts of startled m
en and women. The savages that called this place home had been distraught over the sudden appearance of the steel beast.
Price had emerged from his temple, The Mighty Oracle descending among the plebes, to calm them. Telling them that the steel monster charging through them to the maintenance elevators was a friend, all the while dialing in a communicator to Onryo’s frequency.
Tod had been close on the Oni’s heels when Price had first said anything about finding a weapon.
“Sure. Why not?” Had been Reiji’s response as the he and the boy had entered the massive freight elevator. “What’s down there?” He added the question as an afterthought.
“Uh, I don’t really know,” Price had replied. “I’ve only been down there a few times looking for spare parts for my coms gear. It’s dark, and there’s lots of boxes. Beyond that, I don’t know what to tell you to expect.”
And some minutes later Price had returned. With what looked like a cannon from the first days of gunpowder on Old Earth. And then thrown it to the wrong man. Reiji supposed he should thank Price for the effort. He’d selected a weapon that was unlikely to get Reiji killed by orbital weaponry with a vendetta against advanced tech on the battlefield.
The thought passed through his mind as he rolled again to avoid another blast. Only one way to do that properly he mused, as he saw his hands closing around Price’s throat and the face above turning blue.
But at least he hadn’t returned with a heavy beam weapon or something spewing explosives about. With the weapon in Gavin’s hands and the electronic countermeasures of Onryo preventing a clear lock on by the other suit, Reiji still stood a chance.
The Oni leapt into the air, seeking concealment behind one of the few remaining stacks of boxes still standing in the immediate area. While dodging repeated attacks from the sonic disruptor, Reiji guessed that the weapon wasn’t capable of firing a continuous stream. Otherwise Gavin would have just mowed down everything around him non-stop until Reiji was dead.
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