Advance (Animus Book 4)

by Joshua Anderle

  “You’re much more of an aug than you let on.” Lazar held up his fist. “I guess I’ll hear some static with the screams.”

  “It’s only a few incidentals,” Gin replied with a shrug. “You grow accustomed. Once you start, you can’t stop.” He pointed to his eyes “Although these were actually the first. But don’t worry, I’m not some unfeeling cyborg.”

  “Yeah, right.” Lazar dashed forward with his arm raised to strike. “Only a murderer.”

  Gin smirked and his bionic arm sparked with light as he raised it. When the merc closed in, he rammed it forward into his chest. Lazar’s air expelled painfully and he was thrown across the room. He skidded a good distance and finally came to a halt in a pile of dirt and tile.

  “I find the anger of the hypocrite to be one of the most humorous things in the galaxy,” the killer mused as he slammed his metal foot down onto the large man’s chest when he tried to stand. “Come now, a big guy like you in a big bad gang, I’m sure at least a few people had their lives cut short because of your actions? But I guess that doesn’t matter to you. They weren’t your buddies, were they?”

  “Sure I have,” Lazar admitted and spat a glob of blood from his mouth. “But they weren’t human. That’s a status you can lose if you fuck up enough.”

  Gin expression quickly changed from curious to amused. “It’s not exactly a knight’s code but I see the value in it.” He straddled the merc. “It’s close to mine, although yours has more wiggle room—unlike you at the moment.”

  Lazar stared coldly at him before he clamped his arm around Gin’s leg. The killer tried to shake it off, but the man held firm and attempted to crush the bone. The killer muttered in irritation. A blade projected from the tip and the foot spun unnaturally to slice into the large man’s arm. He roared and let go but managed to roll away from his assailant when the man slammed his foot into the ground to retract the blade.

  “I am also quite fond of novelty,” Gin stated. “I would have thought that was obvious, but whatever.”

  Lazar stood and inspected his arm. The blade had dug nearly halfway into his gauntlet. He tried to move his hand. The pinky and ring fingers jarred and moved slowly, but the rest seemed all right. He took a few steps forward, but pain thudded in his chest and his breathing was ragged. He couldn’t keep the fight up much longer.

  Gin folded his arms and observed the struggling gang leader. “Do you feel a little tired? Wanna take a big boy nap?”

  “Shut the hell up,” Lazar snapped. “I will kill you. That will be the last thing I do.”

  “That’s what your life has come down to?” the killer asked glumly and raised his hands nonchalantly. “You didn’t have many big dreams during your childhood, did you?

  Lazar braced himself. “I bet that smart mouth of yours got you slapped around plenty during yours.”

  “Actually, mine was quite idyllic,” Gin admitted. “I could have used a pony, maybe, but I can’t complain too much.”

  The merc scowled and spat up another batch of blood. The sun had given way fully and the blood shimmered in the moonlight that seeped into the room. “So you’re merely crazy then.”

  Gin shrugged and his smile remained in place. “I couldn’t quite say. Isn’t the main problem of a crazy person that they don’t know they are crazy?”

  “That only makes you an idiot.” Lazar lifted his metal arm. “I don’t have time for idiots. We’re going to end this now.”

  The killer spun his blade idly in his hand. “I said I don’t keep a record of what people say during the last moments of their lives, but I can safely say that the last of that there…” He stopped twirling the knife and pointed it at Lazar. “Almost all the time, that is true. But it doesn’t end well for the one who isn’t me.”

  Lazar closed his fist, and his two end digits took a moment to fall into place. “Are you done gloating?”

  “I could go on.” Gin leaned forward and prepared to strike. “But you’re right. This has been fun, but I didn’t lie about having places to be. My honesty is a virtue that I take pride in. Do you have any actual last words? I’ll make a note of them.”

  The gang leader didn’t respond and simply stared at him. The killer lowered his head for a moment and when he looked up, the blank expression had returned. With the exception of the blood drops and the creak of the building, it was silent around them. Gin pressed a button on the hilt of his knife and the blade glowed with heat. Lazar tapped his fingers on his arm. He looked at his adversary, closed his eyes, and drew a deep breath as he slid a compartment in his wrist open and turned a dial.

  He roared as he charged at the killer. His adversary’s expression didn’t change, and he didn’t move as the merc barreled toward him. As Lazar closed in, Gin struck. His heated blade lashed out and quickly ripped into the merc’s chest. He made three strikes, two on his chest and one across the throat. Blood sprayed, congealed in globs from the heat of the blade, and plopped onto the ground and Gin’s face and arm. Lazar grabbed the killer’s arm, but it was too late. He collapsed and gurgled and hissed from his wounds as his life fluid pooled around him. Somehow, he had hold of his opponent’s arm, although the grip was weak.

  Gin stared at him for a moment, deactivated his blade, and slid it into its holster. “If this was your dream, you should have learned what every kid does eventually,” he muttered as Lazar gasped weak, pointless breaths and blood continued to pour from his wounds. “Don’t dream so big.”

  He turned to leave but was held fast by the merc’s grasp. He turned back with an annoyed look and shook his arm in an attempt to free himself, but the grip seemed to tighten. The killer twisted and turned his arm and used his free hand to try to pry the fingers off his wrist. A small light caught his eye. He turned the man’s arm quickly. A panel glowed on the gauntlet’s wrist and counted down from nine seconds.

  Gin was confused for a moment before it dawned on him. He felt angry for a moment before it gave way to a chuckle when he looked at Lazar to see a bloody but wide and cocky smile.

  “You really were more clever than you let on,” the killer said appreciatively. The timer reached zero, and the gauntlet burst apart and engulfed them both in an explosion.

  Magellan watched the vitals on the tracker screen, his only window to Lazar’s condition. There was no image, but Lazar’s heart rate had leveled before it spiked rapidly for some time. It had then evened out again and spiked once more, and now, it was dangerously low.

  “Dammit, Lazar, this is why I wanted your promise,” Magellan snapped as he slammed a fist down onto the bench. They were almost at the port. His ship was nearby and was significantly faster than this heap. If he headed back as soon as possible, he could be back in—

  Lazar’s vitals disappeared, and the word deceased appeared over his profile. The bounty hunter hung his head and slammed his fist again, albeit much more weakly, on the bench.

  “You couldn’t do that one damn thing, could you?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  His vision was a swirl of darkness and bright lights. He felt ill and sore, and a jagged pain seared his chest. The lights dominated his view, and the darkness crept away. Kaiden’s eyes fluttered open. He took a moment to breathe deeply and tried to sit up but was hampered by a dull pain in his arms and a sharper one in his chest. He laid back on the bed, rolled his head from side to side to work out the stiffness, and looked around.

  He was in an enclosed room with a sliding door at the far end, pale gray walls, and white floor tiles. Beige curtains were drawn closed on either side of his simple cot. A machine with an orb on top stood nearby—a biomonitor, he realized; a machine to monitor his physical wellbeing and administer vials of serum and drugs as needed. Obviously, he was in a hospital of some sort, but it seemed rather bare compared to the ones he was used to.

  Steps behind the left curtain indicated that someone approached, and he turned his head to see who it was. The curtain was drawn back, and Magellan stared at him. His expression was gri
m, but a flicker of relief washed over him when he saw movement in Kaiden’s eyes.

  “Welcome back to the world of the living,” he said and pulled a chair to the bedside. “How are you feeling? Are you all right?”

  The ace tried to speak, but his throat was dry and itchy. He motioned with an arm for a glass of water. Magellan pulled a flask from his coat, undid the top, and handed it to him. Kaiden eyed him questioningly as he took it. “Although I imagine you’d like a shot of something strong after that. It’s only water,” he promised.

  He nodded stiffly, then pressed his palm to his neck and rolled it for a moment before he took a swig from the flask. Cool water rushed down his throat a little too quickly. He coughed and the pain in his chest flared with each exhale.

  “Easy now,” Magellan warned and placed a hand on his chest to steady him. “Between the injury, physical exhaustion, drugs, and surgery, you’re not up to snuff. Make smaller movements for now.”

  Kaiden’s coughing softened and finally stopped and he nodded quickly before he took another small sip. “Where am I?” he asked.

  “A fixer station in the Los Angeles gig port,” Chief explained. He appeared on Kaiden’s right, his light dim, and his eye examined him. “We were heading straight back to Seattle, but considering your condition, it was best to land here and fix the damage right away.”

  “How long?” he inquired and looked the bounty hunter and his EI in turn. “How long was I under?”

  “Two days,” Magellan replied.

  He bit his lip. “I was supposed to be back at the Academy yesterday.”

  The bounty hunter’s chuckle was low and almost muted. “That’s what you’re worried about after all this?” he asked and moved his hand to Kaiden’s shoulder. “You’re a tough bastard. After a stab like that, you should be dead. I was able to stabilize you and your EI got your armor’s wrappings in place. The pilot gave you a little TLC but considering that was a strike meant to kill, you can at least count this as something of victory.”

  “I’m not saying I ain’t used to taking a few hits for a win…” He trailed off for a moment, placed the flask against his leg, and tried to sit with help from Magellan. “But this doesn’t feel like one.”

  The bounty hunter retrieved something from the ground. He showed Kaiden the cylinder containing the device they had been sent to retrieve. “You take what you can get sometimes and hope that the next one is more clear-cut.” He placed it back on the ground and leaned back in his chair. “You’re alive, finished the job, and you’ll get paid once I turn this in. Take that for now.”

  “I’ll spend most of my earnings paying for the painkillers and band-aids,” he muttered. “It deflates the warm, fuzzy feeling a little.”

  “I’ll foot the medical bills. Don’t worry about that,” Magellan assured the young man. “You need to rest for now. The rejuv should kick in soon, but it’s diluted and on a slow release. They don’t wanna flood your system considering everything else that went into you.”

  “I could probably choke a vampire,” Kaiden muttered and rubbed his neck once more. “I’ve had my fill of mutants for a while.”

  “True enough.”

  “Did Lazar take off already?” he asked and the smile on Magellan’s face vanished. Kaiden lowered his hand, immediately understanding Magellan’s grim visage. “He’s gone too?”

  His companion nodded slowly, removed his hat, and ran a hand through his hair. “He stayed behind so that I could leave and take you to get help. I intended to go back for him, but he died before we even landed.”

  “Was it Gin?” Kaiden asked, and anger crept into his voice. His heart speeded up and the pain in his chest throbbed. “The knife in my chest—that’s the last thing I remember. Did he get Lazar after me?”

  “I can’t say for sure,” the bounty hunter admitted. “He escaped after attacking you, led us into a trap, and attracted a group of mutants to us. I was only able to monitor Lazar using a basic vitals tracker the pilot had. I thought he’d made it, but after he had calmed down, his heart rate spiked again—like he’d got into another battle or was running from something. Then it slowed before it stopped altogether.”

  Kaiden leaned back with a deep sigh, “Dammit… Dammit!” he cursed and gripped his bed sheets. The movement jarred the flask against his leg and knocked it over. “What’s the point of training for this kind of shit if I can’t do something when it counts!?”

  “Calm down, partner,” Chief requested and floated almost in his face. “You can’t stress out like this.”

  “You did more than almost anyone else could be asked to at your age,” Magellan said calmly and tried to quiet him.

  “I’m training to be an ace,” Kaiden huffed. “Not everything was easy in the Animus, but I beat it all despite that. I’m better than every other soldier in my division or in my year—hell, I’ve broken records from past years.” The sharp pain surged again, and he ran his fingers over the bandages around his chest. “And when it gets real, I flake like this? I was a fucking Dead-Eye. I’ve dealt with people who tried to kill me and it wasn’t a problem.”

  “There’s a difference between dealing with someone who knows how to kill and dealing with a killer,” Magellan pointed out. Kaiden turning his head to stare at him. “You might be the best in your class, and this mission should have been easy for you—for all of us. The old saying tells us to be prepared for anything,”

  “Don’t lecture me,” he snapped, and the anger was immediately replaced with regret when Magellan simply stared at him. “Sorry.”

  “No worries.” The bounty hunter shrugged. “I wasn’t trying to lecture you, but I suppose it might come across that way. I intended to say that that old motto, while accurate, isn’t something everyone can conceivably live up to. Running into a guy like Gin—that’s a one in billions coincidence.”

  “Do you think that’s all it was?” Kaiden asked. He released the bed sheets and picked up the flask.

  Magellan’s gaze darted away briefly before he looked at him. “Honestly, I can’t say for sure. I don’t have any reason or theories why he would be after anyone but me, and even then, he’s never actively pursued me except for our second meeting. He wanted to finish me off, and I blew a chunk of his hand off.” He shook his head. “I always looked down on him, but he talked a big game and had the skills to back it up. He got away from me, but he always ran and never finished me off. I dealt more damage to him than he did me. For all that cockiness I looked down on, I was becoming just like him in my own way. I took his arm, a leg, and gallons of blood. But I could never finish it. More people died, and I simply focused on the kill.”

  There was silence for a moment. Chief hovered and looked from one to the other to see who would speak first. The bounty hunter sighed and Kaiden looked at the ceiling. “I should call the Academy and tell them I’ll be back soon.”

  “I already did,” Magellan related.

  “Did you have to pretend to be my guardian or something?” Kaiden asked. He lifted his arms and rested them on his legs.

  “You’re a twenty-one-year-old man. I don’t need a consent form. I merely explained the situation. They said that you have grace days, but if you miss too many compulsory activities you’ll be expelled. Although, since you are in a fixer station, get a report from the staff and they’ll potentially not dock you anything.”

  “Maybe not the administration,” Kaiden mumbled, “but a couple of my teachers might.” Kaiden looked at the hospital smock he wore. “That reminds me, were you able to get my gear?”

  “What remains is in a locker. When you’re discharged, you’ll get it back. Your pistol is fine, your armor and underlay… Well, you can salvage some of it, but the underlay was shredded and the chest plate is shattered, along with a number of the other pieces. I would recommend salvaging the mods and getting a new suit altogether.”

  “Along with a new machine gun,” he muttered. “This lifestyle gets pretty pricey, huh?”

  “Why
do you think I haven’t retired yet?” Magellan responded, and the moment of levity gave them both a sense of calm for a minute. The bounty hunter retrieved a scroll-stick and opened it into a tablet. “I’ll be leaving in a minute,” he declared. Kaiden, at a loss for words, simply looked at him as he stood. “I’ll turn the device in and make sure you get paid. Then I’ll collect the others’ tags and get them to any friends in their hometown.”

  The ace nodded glumly and sighed as he fell back onto the pillows. “Thank you, Magellan.” The bounty hunter glanced at him in surprise. “I know I would be dead now if it wasn’t for you. If it helps at all, you’re not the only one who let themselves get too cocky.”

  The man closed his eyes as he turned away. “You’re a good soldier, Kaiden, don’t doubt yourself there. But you’re a student. Maybe you are one of the best or even the best, but you are still a student. You have more to learn.” He walked to the sliding door, opened it, and looked back one more time. “Don’t let him win, Kaiden. There is a more metaphorical reason guys like him are called revenants. Even if you kill them, they can haunt you and stop you from making your own choices. They can make you constantly doubt and question yourself. When they walk among us, they are horrible, but even in death, they can cost you your life. Don’t let him do that.”

  Kaiden, although he didn’t really understand what Magellan meant, nodded. The bounty hunter replaced his hat and tipped it to him before he stepped out and closed the door and left Kaiden to himself.

  Julio Alvarez, the proprietor and bartender of the Emerald Lounge in Seattle, was in good spirits. There were plenty of patrons but not enough that it was a hassle. The rain outside tapped against the windows and roof and he always found it soothing—which was a good thing since it happened so often. The real stuff too, not the biosphere synthesized stuff. Most people said it sounded and felt the same, but he knew the rattle of real rain.